Current New Japan

[El-P]

On 3/29/2022 at 3:49 PM, Migs said:

 

• ZSJ-Ospreay
• ZSJ-Shingo

Watched those two, and yeah, these were great matches. The Ospreay one in particular was amazing, and really it's legit N°3 MOTYC for Ospreay, in three totally different styles. He put on a selling clinic in this one too. And ZSJ absolutely rules and remains one of the most fun pro-wrestler to watch anywhere.

[sek69]

Great O-Kahn stopped a drunk guy from abducting a young girl and held the guy until police arrived,  so dude's the #1 babyface in my book now.

[El-P]

Lone Star Shootout show was super easy and digestible (a nice quality during this week-end), capped off by two legit great matches in Jay White vs Mike Bailey (interesting to see Bailey excel too in this different setting of strict heel/face dynamic and slower style) and Ishii vs Dickinson (just what anyone could expect from these two). Suzuki vs Kross was good and really Kross is the most at ease in that kind of style. Much easier to watch than a regular NJPW Japan show and the second best show of the Mania week-end to me (haven't watched the IMPACT show yet though).

[kas]

Great stuff between Okada and Zack. 

Spoiler

Okada vs Naito 3 is up next. This one feels a lot less predictable than their previous two matches.

 

[Migs]

I thought the show overall was good. Felt a bit more like a big New Japan show than much since 2020, even if the quality wasn't as good as the shows in 2019 or before.

[sek69]

Fightful stated NJPW is able to get visas for foreign talent again like they could pre-COVID so barring any disasters G1 this year is probably going to be bonkers. 

[Boss Rock]

Definitely good news that everyone may be able to come back.

Sabre-Okada was great, probably their best match together. And at 28 minutes, it seems we may be getting closer and closer to shorter main events.

[El-P]

Okada vs ZSJ was high art in term of pro-wrestling. Some of the nearfalls and sequences toward the end were insane.

Did not watch the entire card though. EVIL single match = banned. Ishii doing some funny sumo shit was kinda cute, good throwing technique to win the match. Hopefully the Shingo match doesn't get silly and gets all stiff and stuff.

[Boss Rock]

Pretty ridiculous that for a U.S. ppv I have to pay outside of what I normally do for a streaming service I am already paying for.

[sek69]

It's going to be available on NJPW World in a couple weeks, I assume due to whatever deal they had with FITE. 

[Timbo Slice]

Did they really do a fuck finish to protect Ospreay against MOXLEY? Where there’s absolutely no question whatsoever who’s the more important talent in that partnership regardless of home promotion? Good lord. 

[Tetsujin]

I think it was clearly a botch. Mox even smiles at the end after hitting the ref like wtf dude.

[El-P]

It's storyline. There's a beef between this referee and Ospreay already. This was the closest thing to a fuck finish without doing one. The match was all kind of awesome, and Ospreay is pilling up MOTYC's since the beginning of the year, four of them now in completely different ways. I can't believe I just saw Ospreay vs Mox either. Japan opening up is gonna be crazy when all the guys who want to go will be able to.

Speaking of which, Suzuki vs Ishii was as great as it was supposed to be (how long can Ishii go at this level, while he's looking older and older ?) and now we get to see Ishii vs Kingston.

White vs Umino was excellent. I've see White have so many excellent to great matches lately against a bunch of different opponents and this was no different. This guy works like some 35-40 years old veteran in term of psychology, controlling the pace, heel work, controlling the crowd... He's so good right now, it's flying under the radar but he's a legit very top worker in the world.

The undercard was plenty of fun, although the Chicago Street Fight went way too long and the pacing was all over the place (still, some really crazy shit, that Jonah ladder squash was ridiculous).

[sek69]

Yeah it was clearly supposed to play off other instances of the ref accidentally (?) screwing Ospreay, but they apparently did it so well everyone thought it was a legit screwup.

[Timbo Slice]

It’s a dumb way to end a match regardless. Those types of angles never lead to anything meaningful even if they play off a mistake. It takes away from too much in the match. If it was a mistake, move on from it. Making it an angle is making way too much out of something that will have a minimal payoff at best. 

[kas]

Tanahashi vs Ishii was fantastic

[SirEdger]

So I guess that with Juice Robinson joining Bullet Club, we all got swerved when he said he was gonna slow down with pro wrestling.

[sek69]

CMLL, Impact, and AEW guys in the Best of the Super Juniors, nature is healing!

[kas]

Naito's eyes cannot catch a break 

 

[sek69]

The Dontaku show was pretty good, but did they really have to do the "person wins a title match, gets attacked by someone returning" deal so many times? It was like watching the nWo trample all over WCW geeks again. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

On 4/4/2022 at 8:47 AM, El-P said:

Lone Star Shootout show was super easy and digestible (a nice quality during this week-end), capped off by two legit great matches in Jay White vs Mike Bailey (interesting to see Bailey excel too in this different setting of strict heel/face dynamic and slower style) and Ishii vs Dickinson (just what anyone could expect from these two). Suzuki vs Kross was good and really Kross is the most at ease in that kind of style. Much easier to watch than a regular NJPW Japan show and the second best show of the Mania week-end to me (haven't watched the IMPACT show yet though).

I was at this show live and this was an easy #5 on my docket. 1. WrestleMania Night 1 2. GCW Bloodsport (w/ @shoe) 3. Martinez Entertainment Lucha Show (w/ Shoe) 4. Wrestlecon USA vs World (w/Shoe) and 5. NJPW Show. 

I thought this show as not bad per se, but just pedestrian. Minoru Suzuki does pretty much nothing for me at this point in his career. His match with Moxley in AEW Dynamite was absolutely terrible. It was pathetic stand and hit each bullshit. The match with Kross was just a step above this because he at least mixed in some comedy. He is shot. The best part of this match was Braun Strowman and Scarlett watching from the side. The best part was Kross was getting heckling so bad, Scarlett pity cheered for Kross from the back row. Yeah that match was meh. I thought Chris Dickinson vs Tomohiro Ishii was a fall out of bed good match, but nothing super special. 

Bailey was the MVP of the weekend and I didnt even see his best shit. He had an amazing match with Davey Richards at USA vs World and I am not a Davey Richards guy and had a strong match at Bloodsport. He had a great match with milquetoast Jay White. It is funny when you say "strict heel/face" dynamic. JAY WHITE DOES NOT DO ANYTHING HEELISH! It drove me nuts. The dude is not a heel. I have seen a couple of his matches and he is another generic 21st Century heel. Bailey dragged a very good match out of him, by using time-tested psychology of going for high-risk highspots and get this, he would miss them! This would give Jay White openings to take advantage and then it would escalate further and further. It was beautiful pro wrestling. Every wrestler needs to realize not every move has to hit! 

I could see someone say this is an average show, but second best. I dont know, brutha. I really just wanted to comment on the strict face/heel when Jay White does nothing heelish and it drives me nuts. 

[NintendoLogic]

I haven't seen the match in question, but I'm genuinely surprised to see a complaint that Jay White does nothing heelish. If nothing else, I've always been impressed by his absolute commitment to being a completely unlikable scumbag. Maybe he wrestles differently when he isn't seconded by Gedo.

[El-P]

22 hours ago, Superstar Sleeze said:

 It is funny when you say "strict heel/face" dynamic. JAY WHITE DOES NOT DO ANYTHING HEELISH! It drove me nuts. The dude is not a heel. I have seen a couple of his matches and he is another generic 21st Century heel. Bailey dragged a very good match out of him, by using time-tested psychology of going for high-risk highspots and get this, he would miss them! This would give Jay White openings to take advantage and then it would escalate further and further. It was beautiful pro wrestling. Every wrestler needs to realize not every move has to hit! 

Sorry my friend, but it has to be the worst take I've seen on Jay White thus far. As far as "not doing anything heelish", I don't even know what match you're watching then, because Jay White IS heel personified. Every little steps he takes is heel, every look he gives, every smiles he makes is heel. He's doing *nothing* but heel things. And the psychology, well, I love Mike Bailey, but this was 95% a Jay White style match, so yep, the psychology was great and the fact Bailey missed a lot of moves is absolutely a stamp of White's style, as he's all about countering every move his opponent does and make them miss and make mistakes, anyone knowing their Jay White's well would recognize that this match was typical Jay White. If "doing heelish things" is acting like a cliché 80/90's US guy, sure, he's not gonna do that. If "doing heelish things is" 

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

 absolute commitment to being a completely unlikable scumbag.

then Jay White is still the best of them all. Which he is.

[El-P]

On 5/1/2022 at 7:12 PM, SirEdger said:

So I guess that with Juice Robinson joining Bullet Club, we all got swerved when he said he was gonna slow down with pro wrestling.

Yeah, that's one hell of working the masses, because no one saw that coming, unlike the Good Brothers showing up in NJPW again (I mean, that's what they wanted to do after getting fired from WWE in 2020, they just had to wait for almost two years in IMPACT in the meantime).

Naito vs Okada seems like a match we've seen too many times at this point, but still, at the end of the night it was excellent (although too long).

Tanahashi vs Ishii on the other hand... Holy fuck that match was pro-wrestling greatness in all its glory. Tanahashi really has a case for GOAT (and by that I mean legit greatest of all time, not GOAT this GOAT that that's thrown around about everything and everyone everywhere all the time ) and Ishii is a headcase of how in the hell can he still go at that level on such a broken body still ? 

If the undercards weren't so tired and cruise-control and the House of Torture shit wasn't an automatic FF, there's still a lot of promising stuff for NJ with the country opening up. Interesting line-up for the Super Juniors, but I must say 10 a block with guys like Douki is just way too much people and matches. Cherry picking in order at the very least.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I should emphasized the part where I said I have seen a couple of his matches. When I eventually watch his stuff in 2024, I will take note of this. I standby that based on what I have seen I dont see him as a great heel. He is like a taller Adam Cole to me. I will say if he was the one who engineered the missed highspots to generate openings for his own offense and that is a trademark of his style, kudos to him. That is really terrific stuff. I will be on lookout for that in future matches of his to see if there is a pattern. 

Thanks for the tips!