Destiny 7.08.07: All Japan Junior Heavyweight League
Posted by Matt Adamson on 07.08.2007
HAIL SABIN! HAIL SABIN! HAIL SABIN!
It wasn't too long ago when All Japan Pro Wrestling was in a real slump. Losing most of their roster at once with the "exodus" of NOAH, they were left with the remnants of their past and a slew of over the hill gaijin. Slowly over the next five years their popularity dwindled and their position in the world of Japanese Pro Wrestling (puroresu) was barely salvageable. In 2005 things began to change. They realized that instead of sticking with the old guard that they desperately needed to put some new blood at the top. Those who held the Triple Crown up to that point since the NOAH split were Keiji Mutoh, Genichiro Tenryu, Shin'ya Hashimoto, and Toshiaki Kawada. It was time for a changing of the guard.
When it came to the Junior Heavyweights there was barely a rumble happening. The title went vacant for just under 2 years and was picked up by Kendo Kashin who rarely defended it and no showed a title defense and was thus stripped. The title was losing prestige at an alarming rate. Since then the title has been held by Kaz Hayashi, TAKA Michinoku, Shuji Kondo and Katsuhiko Nakajima. It took Kondo to bring a return to that title any reputation it had outside of All Japan. All Japan new that its junior division was weak, but they wanted to change all that. In 2006 they held the first ever Junior Heavyweight League, a tournament that would lead to a title shot for the winner. That year it was won by Kaz Hayashi who in August got his title shot against champion Shuji Kondo in what I consider to be the best match in All Japan in several years and the puro match of the year. It brought a flame to an otherwise sputtering spark of a junior division. This year the Junior Heavyweight League returned and it's bigger than last year; featuring ten junior heavyweights who faced off in two round robin tournaments with the winners of each facing off in the final.
2007 Junior Heavyweight League
Compared with last year's crew, this year featured some really great junior heavyweight talent which made this tournament look really great and allowed for a few unlikely wrestlers to shine. The inclusion of TNA's Chris Sabin was something that I find very beneficial to the tournament and unlike many of my fellow writers, I found his winning the tournament to be just what it needs. While I'm certain that it is obvious that Nakajima will retain when he faces Sabin, it brings a new face to All Japan and hopefully some All Japan faces to TNA, which will make that promotion a lot more interesting for me. I'm also looking forward to seeing the final match as it could only have been loads of fun.
Before I get going on my wrestler by wrestler run-down of the tournament, I want to address the main event of the Jr. Heavy League final which was the big Mutoh vs. Suzuki match that I had hoped wouldn't lead to the "salvation" of All Japan from the evil Minoru Suzuki. Turns out that Suzuki retained his title and Mutoh was unable to be the promotions "savior". It certainly makes me hope for that Kohei Suwama turn and title chase leading to him being the "savior". That would be tremendous and if I end up being right about this… well, that would make me pretty great wouldn't it? Now, on with my traditional puro tournament wrestler by wrestler run-down.
Block A: This year both Blocks were decided in the final match of the block which in my opinion is a smart move by All Japan. It left some suspense and in the end was excitement as the winner of the last match in each block ended up going to the finals. In Block A, Shuji Kondo beat El NOSAWA Mendoza to take the lead over Nakajima, PEPE and Hijikata to avoid a tie-breaker between the five of them. I'm not a huge fan of tie-breakers but the suspense involved in this single match and what would happen if NOSAWA won (if he had it would have been a five-way tie, so it might have seemed obvious Kondo would win) helped a guy like Hijikata have a little brush with the spotlight.
Shuji Kondo - Kondo spent the better part of a year and a half as the All Japan Jr. Champion, so even though he wasn't the champion going in, he was obviously the man to beat. Things for Kondo started off extremely rough as after a decisive win over the champ, Nakajima, he was pinned in a reported 24 seconds in his first match by PEPE Michinoku. Not a way to start, but it got better for him as he racked up a victory over Hijikata and NOSAWA (by countout) earning himself a total of five points. In the finals he faced off against Sabin and lost, but his reputation as the toughest Junior in All Japan remains strong.
Katsuhiko Nakajima - Nakajima was another "guy to beat" as he is the current All Japan Junior Heavyweight Champion. He started off with a loss to Kondo, but if anybody is going to take down the champ it is Kondo. He won back to back matches against NOSAWA and PEPE, but the real upset of the tournament came in his final match. Nakajima finished off the tournament getting upset by Ryuji Hijikata in a decisive match by pinfall. It's never spectacular when a champion wins these things, but this is where you build stars, by having the upset the champ in tournament matches and that is what they did here with Hijikata.
Ryuji Hijikata - Speaking of Hijikata, he was the big story here besides Sabin. I wasn't expecting terribly much out of him in this tournament, but big wins over PEPE and Nakajima coupled with the potential tie-breaker with Nakajima and PEPE really put his name out there, especially if the plan was to go with advancing who won the singles matches in the event of a tie. If anybody besides Sabin gained anything significant from this tournament it was Hijikata.
PEPE Michinoku - I knew going in that the man once known as TAKA Michinoku was going to be in the middle of the pack in the end, and I was right. His victories over Kondo and NOSAWA were important, but they were just to keep it from being a blowout by Kondo. I actually wish they had gone with a win for Kondo, but I guess that might devalue Michinoku. Overall, exactly what I expected.
El NOSAWA Mendoza - NOSAWA was my predicted jobber and he did his job well. His only victory came against Hijikata, but his place in the tournament was what changed everything. If he had won the final match against Kondo, the entire block would have been a tie, so his involvement as the jobber was crucial to avoiding a complete cluster. What would they have done if they had decided to go with a tie? Would they have a battle royal be the tie-breaker? Good thing they decided to avoid the confusion and have Kondo win it, because all in all that was the right move.
Block B: Block B wasn't nearly as close to becoming a confusing mess as Block A. Dick Togo seemed like the guy to take it all as he had earned points in all of his matches up until the final match of the Block's portion of the tournament. With Sabin overcoming the odds and winning that final match, he went on to win the entire tournament, pretty much establishing himself in the big leagues of puro for the first time. The Togo vs. Sabin match in the final was a very important match and really built Sabin's trip to the finals up very well. All Japan made the right move in doing things the way they did and it made it that much more exciting.
Chris Sabin - Your Jr. Heavyweight League winner is a former TNA X Division Champion. This was probably one of Chris Sabin's biggest professional moments. Not only was this his first real appearance in a big league puro promotion, but he also made his mark on history and actually won the tournament beating Kondo in the final. This hopefully sets up a Nakajima vs. Sabin match down the road which will no doubt be fun to watch. It seems as though plenty of my fellow 411 writers are less than thrilled about Sabin getting the win, but I am not one of the disappointed. His win hopefully means All Japan and TNA have worked out a relationship. I hope that it means seeing some of my favorite puro stars on Spike TV in the near future.
Dick Togo - Dick Togo winning this tournament would not have suited well. He is a veteran and frankly his place in just missing the finals is the perfect place for him and really made Sabin look that much more impressive. He beat everybody besides Sabin and AKIRA, whom he went to a time limit draw with. His performance was to allow for the winner of this block and the tournament to have some credibility. If you replace Togo with somebody else who could have been involved, you probably wouldn't have the respect and thus Sabin looks less impressive. This block was all about Sabin, and Togo's place in things made it work.
Miguel Hayashi Jr. - Hayashi is the only other wrestler that I thought had a real chance of winning this particular Block. He was the only one to defeat Sabin, which keeps him strong in the eyes of the fans. This is important because Hayashi is one of the major players in All Japan's Junior's Division and it makes sense seeing how he has impressed during the last year. His other victory came against "brother" YASSHI which I expected. Hayashi's performance was necessary to keep him strong yet allow for somebody else to shine. After all, he did win the tournament last year; he didn't need to win it again.
AKIRA - I never thought AKIRA had a shot in hell at picking up the win. In fact, I'm surprised he even picked up a victory against Hayashi. His draw with Togo was a decider in who won the tournament as it allowed for Sabin to go one point up when he beat Togo. AKIRA was also the only competitor to fall to the jobber of Block A, "brother" YASSHI. I don't exactly understand why YASSHI continues to be the jobber when guys like AKIRA, who are clearly more concerned with their acting career are around to do the job and make it look more impressive. I believe that's a role for AKIRA. Not only will he help others careers, but his skills in the ring will help them learn and look great at the same time. At least they realized that this time and put YASSHI over.
"brother" YASSHI - As the obvious jobber, YASSHI did exactly what he was supposed to do, he gave points to everybody else and stared at the bright lights of various arenas around Japan. Heck, they even gave him a win against AKIRA. Good thing too. While I never expect YASSHI to amount to much, he is interesting and does provide a heck of a lot of entertainment, so why not give the guy some credit? I guess they have trouble pushing a guy who blows his crotch rot at his opponents. Well, I'd push him, if not for the crotch rot bit alone.
Vacation Awaits
Well, that's it for the All Japan Junior Heavyweight League. I really think things went well and while so many are disappointed with Sabin's win, I love it and am excited for a fresh match in the Junior Division. Good work All Japan, thanks for taking a chance. If you haven't already, check out my 411 Independent Draft Spectacular Fantasy card. It posted on Wednesday July 4th. I had a lot of fun putting it together and I hope the humor I inserted throughout is considered both absurd and bizarre. If you're curious as to what I'm talking about, go see for yourself.
I got a lot of mail this week about my "Who's Number One In Japan?" column from the last three weeks. There is too much to print anyway, so I'll be sorting through it and posting some of it in the column next week. Some of it was very positive, while others found flaws in my research. Of course they found flaws; it's puro we're talking about here. Either way, there is plenty to discuss about those columns. With that in mind, I'm on vacation, so I'm going to go and enjoy the fruits of my labor and live the good life. Until next time.
