lostinube

Lot of chatter about the debut of Kaisei Takechi at the DDT show over the weekend. He is a member of the group THE RAMPAGE from EXILE Tribe. EXILE is a popular music act that spun off into and ha...you know what, just leave say he's from THE RAMPAGE. He actually trained with DDT in 2022 because he played the part of the rival to the main character in Fukumen D, an online drama on Abema. They called the group BBT but Sanshiro Takagi and some DDT wrestlers made appearances. He's sort of but not quite an analogue to Yuki Arai.

It was fine. Not as much fire as one would want in a hair vs hair. They actually went through with the stip.

Show just finished:

A bunch of questionable title changes in Sapporo:

Vice may or not be finally shutting down as they locked out a bunch of workers, including Tim Marchman. Marchman has said that he was planning to there this week but will be continuing his McMahon coverage elsewhere.

Wrestle Universe is increasing their monthly fee but will be adding Michinoku Pro, Real Z1 and Sendai Girls. Ganbare will also continue on the service. https://www.ddtpro.com/news/22296

C'mon man. 活動を休止 doesn't mean suspended as in a punishment. It just means "a suspension of activities" or a hiatus. Don't be clickbaity.

Daisuke Sekimoto vs Kodai Nozaki for the Kyushu Pro title in Kitakyushu on 2/11

Daisuke Sekimoto beat Kodai to win the Kyushu Pro title last week.

I forgot to the mention the funniest part of night 1 of Fantastica Mania which is that since they didn't have the rights to his Kamaitachi entrance music (Maximum the Hormone's Benjo Sandal Dance), viewers on NJPW World got to listen to a pre-recorded Hiromu humming/scatting the song instead. He must have recorded the whole song because he coughs at one point when he is out of breath.

Unfortunately, on Night One, Akira was not in a good position even though he was in the main event. He was with two rudos and against a rising (in many sense of the word) star in Dorada and two super over stars, one of whom, Mistico, had an off-night. One thing about Ospreay and Okada leaving. Even if they know it's an end of an era for Okada, he had lengthy run on top. Ospreay probably hasn't reached his ceiling yet and the fans know it.

US Blu-ray comes out in April. Already out in other countries and on some streaming services in Japan if you can get access.

I like Ospreay better now than when he was junior heavy. He does come off as a try-hard but I prefer him to Kenny, actually.

The cage match was something else. Part of the length could have been cut if they had found an organic way to start stripping the ring down, perhaps doing it side by side as the action was going on. You got the things you needed. Finlay goes over because he's staying. Akira overcoming his fear of the fork. Ospreay getting a big goodbye from the crowd. Don't know where the United Empire goes from here but they are clearly faces at this point. Of note: This was a New Japan card where the only Japanese wrestler in the last three matches was KENTA in the tag title match.

First time I was able to sit down and watch a Super Bowl in ages because today is a holiday (technically a replacement holiday) in Japan. Went to watch at an internet cafe because they have DAZN with NFL Gamepass. But you get no ads (other than DAZN ads - had to see Jerry Jones more than once because he's in a bunch of NFL Films stuff) and no halftime. My halftime show was re-watching parts of the 2021 Japanese action film Baby Assassins. I recommend it. It has choreography by Kensuke Sonomura. And Saori Izawa is great. A second movie came out this year and a third is scheduled. Oh, the game was blah til the 2nd half. Swifties won, conservatives mad. Purdy did enough that the pundits should shut up.

The movie is out in May anyway so it's not like it's coming out long after DeRossy High: The Next Generation is presumably open for business.

And Stardom and TJPW are there mainly because their parent/co-promotions are also a part of it. I wonder if Ganbare Pro stays with it since they are leaving Cyberfight. None of the other indy groups are involved but almost all larger indy groups mainly have ties to New Japan via the Frontier Zone dark matches and Hiromu/Despy/NJPW Dads being booked whenever they have free time.

meltear 2nd single confirmed.

If I'm Bushiroad, if any of the talent is interested in doing acting or singing I'm throwing that stuff into their contracts. "Hey, we can release a CD. Hey, we can get you a bit part as a voice actor. Whatever you want. MAIKA - THE MUSICAL. We can make it happen."

Henare and Kidd were just blasting each other last night. The Korakuen crowd was fully behind them. Good match.

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.