New Japan gets TV deal in US

[Curt McGirt]

THE NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO PT. I

Spoiler

 

TAKA/TAICHI vs. ROPPONGI VICE: Boy it's been a long time since I've seen Taka. Taichi I don't think I've ever seen and he has a hot valet and doesn't even really pretend to lip synch into a mic with half stand... weird. Suzuki-Gun jump the Vice immediately but they recover quickly. Doesn't take long for them to get mugged again. Wow, we really do not need another heel faction in NJ at this point. JR has a good joke about the ring bell hammer being down the back of the pants of Taichi not having been seen by him, but in the front of the pants instead haha. BTW, Taichi looks like a heavyweight in comparison to everyone else. They go to break and we get an ROH commercial. The G1 Special USA is gonna be live July 1st. Taka basically only shows up at the very end of the match with some knees and crossfaces (and of course his beautiful Asai moonsault) but he loses to the Axe Guillotine Driver that thankfully looks way safer than the one of the guy who innovated it. I dig Vice and the valet is... woof, but this is just okay. At one point Taichi yanks his paunts off and Warmaster basically makes a reference to Randy from Trailer Park Boys which made me chuckle. 

KILLER ELITE SQUAD VS. MAKABE/HONMA VS. ISHII/YANO: Well hey it's a three way, this is gonna be a cluster. There is already as much cursing as the last match in the first couple minutes of this one. Nice seeing Davey Boy Jr. again. Things of course pick up when Ishii gets in the ring after a lot of Yano schtick. Guess what, Makabe actually has good punches in the corner! This ended up pretty entertaining in the end sprint, everybody got their shit in and had their moment in the spotlight.

GOTO/JUICE ROBINSON: High hopes for this. JR compares Goto to Bret Hart again? Okay... Juice just lays into Goto immediately at high speed which is a pretty awesome flurry. He hits one particularly loud headbutt that we will hopefully be seeing less of after Shibata. After he slips up with a rolling senton into the barricade Goto starts on the back and Juice is doing a great job selling it, even while going back on offense. This might be crazy, but Juice is reminding me of a younger, bigger Brian Pillman. He takes crazy risks, has a big offensive arsenal, sells great, seems in over his head a lot. It's really cool how he changes from southpaw to righty and back to mess up Goto. He hits him with a lariat at one point and the camera closes in on Goto's total 1000 yard stare. He comes back with an offensive flurry of his own and wins with the GTR though. Juice is great. They have a better match in them but this was fine though it was A LOT of moves, and not much else. Goto says "Man, when did Juice Robinson get so good?" which is cool as fuck. 

 

THE NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO PT. II 

Spoiler

 

MINORU SUZUKI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA: This'll be MiSu parte dos for me today after the DDT absurdity earlier. This will have far much more levity of course. Suzuki-Gun is at ringside again... please send them away, Red Shoes. You yourself are enough of an interference in matches. God, if only I could rock Minoru's haircut. I tried something similar one time but it was more like a Hare Krishna 'do after having a mohawk and ended up turning into a mullet. Of course I was young, dumb, and didn't have a hairdresser so those were a problem too, obviously. Guess the "kneebar" I thought Suzuki used on Takagi in the DDT match in the stairwell was actually an Achilles lock which Barnett talks up. BTW, Okada's leg is taped. Doesn't stop him from running, springboarding etc. of course. "It's a good thing the blue fence isn't challenging for the belt because it is undefeated." - Warmaster! Best line of the night. Suzuki just snaps after no-selling a couple forearms outside and starts fucking up Okada like a maniac. He even whacks his leg with a giant camera tripod. Of course Red Shoes isn't gonna do shit about any of this. JR: "I'm hurting someone. I love it. A bit of a thought cloud above his head, right?"  He even takes time to stomp on Gedo. Suzuki just starts going from submission to submission like ticking off moves from his personal notebook in moments, it's a show of Shoot Style leg torture that is fantastic. I'm gonna be so pissed off when Okada hits his dropkick. That whole segment was the best, and then he just starts pasting Okada... who starts going into his comeback. He even does a nip up. At this point I've seen everything I really wanted, I guess. There is a beautiful slide-in to the Achilles lock that hooks me back in (pardon the pun) then Okada -- guess what? -- hits the dropkick. And then one from the top. 

Fuck, as much as I love Minoru Suzuki ripping at one of my least favorite Big Match Wrestler's tendons, I'm done with this crap. Good night.

EDIT: The very concept of making that match 40 FUCKING MINUTES is an affront to everyone as wrestling fans. Seriously, how dumb was that? Gedo, Okada, quit your mutual masturbation. Please. Do you need a timer? You know those things can be bought at the grocery store, or you can just use your phone. 

 

 

[Curt McGirt]

I walked in from work just in time to watch KAMAITACHI/DRAGON LEE. Having never seen them work together before, all I can say is: that shit was nuts. Normally I would complain about a match being nothing but a string of high spots and finishers but these guys hate each other and blasted into every single thing. Even if they got up after everything almost immediately and just jumped into it again, I didn't really care. This was my version of Okada/Omega and I loved it. If you want to watch two men try to end each other years before they should then that's it. After this, maybe they can work a smart match? Bonus points for the Rings of Saturn, as always. 

NAITO/ELGIN: This should be fun. Naito broke Elgin's eye socket with his heel which put him out for awhile so there's some motivation for revenge here. And that is pretty much met by Elgin crushing Naito's face with his ass on a rolling senton from the apron. Ouch. Naito responds by trying to take out Big Mike's knee in nasty fashion. Mike manages some kinda reverse powerbomb to come back and -- good god at long last -- is STILL SELLING THE LEG. He also hits some short lariats that look like murder. After those and some of his feats of strength I now want him to make a Strong Freebirds with Sekimoto and Okabayashi. Shit, they've been in every other promotion, why not? As JR and Barnett note, he keeps going up high and comes up no dice. 

Three episodes next Friday, also: Okada/Shibata is next week? Is this the brain damage match? 

Elgin knocks Naito head over heels and then makes him do a spit take with two of the most vicious lariats ever. Wow. And Elgin is STILL selling the knee. Naito's Poisoned Frankensteiner is totally unnecessary and dangerous but hey, after the last match... To his credit he goes for a Sambo Lock after that to work on the knee again. Volk Han would approve. They go on the apron, Naito spits in his Mike's face, and he splatters him with a White Noise on the fucking apron. Jesus H. Christ. Again, he lands on his face with his ass. On the apron. I'm not sure how many receipts he deserves from an accident but that's enough. After that he finally gets the Falcon Arrow off the top he's been looking for but again no three. He then proceeds to hit two elbows that made me say out loud "FUCK!". And two powerbombs. And a Death Valley Driver into the corner. At the same time Naito is trying to gain any kind of leverage by going to the eye and attempting Destino, etc. After he survives three more consecutive powerbombs... well, it's preordained. There's a couple more hope spots but Elgin loses to Destino. They could have dropped the powerbomb segment and had Naito win with the Sambo Lock, but that's just me. Otherwise, this was awesome. Elgin is a beast and Naito is a slimy, belt-throwing, face-gobbing prick. You have no reason not to watch this. 

[odessasteps]

I would suggest going back and watching their matches in CMLL. Most were prob as good or better than the one this year. 

[Curt McGirt]

Which should I watch first? The mask match? 

[clintthecrippler]

15 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I walked in from work just in time to watch KAMAITACHI/DRAGON LEE. Having never seen them work together before, all I can say is: that shit was nuts. Normally I would complain about a match being nothing but a string of high spots and finishers but these guys hate each other and blasted into every single thing. Even if they got up after everything almost immediately and just jumped into it again, I didn't really care. This was my version of Okada/Omega and I loved it. If you want to watch two men try to end each other years before they should then that's it.

THIS. I get why the Ricochet vs Will Ospreay matches got so much attention.

I don't get why this series doesn't get ever more than that. It's basically the hate-filled version of the Ricochet/Ospreay matches, where every ridiculous move and counter is in the name of straight-up killing your opponent instead of just popping the crowd.

[odessasteps]

13 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Which should I watch first? The mask match? 

Cubsfan made a playlist, that, if i remember right, is in chronological order. 

 

[EricR]

Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of gross how JR clearly recorded commentary on a Shibata match to make him sound like a prophetic smarty pants? AXS showed the 3/19 Shibata/Ishii match and several times JR chastised Shibata for using headbutts and kept making notes that they may end up detrimental to his health. I'm sure he didn't record this before Shibata brained himself. It came off really gross and shitty to me.  

[Curt McGirt]

Haven't thought about that but if so, yuck. Still you gotta take in mind Jim's wife just died and maybe he's not thinking or not aware or, worst case scenario, is taking out his bitterness on commentary. 

I only caught some of the first episodes. War Machine are beasts, Juice deserves a shot and gets pretty emotional, Shibata/Fale looked like a geek show match that was kinda cool for the differences between opponents. He will appear again tonight and because I'm a sick fuck I'll watch it and take the hit for everyone who hasn't seen it. 

GOTO/SABRE JR. was pretty good. It's the first time I saw Sabre's whole gig and the subs and joint manipulation look nasty but can't get anything done because he's a skinny little ugly shit that will fall if you really take it to him. The last couple GTRs from Goto were pretty match-ending/concussion inducing. The run-ins were stupid but Gedo wanted to do a lumberjack match so whatever. 

KAMAITACHI WINS IN A MINUTE PLUS?! Wait, did they have to go home early for injury, I can't remember. That sunset flip powerbomb looked worse than either of the GTRs in the prior match. 

OKADA/SHIBATA: Well, here we go. The fact this is airing on the 10th anniversary of the Benoit murders is pretty fucked up. Barnett references William Gibson's Neuromancer in reference to Chono at ringside which is really out of left field. Shibata wisely goes to the Rainmaker arm on Okada in the initial grappling (which is quite good) which I'm sure will be no-sold later on. They come up with some pretty cool reversals and escapes... if only they kept up with it the whole time... Warmaster is again a wonder on commentary, talking up the headlock. Okada gets booed for not breaking clean and the crowd is 100% behind Shibata here. Now we get into the meat-chopping. Okada's got quite a jaw on him. Then we get a figure four that is another point of egress from Shibata that Okada will inevitably again no-sell to use the dropkick... which happens in moments. I like him stealing the kick over the guardrail though. The Deep In Debt looks really cool too, why do we never see that? I presume because like classic AJPW, a match can never end in a fucking submission now. At least back then they didn't bother using them. Shibata getting hit in the head really bad a bunch of times I'm sure is not helping anything. The Kimura + Fujiwara armbar is dope too, why couldn't they have just gone this route? The problem is that Shibata wants the strikes, the crowd wants the strikes, WE the AUDIENCE want the strikes.

Oh, fuck JR, mentioning the headbutt like he doesn't know what happened afterwards. Did nobody seriously clue him in? He's online all the time. Is he trying to insult our intelligence? 

Wrestling is an artistic freakshow that happens to have very real consequences. That was a good match, besides the very stupid Fighting Spirit segment, and the headbutt, and them not working smarter in general. They drag Okada out after a Fale run-in while Shibata is about to collapse, and Warmaster and JR act like it's the other way around, because they've clearly been told to work and not mention him getting paralyzed. I suppose the lesson to be learned is "it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt". And also, "pro wrestling is really fucked up". 

[Lawful Metal]

Viewed in a vacuum, I think Shibata v. Okada at Genesis is superior to Omega v. Okada at Wrestle Kingdom. 

What a star making moment for Shibata. Stone Cold Shibata.

what a shame. 

[The Iron Yuppie]

@Curt McGirt I'm happy to read I'm not the only person who's enjoyed Juice in 2017. He's improved so dramatically from his CJ Parker days. I'm hoping to see (and think we will see, based on the Taguchi Japan-LIJ feud building steam) Juice against Naito as part of the U.S. Championship Tournament. It's a ready-made storyline: Naito has already shit-talked the belt, which would juxtapose well with Juice eager to win it, his first championship, on his home soil. 

RE: Shibata, I watched that match the day after it aired and before I was aware of the severity of his injury. I thought it was a surefire 5* and perhaps better than the Omega match, though I did bristle at the headbutt. I've hated spots like that ever since Daniel Bryan and Nigel were recklessly smashing each other in Ring of Honor, but considering Shibata and Okada went another 5 minutes afterward, I was shocked to read how badly he'd been hurt. 

It's sad for a multitude of reasons, including as @Lawful Metal notes, that was a star-making match. Shibata was AWESOME throughout 2017: the Goto match at Wrestle Kingdom was excellent, he reined in Ospreay for what was easily my favorite WO match, he kicked ass in the New Japan Cup. Dude was ready to break out as a true main-event player. 

 

[Ramo2653]

The NJ Cup matches were fun. Holy cow Tenzan can barely move.

 

I'm here for more Takahashi promos. Ugh that headbutt, I hadn't seen the match until now.

[Curt McGirt]

KAMAITACHI/RICOCHET: 16 and a half minutes of MOVEZ~! Literally nothing but flying and bombs. Amazing athletics, no psychology at all. 

NAITO/JUICE ROBINSON: It's Joose! He looks pretty wary to start, downright scared actually. Gotta love Naito's slow roll out of the ring after the pose. Tranquilo, baby. At least Juice is smart enough to pull HIS headbutt. He has no problem eating the rail again and again though. Naito uses said rails to try and take out Juice's legs and he does a great job selling the destruction. Tetsuya spits at the announcer and yanks on Juice's dreads to add extra dickishness to the proceedings. Damn, Juice busts out a hell of a spinebuster (and of course JR namedrops Arn). Naito tries to German Juice off the apron but he has a death grip on the ropes, then manages to spinebust him on the corner of the apron which is just crippling looking. Liger and the announcer both lose it for that one. He's still no match for Naito ripping and tearing at the knee -- kicks, elbows, a chop block, the modified Sambo Lock (which I still want to see end a match sometime). Naito makes the mistake of trying to rana him off the top but he gets absolutely flattened with a powerbomb. It looked like Juice came down with all his weight right on top of him. He keeps going for that Killswitch but no dice. They do a ton of nice reversals in the last couple minutes and Naito finally hits Destino on one of them for the pin. Juice is one hell of a young talent and Naito continues to come up with the best matches in NJPW. 

Tanahashi comes out and reads an invisible letter to Naito afterwards to challenge for the belt and it's pretty funny, calling him a bastard and a son of a bitch, but that can't break the tranquilo. 

OMEGA/ISHII: They start this one up with no bullshit, both men are in the ring and Ishii is working as fast as Ricochet did. We get a nice near-countout from an apron powerbomb and... damn... another headbutt. And another. Right after Shibata went in the hospital, nobody learned anything. Damn, Omega hits a NASTY DDT after they chop the crap out of each other with Ishii acting like every chop is just the worst. Omega starts to work on the neck after the DDT for good reason, while JR and Warmaster ramble on about motorcycles for no good reason. Like a complete idiot Omega slaps Ishii and even spits in his face which is basically the most stupid thing anyone could do. Ishii hits a great spinning back-chop right to Omega's throat and Omega hits a wild springboard press that blasts Ishii right in the face. They match those with a knee and a lariat that look completely horrifying... and two more headbutts. Barnett: "the world's most violent fire hydrant". SHIT! Ishii hits his own fucking Poisoned Frankensteiner! THAT is something I never EVER expected to see. Still, it ain't enough. Barnett says it looked like it could go either way and really it could. Only twenty minutes and though it was brutal, both guys sold well and there was no real overkill. At least, as compared to some other things Omega's been involved in recently... I dunno. Maybe I'm giving these two a pass because I like them, especially them together. The psychology of the damage to Ishii's barely-existent neck was continued through the match so I really have no problem with this, great match that smokes that crap with Okada.

OKADA/FALE: Write your own review

[The Iron Yuppie]

Naito-Juice was a legit excellent match. My own personal rating system is probably more akin to Homer Simpson's food critiques (I'm afraid this gets my lowest rating ever: Seven Thumbs Up) than it is Meltzer. That said, I'd put this in the 4.25-to-4.5 range. Naito is just the best, and I can't believe that two of my favorite workers in the year 2017 are Michael Elgin and C.J. Parker. 

I'm also in the camp that would put Omega-Ishii over either Omega-Okada match. Just tremendous stuff and a legit 5* match for me. 

 

[EricR]

On 6/23/2017 at 10:30 PM, Curt McGirt said:

KAMAITACHI/RICOCHET: 16 and a half minutes of MOVEZ~! Literally nothing but flying and bombs. Amazing athletics, no psychology at all. 

 

And see, I thought this had loads more psych and was clearly superior to the Kamaitachi/Lee match their aired a couple weeks back. I thought the structure was more defined and it built far better. 

Also, Phil and I added Shibata/Okada to our 2017 MOTY List. The best Shibata performance ever, and the best Okada performance I've seen. 

[Curt McGirt]

I have to admit I was only half watching that match, thus the one-line review. 

[Curt McGirt]

Your ****** INSTANT CLASSIC rematches from Dominion are gonna be on again tonight. Enjoy. I'm not doing PBP on these for sure, but will give my thoughts. 

[Curt McGirt]

Full disclosure: I kept an eye on the first one and only watched the last quarter of the second. Anyway, my reactions, in short.

NAITO/TANAHASHI: A fine match based on limbwork and Tana trying to somehow power through that ended on (at long, long last) an actual SUBMISSION FINISH. And only 20 some-odd minutes!

OKADA/OMEGA: JR: "No, ladies and gentlemen, this match is not over!" Me: "Why not?"

See you tomorrow for the American debut where I'll do my best to cover everything

[Ramo2653]

I'm always here for Naito/Tanahashi, is there any plan for him to take time off? I can't keep going at this pace right even if he is doing a Iverson/Melo cosplay with the compression sleeve.

 

That Okada/Omega match had a good opening, a nothing middle (I feel asleep doing that part and had to re-watch this morning) and a really good finishing segment. Pumped for tonight although I'd rather have the Tana/Billy Gunn match on AXS instead of Okada/Cody.

[Curt McGirt]

What I want to know is why they aren't airing both nights. Doesn't make much sense to me. I guess it'll be cheaper to broadcast and more of a cliffhanger to have to wait for next week? Really, nobody's missing the rock reruns tomorrow night except for the somnambulant Sammy Hagar fans (I am getting so sick of seeing him on my screen) and so much for a cliffhanger in the age of the Internet.

AXS is airing NJ reruns up until the live show. Shibata at the end of that Fale match waxed poetic: "Pain does not lie. Sweat is more beautiful than tears." I thought it was chillingly apropos. 

EDIT: Ah, I figured it out. They'll squeeze two eps out of night two

[Ramo2653]

Makes sense. They're all caught up on big NJPW shows aside from BOSJ right? Barnett said on Austin's podcast that they do 4 episodes at a time so I wonder if there will be a break after these episodes.

 

Taking a peek at the DVR schedule, they're airing night 2 as a 4 hour event next week Friday that may change.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Ramo2653
additional information to add

[Casey]

Live coverage tonight is 4 hours, I don't see why tomorrow night wouldn't be. Maybe a little under 4 hours since there's less matches.

God bless SlingTV, by the way. I don't have AXS because Xfinity sucks, so I signed up for their free trial and got the app on my Xbox One. I'm finally getting to see Omega/Okada 2 - it's been a good day.

[Jiji]

This is so fucking rad, guys. Something I thought I'd never see. 

[Curt McGirt]

moved to G1 Special thread

[Curt McGirt]

I didn't pay much attention to KUSHIDA/Ospreay aside from the latter kicking the former in the face like seven times in full closeup and then

Spoiler

Kushida winning with his new version of the Emerald Frosion.

This wasn't my match to review.

In the meantime, Sammy Hagar!  (AXS is showing Cliffhanger on Monday though so set your DVRs)

EDIT: The irony of me writing "cliffhanger" several times a couple posts above is not lost on me haha. The celebration at the end, with it being Liger's last, is very nice. 

[Curt McGirt]

For your 7/21/17 presentation we get our first ever New Japan Pro Wrestling

LUMBERJACK DEATH MATCH~!: So it's Goto vs. Suzuki with CHAOS and Suzuki-Gun on the outside, respectively. I'm sure Gedo has been dreaming of this for years as a booker. He even put Jado in the match! Ref Marty breaking holds and trying to keep order in the ring just allows the groups to brawl and interfere whenever Goto gets tossed. If it's a death match, I don't see why he isn't just in to count a pinfall or submission. This is probably the first time I've ever wanted Red Shoes to be reffing in a match instead of somebody else. Suzuki blasts Goto with a kick and pulling the rail out smacks him right in the face before tossing it on him. Suzuki, hilariously, just sits down crosslegged in the ring while Marty tries to break everything up. He gets HUGE heat when he pushes Liger's face who tosses a chair immediately. Suzuki's kiss after beating on Goto in front of him puts a cherry on it. This is really absurd to say with all the hard shots in NJ, but Suzuki's elbows are knockout-quality. They crack like a homer out of park. Marty gets bumped so the Gun jump in and surprisingly only YOSHI-HASHI can clear them all then hit a big hilo on all of them outside. We come back to some ridiculous rope running, do some great transitions, and Marty takes another big bump getting pulled out at 2.9 for Goto. Taichi then pops Goto in the back of the skull with a chair and hits a full on headshot with it to kill him for Suzuki's pin. YOSHI hasn't having any of it though and boots Suzuki out of the ring! The kid's got balls, and gets a match out of it. This was probably the most entertaining lumberjack match ever. If I was Goto I'd put my foot in CHAOS' ass for not interfering on my part like Suzuki-gun did and just being outside backup instead. MiSu is #1 and the best (sorry, Anticristo). 

KAMAITACHI/KUSHIDA: Well well well, we get a long match between them now, this should... well, fuckin' rule! Hiromu comes out again with the amazing punk rock leather (second only to my own, which is far less colorful and has far more hand-painted band logos). They just immediately start laying into each other but Hiromu nails the belly-to-belly into the buckle that gives Kushida whiplash to settle him down a bit. JR starts talking about how Hiromu is unpredictable and I'm surprised he didn't make a Pillman reference. God, they work the best chinlock ever right into a powerbomb and a Falcon Arrow. Talk about a weird, awesome transition. Kushida is just getting wrecked and his selling his shoulder/neck like he has a stinger. He responds with an armbar on the apron and then goes all Sabu running and jumping off a chair to dropkick a seated Hiromu over the outer railing through the inner railing! Woof. Now Hiromu's arm is wasted after Kushida goes for it. Of course, the response after some back and forth is Kushida getting the 1000 MPH sunset powerbomb to the outside that is probably an instant concussion. Then, after an avalanche Back to the Future they're probably even. Then they just start punching each other in the neck. Kushida snaps and stomps the shit out of Hiromu's head (to huge boos) then goes all ZSJ on the arm/wrist/hand for the win while he's... of course... BLEEDING FROM THE MOUTH!!! Or nose, whichever. That was a blast. These guys just don't give a fuck. Yet at the same time, they can structure a match with a hateful atmosphere, great selling and a lot of slick, near constant transitions and reversals while still pulling out all the murderous bombs the crowd wants. 

Kushida makes the crowd do the Wave and BUSHI mists him. Go figure. The crowd seems more happy with BUSHI doing that. Hiromu says "I'm sorry Mr. Belt, I couldn't defend you" and asks Kushida to make Mr. Belt happy like the true nutbar he is. 

Yeah you should watch this one. Also, props to Marty for taking big bumps and almost getting nailed by Kushida in the second match. If he worked both those in a row, he's now officially my favorite New Japan ref.