Okada/Naito
Jericho/Tanahashi
Ibushi/Sanada

That’s also a pretty great card.

It's not to say that the Nakamura spot is bad, mind. The IC title has more credibility than either of WWE's World Titles and they actually put the belt on stars.

But I can sorta see why it'd be frustrating to always be the bridesmaid but never the bride in terms of winning the whole shebang.

El Desperado (broken jaw) and Flip Gordon (visa) are out of BOSJ :(

They'll be replaced by Ren Narita and Japanese luchador DOUKI. Both are in Block B.

DOUKI is being billed as a hired gun for Suzuki-gun

No, it’s not. And I can understand the frustration. But still, it makes sense to protect your true aces. Hearing some talk about him, they seem to be pretty sure he is going to have neck issues soon anyway. Is he a guy you want to build around?

Steve Austin already had serious neck issues (and knee issues) when he was on top. Naito bumps a lot on his head but then so does Ibushi, who it's almost a forgone conclusion will be a future world champion. If Naito is the hottest act on the show why shouldn't he get the WK redemption and one good run with the big belt?

Sucks about Despy, seemed like he was going to be one of the top contenders in that block.

Flip Gordon is a dork. I didn't watch any of his matches last year, heard they were "good", but his BTE character just made me immediately check out on him.

When Austin had serious neck issues he didn’t keep taking bumps directly onto his head though. Ibushi is probably a concern too. He might get a run with the belt, but do you really think they’re going to build around him? Isn’t he already talking about being done?

There are plenty of reasons certain acts shouldn’t get the the big belt. Where does Naito’s popularity come from? Is he the sort of act people want to see as champion? Does it change his gimmick too much to get the big one? Does it affect pay grade? Does he appeal to the domestic demographics in the same way as an Okada or Tanahashi? Is he even the most popular guy there? I thought he was #4 or 5 at the moment.

Naito hasn't said anything about being done, nor has he ever come out and said he has a bad neck. Not sure where you're getting that from. Hiromu Takahashi is currently out with a broken neck and is in the same stable, but he's due back soon and knowing Hiromu will probably not stop bumping on his head.

I don't think theyre going to build around Naito, no. They already tried to push him as the ace and he got the Roman Reigns treatment so he went off to Mexico and they went with Okada instead. He's the Nakamura to Okada's Tanahashi, except Nakamura had a long time at the top before he got moved down. Okada is already a made man, and with Ibushi going full time they have referred to them as The New Three Musketeers, aka, the top 3 guys. It would make sense to let them all have a decent title run. Naito has already held the belt by the way, he had a very brief run before Okada went on his record breaking reign.

Naito is the most popular guy domestically, he outdraws Okada and Tanahashi in the Japanese market even though he hasn't challenged for the top title in a year and a half. His stable is incredibly popular and they usually close out the house shows to send the crowd home happy.

Apparently DOUKI has been the go-to guy for almost every Japanese wrestler that got sent to Mexico due to his history and connections there. He's been there since 2011 and has the rep of being willing to work for any Mexican promotion that needs him.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Douki helps pretty much every male Japanese wrestler who comes thru Mexico and the indies, and is part of the network behind the scenes that helps those guys. He was teaming/facing Michinoku Pro's Musashi earlier this year.</p>&mdash; luchablog (@luchablog) <a href="https://twitter.com/luchablog/status/1126846440385466368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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I was talking about Ibushi with the being done thing. I'm sure he's come out and said that he might be done in two years when his contract is up.

I know all about the building around Naito and failing thing, and that he's been champion before. I read that he slipped down in popularity. Going through the house shows, it seems the shows he headlines are in giant tags with Okada and co. on the other side. Where did you get he outdraws Okada and Tanahashi?

Ibushi never said that, he said he wants to work with New Japan until he retires and it will be "the last place" he works but that wasn't alluding to him being done when his current contract is up. It was more of a "hey, I'm sticking around so you can give me some belts, don't worry about me going to AEW".

They tried to push him as Tanahashi 2.0 but the fans shit all over it, culminating in a fan vote on which match the fans wanted to close the show, getting his Tokyo Dome main event with Okada bumped down the card and being replaced by Tanahashi and Nakamura for the IC title.

He hasn't really been a focus of the booking so he has cooled off a little (the year long Jericho feud had him sitting on his hands most of the time because Jericho is never there) but he's still the most popular guy in all the fan polls, to the point where Tokyo Sports gave him a "Best Technician" award of all things because they couldn't justify giving the top MVP award to him when he hadn't really done anything.

Naito draws better than either guy when they're not there and he is, you can see it better if you just look at the Korakuen Hall shows. Nights with just Naito always have better attendance than nights with just Okada or just Tanahashi.

I prefer Okada honestly, and Naito is only my third favourite guy in LIJ, but domestically he is the most popular guy they have.

SHO’s theme is so fucking good.

Sanada vs ZSJ on this ep of New Japan on AXSTV

How did I luck into stumbling onto this at 3am

I put the commentary on mute and I am listening to Coldplay while watching New Japan and it's a peacefully violent experience.

El Phantasmo is such a wonderful dickhead heel

All caught up on BOSJ, and good thing too as there are about to be four nights with 10 block matches per card.

And I'm not gonna be able to watch tomorrow, so I'll be playing catch up again

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/njpw1972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@njpw1972</a> <a href="https://t.co/ooLD0aIXA4">pic.twitter.com/ooLD0aIXA4</a></p>&mdash; Jon Moxley (@JonMoxley) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonMoxley/status/1132868564132741120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
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holy shit

Slik with his multiple thread post again. Thought I made my post from the AEW thread in this one o ce I seen that post.

Cool video. I like the Mox logo and how it ties into "Time's Up." Juice might have just been shown because he's a wrestler, but it's conceivable to imagine Mox going after the US Title.

sorry, trying 2 be better

gotta help njpw get clixxx

Jox Moxley going to New Japan.

I'm really happy for the guy right now. He's got it all going on right now.

Holy shit! I didn't see this coming. Looking more and more like NJPW and AEW are "working together". I know that NJPW is happy that Jericho won at DON. Keeps him strong going into his IWGP match. I have a feeling Jericho is gonna hold both the IWGP and the AEW World Championships by the end of August.

I can't imagine that they're going to do a fourth IWGP title change in the first half of the year. I see Okada holding it til Wrestle Kingdom at the earliest.

Going by the title's history since Okada's 1st reign, its either Dominion or Wrestle Kingdom for the likely end of Okada's title reign.

Only once since 2012 did the belt change hands after July for the year. Belt changed hands 4 times at Dominion within the same time period.

Moxley putting ZSJ to shame with his finisher name

https://i.redd.it/1s93tcyjty031.jpg

That would seem logical, but they could always turn the rapid changes into a story. There's nothing inherently "wrong" about a series of champions who just can't get out the gate because right now things are so competitive.

Jon Moxley's debut at the BOSJ Final has been one upped at the last minute by the impending debut of Naoru Takahashi.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">【Everyone needs healing.】<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%83%8A%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ナオル</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NAORU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NAORU</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njbosj?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njbosj</a> <a href="https://t.co/fhFWLHS6IJ">pic.twitter.com/fhFWLHS6IJ</a></p>&mdash; 髙橋ヒロム Hiromu Takahashi (@TIMEBOMB1105) <a href="https://twitter.com/TIMEBOMB1105/status/1135549788647071744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hopefully Hiromu will be there too.

Well, many say he can't do a good DDT.

Moxley vs. Juice was amazing.

If there was any doubts about his in-ring skills after leaving WWE, he erased it tonight.

I can't wait to watch it, just reading the match results sounds awesome.

Holy Shit at Ospreay vs. Takagi match.

Was MotY tier quality overall and :eek: at a bunch of the spots done during it.

Past 3 weeks have been amazing for wrestling. AEW's DoN, NXT TakeOver 25, and tonight BotSJ's show.

Moxley/Juice was tremendous. The Ex-Plex made the crowd think Juice died

I see Mox has ditched the jeans and boots look (at least in Japan).

I hope he mixes it up in AEW too!

Thank God he wasn't wearing jeans and tank!

<iframe width="965" height="446" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KqKvSdzI5E4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mox has bad ass music now.

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

NJPW won't let him defend that on an AEW show will they?

Wonder if he'll defend it more often than he did the WWE US belt

Really good match. Enjoyed Mox's stuff.