New Japan Pro-Wrestling General Discussion Thread

[Bort]

Day 1 of NJC:

 

[Prince Bálor]

Tomorrow's gonna be a glorious day. I will most likely spend the entire day watching New Japan Cup Round 1 & 2 and House Of Hardcore VIII.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Just finished up watching Round 1 of New Japan Cup. It was an alright show.

- Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Sho Tanaka vs Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA, Yohei Komatsu & Jay White was meh, wasn't into it at all. Would've preferred Taguchi vs Kushida, but oh well...

- Yujiro Takahashi vs YOSHI-HASHI was meh, wasn't really a fan of the match.

- Togi Makabe vs Tomoaki Honma was some pretty solid stuff.

- Katsuyori Shibata vs Satoshi Kojima was quite alright, liked the finish to the match a lot. GTS followed by a PK was sweet as hell.

- Hirooki Goto vs Yuji Nagata was some really, really fn' good stuff. The thing/spot I loved the most from this match is Goto's headbutt that completely KO'd Nagata. Nagata sold that stuff like a baws, of course.

- Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain
New Japan was aight.

- Kota Ibushi vs Doc Gallows was okay.

- Tetsuya Naito vs Karl Anderson was uber-good. Naito was an absolute bumping machine here.

- Toru Yano vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was horrible. Yano over Tana in less than 3 minutes? LMAO!

- Bad Luck Fale vs Kazuchika Okada was eh, kinda okay for what it was, but it didn't really deliver as the ME.

 

[Bort]

Yano/Tana ruled. Perfect exit for the Ace.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Round 2 was decent.

- YOSHI-HASHI vs Jay White was aight, but forgettable.

- Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada vs Captain New Japan, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tomoaki Honma, KUSHIDA & Jushin Thunder Liger was much better than their previous bout at Round 1 of the cup. Seeing Dorada and KUSHIDA going at it was fun, prolly my fave moment from the match.

- Yohei Komatsu & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Sho Tanaka & Yuji Nagata was some good stuff, I liked it. This was one of the best things on the show.

- CHAOS vs Bullet Club was a solid match. Nakamura and Okada are Gods.

- Togi Makabe vs Yujiro Takahashi was meh, needless to say I wasn't into it all that much. However, I'm glad it was Makabe who advanced to the semi-finals.

- Kota Ibushi vs Toru Yano was BS, but I'm so glad Ibushi won! I would've loved to see Tana vs Ibushi here with Ibushi going over, but okay. Hopefully Ibush wins this whole thing.

- Tetsuya Naito vs Bad Luck Fale was eh, it didn't really deliver as the co-main event... The right guy won, that's all I'm gonna say.

- Hirooki Goto vs Katsuyori Shibata was MOTN for me, definitely. They did some mat work early on, some submission stuff, they were physical and stiffed the hell out of each other, basically everything they did felt important... All in all, great stuff, the main event delivered.

Looking forward to the semi-finals, Ibushi/Naito and Makabe/Goto should be dope.

 

[Bort]

NJPW "INVASION ATTACK 2015", 05.04.2015 (WPW)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Yuji Nagata, Captain New Japan, Alex Shelley, KUSHIDA & Yohei Komatsu vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Sho Tanaka
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly © vs. Rocky Romero & Barreta
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega © vs. Máscara Dorada
5. IWGP Tag Team Title: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows © vs. Michael Bennett & Matt Taven
6. Special Six Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
7. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano
8. Special Singles Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: AJ Styles © vs. Kota Ibushi

They're not going all-in for this show, they're rather spreading title matches throughout the tour and milking Tana/Yano and Makabe/Ishii some more. I actually like it. Really curious to see how they do here. The tags #6 and 7 look very fun.

 

[Stopspot]

I hope we get minimal fuckery in the title match. No way is Ibushi walking away with the strap. But if they keep the shenanigans to a minimum we have a great match on our hands.

 

[Leo C]

Looking forward to seeing how Romero and Barreta work together, reDRagon is always fun. Omega vs Mascara Dorada sounds fun also. Kingdom has been growing on me lately. Tana and Shibata, nice. I thought they were going to do some stuff with Honma and Shibata as a team, that could be fun given the NJC finals. I've been enjoying the Okada/Fale feud, Fale getting over Okada twice and Rainmaker getting one win but with the help of the rest of CHAOS. Also this main event should be great. Sounds like a fun show.

 

[Bort]

 

[Prince Bálor]

New Japan Cup Finals was a good show.

- Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Jushin Thunder Liger, Jay White & KUSHIDA was a good show opener, liked it... The ending was kewl.

- Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu vs Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka was aight. Nothing too bad, but nothing too good, either.

- Hirooki Goto vs Togi Makabe was okay, I guess.

- Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito was great, definitely my MOTN.

- Katsuyori Shibata & Tomoaki Honma vs Cody Hall & Tama Tonga was aight.

- Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Captain New Japan was meh and had a BS ending.

- CHAOS vs Bullet Club was okay.

- Kota Ibushi vs Hirooki Goto was so good, prolly my second favorite match of the night.
I've been rooting for Ibush since this whole thing started, glad he pulled off the win!

 

[Prince Bálor]

I am so gonna enjoy this!

 

[Bort]

Fit Finlay's kid David enters NJPW Dojo.

 

[Roadster]

Great move on his part. Anyone who's been there has walked out 200% better than before.

 

[Bort]

The match that converted more fans than Tanahashi/Okada, during the heyday of tape trading.

 

[Roadster]

Saw that match a while ago. I'm pretty sure New Japan was more popular amongst hardcore fans then more so then now. It's a great match.

Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi

Yujiro Takahashi & A.J. Styles

Beretta & Rocky Romero & Kazuchika Okada

Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson & Bad Luck Fale

Tomoaki Honma & Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi

YOSHI-HASHI & Kazushi Sakuraba & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Shinsuke Nakamura

Captain New Japan & Mascara Dorada

Tama Tonga & Kenny Omega

Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Cody Hall & Doc Gallows & "The Machine Gun" Karl Anderson

Jay White & Tiger Mask & Jushin Thunder Liger

Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi

Sho Tanaka

Yohei Komatsu