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Those two matches are going to kill an otherwise good PPV dead in its tracks.
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Tanahashi & Makabe should beat Anderson & Gallows. This keeps Tana & Makabe in the top mix, and they can have a hot program with Goto & Shibata. Doc hasn't worked out, so demote to undercard or just dump him. Anderson is freed up as a single and can finally break through and get elevated by winning G1 after coming close a few times.
Book it.Comment
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Ishii (c) vs Honma, NEVER Title, added to Dontaku.
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DRAGON GATE, "DEAD OR ALIVE", 2014.05.05
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
http://www.ustream.tv/DragonGate - $25
16:00 JST | 09:00 EU | 08:00 UK | 03:00 EDT | 00:00 PDT
0. Mondai Ryu vs Ryotsu Shimizu vs Kotoka
1. Monster Express (Uhaa Nation & Shachihoko BOY) vs Mad Blankey (Cyber Kong & Kzy)
2. Gamma & Yosuke♡Santa Maria vs Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! & Jimmy Kagetora)
3. Open the Brave Gate Championship: Flamita © vs Jimmy Susumu
4. Open the Twin Gate Championship: Monster Express (Akira Tozawa & Shingo Takagi) © vs Oretachi Veteran-gun (Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fuji)
5. Open the Triangle Gate Championship: Millenials (T-Hawk, Eita & U-T) © vs Oretachi Veteran-gun (Dragon Kid, K-ness & Super Shisa)
6. Open the Dream Gate Championship: Ricochet © vs YAMATO
7. Steel Cage Survival Scapegoat Mascara contra Cabellera: Naruki Doi vs BxB Hulk vs Jimmy Kanda vs Mr. Quu Quu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin vs Masato Yoshino vs CIMA*
*each competitor has a scapegoat on the outside of the cage and the scapegoat of whoever is last to escape have to lose either their mask or their hair, respectively. The scapegoats are as follows; Doi = Kzy, Hulk = Cyber Kong, Kanda = Jimmy Susumu, Tanizaki = Genki Horiguchi, Yoshino = Shachihoko BOY, CIMA = Dragon Kid
Alan4L breaks down the cage match:
I think Hulk loses, Kong gets unmasked, and Mad Blankey finally turns on Hulk. Hulk is stale as fuck and needs a reboot. I though Kong was unmasking in 2011's cage match, so that's overdue.Here's my TODD'S ODDS for the person who's getting demasked/shaved.
Kanda = Susumu: 2/1 - Seems like getting sympathy of a Susumu sadface is the most natural route to go. He's never lost his hair, and the Kanda/Susumu friendship is usually played up big. Only negative is that it wouldn't play into the Mad Blankey Civil War which has been a big part of this build.
Hulk = Cyber Kong: 3/1 - It seemed like the time for a Kong demasking was a while ago, but still it could be done. And it would make sense for that to lead into Mad Blankey turning on Hulk which many see as a lock.
Doi = Kzy: 4/1 - Part of me just can't see Doi losing, but the other part really can see Kzy sitting in that chair getting his lovely locks shorn - after trying to be the MB peacekeeper through all the strife.
Tanizaki = Genki Horiguchi: 8/1 - Seems doubtful as it would be too much like comedy and not dramatic if it was Genks.
Yoshino = Shachihoko BOY: 50/1 - No way. Yoshino ain't losing, and Shachi ain't important enough to demask.
CIMA = Dragon Kid: 100/1 - Yeah, not a chance. He may end up as the last guy in with whoever loses though.Comment
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I have no idea what is happening here.Comment
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Can get we an official breakdown of how Mr. Quu Quu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin got his full name, exactly?
Looks like a Dolphin...and?Comment
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He (Naoki Tanizaki) was out with a shoulder injury, and Tomahawk TT was doing a heel impostor gimmick where he stole his name. When the original came back, they feuded over the name. They had a match with a stip where the winner got to keep the name, and also choose the new name of the loser. Fake Naoki Tanizaki won. He said Tanizaki was always crying, and when he cried it sounded like the kyukyu sound a dolphin makes. So he dubbed him Mr. Que Que Toyonaka Dolphin (his hometown is Toyonaka). The feud blow off was another singles match, and the stop this time was he would either get his name back, or retire. He won, but decided he liked the new name (which ended up getting over as a cult thing), and added the Naoki Tanizaki part back into it. Thus, Mr. Que Que Naoki Tanazaki Toyonaka Dolphin was born.
Tomahawk TT left for excursion, and of course came back as T-Hawk of the Millennials.Comment
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So KENTA is officially done with NOAH?
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It was confirmed today that KENTA has resigned from Pro Wrestling NOAH.
The announcement was not unexpected. There had been much speculation on KENTA's future with NOAH over the last 30 days.
We will have the full story on KENTA's resignation on this week's audio show, including when he actually told them, internal reaction of the company, the issues between KENTA and Taue, and where he will likely end up.
He will be working notice for the promotion and finishing up all scheduled dates. The likelihood is that he will finish up after the 5/17 Korakuen Hall show, or the 5/31 show in Differ Ariake, probably the former.
Speculation over KENTA's future began when he spent a week at WWE's performance center in January. Upon his return to Japan, KENTA denied that he was looking to leave NOAH, however NOAH began to phase KENTA out of the main event slot by prematurely rushing into a match between new GHC Champion Yuji Nagata and it's top star - and then cementing booking plans to make Naomichi Marufuji the companies top babyface.
New Japan also had plans to kickstart a NOAH vs. New Japan angle at Invasion Attack, of which KENTA was to be the focal point. This would be the start of several NJPW appearances. However the angle was dropped just prior to the show, fuelling speculation that New Japan had lost interest in doing an interpromotional feud when NOAH couldn't commit KENTA to certain dates because of a undefined contractual issue.
KENTA is publicly claiming that he has not yet signed with another promotion, which may well be the case. However there are only two real options which would explain his resignation from NOAH: WWE or New Japan.Comment
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Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada will star in the Japanese music video version of Pharrell William's "Happy".Comment
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If it's anything like Urijah Faber and his hot sister in the U.S. version, it will be glorious.
They're in @ the 36:00 mark
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Sneak preview of the opening passage to my New Japan "Wrestling Dontaku" review
With the crazy days of the 2012 & 2013 loaded supershows firmly in the rear view, New Japan presented what on paper certainly looked like a mixed bag at the Fukuoka International Center.
Underdog hero Tomohiro Ishii facing (even bigger) underdog hero Tomoaki Honma looked great.
Satoshi Kojima vs Wes Brisco? Not so much.
Kazuchika Okada, who didn't even have a title defense at Invasion Attack, taking on a fresh, exciting opponent in newly signed former TNA star AJ Styles? Awesome.
Shinsuke Nakamura teaming with washed up MMA star Kazushi Sakuraba to take on two members of the Gracie C-team? Welp.
With the perceived quality of people like Brisco, Sakuraba, and the Gracie's aside, the reality is that these are the types of shows you are going to see moving forward. Three or four incredible looking bouts, and three or four matches that'll be hard to get excited about. The plan seems to be to elevate each title to the point that they can rotate each major star in and out of the featured matches, which in New Japan are always expected to be physical and worked at a hard pace.
The Intercontinental title, once an afterthought held by undercard guys like Masato Tanaka & MVP, is now nearly on par with the IWGP Heavyweight title. The NEVER Openweight title, which was meant to be a developmental title of sorts and regarded even lower than the IC title ever was, has been built up as a legitimate semi main event belt thanks to the great series of bouts between Tomohiro Ishii & Tetsuya Naito. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, basically forgotten about while held by Prince Devitt, is now around the waste of & being frequently defended by Kota Ibushi, a man the company clearly has long term plans for. The IWGP Tag titles have been positioned as the semifinal on multiple major shows this year, which hadn't been the case in years.
Will fans accept this? We don't know yet. What we do know, is the roster was simply not going to hold up physically if the 2012-2013 pace was maintained. There has been no noticeable change at the gate, but trends take time. The champions & titles are all over, but will the fans continue to accept shows like Invasion Attack where the IWGP champion was in a mid card tag bout? Time will tell, but if the main events of those shows continue to be matches the caliber of Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, I think fans will adjust to the new pattern.
The other forgotten aspect of this, is the potential brand split that Tanahashi hinted about in January, and that the company teased in February with two "New Beginning" PPV's held two days apart. Both shows did strong business, with each show splitting up the major bouts that normally all would have occupied one mega show. It's hard to argue with that from a business perspective, as they effectively doubled their revenue without burning a single potential future money match.Comment
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New Japan Best of the Super Juniors XXI
Block A
Jushin Liger
KUSHIDA
BUSHI
Mascara Dorada (CMLL)
Ricochet (Dragon Gate)
Alex Kozlov
TAKA Michinoku (K-Dojo)
Matt Jackson
Block B
Tiger Mask
Ryusuki Taguchi
El Desperado
Alex Shelley
Kenny Omega (DDT)
Rocky Romero
Taichi
Nick Jackson
Pretty awesome field. Best choice from CMLL. I'm shocked Dragon Gate is letting Ricochet do jobs. Omega is great.
Potential winner is wide open. No one obvious. I'll go with Omega. Politically he can job to Ibushi no problem, and they will have a great match.Comment
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