lostinube

Robbie Eagles is now TMDK 4 Life and is Hiromu's next IWGP jr title challenger.

Cyber Fight has adjusted their mask policies in accordance with the government guidelines. Masks are now optional for spectators but may depend on the venue. https://www.ddtpro.com/news/20075 I think they might have altered their statement because I thought I saw something about still needing masks for autograph events and whatnot. New Japan has not issued an updated statement yet.

Please listen to a better call than the one we did!

MURAKAMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bottom of the ninth coming up. Ohtani, Yoshida and Murakami.

Kenoh still chasing outside of NOAH tag gold will team with Shuji Kondo to take on Kzy and Big Boss Shimizu for the Open the Twin Gate titles on 4/4 in Tokyo.

FINALLY! Japan ties it up 3-3 after stranding like a billion runners.

I can see SANADA winning and then eventually losing to Finlay. That can free up Okada to maybe either go for the tag titles with Tanahashi or do something with Kaito with far less politics involved. Also, my secret wish is that ELP leaves the BC to join LIJ.

So...

Japan is on to Miami. Ohtani picks up a plaque. He notched two wins and batted .438 through five games as the DH. Munetaka Murakami has finally gotten hits in his last two games after going 0 for whatever in his first three games - the Amazon Prime broadcast would always focus on his average displayed on the scoreboard whenever he came up to bat just to rub it in.

Re: Wearing masks in Japan https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/12/national/japan-mask-rules-caveats/ NJPW will continue to ask fans to wear masks at venues although cheering is now allowed and venues will now operate at 100% capacity. Come May they will revise their policies as necessary. https://sp.njpw.jp/410733 NOAH, DDT and TJPW are also continuing to ask fans to mask. Their statements are exactly the same since they came via CyberFight. https://www.noah.co.jp/news/4310/

Pool A chaos! Cuba and Italy are in after Italy beats the Netherlands. Japan finished 4 - 0. Ohtani finally hit one out of the park and the pop in the Tokyo Dome...

Pool A is going down to the last day as Taiwa...er..Chinese Taipei beats the Netherlands. It's still possible for all five team to end up 2 -2 and we have to go to the tiebreakers. Pool B is a little clearer as Japan is already in with three wins. Australia is in the driver's seat for the other slot for now.

Henare picks up a big singles win over Takagi. Good on NJPW for giving him that win and good on the UE guys for really selling it as a big moment by jumping into the ring and celebrating.

Lars Nootbar is shining throughout two games. Also: Korea burned through ten pitchers and came very close to getting mercy-ruled in the 7th (15 run lead after five, 10 run lead after 7). Now Korea is in a 0 - 2 hole and need lots of other things to go their way to advance.

There's a bit of tension between new Bullet Club leader Finlay and El Phantasmo. The first night Phantasmo didn't too sweet the rest of the BC and tonight he reluctantly did it.

Darvish starting against South Korea tonight.

Ohtani picks up the win for Japan with 5 Ks in four innings. He also picked up two RBIs. Japan led all the way but an Ohtani single in the 8th led to Japan batting around and blowing it wide open. The Tokyo Dome crowd is so amped for Ohtani that they will go nuts if/when he knocks one out of the park.

Main event to the 51st Anniversary Show was fun.

Well, it looks like David Finlay - sort of looking like a less wet Seth Rollins - is the new leader of the Bullet Club. He came out with Gedo and of course, has his own Bullet Club variation shirt, "Rebel Club."

Haven't watched it myself but luchablog says the main of 2/23 was the best match of the first two days.

Aoyagi just lost the AJPW Junior title to Naruki Doi this past week. If he hadn't, they would have had the three major junior title holders on the same show. On another note: Nagata's Grand Slam - the Japanese wiki titles this メジャー完全制覇 (Major Kanzenseiha) which can translate to "Complete Domination of the Majors" or however you want to ( SASUKE/Ninja Warrior fans will be familiar with Kanzenseiha being translated as "Total Victory" - has him joining only Takayama, Mutoh and Kojima as wrestlers who have held all the major singles and tag titles in NJPW, AJPW and NOAH. Kensuke Sasaki never won the World Tag titles in AJPW. Minoru Suzuki "only" needs the IWGP title while Jun Akiyama and Go Shiozaki have not held either IWGP titles. Anyway, Minoru Tanaka is the only wrestler to hold the junior version of the Grand Slam (though no junior tag titles in AJPW). Marufuji needs the IWGP junior tag titles but he hasn't been a junior in a long time. Like his former boss in Suzuki-gun, Kanemaru needs the IWGP title while Taiji Ishimori needs the AJPW junior title. Tiger Mask IV needs the GHC junior title.

Participants in the 3/1 All Star Jr. Festival: Onryo (666) Billy Ken Kid, Tiger's Mask (Osaka Pro) Yumehito Imanari (Ganbare Pro) Batten X Bura Bura (Kyushu Pro) Hiromu, Despy, Ishimori, BUSHI, Taguchi, Wato, Douki, SHO, Kanemaru (NJPW) Atsuki Aoyagi, Black Menso-re (AJPW) Kazuki Hashimoto, Kouta Sekifuda (BJW) Hikaru Sato (Pancrase) Shouki Kitamura (Zero-1) HANAOKA (Secret Base) AMAKUSA, Alejandro, YO-HEY, HAYATA, Ninja Mack (NOAH) Isami Kodaka (BASARA) Jun Kasai (FREEDOMS) MUSASHI, the Great SASUKE (Michinoku Pro) Gurukun Mask (Ryukyu Pro) Volador Jr, Soberano Jr, Atlantis Jr (CMLL) Yuki Ueno, MAO (DDT) LEONA (Dradition) Dragon Kid, Shun Skywalker (Dragongate) El Lindaman, Minoru Tanaka (GLEAT) TAKA (JTO) Chicharito Shoki (2AW) Tatsuhito Takaiwa (free)

New Japan Cup 2023 Bracket

Mentai is OK. Came out of the Toryumon system. Kind of create-a-wrestler-ish in that he doesn't have any truly signature moves. Hasn't hurt anyone with his 450 splash as far as I know. Kids in Kyushu love him though so he always has support from the crowd. Haven't watched any of his recent tag stuff but his matches with Genkai over the title might be better examples than a match with TAJIRI.