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Before his AEW appearance I would've said Gabe winning was a lock. I still expect NJPW will stick to a switch because they have plans for Tsuji, but it's awkward knowing that this will be an Osaka crowd and who knows how they'll react. Many were hoping for round two of their first match but that might fail spectacularly this time around. I'm not seeing confirmation but I assumed it was. If it isn't, I can't imagine them not leaning towards it. Expectations have been set!

Hard to avoid parallels being drawn when Will is in the pre-final video package as the 'defending' youngest winner, isn't it? Don't think they're going to give him all that now expecting him to have another two decades in the division. Despy only just got his first BOSJ!

Apparently it took some work getting MAO in for this tournament but it's been a raging success, both in terms of what he has added to the tour and the interest he has spiked in DDT from reactions I've seen. The tournament guest spot that all should aspire to. OPEN SPOILERS Recent BOSJs have been guaranteed entertainment thanks to how healthy the division is at the moment, but I tend to agree with criticisms that no one really stood out this year and that is partly because of the booking. For that reason the Kushida / Fujita match was so valuable. Super memorable, helps to put Kushida over with new fans, but mainly reminded people why they already thought Fujita was awesome. Both Jr tournaments and the Jr tag bells by 22 and no one is complaining. Only question is whether he goes heavy down the line.

No spoiler tags from me. I knew I knew that name! Obviously Naito's knees are gone and his style wasn't built around longevity, but I think his eyes are holding him back more than anything at this stage. Having to have everything spoon-fed to him in the ring and it has to be a risk if he can't know exactly where his opponents/the ropes are as seems to be the case. Guess it didn't stop Stan Hansen though. I don't know what the immediate plans are for Takeshita but there have been numerous signs all pointing towards him laying down roots in New Japan long term, and if that's the case then yes you highlight away. The announcement of this second Dogpound match made me realise that the stip had earned the kind of reverence that HIAC used to have. Even with it being a drag to sit through the first changed/ended careers, had undeniable jeopardy, was unlike anything else in the company and was (unfortunately for yesterday's show) completely un-toppable. So this did a great job to match expectations. I'm not a fan of blood but have to admit that Gabe and Ren covered in the red stuff here provided visuals they can take to the bank. Ren got the boost he needed and the Gabe train keeps on choo-chooing. I too thought that Goto/Newman went too long, but Newman looked came across far better than what I was seeing of him last year. For those who wanted to see Goto get his rewards with his title win, he seems to be loving his role of sending everyone home happy on the mic as champion.

It appears that they already knew he was leaving and were going to give him the tag title run and the main event shot at Goto as a thank you send off because he's well regarded. What changed was the date that (supposedly WWE) wanted him to start which was brought forward.

Irritated me that the match order of Dominion last year (in the English speaking discourse at least) was dominated by HoT sucks takes rather than Despe is great takes. Only Okada, Shingo and Naito have had more main event matches this decade than Despe. Everyone's on that train.

Oiwa/Alpha, the main and the good guy War Dogs trio against HOT should be fun. But mostly looking forward to this new Kensuke Shinzaki fella destroying the ace.

I hadn't made that connection, then during a tag match when they're both on the outside Shingo hits him with a praying apron walk lol.

Gunbird and Gunbird 2 are included in the Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo collection if you're after modern ports. I didn't think they had any Capcom affiliation, though it has now occured to me you may have meant the Giga Wing games and if so the first is included on Capcom Arcade Stadium. I would say Mars Matrix could also find a home there one day considering that Progear made it.

After Kevin left as part of his bridge burning tour he went on a big suspiciously reddit-influenced rant about the product so I think it's likely that was him not caring as he was on his way out. May have set some kind of precedent as I imagine Chris was picking up a lot from him at the time. I've been suscribed to NJPW World all this time and haven't actually seen Omega/Kidd yet so I should get on that (with Japanese audio!). Was waiting for the post-Wrestle Kingdom Super J Cast for the inside goss on the show and they brought it: In contract to what Meltzer reported, three separate sources told them it was a direct request from Tony to punish Charlton. For those wondering why Tony would let Kenny have his first match back in New Japan, Tony didn't want them on the show but Kenny and the Bucks have it in their contracts that they can work NJPW when they want and decided that they were going to anyway. Kidani's comments after the show came partly from how difficult it was to promote with AEW changing plans all the time. They probably feel a bit silly about that Kenny/Tanahashi promo they put out at least.

So, people always say they love seeing new talent in NJPW develop over the years because they get to see the whole journey from the very beginning as scrawny kids. It's just struck me that we've got to see the same thing in commentary form with Chris Charlton. We got to hear his first words behind the mic with the internet complaining that he makes the company look small time, then occasional colour commentator, then filling in for Kevin now and again and now he's one of the Western faces of the company. Walter is getting better as you'd expect, but Chris is the one everyone is invested in. Living the wrestling dork turned celebrity life we all pretend we don't want.

Kidani commented on how Dynasty failed to present properly as either a cooperative show or an inter-company rivalry, so that angle was definitely a consideration. Okada throwing the new gen under the bus on his way out looks to have been a turning point (definitely not just a wrestler wanting a bigger payday). It's no coincidence that Yota and Gabe have been airing their grievances about the subject and have such strong crowd support. For those characters it wouldn't make sense for them to feel otherwise, and there's enough reality in there for it to resonate. 2024 was a spectacular year for New Japan in terms of getting younger wrestlers over unless you think rocket strapping is the only kind of push that counts.

My go-to recommendation at the moment is the last four matches of Power Struggle (2024) because they're amazing and actually feature names that will be featured going forward. If your time is limited then of those I would only say the Jr Tag title match because its a beautiful sprint. NJPW World hasn't been that way for about a year. You pay for the month starting the day you signed up.

Fun to see the Velocities after what feels like decades of them being hyped up. Rumour is the intention is for them to do a few more tours. The more the rest of the LA Dojo boys shine the more I keep on looking back at the Donkey Kong Country to see if he has some hidden inner potential. Seconding the love for Connors/Maloney. As someone who dislikes the O face when someone doesn't get the three count they're expecting I love how Connors sells them. A bad ass War Dog with an FML face like he's stuck in traffic. My shallow take on Francisco Akira is that people would rate him more if he didn't have such a regular dude haircut. Such a bonus that I re-subbed for KOPW and within the month I get Royal Quest, the entire Jr tag tour (always forget how short those are) and Power Struggle thrown in. Def feels like a busier end of the year than usual, and we don't really know that much about the plans for Historic X-Over or the two dome shows yet. Got to admit, Shota going for the 'thinks he's a face' thing is getting a bit of a reaction out of me when before there was none.

A summary of the latest Kota Ibushi drama: https://dramaticddt.wordpress.com/2024/10/29/what-is-going-on-with-ddt-and-kota-ibushi/

I'll be reviewing my experience rather than the show itself. Was more of a house show vibe and have since heard the show described as breaking New Japan's multi-month run of good shows so just my luck. Good thing the experience is what I'm paying the money for. There will be spoilers. I was pleased this show was announced for the same venue as Royal Quest II, because I didn't think there was a bad seat in the building. Was proven wrong as this time round I grabbed a seat five rows back on the floor, and I discovered that floor seats aren't the best for watching wrestling. It was worse for my wife who is far shorter than I am. Lesson learned, but knowing that I won't be shelling out for front row tickets in my lifetime I tried to make the most of the closest view of live wrestling I'm ever going to get. Feeling the bumps to the outside was an extra dimension I didn't anticipate. Was able to see a fair bit of daylight between strikes but after the first couple of matches you can feel the quality step up in terms of the facials and mannerisms that help tie everything together. A lot of wrestlers have a kind of multicoloured sparkly material on their ring gear which can be distracting. Tsuji in red and gold looks good. Red, gold and rainbow not so much. I also realised how small a lot of these guys are (not only because I couldn't see them when they were low down). Saw someone in the toilets wearing a UWF Snake Pit Japan jacket that I was envious of in that moment. I picked my seat to avoid the gaze of the hard cam and realised quickly that this time round the hard cam was moved to face my area, though thankfully most of the time I was out of shot. Perhaps notable that the pre-show hype video focused on the booing at Sumo Hall for Shota's match so that is definitely his story now. I've always been interested in what kind of wrestler Oscar turns into, but here he was still primarily doing those young lion screams before / after moves so a way to go yet. Very gratifying to say that I was in the building when the X was finally Robbie X. I wasn't buying it this time because one of the preview articles let slip that the unannounced partner would be joining Bullet Club, and I didn't think Robbie would be a good fit there but no he's too sweeting and everything. At some point during the opening two matches the guy sat next to me was ignoring what was happening in the ring in favour of watching a compilation on his phone of Tanga Loa botches. Mina Shirakawa was mega over. The difference in costume budgets between the Japanese and local talent is glaring by this point. Also most of the British wrestlers had Oiwa-level unflattering profile pics for the match graphics, looking way better in person. Fujita over Oku surprised me. Felt like Rev Pro should have been thrown a bone on that one but Fujita has a title match coming up. My wife says Yota Tsuji doesn't know how to wrestle. You heard it here first. At least he looked like he was having a good time. The chant of 'Yota Tsuji baby, Yota Tsuji woah-oah' to the tune of Don't You Want Me Baby by the Human League seems to be popular online now. Drilla had some good interactions with the crowd and looks at home as a heavy. Drilla threw a chair into the ring after the match, which is scary shit when you can't see that it came from a wrestler. Disappointed how little booing there was for Shota! Towards the end of the match people remembered, and I feel like fans can't criticise him for not knowing what kind of wrestler he's meant to be if fans can't remember what kind of wrestler they think he is. I still think Shota's look and moveset sucks but he's otherwise decetn. Oh yeah there was a shout from the crowd of 'leave the girls alone, Shota' which reassured me there were One Of Us hardcores in the building. David Finlay gets on the mic and makes a reference to English/Irish history for heat, which gets a well-earned 'you're not even Irish' chant later on. Finlay points out that Taka doesn't deserve to be in a one on one match with him, which is fair, leading to Taka against Gedo as a bonus match to prove his worth. Perfect really as Taka wasn't on any of the previous UK shows so this was the way to give him some shine, eye-poking his way to glory. He makes kind of a low pitched cry (like a 'boom' or probably more of a 'doof') when he does the pokes. I haven't made it sound cool but it is. This was Oiwa's first time leaving Japan I think but he got a good reaction. The British guy from the Super J Cast took credit for starting the 'T-Shirt Naito' chant, which boiled over into half the trios participants doing a t-shirt bit sucking up about five minutes. Robbie Robbie Robbie, Oi Oi Oi chants as you would expect. Annoyed me at the time because Ryohei's TMDK name is Roy the Mullet and this was really the only place we were going to get a Robbie Robbie Robbie, Roy Roy Roy chant going. I later heard Robbie Eagles talk about this show and TMDK had the same hopes (they were also hoping for Robbie Robbie Robbie, Oi Oi Oiwa). Always a bit weird seeing Tana and Ishii featured so prominently on the AEW crossover shows and it's the same here with them in the semi main event taking more bumps than many others. If you don't like crowds trying to get themselves over, don't watch the main event. I was there for the atmosphere so all good by me. Sanada leant into the boos, and at one point was visibly distracted by a shout in the middle of an exchange which kinda bridged the gap from playing up to the crowd and not taking the match seriously. Internet tells me the line responsible was 'SANADA's favourite anime is Sword Art Online'. Can't say the crowd were sabotaging the match when the champ is feeding the political chants by telling his opponent 'get up you Tory' and I personally was a fan of 'Sanada doesn't recycle', which may itself be recycled in some form but it was new to me. Saw it pointed out that this year is set to have a crazy high number of IWGP title defences, and felt like this didn't need to be one one week apart from the last and not up to this pairings high standards. Zack gathered TMDK into the ring at the end (already spoilered by them choosing to fly them all out here tbh) and provided the scoop that when Robbie Eagles has a few drinks his name becomes Bob the c**t. YOTA TSUJI FASHION WATCH So it's kind of a running joke by this point that I will be oblivious to wrestlers nearby at shows while my wife who does not watch wrestling always picks up on it, whether it's FTR brawling through the aisle beside, O'Khan chatting to people before the show, Umino making his entrance behind me, whatever. This time round while walking down the steps to my seat I notice one of the refs (I recognise the face, but don't know the name) running up past me, then almost accompanying me on his way back down again. Anyway she does it again during the trios match by getting permission for us to sit in the cheap seats in one of the sections they didn't sell tickets for, so we go up there and the rest of the show I'm distracted from the last two matches as she continually points out wrestlers from earlier in the card sitting in the far corner behind us watching the final part of the show. I was going to write a list but it might be more interesting sharing some photos and letting you spot the names yourselves. Felt a bit disrespectful sneaking photos of them so don't know if I should be putting them online but this is the puro subforum on DVDVR post AEW launch so this is going to be seen by like 7 people max it's like printing them out and putting them on my fireplace. Linked rather than embedded as not resized: View from my original seat 2nd seat 1 2nd seat 2 2nd seat 3

I'm lucky enough to be able to go to Royal Quest once again. Weird card in a very good way. Fujita/Oku and ZSJ/Sanada can't miss, and Tanahashi's announcement on Monday makes his tag much more of an event. Even though all the previous RQs were aired live on PPV, it being on regular NJPW World and featuring the reveal of Ishimori's 'X' partner for the upcoming Jr Tag tournament makes it seems a bit more 'canon' this time. More like an episode to tune into like any other. Stardom and Youngblood presence are both unexpected bonuses, as are Titan and Mascara Dorada (though I suspected the last two when they were booked for RevpRo's Global Wars for the day before). The only oddity is Finlay v Taka. Gabe Kidd isn't on the card but is in the country because he is also booked for Global Wars. Get the feeling that another member of J5G couldn't make it so a tag match had to be trimmed down. Either that or some kind of shenanigans are going to come out of it because it's the 7th match on the card.

I can't remember the exact wording but when I watched that video a couple of days ago I had auto-subs on and it interpreted 'Ogawa-san' as 'that girl I like' which I thought was very fitting.

Dormant enough that I was contemplating making one myself which would have been a bit of a faux pas.

KOPW very much worth watching spoiler free for me. A big Sumo Hall crowd for a main event where everyone seems to be emotionally invested one way or the other and no one knows which way they're going to go. Multiple routes they can go whoever wins and two of the matches which could potentially be the best two on the card anyway (Hiromu/Mistico and Shingo/Oiwa) are little story breadcrumbs to whet our appetites going into it. Even the HOT piss break match is saying 'hold that piss something might happen here' because it's Tana's 25th and this is a great point to start teasing Domes. Royal Quest and Wrestle Kingdom plans will be revealed. Plus Gabe hasn't got a match so he's bound to randomly come out and fuck someone up.

Mission 'make the October Sumo Hall show more interesting' has been a success I think. Not often I see a wrestling card and think I could watch all of it Royal Quest IV (or Royal Quest IIII if you believe the RevPro site when you buy tickets) has an interesting line up so far too. Fujita v Oku, Shota v Newman, Drilla v Tsuji, Tana/Ishii v TMDK, Shirakawa and AZM in a tag match and ZSJ v Sanada confirmed so far. Mascara Dorada and Titan are working Revpro Global Wars the day before so I'm hoping they'll show up too. It'll go out live on NJPW World this year I believe. I was going to compliment Tana on his predidential diplomacy on show, then twigged that he was calling out Kenny in the middle of it for not wanting to work with New Japan talent. Bucks v Tana and Kenny in 2024 after the G1 we've just had feels redundant.

Bumping this thread to reflect on how much Zack's victory has stuck with me. I concede that this will be because I'm a Zack fan/mark that wanted the victory and who stuck around to watch after the bell because of that, but nevertheless. The posing in the crowd and lifting the trophy like he was up in the stands having been handed the FA Cup. Getting the sponsor president to flick a V with him for the photo op. And the finish to the match. The woman's scream when Zack counters and gets Tsuji's arm. The Union flag raising in the crowd the second the bell rings. A big, big match in 2024 finished with a submission where the crowd is with them all the way. Volume was raised in the building with every limb tweak because they were hot for the tekkers. It's like he fantasy booked his own G1 win. 'Ogawa-san, I fucking did iiiiiiiiiiiit!'