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NJPW The New Beginning 2018


Raziel

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Started watching about halfway through and it's been great so far.

I think Kota Ibushi is my new Benoit - a guy that everyone says is amazing and is obviously a great worker, but just doesn't click for me.  Does it help if I watched his much earlier stuff?  He just doesn't grab me as a worker.

I will never get tired of Naito constantly fucking with people.  Outright ignoring YOSHI-HASHI is the best way to treat YOSHI-HASHI.

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40 minutes ago, Michael Sweetser said:

I think Kota Ibushi is my new Benoit - a guy that everyone says is amazing and is obviously a great worker, but just doesn't click for me.  Does it help if I watched his much earlier stuff?  He just doesn't grab me as a worker.

I can't speak to anything from the past year post-Tiger Mask W, but Ibushi tangling with bigger, stronger, harder-hitting heavyweights from 2013-2015 is one of my favorite runs of work ever.  Both the Nakamura matches (WK9 and the 2013 G1 Climax), vs MiSu in the 2013 G1, his NEVER bout with Ishii, the title shot vs Styles.  Double-checking profightdb for dates, there's a 2015 NJ Cup bout with Naito and a singles contest with Okada in 2014 that I only kind of remember, but are also probably great.

Basically every match is:

  • Ibushi taking a beating and bumping around in his true Gumby fashion;
  • working his feisty comebacks before being shut down time and time again;
  • getting his spots in (including that monster desperation lariat he can never follow up on);
  • and then dying en route to the finish.

But it is essentially everything I ask for from pro wrestling.

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If only for narrative purposes, it’s probably useful to check out Omega and Ibushi’s two big DDT clashes. They’re as psychotically indulgent as you’d expect, though, so you’re probably as likely to be turned off by both of their most pronounced eccentricities being turned all the way up. Their IWGP Junior Tag title matches are maybe more conventionally good, if only because they have to sell way more. That’s also a pretty good transition point to watch Kota as Junior Ace, using his strikes and suplexes to bully other flippy dudes—then flipping himself, of course. He kinda played that role in the CWC, too.

As for Tanahashi and Suzuki: that was perfect.

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Random thoughts not concerning the main event:

Cody and Kota continue to have the most out-of-nowhere, unexpected chemistry in recent memory.  Hopefully they  get another singles match with a more prominent place on the card in the near future.

Yoshi-Hashi going after Naito because he wouldn't look at him is the most fire he has ever shown in his whole career.

I'm loving Okada's embrace of the Million Dollar Man-ness of his gimmick.

And Sanada actually got some good gear again!

The camera loves Yoh and Yoh loves the camera.

As far as the main event goes:  If you're willing to check your ego at the door and give the match to Suzuki, you're going to have a great match.  Maybe Tanahashi didn't have much of a choice given how much effort those two High Fly Flows took, but credit to him for letting Suzuki lead the way.  There's nobody better at controlling a long match right now.

And apparently Suzuki's new year's resolution was to decaptiate someone with a dropkick this year.  He's gettling closer to pulling it off.

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7 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Holy fuck that was a great match

Yeah, that's my MOTY so far. Suzuki brings more menage than guys half his age and twice his size. His "it factor" is off the scale.

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Watched the Main half-awake after a lousy breakfast and dumping too much adrenaline watching sumo (TOCHI fucking NOSHIN). I came to right before that gorgeous last ten minutes. I gotta re-watch it but there's the other show tomorrow plus NXT plus Rumble plus maybe that Brunson/Jacare fight. ARGH. 

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Yeah I'm trying to figure out what I'm watching tonight. I won't get home from work until probably 3ish am. Do I watch TakeOver or this? When the hell do I catch up on the other when there are six hours of Rumble TV tomorrow!

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I'm only up to the Sanada/Okada 6-man and it's been a fun show. Nothing incredible but everything enjoyable. The Cody/Ibushi tag was good and Naito/Hiromu vs. YOSHI-fucking-HASHI and Ospreay was very good. I enjoy the heck out of both LIJ tag teams (they're very different too and if the day comes when the split happens, I will love every second of the Hiromu/Naito vs. Sanada/Evil matches) and I'm so glad to see Naito return to being a full-on bastard. Fantastic storytelling post-match between Naito & Hashi.

While I'm currently rockin' the white SANADA tank top and thoroughly enjoyed the Tenzan-esque mask he had been coming out with, his new look is incredible. I so want him to have a true coming out party against Okada and so far he's been great in this six-manz. So sad that Okada's still insisting on wearing those shit-arse pants. Oh well, Gedo swears brighten up my day.

I really do love watching New Japan shows in their entirety. Most everything is different, they don't kill the crowd in the opening match with either a shit show or giving them everything under the sun, and the booking is logical. I want to compare them with WWE but it's all been said 1000x so there's no point.

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1 hour ago, John E. Dynamite said:

Reviews aren't necessarily calling this a one match show, but you could just watch the main and not miss anything essential.

I watched night one all the way through. I'm just trying to figure out how to watch night 2, Takeover, and the Rumble

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43 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

While I'm currently rockin' the white SANADA tank top and thoroughly enjoyed the Tenzan-esque mask he had been coming out with, his new look is incredible. I so want him to have a true coming out party against Okada and so far he's been great in this six-manz.

He certainly looked the part of a main eventer. Reminded me of Rikio getting a new robe and gear right before... you know. And I’m not saying that’s happening for SANADA, but I just want to be on the record as making this connection so I can pretend I called it, just in case.

Another thing I thought was interesting: They worked pretty hard to let us know Roppongi Knife didn’t get along or have much chemistry. It’ll be interesting to see how long White lasts in Chaos, considering they planted seeds for him turning on the group within a few minutes of his joining.

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I'll issue a mild dissent about Suzuki/Tanahashi. I just can't get into these Minoru Suzuki matches that involve long sequences of him putting on leglocks so his opponent can writhe and grimace. After a while, it looks less like the opponent is tough and more like famed catch wrestler Suzuki isn't actually that great at leglocks after all. The Okada/Suzuki title match last year was even worse in that regard, although that match, like this one, had a lot of brilliant stuff in it too.

 

56 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

While I'm currently rockin' the white SANADA tank top and thoroughly enjoyed the Tenzan-esque mask he had been coming out with...

Ah, so YOU'RE the one.

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Hurtful comment. There must've been at least 5 of us. I am still thinking there's a legitimate chance they do the switch in February. It connects back with a lot of things in Japanese wrestling history and the history between the two, going back to Invasion Attack 2016.

I did not love the Okada/Suzuki title match all that much either.

Edited by Oyaji
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