joeg

I'm thinking Omega wins and we get Omega vs Okada at the Dome again... I was kinda shocked he didn't win at Dominion. Who takes credit for New Japan right now? They lose Nakamura, Gallows, Anderson, Ibushi, Styles, Sakuraba, Devitt, Shibata, and Honma all in the course of 3 years, and their attendance either stays the same or goes up!!! How does that happen? Is it all Okada? Is it the booking? Does Omega and Naito being pushed up the card have anything to do with it? It boggles my mind. Can anybody explain this to me?

Could not disagree with you more. He's easily the best junior to come out of New Japan's dojo in the past 20 years. (I know not saying much) , but really he's next level good. He's the only junior in Japan I go out of my way to see.

That's a helluva quote right there. Quote of the year.

APW ran the Cow Palace a couple weeks back with Rhodes vs Ryan on top. I would have to assume he's drawing on the indies if APW who usually draws a couple dozen to a garage or middle school gym is able to run the Cow Palace with him.

Shit.... match vs Naito or scrapped or Naito retains or he drops to somebody else?

I hate him. I know its all an act just for show but I want to punch him in the face so badly. Despite hating him I can never change the channel when he's on TV for fear of missing what batshit crazy thing comes out of his mouth next. And the hate I have for him get's transferred to his son who is otherwise devoid of personality and would never be able to draw this nuclear level of heat on his own.

Personally I don't know if any of this has anything to do with Orton at all. He has been boring in recent years. But I think that has to do with the WWE being less edgy, less out there, so his chacter who was basically a criminal out of a Johnny Cash or Springsteen song had all of the personality taken away. He hasn't been involved in any angles recently that were as exciting as the angles he did back 10 years ago. He hasn't booted any old people in the head, he hasn't sexually assaulted anybody, he hasn't done anything that a dangerous, violent, crazy person would do. They even changed the lyrics of his theme music about 5 years ago, so that the lyrics are less violent. They took away everything that was interesting about him and that drew heat- the violent explosive temper, the arrogance, the complete lack of regard for consequences, the borderline criminality of his actions, etc. He was interesting because he was different, now he's not interesting because he's the same. I don't know if the matches haven't been as good or we just care less. I think from about 2002 to 2010 ish he was great. Everything except for the Rated RKO stuff was gravy IMO. Then he wasn't doing anything for awhile. Then in 2013 he had that great run against Daniel Bryan which was fun, although it made no sense why he had beef with Daniel Bryan or why he would ever want anything to do with HHH, but it was fun. Then some 6 mans vs the Sheild. Since then not so much.

question- how many Santo matches are actually out there? I don't think I've seen a whole match, just clips and movies and while he looked really, really good, he didn't seem to have the athleticism or grace of his son.

I'm going to add to my prediction as so far its looking like this is coming true. Okada will debut said crazy fucking finisher in a random tag before the G1. I'm predicting it will be equally as batshit crazy as Kobashi's Diamond Head. He will win the G1 with said finisher beating Naito. In October Omega's title defense will be against Tiger Mask W or just Ibushi as Ibushi. Naito will go undefeated from the G1 finals to the Dome show. So Naito has to drop the Intercontinental title before the G1, probably to Tanahashi, to allow him to go undefeated the rest of the year. Then Naito will beat Tiger Mask W at the Dome. Sometime in 2018 Naito wins the title. Dome in 2019 is Okada vs Naito, the culmination of Naito's 2 year long main event push. There is something I like about how logical the booking in New Japan is, that there is rarely a curve ball.

I thought that was the original idea of the Intercontinental title. Wasn't it? A New Japan title that would be mostly defended abroad? It was defended in the US or Mexico like 6 times in the first 2 years. I don't know if its been defended abroad since Sombra had it... maybe Elgin?

Not angry I just don't think what I wrote makes any sense like at all. and I def had been out til late ...

I gotta stop responding to stro at 2 in the morning... I sound like a crazy person who had a lot of concussions

NO- Omega vs Ishii 5/3 No. I never was really able to get into this. I'm just not an Omega person as so much of what he does seems over the top and cartoony. I may give it another try and change my mind. YES - Suzuki vs Okayabashi 5/5 I love the old carny shooter vs strong man match up. Suzuki does some slick stuff and works over the arm which looks great. One thing I didn't like, there were times where Suzuki would have Okayabashi on the ropes, both literally and figuratively, and instead of doing something that looks like it hurt and could end a match he would do something soft and that looked pretty or he would just let Okayabashi out all together. It makes me think of Jim Cornette talking about Billy Robinson and Dynamite Kid. When he said that all the young kids today want to do the athletic pretty spots Robinson and Kid did but they don't put in the effort to make the spots look like they hurt so it looks overly coregraphed. Parts of Suzuki's work made me think of that.

Yeah you are wrong. People knew that concussions could cause your head to hurt for days, they didn't know concussions affected mood and cognitive function for months, years or an entire lifetime. I'm guessing you are really young and so you were never told to just walk it off. As somebody who played sports back in the 90s/ early 00s and coaches high school sports now, let me tell you its night and day how they treat concussions, especially at the youth and high school level. Back when I played high school ball I probably had 7ish concussions in between high school and college, 4 were diagnosed by a team doctor or a trainer. The method of diagnosing the concussion back then (all of 15 years ago) went something like this- Doctor or trainer - "you were out for a little bit can you move?" Player- "yeah" Doctor or trainer - "your eyes are all over the place, do your feel like you may throw up?" ***player throws up*** Doctor or trainer- "what day is today?" Player- "I don't know" Doctor - "he probably has a concussion, probably cant practice for a day or two" And that was only if you were lucky enough to have a trainer or team doctor in your program. If not, you just got called a pussy and were told to get back to work. Each concussion I sat out until game day, then played. And I looked like a pussy for missing a few practices when it hurt to be in the sunlight. Now there are legit concussion protocols. From the NFL on down to youth league. And concussion protocols at least with the sports I'm familiar with are far more extensive than the take a day or two off back when I played. Prior to the season each player has a test of baseline cognitive function done. This basically assesses where somebody's cognitive function is prior to a concussion so that when they try to take the same testing after a helmet to helmet hit and can't put the square peg in the square hole you know something is off. Also scans are done before the season to match up to the scans done after an injury. Back in my day a really bad concussion could cost a player a couple of weeks on the field, now that we know more about the extent of concussions, a really bad one can cause an athlete to withdraw from all of his classes and take a medical redshirt. 10 years ago it was unheard of for a player to take a medical redshirt due to a concussion. If somebody had 3 concussions in a single season maybe, but now its common place. Also high school teams are required to have an athletic trainer at every single practice for specifically so that if a concussion occurs the student athlete is protected and some asshole coach (ie me) doesn't just tell the poor kid to walk it off. Also for the first time since the 1940s started teaching tackling with head behind to protect

Dory Sr, Dory Jr, & Terry Funk El Santo & El hijo del Santo

Also I saw an interview where Kane described himself as an anarcho-capitalist.... how does that play in the deep south?

Kane's political aspirations- correct me if I'm wrong but he was born and raised in Europe (Spain maybe?) when his parents were stationed over seas in the military. Does he have duel citizenship? If so will having duel citizenship end up being a thing when running as a Libertarian or Republican in the South?

Heels can push Network/PPV buys and attandence figures but not neccisarily have good merch sales. What 12 year old kid wants to be the dick wearing a Miz or AJ shirt? The nerdy 25 year old man, yea maybe that guy will wear a heels merch. But the bread and butter demo of parents watching with their childs isn't going to be wearing a heel's merch.

Saw it in real time... felt like a somewhat promising young mid carder even after even after beating Kobashi. The thing is that there was always at least one or two young mid carders who seemed more promising than Rikio at any given point in time. Morishima, Sugiura, Shibata, Shiozaki, etc

The best that I've seen in my lifetime were Kobashi's NOAH run where he put a dying industry on his back and carried it for 2 and a half years and RVD's TV title run where he put a dying company on his back and carried it for 2 and a half years. Those were reigns that carried a company. I don't think its any coincidence that right after Kobashi dropped the belt to Rikio wrestling in Japan turned to shit and hasn't really bounced back. And as soon as RVD got hurt ECW fell apart. Right now it feels like Okada is keeping New Japan propped up and as soon as he drops it to Omega the bottom might fall out.

Kennel from Hell

YES- Lee vs Day. Great finishing stretch. These guys beat the shit out of each other. Didn't love some of the early mat work, as it felt nonchalant, almost signally that they were going long. The closing stretch and comeback were great, lots of brutal looking strikes and exchanges

YES- Lesnar vs Goldberg 4/2 Wrestlemaina. After watching 6 hours of wrestling and not really caring for a single match, this hit the spot. It was short, violent, dramatic. The crowd was hot and it made up for a show that otherwise felt like the Bataan Death March. NO- DIY vs AOP vs Revival 4/1 I liked the story this match told of AOP being so dominant that the other two smaller teams had to team up. I like some of the over the top crazy as fuck spot. With that said I don't like tag matches where I can't keep up with who's the legal man (had to rewind everytime big spots broke out to figure that out). I also can't stand a match where somebody who's not the legal guy gets pinned (unless its part of an angle).

I think the beginning of the end for NOAH was Ogawa beating Akiyama. Akiyama could have been a legit draw for the 00s, but they killed it off right then and there.

LOL. They did manage to carry on for a few years after that. I think like any wrestling company that dies a slow death, it wasn't just one thing. The loss of the roster, the loss of TV on a major network. Ending up 8 months later on a GOARA TV . The dozens of changes in ownership. The MMA boom. There was a yakuza scandal at some point as well. Kawada becoming a freelancer, Hansen retiring, Hashimoto walking out, the title being forfeited 3 times and 2 and a half years, etc, etc. It was like losing the roster just sent out this domino effect of bad things happening to the company over the next 6 years or so.