The Navigation Log 7.01.07: ROH in Japan and the Summer Navigation
Posted by Matt Short on 07.01.2007
This week its a look at the ROH in Tokyo card and the kick off of the Summer Navigation. Plus, an exclusive opening of Al Capone's vault!
Last week was probably the hardest week for any wrestling fan ever. I considered devoting my whole column this week to the Chris Benoit case on Wednesday. Before the specifics of the case came out I had considered doing a look back on his career in Japan as Pegasus Kid. I'm only talking about the case here though. There's nothing more I can really add besides my own thoughts, and pretty much everyone who has tackled it this week has done a better job than I ever could. The rest of the column will be regular style Navigation Log.
So right… the case. This might be the single biggest tragedy in wrestling history. A top performer, considered to be a legend kills his family and himself over the course of a weekend. It boggles the mind and I can understand why a lot of Chris Benoit's fans would take it so hard. I took it hard when the facts started coming out. There's also been a lot of unfair accusations going around. For one thing, the WWE should not be getting heat for the tribute show. Yes, it did in retrospect glorify a murderer but the fact remains that even if someone in the WWE might have suspected what happened they didn't know. They did what they felt was right at the time and then pulled all their tributes from the site once more information was out. There's nothing more or less they could have done. As for whether this damages Benoit's legacy, I think that it really does. Consider this, when he retired he would have been loved and respected by the wrestling community as a legend. Now because of this and the media coverage his name is linked to a murder. As a Benoit fan that sucks a lot, but there's nothing that can really change that. I haven't been able to separate the man from his in-ring work since it happened. Maybe some time in the future things will change for me, but as of now I find it hard to even look at his picture. But if you are content to praise him for his years of dedication in the ring, continue to do so. Whatever helps you move on. But to people still denying what happened or who are coming up with new conspiracy theories, you might want to take a break.
The worst aspect of it all is that three people are dead. That I feel is the real tragedy. I'm not going to judge Benoit, but I will feel sad for the loss of life. I feel even worse that Nancy and Daniel Benoit are dead too. That they had their lives cut so short for reasons we may never understand.
Oh and the media coverage. I'm not at all surprised that Fox News is eating this up. Celebrity murder cases mean ratings. But that whole Geraldo thing where he tried to link Benoit to Sherri Martel's death? Wow. Unbelievable. Two words for you Geraldo and I hope they will make you and everyone else question why you have a job anywhere: Capone's Vault. Hey! Hey! Was there Nazi gold inside? Oh wait…
Enough of all that, let's move into some Japan coverage! We've got ROH in Japan news and the opening of the Summer Navigation!
Helloooooo Tokyo!
Ring of Honor has released their card for the ROH in Japan Tokyo show this week. My impressions on the card…. now:
BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave
-Whoa doggie this is going to be dueling treadmills here. Neither of these guys have had much to do in 2007. Rave is just coming off a squash from Takeshi Morishima while Whitmer has been on a downward slide since the Jimmy Jacobs feud. While this could benefit both men if they put on a good showing, I'm not sure how the Tokyo fans will treat the match. While there are ROH fans here (I've seen them, honest!) I'm not entirely sure these two are going to be well known by the general crowd. Though they'll have nothing to worry about if they put on a great show.
Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki
-This will be interesting. Shiozaki is considered an up and comer in NOAH, yet he mostly does a grand total of nothing most of the time. While I haven't seen much from Shiozaki in singles matches, he has shown glimmers of greatness in tag matches. He knows how to carry himself in the ring which is always a good place to start. But then you've got Danielson, whose credentials few people would doubt. He can bring it in any type of match and as a result everyone looks good. While not expecting too much from this, I'm not expecting it to be bad either. They compliment each other in the ring and will probably stiff the hell out of each other. Tokyo fans will eat this one up.
Fight Without Honor Delirious vs. Roderick Strong
-You know, I've never seen a hardcore match live. The closest I have was at a Chikara event at Ursinus College, the Collegeville Street Fight between Hallowicked and Equinox. But then that wasn't "hardcore" it was just silly. Wait, what was I talking about? Oh right ROH, sorry. Yeah, I can't wait for this one. Hopefully, these two will bust out some crazy spots to get a rise out of the crowd. If Delirious is going anywhere, him winning here would be a huge step up the ROH ladder.
Jack Evans & Kotaro Suzuki vs. The No Remorse Corps. (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero)
-Holy crap, I didn't know Suzuki was booked for this show! This is going to be insane. All these guys together in the same match is just asking for fun. What really sells this is Suzuki, who is easily NOAH's best Jr. Heavyweight, has had battles with Romero in the past and will lock horns with Richards over the Summer Navigation. Jack is always impressive to watch and while the number of flips you can do off the ropes isn't really important it is pretty awe inspiring sometimes. Jack is over in Japan thanks to Dragon Gate and he'll be looking to continue that through this match.
Dream Six Man- The Briscoe & Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA, Ricky Marvin, & Matt Sydal
-While these teams are a bit random, holy crap are they awesome. While I think they're stretching things calling this a "dream match" there's no denying that this can and probably will tear Differ Ariake down. This is going to be fast paced and while maybe not as fast as Dragon Gate six-mans in the past. Regardless, this will be a war.
Summer of Fun
The Summer Navigation kicked off this Saturday in Tsukuba Kapio. I have no idea where that even is. Regardless, it looks like it was a really fun show. Nothing flashy, but fun. The biggest thing was a massive NTC Battle Royal. The participants from all the teams involved engaged in this with Kotaro Suzuki coming out on top in the end. A pretty cool way to kick off the NTC tournament. It's going to be an interesting tournament when it gets down to it I think. I'm especially looking forward to the Marvin & Suzuki vs. The Briscoes rematch at the Budokan show on July 15th.
Also at this show we had Nigel McGuinness get a win over Shuhei Taniguchi with the Tower of London. Yes, he beat someone with that move. Shocking isn't it? This match was most likely an 8 minute squash and I'd expect Nigel to be booked really strong during the Summer Navigation. Why? He's got to look strong going up against Morishima in Tokyo. Japan hasn't seen Nigel since First Navigation, but they have seen the pictures of him pinning Morishima in the tag match last weekend. Now they need to just let him show off a bit during this latest tour. Oh the build for Nigel vs. Morishima II is on and it is going to be fun.
There was nothing else of note from this show though. There of the card were your standard NOAH tag matches. One featured Misawa and Taue across the ring from each other, but I doubt much came out of it. Probably a tense stare down and trading of strikes before Misawa went back to the apron. At least that's how it's been in the shows I've been to. It helps build tension for the climax at the end of the tour, but Misawa sometimes just can't go all out during these and that detracts a bit. I will say that when he met Morishima in a tag match for First Navigation, that was pretty awesome. I am really looking forward to Misawa vs. Taue in the future. I really think it is going to be one of those moments where these guys dig down and try to pull off a great match.
CIMA vs. Lyger
Though I'm not up to speed on all things Dragon Gate, I'd have to think that this match on their Kobe World show is pretty hotly anticipated. I know I'm looking forward to it. I think the odds of CIMA walking away from this as Open the Dream Gate champion are pretty good as Lyger being champ doesn't really do much for DG. All it's given them is a way to really elevate whoever beats Lyger for the belt. CIMA doesn't really need that because he's CIMA, but I can't think of anyone else in the company to pull off a win over Lyger. Let's face it, the guy is old but age counts for nothing in puro. Look at Misawa, he's half of what he once was but is still cheered like this was the 90's. Lyger is the same way. It's all about the name and the legacy with that name, no matter how beat up your body gets. Just like Hulk Hogan only without the excessively tanned skin. Other titles on the line at this show will be Genki Horiguchi defending the Open the Brave Gate title against Yasushi Kanda and the Open the Triangle Gate belts are on the line as New Hazard defends against the Muscle Outlaw'z. Last but not least the IJ Tag Team titles are on the line with Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka taking on Jado and Gedo.
Fun times? Fun times.
Short Takes and Back Home COMBINED!
-I wonder why TNA never tried to do a show long match before? It's a pretty damn good idea, though it sounds like the run ins killed the match a bit.
-ROH PPV? Fuck yeah. The teaser ads they have on YouTube look great, especially the one of Marufuji kicking Rocky Romero's teeth down his throat.
-I think when I get home I need to check out some PWG shows. Battle of Los Angeles 2006 most likely because I love tournaments, but I'm open to suggestions.
-I feel really bad for Johnny Nitro. Consider the circumstances that surrounded him winning the title and then think what might be going through his head.
-Vengeance sucked. But despite the back story to the Punk vs. Nitro match, I still really enjoyed it. And I did mark out when Punk busted out the Pepsi Twist.
That's all for this week. I hope the coming week is a lot easier for everyone to get through. If you're still feeling down about this, I'd recommend some good comedy wrestling to cheer yourself up. It worked for me. Check out some Chikara or for the puro inclined Hustle or DDT. Seems there was a fantastic "ladder" match in DDT awhile ago…
