Takeshita def was an absolute monster last night. That forearm to Ishii was amazing.

Kojima was a top guy at one point holding both the IWGP title and Triple Crown at the same time, and had a long run with Tenzan. But his run at the top was in AJPW, as he jumped there from NJPW after everyone fled to Noah and AJPW lost their TV deal.

Tony confirmed Final Countdown will not likely be used again due to cost. Glad he fired it off here and not Wembley I guess.

Sometimes I get jaded about pro-wrestling. There's too much wrestling, and as is the case with my beloved NJPW, there can be too much of a good thing.

But I watch a match like Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay and I am reminded, once again, why I watch. For about 90% of that match I had thoughts running through my head to the effect of "this is one of the greatest matches I have ever seen." Don Callis got involved and did turn the tables in favour of Ospreay, but early in the match, and he was promptly ejecuted. The work Ospreay and Omega did from then on was phenomenal. Ospreay driving Omega's head into the announce desk was hard to watch, not only a brutal spot in itself but a clear callback to their previous encounter.

Omega only got back into the match because Ospreay got way too cocky and had some fun with the Canadian flag. Omega got into the match in a big way. The perfection continued with both guys battling in the ring, first going for submission holds and then back to their usual big moves.

Don Callis returned, which I kinda expected, and we get the cool spot with the screwdriver. A little disappointing, but this was more than redeemed by the all-time great near fall spot with Omega's foot barely touching the ropes after the Stormbreaker. Just listen to the crowd on that one. Callis whispers something in Ospreay's ear. Ospreay hits Ibushi's Kamigoye (surprisingly the crowd didn't seem to be aware of its significance) and then the One Winged Angel. If the match had ended there, perfect match, five stars in spite of Callis' interference.

It didn't end there. Not only did Omega kick out, he kicked out emphatically at zero. I get the idea, mind over matter, how dare you use my lover's move and my move to pin me, I am rage. But after all the punishment Omega took, and given that the One Winged Angel is probably the single most deadly finisher in all of wrestling...nah. They jumped the shark.

I understand why they did it. If Ospreay had won there, his victory would be...more tainted than it ended up being. He would have won as a direct result of the screwdriver. Instead he had to outwrestle Kenny Omega all over again, and he did that successfully, so the victory becomes...half-tainted.

Fortunately the five minutes of work that came after the Omega kick-out-of-all-kick-outs was more pro-wrestling perfection. Not quite the redemption of the foot-on-the-rope spot, but close enough. FOUR POINT SEVEN FIVE STARS. If Omega had kicked out of his own move at 2.999 and everything else was the same, five stars. But that super kick out casued arguably the biggest pop of the match, in a match with many enormous reactions, so I guess it was a success. It did feel a little cheap, but it's only a small blemish on what is probably my match of the year.

That said, I haven't watched Danielson vs Okada yet.

Danielson and Okada had a tough act to follow. One could say an impossible task. And, despite how great Danielson and Okada are, they didn't delivery. I feel like I would have said that even if Danielson didn't lose use of his right arm for the last 5-10 minutes. The action just didn't feel that special. It's not that either guy wrestled badly - the mechanics of the match was flawless - but I didn't get any real sense of drama or heighetened emotions. Just two wrestlers having a good wrestler match.

Chalk it up to bad chemistry I suppose. It does beg the question of what would have happend if Danielson's arm didn't get hurt. Even before he hurt his arm, at least before it became obvious his arm was hurt - they were going to the "duck the Rainmaker into Busaiku knee" spot too many times.

That said, the finish was remarkable. Danielson submitting Kazuchika Okada is not a finish anyone would have predicted, but Danielson had to find a way to do it with one functional arm. Well, as the second greatest technical wrestler in the world, he found a way, by converting his own finishing hold into a finishing hold of the greatest technical wrestler in the world.

You all know who I'm talking about. Especially Ness.

Good match, but Omega vs Ospreay very clearly steals the show.

Jun 26, 2023 4:49:13 GMT RT said:

Fun fact: the last person to make Okada tap out was Shinsuke Nakamura.

I was going to mention this and I forgot. It was the 2014 G1 Climax final or block final if my memory is correct.

Okada almost never loses, but before that match he had only tapped out one time.

Jun 26, 2023 4:49:13 GMT RT said:

Comments from people at the show saying the seizure spot was awful and everyone thought it was real so it took them out of the match. Watching it on TV you can definitely see that. Crowd was dead quiet.

The match was ok but very poorly booked. They have to run it back. God I wish Danielson was in the G1 this year. Fucking weird that he isn’t now.

The seizure spot was an idea that should have been left in the back. But at some point Danielson clearly got hurt, his left arm lost mobility. Whether it was an arm injury or something more serious...I don't know because I haven't read up on it.

I don't understand what you mean by poorly booked?

No Jarrett=no caring. Come on, Coach Tony K. Why no Jarrett/Yano?

Willy and Omega really was something else. Easily my match of the year. I know people hated Don, but the screwdriver One Winged Angel counter and Kamigoye made it all worthwhile.

Rewatched the match again today and so many little things in there that just made it great. There was like no down time, and they packed the fucking match with cool spots, throwbacks and tributes.

These two are really the modern day Misawa and Kobashi.

Knowing that Bryan fucked up his arm makes the seizure spot make a lot more sense. He likely needed to let everyone know a major audible was coming and needed some way to cover that made sense.  I assume after that everything else was booked on the fly with Okada.

I suspect going into the match if you knew Bryan was legit hurt it would change a lot of perception on it.  I did not rewatch it though as they did lack chemistry IMO.  Live I hated the seizure spot, as I thought it was in bad taste.  But knowing he was hurt, def changes that.

Danielson said Okada's top rope elbow drop messed up his arm. Danielson's arm was not in the right place.

Jun 26, 2023 21:39:45 GMT Emperor said:

Jun 26, 2023 4:49:13 GMT RT said:

Fun fact: the last person to make Okada tap out was Shinsuke Nakamura

I don't understand what you mean by poorly booked?

I take that back. I posted that before I knew Danielson was legit injured. They obviously had to change a few things towards the end of the match.

I think the seizure spot wasn't planned and he did that because his arm was so fucked up he wasn't sure how the finish was going to work. Also explains the modified LeBell Lock. 

If you watch, Okada uses Danielson's injured arm on his last Rainmaker attempt. That had to fucking sting.

Yeah I was wincing every time Okada grabbed that arm.

Yeah, I rewatched the match and the seizure spot was right after the arm was broke. The elbow drop breaks the arm, then there was the rainmaker attempt, then the seizure when Bryan realized how fucked his arm was. While not the best audible, it did allow Bryan to talk with the doc and the back, and cover it so many of us did not even realize he was hurt pretty badly.

So match still was a disappointment on the whole, but remarkable that Bryan broke the arm halfway through and kept going to have a perfectly acceptable average quality match. 

///

Funny to see everyone hating on the Tiger Driver '91.  Can see how many people never seen King's Road style before, and think that was a new move, I guess not realizing what '91 stands for.  Also a very weird revisionist history from some other older fans that Misawa fully rotated people so they landed on their back.  Like all of the 2000 era headdrops came from the insanity of King's Road.  It is more ironic in that this was a tribute to Japanese style wrestling, and people are upset one of the most iconic Japanese moves was used.

Misawa did use the normal Tiger Driver as a semi-finisher for a long time before '91 and continued to do so afterwards. He was Tiger Mask after all, but he continued using the regular Tiger Driver even after removing the mask. The Tiger Driver '91 was unintentional because in that moment he lacked the strength to lift his opponent properly, so the story goes, but it became legendary.

People are upset because it looks nasty, unnecessarily so, and they have a point.

What people do not get is the classic Tiger Driver '91 full head drop was used I believe 3 or 4 times, as the rest were on the shoulders. The OG Burning Hammer on the head was only done like 7. They were not regular moves, just special ones.  And Omega walked away find, so clearly they did know what they were doing.

People on reddit are whining that it was unnecessarily dangerous. Which is cute from people who had no issue with Bryan wrestling with a broken arm.  Or guys wrestling with pains of glass, which deathmatch fans know can kill people, ala Gage.

///

Speaking of the arm, it is a full fracture. Bone broke clear through and shifted. He is getting casted up today. He is out 3 to 6 months.  The 6 to 8 stuff is likely BS as the bone takes about 12 weeks to fuse, then he needs to work on regaining strength in it, which is about another 8 to 12 weeks.  It is not a hairline break either, there is a clear hard seperation on the x-ray.

/photo/1

Also Cole update - he had the flu like thing going around now and Tony did not want everyone getting sick. He will be back in a week or two.

///

Now seeing they can get Bryan back into very rough wrestling shape if they screw his arm together.  So it is likely he can do All In, then take more time off after to reexamine it and finish healing.