Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
With the opening brace of Korakuens out of the way, New Japan has taken the Road to Power Struggle on the, well, road, which means our Junior Tag League have been stripped down to a single camera and minimum production. We shall not complain, though! We shall battle gainfully on and hope there is gold in these here hills. Yea, I don’t know what I’m talking about either.
Continue reading “NJPW Super Jr. Tag League (19/10/19) Review”
For the second night in a row, there were a plethora of empty seats in Korakuen Hall which has been a rare sight at New Japan shows in recent years. It’s not a great sign for the Super Junior Tag League as it’s clearly not proving strong enough to draw fans on its own, and it will be interesting to see if New Japan react to that issue in the future.
Continue reading “NJPW Super Jr. Tag League (17/10/19) Review”
Guess what, everyone? We’re into Tag League season! It’s the worst time of the year. I jest, but it’s safe to say that the Super Junior Tag League and World Tag League tend to fall short of their singles counterparts. However, every day is Christmas, and there’s a chance this will be the year that changes. Yea, I don’t believe it either.
As usual, I’ll be ignoring the undercard unless something particularly exciting happens.
Continue reading “NJPW Super Jr. Tag League (16/10/19) Review”
It feels only right to start this review with a shout out to those in Japan who were affected by the typhoon over the weekend, and I hope everyone looks after themselves. It feels a bit cheap to go from that to talk of card changes, as in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big a deal, but it did leave Jon Moxley and Zack Sabre Jr unable to travel. Mox was the bigger loss of the two as his absence forced New Japan to strip the US Title from him and give the match to Lance Archer instead. Amazingly, that’s caused some conspiracy chat, which seems oblivious to the actual typhoon which makes cancelled flights seem perfectly reasonable. Anyway, that silliness aside, this was a hella stacked card, so let’s see what went down.
Continue reading “NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling (14/10/19) Review”
New Japan’s trip to the Hammerstein Ballroom led to an interesting old night for the Japanese company. Apparently, someone had called earlier in the day, cancelling the ambulance that is required to be on hand for wrestling shows. That led to a delay that stretched over an hour and whispers online about sabotage. Whether that was the case or not, New Japan needed to deliver a show worthy of the time the fans spent sitting around waiting for it to start.
Continue reading “NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed (28/9/19) Review”
My review of the tournament that everyone forgot trundles into the final station as we blast through the semis and the final on one show. If you’ve seen any New Japan programming since this happened then you know who won, but let’s pretend we don’t for the fun of it. Who are you betting on? I reckon Caristico is going to take it home.
Continue reading “NJPW Super J-Cup Semi-Final and Final (25/8/19) Review”
I’m plunging ahead with these J-Cup reviews in the hope that someone still cares about this rather lost tournament. The Quarter Final took place in San Francisco and was filmed with a single static camera which is great for a show that features a shitload of dives… Oh well, shouldn’t complain.
Continue reading “NJPW Super J-Cup Quarter Final (24/8/19)”
Does anyone still care about the Super J-Cup? It’s took ages for New Japan to get these up on World and then it’s taken even longer for me to get around to reviewing them. It makes it hard to imagine anyone is clamouring for my opinion (please don’t point out that no-one has ever clamoured for my opinion on anything). Oh well, I’m going to give it anyway. These shows took place in America last month, so let’s see what went down.
Continue reading “NJPW Super J-Cup First Round (22/8/19) Review”
Destruction is a long old tour that generally delivers a shitload of mediocrity elevated by the occasional great match, and that is exactly what we’ve received in 2019. The final night is in Kobe and let’s hope we finish up with more of the great than the mediocre.
Continue reading “NJPW Destruction in Kobe (22/9/19) Review”
No offence to those involved, but these matches meant fuck all. Uemura, Coughlin, Tsuji and Richards were playing for pride alone on their final night of Young Lion Cup action, and the main intrigue was whether that would see them drop the intensity.
Continue reading “NJPW Young Lion Cup (20/9/19) Review”
