The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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 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.

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.

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

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 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?