Jenalysis

he was in at least one of the WK Battle Royals as well. Just thought of something- does the NJPW Roster hate DOUKI because of all the botches during BOSJ? No one caught him on that dive tonight. Kinda wouldn't blame the roster- he just about killed 2-3 folks with botches over the tour, esp Phantasmo.

They do, at least I've heard it mentioned by someone (I think Omega). Omega had to get special permission to blade during the Jericho attack last year. Naito might have gotten the same. The three big singles tonight were all great for entirely different reasons and I love it, even if my preference is more towards Jay/Tana-styled matches. Saying it's the best of night is saying you prefer great pork to great steak or great fish. They're all great, just what you want. I'm wondering if this leads to a Dark Juice, or an anti-American Juice. Then again I'm really worried NJPW is going to give up on the US market completely and just do UK/Aus/NZ instead.

Who is saying he isn't good here? He's almost as good as Okada right now. Liked Jay/Tana more than the two matches after.

One thing I'm wondering is why ROH hasn't used Woods more? I saw Woods vs Dan Severn once and really liked it even if the rest of the crowd didn't. He seems really good, what am I missing? Maybe I just have a huge bias towards that style of wrestling.

You might be getting a lot of that on the Japanee commentary if you understand it. I have no idea what Taichi is like on Japanese commentary, but he's been out there a lot, and I'm imagining he's kinda super over the top heelish.

That is an old WCW thing, and NJPW picked it up from WCW. Remember Jericho mentioning years ago that WWE doesn't like it/prohibits it- he was reamed for doing it when he first went there.

The last straw was the Rumble Roman won where they unceremoniously dumped out all the fan favorites. I quit my network sub the next day, didn't go back. Eventually got NJPW World when they signed Jericho, and haven't looked back. That's when my anger just quit, and I just stopped caring. I read the recaps here quickly, just in case there's hope for change , but I no longer expect it, and it's really only because I need to pass time at work overnight. If I worked a day job I wouldn't even do that.

I was thinking along those lines I did for two reasons: 1) It gives heels a reason to not just stall. They'll stall if they think they're about to lose, but they'll want to win because 2) their goal should be to become the big champ, and the TV title is a guaranteed path to getting that shot. This gives the secondary title a real purpose, and that can elevate folks.

I'd like to see the old Beat the Champ TV belt idea come back- you win the belt, you wrestle on the weekly TV every week defending it in 15 min time limit matches. Win 7 of those (and you have to win, so heel draws on time limit are a desperation ploy and heels wouldn't just try to stall, a draw means you face him again next week) you get a guaranteed title shot the next week, or can challenge for tag belts with partner of their choice. You get into that match by random draw pf all the folks who don't have matches scheduled for the following week- do the draw on Wednesdays. Could then use house shows on the weekend to hype it up a bit- like say tag matches with the TV champ+ friend vs challenger + friend. Also belts should change hands on DQs or countouts (I think NJPW allows change on countout but not DQ)

I'd expect similar. It didn't sell out last year, but came pretty close (I was there) last year the main event went all out and was as good as the 12/15 Lovers vs Tana/Ospreay match.

Given how things are going right now, I wouldn't be surprised if some folks are trying to actively get fired.

ESPN's problem is being overpriced and leading to mass cord-cutting. The whole system is starting to collapse right now. Still too early to call AEW definite #2, especially with NJPW around. Give it until May 2020 and see how their TV turns out and whether it's still popular six months from debut.

I'm just going to say one thing on the whole political debate here. Wrestling has always been political. Bill Watts was one of the most political promoters ever- half of his angles felt like xenophobia. Folks around here who were old enough lapped it up when Gary Hart called Sting a gaijin (horribly mispronounced). I suspect the folks uncomfortable are those that are being forced a bit out of their comfort zone. The core audience of AEW is millenials. They want a product that represents their values. It's not the WWE audience. Kylie vs Yuka might be too much of a good thing. It would be like PreCure adapted into pro wrestling.

HAd to watch the show without sound, felt like a very good show but not on the level of say, a Dome show, but a little better than my expectations, mostly due to Angelico, joshi tag, and Dustin.

Robbie Eagles has been getting over with the women and children in Japan, and they've had a huge uptick in subs in Australia, so they stumbled onto something really good with Eagles and I think they're going to push him and turn him. Love the variety we're seeing in this tourney- it's something I don't think you'd get anywhere else- mix of high-flying, technical , and brawling matches. And the main event tonight is match of the tourney, and with someone you'd never expect as part of it.

If the WWF died, WCW would not have died. ECW would likely have survived as well just to be an alternative, Northerners would feel about WCW the same way Southerners felt about WWF, that would have kept ECW alive. If ECW still went under, ROH would have happened and gotten more backing and perhaps a few big ex-WWF midcarders like Owen or Shamrock. WCW surviving might have had some butterflies on NJPW- might have sent some guys on WCW excursions like Okada/Naito/Yoshi-Hashi

They could have Naito win or retain the IC on Night 1, then win IWGP on Night 2, set up during the G1.

NJPW just removed Omega's profile.

ELP vs Ospreay is a must-watch. Ospreay really brought the hate and ELP brought the heeling, and they both brought the goods. Depending on your tastes this was best match of the tourney.

Taichi's really stepped it up in the ring since going to HW. He's got the heel shtick still, but if you hate that just fast-forward until he chucks the pants. I like that he added the stretch plum as he now has a finisher he can hit on anyone. NJPW has been adding submission finishers a lot lately- Juice got one as well with the Tenzan crab, and Narita's been using a Scorpion Deathlock.

AEW needs those partnerships until they can build up a big enough roster of exclusive talents, or they start stealing talents. If they keep getting burned, they might find it easier to raid those promotions. AEW's long term success is going to be dependent on if they can build Page up as their big star- he's the best guy they have- as Omega's only got 2-3 years of shelf life left because he's not going to be good when he's broken down.

Semi-related , but the mystery guy against Juice, it's not going to be Chris Brookes, DDT put out a parody video.

Page is vital to AEW's long-term success. He's their future ace when Kenny gets too old, and Kenny's already 37. In 4 years he'll be Tana's age and probably almost as broken down. The Khan's don't want a 3-4 year vanity promotion, they want something that can last. AEW's initial survival is going to depend on Kenny, but long-term they're going to have to build new talent, and Page is that talent. PAC isn't going to move the needle much long term, despite being awesome. That doesn't mean Page can't take losses, but they have to build him and smartly, as well as other young stars.

Good way to burn a promotion you might need to work with in the future. NJPW isn't going to be working with AEW unless they want to dump ROH. It's also not like AEW would allow Kenny to go to NJPW to job to say, Ospreay if he was holding the AEW belt. (using Ospreay as closest thing they have to Page) Having your champ job does make your promotion look minor league, esp if it's to a midcarder.

Not all Norse culture folks are Nazis, but a lot of Nazis are into that stuff. Same as cartoon ponies. I'm not going to judge someone just because they have a thing for Freya. ^_^