That is big news

Eh. Not really. He's bounced around various places. One of those guys that comes in fixes things and brings success and moves on.

I wouldn't be surprised if he stays in Japan and takes on a similar role with another comapny/corporation. Nissan perhaps?

Yeah he was never meant to be a long term stay as NJPW's president.

He mostly got promoted to the job to beef up their global expansion plans and lay the ground work for their NJPW America branch.

Rumors of him leaving had existed since last year and he probably would have left a lot sooner had it not been for the coronavirus throwing a wrench into NJPW's plans.

Also didn't help that his rep never fully recovered after The Elite left to help form AEW and NJPW struggled to fill their void in terms of foreign star power.

Then you had some guys in the locker room that didn't really like him due to some of the new changes he tried to pass like the "no swearing" rule.

SANADA’s still got EVIL on the final day so I think he’s due for a winning streak.

Either SANADA is going on a win streak to take the block in a tie break over Naito and EVIL or hes going to lose ALL of his matches, give no backstage comments and then job clean to EVIL at WK in a grudge match which he never ever talks about in order to really solidify his status as next gen Goto.

1st half of tonight's Night 7 G1 show really flew by. Shortest 1st half for a G1 show so far this tournament.

Suzuki vs. Yujiro was a nice brief brawl while Cobb had another very good showing tonight against Ibushi.

:lol: at the ref botching a pin count in the Okada vs. Taichi match because Okada wasn't going to kick out in time.

Looked like a fool having his hand up for a second without putting it down for the near fall spot.

Ouch at Ospreay's neck after White chucked him to the outside. His neck clipped the ring apron on the way down.

Edit: White vs. Ospreay ended up being a fantastic match overall.

Ouch at that elbow to the head Ishii just took.

Ishii vs. Takagi was amazing.

If there was a MVP award for best G1 performer, Ishii would be a strong lock for its winner.

At first it looked like tonight's show was going to be the shortest in terms of length with how it was flying by but turns out it was just so the latter matches could get a ton more time.

Night 7 was very good overall.

Seems two big reasons for Harold Meij's removal as NJPW's President were the company's finances tanking this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and them struggling to get a new TV deal in the US after Anthem kicked them off of AXS TV.

The first wasn't his fault but its related to the very lofty promises he made about raising NJPW's revenues to new higher levels with him in charge that was going to be tough to reach even under normal circumstances.

Also seems another issue was him rubbing a lot of people the wrong way with some of his actions on the job.

Ishii / Shingo was probably the best match of the tourney so far. Just like last year. It's #IshiiSzn

Watched Ishii/Takagi last night and easily the best match so far. They need a rubber match down the road to settle things. 30 minutes plus, no holds barred, etc. Just let 'em go nuts.

Got through the first half of B Block day 4. 2nd half should be fun.

Gotten used to listening on the Japanese commentary. But, I honestly think Jay White or KENTA should have smuggled in Kevin Kelly in an oversized x-ray proof briefcase to get him to call the G1 live. Not sure if he's dragging his feet or Rocky Romero is holding things up, but I feel the English commentary turnaround is a day or two slower as opposed to the New Japan cup turnaround. Anybody else notice?

This week's NJPW Strong episode was pretty good.

Bit surprised they didn't have the Lion's Break Crown matches be on the latter half of the show.

Finals of Lion's Break Crown tournament:


Kevin Kelly mentioned that problem on Twitter after the first coupe shows. Seems NJPW has just been slower sending him the tapes to do English commentary work.

SANADAAAAAAA

Match with Naito could have been kicked up a notch. Not bad, but not great.

Honestly thought Gedo would have a riot on his hands if SANADA went in a deep 0-4 hole.

Night 9 the dud of the bunch so far in terms of matches. Nothing going past 20 minutes and some sloppiness here and there.

The shock value however, was great.

Hope today will be much better.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4o05kxkcBn8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I guess we should’ve expected Juice to eventually cut a promo about his penis, with bonus WWF Attitude Era deep cuts and a shout-out to Toni Storm <a href="https://t.co/wMHac02V6N">pic.twitter.com/wMHac02V6N</a></p>&mdash; Super J-Cast (@thesuperjcast) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1313691478367956992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2 years ago today:<br><br>Kenny Omega defeated Cody &amp; Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KennyOmegamanX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KennyOmegamanX</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CodyRhodes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ibushi_kota?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ibushi_kota</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZfK5crTXS9">pic.twitter.com/ZfK5crTXS9</a></p>&mdash; Ciaràn (@CiaranRH) <a href="https://twitter.com/CiaranRH/status/1314108265933008896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Seems to be something developing between Jay White and EVIL as a result of the KENTA match. White tells EVIL to stay in his lane while EVIL is planting seeds of doubt about Yujiro's loyalty. Perhaps Yujiro gets his two points at White's expense tomorrow and Bullet Club turns on the Knife Pervert? EVIL vs White for the Tokyo Dome?

What if this all leads to a Yujiro on a pole match or winner of EVIL vs. Jay gets to keep Yujiro and his bunny for their Bullet Club faction.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">soon <a href="https://t.co/6czDRstDPl">pic.twitter.com/6czDRstDPl</a></p>&mdash; Emily Pratt (@emilyofpratt) <a href="https://twitter.com/emilyofpratt/status/1314658164009099264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Actually forget Yujio and just have a Bullet Club civil war over who gets to keep the bunny in their group since she's way more interesting and entertaining than Yujio.

Loser keeps Yujiro.

Was listening to Night 11 last night on English commentary. Kevin Kelly finally getting those out lickety split.

He pretty much implied that there might be an EVIL vs. Jay White feud for Bullet Club control coming with all the "backstage comments" he kept mentioning. But, I'd hold off until they can get everybody else back in Japan so side can be taken.

Yeah, that tweet probably isn't far off.

But, Jay vs. Yujiro is the one I've been waiting for now to see if the trend holds up. Soldiers beating the faction leaders. SANADA beat Naito, Taichi beat Suzuki.

Finals of the Lion's Break Crown tournament was very good and arguably the best match of the entire tournament.

The winner of it was pretty obvious when NJPW announced the field but the tournament was still very entertaining to watch.



The 12-man tag match was weird since it was Elimination rules style but done as a hybrid of a regular multi-man tag match and Battle Royale since tossing someone over the top rope counted as an elimination. Seeing as almost all the eliminations were done via the top rope way, it should have been a tag team Battle Royale match instead but without the dumb WWE rule of if one tag guy gets eliminated, then the whole team is eliminated.

This week's NJPW Strong show was pretty good overall although not sure why they didn't have the tournament finals be the main event.

Cobb vs. Ishii match from tonight's G1 show was amazing.

Looks like Yujiro is getting kicked out of White's faction of Bullet Club after what happened during their match tonight.

Match itself was nothing special but it had some good comedic moments and the big surprise of the crowd being completely behind Yujiro.

Suzuki busting out a Liontamer during his match against Ibushi was amazing.

Another tease between AEW and NJPW guys about wanting to work together now that Harold Meij is out of the picture.

Yikes at Tagaki's head getting spiked on the mat from Okada's Tombstone. His neck almost bent in the wrong direction afterwards.

Edit: Double yikes since it happened again in this match.

Okada's Cobra Clutch is still lame as hell as his finisher but that match against Takagi was insanely great.

Night 13 was great overall and one of the best night's of this year's G1.

Cobb vs. Ishii was so good. All strikes, suplexes and powerbombs. This is what I wanted last year.

Catching up on some of this today. Ibushi/Shingo was another great match. The A Block nights are always loaded with
amazing matches.

Man, A Block sucks. Big 3 at the top............then Ospreay.

Ugh. Dreading this weekend.

A month ago I joked that White vs. EVIL being the finals would be the most Gedo thing ever and now it's on the cusp of actually happening. Strange times.

A Block is hard to call, Okada's refusal to pull out the rainmaker is surely going to cost him huge at some point, but will it be Ospreay or his self appointed rival SANADA who benefits from it?

Ibushi winning the block by beating Taichi while Tana has an awful run, doesnt even come close the finals and loses to Zack Sabre Jr gives him some motivation for a heel turn and adds fuel to the Ibushi / Tanahashi dome match. Failing to beat Taichi would throw him back into a tag program though so maybe that's the plan for now? Ibushi winning the block would work out but I dont think he's going to.

White seems on course for a WK match with EVIL, and if he wins the block then surely EVIL must lose to SANADA and in turn so must White so both guys are free to have their program. I feel like White is going to blow it and hes going to make sure EVIL blows it too. I'd be very surprised if the A Block winner goes on to win the G1, which is weird because they are the other 3 of the "big 4".

Honestly, I'm probably just setting myself up for a massive disappointment when SANADA does a Goto.

Takagi vs. Suzuki was great.

Not as amazing as their prior encounter for the NEVER belt but was still a ton of fun to watch and just as hard hitting as that match was.

That was an amazing lariat Okada busted out ... wait WTF Bea Priestley just randomly showed up.

Now a former Young Lion suddenly showed up to help out Ospreay.

That ending was weird as hell

Group A guys still eligible to win:


Also

Ibushi vs. Taichi was amazing.

Both guys legs are going to be extra sore tomorrow. Probably the most kicks I've ever seen thrown in a match.

Group A guys still eligible to win with 1 match left tonight: