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

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

Is it SANADA's dad?

:lol:

That's Taichi. Although SANADA's dad would have been in the audience as this took place in his hometown. The crowd was really hot for SANADA which was great to see.

Taichi is the reason SANADA joined this group. They've had a weird bromancey thing for a while despite being in different factions. SANADA and Taichi faced off in the first round. Taichi was dominating SANADA but then endlessly provoked SANADA to wake up a fire inside him, a fire Taichi knew he had. SANADA went on to win the match. From his perspective, Taichi did more for SANADA's growth in that one match then Naito did in the six years SANADA was with LIJ.

I Googled "Taichi wrestler" to see if he always looks like a dad and this was the first picture that came up:



What is happening here?!


I'm a big fan of this look though! I'd probably join his group if he asked me to. 

Probably a low blow in that picture. And yeah I imagine you would love his entrance. He sings!

Emperor , you're doing a good job of making NJPW seem more appealing than I realised!

I thought it was all just serious Japanese men and the Bullet Club.

Is TAICHI's friend Miho Abe?

Is "TAKA" Taka Michinoku?!

Who is the man who got low blowed? Does his little beard always stick out like that?!

Mar 22, 2023 10:46:00 GMT @papaya said:

Emperor , you're doing a good job of making NJPW seem more appealing than I realised!

I thought it was all just serious Japanese men and the Bullet Club.

I suppose that is NJPW in a nutshell, although there are some not so serious characters and a lot more foreign wrestlers outside of Bullet Club.

Mar 22, 2023 10:46:00 GMT @papaya said:

Is TAICHI's friend Miho Abe?

Yes she is. How do you recognise her? She's not associated with Taichi anymore.

Mar 22, 2023 10:46:00 GMT @papaya said:

Is "TAKA" Taka Michinoku?!

Yes.

Mar 22, 2023 10:46:00 GMT @papaya said:

Who is the man who got low blowed? Does his little beard always stick out like that?!

That is Gedo, and yes he always has that beard. He doesn't usually tie it up. I guess it's sticking out there because he moved his head or something, it's not permanently like that.

Gedo is the main booker of the company and also an on air manager/part time jobber. He managed Okada, then turned heel on him to manage Jay White, and most recently he's managing David Finlay.

I've heard of Gedo! I know he used to be (maybe still is?) in a team with Jado. I'm not sure how I feel about his Luke Gallows-style beard though.

I just realised I erroneously put Taichi's name in caps lock in my last post. Apologies to any uppercase wrestlers I may have offended!

I'd never even heard of Miho Abe before! I just saw a picture of her with Taichi on his Wiki page, but it's not a very good photo so it was hard to tell if it was the same person in the video!

Why aren't they friends anymore?! His Wiki page is lacking!

Gedo and Jado are now rivals. They used to be together in Bullet Club but split when Jay White turned on Tama Tonga to oust him from Bullet Club. Jado chose to stay with Tama Tonga and his family.

Not sure about Miho Abe, she randomly appears and disappears from Taichi's side. Barely appeared during the pandemic then returned briefly and now she's gone.

A few tidbits:

- Jeff Cobb used some of Kenny Omega's moves and mannerisms in his tag team match. He has been calling out "Kenneth" Omega on every backstage interview, accusing the IWGP United States Champion of dodging him. He said he's tired of talking and he's going to St. Louis to knock on a door. Don't know the relevance of that location but guess it's AEW. Maybe an upcoming AEW show is in that city?

- Hiromu Takahashi retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Lio Rush. Really good match. After the match, Zack Sabre Jr. came out to announce Robbie Eagles as the newest member of TMDK. Eagles issues a video challenge which was accepted.



This image is awesome. For context, the wrestlers in black and white are IWGP Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto, talking about a match they had against SANADA and Naito.

Is Taichi the dancing junior who used to tag with Devitt or nah?

My mental NJPW database does not extend that far back. But probably not, Taichi has never been in Bullet Club.

Taguchi is the name. They are very similar...

Now that you mention it, Taguchi and Devitt did have a team called Apollo 55. They broke up and feuded around the time Devitt formed Bullet Club. Didn't know Taguchi danced, but he is the type of wrestler to dance, he leans into comedy a lot.

Factions!

There's been a lot of change in 2023 and even I am struggling to keep track of the groups, what better way than to make a list? In order of personal preference. I hope the colours are OK!

The United Empire

Will Ospreay
Jeff Cobb
Aaron Henare
Great O-Khan
Aussie Open (Mark "Dunkzilla" David and Kyle Fletcher)
Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP) (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions)
Gideon Grey
Formed October 2020

Born during the 2020 G1 Climax. Will Ospreay, then in the CHAOS faction, fought against faction leader Kazuchika Okada. A debuting Great O-Khan interfered in the match allowing Ospreay to defeat Okada. Ospreay turned on Okada, leaving CHAOS to create his own group.

The United Empire has been my favourite faction since its inception. I love that almost all the members are non-Japanese and non-American wrestlers. Countries represented include the United Kingdom, Phillippines, New Zealand, Australia and Italy. Truly a global stable which makes the Empire name fit perfectly.

I love that they have a code of honour: they are against cheating and intereference, and even though they often stand at ringside, it's only to offer moral support. They only interfere if an enemy faction illegally interferes first.


Los Ingobernables De Japón

Tetsuya Naito
Shingo Takagi
Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion)
Titán
BUSHI
Formed November 2015

The origin of LIJ has a long backstory, but I'll limit myself to copying a paragraph from Wikipedia. During the summer of 2015, Naito, through a working relationship between NJPW and CMLL, worked a tour of CMLL, during which he joined the Los Ingobernables stable. Upon his June return to NJPW, Naito continued representing Los Ingobernables, adopting the villainous attitude associated with the stable, using the fans' rejection of him as a catalyst for the change.

Later in 2015 he added EVIL and BUSHI to his ranks, at which point the trio officially became Los Ingobernables De Japón. SANADA joined a few months later, his interference directly led to Naito beating Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, an interesting parallel to the formation of The United Empire five years later. Later Naito personally recruited Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi. These two additions proved to be great decisions: Takahashi is very much the Okada of the Junior Heavyweight division, while Takagi is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, making LIJ the first faction to have two absolute top guys in their ranks at the same time. Titán himself requested to join the faction, an unprecedented act which was accepted after a group discussion.

The group has been hugely successful. Although they started as a villainous faction, they were very much cool heels and it didn't take long for them to organically win the crowd support. They became the biggest merchandise movers in the company, and remain extremely popular to this day. They describe themselves as a group of individuals, and Naito insists he is not a "leader", but just a member. Despite that, they are a tightly knit brotherhood, and anyone can leave at any time without fear of retaliation. Because of this philosophy, they don't accompany each other to big matches, and only get involved in each other's matches in the most exceptional circumstances.



Bullet Club

Only including members who work primarily for NJPW

David Finlay
KENTA (Strong Openweight Champion)
Chase Owens
EL Phantasmo
Taiji Ishimori
Gedo
EVIL*
Yujiro Takahashi*
Sho*
Dick Togo*
Formed May 2013
* Members of the House of Torture subfaction

I'm as shocked as you that I'm ranking Bullet Club so highly. The general consensus is that Bullet Club is a stale faction that should have been disbanded years ago. I disagree. Bullet Club is an ever-shifting group, they don't get stale almost by definition, and they always have something interesting going on. The leader of Bullet Club is historically the top gaijin in the company, with their three previous leaders capturing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. So while they've never been the top faction, they've always been decent-to-good. Bullet Club is the level you have to surpass to become a great stable. If you don't rise above Bullet Club, you're mediocre.

Some consider House of Torture to be its own independent faction, but in my eyes they are clearly a Bullet Club subgroup even though they almost never associate with the main stable. When EVIL betrayed Naito and left LIJ in 2020, he joined Bullet Club and brought Dick Togo with him. Yujiro Takahashi was in Bullet Club before EVIL joined, and some time later EVIL brought SHO into the fold to officially form House of Torture.

The rapid downfall of former leader Jay White, and the surprising rise of his replacement David Finlay, marks a new chapter in Bullet Club's extensive history. There is some friction within the group, as El Phantasmo refuses to step in line and accept Finlay as the new leader. He said he would accept Finlay if he won the New Japan Cup, but he lost to SANADA in the final. The fan consensus is that El Phantasmo will either leave voluntarily or, more likely, be violently beaten out of the group. That arc alone makes Bullet Club more interesting than the groups below.


TMDK

Zack Sabre Jr. (NJPW World TV Champion)
Mikey Nicholls
Shane Haste
Robbie Eagles
Kosei Fujita
Formed February 2011

The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) go back a lot further than I thought. TMDK was originally the tag team name of Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste (better known in the USA as NXT's TM61). The faction existed mostly in NOAH before arriving in NJPW in 2022. At that time JONAH was the ringleader before he left to rejoin WWE.

2023 saw a rebirth of the group. After Suzuki-gun disbanded, Nicholls and Haste recruited Zack Sabre Jr. who they knew from their time in NOAH. ZSJ brought in young lion Kosei Fujita as his student, the first time a young lion has been an official member of a faction. Most recently, Robbie Eagles joined the faction, leaving his old group CHAOS.

ZSJ is my favourite wrestler in the company so that already gives TMDK huge bonus points. The mentor-student relationship between Zack and Fujita is wonderful. Not a huge fan of Shane, Mikey or Robbie, but there's a lot of potential for this group to rise above Bullet Club in the near future. Right now they're too fresh to have made a real mark.


Just 5 Guys

SANADA
Taichi
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
DOUKI
TAKA Michinoku
Formed January 2023

Just 4 Guys was formed in the wake of Suzuki-Gun at the start of 2023. They seem to have a cult following despite them being completely unremarkable, and self-aware about it. Literally a jobber stable, until SANADA walked out of LIJ to join their ranks due to his close bond with Taichi. SANADA instantly gave the group a huge boost of credibility when he won the New Japan Cup, earning a lovely trophy and a shot at IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.

Like TMDK, there's potential but the group is too new to properly evaluate.


Strong Style

Minoru Suzuki
Ren Narita
El Desperado (NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions)
Formed January 2023

The final group born from the ashes of Suzuki-Gun. They formed because Suzuki and Desperado needed a partner to take away the six-man belts from House of Torture. Suzuki took a liking to Ren Narita, which is unusual because Suzuki doesn't take a liking to many people. Narita was reluctant at first, but he was eventually convinced to join the group since they share the philosophy of Strong Style.

A thrown together faction, but I don't mind the freshness and I'm interested to see which new members they bring to the group.


CHAOS

Kazuchika Okada (IWGP World Heavyweight Champion)
Bishomon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) (IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions)
Tomohiro Ishii
Toru Yano
YOH
Lio Rush
Formed April 2009

I was expecting to write down a lot more names but CHAOS has diminished in recent years, with notable exits Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles. Through its storied history CHAOS has boasted most of NJPW's top stars among its ranks. The original incarnation was Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Takashi Iizuka, Gedo, Jado, Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson. Tetsuya Naito, Will Ospreay and Jay White all had stints in CHAOS as well.

CHAOS is the weakest faction on my list because they haven't been a true faction for years. There is no brotherhood, no camaraderie. These are wrestlers who team together out of convenience and tradition. People talk about Bullet Club being stale, CHAOS is the truly stale faction. No wonder its members are walking out. Okada has spent more time teaming with non-CHAOS member Tanahashi than anyone in his group. The one strength CHAOS have had recently is the tag team run of Bishomon, who have rather quietly worked their way to being the undisputed top tag team in the company. Besides that, their only other talking point is Okada, the company Ace.


Hontai

Hiroshi Tanahashi
Tama Tonga (NEVER Openweight Champion)
Tanga Loa
HIKULEO
Shota Umino
Master Wato
Ryusuke Taguchi
Togi Makabe
TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)
Tomoaki Honma
Jado

I don't know what "Hontai" means in English, but "leftovers" would be an appropriate translation. Not an official faction, just an excuse for all the unaligned babyfaces to team together. Everyone below Master Wato is a jobber.

Japan loves stables. I remember basically everyone being in one via Dragongate.

I've decided to become a Just 5 Guys fan!

Mar 24, 2023 21:21:37 GMT @papaya said:

I've decided to become a Just 5 Guys fan!

@ness

1) I like Taichi's mask and singing

2)SANADA just won that cup and I think I remember him from TNA years ago

3) I like Five Guys burgers

Mar 24, 2023 21:49:03 GMT @papaya said:

@ness

1) I like Taichi's mask and singing

2)SANADA just won that cup and I think I remember him from TNA years ago

3) I like Five Guys burgers

They do have pretty good burgers.

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT @ness said:

They do have pretty good burgers.

And they give you so many fries!

And the shakes are nice!

Especially when you get bacon in them!

Mar 24, 2023 21:58:38 GMT @papaya said:

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT @ness said:

They do have pretty good burgers.

And they give you so many fries!

And the shakes are nice!

Especially when you get bacon in them!

Sanada should have them put the shake in the cup he won!

Emperor is Sakura Genesis included with NJPW World or do I have to pay extra?

It should be included. I think they only charge extra for shows involving or run by other Japanese companies like NOAH.

Sakura Genesis is a pretty big show so I'll do the honours of hyping it up. It airs tomorrow!

www.njpw1972.com/146438



IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - Kazuchika Okada vs SANADA

Singles record: 8-1 Okada

I love how they haven't updated SANADA's graphic to reflect his new look.

If you follow my posting history on NJPW, you'll know I am not a fan of SANADA. For his entire career he's presented himself as some sort of enigmatic stoic wrestler with a subtle charisma. I've always seen him as a bland android. The fans disagree because he's always been pretty over. Most of his spots are for short term pops, there's no consistency in his moveset. I could go on.

This is easily the most interested I've been in SANADA. He realised he's not had the success he feels he deserves with Los Ingobernables de Japón, having been overshadowed by Naito and then Takagi. So he changed factions, changed attire, and changed his wrestling style. He appears to have ditched some of his sillier moves, such as the Paradise Lock, and embraced some new moves like the Shining Wizard and his new finisher, a Corkscrew DDT thing. Okada is dismissive of recent events, saying that a change in faction and appearance won't be enough to defeat him. He's not convinced SANADA has improved at all; his update is merely cosmetic.

SANADA has been awoken by Taichi, and he's showing a lot more fire and personality recently. In particular there was a tag team match between Okada and Tanahashi vs SANADA and Taichi in which SANADA unloaded on Okada on the ringside, similar to how Okada famously unloaded on NOAH's Kiyomiya. While that was happenning Tanahashi rolled up Taichi in the ring, something the cameras almost missed. A fiery match that serves as a thrilling preview to what is to come. I've never been more hyped for a SANADA match before, and they've convinced me there's a real chance he's going to defeat Okada.


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship - Hiromu Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles

Singles record: 2-1



Robbie Eagles is another man with a recent faction change. After Hiromu successfully retained against Lio Rush, Zack Sabre Jr. came out to announce the new challenger: new TMDK member Robbie Eagles, formerly of CHAOS.

Another match where the champion is the favourite on paper, but it's not hard to imagine the title changing hands. In fact, Takahashi's previous title reign was ended by Robbie Eagles.


IWGP Tag Team Championships - Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) vs Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)

Tag record: 1-1




NJPW World TV Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Shota Umino

Singles record: 1-1



Shota Umino upset ZSJ in the New Japan Cup, setting up this championship match. It's important to note that Shota won in nearly 30 minutes, while the NJPW TV Championship has a 15 minute time limit. If Shota can't win in that time, ZSJ retains. But Zack is a proud and fighting champion. He's not going to run the clock. He will aim to prove his championship status by dispatching his challenger within the time limit.


IWGP Womens’ Championship: Mercedes Moné vs AZM vs Hazuki

Also for the Aussie fans, NJPW are running a tour in Australia called TAMASHII.

Adelaide - www.njpw1972.com/147134 - Main event Chris Basso vs Hirooki Goto

Sydney - www.njpw1972.com/147135 - Main event Jack Bonza vs Shingo Takagi

Melbourne - www.njpw1972.com/147136 - Main event Robbie Eagles vs Shingo Takagi

Sakura Genesis spoiler

SPOILER: Click to show

SANADA DID IT!!! SANADA FINISHED HIS STORY!!!

Oh also the women’s title match was really good.

So Hiromu... he's on his eleventeenth junior reign. You think he's ever gonna move beyond that or is he another KUSHIDA type?

Apr 8, 2023 14:00:22 GMT RT said:

Oh also the women’s title match was really good.

I agree  a really fantastic sprint that wasn't too short, with no dull moments and a lot of really creative spots and sequences . I honestly probably liked it more than Mercedes vs Kairi.  

Wow. Just wow. Many things happened at Sakura Genesis. There's a lot to cover.

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

The opening match was a special tag team match. The participants were drawn at random!

Toru Yano teamed with longtime rivals Minoru Suzuki and Great O-Khan to face Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yoh and El Desperado. Needless to say, the match was chaotic. It started with allies El Desperado and Suzuki engaging in some sporting grappling. O-Khan tagged in and stayed in for almost the entirety of the match because neither of his partners wanted to tag back in! El Desperado also had no interest in fighting anyone except his teammate Yoh, so it was essentially O-Khan vs Tanahashi. Yano eventually tagged himself in. O-Khan and Suzuki started brawling on the floor, and amidst all the chaos Yano sneaked a low blow on his frequent partner Tanahashi and rolled him up for the three count.

NJPW should do this more often.

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

Ever since David Finlay returned to NJPW as the self-proclaimed leader of Bullet Club, El Phantasmo took objection. The two never saw eye to eye. This saga reached its apex after the Bullet Club vs Hontai match.

Bullet Club kept on beating down Tama Tonga and co. after the match. El Phantasmo tried to stop it. Bullet Club kept the peace, for a moment. Then KENTA picked him up and hit Go 2 Sleep. Ishimori (not in the match) then ran to ringside pretending to show mercy, only to low blow Phantasmo. Finlay capped it off with a Shillelagh shot. Once more, a member of Bullet Club leaves the only way there is to leave Bullet Club: in a bodybag.

For El Phantasmo, this outcome wasn't in question, it was just a matter of when. He's been a babyface for a while, it'll be interesting if he joins any faction besides Hontai, but he probably won't.

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

Merecedes Moné successfully defended against AZM and Hazuki. This match was awesome. A three way sprint that went around 15 minutes. Some awesome three-way spots. All the women were really fluid. Some of the triple submission spots were a bit hard to believe, but besides that, a really exciting match

I really like how Mercedes has rebranded herself since leaving WWE. I find the "Moné" thing a little cringe, but at the same time it works and there's the obvious parallel with The Rainmaker.

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

Zack Sabre Jr. retained the TV Championship against Shota Umino. Umino was very close to beating Zack in half the time it took to defeat him last time. Shota dropped Zack on his head a bunch of times, tried his second Death Rider of the night, but Zack somehow countered into a rollup to sneak away with the championship.

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

Aussie Open defeated Bishamon to capture the Heavyweight tag belts. The new champions have really won the respect of the Japanese audience, largely due to the lucky break Mark Davis got due to Ospreay's untimely injury in the New Japan Cup.

Kyle Fletcher also received a blessing in disguise when a dive to the floor went wrong, busting the back of his head on the crowd rail. He suffered a nasty gash, not dissimilar from the one Balor received at Wrestlemania, but got bandaged up and worked the rest of the match with the dried blood on the side of his head remaining as war paint.

"Aussie Open" chants flooded the arena for most of the match, and the fans got what they wanted.



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

Hiromu Takahashi survived Robbie Eagles. Eagles had the perfect gameplan, targeting Hiromu's already bum knee, and executing it to perfection. Unfortunately Takahashi had the invincibility cheat code on, survived about 20 minutes in Eagles' Ron Miller Special - a submission hold that targets the legs - and then won.

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

Finally, the big one. SANADA defeated Kazuchika Okada to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

SANADA had already changed faction and had a facial/hair makeover: he completed the transition with a new entrance and ring attire.

Although Okada is always the favourite on paper, this is a rare occasion where you not only think Okada might lose, but he probably will lose. The way SANADA has been booked - there's only one outcome. Although Cody Rhodes should have defeated Roman Reigns, losing to Reigns isn't the end of the world. It truly would be the end of the world for SANADA. This is his last chance to prove himself. A career of being a choke artist, against Okada especially, he has finally identified the reason for his lack of success and taken strong measures to correct exactly that. If it doesn't pay off, it's irrefutable proof that SANADA doesn't belong at the top. SANADA himself said there would be nothing left if he loses.

That alone makes the match more exciting: this is match between two equals, with both results on the table, not a foregone conclusion where you hope Okada can at least make it a little dramatic. So while on paper this was your Okada formula match, the heightened stakes and the "fresh" challenger added layers of excitement and I was invested from start to finish. It looked like Okada was going to punk out SANADA early, making a point of trying to finish the match with his secondary finisher, the Money Clip. SANADA took it all and fought back to level terms. SANADA his all of his old finishing moves but Okada survived, as he has done before.

It all boiled down to an exciting finishing sequence. Several times it looked like Okada would overwhelm SANADA with his endless endurance and resourcefulness, as he does to every opponent. SANADA wriggled out of near certain death several times, and in the crucial moment, reversed Okada's Rainmaker directly into his new finisher Deadfall. A finish eerily similar to Jay White's most recent victory against Okada. Perhaps that's not a coincidence. SANADA may have been taking notes the whole time.

I'm not finished yet!

Approximately 5,000 title challenges were laid out in the aftermath of Sakura Genesis. Here's hoping I can remember them all.

- David Finlay wants to face Tama Tonga for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
- Hikuleo wants to face KENTA for the Strong Championship.
- Zack Sabre Jr. named "Filthy" Tom Lawlor as his next challenger.
- Zack Sabre Jr. then challenged Aussie Open on behalf of his stablemates Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste.
- At the same time, Jeff Cobb challenged Zack for a TV title show. Zack informed Cobb that he already challenged Lawlor, but would be happy to face Cobb regardless of his championship status.
- Ren Narita confronted a defeated Okada to challenge him. Not to a singles match, but for Okada to find two partners to challenge Strong Style for the six man tag belts.
- Kanemaru challenged Takahashi for the Junior Heavyweight Championship, in exchange for...

...the big one...

- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi challenges SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. SANADA accepted on condition of the above junior belt challenge.

The Junior Heavyweight Champion challenges for the Heavyweight Championship for what I believe is the first time ever. Not to mention that these two men were very recently stablemates. Unprecedented!