Okada is a heel?

Chaos started out as a heel group, but eventually turned babyface a few years ago.

I don't know which episode of AXS tv it was, it looks like it was Jan. 15, 2016, but Yano was the interview. He spent 2/3 of the interview selling his CHAOS DVD. 411's guy reviewing the show wasn't impressed, but I enjoyed it. Can't have a promotion of Shibata's and Goto's only.

Okada was incredible, no doubt about it. It's impossible to have a match like that without both guys delivering a legendary performance.

That being said, I think Omega was better but it may be because the script of the match allowed him to be. Omega seemed to get significantly more offense in and his offense was pretty varied. Everything Okada did was fantastic but seeing a bunch of counters into rainmakers and tombstones just doesn't light my world on fire.

There's a few reasons that people aren't giving Okada as much credit as Omega. The biggest one, imo, is that they can see Omega going to the WWE and don't see Okada going and/or don't see him being successful if he were to go. Omega has the look, charisma, moveset to be John Cena for 5 years. He's like a better Seth Rollins. Seth is exciting but lacks the big body*, has had knee surgery hampering his moveset, has less charisma, and can't talk on the mic that well.

*Seth has the body of a god but Kenny's what Vince looks for.

I agree that Kenny is the best full package in the world right now but it doesn't sound like Vince is going to have much luck unless they throw stupid amounts of money at him.

He said this a couple days before WK -

And then said this after the match -

Sounds like he's sticking around.

Everything every pro wrestler says should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

Remember,

Doesn't Vince like the taller guys? Omega may be slightly thicker than Rollins, but it's not a drastic difference (e.g., Cena is significantly larger than both).

I thought Omega was at least 6'3". Now I see he's only 6 foot. Can I get away with saying that he has more presence than Seth? If he grows a few more inches he can be Cena.

Post injury Rollins moves like he has broken glass in his shoes so I don't think it's out there at all.

Kenny imo is #1 p4p wrestler in the world.

I thought AJ was the best but Kenny Omega is without debate the best in the world. His athleticism and storytelling phycology in the ring is just 2nd to none.

Greatest match of all time Omega/Okada. 6 Stars!


Now if he goes to WWE I hope they use him correctly and not like Gallows/Anderson or Nakamura etc. Straight to main roster and not NXT. Give him the AJ treatment

I originally really wanted to see New Day vs The Elite but the bucks resigned with ROH and after that Okada match, Kenny is hotter than ever and I think WWE should make him a headline guy singles competitor right away.

The 5 star matches he can have with some guys in WWE are endless (AJ, Seth, Nakamura, heck even Cena lol)

Ill pop hard if he is at the Rumble! Lets Go!

LOL

Austin's podcast today:

He also said that he didn't think it would live up to expectations of all of the people that e-mailed him to watch it. He was so hesitant to watch it that he said he watched the entrances and turned it off and then watched the first couple of minutes and turned it off before watching the whole thing.

I did pretty much the same thing as Austin over the past few days. I finally watched the full match last night and it was great, don't think it was the best ever but still amazing considering I had no clue about either guy or the built etc.

What's the story with NJPW, is it just a big event every couple of months or do the have weekly shows?

I really liked how the commentators called the match as if it was a proper sporting event.

A big event every month with some "Road To" shows. They are essentially house show matches filled with a lot of tag team matches, maybe a rare singles match here and there, to help build towards the big event. The majority of the shows they do is on their own streaming service, New Japan World. About 1000 yen a month, roughly $8-9 dollars.

For January, after Wrestle Kingdom and the New Year's Dash (the day after WK), they are doing a tour called Fantasticamania where wrestlers from CMLL (top Mexico company) and NJPW team up together and wrestle among each other. Three of those shows are going to be on their streaming service. In February, their big shows are two shows called The New Beginning in "insert city here".

Their biggest grueling schedule is the G1 Climax where they are doing 19 shows within a span of a month doing a round-robin tournament composing of so many great matchups and delivering great matches and solid attendance.

This reminds me to mention that the main event is being broadcast on AXS on 1/13. Can't wait to hear this event called by Jim Ross.

Amazing picture:

I've never watched NJPW before, but I felt like I had to watch this one. Here's my review:

Pre-show: New Japan Rumble
This was awful. A great mix of guys I am unfamiliar with and guys I thought had gone away forever. (Scott Norton? Are you ****ing kidding me?) It was obvious Elgin would win, because he was the only guy not treated like a joke. Also I was really expecting the production quality to be better. Just a simple graphic when the people came out would have been nice. Announcing was abysmal. “Did Yoshi Tatsu get eliminated? I was reading Twitter.” **** off. Anyway, this went on way too long. If you’re going to have a gimmick match that means nothing, get it over with quickly.
0 stars


Match #1: Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger Dark
So, this match is basically about a ****ing cartoon? What the hell? Maybe it was just the stupid premise, but I couldn’t get into this match at all. Shame, because I’ve seen Kota Ibushi do some great stuff this past year.
1 star


Match #2: Roppongi Vice vs. Young Bucks
So this is what became of Trent Barretta. Good for him. Crazy bump from Barretta. Match was decent enough. My biggest complaint would be how much damage Romero shrugged off after being beaten down for quite a while 2 on 1. Young Bucks had some really good heel mannerisms. I had never really seen them in action before. I was impressed.
2.75 stars


Match #3: Trios Gauntlet
This match was a ****ing mess, but a mostly entertaining mess, especially the end. I liked the finish of the guy just barely kicking out and then Evil just picks him up, does his finisher and gets the three. I’d like to see more of that.
2.75 stars


Match #4: Juice Robinson vs Cody Rhodes
Juice Robinson? What a terrible ****ing name. Who the hell has a name like that…..oh **** it’s CJ Parker. He’s still employed? He still sucks, but did a good job selling the knee at least. Always liked Cody. Hope he does well. Another awful production job. Missing the cannonball live and what the **** was that at the end?
2.25 stars


Match #5: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly
This fell mostly flat. Maybe a quick little vignette or something to tell me why I should care? Not just for me, but it seemed like the crowd wasn’t into this at all. In ring work was nothing terribly special, but certainly not bad. I just had a difficult time caring.
2 stars


Match #6: Tag Team 3-way
What was up with all the swearing? Was it an integral part of the backstory? Didn’t really understand it. Match was pretty good otherwise. I really liked the Tongan guy who wasn’t Camacho and also Ishii.
3 stars


Match #7: KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi
The first of four matches that are supposed to be really, really good. I’m ready. Great start with the blindside attack. Shame about that botch midway through. They more than made up for it with some crazy spots, solid working on the arm and a great finishing sequence. This match made me a fan of both guys, especially Takahashi.
4.5 stars


Match #8: Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
I must be in the minority, but I didn’t like this match much at all. Really obnoxious no-selling from both guys that feels like it lasts forever. Don’t get me wrong; I love two guys kicking the **** out of each other. But give me something more than one guy strikes and then waits for the other guy to strike, all mixed in with kicks that don’t hurt and nasty German suplexes that have no effect. The one good think I’ll say is that the crowd was really into it, but I certainly wasn’t. Must be me.
1 star


Match #9: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Cool entrance from Naito. Damn this crowd is pumped for this one. This Naito guy is a cool as **** heel. That apron Sling Blade looked nasty, as did that cross body to the outside. Great work of the knees from both guys. Looked back and this was about 25 minutes. It flew by. My favorite match since DIY/Revival 2. Even after the match, both guys did great, with Naito happy but limping his way out and Tanahashi needing assistance.
4.75 stars


Match #10: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
It’s going to be very difficult to view this with an unbiased lens because of the 6 star rating, but I’ll do my best properly managing expectations. Kenny Omega Terminator > HHH Terminator. Holy ****, this was incredible. I knew it was going to be 40+ minutes, so I was expecting a fair amount of dull points sprinkled throughout the match. I was engrossed the whole time. Of course the 6 star rating is absurd; it’s not a full star better than every other match in history. But it’s really, really good. Unlike several other recent matches where I’ve toyed with giving 5 stars (including the previous bout), with this one I have no such hesitation at all.
5 stars


Overall, I'm glad I watched it. Would watch more stuff like this. It was quite long, and not all of it was good, but the end more than made up for it.

Omega/Okada >>> Undertaker/Michaels

I just rewatched both and I don't even think its close.

This Omega/Okada match I can watch over and over again and still be amazed.

I really think Kenny should consider signing with WWE. He is bigger than ever and I think at Mania he can steal the show.

His price just went up 10x after that WK11 match LOL. Hopefully he waited before he resigned with NJPW or signing with WWE (Contract is up end of January)

I still haven't watched the other 2-3 hyped matches. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Question for iso and others who follow NJPW regularly: how often is there outside interference? I thought it was really interesting to see omega/okada supporters on the outside of the ring but zero influence on the match

Not very often although it picked up a little bit when Bullet Club formed. Their heat comes from disrespecting Japanese values with Western tropes and part of that was just interfering and ruining matches. In general there's more attacks after a match rather than during. Also heels aren't cowards in NJPW and still have pride in winning so that plays a part I guess.

Unless you're the Young Bucks lmao.

Deep down inside I'm still holding out hope that their contract extension with ROH is some sort of troll and then BOOM The Elite shows up face to face vs The New Day.....lol I'm dreamin

I really think its 50/50 Kenny goes to WWE...Maybe 60/40 WWE

HHH just said in an interview with ESPN today while promoting that UK Tourny that he's VERY interested in Kenny Omega. So I guess the balls in his court.

Those John Cena IG/Twitter posts about Kenny Omega are pretty funny too. He did the same last year with AJ and he showed up few weeks later at the Rumble. Lets hope for the same with Kenny.

Personally, I just don't think Omega is leaving NJPW just yet. NJPW would not give him The Tokyo Dome main event, going 46 minutes with their top guy and looking good even in defeat, kicking out of Okada's finisher (which only two other guys, which are top guys, have done) if Omega was not sticking around with them in 2017.

Honestly I think he's already gone, the fact that he was bare featured at all at New Years Dash and all of the WWE people constantly mentioning him at any chance they get makes me think that he changed his mind when WWE saw that match and backed up the money truck.

This would be so so so bad for NJPW btw, they have 0 gaijins who can move into that spot like he did when AJ left.

AND NEW IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: