Captain's Fall Elimination Match: Burning vs Sterness II (5/14/03)

[GlobalHonored]

Burning vs Sterness will go at it again in a Captain's Fall 8-man Elimination tag on 5/14 at Toyama Techno Hall, and this match will be taped for TV. Last year's match on 9/5 was a classic, one of the most entertaining matches of 2002, with Akiyama and his boys getting the win, Akiyama putting an outnumbered Kobashi away with his own lariat. This year Team Burning and their leader, the current GHC Champ Kenta Kobashi, aim for payback. It will be Kobashi, KENTA, Kikuchi and Honda (substituting for the injured Shiga) representing Burning against Akiyama, Saito, Kanemaru and Hashi for the Sterness side. Yuji Nagata will make his first appearance of the tour in singles action against Inoue, pitting the New Japan Chairman of Wrestlers against his NOAH conterpart of the same position. The entire card looks like this:

1. Yoshihiro Takayama, Bison Smith & Doug Williams vs. Takeshi Morishima, Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji
2. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Jun Izumida
3. Masao Inoue vs. Yuji Nagata
4. Kenta Kobashi, Tamon Honda, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Makoto Hashi in a Captain's Fall Elimination Match

-Also, does anyone else find it strange how Takayama is main eventing the New Japan shows as their #1 guy, holding both the IWGP and NWF Titles, yet appears in the opener and usually acts as merely a mid carder in NOAH? Which promotion is supposedly on top again?
-Anyways, this should be an excellent show, and if the elimination match can even come close to last year's 51 minute gem, then it will surely be a complete success.

[Luds]

Sounds like a good card...

THe Takayama situation is interresting... It's like Misawa doesn't want Takayama to look too good or it'l make his promotion look bad... And he doesn't want to job him or relations with NJ will go south.

[GlobalHonored]

5/14/03 RESULTS

1. Mitsuo Momota beat Haruka Eigen (6:58) with a cradle cutback.
2. Takashi Sugiura beat Kotaro Suzuki (10:48) with an Olympic slam.
3. Akira Taue & Takuma Sano beat Scorpio & Tommy Drake (11:59) when Sano used a Northern Light bomb on Drake.
4. Yoshihiro Takayama, Bison Smith & Doug Williams beat Takeshi Morishima, Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji (15:23) when Smith used the Bisontenial on Marufuji.
5. Yuji Nagata beat Masao Inoue (13:46) with a backdrop suplex hold.
6. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Jun Izumida went to a no contest (12:26).
7. Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito (c), Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Makoto Hashi beat Kenta Kobashi, Tamon Honda (c), Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & KENTA (35:56) in a Captain's Fall Elimination Match. Hashi used a jackknife hold on Kikuchi (3:05). KENTA used a Busaiku knee kick on Hashi (13:46). Saito used the Sickle of Death on Honda (35:56).