NJPW 49th Anniversary Show/New Japan Cup 2021/Sakura Genesis 2021.

[The Natural]

Carrying on the above:

Spoiler

 

[Spontaneous]

My thoughts

Spoiler

Hey guys, AJPW's Champion Carnival is starting soon. Let's just watch that. Screw this!

New Empire member:

Spoiler

Toa Henare is now Aaron Henare and looked like a bad Kenny Omega bullet club cosplay. Thank God it wasn't Shota like some corners of the web pushed. 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Spontaneous

[The Natural]

@Spontaneous: Just posted the NJPW thread I was talking about in the Hot Takes thread. Cheers.

Edited April 4, 2021 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Spoiler

I didn't like Will Ospreay even before Speaking Out.

 

[Doragon]

Check this out

Spoiler

 

[hammerva]

 

Spoiler

If you thought he was drunk with imaginary power before

 

[Tuna Boss]

I'd imagine they've been pressured into making a change as a result of bad numbers (which is surely not even remotely Ibushi's fault...). That said, it's still a shocking change and probably a much needed one in a promotion that's been devastated by the pandemic and poor booking decisions.

[The Natural]

Spoiler

I'd have gone with Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiromu Takahashi if he wasn't injured or Shingo Takagi over Will Fuckin' Ospreay.

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by The Natural
Forgot Zack Sabre Jr.

[Spontaneous]

Spoiler

Storyline-wise, at least he won. If he beat up his girlfriend and lost, then he'd be King of the Edgelords. I can't see Ospreay holding it long. I doubt he is holding it longer than the first stadium show. Could see Okada win it from Ospreay but then what?

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Spontaneous

[The Natural]

Spoiler

Even sadder, if Shingo Takagi won the New Japan Cup beating Will Ospreay in the Final as he fucking should, this could be Takagi as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion instead of fucking Ospreay.

 

[The Natural]

13 minutes ago, Spontaneous said:

  Hide contents

Storyline-wise, at least he won. If he beat up his girlfriend, and lost then he'd be King of the Edgelords. I can't see Ospreay holding it long. I doubt he is holding it longer than the first stadium show. Could see Okada win it from Ospreay but then what?

 

 

Spoiler

It's something running an extra Tokyo Dome show when NJPW isn't hot and trying to get some funds in the current coronavirus climate. Thinking Okada or Naito beat Ospreay there as first time IWGP Heavyweight Championship reigns tend to not last long: Kazuchika Okada (3 months), Tetsuya Naito (2 months) and Jay White (2 months). Hoping so. Jay White wins the G1 Climax to challenge the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Confident in that prediction.

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Spoiler

Most pissed I've been at someone going over in a while. The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship still looks shit.

 

[Jenalysis]

Is the 5k hard cap for any venue still in effect in Japan?  No point in running the Dome until you can put at least 15-20k in there.

 

But yeah, NJPW's golden run is over in my eyes.  They did kinda have to elevate Finlay and Henare this year, if only to keep them  (Finlay especially would have had options)

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by alstein

[The Natural]

1 minute ago, alstein said:

Is the 5k hard cap for any venue still in effect in Japan?  No point in running the Dome until you can put at least 15-20k in there.

 

 

Not sure. Quick look at Wikipedia, Wrestle Kingdom Night One drew 12,689 and 7,801 the night after for a total of 20,490. Can't see NJPW coming close to that even if the cap is lifted because least those have the 4th of January and Wrestle Kingdom names in their favour.

[Jiji]

30 minutes ago, Spontaneous said:

  Hide contents

Storyline-wise, at least he won. If he beat up his girlfriend and lost, then he'd be King of the Edgelords. I can't see Ospreay holding it long. I doubt he is holding it longer than the first stadium show. Could see Okada win it from Ospreay but then what?

 

Spoiler

Hasn't "but then what?" been New Japan's big problem for three years now? 

 

[Jenalysis]

1 hour ago, The Natural said:

Not sure. Quick look at Wikipedia, Wrestle Kingdom Night One drew 12,689 and 7,801 the night after for a total of 20,490. Can't see NJPW coming close to that even if the cap is lifted because least those have the 4th of January and Wrestle Kingdom names in their favour.

 Those shows were allowed to go over the cap because they sold the tickets, the cap went into effect afterwards.  NJPW made that clear on I believe 1/3.

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by alstein

[Steventon]

3 hours ago, Tuna Boss said:

I'd imagine they've been pressured into making a change as a result of bad numbers (which is surely not even remotely Ibushi's fault...). That said, it's still a shocking change and probably a much needed one in a promotion that's been devastated by the pandemic and poor booking decisions.

Didn't they do the same shocking heel title win and run with EVIL last year and it totally bombed? 

[Doragon]

Spoiler

 

[Casey]

Gross. Someone close the Forbidden Door, quick.

[lostinube]

The audience cap was raised to 10,000 last month. On the 18th of this month the government will decide whether to stay with that or go to half-capacity.

[The Natural]

Now this I like.

[Craig H]

Opening up a can of worms, but I feel like the negative Osprey shit is a little dumb considering that the promoter was revealed to be the person causing the problems and not Will. Not only that, but Will reached out to her to talk and cleared the air.

Look, I'm not super cool with Osprey as champion, but booking wise, it makes sense. Osprey beat Ibushi two years ago before everything went to shit. Ibushi recently beat Osprey and Osprey vowed to win the title. Osprey once again showed he was the better competitor and stuck to his word. This is better than EVIL winning, but I still think Empire is a shit faction and Henare joining it doesn't mean shit.

[matwarz]

Will Ospreay is as good of a worker as there is, has been for the past three years. He has achieved that position through hard work and commitment and absolutely deserves his current standing. 

[Archibald]

While everyone is complaining about Ospreay winning my biggest disappointment was Henare being X. At least they are not treating it very seriously since he picked up a win only after Cobb already did his finisher on Sanada.

[The Natural]