Shibata Is My Homie Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 1 hour ago, nofuture said: It's worth noting that other Shibata (for obvious reasons), all the current title holders are the same as they were pre-Wrestle Kingdom 11. Just like the good old days. I thought Suzuki was the NEVER champ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shibata Is My Homie Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 56 minutes ago, Michael Sweetser said: I think we're ending up with an Elite-Bullet Club split, keeping the Bucks and Omega together and making Cody leader of the BC. Better idea is to just break-up said Bullet Club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 I think BC merch is too profitable and too good for their brand awareness in America for them to consider dropping the group at this point, even if it's well past its sell-by date. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 1 hour ago, EVA said: I wonder if they're considering running Okada/Omega 3 in LA. That would make a big splash over here, but I don't know how big they view those shows internally, if they think running them like house shows will be good enough. Cody challenged Okada to a match at the US G1 specials. So unless they do something like Cody/Omega on Night 1 and the winner faces Okada on Night 2, I don't think that's going to happen. I don't see two IWGP Heavyweight Championship matches on both nights, either. The main event for the first night will probably be a a multi-person tag team match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 4 hours ago, nofuture said: It's worth noting that other Shibata (for obvious reasons), all the current title holders are the same as they were pre-Wrestle Kingdom 11. and LIJ, and Tanahashi. They weren't the title holders going into their matches at WK11. I'm ok with the Draw, which makes me more forgiving of the slow middle segement of the main. I can see another Okada/Omega match if Omega wins another G1. I could see him winning the belt in the lead up, but the way they structured the match playing off the first Dome match, I can see the 3 rd match being Omega's win. I could do without seeing Okada/Cody, but it looks like we're doomed to see that. Naito/Tanahashi was fucking amazing and played off their history well. It was just worked so well, even with the Tanahashi got the sub finish which almost never happens. Speaking of sub finishes, the end to KUSHIDA/Takahashi was nasty, and a much much better match than that MOVEZ fest that was the BOSJ Final. Solid show all around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 I was very surprised to see three different titles change hands by submission, but they did it extremely well in all three cases - it came across as the guy being trapped into an unwinnable situation, losing each avenue for escaping until they were left with no choice but to tap. So well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 The renaissance of the submission finish was something to behold. Much preferred this Naito/Tanahashi to the one at the Dome, particularly their attempts to outheel each other. What a great, confusing crowd. Two GREAT nearfalls tonight, the first being the One Winged Angel rope break heard round the world. So much of the build-up centered around the "if he can just hit his move" narrative, PLUS Kenny worked in a wrist clutch prior to hitting it which plays off some established Rainmaker psychology. Having Okada escape defeat by that narrow of a margin had me biting hard. You could even hear portions of the crowd booing, thinking their was some botched kickout or other shenanigan. Then the replay had 'em ooh-ing and aah-ing. The OTHER great nearfall, which nobody else probably liked as much as me, was the Taichi ref pull. It felt like a worthy payoff to all of his mediocre stooging throughout the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clintthecrippler Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 If someone wanted to give six stars to THIS Okada vs Omega match, I wouldn't argue. I absolutely loved the fact that Okada's dropkick was what kept him in the match as a desperation move when on the ropes. The rope break on Omega's finisher may be one of the greatest rope breaks ever, I had fully bought into that being the finish. I loved that Cody coming down to the ring with the towel ended up being a false fuck finish, I had bought that the distraction of that would be enough time for Omega to get it together to score the victory. I also loved that for both men, there were multiple opportunities to grab the 3-count but the hubris of wanting to hit a signature finisher backfired. This was everything pro wrestling can be in 2017. The modern athleticism was there, but this time the pro wrestling drama of a high-end championship match was ramped up to match the athleticism. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clintthecrippler Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Also, had Suzuki vs Liger ever happened? Because if not, after their brief exchange tonight, i would much rather see that for the NEVER title next than a Yoshi-Hashi match. Also, I think the Jr Tag Title match may be my personal favorite match ever involving all four wrestlers. I thought it showed that when they want to, the Young Bucks can put on a great old-school style tag team formula match as heels cutting off their opponents and grinding them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 I've only watched the main event so far. I liked it, but I don't think it was as good as the Dome match. It felt like they were really struggling to fill time in the last 10 minutes. Okada's selling was spotty at best--I don't think getting your leg worked over for a few minutes means it should be useless for the rest of the match, but maybe register a little pain when you land on it after a dropkick? And why did Omega stop attacking it? I also didn't care for the One Winged Angel spot. They've pushed the "if he hits it, the match is over" narrative to the point that if Omega wasn't going to win, why waste it? Still, I admire Omega and Okada's ambition. They mostly pulled it off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 1 hour ago, mattdangerously said: I also didn't care for the One Winged Angel spot. They've pushed the "if he hits it, the match is over" narrative to the point that if Omega wasn't going to win, why waste it? They really didn't though. Omega hit the OWA and Okada needed a rope-break that everyone, their mom and their dog bit on. So the move is still protected and in play for whatever they may have down the line. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 56 minutes ago, Pete said: They really didn't though. Omega hit the OWA and Okada needed a rope-break that everyone, their mom and their dog bit on. So the move is still protected and in play for whatever they may have down the line. I get that, but since the end game is pretty obviously "Omega wins," I think the eventual climax will be more impactful if the move is saved for that. The move is still protected, but Okada still survived it. That ruins the narrative of the first match. Now it's "if Omega hits it, and they aren't next to the ropes." That's not as cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 3 minutes ago, mattdangerously said: I get that, but since the end game is pretty obviously "Omega wins," I think the eventual climax will be more impactful if the move is saved for that. The move is still protected, but Okada still survived it. That ruins the narrative of the first match. Now it's "if Omega hits it, and they aren't next to the ropes." That's not as cool. No it doesn't. Okada didn't kick out of it - he "copped out" with the rope break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Yeah, but Omega still hit the move. If he's not going to win the match, why waste the moment? Why not save it for the end game, when it will matter more? I understand what you're saying, I'm just not sure it's the best direction to take the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 5 hours ago, clintthecrippler said: Also, had Suzuki vs Liger ever happened? Because if not, after their brief exchange tonight, i would much rather see that for the NEVER title next than a Yoshi-Hashi match. Interestingly, it has... as an MMA fight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Very good show. The timing on the OWA near fall was so awesome. When it got to 55 minutes I knew we were going the full 60 but it was executed well. I loved Takahashi/KUSHIDA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 Two great matches in Okada vs. Omega and Naito vs. Tanahashi. May be unpopular but on a first watch, I prefer the matches at Wrestle Kingdom 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 8 hours ago, mattdangerously said: Yeah, but Omega still hit the move. If he's not going to win the match, why waste the moment? Why not save it for the end game, when it will matter more? I understand what you're saying, I'm just not sure it's the best direction to take the story. Omega's kicked out of the Rainmaker. Okada hasn't kicked out of the OWA. So Omega's death move beats Okada's. That's the storyline in a race to the finishers. I'm guessing they meet in the G1 and Omega wins with it there to continue things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Wow. What an outstanding show. Also, this may be totally nitpicky, but the ultra shitty selling of the leg by Okada and completely abandoning working the leg made me feel like we were robbed of a match that would top their first one. This was still amazing, but the leg work stood out like a sore thumb. Like, if the story was working the leg wasn't doing the job and so Omega switched it to working on a different body part, then that would be fine. Instead it went from Okada acting like he had a torn ACL to popping up to hit the ropes and planting right on the injured leg. And then he proceeded to do a bunch of other shit that ignored the leg. At least it wasn't the shit Rollins has been doing, but some sort of consistency would be nice. Anyway, it was like watching two different matches, but both were great. Those two made some huge sacrifices to go 60. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoeCristyV.1.6 Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 They just topped their Wrestle Kingdom match. the rope break after the OWA was PERFECT! Okada is out of this world this year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iron Yuppie Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 I've watched the full show EXCEPT the main event. I thought both Naito-Tana and KUSHIDA-Hiromu out-did their Wrestle Kingdom matches. KUSHIDA might be my favorite wrestler in the world at the moment. He had incredible matches with Taguchi and BUSHI in the Super Juniors, then he and Takahashi absolutely delivered at Dominion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Sugar Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Watching this now. I enjoyed Elgin/Cody. Fun match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 I felt Tanahashi did a nice job of selling the arm throughout the match and then pretty much abandoned it the last 5 minutes. Still a great match, I've always been much higher on Naito than Tanahashi but I have no problem with the story they told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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