Won Aug.9.2004 part.3

[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. . .