The Puroresu (Japanese Wrestling) thread

beakerjoe

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Maybe this will come across as shilling (I can assure you I'm not being paid by New Japan) but I do think its worth mentioning that NJPW World have added the Nakamura and Okada vs The Briscoes and Bullet Club (AJ Styles and Young Bucks) vs The Kingdom and Adam Cole from the War of the World shows. They've also posted matches from Tetsuya Naito's excursion in CMLL and, as already mentioned here, are broadcasting a raft of shows in July and August (of particular excitement being the G1). A more enjoyable and comprehensive wrestling streaming service there could not be, it's worth every penny of that €8

Sir that is not Shilling,it is however extremly helpful.

Machismo Fan

G1 Blocks:

A Block:
Togi Makabe
Hiroshi Tenzan
Toru Yano
Doc Gallows
Bad Luck Fale
Tetsuya Naito
Katsuyori Shibata
Kota Ibushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi
AJ Styles

B Block:
Hirooki Goto
Satoshi Kojima
Yuji Nagata
Tomoaki Honma
Michael Elgin
Karl Anderson
Yujiro Takahashi
Tomohiro Ishii
Shinsuke Nakamura
Kazuchika Okada

The likes of Tanahashi/Ibushi, Nak/Okada, Shibata/Styles, Styles/Ibushi, Ishii/Goto and so much more to look forward to in the next month.

Andersonisgod

The blocks look great, I know some people were disappointed when the participants were announced because they were similar to last years tournament but last years G1 was incredible. The announcement of the blocks has pretty much washed all bad feeling away, seeing the fresh matchups and matchups that haven't been seen in some time makes me think this is going to be an amazing tournament.

I don't know if anyone caught Dominion this morning, started at 7:40am (I got up, loved it but am paying the price now) I'd love to run through the show but I don't want to spoil.

Machismo Fan

The finishing stretch of both the Nakamura/Goto and particularly the Styles Okada matches were superb. The Styles/Okada finish was pure electricity.

beakerjoe

Machismo Fan wrote: »

The finishing stretch of both the Nakamura/Goto and particularly the Styles Okada matches were superb. The Styles/Okada finish was pure electricity.

Have avoided all spoilers of Dominion so far, looking forward to catching up later this evening.

8 months on from having a babty and I feel Im (almost) up to date now with most pro wrestling happenings. This week Ive watch Raw, NXT, Impact, ROH tv (Cole v Styles was a good main event, my first time seeing those two 1 on 1) and Beast in the East. Dominion will be a nice way to top it off.

zenarcadian

Anyone here watching current-day All Japan? I know NJPW is the **** and all, but AJPW have a nice little show cooking with what's left of their roster and resources.

Ageyev

Not sure if this pic is big enough but, NJPW G1 Climax tourney begins in the morning at 7am.

ERG89

Anyone watch the G1 Day One? Haven't seen it but yet Shibata vs. Styles and Tanahashi vs. Ishii must have been great

Andersonisgod

Really good opening night. A couple of the tag matches were a lot of fun, lazy Tetsuya Naito might be the best thing in wrestling right now, the last two matches on the show were killer. What a month this will be.

jaykhunter

LAW/Review-a-Wai/Fight Network's John Pollock is doing his G1 post-show review podcasts again this year!



Day 1 Podcast: http://fightnetwork.com/news/58166:law-g-1-climax-day-1-podcast-with-john-pollock/

Machismo Fan

This is official for the G1 Finals show. Their match last year was awesome:

Agent Coulson

Good news for NJPW in America.

AXS TV Fights and New Japan Pro Wrestling have extended their agreement to air the promotion in the United States.

LOS ANGELES – July 23, 2015 – AXS TV FIGHTS today announced a multi-year agreement with TV Asahi to continue to air the hit series NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (NJPW), which first premiered on the network in January. As a part of the agreement, AXS TV adds 17 additional episodes to its current season, bringing the total number aired in 2015 to 42.

Starting Aug. 14 through the end of the year, NJPW episodes feature matches from Destruction in Kobe, King of Pro-Wrestling 2014, Power Struggle 2014, World Tag League 2014, Wrestle Kingdom 9, Fantasticamania 2015, The New Beginning in Osaka 2015 and The New Beginning in Sendai. Former UFC heavyweight champion and NJPW veteran Josh Barnett and renowned combat sports commentator Mauro Ranallo, will continue to provide their critically acclaimed commentary for the series.

In the past 12 months, AXS TV expanded its Friday night combat sports and professional wrestling programming line-up, adding the hour-long NJPW series at 9 p.m. ET along with two new promotions, CES MMA and Legacy Kickboxing, to its weekly, live AXS TV FIGHTS broadcasts at 10 p.m. ET. The network is on pace to broadcast 41 live MMA, Muay Thai and Kickboxing events this year, the most in its history and more than any other U.S. television network in 2015.

Additionally, in the past year AXS TV FIGHTS has increased its global presence with agreements to broadcast its combat sports events in over 15 countries, including live broadcasts of Resurrection Fighting Alliance to the Fight Network in Canada and Legacy Fighting Championship to Esporte Interativo in Brazil.

“With this multi-year agreement, AXS TV is poised to offer a more diverse combat sports and professional wrestling programming line-up than any other TV network, offering an exciting mix of exclusive live events, New Japan Pro Wrestling and MMA news coverage,” said Andrew Simon, CEO of AXS TV FIGHTS. “We are humbled by the viewer’s and media’s response to Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett’s commentary and presentation of the series and are excited to continue to work with our great partners at TV Asahi and NJPW for years to come.”

Andersonisgod

Great news, the more diverse wrestling programmes available the better, and Ranallo and Barnett are terrific plus those subtitled sit down interviews they do have with the wrestlers are pure gold.

Day 2 of the G1 occurred earlier and was broadcast live on New Japan World, it was a single camera show (so no commentary and shot entirely with the hard camera) of which there will be 4 out of the 19 G1 shows. While it does tend to detract from the action, I'd argue that the quality of the tournament matches may have been higher overall than the previous day, though I don't think any match got to the level of Tanahashi vs Ibushi or Styles vs Shibata, Okada vs Elgin and Nakamura vs Karl Anderson are well worth watching.

Roll on day 3 and Naito vs Shibata!

Andersonisgod

G1 Day 3 occurred earlier today. It had a full range of cameras but no commentary, likely due to Samurai TV, though the lack of commentary didn't really make all that much of a difference. The show was a big improvement on Day 2 in terms of in ring action, crowd reactions and production quality. I'd say that almost every match on the card (bar one) was above 3 stars, with AJ Styles showing his ability to work with just about any opponent (Toru Yano on this occasion) and make it great, Shibata and Naito having a cracker of a match and Tenzan giving it absolutely everything he has left in the main event of a show in his hometown against the always brilliant ace of the company, Tanahashi, make all 3 of the final matches well worth your time. The undercard was really fun too, all of the tag matches delivered, from top to bottom this was the best show of the tournament thus far.

On a side note, I'm 12/15 with my predictions, reasonably happy with that.

den87

Lads can any of ye make a list of what ye would consider "must see" from the G1 so far? Please and thanks.

Machismo Fan

den87 wrote: »

Lads can any of ye make a list of what ye would consider "must see" from the G1 so far? Please and thanks.

The first post of this thread will be updated after every show with a spoiler free list of the best matches: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=150

Andersonisgod

I dunno if anyone caught the show from earlier today? The main event between Tanahashi and Shibata was the standout thing on the card, it was an incredible match, maybe the best match of the tournament so far (high praise indeed) I really can't emphasise enough just how much I like Katsuyori Shibata, I mark out for his entrance alone, everytime they give him a chance to shine he grabs it with both hands, another stunning performance here in this one.

I also really enjoyed Yano Toru mocking Naito (Los Ingobernables!) and Naito's continued excellent character work. Also AJ Styles vs Tenzan was really enjoyable, it's for his big match performances that Styles has been getting mounds of praise lately but this match was a different example of why he might be one of the best western wrestlers ever, Tenzan has been a loyal NJPW guy for over 2 decades, he's given it his all in each of his tournament matches but he's so broken down that it can be hard to watch him work at times, Styles carried this match to perfection like the world class pro that he is, the leader of the Bullet Club can do no wrong at the moment, he's in the prime of his career, he's a proven draw in Japan and on the independent circuit, anyone who hasn't seen him since he left TNA should go out of their way to watch his work, he's Ric Flair in 1989, he's Shawn Michael's mid 2000's, he's the premier western wrestler of his generation.

Though it may seem that most of my eulogizing has gone to Styles I've always got something left in the tank for Shibata.

Machismo Fan

The wry smile on Nagata's face when he limbo-ed beneath Okada's lariat is my favourite thing in the whole tournament so far.
https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/631430282181275649

Andersonisgod

Machismo Fan wrote: »

The wry smile on Nagata's face when he limbo-ed beneath Okada's lariat is my favourite thing in the whole tournament so far.
https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/631430282181275649

That pre-G1 limbo training paid dividends there.

den87

Can someone point me in the direction of where to watch AJ Vs Tana and Okada Vs Naka (semi-finals), finding them hard to locate.

I watched the final itself earlier and thought it was sloppy as hell. What did everyone else think of it?

Andersonisgod

den87 wrote: »

Can someone point me in the direction of where to watch AJ Vs Tana and Okada Vs Naka (semi-finals), finding them hard to locate.

I watched the final itself earlier and thought it was sloppy as hell. What did everyone else think of it?

I didn't want to spoil for anyone that hasn't seen yet but it's been a little while now so I'm gonna comment freely on the climax of the G1 (see what I did there.....no?....look closer, see it now? Ah it doesn't matter anyway)

The final 3 nights of the G1 (all of them at Sumo Hall) was as close to wrestling heaven as you'll get. In terms of storytelling (the kind of storytelling that has spanned years), drama and high quality action, these last 3 nights blow away everything else. Styles vs Tanahashi and Okada vs Nakamura (along with Ishii vs Elgin which is a true MOTY contender) were fantastic, but the lasting impression of this G1 will forever be that G1 final.

I don't want to get overly-poetic or sound preachy but it was perfect, just perfect. In front of a red hot Ryogoku Kokugikan crowd, NJPW raised the stakes pre match by introducing Masahiro Chono and Keji Mutoh to the crowd and having them commentate the main event, a symbolic gesture as two of the original three musketeers watched on as two of the three new musketeers had the defining match of their generation. So that was the stage set. In terms of competitors, Tanahashi and Nakamura were perfect, Tanahashi the ace of the company for a decade, Nakamura his long time rival. Tanahashi the most popular guy on the roster for so long, Nakamura perhaps has begun to surpass him. Two entirely different, yet two massively popular wrestlers, the commentary stressed the importance of both men to the rejuvenation of NJPW. The match was tremendous, I mean just awesome, I could go through it literally minute for minute and detail why it was so good but there's really not much need for that, I'll just say this was peak Nakamura and peak Tanahashi. For me, this was the full 5 stars and is right up there with Nakamura vs Ibushi, HARASHIMA vs Ibushi, O'Reilly vs Kushida and Satomura vs Hojo as a MOTY contender.

I know some were a bit disappointed by the result and, while Nakamura is my favourite wrestler, I am happy that they've gone with this story. Okada is the champion but he is not yet the ace of the company, nor can he be until he defeats Tanahashi in the Tokyo Dome. He's tried twice, he failed twice, the second time he left a broken man in tears, this whole year has been the story of Okada rising back up the ranks, showing a new side to himself, becoming more humble and building himself back up again. Now he will meet Tanahashi again, the score between the two is 3-3-1, but the score at the Tokyo Dome is 2-0 in Tanahashi's favour. It's the passing of the torch in NJPW. This was just too good a story for NJPW to pass up on, one they have been telling for years and it needed a conclusion. The beauty of long term booking on full display.

This message was a bit longer than first anticipated but ye, fantastic tournament, which concluded with my personal favourite match that I've seen this year.

Bluftoni

Great, great, great match. I wonder, did Meltzer go the full five stars for it?

I have it just under five due to a few unsmooth exchanges.

Realpaul

Meltzer did give it five he also gave both Tana vs Styles and Okada vs Nakamura from the other two sumo hall shows ****3/4.

I went just under ***** for Nakamura vs Tanahashi too mainly for the botched flying armbar spot but apart from that the match was superb.

Bluftoni

Oh thank you for the info. Oooh, always nice when Dave bestows the big honour from on high.

Myself, had AJ and Tanahashi at 4.75, Nakamura/Okada at 4.25-4.5 and the final at 4.75.

I was absolutely chuffed that Tanahashi won the tournament. Going in, I was a bigger fan of Nakamura, but I felt his performances were a little lacking in the round robin phase.

Meanwhile, Tanahashi is ripping it up and I just loved watching after his victories and his rapport with the crowd. I hadn't seen the stuff with towels before and he just comes across as a fantastic all-round entertainer and good guy.

Palo Alto

Nakamura was injured to be fair.

Andersonisgod

Bluftoni wrote: »

Oh thank you for the info. Oooh, always nice when Dave bestows the big honour from on high.

Myself, had AJ and Tanahashi at 4.75, Nakamura/Okada at 4.25-4.5 and the final at 4.75.

I was absolutely chuffed that Tanahashi won the tournament. Going in, I was a bigger fan of Nakamura, but I felt his performances were a little lacking in the round robin phase.

Meanwhile, Tanahashi is ripping it up and I just loved watching after his victories and his rapport with the crowd. I hadn't seen the stuff with towels before and he just comes across as a fantastic all-round entertainer and good guy.

Nakamura definitely appeals more to an older audience than Tanahashi does (Swagsuke is also my favourite wrestler) but nobody can deny Tanahashi's charm, he comes always comes across so likable and humble, you're left in no doubt that he cares about all of his fans and, even if some fans boo him during his match, after the match they all applaud and respect the effort he puts in. He had a fantastic tournament, especially considering that some thought he was finished as a top level performer, he won it and he was also the MVP of the tournament.

On Nakamura, the arm injury hampered him a crazy amount, the way he was bumping, the slight winces whenever there was pressure on his arm were all too real. Up until the Okada match we were basically watching Nakamura in second gear, he knew what was to come and he was preserving his body for those final two epic matches and it was worth it. Obviously it wont go down as his best tournament from a match quality POV but in terms of heart and fighting spirit this was really something else.

Finally, delighted that Tanahashi vs Nakamura got the full 5 stars, I'd tend to agree 100% with that assessment, given the stage, the historical importance of the match, the nostalgic feel to the whole thing and the quality in the ring I think it warrants the highest rating, epic is the word that describes it.

den87

On first watch i think Okada/Nakamura is my match of the year, will give Tana/Nakamura another viewing though. Still have a lot to get through. Any recommendations based on you guys' favourites?

Realpaul

Tanahashi vs Styles from the first sumo hall show was my favourite G1 match.Ishii vs Elgin from the same show as Okada vs Nakamura is great too.

Palo Alto

I loved Naito Tanahashi a lot.

beakerjoe

With The Destruction Tour kicking off soon, Ive written a piece on Juice Robinson, the former CJ Parker who is joining up with NJPW for the first time in his career.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2015/09/03/the-rebuilding-of-cj-parker/

Its a big opportunity for the man and I am interested to see how he fairs.