August 13, 20196 yr comment_5896637 The line up for the Super J Cup looks pretty good. Its got 10 NJPW guys, 3 CMLL guys and 3 American indie guys. Its not exactly on par with the 5 or 6 promotion super cards of the 90s but its better than what they had done the past few tournaments.
August 13, 20196 yr comment_5896638 Very excited to see Okada vs Suzuki, Tanahashi vs ZSJ and especially KENTA vs Ishii in person in the Copper Box. I was unsure as to how strong a line-up we'd get so I can't have too many complaints about this one, even with no Ospreay singles.
August 25, 20196 yr comment_5897415 On 8/13/2019 at 8:12 PM, Boss Rock said: Ospreay not getting a singles match is definitely surprising. Maybe doing the Super Jr and G1 back to back has finally gotten him too beat up to pull off another big singles match in such a short turn around time.
August 31, 20196 yr comment_5897862 Heard KENTA may have been concussed during the Ishii match. Okada-Suzuki seemed to deliver as expected.
September 2, 20196 yr comment_5898007 It sure looked like it. He barely could move at one point, and basically every move he took has aimed at his head. Hard to watch.
September 3, 20196 yr comment_5898085 On 8/25/2019 at 1:23 AM, SPS said: Maybe doing the Super Jr and G1 back to back has finally gotten him too beat up to pull off another big singles match in such a short turn around time. He did like 35 minutes the night before vs David Starr
September 16, 20196 yr comment_5899136 Super J Cup was pretty good. Red-Ospreay, SHO-Ospreay, ELP-Ospreay, ELP-Eagles, and the finals being the must-watches. Tanahashi-Sabre at Destruction was as good as expected but it feels like they've run that match into the ground. Hopefully they don't face off again for a while. Birds of Prey-ELP/Ishimori was great, best NJPW tag match in ages. KENTA is easily the biggest heel in NJPW. He plays it to perfection and the crowd loathes him. The Ibushi match was very good and maybe a hair better than their G1 outing. It's a shame KENTA is as banged up as he is because he would be perfect as the top heel.
September 16, 20196 yr comment_5899137 11 minutes ago, Boss Rock said: Super J Cup was pretty good. Red-Ospreay, SHO-Ospreay, ELP-Ospreay, ELP-Eagles, and the finals being the must-watches. Tanahashi-Sabre at Destruction was as good as expected but it feels like they've run that match into the ground. Hopefully they don't face off again for a while. Birds of Prey-ELP/Ishimori was great, best NJPW tag match in ages. KENTA is easily the biggest heel in NJPW. He plays it to perfection and the crowd loathes him. The Ibushi match was very good and maybe a hair better than their G1 outing. It's a shame KENTA is as banged up as he is because he would be perfect as the top heel. Haven't seen the J Cup yet, but mostly agree on the other points. Really dug the Jr tag match from today, would be pretty excited to see more of both teams. I will say, I didn't really love the KENTA-Ibushi match. Just felt like we'd seen the formula of "sneak attack -> near falls -> interference gaga -> near falls -> babyface comeback" done in a similar way a couple of times this year and the match never totally clicked for me. I do think KENTA's done a great job of embracing the lead role and he and White at the top makes the BC more effective as heels than they've been in years.
September 22, 20196 yr comment_5899538 So they just did an angle where Liger upped his feud with Suzuki by bringing back the famous Kinshin Liger persona from the match where the Great Muta pulled off his mask to reveal face paint. They even did an homage to that when Liger tried to stab him with the spike they use to tighten the turnbuckles.
September 22, 20196 yr comment_5899545 What are the odds that Naito being done dirty won't lead to a satisfying payoff?
September 22, 20196 yr comment_5899547 Naito will win the IC title and the IWGP on back to back nights at the Tokyo Dome. Yes he will.
September 22, 20196 yr comment_5899548 1) Naito gets his big win 2 years after he should've gotten it. Though in kayfabe, this win is one of the biggest in New Japan history. 2) Naito gets weirdly destroyed by booking and doesn't get any redemption. 3) If 1) happens, then Ibushi would be the one getting the same treatment Naito got at WK 12. 4) If Jay White or Okada are the ones getting both belts it would be too damn funny I think the winner take all angle for both Dome shows is a great idea in itself, one of the best Gedo has come up with in a long time. But with him taking so damn long to pull the trigger on japanese wrestlers he has pretty much booked himself into a corner.
September 22, 20196 yr comment_5899549 I would be fine with Ibushi taking all as it really does seem like his time now, but honestly they should give Naito his redemption and then have Ibushi win at Dominion or something. Okada-Naito seems like the most likely ME of night 2 considering they've been kept apart for close to 2 years now in singles matches. Jay taking all is definitely less than 0% as there's no way the top heel gaijin stands tall in the Dome. However, I don't completely rule out Okada winning either just to give him every single glory/record imaginable.
September 23, 20196 yr comment_5899562 I know they sold out two of three shows immediately, but waiting until a few days before to announce any matches for the US shows is not a great look.
September 23, 20196 yr comment_5899594 Doing a bad job at promoting their US shows is the norm for them at this point. It's not like it really matters though.
September 23, 20196 yr comment_5899598 1 hour ago, Jmare007 said: Doing a bad job at promoting their US shows is the norm for them at this point. It's not like it really matters though. I think it matters if the lineup ends up being even somewhat disappointing. It's very possible to go from having fans who buy the minute tickets to go on sale to ones who wait and see (and maybe never purchase at all). Look at the way ROH's advances have nose dived (not to say NJ is in imminent danger of that). There's a such a hierarchy to New Japan shows, from very important to total house show, and it's pretty hard to tell in advance where any individual US show is going to fit (unless it's a G1 night).
September 23, 20196 yr comment_5899620 17 hours ago, Migs said: I think it matters if the lineup ends up being even somewhat disappointing. It's very possible to go from having fans who buy the minute tickets to go on sale to ones who wait and see (and maybe never purchase at all). Look at the way ROH's advances have nose dived (not to say NJ is in imminent danger of that). There's a such a hierarchy to New Japan shows, from very important to total house show, and it's pretty hard to tell in advance where any individual US show is going to fit (unless it's a G1 night). I mean, they did a horrible job promoting a fucking G-1 show, which is mind boggling. But at the end of the day, it seems doing a sellout or 50-60% of building in the U.S doesn't seem to matter to them. Not saying it's a good or bad thing, just that's the state of things at this point.
September 24, 20196 yr comment_5899694 The full card for KOPW has been announced. https://www.njpw1972.com/61231 Liger/Suzuki and Mox/Juice look like the best matches on the card.
September 24, 20196 yr comment_5899695 While New Japan tends to wait to the last minute to announce cards even for Japanese shows, they're supposedly afraid of announcing US cards too far out in advance and having some bullshit happen that prevents everyone from being able to make it. It seems they are waiting until they are sure everyone they plan to book is cleared to be able to make the trip.
September 24, 20196 yr comment_5899697 It's odd, the G1 Climax has been by far the most fun I had watching pro-wrestling in the last two years, but I could not really get into the Destruction shows big matches. I will surely catch KOPW. Agree the final two matches aren't that exciting (I loved Okada vs SANADA in the G1 though) and Mox vs Juice and Phantasmo vs Ospreay should steal the show. Liger vs Suzuki should be a lot of fun too.
September 24, 20196 yr comment_5899699 13 minutes ago, El-P said: It's odd, the G1 Climax has been by far the most fun I had watching pro-wrestling in the last two years, but I could not really get into the Destruction shows big matches. I will surely catch KOPW. Agree the final two matches aren't that exciting (I loved Okada vs SANADA in the G1 though) and Mox vs Juice and Phantasmo vs Ospreay should steal the show. Liger vs Suzuki should be a lot of fun too. Agree, although the Ospreay/Eagles vs Phantasmo/Ishimori match was probably by favourite tag of the year.
September 25, 20196 yr comment_5899701 1 hour ago, FMKK said: Agree, although the Ospreay/Eagles vs Phantasmo/Ishimori match was probably by favourite tag of the year. Damn, I forgot this happened. I definitely should check this one out...
September 25, 20196 yr comment_5899710 Ishii and Amazing Red certainly is a tag team. KOPW looks really good, I may actually watch the undercard, heh.
September 25, 20196 yr comment_5899732 Unreasonably excited to see Tanahashi teaming up with the Rock n Roll Express. Is Joey Janela booking New Japan now?
Create an account or sign in to comment