Japanese Wrestling Thread

Darth Mattitude · The Dark Admin

Japanese Wrestling Thread

Man In Black · Anime Mod

NJPW has been in a mess for a few years now ever since Antonio Inoki lost the plot by bringing MMA into the product, giving his son-in-law Simon the Presidential reigns of the company and booking like Russo with some ridiculous ideas. The usual politics took over and eventually Inoki sold the company to a video game company called Yukes but still the Inoki influence was still there with Simon.

Anotnio Inoki then announced last month that he was starting up his own new federation called the IGF (Inoki Genome Federation) and planned to poach a load of NJPW wrestlers. This was a daft proclamation considering that January and February are contract negotions time in NJPW and pretty much all the wrestlers signed new contracts.

Simon then had no choice but to resign but he was so unpopualr with most of the wrestlers an staff that no-one missed him. in fact, NJPW refused to let him hold his press conference in their offices so he had to do it in a local park!

Hopefully this new appointment will have the support of the wrestlers and Yukes and together they can brign NJPW back from the funk it has been in and back on top of Puro!

Man In Black · Anime Mod

The latest big rumour/news item from the land of Puro:

NOAH Director Ryu Nakada stated today that NOAH has joined All-Japan & New Japan in having working agreements with TNA. Nakada said that he negotiated with Bill Behrens and he doesn’t mind that All-Japan & New Japan are both tied with TNA as he got a promise that everything would be on the up and up. Nakada said that he expects to send some of NOAH’s top talent to TNA soon and they would do likewise. Nakada also said that this shouldn’t affect their dealings with ROH & WLW as if any talent comes to the United States, they would still be booked there also.
This is an interesting development but there are a few fears.

First, with Impact only being 1 hour and with that dickhead Russo booking, it doesn't look too good for how the NOAH (or indeed any Puro stars) wrestlers will be used.

Second, with all three of Japan's top promotions working with TNA (All Japan's president Keiji Mutoh's appearance as Great Muta on the last PPV was a sideline to his actual negotiations with Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter), there may be an overkill of Puro stars on the TNA show and of course their own roster will be neglected.

Finally, each of the Japanese promotions would have to be booked as equal in TNA otherwise I'm sure there will be bruised egos and renewed tensions between the Big Three back home, which at the moment is fairly amiable.

the only positive is the big dream matches - inclduing a possible Joe vs Kobashi rematch if Kobashi can return to action after his recent brush with cancer.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Tonight's episode of NJPW on Eurosport 2 is the first night of the G1 Climax tournament from August 2005. The full card is (matches in bold airing on the show):

NJPW, 8/4/05 (SXW) (Buy)
Fukuoka International Center
4,000 Fans - No Vacancy

1. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie vs. Togi Makabe
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kendo Kashin
5. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
6. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono vs. Yuji Nagata
8. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

-- Edited by Man In Black at 21:40, 2007-03-28

-- Edited by Man In Black at 22:18, 2007-03-28

air_raid_crash · On The Casting Couch

Am I imagining it or is the Champions Carnival being really screwy to Kawada? He should beat Tajiri FFS...

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Tajiri is on a strange mission to make wrestling "fun" again which is why he's not going all out like he used to and has been messing about a lot in this tourney.

You are right about Kawada. He lost his first match against R'OZ in just over 6 minutes! Whether they want RO'Z to get over as a monster big time in this tourney is one thing but to go over Kawada so quickly is a real "WTF?" moment. I'm sure they could have used someone else...

In other CC news, on Day 2 Satoshi Kojima bested current Triple Crown champ Minoru Suzuki in their match and Kensuke Sasaki finally got the win over Keiji Mutoh despite injuring his arm early on:

Kojima vs Suzuki

and on Day 3 Sasaki vs 2006 CC winner Taiyo Kea went to a time limit draw whilst Tajiri (as you pointed out) got himself DQ'd against Kawada by misting the ref, and Kojima continued to his winning streak by beating R'OZ:

Sasaki vs Kea

-- Edited by Man In Black at 14:26, 2007-03-29

air_raid_crash · On The Casting Couch

Day 4 Results & Recap by Irving - 03/29/07 10:18 am
AJPW, 3/29/07 (GAORA TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Nobukazu Hirai beat Kiyonari Sanada (6:57) with a backdrop hold.
2. Satoshi Kojima, Nobutaka Araya & Akira Raijin beat Miguel Hayashi Jr., PEPE Michinoku & El NOSAWA Mendoza (11:15) with a lariat.
3. Champion Carnival - Block B: TAJIRI [2] beat RO'Z [2] (5:04) by pinfall.
4. Champion Carnival - Block B: Taiyo Kea [4] beat Touru Owashi [0] (14:24) ended with the TKO34th.
5. Keiji Muto, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Ryuji Hijikata beat TARU, Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI (13:20) when YASSHI was disqualified due to referee violence (chair attack).
6. Champion Carnival - Block B: Suwama [5] beat Kensuke Sasaki [3] (0:14) with a horizontal cradle.
7. Champion Carnival - Block B: Minoru Suzuki [3] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [3] (30:00) ended in a time limit draw.

Another bloody draw.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

6. Champion Carnival - Block B: Suwama [5] beat Kensuke Sasaki [3] (0:14) with a horizontal cradle.

And I thought Kawada losing to R'OZ in 6 minutes was going to be the big "WTF?" moment of this tourney! hmm

The card for tomorrow's final:

AJPW, 3/30/07 (GAORA TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Akira Raijin, Kiyonari Sanada & T28 vs. TARU, Suwama & RO'Z
2. Champion Carnival - Block A: Kensuke Sasaki [3] vs. Touru Owashi {0}
3. Champion Carnival - Block A: Keiji Muto [4] vs. Taiyo Kea [4]
4. Champion Carnival - Block B: Minoru Suzuki

[3] vs. TAJIRI [2]
5. Champion Carnival - Block B: Satoshi Kojima [4] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [3]
6. Masanobu Fuchi, Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Miguel Hayashi Jr., PEPE Michinoku & El NOSAWA Mendoza
7. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI
8. Champion Carnival - Final: Winner of Block A vs. Winner of Block B

If Kensuke's arm is really that knackered then we can either count him out or he will pull of a miracle win. Putting him aside, I'm looking at either Muto or Kojima to take this.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Results of the finals:

AJPW, 3/30/07 (GAORA TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,100 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House

1. TARU, Suwama & RO'Z beat Akira Raijin, Kiyonari Sanada & T28 (2:40) when TARU pinned T28 after an RO'Z diving body press.
2. Champion Carnival - Block A: Kensuke Sasaki [5] beat Touru Owashi {0} (5:57) with a lariat.
3. Champion Carnival - Block A: Keiji Muto [6] beat Taiyo Kea [4] (19:21) with the Shining Wizard.
4. Champion Carnival - Block B: TAJIRI [4] beat Minoru Suzuki

[3] (4:17) by countout.
5. Champion Carnival - Block B: Toshiaki Kawada [5] beat Satoshi Kojima [4] (15:24) with a jujigatame.
6. Miguel Hayashi Jr., PEPE Michinoku & El NOSAWA Mendoza beat Masanobu Fuchi, Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai (13:04) when Miguel used an inside cradle on Araya.
7. Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Ryuji Hijikata (11:36) when YASSHI used a horizontal cradle on Nakajima.
8. Champion Carnival - Final: Keiji Muto beat Toshiaki Kawada (22:28) with the moonsault press (Muto wins the 2007 Champion Carnival).

I said it would be Mutoh!

-- Edited by Man In Black at 17:25, 2007-03-30

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Results from NJPW today:

NJPW, 4/13/07 (WPW/PPV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
5,700 Fans

1. El Samurai & Yujiro beat Taichi Ishikari & Mitsuhide Hirasawa (8:14) when Yujiro used a diving headbutt on Hirasawa.
2. Special Tag: Jushin Thunder Liger, Milano Collection AT & BxB Hulk

beat Koji Kanemoto, Wataru Inoue & Tetsuya Naito (12:32) when Milano used a backdrop clutch hold on Naito.
3. New Japan vs. GBH: Riki Choshu & Takashi Iizuka beat Toru Yano & Tomoaki Honma (2:52) when Iizuka used a sleeper hold on Honma.
4. Special Singles Match: Manabu Nakanishi beat Orlando Jordan (7:59) with the Hercules Cutter.
5. BLACK vs. GBH: Shinsuke Nakamura & Black Strong Machine beat Togi Makabe & Tomohiro Ishii (11:58) when Nakamura used the Landslide on Ishii.
6. IJ Tag Team Title: Jado & Gedo (c) beat Masaaki Mochizuki

& Yasushi Kanda

(14:51) when Jado used the Crossface of JADO on Kanda (2nd defense).
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Minoru (c) beat Ryusuke Taguchi (18:27) with the HEAT clutch (3rd defense).
8. IWGP Tag Team Title: Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko (c) beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Shiro Koshinaka (15:47) when Tomko pinned Tenzan after the Magic Killer (1st defense).
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Yuji Nagata beat Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) (23:34) with a backdrop hold to become the 46th champion.

A few broken hearts of the ladies in attendance but for everyone else, Nagata as new IWGP Champ is excellent news!! This was said to be a gerat show with the exception of Nakanishi vs Jordan (which isnt a surprise as Jordan sucks!)

Go Nagata!!!

-- Edited by Man In Black at 10:25, 2007-04-14

air_raid_crash · On The Casting Couch

why the **** has Shiozaki jobbed to Bison Smith today? One has a future, the other is frankly pointless.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Maybe they are setting up Bison for Misawa's next challenger after Sano?

Unfortunately, Misawa won't be able to get a watchable match out of the roided lump like Kobashi did back in 2004.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Just watched Tanahashi vs Nagata. I have a new MOTY. Great stuff!

Tanahashi finally puts in a championship worthy performance - shame it signalled the end of his title reign. The crowd was pretty hot throughout which seems to be rare in Puro these days.

Definitely worth checking out if you are a Puro fan.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Some NJPW matches for you to check out courtesy of SSS:

7/6/07 Tokyo Korakuen Hall - IWGP Heavyweight Title Match - Yuji Nagata (c) vs Togi Makabe

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6fo4j5

Some pics:

7/6/07 - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title Match - Minoru (c) vs Ryusuke Taguchi

http://www.sendspace.com/file/a9915w

Heads up: IWTV in Japan mute out the entrance music due to the old licence issue but the matches are intact.

Feel free to post your thoughts on these matches if you download them.

-- Edited by Man In Black at 14:56, 2007-08-07

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Thought it would be wise to resurrect this in lieu of the dispute on the chatbox.

So, in Puro news:

The Great Muta defeated Suwama for the Triple Crown at the All Japan Show on Sunday at Yokohama to become the 38th Champion. After the match Muta was attacked and challenged by former TC champion Minoru Suzuki.

This is Muta's second reign as TCC the first being in 2002, while he has held the belts as Keiji Muto in 2001.

Also in Yokohama, NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji beat Ryuiji Hijikata for the AJPW Jr Heavyweight title. Marufuji was Giant Baba's last student before Baba passed away in 1999.

finally, AJPW's ace gaijin Joe Doering shocked everyone by joining his long time enemies the renegade heel faction Voodoo Murders.

Over at Pro Wrestling NOAH, GHC World Champion successfully defended his title against Mohammad Yone in Osaka. Unfortunately the show only drew 3,300 fans in a building that holds 8,000 but NOAH has a history of being unable to draw well outside of Tokyo (largely because they hold all their big cards at the Budokan).

Also on the show GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag champs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki retained their titles against New Japan's young lions Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito.

And at an upcoming show in Horishima on October 13th, new Jr Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson will defend his title against KENTA.

Finally, Keiji Muto will defend his IWGP title against the man he won it from back in April, Shinsuke Nakamura, at New Japan's Destruction 08 show in Tokyo.

Totoro101 · Movie Executive Producer

thanks for the info Mib.Danielson and Kent will be a cracker and Muto vs Nakamura should be cool to.The one Puro guy i like apart from Morishima at the moment (my all time faverate is Misawa but havent seen to much of him these days,from the last few matches i saw from a year or so back,he looked ok but not in the best condition) is Naomichi Marufuji.I only watch a few Puro matches here and there these days, so i dont follow to much whats going on as i do with joshi.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Misawa is pretty terrible these days and so is Muto. Why he is holding two of the most prestigious titles in Japan at the moment is a mystery when both companies should be pushing the younger guys.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Not good news:

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Keiji Muto, the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling, has been conducting meetings with potential sponsors as the Japanese promotion is in rough shape financially and there are rumors of a sale.

Hopefully they will be able to pull something out of the hat. Otherwise New Japan and NOAH will benefit from an influx of new talent.

Better news though, Kenta Kobashi has been released from hospital following surgery on his arm to correct nerve damage. A roughly translated version of a report from SportsNavi explains the following:

- Right elbow was cut in about ten centimeters, bone was divided, nerve was moved away and fixed with bolts
- Didn't have permission to leave hospital, but got special permission to attend this event
- Has plaster on both arms. Said "arm must be narrow" and because of that refused to use bandage on right arm, on night when sleeps, arm is fixed with nurse's hand made cardboard, also ate meal with fork in left hand
- Will do training, kinda special training with balance ball that will help his nerves work
- Will be out for year, but promised to come back and to win GHC title again

Even though Kobashi famously said after his cancer battle "There is no retirement in Kenta Kobashi" maybe he should consider it. His knees are knackered, his body has been weakened by cancer and his trademark chops have now damaged his arms - maybe it might be for the best.

Finally, New Japan's Hiroshi Tanahashi will go on an excursion with TNA beginning soon. Look for Russo, Mantell and co to completely screw up Tanahashi's push and saddle him with a lame and offensive gimmick.

Creepfnshow · On The Casting Couch

in the words of shane douglas when foley was about to join WWE
"Abort Mission, Abort Mission" Tanahashi should stay as far away from the pen of Russo as possible if he wants to keep his name in good nick for his eventual return to the rising sun.
I love Kobashi, even though he's knackered beyond measure you know he's gonna come back and like the last slice of cheesecake in the fridge that you know you shouldn't eat but do anyway, you know you'll be cheering when he comes back even though we all know he should hang em up for good.
Burnnnnnningggggg Hammmmmmmmmmmer ooooooo!

-- Edited by Creepfnshow at 20:02, 2008-10-02