Meltzer thinks Naito/Ibushi’s being saved for the next big show in Japan

Idc what Meltzer thinks. It'd make sense to throw it on MSG considering both have nothing going on for it and will be in town for the show.

Supposedly its neither and instead due to NJPW's owner Bushiroad.

According to Meltzer, Harold mainly handles their UK and international stuff while Bushiroad has been handling all the US based stuff.

Bushiroad pretty much misjudged the entire North American market. They assumed since Omega, Elite, and Bullet Club were their top merch sellers, US crowds wanted shows leaning more towards non-Japanese and ROH stars than the full NJPW experience. They learned the hard way that only Omega and the Bucks were top stars and crowds don't want watered down NJPW shows.

I don't think they can run an endlessly long show like WWE can on their own network. They probably can't exceed a 3 hour show.

They can go 4, plus the pre show, so they really have 5 hours.

Watched this a couple days ago. One, I wonder what the other songs (plural, not just the unused singles theme, but the rest of whatever went unused). Two, I like shit like this. I watched a set of videos before where some DJ remade Nas's Represent/Nas Is Like and Mobb Deep's Shook Ones Pt. II by finding the sampled material and re-compiling the beat. And three, I think I may just purchase this if it shows up in Google Music.

Anybody checking out Markout at the Meadowlands before Mania on Sunday? 15 bucks to enter and a lot of great former talent doing signings including Jim Ross, Tullehhh Blanchard etc.

Hell no.

I'm getting into Jersey City where my Airbnb is on Wednesday evening.

Going to Josh Barnett's Bloodsport and iMPACT! Wrestling on Thursday

Going to NXT and Blackcraft Wrestling on Friday

Going to Orange Cassidy is Doing Something, or Whatever, Who Knows??, G1 Supercard, and hopefully Joey Janela's Spring Break 3 Part 2 on Saturday (don't have tickets to the latter but I'm literally staying 5 minutes walking distance from White Eagle Hall so I'll see if I can get in.)

Going to Mania Sunday then driving straight from there to the jobsite in Utica so I'm there on time.

I soooooo wish Spring Break was somewhere else in NYC instead of Jersey.

I'm still not sure if I'm staying in a hotel in the city or not or if I'm gonna just take the train in from CT every day but either way heading out to Jersey after G1 and then having to come back late at night (well actually early morning) would be a bit of a ball ache.

Holy shit! They just blew the roof off MSG! I was never so wrong!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">Zack Sabre Junior versus Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito versus Kota Ibushi, Jay White versus Kazuchika Okada all official title matches at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g1supercard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g1supercard</a> !</p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1110059768989794304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 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">Will Ospreay vs Jeff Cobb is official for the NEVER Championship! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g1supercard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g1supercard</a> ! The IWGP/ROH Tag title match is now a four way, with GoD, the Briscoes, PCO and Brody King and EVIL and SANADA! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g1supercard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g1supercard</a></p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1110059506145390592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 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">Some announcements for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g1supercard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g1supercard</a><br>The full card is announced.<br>Honor Rumble will have thirty participants, including Jyushin Thunder Liger!</p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1110059144864768000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
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OMG Wow I am now glad I won't be going to Mania because holy shit MSG is gonna wipe me out. I guess they are gonna go like 6 hours or something.

Now I am feeling some kind of rasslin buzz for Mania weekend good brothers. Gonna see some fun MLW show's and then this MSG Epic. Gonna get everything I would've wanted in a wrestling show at MSG. The glory of Ibushi vs Naito & Sabre vs Tanahashi, the insanity of the Winner Takes All tag team match & The ROH World Championship Ladder Match & The 3 Way Junior Championship match as well as a 30 man Rumble topped somehow by Okada and Jay White. It could happen. It will be a long night that's for sure. I'm pumped.

I'm pretty convinced the match of the week will happen at MSG. Outright if nothing fucks up has a good shot at being one of the best wrestling cards top to bottom that I remember at least.

Wow I'm doing two Rumble's back to back with Battle Riot and then Honor Rumble. I guess that will be cool.

With all the stuff happening at this years Mania week, it's got to go down as the biggest of all time by far. Mania, MSG, Barclays (4 shows?) plus all the other pop up shows around the area.

Are you going to mania..might have 4 if they do the Andre and a wonens

https://www.njpw1972.com/tornament/44155?showCards=1

Full G1 card

Oh man lol. No I'm not going to Mania. That would be crazy though, someone out there is going to see 2 Rumbles and 2 Battles Royals in a weekend haha.

I'm actually checking out other shows right now. I'm thinking of seeing WXW before going to Rise of the Renegades. Seems like a show that you won't see often.

Just had a thought. Wonder how many NJPW fans from Japan will come to NY for the show

I would say that they'd be WWE crossover fans double dipping but who knows.

Justin Thunder Liger wrestled for Chikara at Wrestlecon 6 years ago WM weekend in NJ. Now he's at MSG.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/201...O/DPP_1010.jpg

Thunder Quakenbush

Good card. I’m not so sure White only won the belt because they wanted a gaijin. I think they want Okada and Tanahashi both getting wins in MSG. Therefore, they couldn’t face each other. But they didn’t want Omega beating Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome since he was leaving.

They’ve clearly been invested in White for over a year. This has been a long time coming. I just don’t think he connects well with US audiences. I think he plays better to New Japan’s domestic crowd. I fully expect White to do well on the G1 and be in one of the top four matches on at least one of the shows in the Tokyo Dome next year.

Good card. The Ladder Match feels a bit underwhelming on paper, but I’ve never been into Matt Taven. Curious to see what happens in the matches for both belts. I’m curious to see Mayu Iwatani too. I hope they gave her an opponent she can have a great match with.

I think I want PCO and Brody King to walk out Tag Champs.

I fully wanted them to do an Honor Rumble for this show and it start with Demolition as a lark. I kind of want them to play into the wrestling history of MSG and kind of feel like a spiritual continuation of that.

And Marty wins the ROH title Villain Enterprises night!

Wouldn't mind Briscoes winning though since they grew up 20 minutes from me

Shame Jay Lethal is in the ROH title match

https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/...c6-600x400.png

NJPW/ROH gonna steal WM week from WWE.

I do think Marty has a good shot at winning the belt.

I could see Juice winning the Rumble and going against new Champ Marty. Also I think PCO and King will win the tag belts. I think it would make ROH look strong considering they are overshadowed on the card. I gotta watch some ROH to catch up with what they are up to. Last time I watched it I liked it. It's just a lot of weekly wrestling to keep up with.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">◆Are Oedo Tai and Hana Kimura going to MSG on April 6?!<br>Stay tuned to <a href="https://twitter.com/ringofhonor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ringofhonor</a> for more details soon!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G1Supercard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#G1Supercard</a> <a href="https://t.co/uFOrzRzZGU">pic.twitter.com/uFOrzRzZGU</a></p>&mdash; We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) <a href="https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/1109284834990419968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Uhh..I have no clue what's happening but why not

Woooooo happy to eat crow. This card rules now

I never really thought it wouldnt. I just waited out ticket prices to drop

I'm hyped for Briscos vs G.O.D. Kinda hoping Guerrillas pull it out.

Yeah I'm going to get it now. Figured they'd announce the rest of the NJPW stars.

It's a 4way now with PCO/Brody King and SANADA/EVIL

Happy to have 2nd row seats for this. Gonna be one of the best shows ive ever been to

Someone on reddit seems to think Jericho is going to show up at some point during the main event but..I doubt it.

Yeah I don't think Jericho's gonna be there

According to the Observer, G1 Supercard is going to start 15 minutes earlier than previously announced due to the addition of a tag team match repping Stardom for the card.

I guess that answers that weird tweet, they are..lol

Jesus god damn shit fuck hell......

Ain't nobody realer than Guerrillas.

AXS is airing the show in 2 parts on the 12th and the 19th, so I'll probably skip trying to find a way to order it if its free within 2 weeks.

That sucks but I think I'll still get the show. It's great that AXS is carrying more recent NJPW stuff but I don't think should carry the PPVs. Pretty much the reason I haven't got New Japan World yet.

the amusing thing is ROH used to be on AXS when it was HDnet

Wonder who the world title defender is

Del Rio (survivor series 11)

Is this World Title in a World Title sense, or World Title in a "Former WORLD Tag Team Champion Bob Holly is in the Impact Zone!"

Del Rio worked with ROH and lost to Punk at Survivor Series in 2011. RoH announced the surprise so it almost has to be "El Patron."

That would be a good get for ROH if he can keep his shit together.

I haven't cared about Del Rio/El Patron for half a decade so that doesn't move the needle for me in the slightest.

I went back to 1985 and looked up all the wrestlers involved in WWE, WWE Universal, WWE World Heavyweight, NXT, ECW, and WCW World Heavyweight title matches in the garden between now and then. These are the names that are possibilities for the MSG surprise world champion honor rumble entrant:

Dean Ambrose, Adrian Neville, CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, The Undertaker, Jack Swagger, Tommy Dreamer, Chris Jericho, Sabu, Goldberg, Rob Van Dam, The Brooklyn Brawler, Sycho Sid, Goldust, Diesel, Bob Backlund, Tatanka.

I know Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, and Diesel will be in the NYC area for the weekend. Not sure when Ambrose's contract expires so I included him because that'd be crazy awesome for it to be him. Would love to see Bob Backlund. But fucking imagine if it ends up being CM Punk

Punk is not returning to wrestling and if he did, it wouldn’t be to come back to be in a pre-show match.

The key wording to the rumor is "defended". Half those guys were involved in a title match but not as the champion. Del Rio lost the belt to Punk.

70 year old Bob backlund coming in the rumble andvthen interfere in the ROH title match putting Scurll in a CFCW..lol

https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/pub...scurrl1004.png

That would leave Dean Ambrose, CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, The Undertaker, Jack Swagger, Tommy Dreamer, Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Sycho Sid, Diesel, and Bob Backlund.

Del Rio seems like the safest bet. I feel nothing.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if the mystery person ends up being Dreamer.

Swagger is a stretch either.

Could be all of the above.

Out of that list the only ones I know are in town that weekend are Dreamer and Nash. Would love if they had Nash in the rumble for a nostalgia spot.

Wanna see Scurll vs Backlund for the Chicken wing, even though Backlund signed over the Chicken wing to him

Of The River. Alberto Of The River.

He should legit take that shitty bootleg flyer name and rebrand himself if he is indeed demon-free and this happens.

Or pull a Rey Rey and put his mask back on.

bully vs Juice Robinson apparently

kinda..meh

Was that the surprise?

I mean, I saw a promo that kinda spoiled that from Buh Buh on RoH last week.

Then again, I don't understand how the syndicated RoH tapings air that I try to catch. One week, they show shit that happened almost a month ago, then the following week, they show something that "hasn't happened yet".

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/TK7t4IuHzx">https://t.co/TK7t4IuHzx</a> journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKevinEck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheKevinEck</a> tries to get a word with <a href="https://twitter.com/bullyray5150?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bullyray5150</a> about Juice Robinson answering his open challenge at <a href="https://twitter.com/TheGarden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheGarden</a>... <a href="https://t.co/kBNzdzK7GG">pic.twitter.com/kBNzdzK7GG</a></p>&mdash; ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) <a href="https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/1112495535338983424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Better to announce Bully Ray vs. Juice Robinson ahead of time than have people be disappointed.

too late

With no Suzuki or Ishii (and to a lesser extent, Goto) on the card that's a real shitty spot to put Juice in. Nobody wants to see Bully Ray vs Juice.

Still, Ray has apparently been saying Suzuki is too scared to face him on twitter and Suzuki responded that he will be at MSG, so I guess there could still be a bait and switch.

Bully/Suzuki >>>>>>> Bully/Juice

Still, knowing he'll be at MSG that means he'll at least be in the Rumble. I just wanna see him.

I just want a MSG sized Kaze Ni Nare

Juice isn't a bad choice but at this point any choice other than Suzuki is a bad choice. I don't know why but as a collective IWC we seem to have expected Suzuki, with that tweet and fear of disappointment I still feel it's a possibility somehow.

Michael Elgin has left NJPW.

One of NJPW's young lions also is leaving the company although his departure is related to lingering health issues.

Suzuki should eat Bully Ray alive.

I wonder if Elgin is AEW bound or back to ROH or NXT.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">‘Mention my name, as soon as it looks like I might answer, a whole different match gets booked. You figured if you didn’t say my name nobody would give a shit about your match so just put it out there huh? What a way to treat the fans. Don’t play me for a fool, A.mer.i.can..’ <a href="https://t.co/Iy6vxSrRKF">https://t.co/Iy6vxSrRKF</a></p>&mdash; chris charlton (@reasonjp) <a href="https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/1112926435662979072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I don't think WWE will touch him. ROH and/or Impact Wrestling seem to have the lower standards. Could see him going to MLW too.

ROH cut all ties with him after his scandal last year

https://i.ibb.co/BZ8hQj7/MVIMG-20190406-180715.jpg[/url]

https://scontent.fbed1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...19&oe=5D4D7BE1

What a show this was.

Okada's first title defense confirmed to be vs. SANADA May 4th at Wrestling Dontaku

Damn Vito. Looks like you were a few sections over from where I was. Nice seats

Yeah it was a great view, grabbed a seat on StubHub week of the show and paid only barely more than what people paid for the Skybridge.

Hotel was only about 7 blocks away too which was nice seeing as the show didn't end til midnight.

Im interested in seeing this on axs friday but it looks like all the roh stuff is cut out as much as possible

I'm actually kind of intrigued by that. I mean, given that I assume they could probably air the whole show, it makes me wonder if there is some "heat" over ROH kind of stinking the joint up. Gives me more hope for Okada competing at an AEW show at some point.

I've been predicting Okada vs. Naito at Wrestle Kingdom for a long time now. Does anyone else feel this is the way they're going? My second guess is Okada vs. Ibushi, just because I can see them not wanting Okada to lose twice at the Dome. Unless they plan on Naito going three strikes against Okada, which seems...odd.

I guess Okada could win the IWGP Tag Team Titles with Tanahashi on Night One, or something, and then lose to Naito on night two?

Tanahashi/Jericho is another of my predictions for WK14. They were teasing that right away. I thought Jericho would get a bye on signing with AEW, but given that Omega has written it into his contract that he could work the shows, I could see him and Ibushi having a match, maybe over the IC Title?

Got a weird feeling that Nakamura is going back to New Japan too. They've done NOTHING with him in the period his contract is said to be expiring. That's got to be...depressing. He can't be feeling special. But he is...present. It makes me wonder if he let Vince know that he just can't do this schedule or be away from his mother in Japan for that much longer or something, and this is a "we'll let you work your dates and then you can go back" thing. Nakamura/Ibushi for the IC Title given Ibushi's been using the Boma Ye's would be cool too. But they can maybe get over that by Wrestle Kingdom and maybe put Nakamura against Sanada or something?

Jay White will be featured, and I kind of had him against Ibushi in my head if no one else comes in, but I can see him doing something "important," but maybe not the highest profile he's ever had next year. Maybe something with a Hirooki Goto or Tomohiro Ishii? Can see Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre, Jr. having a match at the show too.

* Okada vs. Naito
* Tanahashi vs. Jericho
* Ibushi vs. Omega
* Nakamura vs. Sanada
* White vs. Goto
* Ospreay vs. Ishii
* Suzuki vs. ZSJ

If that were the heavyweight singles portion of the card(s), it would be pretty fucking sweet. If a deal with AEW opens, you can possibly having Cody and The Bucks going after the six-man belts on a show. Oh, and Juice Robinson will probably be there.

I can't see New Japan breaking their CMLL deal, but I can see them working with AEW and just making sure none of their guys interact with AAA guys in AEW, or that they don't use the AAA guys in New Japan. Kind of like still being friends with your ex's friend.

Although, Cain Velasquez at a Wrestle Kingdom at a Wrestle Kingdom would be pretty fucking cool, provided he picks up the work.

Pretty much the entire fanbase is predicting a Naito G1 victory so he can finally get his WK coronation. It's Gedo booking so there could be some twists but that's the expectation for next year.

Ibushi has been doing the Boma Ye for years so I wouldn't read anything into that. Taguchi also does a hip attack version, complete with Nak's taunts. I'd be very surprised if Kota still has the IC belt going into WK, especially if Okada still has the Heavy. Nakamura is apparently happy living in Florida, seems more likely he would jump to AEW rather than go back to Japan at this stage of his career.

If an AEW deal means The Elite coming back just to get more heatless title matches at the Tokyo Dome they can fuck off.

I dunno, I think something is up with Nakamura. I think WWE might know he’s leaving but not for AEW. They’re featuring him without featuring him. There is more to a family man’s life than whether he is happy living in the US.

I was calling Okada/Naito way before the fan-base was then, because I got blank stares the last time I suggested it somewhere. Also predicted Okada winning when everyone had Naito and said I just don’t understand Japanese wrestling. I don’t claim to, but there was a pretty clear story.

I agree that Ibushi won’t have that long a run. I can see him winning it back. But I could see something like Ibushi/Omega being without a belt.

I agree with you about The Elite.

It wouldn’t be too far-fetched for Nakamura to go to New Japan, but work WWE shows when they are in Japan or make the odd US appearance for them. Might even make him feel more special.

I just think that if he signed back with Vince, or they were waiting on it, he wouldn’t be so...nothing right now. They’re not showing him to be valued, if that were the intention.

Did he get his own entrance at Mania, or did he come out with Rusev?

I only know what he's up to through reading reports so I have no idea about his on screen presentation. From what I gather he seems to be treated as just another undercard guy.

Nakamura is a strange case though, he reportedly left Japan because he got moved down the card out of the main event and didn't want to end up like the previous generation who are now working the undercard and can still have great matches but only beat each other or the young lions. He's obviously not in a great position where he is currently, but going back to Japan it's unlikely they are going to push him ahead of Okada, Naito, Ibushi, White or even guys like SANADA, Zack Sabre Jr or Ospreay. He would likely have a more prominent role in AEW since they need more top of the card guys there, but who really knows, he might just not care anymore. On the surface he seems more interested in surfing than wrestling,

New Japan going back to Australia. June 29th in Melbourne.

There you go, Noid.

Surfer Shin vs. Biker Shin only.

It was the time to make a go of it a few years ago. It's a few years on though, so I don't think him returning to the IC Title scene, for example, in New Japan is exactly a knock down. He can be treated as the living legend he is and be in that top mix with Tanahashi, Okada, Naito and Ibushi. I don't see why he'd need to be pushed more than them at this stage of his career, you know?

I wouldn't complain if Nakamura ended up in AEW either, don't get me wrong. If he is Cody's opponent at Double or Nothing, I will mark out. But I just get this weird vibe that WWE would be doing more with him if he either a) re-signed, or b) they had hopes he would. And I think if he were going to AEW, we'd see him wearing cheese on his head or something, or maybe even taken off the road.

Either way, if he leaves WWE, I'd be shocked if he didn't work dates in New Japan at some point.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NJPW just sent me an advertisement for a bus tour around Sendai hosted by Ryusuke Taguchi and featuring Jushin Liger, Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura.<br><br>Activities planned include strawberry picking, creating traditional art, and 30 minutes of souvenir shopping at a roadside store</p>&mdash; andrew (@abraingenius) <a href="https://twitter.com/abraingenius/status/1116589266828578817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
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I was watching this weeks taped ep of roh Dashwood was there, she said she has great news she is cleared to wrestle. I was thinking roh gets rid of her when she is all healed how dumb of them.

There are a minimum of 3 spots to fill in the G1 this year (Kenny, Hangman, Elgin). My best guess to fill those spots would be Ospreay, Cobb, and Taichi.

If a 4th spot opens up somewhere - I could low key see Colt Cabana going in. The crowd went mental for him during his NJ Cup run. You put him and Yano in separate blocks to give everybody a breather during the tourney.

I think Kojima will be back in this year for his final G1, he has said he wanted to have one more attempt last year but then he got injured and missed it.

Tama Tonga could realistically lose his spot since he's usually everyone's worst match and doesn't even give guys a "night off" like facing Yano (or potentially Cabana) does. There's even the storyline reasoning to take him out of it this year because of what he did last time.

Good point, I could see Tama getting bumped. I know stablemates fighting each other is commonplace in the G1 but I feel like with the Bullet Club as it is now it's best to just put White and Fale in opposing blocks and have that be the end of it.

Conversely, Suzuki-gun only had two people in the last couple of years in opposing blocks but if Taichi is added there will be one guaranteed Suzuki-gun match. My personal hope would be Suzuki and ZSJ winding up in the same block and headlining a show.

Best of Super Juniors is fucking STACKED this year:

Bandido
BUSHI
Dragon Lee
El Desperado
Flip Gordon
Jonathan Gresham
Marty Scurll
Robbie Eagles
Rocky Romero
Ryusuke Taguchi
Shingo Takagi
SHO
Taiji Ishimori
Taka Michinoku
Tiger Mask
Titan
Will Ospreay
X (El Phantasmo)
YOH
Yoshinobu Kanemaru