Essential Japanese Wrestling Discussion/News

Shaq

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I feel like the mole will be Mikey Nichols...unless that storyline got dropped
 

Ill Lou Malnati

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I feel like the mole will be Mikey Nichols...unless that storyline got dropped
Nah, doesn't add up because Jay straight up said "I have a mole in Chaos" right after he turned on the group and joined BC. When was that? September or October?

I could see Rocky Romero being the mole. Dude's an annoying little shyt and would fit in well with BC. He talks on commentary as if he's the real power broker in Chaos and when on commentary whenever Jay or Gedo would go after Okada, he'd just sit there like "aw man, that's not right... c'mon, Jay!" He didn't seem like he was really about that action.

I think Goto would be a good turn, too.

I haven't heard the English commentators mention the mole in months. Not sure if it's been legit forgotten, dropped, or it's just a really slow burn they want in the back of everyone's mind.
 

Legal

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Nah, doesn't add up because Jay straight up said "I have a mole in Chaos" right after he turned on the group and joined BC. When was that? September or October?

I could see Rocky Romero being the mole. Dude's an annoying little shyt and would fit in well with BC. He talks on commentary as if he's the real power broker in Chaos and when on commentary whenever Jay or Gedo would go after Okada, he'd just sit there like "aw man, that's not right... c'mon, Jay!" He didn't seem like he was really about that action.

I think Goto would be a good turn, too.

I haven't heard the English commentators mention the mole in months. Not sure if it's been legit forgotten, dropped, or it's just a really slow burn they want in the back of everyone's mind.

At this point, it makes the most sense for it to be Goto. It would give BC a solid mid to upper card guy other than Jay White that could be taken seriously. Also, I've been told that Goto joined Chaos after he couldn't beat Okada for the title and he gave him the lil bro treatment.
 

The Rainmaker

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Mr. Yamaguchi, KAIENTAI's manager, passed away. Meltzer wrote:

Yusuke "Wally" Yamaguchi, who was a former WWF manager of Kai En Tai but was a major figure in the Japanese pro wrestling business, passed away after a lengthy illness.

Yamaguchi was 60. He had suffered a serious stroke in 2017.

Yamaguchi, who grew up as one of the leaders of the Mil Mascaras Fan Club, ended up being a major player during the heyday of Japanese pro wrestling magazines, and one of the driving forces and faces of Gong Magazine, a weekly color magazine that had a huge circulation in the 80s and 90s before the bottom fell out of the Japanese magazine business.

He also had a hand in starting FMW, and was a key figure early in the career of New Japan booker Gedo. He was also, in the 80s, very close with the Baba family and All Japan Pro Wrestling until his being involved with independent promotions in Japan changed that relationship.

Yamaguchi had a ring in his house that many younger wrestlers trained at, and had tons of rare wrestling memorabilia.

On a personal note, he was a good friend of mine, and I stayed in his home on several trips to Japan during the 80s and 90s.

Yamaguchi was a key player in the Japanese coverage of wrestling in the Observer during that period and was very close with virtually every major star that came from the United States because he spoke perfect English and part of his role with the magazine and different companies was to make sure American talent's tours were as much fun as possible.

He later worked as the liaison for Japan for WWF, and also as part of putting the deal together to bring in the Kai En Tai group, which was a stable in Michinoku Pro Wrestling that were brought to the WWF from 1998 to 2001. His most memorable role was "choppy choppy pee pee" with the idea they were going to chop off the genitals of Val Venis, who in the storyline, was sleeping with Yamaguchi-san's storyline wife.

He is the older brother of current WWF announcer Shun Yamaguchi. Shun was a photographer working in the U.S. for his brother's magazine at the time, often at ringside at major shows for almost every promotion.
 

EL REY

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:picard: ...my goodness

8rEZN9U.gif
 

Jmare007

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Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shota Umino - New Japan Cup, day 3

Veteran Tana is just :banderas: he did everything in his power to make Shota look like a million bucks and the kid of course took full advantage of it. He still needs polishing but he's clearly their best prospect since Okada. Too bad New Japan doesn't have an interpromotional feud to give Umino a few showcases like Okada had against NOAH in 2009, in any case, he needs to get a G1 spot and then sent on excursion, he's clearly ready for the next step. Story of the match is the typical veteran vs promising star match, they make simple stuff matter and every move Shota hits is treated like a big deal - as it should - crowd was really behind him and we even got an awesome nearfall and a little bit of drama. Good match :obama:

BTW, I hope Tana transitions into grumpy-a$$hole Tana in the next 2 years :feedme:

Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - New Japan Cup, day 3

We already know how insane these two are against each other, add the fact that the story of the match was "Naito tries to break Ibushi's neck and Kota tries his best to survive" and you are in for a :demonic: type of match. First 12 minute or so are OK, Naito's work on the neck was good enough and the hope spots were cool, crowd wasn't very into it though. Last third of the match it kicks up like every New Japan main event. Strike exchanges were dope and there were some cool nearfalls, crowd came alive too.

D1R16RYUYAEp1gp.jpg:large


The reborn Noah Reborn

Kenoh and Kiyamiya will team up for the tag league but they are clearly building them up as the next two top stars. The announced big shows for September in Osaka and November at Sumo Hall. Weirdly though, Kenoh surveyed the crowd to get a "Budokan" chant going :patrice:

No KENTA news yet.

No one can be disappointed in Gedo not pushing Naito if Naito has a broken neck and can't wrestle at all

:what: He didn't even risk much in the Ibushi match. Kota was the one that nearly died like 4 times :dead:
 
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TOAD99

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Naito nearly murdered Ibushi like 3 times:damn:

I need to see Ibushi as heavyweight champ at least once :wow:

I think Shota Umino is the future :ohhh: good match with Tana :ehh: for a second I thought we were getting the upset. Tana made him look like a million bucks
 
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