Watch the time.

In tonight’s WWE Money in the Bank pay per view, the clock may be a deciding factor in the CM Punk fiasco. With more “hype” surrounding it since WrestleMania, I wonder just how much of that hype is real.

Take a look at the RAW’s surprising 2.9 rating. Was it due to the baseball home run derby? Did fans not realize Punk was going to be on the show? Was this a hold-over from the previous week’s holiday and folks getting caught up to real life after returning from vacation? Or does the average fan just not care about the particular storyline?

As much hype as this show has, it may be one with a surprisingly low buy rate. Hardcore wrestling fans are rejoicing in this storyline, with Punk’s mentions of ice cream bars, Colt Cabana, and “WHAT A MANEUVER!”, but as I watch I can’t help think of Chris Jericho and Steve Austin from 10 years ago. Heck, Punk was even inexplicably wearing a Steve Austin t-shirt when he delivered his first promo “heard ’round the world”.

Going back ten years, Jericho was here to save the WWE and Steve Austin was there to undermine authority. Watching Punk I could see the BIG ANGLE simularities. Let’s go outside of the norm, the writer’s say. Can we say this? How about this? Vince MacMahon must be worried about the business today to give Punk this much free reign. Then again, this is almost a blow by blow re-enactment of Punk leaving Ring of Honor a few years back, except when he ran the title in his last match there he stuck around for a few more months.

In case you didn’t know, Punk’s WWE contract expires tonight, the same night he faces John Cena for the World title. If Punk wins, he says he’ll leave and take the WWE belt with him, perhaps to Japan or ROH. Also if he wins, MacMahon says he will fire Cena. You know, like he did last year when Cena didn’t miss any shows.

Just watch the clock.

Lets go over each match and try to get a grasp on how much the WWE is panicking after a 2.9 rating. As usual, I’ll guess the order of the matches.

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Over the next week or so, I’m going to be posting a series of articles EXCLUSIVELY here at FGB documenting the state of Japanese Pro Wrestling at the moment. Each article will highlight one or maybe a couple of feds. We kick things of with …

New Japan:

One could quite easily make a case that this is the most well rounded wrestling promotion in the world right now. New Japan offer up a bit of everything. You have a junior heavyweight division headed by Ireland’s Fergal Devitt which has been producing one classic MOTYC after another. Matches like Devitt vs. Kanemoto, Devitt vs. Marufuji and Fujita vs. Kanemoto all deserve to finish high in any match of the year list. There is a tag division which after a few years of neglect and tarnishing (cough…Team 3D… cough) is really making a comeback with IWGP Tag Champs, Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson) leading the way. With the G1 Tag League upcoming, this division is about to get even hotter. Then there’s the heavyweight singles guys, and among them are some of the best in the world – guys who are right now in their prime like Tanahashi, Nakamura, Makabe and Goto, and dependable veterans like Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima. Shinsuke Nakamura in particular is on fire right now and has a case for being the best heavyweight in the world.

All of this is backed up by sensible booking with a willingness to create interesting storylines that allow the wrestlers to display their characters. There are numerous clear heels which you don’t have in alot of Japanese companies.

The future looks incredibly bright too. Tetsuya Naito looks a lock to be the ace of the promotion for years to come. He has it all – a unique charisma, incredible natural talent, and a great look. His partner Yujiro Takahashi may end up more suited for being the ace of the junior division due to his height but he too has great skills and personality. With the talented Kazuchika Okada due back from his US excursion soon and the new crop of young lions that debuted this year there is even more reason to be optimistic.

Thanks to www.purolove.com for the lineup.

This promises to be one of the best shows of the year. NOAH’s on a roll right now with a change in booking philosophy, and several of it’s wrestlers being on fire.

The top three matches are ridiculously good on paper. The NOAH vs. NJPW tag will look to continue where the Tokyo Dome left off, with Go Shiosaki and Milano stepping in for Misawa and Goto respectively. The two stars of the 1/4 match, Nakamura and Sugiura, are still in place though and will no doubt be fired up every time they cross paths in this match.

Nakajima and KENTA just put on a MOTYC three weeks ago and that will be hard to top, but these crazy S.O.B’s will no doubt try. KENTA is pretty clearly the best wrestler in the world based on form in the last three months. He has never looked better and considering some of his prior years, that’s really saying something.

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With DVDVR ballots due soon, here’s my top 20 puro matches for the year 2008:

1. Kensuke Office vs. Burning (8/17) (KO)
2. Speed Muscle vs. Shingo/BxB (1/15) (DG)
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kohei Suwama (4/9) (AJPW)
4. Mashimo/Madoka vs. Men’s Teioh/Shinobu (5/23) (BJW)
5. Nakanishi/Nagata vs. Ohtani/Tanaka (7/7) (NJPW)
6. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shuji Kondo (11/3) (AJPW)
7. Briscoes vs. Ibushi/Nakajima (9/6) (NOAH)
8. Speed Muscle vs. Shingo/Dragon Kid (8/28)(DG)
9. Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid (11/16) (DG)
10. Kobashi/Honda/Taniguchi vs. Marufuji/Sugiura/Morishima (2/21) (NOAH)
11. Nakajima/Sasaki vs. Akiyama/Rikio (4/27) (NOAH)
12. KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (10/25) (NOAH)
13. Yugi Nagata vs. Masato Tanaka (10/13) (NJPW)
14. Masato Tanaka vs. Koji Kanemoto (4/13) (NJPW)
15. Shingo/BxB Hulk vs. KENTA/Ishimori (3/20) (DG)
16. Suzuki/Kanemaru vs. KENTA/Ishimori (12/7) (NOAH)
17. Naruki Doi vs. KENTA (5/5) (DG)
18. Doi/Tanisaki vs. Cyber Kong/YAMATO (11/16) (DG)
19. Kobashi/KENTA vs. Nakajima/Sasaki (6/14) (NOAH)
20. Suwama/Kondo vs. TenKoji (11/24) (AJPW)

I also did a top 20 for all of wrestling, but this was done under the Observer criteria (Dec2007-Nov2008)

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New Japan’s biggest show of the year goes down tomorrow and it’s set to be a HELL of a show. You’ve got a main event that is sure to pull out all the stops as the company’s biggest young star Hiroshi Tanahashi takes on one of his mentors, All Japan president and IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Keiji Mutoh. There will also be two HUGE New Japan vs. NOAH matches and a rematch of the 10/13 Sumo Hall thriller between Yugi Nagata and Zero 1′s Masato Tanaka.

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM III IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/09 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Dome

0. Mitsuhide Hirasawa, Kazuchika Okada & Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Milano Collection AT, Minoru & Taichi Ishikari
1. Wrestle Kingdom Grand Opening VIENTO DORADO: Mistico, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Averno, Jado & Gedo
2. Jushin Thunder Liger 20th Anniversary Match: Jushin Thunder Liger & Takuma Sano Pro Wrestling NOAH vs. Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title ~Tread on!!~: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Alex Shelley TNA Wrestling & Chris Sabin TNA Wrestling
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ~Ballistic interception~: Low Ki (c) vs. Tiger Mask
5. Fighting Holdings Competition: Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Kurt Angle TNA Wrestling & Kevin Nash TNA Wrestling vs. Giant Bernard, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii & Karl Anderson
6. World Heavyweight Title ~Crusade for Justice~: Yuji Nagata (c) vs. Masato Tanaka ZERO1-MAX
7. New Japan vs. NOAH Battle Tendencies ~the invasion~: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Jun Akiyama Pro Wrestling NOAH
8. IWGP Tag Team Title – Hardcore Rules: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano (c) vs. “Team 3D” Brother Ray TNA Wrestling & Brother Devon TNA Wrestling
9. New Japan vs. NOAH Battle Tendencies ~the encounter~: Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa Pro Wrestling NOAH & Takashi Sugiura Pro Wrestling NOAH
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Keiji Muto All Japan (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

G-1 Climax 2008

Mid-August has become one of the highlights of my wrestling calendar. The reason for this is that it signals the start of New Japan’s G-1 Climax tournament. Since 1991 the G-1 has been provided classic matches, interesting booking and the emergence of several stars. This year’s edition looks to be, on paper, one of the best in recent years.

The format of the tournament has taken different forms over the years and this year what we’re looking at is two blocks of 7 wrestlers, with the winner in Block A facing the winner in Block B. The two blocks are stacked with potentially great matches, and the winners are not clear cut. Block A consists of Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinjiro Ohtani, Giant Bernard, Manabu Nakanishi, Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue. Block B will feature Shinsuke Nakamura, Yugi Nagata, Hirooki Goto, Toshiaki Kawada, Toru Yano, Yutaka Yoshie, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

There are a ton of interesting plots going into this. The biggest is probably that the winner will face IWGP Champion Keiji Muto, on Muto’s home turf in All Japan. This really adds intrigue to who the winner will be. If the plan is for Muto to retain in that match, then almost anyone in the G-1 could be the guy who gets the shot. If the plan is for the title to be won back by a New Japan guy then you’re probably looking at it being Nakamura, Nagata, Tanahashi or maybe even Tenzan. So there are a lot of possibilities in how this thing all plays out.

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