NOAH 4/7 results

[GreatMuta423]

NOAH ran their April 7th rally at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, claiming a sell-out of 12,000 paid. Results:

1. Rusher Kimura, Mitsuo Momota, & Masaji Aoyagi defeated Haruka Eigen, Jun Izumida, & Kishin Kawabata in 11 minutes, 34 seconds when Momota pinned Kawabata.

2. Richard Slinger, Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan, & Superstar Steve defeated Tamon Honda, Masao Inoue, KENTA (Kobayashi), & Yasuhiro Suzuki in 11 minutes, 1 second when Slinger used his "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" finisher on Suzuki for the win.

3. Akitoshi Saito defeated Kentaro Shiga in 8 minutes, 49 seconds with the "death sickle" finisher (rotating enzui giri).

4. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura defeated Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone in 8 minutes, 31 seconds when Takayama used a high-angle German Suplex Hold on Yone for the win.

5. Scorpio pinned Naoki Sano in 10 minutes, 56 seconds.

6. Minoru Tanaka & Jushin Liger defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in 16 minutes, 35 seconds by referee stoppage when Tanaka had a cross-arm scissors hold on Kikuchi for the submission.

7. Vader defeated Bison Smith in 4 minutes, 40 seconds. Smith played the underdog, speedy role and Vader did the "power match" role. Vader used a chokeslam for the win.

8. In the GHC Jr. Title Match, Makoto Hashi defeated Naomichi Marufuji in 21 minutes, 28 seconds due to Marufuji's knee injury forcing the referee stoppage. At first, Hashi was given the title belt but after the match, the belt was vacated.

9. Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Kodo Fuyuki in 15 minutes, 43 seconds with a running elbow smash.

10. In the #1 GHC Title Contender's Match, Akira Taue defeated Takao Omori in 8 minutes, 26 seconds.

11. In the GHC Tag Titles Match, Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie in 24 minutes, 7 seconds when Morishima used a back drop on Yoshie for the win.

12. In the GHC Title Match, Yoshinari Ogawa defeated Jun Akiyama in 4 minutes, 20 seconds. Akiyama hit two successful exploders on Ogawa, and on the third attempt, Ogawa did a modified small-package on Akiyama's third exploder attempt for the quick 3-count win.

[samoth]

Japanese wrestling never fails to confuse me.

Why did Akiyama drop the title to a junior heavyweight in less than 5 minutes? They have Vader and Misawa RIGHT THERE if they really wanted the belt off of him and onto someone instantly credible. I'm not knocking Ogawa's ability, but where's the logic?

[lonewolfsuarez]

What did you expect, Ogawa just happened to be groomed by Misawa, congrats to the new GHC Champ!!!

[lonewolfsuarez]

Congrats to Rikio and Morishima in winning the Tag Team Titles!

[Luds]

Originally posted by lonewolfsuarez
What did you expect, Ogawa just happened to be groomed by Misawa, congrats to the new GHC Champ!!!

It's great to have friends at high places!!!

[BurningHammer]

Yes indeed, it does certainly help to have friends in high places.

I find it so sad to see that my beloved puroresu, which I have idolized now for years as a source of constant goodness and light, fallen to such a state. Something is fundamentally wrong when a champion who has been a successful draw (at least I don't remember NOAH packing out 12,000 seats before Akiyama's title reign), and who has put on many entertaining matches with nearly every major star in Japan, gets jobbed out to Yoshinari "Misawa Lite" Ogawa in under 5 minutes. This ranks right up there with the late-1999 Big Show in terms of overbooked, overdetermined, overpushed title reigns. I'm crushed. I guess I was holding on to the idealistic impression that such overtly political maneuvering didn't happen in Japan.

All I can think to say is that I hope Kobashi can find the strength to march into that ring, wobbly knees and all, and spend the better part of 30 minutes teaching Ogawa the meaning of hard work, one sweet, sweet Lariat at a time.

Kidding aside, I wonder what on earth Ogawa can accomplish as champion? If this whole New Japan/NOAH feud is going to continue developing the way it has, then I'm inclined to wonder: who among New Japan's depleted roster can figure out a way to carry Ogawa to a decent match? Maybe Tenzan, and I doubt that even he could pull it off. Any thoughts?

PS. Didn't mean to offend any Ogawa marks out there. So please don't spam the board with any deluded opinions you might have.

[Luds]

Well, Hammer, 2 thoughts came to mind:

1- Maybe it's just the case of a champion who drops the title in a fluke and regains it on their next match... like when Fujinami beat Hashimoto in NJ with a small-package counter on his DDT, and then loses the title back to Hashimoto on their next match... (By the way, I am in no means comparing Yoshinari Ogawa to Tatsumi Fujinami!!!!!) Remember that Hashimoto gained the title from Muta and held it for 7 months, lost to Fujinami, then captured it again and held it for a full year before losing to Mutoh.

2- Maybe it's a temporary "placement" if NOAH and NJ feud, Jun Akiyama might lose say, to Tenzan... and they only wished to make this a no title match...

I don't really know what else to think... Any thoughts?

[BurningHammer]

Luds, excellent points.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the move seems like an attempt to "free up" Akiyama for the NJ feud. A revenge job to Nagata is almost a certainty (and it would give ol' Yuji some nice credibility). Furthermore, by taking the title off him, it doesn't make every match a foregone conclusion, as I sincerely doubt that Misawa would allow the GHC title to pass into Inoki's death-grip. Now, Akiyama is free to have some exciting matches with Tenzan or Chono where we don't have to assume that he'll win. In fact, I think it's highly likely that we'll see Jun get jobbed out to practically half the NJ roster, as I find it unlikely that Misawa will be willing to do the same. (Unless Ogawa is involved, see below.)

When all that's over, Ogawa is toast. Burnt to a crisp, Exploder-style! My only lingering question is, in the midst of this NJ feud, how will Misawa book Ogawa? I have a feeling that we'll be seeing a lot of tag matches, because it seems more and more that Misawa will only job to protect Ogawa. Still, while I find myself wishing for a quick end to all this, I have the sinking feeling that we'll be stuck with "Misawa Lite" for a few months yet. He's been pushed too far for him to not have any successful title defenses. I figure he'll defend against someone from New Japan, wait a month or so, and have a defense against someone from the NOAH roster (I'm thinking someone who's credible but still underneath, like the sorely underpushed Takao Omori). Then, and only then, we'll see Misawa's ego-trip sputter to a close, and Akiyama will likely get his revenge.

[Luds]

I think we both see it the same way... I can't see Misawa let the title go to NJ! And I can't see the title change hands too many times. Chances are that Ogawa won't loose the strap to someone this month... He's just holding on to it for Akiyama's return.

This is what I see: Akiyama will loose to Nagata, but could defeat Tenzan, and will defeat Chono (or someone in T2K). After that win, he'll be "on the right track again" so he'll go back and destroy Misawa Lite... Nagata will have a huge win (Muto, twice in a row against Norton, Tenzan, and now Akiyama to his cretit...) and fans won't instantly think about the Cro Cop name when thinking hear Nagata...

[BurningHammer]

Yeah, it makes you wonder: just how much has Misawa shot himself in the foot by putting Ogawa over now? It seems to me like the move is going to do wonders for the credibility of Nagata & the IWGP title, whilst the GHC title gets held up in limbo for a few months.

I'm really inclined to wonder just how much Inoki is involved in this. Maybe he's brokered this entire gamble in an effort to bring in Akiyama and restore some desperately-needed puroresu-style credibility to the belt made famous by Muto, Fujinami, and Hashimoto. Perhaps we're seeing shooto-style slipping away?

This theory also begs the question: what will NOAH get in return? How cool would it be, after the smoke clears, Nagata has been established as credible, and Akiyama has recaptured the GHC title, to see some sort of epic showdown between Tenzan and Akiyama? Or Chono and Akiyama? Hell, I think Jushin Liger's style would complement Akiyama's nicely. The question really is: when the time comes for some major New Japan player to do the job for NOAH, who will be on the receiving end? I'd hate to see it wasted on Ogawa, just because he'll inevitably drop the title back to Akiyama anyway; and Lord knows he doesn't quite have the talent to pass that rub on. It'll make for an interesting couple of months-- I definitely need to get hooked up with a source for tapes. =)

[Luds]

Originally posted by BurningHammer
Perhaps we're seeing shooto-style slipping away?

Me not think so... Inoki might mildly drop the shoot, but I still see more in the future...

It'll make for an interesting couple of months-- I definitely need to get hooked up with a source for tapes. =)

Indeed, this could be pretty sweet. Regardless as who the NJ champ is at the time, Chono vs Akiyama or Tenzan vs Akiyama would sound like a pretty good title for title feud!

[Luds]

Oups! I meant Nagata vs Akiyama or Tenzan vs Akiyama!

[Haiku Warrior]

Sorry to hear Akiyama lost the title. I don't like Ogawa as champ. Somone like Vader or even Scorpio would have been a better choice.

[BurningHammer]

As much as we may dislike Ogawa, he has two crucial things working in his favor that Vader and Scorpio lack.

-- Unlike Scorpio, Ogawa has been taken seriously. Scorpio has never really had a serious push in Japan, going back to his days as a jobber in NJ's Junior division. Sure, he won the GHC Tag Tourney, but that was more a matter of pushing the strong gaijin team.

-- Unlike Vader, Ogawa has many good (or average, anyway) years in front of him. Watching some recent NOAH TV tapes, it's apparent how Vader has really lost some zip on his fastball, so to speak. He's not in the kind of shape that he was in '99 and 2000. It looks to me like he's been relegated to a Big Show sort of role: squashing people for the crowd's delight, but not taken seriously as a promotional threat.

Ogawa, at least, has had the monster push behind him, and he's young & in shape. I think most of us are just complaining because we really like Akiyama and would have liked to see him lose the title to a more skilled wrestler in a better match. That's the interesting paradox: if Akiyama didn't drop the title to Ogawa, who on earth else could have taken it?

[Pete Sambrano]

Who cares Ogawa sucks!!!Bottom line he's not good enough to beat Akiyama in 5:00 or 100 years.How does that make Kobashi look or anyone else for that matter?