The Navigation Log 5.04.08: A Week of Title Changes and Upsets

Posted by Matt Short on 05.04.2008

I don't know what they're drinking in Japan, but for some reason it encouraged a lot of crazy stuff last week.

I've got more graduation talk. Just indulge me for a second. Our school's career services office handed out these guides for survival after graduation. There's nothing overtly wrong with it other than it highlights the fact that 90% of the people in my class have probably never had to do anything for themselves in their life. With guides like "How to Eat Sushi" and "How to Buy Paint" I suddenly understand why people find little hope for my generation. I have this horrible image of someone flailing around in a Home Depot unable to figure out how to remove paint from the shelf and pay for it.

Lots to talk about this week so… Onto the Navigation Log!

Muto Still Rules
A was pointed out in the comments last week, I dropped the ball by not coving New Japan's big show from last weekend. I can only extend my apologies for the lackluster coverage and promise to try to do better in the future. Turns out I was missing a lot, because last weekend was a HUGE weekend in NJPW.

There were three title matches on the show: First, probably one of the hottest junior heavyweight in Japan, Wataru Inoue successfully defended his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title against TNA's Christopher Daniels. Not only did he retain his title, but he also finally defeated Daniels in their overall feud. They had split a pair of matches between the two of them and the issue is apparently settled for now.

The IWGP Tag Team titles were also on the line as Togi Makabe & Toru Yano defended against Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka. The matches ended in surprising fashion however as Iizuka turned on his partner. This is expected to turn into a bloody feud as Iizuka has joined up with the Great Bash Heel stable which Tenzan used to lead.

The biggest news of the night, however, was legend Keiji Muto winning his fourth IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura. While there's a lot of internet fans unhappy about the title switch from a young up and comer like Nakamura to Muto, who is neither young nor considered healthy, the Japanese fans have rallied behind him and fully support the new champion, even though he is representing All Japan. I think New Japan actually made a good call here. Based mostly on Muto's reception and the apparent quality of the match fan interest is obviously high right now and if New Japan can capitalize on that they can keep the product interesting for a few months. Nakamura was also essentially out of credible opponents so this also freshens up the title picture with new match-ups. It also gives whoever finally beats Muto major credibility as champion.

So who's up for Muto next? I think the odds on choice is going to be the returning Hirooki Goto. Goto has a lot of fan support and could be in line for a push with Hiroshi Tanahashi on the shelf for a year.

Suwama Wins Triple Crown
Events in New Japan seem to mirror New Japan as the Triple Crown changed hands this past week. Only in this case the title went from old generation to younger generation as Champion's Carnival winner Suwama defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win the Triple Crown. This switch is not quite as surprising as the IWPG change. There was about a 50/50 chance the title would go to Suwama in this one. Though the general feeling seems to have been that it was now or never for the guy. Strike while the iron is hot as it were. The crowd reacted well to the win but we'll have to see how far Suwama gets as champion. It will be interesting to see who gets the first crack at Suwama and there's a lot of home that Nakamura will go for it to continue the relationship between New Japan and All Japan.

Also on the same show Ryuji Hijikata won his first AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title as he upset current champ Silver King while Keiji Muto & Joe Doering successfully defended their AJPW Tag Team titles against the team of TARU & ZODIAC from Voodoo Murders.

NOAH: Night of Upsets
The Budokan finale of the Global Tag League had some of the most unexpected finishes I can think of in the past year of the company.

The finals started with a massive upset as Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura were able to defeat the team of Takeshi Morishima & Mohammad Yone. The importance of this match became apparent when Sugiura pinned GHC Heavyweight Champion Morishima after an Olympic Slam. This is probably the biggest win Sugiura has gotten and it puts him right up at the top of the list for potential challengers to Morishima. Not only did the champion being pinned shock the crowd but it officially put Morishima & Yone out of the running while Marufuji & Sugiura could hope for a three way tie.

In the next match Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima were able to pull off another upset as they defeated my favorites to win the whole thing, Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio. While Sasaki & Nakajima weren't able to get any closer to winning the whole thing, they cut off Akiyama & Rikio from winning, while the potential for a three way draw remained a possibility if the final match could somehow go to a draw where no team won points.

The final shock of the night was easily the biggest. It was the final match of the Global Tag League and barring a no-point draw as long a Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa could go to a draw with Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito they would win the whole thing. The odds were against Smith & Saito as the two time GHC Tag Team Champions of Misawa & Ogawa would be a tough team to overcome. The Budokan Hall was left floored however as Smith & Saito did the unbelievable and won the match and the Global Tag League. This was a huge win for the team of Smith & Saito, but it seemed to mean an awful lot to Bison Smith in particular. He put over the fact that Misawa was a major factor in keeping him involved in wrestling when eight years ago he was about ready to quit. Misawa however asked him to wrestle for NOAH which has given him the opportunity to wrestle main event matches against Kenta Kobashi & Misawa. Saito promised that they would use the momentum from winning the tournament to go for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team belts.

Dragon Gate: DEAD or ALIVE
Dragon Gate is at the point where it's about to explode it seems. Last weekend saw Gamma come out on top of the Open the Brave Gate tournament (cheating the whole way of course) and renamed the belt the "Open the Gamma Gate" title. Meanwhile Ryo Saito came up short in his shot at CIMA for the Open the Dream Gate, but unlike what was expected, did not turn on Typhoon and reconciled with CIMA. But now the company heads into its DEAD or ALIVE PPV where the chance of things being turned on its head is higher than ever. Here's the line-up:

-Akira Tozawa, Super Shenlong, & Cyber Kong vs. Anthony W. Mori, PAC, & Syachihoko Machine
Should be a fun and quick opener. Sychihoko Machine is always welcome in my opinion.

-"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa Bosou 10 Match Series: Stalker Ichikawa vs. X
Stalker's opponent hasn't been named yet, but there's a lot of guesses. He usually gets thrown up against major puro stars from all over and more often then not they're bigger than him. People are hoping for Morishima or Misawa here. Whatever happens, Stalker will be murdered by the end.

-Hardcore Rules Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Naoki Tanisaki
Shingo has an obvious strength advantage in this, but Tanisaki had been dabbling in Big Japan's deathmatches before signing with Dragon Gate again. I don't know how hardcore this is going to get. If it goes into light tube or barbed wire territory Tanisaki might be able to get the win. I don't see Takagi losing this one though and I hope we see some reconciliation so Tanisaki can finally be sorted into a unit and get some more direction.

-Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fuji, & El Blazer vs. Genki Horiguchi, Gamma, & NOSAWA Rongai
This could be a fun little match, but I don't expect too much to come out of it. Blazer and NOSAWA being in this adds an extra dimension with being outsiders. I'd mostly like to see Gamma get the win here just to show that he's higher up the card.

-Naruki Doi vs. KENTA
I'm really looking forward to this match. Doi is one of my favorite guys to watch in Dragon Gate right now and KENTA has been refocusing on the junior heavyweight division in NOAH where he really excels.

-Open the Twin Gate Titles: Taku Iwasa & Kenichiro Arai vs. Ryo Saito & Susumu Yokosuka
These two teams met before in a great match where Iwasa & Arai won the I-J Tag Team belts from Saito & Yokosuka. The Typhoon team has something to prove here, but I don't think its time to take the belts from Iwasa & Arai.

-Mascara contra Cabellera 6 Way Survival Cage Match: CIMA vs. Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino vs. Yasushi Kanda vs. BxB Hulk vs. YAMATO
This is the big one. The rules of the match work like this. There will be five flags place on top of the cage. Whoever doesn't get one will have their head shaven or (if you're Dragon Kid) lose his mask. There's going to be heavy ramifications regardless of who loses the match as there's a lot of personal issues at stake. Hulk has been feuding with Kanda and YAMATO while Yoshino could also find himself a target. I don't know who'll come out on top, but this is probably the most anticipated Dragon Gate match in awhile.

Best of Super Jr. XV Line-Up
New Japan announced the blocks for this year's tournament they look like this:

Block A
Wataru Inoue
Jushin Thunder Liger
Minoru
Ryusuke Taguchi
Yujiro
Tatsuhito Takaiwa

Block B
Koji Kanemoto
Tiger Mask
Tetsuya Naito
AKIRA
Prince Devitt
Jimmy Rave

Not a bad line-up. Liger and Inoue are the big names to beat in Block A while Block B is somewhat lighter. Tiger Mask and Kanemoto will be threats in B Block. Also, Jimmy Rave? TNA had no one else to send to this?

Weekly Puro
I had a tough time picking a match this week, but I've settled on this six-man inter-promotional match because I just loved watching it. It's a Dragon Gate vs. DDT six-man and it's a whole lot of fun. I was especially impressed with Antonio Honda on the DDT team. I've mostly seen him in comedy matches, but he's starting to take a much more serious tone in DDT as of late and he's able to show off more of his skills than before.

Dramatic Dream Gate Returns!: New Hazard (Shingo Takagi, BxB Hulk, & Cyber Kong) vs. HARASHIMA, Kota Ibushi, & Antonio Honda






At Home
The WWE is back to fucking with the fans again it seems. I approve. The "blackout" at the end of Raw was pretty cool. It got heat on Regal and as long as they keep Triple H and Orton away from each other leading up to their cage match at Judgment Day it kept them from giving away a big title match for free. It's the sort of thing that gets people talking. And doing things like this to piss off audiences to get heat does work if done right. I'll point to the example of M2K, the Double Ringout Committee from Toryumon. They became massive heels by ending all their matches in double ringouts and denied the fans a decisive finish. It worked for them and it can work for Regal as long as they make it part of his character and don't get too obnoxious with it.

The ECW announcer walkout is another similar booking tactic that I'd like to see how it will pan out. I think this will be a way to introduce a new announcer to the ECW booth. Though it's crazy to think the whole Mike Adamle sucks thing was a work. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe they realized their mistake and are just going to run with it thus turning it into a work.

Short Takes
-When Kennedy came out during the coronation, I was really impressed by how the crowds took to him. Provided his character doesn't get watered down in his face roll, this could work well for him in the long run.

-The Deuces Wild tournament wouldn't be a bad idea if that was just the name of the tournament and not a whole gimmick. Tournaments are such simple things on the surface, I hate seeing them being convoluted.

-While Deuces Wild seems to suck, the Dome of Doom match they're putting together could be fun. But didn't they just have an all cage match PPV last month?

-Maybe Jimmy Rave won't do so bad in Best of Super Jr. I mean the Japanese sort of liked him at the ROH in Tokyo show. I think that was the most heat he'd gotten in ages.

That's all for this week. I've got a week of exams followed by drinking ahead. Such is the way of the final weeks of school. Apparently. Peace!