New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Bandit
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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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They don't need him since their roster is so stacked. But that Naito match would have been fantastic and would have gotten more worldwide attention.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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The 46th Anniversary Show was very good. No spoilers, but

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Yuji Nagata, Ren Narita, Tomoyuki Oka. Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi

They usually open shows with the dojo students working a multi-tag against vets to give them experience in front of a big crowd while not having to depend on them to carry a whole match. So it's nothing special.

Juice Robinson, David Finlay (Fit's son if you haven't seen him) and Toa Henare vs Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano

Yano ruined this like he ruins everything. All the others are great. But Yano is a awful comedy wrestler who does the same exact comedy spots every match with no variety. So this would be like when Smackdown had those great tag main events with some of the best in the world if they had inserted Santino in, except The Cobra is way funnier than anything Yano does.

Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles: Roppongi 3K vs Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi

The first great match on the show. Roppongi remind me of a young Rockers if you haven't seen them. Yoh and Takahashi had a huge chop battle that went on forever where Yoh's chest was destroyed. It was just a crazy fast match like Mexico tags. The ref gave up and seemed to let guys come in and out like Lucha rules towards the end. Just a great match.

Sanada vs Yoshi-Hashi

I'm not a huge Yoshi-Hashi fan, but it was okay. Sanada, who was one of Muta's students, is way better than he was in TNA 5 years ago if you haven't seen him since then.

Taichi vs Tetsuya Naito

NJ is trying hard to make Taichi a top heel, so this match was all about getting him over by probably the best wrestler in the world at making his opponent look like a million bucks like Flair used to. Taichi is on a comeback after a scandal where he had to leave wrestling for a while because he was caught cheating on his wife. They take infidelity very seriously in Japan. In America we wouldn't even have a wrestling business if we did that. Taichi also has a cane that's supposed to have a microphone for the handle, but it looks more like a black dildo. And Callis wanted so badly to make jokes about it but could only make one. But Naito did an 80s Flair and carried him to a great match that had the crowd hot.

Intercontinental Title: Minoru Suzuki vs Togi Makabe

Suzuki is the best heel in the business right now. You just completely believe he really is a sadistic psycho. The match had lots of torture spots like a usual Suzuki match. And lots of great camera work of Suzuki smirking at the crowd chanting for Makabe without being too melodramatic about it like WWE would. Obviously not as good as the instant classic Suzuki and Tanahashi match last month, but very good. Suzuki hit a highlight reel dropkick to the face that looked brutal.

Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay

Lots of great mat wrestling in the beginning, then the middle turned into a brawl and the end was the New Japan Main Event Hot Closing Sequence. This was definitely the best match on the show, which goes without saying since they're two of the greatest wrestlers alive. You had a match story of them being friends but Ospreay was trying to have the best night of his career to beat Okada since the one who finally brings him down will become an overnight wrestling icon. And I thought that was cool, because in wrestling friends usually don't even think about battling, but this shows beating Okada is so important even his friends want to do it.


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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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A spoiler free mini-review of New Japan Cup Night One.

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Shota Umino, Tomoyuki Oka, David Finlay vs. Chuckie T, Toru Yano, Hiroki Goto

Don isn't there, so Kevin is calling the show solo. Nothing memorable. I do think rookie Tomoyuki Oka has promise. But he makes me laugh because he looks like a giant toddler.

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Your basic rookies bump for experience match. **

Tag Team Match: Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale vs. Killer Elite Squad

Funny part at the beginning when Tanga (Haku's son) made fun of Lance for being too amped up before the bell rang. It was good, not great. It was really just to set up heat between Fale and Lance Archer for tomorrow. ***

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Bushi, Sanada, Tetsuya Naito vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr.

Chuck Taylor joins Kevin Kelly for commentary. This was a really good match with some of the best in the world in it. It really highlighted how great Sabre is. He may have done the best octopus hold ever. And it helped he had Naito to sell for him. ****

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Tora Henare, Togi Makbe, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, Minoru Suzuki

Awesome match. Suzuki acted like he was going to do his pose when he was announced, but instead started kicking Tanahashi in the knee. He has such great psychology that he showed here. Taichi looked good too, so the debate is settled that it wasn't only Naito, he's just going to be better as a heavyweight. ****1/2


Tag Team Match: Yosh-Hashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Chase Owens & Kota Ibushi

I was disappointed in this one due to the high level of talent here. It was okay, but it felt like everyone was on autopilot. But it's the first night of a long tour, and this match wasn't important, so they took it easy. ***

New Japan Cup Match: Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi

THE TOKYO PIMP~! It was funny how Kevin Kelly basically said he's shocked this gimmick is allowed in 2018. Lots of really well done near falls that had the crowd into it. Juice has come so far as a worker from when he joined NJPW. Like when you see his match with Cody at WK11 and then this it's not even the same guy. It reminds me of Sting's progression in 1988 when he went from just okay to one of the highlights of the show in a year. ****

New Japan Cup Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin

There was a scary moment when it looked like Elgin botched a top rope razor's edge and dropped Ishii on his head. He stopped, looked scared, and was clearly talking to him to see if he could continue. But besides that it was a very good match with two jacked up dudes trying to kill each other. Ishii is a bad motherfucker to take all of that punishment not even counting the botch. Taking Buckle Bombs after the botch took balls. And Elgin had his work shoes on as he's trying to rehab his career from the scandal. Hopefully we get a rematch soon. ****1/2

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Most of the Observer poll 2017 matches of the year were New Japan. If you haven't seen all of them yet, here they are with English commentary so there's no excuse not to watch. :olol:

1) Okada vs Omega 1/4/17



2) Okada vs Omega 6/11/17




3) Okada vs Shibata 4/9/17




4) Omega vs Naito 8/17/17



5) Okada vs Omega 8/12/17



7) Will Ospreay vs Kushida 6/3/17



And in non-NJ you had Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate at #6, AJ Styles vs John Cena at #8, LA Park vs Rush at #9 and Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak at #10

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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I'll have to check those out if they stay online. NJ should up them on their YT channel as a way to advertise NJPW World.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Juice is getting to be a good promo. Amazing that he's doing it in Japan where nobody cares if the English speakers are good talkers.



And he cut one straight out of the 70s babyface playbook last week saying the babies chanting his name gave him strength (bonus of seeing the world's saddest pimp.)


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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Subtitled set up to the Okada vs Sabre match for Genesis. Taka Michinoku and Gedo are funny together.


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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Rey Mysterio pulled out of the New Japan LA show. Will Ospreay will face Jushin Liger instead.

Updated card for the AXS show airing March 25th at 8pm Eastern.
Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega) vs. Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)

IWGP U.S. Heavyweight: Jay White vs. Hangman Page

Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki

Non-Title: Jushin Liger vs. Will Ospreay

Dragon Lee & Ryusuke Taguchi & Kushida & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi & Sanada & Tetsuya Naito

Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga vs. Marty Scurll & Cody

Chuckie T & Toru Yano vs. Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer)

David Finlay & Juice Robinson vs. Gedo & Hirooki Goto

Sho & Yoh & Rocky Romero vs. Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels
That's a pretty good card for a free TV special like Clash of the Champions used to be.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Omega was asked about homosexual characters in wrestling in a Yahoo interview.
Having a sexual relationship won’t be emphasized in its [Golden Lovers] current iteration. Let people think what they want to think.

If LGBT people can identify with our story, if they think ‘the Golden Lovers are my team,’ I’m good with that. It’s the story of two wrestlers who shared dreams on their way up, who became fast friends, who are now reuniting at the top of their game.

Ibushi was the very first friend I made when I came over and started wrestling in Japan. When two people start at the bottom of a business and work their way up and find success, that stays with you, whether you’re working together or separately. Now, the time is right for the next chapter.

I think it’s important to show in the 21st century that if you’re gay, lesbian, trans, whatever, that you should feel just as welcome to be a wrestling fan as anyone else. You’re welcome in the space.

I do get some stupid messages on Twitter from homophobic people and they’re usually WWE fans, which kind of drives things home. In WWE, a gay person is usually portrayed like some sort of comedy act to be mocked and laughed at. The world’s not like that anymore. Everyone should feel welcome to the show.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Jim Ross seemed to be pitching Golden Lovers change the name of their splash finish to The Golden Shower.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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I know I'm the only one who watches New Japan. But I've got to say those videos AXS made to explain feuds were tremendous, especially the one that explained Omega's entire history.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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The show last night was strong (yes i watch njpw lol) main event told a beautiful story and set up potential nick vs matt matches which would be fun.

the commentary was appalling though it got so bad i had to switch to japansee commentary (we had the option on njpw world) and the camera work was worse than the legendary shocking tna director from back in the day

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Yeah, Ross sucks now.

I'll give them a pass on the camera work because they do MMA which is easy to shoot. But next time New Japan needs to run production with their people and Kelly & Callis on commentary if JR is going to not bother to do show prep (which he admitted on WOR he doesn't do.)

But I liked the show other than that. I watched the AXS version so I could watch it on my big screen.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Some UK channel needs to pick up the AXS broadcasts then I'd watch more New Japan!!

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Big Boss Man wrote:Some UK channel needs to pick up the AXS broadcasts then I'd watch more New Japan!!
You can stream it many places a few hours after it airs. I only subscribe to New Japan World for the old stuff. Due to the time zone difference I have actually only watched one show live (Wrestle Kingdom because i had the day off so could wake up really early to see it) unlike WWE network where I watch live since they run on Eastern time. So other than the archive (and supporting the company with my 9 dollars) I don't need it.

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Re: New Japan/Puroresu Thread

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Speaking of New Japan in England

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