Horangi

I have a top 3 of my favourite live matches: 1. Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay - Wrestling Kingdom 2020 1/4/20. I've said it before, but being a massive Hiromu fan, being there for his big stage return win was super emotional. Most will remember Okada/Ibushi from that night, but this was the highlight of my trip for me. 2. Kento Miyahara vs Jake Lee - AJPW 5/1/20. I bailed on a trip to Fuji Q with my friends for this and don't regret it at all. This turned me back onto AJPW and into a big Jake Lee fan. Awesome match, unfortunately All Japan hasn't been able to live up to thsi high

First night was a lot of fun, enjoyed Aoyagi/Otani the most.

Similarly to Gordy, my scope is quite limited to NJPW, some AJPW and Australian Indies, but this is the list of my top 10 given that context. No real order to it besides number 1 though. 1. Hiromu Takahashi - my vote for best of 2020 (so many great matches with Ospreay, Ishii, Despy, Lee, Eagles to name just a few) and looked to be carrying that into 2021 until another unfortunate injury. So charismatic and unique, if he was a bit taller and a heavyweight I think NJPW would have their new ace (and they still might) 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Go Ace! I don't think he'll ever fall off my

Henare tweeted himself on a plane indicating he's heading back to NZ, could very well be a ruse though. If Henare is back in NZ (quarantine makes it impossible to be him), Robbie is booked in Aus, difficult entry for 90% of the world unless having resident status (or a visa if from countries still allowed like Australia or NZ), the match itself indicates it'd be a heavyweight, who is left? Umino? Gabe?

Have been enjoying most of the cup matches so far, the last few nights I do think the mains could could shaved 5 minutes or so off. Definitely agree there was no need for a 25 minute epic White/Henare match (yet).

Besides the mess that was the tag title match, I really enjoyed the show. Surely a case can be made for Hiromu being top 5-10 wrestlers in the world at the moment.

Hmmm I definitely liked it more than the Ibushi dome matches, but I'd need to rewatch the Shingo/Cobb match to make a fair call. I'm leaning towards Shingo/Cobb as I kinda prefer the NEVER 15-20 minute wars. Shingo/Tana was very much a New Japan epic main event and awesome in its own right though.

Hiromu v Ospreay definitely ranks as my favourite WK match, not sure if I'd say it is the best (need to rewatch some of the above) but for me it is my number 1. Honourable mentions to Nakamura v Ibushi and Nakamura v Sakuraba...I miss NJPW Nakamura.

Haven't been to a huge amount of shows, but these are the 3 that are the most special for me so far: Wrestle Kingdom 2020 Night 1: My first Wrestle Kingdom, I had attended random New Japan cards including the Australian tours and that Power Struggle that had Okada v Anderson in the main, but I was so emotionally invested in this one, especially the Hiromu return match. Went with a bunch of friends from home which made it more special. MCW Clash of the Titans 2019: In terms of wrestling, I'd say i had been to better MCW shows (i.e. November Rain with Okada, the one with Gambino/Eagles

Kind of looking forward to Kohei Sato in All Japan, but that's me remembering him from around 2005/06 and haven't seen anything since...how is he these days? Hope Kento and Yuma win the tag titles, but am pulling for Suwama for the Triple Crown, only because I still have a faint hope Jake will finally get the big win.

Probably the best night so far last night, I enjoyed everything, with the main event, SHO/Robbie and Despy/Uemura really standing out to me. Not that I'm happy Kanemaru missed due to injury, but like last year with Narita, the fiery young lion matches are so much fun to watch. I'm a huge Eagles fan, but the Robbie Robbie Robbie chant made me cringe. Please stop. I don't think he is turning either...how far off is YOH from returning? He could be one i could see maybe joining The Empire. I really hope that's last we see of Taguchi's ass...

Knew Robbie would be in based on a tweet by his wife. Happy for him though, fully expect him to join Ospreay's crew

With BoSJ around the corner, I think he'll get a junior in his ranks. Robbie Eagles is the obvious one here, but he sucks as a heel. Also I don't know if he'd even go over at this point and potentially be away from his family for months or if he could even get a travel exemption to leave Australia (Aus citizens can't leave without a government approved exemption and while a goalkeeper signing for a Danish 2nd division club got one, I dunno if a pro wrestler would).

Was this the one that Meltzer said Tanahashi was definitely winning and then New Japan said he had no idea? If it is, then I'm with you as everyone was so sure Tana was instead so it was a good shock that Okada retained.

God damn, Ishii and Taichi do pull out the best out of each other, definitely right up there as one of my favourite matches of the tournament. White/Cobb was a lot of fun too, White made Cobb look like a million bucks.

Something has felt off about Okada since the New Japan return. I miss the Rainmaker... Really enjoyed Taichi/Cobb as well as the Suzuki/Ishii war. Would not be against Taichi going deep in the tournament, he's really upping his game.

I don't think there will be any outsiders. There's enough on the roster where they wouldn't have to use tournament retired guys like Nagata or Young Lions. Hypothetically 20 could be Okada, Ishii, Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Yano, Tanahashi, Ibushi, Makabe, Naito, SANADA, Takagi, Suzuki, Taichi, Zack, EVIL, Yujiro, Hiromu, SHO, Desperado and Ishimori. Would love to see some All Japan involvement though (especially Suwama or Jake), but won't get my hopes up.

All of the New Japan COVID tests came back negative, business as usual from their next show on the 16th

I'm not the one who upset her - but I nearly did. I had mod abilities at that time and started throwing warnings onto her to which I got a big abusive DM sent to me. I apologised, then I got a DM from Scott (who also joined the board for a very short period) apologising back to me. We all became MySpace and then Facebook friends for years until they unfriended everyone they weren't personally close with. Those were surreal days for an 18-year-old kid. Thanks for the memory lane posts everyone, I've been lurking and rarely posting here waaaaaaay longer than I thought.

KENTA definitely is still stateside, I believe his kids are still in school there.

Oof poor Gino haha. I only really started going regularly to MCW and other Melbourne shows towards the end of Sextons run, but he always stood out due to his size and his charisma. It was funny at this farewell match in Melbourne that I don't think many knew he was going to WWE. Everyone was super pumped for Jonah getting the shot in NXT that when Jonah tried to get the thank you Sexton chant going and clue everyone it, it went completely over the crowd's head. Funny how things end up that Jonah is rarely seen in NXT now while Sexton is getting this huge opportunity.

SXW was the TV program NJPW aired on J SPORTS/ESPN in the 2000s if I'm remembering correctly.

Hartley has been gone from WWE for months, has been doing Aus Indies since October. Glad to see ol' Jacko back on Z1

Tama has a baby due over this time, hence why he isn't there.