Destiny 05.06.07: Pro Wrestling Love in Nagoya (The Results)

Posted by Matt Adamson on 05.06.2007

Oh, how cool! The date today is 5,6,7. To celebrate such a monumental occasion I discuss All Japan's Pro Wrestling Love in Nagoya and show you all how I'm basically Nostradamus.

I have to take the bus every day to get to 411's office to sit and sweat away at my cubicle watching wrestling and writing my column and participating in other columns such as Wrestler of the Week, Buy or Sell, PPV Roundtables and the NHL Playoffs Roundtable (GO DEVILS!). It's a fact that 411 needs more parking spaces. I mean Mr. Csonka has his own reserved spot and the one next to him just in case somebody wants to visit him, but I don't even get a place to park. It's a shame really. Well today on my way to work I was sitting on the bus when some really awesome guy comes up behind me and says, "Aren't you that guy from the news?" I sat there stunned and said, "no, I don't think so, why would you say that?" The guy then says, "isn't that the guy from the news?" to another passenger. They don't agree with him but they do recognize my t-shirt which is a Ring of Honor T-Shirt. We talk for a while until they have to get off. Nice to meet fans of good promotions like ROH.

NOTE: Nothing in that last paragraph is remotely true. I don't even own a single pro wrestling T-Shirt. That needs to change though. Somebody get ROH to send me a free T-Shirt. Tell them I'll wear it all over Portland, Oregon until the day they finally show up over here for a show (judging by history, never, but I'll still wear it). I'll even set up the ring when they do come. I'll sell tickets, anything, just come to Portland… and send that free shirt.

They fell in love with Pro Wrestling

This week it became rather obvious to me just how much more I follow All Japan than NOAH or New Japan and how much better I understand that promotion. With every big show in Japan that has happened since I started writing here I have done a set of match predictions. In the case of NOAH and New Japan my record is less than solid, but for All Japan, it's looking pretty good. With Monday's show, not only did I get all but 1 match correct (that match being the opener and by far the least important match on the card), but I also nailed about every single detail about how these matches would go down. It was actually quite impressive and I have good reason to boast. My predictions were so specifically correct that if I had booked the show, it would have probably turned out exactly the same as it did down to the last detail with exception to the result of the opener.

Enough boasting from me for now I suppose. I'll get down to the business of the show. Here's what the results of the "Pro Wrestling Love in Nagoya" show were, and I've taken the liberty of highlighting a couple of the specifics I nailed in my predicting of this show.

1. Ryuji Hijikata & T28 beat Nobukazu Hirai & Kiyonari Sanada
2. AKIRA beat MAZADA
3. Miguel Hayashi Jr., PEPE Michinoku & El NOSAWA Mendoza beat Masanobu Fuchi, Nobutaka Araya & Kikutaro
4. TARU, Suwama & Shuji Kondo beat Satoshi Kojima, Kensuke Sasaki & Akira Raijin when Suwama pinned Raijin.
5. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) beat "brother" YASSHI
6. AJPW World Tag Team Title: Toshiaki Kawada & Taiyo Kea (c) beat Great MUTA & Vampiro
7. Triple Crown: Minoru Suzuki (c) beat TAJIRI with a sleeper hold

Many reports said that the show on Monday came off very well, but that the crowd was small. The show took place in Nagoya which isn't a big All Japan region by any definition. In fact it would be like TNA running on the west coast. They drew about 4,500 fans which is about half of what the arena holds. No titles changed hands which came as no surprise to me, but there were a few moments that surprised me a great deal. I'll get to those later.

The show started with the typical rookie's match that seems to pop up in All Japan around this time every year. Apparently Hijikata ended up getting the treatment I predicted Hirai to get by winning this match, but that wasn't all he would accomplish at this show. I'm actually rather impressed by their decision to give Hijikata and T28 the win here. Hijikata was due for a decent push and with his challenge for the Jr. title that happened after the Nakajima vs. YASSHI match later in the night, it seems as though he's about to move up the card. Word has it that T28 looked good in this match and I'm interested in seeing what he has to offer.

The second match saw AKIRA defeat MAZADA in what I would say was one of the more obvious results of the show. Since MAZADA and NOSAWA Rongai have begun to distance themselves from each other, MAZADA seems to be the guy getting the short end of the stick. Following that match was the comedy match that as expected went to the Mexico Amigo's. I always look forward to matches involving Kikutaro and Araya as they are hilarious 90% of the time and I'm sure with the others involved that this was no exception.

Fourth on the card was the big Voodoo Murders vs. All Japan. Some of what happened during this match really threw me off guard. I predicted the end exactly as it happened as Suwama finished off Raijin with the Last Ride, but the interesting stuff wasn't in the wrestling, but in the chemistry between the babyfaces. Kensuke Sasaki and Satoshi Kojima came to blows as they exchanged "accidental" lariats. While Sasaki's lariat may have truly been accidental, it didn't appear as though Kojima's was. Kojima also hit Raijin with that "accidental" lariat which ended up setting up the Last Ride by Suwama which finished the match. More troubles erupted after the match as TARU invited Kojima to join Voodoo Murders. Not today! Kojima hit him with a Koji Cutter to make his message clear. That basically doesn't mean much as the same type of situation happened right before Buchanan and Brown joined VM back in September. After the vicious Koji Cutter, Sasaki went to shake hands with Kojima, but Kojima refused giving him only a stare. This sounds all too familiar to me. Wouldn't a Koji turn at this point really be awesome? I think so.

In the fifth match of the night, Katsuhiko Nakajima defended his Jr. Heavyweight Championship for the first time since winning it in mid-February. His opponent was the mouthpiece for Voodoo Murders, "brother" YASSHI. Apparently neither wrestler had seconds with them which made the match more balance (which clearly favored Nakajima) and there was no outside interference or attempted rule-breaking with exception to an attempted chair shot by YASSHI (no surprise there). Afterward, Hijikata came down and challenged the Jr. Heavyweight champion to a title match which is assumed to be happening on the next tour. No surprise who was winning here. I really didn't think Nakajima's hard work would result in his being a transitional champion between two members of Voodoo Murders. Apparently I was right. I hope he holds onto the title for a long time. I really like his style and he looks like he'll be a big part of the future of puro.

The tag title match was up next as was said to be match of the night. With Mutoh getting his big push now I was a little hesitant to go with the champions in this match, but Mutoh wasn't wrestling, it was The Great Muta which would be like Mankind or Cactus Jack. It's just a completely different situation depending on "who" is wrestling. I was very pleased that Vampiro took the fall here. He has a good look but that's about it. I don't like guys like him with a history of garbage and gimmick wrestling polluting my beloved All Japan. Nice to see Kea get the win here as he won it following a TKO(34th). I do have to say something about Vampiro though. If he is able to go out and go toe to toe with guys like Kea and Kawada then I will certainly change my opinion of the guy. If this match was indeed the match of the year, then maybe the time to change is now.

The main event was the much anticipated rematch between Minoru Suzuki and TAJIRI. TAJIRI had won the previous encounter during the Champion Carnival by countout. This time he got a shot at the Triple Crown. The match was said to be very good and had one of the most unique endings to a match that I can remember. While Suzuki had TAJIRI in his sleeper hold, TAJIRI attempted to spray green mist back up at Suzuki, but the sleeper was on so tight that the mist just came out in small spurts until finally TAJIRI dropped giving Suzuki the win and fourth successful title defense. After the match Suzuki pushed the anti-All Japan heel card father than ever by calling out Mutoh, but when Mutoh didn't show Suzuki grew angry and said goodbye to All Japan by storming out while taking out trainers and the interview set in the process. Clearly Suzuki is getting the crowd geared up for the big Mutoh/Suzuki showdown that will most likely end with a new champion. News the morning after is that nobody is stepping up to challenge Suzuki and that past champions look down on the Triple Crown because of that. Time will only tell how this Mutoh/Suzuki thing is going to happen and when.

Another big show has come and gone, and I've seen the light. I am obviously a huge All Japan fan. All Japan really has been my favorite Japanese promotion since they started to regain some momentum back in 2004. The year 2000 was so hard for them because of the split which formed NOAH, but through the leadership of Keiji Mutoh, they really have improved and in my mind are the most interesting and fun promotion in Japan, and for all those who love that "entertainment" part of pro wrestling, All Japan has it nailed.

Catching up with Puro!

This is the part of the column where I will recommend a relatively recent puro show (within the last couple years). I realize that this is nothing new, and that I'll be recommending quite a few shows that people have already recommended numerous times throughout the recent history of the beloved/despised IWC. I hope you take my recommendation seriously and hunt down these shows and expose yourself to puro (please, don't be an exhibitionist) and find out what you're missing. You can typically find most of these shows from anywhere between $3 and $8 USD at a variety of places online.

GAEA – Eternal Last Gong 4/10/05

This show in my opinion was one of the saddest moments in the history of wrestling. From about 2002 – 2004 GAEA was my favorite promotion in the world. I loved it and saw many of their GAORA shows. I was and still am a huge fan of joshi wrestling and long for the days that we saw prior to this fateful day in Japan. Some of you may be thinking, "I've never heard of GAEA, what is it?" GAEA is in my opinion the best joshi (Japanese women's wrestling) promotions or women's promotions in the world since the heyday of All Japan women in the early 90's. Most of the greats of All Japan Women left to join GAEA when it opened its doors. Then April 10th 2005 came. It was a period that saw both GAEA and AJW close their doors, but by 2005, GAEA was the best thing going (Arsion was a close second) and this is GAEA's last show. The highlight of the show is Sakura Hirota finally getting her revenge on Mayumi Ozaki who had been messing with her for the previous two or three years. It also had joshi legend Chigusa Nagayo's final match which would be the final match in the wonderful history of the promotion they called GAEA.

Here's the card:

1. Dynamite Kansai vs. Ayane Mizumura
2. Aja Kong vs. Carlos Amano
3. Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato vs. Toshie Uematsu & Ran Yu-Yu
4. Sakura Hirota vs. Mayumi Ozaki
5. Chigusa Nagayo Retirement: Meiko Satomura vs. Chigusa Nagayo

Insert witty phrase here about getting email.

Haha! I got some email this week, and if you want to be awesome follow the example of Bill Dickson by writing me. Bill writes:

Hey Matt,

First thing, thanks for doing your column. I've always wanted to get into puroresu, but didn't know where to start. I've got several older dvds of All Japan and Toryumon coming. I enjoyed your column on Yuji Nagata and look forward when that show becomes available on dvd.

Anyway, my question is that I know in Japan, pro wrestling is more of a sport over there than entertainment. Forgive my ignorance, but do they have smark fans over there like we do and know its a work or is it really a "sport" to the fans over there?

Thanks for writing, easy wasn't it? Thanks also for reading my column. Regarding your question, it is true that the Japanese view wrestling much more like traditional sports are viewed. The media in Japan covers professional wrestling much like it does baseball or other sports and it gets wider media coverage from outside of the wrestling industry. That is one of the reasons that there are less "smark" or "insider" fans in Japan than there are in the U.S. and Canada. There is the old saying that in Mexico it's religion, in Canada it's tradition, in Japan it's a sport, in America it's a joke. The Japanese take their wrestling very seriously which is also why they are so respectful about it when attending live events. That is slowly changing but remains generally the rule.

That is not the only reason why there are less "smark" fans in Japan. It all kind of goes back to the original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama). Now, my recollection of this story is patchy, but I'll do my best. Up until about 1986, professional wrestling in Japan was viewed as a legit sport. It looked far more realistic than its American equivalent and was covered in such a way that it appeared to be the real deal. That is until Satoru Sayama, a few years after having left professional wrestling due to frustration at backstage politics (wow, what a concept; politics in wrestling) went to the press explaining that pro wrestling was indeed mostly fake and predetermined. Instead of reacting to this news like American fans did (by turning on it and acknowledging that it is fake), the Japanese fans instead turned on Sayama wanting to maintain the illusion that pro wrestling is a legit sport. This feeling of tradition in Japanese culture has kept this idea from changing much. Regardless of whether it's fake or not, many Japanese fans want to view it as a legitimate sport. I hope that does the answer justice.

Again, thanks for your feedback and for reading.

Send the man some feedback!

Alright, Bill has it down to an art, but do you? Give it a shot, send me feedback and become the real star of Destiny. Until next time.