NJPW Thread (New Japan Pro Wrestling)

[Spens1]

Summer Struggle at Jingu has finished, where we saw a large swath of changes tonight and a change of direction (back towards something resembling normality i'd say).

Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Master Wato

This match was very very short in all honesty the ending came out of nowhere, Wato looked fairly good and crisp but as long as he's wrestling with this dumb gimmick i'm not sure how far he can go. Wato got in the refs face after the match surprisingly enough and showed a fair bit of frustration. However, no Tenzan must suffer moment here (yet). Suzuki-Gun gets the last laugh here tonight.

KOPW Fatal 4 way - Kazuchika Okada vs El Desperado vs SANADA vs Toru Yano

This match was super fun, unlike most of the singles matches beforehand (Okada vs Yujiro, Gedo and Jado was horrific especially, Sanada vs sho was the only really good match from that), a lot of combo's and teamwork and temporary alliances, it was quick and to the point. One funny spot was Yano locked up in the paradise lock for ages whilst Okada and SANADA had an exchange. In the end though Yano won after a low blow (whilst the ref was kind of not looking or at least didn't have that angle) and Yano got the rollup to win the match over Okada as well. Overall nice lighthearted match.

NEVER Openweight title - Shingo Takagi vs Minoru Suzuki

This is strong style wrestling as wrestling jesus Antonio Inoki intended it to be. This was just hard hitting offense from the beginning, when one was getting the upper hand, the other would get a flurry and vis versa. It really looked like Shingo would win this until Suzuki came in with some straight headbutts (skull to skull, which did make me wince a fair bit, given what happened to Shibata) but that turned the tide in Suzuki's favour and he was able to win the title. Thus i would say staving off any vultures that may be coming for him for the time being.

IWGP Jr Heavyweight title - Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori

Simple enough, they told the story of Hiromu's shoulder being heavily damaged and Hiromu rushing head first and his emotions getting the better of him and despite his immense talent, leaving him in precarious situations. It proved fatal here as Ishimori worked over the shoulders the entire match and was able to make Hiromu tap out. Its clear Bullet club is being set out to look dangerous and Ishimori is genuinely good anyway and carried the jr division last year after Kushida and Scurll left and Hiromu was still out along with Ospreay doing random stuff as well in the heavyweight division so this is well deserved i think (he's far better than ELP). As for Hiromu, for the time being i could see him actually doing heavyweight stuff or on the other end, jr tag team stuff with Bushi given that R3K are probably about to drop those belts since Yoh is out.

IWGP Tag team Titles - Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & ZSJ) vs Golden Ace (Tanahashi & Ibushi)

Not the best of matches but one i'd say the challenging team actually had the advantage for large parts. Really speaking Taichi and ZSJ did have moments but the match was largely Golden Ace and Ibushi himself was handling both Taichi and ZSJ pretty much on his own (he looked like a demi-god out there, kayfabe probably the best on the roster) but when Tanahashi was asked to finish it off, yet again he failed to do so. Dangerous Tekkers retain, no heel turn from Ibushi but hopefully we're not too far off (seriously, i want murder Ibushi to take over Suzuki-Gun and turn it into Ibushi-Gun).

IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Titles - EVIL w/Dick Togo vs Tetsuya Naito

In terms of match quality, it really wasn't up to much, quiet a few botched spots by both competitors (especially EVIL actually) and even a botch by Red Shoes on something which was bizzare. The match itself was rather slow and a bit monotonous but after the interference by LIJ to run off Gedo and Dick Togo, the match picked up a fair bit. Storytelling though was really good, loved the symbolism with the match occuring after sunset (with the whole king of darkness gimmick) and then Naito coming up in the pure white getup with EVIL in his normal getup and the light shining towards Naito as opposed to EVIL which made for a good bit of symbolism (and New Japan does love their symbolism). Naito was able to win eventually and a bit to my surprise. Its seeming like Naito has expressed his desire much more strongly this time that he wants the belts defended separately this time so that's good.

On EVIL, I know its not so much about the title reign itself and its about setting him up as a main eventer (same way it was for Jay White when he won the belt off of Tana, then again that was also White beating up a broken down Tanahashi who kind of fluked his win against an overly cocky Kenny Omega lets be real) but this run was really not compelling and not just cause he was a heel. 2nd rate bullet club members and a 50 year old Dick Togo ain't it. I think he's still a fair ways away from being a proper main eventer.


Anyway overall, solid, if not spectacular show and a bit of a reset to normality. G1 is up next and with Japanese residents allowed to return that should hopefully mean the return of some of the higher end talents in time for the G1 (Kenta, Juice Robinson, Will Ospreay and of course, Jay White, who is badly needed).


I didn't mention this but KENTA has won the Nj cup USA which gives him a title shot against Moxley for the U.S title. but before that it seems like KENTA will have to defend the briefcase against Jeff Cobb so we do have a build there. Also its looking like Brodie King vs the returning HIkuleo (yes, his excursion is over, will be interesting to see how good he is now) and Jay White vs Flip Gordon (who, lets face it, is probably AEW bound at the end of the year anyway cause he'd literally be their golden boy given how All In was built heavily around flip in a lot of ways).

[Spens1]

We now know the blocks for the G1 this year and i'll let the pictures do the speaking, but it looks like a full house pretty much:

[improper]

I started watching the G1 tonight and Ishii/Suzuki is the best match I've watched in ages. It's so goddamn fun. Some of the elbows thrown are downright brutal.

[Spens1]

G1 final is in about 4 hours.

It should be fairly good event as well

even the preliminary matches should have a fair bit of a drama this G1.

Should certainly be interesting for sure.