Essential Japanese Wrestling Discussion/News

[Jmare007]

How did a guy like Juice Robinson get a NJPW contract then? He's not a big star.

Read the last part of his post "Only chance those dudes have of a NJ roster spot is if they're mans with someone that has pull, like Naito bringing Sanada in". Robinson probably got a shot thanks to connections through WWE/NXT.

 

[Scottie Drippin]

How did a guy like Juice Robinson get a NJPW contract then? He's not a big star.

I can't remember if it was Johnny Ace or Albert that called in a favor to get him a trial, I think it was Ace. And to be clear, it's not the same for gaijin getting in NJPW versus homegrown talent, especially veterans from smaller promotions.

Though even then, most gaijin in NJPW, you can track their signing back to a gaijin already there selling them to management.

 

[Jmare007]

It's crazy how being on US TV still has pull in Japan.

 

[Apex]

@Don Ibiza Ibrahimovic What companies do you watch in total (both puro and others)? I always wonder how much puro you guys watched other than NJPW.

 

[Scottie Drippin]

@Don Ibiza Ibrahimovic What companies do you watch in total (both puro and others)? I always wonder how much puro you guys watched other than NJPW.

DDT and BJW mostly, used to love Dragon Gate but I've lost interest over the years, but still watch some stuff here and there as they have there moments. AJPW haven't followed heavy since the Kojima days (aside from Jun and Kenny's title runs over there, and anytime Team 246 was in action, or Strong BJ's campaign) but every once in a while something from over there will be buzzing and I'll check it. Same for NOAH. One of my homegirls is big on joshi so she points me to anything from STARDOM that's can't miss.

As far as other stuff goes, everything PWG, anything that's got people talking from LU, Evolve, Beyond, RPW, or Progress. And atleast once a year, something from Mexico will have the innanets going crazy so I'll check that.

 

[Apex]

DDT and BJW mostly, used to love Dragon Gate but I've lost interest over the years, but still watch some stuff here and there as they have there moments. AJPW haven't followed heavy since the Kojima days (aside from Jun and Kenny's title runs over there, and anytime Team 246 was in action, or Strong BJ's campaign) but every once in a while something from over there will be buzzing and I'll check it. Same for NOAH. One of my homegirls is big on joshi so she points me to anything from STARDOM that's can't miss.

As far as other stuff goes, everything PWG, anything that's got people talking from LU, Evolve, Beyond, RPW, or Progress. And atleast once a year, something from Mexico will have the innanets going crazy so I'll check that.

Where do you find out what "people are talking about"?

 

[Scottie Drippin]

Where do you find out what "people are talking about"?

Been on the internet talking about wrestling since I was like 12/13. There's a handful of people I've known over the years who's opinions sit with mine, who all watch different things, parts of different communities, so when something we come across is piff we share it with the others.

But honestly? Just clock this thread. @Jmare007 and I talk about stuff other than NJ that we're peeping all the time. I'm sure I'm leaving out a few other brehs

 

[Jmare007]

Daisuke Sekimoto (c) vs. Hideki Suzuki - BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship 3/5/2017

If you are gonna do a long back and forth match, THIS is how I want it to be. There's no control section, there's a lot of moves (though not a huge amount) and there's spotty selling, BUT almost everything felt earned. The struggle for control in this match was fukking awesome and I loved it, each guy had to either battle like crazy or outsmart the other to hit a big move or pull off a submission, even the reversals felt like a legit struggle to gain the upper hand instead of choreographed bullshyt (loved the little things they did, specially in the beginning, like Suzuki getting out of the test of strength, Sekimoto waiting for the right time to lock in the Boston Crab).
Suzuki was very impressive in this, his focus on outsmarting Daisuke's with headlocks, sleepers and submissions was compelling as fukk to see. I also loved how he avoided getting german suplexed like it was the plague. The only criticism I have for him is that he can't emote for shyt , so every time he no sold it looked like he was just shrugging shyt off to get to the next sequence instead of showing fighting spirit or resilience.
I was curious about this match because Daisuke tends to get worse the longer the match is, and considering it was for his title I thought this was going to be a lot of filler with a big ending sequence. But not at all, this was focused Sekimoto instead of "ram against your opponent 100 times as fast as possible" Sekimoto and it worked for the kind of match they were going for. The times he no sold or went full speed felt more like desperation attempts to regain control or to spot Suzuki's momentum than just crashing against his opponent to get a pop.
It did surprise me how Korakuen never really came unglued. They were really into both of them, they popped for real simple stuff but didn't really buy the nearfalls, it was like they expected the result from the get go and were just enjoying the ride. I hope they are hyped for the rematch later this month and I really hope Sekimoto and Suzuki do something similar to this with a better final sequence to get a real winner.

I'm sure not everyone is gonna love this as much as I did, but it sure as hell worth the watch.

 

[Scottie Drippin]

Daisuke Sekimoto (c) vs. Hideki Suzuki - BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship 3/5/2017

I think a reason K-Hall wouldn't have blown up from this is just off the strength of not buying a Z1/W1 guy as actually winning the belt off of Dice-K, especially a guy like Hideki who doesn't really have that reputation has a travelling world beater/title winner yet, even though he has won the belt in the aforementioned companies.

If it was Masa Funaki for instance, they probably would have been losing their shyt. Plus once it goes 25, you pretty much know that draw is on it's way. The time-limit broadway is such a fine art. After a while, most everyone knows its coming, so now it's up to the wrestlers to have provided, and continue to provide a spectacle so captivating you continue to respond to it even though you know there will be no conclusion. Takes all the right ingredients.

I don't think they had them for this deal.

 

[Jmare007]

I agree that padt the 25 minute mark and the announcer reveals there's 5 minutes left the crowd kinda knows what's gonna hsppen. But they were trading good nearfalls and submissions before that, for a crowd that seemed into the matchup it felt kinda weird, specially because it's Korakuen.

It's true about Suzuki not being perceived as a real threat, but then again they did sell out the building with that main event and they were ibto Hideo. It just felt weird but K-Hall.

 

[The Rainmaker]

DDT announced they were going to the Tokyo Dome






















but it is going to be a "Street wrestling" event, so it's going to be outside

 

[Jmare007]

The most important thing is that they drew 10k in Saitama

And the right man won the title

 

[Jmare007]

Hey breh, @TrueEpic08 it turned out we were both wrong

You thought Shibata was going to be punished for being exposed as a cheater, I thought nothing was going to happen and he ended up getting a push

 

[stro]

Shibata is finally gonna beat Okada's ass?

What's Naito been up to since WK?

 

[Adam3000]

The way Okada has been taking beatings since after G1, he is gonna end up being put on a stretcher while still clutching Shibatas wrist. Then rainmaker him from the stretcher, 1 2 3