wakigatame

YES: 1/4 - Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki 1/4 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 2/10 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Karl Anderson 3/11 - Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii 7/20 - Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/2 - Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata 8/10 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 8/11 - Satoshi Kojima vs. Kazuchika Okada. 8/11 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 11/9 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii NO: 1/4 - Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Low-Ki 2/10 - Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada 4/5 - Prince Devitt vs. Alex Shelley 4/7 - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. 6/22 - Rocky Romero & Aleix Koslov vs. Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA 8/11 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 9/29 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt 9/29 - Satoshi Kojima vs. Kazuchika Okada 10/14 - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Naomichi Marufuji 11/9 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson

YES to TAKAO OMORI & MANABU SOYA VS. JUN AKIYAMA & GO SHIOZAKI (AJPW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE) March 17th

YES to: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 7. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada. NJPW Invasion Attack, 7th April. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto. NJPW Dominion, 22nd June. Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe. NJPW Dominion, 22nd June. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, NJPW G1 Climax 23, Day Two, 2nd August Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling, 14th October. Tomohiro Ishiii vs. Katsuyori Shibata; NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling; 14th October. NOMINATING: Shibata vs. Ishii, 8/4 G1 Climax - This had everything you could possibly want from this matchup. A hot crowd in Osaka, a metric fuck shit ton of hate and two dudes beating the dog shit out of one another. This was IMO the best match of the league and my pick for MOTY. Easily Shibata's best since returning and it's up there amongst Ishii's best as well.

If I recall, they hated being the horror movie guys and were leaving to go to All Japan and then did that whole shoot promo and the whole deal was over and they didn't go.

Is NJ outdrawing AAA and CMLL? Yep, I'm pretty sure they have been for a little while.

You haven't been watching enough to see the fans' lack of fucks to give about Naito, have you?

Pretty much.

My problem with it is that it was probably a long term plan for Naito to win the G1 when he got hurt last year but so much changed and they could (should) have called an audible and given Shibata or someone else the G1 win. Shibata vs. Okada sounds way more like a Tokyo Dome main event than Okada vs. Naito.

I doubt they're topping that 2012 match. The reactions from the fans to Naito since he's won the G1 have been hilarious. It'll be grand to see how the Tokyo Dome reacts to a guy that no crowd since the G1 final buys as a main event star.

This may be the funniest thing Vince reads all year long. Yes, truly one inept company massively overpaying for a shitshow wrestling promotion is going to make Vince quake in his boots. I kind of took it as Vince would be horrified to find out they paid more for a company worth a minute fraction of WCW than Vince did for WCW.

The thing with the library is that they have to buy it in two chunks: - Spike owns Impact fro, 2006 to now, not TNA. When you look it up on iTunes, you have to go to Spike instead of TNA Digital. - TNA owns all the PPVs and such. Not sure it's really worth it because in the end, what does TNA matter on a Sting DVD?

The biggest problem for a new ownership is that TNA's risen and fallen based on whatever was trendy on the indy scene at the time. When TNA began, the cruiserweight/workrate style was trendy, so the X-Division made TNA instantly popular with fans. Later in the 2000s, when SHIMMER made women's wrestling trendy, the Knockouts ended up being popular for TNA.By contrast, this year...there isn't really one distinct style you can point to on the independent scene and say "THIS is the trend right now" that can lead to a niche that TNA can build around. The only thing TNA could have is building to the people who want the Attitude Era back- and we've seen over the last 11 years that no, TNA can't do that right, even if they DID do it right people want the "wrestlers" more than the style anyway [so they'd STILL be unhappy with it], and as a result it'd fail with their attempt.What is the current trend on the Indies? Davey Richards. If this were 2010-2011, you might be right.

He's just as confused about his having a job on national TV as everyone who watches TNA is.

I don't know how the contract situation in TNA works, but I'd imagine a lot of those contracts are pay-per-appearance and how many of those guys would really get signed by WWE? Joe, Aries, Roode, Storm, and Magnus. Not a ton, but I think they'd take shots on all 5. They already turned down Aries, Roode and Storm are way too old, Magnus wouldn't get an offer because he already wrestles there as Wade Barrett. Joe might get an offer but then again, he may be better off in Japan where his tubbiness doesn't matter. Also, Vince would have to buy TWO libraries. Spike owns Impact, and TNA owns everything else.

The idea originally (as best I recall) was he was 'possessed' by Papa Shango and that idea got axed so they just changed it to him being fucking nuts.

Wait, what? Where/why did he say that?!

Apparently I can't quote anything this morning on here but did someone really try to make the point that a spider German to set up the King Kong Knee Drop was stupid? Please explain to me how the head drop that puts your opponent down for long enough to hit your finish from the top rope makes no sense. I'm with whoever bashed Ibushi's offense but the spider German followed by the King Kong Knee Drop is actually a pretty great combo.

The last one to have the semifinals was 09, I think.

I really wasn't into it at all until the last few minutes. Naito not selling the damaged leg at all hurt that match so much. Don't get me wrong, it was a really good match but I now get why people crap on Naito for not selling shit.

He came back last year to pick a fight, he was enjoying pro wrestling and was bummed out his match with Goto was off but that feeling was going to burst when he faced Tanahashi the next day.

I'm hoping for Shibata/Nakamura in the final.

Ishii/Shibata was fucking phenomenal and I can't think of a match this year that I'd put close to it except maybe Ishii/Tanahashi or Goto/Shibata from June.

This whole thing has made me hate Shelton Benjamin even more than I already did. And Tenzan REALLY needs to be slotted in tag matches for the rest of his career.

That pudgy midget with the weight belt is fucking awesome.

Just read that preview. Pretty good read.