Current New Japan

[sek69]

Also Dustin Rhodes having a match in the Tokyo Dome in the year of our Lord 2025 is fucking wild when you think about it.

[El-P]

9 hours ago, strobogo said:

Takeshita was the MVP both nights imo. That dude should be THE dude.

Was very :what at Chris Charlton repeatedly going extremely hard at AEW, anyone who left, and Tony Khan. It's not like the AEW/NJPW relationship is an invasion angle like UWFI vs NJ, or even just hateful interpromotional feud like NJ vs NOAH at different times over the years. It's a very cordial, friendly partnership, not a feud. Rocky and the other guy were both so "uhhh hey man" and it was so weird.

Takeshita was easily and by a wide margin the G1 Climax MVP too this year. Well, he's got a dual contract, whatever that means as far as how far NJPW can push him. 

Yeah, Charlton going way too hard into the "AEW has been stealing from NJPW", leaning into some of the fanboy talks online (just read NJPW reddit for a minute or two. Well, don't, because reddit is a cesspool of idiots apparently) to sell the Gabe Kidd angle, but he lacked... uh... any kind of subtlety. My take is that he's just not used to that kind of commentary work and he was just try-harding the whole thing. As much as I think he's great in a Mike Tenay role, I'm not a big fan of some of his ûber emphatic presentation at times, and this was a case of him trying way too fucking hard. He's getting some flack online now because people are shit and dumb and taking it at heart (yeah, he was just selling an angle guys and playing the NJPW good soldier). At the end of the show you could see they made it a reconciliation in a "in the heat of the moment you say stuff, but we do great together and are so happy" mode. 

[El-P]

5 hours ago, sek69 said:

Also Dustin Rhodes having a match in the Tokyo Dome in the year of our Lord 2025 is fucking wild when you think about it.

That was pretty damn cool, especially since he was part of the very first 01/04 Dome show, tagging with Dusty. Sammy seems to live his best life away from the pressure of the "AEW" shows. Also, Tay Melo going back to the ring in Stardom after 22 months had her in tears. It was so sweet. This was quite a moment for all involved. Maybe did not mean much (if anything) to these shows in the grand scheme of things, but it sure meant the world for them. 

[El-P]

Well, so apparently NJPW office feels Charlton going off script talking shit about AEW and calling TK a "money mark" was akin to make them lose face in front of their business partner. Which is a huge no-no. 

[sek69]

 Loyalty to business partners is a big thing in Japanese culture so him going off script like that (even in the attempt to sell an angle) was going to cause an issue.

[Boss Rock]

I assumed Charlton was just leaning into kayfabe like Kidd, but yeah he was particularly sassy where I understand why that would displease some higher ups. Now do I think Tony called up the front office and said "Get this guy off commentary!"? I'm not sure. But it wouldn't surprise me if it pissed him off and NJPW reprimanded Charlton as a result.

As for the shows this weekend, don't have much to say other than Kenny-Gabe was great and it's pretty miraculous how Kenny hasn't lost a single step despite such a serious illness and extended layoff. And NJPW pushing Shota over Tsuji and fans turning on him seems to sum up a lot of their problems. No doubt losing talent to AEW hurt them, but they still have the talent to build momentum but they're just not really doing it.

 

[strobogo]

It wasn't just for Kenny/Kidd. He also went very hard for Tsuji/Perry (particularly about Okada), and Shota/Claudio where he buried TK personally and also the booking of Death Riders basically being AEW's version of House of Torture (which also shit on NJ booking at the same time). Each time he started yelling during entrances to rage about AEW talent/booking/office was so out of place and his commentary partners were also clearly trying to rein him in. 

By the end of the show he did more or less apologize for it and said it was just heat of the moment, but that whole thing definitely seems like something that was a heavy cultural no-no in Japan and TK had zero involvement in the suspension. It was very out of character for the AEW/NJ relationship, but also for Charlton himself. Never heard him rage like that in all the years he's been doing NJ shows outside of the general "oh fuck Bullet Club/HoT" groaning that the Japanese announcers also do.

I don't know if a suspension or hiatus was needed or not, but I can definitely see why the NJ side would be pissed at him even if the AEW office didn't bring it up.

[Makai Club #1]

Forgive me for the large review dump, but I need to express my thoughts on Umino vs Zack at Wrestle Kingdom. I wrote the match's big body as it was happening, so forgive the length and the gramatically errors that allude my skimming.

Very technical opening, beginning with a classic roman knuckle-lock into a full-nelson with Umino using his strength to keep the hold applied, and then used his smarts to reapply it when Zack attempted to roll away. Umino quicked in pace with a flurry, before settling back down to work on the neck some more. Zack then replied with an awesome arm pull that forced Umino into the ground. So far, so good. Umino is showing he’s capable of keeping up enough, whereas Zack is nasty but full of skill to carry out his game plan. There was an awesome cut off spot where Umino low balled Zack, sending him into the ropes in the 619 position, only Umino hits a springboard DDT with Zack going face first into the apron. And bizarrely, the fans actually begin booing Umino shortly after this moment, specifically when he sent Zack into the barricade. It was initially small and brief but noticeable. And then it grew after Umino coldly glanced in the distance after another DDT. You might think it was intentional, but Umino tried to get a reaction after they returned to the ring with an arm gesture, quickly getting zero response. Oof. I actually think Umino was having a good match upto this point, as is Zack.

Now this portion does seem to ponder as both are distracted by the not so great response, but it does flare up when Zack baits Umino into a strike exchange. Umino shows fire but his elbow strikes are really shit, especially in comparison to Zack’s uppercuts. After it’s clear Umino is no match in the stand up, Zack takes him back to the floor, snagging the arm for a cross armbreaker and then double shoulder lock. Zack transitions again into the arm-triangle that Umino powers out off, before hitting a running uppercut. Umino then lamely tries to do a Hidden Blade, which doesn’t help the identity crisis issues, but misses, leading to a decent counter sequence that ends with Zack brutally hitting a lariat that sends Umino inside out. This somewhere awkwardly strays away from the arm focused spots and moves into a strike exchange sequence - not ideal. At least the strikes were upper cuts and were stiff, on both sides of the ring too. And, again, to their credit, I did sense there was a story being told, told through Zack’s selling and Umino’s facial expressions which grew more aggressive and determined. The fans gave Umino one of the first decent babyface reactions since the start of the match after Umino’s last big uppercut.

This escalated into a back and forth match with both doing their bigger spots in the match with Umino getting some momentum being able to hit his DDT but then Zack did something both bizarre and awesome. He completely bent Umino’s knee to its side with a sort of twist. While the arm work has been lost, Zack has now began working the knee, applying a cross legged knee bar with Umino desperately fighting to the ropes in an incredible sequence. The fans really bit on whether Umino was going to tap out or not with both selling the hold and the moment itself really well. Umino’s selling afterwards was tremendous, as was Zack’s heel work which simply consisted of stomping the leg. Zack pulls Umino to his feet, who looks empty. The fans start booing again which pisses Umino off who fires up but Zack sweeps Umino off his feet with a kick twice. Umino is able to get some reprieve after Zack charges into the corner and gets caught with a DDT. Umino’s selling was still great, even when he threw a knee into Zack in the corner. And the fans were still not really buying into him. What a dichotomy of a great performance and the fans reacting.

Umino and Zack fight on top of the corner post, first fighting for a front face lock and ending with a glorious superplex. Umino rises to his feet and finally plays into the fans booing him, angry stomping on Zack while glaring at the crowd. And then the bastard throws his father to the ground! Now the boos are finally earned. Umino has flown the coop. He continues the distasteful stomping before walloping Zack with an uppercut. Zack desperately kicks Umino’s legs, whose no selling them (THAT’S HOW YOU FUCKING NO SELL SOMETHING) and stomps on Zack in response. Zack bitch slaps Umino hard enough to knock him to the floor, then stomping on Umino to return the favour. Zack still flirts with his heelish persona which isn’t ideal but Umino doesn’t back down either. They both slap the heck out of each other, both getting great shots in but t’s Umino who falls first. Umino rallies and hits an uppercut version of the hidden blade to a two count. Umino goes for a move but get’s tripped by Zack. Umino escapes and lariats Zack off his feet. He seems ready to hit a big move but his knee buckles! Zack capitalises with a Zack Driver. Only a two count though!! Zack continues. A big pile driver is hit, and then a leg crossed version of the Zack Driver that looks like an Emerald Flowsion! And that finishes the match. Woah. What a match.

I am really surprised at the criticisms. I get the booing, somewhat. Umino has been a lame duck since day one of his return really and I feel like this is an extension of that, rather than Umino’s performance here. But the general critiques of the match I don’t really get. I don’t understand how people can conflate Zack expertly working a roman knuckle lock and working the arm from there with the usual tedious drizzle that other NJ main eventers call technical wrestling. If you can’t see the difference between Okada bumbling his way through an opening stretch and Zack skillfully needling an opponent, I dunno what to tell you.

Furthermore, Umino had a really strong match. His strikes were tame (bad) early on, but he quickly moved on to the much sweeter uppercuts, and later slaps, matching Zack’s energy and storytelling approach to the usual tedious spot. And his selling was glorious for not only his arm, but later his leg. It was phenomenal. And I thought him finally turning heel and playing into the crowd was excellent, if anything Zack’s unwillingness to deviate from his heel persona really made that stand out as an isolated incident. I thought that both wrestlers were splendid. And if the crowd didn’t settle on the idea of booing Umino, who is clearly not as good nor cool as Zack, I’d see little reason for the major criticisms of the match.

The length is another thing, and that’s simply relative. I didn’t mind watching a 43 minute match because I enjoyed the quality of wrestling. Others might prefer a tighter match. Understandably, but at the end of the day, I liked what I saw. Loved it even. I’m calling this a great match, because it was. I found it quite enjoyable to pick this apart move from move and found that I got more and more invested despite the detached approach of watching the match. That’s how I know it was great. ****1/4