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NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed 9/30/18


matt925

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Not unexpected, but there sure is a lot less chatter heading into this show compared to the March show (not just here but looking on twitter and google as well). 

Tip for people buying tickets who didn’t go to SSE, half the bleacher seats are actual benches, which they cram people in on. Didn’t realize this before showing up to my seat at SSE and seeing the bench. 

Every seat in sections 102, 103, 104, 110, and 112 is an actual chair. Other sections are a mix of benches and chairs, or just benches. It’s a small venue with great sight lines. Only bad seats in the house are on the floor (people never seem to get this either). My sole criteria for picking my ticket is getting a chair in one of those five sections. 

Good luck to those going and let’s hope for a fun show!

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3 hours ago, matt925 said:

Not unexpected, but there sure is a lot less chatter heading into this show compared to the March show (not just here but looking on twitter and google as well).

Putting belt on Kenny killed the interest in NJPW. I kid, I kid.

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Looking at the seat map 8 hours after tickets went on sale it looks like about 2200 are left. They definitely should have been on the east coast by now. They also shouldn’t run a show between this and MSG, and I think they should rethink their ticket prices a bit. 

Im just hoping we don’t get Tama in the semi main or main event haha. That’s not gonna put asses in the seats. 

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18 hours ago, matt925 said:

Looking at the seat map 8 hours after tickets went on sale it looks like about 2200 are left. They definitely should have been on the east coast by now. They also shouldn’t run a show between this and MSG, and I think they should rethink their ticket prices a bit. 

Im just hoping we don’t get Tama in the semi main or main event haha. That’s not gonna put asses in the seats. 

Do you think that the ease of direct flights has anything to do with why they haven't run the East Coast yet? I mean, not that you can't get nonstop to NYC, but they have got to be more common / less expensive into West Coast airports, right?

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1 hour ago, grilledcheese said:

Do you think that the ease of direct flights has anything to do with why they haven't run the East Coast yet? I mean, not that you can't get nonstop to NYC, but they have got to be more common / less expensive into West Coast airports, right?

Meltzer said that it’s a lot cheaper for them to run in California, but with these ticket prices and the gates they are doing they have to be making a lot of money on these shows. He also mentioned before this went on sale that this is probably the last California show for awhile. Running New York or Chicago is a no brainer. After two shows in California they should have moved on.

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Oversaturation but more importantly terrible timing between all in and the MSG show. Plus, there won't be a card until maybe a week before the show itself. The lineups from previous shows have not lit the world on fire either. 

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Now that the novelty is gone (at least in that area), I think US fans are typically conditioned to want/expect more of a dream card than just a couple dream matches, and a few "here are some guys!" tags. So I don't think it necessarily matters who Kenny defends against here, when you're probably looking at a Juice/Tama semi-main, a Bucks defense, and then a house show card underneath. It's an open question, I think, whether New Japan can run in America more than once or twice a year, and still parse out big cards/matches as sparingly as they tend to. It's one of the things I appreciate about following the promotion, and I think many fans in California would say so too; but if you're spending a pretty sizable amount of money on a ticket, you want something special.

That said, if they were to run anywhere remotely central, I'd spend a stupid amount of money to go. Chicago seems obvious, but come to Kansas City instead.

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I think there are some strong implications there that are kinda ignored when people talk about those explanation for this show isn't selling well or why Cow Palace didn't sell out:

1. It basically means that NJPW can't run 3 shows a year.

2. Most of their fanbase is scattered so each show depends a lot on people flying in.

3. Fans want each show to be major NJPW show with a dream match.

This pretty much means that NJPW's western expansion is not really working out.

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1 hour ago, Archibald said:

I think there are some strong implications there that are kinda ignored when people talk about those explanation for this show isn't selling well or why Cow Palace didn't sell out:

1. It basically means that NJPW can't run 3 shows a year.

2. Most of their fanbase is scattered so each show depends a lot on people flying in.

3. Fans want each show to be major NJPW show with a dream match.

This pretty much means that NJPW's western expansion is not really working out.

They are taking money out of the US that never even existed before, so in that case I’d say it’s a good move that should be continued. But it also seems like they can’t run more than 2-3 shows per year here, should spread them throughout the country, and keep the venues on the smaller side aside from maybe one big show per year. 

I felt they made key mistakes from after the very first show sold out all the way through now, but they can still right the ship, mostly by leaving California for now and treating these shows differently and announcing more things. All these shows have definitely had a western/roh tinge to them. So treat them as not your common storyline shows and announce more special attraction/unique matches well in advance. 

Also the msg show changes everything now. This will get them mainstream attention and they should be pushing new japan world a lot. Next year will be different for sure, who knows in what way but they can’t make their full schedule for next year until after they see what all the fallout is in the next 8 months, good and bad. 

 

Edit: Also want to add, don’t mean they should go more in the western wrestler direction, but just rethink the shows and do big Japanese singles matches and surprise matches that don’t have titles at stake and just announce them. Make a grudge out of it after the announcement. 

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3 hours ago, Archibald said:

I think there are some strong implications there that are kinda ignored when people talk about those explanation for this show isn't selling well or why Cow Palace didn't sell out:

1. It basically means that NJPW can't run 3 shows a year.

2. Most of their fanbase is scattered so each show depends a lot on people flying in.

3. Fans want each show to be major NJPW show with a dream match.

This pretty much means that NJPW's western expansion is not really working out.

I agree with all three premises, but I’m not sure about the conclusion. Three shows a year that (probably, we’ll see) turn a profit and a growing World subscriber base would seem like success to me—but I’m not sure what their goals are, so it’s hard to evaluate. My sense—and I think Dave’s reporting?—is that this is more exploratory than anything, that it was The Elite guys who mostly talked up how they could sell out this and that arena and however many shows, if only New Japan would be brave enough to try. 

I guess I’m also grading on a curve, because I... kinda prefer New Japan’s schedule how it is, and the trajectory they’re on. I wouldn’t want an aggressive US invasion, even if it worked. Maybe that’s a little of the toxicity that comes with niche fandom, admittedly, but I’d be perfectly happy with two profitable, well-produced shows a year. And anyway, I never really thought some of the more far-fetched stuff like having a touring US brand or becoming a real giant #2 was possible within like 25 years.

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@Beech27 And anyway, I never really thought some of the more far-fetched stuff like having a touring US brand or becoming a real giant #2 was possible within like 25 years.

Yeah, the idea of NJPW running a largely separate U.S. offshoot always struck me as preposterous. So much of what people like about NJPW booking depends on them doing discrete tours, big annual tournaments, and shows filled out with relatively inconsequential tags (sometimes nothing BUT tags) so they don't burn through big matches. You can't replicate that system on a national basis in the U.S.

So a hypothetical New Japan USA promotion would basically be NJPW-style wrestling, but with more American wrestlers and American-style booking, plus occasional appearances by the big New Japan stars. That already exists and it's called ROH.

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Roller Derby thrived when they ran the "season" in there home area of the west coast and then toured the whole country in the off season hitting everywhere that had TV once or twice. When they tried to run the entire country full time, they died. NJPW might do best with a big USA tour, but only once a year. I don't think a separate sub-promotion would work out well. 

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They might want to have Omega close the show like has every other USA show. On the other hand, my belief is that USA title should eventually become THE title for USA shows so this might be big enough match for Juice to win and establish himself as main eventer. Will it sell out? Might not, but I think that building up Juice for the future might be better long term strategy than this show selling out.

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Only way this show sells out is if Daniel Bryan is there. Even announcing a good card won’t move more than 500 tickets at this point. 

Looking at the previous match positions, the first g1 special had the US title tournament final as the main event. SSE has the US title in the co main event, with the unique tag match in the main. G1SF had US in the co main, with the lame duck heavyweight title match in the main. 

With a week before kopw, it’s doubtful that the heavyweight title will be defended. So this could be the show where the US title rightfully (for importance on the show) gets the main. Unless they have a unique special attraction match, and golden lovers vs g.o.d. is not it. Hopefully g.o.d. just wrestle the young bucks, that’s a fine mid card match. But then what does Kenny/golden lovers do?

Edit: a Jericho title defense would also sell it out, but both seem extremely unlikely. 

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13 hours ago, Archibald said:

Omega should be in Omega/X vs Ishii/X tag match to build towards their KoPW match. Basically I could see this as being top of the card:

Juice/Cody for USA title
Omega/X vs Ishii/X as a preview of KoPW main event
YBs vs GoD for tag titles

So this show isn’t selling out.

It would be kinda upsetting if they weren’t able to sell out the 5000 seat Walter Pyramid here.

They are back in the SoCal market. The excuses for the Cow Palace show won’t apply here.

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