The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

Machismo Fan

The difference between singles match Karl Anderson and tag match Karl Anderson is night and day.

Andersonisgod

New Japan Cup semi finals and final yesterday. Not surprisingly Kota Ibushi had two excellent matches, the first with Naito and then the second with Goto in the final. Personally I slightly preferred the Goto match, probably because it got a bit more time. I'm delighted Ibushi has won though, he's going on to challenge AJ Styles for the Heavyweight title when many thought he'd choose a rematch with Nakamura for the IC title. Ibushi vs Styles is a killer matchup though.

On the undercard the highlights were Shibata and Honma's interactions with eachother which were pretty hilarious. Hopefully it leads to a match between the two.

Okada scored the pin on Bad Luck Fale, but it was an 8 man tag so this feud is going to continue with Fale wasting Okada's time. Cody Hall looked impressive in the limited time he's been in the ring, seems super athletic for such a big guy and has a presence about him. Certainly he could be a good fit in the monster gaijin role if given the chance.

cian68

Ibushi Styles is going to be sweet. Also I very much enjoyed Ibushi Naito.

gnfnrhead

No matter what he does, Cody Hall always seems to look incredibly confused. "What's he doing? What am I supposed to do? Where am I? Are those my feet?" His actual wrestling ability is decent considering his lack of experience. Would rather they kep him in eight man tags instead though to allow him to develop under less spotlight.

Andersonisgod

Finally caught the Marfuiji vs Suzuki match for the GHC Heavyweight title and it really was excellent. I just love Suzuki, of you break down his matches he isn't actually doing all that much but his psychology is terrific and by the final few minutes of the match the crowd are going nuts even though it's not a saturation of false finishes, just great storytelling.

Agent Coulson

Good news for NJPW.

Not sure what rating it is doing but it must be ok to get another season.

AXS TV EXTENDS ‘NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’ FOR 12 MORE EPISODES RETURNING MAY 22

LOS ANGELES – April 2, 2015 – Based on the success of NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’S (NJPW) inaugural run on AXS TV, the network today announced it has exercised its option to extend the current season by 12 episodes. The second cycle of NJPW will premiere Friday, May 22 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with coverage of the “Best of the Super Juniors XXI” tournament.

Renowned combat sports commentator Mauro Ranallo and former UFC heavyweight champion and NJPW veteran Josh Barnett reprise their roles as critically acclaimed commentators for the series. The additional episodes feature a combined eight hours of comprehensive coverage of the 24th annual G1 Climax Tournament, including full matches and highlights, and three hours of coverage from “Dominion 6.21.”

The first cycle of NJPW episodes will wrap up April 10 featuring the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between A.J. Styles and Kazuchika Okada from “Back to the Yokohama Arena.” New episodes air Friday nights on AXS TV leading into the network’s weekly, live AXS TV FIGHTS broadcasts.

“In the second cycle of NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING on AXS TV, we will focus a majority of the episodes on G1 Climax 24, which was hailed by many as one of the best pro wrestling tournaments in history,” said Andrew Simon, CEO of AXS TV FIGHTS. “We are thankful to New Japan Pro Wrestling and our programming partner TV Asahi in Japan for allowing us to acquire this unique series and share it with our audience.”

Andersonisgod

More good news for NJPW, Invasion Attack at the Sumo Hall has sold out, the show is headlined by AJ Styles defending his IWGP Heavyweight championship against ultra-popular Kota Ibushi.

rovert

They announced Best Of The Super Juniors line up this morning. Not Zack Sabre Jr sad but we got David Finlay Jr (the guy with "CK B" on his image).

2015 NJPW Best of the Super Jrs
Block A

Komatsu, Beretta, Gedo, Liger, Chase Owens, Taguchi, Cavernario, O'Reilly

Block B

Fish, Nick Jackson, KUSHIDA, Shelley, Dorada, Romero, David Finlay, Tiger Mask

Machismo Fan

Disappointed there's no NOAH guys (SZJ, Ishimori, Kotoge or Harada would've shaken things up very nicely) but it's a great line up. I hope this is finally the chance for Komatsu to finally break out of the young lion role. It's long overdue and he more than deserve to. Block B is particularly loaded.

ERG89

I'm ignorant to this as I haven't watched the product so much lately but but why isn't Ricochet back or why are Matt Jackson and Zack Sabre Jr. not in it???

rovert

ERG89 wrote: »

I'm ignorant to this as I haven't watched the product so much lately but but why isn't Ricochet back or why are Matt Jackson and Zack Sabre Jr. not in it???

Ricochet is seemingly tied up with Lucha Underground.

Matt Jackson's wife is due to give birth during the tour so he is taking it off.

ZSJ They're still trying to keep the brands separate or at least keep the illusion up as they try to rebuild NOAH. In addition NOAH has a couple of shows during the BOSJ as well.

Pingi

I'm calling a Kyle O'Reilly V KUSHIDA Final. Can't pick a winner though

gerrybbadd

Is there any place decent online where I can stream the NJPW on AXS shows? I know some are on Dailymotion, but it can be a serious pain to root them out!

Pingi

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Is there any place decent online where I can stream the NJPW on AXS shows? I know some are on Dailymotion, but it can be a serious pain to root them out!

watchwrestling.ch should have most of the shows, its a really good site.

gerrybbadd

Pingi wrote: »

watchwrestling.ch should have most of the shows, its a really good site.

Nice one!

Stereomaniac

This looks cool. Does it take place over a period of time or is there some sort of pay per view?!

Andersonisgod

Anyone following best of the super juniors?
Night 1 was a lot of fun in front of a hot crowd. Loved Komatsu's continued development from young lion to rising star, he's an excellent talent and his match with Liger was my joint favorite on the show. The other was Mascara Dorada vs Kushida which was a pretty excellent spotfest but had more potential had they been given a bit more time. Also enjoyed Gedo winning and getting the love of the Korakuen hall crowd.

All in all an enjoyable first night of, what should be, an excellent tournament.

Griever931

I hear Elgin is going to be a part of G1 Climax, he must be delighted.

Palo Alto

He's going to climb Thunder Mountain.

gerrybbadd

Pingi wrote: »

I'm calling a Kyle O'Reilly V KUSHIDA Final. Can't pick a winner though

Great call!

Stereomaniac

I saw on Twitter that David Finlay has done pretty well in this. Is there anywhere to watch it?

Andersonisgod

Stereomaniac wrote: »

I saw on Twitter that David Finlay has done pretty well in this. Is there anywhere to watch it?

New Japan World.

He's had a really solid tournament, he throws a lovely European uppercut and his selling is pretty on point. Definitely a worthwhile addition to the junior division.

Stereomaniac

Do you think he's going to make it to New York at any point, or does he have anything that Vince would be interested in? I know that sometimes being the son of a veteran can be enough to get your foot in the door, but can be pointless if no one will get behind you afterwards.

Andersonisgod

Stereomaniac wrote: »

Do you think he's going to make it to New York at any point, or does he have anything that Vince would be interested in? I know that sometimes being the son of a veteran can be enough to get your foot in the door, but can be pointless if no one will get behind you afterwards.

Its possible though I would say that his style and look aren't typically what WWE go for. He works similar to his father and tweaked that European style slightly for the Japanese audience he was working in front of. Look wise he definitely hasn't got that bodybuilder physique and seems rather pale, that's not something that will outright stop him having a run in WWE but also wouldn't play to his favour.
On the plus side, he's very smooth in the ring, his father will be behind him and working on Japan, working his way up from being a young lion can only work in his favour both in Japan and potentially later in America.

Stereomaniac

What little I have seen of him both in the ring and in his manner outside of it, he seems to be a good guy. I was a huge mark for Finlay even back in WCW. I think initially it was because it was such a novelty to see a wrestler from Ireland, and after a while I just really enjoyed his tough style. It would be nice to see that continued. It's nice that we seem to have moved away from companies portraying Irish workers as drunken brawlers too.

Andersonisgod

Stereomaniac wrote: »

What little I have seen of him both in the ring and in his manner outside of it, he seems to be a good guy. I was a huge mark for Finlay even back in WCW. I think initially it was because it was such a novelty to see a wrestler from Ireland, and after a while I just really enjoyed his tough style. It would be nice to see that continued. It's nice that we seem to have moved away from companies portraying Irish workers as drunken brawlers too.

Well he certainly seems to have made a good impression with NJPW officials since he's been signed to the company. I also really do enjoy that rough, grapple-heavy European style. I'm always happy when stereotypes aren't reinforced in wrestling, anyway looking at Finlay's baby face I think you'd have a tough time convincing anyone he's a drunkard.

ERG89

rovert

PWInsider.com reports that beginning with tomorrow’s “Road to Dominion” show, New Japan Pro Wrestling will have a total of 11 live events broadcasting through the month of July.

The “Road to Dominion” shows will be broadcast live on June 28th and July 3rd at 6:30pm Japan time while “Dominion”, which takes place on July 5th will be live at 4:00pm.

On July 12th “New Japan Alive” from Fukushima will be live at 3:00pm while the G1 Climax 25 Shows (7 in total) will also be live on New Japan World.

Those shows will take place on the following dates (all times are Japan Standard Time):

-July 20th at 3:00 PM

-July 23rd at 6:30 PM

-July 24th at 6:30 PM

-July 25th at 6:00 PM

-July 26th at 6:00 PM

-July 28th at 6:30 PM

-July 29th at 6:30 PM

If you want to check out these events then New Japan World is available for 999 Yen per month which works out at around $8.

*Renews sub*

Machismo Fan

Dominion looks like the most stacked show since the Tokyo Dome.

Andersonisgod

Maybe this will come across as shilling (I can assure you I'm not being paid by New Japan) but I do think its worth mentioning that NJPW World have added the Nakamura and Okada vs The Briscoes and Bullet Club (AJ Styles and Young Bucks) vs The Kingdom and Adam Cole from the War of the World shows. They've also posted matches from Tetsuya Naito's excursion in CMLL and, as already mentioned here, are broadcasting a raft of shows in July and August (of particular excitement being the G1). A more enjoyable and comprehensive wrestling streaming service there could not be, it's worth every penny of that €8