Beech27
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Posts posted by Beech27
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A miraculously cured Shibata would be my answer. Somewhat more realistically, I’d have chosen Kawada to win the IWGP title when he beat Kensuke, rather than just having the latter man vacate it for losing a non-title match—and then win the rematch with the belt on the line. Even if Kawada had been a zero defense holder of the title, it’d be something neither Misawa or Kobashi ever did.
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This is far, far, far from the biggest problem with Underground--either on a conceptual or actual level--but quasi shoot style doesn't really make sense in a company that has built matches around punches for decades.
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Maybe this show/tournament should get its own thread, but I’ll put it here for now:
Not exactly stoked on this field, but it’ll be interesting to see if they really do strap the rocket to Fredericks. Winner gets Moxley for the US title at a date TBA.
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2 hours ago, Jiji said:
That's getting some love from the VoW people. Have you watched it yet?
I like it a lot. It’s a 60 minute match where they seem focused the entire time, so your time never feels wasted. And they do a really good job of avoiding the usual ironman escalation trap, where you either have early, cheap falls, or emphatic falls that leave no room for escalation and make it hard to believe either guy is still standing as the minutes wear on. Here, every fall feels earned, and the accumulated damage/fatigue a legitimate—but not debilitating—factor, so the last 15 still has somewhere good to go.
But I don’t think it’s a drop everything MOTY, like VOW seems to. Some plot threads and limb work don’t really cohere moment to moment or big picture, so even though they pace well (and this is a cliche criticism) you can’t help but feel there’s a better match to be had in half the time. I also didn’t really like the announcing, although “Will Yehi tap, here at Wendy Wine Company!?” is great unintentional indy comedy.
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"The new plan is to make even more compelling characters and storylines" is a hilarious line. So, the old plan was to create fewer compelling characters and storylines? No wonder that wasn't working! Even putting that aside, it reminds me of cross country parents who would just yell "Go faster!" the whole time, as if simply being better was a choice you could make in the moment, and performance wasn't a result of multiple inputs over weeks, months, years. Which is to say, they aren't going to create more compelling characters and storylines unless they change one (or several) of the inputs that lead to the current product.
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5 minutes ago, Eivion said:
I thought it was confirmed back then that Nagata made it in because of the wrestler vote, like everyone who ever worked in NJPW with him voted for him?
That could be it. Essentially, the gist seems to be he's highly respected by those he's worked with. Never quite had whatever it takes to be a transcendent star, but did his best at that level because New Japan needed him to; then, put over Tanahashi when it was time, and worked his way down the card.
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On 7/28/2020 at 11:34 PM, Death From Above said:
He's one of those weird guys where for the longest time (and I'm not sure he ever REALLY got over this because I haven't seen much Japanese wrestling in the last decade) as long as he had someone to hold his hand, he had all the skills to have a great match. But if he had to take the wheel, yeesh. Some of his big matches are indeed very good though.
I'd say Nagata is highly respected, and over in that regard, to modern fans--even if he never clicked is a transcendent top guy. (To be fair, New Japan throwing him into shoot fights did him no favors here.) It probably also must mean something that he made the WON HOF on the back of a unanimous Japanese vote, and that Danielson and Regal both cite him as one of their all-time favorites to work with.
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For what it's worth--maybe nothing!--the youtube video titled "Warhorse Makes His AEW Debut & What is Matt Cardona Doing in AEW?" has 412k views, which is the most from this episode by quite a bit.
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At least for now, they've said it's until the end of the year. Which would mean Okada--or whomever--would still be free for WK.
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It probably won't surprise anyone, but the (as far as I can tell unsourced) rumor is that the KOPW title is very much Okada's idea. He likes goofy things, and this kinda fits with the notion that whenever he loses the title, he also loses his mind a little. Anyway it seems pretty low-risk. If it ends up going well, you can keep doing it. If it doesn't, you can never do it again, and let it fade away quietly as a COVID-era experiment.
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I can’t see New Japan helping any other company with a dome show, even granting significant post-COVID goodwill. But yeah, Okada or Tanahashi would be a huge help, assuming LIJ/BC is going to be New Japan’s main event focus for a bit.
Otherwise... it’s hard to see. Available former dome main eventers to NOAH/DDT would be Akiyama, Mutoh, and Kenny. Mutoh can’t really do a big singles now; Akiyama seems not to want to. Kenny is wrestling Endo already, so that’s one big match down. And then it’s easy to get into fantasy land really quickly. Kawada never retired, right? Kensuke still looks real jacked, and he and Miyahara had a real falling out—so that’s something.
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I don’t really associate NOAH with the dome, anyway. They need to fill the Budōkan first—which Kenoh has been promising for a couple years now.
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I wonder if this might tie in to Okada’s interview with Inoki. Bring the founder back while you wrestle some outsider.
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That’s true. It was also, I think, the appeal of “see the buzzworthy might-be stars who you haven’t had the time or inclination to track down, but have heard a lot about.” So, if interest ever started to wain, there was always another name to arrive, with ready made feuds and angles. AEW has hurt that, but so has WWE’s own hiring practices, and the pandemic. They can shuffle main roster stars down briefly, but the instant novelty of the latest indie/Japanese darling is diminished, as there are simply fewer.
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We're all overlooking the fact that Warhorse's entrance theme--which I'm certain AEW will pay to use--is Metallica's The Four Horsemen, so this is, umm, clearly another step on Cody's road to heeldom.
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Okada gave an interview in Tokyo Sports, saying that he isn't interested in challenging for the double title, regardless of what happens on this show; and in fact he thinks the combining of the belts diminishes both.
As far as I can tell--via the translations I've seen--this isn't directly a shot at the IC title, though I think we have to keep in mind that he's never challenged for it (WK aside).
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Jay White also posted an Instagram story that appears to be him flying into Japan, with 7/25 over the top. So that’s probably pretty clear. -
I know we’re all sick to death of demo talk, but I’m not sure WWE can be a kid’s show in any meaningful sense if kids don’t watch the show. And they overwhelmingly don’t.
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2 minutes ago, Firebreaker Chip said:
Does KENTA not live in Japan? Or is he hurt at the moment?
KENTA still lives in Florida.
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Whatever EVIL’s ceiling ends up being, I do think it’s very possible the LIJ family drama could/will draw strong houses.
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The show has sold out. Napkin math, based on 1/3 capacity, means that's probably 2000-2500 tickets. Not a surprise, but maybe still worth mentioning.
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Okada pinning an underling in the same faction as the champion and then challenging for the title(s) is pretty New Japan 101, but I really hope they don't go that route.
Puroresu General Discussion for 2020
in JAPAN
Posted · Edited by Beech27
(No need to spoiler tag this now, I suppose.)
I'm not really sure why NOAH is going the double-champ route so soon after introducing the National Championship, but it struck me as mostly superfluous to begin with. They don't really have the roster depth to justify two big singles titles. But I guess we'll see.
I watched Kenoh/Nakajima this morning. They kick eachother hard, and often, which I expected. The sum is... almost boring, though, which I didn't expect. I suppose they were going for a kind of deliberate violence, both men comfortable and unhurried. It felt plodding to me, though.
And while I liked the idea behind the finish--Kenoh wins via a flash KO, after a headkick--I didn't think it was executed especially well. That is, the camera zooms in and clearly catches Nakajima talking to the ref right before the match is called. So either he's legitimately unable to continue (which I don't believe) or the camera demonstrated he wasn't knocked out at all.
Maybe (probably) that's nitpicking, and I'd have easy justifications if I'd liked the match more to that point. (The ref asks him if he can continue; he responds with jibberish; ref calls the match. Easy.) I think I might just be getting bored of matches built almost wholly around letting the other guy hit you, and then taking your turn. I understand fighting spirit, that it's not just about trying to win, but prove something along the way; but I wish it were a trope more sparingly deployed, and a larger emphasis was put on striking to win.