|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Sept 28, 2015 7:07:36 GMT -5
Destruction in Kobe September 27th, 2015 | Kobe World Memorial Hall | Attendance: 6,120Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu def. Jay White and David Finlay in 5:01The Young Lions opened the show here and got less time than I expected. As noted during my review of the last Destruction show, I haven't seen much of these guys. This was a fun little match here, but they didn't get enough time for it to develop into something really good. From what I've seen, I've been impressed by both White and Finlay, even though they were on the losing end here. This served it's purpose and was a solid way to kick things off. **½Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask and Yuji Nagata def. Captain New Japan, Juice Robinson and Manabu Nakanishi in 8:44So this was the big event debut for Juice Robinson. He has worked the Road to Destruction tour, though those were basically house shows. For those unaware, Juice is the former CJ Parker from NXT. I liked this match. Juice got his most ring time since he started in New Japan and looked very amped up. He was animated in everything he did, trying to get the crowd behind him. There was a pretty funny running gag where Nakanishi would get kicked off the apron and each time he fell, it looked like I was watching a replay because he sold it the same way each time. In the end, Nagata hit a backdrop on Robinson for the win. Enjoyable match here. **½Chaos (Baretta, Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) def. Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in 7:48I wish this got just a bit more time. It was a typical New Japan multi-man tag but that isn't a bad thing. Those can be fun for sure and that's what I feel like this was. I enjoy at least five of the eight performers here. Baretta and Romero got a fair amount of shine in this one, which surprised me, but became clearer later in the night. It was similar to the multi-man tag most of these guys ran on Okayama, but I preferred that one. They continued to hype the eventual Ishii/Makabe NEVER Title match, but I'm not interested in that again so I think that took away from some of this. Roppongi Vice got the win for their team with Strong Zero. ***Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Matt Sydal and Satoshi Kojima def. The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Kenny Omega) in 10:52Another multi-man tag, another fun outing but another match that I wouldn't consider great. Still, that isn't really the point of these. It continue on the Bullet Club/Kojima and Tenzan match from Okayama, while hyping the upcoming Omega/Sydal match. Sydal's first two performances in New Japan were both relatively good. He got the rub of teaming with Tanahashi in a fun match in Okayama before getting a good showing here. Karl Anderson was a highlight here, overselling the hell out of Kojima's chops in a fun way. Sydal pinned Omega after the Shooting Star Press, giving him a win over the Jr. Heavyweight Champion. It was a good match and cappe a strong first week in NJPW for Sydal. ***Tetsuya Naito def. Katsuyori Shibata in 11:49This is the match I was most excited to see coming into this show. The video package they playe beforehand, highlighting Naito's transformation was great. Naito came out in a new mask, which was magnificent. These two became two of my favorites during the G1 and i loved their match during that tournament. here, I feel like despite being really good, I was a bit let down. I wanted this to be better than their G1 match but it wasn't. That s not to say that it was bad by any means. Their styles clash in the best possible way. Shibata kicked Naito's ass and Naito pulled out his best Toru Yano to win. He delivered a low blow behind the official's back and then hit another, before nailing Destino to win. I expected the result and they put on another really solid match. Naito attacked cameramen after the match, until Shibata caught up to him and they brawled to the back. I thought that meant the feud would continue but later events tell me different. They are capable of more. ***½Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano def. AJ Styles, Cody Hall and Tama Tonga in 12:18Coming out of intermission, we got a preview of an upcoming IWGP Heavyweight Championship match. Again, this was similar to the match we saw in Okayama when Yano and Okada defeated Styles and Hall. Adding Tonga was good, since he's better than Hall and while Sakuraba is good, he didn't get to do much here. Yano took a fair amount of the punishment and Okada got the bulk of the offense. His exchanges with Styles were, as usual, breathtaking at times. Sakuraba won by making Tonga tap out in another fun bout. ***IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: reDRagon (c) def. The Time Splitters in 16:17These are two of my favorite tag teams on the planet and I wanted them to deliver here. I saw their first match during the G1 Finals last year and it was good but they had an excellent one at Power Struggle. I'd say this was about in the middle of those matches. I think the fact that I truly thought the Time Splitters would win made me bite really hard on some near falls. The chemistry these two teams have is pretty great and they worked in some really fun double team moves. reDRagon hit Chasing the Dragon to retain and I'm glad they went with this decision because the revolving door of Jr. Tag Champions is pretty annoying. After the match, Roppongi Vice came out and attacked reDRagon, setting themselves up as the next contenders. Great match and effort from both teams. ****Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Bad Luck Fale in 16:37I've seen the matches these two have had in the G1 the past two years, both won by Bad Luck Fale. They are up there with the best Fale matches I've ever seen. What I liked most about those was that they were kept under 15 minutes. This went a bit over that and it hurt some of the match to me. The early stages ran a bit dull for me, but the final few minutes were damn good. The Bad Luck Fall is a heavily protected finish and the fans bought into the possibility of it ending things twice here. Tanahashi was able to avoid it though and win with the High Fly Flow. I thought this was better than I expected. After the match, Tanahashi called out Naito, who nonchalantly answered. I guess that is the next program for them, as Naito did pin Tanahashi during the G1. ***¼IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura def. Hirooki Goto (c) in 22:56This would be the fourth match this year between these two. I didn't catch the first, but enjoyed their match at Dominion and the one during the G1 Climax. I have to say, this one was my favorite. They played off of their past encounters very well, but upped the ante. At one point, Goto hit a top rope Ushigorshi I believe it's called, but it was fantastic. From there, there were multiple false finishes and near falls. Both guys worked armbars, which is how Nakamura beat Goto in the G1 and it made sense for Goto to use due to Nakamura's recently injured arm. In the end, a Boma Ye, not the first of the match, was enough to earn Nakamura his fifth Intercontinental Title. Fantastic stuff. After the match, Karl Anderson came out to face off with Nakamura, setting up the next IC Title match. ****¼Overall: 7.5/10. I liked this show more than I thought I would. Coming in, the card seemed lackluster, but they delivered. Like the Okayama show, nothing was bad and everything entertained. Go out of your way to see this Goto/Nakamura match and the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title match as it's probably the best one all year. Solid matches between Naito/Shibata and Tana/Fale round this out into a good show.
|
|
PL23
AC Slater
Posts: 101
|
Post by PL23 on Sept 28, 2015 13:14:44 GMT -5
New Japan take risks only when they have no choice. So status quo until one or more of the regular main eventers can't go anymore. Which may be soon since Nakamura and Tanahashi are dealing with some nasty injuries and been so for months now. I've heard rumours of Tana in particular breaking down for years now, which isn't surprising considering their ridiculous reliance on him. He's needed a break from main eventing for a few years. Chrom, whilst I agree with your point that the reliance on Shinsuke/Tana risks the future of the company, you can't seriously say that All Japan was the top promotion of the 90's. It was New Japan by a decent distance. When you legit sell out the Dome, your the biggest company. New Japan were far more 'national' than All Japan, who preferred to run Budokan on the cheap most of the time. ------------------------------------- The booking as a whole is just indefensible. It's unimaginative, boring, bland rubbish. Ibushi has been booked awfully coming out of his star making performance at Wrestle Kingdom 9. The IWGP Title has continued to be circulated around the same trio that have held it for FIVE YEARS now. There isn't any variation in the title matches either. Just because you do the IWGP one show and the IC another show, doesn't mean that it's still not repetitive, and basically rematch-city. Just look at KOPW. Okada vs. Styles. Do I really need to see it again? And Rasnovik - whilst many of us would love to see Shibata pushed properly, it's never going to happen, because New Japan don't trust him (quite rightly). He abandoned them in their hour of need, and could just as easily do it again. They've had the saga with Lesnar too, and they just wouldn't risk putting the IWGP belt on him. However, to not even give him a run with the IC belt is quite frankly ridiculous. The more pressing issues are with the booking of Naito, Ibushi, Goto, Sakuraba and the like, all of whom are just 'in the mix' of the group that's below Tana/Okada/Styles. There isn't a midcard or a lower card. It's just bloated, and basically, parity. Everyone's on the same level, hence Ibushi losing to Makabe for the damn NEVER title, a title that was created for their very small NEVER shows for the younger wrestlers! Makabe is a former IWGP Champion! Don't get me started on the 'Junior Division'. It doesn't exist anymore. At this point, I'd give anything for them to bring Choshu back in as booker. It would be a lot closer to the promotion that I love. Right now, I can't stand the promotion I love. It's not a nice feeling.
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Sept 28, 2015 14:33:35 GMT -5
Here's the card for King of Pro Wrestling
(1) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada, KUSHIDA, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs Juice Robinson, Sho Tanaka, Yohei Komatsu, Jay White and David Finlay Jr.
(2) Tomoaki Honma vs YOSHI-HASHI
(3) Tencozy and Blue Justice vs Meiyu Tag, Kota Ibushi, and Captain New Japan (...ARRGHHHH!!!)
(4) IWGP Jr Tag Titles: Roppongi Vice vs ReDragon
(5) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Matt Sydal vs Kenny Omega
(6) Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Bad Luck Fale vs Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, and Kazushi Sakuraba
(7) NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii vs Togi Makabe
(8) Tokyo Dome No.1 Contender: Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
(9) IWGP Heavyweight Championship: AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada
|
|
|
Post by Raskovnik on Sept 28, 2015 15:01:09 GMT -5
Yeah, PL23, I understand their hesitance to make Shibata THE guy, and I've said before that I don't think he should ever hold the heavyweight title as much as I love him as he's just not that guy. But he absolutely deserves a serious run with the IC title at least. I think that'd be just the trick for both him and the title itself and something he would be perfectly suited for.
|
|
PL23
AC Slater
Posts: 101
|
Post by PL23 on Sept 28, 2015 16:00:07 GMT -5
Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. I've been a fan of Shibata for a long time now, and would love to see him finally get some recognition in New Japan. I just don't hold out very much hope. He's a throwback to a New Japan that is unfortunately dying.
Couldn't care less about the KOPW card. Look forward to seeing Tana vs. Naito, but that's it. One match, and I know who wins it.
Part of me really hopes they stop drawing as well soon, to force them to switch things up a bit. This just isn't fun.
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Sept 28, 2015 16:07:16 GMT -5
Yeah, PL23, I understand their hesitance to make Shibata THE guy, and I've said before that I don't think he should ever hold the heavyweight title as much as I love him as he's just not that guy. But he absolutely deserves a serious run with the IC title at least. I think that'd be just the trick for both him and the title itself and something he would be perfectly suited for. Hell even a run with the tag titles him and Goto they'd be perfectly suited for. I remember how everyone was happy how at WK9 how he and Goto had finally won The Tag straps and smiles were on both of their faces as they had done it at last and strapped the belts around one another's waist. Only for it to end in not even a month
|
|
|
Post by Starshine on Sept 28, 2015 18:02:30 GMT -5
I'm confused... how does Ishii qualify for another Never title match? Last thing I remember him doing was losing to Honma.
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Sept 28, 2015 18:47:30 GMT -5
I'm confused... how does Ishii qualify for another Never title match? Last thing I remember him doing was losing to Honma. Who knows, Ishii is pretty much the automatic guy they go back to for the NEVER title it seems like. Shibata beat Makabe as well in The G1 so he should be next in line instead
|
|
|
Post by ________ has left the building on Sept 28, 2015 21:13:33 GMT -5
If anything Honma deserves a shot at the NEVER title. Hell, give him the belt and let him defend it against guys who normally would get a title match or not in the spotlight like Ryusuke Taguchi.
But I wouldn't expect any radical changes since Wrestle Kingdom is etched in stone. New Japan is going with the safe bets as far as marquee matches. Undercard guys will just do multi men matches and/or fight guest wrestlers.
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Sept 28, 2015 21:26:25 GMT -5
If anything Honma deserves a shot at the NEVER title. Hell, give him the belt and let him defend it against guys who normally would get a title match or not in the spotlight like Ryusuke Taguchi. But I wouldn't expect any radical changes since Wrestle Kingdom is etched in stone. New Japan is going with the safe bets as far as marquee matches. Undercard guys will just do multi men matches and/or fight guest wrestlers. Knowing how things are going, Honma's eating another loss at KOPW, this time against Yoshi-Hashi. Ain't The NEVER title suppose to be for all open weights, I think KUSHIDA's the only Jr guy who's ever challenged for it.
|
|
|
Post by ________ has left the building on Sept 28, 2015 21:37:42 GMT -5
If anything Honma deserves a shot at the NEVER title. Hell, give him the belt and let him defend it against guys who normally would get a title match or not in the spotlight like Ryusuke Taguchi. But I wouldn't expect any radical changes since Wrestle Kingdom is etched in stone. New Japan is going with the safe bets as far as marquee matches. Undercard guys will just do multi men matches and/or fight guest wrestlers. Knowing how things are going, Honma's eating another loss at KOPW, this time against Yoshi-Hashi. Ain't The NEVER title suppose to be for all open weights, I think KUSHIDA's the only Jr guy who's ever challenged for it. The NEVER title as PL23 mentioned was suppose to be for the smaller tryout/undercard shows and defended on those with people who normally wouldn't be on a NJPW card and/or in the main event. But New Japan stopped doing those standalone shows and the NEVER title became another belt for people with a main event program to go in holding pattern.
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Sept 28, 2015 21:52:48 GMT -5
Knowing how things are going, Honma's eating another loss at KOPW, this time against Yoshi-Hashi. Ain't The NEVER title suppose to be for all open weights, I think KUSHIDA's the only Jr guy who's ever challenged for it. The NEVER title as PL23 mentioned was suppose to be for the smaller tryout/undercard shows and defended on those with people who normally wouldn't be on a NJPW card and/or in the main event. But New Japan stopped doing those standalone shows and the NEVER title became another belt for people with a main event program to go in holding pattern. It was also suppose to be only for guys under 30, like The IWGP U-30 belt was. But that rule went out the window when Masato Tanaka won the tournament for it. There's talent that could use and fight for it, like Taguchi as you mentioned.
|
|
|
Post by berlynwright on Sept 30, 2015 4:47:17 GMT -5
Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian will participate in the G1 Tag League according to their agent
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Sept 30, 2015 8:40:09 GMT -5
That's good news, also I heard that La Sombra has said that he will be taking part in it as well.
|
|
|
Post by MrElijah on Oct 1, 2015 15:54:38 GMT -5
Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian will participate in the G1 Tag League according to their agent Now for them to be IWGP World Tag Team Champions of The World.
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Oct 1, 2015 20:42:31 GMT -5
New Japan is running a joint show with Revolution Pro Wrestling tomorrow and Saturday entitled as Global Wars UK. AJ Styles will defend The British Heavyweight Title tomorrow at the show in York Hall in London against Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2015 14:49:35 GMT -5
|
|
chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,715
Member is Online
|
Post by chrom on Oct 2, 2015 16:03:12 GMT -5
So that means that it'll be airing in The US? That's cool, hope WK10 is as well.
|
|
|
Post by TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out on Oct 2, 2015 16:15:03 GMT -5
So that means that it'll be airing in The US? That's cool, hope WK10 is as well. It's going to be streamed on NJPWWorld, with an English option. Apparently they were floored by the reception WK9 got, so I'd assume they'd at least do the same thing they are doing with KOPW.
|
|
|
Post by eJm on Oct 2, 2015 18:08:05 GMT -5
New Japan is running a joint show with Revolution Pro Wrestling tomorrow and Saturday entitled as Global Wars UK. AJ Styles will defend The British Heavyweight Title tomorrow at the show in York Hall in London against Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay Just back from it, the main event was pretty fantastic and should be watched and the rest of the show ranged from fun to pretty damn good. The Reading show tomorrow should be great and I hate that I'm not going.
|
|