Puroresu Love & Resources V3

[Baby Shoes]

I'll probably do a complete 2006 rewatch (and maybe 2005 too) since it seems like that was year TNA peaked but I'll shut up and move rest of my Impact Plus hemming and hawing to the TNA Bullshit thread. Now back to NJPW and occasionally old man gimpy Mutoh talk.

I don’t want to derail the Puro thread with TNA talk but there’s definitely a smattering of strong periods after those that I am partial to that we can discuss in a thread for Impact or TNA

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

old man gimpy Mutoh talk.

Just reading an English translation of the Mutoh-Kiyomiya contract signing press conference and Mutoh talked about how he's slowly recovering from an intestinal infection. So hopefully he doesn't literally crap his pants on Sunday.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Finally finished the Champion Carnival from 2020 and like @Slayer told me it was not that good. I love AJPW but every matchup has been done a billion times at this point and everyone seems very uninspired. I understand the ownership felt Akiyama wasn't improving business as booker but at least when he was there the cards were very good and he was finding a way to keep a sense of freshness. I think he's actually the best booker in the business in some ways given how limited a roster he was working with.

The RWTL looks more interesting just for having Abdually Kobayashi and Sekimoto in there alone.

 

[Slayer]

What'd you think of the Zeus/Kento final? Didn't necessarily make up for the rest of the tourney bombing but I'd say was still All Japan's second best match of 2020 (after Kento/Suwama)

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

yeah i thought that was really good

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

At the point of the week, where I aggravate @Slayer and ask if there's any chance Mutoh successfully defends the GHC Heavyweight Title this weekend against Kaito Kiyomiya? No one else is translating the Boomers Vs Gen Z conflict to the wrestling ring quite like Pro Wrestling NOAH.

 

[Hoff]

Maybe after Kiyomiya wins, Mutoh will angle for a rematch by fucking up the housing market.

 

[Slayer]

hey @King Kamala stop aggravating me you damn aggravater

I'd like to think the chances of Mutoh still holding the GHC after this weekend are slim to none, but because it's fuckin Mutoh and also he signed that contract right after winning and Nosawa's love for old guys (see also Sugiura's MMA Retirement Home faction) at this point I have no idea whatsoever. What I do know though is that if he does then NOAH is going to the bottom of the pile with All Japan on my puro priority list

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Listening to a NJPW podcast on my break and they brought up remote possibility of Mutoh being a domestic, outside superstar brought in to help boost ticket sales for the Grand Slam shows. It sent a shiver down my spine and it's karmic punishment for all of the aggravating @Slayer I've done.

Although with FORBIDDEN DOOR being opened, we have possibility of Sting Vs Muta one last time and @BruiserBrody showing up in the puro thread...

(sorry)

 

[Slayer]

More like Provoking Kamala, m i rite

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Peeped at Mutoh's Twitter to try and find more waits to bait @Slayer

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1369563676588437507

It's cool to see Japan has these a old wrestlers sit down and tell a bunch of stories from the road shows too.

Although I can't read Japanese. Maybe NOAH is bringing in Chono to be Mutoh's tag team partner.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Back to NJPW---how is Jay White the heel for wanting to retain tradition while Ibushi wants to erase the legacy of IWGP and Intercontinental Title- and oh, I guess New Japan is kind of doing a Boomer Vs GenZ type storyline too.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I watched the 3/11 (Day, bro) show this morning and I'm really failing to see why some NJPW nerds were spitting feathers over it. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Fact that Yano beat O-Khan via mischievous hijinks (and I mean, don't tell me that wasn't a creative finish)? The fact that EVIL won once against with heel chicanery? Not to defend those things. I agree that they're bad & dumb but aren't those expected at this point? It's just a slightly below average early round show. I feel like some of the NJPW Nerds are almost as annoying as WWE Cucks or AEW Stans.

Ya know what? Maybe I'll just following @Baby Shoes advice , put on my Matt Taven shirt and hang out with the 4 ROH Stans from here on out.

 

[Slayer]

Welp, glad I didn't stay up or otherwise waste any time on that show

Good job NOAH, taking one of your best GHC reigns ever and your hot young star of the future and feeding both (doing the the latter twice at that) to satiate Mutoh, who for me is at near Hogan levels of simultaneously recognizing his legendary status and place in the history of wrestling while thoroughly loathing the actual man behind the scenes

On another note, poor Seiki Yoshioka, gets a huge win over Harada for the GHC Junior title at Budokan, then immediately loses to Kotoge one month later. I know he's an outsider which is generally a large hurdle to overcome in any puro fed, but he's also a Mutoh guy which I'd figure would help overcome that, especially if Mutoh is gonna usurp the fed as he seems to be doing now

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

LOLTNANOAH

Just finished watching the NOAH show. Not only did Mutoh win but the match was 32 minutes long!!! Does Mutoh see NJPW main events and think "Well I guess my main events need to be a half hour plus too!" Erm. At least he did a kind of passable top rope Frankensteiner. Let's hope his match with Masa Kitamiya isn't over a half hour!

Both junior heavyweight title and eight man tag matches were really good. When I saw the Junior Heavyweight Title changed, I was like "Crp! Mutoh's retaining since they're not going to have both guys lose in their first title defense."

 

[Slayer]

yeah I saw the top rope Frankensteiner and in turn a few (not many thankfully) people on social media marking over it like that justifies everything about this run

As said, I despise the man and yet would not want to see this, buuuuut there is a part of me that would laugh maybe just a little if this reign ends not by losing to any opponent but having to give up the belt because he winds up lawn-darting his head down into his sternum trying to perform moves he has little business doing at this stage of his career/life

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah. I'm curious, in a car wreck sense, to see what the hell the end game is with Mutoh. He's already gone over their two biggest stars clean as a sheet. Even WWE never gave one of the old dawgs an extended title run and entrusted them to be a workhorse.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I just read a recap of yesterday's All Japan show and saw that Yoshitatsu is getting a Triple Crown Title shot this weekend against SUWAMA so @Baby Shoes might join @Slayer and @cobainwasmurdered in their AJPW discussion.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

In more positive NOAH news...

NOAH's Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show set for 5/30

NOAH will honor former three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa with a memorial show on May 30.

www.postwrestling.com

and back to shitty news Go Shiozaki is going to be out at least six months, recovering from surgery on a torn right biceps. So @Slayer and me better hope Beefy Boy Masa Kitamiya can take down Old Man Mutoh.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

There was a 7.2 earthquake in the middle of the NJPW show. Luckily all of the wrestlers and fans were safe and there was only a 30 minute delay to the show.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1373229365912211464

Idk why but the mental image of Milano leading earthquake drills makes me chuckle.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1373220495680749569

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Kazuyki Fujita beat KENOH for the GHC National Title.

Sorry @cobainwasmurdered and @Slayer . I guess NOAH is officially a nostalgia fed now. Kazuyuki Fujita Vs Takashi Suigura is announced as co-main event for the 4-29 show (along with Mutoh's defending title aganst Masa Kitamiya).

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

i resigned myself to that like a year and a half ago or more tbh

 

[Slayer]

I obv hate this whole Mutoh run, but can (kinda-sorta) accept the business side of it if he is boosting viewership and attendance, although that in turn raises the question of how NOAH arrived at the point of needing to use Mutoh in this role. Fujita though, yeah I'm not seeing that from a booking or business standpoint. I'll always have a soft-spot for ol' Ironhead but at best I just wanna see him fuckin around in multi-men/low-card matches anymore

The other big thing is this cuts down the group of credible Mutoh deposers since Kenoh was on that already short list (and I was hoping he might be the one as probably my favorite NOAH guy). At this point then who does that leave? The only realistic options I can think of are Sugiura, who they can't keep falling back on as the safe placeholder option for the belt while they figure out their next plan (see: 2018), or Nakajima, who might be the best option working as the sneaky heel outsmarting Mutoh (especially if this run is supposed to be about "Mutoh has to rely on his smarts since he can't move for shit aside from occasional literally-suicide dives"). Doesn't feel like that long ago though thatwe saw both men losing title challenges against Go

Speaking of whom, I sure as hell hope they're not pinning their hopes on Go returning down the road and reclaiming the belt. Much as I would want to see Go get revenge on Mutoh, both the timeline (Mutoh keeping the belt for who-the-hell-knows how long Go's recovery could be) and gamble (pushing freshly rehab'd Go right back into the championship spot) are too much to ask IMO

(watch me type all this acting like the Kitamiya match doesn't exist and he pulls the upset to end all upsets, boy wouldn't that be funny)

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Kenoh Vs Fujita had a staredown that was literally SEVEN MINUTES LONG. I'm dead lirl.

 

[Slayer]

As someone who admittedly enjoyed the Go/Fujita staredown troll-job, I did want to see whether they would try another attempt at that with a live crowd. Too bad they're still under 'clapping only' rules over there because I wanted to hear if the crowd would eventually hit the point of "booing desu!"

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It says a lot about New Japan Fatigue that nobody talked about the New Japan Cup Finals (even the people like me and BBBD who are most into 2021 NJPW) this weekend. Them channeling Ruthless Aggression era WWE wasn't even brought up. We'd rather talk about Ironhead squashing Kenoh!

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

It says a lot about New Japan Fatigue that nobody talked about the New Japan Cup Finals (even the people like me and BBBD who are most into 2021 NJPW) this weekend. Them channeling Ruthless Aggression era WWE wasn't even brought up. We'd rather talk about Ironhead squashing Kenoh!

I thought the match was tremendous. The less said about the post match in-ring segment the better. The backstage promo by Will might have been the best of his career.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I haven’t even bothered watching the last two nights yet cause I had a lot of non rasslin TV I wanted to catch up. Planning on watching them tonight and tomorrow.

I haven’t even bothered avoiding spoilers though cause after Jay White lost, it seemed Will Ospreay was a total shoo in.

Gedo’s booking is on verge of being dangerous WWEesque combination of boring *and* predictable. Outside of Ospreay channeling mid ‘00s Randy Orton, which is the wrong kind of interesting.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

411MANIA | NJPW’s Contract For Bea Priestley Reportedly Expiring Soon

Will Ospreay turned on Bea Priestley and this is reportedly because her contract with NJPW is set to expire soon...

411mania.com

So that explains the Bea Priestley angle, I guess.

IMO though, she's a minor enough character in NJPW canon that you don't really need to write her off. Let alone, write her off in angle that alienates and repulses the vast majority of your fanbase.