The Navigation Log 7.20.08: Morishima's Next Opponent, NTV Tournament, and Sumo

Posted by Matt Short on 07.20.2008

Morishima vs. Sasaki is set for the title in September, the NTV Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament returns, and All Japan is gambling on a sumo wrestler turned pro wrestler. Also, my favorite Dragon Gate match of the year and damn is it great.

Everybody has just about shit themselves for The Dark Knight, which is fine by me. Sadly, I won't be seeing this until probably next weekend as my schedule is booked with family reunions and other gay shit. Marketing wise, they definitely went the right way it seems: pushing Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker is going to pay off in spades. I'm drawn to movies that promise powerful roles. It's part of why I loved There Will Be Blood so much. For more Dark Knight talk, make sure to check out 411 Movies. Everyone else who's here for puro talk, stick around for a bit.

Onto the Navigation Log!

NOAH: Summer's Over, Out of the Pool
The Summer Navigation has finally wound down and ended with a bang in the Junior division.

On 7/13 the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team title match ended with an upset. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and the freshly turned heel Kotaro Suzuki unseated KENTA & Taiji Ishimori for the belts after a 30 minute battle. This marked Kanemaru's second run with the Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles and made him a double champion, as he holds the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Singles title as well. I'm a little sad to see KENTA & Ishimori lose so early in their title reign, but they're not out of the running for the belts as I'll discuss later.

Ishimori had a chance for revenge against Kanemaru at the Budokan show where he challenged for the Jr. Heavyweight title. Ishimori came up short though, leaving Kanemaru still at the peak of NOAH's junior division. The junior scene is getting much more interesting, much like all of NOAH in 2008. Last year, most of the focus was on junior's tag matches. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki were the focus as they defended the titles against a wide variety of teams from Dragon Gate and elsewhere. Mushi King Terry held the singles belt, but it was a reign that really went no where. Many thought Kanemaru's reign wasn't going to lead to anything and that he was just going to hold onto the belt until someone was picked to upset the veteran. Now with the inclusion of Suzuki as a partner and making enemies out of KENTA, Ishimori, and Ricky Marvin there's an actual story unfolding. I like that and I love that 2008 has so far been a much better year for NOAH.

The main event for the Budokan show was a battle of former partners. Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio were once known as Wild II, a very popular tag team that managed to capture the GHC Tag Team Titles back in 2002. It was a chance for Morishima to show up his former partner, who was also a GHC Heavyweight Champion in his own right. The main event was a rather short affair, lasting about 13 minutes, but ended with Morishima retaining his title. That was the right move, and I don't think many people expected Rikio to win. I maybe expected a slightly longer match for a main event, but I'll have to see the match itself before I can judge it.

Rikio wasn't Morishima's only challenge on the final legs of the Summer Navigation. He had to face off with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Triple Crown Champion Kensuke Sasaki in a one-on-one match at the 7/13 show. It was a huge match for both men. For Morishima if he could beat Sasaki he'd have knocked off one of the biggest names in the business active today. For Sasaki a win would cement a shot at Morishima's title. The match instead went to the 30 minute draw. No clear winner was to be had, but this isn't the last we'll see of this match-up. The main event for the September is going to be a huge match with Morishima defending his title against Sasaki. This is easily Morishima's biggest biggest challenge since taking the GHC Heavyweight title from Misawa. Sasaki meanwhile is in a position where if he wins he will be the first man to have held the major title in New Japan, All Japan, and NOAH. There's a lot at stake in that match. Again, kudos to NOAH for taking some big risks this year. I hope they put Morishima over Sasaki and really drive home the fact that he's here to stay as a champion, but part of me wants to see Sasaki pull it off.

The other big news from NOAH is the NTV Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament is returning for the Shiny Navigation. The participating teams were announced this week:

-Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions)
-KENTA & Taiji Ishimori
-The Briscoes
-Atsushi Aoki & Akihito Ito
-Ricky Marvin & Eddie Edwards
-Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards
-Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi

Not a bad field at all. Kota Ibushi and The Briscoes are all making their NOAH returns. Ibushi will probably be most warmly welcomed after his performance in last year's tournament. Ring of Honor also seems to have a strong presence here with five regular roster members. Four teams are obvious favorites those being Kanemaru & Suzuki, KENTA & Ishimori, The Briscoes, and Nakajima & Ibushi. Aoki & Ito could pull off a surprise win or two, but they're there to job. Danielson & Richards could make a good run at it, but I think the dark horse team will be Marvin & Edwards. Ricky Marvin will be looking for revenge on Suzuki somewhere in this tournament. I'll be surprised of KENTA & Ishimori manage to repeat their win from last year, but it's hard to pick a real favorite for this one.

All Japan: Making a Sumo a Wrestler
Sumo wrestlers starting up a career in Japanese pro wrestling after they retire isn't uncommon. The most famous example is former Yokozuna Akebono, who moved on to compete in MMA and then All Japan and New Japan. He even made that infamous appearance at WrestleMania against Big Show. Akebono is something of a success story and All Japan is hoping that lighting will strike twice. They have signed a former wrestler by the name of Ryoto Hama. I followed the sumo tournaments when I was in Japan a bit, but I don't recognize Hama at all and his record doesn't really make him look like a stand out. He's been training in the All Japan dojo, since the first of the month. All Japan owner Keiji Muto is apparently really high on getting this guy into the ring, but there's some worry that he's being rushed. Hama is a big boy and has to wear knee braces. The one thing he's got going is that he's young and seems to be passionate about wrestling. That combined with the amount of press the signing has gotten is going to turn out well for All Japan if they can pull off this all off.

I've got somewhat mixed feelings about it. Yes, Akebono has been a surprise. He's not a brilliant wrestler, but he's shown some skill as a big man and has gotten over. He's entertaining and he brought the credibility of his yokozuna status with him. Hama's got the press behind his move to pro wrestling, but I'll admit that when his trainers are saying he's not ready, I'll believe that he's not ready. The disadvantage of the press is going to be that there will be the temptation to get him in the ring as soon as possible. The guy's been training for under a month, there's no way he's ready. He could hurt somebody in the ring or hurt himself. I say give him the time to at least get the basics. Make sure he's going to be fine in the ring. It'd be pointless to blow all this money and publicity on a guy just for him to end up as a laughing stock.

Weekly Puro
This is one of my favorite matches of 2008. CIMA has had to surrender his Open the Dream Gate title due to neck injuries, but he's turned in some strong performances. Sure, he's probably the biggest offender of the Dragon Gate patented "finisher-fest" but he gets a crowd going. His bout against Masato Yoshino though was easily his best defense of his title reign. The story through a lot of his bouts has been that the younger generation has been catching up to CIMA and he's been able to win on his experience. Yoshino appeared to have CIMA's number though, having already pinned the champion in an Open the Brave Gate title defense. With Yoshino on the cusp of the title and tensions in the Muscle Outlaw'z stable high, this made for an amazing match with a finish I absolutely love.

Dragon Gate: Open the Dream Gate Championship: CIMA © vs. Masato Yoshino








At Home
The Great American Bash is tonight. You will see something amazing and that is John Cena, having survived a brutal car accident the likes of which have never been seen. That was just goofy this Monday, I'm sorry. And to be honest all I can ever think of when I see someone leave the arena from those back doors is Vince's limo blowing up. The big question is going to be answered as well: do you go with a huge main event of John Cena vs. Batista at Summerslam OR do you keep the CM Punk experiment going? A Cena/Batista main event is probably going to happen sooner or later (WrestleMania XXV seems like a good venue). I'd like to see Punk get a little farther as champ though since jobbing him here seems to be a waste of the time they put into him. Let him develop some, because he really hasn't shown a whole lot of stand out personality in the WWE thus far. Y2K vs. HBK should rule everything and the tag team title match and US Title match could be surprise hits. All said and done, this is a pretty good card and could be one of the best Bashes since WWE brought the PPV back.

TNA's Victory Road was a mixed bag. I usually find TNA PPV's to be pretty damn good, even if the TV show could be down. I had some high hopes for the show since it was featuring the X-Cup finals. True, there were the gaffes over the way matches were clipped down and the visa issues (working visas are a pain in the ass to get so I'm willing to forgive that), but I wanted to see the finals. The third round was really, REALLY good. I was happy Yoshino got to look like a star and it was a great exhibition for all those involved. The Ultimate X was okay, but not as good as past installments of the match. Naruki Doi was not a very good choice for the match in my opinion. Dragon Gate guys do high-flying, but to me it's rare that they do high spots expected for Ultimate X. Yoshino might have been better for it. Regardless, Kaz's leg drop was insane. They need to do away with the Fan's Revenge match. It's just silly and it really didn't belong in the LAX vs. Beer Money Inc. match. Now that they're actually going after fans it makes sense. Plus, the guys they get are always huge tools. You should desperately hope for Storm or Roode to just knock one of them out. The main event was going fine, but the constant cutting to Sharmell and the confusing as hell ending just ruined everything for me. I really felt like it pulled down the quality of the PPV. I think it would have been better had they had Joe win by TKO or something. Then you can go to the weird stuff afterwards. It just didn't look good and pissed people off. I welcome the return of a Samoa Joe who kills people though.

Short Takes
-I feel cheated. There was no wedding on Friday, just a reception. I demand a traditional WWE wedding with flowers and crap in the ring. The way marriage is supposed to be.

-I sadly missed Impact this week, but I'm sad that I missed Jimmy Rave's return to TV. Rave did really well in his tour with New Japan so maybe he can turn that into improving his game in TNA. He's got to make it to TV first though. Next, win a match.

-Is Brian Kendrick being groomed to be the next Shawn Michaels??!?!?!? No, no I don't think so. His heel gimmick is pretty awesome though.

That's all for this week. We'll have a full discussion of next weekend's big Dragon Gate PPV and hopefully more information on whether this sumo guy sucks or not. Peace!