The Way of the World

(Hiroshi Tanashi: Oct. 08)

First off, I’d like to thank you for reading my first ever article of this type on ANY website. I’d also like to thank Chad for giving me the opportunity to do this.

Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of my article is to highlight the worlds of Japanese and Mexican wrestling. I’ll be focusing on New Japan, AAA and CMLL, but will also try to bring other promotions to light as I discover them. Let’s start with what I consider the biggest current story in these countries.

-Best of the Super Juniors 18 (NJPW)

The final show of the round robin portion of this tournament took place this morning (06/08/2011) and obviously, this show was pivotal, as only 1 of the 4 semifinal spots had been set. That spot was filled by Prince Devitt, who is the current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight singles & tag champion. Many people, including myself, are picking Devitt to win this tournament, which he also won last year.

Joining Devitt in the semi finals from Block A is Ring of Honor star Davey Richards, who defeated rising Canadian star Kenny Omega. In Block B the unthinkable actually happened has Gedo, a man who had populated the basement of Block be for the entire tournament, defeated then co-leader of Block B and legend The Great Sasuke. This allowed last year’s runner up Kota Ibushi to take the top spot in Block B after defeating another legend, Jushin “Thunder” Liger. The second spot in Block B would be more difficult to determine, with 5 men contending for that position. Liger’s loss thinned that list to four. While Kushida defeated Mexico’s Mascara Dorada (CMLL), the other half of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight tag champs, Taguchi Ryusuke defeated Taka Michinoku. Taguchi actually takes the spot despite being in a three way tie for the spot at 10pts with Sasuke & Kushida due to the fact that Taguchi holds victories over both the other two.

This sets up for the semi finals on June 10, where the winners of each block meet the runners-up from the opposing blocks. This means Prince Devitt will face his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion partner Taguchi Ryusuke in what will definitely be an explosive match up!! The other semi-final match will feature last year’s runner up Kota Ibushi against ROH stand out Davey Richards, which should also be a spectacular match. The finals will happen the same night between the winners.

The other competitors from the tournament will be featured in two separate 8 man tag team matches. Check out my thread on the forums for the final winner on Friday as well as coverage from the other matches on that show.

Check out the second video digest entry released by NJPW on their Youtube page! http://youtu.be/gCBA87RHyQs

-TNA INVADES AAA

That’s right people! I’ve been talking about it on the forums and finally some news here. Videos began being posted on Facebook a little over a month ago of Jeff Jarrett talking about how he and a group of TNA stars were going to Mexico to take over Triple A. He’s bringing some serious heat with him as well. The takeover seems to begin at Triple A’s largest annual pay per view show Triplemania 19, which takes place June 18. The TNA stars featured in the show beyond Jarrett is like a who’s who of the company: Abyss, Ken Anderson, Rob Van Dam, Knockouts Champion Mickie James & The Beautiful People. TNA actually has the chance to take three titles away from Triple A as well. However, the invasion is only the beginning of what is a stacked card for Triple A, which also includes a fourth title match, a mask versus hair match and a 6 man TLC match! Here’s the full card for Triplemania 19:

AAA Tag Title Match: Extreme Tiger & Jack Evens © vs Abyss & Mr. Anderson

Eight Woman tag match: The Beautiful People (Angelina Love & Velvet Sky), Mickie James & Sexy Star vs Cynthia Moreno, Lolita and The Apache Sisters (Faby & Mari)

AAA World Heavyweight Title: El Zorro © vs Jeff Jarrett

AAA Latin American Title (New belt): Dr Wagner Jr vs Rob Van Dam

Four way “Trio’s” Tournament Final for the AAA World Trios Title (New belt): Los Bizarros (Billy el Malo, Charly Manson & Cibernetico) vs The Black Family (Dark Cuervo, Espiritu & Ozz) vs Los Perros del Mal (Damian 666, Halloween & X-Fly) vs Los Psycho Circus (Monster, Murder & Psycho Clown)

Mask vs Hair: LA Park vs El Mesias

6 man TLC match: Electroshock, Heavy Metal & Joe Lider vs La Maniaquia (Chessman, Silver Cain & Ultimo Gladiador)

Besides the TNA invasion of Triple A, the highlight of Triplemania is the ending of the storied rivalry between LA Park and El Masias (Judas Masias in TNA). I’ll get more in depth into this and other storylines in the following weeks.

-CMLL

CMLL is very confusing to me. They don’t have a whole lot in terms of storylines. This promotion focuses more on action then anything else, which is probably why WWE has been pulling talent from there, including Mistico (Sin Cara) and the recently signed Averno. One thing that I have been watching in CMLL is a tournament called “Forjándo un Ídolo”. This tournament featured four brackets, with the luchadors in those brackets being seemingly sponsored by a different top tier talent in the company. The final featured Angel de Oro defeating Polvora.

The only real storyline I can tell right now features recently signed WWE talent Averno, who is facing La Mascara in a mask vs mask match on June 17, the day before Triple A’s Triplemania show. I have an odd feeling that Averno will lose this match, being he’ll be leaving CMLL to head to WWE.

-Final Thoughts
Well, I hope you’ve found this article informative and enjoyable. I welcome any and all comments, as this is the first time I’ve ever written anything like this and would love to know where I can improve on. In the coming weeks, I look forward to giving everyone more news fantastic worlds of puroresu & lucha libre! I also plan on doing a feature on one international star a week that has caught my eye.

Finally, please check out my photographic work at http://knightnephrite.deviantart.com .

Until next week folks….

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more and listen to the stars…. for they know all!