–> “CIRCUIT 2009 NEW JAPAN ISM” <--
"I will surpass the wall of Nagata!". Today's main event was supposed to build up Tanahashi vs. Nakamura, and did -- but it also revived the Nagata vs. Goto grudge after Goto surprisingly pinned the ZERO1 World Heavyweight Champion and then demanded a singles match with him. He wants to use Nagata as a step to greater glory and the two seemed destined to collide at Sumo Hall. Who will be the team given the chance to bring home the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title from TNA Wrestling's Motor City Machine Guns? Today's NO LIMIT vs. RISE tag ended in a stalemate 20 minute draw, and both teams were joined by Jado & Gedo and Taguchi & Devitt post-match, all four wanting a slice of the cake. It isn't clear how they will decide who gets the next shot yet -- perhaps a mini-tournament or four way tag dance at Sumo Hall?
A new year and another new belt as Tiger Mask was officially presented with the new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title belt today ahead of his V1 defense against Liger at Sumo Hall. It has been three years now since Black Cat passed away but each January he is remembered by New Japan. A ceremony was again performed today with all of the wrestlers gathering, and after pinning Nagata, Goto held a picture of Cat to his heart.
NJPW “BLACK CAT MEMORIAL”, 1/30/09 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,300 Fans
1. Wataru Inoue, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt beat Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii (11:04) when Devitt used a cradle on Gedo.
2. Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito vs. Milano Collection AT & Taichi Ishikari went to a draw (20:00) when the time limit expired.
3. Tiger Mask & Koji Kanemoto beat Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA (11:24) when Tiger used a chickenwing facelock on AKIRA.
4. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomoaki Honma beat Riki Choshu, Mitsuhide Hirasawa, Kazuchika Okada & Nobuo Yoshihashi (8:21) when Honma used a diving headbutt on Hirasawa.
5. Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi beat Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson (11:21) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Anderson.
6. Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata (21:38) when Goto used the Shouten on Nagata.