[New Japan] 2006/03/19 Tokyo

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

2006/03/19 Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall in Tokyo)

• Manabu Nakanishi & Takashi Iizuka vs. Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii
• Tiger Mask & Yujiro vs. Minoru & Hirooki Goto
• Jushin Thunder Liger, Gedo, Jado, & Black Tiger [CTU] vs. Kintaro Kanemura, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Badboy Hido, & Gentaro [Apache Puroresu Army]
• Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
• Scott Norton vs. Giant Bernard
• IWGP Junior Tag Team Title Match: El Samurai & Ryusuke Taguchi [champions] vs. Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata
• IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan [champions] vs. Yuuji Nagata & Naofumi Yamamoto
• IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Brock Lesnar [champion] vs. Akebono

[Luds]

The Tanahashi vs. Shibata match was changed to Tanahashi vs. Miyamoto

[raggin kilbasa]

call me crazy,but i actually wanna see the scott norton vs giant bernard match just to see if norton jobs in that match or not.

[Uraken]

Unfortunatly for you, (and the rest), he jobbed.

[The Great Gouki]

Any results for the show yet?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

• Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii (9'08" pin) Manabu Nakanishi & Takashi Iizuka
• Minoru & Hirooki Goto (14'29" pin) Tiger Mask & Yujiro
• Elimination Match: Kintaro Kanemura, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Badboy Hido, & Gentaro [Apache Puroresu Army] def Jushin Thunder Liger, Gedo, Jado, & Black Tiger [CTU]
  * GENTARO remained
• Togi Makabe (10'55" pin) Toru Yano
• Giant Bernard (13'30" pin) Scott Norton
• IWGP Junior Tag Team Title Match: El Samurai (19'53" samural clutch) Ryusuke Taguchi [champions] vs. Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue
• Hiroshi Tanahashi (13'34" dragon suplex hold) Katsuyori Shibata
• IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Masahiro Chono (23'07" pin) Hiroyoshi Tenzan [champions] vs. Yuuji Nagata & Naofumi Yamamoto
• IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Brock Lesnar [champion] (10'35" pin) Akebono
  * There was a ref bump that Akebono's pin over Lesnar wasn't counted.

[Luds]

Wow is this WWE

Hisa, are these WWE-like practices somethig that NJ does often? I kinda lost track of it around 2004, but they didn't have those at all if I recall...

[raggin kilbasa]

As long as they dont do this all the time it would be all right if you are talking about the ref bump?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

No, I hadn't seen any of it in New Japan for long time. Probably not since early 1980s.

I guess that was the only way to keep Lesnar as the champion while not wasting Akebono's popularity.

[Luds]

Seems to me like having some other wrestler cause a DQ would have been a better move. Like CHono coming in and nailing Lesnar with a Yakuza kick or something like that...

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Nah..., I don't agree with that.

Why involve yet another wrestler in a screw job? It would say that Chono (or whoever is booked to interfere) doesn't respect the championship matches.

Ref bump, if done realistically and less frequently, can at least be "accidental".

[Luds]

Very true Hisa, IF done on very rare occasions, then it's a better finish.

But bt WWE standards, ref bumps are in every other matches, then that's a lame finish