NJPW 3/11/2005 Results

Some interesting developments on the road to NEXESS. El Samurai scored a huge upset over reigning IWGP Jr. champion Tiger Mask in the opener when he made him tap out to a chicken wing armlock. Samurai then appealed that he should get the Jr. Title shot at NEXESS instead of Taguchi since he holds a direct victory over the champion. The next shocker of the night was Ebessan & Naofumi Yamamoto holding off Yuji Nagata & Katsuhiko Nakajima to a 20:00 draw in the next match. Nagata's frustrations just seem to continue and he was very upset about not being able to beat a comedy wrestler and a rookie. Josh Barnett made a successful return to NJPW as he make his way to his IWGP title shot against Tenzan in a few weeks. Barnett totally descimated Togi Makabe who got little offense in the match where Barnett overwhelmed him with strikes and submissions before being put out by Barnett's feared Capture Buster. Barnett later said he was confident he would beat Tenzan at NEXESS and be the next generation gaijin IWGP champion. Shinsuke Nakamura & Masayuki Naruse overcame the tough challenge of Yutaka Yoshie and Toru Yano in the next match. Yoshie used his power to control most of the match and beat down Nakamura for the most part. Yano was up to his old tricks as usual and even hit a salt attack on Naruse at one point! But the smaller team managed to rally back get the win when an exhausted Nakamura countered a German-suplex attempt by Yano into a rolling leg-lock for the win. Like Nagata earlier in the show, Black New Japan leader suffered a similar humiliation when Katsuyori Shibata and himself where brought to a draw by Nagata's IWGP Tag Team partner Blue Wolf and Jr. heavyweight Masahito Kakihara. Blue Wolf showed alot of fighting spirit as he used his power to control the match and put himself on even-ground with the veteran Chono. Kakihara himself held up well against the two heavyweights and matched strikes and submissions with Shibata. Post match Chono commented that New Japan was getting strong, so Black New Japan would now have to get stronger. In what was hands down the best match of the night, Jun Akiyama of NOAH made his return to the New Japan ring and scored a revenge victory over Osamu Nishimura for the loss he suffered during the 2003 G-1 CLIMAX. Nishimura controlled most of the match with his expert groundwork, and countered many of Akiyama's offence into cradles and roll-ups, keeping the match at an exciting pace. Nishimura seemingly even turned on "Darkside Muga" as he busted open Akiyama with repeated straight fists to the head. Akiyama managed to get in small bursts of offence in between, including a super Exploder and an avalanche-style Exploder for 2 near falls, but Nishimura wouldn't stay down and retaliate with cobra-twist and a near fall with a Japanese leg-roll clutch and the dreaded backslide. Akiyama would finally win the hard-fought contest with a kneee-face-crusher out of the corner followed by the wrist-clutch Exploder to get the three count. The main event tag match saw Tenzan & Tanahashi gain momentum heading into NEXESS as they defeated Black New Japan's Manabu Nakanishi & Minoru Suzuki. Tenzan was dominant here, and there's obviously still some tension between Nakanishi & Suzuki as Nakanishi worked most of the bout even though he was in trouble at some points. NJPW “Big Fight Series” 3/11/2005 El Samurai & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Tiger Mask & Katsushi Takemura in 17:32 when Samurai used a chicken-wing armlock on Tiger Mask. 74% Yuji Nagata & Katsuhiko Nakajima VS Ebessan & Naofumi Yamamoto went to a 20:00 Draw. 67% Josh Barnett beat Togi Makabe in 10:19 with a Capture Buster. 55% Shinsuke Nakamura & Masayuki Naruse beat Yutaka Yoshie & Toru Yano in 25:37 when Nakamura used a rolling leg-lock on Yano. 76% Masahiro Chono & Katsuyori Shibata VS Blue Wolf & Masahito Kakihara went to a 30:00 Draw. 68% Jun Akiyama beat Osamu Nishimura in 23:35 with a wrist-clutch Exploder. 89% Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Manabu Nakanishi & Minoru Suzuki in 26:30 when Tanahashi pinned Nakanishi with a jumping elbow strike. 60% Just one more show to go before the big NEXESS show!