Since this week is quite quiet I decided to focus on the rumours about a new Super J cup this year, looking at a likely line up and then throwing away all common sense in order to pick my favourite Jr’s. I’ll also look at the NTV cup, and summarise the last DDT Korakuen Hall show.
Results
All Japan: At the 8/31 Sumo Hall show three singles titles were on the line: The Triple Crown, the AJPW Jr Heavyweight title and, for the first time on an All Japan show, the IWGP Heavyweight title. The Jr title was successfully defended by Ryuji Hijikata, beating the younger KAI with a Cross Arm breaker Suwama retained the Triple Crown following a 60 minute draw with Taiyo Kea. I hope that Suwama hasn’t over stretched himself here as 60 minute draws are very tricky to get right. In the IWGP Heavyweight title match Hirooki Goto came up just short, losing to Champion Keiji Mutoh by Moonsault, the same move that the Great Muta beat Goto with at the New Japan Tokyo Dome show.
DDT: DDT held their Summer Vacation Memoires show at the Korakuen Hall on 8/31, highlighted by Dick Togo successfully defending his K-OD Open weight Title against Kota Ibushi. Kenny Omega continued a successful tour for him, beating former K-OD Champion HARASHIMA. Omega seems to be fitting in very well in DDT and it looks like DDT would jump at a chance to bring him back another time after this tour is over. In typical DDT fashion there was a Touru Owashi Reform match. This looks like the wrestling match equivalent of an intervention with a bunch of wrestlers trying to brink Owashi back from the clutches of the Metal Vampire Stable. The wrestlers included Danshoku Dino’s #1 to #3, former Metal Vampire member Seiya Morohashi, Muscle Sakai and Owashi’s mother…
Dragon Gate: Dragon Gate started their Storm Gate 2008 tour with a show at Hakata Star lane on 8/31. Genki Horiguchi defended his Open The Brave Gate title against Shinobu while Shingo Takagi successfully defended his Open The Dream Gate title against former tag team partner Cyber Kong in a collision between two of Dragon Gates most powerful wrestlers. After the match both World 1 and Typhoon tried to recruit Shingo but Real Hazard interrupted, debuting a new member: Cyber Kongcito. Cyber Kongcito was revealed to be Yuki Ono in a big twist after handing in his “resignation†last week. Eventually, Shingo joined Typhoon in a move that should add some focus to a unit that had been stagnant ever since CIMA’s neck injury flared up.
New Japan: On 8/30 New Japan held a Masahiro Chono produced PREMIUM show, featuring 3 Super J Jr Heavyweight tag team matches. These featured the likes of Ikuto Hidaka, Mikami, Makoto Oishi, Gentaro, Minoru, Great Sasuke, Shuji Kondo, Jushin Liger and Magnitude Kishiwada. These matches, with the variety of wrestlers used, could indicate a new Super J Cup next year. In other news, Takao Omori had his last match for a while against Chono, going to a 30 minute draw. The show also featured three matches pitting New Japan and Zero1 wrestlers against each other, with Masato Tanaka and Yugi Nagata clashing in a tag match and the main event where Shinjiro Ohtani and Yutaka Yoshie beat New Japan’s Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Manabu Nakanishi.
Osaka Pro: Osaka pro had a big show at the Matsushita IMP Hall on 8/31, with Tigers Mask having a big match against Toshiaki Kawada and Hideyoshi defending the Osaka Pro Singles Title against Billy Ken Kid.
Pro Wrestling NOAH: The Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League continues this week with matches spread across 3 shows. At the 8/30 Differ Ariake show Kota Ibushi & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat KENTA and Taiji Ishimori in a potentially great match that I hope gets taped. The Briscoes suffered a surprising loss to Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards and Takeshi Morishima & Kensuke Sasaki clashed again in a short 6 man tag match. By the 3rd show, 9/4 at Fujisan Messe, only 3 teams could win the Cup: Ibushi & Nakajima, KENTA & Ishimori and Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki. If Kanemaru & Suzuki avoid defeat to KENTA & Ishimori they win, if not then it will be a 2 or 3 team tie at the top.
News
All Japan: Suwama’s next test as Triple Crown Champion is his biggest yet: The Great Muta at the 9/28 Yokohama Bunka show.
Dragon Gate: The big news ahead of Dragon Gate’s first two US shows on 9/5 at Los Angeles John Anson Ford Park and 9/8 at Waikiki Shell in Hawaii is Shingo joining Typhoon and Yuki Ono’s resignation being a ruse to allow him to join Real Hazard as Cyber Kongcito. It looks like Taka Michinoku will receive an Open the Dream Gate title shot this year.
New Japan: The two big matches for New Japan’s next Korakuen Hall show on 9/5 are Yugi Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Masato Tanaka, Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa and the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team title match. This is Goto’s second title shot in a week, teaming with his RISE team mate Shinsuke Nakamura against the champions: GBH’s Togi Makabe & Toru Yano. Speaking of Nakamura, he looks to be the next challenger for Mutoh’s IWGP Heavyweight Title after Togi Makabe.
Down the Tube
To tie in with my Super J Cup musings I have links to 2 short 1st round matches from the 1994 Super J Cup: Black Tiger II (Eddie Guerrero) vs. Taka Michinoku and Super Delfin vs. Shinjiro Ohtani.
Super J Cup 2009?
At the last PREMIUM show Jushin Thunder Liger helped to book 3 Jr Heavyweight Tag Team matches. The competitors came from a number of Japanese promotions: DDT, El Dorado, Kaientai Dojo, Michinoku Pro, New Japan, and WMF, as well as freelancers like Tokyo Gurentai, and Magnitude Kishiwada. This shows how much pull Liger has and has led to speculation about a new Super J Cup next year.
The Super J Cup was first held in 1994 as a one night, 14 man Jr Heavyweight tournament that was deigned to highlight younger and less well known Jr Heavyweights. Only 3 other Super J Cups have been held since then, in 1995, 2000 and 2004. The tournament helped build the reputations of the likes of CIMA, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Great Sasuke, and Naomichi Marufuji. If the Super J Cup was to go ahead next year it would most likely have New Japan backing like the PREMIUM brand shows and would be focussed on building up fairly new talent. I decided to try something different this week, by predicting who would make up the tournament. I will also pick my dream tournament, the competition that I would love to see.
Predicted Tournament I will book this as a 14 man tournament, like the first 2 Super J Cups, with 2 byes and 6 first round matches. The tournament will be a mix of established names and up and comers, mostly drawn from promotions that were represented on the PREMIUM shows. NOAH will not be involved as I see politics being a stumbling block here. This part of the column was aided by Inside Pulse’s ROH expert, Pulse Glazer.
1. Kota Ibushi: Firstly, the tournament needs a young High Flier and Ibushi is one of the most exciting. The fact that he is not as spot focussed as many Japanese High Fliers (El Blazer and T28 come to mind) helps the young DDT representative, as does his high profile appearances in NOAH and ROH.
2. Shuji Kondo: A tremendous power wrestler, Kondo has started to fall by the wayside recently and this tournament would be a great way to restart his career. The current ace of El Dorado would add another style of Jr Heavyweight and he has a lot of experience to bring to the table.
3. Hayato “Jr†Fujita: This young, strike focused Jr heavyweight has only been wrestling since 2005 but he is the top heel in Michinoku Pro, a stable who benefited greatly from the first Super J Cup. Fujita is a great striker and he is one of the guys who would really benefit from being included in this tournament.
4. Makoto Oishi: The K- Dojo representative was tricky to chose, as both Madoka and Kengo Mashimo are bigger names but I felt that the purpose of the tournament is to highlight some lower level guys. As such I chose the 6 year pro Makoto Oishi. Oishi is a smooth aerialist and a hard worker who is already quite accomplished but needs that one big opportunity to break out.
5. Ikuto Hidaka: Hidaka is an 11 year veteran and is synonymous with Zero1’s Jr Heavyweight division. Hidaka is a very skilled wrestler who has never had as much recognition as he deserves.
6. Ryuji Hijikata: The current All Japan Jr Heavyweight Champion, Hijikata is a 10 year pro but he has only just started to enter the limelight. A good performance in this tournament would help to establish him and build on his currently blossoming reputation.
7. BxB Hulk: A potentially unlikely pick but I feel that BxB Hulk is the Dragon Gate wrestler most likely to appear in this tournament, after appearing in the 2007 Battle of the Super Jr’s. BxB is the future of Dragon Gate but his current booking means that a good showing in a prestigious tournament would really help keep the fans on his side.
8. Tiger Mask: The first New Japan wrestler on the list, Tiger Mask (the current and 4th incarnation) is another veteran who would provide a good rub to anyone who beats him, having started wrestling in 1995. While not my favourite Japanese Jr, I feel that the tournament will need established wrestlers and Tiger Mask is very strongly booked in New Japan.
9. Jushin Thunder Liger: Liger has only missed the 8 man 2004 Super J Cup and, with him most likely booking this one, he would book himself. I would expect him to get a bye before being knocked out in the last 4 or 8 to give someone a tremendous rub. Even at his age, the 19 year veteran could put on some good matches and the younger guys would benefit from working with him.
10. Prince Devitt: One for the future, this young Irishman has been part of the New Japan Dojo for a few years now and this tournament could be used to help him break out. A series of tag team matches against AKIRA and Liger this year has helped him sharpen his skills and I could see him picking up a big singles win over Liger.
11. Kaz Hayashi: Another unlikely to happen pick but All Japan’s Hayashi would bring a lot of experience and would be a returning competitor after appearing in 2000. As well as being a great wrestler, Hayashi would be the second most experienced guy in the tournament and another guy who would provide a fantastic rub if politics don’t get in the way.
12. Tigers Mask: The young ace of Osaka Pro has been making a name for himself in Osaka Pro and Michinoku Pro but a tournament like this would help to put him on the map. He is a fantastic competitor who could put on a show stealing performance with another young, well motivated competitor like Devitt or Oishi.
13. Chris Sabin: Sabin is acting as TNA’s representative, something that may happen if TNA are still involved with New Japan by 2009. Sabin brings less booking politics and had a great run in All Japan last year, although you could easily substitute him with Alex Shelley.
14. Munenori Sawa: This young BattlArts wrestler is more well known for his Lingerie Mutoh gimmick (Keiji Mutoh in a bra and women’s knickers) but Sawa is really becoming a great young shoot style wrestler who has been in some great matches as part of Zero1’s side in their feud with New Japan.
As you can see, I tried to balance the talent up and choose some guys who would benefit from the rub. If this went ahead the people I can see getting the most out of this would be Devitt, Sawa and Tigers Mask.
Fantasy Super J Cup 2009
For this I will book a 16 man, 2 night tournament in order to accommodate all my choices and provide a great 2 day event. I will also include NOAH talent and Dragon Gate guys, while focusing on some of the younger wrestlers at the same time.
1. Atsushi Aoki I am a big fan of this guy. After 3 years of wrestling in NOAH he has become a great mat technician with a very sound grounding in in ring psychology. A tournament like this would be a great stage to show how good he is.
2. Munenori Sawa Sawa is a great shoot style wrestler and I have really enjoyed his stuff for Zero1 this year. A young wrestler who can do really well for himself and would put a lot of great emotion into his matches.
3. Kengo Mashimo Arguably Taka Michinoku’s best student, he is the ace of K-Dojo. He can strike well but also has good arm based technical skills and is a really good heel for younger guys to put themselves up against. Has had some great matches this year tagging with Madoka.
4. Kota Ibushi A guy who has a great mix of kicks, aerial moves and suplexes. With the right opponent, like Madoka back in 2007, he can have fantastic little matches. If he weans himself off of some of his more contrived spots then he could be one of the best Jr’s on the indy scene.
5. Minoru One of my favourite New Japan Jr’s and a great mat based wrestler. He has had a good year holding and chasing the Jr Heavyweight Tag Titles.
6. Ryusuke Taguchi Taguchi is New Japan’s next big Jr and he is already a very capable competitor. He has continued to add to his repertoire and his role in the Zero1 feud has helped him show what he can do.
7. Ikuto Hidaka I have been a fan of Hidaka since his time teaming with Minoru Fujita back in 2005, where they had an awesome series of Tag Team matches. Hidaka is a good all rounder and he has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.
8. Katsuhiko Nakajima This 20 year old competitor has already been competing for 4 years and has developed a nice feud with NOAH’s KENTA. He focuses mostly on kick based offence but has added some more suplexes to his arsenal. This would be a great chance for him to show how much he has learned.
9. Tigers Mask Not to be confused with Tiger Mask, Tigers was originally a Baseball focused comedy gimmick (named after the Hanshin Tigers) but he has now evolved into Osaka Pro’s ace and a very exciting young wrestler.
10. Jushin Thunder Liger Arguably the most famous and the most influential Jr Heavyweight in Japanese history, Liger can still wrestle better then most guys at his age and he would provide a massive rub to anyone who beats him.
11. El Blazer, aka Takuya Sugi Sugi has had a ridiculous number of gimmicks but he is also the most exciting high flier in the world. I do feel that he is very spot orientated but working with so many different types of Jr would do him wonders.
12. Shuji Kondo Although Kondo has started to fade from the limelight he is still a great Power Jr. If he was a bit lighter I would have chosen Shingo Takagi but T2P graduate Kondo is still one of the best at what he does.
13. Masato Yoshino The worlds fastest wrestler has a great submission based offence as well as ludicrously quick moves. I really enjoy his work, both in tags and singles matches and feel that he would make a good Dragon Gate representative.
14. Kaz Hayashi The former Jung Dragon is a great competitor, my second most experienced choice and has worked before with the likes of Kondo and Nakajima.
15. Bryan Danielson It would be nice to see a gaijin amongst the 16 competitors and Danielson is the most talented American Jr in Japan today. A master of many styles and a man who can put on great matches with almost anyone.
16. KENTA Some Puro fans really don’t like KENTA but he can have a really good match and is one of the best at having simple, hate fuelled matches.
So that’s my dream tournament. Ask me in 4 months time and it will most likely have changed. I feel that I may have gone overboard in terms of NOAH and New Japan but there is only one person there who’s matches might annoy me (Sugi) and there are so many money matches that can happen.
Last thoughts
It was a bit of a quiet week this week but it looks to heat up again next week. The Jr Heavyweight scene in Japan is quite strong if you look across the spectrum of promotions instead of on individual Jr divisions and a tournament like the Super J Cup could really show people just what some of the lesser known names can do. If you have time and are fairly new to some of the names I mentioned give Youtube a try. Who knows, you may like what you see.
NOAH’s NTV cup concludes next week and it will be my main focus in Puro Shukan 4, while also looking at the results from Dragon Gate’s two shows in the USA.
