The Navigation Log 10.28.07: The Battle of Samoa

It’s just been one of those weeks. I’m looking down the very real possibility of having to drop out of school in my senior year of college. Not because of wacky shenanigans but because the school I went to in Japan does not see fit to keep good records. They left a huge chunk of credits off of my transcripts. Given how I won’t be able to renew my government aid for a fifth semester my only real option would just be to drop out. Needless to say, I am pissed.

Luckily, Japan has been action packed this week. And quite the effective distraction from real world problems.

Misawa vs. Joe Part 1: Arrival
Samoa Joe landed in Japan on Monday or Tuesday. As soon as he got off the plane he immediately posed for a picture and began posturing for the Japanese wrestling press. This included promising to take the GHC Heavyweight title from Misawa, but also to ask the returning Kenta Kobashi for a rematch. There were many who rolled their eyes at this, since while Joe was a main event player and well respected he probably wasn’t going to make any big impact. The foreign challenger has no chance, but he’s got to put on a big show about it.

Misawa vs. Joe Part 2: Yokohama
Prior to his title match, Joe was booked into a tag team match in Yokohama. It pitted Misawa & Takeshi Morishima against Samoa Joe and Yoshihiro Takayama. Not a bad match on paper at all. Heading into the match one had to really wonder what course they would take for the finish here. Neither Joe or Takayama seemed likely to job, especially Joe since this was two days before his title match and getting pinned by either opponent would have looked stupid. It made the most sense for Morishima to take the fall in this one.

However, in a shocking twist that made puro fans across the Internet do a double-take Joe pinned Misawa. Cleanly, after an Island Driver. Yes, he beat Old Man Misawa with a variation of his own move, Emerald Flowsion. This is significant for the Japanese wrestling scene since Misawa hadn’t been pinned in two years. Yet Joe comes in for his first match and beats him 1-2-3. People suddenly became interested in the title match again. Which was a good thing, since most people figured it would end up being just another Misawa special.

Misawa vs. Joe Part 3: Budokan
In the end, the inevitable happened. Despite his best effort, Samoa Joe failed in his bid to become GHC Heavyweight champion. But his journey to NOAH was not in vain as he can now have the right to say that he pinned Mitsuhara Misawa. No word on the quality of the match itself, but I have a feeling that it is going to be decent. It might end up being better than Misawa vs. Taue from earlier this year. As it stands now, Misawa will most likely finish out the year as champion. Joe might be back for more NOAH bookings though there are no dates scheduled at the moment.

Other Budokan News
D’Lo Brown & Buchanan had a great week last week, winning the GHC Heavyweight tag title tournament. The good times did not continue to roll on for RO&D as they dropped the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team titles to the team of Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura. I was kind of hoping that we’d be seeing RO&D booked more in NOAH, but alas it is not to be. As I’ve said many times, it does appear that NOAH is high on Sugiura and wants to push him into the heavyweight division. This is a big first step as he’s now got a heavyweight title belt with NOAH’s only Grand Slam winner, Marufuji. At this rate, Sugiura is one title match away from being the second Grand Slam GHC winner.

I mentioned awhile back that the most likely scenario for Mushi-King Terry once they forgot he had a title to defend, was that as soon as they remembered he’d get put into a match and immediately loose the belt. Well, it happened. Yoshinobu Kanemaru is now the 14th GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion. It is his fourth time with the belt. Kanemaru is a good, solid performer and is definitely a well established veteran. While Terry’s reign was something of a flop, it does free up the man behind the mask, Kotaro Suzuki, to be even more focused on his tag team with Ricky Marvin. Those two have been stealing shows all year together and hopefully that will get to continue.

Last bit of news from the Budokan Hall was the appearance by Kenta Kobashi. They have confirmed that his return match for 12/2 is going to be Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuhara Misawa & Jun Akiyama. This match was supposed to have taken place in 2006 for when Takayama made his return, but Kobashi’s problems with cancer forced it to be put on hold. We’ll finally get to see Kobashi after a year away from the ring. Hopefully, he’s up to 100% and isn’t going to end up injuring himself again as he is prone to do.

Keeping Up With Dragon Gate
Since I’ve again been neglecting Dragon Gate, I thought I’d mention this. Think of it as a public service announcement to help everyone who is interested keep up to date with maddeningly hard to follow DG stables.

A couple weeks ago now, Muscle Outlaw’z leader Naruki Doi promised that he would drop three bombshells that would affect every faction in Dragon Gate. Many assumed that this meant someone from Typhoon or New Hazard was going to jump to the heel stable. The shells started to fall on 10/21 as Gamma, who had been expelled from MO’z earlier this year and was thought to be done with Dragon Gate returned. He shook CIMA’s hand and then immediately turned on him. MO’z turned on their long time heel referee Kinta Tamaoka and expelled him. That same night, Yasushi Kanda, who had lost his Open the Brave Gate title to MO’z member Masato Yoshino, joined the heel faction.

This has lead to a few big matches for Dragon Gate’s upcoming shows. A six-man three way captains match has been signed between Typhoon (CIMA, Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid) vs. Muscle Outlaw’z (Naruki Doi, Gamma, Magnitude Kishiwada) vs. New Hazard (SHINGO Takagi, BxB Hulk, Cyber Kong). Only by pinning the team’s captain will they be fully eliminated from the match. That same night we will see one of the best feuds from Dragon Gate reignited as Masato Yoshino defends his Open the Brave Gate title against long time rival K-ness. Finally, SHINGO will face Gamma for a number one contender’s spot against CIMA the night Doi promised to drop his final bombshell.

DDT, Anvil! DDT! DDT! DDT!
Finally, an excuse to make fun of Jake Roberts in this column. This being the final week of October, I wanted to find a really good DDT match to present to you all. It’s been hard so far, with a toss up between the wacky DISASTER BOX scramble ladder match, which turns a parody of TNA’s reverse battle royale. Or a match for the KO-D Openweight title, HARASHIMA vs. Koo. I have decided to go the low road however, and feature a man the likes of which some many never want to meet: Danshoku Dino.

I should perhaps prepare the uninitiated for what they’re about to see. If you understand Japanese, you might recognize that the word “danshoku” means boy’s love. It’s the name typically given to gay porn comics that women love. Dino lives this by molesting his opponents through tea bagging (the Danshoku Nightmare), the Cock Bottom, and stuffing his opponent’s head down his pants for a variety of piledrivers. To make a long story short, Dino plays a gay character.

Dino has what some would call an unhealthy obsession with Kaientai member Men’s Teio. WWE fans will remember his involvement in the stable during the late 90’s which most people remember for the Val Venis “I choppy-choppy your pee-pee” incident, though the whole faction is quite popular in Japan. Dino at one point wanted to team with Teio to go after Marufuji and KENTA’s Gay Homo Crown (GHC) Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles. That never went through, but Dino became the GAY World Anal Champion. At last Dino got Teio in a match and this took place. Meanwhile, I’m left wondering how I’m wrote that last paragraph.

I give to you Danshoku Dino vs. Men’s Teio for the GAY World Anal Championship.

Part 1

Part 2

At Home
Aah Cyber Sunday is upon us. Democracy at it’s finest. Well if democracy featured the IWC battling the 13-15 year old marks for choosing Big Daddy V over John Morrison just to see what would happen in the ECW title match. I kid, but the Cyber Sunday voting this year seems much simpler to deal with this year. As in they can give me matches that I want to see no matter what. Triple H vs. Umaga should be damn entertaining no matter which way they go, as should Finlay vs. Mysterio. Brawls are a lot of fun though I see the Umaga match being the best of the night. I’d be shocked if HBK didn’t challenge for the belt tonight, but I think they can’t go wrong with Jeff Hardy going for it. He’s been putting on good matches and this way they can save the Orton Michaels match for later with a good strong build.

Short Takes
-Incoherence (Hallowicked & Delirious) have won CHIKARA’s Campeonatos de Parejas. This I believe is the first team of technicos to hold the belts unless you want to say F.I.S.T. were technicos when they beat Hero & Castagnoli.

-Thanks to the 411 forums, I was reminded of one of my favorite feuds from 2000, Val Venis vs. Rikishi. It was just fun, though I don’t know why Tazz was involved.

-Japan is great for wrestling and music, but schools there suck a cock.

That’s all for this week from me. I’ve got to get back to sending angry emails to everyone on campus to try and make sure I get a college diploma. If I don’t, maybe I’ll be able to devote more time to writing more columns on 411. Trust me, you don’t want that. Peace folks.