Just watched Ospreay/Scurll and I have to say I didn't love it. I liked the first half of the match well enough but by the time they ramped things up it just felt like too much to me. I kinda feel like a grumpy old man, but it just felt like move after move after move and the higher impact moves didn't finish the match. In fact the OsCutter felt really anticlimactic as a finish after so many scary looking piledrivers and that spanish fly on the apron. I don't know why I felt this way, because other matches that follow this pattern usually have me hooked, but watching this I just wanted it to end a lot earlier than it did. Maybe it's because Will Ospreay just terrifies me and I don't want him to be the next Dynamite Kid. I also get taken out of the match when Scurll does the finger breaking bit, which is over, but not with me. And then when Scurll just repeatedly stomps on Ospreay's head and doesn't win but an OsCutter finishes it? I think they do too much and then the finish doesn't feel like it makes sense. I know I'm in the minority but it was very disappointing. ***1/2.

I basically had the same thoughts as PB. On the one hand the sick apron bump and ensuing blood made the match more exciting. On the other hand, it made Ospreay kicking out of everything and winning with a relatively weak-looking move seem even more ridiculous than it would have done had Ospreay not killed himself on the apron.

I'd recommend checking out their match from Power Struggle 2017. It's a lot better, a fantastic clash of styles match that doesn't go overboard with big move spam like most Ospreay matches. I'll even give you the link.

I for one thought Ospreay/Scurll was great. Okada/ZSJ was great to. Golden Lovers/Cody & Page was good, but I enjoyed Cody & Scurll vs. them from last month more.

Huge developments in the Bullet Club civil war. Spoilers: the video contains the end of Cody vs Kenny Omega from Supercard of Honor and the aftermath.

Wrestling Dontaku is swiftly approaching. Dontaku itself will take place over two nights, but in a strange decision, the lesser title matches are not filling the undercard of these show. They are instead given main event spots on the "Road To Wrestling Dontaku" shows (basically house shows). The main attraction of the tour is the culmination of the long-brewing feud between the top two heel factions: Suzuki-Gun and Los Ingobernables de Japón. The Bullet Club Civil War rages on, and we also have Okada hoping to break the all-time IWGP Heavyweight Title defenses record when he faces none other than the record holder, Hiroshi Tanahashi.

April 23
IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado) (c) vs Los Ingobernables de Japón (Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI)


April 24
IWGP United States Championship
"Switchblade" Jay White (c) vs David Finlay


April 27
NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto (c) vs Juice Robinson


Wrestling Hi No Kuni (April 29)
IWGP Tag Team Championship
Los Ingobernables de Japón (EVIL & SANADA) (c) vs Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Tetsuya Naito


Wrestling Dontaku Night 1 (May 3)
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) vs Bullet Club (Marty Scurll, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

Cody Rhodes vs Kota Ibushi

Kenny Omega vs Hangman Page


Wrestling Dontaku Night 2 (May 4)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Will Ospreay (c) vs KUSHIDA

(IWGP Heavyweight Championship)
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi


Which match most appeals to you? For me it's definitely Naito vs Suzuki, who I believe are meeting for the first time, at least in Naito's current guise. Okada vs Tanahashi is a somewhat distant second, but it'll be interesting to see how that match goes down. They've had a long and storied past, but this is the first time they meet with Okada as overwhelming favourite, a mirror of their earlier encounters.

Anybody watch either night of Dontaku?

According to my friends at CageMatch.com Naito & Suzuki met at the 2013 & 2014 G-1.

Tell me how hot and cold I am. I heard Finlay/White was Finlay's best match in NJPW and a nice showpiece for White. The same could be said of the Page/Omega match which was surprisingly strong. Tanahashi/Okada was great as always, Ospreay/Kushida was the typical all-out action match and Suzuki/Naito didn't quite live up to what either guy are capable of?

May 4, 2018 18:23:22 GMT Big Pete said:

According to my friends at CageMatch.com Naito & Suzuki met at the 2013 & 2014 G-1.

That was a different Naito.

May 4, 2018 18:23:22 GMT Big Pete said:

Tell me how hot and cold I am. I heard Finlay/White was Finlay's best match in NJPW and a nice showpiece for White. The same could be said of the Page/Omega match which was surprisingly strong. Tanahashi/Okada was great as always, Ospreay/Kushida was the typical all-out action match and Suzuki/Naito didn't quite live up to what either guy are capable of?

Hot on all counts. Except Ospreay/KUSHIDA. It started off very slow, psychology-heavy, then they went balls to the wall, but keeping the early story going. That and Tanahashi/Okada were by far the best matches of this whole series.

Big developments for Dominion.

After beating Tanahashi, Okada named the men he beat. Nobody came out to challenge him. He called out Kenny Omega. Omega came out. Okada suggested a no time limit match. Kenny upped the ante, suggesting 2 out of 3 falls. Okada agreed. The best wrestler in the company will be revealed for certain.

Ospreay's new challenger is the second Bone Soldier, who revealed himself to be NOAH junior stalwart Taiji Ishimori. He got a pretty big reaction. Presumably he's quite well-known in Japan, and I know him because he teamed with KENTA a lot back in the day, but no idea what he's been doing for the past 5-10 years. Always good to see a fresh face, especially with the Best of Super Juniors approaching. I expect he'll be a filler Ospreay challenge though.

Tama Tonga is the man who introduced Bone Soldier. That followed the Bullet Club Civil War 10-man tag of Night 1. After the match the entire Bullet Club minus Cody and Kenny (who I think brawled backstage) stood united in the ring. I'm guessing all of that means Cody and Kenny (and Ibushi) are out of Bullet Club, and Tama Tonga is the new leader. If I'm correct, I think that's a good resolution for this storyline.

LIJ shut out Suzuki-gun at Hi No Kuni. They punctuated this with a 10-man tag victory on the second night. Naito celebrated alone in the ring, and headed to the back. Then something strange happened.

I actually think Ishimori is winning the belt and him holding it till Wrestle Kingdom wouldn’t surprise me. He has been in Impact Wrestling & just recently left NOAH. Only seen a few of his recent matches, but I really like him.

Oh, and Cody & Kenny are still in Bullet Club. Just not being in the picture is part of the storyline. 

I wish they would hold off on these pushes in the Junior Heavyweight division. I haven't seen a lot of Ishimori, but from all reports he's a welcome addition to the roster. The problem I've got is that by bringing him in and feuding with Ospreay from the top, it doesn't give us a lot to look forward to later on in the year. If he goes over, he'll inevitably drop it back to Ospreay and if he doesn't he'll just become another body on the roster like BUSHI, Taguchi, El Desperado, Tiger Mask etc. who just pad out the card.

I understand the thinking process. In NJPW it's all about the different stables and it isn't so much Ishimori vs. Ospreay as it's Bullet Club vs. CHAOS which I presume will be a theme going into Dominion. I just wish NJPW fleshed out their divisions better and did a better job of building up future opponents. Otherwise you end up in situations like Okada/SANADA where the guys worked extremely hard, but nobody for a second thought SANADA was a chance of going over.

Still, as much as I'm complaining, NJPW just booked the biggest match of 2018. Okada/Omega IV in a 2/3 Falls No Time Limit match is going to be a 10 star match and a huge moment for the company. With Jericho/Naito bubbling along in the background, it isn't like NJPW is struggling for quality content.

Gedo tries to do with the Juniors what he does with the heavyweights. Fair play, Okada, Style and (to a lesser extent) Omega having monster pushes on their arrival/return/transition to heavyweight made them huge stars right from the get go, and they didn't lose much by dropping the belts back soon later. They were made men.

That formula doesn't work so well in the Junior Division. Hiromu beat KUSHIDA on his post-excursion debut, dropped the belt back six months later, and has not been particularly relevant ever since. He's always going to be over because of his wacky character and daredevil style. To be fair, he is always a legitimate threat to dethrone the champion, which is more than can be said for the similar junior pushes in recent years. BUSHI beat KUSHIDA, lost to KUSHIDA, became a glorified jobber. Sho and Yoh came in strong, beating everybody, but they lost to Young Bucks and became irrelevant, despite them beating Young Bucks a month later. Things may be different with Ishimori, but somehow I doubt it.

I guess the source of the problem is that the junior divisions aren't as strong as the heavyweight divisions. A guy like Styles can beat Okada and then lose to Okada, but after that he has a bunch of credible guys he can work with to stay strong outside of the title picture. That's not so easy in the junior division. Or maybe it is, but Gedo would rather have most of his juniors filling up the ranks in multi-man tags than be booked as credible singles threats. Ospreay and KUSHIDA are the only two juniors who have been booked consistently strong since Kenny became a heavyweight. They are the figureheads of the division, that's great. But nobody really believes any of the other juniors stand a chance.

Enough about that. Here's Naito's response to Jericho's vicious attack. Crimson Tranquilo.

New president coming in June 1st. He says he wants to trouble WWE long-term.
Wonder where he takes Japan...

The Best of Super Juniors under way! The usual suspects are participating: Ospreay, KUSHIDA, Scurll, Takahashi, Kanemaru, and Taguchi. But there are a few newcomers and wildcards.

Chris Sabin. I had no idea he still wrestled, but he randomly showed up to compete in the tournament. He started off well, convincingly defeating KUSHIDA in his first round match.

ROH's Flip Gordon showed off his insane athleticism against ACH, but was unable to get the job done as he went down to his more straightforward opponent. ACH is rumoured to be heading to NXT after this tournament.

Taiji Ishimori was recently introduced to NJPW as the new Bone Soldier and new Bullet Club member. He started off in the best possible way: a win against current Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay. This will likely guarantee him a title shot in the future, even if he doesn't win the tournament.

The other big first round match was Takahashi vs Scurll. LIJ reigned supreme in this bout.

I love Sho Tanaka and think he will be a future ace of NJPW.

When I started watching NJPW Sho Tanaka and Yohei (Yoh) Komatsu were young boys (along with Jay White, David Finlay and probably others). Since I was new to the company I watched the undercard quite regularly. Yoh was the one that stood out to me, and he was always booked to win over Sho. Just as Jay White always beat David Finlay. I haven't seen enough of their singles work post-excursion to evaluate the two.

Emperor, yeah Sabin still wrestles... him and Shelley were doing their thing as a team, last time I watched ROH (granted that was a couple months ago).

May 21, 2018 1:01:11 GMT Emperor said:

When I started watching NJPW Sho Tanaka and Yohei (Yoh) Komatsu were young boys (along with Jay White, David Finlay and probably others). Since I was new to the company I watched the undercard quite regularly. Yoh was the one that stood out to me, and he was always booked to win over Sho. Just as Jay White always beat David Finlay. I haven't seen enough of their singles work post-excursion to evaluate the two.

Since their excursion Sho has been the standout in my opinion. His match with Dragon Lee is my favorite match of the BOSJ Tournament so far. 

Chris Jericho SHOOTS HARD on Tetsuya Naito! Featuring adult language! And a turtle!

One of the wrestlers I used to train with might end up in NJPW of all goes well for him.
www.theherald.com.au/story/5407553/newcastle-wrestler-lands-chance-to-earn-pro-contract-in-japan/

I'll use spoiler tags for the BOSJ finals in case anyone hasn't watched it yet.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
How fucking good is Takahashi? My god.

That was a great final.

In terms of match quality, the Best of Super Juniors is always disappointing, and this year is no exception. A lot of guys just want to show how much flippy shit they can do and their matches lack substance. It gets boring quickly when you see so many super athletes in such high concentration. From the group stages, my favourite matches were Takahashi vs Desperado (heated brawl) and KUSHIDA vs SHO (mostly slow and technical), mainly because they were so different.

That said, the final always delivers, and again this year is no exception. Ishimori didn't impress me in the group matches I watched, but that final was great. But as good as it was, it's still the worst of the four BOSJ finals I've watched. That's a testament to the quality of the previous three finals more than anything else.

Sho was my standout in the BOSJ. Thought he had the best matches, will good variety.

No surprise to see that Meltzer rated Takahashi/Ishimori as one of his top ten favourite matches of all-time. Meltzer has always been impressed with that super athletic style and seeing guys go all out without any clear direction or story. He was really complimentary of Takahashi's run during the tournament and said he had some of the best matches of the event and would only consider Ospreay the better performer based on consistency.

I know it's just apart of their culture, but tournaments burn me out. Instead of spreading these matches through out the year and developing the junior heavyweight division, they burn through it all in two weeks, all for the sole purpose at challenging for the title at Dominion. Personally I think these NJPW Juniors are dummies. Why would you bother taking all those fights when in reality, all you've got to do is beat everyone through the curtain and do something to challenge the champion? I think it would work better for me if the majority of participants were outsiders duking it out for a NJPW, with the best performer ultimately going over and getting the big opportunity.

But hey, it's sort of like complaining about the Royal Rumble. No it doesn't make any sense that the ultimate challenger is somebody who happens the master the ability of not being knocked over the top rope. I get it. In Japan, they really like stakes, which is why it's so rare to see a non-title match of any sort. At least in a tournament, there is that idea of a winner advancing and a loser dealing with the fall-out.

That leads us to Dominion. As underwhelmed as I have been with the WWE's TV product, Dominion could be an even better show than WrestleKingdom. In fact, I'm certain it will be. No other match on the planet will be bigger than Omega/Okada. It may not appeal to everybody, but this is the feud wrestling fans care about and the matches they look forward to. In my opinion, every outing has improved on the last and I believe we're in for something special. That's followed by Jericho/Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. This is a rivalry that's been simmering ever since Jericho signed with NJPW and finally we're going to see one of the all-time great WWE Intercontinental Champions challenge the face of the IWGP equivalent. Jericho shrugged off his own curse and surprised everyone with his best match in years, surely the follow-up can live up to the hype?

Personally I'm looking forward to the Young Bucks vs. LIJ match. It seemed like only a matter of time before the Bucks would make the step up and they've got an opportunity to improve what has usually been one of the weaker parts of these NJPW shows.

Jun 6, 2018 14:56:13 GMT Big Pete said:

No surprise to see that Meltzer rated Takahashi/Ishimori as one of his top ten favourite matches of all-time. Meltzer has always been impressed with that super athletic style and seeing guys go all out without any clear direction or story. He was really complimentary of Takahashi's run during the tournament and said he had some of the best matches of the event and would only consider Ospreay the better performer based on consistency.

Honestly, I don't think Meltzer believes all or most of his hyperbolic claims; he's just doing it to get attention. People are forever bringing up his over ***** rating for the first Okada/Omega match, which was probably a legit evaluation, and he's been milking it ever since. I didn't watch anywhere near all the matches but I found myself paying attention to Takahashi and Sho more than anybody else. Ospreay vs Flip was very good but I didn't much like the other Ospreay matches I watched.

Jun 6, 2018 14:56:13 GMT Big Pete said:

I know it's just apart of their culture, but tournaments burn me out. Instead of spreading these matches through out the year and developing the junior heavyweight division, they burn through it all in two weeks, all for the sole purpose at challenging for the title at Dominion. Personally I think these NJPW Juniors are dummies. Why would you bother taking all those fights when in reality, all you've got to do is beat everyone through the curtain and do something to challenge the champion? I think it would work better for me if the majority of participants were outsiders duking it out for a NJPW, with the best performer ultimately going over and getting the big opportunity.

The sole purpose isn't to challenge for the title. Winning the tournament is a huge accomplishment in itself. The title shot is a bonus. That's why you see the champion participate every year. Wrestlers love to wrestle and love to show that they are the absolute best. That's their motivation. Winning the tournament means you will forever be known as a Best of the Super Juniors winner, and at that moment you can make a legit claim to be the best junior wrestler in the world, even without a title.

I do agree with the burnout point. So many singles matches in such a short span of time is overwhelming even for the most dedicated fan. But for the people watching live, they will only attend one show, and will get to see their favourite junior wrestlers compete, hopefully in a tournament match. Block finals and tournament finals are some of the most high stakes matches in the company, with even more drama than many title matches.

I'm curious if you have the same reservations about the G1 Climax?

I love the tournament aspect. I wish it was a bigger thing here in North America.

King of the Ring should still exist and be a HUGE fucking deal. Especially now with the brand split! There's so much they could do. There could be 64 competitors easily, especially now that they're having stuff like the UK title tournament and are building relationships with UK brands and now NJPW through Jericho. They just had a huge break between PPVs with MITB happening next week, there's no reason they couldn't also do the same with KOTR. Have qualifying matches on Raw, Smackdown, house shows (air them on the Network exclusively), have a couple open spots for NXT guys and have them competing to get in to the elimination rounds...fuck, thinking of missed opportunities like this just drives me nuts sometimes.

Maybe BOSJ could be spread out a bit more, but it doesn't really bother me. I never have any intention of watching all the matches and it's fun to follow along, to wake up and read the results the next morning. And winning it is definitely a big deal, especially if you manage to win it multiple times. I think only 3 or 4 wrestlers have ever done that (Liger, Balor, KUSHIDA...those are the only ones I remember, I'll have to check wiki).

...

As for Dominion, I'm so hyped for that show. I really think Kenny's going to do it this time. He has to. He has to win. God damn it just give that man the fucking title already.

And Jericho vs Naito is so intriguing for the reasons Pete mentioned. I love that Jericho is still involved with NJPW, I love that man. I can't see them putting the title on him but could you imagine? 

The sole purpose isn't to challenge for the title. Winning the tournament is a huge accomplishment in itself. The title shot is a bonus. That's why you see the champion participate every year. Wrestlers love to wrestle and love to show that they are the absolute best. That's their motivation. Winning the tournament means you will forever be known as a Best of the Super Juniors winner, and at that moment you can make a legit claim to be the best junior wrestler in the world, even without a title.

That's a fair point, it is a nice achievement in of itself. I still think it would mean more if they got rid of the ridiculous way they book most of their championship bouts. I also don't think it helps their cause that they go from headlining a bunch of shows and five days later they're working in the middle of the card again like nothing has changed.

The G-1 is a better tournament than the Best of the Super Juniors for a number of reasons. The winner of the G-1 defends their reputation for four months leading up to the big event which they get the opportunity to headline. It also usually involves the biggest stars in the company and sometimes some popular wrestlers from outside NJPW so naturally there's more interest there. My biggest problem is that there's 25 hours of television dedicated to the event itself. If you include all the pre-match, it's in the 55-60 hour mark, so a lot of great matches just blur together.

With that said, I don't think I've seen a single event got so much talent over. So many guys get noticed each tournament that half the fun is trying to figure out who will be the next Ishii.

Jun 6, 2018 18:08:29 GMT Big Pete said:

I also don't think it helps their cause that they go from headlining a bunch of shows and five days later they're working in the middle of the card again like nothing has changed.

How else can it be? The juniors should suddenly main event every show just because they had the BOSJ tour? It's a gradual process, but I think the division is getting somewhere in terms of scope. As I mentioned in the Dominion thread, the Junior Heavyweight Title match has gradually moved up the card every year. Ospreay and Takahashi are close to the level of overness as the top guys. Takahashi especially had universal crowd approval throughout the tournament. On at least two occasiona KUSHIDA grabbed the mic and talked about how he wants the juniors to main event more. That wasn't happening three years ago. Not even one year ago.

Jun 6, 2018 18:08:29 GMT Big Pete said:

The G-1 is a better tournament than the Best of the Super Juniors for a number of reasons. The winner of the G-1 defends their reputation for four months leading up to the big event which they get the opportunity to headline. It also usually involves the biggest stars in the company and sometimes some popular wrestlers from outside NJPW so naturally there's more interest there.

Same thing happens in the BOSJ. ACH, Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, Chris Sabin and Taiji Ishimori all came from outside the company this year. Tiger Mask is a minor attraction. If anything I'd say the G1 gets fewer external guys than the Super Juniors on average.

How else can it be? The juniors should suddenly main event every show just because they had the BOSJ tour?

I wouldn't take it that far, but I would let them main event the odd show. NJPW has a lot of down-time, so one of those 'road to' shows could easily be converted into a two-day event. In this case, it would be around September, giving the champion enough time to avenge whatever losses he had at the BoSJ.

Same thing happens in the BOSJ. ACH, Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, Chris Sabin and Taiji Ishimori all came from outside the company this year.

But are they as popular to the Japanese audience as Marufuji? That's what I was angling at. The BoSJ is treated like a niche event by it's own company whereas the G-1 is a major event. 

I wouldn't consider Ishimori an outsider. He officially joined the company before the tournament. The rest are and you're right they usually do bring in 2 or more outsiders annually whereas the G-1 only does it if they're light on stars.

NJPW loses me during both the NJPW Cup and BOTS and G1 Climax tourneys. It's just way too much to take in. If NJPW was the sole company I watched it might be different, but I just skip it all and try to catch only the highly pimped matches during these periods, if at all. I also put my indifference down to just getting older. Back in, like, late '99 I purchased the best of the BOTS' from 94-that very year, and have pretty much followed the tourneys through one manner or another ever since. These days I am not so hungry to devour as much puro as I have been over the years. For puro/NJPW fans still within their first 5 or so years of watching they are generally things of beauty. Granted the five stars are few and far between but to see all that talent in round robin tournaments is the stuff dreams are made of. At this stage of life they are a chore, though, and these past couple of years I haven't even attempted to sit through them.

For as well as NJPW's Jr. Heavyweight division has always been treated it always has and always will play second fiddle to the Heavyweights. I like the fact however that even though it has been used as a platform for potential future Heavyweights as well, such as the current IWGP Heavyweight champ, a wrestler can still feel like a success in the business if he doesn't make it playing with the big boys.