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NJPW The New Beginning 2020 *contains Wrestle Kingdom 14 SPOILERS*


The Natural

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It was humorous having the main in another window and turning back whenever the boos started raining in to see they still hadn't locked up. 

The thing with Hiromu/Naito is I'm afraid it might end up being worse than any Hiromu/Lee match and more like Naito/Ibushi. We really, really don't need that for either of them. But, you can't tell them to hold back, they won't listen...

EDIT: Did I miss out on Sanada/White BTW? All I caught was the Paradise Lock and it was so stupid and business exposing I just decided not to watch. ROLL HIM OVER AND PIN HIM YOU DIPSHIT.

Edited by Curt McGirt
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I am really glad I got to see that live.

I arrived a little early and my friend was slightly delayed, so I spent the better part of half an hour making Naito's round-eye taunt at anyone wearing Tranquilo or LIJ gear. There was a steady stream of people wearing Tranquilo or LIJ gear, between Osaka Jo station and Osaka Jo Hall. Almost everyone smiled and returned the gesture.

Manabu got a great send-off. I was pleased to be one of the thousands chanting for him.

After that, you could genuinely feel the crowd holding back during the rest of the undercard, it was like we all knew we had to save our energy and our voices for the last three matches. Veteran crowd. A lot of serious wrestling fans.  It was particularly noticeable during the Sanada vs White match.

Then, from Hiromu's entrance onward the crowd let go, and kept getting more and more and more into it. We were flat-out rabid during the main event. I really hope that came across watching on TV or the internet or whatever.

I totally, unreservedly, utterly enjoyed each of the last three matches.  It's very difficult to pick a favourite. 

Hiromu vs Lee had the rake-gag version of the Kobashi vs Kensuke/Tenryu vs Hashimoto chop overkill - which was insanely fun to watch live. My whole section (I Block) was rolling with laughter as it just kept going and going... and even up in the nose-bleeds, some of those chops sounded sick. I mean, it was loud up there. And then came the insane highspots section, and the thud on some of those bumps was truly scary. You could feel the whole crowd catch their breath whenever they teased the Phoenixplex. My heart was in my throat a couple of times. Hiromu has crazy charisma in person. Again, you could clearly feel it even all the way up in row 15 of I Block. 

MiSu and Mox also have that crazy charisma. I was planning to cheer exclusively for MiSu, but I found myself chanting Mox's name when he was fighting from underneath. A nice 15-minute serio-comic exploration of the concept of manly toughness, with both guys earning shocked laughter from the crowd with their psychotic smiles, and with the obvious joy they took in both dishing out and taking violence and pain .Maybe not the all-time classic I was hoping for, but so much fun live. I was marking out non-stop.

And finally, my first in-person post-modern epic half-hour NJPW title match (the last NJPW title match I saw live was, I believe, Nakanishi vs Tanahashi in 2009 which I also really enjoyed). It was a very, very pro-Naito crowd overall, but KENTA had a surprisingly large number of little pockets of support. People were chanting his name throughout the arena... but even more so everyone else was going nuts for Naito and booing KENTA like crazy. It was so much fun to be a part of that. I love, love, loved the 5-minute opening stooge fest. They took us up, brought us down, then blew the roof off the place. Naito's crimson mask was clearly visible in the cheap seats. KENTA kind of reminded me of SUWA in their classic match-up from 2005. Just heeling it up like a madman. The eruption when Naito won, and the huge reaction to the roll call and the confetti cannon were the best thing about the show. I got actual goosebumps. 

I can easily imagine that all three matches had stuff that I would nit-pick if I were watching them at home after the fact. I don't necessarily think that any of them will make a ton of noise in the 2020 MOTY discussions... but I had the time of my life in Osaka Jo Hall tonight. 

Edited by gordi
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Main event was a big contrast between Okada and Naito. Okada/Taichi was basically as if Okada was still the champ and it was a title match, Naito/KENTA was something else. I'm probably going to enjoy these "no idea whats going to happen here" main events while they last.

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Wow, it wasn’t a great title match, but for that ending prior to KENTA losing made me think we might see a shocking title switch. Like my mind went into bullet time mode as soon as I saw blood. I was already contemplating a short reign for KENTA, and losing right back to Naito after the New Japan Cup.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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4 hours ago, Archibald said:

Main event was a big contrast between Okada and Naito. Okada/Taichi was basically as if Okada was still the champ and it was a title match, Naito/KENTA was something else. I'm probably going to enjoy these "no idea whats going to happen here" main events while they last.

Naito as champ definitely feels very fresh, and I think that was reflected in the gate.

I wouldn’t at all be surprised if they do a great number with Naito/Hiromu for the anniversary too.

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1 hour ago, Archibald said:

So, if I get it right, assuming everything goes right with MSG show... this is going to be "western Wrestle Kingdom"? And likely second biggest NJPW show each year after Wrestle Kingdom? Really wonder how ticket sales will go against NXT/Summerslam.

I'm not sure second, but definitely "big show"

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Thinking about it after watching their match last night, Suzuki's interview where he said Moxley doesn't have shit makes sense in a weird way. It IS what he doesn't do that makes him special. The only move past the Death Rider/Paradigm Shift I can name of his is the rebound lariat and he doesn't do that anymore, which leaves... brawling? He's a guy who really does make it on charisma and force. He's not a "cleanup hitter". It's probably why he's the second best guy in AEW and one of the more interesting guys in NJ, because that is a lot of cleanup hitters.

Suzuki is smarter than us

Edited by Curt McGirt
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I'm only up to Lee vs Hiromu , I really enjoyed White vs Sanada the heel manager deal is unnecessary for his skill level. 

I also liked the Okada/Ospreay vs Taichi/ZSJ. I just watched the match between ZSJ and Ospreay yesterday from last week.

With the news of the MSG show either they are close to getting another US TV deal or they are confident enough in their ROH partnership under Marty as Booker that they can have a strong enough presence over here to draw big

Edited by Ziggy
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5 hours ago, lostinube said:

https://www.bs-asahi.co.jp/wrestling/news20200209/

Just a reminder that BS TV is somewhere between terrestrial and cable TV in Japan. So it's a nice deal that NJPW is back on  golden (re:prime) time but it's not WWE on Fox. Still, we're going from a random half-hour on late Saturday nights as the only wrestling on TV to two shows

It is somewhat of an upgrade from the CS Asahi that runs a hour long World Pro Wrestling program. As you stated, It is not prime time on regular TV. CS Asahi has a nostalgia wrestling show sometimes. Last year they had Abdullah and Chono in a studio talking about and showing Abby matches from New Japan. They both had language and memory problems talking to each other and it was kind of comical.

I really enjoyed the Osaka main event today. The stalling after the overkill in the prior two matches plus the blood got me into the match.

 

  

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11 hours ago, EVA said:

Naito as champ definitely feels very fresh, and I think that was reflected in the gate.

I wouldn’t at all be surprised if they do a great number with Naito/Hiromu for the anniversary too.

It is in same building as always, around 4000 seats. So not much room to grow unless they jack up the prices.

They released cards for Korakuen shows: https://www.njpw1972.com/schedule/

Most of the teased matches are here. Cabana/Yano/Taguchi vs LiJ for trios belts, Mega Coaches vs R3K for Jr. tags, Shingo vs Ishii for NEVER, Golden Ace vs GoD for hw tags.

I'd guess that Mox/ZSJ is not happening at Anniversary show so might be that Anniversary show will be only Naito/Hiromu and bunch of tags leading to NJ Cup matches.

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