Akiya Anzawa to retire

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Weekly Gong confirms that young lion, Akiya Anzawa, is retiring from pro wrestling to begin a new direction in his life. Anzawa seems to have burned out as wrestlers do occasionally and is set to become a cook, something he is very skilled at. Hirooki Goto said in his blog that he read the article in Gong and is very upset, but understands Anzawa's choice, as the life of a young lion is never easy. Goto and Anzawa shared a room at the New Japan dojo and have "grown up" together through their young New Japan careers. They would lie down in their bunk bed and exchange stories, and this year began a very hot rivalry in the ring, including one match on G1 finals night that lit up Sumo Hall. Anzawa had made excellent progress this year, just recently graduating from black tights to new purple pants, and was really becoming popular with his fighting spirit. Probably his biggest breakthrough match was on 9/25 in Niigata, when he and Takemura challenged Minoru & Goto for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title in a very good and heated half hour match, where Anzawa's bandaged shoulder was destroyed by the CTU duo, but Anzawa wouldn't give up for a long time. Goto said that Anzawa has a new dream now, but they would forever be rivals, and thanked him. Anzawa said after his 1/8 Korakuen match, "New Japan Pro-Wrestling is the best! Thank you!", which was the first hint at retirement, and sadly (for us fans) it has been confirmed by Anzawa himself now.

 

New Japan and Anzawa have yet to formally announce his retirement, but barring a miraculous late change of mind, it should come soon. The singles match with Kanemoto in Okinawa late last year, it turns out, was a farewell gift to Anzawa, who had wanted to face Aniki in a singles match. Hopefully he can have a retirement match at Korakuen on the 28th. Pro wrestling has lost one of its best young talents, but good luck Akiya Anzawa!

 

From SSS.

 

I liked Anzawa, so this is a shame. He seemed like he would have had a solid future in the Jr division.

 

And:

 

New Japan has gained its payback for the fiasco where the Inoki Office pulled Kazuyuki Fujita off 1/4 to book him for a 12/31 fight, only for Fujita to never receive a fight. New Japan president, Simon Inoki, visited the Inoki Office on 1/3, and seized all trademarks related to Inoki, forcibly transferring them to New Japan and shutting down the Inoki Office. The Inoki Office has caused most of New Japan's major booking problems over the last few years, with ill-timed interference that could not be overturned (Tenzan's first and fourth reigns were forcibly ended by them, as was the Kensuke vs. Fujita finish that damaged New Japan's Tokyo business severely). Their influence is now seemingly gone, although the status of its head figure, Tetsuo Baisho, a very rich man with a blood relation to Inoki (who is the ex-husband of actress Mitsuko Baisho), is in doubt, and he wasn't present when Simon visited the office. Baisho worked in New Japan before being transferred to the Inoki Office full-time several years ago.

 

The intrigue doesn't end there. New Japan has also seized the "rights" for all Inoki Office affiliated persons, including the one and only Kazuyuki Fujita. Fujita has been rumoured to completely separate from the Inoki Office and Antonio Inoki for a while now, and control his own bookings, but for the time being at least won't be able to. Antonio Inoki, who seems to have an official position in New Japan now and is spearheading the globalization plan, is demanding Fujita's unconditional participation on the Bangladesh shows, and if I'm reading the story right, Fujita is obligated to do it. New Japan can also apparently control Fujita's MMA bookings. Kendo Kashin is another in the Inoki Office, and spends a lot of time training the L.A. Dojo trainees, and since he is well liked by New Japan and its wrestlers, he could easily be sent into New Japan custody and work shows again. There are others, such as the very talented Thai kickboxer, Buakaw Por Puramuk, who belong to the Inoki Office and who presumably are controlled by New Japan while under contract. The unbeaten LYOTO is a mystery, as there are conflicting reports on whether he has left the Inoki Office or not. (Thanks to this great blog for the scoop.)

 

Simon Inoki gave an interview to Weekly Pro for the latest edition and said some things of note. Regarding 1/4 matchmaking and certain criticism of the card Choshu put out, Simon said that he personally wasn't completely satisfied with the card and would have changed some of it, but since he has given Choshu 100% matchmaking power, he didn't want to interfere. Simon said that although he didn't book it, he appointed Choshu, so if certain people didn't like the card, then he must take some responsibility and regrets not stepping in. Simon called the first half of the show not very good and didn't feel the indy wrestlers were necessary, and that a Tokyo Dome show should be mostly comprised of wrestlers that fans know. He is perplexed at why Choshu, a graduate of the majors (New Japan), felt so inclined to use indy wrestlers, and was especially unhappy at the twelve man tag, which he found pointless, and said it would have been much better if the New Japan crew faced foreigners like Black Tiger. He was happy with the second half of the show, however, where the "outside" talent was all major leaguers. There was anger from many fans and wrestlers (Simon said that his father-in-law was angry backstage) at why so many Japanese indy wrestlers (many of whom have connections to Choshu) were used when quality New Japan wrestlers like Black Tiger and Taguchi were not booked. The article seemed to indicate that Simon isn't all that happy with how Choshu constructed the show (and possibly some of the outcomes...), wanting him to highlight the wealth of New Japan talent more, and it'll be interesting to see if Choshu can up his game enough to please Simon as the year goes on. Simon said that from now on he will propose various ideas for lineups to Choshu to try and give the fans exactly what they want.

 

Simon also talked globalization, a long-time obsession of the Inoki family. Simon said that "global time" has come, and is aiming for "New Japan vs. The World" from now on. Simon made some comments that could be deemed controversial, as well as one surreal comment (which I'll get to in a moment). Simon said that there are simply too many organizations in Japan for New Japan to exist on the scale it used to domestically at the moment. He cited this as the main reason why New Japan isn't on the level it used to be. He then said that the United States only has WWE and TNA controlling the market, and that if Japanese style was carried into the USA and marketted the proper way, he feels that the possibility of it succeeding would be high. Simon then said that the other day, he went to an English language website by chance and was surprised when he saw the Nakamura vs. Lesnar match from TV Asahi illegally uploaded. Simon said that WWE matches had been put up at the same location, but that the download count for Nakamura vs. Lesnar was far more, and that amazed him. He cited this as an example that New Japan already has popularity outside of Japan. Simon said that if New Japan used Lesnar as the key figure, then it could gain popularity all over the world. When asked about domestic problems, Simon made the fairly surprising comment that New Japan's local business doesn't need to improve much if they can find a global audience, as they could make lots of money overseas. He said there are too few Japanese pro wrestling fans locally now for the amount of promotions running and that it is becoming a diehard/cult thing. He said the United States market is larger than Japan and that is a reason why he wants to target it. Regarding contract negotiations, Simon claims he isn't worried about the rough going, because the wrestlers love New Japan, and even if their salaries drop, most of them will remain.

[Guest MRK]

Akiya Anzawa should go to DDT. He can play Dino's twin brother.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Another young lion is gone:

 

The day's contract news as it happens, constantly updated...

 

Hiroshi Nagao has quit New Japan, after there had been speculation he was unhappy. Nagao has always had trouble fitting into the New Japan pro wrestler life, and needed an extra year of training after a false start to his career. Nagao hasn't commented yet on his future, but said he isn't sure what he'll do now (retirement has been hinted, but hopefully two young lions aren't calling it quits at the same time) and will announce something when he does.

 

Tanahashi has quickly become the golden boy of the press, after the "Tanahashi" and "New Japan" chants during his match yesterday. Tokyo Sports says Dory Funk Jr. has extolled him, and Tana should be returning to Japan any time, and is scheduled to sign his contract soon.