🦁 NJPW - Best of the Super Jr. 31

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Dragon Dia falls to 0-4, all but eliminated by Moloney

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Bushi finally gets on board.

Douki and Hayata also scored wins

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Eagles wins, ending Kushida's undefeated run

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Whoever wins here goes 4-0

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May 18, 2024 0:34:46 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

May 17, 2024 23:07:56 GMT -5 Rave said:

G1 stalled that and despite Tsuji's NJC win it hasn't gotten better. Gedo's even managed to f*** up Yuya just as bad as the others.

Basically he's reverted to pre-NJPW Takaaki Watanabe, just with the fancy all-capitals name. Which is sad. Even "Naito's spooky friend" was better.

LIJ in general doesn't feel like the fun "Brotherhood of Weirdos" that it was pre-pandemic anymore.

There's nothing wrong with Shingo, and Tsuji should have already won the belt by now, but they don't bring the _weird_ the way that LIJ used to. Not to insult them by bringing WWE into it, but pre-pandemic LIJ were the blueprint for Pre-McDonaugh Judgment Day.

Yeah, they were basically New Japan's version of The Flock, now like Chaos, they're just guys who hang out

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Christian goes to 4-0 and tops the block

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Akira moves to 4 points defeating Ishimori

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Knight in a big upset defeats Desperado

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Hiromu wins the main event in his hometown

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BOSJ Finals will main event Dominion

[ace]

May 18, 2024 11:00:35 GMT -5 chrom said:

BOSJ Finals will main event Dominion

It’s a sad day for the history of that show.  Traditionally the second biggest pre-booked main event of the year (because G1 finals aren’t known ahead of time) and it can’t beat out the BOSJ finals that last year were Titan vs Wato.

Gedo Goda Gogo 

Moxley vs Evil is roughly the worst match he could have booked from a philosophical level.  Another company’s contracted talent on top was already a self-own after watching most of your main event scene walk out the door to that same company with White, Okada and Ospreay peacing out.  But, at least, the Narita and especially Shota matches had a strong concept behind them…which young wrestler you’ve been fumbling with for years will finally emerge as the one to break through?  It’s a good story and a good use of Moxley.  Evil?  The face of the beginning of Gedo’s failures?  The face of HoT who have made many shows flat out unwatchable?  On Dominion?

just a disaster.

[Convoy]

The BOSJ Final officially being the main event of Dominion doesn't bother me. It's the better match judging by native fan reaction, and that should wake the company up in terms of understanding what their audience wants to see. Get the goddamn belt off Moxley at Forbidden Door (or give it to EVIL at this point I actually don't care), and take stock of the talent you have.

Yes, the yen is weak so Western cash flow is a big help right now, but let's face it - they probably have the least amount of subscribers/money coming from the West in nearly a decade. NOAH and All Japan have also fallen under the spell of bringing in gaijin talent to appeal to potential non-native fans, and buddy it ain't working for either of them. No one cares and no one wants to see these people. There's a reason Desperado, House of Torture and LIJ are the biggest merchandise movers - they are entertaining native talents that appeal to the modern native fan. Make your money there and leave the rest as tertiary/etc. focuses.

Credit to the War Dogs though, who I know have also sold big lately, likely on the back of Gabe's growing popularity. Those boys (minus Finlay) have earned their love.

Some positivity:

When the blocks were announced, I thought it was strange to see the split as-is with Connors/TJP in A and Moloney/Akira in B, as it felt like A was noticeably weaker would've been the better place for the latter two to really make an impact. It's still early, but I will give props to the arrangement so far. New Japan's scouting of Kevin Knight is something to be applauded, and the company still has the knack for knowing when someone is poised to breakout. He has been the star of A Block with all four tournament matches exceeding my expectations. Very much looking forward to his match against Titán.

[chrom]

May 18, 2024 11:15:38 GMT -5 ace said:

May 18, 2024 11:00:35 GMT -5 chrom said:

BOSJ Finals will main event Dominion

It’s a sad day for the history of that show.  Traditionally the second biggest pre-booked main event of the year (because G1 finals aren’t known ahead of time) and it can’t beat out the BOSJ finals that last year were Titan vs Wato.

Gedo Goda Gogo 

Moxley vs Evil is roughly the worst match he could have booked from a philosophical level.  Another company’s contracted talent on top was already a self-own after watching most of your main event scene walk out the door to that same company with White, Okada and Ospreay peacing out.  But, at least, the Narita and especially Shota matches had a strong concept behind them…which young wrestler you’ve been fumbling with for years will finally emerge as the one to break through?  It’s a good story and a good use of Moxley.  Evil?  The face of the beginning of Gedo’s failures?  The face of HoT who have made many shows flat out unwatchable?  On Dominion?

just a disaster.

Togo is another who needs to go, this whole cluster booking style all started when he showed up in 2020

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Kojima defends the MLW Title tonight

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Despeardo/Christain headlines tomorrow

[Giul T.]

feeling like the Blake Trains about to derail.

[ragecutter]

NJPW Best Of The Super Junior 31 - Tag 5
18.05.2024
Esforta Arena Hachioji
1.639

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block A Match
Kosei Fujita [4] defeats Clark Connors [4] (9:16)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block B Match
Drilla Moloney [4] defeats Dragon Dia [0] (4:12)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block A Match
HAYATA [4] defeats Yoshinobu Kanemaru [2] (7:26)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block B Match
DOUKI [4] defeats Ninja Mack [4] (7:49)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block A Match
BUSHI [2] defeats TJP [0] (2:55)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block B Match
Robbie Eagles [4] (w/Kosei Fujita) defeats KUSHIDA [6] (11:18)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block A Match
Blake Christian [8] defeats Titan [6] (7:21)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block B Match
Francesco Akira [4] defeats Taiji Ishimori [6] (8:35)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block A Match
Kevin Knight [6] defeats El Desperado [4] (12:01)

Best Of The Super Junior 31 Block B Match
Hiromu Takahashi [4] defeats SHO [4] (18:23)

[ace]

Feels like with the finals main eventing Dominion you can straight up eliminate a lot of guys from contention. They aren’t going to put another Japanese company’s man in the main event of that show. They, honestly, probably won’t put anyone from A block other than Despy. B block has more options and yet Hiromu exists and that’s probably that now that it’s a main event. Which means….my picks are another round of Despy vs Hiromu in their never ending battle of guys I wish they’d do anything with but face each other as juniors.

[Rave]

May 18, 2024 11:46:56 GMT -5 Convoy said:

The BOSJ Final officially being the main event of Dominion doesn't bother me. It's the better match judging by native fan reaction, and that should wake the company up in terms of understanding what their audience wants to see. Get the goddamn belt off Moxley at Forbidden Door (or give it to EVIL at this point I actually don't care), and take stock of the talent you have.

Yes, the yen is weak so Western cash flow is a big help right now, but let's face it - they probably have the least amount of subscribers/money coming from the West in nearly a decade. NOAH and All Japan have also fallen under the spell of bringing in gaijin talent to appeal to potential non-native fans, and buddy it ain't working for either of them. No one cares and no one wants to see these people. There's a reason Desperado, House of Torture and LIJ are the biggest merchandise movers - they are entertaining native talents that appeal to the modern native fan. Make your money there and leave the rest as tertiary/etc. focuses.

Credit to the War Dogs though, who I know have also sold big lately, likely on the back of Gabe's growing popularity. Those boys (minus Finlay) have earned their love.

It's hard to believe that Gabriel "Looks like a child but is always a jobber to me" Kidd has actually gotten as good as he has. AXS aired him and Shingo this week and hooooooly shit what a war. He should be leading War Dogs, but Gedo's still all "go down with the ship" re: Finlay. If only he'd realize that ship sank and just let it go.

And no, putting the title on EVIL is a horrible idea. It hasn't been that long since his shit NEVER reign finally finished.

[chrom]

Douki reaches six points as Dia is eliminated