#and after ROH tag team

[nerobearo]

NOOOOOOOO MY BROMANCE

[likesummerrainn]

ROH Death Before Dishonor | 07.26.24

[eldesperadont]

hello and welcome to the start of my rough Despe/Hiromu recap essay! I'll go over their history in relation to one another. A big reason for this recap is to explain my fascination with the 10+ year long history of these characters, and why I, a queer person, is so drawn to it — this post will include links, spoilers and cover the first 9 years of their careers. If you have corrections or additional infos pls DM me!!

egg, (2010-2012)

Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado started their pro wrestling training around the same time in NJPWs dojo – both passing NJPW's entry exam in 2009 and training for roughly a year till they officially debuted in 2010.

Desperado in March under his real name, Mikami Kyōsuke, and Hiromu later in August. And here we already have some key moments:

Takahashi's professional debut was a singles match against Mikami. (its on YouTube btw)

Despe's first ever singles victory was defeating Hiromu in said debut match.

Mikami is older and ahead of Takahashi, going on to have an impressive winning record over Hiromu, who only managed to get a sole victory over Despe during their time together as students. (two if you count in a dark match)

Hiromu genuinely struggled a lot as a Young Lion (dojo trainee), having been close to giving up on wrestling if it weren’t for main roster wrestler Tetsuya Naito, who took him under his wing.

So yeah starting off Despe had the upper hand.

This part of their career is the hardest to research given that 1.) the language barrier was way higher a decade ago, 2.) there straight up is barely any footage. So instead, I want to explain the emotional importance of the NJPW dojo background:

The time as Young Lions in NJPW is kayfabe canon. These guys are rivals but also teammates, live and train together, fight with/and each other, cheer each other on in their bouts with the seniors, carry each other to the back when they once again got beaten – these guys are close, they have to, it's them against the world.

And that is the case for pretty much all the homegrown NJPW talent. This system provides feuds with an emotional core; why would someone who was that close be so cruel to each other now? What turns brothers, best friends, partners into enemies? So much room for juicy rivalries with a real weight behind it, after all we watched these guys grow and learn, saw their highs and lows.

Also on a less serious note it's simply amusing to watch old stuff and see two guys that will be bitter rivals, who’s matches will get praise and awards - tag together in mostly fruitless efforts, stumble behind the curtain together and be so clueless about all the greatness they’ll achieve one day thanks to each others hard work.

Young Lions my beloved <3

oceans apart, (2012-2016)

As is custom with most Young Lions both went on excursion: Mikami graduating first, in 2012, and working in Mexico for a year as "Namajague" - Hiromu leaving Japan the year Desperado debuts on the New Japan main roster, in 2014, touring in Mexico and the US as "Kamaitachi" till August 2016.

Both worked in CMLL as heels, as is custom for foreign trainees, starting as masked wrestlers, loosing them in a stipulation match, and also getting their hair shaved at some point.

Here you have unmasked Namajague, who went on to rock a half facepaint look and had half of his hair bleached (in 2014, a trendsetter)

and here you got a young unmasked Kamaitachi (yes he was in a team with Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in RoH)

These are the years Mikami and Hiromu don’t interact in canon, but in an 2020 interview Desperado confessed that he kept an eye on Takahashi during the latter's excursion, cause of his success in Middle/North America and spectacular matches with Dragon Lee.

Love confessions, (May - June 2018)

Their rivalry was fully rekindled in the “Best of the Super Juniors 25” tournament, so let’s set the scene:

Takahashi’s successful: having won the most important championship for their weight division in his first year on the main roster. He’s beloved by fans and critics and a valuable member of his mentor's faction, Los Ingobernables de Japon.

El Desperado is struggling: unsuccessfully having fought for singles titles several times in the last couple of years. His only championship victories so far having been in the tag division, after joining Suzuki-gun, a shady group that tolerates him, but not without hurdles. The masked man debuted in 2013 as a cheerful honourable guy, but by now he was just a bitter, sinister bastard.

They will have their first singles meeting in 6 years, and their first on the main roster.

They are winking and nodding towards the fact that Desperado already has several wins over the younger guy, but do not address who Despy really is - officially Mikami Kyōsuke hasn’t wrestled in New Japan ever since he left for Mexico.

Leading up to the BOSJ Hiromu made a booklet in which he describes all of his possible opponents, Desperado's page is kept blank at first, but later Takahashi adds “I know who you are, and I hate you.”

Despy wants to impress Hiromu. He was one half of the IWGP Jr. Tag champs at that point and took both belts with him to the ring - he's also wearing a special mask, that is mostly white, a colour Japanese wrestlers tend to only wear on special occasions/in big matches.

A lot has changed since they last fought 1 on 1 - except one thing: Hiromu cannot beat Desperado.

Both didn’t shy away from using dirty tricks, but in the end Despy has the upper hand once more. As his opponent lays defeated in the ring the masked menace has this to say:

(postmatch promo) (the match)

Hiromu will go on to win the tournament and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt from Will Ospreay at the 2018 Dominion show, but the loss to his fellow former Young Lion means that the latter has the right to challenge him, and so he does, in this now infamous promo.

please watch the whole thing: link

(funfact, this happened the same night Kenny won the IWGP Heavyweight Title with Ibushi in his corner, the gays were EATING that day, in pride month no less)

Leading up to their confrontation Hiromu would post a video on his twitter playing the 'love me/not' flower game, landing on "he loves me" - which promptly makes him eat the flower in frustration

On the day of their match, June 18 2018, he brings Desperado a present:

A bouquet in a guitar case, a cruel call back to Desperados main roster debut back in early 2014: after Kota Ibushi won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt at Wrestle Kingdom 8 a masked stranger approached the ring with a guitar case, revealing it to carry a bouquet of black roses for the freshly crowned champ (who was a lil confused by the whole situation)

It was the start of Despes unsuccessful run as a face and partnership with Ibushi (which you can read as the first man he tried to pursue).

The masked lad wasn't that fond of Hiromu bringing back old memories.

Their match is an all out war, both using underhanded tactics to keep the other one down, including Hiromu unmasking Despy, who shockingly doesn’t care at all - which is a huge deal, I'm going to quote Japanese NJPW commentator Milano here because he said it best:

“To a masked wrestler that’s your identity. It’s everything. But Desperado has it ripped off and then just puts it on like he was fixing his necktie. He was saying that this very essence of himself wasn’t as important as Hiromu or the belt." (translation by Chris Charlton)

But in the end Hiromu is victorious, finally ending his losing streak. After the match he has some interesting things to say:

(postmatch promo) (the match)

Life’s a b*tch. (mid 2018 - late 2019)

Hiromu's next title defence is in August 2018 in the USA against Dragon Lee, a match I still haven't been able to watch and probably never will. Due to a messed up move from his opponent, Hiromu lands hard on his neck, breaking it in the process. He somehow managed to finish the match but collapsed backstage, immediately being rushed to a hospital.

In the documentary RED HEADED REVIVAL Hiromu shared that he knew right away that something was wrong – he saw his life flash before his eyes and feared that this is the end of his career, but he decided against stopping the fight:

It took Hiromu over a year to fully recover.

That wasn't the only unfortunate incident though: in spring of 2019 Desperado broke his jaw in a deathmatch against his idol Jun Kasai. The timing couldn't have been worse: the highly anticipated BOSJ Tournament for that year being just about to start. Despe had to withdraw mere days before its opening.

Neither of them would make a return till late 2019. And their next actual confrontation wouldn’t be till 2020.

It was a sad time to be a fan of either - with Hiromu we didn't know till his return if he will even be able to wrestle again. And with Despy we had to witness fans being unnecessarily rude to him, ridiculing him about doing a deathmatch in the first place, eventho the injury could have occurred in any type of match. (if I remember correctly, Desperado even deleted his twitter due to the fan backlash)

BUT I'm gonna end this post on a good note:

1.) Despy's return marked the start of a new era for him:

He wasn't gonna apologise, he broke his jaw, so what? Shit happens. He wasn't going to pretend that the situation didn't happen either tho, hell - Despe returned in a shirt covered in blood spots, making direct references to the match he got injured in. (sth he talked about in this video) And his mask? Dons a fractured jawbone now, the cracks filled in with gold - reminiscent of kintsugi, a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The philosophy behind the technique is to recognize the history of the object and to visibly incorporate the repair into the new piece instead of disguising it.

2.) Hiromu wasn't giving up on his way of life either, making a spectacular return - the best was yet to come. Individually and together/against each other.

Stay tuned for the next part, that will absolutely also take me ages to finally put out, I'm apologising in advance,, anyways thx bye!! <3 👹🐱

[galaxy-brain-rasslin]

"Helpful" Rundown of AEW Wrestlers, Part 1

Like the title says, this will be a summary/rundown for various wrestlers in AEW for people who would like the information.

Swerve Strickland

1x AEW World Champion (current as of the time of this writing), 1x AEW Tag Team Champion (with Keith Lee)

The coolest wrestler not named "Scott Hall"

Genuinely great in the ring

Amoral opportunistic asshole

Makes all of his feuds personal to get in his opponent's head

Can, will, and has threatened a child with violence

Will betray people to further his own success

Canonically immune to pain from staple guns

Canonically spent two weeks inside a casket following the first All In from London in 2023.

"Timeless" Toni Storm

3x AEW Women's Champion (current as of this writing)

Tied with Hikaru Shida as 3x champs

Arguably the most over woman on the entire roster

Previously part of The Outcasts with Saraya (fka Paige) and Ruby Soho (fka Ruby Roit[t]) where she was more in line with her previous Stardom/WWE presentation

Had an episode after losing the belt to Shida, resulting in her becoming an unhinged and paranoid 1950s/Golden Age of Hollywood, Sunset Blvd-esque star.

As part of the change, Toni spoke with a different accent, changed her hair, makeup, and wardrobe--as well as her entrance music-- to look and feel more akin to the Golden Age, and will consistently appear only in black and white (outside of matches and other limited moments)

Currently in the middle of another episode following a betrayal by a former friend.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman

1x AEW World Champion, 1x ROH Tag Team Champion (with Adam Cole), 1x AEW International American Champion (current as of this writing)

A genuine generational talent

Better than you (and you know it)

Manages to capture the same sort of energy as 1980s-1990s/Golden Age WWF heels and babyfaces

A loud piece of shit. One of the worst people.

Openly deals with various insecurities that he can and will weaponize in feuds in order to get his opponents to lower their guard

Is a heel basically as a defense mechanism for those insecurities as well

Has canonically had two friends in AEW. Betrayed the first friend, and was betrayed by the second.

Rarely breaks character

Mercedes Mone

1x AEW TBS Champion (current as of this writing), 1x NPJW STRONG Women's Champion (current as of this writing)

FKA Sasha Banks in WWE

Basically what would happen if that obnoxiously pretty and arrogant girl you went to high school with was also wildly successful and passive-aggressively rubbed it in your face at every opportunity

Genuinely loves pro wrestling, openly stated that Eddie Guerrero was one of her favorite wrestlers

Generally very good in the ring. Will let herself be fucking ragdolled by people to help sell a move

Doesn't have the best finisher or theme music.

Technically debuted as a babyface, but the character is a natural heel and she embraced that quickly.

[droptoeholdyourhorses]

The Best Friends Deserve Bester

Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta have been teaming together as The Best Friends since August 2013. In January 2014, they won PWG's Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, becoming number one contenders to the PWG World Tag Team Championship. They lost their subsequent challenge against The Young Bucks at Mystery Vortex II. The only other time Chuck and Trent have competed for those titles was at 2019's Hand of Doom where they lost to The Rascalz. What that means is that out of seven teams who won the PWG DDT4 between 2007 and 2015, The Best Friends are the only ones to have never held the PWG World Tag Team Championship.

Alright, well maybe they had better luck in NJPW. Trent's a four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Rocky Romero. If Roppongi Vice can succeed, then I'm sure The Best Friends can... come fourth in the B Block in the 2017 World Tag League and finish eighth overall in the 2018 League.

No, that make sense. Best Friends as a team have always been predominantly American based. What about their ROH run in 2017? I know they had a few title matches there.

Loss vs. The Young Bucks in ROH World Tag Team Championship tornado three way match at Best in the World 2017 (also featured War Machine)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks in ROH Six Man Tag Team Championship match at Global Wars 2017 Day 3 (teamed with Flip Gordon)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks in ROH Six Man Tag Team Championship match on ROH Wrestling Episode #326 (teamed with Rocky Romero)

Loss vs. Motor City Machine Guns in ROH World Tag Team Championship match at Final Battle 2017

Ok, enough messing around. Let's get into the AEW run. Orange Cassidy has done a great job as International Champion. Kris Statlander is enjoying a good reign as TBS Champion. How have Chuck and Trent done?

Win vs. SCU and Private Party at Fyter Fest 2019 to advance to All Out for an opportunity at a first round bye in the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament (good start)

Loss vs. Dark Order at All Out 2019 (who needs a first round bye anyway?)

Loss vs. SCU in first round of AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament (ah, that bye would have been handy)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page in a Number One Contender's Fatal Four Way (also featured The Young Bucks and Proud & Powerful) (got four-and-a-half stars from Dave Meltzer)

Loss to The Young Bucks in a Number One Contender's Battle Royal (not gonna list all the other teams)

Win vs. Private Party in a Number One Contender's match at Double Or Nothing 2020 (that's more like it)

Win vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara to remain number one contenders (yes, go on lads!)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page in AEW World Tag Team Championship match on Dynamite: Fyter Fest 2020 Day 1 (ah, damn it)

Loss to FTR in Number One Contender's Gauntlet match (again, not gonna list all the other teams)

Win vs. Proud & Powerful in a Parking Lot Fight (FIVE STARS BAYBEE!)

Loss to reDRagon in a Number One Contender's Battle Royal (AEW love them some battle royals)

Loss to The Young Bucks in a Number One Contender's Casino Tag Team Royale (this was literally the week after the previous battle royal)

Win w/Orange Cassidy vs. The Trustbusters in first round of AEW Trios Championship tournament (ooo, promising)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. Adam Page & Dark Order in semi-final of AEW Trios Championship tournament (never mind, I guess)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. Death Triangle for vacant AEW Trios Championship (can't tell me they shouldn't have won this one given PAC was already All-Atlantic Champion at the time)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. Death Triangle in AEW Trios Championship match (one day lads, one day)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy to AR Fox & Top Flight in $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Battle Royal (we're really taking the piss now with these battle royals)

Loss to Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett in Revolution Tag Team Battle Royal (they were literally the runners up in this one, come on)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. House of Black in AEW Trios Championship match (stop teasing me)

Loss vs. Aussie Open in IWGP Tag Team Championship match (they could have had a Japan run after all)

Loss w/Bandido vs. House of Black in AEW Trios Championship match (Bandido's cool but surely it's gotta be Orange for the eventual trios run)

Loss vs. Aussie Open in ROH World Tag Team Championship Fatal Four Way at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023 (also featured Lucha Bros and The Kingdom) (another big win coming any day now)

Loss vs. Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli in Parking Lot Brawl (four-and-a-half stars for the Parking Lot sequel)

Win w/Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston & Penta vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Proud & Powerful in Stadium Stampede at All In 2023 (the biggest of big wins, another four-and-a-half stars)

Loss to Dark Order in ROH Number One Contender's Battle Royal (great way to follow up that momentum after All In)

Loss to The Righteous in ROH Number One Contender's Fatal Four Way (also featured The Hardys and The Kingdom) (again, great follow up)

Obviously there's been more matches in between the ones I highlighted. The Best Friends have had some good moments here and there but overall, it feels like there's been missed opportunities. No follow up after the initial Parking Lot Brawl. No Trios Championship run. Lost in the shuffle again following All In.

The Best Friends deserve bester.

[judgementdaysunshine]

Like what you see?

Pairing: Finn Balor x Fem reader

Description: The attraction between you and Finn grows after he walks in on you

Finally you were gonna put an end to the rivalry and feud between you and Becky Lynch after tons of bullshit even losing your spot in war games because of her. You were changing into your gear and was halfway into taking your shirt off when the door suddenly opens which makes you stand frozen until you turn your head only to see the door close thinking it might have just been Bianca or Sasha as you finished, you smile seeing Finn at the curtain for your tag team match together against Iyo Shirai and Damian Priest while waiting for your match with becky later on in the night not knowing what would end up happening later on that would be even better than getting revenge on becky after a month of pure hell, things were 50/50 in this match and you would definitely be sore tonight but not just from being thrown around in the ring. "Still hurts?" you nod as you finally get your nose to stop bleeding after finn had dragged you backstage when you and becky got into a fight even after you had won, "You remember earlier when your door opened?" you nod and raise a brow noticing him rub the back of his neck with a sheepish grin as you realize him raking his eyes up and down your body while heat rushes to your face as he places his hand on your hip which sends chills throughout your body until your lips are softly pressed together and your heart flutters since you've had feelings for him over the last year ever since the two of you became the best of friends when you arrived to NXT from ROH. "It was you" you both smiled with your foreheads pressed together until you smirked at him when you felt him squeeze your thigh, "You like what you see?" he chuckles before smacking your ass leading to the two of you going to his hotel room where things picked up where they left off with a passionate kiss before you were whimpering and moaning with finn between your legs which sends you into a euphoric haze as hands roamed the other's body and body heat mingled together along with praises being thrown in during the intimate moment of your true feelings for each other spilling out all thanks to an accidental walk in, "I love you sweet pea" your heart melts yet again at his words while holding each other as his thrusts stilled before the two of you were holding each other in bed after showering and putting your underwear along with finn in his boxers dozing off to sleep with your head tucked in the crook in his neck and tangled together after sharing a gentle kiss that sealed the new step in your relationship with each other.

[astralbondpro]

April 24, 2004 -

CM Punk is in no mood for celebration after winning the tag team titles at RoH’s Reborn: Stage Two.

[solarsonicsoda]

"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland: The Feud

So, “Hangman” Adam Page. He’s worked his way up to the top of AEW, it was a long and beautiful story, he struggled with drink, self-worth, personal relationships, all because wrestling was everything to him, but he managed to become World Champion! He eventually lost this title, but he kept on fighting, and even welcomed his first child before this. His stock had really risen in the last few years even when it looked like it wouldn’t. His thing is also that he does “Cowboy Shit”.

Enter: Swerve Strickland. He’s genuinely connected in the music industry, but wrestling has long been his main thing. He had tag team success as the mischievous partner of a very virtuous man named Keith Lee, but he had since fully embraced his evil side. He joined up with manager Prince Nana and his team of baddies to form the Mogul Embassy, and has long had the single-minded goal of becoming AEW World Champion. A storyline last summer saw him break into 18-year-old wrestling prodigy Nick Wayne’s house and leave him extremely injured, it was very brutal. His thing is also that he says “Whose house?” and everyone says “Swerve’s House” and his manager does a little dance to his music.

One year ago, Swerve confronted Hangman on TV. He laments why Hangman is not still on top of the company, not main eventing, not winning world titles, not getting new merch… and accuses Hangman of not trying anymore. Swerve says he would not get so comfortable in Hangman’s spot, and if he had got his opportunities he would have never let go. He said Hangman had a choice: walk off into the sunset, or show him just what he is made of.

The feud would escalate after these harsh words from Strickland. His stablemates would attack Page for him, who Hangman and friends, The Young Bucks, would defeat for their ROH World 6-Man Titles in turn. Swerve would continue to get under the skin of Hangman, trying to bring everything he can out of him. Repeatedly invoking the name of Page’s family, Swerve would even tell him:

“Don’t worry about your kids. Don’t worry about your job. Don’t worry about your wife. ‘Cause you’re gonna need an empty mind.” 

Swerve and Hangman would meet to sign the contract for a match at WrestleDream 2023, where the cowboy would even stab Swerve’s hand with a pen. The stage was set.

“I had a fiance. I got rid of her for this! I had a family! I got rid of them for this!” -Swerve Strickland

This would be a hate-filled match which proved to be a real treat for the fans. Both men unleashed vitriolic attacks on one another, each trying to destroy the other. As the fighting continued, the fans definitely acquired a certain respect for the villainous Strickland even as he beat the people’s hero Hangman Adam Page.

 It would all come to a head when Prince Nana, Swerve’s manager, involved himself in the match to save his client from defeat. This would lead to the referee ejecting Nana, but what he failed to notice was that he was without his crown as he did so. With the referee preoccupied, Swerve smashed the crown into Hangman’s face as he leapt in with a Buckshot Lariat, delivered a pair of House Call (running leaping kicks to the head) and a JML Driver to defeat Hangman Page. Indisputably the biggest win of Swerve’s AEW career.

Following this massive win, Swerve had the resumé to move up into title contention and would soon receive a chance to challenge for the TNT Championship on TV. As he tried to again implement the crown and earn this shot, Page would reemerge to prevent this. Swerve would subsequently lose his match as a result, which certainly didn’t sit right with him, and he is not a man you want to be on the bad side of. 

“You could have challenged for the World Championship, but what you decided to do instead was the biggest mistake you have made in your sad, pathetic, and meaningless life.” - “Hangman” Adam Page

With Page in the ring on live TV, Swerve would appear via video on the titantron in front of him. But Swerve wasn’t backstage: he was at Hangman’s house. He and Prince Nana let themselves into the Page home, calmly and callously making their way through the house as they observed Hangman’s personal life such as his young child’s first drawings hung up on the fridge. The moment that truly broke Hangman, however, was when Swerve approached the crib of Page’s only child, letting him know just how close he could get to everything he loved. He would even leave one of his T-shirts as a reminder. 

Knowing what Swerve was capable of, this sent Hangman into a rage, and it guaranteed that at Full Gear 2023 their Texas Death Match would be a truly violent affair. Hangman was of a single mind, and Swerve was happy to finally be done with Hangman. 

This was one of my favourite matches in recent memory, with an array of notable and wince-worthy moments. There was Hangman stapling his son’s drawing to Swerve’s face, amongst a barrage of other staples, and then there was Swerve beginning to laugh them off and start to staple himself for fun. There was a barbed wire chair, with barbed wire that would end up being wrapped around each man’s body. There was a cinder block which saw Hangman’s head driven into it, and another delivered to his back. Splashes into broken glass, attacks from Swerve’s allies, and even choking with a chain. Oh, and don’t forget: lots of blood. Of all the visuals from this brutal battle, the most memorable was Hangman drinking in the blood that dripped from Swerve’s head and spitting it out into the sky. 

In the end though, it would be Swerve who again got the best of his opponent, knocking out Hangman for the win. Swerve had defeated the former world champion for a second time, and earnt a lot of support from the AEW crowds for his fearless and entertaining matches.

Things would move on for Swerve, he would enter and nearly win the Continental Classic, and remain in the picture into the new year. The same couldn’t be said for Hangman, who was still hyper-focused on the man who he couldn’t beat, the man who had broken into his home, and the man who the fans were beginning to love despite it all. He vowed to never let him become World Champion.

Both men were unbeaten for the start of 2024, putting them each in contention for Samoa Joe’s AEW World Championship. With this predicament, a third match was announced for them to decide a Number One Contender in the main event of AEW TV. This was yet another tense encounter, with neither men wanting to let the other win, and both men knowing the other inside out. Swerve even planned to win without any help from his team at this point, but it was a struggle. 

After 30 minutes, the designated time limit, neither man had defeated the other. A tired Swerve begged that this can’t happen, and asked the always determined Hangman if he agreed to five more minutes. It’s tense, the energy is palpable, but Hangman is laughing. He tells his rival that he had to beat him tonight to become number one contender, and with a look of glee, he states that he failed before rolling out of the ring and leaving. Swerve appeared to have lost.

Following the draw, however, it would be announced that both men would challenge Samoa Joe at Revolution 2024 in a triple threat match! An irate Hangman vowed that if this must happen, he would ensure Swerve never became world champion. Strickland remained confident despite this, and champion Joe was far from pleased.

This was another intense encounter, with the hatred between the two playing perfectly to the champion’s advantage. Swerve nearly had it won, but the virtuous Hangman would attack referees on two separate occasions to prevent them from counting a win for Swerve. 

In the end, Hangman would find himself trapped in Joe’s Coquina Clutch. The fans and Swerve knew that Page had the heart to endure this, that he would never quit… until he tapped out. Samoa Joe would retain, and Swerve would lay heartbroken as his enemy gave up, and his dream seemed to fade away.

Hangman Adam Page would be suspended for his assaults on the referees, leaving him away from AEW for months. Swerve, in the meantime, would continue to garner support and rise back to facing Samoa Joe in the main event of Dynasty 2024, where he would finally achieve his goal. With Hangman gone, Swerve finally became AEW World Champion.

Time would pass until the summer’s Owen Hart Cup, where the winner would gain a shot at the AEW World Champion, Swerve Strickland. When the time came for the Wild Card to make his entrance, who else could it be but the champion’s mortal enemy: Hangman Adam Page.

“I would give my blood, you know I’d give my blood, I’ve done it a thousand times over, I will probably do it a thousand times over again! And I would spill every last drop that I have to win this and to take away from him and to burn his world down! He broke into my home! He threatened my family!” - Hangman Adam Page

Hangman would viciously and callously tear through his quarter-final and semi-final matches, reaching the final against the legendary Bryan Danielson looking to finally win the World Title. Page would take any chance to win this match, but all it took was a moment where his temper engulfed him for Danielson to pin his shoulders for three in a flash pin. Hangman had failed.

He had another chance to get his hands on Swerve though. His now-villainous old friends in The Elite needed a fifth man for the Blood and Guts match, a match Swerve was on the opposite team for. Upon his defeat, Page signed up immediately. 

When his entrance finally came in this match, he was nowhere to be seen. The time passed, and now their opponents’ final man would join the match: Swerve Strickland. With zero hesitation, Hangman would attack Swerve, beating him from pillar-to-post and handcuffing him to the cage. He only entered the match when he was threatened with suspensions and firing by The Elite, top brass in the company. The two would eventually continue to fight though, literally tearing in and out of the cage before plummeting off of the stage. This was far from over.

Swerve would continue to Wembley, where he would defend against Danielson. Meanwhile, Hangman still struggled to keep his head in the game despite his new aggressive and single-minded attitude, a mindset much like that of Swerve Strickland. He would take a loss to Darby Allin, and even fail to win the Casino Gauntlet match where he could earn another World Championship shot. 

As Swerve’s Wembley defense came to an end, there was a disturbance in the crowd as a wild-eyed and angry Hangman emerged to try and cost Swerve his title. Security would take him down and the match would continue, but who knows how this affected the mind of the champion. With an impressive display, Danielson would defeat Strickland in this main event to become World Champion, leaving Swerve to recoup and target one man with his frustrations. 

“I came out here to look you in your face and tell you: I feel sorry for you” -Swerve Strickland

Swerve comes face-to-face with Hangman on TV, letting him know that his obsession, his anger, all it does is take him further from success and help Swerve to achieve it. Hangman had become everything he had accused Swerve of, but Hangman didn’t stand for this from Swerve. He tells him, he wants him on his own and he wants him on his knees… like in a defeated way.

But Swerve reminds him of just how close he was to his family. He tells him that before Revolution, he drove up to Page’s house again, and watched as he drove his pregnant wife to the hospital to deliver their second child. He said it was then that he realised that he shouldn’t be worried about Hangman Page, he didn’t need him, and that that was the man Page was meant to be, whilst he reached the top. He told Hangman once again to choose: keep hating him, and keep failing, or go back to being a family man who can succeed at his profession. The stage was set for a Steel Cage match at All Out 2024. However, there was one more stop on this road…

Having signed a lucrative new contract with AEW, Swerve Strickland recorded a meaningful video as he stood outside his beloved childhood home. He recounted how many beautiful memories he had there, and how it became foreclosed upon as his family struggled financially. Yet, now that he had reached such success, Swerve had a chance to reclaim his past. He announced he had purchased his childhood home in a wonderful moment for him.

That very evening on AEW TV, Swerve would find himself in the ring for the contract signing for All Out, where Hangman Page was meant to meet him in the ring. But there was no sign of the cowboy… until he appeared, via video, next to a front door. Hangman admitted that he had never been able to get to Swerve on a personal level. He couldn’t find out where he lived, he knew Swerve had left his fiance, his kids, he couldn’t find anything but wrestling: until he finally showed his weakness that very day. As he walked around Swerve’s childhood home, he berated Swerve for everything he had done, insulted his family, and crucially: he doused gasoline around the room.

With Swerve’s tortured screams ringing out in the arena, Hangman sat himself down in a chair outside the property. He said he’d made his choice, and that he would take everything from Swerve, so he better say goodbye to it all. Then, he lit a match, and told him to practise tonight by saying goodbye. Goodbye to Swerve’s House. 

In a matter of seconds, Hangman was sitting before a raging inferno, as a similar feeling exploded within Swerve Strickland miles away. The only way this was going to end was at All Out 2024, nearly exactly a year since it began, in a steel cage. “I’m going to take what is left of you. I’m going to take your pride. I’m going to take your dignity. Because you will be on your knees begging for my mercy, pleading for my forgiveness, but I will not give it to you.” -Hangman Adam Page

[mobiblackout]

So let's recap the Better Than You BayBay Saga so far and see who makes sense as the Devil and what the potential plan was before Cole's injury:

PHASE ONE: ALL IN

● Before the match at Wembley Adam insists on teaming up with Max to win the ROH tag belts, some people especulate that Adam is doing this to weaken MJF for the main event, but nothing happens in the match and they win despite many people's prediction.

● At the main event they both wrestle like their usual self before the double pin, only after that Adam gets frustrated and tries to win through nefarious means, he has couple of chances to beat Max up with the belt or low blow him, he even had hit Max with a belt in their first match despite being a babyface, here the first time Roddy comes out to help him he doesn't cheat.

● After the match Max throws his world title aside to calm Adam down, he very explicitly picks Adam over the most important thing in his life, and when Cole doesn't even look him in the eyes, Max gets angry, throwing the world title at Adam and proves once again that he cares about their friendship more than the belt.

● This is where Roddy comes and yells at Cole to hit Max with the title, but despite his history, Cole doesn't betray MJF. This could mean 2 things:

1. Cole sees his own benefit in staying with MJF.

2. He genuinely cares about Max

-> His previous action of refusing to cheat in the match is a proof that the second option is more likely but again, he might still be the same bastard as he he was before only that Max is really growing on him and Adam just simply respects their relationship enough to not fuck it up by cheating.

PHASE TWO: GRAND SLAM

● The Dynamite following All In, Roddy and Kingdom call Adam selfish and opportunitist (rightfully considering his background) and Adam just stands there talking about friendship and says he is a better person now and says Max is his best friend for the first time.

● On the built to Grand Slam, Roddy continuously tries to manipulate Adam by his fake injury. We see Adam by Max’s side whenever he's there, and Joe hurts Adam to get to Max. Everything's is very normal post All In.

● Before the main event of Grand Slam Adam gets a call from Roddy, and doesn’t show up to help Max until half through the match, people assume that Cole is playing Max by leaving him.

● So Adam shows up, and the two win by cheating. Again, why would Adam want Max to win by helping him? not to mention this contradics the possibility of Cole not showing up with Max to mess their plans up.

There are two possibilities:

1. He sees Joe as the tougher opponent and wants to keep Max as the champion, thinking he would win if he gets another chance.

2. Adam really cares about Max and is helping him to win.

-> The first option seems like a stretch since later Cole pushes Max to accept Joe's help in exchange for a title shot. Again, there are two possibilities here:

1. He wants Max to lose to Joe (why he helped him at Grand Slam then).

2. He doesn't want Max to be alone while he is injured and helpless himself.

PHASE THREE: FULL GEAR

● Immediately after Adam announce his severe ankle injury Roddy comes out asking for help again, Cole gets 'kidnapped' for several weeks and after he leaves that house he doesn't want to do anything with Roddy and Kingdom, so if they all are in one group why Adam is getting bullied in these segments?

1. They all are in one group clowning around as Max is left alone being attacked left and right.

2. Adam is genuinely a good person and wants to help Roddy not knowing they are abusing him.

-> I can't find a strong justification for Comedic Skits discontinuation besides:

1. They were getting creatively lame.

2. In kayfabe, Adam realizes Roddy is full of shit.

-> I mean, the second option also makes sense since he doesn't want to talk to Roddy every time Roddy tries to get his attention. But it all still can be an act while they work together behind the scene.

● Full Gear comes around, and Max gets distracted by Cole at ringside as The Gunns attack him to take him out of the match, probably knowing the 'clause in the contract'.

There are two possibilities here:

1. Adam is working with Jay White and helps them injure Max before the main event.

2. He does nothing wrong, and Gunns just use MJF's distraction to weaken him.

● Lots of nonsense happen here. They say there's a clause in the match contract that says Jay White becomes the champion if Max is incapable of wrestling. Adam sacrifices himself and stops this from happening by representing Max in the main event.

-> This contradicts the theory of Adam working with Jay White, so we got that out of the way, too.

● In the main event Max shows up driving an ambulance, selling his injury, in the match Adam tries to help Max cheat by giving him the Dynamite Diamond Ring and ROH tag belts, but the two objects end up in Jay White's possession. Let's assume Adam is fucking up Max on purpose again. This theory contradics with the fact that Adam stoped the belt being handed to Jay by volunteering to represent MJF in the match, unless he was going to lay there and take the pin since he is injured.

-> So this is all an overelaborated plan to strip Max of his title at the end, and Adam is working with Jay.

-> This all contradicts Adam=Devil story since the first person to be attacked by the Devil is, in fact, Jay White himself.

PHASE FOUR: WORLDS END

● We barely hear anything from adamjf as a team, Max doesn't even mention Cole past the first Dynamite post Full Gear. He just goes around accusing people of being the Devil.

_

[fagcrisis]

my friend ellis @jonny-dykeville wants to get into njpw, and i thought id write her a little summary of whats been going on lately! im posting it here in case its useful for anyone who wants to get into nooj but finds it a little too confusing (understandable) or has stopped watching in the last couple years and now wants to get back into it

this will include a list of matches at the end from 2023 that i think were good and/or are important to storylines! this is accurate to the day im writing it which is 2023/05/15

LINKS TO BE UPDATED

The landscape of New Japan Pro Wrestling has changed enormously in the past couple of months. For example if you told someone a year ago that Kazuchika Okada would hold a non singles belt, theyd laugh in your face.

So how did we get here?

google doc version

Your current champions

Sanada beat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship at Sakura Genesis, and has since defended it against Hiromu Takahashi, the current junior heavyweight champion. 

Hiromu won the belt at Wrestle Kingdom in a four-way match against Master Wato, El Desperado, and former champion Taiji Ishimori.

The IWGP women’s title was created last year and won by Kairi at Historic X-over. She lost the belt to Mercedes Moné, who was champion until Mayu Iwatani dethroned her recently.

Aussie Open hold the tag titles after defeating Bishamon, and they’ve gone on to win the Strong openweight tag team championships from the Motor City Machine Guns.

David Finlay is the NEVER openweight champion, bringing the belt back in to Bullet Club after Tama Tonga defeated Karl Anderson for it at Wrestle Kingdom.

Intergalactic Jetsetters (Kushida And Kevin Knight) finally ended the reign of Catch 2/2 (Tjp And Francesco Akira) as junior heavyweight tag team champions during the road to Wrestling Dontaku tour, thank god.

Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii are the NEVER openweight six man champions winning the titles from Strong Style (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki And Ren Narita). If you think that sentence is insane, don’t worry I’ll explain whats happening.

Zack Sabre Jr became the inaugural NJPW World TV champion, winning the tournament at Wrestle Kingdom by defeating Ren Narita, and he’s had some incredible defenses since (you might’ve seen him on ROH).

the KOPW trophy graduated to a belt after El Phantasmo broke it, and Taichi is the current provisional champion having defeated Shingo Takagi for it. 

Kenta lost the strong openweight championship to Hikuleo in the first defense of the belt in Japan, after winning it from Fred Rosser (with Juice interference).

at the time of writing this the Strong women’s title does exist but the tournament to decide its first owner has yet to be held (Resurgence may 21st).

Karl Anderson will pay for his crimes

Those who have been following me since november last year know that Suzuki-gun, a heel faction in NJPW led by Minoru Suzuki, has come to an end. I was inconsolable. There are multiple reasons for this happening, but the main one is Karl Anderson.

While Anderson is a member of Bullet Club, and in fall of last year was still the NEVER openweight champion, he is contracted to WWE and was on a handshake deal with NJPW, essentially promising he’ll appear at shows they book him for. There was a scheduling conflict with one of WWE’s saudi shows, and Anderson essentially ghosted the company not appearing for his title defense against Hikuelo, which meant I had to watch Yujiro Takahashi wrestle. anyway this all meant that New Japan lost faith in their freelancers, and because the majority of Suzuki-gun were on handshake deals, this meant the faction had to go. Their last match was on december 23rd (njpwworld) (bilibili link) and it was very emotional and beautiful, and I was incredibly sad.

Shota came back!

Shota Umino, who you may know as the protege of Jon Moxley, returned from excursion in the fall of last year. Young lions (NJPW trainees) are sent abroad to foreign promotions by the company to train and gather experience in different environments to Japan. Shota was in Britain for a time and he returned, challenging Will Ospreay for the US title he still held at the time. He lost but with this high profile title shot he joined the ranks of the young stars NJPWhas much faith vested in. 

This also includes Ren Narita, who you may not know because he was never adopted by a mean american man. he was trained by Katsuyori Shibata, earning the nickname Son of Strong Style and wearing similar gear to Shibata as well. The company seems to be trying to set him up to be Shibata’s successor, and he wrestles a similarly, clean technical style.

A recent addition to their ranks is Yota Tsuji, whose return I will explain later.

The IWGP women’s title

Women’s wrestling promotion Stardom and NJPW are both owned by Bushiroad. Because of this last year there was a crossover between the two promotions, which saw the first mixed tag matches in an NJPW ring. Great show, you should watch it. (njpwworld link) (bilibili link)

For this event, the IWGP women’s championship was created and won by Kairi. Now I have some thoughts about how Stardom is already full of accomplished talented women, and putting a women’s match on the card once in a blue moon isn’t a win for women in wrestling and you should maybe try watching Stardom instead (guide on how to do that). But I digress. Regardless of whether or not this is pandering, every match for the belt was undoubtedly incredible and I will be linking them all in the rec section.

A brief Wrestle Kingdom aside

You fucking know what happened at Wrestle Kingdom I shouldn’t have to explain this to you. Kenny Omega returned and defeated Will Ospreay for the US title, and Okada won his beloved IWGP belt back from Jay White, starting him down the path of leaving NJPW.

What you might not know is what happened at Wrestle Kingdom Night 2, which confusingly was held some weeks later. Wrestle Kingdom traditionally is a show between NOAH and NJPW, so Night 2 saw the two promotions pitch their most popular wrestlers against each other. Okada was set to fight Kaito Kiyomiya in a tag team match, but he thought this challenge beneath him and attempted to murder Kiyomiya ruling the match a no contest.

Later in february, at Keiji Muto’s retirement show, Okada did have to face off Kiyomiya in a singles bout, despite his protests that he is not some cheap whore (his words not mine). That entire show is incredibly good but not extremely relevant to NJPW storylines, as crossover events usually are not. (njpwworld) (unoffical link)

After Wrestle Kingdom, New Japan holds New Year’s Dash and the New Beginning shows where they set up new storylines that will likely last the whole year. Jay White challenges Hikuleo to a loser leaves Japan match, because he blames him and his brothers (Guerillas of Destiny) for Bullet Club weakening and his loss at Wrestle Kingdom. He promptly loses this match. Bummer. 

El Desperado refuses to accept that Suzuki-gun is over and joins Minoru Suzuki in defending Ren Narita from House of Torture’s dastardly attack, leading to the formation of their trios team; Strong Style. They then go on to defeat House of Torture for the NEVER openweight six man tag team titles. Now this is crazy but we dont have time to dwell on it because the other remnants of Suzuki-gun are also making moves that are considerably more insane.

Its time for: faction madness

There are a lot of factions in New Japan Pro Wrestling. like a lot. Every storyline is heavily driven by who is in what faction and where their allegiences lie. This might be confusing to you if you only watch AEW, a promotion where factions matter less than what Tony adds to commentary.

TMDK

Naturally ex-Suzuki-gun member and best technical wrestler in the known universe Zack Sabre Jr couldn’t simply remain in Hontai, the main body of New Japan where factionless members of the roster belong. Luckily he was a free agent for all of five seconds before his old australian buddies snatched him and his fresh tv championship up. TMDK, known as an australian faction despite a solid half not being from Australia, has suffered some losses in the past year. Jonah, their strongest member, a man who defeated even Kazuchika Okada, left Japan for WWE. Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls, founding members of the faction and a tag team under the same name, have failed to succeed in winning Tag League in fall of last year. Safe to say, they needed a win. Zack has teamed with them during his time in NOAH, so it was only logical that he would return to his old friends. They even recruited a young lion, Kosei Fujita, who became the first young lion in a faction if you don’t count Hikuleo which was a slightly different situation. TMDK also includes Bad Dude Tito (or Big Teets) over in the States.

The addition of Zack really reinvigorated the faction. Shane and Mikey challenged and failed to defeat Aussie Open for the tag titles, and Robbie Eagles left Chaos for more australian pastures, joining the faction when he challenged Hiromu Takahashi for his championship. Robbie also lost but TMDK didn’t let these setbacks stop them from cutting the weirdest promos after every match and staunchly insisting Fujita (who they’ve nicknamed Big Fooj) will be the first young lion to win a championship.

United Empire

Will Ospreay is no longer the IWGP US heavyweight champion. After losing to Kenny Omega he threw a hissy fit and declared that he would give professional wrestling one more year. He also entered the New Japan Cup, a tournament for the right to challenge for the IWGP championship. Unfortunately in a match against his friend and stablemate Mark Davis (of Aussie Open and ass size fame) he injured his shoulder which put him out of action until about last week. He won the 1pw world title though, so he’s fine.

Other than that, the faction has been doing fairly well for themselves. After a titanic struggle against Bishamon, Aussie Open won the tag titles and have gone on to defend them against TMDK and somehow, Best Friends on AEW television. They also won the Strong tag titles, and Kyle Fletcher managed to botch a moonsault in both matches. You’ve definitely seen them even if you don’t watch NJPW, their schedule is insane and they have a banger of a match practically on a weekly average. 

Also tag champions in the faction were Catch 2/2, who held the junior titles until fairly recently. They’ve had great defenses against YOH and his new tag partner, Lio Rush (more on that in a second) and Douki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. What you need to know about Catch 2/2 is that TJP is a PragerU weirdo and Akira is good albeit italian.

UE also includes Jeff Cobb, who you might’ve seen challenging for Kenny Omega’s US title on Dynamite. He is incredible I don’t have anything else to say. He also kind of thinks flat earthers have a point. He’s really good though.

Also in the faction are Aaron Henare, men’s rights weirdo who challenged and lost to Shingo Takagi for the KOPW belt and Great O Khan who is somehow the Revpro champion. He is notable for having a nice bow in his hair and screeching. The most recent recruit to the faction is Dan Moloney, who unfortunately is fairly unknown to me. He joined the faction as a junior heavyweight and subsequently entered the Best of Super Juniors Tournament, which I will explain later.

Chaos

I’ve previously described Chaos as Hontai 2.0, because that’s really what it is. Lead by Kazuchika Okada, Chaos was the original heel faction in NJPW, founded by Shinsuke Nakamura. Nowadays it is a loose collection of allegiances that confusingly includes the entire Best Friends faction in AEW. Yes, that includes Trent’s mum Sue. Since becoming faces, Chaos members regularly team with Hontai because it all doesn’t really matter. 

Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Battle in the Valley, and then asked him to tag together. They named themselves the Dream Team, and I only briefly pondered how well it ended the last time Tana teamed with a younger star. Anyways I’m sure this will go fine. They challenged Okada’s fellow Chaos members Bishamon for their tag titles they still held at that time, and sadly lost that match. They defeated the team of Shota Umino and Ren Narita, and then once again failed to obtain gold in a 3-way match against the Motor City Machine Guns and Aussie Open (who won). After Okada lost his belt, they recruited Tomohiro Ishii, who doesn’t like Tanahashi and doesn’t want to team with him because he isn’t in Chaos. Despite this, they managed to defeat Strong Style for the NEVER openweight six man championships.

Bishamon I’ve covered sufficiently enough I think, they are the team of Hirooki Goto who recently celebrated his 20th anniversary in professional wrestling and YOSHI-HASHI who used to be incredibly horrible and is less bad recently. They are fun and I like them.

YOH and SHO were a junior tag team in Chaos until SHO turned heel, joining Bullet Club. This left YOH in a sort of strange limbo, where he contemplated quitting wrestling and pursuing his more artistic ambitions (he is a musician and an artist). Rocky Romero, also a member of Chaos, got him and Lio Rush together to team for Junior Tag League, and they ended up winning the tournament! Although they failed to defeat catch 2/2 at Wrestle Kingdom, and Lio got injured, teaming with him seemed to bring YOH’s confidence back. He’s been wrestling slightly differently and with more self-assurence. The pair both separately challenged and lost to Hiromu Takahashi, two incredible matches that I will link below. Not even these losses brought YOH’s confidence down though, and he’s entered BOSJ alongside Lio although they are in different blocks.

Also members of Chaos are Rocky Romero, Best Friends (including Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy, Sue, and I think quite possibly Danhausen), Toru Yano who is kind of a funny little man, and Tomohiro Ishii.

Los Ingobernables de Japon

Led by Tetsuya Naito, the tweener group is more of a loose collection of talented individuals than your regular faction. LIJ has a policy of letting their members forge their own paths and create their own success, instead of letting them fall back on the power of the group. 

Maybe the only exception to this rule is Hiromu Takahashi, who owes a lot of his success to the faction as well as his mentor Tetsuya Naito. Hiromu is very talented and has a very unique style both in his wrestling and his fashion sense. Unbiased corner ahead I like him a lot. He holds junior wrestlers in very high regard and recently organized the All Star Junior festival to showcase junior heavyweights from all around japan (njpwworld ppv) (vk link). He has a plush cat named Daryl. Hiromu is kind of the ace of the junior division right now, he is on his fifth title reign and is trying to defend the belt 12 times to beat the current defense record of 11 held by Minoru Tanaka. Currently he is 4 defenses into this streak, having defeated YOH, Lio Rush, Robbie Eagles and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Despite being champion he entered BOSJ, a tournament he’s won four times, three times in a row. If he wins, he’ll get to hand pick his opponent at Dominion.

I have no clue what to say about Tetsuya Naito. To quote my friend Jay, “it’s naito. he is an indescribable force of non-functional knees and the driest hair you've ever seen. he takes ten years to remove his entrance gear. he is naito”. You fucking know who Tetsuya Naito is.

This year, the main thing he’s done is defeating his mentor Keiji Muto at his retirement show in Febuary (njpwworld link) (vk link). He has a very hands off approach towards leading his group, sort of letting everyone figure their things out, which is why he didn’t really seem worried about his match against his stablemate Sanada in the New Japan Cup. You can imagine his surprise when Sanada not only defeated him but then declared that he would be leaving the faction, but more on that later. He also recently had a singles match against DOUKI, which was incredible.

Also members of LIJ are Shingo Takagi, winner of KOPW 2022 and former KOPW 2023 provisional champion, and also living legend. He made his name in Dragon Gate, a different japanese promotion you should also watch (I’m not at all being held at gunpoint by people whose names start with J), Bushi and Titan, who are both junior heavyweight luchadors I don’t know as much about as I should. They’re really good and they are both in BOSJ this year.

Bullet Club

Do I even need to explain. Don’t worry I will. 

Jay White lost his loser leaves Japan match to Hikuleo, but there was hope. He promised Gedo he would go to America and wrestle on Strong and right his wrongs. So obviously he immediately lost a loser leaves New Japan match to Eddie Kingston, barring him from ever wrestling in a New Japan ring ever again. After weeks of radio silence, he showed up on Dynamite, forming Bullet Culb Gold (2 bullet 2 club) with Juice Robinson and you all know what happened after that.

It’s spring which means it’s Bullet Club infighting season. After Jay’s loss, his long time rival David Finlay waltzed into the ring all goth and angry, cutting a promo about how the japanese fans never appreciated him and he is an outsider wherever he goes. If this didn’t make it clear to you that he was the new leader, don’t worry it wasn’t clear to me or El Phantasmo either. 

ELP was friends with Jay White, and made the rest of the Club agree that they will let Jay ride off into the sunset. A peaceful transfer of power is however impossible in Bullet Club, which is kind of a Stanford prison experiment for closeted gay men. It started bothering Phantasmo, that everyone in his faction so readily accepted Finlay as the new leader, like they weren’t fully behind Jay only a week ago. And anyone who questions the leader has to go.

Then came a months long game of gay betrayal chicken. Every postmatch, Phantasmo would assure Finlay that they were doing it for the club, refuse to too sweet the new leader, and the two slapping eachother in place of a tag. Meanwhile the faces in Hontai were increasingly more accepting towards ELP, Shota Umino even gave him one of his bracelets. The tension came to a boil at Sakura Genesis, where in a tag team match against Guerillas of Destiny and Master Wato, Phantasmo refused to commit the clubs usual heel antics and was brutally kicked out in response. Despite his close friendship with Taiji Ishimori and Kenta, both men readily betrayed him for David Finlay.

Phantasmo returned as a face to beat Finlay up after he defeated Tama Tonga for the NEVER belt, and the two have a title match set at Dominion.

As I mentioned Kenta and Taiji Ishimori are both members of Bullet Club, and Finlay recently recruited Clark Connors to be the clubs newest junior. He entered BOSJ alongside Taiji. Gedo, the head booker of NJPW is also a member of BC but he mainly stands ominously in the background and in kayfabe doesn’t have a massive role in storylines.

HOUSE OF TORTURE

I have to explain what’s going on here. Bullet Club has sort of a subesction? Called House of Torture. They’re only really part of BC in name only, and merch sales. Their thing is gratuitous cheating, if one HoT member has a match, the rest of them aren’t far behind making every match a handicap. Their members are EVIL, the leader of the group and former LIJ member, Yujiro Takahashi the incredible slow motion man whose joints creak audibly with every move, Dick Togo and SHO, who joined after betraying YOH and turning heel. SHO is actually pretty good but the presence of HoT at every match really ruins. Everything. I try not thinking about them.

JUST 5 GUYS

NOW baby. The reason I’m even writing this. The worst faction name in the history of pro wrestling. This faction is made of four ex-Suzuki-gun members and Sanada. Originally called Just Four Guys when Taka Michinoku, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI announced they would be forming a faction at New Year’s Dash. Taka made some baseless claims about how they will defeat everyone and change the landscape of New Japan. He also came up with their new catchphrase “You already die”. Commentary and everyone else immediately dismissed them as a joke that will last maybe a couple of months. Oh how wrong we were.

Initially, the group did not have much success. Douki and Uncle Nobu lost to Catch 2/2 in their title match against them, Taka kept getting pinned and they failed to deliver on their promises to destroy everyone who stood in their way.

Taichi, as their only heavyweight, entered the New Japan Cup. His first match was against Sanada, a man he’s had some history with when he was still tagging with Zack Sabre Jr as Dangerous Tekkers. Sanada was a man not really renowned for anything, he hasn’t seen any singles success since joining LIJ by helping Tetsuya Naito cheat, except for a US title run cut short with no defenses due to an injury. He had blonde hair and the best or the worst move in pro wrestling history, depending on if you ask my friend Ryan or me. He never hits a moonsault. I don’t think Naito even knew who he was.

Safe to say, absolutely no one expected Sanada to defeat Taichi, much less his superior Naito. What we expected the least is for him to announce he is leaving LIJ for Just 4 Guys, which was now to be renamed JUST 5 GUYS. With dark hair, a clean shaven face and soon, new gear as well, Sanada really found his footing among this motley crew, the way he never managed in his seven years during LIJ. He went on to blaze through the competition in the Cup, winning it and subsequently defeating Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP world heavyweight championship. Absolutely no one has expected this to happen, ever. Yet somehow, it is also one of the coolest things to happen, ever.

His former faction members in LIJ mostly seemed to just sort of accept he left, except for Hiromu. He said while he understood Sanada’s reasons for leaving, he felt betrayed. Hiromu challenged Sanada to a match for the heavyweight championship. No junior heavyweight has been able to defeat the heavyweight champion in the history of the company, although this match is not the first of its kind. 

When Sanada defeated Hiromu, the returning Yota Tsuji walked out into the ring and beat him up, held up the LIJ fist and carried Hiromu out of the ring. We don’t really know if this means he’ll be joining the faction, but it’s very likely, and the two have a match set at Dominion.

Obviously other stuff has happened but this is already 4000 words long and I still have things to explain to you. 

Whats happening right now

As I’m writing this, the 30th Best of the Super Juniors is just beginning. BOSJ is a round robin style tournament, just like the G1 where wrestlers are divided into two blocks and everyone fights everyone in their block. Usually, the winners of the two blocks face off against each other to win the tournament, but this year, the winner of each block faces off against the person who came second in the other block, and the winners of those matches are the finalists. The winner has the right to challenge for the IWGP junior heavyweight championship at Dominion.

This year’s participants are as follows.

I think this is absolutely the perfect time to get int New Japan. The junior division is full of incredibly talented wrestlers who focus more on fast paced high flying style matches and every one of them is easy to watch and very entertaining. The entire tour will be broadcast with full english coverage.

How do I watch all of this

New Japan conveniently has a streaming service called NJPW world, membership is 999 yen per month. Dont forget to toggle it to english in the upper left corner! Most shows have english commentary and in my opinion it is pretty good commentary. Even if you don’t want to pay for the site, it has a schedule page (upper right corner) which even displays multiple timezones, and links to the card for every upcoming show.

The site also has some free content, for example the backstage comments after every show. Backstage comments are essentially short interviews with the wrestlers directly after every match, which makes for very fun adrenaline fuelled nonsense. Search backstage comment on the site, or check the njpwworld youtube channel. The videos always have subtitles, but it takes the transcribers time, subs are usually out a day after shows air.

PIRACY 

In case you’d like to sail the high seas, you have a couple of options.

Watching show’s live I would recommend watchprowrestling.org for. They upload the shows and you can watch them live as well with a bit of delay.

If you’re looking for older stuff, you should try searching on bilibili (dont be intimidated by the language barrier, its quite easy to use) or this specific user on vk.com.

MATCHES TO WATCH

Title changes and defenses:

Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Master Wato vs El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Zack Sabre Jr vs Ren Narita FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Shota Umino FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tom Lawlor FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Jeff Cobb FREE MATCH

Catch 2/2 vs YOH and Lio Rush (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Catch 2/2 vs Intergalactic Jetsetters (njpwworld) (unofficial link 2:35:08)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Lio Rush (njpwworld) 

Hiromu Takahashi vs YOH (njpwworld) (unofficial link2:48:13)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi (njpwworld)

Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada (njpwworld)

Sanada vs Hiromu Takahashi (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Aussie Open vs Bishamon (njpwworld)

Aussie Open vs TMDK (njpwworld)

Aussie Open vs Motor City Machine Guns vs the Dream Team (Okada & Tanahashi) (njpwworld ppv)

Kairi vs Mayu Iwatani  (njpwworld)

Kairi vs Tam Nakano (njpwworld)

Kairi vs Mercedes Moné (unofficial link)

Mercedes Moné vs Kairi vs Hazuki (njpwworld)

Mercedes Moné vs Mayu Iwatani (njpwworld)

Tama Tonga vs El Phantasmo (njpwworld)

Tama Tonga vs David Finlay (unofficial link)

Taichi vs Shingo Takagi (njpwworld) (unofficial link 1:44:00)

Strong Style vs Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Hikuelo vs Kenta (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Story matches

Tetsuya Naito vs Sanada (njpwworld)

Jay White vs Hikuleo (njpwworld)

Jay White vs Eddie Kingston (njpwworld) (unofficial link 1:04:00)

Bullet Club (David Finlay, Kenta, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) vs Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga, Hikuleo & Jado) & Master Wato (njpwworld link)

just fun

Mark Davis vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Mark Davis vs EVIL (njpwworld)

Tetsuya Naito vs DOUKI (njpwworld) (unofficial link 2:11:32)

El Desperado vs Tomohiro Ishii (njpwworld ppv)

Shota Umino vs Tetsuya Naito (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Speedball Mike Bailey FREE SHOW

Taichi vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld)

[silverxxs-world]

Wait what if the devil is the house of black or the bald bitch’s family or some other group

Hear me out

One of the dudes was big, like big big

They could of been:

Mogul Embassy: Brian cage or Toa Liona (don’t know how many there are)

Dark order+someone: Evil uno however they would need another person

Bald bitches family+someone (aka don callis family): Hobbs however Sammy has been with his wife recently are in a different story with Jericho and co

House of black+someone: could of been buddy or Brody however they would also need another person are in a different story with ftr

The kingdom+ someone?:Mike Bennett but who would of helped them wardlow and Adam I guess

The righteous: y2jsquestionablefashionchoices pointed out that the new tag champs looked like them and they never did end the story line with max

Also notice how one is in what seams to be dress shoes or wrestling shoes

Who from that night was wearing black wrestling shoes

——————————————————————

New edits will be made in red

December 1 Edit: mogul embassy has two people in Japan can’t be them

December 27 edit: the devils goons are now roh tag team champs. after max was pinned a previously injured in a hit in run Samoa Joe comes out with a chair and helps max up. However he hits max in the back with said chair after the devil appears on screen with the message “pleasure doing business with you ”

December 30 edit: all was revealed Adam Cole was the devil, with wardlow and the kingdom

[buffyfan145]

Really enjoying the Von Erich family's podcasts and learning so much more about the family and stories Kevin tells. 😀 First though, for the fellow AEW fans it seems even more likely Ross and Marshall have signed. Last night during live Q&A with their dad Kevin they mentioned they have something to announce for July 20th, which happens to be the kickoff of AEW's Texas Residency for "Collison" and ROH. Also when Dustin Rhodes was on last week he even said how glad he was the boys are with them now at AEW. So seems likely we'll be getting lots of news with them this summer. 😏

Now onto the movie it's very interesting to hear the family's comments on it. For myself I only knew the basics of their story so I loved the movie, and that seems to be the divide between if you knew the true story or not and if you liked the movie or not, and if you can judge the movie as a fictional movie on it's own.

Overall they are supportive of it and of the cast. They feel the actors did a great job with what they had, but are unhappy with how inaccurate some of it is, especially dealing with Kerry, Fritz, Doris, and Pam. None of them were accurate.

They've extended invitations to the cast/crew to be on the podcast and hoping they do. Kevin and Zac apparently text each other all the time so we'll see.

They wish they could've been involved to help develop the script.

They do feel Zac, Harris, and Stanley did the best and Kevin, David, and Mike were portrayed correctly, as well as all the wrestling scenes being so realistic. The sibling bond between all the brothers was right, especially between Kevin and David as irl they were pretty much like twins and inseparable.

To them Holt nailed Fritz' look and voice, but again he wasn't as villain like as the movie made him and some of how he was, was actually Fritz' father they called Baba/Meaner Fritz. They also left out Fritz' uncle Ross (who Kevin named his son after) who raised Fritz for the first ten years of his life till Fritz' dad came back, and they were much closer than Fritz and his dad.

They also said Chris is in the movie and it's Jeremy's character. They praised Jeremy's acting but that wasn't Kerry's personality at all but Chris's. Chris wanted to be so much like his brothers but he was short and had health problems. Also took Mike's death the hardest, which Kerry's daughter Hollie pointed out that is very similar to Jeremy's character Carmy on "The Bear". So they feel Chris and Kerry were mashed up for the movie but what we saw was really Chris living out Kerry's life.

Kerry's daughters and ex-wife were really upset with how his story was portrayed as it wasn't correct. The only things that were was about the Olympics, getting into wrestling after that, winning the title in honor of David, and the motorcycle accident. Kerry's real personality was the funny, light-hearted one, and was also a photographer. He also deeply loved his girls and his wife. His addictions were left out of the movie too and that's really what drove him to end his life. They also think another actor should've played him and possibly an actual wrestler, with Jeremy playing Chris.

Also Kevin and Pam went to school together but didn't date till he left college from that football injury and moved home. They actually reconnected at a Willie Nelson concert. LOL

They do think too the other wives, girlfriends, and daughters should've been in it. Ross and Marshall are actually the youngest of the grandchildren, and there were 5 girls before them. The family dynamics changed too once the granddaughters were born and all the men became much more doting on the girls. David also was alive for the first 3 years of Kevin's daughter Kristen's life so he did get to be an uncle.

They also wanted to see more of the brothers traveling to other countries and wrestling there. Kevin and David actually both first went to Japan in the late 70s too as a tag team.

Kevin, Kerry, and David also faced each other in the ring once when The Freebirds didn't show up one night at WCCW. This would've been so fun to see and Kevin said they had a great time actually fighting each other.

They do have interest in making a miniseries in the future to tell their story accurately besides Kevin writing a memoir. However, these things take years so it would be a whole new cast/crew, but I likely will watch too if it happens.

[miloscat]

[Review] The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins (3DS)

A cromulent companion game.

Platinum's console/PC Korra game was accompanied by a 3DS release. Well I say accompanied; unlike that game, Activision only bothered to release this one in North America. Now I finally have a chance to play it thanks to custom firmware! I know developer Webfoot Technologies best for their Legacy of Goku GBA games, and now here they are with another handheld game based on an animated licence. But how does this tactics RPG stack up against its action sibling?

Despite the new subtitle, this game is built on the same story as the console game. Creepy old guy blocks Korra's bending, the alliance of Triads/Equalists/dark spirits, returning to the Spirit World via the South Pole. But this version has some additional details, like the inclusion of Amon's lieutenant as a miniboss, Korra seeking the advice of spirits in Republic City's spirit wilds only for them to turn dark and attack, or visiting Wan Shi Tong's library for help relearning spiritbending (complete with a boss fight against the big owl himself!) I also enjoyed entering the cosmic universal energy dimension for little puzzle challenges when Korra was regaining her bending powers. In addition to these additions, a big change in how things play out is the extended cast joining her on the adventure, an upside to the shift in genre.

From the start, Bolin and Mako are with Korra, then Tenzin and Kya join in, and finally Lin making for a team of six bending powerhouses. Bumi and, sadly, Asami are still conspicuously absent. But the extra tag-alongs make for actual conversation and more convincing bridging exposition in cutscenes, more appropriate elemental tutelage as Korra relearns her bending styles, and some choice quips. For example, we learn that Bolin named his fists Juji and Roh-tan after Nuktuk's animal sidekicks, and that he has become genre-savvy as a result of his mover career: "when there is fog, something bad happens."

There are understandable presentational drawbacks that offset this. Gone are the full animated sequences, replaced by brief motion comic-style cutscenes. There’s no voice acting either, which is fair enough. And gameplay just cannot look as flashy when you’re just moving sprites around a grid.

To be fair, the sprites look very good. And you get an adorable graphic of Korra riding Oogi on the menu screen. When it comes time to make an attack, the game cuts to a short (and skippable) 3D sequence showing the results, complete with decent little models doing mocapped martial arts moves. The spirits and the main antagonist Hundun can look a bit goofy in these but the mecha tanks are pretty cool if low-detail. The latter in particular have hilariously tiny sprites on the battle map, a stark contrast to their humongous chungus depiction in Platinum’s game.

The tactical gameplay is competent for the most part with decent map designs. The controls and interface can be a bit clunky but they get the job done. There’s a shield mechanic that’s a neat twist, as well as an elemental weakness system that lets you bypass the shields. I liked how each character had their own niche: Mako has many ranged attacks, Lin and Bolin get area effects, Kya can heal, and Tenzin can replenish mana energy points which I had him doing almost every turn once he learned it.

Any attack or even healing and support moves get you experience points which is nice, and every other level-up you get to choose between two skills. These can be new moves or passive bonuses but choose carefully because you can’t change them later! I found myself with a Korra who only knew waterbending for the vast majority of proceedings, and you only get one shot at each other element. Everybody was max level (15) a few stages before the end, but if you’re having trouble with a battle there’s a training stage you can do freely for some extra XP and money (used for buying healing items). You can’t replay completed levels though, even though you get graded on side objectives.

I was pleased by this little tie-in. I’m not a huge expert on tactics RPGs but this one seems good for intermediate gamers like me, not too punishing. There’s some amount of crunchy depth to the elemental system and using each character effectively. And as a Korra fan it’s nice seeing the characters and world rendered in a different style, especially those cute sprites. Not to mention the slight expansions to the storyline. If you’ve got a 3DS, there’s no reason not to head to your local flea market hShop to pick this up!

[basil-the-scorned]

I know everyone is saying MJF was vulnerable in different moments of this whole thing, but you know when he really was just open 100%?

When Adam tossed the ROH Tag Team title away from him. (Yes, I watched the clip on Twitter. No I'm not ok.)

After he was doing the same comforting thing Adam did after the FTR loss: saying encouraging things, how the crowd still loves him, getting the belts that they both won and earned to show it means something.

Only for Adam to toss it like it was nothing. And ripping open a wave of realization that Adam was really putting the championship over their new found friendship. That what they had was basically just a lie.

And that sent an explosion of anger and bitter regret, not only towards Adam, but towards himself as well.

"You never cared about me! You were never my friend! All for it, for that?! (The championship)"

And then when he turned around for the betrayal, the last thing he says before the twist?

"Just do it, I knew you never cared, just do it!"

[nextstopwonderland]

Masterlist of Bryan/Nigel content I've posted: part 1

Click here for additional masterlists:

Graphics

(Original post with the song lyrics / quotes)

(Original post with quote)

(Original post)

Video clips

Post-2 out of 3 falls match clip + protective Nigel supercut

“You don’t want to see Desmond Wolfe vs. Lloyd Boner?”

In which they slap each other then shake hands

Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness’s promos ahead of their AWF WSW match “International Assault 2” - June 1, 2007

And another AWF promo

Bryan and Nigel’s entrance at NOAH in Japan July 2007

Video of Nigel talking about his love at first sight prior to diving into the Clamdigger origin

Promo after their first singles match

Those sexually charged handshakes tho

Nigel pulls Bryan’s pigtails while also calling him the GOAT

Nigel with Monkey ‘Brittle’ Danielson at All In Fanfest

“Oh he’s fine to wrestle now is he?”

“Nigel McGuinness has succinctly pointed out, many times at this point, that we have 206 bones in our body, and 205 of mine are perfectly okay

Bryan and Zack and Nigel and mox

Nigel meets yarn Danielson

“Yeah, darling, but it’s not your fault” - Bryan and Nigel, post last ROH match (includes photos)

“We’re both here for the same goal.” (Includes screencaps and gifs) aka the one that looks like a porn setup

Nigel and mox on wrestledream commentary

“If it weren’t for Clamdigger brittle Bryan Danielson I would’ve had that match”

“You need me to take care of this for you Nigel?”

In which Nigel is finally confronted on collision by Kevin and Tony about wanting to wrestle Bryan

“You know, Nigel doesn’t like him.” Danny talks Bryan, Daddy Magic brings up Nigel

Tag team comedic gold in ROH

“Are you okay?” - wxw clip

“Looking at me like that!” - in which we get our first official aew interaction

“Does it hurt??” - interaction number 2

“I would love to wrestle Nigel … I worry about fan expectations” - in which Bryan finally addresses Wembley this year, and lies some

“The other night after Collision ended Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness and I sat in the back and talked for an hour.” - Tony S talks about Bryan & Nigel

Video compilations/fanvids

2023 Bryan and Nigel talking about potentially facing each other again (intercut with some 2006 clips)

“There’s something about Bryan Danielson” (video/audio edit)

🎶two of a kind, we’ll find a way🎶 - fanvid set to Slide Away by Oasis

Video compilation of the nigel talking about Bryan parts of aew unrestricted podcast

Pre and post match moments - first in-ring match (trios)

Compilation of Bryan and Nigel talking about Bryan’s 205 good bones + how magic and professional wrestling are intertwined

Nigel being unhinged on commentary

“That’s Dragon’s favorite perch”

Death match supercut

Collision roast supercut (feat ZSJ)

Supercut of Bryan and Nigel from Wrestling Road Diaries (and Nigel once again talking about that certain something of Bryan’s)

Another wrestling road diaries supercut (mostly Bryan) with some screencaps

Tag team supercut

“You’re obsessed with trying to one-up me, aren’t you?”

“I’ve seen that look on Dragon’s face before”

“You don’t meet many people like that…”

Compilation of Bryan parts of Nigel’s HEY(EW) ep

“Yeah darling but it’s not your fault.” - yet another camera angle of this moment, edited with other footage

“Out of the ring, we bicker a lot.” - another compilation of some WRD clips

Audio posts

Nigel’s favorite career moment of course features Bryan (includes interview text, January 2023)

Nigel talks about Bryan's charisma, clamdigging, and how only one of his bones is broken (August 2023)

“I had this very strange sensation” (May 2021)

Sweet nothings from Nigel (circa 2009)

“I enjoy making fun of him.” (Audio edit, February 2024)

Part 2

[lightningarmour]

Pictured above: On the left, the first poster that was used to promote ROH Final Battle back in late october. On the right, the current version of that poster about a month later. We're just under 20 days until the event and I can't help but wonder how many more faces are going to change on this graphic between now and then.

I must say that I have been more or less enjoying Ring of Honor since it was purchased by Tony Khan and folded into the AEW tent. It's pretty light on promos or storylines, which is not terrible, and results in a far higher quantity of just pretty dang good wrestling, not to mention, probably the best women's division that is being utilized by Mr. Khan & co.

The fact that ROH is actually pretty good is why I've been getting really pissed off with how they seem to treat it as the embarrassing step sibling to AEW. Over the past year, more and more frequently AEW has made incredibly liberal use of ROH belts for their own promotion, to the point of making them seem fairly worthless.

I loved the MJF/Adam Cole bromance as much as the next guy, and them winning the tag belts (at an AEW ppv) was a fine decision, and could have been a way to kind of elevate the status of the titles... if Adam Cole hadn't busted his ankle. Now they've been treating the ROH tag team championship like it's their property and have just refused to let them lose it because what, it would be unfair if Adam couldn't defend his title? So what's the answer? They just get to have their reign artificially extended indefinitely, meanwhile every tag team in ROH can just kind of fuck themselves?

Then it seemed almost as a follow-up to Better than you Bay Bay winning those titles, the Hung Bucks got to dethrone the Embassy for the trios belts (on an episode of AEW), which they held on to for just long enough to be included in the promotional art for Final Battle before just dropping the belts directly back to the Embassy again. What an utter waste of a reign.

Then, after MONTHS of building up Dalton Castle as the heir in waiting to the ROH TV Championship, with the promise of a Castle vs Samoa Joe rematch, they instead just have Joe, the KING OF TELEVISION unceremoniously forfeit his title (on an episode of AEW) and now our promised clash of Dalton and Joe just isn't going to happen, and allegedly there's supposed to be a tournament or something to see who gets to claim the vacated title, but it's been like 3 weeks and zero mention of who gets the shot at that belt or when.

Then, Eddie Kingston(who defeated Claudio to become ROH world Champion on an episode of AEW) just gets to go ahead and put the ROH World Championship up as a prize for the fucking Continental Classic tournament, which is exclusively happening during AEW tv shows, featuring amost exclusively AEW roster. Which ends at the next AEW ppv, World's End on December 30th.

And the latest utter bullshit example of the ROH titles being thrown around like a prize from a gumball machine, with less than a week's worth of build up to the match, Wheeler Yuta, the charisma vacuum, defeats Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure championship (on an episode of AEW) And before anyone um actually's me, I know that Shibata had to go back to Japan for personal reasons, but the handling of this title change was lazy and serves as another example of how little of a shit they seem to give about ROH as a promotion.

Every single ROH title win since like, May has happened on a televised AEW program. Neither Better Than You Bay Bay or The Hung Bucks ever once defended their Ring of Honor titles on Ring of Honor. No member of Ring Of Honor's roster has ever gotten to win an AEW belt and represent it on ROH. It's a completely one-way street where all the biggest stars in AEW, main eventers like MJF, The Young Bucks, Eddie Kingston, get to win ROH titles as a way to make them seem important, but nobody from ROH ever gets to be put over by defeating them.

Of the SIX championships ROH has, Three are currently unavailable to any ROH competitors. The World Championship is now a door prize for an AEW tournament, which means Eddie presumably will not be defending it at Final Battle. And even if he does, he's guaranteed to retain so that it can then be given to the winner of the Continental Classic. Or, some shmuck wins it from him only to have to forfeit it to the winner of said tournament. The ROH TV Championship is in limbo. no one possesses it and can't until they announce some kind of gimmick match to see who gets it. And the ROH Tag Team championship is a big shrug emoji. MJF tore his shoulder at Full Gear, so in all likelihood, he's losing his AEW World Championship to Samoa Joe at World's end. But are they going to bother having him and a mystery partner defend the ROH belts at Final Battle? Given that entirely zero top guys from AEW ever dirty themselves by appearing on ROH, I would be shocked if MJF set foot in an ROH ring. More than likely, he's going to have to do a solo defence again on an episode of Dynamite and lose, or maybe he and Adam Cole will just forfeit the titles and we'll have another stupid tournament or royal rumble to fill more empty belts.

Of the remaining three belts, only the Women's World Championship title is ever regularly defended on ROH. The Embassy are currently on leave because Gates of Agony are in some NJPW tag team event. And Wheeler Yuta only appears on ROH to do Pure Rules squash matches and even then only if he's being used for a replacement pure champ.

Quite frankly Athena is carrying the entire promotion on her god damn shoulders and frankly she does not get nearly the respect she deserves for doing so. She has single handedly made the ROH Women's championship feel like a more important title than either the AEW Women's Championship or the TBS Championship.

They've updated this poster for the event every time one of these titles has changed hands since they first announced it and I really can't help but wonder if it was all just to try and drum up hype and try and trick some people into early ticket sales because frankly I'd ask for my money back at this point between what this event was originally advertised as vs what it's looking like now, vs how it's going to look in 2 weeks.

In short, Tony Khan, please stop treating Ring of Honor like the red headed step child to AEW. It just makes the entire promotion and all the talented wrestlers who work there seem like fucking chumps who just weren't good enough to move up to the big leagues. You're squandering so many good names by stealing belts from ROH to use as fucking accessories to guys who are already in incredibly safe positions.

Like, incredibly unfair to like, Top Flight, The Workhorsemen, Iron Savages, even the fucking Outrunners that none of them have been able to get a shot at those titles because TK or MJF or whoever are unwilling to make their big names lose to the fucking nobodies in ROH?

Incredibly unfair to set up Dalton Castle as the next in line for the TV Belt but then have him go and job to fucking Nick Wayne on AEW.

Why the fuck would anyone want to spend 15 dollars a month subscribing to Honor Club to watch a show that is treated like shit by it's own promotion? Like, ROH used to mean something? Some of the biggest names in the industry got their start there, but it's hardly a place for new, young talent to be able to make a name for themselves when it's just being treated like the kids table for AEW.