NJPW General

[Garlic Junior 136]

Wrestle Kingdom soon

And I'm off so staying up to watch it

[Garlic Junior 136]

@Vic Boss what's my tl;dr on Wrestle Kingdom? Do we have a match card / general idea on feuds?

[Vic Boss 610]

Ya and Ya who do you want to know about

[Garlic Junior 136]

The whole shebang plz k thnx. Someone on reddit used to put together a neat, professional looking programme but ain't seen them in a few years.

[Vic Boss 610]

Hrmmm

 

Jan 4

 

- New Japan Rumble as the dark match

- Hiromu vs El Phantasmo. Hiromu won the BOSJ (held earlier in the month in Japan), ELP won the Super J-Cup (aired earlier in the month in America), winner gets IWGP Jr Champ Ishimori on Jan 5

- IWGP Heavy Tag ZSJ/Taichi (c) vs GoD. Tekkers have held down the division for most of the year (ZSJ got stranded and kind of just stayed in Japan). GoD won their first Tag League by screwing FinnJuice out of it

- IWGP Us Title Briefcase KENTA (c) vs Kojima. KENTA won the right to challenge Moxley for the US Title from a tournament in America, but due to lockdowns and AEW, KENTA's now defended the challenge briefcase more times than Moxley's actually defended his title. He was supposed to face Juice but Juice busted his orbital bone earlier in the week so Koji stepped in to fight for Juice, and if he wins he wants his first defense to be against Juice

- Tanahashi vs Great-O-Khan. O-Khan is a returning Tomoyuki Oka (who spent his excursion in the UK so you might be more familiar with O-Khan than I am) who joined Ospreay's Empire. Tanahashi's been having a really shit year, he's been losing quite a bit (including to people he really shouldn't) and declining pretty rapidly, I'm kind of wondering if he's going to retire sometime in the near future and go act in Japanese movies instead

- Okada vs Ospreay. Ospreay turned on Okada and formed The Empire with O-Khan and Jeff Cobb. Okada's going for revenge (and in a really low-key position for it being WK, just a semi-main on Jan 4th and nothing on Jan 5th unless he's going for KOPW again)

- Double Title Match, Naito (c) vs Ibushi (G1 Winner). They get to resume their "let's break each other's necks" rivalry.

 

Jan 5

 

- I think Stardom is putting on one or two dark matches

- King of Pro Wrestling 4-Way (Don't know who's in it, Yano won KOPW 2020)

- IWGP Jr Tag Kanemaru/Desperado (c) vs MASTER WATO/Taguchi. Wato was feuding with Kanemaru and I think he beat one of the Suzuki-gun guys in the BOSJ. He's had a really awkward time since returning from excursion

- NEVER Shingo vs Jeff Cobb, Cobb trying to bring gold home for The Empire

- Sanada vs EVIL, revenge match for EVIL turning on LIJ

- IWGP Jr Title Ishimori (c) vs whichever of Hiromu/ELP win their match

- IWGP Double Champion vs Briefcase Holder: Whoever wins out of Naito/Ibushi vs Jay White. Jay cheated to win the G1 briefcase off of Ibushi (first time someone's lost it) and then decided he'd take the last match on Jan 5. The storyline seems more set for Ibushi to finally win the big one by overcoming his rival and the guy who tried to fuck him out of his main event match, but Naito's also had problems with the Bullet Club this year

 

The NEVER Six-Mans (Goto, Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) are MIA, I assume they'll be on New Year Dash on the 6th

[Garlic Junior 136]

"due to lockdowns and AEW, KENTA's now defended the challenge briefcase more times than Moxley's actually defended his title"

Thanks for that. Hype for basically everything on Night 1 (I don't know O-Khan, sorry) but lowkey scared for Naito

Night 2 less hype for, Stardom will be interesting (I keep meaning to get a month of their streaming service) and Shingo v Cobb might be good. Weird Sanada v EVIL is for basically nothing but pride.

[Vic Boss 610]

It's become a strange situation where New Japan has too many titles but also not enough titles to make every Wrestle Kingdom match feel more important

[Garlic Junior 136]

Spread across 2 nights is also a bit of a shitshow imo. Takes away from the specialness of it to me.

[Vic Boss 610]

Yeah, but it also leads to a situation with one night where you get a 6 hour show and go "Man, that should've been longer because half of these badass matches didn't get enough time"

[Garlic Junior 136]

Regardless, I am hype! My days randomly got switched around so I have until the 7th to recover from getting up early for this (7am start I think UK time?)

[Garlic Junior 136]

Woke up just as Takahashi made his entrance. Perfect.

 

Takahashi vs El Phantasmo 

 

Great match, Taka didn't really do much though just a passenger lol solike 3/5 decent opener.

 

 

 

 

 

[Garlic Junior 136]

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Match 

 

ZSJ was the highlight. Wriggling little submission snake he is. "I can't do it myself. Come on IT'S THE FUCKING TOKYO DOME" corner spot xD 

 

Tama looks weird btw. And kinda bugs me Tanga got the pin when he still can't even make moves like an elbow drop look real. I'm over GoD give me proper badass singles Tama plz.

 

 

 

 

[Vic Boss 610]

I popped in just in time for Dangerous Tekkers vs GoD. I'll have to go back and watch the NEW JAPAN RAMBO and the Hiromu vs ELP later

 

Also I'm super impressed with that tag match because they made a Heel vs Heel match work.

 

That back body drop into a power bomb where Tanga Loa had to catch ZSJ and did like it was nothing

[Vic Boss 610]

KENTA vs Koji is about what's expected of the two at this point in their careers. Probably better for the Japanese audience because Kojima's a bigger star.

[Garlic Junior 136]

KENTA match was good. The whole event has felt good-not-great so far.

 

But like, wtf was with that Rocky Balboa monologue from the English commentary

[Vic Boss 610]

4 minutes ago, Garlic Junior said:

The whole event has felt good-not-great so far.

TBH I don't know if we're gonna get to "great", the fans are still in "scream inside your heart" mode.

[Vic Boss 610]

Tana vs O'Kahn

 

Tana finally gets a big win, O'Kahn gets a big feature against another top guy. That one was pretty rough for who was involved, awkward chemistry and Tana ain't what he used to be, though I still liked it because O'Kahn cool as fuck

[Garlic Junior 136]

I don't think it's just that, the whole "split over 2 days" vibe just makes day 1 feel largely pointless anyway.

 

Speaking of pointless - Tanahashi match felt lowkey "Cena wins lol". Meh. Cmon WK, pick up some steam.

[Vic Boss 610]

I like the double dome because every match gets to be a huge feature (and it's probably going to get mashed together with STARDOM eventually), but I hope if the double dome becomes a regular thing, this two-day-tournament deal that they've run two years in a row now goes away. IC Title gets one night, IWGP Heavy gets another (which I think they might also be working towards, we'll have had the IC Title contended for two years in a row now in three of the four main events)

[Garlic Junior 136]

Yeah IC was always on a level with HW so it makes sense they would main event each day individually. I give it a pass because yknow COVID booking is hard.

 

These last two matches should bang. I'm in full "plz Naito plz" mode now.

[Vic Boss 610]

That fucking Missile Dropkick, holy shit

[Garlic Junior 136]

Osperay vs Okada 

 

THIS is Wrestle Kingdom. Dear lord that turnbuckle dropkick bump looked hellish. Speaking of dropkicks, reversing one into a powerbomb was sweeeeeeet. 

 

That table spot was sketch as hell. Kudos to both for pulling it off.

 

I wonder what the original plan was to get back into the ring if that barrier hadn't swung open earlier.

 

Red Shoes expressions for that rope break were second to none.

  

 

My stream cut out for a bit, what happened between them getting to the ring after the table spot and the rope break?

 

 

Dispensing with the spoilers at this point.

 

That Spanish Fly looked hot.

 

Totally forgot to mention my favourite part of the tag match as well. There was a bit when they had grouped into three pairs, two outside one inside, and the cameras had no idea who to focus on and missed everything it was so amateurly endearing and chaotic.

 

That Rainmaker looked STIFF. I believed it. Great match.

[Vic Boss 610]

Ospreay/Okada

 

 

Man, that one's in the pantheon of "best matches I've seen." Those two guys can fuck off with their athleticism and timing tbh.

It's been so long since we've seen Okada wipe someone out with the Rainmaker ;_;

 

[Garlic Junior 136]

Naito flicking out of a head scissors into tranquillo pose.

 

Naito sweeping the legs.

 

Naito dragging Ibushi all over the place.

 

.... he's gonna lose isn't he

 

 

Ibushi with a better dropkick than Okada

[Garlic Junior 136]

 

Was ready to say "fuck wrestling", but then Ibushi tried to pin Naito a second time and I couldn't help but love him again.

[Garlic Junior 136]

Have heard good and horrible things about Will and Bea, but hard not to respect this.

 

[Garlic Junior 136]

Read a theory that the post-match pin attempt wasn't concussion related or Ibushi selling exhaustion....

.... it was just that he's such an airhead he thought two belts meant he needed two pins xD

[Garlic Junior 136]

Day 2 so far:

 

For some reason I wasn't getting the Stardom dark matches, just replays hopefully find them somewhere afterwards

 

 

Opener was Yano doing Yano things, yanno?

 

Jr Tag match was ok, perfunctory with a meh ending.

[Garlic Junior 136]

 

NEVER fight was good. Big strong men doing big strong things 👍

[Garlic Junior 136]

EVIL + SANADA as a tag team: let's look as disparate as possible

 

EVIL + SANADA as a feud: let's look identical

 

Also... that fucking table spot smh

[Garlic Junior 136]

Takahashi match was... weird. Bone Soldier punched his fucking head off for ever. Then there was just a bunch of weird reversals and Taka's hand injury never came into it at all. Strange.

[Garlic Junior 136]

I don't know how I feel about the fact Okada v Osperay was the best match overall.

 

I mean, good I guess because Okada is so young he could carry the company another ten years, but kinda sad nobody else REALLY stepped up. Ibushi had two great matches sure, but GOAT matches? Nah.

[Vic Boss 610]

On 1/5/2021 at 12:45 AM, Garlic Junior said:

For some reason I wasn't getting the Stardom dark matches, just replays hopefully find them somewhere afterwards

Probably on STARDOM's service

 

But yeah, Okada/Ospreay blew the rest of'em out and it was always gonna be that way.

 

I think Ibushi/Jay White was way better than it had any right to be for a match that long. I think Jay's very good in the ring but does nothing spectacular, but his heel shit is where he's spectacular. Multiple times in that match, I'd say "This fucking prick" at the heel shit he did :nono: Him or MJF are the best heels in wrestling

[Vic Boss 610]

Oh also, once you're finished Night 2

 

Probably go watch Jay White's backstage comments/meltdown

[Vic Boss 610]

Oh, also also

 

Sanada coming down after a 48 minute match, with a straight face saying "Will you wrestle the great hope of pro wrestling, Sanada" was funny as fuck

[Garlic Junior 136]

Crowd were super into that, but watching it live with Reddit commentary they were having a meltdown.

Everyone was shitting all over EVIL v SANADA then when he came down to challenge they just went full bsod.

 

 

 

 

 

9 hours ago, Vic Boss said:

Oh also, once you're finished Night 2

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Probably go watch Jay White's backstage comments/meltdown
 

 

 

Will watch that tonight you're right he's such a great heel. I would have never predicted it a few years back.

[Vic Boss 610]

EVIL is fucking bizarre. LIJ was the perfect spot for him because he's great when he wrestles crash-and-bangers and not so great when he wrestles "skill" guys, and LIJ was full of skill guys that he'd maybe wrestle once in awhile in the G1 or the NJPW Cup and spend the rest of the time crash-and-banging with Ishii and Shingo and Goto and all of them. The turn forced him to feud with a bunch of skill guys

4 minutes ago, Garlic Junior said:

Will watch that tonight you're right he's such a great heel. I would have never predicted it a few years bac

Him and MJF are #1 and #1a best heels to me, and the gun-to-my-head choice is more based on which promotion is putting on a show that particular night.

 

(Jericho and El Phantasmo are 2 and 2a because they're a special breed of obnoxious prick on-screen and man do they rustle my jimmiejams)

[Garlic Junior 136]

That Jay White, sorry, "Jamie" promo was one of the best things I've seen in a long, long, long time. Thanks for highlighting it to me.

Did I miss anything interesting from NYD?

[Vic Boss 610]

15 hours ago, Garlic Junior said:

Did I miss anything interesting from NYD?

 

Nope.

[Vic Boss 610]

ELP thanked "the trees in the great Canadian wilderness" for helping him train his new Young Bucks death-superkick (he's got a loaded boot and he's killing everyone with it). This fucking prick

[Vic Boss 610]

Tana vs Shingo was the fucking (PAMPING) BOMB(ER)

 

Apparently ELP on commentary hyped it up as "Canadian Soccer Mom haircut of Tanahashi vs. the Deep South Walmart Mom haircut of Shingo"

[Vic Boss 610]

 

 

Between this, Jay White apparently hearing voices and ELP in general, I think I like NJPW Bullet Club better than AEW/Impact Bootleg club, and that's a hard thing to say because Don Callis being a scumbag manager is one of my favourite things

[MT 900]

NJPW stuff coming to Roku (whatever the fuck the Roku channel is)

[Vic Boss 610]

ELP again insisted he spent the 9 months in Canada on lockdown Superkicking trees aka "Maple Motherfuckers" and then took off his boot to show us his Billie Eilish socks

 

I hate him but I love him too

[Vic Boss 610]

 

To be fair to Taguchi, it was a bit of a given since Uemura called out Suzuki

[Vic Boss 610]

Gedo's booking sure all over the place right now

[Garlic Junior 136]

On 2/11/2021 at 10:52 PM, Vic Boss said:

Gedo's booking sure all over the place right now

What's up? I've only seen little bits and pieces since WK.

 

Do you think it's a case of the pandemic messing things up to the point the Forbidden Door has to be opened to make up for it?

 

 

 

Btw don't know if I mentioned it before but I got this amazing book on the history of wrestling in the Tokyo Dome called "Eggshells". It absolutely slaps.

[Vic Boss 610]

Normally in January we get the joint CMLL Fantasticamania tour leading into the New Beginning and then NJPW Cup. Fantasticamania didn't happen this year because of pandemic, so we got the New Beginning tour early and now we're moving into the Castle Attack Tour leading into Osaka-Jo Hall and then the New Japan Cup. They've also been rotating the foreign guys in and out.

 

My pet theory is that Gedo is getting double-whammied, he has to awkwardly stretch out one tour's plans across two tours and account for foreign wrestlers being rotated in and out for parts of tours. We're getting 30 minute draws on Road-To shows, DQ finishes in multiple feuds, a lot of interference in matches, even had an Okada/Yano vs EVIL/Dick Togo match get thrown out for a count-out, and then restarted as an EVIL vs Okada singles match, which in turn was thrown out by DQ because Togo came back and jumped into the ring... all to lead to an officially signed EVIL vs Okada singles match.

 

I also don't think the Forbidden Door has anything to do with it. To get into Japan you have to stay in a hotel room for two weeks and Tony Khan's not gonna have his top guys miss 4-6 weeks of TV just to send them over for tours or 2 weeks for a big show, and NJPW has been rotating their own foreign guys in and out anyways, they don't need someone else's. The AEW stuff is mostly for NJPW Strong as far as has been reported so far.

[Vic Boss 610]

A new young lion debuted at the Castle Attack show today. In the first minute or so, dude fucked up his arm while grappling with Uemura

[Garlic Junior 136]

Yeah man, what a freak accident