Jmare007

Bubba Braun Dudley

That superplex to falcon arrow spot, reversed to a small package made me legit mad.

This was the best of Sabre and the worst of Sabre in the same match, it was more good than bad though. I give full credit to him for making the first 17 minutes interesting enough to grab my attention. At this point is very hard for me to stay engaged for so long in New Japan main events because I know the first half barely means anything - just like NOAH's big matches in the late 2000's-early 2010' - but in this case I was thoroughly entertained by the ZBJ show of "look how many cool shit/counters I can do". I also liked the little things he did like Okada copying a reversal Sabre did early and Zack having a counter to that because he's the one that knows how that shit works, or him desperately trying to avoid Okada from getting to the ropes a couple of times. I also give full credit to Zack for having Sumo Hall buying into his late submissions AND pinfalls, I knew there was no way he was winning but the crowd did and that's all that matters to me. Now, onto the bad. Once again I came out of a ZSJ match thinking he was more interested in showing off than winning the match - and the biggest fucking price of the company - every time he locked in a submission that look painful enough on a body part (and was sold by Okada as such) he focused a little bit on it but then went back on doing different shit to other parts of the body. I get his gimmick is that he can submit you at any time with a variety of moves, but it's frustrating to watch him pass on the opportunity to establish control and dominate his opponent by obliterating a body part when he has a clear opportunity to do it. There were like three times he had Okada basically dead and he just looked at the crowd or taunted Okada, there was no urgency by him in those instances. I also thought the "reset" part of the match, when Okada just grew tired of grappling around and taunted Zack to a strike exchange, was very weak. Why would Sabre go with it when he was clearly getting the best of the champ before? Okada didn't have to do anything special to change the dynamic of the match. The second half was more about strikes and ZBJ countering everything Okada threw at him - also didn't like how after stretching the fuck out of Okada and hitting him hard, all the champ needed to down the challenger was 1 or 2 strikes -, which was fun to watch by the way, it just didn't make much sense to me considering what happened in the first 20 minutes or so. Ending felt undeserved as most of Okada's defenses. All in all, a VERY fun match that once again went too long for no damn reason but at least it was entertaining throughout most of it. It just didn't have the depth or story to become the GREAT match it could've been imo.

I stopped watching Sabre matches last year because I just grew tired of the guy. Decided to watch the Okada match after all the praise he was getting for his New Japan Cup performances. I was surprised at how entertained I was with it, specially the first half which I normally struggle to get through in Okada's title defenses because they are too fucking long and hold very little meaning to the overall story of his defenses. Still, the match wasn't great and once again I came out of a ZSJ match thinking he was more interested in showing off his skills than winning the match (and the main fucking belt in the company), but hey, it was better than I thought it was going to be, specially for it being 34 minutes long.

To have fun discussing it, dummy.

Okada vs Tanahashi is gonna be the big main event for Dontaku, Naito vs Suzuki for the IC will be the other big match. I wonder if Gedo will book a "IWGP vs IC champion match" for Dominion. Naito going for the title again and beating Okada in a town he has so much history with like Osaka, two years after he lost the big belt to him and started this whole reign.

Shinpei Nogami just constantly talks about teriyaki sauce and the judo team at his former University. Shinji Yoshino doesn't know the names of any moves, he just shouts out "What a maneuver!" when something big happens in the ring. Both of them keep saying "Will you stop!" to Milano Collection A.T. and talking about how the wrestler hurt his external occipital protuberance... It's a nightmare. holy shit, thank god I don't understand a lick of japanese. I already can't watch Lucha because of the abomination that is play-by-play and commentary, adding puro would be too much.

I know this is the New Japan thread but it sounds to me some of you guys need a little Strong BJ ( ) in your lives, if you want fun and short matches that's were it has been for years ps: I thought JR's commentary was fucking awful, kept making mistakes and dude sounded bored out of his mind 90% of the time. I had to switch to the japanese commentary for the last 2 matches.

Winged Eagle, to celebrate D-Bry's return

I hope Shane eats the pin at Mania instead of turning and becoming a heel authority figure. Another dope promo by Bryan, it's amazing how good he's gotten with the mic.

Yeah, it's pretty much official it's gonna be a 4-Way. At least he got a spot on the card.

This is not the tag match I wanted Rusev to help in....

D-Bry making a deal with RAW so he can partner up with Braun twice at Mania would be quite something. Considering it's Braun, Bryan shouldn't work long on both matches...It's never gonna happen though. Rusev making a face turn and offering to help DB out as a Rusev Day gift would be awesome...It's never gonna happen though. It's gonna be Kane, it would've been more fun it they had more time to shoot a couple of funny segments though.

I honestly stopped reading his post after his 2nd or 3rd "this is my list" threads. But I see no reason to ban him at all, getting rid of people because "well, he doesn't write well and annoys me" is not a good reason imo. If that is such a big problem to some, then just put him on ignore or just don't reply to him. I do wonder if this is the first wrestling board he's been a part of because, if he's not trolling, it does seem he's like a new puppy running around all over the place.

This was just too damn long man. For every insane shit they did, they dragged it with bad acting and story I couldn't quite get into - the Bucks pretty much working babyface and Matt doing the best face performance since Gargano while Kenny struggles to leave them behind and do what it takes for the W - but the action was too damn fun to watch to not give this some deserved props. If this was 20 minutes I would probably be losing my shit right now but oh well, the match is clearly not meant for me in that regard.

To add to the AJ vs Bryan thing: who had the better Cena match? I lean towards D-Bry/Cena mainly because it didn't have all the annoying PWG Cena stuff AJ had to deal with, though I can't say I can fault Styles for that.

Not even sure how to explain why this match works besides "Korakuen magic", there's some stuff they do that doesn't make a lot of sense, and the selling was spotty. Nakanoue's performance varied from holy shit amazing to "not sure why he did that", but the crowd fucking buys in on everything he does. By the halfway mark they want a new champ and they BELIEVE Nakanoue can pull it off. The atmosphere minimizes the flaws this match has imo, it's not a MOTYC but I'd still recommend it just to see Korakuen elevate a match like only that place can.

I think that's what Dave was referring to actually.

The Strong Climb tournament has been fun as fuck so far. A bunch of 8-12 minutes matches that are so enjoyable to watch and very unique from one another, and with some very clever finishes. But anyway, this match, So far this year we've seen Nomura (24 years old) having a "leap year" of sorts in terms of performances and in ring presence by being a feisty young guy that does not give a fuck about anything and will take it to anyone that's put in front on him. Well, what happens then when he's paired up with a guy like Aoki, who is only 21 years old and he also has a chip on his shoulder and wants to show HE is the promising star of the promotion? We get a dope fucking match, that's what happens. Man, if you would've told me Nomura fucked Aoki's girlfriend and Yuya found out on social media 10 minutes before the ball rang I would've believed it because HOLY FUCK at some of the strikes and suplexes he hits in this, no regard whatsoever for Nomura's well being. A very, very basic match with another "out of nowhere" finish that I couldn't help but love because of the roles these two portrayed, the hate and the strikes. And of course, all in just 10 minutes!

That was awesome, Regal and Fuji were perfect as the heels and Steamboat of course was superb as the babyface. Man did the crowd loved Steamer, that blond lady from first row was fucking testifying any time Ricky got any offense going

https://twitter.com/SexyChuckieT/status/976500783326769152

Awesome!

Day 1 of the Strong Climb tournament. After watching these two develop over their young careers, I felt like a proud dad watching this. Daichi starts the match thinking he might pull this of off the strength of him being the champ and Nomura still being below him on the totem pole. But Takuya has had some really tough tests coming into the tournament against Abe and Togo so he has NO TIME for Daichi's laziness, he kicks and bitchslaps Hashimoto like he ain't shit, forcing the champ to take him seriously from the get go. There's a ton to love about this, from the crowd LOVING Nomura from minute zero and craving for an upset to Daichi's selling and portrayal of a legit champ - I almost shed a tear when he did the "get pissed off and karate chop THE FUCK outta your opponent to show him who you are" spot that his daddy did so fucking well - to Nomura's fire and not give a fuck attitude. He knows he's faced stronger competition than Daichi so he fucking goes for the W like a madman. Finish could've been a little better but it served it's purpose.

I never bought the Reigns thing either. And I honestly don't think it's a conspiracy, I just believe health wasn't the main factor in all of this.

- I know, that's why I said Maroon was the one who's credibility was on the line. He was the only one saying no even though a whole bunch of his colleagues disagreed with his decision in one way or another. - I guess I'm just more cynical about the whole deal. I have a hard time believing Bryan is a special case, we just know more about his issues because he's told us about them a bunch of times. And D-Bry will be a part timer too, his whole quest to make a return was based on him wanting to work but on a lighter schedule. And even if it is just 1 match a year, you are still allowing people who's had a dangerous history of concussions - specially Dreamer - to get fucked up, it only takes 1 bump. There's no doubt Bryan is the guinea pig in all of this, I just doubt the sincerity of him being it. I do admit that at the end of the day, all that matters is the fact that all this trouble is for his well being, so WWE's "good intentions" on the issue are kinda meaningless.