New Japan iPPV thread

[JNLister]

Figure we can have a permanent thread now the shows are monthly or even more often.

 

Speaking of which, this thread is prompted by today's announcement that the entire 9-show G-1 Climax will be available on iPPV. No word yet on whether you can buy individual shows, but the dfull package is $150.

 

For those who haven't seen, the groups are:

 

A: Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Prince Devitt, Satoshi Kojima, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr.

 

B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tetsuya Naito, Yujiro Takahashi, Minoru Suzuki, Shelton X Benjamin, Toru Yano, Karl Anderson, Kota Ibushi

 

Format is round-robin groups, with the last matches on the final night. There's no semis and instead the group winners go straight to the final the same night.

 

It's possible some matches will be short (10 bouts a night) and/or that guys will have to hold back to keep up the pace for nine straight nights, but other than that this should be some pretty amazing stuff. Group A in particular is utterly loaded.

[The King Of Swing]

What time do they actually air in the UK? if they don't clash with work I might order some of them.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

New Japan is more like an American promotion these days, which I'm all for. The gap has been bridged where the US and Japan have bridged the gap in terms of work and entertainment where I think a lot of American wrestling fans would love these things. The main event of the Kizuna Road show was interference ridden and there were skits and comedy mixed into the show itself. Its so watchable for me. Only used to watch Japanese wrestling in bits and bobs, but I'm watching a lot more than I used to. Mostly because there's so many people I like on these things. Prince Devitt is amazing. Like as good as anything you'll see in wrestling at the minute. The Fuckin' Bullet Club are high entertainment. Especially when they regularly bully the announcer. Karl Anderson is awesome. Alex Shelley pops up every now and again, and he's great. Shocked he's not been picked up by WWE yet, but I suppose he's still got time for that. Davey Boy Smith Jr and Lance Archer are awesome. Smith looks so much better than he did in WWE and Lance Hoyt wears a hooded leather jacket and a red skull mask. That's all you need. Liger is still about, but he now looks like if you stabbed him with a knife foam and stuffing would come out of him. Always nice to see him, though. Same goes for Taka Michinoku. I love Alex Koslov. I used to love him in Degeneration Mex (shit name I know) in AAA with X-Pac. No idea why WWE released him. He's a lot better than some of the guys on NXT. Hiroshi Tanahashi is insanely talented. I remember him from TNA years ago, and he's even better now. Such a big time wrestler. Carries himself like a stud. Good looking bloke, great look, walks like he owns the place. I think he'd be a star in the US if he ever wanted to come over. Which I doubt he would. Okada's great as well. I hear he's a big fan of US wrestling, so one day he might make it back over here. Unless he's been put off by that gimmick TNA put on him.

 

I will be checking out the G-1 Climax shows. I love the feel of the New Japan PPVs. There's a special atmosphere about them when watching them. They dont half roll the boat out.

[Vamp]

Yeah I'd second all that. I remember some twits being pissed off at a Devitt match having intereference, so I'm guessing there's some pillocks out there not liking the way NJPW's evolved their product but fuck them. I'm actually interested in watching NJPW shows now rather than checking out a random match from six years ago or something. The product they have now seems genuinely exciting and colourful. And they have really obvious characters.

[Arch Stanton]

I'm starting to feel like I can no longer ignore what's going on over in New Japan. Everything I hear about their iPPV shows is good and the fact that the 'Sports Entertainment' influence is bleeding through is appealing to someone that could never really get into Puro. Alvarez and Meltzer rave over New Japan. Do the shows pop up online for free?

[air_raid]

I'm not going to say too much about the G1 because I'm going to bleat enough about it in my holiday thread, but the last three matches on the Saturday Ryogoku show are the best 1-2-3 smack of top quality New Japan matchmaking you could possibly have right now :

 

Goto vs Shibata, which surely Goto will win, with Shibata having won one of their matches and two draws ;

Naito v Nakamura, who met in the 2011 final (Nakamura) and last year's group stage (Naito), and I really expect to be fighting for the belt in 2014 ;

Tanahashi v Okada, which is the biggest match in New Japan today.

 

For the record, my prediction is a Tanahashi/Nakamura final with Nakamura winning. Nakamura relieves Okada of the title in September. He retains it against anyone from the MiSu/Shibata/Goto/Makabe group in October and November, then Tanahashi or Okada at Wrestle Kingdom , before dropping it to Naito at New Beginning in February.

[lightningxlock]

It's absolutely amazing that every night of the G1 is available. The past few years have seen uploaders on Youtube be dedicated until maybe night 4/5 and then it goes to shit. To be fair though, I couldn't and wouldn't want to watch every night. That being said I can imagine getting the first night and obviously the finals at the very least

[Big Benny HG]

Do the shows pop up online for free?

Up until recently, they all ended up on YouTube and DailyMotion in full. NJPW cottoned on and have started cracking down on that, though, particularly YouTube.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

I echo the love for the US influence on New Japan. I always like a colourful cast and some of the roster's a treat (Yano, Suzuki, Tanahashi, Nak, Ishii) although there are several blokes I can't stand. The matches are always hit and miss for me but I always find myself enjoying New Japan more when I watch the show as a whole, rather than checking out the odd pimped match like I usually do with Japanese stuff. So the formula's working.

[cleslie92]

Does anyone know if the $150 gets you on demand as well? I'll be at work for most of them but I'd watch them later.

[wandshogun09]

Is Minoru Suzuki still great? I used to get a kick out of him when I was into New Japan and NOAH. He seemed to have a right nasty streak and always came across (to me at least) as a bit more of a character than some of the other more straight laced top guys over there.

[JNLister]

Does anyone know if the $150 gets you on demand as well? I'll be at work for most of them but I'd watch them later.

 

Yep, by the look of it all shows will be on demand until August 19. Good (if borderline legal) thing is that if you have browser extensions/tools that can download FLV from streaming sites, they work on the on-demand of these shows, though it takes a couple of hours to download the file. I usually do that and play them back in VLC Media Player so I can quickly skip through the stuff between matches.

[air_raid]

Is Minoru Suzuki still great? I used to get a kick out of him when I was into New Japan and NOAH. He seemed to have a right nasty streak and always came across (to me at least) as a bit more of a character than some of the other more straight laced top guys over there.

 

Short answer, yes. He's a fucking brilliant entertainment package. He's a complete tosser, but he still wants his fans to clap along to his music. Suzuki-gun would be my favourite stable if Bullet Club didn't exist. Singing along to "Kaze Ni Nare" live is so much fun, even if those three words are all you know.

 

You'll find no bigger fan of Suzuki than me. He's the guy who I have the most FUN watching his matches from the moment his music starts until the moment the match ends, and often beyond. One of his trainees tells me he's the nicest bloke you'll ever meet in real life as well.

 

 

... and what I meant by "beyond" was..........

 

There was a match in last year's G1 I think you'd appreciate, or at least the shenanigans surrounding it between *I think* Minoru Suzuki and Tanahashi where Suzuki boots the young boy off the apron that's holding the ropes open for him (which he traditionally does), then boots his opponent's young boy as well. After the match two ladies get into the ring to present Suzuki with an oversized comedy cheque representing his "big fight" winner's purse money, IIRC Suzuki boots the ref off the apron after he's held the ropes open for the models. After the photos have been taken and the girlies are safely out of the ring, my mate and me as one started shouting "boot the cheque!! Boot the cheque!!" as Suzuki pondered it. And he did.

 

When a grown man has booted enough innocent bystanders, he turns his attention to inanimate objects.

[JNLister]

Pinched from the F4W board. We're BST obvs.

 

[Vamp]

The matches are always hit and miss for me

 

This is a good point actually, the characters totally make the show and the matches range from good to meh. Although in the meh section I'd include the match on the last ppv that everyone wanked over. Not the Devitt match, the other one. The super serious one which also included the comedy back suplex - back suplex - back suplex spot. I seem to be very much on my own with that opinion though. Still, the rest of the world has to be wrong sometimes.