The NJPW Discussion Thread

[Jaysin]

<p>There's people claiming the real reason Ospreay was stripped of the title was because he left the country to argue with Bea Priestly about her signing with NXT UK against his wishes.</p><p> </p><p>

On one hand, this sounds like horse crap, but on the other, Ospreay is such a drama queen that I wouldn't put it past him.</p><p> </p><p>

The World title is off to a horrendous start. </p><p> </p><p>

I'd love for Minoru to get a run or Shingo, but knowing New Japan they'll probably put the belt on Okada despite him working through serious injuries.</p>

[Mootinie]

Voices of Wrestling said that the injury is supposedly legitimate but its severity is unknown and there's a feeling that the stripping is more because Ospreay returned home for treatment instead of staying in Japan.

[Jaysin]

I don't doubt the legitimacy of his injury, I just thought that stuff about him getting stripped because he's mad at his girlfriend for signing with WWE is hilarious and totally in character for Will.

[Jaysin]

Was hoping for avoid spoilers for the world title match but I'm dumb and went on Instagram. Super thrilled Shingo is champ

 

Shingo vs Okada was super good! Highly recommend checking it out

[Jaysin]

Shibata Is Wrestling At Wrestle Kingdom :d :d

[Jaysin]

Watching night one of Wrestle Kingdom and Shibata is back for real! I was so nervous something bad was going to happen, but he looked incredible.

 

I've gotten to see multiple of my all time favorites make big comebacks over the years and it continues to amaze me.

 

Got dang I love pro wrestling

[djskeemask]

This post dead? I've only gotten into NJPW recently now that they have English commentary, even though it is Kevin Kelly. Great O-Khan push to the moon!!!

[djskeemask]

I was thrilled to see Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan win the tag titles at Hyper Battle!! They totally deserve it. They have great chemistry and both are great performers.

[Wrestling Century]

Anyone see the line-up for this year's Best of the Super Juniors? I'm hyped that it's back to normal with having international talent, and what a heck of a line-up! Excited to see TJP finally be able to show off his full talent again, and I'm also excited to see what Wheeler Yuta will be able to do in New Japan. I've never heard of Francesco Akira before, and I've only seen a little bit of El Lindaman so I'm also interested to see how good they are.

 

What's everyone's predictions for the Finals? I think it's pretty much a lock for El Desperado to win B Block, but I think there's a good chance of Hiromu, Akira or Taiji winning A Block. Despy is awesome and I wouldn't mind if he wins the whole thing, but for as good as he is I hope Hiromu doesn't make another final, three times in a row was too much for Ibushi in the G1 and I don't want it to happen again with Hiromu.

[CGN91]

People seemed to be annoyed about the decision giving Okada another G1 win but I think it's okay. The match was incredible probably one of my MOTYC, althought I don't know if this match was better than their Wrestle Kingdom match.

[Dalton]

On 8/20/2022 at 2:10 AM, CGN91 said:

People seemed to be annoyed about the decision giving Okada another G1 win but I think it's okay. The match was incredible probably one of my MOTYC, althought I don't know if this match was better than their Wrestle Kingdom match.

I definitely feel like the decision to give it to Okada was influenced by the awful way last year's G1 ended. I prefer Okada to Ospreay winning, but one of these years I hope they give it to someone who has never been around the main event scene.

[Jaysin]

2 hours ago, Dalton said:

I definitely feel like the decision to give it to Okada was influenced by the awful way last year's G1 ended. I prefer Okada to Ospreay winning, but one of these years I hope they give it to someone who has never been around the main event scene.

If Shibata could handle the physical wear and tear and still stay healthy and safe, I want him to win G1 and the title just once. 

[djskeemask]

8 hours ago, Jaysin said:

If Shibata could handle the physical wear and tear and still stay healthy and safe, I want him to win G1 and the title just once. 

Shibata is still going in my NJPW save in TEW. He is one of my top guys. I've recently become obsessed with The Predator again after watching Prey. So I changed Shibata's picture to The Predator and gave him the same name. He is now the number 1 guy. He dominates nearly everything and the fans are eating it up!

[CGN91]

21 hours ago, Dalton said:

I definitely feel like the decision to give it to Okada was influenced by the awful way last year's G1 ended. I prefer Okada to Ospreay winning, but one of these years I hope they give it to someone who has never been around the main event scene.

I think it will be just a matter of time they push another up and comer. Their domestic main event scene is getting old, it's the same situation we've had ten-twelve years ago. Umino should be one of those candidates in the next years to come.

[siah463]

Umino is really good but the one who has impressed me the most on their excursion is Yota Tsuji that dude should be destined for greatness when he gets back.

[Derek B]

Good to hear Tsuji is doing well, I've not seen him on his excursion at all to see how he's doing so that's exciting.  I've seen a little of Shota and he still looks like he's going to be a megastar, which is super awesome, and on the main NJPW roster I think Great O-Khan is going to be big too.  And the current batch of young lions look promising, though I'll be damned if I can remember their names just now

[Jaysin]

Know who I miss? Kitamura. I thought for sure he was destined to be a mega star. We are "friends" on facebook, but there's a language barrier sadly. 

 

 

[Derek B]

Yeah, they clearly had big plans for him thanks to his incredible look.  I had to quickly google why he wasn't around and I had forgotten that he's suffered a really serious concussion.  Was a shame, he definitely had the star quality to get a push and might have had the talent to make it work too.

[CGN91]

Yes but the concussion was not the reason why he never came back. They were some rumours about a scooter incident and other things and that he decided to leave after his long medical treatment. I don't think we'll ever hear the true story about his leaving, unless Gedo decides to write a book lol I have to say I was always way more a fan of Kawato as the fiery young lion underdog (and Oka's better wrestling skills) than of Kitamura.

[djskeemask]

I've marked out for Great-O-Khan since I first saw him. He has a good look and decent skills and although I don't speak Japanese, he seems to get through to the crowd in his post match rants. CGN91, I too have kept an eye on Master Wato. I only know him as this name. I never saw him wrestle as a young lion. I don't really like him paired up in Six or Nine. I feel like they are written off as a comedy team and Wato doesn't really have that vibe. Hopefully he'll get a good push  sometime soon.

Edited August 26, 2022 by djskeemask

[CGN91]

Kawato as Master Wato sucks so much. I didn't follow New Japan that regiously like a year ago but he wasn't good at all when he returned from excursion. He lost all of his fiery attitude with his gimmick change, which is a real bummer. He isn't a Master, he is the perfect clumsy underdog with his squinty look like he was before

[Derek B]

I was wondering if I had missed something with Kitamura, makes more sense that we've not had any kind of official word on what happened to him because I swear I'd looked him up before and had only found a vague answer, then forgot about it.... guess I don't remember vague things too well 😮

I saw Great O-Khan on a RevPro show right after he went on excursion and I HATED the gimmick at first, thought it was terrible and goofy and just a godawful waste of a talent like that.  Wasn't sure if it was his idea of something he was lumped with but my mind immediately went back to how badl Okada was used in TNA way back when with how bad it was.  And the gimmick hasn't exactly grown on me.... I understand what he's aiming for, but realistically I like the fact that he's actually good on the wrestling side, that he seems like an awesome person based on news reports of things he has done in public life and it's coming together to make him one of the more likeable younger guys on the roster.  His entire stable was heel but I give O-Khan the credit for them sliding more towards a babyface group now, even if some of them are..... less babyfacey  

Master Wato's gimmick is ill fitting for sure.  If he's meant to be walking some kind of path to becoming a grand master then give him a narrative with fixed goals that he can use to develop himself.  He came back and he seemed like he was doing his flashy moves for the first time, which has held him back a lot.  He definitely needs to find something to hook his character on to, and a team with comedy Taguchi isn't helping him much from what I can see.  Like, I'm sure he's learning some tricks but I don't think it's the right ones.

Unrelated to the above, House of Torture make me sad.  Not in a heel heat kind of way, just in a "this bores me" kind of way.  The entire group is people who are the weaker links of every team or stable they've been in, with the exception of Sho..... and Sho is trying really hard to lower himself to that level.  The whole group just isn't helping anyone, other than to keep some people employed that people wouldn't miss.  Which is some tragically bad booking.

[djskeemask]

finally caught up with G1 Finals...holy crap!!! Amazing match...might be one of the best I've ever seen.

[CGN91]

Do you have NJPW World @djskeemask? You should absolutely do a rewatch of all finals. Some are bettern than others but I think that's fun to do if you're not that into Japan like you said some posts before (or was it in the AEW thread lol)

[djskeemask]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:16 AM, Wrestling Century said:

Anyone see the line-up for this year's Best of the Super Juniors? I'm hyped that it's back to normal with having international talent, and what a heck of a line-up! Excited to see TJP finally be able to show off his full talent again, and I'm also excited to see what Wheeler Yuta will be able to do in New Japan. I've never heard of Francesco Akira before, and I've only seen a little bit of El Lindaman so I'm also interested to see how good they are.

 

What's everyone's predictions for the Finals? I think it's pretty much a lock for El Desperado to win B Block, but I think there's a good chance of Hiromu, Akira or Taiji winning A Block. Despy is awesome and I wouldn't mind if he wins the whole thing, but for as good as he is I hope Hiromu doesn't make another final, three times in a row was too much for Ibushi in the G1 and I don't want it to happen again with Hiromu.

I know this is an old post. But I have caught El Lindaman in GLEAT. He is part of #Stronghearts with CIMA and T-Hawk. CIMA is probably the best of the 3 but they are all pretty talented. I don't remember what New Japan event it was but they were in a trios match as guests from GLEAT. Don't remember who they fought. If you google or check New Japan World (there is a free account), you might be able to find the match or at least some clips.