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The main show begins at 2:00 AM EST/7:00 GMT, with the preshow featuring the New Japan Rumble starting an hour earlier at 2 AM Eastern. If you have the slightest interest in NJPW at all I'd hghly you subscribe for this month. It's less than US$10 for January and you not only get their biggest show of the year but also New Year's Dash which is one of their most important Korakuens of the year as well as the always entertaining Fantasticamania tour later in the month. Cancelling is super easy if it's not your thing or if you just care about the biggest shows, and they even take PayPal if you have one of those credit cards that don't work well with foreign sites. Let me know if you have any trouble subscribing, I'll be happy to help. English commentary for this show will be handled by Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino, and the latter is a massive upgrade over Matt Striker from last year. Sadly this will probably be his last show as most expect him to head to WWE now that his ROH deal is expired. As many people have said, one cool thing about this year's show is that most of the title matches seem fair more up in the air than usual. Very few results in any of them would really surprise me at all, and this is in a company that often has fairly predictable booking.  Main Event for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Kenny Omega https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXLxa4ISiuw This marks the first time since 2010 (Nakamura vs. Takayama) that Tanahashi will not be in the Wrestle Kingdom main event. Everyone who complained about the 3 Okada/Tanahashi matchups in 4 years can enjoy a fresh matchup. Omega absolutely delivered in his big G1 semi-final and final matches and you'd have to assume he's going to want to bring it in the biggest match of his career. Okada's been in the three aforementioned matches against Tana but this is the first time he gets to play the role of the more established star. This also seems far more up in the air than most WK main events as you can easily construct reasons why either man will or should emerge victorious here. Prediction: Okada. It seems like they need to have the briefcase holder win eventually but I bet they want to further cement Okada as the new ace. IWGP Intercontinental Championship:Tetsuya Naito(c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-dRCMev61w This semi main features arguably the two most over wrestlers in the company. Naito swept the Japanese MVP awards and could very well end up winning the Thesz/Flair as well. His merch sales were also a major factor in the company turning a higher profit than in 2015. Many people (including myself) were a but bummed that his IWGP Heavyweight reign was cut short, but facing the Ace of the Universe in the semi-main event is about the best consolation prize possible. Tanahashi for his part seems intent on proving he still deserves to be the Ace and the man almost always delivers in his biggest matches regardless of his physical condition. This could easily be the match of the show if it isn't marred by interference and other nonsense Prediction:Naito. I know it's tough to believe that Tana's gonna lose in the Dome after debuting a new theme but I'm hoping the people predicting a LIJ sweep are correct. IWGP NEVER Openweight Championship:Katsuyori Shibata (c)vs. Hirooki Goto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjkkJlrLR08 These two men resume their rivalry in what I believe to be their first non tournament singles match since the 2014 G1 Finals. Most people expected some NOAH involvement here in mid 2016, but it seems clear that some reworking of plans had to be made after the sale. I'll let Shibata whet your appetite for this one:  Prediction:Goto. Shibata's dominated the NEVER scene for the entirety of 2015 and who else would beat him? IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship:KUSHIDA(c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi4s--dlP7g The former Kamaitachi returns in his first singles match in NJPW since last year's amazing Fantasticamania bout versus Dragon Lee (please watch if you haven't already). KUSHIDA spent 2015 dominating the jr division with the exception of the one blip against BUSHI. This has all the makings of one of the best WK jr title matches in recent years with the caveat that it could easily involve a ton of interference. Prediction Hiromu, see IC prediction. I think Naito and Hiromu will share the results of their title matches so I could easily be very wrong on these IWGP Tag Team Championship 3Way:G.O.D(c) vs. GBH vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii) It's an IWGP tag title match, it's a three way, and yes, it was thrown together at the last minute with Ishii being pulled out of the gauntlet match for this. Don't expect a classic here. New Japan doesn't even have one of those intro videos up for this now! To be fair, this easily could be the result of the poo poo with NOAH screwing up other matches on the card. Also, the WTL Finals were surprisingly good and one half of the thrown in third team is excellent. Hopefully this can exceed expectations. Prediction: CHAOS It'd give Ishii something to do and it's not like they've shown much signs of respecting the WTL. ROH World Heavyweight Championship:Kyle O'Reilly(c) vs. Adam Cole The buzz surrounding this match has been moe about about the competitors' contract statuses than the match itself. ROH champion O'Reilly's contract expired at the end of 2015. Cole's still under contract until the spring but most view his departure for WWE as inevitable. These two have put together some compelling matches in North America but this match could easily suffer from a lack of heat in Japan. Prediction:Cole since afaik O'Reilly never re-signed Special Singles Match:Juice Robinson vs. Cody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRte5pA2QEg Most people seem to have found Cody's post WWE run to be fairly underwhelming and in NJPW he's not even going to have the advantages of name recognition he has in the US. Juice has come along quite a bit tho since his NJPW debut tho and at worst this should be short and inoffensive. Prediction: Cody, and this is the first one I'm sure of NEVER Openweight Trios Championship Gauntlet Match:Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet, and David Finlay(c) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, and Adam Page) vs. LIJ (SANADA, EVIL, and BUSHI) vs. CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay, and Jado) Not usually a fan of gimmick matches in NJPW but since this is a lower card match for the trios titles I don't mind. Could be a fun match given many of the participants event though it's pretty blatantly mostly an excuse to get a bunch of guys on the card. I'm fairly sure the order has not been determined yet. Prediction: LIJ, and unlike the stables' two more prestigious title matches I'm reasonably confident in this one given the other teams involved IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Championship:Young Bucks(c) vs. RPG Vice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLoWtSOjfds This marks the first time since the Bushiroad takeover that these belts have been defended at the Dome in a conventional tag team match. That should help the match quality but four gaijin juniors will still probably receive a fairly cold reaction given the venue. Prediction:Bucks due to the ton of title changes elsewhere on the card Opening Match:Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger the Dark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfjy8Z98oaY If reports are correct we're getting an Ibushi vs. ACH singles match as the curtain jerker which is pretty drat awesome. Now, ACH worked shows in Illinois this weekend which makes me wonder if plans perhaps changed. Regardless, we know that Ibushi at least is gonna be there and who the gently caress thought that was possible when he was introduced at an NXT Takeover last summer? I'm sure we'll get an entertaining short spectacle but the real question is if either or both men have a future in the company beyond WK11.... Prediction: TMW obv Preshow:New Japan Rumble Don't expect much in the way of workrate but it'll be fun to see who shows up. Expect the Third Gen guys who aren't Kojima, Liger, young lions, and various old guys to make appearances. Names that have shown up in the past include Kabuki, Fujiwara, and Meng. Scott Norton is probably gonna show up this time around. Prediction:Who the hell knows? Nagata won the first one and parlayed it into a serious main event title shot at Nakamura's IC, while the second one just served as an excuse for Jado to hang out with that idol he's obsessed with. Could be practically anyone Thauros fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Jan 3, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2017 22:37
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 07:27 |
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There's cards before and after Wrestle Kingdom you might be interested in as well. Tonight at the sane for the US time of 9:00 PM EDT/2 AM GMT the Large Wrestling Festival begins from Differ Ariake. This is Wrestle Kingdom's Axxess equivalent. It's mostly going to be interviews and similar stuff but there's three matches including one which I definitely want to catch. Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoyuki Ota Manabu Nakanishi vs. Henare Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask IV vs. Ryusuke Taguchi and Hirai Kawato If you're not aware, Tomouyuki Ota is one of the heavyweight YLs who was introduced at last year's Festival. He's a giant anime nerd and supposedly Kidani loves him. His only in ring action has been two exhibitions against the other heavyweight YL on Lion's Gate cards. You'll want to watch that match at least, but you may want to skip this one live as it'll be a long broadcast without a ton of action. New Year's Dash is the show NJPW always runs in Korakuen Hall the day after Wrestle Kingdom. It's at the usual Korakuen start time of 4:30 EDT/9:30 GMT Thursday morning. There won't be any card information available until after Wrestle Kingdom but I'd highly recommend watching this one. It's far more important than most of the shows they run in that venue as new storylines are set up for 2017. I would't be a bit surprised to see Suzuki-gun return on this year's show. Thauros fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Jan 2, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2017 22:37
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hoping for a Haku, Norton, and Fujiwara trios champ team personally
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Jan 3, 2017 02:10
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C. Everett Koop posted:If Finlay's heading to watch his boy wrestle, there's a chance he and Haku could meet in the Rumble..... I was very seriously hoping for a Meng and sons vs. Fit/David/whoever match at NYD but Fit's apparently still a WWE employee
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Jan 3, 2017 02:16
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cams posted:ooh, no intermission can help. and op is a bit confusing, main show starts at 11 pst tonight, correct? so it could totally wrap up by 4 am if all this is accurate. Preshow starts at 11 PM PST, Rumble should be at about 11:30, main show at midnight your time
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Jan 4, 2017 00:53
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Chris James 2 posted:It's tradition to do it on January 4 no that's not at all cause I actually have to be at work on time on thursdays. I can at least be late tomorrow
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Jan 4, 2017 01:01
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https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/816275471495098369
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Jan 4, 2017 01:25
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harperdc posted:It's usually the last or one of the last days off of the New Years holiday period. I've heard from coworkers that it's the first day since Dec 31 that husbands can get away from family I was thinking he'd show up at New Year's Dash since in recent years they've finished up storylines at the Dome and waited until Korakuen the next day to really develop new ones. A Rumble appearance would own tho
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Jan 4, 2017 01:40
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Got about 90 minutes of sleep and feel totally refreshed now and ready for this. It's nice that I woke up early anyway so I have time to run to the mini mart across the street for diet Red Bull and maybe some snacks since there's no intermission
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Jan 4, 2017 05:18
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Golashes posted:Is there a guide to get the iOS app to work the iOS app is basically just for chromecast i think. It's kinda counterintuitive but it works fine once it's set up. You download the app, but still have to open the NJPW World site in Safari. The app lets you chromecast to it from the site. I bought a chromecast a few days ago basically just for New Japan once I read good reviews. If you prefer watching on your iPad or whatever you can just use the mobile browser just the same as you'd do on your pc.
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Jan 4, 2017 07:42
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links are up to both the Japanese and English versions on NJPW World. Standard pre stream messages are currently being shown.UltimoDragonQuest posted:How solid is the match order in the OP? match order is set, New Japan's super consistent with that.
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Jan 4, 2017 07:50
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Show's on and the first two Rumble participants are Big Mike and Billy Gunn
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Jan 4, 2017 08:13
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great to see big mike back. hope norton makes an appearance tomorrowhere comes the spunk posted:they really should roll with it and turn tatsu into a chicken poo poo heel, crowd already hates him they turned the wrong guy. captain was fine as a babyface jobber but has no redeeming qualities now
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Jan 4, 2017 08:43
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https://twitter.com/KINGCorino/status/816551051071352832
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Jan 4, 2017 08:47
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https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/816554187018235904
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Jan 4, 2017 09:00
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Jerusalem posted:A strong chance of seeing the very best match you will see all year long, before the first week of January is even up! yeah. the undercard should have some fun matches but don't expect anything extraordinary but all top four main events should deliver at a high level
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Jan 4, 2017 09:01
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def looking forward to just a conventional tag team match for once for these belts
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Jan 4, 2017 09:18
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The goddamn PWG tag belts are on display at the Tokyo Dome! What's the white belts btw? https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/816559716096610305
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Jan 4, 2017 09:22
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cams posted:when did yujiro become literally the godfather gradually over the past few years.. it's not like he has anything else going of rhim so he may as well increase the amount of girls he brings to the ring with him
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Jan 4, 2017 09:44
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amazed bc eliminated chaos. not only is this heel vs. heel rn but I thought they'd want to have a brief ospreay vs. ricochet exchange.Solus posted:Will Ospreay looks like he's wearing a knockoff of Okadas clothes the okadacito look is the way to go if he insists on the shorts instead of tights
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Jan 4, 2017 09:54
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Xenoletum posted:music altered due to rights this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkiOGBL78aQ NJPW doesn't have the rights to some of the veterans' themes (him, Tenzan, Nagata, Nakanishi, Makabe) so they play dubbed poo poo over it. They actually played the real versions during the G1 this year but they must've rented rather than acquired them since now it's back to dubs.
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Jan 4, 2017 10:03
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cams posted:wait can cody not go by cody rhodes for some reason or is this a choice In ROH he can't. I'm guessing he probably could here since Billy Gunn uses his WWE name but prob wants to keep consistency i guess
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Jan 4, 2017 10:16
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not only that but either him or someone else there said the screen reminded people where to buy merch right before it stared Thauros fucked around with this message at 10:19 on Jan 4, 2017 |
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Jan 4, 2017 10:17
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Ishin posted:Who has a fouler mouth mid-match, Juice or Osprey? don't forget makabe and gedo in the japanese division
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Jan 4, 2017 10:17
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Jerusalem posted:Go to Japan, cams, it rules. the plane tickets are so fuckling expensive tho. I can fly to LA cheap! this sucks, but I do gotta give rovert credit for calling this one
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Jan 4, 2017 10:56
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that was the best IWGP tag match at the dome since Sword and Guns vs. KES
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Jan 4, 2017 11:06
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Lid posted:Toru Yano is a Champion in New Japan. he won titles at the last WK10!
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Jan 4, 2017 11:07
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the title switches makes me wonder if that will continue to be the theme but it's gonna be weird if Naito's the only one without a title unless they're splitting them up. Which of course would be insane when the other two are much more stale
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Jan 4, 2017 12:08
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gently caress i collapsed at the midpoint adfter my second red bull wore offJerusalem posted:I don't think there was a single bad match. Only the last three really got into amazing territory but holy poo poo those last three were more than enough. jr title match was better than NEVER imo.
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Jan 4, 2017 13:46
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Lid posted:What? NEVER was second only to the main. can't fairly rate main (just watched it on archives) but to me the NEVER was an excellent match but was exactly what I expected. Didn't know what the jr match was gonna be or if it was gonna be marred by bullshit but it ended up being the best jr match in that company i've seen in quite some time.
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Jan 4, 2017 15:13
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Vertigo Ambrosia posted:So what are the chances that Minoru Suzuki comes back at New Year's Dash? I'm guesssing he does although it's certainly not a certainty. There was talk on a recent TAKA/Taichi Produce show of the stable being reunited oatgan posted:the more pressing Minoru Suzuki question is what are the odds his return feud are actually good? If you're talking Suzuki himself, fairly high! If you mean his stable as a whole, 
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Jan 5, 2017 08:11
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St Evan Echoes posted:Big Dave gave Omega vs Okada six snowflakes Yep! He gave the jr title match ****1/4, and both the NEVER and IC matches ****1/2 as well. Goddamn I don't think I would've loved the main as much as he did but I really wish I could've watched it live to appreaciate it the best way possible like the rest of the show
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Jan 5, 2017 10:21
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Full snowflakes, tho nothing on the undercard was rated particularly high: Rumble : * Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger the Dark :*** IWGP Jr Tag : ***1/2 NEVER Trios : BC vs. CHAOS ***, LIJ vs. BC *, LIJ vs. Rico/Kojima/Finlay ***1/4 Cody vs. Juice: ** 3/4 O'Reilly vs. Cole : ***1/2 IWGP Tag 3 Way: ***1/2 KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu: ****1/2 (it was 4.5 and not 4.25 after all) Shibata vs. Goto: ****1/2 Naito vs. Tana: ****1/2 Okada vs. Omega: ****** (yes, six stars!)
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Jan 5, 2017 10:33
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Last time for Kyle in NJPW?
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Jan 5, 2017 10:34
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Main event for this show is Tanahashi, Nakanishi, and Taguchidsriggs posted:Who's this Young Lion? I missed the Rumble, so I don't know if he was in that or not. Henare, New Zealander who Fale recruited. He's been around for a while in openers and teamed with Nakanishi in the tag league.
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Jan 5, 2017 10:42
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handsome only face posted:did dave really give okada/omega 6 stars. that's some major hyperbole. i didn't like it more than any okada/tanahashi match but maybe i shouldn't have had the english commentary on as pol pointed out on twitter some time yesterday it was basically the epitome of the poo poo dave eats up. i preferred okada/tana myself but of course it's all v subjective
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Jan 5, 2017 11:45
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ok they're obviously not gonna go all out but this should own given the four participants
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Jan 5, 2017 11:48
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i don't see how it would happen as kushida lost his belt, Naito's IC, and they don't even do those anniversary champ vs. champ matchs anymore but I really want a Naito vs. KUSHIDA singles match rn
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Jan 5, 2017 11:59
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so it's looking like for Fantasticamania and New Beginning we have: IWGP Heavy: Okada vs. Misu IC: Naito vs. Elgin Jr: Hiromu vs. Dragon Lee NEVER: Goto vs. Juice Tag: CHAOS vs. KES, maybe GBH thrown in there for another threeway? Jr Tag- maybe RPG Vice vs. 2/3ds of SZKG jrs?
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Jan 5, 2017 12:48
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 07:27 |
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that was really odd and unexpected.
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Jan 5, 2017 12:57
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