NJPW Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005

Legacy Review

NJPW Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005

January 4, 2005 from the Tokyo Dome

This show marks the end of the almost decade long run of Wrestling World as the name of the annual January 4th Dome show. After a one off name next year the run of modern Wrestle Kingdoms will begin in 2007. We're still in the worst depths of Inokism, the dark period that almost killed New Japan completely when Inoki was trying to cross worked pro wrestling over with shoot MMA fighting and turning off fans in droves.

As usual this is from the New Japan World archives so Japanese commentary only.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Gedo & Jado and Katsushi Takemura and Wataru Inoue go to a 15:00 time limit draw- No idea why the titles aren't on the line here. Gedo and Jado are members of the latest big heel faction in New Japan, CTU (Control Terrorism Unit). Takemura literally pushes Inoue back into their corner so he can start with Gedo. He charges but Gedo was ready for him. After he recovers Gedo stalls in the ropes to try to cool off the extremely intense Takemura. Gedo sets to lock up...then slides to the floor. After a short chase Gedo snaps Takemura's throat over the top rope. Takemura trips Gedo on the apron, gets in and immediately lays on some ground and pound. Man, what did Gedo do to piss this guy off? I mean, apart from, you know, meeting Gedo. Gedo dodges a slingshot senton. Jado tags in and is willing to lock up. Takemura gets him in the face corner and Jado has to fight out. Jado and Inoue do some back and forth that ends up on the apron. They exchange some shots, then Inoue plants Jado with an apron DDT! Hardest part of the ring TM. The faces stomp away on Jado and Inoue hooks on a camel clutch. Takemura comes in and give Jado a basement dropkick while in the hold. Jado tries to eye rake out of Takemura arm wringers but he ends up right back in. Chops back Takemura into the heel corner. Gedo tags in and cranks his own arm wringers. Takemura gets tossed to the floor. Jado is out there with a chair and whacks Takemura in the back a couple of times. Man, the ring attendants/Young Lions (they weren't all Young Lions doing that job back then) are wearing some BRIGHT orange tracksuits for this show. They're easy to spot, that's for sure. Takemura's back is posted and the heels go to work on it. Takemura tries to fight back but Gedo puts him in a front facelock. Big splash to Takemura's back. Jado tags in and Takemura is dead weight. Jado hits a back suplex for 2. Takemura rolls under a swing, hits a dropkick and tags. Inoue spinning heel kicks get the crowd going for the first time tonight. Spear from Inoue at the 10 minute call. Standing switches and Inoue hits a gutbuster. Jado whips Inoue into a Bret bump and hits him with a couple of rolling German suplexes. He dodges another Inoue spear and puts on a crossface! Nice. Gedo holds Takemura back on the floor. Inoue fights and gets to the ropes. He rolls around Jado with counters and into an armbreaker. Gedo breaks it up. Jado hits a lariato and both sides tag. Lariatos from Takemura for both heels. Gedo runs into a powerslam. Long counter run, Gedo maneuvers out of a sleeper attempt, and the heels get run into each other. Gedo hits a neckbreaker on Takemura. Big splash off the top rope! Inoue breaks the pin up. Takemura hits an F5! Sleeper on Gedo! Into a dragon sleeper! Gedo fights and doesn't go out. Time is almost up, so Takemura lets go and does a desperation cover. Gedo kicks out, and literally one second later the bell rings for the time limit. Solid opener. **3/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Match: Jushin Thunder Liger def Koji Kanemoto in 10:30- The forever rivals go at it in the Dome one more time. Liger is still in his heel run and is the leader of CTU. He and Kanemoto had actually put their differences aside and had been partners the past couple of years, even getting a run with the junior tag titles, but I'm pretty sure Kanemoto has turned face after an injury. An unusual role for him, he was always a natural heel. Heel Liger black and gold gear for him tonight. Both guys are cautious after the bell, until Kanemoto floors Liger with one kick. A flurry of corner strikes puts Liger back down again and he's selling like they're already 10-15 minutes into the match. They don't have much time tonight so they're cutting the usual first half of the match out and getting right to it. Liger reverses a corner whip and kills Kanemoto with a running shotei. Kanemoto rolls to the floor. Liger apron cannonball! Brain buster on the floor! Speed run back in and Kanemoto hits a snap belly to belly suplex. Liger flash roll up for 2. Shotei for 2. The Ligerbomb hits early in the match! Kanemoto kicks out! Big splash off the top for 2. Kanemoto spins around Liger in counters into an ankle lock. Liger gets to the ropes. Kanemoto kicks his ankle out of the ankle. He hits a falcon arrow. Up top Kanemoto goes for a moonsault, sees Liger dodging and lands on his feet, blocks a Liger rolling kick and the ankle lock is back on! Liger goes to the ol' heel eyepoke and hits a sitout powerbomb for 2. And the ankle lock is on again! Kanemoto grapevines the leg! If he was Kurt Angle it'd be over. Unfortunately for him, as good as he is, he's not Kurt Angle. Liger makes it to the ropes again. Kanemoto hits the moonsault for 2. He follows up with a corner knee and some classic boot scrapes. Liger pops out of the corner with another shotei. He sets Kanemoto up top. Backwards. Liger German superplex! Another shotei. Brain buster! A second one! That's it. No, Kanemoto kicks out! The crowd goes nuts for that. Liger puts on an ankle lock! Kanemoto easily counters out into his own. More standing switches and a crazy counter run, Kanemoto gets a roll up for 2 and transitions into a *reverse* ankle lock! Liger counters with a Gedo clutch, and gets the pin! Good stuff, though not nearly on the level of their previous classics. They did the best they could with the time they got. I'm not sure when Liger cashed in his title shot but it wasn't successful as he's already had all his title runs. ***1/2

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Tiger Mask def Heat (c) in 14:17- Hey, a junior title defense on an Inokism era show! It's a Rusev Day miracle. Tiger Mask IV had his first junior title reign in mid-'03 that he had to vacate due to injury, then he won Best of the Super Juniors '04 as part of his comeback. Heat (Minoru Tanaka), who's also a member of CTU and is being cornered by Gedo and Jado for this match, had been champion for just over a year coming in. TM runs in and hits Heat with a dropkick just as the bell rings! Heat goes to the floor. Tope suicida! TM teases another dive but 619 spins instead. Heat pulls TM down and runs him into the post. They go up the entrance ramp. Man, what an awesome looking stage. Too bad I'm still in the shows where World cuts all the entrances out because they don't have music rights anymore. Heat goes for a fisherman's buster on the ramp but TM blocks it. TM slips out of a suplex, then stumbles on the landing, loses his footing and falls off the ramp to the floor! Yeesh. For the record, that was not planned. That was a Botchamania moment. Heat jumps down and throws a few punches to cover, then goes back to the ring so TM can recover. TM staggers to the ring. Heat hits a snap suplex and kneedrops. Camel clutch, then Heat transitions into a guillotine. TM gets a rope break. Heat continues with a basic and pretty dull beatdown. TM comes back with dropkicks. Tiltawhirl backbreaker. Double underhook powerbomb for 2. TM tries to counter a backdrop, but Heat maneuvers around and hits a back kick. More kicks put TM down. Heat back suplex. A second. A third. He sets TM on the top rope. TM fights him off, comes off, and Heat is supposed to counter dropkick him in midair but misses by a mile. TM sells it anyway. This match has been sloppy as hell. Heat hits the fisherman's buster. TM tries a backslide but Heat counters it into a Euro clutch for 2. A TM headbutt off the top is dodged with a great camera shot from above the ring camera showing him splatting on the mat. TM flips out of a German attempt. Heat goes back around and hits a dragon suplex that TM flips over to sell. Straight kick to the head from Heat! TM kicks out! Heat goes for another fisherman's buster but TM counters into a small package for 2. Heat cross armbreaker! TM barely gets a foot on the rope. Heat goes for kicks but TM blocks and hits dragon screws. German for 2. TM ducks a kick and hits a sort of enzuguri. TM spins Heat into a tombstone. He puts on a chickenwing, targeting the shoulder Heat has taped up. TM turns the chickenwing into a suplex! The tiger suplex hits, and TM gets the pin and the title! Very tepid crowd reaction for that, but for a junior title match that was a very tepid match. Especially following a Liger/Kanemoto match. **1/4

 

Amateur Wrestling Exhibition Match: Yuji Nagata def Katsuhiko Nagata in 5:00- Yes, you're reading those last names right and yes there is a connection. This is former IWGP Heavyweight champion in the prime of his career Yuji Nagata facing his own brother in a pointless amateur match in the Tokyo Dome. K. Nagata had no professional experience, but he won a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and later in this year would embark on a very so-so MMA career. I'm not getting deep into this, it's an amateur wrestling match. And a Greco-Roman one at that, where you're really limited in what you can do. The "highlights" are Nagata literally dragging his brother out of the corner to hit a belly to belly suplex, and K. Nagata trying to deadlift his brother but failing and having him fall on top of him instead. The bell rings at five minutes and the ref raises both their hands. OK then. Per all the online match listings Y. Nagata won by points so we'll go with that. Good thing too, he'd already been pantsed in an MMA match a year or so prior and didn't need any more shooty screwups messing with his career. NR

Sad thing is, that's not the worst thing they do with Nagata tonight.

 

Minoru Suzuki def Takashi Iizuka in 9:45- Two future Suzuki-Gun stablemates face off, though Iizuka will change a lot between now and then. Suzuki is still a freelancer early in his post-MMA wrestling career. Suzuki dances around after the bell and we get a feeling out start. After Iizuka reverses a Suzuki takedown Suzuki gets a very smooth escape and we reset. Iizuka grinds Suzuki down with some arm work. Suzuki counters out with a smile on his face and probably a song in his heart. An evil song, naturally. Iizuka tries to re-counter but Suzuki kicks his leg out of his leg. Front facelock from Suzuki. Iizuka tries some open hand strikes but Suzuki ducks them all while daring Iiuzka to hit him and lays in a couple of his own. Iizuka eventually has enough of this shit, straight punching Suzuki and dropkicking him to the apron. On the apron Suzuki again goes into mocking dodge mode. Iizuka turns him around and puts on a sleeper. Suzuki falls to the floor on the break. Back in the match bogs down a little with a slow and basic Iizuka beatdown. He has a flurry of corner forearms and stomps. Suzuki looks almost amused. Possibly even aroused. Suzuki dodges a dropkick and lays in some stiff kicks. Another open hand exchange with Suzuki dodging almost everything Iizuka is throwing and landing his own. Back suplex. Sleeper from Suzuki. Iizuka gets to the ropes. Big open hand exchange with Iizuka finally landing some blows and getting Suzuki wobblelegged. Long run of sleeper counters. Iizuka manages to lock his in with a body scissors. Suzuki fights and gets a rope break. He ties himself in the ropes in the corner, not allowing Iizuka to pull him out for another sleeper. Suzuki rolls around to put his sleeper on, and flips Iizuka over with it! No more ha-ha's from Suzuki, he's deadly serious now. Double foot curb stomp! Sleeper from Suzuki, Iizuka goes out and it's over. I'm probably overrating this, when Iizuka controlled it was pretty dull, but Suzuki is so damn entertaining I can't help myself. He definitely carried this match and it flew by thanks to that. ***

 

Satoshi Kojima def Osamu Nishimura in 19:26- This is an All Japan vs New Japan battle, with Kojima is still with All Japan full time. In fact he was a month away from his first Triple Crown Championship win. Code of Honor handshake to start. Lockup and clean break from Nishimura. Another lockup and a less clean break from Kojima. After taking some shots Nishimura gets a flash backslide for 2. Huge Nishimura uppercut in the corner. He works Kojima's arm a bit. Kojima chops back and Nishimura floors him with another uppercut. Kojima counters a headlock into a headscissors. Nishimura does an elaborate handstand escape that gets a pop from the crowd. This time Nishimura counters a headlock into a hammerlock. He transitions into a Mutalock, then a bow and arrow. Kojima escapes and powders to the floor. I know one thing for sure, Nishimura ain't diving. Back in they have another chop/uppercut exchange that Nishimura wins. Nishimura pushes ref Marty Asami away! To be fair lots of people have wanted to do that. Particularly if they survived his bus driving. Kojima lands more chops that finally stagger Nishimura. Elbow drops from Kojima. Top rope elbow drop for 2. More slugfest and Nishimura hooks on a sleeper. Kojima back suplexes out. Nishimura responds with his own back suplex. Lariato duck and another back suplex from Nishimura. A third one. A fourth one! Kojima is still getting up first. Dragon screw from Nishimura. Figure four! Kojima reverses it but Nishimura reverses it back. Kojima gets a rope break. Nishimura quickly hops up top and drops a knee on Kojima's hurt knee. Spinning toe hold! Classic. And back into the figure four! Now Kojima's in agony. He tries to reverse but can't. Finally he manages to get to the ropes again. Nishimura goes back up top. Kojima joins him. They have a leverage fight and tease Nishimura throwing Kojima all the way to the floor. Eventually Nishimura wins a strike exchange and Kojima falls to the mat. Missile dropkick from Nishimura. Kojima pops right back up! Kojicutter! He goes for a second one. Nishimura blocks it into a cobra twist! Kojima gets a rope break and hiptosses Nishimura over the top to the floor. On the apron Nishimura ducks a lariato and puts on a sleeper. Asami has to physically force a break. More strikes are exchanged and they have another leverage fight, with Kojima suplexing Nishimura back in. Brain buster for 2. Lariato to the back of Nishimura's head. Another one to the front. Asami counts and Nishimura is back up at 9. Another lariato! Nishimura uses the ropes to stand up. A fourth lariato! Nishimura is barely up in time. A FIFTH one! Kojima's just playing with his food at this point. He goes for 6 but Nishimura ducks into a cobra twist cradle! Kojima *just* kicks out! Kojima gets the message, stops fooling around, murders Nishimura with one last lariato, and covers for the pin. Another quality midcard match. ***1/4

 

Eight Man Ultimate Royal Match- You just knew that Inoki was going to crap at least one giant fake shoot fight turd onto this card, and this is it. You're welcome for that imagery. This is an 8 man single elimination submission only tournament that is very much MMA style rather than wrestling, with the "fun" twist being that two matches happen in the ring at once. First the first quarterfinal pair, then the second, then the semis at once, and then the final gets center stage. Representing puroresu and New Japan in this mess are Manabu Nakanishi, Blue Wolf, a now blonde and heel Toru Yano, and once again Nagata-san. The name of this show should be changed to "How Best to Waste Prime Yuji Nagata". From the MMAers turned wrestlers we have Masayuki Naruse and Mitsuya Nagai. Also participating is Mongolian amateur wrestler and future politician Dolgorsuerngiin Sumyaabazar. And rounding out the 8, the straight MMA representative, Ron Waterman. Guess who wins? But never mind all that shit, the real headline is who's sitting ringside.....BROCK LESNAR! And Sable. Brock was about a year out of his initial WWE run, his football attempt didn't pan out, and he'd debut for New Japan later in the year. And, being Brock, cause no end of controversy before leaving for UFC. As for this match/tournament/battle royale/whatever, Nagata makes it to the final, then taps out to Waterman in less than two minutes. This whole thing was dumb on so many levels. DUD

 

Three Way Dogfight Match: Masahiro Chono def Riki Choshu and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 18:27- Chono is leading another new heel stable, New Japan Black, which in many ways is just NWO Japan with a new name. Choshu is once again coming out of retirement for this one. Tenzan is in his 3rd reign as Heavyweight champion. He also won his second straight G1 Climax in '04 before winning the title back. The fact he's involved in this mess as champion is as big an indictment on Inoki's management as the last mess of a "match" was. Going by what takes place here, obviously commentary doesn't help me any, this is a two fall or first to two falls match with only two guys legal until a decision, then the winner wrestles the odd man. If there had been split decisions I wonder if it would have gone to a third fall. The video starts right up with Chono nailing Tenzan with a Yakuza kick while his entrance music is still playing. Right after that Choshu nails Chono with a lariato and puts him in a Scorpion Death Lock. Red Shoes is reffing this match by the way. Tenzan gets on the apron and Choshu lets go to kick him off. After that the bell rings to officially start the match, with Chono and Choshu wrestling the first fall. Choshu goes for the Scorpion again, and when that fails goes into slow beatdown mode. Chono hits a spinning heel kick and piledrives Choshu. After a bit of work on Choshu's tree trunk legs Chono hits another piledriver. He puts on a butterfly hold for a bit, then goes up top. Choshu joins him and hits a superplex. Lariato! Chono goes to the floor. Tenzan inserts himself while they're out there. He goes to piledrive Choshu on the floor but Chono gives him a Yakuza kick. Back in Choshu hits a lariato for a long 2. It may not seem like much reading this and not really knowing him, but Choshu swung a clothesline as hard as anyone in wrestling history and always looked like he could kill a man with that alone. Chono responds with a Yakuza kick and covers, but Choshu is out before Red Shoes barely gets to one. They go through some more lariato/Yakuza kick exchanges. Chono hits a shining wizard! Shoutout to his forever rival Keiji Mutoh, now in All Japan. He gives Choshu another kick, covers and gets a pin. Choshu is out and Tenzan is in. Choshu stays ringside the rest of the match, giving credence to my possible third fall theory. Tenzan lariatos Chono and hits some Mongolian chops. They go up top and Tenzan fights off a superplex. Chono ends up on the apron. Tenzan with a flying lariato off the top to the apron! He pounds Chono down on the apron while Red Shoes counts. A Yakuza kick knocks Tenzan off the apron. Another Yakuza kick in the ring. Chono hooks on the STF and Tenzan quickly gets to the ropes. Both guys fight to put on a cobra twist and Chono turns it into a roll up for 2. Tenzan hits chops and headbutts. Anaconda Vice! Chono punches out. Closed fists in New Japan, what a heel. I just noticed that Tenzan is bleeding from the ear. One of those kicks must have caught him flush. Both guys exchange back suplexes. Corner lariato from Tenzan. He plants Chono with the top rope kneedrop. Suplex for 2. The top rope headbutt hits but Chono kicks out at 1. Sleeper from Tenzan. Chono tries to use it to pin Tenzan and Tenzan lets go. Chono inverted atomic drop and shining wizard. Tenzan hits the Tenzan Driver for 2. Back to the Vice. Chono fades, then fights back up. Low blow to get out of the hold! Tenzan spinning heel kick for 2. Backbreaker. Chono dodges the moonsault! STF! With a rollover! Tenzan taps! Chono gets a fall on the reigning champion. I don't know if he got a title shot or not, but everyone that knows Chono's career knows he didn't win if he did. The match never really came together. *1/2

 

IWGP U-30 Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura def Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) in 24:45- After everything else that's gone on tonight, at least they're getting the main event right. Wrong title, but right match. This is Nakamura's second straight Jan 4th main event, and the first for the future Ace. These two are also the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team champions. For the first time for a Jan 4 Dome show on World we get full entrances! Great first match to do that. There's an English ring announcer for this match for some reason. Listening to commentary translate it into Japanese is a funny reversal of what is usually the case for me watching New Japan. Nakamura's black and silver Lion Mark tights are really cool. Both guys slowly circle after the bell, letting things settle in. Nakamura offers a handshake and Tanahashi blows it off! Very cautious feeling out to start. Nakamura swings a kick that Tanahashi quickly backs off from. Quick go behinds. Nakamura hits a dragon suplex! Tanahashi counters with a German! A triangle choke attempt is quickly escaped. A reset lockup leads to some back and forth mat grappling. Katsuyori Shibata is shown watching from ringside. Both guys do some fancy flippy counters and another stalemate. Tanahashi does a bit of arm work, leading to some more mat grappling. Nakamura tries for a triangle, then mounts Tanahashi and could do some ground and pound but sticks with the straight wrestling and tries for an armbreaker. Tanahashi blocks it, then gets on top himself and also refrains from strikes, putting on a headlock instead. The contrast in styles is so obvious from the get go. Tanahashi is a classic straight pro wrestler, while Nakamura with his MMA background is more well versed in submission wrestling. Shoulderblock standoff. Here comes the strikes! It's breaking loose now. Nakamura hits his classic stiff knees to the gut. Flying forearm from Tanahashi, followed by elbow drops and a standing corkscrew for 2. Leverage fight on the top rope and Nakamura hits a superplex. Tanahashi pops right back up! Nakamura tries a sleeper. Tanahashi counters out into a backbreaker. Nakamura rolls to the apron. Tanahashi dropkicks him to the floor! TOPE SUICIDA! Tanahashi flew OVER THE BARRICADE AND OVER THE TIMEKEEPER'S TABLE TO THE FLOOR! HOLY SHIT! And he's right back up! Another suplex leverage fight on the apron. They almost lose their balance teasing Tanahashi going over to the floor but recover quickly. Next lift Tanahashi does go over but lands on the apron. Tanahashi DDTs Nakamura on the apron! As soon as Nakamura steps back in the ring Tanahashi small packages him for 2. Sleeper. Nakamura counters into an armbreaker! Tanahashi tries to block it, can't, and quickly gets to the ropes. Nakamura spins into another attempt. Tanahashi fights it off again. He tries a sleeper but Nakamura quickly flips him over to counter. Nakamura gets the triangle on! Tanahashi uses his superior power to push out and turn it into a Boston crab. Nakamura rope break. Tanahashi dodges a dropkick and puts on a Scorpion. Another rope break. German from Tanahashi. Nakamura fires back up! He's bleeding from somewhere in his mouth. Tanahashi goes for a dragon suplex. Nakamura fights out, but Tanahashi uses the counter to get him in a dragon sleeper! Tanahashi turns it into a reverse DDT for 2. Back to the dragon sleeper with a grapevine. Nakamura fights to the ropes. He tries to forearm Tanahashi in the gut but it's weak shots. Tanahashi slaps him to try to get him fired up! Kick to the face exchange. Nakamura tries a slam but Tanahashi counters out into another dragon sleeper. Nakamura climbs the ropes to flip it over into his own dragon sleeper! Tanahashi fades, then makes it to the ropes. Running corner knee from Nakamura. Spear! Not a great one, I see why he didn't stick with that. Nakamura sit out powerbomb for 2. Moonsault for Nakamura! Again, not his wheelhouse and not the greatest. Tanahashi dodges a kneedrop. Dropkick and corner chops from Tanahashi. He slaps Nakamura again! This is serious bear poking. Nakamura fires up and they go nose to nose. Takedown from Nakamura and he chokes Tanahashi! Yeah, he lost it for a minute. Tanahashi is up with an ezuguri! Powerbomb. Nakamura turns it into a triangle! Tanahashi deadlifts him up and slams him! The dragon suplex hits! Nakamura kicks out! Tanahashi goes for another but Nakamura fights it off. He puts on another triangle, then switches to an armbraker! Tanahashi barely makes the ropes to save himself. Sleeper from Nakamura. Tanahashi fades quickly, tries to fight back up, gets pulled down again and almost goes out. One last attempt to escape. Nakamura switches to the armbreaker! Tanahashi has nowhere to go and has to tap out! Nakamura wins the title! Fantastic match, show saving main event, and the start of two legends and one legendary feud. ****1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Cut out the two matches before the main event and this is a pretty solid show. Of course those matches still count in the final evaluation. The main event saves it from being the worst 1/4 show to date. It's a match everyone should watch once, even if it's only the faintest glimmer of what's to come. Speaking of that, this would end up being the last Jan. 4th show under Inoki's management. Near the end of '05 Yuke's purchased a majority share in New Japan, and promptly ousted Inoki from power in the company he created as it clearly needed saving from him. When New Japan rolled into the Dome the following January, a new era was about to dawn.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-