@twf87
New Japan revealed a number of big matches for Wrestle Kingdom this week: Tanahashi vs Omega for the IWGP heavyweight title, Naito vs Jericho for the IC title, KUSHIDA vs Ishimori for the jr title, Roppongi 3K vs Suzuki-gun vs LIJ for the jr tag titles, and Okada vs White. The IC title match and the jr title match were expected after Power Struggle, but the triple threat for the jr tag titles smacks of lazy booking to get everyone onto the card. I’d expect the NEVER title and US title to get announced soon, and the World Tag League will sort out the tag title match. Knowing the current booking trend there will also be a multi team match there too. At a recent Rev Pro show ZSJ challenged Ishii for the British Heavyweight title at Wrestle Kingdom, so presumably that will be added to the card.
The other big news coming out of New Japan this week was the report in Tokyo Sports that Naito was approached by the WWE after his Dominion match against Chris Jericho, and he turned them down. I’m not surprised given that Naito has stated that he was a fan of NJPW growing up and his dream was to wrestle there. It’s some good news for New Japan though, particularly given the uncertainty around the future of The Elite. Naito is the most popular wrestler in New Japan and losing him would be a huge blow to the company.
I also signed up to DDT Universe this week, something that I had been planning to do for a while. This is the promotion that had Kenny Omega wrestle against an inflatable doll, and their recent show, Peter Pan at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, was no less surreal. A real highlight was the match between Andreza Giant Panda and Super Sasadango Machine, which involved a giant panda fighting a robot giant panda and was as mad as it sounds.
My week in wrestling once again is a case of catching up on anything that I have missed. At the moment I am following the DDT promotion which, to be fair is somewhat of an entertaining ride from a promotion that has really got it together in the recent few months. I finally managed to watch the recent ‘Peter Pan’ show that due to the shenanigans of Danshoku Dino and his ‘NAKED’ moonsault during his unsuccessful KO-D Openweight title match against Daisuke Sasaki, saw the VOD airing delayed whilst DDT Universe tried to edit any misdemeanours! As the show is three weeks old I will not go into the card as I guess the show would be considered old news by now. However I have to recommend the Giant Panda, namely called ‘Andre’ the giant panda against Super Sasadango Machine which was utterly ridiculous and did not belong on a wrestling show other than this promotion and I loved it! Watching along with my son who howled with laughter was well worth the viewing!
The 25th of November will see DDT’s latest Korakuen show that has a stacked card which has been built following the recent General Election, a voting system that audience and DDT Universe subscribers can vote in to choose their favourite wrestler. This year saw Masahiro Takanashi being voted the most popular wrestler in DDT and his reward is a KO-D Openweight title shot at current champion Sasaki. With the title being hot potatoed in recent months, I would be very surprised to see a title change here, however one can never tell in this promotion at the moment! Another interesting match is the return of the Iron man heavymetalweight title that has been MIA in recent times. This is DDT’s version of the old WWF Hardcore title with the 24/7 rule that has seen a million different champions that include a ladder, a cat, a pork bun and the title belt itself to name a few. The current holder is Maki Ito who represents the Tokyo Joshi brand. She finished third in the General Election (MY VOTE!) and is a star herself whose gimmick is that she is so over that she has a big head and headbutts her opponents who fall at the slightest touch of her head. Here she faces the DDT Ace Konsuke Takashita for the title in what is considered somewhat of an incredible matchup. Ito is no stranger to fighting men as she had a memorable match at the TJP Korakuen show back in January. This show also includes the invading ‘Strong Hearts’ faction from Dragongate that has boosted the overall scene in DDT and the show looks to be great.
December will also see DDT’s own version of the G1 with a round robin tournament the D-King Grand Prix that runs from November 30th to December 30th. This looks a great run in for the rest of 2018 for DDT.
Saturday sees the next NXT Takeover show with WarGames. The inclusion of Pete Dunne raises my interest level to another height. Birmingham’s own Dunne is steadily rising into a NXT mainstay and teaming with Ricochet and the War Raiders to face the Undisputed Era looks mouthwatering whatever your opinion of the WarGames concept is. Velveteen Dream facing Ciampa for the title looks awesome too with the focus being on what the dream will be sporting on his tights! This following week will see me continue to bulk watch NXT episodes as I am so far being in preparation for Saturdays show
With so many weekly TV shows around at the moment it is difficult to keep up, the Rev Pro ‘World of pro wrestling’ is really a show worth watching. Broadcast on FreeSports HD the coverage is superb if you can get FreeSports that is! I am one show back, but watching the mixture of NJPW and Rev Pro wrestlers on a weekly show is really worth taking a look at.
@TheCiaranJames
Due to my absolute boredom of WWE, I’ve literally given up on the promotion, I decided again this week to rewatch some specific matches from NJPW Power Struggle. The Japanese promotion is everything WWE once was, and should be, the dedication and respect to the sport of professional wrestling is evident in all they do. The build for Wrestle Kingdom is here and the super show on January 4th should again fulfil expectations.
The other big news of this week was the story from Tokyo Sports, where they reported that Tetsuya Naito turned down a WWE contract in June this year. Naito should be seen as a measuring stick for doing what was right for his career. Surely the odds were against Naito if he signed for WWE at this stage, I mean for example look at what the company has done with once revered NJPW acts. Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Gallows/Anderson have been used sparingly or as jobbers. As much success as Styles has received you can argue that Vince and co still regard him to still be at the SDLive level.
NXT also continues to be one reason why I keep giving WWE £9.99 a month, the progressively booked, simple take to NXT is why it is a thriving success. The build to War Games has been done so well, like other watered down WWE gimmicks it doesn’t seem like a match thrown together just because it’s the name of the show. The card itself looks like another lineup of top matches.
I head into this week looking very much forward to Kamikaze Pro on Friday and Chaos taking place next Saturday. These are two very big shows with much on the line, and two shows which will no doubt shape 2019.
@RoxBlackburn
This week I watched half of Raw, enough to see AOP take the tag titles off Seth Rollins.
I attended the house show in Leeds where the rivalry between Rollins & Ambrose heated up. A short verbal back and forth culminated in a match. Not giving away any results as it’s likely this feud will continue to grow and at some point will involve the belt.
House shows are the best because everyone is so relaxed. Elias and Ruby Riott sang Wonderwall. Mojo Rawley fell out with a kid at ringside. Sasha Banks was actually smiling. Everyone was laughing and looked to be having an absolute blast.
Only downside, when I booked the tickets I didn’t realise Finn would be at the Smackdown taping filming Mixed Match Challenge so unfortunately I didn’t see him. Oh well, they’ll be back in May.
I was gutted that financial constraints meant I was unable to get to see Riptide this past week, but from the sound of it that show will definitely be worth checking out on VOD. It’ll be interesting to see what the promotion does going forward. They cancelled a couple of shows in order to offset mounting debts caused by the impact of the poor weather on some of the earlier shows in the year, yet they have also shown a willingness to push the boundaries for a relatively small promotion with their three show weekender at Pride. The style of filming and overall production is something that really stands out in what can sometimes feel like a pretty saturated environment, so it would be good to see more from them in 2019.
For an ongoing project, I’ve been spending time watching 70s Memphis this week, with my focus particularly on 1975. Jerry Lawler would actually be let go by the territory for five months due to his arrogance; a window of time in which Bill Dundee would make his debut. It is amazing to think that these two would then go on to pretty much be synonymous with the promotion, through the good times and the bad.
