The Navigation Log 4.29.07: NOAH, RO&D, Morishima and More
Posted by Matt Short on 04.29.2007
The 4/28 show is in the books with a new GHC champion crowned! Find out which belt changed hands inside! This same show also saw the return of the RO&D stable of All Japan fame as well as a interpromotional match between NOAH and Dragon Gate. Also a look at if Morishima is ready to move into the upper tier of puro stars and some thoughts on Raw and Backlash.
After being sick since Thursday with what I can only assume to be the Japanese Death Cold, I figure that I can't get sick for the rest of my stay here. Because there's no way I can possibly get any more sick then I've been. Fevers like that make for some interesting hallucinations though.
NOAH's big Budokan show is in the books and I have waited until the last minute so I can bring you the results that you so desperately seek. Thank me later.
1. Junji Izumida & Makoto Hashi beat Mitsuo Momota & Tsutomu Hirayanagi
2. Kentaro Shiga, Kishin Kawabata & Joe Legend beat Akira Taue, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Shuhei Taniguchi
3. Mohammed Yone, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori beat Bryan Danielson, Daniel Cross & Ted DiBiase Jr.
4. Bison Smith, Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
5. CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka & Dragon Kid beat Naomichi Marufuji, Ricky Marvin & Ippei Ota
6. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title: Mushiking Terry beat Tatsuhito Takaiwa (c) to become the 13th champion.
7. GHC Tag Team Title: Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio (c) beat Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura (1st defense).
8. GHC Heavyweight Title: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) beat Takuma Sano (2nd defense).
The big news out of this event is Mushiking Terry winning the GHC Jr. Heavyweight title off of Takaiwa. While it's great that they're finally getting the title off of Takaiwa, I don't think I like the choice of Terry. I like him a lot, but it is just Kotaro Suzuki's side gimmick. He often seems limited in his role as Terry and while the gimmick is popular, it's no Tiger Mask. I seriously doubt that we're going to see generations of Terrys for years to come. That aside, Suzuki does deserve some recognition for his work so I hope he makes the most out of his title run.
The other two title matches were no real surprise. The tag title match could have gone either way and no one really thought Sano was going to beat Misawa for the belt. How he became number one contender is a mystery to me, seemed like they just pulled his name out of a hat. The NOAH vs. Dragon Gate match sounded like it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing that on video sometime.
The other major piece of news from the show was the arrival of TAKA Michinoku. Yes, that TAKA. He apparently is going to reform the RO&D a stable from All Japan comprised of D'Lo Brown, Buchanan, KAZMA, and himself. Now I'm not familiar with KAZMA so I can't speak on his abilities, but I had almost completely forgotten that Brown and Buchanan were in Japan. And now here they all come, popping out the side hatch to invade NOAH. This has bad written all over it. Angles like this don't generally work in NOAH. If it's booked right and all the talent stays on the ball they could pull this off. I'm still marveling over fucking D'Lo Brown and Buchanan. Wow. Good luck to NOAH with this angle, they're taking a risk.
With Misawa having put away Sano in what I've heard was a decent match, one has to wonder where they go with the GHC Heavyweight title next. Sano getting the title shot struck me as really random. The guy's pretty much been a challenger that you call up when you've got no one else.
In all honesty, I see NOAH's main event as being somewhat shallow. Right now Misawa is the champ and you just don't see many guys as potential threats to him. Possibly Jun Akiyama could get a shot as he is still one of the main event players still around. Akira Taue as well could get a shot. The big problem is these guys have all been around the block. They've all held the title and them winning again would just show that NOAH is stuck in a rut. They need new main eventers and they need them soon. They have done a great job of building guys to that level. Marufuji got there and had a good, but incredibly short run. KENTA is around near the top of the card and Takashi Sugiura is getting something of a push as of late. But these guys are all juniors and let's face facts, the Japanese still love heavyweights. Enter Morishima.
Takeshi Morishima is considered by some to be the heir apparent to NOAH's heavyweight title. And they have done a good job of putting him in that position. People love Morishima here and easily see him being the one to dethrone Misawa in the near future. His position in NOAH has brought him a lot of press concerning his title win of the ROH World title and therefore ROH has gotten a lot of press because of it. Every time the guy competes in a ROH ring, there's a full photo spread of it the next week in some magazine.
Morishima can do it all. He's stiff, he throws a killer lariat, he dumps guys on their heads, and no sells with the best of them. And provided that his title run doesn't die on the table like Rikio's did when he beat Kobashi Morishima will have a long successful career. What the guy needs most of all now is a hard hitting classic. The kind that makes you flinch watching two guys beat the hell out of each other.
Truthfully, I like Morishima but I don't buy him as one of Japan's elite yet. He's near the top in NOAH yes, but when you think about the legends of puro Morishima isn't even on the list. So what is it going to take to put him up there with the elite? He's in a good spot right now in ROH where he has loads of opportunities to turn out great matches with the likes of Nigel McGuiness, Austin Aries, Homicide, and Bryan Danielson. So who knows, the guy could get into the top tier of puro some day. But don't look for him to win the GHC Heavyweight title until he drops the ROH title.
And speaking of Morishima dropping the ROH title I wonder if NOAH will let him lose it while in Japan to anyone but McGuiness. I wouldn't think they'd be thrilled with the idea of one of their future main eventers losing to a small guy in their own backyard, even if it is an ROH show.
Back Home
The Raw main event was great this last Monday. Who expects a free match to go that long and be that damn good? I haven't seen a Raw that good in a long time. So naturally, it's to be expected that some members of the IWC had to completely shit all over the match. And I don't mean people who had legitimate criticisms of the match, because while it was really fun there's always room for constructive criticism. No, we had people pick out one tiny little thing and declare the entire match terrible. Why? Because there's just no pleasing some people, especially when they go out of their way to find something to hate.
I still maintain that Deuce and Domino should be faces. If they had gone the route of making their gimmick like characters out of a S.E. Hinton novel they could have played them off much more realistically than in their cartoonish greaser gimmick. Think about a feud between say a privileged team of Regal and Taylor against the guys from the other side of the tracks. They'd get some much needed in ring time with a pair of veterans which they really needed before getting put into a title program with any team. It's for moments like this where you'd almost wish for the Mean Street Posse for them to feud with.
Backlash is tonight. They've put together a really solid card that will probably deliver. While some of the booking might be predictable the matches will be solid. A lot of people might be surprised by the tag match between the Hardys and Cade and Murdoch. Benoit vs. MVP I have really high hopes for judging from the greatness of their previous encounters. The main events all look great. I'd have to pick the Last Man Standing match slightly over the fatal four way if only because the four way is tainted by Mr. Orton's off beat shenanigans.
Short Takes
-Raaaaaandy. What are you doooooin'? If he comes back from this to the main event I will be shocked.
-Don't ever get sick in Japan. Their cure alls include nicotine drinks and jelly.
-I like Kane, but dammit they just put the guy in the worst story lines. Now they're putting him with the Boogeyman? Good lord.
-Who had better theme music? Kerwin White or Rob Conway? It's a tough call.
That's all for this week. Next week is a big holiday in Japan, but most of the rest of the world knows it as May Day or something. Enjoy your time in the worker's paradise. Or if you prefer Cinco de Mayo. Hey, there's worse excuses to drink out there.
