NJPW World

[air_raid]

There's all ready enough wrestling to watch this month without filling it up with the fucking Fale, Togi and Tenzan boring the joint up.

 

Harsh. Makabe's ace with the right opponents. Him against Ishii was one of my top 20 matches I ever saw live, and he's had blinders with Goto and others too.

[Accident Prone]

Aye, I greatly enjoyed his matches with Ishii but I've never liked him in a combination with anyone else. Hopefully he surprises me this year.

[KingofSports]

Deviating from G-1 for a moment. Dominion was just a classic NJ show. It ranks very highly in my all-time list. As many as 5 matches on that card that I would recommend, which is highly unusual. Sakuraba/Shibata potential MOTY for me, at least as far as Japan goes. Such a solid ppv.

[paltaper]

If anybody wants time stamps (and God knows they are handy to have with these tag matches) on NJPWWorld for the G1 matches (and a quick review) they can be found on the Real In Mempis board here:

 

http://ccgi.simania.plus.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4072&st=0entry60621

 

 

[Accident Prone]

Bit peeved that they used the 'house show' set-up with the two hard cams. Did they do that last year?

Still, the match was quality was good-great for what i saw. Okada/Elgin is rather skippable (didn't even bother watching the Takahashi match) but Nagata/Honma and Ishii/Kojima are good fun and Nakaumra/Anderson is the MOTN with a great back-and-forth contest. I still think the matches would of come across better with the usual camera set-up and typical OTT jap commentary but I can't really complain about that when the price for NJ World is such a bargain.

All in all, Shinsuke/Anderson is required viewing from this day and if you fancy a bit more, check out Nagata/Honma and Ishii/Kojima.

[Merzbow]

Watching Day 1 and I've had to tap out during the last match. Ibushi is fucking shit with his inability to sell a leg, it's legit pissing me off watching him kick with it after Tana has beat the living crap out of it.

[Accident Prone]

Ibushi is simply playing mind games with Tanahashi by using the same leg that is being worked on (STRONG STYLE~!). It all plays out in the finish of the match. I can see why people would be annoyed by it but then again the same people will probably be annoyed at guys simply popping up after being dropped on their heads. To each their own though.

[paltaper]

Here's the 07/23/15 show on NJPWWorld.com

 

Time stamps for the matches on NJPWWorld are at the top of each match.

 

Thursday, July 23: Twin Messe Shizuoka: BLOCK B matches:

 

Oh fuck, it's a single camera shoot show....well, shot with one camera...but not shot well...but with predetermined endings. Fuck, I'm already confused. At least I proved I literally give two fucks about this show!

 

1:33:52 mark on NJPWworld;

Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii:

A very silly never ending forearm exchange ends with Kojima making his tits dance. At least I think he did, he was so far away he may have been suffering cardiac arrest for all I know.

 

Aaaaannddd, here comes the spinning circle of streaming. I should point out now that I fucking hate streaming and find it to be a step backwards in internets. Downloading the show and being confident in its playback would be so much better. That said, i haven't got fibre broadband yet! Multiple stoppings in playback on a hard cam show do not an interested viewer make. Day one played back perfect tho. Hmm.

 

Anybody remember Kojima's early AJPW merch with 'a cozy relationship between us' written on it? Very strange.

 

Anyway Kozy ax bommered tha muthafucka a few times. He elbowed the fuck outta Ishii only to eat a second GU headbutt, a sliding D and a brain bustah for da win. Well done Ishii! Looked like a fun match. **

 

1:52:00 mark on NJPWworld;

Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi:

Yujiro out with his lady and Cody Hall. Goto's kind of a great boring wrestler with epic music. He can have great matches but it's hard to get excited by him. Of course now there's a woman out there they have multiple camera angles!

 

Lots of nothing by Yujiro, including two hand bite spots, only for Goto to literally bite back.

 

Hall tried to get a Yujiro chant going...fat chance! Turnbuckle powerbomb by Yujiro, then he broke out Austin's 24 year old stun gun. A nice reversal sequence sees Yujiro eat a Shoten Kai for the deserved loss. Fuck you Yujiro! *

 

2:08:30 mark on NJPWworld;

Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoaki Honma:

Honma changed his dope music! Now has a poor Judas Priest knock off

 

Nagata seemed like a nice man when I briefly met him and I LOVE Honma now even more that bleedy back light tube ouchy Honma.

 

Honma did that super cool delayed almost can't get it suplex. He then smashed a light tube over Nagata's head! Well, no he didn't, but he did the equal impossible by easily hitting his headbutt for once! He teased hitting Bernardo driver on Nagata-he may be anti-ageing but he'd be fucked if he took that! MEATY lariato by Honma. Nagata with an Exploder into the buckles-ouch! A good forearm exchange has me wondering what the fuck happened to Honma's voice? It's so raspy, he used to sound normal. Nagata did his constipated demon arm bar. A couple of Kishinbo Kamen headbutts by Honma. Good stuff towards the end with Honma eating two big German's, one with a bridge, for the loss. Fun. **

 

2:26:50 mark on NJPWworld;

Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin:

Michael Elgin's look-oh dear. I've never seen him and have zero interest, looks like he has no charisma at all. And all the 'disappointment at not being in last years G1' - who the fuck are you anyway?! I LOVE Okada though, so We'll see!

 

Elgin comes out looking ravishing as the ROHbots work themselves into a jizzy lather. We'll see if he can 'carry' Okada. Another great theme for Okada, suits him perfectly.

 

Wait, I have seen him before, that Wrestlemania weekend show with the big German suplex off the top onto his head-backyard rules~!

 

"Let's go Rainmaker, come on!!" shouts the Japanese Gedo to Japanese Okada. Elgin looks small, though Okada is a tall fella.

 

Elgin is ALL ABOUT the 'look at this big move I'm about to do' and nowt much else. He missed a very silly flippy do off the top. Elgin took about three steps to clear one third of the ring. Elgin is like Kevin Owens- lots of time spent thinking of flashy moves, a vast tape collection, and no physical look whatsoever that will draw a casual fan into watching them. Probably the worst G1 entrant since the dark days of MVP or La Sombra.

 

Okada Rainmaker'd the goof for the win and it didn't look as good as normal. Silly match. *

 

2:44:32 mark on NJPWworld;

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson:

Anderson was really good two years ago, now not so much. I wouldn't begrudge anybody a comedy tag run to rest their body but this is getting a bit much. Bullet Club has and always will suck copious amounts of cock, hopefully we get none of the piss poor Devitt run two years ago.

 

Anderson sounds like he got John Zandig to sing his new theme.

 

I like Nakamura, he's not the same level of Tanahashi or Okada but so long as he's in with a good worker (not Ibushi!) he's excellent.

 

Anderson hit a cool bomaye type kick in the ropes. Nakamura does a goofy roll backwards out of the corner but it actually helps him get momentum for a double knee into the corner-see, actual makes sense silly move = quality wrestler. Walking powerbomb and neck breaker dive off the top by Anderson. Big gun stun off the top. Anderson tries another cos he's a heel and the first one worked so why not? Failed and ate a Bomaye off the top for a near fall. Anderson showed some of his talent at an intriguing finish sequence - some say he's the new Del Wilke's Patriot of AJPW glory for long finished...ok, I made that bit up, but he's damn good at a drawn out sequence. Nakamura hit another Bomaye for a 2.8 count, took another Gun Stun for a bit of an upset (if you watch from a fun standpoint and not Meltzer over think of ramifications type deal). Good. **1/2

 

Anderson cut a half Japanese promo afterwards. And did the old Inoki "Ichi ni san!" dealio.

 

The split shows aspect has been a failure so far. Gone are the epic 9 match shows of last year which made it the greatest tournament of all time.

 

I think the best way to watch these might be to combine 2 days of G1 matches into one session?

[Merzbow]

Ibushi is simply playing mind games with Tanahashi by using the same leg that is being worked on (STRONG STYLE~!). It all plays out in the finish of the match. I can see why people would be annoyed by it but then again the same people will probably be annoyed at guys simply popping up after being dropped on their heads. To each their own though.

 

Nah, I ain't buying that in the slightest. There's a big difference between a floppy midget no selling for the entire match and the whole Fighting Spirit 1 count/popping right back up malarky, the latter plays into the story but the former was just shit.

[Linus]

Day 1 thoughts:

 

Putting all the non-tournament matches in the first half of the show unbalanced it horribly. Plus, it meant three utterly shit matches in a row after the interval.

 

Tanahashi vs Ibushi was far and away the best match on the show, with Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI vs Bullet Club a distant second. The G1 matches were mostly awful but hopefully Block B will get off to a better start.

 

Thought Elgin looked fine, despite the one botch.

[guyincognito]

Quick question. Is is the point of the tournament that the winner gets a title shot at Wrestle Kingdom? If so why is the Champion Okada in the tourny? What does he gain by winning?

[Linus]

It always used to be but they're moving towards a full year of events so they may get the shot sooner or, of course, Okada could win but lose his title between now and January and then get the shot then.

[guyincognito]

It always used to be but they're moving towards a full year of events so they may get the shot sooner or, of course, Okada could win but lose his title between now and January and then get the shot then.

 

Thanks Linus, I'm still learning the finer points of NJPW but attending the finals so thought I'd better figure out what exactly I'm cheering for.

[Linus]

 

 

It always used to be but they're moving towards a full year of events so they may get the shot sooner or, of course, Okada could win but lose his title between now and January and then get the shot then.

Thanks Linus, I'm still learning the finer points of NJPW but attending the finals so thought I'd better figure out what exactly I'm cheering for.

Oh! Have a great time! Just make sure you give Bad Luck Fale some shit from me!

[guyincognito]

What're you talking about? I love Fale! Have you watched the Talkin' Shop Movie? He's so hilariously dead pan, the guy is comedy gold. (But then I am just a mark for anything Bullet Club)

Edited July 24, 2015 by guyincognito