The Navigation Log 4.13.08: Global Tag League Update, Suwama Wins Champion’s Carnival, and Japanese Indy Stars Debut in ROH

Onto the Navigation Log!

Global Tag League
The league continues on its merry way through Japan and the results coming back are getting more and more interesting.

4/6
If you remember from last week, the dark horse team of Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano had upset Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima to get their first two points. They would continue to win with another big upset over the team of Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio. Elsewhere Takeshi Morishima & Mohammad Yone finally got some points on the board with a win over Akira Taue & Go Shiozaki.

4/8
It was another loss for Taue & Shiozaki as they fell to the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura. Despite having not lost until this point, it was the first win for the champions.

4/10
Not a very thrilling night of tournament action in my opinion. Akiyama & Rikio vs. Taue & Shiozaki and Morishima & Yone vs. Takayama & Sano both ended in draws. Two draws on one show? Perhaps not the best of finishes, but with the booking of these round robin tournaments points determine everything and booking has to accommodate that.

4/12
Despite two inconclusive finishes on the previous show, this big production in Hiroshima produced major results. Akiyama & Rikio got one of the biggest wins of the tournament as they knocked off the tag team champs Marufuji & Sugiura. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa finally got a win as they managed to overcome Sasaki & Nakajima. Meanwhile Takayama & Sano scored big over Taue & Shiozaki with a win that gave them the lead in the point standing.

So as of now the Global Tag League standings look like this:
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano: 7 points
Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio: 5 points
Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima: 5 points
Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito: 4 points
Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura: 4 points
D-Lo Brown & Buchanan: 4 points
Takeshi Morishima & Mohammad Yone: 3 points
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa: 3 points
Akira Taue & Go Shiozaki: 3 points

And there’s quite a bit more of this tournament still to go. The biggest surprise of the week was Takayama & Sano’s big surge to capture the lead. With three more matches left, if they can avoid any losses they stand a good shot at taking this thing or even forcing a draw at the end. Unfortunately, they are not booked for tournament action at the Budokan, so the chances of them winning will be slim unless a tiebreaker happens. Smith & Saito will be another team to look for. They’re going to have a string of matches and could threaten the top of the bracketing. I still see Akiyama & Rikio taking this thing, but how it plays out in the end will be interesting.

I’m also liking the slow build for Shiozaki that seems to be taking place. He’s been steadily gaining momentum and wins as of late as evidenced by the fact that he and Taue haven’t been shut out in this tournament. Even better, he’s won the pinfall for his team.

Champion’s Carnival Finished
All Japan’s Champion’s Carnival wrapped up this past Wednesday with a new winner taking the whole thing. The final standings were as follows:

Block A
Hiroshi Tanahashi: 6 points
Keiji Mutoh: 5 points
Toshiaki Kawada: 5 points
Satoshi Kojima: 4 points
Taiyo Kea: 0 points

Block B
Suwama: 5 points
Joe Doering: 4 points
Kensuke Sasaki: 4 points
Minoru Suzuki: 4 points
Osamu Nishimura: 3 points

Finals: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Suwama
2008 Champion’s Carnival Winner: Suwama

The finals came down to Suwama and Tanahashi, with All Japan’s Suwama coming out on top of New Japan’s Tanahashi. Fans were very excited for this match as it represented the younger generation of Japanese stars from two different promotions battling it out in the finals of an old and prestigious tournament. Of course there’s just as many nay-sayers for Suwama (this is after all wrestling and there can never just be simple agreement on some things). However, the match was said to have come off extremely well and overall this year’s Champion’s Carnival has been very well received.

Outside of Suwama’s win, Joe Doering really impressed in his run. Especially with his win over Minoru Suzuki, Doering proved again that he can be a new ace gaijin wrestler for All Japan.

I haven’t been able to watch any of this year’s Carnival yet, but it is a top priority and I will try post some of the better matches in The Weekly Puro as I find them.

Ring of Nakazawa: NEVER SAY HONOR AGAIN
Rising Japanese indy star Kota Ibushi made his Ring of Honor debut this weekend. From the sounds of things he made quite an impression on the Boston fans in his first match against Davey Richards. And though it hasn’t happened yet (as I write this anyway) putting him up against Claudio Castagnoli is brilliant. Really. Claudio’s best matches come against guys who work the cruiserweight-style. He can get an awesome match from guys smaller than himself. For examples see his matches with El Generico, Ricochet, and Pac from last year. The Ricochet match in The Chikara Pro is a perfect example as at the time Ricochet was a lot sloppier than he has become recently. And don’t forget about any of Claudio’s matches with Mike Quackenbush. I’m sure that Ibushi will be invited back and the Claudio match will probably be a must see.

Though Ibushi’s debut has more to it. He was joined by fellow DDT promotion wrestler and freelance star Michael Nakazawa (who the title of this section). Nakazawa debuted in America during Chikara’s King of Trios and hit it off with fans. I was surprised to see his name on the results (though not so surprised that he lost as that’s his… thing lately). And while Nakazawa’s awesomeness cannot really be questioned I still think that this is the sort of thing ROH should be focusing on more when bringing in Japanese talent.

There’s no problem with having names from NOAH come in. Big names like Marufuji, KENTA, and Morishima have good name value, perform well, and fans want to see them. They’re used sparingly and can make an event feel special. But I can imagine that the cost of getting guys like them can be pretty high along with their ticket fees. That’s why I feel like bringing in independent Japanese stars like Ibushi and Nakazawa is a good idea. You can bring in international talent at a lower cost and since they’re not big stars in a major Japanese promotion, you probably won’t see as many ROH stars jobbing to outsiders. There’s a lot of talent in the Japanese indies and it’s just waiting to be tapped into. I’m always puzzled as to why ROH doesn’t bother trying. They’re a member of the Global Pro Wrestling Alliance, which is kind of an organization of wrestling promotions that support each other. They organize their shows so that they don’t conflict with each other, but most important is talent exchange. ROH has this great resource at their disposal, yet they only use about a fraction of it. Some might scoff at the notion of the GPWA, but I think ROH should take advantage of it. Bring in guys from promotions like Kaientai Dojo, DDT, or El Dorado. It would freshen things up a bit in ROH I think.

At Home
Lockdown is tonight! And you know, I was willing to believe that the gimmick PPV was going to pretty good this time around. Even the Queen of the Cage match didn’t look bad since getting into the ring is actually a challenge compared to the normal reverse battle royals TNA has put on. Plus, it’ll be interesting to see the women trying a more in hardcore setting (make what you will of that statement). The card looks good and the build has generally been pretty fun. Then they went and added the handcuff match. I swear it’s like they were throwing darts at a wall of ideas to come up with this. Despite this glaring little misstep I feel good about this PPV and I think it will be a strong one.

Short Takes
-Someone asked last week what other Japanese promotions I follow besides NOAH and Dragon Gate. The answer is El Dorado, DDT, and a few other indy promotions. I’m trying to get more All Japan and New Japan in my schedule but I can only devote so much time a week to watching matches.

-I know puro fans are generally seen as the most pretentious of all of wrestling fans, looking down on the noses of all others. I hadn’t seen it to a huge extent until I saw some of the bitching about Suwama winning the Champion’s Carnival. Yes, a Japanese company is going to book to please internet fans who don’t pay to go to shows, right? Right!

-I can’t tell if I like Backlash’s card yet. More later as I read up on it. But Batista/HBK should be fun and I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to capture the magic of the HBK/Diesel feud.