Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi is the epic love story that I never knew I wanted. That shot of Ibushi coming into the scene as the camera panned out at the end of the BTE video was a perfect dramatic shot. Golden Lovers! <3

I like Jay White, I thought his promo when he joined CHAOS was really good, but this gimmick isn't picking up any steam with the Japanese audience. I'm not sure why. Maybe they don't buy pretty boy White as a sadistic, emotionaless villain. Maybe it's because his first match against Tanahashi bombed, and that permanently tarred him in the eyes of the fanbase.

That said, Omega vs White exceeded expectations, and that's thanks to the monumental effort Omega put in to get him over. For a long time it looked like Omega was clearly the better wrestler, and it was only a matter of time before White would succumb to defeat, but he surprised everyone just by getting back into the match, and blew everyone's minds when he pinned Omega to win the belt. They've strapped the rocket to White now, and he doesn't get over after this, then he's a lost cause. The crowd were warming to him in that match, even when everyone still expected him to lose, so there's hope.

Tanahashi vs Suzuki from night 1 was a phenomenal match. Rivals the top two Wrestle Kingdom matches, maybe even betters them. A masterclass in storytelling and evidence that, even in 2018, you can have a classic match without any flashy moves or high spots. Just character work and emotion. shinobimusashi Kilgore, this is one of those rare modern matches you guys might appreciate. Check it out.

It’s good to be back to discuss this with you guys.

Can’t wait for the weekend show, an absolutely great card

I recommend the tag title match from Road to New Beginning 6/2, really fun match

Fuck yeah, HF good to see you back mate.

Feb 7, 2018 19:25:23 GMT hilaryfan said:

It’s good to be back to discuss this with you guys.

Welcome back! I thought you were lost forever. Out of curiosity, how did you find us?

Also out of curiosity, did you watch Tanahashi vs Suzuki? What about you, Big Pete?

Tana Suzuki is in running for my MOTY, it’s definitely NJ MOTY. The only matches that challenge it so far are Thatcher vs Walter from Progress for the Atlas title, and Gargano vs Cien

I stumbled across the link through a Facebook page. Great to be back

Yeah for hilaryfan, finding us!

Big Pete , regarding the rope break confusion in the Jericho/Omega match: I thought rope breaks were active in No DQ matches, but you couldn't be disqualified if a submission wasn't broken upon contact, hence Jericho shouting at poor old Tiger when he was making the five count. I may be wrong, but it does explain a couple questionable moments.

And, good to see hilaryfan , made it here.. More NJPW talk the better.

I haven't gone back to watch it yet, I was hoping that the AXS version would be broken up but it appears they just redubbed the entire PPV. I was actually fine with Jericho breaking up the pin via rope break until it was later brought up. The one that got me live was when Jericho had the Lion Tamer synched in and broke it up, even though they had established that Jericho could keep the hold on for as long as he wanted to.

Feb 9, 2018 2:38:17 GMT Big Pete said:

I haven't gone back to watch it yet, I was hoping that the AXS version would be broken up but it appears they just redubbed the entire PPV. I was actually fine with Jericho breaking up the pin via rope break until it was later brought up. The one that got me live was when Jericho had the Lion Tamer synched in and broke it up, even though they had established that Jericho could keep the hold on for as long as he wanted to.

I think I had that one down as Jericho was just too drained to keep the pressure on. He had had it on for quite a while at that point.. Either way it was a bit hard to follow for sure.

New Beginning in Osaka featured five LIJ vs CHAOS singles matches.

Gedo vs BUSHI and Goto vs EVIL were mediocre. Naito vs YOSHI HASHI was pretty good.

I imagine a lot of people loved Ospreay vs Takahashi because it was a spotfest. They did some crazy things, some of the spots were genuinely amazing, but most of the match came across as "look what I can do" (or GIF wrestling as Pete calls it). There wasn't much of a story there, selling was pretty inconsistent, and I couldn't latch onto anything.

Okada vs SANADA was a very good match, and really helped to legitimise SANADA. The buildup was pretty slow, but once it got going, it got real good. SANADA hung with Okada, hit him with multiple finishers, and I'm sure at some point people were believing he might actually do it. Of course, Okada survives everything and wins, but despite the insane odds against SANADA, there were some genuinely compelling moments there. I liked the match, but now I'm realising that Okada has found a formula and is sticking to it. In most of his title defenses, his opponents are clearly getting the better of him, whether it's Suzuki leg locking him for 20 minutes, Omega spamming V-Triggers and hitting everything but the One Winged Angel, and now SANADA locking in the Skull End at length a buncha times, but Okada wins because he has the invincibility cheat code. Well, it worked for Hogan, and many others, and it's clearly working for him, so why divert?

In other news, Rey Mysterio to appear at the second NJPW event in the USA.

streamable.com/d6x31

Also Okada challenged Will Ospreay to a match at the March 6th Anniversary Show. Pretty sure it's non-title.

Liger vs Rey and (supposedly) Jericho vs Naito at the same show

Throw in the Lovers vs BC and whatever Ishii/Suzuki/Okada etc do and they really should have booked a bigger arena

SANADA and YOH are my two NJPW crushes right now. I feel really good just watching them roll around the ring. LOL.

Seriously though, Okada vs. SANADA was a really good match. I liked how Sanada kept coming back to the Skull End to wear Okada down and the time he tried the moonsault to finish it all was when he just slipped. It definitely showed him as someone the company can bank on in the future, especially as a rival to Okada. That said, I do think that they'll have Okada surpass the 11-defense mark Tanahashi has just to make this one title reign just be the most important and historic and breaking all records before he loses it, hopefully to either Naito or SANADA.

Golden*Lovers reunion! Week made.

The crowd reaction was unbelievable. On a scale, it was damn near a Glass Shatters at Texas Stadium type pop. That was as loud as that building can get.

If you have NJPW World, there's an awesome 30 minute documentary on the Golden Lover's revival.

njpwworld.com/p/o_original_0002_63

NJPW put the first half on YouTube as well. A clever ploy to get you all to buy NJPW World.

A Beer City Bruiser match got a "holy shit" chant in Japan! I've seen it all now.

I haven't seen their previous work as a team but I am aware of their history together, so it was great to see The Golden Lovers back together. I love the storyline of them vs Cody and the BC, Cody playing the jealous heel role very well.

The match on night one was fun as was the match on night two, highly suggest checking them out if you haven't yet.

Just saw on Instagram shibata is the new head trainer of the LA Dojo.

That’s awesome.

Ospreay/Okada from the Anniversary Show was OK. Will looked like he belonged with Okada and they had a nice enough cat and mouse game. Whenever Ospreay would get something on Okada, Kazuchika would turn the tables with the simplest of maneuvers. Ospreay has this nice spot where you think he's going to hit the OzCutter but instead hits a leaping shining wizard which created his big opening for the night.

When it was all said and done, it didn't feel like the match came alive until they started teasing finishers. I wonder how much more dramatic the match could have been if Ospreay had have found himself out of his element, taking big bumps and selling his arse off, only to create his big opening, hit a couple of big moves and right as he looks set for a win, eats a desperation Rainmaker for the three?

Still, I'll give Ospreay credit for his reversal on the Rainmaker. I don't think I've ever seen it turned into a sit-out powerbomb before, or at least not as smoothly.

Caught the Reunion show.

Roppongi 3K vs Takahashi/BUSHI vs Kanemaru/Desperado
Fun triple threat tag team match. Most of it was the two heel teams working over Sho while stealing tags from one another. Quite fun. As expected it all got crazy once Yoh was tagged in. Fantastic finish. Takahashi distracts the ref so BUSHI can blow the poison mist into Sho's face. Suzuki-gun appear from nowhere, Kanemaru spits whisky in BUSHI's face, Desperado low blows poor Sho and rolls him up for a three count. Great example of Suzuki-gun thriving in chaos and rule breaking. Second time in a row the junior tag titles are lost on their first defense. **3/4

Naito vs Taichi
Taichi recently graduated to heavyweight and picked a fight with Naito. I believe this is Taichi's first singles match as a heavyweight, and I was pleasantly surprised. When he was a junior he often worked quite lazily, like an old school heel, lots of showboating and rule breaking and stalling, very few moves. Not the case here. Taichi gets the jump start, bashing Naito with his fake microphone, then powerbombing him on the ramp. We see Naito adopting a face in peril role, fighting from underneath, which is rare. Taichi messes about too much and Naito gets back into it. Some really good back and forth sequences. Taichi is surprisingly but believably able to keep up with his more experienced opponent. Taichi can't put him away, and resorts to Suzuki-gun tactics. Taka Michinoku distracts the ref, low blow, rollup. Naito kicks out. Taichi goes for another fake microphone shot, but Naito counters. He loses his cool. He grabs the fake mic. The ref tries to stop it, but Naito viciously shoves him to the mat. Low blow. Hard mic shot to the top of the head. The ref recovers in time to see Naito hit Destino. One two three. Solid match that showed a new side of both participants. Particularly good for Taichi, who needed a strong showing in light of his participation in the New Japan Cup. ***1/4

Okada vs Ospreay
This started off with some intrigue, two stablemates battling it out in an exhibition, but it quickly became an Okada formula match. While Ospreay's offense gave us some cool spots and sequences (including the Rainmaker-to-powerbomb counter noted by Big Pete), it was more or less a routine Okada match. I feel like they could have given us something special, but Okada is comfortable in his comfort zone. **1/2


The New Japan Cup has started. I need to catch up.

I'm reading good things about Ibushi/YOSHI, Sabre/Naito & Taichi/Tanahashi.

You are, and rightfully so. By the time I got to Ibushi/YOSHI and Sabre/Naito I was burnt out from too much NJPW, so I didn't appreciate them as much as I probably should have.

Taichi/Tanahashi was quite similar to Taichi/Naito, so I wasn't hugely into it, but it was still a good match.

My favourite of the round 1 matches (not watched day 4 yet) is Elgin/Ishii. A fantastic spiritual successor to the ultra macho Shibata/Ishii matches. Might be a bit excessive for some people, but it mostly worked for me.

SANADA vs Chuckie T (yes, that's Chuck Taylor) exceeded expectations. Took a while to get going, but once it did, it got pretty good and the crowd were really into it. Still in the lower half of the first round matches, but they did justice to their main event spot.

My biggest takeaway from the NJCup is that ZSJ is further cementing his place as one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Agreed. Zack Sabre Jr. is the most interesting wrestler in the world right now. I could write an essay on why I believe that. Taka Michinoku as his mouthpiece is a nice touch too. His NJ Cup match against Ibushi is by far the best match of the tournament up to this point. Everyone should watch it.

The other quarter final matches are not so great. Well, Yano vs SANADA is the most fun Yano match I've seen in a while, but only Baker would be interested in that. Tananashi vs Fale is worth checking out just for the finish which was really cool.

With some of the gaijins, I struggle to understand why they're being pushed over talent that's fluent in Japanese. With Zack Sabre Jr. he's obviously one of the best submission workers in the world and the way he's taken to New Japan is like second nature. Just when it seemed like New Japan was struggling to find Okada an interesting opponent, along comes ZSJ. Does Gedo pull off another trademark curve ball of his and put the belt on the Englishmen?

Unfortunately I think ZSJ loses in the finals to Tanahashi.

Not if Suzuki-gun has anything to say about it.

Seriously given Tanahashi's place in the promotion right now, he has no business receiving an IWGP Championship shot right now.