News and Report Archive

10/23/2003
Cleaned up the links page a bit, getting rid of a few dead ones.

10/21/2003 Follow up, new profiles
I've moved around some profiles, and have one for Shogo Takagi. I have more work to do, that will come later in the week. In some final Korakuen follow up. Magnum said he would fight alone for the time being, saying he was forsaken by both Milano and DF. The way things work around here, he could very well end up with DF again by Tag League end, of course. SUWA was very upset with JUN for his hair, CIMA having to play peacekeeper before their match, JUN left by himself, after the incident with Dotti after, but was attacked by SUWA then. Personally, I don't think JUN will leave CMAX, but it is a fairly real possibility. Gianz are fully T2P, and JUN always carried strong T2P pride. Doi again was upset with Mochi for dropping the fall in their league match. Perhaps more problems in M2K will be arising soon....

10/21/2003 Korakuen Results and Report

  • Match 1 was supposed to be SUWA, TARU, and Fujii, but Fujii wasn't in the building....

  • TARU and Owashi had a big brawl after Owashis' match.

  • Raimu and Iwasa are pursuing warrior practice in the US in Florida. They sent a letter by airmail. Perhaps they will be wrestling in MLW.

  • Dotti again invited JUN, who is now (very) blond. CIMA expressed displeasure with both the invitation and the hair. JUN walked off, and was disciplined by SUWA after. Dotti said JUN can decide in Kawagoe when the 2 teams meet.

  • Berlinetta Boxer returned today, during match 4. He aided Dotti. He is unmasked now, and will continue under his real name, Shogo Takagi. He is aligned with the Gianz.

  • Magnum kicked off Milano off K-ness while he had him in the Paradise Lock. Milano retaliated and hit Magnum with the Emporio Armani Shoe. He abandoned Magnun, who was beaten. Milano accused him of still being aligned with DF, but Magu didn't reconcile with the group. Milano attacked him, and had to be restrained by YOSSINO and Anthony. Milano asked for a UDG belt shot.

CMAX, Gianz, and Knessuka all have one match left, Gianz and CMAX against each other, while Knessuka face the Karaoke Machines. If Knessuka and Gianz both win, they will meet in the finals, if Gianz lose, Knessuka will face CMAX in the finals. Other way around, then  there will probably have to be a playoff between MaguColle and CMAX, but given the events from today, that won't be happening.

10/18/2003
Budokan and VamoAmi thoughts here
Finally posted the October VamoAmi schedule, even if it's only one episode this month, not airing until the 31st.

10/17/2003
Budokan and other TV mini-reviews sometime this weekend, I promise. Some little news bits for now.  CIMA made some interesting comments in a recent interview, talking about marriage, and more importantly, that he would be retiring very young, at around the age of 33-34. CIMA turns 27 on November 15th. Berlinetta Boxer is also the subject of some talk recently, after his actions at the last Chicken. There is worry he is the latest casualty, with Phillip and Oyanagei, to go into the black hole. Logic would place him back with X and Los Carros, but with the mask removal, this is up in the air.

10/15/2003 Hakata Report
Today could be considered JUNs coming out day. He kicked out of the Egoist Driver, then survived the remaining minute or so in the AT Lock, as the deadline expired. Magnum seemed a bit upset, and turned his aim at the Korakuen showdown with KnesSuka. With today's losses, Mochi & Doi, the Karaoke Machines,  and YOSSINO & Anthony were eliminated from contention.

10/12/2003 Okayama Report
Milano praised Anthony after their match. He said he was looking forward to tomorrows' league match. Magnum praised JUN, he said he was looking forward to the league match in Hakata. He thanked JUN for the hot fight. Their match was said to be very good. Susumu was bound to the corner by Dotti, leaving K-ness alone. They attacked his shoulder until he could no longer continue. CIMA was cut open from some sort of accident in the main, causing him to bleed. He apparently was quite angry, and spent a good portion of the match under the ring to get fixed.

10/10/2003 Kobe Chicken George Report

  • Raimu and Iwasa (with no makeup) appeared in the opening MC. They announced their warrior practice participation, but said they would return someday.

  • Boxer and Shisa argued, possibly splitting their tentative masked man partnership. BelBel called out YOSSINO and Milano. He said the ItaCon had fallen apart, with Anthony aligning, Dotti and Yasshi turning, and Yagi refereeing. He then resigned and removed his mask.

  • I've finally got a proper translation for JUNs' new move, it is "Tsumuji". It's a face kick of some sort (竜二さん、ウイングアローさん、ありがとうございます）.

  • In other new move notes, CIMA has been using a Gory Special recently, and Susumu will be revealing a move called Jumbo no Ashi soon.

  • The new top photo is of the Karaoke Machines. Nope, no clue who they are^^ (Thanks to Mayuko for the photo.　まゆこさん、写真は、ありがとうございます！）

10/7/2003 Shizuoka

Apologies for the late update, pesky social life interferes so much some times. Magnum vs. Araken for the UDG belt will take place on November 3rd, at Niigita Phase. The "Whale Hunt" move Dotti has been using is a twisting Jackhammer. As for the moves JUN has been using, I'm not even sure I am translating the kanji right ;/

10/5/2003 Zepp Sendai Report

  • Iwasa nominated Mishima to be his opponent in his last trial match

  • Anthony reversed the Sol Noches El to score the fall

  • A mis-aimed blue box attack of some sort led to Genki losing

  • Iwasa Gundam is apparently formed. Somehow. Iwasa said he and Raimu were going to do warrior practice, and return stronger....

  • Yes, X and XX are the Karaoke Machines. I assume they are Fujii and BATAyan under masks....but this isn't confirmed. Although #1 wears a black kimono and has a CMAX logo of sorts, and #2 wears a red kimono and has "Dream Play" on his.....-_-

  • CIMA and JUN have new theme music

  • Dotti came out after match 5, inviting JUN to join Gianz, he flat out refused

  • Milano danced with Magnum before the main. They came out to a mixture of both of their music, and Magu wore 2003 glasses and did the catwalk with Milano. The finish was clean.

10/3/2003 X Debut Thoughts
Received the X debut finally, today (thanks Dan!). I went in with rather low expectations, figuring I would see a rushed show full of guys who will be great soon, but aren't ready yet. I was mostly right, as this felt more like the Japan class debut, not T2P. It would be unfair to expect them to live up to the Desembarcamiento shows, since they were so great and really felt like something special. Not to say this was a bad show, by any means, since it was still better than a lot of the crap going on in wrestling right now. The opener was decent, it wandered at times, Naoki was made to look like the star of the match, and his offense was well received. He is quite good, as I have been saying since I saw his debut. Hanai is still very limited, but has some good charisma. Match 2 was passable, as it was Iwasa Gundam doing their comedy loser gimmick, while Araken set up Koichiro to look good. Poor Raimu has now lost to minis on both the T2P and X debuts. They left off Henry vs. Fujii, which I don't mind, since it was a waste of Henrys' immense talent. Personally I hope this was done so his Royal Brother gimmick is out of sight, out of mind as they prepare to change his gimmick, perhaps. He appeared only briefly in the wrestler introductions (no Royal Brothers unit name on his display) and in the Mexico highlight package. Murcielago impressed me with his flying ability, he has some very cool stuff, and BelBel has improved a lot, even if that doesn't really make him any good yet. Fukuda and Minamino are going to be fantastic. They both know how to use their gimmick to add to the match, and have nice offense, especially Takeshi. Takeshi will be the unsung great wrestler of this class (he will be the Susumu of X). The main event, which was the highlight and focus of the show, was weird. On one hand, mini CMAX ape the big version so much, it is like watching them in 1999, which I have to say is a detriment. I would like to see more unique offense, such as mini CIMAs' triangle Mad Splash (he messed it up on the debut show, but hit it perfectly on the Mexico stuff, very nice). Murakami was the surprise of this show for me. Even with his bizarre hip attack/shooter oriented offense, he was the standout on his team, even with Taiji and Shu. The crowd was way into him, if a bit disturbed. Shu continued his steady improvement, looking better than when we last saw him, just as he did between the Yamaha Cup stuff and the Mexico Special. Taiji really did not look that good. He takes a beating well, and has such a superstar look, but didn't do a whole lot offensively, until his horrid Superstar Elbow. I'm all for toning him down so he isn't just spot after spot, but he didn't do some of his cooler stuff. The Elbow needs to go, he rarely makes it look like good, and isn't that devastating anyway. The after performance of Keep on Journey was scary, fairly obviously lip synching, but the voices on the tape sounded like them. The dancing needs work, though. The Mexico highlights were basically all finishes, then a rather...not good...Taiji vs. Fuerza Guerrera match. Overall the show gets a plus from me, but the roughness was evident throughout, not the flawless mindblowing performance that the T2P debut was. The next Japan landing will have much more impact.