New Japan vs TNA Tokyo Dome 4/1/08 + Sumo Hall 17/02/08

Man In Black · Anime Mod

New Japan vs TNA Tokyo Dome 4/1/08 + Sumo Hall 17/02/08

Totoro101 · Movie Executive Producer

New Japan vs TNA Tokyo Dome Jan 4th

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Full card:

1. THIS IS WAR! ~NONSTOP RISING~: Milano Collection AT, Minoru & Prince Devitt vs. Christian Cage , AJ Styles & Petey Williams
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Wataru Inoue (c) vs. Christopher Daniels
3. Japanese Muscle Monster vs. The American Monster: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Abyss
4. NEW JAPAN vs. The Alliance GROUND ZERO: Takashi Iizuka, Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Masato Tanaka , Tatsuhito Takaiwa , Yutaka Yoshie & Katsushi Takemura
5. GET THE TABLE! GET THE HIGHEST!: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. "Team 3D" Brother Ray & Brother Devon
6. ONE NIGHT STAND ~LEGEND vs. VBH~: Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Jushin Thunder Liger, AKIRA & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jado, Gedo, TARU, Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI
7. Generation of Chaos: Hirooki Goto vs. Great Muta
8. IWGP Tag Team Title: Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko (c) vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
9. Final Resolution~REAL vs. Justice~IWGP 3rd Belt: Kurt Angle (c) vs. Yuji Nagata
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

I have two words for ya: Screw Wrestlemania! That card is mouth wateringly awesome!

-- Edited by Man In Black at 15:06, 2007-12-22

Man In Black · Anime Mod

The above card has changed slightly with the announcement that Tatsumi Fujinami is to return to the New Japan ring at the Dome.

Since leaving the company to form his own group MUGA World - which has now renamed itself DRADITION - Fujinami will join the members of LEGEND in thier match against VBH replacing Super Strong Machine stepping aside to allow "The Dragon" to compete.

However, there is tremendous personal animosity between Fujinami & LEGEND member Riki Choshu so it will be interesting to see if the two can co-exist or not. Fujinami once said he would never work for New Japan as long as Choshu was still around so whether the ice has melted between the two or the fact that DRADITION is falling apart right now remains to be discovered.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Full results:

NJPW "WRESTLE KINGDOM II IN TOKYO DOME", 1/4/08 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Dome
27,000 fans No Vacancy

1. THIS IS WAR! ~NONSTOP RISING~: Christian Cage, AJ Styles & Petey Williams beat Milano Collection AT, Minoru & Prince Devitt (10:25) when Styles used the Styles Clash on Milano.
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Wataru Inoue (c) beat Christopher Daniels (10:17) with a modified Staggerin' Blow (1st defense).
3. Japanese Muscle Monster vs. The American Monster: Manabu Nakanishi beat Abyss (6:00) with the Dai*Nakanishi German.
4. NEW JAPAN vs. The Alliance GROUND ZERO: Masato Tanaka, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Yutaka Yoshie & Katsushi Takemura beat Takashi Iizuka, Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi (8:36) when Yoshie used a diving body press on Taguchi.
5. GET THE TABLE! GET THE HIGHEST! - Hardcore Match: "Team 3D" Brother Ray & Brother Devon beat Togi Makabe & Toru Yano (13:12) when Devon pinned Makabe after the 3D.
6. ONE NIGHT STAND ~LEGEND vs. VBH~: Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA beat Jado, Gedo, TARU, Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI (7:18) when Choshu used a lariat on YASSHI.
7. Generation of Chaos: Great Muta beat Hirooki Goto (13:04) with a moonsault press.
8. IWGP Tag Team Title: Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko (c) beat Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner (12:50) when Bernard pinned Rick after the Magic Killer (5th defense).
9. Final Resolution~REAL vs. Justice~IWGP 3rd Belt: Kurt Angle (c) beat Yuji Nagata (18:29) with an ankle lock.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) (23:08) with an avalanche-style Landslide to become the 48th champion.

-- Edited by Man In Black at 12:42, 2008-01-04

-- Edited by Man In Black at 17:26, 2008-01-04

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

Of course Kurt Angle won.

But I wonder: are there any problems in the ring with the Japanese wrestlers and American wrestlers because of style differences or anything? Or is wrestling just a universal language?

Man In Black · Anime Mod

The only problem is probably the language barrier but they seem to be able to overcome that.

Wrestling itself is a fairly universal vocabulary of moves and bumps but the styles are a little different. In Japan they tend to work a lot stiffer to make it look more legit and sometimes they don't sell so much to get across the "fighting spirit". Also they like to slow build their big matches with a lot of mat work early which builds and builds until they unleash the big moves for the climax.

It's nothing that guys in TNA or WWE haven't learned to do, but rather they are booked not to do because of how it fits their image and remit of "S****s E***********t" and what the average US fan is used to. ROH tries to copy a lot of what they do in Puro but often come across as wannabes.

The rings are the same (except TNA have a 6 sided one instead of four) although some promotions have ring mats that look rock solid.

As for Angle going over, in some ways it makes sense because he is holding the fake IWGP title. New Japan must feel there is more capital in having the real IWGP champ take the belt in a unifcation match rather than having one of their own hold the fake belt for the duration until the match is signed.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

Thanks for that info on wrestling. I know a little about wrestling, but I always come up with questions that I am really interested in.

Man In Black · Anime Mod

No problem Dude. I'm happy to discuss something I have an interest in much as I'm sure you do with MMA!

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Results from today's New Japan Sumo Hall show that featured TNA stars courtesy of SSS:

Nagata vs. Goto was cancelled at the last minute after it was revealed Nagata has some brain abnormalities that could have been worsened if he wrestled.

NJPW, 2/17/08 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
9,500 Fans

1. Intensely! Desperately!: Manabu Nakanishi, Takashi Iizuka, Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Yujiro, Taichi Ishikari & Tetsuya Naito (9:45) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Naito.
2. Jr. NEW GENERATION: Christopher Daniels beat Wataru Inoue (13:00) with the Best Moonsault Ever.
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan Return Match ~ Tenzan Home Coming: Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Shiro Koshinaka & Super Strong Machine beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii (8:55) when Chono used a Shining Yakuza kick on Ishii.
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA beat Minoru & Prince Devitt (c) (14:55) when Liger used an avalanche-style brainbister on Devitt to become the 20th champions.
5. New Japan vs. TNA - The Highflying Star vs. The Phenomenal 2nd: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat AJ Styles (18:54) with the High Fly Flow.
6. IWGP Tag Team Title: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano beat Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko (c) (16:30) when Makabe used a top rope King Kong kneedrop on Tomko to become the 51st champions.
7. IWGP Heavyweight Title Unification Match - IWGP 2nd vs. IWGP 3rd: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) beat Kurt Angle TNA Wrestling (c) (13:55) with a cross armbreaker (1st defense) to become the new IWGP 3rd Belt Champion and unify the titles.

Tomko looks to be done with New Japan as he appeared at yesterday's IGF show unannounced and threw down his IWGP Tag title belt, then he jobbed in the title match today. It is not yet clear if he is siding with IGF or just planning on committing to TNA who are giving him a big push at the moment.

Totoro101 · Movie Executive Producer

RE: New Japan vs TNA Tokyo Dome 4/1/08 + Sumo Hall 17/02/08

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Yes Tomko has improved which is why TNA are giving him a push and New Japan made him and Bernard (Albert from WWE) IWGP Tag Champs for so long. While his TNA work is better than his WWE work, his best stuff is in New Japan.

He's also good on the mic and was getting over as a babyface so Russo - being the genius he is - has turned him heel again!

Man In Black · Anime Mod

Meltzer:

Yuji Nagata, 39, a two-time IWGP heavyweight champion, was rushed to the hospital earlier today when he showed up at Tokyo Sumo Hall for the New Japan show complaining of severe pain in the brain and no control of the left side of his body.

According to those backstage, Nagata was speaking clearly, which was a good sign. His right side was fine. He said he had severe headaches two weeks ago but continued to wrestle and never got them checked out. Doctors at the show thought he may have suffered a stroke.