New Japan/Puroresu Thread

[Bandit]

Chris Jericho in New Japan has every smart mark like

[Dr. Zoidberg]

It should be awesome.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

Jim Ross signed a new deal with AXS to commentate on NJPW for another year.

[Bandit]

Jericho/Omega was fucking great. I won't spoil it since most will watch it, but it's amazing Jericho can still work at that level this late into his career. And this was Omega's WWE audition tape since you know HHH was watching. It was closer to a Wrestlemania classic main event than the New Japan style. So if WWE sees this and still thinks Omega wouldn't be much more than Nakamura they'd be insane. If this closed a Mania people would talk about it for years, but it won't be the best Omega match this year.

[Big Boss Man]

Sounds like a great match. Would like to check it out but don't have NJPW World.

[Bandit]

It'll be taken down soon, so watch it now.

English commentary

[Dr. Zoidberg]

It was really good. Love Jericho's middle aged 90s hair. And he got a bloody bum. Hard way!

[Bandit]

Apparently Jericho dedicated this match to Eddy Guerrero and........Chris Benoit.

I get a couple smartass remarks here for an Instagram post that I put up of this great fan art that somebody drew of me with kind of the spirits of Eddie and Benoit behind me and I said I dedicate the match to those guys.

Yeah, I know, what Chris did. I think about it every single day. I was involved more than any one of you were. So trust me, I understand the horrible, horrible events that took place. I’ll never forgive it, I’ll never understand it - but I have my reasons for doing what I’m doing, so don’t anybody tell me, don’t anybody make smartass remarks about what I say and what I do...

Nobody tells me what to do, I have my reasons, and I think about the loss of Nancy Benoit and Daniel Benoit every single day. So that’s enough of that, I’ll never talk about it again.

Yeah, since he's close with Nancy's sister I think he should get a pass, because he wouldn't have done it if it would hurt her family.

But it reminds me of the GCW show I went to that I talked about this summer with Teddy Hart vs Joey Janela. After the match Teddy is giving a really good promo everybody was moved by talking about his IRL issues. And he says "But I have some wrestling angels up there in heaven watching over me." He goes on the mention the deceased Harts, Pillman, Bulldog, etc. And then says Chris Benoit and the place went from being touched to not knowing how to react. It was so awkward.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Here's the video:

[Big Boss Man]

Edit: Forgot to mention thanks for the video links Bandit

Awesome match, definitely 5 stars. What Chris Benoit can't ever be condoned at all, but he was Y2Js buddy so he's got his back. That loyalty, blind loyalty sure is admirable. Apart from the moments of horror and madness Benoit was known as a mild mannered type of guy. I don't buy the he was possessed BS he was going mad because the CTE was destroying his brain from the inside out. Again if it were a mark defending Chris Benoit I'd be like your a sick MFer but with Chris Jericho he was good buddies with him and knew the real Benoit and what he was capable of. No one ever had him down as a cold blooded double murderer. In fact the complete opposite. What he done was horrific you can never morally give me a free pass, CTE or not. I could never imagine the mind state he must have been, frenzied, crazied, hyper emotional but never calculated, calm, planned. It's still difficult to comprehend all these years since. I think Y2J has every right to defend his friend. Do I agree with it? No, but he has the right. He knew Chris Benoit more so than any mark making comments on Instagram. I don't want to speculate what went down but I'd imagine the severity of what he did hit Benoit like a ton of bricks and he couldn't bear it so he took the only solution he knew was the easiest way out. Should he have let the cops get him and let justice take place, I honestly don't know. Its real difficult to comprehend what he did and make sense of it. I think Jericho heart is in the right place and he's not intentionally heeling it up. I think he's friends with Benoit son from his first marriage so he's close to the family. It's very sad two moments of horrific madness has made Chris Benoit persona non grata, he sadly unfortunately deserves the vilification though. I think the smoke and mirror, rose tinted view of Benoit is what Y2J is holding onto. I imagine anyone who's friend/family is a murder etc does the same. They hold onto the good times and think it's not the same person they knew and loved.

[Bandit]

Watch Okada and Naito as that was also great. And it must be said Don Callis is the best color commentator working today. Way better than Graves.

[Big Boss Man]

Thanks. Yea forgot to mention about Don Callis. Always liked Don since his ECW days. Kevin Kelly is underrated too. The difference between NJPW and WWE from the Alpha/Omega match alone is night and day. The match has a ton of drama, great build up and you can buy it as a legit contest. WWE is so stale and scripted in comparison. I'd rather Kenny stay in Japan, same with Jericho. I assume Finn, the Good brothers, AJ and Nak wish they were back there too. If I were Punk I'd put the kibosh on the MMA stuff and go to New Japan. He'd be huge there and he could use that as a FU to WWE and main event shows like WrestleKingdom. Because in the UFC he's just putting himself at risk of CTE and injuries. Train in MMA still but incorporate that into his wrestling repertoire.

[Bandit]

Yeah, WWE has some good matches but they've got a style every one has to follow. I'd rather watch NJ, RevPro, CZW, and I started watching MCW from Australia that's pretty good and original. ROH has some good matches but the weekly show is kinda boring besides Cody and Briscoes promos. I DVR it and watch every other week now. And check out any match with Matt Riddle, Joey Janela, Teddy Hart, Zack Sabre Jr., Keith Lee and Will Ospreay, as they're doing the best indie stuff right now.

[Big Boss Man]

Thanks for the recommendations. When we had the wrestling channel for a few years here I watched NJ, classic NJ, CZW, ROH, AAA a little, World of Sport, TNA and Classic Memphis. This would have been like a 04 to about 07 period I think. Haven't watched NXT for a while so might get back in that. I usually watch Main Event and Raw Highlights which is just 45 minutes of the better stuff. I think their programming is too much and it lacks the must see vibe it used to have back in the day. I was watching old TNTs and SNMEs and they are still worth checking out. Might give the early Rumbles a watch again too. As for newer stuff I tried to get into ICW out of Scotland but it's not really on my radar now. New Japan I would most likely keep up with and CZW and ROH. Last CZW I watched must have been a COD from years back. ROH was with Homicide, The Embassy, Austin Aries, American Dragon, Joe et al. I think I've seen most of the early ROH shows as they were on the wrestling channel.

[Bandit]

New Year's Dash angles:

-They're teasing Cody turning on Bullet Club since he has issues with Kenny Omega. I doubt it will happen. Cody in BC is too hot of an angle in ROH. It will probably be like the angle where Scott Hall teased turning babyface against Hogan in the nWo then didn't.

-Omega asked Jay White to join Bullet Club. He took a shirt but then jumped Omega and said he doesn't want to join a club he just wants the US title.

-During Naito's post match promo Jericho came out and jumped him. So they'll run Jericho vs Naito at Dominion this summer. That will be incredible.

-And it looks like Sanada will be feuding with Okada next since Naito will be busy with Jericho. I guess this means Naito won't get another match with him until next WK unless it's a shorter G1 tournament match.

[Bandit]