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NWJ Show 26 - GP Climax '05 - GP Climax Finals

CarlzillaPosted on 02/27/05 at 08:15:16

Card Information:
Held in: TOKYO DOME
Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
Date/Time: 02/14/05 at 7:00pm
Matches/Interviews booked: 8
Arena Capacity: 10000
Attendance: 10000
A Sold Out Arena.
Ticket Buy Rate: 100%
TV ratings: 3%
Approximently Viewers: 8100000

Alex Shelley pinned Shoichi Funaki with the Chokenstein in 0:19:07.
Rating: *** 3/4

Kaz Hayashi and Eiji Ogoya defeated
Thundercats (Jyushin Lyger and Tiger Mask IV) when Kaz Hayashi pinned T. Mask IV
with the Flying Senton in 0:15:59.
Rating: ** 3/4

Toru Yano made Great Sasuke submit to the Canadian Backbreaker in 0:19:08.
Rating: *** 3/4

Minoru Fujita pinned Magnum TOKYO with the Flying Dropkick in 0:19:55.
Rating: **** 1/4
(Minoru Fujita won the NWJ Jr. Heavyweight Title.)

Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Hiroyoshi Tenzan after a German suplex in 0:17:39.
Rating: ****

Minoru Tanaka defeated Yuji Nagata when Yuji Nagata passed out in the
Minoru Special II in 0:21:51.
Rating: **** 1/4

Minoru Tanaka made Shinsuke Nakamura submit to the Minoru Special II in 0:32:55
.
Rating: *****

Interview:
Nakamura offers a handshake to the winner of the 2005 GP Climax. Tanaka looks like he's going to accept and then spits in Nakamura's face. He then grabs he trophy and heads to the back yelling "I told you all!" at the fans.


Card rating: **** 1/4


Match observations:

Well the semi finals and finals of the inagural GP Climax tournament have come and
gone. There where a lot of suprises leading upto the finals which turned out to be
the biggest suprise of them all, as basiclly two newcomers fought each other to be
crowned the GP Climax 2005 champion.

We opened the show with Alex Shelley facing Funaki, and it was a very heated contest.
Both of these men gave everything they had during this fight, with Alex Shelley
having just a little bit more than Funaki. Shelley announced after the match that he
will not be participating on the next tour but instead will be heading back to the US
to work with some of his old friends. He is expected back in NWJ in april.

Eiji Ogoya had his first tag team match tonight, teaming with Kaz Hayashi to upset
Tiger Mask IV and Jyushin Lyger. Lyger and Tiger Mask have announced that they are
probably going to focus more on their singles careers after the GWA title shot, unless
of course, they recapture the gold.

Toru Yano was overwhelmed by the ability of Great Sasuke in the next match. Yano just
couldn't figure out what Sasuke's game plan was, and in the end just resorted to using
illegal moves to get an advantage. After throwing salt into Sasuke's eyes, Yano got
him up for the Canadian Backbreaker with ease. Yano said after the match "It doesn't
matter how you win, just that you win", and win he certainly did.

In the biggest title upset in NWJ history the struggling Minoru Fujita, who has been
on a downstreak since the disband of Minoru Super Plus, captured singles gold tonight
as he defeated Magnum TOKYO with a flying dropkick. Former partner Minoru Tanaka was
at ringside watching that match. Tanaka said that despite the way that the team ended
he wished the best of luck to Fujita and his worthless title. Fujita has challenged
Tanaka to a match, saying that even though he's technically a heavyweight now, that
he's still boarderline enough to be fair game. There has been no word on if the match
was accepted or not.

Our first semi-final match Shinsuke Nakamura defeated NWJ TV Champion, Tenzan, in a
non-title match to reach the finals. Nakamura and Tenzan traded a lot of stiff strikes
and Tenzan and Nakamura shook hands after the match. Tenzan said that he fell to one
of the finest young stars in the history of Puroresu and that there is no shame in
that, he pledged his support for Nakamura during the finals.

In arguably the most anticipated match of the night, Yuji Nagata finally got his hands
on Minoru Tanaka. Tanaka and Nagata started off with some words and a staredown, that
led to Nagata slapping the taste out of Tanaka's mouth. Nagata couldn't completely
capitalize on the situation though and Tanaka was able to mount a comeback. By mid
match both where looking beaten down. Tanaka pulled out his extra reserve tank though
and was able to make Nagata tap out to the armbar.

Now we come to the finals. It was the most spectacular match of NWJ history. Nakamura,
he is being called the new star of puroresu. Tanaka, who became one of the best Jr.'s
in the history of the sport. Now they faced off in the finals of what will become the
biggest tournament in all of Japan. The match started off with a long staredown, and
some words between the competitors. What was said only they will know, but I'm sure it
wasn't pretty. After a strike exchange, Nakamura had the upper hand, and after a few
more minutes it looked like he might be on the way to winning, but at around 12 min
Tanaka started to mount a comeback with some well timed counters and then an offensive
barrage. At 15 min, the tides had almost completely turned, with Nakamura's only
offense coming in the form of defense. At 20 min, there was no clear cut advantage.
Then out of no where, Nakamura locks on the standing arm bar. Everyone thought the
match was over, but somehow Tanaka managed to come back, and after a few more minutes
of strikes and slams, Tanaka locked on the armbar...that was all she wrote for
Nakamura who had to be helped to his feet. Nakamura offered a handshake after all was
said and done, to admit defeat and to show his respect. Minoru Tanaka has no respect
and he proved that when he spit in the face of Nakamura.

Well that's all for us from the GP Climax, we'll be back in March with the Firestorm
'05 tour. Until then, take care.
SuperstarJimiCPosted on 03/03/05 at 02:04:14

That was a great card. Alex Shelley (who is soon leaving SJPW) beating Funaki in a hard-fought match. That was awesome. Then you had Fujita winning the NWJ Jr. Heavyweight Title over Magnum TOKYO. Then Minoru Tanaka (who I made a mistake by releasing in the first place) defeating 2 wrestlers in one night. I thought your card was great. Check out my latest cards & let me know what you thought about them & if you have any suggestions, then let me know. Keep up the good work, you're doing great.
Snabbit888Posted on 03/03/05 at 06:12:01

I'm wanting to feedback more on NWJ, but it's still taking me some time to adapt to the style.  That, and I'm slowly working at getting more knowledge of the wrestlers you use, for I am in all honesty very puro-ignorant.  But I'm reading for certain.
CarlzillaPosted on 03/03/05 at 07:39:25

Jimi...thanks for the feedback, and I'm sure you know that I agree that release Tanaka from SJPW was a mistake, but it's ok. I still have a bit of trouble commenting on your cards as they have no write ups, which you will hopefully fix after card 23. After I get some kinda beef, rather than just results, I'll start posting more. I read every card though.

Snabbit...I'm glad that you read it. It does take a while to build the same kind of interest using puro stars as using guys from American indys or from the WWE, since it's harder to get a hold of puro stuff. If you want a good starting point I suggest checking out Strong Style Spirit (http://www.puroresufan.com) and if you want some cheap DVD's then Puroresu DVD Source is the place to go (http://www.puroresudvdsource.com) If you ever need to ask about one of the wrestlers or anything just ask, I'll be more than happy to relay any information I have on them. This goes for anyone else as well.

Again thanks for letting me know that people are interested.