The Navigation Log 7.15.07: 7/15 Budokan Show

Huge weekend in Tokyo as Sunday is NOAH’s Summer Navigation Budokan show. The next day at Differ Ariake will be ROH in Japan. Then Tuesday is the other ROH show in Osaka. So let’s kick things off with a preview of the Summer Navigation’s finale.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 7/15 Budokan

1) Masao Inoue, Tsutomu Hirayanagi, & Ippei Ota vs. Davey Richards, Thoruf, & Akihito Ito
-So what’s worth talking about in this match is Thoruf. I first saw the name in Japanese on the NOAH site and really had to wonder who in hell this was. Fortunately, some info has come out about him. He works out of Minnesota, but also appears in Harley Race’s WLW promotion which is why he’s here. This is a pretty standard opener for NOAH and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Japanese team go over. Richards has been allowed to score some wins lately so I’d expect Thoruf to take the loss.

2) Takuma Sano & Junji Izumida vs. Tamon Honda & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
-It’s got Kikuchi so that’s an automatic plus. He’ll make it fun and Sano can still go. Nothing exciting here I think, just a formula tag match.

3) Yoshinari Ogawa & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Atsushi Aoki
-Ogawa is most likely going to be the next challenger to Mushi-King Terry’s GHC Jr. Heavyweight title. It was assumed that match might happen here, but alas it has not. Ogawa has been on a roll lately and that’s probably going to continue.

4) Takeshi Morishima, Muhammad Yone, and Go Shiozaki vs. Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson, & Rocky Romero
-NOAH vs. ROH right here. It also delivers two previews of the ROH show with Morishima vs. Nigel and Danielson vs. Shiozaki. Some good interactions here would do well in adding some extra heat to the matches the next night. I’m leaning more to the ROH team winning the fall over Yone. Nigel will probably get the fall, but if Danielson does that just adds to his own claim to a title shot. Of course Morishima could run over Romero, but either way it’s a good part of the build.

5) Akitoshi Saito & Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura
-A filler match? Sure. Though there are some things to consider in it. There are two possible title contenders in this one in Saito and Takayama. Saito would essentially be a guy to help pad the champions defense record while Takayama would be a serious threat. Also, NOAH has been interested in pushing Sugiura as a heavyweight in 2007 and another win here wouldn’t hurt him

6) NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament Match
Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori
-Marufuji and Ibushi are currently leading the tournament, but three teams are all behind them by a point. Basically if they win here, they win the tournament. If they lose KENTA and Ishimori will tie with the winner of the second NTV match. If this goes to a draw then they will only win if Mavin & Suzuki vs. The Briscoes also goes to a draw. I have no idea what will happen if there’s a tie in the points at the end, but aside from getting a pair of great matches we may be headed to some drama at the end of this.

7) NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament Match
Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki vs. The Briscoes
-The rematch of their epic clash from the First Navigation in January. These two teams stole the show in a match over the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles in an amazing display. Its a match that is easily NOAH’s match of the year. They broke out some incredible spots that made the Tokyo crowd just go nuts. They’ve got a lot to live up to now, but these four men won’t disappoint. An easy candidate for match of the night.

8) GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio © vs. Kentaro Shiga & Kishin Kawabata
-I said last week that I don’t expect Shiga and Kawabata to win the belts here. But this some great big match experience for them. They don’t have to win, but just being able to hang with Akiyama and Rikio would be a nice rub. That is of course if the challengers are made to actually look like they have a chance to win. If anyone can do it though, it’ll be Akiyama.

9) GHC Heavyweight Title
Mitsuhara Misawa © vs. Akira Taue
-These two had their last singles match back in 2004 which went to a 30 minute draw. This is easily Misawa’s biggest title defense since he won the belt and probably the first time the challenger could be considered a real threat. While both of these guys have been slowed down they are able to dig down and pull out great matches when necessary. I think this is going to be one of those times. Who wins? Hard to tell, but I’m going with Taue.

Dragon Gate/ROH News
I’m combining both these sections since they’re very much related. Back on Tuesday Dragon Gate held a one night tournament to determine the first challenger to CIMA’s Open the Dream Gate belt. In what was a big of a surprise, up and comer from Tozawa-juku Taku Iwasa came out on top. Great for him, but I was hoping for Magnitude Kishiwada myself. Anyway, problems arose when BxB Hulk who was taking part in this tournament suffered a jaw injury. While it did affect the night’s proceedings it did also cause problems for the Dragon Gate/ROH show. Hulk was scheduled to team with New Hazard stable mate SHINGO to take on The Briscoes in the main event for the ROH tag team titles. Hulk himself was replacing YAMATO who had to drop out because of a shoulder injury. So SHINGO will now team with Susumu Yokosuka in the match, but clearly it sucks to be in New Hazard right now. They’re dropping like flies. I would have stayed with the stable and put Cyber Kong into the match, but maybe they’re worried that he’ll lose an eye to a pineapple or something.

I have to say the Osaka show looks like it’ll be the more fun of the two nights of ROH. If only because they seem to be booking it Dragon Gate style. Best example is the Matt Sydal, Ryo Saito, & Dragon Kid vs. Delirious, Masato Yoshino, & Naruki Doi. Sydal just turned heel in ROH while Delirious is the babyface. Here the roles are switched, as Sydal is joining up with the other members of Typhoon and Delirious teams with the Muscle Outlaw’z. Plus the dream match with KENTA & CIMA should rock and hopefully lead to more interaction between the two.

The Tokyo card is just as strong, though not in a fun sense. It seems like they’ve had the notion to get the serious stuff out of the way then the next night bring the fun with Dragon Gate. Which really makes sense considering the crowds they’re performing for. A Dragon Gate audience might not be as interested in watching Nigel vs. Morishima which I imagine is going to be a classic puro style match. Meanwhile, the Osaka crowd is getting a tag title match as it’s main event with the Briscoes. I’m glad both titles are main eventing on this tour as it really puts over how important they are. Good stuff.

Back Home
Victory Road is tonight folks! A solid looking PPV if there ever was one, though there’s very little look forward to. The Ultimate X match is going to be awesome, but I feel that by using for one of the company’s multi-man X Division clusterfucks takes away from it. I mean it’s one of the company’s signature matches right? What’s on the line if someone wins it?

The champions match is interesting. Team 3D is really not likely to win in most people’s eyes so the question is what’s going to happen between Angle and Joe. I’m thinking an Angle win is most likely, because Joe winning here just doesn’t seem likely. TNA is throwing everything behind Angle vs. Joe for the title and will probably now do what they did with Cena and HBK heading into Wrestlemania. It works I think, but it’s hurting the tag and X divisions in the process.

Cage vs. Harris is going to be the most interesting match. Actually we can say the same for Rhino vs. Storm. I’m still hoping for more between Harris and Storm and I would love to see both of these guys move up the ranks, just staying away from each other for a bit. It’s the kind of feud that you can leave on the backburner to pull out for a big moment. Let’s face it, if these two were still fighting now there’d be people complaining that they were bored of the feud. If they continue it later, it’s pretty smart booking I think. Though Harris needs to work on his character a bit.

Short Takes
-Typhoons are not all they’re cracked up to be.

-Pictures of CIMA vs. Liger show that CIMA had new ring gear. His entrance clothes looked suspiciously like something worn in 300. Call me crazy, but that somehow made him even cooler.

-Umaga is the best thing on Raw. I could watch him slaughter Santito forever.

-Chikara sent out a pretty interesting video package for their new star Ophedian. No idea who what’s coming with this guy, but knowing Chikara it’ll be fun.