OMFG... That is all...

SPOILER: Click to show

Holy fuck I don’t believe it

THIS is how you address backstage nonsense. You don’t show it on TV, you own it.

Jack Perry about to be the breakout star of 2024

The best SHIELD member continues to be the best.

Well, people who did not watch the show have declared Perry was not a draw at all, you know like Punk in Ring of Honor when he was a vanilla midget.

I love the idea that "never drew a dime" is still being typed by some mutant in this day and age.

Cornette and Bischoff have a lot of fans. As far as they are concerned no one watches NJPW since it is not on US TV.

Also will put it here too, again sorry Emp you got spoiled in the other thread.  Did not think you would wade into the AEW fighting for some reason.

I do wonder if the plan to address the talent shortage moving forward in NJPW is to do excursions from AEW to NJPW now. Win / win it seems like, AEW got more talent than spots, and NJPW needs some starpower now more than ever to get over this hump of losing more people. Moreso if Naito is as hurt as people claim.

I imagine sending say Brian Cage, Wardlow, Will Hobbs or others in the midcard will pay dividends when the guys return with some Japanese experience under their belts.

Hopefully NJPW moves the title to ZSJ or someone soon too so they have someone to build a core around while they recover as well.

Good on Tony to not just let them wither after taking Okada though. Sounds like Mox will be doing heavy dates moving forward.  Seeing that people think Eddie will wrap things up with NJPW after the Kidd match, thinking he will drop belt.  Eddie been pretty beat up and may need a vacation though, he has been going hard for a year now and is not a young lad.  I imagine too America Dragon is not done in Japan either.  Think even when he goes part time, he will work some of the big shows around the world.

A strong relationship with NJPW will only mean good things for both companies. I am glad this is finally coming to fruition and I hope it continues to grow. Throwing CMLL and Stardom in the mix will only strengthen their other talent divisions too. Like think of what a Stardom excursion could do for someone like Anna Jay or Red Velvet, for example. I love it.

I am starting an altar and praying to any god that will listen that Bryan Danielson gets in the G1 before he retires. I could even see it happening this year with how things are going.

NJPW really on the ledge right now after losing a lot of talent in the past few years, so they do really need AEW right now to avoid really losing their following. I just hope they have people in the wings to replace all the people they are losing as at best this is a bandaid lending them talent.

Stardom excursions would be a nice touch for girls not being used. Wonder too if that is what HHH is thinking with the ties to Rossi. Send some of the NXT girls to Japan to get some extra conditioning before putting them on TV.

I imagine if Bryan wants to do G1 this year he is doing G1 this year and that is that. That said with the talent issues, G1 could see a bunch of AEW guys head over next year. AEW can easily go without a bunch of talent with the packed roster for two months without issue.

Apr 13, 2024 21:15:16 GMT c said:

NJPW really on the ledge right now after losing a lot of talent in the past few years, so they do really need AEW right now to avoid really losing their following. I just hope they have people in the wings to replace all the people they are losing as at best this is a bandaid lending them talent.

Stardom excursions would be a nice touch for girls not being used. Wonder too if that is what HHH is thinking with the ties to Rossi. Send some of the NXT girls to Japan to get some extra conditioning before putting them on TV.

I imagine if Bryan wants to do G1 this year he is doing G1 this year and that is that. That said with the talent issues, G1 could see a bunch of AEW guys head over next year. AEW can easily go without a bunch of talent with the packed roster for two months without issue.

The fact Eddie did the G1 last year gives me hope that someone from AEW will go this year and it'll be Danielson.

Imagine if it was Okada representing AEW? Wouldn't happen but maaaan that would fit his new gimmick perfectly and get him some crazy heat not seen since his early Rainmaker days.

Honestly, I would not be shocked at all if Tony lent them back Will or Okada. Keep them off TV two months, and they return fresh rather than letting them meander lost in the shuffle. Anyone without a title should be fair game. Meanwhile Tony at home and elevate other people to match them with when they do return.

Winner of 2024: AEW Homegrown Talent, Okada. You love it.

Apr 13, 2024 22:15:34 GMT @ness said:

Winner of 2024: AEW Homegrown Talent, Okada. You love it.

Okada wins the G1 representing AEW with the EVPs at his side, then faces the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion....Jon Moxley. :lol:

Finally caught the show. I didn't realise how stacked the card was and they brought the NJPW production crew over for a US show, at long last.

Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii are now officially the old guard. In NJPW their credibility has been reduced to jobbers but they remain two of the more popular Japanese guys in the West, so they both featured in singles matches. Suzuki lost to Narita in the opener in a blah match, while Ishii fought above his stature when he challenged Nick Nemeth for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. He lost, of course, but it was a solid match worthy of the semi-main event.

Apr 14, 2024 22:46:28 GMT RT said:

THIS is how you address backstage nonsense. You don’t show it on TV, you own it.

Agreed. Jack Perry is riding this wave of notoriety in the best way. He got huge heat and I loved the constant jabs to CM Punk in the match. I feel like the match would have gone this way regardless of AEW airing that foootage, but AEW airing that footage only added more fuel to the Jack Perry flames.

Also on the card was Zack Sabre Jr. challenging Matt Riddle for the TV Championship. And would you believe it, Zack won! I might have been more excited if the match was better but what a pleasant surprise. Makes me question the booking. Zack loses to President Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom. Tanahashi drops it to Riddle in his first defense. Riddle drops it back to Zack in his...second defense? A bizarre turn of events. I'm happy for ZSJ of course but it does feel like a step back.

The main event. The shock of all shocks. Jon Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Did anyone watch the whole match? It wasn't that good. They didn't have the best chemistry and the match kinda meandered until Naito countered a suicide dive attempt with a steel chair shot causing MOXLEY BLOOD. It picked up a bit from there but the finish was a bit underwhelming. Normally NJPW main events are these elaborate back and forth affairs but Naito barely got any offense in the final third. Weird match.

The ramifications are fascinating. NJPW handing their top championship to a wrestler contracted with another company is an unprecedented event, looks like they are finally going All In with their Western expansion, something they promised but underdelivered on many years ago. Okada and Ospreay leaving has perhaps forced their hand. It's exciting times and I hope they don't book it like the TV Championship where Moxley has a filler defense and then drops it back to Naito at Dominion. Let's ride the Moxley wave.

I love the idea of Okada competing in the G1 with his new character, and Okada challenging Moxley for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship is pretty hilarious. Won't happen, at least not at Wrestle Kingdom. If any AEW wrestler is going to enter the G1, it will be Moxley since the champion always enters. Danielson might make it as well which would be awesome.

Ishii doing the Zig-Zag was hilarious.

Riddle like no selling the match clearly showed why that belt needed to move again imo. That result def was a little shocking for sure.

Main event def was not on par for a major NJPW match. But results made it interesting. Curious what the plan is, like will Mox being doing mostly NJPW for a while or will they go several shows at a time without him.

For people who missed it:

Pretty good reaction for someone people said would never recover from the fight being shown.

Y’all should watch the KOPW match between Great O Khan and Yuya Uemura from last night.

Won’t spoil anything other than a word of advice. Never challenge GOK to a lemon eating contest.

Apr 27, 2024 22:08:43 GMT RT said:

Y’all should watch the KOPW match between Great O Khan and Yuya Uemura from last night.

Won’t spoil anything other than a word of advice. Never challenge GOK to a lemon eating contest.

I watched the first part of the match and decided that my wife needs to see this with me so I abstained on the rest.

Los Ingobernables de Japón are feuding with Bullet Club War Dogs. They had a series of singles matches about a week ago. One of those matches was Drilla Maloney vs FORMER IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito. Guess who won that match? Nope, guess again. Drilla Maloney pinned Naito one, two, three. The victory was not without assistance. David Finlay interfered, diverting the referee's attention, while an unknown man entered the ring and assaulted Naito. The man wasn't unknown for long when commentary revealed him as NOAH's Jake Lee. Jake Lee obliterated Naito allowing Drilla to pick up the pieces.

Jake Lee teamed with Bullet Club in the main event of the card featuring O-Khan vs Uemura. His entrance impressed me, not only the attire, but the nickname.

GOOD LOOKING EMPEROR

Move over Zack, I have a new favourite wrestler.

I would post a screenshot but New Japan World has got all smart and used technology to prevent screenshotting their stream so I'll have to use an older and less current picture from Wikipedia.

I love Jake Lee and the Good Looking Guys.

Apr 29, 2024 22:39:19 GMT Emperor said:

I would post a screenshot but New Japan World has got all smart and used technology to prevent screenshotting.

c what do you know about this? It's pretty impressive.

I open Snipping Tool, hit "New" to take screenshot, and the screen goes black. That's some neat web coding. I also noticed you can no longer screen share streaming websites - it shows as black to the other person.

No clue what they use. But know they are crazy with copyright stuff and go on twitter to strike like every clip they can.

Saw turning off hardware acceleration in chrome will allow screenshots. Or using Firefox.

Nintendo. New Japan.

Land of the Rising Sun just ain't playing games with exposure yo.

Wrestling Dontaku results.

Night 1

Jeff Cobb def. Zack Sabre Jr. to win the NJPW World Television Title. Jeff Cobb's first singles championship since 2019. Great match.

David Finlay def. Yota Tsuji in another great match.

Nic Nemeth def. Hiroshi Tanahashi to retain the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title. Finlay attacked Nemeth after the match, provoking the champion to put his championship on the line on Night 2.

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

Night 2

Chase Owens & KENTA def. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.

Shingo Takagi def. Gabe Kidd to retain the NEVER Openweight Title. Awesome strong style fight.

David Finlay def. Nic Nemeth to become the new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion. No surprise. Nemeth was distraught after his loss.

Jon Moxley def. Ren Narita to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Title. The usual House of Torture bullshit match. Moxley's allies Desperado and Shota Umino came through and helped him retain.

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

What I'm seeing is a lot of short-term booking and hot potatoing of titles. The IWGP Tag Championship have swapped between KENTA/Chase and Goto/Yoshi a buncha times. The TV Championship went from Zack to Tanahashi to Riddle to Zack to Cobb. From Tanahashi to Cobb there was only one successful defense. Not sure what the point of that was, they could have had Cobb beat Zack at Wrestle Kingdom and save a lot of nonsense. The Global Champioship went from Finlay to Nemeth and right back to Finlay.

I guess NJPW wants to sweeten some gaijin free agents by handing the championships, but it almost seems insulting if you're just going to give it back to a contracted member after a small number of defenses. I don't like the booking, but I'm fine with the outcome. I enjoy Finlay and Cobb more than Riddle and Nemeth.

That said, they are making bigger strides in the international market as evidenced by Moxley as the top champion, Windy City Riot and the next show, Resurgence on May 11. Pretty stacked card.

1 Mustafa Ali vs. Lio Rush
2 Tom Lawlor and Fred Rosser vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs)
3 Jack Perry and House of Torture (Ren Narita and Evil) vs. Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii and Rocky Romero) and The DKC
4 Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito and Yota Tsuji) vs. Bullet Club (Kenta and David Finlay)
5 Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
6 TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) (c) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo and Hikuleo) - Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship
7 Jeff Cobb (c) vs. Lance Archer - NJPW World Television Championship
8 Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Yuya Uemura - NEVER Openweight Championship
9 Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Alex Windsor - Strong Women's Championship
10 Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Gabe Kidd - Strong Openweight Championship
11 Jon Moxley (c) vs. Shota Umino IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

ALREADY? Are they in a rebuilding phase right now post-Okada? Feels like titles are changing hands like it's the Attitude Era. At least for modern standards.

Feels to me they were banking on Riddle lasting more than he did.

Sounds like that Canada show went hard. Joint show with CMLL in Cali coming in July. I imagine Forbidden Door will set up some of the matches that get continued there as the three companies seem to be getting tighter and tighter when it comes to running in the US and sharing talent, and FB is just a few weeks before.

Also wonder when Copeland gets involved in NJPW now we are moving into cross-promotion stuff time of the year.  He said he wants to work NJPW and Tokyo Dome in interviews and likely will do so at the next WK.  Irony is his dream opponent he said was Okada at WK, which is now an all AEW match.

Dude you know what's crazy, wouldn't surprise me if half these active but close to retirement guys signed just so they can work certain guys before the end, namely Okada as even if they signed with WWE they probably wouldn't get the shot.

That is absolutely why they signed. American Dragon and Copeland been pretty open about having limited time left and wanting to do what they could not in WWE with it.

Dominion happened on Sunday. The second biggest show of the year. NJPW's Summerslam. Where was the Emperor hype?

I must admit I'm paying less and less attention to NJPW these days. It was a great show that overdelivered on a lackluster card, but it also felt secondary, a warm up for Forbidden Door. Allow me to explain...

Firstly, for the first time in probably a very long time, Dominion was not main evented by the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Certainly the correct call, as the exciting final of Best of Super Juniors trumps the lukewarm Moxley vs EVIL championship match.

Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito wrestled in the opener against United Empire jobber Callum Newman. Naito won in 8 minutes. But this isn't the last we'll see of Naito.

Great O-Khan defeated Yuya Uemura in a fun catch-wrestling rules match to win back the KOPW championship, which he lost in an outrageous two-out-of-three-falls match to Uemura. The story is that Uemura won in his "away" match, while he lost in the style in which he claims to be the strongest.

Jeff Cobb retained the NJPW TV Championship against Tomohiro Ishii in a fantastic midcard sprint. The best Ishii has looked in a while.

TMDK won all the tag team championships in a four way match featuring some other tag teams.

Shingo Takagi and Henare battled for the NEVER Openweight Championship. An absolute war that somehow outdid Cobb/Ishii. During the match both guys hit their finishers but were too spent to make the cover. It ended in a double knockout just under 15 minutes.

Jon Moxley retained the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against EVIL in a you-know-what-you're-getting-with-House-of-Torture-bullshit match. After the victory Moxley grabbed the mic and issued an open challenge. Out came none other than former champion Naito, who issued a challenge for FORBIDDEN DOOR. Naito stated it was his fault the championship went to an outsider, so it's his duty to reclaim the gold in enemy territory. CABRÓN!

The main event was as epic as you'd expect. El Desperado defeated Taiji Ishimori to win the Best of Super Juniors for the very first time. Out comes Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO leading to some fun banter. CONTEXT: Sho took the championship from El Desperado a couple of months ago with the help of all his HoT friends.