|
I decided to watch last year's G1 (not realizing it was a 20 man round robin until just before starting it whoops). I've only seen a couple Japanese matches here and there and have never really done a deep dive, but have seen or heard enough about guys like Okada, Naito, Omega, etc. to not be TOTALLY lost. My big question is are the tag matches on each show worth watching in order to sort of get me accustomed to some of the guys I don't know about, or should I just skip them?
|
#
¿
May 26, 2018 14:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 21:39 |
|
|
Awesome, thanks. I'm at the end of night 1 right now and they seemed fun enough but fairly inconsequential compared to the G1 itself so I was curious how others felt about them.
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2018 14:51
|
|
|
Gaz-L posted:I'm sure anyone in the thread would be happy to answer any other questions you have about dudes in the tournament, and would be interested in your perspective. I can try and arrange my thoughts after every couple of nights, I suppose. I imagine it's probably pretty standard to hear a lot of WWE comparisons in these threads from new watchers but hey, that's my point of reference (though I haven't really watched anything other than NXT, some PPVs, and youtube clips in a few years). So far after the first two nights my big takeaways are: - Anytime one or more of the older guys are in a match there seems to be a lot of back and forth strike spots where they no-sell each other (or the older guy no-sells the younger guy) until one of them builds up a big one and either that hits and knocks the other one off balance or gets countered. Maybe it was a coincidence that it was only really the older guys but I just happened to notice it with Nagata, Ishii, and Suzuki, for instance. - There seems to be a lot more... I dunno, breathing room between moves than in WWE. Like after a short sequence the guy who just came out on the offensive will stand around a bit longer than in WWE, where they tend to always either be selling or attacking. Maybe I'm imagining that but that's how it felt to me. - Naito is very cool - SANADA is also very cool - EVIL is also fairly cool? I think LIJ is just a really good & cool faction. - The non-obnoxious camerawork is appreciated, even if it makes me nervous how closely they and the still photographers all hang around the ring even when a spot is happening next to them. - Toru Yano, whose gimmick comes across pretty much immediately, actually seeming halfway credible against someone like Okada (via hilarious cheating and trickery, obviously) makes me sad that WWE has never had any idea how to book comedy wrestlers as anything higher than a bottom tier jobber. - Does the ref ignore foreign objects and interference if it's on the outside of the ring? Two matches on night 2 I noticed he just sort of lets it go. - Not knowing most of these guys' finishers makes the near falls and ending sequences pretty exciting because I legitimately never know when it's going to end. I think almost all of these are more just things I would notice about Japanese wrestling in general rather than anything especially related to the G1 itself lol. But I suppose it's a rather straightforward setup so there's not really much to say about it.
|
|
#
¿
May 28, 2018 04:13
|
|
|
Some G1 2017 night 3 and 4 thoughts: - LIJ remains extremely cool. Maybe it's a bit early to be picking favorites but man, they're great. EVIL's theme owns. RIP Daryl. - I've heard about the recent-ish Bullet Club drama so seeing the beginnings of it with Kenny and Tama Tonga is interesting. The tag match on night 3 was great. - Watching with English commentary while it's there so I get a bit of extra history. Don Callis and Kevin Kelly bickering isn't quite as annoying as WWE's various fifteen man commentary desks, especially since they actually agree on some stuff and don't always need to argue just for the sake of arguing. - Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi was loving killer. Goto vs Nagata was also great. - It must suck to have seats at the corners of the front row at Korakuen Hall. - El Desperado definitely earning his paycheck. - The idea that the eventual winner as well as the champion, if he participates, defend their contract/championship against the guys they lost to in the time between the G1 and Wrestle Kingdom is a really good, simple way to fill half a year's worth of main events. So I'm almost certainly going to watch this year's G1 as well. Probably going to check out a few other shows from 2018 like WK12 and Sakura Genesis to catch up. Dominion card also looks great. Any other big stuff from this past year or so I should put on the list?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2018 09:07
|
|
|
Continued G1 2017 thoughts from a fairly new watcher (from nights 5-8): - Fale beating Naito (after only losing to Tanahashi by countout) was pretty surprising. I know Naito wins in the end so I was curious who he'd wind up losing to on the way there. Was this an out of nowhere thing or has Fale always been a viable contender vs the top guys? - I have to say despite being a treat to watch in the ring I don't like ZSJ's gear. His body type looks weird to me in a normal pair of trunks. Then again I've always thought a lot of wrestlers look dumb in them. - Seeing Tanahashi in what I've gleaned to be sort of the tail end of his run at the top of the card makes me curious to go and check out a bit of his work from the last 7 or 8 years at some point. - Minoru Suzuki is an awful, evil, horrible man. I think he's the only guy since I got back into wrestling when I was around 17 I've ever been able to 100% suspend disbelief with and not have that "oh man he's doing great heel work" reaction even in the back of my mind. Makes me feel like a kid in 2000 again wanting nothing except to see Triple H get his rear end kicked and lose the title. - Was honestly super pulling for Sanada to get the upset over Okada. Can't even really articulate why I like him so much, he's just a buff cool dude with tall hair. Paradise Lock is straight up one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen though. Except for when they’re literally held in place with tape. - Speaking of which: Omega vs Yano 12 stars match of the millenium, 60 minute iron man rematch at WK13 book it gedo Hopefully I can make it through all the stuff I want to watch before this year's G1 is in full gear. Excited to eventually get to BOSJ and Dominion, assuming the latter is good (it probably will be).
|
|
#
¿
Jun 8, 2018 09:19
|
|
|
Finally nearly caught up. I think last time I posted I was about halfway through last year's G1 and since then I've finished that, watched WK12, the NJC, Sakura Genesis, Dominion, and notable bits and pieces from other shows along the way. I was planning to watch BoSJ as well but the G1 was already perilously close and I hadn't even watched Dominion yet so I'll just save it for after the G1. I'm I think 1 day behind (possibly 2 now, depending on timezones). I don't really have a ton to say other than wow a lot of cool poo poo has happened this year. I'm pulling for my boy Naito (clearly not an underdog favorite, according to that poll a page or 2 ago lol) to go 2 in a row and finally get his moment at WK13 vs Omega. Other than that I'm hoping the positive updates on Hiromu lately keep going because he's quickly become my 2nd or 3rd favorite after Naito. Jay White's been impressive lately, ZSJ's run in the NJC was phenomenal and I hope he gets back to title contention at some point, and Toru Yano is a national treasure. Scooby dooby doo.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2018 22:53
|
|
|
Gumball Gumption posted:It could totally work in a US mainstream promotion if the roster is big enough and every division and group has something to provide. The big problem is when you're constantly being told that juniors don't matter the way heavyweights do. And also that none of the heavyweight matter because they're all total losers who can't win a match clean to save their lives unless they're the BIG DOG
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2018 02:33
|
|
|
Incessant Excess posted:Roman doesn't work with cruiserweights. Yeah they would've been fodder for Enzo Amore.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2018 05:24
|
|
|
shiksa posted:even if the headbutt (mostly the sound of it) makes me cringe. I haven't watched the match itself yet (I have a list of Shibata's best matches bookmarked to check out later) but I've seen the headbutt and while it is absolutely one of the hardest to watch things in wrestling, up there with Hiromu taking the phoenix-plex, the way he turns toward the camera as a single streak of blood rolls down his face is one of the single coolest visuals I've ever seen in any entertainment medium.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 1, 2018 03:29
|
|
|
Considering it didn't happen because of anything HE was doing I doubt Hiromu is going to tone his style down all that much. Hopefully he doesn't decide to go the Seth Rollins route and deliberately take a bunch of stupid neck bumps to prove how healed it is.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2018 17:13
|
|
|
They could also make good on the Openweight nature of the NEVER belt for once and have some Juniors challenge Goto for it if they don't want to strip Hiromu.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2018 05:11
|
|
|
Speaking of Ishii since we've got a few days of break I just went and watched Ishii vs Shibata from G1 23. That was the illest.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2018 07:57
|
|
|
To be honest I don't get the point. If it's specifically meant for the Japanese talent then ok, sure, kids watch it there, but what English speaking children are going to see any of this, barring kids whose parents or older siblings are watching it? This is the kind of thing you have to go out of your way to get into in the west, and I imagine they want to change that but it's going to be a looooong time before they get to the point where a kid will just be able to stumble on it randomly the same way they can flip a channel and see Raw or Smackdown.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 8, 2018 16:09
|
|
|
When it comes to Gedo and his long-term booking, it's worth mentioning that Okada, when he suffered his first Wrestle Kingdom loss to Tanahashi, was 25 years old. When he finally got his big win at Wrestle Kingdom 10, he was 28. Naito's already 36. Not that his days are numbered or anything but it's a lot easier to buy a multi-year plan to build a guy up with smart, slow burn booking when he hasn't already been wrestling for a decade plus. Just makes me wonder how many more sustained years it'll take of Naito being the most popular guy in the company and LIJ being the most popular faction in the company before they finally give him his moment.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2018 19:21
|
|
|
Your Parents posted:Naito accepting that everyone loves him and wants him to succeed Except for Osaka. I hope they never stop booing him.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2018 21:24
|
|
|
tbh even though Okada didn't need Gedo to do the talking for him the fact that he was there anyway made Okada instantly feel super important, at least to me. Same thing with Zack and Taka since they started Zack Sabre Time.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2018 03:52
|
|
|
Crossposting from the G1 thread:TriffTshngo posted:Decided to catch the finals on delay and somehow managed to stay un-spoiled so I'd just like to give my thoughts. I'll occasionally flinch or go "oh poo poo" at a big crazy move or particularly impactful strike in a wrestling match but extremely rarely does watching it like, increase my heart rate or anything. Ibushi vs Tanahashi made me feel like I just spent 35 minutes sprinting with no breaks. I legit think it was better than every Omega/Okada match, except maybe IV. Maybe.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2018 22:16
|
|
|
i want ishii to win the belt
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2018 01:53
|
|
|
Also Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa are real life brothers, and Fale is their cousin, so it makes sense they all split off together. Taiji Ishimori is also with them since Tama brought him into BC before Best of the Super Juniors. I don't think it was intended to be a racial thing but it just kind of happened that way.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 15, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
I just thought it was funny how pissed off some people continually got about it, like after the 12th night straight what did you expect
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2018 01:10
|
|
|
I imagine the next point of order for Firing Squad is either taking the Bucks' other belts or making sure Taiji wins the Junior belt whenever that's up for grabs again, the latter of which I think is probably the actual best course of action if Hiromu's out for as long as they've said.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2018 02:31
|
|
|
Don't you dare blame the long boys for Weird Okada, they're what propelled him to 12 title defenses.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2018 05:09
|
|
|
Also if we're working on the assumption that Kenny keeps the belt going into January (pretty safe assumption, as awesome as Ishii main eventing the Tokyo Dome would be) then I don't think they're going to do Okada/Omega V until at least like, Sakura Genesis at the absolute earliest.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 21, 2018 02:44
|
|
|
I like Tanahashi a lot so I want him to win the championship at the big wrestling event. I feel like I've achieved some sort of internet wrestling fan equilibrium where I'm back to unironically cheering for the smiling good guy with no caveats or asterisks.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 22, 2018 04:08
|
|
|
Next year's NJC should be renamed to Handsome Battle 2019 and only have 4 entrants, Tanahashi, SANADA, Ibushi, and Hangman.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 25, 2018 17:09
|
|
|
Openweight Tag titles would be solid. Despy and Kanemaru basically have no competition except R3K.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2018 02:58
|
|
|
However if you skip the press conferences you miss the sub-story of Juice trying as hard as he can to not curse like a sailor so he can get t-shirt deals with hot topic, which I found just as entertaining as his "can't use the left hand of god" story.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2018 16:29
|
|
|
Counterpoint: not every wrestler needs to be as good as Okada
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2018 23:24
|
|
|
SatoshiMiwa posted:Reminder that the 7th Road to destruction show is going to have Ishii/Ospreay vs the Golden Lovers and that's going to be an amazing tag Every time I see some kind of insane batshit tag team combination like Ishii and Ospreay I have a half second of "wait wh-" before I remember what a bloated hodgepodge group Chaos is.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 6, 2018 04:08
|
|
|
Rarity posted:even if they lost all of the Elite that still leaves over a dozen people worth caring about which is still way more than WWE has. This is a sad byproduct of WWE snapping up every notable independent talent and misusing them for years, people forget that on paper the WWE roster is insanely good. But everybody the fans like is immediately turned heel or booked to be a complete loser specifically spite everyone watching or because Roman needs a new punching bag for the next 2 PPVs.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 7, 2018 21:40
|
|
|
If they had actually committed to the "Jay tries to take over Chaos" angle as more than just him being a dick to Yoh and actually had a couple of them join his side I think a match vs Okada would be awesome. They could still do that going forward but as it stands right now that is kind of a big downgrade from 4 straight main events for the title. The Bullet Club Civil War might have made Gedo hesitant to have another faction split happen in such close proximity.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2018 20:25
|
|
|
So I don't think anybody mentioned it but NJPW put up the first of what I assume will be a series of documentaries on Shibata and the LA Dojo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25jrxw-E4yI
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2018 00:45
|
|
|
hahahaha oh my god I hope Tanahashi's Home For Wayward Midcarders really becomes a thing
|
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2018 03:59
|
|
|
New Japan on the success of their product: "Hey we think we put on a pretty good wrestling show and we're glad you guys enjoy it! Thanks for watching, make sure to catch the next one!" WWE on the success of their product: "LONGEST RUNNING WEEKLY EPISODIC TELEVISION SHOW 200 MILLION PAY PER VIEW BUYS 70 MILLION NETWORK SUBSCRIBERS #1 TRENDING ON 8430 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS JOHN CENA 74,394 MAKE-A-WISHES FULFILLED ROMAN REIGNS 6 BILLION DOLLARS IN T-SHIRT SALES DID YOU KNOW THE ROCK USED TO WORK FOR US"
|
|
#
¿
Sep 14, 2018 11:59
|
|
|
I love a good old fashioned "I don't like you, I don't respect you, and I want that belt/you can't have this belt" feud.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 19, 2018 17:48
|
|
|
Taichi joining LIJ is maybe one of the least appealing ideas I've ever heard about potential NJPW booking choices.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2018 17:33
|
|
|
I like the bit where Taichi fronts on someone Suzuki is facing real close in the corner and refuses to leave for like 30 seconds at the start of the match.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2018 20:26
|
|
|
Finally watched Kenny vs Ishii from the Hiroshima show. Kicking out at 1 half an hour into a match is the hypest poo poo. That match ruled. Anything from Beppu I should bother with, everyone seemed pretty down on it.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2018 06:44
|
|
|
So far from what I've seen a lot of Naito's best work is either when he's going tit-for-tat with someone who can match his max pace, as you said with guys like Omega, or doing his "frustrate them by forcing a stop-start match" schtick where he tranquilo poses one minute and then does his 5 moves in 10 seconds flurry the next. His "get owned for 20 minutes, hit a couple signatures and a finisher, win" thing is what made people hate him back in 2013, yeah? Stands to reason those still wouldn't work.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2018 14:30
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 21:39 |
|
|
Just finished watching Kobe. Good show, glad they finally pulled the trigger on a Chaos split rather than just having Knife Pervert cost them tag matches and yell at Rocky and Yoshi-Hashi for 4 more months.Hoss Corncave posted:So, we have Okada and presumably Yoshi on one side, and Switchblade on Gedo on the other. That leaves: Best Friends, Ospreay, Yano, and Rocky are probably sticking with Okada. Jado going with Gedo is a no-brainer and if R3K don't ditch Rocky to join up with Switchblade I will be legitimately shocked. Goto and Ishii I could see going either way but I bet Ishii will probably stick with Okada and Goto will either bail on both groups or go with Jay and Gedo.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2018 18:32
|
|