Lance Archer is Test 2019.

KENTA / Tana was good.

EVIL / Ibushi was VERY good. Love EVIL for no apparent reason.

Okada / ZSJ underwhelmed.

Ospreay / SANADA was MOTN for sure.

Archer / Fale was okay.

Sanada has been amazing for a while now. Like, he's always been really good, but he's been having main event performances more and more.

Been saying for a while that he should be the next guy to move up to the main event level. His recent matches are validating that.

SANADA is quality

Ishii and Taichi winning makes me very happy

Not surprised Ishii went over Switchblade as I didn't see Switchblade bothering with the NEVER Title match he'd otherwise be obligated to get

The 0-2 hole just makes me think Naito's winning even more. I could see the block being 10 points or something wonky.

So far I'm really enjoying Archer, Osprey, and KENTA the most.

KENTA and Tana is probably my favorite match so far.

I think so far this is the least amazing G1 I've seen, but it's still really good.

Lol if the final is Mox vs KENTA. I know it's early

Apparently Chris Charlton is staying on as commentator for NJPW's English commentary after NJPW's home tv network, TV Asahi, recently backed down from their demands to have him pulled from the booth.

The network got flooded with complaints when the news was first made public and the amount of support shown towards Charlton was enough for network officials to change their minds on his status.

EVIL and SANADA wasn’t as fun as their G1 match from two years ago which I remember loving but it was still good.

Ibushi/Ospreay was amazing as expected.

Though I wasn’t huge on Mox/Cobb the other night, I’m happy I’ll have Mox/Ishii waiting for me when I get home.

Ibushi and Ospreay was amazing. It's a classic.

I have a feeling that Osprey's best gimmick is his neck injury. He's gonna milk it forever.

I'm going in for the latest show. First time I've keep up with G1 as best as possible. If AEW uses a round robin on weekly tv that is going to be such strong TV.

I've given myself time to get used to it, but I think I can safely say that Undead Pirate SANADA is a massive downgrade from Oni Horn SANADA, Cold Skull SANADA and perhaps even the Ugly Blonde Beard Oni Horn SANADA variant. Still nowhere near as bad as White Bull Wearing A White Vest SANADA though. Hope his next regeneration is better.

Also I was really worried they were going to build up Goto with the Shibata angle and then just have Switchblade cuck him, so really glad that didn't happen.

But now I'm sure he's going to lose all of his other matches in the tournament and look like an even bigger loser than before. Goto is suffering.

Mox/Ishii was probably my most anticipated match of the whole tournament and it didn’t disappoint.

I loved it. I was hoping for more shot for shot action rather than brawl around the room but we got plenty of both and it was really good. Mox was awesome. I was interesting how much bigger he is that Ishii but Ishii of course stood toe to toe. Great match.

Got around to watching yesterday's G1 show and Ishii vs. Moxley was great.

Doesn't top Ospreay vs SANADA or Ospreay vs Ibushi as my favorite G1 matches soo far but its a lock to be on "Best of" G1 matches lists that will get made for this year's tournament.

<iframe width="907" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q0DCtZkCSAk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

My neck hurts just watching Ibushi and Ospreay. Jesus fucking Christ.

Glad ZSJ is on the board. While I'm pretty much "over" Fale, two of his losses were to countout and a roll-up so they're clearly still trying to protect him.

Was hoping Archer would go over Tana but I didn't think it would happen. At least he also got the roll-up treatment.

I thought my Twitter feed would be spoiler free based on who I follow but I logged on this morning and was immediately greeted by Drew Gulak liking a KENTA tweet saying he was 4-0 so unfortunately that made it harder for me to get into the match since it killed the suspense.

Ibushi and SANADA was great stuff.

Loved Ospreay and Okada as well. Going into this night I really thought Ospreay might beat Okada to set up the Royal Quest match but I was also torn on if they'd actually put the Junior champion over the Heavyweight champion. But then after KENTA's match they mentioned Okada was next and I knew they weren't going to pass on doing 4-0 vs. 4-0.

Not a good night for Osprey's nuts

I didn't realize how much I needed to see a match like this until after I watched it.

I love Moxley's attitude in NJPW. He own's his moments. Currently watching the lasted A Block, just turned it on. Tag match with Mox right now.

Young Takayama is pretty good!

Man I love Mox's G1 Tag matches! That Hart Attack finish into the crab was great. And they let him hold it for a while before the tap, nice touch. NJPW young lions are strong this season.

Finally caught up. Last 2 nights have been very good. Okada is kinda boring me though just because he seems so unstoppable.

Tickets for the NJPW Boston/Lowell-NYC-Philly shows in September go on sale tomorrow.

Gonna try to get tickets and a room for the Boston-Lowell show tomorrow after work. Here's hoping.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

I’m off today and totally forgot the Hammerstein tickets went on sale an hour ago. Already sold out.

Meh, I probably would’ve missed out anyway.

Not going.

Folks wanted to come along again, but scheduling issues put the kabosh on this.

We'll catch them next time.

I missed out on Hammerstein tickets too ��

Pissed off at how much jobbing SANADA has been doing.

He's been consistently great (behind only Ishii and Ospreay IMO) but yeah, they're jobbing him out a lot. I think he wins the rest of his matches (he's got KENTA / Okada / Archer / Fale), but it doesn't really matter because half of them are against the underneath guys and he's already been eliminated and he's just going to lose to Okada again later in the year. Wouldn't even be surprised if they let Archer or Fale beat him. :(

Seems like Gedo booked himself into a corner with so many guys having poor starts and had to eliminate SANADA or Tanahashi early. Not sure why EVIL went over with how far behind he's fallen as a singles act though.

Playing catch up and starting watching the Hiroshima show last night.

Nice to see Pieter drop by with the Bullet Club to give me something different to see than just Miho Abe. :drool:

Presentation question: Why do they have certain names in English (Kenta, EVIL, Sanada) and others in Japanese?

That is a good question. I think it can be answered the same way that Fumi recently answered a similar question on his F4W podcast with Jim Valley.

Wrestling came to Japan from the USA,
Karl Gotch I think gets the credit. They've always had certain English elements to keep that tribute. Such as the ring count being in English, certain names have been chosen to be printed in English, probably more for style than anything.

It's weird, like NJPW or AJPW always presented quite an English friendly product but took so long to get English commentary for us and a way to watch it.

I know that NJPW aired in some places in the UK and Europe throughout the 90's, that may be one of the reasons they kept the tradition of using English alive.

Those names are purposefully stylised in English (Upper case apparently because Japanese language does not use capital letters and this helps drive the point home to English speakers) rather than being written in Kanji to make them stand out more, it's essentially the same as Western wrestlers just going by one name but since the names they use are, for the most part, fairly common it would be the Japanese equivalent of being a wrestled called "Smith" or "Johnson" in their native language.

EVIL, on the other hand, is just extra as fuck.

I've also read that Okada and Hiromu's names are actually billed in Katakana (which I think is more like phonetics) instead of Kanji to make them stand out more since they both have very common names.

Well, if Naito/White is meant to decide B Block, it means they also have to have Mox choke away a 5-0 lead.

I think the final will be Mox and Okada. Mox wins, rematch at Dome with Okada in victory.

I didn't see Mox and Naito yet and I don't know who wins. But damn I'm pretty excited to watch it.

Moxley vs Naito was very good overall.

Mox is getting Yano'ed Thursday. If he doesn't, a whole shitload of people are eliminated including Naito and Shingo whose main event next Sunday would end up not meaning anything.

They've booked themselves into a corner where Naito can't even be mathematically alive going into his last B Block match unless Mox goes no better than 0-3-1 from here. And after a 5-0 start and being booked so strongly, that would kinda make him look like shit.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="ja" dir="ltr">Replay ‘G1 CLIMAX 29 Night 9’ (July 27th, 2019) post-match videos on New Japan World!! Watch FREE▶︎<a href="https://t.co/pP2Qyjo4L8">https://t.co/pP2Qyjo4L8</a> <br><br>7月27日(土) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g129?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g129</a> のバックステージを <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E6%96%B0%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89? src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#新日本プロレスワールド</a> で無料公開中▷<a href="https://t.co/pP2Qyjo4L8">https://t.co/pP2Qyjo4L8</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G1Climax?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#G1Climax</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpwworld</a><br><br>.<a href="https://twitter.com/zacksabrejr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zacksabrejr</a> <a href="https://t.co/vJUpCHtQrk">pic.twitter.com/vJUpCHtQrk</a></p>&mdash; njpwworld (@njpwworld) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwworld/status/1155333387428564992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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OGoda seems goddamn unstoppable.

Would not surprise me if the plan was never for Naito to be alive at the end.

Kind of surreal that Dean Ambrose left WWE and went to New Japan. It’s a pretty big jump that I normalized really quickly. Jericho’s initial spot with New Japan really fucked me up.

It's possible, but it would be a departure from the norm. New Japan announce the tournament schedule AND match order in advance. Generally you can look at the schedule and know that the final match of the block is going to mean something for both guys.

That said, they could change it up this year where only Switchblade is alive in that main. Or they change the match order to put Mox/Juice on last.

I'm starting to think he's actually going to win the tournament. He's going to lose to somebody (probably SANADA) along the way to ensure the last night of the block is compelling...but I could totally see Okada/Switchblade or Okada/Mox as the finals with Okada winning and simply picking his own Dome opponent.

I mean they keep harping on how the IWGP Champion rarely wins the tourney anymore, in wrestling that's usually code for "it's going to happen".

I still think Mox vs Kenta even though Okada beat Kenta and is leading A block

I don’t see them booking an outsider straight into the main event of the Dome.

They might if AEW and NJPW have something brewing for All Out.

NJPW gets some buzz and then the G1 Winner faces Kenny Omega on PPV.

I can't remember if I've said this elsewhere, but I really want to see Jericho vs. KENTA. It won't be the most athletic match since both guys are older and past their primes as athletes, but as workers, they're both so fucking good. I want Jericho to start taking the piss out of Shibata and heckling the broken man like a real piece of shit.

Could see Okada winning the whole thing and choosing Naito so that when he loses at the Dome he falls on his own sword to build to him winning the belt back. Who is technically alive?

I think the pressure for New Japan to start working with AEW is going to hit after the Dome shows when contracts start coming up, and guys like Mox and Jericho are harder to secure, and the talent that is really excellent but can't get past Tanahashi, Okada, etc. get big North American offers. I'm not sure how long Naito is signed for, but I can see guys like him, Ishii and Goto, as well as guys like Juice Robisnon, ZSJ and Will Ospreay putting a bit of pressure on New Japan to relax when it comes to AEW.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Seems like Japanese fans really hate KENTA: “I really hope he never comes back for another G1, he’s half the reason for A Block’s problems.”<br><br>“Just send him back to Noah, never ever come back to New Japan you boring trash.” <a href="https://t.co/p67xl4P5YV">pic.twitter.com/p67xl4P5YV</a></p>&mdash; Super J-Cast (@thesuperjcast) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1156512788623155203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

White vs Taichi was surprisingly very good overall.

Not a good night for either guy's nuts though.

Ouch. Poor KENTA. I've heard his matches are really good. Maybe he just needs to be a heel due to his long NOAH association? Maybe he should "kick" Shibata in the head?

Yeah it's mostly rooted in KENTA being a NOAH trueborn. Japanese culture seriously values company loyalty. A portion of the audience will always hate KENTA, because he will always be seen as a representative of NOAH. You can see in pretty much every KENTA match so far, the crowd has generally cheered his opponent because he's not seen as 'their guy'.

It's why despite his popularity, SANADA (orginally an All-Japan guy) will never surpass Naito in terms of popularity and will probably never break out from under his shadow.

Even Okada isn't fully exempt from this. He at least went to the NJPW dojo and through the Young Lions program, but he still originally started at Toryumon. Yes he is still extremely over and a megastar by Western standards, but there is still a small pocket of the audience who would never accept him as a true representative of NJPW. That's why, while popular, he's still not as popular with the NJPW audience as Tana.

Good post.

Okada vs SANADA was amazing.

According to some news from Japan, SANADA's contract with NJPW recently expired and there have been rumors again of him being interested in potentially working for WWE.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Free agent, period. And the WWE rumblings are happening again.<br><br>If I were NJPW, i'd attempt to lock him up. Three straight sellouts vs Okada, and regardless of what anyone might think of his work, he has an obvious crowd connection and superstar upside. <a href="https://t.co/r4aAqR183X">https://t.co/r4aAqR183X</a></p>&mdash; Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/1157701299166687232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sanada is my NJPW fave, keep away from WWE Sanada, they won't know what to do with you!

Would rather see Sanada go to AEW than WWE, but that's basically the case with everybody. I think he will stay in New Japan though. I wish some talent would put the pressure on New Japan to work with AEW though.

All he's gotta do is go ask KENTA about his time at WWE there and that's all the info he needs.

I have like 0 interest in Kushida since his arrival, whilst Sanada has a great look I don’t foresee him piquing my interest should he go to WWE.

Maybe if they did a big Bullet Club/OC (ugh) takeover with them running roughshod over the company and they bring in a few NJPW guys to fend them off but I’m a stickler for faction warfare.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's that time again! <br><br>Checking in on how <a href="https://twitter.com/JonMoxley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JonMoxley</a> is doing in New Japan.<br><br>c/o <a href="https://t.co/EBkLi6EmEu">https://t.co/EBkLi6EmEu</a> <a href="https://t.co/1TkkUY24tp">pic.twitter.com/1TkkUY24tp</a></p>&mdash; JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/1157128207210037249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Mox vs. Yano was an 8 star classic.

Should be caught up today, but jesus, Okada vs. SANADA was great.

I'm aware the boards have been dead all week but if anyone out there is browsing, the latest season of TPWW Survivor Japan begins at the A Block Finals tomorrow and the more people involved the better.

Survivor Vets Jordan X, RP, Lock Jaw, Sixx, arrogance and Helmsphere are all MIA. Also DAMN iNATOR never goes in that thread so it's great.

My bad bro! I'll be right there

This is kinda why I was against Mox starting 5-0 with a huge lead on everyone, because he was inevitably going to have to piss it away.

Feeling down that Mox and Kenta didn't and won't make it.

Thinking it's SWITCHBLADE vs RAINMAKER in the finals.

I was wrong!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/ibushi_kota?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ibushi_kota</a>'s match preparation pays off huge, knowing Okada's tendency for the dropkick and reversing it! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g129?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g129</a><br><br>➡️ <a href="https://t.co/nA6zFRMmxQ">https://t.co/nA6zFRMmxQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/DKvdCJU0Zs">pic.twitter.com/DKvdCJU0Zs</a></p>&mdash; TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1160303886160334848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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That was brilliant.

I'm fine with Okada vs. Ibushi at the Dome, if that's the way they want to go.

Well I dropped off in the middle of G1 due to a long vacation. But I will say the end doesn't seem to hold up to the beginning on paper at least. While I do support Jay White... he was excellent when I saw him main event MSG against Okada. I am not fully behind his big big push but it is happening it has been happening and it will continue. White is the new Kenny Omega, at least as in the lead white guy for NJPW.

I think this tournament just solidified what everybody’s fears were for Naito coming out of Dominion: he’s the new Shinsuke. He’ll always be featured prominently of course but he’s not getting above the IC Title again despite being insanely over.

Which is dumb to me because I'd be pushing him as one of my top guys, instead of trying to force Jay White to be a thing.

For Ibushi's neck, White eliminating Naito was the best thing to happen in B Block this year.

Ending of KENTA, YOSHI-HASHI, & Ishii vs. GoD & Fale was freaking amazing.

That was seriously one of the best angles I've seen in years. Unreal emotion.

Shingo confirmed in his post-match press conference that he's officially moved up to heavyweight from now on.

That means Hiromu is finally coming back.

I found it interesting how Rocky kept harping on point totals on the last days of the blocks, pretty much saying anybody who entered the final block days with 6 points was in real jeopardy of being passed over for next year's G1 if they didn't win their last match. But Suzuki had 10 points last year, a better finish than Fale, SANADA, Juice, Goto, and Yano yet he was left out.

It's obvious now why Suzuki was kept out - he invariably would've had to lose more often than he should. Plus I believe Meltzer or someone else had reported that Suzuki had simply asked to not be in as he's 51 and keeping a lighter schedule for himself. But purely in terms of storyline you had Suzuki mad at being out and vowing to injure people in the preview tags to ruin the tournament and unless I missed something there was never a storyline reason given why the decision makers kept him out in the first place, they just did it.

So for that reason I'm sure by June of next year the 2019 point totals will be bunk. And hopefully so because Archer was the only one to finish with 6 points and he was one of the most entertaining parts of this tournament.

FUUUUUUUUUUUCK that Bullet Club angle was so good.

Yeah, a lot of people don’t realize how the intricacies of Japanese society play a large part in booking. Naito not being the top guy despite being even more popular than Okada is another example.

Naito isn’t a surging star, and he’s over with Japanese fans because he doesn’t get the top spot. Japanese society is highly predetermined in some ways. You’re tracked at a young age and by like age 18 your future is set. Naito is the guy who wasn’t chosen. He’s the hero for the slackers. To US fans that means he should win. But to the Japanese fans it would feel too unrealistic. That’s why LIJ gets hotter with Japanese fans where, in the US, people would have given up on Naito by now.

Moreover, a decent portion of Japanese fans would reject Naito as the top guy for that reason. They view Okada as naturally the top guy and deservedly so. To put Naito in that spot would be insulting to how society is supposed to be.

Naito won’t win till he’s no longer part of LIJ.

This is very similar to why Kawada was so rarely champion in AJPW and Misawa was always the top guy.

That angle sounds pretty hot. Are we allowed to talk about it without spoiler tags yet?

Meltzer seems unsure it will come to what everyone hopes it comes to, but I don’t think they would dangle that carrot without it being something they’re heading to.

Dave also blew the shit out of the finals. Basically said Ibushi is better than Ric Flair. I’m sure he was just excited, but I’m down for Okada/Ibushi as I said earlier. Kind of getting hyped about WK already.

Has anyone considered what a Suzuki vs Ibushi would be like for the IWGP at WK!?!

I've always felt we can talk spoiler free in here, you shouldn't go into a promotion-specific thread if you don't want spoilers.

Royal Quest card announced:

Ryusuke Taguchi, Ren Narita, and Shota Umino [Sekigun] vs. YOH, SHO, and Rocky Romero [CHAOS]

Kota Ibushi and Juice Robinson [Sekigun] vs. Yujiro Takahashi and Hikuleo [Bullet Club]

Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] vs. Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito and SANADA [LIJ] vs. Jay White and Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: TBD (Rev Pro Tag Tournament Winners) vs. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa [C] [Bullet Club]

NEVER Openweight Championship: KENTA [Bullet Club] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [C] [CHAOS]

Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi [Sekigun] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [C] [Suzuki-gun]

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun] vs. Kazuchika Okada [C] [CHAOS]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Royal Quest likely to be tape delay for NJPW World - FITE are paying a substantial amount of the production costs (not only video production but lighting, staging, pyro etc.) so they get exclusivity for three days</p>&mdash; Super J-Cast (@thesuperjcast) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1161256003683229696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
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FUCK JAY WHITE FOREVER.

I don't think this will happen, as much as I wish it would. Geo has his tropes, one of them being that, with rare exceptions (foreign tours), top guys aren't losing singles matches from post G1 to Wrestle Kingdom.

Also, it's funny how they don't need Suzuki until they do.

There's a very good chance Suzuki actually requested not to work the G1 tournament because he can't bump that frequently. He also would have had to lose a lot so it worked out better for him really.

Makes sense to have him challenge in the UK too because he frequently does shows here with Rev Pro and he is incredibly popular, I mean everyone all the way down to your Yujiros are over in the UK, but Suzuki / Ishii / Okada are your non-native headliners.

KENTA is winning that title from Ishii. Also, should be a slobber knocker with those two.

Yeah it's clear why Suzuki wasn't in the tournament from a backstage standpoint. But from a storyline standpoint it's kinda ridiculous that there was NO explanation given why a guy who got 10 points last year and is still on the roster got kept out.

Then again Honma went 0-9 one year and was right back in the tournament the next year so there's no real rhyme or reason for a lot of this. But it's no different than the Royal Rumble, there is no kayfabe reason why some random 60 year old legend would be allowed to contest for a WrestleMania title shot but we're not meant to think too hard about it.

Ishii is going to murder KENTA.

Watched the angle. Marvellous. Ishii trying to grab the leg of KENTA after the GTS was fucking heartbreaking. Shibata has that big dick energy. KENTA has a glorious shit-eating face. Even the Tongans, who I’m not super-invested in bumped like crazy.

I also watched the final. Jay White has come a LONG way. I like that there is at least an intention for him to be a different sort of wrestler there. Ibushi is cut like hell. Didn’t love the match though. I guess I just don’t get Japanese psychology. Ibushi’s legs are hurting but his default strategy is to do a bunch of moonsaults. Even Jay White is like “hit me” and just stands around waiting to get knocked out. It turned into a bunch of moves at the end. Felt like they could have truncated it and left the crowd with more energy and wanting more. I guess it was the G1 Climax though.

Dave Meltzer overrated the hell out of it. He was like “Ibushi did these spots on one leg.” He didn’t, lol. Kevin Kelly is someone I generally like, but he was pretty Michael Cole-ish with some of his rehearsed lines. It’s sweet he still gets into wrestling though.

I think Jay White is a good investment for New Japan. He seems interested in telling a story. As he gets more and more comfident, he will settle down more and more and is going to be more in-line with the great storytellers than the best acrobats. Not that his execution wasn’t great. It was superb. But he’s my sort of wrestler way more than an Omega or Ibushi. He’s going to be more akin to a Tanahashi or Okada, I think.

A lot of people aren’t yet sold on him, it seems. I get that, but I think my irregular viewing helps, because this was my first watch of him in months, and it’s scary how much better he has gotten in that time. He was a deer in the headlights when he first went against Tanahashi as Switchblade, but it’s like Gedo, Tanahashi and/or whoever is involved in this push knew it was going to click way before it was anywhere close to clicking. Like they knew he was going to be adaptable when he was thrown into the deep end after a bit of meandering.

According to the Observer, had Omega not left for AEW, Gedo's grand plan for this year's G1 Finals would have been Ibushi vs. Omega.

Also confirmed what people have speculated for months that Jay White's big push is just him taking over Omega's stuff and not something that was actually planned out for him.

In time, Jay White will come back down to Earth.

Sorta concerned on how long this Omega-to-White transition period is going to play out.

G1 Finals is probably where White stops piggybacking on the Omega storyline.

It lines up with what Omega mentioned a while ago about him and Ibushi wanting a high profile match together and Gedo never having any real plans for them to face off at the Dome this year or for Omega keeping the belt past ROH's MSG show.