Puroresu General Discussion - 2025

[Doragon]

5,088 fans at the budokan for NOAH.

Kaito the ace probably has his own real rival now in OZAWA. 

 

AJPW

Spoiler

I think DBS Jr was legit hurt in the Triple Crown match or or they're doing something work shooty?

 

BJW

I have to get my newz in, Takuya Nomura is a freelancer now, he will be still working for BJW in the future. AJP should try to steal him.Then again he might fit in more with GLEAT or NOAH.
 

[dorfus malorfus]

7 hours ago, DragonZombie said:

 

I have to get my newz in, Takuya Nomura is a freelancer now, he will be still working for BJW in the future. AJP should try to steal him.Then again he might fit in more with GLEAT or NOAH.
 

I wish AJPW would sign him and reunite him and Abe and just let the Astronauts run wild in the tag division.

[Doragon]

16 hours ago, dorfus malorfus said:

I wish AJPW would sign him and reunite him and Abe and just let the Astronauts run wild in the tag division.

I see if can meme that into existence.. 

Hideki Suzuki joined AJPW. AJPW remains the place where Giants go.

 

Endo of DDT is becoming a regular for NOAH. He was slotted in the rival slot in DDT. His unit Burning was disbanded in December. He still remains DDT player.

[Doragon]

This year is NOAH`s 25th year. NOAH restarted their legal company several times but celebrate their ongoing continuous history when they can. It is really the 3rd NOAH under their 4th operating company.

Kenta came to save Kenoh. Kenta will appear again later in the NOAH ring.

[tbarrie]

I wanted to see Wrestle Dynasty, so I signed up for NJPW World. (Thank Willow Nightingale for the fifteen bucks, NJPW!) I'll probably watch Wrestle Kingdom as well.

But I'll still have access for all of January after I watch those shows, so here's a broad question: what would people say are the most must-watch matches in the NJPW World archives?

(I'm probably not going to spend the whole month watching puroresu, mind you. So maybe keep the recommendations to half a dozen matches or so?)

[lostinube]

There's not much of an archive right now. The easiest thing is to just go with what they recommend by decade. They have a bunch of older shows but they are not in full.

[Doragon]

The Saito Bros tied the record for the most consecutive defenses set by the seventh group of champions Jumbo and Yatsu from back in 1989. 7 defenses,so one more and they break it.

Jun Saito vs Yuma Anzai is next for the Triple Crown.

 

[onelegbrynn]

On 1/2/2025 at 6:31 PM, tbarrie said:

I wanted to see Wrestle Dynasty, so I signed up for NJPW World. (Thank Willow Nightingale for the fifteen bucks, NJPW!) I'll probably watch Wrestle Kingdom as well.

But I'll still have access for all of January after I watch those shows, so here's a broad question: what would people say are the most must-watch matches in the NJPW World archives?

(I'm probably not going to spend the whole month watching puroresu, mind you. So maybe keep the recommendations to half a dozen matches or so?)

I did the same. Did the 30 day thing of NJPW World so I can watch Wrestle Kingdom and Wrestle Dynasty. Saw that New Year Dash and Battle in the Valley are included as well so that's a nice bonus. While I've got it, I'll probably check out the Okada vs. Omega matches which I've heard a lot about but never seen.

[tbarrie]

1 hour ago, onelegbrynn said:

While I've got it, I'll probably check out the Okada vs. Omega matches which I've heard a lot about but never seen.

Last time I had NJPW World, I watched the one that Meltzer gave his first six-star rating to. I thought it was a hell of a match. But the idea that it eclipsed every past classic to the point that the scale needed to be adjusted seemed crazypants to me.

[assfax]

My MEN!  Understand that they will charge you for a full month on the first day of the month! Those Japanese streaming sites operate differently to what you expect!

[onelegbrynn]

15 hours ago, assfax said:

My MEN!  Understand that they will charge you for a full month on the first day of the month! Those Japanese streaming sites operate differently to what you expect!

I’ll be canceling later this month anyway after I watch what I want but thanks for the heads up!

[Doragon]

 Former NJPW President Ohbari wanted to revive the Strong Style but that's aborted at this point. Its whatever Tanahashi wants now.

[dorfus malorfus]

AJPW GAORA six-person tag title match from Jan 2 is a ton of fun. Prerequisite for enjoying it might be that you have to be a mark for Aoyagi and Abe and their weird "world class workers but instead they choose to do super goofy ass comedy" schtick. I know he's not a shoot style guy but Aoyagi would have been tremendous in late 90s/early 2000s Battlarts.

[Salads]

On 1/2/2025 at 11:31 PM, tbarrie said:

But I'll still have access for all of January after I watch those shows, so here's a broad question: what would people say are the most must-watch matches in the NJPW World archives?

(I'm probably not going to spend the whole month watching puroresu, mind you. So maybe keep the recommendations to half a dozen matches or so?)

My go-to recommendation at the moment is the last four matches of Power Struggle (2024) because they're amazing and actually feature names that will be featured going forward. If your time is limited then of those I would only say the Jr Tag title match because its a beautiful sprint.

On 1/4/2025 at 2:53 AM, assfax said:

My MEN!  Understand that they will charge you for a full month on the first day of the month! Those Japanese streaming sites operate differently to what you expect!

NJPW World hasn't been that way for about a year. You pay for the month starting the day you signed up.

[Doragon]

Takeshita has joined NJPW. He is also still with both AEW and DDT.

[Mike Campbell]

I felt the need to check out something current, so I fired up the NOAH show from 1/1. I'm only up to the GHC Jr. match so far, because I can only watch so much in one sitting. But I haven't seen a damn thing that makes me want to check out NOAH with any sort of regularity. I've enjoyed Galeno del Mal in GLEAT, but seeing him in a singles match shows me why he's usually booked in eight man tags. But, if they want to keep booking Kazuyuki Fujita in matches with one minute time limits, I'm all for it! A few folks on the TwitX raved about KENTA vs. Kenoh, but it didn't do a damn thing for me.

[lostinube]

 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

On 1/5/2025 at 11:44 AM, Mike Campbell said:

I felt the need to check out something current, so I fired up the NOAH show from 1/1. I'm only up to the GHC Jr. match so far, because I can only watch so much in one sitting. But I haven't seen a damn thing that makes me want to check out NOAH with any sort of regularity. I've enjoyed Galeno del Mal in GLEAT, but seeing him in a singles match shows me why he's usually booked in eight man tags. But, if they want to keep booking Kazuyuki Fujita in matches with one minute time limits, I'm all for it! A few folks on the TwitX raved about KENTA vs. Kenoh, but it didn't do a damn thing for me.

I'm doing the same. Checking out a bunch of promotions first shows of the year.  I'm at the same spot but am feeling very different, at least about some stuff.  I liked the 8 man tag and the following match was the best one minute match I've seen. 

Now, KENTA vs Kenoh.  Good lord. I was loving this.  They got over immediately what the story was and what was on the line.  KENTA looking like a haggard dick is over this whole thing.  Kenoh is trying to goad him into getting violent.  Clean break by KENTA leads to another tie-up with a cle....fuck no, Kenoh slaps the shit out of him. From here it gets stiffer and stiffer,  each man rising to meet the level of violence produced by the other. This is a time where the dueling strikes makes sense. Kenoh wants the old Kanye...I mean, KENTA and KENTA wants to prove that Kenoh (and by extension NOAH itself) isn't on his level even at their best.  It's glorious, man. The match ends with both men lying on the mat,  each having that expression I've both seen and had many times after a soul crushing,  exhausting lunch service. You're dead, drained. Body's aching and yet you can only think "Feels good, man. Feels good."

I loved it. 

Edited January 7 by RazorbladeKiss87

[lostinube]

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

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Oops. Haven't gotten to the next show but that's great.  I want to see them team up and kick the hell out of people. 

[lostinube]

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

[Mike Campbell]

9 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

Now, KENTA vs Kenoh.  Good lord. I was loving this.  They got over immediately what the story was and what was on the line.  KENTA looking like a haggard dick is over this whole thing.  Kenoh is trying to goad him into getting violent.  Clean break by KENTA leads to another tie-up with a cle....fuck no, Kenoh slaps the shit out of him. From here it gets stiffer and stiffer,  each man rising to meet the level of violence produced by the other. This is a time where the dueling strikes makes sense. Kenoh wants the old Kanye...I mean, KENTA and KENTA wants to prove that Kenoh (and by extension NOAH itself) isn't on his level even at their best.  It's glorious, man. The match ends with both men lying on the mat,  each having that expression I've both seen and had many times after a soul crushing,  exhausting lunch service. You're dead, drained. Body's aching and yet you can only think "Feels good, man. Feels good."

I loved it. 

Glad you liked it. Maybe I'll give it another look after I finish get through the whole show (only the GHC match left).

 

In other news that amuses me greatly, whoever was doing color for the NJ/AEW Dynasty show decided to go into business for himself and bury AEW and Coach Tony, resulting in New Japan suspending him for two months.

[Doragon]

It's set, IWGP World HW champ Zack Sabre (c) vs Hirooki Goto. Goto holds the record of eight consecutive losses for the predecessor IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and his last challenge was nine years ago. 

Tanahashi vs Makabe is happening too. They last fought in a singles in 2018 during that years G1 Climax. They first faced each others in a singles matches in 1999.

[Mr. Monday Morning]

Kenoh had a decent appearance at DDT's end of year show too if anyone is in that kind of a mood.

Tl;dr he basically said he was too good for DDT and Shinya Aoki took offence. There's a younger guy on each side so it's a tag. But Kenoh is just in full dickhead mode and it's good stuff.

[Mike Campbell]

I finally got through the rest of the show:

 

GHC Tag: Fun enough spectacle, with Marufuji and Sugiura selling everything from Omos like death, and having something of a regular match with Morris. The frog splash off Omos' shoulders should have been the finish, but I can see why they'd want the big man to get the winning pin.

 

Nakamura/Sasaki: I've never been a huge Nakamura fan. Most of this match is why, it wasn't awful but it wasn't especially interesting either. The finish run had most of the good stuff, and I got a chuckle out of Nakamura escaping the Triangle with the mist.

 

GHC Heavyweight: Too fucking long. The best comparision I can make is the AEW Tag Titles match with FTR and the Gunns. The Gunns weren't anywhere close to being ready for that spot, it showed. Same thing here with Ozawa. They both showed some cool spots, but this didn't need to go for nearly 30.

 

I also watched KENTA vs. Kenoh again, and I can only assume I'd burned myself out by watching too much wrestling over the weekend. Because, yeah, I liked it much more the second time around. There were a couple of thing that I appaparently just didn't notice the first time around, which is why I'm attributing it to burnout. I didn't think it was great, the PK sequence at the end went on a bit too long, and KENTA jumping up after one just for another to put him back down looked stupid. But I'll admit it was better than I thought.