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NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed 9/30/18


matt925

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52 minutes ago, Pete said:

Haven't heard anything about his non-wrestling life... what is he dealing with?

I've just seen some fairly recent interviews where he talked about how he hasn't had a home since he left NXT.  He has literally been living out of a suitcase in Japanese hotel rooms for years now.  When he comes home to the States, he sleeps on his dad's couch.  I just get the feeling that has to get old after a while.  Especially now that he claims he's trying to cut back on partying with sponsors and getting drunk every night.  If you read between the lines, it's kinda implied that the heavy drinking was directly related to his feelings of being adrift in the world.

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IMHO in WWE, Juice Robinson is going to get lost in the shuffle like so many other guys who are ultra talented and have nothing to do, jobbing to Ascension on Main Event or Raw and showing his charisma on Let's Play sessions of UpUpDownDown. Probably after having a token good run in NXT where he wins the NXT title. And then he'll be wondering why his WrestleMania pre-show match didn't make the Blu-ray come spring time. I feel like in NJPW he's emerged as one of the signature, standout performers. 

Juice is good, and I think he will be a major player eventually. His promos are epic, and he has a great natural style. I think he's an improvement of the character Ziggler was basically playing before his latest run when he was more of the underdog face with a chip on his shoulder against The Miz. 

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Haven't both he and White stated they love New Japan and Juice claimed he didn't want to go back to WWE? Opinions change and money talks, but he seemed really happy and content when Meltzer interviewed him in San Fran. But if he's living out of a suitcase, he should do something about that. I know rasslers love tax-free Florida but wouldn't California or Nevada make more sense if you're constantly flying to Japan?

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10 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Haven't both he and White stated they love New Japan and Juice claimed he didn't want to go back to WWE? Opinions change and money talks, but he seemed really happy and content when Meltzer interviewed him in San Fran. But if he's living out of a suitcase, he should do something about that. I know rasslers love tax-free Florida but wouldn't California or Nevada make more sense if you're constantly flying to Japan?

Juice needs a hot Asian girlfriend to move in with, then eventually make her his hot Asian wife.

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20 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Haven't both he and White stated they love New Japan and Juice claimed he didn't want to go back to WWE? Opinions change and money talks, but he seemed really happy and content when Meltzer interviewed him in San Fran. But if he's living out of a suitcase, he should do something about that. I know rasslers love tax-free Florida but wouldn't California or Nevada make more sense if you're constantly flying to Japan?

I heard Juice Robinson say that, but I recall that was like a post-match press conference where he's still basically in character and working the marks, even if they are the smart mark or IWC crowd. I mean he's happy and content now, but wouldn't surprise me if he feels differently later on. 

Now, do I see Juice Robinson getting the "ace" role in New Japan? Gun to the head, probably not. But not everyone needs to be the Ace. Toru Yano isn't the ace, but he was probably my favorite guy throughout the G1 this year. 

But yeah, he probably should get like some sort of living situation at some point. The whole living out of the suitcase thing did sound depressing. Speaking of, where is Kenny Omega residing these days?

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I see Juice as being one of those guys who probably tops out just outside of the best of the best. He's so fucking charismatic and already improved considerably in the ring that I may change my mind on that though. Like his match with Tanahashi earlier this year was so fucking great. I feel like in arms race matches against the likes of Omega is where he struggles the most because that's not his thing. He doesn't have the artillery to excel in that match and the fans already think he has next to no chance. He tried to get the roll-up over but it has its limitations.

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Juice to me seems like a cool guy who is not going to talk shit about company that he is currently working for (unlike certain other wrestlers who don't seem capable of going one month without teasing something about WWE) so I take his promos about not going anywhere with a grain of salt.

Would he do great in WWE? Who knows really, I think that WWE is moving towards point that it doesn't really matter how good or bad you are. They got lots of good guys signed and they don't have enough time to showcase everyone who deserves it. So to me WWE, when it comes to new guys getting over, feels a bit random. If Vince/HHH/someone else likes you then you are going up, if not then you are doing nothing regardless of how good you are.

In NJPW? If he stays for a long time then I can see him and White being top stars. One representing "good gaijin" who took everything from the dojo to his heart and another who will do anything to achieve his goals.

Now, I hope nobody quotes me on this one year later, but I don't feel like Omega will be around for long and due to various reasons I think that neither White or Juice are going to replace him fully, but together they will be good enough alternative.

And Juice really needs to beat the shit out of Cody at WK and get back his title.

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On 10/1/2018 at 10:24 AM, EVA said:

I'm not anywhere near "Fuck the Bucks" territory, but I do think the layout of the tag title match smelled a little bit.  I feel like there are a lot of ways they could've put GOD over that didn't involve a fluke injury weakening them. 

 

On 10/1/2018 at 9:43 AM, TheVileOne said:

Bucks and Firing Squad had a good match. Enjoyed Haku being ringside to watch the match, and Firing Squad winning clean. Either Matt Jackson's back is shot to hell, or he's a much better "seller" than a lot of his critics would give him credit for. 

 

Matt's been selling back issues since January, when the Bucks faced Roppongi 3K. It was most of the story of the last Long Beach match against the Golden*Lovers as well.

 

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6 hours ago, Archibald said:

Now, I hope nobody quotes me on this one year later, but I don't feel like Omega will be around for long and due to various reasons I think that neither White or Juice are going to replace him fully, but together they will be good enough alternative.

Don't do this, please. I cannot handle that unless it's for All In the promotion. He still has so much to do in New Japan beyond just the Ibushi storyline, he's homies with Meij, among other reasons that have been stated ad infinitum.

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4 hours ago, Ace said:

 

 

Matt's been selling back issues since January, when the Bucks faced Roppongi 3K. It was most of the story of the last Long Beach match against the Golden*Lovers as well.

 

That was a big thing for them during the first half of the year, but they had moved on from that for a while prior to this.  To randomly got back to that well for this match definitely smelled a little.

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4 hours ago, Ace said:

 

 

Matt's been selling back issues since January, when the Bucks faced Roppongi 3K. It was most of the story of the last Long Beach match against the Golden*Lovers as well.

 

The issue is that it's becoming a tell that the Bucks are losing when Matt's back acts up.  I mean, the only time they lost to R3K was when Matt's back went bad, they lost to the Lovers when Matt's back went south, and now after MONTHS of Matt's back not affecting him, it pops up again right when losing to GoD.  It's like the only reason people can beat the Godly Bucks is when Matt's back goes to pieces, and even then, it's just BARELY that a team scrapes by.  I was half joking with the Miracle Superkick Connection snipe, but they're really laying out their matches like they're Baba and Jumbo in that they only lose when Matt's back blew up or they slipped on a banana peel.  I mean, Matt had no back issues and the Bucks ran through EVIL and SANADA like shit through a goose twice in a row, then even with Matt's back, Matt was kicking out of finisher level moves toward the end, and they STILL hit MBFYB and set up the Meltzer Driver, and it was only because Matt's back that he couldn't hit the Moonsault on the MBFYB in time, so they would've won if it wasn't for his back.  

 

So yeah, this layout that the Bucks only lose when Matt's back dies is shitty.

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It's too much of a good thing, and also misapplied, now that they're heavyweights. That RPG3K needed an opening to win made sense: they're the younger team taking on the years-entrenched division aces. It even mostly worked in the Golden Lovers match, because it allowed Kenny to demonstrate his initial reluctance to really hurt a friend (and yeah, it was maybe too much, and hammy besides, but I still love that match) whereas Ibushi didn't really have that problem.

It really did EVIL and SANADA no favors, however. I care less about GOD looking good, and they got to win anyway; still, the longer it continues, the more it feels the Bucks are halfway trolling, with a "see, we can do bodypart selling" overemphasis.

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Regarding Juice, part of the love for him has come from his post match press conference promos, which are totally free wheeling. In ring, I think he's just fine. I don't think he's the best thing in the world, but he'd be about as good as most others in WWE. The thing he wouldn't get is that time to cut the promos he does now. He might get that time for WWE.com, but so few people ever watch that stuff even if it's some of the best promo work out there. 

Then it would only be a matter of time before he's repackaged as a comedy act where he MIGHT find some success, like Bo and Axel, or he'd wind up wrestling on Superstars until creative had nothing for him. 

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If Juicy doesn't win his title back I'm gonna be super pissed. Especially after Cody STOLE THE FUCKING SMALL PACKAGE YOU BASTARD

At the same time it would be super cool to see the B-Team get fired and show up beside him to invade NJPW. Tell me they wouldn't make a violent, fired-up gaijin trio running roughshod over everyone, with an angry Juice cutting vulgar promos while lit on shochu. 

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On 10/3/2018 at 12:52 AM, TheVileOne said:

Now, do I see Juice Robinson getting the "ace" role in New Japan? Gun to the head, probably not. But not everyone needs to be the Ace. Toru Yano isn't the ace, but he was probably my favorite guy throughout the G1 this year. 

I was actually reading what you said until I read Yano.

He is so horrible I honestly wonder who he is blackmailing in the front office to keep his position.

He barely ever loses and consistently gets wins over people he has no business being in the ring with

G1 belonged to Ibushi sorry

 

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Yano's over, and he's a great guy to have- as you can have him beat almost anyone without hurting them, and he can lose to anyone without ruining his crediblity.

That's one really good thing NJPW does in general- their midcarders are credible enough to steal wins yet aren't hurt by losses to lowcarders.  (See Ishii, EVIL, SANADA and Goto as well, though I wouldn't be surprised if Goto starts getting phased down the card into dad status  soon)

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