The Navigation Log 6.24.07: NOAH News Spectacular
Posted by Matt Short on 06.24.2007
Plenty of news from NOAH this week. Misawa's next challenger is named and a late addition to the NTC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament is thrown into the mix. We've also got the initial card for the ROH 7/17 show in Osaka, featuring a puro dream team.
I might be going to the worst school in all of Japan. I had some issue with them last semester where they lost my registration for a class and I ended up getting no credit for. And they're doing it to me again this semester. With a class I actually need to credit in. Fuck. I almost can't wait to get home and away from this country's shitty excuse for higher education.
Well, that wasn't a good start this week. Sorry about that, and don't worry we've got news coming out of holes you didn't know 411 had.
Akira Taue, Come On Down
NOAH has begun rolling out the initial cards for the Summer Navigation. Aside from the NTC matches nothing looks too thrilling. Oh except for the GHC Heavyweight title match.
Yes, Misawa's fourth title defense on the 7/15 Budokan show will be against one of the greats, Akira Taue. These two haven't fought one on one since 2004 where their match ended in a 30 minute time limit draw. So we could call this one Misawa vs. Taue: Unfinished Business. But the Japanese don't really subtitle matches like we do, so who cares what I'd call the match.
From a work rate standpoint, this match might not look all that special. We've seen how slow Misawa has gotten and his matches of late haven't been all that great. Taue's the same though he hasn't had as many singles matches. Neither man is in their prime any more and while they still can and will hit hard it is kind of impossible to expect them to turn out a classic. I will say however that I do believe Misawa and Taue still have a few great matches left in them. They save themselves for when those times come up and hopefully they can dig down for this bout.
From a business stand point this is probably the only option for NOAH right now. They've been feeding Misawa guys no one expects to win since he won the belt and Taue is going to be the first big name to challenge him. He's also got the benefit of getting a draw from Misawa in the past so to the average fan this is a question that is finally going to be answered. Taue's also held the GHC title in the past and his whole career speaks for itself. As this column has stated in the past NOAH has a severe lack of credible challengers, especially in it's younger stars. While Taue isn't one of the up and comers, it seems more likely that he'll be more willing to put a younger guy over than Misawa has been if he wins the title.
Of course what this is all REALLY about is the fact that Misawa made fun of Taue's puppy on TV a couple weeks ago. This makes people want to cheer for Taue, because Misawa is a puppy hating bastard. HEEL!
Summer Navigation is going to be interesting as the build to this. I myself am curious to see if they bring out their A games for this bout. I'm hoping (and I'm sure NOAH is too) that this gets people talking and puts asses in the seats at the Budokan next month. The card so far is enough to get me to buy a ticket (but I can't, I've got prior engagements).
GHC Heavyweight Title: Mitsuhara Misawa vs. Akira Taue
NTC Match: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kouta Iifushi
NTC Match: Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki vs. The Briscoes
A Late Addition
A sixth team has been added to the NTC Tournament. Rocky Romero and Atsushi Aoki join the current field to give the proceedings an even number of entrants. It works for someone with OCD anyway. Aoki has been in Europe which is why they held off announcing his participation and I'm glad Romero's in this as he'd have nothing else to do on the tour otherwise. Still, why not put him together with Davey Richards? You know, allow a little history and get Japanese fans introduced to the NRC. Or possibly with Taiji Ishimori, who he teamed with to challenge for the Jr. Heavyweight tag team titles. Oh well, it's one more team to the list and I support a good tournament.
Osaka is Quite the Party Town
ROH has announced the initial card for their Osaka show on June 17th. And it's good stuff.
Nigel McGuiness vs. BJ Whitmer
Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave
Grudge Match: Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong
Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, Matt Sydal vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Delirious
Dream Match: CIMA, KENTA (NOAH) vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero
ROH Tag Titles: Shingo Takagi, YAMATO vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe
The implication is that the Osaka show is going to be done in conjunction mainly with Dragon Gate, and the card certainly reflects that. First, it's heavily populated by guys who have frequented Dragon Gate, with Jack Evans, Jimmy Rave, and Matt Sydal. You've also got Shingo and YAMATO challenging for the ROH Tag Team titles which is going to be awesome (as any match involving the Briscoes is awesome). I'm also glad that they're bringing the Delirious vs. Sydal feud to Japan, as it's been one of those rivalries that's been going off and on for years that I feel doesn't get enough recognition sometimes. Including them in a Dragon Gate six-man is going to be a lot of fun and it'll go over strong with the Osaka crowd.
The main selling point so far though is the "dream" match where KENTA and CIMA team up to take on Rocky Romero and Davey Richards of the NRC. See, this is why I keep saying they should just let Romero and Richards tag in NOAH, but whatever. Team Caps Lock really is something people here are interested in seeing, especially since KENTA has stayed away from the Dragon Gate matches NOAH has been running lately. So CIMA and KENTA? I'm intrigued.
ROH is also talking about an appearance by Morishima here and if he's still the champion he will defend the belt. What's unclear of course if whether he will make it to Osaka as the champion since no matches have yet to be announced for the Tokyo show on the 16th. Most people are calling from the title to change hands sometime over the tour to make it special, and I'm inclined to agree with these people. It's not like the England shows either, where you had the unification match between two guys who were ROH regulars. Would NOAH balk at letting one of their guys take a loss in Differ Ariake, NOAH's home turf? You never know.
And for the record, I'm hoping for this to happen at the Tokyo show since that's the one I'll be at.
CIMA's Come a Knockin'
Last, but not least a bit of Dragon Gate news this week, if only because this is a match up that should be amazingly awesome. On June 10th, CIMA beat his rival Gamma to earn a shot at the Open the Dream Gate title held by junior heavyweight legend Jushin "Thunder" Liger. Liger had been teasing CIMA for awhile about granting him a shot at the belt. CIMA's finally got it and a lot of people are expecting big things from this match. Myself included.
Back Home
Slammiversary was a million times better than many people expected. Not so much because the card was week, because honestly there were some solid match-ups on that card. It was all down to the build, which sucked. TNA didn't build strong into this PPV, not booking the full King of the Mountain and pushing the tag match between the Steiners and Team 3D that was never going to happen. But the talent all stepped up at the show and it was great. Oh sure, there were some snags (VKM vs. The Bashams) and the showing of the boxes during the Tomko/Abyss match is Wrestlecrap gold, but overall I enjoyed the whole thing. And folks, let's not worry to much about Samoa Joe not winning the belt. I'll admit, when I saw the match the fact that he didn't even score a pin fall made him look like a chump, but he'll be able to bounce back. He'll win the title, remember Joe fans good things come to those who wait.
Vengeance looks might meh right now. Luckily the card features Cade and Murdoch vs. The Hardys and CM Punk vs. Chris Benoit for the ECW title. People have strong expectations from these two matches and I don't think they will disappoint. MVP vs. Flair has the potential to be really fun as Montel Vontavious Porter continues to be impressive. Santito vs. Umaga is going to be short and nasty and while I'd like for Umaga to just kill our plucky young Italian who was once Russian, but lives in New Jersey and just so happens to be a wrestler, there's not much sense in giving the title to him. But know what, screw sense it's impossible to tell half the time what the booking staff wants to do with the lesser belts.
Big ROH shows this weekend, which feature NOAH talent. Let's try to be surprised when Davey Richards turns on KENTA. I'm thinking they'll meet one on one in Japan before the big tag match in Osaka. Chikara is also running Young Lions Cup V this weekend, an event that's always a lot of fun. Though of all Chikara events, this is always the one where I don't recognize half the names in the tournament. Such is the nature of running a tournament for guys new to the business and it's great exposure for them to be involved with a well know indy tournament like this. My money's on Hydra. Yes, were I actually betting I'd lose a lot of money on that. Also, check Chikara's preview of their Create-a-Wrestler re-debut. They took fan ideas to turn the guy into the next wacky Chikara character and the video preview is the roster talking about their favorite submissions. The highlight is Larry Sweeney proving the man is one of the best at promos on the indy circuit today.
Short Takes
-A general annoyance. Internet video "shooters" on YouTube. And elsewhere. Guys, you might want to rethink that. I mean really. I know you guys are trying, but I don't want to watch a 9 minute video of some pasty kid in his basement talking about how much WWE sucks. I mean, at least try to look professional, don't just set up a camera and talk while licking Cheetos crust off your fingers. "MOOOM, I'm shooting on John Cena to the internet! It's for THE PEOPLE!"
-Robert Roode is incredibly awesome. I don't really know what it is about him that's made me turn around and care about him, but he's been damn entertaining. Winning that match with Jarrett has done wonders for him, but he just needs to move into a new program away from Eric Young.
-With all the champions in one match for Victory Road, what the hell else are they going to book for this show? I'm a little worried.
An action packed week, huh? Well, more like a news filled week but who's counting? My days are winding down in Japan and I'm going to lose my direct access to puro. I'm going to have to think of some new gimmicks for when I get home. But that's a discussion for another time. Have a good week, enjoy whatever wrestling you watch and stay cool if the weather's too hot. I'm out.
