Wrestle Kingdom 12 Hype thread ft. Chris Jericho v Kenny Omega

[#BROKEN Hasney]

https://i.imgur.com/EfXdZYy.png

I mean, we all knew their Twitter feud was a work, but I thought it was going to announce a match on his cruise.

January 4th 2018 for the IWGP US belt will be the first time Jericho has wrestled outside of WWE since 1999. This is a personal dream match for me.

[Bad News Gertner]

And it'll be a 3 star match just like every Jericho match from the past ten years.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Probably, I have this idea in my head that Jericho shakes off the WWE style for one night only and brings it to a 4 star instead.

[Bad News Gertner]

If he can dial back to his feud with HBK that'd be great

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah, the card is also so stacked that it will probably be the worst match of the post-intermission matches anyway.

Okada V Naito
Omega V Jericho
Tanahashi V Jay White
Ospreay V Marty Scurll V Kushida V Takahashi
Young Bucks V R3K

[Evil Vito]

*throws money at TV screen*

[#BROKEN Hasney]

*throws money at TV screen*

For the low low price of only 999

Yen.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

This is the video that played after Omega beat Trent Baretta

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NJPW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NJPW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NJWK12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NJWK12</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmJericho?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IAmJericho</a> <a href="https://t.co/kRRpRWzsCq">pic.twitter.com/kRRpRWzsCq</a></p>&mdash; LARIATOOOO!!!! (@MrLARIATO) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/927140603477086208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Lock Jaw]

Nice Eleven cosplay

[Maluco]

This is interesting to me from the perspective of WWE, always letting him come and go when he wants and having a lot of freedom, presumably in return for some sort of loyalty and being a company man.

No real sympathy for WWE, but I do find it interesting if he has made this deal without their knowledge. Doubt they would be happy about it.

[Jordan]

Good for him. This is going to be fucking awesome. And as far as WWE goes, why should they really care? He's already promoting his own show on the cruise ship like crazy. The guy wants to make money off his fame, have at it Jericho! This match will be epic.

[Evil Vito]

Gonna go ahead and book the day off. No way I can't watch this live.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Probably won't be able to get the day off, but going to work from home at day for sure.

[Evil Vito]

If the G1 Semis are any indication, the show will end sometime in the first hour or two of my my workday, so hypothetically I could feign a doctor's appointment and just go in after. But like fuck am I gonna want to go in after getting up at 3 AM or whatever.

[James Steele]

Holy sh*t.

[Maluco]

Good for him. This is going to be fucking awesome. And as far as WWE goes, why should they really care? He's already promoting his own show on the cruise ship like crazy. The guy wants to make money off his fame, have at it Jericho! This match will be epic.

I am not saying he is wrong to make money of his name as a performer, while he can. Not at all.

WWE, however, have always frowned upon guys doing their own thing, especially in wrestling. This is putting eyes on a potential rival product, American eyes. That seems to be something that would really rattle Vince.

Given the relationship they have had recently, I can definitely see them being disappointed about it and this time they may have a valid reason to be upset with him given their relationship and freedom he was given.

I am not complaining at all though and would love a real competitor to emerge. So the more eyes on other products, for me, the better

[Destor]

Hope Omegas back can handle it

[Bad News Gertner]

People waaaaay over-rate how good Jericho is in the ring

[Destor]

He was great in the ring...in the 90s.

But a marquee level njpw main event with the best worker in the world in 2017?

Gonna be a long day in the office for Omega.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Don't know how long this has been in the works for as they were seemingly building towards Omega V Ibushi for ages. Now it's Omega/Jericho though, Cody beat up abd challenged Ibushi after the event.

[Fignuts]

I'm with Hasney. I can see Jericho being more creative and wrestling a more interesting match without the WWE style shackling him.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I think we're going to see an OG Liontamer and I will jizz everywhere and be happy.

[Simple Fan]

Fucking cool. Hopefully Jericho steps it up in the ring, going to have to if he wants it keep up with Kenny.

[Evil Vito]

I can understand the argument that NJPW are "pulling a WWE" by bringing in a big name from the outside to shoehorn into a match at the biggest show of the year just to try to bring in new viewers.

But bringing in new viewers is the name of the game. It's not like they've awkwardly shoehorned Jericho into Okada/Naito.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah and they've re-debuted another of their homegrown talents to challenge Tanahashi for the IC belt, which is a pretty big deal too.

I like it when WWE does bring in names as long as they have the other matches to work around it and they don't always do at Mania. Even if Jericho brings it, it still might only be the 4th best match on the card with what else they've booked.

[Evil Vito]

Exactly. They will probably get people to drop 999 just for Jericho/Omega, and all the other amazing stuff could get them to keep watching.

[Evil Vito]

I would've liked to see Omega/Ibushi as much as the next guy.....but fuck, it's Omega/Jericho! Omega/Ibushi can happen in Long Beach or something.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Jericho just has to brawl more than anything else. Trying to do his old schtick as a catch as catch can speed/technical guy is just going to make him look silly.

Just lay in the offence nice and snug, bump with intensity, hit the ropes hard, and keep the transitions basic and smooth. Kenny will take care of the rest.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

He's not under a no-compete clause with WWE?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Nope. Even his last appearance was just a contract for that night as his short term deal had expired.

[XL]

Not gonna lie, this has caught my interest.

[Fignuts]

I am not saying he is wrong to make money of his name as a performer, while he can. Not at all.

WWE, however, have always frowned upon guys doing their own thing, especially in wrestling. This is putting eyes on a potential rival product, American eyes. That seems to be something that would really rattle Vince.

Given the relationship they have had recently, I can definitely see them being disappointed about it and this time they may have a valid reason to be upset with him given their relationship and freedom he was given.

I am not complaining at all though and would love a real competitor to emerge. So the more eyes on other products, for me, the better

Given how Jericho describes his relationship with vince, I doubt he didn't in him about it beforehand.

[Evil Vito]

I'm seriously so stoked for his.

Despite Jericho being my favorite wrestler ever, I can admit he hasn't had a match that felt like a classic since WM28. I loved his most recent run and that was almost entirely due to his character work. It's not like his matches during that run sucked, but it was nothing that knocked my socks off.

A motivated Jericho without the WWE shackles seriously sounds interesting. Even if this match doesn't prove to be a classic, I have no doubt these two will figure out a way to put together something fun.

[Maluco]

Given how Jericho describes his relationship with vince, I doubt he didn't in him about it beforehand.

I can't see him being given permission for something like this. Time will tell I guess, everything seems to come out eventually, but I can't see any situation in which Vince thinks this would be OK.

[Simple Fan]

Jericho has been more than a good spokesperson for WWE when he isn't around. Has even done the job for multiple talent once returning to which the company has failed to capitalize on. Funny the guy that put him over is in the best shape of the bunch.

[Emperor Smeat]

Nice. Promo was pretty good by Jericho and using the "Best in the World" moniker is a really good way to help cement Omega's greatness even more.

[Helmsphere]

I'm not going to admit, This did it's job and got me wanting to check out. I mean I've checked out a few New Japan things but never have watched it, However Jericho has got me wanting to view this.

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah, Jericho hasn't really been all that great for years now but I think a large part of that is due to him just not really caring. I can't imagine a guy like him who grew up in the business when it was at its hottest can muster up any genuine excitement or motivation working for WWE nowadays. Guy's gotta just be collecting a check at this point.

I have a feeling that won't be a problem in this case though.

[Destor]

As always everyone's fault but the worker

Also I dropped njpw world a day before this announcement. App needs some serious work. Intended to do a month in Jan for wrestle kingdom tho

[Tom Guycott]

Nice Eleven cosplay

... mouth-breather.

[Tom Guycott]

I am not saying he is wrong to make money of his name as a performer, while he can. Not at all.

WWE, however, have always frowned upon guys doing their own thing, especially in wrestling. This is putting eyes on a potential rival product, American eyes. That seems to be something that would really rattle Vince.

Given the relationship they have had recently, I can definitely see them being disappointed about it and this time they may have a valid reason to be upset with him given their relationship and freedom he was given.

I am not complaining at all though and would love a real competitor to emerge. So the more eyes on other products, for me, the better

An even bigger point of contention is the whole Elite/WWE backstage nonsense with cease and desists and firing a guy that most people wouldn't have even noticed for taking a pic with them.

Jericho is a far bigger star than can truly be negatively affected by Vince & co. being petty at this juncture, and this is something wrestling *needs*.

Hope Omegas back can handle it

Are you insinuating he's going to be carrying Chris, or are you speculating Jericho will bust out the Liontamer from his list of 1004 holds for this one?

[Destor]

Both will occur

[Tom Guycott]

I don't think so.

As much as both poo-pooing and overslurping Jericho happens, he's well above par in the ring. It's just a matter of not having too many people to go up against (much like chess, iron sharpens iron) and the watered down laziness of the WWE style makes him seem a lot worse than he actually is. I made an example of Cena before in this area where he is actually a better wrestler than people realize (and has had a few "surprising" matches), but he doesn't have to do it much because the lazy gimmick and the autopilot moveset has worked for well over a decade, so why change up with the cash still rolling in?

I don't doubt at all this will be a great match, but I do seriously doubt Kenny will have to do some "heavy lifting" here. Not like Chris is some over the hill veteran who can barely move anymore.

[Lock Jaw]

I, for one, still really enjoyed Jericho's matches against Ambrose, Styles, and Owens......

Him doing this might actually get me to pay attention to NJPW, for at least one match and one night anyways.

[Tom Guycott]

WWE had "A Beast in the East"... now NJPW will have "A Sexy Beast in the East!"

[DaveWadding]

KENNY OMEGA, YOU JUST MADE THE LIST!

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Worth noting for people thinking about jumping on NJPW World for this is thst their billing is weird. You pay when you sign up, but then on the 1st of the month every month. So if you wanted it before WK12 to check some things out, may s well do it now rather than the end of the month. If you just want it for WK12, do it on the 1st of Jan.

Also, Wrestle Kingdom is long. Wrestlemania long. But it works in two halves where the undercard matches are on for a few hours, usually including a royal rumble with no stakes at the start, made watchable by SCOTT FUCKING NORTON last year. Then they have a literal piss break in the form of intermission before getting into the bigger matches.

If I get some time over next weekend, I'm going to start writing some primers for each match explaining the history of each guy in one of the main events and listing some of their best matches.

[Destor]

Undercard is great too imo.


Again the only reason I dropped NJPW World is due to the UI being so poor. The content is great.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah, I dig the undercard too, just I know some people will burn out if they watch any one thing for that long.

[hb2k]

This is a bit of a weird one. I mean, a great coup for Jericho and Omega given the number of eyes it'll get on the show with expansion being a key for 2018. But I can't help but feel that with the benefit of hindsight, they probably should have saved Ibushi/Tanahashi for the Dome as well. White and Cody just don't do it for me as their opponents, and I imagine they dropped the previous plan of Omega/Ibushi on a dime for the Jericho match.

[Destor]

Business wise Jericho is the rigth call all day everyday...but for a match aspect...and me as a mark Ibushi would have been much better.


Follow the money though.

[Emperor Smeat]

Wouldn't be surprised if this is due to Ibushi still not wanting to commit to NJPW even with them dangling a high profile match with Omega as an incentive for a while.

NJPW loses out on Omega-Ibushi at the Dome but potentially have that match available for other future events like the next G1 Special in the US.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I watched the video about ten times. I cannot believe this is happening. Jericho wrestling outside the WWE for the first time this millennium is the attraction for me. Do I expect it to be a great match? Not in the traditional wrestling sense, but I do have stronger emotions about it than any Jericho match in a long, long time.

I'm fairly certain this is bucket list stuff. Jericho wants to get in the ring with Omega and there is no time like the present. He's going to be the best he can be. Go in with low expectations and this will exceed them. I'm so fucking exhausted of everyone trying to have the best match on the card too. It'd be nice if more people focused on telling a story. Jericho's creativity will be put to good use here.

The rest of the card? I'm going to sound like a cynic, but Tanahashi/Jay White sounds like a waste of Tanahashi. I'm not trying to talk shit about Jay White -- I've never really watched him, and I'm happy for a New Zealand guy to get exposure. Okada came out of nowhere too and that's worked out for them. It's just not shaping up to be the super-card you'd expect outside Okada/Naito. Even if they were doing Tanahashi against someone else and Switchblade against Ibushi. Something about The Ace going against a new gimmick just feels rushed.

I'm still shocked Jericho, as an artist, has chosen someone other than WWE. I'm sure Vince knew about this, don't get me wrong, but nothing has been able to lure Jericho away before.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Jericho and NJPW had a deal in place since August for Jericho to make an appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

WWE might have also played a role in this decision since Jericho contacted them to lend some NXT stars for his boat cruise and they rejected it because they refused to work with NJPW and ROH and also for Jericho's idea in general for a cruise.

http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/chris-jericho-wrestle-kingdom-deal/#.WgCJk91mPIU


In regards to Ibushi-Omega, rumor going around the net is NJPW wants the match to occur at the next US event for the company.

[Evil Vito]

I know nothing about Jay White. Having seen his reveal as Switchblade, it seems kinda weird seeing a guy who looks like a clear babyface (right down to actually having a babyface) portraying a stab-happy bad guy.

Having said that, they clearly think very highly of him to throw him straight into a match with Tanahashi at the biggest show of the year, so I'll give it a shot.

[Evil Vito]

So 6 matches have been booked (7 if you count the pre-show New Japan Rumble), and likely at least 3 more to come since all of the titles are contested on the show.

Suzuki I assume will defend the NEVER Openweight against someone from Chaos, probably Ishii or Goto.

LIJ would then defend the 6-man belts against another Chaos contingent, probably whoever isn't fighting Suzuki between Ishii/Goto along with Yoshi-Hashi and Yano. Although maybe they give Beretta a spot after his great showing against Omega.

The IWGP Tag Titles, who the hell knows. There are so many directions they can go with the G1 Tag League to set up #1 contendership.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Killer Elite Squad are the current champions. I imagine that GoD will be in there. I imagine that they'll want a Japanese team in there too. Looking at the G1 Tag League, I could see it being Goto & Yoshi-Hashi. Maybe they take GoD out of the match and just have it be straight-forward for the belts? That could actually be a pretty nice match.

That leaves Suzuki with Ishii, which would be a fucking sick match.

Six-man belts are held by Bushi, Evil and Sanada, so I can see them going against Beretta and maybe...fuck, maybe Elgin & Jeff Cobb? Or maybe they want some Japanese legends on the show there. I dunno, but I think LIJ against Beretta, Elgin & Cobb would be nice.

Throw in a giant tag team match to get others on the card. Maybe GoD, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Hangman Page vs. Togi Makabe, Henare, Yuji Nagata & Tencozy. I dunno.

Could be a really solid show.

[Fignuts]

Probably not gonna happen, but I would really like Iishi to get a run with IWGP title. Even if it's a short run. Dude deserves it. Been putting in work for years, and is one of the most fun people to watch on the roster. ANd given the roster, that's saying a lot.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've heard tremendous things about Ishii. Are people sure that they are switching the belt to Naito at Wrestle Kingdom? Even so, I can see someone like Ishii winning it throughout the year.

[Fignuts]

Naito is winning that thing. Not gonna say it's a 100% lock, but it's close. Naito is the #1 merch seller right now, and is over like crazy. Plus Naito winning the title at WK is a great story, given his backstory.

[Evil Vito]

Yeah, Okada's reign has to end someday and it's Naito's time.

What I'm not sure of is where Okada goes from here. There is quite frankly nothing left for him to accomplish in NJPW. He'll churn out great matches no matter what they do with him but it's tough to imagine him competing for a secondary title even though secondary titles in NJPW are way more prestigious than WWE's secondary titles.

I'm sure we'll hear Okada to WWE rumors but they'd turn him into just another guy so fast it'll make your head spin.

[Destor]

There is nothing about Okada that would work in the fed. It wouldnt be their fault. He needs to stay where is he is.

[Destor]

changed the thread title to match the direction the thread has taken

[Evil Vito]

I don't want to see anyone go to WWE tbh. Well I mean, I do if money is someone's top motivator but I'm sure they're looking at Nakamura right now and realizing that the higher pay will come at the sacrifice of artistic expression and being anything more than just another spoke in the wheel.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, Okada's reign has to end someday and it's Naito's time.

What I'm not sure of is where Okada goes from here. There is quite frankly nothing left for him to accomplish in NJPW. He'll churn out great matches no matter what they do with him but it's tough to imagine him competing for a secondary title even though secondary titles in NJPW are way more prestigious than WWE's secondary titles.

I'm sure we'll hear Okada to WWE rumors but they'd turn him into just another guy so fast it'll make your head spin.

Don't they have Okada signed on for like five years at $2 million a year? He's not going anywhere. I don't follow New Japan as closely as others here, but I'm not even certain he's losing the belt. Isn't his reign the longest in company history right now? Is it getting tired? It seems like New Japan has been onwards and upwards. You don't want to keep it on him too long, but with the idea to get so many new eyeballs onto the company with the Jericho appearance, Gedo might want to put the franchise player over.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I just did some research into how long Nakamura is signed to the WWE for. Apparently the Observer reported it was 3 years. I wondered if we were coming up to a potential release for him.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I just did some research into how long Nakamura is signed to the WWE for. Apparently the Observer reported it was 3 years. I wondered if we were coming up to a potential release for him.

Honestly, I think he'll re-sign unless the travel schedule is too much. He doesn't feel like he has to go out there and either kill himself or others with the style he works and more than likely earns a decent chunk of change more than he did between NJPW and indie appearances.

He's 37 now. I think he'll sign another contract on top and then maybe have a legend run in NJPW.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It wouldn't surprise me. It's hard to gauge the success of Nakamura. In one sense, he feels a lot "colder" on the internet. It feels like they've stifled the things that made him Nakamura and lent him the perception of being the most charismatic guy in wrestling. On the other hand, they've put him over Cena and Orton, compared him to Cena (he sort of got put symbolically in Cena's place after WrestleMania) and I'm sure he's known more to fans in the US now.

WWE doesn't want tall nails, they want guys to be "WWE over" in the sense that they feel part of the show. Since he's feeling quite gentrified, it really does feel like he's part of the show. Maybe this is all part of their plan? I mean, all he needs to do is go out there and have another blinder with Zayn or one with Styles and people will be on his dick again.

Culture shock can be huge for Japanese guys too. I was reading an article about how there's actually a name for the depression they often get when they go abroad. It's possible that Nakamura is still adjusting to being on the road so far from Japan, etc.

I dunno, maybe WWE considers him a roaring a success by their own metrics, which are the only metrics that really matter to them. So it wouldn't surprise me if he is re-signed and spends the rest of his career there. It also wouldn't surprise me if this time next year reports bubble that he's massively unhappy, feels suffocated as an artist and wants to go back to New Japan.

[Evil Vito]

One thing I have to give credit to Nakamura for is that he recognizes that sometimes less is more. He can ease it back and he'll still get the desired reaction. It's led to the perception in some circles of the internet that he's lazy and phoning it in, but I really don't think that's the truth. He's just smart enough to know he needs to pace himself with the WWE travel schedule what it is, and that it's dumb to kill himself in a 20 minute TV match nobody is going to remember the next week.

I actually feel bad for the guys and gals who go balls out on TV every week. As a viewer, I already know I don't have to pay attention to the first part of the match because I know nothing important will happen as they're just gonna get the match to ad break. Then they wrestle all through ad break, and maybe I'll start to pay attention once they're back from ad. So by this point they've been wrestling a good 10-12 minutes before I started to care, and then they often throw in a bunch of unnecessary dives and high spots for a match that isn't gonna mean anything.

[Evil Vito]

I'm not saying WWE need to go back to the Attitude Era days of every TV match being wrapped up within 3 minutes, but they should find a happy medium between than and having longass matches that don't really advance the story.

NJPW do that really well with all the tag matches they run on their undercard. It gives the fans the chance to see everyone and they find a way to advance the stories during those matches without anyone needing to kill themselves. Imagine how many of the 40+ year old wrestlers on the NJPW roster would have to be retired by now if they needed to work WWE style matches every night no matter what.

By extension it also makes the singles matches feel like a big deal. PPVs just feel like another Raw or SD because watching people wrestle 1 on 1 in a long form match is something that happens each and every show.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's nice to see you're coming around to that viewpoint, Vito. :y:

The other myth circulating around the internet I see way too much of is that Brock is lazy and can't work anymore. It's infuriating, haha. If you do everything you've got every week, suddenly it stops mattering. Everybody in the WWE wrestles the same match and I don't get how they expect the same content again and again, week in and week out, to elicit the same emotional spikes in people. When people kick out of the first pin attempt in a match because of something that was used as a finisher of someone else 15 years ago and they wrestler holds his head in disbelief at the resilience of this competitor, I just get baffled. How can anyone expect this to be end? What precedent do you have for that?

I, personally, got the feeling that the Nakamura magic is gone because they've got him in chinlocks rolling around the ring like he's Funaki every week. That Ziggler match was a mistake right out the gate. That being said, you might have a better broader philosophical point. I've heard good things about the match with Cena, Orton, etc. The ones that matter. The only ones that were meant to be good and tanked have been with Ziggler (and I do blame Ziggler for that) and Mahal (and Mahal fucking sucks).

I think they need to sort of clear the land a bit and remind some of their talent how to tell a unique story. A lot of the finises are rudimentary and obvious too. Talent fall into these holding patterns of things they think you do in wrestling now, but make them look stupid. The distraction finishes, for example. They should go back to booking the general flow of matches, and giving out finishes that are organic and natural. Right now it feels like they just give them the time, they all do the same match, then the finish is either "You go over clean with your finish," "you get distracted by music" or "Singh Brothers make you look dumb."

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Fucking FINALLY, NJPW have started subtitling the backstage promos. The Power Struggle after show is now subtitled in English.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgqDyJZN9OYkNeQPP78lGzFvihJwI5b32

[#BROKEN Hasney]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DOW48ZqUIAAEA0-.jpg:large

[Fignuts]

That's fucking awesome.

[Evil Vito]

Usually this time of the year I'm dreading that we're still 2 and a half months away from the Rumble. Fuck that. This is the show I can't wait to see.

[#1-norm-fan]

I'm looking forward to it, too. For all the talk of Jericho having lost a step or two or ten, I don't give that much of a fuck. It's probably not gonna steal the show. But I'm a big spectacle guy. It'll be a cool thing to see.

[Fignuts]

Yeah, I had always followed puroresu, but last january was the first time I decided to go all in and watch every show after seeing Wrestle Kingdom. Haven't regretted it since.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah, I've been watching for a few years now, basically after they started to upswing from being in the pits not so long ago. I like how they course correct when something isn't working like Naito since WWE refuses to sometimes and they make better use of the ROH guys than ROH usually do.

I am going to do that write up of the feuds, but felt like it makes more sense closer to the time when a bit more of the undercard is firmed up.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I would like it if Kota Ibushi beat Cody for the ROH World Title.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I would like it if Kota Ibushi beat Cody for the ROH World Title.

Same. I was thinking that Dalton Castle might beat Cody and make the title part moot, but I just read that if Dalton wins, he replaces Cody against Ibushi so I can't see that happening.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Same. I was thinking that Dalton Castle might beat Cody and make the title part moot, but I just read that if Dalton wins, he replaces Cody against Ibushi so I can't see that happening.

Have they changed it? At first it was Cody vs. Ibushi becomes non-title.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Regardless, I think the match gets something from it being for the belt. Dalton Castle, good as he might be getting, doesn't really feel like he'd do as much for it right now.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Searching around now, I've seen conflicting things about if Dalton would face Ibushi instead or if it just becomes a non-title match. I agree about the belt adding something, but since Ibushi isn't currently signed long term by NJPW or ROH, it feels like it makes the result a little obvious. Unless Ibushi has had a change of heart, of course.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't think they'd be above putting the belt on him anyway. I doubt he's going to disappear into the ether. I don't know if he'd get a long reign anyway. I could see a short-term agreement and a bit of "North American exposure" for him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Random prediction: Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi win the G1 Tag League, defeating Togi Makabe & Henare in the finals, who pick up a win over KES in the tournament. Makabe & Honma have won the past two years, and I can see them doing a bittersweet finish where Makabe just can't threepeat with a different partner. But because they picked up a fall against the champs and won the block, they also get added to the IWGP Tag Title Match at Wrestle Kingdom, and they win the belts there as a feel-good tribute to Honma.

My brain says that can't happen, because Henare is too new. They'll probably send him on some sort of learning excursion soon. But it would be a nice story.

[mike adamle]

No it wouldn't

[Shisen Kopf]

Wish DLVH84 was still around to give his input on this. He loved Jap rassle

[Evil Vito]

Not sure if we're treating the G1 Tag League the same way we treated the regular G1, so I'll spoiler it just in case since it's discussing potential WK matches but gives away the results from night 1 of the Tag League.

Goto/Yoshi-Hashi vs. Suzuki/Takashi Iizuka. I figured Iizuka would be taking most of the pins with Suzuki only taking a fall to whoever they want to have him fight at WK.

Well Goto got the pin on Suzuki. He was the only Chaos member to run out and help Yano at Power Struggle, and there was a backstage confrontation between the two as well. At this point it seems like the writing is on the wall that Goto/Suzuki will be the NEVER Openweight Title match at WK.

Juice Robinson and Sami Callihan are a fun team and Juice is over. Assuming Goto/Yoshi-Hashi can now be ruled out they might be legit A block contenders. They went over Evil and Sanada so if nothing else maybe they can join with someone else and get into the NEVER 6-Man match.

[Destor]

Just heard the interview with JR where he said hed never seen a omega match...lol

[Destor]

This will be the best jericho match in 20 years and the worst omega match youve ever seen

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think I'll be more emotionally invested in it than most other Omega matches.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Ticket sales for the show are up 80% compared to this time last year. They were already 20% up before Jericho with how red hot Naito has been, but Jericho combined with the complete card being released has skyrocketed the sales of the WK show.

Selling out the Tokyo Dome is a big ask still, but sales are tracking good enough to pull it off.

[Emperor Smeat]

Some details and numbers from the Observer about the current ticket sales for Wrestle Kingdom 12. Last time a show hit 20k in sales this quickly was in 1988.

Observer doesn't think they will hit legit sellout status because the Dome holds around 55k but if they stay on last year's tickets rate, the 30k goal will easily be broken.

The actual advance ticket sales to the Tokyo Dome as of 11/27 was 22,000. At the same point last year, that number was 12,200, and that was ahead of the pace of previous several years. It was the quickest to 20,000 (a number they hit on 11/25) since the 1988 Riki Choshu and Antonio Inoki retirement shows, which had the fast initial sales because everyone knew they would sell out. If tickets continue selling at this pace, they will have the first legit sellout since 2002, but I still don’t expect that because I don’t think the reasons for the early and second surge will continue selling that well above recent pace going forward. But if they only sell from 11/25 to 1/4 at the same pace as last year from this point forward, you’re still talking 36,000 paid.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Just heard the interview with JR where he said hed never seen a omega match...lol

Whiskey is a hell of a drug.

[Fignuts]

So happy for New Japan. They deserve it. Rebuilt themselves from near ruin, and have been pumping out great content for years.

[Evil Vito]

I know nothing about Jay White. Having seen his reveal as Switchblade, it seems kinda weird seeing a guy who looks like a clear babyface (right down to actually having a babyface) portraying a stab-happy bad guy.

I think this even more after seeing this.

https://i.redd.it/6biqay0otd201.png

Might need to slap a mask on him and do a disfigurement angle.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Looks like a Halloween costume.

Maybe his offence in a match will show why he is Switchblade, but yeah, not great so far. Which is a shame because he's a fucking talented dude.

[Evil Vito]

Maybe his offence in a match will show why he is Switchblade.

Shock and horror at the Tokyo Dome when his finish involves actually stabbing Tanahashi.

[Ultra Mantis]

The gimmick was clearly reverse engineered from Gedo booking Jay White to perform the bicep surgery on Tanahashi.

[Maluco]

I think this even more after seeing this.

https://i.redd.it/6biqay0otd201.png

Might need to slap a mask on him and do a disfigurement angle.

Seeing this picture made me think it might be one of those Ezekialkane posts comparing his backyard guys to actual wrestlers.

[Fignuts]

Way behind.

Gonna try and catch up before WK.

On Destruction in Fukushima right now.

[Fignuts]

Tanahashi's theme is so fucking terrible.

RIP High Energy

[Fignuts]

2002 HBK level bad hair as well.

[Fignuts]

Felt safe and warm looking at Tanahashi's divine locks.

Now I only feel cold and empty.

[Fignuts]

Katsuya Kitamura is going to be a star. Look screams WWE, and I could see them trying to sign him.

[Fignuts]

for posterity

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DqlTSQ57S54" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Tanahashi's theme is so fucking terrible.

RIP High Energy

Good match though. I fucking love ZSJs offence.

[Fignuts]

He was in a tag match.

Is there a Zack Sabre match on Detruction in Hiroshima?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah, ZSJ V Tanahashi is the main event. But you're right, Hiroshima one not Fukushima...

[Fignuts]

Cool. Look forward to that one.

Is Yoshinobu Kanemaru officially NJPW now, or is he just a a guest through Suzuki Gun?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I don't think he's got a long term deal with NJPW, just paid for appearances.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tanahashi is such a good babyface, and I try to ignore that they changed his theme.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The Jay White stuff is weird. I haven't seen much of him, but I don't "buy" him yet. But then again New Japan are good at making stuff stick. They went hard with Okada and it worked.

I wonder if the Switchblade stuff is kind of...Japanese. He reminds me of the kind of girlish bad-asses they have in anime sometimes. Kind of effeminate and ""pretty," but presented as dangerous. I dunno.

[Emperor Smeat]

Tanahashi suffered a knee injury yesterday during a World Tag League show and got pulled from the rest of tournament's shows. NJPW doesn't know how serious it is at the moment nor if its going to jeopardize his match at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I wonder if the Switchblade stuff is kind of...Japanese. He reminds me of the kind of girlish bad-asses they have in anime sometimes. Kind of effeminate and ""pretty," but presented as dangerous. I dunno.

That's actually a really good call. I don't watch enough anime to know if that's a trope a guy can have as well, but that sort of character makes total sense in my head.

Not sure if that works with real people, however, but at least I can almost see what they were going with now.

[Ultra Mantis]

There's the Bishonen psychopath trope but even they tend to look batshit insane when they're not putting on the pretty boy act.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That's actually a really good call. I don't watch enough anime to know if that's a trope a guy can have as well, but that sort of character makes total sense in my head.

Not sure if that works with real people, however, but at least I can almost see what they were going with now.

Yeah, don't know if it would work in real life, but maybe that is what they're going for.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tanahashi suffered a knee injury yesterday during a World Tag League show and got pulled from the rest of tournament's shows. NJPW doesn't know how serious it is at the moment nor if its going to jeopardize his match at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

For god sake, let Tanahashi rest. Give him time off until Wrestle Kingdom, let him work that match, put over the young guy and then give him time off until the G1 or whatever.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

World tag league finals US Title Match spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/Qjf6pmD.gif
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQwy3mbUIAE5EIg.jpg

Fans were ready to cheer for Jericho, then he busted Kenny open with the US belt, attacked the ref, attacked the young lions and gave a codebreaker to Don Callis (who was then stretchered out)

[owenbrown]

was that a botched Codebreaker in the first gif?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

was that a botched Codebreaker in the first gif?

One kneed codebreaker > One winged angel. It's on purpose if you see the other ones in the video below

Also, video version of the original spoiler I put up available:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQX174uKXGU" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Emperor Smeat]

Using one knee for the Code Breaker is a nice touch for this feud but also something that is going to be tough to look good for tv. He did it 3 times but only the one against Callis looked great because of positioning

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Dunno, I enjoyed the first one on Omega, mostly for Omegas sell

[Evil Vito]

So the updated WK12 card:

Okada/Naito
Omega/Jericho
Tanahahsi/White
Suzuki/Goto
Cody/Ibushi
Scurll/Takahashi/Ospreay/Kushida
R3K/Bucks
KES/LIJ

This card is so stacked and the list of guys not even booked yet is insane. Yano, Sabre, Juice, Yoshi-Hashi, G.O.D, Makabe, War Machine, Beretta, etc.

Some of them will be in the Rumble I'm sure.

Wonder if they'll take the 6-man belts off of LIJ so they can shoehorn more people on the card. Would be just as happy to see those belts put out to pasture tbh.

[Evil Vito]

Well, guess that settles it about the 6-man belts.

LIJ vs. G.O.D and Fale for the 6-Man belts has been added to this weekend's Korakuen Hall shows.

Gotta assume Bullet Club will be going over and they'll be facing, at minimum, Ishii/Yano/Yoshi-Hashi at WK12. Can't imagine those Chaos guys being in the Rumble.

Though they may make it a total clusterfuck like that year and add a Suzuki-Gun team and/or a Taguchi Japan team. Or maybe a Makabe/Tencozy legends team.

[Ultra Mantis]

Roppongi Friends makes sense as a trio, don't know if they'd bring back Chuck so soon though. Or they could do War Machine & Cobb. There's an awful lot of regular, higher "priority" guys without a spot on the card though. Might as well make it a clusterfuck trios everywhere spotfest.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Don't give a fuck about how Jericho has slowed down in the ring. He is awesome.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Honestly, this version of the Jericho character just comes across as an older and slightly bitter version of his original cocky bastard character, with a couple of WWE catchphrases thrown in. I really enjoyed what happened during the Tag League final and the press conference after.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;You attacking me from behind while distracting me with a video. Well, that's something you'd really see on an episode of Monday Night Raw, isn't it? And that was my mistake, not to expect that... Chris, you're officially smarter that me. I never saw it coming.&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NJWK12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NJWK12</a> <a href="https://t.co/dJ01QqkENp">pic.twitter.com/dJ01QqkENp</a></p>&mdash; Michael Sempervive (@Sempervive) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sempervive/status/940468927372627969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/KennyOmegamanX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KennyOmegamanX</a> just attacked <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmJericho?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IAmJericho</a>! The war is on! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlphaVsOmega?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AlphaVsOmega</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njwk12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njwk12</a> <a href="https://t.co/T3TRyz6Tff">pic.twitter.com/T3TRyz6Tff</a></p>&mdash; TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/940472977476456448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">They had to restrain <a href="https://twitter.com/KennyOmegamanX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KennyOmegamanX</a> and then <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmJericho?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IAmJericho</a> threw a damn table at him! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njwk12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njwk12</a> <a href="https://t.co/93bbi531BA">pic.twitter.com/93bbi531BA</a></p>&mdash; TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/940478294176223232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[DaveWadding]

That Codebreaker on Omega was viscous as fuck.

Think I might actually get World for WK12 now.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Honestly, this version of the Jericho character just comes across as an older and slightly bitter version of his original cocky bastard character, with a couple of WWE catchphrases thrown in. I really enjoyed what happened during the Tag League final and the press conference after.

Seems more unpredictable and vicious. So it's a good thing.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Like the mannerisms are of a mean, motherfucker.

[Heisenberg]

so I just need NJPW World to see this live?

[Emperor Smeat]

Yes since at the moment NJPW is not willing to have it on PPV outside of NJPW World. AXS TV will have a special replay of the event 2 days later though.

Only issue is if your going to buy a month of World, do it at the start of January and not this month to prevent getting billed twice within a month's span. They bill on the first of every month and not on the day you activate a subscription.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Jericho is going to "deliver" in New Japan. It's a bit different in the WWE when you've been there for so long and half the things you are doing are for comedy.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah, there's part of me that wonders how much he slowed down just because he can get away with it and is smart enough to realise that people are going to remember the festival of friendship more than a good match. Whereas in Japan, he match quality will be remembered.

Hell, if he goes all out, we'll see how glld DDP Yoga is!

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Seems more unpredictable and vicious. So it's a good thing.

Like the mannerisms are of a mean, motherfucker.

Yeah, like a cocky fucker who just got found out because Omega has been better than his entire career (kayfabe), so he'll do anything to prove he's the best in the world at what he does.

[Fignuts]

Might make a top 10 njpw matches thread, since there are people here grabbing nj world for wk12. Gonna have to rewatch a bunch of stuff to refresh my memory though.

[Simple Fan]

I think the one knee code breaker looks better. Seems like with the other leg down it carries more force coming down, doesn't look as awkward to perform either.

[Simple Fan]

Might make a top 10 njpw matches thread, since there are people here grabbing nj world for wk12. Gonna have to rewatch a bunch of stuff to refresh my memory though.

Hell you could do top 10 matches of 2017 and it would tie into the WK12 interest. Alot of great match out of NJPW this year.

[Fignuts]

Easily.

Want to give love to all eras though. Well most. The mma era can die in a fire.

[Fignuts]

I like the Juice/Finlay pairing.

[Sepholio]

Wow that 1 knee codebreaker is sick af.

[Fignuts]

This KUSHIDA vs Desperado match is really good.

KUSHIDA deserves to be in the discussion for best wrestler in the world. Feel like he gets dismissed because he's a junior, but he's soooooooo good.

Desperado channeling his buddy Zach and stretching the shit out of KUSHIDA.

Mask spot was clever. Never seen a heel purposely take his mask off to buy time.

Wow, great transition into the hoverboard lock.

Even better transition into the finish. Great match.

Zach vs Tana next.

[Evil Vito]

I was already interested in Cody/Ibushi, but I actually think there's even more intrigue behind it now that it's no longer for the ROH title. Didn't really see Ibushi taking the strap.

Also this means if they continue their recent history of shoehorning the ROH title onto the undercard, Dalton Castle will be at Wrestle Kingdom which would just be fantastic.

Screw putting Yano in the inevitable 6-Man Title match, give me Yano vs. Castle.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

TANAHASHI WHY

https://i.imgur.com/25DLYzz.gif

[Ultra Mantis]

Still better than his Ibushi haircut.

[DaveWadding]

Gonna do a midnight live PPV watching for this. Got my buddy who is solely into WWE/TNA to want to watch with me.

[Emperor Smeat]

TANAHASHI WHY

https://i.imgur.com/25DLYzz.gif

Either he's embracing his inner Brian Pillman or his flowing locks were the key to his sanity.

[Evil Vito]

Well, they've gone the clusterfuck route for the NEVER 6-Man Belts. 5 team gauntlet:

Bullet Club (Fale and G.O.D)
vs.
Taguchi Japan (Taguchi, Juice, Makabe)
vs.
Suzuki-gun (ZSJ, Iizuka, Taichi)
vs.
Chaos (Yano, Ishii, Beretta)
vs.
Bearded White Guys (Elgin and War Machine)

[Fignuts]

Is he auditioning for Annie?

wtf

[Vastardikai]

Will this be Suzuki's last match?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

It's a christmas miracle!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DRyzjUJUIAA7d8c.jpg

[#BROKEN Hasney]

They've sold 30,000 tickets now. Last years attendance was 26,000 and they did a ton of business at the gate.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kind of think it would be really cool if Jericho won the US strap. I feel like everyone is expecting an Omega win, but Jericho winning would throw everything into chaos. That's obviously if they can get him back for more dates, even if it is later in the year.

[Emperor Smeat]

NJPW debuting a new game the day before Wrestle Kingdom 12 according to their fan event schedule.

Probably going to be another Japan-only mobile game like the past couple were.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Buried in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njwk12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njwk12</a> fan fest schedule 'Announcement about New Japan Game' <a href="https://t.co/ea6dpaWuN8">pic.twitter.com/ea6dpaWuN8</a></p>&mdash; chris charlton (@reasonjp) <a href="https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/945243818147831808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://i.imgur.com/CfcIR89.jpg

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Kind of think it would be really cool if Jericho won the US strap. I feel like everyone is expecting an Omega win, but Jericho winning would throw everything into chaos. That's obviously if they can get him back for more dates, even if it is later in the year.

Yeah, Jericho tends to do the unexpected as well. Like when he beat KO for the belt even though he was leaving.

[Evil Vito]

I can't fucking wait for this show.

[DaveWadding]

Someone help me watch things on NJPW World before Thursday.

[Lock Jaw]

So when is this show? Interested in seeing Jericho. Not really interested in anything else.

[DaveWadding]

So when is this show? Interested in seeing Jericho. Not really interested in anything else.

the 4th, early in the morning

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Someone help me watch things on NJPW World before Thursday.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsZCBTpKjHzdbCpKZ1No1KAdpmOd2OcgSMfC1-oa7pI/htmlview#gid=0

The darker highlighted ones are the best matches and it's all sorted by date, so scroll to the bottom for matches this year. Not been updated with he world tag league stuff yet though

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Hello minions.

As some of you may be aware, I am the most knowledgable member of the TPWW wrestling forum.

However I have a blind spot for Japanese wrestling. Seen a lot of stuff about
this Wrestle Kingdom.

For someone who doesn't really care for wrestling anymore/hasn't watched in a long time, would it be worth me watching? Is it 7 hours long like I hear wrestlemania is nowadays?

[Destor]

Depends. Do you think jericho matches have delivered in the past...15 years? If yes...sure...its only 899 yen. Wait for the next day and watch it in delay. Its a good card if you like inring product. If you like spectacle and gimmicks then pass on it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

It's like 5 hours, but has an actual intermission. The card also ramps up gradually unlike Wrestle mania, so the end matches are the bigger events rather than peppering in "main event matches" throughout the hours.

It's worth giving a shot, especially if you're not working because UK time for Japanese events works out great.

[DaveWadding]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsZCBTpKjHzdbCpKZ1No1KAdpmOd2OcgSMfC1-oa7pI/htmlview#gid=0

The darker highlighted ones are the best matches and it's all sorted by date, so scroll to the bottom for matches this year. Not been updated with he world tag league stuff yet though

You goddamn beautiful man.

[Emperor Smeat]

Hello minions.

As some of you may be aware, I am the most knowledgable member of the TPWW wrestling forum.

However I have a blind spot for Japanese wrestling. Seen a lot of stuff about
this Wrestle Kingdom.

For someone who doesn't really care for wrestling anymore/hasn't watched in a long time, would it be worth me watching? Is it 7 hours long like I hear wrestlemania is nowadays?

Yes but if you only really care about a few matches, best to catch the latter half of the event. Usually NJPW events have the first half be mostly multi-man or tag stuff and the second half having all the real big and hyped up matches.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I remain cautiously optimistic.

[Droford]

Im wondering whether I should get up at 5 am (a normal time for me to get up so it wouldnt be odd) to try and watch this (having to pay for NJPW World) OR just wait and watch it for free on AXS in a couple days.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

New Legacy have confirmed that they're doing a commentary on their Discord server for WK12 as well. Always find it more entertaining than KK/Don or commentary in a language I don't understand.

https://discord.gg/0mQSmL3d9DyAZ8Nl

[Evil Vito]

I'm planning on getting up and watching live. The bigger question is whether or not I call in sick or just "tough it out" and go in to work late.

Probably depends on if I can get enough sleep in before the 3 AM alarm goes off.

[Destor]

I'm planning on getting up and watching live. The bigger question is whether or not I call in sick or just "tough it out" and go in to work late.

Probably depends on if I can get enough sleep in before the 3 AM alarm goes off.Its 2018...I cant understand why you wouldnt just watch to your own schedule...

[Destor]

You arent a slave to time slots anymore

[Evil Vito]

For one, I'd like to be able to discuss the show in real time with others I know will be watching.

Beyond that, short of me staying off of here, FB (multiple friends will be watching), Twitter (again follow a lot of people who will be watching), etc. throughout the day I'm almost certainly gonna see spoilers.

[Evil Vito]

No matter how good a wrestling match is, if you go into it knowing the outcome you're never going to enjoy it as much as you would watching with a clean slate. That's just fact.

Case in point, Okada/Omega at WK11 was unbelievable. But I went into it knowing it'd be 45 minutes and that Okada was going over. So as much as I enjoyed the match, none of the false finishes meant anything to me because I knew the outcome.

[Destor]

It's not hard to avoid spoiler for 8 hours. I BELIELVE IN YOU

[DaveWadding]

I'm planning on getting up and watching live. The bigger question is whether or not I call in sick or just "tough it out" and go in to work late.

Probably depends on if I can get enough sleep in before the 3 AM alarm goes off.

Call in sick so we can text about it in real time.

[Fignuts]

Just gonna leave this here

https://i.imgur.com/ZCnDA4S.png

https://i.imgur.com/MSsISrO.png
Story mode. Start as young lion, and work your way to IWGP champion

https://i.imgur.com/Nsy5uJ5.jpg

[#BROKEN Hasney]

It's neat, but I'd rather have had variety and a new game. I miss the days of playing Fire Pro, then stopping to fire up KOC2 or No mercy or Day of Reckoning 2.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've always thought that a video game would be a great way to increase their exposure. If they make it a genuinely good quality game, reviewers will draw those links between the New Japan and WWE product.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I've always thought that a video game would be a great way to increase their exposure. If they make it a genuinely good quality game, reviewers will draw those links between the New Japan and WWE product.

Fire Pro is already out on PC and is an absolutely fantastic game. However, it is 2D sprite based so it will never be flashy enough to appeal to a wide user base.

It always makes me smile that little Fire Pro outsold WWE 2k18 on PC though, by 11,000 and counting so far. And that was before the NJPW mode.

[Fignuts]

Fire Pro is already out on PC and is an absolutely fantastic game. However, it is 2D sprite based so it will never be flashy enough to appeal to a wide user base.

It always makes me smile that little Fire Pro outsold WWE 2k18 on PC though, by 11,000 and counting so far. And that was before the NJPW mode.

And Fire Promoter mode.

Honestly I'm more excited about the attention this will bring to Fire Pro than the other way around.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah totally, should do wonders for the visibility of the game especially by the time it hits PS4. Wonder if they'll translate the story mode. If not, I guess someone will.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c7JSyNHK41s" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Fignuts]

Yeah totally, should do wonders for the visibility of the game especially by the time it hits PS4. Wonder if they'll translate the story mode. If not, I guess someone will.

I highly doubt it won't be. Both Spike and NJPW are pushing hard to break into the western market. From the beginning they stated east and west will be given the same content.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

That reminds me, they only touched on it briefly, but on the 8-4 Play podcast (a podcast by Americans working in the game industry in Japan), they actually had a guest on who has been recently employed by New Japan as part of a team that is now subtitling their YouTube and Social Media output in English, so you're right, they are pushing it.

[Fignuts]

Plus they've been really hands on with the fans over here, holding twitch stream chats, responding on the steam forums, giving us specific stuff we've asked for, and being genuinely appreciative of the fans.

They know how much the western fans want this. Plus they said Fire Promoter is one of two major game modes that they had to make paid DLC due to budget issues. Modders discovered code for a story mode. So I'm guessing that's the second, with any official NJPW edits, moves and parts being free, as they stated nothing like that would cost extra, as they don't want to divide the workshop.

Guessing the PS4 version will be the "full version" and will cost whatever the PC + DLC costs.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I think they said they were aiming for $29.99 on Steam, so I would imagine a $39.99 package for PS4 with the licensing fees and all.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Sweet, I'm almost caught up with work for once. Working from home tomorrow might just be on call unless something comes in so I can sit and enjoy WK12 while doing not much else.

[Fignuts]

They haven't stated the price of DLC on PC but I can't imagine it will be more than 15 for each one.

Thinking 10 dollars for each, with the season pass being 15.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

That makes sense, it launched at $20 so it wouldn't be far off $30. They'll probably then make the "complete package" version $29.99.

[Evil Vito]

Definitely rocked out to Suzuki's theme on the drive into work this morning.

[Jordan]

Well this is a big day for me! I get annually excited for two shows a year and this is one of them! I just bought New Japan World and have coffee and tea ready for the night. Well not ready, I'll make it fresh. I don't have work tomorrow so I have no excuse not to mark out to the inner wrestling fan in me and stay up all night like a kid and watch some good matches.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm still not sold on that Naito is winning the belt. I think they're all-in with Okada being the guy. I can see Okada winning and LIJ turning on Naito to give him something to do. Still see Jericho winning the US Title and giving them reason to do a return match, even if it happens as late as Jericho's boat thing in August, or even in ROH.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I DON'T think Okada will go the whole year as champion, but I see someone else getting it at one of the New Beginning shows or Dominion or something, and Okada to possibly win it back by the year's end, or to go on to win the G1 and challenge for it at the Tokyo Dome.

Just think that Okada is "the guy," and Naito is the cool outsider edgy popular guy, like Shinsuke Nakamura sort of was. My prediction for a guy to win it off Okada is actually Ishii, because he's awesome. While I think they want to expand into the US, I don't think they want to isolate their national fanbase, and I think Ishii has enough cred in both locations.

Or Brock Lesnar when his WWE contract expires.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to NJPW, they sold over 32k tickets for Wrestle Kingdom 12 with the amount to go up once the walk-in sales are included after tonight's show.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

so this is at 2am? Does New Japan World have a trial?

[Fignuts]

Im not completely against an Okada win, but I would prefer Naito. No one is hotter than Naito and LIJ right now. Not Bullet Club, not Omega, not Okada. Nobody. And if Okada's reign ended tonight, it would still be hailed as one of the greatest of all time. Ending it at the biggest event of the year to a guy who has had a remarkable journey to this moment and is flaming hot, is the perfect cap to this reign in my opinion.

Extending okada's reign would not benefit in any way that is worth sacrificing how great of a moment Naito's win would be. And the guy is more than good enough to take that moment and run with. He's one of the best wrestlers in the world, and he is absolutely worthy of ending okadas epic reign.

[Emperor Smeat]

so this is at 2am? Does New Japan World have a trial?

2AM for the pre-show, 3AM for the actual card.

No but they do put past matches from shows for free every week as a replacement. Same for their Youtube channel showing free content from their network service.

[Fignuts]

Also, wouldn't put too much money on an Ishii title win. I love him, but He's not what they typically look for in a world champion, and he works really well as an upper midcarder. Then theres the fact that he's getting up there in age. Age doesnt work here the same as it does in the states, where being old gives you super powers that let you squash someone half your age, despite having 3 hip replacements and faberge eggs for knees. An older vet can typically still beat on young lions, but he's going to be doing a lot of selling, and eating a lot of pins against younger big names, because realistically experience can only carry you so far. And Ishii is approaching that age where he won't even be a likely contender for the IC belt.

[#1-norm-fan]

Gonna at least watch the rumble because that's fun. Gonna be 11pm here when it starts. Don't know if I've got an all-nighter of the Japanese wrestling in me though.

[Fignuts]

FTR Noid, I do agree with you that Okada is the guy. But ya know, John Cena can't be champ all the time.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not surprised by the Okada win. He doesn't need to be champ forever, but the thing is, he's the guy you're investing in. I don't follow puroresu as much as I should, but they seem to have certain spots "locked." Okada is now in the Tanahashi spot, whereas Tanahashi is now Tanahashi. Okada made history in 2017 by becoming he longest reigning IWGP Champ ever. There were probably people tuning in for the first time since that happened, and they probably wanted to drill home what a living legend Okada is, so they can bank on him even further for the next five years.

Tanahashi retaining was also a prediction I switched to. He's hurt, but to have him drop the IC Title and then disappear is a big fall for the nation's hero, you know? Tanahashi disappearing with the IC Title assures people that he will be back. Not sure when their New Beginning show airs, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is some sort of angle where someone (Suzuki wouldn't surprise me, but my money is on Naito for some reason) takes out Tanahashi to give him a Wrestle Kingdom 13 opponent. I kind of expect Tanahashi to hibernate until the G1, then he returns, doesn't quite get the match he wants against that guy, and then he goes on to face them for the IC Title at WK13. Tanahashi vs. Naito would be a cracking match. But so would Tanahashi vs. Suzuki or even Tanahashi vs. Jericho, should he decide he wants to be a heel in Japan again.

I think Okada is dropping the IWGP Title sometime around Dominion or mid-year (not sure what their major show is around that time). Ishii may not have been the wisest choice, but I can see someone taking it and then Okada winning it back at Wrestle Kingdom. He will be in that main event, the question is just against who. Omega seems...done and locked up. Suzuki or even Naito, given their history of running main events between "their guys" makes sense, but for some reason I just can't see Suzuki headlining.

Of course, maybe Brock Lesnar jumps ship and beats Okada for the belt...just saying.