spookysaku

At this point I hope they don't cart out Noam Dar...

I wonder if we're getting Sasha vs. Mandy after this..

There is a leaked script out there which is 2/2 on NXT call ups so far, and its not like No Way Jose was a safe bet.

I would argue the Taker angle killed the crowd. I'm looking forward to rewatching Styles/Nak eventually. Even when I was tired it seemed to be a very good modern WWE match on the wrong show. Lots of crisp offense, good sense of struggle, but absent of something to push it over the edge.

I thought this match was garbage but I love that this thread exists. I look forward to watching these matches individually with a bit of separation. I like the idea of Taker and Cena working a quick sprint but the execution was awful, the 'moment' anticlimactic, and it took a lot of the energy out of the building. After a hot start the show went downhill exactly at this point for me.

Obviously this show was too long, but as someone who doesn't watch WWE regularly at all what really took me out of this was the lack of crowd heat. I get the WM-specific reasons for that, but I noticed it at the Royal Rumble too. What's going on with crowds getting exhausted after one match on WWE shows? I don't think a lot of companies have that problem.

People say Paige sounds drunk but honestly she sounds like half the British girls I've met. Wait a minute...

I fucking dig that hair gimmick

How long have they been calling titles "hardware"? Hah.

Kane sucks the heat out of everything

I've only got time to watch the Kickoff live but looking forward to this show! Set looks pretty spectacular. Kickoff with the cruiserweights and battle royals is on youtube for those without the network.

Alice Cooper is a guitarist for Shinsuke's WM entrance...

https://www.ajpw.tv/ 900 yen per month, which is good value for April with Champions Carnival at least.

It's interesting to me that people think a fight between Khabib and Conor will break records, I have no doubt it might be true but I wonder how much money you can make out of repugnant people before the well runs dry. Conor is an egotistical manchild let loose and Khabib is an apologist for brutal dictators and criminals. More and more UFC is becoming a money pit for assholes with no moral compass. The entire 'culture' of the UFC is so toxic and soulless I struggle to find a compelling angle for almost any of the fights they advertise. It's less a heel territory and more that the company is the heel. Who is the babyface?

I am happy RIZIN exists but all my attention re: MMA is on QUINTET on the 11th. I hope it's a success because tag team/survivor series grappling sounds awesome.

If this is a pro-wrestling build then the NYPD got worked because Conor is in custody. I think Dana wishes he was running a pro-wrestling org with the constant fight cancellations and his favourite guys getting taken out before he can build them up as real stars.

He rather looks like an unorthodox chiropractor than an actual wrestler with his goofy Ronald McDonald submission game. He's the kind of guy who I'd enjoy a lot more as a midcarder working tags and shorter matches, not pushed as an actual threat.

I really enjoyed this and thought it was probably better than the Maeda/Takada fight on the same card, but just a little behind the opening match between Nakano and Miyato. It's fascinating to watch Smiley go from total unknown to super over in about ten minutes. He looks like a star and this crowd (a total sausagefest btw) really takes to his offense. My only complaint is that Yamazaki's win didn't seem all that credible given what came before. Anyway, a lot of fun regardless. Has anybody here seen an earlier Norman Smiley match than this? He looks really good here.

I think watching last year's G1 might be a good idea. I'm someone who isn't into modern New Japan and isn't a regular watcher, but I like the G1 generally. Matches are more compact (which is crucial) and you get a good idea of what guys you'd like to see more of outside the tournament. It's good for context. You tend to get quite a few matches that divert from the main-event formula too, which makes it more diverse and enjoyable. You get the good and the bad. I don't think watching just the pimped matches from this year (especially from just one person whose taste you've established is different to yours) would be a good intro. I would regularly subscribe to NJPW World if they had more older stuff. It's a paltry collection they host and yet they've taken down a ton of the good stuff from Youtube over the last few years that isn't on their service, and probably had something to do with the RealHero drive going as well. Bastards.

Great review! I watched this about a week ago and was sold within a minute of the bell ringing. For me the clear difference in size, style and attitude of these two makes this an immediately engaging matchup. I certainly didn't expect Yamada would get to look so credible in a match like this back in '88, but Nielsen really puts him over as a threat. After constantly getting taken down and scrambling for the ropes, Nielsen is happy to be the bad guy if that's what it takes to get the better of Yamada in this 'fight'. They could have been a bit less repetitive when it came to the endless takedowns but it build towards a fun finish. A good match. I think this was the show that New Japan had planned for the first wrestling card at the Tokyo Dome with Inoki in his own 'Different Style' fight as the headliner but plans went awry and Inoki got injured, so it was this show at the much smaller Ariake instead.

Thought this could do with a bump if we're going to be talking modern wrestling. Was intrigued by the high average for DG guys in the GWE poll amongst a very small pool of voters, and one post in the reaction threads expressing confidence that Dragon Gate would fare better in ten years somehow stuck with me. Well, I turned a very small corner with Dragon Gate this week, this is coming from a shoot-style guy, by watching one of their more recent Korakuen Hall shows (featuring a unit disbands match) whilst reading through the Dragon Gate 101 series on VOW. I'm probably still a long way from ever watching a long singles match in Dragon Gate again after failing years ago, but I'm appreciating how dense the backstory is with a lot of the characters. I didn't think DG was modern Japan's thick Russian novel... but maybe it is. I also had a misconception that DG was more westernised than a lot of feds, in-ring you could argue that, but as an overall product it's exactly the opposite. So much Japanese specific humour, wordplay and gimmicks, tons of talking to get over long-running rivalries, establishing dynamics between unit members, et cetera. The gulf between Japanese and Western fans here must be huge compared to that with New Japan. I might watch the Dead or Alive show coming up on the 5th. I would be very surprised if any PWO regulars would bother to try and get into Dragon Gate, or most modern Japanese wrestling in general, but it would be wonderful to see.

Akiyama and Taue huh?.... time for Arn and Regal to go

81 ballots for Fujiwara seems quite low. Feel like most of the top Japanese workers from here on will have a lot more ballots, and I can't imagine voting for them without Fujiwara at least being on your radar for the bottom of your list. Shit Choshu got on 97 ballots, don't really think Fujiwara as a fringe shoot-style guy is accurate.

Cena is the only one left who didn't even rank in 2006 iirc

Top 10 by average before the final 50 roll out: Kiyoshi Tamura (31.11 / 55 ballots) Jim Breaks (36.28 / 67) Akira Hokuto (37.45 / 76) Yuki Ishikawa (40.22 / 54) Azumi Hyuga (43.25 / 4) Volk Han (44.60 / 68) Susumu Yokosuka (45.00 / 3) Bull Nakano (46.81 / 72) Chigusa Nagayo (46.84 / 37) Jaguar Yokota (46.91 / 34)