Jmare007

I'm only watching because of Bryan and I already accepted the fact they are gonna book him to lose in a ridiculous way so he can have a "redemption" storyline or a heel turn going into Mania. But anyway, here's the card Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Last Man Standing Match) WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair & Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax Royal Rumble Match Royal Rumble Match

Yes. Hideki Suzuki is a fucking awesome pro wrestler you should check him out.

Rumor going around is that Hideki Suzuki is traveling to the U.S for a permanent gig. Most assume it's to NXT as he's been invited as a trainer before and Regal loves him (who doesn't?). Would love him vs Thatcher again before fazing out to a trainer role. And good luck to those poor rookies getting bent into pretzels by Hideki IF that's indeed his destination.

Strong Heavyweight title match. This was pretty fucking great. Nakanoue is no stranger to title matches in Korakuen to start the year off and he's certainly not a stranger to Okabayashi being faster and much stronger than him. So Nakanoe goes to the body and opens up the little window he needs to have any sort of chance in this. Without Covid there's no doubt in my mind this would've trigger some very special Korakuen magic because both Yasufumi and Yuji put on a fucking show and make you believe the underdog has a legit chance. The nearfalls were dope, the strikes were on point, the struggle for moves was classic Strong BJ and the ending...dope fucking match right here.

Yeah, I thought the angle was very nicely done and I'm confident Pearce can do some interesting stuff with promos and character building in the next 3 weeks. I also like how they are setting up their Elimination Chamber match. Roman has bullied of screwed over enough people that every participant in the will have a legit reason to fight him besides getting a title shot (regardless if the EC match is for the n°1 contender or with Roman putting the belt on the line). Also, it was really cool watching motivated Nakamura again. A couple of botches with both Rey and Bryan but overall it was a damn good gauntlet match (the Corbin match was nice too).

Yeah, kind hard picturing him leaving so soon and when he's by far their biggest regular gaijin (I guess Moxley is their biggest foreigner overall) so him doing what Omega and the Bucks did for a couple of years before actually leaving would be a sound strategy if he wants a better deal. If he goes, good for his pocket I guess. All this being said, I think New Japan should start signing their 1 (or 2) year contracts around the G-1 Climax and not Wrestle Kingdom. If a gaijin wants to leave, then make him do it before the G-1 so the build up towards their biggest show - and it's aftermath - doesn't go to "waste". RE: Wrestling Kingdom. Man, I thought Okada vs Ospray was fine. One of those Okada matches were I could've cared less about the first half and the wait for the awesome finishing stretch was not compelling at all. Naito vs Ibushi was good, not their best but still more than worth a look. Shingo vs Cobb was dope. Give me 20 minute sprints/bomb fest over 35 minutes epics all day. White vs Ibushi I'll watch eventually because it seems the run time was worth it. Still, I have such a hard watching New Japan long matches that I gotta prepare myself for them, specially after Night 1.

Loved the dynamic of Nomura and Abe basically saying "fuck you, we are not the spunky young team anymore, we are the fucking champs" and going toe to toe with the two monsters. Shuji tried to disrespect Young Gawd by calling him "pretty boy" and refusing to even engage on a rope break, which lead to Nomura slapping the shit out of him and forcing Ishikawa to take Astronauts seriously...well, be careful what you wish for because from then on, Shuji literally tries to concuss both Abe and Nomura with vicious headbutts for the next 13 minutes. And you know, Sato already knows these kids so he tries to obliterate them from the get go. The finish is sudden but makes complete sense as it was built up quite nicely. Match didn't disappoint, but don't watch if you are concerned about wrestler's health, this goes into demonic puro head hunting territory.

So fucking sad, RIP :(

An incredible wrestling mind, one of the greatest ever, and as with most of the people within the biz during his time, seems dude was scum as a human being.

Is White really needed in this position for an Ibushi crowning moment/show? Once again this feels like Gedo forcing a scenario were at least 1 wrestler is gonna end up getting an L there was no need for him to get in a huge match(es). Then again, that's make it Gedo 101

Man...

What happened to this? the 2020 section has been stuck in August for months now

When Daniel Bryan and Edge were announced as part of the new creative teams I kinda joked that the IWC would always equate any good decision on Smackdown being DB's idea. Turns out he actually has been able to do good work for some people That's my GOAT y'all.

This might be the last time we get close access to Vince's fuckery so I'll be watching for sure. That said, Simmons preached for months that the Andre doc he produced for HBO was gonna be bullshit free because they were "doing it right" and the director was doing tons of research. But at the end of the day is was a very well done WWE piece. So I don't expect a lot of fighting back WWE narrative on this one. I just hope they at least don't repeat the line about Vince taking wrestling out of small, smoke filled arenas

Man, I just listened to the Jim Valley interview. I remember listening to a show early in the pandemic with him admitting he was in the high risk category and talking about how people like Reigns were right in pulling out of WWE shows. When I heard he had Covid it was a real bummer. So glad he was able to pull through.

I just remember Drake Younger being the most positive, happy go lucky wrestler ever in Wrestling Road Diaries 1.

Holy shit, Bryan coming back?

Great sprint with these two just beating the shit out of each other. The difference on their strikes after the 3 minute mark until the end is pretty amazing, two savages going at it.

Astronauts are the best damn tag team in the world right now. A lot to unpack here. First, Aoki has become kind of a protege for Ohtani ever since he was sent to Zero1 for like a year+ of tours and tournaments, so they enter the tag league with the kid wanting to show he can hang. On the other side you have Nomura and Abe having even MORE confidence than usual now that they have the tag belts with them. The disrespect from Abe to Ohtani was fucking hilarious, and so were Ohtani's comebacks on dude The main story though is Aoki getting isolated and bullied but wanting to show Ohtani he can do it. There's some good drama and the match is basically 14 minutes of stiff strikes and slaps...and we know Young Gawd is an expert on that front. This match was a blast, no way you don't have fun watching it.

Mutoh and Kensuke also caught massive Ls to end their reigns (after winning the G1). I don't think there's anyone close for Naito to lose to that is on Takada or Kawada's level/status (well, Kawada didn't get the belt but he did effectively end Sasaki's reign). Then again, there's no need to repeat those same "formulas". But if or when an IWGP champ wins the G-1 again, I think there's no question that it would have to lead to an even bigger title match down the line for when that person finally loses. And to be honest I don't see anyone on New Japan or an invader/outsider that fits that role at the moment.

A Block not only is insane in terms of cool matchups but the final day is one of the most interesting there's been in a long ass time. It also seems Ospray is either gonna get a really big push so he can enter the last show with chances of getting to the Finals, or he's gonna get a HUGE W by beating Okada and spoiling him from reaching the last match of the tourney.

B Block screams a heel Tana so he can carry that whole crew through his asshole charisma. The few instances we've gotten heel Tana he's always been tremendous, him doing a 2020 version of his 08's Champions Carnival (more grounded and old, obviously) would be dope.

Block A is fucking bonkers, good lawd. Block B is wide open for the finalist, maybe KENTA is the favorite? Not sure, could see a number of people going to the Finals. Not gonna watch a lot of matchups from this group but I can't say it won't be interesting at least.

The story here is MiSu absolutely knows he's above Big Japan and certainly above Takuya da Young Gawd. So it's on Nomura to make this worth your time, and he quickly does. Kicking MiSu in the face and establishing he's here to fight. And fight they do. Loved MiSu laughing, having a good time and beating the shit out of Takuya. It was basically "oh so you wanna fight, aight then". The difference in elbows was massive, really liked how that played a big part in MiSu never really losing control of the match. At the end of the day, the kid is not ready to go toe to toe with Satan himself...yet. But he sure will try to make the most of it: he actually won the slap exchange Would LOVE to see Astronauts facing MiSu and someone else so we could see Abe and Suzuki go at it. He did stood up to him during this match... For someone that doesn't know Nomura, this will be a fun little match. For us that have been following him since day 1, this was a blast

I know he calls them out, I just don't remember if he calls out only the doctor or the entire company when it happens. If he usually just calls the doc, then I don't see the big deal with the Matt Hardy thing when it comes to Dave.