NJPW New Year Dash!! 2018 Surprise - Hello? Is it just me again? (Free on NJPW World)

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Should be starting in an hour or so. Card isn't known until the show starts.

Usually it's a bunch of multi-man tag matches and then some setting up of some angles for the first part of the year, so is just a bit of fun rather than a selection of the best matches in the world as seen on Wrestle Kingdom the night prior.

Anyone else up for this one? I know it's at a shitty time for you yanks.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Feed is live

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Feel like this is going to be like the Nintendo Direct threads I start here where I rant to myself

[#BROKEN Hasney]

They're announcing the matches now. Only catching some of the names, but Taka is in ACTION. As is Jay White.

I think Kenny is teaming with Cheeseburger and Roppungi 3k?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Starting off with a quartet of young lions. Love how they're not given gimmicks until they graduate, so it's like a stable of CAWs.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Oh, it's The Elite (Omega & Bucks) RPG 3K and Cheeseburger

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Ooo, legends team against the young lions

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Kitamura is going to be going through a best of 7 proving series, here's the big roided up young lion from the rumble. Looks like he might skip an excursion if he wins this and be part of the main roster.

He's starting tonight against Jay White.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The dads win and here comes Suzuki-GUN for their win. TAKA!

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Liger! And Makabe, Tiger Mask... and someone else. It's chaos and I can't see.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Suzuki-GUN just kicking their asses.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Think Kawato has graduated from the young lions. He's damn good.

Full card:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSxKAyhWAAAtRu_.jpg:large

[Fignuts]

HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[#BROKEN Hasney]

HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Neat

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Kitamura, a young lion, getting a much better reception than Switchblade.

[Fignuts]

Sorry.

Was simming a ruthless hardcore butcher with a skull for a face against a ripped, hardened looking kung fu master who is openly and outrageously gay. It went well.

[Fignuts]

Said in the WK thread that Kitamura is going to be a star.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Sorry.

Was simming a ruthless hardcore butcher with a skull for a face against a ripped, hardened looking kung fu master who is openly and outrageously gay. It went well.

No worries, last night I was learning video editing for my dumb WWE 2k18 simming, so I know how it goes.

[Fignuts]

No worries, last night I was learning video editing for my dumb WWE 2k18 simming, so I know how it goes.

What do you use?

I use X SPlit to record matches, but I'm not sure about it's video editing capabilities.

[Fignuts]

New Japan is not for kids

[Fignuts]

Jay looks so non threatening to me.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

What do you use?

I use X SPlit to record matches, but I'm not sure about it's video editing capabilities.

OBS to stream now, but switch between that and XSPLIT. Seems like one of them gets a major issue for my needs, so I switch to the other until that one gets an issue.

Using Adobe Premier. Tried some free options, but they weren't up to what I needed. I found one that was, but kept crashing on encoding, which wasn't ideal. I've basically taken the Raw and Smackdown replay screens and green screened them to key them out and added in the show transitions when needed. Took about 15 minutes to learn with some Google.

[Fignuts]

lol Kitamura needs to talk to Ibushi about dramatically beating the ringout count, because that was hilariously awkward

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Jay looks so non threatening to me.

Yeah and the dude is so talented. I really hope they don't fuck him up with this gimmick and abandon it if it doesn't get better.

[Fignuts]

Doesn't need to talk to anyone about his chops though. damn.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Huh, weird way to start a best of 7 for a young lion, but Jay did need a win.

[Fignuts]

Anything else interesting happen on the show yet?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Anything else interesting happen on the show yet?

The NJPW Dads beat 4 young lions. Suzuki Gun Jr's wrecked shit. That's it so far.

Time for The Elite Vs. Cheeseburger & R3K.

[Fignuts]

that was....odd

Is he stealing Wyatt's gimmick as well as the finish?

[Fignuts]

Huh, weird way to start a best of 7 for a young lion, but Jay did need a win.

Yeah, right guy won.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

that was....odd

Is he stealing Wyatt's gimmick as well as the finish?

He was trained by Alex Shelley, who used that move as the ShellShock before Wyatt. He handed it over to him.

[Fignuts]

I think Sho has what it takes to graduate to the heavyweight division. Both in size and wrestling style

[#BROKEN Hasney]

lol @ The Elite using the theme from their YouTube channel a fan made.

[Fignuts]

He was trained by Alex Shelley, who used that move as the ShellShock before Wyatt. He handed it over to him.

ah, okay. Just that combined with the weird head cradling immediately made the comparison to wyatt

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Ugh, got a work call in 15 minutes. How dare work need me.

[Fignuts]

Nice. House show tights.

[Fignuts]

Ugh, got a work call in 15 minutes. How dare work need me.

Tell them you died.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So we just handed nearly 800,000 yen to Minoru Suzuki for the Real Hero Archive drive for Takayama. A great accomplishment by all. A million thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/realkevinkelly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realkevinkelly</a> for setting this up for us. <a href="https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@voiceswrestling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@davemeltzerWON</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Purocast?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Purocast</a> <a href="https://t.co/z5faPr6XsH">pic.twitter.com/z5faPr6XsH</a></p>&mdash; RealHeroEric (@NjpwGaijinEric) <a href="https://twitter.com/NjpwGaijinEric/status/949211093301415936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

:)

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Nice. House show tights.

At least they're not the old house show tights that were just rainbow coloured. I can dig the tassels on black.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

lol & Nick tweaking the knee and looking to tag out to Matt with a bad back or Omega with bad ribs so jumping down from the apron.

[Fignuts]

lol this is great

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Ahaha holy shit, that bad back match was killing me.

[Fignuts]

goodnight, cheeseburger

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I find it funny that you can hear the western voices doing The Elite chants, then you hear the Japanese accents come up chanting for Cheeseburger.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

"Oh crap" SHOTAI

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I do love the Indietaker

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Damn, was hoping it was going to be an intermission. Time to take this work call.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Happy to see Brandi before that though.

[Fignuts]

lol cody and marty

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Thank fuck that was quick... Yeah, I think I prefer Brandi in front of the camera than on a mic.

[Fignuts]

I honestly don't know if Leo is going to make it. Seems really uncoordinated.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I honestly don't know if Leo is going to make it. Seems really uncoordinated.

Yeah, he doesn't seem like he's a natural at the very least.

I feel like Hangman Page gets a lot of shit, but he's pretty good from where I sit.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Hnnnnng Kushida is so fucking good

[Fignuts]

lol awful positioning

[Fignuts]

Maybe he wouldn't counter it if you didn't scream it first

[Fignuts]

hate the whole indy call out your move thing

[#BROKEN Hasney]

hate the whole indy call out your move thing

I kinda dig it the way Scurll uses it with the "just kidding" and then the "for gods sake" when it didn't work.

[Fignuts]

Someone last night said Finlay looks like Ohno.

While Finlay does have a bit of a muffin top, Ohno has a muffin top if muffin tops could get giant tumors in front

[Fignuts]

God bless Brandi for not wearing pants

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Oh fuck yes, Omega saving Ibushi!

[Fignuts]

oooooooooooooooooo this is good

[Fignuts]

this is a phenomenal way to start the omega/cody feud. I wasn't even thinking about that last night.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Kenny saying "I'm the leader" then Cody accepting it. That will boil over. Kenny has a mic though.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Mic botch

[Fignuts]

lol you could see that Japanese woman's sphincter clench as cody walked by

[#BROKEN Hasney]

SWITCHBLADE?!

[Fignuts]

what

[Fignuts]

I mean that definitely helps Jay white, but I dunno how that helps bullet club lol

[Fignuts]

he's gonna refuse

[#BROKEN Hasney]

OH FUCK

[Fignuts]

Nice.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Honestly, that was a great segment. Multiple threads with Omega saving Ibushi, heat between Omega and Cody and then that whole Switchblade thing.

[Fignuts]

I think that actually does more for him than joining bullet club would. Could actually be a cool gimmick, being a complete lone wolf where factions are such an important factor.

[Fignuts]

Kind of want the Tongans and Fale to split from BC and form their own faction. There's money in Tama as a singles guy.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Kind of want the Tongans and Fale to split from BC and form their own faction. There's money in Tama as a singles guy.

Makes sense, then there's potential down the line for GOD V The Elite and Tama V Omega. Think it might happen with Fale and that honorary Tongan shirt too.

Boom, down goes the ring announcer.

[Fignuts]

That one week mini feud between Omega and Tama during the G-1 was great, and legitimately tense

[Fignuts]

Something about Beretta I just don't like.

Like, I know he's really good, but his look is so "2004 smackdown midcarder"

[Fignuts]

It's especially evident in NJPW where there is such great variety and uniqueness in ring attire

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I think a heel turn would do wonders for Trent, but the crowds seem to be behind him.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Ishii has been really under-utilised in the last few months. Hopefully 2018 is a bit of a breakout year for him.

[Fignuts]

I think he'd be a good candidate to unseat Tanahashi

I love him but I can't see NJPW putting the world title on him. He's like the definition of upper midcard mechanic.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Totally. I'd be happy just seeing him in more singles matches in the big events over these tag matches.

[Fignuts]

germaaaaaaaan

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Great ending sequence from Tama and Trent there. NEVER belts change hands again, as always.

[Fignuts]

Good. Thought the title win was odd to begin with, and should of been retained by G.O.D.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Suzuki-GUN time. I was thinking they would have a shake up or tease one by the end of this. Could still happen, but with the BC storylines I'm less sure.

The Suzuki-GUN of last year was kind of wasted as Suzuki spent the year coming up short. Think they need to do something.

[Fignuts]

Was really torn on the tag titles last night. I really love the Evil/Sanada team, but Killer Elite are such a great heel team. They're SO MEAN

[Fignuts]

ooooo boy more awkward war machine elgin interactions

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Was really torn on the tag titles last night. I really love the Evil/Sanada team, but Killer Elite are such a great heel team. They're SO MEAN

Yeah, I thought it was going to end with all of LIJ in the ring with the belts for a feel good moment.

Could be Big Mike's final NJPW date. Contract expires after this.

Ahaha the boos for Big Mike too.

[Fignuts]

still want a Suzuki gun jump suit. Got to style all over town

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I'd be happy if this ended with ZSJ making Mike tap.

[Fignuts]

lol the boos super audible now

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Loving Suzuki just beating on Tanahashi outside the ring. Protects Tanahashi from not having to enter with all his injuries and makes Suzui look as sadistic as always.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

And as I said that, Tana tagged in anyway.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Jesus at a man the size of that War Machine dude doing the Ric Flair corner flip deal.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I swear to fucking god if this is leading to a Suzuki/Tanahashi program and Suzuki loses again, then fuck everything.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Clearly leading to that now, but goddamn, give Suzuki the strap. And no run-ins.

[Fignuts]

No Suzuki Gun suits, but I found the ones the young lions wear and they're pretty fucking rad too.

http://shop.njpw.co.jp/iwgp/g/g1881054287/

[#BROKEN Hasney]

NJPW hasn't had a steel cage match in 14 years. Stop the Suzuki-GUN interference and just have Suzuki beat Tana in a cage.

[Fignuts]

Elgin helping the only guy on his team that will talk to him because he doesn't read American dirt sheets

[Fignuts]

lol

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Ooo, that lack of a reaction for Okada, while Naito is still stupid over.

[Fignuts]

Why is Chaos even a faction still? Feel like they have no direction as a group. It's just a bunch of guys who do their own thing, and occasionally tag together. Almost seems like theres no point and they should all be a part of the main sekigun

[#BROKEN Hasney]

And as I say that, the Okada chants start.

[Fignuts]

Naikada chants now

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Why is Chaos even a faction still? Feel like they have no direction as a group. It's just a bunch of guys who do their own thing, and occasionally tag together. Almost seems like theres no point and they should all be a part of the main sekigun

Everyone just has an afilliated group, some are just more tied together than others. I mean, this is technically still Taguchi Japan even if it's never mentioned:

Ryusuke Taguchi
David Finlay
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Juice Robinson
Kushida
Manabu Nakanishi

[Fignuts]

More reason for Switchblade to say fuck everyone and do his own thing

[#BROKEN Hasney]

More reason for Switchblade to say fuck everyone and do his own thing

Yeah, it's rare so it's interesting. Still not sure that the gimmick will work out, but I'm interested at least.

[Fignuts]

Does Japan have their dirtsheets? I'm sure they do, but I'm glad it doesn't really make its way here that often. Feel like part of the reason NJPW is so fun is that you don't hear about the office's "future plans" as opposed to following WWE where the observer talks about what Vince had for lunch yesterday and how it pertains to his plans for the new day for the next 6 months.

Don't really know what to expect

[Fignuts]

Wish Goto used the Shouten still. Such a visually awesome move, and a way better finish than the GTR

[Fignuts]

Yoshi Hashi has the face of a minor NPC in a JRPG

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Does Japan have their dirtsheets? I'm sure they do, but I'm glad it doesn't really make its way here that often. Feel like part of the reason NJPW is so fun is that you don't hear about the office's "future plans" as opposed to following WWE where the observer talks about what Vince had for lunch yesterday and how it pertains to his plans for the new day for the next 6 months.

Don't really know what to expect

They do, but we get the same news as they do, so it's not as prevalent.

I think a lot of it is that it's only Gedo & Jado so there's a lot less chance for leaks. We heard around this time last year during Kenny Omega's contract negotiations that Kenny just wanted assurances that he'll be used near the top of the card and in the title picture and that they weren't prepared to do any kind of assurances for anyone, but Omega is very important *nudge wink*.

Same with Ricochet. Sounded like he was prepared to re-sign, but wanted assurances that they'd move him up to heavyweight and again, they wouldn't say yes or no. I imagine that other than general direction, Gedo & Jedo are the only two that know what the long-term plan is.

[Fignuts]

Sanada has the face of a fucking movie star

[Fignuts]

Like it's almost Inoki level

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Sanada has the face of a fucking movie star

Did you see him in TNA?

https://fanstalkpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/img_53011.jpg?w=640

[Fignuts]

Really cool that they do that. No chance at a Del Rio drunkenly making a profanity laden video if you don't make promises you can't keep.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Naito says that he lost, he has no excuses. But in 2018, LIJ will continue to evolve, and in 2018, everyone can enjoy the places LIJ take you to your heart's content.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

JERICHO!!!!

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Beating the shit out of Naito

[Fignuts]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Fignuts]

This is fucking great.

[Fignuts]

No matter how many times Jericho does it, it's still amazing how easily he reinvents himself. I mean this again, is a version of Jericho we haven't seen before. It has similarities to past versions of his character, but it's much more aggressive and unhinged.

Guy might be the most adaptable performer in the history of wrestling.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

It is fucking great. Jericho just losing it and throwing the table at the ring, then as he's being dragged away, Naito grabs a chair from the crowd, turns his back to Jericho and just sits down.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

My only issue is that Jericho does need a win somewhere and Naito isn't that guy. Wonder how they'll play it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Also, NEW BEGINNING seems so far away now at 27th Jan.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

This seems to be the likely setups from what was shown for the two New Beginning Sapporo shows

Okada vs SANADA
Naito vs Jericho
Tana vs Suzuki
Ospreay vs Hiromu
Omega vs Switchblade
Bucks V R3K

I'm guessing Omega/Cody/BC shenanigans will be saved, either for the NEW BEGINING Osaka show on 10th Feb or down the line. Then we have Omege and Ibushi to work through too.

[Droford]

Taichi's superkick in the 10 man at the end was awesome

[Droford]

Baron Corbin + Full head of hair - tattoos = Jay White

[Evil Vito]

Popped for the Young Lions' Nexus-style beatdown to start the opening match

[Mr. Nerfect]

Omega vs. Jay White will be a fun little program.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Very happy that Jericho is doing more with New Japan.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

If you're an adult/nerdy wrasslin fan and you prefer WWE over NJPW, then I don't even know. I don't mean it as an "insult", I just don't know how you could prefer a product that even children think is hokey, compared to a gritty, hard hitting product like NJPW.

I'm not talking ALL WWE in history, just current WWE--they aren't even in the same stratosphere.

[Evil Vito]

Man that would've been like calling up four guys from OVW and immediately putting them in a match on Raw against Hardcore Holly, Hugh Morrus, and the APA

[Mr. Nerfect]

Current WWE is barely wrestling.

[Evil Vito]

Kitamura's a fucking beast. I think this is gonna be a big year for him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've been hearing his name a bit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I wonder if they send him abroad? They are clearly thinking monster push though. Fuck, I love the booking of this promotion.

[Mr. Nerfect]

In New Japan, you have Kitamura starting a trial series, whereas in WWE you have Rhyno trying to "toughen up" Heath Slater.

[Evil Vito]

I wonder if they send him abroad? They are clearly thinking monster push though. Fuck, I love the booking of this promotion.

Usually they send guys on an excursion for a year or two, but the guy is already 32. Wouldn't surprise me if they just use him on the main roster proper. Could even see him filling out a G1 spot, honestly.

[Mr. Nerfect]

He seems like they're ready to feature him without that excursion.

[Evil Vito]

The ending to the Bullet Club tag was perfectly booked in virtually every respect. Cody getting the win allows him to regain some steam from his loss the night before. Omega saving Ibushi got a genuine "holy shit" reaction out of me. Continued teasing of Bullet Club dissension. And then that Jay White swerve was really cool and has me way more interested in him now.

In one segment they've set up Kenny's next US Title program, have a tailor made Cody match just sitting there for whenever they want to go that route, AND they've continued the years long story arc between the Golden Lovers.

I adore the booking of this promotion. It puts WWE's incoherent booking to shame.

[Loose Cannon]

did Omega turn face or did Jay White just fake the heel character for a minute? i couldn't tell from what I read

[Loose Cannon]

really want to start watching this.

[Emperor Smeat]

Finally got around to watching the show and the crowd going wild for Omega during the rift with Cody was amazing. A potential Elite vs Bullet Club feud could make huge money for NJPW baring any screwups.

Jericho going after Naito was really interesting as well. Jericho alluded to this happening based on several interviews he gave recently.

[Evil Vito]

did Omega turn face or did Jay White just fake the heel character for a minute? i couldn't tell from what I read

Technically I think it was a face turn for White but considering how over Kenny is the face/heel alignment doesn't seem to matter much for this feud.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think Omega has been a babyface since he wrestled Okada. And Jericho was definitely the heel during this feud.

[Evil Vito]

Omega was the face in that feud, but the crowd popped huge for White's switcheroo and it came across looking like it was a face turn for him. Should be a banger of a match between them.

[Evil Vito]

Omega/White
Tanahashi/Suzuki
Naito/Jericho

Man this is gonna be fun.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, those sound like crackers.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

I wonder if they send him abroad? They are clearly thinking monster push though. Fuck, I love the booking of this promotion.

According to people who have been following longer than I have, they have done this before for promising Lions and quite often, they'll only win one match, occasionally 2 and look like they might, but noone could remember anyone succeeding.

Someone has to succeed at some point though and with his physical presence and the fact he's actually up there in terms of age, I think they might pull the trigger on him without an excursion and win the trial.

[Fignuts]

The heel and face dynamic is different in Japan. More of a grey area with most guys.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The heel and face dynamic is different in Japan. More of a grey area with most guys.

Yeah, I mean technically speaking, Okada is a heel. He leads a heel group and he's a cocky son of a bitch.

[Evil Vito]

In this first year that I've been watching New Japan I thought CHAOS were faces as it's always felt as though they're the ones getting outnumbered in beatdowns by another stable, which I always found odd as there are a million people in CHAOS and they should be able to outnumber everybody.

But that's another quirk to booking that I've not gotten used to from being so accustomed to WWE, I guess it's just standard for stablemates to take a long time to make the save. Hell LIJ slowly walked back to the ring even though they were clearly watching their leader get beat down by Jericho.

[Evil Vito]

Someone on Reddit explained it that the only true white meat babyface stable are Taguchi Japan, and their open door policy allows them to basically just be the "miscellaneous" stable that guys work with when they aren't in any of the other groups.

Conversely, Suzuki-gun are the only clear cut heel group on account of them being sadistic sons of bitches.

CHAOS, Bullet Club, and LIJ are all somewhere in the middle and whether they're operating as faces or heel depends on the match or program they're working on and that's where a lot of the grey area comes in. Half the stable may be heels in one match and the others would be faces in the next, etc.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Yeah, what group you're affiliated with is kind of like a scale of being heel or face. It kind of goes from heel to face: Suzuki-gun, Bullet Club, CHAOS, LIJ, Taguchi Japan.

Even then it's tough as LIJ were a heel stable, but just shifted because Naito and to a lesser extent, Takahashi, became so popular. The Bullet Club are atill pretty much heels, but The Elite jave a different dynamic. Outside of Suzuki and Taguchi, it's just different shades of grey.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, Okada is a babyface.