PWInsiderXTRA - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

 

This past Sunday in Japan saw the end of a decade finish with the dawning of a new Era for NOAH. Thanks to Purolove for the results (it’s in German, hence no link).

 

NOAH "WINTER NAVIGATION 2009", 06.12.2009 (G+)
TokyoNippon Budokan
12,000 Fans

1. Shuhei Taniguchi defeated Makoto Hashi (10:38) with a German Suplex Hold.
2. Akira Taue, Takuma Sano, Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi defeated Yoshinari Ogawa, Kentaro Shiga, Kishin Kawabata & Genba Hirayanagi (13:47) after a Northern Light Bomb by Sano on Hirayanagi.
3. Kenta Kobashi, Tamon Honda & Akihiko Ito beat Bison Smith, Chris Hero & Eddie Edwards (15:43) after a Short Range Strong Arm Lariat by Kobashi on Edwards.
4. Naomichi Marufuji Return Match & Atsushi Aoki Shining Magic 10 Match Series 9th: Naomichi Marufuji beat Atsushi Aoki (17:21) with Tiger Frosion.
5. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki © defeated Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin (22:26) after a Rolling Elbow by Suzuki on Marvin (6th defense).
6. GHC Tag Team Title: Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone beat Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima © (26:40) with Yone pinning Morishima. Rikio & Yone are the new GHC Tag Team Champions..
7. GHC Heavyweight Title: Takashi Sugiura defeated Go Shiozaki © (24:39) after an Avalanche-Style Olympic Slam (off the top turnbuckle) – Sugiura becomes the new GHC Heavyweight Champion.

 

·        12,000 announced means between 8,000-9,000 paid. Right around what I mentioned previously, and it’s no worse than they’ve done with Marufuji or Morishima on top. This is a good sign as it means their business isn’t any worse than it’s been in the past, and therefore there is hope.

·        Marufuji is handling the booking right now with Akiyama being away dealing with some things that I’ll talk about a little further down. As usual, NOAH’s booking has some obvious points (Kobashi and Taue’s teams winning their matches), some negatively shocking points (the results of the two tag title matches), and some pleasant surprises (SUGI).

·        NOAH’s got a new logo. I’m not usually one who likes the “improvements” that such things are considered to be, however I really like this logo.

·        In his latest blog, KENTA spoke of being out of the wheelchair and on crutches now. It also sounds like he’s getting out of the hospital today, though that may have been lost in translation (btw, great Bill Murray/Scarlet Johansson movie there that takes place in Japan ironically enough).

·        Speaking of injured NOAH stars, Jun Akiyama, along with the herniated discs and the left shoulder injury, is also dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to Dave Meltzer. Apparently it has nothing to do with Misawa’s death either. If that’s the case, this has been an especially bad year for Akiyama. Obviously he is in no condition to be working behind-the-scenes either, hence Marufuji taking over the book, which they had been splitting prior to that. Kobashi is also booking his own programs and trying to take care of his friends. Oh wrestling politics.

·        Tiger Frosion is Marufuji’s newest finisher, and an ode to Misawa, whose finishers included the Tiger Driver and in big matches, Emerald Frosion. NOAH kept showing Marufuji, who was ringside as a 2^nd for the Sugiura Title victory, after the match watching Sugi talk, and eventually leaving during the speech. Marufuji, being a Misawa trainee and former GHC Heavyweight Champion, you know what was being teased there. And it’d be a helluva match given the lack of a huge size advantage for Sugi.

·        I can understand keeping the Jr. Tag Titles on Kanemaru and Suzuki. They’ve had a long title reign, and both are very well-respected members of the NOAH locker room. Plus, it appeases some egos, as Kanemaru is only a placeholder Ace for the Jr. Title (singles), and Suzuki, despite being given plenty of responsibility over the years (including wrestling as child favourite Mushiking Terry), has never been given a run with the Jr. Title.

·        I absolutely cannot understand both the win by Rikio/Yone, who are the worst heels in wrestling, and the fact that it was Yone of all people defeating former GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima. It’s an utter atrocity of a booking decision on every feasible level.

 

Morishima is and will continue to be one of the Top-3 Heavyweights in NOAH for

the next 10 years barring injury, and as such he is one of only a few guys on the

roster who is capable of drawing money for the fledgling promotion. To have Yone, an absolute joke of a wrestler with a bad workrate and pitiful heel style, defeating money? Decisions like this will destroy NOAH as a business if they continue to happen. Not to mention that it should have been Morishima facing Nakamura in the main event of the 1/4/10 NJ vs NOAH Tokyo Dome show.

 

And finally…

 

·        You'd think that Go losing the title after only one successful defense in a 6 month title reign would hurt, but...

A) The match was World-Class, and by World-Class I'm talking #2 on my 2009 Puro MOTY list, #1 of all the Puro Heavyweight matches this year, and #5 on my current Best of 2000's list (which is incomplete but I'd be shocked to see it drop out of the Top-10 for the entire decade). Which leads to...

B) The Shiozaki chant as Go left and headed to the back, and Sugi repeatedly putting Go over after the match. NOAH knows that Go is the future, and the Budokan responded exactly how they wanted them to.

Sometimes, a loss isn't really a loss, and 12/6 was a perfect example of that. Go will be over huge from now on in NOAH’s largest venue, and you know that when he regains the GHC Title at some point in the next 18 months, it will take place in the Budokan, and they will blow the roof off the joint when that three-count takes place.

 

 

 

The Real World Tag League Tournament was plagued by sickness. Triple Crown Champion Satoshi Kojima, KAI, Seiya Sanada, and Joe Doering all went down to the flu during the tour. This caused multiple forfeit victories, and led to the veteran team of Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki defeating the younger Suwama & Masayuki Kono. Safe booking by Mutoh here, though I would’ve much rather seen Suwama pin Funaki – or better yet, Mutoh – to take the League and further his resumé. He is the future of the company after all.

 

Upcoming weird cards from All Japan thanks to Shining Road. (Kojima’s tag partner is a top Joshi – female – wrestler; the F-1 Tag Title is something of a joke, and Kannazaki is not a real wrestler; saving the best for last, Funaki, a former World-Class shooter, vs Kikutaro, an Osaka Pro-trained freelance comedy match wrestler, will be an insane visual that I will watch the second I find it online.)

 

1. Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kikutaro
2. Rope Match: Kaz Hayashi vs. Ryota Hama
3. F4 Offer Match: Satoshi Kojima & Mima Shimoda vs. KAI & Hiroshi Yamato
4. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura vs. Shuji Kondo
5. F-1 Tag Team Title: Keiji Muto & Kannazaki (c) vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Kendo Kobayashi
6. ALL JAPAN FUTURE: Suwama & Manabu Soya vs. Masayuki Kono & Seiya Sanada

AJPW, 1/2/09
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kaz Hayashi (c) vs. Masanobu Fuchi
2. 2/3 Falls: Keiji Muto, Satoshi Kojima, Masakatsu Funaki, Osamu Nishimura & Akebono vs. Suwama, Masayuki Kono, Ryota Hama, Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya
3. Heavyweight Battle Royal

AJPW, 1/3/09
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Jr. Heavyweight Battle Royal
2. AJPW World Tag Team Title: Taiyo Kea & Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Keiji Muto & Masakatsu Funaki

 

Open the Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi’s successful defense against Susumu Yokosuka last month has been hailed by some as a MOTYC. I would be shocked to see otherwise, as these are probably the 2^nd and 3^rd best wrestlers in the promotion, and their styles mesh together very well on paper.

 

BxB Hulk won his V1 defense of the DGUSA Title in Japan over the weekend, however Davey Richards lost his FIP Title to Masaaki Mochizuki. Not surprising if you think about it, as Mochizuki is something of a legendary Dragon System (Toryumon/Dragon Gate) wrestler whose name only serves to further the credibility of the FIP Title. Not to mention the fact that I’d be shocked to see Davey take long to win the title back, perhaps as soon as the end of this tour.

 

Saturday’s big show went down exactly as you’d expect it to.

NJPW, 12/5/09 (WPW)
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
8,500 Fans - No Vacancy

1. Jado & Tomohiro Ishii beat Kazuchika Okada & Nobuo Yoshihashi (7:22) when Jado used the Crossface of JADO on Yoshihashi.
2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto & AKIRA beat Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt (8:48) when Liger used an air scissors drop on Taguchi.
3. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson beat Super Strong Machine & Mitsuhide Hirasawa (9:31) when Anderson pinned Hirasawa after the Magic Killer.
4. Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori beat Masahiro Chono & Tomoaki Honma (8:31) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Honma.
5. Special Singles Match: Toru Yano beat Wataru Inoue (10:44) with the Uragasumi.
6. Chain Death Match: Togi Makabe beat Takashi Iizuka (15:07) by referee stop.
7. Special Singles Match: Hirooki Goto beat Masato Tanaka (16:32) with the Shouten.
8. Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat TAJIRI (16:04) with the High Fly Flow.
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) beat Yuji Nagata (19:39) with the Boma Ye (3rd defense).

Nothing surprising about these results, and the card hasn’t made its way online yet. When it does, I’ll be sure to talk about the Goto/Tanaka and Nakamura/Nagata matches.

 

In the meantime, it was announced that this year’s Wrestle Kingdom show on 1/4/10 in the Tokyo Dome will feature the continuation and ending of the New Japan vs Pro Wrestling NOAH feud. NJ President Sugabayashi wants to see several big matches take place between the two companies to end the feud, including an IWGP Heavyweight Title defense against a top NOAH star. Nakamura has spoken specifically of wrestling someone “A generation ahead” of him. The only viable NOAH name that fits that description is one Kenta Kobashi. That’d be a hell of an interesting match, to say the least if they actually sign it, though I’m a little skeptical. If it is signed, it’s a sign of how desperate New Japan is to sell tickets.

 

Only two matches have been announced so far, though the rest should be announced any day now (if they hope to sell enough tickets to turn a decent profit at least!).

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask IV (c) vs. Super J-Cup 5th Stage winner
2. IWGP Tag Team Title - 3WAY Hardcore Rules Match: “Team 3D” Brother Ray & Brother Devon (c) vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito

If the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title bout doesn’t end up as Tiger Mask IV vs Prince Devitt, I’d be shocked, as this announcement seems to have telegraphed the end result of the 6^th Super J tournament. And if I’m wrong, than Jado and Gedo (New Japan’s bookers) and Liger (running the Super J-Cup) are all categorically insane.

The IWGP Tag Titles bout sees the return of top Jr. tag team Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito to New Japan. Yujiro and Naito have spent time in both TNA and (have been primarily based out of) CMLL in Mexico since losing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles to the MCMG at last year’s 1/4 show. This also seems to be telegraphing the Duds losing the IWGP Tag Titles without having to eat a pinfall, thus enabling them to maintain their faux undefeated streak in Japan (a streak that ignores several loses during their time in ECW during the ECW vs FMW series).

In the meantime, New Japan has announced two upcoming cards. The first sees the return of New Japan trainee Yutaka Yoshie, who will celebrate his 15^th anniversary as a wrestler in the main event at the Green Dome.

1.      Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto

2.      Riki Choshu & Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Jado & Gedo

3.      Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada

4.      Wataru Inoue vs. TAJIRI

5.      Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka

6.      Yuji Nagata & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori

7.      Yutaka Yoshie 15th Anniversary Match: Yutaka Yoshie & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii

1. Tiger Mask & Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Jado & Gedo
2. Jushin Thunder Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Koji Kanemoto & Taichi
3. Tomoaki Honma vs. Takashi Iizuka
4. Riki Choshu & Kazuchika Okada vs. Super Strong Machine & Mitsuhide Hirasawa
5. Special Tag Match ~ NJPW year-end gift: Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori
6. Special 6 Man Tag Match ~ USHIKU ONE NIGHT STAND: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii

Of note on this card is my boy Kazuchika Okada, who I refer to as “The Future of Puroresu” graduating to the 3^rd match on the card in a singles’ bout against Hirooki Goto, the 2008 G1 Climax winner, and the 4^th match on 12/20 in a tag match with the legendary Riki Choshu as his partner. It will be fun to watch Okada, still a baby in this business, actually look better than the veteran Goto in the ring.

One thing I’ve noticed on both of these cards is that there are no Gaijins, which means no Prince Devitt or Karl Anderson. I have no idea why, but it is a rarity, and certainly interesting to see.

 

That’ll finish off this week’s edition of Puro Island. I’m sad to send you back to your regularly scheduled Chris Masters’ boob-juggling, so be sure to come back soon!