They had a press conference today. Copy/pasting from Twitter:

 

• "Lion's Gate Project": A farm promotion w/tryouts that also gives current guys another place to work
• "New IWGP Conception": a modern take on the IWGP concept, e.g. more guests, joint shows, licensing of visual contents, stronger connections w/promotions worldwide.
• Taking NJPW public.

 

 

So I guess a New Japan equivalent to NXT and some kind of nebulous intention to bring in more outside talent and send more guys away to work elsewhere? Given how stale the roster has felt lately these are all good things.

 

I guess the biggest news here is them going public but I have no clue what the implications of that would be.

I thought the 9/4/15 NJPW show was fun and worth going out of your way to see. It has CJ Parker on the show as Juice Robinson. I thought having Roppangi Vice, and Dorada in the semi main helped the match a ton. Also having Kushida working in an 8 man in the main freshened that up as well. With Robinson,Ibushi and some of the other changes it gave the card a more fresh feel.

I will be returning to Japan in two weeks with STEVE ANTHONY as we defend the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title against TIGER MASK in Okayama. After easily defeating JUSHIN "THUNDER" LIGER in Las Vegas - we expect no trouble whatsoever from TIGER MASK.

I really dug that Finlay-White match. Finley is just so different from anyone else in mainstream wrestling. It's like his dad won't allow him to do any actual offensive moves yet, so he's forced to come up with clever stuff to keep things interesting. A lost art nowadays to make the little things matter.

I really dug that Finlay-White match. Finley is just so different from anyone else in mainstream wrestling. It's like his dad won't allow him to do any actual offensive moves yet, so he's forced to come up with clever stuff to keep things interesting. A lost art nowadays to make the little things matter.

 

Totally agree. That match was a lot of fun and different from the Tanaka/Komatsu brand of young lions matches. You are exactly right that like his dad, Finlay doesn't have a lot of non-hold, non-striking offense but seems aware of that and does a lot of little, neat things to fill the time in between. There were some really cool reversals and mat wrestling spots in that match. The ending with Finlay stopping on White's head while he had him wrapped up in the submission hold was great. It felt like something right out of his father's playbook.

Yeah, I strongly advise everyone check out that match; I think it would be right up the alley of many people here. I only wish they had let the matwork breathe a little more rather than rushing through each hold. It's nice that they did it at all though. Man, they were sure working stiff.

Feelings about the booking of the latest show? Most annoyed I've been at a New Japan show in recent memory. I can just about live with Ibushi losing since I still think they have big plans for him long-term, but they totally chopped KUSHIDA's balls off with that loss after all his talk about how he was going to be the new Ace of the juniors. And going back to Ishii/Makabe....UGH.

New Japan has been the shits for the last year or so, aside from the great Dome show.

At this point I'm not sure if Gedo won't give a shit until the attendance numbers start going down or if they're already going down and this is them reacting to it.

New Japan has been the shits for the last year or so, aside from the great Dome show.

I think that's way too harsh, but it sure has felt stale. Gedo's reputation among fans clearly benefits from the generally poor state of wrestling booking in 2015.

 

In fairness, though, their big shows continue to do better and better business, though smaller shows have begun to fall off, including several G1 stops with what should have been marquee matches. So while there are definitely some signs of a potentially less rosy future on the horizon, it still feels premature to start calling for Gedo's replacement from a business perspective. As a fan, though, I'd definitely like to see someone else get a run with the book for a while. Maybe give Liger a shot; he has a proven track record and I'm positive that at the very least he'd do a better job booking the juniors.

I might be the only person on the planet who is excited about a 4th Ishii/Makabe match. The others have been so underwhelming I'm excited at the opportunity of them surprising everyone.

 

About the booking, there are few things I'm worse at than predicting booking, especially New Japan booking, so I generally have no comments on booking practices and almost always subscribe to the "wait and see" philosophy. So with that said, I'm waiting and seeing with Kushida. What are the chances they're telling a long story with him trying to be the ace of the division? Last year he came up short in the BOSJ final, won the title on a fluke that probably wasn't even supposed to happen, then immediately loses it. This year he wins BOSJ, wins the belt, has only one successful defense, then loses in almost exactly the same time frame. So now maybe next year is his year.

 

I hate being able to predict what I think "should" happen or what the obvious outcomes are, it's a righteous buzzkill for my wrestling watching, so I thoroughly enjoyed being surprised by the two singles matches on the show.

 

Now let's see what happens with the Goto vs Nakamura match.

NJPW can join the club on having issues with their booking this week. The BC interference really hurt the Kushida/Omega match. I don't need another Makabe/Ishii match. Ishii better win though. They need to open up the tag team scene. Allow the Bucks or reDragon to work with the big boys. Think fresh. Maybe a Styles face turn with the Bucks. Need to move some of the parts around. Their is a lot of talent, also have a lot of options with ROH, NWA, and Rev Pro to freshen things up.

NJPW was a huge part of my getting back into wrestling a few years back, but as it stands right now, I find the product desperately underwhelming. I honestly believe they have run out of fresh ideas, that fears of stagnation which have really started to become apparent this year (the signs were there last year) are an absolute reality.

 

Today's Goto v Nakamura main event was an exceptional match yet left me feeling no great excitement in the immediate aftermath.

The Goto-Nakamura and Ishii-Makabe series are both just bizarre. ANOTHER year where they give the IC title to someone other than Nak, decide that it was really a failure and that they need Nakamura to hold the title. The last match for the title without Nakamura was in June 2013 (Sombra-Volador) so the last match in Japan was in May 2012 (Goto-Ishii). Ultimately, isn't it just more stalling on Nakamura-Okada, because they have an excuse to keep them away from each other? Or will Nakamura-Okada happen and be for the IC title if Okada loses the HW title? So it'd be more weird layering of that as a program. I don't know.

They didn't "decide it was a failure", it was their plan for Nakamura to get the title back all along.

That's a terrible plan!

Well that's just how they operate. They give the IC title to someone before the Climax to free Nakamura and showcase him as a contender for a G1 win while giving someone else some shine in the process and then go back to status quo after the G1. I'm hoping they'll change their ways once they get Okada's big win over Tanahashi out of the way.

Gedo uses title changes to extend programs a lot. The IC title needs to headline B shows so they need it on someone who they trust to draw. Outside of one match in CMLL, there hasn't been an IC title match that didn't involve Nakamura for over 3 years. I would be more salty about the Goto thing if I didn't find him incredibly vanilla to begin with. I can definitely understand why people are upset about it as fans, but when you consider the business reasons I think you have to at least concede that it makes some amount of sense.

Goto is kind of like their Randy Orton, they've invested so much in him that they have to keep giving him stuff to justify their investment but they've also realised he's not good enough to truly headline so they'll start-stop push him as they see fit.

Gedo uses title changes to extend programs a lot. The IC title needs to headline B shows so they need it on someone who they trust to draw. Outside of one match in CMLL, there hasn't been an IC title match that didn't involve Nakamura for over 3 years. I would be more salty about the Goto thing if I didn't find him incredibly vanilla to begin with. I can definitely understand why people are upset about it as fans, but when you consider the business reasons I think you have to at least concede that it makes some amount of sense.

 

It's their fault they don't have another dude they can rely on to draw with the IC belt though.

 

Why not give it to Ibushi who has proven to be a draw for them and let him have long run with it? Hell there's a nice story between him and Nakamura as passing of the torch type of thing that could be done in the Dome. Instead they put him with the NEVER title, make him job and we get ANOTHER Goto/Nakamura match.

 

New Japan booking is as conservative and unimaginative as WWE's and we shit on WWE all the time because of it. And it's frustrating because they have an awesome roster that they keep wasting in the same feuds over and over again.

I agree that Ibushi should get a run with the IC title. There are two explanations for his treatment right now: either they're doing a slow build with him or he's a victim of politics, likely due to his dual contract with DDT. Time will tell on that one.

 

I don't want to come off like a defender of NJPW booking. It has been stale as fuck for much of the past year. But I think in this particular situation, given the available options, they made the right choice.

Maybe someone can elaborate. It looks like they're offering English commentary with Kevin Kelly and Striker on NJPW for the show on 10/12 King Of Pro Wrestling Show.

The worst commentary team ever.

Dave completely buried the decision on Observer Radio. Said they didn't even bother to call JR or Ranallo.

I hear people act like Matt Striker is a good commentator. Where did he get that reputation?