Expect Tama Tonga to pop up in NXT sometime soon. Seems like it was his last night in NJPW too. Very emotional after the tag match.

Anyone see the clip of Okada's last moment in NJPW? It's great.

Classic Naito.

Feb 24, 2024 22:26:51 GMT RT said:

-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.

I'm disappointed with all of these results, in addition to EVIL retaining the NEVER Openweight Championship against Shota Umino.

The way in which El Desperado lost was embarrassing. Ren Narita choked him outside the ring almost under the apron, so the official counted him out despite not being able to see him. And titles change hands on count out.

I'll concede that Matt Riddle defeating Tanahashi is an interesting and solid booking decision even though I dislike Riddle. The match was just OK.

However derailing David Finlay's momentum to give another newcomer another title change is a step too far. He's still using the fucking Zigzag as a finisher which is now called the Danger Zone. I hope they know what they're doing.

Feb 24, 2024 16:59:06 GMT RT said:

Expect Tama Tonga to pop up in NXT sometime soon. Seems like it was his last night in NJPW too. Very emotional after the tag match.

Report were they wanted him, but will have to see if they want to pay him.  Not be shocked to see him go to TNA though.

Bit unexpected here.

Boo Zack called out Yoshihiko and the Ladder but was told no.

Yuki Ueno & MAO vs Chris Brookes & Zack Sabre Jr set.

Okada's final two matches ended in glorious victory with his CHAOS brothers. In both multi-man tag matches, United Empire's youngest member and Will Ospreay's protegé Callum Newman was the one who got to tangle with Okada the most. Over both nights he ate most of Okada's moveset and got demolished by the Rainmaker, but not before scoring some of his own impressive offense on The Rainmaker.

Okada said some final words after that match, and as RT showed he got trolled by Naito at the end of the show.

Right after Okada's match came Tama Tonga's final match. He teamed up with Tanga Loa for one last time to take as the Guerillas of Destiny faced the newer version of themselves in Hikuleo and El Phantasmo. Special guest referee: Jado. Tama and Tanga wore their old-school face paint with their newer ring gear. It was a fun match which saw Tama Tonga go out in defeat, as Hikuleo demolished him with a 7 foot+ Last Ride followed by a 7 foot+ Chokeslam.

Okada remains the only NJPW wrestler to leave without going on his back.

I still need to watch the Los Ingobernables de Japón vs Just Five Guys singles matches.

After endless 5 on 5 tags the Los Ingobernables de Japón vs Just Five Guys war ended in five singles matches.

BUSHI def. Taka Michinoku
The two pin-eaters of the stables are up first. Outside of the Best of Super Juniors these two wrestlers never get to show what they're made of so I was intrigued. I'm glad I didn't skip this because they produced an entertaining contest with sound psychology and a solid story. Michinoku had a game plan of targeting BUSHI's head/neck which worked to perfection. BUSHI had no answer until he scored with a dropkick to the knee, then it was back and forth until BUSHI secured a nasty version of figure four leglock to force a submission.

DOUKI def. Hiromu Takahashi
Takahashi is the Okada of the junior division - he's currently not champion but he always has an interesting angle. DOUKI is the SANADA of the junior division. Workhorse, popular with the fans, but he's never had that big breakthrough. Hiromu is the one guy DOUKI wants to beat more than any other. SANADA levelled up in 2023, and DOUKI made a huge step towards that in 2024 with a decisive victory.

Hiromu matches are either a ferocious sprint or a long drawn out epic. Fortunately this match was much closer to the former because Hiromu is not so good at the latter. A war of attrition which ended with DOUKI hitting his Suplex de la Luna finisher to pin the junior Ace clean in the middle of the ring.

Taichi def. Shingo Takagi
A match with the odd and convoluted stipulation of the loser having to delete their YouTube account. Taichi and Takagi have had many wars over the years and this was no exception, a brutal hossfest which went Taichi's way after a thunderous backdrop driver. Nice to see a non-finisher win an important match.

Yota Tsuji def. Yuya Uemura
A match with a rare but more traditional stipulation of hair vs hair. Both men have long flowing locks but it really doesn't suit Uemura - I feel he grew it out just for this eventuality. These two have had a fierce rivalry over the past two months, already fighting in two singles matches at one apiece. The third chapter was equally compelling, both men adapting their styles to the other and what came before. The match approached the 30 minute time limit when Tsuji finally hit the Gene Blast (Spear) to win the match and a chunk of Uemaru's hair.

Tetsuya Naito def. SANADA
The most predictable match of the night and unfortunately it wasn't very good. Naito's flaw is that he's unable to carry lesser talent to a great match, and SANADA is certainly a lesser talent, despite his levelling up. They did put together some really nice sequences in the finishing stretch but it was marred when they botched the finish, forcing them to redo it. They put some moves in between to mix it up but it didn't stop it from falling flat as it basically required SANADA to hit two sub-finishers in a row, AGAIN, which should have been overwhelmingly decisive.

Strange that two guys who have been in the same group for years, and have been competing as opponents for months, are so botchy when they face one another.

In case you didn't keep count - LIJ won 3-2.

That's beautiful man. So many of these big rivalries are around ring shit from years ago. The storytelling that really relies on history for motivations. How do you really "know" all this? Is it based on translated promos? Just a feel for it? This is looping us back to "Naito is silly in gif form lulz" when it's deeper than that.

Don't sit on YT deletion. What if one of ya's got like millions of subs? HIGH STAKES!

Makes ya wonder if 10 yrs from now he'll be in another top storyline based on his fall from the top at THIS MOMENT. Japan be like sometimes.

I know this from watching the backstage comments on NJPW World. Every single show, even the "Road To" shows have all wrestlers giving backstage interviews after their matches. 99% of NJPW promos are done there which is how I learn about the characters and their motivations. Most wrestlers give their interviews like sportspeople, while the foreign talent and some of the more carny wrestlers like House of Torture give more traditional gimmicky pro-wrestling promos.

This presentation is not ideal, a similar problem to when AEW first started in that a lot of the subtext of angles were buried in social media like Being The Elite and random Twitter posts making it hard for fans to fully engaged. However NJPW shows have always been about the ring action, there are no soap opera segments, and all the interviews are always in the same place so the only reason fans won't know this subtext is if they don't make the time to watch the interviews.

You don't need NJPW World either, they've started sharing the interviews for their bigger shows on YouTube.



Here's the fallout from the YouTube match. In a nutshell, Takagi tries to delete his account on camera but Taichi says "No! It's not worth it! We both took this way too far!". Both men have around 35k subscribers by the way.

The New Japan Cup bracket is out, as expected there is a lot of fresh blood and an absence of some old names.



- The most interesting participant is a certain AEW (or former AEW?) wrestler making his NJPW debut against Shota Umino.
- Champions are not participating which means no Naito, Riddle and Ziggler. Perhaps this is the reason they took the belts off Finlay and Tanahashi (who cannot compete due to injury).
- However the NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL is competing. House of Torture, the rules don't matter.
- Not much dud talent, just Tanga Loa and young lion Boltin Oleg.

Feb 29, 2024 0:39:22 GMT Emperor said:

- However the NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL is competing. House of Torture, the rules don't matter.

House of Torture make the rules. I’m shocked Sho isn’t also in the tournament with 2 byes.

Other than the likes of Okada how do they handle this for Sanada and other former champions? Does he go the EVIL route where we just pretend it didn't happen... or does he remain "strong" getting to the finals or outright winning (him and ZSJ)? How does booking for these guys usually fare after dropping the STRAP?

Feb 29, 2024 0:46:16 GMT @ness said:

Other than the likes of Okada how do they handle this for Sanada and other former champions? Does he go the EVIL route where we just pretend it didn't happen... or does he remain "strong" getting to the finals or outright winning (him and ZSJ)? How does booking for these guys usually fare after dropping the STRAP?

Only the absolute top guys have held the title in recent history, except for EVIL and Shingo. So it’s likely back of the line for SANADA like it was with them.

Not that Shingo and EVIL didn’t remain strong, but definitely a step below the top (Okada / Naito / Tanahashi / Jay White / Ibushi). And those top guys almost always win everything. Now that most of them are gone, I am interested to see how things develop.

Maybe SANADA will transform into a top guy for good with the Cup. Or maybe Zack will. ELP and TAICHI are other possibilities, but far more unlikely. KENTA SHOULD become a top guy, but never will.

New Japan cup looks interesting. Very balanced tournament. Curious how far Perry goes. Feels like at best Sanada beats the living shit out of him.

Want to say this looks like it is ZSJ's to win, but he does have a habit of losing in these things. And really, you cannot elevate him much more than he already is right now, need to elevate others to his level with this.

The left side of the bracket just looks like a guaranteed final spot for David Finlay. The only person I see upset stealing it from him is Shooter, but Shooter has just as much chance of losing Round 1 to Perry.

Feb 29, 2024 0:39:22 GMT Emperor said:

- Not much dud talent, just Tanga Loa and young lion Boltin Oleg.

You forgot THE TOKYO PIMP.

Tanga has delivered some serious garbage lately, but he has done much better in the past. Maybe the lingering injury was keeping him down and he’s fully recovered now!?

Feb 29, 2024 14:22:40 GMT Lionheart said:

Feb 29, 2024 0:39:22 GMT Emperor said:

- Not much dud talent, just Tanga Loa and young lion Boltin Oleg.

You forgot THE TOKYO Pimp.

I certainly did. I'm glad my brain is blocking his existence. Although I still like him more than Tanga Loa.

Feb 29, 2024 14:48:44 GMT Emperor said:

Feb 29, 2024 14:22:40 GMT Lionheart said:

You forgot THE TOKYO Pimp.

I certainly did. I'm glad my brain is blocking his existence. Although I still like him more than Tanga Loa.

Perhaps you forget or didn't enjoy them as much as I, but the Tekkers Vs. GoD matches from Road to Dominion 2021 and World Tag League that same year are some of my favorite matches. Tanga's G1 matches with ELP and Ospreay a few months back were pretty enjoyable, as were his his 2021 G1 matches with Kenta and ZSJ. He can deliver when given good time against a good opponent. He's nowhere near Yujiro trash level.

I feel like that one absurdly stupid chop combo is sticking in your mind too much. It's pretty ridiculous that he ever thought that move was a good idea, but it doesn't eliminate all of his other wrestling ability. I actually liked him a lot more than Tama originally, but Tama got a big push ahead of him and more of the spotlight that kind of was an unfair advantage that made Tanga seem lesser. His injury didn't help. You weren't too keen on Tama historically either, but you really enjoyed his WK match with Takagi. I think you should give Tanga more benefit of the doubt as well.

Yes those awful strikes have tainted my opinion of him, and going back a few years ago I certainly liked Tanga Loa more than I do now. It wasn't just the strike combo though, he seems to have regressed in general since his injury. He's lost an edge and energy that he once had. I don't recall liking a single one of his matches from the most recent G1. In hindsight I'd say I don't like Tanga Loa less than Yujiro...I dislike them equally as much.

Feb 29, 2024 1:24:44 GMT Lionheart said:

The left side of the bracket just looks like a guaranteed final spot for David Finlay. The only person I see upset stealing it from him is Shooter, but Shooter has just as much chance of losing Round 1 to Perry.

I think Perry cheats to win against Shooter but goes out either in round 2 or against SANADA.

Final four are SANADA vs. Finlay & EVIL vs. ZSJ

Given his recent attitude and push I feel like this is ZSJ's tournament to lose. I think we are going to see him heavily decorated this year. Then again every time I think that NJPW decides "no, actually, we should make EVIL champion."

Mar 2, 2024 22:45:57 GMT RT said:

Feb 29, 2024 1:24:44 GMT Lionheart said:

The left side of the bracket just looks like a guaranteed final spot for David Finlay. The only person I see upset stealing it from him is Shooter, but Shooter has just as much chance of losing Round 1 to Perry.

I think Perry cheats to win against Shooter but goes out either in round 2 or against SANADA.

Final four are SANADA vs. Finlay & EVIL vs. ZSJ

Given his recent attitude and push I feel like this is ZSJ's tournament to lose. I think we are going to see him heavily decorated this year. Then again every time I think that NJPW decides "no, actually, we should make EVIL champion."

It will be absolutely insane if ZSJ does not elevate to consistent headlining status soon with the amount of talent he has and the hole at the top NJPW now has. He is just so talented, even compared to current headliners.

It’s clear to me that ZSJ ought to win the right half of the bracket. But it could just as easily be Shingo or Cobb and make good sense to NJPW bookers. They’ve both done well in big spots in the past and it’s about time for Takagi to step up again or for Cobb to get his first big break. Cobb has dominated G1 blocks already, so is a natural choice. Though I’d say Zack has a slight edge with actually having won the New Japan Cup twice.

The only thing stopping me from betting for Zack this year is that he won it last year. Although NJPW has had a trend of repeat tournament winners in recent years. Ibushi won the G1 twice or three times in a row. Same with Hiromu and BOSJ. Still, I think Zack gets far but doesn't win it. I'm predicting a David Finlay victory.

Mar 2, 2024 23:00:42 GMT Emperor said:

The only thing stopping me from betting for Zack this year is that he won it last year. Although NJPW has had a trend of repeat tournament winners in recent years. Ibushi won the G1 twice or three times in a row. Same with Hiromu and BOSJ. Still, I think Zack gets far but doesn't win it. I'm predicting a David Finlay victory.

About what I was thinking. But I will mark out bigger than ever if TAICHI pulls out the upset victory over Zack in round 2.

Development at New Japan Cup kick off show last night:

SPOILER: Click to show

Jack Perry defeated Shota Umino with the help of House of Torture. After the match they handed him a t-shirt and he put it on. Perry is now a member.

Are the salaries in NJPW comparable to things in the states from the big 2? Cuz apparently Okada gets 4.5 a yr. Is that a massive jump from what he was making?

I have no idea what NJPW salaries are like. The business aspect of DIS BUSINESS does not interest me at all.

Salaries are said to be way lower than in the US which is why so many top guys jump here as they get older to cash out. NJPW does not have the cash to give people US style deals in the millions.

RT, and even more so Emperor, I just want to say thanks. Thanks to you two, I'm able to keep up with New Japan as much as I do. As someone who has only watched three shows this year from New Japan, I definitely wouldn't be able to keep up as much as I do, without you guys posting updates, I appreciate it. I like the company and what they do, but there's so much to watch and not enough time to watch everything, so unfortunately New Japan tends to sit at the bottom of my wrestling priority list.