July 5, 20196 yr comment_5892759 Night 1 of the G-1 is this weekend and it completely caught me off guard. I also read that tickets sales have been poor, to the point they are running a small set up (7k or so), I have no clue how legit those claims are but I feel like once again New Japan did a fucking horrible job promoting this show. For the Cow Palace last year they didn't do anything to promote the show even though they had The Elite guys and for this show they didn't do much even though it has a very big card with big matches.
July 5, 20196 yr comment_5892787 I checked out the June 17 CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun elimination tag on a whim, and it turned out to be a bona fide MOTYC. It was the show where they announced the G1 participants, so everybody had their working boots on. There was the obligatory crappy crowd brawling and other Suzuki-gun smoke and mirrors, but other than that, this had everything you want from this kind of match. They went at it for 30-plus minutes with hardly any letdown, everybody got a chance to shine while maintaining a clear sense of hierarchy (Lance Archer in particular looked like a beast), the eliminations were clever without being too cute, and there was plenty of drama in the closing minutes. It's not on par with 80s classics, but it's still well worth going out of your way to see.
July 7, 20196 yr comment_5892901 Official attendance was 4,846. The really haven't learned shit in the last 2 years about how to promote their shows in the US. This did even worse than the Cow Palace show with a waaay stronger card, main difference was they had Cody vs Omega as the main event that was able to draw more people regardless of non existent/shitty promotion.
July 7, 20196 yr comment_5892902 Yeah, I saw a picture of Okada from last night's show with a huge section of empty seats and that's baffling. NJPW will struggle big time with a US expansion if they keep doing what they're doing now.
July 7, 20196 yr comment_5892910 1 hour ago, Jmare007 said: Official attendance was 4,846. The really haven't learned shit in the last 2 years about how to promote their shows in the US. This did even worse than the Cow Palace show with a waaay stronger card, main difference was they had Cody vs Omega as the main event that was able to draw more people regardless of non existent/shitty promotion. Outside of a local ad or two during Raw the last few weeks, local promotion was virtually nil. They were clearly counting on fly-ins but Omega and the Bucks were clearly drawing those. They announced a three-show tour last night of the East Coast - Boston (well, Lowell), the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, and 2300 Arena in Philly. So this failure has clearly scaled down their expectations.
July 7, 20196 yr comment_5892919 It just baffles me that they count on fly ins when they don't even care about hyping the show and promoting it to them. Oh well, the Hammerstein show should be dope though, I hope they book a couple of interesting matchups.
July 13, 20196 yr comment_5893348 Very good G1 card today, although some of the results have me worried about who's winning the tournament. I know it's still way too early and the first two days are typically known for having surprising outcomes, but still.
July 15, 20196 yr comment_5893750 Ospreay has a neck injury and will miss the 15th show. Won't have to forfeit any matches yet and there's a chance he's cleared for the 18th as the injury isn't nerve or bone damage.
July 16, 20196 yr comment_5893805 3 hours ago, Boss Rock said: Ospreay has a neck injury and will miss the 15th show. Won't have to forfeit any matches yet and there's a chance he's cleared for the 18th as the injury isn't nerve or bone damage. He has Ibushi and then Okada next up, so hopefully it's not too serious.
July 17, 20196 yr comment_5893945 7 hours ago, Boss Rock said: Ospreay cleared for tomorrow. Glad he's cleared, little unsettled at him brushing off what was apparently a stinger.
July 22, 20196 yr comment_5894222 Anyone got any thoughts on what the card might be at the London show? I know we need to wait for the G1 to shake out to get a better idea but my friend picked me up a ticket today so the excitement is setting in.
July 22, 20196 yr comment_5894224 33 minutes ago, FMKK said: Anyone got any thoughts on what the card might be at the London show? I know we need to wait for the G1 to shake out to get a better idea but my friend picked me up a ticket today so the excitement is setting in. With ZSJ eating the pin against Tanahashi, I find it likely that the RevPro Title will main event with these two competing for it.
July 22, 20196 yr comment_5894225 Just now, SmartMark15 said: With ZSJ eating the pin against Tanahashi, I find it likely that the RevPro Title will main event with these two competing for it. That makes sense. I was thinking that or Okada over Ospreay for the IWGP championship.
July 22, 20196 yr comment_5894226 15 minutes ago, FMKK said: That makes sense. I was thinking that or Okada over Ospreay for the IWGP championship. Dunno how updated you are on the G1 but there's no real justification for Okada-Ospreay especially since they're stablemates.
July 22, 20196 yr comment_5894228 Didn't Phantasmo beat Ospreay in the BOSJ? That seems like an obvious matchup for Ospreay for the UK show.
July 26, 20196 yr comment_5894648 Got tickets to the Hammerstein show. Looks like they sold it out in about 15 minutes.
July 26, 20196 yr comment_5894660 2 hours ago, Migs said: Got tickets to the Hammerstein show. Looks like they sold it out in about 15 minutes. Me too, glad I grabbed them when I did.
July 26, 20196 yr comment_5894661 They also sold out Philly. There's a few tickets left for Boston, but not many.
August 5, 20196 yr comment_5895543 They've announced Amazing Red for the Super J Cup, which should be fun.
August 13, 20196 yr comment_5896618 In the post show promo, Ibushi said he might challenge Okada on night 1 and then (if he wins) the IC champion on night 2. They could run some really interesting shit between Ibushi/Okada/Naito/White (or whoever is feuding and challenging Naito at WK) for those two big show. If Gedo pulls this off it would be the most inventive thing he's done in forever, I would be awesome if works out that way.
August 13, 20196 yr comment_5896620 27 minutes ago, Coffey said: I guess Amazing Red didn't stay retired for very long. I don't think it's him coming out of retirement so much as it is him wanting to go out passing the mantle, I guess.
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