scmurph01 Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Minor complaint, but I HATE the English commentary team. Kevin, Chris, and Gino are terrible. Rocky is ok, but man, I can’t stand the other three. The extended drawn out finisher call by Kevin is incredibly annoying, almost takes the focus away from the ending imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I also wish the English language commentary team were better..... Kevin Kelly is alright in that he's generally well prepared but he's not great by any stretch. Chris is hugely knowledgable, which I love, but again he's not very good at adding to the match in any other way. Rocky Romero tends to just be there when he's there.... I have no strong feelings about him in any way there. And Gino is straight up bad, I literally have no idea why they keep bringing him in to be the 3rd or 4th wheel on commentary. Over the entire WK weekend Kevin Kelly repeatedly had to try to bring him in to discussions and all Gino seemed to ever do was try to shill the Bullet Club side of things... which was being done fine by the Bullet Club guys on their own. That said, while I don't think the team is amazing by any stretch, I do like them for the most part (except Gino). They're not overly trying to put over stuff like the WWE teams are forced to do and they feel like real people talking about real sports, which is a better presentation overall. I miss Don Callis on their team, he was amazing and I'd love to see him back out there. And I do wonder what would happen if there were ever an AEW/NJPW link instead of an ROH/NJPW link.... would that change the commentary teams at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 The extended drawn out finisher call by Kevin is incredibly annoying, almost takes the focus away from the ending imo. Completely agree. After processing the two nights, my only real complaint aside from commentary is the length of the shows. They're entirely too long. Also, Liger looked like he could keep going if he wanted to. I think he might be an immortal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerodragomir1 Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I think Kevin Kelly is serviceable. I prefer him over most other commentators. The scream at the end of big matches is somewhat annoying though, I can't deny that at all. I wouldn't want Don coming back to the commentary, he wasn't fun to listen to IMO, except when he would talk about his backstage stuff with Omega. That gave him an interesting point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 New Year Dash was a fun show. The Young Lions Match was a fun little exhibition to start the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullMETAL Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Finally watched Night 1 last night, probably gonna try to catch Night 2 tonight and Dash tomorrow. My thoughts on Night 1: - Kojima looked GREAT, both physically and in-ring. Dude's absolutely still got it and could probably hold his own in short "make the main-eventers look good" feuds over the next TEN years if he keeps himself in this condition. Tenzan and Nagata looked fine and held their own, and Nakanishi was really slowed down, but Kojima was very clearly the star of that tag match, especially with what felt like the WHOLE crowd chanting along with him for his big spot. - The Young Lions looked great in their match. I boldly predict that at least one of those 5 guys will eventually main-event WK, probably even this decade. - I played "Ikari no Jushin" over Liger's dubbed theme during his entrance and actually started tearing up. Glad Taguchi was the one who got the win on that. - After watching the Suzuki-gun/LIJ match, a long-term Sabre versus Sanada feud is something I didn't know I needed in my life until now. This match itself looked kinda messy to me though, even for a 4-on-4. EVIL is low-key one of NJPW's best overall assets. - You know that thing where rainfall and erosion naturally wears a giant craggy boulder down to a smooth almost spherical shape? That's what Ishii's head looked like that night, and it made me chuckle. Also, I will never not want to see Pieter on my screen, she is literally one of my #goals. Additionally, Yujiro looked surprisingly excellent in this match and even though he's been BC4Life since a year into the group's run, it really feels like only this past year where he's really come into his own, elevating his ring-work to the level of his character work; plus, he and Chase Owens actually work pretty well together as a team, more of that, please! - I understand why NJPW referred to Juice and Finlay as FinJuice, but I would've preferred them being called Lifeblood even though Juice left ROH. Everybody looked great in the Tag Title match and worked rather well together -- FinJuice and GoD should face each other more. The selling in general on Pulp Friction really needs to be worked on, though -- not enough people doing the proper face-first bump like for the Unprettier. - Mox/Archer was sick. Lost in the chaos of the Death Rider through the tables was the fact that Archer's knees went right into the frame; if he managed to even walk the next day as a result, I consider that a miracle. - I consider Hiromu/Ospreay as the Match Of The Night, no matter what anybody else says about Naito/Jay and Kota/Okada. That Time Bomb II at the end was sick. Their attires and entrance gear (Hiromu in Asuka's robes? Nice.), especially Ospreay's popped me big time, and Ospreay played the sentai villain perfectly in this match. - Naito/Jay was my runner-up for Match Of The Night, and the Gedo interference enhanced the drama for sure. If I didn't already look up the results, I would've probably been even more invested in whether Naito would overcome or not, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the match as a whole. I do wish Naito would permanently debut an "end the match for realsies" version of the Destino at some point though (my vote is for a spinning version after the backflip sets him up), because even doing a 4th regular one to end it kinda looks less than devastating and only gave me a sense of "oh, this is still a regular one, there might be a kick-out even though it's the 4th one". - How is Kota Ibushi even ALIVE right now? Seriously! You know that part in his pre-match promoing where he went all "Even *I* don't know what I'll do in the match"? He literally transformed into THAT guy after those first 2 head drops (I absolutely think Kota accidentally slipped away on that first Tombstone because the relative chasm of space between his body and Okada's -- leave room for JEE-ZUS -- as his head just spiked onto the mat didn't look worked at all). Auto-pilot and adrenaline, and I couldn't watch the rest of the match without wincing and cringing the whole time. It didn't even feel like that was even Kota Ibushi anymore in that match and it took 2 more why-the-eff-is-he-still-taking-these head drops to transform him BACK to Kota Ibushi. But big props to Okada for learning from his past year and change of character development, because he went through the first 75% of this match as all-business, dismantling Kota with clinical detachment to simply get the win as soon as he could to keep himself fresh for Night 2, THEN the frustration and emotion came through near the end and the "come on, STAY DOWN" look on his face for that final Tombstone-and-Rainmaker pretty much said it all on Okada's end. I wish I could've seen the Stardom match though. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milamber Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 <p>Watched the last 4 matches of New Beginning and enjoyed it.</p><p> </p><p> SANADA vs White - *** 3/4</p><p> Lee vs Hiromu - **** 3/4</p><p> Suzuki vs Mox - **** 1/2</p><p> KENTA vs Naito - **** 1/4</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 New Japan returns next week with a modified New Japan Cup tournament. Hiromu is my pick to win the whole thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Hiromu winning would be great, but I don't see that. I've got Shingo over Suzuki in the finals, and a weird semi final run for YOSHIHASHI too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Hiromu winning would be great, but I don't see that. I've got Shingo over Suzuki in the finals, and a weird semi final run for YOSHIHASHI too! Shingo vs Minoru would be a great match up, but man, Yoshi Hashi is just as bad as Taichi. I don't understand how anyone likes or even tolerates either one of them. Zero redeeming qualities in my eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalton Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Anyone got any ideas for how the IC and Heavyweight titles will eventually be separated? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 I don't like YOSHI-HASHI.... he's probably a nice guy but he's a jobber for life, but NJPW seem determined to make us like him and give him a loveable underdog midcard role and the way the brackets are set up, he could definitely make it to the semi finals. I won't hear a bad word said about Taichi though, he's great! So many ways to annoy people, has some great moves in his arsenals and is charismatic as heck. I was on board for a push for him even before he got it, but he's clearly not going far in this New Japan Cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Derek, I've always thought of you as a decent enough fellow, it's a shame your taste in wrestlers is the absolute worst. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrestling Century Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 <p>Hey, YOSHI-HASHI puts on great matches, he is just a giant black hole of charisma. Taichi has actually gotten better the past few years and has a good gimmick for a jobber, but I have no idea why they ever let him become NEVER Champ.</p><p> </p><p> As for the New Japan Cup, I want Shingo or Hiromu to win, but I think Shingo is far more likely, and I kinda want Okada vs Ishii to happen anyways. </p><p> </p><p> As for who I don't want to get very far in the tournament (other than young lions, but I don't think I need to worry about that) is Goto. He's good, but imo he's way over pushed at this stage of his career, I'm personally sick of him and if this was TEW he'd probably have one of the lowest consistency stats in all of NJPW. Sometimes he'll have a great match with someone, and the next time he faces the same opponent have a super bland and boring match. He honestly baffles me.</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakerNGN74 Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 Yoshi Hashi is the human equivalent of a toaster oven, on second thought toaster ovens turn bread into toast and toast is delicious so maybe I'm giving Yoshi Hashi too much credit here. in all seriousness the dude stinks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="40971" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Derek, I've always thought of you as a decent enough fellow, it's a shame your taste in wrestlers is the absolute worst. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> How dare you insult Taichi like this! Miho Abe will hear about this and she will not be pleased that you insulted her man! <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> <img alt="en600400.png" data-src="https://www.njpw1972.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/en600400.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Thought it might be a good idea to put the actual bracket up here so we can check it out. The reason I see YOSHI-HASHI in the semi finals is because I see him going over Tenzan, Bushi and Goto to get that far before losing to Shingo.... though the Shingo part of the bracket is STACKED and there are literally 5 guys in that 8 man block that could win the whole tournament if NJPW wanted them to. <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Ishii vs Hiromu is a potentially intriguing match in the 1/4 finals, and I expect to see Yano vs Hiromu which will no doubt be a very silly match that I will love. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> I expect to see the winner of Hiromu/Ishii up against Minoru Suzuki... though it could also be Okada, since he's not the champ and will be on his path back towards the gold again no doubt. Okada vs Gedo will be fun. Nagata vs Suzuki will be a fun first round match between two of the oldest guys on the roster who are still awesome. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> So yeah.... looking forward to all of this. I love me some tournaments, I love me some NJPW. And I can't wait to hear what they plan to do with the G1 because I'm itching to see that and I know they had a very modified schedule for this year anyway with the Olympics going on. Which I guess menas a very modified schedule for next year now as well.</p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Normally I'd say Hiromu would have no chance here, but I actually think he'll take this. My reasoning for that is: -I think Jay White was the original planned winner, and obviously he's unavailable. -I think they'll use this as a way to get back to the Naito/Hiromu match we were supposed to see at the Anniversary show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CloudyDay Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I have nothing new to add but I just want to say that I'm so happy that NJPW is back. I've been watching some AEW and NXT to get my fix but they're just not the same. Also, I was kinda hoping for a Suzuki vs Gedo match haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Just read the NJC results. I'm excited Evil won, still wish Hiromu or Ishii would have won, but I don't like Evil joining Bullet Club. I'll give it a chance, but just seems like a Russo swerve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGN91 Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 I think they did it because Jay and KENTA are unable to travel to Japan atm and maybe for months due to COVID. BULLET CLUB only got their geeks left so a new fresh member with the ability to do good matches is a good thing imo. I mean they teased a LIJ turn for months now, most of the fans thought it would be SANADA i guess. Even BUSHI teased a potential turn for one of the LIJ guys on njpw.com in his interview. I'm glad the SANADA&EVIL team is officially over. I liked the final until the first ref bump. And what was next? Sure another ref bump and a run-in:rolleyes: Post match was cool tho. I guessed EVIL right as a winner, so i was happy for him to win the Cup. You all should watch the Lions Break Collision. Easily the best 30 mins of wrestling, easy to watch. Loved both episodes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalton Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 I cannot believe what I just witnessed at Dominion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGN91 Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 I cannot believe what I just witnessed at Dominion Me neither but it was a good thing. Not the match itself, but the whole angle. I liked it! EVIL is now way more interesting than ever before, it's a fresh new thing and not the same old thing as before. It may suck that you sacrificed the whole weekend for that turn, but i think it was neccessary because of the whole COVID situation. Without COVID EVIL won't be champion, still in LIJ and Okada would have beat Naito today.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalton Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Poor Naito can never catch a break. Every success he has is immediately followed by heartbreak. And EVIL as champ is definitely unexpected, but the more I think about it the more I like it. It's been the most protected belt in wrestling for quite some time now, and to see a guy hold it outside of the usual suspects is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGN91 Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Poor Naito can never catch a break. Every success he has is immediately followed by heartbreak. That's his character. He isn't even that entertaining when he doesn't complain about things. We should see the bigger picture, the long term conclusion of what happened today. I'm more excited about that than having Naito with some more filler defences until he face Okada again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaysin Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 I think it would have been a more impactful turn if it happened at Dominion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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