New Japan

[UVA_Guy81]

2019.01.04 WRESTLE KINGDOM 13 in TOKYO DOME | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

Looks like a fantastic card. Sucks that Suzuki is relegated to the preshow this year though.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Figure that I'll do a predictions post for WrestleKingdom 13:

Pre-show gauntlet match for the rights to face Bullet Club for the Never Openweight Six man belts at New Years Dash: Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe vs. David Finlay, Jeff Cobb and Yuji Nagata vs. Chucky T, Berretta, Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki and Killer Elite Squad vs. Marty Scurll, Adam Page and Yujiro Takahashi
I'm thinking that Chucky T, Beretta and Goto win just because when they'd face Bullet Club at New Year's Dash, one of them will turn, being the CHAOS mole that Jay White has been talking about.

Never Openweight Title: Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay
I have a feeling that this will be one of the top two matches of the night. I think that this will be the hardest match to predict because it's probably too soon to take the belt off of Ibushi but they've been pushing Ospreay quite a bit lately. So I'm going to go with my gut and say Ospreay becomes the new champion.

Jr Tag Team Championship: Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. SHO and YOH vs. Bushi and Shingo Takagi
I'm thinking that SHO and YOH take back the belts here. The match will probably be fine. I forgot that Kanemaru and Desperado were even the champs before the Jr Tag League.

British Heavyweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr
I believe that Ishii retains the belt here. Sabre has had his number as recently as the G1 so I wouldn't be shocked that Ishii gets the win here. These two have solid chemistry so it should be another solid match.

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Guerillas of Destiny vs. EVIL and SANADA vs. The Young Bucks
EVIL and SANADA will win this one I'm thinking. Not expecting too much from this one. There will probably be a lot of interference from Jado here but I'm thinking that he'll be taken out by someone. I'd be very shocked if the Bucks got the belts since they're likely heading out the door to ALL ELITE WRESTLING.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Title: Cody vs. Juice Robinson
Juice is getting the belt back here. For the same reason that the Bucks won't win in the previous match is why Cody won't win here. He's leaving the company and will do the job on the way out. Not expecting much from this match since Cody has always underwhelmed me in the ring.

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA vs. Taji Ishimori
Should be a fun match with KUSHIDA retaining.

Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White
Okada will win here. Jay White has gotten the better of him for the better part of the past six months so I think he and Gedo will get their comeuppance here. For White to get to the next level, he'll have to put on a solid performance against one of the best workers of this generation.

IWGP Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito
After the better part of a year of Jericho taunting Naito and Los Ingobernobles de Japon, he'll lose the belt here. This should be a fun match since Jericho usually brings the goods in big matches.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
This is a match that I'm eagerly anticipating. If the Ibushi vs. Ospreay match isn't the match of the night, this one likely will be. There's a reason that Kenny Omega is known as the Best Bout Machine. But all signs point to Tanahashi ending Omega's reign and becoming the new Champion.

Doubt that I'll be watching this live but I think this show alone would be worth the subscription price to New Japan World.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Never did get to check out Wrestle Kingdom unfortunately. I think when February 1 rolls around, I'm going to subscribe to NJPW World for a month and try to watch that, along with The New Beginning.

 

[wildturkey]

Never did get to check out Wrestle Kingdom unfortunately. I think when February 1 rolls around, I'm going to subscribe to NJPW World for a month and try to watch that, along with The New Beginning.

Jericho/Naito and Omega/Tanahashi were really good. The rest was pretty standard NJPW stuff which is still really good. If you want to save some bucks, you could probably find most of that show on Dailymotion if you search for it

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Jericho/Naito and Omega/Tanahashi were really good. The rest was pretty standard NJPW stuff which is still really good. If you want to save some bucks, you could probably find most of that show on Dailymotion if you search for it

I've tried doing that and another site that I go to that has a lot of recent New Japan stuff on there ( NJPW Archives - Free WWE, TNA, Online )but the links for Wrestle Kingdom aren't currently working.

 

[wildturkey]

I've tried doing that and another site that I go to that has a lot of recent New Japan stuff on there ( NJPW Archives - Free WWE, TNA, Online )but the links for Wrestle Kingdom aren't currently working.

Huh. You're right. Only match I found was White/Okada. New Japan stuff usually stays up pretty long (like weeks to months) on Dailymotion because I guess whoever does their copyright claims doesn't do their job well. But most of this show looks like its been scrubbed unless its buried deep under some other name.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Huh. You're right. Only match I found was White/Okada. New Japan stuff usually stays up pretty long (like weeks to months) on Dailymotion because I guess whoever does their copyright claims doesn't do their job well. But most of this show looks like its been scrubbed unless its buried deep under some other name.

On the site I listed, New Years Dash is still up but for whatever reason WK got taken down as well. I like the Suzuki/Sabre team so I think the match with them and Evil/Sanada is going to be the one I'm most looking forward to. I hope for their sake that Jay White can live up to the hype or else they have a plan B because while I think he's a solid worker, I don't think he's quite a main eventer yet. I equate him to late 90's Jeff Jarrett where he's a solid semi main eventer but I just don't buy him as a main eventer yet.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Jericho/Naito and Omega/Tanahashi were really good. The rest was pretty standard NJPW stuff which is still really good. If you want to save some bucks, you could probably find most of that show on Dailymotion if you search for it

The Jericho/Naito and Omega/Tanahashi matches, along with the Ospreay/Ibushi matches were the ones I was looking the most forward to. I figure that Ishii and Sabre had a solid match as well since I remember their G1 match being solid. The rest I don't really remember being too interested in one way or the other.
As for my predictions, it looks like I went 5 for 10. The one that I wish I had changed would've been the KUSHIDA match since I had heard rumors he was leaving. So that was dumb on my part for picking him to retain.

 

[wildturkey]

Anyone watching the G1 Supercard at MSG on Saturday?

Okada (c) vs Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Title
Jay Lethal (c) vs Marty Scurll vs Matt Taven for the ROH Title (Ladder match)
Naito (c) vs Ibushi for the IWGP IC Title
Zack Sabre Jr (c) vs Tanahashi for the British Heavyweight Title
GoD (c) vs PCO/Brody King (c) vs The Briscoes vs Evil/Sanada for the IWGP and ROH Tag Titles (winner take all)
Ishimori (c) vs Dragon Lee vs Bandido for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title
Will Ospreay (c) vs Jeff Cobb (c) for both the Never Openweight and ROH TV Titles
Bully Ray vs Juice Robinson
Dalton Castle vs Rush
Mayu Iwatani (c) vs Kelly Klein for the WOH Title
Honor Rumble


Should be a good show. Lots of potential for some great matches. Gonna be incredibly hard to top Takeover for the weekend's best show though

 

[futballiscool]

At the Garden show. Enzo and Cass hopped the barricade during the 4 way tag match off camera. Madness and locker room brawl ensued . Fun stuff!

 

[futballiscool]

The IWGP jr Heavyweight match was an insane spotfest

 

[wildturkey]

At the Garden show. Enzo and Cass hopped the barricade during the 4 way tag match off camera. Madness and locker room brawl ensued . Fun stuff!

Card was pretty good though. Would have liked for them to cut that Bully Ray stuff by 10 to 15 minutes and given that time to DragonLee/Bandido/Ishimori. That match was way too short. They were just getting going good and then its over

 

[futballiscool]

Card was pretty good though. Would have liked for them to cut that Bully Ray stuff by 10 to 15 minutes and given that time to DragonLee/Bandido/Ishimori. That match was way too short. They were just getting going good and then its over

I am seeing that reaction to the Enzo/Cass angle online but in the building it was a lot of fun.

Agree that Jr Heavyweight could have been given more time but they crammed as much as possible into that 10 mins.

There were some dull periods during the 1st half of the show but overall I thought they delivered

 

[UVA_Guy81]

To me, the NJPW stuff was solid, the ROH stuff was underwhelming. From what little I've seen of him, I've never been a fan of Matt Taven's work.
Glad to see Suzuki get a solid pop for coming out 2nd in the Rambo and eliminating a bunch of people. Although I was disappointed in the 4 way tag match. It seemed like Evil and Sanada just disappeared after 5 minutes. PCO is a crazy bastard. I'd say that either Naito-Ibushi or White-Okada was match of the night.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Did anyone ever hear an official reason why Suzuki isn't in the G1 this year? I heard a few rumors but never anything definitive. Still looking forward to it nonetheless. If it was anything like last years (barring the Bullet Club nonsense) it should be fantastic.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Damn, was hoping Suzuki was going to pull off the upset but when I saw Kenta and Tanahashi both become champions, I had a feeling that a third belt wouldn’t change hands.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Kishin Liger vs Suzuki is going to be a lot of fun!

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Minoru Suzuki And Harold Meij Leaving NJPW

If true, that’ll suck because Suzuki is my favorite wrestler.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

After last nights final tag league show, I'm really hoping that one of the two nights at Wrestle Kingdom, we see Suzuki vs Moxley and the other we get Suzuki vs either KENTA or Shingo Takagi. That'll be a blast if that could happen. Also, I think Jericho vs Tanahashi should be a solid bout as well.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Full cards released for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14

Well, so much for the match I was looking forward to seeing. Both of my favorites are stuck in worthless 8 man tag matches (Suzuki and Ishii) while they’re trying to push Juice Robinson down our throats.