lostinube

Giants signing Jameis and Russ just so they can tell Aaron "See? Spots all gone. Sorry."

And on the spring equinox (in Japan), the Samurai Blue are the first non-host team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup with their win over Bahrain.

Multiple Pikachus on the field while the Tokyo Dome is blasting Kashmir in the background. Players got introduced by walking between these video cubes that had their names and smoke. Now Yoshiki of the band X Japan is playing the US National Anthem (no one is booing because Donald hasn't threatened to annex the islands yet). I probably won't watch another baseball game until the postseason.

The junior title match was very good. The main was emotional. They did a good crowd number, especially considering that it's a Thursday night show. Tomorrow is the start of the NJ Cup.

This says that you can still access any PPVs you bought within the viewing period but I have no idea how long that is. I know they eventually move some stuff that was on PPV to the regular archives that are open to members. Like the Despe show from last year is viewable to members now but the Forbidden Door shows are still only for people who purchased the show. https://help.njpwworld.com/hc/ja/articles/24882822045977-PPVとは

Stardom has just announced that Tam is no longer under an exclusive contract with them. She's a freelancer who can still work Stardom shows so I guess they are honoring the stip. Sort of. Kind of.

They played the Cinderella announcement like seven or eight times in a row on Youtube while people in the chat were waiting for Tam/Saya to start. The main result was ironic fandom for Tabata. First the Japanese fans were referring to her as 田畑 (tabata - fields) and then waiting for her to pop up. Then people were just kind of randomly referencing her through the rest of the night.

So...

Tam vs Saya is being streamed live on youtube for free (the rest of the show was on the Stardom World). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eziVVK8wtJc

Everyone on that team got chosen in the 1st Round within the next two seasons so yeah, the Select team was stacked. They were undermanned though, with only eight guys. I wonder who else could have gone with them. Grant Hill must be a very calm person to not have punched Coach K in the face after the "childish dream" comment.

If Hirooki Goto can win the IWGP title, Harley can win the TBS title. (This is now my future justification for whenever I want someone to get a belt.."If Goto can do it..")

Results:

Probably won't happen but I want Goto to win. ZSJ has done everything he set out to do - win the G1, win the title, defend at the Dome. It won't hurt him to drop it. Of course giving Goto the win means a high chance of Finlay coming for him eventually. On the other hand, I could see Finlay costing Gabe his match and them finally taking Gabe and maybe the other War Dogs out of the Bullet Club and turning them sort of faces.

They are never announced as such. I think it's just a name that Robbie gave themselves in promos but to New Japan they are just TMDK.

In several of the Road to.. shows Tanahashi is going one-on-one with the current crop of Young Lions in the openers as part of the "Connection" part of his Final Road. The other part is "Kinship" which is going to be guys he has a history with like Makabe. https://news.njpw1972.com/hiroshi-tanahashis-final-road-on-road-to-new-beginning-021bee18294b

This is actually the part I wanted to post but I missed it (I didn't realize it was coming and you can't rewind unless you have Premium) and had to wait to go back and get it today.

So Charlton is out for two months which would mean he's out for Battle in the Valley which has Royce Isaacs/Jorel Nelson vs Rocky Romero/YOH and also New Beginning in Osaka which has Fujita/Eagles vs Rocky/YOH. Hey! I think I cracked the code. (Ignore that Takeshita is at BitV and the Bucks will be in Osaka)

Just out of curiosity, I watched the beginning of RAW on Abema for the first time. The show doesn't air live in Japan, it airs Tuesday evening so that they can get Japanese commentary and Japanese subtitles for the promos. And well, the recap of the previous week (I don't think it happens every week) was done by a Great Muta handpuppet.

Sorry about that. Other stuff does happen on that show though if you want to get caught up.

Card released for the New Beginning in Osaka on 2/11 Tanahashi vs Makabe - at most of the Road to shows Tanahashi will be opening the shows against Young Lions except for 1/30 when he will defend the 6 man titles against HOT Takagi vs Drilla Umino vs O-Khan Taichi vs SANADA Rocky/YOH vs Eagles/Fujita for the junior tag titles Naito/Hiromu vs the Young Bucks for the IWGP tag titles Tsuji vs Kidd for the Global title Goto vs ZSJ for the IWGP title

And then the next night, KENTA saves Kenoh from a post-match beatdown.

Weren't Kelly and Charlton key in sort of burying O-Khan and Wato when they came back in their new gimmicks? Or at the very least they altered the perception of them with the western fans?