29.06.2004, 00:55
Dave Ditch hat nun ein super Review geschrieben ueber die GHC Heavyweight Titlezeit von Kenta Kobashi sowie einen kleinen Ausblick was NOAH betrifft.Es lohnt sich wirklich das durchzulessen,sehr interessant und gut geschrieben 
Quelle:
Dave Ditch
http://www.puroresupower.com/articles/ditch62404.shtml
Fifteen months ago, I wrote about the tremendous potential of Kobashi's GHC title reign. Nine months ago I wrote a check-up. Now, as the reign almost certainly comes to an end, it's time to look back with a bit better hindsight at what is the most important GHC reign to date, as well as look at its conclusion.
Defense 1: Tamon Honda.
First off, this was one of the strongest heavyweight matches in Japan of that year. From a quality standpoint it was a notch or two above the Misawa/Kobashi title change from March that won so many the match of the year awards. From a booking standpoint, Honda was given one of my favorite 'midcard challenger' pushes ever, as he steadily mowed down lesser wrestlers with a wide variety of finishers, which in turn provided him enough legitimate
offense to take down Kobashi if he held on long enough.
From a business standpoint Honda was able to replace Shiga as the Burning #2 man, and that has been a big part of house show cards ever since. That said, Tamon peaked in fan interest between April's title challenge and June's tag title change, and he's too old to be worth investing any more effort into. Not a waste of what's essentially an automatic Kobashi win.
Defense 2: Masahiro Chono.
Hey, this one was pretty much a no-lose for NOAH; Kobashi decisively goes over another top name on a big show. A couple years ago this would have drawn much more attention, not to mention been a solid match. Sadly the result was never in doubt, and neither the buildup nor the aftermath was anything of substance for either company. It might have hurt Kobashi's reputation in the business due to the match not drawing a considerable number.
Defense 3: Bison Smith.
A throwaway defense with no buildup or follow-up. Smith looked better than ever in a competitive match against Kobashi, but then that was never used to jump start a push for him as an emerging gaijin phenom. But then we've all heard the complaints from Zach enough to have them memorized, so I'll move on.
Defense 4: Yuji Nagata.
Packed the Budokan, Kobashi goes over New Japan's ace, match leads to other matches down the line in the form of the Nagata/Tanahashi GHC tag challenge. I mostly blame the failure of that angle on using Tanahashi instead of a more established, mature star who could play a heel and rile the crowd. Anyway, this did everything it could be expected to do.
Defense 5: Yoshinari Ogawa.
Nobody expected much, and that worked in this feud's favor. It drew a fair number at the Budokan, and their match didn't look Kobashi look weak thanks to Ogawa going all-out cheap heel (as opposed to being competitive against Takayama a year earlier). The only problem here was the opportunity loss. They could have used Taue for a hotter crowd and a better match coming off Taue's performance on 6/6 against Nagata. They could have put the Rikio challenge here, so that the Ogawa threat would seem more credible in a later match.
Defense 6: Takuma Sano.
An unmitigated, unqualified failure from every conceivable standpoint. They put Sano over Akiyama in a match that did more to make Akiyama look weak than it did to generate interest in Sano. The buildup in January saw him do little more than pin Masao Inoue with the northern lights bomb over and over.
Even then I'm stunned that they drew a paltry 2800 to the Kobe World Hall, a number that was doubled that fall by a less than stellar New Japan card and nearly tripled in the G-1 tour opener. When Toryumon *ever* does dramatically better than a card headlined by a Kobashi title match, there's problems. Sano got buried after this, and they clearly would have been better off using Ikeda, Morishima, Taue, or IZU. But then Kobashi vs IZU is being saved for when they need that guaranteed big money.
Defense 7: Takeshi Rikio.
Drew all that could be expected, Rikio looked about as competitive as he could, etc. By this stage they should have been using more credible challengers, because there's no way Rikio would ever beat Kobashi given the importance of Kobashi's reign.
On April 2, they announced that Kobashi vs Akiyama would headline the dome.
Defense 8: Yoshihiro Takayama.
STUPID. STUPID. STUPID. Why do you announce Kobashi vs Akiyama *right before* this? It's a miracle that this was a success considering that it was a foregone conclusion Kobashi would win. They put on a top-flight heavyweight match, and I can only imagine how well it would have come off if they hadn't spoiled Kobashi's win ahead of time. At least they both looked good and it sold tickets.
So in the end, let's look at what young stars were made or helped along by challenging Kobashi:
Rikio
Wow, good job Misawa, that's phenomenal! The title reign was defined by anti-climactic matches with midcarder-for-life types, and a couple can't-miss defenses that were good for a single big house and little more.
And then there's the Akiyama match.
What can I say about the booking of the Akiyama challenge that either hasn't been said or isn't blatantly obvious? A sentiment I shared with Dynamic A (Adam Randis), and which he agrees with, is that there's a certain surreal quality of how badly this is being botched. It's unbelievable in a 'I can't believe they're actually doing something so stupid' way. Hey, why not catalog it?
- The downplaying of the Kobashi vs Akiyama feud from the June 6, 2003 tag title match to today. The Burning vs Sternness feud in late 2002 and early 2003 produced a lot of good wrestling, and some much-needed continuity to the NOAH tours. However, after the tag title match they didn't interact much in important settings... at least not any more than two non-aligned main-eventers normally would. From May to the dome show they've been booked against each other in just four tags, including two on the upcoming tour. They were in four tags on the October 2002 tour alone, and that was just to build to a show in an arena a fifth the size of the dome.
- Length of time between Akiyama's GHC challenges. When a big name hasn't had a title match in two and a half years, chances are he's winning when it comes around. Playing off the first item, Akiyama could have challenged Kobashi in the fall, packing the Budokan and giving more depth to his current title chase. Akiyama could have even challenged during Misawa's second GHC reign, which would have added a little extra meaning to Kobashi beating Misawa in the context of
the Kobashi/Akiyama feud.
- Failure to build off of G-1 2003. Akiyama carried the tournament on his shoulders and looked great against Tenzan in the finals. So afterwards he does meaningless tags for a few months and does a lame-duck job to Takuma Sano. Yee haw!
- The Global Hardcore belt. Ugh, ugh, ugh. It smacked of blatant desperation... something slapped together in a last-minute attempt to build to the dome show. Akiyama got the win back over Sano (that he never should have lost), then he did the '1/3 title defenses' gimmick against a trio of jobbers in matches he should have won in under 5 minutes. They didn't feed him anyone of any note, and he was given no opportunity to show some sort of new zeal, or go to Calgary and learn a
new headlock.
- Announcing the title match too far in advance. Rather than renew the feud and then book the match to blow it off, they put the cart in front of the horse and then sat back and waited for the cart to start moving. This not only made it staggeringly obvious that Akiyama would win, but it also reduced the potency of any further Kobashi defenses (ie. Takayama).
- No storyline used to give urgency to Akiyama's title chase. The singles match on the second NOAH show, after Akiyama turned on Kobashi, had considerably more behind it due to what happened prior to the All Japan split. You had Akiyama finally beating Misawa, Kobashi toppling Vader when Akiyama couldn't, Burning losing the tag belts, and everything climaxing in Akiyama making his big move on the NOAH debut to establish himself as the ace of the new company. Then that lasted to the big December match at the Ariake Coliseum, with Kobashi getting his revenge (though he should have lost, but that's another column). Where's the intrigue here? Kobashi's nipple injury?
When it comes down to it, the dome show is unlikely to sell out and unlikely to turn Akiyama into a Kobashi-level draw. The entire point of Kobashi's reign was to make money and create new stars for once he and Misawa left the limelight, but the latter hasn't happened. They can't do this over again, either. Another Kobashi title win wouldn't be special, and another 'Kobashi puts over the new ace' title change would mean even less than it does here.
Misawa has failed to give the fans something to anticipate, when this should have been an easy home run. While not maliciously bad as New Japan's handing of Tenzan, it still shows a lack of effort on behalf of two men who have been vital to Misawa's own success in the last decade. I hope that this works out against all odds and that Akiyama finally reach his full potential in front of thirty thousand or more *paying* fans. But I'm not holding my breath, and I'm definitely more afraid of beach crabs than front necklocks.
Quelle:
Dave Ditch
http://www.puroresupower.com/articles/ditch62404.shtml
Fifteen months ago, I wrote about the tremendous potential of Kobashi's GHC title reign. Nine months ago I wrote a check-up. Now, as the reign almost certainly comes to an end, it's time to look back with a bit better hindsight at what is the most important GHC reign to date, as well as look at its conclusion.
Defense 1: Tamon Honda.
First off, this was one of the strongest heavyweight matches in Japan of that year. From a quality standpoint it was a notch or two above the Misawa/Kobashi title change from March that won so many the match of the year awards. From a booking standpoint, Honda was given one of my favorite 'midcard challenger' pushes ever, as he steadily mowed down lesser wrestlers with a wide variety of finishers, which in turn provided him enough legitimate
offense to take down Kobashi if he held on long enough.
From a business standpoint Honda was able to replace Shiga as the Burning #2 man, and that has been a big part of house show cards ever since. That said, Tamon peaked in fan interest between April's title challenge and June's tag title change, and he's too old to be worth investing any more effort into. Not a waste of what's essentially an automatic Kobashi win.
Defense 2: Masahiro Chono.
Hey, this one was pretty much a no-lose for NOAH; Kobashi decisively goes over another top name on a big show. A couple years ago this would have drawn much more attention, not to mention been a solid match. Sadly the result was never in doubt, and neither the buildup nor the aftermath was anything of substance for either company. It might have hurt Kobashi's reputation in the business due to the match not drawing a considerable number.
Defense 3: Bison Smith.
A throwaway defense with no buildup or follow-up. Smith looked better than ever in a competitive match against Kobashi, but then that was never used to jump start a push for him as an emerging gaijin phenom. But then we've all heard the complaints from Zach enough to have them memorized, so I'll move on.
Defense 4: Yuji Nagata.
Packed the Budokan, Kobashi goes over New Japan's ace, match leads to other matches down the line in the form of the Nagata/Tanahashi GHC tag challenge. I mostly blame the failure of that angle on using Tanahashi instead of a more established, mature star who could play a heel and rile the crowd. Anyway, this did everything it could be expected to do.
Defense 5: Yoshinari Ogawa.
Nobody expected much, and that worked in this feud's favor. It drew a fair number at the Budokan, and their match didn't look Kobashi look weak thanks to Ogawa going all-out cheap heel (as opposed to being competitive against Takayama a year earlier). The only problem here was the opportunity loss. They could have used Taue for a hotter crowd and a better match coming off Taue's performance on 6/6 against Nagata. They could have put the Rikio challenge here, so that the Ogawa threat would seem more credible in a later match.
Defense 6: Takuma Sano.
An unmitigated, unqualified failure from every conceivable standpoint. They put Sano over Akiyama in a match that did more to make Akiyama look weak than it did to generate interest in Sano. The buildup in January saw him do little more than pin Masao Inoue with the northern lights bomb over and over.
Even then I'm stunned that they drew a paltry 2800 to the Kobe World Hall, a number that was doubled that fall by a less than stellar New Japan card and nearly tripled in the G-1 tour opener. When Toryumon *ever* does dramatically better than a card headlined by a Kobashi title match, there's problems. Sano got buried after this, and they clearly would have been better off using Ikeda, Morishima, Taue, or IZU. But then Kobashi vs IZU is being saved for when they need that guaranteed big money.
Defense 7: Takeshi Rikio.
Drew all that could be expected, Rikio looked about as competitive as he could, etc. By this stage they should have been using more credible challengers, because there's no way Rikio would ever beat Kobashi given the importance of Kobashi's reign.
On April 2, they announced that Kobashi vs Akiyama would headline the dome.
Defense 8: Yoshihiro Takayama.
STUPID. STUPID. STUPID. Why do you announce Kobashi vs Akiyama *right before* this? It's a miracle that this was a success considering that it was a foregone conclusion Kobashi would win. They put on a top-flight heavyweight match, and I can only imagine how well it would have come off if they hadn't spoiled Kobashi's win ahead of time. At least they both looked good and it sold tickets.
So in the end, let's look at what young stars were made or helped along by challenging Kobashi:
Rikio
Wow, good job Misawa, that's phenomenal! The title reign was defined by anti-climactic matches with midcarder-for-life types, and a couple can't-miss defenses that were good for a single big house and little more.
And then there's the Akiyama match.
What can I say about the booking of the Akiyama challenge that either hasn't been said or isn't blatantly obvious? A sentiment I shared with Dynamic A (Adam Randis), and which he agrees with, is that there's a certain surreal quality of how badly this is being botched. It's unbelievable in a 'I can't believe they're actually doing something so stupid' way. Hey, why not catalog it?
- The downplaying of the Kobashi vs Akiyama feud from the June 6, 2003 tag title match to today. The Burning vs Sternness feud in late 2002 and early 2003 produced a lot of good wrestling, and some much-needed continuity to the NOAH tours. However, after the tag title match they didn't interact much in important settings... at least not any more than two non-aligned main-eventers normally would. From May to the dome show they've been booked against each other in just four tags, including two on the upcoming tour. They were in four tags on the October 2002 tour alone, and that was just to build to a show in an arena a fifth the size of the dome.
- Length of time between Akiyama's GHC challenges. When a big name hasn't had a title match in two and a half years, chances are he's winning when it comes around. Playing off the first item, Akiyama could have challenged Kobashi in the fall, packing the Budokan and giving more depth to his current title chase. Akiyama could have even challenged during Misawa's second GHC reign, which would have added a little extra meaning to Kobashi beating Misawa in the context of
the Kobashi/Akiyama feud.
- Failure to build off of G-1 2003. Akiyama carried the tournament on his shoulders and looked great against Tenzan in the finals. So afterwards he does meaningless tags for a few months and does a lame-duck job to Takuma Sano. Yee haw!
- The Global Hardcore belt. Ugh, ugh, ugh. It smacked of blatant desperation... something slapped together in a last-minute attempt to build to the dome show. Akiyama got the win back over Sano (that he never should have lost), then he did the '1/3 title defenses' gimmick against a trio of jobbers in matches he should have won in under 5 minutes. They didn't feed him anyone of any note, and he was given no opportunity to show some sort of new zeal, or go to Calgary and learn a
new headlock.
- Announcing the title match too far in advance. Rather than renew the feud and then book the match to blow it off, they put the cart in front of the horse and then sat back and waited for the cart to start moving. This not only made it staggeringly obvious that Akiyama would win, but it also reduced the potency of any further Kobashi defenses (ie. Takayama).
- No storyline used to give urgency to Akiyama's title chase. The singles match on the second NOAH show, after Akiyama turned on Kobashi, had considerably more behind it due to what happened prior to the All Japan split. You had Akiyama finally beating Misawa, Kobashi toppling Vader when Akiyama couldn't, Burning losing the tag belts, and everything climaxing in Akiyama making his big move on the NOAH debut to establish himself as the ace of the new company. Then that lasted to the big December match at the Ariake Coliseum, with Kobashi getting his revenge (though he should have lost, but that's another column). Where's the intrigue here? Kobashi's nipple injury?
When it comes down to it, the dome show is unlikely to sell out and unlikely to turn Akiyama into a Kobashi-level draw. The entire point of Kobashi's reign was to make money and create new stars for once he and Misawa left the limelight, but the latter hasn't happened. They can't do this over again, either. Another Kobashi title win wouldn't be special, and another 'Kobashi puts over the new ace' title change would mean even less than it does here.
Misawa has failed to give the fans something to anticipate, when this should have been an easy home run. While not maliciously bad as New Japan's handing of Tenzan, it still shows a lack of effort on behalf of two men who have been vital to Misawa's own success in the last decade. I hope that this works out against all odds and that Akiyama finally reach his full potential in front of thirty thousand or more *paying* fans. But I'm not holding my breath, and I'm definitely more afraid of beach crabs than front necklocks.