After years in Korakuen Hall, New Japan rolled the dice and moved the Best Of The Super Junior final to Ryogoku. It was a massive statement of intent, and they backed it up by giving us the debut of Jon Moxley and Tanahashi’s return from injury underneath the tournament conclusion. Now, did they justify that move?
Stardom’s second show from the 25th saw our extreme metal saviour Death Yama-san going after the High Speed title. Could she add another piece of silverware to Tokyo Cyber Squad’s haul? Time to find out.
With A Block all wrapped up, it’s time to see who will be losing to Shingo in the final. The important match is Taguchi vs Ospreay as the Funky Weapon battles the Aerial Assassin, but there is a couple of ways in which someone else could sneak in. Thankfully, they are incredibly improbable, so let’s not spend time worrying about them. Onto the show!
After a short break post-Korakuen, Stardom made their way to Osaka for a double bill. With two new champions on top and Tokyo Cyber Squad continuing to make their impact, it’s an exciting time for the company. Let’s see if they can keep that momentum going.
It all came down to this, Bone Soldier vs Dragon, Shingo vs Ishimori, the unbeaten streak vs the injured neck. There were other matches on this show, at least one of which impressed, but they had no consequences. It was all about the main event and who sealed their spot in Ryogoku for the Best Of The Super Junior final.
While A Block’s future is simple, B’s is all over the place. Half the wrestlers involved can still win this thing, and nearly every match on this show has consequences. Will that still be the case come the end? No, the answer is no, it will not.
Hello friends, welcome to The Listening Booth, where I lecture people on what music I’ve been putting in my ears while occasionally working out some personal issues. I don’t think there should be too much of the latter this week, but you never know. We’re diving into some feminist post-hardcore, Italian, em, tech-hardcore? I honestly don’t know what you’d call it, and a ramble about something completely different. Enjoy.
Dragon Lee flying through the air pictures are the best kind of pictures. Credit: NJPW
After a short break, Super Juniors returns and is into the home stretch. We’re back down to five tournament matches a night (although A Block will actually be four as Taka has pulled out with injury) which will make these reviews a hell of a lot shorter. I enjoyed those epic runs in Korakuen, but it’s nice not to have to dedicate most of my day to watching New Japan.
Here we go then. Last Saturday was the moment where AEW graduated from t-shirts to wrestling. To say a lot was riding on this is a bit of an understatement. It’s the first time in a long time that we have a Western wrestling company who could genuinely challenge WWE’s dominance. Fingers crossed they kick thing off with a bang.
Before we get into my review of Stardom’s latest trip to Korakuen, I want to talk about My Hobby, a series on Stardom World detailing wrestler’s, well, hobbies. So far, it has followed Mayu Iwatani and Saki Kashima hanging out with Mayu’s dog Pochi at a doggy day care, and it is the greatest thing that has ever existed. I was having a miserable day when I watched it, and it put an almost painful smile on my face. More videos of wrestlers having a good time with their pets, please. In fact, if Stardom wishes to ditch the wrestling business and transition into the wrestlers hanging out with pets business, I would probably be okay with it. Pochi is my Ace.
Anyway, let’s get onto what we are actually here to talk about.