Japanese Wrestling General Discussion

Spens1 · Post #1 » by **Spens1** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:36 pm

We have a New Japan thread but there are other good companies out there also (All Japan, DDT, Dragon Gate, NOAH, Stardom etc) which deserve some love to. Not sure how popular this thread will be but this is for discussion of all other Japanese promotions that aren't New Japan.

Spens1 · Post #2 » by **Spens1** » Sun Nov 4, 2018 1:46 pm

Saw the tail end of the Dragon Gate show (i think it was Gate of Destiny). So the Twin Gate match (which was solid) and the Dream Gate match (which was fantastic).

I must say the video package was amazing, i didn't really know a lot of the history between Ben K and Yoshino going in but the promo had me pumped. It was an amazing match, would recommend.

After the show, PAC (formerly Neville in WWE) stared down Yoshino after his stablemate lost. Looks like that could be the title match (and Dragon Gate also i believe don't really have gaijin champions, at least not for the Dream Gate) so this should be interesting.

LLJ · Post #3 » by **LLJ** » Sun Nov 4, 2018 6:34 pm

I do watch DDT and saw some of NOAH, but I've fallen behind. I keep tabs on Stardom but I'm a little cool on their currently anointed "Ace" who I find a little green and bland (gee where have we seen this before).

Spens1 · Post #4 » by **Spens1** » Mon Nov 5, 2018 5:08 am

LLJ wrote:I do watch DDT and saw some of NOAH, but I've fallen behind. I keep tabs on Stardom but I'm a little cool on their currently anointed "Ace" who I find a little green and bland (gee where have we seen this before).

Who is the new ace of stardom. I would have thought Mayu would have gotten the gig?

I've seen a bit of NOAH as well (not a whole lot) but i thought Kenoh was fantastic and even Nakajima recently seems to be a lot better than he used to be (mainly in terms of charisma).

Can't say i've seen a whole lot of DDT other than clips here and there (and it looks absolutely hilarious).

LLJ · Post #5 » by **LLJ** » Mon Nov 5, 2018 2:33 pm

Spens1 wrote:
LLJ wrote:I do watch DDT and saw some of NOAH, but I've fallen behind. I keep tabs on Stardom but I'm a little cool on their currently anointed "Ace" who I find a little green and bland (gee where have we seen this before).

Who is the new ace of stardom. I would have thought Mayu would have gotten the gig?
).

Momo Watanabe. Rossy Ogawa flat out even said in a press conference she was their new Ace. She's 18 years old, a bit of a prodigy in the ring, though less exciting than Mayu in the ring (imo) and she still doesn't really have a defined character at the moment.

They are kind of using Mayu in the "late HBK" role right now. She's booked very strong overall, and fans see her as the real face of the company, but for some reason they aren't giving her any singles belts and she has lost all her title matches this year.

Spens1 · Post #6 » by **Spens1** » Mon Nov 5, 2018 2:45 pm

LLJ wrote:
Spens1 wrote:
LLJ wrote:I do watch DDT and saw some of NOAH, but I've fallen behind. I keep tabs on Stardom but I'm a little cool on their currently anointed "Ace" who I find a little green and bland (gee where have we seen this before).

Who is the new ace of stardom. I would have thought Mayu would have gotten the gig?
).

Momo Watanabe. Rossy Ogawa flat out even said in a press conference she was their new Ace. She's 18 years old, a bit of a prodigy in the ring, though less exciting than Mayu in the ring (imo) and she still doesn't really have a defined character at the moment.

They are kind of using Mayu in the "late HBK" role right now. She's booked very strong overall, and fans see her as the real face of the company, but for some reason they aren't giving her any singles belts and she has lost all her title matches this year.

Momo? Rossy been taking some good crack. I mean i like Momo and think she could be good, in like 3-4 years though. No way in hell should she be pushed now from what i've seen.

Either way they're stupid, Mayu is the ready made Ace now where they could have had her fill the role for 3-4 years whilst you bring through Momo as your ace and build up others (I heard Hana is getting a massive push as well at the moment towards the Red Belt).

LLJ · Post #7 » by **LLJ** » Mon Nov 5, 2018 3:28 pm

To me Momo is still currently a poor woman's Konami. She's a kick based wrestler but not quite as technical or crisp as Konami.

In Momo's defense, she has had some of the best matches in Stardom this year. But unlike the other undercard women, she gets 15-20 minutes a match to show off and they give her some very solid workers to make her look good. She's wrestled Io Shirai 2x (and was the one who sent Io packing to the WWE in kayfabe), Jungle Kyona, Hazuki, Mayu Iwatani...all some of the best workers in the company currently and she's gone over ALL of them.

Hana is getting a push but given she is still a freelancer, she is not winning anything anytime soon probably. I think the plan down the line is to have Momo beat Kagetsu for the red belt, once they are satisfied that Momo's current white belt reign has been complete.

Rossy has never seemed all-in on Mayu. Even when Mayu finally toppled Io, when Mayu got injured that was pretty much it for her I guess. Maybe it's Mayu's non-traditional look or her dorkiness or whatever, but that seems all pretty weak arguments against her since she's very over with Stardom fans, she's good on the mic, and she's probably their best worker.

But here's how you know Momo is getting the Roman treatment: she has the white belt, which is the 2ndary belt in the company, yet she consistently main events over the red belt. Before a recent show they had a poll asking which match fans wanted to see main event: Kagetsu vs Hana for the red belt or Momo vs Mayu for the white belt. Kagetsu vs Hana won the poll, yet they still did Momo vs Mayu as the main event lol. (Momo beat Mayu, of course)

Spens1 · Post #8 » by **Spens1** » Wed Nov 7, 2018 2:47 am

LLJ wrote:To me Momo is still currently a poor woman's Konami. She's a kick based wrestler but not quite as technical or crisp as Konami.

In Momo's defense, she has had some of the best matches in Stardom this year. But unlike the other undercard women, she gets 15-20 minutes a match to show off and they give her some very solid workers to make her look good. She's wrestled Io Shirai 2x (and was the one who sent Io packing to the WWE in kayfabe), Jungle Kyona, Hazuki, Mayu Iwatani...all some of the best workers in the company currently and she's gone over ALL of them.

Hana is getting a push but given she is still a freelancer, she is not winning anything anytime soon probably. I think the plan down the line is to have Momo beat Kagetsu for the red belt, once they are satisfied that Momo's current white belt reign has been complete.

Rossy has never seemed all-in on Mayu. Even when Mayu finally toppled Io, when Mayu got injured that was pretty much it for her I guess. Maybe it's Mayu's non-traditional look or her dorkiness or whatever, but that seems all pretty weak arguments against her since she's very over with Stardom fans, she's good on the mic, and she's probably their best worker.

But here's how you know Momo is getting the Roman treatment: she has the white belt, which is the 2ndary belt in the company, yet she consistently main events over the red belt. Before a recent show they had a poll asking which match fans wanted to see main event: Kagetsu vs Hana for the red belt or Momo vs Mayu for the white belt. Kagetsu vs Hana won the poll, yet they still did Momo vs Mayu as the main event lol. (Momo beat Mayu, of course)

Momo went over Kyona and Mayu? That surely won't end well for the poor girl. someone that raw going over two of the most popular wrestlers surely will get her some backlash, even in Japan and especially if she hasn't earned it.

To be honest i've never been a huge fan of Rosey's booking. I think he has good storylines and decisions here and there but more often then not squanders things, pushes the wrong people and ends up killing momentum of multiple people in the process (Toni Storm's reign with the red belt was a disaster).

LLJ · Post #9 » by **LLJ** » Wed Nov 7, 2018 4:24 pm

Spens1 wrote:
Momo went over Kyona and Mayu? That surely won't end well for the poor girl. someone that raw going over two of the most popular wrestlers surely will get her some backlash, even in Japan and especially if she hasn't earned it.

To be honest i've never been a huge fan of Rosey's booking. I think he has good storylines and decisions here and there but more often then not squanders things, pushes the wrong people and ends up killing momentum of multiple people in the process (Toni Storm's reign with the red belt was a disaster).

She beat Io Shirai, Kyona, Hazuki, Mayu during this title reign. The crowds haven't turned on her but they are lukewarm on her thus far.

They haven't done Konami vs Momo yet, I don't think. They may be preserving Konami to take the white belt down the line when they move Momo on to the red belt.

Spens1 · Post #10 » by **Spens1** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 11:16 pm

LLJ wrote:
Spens1 wrote:
Momo went over Kyona and Mayu? That surely won't end well for the poor girl. someone that raw going over two of the most popular wrestlers surely will get her some backlash, even in Japan and especially if she hasn't earned it.

To be honest i've never been a huge fan of Rosey's booking. I think he has good storylines and decisions here and there but more often then not squanders things, pushes the wrong people and ends up killing momentum of multiple people in the process (Toni Storm's reign with the red belt was a disaster).

She beat Io Shirai, Kyona, Hazuki, Mayu during this title reign. The crowds haven't turned on her but they are lukewarm on her thus far.

They haven't done Konami vs Momo yet, I don't think. They may be preserving Konami to take the white belt down the line when they move Momo on to the red belt.

She beat all of them, also i'm amazed the disrespect Kyona gets from them given how over she is.

Spens1 · Post #11 » by **Spens1** » Wed Dec 5, 2018 7:16 am

Spoiler:

Spens1 · Post #12 » by **Spens1** » Mon Feb 11, 2019 1:59 pm

Going to bump this thread, PAC vs Kzy for the Dream Gate Title has to be genuinely, MOTY from any promotion anywhere in the world, it was absolutely bonkers, i would not be shocked if Kzy does win the title at Kobe World later this year.

Shun Skywalker is challenging (he'll lose but its good to see him being built up).

Spens1 · Post #13 » by **Spens1** » Wed Mar 6, 2019 7:30 am

That is the new NOAH logo according to their website, so it looks like its going to be red (cause its not like All Japan and New Japan don't use red heavily already). I liked the Green colour, besides Misawa, it was a unique colour, every other promotion uses red.

Spens1 · Post #14 » by **Spens1** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:13 pm

Well then, I didn't think we'd see this so soon. Kento Miyahara (the Champion and current ace of All Japan as well as generally being one of the best in the world) vs Naoya Nomura.

Also Champions Carnival next month. There are representatives from Big Japan, Dragon Gate and K-Dojo.

This should be an interesting one to be honest. Doering, Zeus, Suwama, Lee or even Miyahara himself all are in the running i'd say (Maybe Hashimoto)

In NOAH, Kaito Kiyomiya retained against Marifuji (have to watch the match later but apparently it was good). Kiyomiya called out Kenoh, but not for a title shot, but to team with him in the Global Tag League. Kenoh asked the fans where they want to go and they said Budokan. Building around Kiyomiya and Kenoh seems to be a solid foundation to say the least (with those two and Nakajima, that is a really REALLY solid three).

All Japan also could have a really solid core themselves (Miyahara, Lee, Nomura, Doering and then maybe Hachimoto if they bring him in, they should make a play for Sekimoto, actually every half decent sized company should).

Spens1 · Post #15 » by **Spens1** » Sat Mar 23, 2019 12:06 am

Some news i guess out of Wrestle-1. Jiro Kuroshio (one of the most insanely popular guys in Japan atm, i think he came 5th in the popularity polling there, basically only behind New Japan's big 4) is leaving the promotion in what will be a massive blow as he's by far the most over guy in the promotion and potential future face of the company.

Basically he is a comedy guy for the most part and his entrance is a big part of his shtick (where he goes into the crowd and interacts with the fans (with an entrance that can get as long as the undertakers).

He said he plans on going to the biggest company in America (so obviously one would think WWE), however, he apparently started following a bunch of AEW stuff so who knows. The last few wrestlers to have said that have ended up in New Japan (Sanada and Ishimori i believe), whilst New Japan certainly has comedy guys and Kuroshio would be a huge asset to the company given how over he is and could get major heat on some of the heels, i almost think he'd be better of going to DDT (an actual comedy promotion) or Dragon Gate (which is full of smaller guys and also has a lot of comical elements).

Either way, it is a big blow to Wrestle 1, who also just lost Hana Kimura (most likely to stardom, Rossy is going to put the rocket on her in that case) who was their most over woman and also one of the more over people there. They have a decent roster of young talent but they're really going to have to rely on them heavily.

Spens1 · Post #16 » by **Spens1** » Fri Mar 29, 2019 12:47 pm

Watch on YouTube

;feature=youtu.be

Not sure how long it will stay up but NOAH have been doing some shows and live streaming it on youtube so good strategy on their behalf there. This particular show is their show at Korakuen tonight.

The main event, damn i love Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh, but Nakajima, he's so damn good and both of their kicks are out of this world (the thud really echos), his gimmick is some mix of Hiromu Takahashi and Minoru Suzuki and its just funny as hell seeing him taunt people and then seeing him being an absolute sadist as well. Speaking of which, he bullied poor Kaito like he was still a young boy, the abuse he took from Nakajima and Shiozaki was unreal, and whilst he tried he didn't get very far.

The Yo-Hey and Hayata dynamic was also interesting given they used to team together for a fair while.

Nakajima will probably challenge for the belt and good chance he could win, he punted his head into the stands pretty much (Kaito's selling was really good or he legit was knocked out for 5 minutes).

The match itself was very solid and the show itself wasn't that bad if you don't mind tag team matches exclusively (this card was full of them).

Noah's also doing a new tornuament called N1 (Number 1 Pro Wrestling League), sort of imitating the G1 it would seem, no real changes other than its now going to run from mid-late august to mid-late september with the winner becoming the #1 contender for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. It sounds like Global League will still be a thing which is interesting given this will be the 5th tornuament they run.

Spens1 · Post #17 » by **Spens1** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 1:42 pm

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Elgin is returning to Japan and its with two dates for Big Japan, including a singles match with Daisuke Sekimoto

My god, this should be next tier. That level of hoss is amazing. Sekimoto being the Big Japan ace i expect to win here but what a match it should be.

I think he should go to All Japan tbh, he'd be a good fit there (Doering is the only other really good gaijin there atm), Kings road would suit him, a core of Miyahara, Zeus, Lee, Nomura and Elgin would be amazing going forward.

He did tweet out some stuff regarding Big Japan and All Japan just after he left new japan and Big Japan and All Japan are in a partnership so i could totally see Elgin doing both + Impact. It would certainly put a fair bit of foreign eyes onto All Japans stuff (and honestly, All Japan deserves eyes on them cause its good stuff and their home grown contingent, in particular, Miyahara, Lee and Nomura all being amazing pieces for the present and future).

Spens1 · Post #18 » by **Spens1** » Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:17 am

Dragon Gate, for their Kobe World Show on the 21st is having english commentary and are going to have english commentary going forward. Larry Dallas and Rich Bocchini are going to be in the booth calling the show (i have no idea who they are but i heard they have ties to DGUSA so i'd imagine they are knowledgable on the product)

Honestly, i'm so glad, because Dragon Gate is really REALLY enjoyable for the most part (great factional warfare and its a good balance of comedy and serious wrestling and i'm a sucker for the lucharesu style in general).

Read on Twitter

Hopefully they can use PAC in a similar way to what New Japan did with Styles and Omega and use it to push Dragon Gate to the west.

Spens1 · Post #19 » by **Spens1** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 2:13 pm

Quick reminder, Dragon Gate's biggest show of the year, Kobe World is on tomorrow:

(11pm Pacific, 2am Eastern, 6am GMT, 3pm Japan, 4pm Eastern Australia)

Main event with PAC vs former stablemate Ben-K (who, i believe left R.E.D, the main heel faction of Dragon Gate).

Spens1 · Post #20 » by **Spens1** » Sun Aug 11, 2019 5:45 am

Forgot to mention, Kaito vs Katsuo Nakajima. They have this young boy beating Nakajima (ok, Kaito isn't a young boy anymore but still), how could they do that to my boy, i thought for sure given how damn good he has been he'd be the one to win the title. That could only mean Kenoh is winning the GHC title (if they put it back on Suigara after having Nakajima lose i swear......).

Daisuke Sekimoto is appearing at PWG's BOLA this year (he's the best independent talent there is, selfishly i'd love to see him in new japan but honestly, i'm glad he's doing what he is in Big Japan and hope he can really continue the good times there).

Also Global League (i ain't calling it N1, corny as hell):

Block A:
- Naomichi Marufuji
- Takashi Sugiura
- Go Shiozaki
- Masa Kitamiya
- Alex Hammerstone (MLW)

Block B:
- Katsuhiko Nakajima
- Shuhei Taniguchi
- Kenoh
- Masaaki Mochizuki (Dragon Gate)
- El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

yep, Dr Wagner's son is in this. Hammerstone from MLW is in this and Mochizuki from Dragon Gate also will be in here.

I think it sets up nicely for Kenoh to be honest, wouldn't be shocked if it comes down to him and Nakajima (which in theory would be one of the biggest matches they can do without including Marufuji, Shiozaki or Suguira). Kitamiya hopefully has a decent tornuament.