The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

RollieFingers · 24-09-2019 5:47pm

sky88 wrote: »

loved liger reveal such a great moment but thought like you it would be saved for wrestle kingdom and actually think it should be. Tana would be great elp would not be good has there been hints at that as im way behind at catching up

No hints I don't think, just read a few online saying if ELP beats Ospreay for the title they could see him challenging Liger. Ospreay himself wouldn't be a bad shout, think Tana would be a great send-off for Liger though, he deserves a good one.

sky88 · 24-09-2019 6:00pm

RollieFingers wrote: »

No hints I don't think, just read a few online saying if ELP beats Ospreay for the title they could see him challenging Liger. Ospreay himself wouldn't be a bad shout, think Tana would be a great send-off for Liger though, he deserves a good one.

absoluely deservs a feelow legend or someone like ospreay who possibly will be one not elp

RollieFingers · 02-10-2019 9:58pm

Good doc here about this summers G1 with English subs for anyone looking to kill an hour!

RollieFingers · 09-10-2019 8:45pm

Teams have been announced for the Super Junior Tag League.

Roppongi 3K, Birds of Prey, Taguchi & Rocky, Titan & Volador Jr, ELP & Ishimori, Desperado & Kanemaru, Tiger Mask & Uemura and TJP & Connors.

Not a bad line up at all, no Dragon Lee though unfortunately.

sky88 · 14-10-2019 7:59am

Surprised they stripped
https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1183630108965265408?s=21

RollieFingers · 15-10-2019 1:05am

Loved Liger/Suzuki, they told a great story. Very cool getting to see BATTLE Liger again, and Suzuki showing respect at the end was crazy. If the rumors about his future are true that could possibly be sowing the seeds for the formation of Taichi-gun or maybe even Sabre-gun.

Lithium93_ · 21-10-2019 5:29pm

So NJPW have launched their American subsidiary...

https://www.njpw1972.com/63157

RollieFingers · 22-10-2019 5:02pm

Highly recommend watching the Birds of Prey vs Bullet Club from the Super Junior Tag League, really great match. BOP vs Titan & Volador Jr. was a great sprint too.

Also heard a few murmurs that if he's cleared to go, it could be Liger vs Hiromu on night two of WK, fingers crossed, would be top notch.

ERG89 · 03-11-2019 2:26am

Power Struggle is on at 6 am....I hope to wake up to a return which has been teased for so, so long.

RollieFingers · 03-11-2019 12:54pm

He's back

RollieFingers · 05-11-2019 8:27am

The winner of Naito/White officially announced as facing the winner of Ibushi/Okada on night two of Wrestle Kingdom.

Ospreay/Takahashi and the Liger 8-Man set for night one, with Bullet Club/3K and and the two losers from night one meeting in singles action on night two. Throw in Jericho/Tanahashi, Liger retirement match and the possibilities of SANADA/ZSJ, Archer/Mox, Shingo/Suzuki and maybe KENTA/Shibata and things are shaping up very nicely.

RollieFingers · 09-12-2019 12:39pm

Archer/Mox US Title in a Texas Death Match and Liger & fcukin Naoki Sano vs Hiromu & Ryu Lee in Ligers final match announced for WK, take my money!

RollieFingers · 11-12-2019 9:14pm

Finally gotten round to catching up on the World Tag League. Like the usual pre WK lull there's not too much that was must see but some gems to be found all the same, the best probably being the deciding match between FinJuice and LIJ. Was a fantastic match, and good to see a new name on the winners list, thought it was going to be three in a row for LIJ.

The final cards have been announced for both nights of WK, and they are stacked, only three weekends to get out of the way now.

Night One

Okada/Ibushi IWGP Championship
White/Naito IWGP Intercontinental
Ospreay/Hiromu IWGP Junior
Archer/Mox IWGP US Texas Death Match
G.O.D/FinJuice IWGP Tag Titles
Jushin Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask/Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Ryusuke Taguchi ... with El Samurai and Kuniaki Kobiashi accompanying the teams, which is actually mind-blowing.
CHAOS/Bullet Club & LIJ/Suzuki-Gun in multi-man tag matches.

Night Two

IWGP vs IWGP Intercontinetal winner takes all
Losers of night one title matches against each other
Tanahashi/Jericho
Bullet Club/Roppongi 3K IWGP Junior Tag Titles
KENTA/Goto NEVER Openweight
IWGP US Champion/Juice
ZSJ/SANADA RevPro British Heavyweight Championship
Liger & Naoki Sano/Hiromu & Ryu Lee

Best two nights of pro wrestling in 2020 to occur on the first weekend of the year? It's a distinct possibility, WK never disappoints. My only criticism is they run two nights and can't find room for singles matches for Suzuki or Shingo.

RollieFingers · 09-01-2020 9:58pm

Announced tonight for New Beginning in Sapporo on Feb 1st is a tag match between Suzuki & Taichi vs Moxley & Okada! A tag team I never expected to see, love it! Hopefully Mox hasn't forgotten that Shooter is his real NJPW partner though

LineOfBeauty · 03-02-2020 12:07pm

Couple of cracking shows I thought this weekend from NJPW. Imo all of the big 4 matches on the 2 shows delivered, with Ospreay/ZSJ a personal favourite and a sure fire MOTYC. Okada/Taichi delivered big and Shingo got his big breakout moment too and the pivot to the feud with Sho was really cool.

Anyone subscribed to DDT Universe? With a couple NOAH shows on it per month I am tempted, how do you guys find the service?

RollieFingers · 04-02-2020 10:08am

Hope they go all out with Shingo, he could really reinvigorate the NEVER championship. Was a cracking match with Goto, I believe the win makes Shingo the first man to hold both NEVER titles simultaneously.

I loved Ospreay/ZSJ, just pure quality wrestling from two of the best. Okada/Taichi was great too, and really enjoyed the Mox/Suzuki interactions. It's been a brilliant 2020 so far in NJPW.

Not subscribed to DDT but would be interested, let us know if you do. I can recommend Dragon Gate network though, not much English commentary but the action is fantastic. And with the recently announced partnership with MLW it will hopefully become more accessible to Western fans.

LineOfBeauty · 04-02-2020 10:32am

RollieFingers wrote: »

Hope they go all out with Shingo, he could really reinvigorate the NEVER championship. Was a cracking match with Goto, I believe the win makes Shingo the first man to hold both NEVER titles simultaneously.

I loved Ospreay/ZSJ, just pure quality wrestling from two of the best. Okada/Taichi was great too, and really enjoyed the Mox/Suzuki interactions. It's been a brilliant 2020 so far in NJPW.

Not subscribed to DDT but would be interested, let us know if you do. I can recommend Dragon Gate network though, not much English commentary but the action is fantastic. And with the recently announced partnership with MLW it will hopefully become more accessible to Western fans.

I took the plunge last night, looking forward to getting into it and maybe catching up on a couple of big DDT shows that happened last year. Downside though is the NOAH show just uploaded has no commentary, a small gripe but it always effects my enjoyment of a show. Hopefully the NOAH shows uploaded up the service will come with commentary.

RollieFingers · 08-02-2020 11:01am

https://www.njpw1972.com/71601

The King has spoken. Love Suzuki, he speaks the truth about WWE. If NXT Japan does happen I hope it fails, Japan provides the best wrestling in the world, the last thing it needs is the stench of WWE attached to it. Buzzing for Mox/Suzuki now.

LineOfBeauty · 10-02-2020 4:45pm

Lads that NJPW New Beginning show was insane. The last 3 matches were all totally different but all 3 were soooo good! The insane Hiromu/Lee spotfest (those opening 7 or 8 minutes need to be seen to be believed), the psycho fight between Suzuki/Moxley had me hook, line and sinker, and the image of Naito covered in his own blood but leaving victorious was wrestling as it should be, full of emotion and storytelling. Love the direction they have coming out of this show too with Naito/Hiromu at the Anniversary show, Mox/ZSJ and Ishii/Shingo all banging matches. The MSG show and the news that NJPW is back on prime time TV in Japan, it's just a great time to be a fan of theirs.

RollieFingers · 10-02-2020 10:12pm

Totally agree man, that was an absolute cracker. Mox/Suzuki was one of the best brawls I've seen in ages, two of the best at bringing intensity to a pro-wrestling ring. Was actually surprised Mox retained, they had me hooked that the King would win. Love how Mox just floats around different promotions doing whatever the fcuk he wants.

Loved KENTA/Naito too, KENTA is such a great shi*head heel. Naito getting juice brought it to another level, and we finally got the role call.

Match of the night for me was Hiromu/Lee though, those chops were insane, they were actually hard to watch as they kept going. Also loved the tease of a Dragon Driver, just a fantastic match, their chemistry hasn't skipped a beat at all.

NJPW has been on fire in 2020, best pro-wrestling in the world and it's not even close.

Johnny Sausage · 14-02-2020 11:00am

has anyone gone to an NJPW show? if so what are they like?

the August one in MSG is grabbing my interest

LineOfBeauty · 14-02-2020 11:07am

Johnny Sausage wrote: »

has anyone gone to an NJPW show? if so what are they like?

the August one in MSG is grabbing my interest

Went to one in Manchester before headlined by Suzuki/Ishii and had Okada/ZSJ on it too. Really fun show, to be fair the crowd made a real effort to react to things more like how a Japanese crowd would. In the same way when WWE run shows in Japan you see the Japanese crowd almost cosplaying an American one, this was like an English crowd cosplaying a Japanese crowd. Brilliant atmosphere and one of the things that stuck was seeing the likes of Tiger Hatori on the side judging what was happening in the ring, I think the potential roster members on the card that night were Riddle (clearly they were very high on him and he pinned Despy clean), El Phantasmo (who they signed not long after this show where he did catch the eye) and Kyle Fletcher (who they will probably get). They also looked very impressed with Jay White in his match with Fletcher, he is a real ring general.

Anyway ye, if you get the chance, go to one!

RollieFingers · 21-02-2020 8:23pm

Ibushi/Tanahashi the new IWGP Tag Team champions. Love it, something different from GOD. Great setup to go against Dangerous Tekkers next, should be a cracker.

Cherry_Cola · 21-02-2020 11:24pm

Johnny Sausage wrote: »

has anyone gone to an NJPW show? if so what are they like?

the August one in MSG is grabbing my interest

Went to tonnes when living in Japan, including Sakura Genesis with the Shibata/Okada match. Never had a bad show, always great fun. Go for it!

LineOfBeauty · 24-02-2020 10:27am

Cherry_Cola wrote: »

Went to tonnes when living in Japan, including Sakura Genesis with the Shibata/Okada match. Never had a bad show, always great fun. Go for it!

My favourite match ever, the spot where Shibata cracks Okada with the headbutt, Okada collapses, Shibata's head is bowed, camera zooms in on Shibata, he lifts his head and there's that trickle of blood running down his forehead. That is pro wrestling, just pure art.

RollieFingers · 25-02-2020 8:13am

Brackets for the New Japan Cup have been announced, and they have given us Ospreay/SHINGO again. Both coming in as champions, going to be an absolute cracker in the first round. Other highlights throughout the field include Okada/White, Ibushi/ZSJ and Taichi/Tanahashi.

LineOfBeauty · 25-02-2020 9:56am

RollieFingers wrote: »

Brackets for the New Japan Cup have been announced, and they have given us Ospreay/SHINGO again. Both coming in as champions, going to be an absolute cracker in the first round. Other highlights throughout the field include Okada/White, Ibushi/ZSJ and Taichi/Tanahashi.

Those 1st round matches insane, ok there's a few duds I'm sure but just the novelty of some guys doing singles who rarely get another chance to work a non-young lions singles match during the year, means the novelty of it is enough to get me through their matches.

Shingo/Ospreay was undoubtedly the best match of last year, I don't think (given it is the New Japan Cup 1st round) it will reach those lofty heights again but I do like the idea of linking the 2 wrestlers and making them long term rivals.

LineOfBeauty · 15-06-2020 10:45am

Anyone watching the NJPW pre show will have seen Yuya Uemura looking like pretty good. Liger tells him don't take off your shirt til your in the ring so he's probably pretty cut. Looks ready for excursion for sure.

This may have come across as nothing more than horny posting masquerading as a wrestling comment but I can live with that.

LineOfBeauty · 15-06-2020 11:44am

Follow up reporting: The body reveal did not disappoint.

RollieFingers · 15-06-2020 7:41pm

Glad to have New Japan back, the main, Kidd/Tsuji and the Suzuki-gun match was all good stuff. Ishii looking well rested and ready to go, surely a dark horse for the cup this year.

LineOfBeauty · 17-06-2020 9:10am

That Ishii/Desperado match from Night 1 is a banger. There was just so much great stuff in it. I'm tempted to put it up there with Tank Nagai/Okabayashi and Tanaka/Endo as my favourite empty arena match.

RollieFingers · 17-06-2020 11:14am

Ishii/Despy was really really good, definitely one of the best empty arena matches so far. Wasn't expecting much going into it but I enjoyed Hiromu/Honma too, was wincing for a few of the bumps though, battle of the broken necks.

Can't wait to catch Nagata/Suzuki today, should be a cracker.

LineOfBeauty · 17-06-2020 11:18am

RollieFingers wrote: »

Ishii/Despy was really really good, definitely one of the best empty arena matches so far. Wasn't expecting much going into it but I enjoyed Hiromu/Honma too, was wincing for a few of the bumps though, battle of the broken necks.

Can't wait to catch Nagata/Suzuki today, should be a cracker.

Best Honma has looked since he came back. The ring apron bump did make me cringe a bit. I liked that it took everything for Hiromu to put him away, he's still a junior and beating even a low ranked heavyweight is difficult. High hopes for the Nagata/Suzuki match and would be shocked if Okada/Gedo isn't entertaining.

LineOfBeauty · 17-06-2020 11:31am

That Uemura/Kanemaru match was a banger. I'm putting the house on Uemura to be a huge star even if I doubt I'd get great odds on it. It looks nailed on. He's got the fundamentals, has really good fire and a great look. At 5 foot 10 he'll probably have to go the junior heavyweight route at first but that's absolutely fine, he's a gem.

LineOfBeauty · 17-06-2020 12:30pm

JUSTICE!!!! Nagata/Suzuki bangs. ****1/2, that's the best Covid era match anywhere no doubt.

RollieFingers · 22-06-2020 10:45pm

That was the best day yet of the NJC, Shingo/SHO was class and Ibushi/ZSJ was really good too. Shingo is one of the most underrated in the world, put him in with anyone and you're nearly guaranteed a banger. Good to see some upsets to freshen things up a little.

LineOfBeauty · 22-06-2020 11:03pm

Ye two really good matches on today's show, Shingo/Sho in particular and cool to see Sho get his win over Shingo and set up a NEVER title shot.

LineOfBeauty · 02-07-2020 1:10pm

Ishii/Hiromu is a must watch from today's show. ****1/2. EVIL working heel is pretty great, destroyed Yoshi-Hashi and I hope this is the direction they stick with for him coming out of the tournament. Wasn't mad about the final 2 matches today, too much shenanigans, Ishimore getting too much offence on Okada and Taichi/Sanada sleep walking through the 1st half of the match even if it did pick up in the 2nd half.

RollieFingers · 02-07-2020 5:48pm

Man Hiromu/Ishii was class, one of the best matches of the year so far, pity they didn't have a crowd for it!

RollieFingers · 03-07-2020 8:15am

Is Gedo trolling us by booking this tournament only to get to another Okada/SANADA match. EVIL/Okada interests me way more, just can't see Hiromu beating Okada, hopefully I'm wrong so we get the Hiromu/Naito match.

Clegg · 12-07-2020 4:35pm

Soooooooo.

Dominion spoilers.

EVIL defected from LIJ to join Bullet Club and beat Naito to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Intercontinental Champion. That's a move completely out of left field especially when everyone was expecting Naito to finally have a long run as champion after defeating Okada at Wrestle Kingdom. Makes sense booking wise as KENTA and Jay White are out of Japan due to the virus. Keeps Bullet Club looking strong. But on a purely emotional level it sucks being a Naito fan right now.

RollieFingers · 13-07-2020 7:59am

Poor Naito, wasn't expecting that

Evil EVIL is class though, definitely fresheness things up in NJPW.

LineOfBeauty · 14-07-2020 12:34pm

The entire NJPW weekend was shocking. I know a lot of people hate it but you have all of these characters and stories that you're invested in and watching it play out I thought was incredible. Without wanting to sound a bit over the top by the end of Dominion the feeling was the same I'd have watching a big prestige drama get to its season defining set piece. The matches didn't peak particularly high but I didn't think they had to, this weekend was all about the story and what comes out of it.

For Naito it's sad, his title reign derailed by a global pandemic but I'm excited to see where it all goes.

Away from NJPW, the 2AW main event between Okabayashi and Yoshida was an absolute banger. ****1/4

thebostoncrab · 15-07-2020 2:27pm

Hiromu screaming in the ring at the end was an incredible visual. If you had of told me someone from LIDJ would leave I would have said SANADA for sure, but EVIL doing this was not only shocking, but also made sense when you saw it happen, even if you never would have seen it coming.

I honestly think this is going to be the big jump for SANADA if we are looking at long term booking. LIDJ will be sending everyone after EVIL to be the one to get revenge, and I can see SANADA being someone in the background that people don't expect to beat him, but it'll be the push that he needs to be moved into the main event. I know NJPW can we weird when it comes to AJPW vets, but SANADA has more than proven himself. (Even though I'd be happier for Shingo to get a run with the belt since I'm a stupidly large mark for the man).

Was it a weekend that gave us the 5* matches? No, but we did get great matches and even better moments.

RollieFingers · 26-07-2020 9:48am

Quiet enough Sengoku Lord, the Despy/SHINGO and EVIL/Hiromu matches were very good. Bit of a breakout performance against a heavyweight from Takahashi, him and Ishimori for the junior heavyweight title will be excellent.

Interested in seeing what they have planned for the Summer Struggle Tour and finding out what this pretty controversial idea is that Okada has.

RollieFingers · 01-08-2020 10:52am

The New Japan Cup 2020 USA bracket has been announced, the matches will form part of the new NJPW Strong show. If I was a betting man I'd say KENTA wins it and eventually takes the US strap from Moxley.

Also a pretty stacked eight team tag tournament has been announced to crown new NEVER Openweight six man champions. Interestingly Okada is included in a team with SHO and Yano, never thought I'd see the Rainmaker going for the six man straps.

Looking forward to DG Memorial Gate tomorrow. It's been quite a while since they have done one of the big multi man matches, the 3 stable war Wakayama rules tornado match will be balls to the walls action.

RollieFingers · 11-08-2020 10:54am

Yoshi Hashi finally picks up his first championship in NJPW, taking hold of the NEVER Openweight six-man titles along with Goto and Ishii. Took a while but I'm glad he got his first title before Master Wato got one.

SHINGO/Suzuki has been announced for Summer Struggle and also see that ACH is back in NJPW as part of the NJPW Strong show.

It's been a great few weeks of action in Japan with Eita surprisingly winning the Dream Gate championship from Naruki Doi, and Giulia picking up a massive statement victory over Maya Iwutani to emphasise the dominance of Donna Del Mondo in the opening stages of the STARDOM 5 Star GP.

With the GP in full swing, and the G1, the N1 Victory and the Champion Carnival all on the horizon the action is picking up big time in Japan.

LineOfBeauty · 11-08-2020 11:56am

I'm about a million years behind on wrestling at the moment. Last show I've watched aside from Dynamite is the Sengoku Lord show (grand, enjoyed Hiromu/EVIL a bit more than the consensus). But I really want to catch up on the King of DDT stuff and get myself back up to date on DDT. Though my method for watching Dragon Gate has let me down lately so unfortunately I missed the big Eita win.

RollieFingers · 11-08-2020 1:33pm

Man forgot all about the King of DDT, there isn't enough hours in the day to watch all the puroresu. Eita winning clean was huge, turned out to be a great match, recommend catching it if you can!

Agent Coulson · 29-08-2020 2:06am

Darren Young signs with NJPW.

https://twitter.com/realfredrosser/status/1299378778255228928?s=20

The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

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