QUEBRADA
NEWS ARCHIVE

Shin Nihon Puroresu
New Japan Pro-Wrestling

7/8/00:

7/8 Miyagi Furukawa Shi Sogo Taiikukan 1,800
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yutaka Yoshie when Chono made Yoshie submit to his STF at 14:13.
Yuji Nagata & Rob Rage beat Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto when Nagata pinned Kojima in his backdrop hold at 12:25.
Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Negro Casas defeated Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & El Samurai when Kanemoto pinned Liger in his moonsault press at 14:29.

A rule meeting for the 7/30 Riki Choshu vs. Atsushi Onita match is planned for 7/10. Masa Chono thinks Choshu will accept the stipulations. He said the explosions didn't hurt that much and Choshu shouldn't fear them, but he also wore an electro shock preventive suit "designed by NASA."

7/6:

7/6 Yamagata Yonezawa Shiei Taiikukan 2,700 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie when Tenzan used his diving headbutt on Nagata at 19:50.
Kensuke Sasaki & Brian Johnston beat Takashi Iizuka & Shiro Koshinaka when Sasaki used the northern lights bomb on Shiro at 11:17. They've been putting Iizuka over on this tour by having him injure Scott Norton & Hiro Saito (legit injuries turned into angles, I think), but he's such an underdog that at the very least he needs to get the tag wins over Kensuke's partner if we are going to believe he has a shot at winning the title on 7/20.
Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin when Takaiwa pinned Kashin in the Mochizuki bomb at 11:48.
Shinjiro Otani pinned Shinya Makabe at 10:07 following his swandive shiki no kneel kick.

7/4:

7/4 Hyogo Takasago Shi Sogo Taiikukan 1,700
Masahiro Chono & Satoshi Kojima & Super J beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata & Brian Johnston when Chono made Johnston submit to his STF at 12:34.
Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai when Otani used his kaiten Ligerbomb on Samurai at 13:17.
Kendo Kashin made Negro Casas submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 7:18.
Koji Kanemoto made Shinya Makabe submit to a standing heel hold at 6:18.

7/3:

7/3 Okayama-ken Taiikukan 3,600 sellout
Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka beat Masahiro Chono & Tatsutoshi Goto when Koshinaka powerbombed Goto at 11:35.
Takashi Iizuka made Hiroyoshi Tenzan submit to a sleeper hold at 12:53.
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata defeated Satoshi Kojima & Super J when Nagata used his Nagata lock II on J at 15:07.
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & Negro Casas when Otani used his kaiten Ligerbomb on Casas at 11:02.

Atsushi Onita wants his 7/30 match against Riki Choshu to be the most powerful amerperage explosion match ever held indoors. I think he supposedly got clearance from the fire department to exceed the previous record of 200 volts and 160 bombs. Onita has had 3 indoor explosive matches in the past, 8/29/94 at Osaka Jo Hall, 10/30/94 at Harumi Kokusai Mihon Shi Dome, and the biggest on 4/10/99 at the Tokyo Dome. Choshu is still rejecting the idea of the match being an explosive death match, much less the biggest ever in an enclosed arena.

7/2:

7/2 Gifu Sangyo Kaikan 4,000 sellout
Kensuke Sasaki & Manabu Nakanishi beat Masahiro Chono & Satoshi Kojima when Sasaki lariated Kojima at 10:54.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin defeated Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani when Liger used his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster on Kanemoto at 14:42.
Tatsuhito Takaiwa Death Valley bombed Negro Casas at 7:14.

They are playing up an angle where President Fujinami actually isn't doing Antonio Inoki's bidding. Inoki wants Kenda Kashin to fight Renzo Gracie on PRIDE.10, but Fujinami says he's not going to allow Kashin to participate. Of course, even when it's not decided in the ring, Inoki never loses a work, so expect Kashin to fight on PRIDE.10.

6/30:

6/30 Kanagawa Ebina Undo Koen Sogo Taiikukan 3,000 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata when Chono pinned Nagata after Tenzan used his diving headbutt on him at 10:10.
Yutaka Yoshida made Tatsutoshi Goto submit to a reverse figure 4 at 6:25.
Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai Takaiwa gave Samurai a Mochizuki bomb at 11:54.
Kendo Kashin & Shinya Makabe beat Shinjiro Otani & Negro Casas when Kashin made Casas submit at 9:11.

Atsushi Onita made a surprise appearance so he could hand out petitions to get his match with Riki Choshu changed to an amperage explosion death match. This lead to some shouting back and forth. As an angle, Onita is trying to make New Japan concede to his demands by pulling a Gracie and saying that he won't wrestle the match unless it's under his rules.

6/29:

6/29 Fukushima Kooriyama Big Parrot (?) Fukushima 3,000 sellout
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka beat Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Super J when Nakanishi made J submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 14:15. Iizuka injured Norton's left arm during the match. I think this is an angle to push him since he's in the heavyweight title match at the end of the tour, but either way Norton might not wrestle on the next show or two.
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Kashin defeated Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Negro Casas when Liger used his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster on Casas at 12:47.
Kenzo Suzuki pinned Tadao Yasuda with his tackle at 9:20.

6/28:

6/28 Tochigi Utsunomiya Shi Taiikukan 3,000 sellout
Kensuke Sasaki & Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata beat Masa Chono & Scott Norton & Satoshi Kojima when Nakanishi made Kojima submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 16:39. Chono was "inaugurated commissioner" on this show.
Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito beat Takashi Iizuka & Jushin Thunder Liger when Goto backdropped Liger at 13:32.
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka defeated El Samurai & Kendo Kashin when Kanemoto pinned Kashin in his moonsault press at 12:01.
Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Negro Casas & Shinya Makabe when Otani made Makabe submit to a gyakuebigatame at 10:35.

6/27:

6/27 Niigata Fukuoka Kosei Kaikan 2,000
Masa Chono & Scott Norton beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata in a non-title match when Norton pinned Nagata at 15:47. Chono decided he was referee and commissioner, so Team 2000 winning even though the titles weren't on the line was enough for Chono to decide that Team 2000 should leave with the belts.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Kensuke Sasaki & Yutaka Yoshie when Kojima lariated Yoshie at 15:07.
Shiro Koshinaka & Jushin Thunder Liger beat Takashi Iizuka & Kenzo Suzuki when Koshinaka powerbombed Suzuki at 11:15.
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated El Samurai & Kendo Kashin & Negro Casas when Kanemoto moonsaulted Samurai at 11:06.
Minoru Tanaka made Shinya Makabe submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 9:58.

6/26:

New Japan had a stockholder meeting, discussing plans for their 30th Anniversary in 2002. It's already been decided that Seiji Sakaguchi will come out of retirement for one match in March 2002 (New Japan held their first show on 3/6/72 at Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan) to not only commemorate New Japan's 30th Anniversary, but also his 60th birthday (which is actually on 2/17/02). Antonio Inoki will probably be involved in this match as well. Sakaguchi retired in March of 1990, but came out of retirement for one match on 3/1/92 to celebrate New Japan's 20th Anniversary, teaming with Strong Kobayashi against Umanosuke Ueda & Tiger Jeet Singh.

6/25:

6/25 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,985
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka captured the IWGP Junior Tag Senshuken, defeating Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Tanaka made Otani submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 18:25. The other title matches on the tour are all on 7/20 with Sasaki defending the heavyweight title against Iizuka, Liger defending the junior title against Super Junior winner Takaiwa, and Nakanishi & Nagata defending the tag titles against Tenzan & Kojima
Masa Chono & Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie when Chono Yakuza kicked Yoshie at 19:29. There was dissention in the ranks of the G-EGGS, and I think they came to blows after the match, so the angle is that they might split up.
Takashi Iizuka & Mike Enos beat Kensuke Sasaki & Tadao Yasuda when Iizuka made Yasuda submit to his sleeper hold at 8:31.
El Samurai & Shinya Makabe defeated Kendo Kashin & Negro Casas when Samurai powerbombed Casas at 9:16.
DDT's top star, Sanshiro Takagi, will be the "moderate" for the Choshu vs. Onita death match.

6/23: Juniors In G-1

The latest wrestler Kensuke Sasaki has challenged to an IWGP heavyweight title match is none other than Toshiaki Kawada. Sasaki also requested that Shinya Hashimoto participate in he G1 Climax. The blocks for the G1 were announced though, and, of course, Hashimoto's name isn't on the list of participants, and neither is Muto's. Not coincidentally, it's the weakest G1 ever from a marquee standpoint. A small change is that there will be 4 blocks this year instead of in the past when it was either a tournament or a two block league. The big change is that there will be a few juniors in the G1 this year. I personally think this is a bad idea because they don't seem very special when they are losing 75% or more of their matches against the 'big boys." At least the juniors they picked are the ones that are like heavyweights wrestling in the junior division. Anyway, the blocks are as follows:
A Block - Fujinami (he'll probably wrestle 100 matches before he's done with his Epilogue), Iizuka, Nagata, Goto, & Liger
B Block - Sasaki, Kido, Johnston, Kojima, & Hiro Saito
C Block - Nakanishi, Yasuda, Nishimura, Tenzan, & Kenzo Suzuki
D Block - Chono, Koshinaka, Hirata, Yoshie, & Takaiwa
After the league is done, there will be a 4 man championship tournament where the winner of A Block faces the winner of B Block and the winner of C Block faces the winner of D Block in the first round.

6/20:

New Japan's 1st PPV on 7/30 will be on the Perfect Choice channel, which is channel 121 on SKY PerfecTV! for 2,000-en. New Japan hopes to get 100,00 buys. I believe the record for a wrestling/MMA event in Japan is only 50,000 buys for the 5/1 show. If they can get their 100,00 guys, the shows PPV gross would be in the $2 million range.

6/9:

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VII Yushoketteisen 6/9 Osaka Shi Cho Taiikukan 6,200
Tatsuhito Takaiwa won the BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. league for the first time, pinning Shinjiro Otani at 18:35 following 5 lariats in succession. Otani focused on Takaiwa's injured left knee, but at the 13 minute mark Takaiwa fought back with lariats and powerbombed Otani onto the turnbuckle. Takaiwa won 5,000,000 yen for winning the tournament as well as the right to challenge Jushin Thunder Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken. Meanwhile, although Otani dominated the league portion and made it to the finals for the first time, he wound up becoming the only member of NJ's big 6 native juniors that has yet to win the league because his opponent was the only other wrestler in the group that shared this distinction.
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Kensuke Sasaki & Osamu Nishimura & Jushin Thunder Liger when Kojima lariated Nishimura at 14:11.
In the SUPER Jr. 3rd place match, Minoru Tanaka made Gran Hamada submit to a hizajujigatame at 8:01.
Kendo Kashin took 5th place in the SUPER Jr. league, making Koji Kanemoto submit to an ashidorigyakujujigatame at 7:42.
El Samurai pinned Katsumi Usuda at 8:57 following his nadare shiki no reverse DDT to finish 7th in the SUPER Jr. league.
In the SUPER Jr. 9th place match, Dr. Wagner, Jr. pinned Kid Romeo in his Michinoku driver II at 8:33.
Poor Minoru Fujita wound up finishing 12th when Shinya Makabe pinned him in a German suplex hold at 7:19. His standing definitely isn't commensurate with his comparative ability.

6/8:

6/8 Kagawa Takamatsu Shi Sogo Taiikukan 2,600
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie beat Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito when Nakanishi made Hiro submit to a highjack backbreaker at 18:00.
Takashi Iizuka & Kenzo Suzuki defeated Osamu Nishimura & Tadao Yasuda when Iizuka made Yasuda submit to a sleeper hold at 12:47.
The final matches of the Super Jr. league portion saw Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Gran Hamada with his lariat at 6:39 and Minoru Fujita pinned Katsumi Usuda in his Dragon suplex hold at 10:08. Takaiwa had been tie with Kanemoto & Hamada with 6 points, so this win earned him a spot in tomorrows final against Otani.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & El Samurai & Dr. Wagner, Jr. beat Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Minoru Tanaka & Kid Romeo when Liger pinned Romeo with his nadare shiki no brainbuster at 15:23.

New Japan has rejected Atsushi Onita's proposal for the match against Choshu to be an amperage explosion match. Onita felt this was the best way to "kill" Choshu, but New Japan wants to "protect Choshu's health."

Seiji Sakaguchi said that Masakatsu Funaki's retirement is a waste. The former judo champion said he would have submitted as well if an expert had him caught in a choke, and also played down Funaki's loss saying that it was to a tough opponent. New Japan is interested in using Funaki, who began his career there before getting into worked shoots with U.W.F. and real shoots with Pancrase, but at the moment Funaki doesn't seem to be interested in them.

6/7:

6/7 Imabari Shi Kokaido 2,000 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara beat Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & Manabu Nakanishi & Takashi Iizuka when Chono made Iizuka submit to his STF at 14:59.
Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima when Nagata made Tenzan submit to his Nagata lock at 16:28.
In Super Jr. league matches, Shinjiro Otani made Kendo Kashin submit to an udehishigigyakujujigatame at 9:59 and Dr. Wagner, Jr. pinned Koji Kanemoto in his Michinoku driver II at 10:30. Otani goes to the final after running the table in the league portion.
El Samurai & Minoru Fujita defeated Katsumi Usuda & Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Samurai pinned Usuda in his Samuraibomb at 9:43.

6/6:

6/6 Yamaguchi Ube Shi Tawarada Okina Kinen Taiikukan 2,500
Masahiro Chono & Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie when Chono pinned Nagata at 14:31 following his Yakuza kick.
Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Nishimura & Tadao Yasuda defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito & Michiyoshi Ohara when Yasuda made Hiro submit to a gyakuebigatame at 12:48.
Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin when Takaiwa pinned Kashin in a Mochizukibomb at 9:24.
Shinjiro Otani & Minoru Fujita defeated Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Kid Romeo when Fujita pinned Romeo in his Dragon suplex hold at 16:30.
In Super Jr. league matches, Gran Hamada pinned Shinya Makabe at 8:37 following his nadare shiki no swing DDT and Katsumi Usuda made Minoru Tanaka submit to a sleeper hold at 11:56.

Atsushi Onita is going to be training in the mountains for his match against Riki Choshu. This is going to help him "absorb the power of nature by assimilation" like Rickson Gracie does.

6/5:

6/5 Kyoto Kameoka Shimin Taiikukan 1,700
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & Takashi Iizuka when Kojima pinned Koshinaka at 13:18 following his lariat.
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara defeated Yuji Nagata & Jushin Thunder Liger & Kenzo Suzuki when Ohara powerbombed Suzuki at 11:44.
In a Super Jr. league matches, Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned El Samurai with a lariat at 9:34, Dr. Wagner, Jr. pinned Gran Hamada in his Michinoku driver II at 10:24, and Kendo Kashin made Katsumi Usuda submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 8:30.
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Kid Romeo beat Minoru Tanaka & Shinya Makabe & Minoru Fujita when Kanemoto pinned Makabe in his moonsault press at 15:44.

6/4:

Atsushi Onita wants his match against Riki Choshu to be a No People Match that would only be seen by the fans that purchased the PPV. This makes less than no sense when the live gate for this match will be a million or two, but only people with the Sky PerfecTV! Satellite dish can order the PPV.

6/3:

6/3 Mie Tsu Shi Taiikukan 3,500 sellout
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie defeated Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara when Nakanishi made Ohara submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 15:10.
Kensuke Sasaki & Kenzo Suzuki beat Takashi Iizuka & Tadao Yasuda when Sasaki made Yasuda submit to his strangle hold gamma at 9:56. Sasaki had his broken ribs heavily taped, but didn't miss a show.
Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto defeated Shiro Koshinaka & Osamu Nishimura when Goto used his backdrop on Nishimura at 14:34.
Shiniro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Minoru Fujita beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & Dr. Wagner, Jr. when Takaiwa lariated Wagner at 13:43.
In a Super Jr. league matches, Gran Hamada pinned El Samurai with his Hama-chan cutter at 8:46, Shinjiro Otani pinned Katsumi Usuda in his Dragon suplex hold at 12:55, Minoru Tanaka made Kid Romeo submit to his Minoru special 2 at 5:15.

6/2:

6/2 Tokyo Nippon Budokan 10,000
Kensuke Sasaki made his 4th successful defense of the IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken, pinning Manabu Nakanishi with a nadare shiki no northern lights bomb and regular northern lights bomb at 20:14. The win came at a price though as Sasaki broke two of his ribs. After the match, Sasaki once again challenged Shinya Hashimoto, who he won his first IWGP heavyweight title from on 8/31/97, to a title match. In spite of his loss, Nakanishi once again challenged Ogawa. Apparently he wants yet another chance to prove that he can't draw...
The G-EGGS had a bad day as, in addition to Nakanishi's loss, Takaashi Iizuka took out Yuji Nagata with a sleeper hold at 16:58 & Masahiro Chono made Yutaka Yoshie submit to an original STF at 13:58.
Osamu Nishimura wrestled for the first time in close to two years, losing to his mentor Tatsumi Fujinami when Fujinami made him submit to the cobra twist at 11:29. Before the match, they did a 10 count for the late Jumbo Tsuruta.
Kendo Kashin & Tatsuhito Takaiwa made short work of Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka when Kashin made Liger submit to his dobitski udehishigigyakujujigatame at just 2:58.
In a Super Jr. league matches, Shinjiro Otani pinned Minoru Fujita in his kaiten Ligerbomb at 9:46, Gran Hamada made Koji Kanemoto submit to an udehishigigyakujujigatame at 13:00 and Katsumi Usuda made Kid Romeo submit to a sankakujime at 6:43.

6/1:

6/1 Saitama Kuki Shi Sogo Taiikukan 2,500
Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Brian Johnston & Yutaka Yoshie when Kojima lariated Yoshie at 16:03.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & Katsumi Usuda defeated Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Minoru Fujita when Kashin made Otani submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 16:28.
In a Super Jr. league match, El Samurai pinned Dr. Wagner Jr. at 13:51 with his swing reverse DDT.

5/31:

The 7/30 show with Riki Choshu vs. Atsushi Onita will be New Japan's first PPV. The show will be broadcast live on SKY PerfecTV! for 2000-en. Next year, New Japan plans to broadcast all their shows live on PPV and the internet. They would be selling a package for all of them kind of like the season pass packages you can get for sports here except instead of seeing a bunch of different teams, it's the same league night after night. The wrestlers and bookers would really have to step to make more than the hardest of the hardcores want to watch 100 complete New Japan shows next year.

Great Muta is eating sports nourishment food to enhance his muscularity since look is more important than work in the US. However, a Great Muta candy bar is being developed.

5/30:

5/30 Ibaraki Tsukuba Kabio 2,000 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Hiro Saito beat Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & Takashi Iizuka when Chono made Koshinaka submit to his STF at 11:46. Chono demanded that Tatsumi Fujinami resign as president because he was off watching the Colosseum 2000 show on 5/26 instead of the New Japan show and because he's a joke since he always does Inoki's bidding.
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Brian Johnston beat Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara when Nakanishi made Goto submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 13:32.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & Katsumi Usuda beat Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Kid Romeo when Kashin made Romeo submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 14:50.
In Super Junior league matches, Shinya Makabe upset Dr. Wagner Jr. when he pinned him in his German suplex hold at 12:38 and Minoru Tanaka made Minoru Fujita submit to his Minoru special 2 at 11:20.

5/29:

5/29 Nagano Saku Shi Sogo Taiikukan 1,600
Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & Yutaka Yoshie beat Masahiro Chono & Satoshi Kojima & Michiyoshi Ohara when Yoshie pinned Ohara at 14:01.
Yuji Nagata & Tadao Yasuda defeated Takashi Iizuka & Kenzo Suzuki when Nagata pinned Suzuki in his backdrop hold at 11:42.
Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito beat Manabu Nakanishi & Junji Hirata & Brian Johnston when Norton pinned Hirata. Nakanishi is now using the choke sleeper since Rickson used it to beat Funaki and he's supposed to be a candidate to fight Rickson. I'd be more impressed if he had beaten someone with it instead of just "acting violently," especially since he's looking to use it against Sasaki in the title match on 6/2. Nakanishi is trying to show there's more than one side to him. He's doing more vale tudo style moves, but trying to be more brutal, and also using moves like the Asian claw to show his traditional wrestling side.
In a Super Junior match, Shinjiro Otani pinned Kid Romeo in just 5:37
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Kashin beat Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Minoru Tanaka when Liger pinned Kanemoto at 10:31.
Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Black Cat defeated Shinya Makabe & Minoru Fujita when Wagner pinned Fujita at 10:18.

5/28:

5/28 Nagano Undo Koen Sogo Taiikukan 3,300 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Brain Johnston when Chono pinned Johnston at 14:34.
Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Kensuke Sasaki & Kenzo Suzuki when Norton pinned Suzuki at 10:06.
Shiro Koshinaka & Takashi Iizuka beat Satoshi Kojima & Hiro Saito when Koshinaka pinned Saito at 15:42
Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai when Otani pinned Samurai at 11:15.
In Super Jr. matches, Koji Kanemoto made Shinya Makabe submit to an uraakiresukengatame at 10:37 and Kendo Kashin made Minoru Fujita submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame in just 5:56.

Atsushi Onita nominated the director of the Economic Planning Agency, 64-year-old Taichi Sakaiya to be his second for the match against Riki Choshu. Sakaiya is a smart guy that's well informed about the economy and has attended JWP before because he's a fan of Mayumi Ozaki, but how he would help Onita against Choshu is anyone's guess. Of course, when you look at the people WWF has had at their big shows over the years, you'd always ask the same question and the answer is as long as their appearance gets some publicity and they give a rub to the wrestlers, it doesn't matter what they can and can't do once they are there. Considering it's Choshu vs. Onita, it would be hard for Sakaiya to reduce the quality of the match any if he were to get involved momentarily, but it sounds like it's unlikely that he'll accept Onita's invitation.

5/27:

Riki Choshu claims his body feels as good as it did at his peak and he weighs 5kg less than he did at his peak. He exercises twice a day, often with the G-EGGS and his knee doesn't bother him as much as it used to (sure, but wait until he starts competing again).
Atsushi Onita wants Antonio Inoki to be a second for the Choshu match. Hopefully since Inoki would get his stoplight, this will end the stupid Inoki wants to get Choshu banished angle and whatever Inoki (or Ogawa) does during the Choshu vs. Onita match can further set up Choshu vs. Ogawa or Inoki.

5/26:

5/26 Aichi Kasugai Shi Sogo Taiikukan 4,000 sellout
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie beat Masahiro Chono & Scotto Norton & Satoshi Kojima when Nagata backdropped Kojima at 16:08.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara defeated Kensuke Sasaki & Kenzo Suzuki when Tenzan pinned Suzuki at 12:42.
In Super Jr. league matches, Minoru Tanaka made Kendo Kashin submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 9:10 and Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Dr. Wagner, Jr. at 13:06.
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Minoru Fujita beat Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Shinya Makabe when Samurai pinned Makabe at 12:40.

Antonio Inoki, who wants Riki Choshu to make his in ring return against Naoya Ogawa, said he'll get Tatsumi Fujinami to banish Choshu from New Japan if he returns to the ring to wrestle Atsushi Onita. This may be the stupidest thing this side of the UFC ban on most cable systems, but at least this is just an angle. Let's see, Inoki is from a "rival organization" and wants that rival organizations top star to face Choshu immediately, but he's also New Japan's largest stock holder and in the storyline has more power there than their booker Choshu because President Fujinami was his protege and still does his bidding close to 30 years later. Onita worked 3 or New Japan's 4 biggest shows in 1999, but all of a sudden it's the worlds gravest sin for Choshu to come back and face him even though Onita has been calling Choshu out since late 1998, while Ogawa has only wanted to fight Choshu for a month. I don't see any logical reason presented for Choshu to be banned, and what difference does it really make if Choshu fights Onita at Yokohama Arena and then Ogawa at the next major show?

Shinya Hashimoto accepted Fujinami's invitation and watched Funaki vs. Gracie with him. It's possible that he will return to fight Gracie, but I wouldn't count on it because Rickson isn't interested in doing works and Hashimoto isn't a shooter.

5/25/00:

Tatsumi Fujinami is going to be at ringside for the Rickson Gracie vs. Masakatsu Funaki fight because he might try to put together Rickson vs. Shinya Hashimoto. Good luck.

See also:
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VII Standings

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