The Navigation Log 12.14.08: Tokyo Sports Awards and WRESTLE KINGDOM III

Posted by Matt Short on 12.14.2008

Who was the best of the best in Japan this year? The Tokyo Sports Awards will let you know! Also Wrestle Kingdom III is epic, the All Asia Tag Team Title return to All Japan, and Japan's Match of the Year in the Weekly Puro!

It must be getting close to Christmas because I'm starting to get sick. The last 5 years I've been sick as a dog for the holidays and I end up feeling like shit, thus ruining it for everyone else. How to combat this? Medicate, medicate, medicate. I've bought out the stock of the local CVS and will be taking just about all of it in hopes of killing this bug. Because who likes being sick? This illness has made this week hell. Between work and with more writing on 411 than I usually take on in one week (Fact or Fiction AND Buy or Sell) has not been giving me too much time to recover. So it goes.

Onto the Navigation Log!

2008 Tokyo Sports Awards Results
Every year the Tokyo Sports Awards are given out to honor the best of Japan over one calendar year. These are highly respected awards in Japan and are usually very good with the way winners are picked. All promotions from the independents to the Big Three are considered when deciding winners. This year's awards went to the following wrestlers:

Wrestler of the Year: Keiji Muto

It's hard to argue against Muto winning this. He's had a great 2008, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Title and the Triple Crown as the Great Muta. Not only that, but he's been having great matches with younger wrestlers and has really been busting his ass all year long. This is Muto's fourth Wrestler of the Year Award.

Match of the Year: All Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shuji Kondo (11/3/08)

I have no complaints with this pick. I'll be talking about this match in greater detail later.

Tag Team of the Year: Minoru Suzuki & Taiyo Kea

Kind of an interesting pick, considering the revived Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima have captured two major tag team tournaments this year. But Suzuki & Kea have been an awesome team, which I think might have caught some fans off guard. The All Japan World Tag Team Champions are a worthy pick.

MVP Award: Kensuke Sasaki

Nothing really wrong with this selection. Sasaki has been all over the place this year, first in All Japan holding the Triple Crown and now the GHC Heavyweight Champion in NOAH. He's been involved in some excellent matches and has essentially been strong no matter where he wrestles.

Fighting Spirit Award: Masato Tanaka

See his match with Yuji Nagata and you'll see why Tanaka was a shoe-in here.

Best Technical Wrestler: Shingo Takagi

Interesting choice as Shingo isn't exactly what you'd call a "technical" wrestler. You hear technical wrestling and you have images of Dean Malenko trading holds with a guy. I think they wanted to acknowledge Shingo this year though and so he found his way onto the list here.

Rookie of the Year: Atsushi Sawada

I haven't seen a single match with this guy. If he won the Rookie Award we'll probably be seeing more from him.

All Japan proved to be the dominant promotion in this year's awards, taking the four top prizes. It is very reflective of the year All Japan has had. They had a series of great shows, interesting stories, and all around they had the best year out of the Big Three companies. Muto was on for his big matches in New Japan as well. Suwama's title reign can be considered a successful experiment as well and Shuji Kondo looks to be headed toward bigger things thanks to having a match of the year now under his belt.

New Japan: Wrestle Kingdom III
New Japan's January 4th Tokyo Dome show finally has a full card and it has turned into an all-star event. We've already confirmed the appearance of TNA wrestlers, but the ante was officially upped as Pro Wrestling NOAH will be sending a contingent of wrestlers. Here's the full card:

-Wrestle Kingdom Grand Opening VIENTO DORADO: Mistico, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Averno, Jado & Gedo
- Jushin Thunder Liger 20th Anniversary Match: Jushin Thunder Liger & Takuma Sano vs. Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title ~Tread on!!~: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ~Ballistic interception~: Low Ki (c) vs. Tiger Mask
- Fighting Holdings Competition: Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Kurt Angle & Kevin Nash vs. Giant Bernard, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii & Karl Anderson
- Crusade for Justice: Yuji Nagata vs. Masato Tanaka
- New Japan vs. NOAH Battle Tendencies ~the invasion~: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Jun Akiyama
- IWGP Tag Team Title - 3WAY Match ~Three correct answers~: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. "Team 3D" Brother Ray & Brother Devon
- New Japan vs. NOAH Battle Tendencies ~the encounter~: Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takashi Sugiura
- IWGP Heavyweight Title: Keiji Muto (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

You know, some of these matches might end up being lousy. But this is quite possibly the most EPIC card I've seen in a long time. First, you've got Mistico making his Japan debut in what should prove to be an amazing six-man match. Mistico is the kind of guy you can tell New Japan would love to bring back as many times as they can. I don't know how eager CMLL is to let their number one guy spend a great deal of time in Japan when the company itself isn't doing so hot right now.

Jushin Thunder Liger is celebrating his 20th year wrestling under his gimmick and he's doing it in style. He'll be teaming with one of his greatest rivals from the past, NOAH's Takuma Sano. They're taking on a pair of today's top junior heavyweights in Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto. Dig up some of Sano & Liger's old matches (Sano went by Naoki Sano back then) and you'll see how their feud circa 89-90 was the one of the best things those two did. One of their matches in 1990 actually received a match of the year award, if you're looking for some indication.

Yujiro & Naito vs. Sabin & Shelly should be a fast-paced, strong juniors-style match. I'm very interested in seeing how these teams interact, especially since both teams are known for being hot-headed. NO LIMIT should win here, but this should be a great match. Meanwhile, Low Ki will be defending his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title again Tiger Mask. TM will be looking for his fifth title reign, and I'd have to consider him the favorite to win over Ki here. Gaijin champions don't last for too long in Japan, unless they're being built up as monsters. I'd love to see Low Ki as a dominant, dangerous foreign champion holding the title hostage, but I'm seeing Tiger Mask getting the win again.

The LEGEND & Main Event Mafia vs. GBH match will in no way be pretty, but fuck it. I will mark for Masahiro FUCKING Chono teaming with Kevin Nash to completely wipe the floor with GBH. If this leads to Chono visiting TNA as a foreign member of the MEM then it's all the sweeter.

Nagata vs. Tanaka II should be all kinds of awesome. If they can top their last match, I will be doubly impressed. If the ZERO1 World Title isn't on the line I could see Tanaka actually winning this, putting him even with Nagata with a win between them.

The NOAH Invasion kicks into full gear with Jun Akiyama taking on Manabu Nakanishi. Akiyama has momentum on his side right now, thanks to winning his number one contender match against Takeshi Morishima. Nakanishi has added incentive though with not wanting to lose to an outsider, but I don't think that will be enough to stop the grumpy onslaught of Jun Akiyama.

Team 3D have been granted a shot at Togi Makabe & Toru Yano's IWGP Tag Team titles, and so they have been added onto the title match earned by Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima. 3D have horned in on Tenzan & Kojima's revenge and the added team could end up costing them the titles. Of course it damages Makabe & Yano's chances of holding onto the belts themselves. Team 3D however, is in a position where they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Even more of the NOAH invasion is set for this show as Mitsuharu Misawa will team with Takashi Sugiura to take on the duo of Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto. I fully expect the New Japan team to win this, but it also looks like they may attempt building towards a Nakamura vs. Misawa match. Which I approve of.

Then the main event. Teacher vs. Student. Muto vs. Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Tanahashi has been on fire since getting back to New Japan after his time in the US. I really want Tanahashi to win this one, I won't lie. He's just about the only guy left who I can see being able to legitimately beat Muto. The undefeated streak he's had since coming back was just the thing he needed to get back into things. This will be a must watch match. Their last encounter ended in a draw, which turned out being a moral victory for Tanahashi. The next step is to finally defeat the man he looked up to when he first began in wrestling.

Yeah, I friggin' love this card.

Quick Notes
-NOAH's Budokan Hall show ended up having a weak turnout. I have not seen the Kensuke Sasaki vs. Akitoshi Saito main event yet, but it might have turned out to be a good match. Remember, weak turnout doesn't necessarily mean the show itself was bad.

-All Japan is reactivating the All Asia Tag Team Title in 2009 with a big tournament. The All Asia Tag belts were vacated in 2006, so reactivating them will make them the oldest active titles in Japan, dating all the way back to 1955.

-The clothing line Bathing Ape, run by Teriyaki Boyz DJ Nigo, will be putting on their own wrestling show on December 23rd. The card itself looks pretty good with an impressive main event of Keiji Muto, Ultimo Dragon, & Jinsei Shinzaki taking on Masahiro Chono, TAKA Michinoku, & Sanshiro Takagi. Muto vs. Chono is always a potential draw and Teriyaki Boyz are the fucking truth.

Weekly Puro
I am pleased to present the Tokyo Sport Awards Match of the Year. I think this match really deserved the award this year. Some might say Marufuji vs. KENTA should have won, but this I think is actually better. Here we've got a fresh match-up with a decent amount of time and quite a bit of heat to it as Shuji Kondo was charged with bringing back the All Japan Jr. Heavyweight Title back to All Japan. This is just a great bout.

All Japan: All Japan Jr. Heavyweight Title: Naomichi Marufuji ©vs. Shuji Kondo





Short Takes
-I'm running waaaaaay late on this and I don't think people want to hear me talk about tonight's PPV.

-Grizzly Redwood is a clever as hell gimmick. How many variations on the axe handle smash can you come up with? Oh that's right, MILLIONS.

-I'm still pissed I can't go to tonight's CHIKARA season finale. Luckily, their DVD releases are damn quick.

-Finally ordered Global Gauntlet. May or may not do a review.

-Monday's Slammys were really good. I can't think of a time I had that much fun watching Raw. Might not have had all the best wrestling, but I was very entertained. And that's all that matters.

That's it, I'm done. You can all go home now. Move along, nothing more to see here. Show's over. Until next week!