“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.