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NJPW things before G1 Climax 2019 starts


Archibald

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Before G1 starts we are going to get Kizuna Road and Australian tour with not many exciting things on them. Cards are available here: https://www.njpw1972.com/schedule/

Title matches:

6/16: Roppongi 3K (c) vs El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori
6/17: Taguchi, Makabe and Yano vs El Phantasmo, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi
6/25: El Phantasmo (British Cruiserweight Champion) vs Ryusuke Taguchi and Zack Sabre Jr. (RPW Champion) vs YOSHI-HASHI
6/29: Will Ospreay (c) vs Robbie Eagles. This will be on live on FITE TV and on VOD on NJPW World

Obviously most exciting thing will be G1 block announcements so I figure we can use this thread to speculate on who is in and who is out and who is going to eat lots of Ls.

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I think Robbie Eagles "inadvertently" costs ELP & Ishimori the Jr. tag titles, then ELP costs Robbie his match vs. Ospreay, leading to Eagles splitting from Bullet Club. I want to see Ospreay/Eagles vs. ELP/Ishimori.

I could see Bullet Club winning the six man titles. It's not an important title, so that's fine for Chase and Yujiro, and a good first New Japan title for ELP en route to bigger and better things.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I think Robbie Eagles "inadvertently" costs ELP & Ishimori the Jr. tag titles, then ELP costs Robbie his match vs. Ospreay, leading to Eagles splitting from Bullet Club. I want to see Ospreay/Eagles vs. ELP/Ishimori.

To me this also looks like a direction that they are going for. I'm not sure if Eagles will really get involved in Jr. tag titles match, but I'll be shocked if he isn't turned face and leaves BC at their Australian show. This will probably lead to Ospreay/ELP title match for UK show.

And if this thing takes off then I could easily see that tag team match that you listed as the finals match for Jr. tag tournament during Power Struggle.

As for trios belts, yeah, could use it to start building up ELP, but at the same time I don't really want Chase and Yujiro near titles.

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List of G1 participants from last year that most likely are in G1:

Hiroshi Tanahashi     
Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada
Jay White    
Zack Sabre Jr.
Minoru Suzuki
Tetsuya Naito
Evil
Tomohiro Ishii
Sanada
Juice Robinson
Hirooki Goto

People that most likely won't be in it:

Kenny Omega, AEW
Michael Elgin, Impact
Hangman Page, AEW
Tama Tonga, wants to focus on tags

People that, in my opinion, might get left out:

Toru Yano
Yoshi-Hashi
Bad Luck Fale
Togi Makabe

New people that might make it:

Mox
Shingo
KENTA
Ospreay
Kojima, might do a last G1 run
Archer, might replace Fale
Taichi
Shota Umino, gets lots of opportunities so why not
Henare

Edited by Archibald
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Yano should definitely be in. From a kayfabe standpoint the Sublime Master Thief has beaten plenty of top shelf guys during the G1 to warrant inclusion, including the reigning and defending IWGP champ on at least one occasion. From a worked standpoint, he's the "breather" opponent everyone wants: in the middle of this insanely grueling tournament, facing him in a singles match is like getting the night off. 10 minutes, shtick, BREAK BREAK BREAK, fuck finish, drive home safely.

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I hope Fale is out this year, but he serves a useful role as a guy who can credibly put an L on anybody on any given night, so I think he might stick around for that purpose.

Likewise, Yano can serve the same purpose, plus it’s basically a night off for whoever he’s up against, so I imagine he’s still in.

Makabe is pretty replaceable, but he’s an ex-big star and I can’t see them dropping him from the field without giving him a farewell run first.

And I think we’re just fucked forever with Yoshi-Hashi.

There may just be the 4 new spots this year.  Although Goto being MIA may mean 5, which could open the door for Taichi, god willing.

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21 minutes ago, Pete said:

Yano should definitely be in. From a kayfabe standpoint the Sublime Master Thief has beaten plenty of top shelf guys during the G1 to warrant inclusion, including the reigning and defending IWGP champ on at least one occasion. From a worked standpoint, he's the "breather" opponent everyone wants: in the middle of this insanely grueling tournament, facing him in a singles match is like getting the night off. 10 minutes, shtick, BREAK BREAK BREAK, fuck finish, drive home safely.

Yes, arguments for Yano are well known and I think nobody is going to dispute them. But I wonder if this year he won't get replaced due to so many possible new entrants.

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1 hour ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

The new entrants need to learn. Inject Mox vs Yano directly into my veins. 

Yeah, someone last year had a great line about how part of the fun is when someone new enters G1 and they inevitably have to deal with "this frog faced lunatic" and his shenanigans. Fucking perfect.

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10 hours ago, Pete said:

Yano should definitely be in. From a kayfabe standpoint the Sublime Master Thief has beaten plenty of top shelf guys during the G1 to warrant inclusion, including the reigning and defending IWGP champ on at least one occasion. From a worked standpoint, he's the "breather" opponent everyone wants: in the middle of this insanely grueling tournament, facing him in a singles match is like getting the night off. 10 minutes, shtick, BREAK BREAK BREAK, fuck finish, drive home safely.

Yano should make it, agreed.

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I think that having Archer and Fale in the tournament is a bit redundant. And we haven't seen many Archer singles matches in a while so even if he is going to suck at least it is going to be something new.

Edit: Also, after hearing for years him say nothing else, but everybody dies it is kinda weird to hear him speak coherently like a normal human being.

Edited by Archibald
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That’s good to hear about Archer being in. The last couple of times he was in he did an excellent job as the resident big man.

I was always kind of pissed when Gedo sent him over with DBS Jr. to NOAH, and  relied on Fale being the lone big man of the tournament. Having those two in the league would’ve helped spice up that G1 cliche the last few years. BTW, I’d recommend going back and watching that Archer Vs. AJ G1 match they have clips of in this video. Real underrated Big Man Vs. Little Man match from AJ’s run with the company.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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Archer also had the great match vs Ospreay in the NJC.  That might have gotten him into the G1.

Assuming they keep the field at 20, its going to be interested who is out of the G1 this year.  I could see Goto, Suzuki, even Tana all missing it.

 

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It’s funny how no one on the ROH roster is even being considered in any of the chatter about possible entrants. Does that speak to the dearth of heavyweight talent in ROH or the embarrassment of riches among the New Japan mainstays and surprises already announced?

If I were in a flippant mood, I would ask what the hell are NJPW getting out of this partnership right now, well except for the occasional and welcome Villain Enterprises appearances and the awesome Bandido in BOSJ?

Edited by Custos
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9 hours ago, The Natural said:

Farewell for Suzuki like Tenzan and Nagata? 

Farewell for an evil bastard like MiSu? More like "go away and don't come back."

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3 hours ago, Custos said:

It’s funny how no one on the ROH roster is even being considered in any of the chatter about possible entrants. Does that speak to the dearth of heavyweight talent in ROH or the embarrassment of riches among the New Japan mainstays and surprises already announced?

Cobb was mentioned together with Ishii for Dallas show, but it wasn't made clear if they actually will be in the tournament or just make an appearance like Liger.

As for others from RoH, I think that many would like to see Rush in this. I'd also like main event Taven in G1, that is if he comes without his jobber friends. But it feels like both guys are being pushed towards big showdown at Final Battle and RoH probably doesn't want either of them eating multiple pins in another company.

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