Salads

It's been fun seeing Okada, Kenny, Ospreay and I guess now Punk switch face/heel for this show. Different roles for different territories. Aside from that, in the build for this event we have Sanada saying that Jack Perry isn't good enough to challenge, Jack Perry saying he's never seen a Sanada match, Okada saying he hasn't seen much Danielson since he signed for WWE, MJF saying Tanahashi isn't good enough to challenge and Tanahashi not being able to remember MJF's name. So everyone's big leaguing each other whether they're heels or not.

'WHO'S YOUR PARTNER STING? WHO IS IT?' to end the show is the kind of thing that just makes me happy. Thanks to US non-jobber matches having to be 50/50 the main event saw Douki having possibly the most dominant performance against a heavyweight in his career. Weird seeing him take it to one of the four pillars fresh out of finishing 7th in his BOSJ block, and also the transition straight back into Jack on offence after eating the table spot but fun match nonetheless, partially thanks to the crowd. No vocal Taka intro for the Just Five Guys guys. No chance for it to meme them into popularity but probably for the best. On the subject of English being spoken by Japanese I chuckled at Mark's 'well, looks like there's been enough talk' after Douki finished his nine word sentence. Looking forward to hopefully getting some Forbidden Door pre-show matches announced tonight. I've been whelmed by the recent match announcements but last year the buy-in was also great so hoping for the same here. Hiromu has to get his money's worth for the AEW gear he had made at some point, right?

Hyperlinking the big Ospreay interview from NJPW's youtube channel because it's not embedding for me. Sit down interviews are my favourite type of promos. Was hoping for Okada and Omega to take the wins so happy to see Will leaning heel for this match. Kenny sends the fans home happy in Toronto then Will sends the fans home happy wherever the third match is.

Also looking forward to seeing how they're announced. Are we getting another subtitled Japanese promo filmed in front of a corridor wall? Wrestler getting on the mic after a match trying to remember all eight names in the tag they have to announce? Survivor Series-style 'the card says we're enemies' run in? Flashing them up on screen like the 'No' from last Dynamite? Excalibur just info-dumping it all at the end because they already have our money? They've got four days to let us know the other half of the show but to be honest I'll be ok with the last one.

Latest I read was that Ibushi has an offer to work for NJPW on the table as one of the many he's considering and they're on decent terms now. Non-contracted Ibushi is happy Ibushi. Him making his (big) reappearance in AEW could be the next best thing for NJPW because they should get some NJPW World subs from it in Japan. I just wouldn't do it on the one show of the year dedicated to AEW vs NJPW. That's not a politics thing, that's a let's enjoy this opportunity thing. You can do the Ibushi story anytime and this show doesn't need it.

Maybe it was a bit of an obscure reference but there was the below promo with a couple of staring into space moments which fans interpreted as him fighting his NSFW instincts.

There are so many names that did an impressive amount of nothing for the first decade or so of their careers before it clicked (Makabe / Yoshi-Hashi would be good examples of this) that it feels harsh to dunk on Dojo guys that retired early. I thought about Yujiro in the G1 thread when I noticed he wasn't included this year Here's a guy who has been in about ten G1s with some of the best in the world and you might argue he has nothing to show for it. 2023 has been great seeing the organic conversion of ironic meme Watomania into well, still meme but now not so ironic Watomania. A nice feelgood meta layer to the young star breaking out story.

You can't end a show with Ospreay marching up the ramp towards Danielson like that! After seeing ZSJ visibly struggling to put a promo together on US TV without being able to say dickhead, looks like an intern found out that bollocks doesn't register on the American censor scale so now he's finding his groove again. I understand why Adam Cole would find the finish to his match frustrating, but why was the ref mad? You'd think it was Montreal II by his reaction. Dude was angry at his own timekeeper for keeping time. I guess calling for the bell is the best bit of the job so rules be damned.

Thinking about it Yoshitatsu and Yujiro are contenders for the worst NJ dojo graduates that went on to have a full career. Yoshi had that one good run before he left for WWE so maybe that disqualifies him, and I can't remember much about No Limit. I want to say Kenzo Suzuki subs in but am probably forgetting someone more qualified. DVDVR could possibly be the place to have a kind of inverse March Madness to find the worst wrestler in a given criteria. To prevent it getting too neggy the only way to argue in favour of wrestler A getting to the next round would be to big up wrestler B's redeeming qualities and obscure career highlights. Put that WCW C-show deep cut spirit to use giving love to the loveless while the threads about the 30 awesome matches on free TV each week look on exasperated.

Haven't seen All Together but Kevin has done the same with New Japan talents like Yujiro in the past. So if there was company bias throughout the show then ignore me but otherwise could be mainly a) our audience are smart enough that if we put over certain talents it hurts our credibility more than it helps the talent with a sprinkling of b) it's ok for one or two names on a roster to suck, and sometimes sucking is a better gimmick than anything else they have going for them.

Naito's usually got a point when he goes on a moan. He also says: "In last year's tournament, 14 out of 84 official matches took more than 20 minutes to finish, so the theory that 30 minutes is not necessary is not valid. I would also like to see an explanation as to why the change to time limits was made, because if they make such a big deal of the 20 minute single match, the 15 minute single match for the TV title will lose its special feeling" The quarter finals plus large number of entrants makes it feel like it is encroaching on the NJ Cup's territory. Shorter matches can be a great thing but as Naito says they tended to be anyway so this is kinf of like advertising 'there will be draws'. I still kinda suspect that the field being so big is because they would have had the returning natives, Aussie Open, War Dogs etc all vying for spots in the company with the company not really having a great idea of which ones they should be backing and how much. So shove them all in then at least afterwards you have a better idea.

The planned card for the first FB went through countless changes due to injuries etc (easy to forget Tanahashi coming out to face CM Punk after all the drama that would come afterwards) so I would say not the best measure of intent. If anything i was surprised how well both sides commited to the concept. I would however guess that those same changes could've changed the attitude this time round to doing these big matches while they could because they might not get the chance to again. X could be injured next year, Y could be holding the title etc so no point trying to hold things back.

The possibility that TMDK could be subbing in for Aussie Open takes a bit of the shine off. When I was living a WWE-free life I would check out the occasional Royal Rumble match every few years because it served as an efficient way for me to put faces to names that I'd seen discussed online. Similarly this could be a good cross section tournament for post-pandemic NJPW as all the newer names are there and will be given time. Apart from the physical considerations I wonder if four blocks and fewer fixtures makes the tournament more appealing when it comes to trying to get AEW talent, for example. Yujiro and Fale not making a 32 man list is encouraging in one way but it makes me wonder how many of the pandemic tournament mainstays are being taken for granted for these announcements, especially if there are fewer participants in future. Not making any predictions but this could be the last time we get to see the likes of GOD or Ishii in a G1. Maybe Tana will get a story out of his final tournament but for most we won't know they're out forever until they're out forever. Could end up being seen as a tournament that bridges the gap between two eras. Will be a lot of newb v star litmus test matches in the group stages for sure.

The link to the twitter thread translating Tajiri's autobiography was already posted last year, but I think it's worth linking again because it has been semi-regularly updated since and I doubt many others have been refreshing it for the last six months like I have. Last update was in April.

If you have multiple big matches that aren't dissimilar in style that risk either outshining each other or burning the crowd out, then I prefer that to sending people out to die as a bathroom break match before the main. If it helps with pacing and prevents matches that viewers have paid to see and may not happen again from being held back due to circumstances on the day, then great. I don't think it's the best look for a championship to open a show, but I could end up chicken and egging between 'championships aren't presented as important' and 'championships aren't important'. Personally I've always liked having the almost-main in the middle of the card, followed by some kind of non-wrestling intermission / segment. Gives the card a side A / side B feel, each with its own headliner, plus a natural break point for those viewing live.

Agreed that Wato is coming along nicely but for a tournament which was spoilt for riches it doesn't seem like was necessarily one of them. He's still young so I don't see the rush to put him up there just yet, but tis the year for new faces it seems. Mike Bailey should be billed as coming from Angel Grove.

Spooky. Make that Triple Thirty Eightch.

I know the usual thing is to promote certain matches as being worthy of going out of your way for because everyone has a packed schedule of great wrestling for free already, but watching the Korakuen Hall offering cements that for me the appeal of the last two BOSJs has been the format in general. Two ten man blocks mean whole cards with nothing but junior singles. I'm not making a comparison on quality because it's been two decades since I last saw them but it's stirring memories of watching J-Cup / Crown tapes. A bunch of wrestlers of varying fame with different looks and styles taking turns to do gnarly junior shit (including matwork!) in a variety of ways before wrapping things up promptly and making way. Most are either in their primes or a potential future star. Matches don't linger and are somewhat flashy for the short of attention but grounded enough to stay out of spotfest territory. When someone is in a figure four after having their leg worked all match it gets a tap out as God intended, and I'm grateful for that. The G1 may have better matches, but this is more digestible. Despite being a tour it might be my sweet spot formula for TV wrestling viewing.

I remember when I was younger joining in all the outrage at Vince pushing guys based on looks. Nowadays I'm all 'yeah Shota had a few good matches but let's wait and see if Tsuji and Uemura are carryable so we can pull the trigger on those beauts instead'. Cool smiles = prosperity. Have seen a few Roman Reigns comparisons about the presentation but to my eyes in that outfit and psycho grin Yota was a violent snap away from being Ryuji Yamazaki. In response to Moxley announcing himself for Dominion, I love the way that fans have accepted the NJPW incarnations of wrestlers like Kenny and Mox as distinct from the ones they see on TV each week. Would be a loss if the differences were watered down and the two territories started to feel the same. Haven't seen people clamour for a wrestler to appear in shorts like this since Okada's balloon run.

With all the Zelda talk in the air I'm currently playing BOTW, picking up my save from 2018 (where after visiting the two villages the game pushes you towards at the start I exercised my freedom by picking a direction at random and inadvertently made a beeline to Eventide Island, for which I was not prepared). I'm finding that the game is sufficiently different from previous entries that recurring elements which would previously be considered routine come across like surprise cameos. And on that note although it was a minor spoiler for me I'm glad that 'the chosen hero of legend is attractive to fish women' has become such a series staple.

No tickets available in either the P7 or P6 categories (the 2nd and 3rd from cheapest) and didn't have it in me to pay £230 for two of the P5s taking into account travel costs, so top tier seating behind the stage let's go! Am imagining a scenario where holding an arena show in mid-recession, post-Brexit UK results in them having to angle the cameras for a bottom-up view as fans bunch up as far away from the ring as possible.

Considering that 9/20 of this line-up weren't around for BOSJ as recent as two years back I think any grumbles about repetition of matches should be directed towards the puro tradition for annual round robins in general rather than this announcement. It's a sign that NJPW have been sneakily boosting their junior ranks that they can do a 20 man tournament with plenty of new names but with only one of them qualifying as a proper guest spot.

I don't really follow AEW that much and I'd only be getting cheap seats so would likely be watching screens more than anything, but I'm aiming to get a couple of tickets. Even without familiarity with all the names (some for me, likely all for the wife unless Ospreay shows up or she remembers Jericho from 2001) it should be good for the spectacle, atmosphere and potentially being part of a little bit of pro wrestling history. The only question mark is how big of a deal it's going to be. On paper it's their biggest show in their history so time to push the boat out but the proximity to All Out makes me fear WWE in Melbourne / time to keep the boat safe status. This fear may not be rational.

Parts of that list looks like a Saudi Prince requested these names but it's beaten my expectations nonetheless.