Section 1- Results
All Japan: Kojima overcame a dreaded ‘lariat arm injury’ to beat Giant Prince A-Train Bernard in his 4th Triple Crown defense on the 18th. For comparison, Kobashi held the title three times and only managed five defenses total. TAKA’s epic junior title (along with the ‘junior triple crown’) came to an end at the hands of Kondo on Saturday.
Dragon Gate: Blood Generation retained the trios title against TAKA/Togo/Gamma.
NOAH: Scorpio wrested the openweight title from Yone on Saturday.
Section 2- News
All Japan: They announced teams and scheduling for the tag league, which will end on 12/5. Favorites are Team 3D and Mutoh/Akebono. More importantly, Champions Carnival winner Sasaki will get his title shot against Kojima on 11/19.
New Japan: Two title matches are signed for Sunday’s show at Kobe World Hall. Black Tiger’s first junior title defense will be against Kanemoto, while Nakamura & Tanahashi will have to deal with Chono & Tenzan. The latter match has had a lot of drama surrounding it, as the tour has revolved around tensions between Chono/Tenzan and Choshu. It’s not unlike the usual ‘general manager’ stuff seen in WWE. Only Choshu isn’t a black belt or a playa.
NOAH: The 11/5 Budokan card has fleshed out quite a lot. Misawa vs Tenryu is the biggest addition, and chances are this will be their final bout (after not having fought for nearly 20 years!). Sasaki returns to NOAH at long last, teaming with his trainee Nakajima against Kobashi & Shiozaki. Scorpio’s title will already be on the line against Kanemaru. Fun fact: between the three singles titles, every tour-to-tour regular on NOAH’s roster except one has had a title shot in the last two years.
Section 3- NOAH’s quality, long-term and short-term
If you read the message boards, the show reports, the pundits or the year-end awards, chances are you come to the impression that NOAH has the best in-ring product in Japan from a ‘western’ standpoint. Last year it was Kobashi vs Akiyama getting raves, along with the upper card of NOAH’s 4/25 and 9/10 Budokan shows. This year it’s the 7/18 dome show, along with KENTA vs SUWA from 9/18. I happen to be of the NOAH-is-best opinion, although last year’s G-1 Climax produced good matches more than any two tours NOAH ever had.
There’s a debate to be had over whether NOAH is the tops. I’m not in the mood to delineate that discussion, though I will point out that a perception of rewarding fans regularly was a big reason behind the success of the dome show. Rather, I’d like to contrast the flow of very good matches with certain structural problems facing the company.
Much of NOAH’s quality has stemmed from its juniors division, especially KENTA and Makoto Hashi as upstarts battling their heavyweight elders and KENTA/Marufuji putting on action-packed tags. I’ve had my concerns as to whether or not this will remain the case, due to trends like overuse of finishers. KENTA vs SUWA did a lot to allay those fears- seriously it’s worth going out of the way for. Because the heart of the division is young, and thanks to the recruitment of talented outsiders like SUWA and Low Ki, there shouldn’t be a significant dropoff in the next five years. The inclusion of juniors in the tag title division is a good sign, though it’s also as far as juniors will get to headlining major shows. And as good as the division can be, it does rely on heavyweights in order to draw money and interest to NOAH as a whole.
The heavyweight division ain’t pretty, period. Rikio is a bust as champion, with underwhelming efforts in all four title matches so far. Morishima is getting close to the form he had before his injury, but seems quite a ways away from being a main-eventer. Yone seems destined to midcard for life and hasn’t had an impressive singles match in NOAH. Akiyama is somewhat like Tenzan in that he’s always a bridesmaid as far as carrying the promotion and getting sustained pushes (especially after Kobashi’s return three years ago). Sasaki, Tenryu and Suzuki as fresh blood helped a lot this year but none of them are spring chickens and none of them are full-timers. A crew of midcarders from Honda to Shiga to Saito to Sano have helped out from time to time but will never pack the Budokan. Misawa is going downhill in a hurry and already burned through several dream matches.
Takayama came into his own in 2002, and was probably the best heavyweight in Japan match-for-match from then until his injury. He pulled great, tight matches out of many opponents and hardly ever took the night off. Unfortunately for everyone Takayama’s injury is serious and could prevent him from ever doing what he did as a cross-promotional ass-kicker; he certainly can’t be relied on for a long title reign. Taue charms the fans and usually delivers solid performances in the clutch, but the difference between charm and money is big as demonstrated by the low attendance for his title shot against Kobashi. And then there’s Kobashi. His title reign had its share of highlights and lowlights, but it was clearly a boom period for NOAH. Laying off on the moonsault will add years to his career, but how many? And how can he possibly follow up on the last reign?
A few months back I mentioned that NOAH will need to rely on Rikio, Morishima and Akiyama as its headliners for the second half of this decade. Because Misawa is deteriorating faster than expected and Rikio has bombed as the champ, things are even worse than they were back in March. There’s a bright spot on the horizon in the form of Go Shiozaki, but can Go manage to transition from underdog to ace the way Kobashi did and Akiyama didn’t? NOAH’s problems won’t surface for a year or two, or even three, though I don’t expect them to pack the dome again like they did in July. That said, when the problems hit, it won’t be pretty. Let’s hope they make the most of these good times.
