The Navigation Log 11.02.08: All Japan PPV Preview, G1 Tag League, NOAH Winter Navigation and More!

Posted by Matt Short on 11.02.2008

All Japan prepares to show some LOVE in RYOGOKU, Makabe & Yano dominate New Japan's G1 Tag League, and all the happenings to expect from NOAH's Winter Navigation! We've also got the latest match from KENTA and Marufuji. Where does it rank among Japan's top matches from 2008? You decide! Holy crap, I just tied this in with the election...

Happy November, folks! I can't say this is nearly as good a month as October is. For one thing it lacks requisite amounts of awesome movies that you get essentially non-stop with October. I'm a big horror movie fan and whatever movies you're supposed to watch this month don't really cut it. But you do get to look toward Thanksgiving, which is the best day of the year for eating depending on the way you look at it. Unless you're Canadian in which case you had Thanksgiving back in October. Damn, this month sucks. It's like a really long Thursday when you know you've got a big weekend planned. Fuck November.

Onto the Navigation Log!

All Japan: Pro Wrestling LOVE in RYOGOKU!
There's a big PPV coming up for All Japan tomorrow, with quite a few points of interest. First and foremost is the Triple Crown Championship match where Tokyo GURENTAI's Minoru Suzuki will try to wrestle the title away from The Great Muta. Suzuki has been clamoring for a title match since he pinned Keiji Muto in a All Japan Sekigun vs. GURENTAI tag match. He's got his wish, but The Great Muta is not exactly the easiest person to wrestle a world title away from. Just this past week, Muta made an appearance after the 10/24 main event to mist Suzuki. I like the set up for this match quite a bit. Suzuki and Tokyo GURENTAI have been running wild through All Japan for awhile with Suzuki at the head. I'd love to see Suzuki take the belts here, but I don't think they're done running with Keiji Muto holding the IWGP Title and the Triple Crown as his alter ego. The trouble with that is that I don't know where else they can go with it. While the build with Suzuki has made sense, there's not really many other challengers behind him that have been built up well enough to be believable in my mind. Suwama could, but I think there should be a bit more build before he gets another shot. Meanwhile, with a heel champion in Suzuki as champion things are shaken up a bit. Even if Muta wins, I hope that this starts giving his reign some direction. Compared how Keiji Muto is being booked in New Japan where his reign has the purpose of highlighting the progression of younger stars like Shinsuke Nakamura. You haven't seen that in All Japan with The Great Muta.

Coming off a great 60 minute draw against KENTA in which he retained the All Japan Jr. Heavyweight Title, Naomichi Marufuji now has to contend with former VoodooMurders member Shuji Kondo. Kondo left VM when he felt that the heel stable was holding him back. His impressive power has already been an asset to the All Japan Sekigun and he was granted a shot at Marufuji's title to bring it back home. Kondo brings a lot of power for a guy who competes in the Jr. Heavyweight division, but the former Toryumon star is one of those guys who competes as a junior when he's not high enough on the card to be a heavyweight. It should prove to be an interesting battle against Marufuji and while the smart money would be on Kondo to win the belt back now that NOAH got their big title vs. title match. But I have a sneaking suspicion that Marufuji will walk out with the title.

On the undercard we also have the debut of former sumo wrestler Ryota Hama against another sumo turned pro wrestler, Akebono. Hama has gotten a lot of attention for his jump to professional wrestling and during press conferences where his training regimen was discussed. His trainer Kaz Hayashi has said that Hama is taking to professional wrestling very well. Hama himself is very enthusiastic about his future and has promised to defeat Akebono in his debut. Whether Hama can walk the walk remains to be seen, but Hama vs. Akebono will be a very carefully watched match. Also of note is a big All Japan vs. New Japan six-man. Satoshi Kojima will lead young stars KAI & Hiroshi Yamato against his own tag partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito. Kojima and Tenzan have gotten into a bit of a slump as of late and their feeling that some competition between one another can shake some of the dust off. Throw in the young guys as well and you have a very interesting match where some of the best of New Japan's younger generation against the young generation of All Japan. This should be one to watch, but the important thing to see is how TenKoji fair as a team in both promotions after all this.

New Japan: G1 Tag League Winding Down
Here are the current standings for the G1 Tag League as of 10/29:

Block A:
-Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto: 7 points
-Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima: 6 points
-Giant Bernard & Rick Fuller: 5 points
-Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto: 4 points
-Milano Collection AT & Taichi Ishikari: 2 points
-Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii: 2 points

Block B:
-Togi Makabe & Toru Yano: 8 points
-Jado & Gedo: 6 points
-Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie: 5 points
-Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito: 4 points
-Negro Casas & Rocky Romero: 2 points
-Yuji Nagata & Mitsuhide Hirasawa: 1 point

We only had one day of matches this past week happening on the 29th to get to the point totals we have now. Nakamura & Goto had the 7 point lead going into this show, but it was quickly cut down when TenKoji and Giant Bernard & Rick Fuller both managed to win their matches that night. All three teams find themselves in must win situations as Nakamura & Goto take on TenKoji and Bernard & Fuller face Inoue & Kanemoto with spots in the semi-finals going to the top two teams. Tenzan & Kojima can clinch it by beating Nakamura & Goto. If Bernard & Fuller then win then we'd have an interesting situation with Nakamura & Goto. This tournament follows direct win rules, meaning that if two teams finish with the same number of points if one team beat the other directly than that team is ranked higher. Nakamura & Goto vs. Bernard & Fuller went to a double count out, so a second playoff match might be needed. In the same vein if there is a draw between Nakamura & Goto and TenKoji then the former team will advance. If Bernard & Fuller then win TenKoji will advance as they have already beaten the gaijin team. Confused? I know I am and I'm pretty sure I messed something up there.

Block B is much more straightforward. Makabe & Yano have already clinched the block with a final match against Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie still to come. Jado & Gedo can join them if they manage to beat Negro Casas & Rocky Romero, but the Latino team could prove to be a spoiler for them. Provided that Nakanishi & Yoshie lose, Jado & Gedo will be the other half of the semi-finals. Semi-finals and finals will take place on November 5th. The first place from Block A vs. second place from Block B and vice versa. Final results to come next week, stay tuned!

NOAH: Full Disclose on Winter Navigation
NOAH's looking to roll out a lot in November to round out their year. As mentioned last week, the Mauritius Cup is returning with a five-man line up: Genba Hirayanagi, Akihito Ito, and Ippei Ota from NOAH with Takashi Okita and Kento Miyahara from Kensuke Office rounding out the field. I'm personally pulling for Genba because out of the five guys I think he's had the best all around year. Ito has fared good too, while Ota has been… well Ota. Whether his year will culminate in a Christmas Eve match where the number of times he botched spots and landed on his head will be repeated is anyone's guess. The Kensuke Office guys haven't had nearly as much exposure as NOAH's rookies, but they have certainly done their fair share in the second half of 2008. And since we're discussing the younger generation it's worth noting that Atsushi Aoki's 7th trial series match will happen at the tour opener in Tokyo against veteran Jr. Heavyweight Yoshinobu Kanemaru. That should be fun times.

Tag teams will be pretty busy this tour. NOAH is planning two one-night trios tournaments, the first being on 11/23 and the second on the following night. The first night will feature heavyweights with Akitoshi Saito, Bison Smith, & gaijin Keith Walker vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Takeshi Morishima, & Mohammad Yone in the first match then Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshihiro Takayama, & Takashi Okita vs. Jun Akiyama, Takeshi Rikio, & Takashi Sugiura. The winners of each of those matches meet in the finals. Night two is for the Jr. heavyweights as Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Kotaro Suzuki, & Genba Hirayanagi take on Naomichi Marufuji, Atsushi Aoki, & Akihiko Ito. The second match is KENTA, Taiji Ishimori, & Ippei Ota vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Ricky Marvin, & Kento Miyahara. Once again the winners face each other in the finals.

Lots of juniors action as well this tour. KENTA is set to defend the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title against Eddie Edwards on 11/28. Edwards doesn't have quite the fan base in the United States that some like say, Bryan Danielson has, but he has been working pretty damn hard in NOAH for awhile and I feel is deserving of this shot. Edwards doesn't have to win, but if he makes a good account of himself he might draw some extra attention that he needs to really break out both in Japan and in the States. Then at the Budokan finale KENTA & Taiji Ishimori will get a shot at the team that dethroned them for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Titles earlier this year, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki. I favor the challengers in this one. KENTA seems to be getting pushed hard again and NOAH will probably continue down that vein following the 60 minute match he just had with Marufuji.

Speaking of the Budokan, I've saved the main event for last, because it's a rather odd choice to close out what will probably be the final tour of the year. Akitoshi Saito managed to pin Jun Akiyama on his way to retaining the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Titles for him and Bison Smith. Now that's translated into a GHC Title match against Kensuke Sasaki in the Budokan finale. This is a very odd choice for a main event. Saito has not had nearly that much build to be considered a real threat despite the amount of time he's spent in NOAH. He's not a big draw so to speak. While I'm sure the match will be fine (well, it COULD potentially be awful) NOAH should maybe be trying to end the year with a bang? Akiyama or Yoshihiro Takayama could have been better choices, but again its all dependant on building someone up enough to make the match something people are interested in. No one thinks Saito can beat Sasaki and I think that mentality will be shown in the attendance records that night.

Weekly Puro
We'll update the Champion's Roster next week. I mostly wanted to save room for this week's match which will be, as promised, the KENTA vs. Marufuji Double Title match from last weekend. This is a much tighter match than what I was expecting. They both went into it playing it smart early on and working slowly into the big stuff towards the end. There's some selling issues in the beginning with KENTA's leg, but that's really only a problem if you're hardcore about that sort of thing. This is a great match, but I won't call it Japan's MOTY just yet. I say judge it for yourself. Enjoy!

NOAH: Double Title Match: KENTA (GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title) vs. Naomichi Marufuji (All Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Title)







At Home
My new work schedule kicked in this past week so my time just got a whole lot more limited. Yet, I still managed to catch most of the shows this week. Raw was decent, ECW was pretty good, Impact was… hmm I guess Impact was okay this week. I got to see Hiroshi Tanahashi on TV so that worked. But his appearance in TNA follows perfect logic: get an extremely talented and over Japanese star and a former IWGP Champion and have him put on a losing team in the middle of the show. Okay, that's exaggerating the matter by a lot. I just think Tanahashi should get a lot more showcasing than what he's had so far. At least he's not getting the Shinsuke Nakamura treatment and appearing on Explosion against Elix Skipper. That's lower than Heat there folks.

I'll cop to not watching Smackdown though. I saw the opening bout between The Colons and Miz & Morrison, but I ended up watch the Live Ghost Hunters on Sci-Fi instead. Awesome live show from them this year and The Miz did a better job than CM Punk and Elijah Burke did in each of their respective appearances. Miz even demoed the Reality Check on one of the investigators and attempted to use his chick magnetism to attract female ghosts. That didn't work so well. But good TV nonetheless.

Short Takes
-Gabe Sapolsky leaving ROH is probably going to be the major milestone in that company's history, especially since they're changing their booking philosophy to one that's more in the vein of sports entertainment than what they've been doing before. I think a change is needed in this case though. 2008 has not been that interesting a year in ROH from a storyline perspective. The stable wars failed, Sweet n' Sour Inc. didn't go anywhere, as have the Age of the Fall. It just hasn't felt like anything was progressing this year. I don't know what an Adam Pearce booked show will look like, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I do think some fans are overreacting when they hear about the change in direction. ROH is not going to turn into some joke promotion overnight and it's not going to stop the good stuff from happening in the ring.

-That last one was not really a "short" take was it?

-I think Miz & Morrison are hands down the best team this year. The Miz has improved by leaps and bounds and they're getting better in promos and in the ring each time I see them. Here's hoping DX doesn't completely bury them on Monday.

-If Val Venis ever comes back they need to have him team with The Great Khali as the East-West Love Connection. And kudos to WWE creative on Khali's new gimmick. I think someone finally figured out that the word "Punjabi" sounds vaguely sexual if you say it enough.

That's all for this week. Next week we'll have G1 Tag League final results, All Japan results, and maybe, just maybe updates from NOAH and Dragon Gate. Don't hold your breath on the last two though, I think their tours start later. Until then, peace!