The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

jaykhunter · 05-01-2016 12:35am

den87 wrote: »

Matt striker is awful.

Agreed. Seems he's been fielding similar sentiments today

https://twitter.com/Matt_Striker_/status/683993164173209601

den87 · 05-01-2016 12:54am

jaykhunter wrote: »

Agreed. Seems he's been fielding similar sentiments today

https://twitter.com/Matt_Striker_/status/683993164173209601

Ive only seen the 2 mains so far and the amount of times he messed up and said "ah you know what i mean..." or something to that effect was ridiculous.

brianregan09 · 05-01-2016 12:55am

Just after putting it on now absolutely love watching Red Dragon

thebostoncrab · 05-01-2016 12:57am

I loved Kelly constantly asking Yoshi to elaborate on every single point he made, knowing full well poor Yoshi would have nothing more to add.

"I think that was a bad move"

"Tell us why?"

"...because it's a bad move."

Angron · 05-01-2016 1:07am

I appreciated Matt Striker getting the odd bit of shilling for ProWrestlingTees in. It'd be a system shock to not have any after years of WWE's commentary. Tatsu shouldn't have been near commentary though, he didn't really add anything.

Just on the Ishii vs Shibata match now, internet's been dire all day so it's been a pain trying to watch anything.

A Rogue Hobo · 05-01-2016 4:33am

What a show! Thought last year's would be very hard to top but they pulled it out of the bag. As others have said the last three matches were all fantastic. Wasn't a bad match on the show really go out of your way to watch this show.

Don't get the Matt Striker hate personally, sure he can be a little grating sometimes but I really admire his passion for what he is watching. Kevin Kelly didn't seem to know too much about anyone that wasn't Okada/Tanahashi or a ROH star. Poor Yoshi, basically put there to badly translate one single promo. Was very funny to listen to though not gonna lie.

"Yes"

"Nice"

The funniest part when Striker asks Yoshi who clearly didn't fully understand the question "Yoshi you wouldn't want to win a huge title match by count out would you?"

"....yes?"

Palo Alto · 05-01-2016 8:12am

The best was him saying he didn't care about the IC Title.

Striker's definitely awful by the way. I don't mind delving into wrestling history, but it always comes across as him showing off as opposed to adding anything to what's going on.

gnfnrhead · 05-01-2016 8:19pm

Ishii vs Shibata. What a fucking match. I know I picked Ishii to win but that was largely because they never give Shibata the win when he deserves it so I was delighted to be proven wrong. As good as the two main events were, this was my favourite match of the night. A title change also means we are almost guaranteed a rematch in the not to distant future too.

Styles vs Nakamura was incredible and more than lived up to the expectations. When Styles connected with the knee to the face and 450, I said to myself that the match was over. Nakamura looked out after that knee. Not sure where Nakamura goes now since he has beaten pretty much everyone.

Okada vs Tanahashi started out slow and made me worried that they weren't going to be able to live up to their own incredibly high standards. Luckily the match picked up a few minutes in. Loved when the still fresh Okada pretty much knowing what Tanahashi was going for before he even went for it. Really shows how well they know each other. I started the match sitting back, by the end I was practically on my feet.

Elsewhere, delighted for Honma. He's been an incredibly solid worker for a long time now and deserves his time to shine. Hopefully this also spells the end for Guns and Gallows. I like Anderson but Gallows is just awful. Hopefully NXT sign him since they like signing everyone they can even if they aren't needed. At least then he will be out of the way. When the Young Bucks came out with Kenny Omega I was expecting some bullshit. When Omega started his comedy stuff I groaned but thankfully it didn't last and he brought it afterwards. Wrestle Kingdom isn't the time or the place for his comedy antics.

Can only imagine how many first time viewers got tricked by Fujiwara's entrance music.

Two trainees debuted the day before. Hirai Kawato and Teruaki Kanemitsu. Kawato looked the better of the two but both matches were practically identical so it's hard to tell.

Overall, a great start to the year.

gerrybbadd · 05-01-2016 11:05pm

Cody Hall should never wear shorts again, especially when he's so obviously skipped leg day since he was 12 years of age

Angron · 06-01-2016 12:11am

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Ishii vs Shibata. What a fucking match. I know I picked Ishii to win but that was largely because they never give Shibata the win when he deserves it so I was delighted to be proven wrong. As good as the two main events were, this was my favourite match of the night. A title change also means we are almost guaranteed a rematch in the not to distant future too.

Styles vs Nakamura was incredible and more than lived up to the expectations. When Styles connected with the knee to the face and 450, I said to myself that the match was over. Nakamura looked out after that knee. Not sure where Nakamura goes now since he has beaten pretty much everyone.

Okada vs Tanahashi started out slow and made me worried that they weren't going to be able to live up to their own incredibly high standards. Luckily the match picked up a few minutes in. Loved when the still fresh Okada pretty much knowing what Tanahashi was going for before he even went for it. Really shows how well they know each other. I started the match sitting back, by the end I was practically on my feet.

Elsewhere, delighted for Honma. He's been an incredibly solid worker for a long time now and deserves his time to shine. Hopefully this also spells the end for Guns and Gallows. I like Anderson but Gallows is just awful. Hopefully NXT sign him since they like signing everyone they can even if they aren't needed. At least then he will be out of the way. When the Young Bucks came out with Kenny Omega I was expecting some bullshit. When Omega started his comedy stuff I groaned but thankfully it didn't last and he brought it afterwards. Wrestle Kingdom isn't the time or the place for his comedy antics.

Can only imagine how many first time viewers got tricked by Fujiwara's entrance music.

Two trainees debuted the day before. Hirai Kawato and Teruaki Kanemitsu. Kawato looked the better of the two but both matches were practically identical so it's hard to tell.

Overall, a great start to the year.

Kenny Omega has challenged Nakamura for the IC title, so looks like that's what's ahead for him in the short term at least.

Palo Alto · 06-01-2016 7:31am

Omega is amazing, great opportunity for him. I disagree about the comedy stuff having no place when he's so incredibly entertaining and charismatic.

Was a Honma fan till that stuff came out about him allegedly abusing his partner, so screw him.

gnfnrhead · 06-01-2016 10:33am

Palo Alto wrote: »

Omega is amazing, great opportunity for him. I disagree about the comedy stuff having no place when he's so incredibly entertaining and charismatic.

Was a Honma fan till that stuff came out about him allegedly abusing his partner, so screw him.

Kenny Omega has obviously stuck flag poles up people's asses. Imagine if that happened in a major match at Wrestlemania. There is a time and a place for that stuff, major shows isn't it.

As for Honma, unproven claims (and based on how quickly the story died, look to have been fabricated) are enough to completely change your view on someone? You must hate Steve Austin so.

Stereomaniac · 06-01-2016 11:50am

John Lennon too.

gnfnrhead · 06-01-2016 2:28pm

The cards for Fantasticamania are out. No idea which will be on New Japan World. None of them look amazing but they all have one or two matches that should be worth watching. Mascara Dorada, Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu won't be appearing for NJPW again after these shows. Dorada is going back to CMLL after wasting a year in Japan while Tanaka and Komatsu are off on their first excursion. Worth noting that it pretty much took Nakamura three excursions before he found what worked and became the wrestler he is today.

2016/01/17 (Sun), 2AM EST Kochi Kochi Sunpia Cerise:

1. KUSHIDA & Stuka Jr. vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu

2. The Panther & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Boby Zavala & Okumura

3. Fuego & Titan vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Barbaro Cavernario

4. Jay White & Dragon Lee vs. Virus & Hechicero

5. BUSHI, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito vs. Juice Robinson, Mascara Dorada & Atlantis

6. Ryusuke Taguchi & Volador Jr. vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Mephisto

7. Jushin Liger, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mistico vs. Gedo, Kazuchika Okada & Ultimo Guerrero

2016/01/19 (Tue) 4:30 AM EST Kyoto Kyoto KBS Hall:

1. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi

2. The Panther vs. Okumura

3. Boby Zavala vs. Guerrero Maya

4. David Finlay, Jushin Liger, Dragon Lee & Titan vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Virus, Hechicero & Barbaro Cavernario

5. Stuka Jr., Mascara Dorada & Atlantis vs. BUSHI, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito

6. KUSHIDA & Mistico vs. Gedo & Ultimo Guerrero

7. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Mephisto vs. Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Volador Jr.

2016/01/20 (Wed) 4:30 AM EST Osaka Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, second stadium (EDION arena Osaka):

1. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Jushin Liger & Stuka Jr.

2. Boby Zavala vs. The Panther

3. Guerrero Maya vs. Okumura

4. Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI, Hechicero & Barbaro Cavernario vs. Jay White, KUSHIDA Ryusuke Taguchi & Titan

5. Fuego, Mascara Dorada & Atlantis vs. BUSHI, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito

6. Juice Robinson, Volador Jr. & Mistico vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Mephisto & Ultimo Guerrero

7. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Dragon Lee vs. Kazuchika Okada & Virus

2016/01/22 (Fri) 4:30 AM EST Tokyo Korakuen Hall:

1. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Stuka Jr. & Fuego

2. David Finlay, Jushin Liger, KUSHIDA, The Panther & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI, Boby Zavala, Hechicero & Okumura

3. Juice Robinson & Atlantis vs. EVIL & Tetsuya Naito

4. Mexican National Welterweight Championship: Barbaro Cavernario (c) vs. Titan

5. CMLL World Welterweight Championship: BUSHI (c) vs. Mascara Dorada

6. Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Dragon Lee vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura & Virus

7. Volador Jr. & Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Mephisto

2016/01/23 (Sat) 4:30 AM EST Tokyo Korakuen Hall:

1. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Titan & Mascara Dorada

2. KUSHIA, Juice Robinson & Fuego vs. Hechicero, Gedo & YOSHI-HASHI

3. CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship: The Panther & Guerrero Maya Jr. (c) vs. Boby Zavala & Okumura

4. Ryusuke Taguchi & Stuka Jr. vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Barbaro Cavernario

5. Tiger Mask IV, Atlantis & Jushin Liger vs. BUSHI, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito

6. CMLL World Lightweight Championship: Dragon Lee (c) vs. Virus

7. Black Cat Memorial Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Volador Jr. & Mistico vs. Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto & Ultimo Guerrero

2016/01/24 (Sun) 4:30 AM EST Tokyo Korakuen Hall:

1. Sho & Yohei Final Sendoff: Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. The Panther & Guerrero Maya

2. Tiger Mask IV, KUSHIDA, Fuego, Stuka Jr. & Titan vs. Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI, Boby Zavala, Okumura & Hechicero

3. Lucha de Maestros: Jushin Liger vs. Virus

4. Mascara Dorada’s Final NJPW Match: Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & Atlantis vs. BUSHI, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito

5. Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Dragon Lee vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura & Barbaro Cavernario

6. Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero

7. NWA World Historic Welterwight Championship: Volador Jr. (c) vs. Mephisto

Palo Alto · 06-01-2016 3:40pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Kenny Omega has obviously stuck flag poles up people's asses. Imagine if that happened in a major match at Wrestlemania. There is a time and a place for that stuff, major shows isn't it.

Don't agree at all, think you're taking it all a bit seriously.

gnfnrhead · 06-01-2016 3:48pm

Palo Alto wrote: »

Don't agree at all, think you're taking it all a bit seriously.

So you'd be fine with what I described happening in a major match?

Undercard on a smaller show? Go nuts. Big title match on biggest show of the year? No place for it. Like I said, there is a time and a place for it. Wrestle Kingdom isn't it and thankfully Omega didn't get into it.

Imagine the United States title match at Wrestlemania ends up as a comedy match. The title would be a joke.

A Rogue Hobo · 06-01-2016 4:54pm

gnfnrhead wrote:

So you'd be fine with what I described happening in a major match?

gnfnrhead wrote:

Undercard on a smaller show? Go nuts. Big title match on biggest show of the year? No place for it. Like I said, there is a time and a place for it. Wrestle Kingdom isn't it and thankfully Omega didn't get into it.

gnfnrhead wrote:

Imagine the United States title match at Wrestlemania ends up as a comedy match. The title would be a joke.

gnfnrhead wrote:

So you'd be fine with what I described happening in a major match?

gnfnrhead wrote:

Undercard on a smaller show? Go nuts. Big title match on biggest show of the year? No place for it. Like I said, there is a time and a place for it. Wrestle Kingdom isn't it and thankfully Omega didn't get into it.

gnfnrhead wrote:

Imagine the United States title match at Wrestlemania ends up as a comedy match. The title would be a joke.

I understand what you're saying and you are right to a degree and personally I agree with you.

Playing devils advocate though: Japanese fans have a seriously strange sense of humour, they tend to lap up the type of comedy that occurs in wrestling that the majority of us roll out eyes at!

Palo Alto · 06-01-2016 9:39pm

Did you watch Omega at Korakuen the night after?

Guy's a megastar in waiting.

I think a bit of levity is fine anyways, the he'd toned down his entrance at WK and the interference on both sides didn't effect the finish really, I just enjoyed it, I don't take wrestling (even puro) that seriously.

gnfnrhead · 06-01-2016 10:08pm

Palo Alto wrote: »

Did you watch Omega at Korakuen the night after?

Guy's a megastar in waiting.

I think a bit of levity is fine anyways, the he'd toned down his entrance at WK and the interference on both sides didn't effect the finish really, I just enjoyed it, I don't take wrestling (even puro) that seriously.

I think we've got a disconnect. I had no issue with Omega at Wrestle Kingdom but I did fear the worst when he sprayed the hairspray down his trunks. Thought we were getting comedy Omega with a tonne of interference from the Young Bucks, which would mean a crap match, but they got that out of the way early and got down to business after. Omega has often ruined matches with his comedy antics and I was worried he was about to do the same here.

Omega was great at New Years Dash because it was serious Omega. He left the comedy at home and showed how good he is when he wants to be. If he wasn't so prone to falling back on comedy, we would see that Omega a lot more often. Hopefully with him moving from Junior to Heavyweight, he has left that part of his act behind.

gnfnrhead · 07-01-2016 3:39pm

Nakamura gave an interview in Japan and said he was done at the end of the month. This is a problem. He is advertised for ROH in February and is obviously still the Intercontinental champion with no defences planned this month. Would be a very shitty move if he didn't finish up properly before leaving.

Angron · 07-01-2016 3:52pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Nakamura gave an interview in Japan and said he was done at the end of the month. This is a problem. He is advertised for ROH in February and is obviously still the Intercontinental champion with no defences planned this month. Would be a very shitty move if he didn't finish up properly before leaving.

Yeah, unless it's like a Del Rio move where he's still champ, and will make occasional appearances to lose the title at some point, or maybe they'll hotshot a match against Omega.

Palo Alto · 07-01-2016 5:16pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I think we've got a disconnect.

Omega was great at New Years Dash because it was serious Omega. He left the comedy at home and showed how good he is when he wants to be. If he wasn't so prone to falling back on comedy, we would see that Omega a lot more often. Hopefully with him moving from Junior to Heavyweight, he has left that part of his act behind.

Agreed, think we were at cross-purposes. Whether by accident or design, it's a fantastic opportunity for Kenny. Him v Nakamura should be very fresh assuming it goes down before he leaves.

gnfnrhead · 07-01-2016 5:28pm

Angron wrote: »

Yeah, unless it's like a Del Rio move where he's still champ, and will make occasional appearances to lose the title at some point, or maybe they'll hotshot a match against Omega.

Omega isn't booked for Fantasticamania leaving only two house shows at the end of the month. The Intercontinental title match headlines one of the two New Beginning shows two weeks later. Even if he drops the title at one of the two house shows in January, it leaves practically no time to build up a new challenger for the new champion in a main event level match. It would be a seriously dick move from Nakamura to leave before dropping the title at a real show. Styles didn't have to do New Years Dash but let them write him out and set up future storylines. Nakamura should do the same in February.

A Rogue Hobo · 07-01-2016 9:05pm

I'd say he will, WWE are usually pretty decent when it comes to stuff like this. Plus if Liger in NXT a few months ago is anything to go by they'll want to keep NJPW sweet wouldn't be surprised to see a working relationship between the two in the next few years.

gnfnrhead · 12-01-2016 6:23pm

Some of the matches have been announced for The New Beginning shows next month.

The New Beginning in Osaka 2016 - February 11

NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag Team Championship
Toru Yano & The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) (c) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) vs. Matt Sydal and Ricochet

NEVER Openweight Championship
Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

The New Beginning in Niigata 2016 - February 14

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
KUSHIDA (c) vs. BUSHI

IWGP Tag Team Championship
G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) (c) vs. Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson)

Vacant IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Kenny Omega vs. ???

Can only assume Tanahashi will face Omega. Don't think Ibushi would be ready to go on such short notice. The Junior tag match sounds amazing.

gnfnrhead · 13-01-2016 2:40pm

For anyone wanting to sign up, NJPW have provided this guide. Much better than the one I had to use when signing up.

http://img-cache.njpwworld.com/njpw/images/english.pdf

gerrybbadd · 13-01-2016 4:07pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

For anyone wanting to sign up, NJPW have provided this guide. Much better than the one I had to use when signing up.

http://img-cache.njpwworld.com/njpw/images/english.pdf

Cheers.

It'd be a lot handier if they'd just give us an English language version of the service, instead of a guide.

This should be useful though

Palo Alto · 13-01-2016 5:34pm

I'm crossing my fingers that's on the agenda for 2016. Madness if not. I still can't navigate the historical stuff other than with an excel spreadsheet someone made with links.

Palo Alto · 13-01-2016 5:34pm

Oh! Also just finished Chris Charlton's book on the history of New Japan.

Highly recommended, it's very well written.

Cherry_Cola · 13-01-2016 11:55pm

Have a work trip to Japan coming up the end of February/start of March. Are there any good shows on around then? Should have about 10 days there hopefully.

gnfnrhead · 14-01-2016 3:42pm

Cherry_Cola wrote: »

Have a work trip to Japan coming up the end of February/start of March. Are there any good shows on around then? Should have about 10 days there hopefully.

New Japan Cup starts on 3rd of March in Tokyo. Another show on the 4th also in Tokyo.

The ROH shows would be better than the start of the NJC but are on the 19th and 20th of February and probably sold out. They were both very close last I heard.

Cherry_Cola · 15-01-2016 12:11am

Thanks, have some colleagues on the case for tickets to be sure. Must see if BJW are running too.

Stereomaniac · 15-01-2016 12:16am

I know I was asking lots of questions in another thread but does this have all big events live?

Mick Murdock · 15-01-2016 2:32pm

Good ol JR is taking Mauro Ranallo's place on the US NJPW shows.

Jamie OD · 15-01-2016 4:13pm

Cherry_Cola wrote: »

Have a work trip to Japan coming up the end of February/start of March. Are there any good shows on around then? Should have about 10 days there hopefully.

NOAH at Korakuen Hall on 24/2
Big Japan at Shin-kiba 1st RING on 25/2
DDT at Korakuen on 28/2
Big Japan at Korakuen on 6/3

gnfnrhead · 26-01-2016 9:59am

Gedo has to be pulling his beard out at this stage. After having to rebook probably an entire year due to losing Nakamura, Styles, Gallows and Anderson, Tanahashi is now down with a dislocated shoulder. At his age he can't really afford to work through it and should take the time off to heal up. I'd bet Kota Ibushi is getting a lot of calls asking when he will be cleared to return.

LeeJM · 26-01-2016 10:23pm

Why is it poor Gedo? Yes hes lost 3 big stars (Styles, Nak and Tana) but surely he should have other stars there already made and ready to go and step into their spots? If this happened to WWE, which it has (Orton, Rollins and Cena), people would say its their own fault for making long term plans and not making enough viable stars. I know NJ is the trendy thing to love and best wrestling in the world but surely they should be held to the same standard as WWE. And Anderson and Gallows were well past their sell by date in NJ and only reason they lasted is because of the BC merch machine.

gnfnrhead · 26-01-2016 10:45pm

LeeJM wrote: »

Why is it poor Gedo? Yes hes lost 3 big stars (Styles, Nak and Tana) but surely he should have other stars there already made and ready to go and step into their spots? If this happened to WWE, which it has (Orton, Rollins and Cena), people would say its their own fault for making long term plans and not making enough viable stars. I know NJ is the trendy thing to love and best wrestling in the world but surely they should be held to the same standard as WWE. And Anderson and Gallows were well past their sell by date in NJ and only reason they lasted is because of the BC merch machine.

Gedo books the whole year in advance. Losing four people at once meant he likely had to start all over again. Losing your second biggest star shortly after probably means all the upper card plans are out the window again. They could have made an almost seamless transition had Tanahashi not gotten injured.

Okada in Tanahashi's spot.
Ibushi in Okada's spot.
Naito in Ibushi's spot.

Tanahashi in Nakamura's spot.
Omega in Styles' spot.

KUSHIDA in Omega's spot.
BUSHI in KUSHIDA's spot.

Then they only needed depth further down the card. Tanahashi getting injured is a big blow. They have Shibata but he has just won the NEVER title. Had he not won that title, easy fix. But he did win it. They also have Naito but he is a heel as is Omega so he can't go into that role either. They have enough talent to cover it, but it won't be easy to do.

LeeJM · 26-01-2016 11:05pm

I dont pretend to be a NJ fan as I just dont have the time to invest in it but I do enjoy listening to VoW pods, keeping up to date up NJ and eventually watching the "big" matches so apologies if my first post came across as narky (just read it back and seems that way to me

). Surely theres no way Ibushi is taking Okadas spot as the "next ace"/no.2 star? Is he even under contract to NJ? I defo do think Naito either gets a title win this fall or hes built up to face Okada at WK next Jan. Tana v Omega should be a fun IC feud especially if Omega destroys Elgin before Tana can get near him. Is Kushida really that highly taught of?

gnfnrhead · 27-01-2016 1:46am

LeeJM wrote: »

I dont pretend to be a NJ fan as I just dont have the time to invest in it but I do enjoy listening to VoW pods, keeping up to date up NJ and eventually watching the "big" matches so apologies if my first post came across as narky (just read it back and seems that way to me ). Surely theres no way Ibushi is taking Okadas spot as the "next ace"/no.2 star? Is he even under contract to NJ? I defo do think Naito either gets a title win this fall or hes built up to face Okada at WK next Jan. Tana v Omega should be a fun IC feud especially if Omega destroys Elgin before Tana can get near him. Is Kushida really that highly taught of?

I didn't read it as narky

Okada is going to be the Ace for quite some time. He's only 28. That number two spot should be someone who can have a title run but isn't going to be the go to guy. Likewise with the number three guy. Okada is John Cena a few years ago. He'll always be in or around the title scene. The number two and three are the Randy Orton type role. Legitimate contender, but not the star of the show. Okada can swap between babyface and heel very easily so a trio of him, Ibushi (babyface) and Naito (heel) gives a perfect balance. Any mix of the three work when a big main event is needed.

Ibushi is under dual contract to both NJPW and DDT. Had he not gotten injured last year, I believe he would have left Wrestle Kingdom this year with the Intercontinental Title. When he comes back now he gets to skip that and go straight into the Heavyweight title picture. It would only take a couple of wins for Ibushi to be the number two guy. Hopefully he is willing to give up the DDT shows and commit fully to NJPW. They clearly want to push him.

I'm torn between Naito and Ibushi for the G1 this year. Unless Michael Elgin signs full time and continues to gain popularity at the rate he has been, I don't see anyone else who they might give it to.

KUSHIDA is the top Junior now with Omega moving to Heavyweight. Juniors are an afterthought in NJPW these days. NOAH has a far better Junior division and some of them are even under contract to NJPW.

gnfnrhead · 10-02-2016 8:33pm

Really looking forward to the two shows this week. Going to be very interesting to see where they go following departures and Tanahashi working injured.

Osaka on Thursday morning:

David Finlay vs. Jay White

Gedo, Kazushi Sakuraba and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask

Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata vs. Tencozy

Los Ingobernables de Japón vs. Juice Robinson, Kushida and Michael Elgin

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships
Briscoe's and Toru Yano (c) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi)

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championships
The Young Bucks (c) vs. Matt Sydal and Ricochet vs. reDRagon

NEVER Openweight Championship
Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Kenny Omega) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and G.B.H.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

Niigata on Sunday morning:

Bullet Club (Young Bucks and Cody Hall) vs. Captain New Japan, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask

Gedo and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. reDRagon

David Finlay, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Yuji Nagata vs. Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Tencozy

Los Ingobernables de Japón vs. Jay White and Michael Elgin

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) vs. The Briscoe's and Toru Yano

Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Hirooki Goto, Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Kushida (c) vs. Bushi

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
G.B.H. (c) vs. Bullet Club

Vacant IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega

Angron · 11-02-2016 4:40pm

Delighted Tama Tonga finally has a title in New Japan. Haven't gotten to see the show yet though, hope it was good.

beakerjoe · 11-02-2016 5:35pm

Angron wrote: »

Delighted Tama Tonga finally has a title in New Japan. Haven't gotten to see the show yet though, hope it was good.

Its decent enough. Kenny Omega was put over huge and Goto got a revamp. Worth a watch.

Andersonisgod · 11-02-2016 10:26pm

Just a review I wrote of the New Beginning Show in Osaka show from this morning. https://kayfabetoday.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/new-beginning-in-osaka-0211-review/

Always looking for feedback on those haha.

gnfnrhead · 12-02-2016 3:22am

In personal predictions, I got eight out of nine. Junior tag being the one I missed.

Ishii vs. Shibata is already my feud of the year. I fucking love their matches together and the latest was no exception to that. Goto vs. Okada was very good but it was a very tough sell that Goto had much chance of winning. They built the feud as well as could be expected, he just isn't a believable champion at this point.

When the news came out that Tanahashi was injured but facing Omega at the Niigata show, I figured the Bullet Club would take him out afterwards. Then Tanahashi continued to work pretty much as normal, making me think he wasn't injured as badly as it was reported. Now I'm back to my original thought of the Bullet Club finishing the job on Sunday. Tanahashi gets to heal up while Omega establishes himself fully. Then when Tanahashi is ready to go again, we have an easy hot feud for him to come back to. Add in the inevitable Kota Ibushi feud and it's hard to see anyone but Omega holding the Intercontinental Championship for long. Pretty sure he has taken Nakamura's role rather than AJ Styles'.

gnfnrhead · 16-02-2016 10:23am

The second half of the Niigata show is great. Six man tag is entertaining with some tension between Shibata and Goto. Okada adding to it by offering Goto a spot in Chaos that wasn't rejected or accepted. KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI was great. Really made you get behind KUSHIDA as Los Ingobernables de Japón did their best to cheat their way to the title. All the Young Lions having enough of Naito and Evil shoving them around and as such preventing them from interfering was great. Tag title match was one of Guns and Gallows best performances. Shame Gallows found his working boots when he was already out the door. Post match with Tonga was very interesting too. Main event was incredible and is go out of your way to watch it good. A legit MOTYC contender. In four appearances Kenny Omega went from midcarder who does a lot of comedy to top three in the company. That is how you make a star on short notice.

Honor Rising with ROH is next up.

Friday Morning:

Jushin Thunder Liger & Matt Sydal vs. Dalton Castle & Ryusuke Taguchi

Delirious vs. Gedo

Frankie Kazarian vs. KUSHIDA

Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Moose & Michael Elgin vs. Cody Hall, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale

Katsuyori Shibata, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega

The Briscoes vs. Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson

Tetsuya Naito & Jay Lethal vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada

ROH World Television Championship
Roderick Strong (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Saturday Morning:

David Finlay vs. Jay White

Jushin Thunder Liger & Matt Sydal vs. Gedo & Delirious

Dalton Castle vs. Frankie Kazarian

Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson

KUSHIDA & Moose vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & Roderick Strong vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
Toru Yano & The Briscoes (c) vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks

ROH World Championship
Jay Lethal (c) vs. Tomoaki Honma

Angron · 16-02-2016 11:05am

Looks like good shows, I'm looking forward to seeing Ishii and Strong. I was never a particularly big fan of Strong until I saw him at the Rev Pro show against Nakamura. His reactions to the many different "sh*tty little boots" chants really warmed me up to him :pac:

gnfnrhead · 24-02-2016 8:47pm

Only finished the second night of Honor Rising today. Both shows were decent but nothing worth going out of your way to watch. Surprised they put the TV title on Ishii considering ROH weren't even showing the events. Only NJPW were.

Lions Gate debuts tomorrow. Hopefully it's a good show as there is a lot of young potential in Japan today. Will be nice to see so many in the one place.

Takumi Honjo vs. Maybach Taniguchi

Kawato Hirai vs. Hitoshi Kumano

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

David Finlay vs. Taiji Ishimori

Jay White vs. Yoshinari Ogawa

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Quiet Storm

Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genba Hirayanagi and Captain Noah

Juice Robinson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

Yuji Nagata vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya

Then (well, after the ROH shows) is the New Japan Cup. Bar the tag match, they are all first round matches. Hard to pick a winner considering whoever wins will get their title match in April. Tanahashi is way too soon to challenge for either title at this stage. Goto just lost to Okada, so unless he uses it on Shibata given their recent interactions, he would be out also. Naito I think they will save for Tokyo Dome, leaving Michael Elgin as my pick. If Elgin and Tanahashi both win, they face each other in the second round, likewise for EVIL and Naito.

Thursday 3rd March

Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Michael Elgin

Togi Makabe vs. Tama Tonga

Tomoaki Honma vs. Satoshi Kojima

KUSHIDA and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuchika Okada

Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito

Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale

It hasn't been announced yet, but with only six shows so I assume they will show all of them on NJPWWorld.

gnfnrhead · 25-02-2016 8:27pm

White vs. Ogawa was my match of the night. If White gets a good gimmick he will be a star. He has everything else but is lacking in the gimmick department due to his status as a young lion. Nagata vs. Kitamiya was good too as was Juice vs. Nakajima.

token101 · 28-02-2016 3:46pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Only finished the second night of Honor Rising today. Both shows were decent but nothing worth going out of your way to watch. Surprised they put the TV title on Ishii considering ROH weren't even showing the events. Only NJPW were.

Lions Gate debuts tomorrow. Hopefully it's a good show as there is a lot of young potential in Japan today. Will be nice to see so many in the one place.

Takumi Honjo vs. Maybach Taniguchi

Kawato Hirai vs. Hitoshi Kumano

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

David Finlay vs. Taiji Ishimori

Jay White vs. Yoshinari Ogawa

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Quiet Storm

Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genba Hirayanagi and Captain Noah

Juice Robinson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

Yuji Nagata vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya

Then (well, after the ROH shows) is the New Japan Cup. Bar the tag match, they are all first round matches. Hard to pick a winner considering whoever wins will get their title match in April. Tanahashi is way too soon to challenge for either title at this stage. Goto just lost to Okada, so unless he uses it on Shibata given their recent interactions, he would be out also. Naito I think they will save for Tokyo Dome, leaving Michael Elgin as my pick. If Elgin and Tanahashi both win, they face each other in the second round, likewise for EVIL and Naito.

Thursday 3rd March

Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Michael Elgin

Togi Makabe vs. Tama Tonga

Tomoaki Honma vs. Satoshi Kojima

KUSHIDA and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuchika Okada

Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito

Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale

It hasn't been announced yet, but with only six shows so I assume they will show all of them on NJPWWorld.

Not a huge NJPW fan, only watched a few clips on YouTube and the likes, but in Tokyo and tempted to head along to this show. Who should I be looking out for? Ive heard Bad Luck Fale is decent?

The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

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