Section 1- Important Results
New Japan: The Openweight tournament proceeded with more unusual results. Kashin, Nakanishi, Tenzan and Tanahashi defeated Yoshie, Chono, Nishimura and Kanemoto (respectively) in round 2 on the 21st. Three days later, Tanahashi upset Tenzan and Nakanishi downed Kashin to set up the final of Tanahashi upsetting Nakanishi to win the tournament. The Tenzan win was with a cradle, while the Nakanishi win was a semi-botched three count, but it’s still a big feather in Tanahashi’s cap and he earns an IWGP title shot against the Kojima vs Tenzan winner.
NOAH: The Budokan was only 60% full, and Rikio received some booing from fans (rare in Japan for a non-heel) )after his academic title defense over Saito. The two big undercard tags featured the out-of-place youngsters (Kotaro Suzuki, Go Shiozaki) both losing. The highlight of the undercard was Kobashi and Tenryu going at it in a war of chops. Ah, perhaps that depends on one’s definition of ‘undercard’, because…
After the third match, Kawada entered the ring and issued a challenge to Misawa for a match at the 7/18 Tokyo Dome show. Misawa accepted, and a few days later Misawa vs Kawada was signed for the show! How often Kawada will appear in NOAH is up in the air, but NOAH’s crowd was very enthusiastic about Kawada’s entry. In yet another big signing, Kobashi’s opponent will be recent Champions Carnival winner Kensuke Sasaki! NOAH is going all-out this time, hoping to sell a more respectable number of tickets than last year.
Section 2- Other news
Dragon Gate: The PoS Hearts team getting the 6-man title shot this Sunday will include Magnum Tokyo, who replaces Shisa. Also added for Sunday is Doi defending the lightweight title against K-Ness. On a down note, Naoki Tanisaki will be out a while due to a back injury.
New Japan: Chono’s heel stable seems to be on shaky ground. Nakanishi is firmly aligned with Nagata’s new Blue Justice stable, Scott Norton is losing steam, Ron Waterman has failed to make a big impression and remains very irregular, and the juniors are largely doing their own thing. Meanwhile, Chono himself called for a cage match with Fujinami at the 5/14 show. New Japan will not run a show again until then, and with just over two weeks left they don’t have a whole lot of ticket movement. Will be interesting to see how they flesh out the card and if changes get made to ‘upgrade’ it.
NOAH: Two different tag title matches appear to be in the works. First, Marufuji and KENTA will face a very stiff (and quite probably reign-ending) junior tag title defense soon against Sugiura and SUWA. Second, following their Budokan win, Minoru Suzuki and Marufuji asked for a tag title shot at Scorpio and Williams, who have yet to defend since winning in January and who won’t defend on the next tour either. One of these matches seems certain to happen on 7/18. On a related note, Kanemaru hasn’t had a junior title defense since 1/8, and he seems likely to go up against KENTA or Marufuji. Lastly, Daisuke Ikeda will return to NOAH as a freelancer on their upcoming tour.
Toryumon/Ultimo Dragon: Following a failed WWE run, and a split from the bulk of his Toryumon students, Yoshihiro Asai is cobbling together a new wrestling promotion. Named ‘Dragon Door’, it will apparently be manned by certain wrestlers currently not in Dragon Gate like Milano Collection AT, SUWA, the recently dismissed Aagan Iisou stable, the Toryumon X graduating class, and Asai’s newest batch of students. If this group winds up being a big enough success, I’ll cover it.
Section 3- Have floodwaters receded or will All Japan drown?
Misawa took the bulk of All Japan’s roster in 2000 to form NOAH. All Japan was then run primarily by Tenryu, Kawada, Masa Fuchi, and in 2002 by Mutoh. Well, last year saw Mutoh enter NOAH and Misawa travel to All Japan. This year we have Tenryu as a semi-regular in NOAH and Kawada making a big splash as well. So now what?
Most observers of puroresu would say that NOAH’s product since the big split has been better than All Japan’s, both for the number of good matches and the number of exceptional matches. All Japan has been so starved for talent that it’s used retreads from WAR, WWE, Toryumon and Zero-One just to stay alive. It didn’t help that Kawada was out for fourteen months between 2/02 and 4/03, but even afterwards it has struggled badly in trying to maintain any sort of forward momentum. Now with Tenryu mostly gone, Sasaki not necessarily on every show, Kawada a freelancer, and Kojima drawing more headlines for New Japan than All Japan, things don’t look all that promising for Zen Nihon.
What one has to wonder is whether or not Misawa would be able to obtain the services of Kawada and Sasaki on a regular or even semi-regular basis. Sasaki has wrestled almost everywhere since the collapse of World Japan, and can only work so many shows a month. With NOAH in the picture he can command a higher price per show than ever. Kawada, who is 42 years old but with 23 years in wrestling, is in high demand and has many more attractive matches in NOAH than in All Japan. If Misawa offers significantly more, will Kawada still bother to show up on many All Japan stops?
As a wrestling fan I’m torn. On one had, the additions of Kawada and Sasaki to NOAH’s roster would open up a world of exciting match possibilities and give them more opportunities to elevate their future stars. On the other, losing Kawada and Sasaki for tour shows would bring All Japan down even more, perhaps to the Zero-One low of a B-level promotion. If that happens it’s not a stretch to imagine Kojima returning to New Japan, which would be all the more devastating. Then again, Kawada and Sasaki might only show up in NOAH ten times a year and All Japan would be essentially unaffected. Ain’t wild speculation fun?
Next Column: New Japan’s Dome card additions and/or changes, hopefully some title match announcements from All Japan and NOAH, and details on Dragon Door? Ah, the uncertainties of not having a big show soon.
