Cheapheat Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Hi all, I was having a lively discussion with a couple of friends about Japanese Pro wrestling and we all had our own definition of Kings Road style and how it related to modern NJPW. I wondered what the consensus would be. Non of us were very confident we were correct, as we all realized we hadn't really defined it before. How would you A) Define kings road and B) say how today's NJPW differs from that style? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted February 24, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted February 24, 2020 "King's Road" is like "Strong Style", in that it's more of a marketing gimmick than a defined style, but if I were to try and define it; King's Road was AJPW's house style under Baba, in the same way that Strong Style was NJPW's under Inoki. The philosophy of Strong Style was, loosely, that pro-wrestling was a martial art, and should take influence from other martial arts - so incorporated more legitimate holds and strikes, and eventually grew into multiple shoot-style offshoots. King's Road was more about wrestling being its own distinct form, with less influence from other disciplines. It was about eschewing the boundaries of martial arts in favour of more drama, more US-style brawling, and so on. What King's Road came to be about as AJPW developed was escalation - a finisher that may have worked in your first match with a certain opponent being kicked out of in the second. Within a match, the offence will build logically from the beginning to the end, almost like how some wrestling video games require you to build up some momentum, or damage your opponent a certain amount, before you can hit your bigger moves. I'd say that in terms of match structure, modern NJPW owes more to King's Road than to Strong Style because of that focus on escalation, and a big late '90s AJPW influence in terms of big finisher kick-out closing sequences, and lessons learned across multiple matches - a finisher that worked in match one between the same two wrestlers being countered in match two. But it still takes a lot from the Strong Style ethos in terms of the strikes used, MMA influence on realistic submission holds (over more dramatic "wrestling" submissions), and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 New Japan Cup Brackets have been announced Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Levity 84 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 23 hours ago, BomberPat said: "King's Road" is like "Strong Style", in that it's more of a marketing gimmick than a defined style, but if I were to try and define it; King's Road was AJPW's house style under Baba, in the same way that Strong Style was NJPW's under Inoki. The philosophy of Strong Style was, loosely, that pro-wrestling was a martial art, and should take influence from other martial arts - so incorporated more legitimate holds and strikes, and eventually grew into multiple shoot-style offshoots. King's Road was more about wrestling being its own distinct form, with less influence from other disciplines. It was about eschewing the boundaries of martial arts in favour of more drama, more US-style brawling, and so on. What King's Road came to be about as AJPW developed was escalation - a finisher that may have worked in your first match with a certain opponent being kicked out of in the second. Within a match, the offence will build logically from the beginning to the end, almost like how some wrestling video games require you to build up some momentum, or damage your opponent a certain amount, before you can hit your bigger moves. I'd say that in terms of match structure, modern NJPW owes more to King's Road than to Strong Style because of that focus on escalation, and a big late '90s AJPW influence in terms of big finisher kick-out closing sequences, and lessons learned across multiple matches - a finisher that worked in match one between the same two wrestlers being countered in match two. But it still takes a lot from the Strong Style ethos in terms of the strikes used, MMA influence on realistic submission holds (over more dramatic "wrestling" submissions), and so on. That was a fantastic read. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members I Bent My Wookie Posted February 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted February 25, 2020 Ibushi and Sabre Jr in round 1 is so bloody tasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_3165 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 If I were booking this (purely from a quality perspective) I would have the following: Tanahashi facing Ibushi - Ibushi going over Shingo going over Opsreay then facing Ibushi Cobb vs Ishii Suzuki vs White (Okada doesn't need the win) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Reckon they’ll go with Goto v KENTA in the QFs? I’d be fine with Suzuki facing White and smacking seven shades of shit out of him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I just know I'm going to get some shit for this but New Japan has become almost as much a chore for me to sit through over the last year or so as WWE was before I sacked it off. Enjoyed both WK's and Dash but I'm already only watching specific matches again. Also gone right off the commentary since Don left. Found the bickering unbearable during Naito Vs. KENTA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_3165 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I was the same before my subs expired. It's too much to follow and Kevin Kelly was fine but nothing spectacular. Shame but all of it kinda merged into one for me.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted February 26, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2020 All shows from March 1 to March 15 cancelled because of Coronavirus. (DDT is doing the same.) https://www.njpw1972.com/72903 No idea what they do for the New Japan Cup. They've got five events after the 15thand before Sakura Genesis (where the winner gets a title shot), so you could theoretically still do the tournament in full, but it's a bit of a gamble on those shows definitely running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herne's Son Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Read this news this morning and was pretty annoyed as I was looking forward to the Cup quite a bit. Being single elimination and not round robin like the other major tournaments gives it more of a sense of urgency and makes each match matter that much more. The delay could make each show more interesting with 8 torunaments matches on each instead of 3-4 then filler tags. Still a little worried the whole thing gets cancelled with the way this damn virus is spreading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 On 2/25/2020 at 8:30 AM, TildeGuy~! said: New Japan Cup Brackets have been announced Unfortunately the Cup has now been cancelled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted March 10, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 10, 2020 2 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said: Unfortunately the Cup has now been cancelled. Respectfully, would you mind posting a source or link to this story of the cancellation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevendaughters Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 4 minutes ago, mim731 said: Respectfully, would you mind posting a source or link to this story of the cancellation? https://www.njpw1972.com/73438 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted March 10, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted March 10, 2020 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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