Current New Japan

[Jmare007]

Of all the shows Goto could've lost the belt, "Tanahashi JAM" was not in my bingo card

[El-P]

Funny because watching Dominion two days ago, I kinda thought Goto's title reign was losing steam. 

But yeah, this was quite the surprise. ZSJ IWGP champ during the G1 and at Forbidden Door certainly up my interest.

[Dav'oh]

As a long-time fan of both, I wasn't fussed who won, it was just great to see two world-class workers show how "easy" (for want of a beter term..."simple"?) it is to have an excellent match.

No dialogue, no run-ins, no international objects, no blood, no flips whips chains dips, no ref bump - absolutely nothing extraneous to pro-wrestling.

Was it a zillion stars? No, but not everything has to be perfect to be great.

[El-P]

Gabe Kidd getting injured on the very first day is terrible luck. Also hurts the G1 quite a bit, as he most certainly was gonna be a major part of it. 

[El-P]

Desperado vs Jun Kasai for the IWGP junior title in a crime scene looking like deathmatch says a whole lot about how things have evolved since 25 years ago when Onita was treated like garbage because of his style. Despe really has been the bridge to the "normalization" (under quotation because it was still a special show, it's not like you'd see that at WK), but Jun Kasai is without a doubt the best deathmatch wrestler ever. I did not realized he was 50 years old either. Match was awesome, easy MOTYC level if you don't mind the bloodletting. And that was one hell of a bloodletting.

[El-P]

Dunno if anyone is following G1, but after one week, I can't see much hype about it. Apparently it's not drawing good at all, which is not that surprising considering Goto as champ was the one carrying the last big shows and he's not there, Gabe Kidd being the new hot foreign star having to withdraw completely. The fact it's Tanahashi's last G1 is not enough apparently. Maybe it'll pick up in the last week if the stories are good but... I dunno, it's the first time in years I don't feel compelled to even cherry pick thus far. 

[Boss Rock]

As good as a lot of the field seems, the loss of Okada, Kenny, Ospreay, prime Ishii, prime Naito, and prime Ibushi makes it feel much less "must-watch."

[El-P]

For sure. The mid to late 2010's were just insane.

I'm sure there's plenty of quality wrestling and some great matches still (Takagi, Takeshita, ZSJ). Maybe I'll check it out a bit later once the tournament develop. I loved last year's so much with the ZSJ ascent.

[WingedEagle]

On 7/27/2025 at 2:07 PM, El-P said:

Dunno if anyone is following G1, but after one week, I can't see much hype about it. Apparently it's not drawing good at all, which is not that surprising considering Goto as champ was the one carrying the last big shows and he's not there, Gabe Kidd being the new hot foreign star having to withdraw completely. The fact it's Tanahashi's last G1 is not enough apparently. Maybe it'll pick up in the last week if the stories are good but... I dunno, it's the first time in years I don't feel compelled to even cherry pick thus far. 

Its absolutely fine. And as noted that is just not good enough after the run we've had for the last decade plus or so. I saw this as someone who considers Hiroshi Tanahashi one of the few greatest wrestlers to ever live, but Tanhashi is shot to the point that he can't draw much here as no one believes he's capable of working like GRADE 1 TANAHASHI anymore. The Dome should draw because of the moment, but that's one night in January.

Here's hoping Tony Khan lets them strap the rocket to Takeshita. Not holding my breath but that's the most (only?) interesting scenario I can come up with.

[Dav'oh]

I'd rather an eight-man tournament. It's their biggest gimmick tour, it should only have the best wrestlers, and everyone should be a (somewhat) realistic shot at winning the whole shebang. Stuff like YOSHI-HASHI vs Ren Narita is utterly superfluous.

[Tetsujin]

On 7/27/2025 at 7:07 PM, El-P said:

Dunno if anyone is following G1, but after one week, I can't see much hype about it. Apparently it's not drawing good at all, which is not that surprising considering Goto as champ was the one carrying the last big shows and he's not there, Gabe Kidd being the new hot foreign star having to withdraw completely. The fact it's Tanahashi's last G1 is not enough apparently. Maybe it'll pick up in the last week if the stories are good but... I dunno, it's the first time in years I don't feel compelled to even cherry pick thus far. 

The biggest factor imo is Naito leaving. He was the ultimate lifeboat for that company and now... Well.

I'm only probably gonna watch the Taichi matches.

[El-P]

1 hour ago, Tetsujin said:

I'm only probably gonna watch the Taichi matches.

Yeah, maybe I'll catch up a bit the last week by watching some Taichi, ZSJ, Takagi & Takeshita matches, for sure. Maybe some Tanahashi too, although I'm afraid this would be a bit sad.

Naito leaving certainly left them in the dust. The fact he and Bushi had their first match post NJ at RevPro the other week is both puzzling and so Naito, in essence. (I mean, how much was he paid to work a RevPro match ?)

[Boss Rock]

Naito said in a recent interview with Tokyo Sports he wanted to go to the U.S. but he wasn't able to get a visa. I figured he could easily sign with NOAH but apparently Japan is "not an option."

[El-P]

Gimme Naito vs Mistico on a Friday at Arena Mexico instead !

[Timbo Slice]

Yeah, Naito not being in Mexico right now seems very strange. I also don’t understand why he thinks AEW would want to sign him given they are filled to the brim and he wouldn’t be able to coast. 

[kaufman316]

3 hours ago, Timbo Slice said:

I also don’t understand why he thinks AEW would want to sign him given they are filled to the brim

Hasn't stopped TK before!

3 hours ago, Timbo Slice said:

and he wouldn’t be able to coast. 

Okada on TV?  Washed Ibushi?

[El-P]

Okada on TV is no different than Okada in "Roads to" houseshow matches, especially his later days after his back was injured. What matters is Okada in big matches. And as demonstrated, he's still the GOATed Okada when he needs to be.

Ibushi certainly was a stretch. But right now he looks the best he had since the G1 injury. He'll never be the old Ibushi again but he doesn't need to be if he adapts his game. The Ibushi before All In, I'm more than fine.

Naito on the other hand looked completely thrashed during his last NJ year. Maybe resting his injuries will do him good, but I dunno how he would work in a AEW setting. I'm not sure how his act translates to a non-Japanese audience either. From all the name who did the firsts Forbidden Door PPV, he always seemed the one who was less over/less interested. I have no idea why WWE would want him now, unless to work on their WWE Japan predatory act which may or may not happen.

I would totally thought he'd go to NOAH, but maybe he still has that loyalty toward NJ (although NJ and NOAH work together regularly still).

[strobogo]

He probably should take a full year off and try to heal his knees up a little and I think he got more eye surgeries after leaving NJPW this year, too.

[WingedEagle]

Uemura vs. Oiwa today was probably the second best match of the tourney thus far behind Shingo/Takeshita. More importantly, it was the first time that a couple of the young lost boys looked great and fortunately against each other. They've already wasted a ton of time with them and Tsuji (and written off Narita entirely) but hopefully there's some effort to give them a meaningful push soon.

[El-P]

And so it's Tsuji vs Umino and the winner gets EVIL for the semi. And it's a major *yawn* on paper, although the one occasion the HoT shit works is on those kinda matches (if EVIL loses, of course).

And Takeshita vs Finlay and the winner gets ZSJ. Which is much better, although Finlay getting that high again is repetitive by now. 

Final better be Takeshita vs Tsuji. Either one winning would be fine, but obviously Takeshita should be the guy (the double contract probably hampers this from ever happening, and he's not gonna go full time to NJPW). Honestly at this point Uemura is more interesting than any other new generation guys (save for Fujita in the junior division).

[Tetsujin]

I'm heavily behind the G1 this year, just watched Shingo/Takeshita today (and thank god I'm cherrypicking). The ringwork has not been bad, it actually has been kinda decent, but not enough for a company that feels this ice cold. And that's because the booking and character work are atrocious, but no surprise from Gedo there after all these years.

By far the MVP of the tournament from what I've seen is, no surprise, Taichi, who feels like the only one in this dreadful company with a genuine connection with the crowd and who portrays himself in the ring as a true wrestling star. Shingo is not far behind, though. Takeshita is great but he's basically an outsider (I know, I know), so you know he's gonna get the Ibushi treatment until (if) he signs full time. O-Khan rules (most of the time) but there's no ambition behind his booking, so there's always low stakes on his matches. Tanahashi is doing surprisingly well and he's using his washed up body to his advantage, as per usual these last two years or so. ZSJ also rules, but sadly NJPW never knew how to make him feel big as their world champ. All young lions need to step up for good, Tsuji is the only one living to his potential right now, and other guys like Boltin and Newman still feel a little bit too underdevelopped. They're also, you know, non japanese. Kidd is a hit or miss and the injury didn't help (or did it? Maybe he gains more babyface love out of this one). David Finlay is weird, because he's a charisma vacuum and a Jay White cosplayer, but his matches tend to be some of my favourites, at least the ones where he ends up loosing. That leads me to EVIL. I'm an EVIL and SANADA denier (as singles acts, specially at the top of the card), always have been, and I can't believe they're still pushing for their stuff. I have not seen any Oiwa matches yet but I'm looking forward to what Tana can do for him next.

If they continue with the dumb "G1 winner doesn't need to challenge at the Tokyo Dome show" thing, just give it to whoever, who should care. I know the G1 is prestigious enough by itself, but honestly... can you say that while looking at this roster, this booking and this output? I don't think you can. I guess Tsuji wins this and mayb takes the title from Zack, who I've been reading elsewhere he's not working as a draw (fuck you Gedo forever), and maybe there's enough time to book a Tsuji/Uemura rematch for the title at January 4th? Honestly I would push Taichi but he's gonna be busy carrying the company with Ishii as a tag team once the G1 is over.