Bierschwale

9/20/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 9/21/91) Rockford MetroCentre Rockford, IL 1) Billy Black, Joel Deaton, Doug Furnas, & Dan Kroffat defeat Bobby Fulton, Chavo Guerrero, Hector Guerrero, & Tommy Rogers via pinfall by Black on Fulton after a Tiger Driver by Furnas followed by a moonsault press from Black. (9:24) 2) The Great Kokina (w/ Fatu & Samu) & Tatanka defeat Takayuki Iizuka & Boris Zhukov via pinfall by Kokina on Zhukov after a running powerslam by Tatanka followed by a second-rope splash by Kokina. The ever-stoic Kokina motioned for the increasingly vocal Fatu to enter the ring, leading to Fatu asking the former Chris Chavis, now embracing his own native roots, if he had any interest in becoming a full-time associate of the Death Squad. Tatanka replied that he was honored by the offer to join the most "united and truly powerful" faction in all of AIW, but that if it didn't offend the three Samoans, he would need some time to consider it further. The SDS members seemed to respect this and left the ringside area together as a sign of their growing mutual respect. (3:51) 3) Terry Funk defeats Bob Holly via pinfall after a piledriver. (7:12) X) AIW Championship Committee Chairman Nick Bockwinkel came to the ring to announce that the next WGN Superstation Supercard, Hallowed Ground, which he was proud to announce would take place in his beloved "second home town, you can never forget that I'm from beautiful Beverly Hills, of course", Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena on October 26. 4) Bam Bam Bigelow & Black Magic defeat Terry Gordy & Paul Orndorff via pinfall by Magic on Orndorff after a Victory Roll. Magic was overjoyed to get his first win in AIW in nearly four months, which didn't sit well with Orndorff who immediately decked him with a pair of brass knuckles that he had been storing in his trunks. Bigelow rushed to the aid of his partner but Gordy was waiting for him, delivering a huge Thesz Press before rising to his feet and savagely laying the boots to Bigelow, directly aiming for the head in an effort to incapacitate him. The joint Cartel/Gold Club initiative celebrated having won the war, only to be ambushed by a truly rabid Chris Benoit wielding a steel chair, wearing a neckbrace after re-aggravating his neck injury from Uncontrollable Urge that he received at the hands of Gordy because of his desire to honor the lucha libre tradition at The Unheard Music. He swung at Orndorff's raised brass-ringed fist, crumpling the self-proclaimed "Mr. Wonderful", before setting his sights on the monstrous Gordy, delivering a savage chair shot straight to Gordy's head. The telecast went to black as Benoit dropped the chair onto the fallen Gordy and attempted to attend to Bigelow & Magic. (10:29)

9/20/91 AIW Heaven Tonight (live on WGN) Rockford MetroCentre Rockford, IL 1) 2 Cold Scorpio defeats Brady Boone via pinfall after a 450 splash (8:05) 2) John Tatum defeats Danny Boy Collins via pinfall after a California Kick (6:49) 3) Blue Panther defeats Fit Finlay via submission after applying El Nudo Lagunero (9:42) 4) Joe Malenko defeats Brian Christopher via submission after applying a Texas Cloverleaf (4:41) X) Scotty Anthony, The Lightning Kid, & Jerry Lynn vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Billy Robinson, & Adrian Street never officially started after Bob Backlund interrupted after all six men had made their way out to the ring. He addressed the AIW Championship Committee and said that it would be undignified for them to compete in the ring while holding their places on the committee, and that because they were no longer full-time wrestlers, that the danger of getting hurt outweighed any kind of satisfaction in getting one over on the Gold Club. Hence, he volunteered to take their place, with his partners to be the Samoan Death Squad. 5) Bob Backlund, Fatu, & Samu defeat Scotty Anthony, The Lightning Kid, & Jerry Lynn via referee stoppage after Fatu hit Anthony with a top rope splash and Backlund immediately picked him up to put him into the crossface chickenwing, rendering Anthony unable to answer the ref's count (4:55) 6) Naoki Sano & Wayne Shamrock defeat Jeff Jarrett & Buddy Landel via pinfall by Shamrock on Landel, following a release Tiger suplex by Sano and a bridging German suplex by Shamrock (10:26) 7) Eddie Guerrero & Owen Hart defeat Lord Steven Regal & Squire David Taylor in a 2/3 falls match to retain the AIW Tag Team Championship; the Blue Bloods won the first fall via submission after Regal applied a Stump Puller on Hart (9:47), the Pan-Ams won the second fall via submission after Guerrero applied a Gory Special to Taylor (13:05), the Pan-Ams won the third and deciding fall via pinfall by Hart on Regal following a combination brainbuster/moonsault press by the Pan-Ams (22:14). Hart needed help from Guerrero to exit the ring after the damage exerted on his right leg during the match, but told backstage interviewer Boni Blackstone that "it's always worth the pain to prove that you're a rightful champion". (22:14) 8) Rick Rude defeats Steve Williams via disqualification to retain the AIW Heavyweight Championship. Because it was a special one-fall 25-minute time limit match instead of the standard 45-minute 2/3 falls format, Rude spent the majority of it trying to just waste time and stave off Dr. Death's vicious offensive barrages instead of taking his standard tact of sacrificing a fall or opportunistically manipulating the rules, by faking injuries, leaving the ring, generally finding ways to simply clown on Williams and delegitimize him as a challenger. When Williams could gain control, his onslaughts were even more explosive and powerful than normal, nearly getting the winning fall after a particularly thunderous Oklahoma Stampede where Rude was able to get a foot on the bottom rope at the absolute last quarter-second. With only two minutes remaining, Williams hit a desperation gutwrench powerbomb, heaving Rude forward like a javelin which gave the ever-crafty Rude a chance to kick Williams in the stomach as both men fell, leaving Williams unable to capitalize. Knowing that the end was nigh and that Williams could still mount a final charge, Rude crawled toward the referee as Williams lept up to seize the moment. He fell into the champion's trap, however, as Rude tripped Williams into the referee, who immediately disqualified Williams. AIW Commissioner Adrian Street was livid with Rude's actions, and declared that Williams was still #1 contender and that he would receive a rematch inside of a steel cage at AIW's next show in Chicago, Hellbound, on October 6. (23:20)

The NJ project started to bum me out after the RL Honma/Shibata injuries and this is the one that I always liked the most, anyway. So it's restarting with the Heaven Tonight show on 9/20 and then TV tapings on 9/24.

Why I like this match as much as I do (****5/8, I MAKE MY OWN DAMNED RULES) is that if there's a NEVER style, it's about decisiveness. So in a good enough of a sprint, I kinda like the bullshit, it's gratuitous. It's hard to pull off; Ishii-Shibata at WK10 is great, but Ishii-Shibata the next month in Osaka is kind of an embarrassment. This felt INCREDIBLY decisive about things that actually matter, not just "who throws the better German or has the harder sternum kick". This just checked off a lot of things that I like about the style, there wasn't much crap and hot damn I really do love Goto's final combination.

The Cena JD '05 match is an all-timer but hey whatever. JBL IS an asshole but BPD is incredibly complicated and knowing people with it my entire life, it's not at all something from which people JUST get triggered into a breakdown. The solution, whether JBL SHOULD just be fired for a litany of reasons, isn't simply firing him and acting like that's that.

Sigh.

Also, here is the announced lineup for BOSJ 2017: BLOCK A Mike Bailey BUSHI Jushin Liger Takuya Nomura Ricochet BLOCK B ACH KUSHIDA Guerrero Maya, Jr. Will Ospreay Sho Tanaka BLOCK C Cavernario Eita Yohei Komatsu Lio Rush Hiromu Takahashi BLOCK D El Desperado Joey Janela Kzy Dragon Lee Ryusuke Taguchi BLOCK E: 1st in Block A & Block C, 2nd in Block B & Block D BLOCK F: 1st in Block B & Block D, 2nd in Block A & Block C Final: Winner of Block E vs. Winner of Block F

Okay, so RL March was actually fairly eventful for NJPW, but it doesn't change THAT much, and let's just start from a modified basis for the current Sakura Genesis card because starting with a statement is always important. The NJC happened but minus the overall result, let's just ignore it, honestly. IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Kazuchika Okada © vs. Katsuyori Shibata IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP Tetsuya Naito © vs. Minoru Suzuki IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Satoshi Kojima/Hiroyoshi Tenzan © vs. War Machine (Todd Hanson/Raymond Rowe) IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Hiromu Takahashi © vs. El Desperado NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Hirooki Goto © vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. NEVER OPENWEIGHT SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI/Seiya Sanada/Takaaki Watanabe) © vs. Yuji Nagata/Tiger Mask IV/Tiger Mask W IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL Eita/Kzy vs. Los Ingobernables de America (Jack Evans/Joey Janela) IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL ACH/Lio Rush vs. KUSHIDA/Ryusuke Taguchi Michael Elgin/Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Drew Galloway/Hideki Suzuki Kenny Omega/Tama Tonga vs. Will Ospreay/YOSHI-HASHI

GAIJIN Here's where things get more convoluted from a business perspective in my desire to have a competent version of Ring of Honor around, but let's just say that there are no real boundaries keeping any non-natives from working together in one company. Either way, I'd bring in ACH, Jack Evans, Joey Janela, & Lio Rush as new junior regulars and Donovan Dijak & Drew Galloway as new heavyweight regulars almost immediately, in addition to keeping every gaijin not listed in my cuts post.

NATIVE ADDITIONS AND FREELANCER SCHEDULE CHANGES The Young Bucks have value, but it's ever-decreasing, and as always, if you can find a native to do what a gaijin can, but for cheaper, you do. So let's say that... Dragon Gate, for example, would like usage of the Young Bucks. They're good for maintaining Western popularity. Sure. But with that, we'll need a trade. So... the Young Bucks on a 50/50 split with Eita & Kzy. Here's an incredibly sort of scheme-ish thing to do-- Suzukigun as currently structured is reliant on a man who debuted 30 years ago. One who can still be a phenomenal performer, but is better off without having to work as many dates. But there's another Suzuki out there... one without a real main gig... who's an incredible performer and suited perfectly for this stable with a very convenient name. I'm talking about of course, Hideki Suzuki, to be the new day-to-day leader of SZKG. Kota Ibushi & Kazushi Sakuraba are both extremely valuable but aren't going to commit to many dates a year, so why force it? Get from them what we can. New Japan has played fast and loose on screwing around with other companies around the world. In my eyes, the most interesting promotion in Japan is DDT, and DDT, even if it's mostly a roster of junior heavyweights, is still incredibly diverse in style and character. Make nice with them again quick. If you can go into business with Dick Togo but don't, you're screwing up. There's a LONG list of guys whom, if this was a smaller promotion that I didn't think was as ridiculous, I'd bring in because they don't have much else to do. But they'll just make occasional scattered appearances to enrich the card.

THE ROSTER GOING FORWARD Okay, so here's where the rubber will always hit the road-- who stays and who goes? Working from faction to faction, the non-faction of the Seikigun is pretty decent. The old dudes can do old dude stuff down in the openers, the Young Lions are the Young Lions, and the people in the prime of age, with one exception, are all useful. The one who's not is Naofumi "Yoshitatsu" Yamamoto. He's just shittting all over the canvass, but he came up in the Dojo and has been through some hard stuff with injuries; we'll keep him employed but retire him. Also, creative is running a little dry for Bobby Fish, which is not his fault, but he's a victim of the company he keeps. Now, our factions-- CHAOS is bloated and will see two cuts. Los Ingobernables are killing it. But we do have Suzukigun and Bullet Club and ooh. Gonna get real into "Bart Star", Homer Simpson Coaching Pee-Wee Football Mode: -Roppongi Vice are just stuck. Barreta isn't a real junior and Romero has just been around for far too long. They go in the barrel with Fish. -Takashi Iizuka, you're cut. He can be retired and kept in the fold but minus something comical like the NEW JAPAN RAMBO, I don't need to see him wrestle. -Taichi is a waste of space. Not a Dojo kid, no attachment to him, he's cut. -Yoshinobu Kanemaru, that all goes double for you. Cut. -There are people who like the Killer Elite Squad, and like... whatever. I'll send WWE a glowing letter of recommendation but they're symbolic of the greatest downfall for a title within a successful company ever, the IWGP Tag Team Championship, and cannot be maintained on our staff. -God, I hate Adam Cole. -Cody! Nope. -Frankie Kazarian is not to be acknowledged as we slowly tell Ring of Honor to just die already. -I wish that Tanga Roa really was good, but he's not, and he drags down the other Tongans. -BONE SOLDIER & Yujiro Takahashi are embarrassments. Just useless. Chase Owens & Adam Page are fine by me. TAKA Michinoku is a legend and will be forced to be motivated. El Desperado is a Dojo kid and a lovable boy. Minoru Suzuki is Minoru Suzuki. I have... plans for the Young Bucks, and you'll be seeing a lot less of them, but won't be swiftly dumped out. Kenny Omega infuriates me, he is herpes, but really over herpes. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga will stay. Which freelancers come in... is part 2. And which companies I will just screw right over as well.

Like, there was a post by some idiot on a forum that Fray posted on Twitter about how since 1/5/11, that there's only been four IWGP champs and how this showed that NJ were doing a brilliant job of protecting the title and making it important. I don't think that anyone here is that absurd, but that's absolutely mindblowing thinking to me.

I only kinda hate it because it could be much, much better. People WILL think that I'm taking a flamethrower to it just because of its stratification during the Bushiroad era when I'm only changing some things around. That stratification is so bad in my eyes that messing with it at all is like pulling out the Jenga piece on which the whole tower is hinging.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/30844-brian-christopher-vs-taka-michinoku-d-generation-x-in-your-house-127/ That's some REAL effusive praise, as you can tell.

Thank you.

This is my project to reshape current NJPW in my image WHILE maintaining roughly 90% of the things people like about it. Some people are gone no matter what; some gaijin get rotated in, some freelancers have roles increased or decreased, nothing too deranged. Maybe some liberties will be taken with hirings, but... eh. Nothing unruly. IF you love current NJPW, please come in here and bitch my face off. Criticism is welcome as hell, even if I end up not listening to it. We'll be starting off, obviously, with a roster clean-up sometime later today.

All that I know is that ONE DAY, Konosuke Takeshita will be the king of ****+ matches. Also, and it's a kinda iffy thing to say if only because of his primary medium for matches, but I feel like that it very well might be Casas. We know exactly how much that he can put into a throwaway trios, even within the last year.

Ambrose is mischaracterized as an ECW or off-brand Lawler type because of the role that he's been in for so long now. At his best, he's a worker in the TV title-division vein, with promos to match.

Billy Black would have been a huge indie star. A lot of smaller jobbers who had legitimate athleticism as well, once bumping ability took a backseat to offense.

With the guys like Bacon & Rigby who came from catch or boxing backgrounds, it has a really weird early ZERO-1 feeling.

The best, on pure interactive work, three-way dance that I've ever seen is the Eddie-Punk-Rey IWA:MS match. I agree with the idea of conscious "divide and conquer" usually being the best formula. From last year, the Ambrose-Lesnar-Reigns & Corbin-Styles-Ziggler matches were put together like this and they were both tremendous.

Agreed with Phil on Cannon-Kong, even if it's a sentimental thought because of HOW GOOD Cannon could have been/Kongo never getting his respect. I'm also Payback > Extreme Rules forever. Both are truly great but the sense of escalation on Payback is perfect.

If Riddle/Sabre/Yehi/Williams at the top of the card means the end of "a grappleheavy style" then I don't know what the fuck to think.

Wrestling's first great "internet moment" where the people in the arena are in the know?

YES, affirmatively, to Henry-Yehi.