Jenalysis

I think I'd like that, esp if you combined with a half-hour of post-match interview segments on youtube or twitch like the NJPW post-match comments. Keep the rest of the show all action.

Might be a fake account of Kitamura so not mentioning.

This is what I think NJPW gets right. Even if the guys I like job in the most frustrating ways possible (such as a couple night ago) , it makes sense. Yeah, you can question certain things- but no promotion does everything you want- there are millions of other fans out there. I haven't felt like my intelligence or my fandom was insulted. I think it helps with NJPW has all the factions which appeal to different types of fans. That rumble Roman won- that was the last straw for me years ago. It's what made me decide to drop the network and cut the cord. I felt like WWE was telling me flat-out we don't give a shit about what you want. It really feels like there isn't that variety in WWE-land, except for the women. Maybe things are different now, but I got willing to dive into other promotions, and eventually got my fix somewhere else. I don't know if they could ever win me back at this point , especially if AEW provides a good alternative (ROH provides a decent one, and having Juice and Zack help a lot because I enjoy both of them a lot).

I do think a lot of the folks who really want AEW are the old WCW fans, so getting on TNT or TBS would be a nostalgia trip.

last year at this time, he lost to the ball kick/mic stand/destino combo, so they showed Taichi was tougher than one year ago. I think he gets into the G1 from this, even if he'll go 0-9 because they do like to humiliate Taichi. I'm bummed, but a big reason I cheer for Taichi is because he doesn't give up despite the humiliations.

Went to the show last night- my opinion on things The US Young Lions are being trained to the standard of the Japanese ones. Shibata's going a damn good job. Fredrichs especially is good to me. I think he's the one most likely to make an impact in NJPW proper. Would like to see a Young Lions Cup with the American Young Lions. In terms of being over, Juice, Tiger Hattori, and Marty were the only guys really over. Rocky was a little bit over. O-Kharn, Brody King, and the Lions get themselves over. Overall there was a bit of lack of energy outside of the Young Lions and the main, where Juice and Beretta brought their working boots. People were really upset about no Japanese stars, though the blame was not put on NJPW (most seemed to blame politics) The ROH-only guys weren't over at all except for Brody. O-Kharn himself, can still see a bit of roughness to him, and I think he's gaining a bit too much weight, but he's good, seems to have gained a good amount of charisma with the gimmick. Most folks pegged him as belonging in Suzuki-Gun when he's finished as he's a cool heel. (Folks I talked to generally preferred Suzuki-Gun over the current Bullet Club) Merch section was pretty bad

Those situations are where the fans care about the storyline. NJPW fans have their favorites, Kenny vs Tanahashi everyone loved both of them, but half my friends were rooting for Kenny hard, and the other half Tana. The reason was the storyline, even if the storyline was a mix of kayfabe and reality. A good enough storyline can do it. I mean, Jay White seems like an awesome guy who deserves every bit the push he's getting, but cheering Juice against him is damn easy because Juice is that damn good at being likable. I do think it's easier to cheer the babyfaces and boo the heels in a low-rent indie, where you don't know any of the guys at all outside of the main, than it is the WWE or a theoretical #2 fed where you do. This is a big reason why I miss CHIKARA not coming down here anymore. I don't know jack shit about the CHIKARA wrestlers for the most part- but it's a chance for me to enjoy some family-friendly wrestling where I can cheer the babyfaces and boo the heels.

Taichi is like the embodiment of the "pot monster"- which is one reason I find it so easy to identify with and appreciate how cool he is. I get the frustration. It's a lot easier to root for the Taichis of the world for me than it is the Kennys, because I could never be as good as Kenny, but I can see myself winning a midcard belt by upsetting a top guy and thinking everything is rigged. Taichi's just a lot more relatable for me.

The problem is the WWE itself is the heel to a lot of these fans. They see the WWE as anti-Bryan, so they cheer Bryan. I think NJPW has a grasp of how to handle it right on the modern era. There's like a sliding scale of face to heel, and you have to accept that fans are gonna like who they like and you can't manipulate it too much with established guys. Folks were going to cheer Tana over Omega, but cheer Omega over Okada. I don't think a strong face-heel dynamic is needed to draw money- you just need to have a compelling reason for feuds- whether it's style, prestige ,or just personal dislike.

Finlay is the Lieutenant in lifeblood to me. He's definitely improving, and his finisher is now the good kind of trash instead of the bad kind. I think I'm higher on Finlay than a lot of folks around here though. I get to watch what they put out tomorrow night- hopefully I get my money's worth. Still mad no Nagata but I understand why.

I've never heard of anything on that end (going off what I've heard from others/personal interactions). I suspect AEW will be very careful if this is the case- Kenny got burned during CEO due to an oversight, and the Khan's aren't MAGA-heads like Sinclair or Vince. Edit: finally saw something, Striker's a MAGA-head himself. Don't think that's enough to get him blackballed,def not enough to make me boycott if he was hired, but now I don't want it.

At this point I'm expecting Kenny to take Ibushi and try to bring Dragon Gate up to NJPW's level. Would the Lovers be able to take fans of theirs from NJPW to another promotion? It would be interesting if two rival wrestling blocs formed- like some version of an indie cold war, with CMLL/NJPW/ROH on one side, and say Dragon Gate/AEW/Impact/AAA on the other. That would likely give a surge to both blocs, and they'd both have to be worried about WWE as well. As for what weekly TV would be like for AEW, I'm expecting them to try and go all out on being something different- I'm expecting full videogame wrestling, and something that is closer to WSX or LU, but with some elements from NJPW to keep it coherent. I'm basing a lot of this off what I saw with CEOxNJPW, and the high likelihood that AEW's 2nd show will be CEO again. I'm surprised AEW hasn't tried to get Matt Striker- as much as folks don't like him here, he's a good dude who I think would get exactly what AEW goes for. The video game nerds love Kenny, and the video game girls love Kenny and Ibushi so much. However, they love Ingobs just as much (and Suzuki-Gun, I think NJPW is underestimating Suzuki-Gun's popularity in the US)

Throw in Penta+Fenix and a couple other teams and it's a good division. Also maybe they'll be able to add Ibushi and use the Lovers.

I can't see Ambrose not working anywhere- he's in his prime years and I don't think he's got CM Punk/Sting/Alex Wright/JBL money. Lot of good possibilities now if you don't want to be in WWE- ROH would probably offer $250k minimum, AEW even more, and NJPW might open the wallet for him hard. Ambrose G1 run followed by a few months trolling say Naito or Minoru?

I think the MSG show will do fine, if they have Okada and Naito on there. Those two are draws in America. At the CEO show, Naito was getting every bit as much pop and interest as Omega, and there was just as much LIJ merch among the CEO attendees as there was Omega merch. Also, folks who hit the New Beginning shows were upset they weren't getting Nagata. Nagata's cool as hell, but at this point in his career he isn't Naito or Okada. There's going to be a lot more NJPW fans in NYC than there are in Charlotte, even if I think NJPW does best in old WCW areas where WWE has never truly been loved. Also Lethal is ROH's ace , you can't just move him away from things without a good reason. I'm expecting Lethal to pick up a big win (if Naito beats Taichi, I won't be surprised if Lethal pins Naito to set up another IC match- I watched the Naito/Lethal match from 2016 last night and it was really good)

I really want to see talents rotate between AEW and ROH- would be a good way to get fresh matchups for both. I think the best thing about AEW is that talents can now go away from a place easier- which will make it easier to appreciate them when they come back. That's part of the problem with modern wrestling- you see some folks for years on end constantly, and you get tired of their act.

New Japan had the sense to do that with Wrestle Kingdom starting next year. WWE should do it with their big 3 PPVs. 4 hours is about the max an event should go, unless you're running an Omega/Okada 2/3 no time limit-type generational match at the end. Chikara and DDT work by their own logic (I think DDT did it right too). WWE cannot be booked like Chikara at all, even if it would improve things for the men.

Even if Becky isn't your favorite, I think the fans of the other women feel like she's well a top act enough that they respect her. Austin fans never felt like the Rock was an unworthy champion, and vice versa. When you have multiple pillars, that allows you to rotate a bit more, and right now WWE has at least four pillars for women with Becky, Asuka, Ronda, and Charlotte. I'd argue that their bench is almost as good as NJPW's right now. If WWE did an all women's show it would probably outdo the men's show at this point every week.

Couldn't they have just brought out Mike Rotundo in drag? And this right here is the reason so many fans have just given up on WWE, and to me why it's only a women's promotion now. They let the women be stars, but not the men.

Wonder if WOW would let AEW use Jungle Grrl due to this.

Friends are very upset at this card. Some are talking about being done with NJPW completely over this.

I want more politics in wrestling- at least the good kind. I'd be fine with ZSJ subbing a shark Ibushi rode in on then going into a Survival Tobita-esque rant about glorious socialism. That CEO show is what gives me confidence in AEW- yes, it was massively helped by having Hiromu and Naito along for the ride, but they booked that show for the CEO audience, which was not a standard indy wrestling audience, it was an audience that was majority competitive fighting game players, which is like the core audience AEW will have. If there's one thing the Elite excel at, it's video game paced wrestling. (the OWE guys will get over huge with this crowd too) Because I this, I predict that AEW and ROH will be very, very different products, which will be a good thing for both- and folks will jump back and forth between the two and feel fresh because of it. I think the rivalry will end up being good for both promotions- they won't cannibalize each other. That said, the trust issue- there's always going to be a few nutter fans who won't trust anything- there are folks who still give Kenny mad shit because a sex offender worked a dark match at his show when it was an oversight at worst that didn't harm anyone. On the heels winning clean-ish, I think it should happen more. Heels should cheat because it's fun/they like to hurt people as much as they should out of desperation.

A rotating cast of heels to fight the Elite might be a good overall thing. Aries would be a good short-term antagonist. One of the nice things if AEW takes off and ROH does well is they can both help each other out by rotating guys between them to keep the matchups fresh.

Has he been motivated on the indies? I saw him once, and he looked pretty bad. I really want to see AEW go with indie talents to fill up the bottom of their cards- they're ok on main event level talent it's the undercard that will be lacking.

Juice is a lot better worker than the Boogie Woogie Man. Juice can have great matches- he had two last year (one with Jay and the NJC match with Tana was great) what Juice needs right now is a good title run and some more great matches, and for NJPW to not hold him under a glass ceiling. He's a lot better than Elgin and should be at ZSJ/EVIL/SANADA/Fale level right now.