NJPW Dominion 2023 *contains NJPW Wrestle Dontaku spoilers*

[peterien]

Bought Forbidden Door the minute that match was announced. Hook it to my veins. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

I'll talk about all the big Forbidden Door news in the AEW thread.  This show was good.  Hiromu's selling was awesome in his title defense vs. Yato.  There was a good 3-4 matches anyway that I would track down,  Junior heavyweight title,  NJPW title,  BCC vs. Okada six man etc.

[The Natural]

8 hours ago, SturmCRF said:

I am very happy to be going to Canada for that show. Ospreay vs Omega, Danielson vs Okada, fuuuuuuck. Even expecting any other matches to be announced seems greedy.

Please you and your girlfriend have an extra Bryan Danielson cheer for/from moi. Thank you.

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 is the 25th of June, 26th June UK time at 1am. The most poignant date as it's the nine year anniversary of losing my late great Mum at the too young age of 53. Love and miss you Mum xxx.

Edited June 4, 2023 by The Natural

[Salads]

Spoiler

After years of people complaining that the LA Dojo guys weren't being given opportunities, we're idiots for not predicting them joining Finlay. Makes too much sense to be mad at, and 'join Bullet Club to get noticed' works as a story because it's truth.

I don't like title reigns where it's clear they're gunning for a record, but Heat having the most defences for the Jr belt was always a bit weird and you're not going to get another Hiromu for a while so sure.

Tsuji coming in like that is the best defense of the excursion system I can think of. Can't decide whether his appearance at Royal Quest was a blessing because it helped sell the idea of him being ready for this match, or a curse because we missed out on this being his first ring appearance in years for all but the tinest minority of fans. Even in the internet age being sent to Rev Pro is like moving to another territory in the 80s where you just disappear.

 

[Ace]

Tstupid Tsexy Tsuji is gonna be a tstar.

 

[John E. Dynamite]

I was an immediate fan of Tsuji the second I saw him cause I like his size and his billion-Yen toothy grin. It was like witnessing a young Toshiro Mifune for the first time. I remember waiting for Night One of the 2019 G1 Climax to start - I'm a little more fucked up then I'd like to admit on Strong Zero (the lemon flavor w/out all the sugar... Strong Zero Dry, maybe?) and I'm thinking about going over to buy one of the Toru Yano branded lil bento box meals they had by the merch stand when they air an Arena Rules Disclaimer Video for the Ota City Gymnasium. I think it was Liger, Makabe and Yota Tsuji sitting in some old-timey Japanese bar and telling everybody to turn off their camera flash and not to be drunken fools (oops). And he just... lept off the screen. Presence, man. 

Spoiler

Loved the match cause it told a story. Tsuji hits the big spear really early and then just keeps coming back to it, over and over, partly because he's young and dumb and partly because he's not as confident as he seems and he knows it's the only way he can win. And crafty SANADA has a career's worth of ways to counter it and does so in that cool and calm SANADA way. No unnecessary nearfalls and OH MY GOD IT WAS UNDER TWENTY MINUTES. That alone makes this match a miracle. 

Also I can't believe they sold out Forbidden Door so fast. You could empty out Lake Ontario and still sell out with Okada/Danielson on top, I don't even want to think about the money left on the table.

Edited June 4, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Teflon Turtle]

This was a very good show. For me, the time flew by. The only match that kinda dragged for me was ELP vs. Finlay. Overall, though, it was still effective. I thought ELP looked kind of awkward trying to work as a full-fledged face, but on the whole I think I was supposed to think that as ELP slipped in to some of his old shenanigans at some points. He's now a man without a country and doesn't know what else to fall back on.

The rest I will spoiler:

Spoiler

Man, Tsuji. There are a lot of interesting places that they could go from here with him. For starters, he and SANADA aren't done, I don't think. Next, he's got to contend with LIJ leaving him out there all by his lonesome after he may have gotten too big for his britches. Beyond that, though...I think there are also some stories to tell with his fellow former young lions in Narita and Umino. He arguably just lapped them in terms of crowd reaction/support, big match presentation, and match quality in only his first match back. They're the ones trying to create the paradigm shift, when Tsuji himself seemingly now is that shift. But, whose support will he really have? Could be pretty intriguing.

Speaking of shifts...at some point there has to be a Bullet Club/House of Torture reckoning, right? I know it has been discussed for a long time, but HOT is still a Bullet Club subgroup. When does Finlay and the new group of killers tell HOT to get with the program and stop goofing around? I sort of wish NJPW would address that, but I'm not sure where EVIL and Yujiro would go. Sho could probably slot in somewhere else more easily.

The "Yes!" chant that got started when the Danielson video aired gave me goosebumps. Such a cool moment and video package. 

I didn't go in to the Jr. singles title match thinking Wato would win it. It was sort of hard for me to get invested, but I bit on a few nearfalls in the match anyway - kudos to him and Hiromu pulling me in. Wato has improved, and his evolution hinging on an EVEREST STYLE GERMAN SUPLEX~! has been fun. I really hope we get to continue writing that phrase a lot, in tribute.

Also, I'm pretty happy Catch 2/2 got the jr. tag titles back. I can only imagine that was a sort of reward to TJP and Akira for their BOSJ performance. I think Akira, especially with his showing against El Desperado, is really starting to emerge as a talent to watch.

  

 

 

 

[SturmCRF]

12 hours ago, The Natural said:

Please you and your girlfriend have an extra Bryan Danielson cheer for/from moi. Thank you.

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 is the 25th of June, 26th June UK time at 1am. The most poignant date as it's the nine year anniversary of losing my late great Mum at the too young age of 53. Love and miss you Mum xxx.

That seems like a very reasonable request, I will see to it that The American Danielson, Bryan The Dragon is extra cheered for. 

[The Natural]

59 minutes ago, SturmCRF said:

That seems like a very reasonable request, I will see to it that The American Danielson, Bryan The Dragon is extra cheered for. 

Thanks, mate xxx.

[The Natural]

 

[Curt McGirt]

I was wondering what the hell that was. Him not being much of a tattoo guy it seemed like it might be important.

[HarryArchieGus]

Ppl are really responding to Yota Tsuji's big toothy grin. Good showing to be sure, but the smile act feels a bit, or a lot, goofy at this stage. It's not quite sinister and comes off almost like a no sell at times. I liked Sanada in that bout, but he could really use something around him. Something better than the ultra lame '5 guys'. Dare I say his own Gedo (without all the tomfoolery; maybe his own Harley). Moggsley looked particularly good in that Six Man tag. Tho, everybody did. Meltzer's Okada fever is deeply passionate (re: WOR). If Umino is indeed BCC he needs to embrace the color scheme. The Little Tana look isn't doing him any favours. I only saw those top 2 bouts and the opener. Ospreay-Archer was a fun bout. So stoked for Forbidden Door!

[Pete]

55 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Ppl are really responding to Yota Tsuji's big toothy grin. Good showing to be sure, but the smile act feels a bit, or a lot, goofy at this stage. It's not quite sinister and comes off almost like a no sell at times. I liked Sanada in that bout, but he could really use something around him. Something better than the ultra lame '5 guys'. Dare I say his own Gedo (without all the tomfoolery; maybe his own Harley). Moggsley looked particularly good in that Six Man tag. Tho, everybody did. Meltzer's Okada fever is deeply passionate (re: WOR). If Umino is indeed BCC he needs to embrace the color scheme. The Little Tana look isn't doing him any favours. I only saw those top 2 bouts and the opener. Ospreay-Archer was a fun bout. So stoked for Forbidden Door!

If only there was someone in J5G who had previous experience acting as a mouthpiece.

[SturmCRF]

25 minutes ago, Pete said:

If only there was someone in J5G who had previous experience acting as a mouthpiece.

I need there to be a J5G You Already Die t-shirt, and I don't even care if the general public think I'm warning them about the cholesterol levels of slightly fancier McDonalds.

[The Natural]

 

[HarryArchieGus]

3 hours ago, Pete said:

If only there was someone in J5G who had previous experience acting as a mouthpiece.

Is this a Taka reference? Ha, they've seemed so bland in the little I’ve seen of them as a group that I forgot he was there. Sure he’ll do, but can he amp it up a notch or 6. 

Edit: I’ve seen very little of j5g so perhaps I’m off in my assessment. Is there a youchoob Video essay out there of their short history that somebody could share? Also, this great j5g acronym seems so much better than the full name. 

Edited June 6, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[The Natural]

 

[Lawful Metal]

Holy shit.  The glow up on Sanada is real.  What the hell was all the bullshit with him before?!  Space Pirate Cold Skull with the stupid hair and beard?  What a waste.  He's gold now.  He should win the G1. 

HOLY SHIT.  That genuine shit eating grin on Tsuji is infectious.  I don't think it's supposed to be maniacal or anything.  I think dude is seriously just happy to be there.  Dude is awesome.  I literally remember nothing of him as a young lion.  Literally zero.  That first spear out of the leapfrog and that backflip to the floor is all I needed.  I'm sold.  He should win the G1.