NJPW Toukon Shidou Chapter 1

Legacy Review

NJPW Toukon Shidou Chapter 1

January 4, 2006 from the Tokyo Dome

It really is "Chapter 1" as a new day was dawning for New Japan. In late 2005 Yuke's purchased a majority share in the company, and one of their first actions was to oust Antonio Inoki from power. Since about the turn of the century Inkoi's increased obsession with trying to blend worked pro wrestling and shoot fighting into some kind of worked hybrid had been mostly a disaster, putting on horrible matches, making bad decisions on title runs, and turning fans away to the point that New Japan almost went out of business. The company he created in the end had to be saved from him. This is the first major show ever put on by New Japan without Inoki in charge. But, as the saying goes, Rome wasn't turned around in a day.

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

Ryouji Sai def Naofumi Yamamoto in 8:18- Yamamoto is the future Yoshi Tatsu not long removed from Young Lion status. Not much to say about Sai, he had a short career that was mostly spent in ZERO-ONE. This is kicking off a series of NJPW vs ZERO1 battles that will run off and on through the whole show. They go nose to nose during intros and charge in at the bell. Long forearm exchange. They switch to open hand slaps and Sai is the first one to go down. Kick from Yamamoto and Sai rolls to the floor, holding his ear. The large gaggle of seconds from both promotions get shovey with each other but it doesn't escalate beyond that. Sai does an amateur waistlock and traps Yamamoto in the corner, refusing to let go. He shoves Red Shoes aside! After a kick exchange Yamamoto takes it to the mat with some leg work. Both guys try to work the leg and get in a sitting open hand slugfest. More fight for leg leverage and both guys seem to agree a rope break is in order, but don't agree to actually break anything. They take literally almost a whole minute to slowly untangle themselves. Sai tosses his mouthguard away! I guess shit's getting real now. Both guys take constant swings but Sai is the first to really connect with anything, a heel kick. He puts Yamamoto in a rear choke into a sleeper with full grapevine. He switches to an armbar attempt that Yamamoto blocks and gets a foot on the rope. More kicks from Sai. Yamamoto blocks a knee. Sai dodges a dropkick but misses a kick swing. Yamamoto gets a kick but Sai blocks a back suplex, rolling it into an ankle lock. He tries to pull Yamamoto back to the middle but Yamamoto gets to the ropes. Sai runs into a kick. PKish kick from Yamamoto for 2. Sai hits a double stomp off the top for a long 2. Kick to the head for 2. High angle back suplex from Sai, and that gets the pin. Very simple match as both guys were clearly still learning, but they brought the intensity. *3/4

 

Masato Tanaka, Kintaro Kanemura and BADBOY Hido def CTU in 10:03- Representing CTU is faction leader Jushin Thunder Liger, along with Gedo and Jado. The trio opposing them is made up of deathmatch company regulars, with Tanaka probably being the most well known from his ECW run. Screw your intros, we're fighting! They brawl around ringside. The deathmatch guys quickly get tables out. Liger gets set up on one, and Kanemua splashes him through it off the top rope! That looked fantastic. Jado also got put through another table on the other side of the ring off camera. The plan works as Gedo gets isolated in the ring. Gedo tries to hulk up by throwing a double bird but I think that only made the deathmatch guys mad. He does manage to hold his own for a bit with a hurricanrana and flying headscissors until Hido lariatos him from behind. Liger and Jado are alive and back on the apron. Liger is trying to introduce a chair but getting nowhere thanks to the other side working the ref better. Kanemura and Tanaka full on kiss each other before dropping an elbow on Gedo. Hey, I'm not judging. After some more CTU in peril work Gedo dodges a Kanemura moonsault but Hido cuts the tag off. Lariato from Hido and a cover. Everyone runs in to break the pin up. Liger and Jado get tossed out and Gedo is isolated again. Tanaka goes for a splash off the top but Gedo gets his knees up and finally gets a tag to Liger. Shoteis for everyone! Sit out powerbomb on Tanaka for 2. Kanemura holds Liger on top and Tanaka superplexes him. Lariato for 2. A shotei is no sold. Liger gets Tanaka wobbled with a shoulderblock, and the next shotei is sold. Jado tags in. Hido has a barbed wire bat! Jado ducks a shot with it and hits a trio of rolling German suplexes. Kanemura gets a low blow in. Jado puts on a crossface but Tanaka breaks it up. The seconds for the deathmatch guys distract the ref and Kanemura whacks Jado with a piece of broken table. Jado is right back up! Man those tables really are little more than cardboard. Tanaka hits a top rope cutter, Kanemura follows up with a senton off the second rope, and that's it. **

 

Tiger Mask and Minoru def Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii in 12:11- Ishii is making his Dome debut, recently signed full time to New Japan after bouncing around the smaller Japanese indy scene the first decade of his career. He also has hair, which is slightly disturbing. Takaiwa was one of the group of wrestlers to leave New Japan with Shinya Hashimoto when he left to form ZERO1. Minoru and Tiger Mask actually wrestled each other at the previous year's show for the Junior Heavyweight title, with Minoru under a mask as Heat. Minoru and Takaiwa start with some back and forth grappling. Chop exchange. Shoulderblock standoff. Takaiwa catches a Minoru leapfrog and powerslams him. Minoru gouges Ishii's eyes and tags out. TM kicks chop Ishii down. I should point out that somehow at this point Ishii was classified as a junior. I know. Speed run and Ishii hits a backdrop. Slam and elbow drop for 2. Takaiwa puts TM in a single leg crab. TM gets a rope break. Offensive flurry from TM and he tags out. Minoru thrills us all by putting on a chinlock. Takaiwa counters into a hammerlock. Suplex standoff and Minoru hits a blatant low blow right in front of that useless Marty Asami. Takaiwa lifts TM and literally carries him over to his corner. Double shoulderblock and Ishii stretches his arms out. TM hits a high kick in the corner. Ishii fights off a superplex but misses an elbow off the top. He gets a powerslam on TM and tags. TM flips out of a backdrop and hits the leaping knees to the gut for 2. Minoru and Ishii start fighting on the floor. Takaiwa catches TM coming off the top and goes for a DVD. Minoru missile dropkicks him from behind to break it up. Takaiwa says OK and Minoru takes the DVD. TM blocks a lariato into a crucifix for 2. He flips over an attempted Takaiwa powerbomb for 2. Ishii and Takaiwa hit a doomsday device! Minoru fights Ishii's block off to break the pin up. Takaiwa lariato for a long 2. TM gets a glancing rolling kick. Both sides tag. Minoru tries to work on Ishii's knee. Ishii hits a back suplex for 2. Buckle bomb from Ishii! Corner lariatos on Minoru. Takaiwa hits his triple powerbomb, and lifts Minoru into an Ishii brain buster. TM breaks the pin up. On an attempted double team Takaiwa lariatos Ishii! Minoru hits a dragon suplex and kicks. TM comes down with a missile dropkick, then tope suicidas Takaiwa to take him out! Minoru kicks Ishii's head off and gets the pin. **1/2

 

Riki Choshu, Kohei Sato, Kamikaze, Daisuke Sekimoto, Takashi Uwano and Yoshihito Sasaki def Tatsumi Fujinami, Hirooki Goto, Osamu Nishimura, Toru Yano, Hiroshi Nagao and Takashi Iizuka in 12:16- This giant 12 man match is also NJPW vs ZERO1, with Choshu on the visitor side for some reason. A chaotic match this size on the Dome undercard I'm not going to get into too deeply. Big brawl to start, usual tag stuff, and a Choshu Scorpion triggers the next big run in brawl. There's a funny moment later in the match when Yano tries to put a Scorpion on and that PISSES Choshu off big time. He comes in and kills Yano with a lariato. Old man Fujinami gets his stuff in. In the end Choshu lariatos Nagao into a German suplex that gets the pin. **1/4

 

Akebono and Yutaka Yoshie def Hiro Saito and Black Strong Machine in 9:18- That's a lot of beef in the ring. Hope its been reinforced. Black Strong Machine is Junji Hirata, AKA Super Strong Machine. This is the same Akebono that had that disaster of a sumo match with Big Show the year previous at Wrestlemania 21. He's a legitimate sumo legend, the first foreign yokozuna ever, but that doesn't necessarily translate into the world of pro wrestling. He had gone through some training matches with All Japan after working WM but this is his first New Japan match. Yoshie was a highly touted prospect from roughly the same class as Nakamura, Tanahashi and Shibata but didn't have the goods and would leave New Japan almost immediately after this show. The play by play guy is very, very excited about Akebono. Very excited. Akebono starts with BSM. BSM does the bouncing off a brick wall shoulderblock attempts. Akebono attacks with those quick hand sumo slaps. Saito runs in to try to break it up and gets shoved down. BSM gets slammed. Saito trips Akebono from the floor and Akebono sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly goes down. That was like watching a tree fall underwater. Both heels hits sentons for 2. Akebono gets back to his feet, clubs both guys down with one shot, and tags. Lariato from Yoshie. Slam and butt splash for 2. Yoshie gets eye raked and caught in the heel corner. Saito hits a DDT and another senton for 2. Uninspired heel offense follows with awful, almost nonexistent, Yoshie selling. Finally Yoshie says screw this, miraculously recovers and hits a shoulderblock, and tags. BSM tries to slam Akebono and that goes as well as you'd expect. Saito comes in and they try a suplex but get double suplexed (very broad definition) themselves. Akebono does the Andre stand on both heels. Hip toss slam on BSM for 2. After a tag the faces try a double team but Yoshie bounces off Akebono instead. BSM corner lariato and DDT. Saito hits a, what else, senton. Yoshie blocks a German and backs Saito into the corner. Both heels get squashed and avalanched in the corner by both faces. Powerslam from Yoshie. Saito dodges a big splash and hits the match's 47th senton for 2. Double back suplex on Akebono! Yoshie takes one too. Akebono hits a black hole slam on BSM. Choke slam on Saito. Yoshie splash off the top and it's mercifully over. Yoshie was bad, Akebono was horrific, and Saito & BSM were both getting past it and were never guys that could carry anyway. DUD

 

Yuji Nagata def Kazunari Murakami in 9:18- Inoki's gone, but we're still booking peak Yuji Nagata in shitty fake shoot fights with MMA guys. Did Inoki sneak in the back door and scribble this on the rundown when no one was looking? Murakami at least already had a decent amount of experience working in New Japan, being one of Inoki's MMA ringer regulars. Nagata attacks at the bell and shoves Red Shoes aside in the corner to lay on more damage. That's a trend tonight. Murakami slugs back and double stomps Nagata in the corner. Nagata dodges a PK and hits an exploder suplex. Murakami ducks a PK and we have a stalemate reset and staredown. A Murakami knee to the face gets Nagata down. He kicks Nagata to the floor and pounds away while he's down there. Red Shoes gets tossed again. Murakami takes out one of the New Japan seconds that was getting lippy with him. He chest kicks Nagata while he's against the ring. Nagata slowly gets back to the apron. A straight right from Murakami puts him on the floor again! Nagata slowly gets up and beats the count back in. Tackle from Murakami and more corner pummeling. Boot choke. A PK hits for 2. Sleeper. Nagata backs him into the corner. Murakami stands on the bottom rope to hang Nagata and Red Shoes has to force a break. More shots from Murakami. Nagata grabs a leg, shoves Murakami into a corner and hits a high knee. Big pop for that. Nagata lock! The eyes roll back! Murakami fights and very slowly gets to a rope break that Red Shoes has to physically force. Nagata was in the zone, man. Red Shoes had to snap him out of it. Stiff kicks from Nagata. They go to the floor and Nagata pummels Murakami with rapid fire knees to the face. One of the MMA seconds takes issue and argues with Nagata. They get back in and Murakami is busted open. Nagata headbutts the cut, followed by more knees to the face. Big boot and brain buster. Straight kick to the head! Murakami gets a foot on the rope. He tries to punch back but his strikes don't have much behind them anymore. Nagata picks his spot, ducks, and hits a German! Saito suplex with a bridge! That gets the pin! Surprisingly good match. Nagata dominating the entire stretch run didn't take away from this at all. To me, it only made it more satisfying. Like driving a stake through the heart of Inokism. ***

 

Shinjiro Otani def Koji Kanemoto in 10:47- Now this is a (soon to be) Wrestle Kingdom midcard worthy matchup. This is a battle of two guys who would have been the undisputed aces of the junior division in their era if not for the existence of one Jushin Thunder Liger. Not to undersell Otani and Kanemoto, they're both legit legends. This is another NJPW vs ZERO1 battle as well, with Otani being another of the group that went with Hashimoto when he started the promotion. Otani looks like he's aged at least 10 years since his last Dome appearance, which wasn't nearly that long ago. He's much bigger and balding. Even accounting for lost weight from hair loss I don't think he'd be a junior anymore. He's also got a katana with him, which I don't think is legal. Big charge at the bell! Chopfest. Kanemoto kicks to the leg land. Dragon screw! He wraps up Otani's leg and Otani gets a rope break. Strike combo from Kanemoto. Otani hits a spinning heel kick. Dragon suplex with a reverse sell from Kanemoto. Powerbomb. More chops are exchanged. Otani gets lippy and demands Kanemoto fight harder you egg sucking dog. A hard forearm connects and we get more chop swap. Otani stomps Kanemoto down and gets in his very crowd pleasing classic boot wash. More chopfest. Kanemoto goes limp on a corner whip. Otani still wants more fight out of him. Big boot in the corner. That wakes Kanemoto up! He lands some kicks. Otani Saito suplex. Kanemoto blocks a dragon suplex and hits a snap belly to belly. Falcon arrow. Otani dodges a senton. Kanemoto rolls into an ankle lock! Rope break. Another kick flurry from Kanemoto. Setup slam and the moonsault hits! That gets a long 2 count. PKs from Kanemoto for 2. High knee in the corner. Now it's Kanemoto's turn to do the boot wash. But he goes for it once too often and Otani counters with a German! Springboard dropkick! In his New Japan regular days as a junior Otani lived off those springboard moves. Spinning powerbomb for 2. Kanemoto gets the ankle lock back on! Grapevine. Otani has a long fight but manages to just get to the ropes. Heel kick from Otani. Kanemoto blocks the dragon suplex again. Tiger suplex from Kanemoto! Otani kicks out! Straight right hand from Otani. The dragon suplex hits! That gets the pin! Like the Kanemoto/Liger match the year before this felt like a condensed greatest hits version of one of their classic matches, but was still good. ***1/4

 

Katsuyori Shibata def IWGP U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in 11:59- Hell yes. No introductions needed here. No belt for Tanahashi as the title isn't on the line here. Tanahashi tries to come in with a kick at the bell but Shibata cuts him off with rapid fire open hand strikes. Another ref shove to continue the punishment as Shibata kicks Tanahashi out of the ring. As soon as Tanahashi gets back in he's pummeled with stiff kicks. He manages to grab Shibata's leg and twist a dragon screw. Dropkick and reset staredown. Forearm slugfest. Shibata's known as the superior striker but Tanahashi is holding his own in stiffness. Until Shibata puts him down with a wicked open hand slap. More mocking kicks while Tanahashi is down. Tanahashi fires back with forearms in the corner. Both guys pull hair! Corner forearms and kicks from Shibata. Tanahashi might have a bit of blood in his mouth. Shibata running corner dropkick! Tanahashi gets a back elbow in the opposite corner and tries a springboard crossbody, but Shibata gives him a knee right in the gut instead. Tanahashi tries to recover on the apron. Shibata kicks him down to the floor. Tanahashi back in with a flying forearm! Shibata dodges an elbow drop and hits a short PK for 2. Rear choke from Shibata. Tanahashi gets in the ropes. HIGH angle Saito from Shibata! Dropped Tanahashi right on his head. Cover for 2. Shibata goes for another rear choke, then puts on a dragon sleeper. Full PK. No, Tanahashi blocks! German! Missile dropkick. Tanahashi hits his own running corner dropkick. Charge right into a Shibata open hand slap. Tanahashi responds with his own. Open hand slugfest. Shit these are stiff. Tanahashi tries an enzuguri but Shibata says fuck that. After taking a few shots Tanahashi goes for another enzuguri and this one has an effect. German with a bridge for 2. Shibata blocks a dragon suplex, which was Tanahashi's finisher at the time. Sleeper from Tanahashi. Into his own dragon sleeper. Shibata works free into a guillotine. PK for 2. Shibata big boot. Tanahashi bounces off and hits a slingblade! First one on a Dome show, that was new in his arsenal. He goes for the dragon suplex again. Shibata uses the ropes to get free and kicks Tanahashi's head off! It takes him a bit to recover and cover and Tanahashi kicks out. More stiff Shibata kicks. Tanahashi's hulking up off them. Shibata continus the assult and Tanahashi goes down again. The ref pulls Shibata back to do a KO count. Tanahashi is up at 8 and immediately gets decapitated with another kick, and that gets the pin. Fantastic match. Like the Tanahashi/Nakamura main event the year before, this was clearly the future. ***3/4

 

The U-30 title would be retired later in the year, which I'll get into later. New Japan wouldn't attempt another midcard title until the creation of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

 

Giant Bernard def Manabu Nakanishi in 9:53- Giant Bernard is Matt Bloom, who'd wrestled in WWF/E for years as Albert, Prince Albert, and A-Train, and after his New Japan run would go back to WWE as Lord Tensai. He's now the longtime head trainer at the PC under the name Jason Albert. He's making his debut for New Japan after spending about a year in All Japan right after leaving WWE. Lockup! Been a rare thing tonight. And stalemate because they're both big strong bois. Nakanishi dodges a rope break cheap shot and cranks a headlock. Shoulderblock standoffs. Lots of screaming and both guys run into each other full speed with no one moving. Bernard finally wins the exchange, knocking Nakanishi down. Headbutts in the corner from Bernard and yet another ref shove. The refs need to be getting hazard pay tonight. Nakanishi kind of blocks an avalanche and lays in chops. He needs two lariatos to send Bernard 360 to the floor. Bernard drags Nakanishi out with him. Whip reversal and Bernard gets posted. Chop exchange on the floor. Nakanishi gets the edge and does some slow beatdown. Bernard blocks a German. A Nakanishi slam attempt goes nowhere. Slam and big splash from Bernard for 2. Big corner lariato. Nakanishi pops out of the corner with a spear. He lays in some more chops. Badly timed corner lariato. He tries to chop Bernard down with double ax handles and finally gets there. Torture Rack! He gets Bernard up! Bernard fights out and we get another chopfest. Choke powerbomb from Bernard for 2. Vader bomb that Nakanishi tries to dodge but Bernard lands on him anyway. I have no idea what the hell they were trying to do there but that clearly wasn't it. Lariato no sells and Nakanishi finally hits the German for 2. Bicycle kick from Bernard. He has a LOT of trouble getting Nakanishi up for a powerbomb, falls against the ropes, gives up and hits a short lariato instead. A sloppy Vader bomb where Bernard's knee fell right on Nakanishi's throat ends it. As much as you could expect from these two. *

 

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Cho-Ten (c) def Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori in 19:28- Chono and Tenzan had some differences over the last few years but finally put them aside, reformed their team, and won the tag titles from Nakamura and Tanahashi in October for what would be their 5th and final reign. They still hold the record for most total days with the tag titles. Chono also won his record 5th and final G1 Climax in '05, ending Tenzan's G1 winning streak at two (Tenzan would make it three wins in four years in '06). Koshinaka, a former New Japan regular, and Omori are representing ZERO1. Koshinaka and Tenzan really want to go at it after intros but the ref holds them back until he can ring the bell. Pretty basic start with Koshinaka blocking a psinning heel kick but running into Mongolian chops. Snap mare from Koshinaka into hip attacks. Both sides tag. Omori and Chono feel each other out with some strikes. Chono cranks a headlock for a bit. Omori hits a big boot. Chono responds with a big boot/Yakuza kick. More cautious feeling out and Omori gets caught in the champs' corner. He and Tenzan slug it out. More Koshinaka hip attacks on Tenzan as Tenzan gets picked apart a bit by the challengers. More big boy "you can't run me over stuff" between Tenzan and Omori until Omori gets run over and Mongolian chopped. Omori responds with European uppercuts and a dropkick. Tenzan and Omori fight on the apron. Omori piledriver on the apron! Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Omori walks up the ramp and charges back down with a running lariato. Back to the ring with the challengers staying in control. Koshinaka Russian leg sweep for 2. Tenzan stays in peril with nothing overly interesting happening. He manages to his Omori with a spinning heel kick and tags. Chono runs wild. Tackle off the top on Omori. Inverted atomic drop into a single leg crab. Transiton to the STF. They lie there for a bit not doing much of anything until Koshinaka breaks it up. Omori puts on a cobra twist. Chono cobra twists Koshinaka and cradles him for 2. Tenzan lariato. Corner lariato. Top rope kneedrop for 2. Superplex. Koshinaka pops right back up! Some maneuvering and the challengers get back in control. Koshinaka German on Tenzan. He tries to get back up but Omori lariatos him back down. Koshinaka hip attack off the top for a long 2. Another hip attack for 2. Omori swinging neckbreaker on Tenzan. Chono tries to come in and eats a lariato. Koshinaka powerbombs Chono. Omori package piledriver on Tenzan! Tenzan kicks out! Kneedrop off the top for another long 2. Lariato standoff and both guys try spinning heel kicks and run into each other. Tags on both sides. Yakuza kick! Double flapjack on Koshinaka. Tenzan corner lariato and Chono Yakuza kick. Tenzan's headbutt off the top hits. Chono shining wizard! Omori breaks the pin up. Both challengers are planted. Koshinaka tries to fire up but another Yakuza kick puts him down. Koshinaka dodges another Yakuza kick into a roll up for a *very* long 2! Standing shining wizard from Chono! That gets the pin! Decently fun stretch run but most of the match was pretty meh. **1/2

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) def Shinsuke Nakamura in 8:58- The Beast is here. Lesnar quietly appeared ringside during last year's 1/4 show with wife Sable, his first appearance at a wrestling show since leaving WWE. He would later sign with New Japan, and in his first match with the company in October win the Heavyweight title. Nakamura is already on his way to legend status despite being less than 5 years into his career, main eventing the 1/4 Dome show for the third straight year. In many ways this is the battle of Next Big Things. All of Lesnar's matches have been scrubbed from New Japan World, but fortunately I was able to find a copy of this match elsewhere on Al Gore's interwebs. Brock is in all red gear. So weird. Lesnar charges in and attacks first. Nakamura gets a boot up in the corner and tries some hammy kicks. An elbow to Lesnar's face gets nowhere. And enzuguri gets his attention a bit. Lesnar grabs another kicks and lariatos Nakamura down. Nakamura tries one of his patented stiff knees. Lesnar blocks it and turns it into a belly to belly suplex! Nakamura slips out of another suplex attempt and tries a German. Lesnar blocks it and hits back elbows. Nakamura tries to spin into an armbar but again Lesnar is again too strong and Samoan drops him. Nakamura rolls to the floor. Lesnar double as handle off the apron. Nakamura gets some strikes in on the floor but it doesn't last long. Lesnar runs Nakamura's back into the ring apron. As they're getting back in Nakamura kicks wobble Lesnar off the apron onto the ramp. Nakamura hits the ropes.....stops....thinks.....seems to set his mind and charges with a tope suicida! Lesnar looks like he's going to catch him but does a super slow sell instead. That was awkward. Again, dives, not Nakamura's wheelhouse. Nakamura tries chops on the floor. Lesnar shrugs them off and runs him into the post. Nakamura dodges an elbow drop back in and puts on a sleeper. Lesnar lifts him up and runs him into the corner. Tiger Hattori gets Lesnar to back off in the corner without getting shoved, the first ref to accomplish that tonight. Corner shoulderblocks from Lesnar. Nakamura gets Lesnar in the rope dangling armbar. Lesnar sells it for maybe 5 seconds. Nakamura snaps Lesnar's neck over the top rope and hits a missile dropkick. Nakamura German! Spin into an armbar! Nakamura transitions to a triangle choke. Lesnar pretty easily lifts Nakamura up and drops him. Huge Lesnar lariato. F5 and it's over. They worked together fine but that was way too one sided for a Tokyo Dome main event. After years of seeing it in WWE I know unmotivated Brock when I see it (see his matches with Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe). That was unmotivated Brock. **1/4

 

Keep reading after the show wrap up for more on the Heavyweight title.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Definitely one of the worst 1/4 Dome shows. Maybe the worst. New Japan was in a time of transition at the tail end of a down period, and historically this show kind of falls into a gap between the Inoki era Wrestling World shows and the first Wrestle Kingdom, which will be the following year. The Tanahashi/Shibata match is worth a look, but that's about it.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

 

Now, some final words on the Heavyweight title's journey in '06. Of course, Brock being Brock controversy would soon erupt. Over the summer Lesnar had visa issues that prevented him from making a scheduled title defense. New Japan, under standing rules and precedent still used today, stripped him of the title. If you can't make a scheduled title defense for any reason, whether in the wrestler's control or not, you will be stripped. Lesnar refused to play ball, keeping the belt, so New Japan fired him. After that he took the belt with him over to Inoki's new promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation. New Japan made a new belt, the legendary V4 belt that was used all the way up to the creation of the IWGP World Heavyweight Title in 2021, and held a tournament for the vacant title won by Hiroshi Tanahashi for the first of his record 8 Heavyweight title wins. After winning the top belt Tanahashi would vacate the U-30 title, and New Japan would fully retire it rather than put it on someone else, its purpose having been served. Lesnar would hold the V3 belt, AKA the IWGP Third Belt, until June '07 when he dropped it to Kurt Angle. The two belts would eventually be merged in early '08 when IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Angle during the February post-Wrestle Kingdom tour.