Indy: All-Purpose Non-WWE Discussion Thread -- Part 2 [NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco July 7]

[Kimi]

Does anyone know what time the show starts on the 4th??

Probably somewhen around 06h00 UTC for the start of the show. No clue when the main card will start.

 

[Shoalzie]

They have it listed as 17:00 on njpw1972.com. That would be 3:00 a.m. in the Eastern time zone. I'd assume that's the start of the main show.

They've been doing that gimmick rumble on the preshow. If you're watching at 2, you probably won't miss anything. On NJPW World, you can go back in the stream so you can get caught up.

 

[The Burdened]

Naito wins back-to-back Tokyo Sport MVP awards!

Suck it Okada and Omega! And maybe Jericho should pay a little more attention before he disrespect the Japanese GOAT or maybe he challenges Naito for the title when they come to America in March!

 

[Kimi]

Stop pretending that Okada is gonna lose .

 

[bigdirty]

With Omega's contract with NJPW ending shortly after Wrestle Kingdom, I found it interesting how Jericho kept repeating at the end of the press conference "This will be Kenny Omega's last match in Japan". Like he's not saying he's going to end Omega's career, just end his career in Japan. My first thought is maybe he's teasing Omega signing in WWE next year. My second though however, is that Jericho and Omega both love to troll fans.

 

[dahrougem2]

I don't think Omega will ever sign in WWE. He's not a good fit for what they want, and they aren't a good fit for what he wants.

 

[Kimi]

He is a good fit for what they need.

 

[Shoalzie]

I think Kenny can stay in Japan for a few more years and help build that company into a bigger deal over in North America. They've just scratched the surface on what they can do with him as an ambassador to this side of the pond. Why else would they be doing more of these shows in the US in '18 and have that title belt if they didn't think this was new ground to go into?

Kenny would be swallowed up in the WWE machine. Everyone we thought who is a big deal is fighting for good storylines and title pushes. They honestly have too many top guys in their company and they don't know how to use them. In Japan, Kenny gets to be a lot more creative and he's already a big deal over there.

I think there will be a time for him to come over but not now.

 

[dahrougem2]

What they need and what they want are two very different things

 

[Kimi]

What they need and what they want are two very different things

Yeah, that's mostly the problem.

 

[Shoalzie]

The full card, or almost the full card, for Wrestle Kingdom should be announced tomorrow.

Working my way through the WTL finals show...haven't watched the final match yet but I already know the finish.

Have to believe Goto will face Suzuki, right? Hasn't been added to the card but I wonder if they make it official at one of the shows this weekend.

It's fascinating seeing the crowd reaction to Okada and Naito. Okada choking out Naito and Takahashi...crowd was booing him. Hard to say who is the heel and the face in this match.

The Kenny-Jericho encounter was cool. I love how sinister Jericho has been. I need to watch their press conference.

 

[GKJ]

What they need and what they want are two very different things

Kenny sells merch and Vince wants to sell merch. Kenny is exactly what they want, someone who is already over without Vince needing to do anything

 

[JackSlater]

Kenny sells merch and Vince wants to sell merch. Kenny is exactly what they want, someone who is already over without Vince needing to do anything

Does Vince like it when guys are over without him behind them though? Not so sure. In the 90s Vince would go with it, I don't know about the Vince of the last decade+.

 

[Kimi]

Them being over isn't an issue, them not being actively useful in getting the intended star over is. You can't use randomly over guys to get your bigger stars over as they are either both faces, or the star is a heel but all the heat for beating them goes onto the booking not the wrestler. If it was less random, then it wouldn't be an issue as you could plan around it to exploit them.

You see him more willing use over teams in the tag divisions more than singles, as tags are mostly meaningless to the bigger picture. Rhyno and Slater being a good example.


But with Omega, he'd be a guy coming in white hot and put right at the top with all the fans behind them instantly. It's a known situation, so you can work with it fine.

 

[Kimi]

The full Wrestle Kingdom card has been announced:

Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - Heavyweight Title
Kenny Omega (c) vs Chris Jericho - US Title
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Jay White - Intercontinental Title
Marty Scurll (c) vs Will Ospreay vs Kushida vs Hiromu Takahashi - Junior Heavyweight Title
Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Hirooki Goto - NEVER Title, Title vs Hair
Killer Elite Squad vs Sanada & Evil - Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Kota Ibushi vs Cody Rhodes
NEVER 6-man Tag Titles Gauntlet Match (5 teams)
Roppongi 3K (c) vs The Young Bucks - Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
New Japan Rumble



NEVER 6-man teams:
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson & Togi Makabe)
Suzukigun (Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & Takashi Iizuka)
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Beretta)
Michael Elgin & War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe)

 

[Shoalzie]

I haven't watched either of the Road to Tokyo Dome shows...I assume Fale and G.O.D. took the 6-man tag belts off L.I.J. Makes sense with Evil and Sanada going for the other tag belts.

That gauntlet match could be wild...gets a lot of extra guys involved. I guess it beats being in the rumble in the preshow.

 

[Shoalzie]

Also to note, no DQ on Kenny-Jericho. That match is going to be rough.

 

[Disclose]

its gonna be a bloody mess.
what a fun card.

 

[Kimi]

WWN are starting a VOD service, after the death of FloSlam.

Gonna be called Club WWN, $9.99 a month, and have shows from all the promotions (EVOLVE, Shine, Style Battle, FIP, Dragon Gate USA). The shows will be uploaded on a two-week delay from the actual event/iPPV.


Hopefully this goes better than the last time. I'll be signing up 'cos I enjoy EVOLVE, everything else is a bonus.

 

[Disclose]

after reading those slammy threads makes me happy to follow so other promotions.
opening a new thread is kinda useless i think, but i feel like 2017 had so much damn fun werstling. its crazy how lucky we are as fans.

so what was your favorite moments this year.?
what do you expect for 2018?

good
+Omega/Okada saga
+Scurll
+Dalton Castle

bad
-Dr. Wagner losing mask
-Shibata
-TNA/GFW/Impact instability.

 

[Kimi]

This year was awesome all over. So much good stuff all over the world.

I think the biggest thing is really how insanely good NJPW has been, especially when you've got Okada having the best run as a champion that I've ever seen. I honestly can't see next year being as good as this, but if it's half as good it's still gonna be great.

One of my favourite guys, Walter, has also had a break out year outside of Europe. I've known him for years, being based in Germany, so it's great seeing him do so well in north america too. I also get a kick out of listening to Meltzer gush over his chops when he see him. His program with Riddle has been real good too. They had great matches in, PROGRESS, WXW, and EVOLVE.

 

[GKJ]

ROH Final Battle:

Taven v. Ospreay ***1/4
War Machine v. Daniels/Kazarian ****
Scurll v. Lethal ****
Sabin/Shelly v. Chuckie T/Baretta **3/4
4-way TV Title ***1/2
Briscoes v. Bully Ray/Dreamer ***1/4
Trios Titles ****1/4
Castle v. Cody ***1/2

 

[Disclose]

castle is also amazing. glad he won.

 

[Kimi]

There are some odds for Wrestle Kingdom in the Daily Update today. The best one is the better on star ratings (which is a hilarious concept), the over-udner for the Okada vs Naito match is set at ****** (6) stars lol.

 

[Disclose]

expectations can kill the fun for me.
there's no doubt this match will deliver, but i dont care how many stars is rated by buddy, as long as i enjoy it.