Section 1- Results
Dragon Gate: Muscle Outlaw’z regained the trios titles from PoS Hearts on the 21st. Mochizuki kept the WAR junior title for keeps in the ‘sealing’ match against Gedo. The Outlaw’z have added newcomers Cyber Kong and Cyber Gang. Mori has left Tozawa’s group.
NOAH: Misawa retained over Morishima, but sustained a concussion from a powerbomb on the floor. The injury could be severe, it’s unknown what will happen as a result but Misawa is naturally planning on missing 0 shows because he’s MISAWA and mortality is just a trifle. SUWA had his NOAH retirement match, losing after turning on his partners in an attempt to hog the spotlight. Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin finally won the big won, taking the junior tag straps from the Briscoes.
Section 2- News
All Japan: The 2/17 Sumo Hall card has been laid out. Akebono will make his return to the company. Kawada & Kea vs Suwama & RO’Z will determine the new tag champions. And last but not least, MUTA & TAJIRI will meet the challenge of Hakushi and Golddust?!
Dragon Gate: PoS Hearts is putting their stable on the line next month in a 6-man versus Muscle Outlaw’z. The same MO team will defend the trios titles on Sunday, so the PoS match could be titles vs stable. Mochizuki vs Fujii for the main title will also take place on Sunday.
HUSTLE: They have announced a split from Dreamstage/PRIDE. Whether said split is actual or just posturing is anyone’s guess.
New Japan: Angle’s 2/18 match will be he and Nagata versus Bernard and Tomko. Minoru’s junior title challenger will be Wataru Inoue. Yamamoto has a broken arm and is out a little while.
NOAH: A mixed NOAH/Dragon Gate 6-man will take place on the upcoming tour opener. The junior tag titles will be defended on 2/24 with the odd team of Ishimori & Rocky Romero going after them. Chris Hero will also be on the upcoming tour. Takaiwa will defend the junior title in Zero-One against Hidaka in two weeks.
ROH: The company has announced that it will run shows on 7/16 (at Differ Ariake with NOAH support) and 7/17 (in Osaka with Dragon Gate support). In a semi-related note, they announced Morishima will have four matches on the last two weekends of the month, which means Morishima will miss a big chunk of the NOAH tour (and maybe the whole tour). We get Morishima vs Joe out of it, that’s what matters.
Section 3- Inside Pimping
Bonus Ditch commentary on ROH and Misawa.
Phil called the Rumble winner. However I do not agree with any sugarcoating of WWE’s short-sighted CM Punk booking. Punish egos off-screen first, sez I
Kevin enjoyed the 1/4/07 Dome show more than I did. Who’s right? You decide.
Section 4- A little intuition and a lot of speculation? You betcha!
When New Japan booked Brock Lesnar’s debut as a title match in a Tokyo Dome main event, it indicated several things. One, they were paying him plenty. Two, they planned on bringing him back. Three, he was going to be the centerpiece of the promotion. Unfortunately all of those things resulted in yet another financial sinkhole for the company.
Booking Angle against Bernard & Tomko indicates a heck of a lot as well, and the very first conclusion is that Angle will also be returning. How do I know? Because if New Japan thought otherwise they wouldn’t have him in a match with TYSON FREAKING TOMKO. Instead they’d get as much rub as possible out of the situation, with three New Japan natives filling out the match for maximum effect.
A more subtle inference is that Angle isn’t costing as much as Lesnar. When a company pays a lot, they expect a lot and want to position the investment as prominently as possible. I’m sure Angle will be the most highly-paid wrestler on the card, perhaps many times over, but if he was getting Lesnar money they’d want a more lucrative/guaranteed return.
One undeniably positive way to look at the situation is that Angle is not being given a megapush, and instead is in the semi-main against a B-level team. TNA isn’t forcing New Japan to feed Angle top stars or give him top billing. Whether that means Angle does a clean job in the future is anyone’s guess, but it certainly seems more likely than it was with Lesnar and Sapp.
A last bit of thoroughly baseless rumor-mongering is that TNA had a bit of a hand in booking the match. Consider that Tomko has never been placed in a high-profile match like this. Consider that Tomko is Christian’s right-hand man in TNA. Consider the upcoming Angle vs Christian match at the next TNA PPV. Angle and Tomko on opposite sides when everyone expected a ‘dream match’? You be the judge. Me, I’ll reserve judgment until something obvious happens, like Chris Sabin hitting Minoru Tanaka with a beer bottle to win the IWGP junior title.
After all, Russo is booking.
