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Post by corndog on Feb 10, 2018 12:55:35 GMT -5
I don't really know where any of this NJPW booking is going right now. Are they seriously going to just keep the title on Okada for this entire year only to do him vs. Naito again at WK next year? If that happened it's the least suspenseful match of all time because Naito HAS to win at that point or else he's the biggest jobber who ever jobbed. He probably won't have anywhere near as much heat either. They really need to do a title change to set up some fresh matches. Okada just needs two more successful defenses to pass Tanahashi's 11 successful title defenses (this was #10), Gedo is obsessed with him breaking Tanahashi's records. So I am guessing he drops the belt at Dominion as Strong Style Evolved and Sakura Genesis will get him to 12.
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Post by corndog on Feb 10, 2018 13:12:03 GMT -5
Naito loses to Okada at WK 12: Bad move Naito wastes time with YOSHI-HASHI: Bad move Naito gets jumped by Taichi to set that up: Awful move Naito vs Taichi was actually pretty good at TakaTaichiMania, I would love to see it again.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Feb 10, 2018 13:53:45 GMT -5
If Gedo can finally get the whole "break every record" thing out of his system and the belt goes to Naito at Dominion then I'll be oaky with how this all panned out, but if this drags on to Wrestle Kingdom again there's really no excuse for leaving it to stagnate like this.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Feb 10, 2018 13:59:47 GMT -5
I've been over Okada as champion for a long time. I know people tout it as this incredible reign, but I can only recall three of the 10 defenses being what I'd consider great.
KOPW 2016 vs. Marufuji - Great match that was probably the second best of the entire reign. WK11 vs. Omega - Another great match. Not best ever, but the third best of the reign. New Beginning vs. Suzuki - Garbage. It made no sense and was way overdone. Take Roman Reigns' "superman" booking and apply it here x10. Sakura Genesis vs. Shibata - Incredible. The best thing Okada's done since KOPW 13 against Tanahashi. Wrestling Dontaki vs. Fale - Solid, but unspectacular. Told a good story, but one that's been done to death with Fale. Dominion vs. Omega - Easily the worst of their series. G1 Special vs. Cody - Very good, but it never quite reached great levels. KOPW vs. EVIL - Good, not great. Their G1 match was miles better. WK12 vs. Naito - Their 2016 matches were better. It felt overly long and never that great. New Beginning vs. SANADA - Again, good but not great.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2018 14:28:01 GMT -5
So, I've been reflecting on the show and someone here mentioned, apologies for not quoting, the idea of Okada losing in an upset. If Okada simply loses defence number 13, yeah that's rather predicatable and in satisfying. But, what if there is an upset? Someone in Chaos like Ishii, or Ibushi or an outsider?
The crowd showed tonight that when Okada loses the place is going to become unglued. The story now is who unseats Okada now the obvious choice is out of the picture. Okada is now a heel leaning tweener rather than a face leaning tweener and whoever gets the victory is made instantly.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 10, 2018 15:01:31 GMT -5
Some fun, tense moments on this show, to be sure.
Kitamura probably had his best overall match thus far in his trial series. Curious to see if his last two matches are at the Honor Rising shows; maybe he finishes by beating a lower card ROH guy and officially begins his excursion after that, taking that win with him to his temporary new home.
Nice, simple booking with RP3K vs. SG. Feel like they're rushing some of Sho and Yoh's initial "coming into their own" arc, like not having them have to rebuild enough after losing to the Bucks and now immediately getting to the "they're too big for their britches already" young cocky champions part, but those belts need to be rehabbed quickly and I suppose this could be the way to do it. Feel like by Dominion we're likely getting Sho and Yoh against Hiromu and BUSHI.
Love that Jay White keeps insisting on coming out on his own; he's in CHAOS, but he's not a part of CHAOS. Really felt like the his match with Finlay did Finlay a lot of good, hope Dave gets to build his stock up before they face off again, and still like the idea of Juice and Finlay teaming a bit more often. White's definitely going to bring about some kind of crisis in CHAOS, but there's still no clue exactly what it'll be.
8-man did its job, Suzuki doing with Makabe what he did with Goto previously, using just a few short, simple interactions to take what might've been a kind of low-heat encounter title match and kicking it up a notch or two.
Have to admit, I was kind of hoping BUSHI would snip Gedo's beard. The shrunken head on his Venom mask was a nice touch.
Anybody else think there was some nice work done in Krillin vs. Cell...wait, YOSHI vs. Naito. Naito working the Osaka crowd is one of my favorite things in wrestling. They want to cheer him now, but he's all "Nah, you crapped on me first, @#$% you, you don't get to cheer me now." Kudos to YOSHI, he showed up to work this time, but we've been here before with him: he has to show consistency and carry through for more than one good match at a time. Like a lot of guys in CHAOS he's overdue for a shake-up, and who knows, maybe White's machinations end up bringing it about. I don't get the comparisons with Goto when it comes to Naito's booking; Goto has never, ever been on the level Naito's been on over the past almost two years. Goto never got to beat Tanahashi, never kicked out of the ripcord Rainmaker, never won the big belt, never led his own stable, and never main evented the Dome, and was only a top level contender for the IWGP title before Okada returned and the terrain of the company shifted. I agree that Gedo's handling of Goto is probably the low point of his handling of the heavyweight singles scene (not that Goto had to win the big belt, just that he needed more key wins to avoid the "choker" label), but Naito is in a completely different situation; the only other guy who might've been in his situation if you consider not only his in-ring ability but also his upside and crowd reactions during the past 7 or so years is Shibata, but we never got to see how Gedo was going to handle a prolonged Shibata run at the top of the card, so we really don't have a point of comparison for the station Naito currently finds himself in.
Ospreay and Hiromu was eye-popping, almost felt exhausted by the end. Hiromu just embodies the "Time Bomb" style so well considering how rapidly he can turn something around on you or spring a move you just don't anticipate. Will is carrying himself very well as champ, want to see just how well he can do given a few more months to work with. Can't blame them for rising the hot hand with Will, but hoping we'll get a few more Jr.'s developed this year to expand the field of challengers, time to mix it up more. Also, yes, Cat Narrator for 2018 MVP.
Goto and EVIL sure got the death spot after the Jr. match, didn't they? Actually appreciated them finally explaining how Red Shoes would not DQ EVIL for using the chair, but in turn would not count Goto down, like a penalty on EVIL. Wasn't bad, but the crowd seemed tired after the previous barn burner, and it felt like it was clicking into gear just as it ran up toward its final minutes. One of the main reasons Goto could use a heel turn (or tweener-heel, given the direction CHAOS has been moving in of late) is so he can spend more time on offense, less selling; he sells well, but he's a big, strong guy, so it doesn't help to have him overdo it. Also, Goto, my man, time to start wearing a mouthguard or start flossing more, dude's mouth bleeds in every big match he's in.
If the story being told with SANADA is that he's always been holding back his fifth gear mode, just waiting for the right moment to spring it, then hot damn did he show it here. Not going full five star territory or whatever, but that was really, really good. I did bite more than once during it, and it was notable that this time even more than WK Okada seemed lucky to walk out with the belt still on his waist; one jammed knee and a split second hesitation kept SANADA from winning with the moonsault, and the sweat on his forehead kept the Skull End from being fully sunk in. It's a healthy development for SANADA, too; there've been a few more voices over the past half year or so asking if he really was going to fulfill his potential and show more than he has so far, and now he's shown it and demonstrated that he's got real deal main event potential. Okada's crowd work was strong, too; he got plenty of chants at different times, but he's all too aware that the crowd is ready to explode, just waiting to see him lose, and he's going to tease them about it until it finally happens.
All in all a good show; wasn't blow-away, but it was solid. Honor Rising and the Anniversary shows are breathers before the NJ Cup, so I figure we won't get huge movement on a few fronts until we get to mid-March.
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Post by Tea & Crumpets on Feb 10, 2018 19:05:43 GMT -5
So, I've been reflecting on the show and someone here mentioned, apologies for not quoting, the idea of Okada losing in an upset. If Okada simply loses defence number 13, yeah that's rather predicatable and in satisfying. But, what if there is an upset? Someone in Chaos like Ishii, or Ibushi or an outsider? The crowd showed tonight that when Okada loses the place is going to become unglued. The story now is who unseats Okada now the obvious choice is out of the picture. Okada is now a heel leaning tweener rather than a face leaning tweener and whoever gets the victory is made instantly. What I'm hoping for is Naito wins the New Japan Cup and dethrones Okada on defence 11 or 12, denying Okada the chance to tie/break Tanahashi's record and excorcising his own demons of Wrestle Kingdom via getting the biggest revenge F*** You to Okada possible. Ideally Okada gradually goes full heel as a result, enraged that Naito ruined his chance at the record and just becomes this super-entitled heel douche, beating Omega in the G1 final via mega-heel shenanigans, and we get Okada/Naito III at WK13 with Naito winning to finally put his previous flops behind him. Then you can do Naito/Omega for the belt, or Naito/Sanada as LIJ implode, while Okada has an arc based around redemption, growing a bit of humility and refocusing, to eventually regain his spot as Ace at WK14. But who am I kidding that'd mean Okada doesn't hold the belt for 12+ months so it ain't happening.
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Post by AwamoriRock on Feb 10, 2018 19:22:56 GMT -5
Honestly, having Naito be one of the three to win G1 as champ would be one thing that would come close to (but not actually) making up for the dumb WK decision. I've gotten slightly more optimistic than I was as a drunken jerk in the WK thread regarding him maybe winning it at Dominion because him winning where he lost it originally, plus his history with the Osaka crowd is interesting, but those are just as good as reasons as he had going into WK lol.
There's definitely some fatigue, but one nice thing about the reign is they've gotten it to the point where it seems like anyone could end it given how many challengers have been exhausted, but in reality there's only a small handful of guys who could end it.
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Post by BRAINFADE on Feb 11, 2018 3:12:21 GMT -5
I have been one of the biggest cheerleaders of Okada during this reign, and I think last night was another really good performance- but even I'm starting to think this is getting a little long in the tooth. Maybe because his opponent was SANADA, who I didn't buy into having a chance of winning, but it is starting to feel a bit too predictable.
I think it boils down to two things that are beginning to bother me. The first being that I think the title should have went to Naito at WK. It wasn't a "killed my fandom" moment like it was for some and I said I'd give Gedo the benefit of the doubt (which I still am), but that story was so damn perfect for a Naito win. I wish they had given us that moment, and a month later I still have a bad taste in my mouth over it.
The second thing is where this all seems to be leading- Okada breaking the record for most consecutive defences. I thought it was so cool when he passed Hashimoto's record for longest reign in history, because long reigns are incredibly rare in modern wrestling. It was a nice accolade that cemented Okada's legacy. But does he really need this one too? It's starting to get in to overkill territory for me. Maybe this is the whole point and I'm being worked, but man, I really don't want to see Tanahashi's record broken. The thing that would make me love all this in the end is if, in the record breaking defence, Okada goes up against Tanahashi himself- and Tanahashi beats him. Could you just imagine how incredible that moment would be?
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Feb 11, 2018 3:18:11 GMT -5
I think that would be worse for some
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Post by BRAINFADE on Feb 11, 2018 3:54:54 GMT -5
I think that would be worse for some Eh, Tanahashi is probably my favourite wrestler ever, I'd love it.
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Post by BRAINFADE on Feb 11, 2018 3:59:16 GMT -5
But it would kill Naito fans I also sometimes like to watch the world burn.
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Feb 11, 2018 4:00:21 GMT -5
Tisk Tisk
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Post by BRAINFADE on Feb 11, 2018 4:02:36 GMT -5
Haha. To be fair it probably should be Naito who ends it. I'm just a Tanahashi mark, and I'd love to see him win the big belt one more time before he hangs it up.
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Post by Tea & Crumpets on Feb 11, 2018 5:48:01 GMT -5
I really get the appeal of Tanahashi doing that and would be all on-board if it wasn't so, so desperately in need of Naito doing it, but if you were gonna go the Tana route I'd probably hold off for a couple years (ideally keeping Okada out of the title picture for a while too) and then give Okada a reign where he's just defending constantly, man possessed trying to sprint to the record, and then a mid-40s Tana gets the upset win to deny Okada again and get one last moment before he rides off into the sunset. Okada is still THE guy cos he's got near the record twice, but there's just 1 record he can't quite win.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 11, 2018 6:20:52 GMT -5
Well, Hiromu, you are an odd fellow, but I must say you fry good chicken steam a good ham. (taken from r/njpw)
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Feb 11, 2018 6:23:24 GMT -5
Somehow missed it but how in the hell did that meme start
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Post by BRAINFADE on Feb 11, 2018 6:49:04 GMT -5
I really get the appeal of Tanahashi doing that and would be all on-board if it wasn't so, so desperately in need of Naito doing it, but if you were gonna go the Tana route I'd probably hold off for a couple years (ideally keeping Okada out of the title picture for a while too) and then give Okada a reign where he's just defending constantly, man possessed trying to sprint to the record, and then a mid-40s Tana gets the upset win to deny Okada again and get one last moment before he rides off into the sunset. Okada is still THE guy cos he's got near the record twice, but there's just 1 record he can't quite win. Yeah that'd probably be the more sensible approach. Like I said it should be Naito right now, but I so, so want that one last Tanahashi win.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Feb 11, 2018 10:36:48 GMT -5
NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka February 10th, 2018 | EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 5,481
Whenever Los Ingobernables de Japon are the focal point of an NJPW card, it usually ranks among the best the company puts out there. Last year’s New Beginning in Sapporo was poop compared to the Osaka show, which had LIDJ matches at the top, for example. That’s the case here, as there are a whopping five LIDJ/CHAOS singles matches.
Katsuya Kitamura vs. Yuji Nagata This was the sixth match in Kitamura’s Seven Match Trial Series. As you’d expect from NJPW, Kitamura entered winless. I still wish they’d go a completely different route with Kitamura. He’s so good and already older than most Young Lions. By the way, Nagata came out with a Tag Title he won in AJPW last week. The match became a strike battle that Kitamura didn’t have a chance in. He did his best, but Nagata just beat his ass. I liked Kitamura using Nakanishi’s Torture Rack, as if he’s learning things along the way during this series. Kitamura came close a few times, and survived the armbar and a PK. He couldn’t get up from a backdrop driver, losing in 10:58. Though it felt rather one-sided, I liked the story it told. Kitamura is continuing to learn, but Nagata schooled him thanks to his experience. [***]
Non-Title Match: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3K w/ Rocky Romero vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru This is the best possible Suzuki-Gun Due to the title match with the Young Bucks and all the recent Suzuki-Gun attacks, SHO’s back was taped and still bothering him. Suzuki-Gun did one of their signature early attacks to gain the upper hand. SHO’s injury made him the obvious choice for isolation. YOH got some shine after his hot tag. But, that back just kept coming into play. The champs went for their finisher, only for SHO’s back to give out. YOH got taken out, leaving SHO at Kanemaru’s mercy. He used a Boston crab, along with a cheap chair shot to the back, to make SHO tap out in 10:22. Maybe I’m in a good mood, but I really liked that. I love that SHO still had back issues coming into this and Suzuki-Gun attacked it. Yea, Roppongi 3K overcame the Young Bucks, but they’re still vulnerable. Kanemaru using the crab to win felt like a shot to their recent time as Young Lions. [***¼]
Post-match, Suzuki-Gun added more chair shots to SHO’s back, stomped on Rocky Romero, and posed with the titles.
KUSHIDA, Michael Elgin, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Togi Makabe vs. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, and Takashi Iizuka In a good turn of events, Makabe jumped Minoru during his entrance. It made sense since Minoru keeps denying his shot at the IC Title. The ring emptied, with Suzuki/Makabe fighting in the crowd, as well as Elgin/Iizuka. Taichi went after Taguchi because of the stuff with his lady friend. Once it got back to the ring, things calmed down a bit. However, there was a spot where Iizuka suggestively bit Taguchi on the ass. Callis: I thought I was gonna have to wait until 3 AM to see that. Makabe and Suzuki got their eventual tags and went to war. Things broke down again, and Makabe beat TAKA with the King Kong Knee Drop in 11:52. This was in offensive, but nothing more than the usual Suzuki-Gun match. [**¼]
After the match, Suzuki finally accepted Makabe’s challenge. He then fell on the ramp and beat up poor Tomoyuki Oka for it.
David Finlay, Juice Robinson, and Toa Henare vs. IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jay White, Tomohiro Ishii, and Toru Yano They ran this match in Korakuen on the 6th (***). I appreciate how White doesn’t come out with his partners. He really only joined CHAOS for business reasons (and booking, since Gedo can’t seem to figure out what to do if you’re not part of some kind of stable) and isn’t friends with them. Yano and Juice opened this with some fun exchanges. Henare continued to target Ishii and get beaten for it. I was more into Juice going right at Ishii, though. A New Japan Cup or G1 match between them sounds great. In the end, White was left with Henare. He hit the Blade Runner and instead of covering him, he rained elbows down so the referee could call for a stoppage at 7:33. Like the Korakuen match, this was fine fun. Henare’s issue with Ishii is intriguing, Ishii/Juice was a highlight, and White continues to gain more confidence in his role. [**¾]
In a very cool moment, Rey Mysterio Jr. appeared in a video. He announced he would be wrestling in NJPW for the first time ever at Strong Style Evolved in Long Beach, California. He issued a challenge to Jushin Thunder Liger, who nodded from commentary. Okay, that’s pretty damn cool.
BUSHI vs. Gedo It feels odd to have this on a major show, but at least it gives BUSHI something to do. He’s too good to be the forgotten member of LIDJ. He brought out giant scissors to cut Gedo’s beard, while Gedo wore the two masks he stole from BUSHI. As expected, that meant a lot of Gedo going after the mask, and BUSHI pulling on his beard, in the early stages. From there, it was a battle of two guys trying to out heel one another. Low blows, mist, tying the mask to the ropes, beard pulling, etc. You know it, these guys tried it, which made for a different kind of match. That’s very appreciated in NJPW. BUSHI won an entertaining match with MX in 10:07. This was fine. Fun back and forth cheating from both men, but nothing more. [**]
Tetsuya Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI Man, that WK12 result looks worse and worse with Naito treading water like this. HASHI jumped Naito during his entrance, drawing the ire of the crowd. The story has been that Naito doesn’t take him seriously. Even when Naito gets attacked, he shrugs it off because he doesn’t care. Naito withstood that and took control. This match had a slower pace than expected. There wasn’t much outwardly wrong with this match, it just wasn’t very interesting. It lacked an urgency and Naito didn’t seem to be at his best. The crowd was kind of dead other than cheering for Naito. Naito won after two Destinos in 16:46. It felt longer than that and really hammered home how Naito shouldn’t be stuck here. By this point last year, he already had two 4.5 star matches and this year, he’s yet to have one crack 4. Nobody believed HASHI had a chance and they never made it feel like that was the case. As I said, this was good, but nowhere near great. [**¾]
Post-match, Taichi attacked Naito with his microphone stand. There have been rumors of Taichi moving to the heavyweight division. Holy hell, imagine being Naito and falling this hard from grace.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi The video package for this was filled with cats and I loved it. This show has been wildly average. Save us, Hiromu. They went right at each other and Hiromu nailed a great German suplex on the outside and belly to belly into the guardrail. From there, the pace remained insane, with both guys pulling off impressive feats of athleticism. Each bump looked violent, especially the way Ospreay took the sunset flip bomb. In fact, Ospreay took the brunt of the beating and had to continually struggle for any advantage. In one sick spot, Ospreay countered a super wheelbarrow driver into a release German suplex onto the turnbuckle. It didn’t come off cleanly, but was a vicious idea. They continued with the great back and forth, which included an imploding 450 by Will, Oscutter counter by Hiromu, a great strike exchange, and Hiromu kicking out a middle rope reverse rana at one. After even more quality stuff, Ospreay used the beheading forearm and the Oscutter to retain in 20:05. Easily the best thing on the show. They had the breakneck paced match I wanted from them. Tons of great exchanges and counters throughout, with the fans completely into everything. I miss Hiromu as Jr. Champion, though. [****¼]
NEVER Openweight Championship: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. IWGP Tag Team Champion EVIL It’s almost impossible to be interested in Hirooki Goto. Where the last match was fast paced, this one was much slower. It was two bigger dudes wearing each other down. They eventually moved into some of the harder hitting offense, though it didn’t grasp me the way those spots in other NEVER Title matches have. It felt like it dragged on and went about double the actual length. It picked up a bit late, but not enough to save things. Goto won with the GTR in a long 20:19. I thought with the title off Suzuki, the bullshit in these matches would get cut down. Instead, this still had some nonsense and ref bumps, while also featuring a crowd that didn’t get behind EVIL. Hugely disappointing. [**½]
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. IWGP Tag Team Champion SANADA Their three prior singles matches were all good, but none even sniffed great. Okada has passed 600 days as champion. I feel like I had a soul when it started and now it’s gone. Thinking about it, for all the talk of how great his reign has been, the only matches during it I went 4+ on were against Omega (1), Marufuji, and Shibata. Anyway, this got off to the typical Okada start, until SANADA drove his face into the guardrail and hit a piledriver on the ramp. Once back to the ring, things dropped a bit in interest, outside of Okada being a smug jerk. It’s a role that’s so natural for him. Of course, Okada couldn’t hit the Rainmaker on his first attempt, giving SANADA an opening. The crowd really picked up when SANADA hit his signature dropkick and followed with a series of planchas. The fans began to buy into a SANADA win, especially when he locked in Skull End. They were way invested in the usual Rainmaker counters series that we always get. There was modification on this one, as it lasted way longer and saw several different escapes. We got the Okada wrist hold spot that he can’t seem to live without, before using one to retain in 32:12. It was an Okada title defense. Slow start, great closing stretch. It was their best match together, for sure. The crowd believed in SANADA, but I never bought him as a winner. Also, as crisp as the Rainmaker counter stretches are, it’s hard to get invested in them, when you mostly know what’s coming. There was also a sense of overkill, from the ramp piledriver to the Skull End being applied seven times. Everyone in the company feels like second class citizens compared to Okada and it’s not even close. I know people will defend NJPW booking to the death, but it’s the kind of thing WWE would get chastised for. By the way, I’m not complaining at the result. It was clear the Tag Champ wasn’t winning the Heavyweight Title. [***½]
Interesting to note that Tanahashi had 11 successful defenses in 404 days, while Okada just reached 10 in 600. Anyway, after the match, Okada said he wanted to compete in the New Japan Cup. Champions usually don’t do that. Then, he called out Will Ospreay for a match at the Anniversary Show in March. He faced the Jr. Champion at the Anniversary Show a few years ago (Ibushi), though this has the added intrigue of CHAOS vs. CHAOS after Jay White has been seemingly playing them against each other.
Overall: 6/10. After a strong Wrestle Kingdom, the February shows lacked for NJPW. I understand the business decision to split up the New Beginning into three cards, but it made each show weaker. This one had a standout match (Hiromu/Ospreay) but this was a rare care where LIDJ didn’t deliver the good. Naito looked like he was going through the motions against HASHI, EVIL/Goto was disappointing, BUSHI/Gedo was kind of just there, and Okada/SANADA fell victim to the overly done Okada formula. The undercard was relatively fine. Outside of some top matches this year, NJPW has been okay at best. Hopefully, things pick up with the New Japan Cup.
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Post by cabbageboy on Feb 11, 2018 10:39:30 GMT -5
Overall I'd say Naito was in a different position than Omega was in 2017 going into WK. Omega was a guy who had recently taken the reins of the Bullet Club and was in the midst of a 1st major push, so main eventing WK and having an amazing match kind of made sense (even in a loss). Naito though? That build to WK was an entire redemption arc going over the past 4 years, and then he blew it and lost. It's kind of tough to ever fully come back from something like that even if he wins the title later.
As far as this consecutive title defenses thing...I mean who cares honestly? The thing I don't get about Okada's booking is that he is portrayed as the "best on the planet" ace of the company and yet also in a way the guy who the office is behind like he's in the Authority or something. It's really tough to pull off both of those at once since being the office's golden boy is a spot that is decidedly heelish and also not viewed as being legit "the best."
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