lostinube

TJPW and Stardom both only got around the 300 mark at their shows on Saturday. They weren't running Korakuen, of course. It is that time of year where people are just staying at home - hotel rates in non-ski areas are a bit lower right now.

If you're wondering about why the 6-man tag, which was Okada's last Korakuen Hall match for NJPW, wasn't the main for tonight's show, it was probably because they are clearly putting a lot into Umino, as he got to deliver the "after the rain" promo postmatch and also declared himself the new ace.

He got a shout out from his bestie Despy at the end of last night's show. Also, just a reminder that WWE just signed a deal with ABEMA for streaming starting in 2023 so it's a good bet they won't be a part of the initial Netflix deal. So if people try to tie that deal to the WWE getting Okada they probably don't even know what ABEMA is.

At his first NXT taping: Okada does the Rainmaker pose and instead of a simple zoom out, thirty camera cuts in 10 seconds. Unless he wants full control of his schedule, Okada could have challenged for any title without having to leave New Japan. Nagata was the Triple Crown champion in February of 2023. But by not becoming an NJ Dad right now, Okada is denying us a historic tour of the indies. Imagine how much of a boost it would be if people saw a Heat-Up or 2AW poster with Okada in the middle. Or Kyushu Pro doing their anniversary show without having to use all their money to grab their annual special guest (which might have happened with Honma this past year, actually.) He could do a tour on his own but it would probably cost the promotions way more.

Not if he signs with the WWE. Echoing what others have said: there was nothing left for Okada to do. He would just be looming over whoever is the IWGP champion yet was already on the trajectory to be a New Japan Dad and maybe didn't want that: NJPW: "OK, so for 2024, have you heard about Limit Bre.." Okada: "I quit."

She is a Feldenkrais practitioner. Works for her, apparently.

Main takeaways from Battle in the Valley: Mustafa Ali had a video challenging Hiromu Takahashi. Moxley challenged Naito. Both matches will happen at the Windy City Riot show. Jeff Cobb was Riddle's partner, which was given away by showing Cobb's name instead of Riddle's when they were doing the chyron. They teased Riddle joining the United Empire (Cobb and Riddle were tag champs together in PWG).

The movie about Mayu Iwatani's life is going to open nationwide in Japan on May 17th this year.

Battle in the Valley card has been released: Main show: Okada vs Ospreay Takagi vs Moxley Kingston vs Kidd Riddle/X vs ZSJ/Bad Dude Tito Giulia vs Trish Adora (Adora challenged Giulia via video at one of the Stardom shows) G.o.D. vs Connors/Coughlin TJP vs Finlay Mascara Dorado/Volador Jr vs Rocky/Soberano Jr Jacob Fatu/Fred Rosser/Shota vs Lawlor/Jorel Nelson/Royce Isaacs Kick-off Show: Viva Van vs Stephanie Vaquer Matt Vandagriff vs Goldy

Riddle is in a tag match with X against ZSJ and Bad Dude Tito at Battle in the Valley. So they may actually try to bring him over to Japan.

Until the latest ABEMA deal, RAW and Smackdown were not being carried by anyone in Japan for about a year so it's possible that casual fans were not quite familiar with Riddle. The way he was presented probably didn't help.

Yeah, Tsuji stays over no matter if he wins or loses. Since he's come back, and maybe because of the way he came back, the fans buy into him. Uemura was a puzzling choice to join J5G after the Kanemaru turn but there really was nowhere for him to go. I think it seems like only Narita can pull off the goofy H.O.T. heel schtick. I'll like Umino more when he ditches the Roughneck stuff (stop carrying that damn jacket to the ring) and is just the uber-face. As is, I just want every tag partner to turn on him for taking too long to get to the ring. As for Riddle..well, as we've seen, internet outrage, especially wrestling internet outrage does not always translate into action. It's probably a one and done at Battle in the Valley.

New Years Dash just finished: Tanahashi had his first defense of the TV title against Taguchi. After the win we got a video and it was...Matt Riddle. Western fans on Twitter went (rightfully) "WTF NJPW?" and Japanese fans and Tanahashi were all like "Who?" Bishamon beat Oiwa and some jobber from NOAH. G.O.D. beat Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube. I think they're going on excursion (the Young Lions, I mean). Chase Owens attacked El-P and challenged G.O.D. to a match. His partner will be speed walking enthusiast KENTA. Twelve man tag with H.O.T. on one side. Umino pinned Togo but the main thing that happened is that EVIL cuffed and then cut Tama Tonga's hair. Tonga is leaving at the end of the month so it's almost a lock EVIL gets the NEVER belt. At least he's staying away from Naito. Kanemaru and SHO attacked Despy the night before so there's probably something there too. United Empire and the Bullet Club had a wild brawl that ended up with Will challenging them to what ended up as a five on five cage match in Osaka, which will also be Will's last match in NJPW. J5Gs beat LIJ. SANADA asked for a rematch but Naito tranquilod him. SANADA also wanted a..something between J5G and LIJ. Ishimori won the KOPW. TMDK beat a team of Ishii/Okada/Danielson/Moxley. TMDK want the six-man titles. Okada vs Ospreay was announced as the main event for Battle in the Valley. They also announced a Chicago show for April.

And that's wrap. New Year's Dash tomorrow.

After the GLEAT multi-man, everyone was dazzled by the balcony moonsault but Ibushi trying to talk after the match should have been a sign. He could barely get full sentences out. So I was glad he got out of the ring that night. And straight into an ambulance apparently.

The crowd was really up for the H.O.T. match - probably because they haven't had to put up with their antics as much. I really thought that someone (Kondo, mainly) was going to turn on Kaito's team to establish H.O.T. in NOAH (not a good idea, just an idea). It was a long show. I think the opening matches started before 3:00 and then there was a break before the rest of the show and didn't end until after 8:00. If the title match closed the show it might have gotten a better reception but maybe the crowd would have been burnt out by then.

Show just finished.

Not really. Then again, it's seven in the morning here so any damage assessment will be done throughout the day plus technically the coast is still under a tsunami advisory. But the epicenter of the quake was not near Tokyo and it seems like everything there will go on as normal.

Hiroshi Hase will be in the Japan and possibly world news as he is the governor of Ishikawa prefecture which got hit by a large earthquake late in the afternoon on New Year's Day. Currently the area is under a high alert tsunami warning, with residents being told to immediately evacuate.

Umino/Kiyomiya vs EVIL/Narita, Tsuji vs Uemura and the KOPW 2024 Right to Challenge New Japan Rambo have all officially been added to the show. No Stardom as of now.

Before moving to whatever he is at TV Asahi now, Hiroshi Matsumoto was a producer on World Pro Wrestling (among other shows for TV Asahi).

Several groups in Japan announced the formation of an industry group. It includes NJPW/Stardom, AJPW, DragonGate and all of CyberFight. United Japan Pro-Wrestling

There are currently three tiers of men's pro basketball in Japan - the B-League, B2 and B3 born out of the ashes of two competing leagues, the National Basketball League and the Basketball Japan League. There are over 50 teams between the three leagues and currently it works on a soccer-esque relegation/promotion system. University basketball in Japan is not really a thing although most of the players in the leagues played at their schools. So teams have youth teams - again, similar to soccer. There's a limit to how many foreign players a team can have and how many they can play on the floor at one time although there are ways around that. The level of foreign players coming over is not super high - they aren't throwing around money like teams in China and the Phillipines were doing to get actual former NBA players on their rosters. I don't actually know all that much about the upper leagues since I only really follow my local team though. B3 is sort of it's own thing with a separate website and no streaming of games on DAZN. Instead, they have a cheap streaming service (500 yen for the basic plan) that usually uses a stationary cam with no commentary. Although as wrestling fans, we should be used to that. As for the name - while in English, calling something the B-League is probably not ideal, it's taken from how the pro soccer league in Japan is called the J-League and was in fact named by the same person. Other sports have followed. Pro volleyball is the V Premier League. The breakdancing league (coming to the Paris Olympics!) is the D League. https://www.bleague.jp/ https://www.b3league.jp/

https://rebellions.jp/ The thing that caught my eye is that their Project R, which includes Ice Ribbon, a pro handball team and Earthfriends Tokyo Z, which is a pro basketball team who got demoted to the B3 league for this season. They'll be coming to my neck of the woods to play our Yamaguchi Patsfive in January (they used to be called the Patriots - it's a whole thing).