IWGP vs Triple Crown

[Guest Black Tiger]

On 2/20 in Sumo Hall, IWGP Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan defends against the Triple Crown Champion, either Kawada, or if he should win it four days before, Satoshi Kojima. The winne takes all four titles.

 

Although this is a big dream match, I can already predict that I won't be happy with any possible outcome for it.

 

Kawada or Kojima winning would screw Tenzan, yet again, out of a chance to be a true big name. His first title run was bad enough, his second is more forgiveable because it wasn't supposed to happen.

 

Tenzan over Kawada: NJPW can barely do a good job booking their own top title, let alone what they'd do with the Triple Crown. They had Scott Hall challenge for it in 2001.

 

Tenzan over Kojima: Kojima gets the biggest win of his career over Kawada, and four days later, he loses the titles. That's a booking equivalent to Kawada's first singles win over Misawa in 1997.

[Jingus 0]

Wow, this was a surprise. Quadruple Crown, eh?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

What's the deal? Are AJPW and NJPW merging or what? Or are they sharing a champion? I haven't followed puro for quite a while, so that's why I don't get it

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I'm suspecting we'll be looking at a time limit draw or some other non-finish that sees the titles staying put.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Whoever wins will be both IWGP and Triple Crown champion, but both championships will remain separate; there is no unification. This means that Tenzan/Kawada/Kojima will defend each championship individually, which means that if Tenzan/Kawada/Kojima loses one championship, he'll still have the other, which could, if they so choose, be used to set up a return match for the other championship.

 

As for what will happen, I'm guessing Kawada retains the Triple Crown against Kojima, drops it to Tenzan, who will eventually drop it back to Kojima in All Japanm to set up a successful IWGP Title defence against Kojima in New Japan. This way, each guy gets a big win on his home turf, and they can use the 1-1 deal to set up a rubber match somewhere down the line, presumably when business starts to sag. Well, sag even further.

 

While the IWGP Title has been badly booked over the last year or so, to be fair, a lot of that has been out of New Japan's hands, and down to a combination of bad luck and ego. I think if they keep Tenzan as champion going into this match, and he comes out as a Double Champion, then they'll almost certainly book him as a dominant IWGP champion, while Muto will almost assuredly do the same in All Japan, so that it means something when Tenzan drops the Triple Crown to Kojima. And say what you will about Muto's booking as a whole, the Triple Crown is still one of the best booked major titles in wrestling.

 

So, to summarise:

 

Triple Crown = Kawada to Tenzan to Kojima

[SinToxic 0]

Btw Misawa has spoken against this idea and Kawada has been acting as if Kojima never will be/was a threat to him. Kojima is no Yasuda, don't know why they won't let Kawada place some emphasis on the defense against him. If Kojima wins it will be a shock win anyway, but i find Kawada's comments a little useless. God knows how much hype they give Suwama, Kojima seems to be hanging in the tweener central.

[Guest Black Tiger]

There are also talks of Chono vs Mutoh to decide the first challenger.

 

Considering that this announcement just got dropped with little to no warning. I think its safe to say that NJPW are getting more and more desperate to fill large arenas.

 

IWGP vs Triple Crown is something they could probably have used to fill up the Osaka or Nagoya Dome, or even the holy grail of the Triple Crown, The Budokan.

 

I see Tenzan taking the whole thing, which I have no beef with as a Tenzan fan. His first defense definitely needs to be over Chono, to payback his Dome loss, as well as about the other 20 or so since he won the G1, seeing as his only win, came in a tag match.

 

The big problem with pushing Tenzan vs Kojima, is that they've already had several meetings, since Kojima left. Their reunion tag at 1/4/03 was less than a year after Kojima left. They've frequently came face to face in each other's promotions, and just had a match in December. Its being over played.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I think they'll save the Budokan match for when Tenzan drops the Triple Crown to Kojima or whoever. If things go well with this, then they can play it up as a big deal that All Japan has 'returned home to Budokan' by having an All Japan guy take the Triple Crown back from 'the enemy', New Japan.

 

I can't see any logical reason for Tenzan not to come out as a Double Champion, and with Fumiko Uei now gone from New Japan, I don't see anyone around who might try to push for Kojima or Kawada to win the IWGP Title.

 

As for Tenzan v Kojima being overplayed, it might be, but if they can string out a third match, where Tenzan drops the Triple Crown back to Kojima, long enough, then it'll be special enough that it will mean something.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I like HTQ's scenario with Tenzan/Kojima the best. Though I have to say that I'm worried about Tenzan not winning, they seem to always screw him over as champ.

 

Though I hate the idea of a Chono/Mutoh no.1 contender match. Their matches are completely played out and I would shudder at the thought of Mutoh getting any kind of title shot at this point.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I can't see New Japan screwing up with Tenzan this time around. I think, or would like to think, that they know that if Tenzan isn't pushed as a superstar from this point on, then his chances of ever being a money player for New Japan will be zero. Tenzan has been so badly booked as IWGP Champion before, though that hasn't always been by design, that if he isn't kept super strong this time around, he'll get seen has having no credibility in the top spot, and any time Tenzan gets pushed there in the future won't mean a great deal, because he'll have the stigma of his previous reigns to overcome, and I don't think he can do it if this reign flops. I see Tenzan coming out as Double Champion, holding both belts until the end of the year, and dropping the Triple Crown back to Kojima on All Japan's final big show of 2005. He'll then, hopefully, make a successful IWGP Title defence in January of 2006's Dome Show.

[Guest Black Tiger]

I only see one thing that can stand in the way of Tenzan finally getting his due chance at being on top.

 

Brock Lesnar

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I only see one thing that can stand in the way of Tenzan finally getting his due chance at being on top.

 

Brock Lesnar

If Lesnar does go to New Japan, and I don't think it will happen, I think they'll hold off Tenzan v Lesnar long enough for Tenzan to have a good run on top, so that at the same time Lesnar can be built up as a monster, and so when they meet, it'll seem really big.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I have only heard of Lesnar being offered a 5 match deal with New Japan. So I don't think he'd be any kind of a threat to Tenzan's reign.

[SinToxic 0]

What might be a threat to Tenzan's reign is Tenzan himself as Stuart reported today that the leg problem that Tenzan faced at the Korakuen Hall main event few days ago is legit. Tenzan has apparently lost much feeling in one of his legs. NJ is planning to keep him off as many dates as possible so he could compete on 2/20.

If the problem persists we could be looking at an official start (or the end) of Tenzan's IWGP title curse epoch.

And maybe somehow if he'll get the green light to face Kawada, the curse masters of big belts might negate each other's misfortunes once and for all.

 

Worst timing ever.

[Sass 0]

Kojima is the most marketable guy outside of Kobashi to do something like this with. Kawada is broken down and old and is probably counting down the years before one of his knees explodes. Tenzan has been one of the poorest booked "big time" champs since Kurt Angle's late '00 title reign.

 

The only chance for this to work is to give Kojima his big win over Kawada and to pick them up from Muto, Kea, and Tenryu as well. Then he can work over the NJ guys like Tenzan in their big double titles match and then move onto Nagata, Chono, Sasaski, Tanahashi, Nakamura and possibly Choshu.

 

He needs wins. Big wins. Lots of them. Then, the promoters can get greedy and stupid and try to con NOAH into joining their circus act. Kojima vs. Kobashi in the mother of all title unification matches could be bankable...if booked well.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The full card has been released:

 

2/20 full card! by Stuart - 10 Feb 2005

The full tour-ending Sumo Hall card was announced today, eight matches in all. Mitsuya Nagai will step in Harry Smith's place for the 4 vs. 4 match, the concept of which I'm still not sure about; I'd guess it is the same as the Miyagi main event (gauntlet-style singles elimination). Everything underneath the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title match was added today. Surprisingly, Iizuka, who was supposed to be in the 4 vs. 4, isn't on the card for some reason. There will be a big junior eight man tag match, with Tanaka back in the junior division to lead against old rival Kanemoto. Yoshie & Kakihara vs. Makabe & Naruse is a match of two pretty even teams. Two fun-looking young lion matches to start the show, one being Goto & Anzawa vs. Nakajima & Yujiro, which is almost a rematch of the "LION'S ROAD 3RD STAGE" main event from January, with Goto in Nagao's place. Young lion heavyweights, Yamamoto and Nagao, kick things off.

 

NJPW, 2/20/05 (WPW/PPV/NJ+IWTV Internet)

Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

 

1. Naofumi Yamamoto vs. Hiroshi Nagao

2. Hirooki Goto & Akiya Anzawa vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Yujiro

3. Yutaka Yoshie & Masahito Kakihara vs. Togi Makabe & Masayuki Naruse

4. Koji Kanemoto, Wataru Inoue, Katsushi Takemura & Taiji Ishimori vs. Minoru Tanaka, Jado, Gedo & James Gibson

5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask © vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

6. Osamu Nishimura vs. Riki Choshu

7. New Japan vs. Black New Japan 4 vs. 4 Series: Yuji Nagata , Kensuke Sasaki , Shinsuke Nakamura  & Hiroshi Tanahashi  vs. Masahiro Chono , Manabu Nakanishi , Minoru Suzuki  & Mitsuya Nagai

8. IWGP Heavyweight Title & Triple Crown: Hiroyoshi Tenzan © vs. Winner of Toshiaki Kawada/Satoshi Kojima  ©

 

Credit - SSS

[Jingus 0]

Why is Harry Smith off the show?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Why is Harry Smith off the show?

He injured his arm back on the 4th. Don't know what he did, but the arm is in a cast, which, added to the fact that he isn't even appearing at all, indicates it's probably serious.

[SinToxic 0]

Yes it does seem serious, since he also returned to Canada indicating that his return is indefinite. Really bad timing still, but I guess an arm injury is better then a back or a neck injury but then again Ultimo comes to mind.

[Guest TheLastBoyscout]

Kojima is the most marketable guy outside of Kobashi to do something like this with. Kawada is broken down and old and is probably counting down the years before one of his knees explodes. Tenzan has been one of the poorest booked "big time" champs since Kurt Angle's late '00 title reign.

 

The only chance for this to work is to give Kojima his big win over Kawada and to pick them up from Muto, Kea, and Tenryu as well. Then he can work over the NJ guys like Tenzan in their big double titles match and then move onto Nagata, Chono, Sasaski, Tanahashi, Nakamura and possibly Choshu.

 

He needs wins. Big wins. Lots of them. Then, the promoters can get greedy and stupid and try to con NOAH into joining their circus act. Kojima vs. Kobashi in the mother of all title unification matches could be bankable...if booked well.

This guy's got the answers.