NJPW World

[Accident Prone]

57 minutes ago, cobystag said:

SANADA vs Zack I meant, apologies for not being clearer.

Oh really?! Well, they might have just sold a ticket to that show then if I can squeeze out of work. Thanks for the heads up!

[TildeGuy~!]

The G1 entrants and blocks will be announced at this Sunday’s Kizuna Road Show. 

[KingofSports]

I noticed that KENTA was on the NJPW podcast. No idea what he's been doing in WWE, aside of being injured. I always assumed he'd return to Japan at some point, either to revive NOAH, or perhaps more likely sign with NJPW. AEW might be an option for him too(?). Any rumours or facts about his future?

[MVP RULZ]

6 minutes ago, KingofSports said:

I noticed that KENTA was on the NJPW podcast. No idea what he's been doing in WWE, aside of being injured. I always assumed he'd return to Japan at some point, either to revive NOAH, or perhaps more likely sign with NJPW. AEW might be an option for him too(?). Any rumours or facts about his future?

You do know he showed up at Dominion and stated he is/Demanded to be in the G1?

I'm assuming he has had signed full time with New Japan

[KingofSports]

Thanks. No, actually I didn't. I have a backlog of NJPW to watch, going back about 7 months. So, pretty much out of the loop.

Could be a good signing for them, if he's anything like he was prior to leaving NOAH.

[Love-Wilcox]

He managed to have a few crackers in 205 despite being clearly unmotivated and wrestling in front of mostly silent crowds. I reckon he's still got a few good years left in him

[Cheapheat]

Hey guys. Thanks for your help. I used buysumotickets which charge a fee but they got everything stress free. I'd recommend them if you don't mind paying a bit extra as they get in on the presales too. I'm going to G1!!

[steamroller]

16 hours ago, Cheapheat said:

Hey guys. Thanks for your help. I used buysumotickets which charge a fee but they got everything stress free. I'd recommend them if you don't mind paying a bit extra as they get in on the presales too. I'm going to G1!!

I can get my own tickets now but used buysumo plenty and they always come through. The fee isn’t huge and they always get stuff to me quick and smooth. 

[uklaw]

There was a rumour making the rounds early on Friday that Gedo had stepped down as head booker of New Japan.

By the afternoon, an office source had debunked it as a ‘crazy rumour’ and that had not happened.

It did get me thinking about who could potentially assume the reigns one day? Is there anyone associated with the company who could take that on? And what would they need to improve on?

[TildeGuy~!]

There’s a Gedo quote I saw yesterday that summed up New Japan for me.

The only thing I’d hope they’d improve on is different match ups, although most matches are great and fun to watch they are very much the same matches that we see other and other again, although that might be able to change with all the new wrestlers they’ve been bringing in recently.

[Michael_3165]

I would prefer them to cut back on 8 match shows where 70% are multi man tags. I get its their thing but the fact is we have seen LIJ vs Suzuki-gun a million times. I geet that they do not show all on TV in Japan but still. 

[TildeGuy~!]

6 minutes ago, Michael_3165 said:

I would prefer them to cut back on 8 match shows where 70% are multi man tags. I get its their thing but the fact is we have seen LIJ vs Suzuki-gun a million times. I geet that they do not show all on TV in Japan but still. 

They’re all tour shows, basically their version of house shows, our treats from New Japan are all the round robin tournaments they do really, their roster isn’t the biggest so we’d end up with with the same 1 on 1 matches all of the time. 

Wrestling in Japan tends to have a tag match heavy show in most of their promotions as it builds feuds for future events.

I tend to not watch these shows and only watch the shows that include title matches or singles matches. 

Edited June 15, 2019 by TildeGuy~!

[Yakashi]

2 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

There’s a Gedo quote I saw yesterday that summed up New Japan for me.

The only thing I’d hope they’d improve on is different match ups, although most matches are great and fun to watch they are very much the same matches that we see other and other again, although that might be able to change with all the new wrestlers they’ve been bringing in recently.

At least that quote was before the dominion nonsense. 

[Accident Prone]

1 hour ago, TildeGuy~! said:

The only thing I’d hope they’d improve on is different match ups, although most matches are great and fun to watch they are very much the same matches that we see other and other again, although that might be able to change with all the new wrestlers they’ve been bringing in recently.

There's quite a bit more than that needs improvement.The tag division needs a massive overhaul, the NEVER and 6-Man titles need to be gotten rid off and their needs to be more faith in LIJ. His booking of Naito vs Okada at WK was dire. They also need to utlise the roster more effectively; Ishii, Goto, EVIL and SANADA could be built to be extremely credible IC and IWGP contenders, but the booking keeps them as mid-card acts who occasionally get a big win that usually goes nowhere.

19 minutes ago, Michael_3165 said:

I would prefer them to cut back on 8 match shows where 70% are multi man tags. I get its their thing but the fact is we have seen LIJ vs Suzuki-gun a million times. I geet that they do not show all on TV in Japan but still. 

The reason the New Japan roster tends to be in good shape is because of those multi-man tags. They're not busting their asses in meaningless singles matches three times a week like the WWE roster, so when they do have singles or straight-up tags they're able to put in that graft with minimised damage to their bodies, and it also makes those matches essential viewing. It's why the G1 is so important, and why the likes of Dominion and Wrestle Kingdom are so stacked. 

The best way to watch New Japan (most of the time) is supplementary to your other wrestling. It's not going to replace your habit of watching 3-8 hours per week of WWE whilst they run their loops. You tune in for the championship bouts and marque matches, and everything else is purely optional. To keep up with the developing stories you watch the backstage interviews and keep up with the English-based social media.

Now for the upcoming G1 tournament, it's going to be quite the opposite and  you'll want to cut out any other promotion for the entire duration. There will be around four-five shows per week for a month. You don't want to be watching the entire show, multi-man tags and all as that would be exhausting and repetitive. On Sunday, they'll be revealing the participants and the blocks, and then the match line-ups for each day. The best way to handle that is to go through each card (they'll be posed on the website) and write down what matches you want to watch, as watching EVERY match will be overkill. For example, the recent BOSJ tourney that ended the other week, I did exactly that;

If any stories develop that I want to keep an eye on or a certain wrestler isn't doing it for me, I'll edit as I go along but I'll keep to the schedule. I won't watch any of the undercard tags, except for the final three days as it adds a nice bit of grandeur to the proceedings. Then, when you think you can't handle any more, the G1 is over and it's back to just watching the essentials and PPV-level cards. 

The big mistake that people make when trying to get into New Japan is looking for a product that replaces WWEs regular product. New Japan don't have a two or three hour weekly show that pushes the stories. You hop on and off when you want, depending on how invested you are in their product. 

[Michael_3165]

Maybe that is where I am going wrong. I try desperately to keep up with EVERY match that they put on NJPW-World because I don't want to miss anything important but I end up getting bored and/or over saturated or simply can't keep up. That is one thing that WWE has over NJPW - being able to watch a few hours a week and know exactly what is happening with who and why.

 

On a side note I have just seen the line ups for the Australia shows... are these 'in partnership with' shows or supposed to be the genuine NJPW experience. Some of the matches look a bit ropy and just wondering if they were Rev-Pro-NJPW type events? Should make it a bit clearer if they are. 

Edited June 15, 2019 by Michael_3165