Okada getting his win back against Danielson wasn't enough, he has to beat Ospreay too? Sunofabitch. Should be an awesome match.

Too bad it will be shot like ass. I was hoping one of Tanahashi's goals as president would be "make our shitty B show not shot like a shitty ass B show and like something we actually care about where we follow our basic standards for not shooting it like ass" but alas, President Ace only seems to care about Japan.

You're talking like the show has already happened...

Jan 6, 2024 3:57:53 GMT RT said:

Early contenders for banger of the year at Battle of the Valley on the 13th:

Okada vs Ospreay
Moxley vs Shingo
Giulia vs Trish Adora

Also TMDK (ZSJ & Bad Dude Tito) will be facing Matt Riddle and a mystery partner.

Eddie Kingston is defending the Continental Crown against Gabe Kidd

Rest of the card is decent too. Even the tag matches and throwaway matches have potential.

Another huge match coming out of New Year's Dash is first Steel Cage match in two decades in NJPW. February 11, The New Beginning in Osaka. Ospreay's final match in the company.

Bullet Club (Finlay, Kidd, Coughlin, Connors, Maloney) vs The United Empire (Ospreay, Cobb, Henare, TJP, Akira)!

Also teased were the following:
Naito vs SANADA
Hiromu vs DOUKI
Tanahashi vs Riddle
Zack vs Danielson
Okada, Tanahashi and Ishii vs TMDK (Haste, Nicholls and Fujita)

What is that? Like a fixed hard cam view of the action/no commentary? Like a houseshow feed?

Jack Perry to NJPW isn't something I saw coming.

Honestly, it's a pretty smart way to bring him back into the fold.

Send him to a partner promotion, get some online buzz and use that background when he inevitably rocks up on Dynamite.

It's awesome. He needs an excursion to work on his character and gain some experience outside AEW. Tearing up his contract was a nice touch too. And he's rocking that thicker beard.

Also Mustafa Ali showed up to challenge Hiromu Takahashi to a fight. That's gonna be a damn good match.

Those last two matches at Battle In The Valley were some fantastic stuff, I also dug the Lucha tag match, as well as Giulia putting her strong women's title on the line against Trish Adora. Some interesting matches on upcoming New Japan shows, particularly the ten-man steel cage match, as well as Bryan Danielson/Zack Sabre Jr. at The New Beginning In Osaka, and of course Hiromu Takahashi/Mustafa Ali at Windy City Riot.

I enjoyed the Jack Perry appearance. The IWC is cold on the guy but I've always liked him, so I'm interested to see what he brings to NJPW. Assuming he actually goes to Japan instead of just lurking in NJPW Strong.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely intrigued by Jack Perry showing up, looking forward to seeing what happens with him.

2024 BOSJ Jack Perry

As much as I dislike Riddle, watching him grapple with Zack Sabre Jr. was delightful. Riddle/Cobb vs ZSJ/Tito. Was not expecting that match to be as good as it was.

Eddie Kingston vs Gabriel Kidd was a nasty war. Two wrestlers who own and commit to their characters like nobody else. Kidd especially. He's all on on his savage character and it's a joy to witness. They fought to a double countout.

Speaking of nasty wars, Moxley vs Takagi in a street fight. Seeing Takagi attempt to wear street clothes was a sight to behold. I didn't watch the match but I did stick around to see Moxley do something exciting and unexpected: he called out the champ, Naito.

Finally, Okada vs Ospreay. To be honest the match wasn't particularly special, had some interesting moments such as Okada heeling it up, but overall disappointing. Okada won, NJPW's way of bidding farwell to their talent. Ospreay cut a heartfelt promo while advertising the steel cage match pitting United Empire against Bullet Club in Osaka on February 11.

How we feelin' Emperor

It looks like he's AEW bound if Tony Khan isn't just vague tweeting to stir the pot.

Jan 19, 2024 5:06:01 GMT Big Pete said:

It looks like he's AEW bound if Tony Khan isn't just vague tweeting to stir the pot.

What post did he do?

Jan 19, 2024 6:14:00 GMT KJ said:

Jan 19, 2024 5:06:01 GMT Big Pete said:

It looks like he's AEW bound if Tony Khan isn't just vague tweeting to stir the pot.

What post did he do?

x.com/tonykhan/status/1748093781348347932?s=46

Jan 19, 2024 6:29:02 GMT System said:

Jan 19, 2024 6:14:00 GMT KJ said:

What post did he do?

x.com/tonykhan/status/1748093781348347932?s=46

Ah. I’d be more intrigued if that was posted after the announcement.

NJPW is used to losing their top gaijins, it's part of the circle of life. AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, Jay White and most recently Will Ospreay all made their name in NJPW before moving to the States.

However losing a star on the level of Okada I feel will change the company rather substantially. It's not unprecedented - Nakamura and Ibushi both left - but a NJPW without Okada will be a weird place, much weirder than losing Ospreay, White and Omega.

Even though this was kind of expected it is still wild to see.

Be hilarious if there is nothing but speculation and rumours for the next month then Okada just retires and never wrestles again.

Jan 19, 2024 12:32:58 GMT Emperor said:

NJPW is used to losing their top gaijins, it's part of the circle of life. AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, Jay White and most recently Will Ospreay all made their name in NJPW before moving to the States.

However losing a star on the level of Okada I feel will change the company rather substantially. It's not unprecedented - Nakamura and Ibushi both left - but a NJPW without Okada will be a weird place, much weirder than losing Ospreay, White and Omega.

I'd argue that the company has been on a downward trend ever since Omega left to help find AEW.

You're right about 2016. There was a lot of speculation surrounding NJPW's future following the loss of Styles, Anderson, Gallows, Nakamura and Ibushi only for them to prosper. However since the formation of AEW there's been a year on year decline and the quality of the promotion has noticeably dipped in recent years. It was an inevitability as performers were always going to age out, but it makes the loss of Okada and Ospreay that more significant.

The New Beginning series started yesterday in Nagoya. Never has the title been more fitting with the upcoming departures of some tenured talent.

The main event featured Tama Tonga defending his newly won NEVER Openweight Championship against EVIL. I doubt anybody cares, but Tama Tonga is on the way out, so he did the J.O.B. before giving a teary farewell speech.

Speaking of teary farewells, although Okada's team went down in defeat when Zack Sabre Jr. tapped out Togi Makabe, it was Okada who was the last man in the ring. He did not speak any words but saluted the fans.

Another big departure is Will Ospreay, whose absence was felt in the United Empire vs Bullet Club 10-man tag. In Ospreay's place was the baby of the Empire, Callum Newman, who was pinned by David Finlay after a big powerbomb.

Ospreay will be back to fight alongside his brothers one final time on February 11 in Osaka, which will also see a special singles match between Okada and Tanahashi, 12 years after the famous "Rainmaker Shock" of 2012.

Jan 6, 2024 21:08:58 GMT Emperor said:

You're talking like the show has already happened...

Every single US show is shot like ass. This has been consistent since STRONG and all US shows started happening forever. It seemed a safe assumption that it wasn't going to change after nothing about those shows was mentioned at all.

The Road To New Beginning show on January 24, Korakuen Hall, featured Okada's last match as a contracted NJPW wrestler. He will wrestle three more matches with the company, but as a freelancer.

Although this was the focal point of the show, it was not the main event. Positioned above The Rainmaker was Shota Umino, who defeated his long time rival Ren Narita. A huge spot for the youngster. The post-match marked a passing of the torch as El Desperado and Tama Tonga, who helped him stave off House of Torture, sang his praises. Tama Tonga in particular gave Shota the task of defeating EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Most striking was Shota's poetic and powerful choice of words.

Soon, the Rain will stop. The clouds will be clear, and there'll be nothing but clear skies. Even if night falls and darkness envelopes you and you don't know what to do, I will be the light, and I will be the guide to lead the way. [...] From now on, New Japan will enter a new era. In New Japan, in the new generation, I am the New Ace.

Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii def. Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls and Kosei Fujita

The heavy emotions were felt from the beginning as the sold out crowd chanted Okada's name in unison before his entrance music hit.

One of the stories of Okada's departure has been Kosei Fujita, the last in a long line of young wrestlers who have boldly stepped up to the Final Boss of pro-wrestling. The match structure heavily emphasised these two wrestlers. It started with Fujita vs Okada, and ended with Fujita vs Okada.

In the middle was an exciting sequence between Haste/Nicholls and Tanahashi/Ishii. Ishii did most of the heavy lifting in the ring, enduring double team move after double team move from the TMDK duo, but kept alive, with a little help from his friends.

Once that was done, Fujita and Okada tagged in for the third and final act. Fujita took the fight to Okada but was soon overpowered. The odds were stacked against him even further when he suffered nasty triple team offense at the hands of Okada, Tanahashi and Ishii. Fujita was helpless as Okada took the opportunity to reel off his greatest hits. It ended with a top rope elbow drop, the Rainmaker pose, and the Rainmaker itself. One, two, three. Okada stayed champion to the end.

The match was awesome and all the wrestlers did a fantastic job in playing to the raucous audience. At certain moments they even managed to get the crowd to chant for wrestlers besides Okada.

The post-match speeches were tearful, and even the Stone Pitfull could not stop from crying during his backstage comments. I leave the video for you all to enjoy.

The New Beginning in Osaka airs on Sunday with three huge matches.

Main event: Steel Cage- United Empire (Will Ospreay, TJP, Jeff Cobb, Francesco Akira & HENARE) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney, Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors)

Will Ospreay's last match in NJPW is also the first cage match the company has seen in 20 years. Tensions have been boiling between members of The United Empire and Bullet Club for many months. It all comes to a head inside the cage.




The real main event: Bryan Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr.

Despite both wrestlers insisting that their last match, where Danielson won with the Busaiku Knee, was indecisive, this is not a submission rules match, but a regular match. Whatever the stipulation, it's obviously going to be incredible.




In the same venue 12 years ago, Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, in a historic moment known as the "Rainmaker Shock". The match started one of the company's longest and most storied rivalries. Okada is wrestling on NJPW ground but not as a contracted NJPW wrestler, in what is likely the final chapter of a legendary feud.

This is my Super Bowl.

Is that his final Japan match, against Tanahashi?

I suspect this time ZSJ beat DB with a strike setting up a third match at Forbidden Door that is an I quit match.  Not even be shocked if he beats DB with DB's own knee.

Feb 9, 2024 22:08:41 GMT c said:

I suspect this time ZSJ beat DB with a strike. Setting up a third match at Forbidden Door that is an I quit match.  Not even be shocked if he beats DB with DB's own knee.

Nobody kicks out of "THE MOVE THAT BEAT JOHN CENA" (tm)

What would be amazing booking is if ZSJ beats DB with the London Dungeon, then in the presser saying paying Nigel to teach him that move was the best money he ever spent.