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New Japan Cup 2018 (March 9th through March 21st)


Jiji

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DEFENDING MICHAEL ELGIN IN 2018!: I could have sworn I heard and saw Elgin repeatedly yell at Red Shoes "go home!?" after the splash mountain botch. My guess is tough guy Ishii wanted to do the finish as planned and so they did. I think I liked the match more than most but still it was stupid and overkill in every sense. The strike exchanges I have little problem with because it's such an ingrained aspect of the NEVER lot's style. Could've been worked smarter and less obnoxiously but I get what they were going for there.

Watched everything outside of the Juice match in English. Subdued Chuck Taylor on colour commentary still delivered some golden lines. I love that man.

It was weird how non-electric Korakuen was for the Ibushi & Okada exchanges. They were fine and all but I was expecting a little something special.

Tanahashi's got the Mutoh "take a knee" deal going in comeback match #1. I know he's awfully beat up but when you place him within the long line of Japanese legends, 40 is still pretty early for that post-prime run; it's just beginning really. It'll be interesting to see how Gedo handles Tanahashi moving forward. Mutoh himself was having some of the best matches of his entire career at that age on even worse knees.

I hope Fale brings his A-game today as it seems like he's been coasting for quite some time. Lance is going to bring the intensity and power moves (and water bottles). You know what you're getting with him and I enjoy it quite a bit.

Tana winning the tournament is both my pick and favourite outcome but there will be zero complaints over a Taichi win that will instantly move his ass up the rankings in the heavyweight division. So there isn't a bad result possible outside of a draw. Taichi busting out sempai Kawada's moves is neat-o in my books and gives him an arsenal to not feel completely outmatched by the top guys of the division.

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~Dangerous T~

Man, I could nitpick—Taichi sold the knee for as long as it took to milk the cloverleaf, and not a second more; Tana got back on offense right after the Ganso bomb—but that was a ton of fun. I really hope Taichi’s got a little push coming—maybe he feuds with Nagata over the water spitting?—and Tanahashi is of course a compelling winner, both of this match and (maybe) the cup. It’ll be interesting to see how they play up the accumulated damage he accrues. 

Stoked for tomorrow. (Unless Ibushi loses. And my bracket needs a ZSJ upset.)

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That's modern "selling" for you- it's part of what pro wrestling is now.  I wish it was different but I don't think it's ever coming back.

The Ganso bomb I can buy Tana not being too hurt by it because it looked like an ineffective version of the Last Ride- same as Tana's high fly flow being less effective now when his knee acts up.   I was actually mad when the Last Ride didn't finish Tana off, esp since I knew that was it.  It's rare for me to get invested mad like that during a match.

I'm now hoping he makes the CEO event.

 

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Dangerous T (Milano is the best) is legitimately one of my favourites. Came out of the match with the exact same feeling as Beech; great match with a few execution issues. I think both the Naito loss and this match are performances Taichi can build on and don't really hurt him at all. He's 37 but due to featuring in mostly tag matches with a relatively low impact style for a while now, he could be a long ways away from a physical decline. In other words, this better be the start of Dangerous T's rise to greatness. 

Tana selling during his post match guitar solo's concluding guitar jump was better than his ganso bomb selling. 

Does Tanahashi create his own shining wizard with his knee not being able to withstand continuous use of the high fly flow? 

@Casey, you're right of course (not that you'll see this). Fale is at least staying in peak physical shape if nothing else. The match was a fine kaiju battle. 

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We got two great Taichi singles matches within a week-and-a-half of each other so I assume he passed his Heavyweight audition. I'm also on board with the Nagata feud as he needs something to do until August, and singles matches against the Dads provide him realistic wins. They won't be as good as ones with Naito and Tana, but Taichi can fill in the gaps with his high-level character work. His Kawada-shiki offense would play well against Kojima or anyone else who grew up taking it firsthand fifteen years ago.

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I have no problem with Bad Luck Fale, but man, I just can't stand his finisher.  The crowd actually deflates when he hits it.  Come on, find something else more convincing.  (Please don't hurt me, Fale, just trying to help).  

I've always disliked Taichi, but I fully realize that it's mainly because his act is that he's a main event star without actually being one.  I know I'm being played.  In NOAH, it was tedious to watch, but it's clear he was working on the gimmick, and I could accept that.  I guess it's no surprise then, that when he's actually put into a main event, he delivers, and kudos to New Japan to allow him to at least sink or swim at this point.  Tanahashi-Taichi was undeniably a great match and the announcers really did a nice job of pointing out Taichi's development.  I'm interested to see where Taichi goes from here, and I never expected to say that.  

I'm trying to play it cool, but man oh man, I have high hopes for ZSJ and Naito tonight.  

 

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I can't even fathom booking that jabroni-for-life YOSHI-HASHI over Kota Ibushi, particularly at this time right now with the molten hot angle ongoing. Ibushi doesn't have to win it all but come on. Come on. Come on. Like what's the best case scenario for a YH win? He can sometimes get a quick pop when he goes for a flash pin on a star in future 1v1 matches? Wow. Naito, ZSJ, SANADA, fuck even Chuck are right there if you need to beat Iboosh.

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My name is SANADA and I'm replacing my borked very very good regular tag partner with BUSHI.

My name is Chucky T and I'm replacing my borked regular tag partner with the most successful wrestler on the planet, Okada.

This seems unfair.

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Taichi has completely won me over, and I am more invested in his heavyweight odyssey than I am Okada's IWGP reign and the Golden Lovers/Bullet Club explosion. His character work has been nothing short of tremendous, and he looked like he belonged in the ring with Naito and Tanahashi. 

That said, he reminds me of what a grown up Bart Simpson would look like if he wrestled in New Japan, which just adds to the sleazy charm of his character.

cos0xm0_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

 

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YH/Ibushi was weird as hell. Ibushi busted out the balcony moonsault again, Nakamura’s moves, Kenny’s moves, his old finisher; YOSHI hit a Sasha Banks sequence, Billy Kidman’s powerbomb counter, and a Canadian destroyer. I don’t know, man. In its favor, it got pretty hot by the end, and that was as mean as Ibushi’s been in a while. So I liked it, but that was... a lot. 

Naito was as generous to ZSJ as any star has been to anyone else in... forever. Sabre was good enough to take the performance that was offered him though, so he deserves credit too. Kinda feel like this push should lead to more than losing to Ibushi next round, though I don’t really want that.

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Was going 4-0 and then YH failed to deliver an upset while Zack delivered it so now I'm at 4-2 and that side of the bracket is fucked for me.

Anyway, some thoughts:

Fale/Archer was just eh. I like Archer as part of KES, but his singles stuff isn't very good while Fale really ever works as a monster against smaller face. I'm not sure why this was booked and it held my interest only while they brawled outside the ring. I get that they want to keep Fale strong, but I think that swapping YH with Archer in brackets would have resulted in better overall flow of the tournament even if neither of those matches would have ended up as good as Ibushi/YH. It also doesn't help that both guys look impressive only when they are throwing around smaller guys and it looked like they couldn't really hit some of their big moves on each other.

Tanahashi/Taichi was great. I was worried at the start when Taichi started doing his old stuff with stalling and running away, but things picked up and I started liking it more and more. As mentioned earlier there were issues with how Taichi and Tanahashi did some things, but I feel like this is a journey and I can accept that. Short feud with Nagata would definitely be great for Taichi, give him a win and he would get some good heat for beating the shit out of old good Nagata. Also, should he get a new finisher? I would love if he started using Ganso bomb as his finisher. Sure, Tanahashi no sold it, but I think this was first time he used it so it could be easily rationalized away that he simply got better at doing it.

Ibushi/YH I have mixed feelings about. Lots of crazy and exciting spots, but it lacked something for me. I wrote earlier that I think YH really needs to win this if he is to keep some credibility and when I started watching the match I thought that there is no way he is going to win. So I guess I felt like this was a match between a star and a jobber and that jobber held his own for way longer than he should have and that Ibushi should have kept some of this stuff for matches that actually matter. If we include TakaTaichiMania then we could say that both Taichi and YH had three singles matches that they lost this year, but while it looks like Taichi's journey is only begging, at the same time it looks like YH's journey is moving towards its end. And there is nothing at the end. Unless some people get hurt I don't really see YH making this G1, his spot should definitely go to Taichi.

Naito/Zack was also great. At this point I'm not sure which I liked more, Tanahashi/Taichi or this one. I wanted Naito to win, but towards the end I started feeling that Zack really needs this win and thankfully he got it. So whats next? Looks like LiJ/Suzuki Gun will be happening and I wonder how they'll work around Suzuki holding IC title when Naito really doesn't want it. Or maybe Suzuki will drop it to Tanahashi before that? Anyway, more interesting at this point is whats next for Zack. On one hand Ibushi could just beat him in next round, but on the other hand Zack just got a big win and it would feel like a waste to follow that up with big nothing. It was also pointed out during the commentary that Zack avenged his G1 loss against Naito, well he also lost to Ibushi and now is a good opportunity to avenge that too. There is also obvious similarity between what Gedo and Taka are doing for Okada and Zack... so at this point my gut is telling me that Zack is going at least to the finals and it is not out of a question that he main events Sakura Genesis. Additional small detail, conveniently just before Sakura Genesis he will be defending his RevPro title against Ishii. So in relatively short time Zack could be going over Naito, Ibushi, Sanada, Tanahashi and Ishii. If NJPW wants it they can really establish him as a credible main eventer.

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11 minutes ago, България завинаги said:

ZSJ really needs to find 10lbs from somewhere. He's a vegan though of course, so not sure how likely that is.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/12/avocado-uk-further-price-rises-demand-china-harvest-mexico-peru-us

Zack coulda joined Bullet Club and started slugging cans of coconut milk with the Tongans, or he coulda joined CHAOS and bulked up on sake and Strong Zeroes. All Suzuki eats is rookie bones and that's right out.

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Getting ahead of myself: Okada will sell out a defense against anyone at this point, so ZSJ wouldn’t really even be a risk. There’s also something to be said, regarding “international expansion”, for giving each region its own ace. Perhaps the goal is Omega/North America, Jay White/Oceania, ZSJ/UK. They do seem to be pushing Ospreay pretty hard as well.

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Man, that main event was pretty much a squash. Naito's entrance didn't really square up with the narrative of the match. He came out looking like somebody ran over his dog and it wasn't until he got to the ring that it looked like he was taking ZSJ too lightly. He set this all up in one of his infamous dine and dash press conferences disparaging the cup and how only he, SANADA, Tanahashi, Ibushi, and perhaps Ishii had a shot. Too bad he sold the extended arm work for shit. Anyway, Zack did really well sticking to Naito like glue anytime Tetsuya tried to create space or get some momentum going. In a lot of ways it seemed like his take on a Suzuki match, giving little and taking 80% of the match with the added element of being the underdog shocking Naito. When was the last time you saw anything like this elsewhere? Really fun and mostly unexpected. I do wish that they used Zack more the past few months because he was coming in really cold. 

I loved YH/Ibushi so much. YH knew he had to bring something new to the table and all the big moves he debuted totally played into the narrative of a desperate struggle to salvage his singles credibility and perhaps career knowing Ibushi wouldn't go down to his usual routine. Ibushi was even more awesome than he normally is here too. Two balcony dives in as many days. The G1 is at the Budokan this year, lol. Perfect match for what it was and I have zero complaints about the nature of the match. Particularly so because the main event was going to be something entirely different. I think I had the '16 G1 Climax match against Omega as YOSHI-HASHI's best match that I'd seen up until today's performance. Match of the tournament so far in my books. 

This also means we get a rematch of one of the best matches from last year's G1! Not only was Ibushi/ZSJ a great display of Ibushi's adaptability but a spectacular match as a whole. I am loving the booking so far. 

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Going a bit meta I think that it would make sense to have ACE and a rival for each region too so ZSJ and Ospreay getting heavy pushes makes sense in that regard. Way before shit hit the fan I was thinking that they were building Omega/Elgin as rivals too, but at this point I think they should probably make a course direction with Juice. So Juice should be going over Elgin in next round.

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That result will be really interesting for sure. All aboard the Juice Express. 

We aren't even through the first round and only Fowler's semifinals predictions are still alive.

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