Before we get into anything, Japan was ravaged by a 8.9 Earthquake that did tremendous damage to the Northeast area.
http://photos.mlive.com/mlivecom_photo_essays/2011/03/japan_earthquake_and_tsunami.html
As you can see this is a pretty bad situation and this is going to take months if not years to rebuild from the damage that was done.
Like I mentioned on facebook and twitter, my thoughts and prayers go out to those who need them in Japan.
Anyways let’s try to move on with the second “Week in Japanese Pro Wrestling”. The first post last week I aimed to mention what all was coming up and happening. This week I am going to aim to what happened this week and what is happening before my next Friday in Japan. So as like last week, I will be aiming to cover a few promotions, depending on what is relevant and what people seem to be more interested in seeing.
Update most promotions will not be holding shows on Saturday March 12th, NJPW & NOAH namely. All Japan was scheduled to have a good portion of their shows in the Northern portion of Japan, as of right I cannot talk for them, but I will keep you all informed with the latest happenings.
The first round of the New Japan Cup took place on 3/6 and some interesting winners emerged.
As you can see Togi Makabe, MVP, Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura were all victorious and get the nod to the next round on 3/20 when the Quarterfinals take place.
Here is the card leading up to the next day up throughout the week, that is if they do indeed take place.
NJPW “NEW JAPAN CUP 2011”, 3/13/2011 (Sun)
Act City Hamamatsu
() Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi
() New Japan Cup ~ Round 1: Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano
Inoue has only ever managed to make it in the quarterfinals of the Cup in the past, but since then he has went to become a Heavyweight tag team Champion with Nagata. Will that translate in him having more ground going into this tournament? Yano almost came close in the 2008 Cup but was not able to get the job done against Bernard in the Semi’s. Yano has always been one step back but this year has been giving Yano some decisive wins and he is looking to get that big win to put him up on the ladder as well. This match is a make or break for these two and could easily place the loser with not much to do for a while.
() New Japan Cup ~ Round 1: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Takashi Iizuka
Just when you think these two’s feud is over, New Japan books them against one another yet again. Tenzan got a decisive win over Iizuka at Wrestle Kingdom V and it looked as if Tenzan would finally have some peace. Tenzan has been aiming to get back to the top, but has had this roadblock of Iizuka hovering behind him for years now. Can Tenzan finally rank himself up the New Japan ladder or will Iizuka continue to be that thorn in Tenzan’s side?
() New Japan Cup ~ Round 1: Tetsuya Naito vs. Masato Tanaka
Naito has been building as a future ace of NJPW. Tons of fanfare, charisma, as well as showing a great ability in the ring. Naito broke out last year following an upset win over Tanahashi in the G1 and has been on a role since getting matches against a lot of New Japan’s singles talent. Naito recently had a solid match with Naito at the 2/20 show, but even though losing proved more an more that he is just one step from becoming a great superstar. Tanaka almost needs no introduction one of the most physical in Japan and will all around make his opponents suffer with elbows and the sort before pulling the trigger and hitting them with his Sliding D. Tanaka and Goto had a good series of matches last year and even made it to the semi-finals of last years New Japan Cup before losing to Goto. Will this match be the big win that Naito needs or will Tanaka end up with the win and head to the next round?
() New Japan Cup ~ Round 1: Yuji Nagata vs. Giant Bernard
These two are definitely no strangers and you would be hard pressed to forget these two’s match in 2006 which saw Bernard pick up the New Japan Cup win by beating Yuji Nagata. Nagata though the next year (2007) would beat Bernard in the semi-finals and ended up winning the tournament himself. So these two definitely are no strangers and have of recent also been battling back and forth for the IWGP Tag Team Titles. Bernard is going in as the other half of the IWGP Tag Champions as well as possibly being the GHC Heavyweight Champion considering he has a match in NOAH against Takashi Sugiura on 3/5. Nagata is coming off a big win over Minoru Suzuki at Wrestle Kingdom V and also has a big match against Masato Tanaka at ZERO1’s show on 3/6. These two men, Bernard and Nagata, are getting the main event spot of the day for a reason and should be nothing more than hard hitting and impactful.
NJPW “NEW JAPAN CUP 2011”, 3/14/2011 (Mon)
Tsubame Citizen Gymnasium
() Hirooki Goto, Tama Tonga & King Fale vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
() Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
(0 Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Satoshi Kojima, MVP, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
NJPW “NEW JAPAN CUP 2011”, 3/16/2011 (Wed)
Mito Citizen Gymnasium
() Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
() Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Satoshi Kojima, MVP, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
() Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
NJPW “NEW JAPAN CUP 2011”, 3/17/2011 (Thurs)
Kumagaya Citizen Gymnasium
() Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Tomohiro Ishii
() Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
() Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Satoshi Kojima, MVP, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
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NJPW held a press conference for KUSHIDA officially joining NJPW. President Sugibayashi was joined by KUSHIDA, “KUSHIDA’s mentor” TAJIRI and the President of SMASH, Mr. Sakai in announcing this milestone for KUSHIDA.
KUSHIDA has a big match coming up on 3/19 as he has a match for IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championhip against Prince Devitt.
A day before that though, KUSHIDA will participate in his final match under the SMASH label as he faces off against SMASH’s other up and comer Hajime Ohara at SMASH.15 “1 Year Anniversary Show”, these two faced off at the very first SMASH show last year.
KUSHIDA will be an officially apart of the NJPW roster on April 1st, 2011.
It shows you how much this means for TAJIRI of all people to see his top student final reaching a bigger level.
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Following the last weekend another title match has been made as Apollo 55 will be defending their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Belts against TAKA Michinoku and Taichi at the 3/20 show.
This match is coming about following TAKA picking up the pinfall over Devitt on 3/7 and made the call out for the belts.
It was originally scheduled for TAKA & NOSAWA to compete for the IWGP Jr Belts on 1/30, but due to TAKA getting hurt a week prior Taichi had to take his place. Devitt and TAKA though faced off on 2/20 for the IWGP Jr Heavy belt and even though Devitt retained, TAKA appears to have learned from his loss and how to pin the double champion.
TAKA Michinoku is already pretty sure of Taichi and himself winning the IWGP Jr Tag Team Titles from Apollo 55 on 3/20. TAKA asked President Sugibayashi to allow “whoever” wins to defend the belts at the KAIENTAI Dojo 9th Anniversary Show on April 17th.
TAKA stated that Devitt is broken down with a shoulder injury and that he already pinned because of that injury. It will surely lead to the same fate again come the title match. TAKA was pretty enthusiastic in regards to the proposition and left it open to the man in charge.
Sugibayashi after thinking about what TAKA said agreed to the terms and said it will be a future meeting defense. The IWGP Champions vs. to be announced K-DOJO team on 4/17.
Following the meeting TAKA Also brought up the fact that Devitt has a match against KUSHIDA on 3/19 as well. “If KUSHIDA wins that match, it will be a decisive blow to Devitt and cause great psychological damage.”
TAKA has always prided himself on being a thinking man’s wrestler and he definitely has things planned out ahead of schedule.
The entire card for the big upcoming show has been announced. As I announced the other day on the Facebook Page, Keiji Mutoh will in fact be facing Daichi Hashimoto at the upcoming show on 3/21.
As you know if you follow what I post around the net, I have been pretty high on Daichi since day 1. I am a big fan of Shinya Hashimoto and know the possibilities that the young Daichi has set before him. Daichi is being looked at as a new start in terms of getting people back into pro wrestling again. All forms of combat based sports in Japan have found themselves in a downfall in the last few years. Even in my eyes I am already seeing Daichi as something that the Pro Wrestling scene needs in Japan. People need someone to get behind and that could possibly be Daichi’s calling?
Daichi just debuted against Masahiro Chono on March 6th and has gotten over probably a bit more than expected. ZERO1 had a good “packed house” at the Tokyo Ryogoku and I will post a couple videos below to show a few things from Daichi vs. Chono’s match.
Daichi’s Entrance w/ his father’s Theme
Ring Announcement
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Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori get a shot at the World Tag Belts, which are currently held by KONO & Joe Doering, following a match on 3/6 which saw Kea get the pinfall over KONO.
Following a couple draw encounters earlier this month, Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada “es” will be defending their All Asia belts against Big Japan’s Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi.
Vader is indeed coming to All Japan. He is also not coming alone, as he is bringing his son and they will be teaming with Ryota Hama, who is a big fan of Vader, to take on the Voodoo Murders team of TARU, Dupree & MAZADA.
All Japan Pro Wrestling presents “Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 11”, 3/21/2011 (Mon) 16:00
Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo
(card order subject to change)
(0) Masanobu Fuchi, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Takumi Soya vs. Zodiac, Shawn Spears & Jake O’Reilly
(1) Kaz Hayashi & KAI vs. Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI
(2) Special 6 Man Tag: Big Van Vader, Jesse White & Ryota Hama vs. TARU, Rene Dupree & MAZADA
(3) Special Match: Keiji Mutoh vs. Daichi Hashimoto [ZERO1]
(4) All Asia Tag Team Championship Match: [Champions] Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi [BJW] ~ 3rd Defense.
(5) World Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Minoru vs. Shuji Kondo ~ 1st Defense.
(6) Special Tag Match: Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata & Jushin Thunder Liger [NJPW]
(7) World Tag Team Championship Match: [Champions] KONO & Joe Doering vs. Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori ~ 1st Defense.
(8) Triple Crown Championship Match: [Champion] Suwama vs. KENSO ~ 3rd Defense.
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Following last weekend for NOAH’s big show on March 5th, we were given a match with all the GHC belts on the line. Kotaro Suzuki successfully defended his GHC Junior Heavyweight Belt against Katsuhiko Nakajima; The GHC Junior Tag Champs Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki successfully defended against Yoshinari Ogawa; The GHC Heavy Tag Champs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano added another defense under their belt as they held back Go Shiozaki & Shuhei Taniguchi; and finally Takashi Sugiura is now up to 9 successful defenses after putting away NJPW’s Giant Bernard.
Sugiura is now tied with Misawa’s for the most defenses in a single run and he is now looking to claim the nickname “Iron Man” as he reaches Kobashi’s 13 defenses in a single run.
To run down the other big story of the show is in regards to DISOBEY, the unit that consisted Mohammed Yone, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, KENTA & Genba Hirayanagi. During the show they had a standard 8 Man Tag Match with pitted DISOBEY vs. Kensuke Office. Though what turns around is near later half of the match KENTA went out of the ring to grab and chair. Like normal the ref tried to stop him, but KENTA got through him and smashed Mohammed Yone with the chair! Kanemaru comes in and then lands a Brainbuster to Yone and then this sets up KENTA to land the go 2 sleep. It seems this may have been a plan since KENTA joined DISOBEY to trim the fat, if I can say that. Genba though was kind of in shock when this happened and thought he would be following what just happened to Yone, but KENTA reassured him that he is OK. KENTA got on the mic following the match and said “do you really think I joined DISOBEY, I joined to make a new team with Kanemaru.”
So Yone was booted from his own group and you know will indeed be looking for retribution in any form.
Following Sugiura’s 9th Defense on Saturday, it has not taken him long to announce who he will face next. To a bit of a surprise to some he has announced that he will be facing Trevor Murdock (Murdoch) on 3/21 at the GREAT VOYAGE 2011 in FUKUOKA show. This will be Sugiura’s 10th Defense and this puts him just one step close to getting the V13 which will put him next to Kenta Kobashi for all time defenses with the GHC Heavyweight Belt.
Murdock is coming the WLW Heavyweight Champion as well as someone who competed in NOAH years ago as Trevor Rhodes.
Also announced is that Kotaro Suzuki will be putting the GHC Jr belt on the line, 4th Defense, against the winner of Taiji Ishimori vs. Ricky Marvin on 3/12.
Upcoming cards from 3/12/2011 to 3/18/2011
NOAH “NAVIGATION IN MARCH 2011”, 3/12/2011
Zepp Nagoya
(1) Takuma Sano vs. Akihito
(2) Mohammed Yone vs. Genba Hirayanagi
(3) Jun Akiyama & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yutaka Yoshie & Masao Inoue
(4) Yoshihiro Takayama, Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki vs. Kensuke Sasaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kento Miyahara
(5) GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Contendership Match: Taiji Ishimori vs. Ricky Marvin
(6) Takashi Sugiura, Takeshi Morishima & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Trevor Murdoch, Brian Breaker & Bobby Fish
NOAH “NAVIGATION IN MARCH 2011”, 3/13/2011
Akashi Municipal Industrial Exchange Center
() Shuhei Taniguchi, Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki vs. KENTA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi
() Takeshi Morishima & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Atsushi Kotoge Osaka Pro & Daisuke Harada Osaka Pro
() Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano vs. Jun Akiyama & Masao Inoue
() Kensuke Sasaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kento Miyahara vs. Trevor Murdoch, Brian Breaker & Bobby Fish
NOAH “NAVIGATION IN MARCH 2011”, 3/16/2011
Hiroshima Industrial Hall
(1) Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Bobby Fish
(2) Takeshi Morishima & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Akitoshi Saito & Taiji Ishimori
(3) Kensuke Sasaki & Kento Miyahara vs. Ricky Marvin & Shane Haste
(4) Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Masao Inoue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa
(5) Jun Akiyama & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Trevor Murdoch & Bobby Breaker
(6) Go Shiozaki, Shuhei Taniguchi & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi
NOAH “NAVIGATION IN MARCH 2011”, 3/17/2011
Yonago Convention Center
(1) Takeshi Morishima & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin
(2) KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Trevor Murdoch & Bobby Breaker
(3) Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue vs. Kensuke Sasaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kento Miyahara
(4) Takashi Sugiura & Mikey Nicholls vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki
(5) Yoshihiro Takayama, Takuma Sano & Taiji Ishimori vs. Go Shiozaki, Shuhei Taniguchi & Kotaro Suzuki
() GHC Heavyweight Match: Sugiura vs. Murdock
() GHC Jr Heavyweight Match: Suzuki vs. (to be determined)
() Singles Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
() Jun Akiyama & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
() Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
~ Yone will be looking for revenge for being booted from DISOBEY this weekend and on 3/21 you can expect some wrath to come Kanemaru’s way.
() Go Shiozaki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Yutaka Yoshie & Yuto Aijima.
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LEGEND News: Kuniaki Kobayashi (55) asked for the LEGEND committee to come together yesterday in Japan to announce that he is looking to rekindle his classic battles against “The Original Tiger Mask” Satoru Sayama. Kobayashi has challenged Tiger for the two to face at the May 7th Osaka Prefecture Gymnasium show.
Kobayashi has officially been retired since 2000 and has since been the main caretaker for the NJPW Dojo since.
Kobayashi and Sayama have a rich history and that is apparent as Kobayashi’s nickname is the “Tiger Hunter”. Tiger Mask was asked to appear at this event today, but opted not too for a reason only he knows. Kobayashi has left the offer standing to Sayama.
LEGEND The Pro Wrestling 5/7/2011 (Sat) 16:00
Osaka Prefecture Gymnasium
() Rematch Main Event: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
() The Original Tiger Mask vs. x (to be announced)
() Takao Omori & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma & Daisuke Sekimoto
() Junji Izumida, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Makoto Hashi vs. Black Tiger, Super Tiger & Tiger Shark
() Hiro Saito, Mituya Nagai & Bear Fukuda vs. Alexander Otsuka, Hayata Mashita & Akifumi Saito
() AKIRA & Robsandorj Nyamjyab vs. El Samurai & Nobuyuki Kurashima
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I will be back next week with the results of what happened this weekend and what that means going forward. Each one of these events will be shaping what will be happening this month and next and hopefully you can start getting into Japanese Pro Wrestling as much as I do.
So in the meantime, please follow the Puroresu Spirit Facebook page for all the latest news and happenings. I tend to post early in the morning and at night as I try to work on the Japanese schedule and getting all the news out ASAP. So please check the page daily for all the latest news.
Also my twitter @PuroresuSpirit is there as well and acts as a quicker way to get all the latest happenings as well as some random comments from myself on all thins pro wrestling related.
This Week in Japanese Pro Wrestling Vol.2 (3/11/2011-3/17/11)