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NJPW 2020 NJ Cup


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On 7/4/2020 at 4:14 PM, Eivion said:

Until you mentioned this I completely forgot Nishimura joined AJPW in 07. I remember him being there, but not a full right roster member. Soya was a trainee he brought with him which is funny seeing how much more Soya pulls from Choshu. But yeah Sanada probably got extra training from Nishimura then. 

I'd have to look up the date but there's an absolutely bonkers AJPW tag between Soya/Choshu vs Nishimura/Sanada that ends with Soya pinning Nishimura for the first time and it's stellar, violent stuff. Man oh man has Soya just never been the same guy since his injury in 2012. Maybe my biggest dream brawl of all time is Soya in his prime vs Ishii pretty much any era since it's all prime Ishii.

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57 minutes ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

I'd have to look up the date but there's an absolutely bonkers AJPW tag between Soya/Choshu vs Nishimura/Sanada that ends with Soya pinning Nishimura for the first time and it's stellar, violent stuff. Man oh man has Soya just never been the same guy since his injury in 2012. Maybe my biggest dream brawl of all time is Soya in his prime vs Ishii pretty much any era since it's all prime Ishii.

Was always a shame Soya got injured when he did. Get Wild felt big, and Soya was really starting to get his shit together in the ring.

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14 hours ago, Eivion said:

Was always a shame Soya got injured when he did. Get Wild felt big, and Soya was really starting to get his shit together in the ring.

Agreed, the tag title match between Get Wild and Burning is a classic in my books. Not 5* but pretty much as good as tag team wrestling got in 2012. The way they were also setting him up as Go's big rival once the Shiozaki/Suwama feud wrapped up was also tantalizing. I guess now that he's in NOAH and Go is still on top we might finally get to see them have their blowoff match, even if it's coming 8 years too late...

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Well, that was unexpected.

Spoiler

Yujiro did a run-in to break up the Cobra Clutch and eventually Evil gets the win. He calls out Naito, they do the LIJ fist raise but Evil does the Bullet Club symbol and nails Naito.

I guess now the Bullet Club has the um..upper middle-carder they needed?

 

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But what about the Six Man Titles now???

 

But yeah, with the borders still closed, BC can't be "credible" with all their heavy hitters locked out and only Ishimori being a real threat, and really, who's gonna buy any kind of rebuild of Yujiro, so moving EVIL over is probably their best option.

 

And if this tournament and how matches have been laid out has shown anything, it's that they really don't need the Jr. Division anymore.

Edited by Raziel
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This is really interesting situation for people who like to ponder was something a long term plan or did it happen due to real life events.

On one hand BC's top guys now are Yujiro and Ishimori. Best case scenario you can do Ishimori/X for NEVER and Jr. titles and he probably ain't winning either of them. So yeah, Evil is going to fix things. He is not beating Naito, but him beating Shingo during that Summer Struggle tour sounds like a lock to me.

On the other hand its not like Evil hasn't been spinning wheels since I don't know when? He is over, he sells merch, he is good, he is dojo boy and yet he stays in the background a lot due Naito, Sanada and Shingo being a priority. So sooner or later something like this had to happen.

Nobody wants to see Fale in high profile singles matches, at this point I feel like his only place is doing trios title matches where does few big moves or maybe put over some guys that are in undercard, like Henare. KENTA is KENTA, not a young guy, has a history of injuries and probably doesn't want to spend that much time in Japan. So you figure that regardless of what is happening in the world BC needed a new top hw guy.

And hey, NJPW managed to push three hws in LiJ at the same time so I see no reason to think that they couldn't have done the same with BC.

Plus, funny thing. Naito's old tag partners Yujiro and Evil are now on the same side. With Yujiro being only other heavy around I'd guess that we are going to see the return of No Limit tag team.

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Yeah, the EVIL turn makes narrative sense,  and BC do need that slot filled. Even if KENTA could come back tomorrow, he seems pretty broken down and (looking ahead) he’s probably more expensive than his current form/profile warrants. EVIL can also be a credible feud for Jay when one of them eventually turns. 

I still don’t like the idea of more high profile matches filled with run-ins and BS, though; and I think that could emphasize EVIL’s worst tendencies.

And hey, Master Wato was pretty fun! 

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I love that the first time they have a crowd they go with a swerve and even though it feels out of nowhere, I liked it. I don't think for a moment that EVIL is going to beat Naito, but it's at least an interesting direction to go in.

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I know this won't happen but they should just keep the momentum going and have Evil beat Naito and see what it gets them. Playing it safe during such a precarious time kind of seems like the wrong idea. If you continue to have surprising results you'll at least keep viewership up. And I don't see Evil as champ sinking the company like a Yasuda win threatened to do way back when. You have an unlikely heel champ with both Naito and Okada chasing him, kinda like Evil could be the Yokozuna to Naito and Okada's Bret and Luger. And while all this is going on they could create some new stars so that we aren't stuck with Okada and Naito on top for another five or ten years. Really I'm just echoing my statements from a month or so ago that they need to put the belt on someone outside the Okada/Naito/Tanahashi charismatic playboy mold #anyonebutKota 

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30 minutes ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

I know this won't happen but they should just keep the momentum going and have Evil beat Naito and see what it gets them. Playing it safe during such a precarious time kind of seems like the wrong idea. If you continue to have surprising results you'll at least keep viewership up. And I don't see Evil as champ sinking the company like a Yasuda win threatened to do way back when. You have an unlikely heel champ with both Naito and Okada chasing him, kinda like Evil could be the Yokozuna to Naito and Okada's Bret and Luger. And while all this is going on they could create some new stars so that we aren't stuck with Okada and Naito on top for another five or ten years. Really I'm just echoing my statements from a month or so ago that they need to put the belt on someone outside the Okada/Naito/Tanahashi charismatic playboy mold #anyonebutKota 

And if you're only running shows at half-capacity, you're probably selling out anyway. I completely agree. Only potential downside is wanting to play it safe with their big new TV deal.

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2 hours ago, Craig H said:

I love that the first time they have a crowd they go with a swerve and even though it feels out of nowhere, I liked it. I don't think for a moment that EVIL is going to beat Naito, but it's at least an interesting direction to go in.

Yeah, I don't think that Evil is beating Naito, but people are going to remember this turn for years and thats right there a good booking decision.

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The real question is less about whether or not EVIL beats Naito (he doesn't), it's whether or not he drops the scythe and brings an anime goth gun to the ring now. Maybe it too can shoot out laser pentagrams. 

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I've been lagging behind even with the shorter shows (I'm hopeless) but my heart melt when Taichi did the Tsuruta "OH!" appeal and backdrop suplex hold in his match with SANADA. What a guy.

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5 hours ago, Jiji said:

I've been lagging behind even with the shorter shows (I'm hopeless) but my heart melt when Taichi did the Tsuruta "OH!" appeal and backdrop suplex hold in his match with SANADA. What a guy.

He's Oudou, don'tcha know(dou).

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Lollllllllllll

Spoiler

Who knew Tetsuya Naito was Japanese for Lex Luger?

I saw this happening because it would make zero sense to have Evil lose to Naito in his first match after turning on him just the night before. If they had Evil win the NJ Cup w/o turning on Naito, then he could lose to Naito at Dominion and then turn on him after the match to start a real feud. They kinda booked themselves into a corner.

 

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