The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

Ali Bomaye

I'm just after watching night one and I am shaking after that Naito Ibushi match. The second rope piledriver and Ibushi kicking out of the Destino had me losing my mind. That was some opening night, Ishii and Goto are so great to watch wrestling one another. Yoshi-Hashi vs Nagata was a great match to start the tournament as well. I'm really enjoying Yoshi-Hashi at the moment, thought his match with Suzuki last month was really good too.

Andersonisgod

Ali Bomaye wrote: »

I'm just after watching night one and I am shaking after that Naito Ibushi match. The second rope piledriver and Ibushi kicking out of the Destino had me losing my mind. That was some opening night, Ishii and Goto are so great to watch wrestling one another. Yoshi-Hashi vs Nagata was a great match to start the tournament as well. I'm really enjoying Yoshi-Hashi at the moment, thought his match with Suzuki last month was really good too.

I popped big for Ibushi kicking out of the first Destino, it literally came from out of nowhere. Ibushi's bumps for both Destinos were just crazy.

Ali Bomaye

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I popped big for Ibushi kicking out of the first Destino, it literally came from out of nowhere. Ibushi's bumps for both Destinos were just crazy.

Yeah, the Destino's looked a lot more impactful than normal. I've no idea how the A Block can keep that going for the whole tournament, those guys were killing one another.

ERG89

The deadlift German suplex & piledriver spots from the second rope while frightening to watch were admittedly just amazing spots by Ibushi.

Jerichoholic

Ishii/Ibushi is the best match you'll see today. Stiff is not the word.

Clegg

Listening to the latest Meltzer podcast where he's saying the New Japan wrestlers are taking wrestling to a new level. He was looking back at previous G1 matches and watched Styles v Suzuki from 2014 which won the Observers MoTY. He thinks it was a phenomenal match and a worthy winner but wouldn't make the top 10 matches from this year.

I think he's right as well. Since last year's G1 there's been an increase in quality matches in every division in NJPW. The 2016 tournament had half a dozen matches that could've been rated 5*. The same is true for this year's except we've only just finished day 5!

The G1 has always been a tournament with quality wrestling but the standard is even higher now. Of course there are matches from previous years G1 which stack up to the very best over the last 18 months, Tana v Nak from 2015 for instance, but I'm convinced that what we've seen over the last 18 months is greater in quality than anything we've seen in the last 10 years or so. The sheer volume of outstanding matches since the turn of 2016 is mind boggling.

Tldr: We're in a golden age of wrestling. Just enjoy it.

WinnyThePoo

That suzuki match with aj styles was amazing. First time I ever saw suzuki aswell.

Jerichoholic

Golden age of New Japan for sure, it's a shame it's only watched by a tiny fraction of the audience. Most people still watching WWE and that is in terrible shape wrestling wise.

Agent Coulson

Lad's I'm thinking of going to Japan in January not nailed on or anything just musing at the moment but If I do what's the chances of just rocking up at the Tokyo Dome for the January 4th event and getting a ticket at the door or is Wrestle Kingdom a sell in advance?

Lithium93_

Naito/Omega

the finale for this years G1 Climax. It'll be an excellent finale.

Ali Bomaye

That should be a great final. The two main events to finish the blocks the last two shows were incredible. Omega and Okada wrestled at a ferocious pace, the match was like a 25 minute closing stretch. Some of my favourite matches from the tournament along with those two are: Naito vs Ibushi; Okada vs Elgin; Tanahashi vs Ishii and Suzuki vs Okada.

Okada has been sensational all tournament, he should get all the awards going at the end of the year. I don't know much about the career of Yuji Nagata, but the stuff after his match with Fale was so well done I was even getting emotional watching it. Just brilliant pro wrestling.

SarahVOW

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Lad's I'm thinking of going to Japan in January not nailed on or anything just musing at the moment but If I do what's the chances of just rocking up at the Tokyo Dome for the January 4th event and getting a ticket at the door or is Wrestle Kingdom a sell in advance?

Just saw this. It won't sell out the Tokyo Dome is huge. When I was there I got a walk up ticket for the baseball from a stall outside.

You will be able to buy em online beforehand and in Lawson Supermarkets over there. They have a machine in store you can play around with.

Try and see a show in Korakuen hall too, it right beside the Tokyo Dome. Probably my favourite place I've ever watched wrestling.

ERG89

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/896667515765616640?s=09

:cool:

Cherry_Cola

Anyone heading to the ROH War of the Worlds shows next week? I'll be at the Liverpool date alright, looking forward to it.

Lithium93_

Katsuyori Shibata

made his first appearance since April.

Angron

Cherry_Cola wrote: »

Anyone heading to the ROH War of the Worlds shows next week? I'll be at the Liverpool date alright, looking forward to it.

Nah, but I am heading over to see Rev Pro Wrestling's Summer Sizzler. Gonna get to see Jushin Liger live for the first time, which is pretty cool really.

Ali Bomaye

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Katsuyori Shibata

made his first appearance since April.

That was such a beautiful moment when he came out. The reaction of the crowd was unreal.

I'm still buzzing after that Omega/Naito final. I watched it live with the English commentary, then rewatched it later in the day with the Japanese commentary. They had my favourite match of last year in the final night of the blocks, and this match was even better. Amazing that Omega had two five star matches in less than 24 hours. The crowd added so much to the match as well, incredible atmosphere through the whole match.

That Jr tag match was fantastic as well. The Bucks are killing it in njpw this year.

CastorTroy

Would never really watch the Japanese stuff but watched the last couple nights.

Great matches from what I saw. So strange having so little talking.

Dunno how either of those guys were able to walk out of that final match. A lot of those moves looked vicious. And that piledriver on the table spot did not look healthy.

Neil3030

Apparently the botched pile-driver on the table, and the slip into the turnbuckle, were both pre planned (in Naito v Omega). That's taking it to a whole new level - working a botch. I will not at all surprised if this match breaks the 5 star barrier.

CastorTroy

The turn buckle slip looked like a botch at first but when I watched again, I thought it was meant to happen. And not to say they couldn't if it was a botch, but they covered for it brilliantly

Neil3030

Yeah I thought botch too, but according to Meltzer both spots were planned. Consider yourself worked!

Neil3030

Wow - 5 stars for Tanahashi Naito, 6 stars for Omega Okada and 5.75 stars for Omega Naito!!!!

Clegg

It's been an incredible G1 in terms of quality wrestling. For me Naito/Omega was as good as, if not better than Okada/Omega III. But that's just nitpicking really.

Btw Tanahashi adds another 5* match to his collection. But he gets this one having wrestled the entire tournament with a torn bicep. Ace of the Universe indeed.

CastorTroy

So who's next to head for wwe?

Lithium93_

CastorTroy wrote: »

So who's next to head for wwe?

Absolutely bloody no one I hope, why leave a company on the up and up, only to be booked crappy upon eventually arriving on the main roster in WWE.

Neil3030

CastorTroy wrote: »

So who's next to head for wwe?

From a creative perspective, hopefully none.

But from the perspective that a lot of guys have given so much this year, and it'd be great to see them take a nice payday for a kinder schedule, the top contenders would be Omega, Okada, Elgin, Naito and Tanahashi. Realistically, only Omega would be likely to head over, MAYBE Elgin.

Juice Robinson seems to be getting more and more over these days too - one to watch for the future for sure.

Clegg

I can't see any of the top stars leaving. Tanahashi is 40 now. He has a torn bicep and, according Meltzer, an extremely bad back. He's still one of the best wrestlers in the world, but he should save himself for the big matches. Can't see him moving to WWE where their schedule is much more gruelling.

Okada is the face of New Japan now. The only way he leaves is of a mega offer comes his way. Even then he'd probably be more likely to stay. Naito is arguably just as popular and is entering the final stage of a 5 year long story that should culminate in winning the IWGP Title at WrestleKingdom.

Omega would be the most likely to jump ship. He's from North America, is very good at promos and is obviously one of the world's elite wrestlers. He'd fit in well in WWE. But he's the face of New Japan's American expansion and is number 2 or 3 on the card. I think he may stay until he gets the IWGP Title just because it's something he has worked his way towards. From DDT to NJPW's Jr Heavyweight champion, to Intercontinental Champ. It's obviously all a work, but I think the wrestlers in NJPW, at least the top level ones, take enormous pride in thewe championships.

SarahVOW

Agree with the above also most Japanese wrestlers have zero desire to go to WWE. I assume Kenny and the Young Bucks will end up there eventually down the line but right now they are making a lot of money doing their own thing.

Lithium93_

SarahVOW wrote: »

Agree with the above also most Japanese wrestlers have zero desire to go to WWE. I assume Kenny and the Young Bucks will end up there eventually down the line but right now they are making a lot of money doing their own thing.

Plus if The Young Bucks & Kenny were to jump ship, their Being The Elite web series would meet the same fate as Zack Ryder's Long Island Iced Z, and I don't want that..

CastorTroy

Neil3030 wrote: »

Juice Robinson seems to be getting more and more over these days too - one to watch for the future for sure.

You think they would take him back?

I was watching this thinking if this is what Nakamura is capable of, why don't they let him perform like this?

SarahVOW

CastorTroy wrote: »

You think they would take him back?

I was watching this thinking if this is what Nakamura is capable of, why don't they let him perform like this?

Back in New Japan Nakamura had some really great matches but most were just Ok.

He can have great matches but mostly he just deosnt it's not WWE specific imo

beakerjoe

SarahVOW wrote: »

Back in New Japan Nakamura had some really great matches but most were just Ok.

He can have great matches but mostly he just deosnt it's not WWE specific imo

Yes, Nakamura brought his A game in the big NJPW matches, other than that he phoned it in.

Juice Robinson is one to watch but hes still got a long way to go.

But you have to admire him, he was extremely brave cutting his cord with NXT. He say others with indy reps get placed above him time and time again, and he decided to leave to improve. He was never given a chance by any fan when he joined NJPW at first but hes slowly built himself up, learning a craft he seems to really love. It took balls to dow hat he did and hes starting to reap the rewards of his bravery and hard work.

sky88

i think Juice will be back didn't finn or a-train help get him into new japan

tbh i could see most of the foreign guys wanting to work with wwe eventually.

Only Kenny and the young bucks id imagine are on great money through there merch who probaley dont need wwe as there making a bomb.

being closer to home for the foreign guys is always going to be a lure to wwe for them.

not sure any Japanese stars would go but i think theyll be looking closely to how Nakamaura does in the next few years. i think hes been treated good so far. his match quality has been the same as new japan without that 1 or 2 high quality he did ever year.

and hopefully cody dissapears from both new japan & wwe

Neil3030

Have to say that Nakamura wen't downhill very quickly for me in NXT. Anyone else feel his matches became incredibly repetitive? This may be a tad harsh, but were it not for the great tune CFO$, his time in WWE could have looked very different indeed. Sort of the exact opposite to AJ in many respects, who got over huge despite an incredibly dull theme!

Jerichoholic

I don't think anyone who runs WWE actually likes wrestling at all. They've put Nakamura with absolute dirt so far. Ziggler, Corbin now Jinder. Is it any wonder he doesn't give a crap.

It's very easy. Put him against AJ.

It's baffling how they are still making money.

beakerjoe

Jerichoholic wrote: »

I don't think anyone who runs WWE actually likes wrestling at all. They've put Nakamura with absolute dirt so far. Ziggler, Corbin now Jinder. Is it any wonder he doesn't give a crap.

It's very easy. Put him against AJ.

It's baffling how they are still making money.

Absolute dirt? Do you not think your going over board here?

Zigglers a guy who can go with the best of them, Corbin (at the time) looked to be the next on the WWE mega push so it makes sense to have him work with Nak and in the hope Nak can bring the best out of him. I get Corbin isnt the most watchable guy, but hes not terrible either. Jinders in the same boat as Corbin just pushed faster.

I will say WWE booked the feuds badly, but in each feud so far Nak has come off like a big deal something no Japanese star has ever really gotten, esp as a face. His match with Cena was a great TV match.

Summerslam is Nak first big PPV and hes capable of dragging Mahal to a good match. Nak isnt perfect himself, he only steps it up on the big stages anyway or when it suits him.

Put him with AJ? Its been done before sure, Id rather see him go against new oppenents first and its only a few months into his main roster anyway, have patients.

I get there are negatives in WWE and Ive been vocal about them too, but Im vocal about the postives too, something you never seem to. If you are always negative about the product, dont watch.

Or just watch and be negative like you always are, up to you.

Jerichoholic

If you don't like it don't watch.

Really?

beakerjoe

Jerichoholic wrote: »

If you don't like it don't watch.

Really?

Listen its getting off topic, and maybe Im a bit harsh so I apologise. It just seems you only post about the negative things in wrestling. Im no WWE fanboy, its far from a great product in many ways and Ive moaned about my fair share of crap. But I also comeone here any rave about the times WWE get it right. Forgive me as I may be wrong, but the majority of your posts are just negative and you dont seem to like WWE anymore going by your posts to the point were you are always negative.

Thats the last ill say as its not New japan talk

Jerichoholic

Pretty positive in this thread. I don't watch WWE because I find it attrocious these days. I only watch the ppv's and if there's a big match on.
NJPW has been pretty perfect for me all year, I have nothing negative to say about it.

Cherry_Cola

Had a great time at the Liverpool War of the Worlds show.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out there was a meet and greet a few hours before the show so headed along for that. It was 20 quid to meet individual wrestlers which got you a signed pic or personal item and a picture. I'm not a fan of paying for meet and greets generally but I'm sure the cost of getting them all to the UK was steep enough and it was still cheaper than what the US cons would charge.

I went for Naito, Sanada, Takahashi and the Bucks. As I walked to Naito's table, he just said "I remember you, Tokyo!" and I started laughing. I have a distinct look and stood out miles while living in Japan and went to lots of shows so guess they saw me! Total gent, told him about my time in Tokyo, where I lived and he was asking about the different areas and what I liked about them. Having the bit of Japanese really helped too as I got them all to open up a little and chat.

All of them were really cool, Takahashi is a fan of punk and liked my vest as it had a Misfits back patch. I told them all of the punk band I play with in Tokyo and gave them the details of our October tour dates and said they can come along. They all said they will do their best with their schedule which was cool.

Bucks were really sound, plenty time for everyone, great to see them be so successful.

In terms of merch, I was hoping to get it cheaper than the Japanese prices but it wasn't to be. 35 pounds for a BC T-Shirt. Now that's standard in Japan but the quality there is much much better, these were the PWTees versions and noticeably of a lesser quality. I did get a hangman page shirt as I had most of the others from my time in Japan (actually have a spare new Japanese Tekken crossover BC shirt that I'll put on adverts shortly).

Matches were all enjoyable, the one with the CMLL guys was great fun. Crowd was smallish but looked worse on TV than it actually was. Cody was good craic replying to all of us heckling him.

Here I am with Naito:

http://imgur.com/a/Ehd6a

SarahVOW

Wanted to get over myself but some real life stuff got in the way. Glad you had a good time.

Agree on the t-shirt quality I have some proper New Japan shirts that are great quality and ended up buying a UK print one at Rev pro without the lion tag I think it was SPLX not PWT doing them at the time and it washed really poorly, print all cracked and got bobbly really fast.

Neil3030

I really would encourage anyone who is currently disillusioned with the state of WWE (as I was) to take out a NJPW world sub, and rather than watch Raw or Smackdown each week, take 2 hours and go through these classic matches: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsZCBTpKjHzdbCpKZ1No1KAdpmOd2OcgSMfC1-oa7pI/edit#gid=0

Jerichoholic

Neil3030 wrote: »

I really would encourage anyone who is currently disillusioned with the state of WWE (as I was) to take out a NJPW world sub, and rather than watch Raw or Smackdown each week, take 2 hours and go through these classic matches: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsZCBTpKjHzdbCpKZ1No1KAdpmOd2OcgSMfC1-oa7pI/edit#gid=0

That's f'n great to have. Cheers!

Neil3030

Watching AJ's 2014 series with Okada today - two great matches (3/5/14 and 25/5/14).

Neil3030

Anyone watch KOPW? Pretty good show overall - main event wasn't the best (I just don't buy the Evil gimmick, it's ridiculous) but there were plenty of solid matches on the card - Ospreay v Kushida was class, and I really liked the triple threat for the heavyweight tag titles.

ERG89

Naito vs Okada was never in doubt so maybe it lacked the drama but I enjoyed both the main & co-main.
I'm wondering who this switchblade guy is but it's supposedly Jay Wight back from incursions.

Love Evil myself though. The vtr for the main was so cool

Jerichoholic

Some say Switchblade might be Sami Callaghan. I hope it's not. Don't really see anything in that guy.

Ali Bomaye

I thought Evil/Okada was excellent, though I think it is important to have seen the G1 match between the two before watching this one. All of the big moves Evil hit Okada with in that first match, Okada had a counter for here.

The Heavyweight tag title match was very good, but that division has been so poorly booked. They had the same teams in a triple threat tag title match on all three Destruction shows. Those Destruction shows in the build up to King of Pro Wrestling were dull. Fukushima was bad, and Hiroshima wasn't much better. These Sumo Hall shows always seem to deliver though. The last three matches were all great, though the last two being so predictable didn't help.

I'm glad to see that they're actually doing something with Ospreay. NJPW have wasted Ospreay until now. Having one of the top talents in the world wasting away in undercard tags for over a year was criminal. Annoying to see the constant goofy undercard stuff with Hiromu as well, he looked like such a top star for the first half of the year. Sad to see Ricochet go, I loved his team with Taguchi.

ERG89

Great video on Naito's path to the Wrestle Kingdom 12 main event

Lithium93_

Kazuchika Okada has reached 490 days in his 4th reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

https://twitter.com/rainmakerXokada/status/922063232096804864

490 days.
Thank you.