Even NJPW can make the dumbest decisions (AKA Post Dominion 2016 discussion)

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Lets criticise decisions such as:
Why the Young Bucks needed the IWGP JR Titles again.
Why the ladder match would make Vince Russo blush.
Why fucking Naito who was bringing in good numbers has been made look like a dumbass by the face champ who just isn't working.

Lets discuss then:
Shibata getting the belt he deserved.
How much we miss Tanahashi.

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

Haven't seen the show but I'll chime in on a few things. The JR heavyweight tag team division is incredibly stale. Mostly because they do fatal four way/triple threats for the belts like every other month. The titles are a hot potato and unfortunately the Young Bucks sell merch like crazy.

I don't keep up that closely with NJPW numbers but is Okada really not working? I actually find Tanahashi to be boring. Naito is great though. Nakamura leaving is hurting them worse then they expected I guess.

 

[Shadowmancer]

1, Because Ricochet is potentially out due to LU
2, People were happy with it after the match, therefore it was good,
3, Because Naito G1 winner later this year

4, Shibata winning against Nagata clearly finishes his storyline with the 3rd Generation it was a good passing of the torch.
5, They are leaving naming the G1 participants as late as possible by putting it during some of the Kizuna shows just to try and give Tanahashi the most time to be assessed ready for it.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Why the Young Bucks needed the IWGP JR Titles again.

Because the Bullet Club was losing all their other titles besides the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team, and this sets up a new trio to work the ELITE with Elgin, Ricochet and Sydal.

Why the ladder match would make Vince Russo blush.

Not at all. It was a havoc-filled chaos match that was meant to be the secondary draw for the card. Everyone watching that loved it in the arena and it was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing for New Japan. It needed to be crazy to set the standard high.

Why fucking Naito who was bringing in good numbers has been made look like a dumbass by the face champ who just isn't working.

Lolwut. He may not be working for you, but bar an injured Tanahashi Okada is by far the top guy in reactions and drawing power and Osaka proved that when a hot as hell Tetsuya Naito couldn't get a majority of the crowd on his side. It was 60-40 all match for Okada and Naito losing after getting cocky is meant to be a growth period so that he can get even hotter and better by winning the G1 and going to WK to face Okada again.

Shibata getting the belt he deserved.

Nobody deserves anything. The Third Generation feud was meant to get him over in the eyes of older fans and clear away the stains of his departure and outsider status. As NEVER Champion he's gonna be built up more and more as a draw and if he's not in one of the top 3 matches come WK I'll be quite surprised.

How much we miss Tanahashi.

Eh, I didn't miss him on this show but he'll be missed in tours to come. It opens up a spot for a few more guys to try and break through though, at least for a while.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Because the Bullet Club was losing all their other titles besides the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team, and this sets up a new trio to work the ELITE with Elgin, Ricochet and Sydal.

On the 3rd of July Kizuna Road event, its Sydal Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima tagging together for the NEVER 6 man tags.

 

[MrHashasheen]

On the 3rd of July Kizuna Road event, its Sydal Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima tagging together for the NEVER 6 man tags.

Mmm, I saw that today. They can still do the match during the G1 series in-between block matches, though.

 

[Shadowmancer]

I think they are going with the same format as last years one, the singles matches are all in the second half of the shows and they are all from one block and then the rest are tag matches, but I don't think they will have either The Bucks or Ricochet or Matt Sydal on the majority of the tour.