Puroresu Love & Resources V3

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Catching up on the first round of the New Japan Cup. Where is KENTA? Is he injured again? It seems like he was being built as top heel in the company.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

He's not injured but i dunno aside from them wanting to give other guys a shot and not beating him.

He's keeping busy commenting on classic late-era noah gifs though

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1277745487114899456

 

[Baby Shoes]

Granted I don’t know as much on some of the Japanese talent but KENTA strikes me as the type that would stay home with his family to be cautious above going out and risking anything given the current world situation.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

havent had achance to watch the last two njpw shows yet but the semi's are set for the NJ Cup and it's ALMOST an all LIJ affair:

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
SANADA vs. EVIL

I'm betting on Okada Vs SANADA with SANADA getting another win over Okada since Okada doesn't have the belt. SANADA then loses to Naito obviously. I'd love to see that with a full house but even without it should be great. I hope all of this eventually leads to one or more of the LIJ guys going out on their own.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

LIJ is first stable I can remember since at least Evolution maybe since nWo where there's almost TOO many stars in the group. Definitely agree that it needs some splintering.

(contemplates puroresu equivalent of nWo Wolfpac)

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I'd been complaining in chat and in general about how NJPW had really killed off submission wrestling so it's great to see how in the Cup it's made a comeback with Okada and SANADA both getting wins with subs, especially Okada really putting over his new submission holder.

I was wrong about SANADA going over which as his big fan I'm sad about but the storyline was from what I read fantastic. I watched the quarterfinals so I'm only two shows behind. Maybe I'll be able to actually watch the finals live since there's a long break before them.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

The full card for the New Japan Cup finals is available below:

• New Japan Cup finals: Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL
• Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, SHO & Toru Yano
• Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado
• SANADA & BUSHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori
• Master Wato vs. DOUKI
• Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto & Gabriel Kidd
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

Did Wato piss someone off? Because the way they redebuted him is straight out of the WWE playbook. Show cool vignettes for weeks and then reveal him as a comedy guy who gets his ass beat by a lower card heel right away. Hopefully this is going somewhere.


Dominion matches so far:
Naito Vs EVIL or Okada for the Double Belts
Shingo vs SHO for the NEVER belt
Tanahashi/Ibushi for the Tag belts

 

[Baby Shoes]

@The Art of Postin'

 

[Mickey Massuco]

when i saw you tagged me in a puro thread and i was gonna be like this better be about billy gunn i was not disappointed

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

man post this shit in your billy gunn match thread @Baby Shoes you guys have already trolled poor AA in his thread you ain't ruining the puro thread with the worst match Tanahashi had in probably 18 years. Trying to think of a worse singles match.

 

[Baby Shoes]

@cobainwasmurdered trying to keep this place on topic, brother. My thread is to highlight the singles majesty of Mr. Ass in the 90s, which this is not.

But it is puro-ly amazing.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Gedo does it again. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow night.

 

[909]

This guy is the best wrestling booker of all times. He knows the exact right time to do everything.

 

[909]

Um I can’t believe that just happened. That was one of the most surprising things on a wrestling show ever.

 

[909]

I almost forgot Hiromu’s reaction. If you didn’t like that, idk man

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I thought there was a chance that EVIL would win and someone would help him win (SANADA probably) but I did not expect that my hero DICK FN TOGO would show up. It was obvious that it wasn't BUSHI in the mask but for it to be Dick? FUCK YEAH.

EVIL and Dick should not be part of Bullet Club though. They should grab Taichi, and some other guys and be a truly rudo stable.

Loved Milano taking a bump to put over that EVIL is fully a heel. Also love that we only really know where Hiromu stands. I'd normally be mad that Naito once again only got a short title run but the booking here was great.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

btw Hiromu: I have a favour to ask of you, EVIL. Let me challenge for those belts you just took! If you're too scared to put them both up, one or the other is fine!

so Hiromu could potentially challenge for just the IC belt which would raise the odds of him winning IMO exponentially.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

btw Hiromu: I have a favour to ask of you, EVIL. Let me challenge for those belts you just took! If you're too scared to put them both up, one or the other is fine!

so Hiromu could potentially challenge for just the IC belt which would raise the odds of him winning IMO exponentially.

I think the real interesting things here are, EVIL is 6 man champion with Shingo and BUSHI. What happens with those belts, and wrestlers? Hiromu is Junior champion, so does he lose the belt before getting the IC title chance? Or would he become a double champion? Also, doesn't NJPW have the title changes on a DQ rule? If they do, this could be an interesting article one to use it against Hiromu. EVIL could lose the IC title but not be pinned.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

the 6 man belts have the Sydal-precedent for replacement if they want but they could do a few things.

I think one way they could go if they have Hiromu just challenge for the IC belt is build up WHERE DOES SANADA STAND? and then have him help Hiromu win.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1282457455784366080

Hope it is @cobainwasmurdered

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

the 6 man belts have the Sydal-precedent for replacement if they want but they could do a few things.

I think one way they could go if they have Hiromu just challenge for the IC belt is build up WHERE DOES SANADA STAND? and then have him help Hiromu win.

SANADA is the interesting one in this. They've been teasing that he would leave, but to join with Tanahashi and the faces of Taguchi Japan. Hiromu looks at Naito like a big brother, and after his reaction at these past 2 shows, I can't see him leaving Naito's side. Shingo and Naito go way back to training days, and Naito is the reason Shingo is in NJPW (at least for story line). BUSHI is another one who's always seemed to stand by Naito, but where does he line up here?

I agree with you that I would have liked to see EVIL form his own ultimate heel faction instead of becoming member 459 of BC. But now it also makes it very interesting with them. Originally, Yujiro was the only Japanese wrestler of the stable for the longest time. Now they have a whole Japan team. Is this going to cause a rift? Are they just leading to having their US shows having the gaijin portion of the team since BC is more popular here?

This shakes things up and opens so many doors for great stories.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Next big cards are out

• EVIL, Dick Togo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
• Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Master Wato & Yuji Nagata vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki
• Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo
• Shingo Takagi & SANADA vs. El Desperado & DOUKI
• Gabriel Kidd, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs. SHO, YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
• Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

New Japan Road will air live on NJPW World at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, July 20.

• IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental double title match: EVIL (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
• NEVER Openweight Championship match: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. El Desperado
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi
• Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Master Wato, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata vs Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
• SHO, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
• Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd
• Taiji Ishimori vs Yuya Uemura

Sengoku Lord will air live on NJPW World on Saturday, July 25 at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Are these reduced capacity shows or empty arena shows ?

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

reduced capacity. all njpw shows for now will be I'm assuming.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Yeah, as of this weekend, all shows going forward, unless there is another outbreak, will be reduced capacity.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Sidenote: I hate clickbait NEWZ sites. I kept seeing the headline "FORMER WWE STAR DEBUTS IN NJPW THIS WEEKEND!" and I was like "How is that even possible?". I finally checked it out and of course, they were referring to Dick Togo.

Awesome (dumb) fantasy bookingI'd like to see; SANADA becoming a lone wolf avenger ala Crow Sting after he gets fed up being pulled between LIJ and Bullet Club.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Finally almost caught up with NJPW just in time for the next show. I'm liking EVIL's megapush so far. I know some of the puro geeks don't like his style of wrestling (too Westernized and doesn't work for the 35-40 minute epic NJPW main events?) but he has main eventer presence to me. My only hesitation is I feel like his title run is just a way to transition the belt back to Okada.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Sorry for triple post but man, Japanese wrestling RULES!

Good to watch a product that is clearly tailored for

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Summer Struggle comes to Jingu Stadium August 29! | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

Second Jingu Stadium open air event in NJPW history During the New Japan Road event in Korakuen Hall July 20, the culmination of the Summer Struggle tour was announced, taking place in the famous Jingu baseball stadium on August 29. The tou...

www.njpw1972.com

NJPW is closing out their summer tour at a 38,000 seat baseball stadium. SWEET!

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

yeah i'm looking forward to that. really cool enviroment.