Just posted yesterday:
https://www.reddit.com/r/njpw/commen...tes_announced/

PPV on the April 29th and the 3rd of May. They don't usually do shows for a week or two after a ppv so more than likely no shows after that.

Awesome, thanks. That May 3rd show is a very real possibility if I can get tickets. Was planning on going to Korea for a few days then but I might make a detour.

Can one of you fine people give me a tldr synopsis of my boy SUZUKI? The way people talk about him and are getting hyped that I'm seeing makes me think it's kind of like when Brock returned? I loved his interview with all of suzukigun (i hope i did that right?) stating he was back and they're gonna take all the title. Just pure bad ass.

Very brief synopsis: He was one of two founders of Pancrase, an MMA promotion that have slight differing rules to that of UFC (the main being no punches to head, only palm strikes). He's a very legit fighter at 29-19. One of the last of his kind, really.

It's kind of like when Brock returned I suppose. He's a former triple crown champion in AJPW and he held the GHC (NOAH championship) title for 6 months in 2015 that was a storyline of Suzuki-gun (his stable) invading NOAH. He lost a title match in December 2016 that ended that story line and he came back to NJPW to now challenge Okada. He's never held the IWGP belt.

He has incredible charisma. The first time I saw him on Day 1 of the 2011 G-1, I became a fan. He's an elite heel and he's believable as a no nonsense kick ass heel because of his background and that ****ing haircut. He had a 5* match and Observer MotY with Tanahashi in October of 2014. He had the Observer MotY in 2015 with AJ during the G-1 (****3/4). Both are required viewing.

Also, his finisher is not to be ****ed with:


He knows how to treat ring boys:


edit: I forget who but one of the new NXT guys I'd never seen before the special this past weekend clearly has some influence (and moves) from MiSu.

edit 2: the last time he challenged Okada for the belt (in 2013), he legit choked him unconscious with that finisher.

edit 3: finally, lots of people call his theme the best in wrestling

He's probably here to get fed to Okada then LIJ

That's definitely the case. He's still a beast and worth getting into imo.

thanks for that! awesome.

ill check those matches out for sure. im always interested in discovering some great stuff i missed.

Here's an extended interview (transcribed to English) from Suzuki.

http://www.njpw1972.com/news/news_0127.html

This sentence sums him up very nicely. "In this exclusive one to one interview, Suzuki shows his true, chilling character. From disturbing silence to outright hostility, it's a revealing and intense conversation."

I had a blast reading it. Revealing and intense, indeed.

This interview is great. Question: When he mentions Taka Michinoku, is that the same Taka Michinoku from the AE?

^^ The very same. He, too, is in Suzuki-Gun. Also, Davey Boy Smith's son, David Hart Smith, is in it as well. Shelton Benjamin used to be in it, also, but he left like last year I think and then the speculations that he will return to Smackdown which got derailed due to him not passing a physical or getting a injury or something like that.

Newbie guide to NJPW. This is from last February but still a good guide. Suzuki is in post 7.

I messed up in the years of the matches I recommended. Match vs Tanahashi is 2013, match vs. AJ is 2014.

Awesome. Always enjoyed Taka. He was a lot better in the ring than his comedy spot made you think while still crushing some comedy segments.

Thanks iso. Gonna read through that.

I didn't mean it as a slight, NJPW is also hardly WWE when it comes to their booking being predictable.

The Tanahashi/Suzuki matches were in 2012. One at WK 6 (which I still got to check out), and one in October 2012 (the one that was given five-stars by Meltzer, NJPW's first five-star match in like 15 years, I believe, and rated match of the year from the WON awards).

The October one was really good. It went 30 minutes but everything about it was compelling and never dragged one bit.

Damn. Time flies too fast

I do at least remember the WK match which iirc, was a huge disappointment to me because it was some of the most obvious booking ever. Tanahashi tied Nagata's defense record in December 2011 by defeating Nagata and it was too easy to see Tanahashi going over at the Dome. Though, tbh, there weren't any challengers left after he beat Goto in June, Shinskay in September and Naito in October (all three stellar matches as is the Nagata match).

Tanahashi/Suzuki is also special for a big reason in its 5* rating. Jim, don't read until after you watch match unless you want a decently big spoiler and a huge reason lots of people love it:

Years ago, Suzuki had a really fun match against Kobashi in NOAH. Brings a lot of heel charisma into it.

Yes this was during the epic 2+ year reign of Kobashi. A solid 4* and you'll probably like it more if you're unfamiliar with either or both.

I haven't seen many, but I still haven't seen a Kobashi match I didn't like

Suzuki's facial expressions in promos are especially amazing. You don't need to understand him to know he's a bad ass.

NJPW launches English website yesterday:
www.njpw1972.com/

Honestly, I'd have thought it's more important to get an English NJPW World site up.

Bonus: MiSu contemplating killing Okada.

watched the match with aj and loved it. holding on for dear life against the styles clash and reversing it into an ankle lock was so great, and the entire sequence after was even better <3. Like trying to roll through for another ankle lock and getting sidestepped about put in a cross arm breaker.


aj is just the best there is

Yes! MiSu vs AJ is the ****! I haven't seen in a while. I'll probably check it out sometime today now that you mention it. I do remember how hot that crowd was (for a heel vs heel match no less). How great MiSu trying to rip AJ's fingers off was.

Jim, the avatar

i cant remove it, it hurts too much

Thoughts on Dragon Gate? I've watched maybe 3 matches in my life and know barely anything about it. There's a show in Tokyo the same time I'm there and wondering if it's worth spending the money/time. Tickets for everything wrestling related in Japan is pretty pricey.

DG Japan has a pretty good rep and seems to be doing things well lately. They had quite a few shows last year that had some noise to them afterward as well as quite a few MotYC's. I'd go watch if I could. DG may be one of those promotions where seeing it live is 100x better than seeing it on tv because of how fast paced it is.

They've done a good job keeping the top guys there as well. People like Cima, Mochizuki or however it's spelled, Yamato, BxB Hulk, Shingo and others. Those guys are top workers and always on the cards.