New Japan Pro Wrestling News and Card Announcements Thread

I'm pretty behind having just finished the first and second night G1 matches. Suzuki vs Omega was probably my favorite match of the bunch, Suzuki just going ballistic after Omega spits on him is so awesome. Good variety of matches, and overall just really fun so far.
 
I've had no time to post lately, and that really sucks because I'd love to talk all day about how the G1 is shaping up. Anyways, I'm caught up(at least for the next few minutes) with the tournament and thought that the least I could do is drop all my snowflake ratings thus far for anyone whose interested in that sort of thing:

Night One
Nagata/YOSHI - ****
Fale/Makabe - **1/2
Ishii/Goto - ****
Sabre/Tanahashi - ****1/4
Ibushi/Naito - ****1/2

Night Two
Kojima/Juice - ***1/2
Tonga/Elgin - ***1/4
EVIL/SANADA - ****
Okada/Yano - ***
Omega/Suzuki - ***1/2

Night Three
Nagata/Goto - ****
Makabe/Ishii - ***3/4
Ibushi/Sabre - ****1/2
Fale/Tanahashi - ***1/4
Naito/YOSHI - ***1/2

Night Four
Kojima/Yano - *3/4
Juice/EVIL - ***3/4
SANADA/Suzuki - ***1/2
Omega/Tonga - ***1/4
Elgin/Okada - ****1/2

Night Five
Sabre/YOSHI - ***1/4
Nagata/Tanahashi - ****
Naito/Fale - **1/2
Ishii/Ibushi - ****1/2
Goto/Makabe - ***1/2

Night Six

Elgin/Kojima - ***1/2
Tonga/EVIL - **3/4
Suzuki/Juice - ***1/4
Omega/Yano - ***
Okada/SANADA - ****

Night Seven
YOSHI/Ishii - ***3/4
Sabre/Fale - ***
Ibushi/Makabe - ***1/2
Naito/Nagata - ***3/4
Tanahashi/Goto - ***3/4

Night Eight
Juice/Tonga - ***1/4
SANADA/Yano - **1/4
Suzuki/EVIL - ***1/2
Okada/Kojima - ****
Omega/Elgin - ****1/2

The A Block has probably been a little stronger to this point, but the B Block has produced some incredible main events.
 
Christ I'm so behind lol. Okada vs Elgin at N4 while not MOTY, is probably my personal favorite match this year. They really had me believing that Big Mike would pull the W. damn. Ishii/Goto and Ishii/Makabe were fun too. Awesome mean guy matches, although not as good as the Ishii/Shibata matches. YOSHI-HASHI has been quite impressive so far as well

Onto N5
 
So, Tetsuya Naito defeated Kenny Omega to win G1 Climax 27. That's just a day after Kenny Omega finally defeated Kazuchika Okada in their third encounter.

Not really getting the booking behind this decision. Tetsuya Naito isn't a bad choice for sure but not the best choice as well. May be, NJPW wants to have Okada-Omega IV in USA itself.
 
That was quite simply... the greatest wrestling tournament. Truly. So many stories were told, it was deeper than any of the G1's I had seen prior. I kept up to date watching the whole time but didn't really have time to post here. I work from home now so In was watching while working. There were really so many highlights. I was entertained way more by B block throughout. I think maybe because it had newer stars. I had seen many of the A block matchups before in previous years. I just wanna go through everybody and give my thoughts:

Tanahashi: Huge respect to him for working through this whole thing with his injury. Putting over Sabre and Ibushi was tremendous. I was slightly annoyed that he was in the running to win for so long, I felt his injury should've been the perfect excuse to let him take a back seat and someone else have the spotlight. But that animosity vanished against Naito in their decision match. Yet another classic match.

Makabe: Unimpressive compared to previous years. He's a pretty big deal in Japan though so I understand his value. Props to him tapping out to Sabre, never though his ego would allow that lol

Nagata: OUTSTANDING run. Totally shocked me. Every single match of his kicked ass and he put over everyone he faced. Fale bowing to him and the crowd holding all of those Nagata sings... What a moment for a legend of a wrestler.

Ibushi: I guess him refusing to sign a contract means he was not getting as many points as he should. His matches were very varied. The Naito and Fale matches were really something. That ECW style dive from the stands... I don't really like Ibushi's new finisher though. It looks much weaker than a V Trigger.

Goto: Compared to everyone else he didn't leave much of an impression this year. A shame because I really like him. There's just so much other shit going on.

Ishii: Continues to be such a badass. He's beaten Naito twice now so I expect that to he his next feud. A Tanahashi win and IC title match would've been nice.

Yoshi: Worst guy in the tournament for me. Just incredibly... Average in all areas. He was pretty much the worst matchup for everyone. His match with Nagata was the only standout for him.

Fale: Fale is Fale. He was booked well and after murdering Daryl became a mega heel. Then bowed to Nagata. A nice arc for him. He also beat Naito to my surprise.

Zack: A VERY welcome addition. His style really is great for this tournament because his matches are so different it broke the flow nicely. However I don't want him as IC champ. Tana needs to drop the belt but I say drop that to Ibushi. Speaking of which Ibushi vs Zack was a really nice match, a CWC "what if"!

Naito: Incredibly happy for him. The perfect choice to win. The most over man in the company. He gets the biggest reactions and he sells the most merchandise. Not the most consistent in this tournament but when he delivered, did he fucking deliver. Against Ibushi, Tanahashi, Omega, all three solid gold matches. His post win promo talking about his 2013 G1 win was great, about how it wasn't really "him". Now he can finally main even Wrestle Kingdom. A main event that was stolen from him 4 years prior. A phenomenal story.

Kojima: People seem to think he's slowed down due to age, but I believe it was deliberate. His story of being a veteran whose time is coming was great. He showed flashes of his true self. I think in the next couple of years he'll to out just like Nagata did.

Elgin: Tremendous in this tournament. Okada, Omega, Suzuki, he did well against all of them. But also lost to Tonga and Yano in hilarious fashion. He can really go anywhere on the card.

Juice: Probably the beat pure babyface going now. He's adored and his struggle was great to watch, from his injury to the squash against Suzuki, to the great post match promos, to the surprise win over Omega. HUGE pop for that. Then he beats Elgin in a great match that was completely overshadowed... Comparing him to his Wrestle Kingdom 11 self, he has improved a hell of a lot.

Okada: Great fucking run. Every single match delivered. He basically played a heel for this entire tournament. Beating on Kojima, th Tenzan whonwasnt even in the match! He could've easily gone undefeated and his super cockiness going crazy in his entrances was hilarious to see. His post match promos were savage "I'm just too strong, I'm sorry!!" Then losing to Evil was superb. Twice the pride, double the fall as Could Dooku once said. Oh and of course ANOTHER classic with Omega finally losing to him.

Yano: Really impressed me this year. I was sick of him but his matches were incredibly creative and memorable. Sanada, Okada, Elgin, Omega and that fucking Suzuki match. They were all hilarious.

Omega: Yet again an excellent showcase of what a brilliant all around talent Omega is. From Suzuki, to the BC civil war, to hilarious comedy with Yano, to finally pinning Okada... To an epic finale with Naito. Outstanding. If he had won, I would've been absolutely fine. But he is not the hero in this story. Not in this one. But I think he will have the belt in 2018. I think he will beat Naito to get it. Until then I think he should defend, then drop the US belt to Elgin/Juice then feud with Ibushi for the IC.

Tama: The only weak link in B block. Never liked him but I think I'm slowly starting to. He had good performances. The mid match promo against Kenny was brutal! Also I really liked the Suzuki match, spending 90% of the match in the crowd was a refreshing change.

Suzuki: Badass. An all around excellent performer. I wonder when he will retire. I can't believe he can go at such a level at his age. I think that's why he utilises interference so much now. Would love an Elgin feud.

Sanada: Solid, but a teeny bit disappointing. First, his new entrance attire is awful. Why did he get rid of the old mask, the jacket, the baseball bat, that was a perfect look. Still, in ring he was fine. I think they wanted then focus on Evil this time.

Evil: Improved so much. He's not doing that silly chair spot as much now, he feels a lot less "scripted" as a performer. Beating Okada was great. Getting knocked out legit by Omega and getting through this tourney is very impressive.

I honestly can't decide on an MVP for B block.

I've typed way too much... And this will probably be my last post here. These forums are dead, and barely anyone here gives a shit about New Japan. Tragic. The WWE has nothing on this product. Summerslam will not touch the level of quality these last few shows had, guaranteed. I didn't even get into Shibata's emotional return, or the great tag title matches. Ah well, probably less than a dozen people are reading anyway. Farewell.
 
Just watched Kenny Omega's United States Championship defense against Juice Robinson. Really liked the match a lot. I never knew that Juice is this good. I wonder if he ever got an opportunity to showcase it in NXT. But he's actually a good wrestler as proven by his performances until now. Don't really get why this name but I am surely impressed. Just wondering who will dethrone Omega. Tanahashi? Or you could actually do Cody Vs. Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom for both the titles.
 
If New Japan intends to continue its slow expansion into the United States, then I think they should try to keep the US title on Omega for a while. Omega has been the most high profile Caucasian wrestler outside of WWE in 2017 and, frankly, I think more American fans will respond to an American as US Champion at such a stage than a Japanese wrestler. If ROH is helping with said expansion, then having matches like Omega vs. Tanahashi at one of their marquee shows could be a big deal as Tanahashi is someone who'd prove a worthy challenger, someone who can give Omega a strong match, lose and not lose face from the loss considering how long he was the top dog in New Japan.

A lot depends on what Omega's ultimate plans are. Omega wants to be IWGP Heavyweight Champion and if that's something he feels may not be in the cards, then he might pursue other options. I could see Omega spending much of next year helping New Japan establish more of a foothold in the United States, dropping the title to someone, then resume his pursuit of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship that culminates in a win at one of the bigger shows, possibly Wrestle Kingdom in 2019.
 
If New Japan intends to continue its slow expansion into the United States, then I think they should try to keep the US title on Omega for a while. Omega has been the most high profile Caucasian wrestler outside of WWE in 2017 and, frankly, I think more American fans will respond to an American as US Champion at such a stage than a Japanese wrestler. If ROH is helping with said expansion, then having matches like Omega vs. Tanahashi at one of their marquee shows could be a big deal as Tanahashi is someone who'd prove a worthy challenger, someone who can give Omega a strong match, lose and not lose face from the loss considering how long he was the top dog in New Japan.

A lot depends on what Omega's ultimate plans are. Omega wants to be IWGP Heavyweight Champion and if that's something he feels may not be in the cards, then he might pursue other options. I could see Omega spending much of next year helping New Japan establish more of a foothold in the United States, dropping the title to someone, then resume his pursuit of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship that culminates in a win at one of the bigger shows, possibly Wrestle Kingdom in 2019.
I agree that Kenny Omega would be more apt for the American audience as United States Champion.

About his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship pursuit, I don't know why but I feel that NJPW wants him to win the title in USA itself. Probably next year at a big PPV. It would surely help NJPW to grow its fan following in USA.
 
I'm still guessing it'll be Ibushi challenging Omega for the title at Wrestle Kingdom. They teased it before the G1, and teased it some more after Omega lost the finals, so I can easily see them going with it.

Speaking of Wrestle Kingdom, tickets are now on sale. Got my flight and hostel booked, but the site they're using for gaijin to book WK tickets doesn't include Arena A or Royal Seat tickets, so I'm holding off on getting those. I'll probably get one of my friends in Tokyo to pick me up one of those.
 
I'm still guessing it'll be Ibushi challenging Omega for the title at Wrestle Kingdom. They teased it before the G1, and teased it some more after Omega lost the finals, so I can easily see them going with it.

Speaking of Wrestle Kingdom, tickets are now on sale. Got my flight and hostel booked, but the site they're using for gaijin to book WK tickets doesn't include Arena A or Royal Seat tickets, so I'm holding off on getting those. I'll probably get one of my friends in Tokyo to pick me up one of those.
Have Omega and Ibushi faced each other before? Nonetheless, that match would be surely good since both of them are very good wrestlers. I wonder who Hiroshi Tanahashi for InterContinental Championship. Naito is locked with Okada. I don't know why but Cody Vs. Omega could also take place, I guess.

Best Of Luck for your journey. Enjoy Wrestle Kingdom. And do share how it went live.
 
They've faced off numerous times in DDT, but this would be their first singles match in New Japan. They were both in the BOSJ tournament a couple times, but always in separate blocks, and they teased it during the 2015 IWGP title match between Ibushi and Styles, but nothing came of it.
 
They've faced off numerous times in DDT, but this would be their first singles match in New Japan. They were both in the BOSJ tournament a couple times, but always in separate blocks, and they teased it during the 2015 IWGP title match between Ibushi and Styles, but nothing came of it.
Aha. Now I think that Ibushi might be facing Hiroshi Tanahashi for the InterContinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom. NJPW has been teasing this match a lot. Even more than Omega Vs. Ibushi. I don't know who faces Omega then. Cody could but that would require him or Omega out of Bullet Club which I don't see anytime soon.
 
Ibushi is already challenging Tanahashi for the Intercontinental title at Power Struggle next week. I imagine that'll be a one and done and then Ibushi will move on to Omega.

Unless he wins the belt. Then its completely up in the air
 
And Omega/Ibushi isn't happening for sure. Tanahashi is facing Jay White. Naito with Okada. Scurll against Ospreay, Takahashi and Kushida. Omega with JERICHO of all people. Don't know where Ibushi goes now.

Wrestle Kingdom looks already stacked with these 4 big title fights!
 
Holy shit Omega vs Jericho is actually happening!

I don’t know much about Jay White other than he had a pretty cool match against Ospreay a few months ago. Bucks vs RPG3K should be super fun, as should the four way and Naito and Okada will tear the house down.

Hopefully we get Suzuki and Ishii in the mean guy match of the show
 
Omega vs. Jericho, in all honesty, feels like a major step down in some ways for Omega. True, you've got the novelty of Chris Jericho wrestling for New Japan for the first time since he was a kid but aside from that, it's ultimately Chris Jericho doing what he's been doing in WWE for much of this decade in WWE: putting over a young star with a lot of buzz at one of the biggest shows, if not THE biggest show, of the year.

Also, to me, it really, really just seems that Omega has been spinning his wheels since he won the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship as his title feuds have been/are all against guys that you know for about 99.99% have no shot of beating him, one of the complaints you'll see lobbed at WWE from time to time; first it was Juice Robinson, then it was Yoshi-Hashi, then it was Baretta and Jericho is next. Don't get me wrong, I've little doubt it'll be an entertaining match but I also see this as something that'll be pretty heavily overrated when it's all said and done
 
Omega vs. Jericho, in all honesty, feels like a major step down in some ways for Omega. True, you've got the novelty of Chris Jericho wrestling for New Japan for the first time since he was a kid but aside from that, it's ultimately Chris Jericho doing what he's been doing in WWE for much of this decade in WWE: putting over a young star with a lot of buzz at one of the biggest shows, if not THE biggest show, of the year.

Also, to me, it really, really just seems that Omega has been spinning his wheels since he won the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship as his title feuds have been/are all against guys that you know for about 99.99% have no shot of beating him, one of the complaints you'll see lobbed at WWE from time to time; first it was Juice Robinson, then it was Yoshi-Hashi, then it was Baretta and Jericho is next. Don't get me wrong, I've little doubt it'll be an entertaining match but I also see this as something that'll be pretty heavily overrated when it's all said and done

It definately is a step down for Omega, regarding Omega's career as a singles star. Obivously, Okada is a bigger deal than Jericho since he's the NJPW champion, BUT, Chris Jericho is just way more popular. At the end of the day, popularity is what makes a superstar the superstar that he is.

Chris Jericho vs the guy that has put two-three 6+ star matches sells. It is a right step for Omega and a right step for NJPW. As for Chris? Who knows. He doesn't really need anything at this stage of his career, other than to wrestle and him versus Omega is a bigger match than any match Jericho could've had in the WWE right now.

The spotlight falls on everybody: Jericho, Omega and the promotion as well. How can this be anything else than good?
 
I don't really follow New Japan, but this is a good move for the company and Omega in my mind. Jericho isn't a Rock or even a Batista, but he has some name value in the mainstream and that will get people talking about Omega as a competitor and New Japan as a company. It may be a step down in terms of fighting New Japan's elite like Kenny should be doing, but it will only help his career in the long run. This will probably be a very solid twenty minute affair and while I doubt it will be a classic, it will get Omega and New Japan more mainstream exposure than any Omega/Okada "6 Star Classic" ever could.
 
It definately is a step down for Omega, regarding Omega's career as a singles star. Obivously, Okada is a bigger deal than Jericho since he's the NJPW champion, BUT, Chris Jericho is just way more popular. At the end of the day, popularity is what makes a superstar the superstar that he is.

Chris Jericho vs the guy that has put two-three 6+ star matches sells. It is a right step for Omega and a right step for NJPW. As for Chris? Who knows. He doesn't really need anything at this stage of his career, other than to wrestle and him versus Omega is a bigger match than any match Jericho could've had in the WWE right now.

The spotlight falls on everybody: Jericho, Omega and the promotion as well. How can this be anything else than good?

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea for New Japan. They want to expand in America and they're going about it in a smart way. For instance, Jericho wrestling is bound to get some people who've never ordered a New Japan show to do so and their next show in the US is going to be the weekend before WrestleMania. Unlike TNA back in the day, New Japan is trying to, metaphorically speaking, walk before they can run and what I mean by that is they're not trying to do anything to even remotely suggest they're going to go head to head against WWE. When it comes to WWE, they're better off not even trying to compete as it's just too soon and a LOT of format changes would have to go down.

It's just that for me, as a fan, this match just doesn't really do much for me and I suppose one reason is because I'm just so used to seeing Jericho in this spot in WWE that seeing it again in another promotion just doesn't get me excited.
 
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea for New Japan. They want to expand in America and they're going about it in a smart way. For instance, Jericho wrestling is bound to get some people who've never ordered a New Japan show to do so and their next show in the US is going to be the weekend before WrestleMania. Unlike TNA back in the day, New Japan is trying to, metaphorically speaking, walk before they can run and what I mean by that is they're not trying to do anything to even remotely suggest they're going to go head to head against WWE. When it comes to WWE, they're better off not even trying to compete as it's just too soon and a LOT of format changes would have to go down.

It's just that for me, as a fan, this match just doesn't really do much for me and I suppose one reason is because I'm just so used to seeing Jericho in this spot in WWE that seeing it again in another promotion just doesn't get me excited.

Oh I see.. From my point of view, I'm actually interested, because I'd like to see how Chris would wrestle out of the WWE. Don't get me wrong, Jericho is a great wrestler, but of course his work rate in the ring has decreased in the last years. I'd like to see if Jericho is holding anything back, that he has not shown inside a WWE ring.

Omega is obviosuly going to win. But I'm interesting to see how good this match will turn out to be.
 
Finally got my WK ticket. I was going to hold off until I was in Tokyo, but Kidani tweeted out about tickets selling out faster than any other WK to date thanks to easier access for gaijin to book, so I bit the bullet and grabbed the best ticket available and got a 1F Standing ticket. Slightly worse off than last year since I won't have a seat, but luckily for me I typically work 10 hour days in a kitchen, so being on my feet for the entirety of the show should be a breeze.
 
Final Wrestle Kingdom card is up, sans the NJR participants.

1) New Japan Rumble: Participants TBA
2) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles: Roppongi 3K (c) v The Young Bucks
3) NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Titles Gauntlet Match: Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa) (c) v CHAOS (Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) v Michael Elgin and War Machine v Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Takashi Iizuka and Zack Sabre Jr) v Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe and Ryusuke Taguchi)
4) Special Singles Match: Cody v Kota Ibushi
5) IWGP Tag Team Titles: Killer Elite Squad (c) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL and SANADA)
6) NEVER Openweight Title No Seconds Match where the loser gets their head shaved: Minoru Suzuki (c) v Hirooki Goto
7) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Fatal Four Way: Marty Scurll (c) v Hiromu Takahashi v Will Ospreay v KUSHIDA
8) IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v "Switchblade" Jay White
9) IWGP United States Title No Disqualification Match: Kenny Omega (c) v Chris Jericho
10) IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) v Tetsuya Naito

Not a single bad looking match on the card. Only one I'm not really interested in is the 6-Man Tag title gauntlet, but that's only because of the non-existent build, while the match itself will be acceptable quality at the very least. Everything else has gotten solid build and should deliver well on match quality.

My flight leaves in a little under 24 hours, so this will probably be my last post here until I get back from Tokyo on the 12th. Enjoy the show all.
 
Here's the card for the New Japan Cup finals:

Shota Umino vs Tetsuhiro Yagi

Tomoyuki Oka vs Taichi

Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin & Toa Henare vs Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Tanga Loa

Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi vs Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka,
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado

Kazuchika Okada & Chuckie T vs Kota Ibushi & Chase Owens

New Japan Cup Finals Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr.

Looks like mostly a one match card, with the only other intrigue being what could be a fun semi-main tag(Ibushi and Chase have looked good together on the tour), continued build toward a Naito/Suzuki showdown, and a sooner than expected match-up between KES and Ishii/YTR with both teams being built recently toward possible title shots.

As for the cup finals, I could legitimately see it going either way. Conventional wisdom would've dictated Okada having another successful title defense(the one that would tie Tana's record for a single reign) prior to facing Tana in the match that would potentially break the record; however, seeing as Tana's program with Suzuki has been put temporarily on hold and replaced by the aforementioned tension between Naito and Minoru, and with past tensions seeming to be reignited between the company's two aces on this tour, it would appear that it is now ripe for the Tanahashi versus Okada defense to occur at Sakura Genesis with Tana looking to preserve his record proper.

Then again, flying in the face of all of those observations, ZSJ has been booked as a killer here and would be a believable choice to win this whole thing and be pegged as the man to provide the record tying defense for Okada(with the hopes that a Naito/Suzuki double main at Sakura Genesis is enough to make up for a lower name value opponent for the IWGP champ than the cup has provided in recent years).

My pick goes to Tanahashi, strictly due to how I've seen the stories play out during the tour.

As for the tournament itself, it's been awesome, with the matches having more a G1 feel than recent iterations of this tournament. ZSJ has been the MVP thus far, but Juice, Tana, Ibushi, and YOSHI-HASHI all deserve their share of the credit as well.

I'll rank all 14 matches of the tournament thus far(for anyone with the time and desire to cherry pick tourney matches):

1) Ibushi vs ZSJ
2) Tana vs Juice
3) Ibushi vs YOSHI-HASHI
4) Elgin vs Ishii
5) Naito vs ZSJ
6) SANADA vs ZSJ
7) Elgin vs Juice
8) Juice vs Yujiro
9) SANADA vs Yano
10) Tana vs Fale
11) SANADA vs Chuckie T
12) Tana vs Taichi
13) Fale vs Archer
14) Yano vs DBS Jr.

I've seen many suggest that the Ibushi and Sabre match is a MOTYC, while still others preferred the Tana/Juice match over it. Both were truly great. Also YOSHI-HASHI continued a bounce back year with one of his personal best matches ever, and Elgin/Ishii predictably had an awesome hoss battle. One last note- the Smith Jr. match is about the worst example of a Yano match, while conversely SANADA makes for an awesome opponent for Yano and their match was one of the better Yano singles matches that you will find these days.
 
Warm beer at the presser or not, Sabre made the same pretzel out of the Ace that he made out of the rest of the field, furthering proving why I should know better than to try and get a handle on where Gedo is going to go next with the booking.

Congrats to the second ever Gaijin, and first ever British, New Japan Cup champion Zack Sabre Jr.

ZSJ was no question the star of this tour, and he more than earned this nod. The Sakura Genesis main event is super intriguing now, even if the outcome is mostly a foregone conclusion. The freshness of the pairing(ZSJ and Okada have never shared the same ring), combined with the uniqueness that Zack will create compared to other Okada defenses, makes for something worthy of high anticipation.

The final itself was a four and a half star effort from me, and I'd say that it surpassed the Tana/Juice semi as Tana's best match, and the overall second best match, of the entire tournament. This thing went 35 minutes, but never dragged or stalled, and the pace was spectacularly worked by two masters, and the crowd was eating from their palms. Just borderline perfect stuff.

New Japan Cup 2018 can be argued as the best iteration of this tournament. No one is touching New Japan right now... Now bring the fuck on Strong Style Evolved!!
 

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