Peria

I know in TEW2016 it was a hint towards their popularity cap. I think it still is?

An extremely high quality of work all around, I love when this thread catches fire every so often. It's so awesome to see the work.

It has serious potential. The issue is it would have to be the whole c-verse you know? Plus a substantial free worker base to play with. Not saying it HAS to be, but just me personally. The renders are so drastically dif that I would get my immersion busted every time I saw an original c-verse render, super sick though!

1992-2006, NJPW. Destruction is officially done, and it was a PPV full of last minute adjustments and changes due to injuries. Sadly. But Wrestle Kingdom is looking to shape up and the major storylines going forward are in motion or are reaching their boiling point. I'll go over significant matches on the card whilst laying out the significance to them. Match 1: Yuki Ishikawa def. Tomohiro Ishii (c) for the Openweight Championship This match was actually pretty filler, I didn't want Ishii to lose at WK again so I had Ishikawa end the reign with the intent of putting over SUWAMA at WK. Ishikawa is in decline, but he was always a solid hand, so this title serves as a thank you. SUWAMA vs. Ishikawa will be Suwama's first singles feud as he is no longer a YL. He'll be responsible for the story of Ishikawa shifting to retirement. Match 2: The New Headshrinkers (Alofa and Afa Jr.) def. DX (HHH/Shawn) for the IWGP Tag Titles Both HHH and Shawn are at 90 pop and both Headshrinkers at 77... so I had to make this work. Almost the same reason outlined above, I did not want DX to lose at WK again, well, Shawn anyways. Triple H was injured and missed WK after winning Tag League. They will be responsible for retiring Dan Severn (and Kazuo Yamazaki) at this WK, as Severn was a massive rival for Triple H in the late 90s early 00s. With HHH always losing to him until recently. Match 3: Sekigun (Hashimoto/Masakatsu Funaki/Osamu Nishimura) def. Suzuki-gun (Suzuki/Tetsuhiro Kuroda/Mr. Gannosuke) Last year the main event was Shinya Hashimoto who defeated Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight title. Hashimoto declared that the Old Guard is alive and well and Hashimoto will continue to be the leader. Mutoh (more on him) has been in a massive funk, and Chono just retired last month in August. Kawada is getting weaker/older. Misawa is gone. Akira Taue has already decreed his retirement is nearing. The "Old Guard" is nothing more than a slogan at this point. Suzuki, still holds this heavy in his cold heart, and the two once again found themselves opposites. In all their years, Suzuki is still 0-1 vs. Hashimoto in singles, and you can bet he will want a rematch whether it is for the title or not, to prove that the "Old Guard" is nothing for the future King of Pro Wrestling. Match 4: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Chris Benoit Though I don't do "briefcase" matches, I do believe that the winner of the G1 should correct their losses, its an easy feud. Though Tanahashi did NOT lose to Benoit in the G1, Benoit did attacked Tanahashi at Chono's retirement show. Though filler, as Tanahashi has a date with the IWGP Heavyweight champion at WK, the match still served its purpose. Match 5: Dave Finlay def. Carlito (c) for the IWGP US Title. Okay, Carlito came in as the cocky, brash, arrogant future star by defeating fellow cocky, brash, arrogant future star Randy Orton at Dontaku. The problem is... WCW just stole him from me. I also am a huge sucker for the guys who are late 40s and not in time decline. Right place, right time for Dave Finlay. Match 6: Jun Akiyama def. Chris Jericho (c) for the IWGP IC Title. Jun Akiyama has been feuding with subtlety feuding with Jericho all year and it was very obvious during the 2nd half of the year. Akiyama is now 1-2 vs. Jericho and has perhaps avenged his two losses at back-to-back Dontaku's to Jericho. This storyline ending will mean much. Jericho will be feuding with Dave Finlay up to WK, and Akiyama has to deal with a returning Nakamura. Match 7: Shinsuke Nakamura def. Keiji Mutoh Mutoh continues to lose, descending him further into desperation to secure his top spot. His G1 performance left him at 8 points, his lowest since the tournament began (his previous lowest was 9, in 1999.) He also lost to Shibata in this G1 which infuriated him, as Shibata is another new Musketeer. This storyline began with Mutoh attempting to recruit Nakamura when he returned. Nakamura declined, and Mutoh attacked in anger, as he realizes he isn't the "carry" he used to be, no longer able to bring younger guys to the limelight. Mutoh's final storyline at WK is his faction Mutoh-gun disbanding after he challenges Sekigun's Kensuke Sasaki to a faction v. faction match. Match 8: Kenta Kobashi (c) def. Kensuke Sasaki to retain the IWGP title. Sadly, Rhino was meant to challenge Kobashi, as Kobashi has a history in this save of creating massive gaijin stars, Rhino was meant to lose still, but his popularity had risen to 93 over the last year for some bizarre reason, Rhino would separate his shoulder and miss the match, an impromptu tourney was set up, so Sasaki is just filler. But Sasaki is responsible for beating Kobashi in the G1 in 2001. He would capture the G1 a second time in a row in 2002 and he would dethrone Kobashi at Wrestle Kingdom in 2003. So the history was there. Rhino would get a chance, but the endgame for Kobashi is obviously Tanahashi at WK.

The G1 Climax (16th) Climax has concluded. I will be going over all of the stories and such here, as briefly as possible. The number next to their names is their final points, with 2 per win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss. A Block: Kenta Kobashi (11): The IWGP Heavyweight title enters the block with massive momentum. Drawing with Hashimoto, the former champion, caused some doubt and wore Kobashi down bad, as he lost to stablemate Jun Akiyama on Night 7. More shocking was Kobashi's first loss, fresh as can be. Kobashi dropped a match to Rhino. The Gore proved to be too much for Kobashi, which perhaps might be setting up a title match in the future. (Spoiler: It does) However, Kobashi was unable to move to the finals, continuing the curse of IWGP Heavyweight champions being unable to reach the finals, as 11 was not quite enough. Shinya Hashimoto (11): The former IWGP Heavyweight champion also ironically clocks in at 11 points. Hashimoto obviously drew with Kobashi, and actually lost to a familiar face: Jun Akiyama, which happened on the very first night! Hashimoto would also fall to the onslaught of Brock Lesnar, even before his hellacious draw with Kobashi, on night 4. Hashimoto, now the last bastion of the Three Musketeers who still competes at a high level, could have seen his final top-tier G1 performance. A crushing blow. Rhino (10): The Manbeast had quite the G1. Albeit an inconsistent one. Think of him like Ishii right now, hard hitting, fast, intense. Doesn't back down. Wins stoically, loses stoically. That is Rhino in this save. Indeed, Rhino's biggest weakness was being unable to string together wins, largely due to fatigue and his one-note strategy of just barraging his opponent. It did work on the older wrestlers though, and the ones cocky, brave, or stupid enough to stand in his way. His major victories included a win over both Kobashi, and Tanahashi, who were both foolish enough to underestimate Rhino. Sadly, he did not make it to this years G1 final, though he potentially earn a title shot. (Spoilers: He did) Yuji Nagata (10): The leader of Blue Justice, and the man who risked it all. Yuji Nagata is (was) attempting to seize his moment, with the "Guard Shift" that is being talked about, Nagata's biggest victory comes at the cost of Kenta Kobashi on the final night. Yuji Nagata might not have fully come back from his campaign a winner, but he has proven he can hang with the elite of NJPW, and can claim responsibility for preventing Kobashi a G1 finals shot. Jun Akiyama (10): The last of the 10s, a tight G1 this year also means Jun Akiyama is unfortunately unable to make it to the finals. Previously mentioned, Akiyama had a major victory over Kobashi, AND Hashimoto. So why was it that Akiyama fell to both Osamu Nishimura and an injured Hiroyoshi Tenzan? Like Rhino, inconsistency plays up big here. As both of these men could have very well made it to the finals if they didn't drop easier matches than the ones they've already won. Brock Lesnar (8): Its weird that Lesnar isn't super pushed right now, but he is just quite shy of main event level skillwise. Popularity wise, this was incredible for him. His pop went from 80 to 91 in 2-3 months. Again, every gaijin that Kobashi faces gets massively over. Lesnar had a great debut G1 though. 8 points is solid, and he had a huge win over Hashimoto and even Nagata during the tourney. His final match on his blocks final night saw him and Rhino compete for a positive record, with Rhino overpowering Lesnar, a rivalry that is set up for the future. Osamu Nishimura (8): The successor of The Dragon Tatsumi Fujinami has been in a massive slump the past 3-4 years. Although he did hold the NEVER Openweight Six Man titles a year ago, those titles aren't anything to boast about. Indeed, it's been 4 years since he has had success as a singles star, and clocking in at 8 points isn't terrible, but many can't help but expect more from the man chosen to replace the 6x IWGP Heavyweight champion Fujinami. One thing he CAN boast about however is his victory over Shinya Hashimoto on the final night, preventing Hashimoto from winning the block. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (6): It hurts to see the co-leader of GBH fall so low, but an injury on Night 1 severely hampered his chances. Insisting he continue the G1, Tenzan showed great improvement over the past years, but that nagging shoulder injury prevented him from hitting the Tombstone multiple times in his matches. It is hard to fault him, but many doubt he will make next years G1 outside of being a singles champion. Dave Finlay (4): Most likely his final G1 ends in bitter defeat for the Fighting Irishman. The 47 year old struggled throughout, despite looking competitive in nearly every match, being above the average for match time this campaign. Despite that, Finlay, who rejoined NJPW on a high, recapturing the IWGP Tag Team titles with another returning star in Mick Foley, has perhaps reached his limits. Hiroshi Tanahashi (WINNER) (12): Tanahashi entering the final night stood at 10 points, Kobashi and Hashimoto both at 11. Both men had matches that were considered a bit on the easy side, with Osamu and Nagata respectively, but by no means free. Tanahashi on the other hand, had an injured Tenzan on the final night. A chance was there, the Gods could very well bless the Ace of New Japan. And they did. Tanahashi narrowly squeaked by, despite falling to both Hashimoto and Kobashi, it was the loss to Rhino that spelled doom for Tanahashi on Night 8. Everything lined up perfectly, and now Tanahashi faces the winner of the B Block. B Block Chris Jericho (11): A frustrating G1 that could be attributed to his only hubris, the Intercontinental Champion had his best performance yet in the G1 at an extremely impressive 11 points. His previous attempt he fell short at just 8 points, in 2005, and again 8 points in 2004. Jericho's downfall began when he viciously attacked Kawada after suffering his first defeat on Night 4. This provoked Jun Akiyama's ire who stepped and barraged Jericho, resulting in a beatdown that Jericho probably could have done without. Jericho would then drop his next match to Sasaki, a man whose G1 was extremely interesting (more on that) and Satoshi Kojima. Still, Jericho just had to beat the winner on Night 9 and because of that, he would break the tie and advance... unfortunately, he would hit the time limit finish being unable to put away the winner of B Block. Toshiaki Kawada (10): A decent G1 showing for the ever aging Toshiaki Kawada, having major victories against both Minoru Suzuki and Chris Jericho, Kawada was hampered by an injury caused by Jericho early on, despite that, he was likely least impacted by said injury, as he continues stoically thrashing his opponents down. Still, at 42 years old, and a G1 Climax win already under his belt, Kawada is very likely reaching the finale of his time at the top (Spoilers: He is in decline) Satoshi Kojima (10): Doing GBH proud, Kojima has a stellar performance this G1 at 10 points. Kojima has stepped up his game tremendously since striking out of Chono's shadow alongside Tenzan. Earning a major victory against Chris Jericho, similar to Akiyama, though, Kojima has consistency issues which prevent him from reaching the pinnacle of NJPW. Failing to beat rival and recently returned Nakamura, An aging breaking down Keiji Mutoh, and more. Kojima still can hold the fact that unlike Tenzan, he has almost guaranteed a return to next years G1. Shinsuke Nakamura (9): After a vicious downward spiral within the span of 2 months, which started with winning the NJ Cup, losing the subsequent challenge to a then undefeated Hashimoto, and then losing the IC title to Jericho 2 weeks later, Nakamura returned with a newer attitude and a more vicious style (Read; Hes halfway to King of Strong Style) and yet... he still came up short. Despite this, Nakamura didn't look overly phased. 4 wins 4 losses, and a draw to fellow graduate Katsuyori Shibata, which was rare considering Shibata's style of just beating you down quickly. Nobody knows quite what Nakamura is planning to be this cool after a hyped up return falling flat. Keiji Mutoh (8): Perhaps the major story in the B Block rightfully goes to Keiji Mutoh, a disappointing two years and a sharp decline in his skills, a failing faction barely holding on as the younger talent he recruited buckle under the pressure of carrying the older guys like Dan Severn, Kazuo Yamazaki, Naoki Sano, and Mutoh himself. Indeed 2006 is a year of realization that Mutoh is losing his spot at the top. After declaring he will win this G1, return to form, and main event Wrestle Kingdom... Mutoh.. is left with disappointment. A harsh realization that he was unable, and it's simply because time and the wear and tear has gotten to him. Mutoh has to be thinking the end is near, we know he'll go out with the biggest bang, the question is when? Mick Foley (8): A decent showing for Mick Foley, who rejoined NJPW this year, shocking everyone and claiming the Tag Team titles. They would lose them to a returning Triple H (from injury, tore his quad lmao) and Shawn Michaels, who were denied their match at WK due to said injury. Despite all that Mick, ever the optimist, entered the G1 and had a bit of a rough time. He did manage to defeat Randy Orton, who would trash talking Mick throughout the G1. He would also beat Keiji Mutoh. Mick had a solid but unspectacular G1 overall. Kensuke Sasaki (8): A shockingly mediocre performance by Sasaki on paper, but one of the best comebacks seen in the G1. Sasaki would fall 0-4 in his campaign extremely early, winning every singular match afterward. A 4 win streak that would actually get crushed by none other than Shinsuke Nakamura on the final night. Nothing more to say. Katsuyori Shibata (7): A disappointing performance for Chono's handpicked protégé in Shibata. He suffered the same fate as Rhino, who albeit had a higher success than Shibata. Too one-note and one dimensional, Shibata only pushed forward and fought everybody fairly. If he perhaps adapted to Jericho's generalist all around style, or chose to tackle Sasaki with his technical prowess instead of attempting to out strike him. Shibata is still very young though, and has loads of time to figure out his strengths. Chono does not. Randy Orton (6): Again, Chono picked Orton and Shibata and both have failed spectacularly. For Shibata it was his one-note style that betrayed him. For Orton... it was actually the opposite. Orton is an allrounder but he suffered from playing to his opponents strengths. Against Sasaki? He tried to stand and bang. Against Suzuki? He wanted to show his technical skills. Against Jericho? Orton even tried high flying. A constant showboat, Orton felt more he should showcase how good he could be rather than how good he is. Minoru Suzuki (WINNER) (13): Minoru Suzuki looked to be the clear winner as far back as Night 6. Defeating nearly everyone who got in his way, on a rampage to make amends and repent for his crushing loss to Hashimoto at Wrestle Kingdom this year. He did just that. With two losses only, and confusing ones at that: Randy Orton and Keiji Mutoh, Suzuki looked nigh unstoppable. His final night unfortunately was a draw with Chris Jericho. Jericho defiantly reminding Suzuki that he is not the only one attempting to usurp the old guard. I'll just spoil you guys here: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Minoru Suzuki to win the 16th G1 Climax tournament. I'm sure you could have all guessed it.

Incredible work all around guys! Omg. So tempted to start a CV97 or something.

Fro Sure, always a fantastic pick.

The games financially over. Way too easy to amass insane amounts of cash, so everything is now Enormous, with full coverage. Though I did start with NJPW World only when Japan and Mexico could be started at Enormous. The scheduling is a bit hectic at times and I admit needs to be refined after so long of modifying it without fixing it in some locations. The BOSJ/G1/Tag League all have tours, that are just 18 days (G1 Climax Day 1 A Block, so on so forth.) But other than that there are 5-8 tours in between each event. The structure however is very unlike a real tour, it is mostly like this: Young Lions vs. Dads/Lower card faction guys who take pins/Younger Prospects Young Lions vs. Dads/Lower card faction guys who take pins/Younger Prospects Minor Feud Build Up Match (Openweight, Trios, JHW Tag, etc) Major Feud Build Up (Singles Titles sans Openweight.) Since I have so many belts, like NJPW does, I can cycle the feuds throughout the week. Though the Heavyweight feud is often placed on my weekly show that I do every Friday, which mostly serves as a "Shit, I can't fit this title match on the card, next week I'll defend it here." Or a very recent example, Hashimoto & Sasaki vs. Kobashi & Kawada is way too big of a match to put on a throwaway tour, so it goes on my weekly show to build up hype. It's pretty easy to book, since 2 of the matches are inconsequential and I usually pre-book the feuds at the start of every month. Fun fact: My most paid worker is not even a wrestler anymore, it is Misawa at 1.2m a month. The most I have EVER paid for somebody in any save since I found TEW, which was 13.

NJPW 1992-2006. The G1 Begins. But first a quick summary on the major events throughout the remainder of the year I did not cover. Dontaku was a huge shift in the roster, with all three musketeers losing their singles match, the first and only time this will happen. Tanahashi would finally defeat the man who has been behind Shibata's betrayal that cost him the IWGP Heavyweight title last year in Masahiro Chono. Keiji Mutoh challenged Minoru Suzuki after Suzuki called the Musketeers outdated and soon to be obsolete, and a shock upset when Suzuki backed up his words. Lastly, Shinya Hashimoto, who is the last of the Musketeers to not be in decline, finally lost a match this year, as he was undefeated since December to Kenta Kobashi. Invasion Attack would continue the stories and the trend of Dontaku. All of Mutoh-gun would lose at Invasion Attack. Shamrock and Sano would team up, as Orton and Shibata had targeted both of the older men. Mutoh, Sekimoto, Yakushiji, and Koji Kanemoto would fall to Holy Demon Army. The biggest gain here was Brock Lesnar. A man who defeated Ken Shamrock (do you see the trend?) at Dontaku, in a final effort by Shamrock to defeat the man who many are calling his replacement. Lesnar would use this to build enough interest to get Kenta Kobashi to challenge him for the title. Whilst Lesnar did not win, he performed expertly and got himself over! From 81 to 86 popularity. So this is a huge success for me, as I need more over gaijin with Shawn and HHH winding down in the tag division. So here we are, the G1 Climax. I'll go over the blocks. Something I've rarely done I think, should be fun, and I'll briefly explain how and why they are there. A Block: A Block of rematches, revenge, and second chances, is the theme here. Kenta Kobashi - IWGP Heavyweight Champion, enough said. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Had a strong year, winning nearly every singles match he was in outside of a loss in the New Japan Cup, where he lost to Kenta Kobashi. Shinya Hashimoto - Former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, as I write this I realize how freakin' stacked I made the A Block lmao. Brock Lesnar - The last challenger to Kobashi, massive gain in popularity, only one singles loss this year (to Kobashi) Dave Finlay - Former Tag Team Champion, wrestled every tour, mostly winning. Yuji Nagata - Challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight, formed Blue Justice this year, won most of his matches, major feud with Finlay being built. Jun Akiyama - The regular tag partner to Kobashi, is this his time to shine brightest? A win against his friend and the IWGP Heavyweight title would skyrocket him. Rhino - Feuding with Nishimura, and Yuji Nagata, 89 popularity. Admittedly a bit filler. Hiroyoshi Tenzan - Leader of GBH. Had a solid showing in the New Japan Cup, making it to the semi-finals. Former Openweight Champ. Osamu Nishimura - Feuding with Rhino. 85 popularity. Admittedly a bit filler. B Block: Block of proving yourself, surviving, and perhaps last chances? Chris Jericho: Intercontinental Champion. Finally considered a main event talent. Always did mediocre in the G1, this is his chance. Shinsuke Nakamura: Winner of the New Japan Cup, defeated Kobashi in the finals only to lose to Hashimoto and then lost his IC title to Jericho. Minoru Suzuki: Lost the IWGP Heavyweight title to Hashimoto at WK. Feud with Keiji Mutoh. Kensuke Sasaki: Perhaps the most decorated champion in NJPW history. 3x Tag League, 2x G1 (back to back), 2x Heavyweight, 5x Tag Team. Sasaki is also the #2 to Hashimoto's #1 in Sekigun. He doesn't fit the "theme" so to speak but he does indeed find himself running out of time to step out of Hashimoto's shadow. Keiji Mutoh: The most obvious choice if you read above. Mutoh is indeed on his last legs, both as a faction leader, and as a wrestler (time decline getting bad.) If Mutoh does poorly, or perhaps anything short of winning the G1, Mutoh could be in serious trouble as a main eventer in NJPW. Mick Foley: Former Tag Team champion. A recent (re) signing. Is going to be feuding/putting Orton and Nakamura. Randy Orton: Former IWGP US champion this year. Longest reigning and most defenses as well (5). Hoping to get him over this G1. Toshiaki Kawada: Kawada is a bit similar to Sasaki, both have had great careers as #2 guys in their respective faction, and both were definitely #3 guys at one point (Fujinami/Hashimoto/Sasaki, and Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada). Satoshi Kojima: Had a successful singles run so far in 2006, but came up short numerous times. Impressed enough to keep his spot from last year due to ending the campaign strong. Katsuyori Shibata: Constantly feuded and impeded Tanahashi (though lost the feud), feuding with Mutoh-gun, and looking to make his G1 debut look like a fluke, when he finished at 8 points. That's the update! Easily my favorite save of all time.

Amazing and stellar work. Making me want to start up a C-Verse save after like 3 years of avoiding it.

Extremely interesting write up! That Eddie story is so good. I always feel Western feds have that advantage where they can focus more on entertainment. Either way, good read!

1992-2006 NJPW. Best of the Super Juniors is booked and finished. Some storylines are finally closing, whilst some are starting. Rey Misterio Jr. has had a 3 year long storyline culmination, as he finally returns to the finals after a crushing defeat against the current Junior Heavyweight champion way back in 2003: Shinjiro Otani. Rey had barely seen the IWGP title since then, as he has been struggling to find momentum and regain his lost confidence after his rivalry with Eddie Guerrero in that same year. Throughout the year, during BOSJ, Rey would show sparks of greatness, defeating Eddie, Liger, Hayabusa, and finally, on Night 9 of this tournament: Ultimo Dragon, where he finally qualified after 3 years of clawing back to relevancy. Who is his opponent? Is it the dastardly cheating Gedo? Perhaps Otani himself had conquered his block? Long time rival Eddie? No. The second most sympathetic babyface in the division: Great Sasuke. A man who had been unable to acquire an IWGP title for over a decade. A man beloved for his talents and pure babyface fire. Great Sasuke had just recently lost the title after a shock victory against Hayabusa at the last Wrestle Kingdom (13) though he would not acquire a single defense with the title before losing it to Otani. Both men have so much to gain, and so much to lose this year. Who will have the opportunity to face the man who arguably started their stories, albeit at different times, Shinjiro Otani.

The New Japan cup for 2006 has been completed! There has been a lot of storyline focus going on so I'll get to it, we have 4 major players in the first half, I'll get to all of them in this post. First off, the winner of the New Japan Cup: Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura won the New Japan Cup has IWGP Intercontinental champion. He has been battling Chris Jericho throughout last year, and his feud is looking to re-ignite after Jericho attacked him after he (Jericho) suffered a crushing defeat back in September 2005. Nakamura then failed to convert his New Japan Cup tournament victory into a successful title reclamation, as Hashimoto was too much. But during that tournament there was a lot of developments. Hiroshi Tanahashi was defeated by Kenta Kobashi, they've had one previous singles match before which ended in a draw. Tanahashi would meet Kobashi in a tag match alongside eventual winner Nakamura, and the two would completely focus on one another. Perhaps that was the distraction Nakamura needed? So did Nakamura really beat Kobashi at his best? With Nakamura's confidence waning, Jericho, a very real threat, gunning for his IC title, and Tanahashi continuing to get praise and glory even in defeat, while Nakamura shuffles back down the card in an afterthought, despite causing a massive upset, doing things that Tana (defeat Kobashi) could not do. Meanwhile, can anybody stop Hashimoto? A man who has yet to suffer a single defeat in 2006, be it singles or tag, who is on a crusade to prove that the reason he is at the top, the reason he is a 5x IWGP Heavyweight champion is because he is almost unbeatable even on his worst day? Either way the save is still massive amounts of fun and like I've been saying a lot of my roster is aging and declining. Mutoh has hit that decline, Chono is in his last year as an active competitor. It's going to be great in a few years when my main event scene is all younger/newer guys.

In the C-verse... I think USPW/TCW/SWF are so stale and a three way competition between them seems so unrealistic. TCW falling but constantly reviving itself reminds me more of TNA than CZCW... which gives me PWG vibes. USPW being WWE and SWF... being WWE attitude era is just silly, imo. I never liked either of them together, if only one remained I think I'd enjoy them more if that makes sense. Otherwise they fill the same role imo.

Hey thanks man, yeah I am the same way. I believe factions and stables make stellar dynamics and aesthetics, plus all the juicy stories that are practically created for you. Actually, with the aging of many of my major stars, a lot of newer factions are forming whilst some are dying. Mutoh-gun and Holy Demon Army are basically the last two bastions of the 90s, if you don't count Sekigun. It's an exciting time with Suzuki, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Shibata, Orton, etc all stepping up while Mutoh, Kawada, Hashimoto, Sasaki, Chono, Bret all sort of step down.

Shamrock was actually always meant to be Suzuki-gun but I lost him to PWFG from 1998-2004. Sadly, he only really had a year left in his prime before he hit decline, though he did have a run with the NEVER Openweight title. I did want more out of him, as he became SUPER good over in PWFG. When it comes to contracts I try and make it so they consider "both offers" so I'm not always guaranteed to get the guy, Shamrock I lost out on twice. Haha absolutely, I don't mind. A lot of it is fictional with some mirrored elements. I go by what I want the faction to represent visually in my head then just go for it. Though if they existed in real life it does help me a bit. Former Factions/Stables TOWER: The first faction I made, with Vader as the leader alongside Bam Bam, Glenn Jacobs, and actually Ken Shamrock. All rough and tough. Though Masahiro Chono, being the bastard that he is, did join them but it was a bait and switch to get Vader to drop his guard (I honestly cannot remember the details, I think it was to play up Vader being without Bam Bam at WK.) However, Vader and Bigelow would get signed to WCW in 1995, so the faction was cut short. I enjoyed it though. Soldados Calaveros: I always forget I had this faction until I check. It was when CMLL invaded, El Canek, Dos Caras, Ultimo Dragon, Silver King, were the main players here. Though it wasn't meant to last long as they only lasted the year they debuted. 1994-1995. Also my Spanish sucks so if this isn't Skull Soldiers or something leave me alone. Fun feud, only Ultimo Dragon is still going and yes I know he is Japanese. nWo Japan: I mean, you knew it was gonna be here. nWo Japan consisted of a lot talent in Chono, Kojima, Tenzan, Stone Cold, Glenn Jacobs, Eddie Guerrero even. I forget a few others. It was a great time. Benoit was also a part of this too but dude, I can't hold Benoit to a contract, he leaves me for WCW every time then comes back every time, it's quite amusing. Either way nWo Japan got super bloated and imploded, all of the gaijin betrayed Chono (this is a theme. He is my Sting but for factions and kind of almost always deserved it) UWFI: Nobuhiko Takada led this faction, with Kazuo Yamazaki, Naoki Sano, Kiyoshi Tamura and Dan Severn. They were another invasion force in the 90s. Actually the first as they debuted in 1993. I believe they are the second faction as well. Either way, this faction sucked plain and simple, Takada is the owner of UWFI so he was never freaking on my big shows, and I still can't push the guy as talented as he is in 2006, and trust me I wanted to. Either way this faction met its end vs. Mutoh-gun, and not Sekigun, which is rare. Funaki-gun: An interesting experiment and the precursor of Suzuki-gun involving Masakatsu Funaki. The idea of Suzuki vs Funaki is wild. Extremely exciting, and has been done in real life. However, I wanted them to be major rivals going throughout their careers. Thankfully MMA made sure that was impossible and it took me 3 years from 2000-2003 to actually have a pay off. It wasn't awful or anything but damn it was just a wasted faction that never really won much together. It consisted of MAZADA, Hooligan, Rhino, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and Suzuki. The reason for the group being so weird was because, again, it was meant to be a bunch of punks and heels who don't belong coming together. Similar to modern day Suzuki-gun with a bit of LIJ. Now that both men are older, thankfully, it's been way better. Team 2000: Chono being my #1 heel whilst being my #1 face has never stopped. Dude oozed cool, and he was going to be break every rule outside of the ring to make sure he stayed on the top, which meant aligning himself with as many people he could manipulate as possible. Team 2000 was formed when he saw nWo Japan failing, believing the cause to be the gaijin that were entrusted to it (Stone Cold, Benoit, and Glenn Jacobs) the faction consisted of TenKoji, Chono, Gedo & Jado, Shinjiro Otani, Togi Makabe, and Tomohiro Ishii. Chono should have known better to ally himself with a bunch of traitors, however. When he failed to defeat Triple H at Wrestle Kingdom, TenKoji would betray Chono and form Great Bash Heel. Gedo & Jado, Makabe and Ishii would follow suit... oh and Otani. Chono was left alone, and past his prime. Not every story has to end fantastically, you know. Being a complete asshole alienates you, shocker. Regardless of that, Chono is semi-retired, my new UC, so owner of NJPW since Inoki was getting toooo old. Ongoing Sekigun: Not really a faction, though sort of is. Think of it like modern day CHAOS. It's just the NJPW army. Fujinami created it to help stop NWO and CMLL's invasion, and also have a hand in stopping UWFI , plus whatever faction Chono was leading. Fujinami was the "leader" and gathered a lot of great talents from Liger, Hashimoto, Kensuke Sasaki, Nagata, etc. If they weren't in a faction they were here. Masakatsu Funaki has a lot of history with this faction as well. Hashimoto took over and it spawned a mega rivalry between him and Sasaki, which is Hashimoto favored with a record of like 5-3-1. They would have a mutual respect for one another, and Sasaki has been the second in command since. It's a great feud and I love booking it honestly. I'd name all the members but there is way too much, the notables are Liger, Yuji Nagata, Hashimoto, Sasaki, Hayabusa, Funaki (now), and Marufuji. Holy Demon Army: AJPW was pushing some weirdos and was doing bad business, I did everything in my power to resist but.. I couldn't let the four pillars rot. No betrayals, nothing. It was always Misawa as leader, Kobashi, Taue, Kawada. Jun Akiyama would later join, since he has significant ties with them, and Ultimo Dragon did as well because I needed a Junior and who better than Ultimo? They feuded extensively with everyone, and don't really have a strict brotherhood vibe going, they face each other, they challenge for the titles, etc. They only really team up when they need to. Though Taue and Kawada are the tag team. Although all of them have had massive success in NJPW, Misawa was actually the largest disappointment. I've mentioned it before I believe, but he just kept taking major movie roles back to back to back. This faction formed when he joined, 1998, and I think he wrestled a total of 2 years until he declined like 6 years later. Sadly, all of them are getting much older, with Kobashi and Akiyama being the only 2 now not in their 40s. Thankfully only Taue and Misawa are declining, with Misawa already "retiring." I think their best feuds were Akira Taue & Kawada vs. Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki. This was my biggest tag match I could do without it being singles guys teaming up. Always relied on it on bigger shows. Kenta Kobashi is the star of the faction, his booking with Severn and Mutoh were favorites of mine. Mutoh vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi has been teased and their only match was a 100 rated match in the G1. A draw. Mutoh-gun: Someone did the art for this in the Custom Graphics thread, and it was sick and really helped my 90s period. Mutoh-gun was at first pretty heelish. Formed in 1998 as well, Mutoh-gun was sinister at first but has since become a bit tweener with the newest recruits in Daisuke Sekimoto and Masato Yakushiji, both prospects under Mutoh's tutelage. Before Mutoh was a cool 43 year old friend, he was an absolute bastard. While Hashimoto and Chono sort of respected each other enough to not do anything dastardly in the ring, Mutoh was not so kind. He terrorized them and forced them to even team up during the height of Mutoh's IWGP reign. Mutoh would defeat them both back to back in 2000, and would only lose his title to a returning Kenta Kobashi. Mutoh-gun also was originally a semi-face stable, as Mutoh had his first title reign cut short thanks to Nobuhiko Takada's interference when he invaded with UWFI. Mutoh, instead of "kicking them out" put his faction vs UWFI's on the line, loser joins the winner. Mutoh won and Takada was pretty relevant for a while as Mutoh's second before Sekimoto stepped up. Koji Kanemoto and Jinsei Shinzaki team up for the Juniors, though Kanemoto has had major singles success. Dan Severn has been IWGP Heavyweight champion, and was apart of a prolific tag team with Kazuo Yamazaki. Naoki Sano, Nobuhiko Takada have been supporting Mutoh since they lost when they invaded, and lastly, as I've mentioned, Sekimoto and Yakushiji are the newer proteges. D-X: Well, okay this isn't a real faction anymore. This was originally D-X which then turned to Evolution.. which then turned back to D-X. Evolution was what is worth talking about, as HHH held the IWGP Heavyweight for almost 2 years, from 2003-2005. Evolution consisted of HHH, Shawn, Randy Orton, Robert Roode, Edge & Christian, and Eddie Guerrero. They all held the gold at one point, HHH the Heavyweight, Shawn the IC, Randy the US, Roode the Openweight, E&C the Tag, and Eddie the JHW. Of course they fell under the weight of their own success, Randy started his Legend Killer phase, and the rest is history. Orton and Shawn feuded. HHH chose Shawn, in this life. The two are now just D-X, and only E&C followed. Eddie didn't split poorly though, he just simply teams with Chavo now that I have Chavo back. Their major feuds is with basically everybody. Shawn had a great rivalry with Dan Severn, Steve Williams, DDP, and Bret Hart. While Triple H also had his best matches with Dan Severn, Kenta Kobashi, and Keiji Mutoh. Suzuki-gun: One of the newer factions, Suzuki-gun was formed off the failings of Funaki-gun, Suzuki would join Funaki-gun and actually recruit most of its members, Funaki would enjoy this easy ride and make Suzuki the second in command. Suzuki was just hiring the people that listened to him, in Mr. Gannosuke, his tag team partner, MAZADA and Hooligan, both punks from Japan and Mexico respectively, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, who has a bit of a failed star gimmick, that Suzuki sort of took under his wing, and Ken Shamrock who joined out of respect to Suzuki. Minoru Suzuki's biggest achievements were winning the IWGP Heavyweight and although it was a short-lived reign, he still defeated Tanahashi to do it, whilst also being DDP's last singles match in NJPW. Suzuki had a great 2005. Suzuki's singles feuds are still to come, I believe, his feud with Tanahashi is going to be great, his feud with Hashimoto is just starting as its Old Guard vs Forgotten Era kind of shit I like. His tag matches with the Hart Family are always 100s funnily enough. I'm 100% certain I'm forgetting things, and I know this isn't SUPER in-depth, more of an overview, I just don't think I could cover every faction in one post if I went into details haha, I tried my best. Sorry if its a bit too much. I am entrenched in this save and plan on playing it out for as long as possible. Blue Justice is forming this year, as well as an unknown faction with Shibata in it, with.. Chono.. leading it.

Wrestle Kingdom 13 (1992-2006) is booked and done. Another year completed. Lost a lot of major stars in the main event + upper midcard. I've mentioned it before I believe and named a few. I did sign both Dave Finlay (48) and Mick Foley (40) to my roster, short-term. I like creating momentary stories that last a year or two, similar to DDP, who had a two year tenure in my company. Akira Taue has hit decline, thus Holy Demon Army, another mainstay tag team is on the decline. Kawada thankfully is going strong. I'm excited and terrified at the same time with how drastic my roster is going to have to change in the coming years. Mutoh is slowly being phased out, Chono has been declining for 2 years now. Not many of my workers can step up and fill those shoes either. It's going to be a fun time booking the company. But let me move onto Wrestle Kingdom, I'll go over the major stories: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinya Hashimoto def. Minoru Suzuki (c) This is a story about Suzuki showing he is the present. Hashimoto is the last remnants of the old guard. The last one who can't accept he is no longer the focal point. Hashimoto had a smaller rivalry with Suzuki during the New Japan Cup of 2005, though they never faced directly in singles competition. This was their first singles match. It scored a 100! Fantastic main event. This was a barebones story though. Hashimoto coming in to show he is too stoic and cool and Suzuki showing his deranged hatred for Hashimoto and the other Musketeers / Pillars who held down the generation of Kojima/Tenzan/Makabe etc. (No Inokism in this timeline, so need another excuse!) Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Katsuyori Shibata I love that I can realistically build this up as a co-main event. Both men got so wonderfully over, Shibata without the aid of the title or favoritism. And that is your story. Tanahashi, Nakamura, and Shibata all arrived at the same time, Shibata lost the YL Cup to Tanahashi in 2000. Nakamura is the youngest IWGP Heavyweight champion, Tanahashi the longest reigning U-30 champion, and a former IWGP Heavyweight champion. So what about Shibata? Thanks to Chono's push, Shibata has betrayed his friends and attacked Tanahashi costing him the title to Minoru Suzuki at the 2005 Destruction show in September. Shibata would then defeat Tanahashi in a tag match during the Super Tag League. Finally fed up, Tanahashi called out Shibata, who was never afraid to answer the call. While Shibata came up short, he forced Tanahashi to acknowledge him, as an equal, demanding a match. This begins Shibata push. Hopefully, anyways. IWGP Heavyweight Tag: The Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada) (c) def. Christian Cage & Shawn Michaels Okay this looks weird, even after I reveal Triple H was meant to be in this match but an injury (torn quad, heh) to Triple H forced Christian to step in and be Shawn's partner. Akira Taue is declining, Kawada isn't. This is the only real way I can get more value out of Taue. HDA retain, largely because Shawn + Christian doesn't intrigue me and I have the year planned for tags already decided, and am happy with. I need to start pushing actual tag teams and younger guys. Been rebuilding the tag division for about 3 years now. IWGP United States Heavyweight: Randy Orton (c) Def. Dave Finlay Randy Orton is in full legend killer mode, I actually paired him with Shibata under Chono's group, Chono is declining and too old, so he hired young ruthless stars in the making. It makes sense, okay? Dave Finlay returned alongside Mick Foley. Who else would the legend killer call out other than Dave Finlay, who competed in NJPW years ago. Finlay obviously accepted, and was ready to fight. I admit this was put together but it went well since Dan Severn was injured and denied his retirement match. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Great Sasuke def. Hayabusa (c) Great Sasuke has been a strange failing of mine. He left for PWFG in 1996, and I was a little upset, he was definitely going to be on the rise with the likes of Eddie, Benoit, and Otani. While Hayabusa, Ultimo, Liger, and Kanemoto were the main 4. Either way, Sasuke returned in 2002, and I had plans for to reignite my desire to see him rise up to the upper echelon of the card. His skills were better, his overness was in the high 80s. But... I kept changing my mind. He was meant to win BOSJ in 2005 but... I went with Ultimo Dragon. He was supposed to win in 2004, but I wanted to give Liger a 9th title reign and was enjoying Eddie vs Rey. Finally, ending a lengthy title reign from Hayabusa, Great Sasuke has earned his first title in NJPW. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag: Super Crazy & Cerebro Negro def. Los Traumas & Los Guerreros (c) Super Crazy and Cerebro Negro are great guys, whom I like. My JHW tag division is honestly just luchadores that I borrow from CMLL + Gedo & Jado, and Eddie & Chavo. There isn't a story here. I wish there was. But like NJPW in real life, I am not investing a super large amount of effort in this division. IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Satoshi Kojima Nakamura has been feuding mainly with Great Bash Heel while Tanahashi has had his hands full with Shibata. He defeated Togi Makabe in September, at Super Tag League, him and Tanahashi lost to TenKoji and this is where this match was spawned from. Not a super big story here, Nakamura will be a part of a larger story that will birth his King of Strong Style persona soon, as for now, he is still Super Rookie, if that makes sense. These are some of the larger matches. Elsewhere Sekigun members Yuki Ishikawa, Minoru Tanaka, and Naomichi Marufuji captured the Trios titles from Great Bash Heel. Tenzan was the only winning GBH member this WK, as he defeated Suzuki-gun's Ken Shamrock to retain the NEVER title. Combat Toyoda mercifully ended Cynthia Moreno's title reign. Keiji Mutoh's special challenge was answered by Masahiro Chono, who hadn't wrestled a singles match for nearly a year. Mutoh defeated Chono. 2005 is behind me, and 2006 will be extremely fun as a lot of younger guys showing up and getting ready. Loving the roster renovations I'll be employing throughout, Tanahashi will be firmly secured as the Ace with Nakamura and Shibata firmly behind him.

Booking World Tag League 2005 right now, and while this tournament is basically just a giant filler episode 99% of the time it feels like, this one was not. First off, the bad news is Dan Severn's career is over. Sadly. Torn rotator cuff, plus he is in sharp decline, and now his arms will likely be below 10-20. I was going to give him a big send off in a final Wrestle Kingdom match. To make it even sadder, his tag team partner Kazuo Yamazaki hit decline sharply around the same time. So, the dual send off is now impossible, Yamazaki will be done with NJPW at 2006 WrestleKingdom. The good news here... is Rhino. I had him and Tetsuhiro Kuroda form a tag team, they're both in Suzuki-gun, and I needed a regular heavyweight tag team as I had plans to have Suzuki get a big singles push, which he got, he is the current IWGP Heavyweight champion, but to get back on track: Rampage (Rhino + Kuroda) formed in June 2004. They were having middling success until I decided on a whim to give them a little push in the tournament, I've failed to get Kuroda over 82 popularity, and Rhino has always sat at 79. Well. That changed. Rampage defeated Hashimoto & Sasaki in a "shock" and Rhino got the pin. His popularity is now 89! I've always liked Rhino, so this is fantastic and shockingly have an upper midcarder (in popularity though he is a major star) who is young enough to not alarm me. My main event scene is getting very old, you see. So news all around! Some good, some bad. I really loved booking Severn's career and it was probably my favorite to book ever, so to see it just abruptly end is almost a little too real.

Yeah, anything that has willr0ck behind it is usually the best quality you can find for that specific thing. Dude is talented.

Not counting the obvious megastars in HHH, and Stone Cold, and the AJPW guys who almost all held the title. Dan Severn won the big one. Dude was way too over and I wanted him to hold the title because of it. Ron Simmons is a good shout. He won the title actually from Hashimoto in '96. It was an experiment to be honest, he wasn't "elite" in terms of workrate. But it was a successful short reign imo, though my weakest ever in terms of match ratings. That was really it. It's difficult to get popularity past a certain point. So some guys are just gatekept. Thankfully this year is pretty big in terms of the guard changing. Some forcefully than others, I think about 6 guys are in deep decline now that are all either "major stars" or "stars" guys like Bret Hart, Chono, Kazuo Yamazaki, Dan Severn, etc which sucks, so it'll be tough.

The G1 Finals are concluded. The 14th of this save (1992-2005) and still the number of unique winners remains at 7. Who were the unique winners? Well in order: 1. Masahiro Chono (5x) 2. Tatsumi Fujinami (1x) 3. Keiji Muto (3x) (Note: He technically won it twice, once as The Great Muta!) 4. Mitsuharu Misawa 5. Shinya Hashimoto (2x) 6. Kensuke Sasaki (2x) (First person to win it back to back in the Round Robin format!) 7. Toshiaki Kawada (the last unique winner which was in 2002) The latest winner? Shinya Hashimoto has won his second G1, Hashimoto was the last of the three musketeers to win it not only once but more than once. The 2004 and 2003 winners were Chono and Muto respectively as well. Hashimoto defeated Kenta Kobashi to win the G1 this year. Kobashi was looking to become the 8th unique winner, but unfortunately Hashimoto was too much. The real reason I gave Shinya the win was simply because he deserved it. He has the highest popularity in my save that is an active wrestler (98) and as he is now 40, I wanted to give him a reward for being my backbone. He never complains about losing, always puts on bangers, and is usually top 5 in Power 500. This is also a special G1 because there will be plenty of unique winners going forward, with Nakamura, Tanahashi, and even Shibata all gaining massive popularity. Both Nakamura and Tanahashi are around 90-93, while Shibata is at 82 without being pushed. Either way, nothing major just wanted to share my G1 history because I love tournaments. Oh, bonus question for those that actually read this: What should I call a Joshi single elimination tournament? I don't have the talent depth for a RR tourney yet, so. Any and all ideas welcome.

How amazing was Syuri vs. Giulia? My God. Anyways, NJPW 1992-2005, BOSJ is now booked, the Road to Dontaku begins. Being a Junior Heavyweight focused month, I will just talk about that! Major Stories for the Juniors: Naoki Sano at Wrestle Kingdom this year shocked everyone when he defeated Jushin "Thunder" Liger at the age of 40! (Liger is also 40 but Sano hasn't won the title 12 other times before this) making Sano the longest gap between two title reigns! (89-2005) Hayabusa had managed to end his title reign in an shocking defeat for Sano, who perhaps got too cocky after besting Winger. Now Sano must scratch and claw his way to the top, but at his age and with the wear and tear on his body could he do it? Perhaps his final chance is through a grueling BOSJ. Hayabusa has been struggling to recapture that babyface fire he once had, and has admittedly fizzled out. 1998 was his last singles victory, and his last and only BOSJ win was 1996. Granted he did capture tag team gold with Liger, but it was a short-lived reign and many felt the two should have had a stranglehold on the belts. With the influx of talented Juniors from both Japan and overseas (especially Mexico) making their presence known, Hayabusa needed an edge. The week before BOSJ began, Hayabusa answered an open challenge call from Naoki Sano after Sano had managed to thwart Winger (who beat Sano at last years BOSJ) and sported a newer look (its just a black mask but that means he has an edge now in wrestling logic ok?) A more aggressive and less flashier Hayabusa, no longer playing to the crowd and riding off his previous name value and merits, made quick work of Sano and finally recaptured the title. He finished the tournament 2nd in his block, losing in an upset to Gedo of all people. MAZADA: The Suzuki-gun punk rudo (before Taka made it cool, sure) showed up in NJPW by breaking every rule imaginable with the help of Hooligan, MAZADA since his debut has beaten better opponents through sheer trickery and deception, and you wouldn't know it but he is very accomplished, winning the Junior Heavyweight tag titles twice with Hooligan, and shocking everyone when he won the singles title from Rey Misterio Jr back in 2002. MAZADA is always a threat, tasked by Suzuki to make a name for Suzuki in this tournament as Hooligan did not make the cut this year, MAZADA is more motivated than ever (or perhaps scared) Rey Misterio Jr: A tale of tragedy for the Mexican high-flyer. Losing in the finals twice in a row, losing to Liger every single year, being betrayed by Eddie Guerrero, his former tag partner. Rey has had an awful 3 years. A funk that hasn't seemed to end. This year he vowed to stop trying to jump up the mountain, and instead climb. He finally did defeat Liger, in a fantastic match, but he would lose to Eddie Gurerrero and with it his chances to finish the tournament. Perhaps once again deflated, Misterio finished weakly, at just 8 points. The former champion at this point needs to do something, or perhaps he will find himself lost in the shuffle. Outside of MAZADA, these were the big stories I had planned out. Only Rey's is multi-year. Hayabusa had been struggling because I've just been booking Liger a lot more strongly as Liger is getting up age. Of course so is Hayabusa so. Either way the finals were actually Naoki Sano vs. MAZADA. Sano would end up on top, giving us Hayabusa vs. Sano II at Dontaku. Funnily enough this was supposed to be Great Sasuke's spot, but I fucked up and had Ultimo Dragon beat him, and Sasuke had no way of going past Ultimo who had 12 points and a win over Sasuke lmao, so MAZADA actually did what he was supposed to do. The plan was for MAZADA to get to the finals either way though. I was toying with the idea of going Mazada vs. Hayabusa, as this was probably the only time I'll put him in the finals, and Hayabusa was never losing the title at Dontaku but Naoki Sano has been fun to book.

So WWC is finally going under, debating buying them just because I can. Another developmental I could use. Question is, should I? Are there any updated logos of them laying around anywhere? Edit: Found one. Either way, I bought 'em because why not? Another developmental would be nice to have truthfully, as the other 2 (one male/ one female) are getting too crowded for my tastes. First thing I did was fire Bill DeMott, hehehe.

Yes! Plus I have so many interwoven stories now. Sasaki and Hashimoto being the one I mentioned is a particular favorite just because of how far back it goes. I love long-term games way better than short-term ones. I think the "early game" is the worst part actually. Sure the money becoming a non-factor sucks, but I just don't use it. I don't have a roster of 200 people, I've always kept my roster at around 60-80 people, and remember its a Heavyweight/Junior Heavyweight split too. So it's not a massive amounts of people.

Thanks for the kind words! New Japan 1992 - April 2005 The New Japan Cup is officially done. I can't recall if I mentioned that Inoki was like 66 so, I swapped him out as my UC with Masahiro Chono. Who I believe was actually Head Booker in NJPW for some time. I wanted to shake up the game a lot by doing this. The last post didn't mention it but for the first time in a while, there are ZERO gaijin champions. Tanahashi has done what the older pillars and musketeers could not accomplish. This was another "Chono decides" idea of mine, I'll be giving the newer generations their pushes now, Marufuji for example has won the New Japan Cup! His opponent? Another man who managed to defeat Kensuke Sasaki in the semi-finals, Daisuke Sekimoto. This isn't going to always be this egregious, I still have Hashimoto, Kobashi, Kawada, and other excellent top tier talent that are still leagues better than Marufuji and Sekimoto, and to just sweep the rug out from under them would just be asinine! For now though, Tanahashi gets to be the man who ended the longest modern day IWGP Heavyweight championship reign. Kensuke Sasaki and Shinya Hashimoto won the Heavyweight Tag Team titles at Wrestle Kingdom this year, before that they managed to win the Super Grade Tag League. This team on paper seems insurmountable for any team currently in NJPW, Sasaki has 3 Super Grade Tag League wins, 5 tag title reigns. Hashimoto has 2 Super Grade Tag League wins, and 3 title reigns. Though this may be their first reign together, the two have been dominant since entering NJPW. Again, on paper. Since Sekigun's formation to combat Chono's nefarious NWO Japan stable (and other off-shots such as his Team 2000 stable) Hashimoto and Sasaki were recruited both by Fujinami. When Fujinami retired in 2002, Sasaki was furious he was not selected to lead, instead Fujinami selected Hashimoto. Even before then, Hashimoto was noticeably bitter that Sasaki had two back to back G1 Climax wins, but could not convert on either. Citing Sasaki's lack of dedication. The two were "friendly" rivals since. Now they both hold tag gold together, and after besting DDP & Bret Hart at Sakura Genesis, who will be their next opponent? Can they maintain their focus and not let their egos get in the way? Meanwhile, Akiyama holds the Intercontinental title still, after successfully defending it against GBH's Hiroyoshi Tenzan. With the fall of some main eventers, guys like Kojima and Tenzan are finally rising up the ranks in a serious capacity (it helps Tenzan is finally becoming decent, while Kojima has always been pretty great) despite that though, Akiyama proved to be too much for Tenzan, and now Akiyama looks forward and continues to be a fighting champion. After defeating Tenzan, Akiyama did the calling out, as he lost to both Sasaki and Hashimoto in the G1 Climax last year, which ruined his campaign to the finals. Perhaps we will see a stipulation that allows Akiyama to put his IC title on the line for a tag title shot? 1990. 15 years ago, Naoki Sano won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight. In 2005, at Wrestle Kingdom, he shocked everyone as he defeated Jushin "Thunder" Liger for his 2nd ever reign with the prestigious title. Sano in 1990 was inexperienced but agile and healthy, Sano in 2005? A battered down wily veteran (seriously he has 30s in every health, its bad.) After defeating a hungry Winger for his 2nd defense, he now faces a much more seasoned and tougher competitor in Hayabusa. Can Sano do it again and shock the NJPW fans by defeating another one of the elite Junior Heavyweights? That's all the major storylines I have going so far, the rest of the titles are just "title defense please." In case anyone is curious, most of this planned out a year in advance mostly. Some things change, sometimes I just say "screw it, give the title to X" or something. But for the most part, yeah. It's my favorite save in TEW, has been a great time.