Sublime

If I didn't feel like White is practically a lock to win the G1 this year I'd be really excited about the idea of Shingo/Naito at the dome. Oh well. When Ibushi was announced to be ill I was worried that EVIL would end up being his replacement and was relived when it was Tanahashi but then....Guess this will make the show shorter to watch cause I'm not watching that unless I hear it was awesome but EVIL doesn't seem to want to be a slapping meat guy these days so I don't have hopes. But whatever Hiromu is back!!!!!!!

I guess it's more that he showed glimpses of being able to be a surly ass kicker in his NEVER matches a few years ago. That's when I liked him most when he would lean into that style that was the focus of the NEVER belt at the time but he's been trying other stuff and I just don't think what he's been doing really fits with his strengths as a wrestler. Him starting his own group would have been good too, the current groups (CHAOS and BC especially) need to be shaken up or done away with. I think EVIL taking a guy like YOSHIHASHI and helping him find a bit more edge. Oka/O-KHAN would have fit alongside EVIL well too I think. Nothing about EVIL really makes sense to be a part of BC and that's the one faction that needs to shed guys for sure.

EVIL should have never joined the Bullet Club. I think he would have fit better in Suzuki-Gun and focused on being a surly ass kicker like he’d do when going against the Ishii and Goto’s of the world rather than being a guy who had Togo choke his opponent for most of the match. I never though Dick Togo would be someone I didn’t want to see on a show but Gedo found a way to make it happen.

One of the great things about Eddie and Funk is that in addition to working any style they’re guys who you could put anywhere on the card, face or heel, and they would fill their role perfectly. They’re true pros who would do the job asked of them and do it well.

Oaf that's a long match, I enjoyed their BOSJ finals match but felt it was too long then. NJPW is really having a problem with these long matches. Long matches can be wonderful Okada has had plenty but not ever long match is great and not every wrestler is an Okada level talent (he's a top 1% worker of all time) who knows how to make those matches work. Just stop with these forced epics.

I have no problems with wrestlers failing their goals. It’s just that lately goals are rarely achieved it makes it so there is no investment in the goals wrestlers set because it’s almost a forgone conclusion that they won’t happen. That’s how NJPW has mostly been for the past few years so when a guy says I’m going to do this it’s pretty much a signal that they won’t do it (unless it’s at WK). I’m fine with people failing as long as we get to see success too.

Those spoilers are something.

This is such sad news. OSJ is someone I had a few direct interactions with over the past two decades but he was always nice to me when we did. I'm gonna miss the stories of his cats and all his knowledge he'd drop about old wrestlers, comics, and authors.

The problem with All Japans influence is also we had the 2000s Indy style being created by a bunch of workers who were influenced by what they saw of the promotion and wrestlers without all of the context. And that style became really ingrained in the US scene all the way to the WWE so we have an idea of these highly dangerous spots and moves being what is good rather than stories that build to the need of those spots

Yeah I always saw Michaels Mr Wrestlemania thing (in it's early days at least) not about him being dominant at Mania but more that he would always put extra effort into his Mania matches from both a kayfabe and shoot perspective. He would give his opponents the hardest fight and put the most effort in when the lights were on bright

Sending a letter to the courthouse explaining that you are an anarchist who does not believe in the laws of man worked well for.....someone (until they moved to another area anyway).

I almost canceled my NJPW world sub. last month and kinda wished I had. My interest is so low both in NJPW and wrestling in general (the deaths of Brodie and Hana really drained me last year) and putting Ospreay on top makes me not care about the upcoming dome shows, which I was holding out for hoping they’d do something interesting there. The new era is shaping up to be one that isn’t what I want to see.

I was just starting to like Ospreay when the speaking out stuff came out. He was strating to put things together better but yeah my opinion of him dropped back down last year (he's heel turn has been lame as well) The only time I thought Scurll looked good was against Okada at All In, I thought maybe I can get into this guy he's never looked this good, turned out you just look great when you're in the ring with one of the best of all time. Ospreay/Okada at WK is easily Ospreays best match too and the only worthwhile thing to come out of his turn (well heel Cobb is good too). Stormbreaker is lame as hell, but I thought it was still better than the oscutter. I do agree that NJPW is too reliant on finishers to finish matches, most of these guys have secondary big moves that could easily end matches. Another NJPW take is that as great as Dangerous Tekkers are both guys should be getting bigger singles matches and being positioned higher up the card.

I thought the belt might grow on me the more I saw it but no, I'm liking it less each time. There's something about the shape of it that just seems off. I don't know if widen the bottom half would help but it wouldn't hurt. I don't like how much strap is visible in the front. I think it looks fine with Ibushi it fits him but I can't really see it as a belt others would wear with pride. I literally can't picture Tanahashi with that belt or Okada for that manner, it lacks the feel of grandeur that a main belt should have. I think shaping it more like the previous belt and more emphasis on the idea of a lions mouth biting the world would have made a better belt. It feels like a rough draft of a good belt that needed more time to revise before being implemented.

I had to look him up too and I still don’t know who he is. He definitely picked up the carny aspects of the business during his training though that’s for sure