Looking Forward to Puroresu for July 2013.

So New Japan have already announced their July shows and specifically their tour ending show on July 20th. The 7/20 event will feature a main event between New Japan's aces as heavyweight ace and IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Kazuchika Okada defending his championship against junior ace and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion: Prince Devitt. In a dream match, New Japan veteran: Yuji Nagata will finally take on MMA Legend: Kazushi Sakuraba with Saku attempting to gain revenge on Nagata for his injury back in April. The war between Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto will continue as the two will battle for a third straight month with Shibata attempting to go 2 straight while Goto will attempt to avenge his loss from DOMINION 6.22. Yet another continuing war with continue with TenKoji defending the IWGP Tag Team Championship against longtime rivals Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka. After returning from injury on June 22, Tatsuya Naito will challenge Masato Tanaka for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The final title on the line will feature the Forever Hooligans vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi for the IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles.

(Thoughts: The July 20th show has an excellent list of matches. I kinda of wished Devitt would lose the Junior Title before making challenges for the Heavyweight Title but I'm glad New Japan is going for a fresh challenge instead of the millionth Okada/Tanahashi match. Nagata/Sakuraba should be one for the ages as the two have the skills to put on one of the most fun matches in history and Sakuraba has been doing very good since returning to wrestling last year. I haven't seen the matches but I wouldn't be surprised if Shibata and Goto have been putting on some great matches. It's been so good to see Shibata back where he belongs as a wrestler. I always hope he'll soon sign a full time contract with New Japan and become the wrestler many have hoped he would become before he threw it away for a failed MMA career. I'm pulling for Yano and Iizuka to take the Tag Team Titles. I've been a fan of Yano and Iizuka for several years and was excited when the two not only teamed up but also won titles. They're easily two of the most entertaining wrestlers on the roster. Not to mention TenKoji are stale as the top team. I would personally like to see them go for singles titles especially Tenzan who, despite having four reigns, never had a long run with the Heavyweight Title. I also hope for TAKA and Taichi win the Junior tag titles as both are good wrestlers and it's time for Taichi to wear some New Japan gold.)

The month of July will be very interesting for All Japan Pro Wrestling. With Keiji "The Great Muta" Mutoh departing All Japan, several wrestlers have also announced their intentions of following him out. Mutoh left All Japan after selling All Japan to the company: Speed Partners as well as disagreeing with their plans for the company. The promotion's next tour: The Summer Action Series will go from July 14 through July 28. No matches have been announced yet.

(Thoughts: Despite not having any major shows planned, All Japan will be the company to focus on in July. With half the roster on their way out, The Summer Action Series will be the first without Mutoh and his loyal followers. It will be fascinating to see who All Japan recruits to fill the roster spots as their looking to lose at least 10 wrestlers. A lot of people have opinions on the Mutoh mess but my opinion is if All Japan can whether the storm then I think this will be for the best. Say what you will about Mutoh and the fact he kept All Japan afloat all these years but the fact of the matter is his ideas weren't working. Even before the selling to Speed Partners, Mutoh had several bankruptcy scares as well as the fact that he and All Japan were forced to leave All Japan's old home at the Nippon Budokan due to declining business as well not being able to secure All Japan a new national TV deal (though this would be a hard task). While All Japan will lose some great talent (Masayuki Kono, Hiroshi Yamato, and KAI), they will be ridden of a lot of deadweight including wrestlers with likely big price tags (Masakatsu Funaki & Akebono) or are well past their prime (Keiji Mutoh), or have little to no upside (Ryota Hama). As for Mutoh, with rumors of him forming his own company, a lot of fans are comparing his departure to that of Mitsuharu Misawa when Misawa took most of the All Japan roster to form Pro Wrestling NOAH however that's not the case. Quite frankly, Mutoh is more like Antonio Inoki when Inoki left New Japan in 2007 to form IGF. Mutoh carries a lot of similarities as he had a major promotion that went down the tubes, he eventually had to sell to save it, and then bailed when the new owners began making changes and going a direction he didn't like. Like Inoki forming IGF, Mutoh forming a company would come across as him wanting a new toy to play with. As an All Japan fan, I wish the promotion good luck and hope they turn things around).

Pro Wrestling NOAH is scheduled to have a big show at the Tokyo Ariake Coliseum on July 7. The main event will feature KENTA defending the GHC Heavyweight Championship against former partner: Naomichi Marufuji. TMDK will receive another shot at the GHC Tag Team Championship against New Japan's Yano and Iizuka. GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion: Taiji Ishimori will defend against former ECW, ROH, and WWE wrestler: Super Crazy. Japanese legend: Atsushi Onita will enter NOAH to team with Ichiro Yaguchi and Hideki Hosaka as they take on NO MERCY's Takeshi Sugiura, Yoshihiro Takayama, and Genba Hirayanagi in a tornado street fight.

(Thoughts: NOAH's show should be a good one but is not anywhere near as stacked as the New Japan show. That, of course, can be blamed due to all the roster hits NOAH's suffered over the years. Still, the main matches will likely deliver.)

Finally we have ZERO1 as they begin their yearly Fire Festival round robin tournament on July 17. The tournament will feature all former winners which includes Masato Tanaka, Shinjiro Otani, Kohei Sato, Ryoji Sai, and Daisuke Sekimoto. Also participating with be NWA United National Heavyweight Champion: James Raideen, Sekimoto's tag team partner: Yuji Okabayashi, and former New Japan IWGP Tag Team Champion: Yutaka Yoshie.

(Thoughts: The Fire Festival should be fun but I hope for a different winner besides Tanaka and Otani. Both are cool but they've won 2/3rds of the Fire Festivals.)