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They'll presumably only do 6 matches a night, so there's not a lot of gaps to fill there that aren't taken care of with the other title matches. The big name open on that list is SANADA, which makes the IC Title match vs Naito seem likely. Feels like they could do that as a main event for one night if they supported it with a couple of other bigger matches.

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10 hours ago, WingedEagle said:

I'm a little curious how they're going to shoot angles for 2 nights worth of WK given the calendar.  No Destruction of KOPW tours this year and BOSJ/WTTL can set up title matches in those two divisions but not necessarily more.  So we've presumably got 

1) Naito vs. Ibushi

2) Okada vs. Ospreay

3) Hiromu vs. BOSJ winner

4) ZSJ/Taichi vs. WTTL winners

5) Evil vs. White

6) Tana vs. KENTA or Moxley around the US Title seems like a possible direction.

But, again, that's over 2 nights.  Lot of gaps to fill there.  What do you do for the top of the card on the second?  Even if they want to, treating the Dome like a New Beginning/Destruction tour where you've got a couple big matches every night will be tough this year because they unified the IWGP & IC Titles.  

That's why I think they ought to do an Intercontinental title main event on night one and a Heavyweight title main event on night two. And I guess if they can get Moxley in for a marquee match on one night they could get Jericho in to face like Suzuki or someone. It's still tough going to fill those nights even with that. They're going to have to let some of the lower guys have programmes.

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I'm not sure I'd go as far... really good but ended up feeling a little long for the story they were telling. I did really like the parallel story they were telling with Yoshi-Hashi and Douki. Looks like the payoff is Yoshi-Hashi and Goto getting a tag title shot next week, which should be fun.

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7 hours ago, Migs said:

I'm not sure I'd go as far... really good but ended up feeling a little long for the story they were telling. I did really like the parallel story they were telling with Yoshi-Hashi and Douki. Looks like the payoff is Yoshi-Hashi and Goto getting a tag title shot next week, which should be fun.

This is basically where I landed on the match.  A really fun ***3/4 outing that was really fun and is hopefully yet another step towards making the 6 man straps a regular and big defense at Korakuen, but this was just a bit too long for me to rate as a truly great match.  Who would've thought that Yoshi-Hashi and Douki would be responsible for heating a main event match like this?  Between this and the G1 its been Yoshi-Hashi season!

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BTW, sumo's next basho will be at 50% capacity in the building. Wonder if NJPW will follow the trend for their next big show on the 7th.

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

Also, I dig the spot where he sits on his opponent in the corner while Ospreay and Priestley drive their boots into his temples. 

Not sold on Great-O-Khan, but sold on Priestley being Ospreay's Sensationnal Sherri.

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6 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

NJPW World has made some vast improvements over the past few weeks. I love it.

I would hope so. As an Indian, one of the most frustrating aspects of NJPW World has been getting my cousins who are newer fans to watch old true NJPW classics, cuz they are so difficult to access. The non-Japanese secction has been so fucking difficult to access and use 

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A good show overall today. Hopefully Naito and EVIL never wrestle each other again though.

Spoiler

Jay White winning the briefcase was quite a shock and, if nothing else, will give future briefcase defences an air of uncertainty. The booking does seem as if they're heading towards another Gold Rush tournament which I am not a fan of.

 

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The EVIL push has been nothing less than a disaster. The main event was probably the most unbearable match I've seen all year. Fucking goes 20 minutes before two ref bumps, a hundred run-ins, a *swerve-bro* tease, ball shots galore, a ref that NEVER FUCKING DQ's anyone for ten minutes of complete bullshit to cap off a super tedious match. Fucking awful. This is HHH era boring with terrible Attitude Era clusterfuck booking. If I never ever see an EVIL long-ass match it'll be too soon.

Great'O Khan straight to the undercard 4 Life. Match against Okada was nothing, as Okada was cruising through a match whose ending was never ever in doubt against a mediocre worker whose presentation is gimmicky as fuck. Ospreay channeling Ric Flair in a post-match promo made me rethink that his heel turn was a good idea. These two will still have a great match anyway.

In other news, Jay White vs Ibushi was really good until a finish that, well, was surprising enough I guess. Still, this is doom & gloom booking, which I don't think anyone needs right now.

KENTA vs Tanahashi was really good but nothing special. The briefcase bullshit is stupid and Marty Asami being a legit bad referee makes it unintentionaly comical (like, worst timing ever to turn his head away for no reason other than not seeing the briefcase shot, good ol' crappy Marty Asami).

Best match by a wide, wide margin was Suzuki vs Takagi beating the shit out of each other like they do. Not their best match or anything, but got great at the end.

Yano vs ZSJ was a complete waste of time and not very funny, and I like Yano (although he kinda got on my nerves this year in the G1 as his stuff was less funny and more grating).

Jeez, talk about making me not care at all about Wrestling Kingdom. I have no idea how they think they can do *two* nights with their current booking. Way too much straight heel vs babyface stuff with bullshit happening outside and ref bumps and run-ins, it's so tired. I wish Gedo was more a fan of 80's NJPW and less of 80's US territories, because although the guy can be brillant, when he's not his stuff can be brutally repetitive and tired, like a Dusty booked promotion in the late 80's. Apart from the G1, well, half of the G1 really, NJPW has been a total disappointment this year, with the godawful EVIL push, two newbies coming back with over gimmicked character and unimpressive work, Okada on total cruise control and insisting on trying to get his damn boring Money Clip over... See ya at the Dome I guess, but my interest has never been so low for the promotion since I got back on track in the mid 2010's, and I can't say this year has been any good in the grand scheme of things, too much boring bullshit at the top.

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Looks like they are doing Naito-Ibushi on Night 1, and White vs the winner on Night 2. Both matches feel like they need a decent undercard to me (although of course Okada and Ospreay should be crazy good).

I think this year has really driven home how much NJPW benefited from bringing in guys for big shows to create fresh match ups. They felt absolutely out of steams until they were able to bring some guys in for the G1, and they immediately feel back in that same place again. I'm the kind of weirdo who generally enjoys World Tag League just to see what interesting gaijin they bring in for that, and I doubt we're seeing that this year. BOSJ looks brutal.

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So yeah, Ibushi lost his briefcase (which is a gimmick I can't stand) but still gets the title shot at the Tokyo Dome. Which makes the whole briefcase matches completely useless. Funny that both Dave & Bryan were wrong arguing about it the other day : the story does makes sense but it still doesn't mean it's any good; and it doesn't make the *G1* useless, but the *defending of the briefcase* totally comes off useless now. So yeah, the booking makes sense, but it's still a terrible cop out to get two titles matches on the Dome show, with the second night being by far the lesser of the two on top of things. So no, not good booking by Gedo on this one. I get the feeling these shows are gonna be rough without the special attractions...

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