Current New Japan

[El-P]

6 minutes ago, Superstar Sleeze said:

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. 

He works nothing like Adam Cole though, who's really a go-go-go maximalist with a taste for brawls and receiving huge beatings (a la Raven). His entire style is about slowing down his opponents, countering *each and every one* of their key moves (or preventing them from executing them in tricky ways, like dropping down on his knees from exhaustion at the right moment, almost as a half-troll), including at very key moments in the sprint to the finish segment, and being a dickhead of course. In NJPW you would also get some Gedo out the ring fuckery (although nowhere even near the Dick Togo bullshit in EVIL matches, which makes them automatic FF stuff to me).

The one thing about his stint in the US, is that because he is who he is (a top guy from NJPW and a great worker), people will react to him in a much favorable way, because that's how it works. He's not gonna pander to them though, but he's also gonna bask in his glory if it happens because there's no reason why not to. So he's doing less than he would in Japan, because of his status in front of a hardcore US audience. In Japan he had some hilarious heel shit during the pandemic where he would encourage the crowd to chant for his opponents, which they were not allowed to do because of restrictions, or start clapping in an irregular cadence which no one could follow.

[kas]

I find that Jay White isn't working as well on American TV, mostly cause the crowd just seem to refuse to boo him. That match with Shota was him heeling it up and still getting cheers for it. If you want his best matches, I'd say check this https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1a4411Q7E6/ (Vs Kota Ibushi 08/12/2019) and this https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=275780602977998 (Vs Juice Robinson 07/07/2018) out.

[sek69]

Titan showing off a new Tiger Mask themed design for Best of the Super Juniors.

[strobogo]

Jay White did absolutely nothing for me until the G1 in 2020 and he ended up being the MVP and most entertaining guy on the roster.

[Tetsujin]

Two of the greatest White heel performances must be the G1 2020 Ishii match, and last year's Tanahashi NEVER title match (which is the only pandemic era match I'm considering all time great, and the only japanese one that made me forget the crowd couldn't do shit 100% of the time).

But yeah, any match since his 2019 G1 run serves you to see how much of a prodigy he has become. Already one of the best wrestlers in the world, and probably the best heel in pro wrestling in at least the last five years.

[sek69]

At this point it's a toss up between White and Adam Page in terms of who went faster from "I don't get what the fuss is about this guy" to "holy shit, this guy is awesome"
.

[NintendoLogic]

Hangman vs. Switchblade should be the main event of Forbidden Door II. Book it, Tony.

[El-P]

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

Hangman vs. Switchblade should be the main event of Forbidden Door II. Book it, Tony.

That would be the optimum match, yes ! Plus, Page was a part of the Bullet Club before he left NJPW.

[Jmare007]

Reading on twitter Ibushi is back full force with fuckery only understood by him

[WingedEagle]

Who's this Kikuchi he's been talking about/to?

[NintendoLogic]

Ibushi called New Japan a black company, which is a Japanese term for companies that heavily exploit their employees. Keep in mind that it's currently 2 in the morning in Japan. I have a feeling things are going to get really interesting in a few hours.

[El-P]

Either it's an elaborate work.

Either shit's about to hit the fan. (one way or another)

[sek69]

Either he just went full Ryback (you never go full Ryback) or he just blew the lid off some shit.

[Jmare007]

This is the best summary and translation of Ibushi's latest tweets

Whoever that Kikuchi guy is, he fucked up royally.

[DR Ackermann]

Is this Tsuyoshi Kikuchi??? Or someone else?

[Jmare007]

I assumed it's another person, never heard nor read about Tsuyoshi Kikushi working a management gig in New Japan. I could be totally wrong though, of course.

[NintendoLogic]

According to VOW (which apparently somehow has legit Japanese sources), Ibushi has had heat with Kikuchi dating back to 2018 when he thought he was being stiffed on merch money. It also said that Kikuchi has a rep for being a hardass about maintaining kayfabe and things like wrestlers from opposing factions not being seen in public together. In addition, he wants the young and good-looking wrestlers to keep their romantic relationships under wraps to avoid alienating female fans. It'd be one thing if those were the rules across the board, but he apparently enforces them selectively and unfairly.

[El-P]

This guy sounds dated and dense enough to work at the Nihon Sumo Kyokai. 

[kas]

The VOW report just seems a bit off to me. There's them saying that Ibushi was ready to return for the NJC despite him tweeting yesterday he can only bench 40kg, there's the fact that he has heat with Taka and Taichi but is being threatened over his appearance at JTO which is Taka's promotion, and there's the fact that they just suddenly have a bunch of information that has come out that they have not reported on in the past (though I could be wrong on this point).

There's also this

 

[El-P]

And so apparently that Kikuchi fellow was gone and brought back when Dick Togo gained power with the booking. So the question arises ? How the fuck did Dick Togo gain any booking power in a company that he never worked for (I guess the answer is : he's friends with Gedo, although I was under the impression Gedo was not on the same page booking-wise, so I dunno) and why every time his name comes up it's about awful stuff that is negatively effecting the company (the EVIL push, House of Torture) ? NJPW needs some political shaking again...

[Jmare007]

Ibushi's current health status sounds like it could be neck issues? I remember Danielson saying he couldn't lift a damn thing by the time WM 30 came around and that's why he had to get surgery sooner than planned because he was risking permanent damage. IIRC his arm strength didn't come back soon either and it was a reason his comeback was delayed.

[kas]

 

[KawadaSmile]

This is dangerous for him, I'd say. Also, Pride FC went down the drain pretty fast when something similar happened.

[Jmare007]

1 hour ago, KawadaSmile said:

This is dangerous for him, I'd say. Also, Pride FC went down the drain pretty fast when something similar happened.

NOAH went to shit when its Yakuza ties were exposed too. I guess it has to be proved to become a massive deal but considering mob ties with pro wrestling lie deep, it wouldn't surprise anyone that New Japan has them too, so if they get investigated....

[sek69]

9 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

NOAH went to shit when its Yakuza ties were exposed too. I guess it has to be proved to become a massive deal but considering mob ties with pro wrestling lie deep, it wouldn't surprise anyone that New Japan has them too, so if they get investigated....

New Japan absolutely has had ties, if not now they did in the 90s when the first row of most shows looked like a Chono cosplay convention was in town.