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NJPW G1 Climax 30.


The Natural

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That's possible, @Teflon Turtle. To be honest, I don't need to see every match be this crazy all-out war. I still recall how absolutely brilliant AJ-Suzuki was with maybe 3 bumps and a whole lot of character work and classic pro wrestling dynamics. Yes, some of the guys do need to get wild for me to get into them because they're not as smart as Tanahashi or able to do what Sabre or Suzuki can with matwork, but I reckon you could have a thoroughly-entertaining night of G1 with PG rated violence.

I believe some of the diktats surrounding violence came from Meij, who is now gone. Whether this changes will be interesting.

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I don't but it being an Omega thing (shocking, I know) because Naito and Ibushi spent all of last year trying to put the other in a wheelchair and in general I didn't notice too much of a stylistic change pre-pandemic. I haven't watched a second of the G1 but Hiromu was doing a lot of his usual murder death kill offense in the NJ Cup. The argument for that is obvious in that he was in there with heavyweights and had to bust out the big stuff but that'll only hold up if he wrestles a safer style against other jr heavyweights. 

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@sevendaughters - I hear you. For every moment I spent enjoying Naito slowing things down a bit during this G1, I had one where I thought Ibushi felt like he was struggling to find his rhythm...or identity, even...without flying around or taking crazy bumps. I'll co-sign what you said about the AJ/Suzuki match, too. Brilliant stuff, but not every pair of wrestlers can or should do that every time out. Honestly, a lot of where I'm coming from is probably down to a change in my tastes this year - I loved 2017-18 New Japan as much as anybody, but I'm just not finding the high-risk stuff as entertaining or fun this year.

I hadn't read anything about Meij saying anything about the state of the in-ring work, but I'd be interested in learning the details.

@Jiji - Man, I'd have sworn those Naito/Ibushi matches were in 2018. I stand corrected.

Hiromu is the guy who has seemed to tone it down the least, for sure. There were a few times I thought he wasn't moving at quite as breakneck a pace, but then he'd keep doing some of the destructive/self-destructive stuff he did before. I think you're right again - what we see in BOSJ will probably be pretty telling.

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5 hours ago, Six String Orchestra said:

Is Zima in Japan some delicious recipe while in the west they pedal drain cleaner as it?

No. They are a sponsor. That was the only alcohol available at New Year Dash. Japanese don't like it too. I brought two beers in to the show in my camera bag. A bunch of people asked me where the beer was being sold, pissed off at the only Zima situation.

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There have been lots of interesting comments so far, so I'll keep it brief:  

-I'm glad Ibushi won.  They should go all the way with him.  Not saying they will, but I can't think of any reason not to at this point.  

-In the end, sad to say, I'm just completely indifferent to Sanada.  That's not a good thing.  Some guys in wrestling just never reach that next gear.  I keep waiting for Sanada to get there.   Let me put it another way: a guy with such a weakly applied finisher who still hasn't realized he should just try something else at this stage doesn't quite fill me with confidence.  There's just some vital missing piece yet to be found with him.  I hope he finds it someday.  

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I think Gordi had a story about that stuff. A bunch were given to him for free from Chono or something. 

Zima tasted like Sprite/7-Up IIRC. Weak sauce. My mom liked it.

Said it before and I'll say it again: SANADA needs to start pinning people with the Paradise Lock. It's so freakin' obvious! 

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9 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I think Gordi had a story about that stuff. A bunch were given to him for free from Chono or something. 

Zima tasted like Sprite/7-Up IIRC. Weak sauce. My mom liked it.

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Chono was the face of Suntory's Strong Zero national ad campaign. He showed up at a wrestling event and was giving out cans for free. The cans had Chono's face on them. I was freaking out: "It's Chono! It's Chono!" but the people I was with had basically no idea who he was. They were Osaka Pro fans specifically, rather than wrestling fans generally. 

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So, because I got so excited, my friends gave me their cans, then it got out of hand and even strangers were giving me theirs, then somebody (probably Kenji and Kae) went over to Chono and asked if I could have the cans that were left over from the give-away. I ended up hauling two full bags of strong zero tall boys back home to Nara on the train. 

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Japanese Zima has a mild grapefruity taste. It's actually not bad, in my opinion.

Not great, but certainly not the vile piss-water that many people make it out to be. An OK summer drink. It was the absolutely gawd-awful advertising the @TheVileOnementioned and the SNL Weekend Update joke that @Six String Orchestrareferenced above that killed Zima in America, I'd imagine. 

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As far as the Strong Zero goes, the lemon one is just vile. Tastes like furniture polish smells. I gave a lot of the lemon ones away as presents (because I'm a jerk). Some of the other flavours are really good, though. It's easy to get "accidentally drunk" with strong zero in the summer here. You can gulp down three or four tall-boys on a train ride (from, say, Nara to Osaka) and then end up staggering off the train.

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To answer @John E. Dynamite's question: If you only want to get drunk, then Strong Zero is definitely the way to go. However, if you want to enjoy a fruity-tasting drink, then I honestly think Zima is a better choice than the lemon flavoured Strong Zero Dry.

I will sometimes order a Zima when I am out with my more "macho" drinking friends, because I like to think that I am funny. My gaijin friends will almost always over-react in a negative way. Usually my Japanese friends will want a sip. I once got a whole table of massive weightlifters to happily drink a round of Zimas. 

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For me, I get a kick any time pro wrestling crosses over into mainstream culture here in Japan. It happens a lot.

To give just one more example, I present the perfect snack to accompany your Strong Zero tall boy:

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And if they ever put New Japan wrestler's faces on Zima bottles or cans, I will drink nothing else until the promotion is over. 

 

Edited by El Gran Gordi
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That reminds me, why was Phil Hickerson was named after a Japanese shochu highball when he was in World Class/USWA?

Anyway, beer is generally expensive in Japan so the Strong Zero (I've been buying triple peach recently) and it's type are good alternatives although I'm more of a canned highball person if I need something quick from a convenience store.

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Japan's climate is similar to that of the US east coast, so they don't have great conditions to grow barley or hops. The beers they do produce cost more to make and usually have a lot of rice in the recipe. Japan did cultivate the Sorachi Ace hop, which is incredibly weird and I love it. I'm also expecting chuhai to break in North America in the next 5 to 10 years, based on the absurd amount of sales hard seltzers have managed and a growing number of non-Asian Americans who drink Chamisul soju.

On the subject of Strong Zero, I exclusively drink the Dry flavor. No big fake fruit taste and any calories you can offset while getting blackout drunk on a train before lunch is a good thing. Not that I advocate that sort of behavior.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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53 minutes ago, Six String Orchestra said:

What alcoholic beverage did Bob Sapp push while he was IWGP champion?

 

Not sure if he did booze. He did gummy candies, pizza, cell phones, laxitive tea. If you go to his official youtube channel there are all kinds of videos.

I think he did more as a K1 guy than as a pro wrestler.

 

Some of his ads are pretty crazy. A lot of Japanese ads seem crazy to me, in general

Edited by El Gran Gordi
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No Strong Zero in the USA. $10 and up to get from Japan on ebay. That is a huge mark up from under $1.50. Sangaria brand 6% Chuhai is the only one available in the US as far as I know. There is one other that is labeled as chuhai, but is actually a flavored malt beverage.

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15 hours ago, El Gran Gordi said:

It's easy to get "accidentally drunk" with strong zero in the summer here. You can gulp down three or four tall-boys on a train ride (from, say, Nara to Osaka) and then end up staggering off the train.

So I'm guessing Japan doesn't have open-container laws? 

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1 minute ago, Curt McGirt said:

In the US we have Four Loko and flavored Steel Reserve to fulfill those needs haha

Ugh, I've had way too much of that in the past.  I think I had first had Steel Reserve since Dean was all about it at one point.  But given the option I think I'd rather pay $10 for Strong Zero.

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I would too. I had a real dark period where I was drinking Steel every day because it's all I could afford. You'd have to pay me to drink it these days. It's the most repulsive swill on the planet and I think it might possibly have a psychoactive additive/reaction in it, like is rumored from Cisco and Thunderbird wines. 

That said I can drink the flavored Steel. The grape one is tolerable. Now what is real bad is Four Loko Coconut, that shit is like floor varnish.

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STEEL-RESERVE-ALLOY-SERIES-SPIKED-TROPIC

I've only had the Blackberry (which I thought was Grape), the Punch and the Pineapple. BLKOUT (heh) is fine, the pineapple is too; the Punch is vile. I can stomach Watermelon Loko so I could probably do the same here. 

It amazes me that Loko is 14% and some of those flavors are more tolerable than an 8% flavored 211

EDIT: Oh god, there is a Mystery Flavor contest going on. 

https://b100quadcities.com/get-paid-10000-to-guess-this-mystery-beer-flavor/

It's probably Pumpkin. Or more specifically, Rat Ass.

Edited by Curt McGirt
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