New Japan Pro-Wrestling General Discussion Thread

[¡Tranquilo!]

WRESTLING DONTAKU comes at you live on May 3rd and 4th, Here is the card:

DAY 1:

HAMAKATSU Presents WRESTLING DONTAKU 2018 – 05.03 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

Ren Narita and Shota Umino Vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro takahashi

Tetsuhiro Yagi, Tomotuki Oka and Yuji Nagata Vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Jyushin Thunder Liger

Roppongi 3k and Rocky Romero Vs. Killer Elite Squad and Takashi Iizuka

Taguchi Japan( Juice, David Finlay, Makabe, Elgin and Toa Henare) Vs. CHAOS( Goto, Jay White, Ishii, Yano and Yoshi-Hashi)

G.o.D. and Bad Luck Fale Vs. The Young Bucks and Marty Scrull

Los Ingobernables de Japon Vs. Suzuki Gun

Hiroshi Tanahashi and KUSHIDA Vs. Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay.

Kota Ibushi Vs. Cody

MAIN EVENT:

Kenny Omega Vs. Hangman Page.

_______________

DAY 2:

HAMAKATSU Presents WRESTLING DONTAKU 2018 – 05.04 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING


Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask and Jyushin Thunder Liger Vs. Ren Narita, Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka

Tetsuhiro Yagi and Yugi Nagata Vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi

Roppongi 3k and Rocky Romero Vs. Suzuki Gun ( Taka Michinoku, Taichi and Takashi Iizuka)

Toa Henare and Togi Makabe Vs. Yano and Ishii

Taguchi Japan( Elgin, David Finlay and Juice) Vs. CHAOS(YOSHI-HASHI, Jay White and Goto)

Los ingobernables de Japon Vs. Suzuki Gun(ft. the Killer Elite Squad)

BULLET CLUB CIVIL WAR:

Golden lovers, G.o.D and Bad luck Fale Vs. The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page and CODY.

IWGP JR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:

Will Ospreay (c) Vs. KUSHIDA


IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:

Kazuchika Okada (c) Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

 

[Rosie]

BULLET CLUB CIVIL WAR:

Golden lovers, G.o.D and Bad luck Fale Vs. The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page and CODY.

CODY: Bullet Club is fine!


ME:

bULLet CluB Is fiNE!

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Really none of the matches look bad on both nights. LIJ vs Suzuki-gun should be great matches.

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

So I'm not sure if this is apart of the Road to Dontaku tour but some title matches are happening so whatever:

WRESTLING HI NO KUNI on APRIL 29:

WRESTLING HI NO KUNI – 2018.04.29 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:

Minoru Suzuki (c)Vs. Tetsuya Naito

IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:

SANADA and Evil (c) Vs. Killer Elite Squad.

Hiromu Takahashi Vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Bushi Vs. El Desperado

CHAOS(Okada,Goto,Ospray and YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jucie Robinson, KUSHIDA and Micheal Elgin.

Golden Lovers, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi Vs. Suzuki Gun(Zack Sabre Jr, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Iizuka)

Ishii and Yano Vs. Makabe and Young Lion Toa Henare.

Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Jyushin thunder Liger and David Finlay Vs. Roppongi 3k, Rocky Romero and Jay White.

Yuji Nagata and Tetsuhiro Yagi Vs. Tomoyuki Oka and Shota Umino

There are also a host of 'Road to Dontaku' shows. Looking at the cards they seem pretty inconsequential so I didn't wanna take the time to write them out but here are the dates if you want to seek them out:

4/13
4/14
4/23
4/24
4/27

 

[Neel420VA]

WRESTLING DONTAKU comes at you live on May 3rd and 4th, Here is the card:

DAY 1:

HAMAKATSU Presents WRESTLING DONTAKU 2018 – 05.03 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

Ren Narita and Shota Umino Vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro takahashi

Tetsuhiro Yagi, Tomotuki Oka and Yuji Nagata Vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Jyushin Thunder Liger

Roppongi 3k and Rocky Romero Vs. Killer Elite Squad and Takashi Iizuka

Taguchi Japan( Juice, David Finlay, Makabe, Elgin and Toa Henare) Vs. CHAOS( Goto, Jay White, Ishii, Yano and Yoshi-Hashi)

G.o.D. and Bad Luck Fale Vs. The Young Bucks and Marty Scrull

Los Ingobernables de Japon Vs. Suzuki Gun

Hiroshi Tanahashi and KUSHIDA Vs. Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay.

Kota Ibushi Vs. Cody

MAIN EVENT:

Kenny Omega Vs. Hangman Page.

_______________

DAY 2:

HAMAKATSU Presents WRESTLING DONTAKU 2018 – 05.04 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING


Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask and Jyushin Thunder Liger Vs. Ren Narita, Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka

Tetsuhiro Yagi and Yugi Nagata Vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi

Roppongi 3k and Rocky Romero Vs. Suzuki Gun ( Taka Michinoku, Taichi and Takashi Iizuka)

Toa Henare and Togi Makabe Vs. Yano and Ishii

Taguchi Japan( Elgin, David Finlay and Juice) Vs. CHAOS(YOSHI-HASHI, Jay White and Goto)

Los ingobernables de Japon Vs. Suzuki Gun(ft. the Killer Elite Squad)

BULLET CLUB CIVIL WAR:

Golden lovers, G.o.D and Bad luck Fale Vs. The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page and CODY.

IWGP JR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:

Will Ospreay (c) Vs. KUSHIDA


IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:

Kazuchika Okada (c) Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

While NJPW has far and away the best WRESTLING product in the world, their booking has become stale, repetitive & predictable. Tanahashi & KUSHIDA will beat Okada & Ospreay in the tag match before each losing their individual title shots the following night.

Both hvy & Jr. tag and the NeVER 6 man titles are all meaningless, as they seem to change hands constantly with nobody making more than 1-2 successful defenses.

Not even sure if the NEVER Open title still exists. Goto barely beat Beer City fn Bruiser last time I saw it defended. Time to unify it with the IC title and let Suzuki get his revenge for Goto shaving his head at WK.

I love Okada’s historic reign. However, many of his defenses have an obvious result before the match even starts. If he didn’t drop the title to Omega or Naito, Everyone already knew he wouldn’t lose it to Evil, Ospreay, Fale, Sabre, Ibushi, etc. So while the matches are great, they aren’t quite as fun knowing the outcome. My suggestion to allow these matches to be stronger and more dramatic in the future is simple - do an unexpected title change in one of these matches and shock everyone. Even if it’s a short reign or the former champ wins it back in the rematch, it still gives that slight belief we could always see an upset. It’s been way too long since NJPW did anything out of their box like that

 

[Neel420VA]

Night 1 Bullet Club stuff is predictable too. Cody gets his win back from WK over Ibushi, Omega puts Page in his place from their US title challenge drama. Only way Page goes over is if Cody injures Kenny’s “lover”/“partner” in the match before & Kenny is somehow distracted by that.

 

[Rosie]

Night 1 Bullet Club stuff is predictable too. Cody gets his win back from WK over Ibushi, Omega puts Page in his place from their US title challenge drama. Only way Page goes over is if Cody injures Kenny’s “lover”/“partner” in the match before & Kenny is somehow distracted by that.

I mean, Cody already got a tag team win with Page over the Golden Lovers and Cody beat Kenny Omega at Supercard of Honor. He also got a win over the G.O.D, so really he's looked strong.

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Spoiler: Wrestling Hi No Kuni RESULTS

Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita def. Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino Tag Team Match


David Finlay, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Ryusuke Taguchi def. CHAOS (Jay White, SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero) Eight Man Tag Team Match

CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) def. Togi Makabe & Toa Henare Tag Team Match

Suzukigun (Zack Sabre Jr., TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Takashi Iizuka) def. Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi Eight Man Tag Team Match

Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson & Michael Elgin def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) Eight Man Tag Team Match:

Okada attacks Tanahashi and they brawl before being separated by their respective teammates


BUSHI def. El Desperado by disqualification Singles Match

Hiromu Takahashi def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru Singles Match

Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & EVIL) (c) vs. Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) IWGP Tag Team Championship Match


Tetsuya Naito def. Minoru Suzuki (c)

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Okada vs Tanahashi should be interesting. Also, I have mix feeling about a couple of those matches especially the ones with Suzuki vs LIJ.

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Spoiler: Wrestling Dontaku NIGHT 1 RESULTS

Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi def. Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji


Roppongi 3K and Rocky Romero def. Killer Elite Squad and Takashi Iizuka


CHAOS def. Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Toa Henare, Michael Elgin and Togi Makabe


Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, and Marty def. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa to win the Never Openweight Six-man Tag Team Titles.


Los Ingobernables de Japon def. Suzuki Gun


Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay def. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kushida


Cody def. Kota Ibushi


Kenny Omega def. Hangman Page

 

[Geese]

I finished watching the finals of the New Japan Cup and was surprised Zach Sabre Jr. beat Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission. Normally, it's the Ace who comes out on top in these types of matches but Zach beat him cleanly without any outside help from Taka Michinoku.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

I finished watching the finals of the New Japan Cup and was surprised Zach Sabre Jr. beat Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission. Normally, it's the Ace who comes out on top in these types of matches but Zach beat him cleanly without any outside help from Taka Michinoku.

Zach was gonna beat Tanahashi by submission because that is what he does. Also, like you said Tanahashi is usually the guy who comes out on top, but I think Tanahashi wanted to showcase and even put over a younger talent, so he could take a step back, you know,

 

[BeardsOfWarjStylesXL]

I watched an event on axis or something and i was into it for like
30 seconds and completely ignored it i just can't get into it i guess.

 

[Paul Diaz-Berrio]

What are your favourite memories of NJPW? I have quite a few good ones. The Japanese have always taken wrestling very seriously and their heel characters are often very entertaining.

Masahiro Chono was very memorable for me. I remember one match he had over twenty years ago and the aftermath. He put someone other, I forget who, but after the match, he shook his opponents hand, raised it and then hit him with a very stiff clothesline. Amazingly, he left the ring without beating the wrestler on his back, but that moment when Chono clotheslined him was such a pleasantly surprising act of hatred.

"We got unfinished business because now I have to beat you to get even," was what I read into his actions and to this day, I still see Chono misleading his victor before turning on him with all his anger and strength.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

What are your favourite memories of NJPW? I have quite a few good ones. The Japanese have always taken wrestling very seriously and their heel characters are often very entertaining

My favorite memory/moment in recent times was when I saw AJ Styles debut as the new leader of The Bullet Club, mainly because I was a huge AJ fan and Bullet Club fan.

The Japanese take wrestling seriously because they see it as an actual sport in a sense, and the entertainment comes from the matches themselves, you know.