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NJPW G1 2019


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5 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

Oh, for sure, it's not that they don't have chemistry. I also loved the infamous "runner up" Dome match for the IWGP Heavyweight belt way back when.

Back in 2014 when the fanbase voted for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Nakamura/Tanahashi to go on last over Okada/Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Only time that's ever happened. Such a contrast with how NJPW treat the heavyweight and secondary titles to WWE.

Edited by The Natural
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21 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Back in 2014 when the fanbase voted for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Nakamura/Tanahashi to go on last over Okada/Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Only time that's ever happened. Such a contrast with how NJPW treat the heavyweight and secondary titles to WWE.

The forgotten component to that story is that the Nakamura/Tanahashi match that night was one of their worst and that Okada/Naito was a quiet classic. I wonder what the perception of Naito would have been if they had just forced that match to be on top. Worked out OK in the end, at least.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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3 hours ago, alstein said:

Naito fans think he's never sniffing IWGP again.  They're at Roman wins the Rumble levels of anger.   I don't blame them, and I love Jay White.

I would have been fine with Jay waiting a year so Naito could get his moment.

 

 

Didn't he already get his moment in 2017?

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Naito has indeed had many moments but I suppose his supporters won't be happy until he has a 8+ month title reign and that's fine. I was the same way with Omega and am now for Ibushi. I get it. There's nothing wrong with being an actual fan of a wrestler and being upset when your favourite doesn't win. When the bitching gets to the point where it negates enjoying great wrestling that didn't go your way entirely then you've got some issues. 

I know one thing for sure, Naito needs to stop doing the poison rana. I've never been as high on Naito's in ring as most (great but a decent step behind their top guys but his aura makes up for it) but I've found him to be particularly formulaic the last year or so. 

White is great and so are the fans at the Budokan, as they finally gave Jay the treatment he needs to be a star by hating his heel antics passionately. Match was great but not at the level block deciding matches have been the past three or four years. Nothing will top that 2017 Natio/Tanahashi and Okada/Omega back to back job. Two easy full fivers. 

@Archibald, I don't get your comment. Kenny wasn't really a heel for the last two years of his run in the company. I agree though, that White is infinitely better and smarter at being a deplorable heel, but that wasn't what Kenny was going for since I'd say the start of his rivalry with Okada. There he was an underdog with sympathetic traits trying to meet and surpass a god. White's going full on heel and sometimes the crowd buys in, a lot of the times they don't. Matches like this one and the SF match against Juice are fucking awesome as it all comes together. A lot of the times it's done in front of half interested audiences. Japanese fans have been so desensitized to cheating with the BC and LIJ. It's too bad Jay wasn't in this spot in the beginning when they cared about rules being broken. 

I haven't watched the first one but the second Juice/Mox match was fucking great and I liked it a lot more than my boy @sevendaughters. I read what happened in the first and for Juice to pull things around after Moxley trying to maim his face again was a really nice touch. As was Mox getting caught after wasting time with his weapons. All the chickens came home to roost. Incredible job by Juice selling as always but much like with Jay, the Budokan audience fully played their part which doesn't usually happen anywhere close to this degree. The attack on Ibushi was perfect and sets the stage for an immense match tomorrow! 

Need to go back and watch the other stuff from the Budokan shows before tomorrow's final. 

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12 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

What are everybody's thoughts on KENTA now that he's run his race?

He had a good run. Nothing blow away great, but for a broken down vet he surprised me with how well he kept up, and almost at times looked like his old self. Even if a couple of matches couldn’t live up to expectations. It was still better than either of Kawada’s runs in the G-1. 

Now from here on out I would put him with the NEVER guys. The Iishi’s of the world would be willing to deal with his reckless stiff style with no problems.  

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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7 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

What are everybody's thoughts on KENTA now that he's run his race?

Had a good enough performance that I could see him hovering around the IC title scene for a year or two, maybe a World title contender if the booking is right and he stays healthy but there's better guys for that role. Solidly somewhere between Goto and Naito on the pecking order.

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8 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

I dunno, man. I thought he looked old, slow, and broken down. Not really a fan at this point.

The match with EVIL was pretty darn great though.

That match surprised me with how well it turned out. EVIL, like Shingo, gets the Iishi, and Goto comparisons due to him being the hard working, and hard hitting guy who has great singles matches in the tournament format. But sometimes he has a mediocre performance, and he’ll make me forget that. That match wasn’t the case. EVIL brought his working boots for that match, and KENTA clicked with him more so than most. But I’ll say that KENTA’s best matches were a toss up with either the ZSJ match, or the Tanahashi match.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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2 hours ago, Oyaji said:

I dunno, man. I thought he looked old, slow, and broken down. Not really a fan at this point.

The match with EVIL was pretty darn great though.

I put some of that down to returning from injury and re-adapting to the New Japan style but I could be making excuses for him being old and broken down because I want him to do well after his WWE run.

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As someone who really watched KENTA for the first time- I felt he was one of the worst guys in the field not in the overweight Tongan division.  He wasn't terrible or anything, but few of his matches did much for me, and I'm kinda dreading him being in a prominent role the rest of the year.    I wouldn't mind using him to build up guys like Henare though.

 

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I am FINALLY up to the finals,  man when you get behind a day or two and you lose track of time it's very difficult to keep it going.  This was a tremendous round robin as it always is...  that said I am not thrilled with the final match up.   I just don't get Jay White in this slot. I like him but he's not it.  

This argument with Bryan and Dave is precious. I get Dave wants to make excuses for Ospreay and I like Will Ospreay quite a bit he's coming a long ways but Dave is dead wrong.. arguing that Will was "jumping off one leg" to sell the leg damage lol.   Get out of here.  Ospreay forgets to sell just as much as Seth does.  But I still prefer Will. 

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Thought this was on later today. Right man won the G1 Climax 29 in Kota Ibushi. First to win the NJPW Best of the Super Jrs, New Japan Cup and G1 Climax.

Nice that Minoru Suzuki gets to pin the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada making a statement as he wasn't a participant in the G1 Climax this year.

Surprised to read that Katsuyori Shibata had physical contact with him almost dying vs. Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Sakura Genesis 2017.

Edited by The Natural
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Well that was a blast.

I always suspected that Ibushi and Ospreay injuries were works. Now with KENTA joining BC I suspect that even more. And well KENTA in BC is perfect and solves multiple problems. That plus them beating the shit out of Shibata? Perfect.

I think that if Shibata was ready to return they wouldn't have run such angle where he delivered his spots and was later taken out by BC. Whole dropkick in the corner is such a high point, Dave called it on his twitter a spot of the year and I think he is correct. Whole KENTA's point "I did it first" in interviews and Shibata just hits him with it. It just clicks with me on every level. Like if the show ended after that angle I still would have called it a very good show.

But then we got semi-main that was solid match and set up, I assume, main and semi-main for Royal Quest. Matches themselves are not fresh, but I love both pairings. And surely, Tanahashi has to win it? And this is how he'll get back to the spotlight?

Main event was incredible, easy MOTYC for me. So Jay obviously works over Ibushi's injury that was totally real and totally caused by accident by then still not BC member KENTA. Anyway, this felt like White's entire tournament was building towards this. All the cheating spots came into play here. Remember how he won against Juice? Here exact same thing is done for Ibushi, but he manages to survive. The moment when White hit his finisher, but wasn't able to cover... in one second it felt like entire crowd died and came back to life.

Great ending to great tournament.

 

16 hours ago, Oyaji said:

 

@Archibald, I don't get your comment. Kenny wasn't really a heel for the last two years of his run in the company. I agree though, that White is infinitely better and smarter at being a deplorable heel, but that wasn't what Kenny was going for since I'd say the start of his rivalry with Okada. There he was an underdog with sympathetic traits trying to meet and surpass a god. White's going full on heel and sometimes the crowd buys in, a lot of the times they don't. Matches like this one and the SF match against Juice are fucking awesome as it all comes together. A lot of the times it's done in front of half interested audiences. Japanese fans have been so desensitized to cheating with the BC and LIJ. It's too bad Jay wasn't in this spot in the beginning when they cared about rules being broken.

No, I didn't mean it to say that Omega did something wrong in that case. With Naito/Omega it was always basically about two assholes trying to one up each other and it has its charm and is interesting. But when you put Naito against actual deplorable heel who really lives that role.. it hits on another level, at least to me.

Edited by Archibald
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42 minutes ago, sevendaughters said:

I see Zack winning at RQ so the British crowd get something. But if Tanahashi has been demoted then maybe he'll be doing more overseas work. Interesting. Poised.

I think that ZSJ also needs to be promoted. Him being RevPro champ is all nice and good, but it kinda puts him into the corner. Honestly even something like NEVER title reign would be good for him I think.

Edited by Archibald
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