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I'm in two minds this year re: my usual subbing for January for Wrestle Kingdom and New Year's Dash. As much as it's usually the one show a year I'll make time for catching spoiler free, part of the appeal is feeling the Tokyo Dome crowd gradually lose their shit during the main. With a massively reduced attendance, I'm worried it'll all be a damp squib.

Does anyone who's been following during Covid have any recommendations either way?

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1 hour ago, CavemanLynn said:

Does anyone who's been following during Covid have any recommendations either way?

No one has been allowed to cheer during the pandemic only clap

Plus the past 3 shows this week in Korakuen Hall have practically been silent so I don’t even think the Japanese audience are looking forward to it in a couple of weeks

Edited by TildeGuy~!
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  • 2 weeks later...

First night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 is in the books, and the main event and 2nd from the top were brilliant, as expected. 

I won't put any spoilers/results in, don't wanna spoil it for anyone who accidentally clicks onto the thread. 

One thing that stood out for me, was Great O Khan's entrance, man that's a whack entrance 😂 proper piss break material

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Spoiler

Odds on an Omega appearance tomorrow/at New Year's Dash after a successful Ibushi defence? I appreciate it's unlikely, but given the hints about him wanting to collect belts etc it would be a huge talking point if AEW/NJPW had managed to agree something. Given Moxley and Jericho have been able to work NJPW dates it seems vaguely feasible.

Probably just grasping at straws, but as much as I'd love Switchblade to get the win tomorrow, the result feels like a foregone conclusion, so the show could definitely use a boost to go off the air with.

 

Night 1 Spoilers

Edited by mim731
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So New Japan have got themselves a UK TV deal, Chris Charlton blurting out the only clue for which channel it’ll be on was “Purple”

Has BT Sports picked it up? 

The Tag Team bout was tons of fun as was Okada/Ospreay

Looking forward to Night 2 in the morning.

Edited by TildeGuy~!
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22 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

So New Japan have got themselves a UK TV deal, Chris Charlton blurting out the only clue for which channel it’ll be on was “Purple”

Has BT Sports picked it up? 

I can't imagine so. WWE would have to be exclusive on BT

Without having watched the show yet, my presumption is that "purple" clue is about Bein Sports in America

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6 hours ago, mim731 said:
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Odds on an Omega appearance tomorrow/at New Year's Dash after a successful Ibushi defence? I appreciate it's unlikely, but given the hints about him wanting to collect belts etc it would be a huge talking point if AEW/NJPW had managed to agree something. Given Moxley and Jericho have been able to work NJPW dates it seems vaguely feasible.

Probably just grasping at straws, but as much as I'd love Switchblade to get the win tomorrow, the result feels like a foregone conclusion, so the show could definitely use a boost to go off the air with.

 

Night 1 Spoilers

Spoiler

For me it's unlikely at this point. Maybe in the summer, if restrictions are easier on travel and Omega is still going strong they might set that up for Dominion. Couldn't see them throwing that on a New Beginning show.

B+ show for me, opener was good even if the ending was puzzling, the conversation between Hiromu and the ref afterwards was about ELP's foot, so maybe an audible called?

Tag and briefcase match were fine, Tanahashi and O-Khan was the weakest for me. Why they've had O-Khan lose two big matches on the bounce is beyond me; Tanahashi isn't getting any smoother in the ring either.

Semi main and main were great, and I can see, even in defeat, Ospreay being Ibushi's challenger after the inevitable win against Switchblade, then onto a New Japan Cup winning Okada for the beginning of April show.

The Commonwealth Kingpin definitely sounds like something Farage calls himself after one too many though.


 

 

Edited by JimboDangerous
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I’m not sure what the stance is on Wrestlekingdom spoilers here, so I’ll be cautious about what I say.

This was the first Wrestlekingdom I’ve seen, and on hindsight it probably wasn’t a good jumping in point.

The matches were (mostly) very good, but I found it really hard to invest in any of them given the lack of atmosphere. You’ve got to do what you e got to do during a pandemic, but it really left me appreciating the difference a crowd makes to a good match, particularly when you don’t know the competitors.

It was my first time seeing many of these people in action and I was struck by Naito in particular. I thought I he was awesome, and had a real megastar aura about him. I also really enjoyed Ishii, who I’d not actually heard of before.

I was also surprised at how unremarkable Bad Luck Fale was. I’d heard of him, and I was expecting more that he actually gave. He might be better than I realise, but he wasn’t fun to watch in ring and he doesn’t look particularly menacing either.

I’d be interested in seeing Switchblade in AEW. I really liked his mic work, and he was a lot of fun to watch.

I thought the commentary was terrible. Kevin Kelly really started to grate on me.

I’m definitely interested in trying New Japan again after all of that, but I’ll probably wait until the atmosphere is a little less eerie.

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