Kizuna Road 2014

[Defrost]

These are the two shows that we'll actually see from this tour

NJPW, 6/29/14 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Mascara Dorada vs. BUSHI, Yohei Komatsu & Fuego
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan
3. Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
4. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi & El Desperado
6. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga
7. NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW, 7/4/14 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Mascara Dorada vs. BUSHI, Sho Tanaka & Fuego
2. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Captain New Japan & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
3. Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & TAKA Michinoku Kaientai Dojo
4. SUPER Jr. Special Singles Match: El Desperado vs. Alex Shelley
5. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga
6. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. KUSHIDA

[Gibby]

Apart from Ishii's defence (and probable loss) I'm not too bothered about 29th June (which is very fortunate as I'm out of town and offline). 4th July looks good, with Shelley-Desperado, the semi-main and the Jr defence all pretty appealing.

[DDT]

The main events of both shows look good, and the Honma tag match at least promises to be interesting; Honma is great at face-in-peril.

[Cewsh]

Ibushi/KUSHIDA will be getting my money.

[Gibby]

Sucks that Honma is basically thought of as a jobber one minute then a contender the next. Pretty inconsistent stuff. He pushed Ishii all the way and now he is back to eating up falls. I know he's had some issues off-screen and perhaps has the taint of the old FMW garbage matches but he's a good in-ring, got bags of personality and wears a jacket that says 'vampire chicken' on the back. What more can he do?

[DDT]

What can you do? After the whole Yakuza thing he's lucky to be working in New Japan at all.

[Gibby]

Who amongst us can say that we haven't been involved in our nation's leading organised crime syndicate at one point or another?

[DDT]

Well I vote, so clearly I can't...

[Tainted Eclipse]

booooo

[Defrost]

There is no joy in Korakuen for mighty Ishii has struck out

[Gibby]

Enjoyed the event, reviewed it here, result suuuuuucks.
http://fujiwaraarmbar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/njpw-kizuna-road-day-2.html

[Tainted Eclipse]

It feels odd that a major staple of the New Japan main event scene are English promos.

[Defrost]

They are selling a shit load of those bullet club shirts to be fair

[Tainted Eclipse]

That's like the only wrestling shirt I'd actually wear. Would buy one but it's not worth the fees to get it shipped from Japan.

[Cewsh]

ProWrestlingTees is selling them now.

[DDT]

That was about the best Takahashi match ever.

Also FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!! !!!


:mad::mad::mad:

[Panther52]

to try and answer the side note about why Shibata is considered a legit HW. just a guess, but probably because he was a legitimate fighter and protégé of Japan and arguably MMA's greatest fighter Sakuraba. Obviously wrestling and MMA are two different things, but having actual Catch wrestling masters adds legitimacy to NJPW. Specially in a country where the lines are blurred between the two.

[Gibby]

to try and answer the side note about why Shibata is considered a legit HW. just a guess, but probably because he was a legitimate fighter and protégé of Japan and arguably MMA's greatest fighter Sakuraba. Obviously wrestling and MMA are two different things, but having actual Catch wrestling masters adds legitimacy to NJPW. Specially in a country where the lines are blurred between the two.

That's probably true, him being 6ft probably helps. It's just that KUSHIDA was a better MMA fighter - or at least has a better MMA record (unbeaten in 8). But he's small. Eh, I have beef with weight categories, one of the few things that gets my goat about pro wrestling.

[Panther52]

That's probably true, him being 6ft probably helps. It's just that KUSHIDA was a better MMA fighter - or at least has a better MMA record (unbeaten in 8). But he's small. Eh, I have beef with weight categories, one of the few things that gets my goat about pro wrestling.

true Shibata's record is horrible in MMA, but fought several elite fighters for K1 and Dream. Including Sakuraba, Ralek Gracie, Yamamoto, Miller, Mach, akiyama, Ishii n the like. He probably also gets some benefit for being Funaki's protégé as well before he joined Laughter 7.

Kushida fought well guys I've never heard of. (and I watch way too much MMA , American and Japanese lol) Also in a Semi Pro/Ametuer company.

[Tainted Eclipse]

KUSHIDA is the new champ.

[Defrost]

Ibushi got concussed early in the match and things fell apart and they went home early. So don't expect much from it when you get around to watching it.

[Gibby]

Reviewed the Kizuna Road show
http://fujiwaraarmbar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/njpw-kizuna-road-day-3.html

In brief: not the best but worth a watch if you're an NJPW fan. Ibushi still tried once he realised where he was.