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I'm not impressed with the Long Beach card at all, no big singles match with Japanese stars is a big disappointment. I am happy that Juice and Cody will get the main, they deserve a spot like that but still, we want to see Tanahashi, Omega, Naito, Ishii get a good go for us here on US soil.
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Definitely
SANADA is my favorite dude in NJPW and whenever I get to catch them on U.S. soil I'd be very disappointed if he wasn't there (I'm not going to Long Beach, just saying 'in general') |
Japanese stars will be there but they won't reveal anything until after the big matches from Destruction shows are done
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Both BONE(R) SOLDIER and Bushi have been teasing about getting a partner for the upcoming Jr Tag League. There is word (maybe just wishful thinking) going around that Pac / Neville is coming in to join BCOG. Dunno who they would put with Bushi, he's been talking like he might have to sit it out but I guess it would make sense to bring in one of the Ingos from CMLL who isn't Rush? I don't know much about them.
I'm expecting / hoping Sabin & KUSHIDA come into play too as "Alex Shelley's Friends". Or "Time Machine". Whatever. |
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This year's set of US shows being right after big events ended up hurting more than it helped. NJPW was way too preoccupied with those major events and had little to no time left to build up the US shows. |
I think the problem lies in the way New Japan approach booking singles matches and the conditioning of western audiences who are exposed to cards full of marquee singles matches. The result is a lot of singles matches that aren't really massive deals. It was the same with SSE UK, but we still got two or three killer singles matches and a solid card with only Okada there of the big four.
I'd expect Tana / White (assuming Tana retains) and EVIL / Jericho (EVIL keeps talking about Jericho in every single post match interview) to be added after Destruction. Broken Okada probably in a CHAOS six man with Dustin and Greg. Omega will be there in some capacity, even if he's just defending against Yano or something lighter. |
Of course this is Gedo booking so he could easily NOPE every single one of those assumptions.
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If they americanize the product they will ruin it completely. The matches that matter do so because of how rare they are.
We used to hace job matches here that served that purpose. To stretch important matches out and to maximize the mileage of a few workers. Bischoff ruined that and its been consistently more difficult to make money since. What NJPW is doing is in the best interest of sustainable long term money and hot shotting for quick pay days is the absolute worst thing they can do |
Yeah absolutely, honestly would much rather see SANADA or someone do two moves in a six man than just have WALTER squash Yujiro for the sake of a singles match too. They gave us Sabre / Okada and Ishii / Suzuki, two really strong matches. That was more than enough to make the show worth it.
The cost of flying everyone out from Japan as opposed to using gaijin talent as much as possible also seems like a big factor. It's obvs not as much of a big travel hit to have so many guys on a tour if it's mainly natives driving around Japan for two or three weeks. Could be another reason why they're doing so many singles abroad. Feels like part of the reason they don't reveal much on the US side of things early on is because if they're not giving away Omega / Ibushi, Naito / Jericho and Tana / Okada plus Suzuki, Ishii, all of Bullet Club and LIJ then the internet will be disappointed. Kind of want them to just take it by the balls and be like "You're getting Okada vs Taichi and Naito vs Yujiro No Limit grudge match and you will LOVE IT". |
New Japan is pretty good at pacing its shit out and milking what they can out of it. A big risk with putting all of these things on television or a streaming service is that people see it, and once you've seen it, you've often seen it. They're very good at making sure they can keep in real time, but also like they've got things in the back pocket you know you are going to see, and evolving the things you have already seen.
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Sanada
(just wanted to post his name) |
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SANADA rules
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Finally got around to watching the IWGP Title match from last weekend. Sad to see Ishii didn't win the gold. Not only do they need to get the belt off of Omega ASAP, but Ishii would be a perfect champion.
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Tanahashi vs Okada at Destruction in Kobe was amazing.
:lol: at another decision this year by Okada coming back to bite him in the end. Also :lol: at YOSHI pulling a Titus when he came out. Ouch at the gash on his head though. |
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Also, I love Ishii but he's more of an upper midcard act. I just don't see him as anything more than a transitional champ if anything. |
I actually like YOSHI-HASHI a lot more than I did before this tour. Felt like accidentally fucking himself up on the rescue attempt actually strengthened his role in this angle. Hope he's okay.
Naito's fuckery with Suzuki seemed to be hinting at dissention from Taichi in the post match promos. Taichi has been trashing the NEVER title and all its previous owners, which obviously includes his boss, he also tried to take the main event spot from Suzuki at Naito's insistence. Bushi was pissed at EVIL for not believing he could lead the Jrs in Hiromu's place, while Naito cryptically hinted that LiJ isn't going to stay the same going forward and they can't just sit and wait for Hiromu to come back. It's low key turbulent times for all the factions. |
At least subtitles have been added. Makes you understand things alot better!
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SANADA #1
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Stupid sexy Sanada
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SANADA is clearly TPWW's #1 New Japan hunk.
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ACH, Ryusuke Taguchi and Liger vs Roppongi 3k (Sho, Yoh and Rocky Romero) Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs Hangman Page and Chase Owens Jeff Cobb, Chris Sabin and Flip Gordon vs Goto and Best Friends (Chuckie T and Berretta) Naito, Evil and Sanada vs ZSJ and Killer Elite Squad Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kushida vs Gedo and Jay White IWGP Jr. Heavyweight tournament semifinal bout: Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll IWGP Tag Team Championship: (c)Young Bucks vs Guerrillas of Destiny IWGP US Championship: (c) Juice Robinson vs Cody Main event: Okada and Ishii vs Omega and Ibushi |
All representatives of CHAOS seem to be with Okada, for now at least.
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I can see Sho and Yoh going with White and Gedo
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/zacksabrejr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zacksabrejr</a> is a hoot and a half. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpwusa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpwusa</a><br><br>➡️ <a href="https://t.co/8n90d75Nfk">https://t.co/8n90d75Nfk</a> <a href="https://t.co/8XN8UpB1L8">pic.twitter.com/8XN8UpB1L8</a></p>— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1046567902890139648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/WillOspreay?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WillOspreay</a> with about as good a start as he could ask for! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpwusa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpwusa</a><br><br>➡️ <a href="https://t.co/8n90d75Nfk">https://t.co/8n90d75Nfk</a> <a href="https://t.co/mRkuoA7GmC">pic.twitter.com/mRkuoA7GmC</a></p>— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1046578301924503552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Holy Emperor Taichi has apparently been scrubbing Suzuki-Gun references off all of his social media, is he about to get killed by the King for his insubordination? Interested to see who is joining LiJ, 100% sure they will not be as handsome as SANADA though. |
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="ja" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KAIRISANE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KAIRISANE</a> 選手と。頑張っている方と会うとエネルギーもらえる。 <a href="https://t.co/soNrkrBOvq">pic.twitter.com/soNrkrBOvq</a></p>— 棚橋弘至 (@tanahashi1_100) <a href="https://twitter.com/tanahashi1_100/status/1046682131257155584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Kairi Sane is really "kawaii" (not to sound like Guru Dave). I know Vince doesn't watch other promotions, but someone should really show Vince some Japanese porn so he can "get it" with her.
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Spoilered even though spoilers are to be expected in an NJPW thread.
SPOILER: show |
Dome Show already sounds good!
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Last Falconry looks pretty sweet as a finisher.
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Forgot to mention it earlier but White vs Tanahashi from today's King of Pro Wrestling show was way better than their bout at Wrestle Kingdom 12.
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Have they dialed back on the Switchblade stuff? I remember it didn't feel authentic for the guy, but I've heard he's been more "comfortable" since.
Lol, Shingo Takagi. Good for him. I remember he was a thing when NOAH was hot in the mid-2000's. |
They transitioned him into a whiny teenager who plays with knives rather than the scary psychopath type they were originally going for. White is a lot more comfortable being a sneaky shitheel, the first iteration never felt genuine. His match against Suzuki in the G1 where he came up against an actual scary psychopath who absolutely crushed him was a cathartic moment.
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Lol, that does sound great. I love Suzuki so much.
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Are there any Japenese wrestlers that wear a maid costume?
<a href="https://www.shareasale.com/m-pr.cfm?merchantID=48089&userID=1849683&productID=689780430" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://www.trendyhalloween.com/Assets/ProductImages/392552-rappongi-japanese-maid-womens-costume_t.jpg" border="0"><br>Roppongi Japanese Maid Adult Womens Costume</a> |
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I really like the angle coming out of their latest show, provided I've got the history right:
SPOILER: show |
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Oh yeah, they were working with both around that time. Because I thought of him as bigger, I assumed it was a NOAH thing. I may have also been confusing his promotion with Go Shiazaki's.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SANADA with his dog.<br>Amazing. <a href="https://t.co/BQhOrd5Nvs">pic.twitter.com/BQhOrd5Nvs</a></p>— Jude Kilgour (@judekilgour) <a href="https://twitter.com/judekilgour/status/1054420161212620802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Meltzer will be attending Wrestling Kingdom live, so get ready for the first 8 star rating.
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<blockquote class="reddit-card" data-card-created="1543845062"><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/a2oio2/shout_out_to_one_of_my_favourite_wrestling/">Shout out to one of my favourite wrestling related Instagram accounts, @purowave. This guy literally makes some of the best aesthetic wrestling videos on the internet. Check out his work on Instagram.</a> from <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle">r/SquaredCircle</a></blockquote>
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Young Bucks are facing a lot of negative fan reaction after they refused to work World Tag League but then got put in the title match at the Tokyo Dome anyway. Cody was already somewhat of an unpopular figure due to only working the one off US shows and seemingly always being in a title match, while even Omega has caught some negativity for skipping most of the tours this year. If you look at the actual stats of actual tours worked by The Elite, it looks like this:
Omega: 2 Young Bucks: 0 Cody: 0 Scurll: 1 Hangman Page: 2 Compare that to some of the other foreign talent: Beretta: 3 (was out injured for 6 months, came back in late July, while the G1 was well underway) Chuck Taylor: 4 Juice Robinson: 8 Tama Tonga: 4 Elgin: 7 Killer Elite Squad: 4 ZSJ: 4 Chris Sabin: 2 (not even on the New Japan roster) They're pretty much doing the Brock schedule :lol: Probably doesn't help that their current schtick is that they are leaving for WWE. |
It certainly adds fuel to the fire that they aren't going to be sticking with New Japan.
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“Kenny Omega-thon” Schedule (subject to change) – Friday, Dec. 28 at 2pE/11aP: · 2pE – G1 Climax 26 Final – Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto · 3pE – Wrestle Kingdom 11 – IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada · 4pE – Dominion 2017 – IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Okada · 5pE – G1 Special in USA – IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final –Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii · 6pE – Wrestle Kingdom 12 – IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Chris Jericho · 7pE – New Beginning in Sapporo 2018 – IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Jay White · 8pE – Dominion 2018 – IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Okada (2 hr) · 10pE – G1 Special in San Francisco – IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Cody · 11pE – King of Pro-Wrestling 2018 – IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Omega vs. Cody vs. Kota Ibushi |
Aside from the participants in the pre-show, the Wrestle Kingdom card appears to have been finalized
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega [Elite] (C) IWGP Intercontinental Championship Tetusya Naito [LIJ] vs. Chris Jericho (C) Kazuchika Okada [Chaos] vs. Jay White [Bullet Club] IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] vs. KUSHIDA (C) IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Juice Robinson vs. Cody [Elite] (C) IWGP Tag Team Championship The Young Bucks [Elite] vs. EVIL and SANADA [LIJ] vs. Guerrilas of Destiny [Bullet Club] (C) British Heavyweight Championship Zack Sabre Jr. [Suzuki-gun] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [Chaos] (C) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship BUSHI and Shingo Takagi [LIJ] vs. Roppongi 3K [Chaos] vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru [Suzuki-gun] NEVER Openweight Championship Will Ospreay [Chaos] vs. Kota Ibushi (C) Pre-Show - Gauntlet for #1 Contendership for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship I would assume there will be at least five teams for the gauntlet. If I were to guess: Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Beretta, Chuckie T) Elite (Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi) Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay, Toa Henare) GBH (Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano...they've just had Yano and Makabe get on good terms again presumably for this) Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr)...alternatively could be Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, and Minoru Suzuki...Suzuki on the pre-show feels weird and they might just have him do something at New Year's Dash instead) Then again the gauntlet is replacing the New Japan Rumble, which was always like a 25-30 minute match so there might be more teams to get the New Japan Dads onto the show. |
Only thing I can see is Tana winning IWGP title and Suzuki coming in as the first challenger.
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How has Will Ospreay been going? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of him and Ibushi. It's certainly a different style of NEVER Title match. I've also got an interest in Tanahashi vs. Omega and how Okada vs. White goes down. A lot of these matches are going to be effected by contract situations, I imagine, which is going to make things interesting.
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I dislike the idea of Kota as NEVER champ. I kinda took it as the tough guy belt.
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That's where they've taken the belt, but from what I have seen of Ibushi, they seem to want to tease him being able to snap and hold his own in that realm. But I don't mind a different style of champ getting it for a while. Ibushi with gold is good, and you can't put too much on him because of his free agent status.
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Fucking hate osprey with that belt. Wouldn’t mind Ibushi. He can throw down and have a slugfest if it calls for it.
Also, hoping Omega retains. His reign has been completely uneventful so far. Needs a big defense against a made guy like Tanahashi for it to be successful. As it is it’s just a defense against Ishii and another against Cody. Beating midcarders isn’t the best follow up to the Okada run. |
Ospreay doesn't have it, at least not yet, and I wouldn't expect him to win it now as the plan was clearly Taichi > Ospreay > Ibushi. I'm interested to see what happens with it now that Goto has moved out of the picture and none of the other big boys seem to be after it. I'd imagine Ibushi gets a lengthy run as somewhat of a trial to see how committed he is before he gets a bigger belt.
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Omega's reign has underwhelmed, but I don't really blame him for it. Dominion is a pretty terrible time to win the belt as G1 is only like a month away which means the champ will straight away need to eat a pin or two to set up title matches, but you already pretty well know they aren't dropping the belt until the Dome.
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I wonder if perhaps Omega's reign has been booked "less strong" than we'd want because they knew he was leaving at the end of his current deal. Possible. Also possible they haven't had him in a Okada like spotlight because he's not Japanese.
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I think it's helping Okada's reign stand out as special. If Omega continues to work with New Japan, I can see him winning it back from Tanahashi down the line.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Whoaaaaaaa<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njwk13?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njwk13</a> <a href="https://t.co/YHlNlmDkzq">pic.twitter.com/YHlNlmDkzq</a></p>— GIF Skull [6-1] (@GIFSkull) <a href="https://twitter.com/GIFSkull/status/1073912145476108288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I am not an Ospreay fan by any stretch, but I will admit that is cool. Mostly the reaction.
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Not surprising, but Tanahashi has signed a new deal with New Japan.
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That tag team match was insane!!
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Feels like NJPW isn’t carrying the same buzz into this Wrestle Kingdom as they did last year.
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I'd agree with that, and I can understand why it happened. I think Jericho vs. Omega was a complete dream match in the eyes of many within the IWC. Couple that with Naito becoming popular and everyone thinking he'd go over Okada and those two matches alone generated a huge buzz.
Now a year later, Jericho's still there, no longer a new face in the picture. Can't call Jericho/Naito a dream match when it already happened in June, and Naito himself has been cooled a bit by still never getting his crowning moment. And in the main, Omega/Tana should be a great match but it just doesn't have the steam Okada/Naito had. They've also kinda booked themselves into a corner. If Tana wins, it means Omega's title run will have ended having lacked any real big moment, he peaked upon winning the title. If Omega wins, that means that yet again the G1 winner has failed to win the title. Also in consideration - is Kenny leaving or not? I don't think we'll know until the end of January. Also, would Gedo even be willing to have a gaijin win in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom? |
I think most of it is down to repetition, the three big matches feature the same six guys, (the big four + Jericho and Jay White) but this time the pairings are less exciting. Omega only just showing up to start building the main event in the last few shows leading Tanahashi to help build up Okada's match instead of his own. Jericho is also never there so can't really have hot feuds, it's all surprise factor with him but he's been doing the same schtick all year when he shows up once and attacks somebody and that's it.
Then there's Cody taking up a singles title match spot again despite never being around and wont be going forward, Young Bucks in the tag title match but they are never around and wont be going forward, SANADA and EVIL still stuck in the tag scene wrestling GOD again, Jr Tag being a rematch from Power Struggle. Ibushi / Ospreay suffered from the injury and the plan B to get there isn't as compelling as the Plan A was going to be. That pretty much leaves Okada / White as the only match that's got a hot build, so it's unfortunate White is not quite there yet to make the most of it. Also, no Hiromu. Still really looking forward to it though. |
Eh, I think the overall vibe is generally better. It feels like the company is always gaining steam, albeit slowly. I think ticket sales and business projections are generally higher too. It'll be interesting to see if that continues or whether they are due for a drop-off.
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The Junior Tag League wound up being completely pointless. The World Tag League didn't have much intrigue because EVIL and SANADA were obviously winning as they weren't going to be left off of WK. And the singles junior division, while hampered by the Hirmou injury, just feels like it's "there". |
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I guess I agree with the gist of what you're saying, but I don't think it's a bad thing. It's kind of foundational pro-wrestling. |
Shingo and Bushi are also babyface and objectively more popular than SHO and YOH. The WK Jr Tag match is actually the exact same match they had as the Jr World Tag League final, making SHO and YOH's win there seem kind of pointless.
EVIL and SANADA won Tag League and won the titles at WK last year too, then they got fed to the Young Bucks and were given a slight push as singles guys, EVIL had a much higher profile sustained push feuding with Jericho and Zack Sabre Jr, while SANADA got a world title shot early in the year, tweaked his gimmick so he now actually talks occasionally (meaning he can win a singles main event and do the end of show promo) and then remained super over despite not really being given anything else to do. Business is very much still in a growth period though and shows are drawing more than ever, certain pockets of the internet might claim it's a "worse product" but it's definitely not. The matches themselves will be solid, worst match on the card is Cody vs Juice Robinson and that wont necessarily be bad. |
There's only so many spaces at the tippy-top. You've got Tanahashi, Okada, Omega, Naito and Jericho. After that you've got Goto and Suzuki while you're trying to put some focus on Ibushi, Ishii, ZSJ and Ospreay. It's hard to give someone like EVIL or Sanada something more important to do than they actually are.
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They need to make Sanada important. Dude is money.
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Seriously, SANADA is so over with the audience he should definitely be ahead of Goto, Suzuki, Ishii and ZSJ, while Ospreay is still a Jr. That's not a slight on any of those guys either.
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He absolutely should not be ahead of Suzuki and Ishii...
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I love both of those guys, but Suzuki is 50 and Ishii is 43. SANADA is only 30.
I realize that age isn’t a huge deal in puro, but still. SANADA has a really long career still ahead of him. |
But he's still behind those guys in the pecking order. ZSJ is ahead of him too.
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Suzuki and Ishii are both brilliant but they aren't going to go any higher up the card at this point in their careers. Same with Goto. Loads more potential in SANADA.
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Ishii is only 25 in Stone Pitbull years
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When Suzuki was murdering Tanahashi and winning the IC Title last year, I never expected that by Wrestle Kingdom he'd end up in the pre-show gauntlet. But I really think it's all by design to have Sabre usurp him.
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I think Suzuki and KES are going to win the gauntlet and the six-man belts.
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Very possible, although admittedly the 6-Man belts are completely useless.
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Oh yeah, no doubt.
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"Tanahashi wrapped his knee a used a cortisone shot!" :lol: |
The more I think about it the more I don't understand why they have Cody vs. Juice Robinson on the main show and Minoru Suzuki is on the pre-show. Could easily do Cody vs. Suzuki or a 3 way with them. Suzuki-gun has more than enough people to replace Minoru in the gauntlet. I mean there's only so many spots on the card, but with the reactions this guy gets I don't understand how he doesn't have one of those spots.
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Anyone could win the gauntlet really, but supposing the 6 man tag is happening at New Years Dash I could see Makabe / Yano / Taguchi or CHAOS taking it and something happening there. The Elite guys are possible but their future is up in the air. Suzuki's team (along with Cobb / Finlay / formerly Elgin) are all going in pissed at Chuck Taylor for his chair shot antics and that seems to be leading somewhere. They were specifically teasing Suzuki wanting to murder Chuck.
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The Cody / Juice singles seems to be a redemption thing since Cody debuted at WK and easily beat Juice. It makes sense, but meh.
Suzuki's fall down the card could be totally by design, Taichi has shown insubordination ever since he moved up to Heavy, He's especially pissed off that he keeps getting left off the big shows. After the Taichi / ZSJ vs Suzuki / Iizuka match in Tag League, ZSJ said that he has his eyes on the throne and Suzuki's time is nearly up. This time next year we could be seeing Zack vs Suzuki as a marquee WK match, |
That Kenny’s Quest thing is amazing.
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I knew he was in his 50s but didn't realize that Takashi Iizuka was a lifer who has been with the company for 33 years. That's insane. And he still looks absolutely terrifying.
Having said that, he's been Suzuki-gun's designated fall guy for the two years I've been watching New Japan so I can see why he's ready to call it a career. Will miss seeing him run around the arena. |
I was sat right next to the aisle where Iizuka walked past in SSE:UK, he looked like he was having the time of his life doing that gimmick. Dude is also in much better shape than he looks on TV.
Hilarious spot too where he bit Gedo and everyone boo'd, Yano made the save and got bit, everyone boo'd, YOSHI-HASHI then makes the save and gets bit and the crowd popped huge. Iizuka was laughing his ass off. |
Iizuka reinvented himself so many times, too - he was a great technical, even shoot style worker, and even had a match in WCW teaming with Tatsumi Fujinami against the Steiners in '92, reinvented himself as a hardcore worker in the mid-00s, and then more recently as a kind of pastiche of that gimmick as part of Suzuki-Gun. One of those wonderful midcard mainstay type careers; never set the world alight, but a real reliable hand.
That he's held the tag titles with Riki Choshu and with Toru Yano is wonderful. |
Kota Ibushi just announced he's staying in NJPW for the foreseeable future and will compete in this year's New Japan Cup. Made the announcement during today's New Beginning event.
There were some rumors he might jump to AEW once his concussion cleared up but now its not going to happen any time soon. |
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Wow! Didn't see that coming. I really wanted to see Okada/Tana for IWGP at MSG. :(
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Gotta get that next gajin ready now that Kenny is gone
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I was kinda shocked to wake up to this news. I mean hell since Jay beat Kenny before (US Title) why not do it again? Making Jay the only man in NJPW to never lose a singles vs Kenny, and he would've had "leverage" against Okada and Tana later.
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I didn't like this decision at first, Jay White doesn't really click for me as a main event talent, when I saw him live (Strong Style Evolved vs Kyle Fletcher) everything he did looked good but at the same time I was incredibly bored watching his match.
However, that was a fantastic match and the pervert has had a rocket strapped to him for 12 months, its so Gedo to go all the way and put the belt on him. I'm not so interested in Jay White being champion, but I am very interested in what happens now he is. Especially with Ibushi reportedly ACTUALLY signing a full time contract. Naito is also simmering in the background. Suzuki could make a believable challenger again. They could go somewhere fresh with Goto / Ishii. Also of interest, EVIL planted the seeds for Okada and Tana challenging for the tag team titles and there's a very good possibility that match is going to happen at MSG. That could be a hell of a rub for EVIL and SANADA, while it could also take us down a (albeit long and winding) path to the Aces vs Golden Lovers for the tag titles later in the year. Tanahashi not being world champion is actually a clearer path, especially if he's next in line to be working a Jericho program. |
Goost post Mantis.
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