Teh_Showtime Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I actually thought that the main event was brilliant for that reason. Okada has basically lived to hit his rainmaker and get the win from it. The one time it failed was after a 2 minute delay before the pin because Tana worked his arm the entire match...but he still hit it again and won. In this match Tanahashi instead worked the legs down the closing stretch and you mentioned that he never got his knees up for the high fly flow, but it just would have hurt his legs even more had he tried to block it. The scene afterwards with him crying leads me to believe he's really about to evolve. The cocky kid was finally humbled after all of the trash talk and he choked on what should been the night he was crowned as the new ace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitarzu Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Some notes for every match and a final thought. 0) 15 men New Japan Battle Royal Quite entertaining. Nice to see two real legends like The Great Kabuki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara and a good showing by the young lions. I found it more enjoyable than a lot of the western battle royal. 1) IWGP Junior Tag bout, ReDragon VS Forever Hooligans VS Time Splitters VS Young Bucks Last year was better Probably because ReDragon seemed not so much suited for playing the crowd in a quick spot fest, but you can't change the champions, especially if their natural substitutes are TAKA and Taichi. This would result in the same match as last year and you can't do that. 2) Bullet Club VS Tenkoji and Honma Another way good way to warm up the crowd, especially with Honma winning. Kokeshi! A little disappointed for the lack of a true Kojima LARIATO! called by the japanese broadcasters, by he got plenty of his signatures. Icchauzo Bakayaro! Scott D'Amore and Karen Jarrett provided the usual Bullet Club bickering and Jeff Jarrett the usual El Kabong. Anyway, this interpromotional match with Jarrett and GFW is quick enough. 3) Yano and NOAH representatives VS Suzukigun Another interpromotional match, probably the worst match of WK9. Nothing to say aside seeing Marufuji in a throwaway match is quite sad. 4) Suzuki VS Sakuraba For me it's not a surprise the two delivered, since this match is their bread and butter. Suzuki is always preparing for something special for Wrestle Kingdom, this year the god mode. Could be a good alt for a game! Aside the junior tag bout, my personal kickstarter is this one. 5) NEVER bout, Ishii VS Makabe Another good performance by Ishii. Strange to say it but I think Makabe needs this title to get more relevant. I wouldn't mind to see it this win as a stepping stone to get another IWGP or Intercontinental title bout. 6) IWGP Junior bout, Taguchi VS Omega Omega pulled an AJ Styles and wins the title in his first match. Taguchi is not the junior he was before the injury but he delivered. The real problem was the pace of the match, that maybe drag down some of the flow after the break. Omega's new character works, he needed to move away from his DDT antics, and the junior division is looking a dominant champion to rebuild it, after a two years of injuries and a champion, Devitt, not defending it and wrestling often with the heavys. 7) IWGP Tag bout, Meiyu Tag VS Anderson & Gallows The one year reign ends and so the storyline between Goto and Shibata, finally winning together some gold. Less interferences than I thought, probably due time constraint, with Tama Tonga just carrying the big Bullet Club flag. 8) Styles VS Naito This suffers at least 5 minutes missing. The match is good and the story based around the Styles Clash, a move already over, since it's a setup move for Takahashi's High Fly Flow like the Tombstone Piledriver for Okada's Rainmaker, is well told. The result couldn't be different since AJ Styles needed a win to avenge the G1 Climax loss. In his single Wrestle Kingdom matches, Naito is 0-4, losing to Jeff Hardy, Keiji Mutoh, Kazuchika Okada and AJ Styles. He's the designated Tokyo Dome jobber to the stars. For the former IWGP Champion it's a big jump in the card since his only Wrestle Kingdom match was the opener in WK2. 9) IWGP Intercontinental bout, Nakamura VS Ibushi A top contender for the 2015 MOTY. A great way to tell a story between the serious wrestler, Nakamura, who has been champion for half of the belt existence, and the comedy one, Ibushi, coming from DDT. Nakamura is one of the best in ring performers of the 21st century and Ibushi is proving once more a wrestler cable of doing something special. The Springboard German Suplex is already one of the spots of the year. One personal detail, I loved Nakamura's entrance video where the cards are the opponents defeated in his title defenses. http://media.tumblr.com/1384522adce2efa402e649fc101a7ab6/tumblr_inline_nhndymUhWd1ro92ph.gif 10) IWGP Heavyweight bout, Tanahashi VS Okada A little bit behind the Intercontinental match from a workrate point of view, but this one has a better story, well placed in the actual rivalry of the decade. Who's the Ace? Okada enters and plays with the usual stuff. Takahashi instead shows immediately he's the 1/100, the Ace of Universe; he has even written Ace in the front of his pants. In the end Tanahashi proves once more he's the real number 1 bullying Okada and leaving him in tears. This will kickstarting Okada's journey to the top of the mountain. I not shocked by the outcome, I think it was the right thing to do. This title run is Tanahashi's 7th, most in NJPW history, and what's a better way to start it than having a successful title defense in the biggest show of the year? A plus one year reign, ended by Okada at Wrestle Kingdom is a strong option. By the way, the IWGP Heavyweight Title hasn't changed hands in Wrestle Kingdom since WK5. Guess who won it... http://www.puroresumission.com/eotm/imageseotm/0111b.jpg In the end Wrestle Kingdom 9 has been a great show, better for sure than last year, the Gracies match ended in DQ still cry out for revenge. Especially the double main event really felt a double main event, which I put both on the same level. There was only one thing that bothered me, the time management. The matches were kind of rushed, there weren't any graphics introduction to matches aside the double main event. I missed the IWGP Heavyweight Roll of Champions and the overall perception there was some needed breaks were missing. Last year I felt it was better packaged, this time I found it somehow difficult to watch it before arriving to the Styles-Naito match. P.S. Can someone explain me there's always two japanese english ring announcers? No offense, but it seems one of the two has some voice problems. He tries to stretch the names but he can't do it. He's extremely annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mootinie Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I actually thought that the main event was brilliant for that reason. Okada has basically lived to hit his rainmaker and get the win from it. The one time it failed was after a 2 minute delay before the pin because Tana worked his arm the entire match...but he still hit it again and won. In this match Tanahashi instead worked the legs down the closing stretch and you mentioned that he never got his knees up for the high fly flow, but it just would have hurt his legs even more had he tried to block it. The scene afterwards with him crying leads me to believe he's really about to evolve. The cocky kid was finally humbled after all of the trash talk and he choked on what should been the night he was crowned as the new ace. But in their Invasion Attack match, he would do forearm smashes with his hurt right arm, and I think he did the same at KOPW too. He even did his Diving Elbow Drop with it after changing his elbow pad from left to right so him not using his knees to block the HFF when he really needed to makes no sense to me in that regard. I completely got the story overall, and as I said, I liked it, but I felt elements of that story hurt the match a little, that's all. P.S. Can someone explain me there's always two japanese english ring announcers? No offense, but it seems one of the two has some voice problems. He tries to stretch the names but he can't do it. He's extremely annoying. Well, the one you're talking about is their english-speaking ring announcer, he always does his announcements when they're just emerging onto the stage. They only use him for big shows though. He is quite annoying sometimes - "SHINNNN SOOOO KAYYYY. NAAAA KAAAA MUUUUUUUUUIIIIIRAAAAA!" No. But that was a good review Kitarzu, a thoroughly enjoyable read just like Tiger's. I, too, loved Nakamura's entrance, I had to rewatch to catch the playing cards, I missed that the first time. It kinda feels like Bullet Club is toning down their shenanigans too, very little interference in any of the matches, which makes sense since I heard from a fella that lives in Japan that they're actually well liked by the crowds, they just know they're not supposed to cheer them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Alex Koslov announced via Twitter that he's taking a hiatus from wrestling. I don't know how long he's been at the size he is now since WK9 was the first time I've seen him work in awhile, but he has gained a lot of weight compared to his time in TNA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Alex Koslov announced via Twitter that he's taking a hiatus from wrestling. I don't know how long he's been at the size he is now since WK9 was the first time I've seen him work in awhile, but he has gained a lot of weight compared to his time in TNA. It all makes sense now why he was the one to be jobbed out two nights in a row. Koslov injured his shoulder pretty badly during the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June, and he started to gain the weight since then- a sign that he's not been able to workout and get back in shape properly. Sounds to me that he isn't completely done with wrestling, but will only return to it when he's physically and mentally back in shape to do so. Just where this leaves his now former tag partner Rocky Romero, we will have to wait and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mootinie Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 A Rocky Romero singles run would be good, I hope he gets a shot at Omega. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hashasheen Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 "Also expected is more trading of talent with Pro Wrestling NOAH. As noted before, New Japan either has secretly purchased controlling interest in NOAH to keep the struggling company alive, or is at least heavily funding them at this point. GHC champion Naomichi Marufuji and 2013 tag team of the year Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste worked the Dome show. While they didn’t have the time to really get it over, they worked with New Japan’s Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) and that seems like a natural program in NOAH for 2015 as plans are for Smith Jr. & Archer to be regulars there. To help strengthen NOAH, the plans look to be that Suzuki-gun (Smith Jr. Archer, Minoru Suzuki, Taka Michinoku, Taichi and Desperado) will be invading NOAH. Suzuki’s win at the Dome over Kazushi Sakuraba may lead to him in the GHC title picture shortly, and back for another main event singles run. " That's a pretty sizeable chunk of the NJPW roster to tell you the truth (8 guys, all in all) and I'm actually curious about what NJPW is going to do to replace them. Certainly they've got the CMLL guys for the next month, but I'm sort of excited to see what happens next. Definite incentive to start following NOAH a little bit as well, since I'll be able to recognize a few of the guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 For those who have AXS TV (formerly HDNet), New Japan Pro Wrestling premieres tonight, 9:00 pm est with an Okada vs. Tanahashi match (from 2013's Wrestle Kingdom I think.) It will have English commentary from Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathers7 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The Final Countdown" data-cite="The Final Countdown" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="30254" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>For those who have AXS TV (formerly HDNet), New Japan Pro Wrestling premieres tonight, 9:00 pm est with an Okada vs. Tanahashi match (from 2013's Wrestle Kingdom I think.) It will have English commentary from Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Here's the 13 week run in full:</p><p> </p><p> <a href="http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/543113-complete-match-listing-for-all-13-weeks-of-new-japan-pro-wrestling-on-axs-tv-current-nxt-star-aj-styles-okada-vs-tanahashi-more-airing-w-english-commentary" rel="external nofollow">http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/543113-complete-match-listing-for-all-13-weeks-of-new-japan-pro-wrestling-on-axs-tv-current-nxt-star-aj-styles-okada-vs-tanahashi-more-airing-w-english-commentary</a></p><p> </p><p> The schedule is kind of bizarre but worth watching thanks to the commentary from Ranallo & Barnett which seems to be getting a large amount of praise from what I've read.</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 <p>Part of a fun project I'm starting up- I'm looking at different years from NJPW on NJPW World and will give my recommendations (which will be matches I think are either good matches to seek out or one's that are interesting).</p><p> </p><p> So without further ado, I bring you Tigerkinney's NJPW World Recommendations for 1990: </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>31st Jan 1990- TV Taping (Osaka) </strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Naoki Sano vs Jushin Thunder Liger </strong></p><p> </p><p> Really intense Juniors match, Sano is fantastic as a dick heel ripping away at Liger's Mask. Liger is of course fantastic here too, fighting back with an emotional fire over his beloved mask being torn apart. The post match angle is great too, with Liger really losing his shit post match over Sano's mask abuse. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>10th Feb 1990- Super Fight in Tokyo Dome </strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>Akira Nogami & Jushin Thunder Liger vs Naoki Sano & Pegasus Kid</strong></p><p> </p><p> Be forewarned that the match does feature Chris Benoit under a mask, considering the infamy of Benoit's departure from this world- I would fully understand why people would want to skip this match- I did dice over it myself, but as the years have passed I have managed to separate to a certain degree, Benoit the person from Benoit the wrestler. The fact he is working under a mask here, probably helps in that regard. </p><p> </p><p> As for the match itself, it only goes for about 9 minutes, but they pack a hell of a lot of action into the match. This match is practically an early incarnation of those IWGP Junior Tag spotfests, and though those feel a bit cliche now, at the time this match must have felt very fresh. Plus for once the Tokyo Dome crowd (who are usually quite nonchalant towards Junior Division matches) are losing their shit for a match featuring Junior Heavyweights, but again that probably has to to do with the fact with the spots and pace of the action at the time felt fresh and original to them. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>AWA World Heavyweight Championship: Larry Zbyszko vs Masa Saito</strong></p><p> </p><p> This one begins a bit slow but gets really good at the end and they have the Tokyo Dome Crowd fully invested into the match by the finish. This one follows the native hero vs dirty gaijin formula, with Saito dominating most of the match but Zbyszko able to just about keep a foothold in the match with a string of desperate heel tactics. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader vs Stan Hansen</strong></p><p> </p><p> What happens when two of the most respected gaijin badasses in history collide. You get an ugly slugfest, so hard hitting that Vader spends almost the entire match with one eye closed due to being punched in the face so hard by Hansen. There's nothing pretty about this match and it's more 'bar-room brawl' than a wrestling contest but as literal slobberknockers go, it's as stiff and as real as an 'arranged' fight can get. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>2nd March 1990- Big Fight Series (Tokyo, Korakuen Hall)</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Punisher Dice Morgan vs Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito</strong></p><p> </p><p> Not really a great match, it's just a run of the mill tag match (not bad, not great either, distinctly average) but for those curious to see a pre Undertaker Mark Callaway, then here is your opportunity to do so. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>27 April 1990- TV Taping (Tokyo Bay NK Hall, Uruyasu)</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>IWGP Tag Team Championship: Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito vs Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto</strong></p><p> </p><p> This match features the 'Three Musketeers' (Hashimoto, Chono & Muto) the three men that would go on to be the 'aces' of New Japan during the rest of the decade. Whilst the match isn't a five star classic it's still a good <em>(4 stars level) </em>back and forth contest that leads to an exciting finish with a fully invested crowd. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>24 May 1990- TV Taping (Tokyo Bay NK Hall, Uruyasu)</strong></span></p><p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong> </strong></span></p><p> <strong>Shinya Hashimoto, Masa Saito & Koji Kitao vs Big Van Vader, Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Steve Williams</strong></p><p> </p><p> More entertaining, than absolutely fantastic, due to the fact that one of these wrestlers just doesn't belong with the rest of the talent in the ring- that's because Koji Kitao sucks something fierce and the crowd really let him know it. Heck even his tag partners think he sucks, completely ignoring him for the rest of the match <em>(after he's done one stint in the ring)</em>. Despite the presence of Shitao the other five manage to construct a pretty good match, and watching Shitao get frustrated about not being tagged in and getting 'X-Pac heat' from the crowd makes this match a thoroughly entertaining watch. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>12th June 1990- TV Taping (Fukuoka)</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>'Different Style Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs Masashi Aoyogi</strong></p><p> </p><p> This is Liger engaging in a 'Different Style' match with some Karate dude. Basically it's just a faux MMA match divided into round. This actually turned out to be better than I expected it to be with the angle of Liger having to abandoning his mask half way through the contest because it got damaged- adding to the match....because that leads to one of my favourite sights in all of wrestling 'Pissed off Liger' who in his rage ends up bloodying Aoyogi. Also if you want to get a clear look at what Liger looks like under the mask<em> (well at least what he looked like when he was in his prime)</em>, then this is the match to see. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>19th August 1990- TV Taping (Tokyo- Ryogoku Kokikugan)</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader vs Riki Choshu</strong></p><p> </p><p> This one's all about whether or not Choshu can withstand the dominance of Vader and string together enough offence to take the big man down. Not a classic by any means, but enjoyable for what it was and the hot crowd helps to keep you invested in the match. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>14th September 1990- TV Taping (Hiroshima)</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>The Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase</strong></p><p> </p><p> This match is most definitely not family viewing, if you're even the slightest bit squeamish then you'll probably want to give this one a miss. Hase gets busted open fairly early in the match, and he gets busted open bad, real bad. So bad in fact, it's a miracle he's able to stand yet alone string together enough offence to actually be a competitive factor in this match, but as it wears on Hase fights back like a man with nothing to lose, causing Keiji Mutoh's sinister alter-ego to become even more desperate in his attempt to fend off the challenge from the determined babyface. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>1st November 1990- TV Taping (Tokyo- Nippon Budokan)</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>IWGP Tag Team Championship: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki</strong></p><p> </p><p> The crowd are fully behind the challengers here, especially when Hase is in against Muto. Anyway the match slowly simmers along with the champions controlling the early portion of the match, but then that simmer gradually gets hotter and hotter, leading to a red hot finishing sequence of breath taking near falls. Fantastic tag team match- if there is absolutely one NJPW match to see from 1990- then this is the one.</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathers7 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Tigerkinney" data-cite="Tigerkinney" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="30254" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>10th Feb 1990- Super Fight in Tokyo Dome </strong></span></p><p> </p><p> <strong>Akira Nogami & Jushin Thunder Liger vs Naoki Sano & Pegasus Kid</strong></p><p> </p><p> Be forewarned that the match does feature Chris Benoit under a mask, considering the infamy of Benoit's departure from this world- I would fully understand why people would want to skip this match- I did dice over it myself, but as the years have passed I have managed to separate to a certain degree, Benoit the person from Benoit the wrestler. The fact he is working under a mask here, probably helps in that regard. </p><p> </p><p> As for the match itself, it only goes for about 9 minutes, but they pack a hell of a lot of action into the match. This match is practically an early incarnation of those IWGP Junior Tag spotfests, and though those feel a bit cliche now, at the time this match must have felt very fresh. Plus for once the Tokyo Dome crowd (who are usually quite nonchalant towards Junior Division matches) are losing their shit for a match featuring Junior Heavyweights, but again that probably has to to do with the fact with the spots and pace of the action at the time felt fresh and original to them. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>AWA World Heavyweight Championship: Larry Zbyszko vs Masa Saito</strong></p><p> </p><p> This one begins a bit slow but gets really good at the end and they have the Tokyo Dome Crowd fully invested into the match by the finish. This one follows the native hero vs dirty gaijin formula, with Saito dominating most of the match but Zbyszko able to just about keep a foothold in the match with a string of desperate heel tactics. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader vs Stan Hansen</strong></p><p> </p><p> What happens when two of the most respected gaijin badasses in history collide. You get an ugly slugfest, so hard hitting that Vader spends almost the entire match with one eye closed due to being punched in the face so hard by Hansen. There's nothing pretty about this match and it's more 'bar-room brawl' than a wrestling contest but as literal slobberknockers go, it's as stiff and as real as an 'arranged' fight can get. </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Watched this card not that long ago. All of it is great, the inter-promotional tags are very good, crowd is super hot throughout. You summed it up well, the incident in the Vader-Hansen match is UGLY, Vader's eye practically falls out. Zbysko-Saito is surprisingly great. </p><p> </p><p> I don't have New Japan World so have no idea if this is on there but this is also worth watching. Have it only behind Liger/Sano from New Japan that year:</p><p> </p><p> Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tarzan Goto, Hiro Saito & Masanobu Kurisu (26th June 1990)</p><p> </p><p> Great post though. Are you going through every year from 1990?</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Nathers7" data-cite="Nathers7" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="30254" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Watched this card not that long ago. All of it is great, the inter-promotional tags are very good, crowd is super hot throughout. You summed it up well, the incident in the Vader-Hansen match is UGLY, Vader's eye practically falls out. Zbysko-Saito is surprisingly great. <p> </p><p> I don't have New Japan World so have no idea if this is on there but this is also worth watching. Have it only behind Liger/Sano from New Japan that year:</p><p> </p><p> Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tarzan Goto, Hiro Saito & Masanobu Kurisu (26th June 1990)</p><p> </p><p> Great post though. Are you going through every year from 1990?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Unfortunately quite a few of the shows only have select matches (for instance the interpromotional NJPW vs AJPW tags are missing from the Super Fight in Tokyo Dome show), but I'm going to do my best to recommend the best or most interesting stuff from what is there. </p><p> </p><p> In that sense NJPW world isn't perfect, but for me it's still well worth getting as I can follow the current product with ease and despite stuff being missing, there is still a hell of a lot of classic content. </p><p> </p><p> The intention is to do every year up to 2011, though of course I'll be taking breaks in the project- if I consume all this old New Japan stuff all at once, I won't have time for anything else/I'll get burnt out on it. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Going to do up to 2011, because 2012 is when Okada returned to NJPW with the Rainmaker gimmick, and when I feel the current era of NJPW started, which also coincides with Bushiroad buying out NJPW from Yukes.</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 The NOAH vs New Japan themed Great Voyage show's card has been announced. Pro Wrestling NOAH “GREAT VOYAGE 2015 in Nagoya”, 2/11/2015 [Wed] 18:30 @ Nagoya Congress Center (1) Yoshinari Ogawa, Zack Sabre Jr. & Jonah Rock vs. Masashi Aoyagi [FREE], Hide & Yasu Kubota [both Sportiva] (2) Kenou [MichiPro], Hajime Ohara [FREE] & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya vs. Akitoshi Saito, Genba Hirayanagi & Quiet Storm [FREE] (3) Katsuhiko Nakajima [DIAMOND RING] & Taiji Ishimori vs. Takeshi Morishima & Maybach Taniguchi (4) NOAH vs. SZKG: Atsushi Kotoge & Hitoshi Kumano vs. Taichi & El Desperado [both NJPW] (5) NOAH vs. SZKG: Muhammed Yone vs. Shelton “X” Benjamin (6) NOAH vs. SZKG: Takashi Sugiura vs. Takashi Iizuka [NJPW] (7) NOAH vs. SZKG: Daisuke Harada vs. Minoru Suzuki [Pancrase MISSION] (8) NOAH vs. SZKG: Naomichi Marufuji vs. TAKA Michinoku [K-DOJO] (9) GHC Tag Championship Match: “TMDK” Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste vs. “K.E.S.” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Some more NJPW classics from the NPJW World archive.... 1991 Content for 1991 is unfortunately very sketchy on NJPW World, so I'll probably end up recommending most of what is there (1990 honestly had more posted up!). 21 March 1991- NJPW/WCW Starrcade in Tokyo Dome IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger vs AKIRA Liger's most iconic outfit is of course the Red and White version, but often for bigger shows he would rock a different variation- and here he is sporting a rather swanky Green and Gold version. As for the match itself, is it worth watching for more than Liger's cool outfit? It's not a classic but it's a pretty solid match, personally I prefer a bit more flash from my Junior's matches (very few highspots in this one) but they tell a solid story here with AKIRA using a strategy to work over Liger's legs and they stick with it, with Liger's selling being exceptionally good here. At times sticking so fervently to the story they were telling does lead to the match being a bit dull in places (imo) but I can appreciate what they were trying for here and the finishing sequence is still quite exciting, even if the near-falls are mostly comprised of roll up variations. IWGP Tag Team Championship: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) This match is a really well executed formula tag. Hase works the bulk of the match for the babyface champions, playing Ricky Morton and leaving the Tokyo Dome crowd in desperate anticipation of when he will be finally make the hot tag to the young powerhouse Kensuke Sasaki. When that hot tag does come, the crowd explodes in delight before a thrilling back and forth ending sequence caps off an entertaining tag team contest. El Gigante vs Big Cat Hughes This one's more of a 'Wrestlecrap' recommendation, than a serious one.... What do you get when you put a circus freak giant with zero wrestling talent in against another talentless big man? Well no revelations here because this delivered exactly to it's extremely low expectations. Proof positive that even Puroresu promotions aren't imune to delivering pure manure. The Great Muta vs Sting This match obviously built off their previous encounters in WCW, in the fact that whatever either man went for nothing seemed to be working for them. Interestingly here the Japanese crowd are more behind Sting, doing the right thing in booing Muta, whenever he tried to gain an advantage through nefarious means, though Sting came off as a bit of jerk in the post match angle. A little too rushed to be considered a classic (this got around 10 minutes) but this was a well planned match between two wrestlers that clearly had excellent chemistry with one another. IWGP Heavyweight Championship/NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ric Flair The match itself is quite disappointing, but it's still quite interesting to see Flair perform in front of the Tokyo Dome. Despite both being solid technical wrestlers, Flair and Fujinami don't mesh together all that well and the match is one of those slow paced matches that goes long for the sake of going long, even Flair getting busted open during an outside brawl fails to lift a match, that whilst not terrible, doesn't live up to expectations. 30th June 1991- NJPW Explosion Tour (Tokyo- Ryogoku Kokukigan) Top of the Super Juniors Final/IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger vs Norio Honaga This match was for both the Top of the Super Juniors trophy and the vacant Junior Heavyweight Championship (Liger vacated the title prior to the tournament). Like so many of Liger's big matches, this one starts off a little slow with the usual technical mat based exchanges, however it kicks up a notch when Honaga as the dirty heel goes after Liger's Mask. This appeared to the formula of the day for Liger vs heel matches in the early nineties. Anyway as cheap and as predictable as that is, it gets the crowd and Liger riled up and the match builds towards a exciting climax, where both Liger's and Honaga's nearfalls have the crowd on the edge of their seat. Liger in his prime was simply a joy to watch, and was one of those wrestlers who made both himself and his opponent look great. 11th August 1991- NJPW Violent Storm in Kokukigan (Tokyo- Ryogoku Kokukigan) G1 Climax Finals: Masahiro Chono vs Keiji Muto This match was to crown the inaugral winner of what has become an annual tradition for New Japan the G1 Climax tournament. NJPW had held similar tournaments in the past, but this was the first under the G1 Climax banner. This match goes for around half an hour, but it doesn't ever feel overlong or plodding- there is little in the way of a feeling out process and though the middle portion features plenty of matwork/submission exchanges they never feel dull. The super hot crowd throughout certainly adds to the drama and importance of the match and whilst I wouldn't say this is a bonafide five star match, it's certainly very good. I would have loved to have seen the Chono vs Hashimoto decision match on here from earlier on the card that the finals took place, but sadly it's not on NJPW World at the moment. 1992 4th January 1992- NJPW/WCW Starrcade 1992 in Tokyo Dome Black Cat vs Hiroyoshi Yamamoto The late Black Cat (Victor Mar Manuel) was Mexican wrestler that spent much of his career in Japan and was an established veteran when this match took place, whilst Yamamoto is the future Hiroyoshi Tenzan. This is surprisingly competitive stuff (as Yamamoto/Tenzan was only a year into his career). Not only is it interesting to see Tenzan before he got inflicted with having to sport the same terrible hairstyle for the rest of his career, this is genuinely a good contest. Antonio Inoki vs Hiroshi Hase Inoki was in truth past his peak at this stage, but was still being booked like a God and he was still capable of having good matches with the right opponent (or more to the point concentrated on having pro wrestling matches, instead of shitty faux MMA bouts), whilst Hase was a rising babyface on the fringes of the main event scene. This ended up being a really solid match, with Inoki playing subtle heel as the grumpy veteran determined to keep the rising star looking to step up to the next level in his place. The Great Muta & Sting vs The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) Muta and Sting must have set aside their differences at this point, to form this 'superteam' against the Steiners. Whilst I wouldn't call this a classic, this was still a good evenly contested match, with the Steiners showcasing the outstanding double teams and killer suplexes they were noted for. This was by far and away the best of the matches on this card with WCW representation, as everything else was either mediocre (Chono vs Luger) or flat out terrible (Vader vs El Gigante). 26th June 1992- Masters of Wrestling Tour/TV Taping (Tokyo- Nippon Budokan) IWGP Tag Team Championship: Big Van Vader & Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) A match up between two all gaijin oufits over the IWGP Tag Team titles- the acrofatic duo of Vader and Bigelow defending the titles against the technique and power of The Steiners. There's a spot around the mid point of the match where Scott Steiner falls hard off the top rope (not sure if this was a botch or by design) but it proves to be a real turning point in the match, that leads to Bigelow and Vader dominating most of the match from that point on, because prior to that the Steiners were in control and were actually man handling their larger opponents. The finish which involves a ref bump is a little hokey, but the match remains an entertaining watch. 31st July 1992- Summer Struggle Tour/ TV Taping (Sapporo) Masahiro Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka Koshinaka was an established presence in the NJPW midcard but far from being a main eventer (If he was a part of todays NJPW he'd most likely be competing for the NEVER Openweight title). Most noted for is love of using hip attacks, he had just come off a violent feud with a Karate Dojo fighting alongside veteran junior Kuniaki Kobayashi. The crowd are fully behind the underdog Koshinaka, as Chono is in full dick/bully heel mode here- with the match taking a violent turn when Chono repeatedly sends Koshinaka into the ring post out on the floor- this inevitaly leads to a 'crimson mask' for Koshinaka but instead of wilting under the sight of his own blood, this seems to spur Koshinaka on, who puts on a superhuman effort to try and get the better of Chono. You don't need 'colour' to have a good match,but this was certainly one where the violent turning point helps take the contest up a few notches. 12th August 1992- G1 Climax Tour/TV Taping (Tokyo- Ryogoku Kokukigan) G1 Climax Finals/NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Masahiro Chono vs Rick Rude The 1992 G1 was a 16 man single elimination tournament that was also for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. This match presented a clash of styles with Chono's variation on New Japan's Strong Style up against the American Sports Entertainment based wrestling of Rick Rude. They obviously wanted to go long here but in order to do so they do a lot of matwork/restholds during the middle portion of the match, whilst Rude also works the crowd with his posturing heel gimmick. So unfortunately the match does drag in places. However the closing stretch is pretty good, helped a long by a rabid Tokyo crowd, desperate for the native hero to overcome the arrogant gaijin. If this had ten minutes shaved off this could have been a great match, as it is it ends up being a pretty good one but it takes a while to get going. 23rd September 1992- Battle Autumn 1992 Tour/TV Taping (Yokohama) NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Masahiro Chono vs Steve Austin A chance to witness Steve Austin, before he became a megastar in WWF with the Stone Cold gimmick. Austin in his younger days was actually a technically sound wrestler, and he probably still was when he switched to the Stone Cold gimmick. Of course part of why Austin switched to a more simplistic style later in his career, was due to the fact he was never the same worker (in-ring wise) after he suffered a botched piledriver from the late Owen Hart. This match is odd- it's technically solid but the crowd are dead, one of the deadest crowds ever! (Even if you put Nakamura vs Ibushi from Wrestle Kingdom 9, there would still be more life in a mortuary than this lot). It's just really weird watching Austin be a heat vacuum, rather than the crowd being rabidly into everything he does. Another thing to note, is that though Austin was generally technically sound for most of the match, he hit's a rather sloppy looking piledriver on Chono- Apparently Chono had his neck buggered up taking the Piledriver and he was never the same worker after that and had to switch to a more slower paced/brawling based style of wrestling- just as Austin was forced to do 5 years later when he suffered the same fate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mootinie Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I just signed up for NJPW World today so I'll definitely be checking out all the matches you've posted Tiger. So far I've just watched The Great Sasuke vs. Wild Pegasus and Hulk Hogan vs Great Muta. LOADS to watch, I can't wait to get through all the Muta, Chono and Hashimoto that's been uploaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 So with NJPW's New Beginning shows in Osaka and Sendai happening this week, I thought I'd share my thoughts and predictions on what I expect from these up-coming New Japan shows...... New Beginning in Osaka 1. Sho Tanaka vs Yohei Komatsu I like both of these young lions and think they have a bright future ahead of them, but they really need to stop facing each other (this must be like their millionth match against one another). What I'm really hoping for these two, is that NJPW start to really get behind them as a Tag Team for the Junior division and hopefully by the end of the year pick up an upset win (or two) against one of the veteran teams. Complete coin toss who wins this match though- as their win/loss record against each other seems to be pretty even. 2. Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask IV & Satoshi Kojima vs Jay White, Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi The insignificant filler match of the night. The Kojima team are sure to win here, as the opposing team consists of a broken down old timer, a recently debuted young lion and a comedy wrestler who's made a career out of losing. 3. Jushin Thunder Liger & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Chase Owens & Rob Conway This match is basically there to preview the two NWA title matches that will take place at the Sendai show. This match has two stars written all over it, and could go either way with one of the 'challengers' on the Sendai show likely to pick up the win- though my bet would be on Tenzan being the winner here. 4. Tomoaki Honma vs Kota Ibushi If given enough time, this could be a show stealing match, but the result is in little doubt. Honma is a cult fan favourite, but his role (which he has perfected) is to be the plucky loser, where as Ibushi is in line for a strong push this year and will likely be a champion (whether that's for the Intercontinental, NEVER or even the IWGP Heavyweight remains to be seen) by the end of the year. 5. IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship: reDragon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) vs Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) A repeat of the Tokyo Dome match (minus the weakest links- Forever Hooligans....I didn't dislike the Hooligans but compared to the other 3 teams, they were always a notch below). This won't necessarily be better than Wrestle Kingdom showdown but will likely be as good. Wouldn't surprise me if any of these three teams emerged with the titles, but I'm going to go out on a limb here , and say that Young Bucks regain the belts, pinning one of the Time Splitters. That way Bullet Club become dominant in the Junior Division, reDragon stay in the title hunt by not being pinned and this becomes the catalyst for the Time Splitters to receive stronger singles pushes for the rest of the year. 6. IWGP Junior Championship: Kenny Omega vs Ryusuke Taguchi A re-match from Wrestle Kingdom- Omega's only just won the belt, so I doubt he'll be dropping it straight back to Taguchi and with Bullet Club currently not dominating the heavyweight title picture, they need to be dominant somewhere else and right now that's going to be the Junior Division. More than likely this will be at the same level as their Wrestle Kingdom match, which wasn't a classic but I thought was pretty decent. Omega's been good fun as an obnoxious heel, and whilst I'm not the biggest fan of Taguchi he's a solid hand and nowhere near as bad, as some people irrationally make him out to be. 7. Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga I can't see this match being good, in fact it might be pretty bad as Okada's the only 'great' in-ring talent in this match. Never know maybe they'll find ways to make this match entertaining and find a way to accentuate everyone's positives whilst hiding their negatives- if any promotion can do it, it's NJPW? The story here is that the big bad enforcer of the Bullet Club Fale currently has Okada's number. However as far as this six man goes, I'm going for Tonga doing what he does best. 8. Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Tetsuya Naito vs Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi This one's previewing the Intercontinental and NEVER title matches for Sendai. On paper this looks to be considerably better than the preceding six man. Yoshi-Hashi's the weak link here, but he's not so bad these days that he'll drag down the match. My betting is that the wrestlers involved in the the title matches cancel each other out, leaving Yoshi-Hashi to do the job to Naito. 9. IWGP Tag Team Championship: Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata) vs Guns & Gallows (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) Meiyu Tag only just won these belts from Guns & Gallows, ending the Bullet Club duos long but uneventful reign with the belts. This will be the third match in three months between these two teams, and though the previous two both ended up being decent (and this will likely be more of the same) this feud needs to be done after this show and Meiyu Tag retaining will bring a sense of finality to this story. 10. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs A.J Styles On paper this looks to be a great match, and the build has been incredibly well done from Styles post match attack and challenge of Tanahashi at the New Years Dash event, to Tanahashi bringing back the Styles Clash into his arsenal as a form of psychological warfare during the Road to events. There are plenty who feel that Styles could win the belt here (reasons being that NJPW still want to keep Bullet Club strong, this time round Styles is a lot more over and is now ready to be a champion in NJPW, they'll want him to be champion for the ROH cross promotion events in May). But whilst it wouldn't shock me if Styles won the belt back here, I don't think NJPW would want to hot-shot their main belt onto someone else and my feeling is that this is going to be a relatively long title reign for Tanahashi. ___________________________________________________________________________ New Beginning in Sendai 1. Captain New Japan, Manabu Nakanishi and Sho Tanaka vs. Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma and Yohei Komatsu So many 'jobbers' in one match! So many people that know how to lose. However I would say that Kojima stands above everyone else in this match (Nakanishi included), so I'm pretty sure he'll get the win, with either the Captain or Tanaka doing the job. 2. Non Title?: reDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs Mascara Dorada & Tiger Mask Whether or not this ends up being a non title match or whether reDragon will be ex champions by the time this show rolls around, is utterly irrelevant because there is no way that they are going to be losing to a makeshift team made up of a loan from CMLL and a past his sell by date veteran that has fallen into semi jobber/opening match fodder status. 3. Alex Shelley, KUSHIDA and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) Whilst I don't think the first two matches will be terrible, this should be a step above the first two matches- this could end up being really good (though to temper expectations it should be noted that Nick Jackson is working through an injury right now). Anyway my out on a limb prediction for this match is that KUSHIDA picks up the win here (possibly even pinning Omega) to put in motion the seeds for the next programme for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. 4. NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger vs Chase Owens With Liger already calling out Tiger Mask to challenge him, I doubt that Owens will be winning the title back here (though it wouldn't be the first time a wrestling promotion has set something up just to immediately forget about it- NJPW themselves have even been guilty of this practice), plus I don't think they put the NWA Junior belt on Liger for him to have a cup of coffee with the title. The match itself will be O.K and Owens will either never be heard of again in NJPW or make a reappearance at this years Best of the Super Juniors. 5. NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Rob Conway vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan This will be the usual Rob Conway 2 star special, and I also think he'll retain here against Tenzan. This will either lead to this being the beginning of the NWA angle slowly being faded out or we will finally move on from Ten-Koji being the only one's who can challenge for this belt- or at least that's what I'm hoping for as Ten-Koji vs Bruce Tharpe and his goons has been done to death. 6. Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito Talk about a weird clash of styles- with one team consisting of a pair of flashy high flyers and the other team consisting of a semi-comedic wrestler with a penchant for heel tactics and a broken down former MMA star. Colour me shocked if the Ibushi/Naito team doesn't win here- because all the signs are there that Ibushi will be pushed to the moon this year. 7. Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi I was really hoping that at least one of these New Beginning shows would have had a singles match between Okada and Fale, rather than dragging this feud out. I have no problems with the idea for the feud (former champion want's to get on the road to recovery, but his first road block is the resident monster heel) but holding off on the singles match between these two just feels like dragging this feud out unnecessarily for at least another month- more than likely they will now be drawn together in the New Japan Cup next month. More than likely they'll hammer home the point that Fale currently has Okada's number, by having Okada falling victim to the Bad Luck Fall again- and this match won't be able to rise above mediocrity, despite the presence of Okada. 8. Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga) vs. Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata With Tama Tonga competing as part of the Bullet Club team, this looks like any old six man tag you might see on a 'Road To' show, but because it's on a PPV card, they probably will step ut up a bit here and this will be surprisingly decent. The match would have been better and less predictable, if the managed to convince A.J Styles to stick around in Japan for the Sendai show, as I can't see anything beyond Tama Tonga fulfilling his duties as Designated Jobber. 9. NEVER Openweight Championship: Togi Makabe vs Tomohiro Ishii Despite this being Makabe's first defence with the NEVER belt, it wouldn't shock me in the slightest if Ishii wins the belt back here (if he was going to bother to get his injuries heeled up he would have done so by now). Expect a carbon copy repeat of their Wrestle Kingdom match, which isn't a bad thing, but it won't exactly be surprising. 10. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs Yuji Nagata This match could be really good, and I have faith in Nakamura 'saving' what looks on paper to be a sub-par 'PPV' card. Nagata can still bring it when he's motivated, and is someone who has the credentials to believably dethrone Nakamura for the belt- plus this could be a way to transition Nakamura into challenging once again for the IWGP Heavyweight title. I still think Nakamura will retain, but it wouldn't completely shock me if Nagata adds the Intercontinental belt to his list of achievements inside an NJPW ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Tigerkinney's opinions on NJPW New Beginning in Osaka * Spoilers Ahead- Skip over this post if you do not to know the results* Ok so I've decided to switch over to the traditional star rating system, just like everyone else to rate matches. Though I still think that 1/4 stars are a bit silly, so you're only going to see full or half stars from me, in terms of match rating. The Osaka card ended up getting changed as Togi Makabe was out with the flu- Satoshi Kojima got moved up the card to take his place in the Nakamura lead CHAOS team vs 'Team Nagata' six man tag, whilst Jay White got cut from the card and the six man tag that Kojima was also going to be in became a standard tag. 1. Sho Tanaka bt Yohei Komatsu in 5:38 I suppose that by officially being on a major card and not billed as a dark match, you could call this latest showdown between Komatsu and Tanaka their biggest showdown yet! They worked a decent 'young lion' match for the short time they were given, and it's clear both have a lot of potential. I would just like to see them push on now from constantly having young lions matches against one another. ** 2. Mascara Dorada & Tiger Mask bt Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi in 5:03 This is one of those matches that got affected by Togi Makabe coming down with the flu, with Kojima moving up the card and Jay White being cut from the match- ending up with this lopsided all Junior vs all Heavyweight match. This is where the whole seniority + Heavyweight over Junior hiearchy becomes a bit grating at times in Japan. Mascara Dorada rightfully picks up the win, but it ends up looking like he got the win with a bit of a fluky pin over Captain Jobber of all people (It's not going to hurt the Captain if he loses more convicingly to Dorada- he's at rock bottom already). * 1/2 3. Chase Owens & Rob Conway bt Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jushin Thunder Liger in 7:53 This whole NWA 'invasion' angle would be an even bigger steaming pile of horseshit if it wasn't for the stellar work of Bruce Tharpe as an old-school jerkass manager. The match itself was OK, with the NWA team or more specifically Chase Owens getting put over as a threat, after he pinned Liger following the Package Piledriver. ** 4. Kota Ibushi bt Tomoaki Honma in 12:15 After a sluggish start with three matches that can be best described as filler, the Osaka show finally kicked into gear with this singles match up between Ibushi and Honma. The set up of this match isn't as random as it first might appear, because if you cast your minds back to August of last year- Ibushi was originally supposed to be in the G-1, but was denied his spot when he suffered a concussion- and the man who took his place in that tournament was Honma. Both of these normally fight in the underdog role- Honma being a perennial one, whilst Ibushi has being doing the same as he makes the transition from Junior to Heavyweight. Ibushi worked as the favourite here, which was the right choice as it worked to Honma's over-riding strength as a big hearted under-dog, which allowed for the crowd to get behind Honma and his comebacks. In the end Ibushi rightfully went over to maintain his gradual push after an excellent match, that if given perhaps just a little more time could have turned into a genuine MOTYC. **** 5. IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) bt reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) + The Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley) in 13:31 So the Young Bucks regain the belts, in what would be a bit of fore-shadowing for the events to come. With Time Splitters being the team to take the loss here- the next logical step would be for the Bucks and reDRagon to face each other in a straight 2vs2 tag match. It goes without saying that you're either going to really like the fast-paced, spotty style of these Junior Tag matches or they are not going to be your cup of tea at all. I know there are plenty who fall into the latter camp but I'm not ashamed to say that I fall into the former camp. I wouldn't want a whole card full of these kind of matches, but for one match a show they are good fun. With Forever Hooligans eliminated from the match, they worked a slower more deliberate pace at the start but soon built up to the usual plethora of action packed spots. Even if you're not a fan of this style, you have to appreciate that these three teams have built up an incredible chemistry with one another and each match see's them come up with new and inventive spots that keep their matches fresh. The only real problem with these Junior tag contests is that the New Japan fans are conditioned not to pop (get excited) for these matches as much as they should. Put this match in front of an ROH/PWG or even a Dragon Gate crowd and you'll have people talking in MOTYC terms, as it is the lukewarm reception from the NJPW fanbase when it comes to these matches does put a slight dampener on things. **** 6. IWGP Junior Championship: Kenny Omega bt Ryusuke Taguchi in 13:58 Though it was the weakest of the title matches at Wrestle Kingdom, I still quite enjoyed the first Junior title match between Taguchi and Omega. But for the most part this was terrible, as Omega and Taguchi unfortunately went in to lame comedy mode, that included a whole bunch of spots based around jabbing each others anuses with a flagpole (due to the fact that Taguchi has been channeling Shiro Koshinaka of late and been using a lot of backside based offence). They picked it up a bit down the closing stretch and the match saw a clean decisive win for Omega, but it wasn't enough to save this match from being the worst Junior's title match in recent memory. Some feel this is the fault of Omega being in the Bullet Club and working 'The Cleaner' gimmick, but that's poppycock. Even if Omega was working as a babyface, he would still be trying to shoe-horn in his goofy comedy. There is a lot to like about Omega, he's an athletically gifted performer and an inventive wrestler and his comedy can be fun in the right promotion but in a mostly serious promotion like NJPW he needs to learn to reel that aspect in. * 1/2 Post match Omega and the Young Bucks beatdown Taguchi, giving him an Indy-Taker (Spike Piledriver) onto a chair.....Mascara Dorada and Alex Shelley then make the 'save' before Omega and Dorada have a staredown setting up Dorada as the next challenger for the Junior Championship. At the very least that's a fresh match up, but Omega really does need to done down the DDT/PWG goofball stuff. 7. Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano vs 'Bullet Club': Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga in 11:45 This match ended up mostly being Okada versus The World or more specifically Okada versus the Bullet Club, which ended up not being a bad way to go because the match probably would have been dragged down further if Yano or Sakuraba (who is only motivated for big singles matches against opponents he respects) played a more prominent role in the match. In the end this ended up being an OK match, with Okada being made to look strong again as he pretty much took down the Bullet Club trio by himself, resulting in Tonga doing what he does best and getting murdered by the Rainmaker. ** 1/2 8. Yuji Nagata, Tetsuya Naito & Satoshi Kojima bt 'CHAOS' Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI in 16:30 This was the other match that got changed due to Togi Makabe getting a sick note from his mother, with Kojima pulled from the meaningless match at the beginning of the card and put into this more prominent contest. Despite the talent in the ring, this ended up being a passable but pretty forgettable six man tag- it's the kind of match that probably would have gone down better on a 'Road To' card but here it just felt like filler to pass the time. The only truly memorable thing about the match was the Osaka crowd's continued irrational hatred of Naito. It's amusing, but it baffles me why Naito continues to get so much stick from Osaka in particular. ** 1/2 9. IWGP Tag Team Championship: 'Bullet Club' Guns & Gallows (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) bt Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata) in 16:26 The result of this match had everyone up in arms, with Guns and Gallows winning the title's back, resulting in the popular Goto/Shibata tandem dropping the belts after only their first defence. I was a disappointed as everyone else initially to see Meiyu Tag drop the belts straight back to the Bullet Club team, whose year long reign with the belts last year was agonizingly dull. But I'm willing to see how this plays out before I cast complete judgement, as long as we don't get a repeat of last year when it comes to the tag division, then I'm fine with Guns and Gallows winning the belts back here and prolonging the feud with Goto and Shibata. In fact the Guns and Gallows vs Meiyu Tag matches have all been pretty good- not MOTYC's but they've built up a good chemistry against one another and have as strong formula down for their matches, so one more match between these two teams isn't going to be a terrible thing. I'm still not completely sold on Gallows (and I think he could be interchanged with practically any other big man gaijin) but he has improved and doesn't look completely out of place in an NJPW ring- at the end of the day he's developed into a solid tag partner for Anderson, but I wouldn't want to see any more of him beyond that (I certainly don't need to see Gallows in this years G-1) *** 1/2 10. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: A.J Styles bt Hiroshi Tanahashi in 26:08 Sometimes you can take two incredibly talented performers, but unfortunately the sum ends up lesser than the parts. As great as Styles and Tanahashi are in their own right, their matches end up being a tad disappointing due to having what some might term to be awkward chemistry with one another. The match began with a lot of 'slow build' but it was the sort of slow build, that felt like slow build for the sake of being slow build. The match ending up kicking up a notch, after Tanahashi accidentally butted heads with Matt Jackson, when he went for a high fly flow to the outside that took out all of the Bullet Club (who had all out come to support Styles- they did interfere at one point, but the interference was minimal and they were a non factor after this spot). Tanahashi ended up getting busted open- from that point on the match got better but I'm not really sure it had anything to do with that. Just seemed like they were probably about to kick into the more exciting portion of the match anyway- which saw a dramatic finish that teased Tanahashi giving Styles an avalanche Styles clash (a nice call back to the Styles vs Naito match at Wrestle Kingdom) but ultimately ending in Styles winning the battle and regaining the World Championship to cap off a dominant night for the Bullet Club. *** 1/2 Overall: Not a terrible show by any means, but a disappointing one by New Japan's standards, and the Bullet Club domination, feels like they've reset back to the same time last year. But I'm going to wait and see, before I whinge too much- at the end of the day people were saying the same thing this time last year that NJPW's booking was getting stale and that they were fed up of the Bullet Club. But by the end of the year Jado and Gedo got it right, resulting in a fantastic Wrestle Kingdom. Like it or not, as long as people keep buying Bullet Club merchandise (and that includes plenty of Japanese fans), they are here to stay. Another thing in BC's defence here, is that they won/defended the titles in a mostly clean manner. The interference and distractions are still there but they've been toned it down a lot compared to when they first come onto the scene and they no longer end up having a direct influence on the outcome of the matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Tigerkinney's opinions on New Beginning in Sendai 2014 * Spoilers Ahead- Skip over this post if you do not to know the results* Togi Makabe's still sending in a sick note from his mother, so the card once again gets changed, it also results in Makabe having to vacate the NEVER Openweight title- but we're still getting a NEVER Openweight Title match as everyone's favourite underdog Tomoaki Honma, steps up to take on Tomohiro Ishii for the vacated belt. 1. Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi bt Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu in 6:19 Tanaka's the young lion that loses out this time, with Honma being moved up the card and this match getting cut from a six man tag to just a regular tag. The elements you would have expected from this match were there with young lion Komatsu putting in the most effort for very little reward and broken down big man Nakanishi putting in the least effort for considerably more reward. Fine for what it was and it's spot on the card. ** 2. reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) bt Jay White & Tiger Mask IV in 10:31 This ending up being a nice showcase for the new young lion, New Zealand born Jay White who showed plenty of fighting spirit against reDRagon. In fact this ended up exceeding expectations, as it got plenty of time and White already looks a better prospect than some of the lower end midcarders (looking at you Yujiro). *** Personal Rant: Actually even Tiger Mask IV was fine here, even though the spotlight was obviously on White. In fact I think Tiger Mask IV, probably gets a tad too much stick . Sure he's never been on the same level as the original Tiger Mask, or Tiger Mask II (Misawa) or even Tiger Mask III (Kanemoto- though Kanemoto only got good after he ditched the mask) but he's not as dreadful as some would have you believe. When he was getting his mega push as the face of New Japan's Junior division during the mid to late 2000's, then the anti Tiger Mask sentiment probably had more legs but in his current role as a lower card veteran that mostly works in meaningless tags he's perfectly acceptable. 3. Alex Shelley, KUSHIDA & Mascara Dorada bt 'Bullet Club': Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson in 11:11 Ryusuke Taguchi was originally scheduled to be in this match, but they are selling the injuries that he suffered in the post match beatdown from Osaka, so Dorada (who is looking to challenge Omega for the Junior strap) steps up to take his place. This ended up being a really fun Junior six man, and a nice showcase for Dorada who ended up having the most impressive spot of the night, a jaw dropping sunset flip powerbomb on Kenny Omega off the apron and into the barricade but also picked up the victory, by countering Omega's One Winged Angel finisher into a victory roll. *** 1/2 4. NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger bt Chase Owens in 7:49 Bruce Tharpe came out wearing a sparkly purple ensemble and to be honest that's the only memorable thing about this match. In the matches defence it did get short changed for time but I see nothing in Owens that would make me wish to see him back inside an NJPW ring again. He's not Michael Tarver or Big Daddy Yum Yum terrible but I've come to the conclusion that after four matches (3 NWA Junior title matches and the tag from Osaka) he's mediocre and mediocre shouldn't really cut it in NJPW. ** 5. NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Hiroyoshi Tenzan bt Rob Conway in 11:50 In an absurdly hilarious move, Bruce Tharpe got changed from his purple ensemble in the previous match to a silver set for this match. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if it wasn't for Bruce Tharpe this whole NWA angle would be a complete waste of time- as it is Tharpe's presence makes these NWA matches with NJPW veterans vs Tharpe's mediocre at best band of chronies somewhat watchable. This was a feelgood match with Hiroyoshi Tenzan winning his first singles title in a decade, with him over-coming the nefarious tactics of his American opponent and his irritating (in a gloriously entertaining way) ringside manager. I've seen near enough 4 stars being bandied about for this match, but to me that praise is a little over the top, sure the closing stretch was heated and it was nice to see Tenzan get his feel good moment (especially as two years ago he looked as though he should seriously consider hanging up the boots, after a G-1 where he performed poorly and looked broken down beyond repair), but for much of the contest this was your typical Rob Conway two star special. *** 6. Kota Ibushi & Tetsuya Naito bt Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano in 12:51 As expected this match was a mismatch of styles, but to their credit they managed to get a reasonably entertaining midcard tag out of it. The finish was quite clever, with Yano's trickery back-firing on him, when Naito was able to reverse a roll up attempt following a low blow. ** 1/2 7. 'CHAOS' Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi bt 'Bullet Club' Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi in 9:55 Okada continues to send a message to Fale (though he's yet to truly get even with the Bullet Club enforcer) as Yujiro (who might be the most despised member of the NJPW roster in both a kayfabe and literal sense) ends up being Rainmakered! This match was a tell of two halves, deadly dull during the first half when the Bullet Club pair were working the heel control segment, much much better during the second hald when the Chaos duo got a foothold back into the match. ** 1/2 8. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata bt 'Bullet Club' Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga The Bullet Club trio all came out wearing KISS face paint- what wasn't surprising was that Tama Tonga ended up jobbing again. From a Kayfabe sense, it's a wonder why the Bullet Club continue to allow Tonga to run with them, given his extended levels of incompetence that are perhaps surpassed only by Captain New Japan. This actually ended up being a solid six man tag , with Shibata's triple corner drop-kick spot being the highlight of the match. At the end of the day this didn't necessarily surpass expectations but it certainly didn't come in below them either. *** 9. NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii bt Tomoaki Honma This was one of those rare occasions, where an enforced change to the original plans ends up being of benefit, rather than detriment to the show. I'm sure Ishii would have had another solid outing with Makabe, but I doubt it would have matched up to the fantastic match he had against Honma here. From a booking standpoint, if doesn't make much sense- seeing that Honma loses 99% of his matches (the fact he is Makabe's friend is really clutching at straws) but what the hell when it results in a great match up like this who cares. As expected Ishii and Honma delivered the essence of fighting spirit match, you would expect them to deliver and more! Honma is perhaps the only perennial loser who can everyone in the arena and at home, believe in all of his nearfalls. In fact Honmamnia was running wild in Sendai, with the crowd solidly behind the ultimate underdog, despite Ishii being a cult favourite himself. Five stars and terms like Match of the Year are being bandied about for this match- whilst it was a fantastic match and certainly amongst the best of the year thus far, I don't quite think I can go full boat, as personally for me I still enjoyed Nakamura vs Ibushi from Wrestle Kingdom more. The minor niggle that just prevents me from joining the five star bandwagon is that there a few times during the match, where it slows down to a halt whilst they roll around the mat 'selling the pain' . Whether or not you think this match is deserving of five stars or like me, you think it just comes up short of it- this was still a bonafide MOTYC, and the best match across both of the New Beginning shows. **** 1/2 10. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura bt Yuji Nagata They did a great hype video prior to the main event, showing Nagata with his wife and kids- the gist of the video was that Nagata was contemplating retirement after only being booked in the New Japan Rambo on the Wrestle Kingdom pre-show, but he's not ready to hang up the wrestling boots just yet and that he still has enough fire left in him to challenge for the gold! Even though I can't understand virtually a single of what is being said, New Japan always put together really great video packages for their main events, that help get you emotionally invested in the matches, this certainly succeeded in getting you behind Nagata as the grizzled veteran, proving that he still has some gas left in the tank. As for the match itself, much like the main event from Osaka, this ended up being a good match but slightly disappointing for the main event. Unlike Tanahashi-Styles the issue wasn't with chemistry (in fact Nakamura and Nagata have pretty good chemistry as opponents) but whilst it was refreshing to see Nakamura not have to spam multiple variations of the Boma-Ye, the finish felt anti-climatic. The NJPW fanbase are now so conditioned to people kicking out after just one Boma-Ye that they simply become puzzled, when Nakamura doesn't have to resort to stringing together several Boma-Ye's in a row to keep his opponent down. *** 1/2 Overall: Going in, Sendai looked to be the much weaker of the two cards, but overall ending up being the more enjoyable event, certainly the fact that the NJPW babyfaces managed to strike back here, and Bullet Club ended up having a bad night managed to wipe away some of the sour-taste that the Bullet Club domination in Osaka would have left in some people's mouths. Even if the rest of the show will end up being largely forgotten in the annuals of time, it still gave us a booked on the fly MOTYC out of nowhere with the Ishii vs Honma match for the vacant NEVER Openweight title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Swanton825 Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Chase Owens is actually a local guy for me and I can say for certain that he has done nothing worth standing in a New Japan ring with Liger, even if he's getting up there in years. Chase does have the occasional flash of potential, at one point he actually resembled a young AJ Style, but he's mostly gotten the push he has because he's NWA Smoky Mountain's (the biggest punchline in the joke that is the modern NWA) golden boy. If there was anyone around here that should have been in that position (and they shouldn't), it should have been Jason Kincaid, he's not a mind-blowing talent by any means, but he can sure as hell put on better matches than Owens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Chase comes to work for the NWA affiliate my brother works for up here in Ohio. I like him though. I can see why people would have problems with his New Japan work, but he's always been impressive when I've seen him in person. Also, Michael Tarver was awesome before he got signed to WWE. He's from here and it was exciting when he got signed. He's pretty much floundered since then though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hashasheen Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Anyone else think they could have given Nagata one last run as champion here? Also, kind of wish Honma took the Openweight title here instead of Ishii for a triple threat when Makabe came back. Do they do triple threats in Japan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitarzu Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Anyone else think they could have given Nagata one last run as champion here? Also, kind of wish Honma took the Openweight title here instead of Ishii for a triple threat when Makabe came back. Do they do triple threats in Japan? A three way non elimination match is very rare in Japan. For example in the January 4th Tokyo Dome Show history, now called Wrestle Kingdom, there was only one three way. Wrestle Kingdom 7, Prince Devitt © vs Kota Ibushi vs Low Ki (Agent 47) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu132/CewshReviews/NJPW/Wrestle%20Kingdom/Wrestle%20Kingdom%20VII/vlcsnap-2013-03-01-04h10m05s71_zps167c5f50.pnghttp://theclassical.org/sites/default/files/LowKi.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mootinie Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Ishii vs. Honma from Sendai got five snowflakes from Dave Meltzer. I thought it was damn good, but not that good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathers7 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Ishii vs. Honma from Sendai got five snowflakes from Dave Meltzer. I thought it was damn good, but not that good. I loved it but it doesn't reach five for me. Four and a half at most, still probably slots in at #3 for the year so far though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Ishii vs. Honma from Sendai got five snowflakes from Dave Meltzer. I thought it was damn good, but not that good. I just now watched it, and thought it was awesome. I was expecting Nakamura vs. Nagata to be MOTN because, well, Shinsuke, but this totally stole the show. I don't take the time to analyze matches to the extent of giving them a star rating, but if I did I'd consider a five star match to be damn near flawless. On that basis I agree with you. I do think it's the best match I've seen so far this year, including anything from WK9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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