The G-1 has wrapped up, while Morishima might be turning over a new leaf.
Section 1- Results
New Japan: Day 6 of the tournament had Yoshie over Tenzan, Makabe over Bernard, Kawada over Nagata, and Kojima vs Ohtani going to a 30 minute draw. In non-tournament action, Minoru & Devitt retained the junior tag titles against Liger & AKIRA. The final night contained a Kawada vs Yoshie draw, Tanahashi over Ohtani, Makabe (with help from TARU) over Kojima, and Goto over Nagata. The final was Goto vs Makabe, with Goto coming out on top. That means Goto faces Mutoh on the 31st for the IWGP title.
NOAH: A big under-the-radar match happened at the SEM/Kensuke Office show at Korakuen on Sunday, as Kobashi and Sasaki led teams in a ‘survival tag’ (previously seen in All Japan in the ‘90s), which went 55 minutes and ended with a 35 minute rematch of Kobashi & KENTA vs Sasaki & Nakajima. I won’t spoil the result. Not sure why, I just… won’t.
Section 2- News
Dragon Gate: Horiguchi defends the lightweight titles against Shinobu on the 31st.
New Japan: The heavyweight and junior singles titles will be defended on 9/21 at Kobe World Hall. Tag titles are up for grabs on 9/5 in Korakuen as Makabe & Yano defend against Nakamura & Goto.
NOAH: As you probably heard, Morishima had dark matches at Raw and Smackdown. There are talks of WWE interest in him.
Section 3- Linking modestly through the goldless morning
Glazer talks Summerslam. I’m of the mind that Taker vs Edge isn’t a country mile from a five-star match. Oh well.
Mark linked me. I am not one to let a good shill go unrewarded.
Section 4- Morishima in WWE
Will it happen? Plenty of reasons why it could: Morishima is a heavyweight; NOAH would jump at the chance to have one of its wrestlers get more exposure (think ROH-in-NOAH) so he could start right away; Ace and Race vouch for him; he wouldn’t need a bunch of training in Florida. But there are plenty of reasons why it might not go down: he’s flabby, which is why they didn’t take Samoa Joe; he’s not impressively large in the context of the WWE roster; it isn’t clear if the important people (Vince/HHH/Steph) are interested; he can’t cut a promo; he might be more stiff than they want.
The fact that Morishima and Ryu Nakada (a NOAH office bigwig) were flown in says that it’s serious. Morishima and Marufuji will take part in a training camp in WLW next month, so WWE could have waited a few weeks if it was only a mild interest. If Morishima drops the title to Sasaki and winds up with some longer/more serious tryouts in September, things will be leaning quite heavily in the direction of WWE’s first Japanese signing since Kenzo Suzuki.
Section 5- G-1 Fallout
The loser: Wataru Inoue. Not from a result standpoint, as he got (fluke) wins over Nakanishi and Bernard, but for his career. Wataru was very questionable as the seeming ace of the junior division, and those flaws haven’t been corrected yet. It takes a LOT more charisma and/or ring savvy than he’s got to be a successful small heavyweight, and with how he bailed on the junior division it wouldn’t be easy to go back. He’s got time yet, but it’s going to take a whole lot of work for him not to be a long-term flop.
Treading water: Kojima, Ohtani, Nakanishi, Bernard, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Kawada, Nagata, Yano, Tenzan. Tanahashi and Tenzan took a lot of losses but were selling injuries so it isn’t damaging long-term. The rest performed within expectations, and none of them “had†to win the tournament or reach the final. I predicted Nagata vs Ohtani based on historical factors that are now obsolete.
Better than when they came in: Yoshie. He had a better record (3-2-1) than any of his part tournaments, beat tournament winner Goto, and took Kawada to a draw. More importantly he comes across as a high-quality heavyweight that belongs in New Japan full time. Hint hint.
Makabe wasn’t expected to do much, but instead reached the final and continued to be a big-time heel menace. Even though he keeps dropping the ball in the biggest matches (NJ Cup ’07 final, IWGP title, G-1 ’07 semi, Fire Festival ’08 final, G-1 ’08 final), he’s cemented himself as a long-term presence in the puro scene.
The winner: Hirooki Goto, literally and figuratively. He had his breakout match in November but struggled after, and it wasn’t clear how long it would take for him to get a more sustained push. Now we know. Wins over Nagata and Nakamura to prevent either of them from advancing, then beating the vile Makabe to win it all? That’s good. Being the first person to win the G-1 in his first try since the first tournament, that’s stellar. Unlike Nakamura a few years ago, Goto isn’t perceived as being forced down the fans’ throats. Heck, he’s made a better transition to heavyweight-dom than more touted juniors like Ohtani.
I’m not sold on him as one of the best wrestlers in the world, but I am sold on him as someone who deserves the spotlight indefinitely. I don’t see a ceiling on his possible success the way there is for a lot of New Japan prospects from the last couple decades (Nakanishi, Nishimura, Makabe, Yoshie), and I would wager he’ll do more for business than Nakamura with a lot less effort on the company’s part. Any chance NOAH will do something similar with the equally talented Go Shiozaki? Nope. That’s why they’re in New Japan’s shadow.
The bottom line: From what I’ve seen the shows aren’t of the same caliber as the headier days of ’01-’04, but they still came off as much more important than the doldrums of ’06 and’ 07. They made a star in dramatic fashion, compared to last year when Tanahashi won after being already well established. Attendance wasn’t overwhelming, but it was as expected quite a bit better than any other company could muster in the same venues over the same span, and it was likely enough to turn a profit.
Next Time: It probably won’t be for a few weeks yet, but Kobashi will be there
