Jmare007

Yup, that match had A LOT of pressure and responsability going for it and they fucking pulled it off. Incredibly rewarding as a final after watching them all tournament long. Nah. They both been working like that for a while and the G1 was the moment where it "clicked" for them. Even if you just watched them during the tournament, you would've guessed they were going to have that exact type of match. The question was if it was going to click with the audience and thank Terry Funk it did.

Really happy with Oiwa vs Uemura as the Finals. It's gonna be big test for both of them and that's exactly what this company needs. Oiwa feels like the one who should get the win and get the most momentum to headline the Dome show, he's the hotter hand right now. Also, I like how Tsuji feels like a main eventer but not like an Ace, seems like a proper role for him right now. He had a great tournament too.

One of the younger Japanese wrestlers in New Japan (27 years old, 4 years of experience) who's been growing as a performer to the point he's one of the few standouts in the roster. I wouldn't consider him a prodigy or one of those can't miss talents you immediately think they'll be a big star, but he's been getting better fast and making some noise as one of the few guys that could realistically lead NJPW in the near future. This G1 he made a legit leap and really figured something out as a performer. I think it would be a fun project because the longest match he's had is 19 minutes (and most of them are sub 13 min). It wont be that time consuming and I think is the type of thing you'd like to check out to see where you stand on the discourse around him. The headlock stuff is such a fun thing to see in 2026.

Also, I'd love to see someone like @Matt D sink his teeth on Oiwa's journey this tournament and what he did to establish a basic ass headlock as an effective driving force for his matches.

Fantastic ending for A Block both in the work by most of the guys involved in it and the booking. Tsuji and Oleg getting good matches out of Lee and O-Khan is another feather on their cap in this G1. Oiwa vs Takeshita was amazing. Having watched all his matches this tournament it paid off Oiwa's journey so damn well and it manages to give you some damn hope about this company for once. B Block has been mostly the opposite in terms of the booking but hey, I'll take it considering what we got with A Block.

After an awesome Korakuen show for Block A, Gedo followed it up with one of the most stupidly booked shows I've seen in a long time for Block B in Yokohama.

Another good showing by Boltin, Oiwa and Yuto on 7/29. Boltin had a fine match with Jake fucking Lee of all people. Oiwa had a cool, very smartly worked match with Sanada and Yuto had a very ambitious match with Tsuji, not all of it worked, but the intention behind it was very cool and the crowd understood what was going on.

After this, they'll cut on live matches for cinematic ones, lmao.

Boltin vs Takeshita on 7/25 was a great fucking bomb fest. Not sure why Gedo keeps forcing these generic british dudes when he has Oleg at this level of readiness, wouldn't shock me if he ends up leaving the company before he gets a legit run/push. Really liked Oiwa vs Yuto from the same show too, smartly worked by both of them. A lot of things they can do in upcoming matches.

I've been picking and choosing matches from the G1 so far. -Really encouraged by Yuto being over at the level he is so far. One of the few dudes that can actually throw good strikes too. Also continue to be encouraged by Wolf, I think he has the right instincts and has potential to become a legit player for the company. -Shingo's performance in the Boltin match was outstanding. Such a smart way of laying out a match to set up Boltin to shine as much as possible (which Oleg took full advantage of). Best match I've seen so far. -Gabe Kidd continues to be godawful every time I see him. He comes off as fake and try hard instead of the bully that's in over his head. He clearly knows how to stooge, but it gets lost in all the "tough guy" bad guy he's trying to get over.

Or you know, they could sign a 1 year deal, make the most of it and that'd be that. Both sides win.

Hell yeah God won! . I feel like the 2036 version of this (whatever it might be) will have vastly different results so I'm happy Funk got 1 and 2 in two different decades. As undeniable as you can get. Very interesting how versatility was such a key factor on this. You read the blurbs on both him and Dragon and a lot of people mention very similar traits for both. I tend to agree with this. But at the same time, I can't help but feel like If he gets like some MOTYCs as a part time veteran/legend in the next 10 years I think his case might get stronger. Specially if he gives a couple of standout performances in the 2030's, that would give him three decades worth of elite showings. I wonder if he becomes the new Flair, in the sense of the older fans wanting to defend his case and having all that footage available to prove their point and other fans just getting sick of reading about him being the best and having all the footage available to prove their point, lol.

That HHH-Danielson match had a lot of stuff that I associate more to Bryan than Hunter (most of the cut offs, the pace, the tiger suplex, the finishing sequence). It's probably why I love that match, lol. If anything, it felt like HHH doing a "I can have a match like this too!". The notion that it had to be a heated brawl or some desperate match escapes me though. I don't think that was ever the expectation going into the match nor something they were building towards to (as in, a brawl). Anyways, still think he's too high and hoping Funk wins but I ain't gonna complain about the best wrestler of the 21st century getting this kind of love.

By 2036 he might be a sleeper pick for people to "discover" and put against modern candidates. It's gonna be interesting to read/follow.

Austin gotta be the highest "peak candidate" to ever place in GWE, right? I'm reading the 06' and 16' polls top 10s and I think Bret in 06' at #8 was the prior highest. Though Misawa has always felt like a "peak" wrestler as well, I'm not sure a 8-12 years isn't considered as longevity, lol.

Yup, I think my fondest memory of the 2016 vote was Misawa ending up higher than Kobashi because I was so certain that wouldn't be the case, lol.

I fell out of the process so early I even forgot about the dates, been binge reading the roll out the past few days and as always, it's always a fun read the reactions (good and bad). Salute to @Grimmas and all the work he put out. I remember people being happy and surprised when Foley made it to 38 in 2016 and now he's in the top 20! I think it's fascinating because he hasn't really had a push from WWE for newer or lapsed fans to revisit his career and I don't think there's been a ton of work from the IWC to revisit or put him in the spotlight (at least to garner this level of attention). So him being so high, meaning he's gotta have a huge % of ballots, kinda says is it all about his power to endure in people's minds as someone worth voting for. ps: I'ma Danielson stan and thought him being 5th last time was too high, him possibly being n°1 feels kinda nuts even though his AEW run was outstanding. I hope Funk wins the whole thing. Also, I'm very interested in how much Flair "falls". What was the level of arguing/discussing his case this time around compared to 2016 (when people OD'd with it, tbf)? He's another guy I feel -admittedly, from the outside looking in- that discourse kinda evaporated. Probably as a mix of people drying the well after 2016 and him becoming the relative you don't really wanna talk about, in the past decade.

Not only that, if I read correctly, Asahi has a stake on CyberAgent and CA has a stake on Asahi, they even share board members.

Night 1 one of Dontaku did similar to last year (500 less people) and Night 2 did 1.8k less. Interestingly enough, they announced a No Vacancy for this year even though it was in the same place as 2025. I guess they set it up smaller and sold those tickets out. Agreed on Uemura being the best choice of this year's G1. The sad thing is the lack of options they have right now though, it's Uemura and basically no one else, unless they wanna keep punting shit and give it to a veteran or to Tsuji (which wont mean a thing, sadly). I honestly have no fucking clue how Gedo is still the booker. He's had the job for 2 decades, what's the harm in trying with someone else at this point?

You are insane El-P. Xavier and Kofi are the easiest layup for a promotion. You just give them time and they'll get over in whatever role you give them, they can work in any position in the card without any drama and they can move merch like crazy. They also have nostalgia going for them AND the novelty of working outside of the WWE bubble after 2 decades. They've also shown they can have dope tag matches in WWE's fucked up tag team context (where they fucking hate to let tags shine, specially in terms of in ring performances) so I'm pretty sure they can do well with AEW's freedom and sick roster. They don't need to be super workers to make shit entertaining for AEW.

I agree with all of this. I do think we gotta stop using "AEW Four Pillars" as a thing though. That promo aged like milk and only MFJ and Darby showed they belonged on a foundational level. I mean, Sammy Guevara being named at the time was laughable in 2022 and nowadays he's in the spot he should be in. And Jungle Boy also found his real place on the card.

Gedo found another gaijin to put the strap on instead of building his japanese roster, year 13 of this lazy fucker doing the same ol' shit.

Another banger of match between KOB and Umino/Uemura. All 4 have been elevating each other and KOB really are gaining momentum as an act. If there's one guy New Japan has to try to keep for a couple of year its Oskar, he's already really good and could be something else as he continues to develop. Man, Yuto was devastated with Hiromu's goodbye. LMAO at Gedo continuing to book HoT bullshit. I hope that segment/match leads to big gimmick match revenge for Wolf because if not, it's again stupid booking for the sake of stupid booking.

It's official, EVIL is gone I'm not gonna miss him but he did do the job and made Wolf look as good as he could. This forces Gedo to put these younger guys in more prominent positions as well, sink or swim time for a lot of them.

Yuto Ice & Oskar vs Oiwa & ZSJ was the best tag title match I've seen in New Japan in forever. Just a great showcase for all three of the young guys, the crowd buying into Oiwa like crazy, Yuto showing he's comfortable as hell in a champion role and Oskar could be something special if he can work with people that can teach him (NJ should keep booking Shuji Ishikawa and should make a call to Sekimoto to take the kid to the next level).