El-P Posted June 15, 2018 Report Share Posted June 15, 2018 And FMW had room for a women's division because they were a B-level promotion with less men's depth than the Big Two but still enjoyed the fruits of the Joshi class of the late '80s created by the Crush Gals' popularity. And even then, who ever really gave a fuck about any of the FMW women once you got past Kudo and Combat? Indeed. That being said, one could argue Megumi Kudo was the first (and only, ever) woman to carry a men's promotion on her back, as that's pretty much what she did after Onita retired. She and Combat should have been the last match at the Kawasaki show in 96, as they were probably more of a draw than the tag match that followed. Her retirement match did close the 97 show. FMW, the true women's revolution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World's Worst Man Posted June 15, 2018 Report Share Posted June 15, 2018 If anything I'd prefer NJPW to start a separate women's promotion that can enjoy NJPW's exposure and finances. That would be a terribly risky move though and NJPW is already embarking on a somewhat risky but fairly important business strategy (North American expansion). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 15, 2018 Report Share Posted June 15, 2018 That would be terrible for joshi in Japan though. There's already too many promotions out there. The last thing joshi needs is for Japan to start poaching talent and for their to be another promotion out there running nights and taking up TV time. If they want to buy and finance Stardom or WAVE, okay go for it. But them starting a new promotion would be terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartMark15 Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lUqw9oUTPA&t=7s A video I did on the Omega-Okada series, in particular how they use time in their matches. Thought you guys might like to give it a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 Hmm, there doesn't seem to be a link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 I've still got the 3 main matches to go but I have loved this card so far. I thought the Bucks vs. Sanada/Evil match was amazing. Nick selling that ankle was top notch and I love that he was forced to still attack with it and paid the price everytime. Matt trying to talk him through spots and double teams and it blowing up in their faces was great. It felt like they were fighting a hopeless battle and managed to pull a win out of their ass. I think it's a match that every Bucks hater should watch as it will open their eyes to what they are capable of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 I've still got the 3 main matches to go but I have loved this card so far. I thought the Bucks vs. Sanada/Evil match was amazing. Nick selling that ankle was top notch and I love that he was forced to still attack with it and paid the price everytime. Matt trying to talk him through spots and double teams and it blowing up in their faces was great. It felt like they were fighting a hopeless battle and managed to pull a win out of their ass. I think it's a match that every Bucks hater should watch as it will open their eyes to what they are capable of.I thought it was flawed but fun. Here's what I said in the Meltzer thread. "The idea that the Bucks' match was 4.5 stars speaks to the inflation as much as anything else, maybe because we have so many other 4.5 star matches to compare it to. It was a fun little thought experiment of a match: "What if you tack on hyper-focused limb selling to a standard sort of YB NJPW match?" but it wasn't any sort of organic selling that drove the spots; instead the spots drove the selling. The back selling was far more inconsistent and never, to me, felt earned. The timing on the mid-match hot tag was hardly maximized and the work that he had to do for it involved a lot of standing around a waiting for people to get into their places. Again, fun thought experiment and solid effort but 4.5 stars apparently don't buy you what they once did." There were moments where they used the leg selling as an excuse to not sell other things as well. The cart was driving the horse which made it all seemed way more staged and contrived than any tag match I'm going to rate highly can be. I did love the moment when Sanada kicked the leg out on the apron though. That was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 I don't remember now but in the moment I remember where the back selling came from. He started doing it and I was like oh yeah that happened here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 Then he dropped it and came back to it a few other convenient times. In and of itself, that might not have bugged me or even been a plus but in a match where they were running the leg experiment, it was jarring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartMark15 Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 Let's try this again. Try clicking here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 I fucking love New Japan Jericho. He is off the charts in this match and it's amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 And I'll say this on the women's wrestling/NJPW debate. I would certainly love to see women's wrestling in NJPW even if I don't have a problem with it being a men's only promotion. Obviously joshi isn't as big as it was back in the 80's-90's as Stardom might only draw about 2,000 fans at their biggest shows rather than 10,000 like NJPW does. And even if Stardom isn't much smaller than the various other non-NJPW Japanese promotions, NJPW would obviously give them a much bigger platform and perhaps some more bargaining power if WWE ever comes knocking. The funny thing to me is that while folks like Grimmas are serious advocates for women having a bigger platform in wrestling, there are so many folks using the NJPW criticism simply to defend WWE's decision to do the GRR and don't actually give a shit about women's wrestling in Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDuke Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 really cool video. Let us know when you post more as I enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donsem43 Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 A preview of New Japan women's division Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Let's try this again. Try clicking here. Well done. Liked this a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 I knew it was never going to happen and it might kill his act but no Chris Jericho in the G-1 bums me out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Jericho works way better once in a while only. The Climax would indeed kills what makes him special. BTW, do you have the list of participants ? I may try to follow it this year (I passed on watching last years). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Jericho works way better once in a while only. The Climax would indeed kills what makes him special. BTW, do you have the list of participants ? I may try to follow it this year (I passed on watching last years). Kazuchika Okada Jay White Hiroshi Tanahashi Kenny Omega Tetsuya Naito Minoru Suzuki Tomohiro Ishii Evil Hangman Page Sanada Juice Robinson Toru Yano Bad Luck Fale Yoshi-Hashi Hirooki Goto Kota Ibushi Zack Sabre, Jr. Tama Tonga Michael Elgin Togi Makabe No blocks yet, but it's the same lineup as last year except Nagata and Kojima are out, Hangman Page and Jay White are in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 No blocks yet, but it's the same lineup as last year except Nagata and Kojima are out, Hangman Page and Jay White are in. Thanks. Ugh... I can deal with Hangman Page, he's got a throwback look and is a workhorse, but Jay White... not exactly feeling like going through a bunch of Jay White matches. And really, Fale, Makabe and Tonga really aren't very appealing to me either... I I may be cherry picking this one again or wait for the final stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 I was hoping we'd get Jeff Cobb or some other surprise/outsider (Johnny Mundo was also rumored, which would have at least been different), but nothing like that this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Even TAICHI would have been cool. I'm a Yano fan, so I like the bullshit guys, it's a nice change of pace and give a different dynamic. Or heck, Dave Finlay Jr. and his scrappy look would do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 I was, legit, hoping for the Beer City Bruiser. He seemed like he'd be super fun based on the way the crowd responded to him during the Honor Rising shows and his match with Naito. Excited for Page, though, really curious to see what he can do in this context. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Yeah, this is going to be a lot of Jay White and I don't think anyone is looking forward to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Yep. Way too much White stuff thrown in my face, really... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 I want a Suzuki/Ishii match out of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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