Section 1- Results
Dragon Gate: Yoshino, Pac, and the heel stable retained their respective titles on the 23rd. Doi & Gamma won the tag titles.
NOAH: Morishima pinned Sugiura in his return tag match, and he looks to have dropped some weight. Kanemoto & Tiger Mask retained the junior tag titles over KENTA & Aoki.
Section 2- News
Dragon Gate: Yoshino will defend against Doi at the big year-end show on the 26th. Pac defends against Yamato on the 12th. Doi & Gamma defend against Yoshino & CIMA on the 21st, with CIMA saying that he won’t be Yoshino’s long-term partner and would vacate the belts if they win.
IGF: Inoki has brought Chono on board, in part to try and get a relationship with New Japan.
New Japan: Kantaro Hoshino, who got some exposure this year thanks to the New Japan 1980s vote, passed away at age 67. He retired a while ago, but came back for a match in December 2008 against Gedo. He was in good health at the time.
NOAH: Added to the Nippon Budokan card are Sugiura defending against Morishima, and Bison Smith vs Yoshie in a #1 contenders match.
Section 3- BRAVE OF SHILL
End of a ‘Way Too Long’ era.
Section 4- Media Corner
2010
Nagata & Kanemoto vs Shiozaki & Aoki, New Japan October 11th.
The intensity is more in the first half than the second, but it’s still intensity! Hard to go wrong with this interpromotional pairing.
Strong & Edwards vs KENTA & Aoki, NOAH October 30th.
Finals of the junior tag league. This follows Edwards pinning KENTA during the round-robin part of the tournament. Hard-hitting early, building to a huge finishing run that serves to elevate Edwards and Aoki.
“I Love The ‘90s†is essentially covered in the following section. I do have a question for those of you who follow the feature: am I posting too much match/download content? I can certainly cut back, or focus more on the most must-see bouts. Feedback!
Section 5- Gran Naniwa’s career in 10 matches
Gran Naniwa, real name Yoshinori Kimura, passed away in October at the age of 33. His death was kept from the media in accordance with the family’s religious beliefs. Naniwa debuted for Michinoku Pro in 1993 at a young age, and spent most of his career there. He was a lighthearted staple of the promotion and numerous mid-90s junior heavyweight all-star shows. Sometimes he was a pure comedy figure, but when it came time to get serious he was able to hold his own with the top talents in Japan. His career was impeded and finally ended by injury, but not before he appeared in a number of great matches. Because he was in so many classic tags in Michinoku Pro, I’ve selected only a handful of them. There are many more at theditch.us.
For the first period of Michinoku Pro, the main feud was Sasuke’s babyface stable against Delfin’s heel stable. Delfin and Naniwa were lighthearted goof-offs, with Shinzaki as the stone-faced muscle. Naniwa, who debuted just 8 months earlier, was only 16 at the time of this match. You can’t tell his age, in part because of the mask, in part because he’s reasonably filled out, but mostly because he’s GOOD. Michinoku operates in the northern part of Japan, and they didn’t go to Tokyo very often. This match is somewhat of a compilation of various spots and sequences they used over the course of months in their main stomping grounds, making this an incredibly enjoyable “best of†in front of the usual hot Korakuen Hall crowd.
Sasuke vs Gran Naniwa, Michinoku Pro Mask League 1995, joined in progress.
Mask League ’95 was a real treat, and as a juniors round-robin tournament I think it compares quite favorably with any Best of the Super Juniors. Since these were headline matches at MPro, rather than midcard bouts for New Japan, the wrestlers really went the extra mile. Here, we have Sasuke going above and beyond for the sake of making Naniwa look like a world-beater. How it is that Sasuke is the one still alive after taking those bumps, splitting his skull open, debuting earlier and wrestling longer… who knows.
Gran Naniwa vs Gorgon Cross, Mask vs Mask, Michinoku Pro August 25th 1995.
At the end of the mask tournament, the bottom two competitors are forced to put their masks on the line. Despite Naniwa looking like a top-tier competitor among a scrub-filled field, he ended up in the cellar alongside Gorgon, who you might know better as Mr. JL. You might know Mr. JL better as Jerry Lynn. Weird to have these two as the ‘worst’ in the tournament, but you can’t complain about the end result, which is a dandy match.
Liger vs Gran Naniwa, WAR Super J Cup 1995.
Naniwa’s most famous singles match, at least outside Japan. This battle of colorful gimmicks would seem to be a mismatch, but after watching the last two bouts it should be clear that Naniwa has what it takes to beat the likes of Liger.
The last big 6-man tag between these factions, as a few weeks later the promotion’s focus shifted to the famous Kaientai stable. This also happens to be the most spectacular match of the feud, especially the second half. Tiger Mask was only an 8 month pro but he doesn’t get in the way of the Michinoku veterans. Interesting to think of 19 year old Naniwa as a ‘veteran’.
Ultimo Dragon vs Gran Naniwa, WAR junior title, New Japan June 17th 1996, joined in progress.
The last of Naniwa’s high-profile singles matches, at the last big all-juniors show of the ‘90s.
One of the three stellar ten-man tags that highlight Michinoku Pro’s year- and history for that matter. Not only is it great in its own right, but it has Naniwa get the spotlight. An absolute must-see right here.
Kanemoto vs Gran Naniwa, New Japan Best of the Super Juniors 1997, joined in progress.
Such a shame they clipped this down, because it’s a treat. Kanemoto goes nuts on Naniwa, leading to the sort of really intense hate-filled battle you normally don’t see in a tournament. This ended up as somewhat of a blueprint for the more-famous Kanemoto vs El Samurai final, but this match is less flawed.
Delfin & Gran Naniwa vs Dick Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa, Michinoku Pro January 13th 1999.
Sad to think that of these four, Naniwa is dead, Yakushiji retired soon after, and Hoshikawa can barely function after brain damage. Despite all that, this is a fun mix of comedy and ‘lucharesu’ action.
Minoru Tanaka & Masayuki Naruse vs Masahito Kakihara & Gran Naniwa, New Japan November 23rd 2001.
Naniwa suffered an ill-timed and very serious arm break in 1999, just as he was going to be in the finals of that year’s mask tournament. After that he had a falling out with Michinoku, having grown tired of doing ‘young boy’ duties despite being in the company from the start. He appeared for several companies in the following years before re-injuring his arm in 2003. After that he wrestled irregularly, with one last match this past April. This match is part of his stint at New Japan. It isn’t anything spectacular, but it’s solid. Tanaka and Naruse are high-ranked shoot-style specialists. While Kakihara can match them in the shoot department, Naniwa is not exactly a dangerous fighter. Yet he manages to hold his own, and this set ends where it started, at the enthusiastic Korakuen Hall.
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Now, go forth and spread the word. NANIWA~
