Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

New Japan gets TV deal in US


GOTNW

Recommended Posts

I've avoided Iron Fingers Iizuka like the plague, but there was one great moment during a G-1 (I think) a couple years back when he came in doing his faux-Brody bullshit and his opponent was Nakamura. (This is before everyone was on his dick.) He tries to jump Nakamura and gets promptly whooped all over the arena for about three minutes and pinned and it was the best. Something nobody would have put on the net but I just remember laughing my ass off at how Shinsuke just shit all over his lame act in the briefest amount of time. 

 

I'm sure Iizuka has been crippled up for awhile and he was great early on in the tags I've seen with him as a junior, but sorry, that act is just too absurd to work in NJPW at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Finally getting to watch NJ again. Looks like a good lineup for tonight. 

 

AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki: For what's shown, there's some absurd crap (after Red Shoes gets plowed into and the run-ins happen, they just get up and go into forearm exchange mode again) but Suzuki trying to take AJ's arm, and then his arm AND index finger home with him was great. I really don't like AJ at all and his fucking haircut makes me like him less. Suzuki loses of course (that Fujiwara should have been an instant tap. So much for logic) but backstage he says "Bastards, don't put your guns away that's aimed at me" which is the best Engrish ever. I should note that Korakuen is HOT tonight and that is gonna help all these matches immeasurably. 

 

Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan: I'm a bit of a Goto apologist as it feels like he's never quite grabbed that Brass Ring (TM Cesaro) even though he's had some great NJ Cup wins; he's got an underdog vibe going for him as well as being pretty solid in-ring. This is all about Tenzan as underdog though because who the hell knows how his spinal cord didn't snap in half upon hitting Goto's knee. Hey, they do a forearm exchange that is actually awesome because they sell like maniacs. Goto, a consummate loser, taps to the Anaconda Vice for the aging, broken man with the amazing hair. I didn't even catch any of the cuts in that so it was pretty sweet, especially considering we now have half an hour for this:

 

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii: CHAOS vs. CHAOS! Nakamura is rocking the Blackie-from-Voivod haircut and denim shirt for the run-down. God I love that man. He gets away with wearing and doing shit that all of us just wish we could do on a daily basis. And he has an awesome theme song. Ishii is his usual squat, stout self. They actually have a decent mirror sequence/tradeoff of missed moves which is close to the decent forearm exchange earlier of 'things that suck all the time in matches but this time was good'. They're playing this off as two guys that know each other too well and it works. Nakamura starts to Tenryu things up with some slaps and dick kicks, then they start with the clubbering. Ishii then decides to Tenryu it up himself with some sick neck chops that has Nakamura hacking up. His "FUCK YOU" dropkick to the face while Shinsuke is doing his pose is just fantastic. The lariat that follows up after is hellish and Ishii switches his arm for the lariat after Shinsuke tries to dismantle the right one which I always love to see. The ending exchange is pretty great with Ishii going back to the no-selling and forearm battering while talking shit, but you can see the wall crumbling. We get one final avoidance of the knee but Ishii finally runs into a Boma Ye while coming off the ropes and it's over. Really good match that had some nice psychology. Also, there was a headbutt directly to Nakamura's throat. And Nakamura did his "HEYO" and promptly crumpled while trying to get out of the ring. There are no reasons for you not to want to watch this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How real are those 200,000 viewers numbers? Is that weekly? Is that combine viewers for a whole season? Can anyone verify the numbers?

I have no idea, but a few weeks ago I got a call from a friend who was a casual wrestling fan at best.  He found NJPW on one of those mini-marathons and called asking if I knew about it.  He then went on with questions for like 30 minutes.  I think it is an interesting show and probably has more viewers than originally expected. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious about AXS' reach throughout the US, especially to get numbers that strong. I don't get it on TWC and I've only had access when I went to Vegas back in May (Naito/Tanahashi G1 final).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Besides the New Japan show, I love having AXS because they live stream a few festivals every summer. I've always had the channel in my channel package, whether it was Charter or DirecTV. As for Lucha Underground and El Rey, I had to specifically request it when I got DirecTV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, that was great. Also responding to Ranallo asking why Takahashi was interfering: "Because he's a prick!"

 

Boy Goto/Shibata is a whole lot of no-selling and about 5000 forearms. Pretty dumb. That spinning backchop to the grill from Shibata was gnarly though. Meanwhile Ishii lost a half-pint for the cause and nearly put Anderson in a coma when the idiot tried to headbutt him. 

 

According to the big screen AJ Styles is "Penominal". Ah Japan, never change. He proves his penominal status by nearly Ganso bombing Tanahashi on the Styles Clash. Half the crowd appear to literally sprint for the exits after the three, probably because they got tipped off that Jeff Jarrett is coming to the ring.

 

I continue to be amazed that I can turn on my TV and watch Tomoaki Honma wrestle without putting in a DVD. Not only that, but I will get three replays of him falling on his face from the top rope. VAMPIRE CHICKEN!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

New one is best classified as "fun". Suzuki/Iizuka vs. Sakuraba/Yano is perfectly fine because it's cut to like five minutes and it's just both sides doing their schtick. The shooters try and take each other's legs with them, Iizuka and Yano clown it up. No way could I watch it in full though. The Bullet Club/Ibushi and Naito tag is helped for the same reasons and there is surprisingly NO Club interference. KUSHIDA/Taguchi was incredibly smooth and athletic but KUSHIDA forgets to sell the leg and runs and jumps and kicks like every other goddamned junior ever and it will irritate you to no end. I did like the final hold. And hey, look, there's Taka!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, new episode! And I have exactly two things to say.

 

1. I have no idea why Gallows is now wearing facepaint and gear that is like some kind of Warlord/Mr. Pogo combination. 

 

2. I have no idea why they would let Fale, who looks to have the size, moveset, and mobility of a Mr. Hughes have a goddamn title.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Great, so NJ and Raw en Espanol are on at the same time. I'm going with Shibata, Ishii, and Nakamura. (Well actually, because of Raw's length... "I'LL TAKE 'EM BOTH!")

 

Ishii/Goto: Damn that lariat exchange. Barnett refers to it as like a kaiju battle, and I don't know how either man didn't puke. Incredibly, Goto puts the nut in instead of Ishii and busts his mouth up. Eventually Ishii gives him a receipt with one right to the jaw. This was two slabs of beef smacking into each other over and over and over and I'm glad it was edited because it had to be absurd in long form. At least Ishii sold well for what was shown.

 

Ibushi/Tanahashi vs. Okada/Yoshi-Hashi: Well I have no problem with this being cut either. With all the pimping of NJ World I'm worried they'll start editing the main events though. Really so cut this is just a collection of moves. Wait, New Japan has a "cash in the briefcase" deal going too? Yuck. Ibushi always impresses though so you get a big rana, big kick to the head, big Phoenix Splash. 

 

Shibata/Nakamura: I love Barnett giving the technical descriptions to the action. He's like the legit sports announcer version of Mike Tenay in mid-'90s WCW. Lots of good matwork before they both go hyperspeed with attempted strikes into a stalemate, then Shibata kicking the shit out of Swagsuke into the commentary table. Shibata goes for the dick kicks and it wakes up Naka for the forearms but then they do nasty elbows and a mean knee from Naka. RINGS OF SATURN IN AN OCTOPUS HOLD~~~! Shibata just turned it up to 11. Those elbows in the corner were so fucking nasty too. That submission though... man. And after a mean kick they're just powdering into each other and end up doing the All Japan Fighting Spirit Big Suplex No-Sell-to-Sell. This is about as stiff as you can get, Naka's holding his face after another kick. GTS looks like it hits his chest, and Naka hits three countem three Boma Ye's to keep the title. Not as good of a match as some of the ones Shinsuke's had on here, but I'd love a rematch. It really felt like Shibata was taking him to town in some nasty ways and honestly this could have gone a little longer and lost the Fighting Spirit bullshit and done better on the matwork to go full BattlARTS. Still, I love both guys and this was a great match.

 

"Can I be the one to boil your excitement?" says Ibushi, after he flash Germans Nakamura. I love Engrish. And German suplexes. And Nakamura dressed like a middle-aged white American mother backstage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NJPW doesn't have a "Cash in the Breifcase" deal.  The Briefcase is merely a prop to symbolize that they have the IWGP Heavyweight Title shot at Wrestle Kingdom, gained by winning the annual G1 Climax Tournament in the summer..  It's basically if WWE gave something to the Rumble winner to symbolize the Mania shot.  

 

The caveat that NJPW has is that the holder *has* to defend it twice against opponents of his choice at Destruction and Power Struggle.  If they're defeated, whoever beat him replaces him in the Title match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which is really fucking stupid. They win the most grueling tournament in wrestling and have to defend it twice before reaping the rewards? I know it's just a prop to further build up the G1 winner's momentum but I hate that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be fair, its better than "win a ladder match to steal the World Title when the champ can't possibly defend it" gimmick that a ton of promotions use as "get out of booking corners free" cards.  

 

And there is a logic to the defences, since I'm pretty sure the holder has always named the guys that pinned him in the tourny as his defences. (Tanahashi is defending against Fale and Naito this year, Okada defended against Naito and Anderson last year...)  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would be awesome if Gedo trolled everybody and had Naito cheat his way to the Tokyo Dome title shot. :) For us, not him after seeing a half empty dome. Hopefully by January 2017, they've established some of the fringe main eventers where they can run something other than a combination of Okada/Tanahashi/Nakamura as the main event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still say Okada/Naito from WK8 was better than Tanahashi/Nakamura, but they so fucked up handling Naito coming back from injury.

 

Now I wouldn't rule out Fale stealing the shot and handing it to Styles... again.

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...