I assume that's exactly what was intended given it's Japan, unless he in fact meant to throw him on his head.
I assume that's exactly what was intended given it's Japan, unless he in fact meant to throw him on his head.
Hard to tell, probably meant to be a more flat back landing but as you say it's Japan so entirely possible he intended to spike him right on the top of his head.
Similar to but still not as bad as this one.
I've just watched this full match and it was really good to be fair. The spot did make sense in that it fit in with how Kenoh was attacking Kiyomiya throughout (so to answer the questions, it was intentional) and I suppose if you want to do something completely mental like this, you do it in the big annual show at Nippon Budokan when you're about to retain the World title. Because Muta and Nakamura took the main event, this only got 18 minutes. On one hand it suited the match, because NOAH usually has the NJPW problem of all World title matches needing to go 30+ minutes regardless of who is in it (Kojima, Fujita etc.) so it was fresh to see a sprint, but at the same time I felt they could have easily gone another five at this pace and added something more to the match. Kenoh is great, he has great fire and feeds for his opponent flawlessly. Kiyomiya I think there's something missing, his offence seems a bit weak outside of the final stretch, but he is a bit more of a star and they need to run with him as champion for a while (eight champions in the last 18 months is not good). I've not watched NOAH in a long time but this got me interested. Their production might be the best in the world; camera work is flawless (on NJPW level), very helpful on-screen graphics that puts the product over as serious and legitimate and they shoot in fucking 8K (they're owned by CyberAgent).Originally Posted by Ben
Speaking of Nakamura and Muta, it was a great spectacle for the entrances and initial face-off but at the end of the day, Muta can't move anymore and it was a complete carry job by Nakamura, who to be fair actually turned up motivated for once. But that puts a pretty low ceiling on the match. They went about 18 minutes as well I think and it felt a lot longer. The counter to the mist was cute though.
I’m glad Kip Sabian survived the box gimmick and is now very relevant again. Was even good on commentary.
The Darby/Sting promo was great. The Jay Lethal one really wasn’t.I don’t think anybody in the world would miss him and JJ. Can’t believe they’ve got them feuding with the Acclaimed while FTR aren’t doing anything.
Preston Vance is also pretty great.
I'm a twit
Baz continuing to be the opposite of me in his likes/dislikes.
Which one of these guys has been in Essex for the last six weeks?
Swearing in promos, man. Moderate that shit.
I'd barely unmuted the video at the start before he called someone a "cunt" off camera.
"NO BIGGER THAN A BROOM CUPBOARD, BRUV"
Alright lad, simmer down.
I'd love for Tony "best physique in sports" Nese to beat Borin' Danielzzzon.Baz continuing to be the opposite of me in his likes/dislikes.
I'm a twit
Tony Khan's booking won't help this. He'll give them minimum 12 minutes and it'll be a competitive match just so the crowd can chant "this is awesome" and Meltzer can throw some stars at it.
In reality, Nese is never on TV so he's a nobody (I do like him but he's just in the bucket with the other 50 wrestlers Tony has bungled) and they're trying to build Danielson as a World title contender so Bryan should win in five minutes like an absolute badass. People like you might like him a bit more in that case if you see him going apeshit, and people like me might not treat the eventual title match as an afterthought because the result is a foregone conclusion.
Anyway...
They love an English swear word in the Jap-Graps, Taka Michinoku used to have them in his entrance music.
Gedo and "you muthafuckaaaaa" - name a more iconic duo. Apparently he loves old Memphis wrestling which is where he gets that from.
It's sad to see Shingo walk out for the banter rumble.
Meanwhile we've got Karl fucking Anderson in a title match.
I’m no fashion icon but c’mon Sasha, that hair is awful.
Bam Bam Bigelow throwback.
The internet is going absolutely insane for this Ospreay-Omega match. I'll do one of my bitchy reviews in here when I get round to watching it.
I watched the post-match thing with Sasha and it was so cringe.
Tony Khan reads my posts.Bryan Danielson defeats Tony Nese (3:26)
Money in the Bank is coming to London.
I've never been to a wrestling show before, I might drag myself to that though.
That's probably the next best thing outside the proper big shows, not bad.
They certainly consider MITB one of their Big Five now and that's probably not unreasonable, even if crusties like me still consider it a big four. I might keep an eye out and see what tickets are liable to cost but if they're doing UK shows on the reg now then Scotland might get one eventually.
I kind of feel like even if it's a Big 4, MITB should be in place of Survivor Series. That's really died a death over the last few years.
MITB is probably dying too. The whole briefcase thing is a bit of a hindrance now, as evidenced by Theory's booking.
I don't personally like WarGames matches but their introduction as a thing to funnel a story at this year at least made it feel like they gave a shit about Survivor Series. I hope it's not always The WarGames Show but we'll see what happens I guess.
MITB probably needs a break though really. WWE don't spam ladder matches quite as badly as they used to but I still feel like I've seen all the cash-ins they can currently think of* and they keep buggering it up.
* Aside from the really obvious one they refuse to do which is if you've got a hard lad babyface with the briefcase (they could've done this with any of Big E, Boatman, Lesnar if you want to call him a face at the time (rather than just A Lesnar)) tell the heel when they'll be having their title match and basically count down to that from however far in advance you like with the heel getting increasingly desperate to get out of the match somehow.
PPVs built around an entire gimmick are rarely good. Hell in a Cell is atrocious because every feud gets wedged into a Cell match when the story doesn’t call for it so we just end up seeing the same recycled spots and when there is finally a feud that would benefit from a Cell match, the bloom is off the rose.
Tangent aside, MITB isn’t needed because we see ladder matches all the time anyway and a wrestler lugging the briefcase about for the rest of the year doesn’t contribute to the stories anymore. They blew all the (few) good ideas using it in the early years.
Having said that, a rabid UK crowd will at least make the event itself good this year.
I liked it when valiant Daniel Bryan announced he'd cash in at Wrestlemania and then got his chance, said fuck it and turned into the dickhead that basically made the rest of his career
Hell in a Cell should be an undercard of normal matches supporting a Cell match that main events. Put the mystique back into it. I don't know how to shake up Money in the Bank. Make it one briefcase for the whole company?
Has anyone had a fake briefcase ruse? Or blown it up? Briefcases explode all the time in movies.
I wouldn’t even have the PPV named after it, because you’re conditioning the fans that they’ll see a Cell match every year at the same time. They should happen organically when the storyline, not the schedule, calls for it. That’s partly why the early ones were great. Even Undertaker vs Brock in 2002 would blow anything from the last decade out of the water.
Hell in a Cell shouldn't be a show, agreed. It should be used to cap particularly intense feuds, and once a year at the very most. I don't mind Elimination Chamber as a "this is to decide who goes for the belt the Rumble winner isn't" because six way feuds aren't often going to be a normal thing.
MiTB has looked shit since the Rollins cash in because that was literally the perfect cash in. The Sheamus one on Reigns was also great at the time.
The problem lately is that you either have it cashed in on the same night as it has been won a lot(Womens' briefcase especially bad for this), or you have it held by someone who becomes "not the guy" over some time.
Though knowing WWE, Reigns will end up winning that as well next year.
Nah, Bork again when he's not in the match and then he'll declare once again YOU AIN'T BEAT ME ROMAN!!!!! Despite Roman having kicked out of more F5s at this point than I've had hit dinners.
MITB peaked with the Ziggler cash in on Del Rio and hit rock bottom when Sandow won it and then immediately jobbed to everyone on the roster.
Get rid of it.
I think based on chat in here previously Ziggler vs. Rollins cash ins really depends when you were watching. It's Rollins for me. (Clive.)
Same night cash ins also wore thin quick but Ambrose on Rollins was good as those go just because the crowd were so fucking up for it.
John Laurinaitis is still free I hopeGREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vince McMahon, the founder and controlling shareholder of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. ("WWE" or the "Company") (NYSE: WWE), announced today that he has taken necessary actions to position the Company to capitalize on a unique opportunity to maximize long-term value for all WWE shareholders. The actions, communicated to WWE's Board of Directors today via written consent, include the election to the Board of Mr. McMahon, as well as Michelle Wilson and George Barrios – former WWE Co-Presidents and Board members, and currently the Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Isos Capital Management – and the requisite removal from the Board of three directors. Mr. McMahon expects to assume the role of Executive Chairman of the Board.
I do plan on watching all of Wrestle Kingdom at the weekend but I feel like the longer I put it off, the more likely the internet is to spoil Ospreay vs. Omega for me because they're going absolutely wild for it. I've got a spare hour so here we go.
First thoughts are that the hype is so big that it might fail to live up to it. I'm also wondering what condition Omega is in because he's looked frankly awful in AEW recently.
Anyway, big entrances to start and Kenny looks like he's up for this, complete with fake tan and hair extensions, The Cleaner is back baby. Ospreay goes back to his Elevated theme song which is great and his Aerial Assassin gimmick which was back when he wasn't the main event heavyweight, so that might be hinting at an Omega win.
Very intense straight off the bat and only a minute in I can see Kenny is far more motivated than he's ever been in AEW. He assumes the heel role going after Ospreay's back which is a good sign because heel Kenny is where he's best. Everything is just so crisp and snappy so far, it's obvious they've decided to steal the show. I can tell we are going really long though because the selling for the early exchanges is really stated (almost exaggerated), which is what you need to in a big stadium, so I like it. Out on the apron and Will looks for an Oscutter which is absurd, and Red Shoes agrees with me. Oh fuck, here's the Japanese tables, someone is getting hurt bad. Ospreay took the stomp on his bad back but then he hops up and hits Kenny with a nasty suplex on the table and the corkscrew. His selling of the back was good up until now but he's forgotten about it until Kenny gives him the Kitaro Crusher to remind him of it. Really nice "kick out" though with a lethargic roll up of the shoulder. This is great stuff from Omega, excellent focus on the back of Ospreay. That Oscutter was lovely, nice hope spot from Will. Ouch looks like he busted Kenny's eye for real with that Cheeky Nando's Kick. Good grief a DDT from the top turnbuckle (!) gets Kenny back on top. Five people crowding round Will so he can blade was pretty lol though. Kenny is just bringing it here. NJPW Kenny is just on another level, Tony Khan must be fuming, $2m a year to treat AEW like house shows. Now Ospreay's head gets bashed through the table. This is just a really long squash so far, and it's great. Another lovely exhausted kick out. I'm enjoying seeing two guys actually pay attention to the little things. They're actually telling a great story over random insane spots which I wasn't sure they'd do. Kenny is just destroying Ospreay, it's absolutely brutal. Not the match structure I was expecting at all. Ospreay fires up for the comeback, finally getting some pins on Omega as the announcer calls 30 minutes. Styles Clash from Ospreay as the commentators reference 2016 so Kenny will probably try Ibushi's Kamigoye. Great Hidden Blade, it looks awesome when the recipient knows what they're doing. Forearm exchanges, we're in the final stretch now. Aaaand there's the Kamigoye. Oh shit and the One Winged Angel for the win. Very unexpected. Mainly because Ospreay is the full time NJPW guy (he's winning the G1 now for sure) but that whole match with Kenny dominating was lining up an underdog babyface win. At least there's a guaranteed rematch now, I just hope it's in NJPW and not AEW. They just can't hit the same levels in AEW.
A tremendous match for sure. Not quite best ever like Twitter will say but you'll be hard pressed to see anything better this year. I recommend everyone watches it. Even if you don't watch Japanese wrestling, you'll find this match very relatable.
Bold claim while Von Wagner is still running wild down in NXT, mate.
Omega vs Okada 1 at WK1 was miles better, but it was still a brilliant match. Probably would have been even better had I not read a damn spoiler.
Rematch at AEW in Craven Cottage please.
I'm a twit
Meltzer is clearly holding back that seventh star for the Mountain Dew© Lights Out Match™
Vince is back.
From what I see he was still actually in charge of most of the running of WWE. He's brought his old board members with him, because he threatened that if they didnt put him back in, he'd basically refuse TV/Media deals until they went out of business as he still had the final say on those matters.
Also looks like it's MJF v Danielson coming up soon. I'm sure Baz is thrilled.
Vince McMahon to presumably try and wrest control of creative back so he can bury Gunther as he planned to before. Old cunt.
Hopefully he's hit with another sex scandal sharpish.
Regal fired.
Stock up massive lol.
Good news for Austin Theory though, can't be too many people who've been tag champion with an 80 year old partner.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote