Jump to content

New Japan iPPV thread

JNLister

By JNLister
in UK Fan Forum

Recommended Posts

Dai Mentor

Dai

Posted
Posted

Havent watched NOAH in years either, to be honest. I was talking more about the 00-06 glory days. Back then, Id say more people were into NOAH than NJPW. Apart from the G1 and Dome shows, I cant really remember THAT much interest from here for NJPW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 341
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Paid Members
air_raid Grand Master

air_raid

Posted
  • Paid Members
Posted
Havent watched NOAH in years either, to be honest. I was talking more about the 00-06 glory days. Back then, Id say more people were into NOAH than NJPW. Apart from the G1 and Dome shows, I cant really remember THAT much interest from here for NJPW.

 

Yeah. Noah had the better roster for most of 03-05 but the years have been kinder to New Japan for developing the young guys they had then into the stars of today. Tanahashi, Nakamura and Makabe all made it. Goto's reliable even though he's never been trusted with the big one, and every year that passes by I think "this is the best roster they've had" and twelve months later somebody else is knocking on the door of true stardom - Naito two years ago, Okada last year, Devitt now.

 

Noah have struggled. Rikio was never the man to take the poison chalice of trying to follow Kobashi. They cut Akiyama's legs off again. They shot their bolt too soon on Marufuji then didn't have the balls to follow through with him. They held off putting the title on Morishima for too long and when they did put the title on him, he didn't really capture the fans like they thought he would. All those years of Misawa going back to the drawing board and having the title for another year while they decided who to try next really took their toll on Noah. The only genuinely credible new main eventer they managed was Go - who has great matches but doesn't draw - and the only sustained excitement at the top end of the card in the intervening years (in my opinion) is when they used an outsider in Sasaki.

 

KENTA on top as No Mercy leader is fresh and interesting, but arguably too late since he's been the hardcores' choice for new star for years, but it's no good having an interesting main event scene if the roster is pissweak. I went to a Noah show last year and really enjoyed it, but afterwards I thought "actually, take away the three Zero1 guys that main evented against the SAT... then take away the Diamond Ring guests... and they haven't got much to offer" and that was even before the Burning lads bolted. Their once-glittering Junior division is rather bare - which is a shame because there's a possibility our Zack might become champion a week Sunday - and that KENTA's first three defences will have included Yone and Taniguchi... says it all, really.

 

EDIT - but they're in a better state than All Japan, who I genuinely think might put the call in to Kens'kay and 'hiko themselves sometime soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Paid Members
air_raid Grand Master

air_raid

Posted
  • Paid Members
Posted
The frustrating thing is that if you took the Noah and All Japan rosters, then chucked in Muto's boys and Sasaki's crew, you could have a pretty good #2 promotion.

 

I even think just Muto's lads going to Noah would have given it a massive boost and dribbled about the potential match ups in another thread, particularly the junior side of things. Unfortunately those 11 or so guys have left because they wanted Muto in charge and if they went to Noah, he wouldn't be. Wrestle-1 is the only thing that could possibly have happened which is a shame because in Tokyo prefecture at least you've basically now got Noah, All Japan, Zero1 and Wrestle-1 all saturating the market and competing for the same fans, same money and the same position, that being distant #2 behind New Japan. Obviously I don't include Dragon Gate which is a completely different product with it's own fanbase and aside from the odd jaunt to Korakuen run all over the place - Kyoto, Sapporo and so on, nor Big Japan or DDT which again are different, niche products.

 

Here are my lame G1 predictions, in spoilers again so people that don't want to read them don't have to.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

 

 

NJPW, 01.08.2013 Act City Hamamatsu

Ibushi, Ishii, Tenzan, Shibata, Naito, Suzuki, Makabe, Anderson, Tanahashi, Devitt

 

NJPW, 02.08.2013 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Anderson, Tenzan, Yano, Devitt, Kojima, Makabe, Naito, Nakamura, Okada, Tanahashi

 

NJPW, 03.08.2013 Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium

Anderson, Benjamin, Devitt, Suzuki, Nagata, Okada, Nakamura, Kojima, Shibata, Tanahashi

 

NJPW, 04.08.2013 Osaka BODYMAKER COLOSSEUM

Yujiro, Tenzan, Nagata, Kojima, Shibata, Naito, Devitt, Okada, Nakamura

 

NJPW, 06.08.2013 Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall

Kojima, Tenzan, Shibata, Naito, Suzuki, Nagata, Nakamura, Okada, Goto, Tanahashi

 

NJPW, 07.08.2013 Sendai Sun Plaza Hall

Ibushi, Anderson, DBS, Suzuki, Makabe, Naito, Devitt, Okada, Nakamura, Goto

 

NJPW, 08.08.2013 Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium

Ibushi, Nagata, Shibata, Okada, Nakamura, Tanahashi, Naito, Goto, Suzuki, Makabe

 

NJPW, 10.08.2013 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Devitt, Anderson, Archer, Nagata, Yano, Makabe, Suzuki, Goto, DRAW (Nakamura/Naito), Tanahashi

 

NJPW, 11.08.2013 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Yano, Nakamura, Anderson, Nagata, Tenzan, DBS, Okada, Goto, Makabe, Tanahashi

 

FINAL A BLOCK STANDINGS

Tanahashi 14 (W)

Okada 14

Devitt 12

Makabe 12

Shibata 10

Goto 10

Kojima 8

DBS 4

Ishii 2

Archer 2

 

Tanahashi qualifies over Okada with both finishing with 14 of a possible 18 points but Tana beating the champ directly puts him through, with devastating heartbreak for Devitt who beat BOTH of them on the way to Sumo Hall but misses out because he loses to Makabe.

 

FINAL B BLOCK STANDINGS

Nakamura 15 (W)

Naito 13

Anderson 12

Suzuki 12

Nagata 12

Tenzan 10

Ibushi 6

Yano 6

Shelton 2

Yujiro 2

 

Nakamura squeezes through as the only other man that could have won the block, Tetsuya Naito (after yesterdays draw) loses to Anderson.

 

FINAL : Hiroshi Tanahashi (X) VS Shinsuke Nakamura (O) [boma Ye]

Your winner and soon to be 60th IWGP Heavyweight Champion (Okada fails in 4th defence) : Nakamura.... SHINSKAY!!!!!!!1

 

 

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close();

 

I know it's not exactly bold predicting the two top guys beyond the heavyweight champion making the final, but they haven't wrestled each other for two years and I think that's long enough. Shinsuke hasn't challenged for the belt in two years either, and that's definitely long enough. The Chaos leader challenging his (technical) subordinate would be interesting to me, and it wouldn't surprise me all that much if it was the catalyst for Okada, Gedo and Jado to stage a coup d'etat and oust Nakamura so he can become a fully-fledged babyface. People love him anyway. Tana & Nakamura back together to fight Bullet Club and Okada-lead Chaos!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Maikeru Community Regular

Maikeru

Posted
Posted
The frustrating thing is that if you took the Noah and All Japan rosters, then chucked in Muto's boys and Sasaki's crew, you could have a pretty good #2 promotion.

 

I even think just Muto's lads going to Noah would have given it a massive boost and dribbled about the potential match ups in another thread, particularly the junior side of things. Unfortunately those 11 or so guys have left because they wanted Muto in charge and if they went to Noah, he wouldn't be. Wrestle-1 is the only thing that could possibly have happened which is a shame because in Tokyo prefecture at least you've basically now got Noah, All Japan, Zero1 and Wrestle-1 all saturating the market and competing for the same fans, same money and the same position, that being distant #2 behind New Japan. Obviously I don't include Dragon Gate which is a completely different product with it's own fanbase and aside from the odd jaunt to Korakuen run all over the place - Kyoto, Sapporo and so on, nor Big Japan or DDT which again are different, niche products.

 

 

I find Tokyo to be the most fascinating city for wrestling in the world. You basically have a show almost every day of the week (sometimes more than one) - which anywhere else would be absolutely overkill, but not in the world's largest city where 35 million people live and work within a commutable distance to Korakuen! Wrestling fans there have always been forced to make tough decisions about which shows to go to (and the tickets aren't cheap, even for minor shows).

 

I wouldn't put Zero1 in the same category as NOAH or AJPW in terms of competing for the same fans - they are a very small promotion these days more akin I'd say to the likes of Kensuke's Diamond Ring or Tajiri's Wresting New Classic - i.e. running only a couple of shows per month and thus attracting very few 'diehard fans'. I think a lot of people go to these promotions' shows when they especially like the look of the card or have a bit of free time that day, rather than as devoted followers of their product.

 

My worry is that with all the crap that's happened with NOAH and AJPW recently that these promotions (and Wrestle-1) will soon be looked upon in the same way - i.e. the diehards will stop giving a shit as it's not worth getting emotionally invested in them, and not only will the audience be split between the three of them - but between all of these other smaller promotions as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pryko Proficient

pryko

Posted
Posted

Sorry to carry this on as a bit of a general NJPW thread, but following on from previous comments, on Friday when I got home from work, I ended up watching 2 seperate Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada matches, both of them where the challenger wins the title from the Champion. Also started watching Prince Devitt vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, but didn't get to finish watching that one. I think I may definitely try and keep on top of NJPW now and watch a couple of shows if I can. Don't fancy paying for the iPPV's though. Should appear on Youtube at some point in the future

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Maikeru Community Regular

Maikeru

Posted
Posted
Do people watch the TV product or just the PPVs? Is the TV product all that interesting?

 

Not so much usually - they're putting nearly every even semi-significant event on iPPV these days (Best of Super Juniors and New Japan Cup finals were notable exceptions).

 

The shows on Samurai TV (a somewhat expensive 24-hour wrestling channel for die-hard fans) are mostly minor cards with no titles on the line and lots of tags, or at best tournament matches - but not the opening nights or finals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...