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Yeah, Japanese fanbases are much less fickle then western audiences,and typically very loyal. It usually takes something monumental to get fans to turn away en masse. See: The AJPW exodus to the newly formed Noah, The Death of Misiwa, and New Japan's disastorous early 00's booking combined with the rise of Pride FC.
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This whole partnership idea assumes WWE and NJPW would be treated as equals when neither does that for their partnerships both in the current and past. Even if the short term they were seen as equals, WWE isn't going to let NJPW get any strong foothold in the US while using NJPW as the backdoor into a stronger foothold in Japan and toss them to the side when NJPW no longer has any real use for them. All you have to do is look up some of Triple H's past interviews and he paints a very clear picture what his goal is for NXT's global expansion plans and WWE suddenly being cozy with other promotions. Only reason NXT Japan's first attempt was a huge bust was due to WWE skipping the cozy part and went right into the end game part. |
Drew McIntyre is now teasing the working arrangement. Could be nothing, but Drew seems like a pretty plugged-in company guy. Seems less likely to go into business for himself like the AEW guys.
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Ishii is the perfect sort of guy to bring in, because he can win some and lose some and it doesn’t cripple anything.
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Well, Dominion is this coming Monday.
As of right now you're looking at : Okada vs. Takagi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. El Desperado vs. YOH for the Jr. Heavyweight Championship Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb. More matches to be announced to the card later in the week I'm guessing. |
I really want Takagi to have a run with the belt, but I think the smart move is to put it on Okada to regain some stability in the title picture and try to build it back up after all this tumultuous booking.
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I don’t see a wrong outcome to that IWGP Title match. Okada is the guy that brings a bit of status quo back to the belt, but Shingo winning it would be an amazing lark and something out there and exciting too.
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Missed you, Miho Abe. :kiss:
Now all we need it Pieter to come back and shake her ass and things will almost be back to normal in NJPW land. |
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They should try to keep him Champion for a long run. They gotta use the G1 wisely this year. I haven't watched NJPW pretty much since AEW started because the roster feels like a rerun constantly. I don't know who they can make at the G1 this year but I hope they make a new star. Gonna be tough with covid and travel restrictions. I can't imagine they will get the sellouts they are accustomed to.
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Yeah, if they're not going with Okada then they at least have to give Shingo a good long run. And let's not have any 1st time champions for a while. Winning the iwgp title for the first time used to mean something but we've had 4 in the span of just over a year, and I feel that definitely takes away some of the prestige of the belt as well as that special feeling when someone does win it for the first time.
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I’m pretty sure Gedo will let Shingo run with it for a while. He’s probably aware he crowned a few first-time champions.
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Okada publicly shitting all over the title unification. I love it.
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Seeing this before every IWGP title defense was great
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6drBazNsdGE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> So much for that when you blow it up and start a new title lineage |
They should have just dropped the US Title. Not feeling this unification or even there being no IC belt myself. Keep Heavyweight, IC and NEVER Openweight as your Triple Crown. Don’t know if you need two tag divisions. Maybe keep the Jr. Heavyweight and NEVER Six-Man as something novel.
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I don't understand what has changed? Is this about The IWGP/IC unified title? Did they start a new linage?
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When they created the new belt they started a new lineage with Ibushi as the first champion.
Because they've lost their fucking minds. |
And then Ibushi lost it, and then Ospreay got hurt shortly after and had to vacate, so you know, off to a rollicking good start.
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Have you guys any knowledge on G1 for this year? I haven't seen anything about it yet.
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Probably nothing until after the Olympics. Even then, with the way things are going there pandemic-wise those outside the country might be skeptical about coming back.
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New Japan and WWE don’t need to be equal in a partnership for it to be beneficial to both companies. The WWE wants content, and New Japan bring a different flavor to Peacock and wherever else they end up. They also get fresh talent and a morale boost to their locker-room, while also blocking the far-distant #2 from using a potential relationship to sweeten their deals by pretending they are more artistic.
New Japan gets way, WAY more exposure than they ever would working with anyone else out there now, and also get access to talent who better fit their style. And huge name talent that would freshen up BOTH sides. I’m sorry, but even if you don’t think his “style” fits New Japan, Randy Orton hitting RKOs in the Tokyo Dome is a bigger deal than The Bucks working. It also allows guys like Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler and WALTER work over there and get a fresh coat of paint (if they need it). |
I haven't been watching NJPW but it does seem like they should skip G1 or at least replace the Tag League with a late season G1. I can't imagine a highly successful G1 without foreign workers. This is a great time to get some of the NJPW of America over in Japan.
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There's no way they're skipping the G1 entirely, but yeah without foreigners in there it's just not gonna be the same.
Without foreigners their next resort would be to see if they can work a deal with any of the other Japanese promotions to have a couple guys from outside of NJPW in the tourney as they used to. |
Working with other promotions in Japan would definitely be interesting! I'd probably have to get into that.
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Btw Tom Lawler retired from MMA last night. Hopefully he gets a shot in Japan proper.
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I'd be all for AJPW involvement.
It's not even like they can't do a G1 with the roster currently on the mainland, but we've seen so many of those matches a thousand times and while many of them will be good, you just gotta throw some outsiders in there to mix it up a bit. |
Pieter is back.
That is all. |
G1 is going to be a late summer/early fall thing again. Obviously due to the Olympics.
September 18th – Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan September 19th – Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka September 23rd – Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo September 24th – Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo September 26th – Kobe World Memorial Hall in Hyogo September 29th – Korakuen Hall in Tokyo September 30th – Korakuen Hall in Tokyo October 1st – Hamamatsu Arena in Shizuoka October 3rd – Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Aichi October 4th – Korakuen Hall in Tokyo October 7th – Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall in Hiroshima October 8th – Kochi Prefectural Gymnasium in Kochi October 9th – Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka October 12th – Xebio Arena Sendai in Miyagi October 13th -t Xebio Arena Sendai in Miyagi October 14th – Yamagata City Sports Center in Yamagata October 18th – Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama October 20th – Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo October 21st – Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo |
Mainland Japan dealing with another COVID wave, only 18% of the country fully vaccinated and only a third of the country has had a single shot. It's possible that, like last year, you'll have your Jay Whites and Juice Robinsons doing a quarantine and coming in but there's not really any room for the G1 field to look any different aside from Ospreay being replaced by O-Khan and Yujiro maybe being heaved out.
Think I'm gonna struggle to care about it this year tbh. |
Fucking call AJPW and Noah
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Jay White turned up on Impact, presumably will be working some dates with them along with NJPW US stuff. No idea when he'll be returning to mainland Japan but he's gonna at least have stuff to do stateside.
On the Impact tapings he also recruited the newest member of Bullet Club SPOILER: show |
Would like to see him drop in on Dynamite soon if AEW-NJPW-Impact and work something out schedule/storyline wise.
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As you probably know, Kota Ibushi has been out due to issues from his Covid shot.
He's now been diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia. He's out for his tag matches for today, tomorrow, and Saturday. Honma is taking his place. World Title match at Wrestle GrandSlam is now up in the air. https://www.njpw1972.com/100159 |
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WOW! What an inventive finish, it's a draw!! <a href="https://t.co/jY4ctXZbAR">pic.twitter.com/jY4ctXZbAR</a></p>— Ciaràn (@CiaranRH) <a href="https://twitter.com/CiaranRH/status/1418148920451125251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Roppongi 3k have finally disbanded with SHO turning on YOH after starting 0-4 in the Super Junior Tag League
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Good. They've done all they could as a team. SHO is one of my favorites too.
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About damn time.
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Holy crap, next year's Wrestle Kingdom is going to be a 3-night event next year.
Jan 4th, Jan 5th, & Jan 8th with Jan 8th being part of NJPW's 50th anniversary celebrations next year. Just got announced during tonight's Wrestle Grand Slam show at the MetLife Dome. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Three Wrestle Kingdom 16 shows in 2022. 1.4 and 1.5 in Tokyo Dome, and 1.8 in Yokohama Arena. Mental.</p>— Super J-Cast (@thesuperjcast) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1434087825763278850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> |
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