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NJPW Dominion 2018


Raziel

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Takahashi back on top, the most interested I've been in Jericho for a while + a hate filled brawl, and one of the best main events I've seen?

Yeah, this show delivered. Huge congrats to Omega, this win feels so monumental, and though he will not have a reign like the one Okada just finished, I can't wait to see where it goes. Ibushi/Omega for the next Wrestle Kingdom?

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That show was goddamn beautiful.  Only match I skipped was the Elgin match because fuck Michael Elgin (though I love Taichi's entrance)  Things I absolutely loved:

-Suzuki and Ishii beating the fucking shit out of each other.

-Young Bucks winning on their first try at the heavyweight tag titles.  Such a great story they told.

-Rey's outstanding mask which makes it my all-time favorite one of his.  And his design on the back of the jacket was aces, hoping they have that on a shirt as I might have to get one.

-Takahashi having his best week ever with a BOSJ and now Jr. Heavyweight title win.  Wonderful match.

-Jericho taking the form of Alice Cooper and being a wonderful dickhead.  Was strange that try as he might the crowd seemed to like him more.  Good match but sloppy at the end.

-And Kenny/Okada having what has to be MOTY.  I loved Flair/Steamboat but this was worlds better.  The story that Kenny thought he lost everything only to win it all at the end was so, so great.  I hate that I've been conditioned on heel turns as part of me thought Bucks would turn on him at some point.  This means I should watch less WWE and much more NJPW.  I flipped out seeing his Infinity War intro.  Just a fantastic story all-around.  The upcoming BTE is going to be VERY interesting.

I happily pay for New Japan World but after this I think they deserve much more of my money.  Bless them all.

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Also, just wanted to say:

Kenny's chase and road to the title, and today, his victory... not since Daniel Bryan have I been this invested in a title chase, and I think this one honestly beats that out.

Bryan's chase was not so much focused around his ability to finally "be better" than his opponent on the big stage - we knew Bryan was better than them, but could he win out against them and the Authority? It was a Western wrestling story, as much about the action in the ring as it was focused on the soap opera qualities.

We knew Kenny could beat Okada, since he did it at the G1... but could he win two out of three falls? Could he win it on a huge stage, in what was likely to be his last title shot as long as Okada would remain champion? And could he move ahead of Okada in their series? This was a story based one hundred percent on what was happening in the ring between these two, and what has happened in the past. The out of the ring story, Ibushi's friendship, the Bucks, and the Cody appearance afterwards, to continue their tension... none of that was a piece of the match, but the overarching story beyond that. And I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here, in all regards.

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Okada also has the out of winning the first fall, so if he didn't get suckered into the stipulation that favoured the better athlete, Kenny, he would still be champion. And the subtlety of the third fall with Kenny coming into the ascendancy due to his stamina advantage was fucking great. HOWEVER, I still didn't think he'd win because Okada's the guy that takes all of his opponent's arsenal and survives. So many nuanced storylines weaving together in that third fall with lots of callbacks to previous matches too. And Chekhov's Table was not adhered to, thankfully. 

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1 hour ago, #BlueJustice said:

Also, just wanted to say:

Kenny's chase and road to the title, and today, his victory... not since Daniel Bryan have I been this invested in a title chase, and I think this one honestly beats that out.

Bryan's chase was not so much focused around his ability to finally "be better" than his opponent on the big stage - we knew Bryan was better than them, but could he win out against them and the Authority? It was a Western wrestling story, as much about the action in the ring as it was focused on the soap opera qualities.

We knew Kenny could beat Okada, since he did it at the G1... but could he win two out of three falls? Could he win it on a huge stage, in what was likely to be his last title shot as long as Okada would remain champion? And could he move ahead of Okada in their series? This was a story based one hundred percent on what was happening in the ring between these two, and what has happened in the past. The out of the ring story, Ibushi's friendship, the Bucks, and the Cody appearance afterwards, to continue their tension... none of that was a piece of the match, but the overarching story beyond that. And I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here, in all regards.

Holy shit you're on the money here. I'm a super fan of Daniel but I think even he would admit Kenny's chase was better. The overall story that was told was top notch stuff. Shit, if they did a DVD of his chase I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:

Okada also has the out of winning the first fall, so if he didn't get suckered into the stipulation that favoured the better athlete, Kenny, he would still be champion. And the subtlety of the third fall with Kenny coming into the ascendancy due to his stamina advantage was fucking great. HOWEVER, I still didn't think he'd win because Okada's the guy that takes all of his opponent's arsenal and survives. So many nuanced storylines weaving together in that third fall with lots of callbacks to previous matches too. And Chekhov's Table was not adhered to, thankfully. 

I doubt they go this way explicitly, but social media/interviews depicted a... difference in training, let’s say. Kenny showed up looking halfway to junior ripped, and talked about how useful Ibushi was in getting him in peak shape; Okada tweeted about fishing, and talked about buying a Ferrari. Plus, they basically had the whole tour off, which left more time for this difference to manifest. So not only did the stip favor Kenny, but so did the timing. Not that Okada took him lightly—he issued the challenge after all—so much as arrogance is an impossible consequence of his reign.

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And that's precisely how it should've ended. He got soft at the top when he thought he bested every contender out there. Kenny was lookin' REAL jacked, baby™ and the BTE training montage was neat. The idea that Kenny had to lay it all out, as it very well could've been his last chance had he lost, and outworked the complacent yet dominant champion is a classic sports story.

edit: Plus, I haven't spoken on how fantastic Kenny's post-match press conference was. That was beautifully put with his shift away from hate towards love being the big difference maker in his character and being. 

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It helps that it really showed in-ring, too. This is nit picky as hell, but Heavyweight Kenny sometimes seemed a bit awkward with his more athletic spots, whereas this was the cleanest he’s been in ages: Every dive looked perfect (and Okada caught them like a goddamn champ); the reverse ranas and youcantescape-sault were perfect; and he almost jumped TOO HIGH to drop kick a 6’3 human. 

Couple other things:

Despy appears to have challenged the MCMG on twitter, so that seems likely for the cow palace.

The Bucks are, hilariously, the most emphatic bodypart sellers in the business. I love it. 

I thoughy Rey’s mask was amazing until it reminded me of Captain New Japan...

Bullet Club is fine?

 

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I fucking love the Bucks shoving ring psychology down the throats of all their critics in a really effective fashion. They are so great.

My friend also made the Cpt. Nujapan quip. 

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I feel like last year's G1 really made me come around to the modern day New Japan style, which, during the Okada era, hasn't really been my thing. So I went into this last night quite optimistic, but it turns out it's still not quite my thing. There are things here I really admire (ex. even though I didn't think the cross-body over the rail reversed to a knee spot looked that great, the follow up on it, which among other things made Kenny's chops actually seem significant was really clever), I think that maybe because I don't absolutely adore their other matches , this extended riff on them just isn't going to capture me emotionally the same way it does y'all (even though I do know and understand the story points), and therefore keep me engaged as they stretch this out. I'm sure in some of the moments that I would have happily edited out of this match there's a tension that would be building inside me if I already really cared about these guys that would heighten the total effect. And, to be clear, I am human, so it's not like I didn't connect to the emotion of Kenny finally overcoming Okada in a title match and wasn't moved by some of the selling. But as it stands the work itself (or like 50% of it) just didn't really grab me in a way where I wasn't often waiting for them to just get to the finish.

I don't regret watching it,  I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what Kenny does with his title defenses, and I hope this doesn't come across as just being a party pooper for the sake of it, but I also do hope they just let keep Kenny away from Okada for a minute.

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no I can def understand that main event being off-putting to certain tastes, at least you said it with reasons, and I have developed a few little nit-picks with NJPW (particularly post-Shibata) too. edit - thing with G1, part of the reason it is great is its adherence to conciseness. you can tell a really great story in 9-15 mins if you take the creative shackles off in other dimensions.

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