NJPW Thread (New Japan Pro Wrestling)

Spens1 · Post #261 » by **Spens1** » Fri May 4, 2018 10:38 am

Spoiler:

He's either going to the finals or winning BOSJ. This is a top pick up for the light heavyweight division.

Also Tama is hyping his man up, it seems like he's the one behind this. I like the recruitment.

Spens1 · Post #262 » by **Spens1** » Fri May 4, 2018 11:27 am

Well that was just sad. Still, fantastic match (MOTN, better than the jrs which is something).

Spoiler:

Spens1 · Post #263 » by **Spens1** » Fri May 4, 2018 11:41 am

Spoiler:

Dominion Card is going to be stacked. This card will most likely be as good, if not better than Wrestle Kingdom. This could be show of the year, in fact, it most likely will be.

After being so damn dissapointing, this show really REALLY delivered in all the right ways, storyline progression was there and it was really clear.

tugs · Post #264 » by **tugs** » Sat May 5, 2018 10:39 am

Best blade job in history

Watch on YouTube

Spens1 · Post #265 » by **Spens1** » Sat May 5, 2018 2:29 pm

tugs wrote:Best blade job in history

Watch on YouTube

Jericho in drag is still horrifying. Also it really was a good blade job, Ric Flair would be proud.

Spens1 · Post #266 » by **Spens1** » Mon May 7, 2018 12:45 pm

Best of the Super Juniors participants and blocks have been announced.

A Block

ACH
BUSHI
Flip Gordon
Taiji Ishimori
Tiger Mask IV
Will Ospreay
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
YOH

B Block

Chris Sabin
Dragon Lee
El Desperado
Hiromu Takahashi
KUSHIDA
Marty Scurll
Ryusuke Taguchi
SHO

Schedule:

Spoiler:

Its a stacked tornuament, also super glad ACH got a role, hope he signs full time soon tbh. I think hiromu is winning this, its ripe for him to take this. I think Ishimori also will get to the final since even if he doesn't win, that creates a matchup later on with Ospreay if he retains (i doubt he does, i think whoever wins here wins the title at Dominion).

Spens1 · Post #267 » by **Spens1** » Wed Jun 6, 2018 11:13 am

Hiromu vs Ishimori is an absolute classic, watch this match, this is probably MOTY so far, its absolutely off the charts. I doubt Omega vs Okada IV will beat this to be honest, its a damn high ceiling they set. I'm hoping Hiromu takes the title off Ospreay (idk, Hiromu is the ace of the division, or at least should be).

edit: i noticed i picked the winner and the final, not too bad at all.

LLJ · Post #268 » by **LLJ** » Wed Jun 6, 2018 4:01 pm

Dominion's card is literally stacked with gaijins lol, amazing.

Not to be outdone, the WWE has 2 Japanese wrestlers competing for titles at the next PPV.

Strange times.

improper · Post #269 » by **improper** » Wed Jun 6, 2018 8:17 pm

LLJ wrote:Dominion's card is literally stacked with gaijins lol, amazing.

Not to be outdone, the WWE has 2 Japanese wrestlers competing for titles at the next PPV.

Strange times.

Well, not that strange, as WWE had two Japanese wrestlers competing for titles at their biggest PPV of the year. Asuka probably would have taken on Charlotte again at the Greatest Royal Rumble too if women had rights in Saudi Arabia.

Spens1 · Post #270 » by **Spens1** » Fri Jun 8, 2018 9:53 am

Yeah New Japan's got a Gaijin heavy card now that i think about it. NEVER title has a gaijin, World title's challenger literally their biggest Gaijin star, Is the Jericho match this weekend also? I think basically every title match has gaijin participation.

LLJ · Post #271 » by **LLJ** » Fri Jun 8, 2018 4:52 pm

improper wrote:
LLJ wrote:Dominion's card is literally stacked with gaijins lol, amazing.

Not to be outdone, the WWE has 2 Japanese wrestlers competing for titles at the next PPV.

Strange times.

Well, not that strange, as WWE had two Japanese wrestlers competing for titles at their biggest PPV of the year. Asuka probably would have taken on Charlotte again at the Greatest Royal Rumble too if women had rights in Saudi Arabia.

Yeah, I do think the WWE is acknowledging the Japanese market right now by pushing Nakamura and Asuka. Luckily, they are also over with US fans so it doesn't feel forced.

I think they are holding off on Asuka vs Charlotte until the stage is right (SummerSlam at earliest) Seems like they are telling a story about Asuka trying to get her "groove" back right now. It's been a pretty slow and deliberate build.

Back to Dominion, I do think it's possible a bunch of gaijin could walk out with titles. I just can't see Jericho losing again, so they might have him beat Naito and then Naito gets him back at the earliest possible date. Omega v Okada much tougher to predict.

Spens1 · Post #272 » by **Spens1** » Sat Jun 9, 2018 12:24 pm

With Dominion done, i'll do a review to the best of my ability. Best show of the year for me by far, one of my favourites ever really, easily the best show New Japan has had this year by a huge distance.

Omega's post match does not sound like someone who is done at all.

Note i didn't watch anything prior to the best of my ability.

Starting from the main event:

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega
Winner: Kenny Omega (2 pins to 1)

Far from it for me to have recency bias, but this was the best match of all time. I'm just going out and saying it, this match had be ridiculously invested. This match went something like an hour 20ish i think and it flew by. In fact it was so good it blew everything else away which is a huge shock (because after that Junior Heavyweight title match. Honestly it wasn't a slow buildup really i found, maybe 5 minutes, afterward i was heavily invested from start to finish, i was worried for their safety but i honestly believed both where willing to do anything they could to retain the titles.

We have confirmed the Golden Elite, also Cody is challenging at Cow Palace it seems (and both are totally getting kicked out of Bullet Club for their troubles, along with the bucks probably).

Rating: ***** (Best match I've ever seen probably)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito vs Chris Jericho
Winner: Chris Jericho

Not a technical masterpiece, in fact it reminded me more of an attitude era matchup actually. It was fun though, with Jericho playing the psychotic villain in this. We saw shades of heel Naito in this also. Pretty interesting matchup in terms of the way it was, quiet brutal which is seemingly the style they're going for with Jericho matches. The result was a huge shock for me but I'm keen for a Jericho title run, he's been booked on that upper middle card level, similar to Suzuki and White so it should be fun. EVIL looks to be the next challenger after he ran out (i doubt he drops to Jericho, my bet would be him dropping to some wholesome babyface, maybe Tanahashi or Ibushi).

Rating: ***3/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi

Fantastic matchup, i'm a sucker for high flying and lucha libre and this was great in all aspects, it had tons of high flying as well as good psycology. Ospreay was such a good heel in this whilst Hiromu is probably top 6-8 most over wrestlers in the company at the moment and by far the most over junior. He really is the ace of the junior heavyweights and could be the one to make the jump and really excel. I am pretty sure i thought Ospreay and Hiromu had died at seperate points in the match just due to some of the landings, still though, absolutely insane matchup.

Rating: *****

Rey Mysterio, Jushin Thunder Liger & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page

Pretty much filler needed. It was a solidish match, wasn't paying a ton of attention but Rhodes and Tanahashi had good exchanges, Scurll got his comedy in (which i'm afraid is affecting his credibility for me, villain at this stage, ehh). It would be interesting if Scurll went more toward Rhodes and Hangman instead. Either way Mysterio looked very good in this matchup as well. Not really required viewing though.

Rating: **1/2

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Sanada & EVIL vs The Young Bucks

This was a fantastic tag team matchup, whoever said the Young Bucks can't sell, show them this match please. Nick Jackson's selling was on point here. Sanada & EVIL also make quiet the tag team but I suspect after this they're both going into singles matchups again (which is fine because they're that good). You could see the Bucks where emotional, absolutely thrilled that they where able to win the big one finally. This match though as a whole was absolutely fantastic though.

Rating: ****1/2

NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto vs Taichi vs Michael Elgin

They need to do these more often, Taichi provided good heel tactics and good heat and breaks in the action, but Goto vs Elgin was a good slogfest. Very solid matchup in between the Taichi stuff (even that didn't detract from it). Looks like Elgin vs Goto but in singles will probably be a matchup in the future (i'm thinking Kizuna Road main event at one of those shows). I think New Japan can consider this a success, they ought to use the 3 way for some of their mid card belts (so probably the belts that aren't the Heavyweight and IC title belts), they should use it sparingly however because i do think this would have been better as Elgin vs Goto. Goto was protected nicely in this as he wasn't the one taking the pin which was good to see. Elgin may be a prick, but he can wrestle really, REALLY well, i think he'll have a solid run since they're high on him.

Rating: ***1/2

I didn't watch before this however (so i missed out on the Jr Tag team title match and the other two fillers, outside the end of Suzuki & ZSJ vs Ishii & Yano). I do know Jay White got pinned by Juice, which will lead to Juice vs Jay White and one of the Kizuna Road events for the US title (which will be good, and Juice would make a good champ).

Spens1 · Post #273 » by **Spens1** » Sat Jun 9, 2018 12:38 pm

After this show, here's what i'm predicting/hoping happens:

- Chaos's horrible night (they lost every matchup and title they held except the US title which wasn't defended). They lost every single match. Hopefully Jay White starts his meddling soon, cause that's going to be the interesting storyline.
- Leading into that, Jay White loses his belt and transitions from CHAOS into Bullet Club, with Tama asserting himself as leader, with White taking up the mantle as ACE, kicking out the Golden Elite as well as Cody, Scurll and Hangman for their nonsense.
- Okada's storyline now that he is no longer champion, i've been waint for this, i want actual development from him now to be honest.
- Jericho's title run, basically Suzuki but worse i'm imaging. I hope they finally do it and have Ishii win against him, i wouldn't be against Okada challenging him, i think though Ibushi may be getting something there (it makes sense also, Ibushi is the 2nd most wholesome babyface next to Tanahashi at this point).
- Naito now doesn't have the belt, i honestly hope this means that they're freeing him up for him winning G1 (its time, pull the trigger, have him vs Omega main event Wrestle Kingdom).
- Young Bucks vs Golden Lovers for the IWGP tag team titles and All In, Kenny vs Cody for the IWGP World title at cow palace.

There are some exciting developments now, i think this show really hit the reset in all the right places for this company. I am keen

edit: i just realised, Dominion is actually the #1 trending thing on twitter right now, i'm actually shocked.

LLJ · Post #274 » by **LLJ** » Sat Jun 9, 2018 5:43 pm

New Canada Pro Wrestling

LLJ · Post #275 » by **LLJ** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:23 pm

Kenny Omega post match:

“Today I defeated the greatest wrestler on planet Earth. This is a performance art. You can be a great wrestler, but if the people don’t like you, if the people don’t care you’re not worth a damn. Okada, you are the total, complete package. You are the man who carried this company to this point, and I give you all the credit in the world for what you’ve done.”

iMoreland · Post #276 » by **iMoreland** » Mon Jun 11, 2018 11:28 pm

Just watched Okada Omega 4, while it was a really good match (I'd probably give it 4.5 or 4.75 stars), it had some boring parts in it and went on for like, 15-20 minutes too long. My opinion obviously.

Both guys are insanely talented.

Post #277 » by **Ruzious** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:58 am

iMoreland wrote:Just watched Okada Omega 4, while it was a really good match (I'd probably give it 4.5 or 4.75 stars), it had some boring parts in it and went on for like, 15-20 minutes too long. My opinion obviously.

Both guys are insanely talented.

Yeah, while it's impressive that they have that durability, it gets exhausting to watch. At some point, it's not worth my time, and they passed that point. Great match, but it's not the kind of match that's going to make me come back for more.

Post #278 » by **jr lucosa** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:38 pm

I loved the match. It didn't run too long for my taste, but it was a very long match.

LLJ · Post #279 » by **LLJ** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:58 pm

The match plays better if you followed the story of the previous 3 matches they had. That said, you do have to actually like wrestling for its Art and not "sports entertainment" to truly love it.

improper · Post #280 » by **improper** » Wed Jun 13, 2018 1:22 am

I thought it was an hour and twenty minute match that never felt boring and that, to me, is the mark of a great match. If you can go over ten minutes and keep the audience involved the whole time, eating up every nearfall, you've put on a great performance. And obviously the longer you go and still keep the audience, the more impressive it is.