The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

Machismo Fan · 03-01-2013 7:16pm

Potentially getting only my second ever iPPV if I can get my brother to come in for half of the Tokyo Dome show. I haven't looked forward to a main event more in a long, long while.

BohsJohnny · 03-01-2013 10:59pm

What time does it start here and if its 34.99 in dollars is that only 27 euro.

Machismo Fan · 03-01-2013 11:25pm

BohsJohnny wrote: »

What time does it start here and if its 34.99 in dollars is that only 27 euro.

8am and more or less.

Machismo Fan · 03-01-2013 11:25pm

Ando's Saggy Bottom · 03-01-2013 11:48pm

Quality card top to bottom

GTR63 · 04-01-2013 12:00am

That will be the least 'worked' Bob Sapp match to take place in Japan for some time*

*i'm assuming he's not a NJPW regular with that joke.

gnfnrhead · 04-01-2013 12:01am

I don't think either of the special tags will be up to much. All the important matches should deliver though and that's what matters.

GRMA · 04-01-2013 12:11am

Will there be free streams?

rovert · 04-01-2013 8:24am

So so sad that I can't watch this due to work.

rovert · 04-01-2013 10:37am

Devitt's match is heading to the ring now.

Wrestle Kingdom is giving Wrestlemania a run for WWE's money with the elaborate entrances. Low Ki dressed as Agent 47, Prince Devitt doing Rey's entrance, Lance Archer coming to the ring on a motorbike etc.

rovert · 04-01-2013 11:11am

Mazing

rovert · 04-01-2013 2:26pm

Followed the results of this show via Twitter every fan I know whose opinion I value said this was better than the first New Japan's first iPPV (2012's Show of the Year in a lot of polls.) Definitely buying this show when I get home now. January's household budget be damned!

Ando's Saggy Bottom · 04-01-2013 2:27pm

rovert wrote: »

Followed the results of this show via Twitter every fan I know whose opinion I value said this was better than the first New Japan's first iPPV (2012's Show of the Year in a lot of polls.) Definitely buying this show when I get home now. January's household budget be damned!

Any immediate reaction to the main event?

rovert · 04-01-2013 2:33pm

Five legitimate ****+ matches from Wrestle Kingdom apparently

Pete Campbell wrote: »

Any immediate reaction to the main event?

The result or the match rating? It is the weakest of their three matches so far but still ****+ . The result

not much outrage as the show/match was so good.

Ando's Saggy Bottom · 04-01-2013 2:35pm

rovert wrote: »

Five legitimate ****+ matches from Wrestle Kingdom apparently

The result or the match rating? It is the weakest of their three matches so far but still ****+ . The result
not much outrage as the show/match was so good.

Cheers was more interested in the match quality.

Hope Fergal had a good outing too.

Bounty Hunter · 04-01-2013 2:38pm

Pete Campbell wrote: »

Cheers was more interested in the match quality.

Hope Fergal had a good outing too.

from what he said above I dont think he's actually seen it yet, might see if I can find this to watch when i get the chance, dont really give the Japanese wrestling as much of a chance as I know I should

rovert · 04-01-2013 2:47pm

Pete Campbell wrote: »

Hope Fergal had a good outing too.

The three way was met to be particularly outstanding actually.

Hyperbole is super over utilised by Wrestling fans (myself included) but this show seems to be the real deal.

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

from what he said above I dont think he's actually seen it yet, might see if I can find this to watch when i get the chance, dont really give the Japanese wrestling as much of a chance as I know I should

Would be shocked if it didn't appear in the usual places by tomorrow morning for download. The shows find there way to Youtube shortly after and rarely get taken down.

I make the effort to pay for New Japan as it is the best promotion in the world employing my favourites proper money and the stream quality is really excellent.

Do make the effort to watch however you want to do it, BH.

Ando's Saggy Bottom · 04-01-2013 3:35pm

Yeah Id happily support New Japan by buying their shows.

The three way was always gonna be top class given those involved. dying to see it now!

gimmick · 04-01-2013 5:36pm

That is a quality looking card. I would imagine Benjamin Vs Tanaka was a bump fest. Ki V Devitt V Ibushi looks like it would have been class as well. Must try find a copy of this.

rovert · 05-01-2013 1:58am

Main event is up:

GRMA · 05-01-2013 2:43am

will the whole thing get put up on youtube do you reckon?

gnfnrhead · 05-01-2013 12:41pm

GRMA wrote: »

will the whole thing get put up on youtube do you reckon?

It will. The good thing is they usually stay up too. The bastard is avoiding results until you see it. Got the main event spoiled on me but I dont know anything else yet.

rovert · 05-01-2013 1:11pm

GRMA wrote: »

will the whole thing get put up on youtube do you reckon?

It is up on download and torrent sites now. I would expect it to be uploaded to Youtube by tonight most likely.

Meltzer called the Tokyo Dome show better than the best Wrestlemanias and up there with All Japan Women Tokyo Dome shows. Those All Japan Women shows from 90s are his personal absolute gold standard.

Personally settling down finally watch it finally. Way to tired last night to watch all 4 1/2 hours

rovert · 05-01-2013 3:34pm

*BOOM*

This version has the pre-PPV dark matches I would advise non-hardcores to skip them and go to the 30 minute mark for the show open.

GRMA · 05-01-2013 3:46pm

Well thats any study plans I had out the window

DM_7 · 05-01-2013 4:20pm

Archer looks huge, himself and Jr must be eating lots of Sushi.

Is Tanahashi like a Japanese Cena (except mobile and no question about wrestling ability)? Would Okada be like a CM Punk? Just trying to get some background as I haven't a clue what the Japanese lads are saying :pac:

gnfnrhead · 05-01-2013 4:29pm

Watching the pre-show now and being able to leave someone as popular as Liger on it shows just how stacked New Japan is these days. He is still super popular even though he's a shadow of himself in the ring. Not even going to mention the other match, they were that bad. Lucky to even be on the pre-show!

DM-ICE wrote: »

Archer looks huge, himself and Jr must be eating lots of Sushi.

Is Tanahashi like a Japanese Cena (except mobile and no question about wrestling ability)? Would Okada be like a CM Punk? Just trying to get some background as I haven't a clue what the Japanese lads are saying :pac:

Tanahashi would be Cena alright. He's the ace.

Not sure who to compare Okada to. He's not the top guy but he will be. He's like the next Cena, which WWE dont have so no-one to compare him to. Ziggler wouldnt be a bad comparison, but Okada is higher and better than him.

rovert · 05-01-2013 4:37pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Watching the pre-show now and being able to leave someone as popular as Liger on it shows just how stacked New Japan is these days. He is still super popular even though he's a shadow of himself in the ring.

I think Liger is still the booker of the Junior Heavyweights so he shows humility in booking himself low on cards. Jado & Gedo the main bookers do the same too wrestling wise.

DM-ICE wrote: »

Is Tanahashi like a Japanese Cena (except mobile and no question about wrestling ability)? Would Okada be like a CM Punk? Just trying to get some background as I haven't a clue what the Japanese lads are saying :pac:

Essentially yes. Tanahashi is fair less divisive than Cena as he is the dude that helped New Japan move away from a REALLY ****ty era ten years ago. Where as Cena is sometimes directly and indirectly on screen acknowledged as WWE's post peak era guy that doesn't really compare to Rock, Austin etc.

In 2011 you could hear a smattering of booing from some crowds as they were kind of getting bored of Tanahashi's long title run as great as it was. Dropping the title last year to Okada stopped the potential backlash. Okada has a manager that does most of the talking and he isn't all that charismatic but he has made strides. He is as cocky as CM Punk yes. But that is where the comparison ends. His nickname is The Rainmaker as he is all about the money and does the rapper thing of making it rain.

GTR63 · 05-01-2013 4:47pm

Speaking of that shi*ty era when Lesnar was champ did he refuse to drop the belt to anyone or was he just not arsed?

rovert · 05-01-2013 4:51pm

Okada has the best dropkick I have ever seen, DM-ICE keep an eye open for that.

GTR63 wrote: »

Speaking of that shi*ty era when Lesnar was champ did he refuse to drop the belt to anyone or was he just not arsed?

He for sure refused to drop the title to Tanahashi but I vaguely remember that New Japan wanted to pay him less as Lesnar wasn't drawing/New Japan couldn't pay the original agreed fee per match.

gnfnrhead · 05-01-2013 5:16pm

Forgot about Lesnar as Champion! Think he dropped it to Angle in an unofficial defence or something, didnt he?

Back to Wrestle Kingdom, two matches in now. The eight man tag didnt need eight people and just made it a clusterfcuk. Bono and Sapp were the attraction so dump two others and make it a six man like originally planned.

The Open Weight title match was going well until the interference. Benjamin is starting to remind me a lot of RVD in how he always gets his spots in somewhere. The intereference killed it.

Good news is thats two of the matches I expected the least from out of the way. Pick it up from the tag title match next time which will hopefully be the start of the greatness

rovert · 05-01-2013 5:22pm

Amazing show. Pretty overwhelmed in terms what match was my favourite and in what order. Not spoiling any matches for now at least too.

Joe Lanza:

That’s right, FIVE four-star plus matches on one show, and not a single bad match. This is without a doubt a must see show, and perhaps the greatest show in wrestling history. We are in the midst of seeing something truly special in New Japan. Like the Three Muskateers era almost two decades earlier, or early 90′s All Japan, or the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars, there is no question we are witnessing a defining era in wrestling history right now. Enjoy it while it lasts.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/01/04/wrestle-kingdom-7-an-absolute-classic/

Another interesting review here too:
http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/2013/01/04/results-new-japan-1413/

rovert · 05-01-2013 5:37pm

One last thing. Just posted this is essentially a WrestleKingdom non-spoiler viewing guide for most of the roster:

http://cewshreviews.blogspot.ie/2013/01/cewsh-scouts-new-japan.html

Dead handy.

BohsJohnny · 05-01-2013 10:49pm

Just finished watching now WOW what a show loved the Suzuki/Nagata match so intense,the three way is great Nakamura/Sakuraba is so stiff so many hard knees to the face,and although not as good as their other matches Tanahashi/Okada was still a really good match will be hard to top this as show of the year.

DM_7 · 05-01-2013 11:01pm

I think I liked the ending of the previous Tanahashi Okada match Rovert posted before but it was still excellant. Watching both videos was a great way to spend an hour.

I didn't get a chance to watch the full show posted after the main event vid yet but I am looking forward to it.

Mr.Nice Guy · 06-01-2013 12:37am

I have watched up to the final two matches (hope to see them later as I'm tired now). Really liked it so far. Who is the girl in blue on commentary? Some pop star? She goes in the ring at various points.

GRMA · 06-01-2013 12:43am

I wish some superfans would dub commentary over these or something it would an amazing product perfect.

Machismo Fan · 06-01-2013 1:36am

GRMA wrote: »

I wish some superfans would dub commentary over these or something it would an amazing product perfect.

That would ruin it for me, New Japan's main commentator is my favourite in wrestling these days (which says something about the standard of US commentators). Tanahashi's matches wouldn't be the same without him screaming High Fly Flow at the top of his lungs.

rovert · 06-01-2013 9:34am

GRMA wrote: »

I wish some superfans would dub commentary over these or something it would an amazing product perfect.

Trust me it wouldn't at all.

DM_7 · 06-01-2013 1:39pm

When they shour Dangerous, Dangerous, Dangerous is actually makes it appear more dangerous.

GRMA · 06-01-2013 5:01pm

rovert wrote: »

Trust me it wouldn't at all.

Maybe you are right, its mainly because I have no idea who some of these guys are... I have a lot of Misawa and Kobashi stuff on dvd and "TIGERRR DRIIVVAAA!!" is pretty epic

Although I see that article you linked earlier which should do me

rovert · 06-01-2013 5:14pm

GRMA wrote: »

Maybe you are right, its mainly because I have no idea who some of these guys are... I have a lot of Misawa and Kobashi stuff on dvd and "TIGERRR DRIIVVAAA!!" is pretty epic

Although I see that article you linked earlier which should do me

Not going to argue that English screen graphics would definitely help.

Mr.Saturn · 06-01-2013 9:49pm

rovert wrote: »

Trust me it wouldn't at all.

Forgive me if I'm misremembering, but didn't The Wrestling Channel used to have this for when they were airing Puroresu tapes? I definitely recall they had that chap from Power Slam doing the VO intros, but I seem to recollect that there'd be this interspersed commentary that was put over the original announcers, instead of replacing the track. So you'd go from the the native audio going hyper, selling a suplex or whatnot, and then it'd clash with this stoic English voice that'd calmly butt-in over to call the move, and then revert to the as-live booth.

rovert · 07-01-2013 8:22pm

The show wasn't without turmoil Meltzer wrote this last week:

....there are political issues that have largely been kept from the public. Kidani was a big wrestling fan, but those in Japan have noted he really doesn’t know anything about wrestling. They point in particular that his wrestling idol is Eric Bischoff, and that alone, as someone owning a company, should tell you how much he knows about the business of pro wrestling. The biggest issue internally is Kidani wanting to be like Bischoff and Vince McMahon and make himself a character as the heel owner, something most in the company are against. On the Dome show, he’s kicking off that role as the second for Kazushi Sakuraba, as the MMA legend has his first singles match in New Japan since his pro wrestling comeback, facing Nakamura for the Intercontinental title (which in Japan is valued at the level of the Intercontinental belt of the late 70s and 80s as opposed to the modern version). Even at press time there were people trying to talk him out of it.

Kidani signed Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata (who faces Togi Makabe) over the summer without letting anyone in the company know, including bookers Gedo and Jado. Tanahashi and Nakamura, who are the leaders essentially of the wrestlers because they are the two singles veteran stars that have now been on top for years, did not want Shibata back. Having said that, Shibata’s unique work style, because he’s no different, doing the uncooperative shooter gimmick, has gotten a lot of heat and added excitement to the shows. Sakuraba is more limited, and it’s not like his popularity is anything close to what it was a decade ago when he was a genuine national sports hero. But he still has a name and is fresh, and has been effective in the tag situations he’s been put in.

Kidani who was credited with many good decisions in 2012 - doing iPPVs and signing Sakuraba and Shibata who did get over resigned before the show and Sakuraba and Shibata

did the job at the Dome blowing off the invaders thing seemingly.

Low Ki doesn't seem long for the company for a number undisclosed reasons. What Meltzer did say New Japan didn't like his costume. Personally I believe it is one of his characteristic every 6 months or so wobblers that occurs when he isn't the centre of the universe and it is his time to lose that leads him to pack his bags.

New Japan are assuming Shelton and MVP are going to WWE. Nothing new there.

Meltzer said the show did 100,000 buys on iPPV in Japan. Japan is kinda like Ireland in that it has no tradition of traditional Pay Per View so that's very impressive especially for a show they always did anyway and the fact that New Japan went in and out of the red over the past 10 years.

GTR63 · 07-01-2013 9:15pm

What are the cost comparisons of doing a PPV & iPPV`s cause i`m starting to think TNA should take the plunge. Obviously not a halfarsed attempt either.
That is a Fantastic buyrate for them.
Low-Ki should of dressed up as Snake btw would of went down a treat.

Machismo Fan · 07-01-2013 9:47pm

GTR63 wrote: »

What are the cost comparisons of doing a PPV & iPPV`s cause i`m starting to think TNA should take the plunge. Obviously not a halfarsed attempt either.

TNA's PPV's are available at http://tnaondemand.com. Not over here though.

DM_7 · 07-01-2013 11:09pm

I don't blame Low Ki for wearing a suit, Devitt is beyond ripped and he probably didn't want to be compared to him.

GTR63 · 08-01-2013 5:17am

This hurts me just looking at it!

gimmick · 08-01-2013 5:32pm

rovert wrote: »

Trust me it wouldn't at all.

NOAH tried it on soem DVD releases and it was painful. It is far, far more fun to listen to an over excited Japanese man speaking foreign commentate on the matches even if it means not understanding more than a word or 2.

Ando's Saggy Bottom · 08-01-2013 5:40pm

Mo Chatra sucks.

The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

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