froggyfrog
El Dandy
Scotty 2 Hotty š
Posts: 8,278
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Post by froggyfrog on Feb 23, 2024 9:08:31 GMT -5
Interesting that both Nemeth and Riddle won titles š
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Post by discoelysium on Feb 23, 2024 9:58:52 GMT -5
Grim
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The Kevstaaa
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Heck of a wrestler, great technician, and a jam up guy.
Posts: 18,466
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Feb 23, 2024 10:40:09 GMT -5
They really made the wrong booking decision on the final four matches, giving us the worst case scenario.
Gedo is legendary at this. He's been on an unprecedented run of bad booking since like, 2019.
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Post by ace on Feb 23, 2024 12:22:03 GMT -5
I went to sleep after the Mayu match assuming Gedo would House of Torture me. Woke up correct. Okada and Ospreay shouldnāt be the only ones leaving. Shooter, Yuya and Tsuji should run too. Itās already too late for Ren.
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Post by ace on Feb 23, 2024 12:26:15 GMT -5
Did not see Nemeth winning I didnāt see it before the show given how strong they had booked War Dogsā¦and Ospreay putting Finlay over twice. But by the time we got to the match I thought he had to win. Despy lost. Shota lost. Tanahashi lost. A Finlay win would have been the feel bad show of the year. Nemeth at least feels fresh in his post WWE time. And they desperately need anything that feels fresh that Gedo hasnāt choked the life out of already
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 87,015
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Post by chrom on Feb 23, 2024 12:42:57 GMT -5
I went to sleep after the Mayu match assuming Gedo would House of Torture me. Woke up correct. Okada and Ospreay shouldnāt be the only ones leaving. Shooter, Yuya and Tsuji should run too. Itās already too late for Ren. If anything it comes off as spite booking anymore. He knows fans hate the group and their matches yet he's doubling down on doing them. There's matches from WCW 2000 and Smackdown 04 that aren't as awful as them
If there such a big merchandise mover, I really wanna know who's buying them.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
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Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,950
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Post by Mozenrath on Feb 23, 2024 13:58:08 GMT -5
I am just kind of shocked someone successfully defended the NEVER title. That is actually shockingly rare if you look at the title's history.
EVIL retaining sucks, sure, but honestly, SHO winning is worse, and Riddle winning is worse still, albeit unsurprising. I doubt Tanahashi wants to book himself as a long term champion. I kind of doubt Riddle lasts, either, frankly, but Tana's giving himself so more room to breathe.
Nic winning is fine, it's not like Finlay hasn't been kind of a major disappointment so far. I also kind of wonder if they're setting up House of Torture upending Bullet Club leadership, considering how Finlay is leaving empty handed while EVIL and SHO have gold. I'm sure that'll suck, but like, I'm running out of things they can really do to try to force Finlay as this credible heel player that he so far has really kind of failed to be.
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Post by ace on Feb 23, 2024 14:04:54 GMT -5
I went to sleep after the Mayu match assuming Gedo would House of Torture me. Woke up correct. Okada and Ospreay shouldnāt be the only ones leaving. Shooter, Yuya and Tsuji should run too. Itās already too late for Ren. If anything it comes off as spite booking anymore. He knows fans hate the group and their matches yet he's doubling down on doing them. There's matches from WCW 2000 and Smackdown 04 that aren't as awful as them
If there such a big merchandise mover, I really wanna know who's buying them.
I donāt really care that Sho won the title aside from it meaning shit jr title shenanigan matches until he drops it. But Shota losing to Evil is just another missed opportunity to start heading in the right direction. They need to make these homegrown guys. Instead Riddle and Nemeth got the big wins and the belts. Iām actually in favor of Nemeth having won because he is fresh and his passionate promos after winning are a breath of fresh air. Plus I expect him to be in the G1 and on major shows because I think New Japan is a big priority for him. TNA has a show today and heās in Japanā¦so at worst itās a case like KUSHIDA was last year where he goes when called on.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 87,015
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Post by chrom on Feb 23, 2024 14:31:41 GMT -5
Seriously, New Japan needed a shot in the arm today and instead they laid a giant egg
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Post by Helen of Jasper Troy on Feb 23, 2024 14:54:04 GMT -5
I'm sorry that I only ever enter this thread like "good lord what is hAPPENING IN THERE" but Dolph Ziggler and Matt Riddle just immediately getting titles thrown on them is one of the most downbad moves I've seen from any company in a minute.
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Post by ace on Feb 23, 2024 15:02:54 GMT -5
I'm sorry that I only ever enter this thread like "good lord what is hAPPENING IN THERE" but Dolph Ziggler and Matt Riddle just immediately getting titles thrown on them is one of the most downbad moves I've seen from any company in a minute. They werenāt even the worst booking decisions on this show. They werenāt even top three tbh. Youāve got Okadaās farewell tour playing out in second or third matches on shows where he refuses to make anyone but himself look good. Youāve got House of Torture winning the jr title so that title is just bullshit and shenanigans now. And youāve got Shota losing to Evil to make sure heās even further away from where he needs to be. Tanahashi was only TV champion so Sabre can move on to bigger challenges. Finlay was a flop. Which goes back to a couple more worse booking decisions than Riddle and Dolph winning. They wasted Ospreayās goodbye on a threeway to put over Finlay, a singles match to put over Okada who is leaving. And a Wargames match to put overā¦Finlay. Dude went to RevPro and put over Oku to finish a long story with probably the best match in company history. He went to TNA where he didnāt even work and told a mini story with Josh Alexander where he pushed that in beating Ospreay Alexander had proven himself as a World Beater in his own right. The best Gedo could do was using him to put over Finlay who no one cares about? And because heās Will Ospreay he did everything he could to make it work. For Dave Finlay. Gedoās booking is atrocious. There are far worse decisions than the ones you picked. Debuting new guys with big wins is not the problem. His treatment of HoT and the four young guys is.
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Convoy
El Dandy
Rusev admits to being a sex addict to large applause.
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Post by Convoy on Feb 23, 2024 15:12:05 GMT -5
I'm the biggest New Japan apologist around, but it was a weird show.
The Desperado lost to SHO doesn't bother me because I like House of Torture, recognize their value to the company, and overall think this could be a path for Despy to go after Narita thereby finally making the leap to heavyweight contention. It's been hinted at for a while, and if they wanted the title change with no other waves, SHO would've pinned him. The fact that they went the countout route and Narita as the cause makes me think this is Step 1 (or 2 if you count the Nobu defense) of a bigger plan.
EVIL retaining was also not a big surprise, but I will say good on them for the closing segment. People complain about HoT shenanigans, and they were still around in the earlier portions of the match, but I'm okay with stretches that show EVIL is capable of stringing together a victory in the ring. We saw that in the G1 match with SANADA as well. Now the question is who pins him in the New Japan Cup and gets a shot at Sakura Genesis.
The last two matches... bleh. Tana losing to Riddle is not surprising - Tana puts everyone over, was not destined to be champion for long, and the best case scenario with booking this match in the first place was a time limit draw. I don't like Riddle, not because of the person he is (since I haven't kept up with that stuff) but because his in-ring moves are lacking and his promos are horrible. Even if the title change "made sense" in the usual ways, not happy with it. The Global title change is just strange too. Not a major fan of Finlay to be honest, as he is easily the weakest of the War Dogs, but losing the belt he just won to a new WWE arrival is not going to help get him over the hump. The match itself was nothing special. While I get it's the penultimate night of the tour and you have title bouts to get through, maybe they could've figured out how to close the show with something better for Sapporo.
My thought process at the end of the show was maybe New Japan is looking to pull the trigger on some Western talents to replenish their worldwide view after the various departures, but those two WWE guys ain't it. I applaud the company for trying to make the STRONG brand something notable to start 2024, because whatever Rocky was doing amounted to losses, but I think their long-term success amounts to what Bushiroad noted in the Fall: Asia. Focus on your young talents, pursue expansion opportunities within the continent and overall feed your native audience as best you can. Foreign wrestlers come and go; foreign fans are fickle. Do right by your origin base first and foremost.
Looking forward to tomorrow still, because DOUKI/Hiromu and Tsuji/Uemura are bound to be good.
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Post by ace on Feb 23, 2024 15:15:27 GMT -5
Hopefully Finlay losing leads to Gabe Kidd destroying him and taking over as the rightful leader of War Dogs. Seriously it is insane they put those two next to each other in a ring or in a promo and expect you to accept Finlay as the leader. Heās a flop. Cut bait and move on.
Better yetā¦build a time machine and head back to listen to me when I begged you not to waste Ospreayās goodbye on David Finlay. Then go back further and have Shota win that Ospreay match. Then go back further and out Tsuji over SANADA.
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Post by Some Guy on Feb 23, 2024 16:23:56 GMT -5
Hopefully Finlay losing leads to Gabe Kidd destroying him and taking over as the rightful leader of War Dogs. Seriously it is insane they put those two next to each other in a ring or in a promo and expect you to accept Finlay as the leader. Heās a flop. Cut bait and move on. Better yetā¦build a time machine and head back to listen to me when I begged you not to waste Ospreayās goodbye on David Finlay. Then go back further and have Shota win that Ospreay match. Then go back further and out Tsuji over SANADA. I do think they need to put a rocket on Gabe Kidd as soon as possible along with Yuya/Tsuji.
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clifford
King Koopa
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Posts: 10,690
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Post by clifford on Feb 23, 2024 16:47:01 GMT -5
Jesus christ that show today...new japan are you trying to go out of business
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Convoy
El Dandy
Rusev admits to being a sex addict to large applause.
Posts: 7,612
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Post by Convoy on Feb 23, 2024 23:14:26 GMT -5
Late change to the show that begins in less than 20 minutes - Tana is out with an ankle injury.
Nemeth wanted a random change to his tag match, but Tana was not missing Okada's final match for that. Unfortunately, he's out anyway tonight. Yano will replace him to give Okada an all-CHAOS team.
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Post by ace on Feb 24, 2024 0:30:11 GMT -5
Time to watch Okadaās New Japan run end the way we all imagined. Second match on the card in a random ten man tag.
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Post by ace on Feb 24, 2024 0:45:43 GMT -5
Will Ospreay - Callum Newman is the future of this company!
Okada - LOL
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Convoy
El Dandy
Rusev admits to being a sex addict to large applause.
Posts: 7,612
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Post by Convoy on Feb 24, 2024 1:21:14 GMT -5
Actually enjoyed Tamaās farewell from top to bottom. Heās not everyoneās cup of tea, and Iāve had my reservations about his singles run, but it was a sweet segment. Itās been fun to watch Tama grow and mature from the ājungle lionā to the bratty little brother in Bullet Club to his current form. Honestly, Iāll miss him. Hope his next promotion treats him well.
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Post by ace on Feb 24, 2024 1:21:24 GMT -5
Tama Tonga goes out as he existed his whole New Japan career. Having a match that did nothing for me but was fine I guess.
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