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1 hour ago, Tetsujin said:

Moxley didn't make it to Japan because of the Typhoon, so he vacated the US title and Juice is gonna fight Archer for it today.

That sucks.

That does suck!

Happy for Archer to be getting his shot though and I hope they can get Mox for the Dome as a make good.

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3 hours ago, FMKK said:

Okada is Okada and he'll always be pushed hard but I feel like I can't wait for them to change the belt at Wrestlekingdom just to get some fresh matches on top.

Yeah, they burnt through so much in the 2 year reign that there just doesn't seem to be a lot of new stuff for him to do on top. (Although going back to the well with Suzuki was fun, at least.)

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44 minutes ago, Coffey said:

Man, I have loved Archer in 2019. That dude has come a long way since feeling like a Test rip off in the Impact Zone, drinking beer after the matches with the marks.

I was a little bit distracted with a small child during that match, but it seemed pretty fun. He's having quite a year.

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I haven't watched the rest of the card yet, and I guess the junior title match is gonna steal the show as far as action goes, but Suzuki vs Liger was terrific. I did not expect it to be that good. The post-match was also awesome in its minimalistic, very japanese way.

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All hail the new U.S. Champ. I love Juice but it's time for something new.

Overall a good show. Suzuki-Liger was good even if I was a bit disappointed by it not being a wild, chaotic brawl. Junior HW title match was probably MOTN the night and thankfully the overbooking didn't ruin it. Ibushi-EVIL was really good and for a match where the winner wasn't in any doubt, they made EVIL look like he could pull it off. Ditto for the ME. Pretty much what you'd expect from the Okada-SANADA formula but there was a bit more learned psychology and they moved a bit quicker this time around.

Overall good show.

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19 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

Moxley didn't make it to Japan because of the Typhoon, so he vacated the US title and Juice is gonna fight Archer for it today.

That sucks.

I didn't realize Typhoon was still wrestling. 

That would make an interesting AEW main event.

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Yeah pretty happy with an Archer title run. Although I dunno what are they gonna do with Mox and Juice, because clearly they have that one match left at WK, but it being a non-title bout? Not sure about it. Maybe a triple threat with Archer?

 

Also, #NaitoTwoBelts seems closer than ever. Okada just said he will defend the world title both nights, and both Ibushi and White want to be double champions. Naito just needs to beat Taichi at PS and then challenging White at WK.

 

Oh, and Liger will have two retirement matches. That's something.

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I thought this show overstayed its welcome and felt way too long to me. The issue is that the last two matches were basically technicalities. That's why I don't care for the "Winner of G1 goes to the Tokyo Dome" gimmick, it's way to WWEiffy, complete with the stupid breifcase. It makes pretty much every title and briefcase defense useless from August to January. The Ibushi vs EVIL match was particulary boring to me, because there's nothing worst than a fake epic match where the result is actually never in doubt. Plus, EVIL is a good worker, not a great one and not particulary compelling. As much as I enjoyed him in the G1 this year, this match was a complete throaway that would have been fine as a 15 mn sprint, but I guess that's a lost concept sadly. Ditto for the main event, we've seen that match too many times this year already, although it was much better for obvious reasons (EVIL just isn't a top guy, while SANADA still looks like he could be, not that's not a given either).

I thought Ospreay vs Fantasmo was awesome for 20 minutes, and then they kinda lost me after the outside interference (again, Gedo and its american wrestling fetish can get annoying). Then they went into overkill to me. Also, that damn back elbow needs to be worked in a way the guy taking it is a bit protected, Fantasmo got decapitated in this one. 

So, overall I'd have Liger vs Suzuki as the match of the night, easily. And Lance Archer vs Juice was a very good garbage brawling match, although a bit deliberate I thought at time.

The other highlight was the KENTA and Ishii interactions during the six-men match, really made me want to watch that one (haven't seen the London show). 

The rest was ok, but again, as much as I enjoy their pariring, yet another Taichii vs Naito match ? I feel a sense of sameness in NJ right now with not much in term of fresh matches on top. The G1 has been awesome, but the booking id dragging its feet to the Dome, which will probably be awesome all things considered...

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Tbf, I feel like Taichi vs Naito was a last minute substitute because ZSJ couldn't travel. But yeah, they need some fresh matches on top and I think that'll ultimately mean cycling Okada out of the title picture for 2020. Whether Gedo can stick to this is a different matter. Ibushi or Naito carrying things could at least give us some new main events.

Hopefully G1 being in the autumn next year means we can cut down on the formality briefcase matches and just go straight into the January 4th main event.

In fairness, I haven't got to watch the actual show properly yet but I felt some of your booking concerns just looking at the card before it even happened.

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The fall stretch from KOPW to WK is usually NJPW's down period in terms of booking. They haven't done a title change post-G1 since 2014, so there's never any doubt what the main event is going to be. Not to mention apart from a few developments at Power Struggle, it's pretty much just the two tag leagues. The Junior tag league can be entertaining but the Heavyweight tag league is always a hard skip

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  • 3 weeks later...

There have been so many times where Hiromu seemed like he was returning so I'm not necessarily getting my hopes up but it really seems like the obvious play.

We might also see a Jericho run-in to set up the Tanahashi match. Kenta Vs Ishii should be excellent too. But other than that, this is a weak show. I can sort of forgive them for Naito Vs Taichi again because I think Zack would've been in that spot if not for the typhoon. But really, the lesson they need to take from 2019 is that they badly need to get some new people into the top mix to save us from so many repeat matches.

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Yeah, like the last few big shows, there's nothing too exciting about this one. I can absolutely take another Naito vs Taiichi match, as I'm a fan of both, KENTA vs Ishii could and should be the best KENTA match in NJPW yet. Ospreay vs Bushi should be quite good thanks to Will, but it's not a super exciting match-up. Ditto White vs Goto, which will be as good as White will make it to be.

It's odd, I love the G1 more than seemingly anything else each year, but apart from this and a few big shows, I really am not that interested in following week to week NJPW. There's definitely some staleness to it. Huge peaks, better peaks than anyone, but long valleys too. They really need to mix it up, and EVIL & SANADA aren't the answers as showed by the last big show.

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Tbf, I've been catching up on the Junior Tag League this evening and there's been some awesome stuff. Rocky/Taguchi vs Sho and Yo and Rocky/Taguchi vs Birds of Prey were both great matches and definitely worth catching up on if you have a spare moment.

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5 hours ago, Coffey said:

Ishii is a beast. He's had a monster 2019. His match with KENTA tonight was good. This whole show has been damn entertaining to be honest.

Eh, I don't love when it's literally 15 minutes of slapping each other. Ishii was great, there just wasn't much to the match.

Ospreay-BUSHI was really good (lots of little creative stuff in there) and the aftermath was exceptional.

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Surprisingly good show. Not to say I thought it would be bad, but really everything delivered for the most part with the exception of the main event which was still solid.

Hiromu's return was terrific. Was disappointed there was no Shibata angle after KENTA-Ishii, but his involvement in the main event makes he believe he's at least going to be in a tag match at WK.

The crowd was surprisingly not that into the idea of a double title match.

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