Section 1- Results
New Japan: Albert/Bernard (note: I’m calling him Bernard from now on) beat Nagata in the tournament final, and then failed to take down Lesnar in a title match on Wednesday. Lesnar vs Bernard played out in front of another half-full house. Also on Wednesday, Koji Kanemoto regained the junior title by pinning Tiger Mask with a high-angle falcon arrow. This is the first time a falcon arrow won a match in years that I can remember, about time.
Section 2- News
All Japan: Honma has left the company, but it seems to be an amicable split.
Dragon Gate/NOAH: Update on the attendance battle I wrote about two weeks ago. It sounds like Dragon Gate got an 80-90% full house of around 4,000 while NOAH did between 8,500 and 10,000 (around 60%). Positive signal for DG, while NOAH did their worst number in the Budokan due to their worst card ever in that building by a country mile.
Misc: It’s looking quite probable that Takayama will return this year. Let’s hope he waits until he’s fully cleared by doctors. New Japan is the most likely to get him on tours, but he’ll probably do multiple promotions like before. Also, I found out about an at-the-time unreported incident that abruptly (and tragically) ended the Kawada/NOAH relationship. Right after the match with Misawa last year, Kawada cut a promo. The content wasn’t at issue, but rather it taking place without permission. Every second of time on the show was valuable and because Kawada didn’t wait for the usual press interview backstage there was a fight following the show. Maybe it’s seen as showboating to stay in the ring in front of a big crowd.
New Japan: You’ve probably heard about Brock Lesnar appearing on a K-1 show and making it seem like he’ll be doing fights there. Right now Lesnar’s interest in shootfighting is real to the extent that he’ll be starting training, and K-1 seems most likely to acquire him, but nothing is set in stone. Despite only having one match left on his New Japan contract the plan is for him to continue with the company, certainly on a part-time basis as before due to the time required for the training. More on that below.
In a related note Akebono spent the last month and a half preparing for a losing effort to Don Frye earlier this week, so he’ll be back. To continue from last week, Fujinami is expected to stay with the company and he’s backtracked from his opposition to Simon Inoki and Choshu. Best of the Super Junior tournament names were announced, and this year they’ll actually honor the winner of the tournament in America unlike the debacle in ROH last spring. Finally, Scott Norton had his last scheduled match with the company this week.
Section 3- A handful of shills
I wrote this column on Brock just prior to the title defense, followed by a brief update after he retained.
Those of you interested in yet more downloadable goodies, just shoot me an email.
Section 4- ‘Golden Week’
This week is known in Japan as Golden Week. It’s like spring break only more universal. Tons of tourism and festivals and what not. Well, this is the first time since 1992 that there was no wrestling show in a dome to go along with it. All Japan used the Tokyo Dome in ’98 and ’99, while New Japan alternated between there and the Fukuoka Dome. What stands out even more is that the Wednesday show with Lesnar vs Bernard was in Fukuoka and drew about a tenth what the dome shows did.
Section 5- Jimmy Yang
It’s one thing to be an asian wrestler. It’s another thing to be a Korean-American wrestler born in California who trained in the WCW Power Plant and who then goes to Japan. That’s Yang for you, though; someone who over the last five years has spanned quite a number of promotions and who had notable matches in each. With that in mind I exchanged a few emails with him. Said exchange doesn’t translate very well into your standard Q-and-A format, but here’s the gist of what he said on assorted topics in no particular order.
-He didn’t feel stereotyped by Japanese gimmicks given to him by WCW and WWE. He enjoys getting to take on a Bruce Lee-ish persona, as demonstrated by his current association with ‘Bruce Leroy’.
-WWE didn’t pick him up after the WCW buyout simply because there were too many wrestlers to absorb. Considering that ECW had just folded this is very true, especially in regards to cruiserweights.
-He wasn’t into Japanese wrestling when he started training. He was a fan of Muta from his WCW viewing though.
-He had no problem adjusting to Japanese style when he went to All Japan in 2002.
-Taiyo Kea, All Japan’s resident Hawaiian, helped Jimmy get around in Japan. The language barrier was a big one. Keep in mind that since he looks/is Japanese, it would be assumed that he can speak the language.
-Tenryu does, in fact, hit hard.
-While in AJ especially enjoyed being in the 6-man with Toyrumon wrestlers on 8/31/02.
-He’s unlikely to return to All Japan over how he left to go to WWE.
-He doesn’t want to be a wrestling Elvis again any time soon.
-He’s open to going to WWE or TNA at any time. On a related note he recently did a WWE dark match.
It’s hard to convey, but I think Yang has a great attitude about wrestling. He takes it seriously enough to try his absolute best, yet has fun and doesn’t fixate on grudges or annoying fans the way many wrestlers seem to. I think that attitude is a big reason why he’s been well-received wherever he goes. My thanks to Yang for answering my questions.
Next time: Mike Quackenbush! He might even be a 2-parter.
