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Yuji Nagata won the Triple crown. He did his supermove Wrist Clutch Exploder on Kento before his finisher. Nagata (54) is now the oldest man to win the Triple Crown and he broke Tenryu's record, who was 52 at the time.

He joins the club that Muto, Kensuke, Kojima, Takayama belong to, who all won the top 3 titles of Japan, IWGP HW, GHC HW, TC at different times.

He will fight the second strongest man in AJPW, Shuji.

Edited by Red King
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AJPW CC 2023

Two blocks this year with mysterious X's

Block A

Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara, Yoshitatsu, Ryuki Honda, T-Hawk, Jun Saito, Cyrus, X

Block B

Suwama, Shuji Ishikawa, Shotaro Ashino, Naoya Nomura, Hokuto Omori, Rei Saito, Yuma Anzai, X

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I love Dave and I will always pre-empt my criticism of Dave by saying "I love Dave" because the people who pathologically hate him are so insufferable. That said, his casual throwing around of "second-best-match-of-the-year-contender" because he already knows nothing will top Omega vs Ospreay  is really juvenile and petulant. His quote this morning was like "I've heard Miyahsra vs Nagata was a second best match of the year contender" as if the people recommending it to him to that degree are also routinely already relegating everything to sub-Ospreay status. 

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I saw the question raised elsewhere on the internet that, for a kayfabe perspective, is Nagata, now that he’s added the Triple Crown, the current GOAT of this century in Japan and in rhe discussion for all time (again kayfabe)? 
 

It’s interesting to think about because Tanahashi and Okada get the majority of praise online (because they’re both all time performers) but Nagata, Kojima, Mutoh, and M. Suzuki all have solid kayfabe claims to be more dominant across more companies this century than either of them and yes that’s due to company politics and policies but I still think it’s a fun discussion.

So what does the best place to discuss wrestling think? Who has been kayfabe the best in Japan this century?

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In the sense of accomplishments combined accross several promotions..

Muto (maybe) is the GOAT. Muto is more important.

Nagata however won the Z-1 World title before. And won the top singles leagues of NJPW, AJPW, and one of the defunct NOAH leagues in the past. Muto never won one of NOAH's top single leagues.

Edited by Red King
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From Purolove

The AJP GLEAT show

AJPW "DREAM POWER SERIES 2023", 03/18/2023
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

- Takao Omori, Yoshitatsu, Black Menso~re, Rising HAYATO & Ryo Inoue vs Kaz Hayashi , Yu Iizuka , Komander, Michiko Miyagi & Keiichi Sato 
- Hokuto Omori vs Jun Tonsho 
- Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda vs Takanori Ito & Issei Onitsuka 
- Naoya Nomura, Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura vs Minoru Tanaka , Soma Watanabe & Seichi Ikemoto
- Suwama, Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs Hayato Tamura , KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Check Shimatani 
- Atsuki Aoyagi vs Kaito Ishida 
- Kento Miyahara, Shuji Ishikawa, Yuma Aoyagi & Yuma Anzai vs. CIMA , T-Hawk , El Lindaman & Tetsuya Izuchi 

Attendance for AJPW Korakuen Hall shows are up. Still down below 1000 for NOAH and BJW and others.

 

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On 2/19/2023 at 12:11 AM, Red King said:

AJPW CC 2023

Two blocks this year with mysterious X's

Block A

Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara, Yoshitatsu, Ryuki Honda, T-Hawk, Jun Saito, Cyrus, X

Block B

Suwama, Shuji Ishikawa, Shotaro Ashino, Naoya Nomura, Hokuto Omori, Rei Saito, Yuma Anzai, X

Pretty underwhelming. I wouldn’t put the Saitos in myself, but I can see why the company wants to do so.

At the very least, there should be a string of very good Nomura matches. I’m curious to see how well he and Ashino work together.

The online speculation is that NOAH guys will be announced as the Xs: possibly Nakajima and Soya, since they’re in the six-man tag at the retirement show. And they’d be better than some options, for sure, though I’m not high on Soya.

I’m hoping either Ashino or Nomura get the win. 

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20 hours ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

I love Dave and I will always pre-empt my criticism of Dave by saying "I love Dave" because the people who pathologically hate him are so insufferable. That said, his casual throwing around of "second-best-match-of-the-year-contender" because he already knows nothing will top Omega vs Ospreay  is really juvenile and petulant. His quote this morning was like "I've heard Miyahsra vs Nagata was a second best match of the year contender" as if the people recommending it to him to that degree are also routinely already relegating everything to sub-Ospreay status. 

I re-upped my AJPW TV subscription due to the hype behind the Miyahara/Nagata match, really enjoyed it! So much that I probably do have it so far as my second favourite match of the year (ahead of Omega/Ospreay, behind Okada/Takagi). Nagata (and Kojima last year) proving he's still got gas in the tank and I wish New Japan would utilise better. 

I'll stick around for the CC, specifically looking forward to Kento/Yuma/T-Hawk matches with each other. 

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Nosawa is "done".

Jake Lee vs Kaito (c) is next for the GHC HW.

Kenoh and Soya want the AJPW World tags. Kento invited Masa K to the AJPW show on  2/27. Not sure if anything will come out of these developments but we will see.

Naito got the win over Muto, and his win back.

The new era of NOAH post Muto begins.

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Participants in the 3/1 All Star Jr. Festival:

Onryo (666)

Billy Ken Kid, Tiger's Mask (Osaka Pro)

Yumehito Imanari (Ganbare Pro)

Batten X Bura Bura (Kyushu Pro)

Hiromu, Despy, Ishimori, BUSHI, Taguchi, Wato, Douki, SHO, Kanemaru (NJPW)

Atsuki Aoyagi, Black Menso-re (AJPW)

Kazuki Hashimoto, Kouta Sekifuda (BJW)

Hikaru Sato (Pancrase)

Shouki Kitamura (Zero-1)

HANAOKA (Secret Base)

AMAKUSA, Alejandro, YO-HEY, HAYATA, Ninja Mack (NOAH)

Isami Kodaka (BASARA)

Jun Kasai (FREEDOMS)

MUSASHI, the Great SASUKE (Michinoku Pro)

Gurukun Mask (Ryukyu Pro)

Volador Jr, Soberano Jr, Atlantis Jr (CMLL)

Yuki Ueno, MAO (DDT)

LEONA (Dradition)

Dragon Kid, Shun Skywalker (Dragongate)

El Lindaman, Minoru Tanaka (GLEAT)

TAKA (JTO)

Chicharito Shoki (2AW)

Tatsuhito Takaiwa (free)

Edited by lostinube
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Aoyagi just lost  the AJPW Junior title to Naruki Doi this past week. If he hadn't, they would have had the three major junior title holders on the same show.

On another note:  Nagata's Grand Slam - the Japanese wiki titles this メジャー完全制覇  (Major Kanzenseiha) which can translate to "Complete Domination of the Majors" or however you want to ( SASUKE/Ninja Warrior fans will be familiar with Kanzenseiha being translated as "Total Victory" - has him joining only Takayama, Mutoh and Kojima as wrestlers who have held all the major singles and tag titles in NJPW, AJPW and NOAH. Kensuke Sasaki never won the World Tag titles in AJPW.

Minoru Suzuki "only" needs the IWGP title while Jun Akiyama and Go Shiozaki have not held either IWGP titles.

Anyway, Minoru Tanaka is the only wrestler to hold the junior version of the Grand Slam (though no junior tag titles in AJPW). Marufuji needs the IWGP junior tag titles but he hasn't been a junior in a long time. Like his former boss in Suzuki-gun, Kanemaru needs the IWGP title while Taiji Ishimori needs the AJPW junior title. Tiger Mask IV needs the GHC junior title.

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NOAH was booked to win over AJP and Dragongate, NOAH in many ways is above those promotions and more in 2023. But not above NJPW the main promotion of Japan. 

Notable people Muto (in his personas) in NOAH in this decade he put over.. ..Marufuji, Kiyomiya, Nakamura, Naito, and Chono.
 

 

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I'm going to put myself out here a bit to say that there is some fun to be had on the NJPW/CMLL Fantasticamania shows.

I'll try to avoid getting too much in to "navel-gazing" territory, but I've got to admit that one of my more significant shames as a longtime wrestling fan is that I've had difficulty getting in to the rules and structure of lucha libre matches - even sometimes the overall style itself despite the fact that I recognize the immense talent and athleticism of many luchadors throughout wrestling history. The Fantasticamania tour gives me a window in to something I'm unfamiliar with and broaden my horizons a bit, as a result.

The differences are apparent on these shows, as the contrasting styles make themselves known and it's clear that you're getting wrestlers who don't work with each other very often. However, it gives a chance for some wrestlers who don't always get a lot of love to show that they're pretty much unflappable in there - I'm thinking of people like Kanemaru.

The shows themselves are about two hours, and are pretty light-hearted. I don't think anybody is concerned with putting on epics, and the NJPW guys get a chance to let their hair down a bit and do something different. Like BOSJ shows, there typically aren't ringside barriers between the crowd and the ring. The crowds themselves are really coming alive for these shows, which has been a pleasure to see after so much silence for the past three years. And, the fans have been able to interact with some of the wrestlers in ways they usually can't.

All of this combined with the fact that some of the shows have taken place in venues that NJPW doesn't always run really makes it feel pretty fresh and unique. 

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