A.M.B.

Less noticeable with 3 but they absolutely butchered THPS4. Always a bad omen when they don’t even have the original intro song (TNT) in the game. Just like the GTA trilogy, playing them on the PS2 is the way to go 20+ years later.

My main take away from playing Clair Obscur is calling it a turned based RPG feels wrong, as there's a big difference between a game with parry/dodging and a turn based game without it. Completely different strategies, as if you're good you'd never take any damage.

Scary to see Sekimoto’s situation. People were raving about his match with Jeff Cobb in January but to me I couldn’t get past how much older and slower Daisuke looked. Few wrestlers have wrestled a more physical, punishing style than him in the last 25 years, I think he should hang it up.

Hey guys, I've been working on a project the past half year in creating a series inspired by Bahu's History of FMW, but covering the history of Big Japan. There's an intro included in the video, but long story short, it's my favorite company and I've become obsessed with collecting everything and putting it all together. I've always made wrestling music videos dating back to the ROH fan creation board, but wanted to take on a different kind of project. It's very much a pilot episode and proof of concept, as I'm learning what I need to do make these videos better quality, which I'm already seeing means me scripting out every word and getting it all done in one take so my voice sounds consistent, I need an actual proper mic, etc etc. But I wanted to shit out an episode so I can put it out in the universe and get some momentum, while fine tuning the creative process in later episodes. I also tried to record this over like 3 different days but have cats and bad allergies and they kept coming up so I sound a little hoarse and nasal-y. Hosting is tricky as there's plenty of copywrited material too, so I'm looking to create my own website, maybe a substack of something, to host the videos and provide more info on the project once I get rolling and hopefully generate a little more interest. Anywhere, here's part one of maybe 30 (I'm scared this project will burn me out by like episode 20 tho), covering the history of 1995, the debut year of Big Japan Pro Wrestling. https://archive.org/details/1995_20250524

Clair Obscure is incredible and everything I wish FF would have tried to be after X. My favorite RPG since Persona 5, maybe surpassing it, but I’ve got a ways to go still.

Slightly random but am I the only one who can’t stand Matt Jackson and thinks Nick is so much better? Even ignoring in ring where Nick has always been the star, Matt Jackson’s facial expressions and mannerisms are just the most forced, try hard, cringe acting, where Nick’s body language, charisma, and comedic timing feel natural and nuanced. It’s so crazy how similar yet pronounced the differences are to me between brothers.

Her hat says Balenciaga. fun show. Silva is an absolute monster but frustrating to watch him play with his food. Pitbull and Chandler both look like they’re two weight classes above where they should fight. Chandler always looked like he can never get anything going on the ground after the take down because he’s just way too small to wrap guys up. Didn’t think this was some kind of star making match for Paddy like they want to push it as tho, just a solid win against an small and older opponent who was astroturfed from the start. main event was good, I’m probably the only one but I would have been more interested in Movsar getting the shot over Lopes.

Xenoblade Chronicles X Remaster has gotten really good reviews, and I love a game with customizable mechs, and an aesthetic that reminds be of FF8 so I bought it day one. Impressions so far is that the performance feels great, fast travel barely has any load times. The game has so many things happening on a small screen and so much feels like its happening without me doing much. This kind of MMO style combat feels very foreign to me. Lots of numbers and esoteric information when I haven't needed to engage with it at all. Pretty overwhelming but fun. Not too much cringe anime tropes and cutscenes to put me off yet, but it walks the line. Wondering if this game is really gonna catch on and hook me on the series, though the other games don't have mechs and are more story focused apparently, which is not a hard sell for me.

MJF/Hangman segment was good, even if MJF’s promo style feels a little tired to me. I definitely think there should be more history between them 5 years in, but at least we’re getting it now. Honestly it’s the perfect feud to have been a slow burn and now kick into a blood feud, but blood and violence is so overdone I dont really care where it goes.

I feel like people saying WWE should take the financial hit and bring the plain white ring back aren’t met with much resistance, and that’s merely a superficial criticism. But saying AEW should take the financial hit and keep their ring the same, which is superficial but also a deeper issue than mere money and could cause injury, is being framed as nitpicky.

Just popping in to add that this show was fucking awesome and a great showcase of how talented the DG guys can be to work a show on the fly like that. Ring looked super bouncy and indie to me. It’s not some huge deal, but either everything matters or nothing matters. Again TK is super rich and they’ve had this show planned for a super long time, seems weird to me to not bring it over. Switching rings abruptly like that can definitely cause issues and mishaps with your muscle memory and spacial awareness.

Easier to say now but I never understood why Izzy took that fight. Imavov doesn’t have much of a name carried a lot of risk. A fun novelty fight like taking on then undefeated Shara Magomedov or even MVP would have been more winnable and given his legacy might have been enough to grant him another title shot. Though that’s always why I loved Izzy, he really did fight anyone anytime.

I think Mox tapped into the TRT in the last few months.

The big difference is those ROH PPVs, beyond technical difficulties, had awesome matches and succinct match times. GCW’s product just seems like a self indulgent party where no one saves anything for the main event and everything is overbooked beyond belief. It’s my criticism of AEW but way worse, having no limitations on any match is lazy, and leads to zero creativity and innovation. Everything about it came off as low rent and to me really pointed out the decline in branding and identity indie companies have nowadays. Back in the day Chikara, CZW, and ROH all had unique looks to their production that were constant month to month. They all had unique niches to fill and cards that crescendoed. GCW just feels like slop thrown on a plate, Lauderdale coming out to address the crowd of his biggest show wearing sweatpants is a microcosm of the lack of awareness this company has. Allie Katch injury aside that still doesn’t excuse for how poorly planned this card was.

Wat I normally hate guys not staying in their division but Ilia vs. Islam is kind of the best fight they can make at this point. Sure Ilia should face Movsar or Lopez but I think 145 would still thrive if the champ left it; unlike a division like heavyweight that really needs Jones’ to engage with it more. I don’t need to see a Charles rematch with Islam. I wouldn’t hate Arman getting another shot but UFC isn’t gonna do that now. The toughest fights for Islam at this point are probably some rando like Rambetzki (don’t ask me to spell Polish names right) or Orolbai who’s gonna take a few more years to get acknowledged as top talents.

さすがAEW. The first and only PPV I’ve ever bought, the Omega/Mox “exploding” barbed wire match, had interference in every single match. Even after the climax of a two month long tournament for Shida’s title they had to shoehorn a run-in. It’s always been a problem. There is no reversion.

That Rinya Nakamura fight was painful to watch. Dude didn’t want to wrestle at all, only did it reactively to his opponents entanglements, and handedly lost a fight he could have won. Cornerwork was bad too. I already thought the odds were pretty silly on that one, but damn the dude had way too much pride on the feet.

I go back and forth between P4 and P5 as favorites, but hands down P5 is the way to start IMO. It’s just much more fleshed out, lots more to do, much better dungeon design, social links and past times are deeper. P4 might have better cast and characters, but is more dated and limited. Might as well start with the most successful, acclaimed iteration and if you like it go back to P4 and P3. I couldn’t finish P3 tho, while a great game, the dungeons were extremely tiring by the end and the gameplay loop was just more of the same with less to do. They don’t reinvent the wheel much in them, so it kinda reminds me of FFIV-VI. You could easily prefer any of the 3, but the last one of the trilogy will make the best first impression IMO.

This is Japan. There's no precedent for having a mixed promotion with men and women's divisions on equal footing. So much of what makes joshi wrestling better and deeper than the American women's scene is having their own promotions that gives them much better opportunities to develop. The New Japan women's belt is just a gimmick for western viewership.

Guess I'll put this here instead of the New Japan thread, but after watching Umino vs. ZSJ... New Japan has the worst dojo system of any major company in Japan. Who have they produced since Naito that is consistently enjoyable? Kitamura is the only one I can think of that had potential and great instincts from the start. Okada was a Toryumon guy. Hiromu Takahashi is the only one I can think of, but I don't think he's any better than most of the elite of Japanese indie Jr. heavyweights. I just learned through google Naito technically wasn't even a New Japan dojo guy, but Animal Hamiguchi's dojo like a lot of Big Japan guys. Since Naito, even a shoestring budget indie like Big Japan produced Okabayashi, Yuya Aoki, and Takuya Nomura, who I think are all better than pretty much any New Japan graduate. DDT produced guys like Endo, Ueno, Higuchi, Takeshita, etc. So many of the guys they depend on to carry the cards like Ishii, Shingo, Ibushi, etc. were outsourced. I see zero talk of the foreigners they trained. No one cares about Clark Connors from what I see. Guys like Jay White, Finlay, Chase Owens that take on dojo roles all come out bland as hell. I guess it's kinda like the US, where the indie guys who make it to the big leagues are way better wrestlers than the ones who were brought up exclusively in the big league. The real striking thing about their students is just the overall lack of fire, there are no elements of urgency, violence, and drama in their matches.

Very surprised by the last take, I thought the crowd was kinda quiet and it feels like the overall volume at an AEW show is like 60% what it used to be. Feels like the crowd is pretty desensitized to a lot besides the big moves and nearfalls. The opener was more evidence that Will Ospreay doesn’t really have much range to me. Didn’t throw any kind of Steamboat hope spots or show any fire when the crowd is giving him sympathy. Didn’t do one fire up when he made his come back. Blood didn’t prevent any of his offense from working. On his comeback he just hits 5 moves in a row and just one cover, not showing any desperation. Doesn’t help that I’ve been watching a ton of Yoshihito Sasaki lately who was the king of the bloodbath with a molten hot comeback, but this was just a typical Ospreay match with a couple shots of him looking woozy. Blood in AEW is overdone but it worked for the tournament angle. Ricochet match was fine. He’s a wrestler whose entire act is athleticism, but athleticism rapidly starts waning at his age and he already doesn’t look as explosive to me, so the character work is a good direction to go in. I’ve liked what I’ve seen. Didn’t watch Takeshita/Hobbs though I’d probably like it. Skipped through the Thunder Rosa match, I really don’t enjoy her and the garbage stuff and thumbtacks just make me roll my eyes now. Thought Stat/Mone was nowhere near the first encounter. I’ve made it clear I find apron bumps to be an overused, lazy cheap pop. So you can imagine how I feel about this match having fucking FOUR of them. First one Mone basically no sells. and the next one is supposed to be the crux of the heat segment for some reason. Some sloppy transitions too, Mone is much better when she’s reigned in a bit (like most AEW wrestlers when I think about it). Finals were good. I hate post tournament angles unless it’s the winner saying the next step is to challenge for the world title. We spent months on this, the storyline for one night should just be Okada’s triumphant win. We’ve been waiting to see big match Okada and finally got it, that’s enough character arch for me to settle on for the night. Then establish his next feud on the next show. Even then it’s not that bad for Omega to come out, but why do two angles like this one after the other? Edge is so underwhelming in this already plodding storyline too, Omega would be better in his place. Or is Edge just playing the Hirotaka Yokoi role in this awful rendition of Stop the Matsunaga? AEW’s talent pool is so weirdly fragmented, why wouldn’t Omega want to fight against his long time enemy Moxley, who’s trying to take down the company he runs? Why keep them separate? Also what exactly is Mox’s problem with AEW? No one has grit or wants to sacrifice? The things Darby Allin exemplifies more than anyone, but for some reason he hates Darby. And why are they going around trying to kill people with Draino? Not my favorite show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVymsvKVMx0 Tribute to one of my favorites and one of the best bleeders ever, Yoshihito Sasaki.

Very true, never realized to this degree how compartmentalized the talent pool is. And yeah, Ospreay does seem less over. Someone said Mortos is being “Vince’d” and I find the comparisons of Vince and Tony’s booking pretty pointless as they’re completely different with any similarity being pure coincidence. Vince got talent over. Sure there were plenty of abominations. But Stone Cold, Taker, Mankind, Cena, The Rock, etc etc etc all had creative help in their characters. They took talent guides and had creative vision for them. I can’t think of a single wrestler AEW has “made”, who wouldn’t exist without the company. And I can’t think of many people who have gotten more over in time. Maybe Darby Allen? Everyone loses heat or if they’re successful just stay at the same level of over. When I watch WWE I’m amazed at some of the reactions a guy like Jay Uso can get, who seemed like a lifer mid carder but managed to legitimize himself as a main event.

I think the last full Sekimoto match I saw was him vs. Nomura in 2021 and it was great, but he definitely seemed a little older there. I can only imagine he's slowed down more now. He's always solid because he's Sekimoto, but doesn't seem like a guy people would want to build their title scene around anymore. Interestingly, this will be the first near live BJW broadcast on Samurai TV in a quite a while, maybe 2 years since a Drew Parker main event show had near live. I've heard people say Sekimoto's booking is hinting at him retiring soon, with doing some of these big dream matches as a final goodbye. But we'll see, some wrestlers in Japan will stick around forever.

delete please