New Japan

[UVA_Guy81]

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.

I will occasionally watch ROH if I hear about something good. I've heard good reviews about the Pure stuff going on right now. It looked like they were finally about to get on track again after having a horrible year last year with Taven on top. I was curious to see how Marty was going to handle being the booker but since nobody really knows when he'll be back with what happened during the speaking out movement, I'm guessing Delirious is back in charge for the foreseeable future.

 

[wildturkey]

Lol. Jeff Cobb is so stupid strong.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Lol. Jeff Cobb is so stupid strong.

Watch his match with Ishii during the G1 where he launched him over his head and across the ring. That was impressive.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Got to say, this year's Wrestle Kingdom is one I'm really not all that excited about. I'm sure there will be some decent matches but as a whole, some of it just doesn't look interesting to me. Also, there's a lot of good talent that's not even on the card, which I'm assuming means they'll all get thrown into that Rambo on day one. And with them being in the Tokyo Dome with only 5000 fans allowed in, that is going to look really bad.

 

[wildturkey]

Watched Night 1 of WK. Ospreay/Okada and Naito/Ibushi were really the only good parts. Even though both were easily predictable, they were still very good matches.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Watched Night 1 of WK. Ospreay/Okada and Naito/Ibushi were really the only good parts. Even though both were easily predictable, they were still very good matches.

I haven't gotten around to watching it yet but do plan on it. I caught the last half of the Rambo but that really didn't do much for me. Did like how Yano was coming down to the ring but never had to get in since Fale and Owens had just finished throwing out the rest of the Young Lions, setting up the match here tonight with those three and Bushi.

 

[wildturkey]

Night 2 was a lot better than Night 1. Ibushi and White was fantastic. The Jr Heavyweight match was very good. And the Cobb/Takagi match was a "slobberknocker". Fun match.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Night 2 was a lot better than Night 1. Ibushi and White was fantastic. The Jr Heavyweight match was very good. And the Cobb/Takagi match was a "slobberknocker". Fun match.

Need to get around to watching these shows sometime this week. Sounds like both were good overall but just didn't feel like it was built up as their biggest show of the year. Interested in reading the results for New Years Dash since that usually sets up the year for them.

 

[wildturkey]

Need to get around to watching these shows sometime this week. Sounds like both were good overall but just didn't feel like it was built up as their biggest show of the year. Interested in reading the results for New Years Dash since that usually sets up the year for them.

I don't think it was built up much. I haven't really been invested in anything they've been doing the last few months. Sorta feels like they are in a transition into some new stories and whatnot so that's why it feels its been lacking some. But with Ibushi wanting to unify his titles and Omega subtly teasing a crossover match, my interest is quickly peaking

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I don't think it was built up much. I haven't really been invested in anything they've been doing the last few months. Sorta feels like they are in a transition into some new stories and whatnot so that's why it feels its been lacking some. But with Ibushi wanting to unify his titles and Omega subtly teasing a crossover match, my interest is quickly peaking

I feel like at some point, AEW will let Moxley defend the US title at one of the Strong shows so that way, they can get it on KENTA and he can go back to Japan or stay on the Strong shows and defend it. I'm hoping that they can get the IC belt away from Ibushi if they don't unify and have it be it's own thing again as I think it could help people if they have someone else carry it. I think it'll be hard to do a crossover match with Ibushi with the quarantining rules and Tony Khan probably wouldn't want Omega off of tv for that long.
One of my predictions for the NYD show coming up in a few hours is that Taichi will turn on Suzuki. In his post match interviews, he's been hinting at something and I'm thinking he'll want to take over the group.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Slowly working my way through night one of Wrestle Kingdom. So far, there really hasn't been anything bad but also nothing has really stood out as great. I thought that the opener was solid but felt like Hiromu was saving a lot for night 2 against Ishimori. The tag match really didn't do anything for me. I thought it flowed a lot better when Taichi and ZSJ were in control but when GoD were in control, I was bored. I'm not getting this angle that they're doing with BC making Suzuki-gun look like a bunch of idiots. Hoping that it at least has some type of payoff where BC gets their comeuppance. The Kenta and Kojima match wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Tanahashi got a decent match out of O'Khan, so that right there I think shows Tana's talent because every other time I've seen O'Khan, it really wasn't that good. None of those though are worth going out of your way to watch. I feel like these final two matches that I'm going to try to watch tomorrow will be though.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Finally finished night one. I'll eventually get through night two. Not sure if I'm going to bother with New Year's Dash since from what I remember reading, it didn't sound like anything of note really happened on that show.
I thought the final two matches were really good. I feel like the Okada-Ospreay match was just a few minutes too long. I really wish Ospreay wasn't a garbage human being because he's a damn good worker. This was the best I've seen Okada in quite a while. The main event I thought was just right. Every time Ibushi and Naito face each other, I always am worried that one of their necks is finally going to give out because in just about every match I remember them in against each other, they both take numerous neck bumps that make me cringe.

 

[Duffman]

Source: PWInsider

With a new, potentially more dangerous variant of COVID-19 found in Japan, the country is making moves that will greatly effect professional wrestlers working in the country.

United Press International is reporting Japan is planning to suspend the entry of all non-resident foreigners from the country. They also intend to deport any foreign residents living in Japan if they violate the country's quarantine regulations and quarantine for 14 days after landing in Japan.

Obviously, these regulations would prevent non-Japanese talents from traveling into the country if they are not already residing within Japan, something that would impact New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan, NOAH and many other promotions.

—————————

If these restrictions continue for awhile it could be bad news for any working relationship between Japan and ROH or AEW especially.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Source: PWInsider

With a new, potentially more dangerous variant of COVID-19 found in Japan, the country is making moves that will greatly effect professional wrestlers working in the country.

United Press International is reporting Japan is planning to suspend the entry of all non-resident foreigners from the country. They also intend to deport any foreign residents living in Japan if they violate the country's quarantine regulations and quarantine for 14 days after landing in Japan.

Obviously, these regulations would prevent non-Japanese talents from traveling into the country if they are not already residing within Japan, something that would impact New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan, NOAH and many other promotions.

—————————

If these restrictions continue for awhile it could be bad news for any working relationship between Japan and ROH or AEW especially.

I knew it’s been real bad over there again with some people even wanting to postpone or cancel the olympics. I really wasn’t expecting much of a working relationship with New Japan and AEW until the virus stuff calmed down a bit at the earliest. What this does for the KENTA vs Moxley match, who knows. I’ve heard AEW might let Moxley defend the belt where they do the Strong tapings since normally, they wouldn’t let him do that. As for the wrestling scene in Japan in general, I wonder if they’ll have to shut down for a bit again soon.

 

[wildturkey]

Source: PWInsider

With a new, potentially more dangerous variant of COVID-19 found in Japan, the country is making moves that will greatly effect professional wrestlers working in the country.

United Press International is reporting Japan is planning to suspend the entry of all non-resident foreigners from the country. They also intend to deport any foreign residents living in Japan if they violate the country's quarantine regulations and quarantine for 14 days after landing in Japan.

Obviously, these regulations would prevent non-Japanese talents from traveling into the country if they are not already residing within Japan, something that would impact New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan, NOAH and many other promotions.

—————————

If these restrictions continue for awhile it could be bad news for any working relationship between Japan and ROH or AEW especially.

I knew it’s been real bad over there again with some people even wanting to postpone or cancel the olympics. I really wasn’t expecting much of a working relationship with New Japan and AEW until the virus stuff calmed down a bit at the earliest. What this does for the KENTA vs Moxley match, who knows. I’ve heard AEW might let Moxley defend the belt where they do the Strong tapings since normally, they wouldn’t let him do that. As for the wrestling scene in Japan in general, I wonder if they’ll have to shut down for a bit again soon.

I wonder what this means for Jay White. There were stories his contract is up soon (though I've seen conflicting info) and I read he lives in the States. If that's true and he can't get back for awhile, he might just end up signing elsewhere.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I wonder what this means for Jay White. There were stories his contract is up soon (though I've seen conflicting info) and I read he lives in the States. If that's true and he can't get back for awhile, he might just end up signing elsewhere.

Yeah, I have no idea what's true or what's not true about him and his contract. I feel like it's just some type of angle and he's not going anywhere. They'd be stupid to let their top heel who's entering his prime just walk away without a fight. The next closest guy to being their top heel is EVIL and his run at the top was not all that interesting, at least in my opinion. I guess they could always try out Ospreay in that role but Gedo seems to always book Bullet Club in a prominent role on the card.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I wonder what this means for Jay White. There were stories his contract is up soon (though I've seen conflicting info) and I read he lives in the States. If that's true and he can't get back for awhile, he might just end up signing elsewhere.

By the way, if you haven't watched it yet, watch his post match press conference remarks from Wrestle Kingdom. It's fantastic.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Night 2 was a lot better than Night 1. Ibushi and White was fantastic. The Jr Heavyweight match was very good. And the Cobb/Takagi match was a "slobberknocker". Fun match.

Just got done with night two and agree. I thought it was a much better night overall. The best matches in my opinion are the ones you mentioned, the Cobb/Shingo and Ibushi/White match. That match with White and Ibushi was fantastic and wore me out just watching it. EVIL/SANADA was probably one of EVIL's better matches since joining Bullet Club. The Jr Heavyweight match was really good as well. The KOPW match was what it was, which was a typical Yano comedy match that didn't overstay it's welcome. The Jr Tag match was okay. I still think Wato has a way's to go and never really cared a lot about Taguchi but think El Desperado has improved a lot this past year.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

@wildturkey If you haven't yet, watch the Shingo-Tanahashi match from a couple of days ago. It's really good.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

NJPW's Roku Channel debut to feature Wrestle Kingdom 14 action

I'm a few days late with this but figured I'd post it now while I was thinking about it. Anyone that has Roku that hasn't checked out the product should give it a try.