kas

The only thing I remember from the Shane match was the jump, and Cole's hilariously bad "FOR THE LOVE OF MANKIND!!" call

Kenny Omega's IWGP reign. He won it off of Okada after one of the most acclaimed matches of all time and ending one of the most acclaimed title reigns of recent years, only to have half of his defences consist of mediocre Cody matches. He at least had the Tanahashi match though.

I agree with you there, but I think they always wanted to go big for the feud ender between Moxley and Omega. Plus, most people I'm seeing weren't disappointed by the match itself, but the post-match.

Mankind Vs Michaels is a top 2 WWE match of all time until the ending

The Budokan show was great as was the main event, but one match that hasn't gotten a lot of love was Nanae vs Momo. I had that as the second-best match of the show but a lot of people seem to be down on it.

I'd say that Punk kicking out of the Tombstone still felt like a big deal, mainly because he wasn't portrayed as this mythical figure quite like WWE portrayed Michaels and HHH.

They are going full FMW with this and it's going to be amazing.

Because New Japan wrestlers are absolutely mental. Naito wrestled half of 2019 with double vision and Tanahashi wrestled the entirety of the G1 in 2017 with, I think it was a torn tricep. New Japan really do need to step in and take better care of their wrestlers because these guys will never take a break on their own

He seriously needs to take some time off, especially since he's not in the title/main event scene right now.

Anniversary Show over-delivered. Kojima vs Cobb was really good, O-Khan vs Naito is easily O-Khan's best match so far, and Ibushi vs El Desperado was great (and it only went 20 minutes!). Between the STARDOM show yesterday and the NJPW show today, Budokan had some great shows back-to-back.

Really enjoyed Ibushi Vs Naito. It seems they're going to unify the belts after all and make the NEVER title more important.

I could always count on him to have a quietly great G1, but last year we didn't even get that.

KENTA vs Moxley was good. I thought KENTA in particular was great. White vs Ishii have some of the best chemistry in New Japan, and today's match was really good without really breaking too much new ground. Okada vs EVIL was ok, I liked it marginally better than their NJC match, but it still doesn't come close to touching their G1 stuff. I was willing to give heel EVIL a chance when he first started, but it's been long enough that I can say that he is not cut out for it. He has shown no improvement whatsoever since turning heel - in fact, it's fair to say he's regressed.

How was the show? Can't watch atm

Sad but not entirely unsurprising, I figured that's where his destination would be.

It's funny how awful that HIAC match is yet I'm still not sure it's Taker's worst match or even his second-worst. His best stuff is incredible but man he has some stinkers.

Finally got around to watching Ibushi/SANADA and it was pretty good, about on par with their G1 finals match. Naito going for the IC title only was a welcome surprise and I fully welcome him winning it - a lot of New Japan's bad booking last year stems from the double title in my eyes. Now we just need Suzuki to win the IWGP championship and join that illustrious club.

Gronk winning a Super Bowl after his illustrious WWE career is inspirational

Soooooooooooooooo Okada/Omega V when?? Big time. He was a good wrestler in New Japan, with a couple of great matches (Okada G1 final, Tanahashi IWGP match) but got real lazy as soon as he got to WWE.

Jay White is back and we can breathe easy again

SOPHIE the musician died? Fuck that's horrible. My Jay White comment was half tongue-in-cheek. I don't expect it, but I wouldn't be surprised either, as depressing as that would be. I'm hoping Bryan wins the rumble, but it will probably be The Fiend.

Jay White to win the Rumble

Tanahashi Vs Shingo delivered on the hype. What an incredible match.

MOTY: 1. Okada vs Ibushi 1/4 2. Okada vs Naito 1/5 3. WALTER vs Ilja Dragunov 10/29 Promotion of the Year: AEW has been fantastic this year, just going from strength-to-strength. Promos/Angles/Skits: The Moxley/Kingston promos leading up to their I Quit match were tremendous. Weekly Show: AEW Dynamite WOTY: Most Outstanding I'd go with Shingo Takagi. Overall I'd go with Jon Moxley. Show of the Year: Wrestle Kingdom Night 1

Meltzer said on WOR that White signed a 7 year contract with New Japan back in 2018, so it seems like the rumours could be wrong. Apparently he and Cobb are both in line for a push.