Monday, September 29, 2008

NOAH 9/27 Osaka, AJPW 9/28 Yokohama

Yeah it drew 3300 (claimed). Less than half of the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium's 6700 seat setup for pro wrestling. That'd be what happens when you book such a weak title match and barely any undercard to make up for it; granted the 2/3 falls tag is probably good, but the end result was predictable and it's just going to lead to another KENTaiji/Kanemaru & Suzuki match, the fourth this year, 2nd time that the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag titles will be on the line. NOAH could have been unpredictable (like All Japan was the day after) and given No Limit (composed of the excellent young wrestlers Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito from New Japan) the Jr. belts, but it was not to be.

Speaking of All Japan, they drew 4500 (claimed) to the 5000 seat Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium. That's a pretty good draw, and the show was loaded with surprises. First off, Naomichi Marufuji conquered the arising star of All Japan's Jr. division, Ryuji Hijikata in a twenty six minute match that I really want to see. Joe Doering joined Voodoo Murders, adding a gaijin influence to the group not seen Giant Bernard and RO'Z, for example. And, in the great shocker, Keiji Mutoh became a 4 crown champion after he defeated Suwama under his Great Muta guise, claiming the Triple Crown. He is currently IWGP Heavyweight Champion as well as Triple Crown champion, with a challenge coming up in Shinsuke Nakamura (who Mutoh defeated earlier in the year to win the IWGP title for the first time in over eight years). Minoru Suzuki has stepped up as the first challenger to the Great Muta, so Keiji is going to have a rough time coming up soon.

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