After such a strong event, along with the fact watching NJPW and keeping up with it has never been so easy for us Westerners, I feel like NJPW deserves its own little thread. What's NJPW? New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) is a a Japanese "Puroresu" federation that has been trucking along since 1972. Created from the splitting of Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (along with All Japan Pro Wrestling), NJPW ended up becoming the most popular Wrestling Promotion in Japan, with legends such as Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Chosu on their side. After decades of phenomenal popularity and success, the Japanese Wrestling scene started dying down, by the 80's and 90's it was at about half of what it used to be, and by the 2000's, the TV Shows that were usually on prime time were now delegated to the later hours of the night. Puroresu ended up becoming a big part of pop culture in Japan, but something that wasn't actually watched that much. Now in 2013, NJPW has been on an upswing since being bought out by Bushido Road, gaining fans and popularity, and being on their way to try to get back to the golden age. What's "Puroresu"? Puroresu (named after the commonly-used name for Professional Wrestling by the Japanese, a short version of "Purofesshonaru Resuringu") is a style of Pro-Wrestling very common in Japan and used by most promotions over there. The priority is in having believable and stiff strikes, dangerous-looking submissions and a "fighting spirit" style added to it (meaning the workers will look like they are killing each other in the ring and doing their best to make it through painful looking attacks). Furthermore, storylines are very basic, often being as simple as "I want to prove I'm better than this guy". Gimmicks are not gimmicky at all and could almost be considered "non-existent", although each worker always brings a little bit of his personality to his fighting and promo-style. The division between faces and heels is very iffy and every worker ends up being a different shade of gray, with a few notable exceptions. Cheap and Non-Finishes are rare, especially on the main events. I don't know any of these people. Their names are confusing, I forgot all of them already. Fear not, here's a (hopefully short and to the point) guide with the current top talent from NJPW.  Hiroshi Tanahashi -The ace of NJPW -Japanese John Cena (in a good way) -Shares the record with legendary Tatsumi Fujanami for most reigns as a IWGP Heavyweight Champion (six) and the most defenses of the IWGP, both non-combined and combined (11 and 26 respectively) -Plays air guitar.  Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) -Super Rookie (25 Years old) -Youngest G1 Climax winner in NJPW history. -Went from a nobody to a credible and very over Main Eventer and number 2 on NJPW in a single year. -Playboy.  Shinsuke Nakamura (CHAOS) -Current IWGP Inter-Continental champion. -Three time IWGP Heavyweight Champion -Formerly a super rookie. Youngest winner of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (23 years old at the time) -Drunken Street Fighter, Passionate for the "Strong Style", CHAOS leader and Co-Founder  Yuji Nagata (Blue Justice Army) -Seasoned veteran, two time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, two time IWGP Tag Team Champion, won G1 Climax once and the New Japan cup twice. -Phenomenal worker who always gives his all in every match he's in. Very good shoot-style to him. -Great facial expressions, arguably the best in the business. -"Blue Justice"  Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki's Army) -Legitimately scary dude, despite his look. Great wrestler and submission-expert in MMA. -Had dozens of top-tier matches since returning to NJPW in 2010, including a great 5-star match against Tanahashi just a few months ago. -Great facial expressions, arguably the best in the business. The only worker who compares to him in that aspect is Yuji Nagata. -Psycho about to gently caress people up.  Hirooki Goto -One time Inter-Continental Champion, One Time G1 Climax Winner, 3 Time New Japan Cup winner. -Has been incredibly close to the IWGP Heavyweight gold in numerous occasions, but never close enough. -Impressive worker with loads of different finishers and high impact moves. -Dresses like a Samurai, kind of.  Togi Makabe -Comes out with chains around his neck, gets in grudges very easily and usually blows those grudges with chairs and tables, no matter the type of match. Only in NJPW (or ECW) would that be the act of a big-time Face. -1 Time G1 Climax winner and 1 Time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. -Has a very brutal style to him, his matches tend to feel like legitimate fights you'd see in a shady bar. -Japanese Bruiser Brody. G1 Climax? New Japan Cup? What? NJPW is a sucker for tournaments, and it has (at the very least) 4 annual tournaments that each serve their own purpose. They are the following: G1 Climax Held every August. Dating all the way back to 1974, G1 Climax is a Round-Robin type tournament (meaning, the workers are divided into two blocks each, they then all face each other within the block, and whoever has the most wins in his block moves on to the finals against the winner of the other block). The winner of this tournament gets a Title Shot. Last year a "Money to the Bank" gimmick was added to this tournament, with the winner carrying around a briefcase and having the title shot be on the big show, Tokyo Dome. On the other hand, if the tournament winner was to ever lose a singles match before the big night, he would have to give away the contract and the big match to man who beat him. G1 Climax Tag League Held every October. A tag-team version of the G1 Climax, the winning team gets a contendership at the IWGP Tag Team Championships (assuming they're not already the champions). Best of the Super Juniors Held at May or June. The Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax, the winner gets a contendership at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (assuming he's not already the champion) New Japan Cup Held every April. Unlike the other tournaments, this tournament is held in a traditional non-round-robin manner, in which there are brackets and the winner of each bracket advances to the next one. However, this tournament does share the similarity with the G1 tournament in that the winner gets a Title Shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. IWGP Junior Heavyweight? Hold on a second, what the hell is that? And what the hell is "IWGP"? The International Wrestling Grand Prix is the governing body behind NJPW and the reason behind the names of the belts. The main title is the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which is pretty much the "World Title" of the federation. Then there's the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On the other hand, there's the Junior Division, for people below 100 kilos. This division holds the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, as well as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Finally, there's the IWGP Inter-Continental Title, originally supposed to be a title for the (lower?) midcarders, it has become a upper midcarder title, similar to the early days of WWE's Intercontinental championship. Because of this change, the NEVER Openweight Championship was created. This title is supposed to go the young lions and the people in the development branch (NEVER) but its current champion is Masato Tanaka, so your guess is as good as mine on what the hell is going on there.  Alright, this is cool and all, but how can I watch and follow this? An easy way to follow NJPW is to keep tabs with the Strong Style Spirit blog (or this thread) to check on the upcoming cards and the results of both televised and non-televised shows. To watch the TV Shows and PPV's, a simple google/youtube/dailymotion search will do, but I'll try to post links of TV Shows and PPV's here (and edit them if they get taken down) I'm sick of being a dirty pirate and want to support NJPW in their endeavor to give me stiff kicks to the head and Match of the Year contenders! Good on you, NJPW needs our money and they finally gave us westerners a chance to support them. Check out their Streaming Channel where they provide with their iPPV's for a good price. SNARF SNARF SNARF fucked around with this message at Feb 9, 2013 around 22:00 |
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 02:52 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 22:07 |
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Relevant Links: NJPW's Official uStream Channel (The place to buy iPPV's.) NJPW'S Official Youtube (Press Conferences, Hype Videos and some Matches here and there, both recent and classic) Strong Style Spirit (An English blog that keeps up with news, cards and results) nWoな人々-Puroresu (A Japanese/English blog, great source for the latest news on NJPW and other Puroresu) Latest Results NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 7 (January 4th, 2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0YtK5fzFYo 0-1. Wataru Inoue, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan beat Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado (5:58) when Tonga used the Headshrinker on Jado. 0-2. Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & BUSHI beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi (7:12) when BUSHI used a Firebird splash on Takahashi. 1. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Manabu Nakanishi, MVP, Strong Man & Akebono beat Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & Bob Sapp (7:53) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Iizuka. 2. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) beat Shelton Benjamin (6:41) with the Sliding D (1st defense). 3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) beat Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson (10:52) when Smith used the Killer bomb on Goto (2nd defense). 4. Special Singles Match: Yuji Nagata beat Minoru Suzuki (17:03) with a backdrop hold. 5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title – 3WAY Match: Prince Devitt (c) beat Low Ki & Kota Ibushi (14:45) with an avalanche-style Bloody Sunday on Ibushi (1st defense). 6. Special Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani (15:36) when Tenzan used a moonsault press on Otani. 7. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe beat Katsuyori Shibata (8:37) with a King Kong kneedrop. 8. Double Main Event I – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) beat Kazushi Sakuraba (11:12) with the Boma Ye (4th defense). 9. Double Main Event II – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Kazuchika Okada (33:34) with the High Fly Flow (6th defense). Upcoming Events NJPW/CMLL, 1/18/13 (Samurai! TV) 1. Tama Tonga & Titan vs. Euphoria & OKUMURA 2. Ryusuke Taguchi, BUSHI & Diamante vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Rey Escorpion 3. Rush vs. YOSHI-HASHI 4. La Mascara, Mascara Dorada & Maximo vs. Volador Jr., TAKA Michinoku & Taichi 5. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Mistico, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Mephisto, Jado & Gedo 6. Special Singles Match: Prince Devitt vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. 7. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Misterioso Jr. NJPW/CMLL, 1/19/13 (Samurai! TV) 1. Tama Tonga & Maximo vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi 2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Titan vs. Jado, Gedo & Misterioso Jr. 3. Mascara Dorada & Diamante vs. Mephisto & OKUMURA 4. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & BUSHI vs. Dragon Rojo Jr., Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI 5. Special Singles Match: Mistico vs. Euforia 6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, La Mascara & Rush vs. Kazuchika Okada, Volador Jr. & Rey Escorpion 7. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. La Sombra NJPW/CMLL, 1/20/13 (Samurai! TV) 1. Special Singles Match: Maximo vs. Taichi 2. 6 vs. 6 Torneo Cibernetico: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada, Diamante, Titan & BUSHI vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Jado, Gedo, Misterioso Jr., OKUMURA & YOSHI-HASHI 3. Special Singles Match: Rush vs. Rey Escorpion 4. NWA World Historic Welterweight Title: Dragon Rojo Jr. (c) vs. La Sombra 5. Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title: La Mascara (c) vs. Volador Jr. 6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Prince Devitt & Mistico vs. Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto & Euforia NJPW, 2/3/13 (Samurai! TV) 1. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii NJPW “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/13 (WPW/PPV/iPPV) 1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley (c) vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov 2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi 3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima 4. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Karl Anderson All credit goes to Strong Style Spirit for cards and results. SNARF SNARF SNARF fucked around with this message at Jan 6, 2013 around 11:09 |
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 02:53 |
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Lot of by proxy here, but someone on THE BOARD asked one of their more lucha familiar friends about these lineups and they said it was underwhelming. I'm still pretty intrigued by these shows though. Especially by the fact that Okada is booked on them when there was all this probably exaggerated talk of Okada possibly speaking with WWE. I don't expect anything to hold up to that PPV but these half-CMLL shows should at least be pretty fun.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 03:52 |
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Apparently there's a lot of drama in NJPW right now.Meltzer posted:New Japan Chairman Takaaki Kidani resigned after the Tokyo Dome show. His public statement is that the company has turned the corner and he's passing the torch to the New Japan executives. I don't think this is a work, but am still waiting for more from Japan. There were things that happened behind the scenes where this is believable as noted in this week's Observer, and the finishes of the Sakuraba and Shibata match seem to confirm the direction change. Kidani's Bushiroad is still the owners of the promotion, but he will not be directly involved in the booking direction.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 04:12 |
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4. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Karl Anderson Can't wait for this, gonna be so good.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 04:42 |
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amplifierWORSHIP posted:Lot of by proxy here, but someone on THE BOARD asked one of their more lucha familiar friends about these lineups and they said it was underwhelming. I'm still pretty intrigued by these shows though. Especially by the fact that Okada is booked on them when there was all this probably exaggerated talk of Okada possibly speaking with WWE. All of the luchadores they have booked in singles matches over those three days are very very good and the other guys are the ones that have been at the last couple Fantasticamanias so the crowd should know them (and who doesn't love crazy tag matches???). Dragon Rojo vs. La Sombra will be an awesome match. If nothing else you'll get to see Maximo molest his opponent and a fair portion of the audience three nights in a row oatgan fucked around with this message at Jan 6, 2013 around 05:19 |
| # ? Jan 6, 2013 05:15 |
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oh my lord please [ timg ] that top header picture. also I'm gonna keep my eye out for when they tour Kyushu and try to see a show if there's one close.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 05:20 |
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I don't know if I'll be ready to fork over another 35 bucks for a while but it was a fantastic show and I plan on trying to keep up with them this year. I'm definitely interested in seeing the CMLL crossover shows. How long is an episode of their regular TV show?
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 05:24 |
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Oatgan posted:All of the luchadores they have booked in singles matches over those three days are very very good and the other guys are the ones that have been at the last couple Fantasticamanias so the crowd should know them (and who doesn't love crazy tag matches???). Dragon Rojo vs. La Sombra will be an awesome match. thank you, that at least has me pretty interested in the upcoming shows. here's to hoping they can deliver.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 05:28 |
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Why was agent 47 fighting in japan?
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 05:35 |
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awesome first thread.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 05:59 |
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Did they cut some of the entrance audio for the iPPV VOD? What did Bob Sapp enter to?
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 06:15 |
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Sporadic posted:Did they cut some of the entrance audio for the iPPV VOD? What did Bob Sapp enter to? I'd guess it was the stuff that isn't in-house entrance music for rights reasons.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 06:26 |
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enuhito's blog is also a decent source of news, he is a Japanese fan who posts mostly NJPW-centric puro updates in Japanese & English http://blog.livedoor.jp/hbkidcool/
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 09:18 |
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Requesting Okada's image be replaced with this:
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 09:48 |
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Their official Youtube Channel might be a good link to add to the OP, they put up a nice blend of classic matches, untelevised matches from smaller shows and promo stuff.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 09:53 |
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It might also be worth adding a few things to the OP explaining the different championships, like some people might wonder about the difference between the normal and junior versions of the titles. Then there's the endless question of what the hell NEVER is that kept popping up pre-Wrestle Kingdom. Should probably add the current champions as well like the WWE and TNA threads have.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 10:55 |
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harperdc posted:oh my lord please [ timg ] that top header picture. golden oldies pete posted:enuhito's blog is also a decent source of news, he is a Japanese fan who posts mostly NJPW-centric puro updates in Japanese & English Illinois Smith posted:Their official Youtube Channel might be a good link to add to the OP, they put up a nice blend of classic matches, untelevised matches from smaller shows and promo stuff. Swagger Dagger posted:Requesting Okada's image be replaced with this: Done, done, done and done. Thanks. Also, I just noticed Gedo does the pose at the exact same time Okada does. That makes that zoom-out even better.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 11:03 |
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njsykora posted:It might also be worth adding a few things to the OP explaining the different championships, like some people might wonder about the difference between the normal and junior versions of the titles. Then there's the endless question of what the hell NEVER is that kept popping up pre-Wrestle Kingdom. Should probably add the current champions as well like the WWE and TNA threads have. I didn't want to pile up the OP even more, but you're right, some of that information might be confusing so I'm gonna go ahead and add it.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 11:10 |
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IVP has a ton of NJPW stuff for very cheap ($1.50 for downloads or $3 for a disk). http://new.ivpvideos2.com/
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 18:12 |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1PeqD6tRTk A bit old, but worth your while if you haven't watched a whole lot of NJ. (That loving lariat from the Kawada/Sasaki match is still  )
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 18:31 |
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I'm pumped for the CMLL crossover shows, if only because I'm a massive La Sombra fanboy  Oh, and all you need to know about Nakamura is BOMAAAAAAAAAAAA YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 18:49 |
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Fantastica Mania is usually a bit of a mixed bag, plus Averno isn't coming over this year.  The Cibernetico on the third night should at least be fun, they had a really great Japan vs Mexico one in CMLL last September. Rudo Tanahashi!
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:00 |
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Aren't the Junior Heavyweight belts for people below 100 kg (~220 lbs) and not 100 lbs?
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:04 |
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Yup, it's definitely 220 or lower. Probably just got the units mixed up. Christ, imagine sub-100lb 
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:05 |
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VogeGandire posted:Oh, and all you need to know about Nakamura is BOMAAAAAAAAAAAA YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Also he's the most charismatic man in wrestling.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:10 |
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I dunno, Okada is about even, I'd say.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:11 |
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I used to hold an unwarranted grudge against Nakamura way back when since he ended Tenzan's first IWGP reign in such short order, and I was a massive mark for TenKoji as a relative puro noob. I don't think anyone got hosed over worse than Tenzan by how bad NJ was in 04-05.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:15 |
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VogeGandire posted:I dunno, Okada is about even, I'd say. Not even close.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:17 |
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Distinct lack of Karl Anderson in the Op.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:18 |
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Good job on the OP. I hope this is the year that New Japan appreciation really grows on PSP, because it's by far the best wrestling product out there right now.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:31 |
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Cardboard Box posted:Good job on the OP. I hope this is the year that New Japan appreciation really grows on PSP, because it's by far the best wrestling product out there right now. It will no doubt be helped by those of us who watched Wrestle Kingdom live not shutting the gently caress up about how good it was, then the guys who went and watched off the back of that not shutting the gently caress up about how good it was. Also I'll agree that Nakamura is more fun than Okada, and I adore Okada.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:45 |
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I've only seen four Nakamura matches, and he's steadily grown on me with eah one to the point that I'd now probably say he's my favorite Japanese heavyweight.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 19:59 |
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I will admit, I've not watched as much Nakamura as I'd have liked to, so maybe he will overtake THE RAINMAKER.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 20:21 |
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HulkaMatt posted:Also he's the most charismatic man in wrestling. I actually don't have a lot of experience with NJPW or Nakamura so all of his weird mannerisms were a surprise. And awesome.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 20:38 |
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Fauxhawk Express posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1PeqD6tRTk Ha, I'm so used to seeing him cut out of everything that BENOIT OUT OF NOWHERE took me by surprise for a moment.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 20:44 |
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Nakamura was such a bore when he was a generic CAW from Wrestling games in the early years. Then he came back with the Strong Style gimmick and the Drunken Master mannerisms and he became the best. BOMAAAAA YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~~~~~~~~~~ Also: 
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 20:46 |
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I've had his theme stuck in my head for two solid days now. That entrance was about as badass as it gets.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 21:57 |
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Is that lady doing a Trish Stratus gimmick?
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 23:29 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 22:07 |
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That's Ayumi Nakamura, who sings his entrance music.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 23:41 |
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