NJPW (Discussion)

[Rich Kraetsch]

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising Cards:

February 26

• David Finlay, Juice Robinson and KUSHIDA vs. Gedo, Jado and Silas Young
  
  NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship - Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL and Sanada) (c) vs. Delirious, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask
  
  Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa and Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay and Yoshi-Hashi)
  
  War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
  Dalton Castle, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Punisher Martinez and Tetsuya Naito
  
  Bullet Club (Cody and Hangman Page) vs. Jay Lethal and Katsuyori Shibata
  
  Bullet Club (Adam Cole and Kenny Omega) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe)

February 27

• David Finlay, Henare and KUSHIDA vs. Gedo, Jado and Silas Young
  
  Dalton Castle, Delirious, Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi, Evil, Hiromu Takahashi, Sanada and Tetsuya Naito)
  
  Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa) vs. War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe)
  
  Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay Lethal and Juice Robinson
  
  NEVER Openweight Championship - Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Punisher Martinez
  
  ROH World Championship - Adam Cole (c) vs. Yoshi-Hashi Singles match for the ROH World Championship
  
  Bullet Club (Cody, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Jay Briscoe, Kazuchika Okada, Mark Briscoe and Will Ospreay

[Rich Kraetsch]

Makabe 20th anniversary

February 21

• Henare vs. Tomoyuki Oka
  
  CHAOS (Gedo & Jado) vs. Suzukigun (TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado)
  
  Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Suzukigun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi)
  
  Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)
  
  Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI)
  
  GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano)

[powerfulmgp]

At this point, the "Gedo only cares about Okada" argument is really just the "I don't like Okada" argument. Anyone looking at NJPW objectively knows how untrue it is.

I don't always agree with the booking, but it's impossible to knock Okada as a wrestler. The man is very good to great at everything that he does.

[Danwaka]

Surprised Makabe isn't getting a title shot for his 20th. I'd have GBH win there so that Ishii can go back to singles.

On a separate note, SZKG need to run more of their stand alone shows this year if NJPW is gonna keep everyone working. Maybe have them do it when NJPW is out of town in UK/USA?

[DXvsNWO]

Oddly enough, I think The Young Bucks vs. War Machine & Adam Cole/Kenny Omega vs. The Briscoes are the most appealing matches on either Honor Rising card.

[ErinQuinn]

that makes sense, both those tags have potential to be great; Omega mixing it up with the Briscoes should be a blast.

I am unreasonably hyped for Goto vs Punisher Martinez, because I love seeing guys get high profile chances for the first time; also Adam Cole vs Yoshi Hashi is the most interested i've been in an Adam Cole singles match in a while

[Joe Lanza]

At this point, the "Gedo only cares about Okada" argument is really just the "I don't like Okada" argument. Anyone looking at NJPW objectively knows how untrue it is.

I don't always agree with the booking, but it's impossible to knock Okada as a wrestler. The man is very good to great at everything that he does.

And even if you don't like him as a wrestler, arguing his push is too strong is pretty stupid when you look at business when he's on top. And if someone still doesn't understand that New Japan isn't reliant on a singular drawing star, they haven't paid any attention for the last 4 or 5 years.

[Rainmaker_F7]

Is GBH vs Ishii and Yano a title match?

Okada vs Ibushi..this sounds really intruiging. I wonder what does everyone think about it? It's very likely that Okada will just beat him and that'll be it, but I could also see the scenario that Tiger Mask beats Okada, unmasks and to the surprise of everyone - that's Kota Ibushi, and he announces that he wants a title shot..or something. Regardless of what happens - I can't wait, this should be amazing.

As for Honor Rising, I'll check both main events and maybe Bucks vs War Machine. Other than that, those shows look skippable. And who the fuck is Punisher Martinez?

[Superdeformed]

Will Punisher Martinez be the next #BigMike?

[Jacob's Bawks]

I have a lot of thoughts about the next few shows:

Makabe Anniversary: Good God, this is skippable. I may have considered watching to see Makabe win a title and get a feel-good moment on his anniversary, but the fact this isn't a title match and they're keeping this awful Ishii/Yano team going this long is appalling. The Shibata/Suzuki interactions in the third match might be killer, but nothing else looks quality. I'm surprised that they're still going with this #BIGKANE/Taichi team even though Desperado is healthy again. The final thing that caught my eye was the CHAOS A-Team fighting the Third Gen. It is kind of a fun, filler show, but everything else on the card makes sense aside from this. Methinks someone will challenge Goto for one of the early March shows.

Honor Rising Night 1: Hunter FuckMothering Johnson in a NJPW title match aside, this doesn't look half bad. The uppercard has a lot of potential to deliver. Glad War Machine is back, glad Finlay cena'd his way back to health, and Punisher Martinez being paired with LIJ is interesting, considering some RoH spoilers I've read. Page/Shibata and Omega/Briscoe interactions could be killer, but I'm predicting Cody pins Shibata to set up a RevPro match at Epic Encounter.

Honor Rising Night 2: Undercard looks worse on this one, but the uppercard looks pretty good. War Machine/GoD could be good. I remember liking their WTL match. I've only seen one Punisher Martinez match in my life -- him vs. Lio Rush in the Top Prospect tourney -- and I was pretty impressed by him, but I was impressed with Lio more and the fact he's missing is laughable. This could be solid; he has the tools to get over in Japan. Cole vs. YOSHI-HASHI has me hyped because YH will drag that fool, kicking and screaming, to some kind of entertaining match. This ME looks phenomenal. If it's a typical RoH multi-man clusterfuck, this could be 4*+. The only "dead weight" is Cody, but he's more than capable of stringing together a couple moves to keep the pace up the few minutes he's in.

45th Anniversary: Whether he wins or not, Kota will probably unmask and lay out a challenge. Everybody knows it's Kota; that's the big hype around Tiger Mask W. Not following up on it with something would be a missed opportunity, though I wouldn't fault them if they don't go further than this. It's a risky move putting a weird guy like Kota so high up the ladder, but this is a company that takes risks and most pay off big time. With it being the main event of Ota Ward for a show like this, they're not going to half-ass it. Especially if there's going to be a big angle/reveal afterward.

[throwstuff165]

I'm kind of expecting Okada to beat TMW and then Kota to unmask and announce he's entering the New Japan Cup as the "real him" or whatever, and then win that.

Because otherwise, I don't see one guy that stands out as an obvious NJC winner. Naito being in is interesting, but I can't imagine he'll win; think it's more likely he's just there to lose to whoever his next challenger is, maybe Shibata? Omega seems like a clear favorite, but I've been assuming they'll save that rematch for Dominion. On the other hand, it's hard to have such a hot commodity lose in his first big return spot. Tanahashi wouldn't absolutely shock me, either, especially if he's the one to go over Naito on his way to the win and challenge for the IC Title instead to honor his commitment to never challenging for the IWGP belt anymore. And I suppose that scenario would leave the door open for Ibushi to win at the Anniversary show and lay out the straight challenge for Sakura Genesis.

March is going to be an interesting month.

[Jacob's Bawks]

Kota Ibushi is gonna be on the 20th anniversary DDT show on the same day as the NJ Cup Final. If he's in, he won't make it to the Final.

[Tigerkinney]

I have a lot of thoughts about the next few shows:

Makabe Anniversary: Good God, this is skippable. I may have considered watching to see Makabe win a title and get a feel-good moment on his anniversary, but the fact this isn't a title match and they're keeping this awful Ishii/Yano team going this long is appalling. The Shibata/Suzuki interactions in the third match might be killer, but nothing else looks quality.

Nearly right with my prediction for the Makabe main event. Mind you if they are going to do a straight GBH vs Yano/Ishii tag, why not make it a title match? That does seem a little strange to me.

Also was anyone expecting anything more out of that show than it being a 'Road To' style card with Makabe in the main event, because I certainly wasn't.

[Jacob's Bawks]

I have a lot of thoughts about the next few shows:

Makabe Anniversary: Good God, this is skippable. I may have considered watching to see Makabe win a title and get a feel-good moment on his anniversary, but the fact this isn't a title match and they're keeping this awful Ishii/Yano team going this long is appalling. The Shibata/Suzuki interactions in the third match might be killer, but nothing else looks quality.

Nearly right with my prediction for the Makabe main event. Mind you if they are going to do a straight GBH vs Yano/Ishii tag, why not make it a title match? That does seem a little strange to me.

Also was anyone expecting anything more out of that show than it being a 'Road To' style card with Makabe in the main event, because I certainly wasn't.

I knew it was gonna be a simple Road To-style show, I just hoped for something to make it more special than a Road To show like a Tag Title match.

[Grammarian]

I know the discussion here is more serious, but I thought I'd give some levity (and love).

I would split time for you.


I've had a loose explosion in my heart over you.


Let's get cozy.


King Kong needs a mate.


My funky weapon is all yours!