Robert S Posted March 23, 2021 Report Share Posted March 23, 2021 10 months don't sound fast to me. Even in competitive sports you can make that recovery and probably faster (being back in 7-8 months is definitely not unheard of; quick googling says a usual recovery time for athletes is something in the range of 6 to 9 months, so the 10 months are actually and the slower side), and in wrestling you can theoretically return and take it easy for a months or two while you are still re-building muscle mass and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted March 24, 2021 Report Share Posted March 24, 2021 I was always under the impression that was like a year recovery, but good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 24, 2021 Report Share Posted March 24, 2021 I wasn't feeling the Finlay push to the semi-finals, although Ospreay really had a terrific match with him. The final was awesome. If there's something NJPW can bring with regularity despite the booking issues lately, it's great pro-wrestling matches. Speaking of booking issue, the post-match was completely stupid. On 3/21/2021 at 4:57 PM, sek69 said: If nothing else it's extremely tone deaf to have  Will of all people do a "I'm so serious I'll abuse my girlfriend to prove it" angle. All that was missing was David Crockett yelling SHE LIKES IT TONY On 3/21/2021 at 7:58 PM, Tenese Sarwieh said: It's a bad look to have Will do the angle but why even do it when you know you can't get the response from the crowd you want? Pure foolishness. Yes, and yes. It's funny because for a long time, Gedo had been praised by some because of his love for old-school territory US pro-wrestling. The issue is, he's bringing more and more US bad bullshit to NJPW instead of focusing on building great arcs with Japanese characters (like he did with Okada, Tanahashi and Naito, although you can argue he fucked it up with the later). The never-ending repetitive bullshit in EVIL matches, super dated gimmicks like Great-O-Khan and now yeah, a really dumb mid 00's WWE-like spot in front of a totally unreactive crowd (I will take a wild guess and say they would have not reacted anyway, they looked nonplussed). If that's his idea of growing NJPW has a global brand, especially in the US, well, tone-deaf indeed, in more ways than one. Gedo can still book a mean G1 (although the perspective of having both EVIL & Great O-Khan this year is really scary and pretty much kills the mere idea of it being as great as the last few years, including last year which only had one great Block, really), but to me the last year and a half shows he's going way into the wrong direction. Inspire yourself more from Choshu & Baba already and less from Dusty & Vince. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kas Posted March 24, 2021 Report Share Posted March 24, 2021 Ospreay vs Shingo was indeed great, but Ospreay has lost something for me since turning HW though I can't really put my finger on what it is. As for Gedo, he seems to be forgetting why New Japan exploded recently, and that's cause it was completely different from what we were seeing in the West. Having talented wrestlers and putting them in gimmicks like Master Wato and Great-O-Khan is the exact opposite of what people want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 24, 2021 Report Share Posted March 24, 2021 7 hours ago, kas said: Ospreay vs Shingo was indeed great, but Ospreay has lost something for me since turning HW though I can't really put my finger on what it is. Personally, I despise his "I am a heel now LOOK AT ME" facial expressions he has started doing since his move up. Edge-level awful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 24, 2021 Report Share Posted March 24, 2021 Ospreay is banged up, but he works so much smarter than he used to do a few years ago, overall he's a much much better worker, which is kinda scary, as he can still do the craziest shit when he wants to. That counter off the Pumping Bomber is legendary. The match with Ibushi should be off the charts (which is crazy expectations, as if it's just excellent it'll look like a disappointment). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted March 27, 2021 Report Share Posted March 27, 2021 Shingo just should've won. There was already a story there with him beating Ibushi in the G1. Layup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeg Posted March 27, 2021 Report Share Posted March 27, 2021 On 3/23/2021 at 1:27 PM, Boss Rock said: YOH is coming back at Sakura Genesis. Not a doctor, but coming back 10 months removed from an ACL injury seems pretty miraculous. 9 months is typical if only the ACL was torn. Sometimes more, sometimes less. If its the unhappy triad (torn ACL, MCL, and PCL) and meniscus that's usually 11 months plus. Its not like 30 years ago where an ACL meant you were done for two years and never came back the same. I'm not a doctor either, just somebody who's had a few meniscus repairs. Edit- Sorry I just saw @Robert S said the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted March 27, 2021 Report Share Posted March 27, 2021 No worries, I appreciate the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 The new belt is shit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 It suuuuuucks. Seriously, why get rid of one the best-looking titles ever? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kas Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 Awful looking belt. Co-sign what Boss Rock said, why get rid of a title that looks so incredible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 Yeah, not a fan. What are they going for with that shape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RingoPlaysDrums Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 I don't hate it at all. I kinda like the Decepticon-like shape actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 Wow, it looks even worse than the 2nd generation belt. Not sure there was any way it would look better on the level of the last one though, that shit was flames and one of the best looking belts ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 Yeah that belt design is a solid no from me, dawg. Not sure why they couldn't just update the design of the previous one to have it say World Championship or something. It looks like one of Jeff Hardy's custom belts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 30, 2021 Report Share Posted March 30, 2021 It looks like the universal title and the divas title had a really ugly baby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 The IWGP Heavyweight Title was the best looking belt in all of wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 Funny, I never thought the former design was all that great (that goes for the IC belt too). It's nowhere near as bad as the infamous "crown" belt. And really, new belt haters is not what NJPW should worry about. They have drawn flies at Korakuen Hall and are presenting a totally subpar card for 4/4. The main event should be awesome. The rest of the card is pretty much nothing (yeah, the junior heavyweight tag team match should be good but nothing special and really redondant by now). And they have two stadium shows coming, which is complete insanity. Sure, the pandemic has hit them hard, but maybe just maybe one year of awful EVIL bullshit and now Great O-Khan push, with a super stale undercard, is finally biting them in the ass. Okada hurting as he is means he can't be shot back in the title picture for now. They sure need a shot in the arm from *somewhere*... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 I do like the theory that they were forced to unify the belts cuz Ibushi is an alien on Earth who might be one of the greatest athletes of all time in wrestling history, but doesn't understand how to carry two pieces of tin on his shoulders to the ring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 There's nothing wrong with the new belt per se, but the original design was perfect and didn't need to be changed. It's the New Coke of belts. As for New Japan's struggles at the gate, I hate to say it, but could Ibushi be the problem? It could be a classic case of people being more into a guy chasing the championship than actually being champion. Then again, they've done a piss-poor job of setting up compelling challengers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 I think Ibushi has been booked horribly since the G1 but I think it's unfair to blame him for the poor drawing. Firstly they're capped on how many they can have in the buildings. This means that they're trying to make up for that by running ten million Road To shows, which given what time some of them have been on and how they mostly have the same card I don't think Hulk Hogan in 1985 could have drawn well in those conditions. Secondly, they lost the traditional Fantasticamania tour with the CMLL guys and they aren't doing Super Juniors so replacing them with bog standard house shows diminishes the need to buy a ticket even more. I don't think the company is particularly hot right now. Where New Japan used to have clear directions for all the big stars, everything now seems to be just freewheeling. What is Jay White's story right now? It seemed like they were onto something hot with his post-WK promo but now he's just doing the same old shit as 2018 with the cheating and a feud with Tanahashi. Okada finally landed the Rainmaker and beat Ospreay in a classic match at WK. So is he back to his best and chasing the title? No, he's just doing undercard nothing. I know the pandemic has turned a lot of shit upside down but they really need to establish some new narratives and fast. I would however caution against real close analysis of attendances right now for the reasons above. Wait til things are a bit more back to normal and see if they're drawing better houses. I think in normal conditions, things would be down a bit with this booking but not completely in the mud the way Meltzer and others are making out. As for the new belt, I don't hate it but to steal a point from John Carroll of Wrestling Omakase, they've traded in a 10/10 belt for a 7/10 belt. The prior IWGP title was up there with the Big Gold Belt for all time greatest wrestling titles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 12 minutes ago, FMKK said: Okada finally landed the Rainmaker and beat Ospreay in a classic match at WK. So is he back to his best and chasing the title? No, he's just doing undercard nothing. To be fair, Okada is apparently hurting pretty bad now. And he has a story going on, with him not giving any respect to Ibushi at all in the 6 men tag they are having together with Tana. I guess it could lead to Okada winning the G1, but he really should get some rest in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted March 31, 2021 Report Share Posted March 31, 2021 The pandemic has obviously put a damper on things, but both NOAH and Stardom just outdrew them at Budokan. If that isn't cause for alarm, I don't know what is. I'm kind of worried that the whole deal with Ospreay and Priestley was a harbinger of more wild angles to try to heat things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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