The boys are back in town and ready to make an impact. “NO LIMIT” aka Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito re-landed in Japan today and made their way to New Japan offices to discuss what has been and what is to come. The 22nd generation IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions lost the belts to TNA Wrestling’s Motor City Machine Guns and pursued them back to the U.S., but their excursion turned out to be far more fruitful and lengthy than anticipated. After some time in TNA, they headed to CMLL in Mexico where they became not only heavyweights but two of the biggest heels in Mexico.

Their growth has not been unnoticed by New Japan, who always look to push their young wrestlers into stars. NO LIMIT now challenge Team 3D, along with Bad Intentions, for the IWGP Tag Team Title at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th. Both are now bigger, stronger, and cockier, and spoke at the press conference after President Sugabayashi explained that their place in the three way match is a response to their demands.

Naito said they had reached the top of the mountain in Mexico to the extent that they couldn’t walk into town without being recognized. He said that four young men well known in Japan who have previously been to CMLL - Nakamura, Tanahashi, Goto, and Taguchi - had nothing on their level of stardom in Mexico and are obscure compared to them. Naito called himself a “super-celebrity” and said it would be a natural result if they win the IWGP Tag Team Title and show the effects of their expedition. Yujiro claimed that winning the title would raise the commercial value of NO LIMIT more worldwide and turn them into a famous tag team.

When answering questions, both men made it clear that they love being in Mexico and may even head back there even if they do win the belts. Naito said that everything after the Dome is a blank slate but that he hopes to return to CMLL. Yujiro also said that Mexico is very comfortable for them. President Sugabayashi admitted that their attitudes had changed and wordplay had improved a lot and that he wants them to win the tag belts in order to show they aren’t all talk.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan is about to return with a bang, firstly in the TenKoji reunion and today announced a showdown with the legendary Kenta Kobashi! Tenzan is one of several New Japan wrestlers who will appear on Pro Wrestling NOAH’s May 6th Tokyo Nippon Budokan show. He will take promising young lion Kazuchika Okada with him and the two will face Kobashi and NOAH youngster Atsushi Ito. Once they were nicknamed “The Unbeatables”, Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto being the team that entered NOAH to bring home the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title in 2003. They re-board the Ark on the same show as they face Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi in response to provocation from the team aimed at the New Japan legends. By the way, this show is on the same day as the second half of NJ’s Korakuen double header, the first half of which sees Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada vs. Takashi Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki in another NJ vs. NOAH bout.

NOAH “GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE ‘09″, 5/6/09
Tokyo Nippon Budokan

- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto
- Kenta Kobashi & Atsushi Ito vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Kazuchika Okada

Both IWGP Tag titles were successfully defended at TNA’s “LOCKDOWN” PPV on the 19th. Team 3D went to war with Beer Money Inc. in an IWGP Tag vs. TNA Tag double title match and the world famous tandem came out on top, Brother Ray pinning Robert Roode after a 3D through the table. Meanwhile, NO LIMIT again failed to recapture the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title, this time in a 3WAY cage match as champions, the Motor City Machine Guns, defeated both them and Homicide and the 285lbs (yeah…) Shawn Hernandez. Both matches were officially sanctioned IWGP defenses unlike various others held in America in the past. The task remains for teams from New Japan to beat Team 3D and the MCMG.

TNA “LOCKDOWN”, 4/19/09 (PPV)
Philadelphia Liacouras Center

- 3WAY Tornado Six Sides of Steel Cage Match - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley (c) beat Homicide & Shawn Hernandez and Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (11:53) when Sabin pinned Naito after the Made in Detroit (3rd defense).
- Philadelphia Street Fight - IWGP Tag Team Title & TNA World Tag Team Title: “Team 3D” Brother Ray & Brother Devon (c) beat James Storm & Robert Roode (c) (13:57) when Ray pinned Roode after a 3D through a table (2nd defense) to become the 11th TNA World Tag Team Champions.

NO LIMIT’s excursion to America ended in failure as they couldn’t do what they set out to — regain the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title from the Motor City Machine Guns. It started well for Yujiro and Naito when they defeated the TNA stars in a non-title match but their biggest match ended in defeat and its back to the drawing board for the young lions.

This confirms that the MCMG will make their next defense against Taguchi & Devitt on Sunday at Sumo Hall. Coincidentally (or not), the two today announced a new double team move that they plan to debut called the “Apollo 55″.

NJPW “RESOLUTION ‘09″, 4/5/09 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt

You may have been wondering why Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito, aka NO LIMIT, aren’t on any upcoming New Japan cards. Well, after winning top contendership for the Motor City Machine Guns’ IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title recently at Sumo Hall, the young lions are off to America, specifically TNA Wrestling, in an attempt to get an early title shot. They aren’t on any shows before April at least, so we might be able to expect their returns on the 4/5 Sumo Hall show, if not later.

Although it isn’t known yet if Mistico will be on the 4/5 Sumo Hall event, he will be on the 5/3 Fukuoka International Center show, according to Ovaciones and SoloLuchas in Mexico (thanks to TheCubsFan’s great luchablog for this). The problem is, both publiciations offer conflicting reports. Ovaciones says that he’s facing Liger in a title match, which given that Liger has no title and recently failed to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, could be a tough task — unless they mean Mistico’s CMLL World Welterweight Championship. SoloLuchas has the more plausible story that Mistico will be challenging Tiger Mask for the IWGP Jr. belt, something that has been teased since his Tokyo Dome appearance. Given that New Japan is treating the Fukuoka show in Golden Week as a major show, booking Mistico isn’t too unsurprising. Dragon Rojo Jr. will also be joining Mistico to work that show.

“I LOVE NEW JAPAN!”. That was the message Shinsuke Nakamura sent out at the signing ceremony for his IWGP Heavyweight Title match with Keiji Muto yesterday. Half a year has passed since Nakamura’s potentially enormous title reign, that saw him lift the belt from Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome then end the IWGP 3rd Belt nightmare by submitting Kurt Angle at Sumo Hall, went wrong in very untimely fashion. Muto has since gone on to successfully defend the title against Nakanishi, Goto, and Makabe, while also as his alter-ego, Great Muta, recently lifting the Triple Crown off another of Japan’s rising young stars, Suwama. With all these belts in hand, Nakamura considers the current Keiji Muto to be a more exciting opponent than the one who bested him in Osaka on April 27th. Nakamura is desperate for a generation change and admits even a victory on Monday may not force that - it has to be something memorable, a grand performance. Nakamura has been studying Muto’s defenses and now claims he knows him better than ever.

Muto believes Nakamura is New Japan’s best assassin and the worst (in a good meaning) fighter they could throw at him right now. All Japan has a show in Taiwan on November 6th and wants to keep the belt until then, so that he can raise the value of the IWGP Heavyweight Title on a global level by defending it there. Muto said he has been in Taiwan promoting the show, and that he thinks he advertised the IWGP belt well, and didn’t even take his Triple Crown belts. Muto wants to take the title not only to Taiwan, but Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea. He warned that if he loses the title now, the chance to promote it across Asia may disappear.

Nakamura said that the International Wrestling Grand Prix Title should be known everywhere, but insisted that a New Japan title should be held by a wrestler currently belonging to New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He feels their last match fell into Muto’s formula and that was his downfall, so this time he wants to force Muto into his world, and believes that could make the difference. As for Muto’s Far East plan, Nakamura smiled and said he could do this instead of Muto and show “New Japan LOVE”. These two titans of different generations go to war for the second and most likely final time in 2008 in the main event at Sumo Hall on the 13th.

The scene above has been all too common this year. On the very same show where Muto dethroned Nakamura, the “Friendship” tag team of Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Takashi Iizuka challenged GBH’s Togi Makabe & Toru Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Title. In what probably remains the biggest shock of the year to date, Iizuka betrayed Tenzan and for the first time in his career became a heel, shaving his head and joining GBH. That led to an intense blood feud that has swept Japan ever since. Even Tenzan’s victory in their Lumberjack Death Match at Korakuen Hall in Japan hasn’t ended the feud, and the two will meet in another attempt to conclude the grudge at Sumo Hall in a Chain Death Match. Both men were supposed to show up and sign their names to agree to this dangerous stipulation, but Iizuka instead sent Makabe and Yano to represent him. This predictably led to an argument, with Makabe laughing at Tenzan’s claim that TenKoji are the strongest tag team while he and Yano hold the IWGP Tag Team Title. Yano eventually signed in place of Iizuka, and sick of it all, Tenzan turned to leave, only to find Iizuka stood there with his iron glove on. He attacked Tenzan savagely, leaving him in a heap on the ground, then left with a smug expression on his face.

It hasn’t been a very good few weeks for young lions, Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito, aka NO LIMIT. First of all, they failed in a brave attempt to win the GHC Jr. Tag Team Title from seniors Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Kotaro Suzuki, then Naito fell to DRAGON GATE’s Masaaki Mochizuki on the latest PREMIUM show. Naito, who also dropped the fall in the title match, said he is sick of losing and wants results now. As such, he and Yujiro are both hungry and desperate to win this match. Minoru thinks NO LIMIT are starting to improve and may give he and Devitt a tough match. He warned fans who decide to skip the opener, that they will lose 90% of their value for money, and likewise those who buy the PPV. He said this is a show where fans must view the opening match. Devitt agreed that NO LIMIT are improving, and thinks their accumulated experience makes them worthy opponents. He wants to bypass this hurdle though, so that he and Minoru can defend their title on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome.

Young lions, Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito, staged part two of their NOAH invasion today and challenged Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki for the GHC Jr. Tag Team Title. NO LIMIT put up a great fight against their seniors, but in the end were just edged out as the most experienced of the four, Kanemaru, pinned the least experienced, Naito. It remains to be seen if they’ll be back for more, but they have an IWGP Jr. Tag shot coming up, as well as a spot in the G1 Tag League to focus on now.

NOAH “GREAT VOYAGE 2008 IN OSAKA”, 9/27/2008 (NTV/G+ LIVE)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
3,300 Fans

- GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (c) beat Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (21:18) when Kanemaru used the Touch Out on Naito (1st defense).