LOL NJPW

I can't pinpoint the exact moment it started going downhill but I can pinpoint this as the new rock bottom since I've been watching.

I had a bad feeling they were going to pull the trigger on White. Yuck.

Well if their goal was to have a Gaijin champion that the WWE wouldn't sign in a million years, they succeeded.

Didn't watch video. Just saw from another forum that he's going to NJPW next month for Dominion. Don't care but I figure some here might

NJPW is pretty much season 8 of game of thrones at this point.

It's a shame how far NJPW has fallen.

I pinpoint not having Naito win the title from Okada as the start of the downfall personally. Omega beating him was a good moment, but the subsequent reign just wasn't very exciting (makes sense given he was focusing more on lining up his ducks to go do AEW), Tana was just a transitional champ, Jay White didn't do anything, and now I feel like we're just back where we were a couple years ago except without any of the intrigue the long reign of Okada had last time. Now they had Ambrose come in and win a title on his first night (unfortunately a name change doesn't improve a wrestlers skill because the match was mediocre as expected ... though Juice did his best. Deserved more imo). Just makes your stars feel like afterthoughts when people roll in from a different company and show themselves to be better than your champions.

Oh well, hope they can right the ship but I went from getting excited and watching NJPW shows in their entirety when I first got up to just picking through matches that sound interesting when I get some free time throughout the day.

Since I was awake and saw it trending on Twitter, I caught the last 3 matches of Dominion last night...

Will vs. Lee - It was a Jr. match. Wasn't bad. Didn't like it that much.
Naito vs. Ibushi - Ibushi landed on his neck a handful of times and looked like he died every single time. This one being the worst:



They made a farce of their finishers and it was not enjoyable. It was a slightly better than average NXT Adam Cole match.

Okada vs. Jericho - This was just there. Okada looked great working around Jericho. Jericho tried but his age is showing.

Conclusion: for their 2nd biggest show of the year, it was a disappointment. These 3 matches were fine for a show like New Beginning or whatever their December ppv is. Though, Seeing Shibata come out and present KENTA was pretty damn cool.

Ambrose in the G1 is interesting. I wonder who he'll lose to.

Let's not forget that 24 years ago today, the GMOAT happened. I haven't watched that in a couple of years. Gotta do that some day.

Since I was awake and saw it trending on Twitter, I caught the last 3 matches of Dominion last night...

Will vs. Lee - It was a Jr. match. Wasn't bad. Didn't like it that much.
Naito vs. Ibushi - Ibushi landed on his neck a handful of times and looked like he died every single time. This one being the worst:



I thought he was seriously injured on that spot at the very least. They made a farce of their finishers and it was not enjoyable. It was a slightly better than average NXT Adam Cole match.

Okada vs. Jericho - This was just there. Okada looked great working around Jericho. Jericho tried but his age is showing.

Conclusion: for their 2nd biggest show of the year, it was a disappointment. These 3 matches were fine for a show like New Beginning or whatever their December ppv is. Though, Seeing Shibata come out and present KENTA was pretty damn cool.

Ambrose in the G1 is interesting. I wonder who he'll lose to.

Let's not forget that 24 years ago today, the GMOAT happened. I haven't watched that in a couple of years. Gotta do that some day.

Just watched the last two matches.

That apron spot was absolutely absurd.

Jericho is old and needs to stop.

It's sad how many of the people I grew up watching have clung on well past their ability to perform. Undertaker, Goldberg, and Jericho are a combined 154 years old and just main evented three different promotions PPVs in the last 2-3 weeks. All of them were marred by the realization that these were just old people who could barely move around anymore without being exhausted.

G1 participants announced:


A Block
Kazuchika Okada
Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kota Ibushi
EVIL
SANADA
Bad Luck Fale
Lance Archer
Will Ospreay
KENTA


B Block
Tetsuya Naito
Tomohiro Ishii
Juice Robinson
Toru Yano
Hirooki Goto
Jay White
Jeff Cobb
Shingo Takagi
Taichi
Jon Moxley

Block A looks sick.
Block B looks good.

Overall it looks much better than the previous few years.

This G1 is going to be insane.

I honestly have no idea who they will build up to face Okada at WK this time around. So many options.

I'm a huge Ospreay fan, but he's the junior champ. He's not going to win.

Doubt they put Ibushi in the final again, but maybe?

Naito says he's going to unify the IWGP and Intercontinental titles. I'd personally be surprised if that match happens, because A) it would be a rematch from only two years ago (and this isn't Tanahashi/Okada), and B) the IC title often serves as a double main event-caliber match.

I would love Ishii getting the huge push. Skeptical that it would actually happen.

If Takagi gets a big run here, I would approve.

Moxley is an interesting wild card but I can't imagine he'd actually win.

If White wins, we riot?

By the way, this G1 is Exhibit A that NJPW isn't nearly as bad right now as a lot of you make it out to be. I think this forum tends to get a little too negative sometimes.

Oh, and that said, the Dominion Naito/Ibushi match was terrible.

Ospreay/Lee was fantastic. Okada-Jericho was good. And people are still wrong about Jericho being too old. You guys are insane.

I was catching up this morning with some of the G1 stuff.

Regarding Moxley/Ishii, can we please stop doing those unprotected skull on skull spots? I know they were a far cry from the ones Shibata did, but they still made me cringe a little bit.

If G1 has taught me anything it's that Dean Ambrose didn't suck in WWE because of creative and the WWE style. Dean Ambrose sucked in WWE because he's not very good at wrestling.

Watched Moxley vs. Ishii after seeing tons of praise as I'm a huge fan of Ishii. Wasn't impressed. Moxley's just not polished as a professional wrestler. Four things that stand out greatly: 1) his timing isn't in sync (maybe bad night w/Ishii), 2) he's too often not in the correct position, 3) his selling was awful because he often forgot if he was supposed to be selling or being strong style (though this is a consequence of Ishii's style), 4) when he was on offense in the ring, he looked lost. Things I did like: the 3 running knees he did were great and his finisher looked good (because Ishii's a ****ing boss).

Final verdict: ***

I do think a lot of the criticisms are because of language barrier or working a different style. idk, I want to give him some benefit of the doubt but polishing is definitely needed.

The way Ambrose gingerly went to the ground at around 1:05 here is nothing short of embarrassing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uW_...ature=youtu.be



He's just not very good. His running knee looks worse than Kelly Kelly trying to run ropes. This is closer to a Sandow situation where the E found a niche character the guy could play and do well which highlighted his strengths and hid his weaknesses instead of a McIntyre situation where they let a really good guy do nothing interesting and then go tear it up elsewhere.

wow I hadn't read that he lost that match. What a way to suffer your first loss in NJPW. What I got from that clip: Yano's still great doing the same thing over and over again 8 years later.

edit: was this not his first loss? listening to Meltzer's cast and he said he was facing Yano while undefeated and didn't expect him to lose to him.

I honestly have no idea what they're building to with this G1. Okada has been at the top of the mountain for so long it seems like his only fresh feuds left will be against KENTA who he already beat clean or Ambrose who's main promotion is AEW.

Even if they do something like Having Naito win out and beat Okada in the finals or something it still doesn't mean anything when they had a wayyyyy better opportunity to tell that story 2 years ago and chose not to so they could put over Okada's 2 year reign of terror for REASONS.

Plus with WK being 2 days this year, they kinda need the IC title to main event one of the days so I can't really see that happening. NJPW is ass.

Yes, this was his first loss. I totally expected it. Fully expecting him to lose to Jay White next match too.

I believe a win by Moxley there would have eliminated everyone except for White, Goto and Juice.

It's a little sad how hung up you are getting over Dean. He's versatile as hell, a draw and you're trying to put him down because he isn't the most legit in ring, something he has never sold himself on.

Shock horror the people signed to contracts that last longer than a month are going to get pushed.

Look forward to Dean being pushed in messy matches at PPV that will be his draw.

Think it's weird to call people sad when they post twice in 2 weeks that they haven't been impressed with Ambrose in the G1 as they've watched it but you do you. Glad you enjoy it even if I don't.