The Navigation Log 5.27.07: Northern Navigation Finale Preview
Posted by Matt Short on 05.27.2007
Havoc in Hokkaido! We've got the full preview of NOAH's Northern Navigation finale for next Sunday. My column on Dragon Gate got some interesting emails, so I'll be going through them too.
Ah the muggy, uncomfortable Japanese summer. God, you suck. I'm more of a winter person myself. What can I say, I like snow. That and sweating my ass off just isn't my idea of a fun time, no sir. This country has the most annoying weather. Blazing hot one day, then the next it's a friggin' monsoon.
Just to say again for the record, ROH tickets are on sale at least in Japan through Loppi ticket machines. Thus, I declare open season on what matches would be good to put on for a Japanese audience. At least, who would make good, fresh match-ups for the ROH regulars to take on the NOAH guys who will be taking part in the tour? There's a lot of people hoping for McGuinness vs. Morishima II to happen at the Tokyo show and it does seem very likely to happen at this point. They're two guys who the Tokyo crowd is familiar with and they can put on a great main event.
The guy I'm wondering how they'll book is Ricky Marvin. He can have a great match with anyone, but I'd say put him in there with Claudio Castagnoli. Yeah, he's flashy in cruiserweight battles but the guy really shines when he's interacting with bigger guys. Make it happen ROH. If you've got your own ideas for who from ROH should go against NOAH's five of Morishima, KENTA, Marufuji, Shiozaki, and Marvin send in your thoughts and we'll discuss in a calm orderly fashion that can only be done on the Internet.
The Northern Navigation is wrapping up next Sunday so I've got your preview of NOAH at Hokkaido's All Purpose Athletic Center. Not quite as cool a name at Differ Ariake or Budokan, but whatever. NOAH's put together a good card to their tour finale. So let's get started.
Pro Wrestling NOAH: Northern Navigation Final 6/3
1) Kentaro Shiga, Kishin Kawabata, & Tsutomu Hirayanagi vs. Masao Inoue, Masashi Aoyagi, & Ippei Ota
-Basic NOAH opener which will probably have some decent comedy thanks especially to Shiga. With some good pacing this match should end up slightly above the average curtain jerking match. I'd expect the team of Shiga, Kawabata, and Hirayanagi to get the win as the GHC Hardcore champs have been doing well for themselves as of late.
2) Akitoshi Saito vs. Ted DiBiase Jr.
-On one side of this you've got Saito, who's one of the biggest, stiffest, grumpiest guys on the roster (who's not Jun Akiyama). On the other is the son of The Million Dollar Man himself, Ted DiBiase Jr. Saito's also got the most out of control mullet I've ever seen. DiBiase's been getting better since he started touring in NOAH and hopefully that will translate into the match here. A nice test for DiBiase against one of NOAH's most established badasses.
3) Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
-A nice little tag match between members of NOAH's old guard. Honda and Taue have seen better days, but can still be entertaining in their own right. Kikuchi has a really fun in ring personality while Ogawa is still very adept at what he does. This one will be quick and is really only on here to get the crowd to pop for some of the older favorites.
4) Yoshihiro Takayama, Takuma Sano, & Takashi Sugiura vs. Takeshi Morishima, Muhammad Yone, & Shuhei Taniguchi
-So team one is comprised of guys who challenged for belts and lost last month. Nice little hook there I guess. The interaction to look for will probably come from Morishima and Takayama, but also watch for Sugiura. They've been trying their damn hardest to elevate him, by putting him in a competitive match with Misawa and letting him pin Jun Akiyama clean. Everyone else should be able to contribute something to the match, so this one will be fun.
5) KENTA vs. Go Shiozaki
-Shiozaki is another one of NOAH's up and comers and he's gotten fairly popular as of late. This is going to be a great chance for him to shine in the ring against one of NOAH's most recognizable juniors in KENTA. This one is going to be stiff, but it'll probably come down to the wire if given enough time.
6) Naomichi Marufuji vs. Taiji Ishimori
-This one could get a little crazy. I'd expect a lot of dives, but mostly for Ishimori to flip around like a manic. This has the potential to steal the show, although Ishimori does have a tendency to be a little sloppy. Which does happen with guys who fly around a lot. Luckily he's in there with Marufuji who can keep this match in order if that ends up being needed.
7) Jun Akiyama, Takeshi Rikio, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. D-Lo Brown, Buchanan, & Eddie Edwards
-A typical Japanese versus foreigners match. This will probably be used to build into Akiyama and Rikio's title defense at NAVIGATION next month againt RO&D's D-Lo and Buchanan. I have a feeling that this will be short and with the team of outsiders going over. RO&D has a lot of momentum at the moment and that's going to continue here.
Back Home
On could very well make the case that we're getting too much Lashley right now. And I am not going to argue otherwise. Ok, they guy has improved a bit in the ring. But he's got no freaking personality. He just does not work in the type of feud he's in with McMahon. Ok maybe two months of it was tolerable, but Judgment Day was too much. Sure it's a logical progression of the story in a classic evil boss vs. rebellious face story. I just really have a hard time seeing Lashley in that role. He's no Austin and he's no Rock. And let's even throw out a reference with Homicide vs. Jim Cornette too, because that was great too. The point is they turned Raw into the Lashley show last Monday and it didn't work. A feud like this should have someone who can deliver promos and Lashley really can't do that.
I do wish I had some idea as to where they're going with the tag team division right now. A four way tornado match at One Night Stand would be pretty cool and I think a lot of people would want to see it. Cade and Murdoch could do with another title run and it's good to see them making the most out of their push with the Hardys. And at the same time it's just as good that they're using World's Greatest Tag Team and Nitro and Kenny Dykstra too. Even if Nitro and Kenny are just a thrown together team, giving them something to do is better than sticking them on Heat. Especially Nitro who they spent so much time on.
TNA is really trying to look strong going into Slammiversary, but in so doing they're giving up a lot of matches for free. Samoa Joe vs. Sting is one such match that yeah, should be saved for PPV. Not so much because it would be an amazing match, but because it could be a defining "passing of the torch" moment. The Steiners vs. Team 3D has been progressing well and luckily they're waiting for PPV for this one. Here's hoping for Steiner to make Brother Ray humble. In the old country way.
Email… No wait, emails plural!
Got a few emails this week, mostly in response to Dragon Gate.
First up, straight from The Black Tiger Review its 411's own Mike Campbell!
Matt,
Very interesting column, although a bit on the abridged side, for obvious reasons. I was thinking the other day, and I can't think of a single Tory/DG wrestler that's ever *not* been part of a stable. Even Stalker Ichikawa was in the remains of Crazy Max until CIMA started Blood Generation.
Speaking of Blood Gen, I think you sort of shortchanged them a bit in their history. You made it sound like they just vanished after MO'Z formed. When CIMA kept them around, and just changed the premise to being an international group, by adding Jack Evans and Matt Sydal. As well as teaming with BxB Hulk and forming a tag team called "Blood Hearts."
Mike Campbell
Thanks for reading and for the feedback, Mike. Good call on Blood Hearts, though I missed them because they seemed to have been a very small part of the overall story. They're not even listed on Dragon Gate's official timeline of stables and teams! I did find them through some double checking and most sites I've seen credit the team for getting BxB Hulk really noticed, including a run with the Open the Triangle Gate titles before forming New Hazard. It kind of just goes to show that if you blink in Dragon Gate you'll miss a lot.
Next up, it's Ben from NYC!
Hey Matt. I've been reading your Navigation Log the last few weeks and I really enjoy it. I watch all the NOAH shows, but I don't understand Japanese so it's helpful to have someone fill in some of the storyline stuff for me. A question and some comments: Who were the guys who jumped Marufuji before his match on the most recent show(5/17 Northern Navigation)? I thought I recognized one of the guys from Zero-1 as well as past NOAH shows(the really scary bald dude who looks like he has one giant tooth.)
Anyway, just to chime in on some Dragon Gate stuff since I follow that as well. I didn't think Tozawa's stable were school kids, they seem more like a parody of a fascist military cult or something. Maybe that's how the Japanese kids roll these days. Whatever they are, their antics are hilarious and they're also good wrestlers. I really look forward to seeing them match up with Marvin/Suzuki. BTW, the Florida Brothers broke up a while ago. Daniel Iwasa is now Taku Iwasa and is in Tozawa's crew. I dunno what happened to the other dude. Also, Dr. Muscle isn't so much of a comedy character as a way for MO'Z to pull surprises on their opponents. (e.g. Dr. Muscle does a 630 out of nowhere and unmasks to be Jack Evans of course.) He's even more mysterious because he'll unmask and be someone surprising, but other times he's just there when everyone else is, so he must also be someone individual. It's all very confusing to the faces.
Back to NOAH, in terms of Bison Smith's chances of winning the title, I agree they're very small. I'm pretty sure Misawa is holding the title so that Kobashi can win it from him when he returns, reliving their classic matchups for the ultimate epic comeback. Otherwise I can't understand putting it on someone as unjobbable as Misawa especially so quickly after giving it to Marufuji.
That's all for now. Keep up the good work man. Peace.
Thanks for writing in Ben, glad you've been enjoying the column! Hmm from the 5/17 show? I haven't seen any broadcasts (cable is friggin' expensive here, no one has it) so I don't know who this is. I haven't read any news items about Marufuji getting attacked post match, not even of the Japanese site. I'll dig deeper, but I honestly couldn't tell you right now. But if anyone else saw this and wants to chime in feel free to.
And yep, Tozawa's stable are school kids. Specifically, the bad kind. It's a parody of the stereotypical high school punk gang who eventually grow up to be real gangsters. It's something common in Japanese comics, which is where the gimmick comes from. The Florida Brothers are still listed on the official site under the roster and active groups. I'd figure they're leaving them on there and they'll make more appearances in the future. Dr. Muscle strikes me as comedy in that he's a great form of heel misdirection. Never knowing who is under the mask. And just look at him. He's hilarious looking.
Bison Smith should win the title. He really should, because it would cause a huge stir in the wrestling community here. And NOAH needs something like that. But as you said, his chances are small but he's a much more credible challenger than Takuma Sano was for the Spring Navigation. Smith had some good matches then and is still being booked strong now even being allowed to squash two guys in a handicap match. I really hope they don't put the belt back on Kobashi when he returns, because that's really the last thing that NOAH needs. They should put a new guy on top and giving Kobashi the belt again is just going even farther backwards. They shouldn't be counting on this because who knows what Kobashi's condition will be when he comes back. NOAH lacks credible heavyweight challengers and that sucks. I'm still holding to the theory that Smith joins RO&D and they help him win the title. That gets the belt off of Misawa and the boss doesn't have to job clean to a foreigner.
And last from Mary:
That was a very good read. I hope you'll do more on the Japanese wrestling scene in the future.
Mary from Virginia
Let the record show that The Navigation Log draws in female readers. Thanks for writing Mary and rest assured, I will continue to write about Japanese wrestling so long as I'm on 411 and people want to read it. No enquiring puro enthusiast shall ever go hungry again. I'm the Tom Joad of Puro.
…Ok no I'm not.
Short Takes
-I have a feeling that WWE's One Night Stand gimmick of all Extreme Rulez matches might end up coming off better than Lockdown. Hardcore matches I can deal with, I grew up with ECW and then CZW in my own backyard every match incorporating hardcore elements can work. Every match with a cage gets repetitive and kills the impact of the match.
-Props to Roderick Strong and PAC for winning PWG's DDT4 tag tournament and capturing the PWG tag team titles.
-My favorite indy tournament ever is coming back. IWA-MS's Ted Petty Invitational is looking awesome so far. Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki is going to be great.
-And speaking of IWA-MS, Candido Cup FUCK YEAH.
-Mr. Warrior, the Ultimate "Warrior" Warrior just keeps on giving. I don't care what the context of his latest rant was, the man is hilarious. But don't get me wrong Iron Sheik still needs to humble him.
We're all done for this week. You kids stay out of trouble, I don't want to have deal with any more conferences with your teachers. I can't handle the shame. Where did I go wrong? Later!
