Puroresu Pulse, issue 32

Archive

Section 1- Results

All Japan: Taka made his seventh title defense in five months, downing Toshizo (who unmasked as his real name of Hijikata afterwards). Taka is building quite a reign, but even he will struggle to top what Masa Fuchi did with 14 title defenses in a reign stretching from 10/20/89 to 5/21/93.

Dragon Gate: Ryo Saito gained a huge win by pinning CIMA on Sunday, which cements him as one of the current top three in the company.

New Japan: Tenzan made a hastily-arranged first IWGP title defense against Scott Norton in Italy on the 4th.

NOAH: As expected, the long junior tag title reign of Marufuji and KENTA was ended by Kanemaru and Sugiura on Sunday. The match was a shade under thirty-five minutes, the longest in the history of the title. On Tuesday, Yone made a somewhat perfunctory openweight title defense over Kikuchi.

Zero-One: I’m dropping coverage of them. The cards come out so haphazardly and the booking is so hard to follow that when coupled with their small size they simply aren’t relevant beyond containing some good talent.

Section 2- News

All Japan: Taiyo Kea is out for at least a month with an undisclosed injury. Recently deposed New Japan president Kusama is in talks with All Japan about helping them straighten out finances. The company released cards for their brief mid-month tour, highlighted by an 8-team All Asia tag title tournament (belts were vacated when Rico left). The final will be held on the 19th in Korakuen. Also on that date will be a non-title Kojima vs Albert match, perhaps to set up a Triple Crown match but perhaps to avoid doing it. There’s sure to be a defense on 7/26, the only question is who the challenger will be.

Dragon Gate: A masked man has been appearing at recent shows, probably MAGMA of Osaka Pro who just left there. Meanwhile, similarly-built Owashi (formerly of DG) has been getting a big push in Osaka Pro.

New Japan: Nagata challenged for both heavyweight titles after the 6/4 show, as he hasn’t had a singles title shot in three years and he and Nakanishi beat Tanahashi and Nakamura in a non-title match on the tour. Tenzan at first seemed interested, but then said that he wanted to pay Nagata back for not giving him a shot during Nagata’s year-long reign. Tenzan said he’d prefer to face Fujita, Tanahashi or Ron Waterman on 7/18. As for the tag titles, Tanahashi said that Nagata and Nakanishi would need to win a number one contenders match on 7/18 to get a shot. Nagata is fast becoming New Japan’s answer to Rodney Dangerfield. Finally, in addition to Tenzan’s title defense, both junior titles will be up for grabs on 7/18.

NOAH: More matches for the 7/18 dome show have been set up. Tenryu will face someone he helped train and is friends with, Yoshinari Ogawa. Minoru Suzuki and Marufuji have nominated Akiyama and Morishima for a potential tag title match, assuming that they take the titles from Scorpio and Williams later this month (and they will). The biggest of the potential matches is Rikio defending the GHC title against Tanahashi. Last but not least, Takayama is aiming for a return in the fall and is planning on forming a stable with Tenryu, Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki (which could wind up being interpromotional).

Section 3- Missed opportunities

By now you’ve probably heard about the bidding war between WWE and TNA over Samoa Joe, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. Japan figures quite prominently into these three and other independent wrestlers.

CM Punk is tricky discuss. Punk did some shows for Zero-One in 2003, and while good, there was nothing spectacular. Of course one might say the same thing about Punk as a whole in 2003, as it wasn’t until 2004 that he really broke out (please don’t get me started on the 90 minute match with Hero from ’03). Punk, who isn’t much of a flier and doesn’t work the more high-impact style of modern Japan, is nonetheless a very smart wrestler and could be used as a mid-sized gaijin heel. Steve Corino has gotten a decent niche following doing this. Considering that Japanese promotions will snatch up guys like Johnny the Bull just because they were in WWE, I can only imagine that Punk can do much better.

Danielson, currently on a tour of Europe and ‘contemplating retirement’, has worked several tours of New Japan and worked extensively in New Japan’s LA Dojo. Given that he had very good to excellent matches in just about every role imaginable in many promotions across the world over the course of the last year and a half, you’d think it would take more than the TNA deal with WGN to spark interest in him among major promotions. Where WWE is concerned I can understand, after all small guys are not a priority to Vince McMahon. Danielson doesn’t fit in TNA’s two wrestler molds (sports entertainment and spotfest), so their passing on him to now also makes sense. But New Japan?

If it’s a matter of money, it would be sad for New Japan to not pay better than tiny US independent promotions. If it’s a matter of not thinking he’s worth the investment to build up, they’re out of their minds. After some bad matches in his Japan debuts (2002), he more than hit his stride by late 2003 and was the closest thing to the classic Billington/Benoit foreign junior wrestler to hit Japan since, well, probably Benoit himself. NOAH saw that Low Ki is worth bringing in, because Ki is a good fit for Japan. Why Danielson isn’t getting the same respect is anyone’s guess.

Samoa Joe’s situation is the most interesting of all. He was a regular with Zero-One from 2001-2002, and from there he transitioned into his role as a big name on the indies. He spent time in UPW, a WWF feeder promotion, but was never called up. He’s spent lots of time with the LA Dojo, but debates over money and some issues with Joe being ROH champion have stopped him from going on tours. As with Danielson he isn’t exactly what TNA has been looking for in their wrestlers, and unlike Punk he’s flabby so WWE is hesitant. Now that WWE and TNA are looking his way more intently, Joe himself reports that New Japan upped their offer accordingly. Joe’s style is patterned mostly on Japanese heavyweight style, but his time in Zero-One (where he wasn’t good enough yet to be a standout) actually *harms* him in New Japan’s eyes. Ugh.

Of course there are some US indy wrestlers who have wound up doing well for themselves. Christopher Daniels, prior to committing himself to TNA, was fast becoming a mainstay in New Japan as Curry Man. Rocky Romero is getting a solid push under the Black Tiger gimmick as we speak. Alex Shelley quickly earned a regular spot in Zero-One. Still, given the incredible quantity and quality of talent to emerge on the indy scene in the last few years, and their affordability, I wish something besides “hey if WWE wants these guys they might actually be worth something!” was the mindset of the day. Sadly Japan is fixated on heavyweights with shootfight or WWE experience, when they could improve their product by making use of eager-to-please overseas grapplers.