Belgian_Waffle Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 I feel like Suzuki finally dropping the belt should have ended the storyline. Having Sugi join Suzuki-gun just waters down the upcoming title match and makes Sugiura look more like a henchman than a top guy in his own right. How much longer are these guys going to linger around NOAH? And who will finally get the tag belts, are they gonna put them back on TMDK?Also I'm not a fan of his work over the past 10 years but would there be any upside to putting the strap on Yone finally, even as just a 1 defense transitional guy? He must have a sentimental fanbase accumulated by now, the same way Nakanishi did by the end of his tenure as Top NJPW Heavy Who's Never Had the Belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 would there be any upside to putting the strap on Yone finally, even as just a 1 defense transitional guy? No. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 TMDK & Takeshi Morishima's contracts expired with NOAH and they've left the company, according to Enuhito. EDIT: Oh, and NOAH won't hold Morishima's retirement match or ceremony. But he also wants to wrestle more. So... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Z Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I feel like Suzuki finally dropping the belt should have ended the storyline. Having Sugi join Suzuki-gun just waters down the upcoming title match and makes Sugiura look more like a henchman than a top guy in his own right. How much longer are these guys going to linger around NOAH? And who will finally get the tag belts, are they gonna put them back on TMDK? You're right, the story has to end at some point, but if they got rid of Suzuki and all the other New Japan guys, the roster would be incredibly small even with Shiozaki and Kanemaru returning. The only thing they could do is replace them with other New Japan guys. Shibata isn't really living up to his full potential in New Japan, but if they brought him into NOAH, he could easily be one of the top guys immediately. TMDK & Takeshi Morishima's contracts expired with NOAH and they've left the company, according to Enuhito. EDIT: Oh, and NOAH won't hold Morishima's retirement match or ceremony. But he also wants to wrestle more. So... Well, that's probably the last confirmation we needed that TMDK is WWE-bound. Wasn't Morishima forced to retire due to health reasons? I had no idea he still wanted to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linus Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Hopefully there's still someone around who used to follow the sleaze promotions in the late 90s/early 00s... There was a gaijin - the only one, so he stood out - who used to work some shows, and he was so unremarkable he was remarkable. I always pretended to myself he was probably teaching English or something? Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 The only guy I could think of is Mike Samples? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawada's Cobra Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Maybe "Who am I?" from Zipang? ( I think he was also named "I am Chris" ) God now I feel old.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linus Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 As answered by RevRay on Twitter, it was indeed "Who Am I? I Am Cody!" And thanks to Cody Rhodes, that guy is ungoogleable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddevil Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I made a music video about the birth and history of NJPW up until the early 2000's: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kafkonia Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Is there any Zipang video out on the webs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawada's Cobra Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I think Foywonder posted two Zipang matches on youtube, really wish more Zipang made it to the west. Just noticed it's Gentaro and not FM Taro in the second match, don't think I have actually seen Gentaro work as FM Taro. As far as I know FM Taro has always been Shin'ichi Shino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Watching that great New Japan history video (hope there is a version 2) and amazed/baffled that New Japan was doing exploding barbed wire matches with Onita in 99. What was the idea behind bringing him in and then doing these matches against guys who had really no business in these matches like Choshu and Chono. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Onita was using the last of his draw power (which had been severely depleted due to him coming out of retirement) and New Japan's business was starting its decline. The weird thing was, the Japanese press raved about the Chono/Onita match. Onita really wanted to force Choshu and Inoki out of retirement but settled for just Choshu knowing Inoki, even if he did break his retirement, would never do that style match. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wilson Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 Inoki never coming out of retirement for a big match is one of my biggest life mysteries. I just assume he had some legit injury type issues he never disclosed. Especially when IGF first started, him coming out of retirement for 'one more match' against Ogawa or something would have done great business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 I think Inoki believed he had some kind of integrity left (in his own mind you understand). Coming out of retirmeent would make him lower than Onita and he would never want to be lumped together with Onita for any reason. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wilson Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 I think Inoki believed he had some kind of integrity left (in his own mind you understand). Coming out of retirmeent would make him lower than Onita and he would never want to be lumped together with Onita for any reason. James I mean 98% of retired wrestlers come out of retirement, I wouldn't think just a comparison to Onita would stop him, especially by the time IGF rolled around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 I think Onita also got a huge pay day out of it and NJPW got to show they were "superior" to garbage wrestlers in the process. At least that's my take on it. Anyway, Daichi Hashimoto has finally found a home, he signed a deal with Big Japan after competing there the last few months during his sporadic and pointless IGF career which ended with Ogawa squashing him on NYE in 3 minutes. I assume that deal ended or is going to. That was a waste of like 2 years. At least they paid him well I'd imagine, unlike Zero-One could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I can't believe NJPW wouldn't sign him. There has to be some kind of issue. EDIT: Yeah well it's probably him yoking himself to Inoki and his father's indie so nevermind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Z Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I can't believe NJPW wouldn't sign him. There has to be some kind of issue. EDIT: Yeah well it's probably him yoking himself to Inoki and his father's indie so nevermind He was however in the main event of that "Shinya Hashimoto's Death 10th Anniversary" show last July, that apart from himself only featured New Japan talent. I wonder who promoted that. Shinya Hashimoto Death 10th Anniversary "SHINYA HASHIMOTO EASTER", 13.07.2015 (Samurai! TV) Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,000 Fans 1. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask besiegen Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka (11:31) nach einem Vertical Drop Brainbuster von Liger gegen Komatsu. 2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima besiegen Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan (9:39) nach dem Anaconda Vice von Tenzan gegen Captain. 3. Yuji Nagata besiegt Daichi Hashimoto (16:16) mit einem Backdrop Hold. Credit: Purolove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Holy shit, Shiro Koshinaka clearing house in 2015 and then teaming up with Taguchi (fellow flying hip attack user) was booking genius and a huge markout moment for me. MENG! HAKU! KING HAKU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoeCristyV.1.6 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Shibata vs Ishii....fuck, so much GIF worthy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 So there is some stuff going around that some Bullet Club guys and Nakamura have given notice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Court Bauer is the source, BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Update: Apparently leaving are Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Any idea why?/ I can see AJ not wanting to spend half his time in Japan. Anderson and Gallows aren't that much in demand stateside, unless they're going to the WWE. Expected Nakamura to stay in NJ until he retired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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