Jmare007

By the way, Dave already changed his report and is saying Kofi is the front runner for the Fastlane title shot (he wasn't on those plans either as of the WOR post RAW) he also says it's not clear if that will change the plans for Mania. I hope the crowd stays behind Kofi. He needs to be the most over male talent on the roster in the next month to have a legit shot at Vince changing directions.

Very fun tag match, specially for an exhibition show/match. It had a lot of really good exchanges and they did not shy away from the stuff people wanted to see the most. Tana was the star in this, as he gave us asshole heel Tana and he's always fucking amazing in that role. His cutoffs were perfectly timed and I loved the little things like doing to Mutoh sign right in from of him after doing a dragon screw. I also gotta give him MAJOR props for making Sekimoto look amazing, Tana let Daisuke chop him hard as fuck, lariat him to oblivion AND do the doble german suplex spot, that's a level of generosity that's rarely seen in a interpromotional match, specially between such a big star and a big indy name. Kento did the most with his interactions with Tana, and he really came off as a star too imo. He had control of the crowd and his defience over Tanahashi felt natural and not try hard. The air guitar bit was Yoshi was fine, he doesn't do anything wrong but his stuff doesn't really resonate with the crowd (and myself), he's just there. The finish kinda hurt because of that, as the pairing to bring to match home was Miyahara/Yoshi, and even though what they did was good, it didn't really got much of a reaction. This really makes me want to see Tanahashi vs Kento - maybe at this year's CC? Tana is gonna be available - and Tanahashi vs Sekimoto, but that one has no shot of ever happening Cool match, kinda long but I was satisfied with what they did.

As someone who really enjoys a hot crowd, this was fucking amazing. A lot to love here, from Joe and D-Bry beating this shit out of each other, to Jeff being fucking insane, to Houston SALIVATING for a Kofi win. I knew after Tuesday that Bryan was going to try to do the Santino Marella thing from 2012 but holy shit this was even better. A career moment for Kofi - who was so fired up he messed up a couple of spots -, I hope they book on the fly and give him the title match at Mania and make him fucking win.

Yup, after Tuesday it seemed they were gonna re-do the Santino thing and this time it was even better.

Make Kofi win at Mania, the crowd would fucking love it and it would be an awesome moment.

The crowd is making this incredible

Jeff is fucking insane.

That was hilarious

I think Bryan vs Cena at Summerslam 13' has aged very nicely and it's a good nomination too. Punk vs Cena at MITB is an obvious contender imo. Ciampa vs Gargano at Takeover: NOLA Sasha vs Bailey at Takeoveerr: Brooklyn Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura at Takeover: Dallas I'd have to rewatch Cody & Goldust vs The Shield at Battleground 2013, I remember it being pretty damn special though. On that note, are any of the Cesaro vs Zayn matches are worthy? What about Bryan vs Wyatt at the Rumble? Seems like a nice project for some rewatches, but if I'm honest I'm just too lazy to do it.

Oh, of course. I mean Japanese promotions. I'm still praying to Baba that something positives comes out of All Star Battle next week.

My guess is that one Dome show will be Okada vs ?? (probably Naito) and the other will be Ibushi vs Omega. Would LOVE to see some interpromotional matches to boost up the cards.

But the Ibushi love goes back to when he was a Junior. He's always been treated better than any other free lancer (except maybe Sasuke? though his run was shorter) and the sabbatical didn't mean anything as he was right back to being treated like a big deal, his announcement for the G-1 was heavily promoted. RE: Naito. How can you say he was an afterthought and that for the WK 12 match the fans were eagerly anticipating Okada-Omega IV?? Okada vs Naito did amazing business for the Dome and he got Hashimoto-level reaction during that match. The fans wanted a title change, Gedo just decided to keep his (at the time) 6 year formula and give the belt to the gaijin. I'm way more inclined to believe Ibushi hasn't gotten a run because Gedo's booking style than him not signing a long term contract. He had no issue giving the belt to gaijins that he knew were always getting tempted to leave to the U.S. At some point he's gonna have to change it up. Hopefully it will be 2019, but if Okada is the one that gets the belt at the Garden, we might have to add anothe year to the Tana/Okada/Gaijin formula. That's insane, specially because it keeps working

I still contend the "Gedo hasn't pulled the trigger on Ibushi because he's non committal" narrative. I mean, New Japan has made him a way bigger star than he was 5 years ago, and that's even after he took his shit and went home for almost a year. They LOVE Ibushi. Gedo hasn't pulled the trigger on fucking Naito yet, he's just content with what he has in Okada/Tanahashi and likes to add a gaijin to mix in between. It's been that way for 8 years now, unless you wanna count Naito's 1 month transitional reign

He most likely was. Seeing how that first match went, I can totally see Ali getting that exact type of W.

This probably wont happen but it would be great if Kofi wins tonight and you get him as the last entrant on Sunday after Bryan had to survive the whole EC. If Bryan made people believe fucking Santino had a shot, image what he can do with Kofi, specially after tonight.

This honestly felt like I was reading about another wrestler. White is HHH in 99' status to me. He's a fine talent but there's tons of people I'd more excited to see get this kind of push instead of him.

You are probably right on the MSG main event. I'd like to see Naito or Ibushi challenging for the belt and winning it but that's unlikely to happen.

Jay White won, wow.

Again, it didn't seem to bother New Japan when TNA worked with AAA. And AEW having Omega makes them waaay more important to NJ than TNA was at the time.

I don't see the AAA collaboration as an indicator of future work with New Japan. TNA had a relationship with AAA and New Japan at the same time IIRC. And didn't AAA and CMLL showed unprecedented levels of cooperation last year? Not to say everything is peaceful between those two companies but I don't see the AEW-AAA thing being a deal breaker for New Japan. At the end of the day it all depends on how long the NJ-ROH relationship lasts.

Main event for Baba Memorial show will be: Kento Miyahara & Daisuke Sekimoto vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yoshitatsu So glad we are gonna get Kento vs Tana. So happy Daisuke is getting that kind of spotlight. So funny Yoshi is getting the KENSO role from the first All Together, now matter how shitty your run in WWE is, you still get elevated by it

KENTA had a ton of injuries problems with a lighter schedule in NOAH, him getting injured constantly in WWE was expected imo. It would be cool watching him work New Japan, specially with today's talent. But let's not act like KENTA was doing anything remarkable in the ring after 2010. Even his heavyweight run in NOAH was underwhelming. I wonder if he will make a surprise appearance at All Star Battle in a couple of weeks though, that would be pretty dope.

New belt looks amazing Vince tends to give these types of gimmick belts really short runs though (except for the Austin one), I hope D-Bry ain't losing at EC.

Bryan with another money promo, making the best out of the silence they got in their match

Bryan has been on fire cutting promos today