Puro fans, UNITE!
- Thread starter Remix
- Start date
The Dragon Saga
Whale in a Teardrop
Stipulation has been added to Devitt vs. Taguchi at Invasion Attack.
If Devitt loses, he must leave NJPW. Looks like we'll find out on the day of WrestleMania if Prince Devitt is WWE bound.
If Devitt loses, he must leave NJPW. Looks like we'll find out on the day of WrestleMania if Prince Devitt is WWE bound.
Hey guys! So, here's how I wound up here:
I saw a few guys from Wrestle-1 on TNA and Sanada and Muta were really fun to watch.
Also, I've seen pics of Okada and Nakamura, but they aren't from the big companies I've also heard of like NOAH and AJPW.
Then there are names like Inoki, Giant Baba, Misawa and tons of American guys who couldn't cut it in the US who I had to google to know who the fuck they are/were when first I read about them.
I'm just assuming most wrestling that gets broadcast in Japan is puro, right? Not trying to be jingoist, so correct me if I'm wrong.
I'll admit that at first I dismissed puro, because English is already not my first language and if I didn't know what's going on and who's who (at least I know how Kobashi looks like), how am I going to get the stories and stuff. But then I heard there ARE no storylines...
So, let's say I want to catch up with this and give it a try, what would be a good old-school place to start? What would be like a Japanese version of NWA?
I saw a few guys from Wrestle-1 on TNA and Sanada and Muta were really fun to watch.
Also, I've seen pics of Okada and Nakamura, but they aren't from the big companies I've also heard of like NOAH and AJPW.
Then there are names like Inoki, Giant Baba, Misawa and tons of American guys who couldn't cut it in the US who I had to google to know who the fuck they are/were when first I read about them.
I'm just assuming most wrestling that gets broadcast in Japan is puro, right? Not trying to be jingoist, so correct me if I'm wrong.
I'll admit that at first I dismissed puro, because English is already not my first language and if I didn't know what's going on and who's who (at least I know how Kobashi looks like), how am I going to get the stories and stuff. But then I heard there ARE no storylines...
So, let's say I want to catch up with this and give it a try, what would be a good old-school place to start? What would be like a Japanese version of NWA?
MrHashasheen
Enjoying Wrestling
No, they're from NJPW, the biggest company in Japan.
Puro's japanese for pro wrestling. There's puro puro (people's conception of Japanese wrestling, which is hard-hitting and either goes for story-telling or realism), then there's lucha-resu (Mexican/Japanese) and then there's the comedy puro stuff where wrestlers father full-grown sons and blow-up dolls and ladders are company champions.
There are stories and characters, it's just a lot different than western wrestling. For the most part, consider it sort of like an actual sport in that the wrestling itself is the primary motivation which in turn fuels a lot of the stories. You'll get your arrogant superstars, your playboys, your degenerates, your babyface heroes, your raging bulls, etc... Those characters plus the wrestling itself and the history they build from the wrestling is what builds the stories.
For example, let's say you've got a stable of foreign wrestlers in a Japanese company. If they're not running with a gimmicky gimmick like Redrum or whatever, they'll usually be doing something simple like bikers or rock'n rollers or thugs or whatever. They'll have a bit of an anti-puro bent to them, mocking Japanese wrestlers and saying they're better. That'll draw in any natural babyface natives into conflict with them, which'll run on the tour shows most Japanese companies do. They might just keep it on the tours or keep it up till one of the big shows they run, but otherwise they'll just keep building story onto it until it ends. Maybe one of the foreigners is a hoss who just cheats and bullies, and that pisses off one of the local Japanese heavyweights who buts heads with him in a slugging match. Or a never-say-die local decides to step up, and show his fighting spirit against this arrogant gaijin! And so on and so forth.
The thing with Japanese wrestling is that things tend to run on tours, which gives them a better way to kickstart and end things like feuds, time off for the stars and the guys they import from the US or elsewhere and means that the majority of their focus is on the week-to-week stuff rather than trying to build to a PPV every month. It gives the stories more life and naturalness, but if you're trying to jump in to any one show when you don't know the language, you're bound not to really give a shit.
AJPW has had something on a recognisable history in crossing over with the NWA, and you'll see a lot of American wrestlers like Vader, Ted DiBiase, Stan Hansen, Steve Williams, Terry Gordy, etc... show up on their older shows (80s/90s). Early 00s is better off for NOAH since AJPW were gutted by their walkout and NJPW had an MMA craze for a few years, pushing those two into a working agreement that showed off a lot of crossover matches. But if you're looking for something modern, NJPW is setting the world on fire with a lot of good matches and performers. Definite second worldwide behind WWE, and a lot of their stars are coming over to ROH in the next couple of months for a pair of shows.
I agree with what MrHashasheen said pretty much.
Dirk: you can find out what the stories are with some creative internetting as there are plenty of English language reviews of NJPW events. I'd recommend getting on board with the new New Japan event INVASION ATTACK, which is this Sunday. I don't know where you are based in the world but it's on at the other end of the day to Wrestlemania, so they don't clash. It will also be on video streaming sites to watch. But I didn't tell you that.
I'm going to quickly run through the card and tell you in brief the story of each match. From there you can pick it up, I think. As above, stories are more 'in-ring' so you can usually make out what is happening very easily. Things like 'heel' and 'face' are not as obvious or cut and dried and there are very few pure heels or faces.
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) vs. Shinsei Tag (El Desperado and Kota Ibushi)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
As it indicates really. The Young Bucks work heel in Japan as part of Bullet Club. Desperado is new on the scene and lost a singles match to Ibushi (the Jr Heavy singles champ) but the two have teamed up to kick things off. NJPW supercards usually begin with Jr Tags. Don't know why, but it works.
Assorted Faces (Kazushi Sakuraba, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata) vs. Suzukigun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and Taka Michinoku)
Kind of a filler match, but Nagata (current NOAH champ) and Sakuraba (a shooter) are friends, and Nagata has previous with Suzuki. Taichi and TAKA are stablemates, minions of Suzuki.
Irongodz (Jax Dane and Rob Conway) (c) (with Bruce Tharpe) vs. Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)
NWA World Tag Team Championship
Part of New Japan's working arrangement with NWA is to get their belts over. Kojima, an ex AJPW & NJPW champ, has the NWA Heavyweight belt. Tharpe is the legit NWA owner and does a great heel gaijin bit. The matches with these guys in the past have been passable at best to outright awful.
CHAOS (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano) vs. Daniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie
This will be a comedy match. Yano and Iizuka shouldn't be taken too seriously. However the Fake Gracies are in this. They're not wrestlers so don't judge this too hard. We're getting to the good stuff. CHAOS is a huge heel stable, more later.
Prince Devitt vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Loser Leaves Town
These guys used to tag together and were top faces in the Jr Heavy. Devitt went heel and Taguchi got injured. The two rarely have bad matches and they have really compatible styles and the last chance to see the best non-Japanese wrestler NJPW have had in years working...or is it?
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi)
Heel vs Heel factions here. They're building to Fale (big Tongan chap, green but getting better) v Okada (heavyweight champ for 1 year, excellent) next month. Tonga and Hashi are jobbers but Hashi is getting really good.
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
NEVER Openweight Championship
Potential MOTN candidate based on their other two singles matches recently. This is NJPW's third belt, not hugely prestigious but usually on good workers. Ishii is in a heel stable (CHAOS) but the fans love him; stiff, good suplexer, sells well. Imagine Taz when he was good and add strikes. Naito is the next face in line to the top line, but the fans take against him even though he is an outstanding worker. Like Rockers-era Michaels with some puro twists. These two gel really well.
Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (c) vs. Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata)
IWGP Tag Team Championship
Gallows and Anderson play the menacing big foreigners well, but aren't too great. Goto & Shibata just came off an awesome feud based in their real life story as friends and have teamed up. Both of the Japanese guys here are tremendous; Goto is more the traditional main event wrestler and Shibata has the most ridiculously stiff style I have seen in a long time. This match could be excellent if they plan it out, I'm really looking forward to it.
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Their third headlining of PPVs this year, Tanahashi won both of the encounters clean, first to take the title from Nakamura and second to retain it. Nakamura won the New Japan Cup and opted to face Tanahashi rather than CHAOS stablemate Okada. These two are the leading names of the company by a long way, they are the dressing room leaders and were hand selected in the early 00s to shine the light for everyone else. And they have. Both are in the top 10 in the world right now for me; Tanahashi a pure babyface, Nakamura a heel that you can't help but warm to with his crazy style. The two matches earlier this year didn't QUITE get to the epic climax, but I'd bank on this one being a quality encounter.
Dirk: you can find out what the stories are with some creative internetting as there are plenty of English language reviews of NJPW events. I'd recommend getting on board with the new New Japan event INVASION ATTACK, which is this Sunday. I don't know where you are based in the world but it's on at the other end of the day to Wrestlemania, so they don't clash. It will also be on video streaming sites to watch. But I didn't tell you that.
I'm going to quickly run through the card and tell you in brief the story of each match. From there you can pick it up, I think. As above, stories are more 'in-ring' so you can usually make out what is happening very easily. Things like 'heel' and 'face' are not as obvious or cut and dried and there are very few pure heels or faces.
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) vs. Shinsei Tag (El Desperado and Kota Ibushi)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
As it indicates really. The Young Bucks work heel in Japan as part of Bullet Club. Desperado is new on the scene and lost a singles match to Ibushi (the Jr Heavy singles champ) but the two have teamed up to kick things off. NJPW supercards usually begin with Jr Tags. Don't know why, but it works.
Assorted Faces (Kazushi Sakuraba, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata) vs. Suzukigun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and Taka Michinoku)
Kind of a filler match, but Nagata (current NOAH champ) and Sakuraba (a shooter) are friends, and Nagata has previous with Suzuki. Taichi and TAKA are stablemates, minions of Suzuki.
Irongodz (Jax Dane and Rob Conway) (c) (with Bruce Tharpe) vs. Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)
NWA World Tag Team Championship
Part of New Japan's working arrangement with NWA is to get their belts over. Kojima, an ex AJPW & NJPW champ, has the NWA Heavyweight belt. Tharpe is the legit NWA owner and does a great heel gaijin bit. The matches with these guys in the past have been passable at best to outright awful.
CHAOS (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano) vs. Daniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie
This will be a comedy match. Yano and Iizuka shouldn't be taken too seriously. However the Fake Gracies are in this. They're not wrestlers so don't judge this too hard. We're getting to the good stuff. CHAOS is a huge heel stable, more later.
Prince Devitt vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Loser Leaves Town
These guys used to tag together and were top faces in the Jr Heavy. Devitt went heel and Taguchi got injured. The two rarely have bad matches and they have really compatible styles and the last chance to see the best non-Japanese wrestler NJPW have had in years working...or is it?
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi)
Heel vs Heel factions here. They're building to Fale (big Tongan chap, green but getting better) v Okada (heavyweight champ for 1 year, excellent) next month. Tonga and Hashi are jobbers but Hashi is getting really good.
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
NEVER Openweight Championship
Potential MOTN candidate based on their other two singles matches recently. This is NJPW's third belt, not hugely prestigious but usually on good workers. Ishii is in a heel stable (CHAOS) but the fans love him; stiff, good suplexer, sells well. Imagine Taz when he was good and add strikes. Naito is the next face in line to the top line, but the fans take against him even though he is an outstanding worker. Like Rockers-era Michaels with some puro twists. These two gel really well.
Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (c) vs. Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata)
IWGP Tag Team Championship
Gallows and Anderson play the menacing big foreigners well, but aren't too great. Goto & Shibata just came off an awesome feud based in their real life story as friends and have teamed up. Both of the Japanese guys here are tremendous; Goto is more the traditional main event wrestler and Shibata has the most ridiculously stiff style I have seen in a long time. This match could be excellent if they plan it out, I'm really looking forward to it.
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Their third headlining of PPVs this year, Tanahashi won both of the encounters clean, first to take the title from Nakamura and second to retain it. Nakamura won the New Japan Cup and opted to face Tanahashi rather than CHAOS stablemate Okada. These two are the leading names of the company by a long way, they are the dressing room leaders and were hand selected in the early 00s to shine the light for everyone else. And they have. Both are in the top 10 in the world right now for me; Tanahashi a pure babyface, Nakamura a heel that you can't help but warm to with his crazy style. The two matches earlier this year didn't QUITE get to the epic climax, but I'd bank on this one being a quality encounter.
Danger Burger
Thread Killer
Just watched Okada vs Kojima from one of the G1 Climax whatsits, and it was pretty good. Couldn't tell who was Okada at first, nor who was the face of heel for a while, but once I got to grips with it I enjoyed it.
Thanks for the info Gibby. My biggest downfall when it comes to puro is knowing what I'm looking for next. What was the last PPV... Wrestle Kingdom 8?
Thanks for the info Gibby. My biggest downfall when it comes to puro is knowing what I'm looking for next. What was the last PPV... Wrestle Kingdom 8?
Hard Hit Prince
Not really working as a
Which one of them did you like more? Okada or Kojima? Both are pretty great for sure.
NJPW doesn't run PPV, it's iPPV's and well, those are always weird. The last one broadcast at uStream was New Japan Cup, but that is a three date event. Before that you had New Beginning and before that Wrestle Kingdom 8.
Gibby preview for Invasion Attack was pretty good. What is absolutely going to be good this Sunday: The Jr. Tag Match, Devitt v. Taguchi, Naito v. Ishii and Tanahashi v. Okada. The rest you can very well skip if you just want to see the "meat" of the content. Really, give it a go. Sunday morning it's probably on Dailymotion, so you dedicate Sunday to wrestling and you'll be fine. Then take a sabbatical and walk out from being a wrestling fan.
Danger Burger
Thread Killer
At first I liked Okada more, little gimmick things like how he offered up the clean break on the ropes like he was the nicest guy you'd ever meet, but as the match progressed Kojima grew on me. They both grew on me, but Okada grew the way heels do. Had a little trouble telling if the crowd was chanting Ko-ji-ma or O-ka-da, but by the time the Mongolian chops started flying I knew what was what.
I think the next match I was hoping to watch was Devitt v Tanahashi... Though I'm not a big fan of skipping match to match in no order... Thanks for the list of iPPVs though, that way I can follow particular guys a little better.
I've heard great things about Tanahashi v Okada, so I hope to get to a few of them!
EDIT: Also, cozy lariat is a hilarious nickname.
Last PPV was New Beginning in February, which was done in 2 parts. 20 matches, quite a bit of filler to be honest. Failed experiment in a way. Brave though. Since then we've had the New Japan Cup but Okada hasn't defended his title.
G1 Climax 2013 is generally considered to be one of the best things NJPW has ever done. If you google it, read some blog reviews and seek out the matches that get good reviews (there are a lot of matches overall: 9 nights of 10 matches, plus the final).
As a side bar, Kojima was fantastic throughout I thought. He's getting on a bit, his body is banged up and he doesn't give it too much effort in tag matches. But he's a true main stylist who'll come out of a big match with way more respect than he went in with. Cozy didn't take the plaudits from the critics in the way Shibata, Ishii, Ibushi, Naito and Tanahashi did - but he is a brilliant workhorse.
G1 Climax 2013 is generally considered to be one of the best things NJPW has ever done. If you google it, read some blog reviews and seek out the matches that get good reviews (there are a lot of matches overall: 9 nights of 10 matches, plus the final).
As a side bar, Kojima was fantastic throughout I thought. He's getting on a bit, his body is banged up and he doesn't give it too much effort in tag matches. But he's a true main stylist who'll come out of a big match with way more respect than he went in with. Cozy didn't take the plaudits from the critics in the way Shibata, Ishii, Ibushi, Naito and Tanahashi did - but he is a brilliant workhorse.
This is a slightly out-of-date but very good intro to NJPW wrestlers in English.
http://cewshreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/cewsh-scouts-new-japan.html
I also tend to scout around http://www.cagematch.net, read up on wrestlers, search for their best rated matches and watch them.
http://cewshreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/cewsh-scouts-new-japan.html
I also tend to scout around http://www.cagematch.net, read up on wrestlers, search for their best rated matches and watch them.
The Dragon Saga
Whale in a Teardrop
Saw The Young Bucks brought the ROH titles with them to the ring and even draped them over the IWGP Junior Tag titles. They are just way too over. So incredibly over.
Been a bit of a wrestling marathon over the weekend what with Wrestlemania and a live show for the fed my friend works for. I just stumped up the $25 for Invasion Attack and CHRIST was it worth it. I'll put it all in spoiler tags. Just when I was doubting after a lacklustre run between WK and NJC.
- Great opener in the Jr Tags (Young Bucks v Ibushi/Desperado). All the usual spots but with the welcome addition of character work; the Bucks are hateful rogues but unified against a talented but inexperienced team. Fun spots, top work all around.
- Surprisingly entertaining bout between Sakuraba/Nagata/Makabe v Suzuki/TAKA/Taichi. Building toward Sakuraba v Suzuki in a former shooter battle perhaps, this had a good array of stinging slaps and brawling and quality Suzuki assholery.
- Even more surprising was an actually good match with the NWA gaijins du jour. Jax Dane was a bit meh but between Conway, Kojima and Tenzan they managed to have a good little tear-up. And now Kojima gets two belts for his heroic work keeping this feud of any worth. Good Tharpe heel work too!
- Yano/Iizuka v Gracies was much better than it had any right to. The Gracies SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK at wrestling so Yano/Iizuka just cheated like crazy, kept control and then took the loss when required. Fans loved it, I was entertained, it was just comedy and brawling, everyone without a stick up their bum wins.
- Devitt v Taguchi was excellent storytelling from everyone concerned; nice video package before the match summed it up well. Taguchi had to take the win owing to the uncertainty around Devitt (NJPW say he has requested his leave). Best part was when Devitt turned on Bullet Club so he could potentially leave as a babyface and reverted to his former style. He looked really emotional as he left and I sense he's done with Japan for now. Good match too.
- Okada/YOSHI-HASHI v Fale/Tonga was the best of the night in terms of storyline. The match wasn't up to much as we assumed Okada was going through the motions in the run up to a singles bout with Fale. The match finished and AJ FUCKING STYLES hopped the fence and Styles Clashed the fuck out Okada, grabbed the mic and said he's no champion, he's just a young boy, then took his jacket off to reveal a Bullet Club t-shirt. BOOOOOOOM! Great booking, Fale was a Macguffin, AM PUMPED FOR THIS NEW JAPAN, PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY.
- Naito v Ishii in a rubber match for the NEVER title. OUTSTANDING. Their initial bout at New Beginning was my MOTY up to then. This is at least as good as that match. They work together SO WELL. Go and find it and enjoy it. Naito worked heel, Ishii is too over to be heel these days. There was one spot that made me spit my coffee out in disbelief, just this utterly vicious revenge headbutt that tears a hole in Naito's chin (not literally). GREAT STUFF.
- Goto/Shibata v Anderson/Gallows for the IWGP Tags was unexpectedly enjoyable. Going cold on Shibata a little after initially falling in love with him; Goto is the premier worker of the team as I see it. Anyway, Anderson put Shibata over really well in the early stages and throughout the match ended up gaining respect as a gaijin heel who can just soak up all kinds of abuse. Very good finish after a match that rose and fell in terms of quality.
- Nakamura v Tanahashi III. Both of their matches so far this year didn't quite hit the target. The first was a difficult one; they couldn't upstage the title match even though they were headlining, so they went at 80%. The second match - they tried too hard for a MOTY style match and seemed to get cut off mid-flow. No such worries for this match. Tanahashi worked full heel: imitating signature moves, taunting, mercilessly working Nakamura's knee, smugly acknowledging the crowd's increased favouring of his opponent.
Nakamura also worked fantastically and sold like an utter champion. Everything in the match paid off, it felt earned, the chemistry was absolutely phenomenal and managed to chalk up another entry in 'GREAT NJPW MAIN EVENTS OF THE DECADE'.
- Bullshit end as Daniel Gracie challenged Nakamura based in their real MMA fight 11 years ago. Really don't want that. That said Nakamura worked a classic with Sakuraba so anything is possible.
It didn't have the theatre and story power of Wrestlemania but it had better matches. 9/10 overall.
- Surprisingly entertaining bout between Sakuraba/Nagata/Makabe v Suzuki/TAKA/Taichi. Building toward Sakuraba v Suzuki in a former shooter battle perhaps, this had a good array of stinging slaps and brawling and quality Suzuki assholery.
- Even more surprising was an actually good match with the NWA gaijins du jour. Jax Dane was a bit meh but between Conway, Kojima and Tenzan they managed to have a good little tear-up. And now Kojima gets two belts for his heroic work keeping this feud of any worth. Good Tharpe heel work too!
- Yano/Iizuka v Gracies was much better than it had any right to. The Gracies SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK at wrestling so Yano/Iizuka just cheated like crazy, kept control and then took the loss when required. Fans loved it, I was entertained, it was just comedy and brawling, everyone without a stick up their bum wins.
- Devitt v Taguchi was excellent storytelling from everyone concerned; nice video package before the match summed it up well. Taguchi had to take the win owing to the uncertainty around Devitt (NJPW say he has requested his leave). Best part was when Devitt turned on Bullet Club so he could potentially leave as a babyface and reverted to his former style. He looked really emotional as he left and I sense he's done with Japan for now. Good match too.
- Okada/YOSHI-HASHI v Fale/Tonga was the best of the night in terms of storyline. The match wasn't up to much as we assumed Okada was going through the motions in the run up to a singles bout with Fale. The match finished and AJ FUCKING STYLES hopped the fence and Styles Clashed the fuck out Okada, grabbed the mic and said he's no champion, he's just a young boy, then took his jacket off to reveal a Bullet Club t-shirt. BOOOOOOOM! Great booking, Fale was a Macguffin, AM PUMPED FOR THIS NEW JAPAN, PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY.
- Naito v Ishii in a rubber match for the NEVER title. OUTSTANDING. Their initial bout at New Beginning was my MOTY up to then. This is at least as good as that match. They work together SO WELL. Go and find it and enjoy it. Naito worked heel, Ishii is too over to be heel these days. There was one spot that made me spit my coffee out in disbelief, just this utterly vicious revenge headbutt that tears a hole in Naito's chin (not literally). GREAT STUFF.
- Goto/Shibata v Anderson/Gallows for the IWGP Tags was unexpectedly enjoyable. Going cold on Shibata a little after initially falling in love with him; Goto is the premier worker of the team as I see it. Anyway, Anderson put Shibata over really well in the early stages and throughout the match ended up gaining respect as a gaijin heel who can just soak up all kinds of abuse. Very good finish after a match that rose and fell in terms of quality.
- Nakamura v Tanahashi III. Both of their matches so far this year didn't quite hit the target. The first was a difficult one; they couldn't upstage the title match even though they were headlining, so they went at 80%. The second match - they tried too hard for a MOTY style match and seemed to get cut off mid-flow. No such worries for this match. Tanahashi worked full heel: imitating signature moves, taunting, mercilessly working Nakamura's knee, smugly acknowledging the crowd's increased favouring of his opponent.
Nakamura also worked fantastically and sold like an utter champion. Everything in the match paid off, it felt earned, the chemistry was absolutely phenomenal and managed to chalk up another entry in 'GREAT NJPW MAIN EVENTS OF THE DECADE'.
- Bullshit end as Daniel Gracie challenged Nakamura based in their real MMA fight 11 years ago. Really don't want that. That said Nakamura worked a classic with Sakuraba so anything is possible.
It didn't have the theatre and story power of Wrestlemania but it had better matches. 9/10 overall.
Current card for Dontaku on May 5th. Ishii, Shibata and Goto presumably to be added.
(-) Special Tag Match: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka vs. Minoru Suzuki [Pancrase MISSION] & Shelton “X” Benjamin
(-) NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: [125th Champion] Satoshi Kojima vs. [Challenger] Wes Brisco
~ 3rd title defense.
(-) Special Elimination Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
(-) IWGP Jr. Tag Championship Match: [37th Champions] “Young Bucks” Matt & Nick Jackson vs. [Challengers] “Forever Hooligans” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
~ 4th title defense.
(-) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: [67th Champion] Kota Ibushi vs. [Challenger] Ryusuke Taguchi
~ 3rd title defense.
(-) Pro-Wrestling vs Jiu-Jistsu Mixed Marts Arts Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Daniel & Rolles Gracie
(-) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [59th Champion] Kazuchika Okada vs. [Challengers] AJ Styles
~ 9th title defense.
Mixed bag there really, though a NEVER title defence would sweeten the deal. Maybe a rubber match with Shibata?
(-) Special Tag Match: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka vs. Minoru Suzuki [Pancrase MISSION] & Shelton “X” Benjamin
(-) NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: [125th Champion] Satoshi Kojima vs. [Challenger] Wes Brisco
~ 3rd title defense.
(-) Special Elimination Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
(-) IWGP Jr. Tag Championship Match: [37th Champions] “Young Bucks” Matt & Nick Jackson vs. [Challengers] “Forever Hooligans” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
~ 4th title defense.
(-) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: [67th Champion] Kota Ibushi vs. [Challenger] Ryusuke Taguchi
~ 3rd title defense.
(-) Pro-Wrestling vs Jiu-Jistsu Mixed Marts Arts Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Daniel & Rolles Gracie
(-) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [59th Champion] Kazuchika Okada vs. [Challengers] AJ Styles
~ 9th title defense.
Mixed bag there really, though a NEVER title defence would sweeten the deal. Maybe a rubber match with Shibata?
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Only have NJ World now!
I may be the only one who thinks this... but I reckon Styles will actually beat Okada for the title.
It's possible. I don't see how New Japan would be benefitting their guys though if the ROH/NJPW tour was headlined by Styles v Elgin. But I do believe it to be possible and always give Gedo/Jado the benefit of the doubt.
Good show today at the 'Road to Wrestling Dontaku'. It was televised in Japan so it moved a couple of stories along rather than just being pointless tag matches. All in spoiler.
Desperado/Taguchi/Mascara Dorada v Liger/Tiger/BUSHI
Good little spotfest with Dorada getting great pops for his work. In between the diving about there was some great slugging and hard kicks and though Taguchi got a clean win on glorified jobber BUSHI, everyone got over a bit here. Fine opener.
Tenzan/Kojima v Nakanishi/Komatsu
Unexpectedly good match. Worked so well as a story. Tenkoji worked heelishly to allow the magic to occur; Nakanishi the veteran trying to stave off two experienced guys from murdering Komatsu, the young lion. All four guys brought something here despite some limitations on paper (injury, age, immobility, inexperience - guess which is which). Cool finish where Komatsu hits Kojima with Bridging German, thinks he's got three and loses his head at the ref, then walks into Kojima lariat for the three. A great example for any young wrestler to show how to work within yourself and get over.
SUZUKIGUN (Suzuki/TAKA/Taichi/Shelton Borejamin) v CHAOS (Gedo/Jado/Iizuka/Yano)
Kind of seen this a million times now but it's still funny. Lots of cheating and brawling.
Naito/KUSHIDA/Honma v CHAOS (Ishii/YOSHI HASHI/Takahashi)
Looked good on paper and delivered. Ishii has beaten both Naito and KUSHIDA in NEVER defences but looks to have found his next match in Honma, who drilled Ishii for the finisher and the clean win! Unexpected and a neat story move, Honma is ready for a singles contest and got himself over with the fans with lots of fire and charisma. Everyone was decent in this, could have gone 5 more mins. Naito especially. Really turned on that guy. Superstar.
Goto/Shibata v Nagata/Captain New Japan
Huge mismatch but fun to watch, with a lovely catch wrestling sequence between CNJ and Shibata indicating the former is more than just the Japanese Brooklyn Brawler. Fun tag match but not really doing anything for anyone here.
CHAOS (Nakamura & Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov/Rocky Romero) v BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale & The Young Bucks)
Fun match that veered from comedic to spotfest to brawl in the space of about 12 minutes. Sets up the Jr Tags as Hooligans pin a Buck for the win.
Okada v Tama Tonga
Non-title semi-squash by Okada. Okada is set to face pretty much all of Bullet Club leading up to Dontaku, where he takes on the new leader: AJ Styles.
KING ACE (Tanahashi/Makabe) v Gallows/Anderson
Sets up Tanahashi's next few months in a tag team with Makabe. Good, because neither of them have had anything really to do of late. Faces get the win in a non-title match, meaning the champs will probably retain at the next meeting. Where and when? We don't know.
Fun card, it's online in places, if you have 2 hours or so and you want to get a flavour of NJPW ahead of their next supercard in two weeks then I'd get on this.
Good little spotfest with Dorada getting great pops for his work. In between the diving about there was some great slugging and hard kicks and though Taguchi got a clean win on glorified jobber BUSHI, everyone got over a bit here. Fine opener.
Tenzan/Kojima v Nakanishi/Komatsu
Unexpectedly good match. Worked so well as a story. Tenkoji worked heelishly to allow the magic to occur; Nakanishi the veteran trying to stave off two experienced guys from murdering Komatsu, the young lion. All four guys brought something here despite some limitations on paper (injury, age, immobility, inexperience - guess which is which). Cool finish where Komatsu hits Kojima with Bridging German, thinks he's got three and loses his head at the ref, then walks into Kojima lariat for the three. A great example for any young wrestler to show how to work within yourself and get over.
SUZUKIGUN (Suzuki/TAKA/Taichi/Shelton Borejamin) v CHAOS (Gedo/Jado/Iizuka/Yano)
Kind of seen this a million times now but it's still funny. Lots of cheating and brawling.
Naito/KUSHIDA/Honma v CHAOS (Ishii/YOSHI HASHI/Takahashi)
Looked good on paper and delivered. Ishii has beaten both Naito and KUSHIDA in NEVER defences but looks to have found his next match in Honma, who drilled Ishii for the finisher and the clean win! Unexpected and a neat story move, Honma is ready for a singles contest and got himself over with the fans with lots of fire and charisma. Everyone was decent in this, could have gone 5 more mins. Naito especially. Really turned on that guy. Superstar.
Goto/Shibata v Nagata/Captain New Japan
Huge mismatch but fun to watch, with a lovely catch wrestling sequence between CNJ and Shibata indicating the former is more than just the Japanese Brooklyn Brawler. Fun tag match but not really doing anything for anyone here.
CHAOS (Nakamura & Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov/Rocky Romero) v BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale & The Young Bucks)
Fun match that veered from comedic to spotfest to brawl in the space of about 12 minutes. Sets up the Jr Tags as Hooligans pin a Buck for the win.
Okada v Tama Tonga
Non-title semi-squash by Okada. Okada is set to face pretty much all of Bullet Club leading up to Dontaku, where he takes on the new leader: AJ Styles.
KING ACE (Tanahashi/Makabe) v Gallows/Anderson
Sets up Tanahashi's next few months in a tag team with Makabe. Good, because neither of them have had anything really to do of late. Faces get the win in a non-title match, meaning the champs will probably retain at the next meeting. Where and when? We don't know.
Fun card, it's online in places, if you have 2 hours or so and you want to get a flavour of NJPW ahead of their next supercard in two weeks then I'd get on this.
Watched me some puro for the first time in forever the other day. Saw that Meltzer gave 3 different NJPW matches five stars over the last year and have added them to the top of my watch list. Watched Ishii/Shibata from last year's G1 and while it was definitely a great, hard hitting match with an awesome crowd, Meltzer definitely overrated it quite a bit in my eyes. Solid ***3/4.
Really looking forward to the Tanahashi/Okada and Tanahashi/Suzuki matches. KENTA and Nakajima apparently faced off again too sometime in the last year, I'll have to track that down, those guys are incapable of having anything less than a stellar match together.
Really looking forward to the Tanahashi/Okada and Tanahashi/Suzuki matches. KENTA and Nakajima apparently faced off again too sometime in the last year, I'll have to track that down, those guys are incapable of having anything less than a stellar match together.
That Ishii-Shibata match brings out some polarising reactions so fair play for being somewhere in the middle. I saw one reviewer the other day gave it a DUD rating!
It was my favourite match of 2013; contrary to what a lot of people say, I don't think it's just a load of no-selling and smashing each other: it's all fronting and peacocking. It's about not letting on that you're in pain. It's a furious race to not only break the other one, but to never let on that you're right on the edge of breaking yourself. When Ishii loses that chop exchange and Shibata gets right on top of him...it's magical. Also they both have a couple of magical recoveries but they sell the effort required to recover really well. Anyway, glad you liked it.
I suspect you'll prefer the Tanahashi-Okada series and the Tanahashi-Suzuki matches as they go a bit longer and make more apparent sense in terms of structure, selling, psychology, etc. It's all good stuff though.
Wish I could get NOAH stuff live, they have some good talents these days.
Yeah I'm a more traditional kind of guy, don't get me wrong, I fucking love me some stiff battle of the wills, but I've been watching puro and wrestling for a long time now and I suppose it's made me a bit jaded and harder to please. I suspect when I discovered UWFi it spoiled me on stiffness forever. Once you've seen someone's jaw get broken from a forearm shot, you've got to be preeeeetty fuckin' stiff to impress me. So I suppose in a way I probably underrated the match. I feel like I've seen much better from Ishii though. The facial expressions were godly though.
Watching Tanahashi/Suzuki right now and yeah, I think I already prefer it over Ishii/Shibata. The selling and facial expressions by Suzuki alone are worth about twelve billion stars I'm pretty sure. Tanahashi is such an awesome dick heel. Little over halfway through and I'm loving this.
I've been out of the loop for about a year or so now, did NOAH lose it's TV deal or something? You can usually find their shows online pretty easily with a little Googling.
Oh and I just read Yuji Okabayashi injured his shoulder and is out for the rest of the year. That sucks man, I was excited to get back into BJW. Oh well atleast Sekimoto is fine.
So for those more well versed in the last year plus of puro, any major matches that stand out immediately that I should go watch ASAP? I stopped watching around the end of 2012.
Watching Tanahashi/Suzuki right now and yeah, I think I already prefer it over Ishii/Shibata. The selling and facial expressions by Suzuki alone are worth about twelve billion stars I'm pretty sure. Tanahashi is such an awesome dick heel. Little over halfway through and I'm loving this.
I've been out of the loop for about a year or so now, did NOAH lose it's TV deal or something? You can usually find their shows online pretty easily with a little Googling.
Oh and I just read Yuji Okabayashi injured his shoulder and is out for the rest of the year. That sucks man, I was excited to get back into BJW. Oh well atleast Sekimoto is fine.
So for those more well versed in the last year plus of puro, any major matches that stand out immediately that I should go watch ASAP? I stopped watching around the end of 2012.
Finished both matches. Tanahashi/Suzuki was just stellar old school styled stuff with some new school stiffness, amazing psychology, selling, and facial expressions. ****1/2 ish.
But holy fucking balls man, Tanahashi/Okada was balls to the walls awesome. Non-stop action, some brilliant spots and psychology, and a red hot crowd. Fire for days from both guys. Love love loved this and now I can't wait to see the rematch. Could easily see why this was given five stars though personally I'd go just under with ****3/4, but that's really nitpicking. Seriously though god DAMN what a match, and the tombstone reversal finish was awesome and something I haven't seen in awhile. Reminded me of a 90s New Japan match in a lot of ways.
I can see why Meltzer went 5 stars for both, but I guess I'm just a stingy old fart.
But holy fucking balls man, Tanahashi/Okada was balls to the walls awesome. Non-stop action, some brilliant spots and psychology, and a red hot crowd. Fire for days from both guys. Love love loved this and now I can't wait to see the rematch. Could easily see why this was given five stars though personally I'd go just under with ****3/4, but that's really nitpicking. Seriously though god DAMN what a match, and the tombstone reversal finish was awesome and something I haven't seen in awhile. Reminded me of a 90s New Japan match in a lot of ways.
I can see why Meltzer went 5 stars for both, but I guess I'm just a stingy old fart.
The_Reptile_
Pre-Show Stalwart
Where can I find these matches? I'm usually not a Puro guy but sometimes I could use some good ol' fashion Japanese stiffness as a palate cleanser for the American cheesefest that is WWE.
The_Misson
Occasional Pre-Show
Xfear! Welcome back to the puro side! Anyways here's some quicky matches that I can think of off the top of my head.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kota Ibushi from G1 Climax
Hiroshi Yamato vs Shuji Kinda All Japan from 1/2/13
Suwama vs Go Shiozaki 2/3 fall All Japan 7/14/13
Everything else All Japan related just stay away from. Trust me.
All of Daisuke Sekimotos Strong title reign
Strongest tag league final BJW
BJW strongest tag league semifinal the non death match one
Kenny Omega vs Shigeheiro Irie DDT 3/20/13
Tanahashi vs Naito Day 9 G1 climax
Devitt vs Shelley from 5/5
Shuji Kondo vs Taiji Ishimori NOAH 1/27
Final Burning match is an absolute must!
TMDK vs Marufuji and Nakajima from 12/7
Kensuke Sasaki vs Nakajima which is Sasaki's retirement match.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kota Ibushi from G1 Climax
Hiroshi Yamato vs Shuji Kinda All Japan from 1/2/13
Suwama vs Go Shiozaki 2/3 fall All Japan 7/14/13
Everything else All Japan related just stay away from. Trust me.
All of Daisuke Sekimotos Strong title reign
Strongest tag league final BJW
BJW strongest tag league semifinal the non death match one
Kenny Omega vs Shigeheiro Irie DDT 3/20/13
Tanahashi vs Naito Day 9 G1 climax
Devitt vs Shelley from 5/5
Shuji Kondo vs Taiji Ishimori NOAH 1/27
Final Burning match is an absolute must!
TMDK vs Marufuji and Nakajima from 12/7
Kensuke Sasaki vs Nakajima which is Sasaki's retirement match.
Most NJPW and puro in general finds it's way onto YouTube, you just have to know how to search for it. Here are the three aforementioned matches that Meltzer gave five stars to over the last 2 years that we've been talking about:
October 8th, 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki - IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
April 7th, 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
August 4th, 2013 - Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata - G1 Climax