Won Aug.9.2004 part.3 Options

[Guest_JJW_*]

RESULTS
7/28 Nashville (TNA PPV - 1,200): Dallas b Silas Young, Sonny Siaki b
John McChesney, Konnan & Ron Killings & B.G. James b Nick Berk & Big
Bully Douglas & ?, Chris Harris & James Storm b Bobby Roode & Petey
Williams, Abyss & Alex Shelley b D-Ray 3000 & Shark Boy, Mike Posey b
David Young, NWA tag titles: Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas b Christopher
Daniels & Prime Time, Jeff Hardy b Monty Brown, Frankie Kazarian and
Michael Shane co-won Ultimate X to win X title from A.J. Styles

7/28 Shizuoka (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,400): Trevor Rhodes b Go Shiozaki,
Kishin Kawabata & Mitsuo Momota b Haruka Eigen & Makoto Hashi, Bison
Smith & Juventud Guerrera & Ricky Marvin b Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi
Marufuji & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Mohammed Yone & Daisuke Ikeda d Masao Inoue
& Akitoshi Saito 30:00, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro
Suzuki b Akira Taue & Takuma Sano & Masashi Aoyagi, Yoshihiro Takayama &
Takashi Sugiura b Rick Steiner & Richard Slinger, Kenta Kobashi & KENTA &
Tamon Honda b Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Jun Izumida

7/29 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Zero-One - 1,200): Taiga Akashi b Osamu
Namiguchi, Ryoji Sai & Jun Kasai b Wagyuta Kuroge & Josh Daniels,
Hirotaka Yokoi b Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Kohei Sato b Kintaro Kanemura, Spanky
& Super Crazy b Yoshito Sasaki & Masato Tanaka, Shinya Hashimoto &
Tatsuhito Takaiwa b Steve Corino & Psycho Simpson, Satoshi Kojima b
Wataru Sakata, Shinjiro Otani b Shiro Koshinaka

7/29 Orlando (TNA Impact TV taping -850/free): Dallas b Bruce Steele,
Chris Harris & James Storm b Hotstuff Hernandez & Chad Collyer, Jeff
Jarrett b Lex Lovett, Kid Kash b Mikey Batts, Raven b Rod Steel, Petey
Williams & Bobby Roode b Jerrelle Clark & Mark Laurnoff, Jeff Hardy b
Romeo, Frankie Kazarian & Michael Shane NC Christopher Daniels & Prime
Time

7/30 Albuquerque (WWE Raw - 3,300): Val Venis b Chuck Palumbo, Kane b
William Regal, Hurricane b Tyson Tomko, Steven Richards b Rodney Mack,
Victoria b Molly Holly, HHH b Eugene, Tag titles: La Resistance b Rhyno &
Tajiri, Edge retained IC title over Chris Jericho and Batista, World
title: Chris Benoit b Randy Orton

7/30 Ishikawa (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,400 sellout): Kyoko Inoue & Yoshiko
Tamura b Etsuko Mita & Yuki Miyazaki, KENTA b Go Shiozaki, Juventud
Guerrera & Ricky Marvin & Rick Steiner b Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone &
Kishin Kawabata, Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji b Yoshinari Ogawa &
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda & Makoto Hashi b Akitoshi
Saito & Masao Inoue & Masashi Aoyagi, Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki, Akira Taue & Takuma Sano & Takashi
Sugiura b Yoshihiro Takayama & Bison Smith & Richard Slinger

7/30 Osaka (Zero-One - 1,700 sellout): Yoshito Sasaki & Masanobu Kurisu b
Wagyuta Kuroge & Taiga Akashi, Josh Daniels & Psycho Simpson b Osamu
Namiguchi & Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Tetsuhiro Kuroda b Takao Omori, Shiro
Koshinaka NC Kintaro Kanemura, Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato b Jason the
Legend & Steve Corino, Wataru Sakata b Hirotaka Yokoi, Satoshi Kojima &
Spanky & Super Crazy b Shinjiro Otani & Jun Kasai & Ryoji Sai

7/30 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Neutron & Sombra de
Plata & Starman b La Flecha & Ramstein & Super Comando, Misterioso II &
Mistico & Alan Stone b Dr. X & Hooligan & Loco Max, Averno & Mephisto &
Olimpico b Black Warrior & Blue Panther & Volador Jr., Atlantis & El Hijo
del Santo & Negro Casas b Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero & Hector Garza,
Leyenda de Plata Trofeo: Perro Aguayo Jr. b Felino to win trophy

7/31 East Rutherford, NJ (WWE Smackdown - 5,609): John Heidenreich b
Shannon Moore, Spike Dudley won three-way to keep cruiserweight title
over Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, Tag titles: Billy Kidman & Paul
London b Dudleys, Kenzo Suzuki b Scotty 2 Hotty, Luther Reigns b Charlie
Haas, WWE title: Undertaker b John Bradshaw Layfield-DQ, U.S. title:
Booker T b Rob Van Dam, Nunzio b Rene Dupree, John Cena b Kurt Angle

7/31 Austin (WWE Raw - 2,800): Val Venis b Chuck Palumbo, Steven Richards
b Travis Tomko, William Regal b Rodney Mack, Victoria b Molly Holly,
Chris Jericho b Batista, IC title: Edge b Randy Orton, Tag titles: La
Resistance b Rhyno & Tajiri, World title: Chris Benoit b HHH

7/31 Tokyo Differ Ariake (Zero-One - 900): Yoshito Sasaki b Osamu
Namiguchi, Ryoji Sai & Wagyuta Kuroge & Ikuto Hidaka b Yumeji Fugofugo &
Taiga Akashi & Shinsuke Yamagasa, Spanky & Steve Corino b Josh Daniels &
Jason the Legend, Shinya Hashimoto & Jun Kasai & Psycho Simpson & Kintaro
Kanemura, Int. jr. title: Tatsuhito Takaiwa b Super Crazy, Wataru Sakata
b Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Takao Omori b Satoshi Kojima, Shinjiro Otani b Kohei
Sato

7/31 Takaishi (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,300): Mitsuo Momota b Haruka Eigen,
Juventud Guerrera & Trevor Rhodes & Izu b Masashi Aoyagi & Tsuyoshi
Kikuchi & KENTA, Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji b Tamon Honda & Go
Shiozaki, Takashi Sugiura & Masao Inoue & Akitoshi Saito b Daisuke Ikeda
& Mohammed Yone & Kishin Kawabata, Akira Taue & Takuma Sano b Kenta
Kobashi & Makoto Hashi, Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Rick Steiner &
Ricky Marvin, Yoshihiro Takayama & Bison Smith & Richard Slinger b
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki

8/1 Nagoya (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 3,000): Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Jun Izumida &
Kishin Kawabata b Kotaro Suzuki & Makoto Hashi & Masao Inoue, KENTA &
Naomichi Marufuji b Go Shiozaki & Mohammed Yone, Masashi Aoyagi & Takashi
Sugiura & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takeshi Rikio b Trevor Rhodes & Ricky
Marvin & Juventud Guerrera & Richard Slinger, Yoshinari Ogawa b Tamon
Honda, Yoshihiro Takayama b Takuma Sano, WLW title: Rick Steiner b
Daisuke Ikeda to win title, Kenta Kobashi b Bison Smith, Global hardcore
title: Jun Akiyama b Akitoshi Saito, Mitsuharu Misawa d Akira Taue 30:00

8/1 Corpus Christi (WWE Raw - 3,700 sellout): William Regal b Rodney
Mack, Steven Richards b Chuck Palumbo, Kane b Hurricane, Victoria b Molly
Holly, Val Venis b Tyson Tomko, Eugene b HHH, Tag titles: La Resistance b
Rhyno & Tajiri, Edge won three-way to keep IC title over Chris Jericho
and Batista, World title: Chris Benoit b Randy Orton

8/1 Bridgeport (WWE Smackdown - 2,300): Spike Dudley won three-way to
keep cruiserweight title over Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero, Luther
Reigns b Charlie Haas, Tag titles: Billy Kidman & Paul London b Dudleys,
Kenzo Suzuki b Scotty 2 Hotty, John Heidenreich b Shannon Moore, WWE
title: Undertaker b John Bradshaw Layfield-DQ, U.S. title: Booker T b Rob
Van Dam, Johnny Stamboli b Rene Dupree, John Cena b Kurt Angle

8/1 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Zero-One Fire Festival PPV- 2,005 sellout):
Wagyuta Kuroge b Yumeji Fugofugo, Yoshito Sasaki b Shinsuke Yamagasa,
Satoshi Kojima b Hirotaka Yokoi, Takao Omori b Wataru Sakata, Kintaro
Kanemura b Shinjiro Otani, Ryoji Sai & Osamu Namiguchi b Taiga Akashi &
Jun Kasai, Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto b Steve Corino & Jason the
Legend, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Ikuto Hidaka & Tomohiro Ishii b Spanky &
Super Crazy & Josh Daniels, Fire Festival championship: Kohei Sato b
Omori to win tournament

8/2 San Antonio (WWE Raw/Heat TV tapings): Chuck Palumbo b Hurricane,
Jazz b Victoria, Val Venis b ?, Non-title: Rhyno & Tajiri b La
Resistance, Tyson Tomko b Rosey, William Regal b HHH-DQ, Kane b Maven,
Ric Flair & Batista & Randy Orton b Chris Jericho & Edge & Chris Benoit
************************************************************

MEXICO: Perro Aguayo Jr. pinned Felino in 7:21 on 7/30 at Arena Mexico
after a spear to win the Leyenda de Plata Trofeo (Santo trophy) when
Hector Garza gave Felino a low blow when Aguayo Jr. had distracted the
ref. The big angle took place after the match. El Hijo del Santo came out
to present Aguayo Jr. with the trophy. Aguayo Jr. then started
badmouthing the original El Santo, saying he was not a great wrestler,
but was only a big deal in the movies in fake fights with vampires and
mummies, but that his father, Perro Aguayo Sr., who was in the front row,
was really the greatest wrestler in the history of Lucha Libre. Aguayo
Jr. then broke the trophy. Santo attacked Aguayo Jr., until Garza jumped
back in. Negro Casas made the save. The 8/6 Arena Mexico show has Santo &
Casas & Atlantis vs. Garza & Aguayo Jr. & Tarzan Boy. . .Speaking of
Santo, there was a statue made of the original Santo in Tulancingo (where
El Santo was born) that was the butt of jokes because it was such a bad
statue. After all the bad publicity, the city constructed a new statue
that was unveiled on 7/31, which is the exact opposite. The new one is 7
feet tall and weighing about 3,000 pounds showing a Herculean looking guy
under a silver mask. . . It looks like Cien Caras (Carmelo Reyes) is
really going to retire at the end of the year. He's slowed down his
wrestling a lot. He had first talked about retiring in September at the
CMLL anniversary show, but of late the word is he'll do so in December.
Reyes turns 55 in on 10/18, and has been wrestling for almost 31 years. .

. Fishman (Jose Najera), 53, is completely bankrupt. It is so bad he gave
out his home phone number in Ciudad Juarez saying he'd sell all of his
trophies, belts, masks and other memorabilia to anyone who wanted them
for a good price. Fishman was a huge star in the 80s for the UWA, best
known for his feud with Perro Aguayo Sr. His mask would have brought
$20,000 at one point, but when he lost it in 2000, the promotion (GWAS)
went bankrupt and he never got a dime. He wrestled regularly for nearly
30 years. Some of his problems date back to his divorce in the mid-90s
from Lola Gonzalez, who got almost everything in the split. . . Dozens of
wrestlers each week in Box y Lucha print their home and cell phone
numbers for independent promoters to contact them for work. . . .CMLL is
doing well in Mexico City. The Tuesday and Sunday shows at Arena Coliseo
are averaging better than 3,000 fans. The 7/23 Arena Mexico show
headlined by Atlantis vs. Perro Aguayo Jr. for the Santo Cup drew 13,000.

. . U.S. women wrestlers Christi Ricci and Simply Luscious (Ronnie
Stevens aka Nurse Veronica) are working for the Monterrey promotion, and
this past weekend were doing mixed tags with Ricci & Dandy vs. Luscious &
Black Gordman Jr. . . Pato Zambranno, a contestant on the Mexican version
of "Big Brother," did a celebrity pro wrestling stint on the 8/1 Arena
Coliseo in Monterrey show doing a hair vs. hair match against local star
Konan Plus. . . There is more talk that Latin Lover, who is AAA's biggest
draw, is looking to get out as he's realized that Hector Garza has upped
his income working independently. Lover, real name Victor Resindez, has
stuck around (he was talking about leaving in June when Garza did)
because Antonio Pena has gotten him several soap opera gigs. He also has
a side stripper business. Another issue is Pena is now pushing Randy, who
plays a similar role Latin Lover played, the pretty boy stripper/dancer
deal, ahead of Latin Lover. Randy is younger, worker cheaper and is
easier to manipulate. . . Gronda has been back in action for AAA. . . At
the AAA TV tapings on 8/1 in Guadalupe, Carly Manson regained the UWA
light heavyweight title beating Zorro. Zorro then came back in the next
match to win the PAP light heavyweight title beating Mr. Aguila due to
interference by minis Octagoncito and Mascarita Sagrada. Earlier in the
show Aguila helped Mini Mr. Aguila and Mini Abismo Negro win a tag from
Octagoncito & Mascarita Sagrada. They also had a four-way to crown the
mixed tag team champions with Gran Apache and daughter Fabi Apache
beating Chessman & Tiffany, Electroshock (Gran's son-in-law)_& Lady
Apache (daughter) and Oriental & Cinthia Moreno. . . Canek's two sons,
who will wrestle as Canek Jr. and El Hijo del Canek, were introduced this
past week in the Japanese wrestling magazines.
**************************************************************

PUERTO RICO: WWC with the Colon family soap opera, is taking a wider
ratings lead, even as the company can't draw, with 7/24-25 weekend seeing
WWC at 11.2 and 11.4 and IWA at 9.1 and 7.6. . . IWA this past weekend
ran what was called the Ring of Honor Invasion, with Homicide, B.J.
Whitmer and Dan Maff in, although all only worked mid-card matches. On
7/30 on Coamo before 500, Homicide & Bad Boy Bradley (Jeff Bradley from
Florida) lost to Ricky Banderas & New Jack and Chicano & Slash Venom
(Flash Flanagan) drew Dan Maff & B.J. Whitmer. On 7/31 in Yauco before
1,000, Chicano & Venom beat Homicide & Whitmer and Banderas pinned
Homicide (said to have been a great match). Main event on the show was
Apolo & Savio Vega over Bradley & Ray Gonzalez. Vega vs. Gonzalez
headlines the 8/7 show in Bayamon. . . Promoter Victor Jovica's father,
Dragi Jovika, passed away on 8/3, in his native Croatia, at the age of
78. The death was due to complications after an accidental fall at his
home. . . WWC also drew 1,000 for the big weekend show on 7/31 in
Carolina, which is a great crowd for them. The big angle was a Huracan
Castillo face turn. It was a deal where fans could hear screaming and
fighting from the heel dressing room. Then all the heels came out in
front of the public beating on Castillo with a night stick. Castillo's
wife and son both tried to help him but were held back to give it a ring
of authenticity. Bronco (top heel) said he'd been humiliated a few times
by Castillo, and Castillo vs. Bronco will be on the anniversary show.
****************************************************************

HUSTLE/ZERO-ONE: Hustle's future now seems to depend on its 1/3 show at
the Saitama Super Arena, which will be called "HustleMania I." It is
being held in the killer first week of the year (which is a traditional
huge week for the wrestling industry, because in Japan, it is traditional
to give money as presents for New Year's, so people usually are willing
to spend that week. If it doesn't show sign of life, the promotion is
probably in trouble. . . Vin Diesel was in Japan last week doing the
"Hustle" pose with Naoya Ogawa.

****************************************************************

ZERO-ONE: Shinya Hashimoto will be undergoing right shoulder surgery in
early September, with his final match on 8/30. Hashimoto injured the
shoulder one year ago, and re-injured it in February. He was told if he
continued working on it, and the pain worsened, that he'd be forced to
retire. He's done so much damage to his shoulder by continually working
on it that there is only a 50% chance that surgery can repair his
shoulder, and even with surgery, he could be out as long as 12 to 18
months. He kept pushing on because of the feeling that Zero-One wouldn't
be able to draw without him. Well, now they are going to have to survive
months without him, and Masato Tanaka also has a shoulder injury, while
Naoya Ogawa has been out of action because of training for Pride.

Hashimoto said with Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Kohei Sato (who
was put over in the Fire Festival this past week because they needed to
create another star) doing so well of late, the company can survive with
himself on the sidelines for a few months. . . The Fire Festival, which
included three shows in Tokyo, ended drawing a sellout of 2,005 to
Korakuen Hall with a surprise winner in Sato. Sato had an awesome match
last year with Satoshi Kojima, and this year pinned Takao Omori in a
major upset in 22:04 with a German suplex. Otani looked to go to the
finals, but was upset in his round-robin match with Kintaro Kanemura.

Omori and Kojima were both tied with five points, after wins over
Hirotaka Yokoi and Wataru Sakata respectively, but Omori advanced since
he pinned Kojima in their match. The show was a PPV, which included Riki
Choshu & Hashimoto beating Jason the Legend & Steve Corino. . . In the
Fire Festival, on the 7/29 Korakuen Hall show, Yokoi beat Kuroda with the
Nogueira spinning choke, Sato beat Kanemura with a german suplex, Kojima
pinned Sakata with a lariat and Otani pinned Koshinaka with a german
suplex. . . The 7/31 Differ Ariake show, which only drew 900, saw Otani
beat Sato via submission with a triangle, Omori pinned Kojima with the
axe driver (that's a sick finisher where you put the guy on your back and
sit down, giving him a piledriver) and Sakata pinned Kuroda. The
highlight of the show was said to have been an awesome jr. title match
where Takaiwa pinned Super Crazy in 14:28 with a death valley bomb off
the top rope. Crazy was said to have been fantastic in this match, and
after losing, fans gave him a major standing O.
****************************************************************

ALL JAPAN: The next tour is 8/22 to 9/3, featuring Taiyo Kea, Bull
Buchanan, D-Lo Brown, Jamal, Mysterio Red (Amazing Red), Katsushi
Takemura from New Japan, Koichiro Kimura and Masada as outsiders. The
final show is at Yokohama Bunka Gym, with Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro
Koshinaka appearing, and a main event of Toshiaki Kawada vs. New Japan's
Osamu Nishimura for the Triple Crown. Nishimura will be working six dates
on the tour to build the match up, including 8/22 with Nishimura & Keiji
Muto & Arashi vs. Kawada & Masa Fuchi & Nobutaka Araya, 8/23 at Korakuen
Hall vs. Fuchi and 8/28 in Sapporo teaming with Muto against Kawada &
Araya. . . The other major match on the tour is Kawada vs. Satoshi Kojima
in a non-title match on 8/23. It's time to pull the trigger on Kojima
winning, because he needs the credibility now of being a top guy. . .

They have moved the 10/24 Sumo Hall show to 10/31. They are planning on
using big names from NOAH for interpromotional matches and NOAH has a big
show on 10/24 in Osaka. . . Although this is technically unaffiliated
with All Japan, Motoko Baba will be promoting a show on February 5, 2004,
at Budokan Hall, which would be the fifth anniversary week of the death
of Giant Baba. Hayabusa will be helping promote the show, and she
announced Jinsei Shinzaki, Genichiro Tenryu, Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke
Sasaki as appearing. There is also talk that Seiji Sakaguchi, who would
be just shy of his 63rd birthday, would wrestle on the show.
*****************************************************************

PRO WRESTLING NOAH: Biggest show of the week was 8/1 in Nagoya, which was
a disappointment with only 3,000 fans (announced 4,800), for a card where
they announced all the top names would have blind lottery matches, so it
was possible of a dream match like Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi. I
guess people didn't think so, and were right. They had pulled Jun Akiyama
out of the lottery and announced he would defend his hardcore title
against usual tag partner Akitoshi Saito (who is from Nagoya)in a match
that usually wouldn't be booked. Akiyama won via pin after two high knees
in 7:05. Rick Steiner also won Harley Race's WLW title, as expected, from
Daisuke Ikeda with a death valley bomb in 11:12. In the other unannounced
singles matches, Yoshinari Ogawa pinned Tamon Honda with a cradle in
4:15; Yoshihiro Takayama pinned tag partner Takuma Sano in 10:45 after a
German suplex; Kenta Kobashi pinned Bison Smith in 17:04 after a
brainbuster; and Mitsuharu Misawa went to a 30:00 draw with Akira Taue.

Taue had his best match in a long time, it was said, doing a lot of new
moves such a dragon screws and the figure four. He needed it, since they
are building him up for a shot at Kobashi's GHC title on 9/10 in Budokan
Hall. The premise behind trying to sell Taue as a challenger at this
point is that he and Kobashi have wrestles 18 times in singles matches,
and Kobashi has only four wins (six were draws, eight are Taue wins since
when both started, Taue was the bigger star since he had a name in sumo
while Kobashi was just a young guy with no name coming in). There is
still talk of Misawa & Ogawa vs. Takayama & Minoru Suzuki in a GHC vs.
IWGP tag title match, although there are major political ramifications in
putting that one together. There is also talk of Suzuki vs. Naomichi
Marufuji in a singles match, which would eliminate the Marufuji & KENTA
match that often steals the show at Budokan. . . Akiyama's next title
defense is 8/15 in Minkami Village against another regular tag partner,
Makoto Hashi. . . The 7/30 show in Ishikawa, which drew a sellout 2,400,
had the first women's match in the history of the promotion, as they
contracted with the Neo Ladies group and had Kyoko Inoue & Yoshiko Tamura
over Yuki Miyazaki & Etsuko Mita. All of the wrestlers watched the match
from the dressing room. Inoue, who is a huge NOAH fan, and has been to
just about every Budokan Hall show, made an appearance on a NOAH show
last June as the second of Jun Akiyama.
*******************************************************************

NEW JAPAN: Both the 8/14 and 8/15 Sumo Hall shows with the G-1 Climax
tournament are virtually sold out. It really speaks to the tradition of
G-1 that when the company itself is cold, and going on the same day as
the Pride tournament, that they could sellout two dates weeks in advance.

. . President Masakazu Kusama's father, Akira Kusama, passed away of 7/30
of a heart attack at the age of 77. Kusama contributed $10,000 to the
Japanese Amateur Wrestling Association, and has promised an additional
contribution of $50,000 if Katsuhiko Nagata wins a gold medal, $20,000 if
he wins a silver and $10,000 if he takes a bronze. Kusama also announced
the winner of the G-1 Climax tournament will get a Japanese sports car,
and the fans and New Japan officials would choose an A block and B block
MVP, each of which would get a trip with their families to Hawaii. Kusama
attempted to get Muhammad Ali to show up for the 8/15 show, but it's not
happening. Another gimmick is putting a bounty on Yoshihiro Takayama in
an old school angle saying he'd give a bonus to any New Japan wrestler
who can beat him in a G-1 match. . . Kusama is also claiming he wants to
expand New Japan to other countries, earmarking Brazil, China, North
Korea, Iraq and Italy as countries he wants to get TV on in and build to
a big show. . . Shinya Makabe vs. Mitsuya Nagai takes place on 8/7 in
Sagamihara, with the winner getting injured Kazunari Murakami's spot in
the G-1 Climax tournament, which starts that day. The winner would then
face Kensuke Sasaki on that show. . . They have Korakuen Hall booked on
8/17 for an all junior heavyweight show featuring Heat vs. Jushin Liger
in a non-title match, Kaz Hayashi & American Dragon vs. Dick Togo &
Katsushi Takemura, Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima &
El Samurai, Ultimo Dragon & Taichi Ishimori vs. Gedo & Jado, Ebessan vs.
X, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Chad Malenko (Collyer) & Kazuya Yuasu
(Michinoku Pro), Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero & Iceman vs. Masahito
Kakihara & Masayuki Naruse & Takaku Fuke and Akiya Anzawa vs. Hirooki
Goto. . .7/10 TV show was more replay stuff. It was more Nakamura,
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Katsuyori Shibata talking about the G-1 tournament
coming up. They showed the finals from the first ever tournament in 1991,
where Masahiro Chono pinned Keiji Muto, when both were a lot lighter and
in a lot better shape. It was a 29:00+ match that Chono won with a power
bomb. The match was considered classic at the time. It was edited down so
you didn't get the full effect, although you could see both were really
good. The most impressive thing was the post-match pillow throwing from
the fans in appreciation of how great the match was. That first
tournament was so good it created a tradition that has lasted until this
year of the best matches of the year in the promotion coming every August
at Sumo Hall. Still, it's another week when the company has 30 minutes of
TV and the only wrestling they show is more than a decade old, with an
incredible atmosphere which only reinforces how good the promotion once
was and no longer is.
******************************************************************

OTHER JAPAN NOTES: After the 9/2 Osaka show that was going to be a joint
promotion of Keiji Muto, Shinya Hashimoto and Masahiro Chono officially
fell apart, Muto said that he promised in 2014, when all three would
theoretically be freed of political ties, they would do such a show. Ten
years from now, who knows anything? . . There was an article on the
upcoming Rikidozan movie, where Song Hae-sung, the director of the Korean
movie that will also be released in Japan, called "Yok Do-San" (his name
in Korea), said "The film will focus more on his agony as a Korean living
in Japan than on his life as a hero. The director is using the movie to
attempt to enhance both Japanese and Korean awareness of the prejudice
against Koreans in Japanese culture. The movie would note that 41 years
after the death of Rikidozan, many celebrities of Korean ancestry in
Japan conceal their background, like Rikidozan did, because of the belief
their stardom would quickly fall, and change their names to Japanese
names, to mislead the public. There are still major corporations in Japan
that won't hire those of Korean ancestry, and there is a stereotype of
them as being involved in crime. . . All Japan Women's annual Grand Prix
tournament used to be a two-month major round-robin deal. This year it
was cut back to a one-night single elimination tournament on 8/1 at
Korakuen Hall, before 900 fans. Kumiko Maekawa won the tournament for the
first time with wins over Amazing Kong, Tomoko Watanabe, Takako Inoue and
Hikaru. The win gives her a shot at WWWA champ Ayako Hamada on 8/29 at
Korakuen Hall. . . 53-year-old Gran Hamada captured the first heavyweight
title of his Japanese career (at one point, when titles still meant
something ten years back, he'd held more lighter weight titles than just
about any wrestler in history) on 8/1 in Osaka when he beat Mens Teoih
for the Big Japan heavyweight title before a packed crowd of 1,300 at an
outdoor show in Osaka. Hamada briefly held the Americas' heavyweight
title in Los Angeles in 1981. . . Hidetaka Irie, an indie pro wrestler
who has also done MMA, was arrested by the Tokyo police on 7/31 on an
assault charge stemming from an alleged 7/23 incident against two women.
The 35-year-old Irie, who wrestled for the old Kingdom promotion in
prelims, was at a restaurant/bar that he owns and made advances on a
21-year-old waitress working there. She turned him down so allegedly, at
about 4 a.m., he hit her in the face. Her boyfriend was there, and she
ran to him for help, and Irie hit him as well. Irie had a 20-0 record in
amateur and pro MMA matches before turning to pro wrestling in 1998 with
the Kingdom promotion. When the promotion shut down, he restarted it as
the owner but on a very minor level. In 1995, he won the Japanese amateur
shoot championship and in 1997, he won the Japanese MMA championship. I
wonder what it is about pro wrestlers being shooters and beating up women
this week? . . Shinobu Kandori and Dump Matsumoto oppose each other for
the first time ever in a tag match on 8/8 at Korakuen Hall.
******************************************************************

HERE AND THERE: Bob Sapp was added to the cast of "Longest Yard." I saw a
photo of Sapp and Goldberg together in uniform posed with Nash and
Austin, so Austin is still in the movie even with his hamstring injury.
When the word about all four hit Japan, already it's a big deal among
Japanese wrestling fans. Sapp will be filming another movie in late
August in Vancouver called "Kumite", starring Jean Claude Van Damme. . .
In something of a surprise, Chris Kanyon is talking about retiring from
wrestling with his last match against DDP on 8/28 in Wayne, NJ. Kanyon,
34, ever since he was cut by WWE earlier this year, had talked about
getting a non-wrestling job as he felt he was at a time in his life that
he didn't want to trust his future to such an unstable business. He had
talked about perhaps doing a little wrestling and not getting out of it
completely, but not wanting to make it his primary income. . . The
nostalgia PPV's on inDemand, a project of Todd Okerlund (Gene's son), are
doing 10,000 to 15,000 buys per show, which is actually well ahead of
TNA, which is scary. The Decade of the 70s special and the GLOW shows
have done the best of late. They will be doing Classic 70s and 80s
Championship Wrestling from Florida shows in October, November and
December. . .

The Newton, IA, based Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, which
honors pro wrestlers who were great real wrestlers, inducted Pat
O'Connor, Leroy McGuirk, Brad Rheingans and Gene Kiniski this past
weekend. O'Connor was an amateur champion in his native New Zealand, once
competing in the British Empire games, before becoming a pro star, and
being one of the major stars of the 50s and 60s. He was NWA champion from
1959-61, and his feud with Buddy Rogers was the biggest in wrestling of
its time. O'Connor passed away in 1990, and his daughter, Carli accepted
the award for him. McGuirk, also deceased, wrestled at Oklahoma A&M. He
was NCAA champion in 1931at 155s, and then placed second at 174 in 1932.
He was one of the greatest lighter weight wrestlers in pro wrestling
history, and Oklahoma's early pro wrestling legend. He first won the
World light heavyweight title in 1934, when the title was mainly defended
in the Midwest and Southern California. He defeated John Swenski in 1939
for the World jr. heavyweight title in California, and retained it until
retirement in 1950 when he was blinded either in an auto accident or when
shards of his glasses went into his eye in a bar fight. He began
promoting in what later became the Mid South territory in the 50s, until
1982, when he closed up shop after losing a promotional war to former
business partner Bill Watts. McGuirk started the careers of Danny Hodge
and Jack Brisco, and gave Watts, Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen their
first tastes of stardom. Rheingans, 50, a member of the U.S. Olympic team
in 1976 and 1980 (where he was a medal possibility, but the U.S.
boycotted), went into pro wrestling in the AWA after the Olympics. He got
a nice push early as Verne Gagne always liked to push guys who were real,
but lacked charisma and never became the star expected of him. He ended
up affiliated with New Japan, where he helped train guys (most notable
among them being Vader, Rick Steiner, Brock Lesnar and Don Frye) and
wrestled until the mid-90s in Japan. Since the, he's had both knees
replaced, one hip replaced and one shoulder replaced. Kiniski was
actually more of a football player, who played at Arizona State, and got
a better offer in Canada than the U.S. and was a star in Canadian
football before going into pro wrestling. He was an Alberta provincial
amateur wrestling champion and did some AAU wrestling in the U.S. He was
a huge star as a big (6-4, 275 pounds), coordinated and athletic guy,
known as "Giant Gene Kiniski" and held the NWA title from 1966-69, as
well as the AWA title for a month in 1961. From a mark magazine
standpoint, it was his feud with Bruno Sammartino in 1964-65, with
Sammartino winning all the blow-off matches, that in a sense made
Sammartino the No. 1 wrestler in the world once Kiniski won the NWA title
a year later (I know that sounds stupid today, but it was a factor back
then in some thinking Kiniski shouldn't have gotten the title, and the
fact he did points to the power Sam Muchnick, a big Kiniski supporter,
had in those days, as well as the feeling he was the best man at the time
for the job). George Scott was awarded the Frank A. Gotch Award for his
contributions in helping form the Eblen Foundation, helping families with
disabilities. Scott wrestled with brother Sandy as the Flying Scott
Brothers, and was even better known as a booker, particularly for Jim
Crockett Jr. in the 70s. . .

Even if ROH gets the okay from TNA to useChristopher Daniels and A.J. Styles, they wouldn't be able to for a while
because both are already booked solidly every weekend. Teddy Hart has
been claiming he had an interpromotional angle worked out with Gabe
Sapolsky for H2Wrestling, but from all accounts, that's more fantasy.
Hart has been constantly trying to get back into ROH, but the feeling is,
once he started no-showing dates through working his own angles, who
needs the headaches. Sapolsky was never hot on bringing him back to ROH
after the first incident, and it's really Rob Feinstein who was high on
using him because of Hart's knack for pub, although most people seem
bored by it at this point. At this point, there is no deal for TNA to
allow its contracted wrestlers to appear for ROH, but they also haven't
done anything to stop Alex Shelley from coming. ROH isn't even interested
in many guys from TNA because of the feeling they could always be pulled
and they have enough guys that could fill the role of, say, Chris Sabin.
They are interested in Daniels and Styles but there is no deal as of yet
for them to come back. Scorpio from NOAH will be doing a one-time
appearance on 8/7 in Philadelphia in a four-way with Ace Steel, Jay
Lethal (formerly Hydro) and Alex Shelley. Scorpio, who lives in Germany,
is in the U.S. this week on vacation, and was in Philadelphia doing a
videotape interview for ROH's new company and they coincided it with a
show. . . UPW drew a 800 fans and about 550 paid to the Grove in Anaheim
for a show that included major names like Rikishi, Joanie Laurer, DDP,
Konnan, the Original Psicosis, Sean O'Haire and Japanese stars like Skulu
(King Adamo), Predator and Tom Howard, in a major league building. Laurer
was there with her strange entourage, which included weather-beaten porn
star Tabitha Stevens, and was openly talking about trying to push the sex
tape with Sean Waltman backstage. She sang one song, and at first some of
the fans were starting to turn on her, but promoter Rick Bassman managed
to send some pretty girls out dancing that quelled it. But after one
song, when she started to do a second song, you could see and she could
see they were about to turn on her so she stopped. Rikishi, which his
trademark spots and recent WWE exposure, got the best reaction of anyone,
followed by Konnan and DDP. . .

The Joanie Laurer/Sean Waltman sex tape
is out there and they have someone marketing it and looking for
distribution. She's wearing different outfits including a black vinyl
outfit with a cape and leather outfit while twirling swords out of Xena.

. . Howard Brody and Mid Atlantic Wrestling have a tour of China from
8/15 to 9/10, including the first show in Beijing, featuring Barry
Windham, Dustin Rhodes, The Barbarian, Glacier, Chris Hamrick and other
wrestlers from Mid Atlantic. . . The Midnight Express of Dennis Condrey &
Bobby Eaton, who turns 46 this week, are getting back together to work
indies in the Southeast. The duo, who were as good a tag team as there
has been in the ring in the past 20 years in North America, tagged from
1984-87. Condrey, 52, has been working some legends shows in Alabama now
that he's moved to Pensacola, and he and Jim Cornette have totally buried
the hatchet. Cornette is looking at managing them on a few shows,
including most likely a 10/23 match in Indianapolis against Ricky Morton
& Robert Gibson, their most famous rivals, in a show at the Indiana State
Fairgrounds Expo Hall. Cornette wants to make the reunion as a unit a
special deal that will only happen a few times. Stan Lane, 51, will join
them as a four-man unit for some fan conventions, but Lane has retired as
a wrestler. . .

Dexter Barr, the grandson of Sandy Barr and son of the
late Art Barr, died at the age of 14 last month in a horseback riding
accident in Oregon. Barr was just five when his father passed away in his
sleep with his son next to him, of a bad combination of alcohol and pills
at a time when he was a huge star in Mexico, and tag team partner with
Eddy Guerrero. . . ESPN listed the greatest 25 coaches of the past 25
years, in all sports, and listed long-time former Iowa wrestling coach
Dan Gable at No. 16. . .