New Japan

[UVA_Guy81]

I just got around to watching some of the first matches today. How many roids has Ospreay consumed? Holy crap that dude has blown up. He looks totally different.

He's definitely put on some muscle in the past six months since we've last seen him. He's not doing quite as much aerial stuff as he used to, at least so far. I'll be interested in seeing if this affects him endurance wise towards the end of the tournament.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Well, I was able to watch most of last nights card except for the main event. From what I saw, I'd say skip the first three matches and watch the final three. The young lion's opener was fine but nothing worth going out of your way to see. Taichi and Yujiro wasn't all that good. Suzuki and Cobb was okay at best but it ended very abruptly. I felt like it could've gone a few more minutes. The Ibushi-Ishii match was really good. A lot of action throughout on that one. The Ospreay-Shingo match was really good as well. I read the results for the main event, which sounds like a typical Bullet Club finish. But since it's Okada and White, I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and feel like it's still worth watching.

I didn't get to see the final three matches of the 2nd night of B Block. I was looking forward to the Naito-ZSJ match the most and heard that it was really good. Nothing really worth going out of your way for in those. SANADA and Goto had an okay but unexciting match. Yano pulled off another upset by beating Tanahashi this time (he's pinned both Okada and Tanahashi within a month, which has got to be a very rare feat). I feel like with both SANADA and Tanahashi going 0-2 so far, that they're going to have them go on a run with SANADA choking on the last night against EVIL and Tanahashi winning the block.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Well, I'll give a brief synopsis of a couple of more nights as I got behind some. For night 3 of the B Block, all of the matches are fine but there was really no standout match. I will say this though, YOSHI-HASHI has been way better so far in the G1 than in all of the 2 1/2-3 years I've been watching New Japan.
Night four of A Block as probably been the best overall night so far. The Suzuki-Yujiro match was pretty much what was to be expected. Ibushi and Cobb started off shaky but the last few minutes were great. Okada pulled a really good match out of Taichi, which can be hard to do. Ospreay and Jay White was fun to watch. Jay White has grown on me as a heel lately but the Bullet Club shenanigans can wear thin though. The Shingo-Ishii match is worth going out of your way to watch. This was a 25+ minute match of hard hitting throughout.
I'm currently in the middle of night four of the B block so don't want to comment too much on that one yet.

 

[wildturkey]

They should just have Toru Yano win. It's time.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

They should just have Toru Yano win. It's time.

As long as it's not Juice Robinson in B Block, I'm good. Never really cared about that guy. Since I signed up for New Japan World a couple of days ago, I've found plenty of good things on there. One being Suzuki beating the shit out of Juice in the G1 a few years ago.

 

[wildturkey]

As long as it's not Juice Robinson in B Block, I'm good. Never really cared about that guy. Since I signed up for New Japan World a couple of days ago, I've found plenty of good things on there. One being Suzuki beating the shit out of Juice in the G1 a few years ago.

Juice is fine but I don't know. It always sort of feels like something is missing from him. It might just be he's reached his ceiling there in New Japan. He's basically been in the same spot for years now.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Juice is fine but I don't know. It always sort of feels like something is missing from him. It might just be he's reached his ceiling there in New Japan. He's basically been in the same spot for years now.

I think he and David Finlay are better off being in the tag team division, where there's really not a whole lot going on there other than ZSJ/Taichi and the Tongans.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Watched A Block last night. Don't know why they bothered having Shingo and Yujiro go around 14 minutes. That match was not that good and probably should've been no longer than 8-9 minutes. Cobb and Jay White had a solid outing. Surprised that Cobb got the win but figured that White has to have at least 2 or 3 losses at some point. Suzuki and Okada ended out of nowhere. Glad they didn't have Suzuki pass out or tap out to the "money clip" aka the cobra clutch Okada is trying to get over. I feel like this could've gone at least five more minutes and gone from decent to real good. Ishii and Taichi had the match of the night. If anyone brings out the best in Taichi, it's Ishii. Ibushi and Ospreay had a good match but they've had better. I liked the one they had at Wrestle Kingdom 13 better.
And from a few nights ago, Sanada beating Naito like I thought pretty much eliminates any chance he has of winning the block since he's already got a future world title shot lined up after the G1 ends, so no point in having him win.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I'll give some quick thoughts from what I can remember.
Yoshi-Hashi has drastically improved. If all it took was to get any belt on the guy to see this much improvement, they should've done it a long time ago. Feel like Ishii is having at least decent matches with everyone, including Yujiro of all people. If anyone deserves the world title, it's him but seriously doubt he'll ever get it. Okada though, doesn't seem like he's his usual "carry anyone to at least a 4 star match" self. He's been very bland. The last A Block show was pretty solid top to bottom with my favorite match being the Ospreay vs Suzuki match. The White-Taichi match was a fun heel vs heel matchup. Speaking of Jay White, after watching the post match comments on YouTube, him and EVIL have been chirpping at each other, so I'm interested in seeing where that leads to or if it's all a swerve. I'm thinking that the final night of A Block will be interesting. I'm thinking most of these guys are going to have around 10 points going into the night to add to the drama.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Night seven of A Block was definitely the best of all the nights and well worth watching. Just about every match except for the White/Yujiro match is worth watching. The young lions match of Uemura and Tsuji was very entertaining. Ishii got probably the best match out of Cobb that I've seen. Ospreay got a really good match out of Taichi. It took a couple times watching it but after the first few minutes, the Ibushi/Suzuki match was great. And the main event of Shingo and Okada was damn good as well. Still not sure if I or the audience buy the money clip/cobra clutch as Okada's new finisher though.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Well, only three nights left in the G1. Both Blocks have 4 guys each that can still technically win. My original picks of Ibushi and Tanahashi aren't looking good right now. Well, Ibushi can still win but Tanahashi was eliminated last night. I have a feeling that for A Block, it'll be either Ibushi or White winning the Block. Not sure at all about B Block. My guess would be Naito but EVIL wouldn't surprise me, especially if White ends up winning A Block to set up an all Bullet Club match. What sucks is that the two best performers of the tournament (in my opinion), Suzuki and Ishii, both have a subpar point total with 6 points. And don't see Suzuki winning against Shingo tomorrow (which would make it five losses in a row for him) either since Shingo is really the only one that cares about the NEVER belt that Suzuki beat him for back in August.

 

[wildturkey]

I sorta think they're gonna pull the trigger on White.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I sorta think they're gonna pull the trigger on White.

That wouldn't shock me. Okada really hasn't been pushed too heavily this year and I'd be really shocked if they had Ospreay win it since it'd probably create some blow back and potentially alienate a portion of the American audience that they're trying to get.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Well, my initial prediction was right with Ibushi winning the block. The biggest thing to come out of last nights show was Ospreay's heel turn on Okada with Bea Priestley and a returning Great O'Kharn, with them wanting to start a new faction. If you like kicking battles, the Ibushi-Taichi match will be right up your alley as that was the whole match. The Suzuki-Shingo match wasn't quite as good as the match back in August. The White-Ishii match was pretty solid as well.

 

[wildturkey]

No real surprise with Ibushi winning, especially considering he was facing Sanada. I never took it seriously that they were gonna have him win so that took a lot out of it for me. I don't know what it was, maybe the covid related changes or what, but I just wasn't really feeling the tournament that much this year.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

No real surprise with Ibushi winning, especially considering he was facing Sanada. I never took it seriously that they were gonna have him win so that took a lot out of it for me. I don't know what it was, maybe the covid related changes or what, but I just wasn't really feeling the tournament that much this year.

When I saw that Sanada won B Block, I knew he'd lose to Ibushi (not that I had any doubt to start with) since he had already beaten Naito and can get a shot at the IWGP belt. The final night overall was a letdown as usually they have a big angle but it never occurred this year. The biggest thing was the Ospreay turn. They have set up a bunch of matches for Power Struggle, so I expect the next bunch of shows to just be a bunch of mixed tags every night. I was shocked though that Wrestle Kingdom was going to be two nights again. But I guess now that they opened that can up, they can't go back now. And I'm guessing that the G1 will take place around this time next year as well since the Olympics got postponed until next year.
I think the covid changes probably made you like it less. Without the crowd cheering and just clapping instead, it takes away from the action a lot I believe. Because I loved listening to the crowd chant Kaze Ni Nare during Suzuki's entrance and now that they can't, it's just not the same. I thought that Suzuki and Ishii were the most consistent with the good matches. A Block was usually the better card and B Block a lot of nights was a chore to get through. I will say that I don't know what it is but I enjoyed Jay White more during this than I have previously. I feel like he's getting more arrogant and cocky over time and it adds a lot to the character. I just hope that they don't turn him face if they try to do another Bullet Club civil war storyline. Also, I know I've said it before but I'd like to know where this Yoshi-Hashi has been. He was better during this month than I ever remember him being.

 

[wildturkey]

When I saw that Sanada won B Block, I knew he'd lose to Ibushi (not that I had any doubt to start with) since he had already beaten Naito and can get a shot at the IWGP belt. The final night overall was a letdown as usually they have a big angle but it never occurred this year. The biggest thing was the Ospreay turn. They have set up a bunch of matches for Power Struggle, so I expect the next bunch of shows to just be a bunch of mixed tags every night. I was shocked though that Wrestle Kingdom was going to be two nights again. But I guess now that they opened that can up, they can't go back now. And I'm guessing that the G1 will take place around this time next year as well since the Olympics got postponed until next year.
I think the covid changes probably made you like it less. Without the crowd cheering and just clapping instead, it takes away from the action a lot I believe. Because I loved listening to the crowd chant Kaze Ni Nare during Suzuki's entrance and now that they can't, it's just not the same. I thought that Suzuki and Ishii were the most consistent with the good matches. A Block was usually the better card and B Block a lot of nights was a chore to get through. I will say that I don't know what it is but I enjoyed Jay White more during this than I have previously. I feel like he's getting more arrogant and cocky over time and it adds a lot to the character. I just hope that they don't turn him face if they try to do another Bullet Club civil war storyline. Also, I know I've said it before but I'd like to know where this Yoshi-Hashi has been. He was better during this month than I ever remember him being.

Yeah, it probably was the lack of crowd. While New Japan does have stories, it is more wrestling/competition based more than products like WWE or AEW or really any American fed. So not having the crowds there is more noticeable since its treated more like a sporting event

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Yeah, it probably was the lack of crowd. While New Japan does have stories, it is more wrestling/competition based more than products like WWE or AEW or really any American fed. So not having the crowds there is more noticeable since its treated more like a sporting event

I think that’s probably why it’s my favorite organization at the moment because it’s treated more like a sport. I also think that the lack of crowd noise hurts some wrestlers that feed off of it, like Okada I believe. Not that being paired with Yujiro during the summer helped much but I think that the matches would’ve at least been more tolerable if the crowds were allowed to be vocal.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I’d also like to add that I hope they do the format the same next year as well. The shows were easier to get through with the young lions match as the opener and then straight into the block matches. The tags that they usually did to set up the next show never really amounted to anything, so might as well try to keep the guys fresher by giving them every other night off.

 

[wildturkey]

I think that’s probably why it’s my favorite organization at the moment because it’s treated more like a sport. I also think that the lack of crowd noise hurts some wrestlers that feed off of it, like Okada I believe. Not that being paired with Yujiro during the summer helped much but I think that the matches would’ve at least been more tolerable if the crowds were allowed to be vocal.

If you like that, you'd probably like what ROH is doing right now. They brought back the Pure Title and are having a tournament. The episodes have been presented basically like a legit sport. I only watched one episode after reading good things (quit watching ROH after most all the interesting people left for AEW) and it was entertaining.