NJPW - TPWW ***OFFICIAL*** Discussion Thread -- New Japan of America announced

[Ultra Mantis]

Ibushi never said that, he said he wants to work with New Japan until he retires and it will be "the last place" he works but that wasn't alluding to him being done when his current contract is up. It was more of a "hey, I'm sticking around so you can give me some belts, don't worry about me going to AEW".

They tried to push him as Tanahashi 2.0 but the fans shit all over it, culminating in a fan vote on which match the fans wanted to close the show, getting his Tokyo Dome main event with Okada bumped down the card and being replaced by Tanahashi and Nakamura for the IC title.

He hasn't really been a focus of the booking so he has cooled off a little (the year long Jericho feud had him sitting on his hands most of the time because Jericho is never there) but he's still the most popular guy in all the fan polls, to the point where Tokyo Sports gave him a "Best Technician" award of all things because they couldn't justify giving the top MVP award to him when he hadn't really done anything.

Naito draws better than either guy when they're not there and he is, you can see it better if you just look at the Korakuen Hall shows. Nights with just Naito always have better attendance than nights with just Okada or just Tanahashi.

I prefer Okada honestly, and Naito is only my third favourite guy in LIJ, but domestically he is the most popular guy they have.

[Evil Vito]

SHO’s theme is so fucking good.

[slik]

Sanada vs ZSJ on this ep of New Japan on AXSTV

How did I luck into stumbling onto this at 3am

[slik]

I put the commentary on mute and I am listening to Coldplay while watching New Japan and it's a peacefully violent experience.

[Evil Vito]

El Phantasmo is such a wonderful dickhead heel

[Evil Vito]

All caught up on BOSJ, and good thing too as there are about to be four nights with 10 block matches per card.

And I'm not gonna be able to watch tomorrow, so I'll be playing catch up again

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/njpw1972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@njpw1972</a> <a href="https://t.co/ooLD0aIXA4">pic.twitter.com/ooLD0aIXA4</a></p>&mdash; Jon Moxley (@JonMoxley) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonMoxley/status/1132868564132741120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Evil Vito]

holy shit

[Simple Fan]

Slik with his multiple thread post again. Thought I made my post from the AEW thread in this one o ce I seen that post.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Cool video. I like the Mox logo and how it ties into "Time's Up." Juice might have just been shown because he's a wrestler, but it's conceivable to imagine Mox going after the US Title.

[slik]

Slik with his multiple thread post again. Thought I made my post from the AEW thread in this one o ce I seen that post.

sorry, trying 2 be better

gotta help njpw get clixxx

[ClockShot]

Jox Moxley going to New Japan.

I'm really happy for the guy right now. He's got it all going on right now.

[Jordan]

Holy shit! I didn't see this coming. Looking more and more like NJPW and AEW are "working together". I know that NJPW is happy that Jericho won at DON. Keeps him strong going into his IWGP match. I have a feeling Jericho is gonna hold both the IWGP and the AEW World Championships by the end of August.

[Evil Vito]

I can't imagine that they're going to do a fourth IWGP title change in the first half of the year. I see Okada holding it til Wrestle Kingdom at the earliest.

[Emperor Smeat]

Going by the title's history since Okada's 1st reign, its either Dominion or Wrestle Kingdom for the likely end of Okada's title reign.

Only once since 2012 did the belt change hands after July for the year. Belt changed hands 4 times at Dominion within the same time period.

[Evil Vito]

Moxley putting ZSJ to shame with his finisher name

https://i.redd.it/1s93tcyjty031.jpg

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can't imagine that they're going to do a fourth IWGP title change in the first half of the year. I see Okada holding it til Wrestle Kingdom at the earliest.

That would seem logical, but they could always turn the rapid changes into a story. There's nothing inherently "wrong" about a series of champions who just can't get out the gate because right now things are so competitive.

[Ultra Mantis]

Jon Moxley's debut at the BOSJ Final has been one upped at the last minute by the impending debut of Naoru Takahashi.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">【Everyone needs healing.】<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%83%8A%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ナオル</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NAORU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NAORU</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njbosj?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njbosj</a> <a href="https://t.co/fhFWLHS6IJ">pic.twitter.com/fhFWLHS6IJ</a></p>&mdash; 髙橋ヒロム Hiromu Takahashi (@TIMEBOMB1105) <a href="https://twitter.com/TIMEBOMB1105/status/1135549788647071744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hopefully Hiromu will be there too.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Moxley putting ZSJ to shame with his finisher name

https://i.redd.it/1s93tcyjty031.jpg

Well, many say he can't do a good DDT.

[Emperor Smeat]

Moxley vs. Juice was amazing.

If there was any doubts about his in-ring skills after leaving WWE, he erased it tonight.

[Jordan]

I can't wait to watch it, just reading the match results sounds awesome.

[Emperor Smeat]

Holy Shit at Ospreay vs. Takagi match.

Was MotY tier quality overall and :eek: at a bunch of the spots done during it.

Past 3 weeks have been amazing for wrestling. AEW's DoN, NXT TakeOver 25, and tonight BotSJ's show.

[Innovator]

Moxley/Juice was tremendous. The Ex-Plex made the crowd think Juice died

[slik]

I see Mox has ditched the jeans and boots look (at least in Japan).

I hope he mixes it up in AEW too!

[Jordan]

Thank God he wasn't wearing jeans and tank!

[Volare]

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[Volare]

Mox has bad ass music now.

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[Droford]

NJPW won't let him defend that on an AEW show will they?

[Droford]

Wonder if he'll defend it more often than he did the WWE US belt

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Mox has bad ass music now.

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Really good match. Enjoyed Mox's stuff.

[Jordan]

Yeah that match was awesome, Mox is excitng.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

loved him being a huge prick when he left to the back.

[GD]

That's good shit!

[Evil Vito]

What a fucking show. Loved it.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

You can also see that Mox is putting the work in the gym. When he came back from the injury looking all jacked, I figured he'd eventually get lazy and lose the muscle he put on - but apparently he's been doing 2-a-days and it looks like it.

[Evil Vito]

I remember a few years ago in an interview he was asked about wrestling in jeans and a tank top and he'd defended the choice saying, "hey, this is what you'd wear in a bar fight, you wouldn't show up in just your boots and underwear"

I got what he was saying but it sounded funny coming from him seeing as he wore trunks throughout his indy and FCW career, and that was when he was really scrawny looking. Wasn't sure if the street clothes look was actually a Vince mandate and he was being a company guy by defending it.

Now he's out of WWE and right back to proper gear. But I can't blame him for wanting to show off the work he put in.

[Emperor Smeat]

You can also see that Mox is putting the work in the gym. When he came back from the injury looking all jacked, I figured he'd eventually get lazy and lose the muscle he put on - but apparently he's been doing 2-a-days and it looks like it.

Probably going to look in even better shape by the time his match against Janela happens at AEW's next show since he also mentioned being extra motivated on washing away the WWE stink from himself.

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 26 total attendance was 27,908, average attendance was 1,861. Respectively, these were increases of 28% and 20% over last year. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NJBOSJ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NJBOSJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/eHeDuPgPpY">pic.twitter.com/eHeDuPgPpY</a></p>&mdash; Evan (@EvanDeadlySinsW) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDeadlySinsW/status/1136270800938553344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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It does come with a pretty big catch. The average when not including the finals is actually lower than last year's tournament.

[Fignuts]

Great show. Double or Nothing was good, but NJPW is still king of the hill in terms of pure quality, imo.

Mox vs Juice was fantastic. Hoping that Juice losing the belt, along with his haircut and attitude shift mean bigger things are in store for him. Dude's earned it.

Really excited to see more of Moxley after that. I'd actually really like to see him in the G-1. It would certainly be a pretty big wildcard to throw in to the list of usual suspects.

Takagi vs Ospreay was fucking awesome. A lot of sequences that would of looked too choreographed if most people tried it, but these two were so in sync that it looked buttery smooth. Lightening fucking quick too.

That said, I really would have preferred Shingo winning. My Armchair booking has Shingo winning and then getting the belt, continuing his undefeated streak until Wrestle Kingdom where he finally loses to SHO in a rematch of their incredible BOTSJ match.

But Ospreay needs that W I guess.

[Evil Vito]

Yeah I've seen a lot of people calling for SHO to have gotten the win over Shingo, but eh...I think NJPW will stubbornly keep R3K together for a lot longer than people are hoping for. That said I legit jumped up in shock when Ospreay got the W. His promos afterwards saying he also wants to face the heavyweights probably telegraphs that he's going into the G1, and if he's doing that he kinda had to win this.

These fucking promos

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[Evil Vito]

Actually Shingo's getting on on the heavyweight act too, facing Kojima at Dominion

[Evil Vito]

Full Dominion card:

1. Shota Umino [Young Lion] vs. Jon Moxley [AEW]

2. Satoshi Kojima [Seikigun] vs. Shingo Takagi [L.I.J]

3. Jushin Thunder Liger [Seikigun] and YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] vs. Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. [Suzuki-gun]

4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, and Ryusuke Taguchi [Seikigun] vs. Jay White, Taiji Ishimori, and Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

5. NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] vs. Taichi (C) [Suzuki-gun]

6. IWGP Tag Team Championship: EVIL and SANADA [L.I.J] vs. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa (C) [Bullet Club]

7. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] vs. Dragon Lee (C) [CMLL]

8. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito [L.I.J] vs. Kota Ibushi (C) [Seikigun]

9. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho [AEW] vs. Kazuchika Okada (C) [CHAOS]

---

lol @ GOD/LIJ for the millionth time due to there being nobody else in the tag division. The show will be a banger but Gedo pays about as much attention to his tag division as WWE does.

[Blue Demon]

Moxley putting ZSJ to shame with his finisher name

https://i.redd.it/1s93tcyjty031.jpg

So his finisher is a description of himself?

[Innovator]

Shota is about to die for our entertainment

[Evil Vito]

Shota excursion to CZW

[Evil Vito]

Per Meltzer, Mox isn’t going to be on Fight for the Fallen, which is on 7/13. Pointing towards Mox having already been allowed by AEW to do the G1.

If that happens, oh dear god please let Mox and Suzuki be in the same block.

[Innovator]

Until a couple days ago Mox vs. Suzuki wasn't something I knew I needed.

Also, Mox vs. Ishii

[Innovator]

Apparently Minoru wants the same thing:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="ja" dir="ltr">言いたいことは言うことにする。。。クリス・ジェリコ <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmJericho?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IAmJericho</a> 、ジョン・モクスリーとケンカしたい。プロレスしたい。世界中が世界のプロレスファンがこれを見たがってる。世界が待っている。よく聞け！オレが日本の鈴木みのるだ！</p>&mdash; 鈴木みのる (@suzuki_D_minoru) <a href="https://twitter.com/suzuki_D_minoru/status/1136612188460789761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Jordan]

I know NJPW "does what they want" but I totally think tickets will sell VERY well if they book Mox and Suzuki for Dallas.

[thecc]

Shota excursion to CZWHe can learn to wrestle in complete silence.

[Jordan]

I am a little confused about Mox's Dominion match, but we shall see.

[Emperor Smeat]

I am a little confused about Mox's Dominion match, but we shall see.

Him facing a Young Lion really feels like his inclusion was a last minute decision. Slim pickings for a high profile opponent since everyone else was already locked into matches for this show.

Then again, same could be said for the Kojima vs. Takagi match.

[Tom Guycott]

Per Meltzer, Mox isn’t going to be on Fight for the Fallen, which is on 7/13. Pointing towards Mox having already been allowed by AEW to do the G1.

If that happens, oh dear god please let Mox and Suzuki be in the same block.

Until a couple days ago Mox vs. Suzuki wasn't something I knew I needed.


OH GAWD, WILL SOMEONE THINK OF THE YOUNG LIONS?!?

[Simple Fan]

Watched the Juice/Mox match and have will watch the rest of BOSJ on AXS TV. Cool to see h in different promotions. Seen Killer Kross dropped a vignette today kind of going at Mox for stealing his gimmick. He's reportedly been on the outs with Impact but I don't care where it goes down Kross vs Moxley would be well, killer. Not near the quality of Moxley's but here it is.

yTFMWfe7Mfk

[Tom Guycott]

This has made me more interested in Killer Kross more than most of his run in Impact. Funny what a little bit of outside the box work can do.

[Emperor Smeat]

Moxley 2 for 2 for good matches in NJPW.

The match he just had against Umino was short but sweet. Seems he now has 2 versions of his Dirty Deeds finisher. A more vicious looking version compared to the one he did in WWE and an impaler version he did against Juice.

Also just announced himself as a competitor in this year's G1 Climax tournament.

[Emperor Smeat]

Ishii vs Taichi for the Never belt was really good overall.

[Emperor Smeat]

:eek:

KENTA/Hideo Itami just showed up in NJPW and is entering the G1 Climax tournament

Also explains the awkward delay with Shibata since the surprise would have been ruined with entrance music.

[Emperor Smeat]

Ospreay vs. Lee for the IWGP Jr belt was amazing.

[Emperor Smeat]

Holy shit at Ibushi almost snapping his neck from a suplex on the apron.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The neck of Ibushi is made of rubber <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njdominion?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njdominion</a> <a href="https://t.co/T2dhuWeZ0o">pic.twitter.com/T2dhuWeZ0o</a></p>&mdash; Miguel Uceda (@MigUceda) <a href="https://twitter.com/MigUceda/status/1137663138885787649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Emperor Smeat]

Ibushi vs. Naito was great.

Ibushi's neck has to be mush after all those neck bumps he took.

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at the ending to the Jericho vs. Okada match. The match itself was pretty good overall.

Dominion itself was pretty great.

[Emperor Smeat]

NJPW teased Jericho's next match is going to be against
Hiroshi Tanahashi due to how the post-match stuff went down.

[ClockShot]

:lol:

Naito gets the IC belt back roughly 2 months after he dropped it to Ibushi at MSG.

[erickman]

Watched the Juice/Mox match and have will watch the rest of BOSJ on AXS TV. Cool to see h in different promotions. Seen Killer Kross dropped a vignette today kind of going at Mox for stealing his gimmick. He's reportedly been on the outs with Impact but I don't care where it goes down Kross vs Moxley would be well, killer. Not near the quality of Moxley's but here it is.

yTFMWfe7Mfk

wonder if impact made a deal with aew to keep kross happy, since he still has a year contract with them. they let him and mox have a match at aew and there payday. I also see rosemary getting involved in the allie brandy match.

[Jordan]

Oh man Dominion sounds so good!

[Jordan]

Kenta and Mox in G1! YES!

[Innovator]

Were one step closer to Mox vs. Suzuki, young lions den match

[Simple Fan]

Great show, was going to try and watch it live this morning but couldn't stay up. G1 getting a lot of new faces this year should damn good.

[Evil Vito]

What a fun show. NJPW always brings the good with big shows like this.

Ospreay/Dragon Lee was probably my MOTN. Glad to see Robbie Eagles getting the title shot in Australia. He had a really good showing in the BOSJ.

[Evil Vito]

Tama Tonga publicly bowing out of the tournament a month ago makes even more sense now since he was clearly going to be losing his spot.

I had assumed the 4 openings (Kenny, Hangman, Elgin, Tama) were going to Ospreay, Taichi, Cobb, and Kojima. Instead 3 of them have now been filled by Moxley, Shingo, and KENTA. Wild. This tournament is gonna rule.

No clue on that last spot now. Cobb's already been announced for the Dallas show, but Taichi really deserves to go in with the work he's done, and Kojima never got his last farewell run. But who else can you even bump? It's not going to be YOSHI-HASHI.

I'd guess Makabe who is a tourney staple might be next in line. Maybe Fale too since he's not been around a lot.

[Ultra Mantis]

Ospreay apparently also announced his entry during his post match interview so that would be all of the free spaces taken.

I've heard that Tanahashi has said somewhere that he has "requested" to sit this year out since he hasn't 100% recovered from his surgery and doesn't feel like he would last through a G1. That would free up a slot again.

With Koji losing to Shingo they might just not have him in this year. While he should be in, I could totally see them not putting Taichi in again and having him go on backstage rants about it. Gedo might straight up just not book Goto because how else can he bury the poor guy at this point? This year feels anything could happen.

[Fignuts]

Great show, was going to try and watch it live this morning but couldn't stay up. G1 getting a lot of new faces this year should damn good.

This.

G-1 has been mostly the same people for a few years now. Adding a handful of new talent will definitely spice things up.

[Fignuts]

Kenta in NJPW is cool but when Shibata's music hit, a big part of me was hoping he was announcing he was cleared to wrestle again.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm fine with the G-1 having a massive makeover. Having the same people in it every year kind of feels...not passe, that's too strong a word. But it helps it feel like the product is evolving and helps it go through a major shift.

[Volare]

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[Jordan]

Mox is the best. So happy he's where he is. Punk could've done this, :(

[Jordan]

Wow Super J Cup on the west coast in August. 3 shows, San Fran, the PWG theatre, and Walter Pyramid!

[Jordan]

f4wonline
NJPW is bringing the Super J-Cup to the United States.

At NJPW's post-Dominion press conference, it was announced that the Super J-Cup is returning and will be held across three shows in the West Coast of the United States this August. This will be the first Super J-Cup tournament since 2016.

The first round will be held at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The second round will then take place at the San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California on Saturday, August 24, and the tournament will conclude with the semifinals and finals taking place at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.

Tickets for all three shows will go on sale on Monday, June 24 at noon Pacific time.

Participants for the Super J-Cup have yet to be announced, but it will be a 16-wrestler tournament and will feature entrants from NJPW, ROH, CMLL, and other promotions.

Jushin Thunder Liger was announced as the producer of this year's Super J-Cup.

[Volare]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!

[Volare]

Whole thing is good, Jericho strikes again with Bakahashi @ 2:56....

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Baka means stupid, idiot etc

[Evil Vito]

Lance Archer just posted a video confirming he’s entering the G1

Okay...there’s no way they aren’t expanding the field at this point. Much like the NJ Cup and BOSJ, they’re going to run the biggest G1 ever.

Only thing is I don’t know how they break out the schedule for an expanded G1 since they’ve already announced the tournament will be 19 dates. Like BOSJ there will probably be a few cards composed entirely of singles matches.

Without prelim tags to skip when I’m strapped for time it’s going to be nearly impossible to stay on top of this.

[Evil Vito]

They could do four six-man blocks which would be more manageable.

BUT....even though the winner will have conquered the “Largest G1 Ever”, there’s a caveat they’ll have wrestled fewer matches than previous winners.

[Jordan]

My money is on Ospreay to take it and go on to face Okada at the Dome. Also I'm thinking they may do Jericho vs Tanahashi at G1 in Dallas as the main event.

[Fignuts]

I think it’s Ibushi’s year.

[Fignuts]

They could do four six-man blocks which would be more manageable.

BUT....even though the winner will have conquered the “Largest G1 Ever”, there’s a caveat they’ll have wrestled fewer matches than previous winners.

Maybe it’s the same amount and they’re just removing more of the usual suspects. Could see them taking out Yoshi and Makabe to make room for fresh faces.

[Evil Vito]

Given YOSHI is moving into a ZSJ program I think he’s probably safe but who knows.

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">��We know there's a real shortage of professional wrestling on Monday nights, so every week we make a new match from our archives free to watch!<br>This week, a war between Tomoaki Honma and Katsuyori Shibata from 2016<a href="https://t.co/6v4oRzOcUC">https://t.co/6v4oRzOcUC</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpw</a> <a href="https://t.co/wHMtDLLnpm">pic.twitter.com/wHMtDLLnpm</a></p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1138219444516376581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Evil Vito]

If they do move to 24:

Returnees (16):
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kota Ibushi
Togi Makabe
Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Jay White
Bad Luck Fale
Tetsuya Naito
SANADA
EVIL
Minoru Suzuki
Zack Sabre Jr.

Publicly Announced Intent to Enter (6):
Jon Moxley
KENTA
Jeff Cobb
Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi
Lance Archer

That would still leave two openings, one of which would hopefully be Taichi.

So the final spot would be a toss up depending on what they wanted to do with it. If they wanted a farewell run, there's Kojima. If they wanted more Bullet Club representation, it could be Chase. If they wanted to give another spot to one of their affiliates it could be Brody King/Rush/Colt Cabana.

[Fignuts]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">��We know there's a real shortage of professional wrestling on Monday nights, so every week we make a new match from our archives free to watch!<br>This week, a war between Tomoaki Honma and Katsuyori Shibata from 2016<a href="https://t.co/6v4oRzOcUC">https://t.co/6v4oRzOcUC</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpw</a> <a href="https://t.co/wHMtDLLnpm">pic.twitter.com/wHMtDLLnpm</a></p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1138219444516376581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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SHOTS FIRED

[Ultra Mantis]

If they do move to 24:

Returnees (16):
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kota Ibushi
Togi Makabe
Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Jay White
Bad Luck Fale
Tetsuya Naito
SANADA
EVIL
Minoru Suzuki
Zack Sabre Jr.

Publicly Announced Intent to Enter (6):
Jon Moxley
KENTA
Jeff Cobb
Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi
Lance Archer

That would still leave two openings, one of which would hopefully be Taichi.

So the final spot would be a toss up depending on what they wanted to do with it. If they wanted a farewell run, there's Kojima. If they wanted more Bullet Club representation, it could be Chase. If they wanted to give another spot to one of their affiliates it could be Brody King/Rush/Colt Cabana.

I wonder if Davey Jr is actually done with New Japan then after all his bitching, I certainly wouldnt miss him.

Cabana might not be in it because the dates clash with the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Maybe he would sit out a year there if it meant he got to do the G1 but it's already advertised, venue booked etc so it's not like he would just have to cancel a few indy dates.

[Vastardikai]

Changed a Battery for a guy wearing a Swtichblade shirt yesterday. I had a bit of difficulty, but once I finished, I said "Tranquilo!"

[mike adamle]

Really hopeful Ishii and Moxley are in the same block. That is gonna be bonkers when it happens.

[Jordan]

Can someone summarize Davey's issues with NJPW? Or link me.

[Fignuts]

He was pissed about being booked in a comedy match with Yano.

[Emperor Smeat]

He mainly just wants to work in more shows than he currently is. Like with Kushida, the company has him locked into a very specific spot or role and don't see any need to change it to improve his standing.

His tag partner, Lance Archer, isn't featured as much these days in shows but its also due to him being busy with backstage stuff for the company so at least he has steady work there.

[Ultra Mantis]

He's been complaining very publicly about his position on the card for at least two years, believes he should be a singles champion and that he's being horribly misused. He shit all over Omega / Yano, resulting in Kenny burying him on twitter (something along the lines of "I'd rather get over for one night with comedy than fail at getting over as a serious wrestler for my entire career") and then New Japan booking him against Yano in the New Japan Cup two years in a row where he refused to go along with Yano's schtick and looked like even more of a dope than if he had just played along. It seemed both of those Yano matches were to curb his attitude and he refused to play ball both times so it's no surprise they don't want to use him. Guy generally comes off as a gigantic arsehole.

Archer on the other hand had his water spitting gimmick taken off him, which had actually gotten him over, and he didn't make a big fuss over it. They gave him a small run in the New Japan cup to show what hes got and he impressed people (easy to do against Ospreay sure, but he also did well against Henare). New Japan not wanting to feature KES really seems like more of a Davey problem than a Lance problem.

[Fignuts]

I haven’t seen anything that special from him, tbh.

[Jordan]

I really like Davey Boy Jr... Saddens me to hear that he's not that cool.

[Emperor Smeat]

Davey's issues with Yano G1 matches is extra dumb when you consider those matches are usually meant to be extra rest for certain talent. Same for any tournament he's involved in.

Crowd gets some laughs and certain talent get to ease up on the wear-and-tear during a grueling schedule period.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Philosophically, I don't disagree with Davey at all. The guy is really good, but he's got the perception of being "boring" or a flop to the niche audience. He's not "trendy" to a subculture that is going to dictate whether or not you get over.

While Davey is really good at the whole wrestling thing, he really could find something to push him over to that next level. It might be an environmental/booking thing, but he needs to set himself up in a context where he can prove that he can be that level of guy.

[Emperor Smeat]

Apparently the reason for Shibata's awkward pointing for KENTA's surprise debut was due to KENTA getting lost backstage and couldn't find where the stage entrance was located.

KENTA chats with Chris Charlton following his NJPW debut ...

In the embedded video at the top of the article, Shibata came out from the entry way first and then pointed back to signal KENTA to come out. KENTA took an extended period of time to show face and he revealed during a recent edition of the NJPW English Podcast with Chris Charlton that the reason he took so long to come out was because he could not find the entrance way in Osaka-Jo Hall.

“Yeah, that has a little bit of story [to it]. Shibata went first then he pointed at me and I tried to go [through the] entrance but I didn’t know where the entrance was. That’s why [I] took a little bit of time and then I tried to look for [the] stairs and finally I found it. I went, ‘Oh okay. I go’.” KENTA explained.

[ClockShot]

Spinal Tap moment.

Everyone has one.

[Evil Vito]

Oh fuck, Gedo has stepped down

[Evil Vito]

NJPW sources denying the rumors now

[Jordan]

Hope it's not true

[Fignuts]

If you see something on wrestletalk it’s probably not true.

[Emperor Smeat]

A very reliable source in Japan denied the Gedo rumor.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The crazy rumor was not true. I didn't think so. Replacing the booker is a big deal in wrestling. If something like that was to take place, we would have heard about it weeks in advance. <a href="https://t.co/MGrnqVPNyR">https://t.co/MGrnqVPNyR</a></p>&mdash; 斎藤文彦 (@Fumihikodayo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Fumihikodayo/status/1139613025457934336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seems like it's not true, but it still makes you wonder where it has come from. Some people are suggesting that Gedo might be sharing power now.

Truth be told, as awesome as Gedo is, he might deserve a fucking break.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to Voices of Wrestling, Davey Boy Smith Jr has left NJPW.

Also seems the NJPW-ROH partnership took another hit recently. Juice Robinson supposedly has left ROH due to not liking his time in the company and others within NJPW currently hold similar feelings on ROH.

[GD]

What is DH Smith doing in the "yellow and gold" zone?

[Droford]

What is DH Smith doing in the "yellow and gold" zone?

I figured he'd be in AEW

[Mr. Nerfect]

According to Voices of Wrestling, Davey Boy Smith Jr has left NJPW.

Also seems the NJPW-ROH partnership took another hit recently. Juice Robinson supposedly has left ROH due to not liking his time in the company and others within NJPW currently hold similar feelings on ROH.

The talent are cleverly pushing away ROH if New Japan is not going to do it themselves. It wouldn't surprise me if Moxley planted a few ideas into Robinson's head about taking some initiative if he'd rather be working AEW shows.

[Evil Vito]

The only thing ROH has going for it is the NJPW association and some of the folks they signed over the winter, in my opinion. They have arguably the most insidious owners in wrestling, their top guys are mix of dudes whose ceiling is ROH/maybe TNA (Taven), people whose baggage are keeping them there (Briscoes, possibly Lethal), and people who are just waiting for their contract to expire (Scurll). Still, I don't know if NJPW can just extract themselves from the working partnership they have with ROH given they'd also lose CMLL with AEW having its own network of aligned promotions set up.

Like, I think there will be a point in time when AEW and NJPW do end up officially aligned, but I think it'll take longer than anyone but ROH would like.

[Droford]

ROH is barely better than Impact at this point.

[Emperor Smeat]

G1 Climax 2019 blocks:

A Block:

Kazuchika Okada
Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kota Ibushi
EVIL
SANADA
Bad Luck Fale
Lance Archer
Will Ospreay
KENTA


B Block:

Tetsuya Naito
Tomohiro Ishii
Juice Robinson
Toru Yano
Hirooki Goto
Jay White
Jeff Cobb
Shingo Takagi
Taichi
Jon Moxley

[Jordan]

Block A seems like a lot of repeats, I think Block B will give us a lot of surprises.

[Evil Vito]

Well, it seems like they made all the right cuts from last year-WAIT WHERE THE FUCK IS MINORU SUZUKI?!?!?!

[Jordan]

Well, it seems like they made all the right cuts from last year-WAIT WHERE THE FUCK IS MINORU SUZUKI?!?!?!

Goddamn. He should be in Block B.

[Jordan]

I say Block A and Block B instead of A Block B Block because I think it sounds less like 2nd best.

[Evil Vito]

I am truly baffled at Suzuki not being in this. If he didn't ask to be taken out of the tournament this makes no sense.

But the field as a whole is way stronger than last.

[Evil Vito]

A Block is loaded, B Block feels like it's Naito's to lose.

[Jordan]

I think B Block is looking to Shingo and Jay White to be the stand outs. Also Ishii and perhaps Mox and Cobb.

[Jordan]

How cool is it that 3 or 4 month later and Dean Ambrose is in the fucking G1.

[Evil Vito]

Thinking about it...if you sub Suzuki into B Block for Goto or Yano. He'd be losing to Naito, Switchblade, and probably Mox unless they were going to do a US Title match later. So that's 3 losses but then you consider Ishii, Juice, and Shingo all seem to be higher on the pecking order than him at this point and he probably would've lost to some of them. And had he replaced Archer in A Block it would've been even worse.

So as much as I love Suzuki, I'm not sure there was a path to him getting a winning record in this tourney and if that's the case, it's probably best that they kept him out and protect his aura.

[Ultra Mantis]

If Goto puts up his spot to Suzuki and loses I would not even be slightly surprised.

[Fignuts]

I’d rather see Goto than Suzuki at this point.

But fuck yeah, no Yoshi-Hashi! Plus Ishii and Moxley in the same block.

[Evil Vito]

If Goto puts up his spot to Suzuki and loses I would not even be slightly surprised.

Well, Suzuki DID demand a qualifying match after his match today...so it's possible. But despite Goto seemingly disappearing this year, I'm not sure they'd bring him back just to lose his spot to Suzuki.

If he's going to murder someone and take their spot, I think it'll be Yano. You normally want Yano in there because he, like Fale in the other block, gives the guys a bit of a break since they won't have to work a long match against him. Also both of them are important to booking because they've got a reputation as spoilers. But with Taichi in, he could conceivably play that role in B block.

I doubt they do anything. This probably sets up Suzuki either getting a month off or murdering people in the undercard matches. Probably costs Mox his match to Taichi or something to set up the Mox/Suzuki match both guys supposedly have asked for.

[Ultra Mantis]

I picked Goto becauce his booking this year has had him come out looking like a big contender and then fall at the first hurdle and struggle to get back on his feet. New Japan Cup first round loss and then the Jay White feud where he even got pinned in the tags. It's almost like Gedo is ribbing him.

Love Goto, he got a monster pop when they announced him and he deserves a bit of a redemptive run before they probably shaft him in the block final, I'm expecting him to finish no higher than 5th or 6th though. Yano needs to stay in the block at all costs so he can beat Jay White and we get an epic tantrum out of it.

[Evil Vito]

Night 1 in Dallas will be headlined by Okada/Tanahashi with Ibushi/KENTA as the semi-main.

[Innovator]

7/19: Moxley vs. Ishii

[Emperor Smeat]

If NJPW sticks with the usual trend for their tournaments, G1 Finals is going to be between winner of Okada vs. Ibushi and Naito vs. White based on the final block nights.

Only other major match in those 2 nights is Ospreay vs. Tanahashi. Probably going to be a repeat of what happened with Jay White last year because its too high profile of a match to just toss away as a meaningless match.

[Evil Vito]

Eh, that's who I expected the blocks to come down to anyway. Despite it being a month long tourney, announcing all of the matches in advance makes it pretty easy to work out who the real contenders are.

The part I love about it though is all of the side stories they set up during the tourney itself. I feel like almost every match involving a champion is a must watch because a loss by the champ will set up a title match.

[Emperor Smeat]

Some new details regarding the debunked Gedo rumor. Seems the origin of the rumor was a reporter in Japan making an assumption about the ending to Dominion and it got quickly taken as a fact of Gedo quitting as the head booker.


A reporter wrote a column and thought that Dominion wasn't like a Gedo booked show and assumed with no knowledge that they must be using a committee. This somehow got translated into Gedo quit at Dominion.

The reporter was dead wrong, although I'm guessing Gedo listened to Jericho given they've been friends and former tag team partners when they both started, so Jericho had influence on his match. I don't even know that to be the case, but it would make sense.

The key thing is the story broke in the middle of the night Japanese time on U.S. message boards. Luckily Fumi Saito woke up at 2:30 a.m. to let me know it was fake. NJPW office opened at 8 a.m. but I was already getting texts from people there at 6:30 that it was fake. Jericho talked to Gedo as soon as he woke up.
Click to shrink...

[ClockShot]

7/19: Moxley vs. Ishii

Save the date.

[Fignuts]

7/19: Moxley vs. Ishii

It's the main event for that night, so its going to get plenty of time.

[Evil Vito]

Mox/Ishii might wind up being the match of that block. Though Naito/Shingo also has me seriously interested. And Yano/Taichi.

[Evil Vito]

Mox is skipping the press conference and the Dallas show.

I'm guessing his AEW contract doesn't allow him to take televised bookings in the US.

[Volare]

Words from our god and savior @ 2:37

<iframe width="907" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hOJUzRB-Xiw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ultra Mantis]

He's such a dork and that was great :lol:

I especially like Okada's confidence in his tag team partner by immediately saying he can't wait to wrestle Zack.

[Evil Vito]

Apparently ticket sales haven't been great for the Southern Showdown in Australia. People who had bought balcony seats have been getting notified that their seats are being relocated to the back rows of the floor.

Seen a few people saying they will try to get refunds because floor seats suck.

[Emperor Smeat]

To be fair, neither card for the tour looks that appealing overall.

The card for the Sydney show looks terrible and the one for the Melbourne show looks decent at best. Nothing really mouth-watering outside of the IWGP Jr title match and maybe the Romero vs. Phantasmo match.

[Mr. Nerfect]

New Japan greatly misjudges their foreign markets.

[Evil Vito]

The London show has sold well and the Long Beach shows have drawn as well. I can write off the January tour not drawing well to all of the visa issues.

But the fact that the G1 show in Dallas isn't selling well despite a loaded A Block is pretty damning. They'll draw in cities like NYC or Chicago but if it's not a city people want to travel to, it's not going to be well received.

[Emperor Smeat]

Observer on the issues leading to Davey Boy Smith's departure.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This Davey Boy Jr. story is basically the plotline for an episode of a potential wrestling sitcom: <a href="https://t.co/avNxZVUnzA">pic.twitter.com/avNxZVUnzA</a></p>&mdash; Trevor Dame (@TrevorDame) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrevorDame/status/1141639803240239104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Droford]

New Japan greatly misjudges their foreign markets.

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2019/06/20/martin-new-japan-to-non-japanese-fans-drop-dead/

TLDRL - foreign fans can't get Tix to Wrestlekingdom anymore since they blocked a commonly used proxy service that gave foreign fans access to a Japanese address which is a requirement to be in the NJPW fan club for presales...but they still took their fan club money.

[slik]

WK never sells out though, so that can't be entirely valid.

[Evil Vito]

LOL at the headline of that article being so incendiary.

You shouldn't use shady third parties to buy tickets for you that require a Japanese address if you don't have a Japanese address. It would seem to be common sense that you should only buy tickets directly from New Japan or from other official channels (i.e. respect whatever rules NJPW adopts for ticket sales).

It is hypocritical for any American to criticize a Japanese company putting its Japanese fans first while claiming, without evidence, that Americans would "be outraged" if WWE put its American fans first. I think it'd actually be pretty popular in the US if WWE followed suit for WrestleMania (and if they'd ban scalpers from buying tickets to resell them at inflated prices, but not much you can do with that).

The idea of prioritizing the interests of your own country's people over those of foreigners may be completely alien to American journalists and American corporations, but it is normal to most people in America and most people in most countries around the world. NJPW is intentionally giving up money they could make from raising ticket prices and selling to foreigners who are willing to pay outrageous scalper-like ticket prices in order to ensure their Japanese fans can get the best seats at the Dome. That's admirable and is an example that the American companies that shipped our jobs to other countries where they can get away with offering terrible pay and terrible working conditions could learn from.

[Mr. Nerfect]

WK never sells out though, so that can't be entirely valid.

Didn't they sell out this year?

I think they misunderstand how valuable Americans see tournaments as -- especially as the start of tournaments. They took ages to announce a card and there aren't really any major stips in the sense that Westerners appreciate them. Getting a start in the G-1 isn't really a deal to them.

They really should have gone in gun's blazing with a card like:

* Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Title
* Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho
* Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IC Title
* Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the US Title/NEVER Openweight Title
* Jay White vs. Hirooki Goto
* GoD vs. The KES for the Tag Titles (give KES the belts in Archer's hometown)
* EVIL & Sanada vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre, Jr.
* Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee vs. Bandido for the Junior Heavyweight Title
* Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori
* Juice Robinson vs. Jeff Cobb
* Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Rocky Romero, Sho & Yoh

It may not have sold out, given the location, but something like that would drum up a lot more interest than "Start of the G-1."

[Jordan]

Didn't they sell out this year?

I think they misunderstand how valuable Americans see tournaments as -- especially as the start of tournaments. They took ages to announce a card and there aren't really any major stips in the sense that Westerners appreciate them. Getting a start in the G-1 isn't really a deal to them.

They really should have gone in gun's blazing with a card like:

* Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Title
* Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho
* Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IC Title
* Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the US Title/NEVER Openweight Title
* Jay White vs. Hirooki Goto
* GoD vs. The KES for the Tag Titles (give KES the belts in Archer's hometown)
* EVIL & Sanada vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre, Jr.
* Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee vs. Bandido for the Junior Heavyweight Title
* Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori
* Juice Robinson vs. Jeff Cobb
* Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Rocky Romero, Sho & Yoh

It may not have sold out, given the location, but something like that would drum up a lot more interest than "Start of the G-1."

I think that would be fine but you can't alter tbe G-1. As this is the start of the league I think they should've begged AEW to let Jericho appear and work against Tanahashi as a non tournament main event for the show.

However if I was Jericho I'd be like "nah" because even his name isn't going to fill up 10,000 seats in Dallas. His draw would look weakened if he took a booking on that card.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to a report from Japan, NJPW's parent company is planning on switching from being a private to public company as early as next month.

On paper, it should lead to more money for NJPW and boost their international expansion plans.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bushiroad IPO planned for next month <a href="https://t.co/epBP7IZ0XS">https://t.co/epBP7IZ0XS</a></p>&mdash; JoJo (@jojo_runs) <a href="https://twitter.com/jojo_runs/status/1143367854911156224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

I wonder if we can buy stock for it here in the states

[Fignuts]

That honestly makes me nervous. Going public played a big part in WWE turning into what it is today.

[Destor]

accurate

[Emperor Smeat]

That honestly makes me nervous. Going public played a big part in WWE turning into what it is today.

Yeah there are some risks although to be fair a bit, investors very likely won't have the same level of direct control or influence on NJPW compared to WWE.

[Evil Vito]

The Super J Cup show in San Francisco sold out immediately and there are literally two seats available for the Tacoma show.

[Evil Vito]

LOL ZSJ says he will hold the British Heavyweight Championship forever and that it will be buried with him right next to Karl Marx :lol:

[Emperor Smeat]

Suzuki's big solution to him not being in this year's G1 Climax tournament is to just wreck a lot of havoc and kill everyone in it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JFpS7vvZhUk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, I'm a bit nervous on New Japan going public too.

[slik]

I wonder if we can buy stock for it here in the states

Does anyone know the answer to this, legit curious

[Volare]

<iframe width="1425" height="538" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2DHNWCpuUbU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ultra Mantis]

Numbers Magazine run a fan poll to find the most popular wrestlers amongst Japanese fans every year, they just published this years:


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-CL00jU8AAQ1PJ.png


New Japan guys on there:

1. Tanahashi
2. Naito
3. Okada
4. SANADA
5. Ibushi
6. Hiromu
12. Shingo Takagi
17. Jushin Thunder Liger
18. Ishii
19. Minoru Suzuki
20. Taichi
22. Will Ospreay
23. EVIL
27. Taguchi
28. Jay White
30. Shibata
38. BUSHI
44. Goto
52. El Desperado
55. Zack Sabre Jr
66. Togi Makabe
71. Toru Yano
76. YOSHI-HASHI
82. Satoshi Kojima
89. SHO
96. KENTA
97. YOH

Naito had been the most popular for the past two years but looks like there has been a resurgence in Tananhashi, Naito still massively popular though. Just look at that gap between him and Okada. Oof. Also, no Moxley but there's a chance he wasn't in New Japan at the time this poll was taken (so KENTA going off his WWE run too probably). On the other hand, no sign of Jericho either. Also worth noting that Nakamura, Kenny Omega and AJ Styles are all still popular in Japan.

[Emperor Smeat]

Suzuki's maniacal laugh might be the most terrifying thing in wrestling.

https://streamable.com/9mkwk

[Ultra Mantis]

Robbie Eagles has defected from Bullet Club to CHAOS. On the second Australia show (practically a house show) he stopped Jay White from putting a post match beat down on Ospreay.

I think this is the first occurrence of somebody voluntarily leaving Bullet Club and not being kicked out / beat down. Oddly, of the current line up, Robbie had the best selling Bullet Club variant T-Shirt.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I thought Jay White was more popular than that. It's probably a good sign that Ospreay is a better gaijin to push. Zack Sabre, Jr. might perform better with a bigger push too.

[Jordan]

How was the attendance in Australia?

[Vastardikai]

I thought Jay White was more popular than that. It's probably a good sign that Ospreay is a better gaijin to push. Zack Sabre, Jr. might perform better with a bigger push too.

Jay White, the Baron Corbin of New Japan?

[Emperor Smeat]

I thought Jay White was more popular than that. It's probably a good sign that Ospreay is a better gaijin to push. Zack Sabre, Jr. might perform better with a bigger push too.

He's still their future foreign "ace" but right now, Ospreay rightfully is the bigger star of the two. Also helps that Hiromu Takahashi's injury and KUSHIDA's departure really opened the door for Ospreay to rise even more as the top Jr star.

In regards to the Australian shows, they were advertised with Osperay, Eagles, and El Phantasmo getting top billing. Eagles mainly due to him being the big native star for the shows.

[DaveWadding]

So I signed up for NJPW World again because the G1 looks loaded as shit this year. Gimme some good shit to watch until then.

[Fignuts]

Like recent stuff, or anything?

[ClockShot]

Might have to cave and get an Amazon Fire stick and get myself a subscription to New Japan World.

Been kicking it around for some time now and I think it's time to make the jump.

[Evil Vito]

Eagles to Chaos makes sense. I wasn't terribly familiar with him going into the BOSJ but he was one of my favorites in the tournament, and his story with Phantasmo was great.

[DaveWadding]

Like recent stuff, or anything?

Pretty much anything. I've seen some of the stuff from the last couple years (Omega / Okada 1 and 2, most of the last 2 WKs..., Okada/Shibata) but I'm pretty open to whatever

[DaveWadding]

I'm watching Benoit and Eddie from the Super J Cup 94 right now. Thought that would be a good start because none of this needs to be explained to me.

[DaveWadding]

95 was way better. Rip Eddie's neck though.

[Fignuts]

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

[Fignuts]

Pink is recommended, yellow is highly recommended, just in case it wasn't clear

[Droford]

G1 in Dallas is tonight at 6 on AXStv.. looking forward to it

Okada vs Jericho is on right before and Okada vs Jay White from MSG in on at 2 (it's an Okada "Heavy Rain" marathon)

[Evil Vito]

I don't get AXS :-\ but it'll be on NJPW World tomorrow so I'll just avoid results until then

[Ultra Mantis]

I'm not even sure how I would watch this in the UK, but I have a feeling we're going to crown a new Survivor champion tonight and I somehow want to get next season immediately ready to go for the Japan G1 shows while also not spoiling this one for Vito :yes:

[Fignuts]

Kind of intrigued by the rappongi 3k vs G.O.D. match

[Ultra Mantis]

Yeah, with Ospreay & Shingo in the G1, I'm wondering if they are going to have Roppongi go over here and maybe they work towards unifying the tag belts. Probably just wishful thinking.

[Evil Vito]

I'm not even sure how I would watch this in the UK, but I have a feeling we're going to crown a new Survivor champion tonight and I somehow want to get next season immediately ready to go for the Japan G1 shows while also not spoiling this one for Vito :yes:

I definitely think Liger’s at risk of eating a pin. I’m tied up with stuff tomorrow so I likely won’t even be on TPWW until I’m watching tomorrow evening.

That said, Monday through Friday is a decent enrollment time for the new season.

[mike adamle]

Did New Japan say when the Dallas show is gonna be available on New Japan World? Feel like I'm paying them 999 yen for no reason at all if I can't get my show live.

[Emperor Smeat]

The undercard for the G1 Dallas show was pretty good overall.

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at Lance Archer's new look.

Might try to go to the Boston show for September's US tour. NY and Philly were also announced for locations.

[mike adamle]

Did they say anything about where in NY or when tickets would go on sale?

[Emperor Smeat]

July 26th.

These were the locations and dates announced for the tour:
* The Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA on 9/27
* The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on 9/28
* 2300 (former ECW) Arena on 9/29

[Emperor Smeat]

Archer vs. Ospreay was amazing.

Best singles match Archer has had in NJPW.

[Jordan]

Amazing match with Archer and Osprey

[Jordan]

Totally going to the Hammerstein show

[Emperor Smeat]

EVIL vs Fale was decent. Typical Fale style G1 match minus Bullet Club shenanigans.

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at Sabre making a mockery of the 20 count.

[Emperor Smeat]

SANADA vs Sabre was great.

[Jordan]

Fale and Evil was okay, and I had sex for most of Zsj and Sanada but the ending was good.:naughty:

[Jordan]

Wow Kenta was great I loved that brutal match

[Emperor Smeat]

Ibushi vs KENTA was very good overall.

[Emperor Smeat]

Okada vs. Tanahashi was great.

G1 Climax Dallas was a very good to great show overall. Helps that this came off as an actual NJPW style show and not something watered down or with ROH baggage.

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at NJPW cutting the post-show interview with Okada short because of a terrible question asked by one of the backstage reporters.

The reporter pretty much tried to bait Okada into trashing Impact because they hold a show tomorrow in the same city and his past history with the company. Also the reporter somehow thinking that Okada's great showing tonight was him "sending a message" to Impact over their failure to use him well during his time there.

[slik]

Will have to watch later, can't watch now...saw part of Jeff Cobb's match...good finish. Arena looks good on TV, could see New Japan returning there.

[Fignuts]

Fucking Ishii vs Cobb is gonna be fun

[Emperor Smeat]

According to PWI, ROH won't be involved in NJPW's next US tour. Main reason is scheduling issues due to ROH holding events in Las Vegas during the same time.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ring of Honor is not involved in the September New Japan tour of Philly, NYC and Boston.</p>&mdash; Mike Johnson (@MikePWInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikePWInsider/status/1147659237876744192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2019</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">ROH has events the same weekend in Vegas, fyi. <a href="https://t.co/tNqSHpUdVL">https://t.co/tNqSHpUdVL</a></p>&mdash; Mike Johnson (@MikePWInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikePWInsider/status/1147661499911024640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Fignuts]

YOSHI mother christing HASHI and his perpetually taped shoulder. Time to take a piss.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's kind of weird to me that Lance Archer is still a thing in wrestling. Good for him.

[Droford]

I think it's cool AXS is going to air Saturday g1 shows on the same day at least. The g1 matches in 2 weeks are pretty solid looking
ZSJ vs Bad Luck Fale
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer
Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA
KENTA vs. EVIL

[Droford]

Wish I could go seethe show in Philly but I can't see it happening. I saw the War of the World's show there a couple years ago.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fucking hope KENTA gets it out there. I feel genuinely bad for the dude feeling like he did.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kind of want heel Jericho to make an enemy out of "broken" Shibata and KENTA to have a match with Jericho at some point. It may not be either man at max wrestling athleticism, but I think they are talented enough workers to pull out something genuinely special.

[Droford]

Out on a limb..his match tonight was better than any match he had with NXT/WWE

[Fignuts]

the fuck is EVIL wearing? Is he aware he's wrestling in the G-1, and not the captain of the Battlestar Galactica?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I saw him at the Royal Rumble and he was easily my favorite part of that match. There's just something about guys when they're so experienced and they get the "work" part. KENTA is really fucking good, you can tell.

Man, I'm just imagining what it is like to take a shot with WWE and you're going to go over there and you know you're good, and you know people there know you're good, and you're going to show them how good...and then you end up spending five years in developmental never really getting to be yourself and just going through the motions and then you're five years older, sorer and like you haven't been you for a long time.

I don't know what it is about KENTA. You could probably say that about most of the roster.

[Mr. Nerfect]

EVIL reminds me of Rhino. By the way, I think Rhino will end up doing work for New Japan and Impact Wrestling. And I think New Japan and Impact Wrestling will start working together.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Has Will Ospreay gotten better? Might have asked this question before. Some people seem to love him, but I'm not sure if it's because they like that style or if he's actually worked on becoming a better storyteller or whatever.

[Fignuts]

Fuck yeah, here we go Sabre vs SANADA

[Fignuts]

Asian Viking from 3099 SANADA >>>>>>>>Pirate SANADA

[Fignuts]

fuck that sequence was brilliant

[Fignuts]

God damn what a clinic.

[Emperor Smeat]

Has Will Ospreay gotten better? Might have asked this question before. Some people seem to love him, but I'm not sure if it's because they like that style or if he's actually worked on becoming a better storyteller or whatever.

I'd say yes and no. Really depends on your views of him as a wrestler.

If you like his style of wrestling, then he's gotten a lot better this year and arguably is the front runner for Wrestler of the Year and Match of the Year stuff. He's been having a lot more "big fight" feel type matches recently.

If you don't like his style or were expecting he'd evolve more into a storytelling direction, then not really. He's still the type of wrestler that won't win over someone like a Jim Cornette or those that despise modern indies "flippy wrestling."

[Fignuts]

Fucking awful GTS

Romero: Delivers it right to the head!

*as the replay clearly shows him hitting it under Ibushis arms.

[Fignuts]

Yeah, dunno about KENTA yet. It was a good match, but there were spots where it definitely felt like he was still wrestling the WWE style. Probably gonna take some time some time to shake that off. Shit though, being in the G-1 is a good way to fast track that.

[Jordan]

Anyone else thinking Jericho/Liger on 1/4?

[DaveWadding]

Fucking Ishii vs Cobb is gonna be fun

They're just gonna beat the shit out of each other. I'm ready.

[DaveWadding]

Great finish to Okada/Tana

[DaveWadding]

From someone who has never really followed a G1, they basically just started off with a PPV level show that impressed me in the ring and subverted a lot of my expectations, but now I'm ready to see what the B Block guys can do.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd say yes and no. Really depends on your views of him as a wrestler.

If you like his style of wrestling, then he's gotten a lot better this year and arguably is the front runner for Wrestler of the Year and Match of the Year stuff. He's been having a lot more "big fight" feel type matches recently.

If you don't like his style or were expecting he'd evolve more into a storytelling direction, then not really. He's still the type of wrestler that won't win over someone like a Jim Cornette or those that despise modern indies "flippy wrestling."

Thanks. :y:

He's probably not for me then. I had to skip through his match with Ibushi at WK this year.

[Evil Vito]

What I’ll say about Ospreay is his selling is miles and miles better than it was a few years ago. Really helps tell a story now.

[Evil Vito]

Really fun opening night. Here’s hoping Okada eats a pin in this G1 or Survivor might damn well run to Wrestle Kingdom when Liger puts someone over on the way out.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to Voices of Wrestling, the official attendance number for G1 Climax Dallas show was 4,846.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4846 is the official number for G1 Climax in Dallas</p>&mdash; Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/1147703774594641926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Jordan]

That is pretty good for Dallas. Just wish they'd have booked a smaller venue.

[Emperor Smeat]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7lfBfBJMoeM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Evil Vito]

Moxley is badass

Yano doing Yano things

Ishii/Cobb ruled

[XL]

Watched the Dallas(?) show albeit I skipped some big chunks, the Osprey/Archer match was really good, a really simple story with Osprey going for his finish (I assume) but Archer proving too large to do it on, and winning out in the end. Not sure if it’s something he does all the time but ZSJ going ape after losing sold how important the loss was to him, and I can’t remember which match it was it but a simple touch of the loser having ice packs immediately applied to his neck sold the move, and the world built around NJPW better than anything I’ve seen a long time. A lovely little touch.

[Fignuts]

Great fight between Juice and Shingo. I really think they’re going to use this G-1 to elevate Juice to the next level. Maybe towards an IC title match at Wrestle Kingdom. Guy has busted his ass the last few years, and deserves it.

So happy they’re following through with Shota being Moxley’s protoge.

Ahaha blowing Miho a kiss.

Good match. Death Rider so much better than the dirty deeds.

Yano and Naito antics were fantastic. Fucking ear to ear smile through that whole match. Marked out hard for the finish.

Lotta people talking about Ishii vs Moxley. I’m more excited about Cobb tbh.

Fuck those forearm and chops in the corner.

God damn Cobb is impressive.

Love it when Ishii hulks up and steps into forearms.

Amazing. Somehow exceeded my expectations.

My fucking BOY Goto getting the win. Holy shit.

Really good match. White in full shitstain heel mode. Ishii vs Cobb still MOTN, though.

First night of b block was fucking amazing.

[Fignuts]

Doesn't really matter what WWE and AEW want to do to undercut eachother with their shows. NJPW wins this weekend.

[DaveWadding]

I'm 5 minutes into this Cobb/Ishii match and Cobb's chest looks like a rare steak. Hell yeah.

[DaveWadding]

Ishii's neck. FUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKKK.

[Evil Vito]

Holy shit...Tana, Kota, and ZSJ all 0-2. A Block is loaded.

[Jordan]

How was Kenta/Tana?

[Emperor Smeat]

It was pretty great overall. Ospreay vs. SANADA was my favorite block match of the night though.

Speaking of Ospreay, he revealed the reason why his theme song is now dubbed on New Japan World.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Breaks my heart to tell everyone however the label that owns the song “Elevated” aren’t being reasonable when it comes to me using their song anymore. <br><br>The writer <a href="https://twitter.com/iamkevinlacerda?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iamkevinlacerda</a> gave us permission years ago and was an absolute treat to work with.<br><br>Sadly Elevated is grounded ��</p>&mdash; ᵂⁱˡˡ ᴼˢᵖʳᵉᵃʸ • ウィル・オスプレイ (@WillOspreay) <a href="https://twitter.com/WillOspreay/status/1150395727987691521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Jordan]

Always good to try something new. Hopefully they develop something just for him.

[ClockShot]

Gonna try to get through the B Block matches tonight and catch Day 2 A Block on my day off on Tuesday.

Loving what I'm seeing so far.

[Fignuts]

How was Kenta/Tana?

Really good. I mentioned before that it seemed like KENTA is still wrestling a WWE style in his match with Ibushi. It was still there a bit in the Tana match, but this felt way more like old school KENTA.

[Jordan]

Gonna catch up on G-1 after WWE tonight.

[Emperor Smeat]

Seems Ospreay's status for the next 2 G1 shows are currently in doubt. Suffered a neck injury at yesterday's show although the good news is that it doesn't seem to be a serious one.

Will Ospreay has suffered a neck injury and will miss action on Monday July 15 in Hokkaido.

Ospreay is not suffering from any skeletal or nervous issues. His status for the next G1 Climax event on Thursday July 18 will be determined after Ospreay undergoes thorough medical evaluation.

[Jordan]

Damn that makes him 0-3 right? Dude needs to fucking chill it out.

[Evil Vito]

Nah he was 1-1 after today's event and didn't have his next block match scheduled until Thursday.

[Droford]

I'm 5 minutes into this Cobb/Ishii match and Cobb's chest looks like a rare steak. Hell yeah.

that was my favorite match of the 5 on axstv

the shitty thing is AXS doesnt have any more B block saturday nights

[Fignuts]

Never been a huge Lance Archer fan, but he's impressed me here. Both his matches so far were a lot of fun.

Some good match ups on the next A block card. Evil vs Sanada in particular should be interesting.

[Emperor Smeat]

He had some really amazing timing with his post-match attack to a Young Lion and the "everybody dies" line in his theme.

Even had Rocky comment about it right afterwards.

[DaveWadding]

that was my favorite match of the 5 on axstv

the shitty thing is AXS doesnt have any more B block saturday nights

You should probably just pay the 999 yen for the month. I feel like I got my money's worth and it's only day 3.