damn that Misawa

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Misawa beat Takayama in about 26 minutes with an elbow smash for the GHC Heavyweight Title.

 

ARGH.

 

So Ogawa lost the belt just so he wouldn't have to be beaten by Misawa, and that honour could fall to someone else?

 

ARGH.

 

So Takayama now looks pretty damn weak going into the interpromotional NWF Title tournament final?

 

ARGH.

 

This sucks.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

I guess Takayama must be jobbing to Nakanishi at the Dome show and Misawa didn't want the GHC Champ to be pinned.

 

Either way, it sucks.

[Guest Black Tiger]

I called this happening the very DAY that Takayama won the gold. The only bright spot I have left in NOAH now is that STERNESS won the GHC Tag titles.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

I'm not even sure if that's a good thing, I really like Wild II, suppose it had to happen sometime though.

[Guest The Son of Sting]

It would have made more sense for Misawa to beat Ogawa and then lose the belt to Takayama.

Takayama is proberly jobbing to Nakanishi as thats why he lost the belt, so he would need a big win after which should have been beating Misawa for the strap.

[Guest DragonflyKid]

I haven't gotten caught up on the puro classics to the point where I am able to order the new stuff including NOAH. I watched some of Takayama's stuff in AJ in '98 while he was in NO FEAR and liked his stuff to an extent, has he improved to the point where he deserved the World title and another shot with it down the line? Who in NOAH has the potential to be legit World HW champs and is anyone ready now? Does anyone here have any ideas on who will eventually challenge and defeat Misawa? Do any of NOAH's young american wrestlers have the potential to be great monster gaijin like Hansen,Williams and Vader to battle the likes of Takayama or whoever are the future top natives?

[Guest PlatypusFool]

NOAH is suffering from the not pushing young talent problem. Misawa has tried, in a half arsed sense, to push new guys that deserve to be pushed, but they're pushes always end up failing for one reason or another. Akiyama was the big experiment, but his push, although decently received, was underwhelming as his performances didn't live up to the expectations he had set for himself. Ogawa was another one pushed, but he didn't deserve it at all.

 

The thing with Takayama is, he's the only guy who has actually acheived a really succesful push over the last few months. He's playing a major role in the interpromotion between NOAH and NJPW, his shooter credentials (whether made up or real) are getting him seriously over, he's already beaten Fujita to put himself in the finals of the heavily hyped 'king of the gladiators' mini-tournament, and he's having good matches as well with people like Nagata, Nakanishi, and probably Misawa as well.

 

But no. Takayama has a real chance of being a huge presense in the future of not just NOAH, but all Japanese men's promotions, but instead Misawa goes back to putting himself over him and pushing Kobashi with his broken knees. It's bullshit.

[Guest Grenouille]

I'm almost willing to bet that the person who beats Misawa for the belt will be Kobashi. Akiyama is another possibility, but I'll stick with my guess Kobashi.

[Guest Black Tiger]

The only guys in NOAH who are even close to be able to draw enough fans to deserve a shot as champion are Vader and Kobashi. Maybe Misawa will drop the belt to a NJPW wrestler on 1/4.