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Sheriff Lonestar’s A year in Japan Part 2
By: SheriffLonestar Date: December 28, 2013, 3:21 am
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Sheriff Lonestar’s A year in Japan Part 2
Pro Wrestling NOAH
If All Japan’s was a story of purge and then binge. NOAH’s was a
story of dear Lord what are we going to do now? Having started
the year by having to forget 2012, a Yakuza funding scandal
meant the demotion of General Manager Ryu Nakata and Counselor
Haruka Eigen they hoped to get a fresh start in 2013, things did
go freshly but perhaps not in the way that NOAH had envisioned.
Akira Taue announced in the summer his upcoming retirement in
December so he could devote more time to being the President of
NOAH which given the year they had is no bad thing to have a
full time veteran at the helm of one of the most dynamic
companies in Japan.
The big news that dominated the year was the retirement of Kenta
Kobashi and his subsequent departure to All Japan Pro Wrestling.
While in front of the camera it seemed like a simple retirement
and Kobashi showing a will to go to his old home promotion, the
reality has yet to be made full public knowledge because that
job seems to have been taken by Stan Hansen and aside from some
light commentary for Wrestle 1 (Kobashi is great friends with
Keiji Mutoh), the general upshot was the mass departure of the
Burning group to All Japan as mentioned earlier in the article.
We will possibly never know what happened during his waning days
in NOAH, but in the end every office in Japan gave something to
his retirement card which was shown on TV, broadcast in movie
theatres and had a 17,000 gate in Budokan Hall on May 11th.
Kobashi, once called the prefect wrestler, gave it his all one
last time in a one hour long 8 man main event with his friends
and protégés.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asOv6lW6jiQ
Akira Taue whose career included all the major titles in All
Japan and NOAH making 14 Wrestling Observer 5 Star matches along
the way, his retirement came on December the 7th. You can see
that here;
Retirement Match
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYLnA1drzAQ
Retirement Ceremony
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23m2o0h9TDw
The GHC Heavyweight title started of the year around the waist
of Takeshi Morishima who had the belt for just over a year. He
dropped it on late January to the inventor of the Go To Sleep
KENTA. After winning the title at Great Voyage he went on to
defend it a record nine times in one calendar year. With strong
challengers all year this Junior turned Heavyweight Champion has
been a steady draw at the box office, and really comes over as
NOAH’s CM Punk; cocky, arrogant and arguably the best in the
world. Here he makes his 9th defence against former IWGP
Heavyweight Champion and this year’s Global League Champion Yuji
Nagata;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzUaWrUs7pQ
The GHC Tag title Reigns where shared out by three teams this
year Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura started the year as
champions before dropping the belts to Takashi Iizuka and Toru
in Yokohma in March. Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste took the
belts in July and kept them to the end of the year. As shown
here in the last title match that saw a title change;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOSnLe3UWiU
The GHC Junior title, much like the All Japan title is a stiff
old bag heavy hitters, but its key graduate carried the company
through a turbulent time this year with KENTA being a former 3
Time champion, but it shows NOAH’s faith in Junior Heavyweights.
After All NOAH’s founder Mitsuharu Misawa was a Junior himself
once. Shuji Kondo (there is that name again) started the year as
champion before dropping the belt to Taiji Ishimori. He went on
to be the most active and well travelled of the three major
Junior Title holders in Japan defending in Canada and the US as
part of Ring of Honor shows through their NOAH working
agreement. It also means with himself as top dawg in NOAH and
Último Dragón in charge over in All Japan the two titles most
associated with stiff mat work are currently being held by
Jap-Lucha experts with Ishimori being trained by Último Dragón.
This shows great depth in NOAH’s booking bag and should stand
them in good stead long term. Here is the title win and his last
defence of the year against Super Crazy;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp_SgLgzlKo
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t0BL9LL5oM
Los Mexitosos Ricky Marvin and Super Crazy began the year as
champs in the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Division. The belts
proved as equally flighty in NOAH as the equivalent title in
NJPW, and it was a lot of NJPW guys doing the heavy lifting.
Genba Hirayanagi and Maybach Taniguchi Jr./Suwa took the belts
on March 10th in Yokahama before relinquishing the titles to
forfeit in June thanks to a Suwa neck injury. Despite not being
able to make a title victory count in their home promotion,
Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask IV began a title reign after winning
the Cup and the Belts at NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag
League. Having gone through NOAH’s best they went on to defend
the title until being up ended by Yoshinari Ogawa and Zack
Sabre, Jr. On that all things happening at once December 7th
show. Liger and Tiger Mask did not endear themselves to the NOAH
faithful while champions, coming over as killer heels (Liger has
been a heel in NOAH since his first appearance some years back).
Here is the title switches in their entirety;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w-R5oTyX4A
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSce_3LNqL8
Joshi
If there was any theme this year in Joshi it was that age old
parable of when will the youngsters knock off the big guns? When
will the AJW/GAEA legacy finally be surpassed by the next
generation of Joshi who have trained in the various venerable
Dojos across Japan? Well one company wanted to make a statement
and that was World Wonder Ring Stardom. Signing gaijin talents
Sarah Stock and Alpha Female the pair, though on opposite sides
of the heel/face divide took the company by storm. Yes Alpha
Female’s reign was incredibly short, just over a month, but it
made a statement; the first European to win a major title in all
of Joshi’s long history. Io Shirai then took the belt to cap her
career which has been marked by controversial instances, but now
looks on track to develop into the promise she has shown all
along. Here is the first of those title changes as chronicled
before in Sheriff Lonestar’s PPV of the Week;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfKj3nOi4f4
Here is Alpha’s first and sadly last title defence;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85ep5K9e0cA
The Kimura Monster Gun Stable of which Alpha Female is a part
had an equally dominant year. They won the Goddesses of Stardom
Championship from Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu , only in
Japan could a team name be longer than the wrestlers actual
names, Natsuki☆Taiyo and Yoshiko. Hailey Hatred and Kyoko
Kimura went on to defend the belt for 43 days before the belts
found the long way around to Miho Wakizawa and Nanae Takahashi.
Here are just some of those ladies in action;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSDO1AA9NjU
Over in Japan Women’s Project the big news was the arrival of
KANA after basically tearing everyone in Joshi a new asshole in
2012, she was somewhat blacklisted. She found work as a
freelancer and moved into JWP in early 2013. She installed
herself instantly as top heel and then a in a major shock to
some took the Openweight title, the longest standing and most
prestigious belt in all of Joshi by August. Despite dropping the
title to former Champion Arisa Nakajima, she built enough of a
reputation to restart her own brand of promotion where she will
continue to go back to her mat based routes when she takes on
Meiko Satomura.
Here are highlights of both matches;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy-AjWz2WQA
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGPYI7-fpE4
And a full card from September;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg7LNhq-Mzo
00:00:51 Commando Boirshoi vs Yako Fujigasaki
00:06:47 Hanako Nakamori vs Risa Sera
00:16:37 GAMI vs Kayoko Haruyama.
00:29:16 Sachie Abe, KAZUKI , Rydeen Hagane & Kasey Owens vsLeon
,Tsubasa Kuragaki , Arisa Nakajima & Rabbit Mito
00:49:48 [JWP Openweight Title match]Kana vs Manami Katsu
That Young Vs Old storyline bled its way into Sendai Girls in a
long running feud (no titles in Sendai just bragging rights)
ended up in Karukeon Hall. Meiko got the senior veterans of
Joshi together to take on the young bucks in an 8 on 8
elimination tag match; Aja Kong, Dump Matsumoto, Dynamite
Kansai, Kyoko Inoue, Manami Toyota, Meiko Satomura, Command
Bolshoi & Takako Inoue the veterans vs took on the youngsters
Shuri, Yoshiko, Hikaru Shida, Kagetsu, Yuhi, Sareee, Manami
Katsu & Takumi Iroha
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAGVfRu2p1Y
So I guess it’s that awards time of the year so I should hand
out some accolades.
Match of the Year
For me Alpha Female vs Nanae Takahashi was Joshi at its best.
Hard hitting emotional and technically balanced with stellar mat
work and it put the crowd in a complete frenzy. The monster
versus the hero is an old school Japanese booking trait and
these two worked it to perfection. The only match anywhere in
the world that came close for me anywhere in the world was Gail
Kim vs Taryn Tyrell at TNA’d Slammiversary card, that was a
close second, but it was sadly not built up the way it should
have been and in the end though it stole the show it didn’t
bring enough momentum forward to save the TNA’s Women’s division
from purgatory when it needed it. Stardom needed this match
after the loss of Yuzuki Aikawa to retirement and it rebuilt the
company in about 20 minutes of hard hitting action. They were
suddenly relevant all over again and they lost that tag of being
the Pretty Girls promotion. They couldn’t have asked for more.
Most Valuable Player
It is hard to argue with Tokyo Sports and I am not going to
Kazuchika Okada has had a thrilling roller coaster ride of a
year and his IWGP title reign has kick started a big year for
him. I can’t see him leaving his home country again unless HHH
comes up with some big money to lure the 26 year old Rainmaker
away from New Japan’s clutches. There is definite interest
there. In a year when New Japan has stayed away from bringing in
guest performers the whole roster has stepped up to bring in
creative and interesting story lines and a bit of fun to the
dead straight promotion. Okada has led the way, and has had
breathtaking bouts. Well done Sir.
Most Valuable Heavyweight Tag Team
While the resurgent Ten-Koji has had a great year, I have to
give this award to Killer Elite Squad who have met a variety of
opponents and swung back and forth between North America and
Japan. They have both worked hard to reinvigorate years in North
America promotions (Hoyt in TNA, Smith in WWE) and it shows.
They LOVE what they are doing now and unlike in the States where
thrown together teams have been the norm, they have taken their
time to build characters and develop as a team. Excellent match
quality and physical enjoyment mean we have all been having fun
watching them.
Most Valuable Junior Heavyweight Tag Team
This one is a toss up. Because being the genderless kinda guy I
am I would like to give it to The Sendai Sisters, they have put
in some amazing bouts this year against opposition that has been
highly regarded and who are usually much bigger than them.
However for impact alone I have to swing it to The Young Bucks.
It took one week for the Bullet Club’s tag team geniuses to
become star attractions in the division, and Japanese fans found
out what American fans have known for years. They will try
their damndest to steal the show at every opportunity. They are
also the only team to appear on three continents worth of
Television this year. Their TNA matches brought them
international acclaim. Their work for Chikara, Ring of Honor and
PWG as well as various other indies cemented their reputation in
the US and they capped off their year with a strong run in the
toughest tag division in the world. With The Time Splitters back
on the active roster in January we should see some epic battles
going into 2014.
Most Valuable Gaijin
Prince Devitt’s transference into the most outspoken Irishman in
Japan, The Real Rock ‘N’ Rolla, has brought with it twitter fame
and enabled NJPW’s international audience someone to latch on to
as a cool heel, though Karl Anderson has been great in that
strong leadership role of The Bullet Club its Devitt who has
grabbed the headlines. With a new love of his character he has
reinvigorated the Junior Heavyweight division in New Japan
helping them to be seen as main event players once again, not so
separate after all. His challenge to Okada was beautifully set
up with one great promo after another. He has been fabulous in
short, and my favourite thing he did wasn’t even in a wrestling
ring. The Bullet Club promo where they kidnapped a journalist
and hooded him rendition style remains a scary and creepy
reminder of how far The Bullet Club will go, but it was enhanced
by Devitt idly complaining “Is this F*ck in’ thing on?” when
lining up the video camera to shoot the vignette. New Japan had
the NWO before and this is the closest thing they have had to it
since. Just brilliantly entertaining, controversial and has
baited so many websites into printing none news stories all
year.
And so folks that was the year that was. 2013 in Japan was very
rewarding artistically and made some money so you really can’t
ask for more than that.
Happy New Year
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