Jmare007

Holy shit, Double Talk Dave at it's peak

I'd love for Excalibur to get the announcing gig for AEW, he's fucking awesome. I do wonder how he'll do without cursing though, he's pretty good at that and works for what he does in PWG. What's wrong with Excalibur? What's the difference from having "Booker T" or "JBL" on commentary? Legit question, English is not my first language and Excalibur being the name of a famed sword does not strike me as worse than other wrestling names.

Coming into the match, Hama has beaten Sekimoto and Okabayashi with the Ookido press (just a simple splash) in the build up to this, so Daisuke and Korakuen know he has to avoid that shit like his life depended on it. I love how Sekimoto sells the big moment from the get go, he makes you feel like he's gonna have his work cut out for him, and indeed it is. It's basically 15 minutes of "how the fuck is Daisuke gonna pull this one off?", with Hama doing a great job as the big fat ball of lard that can't be moved. There's a couple of incredible nearfalls that had Korakuen going insane, and the last few minutes with the whole place rallying behind the champ was just the cherry on top. Loved this match, Sekimoto was such an awesome underdog, his facial expressions were incredible. Legit MOTYC.

First show of the year and we already have a good ol' sub 13 minutes 6 man tag that will make you smile at how fun it is. This was mostly Okabayashi being a fucking beast and having dope exchanges with Suzuki and Nomura, which is exactly what you want to see. For some reason, Abby Jr. has taken a "mentorship" role for Moon Vulcan (Suzuki and Uto) which is hilarious because those two are now using chairs and low blows - they also did it on the 12/30 show - and you can tell they have no clue how to actually pull it off, just pure fuckery. I died at Yuji beating the fuck out of Nomura outside the ring and the chopping Abe to death when he tried to save his buddy, my man Yuji was not fucking around this night

I hope it's DEAN so we can get Daisuke Sekimoto and the strong division in AEW

What about AEW makes it impossible to stay on topic and not ruin the threads?

CIMA drawing like a madman in Japan with Stronghearts and now he comes to AEW. He's just awesome.

Haven't heard WOR but I'm reading Dave confirmed AEW wont be working with New Japan. Someone can confirm? EDIT: lol

I get your POV as a fan. But re: the bolded, I'm not sure working WWE = bigger star to the japanese audiences, but it does = more opportunities given by japanese promotions. There's countless examples of that, even for completes flops it has meant a boost in status or more leeway to do whatever the hell they want (like going freelance and/or getting financial backing to start their own little promotions). I understand your disappointment as a fan though.

Eh, it's not like KUSHIDA had a lot more to do in New Japan. Even a failed WWE run will give him a higher status in Japan once he returns. Shit, guys like KENSO and Yoshitatsu milked their WWE stints to this day to a way bigger effect than they should. KENTA got a Sumo Hall main event an permission by WWE to do it. I like this move for him to ne honest.

What better test than a sold out Osaka crowd for Jay White?

Welp.

And in typical Tokyo Sports fashion, the interview has a fuck ton of kayfabe in it "I want to face him again. But I need time away, and not just from New Japan" can mean a couple of totally different things. I guess we'll see on Tuesday if he's WWE bound or not.

The first 20 minutes of this are worked very smartly. Every exchange was compelling and every transition for one of them to work on top made sense. Loved Kento's work on KAI's head and his selling of the leg was really good considering KAI didn't spent much time working it. The challenger was great throughout this match, sold well, showed great fire when he had to, the crowd was really behind him and every cut off he made was well timed. The last 8 minutes is like Miyahara flipped a switch and forgot to sell, I think his matches should never have leg work because his whole offense is based on his knee and speed and he clearly does not care about changing it up when it comes to final sequences thing was, it was a really dope 8 minutes. Korakuen lit, KAI doing awesome and Kento just knowing when to hit his stuff for maximum effect. Had he actually sold near the end this could've been amazing, but just like Omega/Tana, the positives far outweigh the negatives and the match was still awesome and worthy of an early MOTYC nod.

Some Korakuen magic to start 2019. The match itself isn't some out of this world action. It's a very basic tag match with some sloppy exchanges from Omori and Nomura (who needs to get better at striking, is the only thing lacking on his repertoire) but Korakuen is fully into it so everything they do is elevated ten fold. The last few minutes are fucking awesome, so when you have a good enough build up with a hot crowd and you give them a very good finish, the match becomes a lot more special than it seemed it was going to be. I liked Nomura as the FIP and Aoyagi as the flashy guy that came in to turn the tides or make a key save. Black Menso~re kept things fresh too, as Omori can barely move at this point so a dude like Menso was needed. The crowd fucking loves Nomura and I'm still all in on him.

I hope they can get a good interpromotional feud going after All Star Battle. I pray Akiyama, or anyone really, is able to convince Meji (or whoever) to do a a fun program.

Last year (the last couple of them tbh) was long as hell too. But a week between shows #1 and #2 makes more sense.

Its gonna be a long ass tournament if they are starting the G-1 in early July.

One thing I believe from the Sportskeeda report is that WWE's offer has some sort of deal in regards of Omega's gaming career/hobby. Xavier Woods being a lead in selling him on that idea.

Two back-to-back Dome shows for next year (Charlton confirmed there would be two WK shows, I suppose they are both in the same building) sounds insane to me The Dallas show in the American Airlines Center is huge too. Will AEW be ready to help by that point?

I mean, Being the Elite is their "TV show" so to speak. I don't understand the fuzz about BTE being a big part of everything this group does. It makes sense. I get if people get upset about rovert being confrontational and talking down to people, but I'm sure a lot of us still understand most of what Cody/Bucks and company do and book without following they youtube show religiously. Will we miss context on some stuff? Of course, but that can be said about every single promotion in the world if you don't follow their build up/weekly content.

38k paid is an awesome number. Very interested in seeing if White was able to pull it off performance wise.

I don't think it's a big deal at all. I'm just pointing out Omega is not full time with New Japan, which I've read a lot these last couple of weeks. He's far from that, New Japan has no issue giving him a light schedule so he has a lot of margin to work somewhere else, like AEW, if needed be. PS: I'm more offended by people not watching Big Japan's Strong Division than not checking Being the Elite. At least Big Japan has the best dojo going

I mean, Kenny is not even full time now. He wrestled less than half of what Okada did for New Japan last year, for example. ps: holy shit at this thread

I think that was reported by rajah so who knows how much weight thar rumor has.