New Japan Pro-Wrestling General Discussion Thread

[Chris]

stacked line up.

Def looking forward to Cobb/Ibushi the most after the fuckin' brawl they had last show

 

[Chris]

Chris Jericho no longer under New Japan contract, open to return

Chris Jericho is no longer under a New Japan Pro Wrestling contract, according to Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The current AEW star’s deal actually expired following his…

www.f4wonline.com

 

[Chris]

NJPW Strong Road to Ignition line-up this week:

• Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta vs. Misterioso & Jordan Clearwater
• Rocky Romero & Lio Rush vs. Clark Connors & The DKC
• Alex Coughlin vs. Hikuleo

 

[Comrade Khan]

Romero rush sounds like a fun ass team

 

[Necro]

Big Main Events Set for Ignition on STRONG 【NJoA】
Kojima vs Kratos, Fredericks vs Lawlor set for next two weeks on STRONG



Big time matches continue to come to Friday nights on STRONG, as main events have been confirmed for the next two weeks on the Ignition series.

Already confirmed for this week’s June 11 episode, Fred Yehi debuts alongside Wheeler Yuta to face Jordan Clearwater and Misterioso, Lio Rush and Rocky Romero will face Clark Connors and the DKC, and Alex Coughlin will meet Hikuleo.

The following matches make a stacked remainder of June on Fridays!

Watch NJPW STRONG Fridays at 10/9c on NJPW World!

June 18: Kratos vs Kojima!



When Satoshi Kojima made his STRONG debut last week, he did so alongside Karl Fredericks against team Filthy’s JR Kratos and Danny Limelight. Hard hitting super heavyweight Kratos instantly had his ire drawn by Kojima, and refused to yield an inch to the living legend. That led to some violent in-ring collisions during the match, and an intense pull apart brawl after it. Now Kojima and Kratos meet one on one in a match that will be crucial to Kratos’ claim of being the Most Feared, and toughest big man on Friday nights.

June 25: Fredericks vs Lawlor!

[/url]

June 25 will see STRONG Openweight Champion Tom Lawlor put his title on the line for the second time against number one contender Karl Fredericks. Fredericks and Lawlor’s paths crossed during the Collision series, when an elimination main event saw Fredericks put Lawlor over the top rope to the floor, much to the consternation of the Team Filthy leader. When Lawlor defeated Chris Dickinson to make his first defence of the title two weeks later, Fredericks was quick to ‘congratulate’ the champion backstage, but made it clear that he would be next in line.

With a pair of wins over Lawlor’s teammates JR Kratos and Danny Limelight solidifying his case, Fredericks’ championship challenge has now been made official. It’s been almost exactly a year since Fredericks officially graduated from the LA Dojo and started making a name for himself as the Alpha Wolf. Can he celerate that anniversary as a champion, or is the Filthy Era set to continue?

For some reason the two images keep resizing to thumbnails. Not sure what's going on with it.

 

[Necro]

Okay I fixed it, uploaded on another site.

 

[Chris]

Lawlor/Fredericks is gonna rule, clearly a retention by filthy tom tho lol

 

[Necro]

You going to make a Kizuna Road thread for everything? Or should we just post in here?

 

[Chris]

You going to make a Kizuna Road thread for everything? Or should we just post in here?

I think I already did lol

 

[Snowman1]

Damn, did I enjoy Dominion.

I was watching the G1 2019 with a casual buddy and I always said man, Shingo's the shit, but I totally get what they're doing. As great as he is there's just so much talent, they're buidling up Naito for the double title, building up Jay White and Moxley's debuted and Goto's having a resurgence and Taichi's improved and... Shingo was killing it but still felt lost in the shuffle as the junior who just lost his unbeaten streak to Ospreay...

Speaking of, it's going to be really interesting going forward. As a Ravens' fan, I get it before this year, no matter who we beat. the Titans' had our number. They'd always make one more play to the point where they were in our heads, so when we knocked them out of the playoffs last year it was SUCH a cathartic moment. Same with Shingo, who's hardly a bum for not beating Ospreay, but moreso makes one false move and makes one hard hit less than the Ospreay and gets caught. He cost him his unbeaten streak, beat him in his first World Title match... now here's the GOAT looking up on the lights and he's still got that specter over his head. But first, Ibushi absolutely destroys Vegeta/Jeff Cobb and Shingo wants a piece of THAT.

I've gotta throw a shoutout to Roppongi 3K and the booking of them, this was classic New Japan. In the opening match there's a ton of chaos and when everyone's out of the way, it's down to SHO and Ishimori, and SHO may get a hope spot or two but Ishimori mostly mops the floor with the dude and pins him for the W. Now SHO and YOH are like the Young Bucks in a way, where in kayfabe one's not really better than the other, just a well oiled machine together. When YOH faces Despy later on in the night, Despy's practically having to break his leg, and Yoh's out here struggling his way through landing off a thing because of the damage Despy's done, and still fighting uphill and gave Despy all he could handle. In the end, when Despy talked up how YOH was way more than he expected, Ishimori just comes out and laughs because he just murdered the shit out of his tag partner and called his shot on Despy who's proven to be SHO's equal by proxy. kinda pissing off ELP and planting the seeds for a needed Ishimori babyface turn. (Dude's too good to be a Bullet Club background player lol)

Great stuff all around, best PPV I've seen in a long time.

 

[Jacob Fox]

It was a good show that brought the wrestling world in a different direction.

I mark for Okada nearly like I marked for Flair... but that honestly makes the matches they lose the better

 

[Snowman1]

To bring up a meme from the past... Winner winner, chicken dinner. Three notes...

-As so many of us fans of western wrestling, this was the PERFECT time to put the belt back on Okada. It's the tried and true formula to strap the belt back on the GOAT and see how long Okada can keep the momentum going for after the shit year NJPW's been having. But NJPW aint playing it safe and I'm here for it. In WWE I'd hate to see them going back to the well with "top face" but this was like if they put Cesaro over Roman (like they should have) (except with Okada still being a hella beloved face), with a shitload of contenders lined up

-Again to the easy/lazy WWE comparison, I posted once how "WWE did nothing to get Roman over" and people fought me on that. "They fed everyone to him! They did nothing BUT try!"... No. Trying means doing something IN KAYFABE to make us GIVE A SHIT. That 100% still matters. Kota Ibushi has had the worst best year ever. He won the G1!!!!....and lost the briefcase. He won the WK main event!!!!....and lost the new double title in his first defense. CSB. Kevin Kelly ( who is fantastic) really put over how he's not strong enough to hold the weight of being IWGP WHC, how he always achieved before choking. And after Shingo called him out, and he graciously accepted, and started getting aggravated and paced back and forth while watching Shingo celebrate the title win... I wonder if the level of MURDER IBUSHI Cobb tried to get out will be coming out more furiously in the future, and his rage will help him maintain success or fall to the Rampage Dragon...

-Meanwhile, as this freshens up Ibushi and gives him (and "that belt is a dumb idea" Okada) a real character arc, we have 2 new guys elevated to the main event scene with Ospreay and Shingo, with made man Naito able to re-enter at any time and the Switchblade coming back soon as well. Possibly Tanahashi and they're planting some seeds for a long overdue Ishimori push. You can have your cake and eat it too

(these books are why I don't talk njpw that often)

 

[Deezy]

good for him

 

[Time]

I've heard he's improved but I never watch NJPW Strong. Wonder if he'll be on the Japanese shows or just stay on Strong? Guess we'll see.

 

[Comrade Khan]

good for him

so no more NWA? good for him