{"id":9613,"date":"2018-07-15T18:44:21","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T18:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=9613"},"modified":"2018-07-15T18:45:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T18:45:30","slug":"my-week-in-wrestling-6-week-ending-15th-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/15\/my-week-in-wrestling-6-week-ending-15th-july\/","title":{"rendered":"My Week in Wrestling #6 (week ending 15th July)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Grindle @MikeGrindle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of you may remember from last week\u2019s edition of \u2018my week in wrestling\u2019 I mentioned how Japanese promotion AJPW were having problems with their on demand service. Well this week they finally managed to fix the issue, which meant I was able to catch up to speed with their recent \u2018Dynamite Series\u2019 tour.<\/p>\n

The tour was bookended by two big singles matches for Triple crown champion Kento Miyahara, a title defence against rising Gaijin Dylan James and a non title match against the recently returned Jake Lee. Dylan James hadn\u2019t really been booked as a credible challenger to Miyahara leading up to his title shot, and the low Korakuen Hall attendance reflected this.<\/p>\n

Still the former Zero1 champion Dylan had a good showing against the champ in a losing effort, and he continues to show that he has the potential to be AJPW\u2019s next top monster Gaijin (a spot currently held by former triple crown champ Joe Doering).<\/p>\n

Jake Lee on the other hand is seemingly being positioned as Miyahara\u2019s top rival, recently forming his own faction and getting a fair share of hype. I really want to like Jake Lee and he has potential, but I often find myself underwhelmed by his performances. The problem with a Jake Lee match is often most apparent in the first 10 minutes; his almost goofy stance and posture, coupled with one dimensional selling and acting doesn\u2019t exactly scream championship material. Once the match enters its second half and he\u2019s settled down it\u2019s clear he has the fundamentals to get the job done, and such was the case in his Miyahara match (which Miyahara also won), but the star quality just isn\u2019t there right now. Thankfully All Japan\u2019s glacier speed pushes means he does have time to improve before it\u2019s sink or swim, and he\u2019s much better than he was a few years back, so we\u2019re see how things develop.<\/p>\n

Outside of that the only other wrestling I caught this week was the opening night of the G1 Climax. While it wasn\u2019t quite as good as last year\u2019s opening night of action, it was a decent show all in all and laid the groundwork for several storylines and narratives that will no doubt unravel over the course of the tournament and beyond.<\/p>\n

Laura Mauro @LauraNMauro<\/strong><\/p>\n

My week in wrestling has revolved almost exclusively around the first night of NJPW\u2019S G1 Climax. I\u2019m a big fan of Roppongi 3K as a team but have to admit that, based on their performance on Night One, a full-length Sho vs Yoh singles match has the potential to be pretty fantastic (and it\u2019s fun to see Yano getting to actually wrestle for a change). The clash between Suzuki-Gun and Kota Ibushi\/Yujiro Takahashi did a great job of building the anticipation for the upcoming Ibushi\/ZSJ B-block match (and the Michinoku Driver is a welcome addition to ZSJ\u2019s arsenal). As for the actual meat and bones of the tournament \u2013 YOSHI-HASHI surprised me by showing considerable fire against Makabe, and while I\u2019m not a great lover of DQ finishes, Page\/Fale at least laid the groundwork for the next chapter of the ongoing Bullet Club saga. (Though I must confess, I\u2019m a little burned out on Bullet Club right now\u2026) It was an interesting choice to have Suzuki fall to Tanahashi, but potentially an inspired one \u2013 Tanahashi does \u2018fighting back against the odd\u2019 so well it\u2019s hard not to find it compelling, and Suzuki \u2013 wounded, angry, and on the back foot \u2013 is now more dangerous than ever. As for Jay White \u2013 he\u2019s become such an effective heel that I find myself actively looking forward to his matches now.<\/p>\n

Outside of NJPW, NXT continues to be consistently enjoyable \u2013 I particularly enjoy watching Candice LeRae\u2019s transition from \u2018Johnny Gargano\u2019s Wife\u2019 (a role I hated seeing her in) and the acknowledgement of this as part of the storyline is a clever touch. I\u2019m not convinced by Vanessa Borne, but she looked better against Kairi Sane than she has previously, so there may be potential there yet. Meanwhile, Aleister Black\u2019s interaction with Gargano was pitch-perfect, showcasing the best of Black\u2019s character, and the Moustache Mountain\/Undisputed Era main event was a suitably epic coda to their recent rivalry \u2013 showcasing both A grade wrestling from all four competitors, and an in-ring story so compelling I found myself shouting at the TV. A potential Match Of The Year in my book.<\/p>\n

Ciaran James @TheCiaranJames<\/strong><\/p>\n

I again for the the second consecutive week decided to miss WWE programming. Which now feels like another blessing, to still keep track of what is going on I read up on reviews and listened to PWTorch\u2019s analysis of the content. The only brand I actively watch is NXT, which again is far superior to WWE\u2019s main roster offering. The match between Undisputed Era and Moustache Mountain has to be seen, without argument one of the best tag team matches in 2018.<\/p>\n

I was immensely looking forward to this years NJPW G1 event, which kicked of yesterday morning UK time. It was more a day for individual performances, Michael Elgin, Jay White, Okada and Bad Luck Fale all stood out and had some great showings. Jay White in particular has stepped up in the last week, showing great confidence and ring skill he looks ready to take Okada\u2019s throne…let\u2019s wait and see how their relationship takes shape following G1.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve yet to catch Day 2 but it\u2019s on my agenda for this evening (Extreme Rules you say!) From the reviews so far I\u2019m very much looking forward to Omega\/Naito and Sabre\/Ibushi.<\/p>\n

This week Kamikaze Pro started to make announcements for their next show \u2018Truth Or Consequences\u2019 next Sunday in Birmingham. I have to say how impressed I am with the company, I started attending their events a year ago and I\u2019ve yet to attend a bad one. From their own roster, guest wrestlers and academy graduates they can stake claim to being one for the best companies in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

One more thing I want to mention is the continued demise of WWE\u2019s on screen content, from what I read, listen to and catch glimpses of the product seems worse than ever. I really think it\u2019s time that WWE\u2019s hardcore fan base turn off from RAW & SDLive, in protest to the absolute abysmal booking and lack of direction WWE are currently on.<\/p>\n

Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

My week in wrestling has been all about projects. Whether they are projects I\u2019m undertaking, projects that I plan to do in the future or projects that\u2019ll find their way to PWJ in time, it has definitely been a week where I\u2019m starting to take stock of where my next steps lay.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m currently working on Volume Four of Tracking the Territories, with the main show this week that I saw from Mid-South where Magnum TA lost the North American Heavyweight to Ernie Ladd. With a champion who \u2013 as Bill Watts mentioned at the start of the contest \u2013 is one year older than the retired owner of the company, you had to question that decision. You also had to question the decision of Ricky Morton to demonstrate the straitjacket match the Rock and Roll Express wanted Jim Cornette to wear in an upcoming gimmick match against the Midnight Express by putting it on Robert Gibson. Unsurprisingly, the Midnights attacked the moment it was on and gave the champions a good kicking.<\/p>\n

As I plan to finish by Christmas, a project that has taken two years will leave a sizeable gap in terms of my watching and writing. Due to this, I have started to consider where I go next with my writing, especially as there are a) so many great eras of wrestling to talk about, and b) not a million great books about wrestling. Whilst these books are mainly reviews, the next book I plan to write will be more narrative in style as I look forward to the opportunity to do a deep dive into the footage and research from wrestling\u2019s great history.<\/p>\n

Another potential project, or at least content that will end up on the website, has begun to have the wheels set in motion as I\u2019ve spent the week e-mailing some of the brightest stars of the UK and European scene for interviews. Hopefully, the first interview that I\u2019ve sought will be out within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

I used to watch a lot of New Japan throughout the years, but having debated watching the G1 Climax in full \u2013 something I haven\u2019t done in a long time \u2013 I realised that a big chunk of it falls during a holiday I had already booked. Unfortunately, it is also a holiday that falls across Riptide Wrestling\u2019s PRIDE series of shows and wXw\u2019s Shortcut To The Top event, so I\u2019ll have a lot of wrestling to catch up on when I return to these shores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike Grindle @MikeGrindle Some of you may remember from last week\u2019s edition of \u2018my week in wrestling\u2019 I mentioned how Japanese promotion AJPW were having problems with their on demand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-editorials"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-2v3","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/build-a-wrestling-ring.jpg?fit=600%2C324&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9613"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9615,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613\/revisions\/9615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}