damn, did New Japan fall off or was Wrassle Kingdom just on a bad 2-dates? I'm not doing stan-wars either, i'm genuinely asking, cuz this is literally the only show i prolly check from them ever and the New Japan fans here aint even posting about it.
Definitely not booked for me). However, I did notice that Okada's moving pretty stiffly for a 35 year old athlete supposedly at the top of his game...and Shingo isn't much better. Then you look at the rest of the upper card over there:
I never thought it was a good idea to break Evil away from L.I.J. because he was decent in the ring when he was rolling with that crew in my opinion.... NEVER should have joined Bullet Club.Don't know how much of this I'm actually going to watch, but I did look at a few things here and there and I have this to say:
-I'm not sure I totally subscribe to the "it's impossible to have a bad Ishii match" given that the guy is a short, bowling ball shaped 46 year old that's been wrestling a very hard style since WAR still existed, but that deal with EVIL was about as bad an Ishii match as I can remember. Ishii takes no blame for this however, since I have no idea how you COULD have a good match when you're working around 4 run-ins, 2 refs, a ball shot, a belt shot, dikk Togo booking, AND EVIL being somehow worse and possessing less presence than he did a year ago. And the worse part about all that? NONE of it looked good, was timed well, added anything to the match, or made the crowd more interested in the outcome. The interference and the bullshyt was fine when it had a point (foreigners bringing foreign, Western concepts to a Japanese wrestling landscape that does NOT trade in such things for the sake of heat), but now they seem to do it because, well, that's just what happens in Bullet Club matches, without the wrestlers to make it look good or have meaning (Devitt, Styles, even Jay White made it look good before he actually became a good wrestler). That's not even getting into EVIL being as mediocre or dull as ever either. Not worst thing I ever saw by a long shot, but pretty indicative of why I don't really watch NJPW like that anymore.
-I haven't gotten through the main event yet (might not get through it period because fukk Bushiroad and their insistence on pointlessly long main events. I just don't need 36 minutes of Okada/Shingo, no matter how good they are. At least they could work a good match at that length...STARDOM does this with a talented green chick that's still finding herself as a wrestler and a good but dull Joshi stalwart...TWICE...but NOT the best wrestler on the roster.
-Naito's almost 40, badly banged up, and thinking retirement.
-Ibushi's almost 40, just hurt his shoulder, and is a complete idiot. Love him, but he might kill himself as an experiment mid match.
-Tanahashi's 45 and apparently wants to literally grind himself into dust.
-KENTA's 40 and has never been the same after NXT.
-SANADA is relatively young (33), but is also the same boring motherfukker he's always been. Naturally, the company's still not taking advantage of his perplexing popularity for some reason.
-Jay White is stuck in America.
Other than Ospreay (this fukking guy...), they need young heavyweights, and especially young native heavyweights badly. I don't think Great-O-Khan and SHO are necessarily going to be the answer, but they need this current crop of Young Lions (Shota, Tsuji, Uemura...Narita I guess is going to be a heavy? Never thought he had the frame for it, but who knows?) to pan out. That is an old scene they're running out there right now, and a fewof the guys they counted on to step up during the pandemic don't seem to have done so (looking at you, EVIL).
Ospreay stole the show again....fukk the haters
The company has been badly missing him.
Shingo is a hell of a wrestler but his run was pretty dry.
He was selling the loaded bootEL P fukked up his ankle on his moonsault entrance. Do flippy shyt brehs.
Don't know how much of this I'm actually going to watch, but I did look at a few things here and there and I have this to say:
-I'm not sure I totally subscribe to the "it's impossible to have a bad Ishii match" given that the guy is a short, bowling ball shaped 46 year old that's been wrestling a very hard style since WAR still existed, but that deal with EVIL was about as bad an Ishii match as I can remember. Ishii takes no blame for this however, since I have no idea how you COULD have a good match when you're working around 4 run-ins, 2 refs, a ball shot, a belt shot, dikk Togo booking, AND EVIL being somehow worse and possessing less presence than he did a year ago. And the worse part about all that? NONE of it looked good, was timed well, added anything to the match, or made the crowd more interested in the outcome. The interference and the bullshyt was fine when it had a point (foreigners bringing foreign, Western concepts to a Japanese wrestling landscape that does NOT trade in such things for the sake of heat), but now they seem to do it because, well, that's just what happens in Bullet Club matches, without the wrestlers to make it look good or have meaning (Devitt, Styles, even Jay White made it look good before he actually became a good wrestler). That's not even getting into EVIL being as mediocre or dull as ever either. Not worst thing I ever saw by a long shot, but pretty indicative of why I don't really watch NJPW like that anymore.
-I haven't gotten through the main event yet (might not get through it period because fukk Bushiroad and their insistence on pointlessly long main events. I just don't need 36 minutes of Okada/Shingo, no matter how good they are. At least they could work a good match at that length...STARDOM does this with a talented green chick that's still finding herself as a wrestler and a good but dull Joshi stalwart...TWICE...but NOT the best wrestler on the roster.
-Naito's almost 40, badly banged up, and thinking retirement.
-Ibushi's almost 40, just hurt his shoulder, and is a complete idiot. Love him, but he might kill himself as an experiment mid match.
-Tanahashi's 45 and apparently wants to literally grind himself into dust.
-KENTA's 40 and has never been the same after NXT.
-SANADA is relatively young (33), but is also the same boring motherfukker he's always been. Naturally, the company's still not taking advantage of his perplexing popularity for some reason.
-Jay White is stuck in America.
Other than Ospreay (this fukking guy...), they need young heavyweights, and especially young native heavyweights badly. I don't think Great-O-Khan and SHO are necessarily going to be the answer, but they need this current crop of Young Lions (Shota, Tsuji, Uemura...Narita I guess is going to be a heavy? Never thought he had the frame for it, but who knows?) to pan out. That is an old scene they're running out there right now, and a fewof the guys they counted on to step up during the pandemic don't seem to have done so (looking at you, EVIL).
