Current New Japan

[El-P]

Per Meltz, Hiromu is pushing for the G1 and BOSJ happening at the same time. Which would make for insane cards. Do it ! No one cares about the tag leagues anyway.

[FMKK]

Yeah, the tag league is a rest tour for the big stars anyway. But they've been resting for three months already and probably one or two more before we see proper shows. 

[Migs]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

Per Meltz, Hiromu is pushing for the G1 and BOSJ happening at the same time. Which would make for insane cards. Do it ! No one cares about the tag leagues anyway.

That would actually protect the tag leagues, I think. The G1 was lined up for Sept-Oct because of the Olympics, so to do the BOSJ without doing it at the same time as the G1, they'd either need to cut one or both tag leagues or somehow add a tour in August when the Olympics were supposed to screw things up. 

[Boss Rock]

I've always been of the belief that they should merge both tag divisions and tag titles. Gives them more depth and gets rid of a tag league, heh.

[NintendoLogic]

NOAH's Kaito Kiyomiya challenged Okada to a match at the end of their most recent show. Grandstand challenges are obviously nothing new, but they usually take place in magazines and not on shows. A lot of people have been calling for a supershow with all the major promotions once everything opens back up, and if one takes place, that would be one of the marquee matches.

[Boss Rock]

Okada also said in an interview back in January that he'd like to wrestle Kento and Kiyomiya.

[Jmare007]

New Japan is back. Next week, June 15th without a live audience, no card yet. I wonder if Tana got his wish of New Japan being the last entertainment biz to return...

New Japan Cup starts on June 16

Dominion in July will have a limited live audience.

 

I guess they'll keep the G-1 Climax date considering they'll hopefully be able to run shows with larger crowds to get more revenue. And more talent will probably/hopefully be available.

[kas]

It's good to have them back. Shingo vs SHO has the potential to steal the tournament, they had a low-key MOTYC last year. I reckon SANADA is going to win the whole thing and I actually think that Okada will go out in the second round to Suzuki.

[WingedEagle]

I have no idea how their presentation of empty arena shows will compare to what we've seen from other companies, but after nearly 4 months off I'm beyond stoked to see them back in action.  Hopefully the Osaka shows are home runs and they're able to continue with limited capacity outings.

[Migs]

Enjoyable show this morning, sort of like New Japan spring training. Excited for the actual tournament to start tomorrow.

[kas]

Man, I've missed New Japan. Hiromu/Honma was surprisingly solid, and Ishii/Desperado absolutely ruled, even if they went a bit overkill by the end.

[Boss Rock]

Ishii-Desperado was indeed great stuff. Not surprising because Ishii, but Desperado continues to step up in these showcase matches. He seemed destined for a push in BOSJ, so we'll see what happens. Honma-Hiromu was also better than it had any right to be because Honma really looks like he shouldn't be wrestling. Jado was also in really bad shape. I know they have a limited roster now, but those spots could have easily gone to a young lion and Douki.

[kas]

I hope Desperado gets a push cause he's pretty great. Okada/Gedo wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but Nagata/Suzuki stole the show, awesome match.

[FMKK]

Those two old dads had the best empty arena match yet by just beating the everloving shit out of each other.

[Migs]

Real bracket busting finish, too. I'd sort of assumed Suzuki was going over Okada, since I figured Hiromu was a finalist and there was no way they're putting Hiromu over Okada. Now I think there's almost no way Okada isn't a finalist.

[kas]

Probably SANADA/Okada final - as redundant as that is - with SANADA going over.

[Boss Rock]

Today was easily the best card of the tournament thus far. Shingo-SHO was a banger as expected. From the Champion Carnival-onward, this is the best that Shingo has ever been in his career. Taguchi-SANADA did a bit too much comedy in the beginning, but once they turned things up Big Match Taguchi delivered. This Ibushi-Sabre match was probably their "worst" but was still good. Just such great chemistry but I feel as though it could have benefited from a few more minutes. Taichi-Tanahashi was a bit too overbooked but was still enjoyable.

Tomorrow's card doesn't look great, but Kojima-EVIL could be a real hoot and YOSHI-HASHI tends to over-achieve in tournaments.

[Migs]

This was definitely the most solid show up and down so far, and it'll probably remain that way the rest of this week (although Wednesday's show looks decent). Next week is shaping up to be a lot of fun, though.

[Boss Rock]

Hiromu-Ishii was great as expected.

[kas]

SANADA vs EVIL was a genuinely surprising result, while Okada vs Takahashi is fighting with Takahashi vs Ishii for MOTT. Okada finally put in something good this tournament.

[NintendoLogic]

I won't say this gimmick is completely dead on arrival because New Japan has more than earned the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't look promising.

 

[kas]

Really hoping for some kind of swerve. He was really promising as a Young Lion but apparently floundered in Mexico. Being punked by DOUKI of all people is not a good sign.

[Jmare007]

I expect that kid of fuckery from WWE, not New Japan

 

If he's are lucky he'll get a nice character arc/change once the first wave of bad reactions calms down.

[sek69]

New Japan has a pretty good track record of gimmicks that don't look good at first but end up being pretty awesome (looking at you, Switchblade) so I'm okay with giving it a chance to see where it goes. 

[MoS]

I have enjoyed the cup so far, but Okada has been underwhelming throughout to me. I saw some complaints about Okada beating Takahashi on Twitter, with people feeling he could have taken a loss here, but I am glad they didn't pull the trigger on that moment with no crowds.