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BG Says Special Edition: Pro Wrestling NOAH and the Nippon Television Cup Tournament

March 25, 2008 | Posted by Brad Garoon
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BG Says Special Edition: Pro Wrestling NOAH and the Nippon Television Cup Tournament  

NTV Cup

During NOAH’s 2007 Summer Navigation tour the company held the Nippon Television Cup Tournament. It was a round robin style tournament between six teams of junior heavyweights from both Japan and the United States. Every team would face every other team one time and get points based on the match results. It was two points for a win, one point for a draw and no points for a loss. The standings started out like this:

Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin – 0 Points
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe – 0 Points
Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi – 0 Points
Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards – 0 Points
Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki – 0 Points
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori – 0 Points

Before the tournament could begin on July 1st NOAH held an NTV Cup Battle Royal. That match saw GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Kotaro Suzuki win, last eliminating the most inexperienced man in the match Atsushi Aoki. With that match behind them the tournament got underway the following night.

Davey Richards & Bryan Danielson VS. Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki [7/1/07]
Richards and Aoki start. Richards powers Aoki to the ropes and gives a clean break. He hits the shoulder kick but Aoki comes back with a headlock takedown. They trade holds on the mat to a stalemate. Danielson tags in and goes for a cross armbreaker. Failing that he sinks in a nasty wristlock but Aoki kicks him away. Romero tags in and puts on a cross armbreaker. Danielson rolls into a lateral press and hits a knee to the shoulder to escape. Romero goes back to the hold but Danielson escapes again. Romero starts to stretch Danielson so Richards kicks him off. Aoki and Richards tag in and Richards puts Aoki on the mat. He puts on a crossface and hits a chinbreaker. Aoki comes back with a suplex to the floor and Romero follows Richards out with a suicide dive. Romero tags in legally and puts on the octopus stretch. Aoki tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on a chinlock and tags to Romero. Romero hits a dropkick off the second rope for 2. Aoki tags in and they hit a double back elbow for 2. Aoki hits a bodyslam and a kneedrop for 2. They trade strikes and Richards tosses Aoki onto the top rope. Danielson tags in and hits a European uppercut for 2. He puts on a half crab but Aoki gets to the ropes. Danielson hits a running forearm but Aoki catches him with a northern lights suplex for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker but Richards breaks it up. Romero tags in and hits a dropkick. The referee missed the tag and sends Romero out. Richards and Danielson hit a double facebuster and sandwich Aoki with kicks for 2. Richards hits a powerslam and Danielson hits a diving headbutt combo for 2. They hit Romero with a double vertical suplex on the floor. Danielson hits a dragon screw on Aoki back in the ring. He goes back to the half crab but Aoki gets to the ropes. Richards and Danielson alternate between sandwiching Aoki with headbutts and kicks and then hit a two-man hanging DDT for 2. Aoki hits Richards with a leg lariat and a back suplex. Danielson goes for the half crab again but Romero makes the save with a springboard dropkick. Romero fights both opponents off with kicks and hits a swinging DDT on Danielson for 2. He hits a high knee but Danielson comes back with a knee to the gut. Richards tags in and hits an overhead suplex. He hits a forearm and a lariat. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a baseball slide on Aoki and Danielson hits a backbreaker on Romero. Richards hits a running powerbomb on Romero for 2 when Aoki saves. Aoki dumps Danielson to the floor and hits a triple jump dropkick on Richards. Romero hits the tiger suplex on Richards for 2. Aoki dives out onto Danielson and which leaves Romero wide open to get rolled up for 2. Romero comes back with a buzzsaw kick and then puts on the cross armbreaker for the win at 19:38. Aoki plays a great face-in-peril and the match progressed nicely but that finish came out of nowhere. In fact, Richards was the only guy in the match who didn’t have a body part worked over that could have more logically lead to the finish.
Rating: ***

The Briscoe Brothers VS. Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi [7/1/07]
Jay and Iibushi start. Iibushi puts Jay on the mat but Jay more than holds his own. Iibushi hits a dropkick but Jay comes back with a hurricanrana. He hits a dropkick and tags to Mark. Marufuji tags in and puts on a hammerlock. Mark comes back with a lateral press for 2. Marufuji hits a bodyslam but misses a slingshot elbowdrop. Mark hits a slingshot double stomp for 2. Jay tags in and goes for a cross armbreaker. Marufuji counters to a roll up for 2. He puts on a wristlock and tags to Iibushi. They hit a double back elbow, getting 2 for Iibushi. Jay hits a facebuster and tags to Mark who hits a springboard kneedrop for 2. Iibushi ducks a clothesline and hits a superkick. Jay comes in and helps Mark double-team Iibushi for 2. Mark gets a roll up for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but releases to hit a gutwrench suplex. He hits a kneedrop for 2. Jay tags in and hits a back elbow for 2. He hits a snap suplex and puts on the Stretch Plum. Mark tags in and hits a climbing dropkick in the corner. Jay hits a Yakuza kick, getting 2 for Mark. Iibushi comes back with a vertical suplex but can’t make the tag. Jay tags in and the Briscoes toss Iibushi into the air. Jay hits a legdrop for 2. Jay goes to the eyes and chops Iibushi in the corner. Iibushi hits a roundhouse kick to the head and a leg lariat. Marufuji tags in and hits a dropkick on Jay. He knocks Mark to the floor and hits an elbow in the corner on Jay. Mark hits a cheap shot but Marufuji responds with a superkick to Mark and a clothesline to Jay for 2. He hits Jay with a tiger driver and puts on a triangle choke. Mark breaks it up. Jay hits the Complete Shot into the turnbuckle and tags to Mark. Mark hits a yelping dropkick on Marufuji and a northern lights suplex on Iibushi. He hits a t-bone suplex on Marufuji for 2. He hits a Samoan drop and the yelping splash for 2. Marufuji hits a facebuster and tags to Iibushi. Iibushi opens up with kicks and hits a standing shooting star press for 2. He hits a leaping front kick to the face for 2. Mark blocks a blind charge and hits a double jump moonsault press. Jay tags in and dropkicks Marufuji to the floor. The Briscoes hit the double shoulder tackle and the powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on Iibushi for 2 when Marufuji saves. Jay hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes but Iibushi brings him down with a back flip kick. Marufuji tags in and hits an enziguiri. He hits a German suplex for 2. Marufuji and Iibushi double-team Jay in the corner. Iibushi hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He misses a moonsault but hits one on the rebound and Marufuji hits a frog splash for 2. Marufuji hits a superkick but Jay comes back with the DVD. Mark hits a shooting star press for 2. The Briscoes hit their double toss and set up for the Doomsday hurricanrana. Marufuji blocks it and hits a tiger suplex on Jay for the win at 16:55 after Iibushi had neutralized Mark by hitting him with an Asai moonsault on the floor. Iibushi has some impressive moves in his arsenal, but this wasn’t the most exciting match. Maybe they were saving their strength for later. I did like the attention paid to who the legal man was, even after the match broke down.
Rating: ***¼

The following night in front of just over one thousand fans Marufuji and Iibushi started up a winning streak by putting Danielson and Richards on a losing streak. The night after that the Briscoe Brothers made short work of Romero and Aoki. That produced the following standings:

So heading into the fifth match the standings are as follows:
Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi – 4 Points
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe – 2 Points
Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki – 2 Points
Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards – 0 Points
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin – 0 Points
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori – 0 Points

The same night that the Briscoes defeated Romero and Aoki another match in the tournament occurred. This match would end up being very important, firstly because it involved the current GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, and secondly for reasons that will become apparent at the end of the tournament.

Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin VS. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori [7/3/07]
For all the people in the crowd and the size of the building this could just have easily been a Ring of Honor show. Suzuki & Ishimori start. They trade holds until Ishimori hits a head scissors takedown. He puts on a hammerlock and tags to KENTA. KENTA keeps the hold on but Suzuki gets to the ropes. Suzuki hits a dropkick and tags to Marvin. KENTA opens up with kicks but Marvin hits a hurricanrana. Ishimori dropkicks Marvin to the floor but Marvin gets a lateral press on KENTA back in the ring for 1. He hits a pair of kneedrops and tags to Suzuki. KENTA fires away with kicks and a big boot. Ishimori tags in and puts on a cravat. Suzuki comes back with a back heel kick and tags to Marvin. Marvin puts on a crossface but Ishimori gets to the ropes. Marvin puts on a Mexican surfboard and Suzuki keeps KENTA from breaking it up before dropkicking Ishimori. That gets 2 for Marvin. Suzuki tags in and hits a bodyslam. He stretches Ishimori out and Marvin dropkicks Ishimori’s head. Suzuki dumps Ishimori to the floor and Marvin tags in before whipping him into the barricade. Back in the ring Marvin hits a dropkick to the face and then he and Suzuki sandwich Ishimori’s head with dropkicks. Suzuki tags in and gets hit with a double stomp to the back. Ishimori hits a dropkick and tags to KENTA. KENTA comes off the top with a forearm and hits a dropkick for 2. He hits a springboard dropkick for 2. He catches Suzuki coming off the second rope with the Ace Crusher for 2. Suzuki hits a dropkick and tags to Marvin. Marvin hits a handspring elbow for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. He puts on a hammerlock and Suzuki keeps Ishimori from making the save. KENTA gets to the ropes. He gets a roll up for 2. He hits a powerbomb and tags to Ishimori. Ishimori hits a top rope dropkick and a hurricanrana off the second rope. He climbs off Marvin’s back to hit a hurricanrana on Suzuki and then kicks Marvin to the floor before following both opponents out with a plancha. Back in the ring Ishimori gets 2 on Marvin. KENTA tags in and whips Marvin into the barricade. He rams Marvin into a wall and Ishimori does the same to Suzuki. Back in the ring KENTA gets 2 on Marvin. He puts on a chinlock but Suzuki breaks it up. Ishimori tags in and stretches Marvin’s upper body. He gets a crucifix pin for 2. KENTA tags in and puts on a camel clutch. Ishimori hits a slingshot dropkick, getting 2 for KENTA. Ishimori tags in and hits a snap suplex for 2. KENTA tags in and hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hits a kneedrop and tags to Ishimori. Ishimori puts on an octopus stretch and rolls Marvin up for 2. KENTA tags in and hits a knee to the gut for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Suzuki breaks it up. Marvin hits a dragon screw and tags to Suzuki. Suzuki hits a top rope crossbody on KENTA for 2. He hits a climbing knee and a second rope leaping knee for 2. He hits a backbreaker but KENTA comes back with a Boston crab. Suzuki gets to the ropes. He counters the Go2Sleep to a hurricanrana. KENTA regains control with a clothesline and tags to Ishimori. Ishimori hits a superkick but Suzuki catches him with a forearm on his way down. Marvin tags in and dropkicks KENTA off the apron. He walks the top rope to hit a dropkick on Ishimori. He hits a Germans suplex for 2. Ishimori hits a snap hurricanrana for 2. KENTA hits a cheap shot and trades forearms with Suzuki. Marvin and Suzuki hit the swing kick on KENTA. They hit a double turnbuckle powerbomb on Ishimori and Suzuki hits a tombstone piledriver on KENTA. They catapult KENTA into Ishimori and Marvin hits the Santa Maria Slam on Ishimori for 2 when KENTA saves. Ishimori comes back with a German suplex on Suzuki and KENTA hits him with the Busaiku knee kick. He hits a falcon arrow on Marvin and Ishimori follows that with the Swanton Bomb for 2. He hits a crucifix bomb for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a the Superstar Elbow for 2. Suzuki hits Ishimori with an uppercut and the Blue Destiny for 2. KENTA hits Suzuki with the Go2Sleep but Marvin counters the move to the Santa Maria Slam. Ishimori rolls Marvin up for 2. Marvin comes back with a roll up of his own and they trade them until the time limit expires at 30:00. The last ten minutes of this match were insane. Not much was worth noting of the first two-thirds but that home stretch was great.
Rating: ***¾

Neither team was given any rest as the following night they were set to wrestle again. Fortunately for both teams they were booked against Romero & Aoki and the Briscoes, respectively, two teams that had also wrestled the night before.

Heading into the sixth and seventh matches the standings are as follows:
Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi – 4 Points
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe – 2 Points
Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki – 2 Points
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin – 1 Points
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori – 1 Points
Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards – 0 Points

Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki VS. Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin [7/6/07]
Aoki and Suzuki start. Suzuki puts on a headlock but Aoki comes back with a dropkick. They trade cross armbreaker attempts and trade holds on the mat. Marvin and Romero tag in and fights with Romero on the mat. They knuckle up and Marvin hits a hurricanrana. They trade armdrags and go for dropkicks at the same time. Marvin asks for a handshake and hits a cheap shot. Suzuki tags in and hits a forearm for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Romero comes back with an octopus stretch. Marvin breaks that up with a superkick. Aoki tags in and hits a drop toehold. He puts on an armbar but Marvin runs in and puts a chinlock on him. Romero follows suit until the referee breaks it all up. Marvin hits Aoki with a kick to the face from the apron and tags in. He hits a slingshot senton for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Aoki gets to the ropes. Marvin hits a leg lariat and then double-teams Aoki with Suzuki for 2. Suzuki tags in and hits a European uppercut for 2. He puts on an octopus stretch but Romero breaks it up. Suzuki dumps Aoki to the floor where Marvin whips him into the barricade and rams him into the post. Back in the ring Marvin tags in and hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits a back suplex for 2. Aoki hits a triple jump dropkick and tags to Romero. Romero cleans house until Marvin dropkicks his knee. Romero hits a springboard DDT for 2. Marvin hits a backbreaker and tags to Suzuki. Suzuki dodges Romero’s kicks and hits a dropkick. Marvin comes in and they double-team Romero, sandwiching his head with springboard dropkicks for 2. Suzuki hits a back suplex for 2. He climbs the ropes but Romero cuts him off and puts on the Diablo armbar. Marvin breaks it up. Aoki tags in and puts on a cross armbreaker. Marvin breaks it up with a top rope legdrop. He hits a superkick on Romero and a double powerbomb on Aoki with Suzuki. Romero and Aoki come back with stereo cross armbreakers but legal man Suzuki gets to the ropes. Aoki hits a dropkick on Suzuki and Romero follows up with a running knee for 2. Aoki hits a Regalplex on Suzuki for 2. Marvin hits a DDT on the apron on Romero as Suzuki hits the Blue Destiny on Aoki. Marvin walks the ropes to hit a dropkick on Aoki. He hits a superkick and an implant DDT for 2. He hits the Santa Maria Slam for 2 when Romero saves. Suzuki hits a tombstone piledriver on Romero and Marvin hits the Canadian Destroyer for the win at 16:05. Worst match of the tournament so far, as everyone seemed to be taking it easy for the most part.
Rating: **¾

The Briscoe Brothers VS. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori [7/6/07]
Mark and Ishimori start. Mark puts Ishimori on the mat and they trade holds. Ishimori goes for a cross armbreaker but Mark escapes and gets back control. They knuckle up and Ishimori gets a wristlock takedown. KENTA tags in and stays on the arm. Jay tags in and locks up with KENTA. Ishimori tags in and gets a head scissors takedown. He hits a pair of dropkicks and tags to KENTA. KENTA and Ishimori hit a double back elbow for 2. Jay goes to the eyes and tags to Mark. Mark kicks the back but that only fires KENTA up. They trade slaps and KENTA lights Mark up with kicks. Jay tags in and hits a back elbow for 2. He puts on a front facelock and knees KENTA’s head until KENTA gets to the ropes. Jay hits a roundhouse kick and tags to Mark. Mark comes out of the corner with a kneedrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock and goes to the eyes. KENTA hangs Mark on the top rope and hits a kneedrop off the top. Ishimori quickly follows with a springboard twisting splash. Ishimori tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. He hits another dropkick for 2. He stretches Mark out but Mark gets to the ropes. KENTA tags in and puts on an abdominal stretch. He switches to a camel clutch but Jay breaks it up. Ishimori tags in and puts on a half crab. KENTA tags in and slaps Mark across the face. Mark comes back with a second rope forearm and tags to Jay. Jay hits a dropkick for 2. Ishimori hits a cheap shot but Jay comes back with a superkick to KENTA and a hurricanrana to Ishimori. He hits Ishimori with the Complete Shot into the corner and a dropkick. He hits KENTA with a backdrop and a big splash for 2. KENTA gets a backslide for 2. He hits a butterfly suplex and tags to Ishimori. Ishimori hits a dropkick off the top and a hurricanrana off the second rope for 2. He gets a sunset flip for 2. Jay hits a facebuster and tags to Mark. Mark misses a crossbody but blocks a hurricanrana to hang Ishimori on the top rope. Jay clotheslines him to the floor and Mark follows him out with a crossbody off the top. Back in the ring Mark hits a slingshot double stomp for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Ishimori gets to the ropes. Jay tags in and they hit the double shoulder tackle. Jay puts on a stranglehold and tags to Mark. The Briscoes hit the double face wash in the corner for 2. Mark hits a back suplex for 2. Jay comes in and the Briscoes hit the double-team throw for 2. Mark tags in and they toss Ishimori into the air. Mark hits a second rope senton for 2. Jay tags in and they hit an elevated legdrop for 2. Jay hits a bodyslam and a legdrop for 2. Mark tags in and they clobber Ishimori down. Mark hits a belly-to-belly suplex for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. Jay tags in and gets hit with a double stomp and a dropkick. KENTA tags in and kicks the Briscoes down. He hits them both with a springboard dropkick and gets 2 on Jay. He hits a high kick for 2. He hits a leg lariat for 2. Jay comes back with a blockbuster neckbreaker and tags to Mark. Mark hits the yelping splash for 2. He hits an exploder for 2. KENTA counters a crossbody to the Ace Crusher and tags to Ishimori. Ishimori hits a handspring DDT for 2. He hits a side suplex for 2. He hits a crucifix bomb for 2 when Jay saves. Mark counters a handspring to a German suplex but Ishimori gets right up and kicks Mark’s face. Mark no-sells that and hits a lariat. Jay and KENTA come in and trade strikes. Jay hits a facebuster and the DVD for 2. The Briscoes go for the Doomsday Device but Ishimori blocks Mark and KENTA hits an electric chair drop on Jay. The Briscoes come back with a guillotine kneedrop on KENTA for 2. They hit the powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for 2. Jay hits the military press DVD for 2. Ishimori hits a reverse hurricanrana on Jay and KENTA hits the top rope falcon arrow on Mark. Ishimori hits the Swanton Bomb on Jay and KENTA follows with the Busaiku knee kick for 2. Mark blocks the Go2Sleep and everyone kicks everyone down. KENTA hits the Busaiku knee kick on Mark for 2 just before the time limit expires at 30:00. This was similar to the last 30-minute draw in many ways, but mostly in that it didn’t get exciting until the last ten minutes. The difference is that this didn’t speed up nearly as much and actually felt like a chore to watch at times.
Rating: ***

After those two matches the standings are as follows:
Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi – 4 Points
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin – 3 Points
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe – 3 Points
Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki – 2 Points
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori – 2 Points
Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards – 0 Points

Then next night Suzuki & Marvin picked up two points by defeated Marufuji & Iibushi. The night after that Marufuji and Iibushi got two points of their own by defeating Romero & Aoki. Two nights later KENTA & Ishimori went three for three in terms of wrestling to a thirty-minute draw against Danielson & Richards, putting the gaijin team on the board with one point. One night later KENTA & Ishimori scored their first victory by defeating Romero & Aoki. The Briscoes made it a three way tie for second place the night after that by defeating Danielson & Richards. On the second to last night of the tournament Danielson & Richards scored their first victory in their last match, defeating the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Suzuki & Marvin, and pulling themselves out of last place. Going into the final night of the tournament the standings looked like this:

Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi – 6 Points
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin – 5 Points
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori – 5 Points
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe – 5 Points
Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards – 3 Points
Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki – 2 Points

KENTA & Taiji Ishimori VS. Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi [7/15/07]
If Marufuji & Iibushi win this match then they will have eight points and be far enough ahead of the junior tag champs and the Briscoes to win the tournament. If KENTA & Ishimori win then a win in the Briscoes vs. Marvin & Suzuki match will lead to a first place tie. I think that makes the winner of this match at least a little more predictable. KENTA and Marufuji start. KENTA boots Marufuji down and kicks his back. They dodge each other’s offense and fire up the crowd. KENTA goes after the arm so Marufuji responds in kind. KENTA gets to the ropes. Iibushi and Ishimori tag in and lock up. Ishimori grabs a headlock and gets a head scissors takedown and a dropkick. They knuckle up and fight on the mat. KENTA tags in and kicks Iibushi’s back. Iibushi responds with kicks to the leg and actually knocks KENTA down. Marufuji tags in and hits a dragon screw between the ropes. He puts on a leglock and synchs in a stranglehold. Iibushi tags in and kicks the back for 2. He puts on a chinlock but KENTA hits a chinbreaker to escape. KENTA hangs Iibushi on the top rope and hits a kneedrop off the top. Ishimori dives in with a Swanton bomb and then tags in legally. He puts on a crossface and rolls Iibushi up for 2. He hits a basement dropkick for 2. KENTA tags in and hits a double back elbow for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Iibushi gets to the ropes. Ishimori tags in and puts on a camel clutch. He hits a dropkick and tags to KENTA. KENTA slaps Iibushi across the face for 2. Iibushi dodges a blind charge and hits a leg lariat. Marufuji tags in and hits a back elbow. Ishimori runs to help KENTA in but Marufuji wipes both opponents out with clotheslines. He hits a simultaneous arm and leg whip and then hits a clothesline for 2. He hits a superkick and a roundhouse kick. He hits an enziguiri but KENTA comes back with the Ace Crusher. Ishimori tags in and comes off the top with a dropkick. He hits a hurricanrana off the second for 2. He hits a basement dropkick and a standing moonsault for 2. He knocks Marufuji to the floor but Marufuji comes back with a springboard clothesline. Iibushi tags in and opens up with kicks. He hits a nasty kick to the chin for 2. He hits a standing corkscrew moonsault for 2. Ishimori comes back with a Pelé kick and a crucifix bomb for 2. Iibushi counters a handspring to a German suplex for 2. Ishimori hits an enziguiri but Iibushi hits a roundhouse kick. KENTA tags in and keeps Marufuji from doing the same. He brutalizes Iibushi with kicks and hits the Busaiku knee kick for 2. Iibushi comes back with a Matrix block and a kick to the head. KENTA boots him down and Ishimori pulls Marufuji to the floor. Ishimori hits a springboard dropkick on Iibushi and KENTA climbs the ropes. Iibushi hits Ishimori with a suplex and kicks KENTA off the turnbuckle. He hits a bodyslam on KENTA and climbs. Marufuji climbs too and they hit a moonsault and a frog splash, respectively. Iibushi hits a standing shooting star press for 2. Iibushi jumps from the mat to the top rope and flips into a legdrop on KENTA. He climbs the ropes and hits a phoenix splash for 2 when Ishimori saves. Ishimori takes out both opponents with a dropkick and hits a Swanton Bomb on Iibushi. KENTA follows up with kicks for 2. He hits a tiger suplex for 2. He hits the falcon arrow on Marufuji and Ishimori follows that with the Superstar Elbow. Iibushi gets a crucifix pin on KENTA for 2. KENTA catches a kick and hits the Go2Sleep for the win at 21:43. Absolutely insane match. I want Iibushi to come to the states. That kid looked like a star and actually outshined everyone else in the match. This is what I think of when I think of the best of junior wrestling.
Rating: ****½

Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin VS. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe [7/15/07]
That last match is going to be tough to follow, but this is the rematch I’ve been waiting for! Whichever team wins here will tie KENTA & Ishimori in the tournament, logically leading to a tiebreaker. Jay and Marvin start. They lock up and Jay pushes Marvin to the ropes. Marvin hits a handspring crossbody for 2. He hits a double jump hurricanrana and follows Jay to the floor with a spinning flippy… thing. Suzuki kicks Mark to the floor and dives out onto him. Back in the ring Jay asks for a handshake and hits a cheap shot. Mark tags in and kicks Marvin’s back for 2. Jay tags in and they hit a double Japanese armdrag and a Hart Attack variation for 2. Jay hits a vertical suplex but Marvin comes back with a dropkick. He puts on a leglock but Mark breaks it up. Mark tags in and the Briscoes go for a double superplex. Suzuki runs in and hits Jay with a sunset bomb and helps Marvin hit a doomsday hurricanrana on Mark. Marvin pancakes Mark for 2. The champs double-team Mark for 2. Suzuki tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Mark gets to the ropes. Mark hits a snap suplex but Suzuki keeps him from making the tag. Marvin tags in and puts on a crossface. He puts on the Mexican surfboard and holds it while Suzuki hits a legdrop for 2. Suzuki tags in and hits a bodyslam. Marvin hits Mark with a suplex on the ramp and tosses him back into the ring where Suzuki gets 2. Suzuki dumps Mark to the floor where Marvin pushes him into the barricade. Marvin tags in and hits a low blow. He puts on the Lion Tamer but Jay breaks it up. Marvin puts on a toehold and tags to Suzuki. Suzuki hits a pair of vertical suplexes for 2. Marvin tags in and Mark hits him with a forearm. Jay tags in and hits a Yakuza kick. He hits a leg lariat on Marvin and a hurricanrana on Suzuki. He hits the Complete Shot on Suzuki into the corner. He counters a handspring from Marvin to a German suplex for 2. He gets a roll up for 2 but Marvin comes back with a knee to the face. Suzuki tags in and comes off the top with a crossbody for 2. He hits a back suplex and an atomic drop. Marvin hits a dropkick and the champs hit stereo Funnels for 2. Marvin goes for hit long running dropkick but Mark cuts it off and hits Suzuki with a slingshot senton. The Briscoes hit a double uranage and sandwich Suzuki’s head with dropkicks for 2. Mark makes a blind tag and hits a yelping dropkick. He hits a superkick and the yelping splash for 2. Jay hits a Cactus clothesline on Suzuki and Mark dives out onto Marvin. Back in the ring Mark gets 2 on Suzuki. Jay tags in and hits a Yakuza kick. They go for the Doomsday Device and block Marvin’s beautiful defense from the first match and hit the maneuver for 2. Suzuki fights back and hits a tombstone piledriver on Mark. Jay puts on a crossface but Suzuki gets to the ropes. Jay hits a legdrop for 2. Mark tags in and hits a climbing dropkick for 2. He hits a gutwrench suplex and a kneedrop for 2. Jay tags in and the Briscoes hit the double shoulder tackle for 2. Jay hits a dropkick for 2. Mark tags in and hits a sloppy guillotine split legged moonsault for 2. It was sloppy in that Jay ate a lot of it. Jay tags in but Suzuki hits him and Mark with a dropkick. Marvin tags in and hits a superkick on Jay and an enziguiri on Mark. He kicks Jay’s face and walks the ropes to hit a dropkick on Mark. He climbs up Mark to hit a swinging DDT on Jay for 2. Jay comes back with an enziguiri and tags to Mark. Mark hits a moonsault press for 2. Mark tries three times an eventually hits an exploder for 2. Jay hits a bodyslam and Mark hits a shooting star press for 2. Marvin comes back with a dropkick and tags to Suzuki. Suzuki hits a climbing knee and a dropkick. He swings Marvin into a kick on Mark and hits a German suplex for 2. He sets Mark up top and brings him down with a hurricanrana for 2. With five minutes left Mark dodges the Funnel and hits a German suplex. He hits another exploder and a superkick. Suzuki jabs Mark on his way down and tags to Marvin. The Briscoes hit an elevated legdrop on Marvin for 2. They hit the powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for 2. Suzuki hits Mark with a back superplex but Jay hits him with a missile dropkick. He hits Marvin with a lariat and everyone is down. Jay drags Mark to the corner and tags in. He hits a big boot on Marvin so Suzuki tags in. Jay catches him coming off the top rope with a dropkick and the Briscoes set up for the Doomsday Device. Marvin hurricanranas Mark to the floor and Suzuki hits a reverse hurricanrana and a German suplex on Jay for 2. The champs hit a Doomsday kick on Jay for 2. Suzuki hits the tombstone piledriver for 2. He hits a palm strike and the Blue Destiny for 2 when Mark saves. Mark accidentally superkicks the referee and Marvin hits him with the Santa Maria Slam. The champs hit a double Blue Destiny on Jay a second referee can only get in the ring fast enough to count 2 just before the time limit runs out at 30:00. I wasn’t expecting this to be as good as the original but it was great in its own way. One of those ways was building off the first match. The crowd was tired after the previous match but that didn’t stop these four from pulling out all the stops. This is a great, great match that almost matched the original encounter between these teams on all counts.
Rating: ****½

In the end these are the standings:
KENTA & Taiji Ishimori – 7 Points
Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Iibushi – 6 Points
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin – 6 Points
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe – 6 Points
Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards – 3 Points
Rocky Romero & Atsushi Aoki – 2 Points

All of the teams in the Nippon Television Cup tournament come out to the ring for the award ceremony. Everyone looks pretty dejected about the result. KENTA & Ishimori are given trophies and a check for one million yen. The other teams are all given plaques. Actually I don’t think Romero and Aoki got one but so it goes. I don’t speak Japanese but from the looks of things it seems like KENTA is challenging Suzuki and Marvin to a tag title match. Suzuki’s response seems unfavorable, but the match went down on 8/31/07. For those of you who are curious the champions retained in a match that went just over thirty minutes, I guess proving that without the thirty-minute time limit Suzuki & Marvin would have won their match against KENTA & Ishimori during the tournament.

The 411: BG Says

While I think it’s awesome that NOAH held a tournament like this I have one gripe; non-televised matches. Over half of the matches in the tournament are currently unavailable for viewing. Now I’m sure that like the majority of the matches the majority of the eight that are missing aren’t anything special, but I’d still like to know I can see them if I want to. Most American wrestling companies have shows they don’t film, but they don’t tend to put tournament matches on during them. At any rate what we got to see was a lot of fun, especially the two deciding matches in the tournament. I highly recommend that everyone check out the 7/15/07 Summer Navigation show, because those matches are off the charts.

With that I'm going to call it a career here at 411Mania. I wrote 115 video reviews for this site. I hope you all enjoyed reading my work here and continue to do so at The Cool Kids' Table. I want to thank everyone that helped me here at 411. Thanks to those of you who have supported BG Says and the Special Edition. I've been happy to get the positive feedback for the Special Edition especially. A lot of work goes into them so I'm glad they are appreciated. I hope you all give The Cool Kids' Table a shot as we continue to put out weekly wrestling podcasts, reviews, columns, interviews and of course BG Says and the Special Edition as well as the joint ROH Reviews by myself and Jake Ziegler that you've been asking so much about. It's been real.

411 Elite Award
Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]  legend

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Brad Garoon

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