WingedEagle

If the goal was to keep it a clearly inferior secondary title, as was suggested by comparing it to the WWF/E IC Title, it wouldn't have been put in a position to headline their biggest show of the year. Or any of the subsequent PPV / big shows that it has headlined since then and continues to do so on a regular basis.

Here's hoping he likes Palestinian Chicken.

Sometimes I don't know if you are trolling or not... Naito was pinned like 6 times in all of 2016. When they made the first big push for him (when he won the G1) back 4 years ago, it just didn't work out the way that Okada's push the year prior worked out. Naito has been the most over dude in the company for 2 years. All they've done with him was a token IWGP reign where he did nothing and lost his title right back to Okada, and then stuck him with the secondary title that will never, ever be as important. It's basically like taking Austin in 1998 and sticking him in the IC title feuds all year when he's clearly more popular than everyone on the roster and probably the best guy on the roster. It doesn't sound like there's much to say that'll cause you to reconsider the Naito push, but the IC Title in New Japan has been booked and treated as nearly co-equal to the IWGP Title. They let it headline a Wrestle Kingdom a couple years ago with a fan poll, and to this day it headlines PPVs, such as one of the New Beginning shows in a couple weeks. Its not the company's world title, nor should it be. But it -- and Naito -- have certainly been protected and established as legitimate 1B headliners.

I really enjoyed the recent Omega interview on Jericho's podcast. It was taped pre-WK. so the interview focuses on the development of his career and various stops along the way. Leaving aside what one thinks of him as a worker or WK 11, he came across as someone who is incredibly thoughtful about wrestling.

This thread is fascinating to read with the benefit of looking back at his work over the last few years.

Training techniques, diet, science and technology have changed how athletes and performers develop so much its almost impossible to compare at any baseline. No one today is training like Flair & Steamboat, or Jumbo & Brisco did. Today's athletes have an edge because of so many advancements. If you could strip all of that away there might be some means of comparison, but even cardio training is very different now than in previous generations. Is there any sense whether today's wrestlers come to the industry from more diverse, perhaps non-athletic/sport backgrounds than in prior generations?

If you were a diehard Evolve fan and would grab every show than this is a steal. They just don't present a product at this time that merits that type of investment on my end.

Yeah, that's the other problem. Doesn't pass my value test either, but hopefully it does for enough others.

For another perspective, I like JVK. I enjoy his takes on wrestling and frankly don't find his tone all that inciting or offensive. I also don't always agree with him, but get turned off of discussions when the tone or arguments become particularly hostile and vitriolic. It does seem a little simplistic to single out one individual for this type of environment, but perhaps I'm misreading things.

Not knowing much beyond the surface - that WWE is an investor in Floslam - absolutely nothing that takes place should be upsetting or surprising to those associated with the latter. WWE's priority should be its Network. I can't imagine for a minute that anyone associated with Floslam wouldn't expect WWE to utilize every possible opportunity to maximize the value of its network.

That was definitely the weakest Smackdown in quite some time. Not a bad show as it flowed pretty well for 2 hours, A/Miz was cut short too quickly to develop in to something special, while the rest of the show was a ton of video packages and 2 matches that weren't particularly heated and didn't offer much for the live or TV audiences to get behind. Oh well, not every week can be a home run.

Chihiro/Aja was definitely interesting. The early work wasn't particularly interesting, but necessary for where they took things later. Once they got off the mat and started trading bombs it was exactly what you'd want from them. The escalation was spot on with very good selling down the stretch. Hashimoto is understandably limited at this stage of her career but is generally put in positions that accentuate her strengths and hide her weaknesses -- namely delivering & selling big, impressive offense while staying away from the mat and selling for extended stretches. She has a really bright future when considering that potential along with her already unique skills and presence. Very surprised by the finish and am interested to see what direction they go with Hashimoto and the title. Hopefully Aja is still going strong when Hash is more refined on the mat and able to make this match something even more special.

Not suggesting anything because there's zero reason to think they're calling an audible here and have obviously already started teasing it, but Hunter vs. Rollins feels like the one match they should go out of their way to scrap. Rollins is fairly cold as a babyface and it just doesn't feel like the program has any real heat behind it. Would think they could find better directions for both.

He has an entrance that stands out and certainly a personality and charisma that is very unique for ROH, where characters and acts often seem more muted. Between the ropes, aside from a sneaky athleticism that shows up at times I haven't seen anything that has the look of a top act. When controlling his offense doesn't look particularly dangerous or have any unique flow or timing, while his selling doesn't seem to bring things to a new gear either. He very much comes across as the kind of role player that is important to a show because of his contrast with the roster, but I've yet to see anything suggesting any promise as a top act.

Not to derail things, but it seems like this transitioning from important matches to great matches. Perhaps I have a rather high bar and only a few matches seems truly important, whether for their impact on the business or having an enduring legacy -- two admittedly very distinct conclusions.

Commentary was absolutely tremendous. Not that the words coming from his mouth didn't merit worst announcer votes all those years in the Observer awards, but Michael Cole calling wrestling rather than what's fed through his earpiece is terrific. Nigel was also phenomenal and hopefully there's a permanent spot in his future on NXT or Smackdown.

Assume you mean Shibata vs Goto here? Correct, will edit that now. Shibata/Goto! One of my favorite Goto matches.

Main Event may have set a rating, but beyond Mania 4 it didn't have many legs from a historical basis. Not even relevant from WWE's historical perspective.

Stardom's service is impressively accessible for Western fans. The site & interface is designed for those who speak English and the subtitles they include on all promos in post-production make the shows a very fun and easy watch. If you enjoy or are open to the style, this is one effort to expand the company's reach I'd reward.

I believe Meltzer pointed to a match where El Santo suffered a heart attack in the ring again Los Misioneros de la Muerte as the point when trios matches became a headline act and titles followed around that time as well. Not sure about the debut, but my recollection was that they had occurred previously but became a headline act after that.

Really looking forward to this show getting posted, although Mayu missing it is disappointing. Looked like another solid effort from the results & photos. Very curious to see what Io was able to do with Viper.

No on Kushida/Takahashi. Fun match with some psychotic spots & bumps, but there was too much slop and way too disjointed to belong in a MOTY discussion on my end.

Seconding the praise for this match as a really fun start to the year for Stardom. It was fast moving show with different looks up and down the card. Its not a stretch to say that Io Shirai is one of the 10 best wrestlers on the planet. Great offense & presence along with timing that forces everything to be sold in her matches. Here, she & HZK work so well as heels getting heat on Hojo & Bito. I was also very impressed by HZK and Bito as they more than delivered when in rather than being completely outshone by the Shirai/Ho, which is always a distinct possibility. It builds nicely after the heat to a babyface comeback with solid transitions and great escalation down the stretch before a finishing run that's neatly wrapped up. ***3/4

Yes to Shibata/Goto. See WK11 thread for thoughts. Upped it to ****1/4 on a rewatch today.