Belgian_Waffle

Speaking of All Japan, what can anyone tell me about Kotaro Nasu, who jobbed to Nishimura today? My extensive Googling of his name only revealed that he is 3 years pro and has worked for STYLE-E (which sounds really familiar but I can't remember what it is). Also I hope AJPW keeps bringing in Ryuji Hijikata. Better yet, steal Nagai and Tiger Shark away from the Tenryu Project/RJPW crowd and fill the undercard with grumpy Bati guys.

I completely forgot about that weird Chono/Mutoh vs TenKoji main event. between that and having Kea in the semi-main that has to be one of the weakest Dome lineups ever.anyway, point is: putting on the IC title match after the IWGP title match would have long term negative consequences where Okada and Naito are concerned. if Okada is the true ace of the company he should be able to headline the show against any credible opponent, let alone the guy who just won their biggest annual singles tournament.If they switch the main events then it's like Summerslam 1992 if Savage and Warrior headlined over Bret vs Davey Boy, only Bret/Davey was the World title match and Savage/Warrior was the IC title match (okay, that's a barely credible analogy. what I'm saying is: the new generation should go on last, especially if they're competing for the more distinguished title.).

I feel like not having the primary title defended in the main event is always the kiss of death with these things. if Nakamura/Tanahashi is the main event then the IC title may as well be renamed the IWGP title and vice-versa.

sounds like a fun match although I think Fujinami is getting way too old to be the sole workhorse of a four-man team.

The tag league is funny since like half the teams already have members booked in big matches for the Dome show. Kind of limits the possibilities of who will win and challenge for the belts come Jan. 4th.

Agreed with much of the negative sentiment here re: Naito. Giving him the G1 so soon after his injury was stupid, and keeping his feud going with Tanaka made things even worse---the NEVER title is essentially their undercard title, and having Naito as undercard champ while simultaneously challenging for the IWGP confuses both the role of Naito and the role of the belt. They've created a similar problem in their Jr division with Devitt holding the belt for so long after having moved up to the heavyweight division. It's great for Devitt, but it's killed the credibility of their junior roster, who I guess will now go on jobbing to Ibushi all the time just like they jobbed to Devitt, until Taguchi comes back or until they start creating new homegrown junior stars.Anyway, Naito's spot in the company right now reminds me of when they gave Tanahashi the title after the Lesnar fiasco. It's the right guy for the push, but it's the wrong time to push him; he's being rushed through, and nobody really stands to benefit from it. Tanahashi didn't have any real credibility as champ until he lost to and then eventually regained the title from Nagata...if they are putting the strap on Naito prematurely, and if he does indeed end up flopping, I could see Goto working really well in the Nagata-role as the cagey veteran who beats the young punk champion, only for said young punk to eventually regain once he's proven himself elsewhere (NOAH also used this same booking strategy when they traded the title from Shiozaki to Sugiura to Shiozaki a few years back, although in that case Go never became the superstar that Tanahashi did).

Ah thanks. Yeah it was the two 10 minute draws that threw me. Neat.

what are the two draws in Kobashi's win-loss-draw record? I know my NOAH history pretty well but I can't remember him ever doing a broadway with anybody (or a double DQ/TKO/CO for that matter...).

They did indeed. Shiozaki and Miyahara are now the new younger team vs. Akiyama and Omori's classic AJPW Baba-era team. They're both in the RWTL and there's no tag title match scheduled for the few pre-RWTL shows, so my guess would be the tag league final is a rematch between these two teams. Further establishes the generational rivalry they seem to be going for.I think it's a good move. Miyahara looked awesome in the Miyahara/Omori vs Suwama/Miyamoto tag match last month, and being Go's partner will give him some much-needed main event experience.

new AJPW card may as well be entitled the "SO MUCH FOR 'RETIREMENT' TOUR 2013": AJPW "ANNIVERSARY TOUR 2013", 27.10.2013 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan 0. KENSO vs. Mr. 450 1. Hikaru Sato & Masao Inoue vs. Kazushi Miyamoto & Nobutaka Araya 2. Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Osamu Nishimura & Masanobu Fuchi 3. Joe Doering & James Raideen vs. D-Lo Brown & Bambi Killer 4. All Asia Tag Team Title: Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki © vs. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii 5. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Yoshinobu Kanemaru © vs. SUSHI 6. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara 7. Triple Crown: Suwama © vs. Akebono the Funks being there will probably get all the attention but personally I'm more excited about the return of Nobutaka Araya.

Ahh thanks. Makes sense.

because curiosity has gotten the better of me: anybody know who this "Mr. 450" is currently competing in AJPW?also (and sorry if someone's asked this already): all these WRESTLE-1 matches I read about on purolove.com that end with "No Contest als Desperado eingriff."...is "Desperado" some masked guy who keeps interfering in matches or something?

One of those little things that's always bugged me: has anybody else ever noticed/drawn attention to the fact that Suwama has made it to the finals of six different Real World Tag Leagues and never won? from 2006-2010 he was in the final every year, then again in 2012. different partner each year, always loses. just always seemed strange to me; it can't be deliberate, right? Suwama being "the guy who always just falls short of winning the annual tag team tournament and has a different partner every year" doesn't exactly have the same long-term payoff as, say, Nakamura not winning a G1 until 2011.

I like how Hiro Saito was still in the "Young Lions" league in 1989. did that dude ever not look old and surly?also I think BUSHI is due for an unmasking/gimmick change.. never a sure-fire bet for rejuvenating a guy but I think in his case it can only help. I still vaguely recall his pre-BUSHI persona...he was called T28 or something, right? had like a break dancing gimmick?

I was just thinking the same thing about Kea. If he is still technically with the company and plans to return full time he could really help fill out that main event scene, at least until Soya finally comes back.I could see Akebono getting a brief transitional TC run as a kind of thank-you for sticking around after Mutoh left. Maybe he'll beat Suwama and then drop it to Go right away.

I've seen my fair share of recent NOAH.For me, Kotoge seems a little sloppy and his pretty boy image is a little obnoxious, but he does work hard and seems enthused about his spot. Harada has been solid from what I've seen; his initial string of singles matches against Kotoge, Super Crazy and Marufuji were all pretty good, at least in terms of establishing Harada's character and showing off what he can do. Ohara I haven't seen yet.For what it's worth I thought Zach Sabre Jr's title match vs. Ishimori was a lot of fun. They still have a ways to go, but NOAH seems to be doing a decent job of filling the spots in the Jr. division left by the Burning guys leaving + KENTA/Marufuji/Nakajima turning heavyweight.

Aside from the awesome match against Misawa & Kotaro, are there any other Z1-era tags for Ohtani/Takaiwa that stand out? I know they were more often booked as opponents than partners in Z1 but there's gotta be a couple other gems in there somewhere.

He's beaten Akebono a couple times in tags, with a really awesome looking Death Valley Bomb, no less. He's taken down Hama with the DVB a couple times too, so maybe we'll see him bust it out in the final (assuming that is the final, and assuming he didn't screw up his back by now from lifting 500 pound guys up onto his shoulders).Bambi Killer advanced today over Omori. Any idea if he's going to be brought in full time? I've only seen him a couple times in tags, how is he in singles? Couldn't hurt to have another big Gaijin on the roster to feud/team with Doering.

D-Lo jobbed again today, to Omori in a tag. Kind of surprised he's not faring better on this tour. Other than maybe Low Ki (who is still pretty hot from his run in NJPW) he seems like the biggest name they brought in for the tournament.

couldn't figure out spoiler tags and wasn't sure how legitimately needed all the previous spoiler warnings were, so I'll just say now that I do mention one name below and pretty clearly insinuate who he fought on the show.so "SPOILER":People are hating on the main but the semi-main looks like the real potential low-point to me. I get that Mutoh wants to have his own generation rivalry akin to Tanahashi/Nakamura, but he couldn't have chosen two more bland, limited guys as his future aces.16 minutes of those two sounds like a long time.

I think we're more likely to get Vampiro than Sting at this point. they need to announce something. soon.I'm almost hoping they swerve us and have all the X's be Suwama & co. from AJPW showing up to crash the W-1 party and defend Baba's honour or something.

I could see either D-Lo or Bambikiller upsetting Suwama in the semis to keep him out of the finals. It's too soon for a repeat of the Suwama/Go booking (challenger beats the champ in a big non-title singles match, sets up the rematch a month later with the belt on the line).If Suwama loses to one of the Gaijin in the semis it would look like a fluke rather than a big loss that he needs to avenge. The Gaijin then losing to someone else in the finals (Doering or Akebono seem most likely) would cement the tournament winner as a worthy challenger,Given their thin roster, the less frequently they repeat singles pairings the better. I say keep the champ out of the finals.EDIT: just noticed that updated bracket and realized my suggestions/predictions aren't workable. whoops. my logic still stands though; just have Doering knock Suwama out of the tournament in round 2.