HK and Cult Film News's Fan Box

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Japanese Pro-Wrestling Roundup from Will!

*WE ARE THE NEWS*************************

New Japan

July 6th saw NJPW return to a sellout Korakuen Hall for a stacked show that saw three title bouts. Dick Togo & TAKA Michinoku retained their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag titles against Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue. Ryusuke Taguchi became the 52nd IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion after downing Minoru with the Dodon. Finally, Yuji Nagata made his V2 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight title, pinning Togi Makabe with a backdrop suplex. Elsewhere on the card, after being out with various injuries, Masahiro Chono, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jado all made their returns. Show was said to be excellent.

Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko made a successful V3 defence of their IWGP tag title against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Naofumi Yamamoto on July 8th in Gifu. Surprisingly, it was Tanahashi who dropped the fall, being pinned in 20:46 after a sit-down Last Ride from Bernard. Post-match, Bernard & Tomko were making noises about defending the belts in TNA. Is there a company in Japan not working with TNA right now?

Shinjiro Otani looks to be making a return of sorts to New Japan. The Z1 MAX man will appear on Yuji Nagata’s 15th anniversary show in Chiba on 9/9, probably tagging with Nagata. Otani left New Japan in 2001 to join Shinya Hashimoto’s Zero One promotion, and last appeared in a New Japan ring some 18 months ago for their 2006 Tokyo Dome show. Kazunari Murakami is also likely to appear on the show.

All Japan

Kensuke Sasaki seems a dead cert to face Triple Crown champ Minoru Suzuki on the final night of AJPW’s Summer Action Series (poster) on August 26th at the Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall). Seeing as Suzuki has beaten pretty much everyone else in the company, you’d think Kensuke is going over here. Scott Steiner will also work the show, this week apparently aligning himself with the dastardly Voodoo Murderers.

Speaking of Voodoo Murderers, “brother” YASSHI will be making his first foray into cage fighting next month, on HEAT’s August 11 show. He’ll be facing the also-debuting Osamu Takahashi.

Wrestler-turned-politician Hiroshi Hase will replace Stan Hansen as PWF commissioner as of this Sunday. The Pacific Wrestling Federation is the pretend governing body responsible for making title matches official, so it shouldn’t cut into Hase’s schedule too badly.

NOAH

NOAH’s current tour, Summer Navigation 07, will end this Sunday at the Nippon Budokan. Veteran Mitsuharu Misawa headlines, defending his GHC title against fellow vet Akira Taue. Credible NOAH main eventers are rarer than hen’s teeth right now.

HUSTLE

In the ‘only in Japan’ story of the week, Yinling is pregnant courtesy of The Great Muta, after taking a very special green mist attack at Hustle Aid a few weeks back. Medical experts anticipate November 25th – coincidentally the same day as Hustle Mania – as the likely time of birth. The Japanese press has been making comparisons between Yinling and the recent spate of pregnancies amongst pop starlets such as Tsuji Nozomi and Kaori Iida.

In other HUSTLE news, grumpy old man extraordinaire Genichiro Tenryu made good on his promise, and after losing his match to pretend-gay-comedian-turned-wrestler HG last week, has a brand new wardrobe.

Big Japan

Japan’s premier garbage group ran the Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium for their biggest show so far this year. Main was Takashi Sasaki vs. Ryuji Ito in a 300 Fluorescent Light tubes Death Match for the BJW Death Match Heavyweight Championship. Champ Sasaki retained in 22:24 after a light-tube assisted D-Geist (Emerald Frowsion). The show drew a very healthy 4,000 fans, up from last years numbers. It’s well deserved - Big Japan has been one of the highlights of 2007 so far.


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