Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

NJPW Royal Quest II 1st/2nd October


Salads

Recommended Posts

Without cards in place hard to know if these shows will be thread-worthy, but should be notable for the novelty of nearly a full roster with no crowd / cheering restrictions. The standard set by the first Royal Quest also raises expectations.

Names are being announced all the time with the to-date line up shown in the spoilered graphic below (thanks Reddit). Can't explain why the UK always gets so many names compared to their US expansion. Naito won't do Forbidden Door but he'll do Crystal Palace. Respect.

Spoiler

8p02ttddz7n91.jpg

 

FTR vs Aussie Open title defense is the first match we know set for night 1. Good for me as I'll be attending. All I need now to avoid buyers remorse is for a few more decent match ups on the night and nothing good at all to be announced for night 2.

God bless the smaller venue because it means I can afford to watch this stale wrestling from a better seat than last time.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Salads said:

FTR vs Aussie Open title defense is the first match we know set for night 1.

Second. The first match was announced last month at Stardom's PPV, a first round match for the IWGP Women's Title between Jazzy Gabert and Ava White. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got me and my girlfriend tickets for night one yesterday, they'd sold all the (relatively) cheap ones and it's in the arse end of London, so both nights would be pushing it. Logic says to go for the show that has FTR vs Aussie Open, and doesn't involve a three hour trek back on a Sunday.

Very disappointed to see no Yano though. What's all this Hikuleo, Good Brothers and Gedo shit?! Leave them where you found them and send the true king of New Japan, you cowards. 2/3 falls dog cage match with Lord Gideon Gray, or I will personally riot. Genuinely, the only two things that might tempt me to night two are an IWGP title match, or Yano.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
9 hours ago, SturmCRF said:

It was a great show, cheers! Inoki got a good send off at the beginning, the crowd were into basically any NJPW regular (there were even repeated Douki chants), and FTR vs Aussie Open was one of the best matches of the year.

Nice one, pal! What was the available merchandise? Bet the queues were big. Forgot to tell you both to go up a size from your usual if the merch is from Japan. I imported a NJPW hoodie going XL instead of my usual L. Good job I did as to be honest it fits more like a medium. There's no way a L would have fit me.

Edited by The Natural
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Merch was a bit disappointing, girlfriend wanted a Desperado t shirt and they had none. She would have settled for a Great O Khan shirt (sold by the man himself), but it was cash only and we didn't think to bring cash. I probably wasn't in the market for a shirt, as I already have way, way too many. Generally, there were a lot of official event shirts and not many for the more niche wrestlers. With you on the sizes though, I'm an American small, UK medium, and the Wrestle Kingdom 12 shirt I bought in Japan, which I think was large, kind of expected me to be a long torsoed tube man, so I don't wear it much.

Not going again today, Crystal Palace two days in a row is too much Crystal Palace, and as fantastic as yesterday was, if they want my money twice next time they can damned well give me a Yano match and an IWGP heavyweight title defence. Preferably together.

Edited by SturmCRF
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, SturmCRF said:

Merch was a bit disappointing, girlfriend wanted a Desperado t shirt and they had none. She would have settled for a Great O Khan shirt (sold by the man himself), but it was cash only and we didn't think to bring cash. I probably wasn't in the market for a shirt, as I already have way, way too many. Generally, there were a lot of official event shirts and not many for the more niche wrestlers. With you on the sizes though, I'm an American small, UK medium, and the Wrestle Kingdom 12 shirt I bought in Japan, which I think was large, kind of expected me to be a long torsoed tube man, so I don't wear it much.

Not going again today, Crystal Palace two days in a row is too much Crystal Palace, and as fantastic as yesterday was, if they want my money twice next time they can damned well give me a Yano match and an IWGP heavyweight title defence. Preferably together.

Cheers for answering my question. Sorry the merchandise was disappointing with no Desperado shirts and no cash getting accepted. Don't get why you'd refuse custom and a sale. I still prefer cash. With you on the sizing difference between our UK and Japan. Surprised we didn't get an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match (man, I hate that fucking thing.) When it's a two night show and you do one, you just hope you make the right punt months in advance. You won't know till the card comes out.

I took a punt on WWE Live last November getting rewarded with WALTER vs. Cesaro, Ciampa and Bron Breakker. WALTER rarely did house shows then and we got a legit dream match in WALTER/Cesaro.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Natural. Just night one for me also. Not much of a merch person myself but if I ever do the size thing is a good tip. Thoughts below. Have spoilered details relating to results and such.

 

I don't have kids but it's great watching wrestling with a hot crowd and an along-for-the-ride wife who flinches with every big bump (and hiptosses). Smaller venue meant good views all round. Would have had a far better view enjoying my £3 bottle of water from the bar area than in my cheap seat for the first Royal Quest. Was pleased that I could see the entrance vids this time and that I was positioned in line with a neutral corner, so no chance of my view being blocked by the Good Brothers on the apron later in the show. Wasn't pleased at the nearby body odour once sat. On the subject of corner pads, after one or two matches during an entrance the red and blue ones were switched around, suggesting that there is some significance regarding which goes where that I wasn't aware of.

Show opened with the roster coming out for a ten bell salute for Inoki. Okada and Tanahashi stood in the ring while the rest stood around the ring and up the entrance ramp. Or as it would have appeared if you were in one of the rear floor seats, Okada and Tanahashi in the ring with Hikuleo accompanying them on the side. For any members of the roster looking forward to escaping clapping crowds they were greeted with a clapgasm from a bunch of Brits fresh from being conscripted into a month of mandatory celebrity mourning. In a misinterpretation of the term Inoki-san, my OH asked if the two standing in the ring were Inoki's sons.

 

Gabriel Kidd vs. Dan Moloney
Dan had both the most WWE physique and the most WWE entrance of any on the show, but I can't really explain what the latter means. I could imagine it being a template for someone's CAW entrance in the Smackdown games.

 

Gideon Grey and The Great-O-Khan vs. Ricky Knight Jr. and Michael Oku
My OH likes her flips and thankfully the Rev Pro guests brought some to the show. Can't say I appreciate the history with Grey that was being referenced but needless to say GOK was over. I like GOK, but I'm there watching him do this badass Muta entrance before seeing him drop some Mongolian chops and shove his ass at people for the glory of the stable of wrestlers from commonwealth countries and I have no idea what the fuck he's aiming for. Presumably in five years time he's going to be a lot better at it but I cannot guess what that would look like. Turns out the OH noticed him while we were hanging around before the show and only twigged who he was when he comes out in full Okami enemy gear on account of his dinstinctive hair.

 

Kanji and Jazzy Gabert vs. Alex Windsor and Ava White
All new names for me. From first impressions I thought Gabert and Windsor were the ones set for the singles match tonight with the others as makeweights but turns out it will be Gabert v White. Felt bad at my initial surface judgement of White as resembling a 2006 Laurinaitis hire, but looking these names up she had only recently switched to wrestling from glamour modelling with Windsor being far more experienced so I'll forgive myself. Turns out that Kanji is actually a shortened version of her shoot surname, but it's still the worst wrestling name of all time.

 

Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, and Tetsuya Naito vs. DOUKI, El Desperado, and Zack Sabre Jr.
I know some hate seeing tag matches like this on the card but I was really looking forward to this one and it delivered as long as you set expectations accordingly. OH liked Time Bomb's entrance vid as we all do. Not much individual shine for anyone (we're in t-shirt Naito territory here) but naturally Zack gets his moments. Striking thing about this match for me is how much presence Zack has now that he has bulked up. Towered over everyone else in the match and carried himself to match. A flowsion-esque move (couldn't confirm from my angle) from Naito on one of the opposing juniors got the biggest audience flinch of the night.

A heckle of 'REF YOU'VE LOST CONTROL' towards the end of the match made me realise how kayfabe has eroded to the point where no one has the energy to be mad at the refs anymore.

 

Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada vs. Zak Knight and Bad Dude Tito
Found out that Jonah couldn't make the card as I was on my way to the show. Was a bummer because in my mind he was compensation for Cobb not being there. Imagine there were many at the show who were unaware and received no explanation for Zak coming out behind Tito with Jonah's image behind him. Okada put in a big shift last time he was in the UK but this time we got a filler tag which was probably apropriate for the opposition. No tombstone or rainmaker. That said part of the appeal of these shows to me is seeing the crowd get the chance to show appreciation for these guys and Okada was loving the crowd. A lot of the match was Ishii as FIP and Okada working the apron like a man possessed. Everytime Bad Dude Tito's name became the focus of my thoughts I remembered Kanji with dismay.

Spoiler

Also when I learned about Jonah I saw that Ishii's singles opponent tonight had been changed to X, which sounded like someone a lot better than what we had, as turned out to be the case when a post-match staredown with Tsuji Yota confirmed it. A lot of post-match staredowns today as still a few tickets to sell for night 2.

 

Hikuleo, Jado, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tama Tonga vs. Gedo, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Jay White
Add Jay White to the list of people loving the crowd. I should have been more appreciative of the chance to see Jado and Gedo live, but all the time I was thinking about how unimpressive they would be to the OH. Today she commented that in this match she heard it announced that five minutes had passed 'but they hadn't done anything yet'. The only thing I can remember Gallows doing is his multiple elbow drop spot and making cracks from the apron. I don't hate the Good Brothers but that is ideal really. Still think it's strange for them to be flown over considering their placement in both nights, but knowing how much flights cost I don't see how most bookings make financial sense tbh. Tama had a great face response.

Spoiler

Tanahashi got the fall by climbing to the top rope and freefall splatting onto Gedo.

 

Will Ospreay vs. Shota Umino
Red Shoes was reffing this. Mentioned his relationship to Shota to the OH who drew my attention to how messed up that was. 2022 Will is not just bigger but expressive to an almost cartoonish degree. Not a big fan in isolation but helps him stand out. Odd that the three big non-Japanese in the company are among the chattiest. He was the OH's favourite from both Royal Quests including tonight so lucked out that he was in a singles here. The Oscutter is a much better move in person. Previously thought it a bit silly but here it's a giant dude flying through the air and a big superplex bang in the middle of the ring.

Spoiler

Finish was referee stop after Will hit a nasty powerbomb and started attacking the back of Shota's head. There's a sports entertainment angle somewhere where someone struggles to get wins due to an overprotective ref.

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship: FTR vs. Aussie Open
Confession: I'm not nuts on Aussie Open, and I also don't go quite as weak at the knees for FTR as many would on this board. But this match was mega, and this was the perfect stage for it. FTR managed to eclipse AO in popularity, with the crowd singing(!) their theme and Dax loving the chants. Cash ran the stairs next to me while I was distracted. Looked up and wondered what the crowd were reacting to and why Great O Khan was looking in my direction. Again, great work and an awesome match. Much more of an FTR fan now. They get all the little details and I like the way they prevent things looking too orchestrated. Crowd was on their feet towards the end, which is great for the wrestlers but less so if you're a non-tall spectator.

Spoiler

OH lost a bit of interest when Dax bladed, and checked out completely when Davis tapped a gusher later on. Dax being on the receiving end of an airplane spin after his was the real ocean spray of the night. Post match Dax appeared to take a shot at Tony Khan for not booking them and put over Aussie Open.


    
If New Japan's shows here don't grow old and continue to have the combination of hot crowds and great main events then they'll always appeal. I like the way so far with Okada/Suzuki and FTR/AO we've manage to get big matches for big titles that wouldn't necessarily get the same breathing space elsewhere. That way it feels like these shows are adding to the big picture rather than only existing because we want a slice of it.

 

Night 2 has wrapped up by this point. Going by intial reports:
 

Spoiler

Ishii Vs Tsuji seems to be the consensus MOTN so the guy has passed the Ishii litmus test.
A couple of dangerous botches in the womens match.
Naito closes the show with an English promo.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're welcome, @Salads including the size tip. Meant to ask @Gordlow for advice before ordering my imported NJPW Lion Mark Hoodie. I'm a L, went up to XL but it's more like a M fit. Will have to post a picture. Glad you had a great time with the missus. No Rainmaker or Tombstone Piledriver from Kazuchika Okada is BS. Not just saying this, Salads and @SturmCRF but sounds like you got the better of the two nights.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/10/2022 at 1:42 PM, Leonidas said:

Can someone post in the main wrestling omnibus when this becomes available to stream please? I'd like to watch, but it's not on there yet. Thanks!

Just in case you missed hearing about it, it's been up since yesterday, I believe.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...