10/29 Kobe World Kinen Hall 7,800 sellout
Kensuke Sasaki pinned Yuji Nagata in his northern lights bomb at 13:55. Sasaki demanded that Kawada & Tenryu participate in the IWGP Heavyweight title tournament.
In BLACK vs. G-EGGS Battle 19, Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Don Frye beat Manabu Nakanishi & Brian Johnston & Yutaka Yoshie when Chono pinned Yoshie at 17:27 following his kenka kick.
Minoru Tanaka captured the IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken when he made Tatsuhito Takaiwa submit to a hizajujigatame at 14:07.
Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) pinned T2000 Machine at 4:41 following his diving headbutt. This match was set up by Tatsutoshi Goto wrestling in Super Strong Machine's mask on 10/9.
Koji Kanemoto upset Jushin Thunder Liger, forcing him to submit to a hizajujigatame at 16:45. The heavyweight juniors that have dominated all year both submitted to shoot style juniors, but AKIRA pinning Kendo Kashin at 9:37 doesn't go with that trend. Of course, AKIRA hasn't competed in the junior division for years and Kashin was embarrased so badly at PRIDE.10 that he's much less of a shooter than someone that has an "aura" but never really shot. In any case, Kanemoto & Tanaka look pretty good since between them they hold all New Japan's junior belts.

10/20 Fukuoka Kokusai Center 4,800 sellout
The Team 2000 squad of Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima won BLACK vs. G-EGGS Battle 12, defeating Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Brian Johnston & Yutaka Yoshie in a 2/3 fall match. G-EGGS won the first fall when Nakanishi made Norton submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 13:46. Chono evened it up, pinning Johnston at 6:42 following his kenka kick. Norton then got his revenge on Nakanishi, pinning him at 4:39 following a jackhammer.

There's talk of New Japan running on one night tournament for the vacant IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken on 1/4/01 at the Tokyo Dome. This would be the second such tournament, as Vader beat Shinya Hashimoto in the final of an 8 man tournament on 4/24/89. If Toshiaki Kawada is in it, he'll probably win so the All Japan and New Japan titles could be unified going into the Baba Memorial on 1/28/01 at the Tokyo Dome.

It looks like Shinya Hashimoto is going to form his own group in New Japan. His main goal is solo though, as he's back to wanting to avenge all his loses to Naoya Ogawa.

10/14 Mie Yokkaichi Shi Taiikukan 3,500
BLACK (T2000) won both matches against G-EGGS to even the series at 3-3. Scott Norton & Super J beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata when Norton powerbombed Nagata at 14:27.
Don Frye & Satoshi Kojima defeated Brian Johnston & Yutaka Yoshie when Frye gave Yoshie a right hook at 15:04.

In the main event, Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & AKIRA beat Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Nishimura when Chono made Nishimura succumb to his STF at 17:05.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & Dr. Wagner, Jr. defeated Tatsuhita Takaiwa & Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka when Liger pinned Kanemoto after Wagner laid him out with his Michinoku driver II.

10/13 Ishikawa-ken Sangyo Tenjikan 1 3,200 sellout
G-EGGS won their 4 BATTLE with BLACK (T2000), as the team of Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie beat Scott Norton & Don Frye & Super J when Nakanishi made J submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 14:32.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Kensuke Sasaki & Osamu Nishimura when Tenzan made Nishimura succumb to his buffalo sleeper at 18:32.
Masahiro Chono & Michiyoshi Ohara & AKIRA beat Takashi Iizuka & Jushin Thunder Liger & Kenzo Suzuki when Chono made Suzuki submit to his STF at 14:49.
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto defeated Brian Johnston & Kendo Kashin when Goto backdropped Kashin at 10:27.
Minoru Tanaka made Dr. Wagner, Jr. submit to a hizajujigatame at 9:39.
Tatsuhita Takaiwa & Koji Kanemoto defeated El Samurai & Shinya Makabe when Kanemoto gave Makabe his moonsault press at 11:16.

10/12 Osaka Namihaya Dome 2,200
G-EGGS won their 3 match BATTLE with BLACK (T2000) 2-1, although the one was the main event. Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie when Norton powerbombed Yoshie at 14:58.
Yuji Nagata made Tatsutoshi Goto submit to his Nagata lock II at 6:36.
Brian Johnston made Michiyoshi Ohara submit to his standing heel hold at 7:09.

Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka defeated Don Frye & Hiroyoshi Tenzan when Iizuka made Tenzan submit to his sleeper hold at 13:10.
Junji Hirata & Jushin Thunder Liger beat Satoshi Kojima & AKIRA when Hirata pinned AKIRA in his mashin fuushagatame (devil windmill hold) at 12:58.
Tatsuhita Takaiwa & Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka defeated Kendo Kashin & El Samurai & Dr. Wagner, Jr. when Tanaka made Samurai submit to a hizajujigatame at 13:10.

Tatsumi Fujinami isn't going to allow Shinya Hashimoto to become a free agent. He also didn't schedule him for the upcoming shows because he doesn't want to screw the fans in case Hashimoto "refuses to wrestle." I thought things might finally be back to normal once Hashimoto came out of "retirement," but it seems like this nonsense will never end.

Do Judge!! 10/9 Tokyo Dome 64,000 sellout
Toshiaki Kawada pinned Kensuke Sasaki at 19:38 following a jumping high kick. This was a fight with the expected battle of Kawada's chops and kicks vs. Sasaki's punches and lariats, including the who will get knocked off their feet first routine. Kawada never used his powerbomb, and the only suplex in the match was his backdrop. Sasaki legitimately knocked Kawada senseless at one point, but Kawada defended All Japan "to the death" even though he didn't totally know what was going on and claims to not remember what happened after he was hurt. Kawada also said that for the first time in his 18 year "wrestler life," he wasn't able to sleep the night before a big match. After the match, Sasaki vacated the IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken, which was not on the line, by giving it to ring announcer Tanaka because he didn't feel he was worthy of holding it after losing what could be considered the biggest match in the history of the company. The rematch of what former President Seiji Sakaguchi is calling the '00 Match Of The Year may happen on one of the 1/01 dome shows.
Masahiro Chono & Mr. T beat Masa Fuchi & Shiro Koshinaka when Mr. T pinned Koshinaka at 12:56. The guy who wrestled as Mr. T wore a Strong Machine outfit except it said TEAM 2000 on the side of his black mask. It was really obvious that Tatsutoshi Goto, who occassionally dressed as a Machine during the days when he formed the Blond Outlaws with Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) & Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga, was the man under the hood. Junji Hirata was not happy that Goto was going to wrestle in his old mask, except desecrated with a Team 2000 logo, so he was in Fuchi & Koshinaka's corner. Super Strong Machine "joined WAR" during the NJ vs. WAR program, so it's possible that they did this to once again put him in the defector role. He hasn't had much of a role since he was teaming with Hashimoto in '96, pretty much phased out due to his age (he turns 44 in December), so it's not a bad idea to do something with him since he's still around and there are certainly worse guys that have roles. The thing is it's kind of scary when Kawada is All Japan's youngest respresentative.
Steve Williams pinned Scott Norton at 12:28 following 3 backdrops.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima successfully defended the IWGP Tag Senshuken, defeating Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata when Kojima pinned Nakanishi at 20:22 following his lariat.
Tatsuhito Takaiwa successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken for the 2nd time, pinning Koji Kanemoto in his Death Valley bomb at 12:51.
Don Frye made Takashi Iizuka submit to the hadakajime at 10:47.
Jushin Thunder Liger pinned Super Delfin at 13:43 following 4 shoteis and his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster.
Shinya Hashimoto made Tatsumi Fujinami submit to a chickenwing arm lock at 14:18. Hashimoto got a tremendous pop coming out, and was so overwhelmed by it that he started to cry. Hashimoto bloodied Fujinami's mouth with stiff blows. Hashimoto, who wrestled his first match since 4/7/00, is now probably breaking away from New Japan. In typically Hashimoto fashion, he said "I think I would like to be independent," thus leaving the door open for him to change his mind back and forth 20 times. If Hashimoto does leave, he do works and shoots (whether they'd be worked or not is another story) for other promotions. He didn't say whether he'd still wrestle for New Japan or not, but I'm guessing this is just another angle and he'll either do major shows for New Japan, DSE (through Inoki), and perhaps All Japan (since the interpromotional program is going on) or he'll be denied free agency by President Fujinami.
I have to say that I'm really pleasantly surprised with the results of the interpromotional matches on this show. There wasn't even a touch of the usual New Japan squashes all "inferior" promotions, so either New Japan has learned from the mistakes of the past (in that they could have made a lot more money had they waited longer to "prove Strong Style was superior"), are really desperate for something that will make big money, or Motoko Baba drives an even harder bargain than we thought. Whatever it is, all the results are in All Japan's favor because, even though they lost the semifinal, their guy wasn't even pinned. I'm sure New Japan will more than make up for it later, but it least this show makes All Japan still look like a major player and sets up more huge business in the future.

Masahiro Chono continued to insult Masa Fuchi, expressing concern that his 40+ year old opponents on the 10/9 show were such a disgrace that all the fans would use his match as the bathroom break. Chono is interested in the Kawada vs. Sasaki main event because he'd like to challenge the winner so he can prove that he's better than either promotions "ace."

Kensuke Sasaki likes the idea of Genichiru Tenryu being Toshiaki Kawada's second, and would like Riki Choshu to be his second. In this situation, both wrestlers would have their old teacher in their corner.
Shinjiro Otani will be wrestling in England then going to Calgary to gain weight so he can be a "heavyweight" like Liger & Takaiwa.

There is talk about having some sort of foreigners war that would pit NJ's Scott Norton, Don Frye, Brian Johnston, Super J, & Mike Enos in some type of series against AJ's Steve Williams, Stan Hansen, Taiyo Kea, Mike Barton, & Johnny Smith. There are a couple of bad matches that would be "interesting" to see, but as a whole I can't see anyone getting excited about the prospects of this.

Manabu Nakanishi is trying to get Hiroyoshi Tenzan to leave Team 2000 and team with him.

Tatsumi Fujinami would like Yuji Nagata to team with his 26-year-old brother Katsuhiko, won won a silver metal in amateur wrestling yesterday. Fujinami would prefer that Katsuhiko joins New Japan rather than just wrestling as a gimmick for a big show or two. DSE is also very interested in Katsuhiko, particularly for a major match against their ace Kazushi Sakuraba.

Atsushi Onita was looking to represent All Japan against New Japan, but New Japan doesn't want him to be involved. He might appear as a second though. If he does, that could lead to another bad match in New Japan, but I'd be surprised if they used him again after the way they jobbed him out last time.

The new comer treatment Tatsumi Fujinami is giving Shinya Hashimoto as a condition of agreeing to wrestle him on 10/9 is that it's the opening match, Hashimoto has to wear plain black tights, and he gets no entrance music.

9/17 Kanagawa Sagamihara Shi Sogo Taiikukan 4,300 sellout
Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata when Chono gave Iizuka his kenka kick at 17:06. Today was Chono's 37th birthday, so the celebrated with a cake in the ring before the match. Chono's birthday present to himself was having Team 2000 give Koshinaka a "public lynching" then Chono further humiliated Shiro over the house mic.
Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & Yutaka Yoshie & Brian Johnston defeated Don Frye & Super J & Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito Johnston made Hiro submit to a standing heel hold at 14:46.
Manabu Nakanishi solved his Last Problem, defeating Michiyoshi Ohara with a tackle at 7:28.
Satoshi Kojima made Kenzo Suzuki submit to a gyakukataebigatame (1/2 crab) at 12:04.
Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin when Kanemoto pinned Kashin in his Tiger suplex hold at 13:23.

9/16 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan 9,500 sellout
Masa Fuchi got a measure of revenge against Masa Chono, as he teamed with Taiyo Kea to defeat Chono & Tatsutoshi Goto in a mere 2:18 when Kea used his Hawaiian crusher on Goto. Chono was really pissed in the locker room that his team lost to the "3rd class negotiator's" team.
Manabu Nakanishi solved his 7th Problem, defeating Satoshi Kojima with a spear at 17:45.
Toshiaki Kawada was introduced. He said he's smash Sasaki at the Tokyo Dome. Sasaki eventually came out, not too happy that the New Japan fans had cheered for Kawada. They both gave each other the evil eye, but Kawada left the ring before there was any physical confrontation.
Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata defeated Kensuke Sasaki & Brian Johnston when Nagata made Johnston succumb to his Nagatalock at 15:26.
Shiro Koshinaka & Yutaka Yoshie beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Don Frye when Koshinaka powerbombed Tenzan at 12:18.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin beat Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka when Liger made Tanaka submit to a figure 4 at 8:12.

The rest of the matches for the 10/9 Tokyo Dome show were announced. In addition to Kawada vs. Sasaki, Williams vs. Norton, Takaiwa vs. Kanemoto, & Hashimoto vs. Fujinami, there are the following 5 new matches:
Masa Fuchi & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Masahiro Chono & Mr. T. Expect Mr. T to not be the guy that fired fired 100,000,000,000,000 rounds on The A Team without every hitting anybody.
Taiyo Kea vs. Yutaka Yoshie
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Tag
Takashi IIzuka vs. Don Frye in a match called OCTOBER TARGET
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Super Delfin in a match called SUPER Jr. GOLDEN AGE

9/15 Chiba Makuhari Messe Kokusai Tenjiba 10 Hall 2,400 sellout
Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata beat Don Frye & Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto when Iizuka took Goto out with a sleeper hold at 17:32.
Manabu Nakanishi solved his sixth consecutive Problem, pinning Brian Johnston following a lariat at 8:53.
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Super J defeated Shiro Koshinaka & Yutaka Yoshie & Kenzo Suzuki when J pinned Suzuki following his diving lariat at 15:56.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin beat Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Liger used his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster on Kanemoto at 11:06.
Hiro Saito pinned El Samurai at 11:28 following his diving senton.

The reason Kensuke Sasaki is so mad at Toshiaki Kawada is that Kawada didn't specifically name him when he said he wanted to challenge the top guy in New Japan. Sasaki has been pushed as New Japan's top guy this year, but the fans would consider Chono to be above him as well as Muto & probably still Hashimoto if they were active in New Japan rings.

Tatsumi Fujinami lifted the "ban" on doing his Dragon suplex hold that he supposedly placed on himself in the late 80's (he's used it since then, but the idea is that it was only when he had no other choice). Supposedly Fujinami considered the move too dangerous, but I guess he wants to beat Hashimoto badly enough (he said he can't upset Hashimoto with a common move) that he's going to use it on him. At least New Japan doesn't ban moves where you could land badly on your head and neck and then have the audacity to have guys plunging as much as 50, maybe even 75 feet (or whatever laughable estimate they made), for our "enjoyment."

Chono's selection of Mr. T as his partner against Fuchi & Koshinaka at the Tokyo Dome seems to have to do with him feeling his partner is irrelevant because he could beat them on his own.

9/13 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center 3,800 sellout
Tatsuhito Takaiwa successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken, making Kendo Kashin submit to his own udehishigigyakujujigatame at 11:40. This means it's Takaiwa defending against Koji on 10/9.
Masahiro Chono & Don Frye & Satoshi Kojima beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata & Jushin Thunder Liger when Chono pinned Sasaki at 16:29. Since Chono has no respect for Fuchi, he said he could be Fuchi & Koshinaka in a handicap match. He complained about being humiliated on the big shows because he had to face Atsushi Onita in a death match last year at the Tokyo Dome and now he's going to be against Fuchi. At the moment, Koshinaka is supposedly only "breaking away" from New Japan for one match with Fuchi, but it seems like it's likely to become a regular occurrence as long as AJ vs. NJ lasts because AJ has no depth.
In the fifth match of the Manabu Nakanishi Shiren (trial) Hachi-ban (8) Shobu (bouts) called 5th. Problem, Nakanishi pinned Takashi Iizuka following a lariat at 15:17.
Koji Kanemoto made El Samurai submin to an uraakiresukengatame (reverse Achilles' tendon hold) at 10:15.

9/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,359 "sellout"
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka successfully defended the IWGP Junior Tag Senshuken, defeating Jushin Thunder Liger & Shinya Makabe when Tanaka used his Minoru special on Makabe at 21:46.
Masahiro Chono & Super J & Michiyoshi Ohara beat Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Yutaka Yoshie when Chono used his Yakuza kick on Iizuka at 14:35.
In the fourth match of the Manabu Nakanishi Shiren (trial) Hachi-ban (8) Shobu (bouts) called 4th. Problem, Nakanishi made Shiro Koshinaka submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 12:24.
Yuji Nagata & Brian Johnston defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Don Frye when Nagata made Tenzan submit to his Nagata lock at 15:48.
Kendo Kashin & El Samurai beat Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Katsuyori Shibata when Samurai used a diving headbutt on Shibata at 11:46.
Kenzo Suzuki made Hiro Saito submit to a gyakuebigatame at 8:51.

Masa Fuchi wants to team with Shiro Koshinaka against a New Japan team on the 10/9 Tokyo Dome show.
Tatsumi Fujinami is going to face Shinya Hashimoto in singles on the 10/9 show. Fujinami's condition for facing Hashimoto was that it be in the opening match. The idea may be that Hashimoto is being "punished" or has to "pay his dues" again since he "told a lie" about retiring.

9/11 Niigata Shi Taiikukan 3,800 sellout
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Hiro Saito beat Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Jushin Thunder Liger when Tenzan used his diving headbutt on Liger at 18:00.
Masahiro Chono & Super J beat Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie when J used a diving lariat on Yoshie at 14:06.
In the third match of the Manabu Nakanishi Shiren (trial) Hachi-ban (8) Shobu (bouts) called 3rd. Problem, Nakanishi made Kenzo Suzuki submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 10:20.
Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated Kendo Kashin & El Samurai when Kanemoto pinned Kashin in his moonsault press at 12:06.
Minoru Tanaka beat Shinya Makabe with his Minoru special at 11:29.

9/10 Shizuoka Hamamatsu Shi Taiikukan 3,200 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Don Frye & Super J beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata & Brian Johnston when Frye made Nagata submit to a heel hold at 18:19. Sasaki is pissed at the way Kawada has been handling himself and is demanding Kawada meet him outside the building on 9/16.
In the second match of the Manabu Nakanishi Shiren (trial) Hachi-ban (8) Shobu (bouts) called 2nd. Problem, Nakanishi made Tadao Yasuda submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 9:48.
Takashi Iizuka & Yutaka Yoshie defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima when Yoshie used a half nelson suplex hold at 12:40.
Shiro Koshinaka & Jushin Thunder Liger beat Michiyoshi Ohara & Hiro Saito when Liger pinned Hiro with his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster at 12:03. Hiro is another guy that used to be a junior, so it's no big deal that Liger pinned him.
Kendo Kashin & El Samurai & Shinya Makabe defeated Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Minoru Tanaka when Makabe pinned Tanaka in his German suplex hold at 10:38.

9/9 Tochigi Kurobane Chomin Taiikukan 2,000
This was the memorial show for Masakazu Fukuda, held in his home prefecture. It's pretty sad that they could not sell this show out. They had a life size photo of Fukuda. They did a 10 count for him, had Ring Announcer Tanaka announce "188 cm, 103 km, Masakazu Fukuda" so the fans could give him is "final call." Fujinami appealed to the fans not to forget Fukuda.
Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata beat Masahiro Chono & Don Frye & Hiroyoshi Tenzan when pinned Tenzan after his lariat at 15:18.
In the first match of the Manabu Nakanishi Shiren (trial) Hachi-ban (8) Shobu (bouts) called 1st. Problem, Nakanishi made Yutaka Yoshie submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 16:37. Nakanishi once again demanded a match against Shinya Hashimoto. Originally he wanted to fight against Stan Hansen & Steve Williams on 10/9, but he's been looking to wrestle Hashimoto for a long time (it's not like they never wrestled before), but it never happened since Hashimoto was either wrestling Naoya Ogawa or no one. Nakanishi may wind up teaming with Fujinami on 10/9. A program with Nakanishi, since he's not good at all and also not really over, would only accelerate Hashimoto's perpetual downward spiral. When Choshu decides to push a stiff though, he shoves them so far down everyone's throat that eventually, when the promotion keeps drawing, they are finally accepted as a top guy. Unfortunately, like Sasaki, Nakanishi isn't going away anytime soon and Hashimoto seems destined to be in feuds against guys with legitimate backgrounds that can't wrestle for the forseeable future, so this singles match (series?) should wind up happening sooner or later.
Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara defeated Shiro Koshinaka & Jushin Thunder Liger when Goto lariated Koshinaka at 9:24.
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka beat Kendo Kashin & El Samurai when Kanemoto pinned Samurai in his Tiger suplex hold at 11:19.
Tatsuhito Takaiwa took out Shinya Makabe with his lariat at 7:38.

Part of the undercard for the 10/9 Tokyo Dome show was announced. The other New Japan vs. All Japan matches are Scott Norton vs. Steve Williams, which will be awful since neither guy sells or bumps, and Yutaka Yoshie vs. Taiyo Kea, which will probably be below average since they've never worked together. Even though these aren't really matches that people want to see, the heat will probably be tremendous just because it's NJ vs. AJ, so that should make the matches seem better than they are. The winner of the 9/13 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Kendo Kashin match will defend the IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken against Koji Kanemoto, so there's at least one match that's guaranteed to be good.

Tatsumi Fujinami suggested that Shinya Hashimoto's return match be a singles match against Manabu Nakanishi on 10/9 at the Tokyo Dome. Hashimoto isn't opposed to this match at some point, but said he wants to face Tatsumi Fujinami in a tag match instead. He said that Fujinami has beared the brunt of the burden regarding his "retirement," so he should be the first one to "judge" Hashimoto in the ring. Hashimoto said he no longer has any allegiance to the New Japan main body, so his partner wouldn't be one of the guys he was regularly teaming with before he retired. If the match is to happen, the partners would be announced in a week or so. Hashimoto's main goal still seems to be to get revenge against Naoya Ogawa. After all this lose weight, lose weight stuff, Hashimoto is now saying he's increasing his weight for his return. He's supposed to be 122 kg right now, which probably means he got lazy and hasn't been training much of late.

The press and Toshiaki Kawada talked about how Kawada defeated Sasaki a few times (I think once in singles and once in a 6 man tag match) in 1987, as if this is some indication of what will happen when they meet in 2000. Sasaki said those matches were irrelevant, which is true since Sasaki was an upstart who hadn't even joined New Japan yet .At some point Sasaki got mad and threw a table.
Shinya Hashimoto is supposed to present Tatsumi Fujinami with a concrete plan regarding his return tomorrow.

The continuation of the Shiro Koshinaka angle saw him miss a group exercise at the New Japan dojo the day after talking to Motoko Baba, so some people in New Japan are now questioning his allegiance. Tatsumi Fujinami wants to set a meeting up with Koshinaka & Riki Choshu so they can discuss their intentions.
Tokimitsu Ishizawa had a meeting with Tatsumi Fujinami where he said he had to fight again because he is proud of his real fighting capability, but so far he's just been the biggest disgrace to his amateur wrestling background.

Kensuke Sasaki accepted the challenge that Toshiaki Kawada made to him on 9/2 for a match on the 10/9 Tokyo Dome show. It appears that this will be a non-title match. I guess the idea is that it's a match between the top guy in each company, so either both titles should be on the line or neither. Since the All Japan titles are vacant, that kills the possibility. Hopefully this means Kawada will win, which would be the best thing for business since none of the other All Japan natives mean anything, but Choshu has been known to put burying another company over business before.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, who captured the IWGP Tag Senshuken on 7/20, nominated All Japan wrestlers Stan Hansen & Steve Williams as their first challengers and said they want the match to take place in All Japan rings. This match doesn't sound very good at all, but it would be a big help to Tenzan & Kojima if they won. However, Hansen & Williams are very much protected and Tenzan & especially Kojima never get the push to establish them on the top level, so my guess is that even though All Japan has very little leverage, this would be a match that New Japan would let them win.

Shinya Hashimoto said he was going to return to New Japan, again. He also offered his condolences regarding the death of Andy Hug, who he had a special training session or two with to prepare for one of his matches against Ogawa. Naoya Ogawa laughed at Hashimoto's speech and said that Hashimoto betrayed the fans.

NJ will have a new two hour weekly TV show on Sport-i ESPN called "sXw." The 10/2 Tokyo Korakuen Hall show will be the first broadbroadcast, airing from 9-11 that night. These matches shown on the "sXw" won't be shown in TV Asahi. The feature matches for the first show look to be Shiro Koshinaka vs. Manabu Nakanishi and an IWGP junior tag title match.

Shinjiro Otani isn't happy with the way he's been used and the direction of the junior division. The junior division was the best top to bottom division anywhere in the world for several years, but since Liger returned from WCW it's gone downhill a lot with short matches, even when titles are on the line, and most of the emphasis taken off of it due to the stupid junior vs. heavy gimmick. As has been written many times before, the junior vs. heavy matches just expose the juniors for what they aren't, not because they aren't better wrestlers than the heavyweights because they are by far, but because the promotion refuses to ever let them beat any heavyweight that means anything. This problem may well get a lot worse, as it is very possible that the juniors will be asked to compete (read: job to) the heavyweights a regular basis rather than just as a gimmick for the biggest shows and tournaments. It seems they want the juniors to bulk up so they'll be closer to the 101 kg that makes you a true heavyweight, which won't help any of them in the ring except maybe Takaiwa since he wrestles like a heavyweight anyway. Otani has complained to Choshu, who is probably the one that's making the changes even though Liger is technically the booker of the juniors, about the direction of the division, but Choshu is going to do what Choshu is going to do. The result of all this is that, as of now, the junior division is still going to be converted and the "complainer," Otani, has been sent to wrestle in Calgary. Supposedly this is so Otani can train under Joe Daigo, where he'll bulk up and return to Japan with a new look/gimmick and get a "push." New Japan always sends their wrestlers off to another country and often brings them back as stars, but this is after they've wrestled in Japan for a few years and are in line for their first push. Otani has already paid his dues and become one of the top junior heavyweight stars in the world, so, although we don't know Choshu's true intentions, it sure looks like he's temporarily removing a thorn from his side. Calgary, obviously, is not exactly a hot bed for ring work these days. The only guys that were mentioned to me as good workers that Otani could face are Phil LaFon (Danny Kroffat), who was one of the best wrestlers in the world through 1995 but is a shell of his former self these days, and Greg Pawluk, who is supposed to be very similar stylistically to Dynamite Kid & Chris Benoit.

Manabu Nakanishi is doing a death series on the next tour where he has singles matches on 8 consecutive shows. This series came about because he was so disappointed that he was unable to repeat as G1 champion that he couldn't sleep and decided he needed to do something to prove himself and make up for his defeat. It starts on the 9/9 Fukuda memorial show with a match against Yutaka Yoshie, and continues until 9/17 with matches against Tadao Yasuda, Kenzo Suzuki, Shiro Koshinaka, Takashi Iizuka, Brian Johnston, Satoshi Kojima, & Michiyoshi Ohara. He's going into this "trail conquest" with complete self confidence and is looking for singles matches against Shinya Hashimoto, Toshiaki Kawada, and a title match against Kensuke Sasaki once he dispatches of these 8 foes.