NJPW (Discussion)

[King Of Indy Style]

Not bowing to the WWE and being independent is important, but taking them on is a terrible idea.

[suplexberry]

Kidani has balls. I want to say he'd do well not to react (especially publically) when frightened by some mere rumblings of things happening, which is precisely how WWE got so scared of this ITV situation, but then, it's a very different situation to be reacting to the giant when you're Jack with no magic beans (yes, that was a very pained analogy, I just woke up and am hungover).

[EvanDeadlySins]

I just want to know what they're announcing. It's got to be pretty huge to be mentioned in the same words as this. Like, to the extent that G1 shows in America or a proper English interface for NJPW World wouldn't live up to what he's hyping it up to be.

[Joe Lanza]

Listening to the latest NJ Purocast, I was reminded of the mystery masked LIJ member from a month or two ago. Are we to accept that this was meant to be Rush? It wouldn't make too much sense if the mystery man was Hiromu since his aligning with LIJ came-off as impromptu rather than him working with them for months. Apologies if this has been discussed to death already.

I believe it has been dropped, or we were just supposed to think it was Rush.

[rollup]

probably someone had jumped to WWE or another puro promotion has just establish connection with the Fed to trigger Kidani's rant

[pol]

I assumed he was just reacting to how fast they moved to try and squash any chance of ITV's thing taking off, but it's possible some NJPW guy just gave his notice I guess.

[suplexberry]

Can't believe Okada is going to WWE, guess Naito should've gotten those 200k yen instead. Kidani might have to promote him as COO but it'll be worth it.

I'M JOKING,

Nagata vs Nakanishi was a top match, superb stuff. Loved the brawl between KUSHIDA and Hiromu. Omega made it snow. Fun show, appropo ending for a creatively refreshed year for NJPW. That STRIGGA tweet about everybody predicting how bad it would be and NJPW proving them wrong ended up extremely correct. I'm gonna spend my Sunday rewatching best of NJPW in 2016.

[rovert]

[Grammarian]

Believe it or not, the match I enjoyed most from the last two 'Road To' shows was Nakanishi vs. Nagata.

[ayaashm]

So, Dave said G1 will take place in Long Beach. Currently one night but they're thinking about two nights. That's the first two nights of the tour.

[ChutiyaHogaTeraBaap]

For others who may be reading, Kidani did not say anything specific about touring America in 2017, other than wanting to do it. The LA/G1 thing is a rumor until we know otherwise, and so is the LA Dojo, even if it is being touted by our Voices of Wrestling cohorts.

Can not stress this enough.

The G1 L.A. rumor, the dojo rumor, and the extensive spring tryouts were things we were told many months ago by different sources, and we hinted at all of it on the show at various points, but the only reason I brought them to light yesterday was because Kidani went public with his U.S. touring desire and I figured it was now relevant.

I also made it pretty clear that they were nothing more than long whispered rumors, even if from good sources, but I am fully aware that people will take all of it as FACT because that's the game.

Mike Johnson confirmed the G1 talk today. Long Beach Convention Center seems to be the building of choice.

[Leo C]

Believe it or not, the match I enjoyed most from the last two 'Road To' shows was Nakanishi vs. Nagata.

That was my favorite too. I expected nothing coming in but they had their working boots on and delivered a very, very good match. Given I almost never watch old stuff and only started watching NJPW in 2014 it must've been the best Nakanishi match I've ever seen as well.

[BackLash]

Road to Tokyo Dome - 12/17
Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoshitatsu vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Henare - Starting with the Code of Honor, Nice. Great opener, for starters, I knew Yoshitatsu was getting to the point now where he was doing more than just kicks like he had been. His work has even improved since a couple months ago. Liger still in beast mode and Henare is still an intense young cub. Taguchi surprised me here, he gives his usual butt-fense, but like the last card, he more or less wrestled Henare without the joke moves. It ended with a wacky dance number post-match, but why do I get the feeling they’re setting up a Taguchi/Henare fued?

Yujiro Takahashi & Bone Soldier vs. Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii - A short match that was about average. The best parts were Yujiro smashing Yano with his own chair with the chair itself breaking and the return of Yano’s comedic and outsmarting spots.

Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens - A literal (yet failed) sneak attack to start by the Guerrillas haha. A fun match where the Destined Gorillaz were on going through the motions but not being terrible. G.B.H. and Juice were the ones brining the fire here. A good match, a decisive finish and more junk crushing and shenanigans from Yano. Oh and he and Ishii stole the Tag Team titles, so there’s that.

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yuji Nagata - I loved the only singles match of the last card and I loved this match as well. This fight felt real special, as Nakanishi broke our everything in his arsenal, even stuff I didn’t even know he could do. And for all the talk that he’s immobile, Nakanishi was moving as best he could and was moving a freaking lot. I don’t know if their match got bumped off the Dome or if one or both of these guys are writing a swan song and about to ride off into the sunset, but this match was incredible. About Nagata, he’s badass, water is wet. But this was Nakanishi’s WK11 even if he’s in the Rambo. He did more and sold more (doing both taking a top rope suplex from Nagata) than I’ve ever seen. Other than the brutality factor (still goes to his match with War Machine), this match had the best everything regarding Nakanishi period. This is the best Nakanishi match I’ve ever seen and it ranks as one of Nagata’s best as well. I have another half to this card, I don’t even care, this fantastic and emotional match between two friends deserver match of the night.

Hirooki Goto & Jado vs. Katsuyoui Shibata & Tiger Mask - Y’know, I should be concerned how much exposure Goto and Shibata are getting by fighting each other so much. All that tells me is their going to make that match at the dome amazing. Anyhow the match was a sold performance by all four competitors. I’m actually surprised by Tiger Mask, he looked great whenever he attacked someone. Jado and his comedic spots were good to see after so long. Fun match with some weird parings.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA & David Finlay vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI - Damn!!! Action packed from start to finish. Aside from Tenzan as the understudy to Rick O’Shea, these other 9 men have matches with each other at the dome and you better believe that bad beef was real (well a work really, but it felt real). This is the kind of match had every right to be chaotic AND sloppy, but it managed to be wild with bodies every freaking where. Everyone was AWESOME!!! After the match, KUSHIDA and Takahashi got INTO IT. Of course WK11 is just weeks away so they had to be pulled apart.

Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI - Incredible, what kind of alternate universe is this, that I spend more time on the likes of Chase Owens (mainly on the last card), Nakanishi, Tiger Mask, and YOSHI-HASHI then the main eventers? I mean seriously you have two legit main eventers and a very strong dude, YOSHI-HASHI carried this match. By his skill, but his charisma, by his selling, by freaking everything. If nothing else, even if he spends it jobbing, Y-H deserves to remain in the mid-card, he’s that good. Okada’s ring time was shot but he busted his butt every second as his interactions with Kenny Omega were very exciting. For their part, Kenny and Fale were just so brutal in this match. Afterwards the Bullet Club destroyed Okada and Gedo again and then Omega put Okada through a table USING the One Wing Angel. The maker of rain had to be stretchered out afterwards.

Not often do I say New Japan matches are the third best matches on the card, but here we are. Like I said NakaNagata is the match of the night and the Semi-Final places number 2. But it was still such a great main event. It was not perfect, CHAOS vs. Bullet Club Native (BTW, Bone Soldier wasn’t out with the rest of the Club after the main event hmmm….) was just there to make Yano more of a jerk that he usually is. I’ll say this the rest of the card delivered up and down and overall, the entire show was and effective way to get me excited for 1.4.

C.A.N.T…W.A.I.T.!…..

[wac]

Has anyone else been having problems with NJPW World video lagging in full screen mode? The audio will keep going but the picture freezes every few minutes and only fixes itself when I exit out of full screen. It's incredibly frustrating.

[Jacob's Bawks]

I put Nagata/Nakanishi at ****, the last two matches at ***3/4. Really good stuff here.

Has anyone else been having problems with NJPW World video lagging in full screen mode? The audio will keep going but the picture freezes every few minutes and only fixes itself when I exit out of full screen. It's incredibly frustrating.

Must be a problem on your end, man. Never had an issue like that.