sevendaughters

I think SANADA must have a pretty high ceiling. Why would you sign an incredibly good-looking Muta guy with a range of experience and versatility to just bump him in the midcard for life? A long slow build will be good for him, a rivalry with EVIL, maybe Naito down the line?

all of the top guys have stuff they could work on with layouts, psychology, selling, moveset, etc. it's fascinating really. we know we're being spoiled now, and we'll look back and remember it fondly, but it is true that Naito does race through stuff. but they do improve in little ways. as a face Naito used to sell with this vacant look on his face like he was slightly bored during a film. now he doesn't. so yeah: Omega is a bit goofy, Okada could bulk up just a little, Tanahashi's moveset seems weak by comparison, Ishii tends to favour certain spots, etc. I've read stuff written about the Four Pillars during the era that nitpicks about how Kobashi oversold, or stuff about classic NWA about Ric Flair having a certain match layout...as long as we keep perspective that this is all Very Good Stuff then I think it's cool to prod at them.

yeah. I feel like I say this every year too and we still have pretty much the same thing we have now. they'll build something ahead of the Dome at the Tag League. no excuse not to go a bit harder though. anyway, here is my top ten of the G1 01. Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada 02. Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada 03. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 04. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega 05. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata 06. Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega 07. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 08. Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii 09. Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL 10. Satoshi Kojima vs. Juice Robinson next ten would feature whole cluster of Ibushi and Nagata.

christ yeah that Shibata return was great. I want him in the ring again, however selfish that may sound. jr tag was cool too. Taguchi finding his stride again is a really good undercard development.

I watched Naito-Omega with a pal who stopped watching wrestling regularly about 10/12 years ago and he loved it. He gets the biz but isn't a massive fan, and was always wryly critical when we'd get together for Raws and PPVs back in the day. Anyway, as I say, he loved it, thought both guys were great, and thought it was the best thing he'd seen in ages. I left him logged in to my NJPW World account and invited him to have a look around. Which is a good win. Obviously the main was brilliant top-end wrestling done by guys in the prime of their life. I say 4.5 and not the 5s I see this match lavished with simply because I thought it was a bit overkill toward the end. One thing a lot of my all-time favourite matches have is a clear sense of ending and finality; often they veer towards being concise. Kenny is obviously a freakishly-gifted performer, blessed with strength and athleticism and agility and cardio and just generally a great look for the wrestling business - but he loves maximalism and bombast. He's said it himself. He loves a video-game version of pro-wrestling. And while that leads him to do impressive shit that pretty much hardly anyone can do, it means sometimes he can't fully satisfy in shorter matches with lesser talents (all relative here) and sometimes goes too far in big match situations. Omega-Okada 3 was a bit too much for me, and Omega-Naito 2 was even more... Still, he's young as a main event talent and maybe he'll start to work a little smarter. Naito on the other hand is completely ready. I would like him to maybe cut a couple of things where he takes a massive back bump giving a move and get a better submission. But he's doing some incredible stuff. Just comparing the guy who won G1 23 with the guy who won G1 27. It is night and day. My friend just loved him from the moment he strolled out in his suit. He has real "who is this guy and what is HIS deal?" quality, like Nakamura had in his pomp. The booking going forward on the top and upper midcard is incredible. Omega has a title and owes defences to Elgin and Juice. He also has a win over Okada. And they started to put the flames under the Ibushi match. And let's be honest: who wouldn't like to see a Naito-Omega rubber? That is like a year of matches if done right. Same with the various permutations for Tanahashi, Okada, Elgin, Juice and EVIL. A number of workers have come out of the other side of the G1 with no real trajectory - like Ishii (apart from being fed to Naito for the briefcase), like Goto, like SANADA. I think once EVIL loses his title shot there's scope to really try and make something of the heavy tag scene: Goto and Ishii, SANADA and EVIL, KES, GOD, War Machine, maybe find a new member for GBH to tag with Makabe? I vote Kitamura. I'd pay money to see Goto/Ishii v LIJ if they booked with purpose. Anyway, great G1. Going to go and watch the jr. tag and the Shibata return.

great G1, right winner, hit loads of different emotional notes, all-time stuff. going ****1/2 on the main. will write more later, in transit, enjoyed chatting with you lot too.

same bruh.

quick views on the Block B final night (day 18) undercard was a house show. surprised they did nothing with Tanahashi and Ibushi. Kitamura in Taguchi Japan was really great. Elgin-Juice good strong work from two people who've had a good tournament in-ring, but only one of whom had any real sense of booking trajectory. ***3/4 SANADA-Tonga got a bit distracted during this by a call but it seemed like a fun little house show match with some comedy and some decent work *** Suzuki-Yano the rekindling of the greatest feud since Buddy Rogers and Haystacks Calhoun did not disappoint **1/2 EVIL-Kojima good tournaments for both end with a good Hamaguchi-student lariatfest ***1/2 Okada-Omega real good condensed version of all the stuff they did before with a few little twists and variants hinted at in the booking and writing. The time limit kept them focused and the story gave them something to work with rather than just doing for "a great match". I like Omega's simpler stuff more - his knees, his chops, and that really lovely uranage he hit. Okada looks, for the first time, really beaten up and needs some time off. I could live without kicking out of Tiger Drivers and Kenny's slight overselling but the writing has made them into Kings Road style megamen and I find nitpicking easier at the top end because what you're doing is saying why it is or isn't 5 stars. I preferred the Suzuki-Okada match so on that basis i go ****3/4

made the train, hell of a match, 4.5, real fun show today.

Goto-Ibushi Kota has wrestled within himself this tournament and he still spits out good to great matches. I think what's frustrating about his decisions about the business is that he could, in our minds at least, be one of the top babyface draws and churn out exciting and visceral matches that please casuals and hardcores. It's a bit frustrating but also his avoidance of the grind keeps him special (like Shibata before he signed full time, remember?) and I mark for his regular moves still. Goto has been a bit tired down the stretch but he woke up here and wrestled desperate and pissed-off, he used his beat-downness well as a contrast to Ibushi's physique and health. I'm waffling. Good match this, kept it relatively short, but everything worked. **** really need Naito not to take 8 minutes to get to the ring now.

in running review of Day 17 from Sumo Hall, have a train to catch in 67 minutes so might not get to see the main evento Nagata-Fale knew this master-pupil match would be good but getting Nagata superfan Nogami to call it from the heart and then the post-match greatness with the fans and Fale offering the sign of respect was brilliant, Nagata is a treasure, put him in the HOF, this is wrestling clap clap clap. ***3/4 YOSHIHASHI-Makabe totally fine match that sort of says that Tacos isn't going anywhere upcard soon. *** Ishii-Sabre Jr. not the world's biggest fan of Zack but he came good here. nice to see Ishii doing a bit of mat wrestling like it was no big thing. they have a strangely excellent chemistry don't they? ****

watching the undercard 10 man right now. think Page and Hanson look really good in this context (which is, essentially, an ROH match with Ricochet & Taguchi). good match!

oh yeah I mean I am well aware of all their credentials and my poor chances (I have some judo, I am reasonably fit from running and cycling, I have good cardio is basically it). plus I wouldn't want to beat on Jado as my friend teaches his kid English and he got something signed for me once. so I'm batting 0 for 10. and Yano would crush all these imo!

top 10 NJPW regulars/semi-regulars I would rather fight ahead of Toru Yano but expect I could beat maybe none of. I won't count young boys but I reckon all the current crop would whip me. That Kawato knows some sick judo. I haven't looked at your list to avoid being influenced.

yep. Impact asked him to revive it. he gave an interview about how it came about and how he wasn't sacked from NJPW for doing that, rather him doing that was a fuck-you response to him being suspended from NJPW (he says for refusing to work in Fukushima after the nuclear incident).

agree. I think one think that helps Yano's credibility (aside from his credentials) over say someone of a not dissimilar M.O. like Ogawa is the fact that he is actually quite big, like you could imagine a shithead of that size rolling you up or hurting you with a punch to the knackers and even if you retaliate he's not going to crumble. like, i could name 10 NJPW guys i would rather have an actual fight with ahead of him.

DAVE weighs in on Days 12-16 8.2 - Fukuoka Juice-SANADA 3 / Elgin-Yano -1 (MINUS 1) / Kojima-Suzuki 3 / Okada-Tonga 3.25 / Omega-EVIL 4 8.4 - Ehime Nagata-Ibushi 4.25 / Ishii-Fale 3.5 / Goto-YOSHI-HASHI 3.25 / Sabre-Naito 3.75 / Tanahashi- Makabe 3.5 8.5 - Osaka Yano-Tonga 1 / Kojima-SANADA 3.5 / Elgin-Suzuki 3 / Juice-Omega 3.75 / Okada-EVIL 4.25 8.6 - Shizuoka Nagata-Sabre 3.5 / Ibushi- YOSHI-HASHI 3.5 / Goto-Fale 2.25 / Makabe-Naito 3.25 / Tanahashi-Ishii 4.5 8.8 - Kanagawa Kojima-Tonga 2.75 / Robinson-Yano 1.5 / Elgin-EVIL 4 / Omega-SANADA 3.75 / Okada-Suzuki 4.75 SOMEONE is rattled that Yano got a win over Elgin (it was stupid tho)

they did which at first was well received but they still have to come out and take a couple of bumps in the lower card. just seems mad. 19 nights where at least 7 you're asked to put your working boots on is hard. the old format where it was 22 guys and two got a night off (1 per block) per night may have meant fewer nights off but the matches on average were a little shorter (even the mains) and the tour was much shorter. i can't imagine there's much in it, pain-wise. long tour obviously better for business. they drew 400 more to Hamamatsu this year than in 2013 and gave away half as many matches with similar calibre mains (Devitt-Okada, Ishii-Tanahashi).

agree on the bod slippage. Goto looks doughy and tired. I wouldn't go to the gym if I were them. I think I'd like to see some kind of jr. tag/young lions tournament on the early card to be honest (or spread throughout the night). It'd make me watch it for a start. I think it is slightly ridiculous that they get the in-competition guys to come out and work a match.

NJPW World is a co-prod. with TV Asahi so either way it should be there (unless it's Samurai TV who produce WPW?)

when they did Masakatsu Funaki over Akiyama (poor fucking guy) for the Triple Crown in 5 mins, same idea, didn't quite boom business. That said I think Hiromu trouncing KUSHIDA in 2 mins was good for their feud.

seen loads of 'the booking is horseshit' type comments in reviews of today, mandem can't win

it'd be a neat idea. Omega's big stuff targets the lats/neck/delts so it could work. One problem is that I don't see where the time-fillers are on the lower card. Outside of the permutations for the block it is still a one match show. remember with these guys 15 minutes is considered breezy so you could get the best of both worlds there.

Jack's great. He taught my ex-gf a bit of *insert some individual element of MMA here* before he got signed. From what I know of him (interviewed him, have a pal who works at one of his old regular indy spots, instructor to ex and another pal) this is very consistent with the real person.

Dave Meltzer's ratings through Day 11 or 12 are in this thread somewhere. Here's all the matches I have rated 4 or above personally. Obviously you don't know my taste so buyer beware and all. Eagle-eyed readers will note I originally gave Elgin-Omega 4.75. 5 Suzuki-Okada 4.5 Ishii-Nagata, Elgin-Omega, Naito-Ishii, Ishii-Tanahashi 4.25 Kojima-Juice, Ibushi-Naito, Ishii-Ibushi, Ibushi-Tanahashi, EVIL-Okada 4 EVIL-Sanada, Goto-Nagata, Nagata-Tanahashi, Okada-Elgin, Okada-SANADA, Tanahashi-Fale, Nagata-Naito, Goto-Tanahashi, Makabe-Nagata, Ishii-Fale, Naito-Sabre, Kojima-SANADA, YOSHIHASHI-Ibushi