The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

RollieFingers

I don't know if I like the new IWGP World Heavyweight championship or not. It looks good on Ibushi but saw someone compare it to the old Divas title and now I can't unsee it. The old belt was such a classic, it wasnt broke and didn't need to be fixed.

LineOfBeauty

RollieFingers wrote: »

I don't know if I like the new IWGP World Heavyweight championship or not. It looks good on Ibushi but saw someone compare it to the old Divas title and now I can't unsee it. The old belt was such a classic, it wasnt broke and didn't need to be fixed.

It looked pretty good on Ibushi. But that's Ibushi and everything looks good on him.

My first impression was it looks more like a Stardom belt than the top title in NJPW. I just don't get why they had to get rid of the IWGP Heavyweight Title. On top of that I don't get why there must be a new lineage either. I get it, it's a new era, that's obvious but that's not cause to get rid of the physical representation of the history of the company.

beakerjoe

RollieFingers wrote: »

I don't know if I like the new IWGP World Heavyweight championship or not. It looks good on Ibushi but saw someone compare it to the old Divas title and now I can't unsee it. The old belt was such a classic, it wasnt broke and didn't need to be fixed.

Damn you.... I now cant unsee it either. :pac:

CastorTroy

Someone on another board said it didn't look good so I looked it up and my first thought was "So that's where the divas title went"

Lithium93_

I'm split on the newly redesigned/unveiled IWGP Championship, was there a particular reason for New Japan in unifying the championships?

Headshot

https://twitter.com/njpwworld/status/1376837630181081092

https://twitter.com/TheAerialSecret/status/1376833678496571395

Besides the comparisons to the Divas Title, to me it doesnt look good either way

CastorTroy

Saw another image with the centre plate on on Cody's neck replacing his tattoo.
What's the overall consensus online?

Agent Coulson

Wow I did not expect that.

RollieFingers

Can't believe they had Ibushi beaten already. I like Ospreay and all but still, mad decision. New Japan is not good at the minute.

Luckily STARDOM was it's usual excellent self, the Dream Cinderella was great. Cracking title switch in the all DDM main-event but the Red Belt match between Utami and Bea was unreal, one of the matches of the year for me.

That was Priestley's last STARDOM appearance. She's not that great so it doesn't bother me she's apparently WWE bound according to Dave, but that was one of her best matches for sure.

RollieFingers

Kikuta confirmed as a close contact of the trainee who tested positive so he's unable to compete as scheduled in the main event of the Gate of Passion this weekend. Sucks for the big man, was looking forward to seeing him against Skywalker.

Still a good card though, Diamante vs Bokultimo in Mascara contra Mascara and the Doi comeback in the six-man tag.

Cherry_Cola

4 years ago today and I didn't realize what I would witness. It was my 4th month living in Japan and I was just getting into the swing of things in terms of following NJPW proper as I'd always kept an eye on the big events but wasn't too invested until I started going to all the live shows they held.

I usually went to at least one show a week and became friendly with a lot of the Young Lions, namely Oka, Kitamura and Kawato who were asking where I was from as I stood out a mile from the crowd. Oka got me to my pod at this event and I was lucky there were only two others in it, I'm 6'1 and this was super uncomfortable trying to sit for a few hours in, should have bought one of those cushions they sell at the merch stand

This is a pic I took of the main event, the best I've seen live. I still have the program from the event also which I must get framed.

RollieFingers

LOB did you catch DG over the weekend? The show was good, not great, but still, I tried to stomach Mania for a bit but I just can't, the Strowman doing it for stupid bit killed me.

The opener was great, nice to see Lee get the win, and the mask match was really good I thought, good showing for Diamante in his first major singles match. The main was a bit of a mess though, but still good to have Doi back. I don't think DG has quite hit the standards of last year yet, hopefully King of Gate kicks things into a higher gear.

The lineup is good, I really like the C Block of Ishida, Kikuta, Shun, Okuda, YAMATO and U-T in particular. SBK/Dragon Kid and Shun/YAMATO to kick off the tournament should be tasty.

LineOfBeauty

RollieFingers wrote: »

LOB did you catch DG over the weekend? The show was good, not great, but still, I tried to stomach Mania for a bit but I just can't, the Strowman doing it for stupid bit killed me.

The opener was great, nice to see Lee get the win, and the mask match was really good I thought, good showing for Diamante in his first major singles match. The main was a bit of a mess though, but still good to have Doi back. I don't think DG has quite hit the standards of last year yet, hopefully King of Gate kicks things into a higher gear.

The lineup is good, I really like the C Block of Ishida, Kikuta, Shun, Okuda, YAMATO and U-T in particular. SBK/Dragon Kid and Shun/YAMATO to kick off the tournament should be tasty.

Not seen it yet! I've been held up at a terrible time cos I've got that DG show, half the Stardom Yokohama show and 2 AJPW Champions Carnival shows to watch. This week is always the absolute worst/best.

LineOfBeauty

RollieFingers wrote: »

LOB did you catch DG over the weekend? The show was good, not great, but still, I tried to stomach Mania for a bit but I just can't, the Strowman doing it for stupid bit killed me.

The opener was great, nice to see Lee get the win, and the mask match was really good I thought, good showing for Diamante in his first major singles match. The main was a bit of a mess though, but still good to have Doi back. I don't think DG has quite hit the standards of last year yet, hopefully King of Gate kicks things into a higher gear.

The lineup is good, I really like the C Block of Ishida, Kikuta, Shun, Okuda, YAMATO and U-T in particular. SBK/Dragon Kid and Shun/YAMATO to kick off the tournament should be tasty.

Finished it! Ye it was a fun show, nothing must see. Honestly I thought the lack of one of those great Masquerade trios matches hurt it on a match quality basis. Kikuta being out and the main event being nixed was just pure bad luck for all.

I can't believe Shimizu is only 28. Really hoping now with the Bokutimo gimmick gone, we get serious Shimizu again. Diamanté is really good, really thought he'd be the next Dream Gate challenger after Kikuta. Opening tag was probably the best match, main event was pure story to set up Dead or Alive but great to have Doi back.

Big few weeks ahead, Dead or Alive and then at the end of the month King of Gate. The blocks are stacked, lineups look great and I'm excited. Coming out of Dead or Alive maybe it'll be easier to predict because right now I have no read on who is winning it.

LineOfBeauty

OK so I'm watching Champion Carnival Night 1 now but I had to stop it to say Shinjiro Otani just had a 4 star banger with Aoyagi. No grading on a curve, no sympathy, 48 year old Otani and Aoyagi just had a straight up hard hitting banger. The work rate, and I'm only 3 matches into it, in this tournament looks like it is at a couple of levels higher at least than last year.

LineOfBeauty

Zeus/Miyahara was excellent too. An easy ****

And we're off, really good start to the Champion Carnival and I'm already 2 shows behind.

beakerjoe

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Zeus/Miyahara was excellent too. An easy ****

And we're off, really good start to the Champion Carnival and I'm already 2 shows behind.

Im about a year behind.... haven't watched anything from Japan since WK last year. I just cant find the time. well besides the odd big match.

LineOfBeauty

beakerjoe wrote: »

Im about a year behind.... haven't watched anything from Japan since WK last year. I just cant find the time. well besides the odd big match.

Haha don't feel too bad about being behind on All Japan. The Carnival so far has been really fun but big picture it's not a well booked promotion.

And, while NJPW keeps banging out great matches, the direction they've been going for a year now has been bizarre.

Stardom has increased in popularity recently and is worth a watch.

NOAH was great with Shiozaki on top but Muto as GHC Champion does absolutely nothing for me. The undercard booking is weird too.

Dragon Gate is great though. To me, it's the gold standard of modern wrestling right now.

beakerjoe

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Haha don't feel too bad about being behind on All Japan. The Carnival so far has been really fun but big picture it's not a well booked promotion.

And, while NJPW keeps banging out great matches, the direction they've been going for a year now has been bizarre.

Stardom has increased in popularity recently and is worth a watch.

NOAH was great with Shiozaki on top but Muto as GHC Champion does absolutely nothing for me. The undercard booking is weird too.

Dragon Gate is great though. To me, it's the gold standard of modern wrestling right now.

My issue is I like pro wrestling, clearly, but being habitual WWE fan (why? god knows) and with AEW, NJPW misses out as I have kids......plus in my free time love to watch movies and the occasional xbox game. Not enough mins in the day to watch DG and Stardom.

LineOfBeauty

beakerjoe wrote: »

My issue is I like pro wrestling, clearly, but being habitual WWE fan (why? god knows) and with AEW, NJPW misses out as I have kids......plus in my free time love to watch movies and the occasional xbox game. Not enough mins in the day to watch DG and Stardom.

Hahaha OK tbf you have a very valid excuse there! And honestly at the end of the day there's more things to life than just pro wrestling. I'd try to get in a bit of TV too and the odd film. But when things get back to normal and I have less free time to myself I'll have to cut back a bit on everything.

These days I only watch the big NJPW shows whereas only a couple of years ago I'd watch every Road To show, but I suppose because Dragon Gate is top of my pile, I see everything from them including the single cam no commentary shows. Once the Carnival ends and the title match is over I'll check out of All Japan again until something interests me and NOAH I watch the big shows for. Stardom I'm very hit or miss, RollieFingers is a far more avid fan of that than me.

RollieFingers

If you're getting on any of the Puro trains at the minute hop on Dragon Gate BeakerJoe, as LOB said it's the best around right now. We need more PW Boardsies watching DG

I love STARDOM too, and as we're in Cinderella tournament season it's a good time to sample the product. King of Gate also kicking off in DG shortly.

Something very off about New Japan for me at the moment. It's all a bit stale, even though Ospreay is the champ as head of a new stable. But the general company just doesn't feel fresh to me, only so many undercard multi man CHAOS/Bullet Club matches one can stomach.

RollieFingers

https://twitter.com/openvoicegate/status/1385199893363499009

That is some card LOB, Dead or Alive should be a cracker. I think the cage match ultimately leads to SBK losing his hair. Yoshino is confirmed to wrestle on Saturday too, will be great to see him back!

They also renamed Taketo Kamei as Funky Jacky Kamei :pac:

LineOfBeauty

RollieFingers wrote: »

https://twitter.com/openvoicegate/status/1385199893363499009

That is some card LOB, Dead or Alive should be a cracker. I think the cage match ultimately leads to SBK losing his hair. Yoshino is confirmed to wrestle on Saturday too, will be great to see him back!

They also renamed Taketo Kamei as Funky Jacky Kamei :pac:

Man that card is great, adding Skywalker/Kikuta gives it a lot more juice I think.

Also just got around yesterday's show and my big takeaway is that skin head Ben K was giving me serious Batista vibes!

LineOfBeauty

That NJPW Road to Dontaku show with Sanada/Henare and Naito/Great O'Khan did nothing for me. The undercard feels dry and there's absolutely no reason that those two main events needed to go as long as they did. 23 minutes for Henare/Sanada? Why? Outside of being carried by quite literally some of the greatest pro wrestlers ever, there's no reason any Sanada match needs to surpass 20 minutes. This could have been a nice, tight 15 minute match. It's 23 minutes for the sake of going 20+. ***

Naito/O'Khan was better, but still far from great. 27 minutes. That used to be even a bit long for a Wrestle Kingdom main event, but here we are on the road to Dontaku with Naito going 27 minutes with a pro wrestler who, in my opinion absolutely has potential in certain ways, is not ready to go that long in a big main event match. This dragged, it wasn't one of those matches that felt like it went an hour but it felt every second of the 27 minutes it got. There was good stuff in this, and the crowd seemed to be into it (from what anyone can tell for a clap crowd) but the story does nothing for me and the match did not do enough to win me over. ***1/4

I know. In the (good) old days these two matches probably would've been slotted somewhere on the Dontaku shows (maybe 4th and 3rd from the top) and the time for each match would've been deducted significantly and probably for the betterment of the matches. But this is a time where NJPW are pumping out shows to overcome losses in revenue due to Covid, they're stretching their cards as thin as they'll go and trying to give the live fans satisfactory main event matches, which apparently means making these matches 8-12 minutes longer than they have any right to be. It's not for me.

RollieFingers

Man I've fallen so far off New Japan I don't know if they'll get me back. Just can't muster any enthusiasm for it.

RollieFingers

Just caught the 24th show from DG, bald Ben is a good look!

So good to have Yoshino back, him, Doi and YAMATO all looked great in the main. They had to cancel a good few dates coming up due to the state of emergency but luckily Dead or Alive is not affected.

RollieFingers

New Japan might have got me back with that main event, incredible stuff from Shingo and Ospreay, easy match of the year contender.

LineOfBeauty

The show from today and yesterday I just could not do. Tanga Loa in singles, a 39 minute NEVER Title match. It's just not for me.

But, the main event from today, Shingo/Ospreay for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title? Sign me up. It went near 43 minutes. But it's 2 of the 3 best pro wrestlers on the planet (Kenny Omega being the other), it's two wrestlers who belong on a top 20 best pro wrestlers ever list. I can't even describe how good this was. Seriously I can't. There were so many cool spots, so many plays on previous spots that they've done in other matches with each other that they built on. It was ridiculously stiff. The selling, storytelling and drama were perfect, the grueling time and violence of the match making both men basically zombified versions of themselves by the end. Perfect pro wrestling. Dave Meltzer will certainly break the scale for it, I know VOW did a tweet saying O/U on him going 6.25. My set scale stops at ***** and this was that, it's one of the best pro wrestling matches you will see and it is the best professional wrestling match thus far this year. I don't know if it can or will be beaten. It's the match of the year, go above and beyond to watch it. *****

RollieFingers

What you think of Dead or Alive LOB? I enjoyed it, the cage match was the usual DG madness. All signs pointed to SBK losing his hair so the result wasn't too surprising. Dragon Kid is so good, he has to be one of the most under-rated ever, love him. Kento's new gear looked class.

The Dream Gate was weird, feel bad for Shun and Kikuta. I thought it was a work at first. Hopefully the injury isn't too bad.

Delighted to see Ishida and Sakamoto win the Twin Gate. Mochi and Yoshida were enjoyable, but that R.E.D team is a pair of killers.

I liked Okuda/U-T, the finishing stretch was great, loved Okuda just keeping going for the sleeper. Mr. Danger Zone has been an excellent Brave Gate champion.

It was weird seeing Speed Muscle with R.E.D, suited them though! I actually thought Eita was going to turn. Nice to see the pop-up spear from Big Ben in the opener too. Didn't think the Triangle Gate was great, Estrella had a few rough spots, but it's good to have Dia back!

LineOfBeauty

I enjoyed the show overall. In ring I don't think it was a particularly strong show in that I don't know if anything cracked 4 stars but it had 2 title changes and a really significant main event, so in respect of advancing stories it was a good show.

Estrella was off for sure in his match, but that's the risk you run when you've so many young guys in prominent spots. He's a talent, he'll have far better nights.

That Dream Gate match is cursed, I swear it. Absolutely horrible luck for Kikuta. Given the run Skywalker has been on during his reign I'd have bet the house on that match being a banger had the injury not happened. Loved Kikuta's robe and poise pre match too.

But, and not to beat a dead horse, what I'll remember this event for is SB Kento. No pro wrestler at 21 years old should have the poise, charisma and star aura that he does. They just shouldn't. The new look is magnificent. He bumps like a mad man. He works the crowd. His offence is that of a serious main event pro wrestler. He projects as not only a star, but as the star. Wrestling nicknames are dumb and hyperbolic by nature, but the kid is seriously a phenom and the show closer with him shaving his own head will be played for years to come in video packages. Goddam it's the most obvious thing in the world to say it but today's show proved again that he's a can't miss megastar for Dragon Gate.

And that's my monthly SB Kento sermon.

Roll on King of Gate.