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forkboy84 posted:DDT Who's Gonna Top? 2022 Excited for Masada to join Burning, and for yet another rookie to outshine Yusuke Okada. Also hell yeah Kawamatsu is back, wonder if he has proper gear this time or will run back the full suit
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Sep 23, 2022 04:35
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The All Japan Budokan show is up on AJPW.tv now
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Sep 23, 2022 08:14
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forkboy84 posted:The All Japan Budokan show is up on AJPW.tv now Sweet, looking forward to cathing up with both that one and the show the next day
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Sep 23, 2022 12:20
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A minor point, but it's funny that there's 5 Star GP matches on STARDOM in Showcase when the promotion insisted that SiS is non-canon (if that's the right term).
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Sep 23, 2022 18:38
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Power Windows posted:A minor point, but it's funny that there's 5 Star GP matches on STARDOM in Showcase when the promotion insisted that SiS is non-canon (if that's the right term). Yes, I did wonder about that. As you say, small thing but a bit surprising, especially as they didn't do a 5☆GP match on Nagoya MidSummer Encounter.
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Sep 23, 2022 20:47
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Saturday night and I have finally sat down to watch the AJPW Budokan show. Opener the stand out of the first 3 matches, though the big 6 man with the returning Saitos & Cyrus vs Twin Towers & Naya was fun, Naya fits in well in All Japan & I can't believe I'm saying this but I hope he comes back. Him being tall and slightly awkward somehow fits more here than DDT. The comedy 8 man was a comedy 8 man, totally skippable and I repeat previous thoughts of never needing to see Menso-re & Izanagi in a match together ever again.
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Sep 24, 2022 23:25
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forkboy84 posted:Yes, I did wonder about that. As you say, small thing but a bit surprising, especially as they didn't do a 5☆GP match on Nagoya MidSummer Encounter. It's to make up for earlier matches in the tournament being postponed
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Sep 24, 2022 23:38
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GEORGE W BUSHI posted:It's to make up for earlier matches in the tournament being postponed Aha, of course. Anyway, All Japan. 3 more matches watched so I'm about the half-way point. Nothing has gone long so far, everything is zippy, probably inevitable with a 12 match show. All Asia Tag match was good with minimal VM nonsense, Omori vs Suzuki I really enjoyed, best match so far, and Nagata vs the new kid was a good debut. You obviously don't want to get carried away but so far, so good for Anzai. Still think it was an odd choice to not have Yuma Aoyagi on the part of the show shown live on BS NTV forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Sep 25, 2022 |
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Sep 25, 2022 00:28
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Yuma vs Daniels was a disappointment. Wasn't bad but it's the company's biggest show in forever and this is the best they can find for Yuma, hopefully your next Triple Crown champ? I don't love that booking choice. Talking of booking choices I don't love, the auld cunts match in the middle of the show. I get they wanted Onita & Fuchi on the TV broadcast but this really hurts the showing bring on in this place rather than match 2. But hey, this match isn't for me. Still, went too long considering. When Masao Inoue is the workhorse in your match then maybe don't go over 10 minutes? Gungnir of Anarchy vs Get Wild is more my poo poo. Pre-match VT covering Get Wild's original run was good. Kind of amazing how decent shape Kawada looks to be in, especially contrasted with Taue. Basically just looks like an average salary man who is close to retirement while Taue looks a decade older, at least. Match itself had exactly the big, hard-hitting action you'd want. The W-1 reunion between Soya & Ashino meant some very good chemistry together, Omori turned the clock back a good few years and Honda took the biggest match of his career to remind us all how bright his future looks. This isn't peak Violent Giants vs Strong BJ action but I really did like it. The wacky shotput Slam (it's not quite Big Boss Shimzu's shotput slam but can't think of a better way to describe it) onto Ashino who suplexed Omori from the top rope spot was really fun; pure nonsense in the best way. Calling it a night there with 3 matches left because it's 2am & there's still over an hour on the video to go. But yeah, so far it hasn't been a blow-away show like I'd kind of hoped considering the occasion but it's been real good fun. forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Sep 25, 2022 |
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Sep 25, 2022 01:40
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Suwama vs Kento, very good. Nomura vs Lee was an extremely bold match that I had a whole lot of fun with, TM vs Atsuki has to be the best TM singles match in a decade. And because I'm now watching MANIAx, nice to see KumaDoi again, overdue return to Korakuen for them lads. Otherwise? Nothing to note over than they still keep pairing Menso-re, & Izanagi. Cyrus, Daniels & Atsuki vs TAJIRI, YT & HAYATO was far better and more fun than I expected. Not great but just very good fun, Daniels was clearly enjoying himself there. Best Moonsault Ever got a real good reaction. Tiger Mask vs Black Tiger was pretty much nonsense. Unsure who is in the BT mask, Cagematch says Rocky Romero but it doesn't sound like Rocky, plus he was wrestling in LA the day before. Oh and then TM tried to unmask him, that is deffo not Rocky. Menso-re maybe? I forget what Nakajima looks like. Anyway, that was a thing that existed. Hikaru Sato wasn't on the show? Didn't really look like him but dunno. Takao Omori air-high-fiving fans ringside is one of the more depressing covid era wrestling visuals. Surprising result with Inoue on the winning side 2 nights in a row, otherwise not a whole to say. The other of All Japan's current young boys absolutely isn't winning, he's going to be killed by a grumpy old man. MiSu looked like he was trying to twist Anzai's head off his body at one point, yikes. He really leaned in with every hold and gave Anzai nothing. And yet he got applause every time he got a rope break so it worked. Voodoo Murders vs assorted AJPW guys. Yuma has downgraded from handheld electric fan to a traditional hand fan. Wada calling for the opening bell while all 8 are on the floor brawling is funny. Tension within VM, between TARU & Suwama? Inshallah. Otherwise not a whole lot to say. Decent enough. Big test for the Saito brothers on their return from the States and the verdict is...pretty positive. Bearded Saito lighting up Honda with vicious chops. Apparently the Saito bros theme song is by Dokken? It kind of works. They were working from top in this a surprising amount, and they have definitely improved how they carry themselves, less awkward, much more self-confident. With the way they were presented here I honestly expect to see them further up the card in 2023. GoA I have nothing really to say about, it's Ashino & Honda, if you watch All Japan then you know they are great and if you doubt then you're not reading thus far into a post about AJPW. Very good match. Can't believe Ashino has made me a fan of a Reload era Metallica song. Oh hey, KumaDoi! That'll be some great Wrestle-1 Tag Team action. So. Main event. Can I just say how loving stoked I am to see Naoya Nomura in a Triple Crown match? Coz it is great. Talking of great, the pre-match video which goes over the history between these 2 is fantastic, especially so when you remember Nomura wasn't even meant to be on these shows, it was Joe Doering until his cancer returned. Nomura comes out just like the previous night, throwing everything at Kento right from the off and going for the quick win. AJPW aren't quite bold enough to do that 2 consecutive nights but there is a great near-fall from it. Anyway, I put my phonemdown for this so let me just say this match is terrific, AJPW MOTY, must watch. In conclusion, watch All Japan.
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Sep 26, 2022 10:59
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So I wondered if the new OpenAI transcription/translation platform would work on Japanese wrestling commentary. I picked a random match I had sitting around and grabbed a chunk from the middle (my computer isn't powerful enough to do the whole thing in reasonable time). I started at ~20:55 of Okada/Tana 2022-02-12, and for some reason the translation started at 21:25 -- the timestamps below are relative to the 20:55 start time.quote:[00:30.000 --> 00:32.000] He's aiming for it! That's... not bad. I need to copy this over and make it a subtitle file, but I think that'd be watchable. Mind you it's taken like six hours to process a minute of video on my lame last gen iMac with no GPU. Edit: never mind, it made the subtitles for me. This is great. Thanlis fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Sep 26, 2022 |
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Sep 26, 2022 23:17
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forkboy84 posted:In conclusion, watch All Japan. Oh yeah? I've got a 2-week break from work coming up soon so maybe I will, tough guy! What do say to that?
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Sep 27, 2022 06:10
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edogawa rando posted:Oh yeah? I've got a 2-week break from work coming up soon so maybe I will, tough guy! What do say to that? I say sweet. I've really enjoyed a lot of All Japan since I started watching last year, it'll be cool for more people to watch. Although saying that I'm still two shows behind, will catch up with the 18/09 show after I finish with the GLEAT show from the other day
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Sep 27, 2022 10:21
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Pretty sure I've watched all but maybe 2 All Japan shows in 2022. I really enjoy them. It's got problems, it's an indie at this point with a shallow roster, there's occasional moments of booking that leave you asking "what the Christ?" in a bad way. Like the way they just kind of unceremoniously decided to reset all the factions earlier this year. Except Voodoo Murders. Got to keep the faction no one likes around for reasons??? But the top of the card rules. They got a huge boost after Wrestle-1 died, bringing in Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda who were great additions that look like potential Triple Crown holders. TAJIRI's contacts in Europe helped him bring in Akira Francesco, now in New Japan. He hugely benefited as far as his development goes being stuck in Japan for 2 years. Kento has a case for Wrestler of the Year (frankly, he's pushed passed Lindaman for me), Naoya Nomura seems like maybe he's back (I'd have said he is back until I read the MANIAx review on VOW & Gerard Di Trolio suggested his future is far from certain), Yuma Aoyagi is going to be Triple Crown champ in 2023 and has come on leaps & bounds. Jake Lee is a really good worker with pretty big question marks around his charisma & X factor. They regularly use some of the best guys from Big Japan, GLEAT, 2AW, JTO, things look up for the junior division with Hikaru Sato a very solid veteran figure, then the group of guys like Hokuto Omori, Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising HAYATO, it isn't deep but it's got some talent. They also have Yoshitatsu but don't worry, he's largely relegated to mid-card nonsense. What I really want from All Japan is Tag Title Match between Gungnir of Anarchy & Astronauts whenever Astronauts drop the BJW Titles. Or hell, I'll take double champ Astronauts but I'm a dumb mark. Anyway, I'm going to post a list of the top All Japan matches to see this year with links to matches at some point this week in the Match of the Year thread. Good time to check them out because the next live show is 2nd October & then there is a big break until the 22nd.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:02
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I love that even though Yusuke Kodama is a face now, he's still such a gremlin looking motherfucker
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Sep 27, 2022 12:27
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He can't change what he looks like just because he changes his character on TV! That's just how his face is
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Sep 27, 2022 12:34
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SG Bamboo posted:I love that even though Yusuke Kodama is a face now, he's still such a gremlin looking motherfucker Gremlins can be faces too y'know
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Sep 27, 2022 12:47
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Holy poo poo Kawada looks great, he could be Taue's son e: also lol at Soya's wig SG Bamboo fucked around with this message at 13:52 on Sep 27, 2022 |
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Sep 27, 2022 13:49
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I was far enough up that it didn't look like a wig and I felt so betrayed when he took it off and went from cool Get Wild Soya to Kongoh geek Soya
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Sep 27, 2022 14:05
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Nomura looks way better in the cargo pants than the weird REAL BLOOD tights he has been wearing. And holy lol, I knew the result going in but never expected that match
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Sep 27, 2022 14:34
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SG Bamboo posted:Nomura looks way better in the cargo pants than the weird REAL BLOOD tights he has been wearing. And holy lol, I knew the result going in but never expected that match It was kind of perfectly booked tbh. Jake is at best going to be down-cycled (as much as he can be when the main event scene is this thin) for a while. So doing it that way really did make Nomura look like a very real threat in his match the nest night is good. Which is probably the most you can get out of him after the aborted Triple Crown run this summer without a rebuild. What I really want is Naoya back in his old trunks. Seeing him in the preview the next night reminded me that he looked much more of a star.
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Sep 27, 2022 14:58
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edogawa rando posted:Oh yeah? I've got a 2-week break from work coming up soon so maybe I will, tough guy! What do say to that? I say check this post which will let you check all the best matches All Japan have had this year!
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Sep 27, 2022 16:22
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Goddamnit, Nomura was back to the bad tights for his Triple Crown challenge. Fantastic match though
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Sep 28, 2022 12:14
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GLEAT are uploading GLEAT Ver.3, the PPV that was on NJPW World in July, featuring the fantastic Lindaman vs Izuchi match, on 2nd October https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fEzXswWo4k
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Sep 29, 2022 00:00
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Not a lot happening this week. The biggest show by far is the final night of the Stardom Five Star Grand Prix. I'm a month & a half behind but I'm sure Giulia vs Suzu, Syuri vs Sera, Mayu vs SLK, Hazuki vs Momo, Himeka vs Maika & Utami vs Koguma should all be varying degrees of real good to tremendous. Other than that iPPV the only major promotions with live shows are Dragongate with their monthly Korakuen, NOAH, All Japan & GCW's final night in Japan. There's also FREEDOMS having their anniversary show in what is mostly on a FREEDOMS vs GCW theme; the top 2 matches could be great, especially Kasai, Masaoka & Takeda against Mega Bastards & Lloyd. Super excited for Atsuki Aoyagi's first Junior Heavyweight Title defence in All Japan against Rising HAYATO, they've teamed together & faced off a lot in 2022 so there should be a lot of familiarity. Very hopeful. And KumaDoi are back in a Tag Title match & that's always cool, everyone loves KumaDoi. Quiet week on Wrestle Universe, nothing live, no TJPW, but hey, Wrestle Princess is the following weekend. And if anyone is curious about the venue that Stardom are running, it was built for the Olympics & hosted the badminton. Has a capacity of about 10,000 & is in Chofu, heading out into the western urban sprawl. 1/10/2022, Saturday 12pm JST/2pm AEDT/4am BST/11pm EDT/8pm PDT DDT In Ikebukuro Full Moon Festival Nishiguchi Park Outdoor Theatre, Tokyo Yukio Naya vs Yuya Koroku Kazuki Hirata & Sanshiro Takagi vs Pheromones (Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino) El Unicorn vs Ilusion Eruption (Hideki Okatani & Saki Akai) vs Makoto Oishi & Toru Owashi Damnation TA (Daisuke Sasaki & KANON) vs Takeshi Masada & Yuji Hino Antonio Honda, HARASHIMA & MAO vs Burning (Jun Akiyama, Tetsuya Endo & Yusuke Okada) 37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata, Toi Kojima & Yuki Ueno) vs Harimao (Kazusada Higuchi, Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida) Uploaded later to Wrestle Universe 3pm JST/5pm AEDT/7am BST/2am EDT/11pm PDT Stardom 5★ Grand Prix 2022 Championship Battle Musashino Forest Sports Plaza Main Arena, Tokyo 5★GP Blue Stars Block: MIRAI vs Saya Iida 5★GP Blue Stars Block: Mina Shirakawa vs Natsupoi 5★GP Blue Stars Block: Hazuki vs Momo Watanabe 5★GP Blue Stars Block: Ami Sourei vs Saya Kamitani 5★GP Blue Stars Block: Mayu Iwatani vs Starlight Kid 5★GP Blue Stars Block: Giulia vs Suzu Suzuki 5★GP Red Stars Block: AZM vs Saki Kashima 5★GP Red Stars Block: Momo Kohgo vs Unagi Sayaka 5★GP Red Stars Block: SAKI vs Tam Nakano 5★GP Red Stars Block: Himeka vs Maika 5★GP Red Stars Block: Koguma vs Utami Hayashishita 5★GP Red Stars Block: Risa Sera vs Syuri 5★GP Final Show will be live streamed on PIA PPV, later uploaded to Stardom World 6:30pm JST/8:30pm AEDT/10:30am BST/5:30am EDT/2:30am PDT Sendai Girls In Nagoya Nakamura Sports Centre, Nagoya Riko Kaiju vs Yurika Oka ASUKA & Saori Anou vs Manami & Ryo Mizunami DASH Chisako vs Maria Mika Iwata & Rin Kadokura vs Team 200kg (Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu) Later uploaded to Youtube Also shows from Zero1, 2AW, Osaka Pro, Diana, Ice Ribbon, FMW-E, Heat-Up, WAVE & Dragongate 2/10/2022, Sunday 11:30am JST/1:30pm AEDT/3:30am BST/10:30pm EDT/7:30pm PDT All Japan Raising An Army Night 1 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo GAORA TV Title: Toshizo(c) vs Dan Tamura Black Menso-re vs Toru Yano Jake Lee & Yuma Aoyagi vs Voodoo Murders (KONO & Suwama) Team All Japan (Kento Miyahara, Ryo Inoue, Takuya Nomura & Yuma Anzai) vs Team New Japan (Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa, Yuji Nagata & Yuto Nakashima) Hokuto Omori, Izanagi, Shuji Ishikawa & Takao Omori vs Jun Saito, Rei Saito, TAJIRI & Yoshitatsu PWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Atsuki Aoyagi(c) vs Rising HAYATO AJPW World Tag Team Titles: Gungnir of Anarchy (Ryuki Honda & Shotaro Ashino)(c) vs KumaDoi (Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi) Live on AJPW TV 1pm JST/3pm AEDT/5am BST/12am EDT/9pm PDT DDT Tetsuya Endo Local Triumph! Get Alive Tour In Shiroishi Shiroishi White Cube, Shiroishi Makoto Oishi vs Takeshi Masada Akito & Kazuki Hirata vs Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino Hideki Okatani & Yuji Hino vs Shunma Katsumata & Toru Owashi 37KAMIINA (MAO, Toi Kojima & Yuki Ueno) vs Burning (Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada) & Yukio Naya Antonio Honda vs Saki Akai DAMNATION TA (Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & MJ Paul) vs Harimao (Kazusada Higuchi, Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida) HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi vs Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku Uploaded later to Wrestle Universe Sendai Girls In Osaka Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka Riko Kaiju vs Yurika Oka DASH Chisako & Maria vs Natsumi Mochi & Rin Kadokura Mika Iwata vs Ryo Mizunami ASUKA & Saori Anou vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Manami Later uploaded to Youtube 6pm JST/8pm AEDT/10am BST/5am EDT/2am PDT Ganbare Pro Nerawareta Gakuen 2022 Itabashi Green Hall, Tokyo Baliyan Akki & Shinichiro Tominaga vs Mizuki Watase & Soma Takao Daichi Kazato vs Ken Ohka Keisuke Ishii & Yumehito Imanari vs Shuichiro Katsumura & Thanomsak Toba Kouki Iwasaki vs Yuki Kanzaki HARUKAZE, Moeka Haruhi & Nightshade vs Ram Kaichow, Yoshiko Hasegawa & YuuRI Spirit of Ganbare Openweight Title: Hartley Jackson(c) vs Yuna Manase Uploaded later to Wrestle Universe 6:30pm JST/8:30pm AEDT/10:30am BST/5:30am EDT/2:30am PDT Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS 13th Anniversary Show Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Dragon Libre & Kamui vs Jun Masaoka & Rekka ERE (Dobunezumi Fukki & Toshiyuki Sakuda) vs GENTARO & Tatsuhito Takaiwa FREEDOMS (Kikutaro, Minoru Fujita & Takashi Sasaki) vs GCW (Jordan Oliver, Nick Wayne & Rina Yamashita) Worlds Collide In Tokyo B*Gaijin Style Free Weapon Deathmatch: ERE (Drew Parker & Violento Jack) vs GCW (Effy & Shlak) Barb Wire Board & Thumbtack Board Deathmatch King of FREEDOM World Tag Team Titles: Soul Meat (Tomoya Hirata & Toru Sugiura)(c) vs GCW (Cole Radrick & Joey Janela) Last Harmageddon Deathmatch: FREEDOMS (Daisuke Masaoka, Jun Kasai & Masashi Takeda) vs GCW (Alex Colon, John Wayne Murdoch & Jimmy Lloyd) Airs on Samurai TV, 9th October Also shows from Secret Base, FMW-E, Michinoku Pro, Zero1, Doutonbori Pro, Ryukyu Pro, JTO, Dragongate & 2AW 3/10/2022, Monday Shows from BJW, Dragongate & Actwres girlZ 4/10/2022, Tuesday 6:30pm JST/8:30pm AEDT/10:30am BST/5:30am EDT/2:30am PDT GCW War Ready Shin-Kiba 1stRING, Tokyo Effy vs Kikutaro Drew Parker & Jimmy Lloyd vs Jordan Oliver & Nick Wayne Joey Janela vs Toshiyuki Sakuda Cole Radrick & Toru Sugiura vs Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto GCW Ultraviolent Title: Rina Yamashita(c) vs Shlak GCW Tag Team Titles: Mega Bastards (Alex Colon & John Wayne Murdoch) vs Jun Kasai & Masashi Takeda Potential another match or 2 TBC Live IPPV on FITE.tv Also show from Kyushu Pro 5/10/2022, Wednesday BJW & Dragongate 6/10/2022, Thursday 6:30pm JST/8:30pm AEDT/10:30am BST/5:30am EDT/2:30am PDT Dragongate The Gate of Victory Night 5 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Card TBA Live on DG Network 7/10/2022, Friday 6:30pm JST/8:30pm AEDT/10:30am BST/5:30am EDT/2:30am PDT Pro Wrestling NOAH Star Navigation Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Kai Fujimura vs Taishi Ozawa Alejandro, Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka & YO-HEY vs Kongo (Hajime Ohara, Hi69, Shuji Kondo & Tadasuke) Extreme Tiger & Ninja Mack vs Stinger (Chris Ridgeway & HAYATA) Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura vs Sugiuragun (Hideki Suzuki & Kazuyuki Fujita) Rest of card TBA Live on Abema Also shows from BJW, COLOR'S & JTO
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Sep 29, 2022 13:25
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forkboy84 posted:DDT Tetsuya Endo Local Triumph! Get Alive Tour In Shiroishi I know it's just probably a funky translation, but I love the idea that following that Nakajima slap, Endo is really wanting to get out there to people that hey, great news guys, I didn't die! 
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Sep 29, 2022 13:40
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I can't wait to see the Young Lions stand up to Takuya Nomura (of team All Japan which is a lol all it's own), who proceeds to kick straight through them. Also apparently Toshizo has been TV champion for the last three months? Man, i really stopped paying attention to that title when Irie lost it
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Sep 29, 2022 14:11
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SG Bamboo posted:I can't wait to see the Young Lions stand up to Takuya Nomura (of team All Japan which is a lol all it's own), who proceeds to kick straight through them. Also apparently Toshizo has been TV champion for the last three months? Man, i really stopped paying attention to that title when Irie lost it You don't remember the 4 way ladder match with Izanagi, Menso-re & Kodama? And the instantly forgettable singles match with Menso-re during the Royal Road tour?
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Sep 29, 2022 14:31
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I have cancelled my New Japan World subscription. The G1 didn't excite me and nothing about current New Japan is interesting. The endless six man tags between factions and non-stop Bullet Club drama has been tedious. I have enjoyed JONAH though, I love him so much. I want to try something else. I'm vaguely familiar with NOAH, having watched a couple of matches over 2020/2021. Kenoh, Kaito Kiyomiya and Go Shiozaki were my favourites, as well as Nakajima kicking guys. The Great Muta winning the GHC really put me off watching much else though. I'm even less familiar with All Japan but I've been watching some of their free content on YouTube and it looks interesting. I think Kento is a fantastic wrestler, the little I've seen of him. I don't know anything about Dragon Gate or DDT or any women's promotions. I didn't like Suwama as the champion though, whenever that was (2020)? What would the thread recommend? I'm willing to subscribe to something new for a couple of months to see how it goes. My favourite wrestlers are big fat guys who do sentons and lariats.
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Sep 29, 2022 15:06
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Kosmo Gallion posted:I have cancelled my New Japan World subscription. The G1 didn't excite me and nothing about current New Japan is interesting. The endless six man tags between factions and non-stop Bullet Club drama has been tedious. I have enjoyed JONAH though, I love him so much. As much as I tell everyone "hey, watch All Japan", & I do that because I love it (most of the time), the undisputed best value for a subscription service in Japanese wrestling is Wrestle Universe, which has DDT, NOAH, Ganbare Pro & Tokyo Joshi Pro on it. For example, September has had 5 DDT shows, 3 Ganbare Pro shows, 6 NOAH shows & 4 TJPW shows. By comparison, All Japan had 5 shows. Obviously they aren't all chock full of bangers, there's a lot of house shows in front of 200 people on both sides, but purely as a quantity matter it's hard to beat Wrestle Universe... Now I've said that opening sentence, the best person to judge what you dig is yourself, obviously. Now you say your favourite guys are big dudes with big sentons & big lariats so I'm going to say DDT might not be your thing, & there's not a lot of big dudes in joshi, well, except the handful a times a year TJPW bring in Aja Kong to tag with Raku. And Dragongate is very much a lucharesu based promotion with skinny ripped guys who do amazing athletic feats, although there are a couple of big lads who are fun (BIG BOSS Shimizu). So lets focus on All Japan & NOAH which sound the most up your street. First thing you have to remember when watching All Japan is while it has the name & the history it's an indie now. That's not a bad thing as a fan but it does mean there's limitations, they only have so many guys under contract, which does mean the top of the card isn't the strongest in depth, although most of the guys at that level are great. They have a few really exciting young guys too, & the flipside of not having so many guys under contract is that they use quite a bit of outside talent which means the undercards don't feel like the slog that New Japan ones do where you watch almost the same 6 man with 1 guy on 1 team swapped out across the entire tour. They might use this guy in Osaka, a different handful in Chiba & Yokohama & then others in Tokyo. At this point I'd post a handful of links to matches from this year so you can get a real feel for the best the company has to offer, but fortunately I did that just a couple of days ago so can save myself a bit of time. So have every 2022 AJPW match I rated at ****½ or above, of which there are 9. quote:****¾ The first thing you notice looking at that list is that Kento Miyahara is in fact fantastic. But so is Yuma Aoyagi, as either one, the other or both feature in all 9 matches. Yuma has been the breakout man of 2022 & I am so excited to see what he does next year. Anyway, if that gives you the sort of thing you can get into then now is a great time to sub to ajpw.tv if you're an America because the weakness of the Yen mean's it's under $6.50 a month! And every week on a Thursday or Friday I post the weekly schedule so you know if a show is coming up & if it'll be live on there or uploaded within 24 hours (usually) as a VOD, & what is on the show. I will say that right now there's 4 shows on the calendar for October, 2/10, 22/10, 23/10 & 30/10. I will say that there is really 1 promotion I make sure I stay up to date with & that's All Japan, I've loved them this year. They are the group I make room for. Far from a perfect company though, they have been quite capable of frustrating, I'll say that much. I've fallen behind on NOAH in contrast, I'm still watching the N-1 & have between 6 & 8 shows to watch depending on how completionist I end up feeling. Probably go for 6 if I'm honest. NOAH has the hard hitting style with some nice variety too, and the booking has been less intensely frustrating than it was when NOSAWA was fully in charge (apparently Kendo Kashin books the Heavyweights now?). Any combination of the 4 dudes you mentioned will go hard, & then there's people like Takashi Sugiura, Masaaki Mochizuki, Masato Tanaka who are older regulars but still regularly deliver at a high level. And then there are a batch of talented younger guys like Kinya Okada, Yoshiki Inamura (if you like the big fat beefy dudes then you will love Inamura, he's very cool) who you will enjoy watching lose over & over again because NOAH seem terrified of pushing anyone under 35 who isn't Kaito Kiyomiya. They are also using my favourite New Japan dad, Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji has been downcycled, probably permanently as the wear is showing on him (more than Sugiura somehow) but he can still bring it in the right situation. They've started bringing in foreigners, a lot of juniors from abroad but there's also Timothy Thatcher in the Heavyweight division who has been a nice add. Anyway, ****½+ matches for NOAH, I have slightly fewer than AJPW but then I've still got half the N-1 Victory tournament to watch & the recent big show in Nagoya too. And they have a ***** match that is my #2 on the year. I will say that if NOAH hadn't had that 1/1 show I'd be a lot more down on them this year. That show ruled. quote:***** One final thing in NOAH's favour over All Japan is that NOAH have English commentary for their big shows. Which may or may not be a deal breaker for you, ditto that NOAH's production is usually much better than AJPW, they have done some cool poo poo with drones, & their corner cam is always neat. All Japan, like I've said, indy. Unless it is a Korakuen or bigger show get used to watching a single hard cam with no commentary. That doesn't hurt the experience to me, but I know that doesn't matter to some. Still, All Japan is my favourite promotion right now in 2022, it's not perfect but when it hits it hits hard, & it does hit a lot.
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Sep 29, 2022 16:50
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Current NJPW/Former AJPW ring announcer Makoto Abe will be doing the ring announcing at AJPW's show on Sunday in honour of the 50th Anniversary
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Sep 29, 2022 17:00
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Kosmo Gallion posted:I have cancelled my New Japan World subscription. The G1 didn't excite me and nothing about current New Japan is interesting. The endless six man tags between factions and non-stop Bullet Club drama has been tedious. I have enjoyed JONAH though, I love him so much. I was going to recommend Stardom until reading your last bit, but they do also have some powerhouse wrestlers; I enjoy Saya Iida a lot, she's only 4'9" but she absolutely trucks people. NOAH is still a lot of old guys on top, but that's starting to shift nowadays. Dragongate is mostly young fast boys doing lucha, but they do have some absolute brick shithouse dudes like Shuji Kondo (if you like lariats, he's your guy), though he's also in NOAH and a few other places.
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Sep 30, 2022 19:05
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Look the clear powerhouse promotion is Sendai Girls. It's the home base for Team 200kg. You can watch entire shows on youtube cut up into matches.
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Sep 30, 2022 21:24
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Thank you for the advice guys.
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Sep 30, 2022 21:55
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He's right. Everyone who isn't at least a bit clued-in should absolutely watch/catch-up on All Japan. Kento Miyahara is that dude and he's having the best run for how little buzz he gets in the media. When he decides to cash bigger checks and german-suplex bigger game "look out". But I'd rather he stay and AJPW grow and thrive because they certainly have a unique flavor that other feds don't have. Everyone bored of NJPW will appreciate the change in scenery, I think. Everyone hates on Jake Lee but he's one of my favorites. He doesn't need charisma, he just needs to show up for big fights and knee people directly in the face for 3. The rest will take care of itself. He's the realest dude in wrestling today. Can't wait until he, or Nomura and all his neo-burning energy, or drat... "someone" other than Suwama decisively makes Kento lose his smile. Kento's supporting cast is way more interesting than he is right now, which bodes well. Edit: I certainly hope HHHs "we're gonna bring people you don't even expect!  " doesn't mean impending raids on puro aces looking to make stupidly high amounts of money.
Dishwasher fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Sep 30, 2022 |
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Sep 30, 2022 22:50
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Given NXT's track record plus KENTA and Kushida clearly not being happy with their time I'd have to imagine they'd have a tough time on the men's side. Women's side outside of TJPW and Stardom could be different cause who knows how much money is being made there
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Sep 30, 2022 23:30
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Dishwasher posted:Everyone hates on Jake Lee but he's one of my favorites. He doesn't need charisma, he just needs to show up for big fights and knee people directly in the face for 3. Jake definitely took some time to grow on me after the Total Eclipse formed, but I grew to love his weird flailing arms and supervillian laughs. The knees are just a nice bonus
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Oct 1, 2022 00:30
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I was listening to a podcast earlier where the hosts tried to convince me that Kento looks 45 and this is bad for All Japan because they have no young guys and since then I had a nap for hours, woke up, watched last week's GLEAT & I'm still mad OP. I'll grant you this is a stupid and uncool thing to be mad about but I never claimed to be cool.
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Oct 1, 2022 01:18
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Inoki may of passed away, trending on twitter
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Oct 1, 2022 01:25
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Dr. Zoggle posted:Inoki may of passed away, trending on twitter https://approach.yahoo.co.jp/r/QUyHCH?src=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/24b35ddcbefd2e240aca03cbf969209e43037f4d&preview=auto Certainly seems that way.
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Oct 1, 2022 01:26
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