Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
After a long old tour, New Japan finally made it to Dontaku. Of course, they couldn’t resist making that two shows too, splitting it up between a Bullet Club night and a title shot night. First up, it’s the ongoing antics of the Club.
Continue reading “NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2018 (3rd May) Review”
Hi No Kuni is in a weird position, falling slap bang in the middle of the Dontaku tour. Part of it and yet also separate. However, it’s giving us a handful of big matches all involving LIJ vs Suzuki-gun, so let’s not complain too much. Even more importantly, that means there isn’t a sniff of Roppongi 3K vs Suzuki-gun. Thank God for that.
I understand New Japan splitting up their big matches onto multiple cards from a business point of view. More shows = more tickets = more money. However, when it comes to valuing my time, it’s an awful decision. Particularly when it means I have to sit through another card packed with nothing multi-man tags and Suzuki-gun antics. It’s a good thing I have Goto and Juice to enjoy.
Continue reading “NJPW Road To Wrestling Dontaku 27/4/18 Review”
In a lot of ways, this card is a mirror image of the one from the night before. While the matches have had a few tweaks, they’re hitting the same storyline beats, and in reality, it’s all about the main event – or at least it was. Because then they only went and added Ishii vs Henare. I’ve been calling for that since Tag League, suddenly, I’m quite excited.
Quick note: I’m going to change things up slightly and replace the pictures with NJPW’s post-match interviews. They’re an important part of the company’s storytelling, so it seems fitting.
Continue reading “NJPW Road To Wrestling Dontaku (24/4/18) Review”
After a short break, New Japan is back with a long old tour. With business being up, those in charge have realised that rather than selling out one super card, they can instead sell out multiple decent ones. That’s how we end up with the Junior Tag Titles main eventing. Not that we should complain too much, we all love wrestling, right? More of it can only be a good thing.
Continue reading “NJPW Road To Wrestling Dontaku 23/4/18 Review”
We’re into the quarter-finals of the New Japan Cup and it’s a pretty good field this year. You’ve got everyone from Tanahashi to Toru Yano with a Juice and a Zack Sabre Jr in between. There are at least two or three guys left who you could pinpoint as potential winners, and that always adds to the fun. Let’s dish out some stars.
Continue reading “NJPW New Japan Cup Night Five (14/3/18) Review”
It’s Night Four of the New Japan Cup, and I’m sure everyone is as excited as I am to get rowdy during Toru Yano vs Davey Boy Smith Jr. Quite frankly, if that comes in at under four stars, I will eat my hat (disclaimer: that is not a promise). Jokes aside, I’ve been enjoying these shows so far. As I write this, I’ve just finished watching Fastlane so it can’t be worse than that. Let’s dish out some stars.
Continue reading “NJPW New Japan Cup Night Four (12/3/18) Review”
Day three of the New Japan Cup and on paper, tonight’s matches look like the most exciting so far. Even the one that has YOSHI-HASHI in it has a certain Kota Ibushi to make up for his lack of charisma. Throw in Zack Sabre Jr’s war against Naito’s hat, and we’re onto a winner. Let’s dish out some stars.
Continue reading “NJPW New Japan Cup Night Three 11/3/18 Review”
Night two of the New Japan Cup and for the second time in recent months, WordPress has deleted my first draft of this review. Therefore, if you notice that some of the undercard match reviews are slightly lacking in critical depth, call them, not me. I’m sure you can survive without a five hundred word moan on Iizuka’s performance. Let’s dish out some stars.
Continue reading “NJPW New Japan Cup Night Two (10/3/18) Review”
It’s New Japan’s 46th Anniversary and to celebrate the occasion, they’ve put together a sexy little card for us. The main event leaps off the page as Okada and Ospreay go face to face for the first time since the RevPro fight that played a part in getting Ospreay signed. Throw in Makabe challenging for the Intercontinental Title, a Junior tag three-way and a handful of other singles matches (although one does include Taichi), and we look set for fun. Let’s dish out some stars.
Ramblings About Wrestling 