Jmare007

It's a good question, my gut feeling is that it would be more of a Kurt Angle going to TNA move in the sense that it would create a lot of buzz among the current fanbase and it would give them a nice boost for a short while, but it wouldn't mean THAT much business wise. Seems to me it's more about WWE not wanting to "lose him" to the competition (because of optics, pettiness, ego, etc.) than anything else. And to be honest, they've been very accommodating to Bryan for years now, he's gotten special treatment on a number of things ever since he cameback from retirement.

huh?

Legit question as I'm not that aware as to when Nick Khan took over. What has he been able to accomplish to get this much attention? The Peacock deal I know, but what else?

So DB was truly trying to "weasel his way" into this agreement

I wonder what kind of leverage could New Japan get from this when it comes to the AEW partnership?

I guess I don't really see these relationship from the POV of how would the Japanese talent do in the U.S because I don't really care as I barely watch current U.S wrestling anyway. I'm all about how it does for the Japanese product because that's what I care about

It's interesting how I feel the exact opposite. AEW working with New Japan didn't do much for me (aside from Shota having a prominent role in Dynamite and Miro working a G-1) but WWE sending some talent there feels like a breath of fresh air for NJ's product. Not only it would possible mean more variety with some main events but also showcasing people that could mesh really fucking well with NJPW's house style and that would feel much more fresh than AEW guys working against New Japan guys.

I guess Bryan could have his wish come true then Very interesting turn of events. I think WWE's roster is full of people that could do wonders in New Japan but even if this goes through, history has shown us that Vince is never able to sustain a working relationship with a Japanese promotion for a long time. But Nick Khan is doing the talking and there's been rumors he's been given a lot more power than his predecessors so who knows? I'd be happy with at least 1 great G-1 Climax to be honest.

https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-njpw-discussing-partnership-no-indication-current-status-342576 WWE president Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE becoming NJPW's exclusive American partner. Dave Meltzer reported in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that talks regarding the potential partnership date back to March or early April, but there's no indication where the discussions are currently at. If talks go anywhere, the deal would include WWE sending talent, including top stars, to work in NJPW. NJPW has normally worked with Ring of Honor as their American partner. During the pandemic, however, NJPW has also formed relationships with All Elite Wrestling and Impact Wrestling. Yuji Nagata appeared earlier this month on AEW Dynamite and Satoshi Kojima appeared on this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling. Meltzer wrote the following: In what could end up being among the biggest wrestling stories of the year, or a non-story, depending on the end result, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE being the exclusive American partner with the promotion. Right now New Japan has been working with AEW (KENTA, Yuji Nagata, Rocky Romero and Ren Narita plus Jon Moxley working New Japan Strong) and Impact (Juice Robinson, David Finlay, El Phantasmo and Satoshi Kojima) and has had a relationship with CMLL and ROH, but things have slowed down with those companies since COVID. Obviously there are a million questions regarding such a deal if it was to happen, and there are no indications where talks are at past they date back to late March or early April. But it would include WWE sending talent and WWE top stars being allowed to work in New Japan if talks go anywhere. With Khan, the former isolationist attitude of WWE vs. everyone is changing with the idea WWE is part of the wrestling landscape and not separate from the pro wrestling landscape. Obviously it’s also to keep New Japan, which pre-pandemic was the third strongest company in the world, away from working with other companies which could strengthen the opposition and also be a factor with WWE gunning for the same talent as other companies because there is a percentage of younger talent that grew up on watching New Japan either via tape or YouTube where working there is a much bigger part of their career goals than the prior generation, and AEW talent has been willing to allow its talent to work outside its walls and Impact would allow talent to work with other promotions.

The ladder match against Rock? Idk, it's HHH so I'm not gonna put any effort trying to remember if there's is one

HHH's case is basically a peak of 12-16 months from 2000 to 2001 and then pick and choose the few standout matches before and after. He barely made it in my list last time and there's no way he makes it again.

Let Ishii have a short run. And yeah, Ospray's injury gotta be serious because it says he's gonna be out indefinitely and going back to the UK to get treatment.

Just saw the match, it was fucking fantastic. Roman shaping up to have an Austin in 2001 year and Cesaro delivered an incredible performance and proved once again that he belongs.

I thought this was fantastic. Yeah, the stuff before the arm became a real target was kinda plodding but it didn't bother me that much. Once Roman fully commits to the arm work this is almost flawless. Really great control and character work from Reigns and Cesaro's selling throughout the match was the best I've seen in an US ring in I can't remember how long. The struggle for control in the final stretch was awesome, and although there were a couple of miscues —like Cesaro not catching Roman's elbow and him just leaving his arm hanging stiff waiting for Cesaro to counter, or Reigns taking a little too long before hitting Cesaro in the head and locking in the guillotine for one last time— it felt like a big fight. Delivered in spades and met the really high expectations I had for it.

No particular order, no way I'm opening that can of worms at this point: Terry Funk Ric Flair Jushin Liger Mitsuharu Misawa Daniel Bryan Genichiro Tenryu Stan Hansen Toshiaki Kawada Negro Casas Shinya Hashimoto I plan on doing a deep dive on Bock at some point (have seen A LOT from him, but not everything I wanted) and he's most likely gonna take one of these out.

Fuck man, gonna miss it

Really interesed with what they do with Cesaro tonight. He's not gonna have Bryan to cut a promo for him and after last week, he needs an emotional promo or a sick beating to get things going. So far they've tried to put him in the best position posible, I hope that continues to be the case.

I kinda got that vibe from the audio. Sort of a "Bryan ain't telling nobody anything, at least not yet".

Hi literally said the same thing last time around too and no one gave a damn once he had an ROH-lite run with the WWE title. I honestly don't see people resenting him just because he chose a steadier paycheck and is gonna show up 5-10 times a year to have great matches.

The amount of fans that not only know about that, but that could get pissed at him for not doing it is too damn small to matter.

I don't know. Seems to me his last contract they gave him a lot of what he wanted. If they are "pushing hard" I guess this time around they'll let him work NXT and any WWE- partnered promotion he feels like working for a couple of matches? He's gonna be pushed in the main roster because he's a 10 year veteran in the company that's constantly over and make shit work, it's kind of a no-brainer. He didn't even want to be in the WM main event and they book him there anyway

How the hell do we have a Christian thread and there's not 1 post from his biggest fan @C.S.???

Like I said in a previous post, I think Misawa is by far the most "flawed" n°1 level candidate. His candidacy is all about peak (that you can still poke some holes, like mainly working the same people for 10 years) so I wonder if the narrative of him flips this time around and folk talk more about everything surrounding his peak and ends up putting him way lower than last time around. Then again, it will also depend in how many people "discover" or revisit 90's All Japan this time around too.

Yeah that WK tag is fun as hell and Misawa is a big part of making it work.

He didn't get the same introduction each time, in fact I got the impression he probably got that intro a few times or during a specific time period before being introduced as the "El pequeño Maestro" (The little Master). But the one I got from the WP, it was: "He's more dangerous than Typhus, a bigger destruction than AIDS,...Virus!".