Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted October 15, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted October 15, 2023 2 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said: I bow to those who know more about New Japan than I do but am I right in thinking Tanahashi is one of the few New Japan talents that never did an excursion anywhere? I know he worked Mexico for a couple of months with Nakamura but that wasn't counted as an excursion was it? Is there a reason why? I thought it was/is essentially a ritual to have an excursion for New Japan wrestlers? Did he not do a spell in TNA in the 00s? I definitely remember a PPV match with AJ Styles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Land Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 2 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said: I bow to those who know more about New Japan than I do but am I right in thinking Tanahashi is one of the few New Japan talents that never did an excursion anywhere? I know he worked Mexico for a couple of months with Nakamura but that wasn't counted as an excursion was it? Is there a reason why? I thought it was/is essentially a ritual to have an excursion for New Japan wrestlers? It was probably a combination of things. Early 2000s NJPW was a mess due to peak Inokism and use of MMA guys. - Talent departures (Muto and his crew to AJPW. Hashimoto and his crew to Zero-1, Choshu and his crew to WJ). Also includes no decent foreigners to give depth at the top of the card. - Not the best selection of international partner promotions to cobble together the work. UK & Germany wasn't what it was. US was in dissaray - Wasn't a Junior that had to go away and bulk up for credibility. Tanahashi, Nakamura, and Shibata just got slapped with the NEW Musketeers early on and had to make the best of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWOLeN Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 I really enjoy the venue. It's an A+ location next to the Olympic Stadium (West Ham United) and the Westfield Mall. Public Transportation is perfect. A show like this could also attract fans from Germany, Netherlands etc. as it is so close to London City Airport. I don't think these markets were part of the promotional plan. Just book someone from WXW Germany also next time and not only British talent. I took my 10 year old son and I could easily entertain him all day before the show with the cinema, bowling, dining etc. Fantastic. The show was fun and had some really good matches. He loved it. The crowd was hot at times but less hot compared to RPW's AEW show. I think this show lacked some buzz. Some more hype. It needed a more 'cant miss' vibe to attract more fans. I'm worried NJPW wont return any time soon to CopperBox because of the empty seats, but I really hope they will continue to come back for many years to come.   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 28 minutes ago, LWOLeN said: I really enjoy the venue. It's an A+ location next to the Olympic Stadium (West Ham United) and the Westfield Mall. Public Transportation is perfect. A show like this could also attract fans from Germany, Netherlands etc. as it is so close to London City Airport. I don't think these markets were part of the promotional plan. Just book someone from WXW Germany also next time and not only British talent. I took my 10 year old son and I could easily entertain him all day before the show with the cinema, bowling, dining etc. Fantastic. The show was fun and had some really good matches. He loved it. The crowd was hot at times but less hot compared to RPW's AEW show. I think this show lacked some buzz. Some more hype. It needed a more 'cant miss' vibe to attract more fans. I'm worried NJPW wont return any time soon to CopperBox because of the empty seats, but I really hope they will continue to come back for many years to come.   if they got 3 to 4000 they probably did decent. Ospreay was the only big name in a singles match really. They used quite a bit of UK based talent too so cost of the show likely wasn't as heavy as 2019. It was quite short notice and with lack on hype I doubt they expected a sell out crowd. 2019 had Tana winning a singles title and Kenta winning the Openweight match plus Okada winning a title match in the main event. If they gave 6 months notice and treated it as an important show they could easily get 6000 again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maikeru Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 NJPW’s Japanese website gives the attendance as 3,191 (52% of what the first Royal Quest did). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) 7 hours ago, Maikeru said: NJPW’s Japanese website gives the attendance as 3,191 (52% of what the first Royal Quest did). The first of something always draws better due to the nolvelty factor, but announcing the first Royal Quest show 9 months ahead of time rather than 6 weeks ahead of time will have helped as well, certainty for any fans that have to travel/stay over Edited October 16, 2023 by WyattSheepMask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members I Bent My Wookie Posted October 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 16, 2023 5 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said: The first of something always draws better due to the nolvelty factor, but announcing the first Royal Quest show 9 months ahead of time rather than 6 weeks ahead of time will have helped as well, certainty for any fans that have to travel/stay over This is key I think. There was no way I was going to be able to put a holiday request in and find suitable travel and accommodation and sort tickets all in one go so short on time and I expect the same for many others. Hopefully the next time around is in a better time frame as it is something I really want to experience live with a bit of better planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 It also helped that the first Royal Quest felt like a big show, wasn’t it their first over here too? Saturdays show just felt like a big Rev Pro show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 1 hour ago, Shy Dad said: This is key I think. There was no way I was going to be able to put a holiday request in and find suitable travel and accommodation and sort tickets all in one go so short on time and I expect the same for many others. Hopefully the next time around is in a better time frame as it is something I really want to experience live with a bit of better planning. I also think many had travelled for wrestling this year for All In, MITB or both. You then have a WWE tour in 2 weeks which went on sale ages before New Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 16, 2023 I was chatting to somebody who worked Royal Quest yesterday, and my feeling was that outside of Ospreay/Zack, it didn't feel like a big NJPW show, and RevPro have used NJPW talent so regularly that a full-blown NJPW event needs to do more than what felt like a bit of a cobbled together house show to stand out and draw fans that need more convincing than ever to part with their money. Shingo Takagi wrestled for RevPro two months ago, Yota Tsuji was a RevPro regular for most of 2022 and early 2023, a lot of the other stars have been here over the past few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maikeru Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 There was an interview with Takaaki Kidani (Bushiroad boss) in the Shuukan Puroresu magazine recently where he said crowds in Japan for NJPW are at 65% of what they were pre-pandemic, so the Copper Box attendance isn’t a bad number all things considered. Not sure if they could have booked any smaller an arena in London - anywhere that holds 3-4000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 It's a shame they're doing the NJPW World improvements now as I would've been all over that a year or two ago but now I'm not that bothered at all. Same with missing RQ3. Considering how good we've had it with WWE and AEW this year it was a tough sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Dent Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) I’ve been to all of the Royal Quest shows. The first Royal Quest felt so much more like a genuinely authentic NJPW show than the others. Saturday even just looked like a RevPro show. Clearly a lot of RevPro fans go to this as well but having half of each show filled with local guys really diminishes it for me. Especially when a six man team with Tanahashi and the NJPW Strong champion come out to the RevPro guy’s music. I know Tana is pretty much done, but at least give us the entrance! Still, the show was good on the whole and the top 2 matches really delivered. Edited October 16, 2023 by Harvey Dent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 16, 2023 4 minutes ago, Harvey Dent said: Especially when a six man team with Tanahashi and the NJPW Strong champion come out to the RevPro guy’s music. I know Tana is pretty much done, but at least give us the entrance! I spoke to Oku yesterday, and he said this was a mistake - the running order had them all coming out individually, but for some reason Eddie and Tanahashi just walked out behind him during his entrance instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted October 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 16, 2023 7 minutes ago, BomberPat said: I spoke to Oku yesterday, and he said this was a mistake - the running order had them all coming out individually, but for some reason Eddie and Tanahashi just walked out behind him during his entrance instead. I did wonder. We felt a bit robbed of Eddie's theme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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