MoS

Very topically, Naylor posted this on Twitter just a couple of hours back

With Tanahashi, I freely admit it might be a cultural thing where I don't "get" him like I do Kobashi. One thing in that comparison is that Kobashi had a lot more physical charisma than Tanahashi does, and his facial expressions at least in the early 90s were out of this world.

Also, Happy Holi, everybody!

Imagine following Edge-Orton with one hour of Seth. Becky cut a much better promo this week. Please don't make her a Conor McGregor-lite, WWE.

I am looking forward to this match. I agree with TTK about the Elite and the Inner Circle not really having a strong reason to face each other in this match right now. I was hoping that somehow, Mox and MJF get inserted in this match. I am still hoping they do, so maximum feuds can be continued with this match.

I don't want to go back on Meltzer's motivations, but if you actually listen to him on his radio shows and read his newsletters, he is far, far from losing his mind cuz of being exposed. Eric Bischoff has about a million documented instances of contradicting what he himself used to say earlier on his podcast, so I doubt Meltzer - or anyone, really - gives a fuck about what Eric Bischoff has to say now. I think he is insane for thinking Tanahashi has more charisma than Kobashi. He also thinks Tanahashi is an excellent storyteller, and I find Tanahashi's matches to be underwhelming to boring precisely because I am not a fan of his storytelling. Storytelling was also Kobashi's weak point as the 90s progressed, cuz he would often still wrestle and act like a young rookie who was giving it all every time. But Kobashi had physical charisma and a tremendously expressive face, and even I, who does not understand Japanese, would get immersed as he would make a valiant comeback and try to put Stan Hansen away. I am trying to think of a single Tanahashi match that approaches any of the Kobashi-Hansen matches, and I cannot think of one. But Tanahashi is more charismatic cuz he dresses up like Jericho sometimes and pretends to be a rockstar? I don't get it.

I actually agree that 90s AJPW blows away modern NJPW overall. Okada, however, I do think is in the contention for greatest of all time, and that's partly because he is perhaps the only person regularly working really long matches who can keep me invested in the 2nd half of the matches. I think Ibushi has the potential to be one of the greatest, but his selling is a bit spotty and I am guessing with the NJPW main event style being what it is, it's not going to get better.

The dropkick elbow thing was honestly a more tongue in cheek comment about how much I love Okada's dropkicks. Misawa's elbow was awesome and far more important and useful than Okada's dropkicks, I agree. But the fact that he can get believable near falls in 2020 off dropkicks and lariats is a salient point.

Trust me, it broke my heart too. Misawa-san elbowing losers is one of my favourite things in wrestling. And an elbow can be done a lot more than a dropkick and in more ways and situations so it's a far more useful thing to have. I just love Okada's dropkicks and how he inserts them in his matches.

Yeah that is indeed a big exception, something Gedo has never really made. Naito and White are good shout-outs. Taue was someone whom Baba considered naturally talented and charismatic - and IIRC, would get frustrated with his lack of work sometimes. Now I really want to live in a world where Taue went to Mexico, formed a faction and started calling himself tranquilo.

Dave Meltzer on Observer Radio recently started comparing the AJPW 90s pillars to the current NJPW top guys - funnily enough, it started with him saying "Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi are on the level of the modern NJPW guys" which made me laugh for many reasons - but I thought it would make for an interesting discussion. He compared Tanahashi to Kobashi which I agree is a good analogy. He said Tanahashi has more charisma than 90s Kobashi which is insane to me. I do think there's a spiritual connection between the two. Tanahashi idolised Shawn Michaels and Kobashi was Michaels with excellent offence and a bit less drama. I think Kobashi blows Tanahashi out of the water in pretty much every aspect, including crying. Maybe it's a cultural thing with Tanahashi and I'm missing it. He said Okada is better than Misawa. I think Misawa came across as the ace more than Okada to me ; I don't think anyone in wrestling has had that kind of aura. I do think Okada is better than Misawa overall though. He has more creative ways to structure his matches imo, and he is more versatile and has had a lot of good matches with many different kind of opponents. His dropkick > Misawa's elbow and I never thought I would write that. He said Kawada was a more complete Ishii but I would say Ibushi in a lot of ways is a better parallel (I was about to ask if this means Omega is Taue but then I slapped myself). It is not perfect because Ibushi is from a later generation, unlike Kawada, who was a peer. I think Ibushi, as he is transitioning to heavyweight, is adopting a strike-based arsenal reminiscent of Kawada. One thought that struck me while watching WK this year was that Ibushi might have the most viscerally exciting style in current New Japan, much like Kawada did in All Japan. Of course, he is a natural babyface while Kawada was a prick badass, but Ibushi has started showing a more "psycho" side recently and it might be the direction he goes to as his career evolves. He might one day become better than Kawada. But as of now, Kawada is better. He has a more engaging character, and is actually better at selling and getting sympathy than Ibushi is imo. Dave did not discuss Taue. I have honestly no idea who Taue would be. No one can be Taue he is too awesome. It would also be interesting to compare Gedo's booking to Baba's in the 90s. Gedo, much like Baba, has the reputation of being conservative, but I think he has done a better job elevating talent and creating new stars than Baba.

Do you know if Lance Archer was there? He was advertised for the show but he did not appear on TV.

MJF in his promo also challenged Mox. I am interested in how all these stories pan out. Still don't care about Dark Order, but Baker is becoming a really good character.

PARADIGM EFFECT

Darby is excellent at selling. He has Rey Mysterio-like potential in my opinion.

I don't mind the Death Triangle name. They set the stage for the war games match - that should be a nice build-up. MJF taking shots at Cody's tattoo might make the tattoo worth it.

The commentators mentioning altitude as a factor in wrestling matches in this town is a nice little touch.

Either him or Brodie Lee. That turning his back walk off was cool.

On the one hand, fans love Cody. On the other hand, how do you chant the name of someone who has that tattoo on his neck.

Lol imagine Bryan Alvarez getting quoted on national cable to try and put a match over.

I would say yes, with the caveat that Jericho's face runs have historically never been as good as his heel runs.

I still think the Dark Order gimmick sucks.

"You suck ass" made me laugh

It's weird to see Jericho without the belt. It's amazing how much better promos become if you just let wrestlers say things they can mean

Moxley is so over