Current New Japan

[shoe]

The 11/1/15 show is a good one .

 

Liger/Komatsu/Tanaka vs Tiger Mask/Finley/White

 

This was just a 7 minute all action sprint. Everyone worked hard. The perfect opener. I also enjoyed the finish 3 *

 

Makabe/Captain NJ/Robinson vs Goto/Shibata/Dorada

 

It was fun to see Dorada work with more significant partners. Robinson is developing, and the finish was great. 2 1/2*

 

Time Splitters vs Omega/Owens

 

It was a good solid tag. It reminded me of a Fantastics vs OMX match. I loved the shine with the arm work. We got some old school tricks mixed in, and they got good reactions. The heat was good with the back work. We get a hot tag that was great. Another cut off with some work on the stomach and the back again. Another cool comeback that resulted in a mis communication spot with the heels. Omega and Owens showed potential as a team. They really need to blow up the tag division and go with one belt. 3 1/2*

 

Tonga/Anderson/Gallows/Fale vs Nakamura/Yoshi-Hashi/Sakuraba/Yano

 

Worst match of the show. It started out slow and meaningless. It finally got going and we got a finish. 1 3/4*

 

Tanahashi/Honmma/Taguchi vs Okada/Ishii/Gedo

 

This had more of an old school 6 man feel to it where guys want a piece of one another. This was worked well. We got 2 FIP. First it was Honma, then Tanahashi got a run at it. We get the hot tag to Taguchi and he's on fire with Butt Strikes. Eventually, it comes down to Taguchi and Okada as a Tanahashi dive takes out him and an opponent, and Honma takes out his foe. Taguchi goes for a Rain Maker Butt Strike and misses. He falls to the Rain Maker. This had grudges, schtick, comedy, and a good structure. 3*

 

Young Bucks vs Sydal/Ricochet

 

 

This was tons of fun. The Bucks felt like MX with Bubba in 86. A great spot was Nick Jackson taking a bump into Hall's arms. Then Sydal dove onto both of them. Sydal was a great FIP. Ricochet's Superman punch into a Sydal apron rana was a mark out moment. I thought Hall got involved a hair too much, but his payback was great/ 4*

 

reDragon vs RPG Vice

 

This was really good. This played to both guys strength. Baretta dung his knee. reDragon went to town on it. This played to both teams strengths. Allowed reDragon to do what they do best, and work on top destroying a limb. Baretta is best as FIP. Romero is able to do his thing. They got the time and had a killer match. 4 1/4*

[Jmare007]

New Japan held a joint press conference with DDT to announce that Ibushi renew his contract....and that he will miss Power Struggle due to a neck injury, no timetable yet for his return (Cervical disc herniation).

[shoe]

On the last big show I enjoyed it. Getting Ishii away from Makabe did wonders. Ishii and Homna had a great match. I also enjoyed Omega/Owens. They had an old school feel about them. The tag team Schlick from them was really well done . It also freshens up the JR. Tag team division.

[Bierschwale]

It's not a big deal at all, and there are many reasons why they wouldn't/shouldn't, but in a perfect world, out of the two American promotions to which NJ has a formal connection, Gedo should always book Kongo Kong-Chris Masters for the GFW title instead of Elgin-Lethal for the ROH title, right? How could anyone vote against Kongo in the Dome?

[benjaminkicks]

Anyone else excited for the Dome show tonight/tomorrow morning?

 

I think the card on paper looks pretty stacked, and if everything delivers it could be a better show than last year.

 

I'm just hoping I can stay awake long enough to catch the whole show live. It begins at midnight here in Washington, which isn't too bad, but I know I'm gonna start getting glassy eyed around 3, which is probably when the big matches are just starting.

[shoe]

On paper it looks great. So I'm looking forward to it.

[Wahoos Leg]

I go into work super early each day so I'm looking at it as a good excuse to get back on that schedule after a week's vacation.

[Coffey]

On paper it looks great. So I'm looking forward to it.

 

Agreed. Although admittedly, I am tired of the Tanahashi/Okada feud, the matches are always good, so it's hard to hate on it.

[shoe]

 

On paper it looks great. So I'm looking forward to it.

 

Agreed. Although admittedly, I am tired of the Tanahashi/Okada feud, the matches are always good, so it's hard to hate on it.

 

I'm tired of a lot of the NJ match ups, but they seemed to really try with some new ones underneath.

[Cap]

Yeah, I am pretty excited to come home tomorrow after work and watch this show, but in my brain the hype ends at Nakamura vs Styles. I just can't get excited for Tana vs Okada anymore. I don't keep up with NJ as much as I would like but I have seen most of the highly touted stuff. Tana and Okada always do good stuff, but a lot of it blends together to me. Ultimately, I am just not as big a fan of Tanahashi as a lot of people seem to be.

[Timbo Slice]

Not really feeling the English announce team.

[hammerva]

I always love the pre show Rumble match but that finish was some bull shit. I hope Triple H doesn't book the Royal Rumble the same way or Steph is getting a Divas title match at Wrestlemania

 

Still marked out seeing Cheeseburger in the same ring as guys like Liger and Fujiwara. And fucking Haku was there

 

Just trying to imagine what would have happened if a major US company tried to do that cross promotional thing with that kids cartoon/movie. Cute but the stoners watching this must have been freaking the fuck out

 

So far the booking has been pretty shaky. Bucks winning tag titles is the safe pick but wrong one. Elgin losing to a book shot and 1 Lethal injection is pretty stupid if he is this incredible power house

[Luchaundead]

Pretty excited for the 1st Lions Gate show check out the card:

 

Takumi Honjo vs. Shuhei Taniguchi
Kawato Hirai & Teruaki Kanemitsu vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Hitoshi Kumano
David Finlay Jr. vs. Taiji Ishimori
Jay White vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Quiet Storm
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH
Juice Robinson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Yuji Nagata vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya

 

As well as The New Beginning shows and Honor Rising seems like the next month in NJPW are going to be pretty interesting.

[Wahoos Leg]

I imagine that pro wrestling in hell is just Nakanishi vs. Quiet Storm over and over.

 

Rest looks decent though

[DGinnetty]

I think it might be! Nakanishi served as a whipping boy when my buddy and I did the Toukon Retsuden cable show. In fact, as far back as late 96, we could see how horrible his timing was. There were at least 2 times in every match that it would look like Nakanishi forgot where he was and what to do next. That split second of indecision destroyed the flow of the match for me.

 

Sorry to rant but I share your displeasure for Nakanishi.

 

Dan

[Edwin]

How was Ishii vs. Strong?

[shoe]

I thought it was pretty good . It was sloppy in spots. Strong was playing it heel. Overall it was a hard hitting affair that built to a hot finish.

[joeg]

Super J Cup is coming back this summer... A way to get over the then returning Kamaitachi?

[GOTNW]

G1 blocks are out.

 

 

Block A

Togi Makabe

Satoshi Kojima

Tomohiro Ishii

Hirooki Goto

Bad Luck Fale

Tama Tonga

SANADA

Naomichi Marufuji

Kazuchika Okada

Hiroshi Tanahashi

 

Block B

Katsuyori Shibata

Yuji Nagata

Tomoaki Honma

Michael Elgin

Toru Yano

Tetsuya Naito

"King of Darkness" EVIL

Kenny Omega

Katsuhiko Nakajima

YOSHI-HASHI

 

Very satisfied with block B. I don't like Kenny Omega but everyone else I am at least interested to see how they will do. My most positive take from Block A is that I'll get more proper Makabe singles matches which works for me since I love his shtick. Shibata/Honma/Nakajima/Nagata/Naito match ups should carry the tournament nicely and I'm verry glad Yano made it. No Yujiro Takahashi this year thankfully.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I am excited for Nakajima in this year's G-1. Have not seen much of his output since 2009, but I loved him in that 2004-2009 window. Hope he can revitalize himself. Tanahashi/Marufuji has to be the ultimate nightmare match for some people on here. I like Tanahashi a lot, but not even I want to see that match,

[Hawkins]

So they don't invite one contracted member of Ring of Honor

 

What exactly is ROH getting out of this "partnership" other than guests to pop a buyrate?

[GOTNW]

So they don't invite one contracted member of Ring of Honor

 

What exactly is ROH getting out of this "partnership" other than guests to pop a buyrate?

Getting people who wouldn't watch their painfully mediocre shows otherwise to pay attention to them and good gates when they bring the New Japan guys in.

[joeg]

Historically nobody comes out ahead in partnerships with NJ. Ever. Not UWF. Not UWFi. Not NOAH. Not CMLL. Not WCW. Nobody. They are the Oakland As of pro wrestling, nobody gets the better end of a trade with the As. Nobody gets the better end of a partnership with NJPW. Anyways explain what ROH wrestler should be in the G-1? who should they have that would be something other than a job guy?

 

Excited for the usual Ishii formula underdog matches. Ishii or Honma vs maineventer in the G1 is my favorite sort of match. I don't remember him having one against Okada before.

 

Nakajima brings something new and fresh to the tournament. Should be good for 4 or 5 good matches in match ups we haven't seen before.

[GOTNW]

Ishii hasn't been/wrestled like an underdog since 2012.

 

CMLL gets to feed New Japan guys in hair matches which is valuable to them. Fantasticamania does well. I don't see the big deal.

 

NOAH is part owned by BUSHIROAD so naturally they've become New Japan's bitch. They were treated just fine while they were still independent of them. There were talks that NOAH being involved in the 2009 Dome show was one of the reasons their TV deal got cut but that was Misawa's call not New Japan's.

 

Seems pretty weird to talk about New Japan hurting WCW.

 

UWF guys had enough momentum to start a new promotion more successful than their first one. UWFi feud was just Takada milking his last paychecks and accepting Choshu's superiority booking as a last resort.

[Memphis Mark]

So they don't invite one contracted member of Ring of Honor

 

What exactly is ROH getting out of this "partnership" other than guests to pop a buyrate?

 

 

ROH gets a bunch of things from NJPW . They get the revenue from the NJPW / ROH shows . The revenue stream includes the gate , DVD , PPV , TV and PPV money . ROH is really good at wringing every last dollar out of their shows . ROH does get NJPW bookings for their talent, which has helped the company resign a few guys. Also when , NJPW signs a ROH talent , like Michael Elgin , ROH still to to use the wrestler as a attraction . ROH can still book Elgin , however they no longer have the fixed cost of his contract. Now , ROH is getting access to young NJPW talent , such as Jay White and Kamaitachi . Now , ROH is going to get access to CMLL talent via NJPW . The CMLL stars should create increased revenues ..

 

ROH also has a easier time signing new talent because of the NJPW. It is no secret that the WWE has ramped up NXT and starting using Evolve as a holding area for top indy talent in a effort to diminish and/ or destroy ROH .

 

NJPW gets a lot from ROH , besides the money from the tours. . NJPW gets access to current ROH talent and the prospects coming thur the ROH camp system . NJPW get coverage on free American Broadcast TV via the Sinclair stations. Plus , SBGI group has purchased the Tennis Channel for $ 350 million . The rumor is the Tennis Channel will be converted to an all sports station , which would mean more American household coverage. All of this feed into NJPW to grow their product in North America.

 

NJPW is partnering with ROH because they are owned by SBGI , which is four times larger than the WWE . SBGI produce more revenue than the in the first quarter of 2016 , than the WWE will produce for the entire year. That does not mean that SBGI will invest more in ROH , but that have the capital to invest in the wrestling business.