The month of August as well as The E’s second biggest pay-per-view of the year both bring with them the reality that summer is beginning to come to an end. The sun is starting to set sooner and the temperatures will hopefully be dropping soon enough. This month thus became a mixed bag of the present and the future with us discussing what has become Japan’s biggest singles tournament, the most recent Triple Crown title match, and the beginning of HHH’s new role on WWE T.V. (for the moment at least) along with a few possibilities for the future including the prospect of i-PPV’s for TNA or The E as well as whether a certain someone that C.M. Punk keeps name dropping will make a return to wrestling some time down the line.
M.C.: Mike Campbell
D.D.: Dave Ditch
P.C.: Me
1. With the most participants in the history of the tournament, who is your pick to win the G-1 Climax and why?
M.C.: I really don’t have one to be honest. There’s nobody that really stands out to me as a clear cut obvious winner. Plus, Tanahashi has already gone through pretty much every real challenger he has at this point in his reign. I guess I’d have to say Takayama, based on the fact that he’s one of the few big names that hasn’t challenged for the strap in quite a while.
D.D.: I’m going with somewhat of a longshot, Tetsuya Naito. This is based primarily on my belief that the strongest of the final night’s round-robin matches will produce the finalists, and Tanahashi/Naito is that block’s strongest match. On the other side is Nakamura/Suzuki. I don’t think anything would be accomplished if Tanahashi, Suzuki or Nakamura won the tournament. Thus, Naito.
P.C.: Naito might be a longshot because of the recent breakup of No Limit and his excursion to CMLL, but the pick actually makes a lot of sense. Over the past year, in the form of several big singles matches on major cards, New Japan has hinted that a singles push for Naito was forthcoming, not to mention that his former partner is getting a push of sorts as part of a heel stable. When looking at the block that Naito is in, every major name has either won the tournament or been in the final, but lost (Takayama). The other block is littered with lesser names who are in the tournament for the exposure (Inoue, Anderson, MVP) or are outsiders who are there because they’re outsiders (Minoru Suzuki, Strongman, La Sombra). Then there’s Nagata, who has no real reason to win this tourney as he’s already challenged for the IWGP title this year and has already won a G-1, Goto also has already challenged this year and has a previous G-1 tourney win, and Kojima won last year with repeats in this tourney being almost non-existent. And of course, there’s the Mr. G-1 of the past decade, Hiroyoshi Tenzan. I am a fan of Tenzan’s and a win for him this year would truly be wrestling’s version of a Cinderella story considering Tenzan’s injury issues since his last win in ’06, but Cinderella is a fairy tale and so is Tenzan winning this tourney. So after all that, I’m left with Naito and the fact that he beating Tanahashi en route to a tourney win on the final day, then challenging and losing at Sumo Hall in October is a scenario that I really could see happening.
2. The rumors will always be alive in some form while his MMA career is still going, but do you ever see Brock Lesnar back in The E ever again (even if it’s a one-shot deal)?
M.C.: In a wrestling capacity? Not at all. But I can see Brock doing something like guest hosting RAW at some point.
D.D.: With how ravaged Brock has been by disease, he might not have much of an MMA career left. Since wrestling isn’t as physically demanding, and since he can command a seven-figure price for a Wrestlemania match, I think it’ll happen.
P.C.: I wouldn’t rule out Lesnar getting back into the ring one time for The E. Remember there is a little event called Wrestlemania that caters to one-time comebacks for big names, as this year’s showed. And since next year’s will see The Rock’s second one-time comeback in as many years, why would a Lesnar appearance be that impossible to envision? People bought the Lesnar/Taker scenario hook, line, and sinker this year after all. And besides, I called Rock/Cena weeks before they “made it official,†so I will never rule out a one-time in-ring return for Lesnar, no matter how out there it may seem.
3. What are your thoughts on the Suwama/Senada Triple Crown title match?
M.C.: I’m not really surprised by the result. But that’s all I can really say about it. I’ve seen next to nothing out of Japan this year, but I’ve heard great things about this years Champion Carnival. If a complete edition DVD surfaces, I’ll probably pick it up.
D.D.: It wasn’t a very strong match to headline at Aichi Prefectural Gym, and sure enough the claimed attendance is about one-third capacity. It’s smart booking, since they need to establish new Triple Crown challengers and Sanada has gotten the spotlight several times this year. I have to say, I have no idea who would be Suwama’s next opponent. He’s beaten Masa Funaki and Kenzo Suzuki already; Mutoh probably couldn’t handle working a title match; guys like Kea and Omori have no momentum. Akebono? That seems doubtful; the company doesn’t even trust him to be in the Champions Carnival, and instead he has to slum it in Zero1’s Fire Festival tournament. This really drives home the lack of depth in their heavyweight division after losing Kawada and Kojima, and ‘mostly’ losing Minoru Suzuki, over the last couple years.
P.C.: For starters, I’m thankful that All Japan made the right call and didn’t do the title change here. I was worried because Suwama’s first title reign was an example of too much too quick, and with Senada having a breakout year of sorts, I was nervous that history was going to repeat itself. I haven’t had a chance to see the match yet, but at nearly thirty minutes I’m going to assume that this was another Suwama title defense that would’ve been better had it been about ten minutes shorter. This was a forgone conclusion title defense with the goal really being to get people to start getting used to seeing Senada at the top or near the top of the card, and hopefully to get a top notch performance out of Senada in the process. As for the belts, All Japan needs to get creative. They’ve still got some big names within their promotion such as Omori, Kea, and Mutoh (in any form), but nothing after that unless their team of former sumo’s (Akebono & Hama) are going to get title challenges down the line. And honestly, Suwama doing anything other than successfully defending the belts against any of the men I just mentioned would be pointless. I can remember thinking that a Suwama/Kawada triple crown title match would’ve been interesting in ’08 when Suwama first had the belt; that match wouldn’t be as interesting now with Kawada pushing fifty, but it would still be a match that could allow for Suwama to get a win against a major AJPW alum in a title match. Maybe Big Japan could get in on the action as they do have Sekimoto, and Suwama/Sekimoto would be quite the power match up and could result in the best match of Suwama’s title reign when you consider how their nicely both of their styles mesh. I honestly don’t know where this title reign is going now. Kono could still be the one to end it, but that change will likely have to be pushed back some because of his role in the Taru/Hirai incident, so I think we should get used to seeing Suwama wearing the belts for the foreseeable future.
4. Where do you think the new storyline of HHH as the authority figure of The E will go, and what will it mean for HHH’s wrestling career when this storyline ends?
M.C.: I really don’t have anything that deep or profound to say about the first part of the question. It’ll go on for as long at it stays over. A babyface authority figure on RAW is fresh, but that itself isn’t really enough. Doing things that fans want to see like bringing back Ross and getting Long Island Iced Z on TV are a good start though. Regarding his in ring career, I would hazard to guess that HHH gets the HBK sort of schedule, where he’s always around, but rarely in the ring.
D.D.: HHH could spend the next 25 years as Mr. McMahon: lots of heel and face turns, occasional high-profile matches, countless 20 minute Raw promos, and lots of storyline deus ex machina moments. Vince will certainly return to TV, but I expect this to be a long-term development.
P.C.: Logically this storyline is leading is to a HHH/Punk match in Miami for next year’s Wrestlemania. I do agree with the notion that HHH still can get in the ring as the authority figure (Vince did it time and time again), but the wrestler as authority figure storyline is one that generally has a short lifespan as wrestlers bossing around other wrestlers isn’t something that has as much appeal as a non-wrestler bossing around wrestlers who are twice their size. HHH is a bit of an exception here as basically everybody is aware that he is Vince’s son-in-law in real life and will be one of the people in charge of the whole company once Vince is either dead or gives up being in charge (in real life as opposed to the current storyline with him being replaced). I just see this whole thing as a way to jump start Punk/HHH and give The Game a reason to be on T.V. and on the mic while not having to wrestle every week. He will have one last big run in the ring and that will start likely at the beginning of next year when a returning Steph or a returning Vince or anyone else becomes the new authority figure role when Punk and HHH finally have a physical altercation on T.V. after spending the fall and winter teasing it. And that will lead to the Wrestlemania match that I began this answer forecasting.
5. With some people not paying it any mind and some people believing it’s the future of pay-per-view, what do you believe the future holds for i-PPV’s in the world of pro wrestling?
M.C.: For the immediate future, I think i-PPV will continue to be mostly used by the bigger indy groups like ROH, DGUSA, PWG, etc. who have large followings nationwide. Of course, there are still some kinks to work out (recent shows from both ROH and DGUSA have had some technical issues from what I understand). I can see TNA giving it a whirl at some point, but not the WWE.
D.D.: I thought iPPV was the way of the future many years ago. Promotions can get a higher revenue percentage than with traditional PPV; broadband connections are the norm, so video quality can be high; indies can eventually band together and get global exposure through iPPV networks. I don’t think traditional PPV is doomed by any means, since TV is still the best way to deliver reliable HD content, but iPPV has the potential to be a game-changer for indies.
P.C.: Once the technical issues that have more or less plagued i-PPV’s in recent time are taken care of, it’s really sky’s the limit for this kind of broadcasting of events. With the Internet having more and more relevance (not just the IWC) in the wrestling world, it would make sense for events to be broadcast online. Realistically we’re still far away from i-PPV’s being used by anybody other than Indy promotions, but Dana White has stated in the past his interest in the concept for UFC, so that gives me hope that this concept has the potential to reach beyond the Indy’s in wrestling and MMA. I’m not going to rule out either of the major wrestling promotions trying it out and based on TNA’s PPV numbers in the last couple of years, they probably should’ve at least taken this concept for the proverbial test drive already. As for The E, wouldn’t Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday have had a more interesting feel to them if The E would’ve been able to try this concept with that PPV years ago?
SEVEN MATCHES UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
The Road Warriors & Kensuke Sasaki Vs. The Steiner Brothers & Scott Norton, NJPW, 4/29/1996
Part 2
Where’s the beef? Here’s the beef. For six guys that aren’t always workrate fanatics, this is a very good six-man tag. For people who see these names and automatically think of the match’s potential sucktitude, I say check it out. Maybe it was that it was on a Dome show and everybody brought their A-game, maybe it was because it was a six-man and that meant everyone didn’t have to be in the ring as much as they would’ve in a regular tag or singles match, or maybe these guys have a weird chemistry with each other, but this is good power wrestling.
Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Suwama, AJPW, 4/9/2008
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
The 2008 Champions Carnival final. Tanahashi had done the invading heel thing for the whole tourney, so Korakuen is hot for Suwama big. A bit of irony attached to Tanahashi’s role in this tourney as Mutoh would proceed to do the same thing to New Japan by winning the IWGP title before losing it to Tanahashi.
Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono Vs. The Road Warriors, NJPW, 7/22/1990
Very quick and to the point. The main reason I posted this was because it came at the time when Hawk & Animal were already signed to The E after leaving the NWA, but still had some obligatory appearances under a deal with New Japan. That piece of info explains why this match goes the way it does perfectly.
Keiji Mutoh Vs. Big Van Vader, NJPW, 8/10/1991
This is a handheld version so the picture quality isn’t the best, but for a handheld it’s still pretty good. This is from the first G-1 tourney, so watch out for those seat cushions.
Mitsuharu Misawa Vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW, 4/11/1994
It’s Misawa and Kawada. This one takes place in the Champions Carnival tournament and is around two months before their epic title match at Budokan—one that has been called the greatest match in Japanese wrestling history and possibly the greatest match in wrestling history. This match isn’t quite that good, but it’s Misawa and Kawada so that means it’s worth your time regardless. Did I mention it’s Misawa and Kawada? I did. Okay, just making sure.
Genichiro Tenryu Vs. Shinya Hashimoto, WAR, 6/17/1993
Two guys who work stiff come together and work stiff as all hell. This was during the underrated (in my opinion) WAR/NJPW feud of the mid-90’s, and it was the first of several great matches between these two. Get ready to cringe a bit.
Alien Death Match, Go Gudan Interplanetary Title: Ryuma Go Vs. Uchu Majin Silver X, Weekly Pro Wrestling at Tokyo Dome Show, 4/2/1995
Part 2
There are no words that I can find to describe this one. Comedy? Crap? Parody? I don’t know if any adequately describe this. The fact that you can find quality matches featuring Go from the late 1970’s and early 80’s makes this all the more interesting to me. And sad? I’m still not quite sure. Just check it out and see for yourself.
