mike bailey vs. rysukue taguchi was awesome. one of my favorite matches of the year actually. probably top 5 at least. first new japan match (or even clip) i've seen this year where the hotness of the crowd genuinely felt pre-lockdown levels.
mike bailey vs. rysukue taguchi was awesome. one of my favorite matches of the year actually. probably top 5 at least. first new japan match (or even clip) i've seen this year where the hotness of the crowd genuinely felt pre-lockdown levels.
The first of the two Strong Independence Day shows in Korakuen was awesome. Jun Kasai's entrance was something.
And now tonight is FINAL DEATH.
Speedball is always 10/10.Originally Posted by Tainted Eclipse
First night of the G1 was pretty meh with a dead crowd.
If you have the time I'd say check out Ren vs Shota and Will vs Taichi, but nothing on this show is drop everything watch it now worthy.
After 6 nights for anyone interested here are my match recs for the G1
Kazuchika Okada vs Taichi - Night 5
Shota Umino vs Kaito Kiyomiya - Night 5
Yota Tsuji vs SANADA - Night 5
Will Ospreay vs KENTA - Night 5
Shingo Takagi vs Henare - Night 4
Henare vs Mikey Nicholls - Night 2
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr - Night 2
Will Ospreay vs Taichi - Night 1
You may notice there I enjoyed Night 5 quite a bit
Today's G1 A Block final show is one of the worst booked shows I have ever seen.
Why has Hikuelo made it to the quarter finals? Nothing against him per say but feel like he seems out of place there.
There are a bunch of wrestlers in this year's G1 that seemed out of place. When I saw Eddie Kingston was in it, I was just like well....there goes any cred G1 maybe had remaining.
There are always going to be a handful of people in the tournament that don't belong and are fillers. I don't think Kingston was one of them. Me and you have different views on him and that is okay. He always wanted to do it and he got to do it. And looks like they set up his first NJPW Strong title defense.
Either way the groups seemed unbalanced which helps Hikuelo make it through to the quarters.
the four bracket set-up kills a lot of my excitement for the g1. it's too bloated with filler.
I haven't watched any of the matches but when I saw that set up I was not thrilled. And then when I saw the unbalanced groups that didn't help change my view of it.
I'm sure a lot of wrestlers wanted to do the G1 and I feel like he's benefited from his relationship with Tony Khan and AEW or he would've been in it a long time ago. But he's just one of many examples.
Today's show was much better. Helped that it seems like Tanahashi decided that he really only had one great match in him and saved it for Today.
The quarterfinals are Okada vs ZSJ, SANADA vs EVIL, Ospreay vs Finlay, and Naito vs Hikuleo.
Okada vs ZSJ should deliver.
Not sure about the rest. Naito can probably carry Hikuleo to a decent match. Ospreay can probably carry Finlay to a decent match. I am sue Sanada and Evil will be fine.
Tanahashi needs to hang it up. I have seen some recent matches and clips and he keeps trying to do what he used to do and it looks bad. He either needs to change his style or call it a day.
Here's how I got it going
Okada over ZSJ
EVIL over SANADA
Naito over Hikuleo
Finlay over Ospreay
Okada over EVIL
Naito over Finlay
Naito over Okada
yeah, the format kind of precludes any possibility of me being interested in it. i might have been down to give it a chance as the first g1 with real crowds otherwise. but still, i'm pretty down on new japan right now anyway. feels like a lot of it has just jumped the shark. i miss 2013-2018 new japan.
also, man, remember how awesome the 2013 and 2014 G1s were?
Ospreay vs Naito is the MOTT so far. Also loved Okada vs EVIL but I am House pilled.
Also Naito has an obvious concussion and is wrestling Okada in 18 hours
watched naito/ospreay. enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the crowd. it actually sounded like you'd expect a crowd to sound during a top-tier g1 match from before the lackdowns, which is really great. the new japan crowd was the best in wrestling so i'm glad they're back at that level. good match with some really cool spots. but everything after the count down spot, which i didn't like itself, was a step down. and of course naito was clearly badly fucked up from that mistimed kick.
though i liked the storm breaker into the hurricanrana spot because the hurricanrana looked great, it made me reflect that one downside of the storm breaker, and move i dont love in the first place, is that every counter to it has to look really really phony because will has to throw them up in a way that's totally out of synch with the way he actually hits the move. one upside of the one winged angle is that the mechanics are such that you can do believable looking counters to it.
Full Card for Saturday's Show in London
NJPW "ROYAL QUEST III", 14.10.2023
London Copper Box Arena, England
1. Robbie X vs Taiji Ishimori
2. El Desperado vs. Trent Seven
3. Yota Tsuji vs. Luke Jacobs
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney (c) vs. Leon Slater & Cameron Khai
5. El Phantasmo, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs David Finlay, Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd
6. Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs. Francesco Akira & Great-O-Khan
7. SANADA & DOUKI vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Eddie Kingston & Michael Oku vs. Jeff Cobb, HENARE & TJP
9. Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
10. IWGP UK/US Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
I bet that Ospreay/ZSJ match delivers
The show they're doing in Texas in a few weeks is a helluva card on paper
Shingo vs Trent
Eddie vs Kojima
TJP vs Mistico
ZSJ vs Mike Bailey
Mayu vs Stephanie Vaquer
ELP and Hikuleo vs Issacs and Nelson
Yano vs Joey Janella
Also announced but no matches yet Jon Moxley, Atlantis, and Ultimo Guerrero
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