Jun 10, 2018 22:08:51 GMT Emperor said:

The match was cleverly booked for two reasons. First, Okada got the first fall, so Okada would have retained were it a regular match. That can be used to spice up their next match. Second, on this occasion Omega was the first to hit his finisher. That's the first time Omega has hit the One Winged Angel before Okada hit the Rainmaker. Unless that happened in their G1 match too. I don't remember.

Hmm, that's a good point. I think you're on to something.

Okada wanted Omega one more time because of the match ending in a draw and he wasn't satisfied. So he wanted no time limit. And I think it was Omega that added the 2 out of 3 stip, so Okada could fire back and say if it weren't for Omega's little gimmick he'd still be champ.

I think it's a forgone conclusion that Okada can cash in a re-match, no? This just fuels that even more. That, or Okada is going to steamroll through the G1 and the rematch will happen in January.

...

I think Okada and Omega go one more time but I almost hope they don't fight again. Nothing can top what happened on Saturday.

Rematch clauses aren't a thing in NJPW. Okada isn't entitled to a rematch immediately, but of course he will issue a challenge down the line. He might even win the G1. This will be a long term feud, the next Okada/Tanahashi.

If Okada beats up Kenny outside of a sanctioned wrestling match he will get a title shot.

It's a hands down sure fire bet in NJPW.

Plus, an agressive and somewhat desperate Okada in the challenger role would make for an interesting chapter in their series of epic showdowns. As to the question someone asked around these parts a hot minute back: The Kenny Omega/Kazuchika Okada feud ranks very highly in my book. In terms of match quality and story telling they have very few peers. The only thing in NJPW of recent memory that could come close to comparing is Okada/Tanahashi, but Dominion 6.9 put that feud firmly into second place. Not many things in the history of wrestling will come close to the spectacle that was OmegaVsOkada IV. I'm more than ready for V.

I feel NJPW missed the boat big time on not pulling trigger on Sho & Yoh, though. Dominion had a lot of eyes on it. They should have fully established them as THE team in the Jr. Tag Division. I would also welcome a couple fresh new teams for the division to creste a little more buzz there. I would also fire Desperado.

Lastly. Sheesh. Big Mike. Looks like a different guy almost. Guess all that stress from exposure took a toll on his appetite.

Why the heck would you fire Desperado? He's great. Kanemaru is the wasted space on that team. Plus Desperado is going to be Hiromu's next challenger. They have a surprisingly deep history. More might be revealed when their feud gets properly started.

Not a fan. Obviously lol. Maybe I'm missing something.. Kanemaru is my guy on that team.

Here's hoping a feud with Hiromu will change my mind on Desperado, though. My mind is open to be blown. Until then he is on the shortlist of NJPW wrestlers who I'm just not feeling.

Jun 15, 2018 21:28:43 GMT kashdinero said:

If Okada beats up Kenny outside of a sanctioned wrestling match he will get a title shot.

It's a hands down sure fire bet in NJPW.

Plus, an agressive and somewhat desperate Okada in the challenger role would make for an interesting chapter in their series of epic showdowns. As to the question someone asked around these parts a hot minute back: The Kenny Omega/Kazuchika Okada feud ranks very highly in my book. In terms of match quality and story telling they have very few peers. The only thing in NJPW of recent memory that could come close to comparing is Okada/Tanahashi, but Dominion 6.9 put that feud firmly into second place. Not many things in the history of wrestling will come close to the spectacle that was OmegaVsOkada IV. I'm more than ready for V.

I feel NJPW missed the boat big time on not pulling trigger on Sho & Yoh, though. Dominion had a lot of eyes on it. They should have fully established them as THE team in the Jr. Tag Division. I would also welcome a couple fresh new teams for the division to creste a little more buzz there. I would also fire Desperado.

Lastly. Sheesh. Big Mike. Looks like a different guy almost. Guess all that stress from exposure took a toll on his appetite.

I agree 100% (minus firing Desperado). I absolutely thought they were going to win that match and I would have put money on it. I don't know why they didn't put the titles on them at Dominion.

Maybe they're both entering the G1 and they're waiting until after that? I don't know. NJPW still making weird booking decisions even with how good and surprising Dominion was.

I have this weird feeling that this was just Act 1 of the Okada/Omega story. Maybe the end of Act 2, hard to say. They put the title on Kenny and I think he signs on for a few more years now, so we could still get a few more classics out of the two of them.

My prediction for G1 is both Okada and Naito fighting with a chip on their shoulder after Dominion not going how they wanted it to, and they meet in the finals. 

I can see where kash is coming from, but I'd go further. I'd get rid of Suzuki-gun altogether. To me they were already old news when they left for NOAH in 2015 and really weren't missed all that much. When they returned at the 2017 New Years Dash event, it was a cool moment, but then they humbled them on the next set of shows. It defanged them and while they've all played their role in filling the mid-card, I can't help but feel that it dates the brand.

Acts like the Killer Elite Squad, Zack Sabre Jr and even Minoru Suzuki have a role to play, but I can't say I was holding my breath waiting to see Taichi and Taka Michinoku return. They were in that Yoshitatsu category of I can really take it or leave it.

Suzuki-gun's return in 2017 was a big deal, but as Pete says they were booked so poorly after that, they ceased to be a big deal pretty quickly, and it wasn't long before they stopped being taken seriously at all. Suzuki is a great character and a great promo, but he's not really up there in the ring in comparison with the other stable leaders and top guys. Still, he's a welcome addition to the roster, and gave us an amazing match with Tanahashi earlier this year.

The rest of the stable is pretty useless apart from Zack Sabre Jr. (with Taka as his hype guy) and El Desperado. Joining Suzuki-gun really helped Zack out a lot. I didn't think pretty boy Zack had a heel run in him, but in spite of his unimposing appearance he's knocked it out of the park. Shame he's not a full-time NJPW member because the New Japan Cup run was amazing but he disappeared after the Okada match and thus was not given a prominent role at Dominion. Perhaps he will be booked strongly in the G1. Maybe even make the final.

I don't even mind the Killer Elite Squad or the idea of having Davey Boy Smith Jr pull a Karl Anderson and work the occasional single (which should really happen). I just think the Suzuki-gun brand is stale and guys like Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka clutter the roster. I would have preferred it if they disbanded the group really quickly, with Suzuki taking on more of a 'legends' role and guys like Kanemaru and Sabre Jr finding themselves in other stables. It's a real shame what happened to Katsuyori Shibata because in my mind, I would have enjoyed the idea of him and Hirooki Goto starting their own stable and bringing in a guy like Sabre Jr to be apart of it. I still think Goto could have gotten away with that since CHAOS has enough premier talent and it could have made for a good angle.

Ultimately it's one of the few things I actively feel indifferent about in NJPW. When Tetsuya Naito returned and formed Los Ingobernables de Japon, the best decision they made is that they primarily filled it with fresh talent. Giving them guys like EVIL, SANADA and Hiromu Takahashi really helped them get over and strengthened the NJPW product.

They have to be close to pulling the plug on Jay White, right?

Jun 17, 2018 19:45:54 GMT KJ said:

They have to be close to pulling the plug on Jay White, right?

What do you mean by pulling the plug? Like push to the Heavyweight title?

Because I could totally see him dropping the US title to Juice or someone and then getting a push. The main event scene will need some fresh meat for Omega to feud with once he beats Cody.

Jun 17, 2018 23:34:12 GMT RT said:

Jun 17, 2018 19:45:54 GMT KJ said:

They have to be close to pulling the plug on Jay White, right?

What do you mean by pulling the plug? Like push to the Heavyweight title?

Because I could totally see him dropping the US title to Juice or someone and then getting a push. The main event scene will need some fresh meat for Omega to feud with once he beats Cody.

Ugh. I think he loses to Juice, but a ME run sounds awful. He just looks like Miles Teller cosplaying as a “cool” wrestler.

I think NJPW has high hopes for Jay White, and I don't see any reason why not. He's a foreigner but a home grown wrestler. His Switchblade persona is in its infancy, and it's certainly not perfect, but to me it's a lot more good than bad. He's already had a few quality matches, particularly his match with Omega. His matches with Juice and Finlay exceeded expectations too. I love his promos. Let's see how he gets on in the G1. That is the real test for a singles wrestler.

Yeah I got no problem with Jay White. I could see him with the IC title one day.

I didn't like that they put the US title on him so soon because it's kind of been forgotten about ever since Omega lost it, but other than that he's been fine.

I think Cody would have been a better choice as US Champion. It would have legitimised him as a NJPW talent, it would have legitimised the belt in both Japan and the USA and given Cody something to brag about leading to an inevitable rematch.

With that said, I feel like Jay White is in the right position on the card. When he first came in, I don't think he was ready to work against a guy like Tanahashi at WrestleKingdom and that inexperience showed in the match. It wasn't like he bombed or completely embarrassed himself, but it was a really tall ask to have him go against Tanahashi in a match that carries a massive level of expectation. A lot of fans would consider Kazuchika Okada the best wrestler of the decade, and even he had a much easier return match against YOSHI-HASHI. Sure, it was well below the standard he'd set, but it was one of those smart matches where he got to find his footing and made the eventual Tanahashi match more palatable.

I think White will have a much stronger second half of the year and I expect he'll have some really impressive showings at this year's G-1. He's clearly a work in progress and while Gedo was a little hasty to begin with, by 2019-2020 I expect he'll be one of their bigger stars.