9/19 Press Conference for "THE SPIRAL" Tokyo Dome

[Brandon]

<> IWGP junior heavyweight Title Match <> Heat vs. Winner of Tiger Mask/Koji Kanemoto

Heat aims at the junior heavyweight champion on 9/22. He will meet the winner of the IWGP match between Kanemoto (current champion) and Tiger Mask in the Namihaya Dome.

Tiger Mask: I must defeat Kanemoto first in Namihaya -- and I don't know who Heat is, though, I would look forward to meeting him on 10/14.

Heat: Your goal now should be to bring the belt back here [New Japan]. He will become IWGP champion.

[Heat takes off his mask, revealing himself as Minoru Tanaka.]

Tanaka: Heat is the incarnation of Minoru Tanaka. I will win the belt on 10/14.
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<> KING OF GLADIATOR Semi-Final <> Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. Tadao Yasuda <>

The winner of this match will meet Yoshihiro Takayama on 1/4 in the Tokyo Dome to determine the NWF Heavyweight Champion. Kantaro Hoshino speaks on behalf of Tsuyoshi Kosaka.

Yasuda: I have my eye on the NWF belt. The IWGP is not important.

Hoshino: Although we come to fight Yasuda this time, we still fight New Japan with vigor. The strength of this group was show throughout the tour. We will fight relentlessly.
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Osamu Nishimura vs. Bas Rutten <>

Nishimura will appear on the "Muga" shows, which will be held in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on 10/9 and the Korakuen Hall on 10/6 just before "THE SPIRAL" show. In the dome, he will face foreign enemy Bas Rutten.

Nishimura: I am dissastified with the card for the dome. The puroresu community, Japan, the world. Why do we try to appeal to the people whose ideas and thoughts are different? Muga will have success like last year, from 10/6 to 10/14. Such wrestlers as Dory Funk, The Destroyer and Nick Bockwinkle will be there, while Bas Rutten is unwilling. If he was a pro at all, he would have accepted although it was two days before the card was announced. I want to at least fight under Gotch's rules. He will surely be won over to the Nishimura world and the Muga world. I want to win.

In 1997 in Europe, Nishimura fought in CWA, having fought for the CWA shoot fighting title on 9/21 of that year. Traditional Gotch rules were required. Also, he nominates a referee.

Nishimura: I nominate master of Gotch, Tony St. Clair to be referee. If that does not pass, I do not fight with Rutten.
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kazunari Murakami <>

Murakami recently intruded on New Japan, revealing himself as one of the men under the Makai Club masks.

Kensuke: Murakami is scratching about now while I am resting my injury. Is there any presently in New Japan Pro Wrestling that would not truly beat him like an ant? I also want New Japan Pro Wrestling to be brave. We have to knock them down, and our place must be protected. Still, although I'm not in condition where I can wrestle right now, my anger has been welling up. In them [SWING-LOWS], although they will not enter [the dome], they are always ready to fight.

Suzuki: I am honored to be a part of this. All of our anger will be felt. It will definitely appear in the dome.

Tanahashi: I want to raise the tension in the dome. It will be decided. If Murakami does something cowardly, it will be settled in the ring.

Wolf: I am with them!
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita <>

Nagata's wish to have a match with Fujita has been realized.

Nagata: I'm aiming at defending the belt against the man that has been in my head for a year or two years. I will see that day at last. Fujita cannot avoid me now, since I am champion. Honestly, I am excited and enthusiastic. This is a fight where winning and losing is very important. I have to win. I cannot lose. I will stand by victory and defeat in the match.
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Yutaka Yoshie vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa <>

Yoshie makes a fat joke about Yanagisawa.

Yanagisawa: One of my opponents, Dave, I knocked him out easily. There is still a lot in me that I have not brought out yet. No one will be surprised by this match in the dome.
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. GREAT MUTA <>

GREAT MUTA appeared, but left silently.

Tenzan: I will do it!

Tenzan: In order to prove New Japan is the best, we must crush these men. I don't think this will be a good match. I will crush him in five minutes!
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Masahiro Chono vs. Joanie Laurer <>

Joanie Laurer has finally be determined as Chono's opponent, despite Chono's previous unwillingness.

Chono: I am not happy with this. There many different view in New Japan, but I will be strong in being forced to have this match with Laurer. We have seen her fight in the tour and she has been satsifactory in the ring. But as for wrestling with a woman, I don't really want to do it. I think the fans also know that a woman is not needed in the New Japan ring. I will prove it in the dome.

Laurer: Chono, you have been respected as the best wrestler in New Japan. There are some people who stand in the kitchen at home, but born as a woman, I was born as a fighter. And I have talent and have been successful as a model. Women are complete. When I was in the WWE, I wrestled with men for six years. It's an old custom in Japan to refuse to fight with women, so he doesn't understand why I want to fight him. I've been training hard and I weight 90kg. I've been training with no women. The LA Dojo army wants to take over the world. I will kick Chono's [expletive]. On October 14 you'll be mine.

Chono: I also aim at conquering the world, so they are in the way. I do not have an old custom or something like that. Actually, don't you think we could drop her off in her kitchen? On 10/14 she will return to being a normal woman. After I won the G1, I had planned to have a IWGP Title match in the dome. Now that has been crushed and I'm never angry about that. I will be troubled if I do not defeat her.

Laurer: A man who despises women in the US is the worst. You're that man already.

Chono: If I lose, I will give her my role of control in New Japan. A woman in power would be interesting. I'm 100% sure it cannot happen. Since it will not happen, I have declared this.
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<> New Japan vs. Foreign Enemy Series <> Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama <>

Nakanishi: Takayama, without an opponent will face me. I'm happy. He became GHC champion. I want to bump into the champion in the dome.

Takayama: I've tried to learn things about him in battle, since he will challenge me with a humble attitude. And since he has won popularity. But I was hoping someone would make me a cake since today is my birthday.

Nakanishi: I didn't know. It's your birthday? Well, I want to have a strong fight in New Japan with Takayama. I think we can have a fight that can only happen between me and him. I think he knows what I mean.

Takayama: I have fought with Manabu before. It was a very good step for me. I will use this match as a step also, so that I can reach a high step.

Nakanishi: I'm also targeting Nagata's IWGP Title. Do you think of me just as a steppingstone?
http://www.ichibanpuroresu.com/

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Thanks for posting this, but..

Originally posted by Brandon
President of Pancrase, Kantaro Hoshino speaks on behalf of Tsuyoshi Kosaka

am I missing something here? The prez has always been Ozaki... Since when has he been the president of Pancrase?

[emlyn]

Chono rules!

[Brandon]

That's right. Thank you for correcting me.

[Sofa Kingdom]

Those guys dress really nice.

[ElGringo]

This looks like a really poor drawing card on paper, not even enough for Nippon Budokan; this seems to be Inoki's attempt to make his UFO Legend number look good.

Rutten's beating Nishimura, which is a travesty after how hard he's worked; sure, that means Nakanishi probably gets to beat Rutten, but then it'll be six months too late and no one will notice.

I really hope Nagata gets to beat Fujita, but if he does, it means Fujita will beat Nagata next time around, probably uniftying the IWGP and NWF titles.

Nak gets to beat Takayama, but it's obvious NOAH isn't letting Takayama lose after going over Misawa. Misawa will beat Takayama, he'll have a sudden loss in form, losing to everyone except Omori, and when he loses to Nakanishi it won't matter. Then he'll be built back up just in time to win the NWF heavyweight title.

HEAT will lose, I hope, because that gimmick is ruined now that Minoru took off his mask; I hope that mistake that can just be forgotten about.

Yanigasawa's going over Yoshie, anyone can see that; that'll make up for the two losses Fujita and Takayama take, except the Yanigasawa victory will make Inoki look strong, whilst Takayama will be half-buried when he drops the fall to Nak and Fujita's already lost to Takayama.

I hope Kensuke beats Murakami, since those two aren't even in the same league, but I predict a No Contest/DQ, like Nagata and Yanigasawa.

I don't care who wins te NWF match, that's just an Inoki ego-stroking exercise. I expect Yasuda will win, since Inoki likes to bury RINGS fighters (he did that with Tamura by throwing him straight to Vanderlei).

Tenzan will beat MUTA, no two ways about it. Chono won't let Tenzan lose.

This throws up an interesting scenario; if this is a best of seven, then the scoreboard loos like this:

New Japan: 3 (Nagata over Fujita, Nakanishi over Takayama, Tenzan over MUTA)
Makai Club: 2 (Yanigasawa over Yoshie, Rutten over Nishimura)
No Contests: 1

Now, we all know that Inoki is not letting his guys lose, and the best he can manage now is a draw. The other match, as we all know, is Chono vs. Laurer. If Chono wins, or the thing goes to a draw, New Japan wiins. So, Laurer will hae to win to scrape a draw. So, unless another two matches (both of which New Japan lose) are added, Chono will be losing to Laurer; if just one more is added, he can draw. I pray that Chono adds two more matches, I don't care at what cost, I cannot watch him drop a fall to Laurer, or go to a time limit draw, which would put Laurer on the same level as Misawa.

Rumoured matches are Bob Sapp vs. Tanahashi, Suzuki and Wolf in a handicap match and Gary Goodridge vs. 'insert New Japan undercarder here'. So, I say throw someone like Norton to Goodridge, and, as much as it pains me to say it, let, Sapp beat SWING-LOWS, preferably beating Wolf, as he has the most time left to recover.

That way, we can be spared the agony of watching Laurer take Chono to a draw, or even worse, pin him and win an IWGP titleshot.

[screwloose]

ok, i understand completely what you meant but let's go ahead and get this clear just in case. you(el gringo) mentioned that tenzan would face MUTA. exsqeeze me? if i am not mistaken that is not possible(yet) as MUTA(keiji muto) is wrestling in all-japan and tenzan is in new-japan. tenzan is facing the "new" great muta. this, btw, sux as this "new muta" is in my opinion nothing more than a slap in the face to muto for having left nj. i hope tenzan obliterates new muta.

ps: listen to cradle of filth

[Ganso]

Why must we always assume that any shooter in pro-wrestling has to be aligned with Inoki??

Not a big fan of Cradle of Filth.

[ElGringo]

I assumed that no-one would think I meant the real MUTA; I meant, of course, new Muta/Muta USA.

[screwloose]

yea, sorry i made that post. the alcohol was just starting to wear off...

[Luds]

Is the new GREAT MUTA getting a lot of heat for using this gimmick from the fans?

[OldSchoolFan]

Hard to say. I havn't heard from anyone that has seen the footage of the shows hes worked yet to tell me what the crowd reaction was. I can almost bet that Mutoh probobly finds it funny.

[Luds]

Yeah... Kinda like the Goldberg-Gillberg thing... but if it's actually Dan Devine wrestling under that hood, the guy actually has talend, and gets pops (as Devine)!

[ElGringo]

Some bad news about the Dome show; Nakaanishi vs. Takayama has been cancelled due to injuries Takayama sustained in his bout with Misawa; worse still, it's now expected that Bob Sapp will be Nakanishi's replacement opponent.