NJ 10/17 Fukuoka Results

[naturalbornmaster]

NJPW, 10/17/04(WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Fukuoka International Center
3,500 Fans

1. Yuko 6 Man Tag Team Tournament-Semi Final: Nagai, Shibata,Chikuzen beat Saito, Goto, Yano(9:40)Chikuzen Body press on Goto.
2. Yuko 6 Man Tag Tournament-Semi Final: Blue Wolf, Nakamura, Nakajima beat Makabe, Tanahashi, Yoshie(15:03)Wolf lariat on Makabe.
3. Jado, Gedo, Takemura beat Taguchi, H. Goto, Anzawa(15:06)Takemura M9 on Anzawa.
4. Tiger Mask & Naruse beat American Dragon & Gibson (11:20)TM moonsault knee press on Gibson.
5. M. Tanaka beat M. Suzuki(12:41) with HEAT clutch.
6. Nakanishi & Norton beat Yoshie & Nagao(3:09) Nakanishi Herc. cutter on Nagao.
7. Yuko 6 Man Tag Tournament-Final: Blue Wolf, Nakamua, Nakajima beat Nagai, Shibata, Chikuzen(11:15) Nakamura Cross armbreaker on Nagai.
8. Grudge Match: Koji Kanemoto beat Jushin Thunder Liger(14:16) by DQ.
9. Grudge Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki went to a double referee stop(15:50).
10. Grudge Match- Lumberjack & Chain Dearh Match: Masahiro Chono beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan(21:14) Chono Shining Yakuza Kick.

Lifted from Strong Style Spirit(puroresufan.com)

This show completely bombed only drawing 3,500 out of a possible 7,500. Early opinions are stating that New Japan has completely killed the entire Fukuoka market. The troubles continue.

[naterob2003]

Yep... chono is in power again.

[edgehead1984]

Not good...

[bannabop]

Liger is a heel right?

[naturalbornmaster]

This is really becoming a very sad situation for NJ and all of puro. Also, to be honest, I don't see anything good happening in the near future.

[naterob2003]

My guess is that by this time next year, a major nj talent (chono, nagata, tenzan) will be gone and that he will take some talent with him and at least one of the new three muskateers will leave. I know this sounds odd but i believe that there are three different backstage factions in all companies. 1 group is for the company as is, 1 is for the company a different way, and 1 is for leaving the company if it continues and my leave if it changes. I would guess that if one of the guys leaves from above... it would be nagata.

My explenation of one of the three muskateers leaving is this. Splitting pushes between the three muskateers and the other major talents (chono, nagata, tenzan, takayama, and others) would be hard and is hard. This reminds me of the thread right now about misawa and kawada. If one of the three muskateers isnt being pushed to the top... i could see them leaving for either all japan or noah since they dont have good young stars.

[Luds]

I do not agree at all naterob, the 3 muskateers know they're being pushed through the roof in NJ and they know that NJ is where it's at. They understant paying their dues, and they will. They won't leave for another 3-4 years. At that point, if 1 of them feels he's beeing kept down he might jump ship.

[Haiku Warrior]

Naterob: I don't know why you want every wrestler to leave their promotion. Almost everyone of your posts is about a wrestler leaving or going to and from a promotion. Everyone is free to have their own opinion; I thought it was cool when guys from WCW would go to WWF or vice versa. This trend doesn't happen all that often in Japan. I just don't know why you are so adamant about wrestlers in the Orient jumping ship.

[Sliced Bread #2]

Results seem to be just some more of the same... Only thing I could seriously be intrested in is MinoTana vs. MinoSuzu, just because I like both of them alot and I haven't seen either one working against each other... But, yeah it's just some more of the same...

[edgehead1984]

And the matches now all end with CTU interference, it's predictable...I don't like predictability

[naterob2003]

Ok this WILL be a rant and so if you don't want to read a rant please disregard this post.

Here is my theory on WHY this will happen. A few years ago when pro wrestling was at its strongest, there were only 2 major companies. There was all japan and new japan. Well those companies split up. Now Noah and All Japan make up the former all japan; and zero one and new japan make up the old new japan. Some people would say that competition is great for business and i agree. BUT, the split of these companies caused so much competition that no company could get the upper hand. Companies were lacking competition among their wrestlers but maintaining business competition. This is the birth of free lance talent. This redistribution of talent forced two things. Mid card talent was automatically pushed to the top and young talent was being rushed up the card to take the mid card talent's place. Example: Tenzan was only a tag champion then muto and kojima split... tenzan becomes a big name and the birth of the new three muskateers are rushed up the card to take their place. This is the reason why i think that this redistribution will happen and is in the best interest of puroresu. Tenzan since then and nagata have both become world champions and the three muskateers have become tag champs, world champ, and even finaled in the G1. They have done that so fast that the generation between mutoh, chono, and hashimoto, and the current three muskateers have only been pushed for a little less than 5 years. Everyone is talking about pushing tanahashi to the title right now... including me. That means that nagata, nakanishi, tenzan, makabe, and yoshie are all NEVER going to get the pushes they deserve. Of course not all of them will leave and maybe none of them will but past history says that someone will leave. I have said this statement and stand by it... If one of the big four companies (nj, aj, noah, Z1) would go under... puroresu would be in much better condition. I know that sounds rediculous and somewhat stupid but it is true. Imagine if a pro sports team goes under and their players become free agents... each team that got a good player from that team that went under would get stronger. I honestly believe that this will happen in Japan soon. It won't take long. My mentioning of someone leaving isnt a sign that i want a company to fail or that i am a dreamer, its that i am optimistic. How much more healthy would noah be if hashimoto, ohtani, and tanaka were there? How much better would zero one be if mutoh and kawada and kojima were there? Its just a matter of time before a company goes out and another grabs that talent and makes it their own. The middle generation has been forgotten and is continuing their path to failure. Though nagata, tenzan, akiyama, and kojima are great wrestlers they arent the draws that their mentors were and arent the draws that their predecessors will be. They are stuck in the middle with only one choice for success. Band together. That is my hope. The middle generation has long been forgotten and underappreciated. This would be the chance for them to finally get what they deserve.

[Sliced Bread #2]

HAHA ^^^ Seriously that rant made me think of WWE's current situation.

[naterob2003]

exaclty... the only difference is that wwe has no competition on the business end and so nobody is going to leave to get paid less.

[naturalbornmaster]

I am going to go on somewhat of a rant as well. I apologize ahead as this is more of a news column than it is a counterpoint to what anyone has said in this thread. The state of puroresu can be blamed on one thing,puroresu. In the '90s, there were was AJ and NJ. While most English speaking puro fans will say AJ was the better company, business wise NJ was definitely the more popular. Of course, you can make excuse of this by saying that because of Baba's tradition, AJ always ran Nippon Budokan. Thusly, AJ was not able to compete with yearly attendance rates against NJ and their record setting Dome crowds. Anyways, both promotions put puroresu to the top of Japanese sports. Since this a NJ thread, I'll discuss them. They had huge stars in Inoki, Fujinami, Sakaguchi, Tiger Mask,and Choshu that carried them in the '70s and '80s. These men layed the ground work for their best period in history, the 1990s. They had a huge dojo cass in '84 which included Muto, Chono, Hashimoto, and Keichi Yamada(Liger)and other classes which brought us Maeda, Takada, and Sasaki.These men honed their skills from the legends and evolved into true great wrestlers and main eventers. Nj began booking the Tokyo Dome in 1989 and later added shows in the Fukuoka, Osaka, and Nagoya Domes. With the huge drawing power of the Musketeers and and the best jr. heavyweight division in the history of wrestling, NJ sold out these huge arenas annually. But soon the groundwork for their fall would begin to be laid. In 1997, Shinya Hashimoto was the top drawing star and enjoying a record setting IWGP title reign. However, Antonio Inoki wanted to return to an old concept; the wrestler vs. martial artist. Inoki found the perfect opponent in olympian Naoya Ogawa. So the Ogawa/Hashimoto feud began and was extremely successful just like the UWFi feud from a year before. There was one thing they forgot what made the mixed matches so successful; the wrestler won. Inoki always won his matches against real fighters in the past and Nj dominated the UWFi feud. Anyways, Ogawa won the majority of the matches and destroyed Hash's credibility. Also, there was another legend in Choshu causing a problem by pushing his boy, Sasaki. Choshu's booking had been good throughout the '90s especially the quiet destruction of UWFi. However, he found someone in Sasaki that he could basically reincarnate into himself. Once Sasaki's transformation from promising young lion who looked graet teaming with Muto and Hase to roided up, no selling lariat machine was complete, it was time to give him the belt. I'm sorry but my fingers are tired and I have to be somewhere so I will have Part 2 later own continuing the downfall of New Japan Pro Wrestling later.

[bannabop]

Both rants had good points.. I hope if any company goes under its not one of the classic ones (njpw or ajpw)