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Brocklock watches old NJPW

Yeah, I can't believe KENTA did a Falcon Arrow off a ladder through a table. Then Tana almost goes to the tippy top of the wobbly ladder to hit the high fly flow. And KENTA also took a bump off the top of the ladder to the mat. They didn't need to go this hard at their ages, but the match was pretty great so

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I think after I finsh the WK's, I'm gonna watch the finals of every G1 Climax on the channel.
 
Starting from the beginning of the tournament or from just the G1 naming?
 
Valeyard said:
Starting from the beginning of the tournament or from just the G1 naming?
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91 with the G1 naming and the Chono/Muto final. They are missing some cool stuff though. I wish that Vader vs Muto match from the 91 tourney that was on Loss's old PWO 90's sets was on NJPW World.
 
As far as the G1 I would also look at the non-spoiler cagematch guide for ratings because some of the non finals matches are amazing especially on opening night when they really load it up.
 
Yeah, I'm going to use Cagematch ratings to watch the essential G1 Matches they have and also PWO's match guide for older G1's. It does look pretty slim for older G1 matches, but I'm sure they have every essential match from 2013 til now. I didn't understand before, but now I am ready and excited to see G1 Yano do his magic.

Also, Omega vs Ospreay from WK 17 broke my 5 star scale and is gonna get a *****+ rating. The match, the story they told, the highspots, the drama, the blood, even the selling, all added up to one of the best matches I've ever seen.
 
Valeyard said:
I hate how good Omega got.
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The only things he still is bad at are promos and his facial expressions. Although, even the latter have gotten better since he's gotten older and more grizzled.

I'm watching Okada vs Jay White from WK 2023 and it's crazy how fast Jay White got great. He was kind of awkward in that first Tana match as Switchblade. But, then by this Okada match, he's putting on a clinic on controlling the crowd, doing entertaining character work, and getting HEAT.
 
Small nitpick, but I think the reason I can't get into the New Japan Rumble/Ranbo is that the camera work is absolutely putrid. They focus on the entrance ramp way longer than the action, and they've missed so many eliminations throughout the years. Like in the 2024 one, YOH shows up without gear and wearing a tracksuit. He ends up losing his shoes and does the Shinzaki rope walk spot barefoot to a great pop. Well, they randomly cut away twice to show the ramp and miss the end of the spot. One minute intervals are also too sudden as well with how long the walkway is.

The NJPW camerawork is usually perfect and they excel at shooting singles or tag matches, but a royal rumble is definitely not in their wheelhouse. Shouldn't obsess this much over a low card bout, but I've watched like 8 of these now (All with dumpy Chase Owens) lmao.
 
Jay White is one of the best guys in the world when he's healthy. I think he's been terribly snakebit by injuries during his AEW run. If he can get a long stretch where he's healthy he could easily be the top guy.
 
Finally finished up all the 1/4 shows.

Wrestle Kingdom 17 1/4/2023 - Excellent show aside from some filler midcard stuff. Omega/Ospreay is as great as the hype says. Just an unreal match and one of the best I've seen this century. Okada/White is close to 5 stars as well. Another brilliant heel performance from Jay White. Ren Narita had another great showing against Sabre too (Get him away from the House of Torture bullshit) and the four way Juniors match was dope. Wish Kairi/Tam Nakano got more than 5 minutes though.

Exhibition Match: Oleg Boltin vs Ryohei Oiwa - No Rating because it's just grappling for a few minutes
New Japan Rumble with (Great O-Khan, Shingo Takagi, SHO, Toru Yano, Aaron Henare, DOUKI, El Phantasmo, EVIL, Hikuleo, Jeff Cobb, KENTA, Mikey Nicholls, Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shane Haste, Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi) - ** 1/4
Yuji Nagata/Satoshi Kojima/Togi Makabe vs Minoru Suzuki/Tatsumi Fujinami/Tiger Mask IV - ** 3/4
Catch 22 (Francisco Akira/TJP) vs YOH/Lio Rush - *** 1/2
KAIRI vs Tam Nakano - ** 1/2
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi) vs FTR - *** 1/4
Zack Sabre Jr vs Ren Narita - *** 3/4
Tama Tonga vs Karl Anderson - **
Hiroshi Tanahashi/Keiji Muto/Shota Umino vs Tetsuya Naito/BUSHI/Sanada - ** 3/4
Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori vs El Desperado vs Master Wato - **** 1/4
Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay - *****+
Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White - **** 3/4

Wrestle Kingdom 18 1/4/2024 - Another fantastic show and pretty loaded from top to bottom. Even Tama Tonga went all out in his match, when he's usually been a slog on these shows imo. Okada/Bryan was almost 5, but the bar is so high that I think it just slightly misses. Sanada was really good in the main event too. Best performance i've seen from him yet and he delivered in a big dome main event. Tana/Sabre was an awesome technical sprint as well. The New Japan rumbles are so dire though that I ended up marking out for Takashi Iizuka and I usually can't stand him. Triple Threat was really too, but I'm still just okay on Finlay. He's fine, but bland. Kind of a bad look too, and he reminds me of a Chris Hero/Joey Janela mix looks wise. Would've been probably 5 stars if it was just Ospreay vs Mox.

New Japan Rumble with (Great O-Khan, Taiji Ishimori, Toru Yano, YOH, Alex Coughlin, Chase Owens, DOUKI, Fujita Hayato, Gabe Kidd, Henare, Jeff Cobb, Master Wato, Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, SHO, Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi - * 3/4
Catch 22 (Francisco Akira/TJP) vs Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors/Drilla Moloney) - *** 1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr. - *** 3/4
Yuya Uemura vs Yota Tsuji - *** 1/2
EVIL/Ren Narita vs Shota Umino/Kaito Kiyamiya - **
Tama Tonga vs Shingo Takagi - ****
El Phantasmo/Hikuleo vs Bishamon (Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi) - ** 1/2
El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi - ****
David Finlay vs Jon Moxley vs Will Ospreay - **** 1/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson - **** 3/4
Tetsuya Naito vs Sanada - **** 1/2

Wrestle Kingdom 19 1/4/2025 - Weird weird show and one of the weaker Wrestle Kingdom/Jan 4 dome shows since they started in 1992. Finlay was in the best match of the show, which says a lot. I will say Finlay did look really good in his match with Tsuji, but I came away thinking Tsuji has more than enough to be the next ace and carry NJPW for the next few years. He's fantastic and has great fire, a cool moveset (Well besides the Spear) and tremendous hair. Takeshita/Shingo also rocked, but was fairly short. Same with Iwatani/AZM. Main event wasn't awful, but 43 minutes for any wrestler is a lot, let alone someone developing like Shota. He didn't look awful, but the match would've been way better with 25 minutes shaved off. Naito/Hiromu was just weird and boring. Naito looked terrible and the crowd didn't buy Hiromu one bit. DOUKI injury was a bummer too because the match with Despy was starting off enjoyable.

New Japan Rumble with (Hirooki Goto, Alex Zayne, Great O-Khan, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Josh Barnett, KENTA, Oleg Boltin, Sanada, Satoshi Kojima, Taichi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Yoshi-Hashi, Yuji Nagata, Yujiro Takahashi) - **
Tag Team Ladder Match: Kosei Fujita/Robbie Eagles vs Kevin Knight/Kushida vs Clark Connors/Drilla Moloney vs Catch 22 - *** 1/4
Mayu Iwatani vs AZM - *** 1/2
El Phantasmo vs Ren Narita vs Jeff Cobb vs Ryohei Oiwa - ** 3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs EVIL - ** 1/2
Konosuke Takeshita vs Shingo Takagi - ****
El Desperado vs DOUKI - **
Yota Tsuji vs David Finlay - **** 1/4
Tetsuya Naito vs Hiromu Takahashi - * 1/2
Zack Sabre Jr vs Shota Umino - ** 3/4

Wrestle Kingdom 20 1/4/2026 - This is going to be such a major show as it ages, and to me it feels like the end of the amazing era of NJPW that started with 2012 when Okada beat Tana for the belt. The main event was done incredibly. Some of the move execution wasn't perfect, but the story was top notch. I love Okada in these douche heel character and he was such a bastard in this match with his smug facial expressions. I loved Tana's fighting spirit and trying to bust out moves from past opponents to win. The end was emotional. Takeshita/Tsuji was probably the better match technically, and also was pretty damn terrific. Two of the best in Japan going at it in their primes. The match had some electric sequences. Undercard was pretty good too with EL Phantasmo and Chris Brookes having a surprisingly competitive preshow match. Syuri/Saya was also a banger, but I would've liked a few more minutes. Juniors match was kind of the weak link though with the House Of Torture garbage. The Rumble was even more of a mess with the six man tag rules. They can't film these matches and I feel like I'm looking more at the stage than the ring. Aaron Wolf/EVIL was so much better than it should've of been too. I got to commend EVIL for his performance there, even though I'm still not a big fan.

Katsuya Murashima/Masatora Yasuda vs Shoma Kato/Tatsuya Matsumoto - ** 1/4
El Phantasmo vs Chris Brookes - *** 1/2
Six Man Tag New Japan Rumble with (Zack Sabre Jr/Hartley Jackson/Ryohei Oiwa, Master Wato/Toru Yano/YOH, Bishamon/Oleg Boltin, Clark Connors/OSKAR/Yuto Ice, Ren Narita/Sanada/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Shota Umino/Yuya Uemura/Kaisei Takechi, Ryusuke Taguchi/Tiger Mask IV/Togi Makabe, and Satoshi Kojima/Taichi/Tomohiro Ishii) - * 1/2
Syuri vs Saya Kamitani - *** 3/4
Andrade El Idolo/Callum Newman/Great O-Khan/Henare/Jake Lee vs Gabe Kidd/David Finlay/Drilla Moloney/Hiromu Takahashi/Shingo Takagi - ***
El Desperado vs Kosei Fujita vs SHO vs Taiji Ishimori - * 3/4
Aaron Wolf vs EVIL - *** 1/4
Yota Tsuji vs Konosuke Takeshita - **** 3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - *****
 
I really like Tsuji but his one big issue so far is that he can't carry a lesser opponent. His first title defense against Jake Lee was not good at all. I think Uemura has the potential to surpass him if he's given the chance. Oiwa is also really good. Fujita is outstanding but they have him as a junior right now. Shota is starting to put it together but needs a gimmick change for that las tpush. Narita needs to go back to the Shibata/StrongStyle gimmick because that was great.
 
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