The Navigation Log 6.17.07: NTC Jr. Tag Team Tournament
Posted by Matt Short on 06.17.2007
The Summer Navigation starts to take shape with a Jr. tag team tournament and a list of top ROH stars. Also, Morishima meets with royalty and rednecks. And as a bonus some out of season NOAH weirdness.
The annoyance of the moment is pollen and the seemingly excessive amount of it that seems to be in the air right now. I mean really, my allergies usually don't bother me but stepping out of the house these days is death. I'm not even going to get into the issue of the heat because I'll run out of space here that could be better devoted to my column.
It has been a damn slow news week for Pro Wrestling NOAH and until recently there had been nothing interesting to talk about. So much so I was considering rushing ahead a piece on the Kobashi vs. Misawa feud. Well I must say it's a damn fine thing NOAH decided to release some information on the up coming Summer Navigation or else there'd be a rather rushed look back on one of the most classic feuds in Japanese wrestling history. Stay tuned.
Following in Commodore Perry's Footsteps
NOAH has announced the foreigners who are going to be participating in the Summer Navigation. And it's quite an awesome line-up.
Nigel McGuinness
Bryan Danielson
Mark and Jay Briscoe
Rocky Romero
Davey Richards
See where this is headed? A great contingent from ROH, which is going to be used to help hype the ROH in Japan shows, which start immediately after the Summer Navigation ends. All these guys have toured in ROH before except for Davey Richards who's debuting here. This is great for Davey who has wanted to compete in NOAH for a long time and he's got his chance now.
It is great to see McGuinness back in NOAH as it feels like he's been out of it for too long. I know that he's been busy with ROH and King of Europe and the like, but NOAH has missed him. I wouldn't say that they've been completely short changed as far as foreign talent goes, but lets all get on the same page for a second Nigel is greater than Bison Smith. The end.
Danielson has been all over NOAH the past few tours and Rocky Romero is well like by the company and its fan base. The great news is that The Briscoes are coming back to NOAH. They had a great run at the start of the year, winning the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. Even though they lost the belts before leaving Japan, they made quite an impact on NOAH and had an amazing match against Kotaro Suzuki and Ricky Marvin. And speaking of junior heavyweight tag teams…
The NTC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament
Now this is really awesome. Throughout the Summer Navigation this tournament will be taking place and is probably going to be the highlight of the entire tour. Five teams will compete in a round robin style tournament for the Nippon Television Cup for junior heavyweights. The line up is as follows:
KENTA and Taiji Ishimori
The Briscoes
Naomichi Marufuji and Kouta Iifushi
Kotaro Suzuki and Ricky Marvin
Bryan Danielson and Davey Richards
That's a fairly stacked card and it's good to see the ROH guys in the mix. The only thing that I don't really agree with might be Danielson teaming with Richards. Seems to me that it would be smarted to have Romero team with Richards and get the fans more acquainted with the No Remorse Corps. But it's a minor thing really, NOAH usually books ROH guys the way they want to and they come out looking strong in the end. Danielson is usually made to look great as are the Briscoes.
The way the tournament is going to work is the teams face off through the whole Summer Navigation. A win gets 2 points. A time limit draw gets each team 1 point. A lose or having the match throw out results in 0 points. The winner gets a shiny trophy and 1 million yen (that's about 100 grand in US dollars).
This has a ton of potential is will make for a fun summer series. The match-ups all look great and hopefully everyone brings their A game to this. I have a feeling that it's going to come down to The Briscoes and Suzuki and Marvin in the end. You'd have to consider the Jr. Heavyweight Tag champs to be the favorites going into this and then The Briscoes being number two. I'm absolutely ecstatic that these two teams are going to meet again and that particular match is going to be at the Budokan on 7/15. Then there's more to look forward to with match-ups of Danielson and KENTA across the ring from each other as well as a KENTA vs. Marufuji match-up. This is going to be a fun time and a nice way to build up the Jr. Tag Team division and help pave the road for ROH in Japan, especially if the ROH teams have good showings.
Morishima in WLW
NOAH-US has been running a story highlighting Takeshi Morishima's time in the US lately. Right now they're featuring his appearance at Harley Race's WLW wrestling seminar. It's great to see Morishima getting a lot of exposure in America, even if it is with a tiny promotion like WLW. I'm really only bringing this up because there's a great picture from the tour that I thought I'd share.
See, now that is cool. Cade, Murdoch, Race, and Morishima all with their belts from three different promotions. I somehow find this cooler than when Team 3D trotted out their collection of belts on Impact one week. Plus, it's Harley Race.
NOAH Comedy Hour
Mitsuhara Misawa made a TV appearance last Sunday on a show about lawyers. In it he presented a case where on pet day he thought it would be sweet justice to make fun of Akira Taue's puppy on account of Taue kicking his ass in the past. Turns out the panel of lawyers don't agree with this method since it's both Misawa and Taue's jobs to kick each other's asses. The whole thing is just hilarious from the start with Misawa telling Muhammad Yone "Nice dropkick!" and gets a "Nice green!" as a reply. Also, Marufuji with a parrot because he's a pretty boy and on Japanese TV pretty boys have to come off as gay. And no, I don't know why the Japanese associate parrot ownership with homosexuality.
I do love whenever there's a chance to see the NOAH start like this, when they're relaxed and going out of their way to be ridiculous. The perfect example is NOAH's annual Christmas shows, which include carols and a skit with Kobashi as a gym teacher and Misawa as a teacher. Language barrier aside, it is outright hilarious to watch the entire roster sing Jingle Bells. Enjoy.
Don't know why, but Scorpio singing freaks me out.
Back Home
I already discussed the "death" of Vince McMahon this week in Fact or Fiction. And just to reiterate, I like the angle and it really is going to be a fun ride when they get down to the specifics of who dun it and who takes over for Vince. And at this point you could even legitimately wonder if Mr. McMahon will be back (odds are yes, he always comes back). And I will stand by my initial enjoyment of seeing the car explode and laughing along with the rest of the IWC at the sheer over-the-top ridiculous nature of the event. At that moment people really appreciated what it was and what it meant for the WWE and were excited. And it brightened up a rather dismal draft special which saw absolutely nothing major happen. Oh but Lashley got stripped of the ECW title right? Right, well I guess that's something.
The following night on ECW was the Mr. McMahon Tribute special. And I was expecting them to run the short promos that they always do when they remember someone only for them to be in character and funny. And that I can still deal with, because when you run them as an angle as opposed to when they are true tributes to a friend who has died it's easy to see the difference. In short, I was expecting a tribute to the Mr. McMahon character in a tongue in cheek sort of way.
The problem lies with using the ten bell salute. That is really not something that should have been done. Considering that when they do it live it has always been for a serious and shocking death that has deeply affected the company. Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero immediately spring to mind here. And I vaguely remember a ten bell salute for the post-9/11 Smackdown as well. And really from my perspective, that was going too far with this angle.
I was present for a ten bell salute back in October. It was for AAA promoter Antonio Pena. They dimmed the lights and asked the audience to stand while they rang the bell. Ricky Marvin stood in the middle of the ring holding a picture of Pena while the lock room stood at ring side. It was an emotional sight and it really drove home the importance of the gesture for me. The fact that this is an international wrestling custom really shows that this isn't something that people take lightly. It's not a tool for an angle and it really something that is held sacred by the wrestlers.
Yes, what happened on ECW did cheapen the ten bell salute. People booed it. You can pass it off as just the Philly crowd doing what they do best. I from Philly, I've grown up watching batteries thrown at former players, Destiny's Child driven to tears, and ice thrown at Santa Claus I know we tend to shit on everything. And people can argue back and forth as to why they were booing it, being they were booing the angle or booing McMahon because he was a heel the fact was they booed during the ten bell salute. And that is a damn shame. That they used this gesture to mark the end of character when there are wrestlers who have not received this gesture, let alone have it broadcast nation wide.
I will reserve total judgment on this angle until we see how it plays out, but this whole debacle from ECW is a load a crap. I know wrestling is all about the storylines and being edgy, but the ten bell salute has always been a part of the real side of wrestling. Hence why it is always done when a real, tragic event takes place.
Short Takes
-I've heard good things about the King of Europe DVD so I'll definitely be checking it out. Probably not for awhile though since who knows how long it'd take to ship here.
-Being the tournament mark that I am, glad to see that the season where they happen the most is upon us. CZW's Best of the Best is coming up and the later it'll be Battle of LA followed by The Ted Petty Invitational. And there's also NOAH's Jr. Tag Team tournament to look forward to as well and ROH is planning something of their own. Man, I can't keep up.
-I wonder if I've made my disgust with TNA's advertising of the Steiners vs. Team 3D match that is never going to happen? Because that is a crock of shit. I don't know how many people who watch TNA don't follow the news online, but either way it's pretty shady to run a bait and switch like this. But if Scott does somehow show up, then I apologize.
-With how awesome the Summer Navigation looks and with who from ROH they have booked, I'm really looking forward to the ROH show in Differ Ariake now. Well, more so than usual.
Well that's all for this week. I apologize for the lack of NOAH this week (and puro in general) but it's been pretty slow on the news front. And I'm sick as a dog right now. Lousy Japanese medicine.
