New Japan Pro-Wrestling |OT| A New ERA On the Horizon

[Bikkun]

. Tomoyuki Oka really lacks personality but to me he seems like a guy that will give us solid Heavyweight matchup in the future. Everytime I look at him I swear I'm always telling myself that he looks like what Ishii would look like if he was 6'1.

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Seraphis and i have a running gag that Oka is Ishii's son or something. XD But yeah, Oka does need to develop an in-ring persona of some sort. All that comes to mind is he's a giant otaku in real life. See: Waifu towels and blankets.

I should probably mention, as Seraphis suggested, that I'm actually pretty new to wrestling in general. I had zero interest in Western stuff and SC kind of lured me to New Japan by abusing my taste in men. ^^; It's since grown into a sincere excitement for the wrestling itself, but I'm still clueless about a lot of things. ==;;

 

[Seraphis Cain]

I should probably mention, as Seraphis suggested, that I'm actually pretty new to wrestling in general. I had zero interest in Western stuff and SC kind of lured me to New Japan by abusing my taste in men. ^^; It's since grown into a sincere excitement for the wrestling itself, but I'm still clueless about a lot of things. ==;;

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Yeah like, if any of y'all ever post any Ibushi or SANADA gifs, know they'll be appreciated by at least one person, haha.

But yeah, he's a new fan of not just New Japan but wrestling as a whole that I've been slowly getting into New Japan over the past several months. So y'all go easy on him if he calls a DDT a head slam or calls Kanemaru "Kitamura", alright? I'd appreciate it! :D

 

[Raw64life]

The standard young lion black trunks are not a good look on Oka at all. The quicker he's allowed to get some real gear the better.

Power Struggle looks great, and you never have to worry about a card that looks good on paper being disappointing with NJPW. They always deliver.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

The standard young lion black trunks are not a good look on Oka at all. The quicker he's allowed to get some real gear the better.

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Agreed. I'd say the same for Kawato, too. He needs to get some long pants or at least shorts like KUSHIDA wears as soon as he goes on excursion.

I wouldn't mind if Kitamura just stuck to the basic YL gear even after he graduates, though. He clearly wants to be Goldberg anyway, so why not dress like him? lol

 

[Bikkun]

The standard young lion black trunks are not a good look on Oka at all. The quicker he's allowed to get some real gear the better.

Power Struggle looks great, and you never have to worry about a card that looks good on paper being disappointing with NJPW. They always deliver.

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Shit, if anything, they tend to surprise us. We get cards that look kinda meh but they turn out to be super strong as the wrestlers give a solid performance you weren't expecting.

I wouldn't mind if Kitamura just stuck to the basic YL gear even after he graduates, though. He clearly wants to be Goldberg anyway, so why not dress like him? lol

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I know I've commented on this on Discord, but Kitamura is basically a real wrestler at this point. He has an entrance, a gimmick, accessories the other Young Lions don't generally get... It's like New Japan has lowkey skipped the excursion part.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

I know I've commented on this on Discord, but Kitamura is basically a real wrestler at this point. He has an entrance, a gimmick, accessories the other Young Lions don't generally get... It's like New Japan has lowkey skipped the excursion part.

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I mean yeah, mostly. The English website even mentioned in the summary for his upcoming match against Finlay at Power Struggle that he "seems to be outgrowing his Young Lion status". All he needs now is, y'know...a win.

(I'm gonna lose my shit if he beats Finlay on Sunday.)

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

I know I've commented on this on Discord, but Kitamura is basically a real wrestler at this point. He has an entrance, a gimmick, accessories the other Young Lions don't generally get... It's like New Japan has lowkey skipped the excursion part.

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Kitamura is 31 so there's been talk of him not getting an excursion and jumping to the main roster immediately due to being so old. He's my pick to win the Young Lion Cup for this exact reason.

 

[Deleted member 8583]

Yeah, finally a NJPW thread, what I always wanted.

Maybe here NJPW talk will not get buried in the sea of WWE posts.

Anyway, anyone else thinks that LIJ Naito is the closest to SCSA in years?

Naito haves: great natural in-ring charisma; even if you can not understand it, his promos always make you feel like what he says matter and transmits the energy of it (and when you read the translation you see that it actually was a really good promo); in interviews he expresses his point of view really well and decimates his opponents with his shoots (RIP Goto); he has a great theme that is recognizable since the begining; iconic taunts; amazing merch (in general for LIJ) and he is a great wrestler, a once in a decade talent. He even is a great leader, always putting over the team.

 

[Anth0ny]

Yeah, finally a NJPW thread, what I always wanted.

Maybe here NJPW talk will not get buried in the sea of WWE posts.

Anyway, anyone else thinks that LIJ Naito is the closest to SCSA in years?

Naito haves: great natural in-ring charisma; even if you can not understand it, his promos always make you feel like what he says matter and transmits the energy of it (and when you read the translation you see that it actually was a really good promo); in interviews he expresses his point of view really well and decimates his opponents with his shoots (RIP Goto); he has a great theme that is recognizable since the begining; iconic taunts; amazing merch (in general for LIJ) and he is a great wrestler, a once in a decade talent. He even is a great leader, always putting over the team.

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I made my Okada/Omega/Naito comparison to Austin/Rock/Foley on the last page, so I totally see where you're coming from!

Another good page to follow is Chris Charlton's Twitter. He posts translations of NJPW promos and interviews. Someone needs to compile some of Naito's promos and interviews from 2017. Pure fucking gold.

 

[Deleted member 13037]

Killer thread. Is this where we talk about Power Struggle, or is someone going to a thread for that?

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Yeah, there is. And don't get me wrong, WrassleERA is fine, but if you're like me and no longer watch WWE, it can be hard to discuss NJPW in there without feeling like you're getting a bit drowned-out.

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Not to start a thread war or anything but I just need to call this out for being false.

The main reason NJPW talk has died down since G1 is pretty simple, there hasn't been a ton going on. Just the other day there was a few pages around the upcoming Power Struggle event. We also discussed King of Pro event earlier in October. We've just never been ones to cover every single smaller event because, well, they can be really boring.

But to say the talk is drowned out is a bit much.

 

[Brian_FETO]

Hey did you guys see that multi-man from a recent show

 

[Deleted member 8583]

Also, someone posted this awesome video about the fall and rise of Naito, worth checking to know more about the development of Naito and LIJ:



The problem for me with the main thread is that if you were not active during the period of time the discussion of NJPW started, you kinda missed the moment to do it, because WWE talk or just the fast activity that the main thread generated made it impossible to join a conversation that started some 10 pages ago.

 

[Bikkun]

And honestly, someone like me just wouldn't go into the wrestling thread. I've only ever talked to Seraphis in private about it. On another board I go to, I post the odd gif in an "anything goes" thread rather than the actual wrestling thread because I don't care to get mixed in with WWE, NXT, etc.

That said, Devenir Ácrata , I saw that video a while ago and it was actually super educational for a newbie like me. Gave lots of context for things I acknowledged but didn't really understand.

 

[RolandGunner]

Kitamura is 31 so there's been talk of him not getting an excursion and jumping to the main roster immediately due to being so old. He's my pick to win the Young Lion Cup for this exact reason.

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I think Oka looks bland mostly because New Japan has allowed Kitamura to do so much. Hiromu looked very generic as a young boy and then came back as a total psycho. Oka seems quite interesting in interviews and that should come out when he's closer to the main roster.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

Killer thread. Is this where we talk about Power Struggle, or is someone going to a thread for that?

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As I cannot make threads ATM, this will be the Power Struggle topic, and will also be used for most NJPW events throughout the year.

Individual OTs will be made for the big, big shows (Wrestle Kingdom, Dominion) and the high-profile special events (G1 Climax, US Tour)

 

[Aviator Irelia]

I posted this on weaselera, but I'll post it here too because njpw is hard to discuss there (discord is great for it though). Also I was nekofrog on gaf.

I've been catching up on the road to Power Struggle. Thoughts:

1. Sho and Yoh are mega hot right now. I unfortunately cannot stand Rocky Romero or his music, but I can look past that. Their match with BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi was really fun, but I wish they wouldn't make spectacle spots out of beating already raw chest wounds in 40 second long chop sequences until it's noticably bleeding. We get it, you guys are tough, stop hurting each other for real O.o

2. I don't get Marty Scurrl. I don't like what I've seen of him in and out of the ring, though it is limited to only his recent new Japan stuff. The "super kick, just kidding" spot is one of my least favorites, down there with Becky Lunch's straight fiya. Just kinda ugh.

3. Totally enjoying the sports entertainment mess that is the buildup to Toru Yano vs Minoru Suzuki. The nonsense matches are actually fun to watch even if the idea is that it really is all nonsense.

Plus Suzuki treating young Lions like crash test dummies is always great.

More as I continue to catch up

 

[Deleted member 290]

Scurll's "just kidding" superkick spot bothers me because he doesn't actually do many superkicks, except the one on the apron. I dunno if you saw his Best of the Super Jr's stuff from earlier in the year, but that's definitely been his best work in NJPW so far - interesting to see how they'll play the Ospreay match on Sunday, not expecting Marty to win or anything but it's a good chance to remind fans what he can do against his best opponent.

 

[Deleted member 8583]

2. I don't get Marty Scurrl. I don't like what I've seen of him in and out of the ring, though it is limited to only his recent new Japan stuff. The "super kick, just kidding" spot is one of my least favorites, down there with Becky Lunch's straight fiya. Just kinda ugh.

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Marty act is kinda limited compared to the other big UK talents like ZSJ and Ospreay. I used to like him very much when I saw him in Progress and Evolve, but after a year I kinda got tired of his matches always feeling the same and the novelty of his spots kinda wore off. He can be a decent wrestler but it feels like he already hit his celling.

I really liked the jr tag match between Dragón Lee & Titán vs Takahashi & Bushi, my favorite Jr. tag match on NJPW in a long time. I kinda wished the NJPW Jr. division was more heavy on lucha and least on YB and co.

 

[ArmsofSleep]

Yeah Scurll is sort a one trick pony. Great character and entrance and all that, but he's pretty simply not a good wrestler. I view him sort of like Volador, ACH, JT Dunn, people like that. Useful guy who is over and can have a great match against the right opponent, but 75% I just feel like I've seen everything before.

 

[Deleted member 290]

The thing is, Scurll's quite versatile as a wrestler. He can keep up with the likes of Sabre on the mat and he was known primarily as a high-flyer at one point (around the time of his disastrous TNA run), but I feel like he's kinda coasting with the Villain character - he's finally found a look and personality that's clicked with the fans and he seems reluctant to change anything up. One of my biggest problems is that he doesn't really wrestle like a heel any more, which wasn't the case during his RPW title run in 2014 (when he was only really a heel in RevPro and few other promotions).

 

[Gontrand]

Marty Scurll had some very amazing matches with Chris Hero and Will Ospreay in 2016.. but his 2017 year has really felt flat to me. I hope he will be able to renew himself in 2018 because he is not what he once was this year. His best matches this year have all pretty much been tag matches.

 

[Slightconfuse]

Don't mind marty working smarter not harder

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

The thing is, Scurll's quite versatile as a wrestler. He can keep up with the likes of Sabre on the mat and he was known primarily as a high-flyer at one point (around the time of his disastrous TNA run), but I feel like he's kinda coasting with the Villain character - he's finally found a look and personality that's clicked with the fans and he seems reluctant to change anything up. One of my biggest problems is that he doesn't really wrestle like a heel any more, which wasn't the case during his RPW title run in 2014 (when he was only really a heel in RevPro and few other promotions).

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I think this sums it up for me. Watching him in Progress was kind of cool b/c of how he evolved himself, but when I saw him the later chapters or NJPW/ROH iwas thinking "so...he hasn't done much".

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

Yeah Scurll is sort a one trick pony. Great character and entrance and all that, but he's pretty simply not a good wrestler. I view him sort of like Volador, ACH, JT Dunn, people like that. Useful guy who is over and can have a great match against the right opponent, but 75% I just feel like I've seen everything before.

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He's solid in the ring and super charismatic, and has a great outside of ring character, but I'll admit, the just kidding Superkick, the Fingerbreak spot, the Chickenwing...it's not really clicking with me as much anymore. Smushing him into the already-bloated Bullet Club didn't do him any favors, even if they did need a Jr. singles wrestler.

 

[Deleted member 6056]

Yall need be showing off some highlights of this incredible fed. Check out some great moments from Kushida vs Ospreay.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

I hate to say it but I agree with pretty much everything being said about Marty. I feel like I really only enjoy him as his Being the Elite character. But when he's in the ring he's...not that interesting. Unless he's doing comedy spots like the Halloween thing with Kenny and Chase or the oven mitt spot with Cabana in ROH, and even then that's basically just an extension of "BTE Marty". I mean I'm sure his match with Ospreay at Power Struggle is going to be good, because he and Ospreay work well together, but how much different will it be from their BOSJ match-up? I hope Marty brings something new to the table for it.

 

[Deleted member 6056]

Progress Scurll goin umbrella crazy on folks and breaking fingers was good times. Hell I remember folks goin nuts with gifs in those days too.


Plus never forget how sick his look always was there.

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[wonzo]

put off njpw post g1 to catch up on botchamania so i'm looking forward to months worth of content to trawl through

 

[reptilescorpio]

Kitamura is 31 so there's been talk of him not getting an excursion and jumping to the main roster immediately due to being so old. He's my pick to win the Young Lion Cup for this exact reason.

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Wow I didn't know he was so old, definitely agree that he follows a similar path to Juice. Dude already has a great gimmick and NJ do need another big monster wrestler aside from Fale. Variety is always a good thing!

Killer thread. Is this where we talk about Power Struggle, or is someone going to a thread for that?

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I'd be cool with this being the main thread for NJPW rather than doing separate threads for each big event, even just a thread title change would work. Wrestlekingdom is big enough for its own thread IMO.

The thing is, Scurll's quite versatile as a wrestler. He can keep up with the likes of Sabre on the mat and he was known primarily as a high-flyer at one point (around the time of his disastrous TNA run), but I feel like he's kinda coasting with the Villain character - he's finally found a look and personality that's clicked with the fans and he seems reluctant to change anything up. One of my biggest problems is that he doesn't really wrestle like a heel any more, which wasn't the case during his RPW title run in 2014 (when he was only really a heel in RevPro and few other promotions).

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Going by his interviews with SCSA and other people that's likely it. He feels like people like him as the character so he doesn't want to upset people by changing. Hopefully once Bullet Club has a shake up he can makes some tweaks, or maybe even just having some good singles runs will be enough to hit upon something that works even better.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

I would love to see Kitamura just completely shock everyone by Goldberg'ing Finlay in their match at Power Struggle but I know it'll never happen since the YL Cup is still going on and if you have him get a main roster singles win now, you'd also have to have him steamroll the YL Cup which would pretty much defeat the point of even having it. So on the flip side, Finlay's stock is so low at the moment that even a singles win against Kitamura would do a lot for his momentum, so that'll be nice. If nothing else Kitamura will probably end up looking surprisingly competitive but still end up taking the Prima Nocta in the end.

God I'm putting too much thought into a pre-show match.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

Hey guys, sorry, I was going to do my write-up of Power Struggle last night, but my daughter was giving me grief going to bed and didn't go down until like 9:30, and I was pooped as heck afterwards. I'm seeing Thor tonight so I might have some time afterwards.

 

[Gontrand]

Who is Switchblade? Jay White? Sami Callihan? Somebody else straight out of left field?

 

[Seraphis Cain]

Who is Switchblade? Jay White? Sami Callihan? Somebody else straight out of left field?

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It's almost certainly Jay White. Sami is booked for a show in Illinois like 12 hours before Power Struggle. Though I suppose it could be someone completely out of left field, too. Can't imagine who though.

Also, new BTE!

 

[Heromanz]

Who is Switchblade? Jay White? Sami Callihan? Somebody else straight out of left field?

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Pretty sure sami calihan works for tna.

 

[AgPhoenix]

Instant subbed.

Gotta love how Power Struggle became a must watch show under the table. Testament to how hot NJPW is right now. Might be my favorite time for a promotion since '83 - '86 MACW/JCP or '02 - '10 ROH.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

Jay White is probably Switchblade, but I wonder what will happen with him. Smart money is him coming in as a heel, so that means he joins one of the three heel factions. Bullet Club? Hell no, they already have way too many members. LIJ? Would make sense, but I like how they act as a group of misfits - having a clean cut contract killer gimmick doesn't really fit their image. That leaves Suzuki-gun, and it does make sense - they need someone on the heavyweight side who will be around more often unlike Sabre, Smith, and Archer, and doesn't suck like Iizuka. Plus Suzuki has talked about adding more international talent to the group, AND they'd be adding someone in line to get a huge push.

 

[RolandGunner]

Jay White is probably Switchblade, but I wonder what will happen with him. Smart money is him coming in as a heel, so that means he joins one of the three heel factions. Bullet Club? Hell no, they already have way too many members. LIJ? Would make sense, but I like how they act as a group of misfits - having a clean cut contract killer gimmick doesn't really fit their image. That leaves Suzuki-gun, and it does make sense - they need someone on the heavyweight side who will be around more often unlike Sabre, Smith, and Archer, and doesn't suck like Iizuka. Plus Suzuki has talked about adding more international talent to the group, AND they'd be adding someone in line to get a huge push.

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This is basically what they did last year with Hiromu and the time bomb countdown but all this build just to put Jay White in Suzuki Gun seems wasteful. I'd like Switchblade, if its Jay, to do his own thing for a while. If its Sami then whatever, he can be another SG goon under Sabre.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

Jay White is probably Switchblade, but I wonder what will happen with him. Smart money is him coming in as a heel, so that means he joins one of the three heel factions. Bullet Club? Hell no, they already have way too many members. LIJ? Would make sense, but I like how they act as a group of misfits - having a clean cut contract killer gimmick doesn't really fit their image. That leaves Suzuki-gun, and it does make sense - they need someone on the heavyweight side who will be around more often unlike Sabre, Smith, and Archer, and doesn't suck like Iizuka. Plus Suzuki has talked about adding more international talent to the group, AND they'd be adding someone in line to get a huge push.

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I realize this is wrestling and weights can be flubbed a bit if necessary, but Jay is nowhere near a heavyweight. He doesn't even break 200 pounds (he's 198). He'd be a junior for sure, and of course that's the last thing Suzuki-gun needs.

EDIT: But then on the other hand Trent weighs less and he's a heavyweight now so who knows. I'm probably wrong.

 

[reptilescorpio]

Not big on Sami so looking forward to seeing Jay White again.

Since Omega broke out of the Jnr division I expect/hope New Japan don't look at the division as being so strict, especially since they brought ZSJ in. Jay could be great in Suzuki Gun.

 

[Gontrand]

I realize this is wrestling and weights can be flubbed a bit if necessary, but Jay is nowhere near a heavyweight. He doesn't even break 200 pounds (he's 198). He'd be a junior for sure, and of course that's the last thing Suzuki-gun needs.

EDIT: But then on the other hand Trent weighs less and he's a heavyweight now so who knows. I'm probably wrong.

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Zack Sabre Jr is also a heavyweight and I have a hard time believing he's around the 187 lbs he's billed as on Cagematch. To me Jay White is pretty similar in size to Katsuyori Shibata, I think it wouldn't be that hard for him to add some muscle with his body type.

 

[Deleted member 42]

Oh god do I have to mod this community too

I hope y'all behave

 

[Deleted member 13037]

Oh god do I have to mod this community too

I hope y'all behave

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We are Los Ingobernables de ResetEra

 

[reptilescorpio]

BronsonLee is very, very tall. The tallest. So tall.

 

[Deleted member 8583]

BronsonLee is very, very tall. The tallest. So tall.

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Only when he is on fallingedge shoulders.

 

[Deleted member 13037]

where my lions at?

 

[Deleted member 290]

Good to have the Bucks back tbh, also real good to see a jr. tag match that ISN'T for the title or tournament.

 

[miserable]

man, I missed the first match :/

 

[reptilescorpio]

Fantastic match so far! All 10 guys looking smooth and getting amazing reaction from the crowd.

 

[Deleted member 13037]

Yep, this is wonderful.