Basic plan is they return with a mystery show next week on the 15th. Then they are doing a reworked NJC. The only foreign wrestlers in Japan are Gabriel Kidd and Zack Sabre Jr. Those will be empty arena shows.
July 11th in Osaka Castle Hall will be the finals of the NJC and will have a 33% attendance, or about 4,000 fans.
July 12th in Osaka Castle Hall will be Tetsuya Naito defending the IWGP Double Championship against the winner of the NJC and again a 33% attendance.
Last edited by Defrost; June 8th, 2020 at 11:21 PM.
i know hiromu and the juniors getting slotted in is out of necessity, but i wouldnt be surprised to see them just shift the hiromu/naito match from the anniversary show to the main event of dominion to kick things off with a bang.
Delightful news!
Some very tasty potential match ups in that NJC bracket.
honma vs. hiromu on the first nj cup show! also a good chance of ishii vs. hiromu in the quarter finals.
All I want this year is a Toa Henare vs Shingo Takagi match
imagine hiromu upset okada in the finals (edit: actually they're in the same block -- to get to the finals then), went on to beat naito and became the triple crown champion.
kinda isn't the worst idea in the world if they want to make another super top star.
Feels like if you do that then you do the deal with the Super Jrs and G1 going on at the same time, Hiromu and Naito win, and then do that match at the DomeOriginally Posted by Tainted Eclipse
New Japan taped a secret show in Los Angeles
https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/r...lvr.it.organic
kinda half-watching the return show while working. everyone seems in good physical shape after the break. ZSJ has put on some mass.
Even if it is New Japan I still can't sit through empty arena wrestling
Giving it another try.
Jado can barely fucking walk let alone wrestle.
finally getting around to the NJ cup. really liked the ending of makabe/tsuji. i hope some of these young lions get fast tracked into real pushes as a result of the virus situation.
all time great ending to yano/hiromu
i really hope the cup finals don't end up being another okada/sanada match.
Definitely seems the most likely.
really hard to get into these empty arena new japan matches for me. even ishii/hiromu, i enjoyed it well enough, but it kinda fell flat for me.
Yeah I hand waived it.
Though the one thing that has happened is that they've convinced me that Hiromu is challenging for the HW title at Wrestle Kingdom whatever that show ends up looking like.
im really tired of every single okada match being 30 minutes. when i see a reported time above 25 minutes on an okada match, unless it's getting praised as a five star match of the year, i have very little interest in seeing it.
Damn man. If EVIL can't be trusted then who can ya trust?
Should he stay EVIL or be Watanabe? Or something else?
Japanese wrestling tradition tells me he'll be Super EVIL or black EVIL.
I don’t know what’s more surprising
or
i like bold and unpredictable booking, even when it's questionable, but ..... this?
I really want to know what
spoilered just because
wow.
So now that all the regulars are in here and we’ve all seen, can we ditch the spoiler tags?
I think it would be fine to ditch the spoiler tags
Cool.
So how long do we all think this reign lasts? And who dethrones him? And who wins the G1?
Hiromu was the first guy out after this. You've had Naito and Okada talking about defending the title against Hiromu. Hiromu was the one with the most visible storylines in the NJC. I know EVIL is the Double Champ, but Hiromu is getting the biggest push in the promotion right now.
I feel like we’re just going in circles with non-Okada champions. Besides Tanahashi, everyone has basically been a “win it once, then drop it and not regain it” champion. Took forever to get Naito his second title.
i would love Hiromu to get a huge push, but I think a previous champ beats EVIL for the title.
Here's the entire list of champions from since 1/4/11
Hiroshi Tanahashi x3
Kazuchika Okada x5
AJ Styles x2
Tetsuya Naito x2
Kenny Omega
Jay White
EVIL
AJ won it twice and probably would have won it again if he'd stayed. Omega is in the same boat if he stayed. I'd be stunned if Jay didn't win it again.
white and EVIL really drag the prestige of that list down. i really don't get the point of putting the belt on EVIL, especially if pushing hiromu is the ultimate goal. a win over naito mean way more.
I'm on the fence about Evil. He's my favorite of the stable, but I was very much into Naito as the World champ. Evil having basically 3 titles is a little much, maybe if he was just the 6-man and then won the World title that wouldn't have been bad. I get what's happening , you can only work with what you have and TBH if Evil was the guy I'm cool with it in the end. He deserves to be a top tier player, just not sure if this was the perfect time.
People on the roster right now who I could see getting at least one reign at some point:
EVIL - think he's getting more than one run with the top prize. Let's see how this one goes though.
Hiromu Takahashi - I hope so. Man's a star and he's got maybe the highest ceiling of anyone who's not already held the gold.
Hirooki Goto - him in an EVIL position, battering all his CHAOS brothers before toppling Kaz and forming a new, hard bastard stable? Or a thank you reign if the roster is plagued by injuries or a mass exodus? A short reign is possible, but Goto's time might've passed.
Hiroshi Tanahashi - one more reign?
Jay White - a given, surely? Top gaijin already.
Kazuchika Okada - another sure thing. The Ace isn't done yet.
Kenta - a dream? Could see him be rewarded with a brief run, and whoever the hot thing is taking him down.
Master Wato - not any time soon. But he's the next Ace. Believe.
Roppongi 3K - both of em. Another prediction/hope I could also see not happening at all.
Sanada - less of a sure thing with each passing day, in my opinion. But he's surely getting the strap at some point before his career in New Japan is over?
I do think that they have been planting seeds to EVIL being Bullet Club for a while. KENTA randomly dying his hair purple around WK time, being just one such hint. Or maybe that was just a coincidence. But I think it's interesting that in Feb, Naito d. KENTA. In March, if EVIL would have done this, i think there was a bigger story.
Also, I think that Ibushi's rogue state gimmick is something that will play into things moving forward. Maybe he will finally take Tanahashi during such a state.
I'm not big into the current NJPW product, but I did watch it when it was on Axess TV.
So correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't EVIL winning thee NJPW World Title like the Japan equivalent of Baron Corbin winning the big boy belt in WWE? They're just elevating a gimmick heel midcard guy to a top spot.
It's more like if Scott Hall would have won the WCW World Title. Perennial tag team competitor, good worker, memorable gimmick, one of the two founding members of a popular group...but in this case, EVIL got his due
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