New GHC Champ: Pro Wrestling NOAH headed to Budokan Hall for their last big show of the year on December 6th infront of a crowd of 12,000 which saw a card including Naiomichi Marufuji’s return from injury to take on and defeat Atsushi Aioki, as well as Takeshi Rikio and Mohammed Yone defeating Kensuke Sasaki and Takeshi Morishima to lift the GHC Tag Team Titles. However, the big news came from the main event. NOAH born and bred Takashi Sugiura defeated GHC Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki after nearly twenty five minutes of action to lift the title for the first time in his career. Sugiura made his debut in Pro Wrestling NOAH at the end of 2000, becoming the first wrestler to debut in the green ring. Competing initially as a Jr. Heavyweight, he picked up the GHC Jr. and Jr. Tag belts before moving up to heavyweight in 2007 and winning the GHC Tag Team titles with Naiomichi Marufuji. Personally, I think it’s good that NOAH is going in a new direction with younger stars on top. Let’s see what 2010 brings for the promotion, along with their 10th Anniversary…
Super J Cup 5th Stage: The full line up has been announced for the Super J Cup, and as I predicted one of the last two spots went to a Pro Wrestling NOAH representative: Naiomichi Marufuji!!!!! The recently returning NOAH star won the Super J Cup in 2004 and since then became the star of both the Junior and Heavyweight ranks in NOAH, becoming the promotion’s only grand slam champion. And his opponent in the Super J Cup? Jushin Thunder Liger! The match, one of the most eagerly anticipated junior dream matches in Japan main events the first day of the Super J Cup at Korakuen Hall.
Other first round matches from the opening night, set to take place on December 22nd in a NJPW vs. Outsiders format include: Taichi vs. Michinoku Pro’s Tigers Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi vs. FREEDOM’s GENTARO, AKIRA vs. Dragon Gate’s YAMATO, Jado vs. DDT representative Danshoku Dino, Gedo vs. recently announced DDT rep Kota Ibushi, Prince Devitt vs. NOAH’s Atsushi Aoki, and Koji Kanemoto vs. Michinoku Pro’s Fujita “Jr.” Hayato. December 23rd hosts the second round, semi finals and final, with the winner going on to the Tokyo Dome on January 4th to take on IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Tiger Mask with the title on the line. Speaking of which…
NJPW At The Tokyo Dome Rumours: First and foremost, Hulk Hogan was approached to wrestle on the January 4th supershow after his Hulkamania tour of Australia, but declined due to scheduling conflicts (The January 4th Impact is going out live), and he’s a physical wreck (His hip blew out in a match with Ric Flair). Also, a 5 vs. 5 match series of NOAH vs. NJPW matches is expected, with GHC Champ Sugiura possibly taking on Hirooki Goto. If the NOAH participation is announced before the Super J Cup, expect Marufuji to win and take on Tiger Mask. Also rumoured is a high profile US wrestler on the level of Hulk Hogan. My guess is Ric Flair… Team 3D are also confirmed for the card in a three way match for the IWGP Tag Titles against Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson, and Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito in a three way match.
SMASH: After the dissolution of HUSTLE last month, a new grouping has emerged called SMASH, as a successor to the fallen promotion. Announced at a press conference on December 8th, TAJIRI said that he would be taking control of the wrestling aspects of the promotion, while the promotion would also run mixed martial arts and kickboxing shows. Their first show takes place on March 26th 2010.
