Jmare007

According to Meltzer "Road Dogg is now the head writer of Smackdown and is continuing to "pick up power". It seems Ward is still heavily involved with the show too, I guess it's the best of both worlds?

I highly doubt Kidani really thinks he's getting back at WWE with this move. He's just hyping the LA dojo reboot and the July shows. From everything he's said it doesn't seem they are gonna be spending any significant amount of money on this project. If their shows suck or you have no interested in them, that's a completely different issue, but I have no clue how this is in any way harmful to New Japan. WWE can take the talent they want regardless. If a promising guy gets more exposure in the US from a couple of shows in California it's whatever at this point. Regal and other scouts are watching every significant show New Japan (and any promotion they are interested in) runs anyway, and it's not like wrestlers that work on this LA project are gonna develop a massive following. I have no clue how they are gonna be competing with PWG considering how PWG works, nor ROH considering they barely run shows in Cali. I wouldn't go THAT far. Gedo took 1 year too long to let him turn heel - because he's a lazy motherfucker and always takes too long to do interesting shit - but Naito has been given free reign to do whatever he wants with his gimmick and get as over as he has. I despise Gedo's booking in the last 3 years but saying he hasn't given Naito any help is silly.

YES to Strong BJ vs Twin Towers Not their best matchup but this was a fun as fuck hoss tag team battle in front of a hyped Korakuen Hall, that will always get a thumbs up from me.

I don't think Tanahashi is out of the top of the cards, he's just probably done beating other top guys. He's still a draw and will still be used several times per year to headline. Tanahashi had 8 singles main events last year, trailing only Naito (12), and Okada (9). Shibata will absolutely be in the main event mix sooner than later. The seeds have been planted. He was elevated last year with his feud and subsequent symbolic acceptance from the third gen guys, and headlined 6 shows as a singles wrestler overall (doubling his total since 2012) with the NEVER title being built around him. I'd be surprised if he isn't moved up to the IC level (which means bigger main events), win the G1, or both. You mention Gedo's love of rematches, but Okada & Shibata have been kept apart for 4 or 5 years. That isn't an accident, just like Okada never facing Omega wasn't. Jay White is away and will likely be a heavyweight. The other big heavyweight prospects are Oka (who just made his debut on 1/3 and who is a personal pet project of Kidani & Nagata, so he will get pushed no matter what), Hiku'lio (another son of Haku who everybody behind the scenes thinks will be a mega star, as in potential WWE headliner level mega star, at about 6'8" with what is said to be "special" charisma), and Katsuya Kitamaru, a muscle head with a great look who also has yet to debut (but who shot an angle with Billy Gunn, of all people, on 1/5). Oka, Hiku'lio, and Kitamura have a combined one match between them, so they are a ways off. I expect White to be pushed, but not right to the top right away, and might end up in WWE before then. On the roster, SANADA is the guy to watch. He has the right look, works the right style, and they planted the seeds already for Tanahashi to put him over at some point. He'll be pushed to the top. This year will be about adding Shibata to the Okada/Naito/Omega/Tanahashi mix, while mixing in Suzuki/Goto. 2018 and beyond will be about SANADA, Oka, and maybe one or two of the others mentioned who wind up panning out. I hated Sanada in All Japan, was always a bigger fan of Soya. Haven't seen much of him in NJPW for the same reasons. I hope he's gotten better. Thank god Oka debuted. I was actually wondering when the hell would Kitamura and him debut. I'm very interested in seeing them develop. Had no clue that Hiku'lio was that big of a prospect.

I wonder if Loss still thinks Ward isn't a big factor when it comes to SD having better writing. A lot of us called it at the time, that dude knows how to do weekly wrestling TV.

Didn't he think the same thing about Roman's storyline heading into last year's Mania?

Yeah, Braun slowly but surely getting love across the board reminds me of Roman in 2013 too. Thankfully for Strowman, if he gets a super push it seems he's gonna be a heel and not be presented as Cena 2.0. Also, he's not gonna "ruin" the push of the most over guy on the roster that fans have always felt the company has tried to fuck over.

FWIW Manhattan Mayhem II (Dragon vs Morishima I) was in the Grand Ballroom too. I remember because ROH made a big deal out of moving to the Harmmerstein at "A New Level" in 2008.

It kinda feels like people have been making arguments about why racism is not a factor and you keep asking "but why not?".

I don't perceive that people that are racist towards Mexicans see Japanese culture as "cool" or as superior. I have no doubt that people do think Japan is better or more intriguing or whatever, but I'm not sure that feeling correlates to racism. Now, I'm saying that as a total outsider and as latino. I kinda feel that if someone from the US is really racist towards one culture, he kinda feels the same towards most of the others except US/Europe. That and the arguments I've already made make it so hard to follow the argument some people are trying to make here. Maybe I'm an outlier but reading most of the post in this thread doesn't make me feel like one.

:lol:

To me feels ridiculous because I'm from Chile, have way more cultural connections with Mexico (shit, even my sister has been living there since 2010) and have NEVER liked the style that much. When I was a kid I found it kinda intriguing but it never really grabbed me. Puro in the other hand clicked with me from the get go. I had no fucking clue who Meltzer was in 2004 but I downloaded a link from a thread that was pimping Kobashi and was hooked till this day. I also read places that praised lucha workers (specially Santo) but never once I felt as compelled to seek footage as I did puro. And when I tried to give lucha a chance again I ended up having the problems I've already mentioned in this an other threads. There's no cultural nothing on my part. I watched Chavo del Ocho since as long as I remember (i still laugh at Don Ramon's fuckery and Chespirito in general), same thing with anime. I just found a style more compelling that the other, there isn't a bigger, deeper meaning on it than that. So I can understand people feeling that some of you guys are reaching with this racial/cultural take on this issue. I know my case is different because I'm not from the US but I can see people feeling like me instead of something "deeper".

or Grimmas is saying he doesn't feel obligated to watch puro anymore, since puro fans don't feel obligated to watch lucha. That's a completely difference statement. I find this statement really weird. People not feeling obligated to watch wrestling they don't feel emotionally attached to (or that don't like a particular style) is something that happens across the board, not just lucha. There's a ton of fans that don't like or know about indy wrestling and don't feel obligated to seek and watch the most pimped matches. Same for British wrestling, lucha and even puro. I felt obligated for years to try to seek out the best stuff of the year in order to make a best match of the year list or to feel worthy to talk about who is the best. If you only watch your favourites how can you claim to make a best of anything list? Aren't you just making your favourites list then? That was my mindset, but that is a minority mindset, so I'm dropping it. I get that. I felt that way for like a year but couldn't keep it up because is quickly felt more like chore than anything else. What I don't understand is why single out puro when it something that happens with fans of almost every style.

or Grimmas is saying he doesn't feel obligated to watch puro anymore, since puro fans don't feel obligated to watch lucha. That's a completely difference statement. I find this statement really weird. People not feeling obligated to watch wrestling they don't feel emotionally attached to (or that don't like a particular style) is something that happens across the board, not just lucha. There's a ton of fans that don't like or know about indy wrestling and don't feel obligated to seek and watch the most pimped matches. Same for British wrestling, lucha and even puro.

Wow, that was a horrible trailer. Maybe they couldn't get permission to use footage owned by WWE so they can't show him cutting promos and actually being the Nature Boy?

Was there any answer to the question in the OP that would've made you change this decision? What happened in the last two months? just curious.

This sums it up for me. Though I can still enjoy the hell out of some of the regarded classics from lucha, for the most part I just don't care enough about it to continue to seek for it. Like, I appreciate what I'm watching but very rarely do I feel emotionally invested in it. Part of the deal for me is the commentary, I even made a thread about it. Lucha commentary is fucking unbearable and takes me out completely of most matches. It's hard as fuck to suspend disbelief and buy into the drama when the play-by-play feels completely phony, forced and uninspired. In my case it's a detriment that Spanish is my first language and an advantage that I don't know anything about Japanese, the over the top screaming still feels genuine and passionate to the point it adds to the action I'm watching. I tried my best during the GWE project to watch and like lucha but was only able to follow 5 guys, and even though they all did well in my ballot and I really enjoyed their work (specially Casas) I haven't even tried to look for more of their matches or delve into current lucha.

I thought the first 20 minutes were kinda boring, I wasn't compelled by anything they did. It picked up for the final third, the OT was really good.

We really need an update on the board to embed tweets... Anyway, WWE announced today they are doing a UK Tournament for the Network starting in January, with the winner getting this belt Nigel McGuinness will be a co-host and was today in the announcement. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/809358953708744704 It's gonna be a 16 man tourney.

Sorry if this offends you so much, but this is a major issue with our society, the food issues, and the medical profession. Do these guys need a six pack or a flat stomach? Is that even possible with them? Would that make them healthier? These are questions we do not know the answer to. Why call them fat? What is the point? Let's all post pictures of ourselves and call 99% fat by your standards, will that help anything? They are great or bad pro wrestlers based on their skills, not on their bellies. How is that even relevant to anything? Does it offend you to see their stomachs? The hell? During the GWE you were calling some wrestlers fat all the time and saying how awesome they are, just like stro has called 2016 Chris Hero fat and awesome. You are trying to make this a way bigger discussion than what it is and I have no clue why. I wonder if that problem is because of the talent (there's little room for less known wrestlers) or because Ryan Ward left for SD.

That was fucking perfect.

The funniest part is that the Tokyo Dome isn't the best venue to find great japanese matches. Like, at all.

Kinda surprised how little discussion there's been for the WON HOF this year, at least on this board.

That was pretty great. Wanted Miz to get the W but the crowd eat that up...which makes me wonder why they didn't end the show with this match.

It better be Dolph retiring and getting a sendoff....