NJPW World

[KingofSports]

Just going back to the belt situation. They currently have 7 Titles, could be 8 by the time I post this. IWGP speaks for itself. In any given 12-18 month period, there will probably be 4 or 5 players seriously involved at that level, either as holders or contenders. In a situation where they had/have major stars on a similar level; Tana, Shinsuke & Okada for example, it makes perfect sense to create a.n other belt (I.C). Having elevated the status of that, it can be utilised in a similar way to the IWGP Title. NEVER Openweight Title (haven’t seen much of the openweight so far) provides the Company with another ‘trophy’, along the lines of New Japan Cup, G1 etc. In other words it helps create an extra opportunity for someone to say I’m the current….Champion, current holder. Keeps both workers & fans happy I suppose. Personally, I’d like to see more ‘random’ matches for that Title, certainly in terms of contenders.

IWGP Tag & IWGP Jr. Titles are historical, in the sense that they’ve been held by some of the greats and at times, had some real meaning. I struggle to reconcile that with the recent era, which to me, has devalued them to the point that I absolutely don’t care who has them. That’s not to say they can’t become something again.

As far as I can recall, the Jr. Tag-Titles haven’t ever really been a major thing and recently, they’re pretty much spotfests & hopefully we’d all seen as much of that as we needed by 2005.

Business-wise, the recent addition of the 6-Man Titles is a way to build-up feuds & give; 3 more workers a Title and matches a meaning, but whether you choose to care about it, is down to the individual. This individual thinks that 6-mans are shit, unless done properly (with psychology, a fitting story & a worthy match). I don’t see that happening any time soon. I’d put the belts on Bullet Club, make them super-heely & have multiple Japanese teams beaten by them, until X. Create your own ‘X’.
 

[paltaper]

Styles took Devitt's finish when he left and it didnt do AJ any harm. I dont think it matters all that much. Way bigger things to worry about that stealing a few spots. Kenny Omega is a fantastic wrestler, but if his matches are going to be filled with Young Bucks run ins and the odd comedy spot that he likes to do, its not going to do his cause much good in his goal to become a New Japan headliner.

 

 

You're right, I forgot about the Bloody Sunday. Maybe it's just I was happy to see Devitt and his interference style leave, whereas I'm sad to be reminded Nakamura's gone.

 

Graduation in the Japanese sense doesn't really mean somebody is moving on to bigger and better things (although of course it can) In Japan the word "graduation" is used in a lot of different situations, from school, to moving departments at work, to when pop singers leave their band to either leave the business entirely. It's more about moving onto another stage in life and celebrating the times that person had with the company rather than saying "well done, now you've finally made it to the big time"

 

Goto gets a lot of apathy but I love the guy. 9/10 he will produce something special in a big match situation. Unfortunately Osaka was not one of those times. Both All of Goto and Okada's previous singles matches have been great so I have no idea what happaned there. Maybe Goto, after losing 8 straight World title matches in almost 9 years has just given up

 

Haven't seen the second show yet. Sounds good from the reports but I'm not at all sold of Kenneth Omega the main eventer. Guy can go in the ring but the "Cleaner" character is the worst. Terrible, terrible promos which I think are trying to be so OTT and hammy that they become good but in fact are just embarrassing. He comes across as the massive geek that he is

 

I remember seeing Omega on DDT shows years ago and being blown away. I couldn't believe he wasn't booked hardly anywhere else. He has good size, a great look, learned heaps of Japanese, and great ability. It's just that comedy that brings it all down. With guidance he'd have real potential. I can't believe Gedo didn't tell him to knock that shit off now. Maybe after singing him singing and goofing at the start of an Ace's push he will. He will, won't he? Please say he will...

 

[paltaper]

Just going back to the belt situation. They currently have 7 Titles, could be 8 by the time I post this. IWGP speaks for itself. In any given 12-18 month period, there will probably be 4 or 5 players seriously involved at that level, either as holders or contenders. In a situation where they had/have major stars on a similar level; Tana, Shinsuke & Okada for example, it makes perfect sense to create a.n other belt (I.C). Having elevated the status of that, it can be utilised in a similar way to the IWGP Title. NEVER Openweight Title (haven’t seen much of the openweight so far) provides the Company with another ‘trophy’, along the lines of New Japan Cup, G1 etc. In other words it helps create an extra opportunity for someone to say I’m the current….Champion, current holder. Keeps both workers & fans happy I suppose. Personally, I’d like to see more ‘random’ matches for that Title, certainly in terms of contenders.

 

IWGP Tag & IWGP Jr. Titles are historical, in the sense that they’ve been held by some of the greats and at times, had some real meaning. I struggle to reconcile that with the recent era, which to me, has devalued them to the point that I absolutely don’t care who has them. That’s not to say they can’t become something again.

 

As far as I can recall, the Jr. Tag-Titles haven’t ever really been a major thing and recently, they’re pretty much spotfests & hopefully we’d all seen as much of that as we needed by 2005.

 

Business-wise, the recent addition of the 6-Man Titles is a way to build-up feuds & give; 3 more workers a Title and matches a meaning, but whether you choose to care about it, is down to the individual. This individual thinks that 6-mans are shit, unless done properly (with psychology, a fitting story & a worthy match). I don’t see that happening any time soon. I’d put the belts on Bullet Club, make them super-heely & have multiple Japanese teams beaten by them, until X. Create your own ‘X’.

 

 

The rise of the IC title really shows what you can do if you take something seriously. As a title on MVP, you couldn't pay me to give two shits, yet with the recent years matches with Tanahashi and Nakamura you feel like it's a World title. 

 

The Jr. Tag titles are a must not see for me. How many 4 way matches can they run with almost always the same teams? Awful stuff!

 

[air_raid]

As far as I can recall, the Jr. Tag-Titles haven’t ever really been a major thing and recently, they’re pretty much spotfests & hopefully we’d all seen as much of that as we needed by 2005.

 

Couldn't disagree more. Matches for those belts used to be outstanding, state of the art exciting matches when they were straight two on two matches during the reigns of No Limit, the Motor City Machine Guns and Apollo 55, and especially the rivalry between the Apollo lads and The Golden Lovers. Used to actually be a highlight of the cards for me as something completely different from the other big matches, until they got caught in this never-ending cycle of pointless multi-team matches where there is no build for anything and nothing is memorable.

 

How many 4 way matches can they run with almost always the same teams? Awful stuff!

 

Yeah, absolutely. A three or four way is a fun occasional distraction but EVERYBODY is getting horrifically exposed by wrestling EVERYBODY ELSE, EVERY month. I said this after Wrestle Kingdom ;

 

I'm sorry, I've seen this match. I've seen it so many times, I'm not interested any more. They rotate the names over time but after a few goes, it doesn't matter whether you're throwing out the Time Splitters, Forever Hooligans, reDRagon, the Bucks or Roppongi Vice, I'm dead to it. When Ricochet and Sydal were put into the junior tag tournament I immediately started tweeting about how they were obviously winning as the division badly needed some fresh blood, and then the company decided the best way to use this fresh blood was on the next big show to throw them out there with three other teams at once? I can't get over the gulf between the quality of the actual action (high) and my level of giving-a-shit (zero).

 

.... it's still true. I watched the one the other day because I had a slight desire to watch unspoiled on the off chance that Sydal & Ricochet (who I like) actually won the belts, but it didn't hold my attention. They milked the fuck out of every combination of reDRagon, the Bucks, the Splitters and the Hooligans until Kozlov left, they replaced him with Barreta and just carried on, and now they're boring my enthusiasm for O'chet and Sydal out of me too. In the last two years the belts moved from the Bucks to the Splitters to reDRagon, back to the Bucks, to Roppongi Vice, BACK to the Bucks, BACK to reDRagon and back to the Bucks again, before onto the new champions. None of it has resonated in the slightest, none of it has been memorable. Four of the last six changes have been in these shitty three or four ways. I guarantee in two months time, I'll remember that Sydal and Ricochet won the belts, but I won't remember how. A decent chase where the hot new thing eventually won the belts from the highly irritating Bucks (let's not forget, of the hated Bullet Club) might have made for something interesting, but now it will be "the two gaijin lads won the belts in a forgettable four way before losing them in another forgettable four way the month after."

[paltaper]

The Golden Lovers in NJPW was good stuff alright.

 

And I loves me a real spotfest. A real spotfest with tons of frantic effort to win with surprising moves. Not Young bucks ticking off a list of spots and adding some awful comedy.

 

At least Koslov called it a day....then again we got the incredible Trent instead. 

[westlondonmist]

 

Just going back to the belt situation. They currently have 7 Titles, could be 8 by the time I post this. IWGP speaks for itself. In any given 12-18 month period, there will probably be 4 or 5 players seriously involved at that level, either as holders or contenders. In a situation where they had/have major stars on a similar level; Tana, Shinsuke & Okada for example, it makes perfect sense to create a.n other belt (I.C). Having elevated the status of that, it can be utilised in a similar way to the IWGP Title. NEVER Openweight Title (haven’t seen much of the openweight so far) provides the Company with another ‘trophy’, along the lines of New Japan Cup, G1 etc. In other words it helps create an extra opportunity for someone to say I’m the current….Champion, current holder. Keeps both workers & fans happy I suppose. Personally, I’d like to see more ‘random’ matches for that Title, certainly in terms of contenders.

 

IWGP Tag & IWGP Jr. Titles are historical, in the sense that they’ve been held by some of the greats and at times, had some real meaning. I struggle to reconcile that with the recent era, which to me, has devalued them to the point that I absolutely don’t care who has them. That’s not to say they can’t become something again.

 

As far as I can recall, the Jr. Tag-Titles haven’t ever really been a major thing and recently, they’re pretty much spotfests & hopefully we’d all seen as much of that as we needed by 2005.

 

Business-wise, the recent addition of the 6-Man Titles is a way to build-up feuds & give; 3 more workers a Title and matches a meaning, but whether you choose to care about it, is down to the individual. This individual thinks that 6-mans are shit, unless done properly (with psychology, a fitting story & a worthy match). I don’t see that happening any time soon. I’d put the belts on Bullet Club, make them super-heely & have multiple Japanese teams beaten by them, until X. Create your own ‘X’.

 

 

The rise of the IC title really shows what you can do if you take something seriously. As a title on MVP, you couldn't pay me to give two shits, yet with the recent years matches with Tanahashi and Nakamura you feel like it's a World title. 

 

The Jr. Tag titles are a must not see for me. How many 4 way matches can they run with almost always the same teams? Awful stuff!

 

The fact that you had it pretty much as a co main event with AJ VS Nakamura showed how great the wrestlers are involved but it always had the fault of Nakamura holding it, dropping it and then winning it back straight away. It came across as his toy so that he had his own title. Hopefully it can now be a bit more. They have used it to turn Omega into heavyweight main player from a Jr heavyweight in 6 weeks using the title. Hopefully they can make something of Naito and Ibushi in the rest of the year using it.

 

I agree the Jr tag titles are so repetative. I would rather they gave a 10 minute shot to people like Liger and Tiger mask or Gedo and Jado (we know they would lose) just to make a change. I know if I miss a match I am not really missing anything as I have already seen it.

 

The six man title could of meant something but as soon as they put it on the 3 people they did I feel it just killed it. It needs a transition on to Naito, Evil and Ibushi. A change to Bucks and Omega could be good to show Omega's dominance and would keep the IC title holder in a title match even when not defending the IC title.

 

The tag titles could have a new lease of life once Anderson and Gallows fuck off. The current champs are over and really could mean something.

Jr title has become a bit repetative, it was just Omega, Kushida, Omega, Kushida. However I think they could easily change this, they have talent around. Again I think they should defend this more often even if only in 10 minute matches against legends. I think fans would love Kushida vs Liger (sorry if I am a Liger mark). 

[WestCoastPop619]

How easy is it to sign up to NJPW World?

[westlondonmist]

How easy is it to sign up to NJPW World?

Pretty easy, however if you sign up now you will pay again on 1/3 so I would wait until the start of March to sign up.

[SiWri]

I used this reddit post, which contains step by step screenshots. It was very simple to follow.

[The King Of Swing]

Also if you decide to cancel unlike a lot of sites that allow you access until the next billing period before locking you out, you get cut off as soon as you cancel with NJPW World.

[Benno]

The Honor Rising shows had some fun stuff but in the end they were largely a somewhat skippable couple of shows.

 

Was pretty interesting seeing the likes of Moose and Dalton Castle get such strong reactions. Liger particularly seemed to love working with Castle. Can't believe they didn't fly over his other best mate Cheeseburger for this - apparently all his merch sold on in the building as well.

 

The show definitely lost something in not being able to play the entrance music - really weird that this was an ROH show, with ROH wrestlers hosted by New Japan on their own streaming service and they're still muting all the in-house ROH produced themes. Really need to sort that out.

 

Match quality wise there wasn't much going on, Anderson and Gallows having their last match proper was a nice moment and the couple of Omega/Bucks matches were quite good. Strong/Ishii was probably the best match of the two days, at least the finishing stretch anyway. Hopefully some future rematches will produce better stuff.

 

Not sure where Jay Lethal in Los Ingobernables is going but it was well worth it for this gif.

 

https://twitter.com/83nn0/status/701016012028780544

Edited February 21, 2016 by Benno

[KingofSports]

 

As far as I can recall, the Jr. Tag-Titles haven’t ever really been a major thing and recently, they’re pretty much spotfests & hopefully we’d all seen as much of that as we needed by 2005.

 

Couldn't disagree more. Matches for those belts used to be outstanding, state of the art exciting matches when they were straight two on two matches during the reigns of No Limit, the Motor City Machine Guns and Apollo 55, and especially the rivalry between the Apollo lads and The Golden Lovers. Used to actually be a highlight of the cards for me as something completely different from the other big matches, until they got caught in this never-ending cycle of pointless multi-team matches where there is no build for anything and nothing is memorable.

 

 

Well, we'll have to disagree. Some decent matches from that era, but I always disliked the Machine Guns enormously, whether it was TNA or Japan and I don't recall any Yujiro or Taguchi greatness at any point in time. I was actually thinking more in the grand scheme of things, since those belts were first introduced in '98. Highlighting a specific & arguably debatable 2-year period, in the context of a 17-year history, more or less endorses the point. Not that I particularly care either way.

[air_raid]

I was actually thinking more in the grand scheme of things, since those belts were first introduced in '98. Highlighting a specific & arguably debatable 2-year period, in the context of a 17-year history, more or less endorses the point.

 

You said "by 2005." I was pointing out that into 2008-2012 the belts were still subject to (I'd say) great matches, and it's only recently it's dropped off a cliff and they've become relatively useless.

 

Not that I particularly care either way.

 

Good one.

Edited February 22, 2016 by air_raid

[ultimo the great]

Kota Ibushi is no longer under contract to DDT or New Japan, he has formed the Ibushi Pro Wrestling Institute! He makes his comeback on DDT's 19th Anniversary show at Sumo Hall 21/3

 

Ibushi’s injury turned out to be lumbar spondylolisthesis and he is on track to making a full recovery. He was given the OK by his doctor to return to pro wrestling but personally feels he has hit his physical limit. The schedule he had for the last two years working for two companies at the same time has taken its toll. He now thinks it is time for him to pursue a new kind of pro wrestling separate from either company

https://dramaticddt.wordpress.com/

 

New Japan's president Tezuka Kaname resigned and has been replaced by Katsuhiko Harada

 

New Japan Cup First round

Yujiro Takahashi vs. Toru Yano
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Michael Elgin
Togi Makabe vs. Tama Tonga
Tomoaki Honma vs Satoshi Kojima
Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto
Yoshi-Hashi vs Tetsuya Naito
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Evil
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale

 

I have to sit through another Yano/Yujiro match. WONDERFUL.

[JNLister]

Weird that Shibata's not in it. I wonder if they are planning to have him get the title shot at the next big show after Invasion Attack and don't want him losing now.