Feb 9, 2024 21:00:35 GMT @ness said:

Is that his final Japan match, against Tanahashi?

Okada is set to wrestle the New Beginning in Sapporo shows on February 23 and 24 but to my knowledge nothing has been booked yet. Perhaps someone will challenge him after the Tanahashi match.

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.

He'll probably use the Zack Driver. He has gone on record saying he doesn't like winning that way but still busts it out from time to time.

Feb 9, 2024 21:00:35 GMT @ness said:

Is that his final Japan match, against Tanahashi?

Nope, just final match against Tanahashi. He is still scheduled to appear at the shows on Feb 23rd and 24th. Those will be his final appearances with NJPW.

His contract expired at the end of January but he had already been announced for these dates and agreed to work them as a free agent.

EDIT: didn’t see Emp’s reply

Today is Willy's last match IIRC though.

Was just thinking it'd be a cool way to go out. Guessing if there's nothing left for him to mingle with he's going out in one of those multi-man tags that Japanese companies love so much.

Feb 10, 2024 16:05:46 GMT c said:

Today is Willy's last match IIRC though.

Yep.

I am thinking United Empire turn on Will after the match too. Just a feeling.

Likely to be a splitting of the faction to UE Japan, and the UE in AEW. Could set up a Forbidden Door match between the groups. I imagine a Bullet Club fight is also on the card.

Yes chants in NJPW is def not something I seen coming...

Got to hunt down this Bryan ZSJ match later as the clips look insane.

Looking like Okada may have ZSJ as one of his final matches.

Also NJPW Resurgence is coming to Ontario, CA. May 11 at the Toyota Arena.  So big arena show this time from NJPW in the states.  Assume AEW talent will fill the show out.

Stopped watching clips and am just going to watch the whole show this morning after I finish a few things at work. Looks like a really good show. Cage match was apparently pure insanity. I can’t wait to watch it.

Kazuchika Okada vs Tanahashi

Okada chants filled the arena as The Rainmaker walked to the ring. The chants even drowned out his entrance music which I've never experienced before. Unreal. Despite that, as the match went underway, the fans also showed their respect to Tanahashi, chanting his name.

Great match, a fitting tribute to both men, who transported us to years past. Okada refrained from using his newer moves and busted out some older moves such as Heavy Rain. Meanwhile Tanahashi stepped up, hitting his patented cross body from the top rope all the way to the floor.

Tanahashi certainly stepped up and found new fire somewhere, unlike in their recent encounters, Tanahashi was every bit on Okada's level. A great finish saw both men jockeying for position trying to lift each other up for a Tombstone Piledriver. The struggle ended in Okada's favour as he was able to hoist up Tanahashi and dump him with an AA-style move, which set up the Rainmaker for a victory over his longest rival.


Zack Sabre Jr. vs Brian Danielson

The powers that be allocated over 30 minutes for this titanic match, 30 of the best minutes I've had as a pro-wrestling fan. 30 minutes of sublime technical wrestling, fierce strikes, layers of psychology, the pride and stubbornness of both men manifesting in various ways. The first pinfall attempt wasn't seen until the 25 minute mark following Danielson's back superplex. Zack returned the favour a few minutes later with the Zack Driver, which I thought was the finish, but Danielson kicked out.

Both men applied torturous holds in the closing minutes, but the ropes saved both wrestlers. Danielson landed a Busaiku Knee which may have won the match, but he pointed his fingers in the air and attempted a second. Zack avoided the second, starting a sequence of rollups which ended in Zack's favour as he held Danielson's shoulders to the mat for the three count. Not the submission victory he wanted but in the Zack hierarchy of victories, a technical rollup trumps a knockout strike.

In a parallel to their previous match, the victor offered a handshake but the loser refused. At least temporarily. Danielson walked away but quickly turned back, shook Zack's hand and raised it in victory. However this is certainly not the end of the story.

Nice job with Zack winning via pinfall to setup the next match as an I Quit match.

Cage did seem insane.

Looks like Bryan is teasing a two out of three falls match in CMLL now.

The United Empire vs Bullet Club

First things first, the Steel Cage was pretty unimpressive. It was about 10 foot tall, very easy to climb over. But it served its purpose in the match.

The format was War Games style: the match starts with the two wrestlers, they wrestle for a time period, another wrestler comes out and so on. As is always the case, the heels got the advantage, with the first Bullet Club member coming out first. The match started with Ospreay and Finlay. Drilla Maloney came out next, dragging a beaten United Empire's Callum Newman with him. Newman isn't in the match but this was done to distract Ospreay while Finley recovered. Newman was handcuffed to the outside of the cage, a sign of things to come.

The order of entrances after Drilla: Henare, Connors, TJP, Coughlin, Akira, Kidd and Cobb. Even before Cobb hit the ring many weapons were introduced, a lot of guys were bloodied, and Henare had to be removed from the match because of a severe gash. He returned later with his entire skull bandaged up.

The entire match lasted over an hour with everyone weapon imaginable involved. Tables, chairs, ladders, thumbtacks, kendo sticks, forks, and a dog collar. Near the end of the match the War Dogs deconstructed the ring, revealing the treacherous wooden boards, some of which collapsed under the wrestler's feet. There were a couple of bumps on the wood but they were done as safely as can be done.

There was great drama and fantastic story elements with the wrestlers revisiting their pivotal moments in the faction warfare over the past few months. In particular the conclusion of Franceso Akira's story was brilliantly executed.

In the end the tide gradually turned in the favour of Bullet Club. One by one the members of United Empire were handcuffed to the cage until Ospreay was left facing all five War Dogs. He was unable to put up a fight and was executed by David Finlay's Overkill. Bullet Club win and Finlay did everything he set out to do. A complete demolition job.

Ospreay received a long and tearful farewell. His wife was there and all the fans chanted his name in unison.

Feb 11, 2024 15:30:41 GMT c said:

Looks like Bryan is teasing a two out of three falls match in CMLL now.

The best version of the iron man match.

Sounds like Will had the farewell he wanted in a match to be remembered. Wonder if he takes a vacation now or goes right into AEW.

Feb 11, 2024 11:02:26 GMT c said:

Looking like Okada may have ZSJ as one of his final matches.

Okada needs to go out in defeat like Ospreay, Jay, Kenny. Who better to tap him out of NJPW than Zack Sabre Jr?

Always go out on your back. It is the way of the business.

Feb 11, 2024 17:01:33 GMT Emperor said:

Feb 11, 2024 11:02:26 GMT c said:

Looking like Okada may have ZSJ as one of his final matches.

Okada needs to go out in defeat like Ospreay, Jay, Kenny. Who better to tap him out of NJPW than Zack Sabre Jr?

I just posted yesterday that it's criminal that ZSJ never got an NJPW win over Okada and now it looks like they're going to right that wrong in a couple weeks. :lol:

Tokyo Sports did a piece on ZSJ too. He said he wants to retire in NJPW and it really looks like they are paving the way for him to become a top guy going forward. He's going to be Heavyweight Champ within the next two years for sure. If not then what are they even doing.

Feb 11, 2024 16:59:04 GMT c said:

Sounds like Will had the farewell he wanted in a match to be remembered. Wonder if he takes a vacation now or goes right into AEW.

I expect his first match will be either at Revolution or at the Big Business Dynamite episode. If he pops up before then it'll just be to attack/challenge someone.

Feb 11, 2024 17:01:33 GMT Emperor said:

Feb 11, 2024 11:02:26 GMT c said:

Looking like Okada may have ZSJ as one of his final matches.

Okada needs to go out in defeat like Ospreay, Jay, Kenny. Who better to tap him out of NJPW than Zack Sabre Jr?

I imagine when you are Okada you get to pick how you go out too.


Watch what ZSJ said closely.  What I was seeing is as long as the money is good.  He may sing this song now but when WWE and AEW make offers several times greater than what he is making, he may change his mind.  People are not leaving NJPW to have their best matches, they leave for the cash.  

A full bank account is always a ******* classic.

ZSJ vs Danielson was so fucking good. What a fight.

If there is a god of pro wrestling we will get a third chapter Submission Match between the two at Forbidden Door III then ZSJ will go on to win the IWGP World Heavyweight title at Wembley.

Danielson promo sounded like it was either All In or CMLL for match 5.  Depends on if you consider UK neutral or not.

Something else happened at Osaka that I intentionally didn't mention.

KENTA and Chase Owens are now the IWGP Tag Team Champions. Moving right on...

Brian Danielson humbly accepted his defeat and declared Zack Sabre Jr. the best technical wrestler in the world. He had many other wonderful things to say, such as Zack is the best wrestler he's ever been in the ring with. It doesn't get much better than my second favourite wrestler speaking so highly of my first favourite wrestler. Zack Sabre Jr. also had plenty of great things to say about Danielson.

Was great to see him publicly pass the torch. There is a chance if Nigel cannot work Bryan's final full time match, that two out of three match Bryan mentioned will be it. Not even sure Nigel wants a final match, given he seems really content to just heckle Bryan from the booth. Seems to be having the time of his life and he been out of the ring so long, no way he can deliver on the level he used to.  But he could have the match with Zack just pulling out his trademarks while he mocks Bryan on commentary.

When Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, Jay White, Kota Ibushi left, it felt sad. These wrestlers were at the top of the company and would leave a big hole in their absence. Each and every time NJPW filled that hole with their current talent, it didn't take long to feel like nothing is missing.

I don't feel this way about Okada. The Rainmaker has personified NJPW for so long as its flagbearer, champion and final boss. The hole he will leave is bigger than the holes left by all those other guys combined. He's never been my favourite wrestler but his presence his felt everywhere. His program is almost always the most important one, Okada's matches feel important in a way that no other wrestler's matches feel.

NJPW is going to be a strange place without him. I'm sure they will fill the gap, there's plenty of promising young talent to do so, but it won't happen overnight.

The next big event is the two-day event New Beginning in Sapporo. Night 1 sees the debuts of some ex-WWE talent to fill the holes left by the absence of Okada and Ospreay.


Night 1 (February 23)



Main event: IWGP Global Championship: David Finlay vs Nic Nemeth



NJPW World TV Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Matt Riddle



NEVER Openweight Championship: Shota Umino vs EVIL



IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship El Desperado vs SHO


Night 1 features five LIJ vs Just Five Guys singles matches.

Night 2 (February 24)



IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs SANADA



Hair vs Hair: Yuya Uemura vs Yota Tsuji



Shingo Takagi vs Taichi



Hiromu Takahashi vs DOUKI



TAKA Michinoku vs BUSHI


What the heck is Okada doing?

Okada's last two matches in NJPW. Generic multi-man tags. CHAOS vs United Empire.

Yep, let's put Okada in those matches while Zack Sabre Jr. is in singles against Yuji freakin' Nagata on the first night, and not on the card on the second night.

So he's going out without putting anyone over? Even if the only logical choice was ZSJ I don't like it not happening.

I do not really see the Okada leaving NJPW as the crippling loss many others are making it out to be, as they can move Naito into the limelight now fully. Without Naito may be a different story, but they do have someone to take over like Okada did for Nakamura.

Also I would be shocked if we do not see Okada back in NJPW by the summer. Pretty much a barn door now with people coming and going. Sending out Okada for NJPW events when Tony does not have a PPV going the same night is one fast way to keep a tight deal with NJPW, and stop a deal with WWE. Also he could easily work NJPW then be back by Dynamite.

Gut is also telling me Nic Nemeth takes over as head of Bullet Club, and Riddle joins in.  Neither on the level of Okada, but stuff that can shore up the roster a bit with a hotter BC than they have now.  Finley and the War Dogs are ok, but lack the star power the group traditionally had.

ZSJ not getting Okada one-on-one is brutal.

Some big shake ups on Night 1:

SPOILER: Click to show

-Nic Nemeth pinned Dave Finlay clean to win the IWGP Global Championship. This was Finlay’s 2nd defence and comes after BC War Dogs beat United Empire in a cage match where Finlay pinned Will Ospreay.

-Matt Riddle beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the NJPW TV Champion. He then challenged ZSJ who turned it down, saying he is focused on the World Heavyweight title. But ZSJ said TMDK will all be challenging Riddle in the future.

-SHO defeated El Desperado to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. This was Despy’s 2nd defence as well, and he lost after just winning the title at Wrestle Kingdom less than two months ago. Same as Finlay.