Guest The Son of Sting Report post Posted December 15, 2003 1. Young Lions Match (Ryusuke Taguchi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Hirooki Goto, Akiya Anzawa) 2. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match: Jadoh & Gedoh vs. Heat & Tiger Mask IV 3. GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura vs. Jushin Liger 4. U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie 5. Josh Barnett & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata 6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki 7. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gen'ichiro Tenryu 8. Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 9. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp 10. IWGP & NWF Double Titles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama For more details on the card see http://puroresufan.com/ It looks like a solid card to me.I would have liked to have seen Tenryu vs Tanahashi with Tenryu putting Tanahashi over. Nagata vs Sasaki should be solid with good heat. Chono & Tenzan vs. Mutoh & Sapp - Should be fun. Nakamura vs Takayama - Nakamura will be going over i guess as long as he doesnt get destroyed on new years eve. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mecha Mummy 0 Report post Posted December 15, 2003 I don't think they'd put Takayama over Nakamura even if Nakamura got killed. Seems a bit counterproductive, doesn't it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 15, 2003 Anyone wish to make some early predictions on the matches? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Salacious Crumb Report post Posted December 15, 2003 1. Young Lions Match (Ryusuke Taguchi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Hirooki Goto, Akiya Anzawa) 2. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match: Jadoh & Gedoh vs. Heat & Tiger Mask IV 3. GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura vs. Jushin Liger 4. U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie 5. Josh Barnett & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata 6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki 7. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gen'ichiro Tenryu 8. Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 9. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp 10. IWGP & NWF Double Titles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dynamite Kido Report post Posted December 15, 2003 1. Young Lions Match 2. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match: Jadoh & Gedoh vs. Heat & Tiger Mask IV 3. GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura vs. Jushin Liger 4. U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie 5. Josh Barnett & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata 6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki <---take your pick 7. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gen'ichiro Tenryu 8. Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 9. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp 10. IWGP & NWF Double Titles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayam Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 15, 2003 1. Young Lions Match 2. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match: Jadoh & Gedoh vs. Heat & Tiger Mask IV 3. GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura vs. Jushin Liger 4. U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie 5. Josh Barnett & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata 6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki 7. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gen'ichiro Tenryu 8. Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 9. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp 10. IWGP & NWF Double Titles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted December 15, 2003 I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Takayama will be going over. Nakamura still has a fight on 12/31, but Takayama (who would have been destroyed by Cro Cop) got his fight pulled. Probably so the future IWGP/NWF Champion didn't get his ass handed to him five days before his big match. (Nagata got destroyed two years previous to this and lost his chance to be IWGP Champion). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Just Too Uber Report post Posted December 16, 2003 I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Takayama will be going over. Nakamura still has a fight on 12/31, but Takayama (who would have been destroyed by Cro Cop) got his fight pulled. Probably so the future IWGP/NWF Champion didn't get his ass handed to him five days before his big match. (Nagata got destroyed two years previous to this and lost his chance to be IWGP Champion). Ummm, Takayama got his fight pulled because CroCop pulled out... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Why did Cro Crop pull out of the match? Just wondering... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Just Too Uber Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Why did Cro Crop pull out of the match? Just wondering... According to his website so he could do a little rehab on a minor back injury. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Ummm, Takayama got his fight pulled because CroCop pulled out... I wasn't aware and thanks for the info, but it still doesn't change anything, Takayama will win on 1/4. Tenzan vs Takayama had supposedly run it's course and NJPW didn't trust it to draw in a good crowd (not that many of their crowds are good nowadays anyway). Why would they not have fed Takayama to Nakamura for the shock title change and wasted all the Tenzan build up to winning the IWGP if Takayama wasn't going to go over? True Takayama had already gone over Nakamura for the NWF Title, but on the exact same tour Takayama also went over Tenzan for the IWGP Title. As for my predictions for the rest of the show: 1. Young Lions Match (Ryusuke Taguchi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Hirooki Goto, Akiya Anzawa) 2. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match: Jadoh & Gedoh vs. Heat & Tiger Mask IV 3. GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura vs. Jushin Liger 4. U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie 5. Josh Barnett & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata 6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki 7. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gen'ichiro Tenryu 8. Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 9. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Salacious Crumb Report post Posted December 16, 2003 .......... I am so fucking sick of Takayama. I don't understand the point of having 2 one month reigns back to back. Are they going to turn into the WWF where the belts start changing hands constantly? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Okay, what is so damn special about Takayama? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Just Too Uber Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Ummm, Takayama got his fight pulled because CroCop pulled out... I wasn't aware and thanks for the info, but it still doesn't change anything, Takayama will win on 1/4. Tenzan vs Takayama had supposedly run it's course and NJPW didn't trust it to draw in a good crowd (not that many of their crowds are good nowadays anyway). Why would they not have fed Takayama to Nakamura for the shock title change and wasted all the Tenzan build up to winning the IWGP if Takayama wasn't going to go over? True Takayama had already gone over Nakamura for the NWF Title, but on the exact same tour Takayama also went over Tenzan for the IWGP Title. As for my predictions for the rest of the show: 1. Young Lions Match (Ryusuke Taguchi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Hirooki Goto, Akiya Anzawa) 2. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match: Jadoh & Gedoh vs. Heat & Tiger Mask IV 3. GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura vs. Jushin Liger 4. U-30 Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie 5. Josh Barnett & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata 6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Minoru Suzuki 7. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gen'ichiro Tenryu 8. Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 9. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp Well, while the rest of the card for a show that I thought was un-fuck-uppable wildly disinterests me (TenChono vs. MUTOH and SAPP!? Fuck off.), I'm going to trust New Japan to not fuck this, their best chance to actually interest fans with something new, up too. Ahh Christ, it's New Japan, we're all doomed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jingus 0 Report post Posted December 16, 2003 When did New Japan and All Japan start working together again, anyway? Chono vs. Muto again isn't as implausible a match as, say, another Misawa vs. Kawada these days, but it's still one I wasn't expecting to ever see again anytime soon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dynamite Kido Report post Posted December 16, 2003 I really hope that Takayama doesn't go over. I mean they shouldn't be switching the IWGP title that much. That is a belt that actually HAS some respectability to it still. Hopefully they keep it that way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted December 16, 2003 NJPW has a habbit of making a transitional champion to set up a title change at the Dome without hurting their big stars. Norton won it in 1998 after Chono vacates (I wanna say September), only to lose it to Mutoh on 1/4/99 Mutoh loses it in 12/99 to Tenryu and Tenryu turns around and loses it to Sasaki on 1/4/00 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Son of Sting Report post Posted December 16, 2003 When did New Japan and All Japan start working together again, anyway? This is the first time since the last time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Mutoh is now in charge of AJPW, both on and off camera. Mutoh and Chono are still on good terms. I'm sure Baba had some influence on Mutoh not working 1/4/03 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 16, 2003 Mutoh vs. Chono in a singles match on 1/4 would have been much more exciting, imho. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dynamite Kido Report post Posted December 17, 2003 Mutoh vs. Chono in a singles match on 1/4 would have been much more exciting, imho. I would have to agree as I DO NOT like Sapp at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted December 17, 2003 After 1/4/00, Mutoh vs Chono in singles matches have been horrible, I don't think that they'd be able do any better this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Son of Sting Report post Posted December 17, 2003 Mutoh vs. Chono in a singles match on 1/4 would have been much more exciting, imho. It would be pointless in the long term,it would be like WWE having Rock/Austin main event WM 20. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 17, 2003 Speaking of pointless, what purpose does that tag-team match serve then? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dynamite Kido Report post Posted December 17, 2003 ^ To capitalize on the fact that Sapp is hot right now, that way they can mix him in at the top of the card without him carrying the match(or opposed to fighting singles). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 17, 2003 Kinda takes away from Chono's return to the ring. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted December 17, 2003 It's NJPW vs Outsiders, Mutoh is AJPW, Sapp is K-1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dynamite Kido Report post Posted December 17, 2003 Plus I still think that they wanna bring in Chono gradually because of the severity of his injuries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ligerbomb03 Report post Posted December 17, 2003 Okay, you have both made good points and I agree with you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Steviec2k3 Report post Posted December 18, 2003 This has tha making for one of the best Tokyo Dome shows in a long time. I'm REALLY looking forward to Nagata vs. Sasaki. That has the makings to be a really intense match full of stiff kicks and even stiffer lariats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
