TildeGuy~! Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) Really enjoyable show. Robbie Eagles has been announced as Taiji Ishimori’s partner in the Super Jr Tag League. Will Ospreay begins his march to Heavyweight with a shot at the Never OpenWeight Title against Taichi or the gorgeous Abe Miho (I’m not sure which one is champion at this point) Check our that staredown! Shingo Takagi was the new LIJ member as I expected after Neville booted him out of Dragongate last week. Chris Jericho returned once again to reignite his feud with Evil. Really enjoyed the White/Tanahashi match, Switchblade has really grown on me after his G1 antics, there hasn’t been a proper heel like him in New Japan in years. Jado, Gedo and Switchblade joining The Bullet Club OG’s was a nice little surprise. The main event was 100mph fun, with some really good and inventive spots that I’ve never seen in a triple threat before, that’s my new MOTY Tanahashi/Omega and Okada/White to headline the Tokyo Dome then. The Power Struggle show should look a little like this now. Super Jr Tag League Final Taichi(c) Vs Will Ospreay Tetsuya Naito Vs Zack Sabre Jr Chris Jericho(c) Vs Evil Edit: Just seen a tweet from Kota Ibushi saying he’s quitting wrestling after not winning the belt so that will be an interesting developing story going forward. Edited October 8, 2018 by TildeGuy~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamTH17 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) Haven't seen KOPW yet, thought it was next week honestly. All I can think of skimming down the card is that it reeks of "put ourselves in a bit of a corner here, lads!". That main event especially stands out like a sore thumb. Hoping I'm won back around by the quality of the show. Edited October 8, 2018 by AdamTH17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Said it before and I'll say it again. Chaos is a shit faction. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidzero Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 what a show king of pro wrestling was i loved it form start to finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 (edited) The Super JR Tag League teams have been announced, this year instead of blocks The 2 teams that come 1st and 2nd in the 8 team league will face each other in the finals at Power Struggle on November 3rd, Sho and Yoh Kushida and Chris Sabin Shingo Takagi and Bushi Kanemaru and El Desperado(c) Taguchi and ACH Tiger Mask and Jushin Thunder Liger Robbie Eagles and Taiji Ishimori Volador Jr and Soberano Jr Other matches announced for Power Struggle... Chris Jericho(c) Vs Evil Tetsuya Naito Vs Zack Sabre Jr Taichi(c) Vs Will Ospreay Jay White and Bad Luck Fale Vs Kazuchika Okada and Beretta Hiroshi Tanahashi and David Finlay Vs Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi  Edited October 9, 2018 by TildeGuy~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted October 9, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 9, 2018 Just caught up with KOPW. Fun show but damn that main event dragged. Crowd was really tired and some of the big moments failed to ignite a suitable reaction. Disappointing. Power Struggle card looks to be a great stop-gap show and I may even catch the Jr Tag League matches too as the competitors feel fresh, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Accident Prone said: Just caught up with KOPW. Fun show but damn that main event dragged. Crowd was really tired and some of the big moments failed to ignite a suitable reaction. Disappointing. I spoke to a friend today who is Japanese and attended the show. She claimed most of the male crowd are beginning to get pissed off that foreigners are headlining shows. Edited October 9, 2018 by TildeGuy~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted October 9, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 9, 2018 3 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said: I spoke to a friend today who is Japanese and attended the show. She claimed most of the male crowd are beginning to get pissed off that foreigners are headlining shows. Really? Oof, that's a bit of a blow. I suppose that these western-style triple threats and gimmick matches aren't helping matters either? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 12 hours ago, Accident Prone said: Really? Oof, that's a bit of a blow. I suppose that these western-style triple threats and gimmick matches aren't helping matters either? I’m not sure about that but everyone already seems to have had enough of Omegas title reign and are hoping for a Tanahashi win at Wrestle Kingdom as the rumours going around in Japan is Omega, Cody The Young Bucks and Hangman Page will be going to WWE as a group in January and then Scurll will join them later on as he already has bookings in 2019. In regards to New Japan bringing storylines and swerves to their shows recently, i don’t see the harm in it, Jay White is a mega heel there now and teaming him up with the Bullet Club will make them the big new heel faction going into 2019. Switchblade using the 2 foreigners headlining the Tokyo Dome line didn’t get over well with the crowd at all. Also Jericho, another foreigner holding the number 2 belt in the company is frustrating fans as he’s a part timer, I’m sure he beats Evil though then drops it at Wrestle Kingdom, god knows who he goes against though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 hour ago, TildeGuy~! said:  Also Jericho, another foreigner holding the number 2 belt in the company is frustrating fans as he’s a part timer, I’m sure he beats Evil though then drops it at Wrestle Kingdom, god knows who he goes against though. Naito. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 There are some NJ-centric Twitter accounts who are kinda confirming the displeasure at all the main event gaijin. The heat is going to be off the charts for Tanahashi/Omega if so. It'll be a strange turnaround from only a few years ago, when (reportedly) the majority of the young men in attendance at WK10 were cheering on the fast-paced, cocky Okada over the 'conservative', traditional Tanahashi. Personally, I think the likes of Cody being in the main event and Tama's antics in the G1 have soured me. A lot of the non-Japanese lads (Chase Owens, KES, Tongans, Fale) are skip material for me but the same can be said for some of the Japanese undercard. There's certainly some fat to be trimmed. On the flipside, Jay White purposely portraying the baddie American out to ruin the biggest show of the year is fantastic and I enjoyed the gradual build to him having his own stable. I just hope it doesn't mean interference and fuck finishes littering their matches. Tropes like that are superb when used sparingly but constant usage will tire out fast. What are we thinking for Wrestle Kingdom then? My (bad) guess; Tanahashi vs Omega Okada vs White Ibushi vs Ospreay Naito vs Jericho EVIL vs Sabre Jr KUSHIDA vs Ishimori Ishii vs Suzuki Desperado & Kanemaru vs SHINGO & BUSHI (SHINGO is ALL CAPS, right?)   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 At some point, probably about a year ago, New Japan made a conscious decision to target international expansion, which came at the expense of native wrestlers, most notably Naito, who has been buried this year (at least if you look at big singles match results as an indicator). This may not have been the wrong decision business-wise but it was bound to have an effect with the hardcore domestic fanbase. Now I thought Omegas run to the title was a great story with the perfect payoff but there were warning signs on the undercard of Dominion. Jericho winning the IC belt and buggering off....I went with it. The Bucks winning the tag belts from SANADA and EVIL was just silly. The latter pair had nothing better to move onto. It was a blatant attempt to keep the "Elite" (cringe) happy. The nadir of this was the triple threat. As a match it wasn't bad but it had no business main eventing Ryogoku. This marks the second time in Omegas short reign that Cody, yes 3 star Cody, has had a shot at the main belt. I don't know how much control Kenny has over his title run, but what's playing out is exactly what I imagine would happen if he had 100% creative control. Parts of that main event were ridiculous. Kenny challenging Ibushi to a one on one match the week before and then playing the first half of the triple-threat like he didn't want to hurt his best mate was exactly the kind of "logic" you'd expect from someone who says they want to "change the world". Pretentious, over-emotional storytelling at the expense of logic. "Changing the world" looks an awful lot like only working main events with your best mates. There will be no split crowd at the Dome. The crowd were crazy for Tana at Budoken, they will be rabid for him to win come January. Question is will NJ keep the belt on Kenny to try and make him stay? Would it be worth the backlash?  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Dent Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 The KOPW triple threat didn’t do much for me and I’m not surprised at the displeasure from the Japanese fans. Imagine if they’d gone with Scurll for the jr title as well, not a lot of Japanese wrestlers holding the gold right now. Whilst I’m all for making the product more accessible worldwide, I still think the vast majority of fans, European and American included, tune in for an authentic NJPW show and I hope the international expansion plans don’t compromise that. I’m gonna be at the Dome in January, very much hoping and looking forward to a Tana win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chris B Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 Just wondering, how much do people think the new NJPW president being non-Japanese is a factor into any potential resentment of a larger proportion of non-Japanese wrestlers in the main event scene? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 7. Super Jr. Tag League 2018: BUSHI & Shingo Takagi vs. SHO & YOH 3K win. Is also the final, which LIJ win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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