Into the Indies 11.30.10: Farewell, Naniwa (Part 2)

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column where there’s never been a right time to say goodbye.

For those of you who joined us last week, you know that the death of Japanese indy wrestling fixture Gran Naniwa was recently announced, and we here at I2I have devoted both that column and this week’s column to saying goodbye to the former Michinoku Pro Wrestling star. Since the announcement was originally made, there have been few to no additional details that have come out regarding the crab man’s passing aside from the fact that, unfortunately, there was an incident not long before his death in which he cancelled some independent bookings that he was supposed to take in October, with the promoter of the shows later being called by police to pick up Naniwa after he was found passed out drunk in public. There is, however, as of yet no connection being made between the thirty-three year old’s premature demise and any substance use or abuse.

It should also be noted that the professional wrestling community is gearing up to celebrate the life of Gran Naniwa, with TAKA Michinoku’s Kaientai Dojo promotion announcing two Naniwa Memorial matches for a card that they are holding on December 25, 2010. The matches feature cooperation between K-Dojo, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Japan Wrestling, DDT, ZERO1, Michinoku Pro, Okinawa Pro, and several freelance wrestlers, and they also feature men who Naniwa would have been headlining shows with during the peak of his career in the early and mid 1990’s. The first match will pit Great Sasuke, Shiryu (Kaz Hayashi), and TAKA against Super Delfin, Jinsei Shinzaki, and Tsubo Genjin. The second match will also be the third match of the Kaientai DX farewell tour, during which members of the legendary heel stable are teaming once more for a series of bouts leading into the retirement of Dick Togo next year. That match will be a ten man tag with the memorable Kaientai lineup of Kaz Hayashi, Dick Togo, Men’s Teioh, TAKA Michinoku, & Sho Funaki against Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki, Minoru Fujita, Kesen Numajiro, & Kazuya Yuasa.

With that having been said, let us return to our own I2I tribute to Gran Naniwa, in the form of a review of Michinoku Pro’s 1999 masked man tournament. Last week, we took a look at M-Pro’s television broadcast from August 20, 1999, which covered the beginning of the tournament. This week, we follow up with Michinoku’s television block from September 5, 1999, which follows the tournament through to the finals. Naniwa, in addition to stars such as the Great Sasuke and Tiger Mask IV were all featured in the tournament, and the tour of shows on which the tournament was occurring also featured a rivalry developing between the heel stable of Crazy Max (CIMA, Sumo Fuji, and Judo Suwa) on one side and TAKA Michinoku and Minoru Fujita on the other. We’ll see the continuation of that feud on this show as well.

Match Numero Uno: Gran Naniwa vs. The Great Sasuke

This match is part of the masked man tournament, and, as far as taking a look at Gran Naniwa’s career is concerned, it is a significant match. Michinoku Pro was the promotion in which Naniwa really made a name for himself, and this tournament appeared to be an opportunity to reestablish himself in the company after some time away. However, for reasons that will become apparent by the end of the play-by-play, this wound up being the last match Naniwa had as part of a regular run with M-Pro, in turn slowly leading to the end of his career.

Sasuke opens up with a dropkick and a spinning heel kick to set up the German suplex hold, but Naniwa recovers quickly and hits a forearm to send the bookerman to the outside. Naniwa hits a dive, and a lariat gets him two back on the inside. A Northern lights suplex gets another nearfall, as does a bridging backdrop. Naniwa slaps on the cross arm breaker, but his opponent gets to the ropes very quickly . . . so what’s a crab-man to do? Pull him back to the center of the ring and reapply the hold, naturally! Sasuke attempts to roll out of the hold, so Naniwa counters by transforming it into a different sort of armbar, but the ropes are made. The referee has to pry Naniwa off, and the future politician rolls outside to escape the assault. Naniwa quickly brings him right back in, but Sasuke reverses his waistlock and applies the camel clutch. Naniwa slips out and puts on an STF that he eventually changes into a crossface, and then that evolves in to a chinlock.

Sasuke gets out of the chinlock by barring Naniwa’s leg, which he eventually releases just for the hell of it. A kick puts Naniwa right back down so that Sasuke can apply a chinlock of his own, but the ropes are made. A series of armbreakers by Great Sasuke follows, and a back elbow puts Naniwa out of the ring so that he might be flattened by Sasuke’s no hands tope con hilo! When they return to the ring, a moonsault bodyblock gets two for Sasuke, but his attempt at a rollup gets counter by the cross arm breaker. The ropes are made, and Sasuke looks for the Thunder Fire Bomb, but Naniwa slides off of his back and hits an enzuguri. A lariat knocks Sasuke out of the ring yet again, and a flipping bodyblock off the apron follows for Naniwa. We’re back inside, and my favorite case of crabs gets the Kobashi DDT for two before applying a waistlock. Sasuke takes a wild swing in an effort to get out of that, but Naniwa catches him and jacks the jaw to set up a forearm and the doctor bomb for two. Sasuke is set up top, and he blocks Naniwa’s subsequent frankensteiner attempt, turning it in to a powerbomb for two. A kick from the man in black sends Naniwa to the outside, and Sasuke looks for the Space Flying Tiger Drop, only to have Naniwa pop up on to the apron and cut it off with a forearm.

Naniwa attempts to capitalize with a nodowa bomb, but Sasuke reverses it in to a rana for two, and he then gets the senton atomico for another two count. When that doesn’t work, Sasuke pulls out a cradle tombstone piledriver, but his flipping reverse senton from the top misses. That sets up the Outback Jack memorial boomerang lariats, and Naniwa gets another nearfall. Sasuke goes out to the apron and Naniwa follows him, and this is where things get a bit scary. Naniwa attempts to powerbomb his boss ON THE APRON, but the move goes bad and Naniwa falls off of the apron and hits the floor, legitimately injuring his arm in the process. Sasuke goes up to the top, looking for a dive to the floor, but Naniwa cuts him off. Sasuke headbutts him off and back in to the ring, but Naniwa cuts him off again and hits a SUPER rana. (That’s a rather loose interpretation of the word “hits,” as Naniwa’s feet barely grazed the sides of Sasuke’s head.) It only gets two, as does another doctor bomb. The nodowa bomb, however, hits full force and grabs Naniwa a bit of an upset victory in the tournament.

Afterwards, it would be revealed that Naniwa’s injury suffered in falling off the ring apron was so severe that he would have to pull out of the remainder of the tour and therefore the masked man tournament. As noted above, this would also be the last major run that he had in Michinoku Pro. He appeared as an “outsider” guest on tours for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2001 and All Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002 and 2003, and that was all she wrote for the crab man’s wrestling career outside of a handful of sporadic appearances over the years for various independent promotions.

Match Thoughts: In theory, this looked like a very good attempt to establish Naniwa as a key player, somebody who could theoretically pull off another couple of victories and win the entire tournament. However, in reality, things didn’t turn out all that well. Aside from the fact that two key spots misfired, it seemed as though the two were relying far too much on highspots, highspots, and more highspots to make the match great as opposed to actual storytelling. Granted, that approach has worked in a few matches over the course of history, but in this case things just weren’t on the level that they needed to be in order for that to happen. **1/2

Match Numero Dos: White Bear vs. Super Boy

We’ve got nothing but highlight clips here. Supes gets a moonsault for two, and he also hits a suicide dive before planting Bear with a Superfly Splash for the victory. That’s it. I’m curious as to why they even bothered airing this little action.

Match Numero Tres: Tiger Mask IV vs. The Great Sasuke

Okay, this one gets a bit more time, though it is also not the full match. Tiger Mask starts things off with a body block down to the floor, and, back on the inside, there’s a big rope running sequence. Tiger then works the leg, and Sasuke gets a series of over-the-shoulder arm breakers . . . but Mask reverses the last one in to a sleeper! He’s thrown to the buckle, however, and dropkicked out of the ring not long after. The no hands dive follows from Sasuke, and we clip ahead to Tiger getting a dive of his own. A second attempt is blocked with a punch, and Sasuke lands an Asai moonsault. Back in the ring, a butterfly suplex gets two for Tiger, as does the more appropriately named tiger suplex. After some clipping, the senton atomico gets two for Sasuke, as does a Thunder Fire Bomb. The two are left trading punches and kicks as the bell rings and we are left with a time limit draw. It looked like a fun match, and the draw does a good job of setting up what would go down during the semi-finals and finals of the tournament later on.

Match Numero Cuatro: Curry Man w/ Judo Suwa vs. The Great Sasuke

We are joined in progress with Curry Man in a camel clutch, and when we clip ahead, Suwa trips up Sasuke and gets some shots in. Moving ahead further, Sasuke gets a back elbow and his tope to the floor, but Curry Man comes back with an enzuguri and his split legged Asai moonsault. Daniels then jumps up on to an elevated section of the crowd (probably only three or four feet) and attempts to dive off on to Sasuke, but the bookerman moves and Curry hits the apron. Suwa cuts off the Space Flying Tiger Drop, but, back on the inside, a moonsault bodyblock gets two for Sasuke. After more clipping, Daniels REALLY botches a diamond cutter, but it still manages to get two for him. I don’t know why they left that in given how edited down the match is. A Savage elbow also gets two for the King of Spice, as does a botched Spicy Drop. The Last Rights, however, do get three. Man, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Christopher Daniels blow two big moves like that before. I blame the mask, given that this was early in his run as Curry Man. It’s a convenient excuse.

Match Numero Cinco: Tiger Mask IV vs. Super Boy w/ Judo Suwa

Once more, we’ve just got the highlights. Supes gets a pair of sentons for two, and Mask counters with a belly to belly for his own nearfall. The cross arm breaker is applied by TMIV, but Suwa pulls Super Boy to the ropes. Clipping ahead it’s time to FLY, FATASS, FLY! Yes, it’s the Super Boy tope suicida. Back in the ring, a Tiger Mask missile dropkick gets two as Suwa pulls the referee out of the ring. Eventually there is a malfunction at the junction, and the two heels collide to set up a Tiger Mask backdrop. A German suplex finally finishes it for Tiger.

Match Numero Seis: Dokko Chan vs. White Bear

The stakes are high in this one, as the loser must unmask! Why, you ask? Because they’re the two lowest ranked men in the tournament. Well, technically Dirtbike Kid is the lowest, but he’s sort of injured. Black Warrior is lower too, but I don’t know what his excuse is . . . my guess is that it has something to do with political reasons tying back to Mexico. Either way, we’re about to see somebody’s face. We start off on the outside, as Chan blocks an attempt to whip him in to the wall and then climbs up on to a catwalk over said wall. Could it be? YES IT IS! BALCONY DIVE BY DOKKO CHAN! When we get back to the ring, Dokko gets a missile dropkick for two, but a top rope spinning heel kick misses. Bear takes over with a running variation on the Spicy Drop that gets him a nearfall, as Chan gets the ropes. Bear looks to soften up his opponent with some chops, but he runs directly in to Chan’s boot. DC goes up but is cut off, and White Bear looks for his Spicy Drop variant again, but Fleisch changes it in to a crucifix for two. He doesn’t remain control for long, though, as Bear sets him up top and hits a frankensteiner. A moonsault follows for Whitey, but it only gets two. He then goes for a lariat, but Chan ducks under and gets a rana for his own nearfall. A dropkick to the knee follows for Bear, and that sets up a DVD variant for the three count. The referee removes Dokko Chan’s mask, revealing what those of us watching the tape several years later knew all along and what I already mentioned in last week’s review . . . it’s UK indy wrestler Jodie Fleisch.

Match Thoughts: This wasn’t an abomination of a match, but it could have been better. People who pay attention to my columns will know that I’m not a very big Fleisch fan, but I will say that, in this match, he didn’t commit too many of the wrestling sins that I normally crucify him for. However, despite an attempt to tell a good underdog story with Fleisch being said underdog, the bout still wasn’t nearly on the level of the matches that we would see from the world class pro wrestlers who made up M-Pro’s regular roster during this period. **

And now we’ve gotten down to the nitty gritty. It’s the final four of the Mask League Tournament. The four top men in terms of points were the Great Sasuke, Gran Naniwa, Curry Man, and Tiger Mask IV, but Naniwa’s injury took him out of the running. As a result, he has been replaced by the winner of the last Mask League Tournament back in 1995, Mexican legend Dos Caras. So now we’ve got Caras vs. Curry and Tiger vs. Sasuke with the winners squaring off to determine who takes away the tournament victory.

Match Numero Siete: Dos Caras vs. Curry Man w/ Super Boy & Judo Suwa

Dos Caras has a camel clutch locked on when we join the match, but Curry Man slips out the back and trips him up. Then, as Curry Man distracts the referee, Suwa and Super Boy pull the Mexican legend out of the ring and attempt to rip off his mask. Fortunately, it doesn’t work, and Caras returns to the ring with a cross body on Daniels before turning around and hitting a big plancha to take out the other members of Super Curry MAX. Things take a turn for the worse for the rudos, as Curry Man accidentally nails his partners, and they eat a double lariat. However, the King of Spice is right there to get a slam on Caras, but his subsequent moonsault attempt misses. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Caras, as does a butterfly backbreaker. Caras then does something very impressive, sitting up on top of the smaller man’s shoulders and rolling through to take him down with a sunset flip for two. They trade a couple of pins off of that move, and Caras takes his opposition down again with a front body drop. Caras goes up and is cut off, but he shoves Curry Man right back off the ropes and follows him down with a cross body block to take the victory and move on to the finals.

Match Thoughts: Nothing really special here. Caras was surprisingly athletic for a man of his age at this particular point in time, but there was just too much outside involvement here, and what existed outside of that outside involvement wasn’t particularly impressive, as the two just traded fairly unspectacular moves before moving in to a rather dull finish. In fact, aside from some token offense, what was shown almost came off as being a squash for Caras . . . though I suppose that they needed to build him up if this was going to be his only match prior to the finals of the tournament. *3/4

Match Numero Ocho: The Great Sasuke vs. Tiger Mask IV

We open with Sasuke getting his no hands tope con hilo on Tiger, landing badly on his ankle in the process. Back in the ring, he gets a moonsault press for two, but Tiger wiggles out of the Thunder Fire Bomb and gets a spinning heel kick from behind to set up the Tiger Driver. It only gets two, so Mr. Mask sets Sasuke up on the top rope, only to be punched off. Sasuke dives but is met with a dropkick to the midsection and looks for the Tiger suplex. Sasuke blocks it and reveres the hold into a stunner to set up a German suplex for two. The Great one lands a pair of kicks and goes for the Thunder Fire Bomb again, this time botching it rather badly. It gets two regardless, and the cradle tombstone sets up a missed senton atomico. Mask gets two off of the miss and lifts Sasuke up off the mat to deliver a pair of short punches, only to have the bookerman collapse. The referee checks on Sasuke, and it looks like he’s been knocked out. Tiger Mask wins and advances to the finals. This victory didn’t do any favors for Tiger Mask, as Sasuke essentially knocked HIMSELF out, thus making the victory look like an absolute fluke. Great if they were setting up an eventual chase with Tiger going over Sasuke, though it really didn’t look like they were. Aside from the finish, there wasn’t enough shown to give this a rating.

Match Numero Nueve: Curry Man, Super Boy, & Judo Suwa vs. TAKA Michinoku, Minoru Fujita, & Magnum Tokyo

And this looks as though it could be the war to settle the score, baby! Suwa kicks things off with Fujita, and Suwa takes control early with a lariat and some stomps before bringing Curry Man in. He gets a slam, and Super Boy follows him in with a senton from the top rope before officially tagging in to the match. He gets a regular senton for another nearfall before tagging out to Daniels. He repeatedly takes Fujita down by the hair, but this ain’t GLOW, so Minoru repeatedly no-sells them. He pulls Curry down by the mask and gets a dropkick to set up the BIG boot rakes in the corner, all leading up to a drop kick directly to Curry’s face. Both men make tags after that one, with Magnum and Suwa stepping up for their respective teams. The babyface dominates with a shoulder block, an armdrag, and a dropkick that sends his opponent to the outside. TAKA and Super Boy pair off now, and a springboard shoulder block sends Michinoku to the outside, while Supes fakes a dive. Magnum Tokyo brings himself back into the match, and he’s paired up against Curry Man. Tokyo takes his opponent down and walks across his back, then waits for Curry to get up to his knees and bumps him in the face with his ass. I think that’s where Rikishi got it. A chinlock is applied by Alex Wright’s former flunky, and TAKA provides him with a spoon. Why, you ask? So he can pantomime eating the fake curry off of Daniels’ head. Mr. Michinoku is also kind enough to offer a mug of water with which to wash things down. I probably found that whole exchange about ten times funnier than I should have.

We get back to the serious wrestling now, as Super Boy and TAKA are back in. Things don’t look good for Supes, as Michinoku and Magnum team up to hit him with the KDX camel clutch/dropkick combo before switching roles and doing it for a second time. The triple humiliation spot follows, with Fujita getting the honor of standing on his adversary’s back. When that breaks up, Curry Man ambushes Fujita and takes him down with a drop toe hold, setting up a senton from Super Boy for another nearfall. A moonsault also gets two for porky, and he brings in Suwa. Mr. Suwa uses his power, which I believe derives from his impressive acne scarring, to get a brainbuster for two, and he goes to the corner for some choking and mudhole stomping. After that, Fujita is placed in the tree of woe and dropkicked in the face. A slam sets up a pretty nice sequence, as Super Boy drops a slingshot senton, followed immediately by a Curry Man split-legged moonsault, which is immediately followed by a Judo Suwa slingshot elbow drop. Believe it or not, all that can get is two. Minoru mounts a comeback when some heel miscommunication sees Daniels throwing him into perfect position to rana Suwa, and then there’s a malfunction at the junction as Super Boy mistakenly dropkicks both of his teammates. That’s the perfect opening for a hot tag to Magnum Tokyo, and he takes everybody out en route to hitting a big dive on Curry Man.

TAKA and Suwa then pair off as a result of the ring being emptied, and Michinoku fires off a rana before Judo takes over with a pair of flapjacks for two. Magnum makes the save and goes up against Super Boy, with the stripper taking an early advantage by landing a top rope rana. He has difficulty slamming Super Boy, however, and Supes gets his own slam and a moonsault for two. TAKA takes down SB with a missile dropkick out of nowhere, and he signals for the Michinoku Driver . . . but, once again, the masked man’s center of gravity is just too low. Supes gets another slam/moonsault combo for two, and this time it’s Fujita making the save. Super Boy ignores him, deciding instead that it’s time to bust out his tope suicida on Michinoku. FLY, FATASS, FLY! Curry Man is now left in the ring with Fujita, and he gets an Ace crusher for two, only to have a second one blocked. Minoru gets his Northern lights suplex for two, and he jumps in to an Ace crusher of his own for a second nearfall. Those two then brawl out of the ring, leaving us instead with the duo of Magnum Tokyo and Judo Suwa. Tokyo gives the opposition a drop toe hold to the bottom turnbuckle, and then lays him out with a DEADLY inverted superplex! The indescribably cool Viagra Driver sets up a shooting star press from Magnum, but Suwa’s buddies make the save on what would’ve been a certain finish otherwise.

Super Boy and Curry Man are left alone with Tokyo, and they get a double team slam and dogpile on him for a two count. A Steiner-style super bulldog follows from the heels and also gets two, as TAKA makes the save. Super Boy is tossed, but Curry Man is still there and looks for the Spicy Drop on TAKA, only to have him flip out of it. The Michinoku Driver hits, but a save is made by Magnum. Then, in the photo op of the night, Michinoku and Magnum go up top and hit STEREO TOP ROPE ASAI MOONSAULTS ON TO SUWA AND SUPER BOY! Meanwhile, in the ring, Daniels is ambushed by a springboard dropkick from Fujita, and that sets up a KILLER dragon suplex to get the three count for Minoru at long last!

Match Thoughts: WOW! A really fabulous spotfest here, as everything was moving at a speed so fast that I could barely take notes on it, and, to make it even better, everything was actually connecting. There was comedy in the beginning that was actually funny (a rarity for wrestling), and that built into a fairly decent heat sequence before climaxing in a huge train wreck of flashy moves. However, despite the fact that it might have been a trainwreck to recap, you could clearly tell that there was no point at which the competitors were lost or confused as to what was going to happen next. Almost every pinfall after the hot tag to Magnum Tokyo would have been a believable finish, and it’s a credit to the competitors that they would have been bought as finishes yet didn’t do too much to devalue the big moves that set up the covers. Then, to top it all off, we even get the proper ending, as Fujita finally gets the win he has been chasing for so very long. Four great wrestlers clicking on all cylinders here, while simultaneously protecting the weaknesses of the two guys who aren’t quite up to their level. ***3/4

Match Numero Deis: Tiger Mask IV vs. Dos Caras

This is what it all comes down to. Tiger Mask ambushes right at the start, drop kicking his opponent out of the ring . . . but things start to go terribly wrong for kitty as Caras sidesteps the subsequent dive attempt. After that, Tiger is sent to the ring post a grand total of four times, and he’s taken down with a flying forearm back on the inside. After that, Caras slaps on a wacky indescribable lucha submission hold, and he changes to about four different variations before Tiger finally makes the ropes. Normally I like watching Caras making pretzels out of people, but with these holds it was far too difficult to tell what body part was actually being worked. Instead, I was just scratching my head and asking, “What does that actually do?” Never a good sign. Dos Caras continues his dominance by making Tiger go splat with a front body drop, which is a prelude to the camel clutch. TMIV takes the long way to get to the ropes, and he falls victim to a press slam as soon as he’s out of the hold. The figure four follows, and there’s another rope break. Caras goes right back to another press slam/figure four combo, and he eventually changes this one in to a standing reverse figure four before the ropes are ultimately made one more time.

The good ole’ surfboard is applied, and Caras drops Tiger down in to a pinning combination, though both men’s shoulders were actually down. Tiger Mask makes it to his feet first and gets in a few stomps and a bodyslam before going up to the top rope and missing a swandive headbutt. Poor kid just can’t seem to buy a break tonight. Caras gets what I articulately refer to in my notes as “god knows what,” and it’s reversed in to a chinlock by Tiger Mask. Caras quickly slips out, however, and he immediately begins working on the removal of Tiger’s mask. The youngster has to roll out of the ring to save his identity, and he’s posted two more times when he does. Back on the inside, Caras works a knucklelock before applying the abdominal stretch, and Tiger makes it to the ropes yet again. Caras follows up by again ripping at the mask, but a few chops by IV end that. Some kicks from Tiger follow, and he gets the bigger man down for the first time since the opening seconds of the match. He then wrenches back on Caras’ arm, but the veteran makes it to the ropes rather quickly. He gets a slam and a senton for two, but Tiger manages to block his attempt at a top rope move with a dropkick. This sends Caras to the outside, and ANOTHER dive by Mask misses. Dos kicks a field goal with his opponent’s ribs, and gets two off of a backbreaker on the inside.

Tiger Mask finds himself sitting up on his opponent’s shoulders, but he slips off and looks pretty stupid doing so. Caras gets a series of nearfalls off of a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, a flipping senton, a butterfly backbreaker, and a powerbomb, all in that order. A second powerbomb is blocked with what initially looks like a triangle choke, and Tiger quickly repositions himself so that the hold becomes a cross arm breaker. Dos Caras submits, and Tiger Mask IV is YOUR winner of the 1999 Mask League Tournament.

Match Thoughts: For the final of a major tournament, that was fairly underwhelming. It was basically Caras squashing his opponent for the entire match before Tiger eventually got an out of nowhere submission hold for the victory. It wasn’t even a particularly interesting squash either, as it was primarily based around hold after hold by the veteran. I have nothing against mat or submission based matches, but when the offense in them is blatantly one sided, there’s barely a point. Half of the fun of watching technical wrestling is watching the reversals, and those just weren’t happening here. Combine that with a pretty badly botched spot, and we have a relative snoozer. Also, from a booking standpoint, I didn’t really understand which Caras was suddenly a rudo here when he was a technico earlier in the match. I can see one man having to subtly play heel here, and he’d be the one to do it, but he took it to the extreme. Can’t say that it seemed to affect the live crowd’s enthusiasm that much, though, which is always a good thing. Overall, I would call this *1/2

Overall

This show is pretty much the definition of a mixed bag. It had two main draws, namely the Fujita chase of Crazy MAX and the Mask League Tournament. On one front, it delivered a match that surpassed expectations and was something that I would probably go out of my way to see. On the other front, there was a huge disappointment, not just with the finals, but also with the manner in which Tiger’s progression through Sasuke was handled. If you’re interested in Crazy MAX or any of the other competitors, the six man tag is probably worth tracking down, but you can probably take a pass on the full show given other Michinoku Pro goodness from around the same era.

Of course, the real reason that I reviewed this show had nothing to do with its overall quality and had a lot to do with the fact that it was the promotion’s final attempt to elevate Gran Naniwa. Unfortunately, due to reason outside of his control, that effort came up just a little bit short. The man had the talent to carry an independent level promotion made up of junior heavyweights like Michinoku Pro and also could have eventually been the centerpiece of a major promotion’s junior heavyweight division if he continued to progress. That ascension was sidelined here, and, given the fact that he was one of my personal favorites, it was a particularly sad story in an industry littered with them.

Fortunately we still have the many great matches that Naniwa was involved in during his career to remember him by, and hopefully the Kaientai Dojo tribute in one month’s time does his legacy justice. Godspeed, crab man, godspeed.

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