Boss Rock

This was certainly a bit of a downer year for NJPW (especially with COVID). From Wrestle Kingdom to the shut-down they were pretty much on fire. Naito got his moment, the Golden Aces breathed life in a tag division that has been dominated by the awful GoD, Hiromu made his comeback, and Shingo won the NEVER title. But the EVIL push, while interesting on paper, was an utter failure and became a caricature of the worst BC tendencies. Jingu was a step in the right direction and the G1 was great (although some matches fell a bit short of expectations and the B Block fizzled out near the end). Then Ibushi lost the briefcase which was a giant gut punch. Naito couldn't rid himself of that pesky EVIL. Tanahashi has been defined-down into the midcard despite still bringing a ton to the table. Okada won't get rid of the Money Clip. The KOPW trophy had potential but became a background prop. O-Khan became Fale 2.0. And for the love of God why are GoD still getting pushed? That all being said, there were things I DID like post-COVID shut-down. The NEVER 6-Man Tag Title tournament grossly overachieved and made for an excellent feel-good story for YOSHI-HASHI. Nagata and Suzuki had a really fun mini feud where they basically tried to kill each other. Shingo made himself the new workhorse of the midcard (a step up from the middling Goto). Taichi finally put it all together and not only has a good team with Sabre, but was arguably the breakout star of the G1. Hiromu's brief foray into the Heavyweight division was a lot of fun and proof that he's going to be an even bigger star down the line. I didn't watch all of BOSJ but there were some really good matches and the finals, while never in doubt, was a huge star-making performance for Desperado. Hopefully WK acts as a reset. I have faith it can be a great show.

Very good match. Kenny's AAA matches have always been worth watching and this was no exception. A lot of the aerial spots were impressive and Kenny's leg selling, which has historically been spotty, was really good. A very good showing by Laredo but was kind of annoyed by him basically getting the shoulder up at 3.1. The One Winged Angel has been treated as a kill shot for years and while someone will most likely kick out of it when Kenny loses the AEW title, I felt this took some of the steam out of the move.

Terrific match and late MOTYC. This had bombs like we saw in the previous two finals, but the history between Hiromu and Desperado made things feel more like a hate-filled grudge match. Hiromu's selling of the leg was good for the most part and the desperation he showed in the middle with being unable to hit the sunset flip powerbomb and apron suplex were great. Desperado also had a career performance and the mask removal is easily one of the most memorable moments of the year. Just terrific stuff all around. ****3/4.

Only saw a few gifs, but Despy taking his mask off was fire. And this definitely feels more like a steady build for Despy. He'll win the title in the next year or so.

With how well Dynamite has been doing and how much buzz and viewership Impact got, perhaps Kenny's induction wasn't premature at all.

Bryan absolutely busted his ass in this match. Great selling and really tried to work in unique ways to use the strap.

The 2016 list is what introduced me to this site and since then I've been building my own ballot. Would love to give it a shot.

Lana being the sole survivor after doing nothing and moping on the stairs the entire match was hilarious. Bianca was terrific though.

The Backlash match also had the laziest Charlotte performance I've ever seen.

I do recall Dave making a case for Suzuki after the New Beginning 2017 match with Okada and he was inducted that same year. I was half-expecting Ishii to go in this year due to Dave arguing he was more deserving that Edge after the Cobb G1 match.

Taue still gets no respect...

I agree that I would have much rather seen how well Kenny does with an ME push in AEW before getting inducted.

Thank God Jun finally got in, but still no Taue is ridiculous.

Ibushi finally beating Jay after a year of failures makes sense, but this certainly wasn't the most graceful way to get there. As long as Ibushi finally gets the belts I'll be happy.

https://www.njpw1972.com/84605 Ibushi-Naito on night 1 confirmed.

NJPW World has made some vast improvements over the past few weeks. I love it.

O'Khan has been solid so far in tag matches. I think he will at least be effective as muscle.

Bayley-Sasha was great.

The Wild Samoans approve of this.

Same. Could have still gone the route of Jey of quitting to protect Jimmy without like 15 minutes of that.

This has been going on way too long.

Agreed with the whole vibe of this Bucks-#FTR feud being off. I actually enjoyed the Bucks' antics because they play brats well, but that shouldn't transition right into a feud with a heel team. A Pillmanizer isn't going to cut it. I think Jurassic Express should be the top face tag team.

Yesterday's NEVER Openweight 6-man match was really long, but also really, really good. Officially surpasses the all-Chaos tournament final earlier this year as the best Openweight 6-man title match ever.

That counter knee is one of the greatest moments in a match ever.

Like Migs said, I wouldn't be surprised if both cards are shortened like they've been doing lately as a COVID precaution.