Wrestle-1 GP 2005

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Wrestle-1 GP 2005 Opening Card will take place on 2005/08/04 at Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall). Complete card has been announced.

• Mil Mascaras [free] & Terry Funk [free] vs. Tomoaki Honma [All Japan] & Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kensuke Office]
• Kaz Hayashi [All Japan] vs. A. J. Styles [TNA]
• Wrestle-1 GP 2005 1st Round: The Predator [free] vs. Kohei Suwama [All Japan]
• Wrestle-1 GP 2005 1st Round: Gen'ichiro Teryu [free] vs. Kazunari Murakami [Big Mouth]
• Wrestle-1 GP 2005 1st Round: Bob Sapp [Team Beast] vs. Giant Bernard [free]
• Wrestle-1 GP 2005 1st Round: Riki Choshu [Riki Pro] vs. Kensuke Sasaki [Kensuke Office]
• Wrestle-1 GP 2005 1st Round: Jun Akiyama [NOAH] vs. Katsuyori Shibata [Big Mouth]
• Wrestle-1 GP 2005 1st Round: Great Muta [All Japan] vs. Akebono [Team Yokozuna]

[Rabid Wolverine]

This sounds weird and intresting. It was originally supossed to be Mil Mascaras & Terry Funk vs. AJ Styles & Katsuhiko Nakajima, but that was changed. Oldies will obviously be going over youngsters and Hayashi will problaly go over Styles, considering they had a match last year at ROH and Styles won and the match was definetly fun, so I'm really looking foward to this one. Predator is going over Suwama, Tenryu is going over Murakami in something I definetly want to see. Sapp will most likely go over Bernard in what possiblely could be the weirdest match ever. I'd really love to see Kensuke go over Choshu and I'm definetly looking foward to this match. I'm pulling for Shibata to go over Akiyama, but that won't happen and this is definetly a match I'm looking foward to. Akebono vs. Great Muta?

[Rabid Wolverine]

WRESTLE-1 "GP2005 OPENING ROUND", 8/4/05 (PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Mil Mascaras & Terry Funk beat Tomoaki Honma & Katsuhiko Nakajima (10:19) when Mascaras used a diving body attack on Nakajima.
2. Kaz Hayashi beat AJ Styles (14:38) with the Final Cut.
3. WRESTLE-1 GP - Round 1: Kohei Suwama beat The Predator (7:36) with a backdrop hold.
4. WRESTLE-1 GP - Round 1: Genichiro Tenryu beat Kazunari Murakami (7:29) by DQ.
5. WRESTLE-1 GP - Round 1: Bob Sapp beat Giant Bernard (5:30) with a horizontal cradle.
6. WRESTLE-1 GP - Round 1: Kensuke Sasaki beat Riki Choshu (6:10) with a Northern Light bomb.
7. WRESTLE-1 GP - Round 1: Jun Akiyama beat Katsuyori Shibata (13:46) with a wrist-clutch Exploder.
8. WRESTLE-1 GP - Round 1: Great Muta beat Akebono (10:08) with a moonsault press.

http://ajpw.puroresufan.com

[DANGEROUS DAN]

Most call him by his working name AKebono

I call him JOBBER TO THE STARS!

What has this guy done since leaving sumo and had success in?

All he has done is collect serious $$$$ off his now smeared legacy.

[Rabid Wolverine]

I found this rather intresting rundown of the show:

All Japan dispatched several wrestlers to today's WRESTLE-1 debut show at Sumo Hall, which drew somewhere around 7,000 fans (10,500 claimed), and was overall a much panned show, but with two very good matches (Shibata vs. Akiyama, Kaz vs. Styles). Great Muta was the man himself, no substitute, and he beat former Yokozuna turned loser in every fighting code, Akebono, in the main event. Muta appeared in Darth Vader garb, with an overmask, and when he took that off, he had Darth Maul style face paint on, so the Dark Side was strong in Sith Lord Muta today. As expected, the match was full of gimmicks, with Akebono (in an outrageously revealing costume) not knowing what to make of Muta's eccentricity. Muta ran circles around him, firing off several Shining Wizards in succession, then dropping a moonsault press for the win and place in round two of the GP2005 tournament. Voodoo Murders big man, Giant Bernard, had one of the biggest matches of his career, facing the mighty Bob Sapp. Bernard was seconded by TARU, who wielded an iron pipe. He refused a handshake, wanting no kind of friendship with Sapp. The two traded power attacks for most of the five minutes, and TARU interference backfire, leading to Sapp using a horizontal cradle (schoolboy) for the three count. After the match, Bernard attacked TARU for messing up his chances, hinting at a rift in VM. Sapp came to TARU's aid, so who knows where that will lead. Sapp said he was interested in facing the Muta vs. Akebono winner in October, and since that was Muta, we could be looking at a rematch from their other match, which Sapp won.

Kohei Suwama showed why he is a "super rookie", beating The Predator in the first GP match today. Suwama made a surprise attack on the Bruiser Brody lookalike, gaining the early initiative, but was soon on the defense, covering up against a range of strikes. After surviving a Michinoku Driver II from Predator, Kohei hit a half-nelson suplex, German suplex, and finally a backdrop hold for the big win. Suwama said he wants to face Tenryu or Akiyama in the quarter final round, which would be a good experience for him regardless of result. He said today he channeled the man he is compared to, Jumbo Tsuruta, against a man who channels Brody, which should give some All Japan fans flashbacks. Kaz Hayashi avenged a loss from December, 2003, to former NWA Heavyweight Champion, AJ Styles, beating him in the second best match of the show. This was full of high-flying junior action, and it was Kaz's Final Cut that made the difference. Hayashi said that when he can have matches like today's and the one against Taiji Ishimori recently, he is as happy as can be. All Japan's Tomoaki Honma and Kensuke Office buddy, Katsuhiko Nakajima, were in the opening match, facing the legend team of Mil Mascaras & Terry Funk. The match was mainly an exhibition for the old timers to do their moves, and the young natives were more or less dominated. Terry put Honma in his spinning toehold as Mascaras hit Nakajima with his famous diving body attack for the win. Both legends praised Nakajima strongly, but didn't have anything to say about Honma.

http://ajpw.puroresufan.com

[Tradewynd]

Akebono is a JTTS huh? Mostly accurate. However, he did beat Big Show clean at Wrestlemania after leaving sumo. Sure, it was a sumo match, but it's still a win.

Has Mil Mascaras ever done a job? Ever? I can't think of one.

Shibata getting jobbed out in the first round is very surprising, considering that he left New Japan for BIG MOUTH/WRESTLE-1. It seems so long ago that he was on the brink of being a headliner in New Japan. Now he can't even get a win in a company where he's tight with the promoter.

The less said about the rest of this show the better.

[Rabid Wolverine]

Here's a link to a Photo Gallery of the show:

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/.../04/index.html

BTW Muta looked awesome:

[mrpayperview]

When doesn't Mutoh look awesome as Muta?

[Tradewynd]

I didn't think that the balding ICP-wannabe Muta looked very that cool in WCW. That wasn't his fault though.

[Supah Indy]

Train wreck is the first word that comes to mind after round one. Man, that card looks aweful for the most part.

[kwilson83]

I just got done watching Muta/Akebono... and it must have been one of the worst Muta matches I have ever seen. I love Muta, everyone knows that, but Akebono is simply terrible. Mutoh has enough trouble making the Shining Wizard look good as it is, but Akebono ducked his head down for all three of them, making them either miss, or making Mutoh swing his leg lower and making the move look far less devastating. I understand Akebono was a yokozuna, and I respect that, but he seriously doesn't need to be in professional wrestling.

[DANGEROUS DAN]

Tradewynd:
Unquestionably he is jobber to the stars. I feel that the win over Big Slow was a trade off and only exemplifies what Akkebono has become, a prostitute.

[edgehead1984]

there are many personalities who are simply prostitutes nowadays.....

[darktowerchilde]

Man, I really wish we could get Funk vs. Honma in a singles match. Ideally a deathmatch, but if not, at least a streetfight.