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King of Sports: New Japan Pro-Wrestling Discussion Thread


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Not ignoring anything. I get that Bullet Club can make money. Of course it can.

 

But I'm more interested in preserving what's left of a good thing.

 

As it stands, BC in 2017 and 2018 is nowhere near as cool or "must see" as it was in the past. There are very obvious reasons for that. And the brand might be drawing new viewers daily and getting more and more eyes on both NJPW and RoH...but that doesn't stop me from preferring to see it stop before it becomes completely lame, which it will.

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Plus factions in NJPW are slightly different than WWE theyre not always storyline driven or at "war" with each other. Wrestlers can be loosley affiliated to a stable in NJPW and can often wrestle stablemates in the name of competition, for example, its common from Okadas matches to have no real affiliation to the fact he is in Chaos, same when Nakamura was a member of Chaos. Its not like they come to the ring to interfere or accompany stablemates in matches.

 

I think this is were maybe Bullet Club do differ and why were having this discussion, they act like a western stable and do accompany and interfere and it is storyline driven, I think this where it could change slightly, maybe lay off the western shenanigans but still have them affilaliated under a Bullet Club banner.

 

Then maybe if needed in ROH use shenanigans if that is what is needed.

 

To me personally they might need a little freshening up, interested to see where the Kenny/Cody dissent goes, but I dont feel they are by any means done or heading the way of nWo or DX just yet

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Not ignoring anything. I get that Bullet Club can make money. Of course it can.

 

But I'm more interested in preserving what's left of a good thing.

 

As it stands, BC in 2017 and 2018 is nowhere near as cool or "must see" as it was in the past. There are very obvious reasons for that. And the brand might be drawing new viewers daily and getting more and more eyes on both NJPW and RoH...but that doesn't stop me from preferring to see it stop before it becomes completely lame, which it will.

 

Yet there's more people 'seeing' Bullet Club in 2017 and buying merch than ever. So that 'is nowhere near as cool' is your opinion which is clearly unpopular.

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Yet there's more people 'seeing' Bullet Club in 2017 and buying merch than ever. So that 'is nowhere near as cool' is your opinion which is clearly unpopular.

 

 

 

See...you keep repeating this notion that something is "cool" or "good" based solely on how many people buy into it. Which is pretty ridiculous. We tend to call that being on a bandwagon, or being a poser (especially the people who buy the shirts without even knowing that they represent a wrestling stable). And that's okay. Especially when it comes to the company itself wanting to make money, or wanting exposure. But it has nothing to do with how "cool" or "good" something is. Popularity doesn't always correlate directly to how good something is. Oftentimes the two are linked...but it is not mutually exclusive.

 

Being too popular can even allow the quality of a thing to slip away while deceiving everyone involved into thinking that everything is better than it ever has been (such is the case here, IMO). I think Kenny Omega himself is aware of this...which is why he cut his promo about bringing the members back together and making the stable mean something again.

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And I'm saying that people think Kim Kardashian is cool...but popularity is not indicative of quality or longevity.

 

We can all laugh, and dance, and throw dollar bills in the air to make it rain...and pretend that the Bullet Club is cooler now than they ever have been, just because merch sales are up. But, it doesn't make it so. They still need to manage their brand better.

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More on New Beginning:

 

With Wrestle Kingdom 12 and New Year's Dash in the rearview mirror, New Japan Pro Wrestling has revealed the lineups for their next three major shows.

 

NJPW will be in Sapporo for two New Beginning shows later this month and in Osaka for a third New Beginning event on February 10th. The Osaka show has the most loaded card of the three, with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against SANADA, NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defending against EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi challenging for Will Ospreay's IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, and Tetsuya Naito facing YOSHI-HASHI.

 

There are also four title matches set for Sapporo. Hiroshi Tanahashi will put his IWGP Intercontinental Championship on the line against Minoru Suzuki on night one, and Togi Makabe, Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi will challenge for the Bullet Club's Six-Man tag titles.

 

Kenny Omega defending his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Jay White will headline on night two, and Roppongi 3K will get their Junior Heavyweight tag title rematch against The Young Bucks.

 

Most of the big matches for this tour were set up at New Year's Dash. As part of the storyline where Okada accepted SANADA's challenge to a title match, Okada & Goto will be challenging for SANADA & EVIL's IWGP Tag Team Championship at a Road to the New Beginning show at Korakuen Hall on February 6th.

 

Both nights in Sapporo and the New Beginning in Osaka will air live on New Japan World with English commentary available. Here are the full cards for the shows:

 

The New Beginning in Sapporo (night one, January 27th) --

 

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Minoru Suzuki

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Jay White & Roppongi 3K (Sho & Yoh)

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & Gedo vs. SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI

Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay

Cody, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page vs. Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa defending against Togi Makabe, Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi

Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & KUSHIDA vs. Takashi Iizuka, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku

Michael Elgin vs. Katsuya Kitamura (second match in Kitamura's trial series)

 

The New Beginning in Sapporo (night two, January 28th) --

 

IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Jay White

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defending against Roppongi 3K (Sho & Yoh)

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay & Gedo vs. SANADA, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI

Cody, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page vs. Kota Ibushi, David Finlay & KUSHIDA

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka

Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens vs. Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Henare

Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shota Unno vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku

Juice Robinson vs. Katsuya Kitamura (third match in Kitamura's trial series)

 

The New Beginning in Osaka (February 10th) --

 

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against SANADA

NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defending against EVIL

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Hiromu Takahashi

Tetsuya Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Gedo vs. BUSHI

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, Taichi & Taka Michinoku

Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Jay White, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano

Roppongi 3K (Sho & Yoh) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuya Kitamura (sixth match in Kitamura's trial series

https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-reveals-lineups-new-beginning-sapporo-osaka-249511

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Guest Fight Me.

Random, but it bothers the *Censored* outta me that GoD don't match their attires anymore. Especially with Tanga Loa's ugly ass MVP like attire lmao.

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Random, but it bothers the *Censored* outta me that GoD don't match their attires anymore. Especially with Tanga Loa's ugly ass MVP like attire lmao.

 

Agree entirely. Not so much about matching...but definitely about Loa looking like a sack of shit. His body proportions don't really lend well to that type of attire. Didn't bother me with MVP, but doesn't look good at all on Loa.

 

Not to mention, I just prefer the painted faces for G.o.D.

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According to Omega on TIJ, he did not want to have a random match with Kota (which was the original WK match) because there was no story. He acknowledged their history but felt it would still be thrown together.

 

He also said he does not care about just going out there and having a good match if it does not mean all that much.

 

I like him a lot more after hearing that. Wish more people thought like that tbh.

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I thought it was kinda funny that he said he didn't want to just have the Ibushi match with no story so then he started talking to Jericho. With less time to tell a story than with Ibushi :lol:

 

But I understand he wants his re-match with Ibushi to be something special. I just hope we get it at this point, I think there's a legit possibility they never wrestle eachother again.

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Guest Fight Me.

I understand if its long and you do not want to type it out. But whats the just of their storied history? I heard there is even a romantic touch to it? Not making a joke...just to be clear.

They are the Golden Lovers, that's all you need to know lol.

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I understand if its long and you do not want to type it out. But whats the just of their storied history? I heard there is even a romantic touch to it? Not making a joke...just to be clear.

 

Kenny was kinda fed up with wrestling, then started watching DDT and loved it (Ibushi too). So he sent a video to him challenging him to a match and sent a video of him doing a comedy match. DDT and Ibushi liked it and decided to fly him in for that match. The match was great and DDT decided they wanted to bring Kenny back. Kenny and Ibushi became friends (or something more) and started teaming as the Golden Lovers. Won tag titles in DDT and New Japan. Then Kenny had a match with Ibushi for the title in DDT's biggest show ever at the time (?) and Ibushi won again. They continued teaming up until Kenny signed with New Japan and stopped wrestling for DDT, while Ibushi was wrestling for both promotions but had just moved up to Heavyweight, therefore the team had to end.

 

Kenny then joined Bullet Club so he was a heel while Ibushi was a babyface, they were never even in multi man tag matches together in New Japan, to this day btw. Meanwhile Ibushi won the New Japan Cup and earned a title match with AJ Styles, the leader of Bullet Club. In the final stretch of that match Ibushi goes for a Phoenix Splash to put away AJ but when he gets to the top rope Kenny gets on the apron but hesitates in helping the Bullet Club and betraying his friend. Ibushi gets distracted and that allows AJ to catch him with the Styles Clash and retain the belt.

 

Since then Ibushi resigned with DDT and New Japan and has been wrestling as a freelancer, wrestling sparingly for New Japan, doing the CWC, etc. Last year he came back as Tiger Mask W (shh) and then he was announced for the G1. Kenny and him teased eachother challenging one another to win their block so they could meet in the finals. Kenny succeeded but Ibushi failed, immediately after the G1 finals match which Kenny lost Ibushi met him backstage to console him, which (as far as I know) was their first on camera encounter since the AJ Styles match.

 

On New Year's Dash after a Bullet Club tag match vs Ibushi & friends, Cody started beating him Ibushi and as he got a chair ready to hit him Kenny came out for the save. The crowd went mental but Ibushi just got carried out and Kenny and Cody had a confrontation (before Kenny calling Jay White). I probably missed some stuff but that's pretty much the story so far. They've both said they're scared they'll kill eachother if they have another match because of the crazy shit they'd do.

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