New Japan/Puroresu Thread

[Bandit]

Here's the full lineup for the Melbourne event:

Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Robbie Eagles

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls

Rocky Romero vs. El Phantasmo

Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

Toru Yano, SHO & YOH vs. Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Gino Gambino

Slex vs. Aaron Solow

Toa Henare, Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Mark Tui, Andrew Villalobos & Michael Richards

[Big Boss Man]

Really enjoyed Kota and Naito & Painmaker v Rainmaker. That spot when Naito spiked Kota on the apron and he hit his neck/head, had to have got a concussion from that. Kinda surprised the crowd were behind Naito during the match when Ibushi was the face. Don, Chris and Kevin were saying on commentary about this being the last match they'll be having together for a while.

With Jericho in the picture, the IWGP landscape looks interesting. I don't when they'll elevate Kota to that level, the fans don't seem behind him the same way they are Naito, Tana and Okada. Kota is a top talent and for sure a future IWGP world champion. I would do something like this

Jericho beats Okada
Ibushi wins the G1 and main events against Chris
Mox sides with Jericho and then they beat down Kota and injure him to get the fans totally behind him
He comes out and does a thank you to the fans spot for their support, then Mox and Jericho attack him again
Kenny comes out to make the save for a Golden Lovers reunion *
GL v Mox and Jericho *
Ibushi beats Chris for the IWGP belt at WrestleKingdom

* = dependent on if and when Kenny comes back to NJ, if not you could sub in Tana in Ken's spot.

I think that would build Kota as the next Ace for New Japan but I see Naito becoming a tweener/antihero type babyface and him being the next Ace instead.

[Bandit]

Naito is the cool heel who always gets cheered. Like the nWo in the 90s he sells a ton of merchandise when you look at the crowd. They also cheered for him against every other face, especially wanting him to beat Okada last year. So it's not Ibushi's fault. Moxley is also supposed to be a heel but the crowd cheers for him so far. The only real heel heat was for Jericho, G.O.D. and Taichi. Also Suzuki is a heel who is cheered. But his heel promos are so over the top the crowd thinks it's funny. Like when he said "I hope you all get in car accidents on your way home" that time.

[Big Boss Man]

It seems they are going in that direction to make Naito the next Ace. I somehow think Kota will get lost in the shuffle as you have Ospreay rising up the ranks and I think he will win the G1. Hes moving to Japan I read too so it seems he is commited to New Japan.

Plus you have Switch Blade who will be back in the mix. I think it was too soon for his push and it was more to make up for losing Kenny. I dont know how much they will invest in Jericho and Mox as in reality they are just freelance. Ideally the IWGP World Champ needs to be a New Japan contracted talent. Unless you have a touring champ like the NWA did back in the day.

If they did have the AEW partnership they could have Naito, Tana, Okada, Ibushi come over to either defend or challenge for the belt on TNT. Imagine if we got a 5 even 6 star level match on their first show, would be huge, but I guess loyalty to ROH has won out. But for growing NJ internationally, they would be getting into US, UK and other countries that will air their weekly show.

[Bandit]

He won't be lost in the shuffle. He just signed a big deal to stay. He may be injured and could posdibly miss the G-1 over that. But just because the crowd cheered Naito (and they always do) it doesn't mean he's going to be pushed down the card. Gedo wants him as a top guy.

[Bandit]

New Japan says Ibushi wasn't injured besides bruising from the German suplex spot.

[Big Boss Man]

https://uproxx.com/prowrestling/gedo-di ... ominion/2/

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

KENTA shit on WWE in a Japanese interview saying he hated his whole time there and the company sucks because they micromanage every match.

[Big Boss Man]

KENTA shit on WWE in a Japanese interview saying he hated his whole time there and the company sucks because they micromanage every match.

It's the security of working there which is the big draw to go to WWE. But creatively, it must totally suck because you have to recite the crappy promos and you can't call it on the fly during the matches like you would on the indies etc to actually respond to the crowd. It's the autonomous nature of the product which is why it sucks right now. It's just like the WWE 2K video game, down to the disjointed commentary too.

If they brought the "life" back to wrestling again, talent would connect with the audience, because they would cut their own promos, wrestle the way they want to without constraints and that would raise morale too because they'd allow to adlib and be creative out there.

No wonder Kenta was pissed off and guys like Rhino, Ryback, Mox etc who have left have said similar to what Kenta has too. Surprises me why AJ wanted to re-sign but I guess the offer was too good to turn down and I think he's working limited dates too. There's a lot of talent who would really shine in AEW but again its like WWE have this rhetoric that they are "The Show" and the pinnacle of the business.

Whereas AEW from hearing Jungle Boy talk about working with Cody etc and the close knit nature of those working there it's like a night & day difference to WWE. New Japan too I think is just as prestigious as WWE, especially if you succeed there as a gaijin like Kenny has and Vader, Brusier, Stan Hansen, Terry & Dory, Doc & Gordy, Dynamite, Scott Norton, Tiger Jeet Singh, Karl Gotch and The Destroyer among others. Also Rikidozan who is arguably the biggest gaijin draw.

[Bandit]

AJ and Vince are buddies and I think the report was his salary was doubled when he re-signed. Plus AJ is hurting after wrestling his style for 20 years. So like Nakamura he wanted an easier style.

[Bandit]

Full G-1 tournament matches

7/6 in Dallas
-Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer
-Evil vs Bad Luck Fale
-Sanada vs Zack Sabre Jr.
-Kota Ibushi vs KENTA
-Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

7/14 in Tokyo Ota Ward Gym
-Lance Archer vs Bad LuckFale
-Will Ospreay vs. Sanada
-Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
-Kota Ibushi vs. Evil
-Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA


7/15 in Sapporo at the Hokkaido Sports Center
-Yano vs. Shingo Takagi
-Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto
-Jeff Cobb vs JonMoxley
-Ishii vs. Jay White and
-Tetsuya Naito vs. Taichi

7/18 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
-KENTA vs. Lance Archer
-Evil vs. Sanada
-Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
-Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
-Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay

7/19 at Korakuen Hall
-Takagi vs. Taichi
-Robinson vs. Cobb
-Yano vs. White
-Goto vs. Naito
-Ishii vs. Moxley.

7/20 at Korakuen Hall
-Sabre vs. Fale
-Tanahashi vs. Archer
-KENTA vs. Evil
-Ibushi vs. Sanada
-Okada vs. Ospreay.

7/24 in Hiroshima
-Robinson vs. Yano
-Goto vs. Taichi
-Moxley vs. Takagi
-Cobb vs. White
-Naito vs. Ishii.

7/27 in Nagoya at Aiichi Gym
-Ibushi vs. Archer
-Ospreay vs. Fale
-Evil vs. Sabre
-Tanahashi vs. Sanada
-Okada vs. KENTA.

7/28 in Nagoya at Aiichi Gym
-Goto vs. Yano
-Robinson vs. Ishii
-Cobb vs. Taichi
-Takagi vs. White
-Naito vs. Moxley

7/30 in Takamatsu
-Ibushi vs. Fale
-Ospreay vs. Sabre
-Okada vs. Archer
-KENTA vs. Sanada
-Tanahashi vs. Evil.

8/1 in Fukuoka
-Cobb vs. Takagi,
-Yano vs. Moxley
-Robinson vs. Naito
-Taichi vs. White
-Ishii vs. Goto

8/3 in Osaka at the Edion Arena
-KENTA vs. Fale
-Sabre vs. Archer
-Ospreay vs. Evil
-Tanahashi vs. Ibushi
-Okada vs. Sanada.


8/7 at the Hamamatsu Arena
-Sanada vs Archer,
-Tanahashi vs. Fale
-Ospreay vs. KENTA
-Ibushi vs. Sabre
-Okada vs Evil.

8/8 at Yokohama Bunka Gym
-Yano vs. Taichi
-Naito vs. Cobb
-Goto vs. Moxley
-White vs. Robinson
-Ishii vs. Takagi

8/9 Finals of Block A winner versus Block B winner

[Big Boss Man]

[Bandit]

From the Australian show.

[Bandit]

The G-1 Season > Christmas season.

[Big Boss Man]

Great matches, impressed with Lances performance in the match will Will Ospreay. Kota needs to tone it down as he's going all out in every match it seems. I think if he added some submission holds/ground offence to his style that would give him much better longetivity. Strong showing by Kenta. Okada/Tana was the best of the 3 matches in my opinion. Shame only around 4,800+ fans went to the show, deserved a much larger crowd for those quality matches.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

The leg was clean bone without fractures! Is it a ligament? Is it sprain?

Yesterday I walked 100 steps today, although I did not stop cold sweating in 30 steps.
Because there was an abnormal natural self-healing ability + hyperbaric oxygen treatment to tomorrow 200 steps goal!
I woke up because of the time difference and pain, so I will go to the first floor anytime. I will not give up as much as I can from where I can!

[Bandit]

His next match is in 4 days. And then 4 days after that he's booked against Ospreay, and they'll want to do a wild match. He's a tough SOB so he'll probably be there. Omega wrestled for a very long time with a broken heel. They're tough and they're crazy so they just do it.