W2BTD

First article is up: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/0...rable-mentions/ Rundown of the history, the process, the voters, and the honorable mentions.

In hindsight, using Namamura to build the IC title into such a strong secondary title may turn out to be one of the biggest stories of 2013/14. Nakamura establishes the title, they hand it off to the biggest star in the company, and next month on the strength of Tanahashi & Okada each headlining one show and 8 total title matches, they are running TWO New Beginning PPV shows. Some very ambitious chances being taken this year. And a chance to see Tanahashi vs Okada head to head as draws. Tanahashi got the better opponent (Nakamura) and card, Okada got the stronger town (Osaka) and semi final (Naito). If nothing else, the long term booking was pretty clever in hindsight, and they are attempting to strike while the iron is hot. It's pretty exciting seeing something interesting happening business wise somewhere aside from WWE for once.

Is it time to call business very healthy at this point? It wasn't that long ago that there were legitimate questions that have now been answered, such as whether Okada was a draw (he drew on top while Tanahashi was de-emphasized, he drew vs Ibushi in DDT), and whether this WK Dome growth was a two year fad. And I have nothing to back this up obviously, but I would be willing to bet they broke whatever iPPV record they had last night based on massive twitter activity and pretty big buzz everywhere, including hits for Meltzer's coverage rivaling all but the biggest WWE & UFC's. Also, based on the fan vote being over 2-1, its pretty clear who drew the house. Well, at least who didn't, Naito. And Nakamura/Okada absolutely *must* happen this year. I'm with Dylan, I think i'd do the year long build for Dome.

I totally understand where you are coming from. As a whole it was just a super fun show to watch. The presentation was outstanding. Also, it appears the 35,000 is legit. That's a major success if so.

I really liked the first third, thought the middle third was not very good, and I loved the final third. I think the three matches that were really good were all a notch below MOTY level, and New Japan has raised the bar to the point that you expect a MOTY contender on most major shows, especially this one. For me there was a lot to like here, from the big show feel with the entrances, to some cool title changes, and three really good matches. To to bottom I think it's onpar with WK7. but now that the bar has been raised I think the show would be more hyped in a bubble. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, and twitter was a blast (even Rich stayed up for once), so for me it was a lot of fun and the hours really flew by.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/01/0...ngdom-8-review/ Fun show with some great matches. Can't stop thinking about how fun it was. Just a real good time, five+ hours that flew by. Have a feeling it did great business. Twitter was on fire. Tone of buzz. And Meltzer from his live report had this to say:

Honma is great. I put him over strong in the 12/23 review. I can watch him all day, every day.

Business wise, sure, I think they can grow. I don't see how they can top themselves bell to bell. As beyond awesome as G1 was, two were injured very badly, and just about everybody else got banged up significantly to the point they've been going half speed since. Then again, I didn't think topping 2012 was possible, and they did it. But physically, there is a price. There are fresh matches that need to happen. Okada/Nakamura, Okada/Shibata, Okada/Sombra, Ishii/Ibushi top my list.

Three new show reviews: Rich reviewed New Japan 12/21: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/2...21-reviewrecap/ Joe reviewed Dragon Gate "Final Gate": http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/2...al-gate-review/ Joe reviewed New Japan 12/23: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/2...-8-1223-review/

Okada should win all of the awards that Tanahashi is going to win. And keep in mind I love Tanahashi.

Shibata/Goto Devitt/Ibushi Four way for junior titles (Bucks/Hooligans/Splitters/TAKA&Taichi) Makabe/Fale or Makabe&Honma/Fale&Tonga That's nine, and I don't know where that leaves Ishii, Shelton, Tanaka, Yujiro. I assume a big multi man tag with the likes of Liger, Tiger Mask, YOSHI-HASHI, etc, but the four guys above probably deserve a better spot. Can't believe they have nothing lined up for Ishii.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/0...3-final-review/ Horrendous show with a Worst Match of the Year contender.

Review from Hiroshima: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/0...roshima-review/ Best show of the tour so far.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/0...fukuoka-review/

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/11/2...4-quick-review/ This was not on iPPV. Got a tip from a reader that a single cam version of this was available for viewing. Did a quick mini review.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/11/2...13-1123-review/ Very skippable show. Watch if you're a hardcore, or check out the Gallows debut & another crowd reacting tepidly to Naito. Hey, tepid is better than getting shit on again, right?

Off the top of my head, and i'll look it up later, Tanahashi main evented every PPV until after he lost the title for good at Invasion Attack in April, and he main evented several after that. I don't like the Hart/Austin analogy for Tahanashi/Okada. Austin was going to happen eventually anyway. Not that Hart didn't have a significant impact in getting him over, but it was going to happen. I'm not sure Okada happens without Tanahashi. The cream will generally rise, so maybe i'm wrong. Okada definitely wouldn't have happened as fast. He was a complete non entity coming out of WrestleKingdom 6. It would be like Namajague or Watanabe coming back this January, working a really shitty 5 minute undercard match at WrestleKingdom and not being over at all, and then being one of the biggest stars in the world a few months later. Even those comparisons aren't totally fair, because those guys are much better prospects than Okada was at the time. Okada is crazy talented, and good on Gedo & Jado for seeing it when literally nobody else did, and may have broken through eventually, but this string of Tanahashi matches where Tanahashi made him convincingly look like an equal, and the fact that the matches are all considered modern classics, is absolutely a major reason why Okada is now a legit star & draw himself. Remember, there was still a ton of concern after Invasion Attack as to whether he could carry shows. That's only a few months ago. Tanahashi was clearly the top dog for the majority of this hot run, and he's still probably a few inches ahead of Okada in that regard. Tanahashi may end up main eventing WK8 despite not being champion.

Did you watch the post match stuff with Okada & Naito facing off? That's where the crowd really takes a giant shit on Naito, aside from his match basically killing the crowd until Okada got them back two matches later. Nak & Sak sort of got screwed, because they did not have the right kind of match in terms of winning a crowd back over after it completely died for Naito's.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/11/0...wd-hates-naito/ No MOTY candidates. Tanahashi delivers, crowd shits on Naito match and then boo's him during Dome hype.

I can't wait until this time next year when hopefully there is some deep digging on Akiyama. All of the new candidates are fascinating to me to some degree.

I'd say most wrestlers peak around their mid 30's, in fact we talked about that with mookie on our show one time, and he had some data in terms of star ratings & awards that back that up. 35 is really smack dab in the prime/peak of many, many male performers. I agree that the eligibility is at least a tad too early.

I love Akiyama and lean towards voting for him, but on the surface I can't see how he compares to Tanahashi as a draw. The current state of All Japan definitely hurts him, and is just another example of when given the ball he has not come through. They ran with him before the split and he failed to move the needle at all. All while New Japan was growing exponentially with Tanahashi at minimum the key part of a package (or the prime draw, period). Just look at All Japan post split, and that should tell you all you need to know about what they think of him as a draw. He's probably fourth on the pecking order now, as they moved on to SUWAMA (who has never drawn a dime) after Akiyama failed to move things, and SUWAMA's main foil in main events was Go Shiozaki, another guy who has been given (brief) chances and never done a thing for business. And when those guys didn't work, they've now turned to Akebono. I'm willing to hear counter arguments, and can be swayed easily if I hear a persuasive one, but I don't see how two guys who essentially went head to head, with one promotion growing enormously, while the other has gotten even worse when they were already starting on the ground floor, could possibly be considered equal. Meltzer took a narrative I have always pounded home when it comes to Akiyama. He's a better working Sting in a lot of ways.

Tanahashi is just barely under the 0.33 threshold for "low" scores at 0.28, and is going to clean up this year, with a good chance placing in no less than five categories, and will probably win at least two. There is also a good chance he'll have multiple placings in MOTY this year. I think it's very likely he places in four of these, and could easily win the four marked*: Wrestler of the Year* Most Outstanding* Most Charismatic* Match of the Year* Best Technical Wrestler Best Box Office Draw Match of the Year it's not unrealistic to think he could take all three spots. I'd be shocked if he doesn't take at least two.

Oh man, I could list about 100 people... Dory Funk Jr, obviously. Kane has never done anything i've liked, ever. So so boring, and so so bad. Cody Rhodes. You know when you are doing a create-a-wrestler in a video game, and you start with a generic template? That's Cody. He is as generic as you can be in 2013. You could stick him in a Delorean, send him to 1955, and he'd fit right in. He is what you get when guys go through WWE developmental and don't ever work anywhere else. Dino Bravo I'm ready for the abuse, but Jumbo Tsuruta is a guy I just will never "get". I've tried so hard. He puts me to sleep. Cliche time, but Randy Orton. This guy is the model of WWE style main event worker, as he's never worked anywhere else and knows no other style to mix things up. Everything is so manufactured. He's like a wrestling robot, programmed by WWE developmental, just like Rhodes. Bobby Roode. Technically fine, but never grabs me. Had one match ever that I liked, the Austin Aries title win, and that was all Aries for me. Magnus James Storm. I like his promos and how he carries himself, but in the ring he doesn't hold my attention for whatever reason. Alberto Del Rio. As Dos Caras Jr, too. Ron Bass Naoki Sano, especially the NOAH years with his endless spin kicks. Greg Valentine on any post IC run WWE house show. 20 minutes, one highspot, one flat face bump. Book it. Big John Studd

It looked like a lock in the first half of the year, but it really dropped off in quality to the point that I don't even bother watching most weeks. First half of the year I would scour the internet looking for it and eat it for breakfast. So for the millionth year in a row i'm voting Dragon Gate Infinity by defaut, even though I hate hate hate the three hour full show format. I loved the old one hour version. I watch all WWE programming, Impact, whatever lucha my DVR picks up at any given time (mostly the CMLL b-show on Time Warner Deportes), Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, Traditional Championship Wrestling, and occasionally PRIME Wrestling out of Ohio (depending who is on it in a given week, as sometimes it's too shitty to watch) regularly. I end up zoning out or fast forwarding most of it. WWE Main Event is another show that was great for the first haf of the year, but has tailed off in quality lately. Gone are the 20+ minute "workrate" matches that used to open the show every week with the roster workhorses. It would probably still be my #2, with NXT third, but I don't remember if Best TV Show is a one vote category or three.