Salads

Nakanishi's win was a good moment, but its legacy will be making everyone who doesn't get a run look worse.

'Okada: So there are those political lines there. And that’s when the words struck me, of whether you’re in the ‘IWGP Party’ or the ‘G1 Party’. –So to make things clear, you want it to be less of a case of the G1 winner being a challenger, and more that the G1 winner is the G1 Champion, and that Wrestle Kingdom is a Champion versus Champion match.' G1 Party 4 Life

Thread bringing back memories of Muscle Orchestra, the team with a name that generated more appeal to me in comparison to their ability than any other. At first I interpreted this as Sapp being the last 2nd gen holder (he isn't, much like Okada wasn't the last holder of the 4th. Woosh) but for a moment I would have bet money he was. Combination of remembering Nakamura holding the 2nd in 2004 and Inoki stink being responsible for the first two times we had multiple generations mingling like a Doctor Who special.

If it's TV Asahi responsible for the crackdown then sadly that doesn't bode well for a change.

Every now and again I try to remember to thank posters on this forum because I barely ever actually watch wrestling but love reading your thoughts. Extra appreciative of the G1 talk this time round because from what I'd seen of NJPW talk so far this year on this and other sites, I'd resigned myself to the possibility that there may not have been any.

To me this would be the perfect antidote to what Ibushi did earlier this year.

I'm maintaining optimism for a ZSJ push on the basis that NJPW are starting to realise the value of a talented foreigner who isn't only wrestling for them because there wasn't an English speaking alternative offering their pay grade when their contract was negotiated.

The linearity is a common complaint for Fusion but I appreciated it. Gunning for the end credits isn't really getting the proper Metroid experience but I always have to balance that with my impulse to backtrack over every step of my game so far whenever I get a new ability so that I'm up to date with my upgrades. Fusion segmenting the map into sections and restricting access to one or few at a time still allowed for rewards for going off the beaten track / remembering prior obstacles but helped funnel me into a far more sensible backtracking : progress ratio. Speaking of the beaten track, there were plenty of moments where you would be told to go to point X on your map like it was a GTA mission but some shit would go down en route and you'd have to go off-grid to find some other way there. So my initial reaction to tasks would be 'this sucks I'm meant to be playing a Metroid game' but instead of trying to find exploitable nooks and pathways as one of many sweeps looking for upgrades as I would in past Metroids I would end up doing the same things in Fusion to get to my next objective. Felt like they melded those two parts of the Metroid experience together well. Maybe not the most Metroid way of doing things, but considering its GBA neighbour is the formularific Zero Mission those little set pieces helped set it apart from the rest of the series.

To add to the Japan comparison, NJPW definitely promotes guys trained in-house over others and will adopt signees into that system whenever they can get away with it, but at least when taking on people who are still inexperienced excursions are also an important part of the formula. I'm sure part of that is for general life experience purposes when you're trying to move guys on from years of sleeping in a dojo living the drill sergeant subordination dream, but in terms of wrestling I interpret it as: a) a value to the company to have outside influences to avoid their style becoming too incestuous. Parking guys in different corners of the world means hopefully no two have the same upbringing and they can bring something new to the group rather than regurgitating what it already had. b) a value to the individual of being outside the system. Different locker rooms. Adapting to random opponents. Trying to appeal to crowds that respond to different things and don't know who you are. You know, the indy experience. I don't think it matters that much where they go or how they're used (Okada's TNA run didn't seem to deter them too much). More that they get the opportunity to put it all together themselves after they've been given the tools and to find some new inspirations along the way. So it's agreeing with WWE that if you want to drill in your fundamentals it's easier when you get them early rather than re-training after they've had years to establish themselves, but it may be disagreeing with how useful the other part is. If you want your roster to be told what to do, work TV matches only and happily sign on the dotted line when their contract is up for renewal, maybe not so much.

I think people are sleeping on just how well Shingo has been protected and pushed up the card since his debut (I posted about this back in April and you can now add 'loses title shot but gets another one > wins title > main events two dome shows' on the end of that list). The only time this dude loses is when he's about to get promoted. Maybe when he comes in we're thinking he wouldn't get a shot because he's an outsider and the NEVER run seemed to slot him in the Ishii role but Shingo is bigger (by a bit), younger (by a chunk) and a better talker (by PLANETS) along with a similar level of ring performance. Looking at his push and the commitment to having new faces on top since the belt switch to IWGP WHC, I think he would have always been in the mix somewhere down the line. Though I agree the unlikely champ / carrying the company angle is a good one to make him stand out if they want to spin it that way.

Can understand wanting Nintendo games cheaper, not so much attacking Nintendo for it. Saw a headline last week that the three biggest selling games in Europe for the first half of 2021 were Super Mario 3D World, FIFA 21 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. You can't critisise charging a standard release price for some of the most in-demand games on the market. (Side note: It's insane and super cool that good but commercially irrelevant games can be re-launched years later with proper marketing and become chart-toppers second time round. C'mon Nintendo do Excite Trucks next.) Similarly why should they be dropping the price on games like SMO and BOTW just because they're four years old? Other games don't drop in price because they're old. They drop in price because they aren't pulling in revenue anymore. Those two games are still shifting millions of units each quarter. Now someone tell me why Yoshi's Crafted World is $60.

One wig away from the perfect cosplay.

Was recently introduced to Dan Soder's Macho Man impersonation. I am absolutely smitten. This has had me smiling all day (if you'll excuse the nsfw line in the middle):

I can't say that I've played many battle royale games, but it's impossible that any could be greater than Super Bomberman R Online.

Put all five remaining wrestlers in an Island Deathmatch each show via video wall. Paying fans get hours of wrestling for their money and it's completely covid safe.

Simple provocation. We all know how Cody feels about unions.

Between the did-he-mean-to-say-that 'you didn't come here to live the England Dream', listing Gabriel Kidd as among the best wrestlers the UK has produced and not knowing what irony is, that was a textbook if stereotypical dumb American heel promo.

I can't stand SRPGs, and considering the gargantuan state of my backlog and how long the things take I have no great inclination to try and change that. That said, Into the Breach is one of the best games I've ever played so I'm definitely seconding that. Three controllable units, an 8x8 grid and minimal gear/exp modifiers prevented me from feeling bewildered at having a billion possible moves at my disposal like I normally would. I can actually sit and analyse the board like it's a game of chess before making my moves (which I assume is what normal people can do with regular SRPGs) and reject the notion that the winning moves were something that would never have occured to me when I lose. After working my way up the difficulties almost every round of every game ended up some variation of 'There are six enemies about to attack five different targets. I have three controllable units, none of which has an attack strong enough to take an enemy out by itself and only one with the HP to withstand an attack.' with me eventually having to come up with a Rube Goldberg machine of push / status / block / exhaust / sink chain reactions so that miracle of miracle everyone lives just this one day. Then two more of the bastards crawl up out of the ground to join the rest and you have do it all again for round two of five only without some of the things you've just sacrificed because there was No Other Way. Many games present seemingly insurmountable odds for you to gain the satisfaction of surmounting but I think only Into the Breach has made me keep believing they were insurmountable with such frequency. Fractured But Whole is a great, safe choice if you liked Stick of Truth. I rate both, as I do the Costume Quest rpg-as-role-players contextualisation it uses. On a similar note I'm currently dabbling with Chroma Squad. Not something I'd recommend (I don't like SRPGs, honest!) but I love its framing of SRPG battlegrounds as 'indie TV studio filming Super Sentai fights' which it runs with about as well as you could hope.

When Mox challenged Nagata it seemed like he was crossing off a name on his fanboy wishlist to give people like us something to talk about. Now it's happening on Dynamite it looks like a Saudi Prince booked it.

No way was I expecting Shingo to get this much backing when he came in. I wonder how Sanada feels being the #4 guy in LI even after Evil left. > Comes in > Wins jr tag title after three months > Is undefeated for the best part of a year > Sets a points record in his only BOSJ > Loses final, immediately promoted to heavyweight > First ever double-NEVER champion (for seven months!) > Spends 294 days as a heavyweight singles champ > Needs Tanahashi to prise the NEVER title away from him, then a New Japan Cup final > Loses NJC final, then does an Ibushi and gets the shot anyway > Straight IWGP main eventing

After years of 'why haven't New Japan made Naito / Ibushi / whoever the guy yet' it turns very quickly to 'now what?' once delivered when the same guys are still facing the same guys. You mentioned Naito as an example of creating a new star, but I'd also use him as an example of reinventing one. Every now and again (Chono, Mutoh, Makabe, Nakamura, Naito... or Yano!) NJ have someone who's already up there as a mainstay but an almost US-style gimmick repackaging not only makes them more popular but is effectively a new character helping rematches feel fresh. If you can get that right it's priceless for an established name in a closed roster where everyone's G1ing everyone else year on year. I would say Ibushi was a prime candidate for this. Seems like his God declaration was only marginally more convincing than Naito's shuyaku line, and he's going to need to tone his ring style down sooner or later. Is Okada going to be the Rainmaker for twenty years (balloon Kaz doesn't count)? Fantasy booking time but with excursions out of the question if those two names are the most rumoured to get some AEW interaction that might serve as a catalyst.

Seconding that Okada dropping the belt was the start of the downfall rather than Omega leaving. No way you can include the build to Omega/Tanahashi in NJPW's 'golden age', the Ibushi/Cody three-way seemed like an open admission that booking had been replaced by pandering and it's clear that Omega's attitude/leaving threw a giant spanner into the planning that had previously been working well. It was hardly a Rikio but in hindsight still a waste of and step down from Okada's reign. Will defend EVIL's title win. I've seen both New Japan and NOAH crash and burn after peaks and I don't think there's a wide realisation of the threat of it happening again. Goto, Yano, KENTA, Tanahashi and Ishii are over 40 and Shingo, Ibushi, Cobb and Naito aren't far off. Guys like Taichi or Yoshi-Hashi who seem 'new' in terms of roster presence are the same. In five year's time it will be a very different landscape, and who's replacing them on the native side? EVIL and Sanada make the third gen look like the four kings, but you've got to give them something before you're doing it because it's necessary. Putting the belt on 45 year old Ishii does not solve any problems or turn around business. I'd even argue it's not that interesting. Okada and Takahashi aside, both divisions are short on future options. The prime candidates to link this age to the next in the heavyweight division are Okada, Ospreay and White. The latter two being Western star-getters that are under long term contract and in their 20s. With AEW around and in the ear of anyone WWE managed to miss the rotating foreigner spot isn't going to be able to rotate like it used to. You're probably thinking that star-getting isn't what NJPW needs, and I would agree with you... but it is? I've been a New Japan guy since 2003, and I agree with a lot of the points mentioned about what would make their product more interesting. However I've grown to learn that what makes New Japan interesting to me is the opposite of what makes them popular and profitable. Didn't like the long NOAH matches in the 2000s. Didn't like the Kobashi run from a booking standpoint. I prefered plausible unpredictability over storybook templates. But Western internet fans loved them and business was on the up. New Japan start doing it in 2010s. Same result. Having loved seeing young talents rise through the ranks I couldn't stand Okada's push and Bullet Club seemed the worst kind of the many Americanisms I was seeing introduced. So of course they're quickly accepted as puro's brightest star and biggest merch sellers worldwide. To me New Japan is about Ishii, ZSJ, Yano, Suzuki. In the past it was Nishimura, Fujita and whatever musclehead gaijin they flew in that month. Clashes of styles. Moxley in the G1? Welcome aboard! At one point Ibushi coming up from the Jrs was part of that. It's clear that NJ still values this but we know the names that made New Japan 'great' and it doesn't work to fly against that. Meltzer is the biggest promoter of New Japan in the West, and Western fans now do the unthinkable and actually pay to watch them, so that viewpoint affects their bottom line more directly than possibly anyone else. NJPW World also makes them vulnerable. WWE and AEW would have far more vocal red line issues for fans ala Ospreay if those companies were behind a paywall as opening your wallet requires a different level of engagement. I've heard 'Stop catering to Western fans' as a common complaint but it's not great advice when those fans are also now customers and they will stop paying if they don't like what they see. So cater they shall.

Transformers Devastation reminds me of those old licensed games where they'd throw a license drape (or three) over whatever game template they had ready to go. In a good way. It doesn't really fit (why are the Autobots using swords?) but I bought it for 'Transformers + Platinum' and that's what I got. High sequel potential with I think only about five controllable characters which won't happen due to licensing, but can't fault Activision for having the license in the first place and putting their money on 'like Bayonetta but with vehicle form hit and runs for wicked weaves'.

As someone who had an accusation made of them at work involving a colleague of the opposite sex comprehensively debunked later down the line but still gets soul-chilling moments when considering there may be people out there who only knew of the first part, it's scary how absent the developments from late last year are when this topic comes up. Teflon above deciding against trusting it is fair enough it's not like we can be 100% either way, but considering the level of Britwres sleaze we've seen I'm disappointed seeing Will widely described as a Scurl-tier offender based primarily on an individual tweeting something which they later walked back as an 'opinion' when information came out to the contrary. It's clear at this point that Will's stupidity isn't something that can be masked by interviews so in my head canon that's his gimmick, that David Finlay tweet was kayfabe and him attacking his girlfriend to make a point that no one gets isn't surprising. He's not unhinged stupid, or too-trusting Sting stupid he just repeatedly makes life hard for himself by saying the wrong thing and making bad decisions. You've got to take your real-life qualities and exaggerate them. I've always liked NJPW having IWGP titles with the suggestion of an independent governing body lending wider credibility rather than the 'this is the best guy we have under conract right now' vibe you get from championships named after the promotion itself. So a shame that this governing body is toothless and always goes along with whatever the holders want with promos about how challengers will mess with the titles in the event that they win.