Wtf happened to MiSu? He's lost like 30 ****ing pounds since his match with Okada in February. His arms and chest lost a bunch of muscle. It looks like he hasn't eaten since February.

re: okada/omega 2

LOL Omega for coming back to NJPW

I did not enjoy Okada/Omega II. Perhaps someday I'll rewatch it but it won't be in the near future. I've watched the first encounter four times. Those 52 minutes flew by while these 60 minutes were dragging until the last 20 or so minutes. They definitely had me when Kenny hit the OWA. I couldn't see how Okada would get out of it but jfc, that was so so so good. I was pretty happy that they teased the top rope dragon suplex and didn't do it. Even though I predicted the draw, I was quite disappointed and felt the same way Jim did. Somehow I don't feel this way in the Okada/Tanahashi 30 minute draws that they've had in the G-1. This just didn't work for me and especially after a 31 minute clinic between...

Tanahashi/Naito was better than I'd hoped. Loved Tanahashi getting the submission there with a move that he has only one victory with in the six years I've been watching NJPW now and that was way back in 2011 against Yano. Never thought they'd have a top guy tap out. Great stuff.

KUSHIDA/Takahashi was great. It started off kinda good but then it got overdone. The ending of this match is fantastic. KUSHIDA, the white meat babyface, uses Bryan's old ROH stomps to an eruption of boos, and then does it again(!) because **** you Takahashi! Then using the super-mega-submission when the regular kimora doesn't work. ****ing gold.

Tanahashi/Naito >>>> KUSHIDA/Takahashi >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Omega/Okada

Ugh, main event matches for long beach show as well as first round matches for the US title have been announced.

That is not the best utilization of Hiroshi Tanahashi. Nor is that the best way to use Kazuchika Okada. Juice, Hangman, and Zack in that tournament? What? I could be wrong but isn't Zack a ****ing junior heavyweight? There's also no way that Omega should be in this tournament. Same for Naito. This card is weird.

So.....a month or two ago I heard on Twitter, and probably posted it itt, that this is going to be a round robin tournament. This can't possibly be true, can it?

It's single elimination, the round robin thing was a mis-translation. The second round matches are taped on the same night.

But yeah, the whole card just seems weird and bad to me. Okada vs Rhodes isn't that surprising but doesn't interest me at all. It's one week after Cody wrestles Daniels for the ROH title so take that fwiw. Tanahashi vs Billy Gunn is the dumbest **** of all time, I have no idea how someone who's not Billy Gunn can think that's a good idea. Tournament also seems weird to me for the reasons you pointed out.

That card looks awful

Omega/Elgin and Ishii/Naito should be good, the rest is pretty head-scratching.

Honestly, those two matches could have been easily been big title matches (HW and IC respectively) and it could have gone well with the US crowd.

This card looks to be a huge disappointment, especially the main title matches, after a tremendous one-two punch at Dominion.

I'd just like to LOL every promotion tripping over themselves to push Cody Nolastname

Dude is the epitome of average and does absolutely nothing for me.

Meltzer gave Okada/Omega 2 ******1/4

On a related note, I'm never checking for Meltzer ratings ever again.

He is trolling at this point, right?

lol metlz

I would never think that you're serious if not for that second sentence. I still hope you're joking.

I see Big Dave gave KUSHIDA vs. Takahashi ****3/4. He's forgiven.

.

Meltzer's full ratings:

David Finlay, Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka beat Hirai Kawato, Katsuya Kitamura and Tetsuhiro Yagi in 07:37 2.75

Tiger Mask, Tiger Mask W, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima in 07:01 2.75

LIJ (c) beat Bullet Club , Chaos , Suzuki-gun & Taguchi Japan in a Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Championship in 18:39 (Chaos/Bullet Club 1.5 , Suzuki Gun/Chaos - No Rating , Taguchi Japan/Suzuki Gun 1.5 & LIJ(c)/Taguchi Japan 2.5 )

The Young Bucks beat Roppongi Vice (c) for the IWGP Jr Tag Championship in 14:14 4

Guerrillas of Destiny beat War Machine (c) for the IWGP Tag Championship in 10:43 3.5
Cody beat Michael Elgin in 11:53 3.5

Kushida beat Hiromu Takahashi (c) for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship in 19:12 4.75

Minoru Suzuki (c) beat Hirooki Goto in a Lumberjack Deathmatch for the NEVER Openweight Championship in 16:00 3.5

Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Tetsuya Naito (c) for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in 25:56 4.5

Kazuchika Okada (c) & Kenny Omega wrestled to a 60 miniute time limit draw 6.25

EDIT: Gauntlet Match - Chaos beat Bullet Club 1.5 , Suzuki Gun beat Chaos - No Rating , Taguchi Japan beat Suzuki Gun 1.5 & LIJ(c) beat Taguchi Japan 2.5

Haven't seen the match yet, but seriously? ******1/4?

Yeah it's a joke but why are you purple now?

I won Sheep 200.

I agree. I've always given a lot of weight to the ending of a match in that a bad ending can knock quite a bit off of a match. People kept raving about the Kawada Kobashi 60 minute draw and I hated the ending so much I could never rate it as high as other Kawada or Kobashi matches.

There was a "5-star" junior heavyweight match. I forget who (either Sasuke or Ultimo, I think). The ending was supposed to be a springboard move. But they slipped and had to redo it. I immediately thought that it couldn't be a 5 star match. I can forgive botches in the middle of a match. But a botched finisher is not forgivable.