Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
The New Japan Cup is over for another year and while there were some questionable booking decisions – the inclusion of Guerrillas of Destiny being one of them – it got past its shaky start and ended on a high. It’s set New Japan up nicely for Sakura Genesis and given us a title match that you won’t want to miss. With all that in mind, here are five things we picked up on during the tournament.
My New Japan Pro Wrestling education swung into Osaka on Saturday as they finished off The New Beginning Tour with one hell of a card. While you could argue that a lot of the star power was on the first show, this second card looked like the workers time to shine and the sold out building is a credit to those involved. Now, let’s see what we learnt.
Continue reading “10 Observations From The New Beginning In Osaka”
After the madness that was Fantastica Mania New Japan gets back onto the serious stuff with The New Beginning in Sapporo, a show that kicked off Suzuki-gun’s invasion of New Japan proper. Even with a second event next weekend this was a stacked card and gave me plenty to think about as I continue my New Japan education.
Continue reading “10 Observations From The New Beginning in Sapporo”
Another year another Rumble and another feeling of bitter disappointment for wrestling fans. Or maybe not, for some people do seem to have been quite pleased with this year’s event, and it certainly set the seeds for more than one WrestleMania match. Whatever your thoughts, it’s time for you to sit back and listen to me as I run through ten things I noticed during this year’s event.
As a newcomer to New Japan, Fantastica Mania is a bit of a strange one. It’s the bump in the road before we get back to the serious stuff and it introduces a whole new cast of guys (the CMLL wrestlers) into a group that I’m only just getting to know. However, I’m nothing if not a trooper, and I wasn’t about to slow down on my newfound puroresu love. Therefore, over the last few days I’ve tuned into all the broadcast shows of Fantastica Mania and here are ten things that I took away from them.
Two weeks ago Kenny Omega walked out of Wrestle Kingdom as the hottest thing in wrestling. Ignoring the fact that Kazuchika Okada was as important to that match as he was and that Omega has been brilliant for years, it suddenly felt like the world woke up to The Cleaner. Yet, rather than turn his sights towards a potential rematch with Okada and a chance to become only the seventh non-Japanese wrestler to hold the belt and help spearhead New Japan’s push into the US, he began talking about taking some time off.
Coming into 2017 I made the decision that from now on I was going to watch less WWE. With five hours of Raw and SmackDown and two PPVs a month enough was enough, and it was dampening my enthusiasm for other wrestling. Alongside that, I vowed that this would be the year I finally got into New Japan. I’ve watched a couple of Wrestle Kingdoms in the past, but it is time for me to give it the effort it deserves. With that in mind, the last two days have seen me sign up to New Japan World and tune into Wrestle Kingdom 11 and New Year Dash and as this is the internet in 2017, here are some things I learnt.
For the first time in its history NXT is going through a bit of a slump. The weekly interest in their television product seems to have waned, and it has been hurt by its top talent making the step up to the main roster. However, when it comes to TakeOvers Triple H’s lads and lasses have a near perfect record, and you would have been mental to bet against them going into TakeOver: Toronto.
Before I go into the nitty-gritty of my thoughts on ICW’s Fear & Loathing IX, I want to make one thing clear. What ICW have achieved is incredible. Their rise from community centre misfits to one of the best wrestling companies in the world will never be repeated, and nothing I say here will change that. I am at the heart of things a fan and Dallas and everyone else involved can be damn proud. However, a  couple of thousand words of me kissing their arse isn’t that exciting so let’s get on with the review.
If you were asked to sit and list horror films that seemed ripe for adaptation on the small screen, well you’d have been quite far down that list before Wolf Creek popped into your mind. While there are certainly horror series a hell of a lot worse than those violent Australian slashers they can hardly be called remarkable. However, maybe it is that which makes it perfect for adaptation.
Ramblings About Wrestling 