Tenzan loses title again

[Black_Flag_Of_Ulster]

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a little slow. I had been marking for Tenzan for a long time, but now even I realised that he dropped the ball. Fujita beat soundly him today at the Tsukisamu Green Dome (wherever that is) and all I can say is good riddance. They should stop putting the belt on him for laughs. Give it to Tanahashi or Nakamura and leave Tenzan out of it for good.

[pigman]

I was actually surprised when I heard fujita won it. But I agree with you that they should leave tenzan out of the title hunt.

[edgehead1984]

Well Tenzan better not get the title again............this is ridiculous......

[Supah Indy]

The only thing good that they can possibly do with having him win and lose the title that much is give him a "Held the title the most times" angle to boost his legend.

[Luds]

This is insane.
Who is booking NJ these days???

That person is crazier than Vince Russo...

Why give Tenzan the title back from Kojima? Why? This is so stupid!

And why did Fujita win the title from Tanahashi last time? Because he defeated Sapp in a real fight? Well then why have him drop it to Sasaki back to Tenzan?

STOP THE NON SENSE!

[Pheonix_Chi25]

Just like the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA title in 1990 and 2004...Deja Vu all over again.

I'm starting to wonder, natch doubt, about Tenzan myself. I mean this is the third time he has held the IWGP title and this is the third time he has lost the IWGP title. I agree with Flag, put the belt on Tanahashi or Nakamura somebody who you know can carry the ball and not fumble it. Honestly I don't see Fujita holding the belt very long, but if Tenzan gets his hands back on the IWGP title for a fourth time and he loses it again for a fourth time, then the Title itself will be seen as a joke.

It seems like Tenzan makes you want to put asterisks after his title reigns because they are too short for even him to be viewed as a credible champion. I look at the lineage of the belt and the men who held it (Nagata, Mutoh, Chosyu, Hashimoto et al) and then when I see Tenzan I just shake my head and wonder "Why does NJ bother"? I'm not doubting Tenzans skills, he is a superb wrestler, he can go with anybody, but to lose the IWGP title for a third time even you have to ask was Tenzan really ready for this.

I didn't mean to rant or to bash Tenzan, but it's one of those things that make you go "hmmm"? And if it makes sense please respond.

[Luds]

It really sounds like you're bashing Tenzan there Phoenix...

Why blame him? The problem isn't Tenzan, it's the stupid booking. Since Nagata, the title's pretty much been a joke for many reasons. Title changes every other day, and NJ trying to put it on MMA fighters for some stupid reason.

Nagata: 04/05/02 to 05/02/03, 1 year and 1 month, 10 defenses, great reign
Takayama: 05/02/03 to 11/03/03, 6 months, 3 defenses, good solid reign
Tenzan: 11/03/03 to 12/09/03, 1 month, 0 defense, STUPID! why not just have Tenzan carry it for 6 months OR have Nakamura take it from Takayama> This made Tenzan look VERY LAME
Nakemura: 12/09/03 to 01/05/04, 1 month, 1 defense, STUPID reign. Nakamura got injured in his MMA fight with Alexey Ignashov on 12/31/03. They were obviously going to have him carry it, but that's what you get for trying to push a young man's luck...
Tenzan: 02/15/04 to 03/12/04, 1 months, 1 defense, STUPID reign. They had Tenzan lose here simply not to have him lose it to Sapp... If they HAD to give it to Sapp, why not have Tenzan lose?
Sasaki: 03/12/04 to 03/28/04, 2 weeks, 0 defense, STUPID reign. Useless. Why even put it on another MMA fighter?
Sapp: 03/28/04 to 06/01/04, 2 months, 1 defense, STUPID AGAIN! Didn't they know what the risk was of having an MMA fighter carry it? Sapp lost legit in an MMA fight to Fujita on 05/22/04, which made Sapp and the title look like a complete joke
Fujita: 06/05/04 to 10/09/04, 3 months, 1 defense, STUPID reign, Fujita only has the title because he defeated Sapp legit, but not lost it to Sasaki in the stupidest finish ever in an IWGP title match. Fujita probably didn't want to job to Tenzan or something
Sasaki: 10/09/04 to 12/12/04, 2 months, 2 defenses, Stupid reign, Tenzan should have defeated Fujita and carried the title, or Sasaki carry it for a while...
Tenzan: 12/12/04 to 02/20/05, 2 months, 0 defense, STUPID REIGN again! Sure, have the dream match, but why have Tenzan drop it to Kojima and win it back? STUPID!
Kojima: 02/20/05 to 05/14/05, 3 months, 1 defense, Stupid again. Tenzan should have never lost it...
Tenzan: 05/14/05 to 07/18/05, 2 months, 1 defense, STUPID again. WHY WHY WHY WHY have Fujita as champ again?
Fujita: 07/18/05 to ?


----

They should have had Takayama drop it to Tenzan as they did
Tenzan carry it throughout 2004, defeating Chono, Nakemura, Nagata, Tanahashi, Shibata, Nakamura, Nishimura, and drop it to Nakemura on the 2005 Tokyo dome show... Then have Nakamura feud with Tanahashi, Nagata, Shibata, and other people.

[Tradewynd]

I'm not sure whcih amazes me more, how NJ has sodomized the IWGP Title or AJ has completely missed the boat on Kojima. Either way, there's a lot of stupidity going on. No wonder people are giving up wrestling and turning to MMA.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

I agree completely Luds. I guess what had me upset was that when you think Tenzan is going to be a credible champion, he loses the belt and boom he's back to the "now what" stage again.

I'd like to have the brain trust in NJ at least give Tenzan the opportunity to, how can I put this, be the Ace of the company and let them see what he can do. Because it seems now that the bookers either don't believe Tenzan can be a credible champion or he is not marketable enough as IWGP Champion. I know this is the year of Tanhashi, Nakamura and in some years Nagao, Goto and Yujiro, but why give a belt to a man who (booking wise) you have no faith in?

I guess this is what I should have said.

[terrier mask]

To correct Phoenix. That was Tenzan's fourth title reign, not third. Well anyways, they can always go with the HHH or Ric Flair (or even Verne Gagne) route and have Tenzan win the IWGP heavyweight title with having title reigns about somewhere in the double digits, and try to show him off as having the most amount of title reigns than any other wrestler in the history of New Japan. They did the same with Liger, him having the IWGP jr. heavy title 11 times. And I don't know if having S. Nakamura the championship is a great idea. Becuase, knowing him, he would "seal" (kill off) the IWGP heavy title like he did with the NWF and U-30 belts. And it looks like Fujita is sealing the current IWGP belt and having a new one made, in honor of Shinya Hashimoto.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

Thanks for the correction Terrier. I just hope now with the G-1 coming up more challengers can step up.

[terrier mask]

No problem Phoenix. Yeah, I hope the wrestlers do step it up for an awesome G-1 this year. Personally, I would most like either Josh Barnett or Osamu Nishimura to win. But I won't get mad if anyone else wins.

[Madplex85]

Sealing the IWGP title? Man, I really liked that crown design. They better make a better one that absolutely blows away the previous model.