NJPW STRONG STYLE EVOLVED (aka the US Show)

[Curt McGirt]

Doesn't Goto get his mouth busted in like every match? That one must've really hurt to jack him up like that.

[Jiji]

There really wasn't a route to success for White and Page in that position. The best outcome I can come up with is something like an 8 minute sprint brawl where Page jumps Switchblade from the get go for the burial job at the press conference. However, fans just saw Suzuki and Ishii hit each other in the head a bunch really hard and this could/would be seen as a letdown from that. They probably were told no tables or anything of that nature because the main event was going to use two. Going ~25 minutes in a methodical match was probably near the bottom of paths they should've been told to go down but they did everything in their power to get the audience to buy in, so credit them for that? White's not picking up the in-ring part as quickly as I thought he would, despite having a very good match with Kenny and a strong match with Finlay at Korakuen. But it's still very early days, and as Beech said, he's onto something with his character. You're not supposed to like him. He's a shit disturber and not a playful one at that, like an edgelord Petyr Baelish trying to move up the ladder with the chaos he creates. And, yes, a Knife Pervert of the highest order.

[Archibald]

8 hours ago, Beech27 said:

I'm a little less high on Page, though he's only one year older. Admittedly, a lot of that has to do with his flipping lariat and shooting star shoulder block, both of which I would probably cringe at even if they looked great, and his rarely do. I'm far from the most anti-moves person there is; I'm just not sure how excessively flippy offense fits with a no-nonsense, redneck executioner gimmick. Playing Cody's henchman, an accomplice who is more than happy to aid in decapitating guys with a chair, fits that way better. So perhaps the assumed schism--and the role I think he'll have after it--will work better for me. Although the penis-centric Joey Ryan storyline is probably the biggest thing he'll do this year, so... maybe not.

That press conference was really good showing for Jay White and is main reason now why I still think that he has bright future. Meanwhile Page cut a generic promo about how he would be a better champion that any wrestler could cut in any promotion about anyone.

But Page also going to get a match with Ibushi which I'm sure many people will praise because Ibushi is a star and both of them will do some crazy spots and moonsaults from high places. But at the same time Jay can just do couple of additional shit stirring promos and he'll probably gain more long term traction than Page. This is a bit similar situation to Omega/Cody differences that I wrote about earlier, but I haven't seen Page actually have a good/great match asides of doing big and dangerous spots so he is hardly Omega in this analogy while Jay has potential to catch up with Cody in near future as far as character work goes.

55 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

There really wasn't a route to success for White and Page in that position. The best outcome I can come up with is something like an 8 minute sprint brawl where Page jumps Switchblade from the get go for the burial job at the press conference.

Kinda what we got with Naito/Taichi in Anniversary show where Taichi immediately hit Naito and did that big powerbomb on the ramp.

[Ace]

The more I think about it, the more I believe the US belt needs Cody.

 

[Jiji]

Probably right.

[Phantom Lord]

I caught up on the show earlier since I don't have AXS (well, I do...but it's part of a different package). I like Jay White. Yeah, the whole Switchblade thing is overkill and I think they pushed him too fast with him beating Omega and winning the US Title. Is there even a hierarchy for the titles in New Japan? Like I have to assume the Neverweight title is the bottom rung. They should have started him off in that bracket instead of shooting him up to US right away.

Minoru Suzuki is my current favorite wrestler. He is so damn angry and in the tag match with ZSJ against Okada and Ishi, some of those forearms he threw were legit "holy shit" response from me watching.

The main event was great. Amazing selling by Matt with the bad back. Cody is such a great heel right now. He is really channeling some mid 80's Tully Blanchard.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I just don't understand why New Japan hitched their wagon to two guys in White and Page who are so damn generic. There are HUNDREDS of dudes in the UK and U.S. indy scene who are far more interesting. White and Page are okay and had an okay match.  But they were thrown in a position that is way over their heads. 

[Jiji]

White went to the dojo and is a homegrown foreigner. He's got decent size, good athleticism, a great look, and seems intelligent. There are not many people who fit that criteria and were willing to live the dojo life. 

The argument against Page is harder to break down. He's always been about potential until BTE. However, it's his comedy routine that's gotten over, which is so far detached from his in-ring personality he doesn't really get the rub from being a core component of a popular show. 

[Brian Fowler]

I pretty much felt the in-ring story of that match was Page trying to kill himself to get a reaction, White killing the crowd again, Page doing something wild and stupid for a pop, White killing the crowd... Then suddenly White matched Page's pace for the last few minutes and it got red hot.

Basically, I'm not sure Adam Page is ready for a semi-main event title match, but I'm damn sure White isn't.

[Beech27]

World just posted Kevin Kelly interviews with White, Page, and Omega. Done before SSE, but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Not surprising, but the main got five stars from Dave. 

[Archibald]

6 hours ago, Ace said:

The more I think about it, the more I believe the US belt needs Cody.

 

And they already have a potential start of the angle with Jay mentioning Brandi in his promo and Cody later responding to it. Like, at Dominion maybe? So that for All In show  (and that big NJPW show) Cody would be US champ and could rub it in Omega's face.

5 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I just don't understand why New Japan hitched their wagon to two guys in White and Page who are so damn generic. There are HUNDREDS of dudes in the UK and U.S. indy scene who are far more interesting. White and Page are okay and had an okay match.  But they were thrown in a position that is way over their heads. 

For Page I think it was a perfect storm of NJPW having to give something to RoH, The Elite lobbing and them needing additional bodies for Bullet Club drama. Match itself is meaningless to larger story being told here. Bigger story here is Hangman wanting a match, Omega denying him and due to that Hangman joins team Cody. Others are basically calling him a bitch and him losing (lost to Jay, will probably lose to Ibushi) all these opportunities that he wanted to have will probably lead to confrontation with Cody who'll basically say that Page is a moron whom he gladly used for his own needs. Hopefully at this point he will have some kind of gimmick/character change that will turn him into decent act that actually makes sense.

So yeah, since this match itself didn't really matter they probably should have done it at Honor Rising and gave Jay someone better to work with for this show.

I suppose if NJPW wanted they could probably do a decent story here with Cody beating Jay for the title and eventually dropping it to Page (who should be face, or tweener, by that point) at the end of the year. Thats obviously if NJPW sees anything in Page outside of him being RoH/The Elite guy.

3 hours ago, Oyaji said:

The argument against Page is harder to break down. He's always been about potential until BTE. However, it's his comedy routine that's gotten over, which is so far detached from his in-ring personality he doesn't really get the rub from being a core component of a popular show. 

Could change his gimmick to Hung Page.

[Beech27]

By his New Japan profile, Page is junior-eligible, so maybe he and Marty get a go at the tag titles when the three extant teams get done having triple threats.

[Web Conn]

Not to Jump ahead but what do they run in Frisco...

If Okada is still Champion running Okada vs Omega in the states for the Championship is probably the best bet. Omega winning in the states would be huge I think. 

If Jericho vs Naito is still on the table this show would be the perfect place to do it. I was expecting a Jericho appearance of some sort on Sunday so I don't know if this match is gonna happen or not.

And Ospreay vs Mysterio would be a good fit. I've heard a rumor about Rey being Brauns tag partner at Mania, that would be cool but idk maybe Rey signs one of those 90 day RVD contracts and is gone by the summer.

 

[Jiji]

Mysterio is having surgery on his biceps I thought?

[Beech27]

The report from SI is that Rey would be on a really short deal, and basically do nothing but get the pop for showing up. Even still, everyone I’ve seen is skeptical. 

I do think it’s likely we see him and Jericho at the Cow Palace, though I don’t think Okada drops the title there. And if Omega is ever to win it, I kinda feel it should happen in Japan. He was, for lack of a better way of putting it, made a star there, so those fans deserve that moment. Maybe the Golden Lovers challenge for the tag belts? Hard to say. Pre-G1, and it all looks awfully open to me.

It’s also important to keep in mind, as the predictions contest here proved, that I have no idea what I’m talking about. 

[Jiji]

I think we get Cody winning the US title in SF. Beyond that, I honestly have no idea. There are so many options right now and things probably won't clear up until Dominion. 

Speaking of, I wonder if their popularity increases do they decide to run Dominion at the Osaka Dome? 

I enjoyed Meltzer claiming in this week's Observer that Ospreay is probably the best wrestler on the planet in one paragraph and then saying Okada is probably the best wrestler on the planet in the next. 

[Web Conn]

I was also thinking maybe Omega wins at Dominion in June and Okada gets his rematch at the Cow Palace. I just feel that Omega should win the title soon, Okada has had a classic run as champion this time around but I just feel like it's Omega's time unless they try to hold off on it until Wrestle Kingdom and give the Golden Lovers a run with the straps. 

Cody winning the US Championship would be cool that's almost the perfect championship for Cody to have within New Japan he can defend it on ROH shows and other Indies he has. 

[Archibald]

8 hours ago, Web Conn said:

Not to Jump ahead but what do they run in Frisco...

If Okada is still Champion running Okada vs Omega in the states for the Championship is probably the best bet. Omega winning in the states would be huge I think. 

If Jericho vs Naito is still on the table this show would be the perfect place to do it. I was expecting a Jericho appearance of some sort on Sunday so I don't know if this match is gonna happen or not.

And Ospreay vs Mysterio would be a good fit. I've heard a rumor about Rey being Brauns tag partner at Mania, that would be cool but idk maybe Rey signs one of those 90 day RVD contracts and is gone by the summer.

 

In one of the post-show interviews that Meltzer did he speculated a bit saying that one of the main reasons for Jericho to do a WK match was to show everyone that he is a draw (and he mentions that due to how WWE is now structured it is close to impossible to tell who really draws and who doesn't) and it might be logical next step for him to main event Cow Palace. This theory sounds rather plausible to me and if Jericho has another match I'd put my money on Cow Palace against Okada or Naito.

[Jenalysis]

Omega, it seems like he isn't as hot as he was a year ago.   I mean, he's still over in the US and Japan, but it just doesn't seem to be the same.  I still think he's the most credible threat to Okada so a 4th match needs to happen at some point, I just hope they don't take too long to go there.  Having Ibushi win the G1 while Omega's champ would be fascinating as well.

Does the fujoshi fanbase in Japan swoon over Omega like they do Ibushi?

 

 

[matt925]

I thought taking the us title off omega and reuniting the golden lovers was a conscious decision to hold off on omega/Okada 4 and his eventual iwgp title win. Golden lovers runs through this year, they fall out and have a big match against each other, and then you can reinsert him in the main title picture. 

Just keeping things from getting stale and delaying the big stuff as long as possible. 

To me omega/Okada 4 is either a wrestle Kingdom main event, or a Barclays center main event on real ppv in the states. Make it super big and build it up. Jericho vs Naito seems like an apporpriate size main event for the cow palace on free tv. 

[Web Conn]

I think we can all agree that Naito vs Jericho would be a super solid main event in July.

Do you run Golden Lovers vs Evil and Sanada for the yag titles as the semi main? That seems like it could get some buzz around it too.

[matt925]

8 minutes ago, Web Conn said:

I think we can all agree that Naito vs Jericho would be a super solid main event in July.

Do you run Golden Lovers vs Evil and Sanada for the yag titles as the semi main? That seems like it could get some buzz around it too.

That would be a great idea, they should have a title run if this is going to last awhile. And Cody vs jay white for us title would make for a super loaded show that can sell a ton of tickets (plus throw mysterio in there if he’s not signing right away with wwe). That’s a huge show that they don’t even need the big title for. Save it for a major marquee arena. 

 

[Web Conn]

That would be a big Show. I’m considering going this year. If they announce Jericho vs Naito I’ll almost have to go.

[Infinit]

Any word yet on what ratings SSE pulled on AXS?

[Brian Fowler]

IIRC, AXS doesn't subscribe to Neilson.