Essential Japanese Wrestling Discussion/News

[stro]

It's fukking terrible there was never Misawa/Hashimoto singles match after the seething hatred they had in tag matches.

 

[Jmare007]

Misawa/Hashimoto had too many politics behind it to really be booked as a singles. I would've been fine with a bullshyt finish like in the 80's but that wasn't gonna happen either. That was the biggest match that could've been made in the early 2000's, the two Aces from the 90's of the two biggest puro promotions going one on one in neutral territory would've drawn a legit 60k at the Dome, just imagine the type of undercard that kind of show would've had

But Misawa was just too protected to be part of dream singles matches, imo. Kobashi and Kawada could take those matches because they weren't God during the 90's. Misawa taking an L or a W was too big of a statement and too difficult to book around

And I loved Hashimoto vs Kawada. I know it's hit or miss for some people but when I rewatched it during the GWE project I still loved what I saw, specially considering the context of it all.


Hash is fukking awesome, I don't give a flying fukk what anyone else thinks. That fat b*stard was an amazing Ace - only dude I could argue was better in that role was Misawa - and had fun matches with whole bunch of different opponents: Norton, Regal, Liger, Choshu, Fujiwara, Vader, Corino, Tanaka, Yamazaki (an AMAZING feud that always gets forgotten), Mutoh, Ogawa, Sasaki, Kawada, Takada, Tenryu, Kojima.....best New Japan Heavyweight ever and better than Kobashi, top 10 Greatest Wrestler Ever
I miss him so much

 

[stro]

Oh I love Hashimoto, too. Don't get me wrong. He just had a tendency to try something weird during some of his bigger matches that didn't always land. He's definitely in my top 10 puro dudes. Over the years, Kawada's standing in my mind has gone down considerably. I now think he's the least of the 4 corners.

 

[Jmare007]

@3Rivers did you get to see Okabayashi vs Kamitani? shyt was breh.

Loved the first 12 minutes with both doing really simple stuff but in a compelling way, it didn't feel like your normal "do shyt to fill time until we get to the last 7-10". Kamitani had to fukking WORK to land anything meaningful on Okabayashi - who looked like a beast and an Ace, it warms my heart watching him evolve from puffy rookie in 2009 to this - and after the first lariat he knew he had to outsmart Yuji, who was hell bent on showing the younger punk he was going to beat the fukk out of him. shyt worked for Kamitani until Yuji just said fukk the bullshyt and began to obliterate the challenger. From then on we get to the finishing stretch that would've been LIT in Korakuen with a hotter crowd. I loved this, MOTYC. @Honga Ciganesta @The Rainmaker @Don Ibiza Ibrahimovic @Beautiful Bobby Eatin @trick should check it out, it's worth a watch even though it doesn't have the best of crowds.


The match so it doesn't get lost in the other page

 

[Beautiful Bobby Eatin]

@3Rivers did you get to see Okabayashi vs Kamitani? shyt was breh.

Loved the first 12 minutes with both doing really simple stuff but in a compelling way, it didn't feel like your normal "do shyt to fill time until we get to the last 7-10". Kamitani had to fukking WORK to land anything meaningful on Okabayashi - who looked like a beast and an Ace, it warms my heart watching him evolve from puffy rookie in 2009 to this - and after the first lariat he knew he had to outsmart Yuji, who was hell bent on showing the younger punk he was going to beat the fukk out of him. shyt worked for Kamitani until Yuji just said fukk the bullshyt and began to obliterate the challenger. From then on we get to the finishing stretch that would've been LIT in Korakuen with a hotter crowd. I loved this, MOTYC. @Honga Ciganesta @The Rainmaker @Don Ibiza Ibrahimovic @Beautiful Bobby Eatin should check it out, it's worth a watch even though it doesn't have the best of crowds.


The match so it doesn't get lost in the other page

Lit! I just got home too and am not watching RAW for obvious reasons by now. This is too perfect of timing

 

[3Rivers]

@3Rivers did you get to see Okabayashi vs Kamitani? shyt was breh.

Loved the first 12 minutes with both doing really simple stuff but in a compelling way, it didn't feel like your normal "do shyt to fill time until we get to the last 7-10". Kamitani had to fukking WORK to land anything meaningful on Okabayashi - who looked like a beast and an Ace, it warms my heart watching him evolve from puffy rookie in 2009 to this - and after the first lariat he knew he had to outsmart Yuji, who was hell bent on showing the younger punk he was going to beat the fukk out of him. shyt worked for Kamitani until Yuji just said fukk the bullshyt and began to obliterate the challenger. From then on we get to the finishing stretch that would've been LIT in Korakuen with a hotter crowd. I loved this, MOTYC. @Honga Ciganesta @The Rainmaker @Don Ibiza Ibrahimovic @Beautiful Bobby Eatin should check it out, it's worth a watch even though it doesn't have the best of crowds.


The match so it doesn't get lost in the other page

Downloaded last night after you posted. Gonna try to check it out tonight

 

[Alexander The Great]

how good is this Kenny Omega guy?

 

[Jmare007]

Sugi vs Go drew barely 1,000 at Korakuen

Maybach Taniguchi is the next challenger

And this is were New Japan is wasting Suzuki Gun

how good is this Kenny Omega guy?

He's good but too goofy to be a top level talent. It's hard as fukk being able to do the shtick Kenny does and have it contribute to his matches, and most often than not he fails at it. Still, he's an entertaining performer that adds something different to a roster.

 

[Adam3000]

how good is this Kenny Omega guy?

He could be one of the best in the world if he wanted to be. So damn good, in other words

You just hsve to weed through his goofy schtick

 

[Alexander The Great]

@Jmare007 @Adam3000 reason I ask is, I've known him for being the goofy guy who has had matches with a blow up doll and the kid.

But I follow a twitter account that always tweets out gifs from different matches(old and new) kind of breaking them down and they just tweeted out some of his stuff and I was impressed. So I was thinking the goofy antics must be whats holding him back from being a star in america

 

[Adam3000]

@Jmare007 @Adam3000 reason I ask is, I've known him for being the goofy guy who has had matches with a blow up doll and the kid.

But I follow a twitter account that always tweets out gifs from different matches(old and new) kind of breaking them down and they just tweeted out some of his stuff and I was impressed. So I was thinking the goofy antics must be whats holding him back from being a star in america

He is awful on the microphone. His ceiling in America would be NXT champ

And the only reason he could even go that high is because he is better in the ring than any of them (when he is being serious, which is unfortunately not that often)

 

[Jmare007]

@Jmare007 @Adam3000 reason I ask is, I've known him for being the goofy guy who has had matches with a blow up doll and the kid.

But I follow a twitter account that always tweets out gifs from different matches(old and new) kind of breaking them down and they just tweeted out some of his stuff and I was impressed. So I was thinking the goofy antics must be whats holding him back from being a star in america

Well, Omega isn't the same guy he was in DDT (no one is really, that promotion can be a parallel universe - in more ways than one - sometimes) fighting inanimate objects and little children. But he does have a cartoonish/goofy gimmick that no matter how you book him, he'll try to make it work, and that does interfere with his character and matches.

About those gifs. Kenny can pull off some really impressive moves but that doesn't mean he's a great wrestler. Like a lot of indy guys he tends to get lost in the "cool moves + execution = great wrestling" formula that gets old once you see it too often. He can still have some really entertaining matches and a great one if he's against the right opponent in the right situation, but he's not someone that has shown the ability to have matches with a lot of depth unless he's with someone better than him in the ring.

Now, is this what's holding him from being a star in the US? Not sure I can say that...I mean, I guess it depends on what is your definition of a star I don't think Omega is meant to be a World Champion and carry a promotion like WWE, but he can easily be a valuable piece to the roster that can have a long run in the company. And honestly, if there's one place were Kenny could improve and find the perfect balance between his shtick and a more grounded/believable character, it's WWE. But then again it doesn't seem Omega wants that kind of challenge, at least not yet, and that's fine to be honest

 

[stro]

Kenny can't even be a main eventer in NJ after NJ lost AJ, Nak, and then Tanahashi went down with an injury right after. He could be a top indie star in the US, in that he likely gets paid more than anyone on the card based on his NJ status.

 

[Jmare007]

BJW "DEATH MANIA IV", 21.08.2016
Nagoya International Conference Hall

1. Death Match: Masaya Takahashi & Takayuki Ueki vs. Ryuji Ito & Toshiyuki Sakuda
2. Ryota Hama & Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka

3. HEAVY METAL vs. BFJ: "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa & FUMA

vs. Masashi Takeda & Takumi Tsukamoto

4. Special Singles Match: Daisuke Sekmoto vs. Yoshihisa Uto
5. Handicap Match: Akebono vs. Tsutomu Oosugi & Hercules Senga w/ Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei
6. Special Tag Match: Yuji Okabayashi & Atsushi Maruyama vs. HARASHIMA

& Daichi Hashimoto
7. BJW Strong World Heavyweight Title: Hideyoshi Kamitani (c) vs. Ryuichi Kawakami
8. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title: Kankuro Hoshino (c) Abdullah Kobayashi

Interesting card

I like how Daisuke is having all these singles matches against the young guns this year

 

[Jmare007]

Any of the puro gang have the backstory or info on New Japan's 30th Anniversary show in 2002?

I was randomly watching Kobashi's return in 07' and youtube recommended a Misawa vs Chono match that I knew existed but hadn't watched in a looong ass time. So I click it and I'm immediately at the fact that it was in a Tokyo Dome show, I figured that when I saw it for the first time I had no clue about anything regarding the business of puro and didn't make a big deal out of it. So I see the match (a good interpromotional battle with the mandatory non finish to protect both legends, haven't seen Kobashi vs Chono in a long ass time either but I think that was better) and then go search for the results....holy shyt man, Misawa fukking main evented that show and to add more to it, a lot of promotions were a part of the event: Big Japan had a young lion's showcase that had Daisuke Sekimoto on it, All Japan Women had a tag match, and Shinya Hashimoto returned to New Japan tagging with Ogawa in a match called "INOKI-ism "Fighting Spirit Gruesomeness"

Man, if someone has a write up that explains the background and context on how the show was put together I would really appreciated, I'd love to know more about this

From purolove:

NJPW "TOUKON MEMORIAL DAY NEW JAPAN 30TH ANNIVERSARY", 02.05.2002 (WPW)
Tokyo Dome
57,500 Fans - Super No Vacancy

1. Big Japan "Young Warrior Seeing": Kintaro Kanemura

besiegt Daisuke Sekimoto

(8:03) mit einem Diving Senton.
2. Young Lion "New Nichihara Point": Katsuyori Shibata besiegt Wataru Inoue (6:26) mit einem Sleeper Hold.
3. 30th ANNIVERSARY "Violent Tiger Compete Fighting": Tiger Mask III (Koji Kanemoto) & Tiger Mask IV

besiegen Black Tiger & El Samurai (12:54) nach einem Tiger Suplex Hold von Tiger Mask III gegen Samurai.
4. All Japan Women's "Empress Fighting Spirit": Kaoru Ito

& Momoe Nakanishi

besiegen Manami Toyota

& Yumiko Hotta

(12:16) nach einem Reverse Momo*Latch von Nakanishi gegen Toyota.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title ~ BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. TAG "Top Decisive Battle": Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka besiegen Jado & Gedo (c) (17:44) nach einem Vertical Drop Brainbuster von Liger gegen Gedo - Titelwechsel.
6. INOKI-ism "Fighting Spirit Gruesomeness": Shinya Hashimoto

& Naoya Ogawa

besiegen Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (12:02) als Hashimoto Norton nach dem Oregotokarire pinnte.
7. STRONG STYLE "Grapple Satellite": Bas Rutten besiegt Manabu Nakanishi (6:00) mit einem Triangle Choke Hold.
8. Grapple Ideology "Fighting Spirit Conclusion": Don Frye besiegt Tadao Yasuda (1:51) mit einem Figure-Four Achilles Tendon Hold.
9. RESURRECTION "New Star Reincarnation": Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner besiegen Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Tanahashi (14:38) nach einem Steiner Screwdriver von Steiner gegen Tanahashi.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title ~ "Fighting Spirit Symbol": Yuji Nagata (c) besiegt Yoshihiro Takayama (15:36) mit einem High Kick (1st defense).
11. New Japan vs. NOAH Battle of the Century "Fighting Strong Road Dream": Masahiro Chono vs. Mitsuharu Misawa

- Time Limit Draw (30:00).