Puroresu Love & Resources V3

[cobainwasmurdered]

yeah i have no idea where the japanese anti vaccine thing is coming from.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It is insane how much one move has revitalized NJPW creatively but saying fuck it and putting the title on Shingo really has. I really hope he gets a chance to carry it for at least a couple months. I highly doubt anyone would've blamed them for making Okada the dude again but I think trying someone new might've pulled the tail up from NJPW's recent creative nosedive.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Ah Shit it's YOUNG LION PUNISHMENT SEASON

Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura embark on Kizuna Road singles gauntlets!
Yota Tsuji vs
6/14: Tanahashi!
6/15: Taichi!
6/16: Okada!
6/22: ZSJ!
6/23: O-Khan!

Yuya Uemura vs
6/14: Suzuki!
6/15: ZSJ!
6/16: Tanahashi!
6/22: Taichi!
6/23: Ibushi!

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

The arrogance to presume there will be anything left of Uemura after MiSu is done with him is just going to trigger MiSu even more.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah I saw that and I'm actually start watching some of these lame duck Korakuen Hall shows again. NEW JAPAN IS BACK, BABY!

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

@Slayer im just grabbing the DGate shows from april on and i noticed that Dragon Kid and KENTo teamed up against KAI and YAMATO on one show. What's the deal with that? Did I miss something I'm not remembering where KENTo left or is having problems with RED or is there a weird stip at issue.

 

[Slayer]

if you're not talking about the actual main event of DOA (Kai/Yamato vs DK/SBK in the cage) then I assume that's the late April Fukuoka show where they did a "preview" match of the main event of DOA for some reason

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

ok that makes sense thanks

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Ah Shit it's YOUNG LION PUNISHMENT SEASON

Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura embark on Kizuna Road singles gauntlets!
Yota Tsuji vs
6/14: Tanahashi!
6/15: Taichi!
6/16: Okada!
6/22: ZSJ!
6/23: O-Khan!

Yuya Uemura vs
6/14: Suzuki!
6/15: ZSJ!
6/16: Tanahashi!
6/22: Taichi!
6/23: Ibushi!

This has to be the graduation test for Tsuji and Yuya. They've both been Lions for so long, and both are outstanding. They both joined the Dojo BEFORE Omega won IWGP Heavyweight Title. Sending them on excursion right now is difficult, so this has to be it for them. Get through these next couple of weeks, and they can move on.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

ah damn haven't watched them but they gave both the young lion matches almost 14 minutes each on the first kizuna road show. if that's the average time they get I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Fred Rosser has announced that he's officially signed with NJPW. I really like this for him and them. He's done a great job since debuting there, and had the NJPW US MOTY against Tom Lawlor last year, and MOTY contender this year against JR Kratos. He's shown that he's more than just a former WWE guy.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1404533089070579714

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

really happy to see him doing well.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Fite TV is offering the next two NOAH shows next weekend (Night One is the Nakajima Vs Kitamiya Hair Vs Hair Steel Cage Match and Night Two features another oldass Keiji Mutoh GREAT MUTA Vs mystery opponent main event) as a bundle for $14.99. Just when I think I'm out...

 

[Valeyard]

Great Nita gonna win the belt.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I’m not sure if anyone else is watching the NJPW Kizuna shows besides me. The Young Lions matches have been fun, but they ran a really fun story the past 2 shows (15th and 16th). Naito and SANADA are lined up for an IWGP Tag title shot, but ZSJ and TAICHI haven’t given them an answer on a date or if they would even accept the challenge. On the 15th Naito brought an NJPW tour program to the ring with him with the champions on the cover. After the main event he had TAICHI autograph it. On the 16th he was able to get ZSJ to autograph it. It turns out that the chairman of NJPW signed on the back, essentially making the tour program a binding contract for a tag title match as long as the champions signed it. It was a fun reveal that Naito tricked the champions into signing a match contract without them even realizing it.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

im planning on checking out the gauntlet matches eventually but I've generally stopped watching the road shows with njpw unless i hear something is really notable.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Wrapped up the rest of DOA

Normally I wouldn't care much about the non-title multimen, but DOA had two fun exceptions with the opener (Big Ben reunion) and the eight man with one side being the mixed team of faces DoiYoshi and heels Eita/Hulk, as Yoshino wanted to experience being a "heel" one last time before retiring (having been face most of his career).

MOTN honor easily goes to the Okuda/UT Brave Gate match

Spoiler

I'm a big Okuda fan and he's become one of my favs in DG, but six months in now he's had four defenses which, while entertaining, have also felt like forgone conclusions with him retaining. This match OTOH was finally the first time I've felt his reign was really threatened (cleanly, not counting RED's interference in the Hyo match) as UT made a believer out of me, not taking any of Okuda's shit from the get go and working him over thru the match. Alas, Okuda managed to eek out a win once he managed to lock in his rear naked choke. As to be expected with their styles this was much more mat wrestling and chain submission based than the typical DG match, but an enjoyable ~10 minutes.

Runner-up goes to the Triangle Gate match, which is generally a safe bet for a good match.

Rounding out the title matches was an okay Twin Gate match

Spoiler

Surprisingly light on outside interference from RED (though weapons did play a big part in the end), but I had been digging this Mochi/Yoshida run and was disappointed they lost already in only their second defense.

I hope those people who'd talked about getting into DG (hence all my spoiler tags) check out this event and offer their thoughts

watched this finally and generally agree with Slayer although I really didn't enjoy the cage match as maybe the crowd not being able to make noise really hurt it for me but I'm tired of it being the same formula even with rule changes every time. How many times can RED get into the fucking cage in one match?!

Starged King of Gate now and enjoying it so far.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

YOSHI HASHI is STILL a NEVER Openweight Six Man Champion.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I won a promo code for NOAH Cage War so score one for me not spending $15 to watch gimpy gorilla Muta wrestle.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Sounds like NJPW has figured out plans for the G1 (at least accoding to WON) and it should be in september and october

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409155051029876744

I guess having him do wacky mid level death match stuff is one way to hide Muta/Mutoh's limitations.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409770772361629697

Have no fear we'll have Mutoh main events for years.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Any thoughts on debut of GLEAT, @Slayer @cobainwasmurdered

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Didn't know about this until just now. Terrible name. The roster looks cool and the card is interesting. I'm not a huge UWFI-style guy outside of certain specific matches from UWFI. Looks like it could be interesting though and it's a style that doesn't really have a company so unlike when they usually start a new company I don't think it is really detracting from anything.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

And they got the composer for Street Fighter II and Kingdom Hearts to do their theme music!

 

[Slayer]

I'd seen CIMA and his crew sporting GLEAT gear the last couple months but not paying attention I thought maybe he'd rebranded StrongHearts, not realizing it was his next big venture after the OWE fallout (though CIMA isn't the founder of GLEAT, he is one of the top execs)

Cursory look into it seems they want to do a split-branded style a la Big Japan, with one side devoted to straight puro and the other to shoot-style matches. I'm more into the UWFI style than CWM is so I may be following this more closely, though CIMA's involvement overall means I'll be keeping them at arm's length for a short period, as he's left a bad taste in my mouth post-DG (much as I want to support the other SH guys)

 

[Brocklock]

Having watched a ton of shoot style recently, I prefer RINGS to UWF, but I'm gonna keep tabs on this promotion. It's been a long time coming for some new shootstyle in Japan.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1412438672461295618

Insert Bugs Bunny saying "no" gif.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

tbh that would probably be really good. Tanahashi and Mutoh work a compatible style and Tanahashi has terrific leg-selling. Mutoh going back to NJPW and doing a retirement run is actually interesting. Obviously only if he lost his matches. But there's a bunch of cool matches there. Naito borrowed SO much from him (and looks a lot like a younger mutoh). SANADA is one of his proteges. EVIL is a Muta wannabe in a lot of ways. and that's just LIJ.