New Japan Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread

Power Struggle - 11/3/19

Well as usual the show starts slow as they attempt to get more wrestlers on the card but they do tend to lead to future developments like

So my show grade really starts kicking in at Naito vs Taichi. Taichi can have some good matches once and awhile but this was just okay.

Next would be the Junior Tag League Finals. I watched every match of the Junior Tag League so this is an important match for me.

Well so far I've been a bit underwhelmed in terms of a New Japan show. Not that anything is bad but New Japan is just at such a high standard that a bunch of above average matches is noticeable. Well hopefully my spirit animal Tomohiro Ishii can boost up the show score against Kenta

Being that Bushi is the bottom of the totem pole in LIJ you tend to forget how good is actually is, so it is nice to get a reminder with this title shot

Man...I'm at such a high right now...and I now we have a main event in which I don't see how Goto wins here. If he does I'll start flipping tables and say this card is the most amazing thing since slice bread.

Match of the Night: Tomohiro Ishii vs KENTA
Show Score: 82 out of 100

This show ended up being around my expectations. Could of been even better if the Junior Tag League Final was a better structured match. Match 7 and 8 were the highlights of this show and some surprises in between kept the show in the 80 range overall.

New Japan has some new Dojo Boys in the L.A. Dojo.

Final Day of World Tag League 2019 - 12/8/19

So I ended up watching this live last night but I was so tired at 5 A.M. in the morning that I felt I'd be more coherent writing thoughts about it tomorrow instead. So I didn't watch all the matches for the Tag League. I watched the beginning of the tour where there was only Japanese Commentary and the ending of the tour which had both Japanese and English Commentary. The rest of the matches were during house shows. I'm going to talk about the teams first that don't need to be in a spoiler and then the others that do.

So the first this is Toru Yano and Colt Cabana was as entertaining together as you thought they would be. We did get to see them face off during the New Japan Cup earlier in the year. Which this is the follow-up to. Toru Yano is always the ultimate spoiler and there was a big impact this year one who they spoiled.

Being that Jushin Liger has been having his retirement tour. No one else has been interfering with that announcing their own retirement but I fill Manabu Nakanishi will retire next year. The guy is close to being immobile in the ring now. At 52-years old his in-ring ability has completely cliffed. Yuji Nagata is starting to get there too. He was still competitive in 2016 but I believe we've gotten to the cliff point for him as well. Though Jushin Liger can still put on good matches when he is the one retiring =(.

I don't want to make this too long so I will move into the Spoiler section now


The Heavyweight Tag Division has been very sour for awhile. But they made the Tag League pretty special this year with the results. I'm going to give a Final Score to the whole tag league as a 77 out of 100. I would say Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs Evil and Sanada was also the match of the night based on in-ring quality. It was a nice 4-star level match.

Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night One - 1/4/20

(Pre-show)
Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe), Yuya Uemura, and Yota Tsuji vs. Toa Henare, Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, and Karl Fredericks

The commentary mentioned that the first match of 2010s for New Japan had Kuzuchika Okada in it. So in 10 years we can comeback to this moment to see who has turned into the main eventers out of these 5 young lions in the ring.


Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) vs. Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi

They said that it wouldn't be a Wrestle Kingdom without these four but at the same time the combined age in the right is over 200. You never know when it is going to be the last one for some of these guys. So it is just better to enjoy it.

(Main-Show)
Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke, and Tiger Mask (with El Samurai) vs. Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and Ryusuke Taguchi (with Kuniaki Kobayashi)

We got a lot more action then I thought with this match. I had a blast watching all the legends.
Speed and Power can be lost in time but technique is forever lasting

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Evil, Sanada, Shingo Takagi, and Bushi) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and El Desperado)
Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Yoshi-Hashi) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Kenta, and Yujiro Takahashi)

The next two matches are set-up matches for what were going to see tomorrow in regards to title matches. A very New Japan type thing to do. Will see what happens tomorrow and if any of this really mattered. Thus I'm not putting much weight into these matches when it comes to the final show score

Guerrillas of Destiny (Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga) (c) vs. FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay)

Juice Robinson seems to have had some inspiration with The Village People performing on New Years with his WK attire. It really doesn't feel like an attire of a wrestler about to win the tag titles


Lance Archer (c) vs. Jon Moxley

I guess we couldn't expect too much from the "deathmatch" title even though it is Japan. I doubt the Tokyo Dome would want light tubes and barb wire. So don't expect that from this match.


Will Ospreay (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi

This is the match that were all waiting for on night one. The hype is through the roof and it makes me worried I'm too amped up for it. The next two matches feel more like Semi-Final matches with the double championship angle. They also said that the Junior Heavyweight Title has changed hands 6 straight times at the Tokyo Dome...and with Gedo booking...


Jay White (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

I'm in a state of euforia, that match put me in a state of wrestling nirvana. I ended up on the floor too at the end of the match. That is another match that has broken the Meltzer Scale. The Meltzer Scale HAS BEEN BROKEN AGAIN!


Match of the Night: Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Show Score: 92 out of 100

I came into this show thinking that Day 2 was going to surely be the better card. But after Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi I have no idea. I gave this show a 92...that is an astounding score. The low point for me on Day 1 was Jon Moxley vs Lance Archer because it simply wasn't brutal enough for a deathmatch but I'd say it was a 78 out of 100 match. I need to have a card that has no major matches under 80. It can happen...and by god if it happens. I cannot skip out on New Years Dash. I'd need that encore show live baby. This is what Wrestle Kingdom is all about...that feeling you just went to valhalla. I can see Hana Kimura and Guilia waving at me right now. I love this entertainment medium and hope you all received the same amount of love tonight as I did. With that...I'm going to collapse on my bed.

Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night Two - 1/5/20

The Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano) and Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi, and Robbie Eagles) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Evil, Shingo Takagi, and Bushi) vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, and Chase Owens)

This is a nice way to get all the factions involved. I always feel this belt is better when one of the 4 factions hold it as it gives some purpose to the belt through faction rivalry.


Jushin Thunder Liger and Naoki Sano (with Yoshiaki Fujiwara) vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee

This was very interesting. It is so weird to see Hiromu get booed so much. But no one wanted to see Liger retire but time comes for everyone.

Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo) (c) vs. Roppongi 3K (Yoh and Sho)

El Phantasmo has really done a great job giving us a true nasty heel in the Junior Heavyweight this year. Then Roppongi 3K keep winning things but they also continue to struggle to stay at the top


Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Sanada

I came into this thinking that Sanada might finally get his singles push but at the same time Zack only recently got the belt back from Tanahashi.


Jon Moxley (c) vs. Juice Robinson

It would feel pretty weird if Juice Robinson got his own Double Dash and won the Tag Titles and United States Championship on the same night. But being that you never know how much Moxley is going to do in New Japan. That actually adds to the doubt he'll win which is a unique additive he has for New Japan


Kenta (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

This is exactly what I needed after all those technical difficulties. Kenta to me has been the best in New Japan for 2019. I was most interested in him going into the G1 and the most interested after the G1. Then on every major show he was in a singles match he was a contender for match of the night.


Jay White (with Gedo) vs. Kota Ibushi

This is pretty much a bronze medal match or 3rd place match. It was still pretty good but the ending dragged a bit.


Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho

I really felt like Tanahashi was carrying Jericho. I don't know if it is age, I don't know if it is the weight, or maybe both. But he is feeling more and more like an old man each time I watch him.


Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champion) vs. Tetsuya Naito (IWGP Intercontinental Champion)

If you know the story of this rivalry then you know what 99% the outcome would be but they still did a good job with false finishes



Match of the Night: Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champion) vs. Tetsuya Naito (IWGP Intercontinental Champion)
Show Score: 88 out of 100


Night 1 was the better night overall. There was some matches like Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Sanada and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho that dragged the score under Night 1. But it could of been much lower if it wasn't for the main event and what happened after the main event. New Japan is starting off strong with what feuds were getting out of from Wrestle Kingdom 14 and it is off to New Beginning 2020.

New Beginnings in Osaka - 2/9/20

Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), Yuji Nagata, and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Taguchi Japan (Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Toa Henare, and Ryusuke Taguchi)

This match was just to give the fans another chance to see Nakanishi on a PPV for the last time. All the Dads are almost 50 now so you never know how many matches will get from everyone. Though Kojima looks the best out of all them mobility wise.

Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) (c) vs. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado)

I got into the second half of the match. So I guess that is a positive. Though I do feel there were a few mistakes by Sho during the match.

Kota Ibushi and Taguchi Japan (Hiroshi Tanahashi, David Finlay, and Juice Robinson) vs. Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga)

I was disappointed that GoD won the titles back so soon. I just don't feel like they need it right now and it just feels stale with them as champions of the division. Where do we go from here? Even if they end up putting the titles on Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi it will just be a short term main event tag team. New Japan really needs to consider signing some heavyweight tag teams. I rather The Revival join New Japan. They would have better matches that fit their style and they would be much better utilized because there is an opening for them. AEW has tons of Tag Teams already.

Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay) vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.)

This was a fun match. But man...if WIll Ospreay fails to win the British Heavyweight Championship again next week. Taking about stale champions. Zack Sabre Jr basically is the title belt at this point.

Jay White vs. Sanada

Jay White is the top heel in New Japan...well Kenta did a good job to challenge him on that with what he did at Wrestle Kingdom. But Sanada is one of those guys that continues to not get his push higher up the card and this doesn't feel like a match to do it either as maybe it was with having Sanada win the British Heavyweight Championship back at Wrestle Kingdom. They need to get the LiJ fans nervous and what better way to do that then having the No2 guy fall to Jay White.

This was a good match though. I'd say a 4-star match. Jay White is always really good with the vocals during the match to keep the heat on him.

Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Ryu Lee

Chopamania is going wild! Obviously this has more anticipation because of the injury form that botched move by Ryu Lee to Takahashi back in 2018. It will be curious to see how dangerous they will get this match. They started it pretty fun but pretty safe.

So I'd say this was a 4 1/2 star match. The PPV is really rolling now with the heavy hitter matches...and no I'm not trying to make a pun there XD.

Jon Moxley (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki

That match had some crazy moments. I'm really hoping this can be even crazier, which might be why the last match wasn't. I'll find out in about 20-30 minutes. We got Suzuki with chairs. We got Suzuki with guard rails. Normal Suzuki things to start the match. We got Moxley with the biting. We got Moxley with tables. Normal Moxley things to start the match.

So don't expect something too crazy but I can still say this is 3 4 star level matches in a row.

Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kenta

Tetsuya Naito isn't really a 5-star type talent for me in-ring. Its a lot more his character that drives him for me. Kenta though was my MVP for 2019. He made a big push for 2020 as well. Can this main event blow me away?

I feel like this is the type of match that needs to be watched twice to fully appreciate. You had my real time thoughts in the spoilers because I was caught off guard with how the match started. But there is obviously an art to it and this match was more for the people in the crowd than it was for the viewers at home. Kenta had the crowd in the palm of his hands and for that I will say the match salvaged itself to a 4 start match at the end. I might consider watching it again tomorrow.

As it stands...
Match of the Night: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Ryu Lee
Show Score: 80 out of 100

Summer Struggle in Jingu - 8/29/20

KOPW Tournament: El Desperado vs. Toru Yano vs. Sanada vs. Kazuchika Okada

Now I'm not going to put weight of this match in my ratings because I only caught the last 5 minutes but I had a feeling....

Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki for the NEVER Openweight Championship

There was a lot of good exchanges here between their moves that made the match better than just a normal match between them. Minoru Suzuki is 52 years old but can still go...so I guess that is all that matters.

Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Man....this is hurting my soul man

Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.) (c) vs. Golden☆Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship

Well this match didn't start off the best because I am not a fan of blending Tanahashi's and Ibushi's themes together. The match was picking up at the end but

Evil (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the Double Championship

Well so far tonight we have had all the bad guys win or heels if you want to call them. So if EVIL does defend his championship that would mean all the bad guys won in the title matches tonight as well as the other two matches. I would still consider Yano a bad guy even though he is a comedy bad guy.


Match of the Night: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
Show Score: 79 out of 100

I really hope the foreigners can travel soon or New Japan brings in some new domestic faces for the G1. There is only so much more you can do with these limited rosters. But as long as were progressing from these double championship matches, I can look at the positives and continue to enjoy the product around the same level as always.

A Block Stats
Name || Average || High || Low
Tomohiro Ishii || 4.22 || 5.00 || 3.50
Will Ospreay || 4.02 || 5.00 || 3.50
Kota Ibushi || 3.97 || 4.75 || 3.25
Shingo Takagi || 3.92 || 4.75 || 3.50
Jay White || 3.44 || 5.00 || 1.50
Minoru Suzuki || 3.44 || 4.25 || 2.75
Jeff Cobb || 3.44 || 4.00 || 2.00
TAICHI || 3.39 || 4.00 || 2.00
Kuzuchika Okada || 3.36 || 4.00 || 1.75
Yujiro Takahashi || 2.58 || 3.50 || 1.50


B Block Stats
Name || Average || High || Low
Tetsuya Naito || 3.75 || 4.00 || 2.00
Hiroshi Tanahashi || 3.44 || 4.00 || 2.25
Juice Robinson || 3.36 || 3.75 || 2.50
KENTA || 3.33 || 4.00 || 1.75
SANADA || 3.31 || 4.00 || 2.00
Zack Saber Jr. || 3.28 || 4.00 || 2.00
YOSHI-HASHI || 3.22 || 3.75 || 2.50
Hirooki Goto || 3.11 || 3.50 || 2.50
EVIL || 2.83 || 4.00 || 2.25
Toru Yano || 2.41 || 3.00 | 1.75

Match of the Night Honors

Tomohiro Ishii - 5
Will Ospreay - 3
Shingo Takagi - 3
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 3
KENTA - 3
SANADA - 3
Juice Robinson - 3
Kota Ibushi - 2
Minoru Suzuki - 2
Tetsuya Naito - 2
Jay White - 1
TAICHI - 1
Jeff Cobb - 1
Zack Saber Jr. - 1
EVIL - 1
Gabriel Kidd - 1
Yota Tsuji - 1

Finale Block Thoughts
Ishii's elite level selling propelled him to being my G1 30 MVP and getting 2 5-Star matches during the G1 this year. B Block couldn't get a match over 4-stars unfortunately, apart of me considers mood but at the same time I just don't believe the talent was enough. There was times that they could of had over 4 stars if the matches went longer but that is the same story for A Block.

Power Struggle - 11/7/20


Zack Sabre Jr. vs Toru Yano - KOPW 2020 Trophy

So here is some quick thoughts on the night. When it comes to Yano matches this was one of the upper-end since ZSJ made Yano have to wrestle for about 10 minutes. Then ending of the match was a great rendition of a typical Yano shenanigans. So I rather enjoyed myself.

Shingo Takagi vs Minoru Suzuki - NEVER Openweight Championship

We then had the match I was looking forward to the most and while there wasn't much out of the ordinary this match. Strong Style always prevails in providing the fill you need from New Japan. The memorable moment from this match actually came after the match

Great-O-Khan vs Kazuchika Okada

This was truly the first true taste of how good The Great-O-Khan is and I felt he could of used a few more moves to his arsenal but maybe that will come in time. Will Ospreay didn't have his hidden blade his entire tenure in New Japan. Hopefully will get some more variation in the coming year because what he does have now is smooth. There is a lot of promise here. But that being said...in his current state he is not ready to beat Okada clean. Maybe not even Ishii clean or Goto clean. This isn't Okada 2.0. This of course was all to set-up our Wrestle Kingdom match between Will Ospreay and Kuzuchika Okada and even though he is MoneyClip Okada...it still might be one of the best matches of Wrestle Kingdom.

Kenta vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

There was around a 2-3 minute exchange of moves in this match that I really enjoyed but nothing else really stood out for me. What stood out was KENTA's Air Bass and Air Piano.

Jay White vs Kota Ibushi

Oh boi...well 2020 has been quite the year and Gedo has been doing things he has never done before.


Tetsuya Naito vs Evil - Double Championship

I NEED EVIL OUT OF THE MAIN EVENT. Concentrating on this match was a difficult task. There was nothing different here that we haven't seen in the last few matches between these two. There was same low blows. There was the same chair shots. There was the same ref bumps. There was the same Dick Togo. There was the same run-ins like during Summer Struggle. Ultimately it felt like Vince Russo was booking this match and it is one of the worst main events I've experienced with New Japan. Being that I was mainly on twitter most of the time during this match, I know I'm not alone. How New Japan treats there referees is souring a lot Western fans on the product. Their domestic fans? Don't know, translators don't understand syntax.

Match of the Night: Shingo Takagi vs Minoru Suzuki
Show Score: 66 out of 100

I might be going a bit rough on my overall rating but the main event does hold a lot of weight to the scoring and when I look at what we've gained and lost from tonight. It does feel like a down for me. Even with me being a bit more on a positive note for Zack Sabre Jr. vs Toru Yano and Great-O-Khan vs Kazuchika Okada. They both have a ceiling for how good they can actually be. So its just not enough to pull the show back from the major matches on the card. Grappl wise I'm at a mean star rating for 3.25, so that is basically a B Block Day from the G1. So its a bit kinder scoring there.

Tag League 2020 Stats
Name || Average || High || Low
Goto/Yoshi-Hashi || 3.36 || 3.75 || 2.75
Shingo/Sanada || 3.25 || 3.50 || 2.75
Ishii/Yano || 3.22 || 3.75 || 2.75
Taichi/Saber Jr || 3.19 || 3.75 || 2.00
Robinson/Finlay || 3.17 || 3.50 || 2.50
Khan/Cobb || 3.03 || 3.25 || 2.50
Tanahashi/Henare || 3.00 || 3.75 || 1.75
Fale/Owens || 2.81 || 3.25 || 2.00
Tonga/Tama || 2.79 || 3.25 || 1.75
EVIL/Takahashi || 2.77 || 3.00 ||2.00


Best of the Super Juniors 27 Stats
Name || Average || High || Low
Hiromu Takahashi || 3.61 || 4.00 || 3.00
SHO || 3.42 || 3.75 || 3.00
El Desperado || 3.33 || 4.00 || 3.00
Robbie Eagles || 3.33 || 4.00 || 2.75
Taiji Ishimori || 3.33 || 3.75 || 3.00
Douki || 3.19 ||3.75 || 2.50
Yuya Uemura || 3.08 || 3.50 || 2.50
Bushi || 3.05 || 3.75 || 2.25
Ryusuke Taguchi || 2.86 || 3.25 || 2.25
Master Wato || 2.83 ||3.25 || 2.50

Match of the Night Honors
Goto/Yoshi-Hashi - 4
Shingo/Sanada - 4
Ishii/Yano - 3
Taichi/Saber Jr - 3
Robinson/Finlay - 2
Tanahashi/Henare - 2

Hiromu Takahash - 5
Robbie Eagles - 4
SHO - 3
Taiji Ishimori - 3
El Desperado - 2
Douki - 1


Robin Format Thoughts
My match of the night for the World Tag League seems to go exactly in the same order as the mean score until you get to Khan/Cobb. Goto/Yoshi-Hashi were easily my favorite team in Tag League this year. Goto's move set works so much better in Tag Competition and I hope they keep teaming in 2021. I had a three way tie in the BOSJ for the Bronze Podium. First I checked what was the highest match and there was two of them with a 4 star. So then I looked at what was their lowest rated matcg. El Desperado thus had an edge on Robbie Eagles. Douki and Yuya Uemura really broke out this year as well.