Archibald

I wonder if this is new mask/entrance gear for him or it was just for this show? 3/4 mask worked for showing blood, but I think it looks cool in general.

Might as well add Dragon Lee vs BotSJ winner.

I liked the promo, especially first part where he re-frames PCO as being broken man who needs fantasy to function.

Blocks and cards were released: Well, I was wrong, last few shows are single block shows so they are probably not going to sneak anything in. Overall A block looks much stronger than B block, kinda how last G1 had much stronger B block. For A block obvious semi-final looks like Shingo/Ishimori. B Block is more interesting, Ospreay sounds like easy pick, but his final match is against Taguchi. Can't see Taguchi being alive on last day so it looks like he is in position to screw Ospreay with a roll up or something like that. So I think that B Block semi-final might be ELP/Desperado? ELP is new guy and he is going to get a push, Desperado shined last year + had long Jr. tag run + is moving merch from what I have seen/heard + can bring heat against Dragon Lee and Hiromu. So is it a time for big Desperado win? With Kushida gone, Ospreay and Shingo likely moving to heavyweights after this tournament they need to establish new top guys in Jr. scene. I think that Dragon Lee and Taiji are almost there, if Desperado wins whole thing and has great match at Dominion he might get elevated to that status as well. Then add returning Hiromu and you got decent Jr. "main event" scene. Bonus thing: Jay White/Tanahashi will happen on BotSJ finals day. I'm sure they'll help to sell tickets, but it is interesting that it is happening now since they'll probably then just have a tag-team rematch at Dominion. Another bonus thing, as I understand finals is where TIMES UP wrestler will make an appearance to directly challenge Juice.

Whats wrong with you?

I'm not sure if there is any thread for Dean stuff so I'm posting this here: He might be wrong. Or he might be right and this is all just a random coincidence. But weird coincidence nonetheless. Two videos of similar style being shot for two different people at around the same time in same area feels a bit odd. But hey, crazier things have happened.

Isn't she signed with AEW?

I understand your point and I agree that when/if he wins building will explode and I'll likely flip the table from excitement, but it is all a bit too much for me. I get and like how Naito was lost in the moment and went for Stardust press couple of times and eventually lost the match. But with Sanada there are multiple points of failure that I feel should be adjusted somehow. But they won't, that one time Okada simply won't be able to raise his knees.

I'm really starting to hate Sanada's "I have this complex sequence that can easily get countered into tombstone so I'm going to do it, a lot" approach. Lets not even talk about him always releasing sleeper before 3 count so that he can do a moonsault into Okada's knees. I understand that Okada was winning this and I understand the idea of rival who is almost there, but never actually manages to win, but... their matches start to feel a bit like Sanada is doing stupid shit on purpose so that Okada would beat him. You know, if Sanada suddenly said fuck it, I'm not releasing people from sleeper then he'd probably be two times champ by now. That being said I loved his new look. And he got another big main event on his belt now so its all good. But if this is supposed to be a long term rivalry then I really hope that they'll heavily alter their match layout in the future. So I guess White/Tanahashi at Dominion as well? And Taichi/Ishii? No problems with that, Ishii defeated Taichi in NJ Cup so it is about time that Taichi got his revenge.

I think they only drew less for their Hi No Whatever show that had Goto/White as main event. But last year they had there LiJ vs Suzuki Gun with Naito/Suzuki IC title match as main event so it would be kinda crazy if Goto/White managed to match that.

Two hints in that video: UK Jack and you can see that beer bottle that he breaks is of Asahi brand - Japanese brand. Idea I think would be that someone was in UK longing for his native "culture" and is ready to return. Oka fits that perfectly. Obviously people are pointing out that only gaijins fight for that belt, but once upon a time Yoshi also challenged Omega for it (I don't blame anyone for forgetting it, match was dreadful) and it being gaijins-only is stupid in the first place. I think it would be a bit weird if he joined Bullet Club considering that they are already getting El Phantasmo so they are at risk of bloating BC again. On the other hand it might be part of the revamp for BC aesthetics? Take Switchblade, El Phantasmo and now this video. At least to me all three of them have "I FUCKING LOVE 80s" vibe going. Heck, new GoD theme and gear for the entrance? Taiji Ishimori? We are going to 80s and since I love 80s I won't complain about that at all. Next thing. They drew 50 less people than last year that had Omega/Page and Cody/Ibushi singles matches. If someone last year said that Cobb/Taichi and Lee/Ishimori would match them then they probably would have been called crazy. And crowd reactions? They barely gave a shit last year, while crowd was hot for both featured matches this year. Thou it was funny when they were poping for Taichi who was kicking Cobb in the balls. Taichi is kinda approaching Naito territory I think where he can be an asshole, but crowds will still want him to win. Some people aren't happy that Cobb lost the belt, but I think that it all makes sense. NJPW wanted to push Ospreay and thats why he won the belt and did well in NJ Cup, but he had to lose it so that he could be in BotSJ. And RoH needed a win at MSG since GoD were winning their titles vs titles match. And well I doubt that Cobb can draw in Japan, while Taichi can probably sell out smaller buildings with right opponent. Maybe whole LU contract situation played into this as well, but I think it worked. On the other hand you kinda have to wonder whats next for Cobb in NJPW, entire tour Taichi was basically fat shaming him and ended up beating him. If this was WWE fans would be talking about how Cobb got buried. And NJPW totally needs to sign Dragon Lee to similar contract that Rush got from RoH - CMLL controls Mexican bookings, everything else exclusively to RoH.

This would be very good thing. I think he has developed his character nicely in last year and I find him rather entertaining in those tag matches, but he never clicked in G1 and that spot could really go to someone new.

This was long tour and it hasn't ended yet. Overall I think that I liked most of the important stuff that happened so far, but number of shows really did a number on me. Wonder how I'll fare during BotSJ and G1. I guess I'm getting old?

I disagree with that completely. He was at his worst after he won the title and is main reason why WK main event had very weird build that didn't make much sense in the end. Well first of all I'd say that Cody is better at character work than Omega. And I think that in both cases opponent helped a lot. People don't want to boo Omega so it is relatively easy to get heat against him and well, nobody likes Aldis. Question is who they can place against Omega that Omega could actually get heat?

Was Flip actually booked on the shows together with The Elite? I don't remember, but it might have happened since back then I had hard time watching RoH TV. Anyway, might be that what The Elite wanted and what RoH/NJPW wanted differed when it came to Flip.

Did anyone ever claim that Bully putting Tenille thru the table is supposed to turn anything around? It was just a way to write her out. I prefer that to her simply disappearing randomly. Flip teamed up with Juice and Haskins at MSG. In Crockett Cup he is teaming up with Bandido. And Lifeblood are feuding with Bully and his friends. And Bully has history with Flip. I would be surprised if he doesn't become Lifeblood member in near future. Might even do it during War of the Worlds (maybe after Buffalo match against Bandido) so that for BotSJ Lifeblood would have two participants. Maybe I'm wrong and none of this is going to happen, but to me it looks like Flip Gordon seems more like a member because he is going to become member pretty soon so you know, thats how, in my opinion, decent booking is supposed to work.

If my math is not wrong they need 4 shows with 10 singles matches. My guess would be that opener will have 10 matches and last three shows before the finals.

Since we are posting random things here:

I don't entirely understand why it would be Allure? They never interacted if I'm not mistaken and Bully was feuding with Lifeblood from day 1.

They are running 15 shows with 10-man blocks, this means that likely 4 shows will have 10 singles matches or that it will spread out thru the shows so that they have 5-7 singles matches. Point is that if Shingo is in block A then they don't really have to deliver intriguing main event every show, block B can take care of that. So if they wanted they could have Shingo win all matches in his block without hurting the business much.

Eh, I'm not sure if Ospreay really draws that much Japanese fans. I think that Shingo and Taiji are above him.

At least they are good so any favouritism that they'll get will be somewhat earned. Imagine if she was dating Vangellys.

I don't really see how Hiromu not being in this requires Ospreay to be in it. That being said he kinda has to get to the finals now, does he not? Overall I'd probably would have preferred smaller field with Rocky, Taka, Ospreay and Flip not being in this. Heck, I could do without Marty and Eagles as well.

I find current RoH TV easier to watch than I did in last couple of years. Bucks would deliver on PPVs, but other than that I found them painful to watch on TV. It also didn't help that main faction would get most of their development either on their Youtube channel or in NJPW/All In. It got especially bad after All In when it felt like they had nothing till they all lost on Final Battle and left. And you can blame Delirious for that, sure. Or The Elite if you want. But my point isn't really that. Regardless of who was responsible it didn't really work and, long term, I think it is good for both RoH and The Elite that they parted ways.

I don't know, wouldn't surprise me if "RoH got cold feet" is part of the shoot-work-angle thing that is going on with them.