KENTA IS STRONG CHAMPION!!!

Eddie Kingston beat the holy fuck out of Jay White. Pinned him clean.

Jay White to WWE confirmed.

Mercedes Mone paying tribute to Hana Kimura with her entrance. Fucking amazing.

I never liked Sasha Banks. Thought she was overrated and mediocre. Got a feeling Mercedes is going to change my mind.

Match was a banger

NEW CHAMP

Stupid move IMO to give a title to someone who will not sign a contract and is known to walk when unhappy. Will see if this bites them or not. Bailey was funny in the crowd.

Bayley also in the house tonight.

Feb 19, 2023 7:16:49 GMT c said:

Stupid move IMO to give a title to someone who will not sign a contract and is known to walk when unhappy. Will see if this bites them or not. Bailey was funny in the crowd.

She’s not going back to WWE any time soon and NJPW seems cool with anywhere else she would end up. I think it’s fine.

Mercedes vs Hayter @ Forbidden Door pls

Mercedes is awesome.

Okada says he wants to reunite with Tanahashi and chase the tag titles. Fucking give it to me.

This Japan run is going to firmly establish Mercdes as the best in ring talent of the 4hw, Great match with Kairi.

Here comes the Moneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Moneeeeeeeeeeee talks

My girl still has it. Still the GOAT in my eyes. 😉

Feb 19, 2023 16:29:16 GMT @theshow said:

My girl still has it. Still the GOAT in my eyes. 😉

Mikaze confirmed.

Okada vs Kiyomiya is advertised to happen tomorrow at a NOAH show.

Okada no showed the press conference a few days ago. Apparently he left a message that said "I want to focus on my title match on 2/18 so I’m going to miss this" :lol: Kiyomiya was pissed and cut an angry Japanese promo that I didn't understand.

At around the same time Okada tweeted a piece of cooked meat with the words "I'm going to eat meat!"

Okada Master Troll is something I never expected to see.

Is NOAH a joke? Or does Okada not take them seriously? And given his star power in the "scene" there's not much they can do about it.

Jedo and Gedo: Okay you'll of course never look weak or lose, but we need you to do this Noah show. We promised them some real stars LOL.

Okada: Card subject to change LOL.

Like reading it I think it's funny in a way but then think of ADR and how we crucified him for being unprofessional.

Basically is NOAH a lemonade stand in comparison to NJPW?

NOAH is a joke compared to NJPW, and Okada treats them that way. Since this is a NOAH show, the wreddit theory is that Okada is being as big of a dick heel as possible, so that their guy Kiyomiya is the ultimate babyface, fighting for the honour of his company.

But they have booked themselves in a corner, assuming the match happens. Okada going over doesn't make any sense for the story, he spends all this time big leaguing Kiyomiya just to win he match, end of the feud. Yet I can hardly see NJPW allowing their champion to lose to the champion of a lesser company...

This is the same show with Naito vs Keiji Mutoh in his retirement match, in the Tokyo Dome. It's a big deal. I expect Okada to show up. It will be very interesting.

Feb 19, 2023 16:22:44 GMT dex02 said:

This Japan run is going to firmly establish Mercdes as the best in ring talent of the 4hw, Great match with Kairi.

Hey Dex! 

I really enjoyed the match, my one criticism is that Mercedes was working the wrong arm(?) and Kairi never really sold it. I think it got better and better as they went on (makes sense for Mercedes first match in nearly a year) there were a couple of eh executions early on but some really good ones down the stretch, especially the DDT counter to the third amigo. 

Looking forward to seeing what Mercedes does with the Stardom roster that she's not familiar with.

I was sort of underwhelmed by Mercedes vs Kairi. Liked the psychology, but there was too much sloppiness and missed spots. Understandable given Mercedes' ring rust, but it really took me out of the match. The more technical work was good. I really liked the ref bump and how it was sold. The finish just kinda happened out of nowhere. It was fine but nothing special. Both ladies have fantastic star quality.

Mercedes appeared at the end of the show to dance and pose with Okada. That was a pretty cool moment. Although her "Moné" name/catchphrase is already driving me insane.

--------------------------

Jay White continues the tradition of Bullet Club leaders before him by going out in the most painful, humiliating way possible. David Finlay's appearance was pretty shocking but I loved his promo. Not sure about the implication he's going to take over Bullet Club, I doubt the rest of the club would be cool with that. But a heel turn is certainly interesting.

--------------------------

Okada going for IWGP Tag Team gold against his stablemates, teaming with someone from outside his stable, is certainly a decision. Even more sstrange considering he's never even been interested in tag team wrestling before.

One thing I learnt today is that Okada snuck onto a NOAH show and attacked Kiyomiya after his victory.

www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/110d051/noah_spoiler_main_event_aftermath/

Top heel Okada showed up to face Kiyomiya at Keiji Muto's retirement show yesterday. I haven't watched the match yet.

The New Japan Cup starts Sunday March 5.

Compared to last year there are no young lions, and there is some fresh blood: Mark David and Kyle Fletcher from Aussie Open are making a rare apparance in singles competition, while recently returned young lions Ren Narita and Shota Umino hope to make a big mark. Naito and El Phantasmo will have their first ever singles match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi is a notable omission. Maybe because he just challenged Okada for the belt? Well, so did Shingo, and he's in the tournament. No sign of Hikuleo either, the man who defeated Jay White to banish him from Japan.

This one is very hard to call.

Feb 22, 2023 1:05:18 GMT @admin said:

Feb 19, 2023 16:22:44 GMT dex02 said:

This Japan run is going to firmly establish Mercdes as the best in ring talent of the 4hw, Great match with Kairi.

Hey Dex! 

I really enjoyed the match, my one criticism is that Mercedes was working the wrong arm(?) and Kairi never really sold it. I think it got better and better as they went on (makes sense for Mercedes first match in nearly a year) there were a couple of eh executions early on but some really good ones down the stretch, especially the DDT counter to the third amigo. 

Looking forward to seeing what Mercedes does with the Stardom roster that she's not familiar with.

This is a good point. Kairi is someone who she has wrestled a few times before, and who doesn't wrestle a super fast paced and demanding style at least in comparison to other members of the Stardom roster. Mercedes' next defense against AZM  will be a 

It will also be a nice litmus test for how seriously NJPW intends on taking the women's division , and if they will give the match time when the match isn't in the US where Mercedes is a bigger star. 

We stan our cross pop-cultural icon!

Mar 1, 2023 4:16:06 GMT dex02 said:

Mercedes' next defense against AZM

Mercedes didn't even know how to say her name so that was strike #1 there!

Mar 1, 2023 4:16:06 GMT dex02 said:

It will also be a nice litmus test for how seriously NJPW intends on taking the women's division , and if they will give the match time when the match isn't in the US where Mercedes is a bigger star.

They didn't even put Mercedes vs Kairi as the main event even though it was the match that sold out the house.

Feb 25, 2023 21:20:16 GMT Emperor said:

The New Japan Cup starts Sunday March 5.

Compared to last year there are no young lions, and there is some fresh blood: Mark David and Kyle Fletcher from Aussie Open are making a rare apparance in singles competition, while recently returned young lions Ren Narita and Shota Umino hope to make a big mark. Naito and El Phantasmo will have their first ever singles match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi is a notable omission. Maybe because he just challenged Okada for the belt? Well, so did Shingo, and he's in the tournament. No sign of Hikuleo either, the man who defeated Jay White to banish him from Japan.

This one is very hard to call.

I say it's hard to call but so far I'm four for four. That said, only one of the matches was really in doubt.

SANADA beat Taichi in a dramatic and emotional match combining their personal rivalry and the recent history of the individuals. SANADA is in a slump while Taichi is knocking on the door of the top level. Taichi tried a bit too hard to wake a fire in the suffering SANADA, but he had the willpower, kicking out of SANADA's moonsault which I'm not sure has ever been done before. However SANADA ended up triumphing with a brand new finisher.

Naito beat El Phantasmo. A fun match, Naito was having a blast mocking Phantasmo's gestures, while ELP was also in great form working the crowd. An excellent match.

Shota Umino beat Yujiro Takahashi in a match that sees him advance to the next round.

David Finlay vs Ishii was very interesting. Finlay's last appearance was bashing Jay White with a shillelagh after the latter had been banished from NJPW by Eddie Kingston.

Finlay entered with a brand new theme, a refreshed look, and a new manager. Gedo. That's right, David Finlay is now a Bullet Club member, and possibly the new leader. Gedo's endorsement goes a long way. He's dyed his hair and grown out his beard, looking like a cross between Jay White and CM Punk.



If you're debuting a new heel character and a new image, there's no better opponent than Tomohiro Ishii, the master of getting the absolute best out of anyone. He once more worked his magic with Finlay, although this was no carry job. Finlay has rapidly improved in the pandemic era, becoming a fiery, tough-as-hell babyface, and he's transitioned to a heel role very naturally. Great match, and I'm excited to see what the future has in store for Finlay. I could honestly seeing him going all the way to win the tournament.

Pretty tough to keep pace with the New Japan Cup but I'm trying my best.

First round

SANADA def. Taichi
Tetsuya Naito def. El Phantasmo
EVIL def. Ren Narita
Mark Davis def. Toru Yano
Kyle Fletcher def. YOSHI-HASHI
Aaron Henare def. Shingo Takagi
David Finlay def. Tomohiro Ishii
Shota Umino def. Yujiro Takahashi

Already talked about some of these results.

Didn't realise how big Aussie Open were until seeing them in singles action. Kyle Fletcher has a babyface but he's 6'4 and built pretty strong. Can believe him going all strong style. Mark Davis is a big dude as well. Looked goofy in his match against Yano but against Ospreay in the next round he was a completely different wrestler, and a good 'un.

Eight wrestlers got a bye into the second round.

Second round

SANADA def. KENTA
Tetsuya Naito def. Chase Owens
EVIL def. Jeff Cobb
Will Ospreay def. Mark Davis
Hirooki Goto def. Kyle Fletcher
Tama Tonga def. Aaron Henare

After a year of two of doing nothing, SANADA is getting pushed hard. New finisher and booked super strong against KENTA. KENTA cheated every way in the book and still couldn't put SANADA down. I didn't call this before the start of the tournament, but I'm starting to think SANADA might go all the way, or at least to the final. He meets Naito in the quarter finals.

Unfortunately for Jeff Cobb, he did not survive a boatload of cheating from House of Torture's EVIL.

United Empire's Kyle Fletcher and Aaron Henare were also eliminated in the second round, both put on great showings.

Ospreay defeated teammate Mark Davis to meet EVIL in the quarter finals. I imagine he will be the only United Empire member left since Great O-Khan is unlikely to defeat the new Bullet Club leader David Finlay. Finlay is another one I could see going all the way, although my initial prediction of him losing to Tama Tonga in the semifinals seems reasonable. However I'm now leaning towards a SANADA vs Finlay final with Finlay going over. New Bullet Club leaders always get pushed super strong at first, and he has Gedo at his side.

Two matches remain in the second round.

David Finlay vs Great O-Khan
Shota Umino vs Zack Sabre Jr.

Shota vs Zack is tough to call. ZSJ is the favourite but I could see Shota pulling off the upset. Gives him a reason to challenge for the TV Title.

Oh boy oh boy. Things are getting very interesting.

-------------------------------------

To wrap up the second round, Finlay defeated Great O-Khan in an unremarkable match. Finlay's finisher is the Trash Panda, which is a brainbuster on the knee. Decent move with a shit name. Finlay is trying to get this over as an out-of-nowhere finish like Jay's Blade Runner, but it's too cumbersome to use as a flash finish, as proven in the conclusion to this match. Also Finlay has the Dominator as one of his signature moves which would work better as a finisher.

-------------------------------------

Shota Umino defeated Zack Sabre Jr with the Death Rider. Fantastic match and one of the highlights of the tournament.

It's also interesting to discuss some recent history. When Jon Moxley entered the 2019 G1 Climax, he "adopted" Shota Umino along the way. Shota accompanied Moxley to his matches, and Moxley imparted his wisdom. To this day Shota pays tribute to Moxley with his entrance, jacket, and finisher.

Zack Sabre Jr. has also adopted a young boy: Kosei Fujita. Zack is teaching Fujita some of his holds and techniques which Fujita has been using in his matches. This gives him a leg up over his fellow young boys. Fujita could be pro-wrestling's next great technical wizard, learning from the best, but that's a few years down the line.

-------------------------------------

Quarter Finals

Mark Davis def. EVIL

Some bad news struck as Will Ospreay injured his shoulder in his victory against Mark Davis, forcing him to forfeit his spot. Ospreay nominated Davis to take his place. A blessing for Davis as he has been winning over the Japanese audience and this was his big chance to showcase himself against NJPW's most despised wrestler.

In the previous round EVIL defeated Jeff Cobb. The finish saw the entire House of Torture beat down Cobb while the referee was indisposed, leading to EVIL's victory.

This time Davis had the whole United Empire by his side. A huge brawl at ringside occurred pretty much immediately, causing the referee to throw everyone out. Later in the match, EVIL bumped the referee and out comes HoT's Dick Togo. Let the shenanigans begin. Once more it became a four on one for Mark Davis, but then out comes Will Ospreay, right arm in a sling, sending in the cavalry. Unfortunately for HoT, they only have four members. United Empire has far more, so the hot crowd got to witness a treat: United Empire beating the living fuck out of House of Torture. Jeff Cobb hit his finish on EVIL and rolled the referee in the ring. Mark Davis then hit his finisher, one two three, huge ovation!

Mark Davis through to the semifinals to face...

-------------------------------------

SANADA def. Tetsuya Naito

A hot main event to close the show. The match itself was entertaining, but the finish was a bit anticlimatic. Essentially Naito hit all his moves, set up for his finisher, SANADA countered into his own finish, one two three. Seems like over half of the New Japan Cup matches ended in this pattern - Finlay vs O-Khan ended the same - and it's getting a bit stale.

However the most exciting part happened after the match. Three years ago, EVIL infamously turned on Naito during the New Japan Cup to join Bullet Club. History repeats itself, as in the New Japan Cup, Naito loses to a teammate who then goes on to defect. SANADA parted more amicably with LIJ. He didn't attack them, but his exit wasn't the most respectful.



After those words he rudely told his old teammates to get lost.

So who is SANADA aligned with now? For a few years Taichi and SANADA have had a little bromance, showing tremendous respect for one another. Taichi and SANADA battled in the first round of this year's cup. SANADA was in a slump, but he won the match, after his opponent Taichi relentlessly tried to fire SANADA up, bringing the best out of him. Taichi's desire to help his "friend" eliminated him from the cup, but gained him a new ally.

SANADA joins forces with Taichi's "Just 4 Guys" stable (shit name) to make them "Just 5 Guys" (still a shit name). Now the jobber stable formed from the remnants of Suzuki-gun is a little less jobberry.

The LIJ members expressed disappointment, although they respected SANADA's decision. Naito had a bit more to say. He doubted that SANADA didn't have any more use for LIJ after beating Naito, pointing out that if he couldn't stand out and shine within LIJ, why would he expect to do any better outside the group? I get his perspective, but NJPW has proven time and time again that a change in allegiance can really freshen up a wrestler.

-------------------------------------

David Finlay def. Shota Umino

Once more, suffered from a poor finish. They went for the sequence of rapid for reversals into an out-of-nowhere Trash Panda. Trouble was that sequence was not particularly well executed, perhaps due to Shota's inexperience, but also because Finlay's finisher isn't great as a flash move as described before, although here he did manage to pull it off pretty quickly.

Besides that, a solid match, nice fiery babyface vs brutish heel psychology. Finlay is competent but he's not blowing me away like Bullet Club's previous leaders. To be fair, his predecessors (Jay White, Kenny Omega, AJ Styles) are among the greatest in ring wrestlers of the 21st century, especially in NJPW, so he really is standing on the shoulders of giants.

-------------------------------------

Tama Tonga def. Hirooki Goto

As unremarkable as I expected. I do kinda like Tama Tonga now, he can pull off a great match against a great opponent. But a ring general he is not, so against a bland opponent like Goto he's not going to pull out anything special. The finish saw Tonga catching Goto with a hard heabutt, dazing him enough for Tonga to hit the Gun Stun.

Semi Finals

David Finlay def. Tama Tonga

Another solid but unremarkable performance from both guys. I've been complaining about Finlay's finishes, and while this was more of the same, I'm beginning to appreciate that he can whip out that Trash Panda pretty quickly, at least against the right opponent. Another nice feature of the finish is that it reference Tama's previous victory against Goto. Tama hit the headbutt to set up the Gun Stun, but Finlay smoothly countered into a backslide, then trasitioned into Trash Panda.

Before the tournament I picked Tama Tonga to win the whole thing, including beating Finlay in the semifinal, but after seeing Finlay's new Bullet Club entrance in the first round I figured Finlay would reach the final.


SANADA def. Mark Davis

The most predictable result of the tournament. I'd say this match was more than solid. Mark Davis has really taken the ball and ran with this huge opportunity. He put on a great performance against EVIL and an arguably even better one against SANADA. He's a big guy with a Stan Hansen like build, but also very athletic. He doesn't abuse that athleticism and bust out moves for no reason like a Keith Lee, he picks his spots. There was a really great suicide dive. With a few matches he's gotten incredibly over as a singles guy.

SANADA came out with a new look. He cut his hair, dyed it black, shaved the beard, changed the tights. Distanced himself as much as possible from LIJ. Although he kept his old music. As for his wrestling, well I saw a little spark, something a tiny bit more interesting than the old SANADA. Although I can't be sure I'm projecting from Davis' fantastic performance. SANADA certainly held his own and won with a lovely counter.


The final is set for Tuesday. New Bullet Club leader David Finlay against a renewed and refreshed SANADA. This year's New Japan Cup has been unpredictable from the beginning and the final is no exception. For me it's a coin flip. Both guys are being pushed really hard, and both guys are fresh opponents for Okada. SANADA needs the momentum more just because Bullet Club is an established faction, that name recognition alone means Finlay will be a top guy for years to come. Meanwhile SANADA is the new member of the jobber stable, a faction that has so far done nothing but suck.

I'm calling it. I predict SANADA wins the New Japan Cup, and goes on to defeat Kazuchika Okada to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

SANADA defeats David Finlay to win the New Japan Cup

SANADA was quick to state that he wasn’t satisfied with merely winning the Cup. He immediately called Kazuchika Okada to the ring, and officially issued his challenge for April 8 at Sakura Genesis in Ryogoku. With a long history between the two men Okada would state ‘My rival- I’ve waited for you,’ before continuing ‘do you think changing your hair and your faction is really enough to beat me?’ promising to crush SANADA in Ryogoku, Okada sent a strong riposte, but ultimately left the final glory, at Cold Skull’s request, to SANADA.

Personally I find it bizarre that NJPW keeps pushing this narrative as Okada and SANADA being rivals. The only fact supporting that claim is their similar age, but in terms of career trajectory it's a complete shut out in favour of Okada. Their singles record is either 5-1 or 6-1 to Okada. We all know Okada's accolades. SANADA meanwhile has spent almost no time as a singles champion, most of his success has been in the tag team division, and a couple of singles tournament finals. Even if SANADA beats Okada, which I think he will, they still wouldn't really be rivals.

It's like when the rival in Pokemon keeps proclaiming that they're rivals and you're like I just got here bro. Would be kinda silly to make a spectacle of leaving the group and then still losing.

The record is actually 8-1 to Okada :lol:

Who's the man between SANADA and the masked man?

Is it SANADA's dad?

Mar 21, 2023 23:11:08 GMT @papaya said:

Who's the man between SANADA and the masked man?

Is it SANADA's dad?

The Five Horsemen. RESPECT SANADA SR!