The speculation about the show in Osaka pointed to the rising star Hiroshi Tanahashi facing off against Bob Sapp, K-1’s Beast for the IWGP Title… well the speculation has ended with the main event of Tanahashi/Sapp being announced for ‘The Crush II’ on the 5th of June.
The last time New Japan ran in this building it was the then champ Hiroyoshi Tenzan who was upset by the ‘Rookie Supernova’ Shinsuke Nakamura, can Hiroshi follow the example of his fellow generation member and perform what would be considered an even bigger upset by taking the title back home to New Japan?
Elsewhere on the card the American IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag champs, American Dragon and Curry Man (Christopher Daniels) face off against the team they took the gold from, Jado & Gedo with the titles again on the line! Ultimo Dragon returns to the New Japan ring again to face of against Wataru Inoue and Hayabusa student Garuda in a tag match with rookie Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kendo KaShin of All Japan teams with friend Yuji Nagata and an unknown grappler Lion Maru against the new heel trio of Chono, Murakami and Shitaba in a big six man.
The full line up is as follows…
NJPW “THE CRUSH II”, 6/5/04 (WPW)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
1. Wataru Inoue & Garuda vs. Ultimo Dragon & Katsuhiko Nakajima
2. El Samurai vs. Rocky Romero
3. Heat vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
4. Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto & Toru Yano vs. Makai #1, Mitsuya Nagai & Ryushi Yanagisawa
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: American Dragon & Curry Man (c) vs. Jado & Gedo
6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Osamu Nishimura & Koji Kanemoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Manabu Nakanishi & Tadao Yasuda
7. Kensuke Sasaki & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Minoru Suzuki & Tiger Mask
8. Yuji Nagata, Kendo Kashin & Lion Maru vs. Masahiro Chono, Kazunari Murakami & Katsuyori Shibata
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Bob Sapp (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi