Raziel Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 NJPW Saukra Genesis 2018, 4/1 Ryogoku Kokugikan - Tokyo Main Event: IWGP Heavyweight Championship "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr (Suzuki-gun) (2018 NJ Cup Winner) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Three Way Match Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) (c) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (CHAOS) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) More probably set post Strong Style Evolved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Full card announced today: Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi VS. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) CHAOS (Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii) VS. Suzuki-gun (Taichi & Takashi Iizuka) NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TITLES: Bullet Club (Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale) (C) VS. Ryusuke Taguchi, Michael Elgin & Togi Makabe Taguchi Japan (David Finlay, Juice Robinson & Hiroshi Tanahashi) VS. CHAO (YOSHI-HASHI, Jay White & Hirooki Goto) Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito) VS. Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr, Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki) IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES: El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (C) VS. Roppongi 3K VS. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Will Ospreay (C) VS. Marty Scurll The Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega) VS. Hangman Page & Cody IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Kazuchika Okada VS. Zack Sabre Jr. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Damn are the Lovers gonna be able to go that soon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 IIRC, In the past, Meltzer stated that New Japan's concussion protocol is similar to WWE's. Must not be that bad and Kenny's eye was bruised rather than broken/fractured. At least, I would certainly hope so. Weird BC vs. BC throwaway matches on the undercard continue. Marty with Ospreay seems to bring out the worst in both of them, I hope they surprise us with something different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 If Fale loses the titles to Elgin and his band of losers I might swear off New Japan until the G1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Here's Friday's card from Korakuen that will air on World: Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. Ren Narita Yuji Nagata vs. Shota Umino Ryusuke Taguchi, Michael Elgin & Togi Makabe vs. Tomoyuki Oka, Manabu Nakanishi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan Toa Henare, David Finlay & Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White & Hirooki Goto Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SHO, YOH & Toru Yano Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL (HE'S BACK!) & Tetsuya Naito vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. Taichimania running wild. EVIL missed just over a month with the orbital bone injury (last match was Feb. 19th). That's kind of crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kropotkin's Beard Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 So happy to get to see EVIL again. Hope Taichi pins Okada in the main even though the odds of that happening must be about 20000/1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Kenny definitely has a bruise, if only that. If it were possible to get DQ'd in New Japan, I'd think Cody and Page would take that route against the Lovers; but it's the semi-main, and we know chairs, tables, and weight belts won't do the trick. Still, I imagine Scurll got his title shot and the Bucks their silly match for a reason, that there will be another attempted execution post-match, and then a big angle. Maybe not big big, because it isn't closing the show, but I'll have feelings about it anyway. Zack had better duet with Taichi. He already failed to deliver on the Soundcloud mixtape with TAKA that was promised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Michael Nakazawa: Thailand's Oakley rep?! Lost all respect for him after he chickened out of the anal explosion at DDT on Sunday. O_o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Gedo's got me thinking Zack Sabre Jr might be the one to end Kazuchika Okada's huge reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion...or Okada turns back another challenger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archibald Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Watching Road to Show and Evil got pretty great pop for his return. As for main event, crowd so far doesn't seam to take that much into Zack, sadly. When they started doing a bit more elaborate sequences crowd obviously reacted, but it feels like there isn't that much of a chemistry between Okada and Zack, so far at least. I'm firmly on heavyweight Taichi train, but when crowd looks to be hotter for Taichi than for your upcoming main event then I think it isn't very good sign. And I don't want to imply that Okada/Zack got no reaction, crowd reacted, but it really isn't same thing that Okada would get with other opponents. I guess people don't really buy that Zack could win despite him getting super push during NJ Cup. Looking back at SSE, Okada and Zack were completely overshadowed by Ishii and Suzuki so I'm starting to wonder if this main event won't end up under delivering. Sooner Okada breaks that last record better it will be for everyone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I just don’t think the crowd buys Okada’s god-tier reign ending on a submission, stoppage, or flash pin. Given that, there’s only so much narrative tension they can build. The match will be great though, and I think the crowd will embrace the big moments when they occur. Love, love Dangerous T, and I love that the crowd loves him too. Same with Evil. And god, did the young lions ever bring it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Zack is taller than Omega so he might win. Then Naito beats Zack. kidani prefers taller guys even they look like juniors weight wise. But it might be possible Okada only drops it to Naito again. Then back to Okada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 I feel like they should've had ZSJ either submit or stop Okada in one of the two tags building this. Show that he CAN do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Yagi and Narita milking the Boston crab struggle was really well done. That was a nice feature match for those two on a non Lion Gate show. I know Shibata's dad refereed for NJPW for a long while after his retirement but has there ever been a son of a referee who wasn't a one time wrestler make it like Umino has? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 20 hours ago, Brian Fowler said: I feel like they should've had ZSJ either submit or stop Okada in one of the two tags building this. Show that he CAN do it. Finally finished the main event and you're spot on. There were even a few audible laughs from the audience when TAKA did his tap out routine post-match. The reaction to Zack stretching Okada wasn't really that intense either and they were flat out dead when those two were in the ring at times. Not a good look especially when you consider what they just sacrificed to set this match up. The match as a whole was flat. More importantly, WHERE IS MIHO ABE?! The LIJ/Suzuki-gun tag was great though. Did a fantastic job of setting the table for all the matches between the two factions and was exciting from star to finish. I'm stating the obvious, but we'll be disappointed if Naito vs. Suzuki isn't one of the best matches from this year. I get not wanting to overshadow Zack's challenge, so pushing Naito/Suzuki to Dontaku or a later date makes all the sense in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StretchMediatedHypertrophy Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Time to get those beers in the fridge lol. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Standing across from Fale and the GoD pretty much kills Elgin's "Big Mike" gimmick. He's the fifth biggest guy in the match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 I'm not always real high on Ospreay, and I've often said Marty is more schtick than go. They tore the fucking house down. Might be the new number one on my motyc list. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Scratch that. Right there was the Match of the Year so far. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenalysis Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 I think the crowd was dead for ZSJ because the Jr.Heavy match tore the house down and the Golden Lovers are just one bloodbath away from being the modern day Fantastics. I think if Cody really bloodied up Ibushi and Kenny at some point, you'd start getting AJW women's-level crowd reaction. I liked Okada/ZSJ a lot though, even if I want Okada to lose. Okada's great, still fun to watch- and he had some neat stuff he showed here as well, and he really makes these matches good- he deserves to be the ace and all, but I want to see him lose- just because of that. This was Okada ace by the numbers a bit where he wrestles his opponents style and beats him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Only woke up in time for the final three matches, but... Yeah, Ospreay and Marty killed it. There are times when the seams show a bit, and you can see how the choreography fits together; but that's the style, and if I'm ever gonna love a match between these two, this would have to be it. (And I did.) For all the flippery, it was actually really simple: Will is better, but Marty is craftier. Once the neck and self-imposed cut enter the equation, it's a question of whether Ospreay will tap before his superior athleticism manifests. Crowd loved it, too. It's hard not to be impressed with how over Marty has made himself. Tag match was in a funny spot, acting nearly like a cool-down between two of the more over acts in the company. Seriously, who else but Cody gets booed just for arriving? They were a half-step slower than usual, safe with all the strikes--with one rather obvious and accidental exception--and basically left everything on the table (ha). It also established, right before the main, that a cheap little roll-up could finish a match. Main was great also. Okada tried his usual chameleon approach, and was just good enough to get himself in positions that Zack could reverse, and ultimately take advantage of. He had to transition to his strikes and power moves, and did; but of course Zack had reversals for those as well. Whatever fault I can find with the build, the crowd reacted appropriately to every catch, improvised twist, turn, etc. But as ever, Okada's basically impossible to put down, and the twisting tombstone remains undefeated. The Rainaker--short-armed to the point of nearly being a shoulder block--still managed to finish the job. The defense against Tana will be incredible, both as match and moment; but I'm most excited to see where it goes after that. Kenny, Naito, and Ibushi all seem busy, and I don't see anyone else big enough to credibly take the belt very soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenalysis Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Minoru could credibly beat Okada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Just now, alstein said: Minoru could credibly beat Okada. But he's also busy right now. The tag was great too. It has these really sloppy moments in a way that added to the match. A couple times Cody just kinda stopped mid move and threw the Lovers across the ring. The kick busting Cody's face (gonna need his old mask at this rate) etc. But I think I just saw by two favorite matches so far this year with just one (really good) match between them. Fuck "WrestleMania can't top this" I'm not sure TakeOver can top the last three matches tonight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 That Spanish Fly took years off my life and I wasn't even in the fucking match. Ospreay might want to skip the Mania shows... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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