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Dave Meltzer reported in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that New Japan Pro Wrestling only drew 4,000 fans for its first show at the 11,000 seat Sumo Hall arena in Tokyo, which would make it possibly the least successful show in history for the promotion in that arena.  However, Meltzer's assertion that the show was strong on paper was a bit odd, given that there are major championship matches on every show and none of the outsiders used on the show were particularly major stars (Tajiri and Masato Tanaka are really just small independent level stars).  The main event in particular was poorly hyped (Manabu Nakanishi was buried on the undercard of their biggest show of the year on January 4th) and predictable.  Perhaps the most newsworthy thing on the show was the retirement ceremony for mid level junior heavyweight Milano Collection A.T. which featured appearances by Milano's friend Hayabusa and Milano's trainer Ultimo Dragon.  Toru Yano also cut Hiroshi Tanahashi's hair in the most important post match angle on the show.  Full results are available from puroresufan.com.

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Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced that Toshiaki Kawada has been booked to face Masao Inoue on February 18th in Osaka and Takeshi Morishima on February 28th at Tokyo's Budokan Hall.  This will be only Kawada's third and fourth appearances with the promotion and is a pretty big deal given the company's history.

Toshiaki Kawada was one of the few All Japan Pro Wrestling stars to stay with the company when Mitsuhara Misawa left the promotion in May 2000 to form his own company Pro Wrestling NOAH.  Kawada was Misawa's greatest career rival, but their relationship behind the scenes was acrimonious, once even coming to blows backstage, so it was not a surprise when Kawada opted against joining Misawa's new promotion to stay on as All Japan's top star.  However, his position as All Japan's top star was fairly short-lived, as New Japan Pro Wrestling's Keiji Mutoh defected to All Japan in January 2002 and soon after bought the company from Motoko Baba.

In the spring of 2005, Kawada finally left All Japan and became a freelancer.  With obvious money to be made from the first Misawa vs. Kawada match in five years it wasn't a surprise that the match was quickly booked to headline Pro Wrestling NOAH's second and what turned out to be last Tokyo Dome show on July 18th 2005.  Despite the show coming close to selling out the 52,000 seat arena, the decision was made not to bring back Kawada after he cut an unscripted promo on the televised show causing it to overrun.

Kawada would not wrestle for the promotion again until Mitsuhara Misawa's second memorial show in Osaka on October 3rd 2009 where he returned for one night only to reform his tag team with Akira Taue, who had numerous classic tag matches with Misawa and his partners Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama in the mid 1990s.  On that night they defeated KENTA and Misawa's former partner Jun Akiyama in a well received match. 

The return of Kawada is a logical move to make, but perhaps also a desperate one, as Pro Wrestling NOAH tries to bounce back from a series of promotional setbacks, including the loss of network TV, the death of owner and top star Mitsuhara Misawa, and the recent losses of Kenta Kobashi, KENTA, Go Shiozaki and Kotaro Suzuki due to injuries.  NOAH is undergoing a period of restructuring, with six of their undercard wrestlers and one referee cut from their contracts at the start of the year to save costs.  There's also a greater reliance on using big name freelance talent and outsiders to help them draw on their larger shows, with not only Toshiaki Kawada being used on their most recent tour for selected dates, but also Yoshihiro Takayama, Kensuke Sasaki, Yutaka Yoshie and New Japan's Togi Makabe.  In the short term it should work, but in the long term they need to do a better job of promoting their homegrown younger stars to still be able to run the 17,000 seat Budokan Hall on a fairly regular basis. 

If I wasn't sure before, then I sure as hell am now.

Inoki is love.

First he used pro wrestling to promote world peace.  Now his promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation, has announced Minowaman vs Necro Butcher for its February 22nd show.  A popular Japanese MMA fighter against a well-read crazy brawler pro wrestler who stole his scenes in The Wrestler.  In a regular worked wrestling match.  This is way cooler than forcing pro wrestlers into MMA fights where they'll get their asses kicked and I'm sure that it will be at least a million star match.

Also:

- Daniel Puder will be wrestling for the first time in several years as he takes on Eric Hammer.

- Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido will face off with Yoshiaki Fujiwara  & Original Tiger Mask

- Yoshihiro Takayama & Ultimo Dragon will be on the card

- Inoki is trying to book Bob Sapp and Josh Barnett for the show

The 18th annual New Japan Pro Wrestling January 4th Tokyo Dome show is already over thanks to time differences.  Mainly featuring NJPW vs Pro Wrestling Noah matches on top of the card, it drew an announced 41,500 fans.  If that number is remotely close to legitimate, then it's pretty impressive.  Results:

1. Super Strong Machine, Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto & Kazuchika Okada
2. Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devittbeat Ultimo Guerrero & Averno to retain the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
3. Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito beat Team 3D and Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson in a three-way hardcore match to win Team 3D's IWGP Tag Team Titles
4. TAJIRI & Masato Tanaka beat Yuji Nagata & Akebono
5. Terry Funk, Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi beat Abdullah The Butcher, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
6. Togi Makabe beat Mohammed Yone
7. Naomichi Marufuji beat Tiger Mask to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Go Shiozaki
9. Takashi Sugiura beat Hirooki Goto to retain the GHC Heavyweight Title
10. Shinsuke Nakamura beat Yoshihiro Takayama to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Title

I have always considered the senton bomb to be among the more underrated of jumping-and-landing-on-your-opponent type maneuvers. While there is some give to, say, the underside of a leg or the belly, the lumbar spine is a portion of the body that is rigid and when attached to a somewhat hefty man, I really don't see how it can be performed without genuinely crushing your foe.

Jeff Hardy's senton, in my opinion, sort of deflects the force away from the opponent and for that reason I much prefer Dick Togo's senton where all force is directed straight down onto his victim.

NOAH "SUMMER NAVIGATION 2009", 7/25/09
Tokyo JCB Hall
3,300 Fans - Super No Vacancy

NOAH is still putting on wrestling matches after the death of beloved star Mitsuharu Misawa. See the finals of the Junior Heavyweight Tag League and see what you think about the current state of wrestling in Japan.

Kenta Kobashi, the 42 year old Japanese wrestling legend, is rumored to be returning to All Japan Pro Wrestling at the 8/30/09 Sumo Hall show.

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