Puro fans, UNITE!

[The_Reptile_]

Just finished up Shibata vs Iishii. That was a fun little brawl once they quit the bullshit. Can't really call it 5 stars, personally, mostly because those first 3 minutes just pissed me right the fuck off, but once they cut the no selling bullshit it was great, and that dropkick into the corner Shibata hit was beautiful. ****, if I was forced to grade it.

I'll watch the other two when I've got 2 hours free. :V

 

[The_Reptile_]

Finally managed to find this years Wrestle Kingdom, and as it's the only show I make a point of watching every year I kicked back and had a 6 hour Purofest. I honestly would have taken out two of the tag matched because by the time the halfway point came out I was burned from them. That said, once the singles matches started coming the show flew right the fuck by. I'd probably have been a lot more invested in the show if I knew a damn thing about what was going on, but coming as a guy who's not all that experienced with Puro I was perfectly entertained by the second half of the show.

 

[Gibby]

Okada v Styles this Saturday. NJPW are doing the Dontaku iPPV for $15 (their major shows have been $25) on uStream. I don't know what the rules are about spam and linking but I'm sure if you're interested you'll find it.

That headliner is enough to make me stump up the dough. The undercard is a mixed bag. I'll run through it and try and tell a bit of the story for anyone delving in for the first time.

Pre-Event Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tiger Mask IV, KUSHIDA & Yohei Komatsu vs. Captain New Japan, El Desperado, BUSHI & Mascara Dorada
It's a pre-show match. 10 minutes, will be entertaining and Komatsu will probably take the pin.

(1) IWGP Jr. Tag Championship Match: Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)© vs. Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov)
Young Bucks represent Bullet Club, the invading foreigner heel stable, whilst the Hooligans represent CHAOS, basically a tweener stable for awesome dudes including the three major singles champs. Bucks have been champs for a little while now, whereas the Hooligans have been absent since January. Expect the usual flips and spots at 100mph.

(2) CHAOS (Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka) vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki & Shelton “X” Benjamin)
The ninety-seventh installment of the Yano/Suzuki feud will likely be a messy, slightly comic and heelish brawl across the arena with lots of cheating. Suzukigun are a heel stable. Yano & Iizuka are jokers.

(3) NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Satoshi Kojima© vs. Wes Brisco
Kojima, also a NWA Tag Team Champion with Tenzan, has been fed various NWA guys for approximately a year now and has elevated their title on his own (no offence to guys like Rob Conway and Kahagas). I never really saw Wes Brisco in TNA so I can't comment on him. Kojima is good, if a little old, so go from there.

(4) Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata
The continuing adventures of Goto and Shibata, after a hot feud in 2013. Nagata is the GHC champion (NOAH) so I doubt they'll disrespect that title by having him pinned. Nakanishi is not the most mobile but everyone here is able to soak up tonnes of abuse. Star-filled, but more angle than match.

(5) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: Kota Ibushi© vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
The slight angle here is that after one year of divisional dominance by Prince Devitt, now presumed gone, both guys have picked up singles wins over their former tormentor and can now meet with the title on the line. Ibushi is a highlight reel with aerial moves and underrated strikes. Taguchi seems to be on an Eddie Guerrero tribute roll at the moment. This should be good.

(6) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Tomohiro Ishii© vs. Tomoaki Honma
Ishii, the Stone Pitbull, got covered in a tag match a couple of weeks ago by Honma - usually a low midcarder - setting this match up. Ishii has barely had a bad singles match in a year, and though Honma has not had the same kind of opportunities, there's no reason to expect that this won't be good.

(7) Elimination Match - King Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe), Tetsuya Naito & Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. BULLET CLUB (“The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga)
Something must be afoot with this Elimination Match style. It's not usual in NJPW and I presume it's an angle, maybe setting up a tag title shot for King Ace? The face team (Tanahashi et. al.) is ridiculously stacked. Whatever happens, it should be good, and more interesting than a standard 8 man.

(8) Pro-Wrestling vs Jiu-Jitsu Mixed Marts Arts Matc: Shinsuke Nakamura & "The Gracie Killer" Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Daniel & Rolles Gracie. (Closed-fist strikes allowed if fighters wear MMA gloves. Gracies can wear and use gi for chokeholds).
These kind of matches have been on every single major card this year and every single one has stunk. That said, this one carries an actual story and it also features Nakamura, who is brilliant. The story is this. One of the Gracies beat Nakamura in a legit fight about 11 years ago, Nakamura's only MMA defeat in a short career. Sakuraba, however, beat Gracie, and is friends with Nakamura since Nakamura beat him in a wrestling match. It's more spectacle than an attempt to put on a 5 star classic, but Nakamura guided the haphazard Sakuraba to a decent match not long ago so I have hopes that the King of Strong Style can pull off miracles here. If it sucks then it shouldn't last long.

(9) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada© vs. "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles
I can't really sell this any better than just seeing those names. Styles is the new leader of Bullet Club, hopping the fence at Invasion Attack to beat down Okada and remind him that he's just a TNA jobber to him and not the 1yr+ IWGP champ that he thinks he is. Okada is fabulous. Styles is fabulous. This match, I presume, cannot miss.

 

[The_Misson]

Ladies and gentleman the 1000th DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Champion has been named. The man that has the honor of saying he's the 1000th generation champion is none other than

Spoiler

THE IRON MAN HEAVY METAL CHAMPIONSHIP BELT!!!!!!!

However, the new champion's victory was short lived as after the show during a press conference Jun Akiyama unknowingly put his hand on the champion while the champ was down. One of the amazing DDT referees caught this immediately and began counting making the unaware and confused Jun Akiyama the 1001 generation champ! This ladies and gentleman is why DDT is by far the world's greatest promotion. For only in DDT will you get this kind of drama.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

(9) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada© vs. "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles
I can't really sell this any better than just seeing those names. Styles is the new leader of Bullet Club, hopping the fence at Invasion Attack to beat down Okada and remind him that he's just a TNA jobber to him and not the 1yr+ IWGP champ that he thinks he is. Okada is fabulous. Styles is fabulous. This match, I presume, cannot miss.

Can't lie, if AJ wins I'll be pissed. Means Okada/Elgin at War of the Worlds is off and instead we get Styles/Elgin III.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Michael Bennett has taken the Tanahashi situation totally by the horns. I really doubt it, but man if he beat him I'd mark out. Actually can't wait for this match!

 

[X]

Love me some fuckin' DDT. Awesome hijinks plus Dick Togo? Well, when he was still wrestling (unless he unretired while I was gone). But awesome wrestling nevertheless with even better comedy. My favorite Japanese indy.

 

[Gibby]

KENTA has quit NOAH!

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Looks to be going to WWE, or maybe NJPW, but the latter wouldn't make much sense. Good luck to him, dude is awesome.

 

[The_Misson]

Huge loss for Noah and a huge gain for whatever promotion ends up signing him. I assume he's headed to WWE since he had a nice workout over there earlier in the year. I also don't believe he'll be going to New Japan since he would not have needed to quit Noah to work with New Japan as he probably could of signed a deal similar to Ibushi's were he could have worked for both promotions.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

From the Observer, Meltzer's reporting that Tanahashi's top spot in Japan is coming to a close.

ROH and NJPW announced the Global Wars and War of the Worlds cards last week and a lot of questions are being asked on who booked what or why certain matches were made.

The Toronto show had the ROH booker, Hunter Johnston (Delirious), do half the show and Gedo & Jado did the other half, with each booking the shows with the guys from their company. For New York, because it was a lot of New Japan vs. ROH matches, it was a political deal with both sides co-booking, using Romero as the intermediary. The idea was that New Japan has certain people they wanted protected in booking, as did ROH, and they worked the matches around that.

With Tanahashi working low on the card with Bennett, people from Japan are telling me he’s hurting (his back is bad) and they aren’t putting him in a main event spot where there will be more pressure on him to have the 25 minute PPV caliber match. Like I said last year, even though his second and third matches with Nakamura were great, I believe he’s won his last Wrestler of the Year award and will be in the superstar emeritus role and follow the career path of Yuji Nagata and Jushin Liger at a similar phase, where in his time you can go to him for big matches, but he’s not going to be “the guy” with the world title doing the ****½ PPV matches every month. Tanahashi is nearing the end of his time as "the man" in NJPW but it's time for Okada to take the spot anyway.

Also, on Okada/Styles:

AJ Styles is the favorite for the IWGP Heavyweight title match at Dontaku this weekend. NJPW want to build Styles bigger then they built Prince Devitt. They know Styles can draw fans from the United States to their iPPV's, and with the ROH shows they want to make enough noise to get more people taking an interest in their product to spend some money on it. The G1 Climax this year could be a foreigner heavy event, as some names from ROH are expected to compete, the top names in the running being Michael Elgin, Michael Bennett, Adam Cole and Jay Lethal.

 

[Gibby]

Couple of things

- Dontaku is $25. I saw somewhere had it written as $15 and didn't fact-check.
- Yeah I've casually observed that they seemed to be protecting Tanahashi in multi-man matches. It's fair enough, through 2012 & 2013 he was working long-ass matches in every main event going. In the G1 alone he worked 10 matches in about 10 days ranging from 11 minutes to a 30 minute draw. He also looks a little chunkier - not that he looks bad or anything. Protect him now and keep him as a long term draw.
- Excited for KENTA. What WWE could do with him I do not know. Though they've dropped the ball with some quality guys like Shinzaki and - imo - Tajiri, he could break the mould. He has an international fanbase, he's good looking, relationships with guys in the locker room, he can work and I believe he has some English.

 

[Gibby]

DONTAKU THOUGHTS IN BRIEF

Spoiler

- FUCK ME AJ STYLES IS IWGP CHAMP
- Booo to Tanahashi for turning down a Shibata singles match
- Ishii MOTN again!
- Fuck yeah Ishii/Ibushi match!
- Whole thing never really lifted off but was fairly good throughout.
- WTF happened at the end of Yano/Suzuki? Was that a magic trick?
- Bucks very good again.
- PLEASE NO MORE JIU-JITSU!
- Enjoyed the elimination match a lot.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Winner of Elgin/Styles faces Okada at the end of the month. Kind of disappointed they didn't add him to the Elgin/Styles match, but Okada/Alexander will be pretty good.

 

[The_Misson]

New Japan has announced the participants for BOSJ XXI
Block A:
Jushin Thunder Liger
KUSHIDA
BUSHI
Mascara Dorada
Ricochet
Alex Koslov
Taka Michinoku
Matt Jackson

Block B:
Tiger Mask IV
Ryusuke Taguchi
El Desperado
Alex Shelley
Kenny Omega
Rocky Romero
Taichi
Nick Jackson

 

[Gibby]

That BOSJ lineup looks amazing even without Ibushi. I realise it's just their regular juniors plus Dorada, Ricochet and Omega but it really adds to the complexion of the whole thing. Final four prediction: Ricochet, KUSHIDA, Desperado, Taguchi.

 

[Gibby]

Any clue on the G1 Climax format for 2014? There's 11 dates announced but surely that would be suicide to have blocks of 12, even if they are spaced out. Not to mention each night would be incredibly long. With so many names being bandied around it and yet so many injuries and knocks picked up last year I can't see them pushing their guys too hard.

4 blocks of 6 works pretty well. Let's say Block A & B work 5 nights and Block C & D work 5 nights, finish with semis and a final.

 

[three count bout]

I watched some Nakamura matches today. Any ideas on potential feuds or what he may be doing after he's done with this gracie stuff? I'm loving his gimmick and personality he shows in the ring.

 

[Gibby]

I watched some Nakamura matches today. Any ideas on potential feuds or what he may be doing after he's done with this gracie stuff? I'm loving his gimmick and personality he shows in the ring.

Good question. The perceived 'money match' is Okada v Nakamura because they're both main eventers from the same stable ultimately with the same goal of winning the title. They have fought once, if I've remembered something I have read correctly, in a match that was effectively for the leadership of CHAOS and Nakamura won.

Presumably one of the two would have to turn more obviously 'face' for it to be the WK9 headliner. That might be Okada because of the recent sympathy he generated with his losses, but it could be Nakamura because he's so much fun.

What's quite promising for Swagsuke is that he's been 'saddled' with a feud with Tanahashi and the Gracies for so long that he could realistically go into an exciting programme with anybody. If he left CHAOS, there's Okada and Ishii. He could step in behind Okada to take on Styles and the Bullet Club.

He could continue to prove his 'real' skills against someone capable of a good worked match like Suzuki. I think he could do a good job of getting Naito over too. He's got the kind of gimmick and style that people want to see and they're a little less concerned about wins and losses because he's just so over from the minute he enters.

I could watch the guy wrestle anyone. His NJ Cup final against Fale was great, his ROH match v Steen was top (his reaction at that one count! Amazing!). A friend of mine texted yesterday to say he thought Nakamura was "the closest thing to a classic charismatic star in all of wrestling today".

Sorry for droning on but I have thought about it quite a bit. Usually the G1 will generate momentum for feuds to come, so let's see where that takes us.

 

[three count bout]

Good question. The perceived 'money match' is Okada v Nakamura because they're both main eventers from the same stable ultimately with the same goal of winning the title. They have fought once, if I've remembered something I have read correctly, in a match that was effectively for the leadership of CHAOS and Nakamura won.

Presumably one of the two would have to turn more obviously 'face' for it to be the WK9 headliner. That might be Okada because of the recent sympathy he generated with his losses, but it could be Nakamura because he's so much fun.

What's quite promising for Swagsuke is that he's been 'saddled' with a feud with Tanahashi and the Gracies for so long that he could realistically go into an exciting programme with anybody. If he left CHAOS, there's Okada and Ishii. He could step in behind Okada to take on Styles and the Bullet Club.

He could continue to prove his 'real' skills against someone capable of a good worked match like Suzuki. I think he could do a good job of getting Naito over too. He's got the kind of gimmick and style that people want to see and they're a little less concerned about wins and losses because he's just so over from the minute he enters.

I could watch the guy wrestle anyone. His NJ Cup final against Fale was great, his ROH match v Steen was top (his reaction at that one count! Amazing!). A friend of mine texted yesterday to say he thought Nakamura was "the closest thing to a classic charismatic star in all of wrestling today".

Sorry for droning on but I have thought about it quite a bit. Usually the G1 will generate momentum for feuds to come, so let's see where that takes us.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I also enjoyed the one count from the Boma Ye. And I agree he is definitely a very charismatic worker.

He could match well with all the guys you mentioned but I believe you're right about him and Okada. That has a legit shot of being a big money matchup. I'll guess we'll have to wait until July for G1 to truly see what his next step will be.

Gibby, do you ever watch Chikara?

 

[Gibby]

Everything I've read about Chikara makes it sound right up my street but I've only ever seen a couple of clips. Should probably rectify that.

 

[three count bout]

Everything I've read about Chikara makes it sound right up my street but I've only ever seen a couple of clips. Should probably rectify that.

Well the company is returning from a very long hiatus (due to an extremely rad, and polarizing storyline) this Sunday on Ippv. The one thing I really dig about Chikara is it's not afraid to be different and try some truly innovative story telling. It's almost like a comic with wrestling as a backdrop. It's basically a family friendly lucha themed promotion, you'll get some pretty unique spots but also there's a handful of silliness that never fails to make you smile.

If you go to their website, and sign up for the newsletter they will email you a free PDF booklet that goes over most of the important roster members and details what they've done and projects where they'll be going now that the shows back.

 

[Gibby]

Well the company is returning from a very long hiatus (due to an extremely rad, and polarizing storyline) this Sunday on Ippv. The one thing I really dig about Chikara is it's not afraid to be different and try some truly innovative story telling. It's almost like a comic with wrestling as a backdrop. It's basically a family friendly lucha themed promotion, you'll get some pretty unique spots but also there's a handful of silliness that never fails to make you smile.

If you go to their website, and sign up for the newsletter they will email you a free PDF booklet that goes over most of the important roster members and details what they've done and projects where they'll be going now that the shows back.

Signed up. Sounds good. I'm in. I probably won't get to see the iPPV as it goes out but from doing a bit of research it sounds a bit like (and I'm not saying one has copied the other) the now dead Japanese fed HUSTLE, mixing surreal-ish comedy with great workers.

This was HUSTLE.

[YOUTUBE]sRvFekn44dw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Gibby]

So, Back to the Yokohama Arena iPPV is tomorrow. It's not the most inspiring card NJPW have ever concocted and I get the distinct feeling that they're treading a bit of water until BOSJ and G1. That said, it's a 17000 capacity venue and there's no way they'll want to underdeliver given that some ROH fans might be tuning in for the first time. Here's the card with some storyline, if you can be arsed.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: AJ Styles (c) v Kazuchika Okada
Earlier this month Styles debuted in front a, err, respectful Fukuoka crowd to take the title away from Okada after over a year on the strap through a series of shenanigans including Okada's CHAOS stablemate Yujiro Takahashi defect to Styles' Bullet Club. Styles defended against Okada & Elgin on the ROH show, pinning Elgin. Therefore we go into this match with Styles not really having 'earned' the belt or having beat the champion in the traditional sense and the hope is that this match will be a good traditional main event.

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) v Daniel Gracie (IWGP Intercontinental Championship) / Kazushi Sakuraba v Rolles Gracie
D. Gracie beat Nakamura in a real fight once. Sakuraba beat the piss out of a few Gracies. I've paired these matches together because they're in the same feud, sort of, where pro-wrestling meets shoot fighting/vale tudo/jiu-jitsu/whatever. It's not terribly entertaining stuff but they keep happening. Nakamura once pulled a solid ****1/4 out of Sakuraba at WK7 so maybe he can carry Daniel Gracie (who is TERRIBLE) to something respectable.

#1 Contender IWGP Tag Titles: Hiroshi Tanahashi/Togi Makabe v Katsuyori Shibata/Hirooki Goto
Tanahashi and Shibata seem to have legit dislike for each other. For more on that, read this blog's last two entries. All four of these guys can go and there's no reason this match can't be a MOTN contender, but I get the feeling it'll be more angle than match. Hope I am very much wrong.

NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii (c) v Kota Ibushi
Ah, two of the best wrestlers in the world having a nice 15-20 minute match over a midcard belt. Nothing more need be said.

Bad Luck Fale v Tetsuya Naito
Man I love me some Naito despite his unenthusiastic selling and vacant staring into space. I also think that Fale is improving week after week and I must say I'm oddly looking forward to this match despite not being 100% sure why it is occurring.

Takashi Iizuka/Toru Yano v Minoru Suzuki/Shelton X Benjamin
PLEASE LORD END THIS FEUD FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. To be fair, these matches seem to please the house, usually being arena-wide brawls with plenty of trickster antics.

NWA Tag Team Championship: Tenzan/Kojima (c) v Smith Jr/Archer v Conway/Brisco
Another thing that needs to end ASAP. Bruce Tharpe will do a great heel bit pre-match and then nothing will mesh after that. Kojima will try! Oh how he will try! I'm not selling this too well, am I?

Bullet Club (Takahashi, Gallows, Anderson, Tonga) v Faces To Squash (Honma, Captain New Japan, Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata)
If this doesn't end with Takahashi pinning CNJ then I will Cornette Face the house down. Could be good though, there's some talent in this match.

Time Splitters (KUSHIDA/Alex Shelley), Bushi, Ryusuke Taguchi v El Desperado, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Mascara Dorada
Fun 8-man icebreaker. Hope KUSHIDA goes over. End.

 

[Gibby]

Back to Yokohama Arena was good! Up and down a very solid card despite my reservations yesterday. Thoughts and spoilers below.

Spoiler

- Styles def. Okada. Good match (though my stream was jumping a bit), best of their three meets so far and though there was minor Bullet Club interference it was more-or-less a clean victory for Styles, hitting Devitt's Bloody Sunday and then the Styles Clash for the win. Bullet Club celebrate to close.

- Nakamura def. D. Gracie in an okay worked shoot that became less shoot and more worked as it progressed. Gracie is totally horrible so Nakamura deserves a medal for making this watchable at all.

- Makabe/Tanahashi def. Goto/Shibata in a cracker. The heat between Tanahashi and Shibata was amazing, they can keep that one simmering for a while yet. Goto took the fall after accidentally receiving a FK to the face, the High Fly Flow and the King Kong Knee Drop. Makabe was busted after a full PK to the face by Goto. Ouch!

- Ishii def. Ibushi in MOTN. Absolutely savage stuff from both men. One botch in the middle might put you off but until then it had been great and after that they really try to make you forget it (and succeed). Just great back and forth action and ANOTHER stellar Ishii match in 2014. Wrestler of the year going into the halfway point, surely. Yujiro came out to challenge for the next PPV.

- Sakuraba def. Rolles Gracie in a short worked shoot. Was watchable and relatively smooth.

- Fale def. Naito to cement his win over him at NJ Cup. Decent-to-good match, carried by Naito, who worked selflessly. Fale challenged Nakamura after his match, where Naito goes from here I don't know. He was challenging for the IWGP title six months ago.

- Suzuki/Benjamin def. Yano/Iizuka. WOAH! Iizuka turns on Yano and CHAOS lose another man, this time to Suzuki-Gun! Squash match, over inside 1 minute, pure angle but genuinely shocking!

- NWA 3-Way Tags won by Kojima/Tenzan in a fairly decent match, actually. Nothing more to say but I didn't dislike it and the styles seemed to mesh quite well this time.

- Bullet Club def. Faces after Yujiro pinned CNJ as predicted. Good match, if only really an angle to put BC over some more.

- BUSHI def. Desperado in the 8-man opener/BOSJ teaser, which I enjoyed as much as I usually do, which is to say I'd rather have seen a singles match between any two of these guys instead but was happy to take this.