411’s Buy or Sell 4.13.07: CM Punk is a KENTA Clone, TAJIRI Challenging for the Triple Crown, New Japan Gimmick Matches and More!
Posted by Larry Csonka on 04.13.2007
Week #2 features Matt Adamson and Ryan Mancuso facing off in the first ALL-PURO edition of BUY or SELL!
Welcome one and all to WEEK TWO of BUY or SELL. For those that missed the debut column, here is the explanation. BUY or SELL is very similar in nature to Fact or Fiction, as a matter of fact you could consider it Fact or Fiction's little brother. The main difference is that BUY or SELL will focus on the US Independent scene, Lucha Libre, Japanese Wrestling and basically anything that isn't mainstream wrestling, WWE and or TNA. This allows for these areas to get some more attention and for you, the reader, to learn even more about the sport of wrestling.
Week Two's Match-Up:
From the new Puro Column Destiny, Matt Adamson vs. Puro/Lucha Tape and DVD reviewer Ryan Mancuso!
Having the ROH World title defended as the main event of a big NOAH show is a good thing for NOAH.
Matt Adamson : BUY. Over the last seven years NOAH has quickly gone from a modest renegade promotion into one of the biggest drawing promotions in Japan. What they lack however is something that both All Japan and New Japan have, a reputation and history involving wrestling in North America. All Japan had the NWA and AWA during the 70's and 80's while New Japan had a solid working relationship with WCW throughout the 90‘s. These relationships helped both of those promotions become commonly used names among wrestling fans. NOAH has the same opportunity with ROH now, though on a smaller scale, to become a more familiar name to many fans in North America. I think that's not just a good thing, but also a great thing for NOAH.
Ryan Mancuso : BUY. I agree with the buy, but for a different reason. It's pretty clear that NOAH sees Takeshi Morishima as someone who will help carry the promotion in the future. Right now, Morishima is at the level where he is no longer a mid-carder but they don't feel he ready to hold the GHC Heavyweight Title. I feel NOAH is utilizing the ROH World Title as a way to see if Morishima can succeed as a GHC Heavyweight Champion in the future. If he fails, then they'll hold off that title run and not risk devaluing the GHC Heavyweight Title in the public eye by putting it on someone who was not ready. If he succeeds, then he should see a GHC Heavyweight Title sometime after dropping the ROH Title.
1 for 1.
CM Punk's repertoire is beginning to look more and more like KENTA's.
Matt Adamson : BUY. I'll always say that there is nothing wrong with borrowing something that works well from somebody else. When Punk began using the Go2Sleep the first thing I thought was, "smart man." He's using a move that seems new and "cool" to the casual fan while at the same time getting a reaction out of the fans who follow Japanese wrestling saying he's stealing from, or copying KENTA. He's always had a similar style to KENTA, but since he began working for the WWE, he has been limited in what he can do. That limitation prohibited him from doing what Punk was able to call his own, which left a lot of the stuff that makes him look so much like his Japanese equals. I can't really blame the guy for borrowing so heavily from KENTA as doing that has allowed himself a nice set of moves to use under the watchful and strong hand of the WWE. The casual fan is going to eat it up because they have no idea who KENTA is.
Ryan Mancuso : BUY. Punk recent use of the Go 2 Sleep is enough for me to buy this. Punk has also been using the KENTA slaps-backhand chops-spinning reverse slap combo since he has been with the WWE. I agree with the fact that Punk is using KENTA's moves as a way to impress the WWE audience. If using those moves impresses the casual WWE fan, then more power to him for doing so. As Matt mentioned, the casual WWE has no idea who KENTA is and that means there is no negative backlash from them about Punk being a move thief.
2 for 2.
Keiji Mutoh winning his 3rd All Japan Carnival in 2007 is a big deal.
Matt Adamson : SELL. Going into the Champion Carnival this year I really believed that All Japan was going to continue doing what it spent the last year working so hard on; building up the next generation of stars. The easiest way for them to do this was giving one of the younger guys the Champion Carnival like they did last year with Taiyo Kea. However it wasn't to be and one of the oldest members of the All Japan roster and the figurehead of All Japan essentially gave himself the win thus maintaining the status quo among the younger stars of the promotion. If somebody like Suzuki, Suwama or Kea had won and the same question were asked I'd say a resounding "YES!" It would have been a huge deal if any of the younger stars had won because it would have meant something to their future in the business. With Mutoh winning it's just another trophy.
Ryan Mancuso : BUY. I have to disagree here. The older generation was due a Championship Carnival victory since they did the younger generation last year with Kea winning it. Minoru Suzuki is not someone who is considered to be younger generation. He'll be 39 in June, made his pro wrestling debut in June 1987 and considered to be in Kensuke Sasaki's generation. He gained fame in New Japan, UWF #2, Fujiwara-Gumi, Pancrase and NOAH before making All Japan his current battlefield. Plus, he is the Triple Crown champion and winning the CC would be counterproductive in trying to create a challenger for his TC. Suwama is still a work in progress and it would be too soon to give him a big singles championship. I also think AJPW will wait until Suwama becomes a face before they give him a singles championship. They did the big Taiyo Kea singles push last year, but saw he wasn't the long-term singles star when he dropped the TC to Minoru Suzuki for his second title defense at a smaller show in Sapporo. Back-to-back CC victories for Kea wasn't going to improve his status
That leaves the more established names like Muto, Kojima, Kawada and Kensuke as the only possibilities of winning the CC. I wasn't expecting Kojima to win because he just lost a TC challenge to Minoru Suzuki. Kawada would be a good choice when motivated, but these days he seems more into singing about cherry blossoms (which he is great in doing, by the way) than some of his wrestling matches. Kensuke would have been a good choice and gotten no complaints from me. He and Suzuki have been rivals since the beginning of their careers. Muto winning is a big deal because he had been pretty irrelevant as a singles wrestler during the last two years. I feel that Muto has one more run left as a top singles star that would benefit AJPW. AJPW is planning to run a big Tokyo Sumo Hall show in August with the likely possibility of Minoru Suzuki vs. Keiji Muto for the TC as the main. Muto winning the CC this year makes the possibility of a title switch at that big August show even more realistic and help draw fans to that show.
2 for 3.
Antonio Inoki's first Inoki Genome Federation show on June 29th will be a success.
Ryan Mancuso : SELL. The better question should be whether or not there will be an Inoki Genome Federation show on June 29. Antonio Inoki's recent track record at promoting a show is not good at all. UFO was a failure, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye failed, and a recent attempt at holding a card for the Inoki vs. Ali 30th Anniversary did not happen. With the way things are already going, IGF looks to be headed in the same direction. Inoki tried to lure New Japan wrestlers to his new project, but none of them are leaving. I don't see many wrestling organizations or key freelance names agreeing to work this show. Inoki might try to reconcile with former protégés Naoya Ogawa or Kazuyuki Fujita, but they seem to have been making their own careers without Inoki. In the end, Inoki looks to be stuck with wash outs from bigger organizations, Indy talent and unknowns.
Matt Adamson : SELL. I'll agree with Ryan that the better question should be whether it will even happen or not. Antonio Inoki thinks that his name alone will be the draw, kind of like Hogan did with the terrible promotion he ran. I mean the guy used his name in the promotion's name. That's banking an awful lot on his legacy and a rather foolish move. The facts are that the luster has worn off of the name Inoki and the fans know that when it comes to booking a promotion, he has become stale and doesn't tend to give the fans what they want. Inoki has indeed failed before and with IGF I'm sure he'll fail again. Unless he is able to draw in some big names that haven't been seen from in a while much like HUSTLE has done, I don't see this show amounting to much at all.
3 for 4.
When he challenges for the Triple Crown on April 30th, TAJIRI will win that title.
Ryan Mancuso : SELL. While TAJIRI defeated Minoru Suzuki in the Championship Carnival by count out, but I don't see TAJIRI winning when the Triple Crown is on the line. TAJIRI will come close to winning the Triple Crown through near falls and attempted count out. In the end, Suzuki will succeed in his fourth title defense of the Triple Crown. With all the antagonizing towards AJPW that Suzuki has done, his reign has to be ended by Keiji Muto or an outsider who is very close to AJPW in Kensuke Sasaki.
Matt Adamson : SELL. Wins over the champ in the Champion Carnival essentially mean very little unless the person who beats the champ also wins the tournament. Just because TAJIRI beat Suzuki in the Carnival really doesn't mean he will win this time around. Granted, he'll probably try the same antics he did in the Carnival match, but come up short this time. Like Ryan, I also think that All Japan is going to play the "hero" card when Minoru Suzuki is dethroned. With Mutoh winning the Champion Carnival, if it's going to happen soon, it's going to be him that takes the title of Suzuki and not TAJIRI.
4 for 5.
Coming off the heels of the Togi Makabe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura "CHAIN DEATH MATCH," New Japan will start to change its traditional stance and run more "gimmick matches.".
Ryan Mancuso : SELL. New Japan has had a few gimmick matches (cage, chain, exploding barbed wire, etc) throughout their existence. Right now, they are establishing Togi Makabe as a Bruiser Brody-esque wild brawler and try to make those gimmick matches as a Makabe specialty in the near future. Even with these matches being Makabe's specialty, they'll keep them as a novelty and use it as much as they have in the past. They want to be in a position to where they could use the matches as a reason to draw in new fans, but not alienate the older fans that have remained loyal to New Japan through some hard times.
Matt Adamson : BUY. New Japan is really at a turning point in their history right now and something has to change dramatically to draw back the fans they have lost during the last seven years. Back in January when they ran their big show at the Tokyo Dome they only drew around 28,000 fans, leaving around 40,000 empty seats in the stadium. That was the smallest crowd they had ever drawn to the Dome. Things had been looking bleak for quite a while. When it was announced last month that Simon Inoki had resigned and that New Japan was completely disassociating itself with the Inoki's, the first thing I thought was that change is coming. Naoki Sugehayashi was given control of the company and while he is not new to New Japan, he isn't an Inoki and that can only mean things will begin to go in a different direction. While New Japan will likely never run a lot of gimmick matches, I think they are desperate enough at this point to at least run them more often than they have in the past. I think the Makabe vs. Nakamura match was a sign of things to come and hopefully it will set the example to help New Japan rebuild.
The second edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 4 for 6. Stay tuned for next week when two new men will go head to head with a whole new set of topics.
