IWGP Tag Team Championship
The Young bucks vs Roppongi 3K
IWGP US Championship
Kenny Omega vs Jay White
IWGP Tag Team Championship
The Young bucks vs Roppongi 3K
IWGP US Championship
Kenny Omega vs Jay White
I expect to see a clean sweep of title defences by the elite but maybe there will be a shock.
New champions Roppongi 3k
Matt Jackson sustained a back muscle injury at the start of the match was visibly in excruciating pain. respect to the guy to carry on Matt could barely stand during that match let alone wrestle.
Great selling by Matt butā¦ it was ridiculous that he never tagged in Nick at the end.
New US Champion Jay White WOW!!! that is a shocker White looked to have much better chemistry with Omega than Tanahashi.
Cody attacks Omega! The implosion of the bullet club has started
Kota Ibushi comes to save Kenny Omega
HUGE HUGE ENDING TO THIS SHOW!
Aww that was um how shall i put it.Too sweet
The Ibushi hug was incredibleā¦ but the match was not.
Jay White was the wrong guy to beat Omega clean. Heās frankly not readyā¦ then again Hangman Page is seemingly Whiteās next challenger so the US title just went from Co-Main eventing the Tokyo Dome to a low midcard belt.
I feel giving the title to White is just their way of getting behind the character. Iām hoping this is the beginning of Omegaās rise to the IWGP title.
The ending to this show was incredible.
White and Omega had a decent match, but nothing more. Heās good in midcard matches, but his (current) style doesnāt fit that of a main eventer.
Whiteās character is just not over, I mean he plays a serial killer, was introduced as a heel, but then turned against the Omega/Bullet Club, which made him a face, then became a member of CHAOS, so heās definitely a babyface, but then again again he said that heās going for Okadaās title eventually, so is he a tweener now?
The implosion of the Bullet Club came sooner than later. Would have liked to see more of a build to it, but itās okay. Iām curious whether Kenny will be on his own (with Kota) or be with The Elite (and Scurll) and where Kota and Kenny will go from here. Maybe theyāll hunt tag team gold, which would be pretty cool, and later they set him/them up for bigger things.
Does the rest of B.C. align with Cody? Fale, G.O.D., Tokyo Latina, Bone Soldierā¦?
Bad Luck Fale had the best tweet:
Said #OGBC was eating, asked what the hell happened with #TheElites
I like how they clearly are two groups in the faction.
I got a lot of mixed feelings about this angle but my god was it incredibly executed. Iām sad that BTE and their content may be very different now but at the same time, this sets up some potentially incredible matchups with Omega/Cody and GoldenLovers/YoungBucks
It didnāt cross my mind, until someone posted it on SquaredCircle. But man, I definitely need to see a Bucks vs Omega/Ibushi match. Who goes over in that match?
Jay White is the next big thing for New Japan
It didnāt cross my mind that they wanted to setup Golden Lovers vs. Young Bucks. I thought that Omega shoving Matt was just an accident, when he turned around and didnāt even know that he was there. Plus, they were pissed that of all the people in the ring, he shoved Matt, because he sold his back in the match prior so shoving him to the ground made both Bucks angry. But I guess that could be fixed, especially since they werenāt involved in the angle afterwards. I donāt know if there were any teases on BTE for a break-up.
I thought they were building to Page and Cody vs. Golden Lovers. Cody talked about Omega stealing Pageās moment and that they (Page & Cody) were best friends, so it would make much more sense to build to a match between those. The end goal is a singles match between Cody and Kenny, so a tag team match up against them instead of the Bucks would make much more sense.
In any case, Ibushi and Omega should win.
Iād like to know where Marty remains in all of this mess. Of all the people he was the rational one
What will probably happen is just that the Bucks and Omega will break off from the Bullet Club, leaving Cody in charge. I just get this feeling that with Marty he just gets completely broken off and plays that reluctant guy who doesnāt want to get in the middle of things.
Just for a second though let it sink in you may have a face stable of the Bucks, Omega and Ibushi, that is something to look forward to.
The stories running rampant at the end settting up so much.
There might be something to it.
After White beat Omega, Okada (who did commentary) seemed very surprised by his win. Now, it could have been just shot out of context, because it was just a split second and since my Japanese is non-existent I have no idea what he might have said, but letās assume he was indeed surprised. Then your scenario might be realistic.
I donāt think White will end Okadaās current run, since itās too legendary to be āwastedā on a guy still trying to figure out his gimmick. Therefore it should either be Naito or Omega (depending whether he stays or not) who dethrones him. But I could see in a couple of years Okada, once heās established as the undisputed #1 in NJPW, being beaten by some guy he doesnāt consider to be a threat, a guy like Sanada for example.
White already mentioned that he wants Okadaās gold eventually, so he should fall under that category, why else would he let him be part of CHAOS?
Incredible scenes. From Almas vs Gargano to this. I donāt smoke, but I needed a cigeratte after the Omega/White match and the post-match angle. Oh boy.
First, the match is so great! Omega went in with the goal of getting Jay White over and it fucking worked. Jay looked superb the entire time and there was even seeds of a double-turn with Omega battering him to a pulp and Jay refusing to quit. That moment where Jay just lifted his shoulder a few centimeters got me. Credit to the always great NJ production crew for showing a great angle afterwards. If you arenāt sold on Jay White after this, then tough tits, he is here to stay. Iām really looking forward to his feud with Hangman Page (who has really impressed me the past the past few weeks).
Then the angle afterwards. Holy fuck. Thereās so many different avenues to explore with the way they executed Omegaās apparent departure from The Bullet Club. Iāve not been the biggest Cody supporter, but his work in New Japan this past month has turned me around on him. Marty being the powerless friend, who just wants the whole gang to get along, is so natural and feels like what an actual person would do if this happened in their own friend group. Adam Page reluctantly helping Cody attack Omega, The Bucks leaving after Omega shoved an all ready injured Matt. Omegaās whole world crumbled around him in the space of 3 minutes. When Kota ran in for the save, I lost it. I had a big massive smile on my face and a manly happy tear formed in my eye when Kota and Omega buried the hatchet and hugged it out. I didnāt feel so stupid about the tear when I saw one of commentators wiping his eyes with a tissue and Okada struggling to compose himself.
Thatās how itās done. Absolutely perfect storytelling that rivals any television show or film. This is why we watch pro wrestling. Incredible. All the fucking stars.
Preach brother!!! I watched the shows in the following order: the first night in Sapporo, NXT, the second night in Sapporo, and to be honest they are more or less ranked in the same way (although I related more to the NXT show as a whole than to the second night in Sapporo). This is going to be an interesting summer for NJPW and a possibly intriguing summer for NXT.
PS: I have the sneaking suspicion that the Rumble will be utter shit compared to the above three shows.
I think youāre correct on that Rumble assumption! Iāll be watching it tomorrow night, so it leaves some breathing room for what has transpired the last 24 hours, so I may enjoy it more than those watching it live in a few hours.
Iāve also been vocal on the topic that one of New Japanās weaknesses are the run-of-the-mill, house show style tag matches that clog up these shows. I feel though that since the beginning of the year, theyāve made a massive improvement on them. I still skip the multi-mans that wonāt affect story lines, but Iāve watched and enjoyed all the tag matches that have implications laced into them, which is usually the last 3 or 4 matches before the main event.
Iām really enjoying the Yohsi-Hashi/Naito mini fued (which is amazing considering Yoshi is one of those guys who I donāt usually care for). Naito just being such an irritating dickhead that Yoshi canāt help but attack him is such a fun story. Their interactions post-match Night 1 for example; Yoshi attacking Naito in the crowd and Naito just walking ahead of him arrogantly like nothing happened in order to frustrate Yoshi more was so great!
The one thing Iām not liking is this build to Sanada/Okada. So you have Okada attack Sanada and humiliate on Night 1; fine. They must building up Sanadaās retaliation for night 2 in order to go into the title match looking strong. But then during the tag on Night 2, Sananda doesnāt get any measure of revenge at all (unless you call submitting Gedo ārevengeā, which is pretty weak in my opinion). Then after the match, Okada is holding back Yoshi and Sanada must be no more than arms reach from Okada, What does Sanada do to the guy who stuffed money down his mouth and choked him out the previous night? Nothing. Doesnāt even care or notice that Okada is there. Weak. Iām almost entirely checked out of that fued and the title match feels heatless.
Letās end on another positive; The Bucks and R3K put on another storming tag match! I think the Bucks have proven even their biggest doubters wrong now, and those that remain in the āthey cant work! spot monkeys! superkicks!ā camp are just being contrarian for the sake of it.