Wrestle Dynasty January 5, 2025 - NJPW x AEW x CMLL x Stardom x ROH

[Kairi HoHo]

Well I guess I never saw it as a heel turn when he's always done the NJPW homer gimmick against NOAH and AEW, and he's also done his bit criticizing refs over the top and annoyingly before.

But you would probably remember the whole Ospreay/Umino/Red Shoes ref stoppage issue, Chris was constantly jumping on Red Shoes being a bad red for Umino matches (despite it not being a real story at first dictated to him by NJPW), and it was the exact same bit as questioning why an AEW ref wouldn't stop the match to protect Gabe Kidd as he did in this match

This is what I mean when I think this is turning into an unnecessary tribal thing, which I know sounds insane to say when he literally called Tony a "money mark" bc how much more tribal can you get than that, but my God there's years worth of examples of this lol it's not a sudden shoot on AEW, but considering everyone thinks it is, I'm understanding the reaction more now. Because of this was out of nowhere, my reaction might actually be the same too. I think I had just gotten used to and tuned a lot out

I loved that moment especially for Umino with Ospreay when he was in pain and how Red Shoes is conflicted as a Father and having his duties as a Ref being called out on. I was waiting for that moment vs Sabre JR where Umino would of been grabbing his Father don't stop it please please especially when Sabre JR locked in that Ankle Lock/Indian Deathlock

 

[Roy Mustang]

As someone who tunes into the odd NJPW show I ain't going to claim to know a commentator but when one of them is basically reading shit that is spouted by redditors and anti-AEW grifters, yeah sorry not going to be a fan. I don't want to listen to that shit when watching a PPV. His rah rah rah NJPW stuff was fine before this: preferring the G1, saying NJPW is the best place to wrestle. But the money mark stuff and his rant during the entrance was over the top. I muted before hearing Rocky's reaction but it sounds like clearly pissed him off. Like I said, if an AEW commentator was saying that stuff about a partner, it would get ripped into.

Also Chris also make a weird joke about ELP too apparently which is probs actually worse than just being so annoying that I changed to commentary I can't understand

 

[Chris]

I loved that moment especially for Umino with Ospreay when he was in pain and how Red Shoes is conflicted as a Father and having his duties as a Ref being called out on. I was waiting for that moment vs Sabre JR where Umino would of been grabbing his Father don't stop it please please especially when Sabre JR locked in that Ankle Lock/Indian Deathlock

I thought Chris was being egregious for it to fwiw lol I think it was still Kevin not Walker at the time but Kevin was like "it was the right call shut up" lol

 

[Chris]

As someone who tunes into the odd NJPW show I ain't going to claim to know a commentator but when one of them is basically reading shit that is spouted by redditors and anti-AEW grifters, yeah sorry not going to be a fan. I don't want to listen to that shit when watching a PPV. His rah rah rah NJPW stuff was fine before this: preferring the G1, saying NJPW is the best place to wrestle. But the money mark stuff and his rant during the entrance was over the top. I muted before hearing Rocky's reaction but it sounds like clearly pissed him off. Like I said, if an AEW commentator was saying that stuff about a partner, it would get ripped into.

Also Chris also make a weird joke about ELP too apparently which is probs actually worse than just being so annoying that I changed to commentary I can't understand

Nah, I'm not asking you to like it or anything lol you're well within your right to say it's annoying but likewise I don't think that's what a lot of the IWC do in these situations, they pretend to be annoyed. You're not one of those people.

Also I do not remember an ELP joke, that would have pissed me off too probably but again that's really weird for me bc I know they're friends, ELP even asked where Chris was on Dash which resulted in Walker having to say "I'm not at liberty to discuss" which probably started the next set of questions being asked about this situation lol

 

[Roy Mustang]

Nah, I'm not asking you to like it or anything lol you're well within your right to say it's annoying but likewise I don't think that's what a lot of the IWC do in these situations, they pretend to be annoyed. You're not one of those people.

Also I do not remember an ELP joke, that would have pissed me off too probably but again that's really weird for me bc I know they're friends, ELP even asked where Chris was on Dash which resulted in Walker having to say "I'm not at liberty to discuss" which probably started the next set of questions being asked about this situation lol

OK them being friends makes that joke a lot less weird tbf

 

[Kairi HoHo]

I thought Chris was being egregious for it to fwiw lol I think it was still Kevin not Walker at the time but Kevin was like "it was the right call shut up" lol

Either way it still worked for me brother. I can totally see a moment down the road in 2025 or beyond Father and Son hugging each other when Umino wins his first Singles Title

 

[Comrade Khan]

Well I guess I never saw it as a heel turn when he's always done the NJPW homer gimmick against NOAH and AEW, and he's also done his bit criticizing refs over the top and annoyingly before.

But you would probably remember the whole Ospreay/Umino/Red Shoes ref stoppage issue, Chris was constantly jumping on Red Shoes being a bad red for Umino matches (despite it not being a real story at first dictated to him by NJPW), and it was the exact same bit as questioning why an AEW ref wouldn't stop the match to protect Gabe Kidd as he did in this match

This is what I mean when I think this is turning into an unnecessary tribal thing, which I know sounds insane to say when he literally called Tony a "money mark" bc how much more tribal can you get than that, but my God there's years worth of examples of this lol it's not a sudden shoot on AEW, but considering everyone thinks it is, I'm understanding the reaction more now. Because of this was out of nowhere, my reaction might actually be the same too. I think I had just gotten used to and tuned a lot out

Idk from me I haven't really seen aew fans flipping out at all.

And fwiw just because he's done it before doesn't not mean it was good, acceptable or unworthy of criticism.

Like i think it makes no sense to antagonize a fanbase personally but wtv. I don't think anyone else making it tribalistic puts ideas njpw fans blaming tk for being soft and ig a a tiny vocal portion of like 1 person in this thread who seekex legit angry

 

[Comrade Khan]

Like had njpw not done anything no one would even be talking about it today. I think.maybe just maybe njpw isn't happy and they think he was wrong and everyone is using that as ammo.

And it's dumb as shit because a lot of aew fans were njpw marks first. Why do they want to alienate us?

 

[Chris]

Well he's suspended two months now so clearly I'm in the minority in all of this lol I don't see why you feel alienated by NJPW if they're taking the action against Chris that you want. I feel more alienated today than yesterday when I heard the comments personally though but that's a me problem

 

[Chris]

But for an example of one really frustrating thing I saw, someone tried to say he said Zack vs Ricochet was a "speed title match" when he was quoting a line Zack said about Ricochet being speed champion. It's deemed "Chris Charlton sucks" now so they are latching onto anything they can for a new example of it

 

[Comrade Khan]

Well he's suspended two months now so clearly I'm in the minority in all of this lol I don't see why you feel alienated by NJPW if they're taking the action against Chris that you want. I feel more alienated today than yesterday when I heard the comments personally though but that's a me problem

No I just mean while I'm watching a show I don't wanna be villainized by a face commentator, it feels awkward when it's one sided.

Fwiw I don't want you to feel invalidated either and you're well withing your right to be fucking annoyed. 3 months is outrageous. I did not mean to be antagonistic towards your position either, was just trying to give my pov as a let's be honest a casual njpw watcher.

I'm hoping/guessing there's more to it than a one time incident. Sources are sparse for puro so ig we won't know if there were prior warnings. Perhaps it's heavy because both other commentators tried to veer him off and he kept at it. I dunno man.

3 months is dumb if it's just for this yikes

 

[Chris]

Two I saw, is it three? Also don't know if it's just from commentary or if it's from his translating job too, if it's the second then I will be much more angry. If it's just commentary, well again, he only does Tokyo shows anyway

 

[Chris]

And no, you guys are not doing anything to hurt me lol that's my bad if I'm conflating my annoyance with the rest of the IWC with what you guys are posting. I think your issues with Chris are very reasonable

 

[Comrade Khan]

Two I saw, is it three? Also don't know if it's just from commentary or if it's from his translating job too, if it's the second then I will be much more angry. If it's just commentary, well again, he only does Tokyo shows anyway

I prob mistyped last I had seen was indefinite so ur already ahead of me

 

[Chris]

I prob mistyped last I had seen was indefinite so ur already ahead of me

SRS said two months literally seconds before my post about it I think lol but that's the latest yeah