NOAH Tag Tourney results

Big shocker this past weekend in NOAH's 2-day tag tournament as Takeshi Rikioh scored a clean pinfall over GHC heavyweight champion Kenta Kobashi! This is Kobashi's first direct pinfall loss since October last year when he was pinned by Yoshinari Ogawa in a Captain's Fall Elimination Tag Match. Could this lead to a second title defence against Rikioh?

NOAH 11/27/04
Sapporo Media Park Spica
2,100 Fans
1. Ricky Marvin beat Go Shiosaki (10:55) with a cradle.
2. Tamon Honda, Takeshi Kikuchi & Masashi Aoyagi beat Takuma Sano, Kishin Kawabata & Mitsuo Momota (16:32) when Kikuchi pinned Kawabata.
3. Daisuke Ikeda, Masao Inoue & Mohammed Yone beat Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan & Ace Steel (9:06) when Yone used a Muscle Buster on Steel.
4. The Gladiator beat IZU (9:44) with an Awesome Bomb.
5. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Akitoshi Saito & Takashi Sugiura beat Yoshinari Ogawa & SUWA (18:51) when Saito used the Death Brand on SUWA.
6. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Kenta Kobashi & KENTA beat Akira Taue & Makoto Hashi (18:00) when KENTA used the Go 2 Sleep on Hashi.
7. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Scorpio & Richard Slinger (18:43) when Kanemaru used the Touching Out on Slinger.
8. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Takeshi Rikioh & Naomichi Marufuji beat Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki (20:16) with a Powerbomb/top rope Shiranui combination (Marufuji pinned Suzuki).

NOAH, 11/28/04 (NTV)
Sapporo Media Park Spica
2,400 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Ace Steel beat Haruka Eigen (4:29) with a side cradle.
2. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi beat Mitsuo Momota (8:43) with a cradle.
3. Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan, SUWA & Ricky Marvin beat Akira Taue, Takuma Sano, Makoto Hashi & Masashi Aoyagi (17:19) when Modest used the Reality Check on Aoyagi.
4. Daisuke Ikeda, Masao Inoue & Mohammed Yone beat Tamon Honda, Jun Izumida & Go Shiosaki (18:33) when Yone used a lariat on Shiosaki.
5. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Semi Final: Kenta Kobashi & KENTA beat Akitoshi Saito & Takashi Sugiura (20:32) when Kobashi used a lariat on Sugiura.
6. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Semi Final: Takeshi Rikioh & Naomichi Marufuji beat Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (12:08) when Marufuji used a flash cradle on Kanemaru.
7. Scorpio, The Gladiator & Richard Slinger beat Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki (20:30) when Scorpio used the 450 Splash on Suzuki.
8. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Final: Takeshi Rikioh & Naomichi Marufuji beat Kenta Kobashi & KENTA (23:21) when Rikio used the Muso (backdrop variation) on Kobashi.

Zero-One shuts down

Shinya Hashimoto's Zero-One wrestling promotion is finally shutting down after a slew of financial problems. Hashimoto himself is said to be going back to New Japan Pro Wrestling, leaving the remnants of Zero-One to Shinjiro Ohtani and Yoshiyuki Nakamura. It's now being rumoured that Ohtani will name the new promotion "First On Stage". How LAME is that???
While it is sad to hear the company is closing down, it might be for the best as the puroresu market in Japan is already over-saturated. I would like to hope that some of Zero-One's talent will find work elsewhere like in NOAH that could use a new face or two to fill in the roster. All Japan would be a good option for gaijins like Steve Corino and Tom Howard too, and a guy like Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi would fit right in to New Japan with their wannabe shooters that Inoki has unlimited love for.

Some WWE thoughts

Jonathan Coachman: Untapped potential
I seriously believe WWE should use Jonathan Coachman in the ring more. From his limited in-ring appearances, he's actually shown some talent, though limited. I think WWE could definately use him as a mid-card heel wrestler who uses cheap and dirty tactics to win matches. They could base him on Pro-Wrestling NOAH wrestler Yoshinari Ogawa, who made a name for himself by pulling off shock wins on big name wrestlers with quick cradles and such, and that includes the ONLY pinfall victory over Kenta Kobashi in the past TWELVE MONTHS.
Coach could do the same thing and the fans will hate him for it and will really want to see him get his ass handed to him, only to be dissapointed again and again when Coach pulls the upset with a flash cradle or small package.
He already has the look and the charisma. And he's not too old to start either. It would have been really cool if they started it with this whole weekly GM story going on RAW now. The GM's think they could screw Coach, but Coach shocks them by beating the men they sent after him. Seriously, tell me you didn't see any fire in Coach this past week when he was up against Rhyno? He tried to run from Orton last week, but this week he stood his ground and actually held his own until the dumbass ref pulled him off! Maybe next week they could have him pull off that big upset win that will finally make people take him seriously?
I can honestly say that I'd like to see that happen.

RAW Battle Royal next week
I liked the way they set this up, but could't you just tell WWE are gonna screw this up next week when during the battle royal everyone will beat and eliminate everyone else EXCEPT Triple H? Especially since he's the prime target. Unless HHH changes his mind next week and accept the singles match with Orton, you can possibly expect a Spoiling The Illusion column next week!

Nice going SATs!

Above you see the poster/flyer for the upcoming FUSION debut show ran by Joel & Jose Maximo, better know as the SATs in NWA:TNA and the US indy scene. Now what's wrong with that picture???

1. It's YOSHINARI Ogawa & MITSUHARU Misawa!
2. They ALREADY appeared in the US earlier this year!
3. If this truly was their first appearance in the US in over thirty years, they'd have to have been kids when they first appeared all those years ago!

I can forgive that this poster is so cheap it looked like I made it with MS Paint, but those two dumbasses need to get their facts straight. What would you be thinking if you were two of the biggest wrestling names in Japan (Yes, that includes Ogawa) and a promoter can't even get your name right???

UPDATE!
Since I originally posted it this morning, The Maximos seemed to have gotten their heads straight and fixed the poster. The one pictured was the original flyer they gave out with their press release. The updated it with colour, but with Misawa & Ogawa's names printed wrong, and now the correct version can be viewed HERE

NOAH 2 Day Tournament

Interesting to note that this weekend NOAH runs a special two day openweight tournament, featuring a Heavyweight and a Junior on each team. This is a really interesting tournament, and hopefully the rest of the card will be as good.

NOAH, 11/27/04
Sapporo Media Park Spica
1. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Yoshinari Ogawa & SUWA VS Akitoshi Saito & Takashi Sugiura
2. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Kenta Kobashi & KENTA VS Akira Taue & Makoto Hashi
3. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru VS Scorpio & Richard Slinger
4. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Round 1: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki VS Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji

NOAH, 11/28/04 (NTV)
Sapporo Media Park Spica
1. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Semi Final:
2. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Semi Final:
3. 2 Day Tag Tournament - Final:

Full All Japan 12/05 Card!

The full card for All Japan's big December show has been announced and damn does it look good! Unlike NJPW, don't expect any last minute changes. And for those of you who were wondering, GREAT MUTA is none other than former WWE wrestler Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli! See? Good wrestler leaves WWE, immediately gets a big shot in Japan!

AJPW "THE UNCHAINED WORLD", 12/05/04 (TV Tokyo)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
1. AKIRA & Akira Raijin VS Tomoaki Honma & Taichi Ishikari
2. Nobukazu Hirai, Nobutaka Araya & Masanobu Fuchi VS Love Machine Arashi, Love Machine Steel & Mini Love Machine
3. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kaz Hayashi (c) VS NOSAWA Rongai
4. Kohei Suwama 7 Match Trial Series - Match 1: Kohei Suwama VS VADER
5. Satoshi Kojima VS Super Love Machine
6. Special Match: Great Muta VS GREAT MUTA
7. Elimination Match: Kensuke Sasaki, Genichiro Tenryu, Katsuhiko Nakajima, KENSHIN & Akira Hokuto VS TAKA Michinoku, Taiyo Kea, Jamal, Buchanan & D-Lo Brown
8. Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada (c) VS Hiroyoshi Tenzan

December Puroresu Supercards

PRO WRESTLING NOAH
GHC Champion Kenta Kobashi will make his V12 defense of the title against The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) on 12/04! Expect this to have alot of big bumps in it.
Also on the card, Yoshinobu Kanemaru puts his Jr title on the line against former champion and one of his good buddies, Takashi Sugiura! Will be really interesting to see how this one plays out, and wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a late MOTY candidate.
Plus, Misawa & Ogawa put the GHC tag titles on the line against Mike Modest & Donovan Morgan. Can the the gaijin duo pull off the upset? And for that matter, do the gaijins even have a chance?

NOAH, 12/4/04 (NTV)
Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium
1. Makoto Hashi VS Go Shiosaki
2. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi VS SUWA & Takuma Sano
3. Daisuke Ikeda, Mohammed Yone & Kishin Kawabata VS Scorpio, Richard Slinger & Ace Steel
4. Takeshi Rikio, Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA VS Akira Taue, Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki
5. Jun Akiyama & Jun Izumida VS Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue
6. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title: Yoshinobu Kanemaru SV Takashi Sugiura
7. GHC Tag Team Title: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa VS Mike Modest & Donovan Morgan
8. GHC Heavyweight Title: Kenta Kobashi VS The Gladiator

ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
So far, only the main bouts for the big Sumo Hall show have been announced, but the main event alone could over-shadow the NOAH show!
In a match that should have taken place last week at the New Japan Osaka Dome show, Toshiaki Kawada will defend the Triple Crown Hiroyoshi Tenzan! Can Dangerous K survive the Anaconda Vice?
Also announced, the Kensuke Sasaki Office will be in full gear as they take on the RO&D faction in a big eight-man elimination match!
Capping it off, for the first time ever, Keiji Mutoh will face his alter ego, The Great Muta!

All Japan "UNCHAINED WORLD", 12/05/04
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
1. Kohei Suwama Single Match Trial Series: Kohei Suwama VS TBA
2. Keiji Muto VS GREAT MUTA
3. Elimination Match: Kensuke Sasaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Genichiro Tenryu, & KENSHIN VS Taiyo Kea, TAKA Michinoku, D-Lo Brown, & Buchanan
4. Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada VS Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Two very good looking shows to close off the year for these two great promotions. The question now is, how is New Japan gonna close out the most disasterous year it's been having to counter these two shows? It's rumoured Tenzan will also challenge for the IWGP title, but who knows whats going on in the minds of the NJPW bookers these days.

WWE Survivor Series results

WWE Cruiserweight Title: Spike Dudley (C) beat Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero & Billy Kidman when Spike pinned Chavo.

WWE Intercontinental Title: Shelton Benjamin (C) beat Christian with an Exploder suplex pin.

Survival Match:
Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, The Big Show & John Cena beat Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak & Carlito Caribbean Cool.
- Cena ran Carlito out of the arena.
- Angle pinned RVD with a roll-up using the ropes for leverage.
- Eddie pinned Jindrak with a roll-up using the ropes for leverage.
- Big Show pinned Reigns with a Chokeslam.
- Big Show pinned Angle after Guerrero hit the frog splash.
Sole Survivors: Eddie Guerrero, Big Show & John Cena.

The Undertaker beat John Heidenreich with a Tombstone Piledriver

WWE Women's Title: Trish Stratus (C) VS Lita went to a No Contest when Lita attacked Trish with a chair and choked her out.

WWE Championship: John "Bradshaw" Leyfield (C) beat Booker T when he pinned Booker after hitting him with the championship belt.

Survival Match: Winning team gets control of RAW for four weeks:
Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho & Maven beat Triple H, Batista, Edge & Gene Snitzsky.
- Edge pinned Benoit after HHH hit the Pedigree.
- Jericho pinned Batista after the Shining Enzuigiri.
- Snitzsky got disqualified for attacking Maven & Jericho with a chair.
- Triple H pinned Maven after Snitzsky's attack.
- Edge pinned Jericho with a Spear.
- Orton pinned Edge with the RKO.
- Orton pinned Triple H with the RKO.
Sole Survivor: Randy Orton

NJPW 11/13 Osaka Dome results

NJPW "TOUKON FESTIVAL", 11/13/04 (PPV/WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Osaka Dome
28,000 Fans
1. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Semi Final: Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Hirooki Goto (7:03) with a German suplex hold.
2. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Semi Final: Ryusuke Taguchi beat Hiroshi Nagao (6:21) with a crab hold.
3. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Final: Ryusuke Taguchi beat Katsuhiko Nakajima (9:41) with a crab hold.
4. Blue Wolf & Masahito Kakihara beat Yutaka Yoshie & El Samurai (14:45) when Kakihara used the Kaki Cutter on Samurai.
5. Mitsuya Nagai & Masayuki Naruse beat Togi Makabe & Toru Yano (16:50) when Naruse used the Crazy Cyclone on Yano.
6. Tiger Mask, Wataru Inoue & Taiji Ishimori beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Jado & Gedo (22:36) when Inoue used the Triangle Lancer on Liger.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Heat (c) beat Koji Kanemoto (23:18) with the Minoru Special (10th defense).
8. Genichiro Tenryu beat Katsuyori Shibata (9:09) with a straight right punch.
9. Elimination Match: Yuji Nagata & Osamu Nishimura beat Masahiro Chono & Riki Choshu (10:37). Choshu KO'd Nishimura (4:08). Nagata used a brainbuster on Choshu (9:27). Nagata used the Thunder Death Driver on Chono (10:37).
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki (c) beat Minoru Suzuki (19:59) with a lariat (2nd defense).
11. Toukon Festival Special Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Naoya Ogawa beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi (17:18) when Kawada pinned Tanahashi after the Oregotokarire.
12. Toukon Festival Special Match: Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin beat Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura (18:54) when Fujita used a right kick on Nakamura.

Changes to NJPW card AGAIN!!!

You read that right! Not half an hour after I post the final card for the show, my buddy and avid NJPW fan, TenzanTeam2K goes and tells me that the card had been changed AGAIN by Antonio Inoki! Tenzan/Tanahashi VS Kawada/Ogawa will now NOT be the main event! Instead, it will be Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura VS Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo KaShin! WTF? Exactly! Hiroyoshi Tenzan is getting shafted from his rightful main even slot again. The more they change the card, the less interest I have to watch it. This is one show I will NOT be in a hurry to find the results of while I'm in KL this weekend.

NJPW "TOUKON FESTIVAL", 11/13/04 (PPV/WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Osaka Dome
1. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Semi Final: Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
2. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Semi Final: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Nagao
3. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Final:
4. Blue Wolf & Masahito Kakihara vs. Yutaka Yoshie & El Samurai
5. Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Masayuki Naruse
6. Tiger Mask, Wataru Inoue & Taiji Ishimori vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Jado & Gedo
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Heat (c) vs. Koji Kanemoto
8. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Genichiro Tenryu
9. Elimination Match: Yuji Nagata & Osamu Nishimura vs. Masahiro Chono & Riki Choshu
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
11. Toukon Festival Special Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Naoya Ogawa
12. Toukon Festival Special Match: Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin

NJPW 11/13 Final Card

The final card for New Japan's big Osaka Dome show is out, THREE DAYS before the event. And what big changes have they made? CANCELLING the Triple Crown and U-30 title matches if favour of sticking the HUSTLE idiot Naoya Ogawa in the main event as a tag match with Hustle-K (Toshiaki Kawada) against Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Shinsuke Nakamura who should was set to face Tanahashi in the MAIN EVENT slot for the U-30 title will now face a mystery X opponent.

Cancelling the planned event this late in the game to ad some bozo cheap-ass attraction just to sell more tickets is something I usually expect WWE to pull off. But hey, now I've got another reason about why I'm not such a big NJPW fan. Bear in mind now I WON'T be getting this show due to the lousy changes they made.

NJPW "TOUKON FESTIVAL", 11/13/04 (PPV/WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Osaka Dome
1. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Semi Final: Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
2. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Semi Final: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Nagao
3. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Final:
4. Takashi Iizuka & Masahito Kakihara vs. Yutaka Yoshie & El Samurai
5. Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Masayuki Naruse
6. Tiger Mask, Wataru Inoue & Taiji Ishimori vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Jado & Gedo
7. Blue Wolf vs. Manabu Nakanishi
8. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Heat (c) vs. Koji Kanemoto
9. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Genichiro Tenryu
10. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. X
11. Elimination Match: Yuji Nagata & Osamu Nishimura vs. Masahiro Chono & Riki Choshu
12. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
13. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Naoya Ogawa

WWE Survivor Series Card & Predictions

Since I'll be out of town this weekend, I resorted to the spoilers to get the full current PPV card! I also won't be around to watch the PPV, so expect delayed results.

Winning Team Gets Complete Control of RAW for One Month
Triple H, Batista, Edge & Gene Snitzsky VS Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho & Maven
- This is a very intruiging match. If the face team wins, we'll probably see Triple H defend the title on RAW every week for 4 weeks. And if the heel team wins, we could still see the same thing! And there is also alot of talk about Maven being the next member of Evolution, and that his turn was confirmed when he was the only one not given any spotlight this past RAW so that it could fly under the radar. I'm not sure how much of a factor Maven will be in the outcome, but I definately see HHH being the sole-survivor in this one.

Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, The Big Show & John Cena VS Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak & Carlito Carribean Cool
- God I hope they don't start the PPV with this match like they did last year. I also hope it's not a one-hit-one-kill elimination every 10seconds match. I pick Cena to make a triumphant return together with Eddie to be the sole-survivors.

WWE Championship
John "Bradshaw" Leyfield VS Booker T
- JBL said on SmackDown! that if he lost to Booker T, we'll never see him on SmackDown! again. This either means he's gonna retain the title, or he's moving back to RAW. I've also wondered what kind of direction JBL will go in if he loses the title. I'll go on a limb and predict Booker wins the title, but I won't be surprised if he doesn't but at a later date, say Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shelton Benjamin VS Christian
- I've really been wondering about Benjamin's push as they seem to have made him almost untouchable, yet still an underdog. His feud with HHH has also been on and off cause they pushed Orton ahead of Benjamin. Benjamin will definately retain the title here.

WWE Cruiserweight Title
Spike Dudley VS Rey Mysterio VS Chavo Guerrero VS Billy Kidman
- This should be fun, but I'm guessing it'll be short, maybe five minutes. And Spike will retain because he's been so much fun as a heel champion.

WWE Women's Championship
Trish Stratus VS Lita
- This will also be a short match with Trish retaining hopefully. Lita is probably rusty and I expect a botched spot or two from her.

The Undertaker VS John Heidenreich
- Undertaker made a "special" appearance on SmackDown! and essentially destroyed Heidenreich with a chokeslam and tombstone piledriver. 'Taker is definately losing this one. I just wish they hadn't screwed us out of Tazz getting back in the ring to confront Heidenreich! I also hope this match is as short as that confrontation.

NWA: TNA Victory Road PPV Results

Hector Garza won a 20-man X-Division Gauntlet
Participants: Frankie Kazarian, Sonjay Dutt, Puma , LA Park, Jerrelle Clark (who hit his patented 630 splash), Miyamoto, Michael Shane, Hector Garza, Nosawa, Mikey Batts, Alex Shelley, Matt Sydal, Sonny Siaki, Jason Cross, Shark Boy, Psychosis, D-Ray 3000, Amazing Red, Spanky, and Chris Sabin

Empire Saint, Johnny B. Badd, Ron Killings & Erik Watts beat The Naturals, Kid Kash & Dallas when Killings pinned Chase Stevens with a sit-out Pedigree.

Lucha Libre Minis Match: Mascarita Sagrada beat Piratita Morgan

NWA World Tag Team Titles: BG James & Konnan beat Bobby Roode & Eric Young when Konnan pinned Roode with a facejam to become the new champions.

In The Pit with Piper segment featured Piper's special guest, Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Piper appologized to Snuka for the incident between them back in 1982 when Piper cracked a coconut over Snuka's head. Kid Kash, Michael Shane & Frankie Kazarian attacked Snuka and Sonjay Dutt made the save only to get a coconut cracked over his head.

Trinity Open Challenge: Trinity beat Ms. Texas (Jacqualine) with a moonsault after interferance from Swinger & Gilberti.

Monsters Ball Match: Monty Brown beat Raven & Abyss when he Pounced Raven through a table. Abyss was powerbombed on THUMBTACKS at one point!

NWA X-Division Championship: Petey Williams beat A.J. Styles with the Canadian Destroyer to retain the title.

Last Team Standing Match: America's Most Wanted beat XXX (Daniels & Skipper)

NWA World Title Ladder Match: Jeff Jarrett with Scott Hall beat Jeff Hardy with Kevin Nash when Nash turned on Hardy. Who didn't see THAT coming?

Post match, Jarrett & the Outsiders beat up Hardy and several TNA stars who tried to help, till MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE ran in to make the save.

10 in a week

The full body count of WWE's firing last week rose to 10 this past weekend with the releases of Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, Rodney Mack, Jazz and Rico.

Much like Palumbo, Stamboli had nothing to show for his WWE run. The only highlight of his WWE career was probably when he gorilla-pressed Rikishi.

Rodney Mack had next to no impact on RAW whatsoever. His "Back The Mack" and "Five Minute White Boy Challenge" stint was squashed by Goldberg, and never really led to anything anyway.

His wife Jazz on the other is a big loss for the Women's Division. Sure, she doesn't look or dress as good as Stacy, Trish or Victoria, but Jazz was indeed one of the best female workers in American pro-wrestling. I could definately see and hope Jazz gets a shot to go wrestle in Japan, teaming her with Amazing Kong would make for one awesome joshi gaijin tandem! Jazz would also be much more appreciated for her ringwork there then for her looks too, unlike in America.

Rico is a weird release. He had a good thing going with Charlie Haas till his injury. So WWE waits for him to heal up, then suddenly release him shortly after his return? Weird. Now there's talk of Rico being invited to work HUSTLE shows in Japan!

I wish all these guys luck where ever they may end up.

More WWE Firings!

Just found out this afternoon that along with Billy Gunn, A-Train and Test, Chuck Palumbo, Nidia and Gail Kim have also been released from their WWE contracts!
I'm not gonna miss Chuck since he hasn't really done anything important as of late. His tandem with Billy Gunn was fun, but that was it. His run in that joke of an FBI faction did nothing for him after, and he was lucky to even get his face on RAW after the roster trade.
But I am wondering about Nidia and Gail Kim being released, especially after the boob jobs WWE gave them. Seriously, Nidia may have been green, but I think the potential was there.
Gail on the other just came out of nowhere. Here's a chick that looked good and could WORK a match. And as far as I could tell, her feuds with Victoria and Trish Stratus were never resolved. I'm guessing the run in spot on RAW where she helped Trish against Lita was her last official duty for WWE.
God I hope they aren't thinking of using Christy or Carmella or ANY of the Diva Search contestants as replacements. Then again, if they didn't give $250,000 to a non-wrestler in a bogus reality show/stunt, they probably could have afforded to keep all six of the fired wrestlers around a bit longer!

New Japan 11/03 Results

New Japan ran it's big Chono 20th Anniversary Show yesterday. The main event saw Hiroyoshi Tenzan fall to Chono AGAIN. This is the third time in a row Chono has pinned Tenzan, and Tenzan is the guy who's supposed to be facing Kawada in the main event of NJPW's big Osaka Dome Show next weekend. It's now probably a safe bet to say Kawada will go over in that match and lose the title to Satoshi Kojima in December.
Another interesting note from the show is that Mitsuya Nagai & Masayuki Naruse captured the All Asian Tag Team Titles from Genichiro Tenryu & Masanobu Fuchi. This almost guarantees Nagai will be Kawada's partner in the Real World Tag League, as he even won the match using Kawada's Stretch Plum on Fuchi.

NJPW "CHRONO STREAM ~ MASAHIRO CHONO 20TH ANNIVERSARY", 11/3/04 (WPW)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
10,000 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Young Lion Toukon Tournament - Round 1: Hiroshi Nagao beat Naofumi Yamamoto (8:47) with a chokeslam.
2. Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto & Toru Yano beat El Samurai, Masahito Kakihara & Ryusuke Taguchi (9:27) when Goto used a backdrop suplex on Taguchi.
3. Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue beat Minoru Tanaka & Katsushi Takemura (11:10) when Inoue used the Triangle Lancer on Takemura.
4. Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Nishimura beat Minoru Suzuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (16:33) when Nishimura used a ground Cobra Twist on Nakajima.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jado & Gedo beat Tiger Mask & Taiji Ishimori (17:55) when Jado pinned Ishimori after the Crossface of JADO (4th defense).


6. All Asia Tag Team Title: Mitsuya Nagai & Masayuki Naruse beat Genichiro Tenryu & Masanobu Fuchi (19:28) when Nagai used a Stretch Plum on Fuchi to become the 77th champions.
7. Manabu Nakanishi, Scott Norton & Don Frye beat Yutaka Yoshie, Blue Wolf & Shinsuke Nakamura (15:40) when Norton used a powerbomb on Yoshie.


8. Toshiaki Kawada beat Katsuyori Shibata (7:06) with an enzui kneedrop.


9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki beat Hiroshi Tanahashi (25:35) with a Northern Light bomb (1st defense).


10. Masahiro Chono 20th Anniversary Match: Masahiro Chono & Riki Choshu beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata (12:42) when Chono used a Shining Yakuza kick on Tenzan.

Credit: Strong Style Spirit for the results and SportsNavi for the pictures

Spoiling The Illusion

Last night's edition of WWE RAW on ASTRO was HEAVILLY CUT. Heck, the show ended at 11.20PM. That's a full twenty minutes left on the cutting room floor.
Overall, it's also kinda interesting that WWE does seem to be listening to the fans a bit now, and rubbing it our faces even more since they started adding actual facts to their angles.

The big shill
Is it just me, or did WWE promote alot of stuff on RAW last night EXCEPT the Survivor Series PPV? Lets see, Divas Magazine 2004, Check, Portable Media Player, Check, Simon System, Check, Survivor Series, bunch of matches just thrown together. Nice.

What Simon System?
It's bad enough ASTRO cut out ALL of Simon Dean's promo videos over the past few months, now the man makes his first LIVE appearance in the ring and they cut that out too?!? Just cause he choked out some fat guy from the audience??? If they finally show him next week and recap what happened last night, alot of puzzled Malaysian's are gonna be thinking, "When did THAT happen?"

Big Monster, Glass Jaw
Didn't they do something like this with Ken Shamrock before? Totally getting squashed throughout the match by Big Vis, and suddenly it takes ONE move to finish him??? At least with Shamrock it was more believeable since he used a submission, but Shelton Benjamin's Dragon Whip has nowhere near the same effect and it was obvious when Vis immediately rolled out of the ring after to let Christian in. Dumb. Couldn't they instead have Christian cheat to help Vis win , or at least DQ'd, and get some cheap heel heat with a post match beatdown?

Quickly tying HHH for constant title wins
La Resistance are the tag team champions AGAIN. AND WHO THE HELL CARES?!?!? SERIOUSLY! THERE ARE OTHER TAG TEAMS ON RAW! WHY CAN'T YOU IDIOT WWE BOOKERS GIVE IT TO ONE OF THEM?!?!? And they wonder why people say the WWE tag leagues are dying.

I would have stiffed him on purpose if I was there
So Triple H is asking everyone if it was a good idea for everyone to beat him up last week? This from the guy who instigates more gang attack beat downs then anyone else in recent memory? And in protest he decides to take the night off? Yeah, whatever. His claims that his name puts asses in the seats? Then why are house show attendances down when his name is advertised for the show? If he really did walk out on RAW, does he really think the fans OR the rest of the RAW roster would care? Here's a guy who makes his living by making others miserable, and he thinks if he's not around, people are actually gonna miss him???
If I were one of the guys on RAW last week that punked him out in the closing moments of RAW, I would have deliberately stiffed him and claimed it was an accident later.

WWE Firings and Hirings

WWE released three long time names have from the roster on Monday: Test, A-Train and Billy Gunn.
In my opinion, these are three guys that WWE gave big pushes too in the past, but yanked the carpet out from under them. The highligh of Test's WWE run was definately his Grenich Street Fight with Shane McMahon at Summer Slam several years back. Since then, he was basically left at the back for most part.
In what could have been a main event level feud with Triple H when HHH ruined his 'wedding' to Stephanie McMahon, was turned into nothing more than a one match loss to kill the feud so HHH could go on his powertrip. Heck, instead of Test getting the big PPV match with HHH, VINCE MCMAHON himself had the match. Dumb. To me that was when Test's career was over with. He had a good run with A-Train in the T&A tag team, but never got the tag titles to go with the monster push they received either. The final push he received was the "Testicles" gimmick with Stacy Kiebler, which resulted in a heel turn to kill the one gimmick seemed to be helping to get him over.
A-Train's pushed died in 2002 when his IC title run was scrapped when they started the Invasion angle. Not long after his big win against Kane for the title, he loses it to Lance Storm and that's it. The only highlights he had after that was as Brock Lesner's punching bag.
Billy Gunn is a LONG story. He never made it as a singles wrestler, cause like Test, his main event feud was yanked out from under him. When was that you asked? Back when he won the King Of The Ring. He had his first big PPV singles match with The Rock, but instead of giving him the big win, he was almost SQUASHED by Rocky. The big win there and the continuation of somekind of feud with the Great One would probably have resulted in a better position for the Ass-Man today. But at least his star shined brightest in the tag leagues where he's held the tag titles a record number of times with multiple partners.
Right now TNA are probably thinking, "Why didn't they release these guys earlier so we could get them onto Victory Road???"

Remember back to 1991 when the US was at war with Iraq over Kuwait and the then WWF decided to change Sgt. Slaughter into an Iraqi supporter together with two Iraqi cronies (General Adnan & Col. Mustapha aka Iron Sheik) just to get cheap heat going into WrestleMania VII?
Well, WWE now seemed to be going back to the well again, and I'm not talking about La Resistance, who the fans just don't give a damn about whether they are tag champs or not. Instead, they hired indy workers Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari, two American born Iraqis who have been using the gimmick recently on the indy scene. The epitome of cheap heat right here folks.
So much for WWE's policy again about not using real life events to effect their product.

All Japan 2004 Tag League

The teams taking part in this year's annual All Japan Real World Tag League have been announced and it looks pretty good! Only Toshiaki Kawada's partner hasn't been officially announced, but rumour is that it might be Mitsuya Nagai, and Great Muta could be played by Kazushi Miyamoto, who did a similar gimmick while wrestling in the US.

Block A
1. Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi (RWTL 2003 winners)
2. Keiji Muto & Osamu Nishimura
3. D-Lo Brown & Buchanan
4. Great Muta & Love Machine Steele
5. Tomoaki Honma & Kohei Suwama

Block B
1. Toshiaki Kawada & TBA
2. Taiyo Kea & Jamal
3. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
4. Super Love Machine & Love Machine Arashi
5. Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai

In other All Japan news, Satoshi Kojima has declared war on his ex-tag partner, Hiroyoshi Tenzan! Possible meeting place for this epic encounter could be at Wrestling World 2005, as I think NJPW needs a match like this to put asses in the seats at the Tokyo Dome. And if both men are champions by then (IWGP & Triple Crown), it would be a whole lot better!

Credit: Strong Style Spirit for the info

All Japan 10/31 results

All Japan Pro Wrestling ran it's Keiji Mutoh 20th Anniversary show last night at the Sumo Hall with a very good live attendance number. Eventhough the show was said to be mostly passable in terms of workrate, I'll still be looking to pick up a tape of this show when it becomes availble.

News out of the show is that Osamu Nishimura will continue his participation with AJPW and even plans to bring in his teacher Dory Funk Jr. to finish his ages old feud with Abdullah The Butcher.
Love Machine X was also rumoured to be Jim Steele.
The possibilities of a Kawada/Tenzan Triple Crown match now look good since Kawada is going into their match as the reigning champion.

Now we wait to see how NJPW's Masahiro Chono 20th Anniversary show goes, since they are trying to bank in with a bigger venue.

AJPW "KEIJI MUTO 20TH ANNIVERSARY ~ LOVE AND BUMP", 10/31/04 (PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
11,500 Fans - Super No Vacancy


1. Super Love Machine , Love Machine Arashi & Mini Love Machine beat Masanobu Fuchi, Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai (4:57) when Mini used a senton bomb on Hirai.

2. Kohei Suwama beat Akira Raijin (7:26) with a German suplex hold.

3. TAKA Michinoku , NOSAWA & MAZADA beat Tomoaki Honma, Taichi Ishikari & Hi69 (12:16) when NOSAWA used a Final Cut on Ishikari.


4. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kaz Hayashi (c) beat AKIRA (17:35) with the Final Cut (5th defense).


5. Osamu Nishimura & Jinsei Shinzaki beat Abdullah The Butcher & Ruckus (9:37) when Shinzaki used a Nenbetsu powerbomb on Ruckus.


6. Satoshi Kojima beat Love Machine X (13:37) with a lariat.


7. Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada (c) beat Taiyo Kea (26:44) with a powerbomb (8th defense).


8. Keiji Muto 20th Anniversary Special Match: Keiji Muto & Mitsuharu Misawa beat Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (23:50) when Muto used a moonsault press on Hase.

Credit: Strong Style Spirit for the results and Sports Navi for the pictures.