Nice Guy Eddie Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I'm going to finish the show today. I tapped out and went to bed before Moxley/Archer. It was 4:30 EST. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firebreaker Chip Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Gino was pretty bad on this, he pronounced like four people dead and I was genuinely worried he was cranking it at the commentary desk when Pieter was on screen Fujinami still hitting like a truck at 66 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt925 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Loved the show, top matches were incredible and the crowd was amazing. Just want to add, I loved when lance archer slipped while walking the ropes and Moxley instantly attacked him with the kendo stick. Perfect recovery, just like it was real. People mess up, take advantage. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Forget Okada and Naito. This weekend belongs to Juicy 2 Belts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 Finishing stretch to Okada/Ibushi in a GIF. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White might be one of the greatest Pro Wrestling matches I've ever seen. Not Puro, Pro wrestling. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Meltzer and Valley trying to review this show for almost 90 minutes with no voices and Jim is sick... it's audio hell. Surprisingly, Meltzer was all into Ibushi/Okada & Hiromu/Ospreay and less so Naito/White. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenalysis Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 3 hours ago, maciej said: I'm on board with White/Naito as match of the night too. I've never been a huge White fan but his specific offense to the knee here worked great, and Naito's efforts to proactively counter the Gedo-ness of it all and trick White were terrific. The main has the same issues as most of the Okada matches people call classics do to me, wildly entertaining second half, but I can only recommend a match that kinda bored me for 15-20 minutes so highly. The part where Kota smacked the hell out of Okada was amazing. Yo, have I missed something not paying attention to NJPW that much the last few months, does Ibushi have a cocaine gimmick now, what was that? It's something that kinda started after his loss to Tana and picked up a bit more after Kenny left. Sometimes he just snaps and turns into what you just saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 The most insane top three matches ever. I have White/Naito the 'weakest" but it's at least ****1/2. It's also the most impressive in a way. They were in an impossible spot, following an absurdly exciting and emotional match, and they just went out, stalled a bit to start, went slow early, brought the crowd all the way down so they could build it back up, and then launched a really good heat and an amazing closing stretch. The two pre-show matches did what they were there to do. The opening old man juniors match was so much fun. Then it really bogged down until the closing stretch of the tag title match. Finlay looked great at the end though. Mox/Archer was fun, though Moxley needs to do better on those knee strikes. Archer brought the violence so thumbs up there. Then... Yeah, junior heavy match was off the charts, IC match was amazing, IWGP was a masterpiece... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Also, think about this: Kota wrestled that 40 minute absurdly hard hitting classic, and he probably only has about 19 hours before he has to get back in the ring with White. And Okada maybe an hour more before Naito. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Was it officially announced that the winner of the third place bout gets a title match in February? Meltzer mentioned in passing on today's show. If so, I feel like the bronze medal winner will give away the gold medal match in that I doubt they run back the match that just happened yesterday a month and a bit later. White wins -> Okada wins and if Ibushi wins -> Naito wins (but that's been done to death too). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I'm confident enough to bet that Natio is going to win no matter what. Gedo books to context and the whole story this year has been Naito pushing for this and the commentary pushed that Naito has had horrible luck in the Dome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) "Naito has to win. If not now, when?" - me, just over two years ago Edited January 4, 2020 by Brian Fowler 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 When Mox was talking about leaving Tokyo with everything or nothing, I totally thought he was going to challenge the night 2 main event winner at New Year's Dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintedbynumbers Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Everything from the US title match on was pure gold. Surprised they didn't put Tanahashi in a multi man match or something just to get him on the show. Kind of awkward not having him there. Big Naito fan and would love to see him win. Naito-Sanada title match would be fresh. Ready for night 2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teflon Turtle Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, Archibald said: White/Naito match should probably be showed in wrestling schools to teach how to sell knee. Agreed. Both wrestlers did a great job there. For me, the smartest "small moment" of the night was White repeatedly prying on Naito's left leg in order to escape the full nelson/neck crank he was in. It didn't look like Naito reacted to it too much, but it led to White getting a break of the hold shortly after. I can see how some could say that the match could've been trimmed a bit, but personally I don't have a problem with Switchblade control segments and a great story was told. Thoughts concerning the rest of Night 1: There was a bit of the usual Ospreay excess in the Jr. Heavy title match, but that very well could've been the match that had me the most emotionally invested (at least tied with White/Naito). Hiromu doesn't look like he's really lost a step. I'll be interested in seeing if Ospreay truly transitions to heavyweight full-time this year, or if he'll try to work his way back to get that elusive win over Hiromu. For Ibushi/Okada: I didn't have much of a problem with the first portion of the match. I think you need a bit more of a subdued or technical opening in order to give Ibushi going in to dead-eyed murder mode more impact. It was a great match top to bottom, though I did cringe a little at Ibushi doing a self-spike on the backflip kick. As someone else mentioned previously, they got me on the V-Trigger. I bit on Ibushi coming back after that. One wonders how much longer Ibushi can be kept away from the IWGP heavyweight title after the year he had. I haven't been watching much WWE in the last few years, but it has been really interesting watching Moxley since he left. He has consciously eliminated a lot from his WWE run (rebound lariat...), but the influence of working what's overall a lighter North American style for years can still be seen (the amount of daylight visible between him and his opponent when he throws his knee strikes, as was also pointed out by @Brian Fowler). I don't mean that to much degrade what Mox had done post-WWE, though: he's been pretty captivating since he left. Edited January 4, 2020 by Teflon Turtle 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) I dosed off during the main event but the last 15 minutes was dope. I was surprised was Ibushi dominated most of what I did see. White/Naito was my MoTN, Niato is the best at selling and injury as well as working over a body part. People give GOD alot of shit for their matches but I enjoyed the FinJu match. I haven't seen to much of Finlay but Juice was cooking in the match and G.O.D. was good here too. I wish I did have to work tomorrow so I could watch night 2. This is the second Wrestle Kingdom I've got to watch in full, like last year it got me excited about the upcoming year even with the uncertainty with losing Omega. 6 months ago SHINGO was the most protected Junior on the roster, did they kinda cool him down now that he's a heavyweight? Edited January 4, 2020 by Ziggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodyslamdunk Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 11 minutes ago, paintedbynumbers said: Surprised they didn't put Tanahashi in a multi man match or something just to get him on the show. Kind of awkward not having him there. This occurred to me on my way home from the show. First time he hasn’t appeared on 1.4 since 2003. Also realized LiJ could all be champs for the roll call. Although I’ve probably just jinxed it by typing it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#BlueJustice Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Can I please have Hiromu's babies? A fantastic man. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinube Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 No sympathy for people who are affected by the time difference. Almost all the tennis Grand Slam events happen in the early AM for me. The only time I've been able to watch a Super Bowl live since I've been in Japan is when I was unemployed. It's just that it's hard to avoid spoilers in this day and age. Anyway, Kanemoto not being there is probably because he had a domestic violence charge sometime in 2019. He has done Dradition shows since then so he's been around Liger and co but I think NJPW didn't want to deal with it. The anxiety over any Jay White match always makes me way more satisfied when he loses. Felt that the leg control segment was well done even if it ultimately didn't go anywhere. There was that point during the main where I thought "Well, if you're gonna shoot on someone, may as well do it on the biggest stage possible." Feels like Naito needs to win in order for this whole thing to make sense. Okada's attitude has been that the IWGP title is where it's at and the idea of a double champion is stupid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, alstein said: It's something that kinda started after his loss to Tana and picked up a bit more after Kenny left. Sometimes he just snaps and turns into what you just saw. He used to do it in DDT sometimes. Check his match with Sekimoto. He just goes into a zone and start being a vicious prick. They call it Kireta in Japanese. It's slang for when your patience has reached its limit and you get enraged. Edited January 5, 2020 by Ryan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 2 hours ago, Ziggy said: I dosed off during the main event but the last 15 minutes was dope. I was surprised was Ibushi dominated most of what I did see. White/Naito was my MoTN, Niato is the best at selling and injury as well as working over a body part. People give GOD alot of shit for their matches but I enjoyed the FinJu match. I haven't seen to much of Finlay but Juice was cooking in the match and G.O.D. was good here too. I wish I did have to work tomorrow so I could watch night 2. This is the second Wrestle Kingdom I've got to watch in full, like last year it got me excited about the upcoming year even with the uncertainty with losing Omega. 6 months ago SHINGO was the most protected Junior on the roster, did they kinda cool him down now that he's a heavyweight? Shingo's definitely been cooled off since going from junior to heavy. It's kind of criminal he's been reduced to multiman matches after the year he had. I would have rather seen Shingo float back and forth from junior to heavy the way Ospreay does. If Hiromu never came back, I would have had a BOSJ finals rematch between Ospreay and Shingo. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now