New Japan Pro Wrestling recently concluded its trio of Destruction events. Let's recap.

Destruction in Fukushima concluded with Minoru Suzuki retaining the NEVER Openweight belt in a Lumberjack match against Michael Elgin. Elgin has been a force to reckon with since his debut a couple of years back, but he's been unable to catch a break with regards to titles. Suzuki didn't have a way to match Elgin's power directly, but he exploited the stipulation of the match as much as possible by getting his cronies to run interference. Even though Taguchi Japan was there to support Elgin, Suzuki-gun have been bending the rules for far too long and always know how to get ahead.

A week later in Kobe, KUSHIDA successfully defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Suzuki-gun's El Desperado in what I thought was the best match of the three shows. I'm not happy with KUSHIDA becoming the King of the Juniors" again when there's a good amount of fresher talent, but when he puts on matches of this quality, I can't complain too much. Tanahashi was also successful against another Suzuki-gun hopeful: Zack Sabre Jr. Not a bad match, but I felt this one of Sabre's weaker performances in recent memory. The G1 match with the same opponent was much better. Tanahashi was in any real danger, and I couldn't help but feel a bit sour when he won in standard fashion.

The Destruction series ended with Juice Robinson challenging Kenny Omega for the NJPW US Championship after Robinson's shocking upset at the G1. This is Omega's first defense, and he is fresh off a knee surgery that played a significant part in the match. My reaction to this match was strange. It did everything right. It told a great story, had good action and drama, succeeded in elevating Juice in defeat, but I wasn't particularly interested in it. I suspect it's because I was 100% sure Omega would retain, so even when Juice hit the Pulp Friction, a move that had never been kicked out of, I still didn't buy it as a genuine false finish. But the way they went from that into the real finish was excellent. Good match, but KUSHIDA vs El Desperado still takes match of the event.

In other news, the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles were defended three times in the same triple threat match on all three shows. War Machine retained in the first two matches, but they were unable to make it three for three and, more importantly, take the belts out of Destruction. Killer Elite Squad won the final and most important of the matches.

King of Pro Wrestling
As we come closer to the biggest show of the year at the Tokyo Dome, we see the ramifications of August's G1 Climax tournament. Heavyweight Champion Okada and tournament winner Naito aim to avenge their tournament losses and defend their title/contract against EVIL and Ishii respectively. In addition, Will Ospreay hopes to break the curse and beat KUSHIDA for the first time ever to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Looking forward to KoPW. Okada/Evil should be really good as their G1 match was. Also, really hope Ospreay finally wins the JHW Title. Also, looking forward to seeing who comprises Roppongi 3K.

New Japan King of Pro Wrestling 2017 Results

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA & BUSHI) def. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga). Takahashi brought back his stuffed animal (Darryl) to distract Fale, enabling BUSHI to blow mist into Fale's face and score the pin.

Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto def. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. Yano tied Suzuki up with some rope and despite Suzuki's best efforts to choke Yano out, Yano was able to escape and score the count out victory. Yano stole the NEVER belt as Suzuki-gun destroyed ring-side in anger.

Roppongi 3K (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu) def. Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi to win the IWGP Junior Championships. Before the match began, they aired a vignette with Rocky Romero, Sho and Yo. Sho & Yo won with their new tag team finisher which is basically an elevated pay-dirt where one guy lifts his opponent and the other hits the pay-dirt (Shelton Benjamin's finish).

Killer Elite Squad def. War Machine & Guerillas of Destiny to retain the IWGP World Tag Championships. Killer Elite squad won with a Killer Bomb on Hanson through the table.

Marty Scurll & Kenny Omega & Cody def. Jado & YOSHI-HASHI & Baretta. Scurll submitted Jado with the Chicken Wing. After the match, Omega grabbed the English commentators head-set and promoted his upcoming match against YOSHI-HASHI at the Oct 15th ROH show.

Switchblade will debut at the Nov 5th show, Power Struggle.

Juice Robinson & Kota Ibushi def. Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Robinson avoided a knee-drop and hit the pulp friction for the finish. It appears Ibushi/Tanahashi is on the cards.

Will Ospreay def. KUSHIDA to win the IWGP Jr. Championship. Ospreay escaped a Hoverboard Lock and hit the Ozcutter to win. After the match Hiromu Takahashi attempted to challenge Ospreay to a match, but Marty Scurll interrupted making the challenge instead. The segment ended with Takahashi laughing it off.

Tetsuya Naito def. Tomohiro Ishii. Naito blocked a brainbuster and hit two Destinos for the win.

Kazuchika Okada def. EVIL to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Okada hit two rainmakers, EVIL blocked a third, but Okada eventually hit it after countering with a Tombstone Piledriver. After the match Naito confronted Okada about their upcoming match at WrestleKingdom 12. Okada will also break Shinya Hashimoto's 489 record and will become the longest reigning champion in NJPW history.

Haven’t had time to watch the show yet, but I am really happy Ospreay win the JHW Title!

I was vacationing when King of Pro Wrestling happened. Today I've had a chance to catch the show.

Toru Yano has a ridiculously good record against Minoru Suzuki. Kelly named at least six victories over the years, and I'm not sure if Suzuki has defeated Yano even once. The master thief once again duped Suzuki. Suzuki was trying to embarrass Yano on the outside by wrapping a rope around him and choking him out, but Yano hit a low blow at the count of 18 and rolled in the ring. He then stole Suzuki's NEVER Openweight Belt, which may as well be a title challenge. He did beat him in the G1, after all. When this match happens, will Suzuki be able to defeat his bogey opponent for possibly the first time ever to keep his gold?

Rocky Romero debuted his mystery team Roppongi 3K to challenge Teguchi and Ricochet for the ever-changing Junior Heavyweight Belts. Roppongi 3K were revealed to be Sho and Yoh, who got a surprisingly loud reaction considering they are just returned from excursion. I really enjoyed Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu as young boys, but didn't follow their exploits outside Japan. Turns out they made quite a name for themselves. King of Pro Wrestling was no exception. After an average match that looked to be going the way of a routine victory for the favourites, Tanaka suddenly exploded on his opponents, delivering three German suplexes to each. Roppongi 3K then hit their double team finish, a 3D-esque move, onto Ricochet to score a monumental upset and tag team gold. Can't ask for a better debut than that.

Will Ospreay defeated KUSHIDA for the first time to become the new Junior Heavyweight champion. I wasn't feeling this match despite a hot start and a hotter finishing sequence. I don't think I was in the mood for this kinda match, and I have a hard time understanding some of Ospreay's offense. In particular Ospreay's counter that set up the finish - I have no idea what that was supposed to be.

I was not happy at the aftermath. Takahashi comes out to make a challenge. Scurll slides in the ring, does the finger breaking spot, and makes his own challenge while Takahashi writhes around in pain. He then throws a tantrum after the Brits leave. Takahashi must have some kind of backstage heat, because I can't explain this treatment any other way. He debuted at Wrestle Kingdom and was instantly crowned as the new King of the Juniors. Then he somewhat surprisingly lost the title back to KUSHIDA and became a joke, and the joke is only getting worse as time goes on. It annoys me because I think he's the best thing to happen to NJPW's junior division in a long time.

Naito and Ishii tore the house down with an expectedly fantastic match, although the result was never in doubt.

EVIL had a very good showing in his first main event and IWGP Championship shot. They worked a fairly standard match for the first 20 minutes, but with a couple of nice twists on common spots. They turned it up a notch in the closing stretch, although when all was said and done EVIL didn't come as close as most of Okada's previous challengers. Okada easily thwarted the Rainmaker-to-STO counter that was his undoing at the G1, reversing that into a Tombstone and a third Rainmaker for yet another successful defense.

Bullet Club's Aladdin costumes had me rolling.

If you're not subscribed to NeatPuroFan and Showbuckle, you're a dumb mark. 

Thanks for sharing, KITN. I have subscribed to both channels!

NJPW's Power Struggle is only a few days away. Let's take a look at the card.

2017 Super Junior Tag Tournament Finals
Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) vs. Super 69 (ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi)
Roppongi 3K made a huge impression in their NJPW debut at King of Pro-Wrestling by defeating Taguchi and Ricochet to win the IWGP Junior Tag Titles. They proved their victory was no fluke by reaching the finals of the 2017 Super Junior Tag Tournament. They defeated Kawato/KUSHIDA and BUSHI/Takahashi on the way. Once again they meet Taguchi, this time with a different partner in ACH. They vanquished two Suzuki-gun teams (Taichi/Michinoku and Kanemaru/Desperado) in their bracket. I reckon this will be Sho and Yoh's first loss in the company, leading to a rematch for the titles where they will be victorious.

NEVER Openweight Championship
Bullrope Deathmatch
Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Toru Yano
The light-hearted but underhanded Toru Yano has got his work cut out of him as he enters a deathmatch with the most sadistic man in the company: Minoru Suzuki. These two have a very long history: Yano has somehow defeated Suzuki in every one of their encounters, costing him tournament finals and titles. After their last encounter, where Yano once again duped Suzuki with a countout win, the sublime master thief stole Suzuki's NEVER Openweight belt, and the challenge was made. Will Suzuki be able to defeat Yano for the first time ever? Or will Yano win his first ever singles title in the company? I have Suzuki as the favourite, but I wouldn't count Yano out.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Will Ospreay (c) vs. Marty Scurll
Ospreay became the new IWGP Junior Champion after overcoming his bogey opponent, KUSHIDA, at King of Pro-Wrestling. Hiromu Takahashi came out to make the next challenge, but was interrupted by Scurll, who got his own challenge in first. In classic NJPW fashion, it's not the most deserving challenger who gets to contest for the lower card belts, but the first person to step into the ring and speak into the microphone. Regardless, it's an all-England contest for the crown. I assume these two have met many times in the UK indies, so a good match should be expected, albeit a predictable one. I'd be very surprised if Ospreay doesn't retain, but given the erratic booking of the undercard belts, anything can happen.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega (c) vs. Beretta
This match passed me by. Apparently Beretta made a challenge at some point, and Omega accepted. Cool. A few months ago, after Roppongi Vice lost the Junior tag belts to someone (The Young Bucks maybe), Rocky Romero announced the end of their team and that Beretta is going to advance to the Heavyweight Division. As far as I'm aware, this is Beretta's first singles match in NJPW as a heavyweight. It's worth mentioning that his path was taken by Kenny Omega not too long ago, and it turned out pretty well for him. Will Beretta have the same level of success in the top division? Maybe, but not this soon. This smells like a filler defense, but at least they found a fresh American opponent to fight for the US belt.
 
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
The main event has been simmering for months, ever since Ibushi defeated Tanahashi in the first round of this year's G1 Climax. Both men want this fight. Ibushi for obvious reasons. Tanahashi to avenge his tournament losses (which he has already done successfully against Zack Sabre Jr.). Not only should this be a fantastic wrestling match, but it's one of the most unpredictable NJPW title matches in recent memory. I could see either man winning the match and the title and taking it to the Tokyo Dome.

Actually Beretta has 1 other singles match against Yujiro Takahashi. Can’t remember which show, but it was a month or two ago.

NJPW Power Struggle Review

Roppongi 3K vs ACH and Taguchi
When the teams in the junior tag division are allowed to work long tag matches, as opposed to multi-team spotty clusterfucks, they are capable of putting on some fantastic matches, and this was no exception. ACH came into the match with injured ribs, a clear target for the fast-rising young stars. Roppongi 3K took this in mind, no doubt with the guidance of manager Rocky Romero, wrestling a very methodical, focused attack on those ribs instead of their usual fast-paced high-flying game. Taguchi got the hot tag and had a nice offensive flurry, but he couldn't keep it up forever in what was a 2 vs 1 situation. However he lasted long enough to make the tag to a somewhat recuperated ACH before it was too late, and ACH did a masterful job of combining strong offense with long term selling. It all boiled down to a dramatic finishing sequence where once again Sho and Yoh proved to be the stronger and more resourceful team. After surviving a couple of close calls, they took out Taguchi with their double team finish. ACH soon suffered the same fate. The fresh junior tag team champions stay undefeated and add another huge accolade to their collection. ****

After the match, out come The Young Bucks, who have been the stalwarts of the division for many years and whose claim as the best tag team in the world is hard to argue with. They make the challenge. Rocky Romero accepts. This is the first junior tag match I've legitimately cared about since I started following NJPW, and the ultra-strong booking of Roppongi 3K is why this match is so compelling. I guess it will happen at Wrestle Kingdom, which is where this match belongs.

CHAOS vs Los Ingobernables De Japón
This was a throwaway tag to get some Naito vs Okada action, but that action was noteworthy. First, Naito got a big positive reaction on his entrance, but when the match got going they turned on him quick. Naito played this to the maximum, heeling it up whenever he could. Early in the match he took Okada to the ramp and body slammed him on there, and did it again to get more heat. When both tagged in for the first time, the first thing Naito did was spit in Okada's face. Okada stayed in for the rest of the match. He and Naito battled for a while. Then Naito tagged out to BUSHI. Needless to say, Okada eventually pinned BUSHI after hitting the Rainmaker to a positive reaction.

Minoru Suzuki vs Toru Yano
While I was watching this match, I realised that the booking is really fucking weird. Suzuki is the most heelish heel in the company. Yano is a babyface, but one who always bends the rules to win in the lying-cheating-stealing fashion. The bullrope gimmick was made for Suzuki to get revenge on Yano for all that he has cost him over the years. This story would be perfect - if Suzuki were the face and Yano the heel. But it's the other way round, so I have no idea how what I'm supposed to make of Suzuki mercilessly beating Yano, even using his stablemates completely unnecessarily. I guess my problem is that I kinda feel sorry for Suzuki - he's had titles and G1 wins repeatedly taken away from him by a terrible wrestler who cheats to win. Maybe that's my problem. I'm not supposed to feel bad for Suzuki. After all, he is just as bad: he cheats almost as much as Yano. Then there's the question of the finish. Who's supposed to win this match? If Suzuki wins, then he's a heel who's just beat the shit out of the face for 20 minutes and then beat him in the blowoff match. Not very satisfying. If Yano wins, he's once again screwed the much more deserving wrestler and won a title from him, which would also leave a sour taste in my mouth if not anybody elses. Suzuki won the match convincingly. I think this was the best outcome, or at least the lesser evil. He finally defeats Yano and can put this feud behind him.

OK, enough philosophical ramblings. How was the match itself? Well, I'd say it was the most WWF-Attitude-Era match NJPW has ever seen. As well as the bullrope gimmick, it was full of shenanigans. Interference from Suzuki-gun. Counter-interference from CHAOS. More interference. A ref bump. Distractions. Weapon use (beyond the bullrope). Violence. Chaotic action. Yet for the most part, I wasn't entertained, because I was way overthinking the match as described in the previous paragraph. It was OK. I'll give credit to Yano though. He sold his ass off, took a legitimate beating (there were bruises and welts all over his body), and when he got on offense, he showed a more aggressive and sadistic side befitting of the match, while still getting some of his signature jokey spots in. Perhaps this match was made to further Westernise the promotion/appeal to US audiences, and if that's the case, it succeeded very well. ***1/4

I will also say that this was Callis' best commentary job. He made some great calls and some clever comments. It's hardly an all-time great commentary job, but it's the first time I can say he was good instead of just adequate. The good commentary continues in the next match.

Ospreay vs Scurll
There's another streak in play here. Kevin Kelly says that Scurll has defeated Ospreay on three previous occasions in various promotions. He's now followed Ospreay to Japan. It's obvious from the start that these two have excellent chemistry. They work a great clash of styles match, starting with a fluid mixture of grappling and athleticism that reminds me of the Malenko/Guerrero matches. There was lots of great action, an awesome strike exchange, and lots of great near falls and transitions leading to the finish. The finish itself was a real shocked. Scurll catches Ospreay with a rollup for a shock 3-count. The crowd weren't even convinced it was the finish until Red Shoes signalled it, triggering a huge reaction. Not only has he won the belt, he's won the crowd. Another fantastic match on what has been a great show so far. ****1/2

Out come KUSHIDA and Hiromu, the latter finally able to get a successful challenge in. Scurll says he will take on all three (including Ospreay) at Wrestle Kingdom. This is clearly leading to Takahashi reclaiming his crown and undoing all the horrible things that have happened to him in the past six months.

Omega vs Beretta
Omega shows onec again why he's considered one of the best wrestlers in the world. I've always considered Beretta to be a pretty average wrestler, but he looked like he belonged at the top when this match was said and done. It was constructed smartly, Omega dominating but Beretta getting enough offense (mostly desperation) to conceivably stay in the match. Beretta played his part well as the newcomer to the division who knows he's a huge underdog. He was serious had a laser focus, a much different Beretta to the more laidback wrestler of the junior tag division. Omega has a proven track record of managing to get convincing near falls out of guys who have no business getting a near fall on Kenny Omega, and there were a couple of really good ones in this match. This was never going to be the best match on the card, but it exceeded expectations. ***3/4

The aftermath of this match rightly has a thread dedicated to it.

Tanahashi vs Ibushi
Unfortunately, this match didn't exceed expectations, nor am I convinced it met them. The first 10-15 minutes was pretty routine stuff. Tanahashi works over the leg, Ibushi comes back and gets his flashy offense in. The match started to show some life when Tanahashi repeatedly slapped Ibushi, prompting a long and violent strike battle. Then there were a bunch of near falls, and Tanahashi wins with the usual two High Fly Flows. Disappointing match from these two. ***1/4

There was one surprise left. A video plays, out comes "Switchblade" Jay White. They brawl, White hits his finish (Sister Abigail), end show. This fell flat for me. Jay White's return is on the same level as Sho and Yoh, but it's closing the show, right after one of the biggest surprises, if not the biggest, in NJPW history.

The main event was a letdown, but all the other big matches delivered. One of the better shows of the year.

Okada wrestled in Melbourne, Australia this past weekend. Fuck, if only they advertised it.

I heard as soon as it was announced, the website crashed and the show was sold out right away.

The scene is actually pretty exciting at the moment. We've come a fair way from seeing Ben Coles on Frozen Fish commercials (with a Massive Q cameo in the background)to now and I'm excited for the future of the scene. Isn't Will Ospreay looking to live here or something crazy?

Just came into this thread since I just watched the Trent Beretta vs. Kenny Omega match from Power Struggle. This match sort of got lost with the Jericho announcement, but I thought there was plenty of good stuff in this match. At first, the fans didn't know how to take Beretta, so Omega controlled the early portions and whenever Beretta got his stuff in it mattered. That draping German Suplex was sick and both guys took some hellacious bumps during the match. The two that stand out was Omega taking a piledriver on the apron and Baretta busting his back through a table. In the end, all it took was a One Winged Angel to seal the deal, but that was a nice coming out party for Beretta and hopefully they continue to use him.

With all that said, this match did remind me of a bunch of pet hates in Pro Wrestling. Namely how over-choreographed it's become and how guys no longer feel comfortable selling moves. Now you've got to a combination of moves to qualify for a near-fall and it just takes a lot of the spontaneity out of the match. There was a good example here where Beretta caught Omega with a top rope German Suplex and followed it up with a Sick Kick. I was actually fine with that combination since Omega had rolled to the ropes, so Beretta had just pre-empted his next big offensive move. What wasn't cool is that as soon as Beretta hit the move, Omega bounced back onto his feet so he could try and counter Beretta's next move. Had Omega just sold the sick kick, kicked out at 2.75 it would have achieved the same thing.

Does anyone else have problems with freezing and lag when using NJPW world? I’m using it on my firestick and it is constantly freezing and lagging. No other apps lag just that one.

hbk4life, I am getting similar lags. It sort of sorts itself out after the match has gone on for a few minutes. I tend to pause matches foe a minute or two before I start them. Have yet to watch anything live, though. That said, I am in love with the site. I just watched Hulk Hogan vs Abdullah The Butcher from 1982 and it was all kinds of awesome. Hopefully they will continue to stock up on their back catalogue because there is obviously a vast amount of material still to upload.

New Year's Dash Highlights

• Cody attacks Ibushi after a tag team match. He grabs a chair from the crowd. Out comes Kenny Omega to a huge reaction. Omega and Cody shove each other and mouth off for a while. Cody eventually leaves after Omega says that he is the leader.
  
• Immediately after the above, Omega says that he is tired of the infighting in Bullet Club, and says he wants unity. To achieve this, he needs Switchblade Jay White (why? I have no idea). Out comes White. After some thought, he puts on the Bullet Club shirt. They hug. White grabs Omega and hits him with his finisher Blade Runner (known in WWE as Sister Abigail). Looks like White is Omega's next challenger.
  
• New champions CHAOS (Ishii, Yano, and Beretta) lose the NEVER six man belts to former champions Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa). Why do these belts exist?
  
• Suzuki violently attacks Tanahashi's hurt leg after a tag team match and challenged him for the Intercontinental Championship.
  
• LIJ defeats CHAOS when Naito pins YOSHI-HASHI. Post-match, Takahashi hits Ospreay with the Time Bomb, EVIL hits Goto with EVIL, and Naito hands Okada to SANADA, who hits a TKO and knocks him out with the Skull End (Dragon Sleeper). A hint of future title matches to come?
• Naito cuts his routine promo. He is about to leave the ring, when he is attacked by Chris Jericho! The two brawl back and forth, eventually separated by young boys and officials. When Jericho is being escorted up the ramp, Naito goes to throw a chair at him, only for him to stop, place the chair down facing away from Jericho, and sits in it, beckoning Jericho to come back. Jericho smirks.
  

I smell one (of many) problems with NJPW's abundance of titles. Suzuki loses a singles title to Goto. The very next night, he is able to challenge for a title of greater value, by attacking a different champion.

Looks like Okada is going to run over SANADA in the easy first title defense after WK.

I don't think many people expected Jericho to be sticking around. Huge surprise. Get hyped.

That's huge. I thought he came in just for the match and that was it. Wow, that's interesting and smart. His match was probably what drew a lot of interest, so keeping him around might continue that.

I imagine they'll want to keep him around if they run another US show. Okada/Jericho and Omega/Cody in the states would be huge.

In hindsight, how much more sense would it have made if Tetsuya Naito beat Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho beat Kenny Omega at WrestleKingdom? A Naito/Jericho match with both guys coming off big wins would have felt like a huge money match instead of this neat sideshow attraction.

Gotta get that Sanada match in there...

If Okada loses the title right after his record breaking twelfth defense I think I'll be a bit peeved. Part of me wants him to stay champ until next years WK, and possibly even beyond. But as much as fan of the guy as I am, Naito is my dude, and as long as Kazuchika has the belt,Tetsuya doesn't, and I am still hoping for a miracle this year, although realistically it could be a long time coming.

Jay White bombed at the Tokyo Dome, but since then he's certainly made a name for himself. He violently rejected Kenny Omega's offer to join Bullet Club. The day after that, he joined CHAOS, and cut a very good promo in the process.



He needs to do better than he did against Tanahashi to justify his words, but I'm intrigued.

I just hate Jay White’s look. He looks like Miles Teller’s goofy brother that tries way too hard to be a badass.

Watch your back Okada, Switch is coming - bee boop.

The Jericho/Omega podcast was an interesting listen. Both guys covered how the match came to be and their original intent behind the match. Initially Gedo had no idea what to do with Kenny. He was hoping Kenny would come up with somebody and Omega felt if everything fell through he would have faced Ibushi at the Dome. Omega wasn't interested in that match being a Dome show calibre match, so he sent some feelers out through Don Callis. Before you know it, they're doing their Twitter angle and before long Jericho is in London watching his pre-tape of his challenge promo.

Initially the match was meant to be a Okada/Omega style match, but after they shot the press conference angle, they had to go down the No DQ route. Jericho drew a lot of inspiration from his unsanctioned match and wanted to fill the match with spots from that match. One of those was a fire extinguisher spot, but because NJPW doesn't have any of those gimmicked, they settled for Omega's airspray from the Cleaner gimmick.

A lot of the ideas they had for the match were used in the Junior Heavyweight match which went longer than it was supposed to so they had to improvise some spots. For instance, the spot where Omega hits the announce desk, he was supposed to take out Callis but he didn't quite make the landing. This didn't matter and actually looked more spectacular. There was also the chair spot where the seat fell out, but Jericho was able to hold it in place long enough to make it look like he broke it over Omega's head.

Not surprisingly, Omega's entrance was completely compromised. Kenny was supposed to have another pre-tape where he would be revealed as a wannabe Apocalypse of X-Men and be revered as a god by Japan. He drew a nice image where fans would be walking the street of Tokyo, only for the monitors to focus on Kenny and all the fans would stop what they were doing and would bow down to him. It was also supposed to feature a new entrance theme, but the production people didn't work on it so Kenny had to settle for his awkward Overwatch/Starcraft cosplay.

Loved the story about how Callis was hired by NJPW. So when Corino left to join NXT, Gedo was at a loss for replacements. So Omega suggested Callis and Gedo had no idea who he was referring to. Gedo prides himself on being a WWE nut, so Omega tells him 'y'know...The Jackal'. Gedo just bluntly tells him no, so Omega plays an episode of Killing The Town and Gedo straight away is on board. Omega then tells Callis to expect a call any minute and keeps checking in every hour. Finally it turns out Gedo confused Callis with Lance Storm and sent the wrong guy the email - Callis was not amused.

Finally, I'm sure this is well known information, but it was interesting to see Omega list RVD as his biggest inspiration. I can certainly see it in him, warts and all, so it's weird to read Dave criticise RVD for things Omega does all the time. I actually think it's a fair comparison, and can completely buy into Kenny as the modern day RVD.

WOW, what a PPV ending. Cody attacking Kenny finally and the Golden Lovers reuniting. Guessing the Being the Elite series is gonna be a bit strange for a bit as Hangman and Cody are looking to feud with Kenny and Ibushi. Bucks have to be facing the Lovers too at some point.

New Beginning happened already? Oh man, I was completely unaware of that. Got some catching up to do. Fantasticmania just happened, so I assumed there wouldn't be a big NJPW show for a while.

Was last two nights. Some exciting title changes and the Elite coming to blows finally. No clue where things are right now, and it is exciting. Suzuki vs Tanahashi was a lot of fun.  

It's all we ever wanted.

Jan 15, 2018 9:44:56 GMT Big Pete said:

Not surprisingly, Omega's entrance was completely compromised. Kenny was supposed to have another pre-tape where he would be revealed as a wannabe Apocalypse of X-Men and be revered as a god by Japan. He drew a nice image where fans would be walking the street of Tokyo, only for the monitors to focus on Kenny and all the fans would stop what they were doing and would bow down to him. It was also supposed to feature a new entrance theme, but the production people didn't work on it so Kenny had to settle for his awkward Overwatch/Starcraft cosplay.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but why is that not surprising? Do NJPW have a track record for dodgy production things like that? Seems weird that they would half ass something part of a match that had as many eyeballs on it as this. I thought the giant gun was a bit tacky but figured it was just some sort of Triple H goofy WM entrance homage.

Jan 30, 2018 5:44:51 GMT @admin said:

Jan 15, 2018 9:44:56 GMT Big Pete said:

Not surprisingly, Omega's entrance was completely compromised. Kenny was supposed to have another pre-tape where he would be revealed as a wannabe Apocalypse of X-Men and be revered as a god by Japan. He drew a nice image where fans would be walking the street of Tokyo, only for the monitors to focus on Kenny and all the fans would stop what they were doing and would bow down to him. It was also supposed to feature a new entrance theme, but the production people didn't work on it so Kenny had to settle for his awkward Overwatch/Starcraft cosplay.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but why is that not surprising? Do NJPW have a track record for dodgy production things like that? Seems weird that they would half ass something part of a match that had as many eyeballs on it as this. I thought the giant gun was a bit tacky but figured it was just some sort of Triple H goofy WM entrance homage.

Watching it live, it was clear that something was missing. Whereas there's usually some context when a wrestler cosplays as another character, Kenny just came out in this Egyptian God outfit that seemed completely out of character. Outside of the rope breaks, it was the only issue fans had with the match and many thought Omega was making a mockery of the biggest match of his career.

New Japan are usually good when it comes to entrances. That's where Balor's body-paint gimmick took off and they didn't have to invent a silly demon persona to help sell it.