Inoue wins GHC title shot!

Over the past few weeks, Pro Wrestling NOAH has been holding a 8-man single elimination tournament to crown a no.1 contender for the GHC heavyweight title, with the title match scheduled to take place at the famed Nippon Budokan Hall next week on the 23rd. When it was first announced, everyone pointed the finger at Akitoshi Saito winning the shot since he was the biggest name in the tournament, with Takuma Sano a close second. Whoever would have thought that Masao Inoue would pull an upset defeating Sano in the semis as well as his Dark Agents leader Saito in the finals last night?!?
I guess it just goes to show how unpredictable pro-wrestling can still be.

Full results from the tournament:

NOAH "Spring Navigation" 4/2/06 (NTV/G+)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,100 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Mohammed Yone & Daisuke Ikeda beat Tamon Honda & Yoshinori Ota (11:17) when Ikeda used the Dai-Chan Bomber on Ota.
2. Minoru Suzuki & SUWA beat Akira Taue & Atsushi Aoki (11:41) when SUWA used the FFF on Aoki.
3. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio beat Scorpio & Keith Walker (12:18) when Morishima used a lariat on Walker.
4. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Round One: Masao Inoue beat Shuhei Taniguchi (16:40) with an Argentine backbreaker.
5. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Round One: Takuma Sano beat Junji Izumida (16:54) with a Northern Light Bomb.
6. Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin beat Doug Williams, Nigel McGuinness & Eddie Edwards (17:26) when Marvin used a modified Death Valley Bomb on Edwards.
7. Jun Akiyama, Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Akitoshi Saito, Takashi Sugiura & Kishin Kawabata (17:57) when Shiga used a cradle on Kawabata.
8. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji beat Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (27:16) when KENTA used the Busaiku Knee Kick on Kikuchi.

NOAH "Spring Navigation" 4/5/06
Kanazawa Industrial Center
1,600 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Masao Inoue beat Akihiko Ito (8:56) with an Argentine backbreaker.
2. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness beat Mitsuo Momota & Yoshinori Ota (9:36) when Williams used the Chaos Theory on Ota.
3. Takeshi Morishima, Mohammed Yone & Ricky Marvin beat Daisuke Ikeda, SUWA & Eddie Edwards (10:44) when Yone used a Muscle Buster on Edwards.
4. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Round One: Akitoshi Saito beat Kishin Kawabata (13:23) with a running Sickle of Death.
5. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Round One: Kentaro Shiga beat Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (11:42) with a schoolboy.
6. Akira Taue, Takuma Sano & Takashi Sugiura beat Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Shuhei Taniguchi (10:18) when Sugiura used an Olympic Slam on Taniguchi.
7. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda beat Scorpio & Keith Walker (18:56) when Honda used the Dead End on Walker.
8. Takeshi Rikio, KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji beat Jun Akiyama, Junji Izumida & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (12:15) when Rikio used a lariat on Izumida.

NOAH "Spring Navigation" 4/7/06
Zepp Nagoya
1,200 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Kishin Kawabata & Masashi Aoyagi beat Mitsuo Momota & Yoshinori Ota (10:39) when Aoyagi used the Jumping Tornado on Ota.
2. Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Atsushi Aoki (9:47) with a brainbuster.
3. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness beat Tamon Honda & Akihiko Ito (12:14) when McGuinness used the Tower of London on Ito.
4. Daisuke Ikeda & SUWA beat Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi (9:27) when Ikeda used the Dai-Chan Bomber on Taniguchi.
5. Kenta Kobashi, Junji Izumida & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi beat Scorpio, Keith Walker & Eddie Edwards (16:26) when Izumida used the Mukado Domu on Edwards.
6. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Semi Final: Akitoshi Saito beat Kentaro Shiga (16:20) with a running Sickle of Death.
7. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Semi Final: Masao Inoue beat Takuma Sano (14:57) with a cradle.
8. Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Akira Taue beat Takeshi Morishima, Takeshi Rikio & Takashi Sugiura (10:33) when Ogawa used a backdrop hold on Sugiura.
9. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji beat Jun Akiyama & Ricky Marvin (11:52) when KENTA used the Go 2 Sleep on Marvin.

NOAH "Spring Navigation" 4/16/06 (NTV/G+)
Hakata Star Lane
2,600 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi beat Yoshinori Ota (8:24) with the Fireball Bomb.
2. Kishin Kawabata & Masashi Aoyagi beat Kentaro Shiga & Mitsuo Momota (12:33) when Kawabata used a schoolboy on Momota.
3. Junji Izumida & Shuhei Taniguchi beat SUWA & Akihiko Ito (14:04) when Izumida used the Meteorite on Ito.
4. Akira Taue, Takuma Sano & Takashi Sugiura beat Scorpio, Nigel McGuinness & Keith Walker (11:35) when Sano used a Northern Light Bomb on Walker.
5. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa beat Doug Williams & Eddie Edwards (12:05) when Ogawa used a cradle on Edwards.
6. Takeshi Morishima, Mohammed Yone & Takeshi Rikio beat KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji & Ricky Marvin (18:23) when Yone used a Muscle Buster on Marvin.
7. GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament - Final: Masao Inoue beat Akitoshi Saito (18:32) via ringout.
8. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda beat Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (23:38) when Honda used the Dead End on Kanemaru.

Full 4/23/06 Nippon Budokan card:

NOAH "Spring Navigation" 4/23/06 (NTV/G+ Live)
Tokyo Nippon Budokan
1. Mitsuo Momota & Akihiko Ito VSicky Marvin & Yoshinori Ota
2. Junji Izumida, Kentaro Shiga & Atsushi Aoki VS Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takashi Sugiura & Shuhei Taniguchi
3. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi VS Akitoshi Saito & Kishin Kawabata
4. Akira Taue & Takuma Sano VS Scorpio & Eddie Edwards
5. Takeshi Morishima, Mohammed Yone & Takeshi Rikio VS Doug Williams, Nigel McGuinness & Keith Walker
6. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa VS Minoru Suzuki & SUWA
7. Kenta Kobashi VS Naomichi Marufuji
8. GHC Junior Heavyweight Title: KENTA © VS Taiji Ishimori
9. GHC Heavyweight Title: Jun Akiyama © VS Masao Inoue