Current New Japan

[Luna_Bourke]

On 4/29/2026 at 11:47 PM, Boss Rock said:

Seeing that Roppongi Vice is wrestling tonight on Dynamite got a friend of mine reminiscing about Roppongi 3K and man, there's a distant universe somewhere out there where Sho got a proper singles push and became a huge star.

So many H.o.T members have had basically no good matches since they joined, and it is such a shame.

[El-P]

Jeff Cobb in the G1 in 2026 ? I mean...

[The Thread Killer]

21 minutes ago, El-P said:

Jeff Cobb in the G1 in 2026 ? I mean...

You clearly didn’t see any of his WWE work. He’ll only go if there is free catering, and then he’d get winded climbing the ring steps. That dude has fallen off HARD since the last time you saw him, let’s just say that.

I hate TKO with a passion, but I totally get why they released Cobb. He was terrible in WWE, and missed every opportunity they gave him. I literally could not believe he was the same guy I saw in New Japan and AEW years ago. I was actually excited when he signed…and then he showed up.

[El-P]

Yeah, I know but I really don't care how he looked in WWE. That's pretty irrelevant. Maybe WWE has ruined him like they do with so many people. Maybe he'll go back to Japan and be really good again because he'll actually be motivated again. He's not on the younger side either though. And sometime, WWE ruins people for ever (KENTA rings a bell ? Anyone heard of Gran Metallik lately ? Or, in the last few years ?). NJPW is the most logical landing spot for him (except he moved back to the US when signed to WWE apparently). 

[El-P]

Andrade winning the white belt and sending the US NJPW fans into disarray is kinda funny. Seriously, it was predictable. Plus, Yuta Tsuji has been overrated by both the fans and the company. He's not the guy. I mean, he's worlds better than the failures they have tried before these last few years (you know the ones, not talking about the great Goto/ZSJ wins, I mean the EVIL and SANADA's of the world), but he's not the next ace. I don't see it. Just switch toward Uemura already at G1. And then, you know the one eventually...

[WingedEagle]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

Andrade winning the white belt and sending the US NJPW fans into disarray is kinda funny. Seriously, it was predictable. Plus, Yuta Tsuji has been overrated by both the fans and the company. He's not the guy. I mean, he's worlds better than the failures they have tried before these last few years (you know the ones, not talking about the great Goto/ZSJ wins, I mean the EVIL and SANADA's of the world), but he's not the next ace. I don't see it. Just switch toward Uemura already at G1. And then, you know the one eventually...

Amen. If they ran with Tsuji when he came back and let him beat Naito right out of the gate he had a chance to be that guy. But they didn't, and he's not. It feels like Uemura is getting the next 15 minutes and if I had to I'd bet on Tsuji defending against him at WK after a Uemura G1 win. Ospreay vs. Newman feels like the big match at that show but there's no reason it needs the title. At least not the IWGP Title.

So we'll what Uemura can do when given a push unless its also too late for him. But let's get onto Yuto and Oiwa sooner rather than later. Its going to be a problem if we're talking about them in 2029 the way we're talking about Tsuji & Uemura today.

[sek69]

13 hours ago, El-P said:

(you know the ones, not talking about the great Goto/ZSJ wins, I mean the EVIL and SANADA's of the world)

Speaking of SANADA he just got revealed as the guy who stole the TV belt from Takeshita, so that's a program that is happening now. 

 

[El-P]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

Speaking of SANADA he just got revealed as the guy who stole the TV belt from Takeshita, so that's a program that is happening now. 

Oh, great... They got Takeshita to work with Chase Owens and now SANADA. After he became an undercard joke last year. Wow. 

Yeah, I have zero faith in whatever Gedo's gonna do in the big picture next.

[sek69]

Ospreay, Henare. and Great O-Khan won the 6 man titles but Will wasn't happy at Callum Newman doing heel shenanigans to retain the big belt. 

[sek69]

They're basically redoing the angle from AEW when he was with Don Callis and didn't approve of their tactics either, which makes him look like an idiot for once again ending up in a stable he doesn't agree with. 

[El-P]

3 hours ago, sek69 said:

They're basically redoing the angle from AEW when he was with Don Callis and didn't approve of their tactics either, which makes him look like an idiot for once again ending up in a stable he doesn't agree with. 

Don Callis could do the funniest thing. I mean, he's a bit low on talent right now in the Don Callis Family with all the injuries...

[Control21]

If Yota Tsuji isn't the "guy," then I don't know who is. It's certainly not Umino. And Uemura isn't someone Gedo is going to push. I don't have much faith in Aaron Wolf at the moment, and that's entirely because of Gedo as well.

[El-P]

2 minutes ago, Control21 said:

And Uemura isn't someone Gedo is going to push. 

Yeah. Because Gedo is toasted as a booker.

[Jmare007]

Night 1 one of Dontaku did similar to last year (500 less people) and Night 2 did 1.8k less. Interestingly enough, they announced a No Vacancy for this year even though it was in the same place as 2025. I guess they set it up smaller and sold those tickets out. 

Agreed on Uemura being the best choice of this year's G1. The sad thing is the lack of options they have right now though, it's Uemura and basically no one else, unless they wanna keep punting shit and give it to a veteran or to Tsuji (which wont mean a thing, sadly). 

 

I honestly have no fucking clue how Gedo is still the booker. He's had the job for 2 decades, what's the harm in trying with someone else at this point?

[El-P]

1 hour ago, Jmare007 said:

I honestly have no fucking clue how Gedo is still the booker. He's had the job for 2 decades, what's the harm in trying with someone else at this point?

Don't give them bad ideas. With our luck they would give Dick Togo the book and EVERY match would be HoT shit.

But yeah. Remember when Rossy left Stardom ? Some feared the company would crumble because he's the only one who knew how to book it. And there comes Taro Okada, some schmuck from Bushiroad, and see what happened. He's basically what Carlos Silva *thinks* he is. 

[sek69]

Gedo has even lost Meltzer, who was previously his number one fan, after booking Tsuji to drop both his titles in about a month's time. His argument was basically "Maybe Tsuji isn't the guy but ffs you need to make *someone* a Japanese star" made me think he's another secret PWO reader.