#g1 climax review

[fang-revives]

Syb Reviews G1 Climax 33 July 15

Hey all! We’ll see how much I keep up with this but here’s some thoughts on the matches I did watch on the first night of the G1 card! This weekend is free to watch on NJPW World so get on that especially for the matches that are must-watch :D 

I’ll keep these brief and spoiler-free so that you can use them as a match guide if you’re strapped for time and want to just watch the highlights. Crossed out matches I skipped so you’ll have to decide for yourself.

*

1. Yoshi-Hashi vs. El Phantasmo

- Good!! Not a must-watch but it’s really fun to see Yoshi-Hashi’s swagger as IWGP Tag champ, and I’ll be keeping one eye on how El Phantasmo finds a new faction (or doesn’t!) this G1.

2. Chase Owens vs. Gabe Kidd 

- pass. You couldn’t pay me to watch a Chase Owens match.

3. Tanga Loa vs. Kenta

- I was only so so on watching this to begin with and my friend said it was nothing special.

4. Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino

- ABSOLUTE MUST WATCH!!!! The Reiwa three muskateers were *the* thing I wanted to watch on this card and BOY did this deliver. They’re really building the chemistry of their rivalry wonderfully. I’d watch this a second time. I can’t wait for the backstage comments on this.

5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Great-O-Khan

- sorry to okada I just don’t find great-o-khan that interesting.

6. Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Yota Tsuji

- ANOTHER ABSOLUTE MUST WATCH!!! God Tsuji is so insanely talented, he has me rooting for him to win A-block. Just a star. And it’s great to see Kiyomiya up there kicking ass. I want him to get his rematch with Okada...

7. Tachi vs. Will Ospreay

- I watched this match for Taichi hometown crowd and I regretted it. It’s not very good I’m sorry to say. I have no idea if Ospreay is working hurt (very dumb) or if that spot he missed in the middle was part of a worked shoot working hurt (also very dumb) but this match dragged so much at the start that we skipped to the last 5 minutes. I do not recommend it.

8. Sanada vs. Hikuleo

- skipped. There will be other matches with Sanada that seem more interesting.

[djvillain]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 34 FINALS REVIEW

[christhebrit2]

G1 Climax 33 Preview

History

The G1 Climax tournament is the most gruelling tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling and the most prestigious. The winner of the tournament gets a IWGP Heavyweight Title match at Wrestle Kingdom. Wrestle Kingdom is the biggest show of the year for New Japan held at the Tokyo Dome. The tournament winners are a who's who of legendary Japanese wrestlers including the founder of the company Antonio Inoki, Keiji Mutoh (better known in the west as The Great Muta) the Ace of New Japan Hiroshi Tanahashi and the current face of the company and arguably the best wrestler in the world Kazuchika Okada. Only three wrestlers from the west have ever won the G1. The two biggest stars from the 1980s Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan both won the tournament in the early years when it was held under different rules. Kenny Omega is the only Western wrestler to win the tournament under its gruelling modern format.

Rules

The tournament this year is split into 4 blocks of 8 wrestlers with the top two from each block qualifying for the quarter finals. Each block match has a 20 minute time limit. Two points for a victory, One point for a time limit draw and zero points for a loss. The quarter final matches onwards are single elimination with the winner advancing to the next round.

A Block

A Block this year features the current IWGP Heavyweight champion SANADA who faces a unique challenge in that A Block is the youngest block in the tournament. It feels very much like SANADA vs the next generation of Japanese wrestling. Kaito Kiyomiya is an outsider in the tournament representing Pro Wrestling Noah and as a two time GHC Heavyweight champion will be expecting a strong showing. Hikuleo the 6’8 adopted son of legendary tough guy Haku is a prime candidate for a breakout performance in this years G1 and feels like a star just waiting to happen. UK fans have some familiar faces in this years tournament Gabe Kidd is one of 3 UK wrestlers in the tournament and Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji will be familiar to fans of Revolution Pro Wrestling.

Predictions

First place - SANADA

Second place - Hikuleo

B Block

B Block features two of the biggest stars in New Japan Pro Wrestling with Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay. Okada is the face of the company and must be considered the tournament favourite. Will Ospreay is the biggest International talent in the company and is on an incredible run of matches. Ospreay is arguably the greatest pro wrestler to ever come out of the UK and will push Okada all the way for first place. KENTA and Taichi are main stays in the company and will be looking for a strong showing in the tournament. The highflying El Phantasmo will be one to watch and should put in some spectacular performances with his match against Ospreay sure to be a highlight.

Predictions

First place - Kazuchika Okada

Second place - Will Ospreay

C Block

C Block this year is the definition of “Strong Style” and will feature the most hard-hitting contests of this years G1. Tomohiro Ishii The Stone Pitbull, The Dragon Shingo Takagi, EVIL and Eddie Kingston are sure to provide some classic “Strong Style” matches that will showcase there talents nicely. David Finlay the newly cemented leader of the Bullet Club and son of legendary Northern Irish tough guy Fit Finlay will be a force to be reckoned with and alongside his manager Gedo must be considered a favourite. Eddie Kingston is an outsider representing All Elite Wrestling and will be a big fan favourite. Kingston recently won the New Japan Strong championship and grew up a big fan of Japanese wrestling. Kingston carries momentum into the tournament but faces an uphill battle to qualify for the quarter finals against Shingo Takagi who has to be considered a favourite in this block.

Predictions

First place - Shingo Takagi

Second place - David Finlay

D Block

D Block is one of the most competitive blocks in this years G1 tournament and thus hard to predict. Hiroshi Tanahashi is the ace of New Japan and can never be over looked in these tournaments however he isn’t getting any younger and is dealing with injures and may struggle. Tetsuya Naito is one of the most dynamic performers in the tournament but isn’t on a role going into the tournament. Zach Sabre Jr is the greatest technical wrestler in the world and is neck and neck with Will Ospreay for the greatest British wrestler of all time. Hirooki Goto is a hard hitting fan favourite who tends to either excel or disappoint in these tournaments and could be a left field pick for the quarter finals.

Predictions

First place - Tetsuya Naito

Second place - Zach Sabre Jr

[thisismytwocents]

G1 fatigue

Anxiety

Needing Ice Coffee

 I felt really bad earlier today. My breakfast was like a bottle of sweat due to overthinking; a hot cup of coffee turned cold, and memories of regrets. I was beginning to feel tired of watching wrestling pretty much 24/7. (G1 is still the most prestigous tournament, and this is the best G1 in years.)

I felt I needed to rekindle my love of reading. I was in a reading slump due to blogging for the G1 Climax. Inject that needed Serotonin and get myself motivated to read again. And I guess there was more joy in buying a book at a store than doing it online. It felt like I was scouting a prospect athlete, checking covers and checking reviews on the net.

I decided to bring home picture 10, as I used to watch Bojack Horseman during my "broken years". I might be able to read it after G1, though. And I might just finish rereading "Normal People" first as I try to get ready to watch the series.

 

[takerfoxx]

The G1 Climax is going to be taking up all my attention for the next few weeks, and after that is Good Omens 2, but I still wanted to drop a brief review of the first season of High School DXD. Why? Because I find schlock that has some measure of effort put into it to be weirdly fascinating. And a mix of hotblooded shonen action, an intricate supernatural world with honestly pretty cool concepts, and shameless rated-r ecchi harem antics hits that sweet spot. So, please indulge me as I ramble on about borderline pornography. And also, spoilers ahead.

So...I liked it.

The end!

Okay, seriously though, I still don't know if I'm giving this show too much credit on account of what it is, or not enough credit because of what it is. Which is to say, am I letting a lot of glaring narrative flaws just slide because it's an ecchi harem, so what do you expect? Or am I deliberately avoiding praising some genuinely neat shit because it's still an ecchi harem, and that just drags it down? I don't know. I just know I get a kick out of the silliness that would be dull if it stood on its own, and am honestly enjoying the story, but probably wouldn't have given it a second look if it weren't for the novelty of it all.

So anyway, I already talked about the first half and how much I liked the whole rescue of Asia from the evil church. The idea of a bunch of teenagers that got caught in the crossfire of some kind of supernatural war, got killed as a result, but were raised as demons and formed their little found family that has beef with all sides is the sort of thing I really like. That being said, the breakup of Rias's wedding wasn't quite as good, but it was still enjoyable. The big battle between the two harems in the faux version of the school was definitely MY SHIT, and I honestly would've preferred that they just stretched that out instead of the duel at the end. But it was still fun.

Though speaking of which, I really had to laugh during that duel. Like, the whole concept is that Issei gets a super-dragon form, but it only lasts ten seconds. Except they must've been operating on Freeza-time, because each one of those "seconds" lasted like five to ten seconds each, and yet Issei still ran out of time because he couldn't stop giving shonen protagonist speeches! Like, dude! Hurry it up, bro! Taunt the guy after you beat him!

But the way they ended up resolving that whole thing was clever, so it turned out all right in the end.

As for Issei, yeah, while I'm sure it was novel to have your harem protagonist actually be 100% into it whenever the ecchi shit goes down instead of freaking out every single time (coughRITOcough), his perv-out moments are so over the top that it does come out to the same thing in the end. But I guess that's just par the course for the genre.

Though it does mean that when he gets caught doing something perverted and gets hit with the slapstick for it, he actually 100% deserves it, so there's no having the protagonist get slapped around for situations that aren't his fault. Nah, every time Issei gets smacked around, he totally has it coming.

Actually, you know who was a surprise standout? Kiba. Yeah, surprised me too. I mean, he's not one of the girls, so he basically got no promotion, so I didn't even know about the guy until I started the show, and having another dude in the main cast did stick out at first. But honestly, he is such a bro that I really came to appreciate having him around.

And given that this is, in fact, a harem, I guess that means I gotta choose who I think is best girl. So I'm going with...Asia. Yeah, that also surprised me. But there's just something so charming about the stock wholesome girl next door type who is also just as much DTF as the protagonist is.

Actually, come to think of it, why haven't they done it yet? They're both living under the same roof, they're both clearly digging each other, Rias has his parents under that geas, so what's the holdup? I get why it hasn't happened with any of the other girls, but Issei and Asia genuinely seemed to click in that way, and don't have any weird demonic political stuff going on.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. It's an ecchi, not a hentai, and rules say the protag must not fuck, else you ruin the sizzle. But seriously, any other teenagers with their personalities in that situation would have by now.

And speaking of harem antics and fanservice...it's fine. Gotta admit, even though it's totally lacking on story, character development, and stakes in comparison to High School DXD, I still think it's a step backward from To Love-Ru. Like, it does the standard tropes, but other than uncensored nipples they doesn't really do anything new with them, whereas To Love-Run literally being at war with Japan's censorship laws and constantly winning was fucking hilarious. Still, it's pretty good.

Also, every time those eyecatches pop up during a big, dramatic moment is comedy gold. Like, the villain would have the heroes on the ropes, everyone is distraught, Issei is beaten half to death, and BOOM! Akeno doing a gravure shoot, ass in your face!

[cavenewstimes]

PWTorch Dailycast - Wrestling Night in America - Kelly Wells joins Greg Parks to discuss first two nights of NJPW G1 Climax tournament, more

Feedzy Read More In this episode of Wrestling Night in America, PWTorch columnist Greg Parks is joined by PWTorch.com contributor Kelly Wells to review Impact Slammiversary as well as the first two nights of the G1 Climax tournament. They take phone calls and emails on the booking of Judgment Day in WWE, AEW’s tag division, Adrian Adonis, and more.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network,…

[hazyheel]

NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Day 7 Review

The opening contest of the night was Zack Sabre Jr vs. Bad Luck Fale. I was actually kinda looking forward to this one, because Sabre wrestles big men really really well. These two actually have a record, 1-0 in favor of Sabre after a G1 meeting 2 years ago. Before the match, Chase Owens got on English commentary and announced that Fale is going to storm Area 51, because they can’t stop the rogue general. I appreciated that. Sabre immediately charged at the bell and locked in a guillotine choke. This makes sense, because big men need more air and more energy to move around, so cut that off and Fale will fall. When Fale fought out, Sabre opted to attack the legs. I love the psychology of Sabre matches. Sabre tried to keep Fale on the mat, but Fale continued to power out of the submissions and throwing the smaller man around. At one point, Sabre reversed the Bad Luck Fall into a flying octopus hold, but Fale backed up into the ropes, allowing Jado to nail him in the back with the kendo stick. Owens got in a couple shots of his own, and Fale then beat the crap out of Sabre in the stands. The two battled a bit, with Sabre countering the grenade into a triangle hold as the ref started the count. He was able to force Fale down to his knees, and then he bolted to the ring, winning his first G1 match this year by count out. Sabre: 2, Fale: 2.

Grade: B. Fale isn’t the greatest wrestler in the world, but Sabre certainly kept it interesting. The countout victory didn’t feel cheap in the slightest, it felt smart. Sabre beat his much larger opponent through smart submissions and a tricky play in the end. Definitely deserving of his first two points.

Then we had Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer. This is another match that I was looking forward to, as Tanahashi is awesome, and Archer is a goddamned anomaly when it comes to this G1. He is so cool to watch. These two have a record, although it is old. Tanahashi won both of their previous matches, both in the G1. However, their last match singles match was in 2013, which was long enough ago to think that they may have changed a lot about themselves. Shockingly enough, Tanahashi was the one to attack before the bell, and he went right for the knee. They soon spilled out to the floor and battled for a while, ending when Archer nailed an apron bomb. Archer destroyed Tanahashi’s back and chest on the outside and it really seemed like he had a shot in this match. Tanahashi tried to put Archer down with chops, but he kept no selling them and drilling with a huge chop of his own. Tanahashi kept switching strategies in this match, looking for power moves, strikes and submissions at varying points, each with minimal success. Even when Tana had a comeback, it would only take a shoulder tackle or another power move to get control back. Archer went for his very extra old school, but Tana countered with a twist and shout and a slingblade. He then went for aces high, but Archer caught him for a vicious chokeslam and a near fall. Archer then fought for the EBD claw, and although Tana tried to fight against it, he locked it in for just a second. Archer had Tana in the corner, and looked like he was going to get a muscle buster, but Tana locked in a victory roll for a flash pin and the win. Tanahashi: 4, Archer: 4

Naturally, after the match Archer attacked the ref.

Grade: B+. Really good between these two. Tana knew that Archer was the bigger man, and he was desperate for the win right from the start. He tried everything he could, but Archer wouldn’t go down. In the end, it was a lucky roll up that got the Ace the win here, and Archer was naturally furious. He had one of the biggest stars in the company in the palm of his hands, and then he ate a flash pin. I imagine that this will only fuel Archer’s rage going forward.

Next up was EVIL vs. KENTA. This was a first time ever match. On commentary, they talked about while Kenta has a striking advantage, the raw strength and brawling from Evil is nothing to laugh at. The two may be closer in that respect than you would think. The two were very violent right in the beginning, with Evil pulling no punches when he attacked, and neither did Kenta. The two started out getting tied up in the ropes, and although there was a clean break, Kenta wiped the eye makeup of Evil. That really pissed Evil off, and the two brawled to the outside. Evil even took Kenta to one of the entrances, before they brawled into the crowd. The two dueled for control with both wanting to suplex the other onto a stack of chairs, with Kenta coming out on top. Kenta began to destroy Evil with kicks back in the ring, only firing him up, and Evil started to nail huge lariats. At one point, Kenta even tried for a striking contest, but Evil blocked the first blow and shot back, downing Kenta in one hit. That was certainly an interesting interaction. the two started another striking contest later delivering wicked elbows over and over, until Evil won again with a headbutt. Kenta still fought back into the match, hitting an awesome running knee to counter a running lariat. He kept control from there, nailing a kick to the head, a pique kick and then go to sleep for the win. Kenta: 8, Evil: 4.

Grade: B+. This was a really good story, and a really hard hitting match. I was not shocked by the winner here, but I was shocked when Evil won two head to head striking contests. They beat the crap out of each other, as expected, and hit some brutal moves in the process. Kenta continues to lead the block, and it seems like Evil may end up being the spoiler of A block. He already beat Ibushi, and part of me thinks that he will beat Okada as well. He has before, I don’t see why he couldn’t again.

We went right into Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA. These two have some history, with Sanada winning their match last year in the G1, giving them a 1-0 record in favor of Sanada. The two started with some grappling and went hold for hold with each other. They then picked up the speed, but still ending in a stalemate. Then they competed for some cheers, and the crowd totally came alive. Japanese clouds are so cool when they get excited. They then started to go back and forth with big moves to try to outdo one another. Definitely an interesting story here. They eventually got into striking, with some great chops from Sanada followed by a deadly kick from Ibushi. They started to exchange some hard hitting signature moves as the excitement continued to build. Sanada at one point caught a kick, and started to attack the knee with a dropkick. He went for another, but Ibushi countered with a standing double foot stomp. That was when the two competed once again, with the heaviest hits that they could muster. Neither man went down. Ibushi went for the kamagoye about three or four times, but each attempt saw Sanada avoid it and Ibushi maintain wrist control. Eventually after some creative counters, Sanada nailed Ibushi with a kamagoye of his own, netting him a near fall. He then went for a moonsault, which he missed. it was also at a super low angle, and it was scary as hell. Anyway, after avoiding the moonsault, Ibushi hit a great bomoye. That was when they started to battle for skull end. Both wanted to choke out the other, and they continued to counter each other over and over. Sanada was finally able to lock it in for a while, but when he tried to get the hooks in, Ibushi attempted to reverse it into the kamagoye. They struggled a bit, before Ibushi absolutely whacked Sanada in the head with a roundhouse kick. Ibushi followed it up with a bomoye for 2, and then a kamagoye for 3. Ibushi: 4, Sanada: 2.

Grade: A-. This started out as a contest of one uppmanship, but eventually grew into a great match where both men refused to get hit by anything. Counters were flying all over the place and it was impossible to see who had the advantage for any length of time. This was all back and forth, and a great win for Ibushi. His ankle looked to be bothering him a bit during this match, so I hope that it doesn’t take him out, but it certainly didn’t take away from anything here. Sanada seems to be getting less emphasis this year than Evil, but he is still a force to be reckoned with.

And in the main event, we had Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay. IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. They have a 3-0 record in favor of Okada, but all were great matches. They are friends from the same stable, and they respect each other a lot. They started out with some technical exchanges and a slow deliberate pace. After Ospreay won an early exchanged and forced Okada to the outside, he made sure to sit on the ropes for him when he came back in, which Okada rejected. Okada later did the same to him. They played it up as respect, but I saw it as the opposite. Okada targetted the already injured neck of Ospreay, while Ospreay just tried to up the pace. Ospreay tried to fight back with incredible strikes, but Okada stood strong and dropped him with a thunderous forearm. However, when Okada went for his signature DDT, Ospreay countered with a huge vertical suplex. Ospreay followed up with a huge chop, followed by a corner ensiguri, but when he went for the top rope tiger fang kick, Okada caught him and just dropped him on his neck to maintain the advantage. The two then picked up the pace quite a bit, constantly countering each other’s signature maneuvers until Okada dropped Ospreay with a beautiful standing dropkick. He followed up with a tombstone, and tried for a rainmaker, but Ospreay countered into a victory roll and then a robinson special. Ospreay went for the os cutter, but Okada caught him with a dropkick on the ropes, sending the smaller man tumbling to the outside. The two then battled on the apron, with anticipation building as to who will hit the big move first. It looked to be Ospreay after a big kick to the shoulder, but as he went up for a moonsault to the outside, Okada pulled him down to try for a tombstone. Ospreay fought out and sent him into the barricade. He followed that up with a hook kick and then an os cutter on the outside. Ospreay made it back in the ring, as did Okada, but Ospreay cut him off with a springboard dropkick to a crawling Okada. He then nailed a second os cutter in the ring, but Okada still kicked out! It was also the best os cutter I have ever seen. A desperate Opsreay tried for the top rope os cutter, but Okada caught him in midair and flattened him with a german suplex. He tried for the rainmaker, but Ospreay slipped out, so Okada dropkicked him instead. He tried again, but Ospreay hit a standing spanish fly for another near fall. Ospreay then hit a shooting star press for another near fall. Nothing was putting the champion down. Ospreay tried for the storm breaker, but Okada tried to get a tombstone. Ospreay fought out of it, nailed a couple knees to the top of the head, and hit a tombstone of his own. He nailed a ripcord hook kick, and went for the stormbreaker again, but Okada flipped out of it and hit a short rainmaker. He maintained wrist control, and hit another short rainmaker. Okada tried for the full rainmaker, but Ospreay reversed it into stormbreaker position, but Okada flipped out again and hit a spinning short rainmaker. And finally, with Ospreay all out of energy and having been spun around by those rainmakers 3 times, Okada finally hit a full rainmaker and put Ospreay down. Okada: 8, Ospreay: 2.

Grade: A+. Back to back A+’s from Ospreay. He is really delivering in this tournament. Okada is as well, its an awesome tournament this year. Ospreay was a perfect underdog here, and Okada was the staunch champion who wasn’t phased by anything. Ospreay put up the fight of a lifetime, but he just couldn’t finish it off. He had Okada beat a couple of times, but he is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion for a reason. Okada took several of Ospreay’s best shots and kept fighting, it was incredible. Even though Ospreay is now probably too far behind to even get in the top 5 of his block, he seems to be delivering the best matches in the G1 so far. Probably between him and Ishii. As for Okada, he and Kenta are still leading the pack with 8 points apiece, and they face off in the next block A show. Given that they are both two points ahead of the rest of the chasing pack, it feels like one of them will win the block, but we can’t be sure just yet. A block is getting very dramatic. Oh, and this was far and away the match of the night. Probably my favorite G1 match so far, even better than Ibushi vs. Ospreay.

Overall Grade:  A-.

Pros: All matches

Cons: Ibushi’s ankle injury seems to be flaring up. 

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 30 Day 1 Review (Sept 19th, 2020, Osaka EDION Arena)

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura  ***

A BLOCK

Will Ospreay vs. Yujiro Takahashi  ***1/4

Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi  ***1/4

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki  ****1/2

Shingo Takagi vs. Jay White  ****

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi  ****1/4

photos.

The 30th annual G1 Climax kicked off in fine fashion with a great show from the always lively Osaka EDION Arena. Even when it’s 2/3rds full thanks to this pandemic. The night started with a battle of Young Lions, as Yuya Uemura submitted a freshly clean-shaven Yota Tsuji with a high angle crab after 6:57 of good, solid combat. 

The G1 began with a returning Will Ospreay battling the odd-man-out in the Block (and tournament), Yujiro. This was was a brief (7:44), all-action outing, that was a showcase for the Ariel Assassin, if nothing else. After Yujiro scored a near fall with Miami Shine, he tried Pimp Juice, but Ospreay flipped out, hit Hidden Blade, then Storm Breaker to take the two points. The fast pace and short runtime really enhanced this, and if all of Yujiro’s G1 matches are this sort of time, that’s fine with me. Ospreay cut one of his excruciating promos in the post match. Taichi and Jeff Cobb, a guy who hasn’t been in New Japan in forever, squared off next. This only went 12:47, but the first two thirds felt double that, as Taichi heeled it up in interminable fashion (hitting Cobb’s knee with the hammer from the gong, walking around doing nothing for a while), but picked up into a really good match once that was out of the way. Once those trousers come off, Taichi matches get good, so keep them off I say. Cobb catches a superkick attempt and hits a Death Valley Bomb, and follows up with a standing moonsault for 2. Taichi escaped a Spin Cycle attempt, and goes to the Kawada well, hitting a Dangerous High Kick and Dangerous Backdrop, but Cobb counters a Black Mephisto into the rolling gutwrenches. Taichi escaped a Tour Of The Islands attempt, hit another gamengiri, a Superkick, then successfully hits Black Mephisto to take the win.

After a brief intermission for cleaning, Ishii and Suzuki went to war in a hard-hitting bout, which was probably the best match on the show. They clobbered each other with super stiff forearms, slaps and headbutts in glorious fashion for exactly 13 minutes. After stunning Ishii, Suzuki tries the Gotch, but The Stone Pitbull lifts him up and counters into a dangerous looking reverse piledriver. An exchange of Lariats and strikes finally sees Suzuki floor Ishii with a huge elbow, then get a near fall with a sliding front kick. Ishii hits a big headbutt, then tries for the Vertical Drop Brainbuster, but Suzuki escapes and quickly hits the Gotch Style Piledriver to take the two points. This was tremendous and really, these hard-hitting wars have been the highlight of this whole pandemic era. While most other matches have failed to reach the heights they would ordinarily have pre-COVID, these stiff, strike based matches have almost always delivered, just on their intensity alone. Jay White made his first New Japan appearance in 6 months against Shingo Takagi next. This was an excellent match that, despite it devolving into (shock) a Jay White match, had the crowd going absolutely crazy in a manner we’ve rarely seen in this environment. They were stomping their feet on near falls like it was 1985, and were completely behind Shingo. After a prerequisite ref bump, Gedo hit the ring with brass knucks, but way laid out with a super casual back elbow from Takagi. Jay ducks a Pumping Bomber, then hits the Sleeper Suplex and Kiwi Krusher for a near fall. Shingo escapes a Blade Runner attempt and hoists White up into Last Of The Dragon, but Jay’s feet send Red Shoes down again. Shingo hits LOTD, but no ref! As Shingo goes to investigate just what the hell is going on, Switchblade hits a low blow, a Regalplex and Blade Runner to take the win at 19:28.

The main event between Okada and Ibushi was something of a disappointment. It was a great match, no doubt, but just missed something these two usually have together, and it couldn’t touch either the WK14 match, or last years G1 outing, and was ultimately the weakest match these guys have had together since their 2013 match in DDT. To be fair, neither guy has looked like their usual selves since coming back from the lockdown, so I’ve no idea whats happening here. This started off a bit ropey, but really picked up when Ibushi hit a massive Asai Moonsault to the floor. Okada tried a top rope Tombstone, but Ibushi turns it into a (rather messy) springboard Frankensteiner. Kota tries the Bastard Driver, but Okada reverses into a short Tombstone for the double down. They exchange forearms from the knees which really had the crowd going, then Okada kept trying with this modified Cobra Clutch. I admire his dedication to getting this thing over, but its just not happening. Okada hits a big spinning Tombstone... then locks the Clutch on again. Ibushi makes the ropes. The Golden Star hits a jumping knee, them tries Kamigoye, but Okada dropkicks his way free. Rainmaker seemingly tries a dropkick version of Kamigoye, but Ibushi catches him into a big Liger Bomb, another jumping knee, and Kamigoye to take the “upset” win at 21:35. I say upset, but New Japan love their 50/50 booking as much as the next promotion, so with Ibushi losing at the Dome, I could see him getting his win back here. Which he did. All in all, a really great show that was action packed, and at around 2 hours sans intermission, it was a breeze to sit through. This G1, whilst unlikely to hit the highs of the last few years, is on track to being quite the tournament.

NDT

[megatron-fucks]

Posting deleted scenes from stuff because I need validation; but also someone was talking about trans Megatron and this kind of is?

Set in the Lesser Evil universe, so G1/IDW. Frame dysphoria; domestic MegOp in post-war cybertron. No spoilers.

---

"I was thinking," Megatron said, and then stopped. He was very good at acting like he hadn't said anything at all.

"You were thinking?" Optimus prompted.

Megatron glared at the vidscreen as his discomfort built in thick crashing waves. "I was wondering how y-" And just like that, discomfort turned into anger. He stood up with fists and jaw clenched. "It's not important."

"Tell me anyway. I like it when you tell me unimportant things."

But this was clearly a bridge too far. Megatron was already leaving: not just the room, it seemed, but the entire flat. "Do you want anything while I'm out?"

Optimus decided to let it go. "A new polishing cloth, if you happen to see a good one." This would probably result in Megatron building a spreadsheet of the pros and cons of various polishing cloths, but at least that might take his mind off whatever was bothering him.

The door slammed. Optimus thought about calling Ratchet to vent, but he didn't want Ratchet to to worry about this. It would take more than a few years of tenuous peace for anyone to get comfortable with the idea of a fuming Megatron loose on the streets.

---

Optimus was reading a romance novel, of all things, with his feet in Megatron's lap and the TV droning away in the background. He had intended to review the municipal recovery risk analysis, but Megatron had the infuriating habit of confiscating Optimus' work in the evening. Come morning, his datapads would all be piled up once more on his desk.

The sudden silence of the TV made him look up, only then realizing that the tension in his tanks wasn't from the building climax of the novel. Megatron's fans rattled as he tried to fight his anger down.

Optimus quietly opened the same channel on his datapad - volume off, subtitles on - expecting to find Starscream in the middle of a rant about how Megatron ruined everything. Instead it was some bright red Velocitronian, in an interview about Cybertron's dwindling military capability.

He was about to reassure Megatron - it was, despite both of their instincts, probably a good thing that they couldn't all go back to killing each other at a moment's notice - when the mech said "They're not proper reframes. No one has the money for that kind of thing these days. But most mechs could stand to lose a few tonnes of armour." Orion switched it off.

"I thought about getting some modifications," he said carefully. "I quite like my earth alt-mode, but it would be nice to blend into a crowd a little more."

"I don't want a reframe," Megatron snarled. It took him a couple of seconds to get the rest of his excuse out. "I've had enough to last several lifetimes. I'm fine like this." His fans were hissing with the force of the air rushing through them.

Optimus put his datapad down and shifted to lean on Megatron more. "I like your frame a great deal," he agreed. "But I'm sure I'd like the new one, too."

"I don't want a reframe," Megatron repeated. He did something that made his optics dim and shut the anger off for half a second, before it came rushing back so hard and fast it made Optimus' head spin.

"Do you want your fusion cannon back? We could-"

"NO!" He tried to stand up, but their legs were still tangled together.

Optimus took his time extricating himself. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Thankfully this seemed sufficient to keep Megatron in his seat. "I want whatever you want. That's all."

Megatron slumped forward to bury his face in his hands. It made Optimus want badly to hold him but he'd learned that it was best to pretend nothing was happening. He picked up his datapad and turned it on without reading another word.

For the next few kliks, he focused on just keeping himself calm, hoping some of it would carry over to Megatron.

"I'm not going to do it," Megatron finally said.

"Okay."

"I mean it, Optimus. I don't want to do it."

"I believe you."

Something in Megatron unwound a little. "I just think it might be nice to have wings."

The desire to comfort him was sharp as a knife. "Can I touch you, love?" Megatron choked out a noise and sat up, letting Optimus wrap an arm around him. "I think it sounds wonderful." Megatron made another uncomfortable little noise. "In a frame like this? Big broad wings I could sleep on?"

Megatron shook his head. "I'm too heavy. I'd take out a wall every time I cornered." Optimus rubbed his arm and said nothing. He could only hope that Megatron could feel how loved he was. In every moment, of course, but even more in this one. How privileged Optimus felt to be told this. "I thought I was heavy as a miner but that was nothing. Less than a third of what I am now."

That was something he could easily change. Megatron didn't need to stand up to heavy weaponry anymore.

[gdwessel]

G1 Climax 30 Night 12 - 10/8/2020; Tanahashi Appears On AEW Dynamite Along With Footage from Archer v. Moxley at WK14

The sixth day of B Block matches has come and gone, and you can see it now on NJPWWorld.

- 10/8/2020, Okayama ZIP Arena

Gabriel Kidd d. Yuya Uemura (Double-Arm Suplex, 8:47) 

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] d. YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (GTR, 14:12)

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] d. Toru Yano [CHAOS] (Figure Four Heel Hook, 12:20)

G1 Climax 30 B Block: SANADA [Los Ingobernables] d. KENTA [Bullet Club] (O’Connor Bridge, 11:24)

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] d. Juice Robinson (Destino, 25:01)

G1 Climax 30 B Block: EVIL [Bullet Club] d. Hiroshi Tanahashi (EVIL STO, 19:58)

EVIL and SANADA both continue their runs, as they face each other on the final day. Naito wins, but we all know he isn’t winning the Block or the tournament. Remember the good old days of last week when Toru Yano was winning matches in ridiculous fashion?

Current B Block standings:

Naito: 10pts (5W 0D 1L) EVIL: 8pts (4W 0D 2L) Tanahashi: 6pts (3W 0D 3L) Robinson: 6pts (3W 0D 3L) SANADA: 6pts (3W 0D 3L) Sabre: 6pts (3W 0D 3L) Goto: 6pts (3W 0D 3L) Yano: 6pts (3W 0D 3L) KENTA: 4pts (2W 0D 4L) YOSHI-HASHI: 2pts (1W 0D 5L)

YOSHI-HASHI is eliminated from contention at this stage. KENTA is next to go as it stands. There is a logjam of wrestlers on 6 points, but as with prior years in G1, you can “read the booking” for the last day of matches and see who will actually still be in contention at that point. 

Last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite was interesting for many reasons (not least of which, the dog collar match between Cody Rhodes v. Brodie Lee). 

The episode was focused on Chris Jericho’s 30th anniversary as a wrestler, and through the night, videotaped tributes were shown from such, erm, luminaries as Bubba Ray Dudley, Dennis Miller and Gene Simmons. But also, Ultimo Dragon, and Hiroshi Tanahashi!

Tanahashi is understandable, since he and Jericho just wrestled back in January at Wrestle Kingdom 14. And if you want someone from NJPW to pay tribute to Jericho, you could do worse than the Ace. At the same time, the Lion Mark was clearly displayed on AEW TV. And that wasn’t all.

In addition, promos were cut by both current AEW World Champion, and IWGP US Heavyweight Champion, Jon Moxley, and his challenger on next week’s episode of Dynamite, Lance Archer. Both had images and footage from their match at WK14, the IWGP US title Texas Deathmatch that was the scene of Mox winning the belt. 

Excalibur would later directly reference Gedo and NJPW on commentary during the main event, while earlier on during a promo, Kenny Omega made a not-very-oblique reference to his winning G1 Climax at the first time of asking way back in 2016.

All of these put together make a very interesting proposition. Add to that, the fact NJPW will be gaining a new President/CEO on 10/23/2020 as Harold Meij steps aside for Takami Ohbari, and one might think something official was brewing between AEW and NJPW. But as ever, we shall see. There is nothing official yet, but it’s a question that keeps coming up, and maybe now we’ll get a definitive answer.

(On a very related note, last night I dropped the one-year anniversary episode, which happens to be episode 50, of my weekly AEW Dynamite review show, Boom Goes The Dynamite, on the PWOM Podcast Network, so go check that out if so inclined!)

The crew takes a day off tomorrow, before resuming A Block matches.

- 10/10/2020, Osaka EDION Arena

Yota Tsuji v. Yuya Uemura

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] v. Jeff Cobb [FREE]

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Jay White [Bullet Club] v. Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] v. Taichi [SZKG]

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Kota Ibushi v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

[fang-revives]

Syb Reviews G1 Climax 33 July 18

Catching up on my review posts! I didn’t watch a lot of this card, keeping up with wrestling on GMT+9 during the week is always going to be a bit of a struggle for me, but here’s your breakdown on what I did watch!

1. Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Chase Owens

Skip etc no one on god’s green earth could make me watch a Chase Owens match.

2. Great O-Khan vs. KENTA

Skip, love Kenta, Great-O-Khan bores me though and I knew it to be unlikely Kenta would do much for this match.

3. Hikuleo vs. Gabe Kidd

Skip, no connection to either wrestler.

4. Taichi vs. Tanga Loa

Skip, no time.

5. Ren Narita vs. Yota Tsuji

BARK BARK WOOF WOOF [FOGHORN NOISE!!!!!]

ahem. this match is a must see. holy shit. I love the Reiwa Muskateers, and I love these two in this match especially. Please watch this. if you watch only one thing from the past week of wrestling make it this. I want to watch it again just thinking about it.

6. Yoshi-Hashi vs. Will Ospreay

Skip. Don’t like Tacos enough to sit through an Ospreay match for him :P

7. SANADA vs. Shota Umino

Good! A good time, not as memorable as some of Sanada’s other matches but Shooter had some good fire in it!

8. Kazuchika Okada vs. El Phantasmo

LOVED IT!!! It’s very close to a must-see for me, and especially nice to pair with Narita vs. Tsuji. I believe we shuffled around the card and watched this first, because we knew there’d be a good comedy angle. I loved that it felt like this match was used specifically to put over Phantasmo’s face turn, even if it was an Okada main event match. I had a lot of fun with it. I popped real hard for nipple shenanigans. Great time all around!

[djvillain]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 34 Nights 10 through 14 Review

[baebeyza]

Finished RID01 ~

Or lets say I finished Car Robots, I watched it all in japanese, but still use the english names for character-recognition reasons Anyway, my thoughts and observations: 

- Plot was nice and most episodes were a lot of fun, but for me personally it wasn’t exciting enough for the most part - there wasn’t a lot of escalation and therefore not a lot of stakes. For me the plot didn’t start really gearing up until Ultra Magnus showed up, and that happens in episode 24/39 I mean sure it’s a kids show, but this is my review düdes. Also you can compare it to other TF shows - TF Headmasters for example! They had a great escalation and therefore really high stakes that made the overall plot and episodes so much more exciting by building up tension, making you really wanna watch more of it. But like BWII, RID01 doesn’t really do much that makes the plot exciting, at least not until the final episodes.  But that’s like the only negative thing I can say for this show, again, it was a lot of fun ~  - Characters! Characters were also a weak point in BWII for me, the hero characters to be precise, but in RID01 most of them were really awesome, my faves being Prowl, Ultra Magnus, Optimus and Tow-Line for some reason ~ The villains were less and while the Predacon trio didn’t wow me, they were at least funny for the most part. Sky-Byte was just kinda a highlight for this show, being totally hilarious! The Decepticons were also really nice, I digged the dynamic between Scourge and Meca-Octane and the others were lovable fools ~ Scourge is also really awesome just as an evil version of Optimus :D

- I really didn’t expect Ultra Magnus to be the way he is, but I loved it nontheless! ~ And I have to state what I stated in previous posts - the english version ommitting the friendship between Ultra Magnus and Sideburn is a TRAGEDY! That shit was so cute in the japanese version, the english audience were robbed of something adorable!  - I was disappointed with Megatron and Galvatron though - with Megatron because for the most part of the show, he didn’t do much. Just stayed in his throne room giving orders and getting mad at his stupid henchmen. I mean you have this character who is super powerful and can transform into 6 different things, why the hell is he spending most of his screentime with nothing? That’s not the kind of villain who melts my heart away! He ain’t too bad, like he has a brain, he has a distinct personality and some level of intimidation, but when it comes to agency and action it’s lackluster. And Galvatron disappointed because...he was just Megatron in white with more transformations. Like I get it okay, the point of Galvatron is just to sell a new toy, but that was the point of G1 Galvatron too, and G1 managed to make him into his own character! He isn’t one of my favourite characters because he’s Megs in purple you know, I love him because he of his own personality, quirks and behaviour! In RID01 there is no such destinction, even if Galvatron says that he is a new person. It doesn’t feel that way and being referred to by a different name ain’t gonna make me see them as different people, it’s just the same person in a different colour. This isn’t a complaint about the story though, just the kind of disappointment that comes from knowing Galvy from other shows.  At least he did more shit as Galvatron, but I cannot really attribute this to him being Galvatron, but simply the fact that the show was nearing the climax anyway.

- No female robots in this show, I was kinda half expecting there to be one female transformer with lips covering half her face and her only purpose in the show to cause a love triangle, but nah, we were not given that here.

- I still dont know why they changed the human boy’s name from Yuki to Koji, like it’s both japanese names, whats the point? Like I would understand if they changed it to like David or whatever like other anime dubs did (Digimon for example), but like, what was wrong with Yuki?  Speaking of Koji, as a human character he was...fine? Like he only really gained some sort of importance at the end which was nice, I liked the theme of the pure heroic spirits of kids being a powerful force, it was really cute. But before he was maybe on screen for max. three minutes per episode. On the one hand there was no development or anything, but he also didn’t get in the way of the robots, he stayed in his lane and I wasn’t bothered by him existing. I never had a moment where I thought “I dont care about him, get to the robots already!”, that was nice. But it didn’t make me really like him either, though the end with him pulling his heroic spirit and spam emailing all kids to make Fortress Maximus wake up from his nap was really awesome! Not the worst human, not the best human, just there being a kid, I respect that I could talk more, but don’t have much to say about it - just assume I liked everything else ~

[sithhoplite]

Shak’s SummerSlam 2019 Review

Becky(c) v Nattie for the Raw Women’s Title: I give this match a C, it was a bit boring, the crowd didn’t really pop all that much. While the reverse submission holds were neat and it did look like Nattie was wrenching Becky’s arm back the end was rather meh. Nattie “I won’t tap even if you break my arm” taps but looks utterly disinterested when she did. 

Goldberg V Ziggler: A..it was everything I wanted to see. Dolph sold the spear like the had been shot, the jackhammer was great and the match was under 2 minutes. Dolph still talking shit after getting almost murdered was amusing and I have no issues with Goldberg coming back to spear him again and again.

AJ(c) v Ricochet for the United States Title: B-, my son will be unhappy as he is a Ricochet fan but it was an alright match. Some good spots, timely involvment by the Good Brothers and Styles catching Ricochet and turning it into a Styles clash was nice. Keeps the momentum of the OC going. 

KO v Shane: B - Solid, Shane ended up getting his ass beat, Elias got his ass beat after being introduced as the special guest enforcer. Shane should disappear for a few weeks, I hope.

Bayley(c) v Ember Moon for the Smackdown Women’s Title: C and that is being generous. Too many botches in this match for my taste. Ember I can see as this is her first PPV match but Bayley should know better. They didn’t seem like they were on the same wavelength at all but a nice top rope Bayley to Belly Suplex to end it.

Kofi(c) v Orton for the WWE Championship: D: Match was ok, a few momentum shifts but it wasn’t the big win Kofi needed to solidify his reign as WWE champ and the ending was just, I have no workds for how moronic it was. 

Charlotte v Trish: C-: Ok match, Charlotte had to carry Trish for good parts of the match, thought for a moment when Trish hit the “Stratisfaction” finisher could she win but no, Charlotte won which is fine with me. The crowd after the match was cool and the loss doesn’t hurt Trish at all but doesn’t really help The Queen either.

Finn Balor v The Fiend: A+: The entrance for The Fiend, holy shitballs. The lantern that is his old face, the dreadlocks made into the handle was creepy AF and so worked for him. I was gobsmacked and loved it. Finn in all white as the “good guy” was a nice touch. Fairly quick match, nice finish with the mandable claw and the lights going out and Bray being gone when they came back on was awesome. Match of the Night for me.

and finally:

Seth Rollins V Brock Lesnar(c) for the Universal Title: B-: Not too bad, Brock sold for Rollins which is goo. When he picked up Seth with his rib tape and swung him around like a rag doll that was awesome. No surprise despite the beat downs Seth had taken that he won and re-claimed the Universal Title. After the match he looked rather good for a person who had “busted ribs” but whatever, its WWE and continuity isn’t a thing for them.

Overall I would give SummerSlam 2019 a B-, it had some good matches and not so good matches. The ending of the Kofi match put a bad stain on things. I also held onto my WWE Title for the match picks I do with my neighbor by one match! Now its time to relax for a hour then watch the finals of the NJPW G1 Climax.

[wrestlingisfake]

Destruction in Kobe preview

Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White - Naito is defending the IWGP intercontinental championship.  White pinned Naito in the G1 Climax, eliminating Naito from the tournament and earning White this title match.  There’s a decent chance the winner of this match will defend the title at Wrestle Kingdom 14, seeing as there probably won’t be many more title matches between now and January.

Naito’s goal for months has been to hold the intercontinental title long enough to also secure the IWGP heavyweight title and be the first double champion with those two belts.  His best chance to do that was to win the G1 Climax, but Kota Ibushi won the tournament to qualify for the heavyweight title match at Wrestle Kingdom.  Since Ibushi lost the intercontinental title to Naito, and since he has a particular fondness for that belt, and since Wrestle Kingdom 14 is a two-day event, Kota suggested that he could challenge for the heavyweight belt on January 4 and then the winner could face the intercontinental champion on January 5 in a double title match.  That obviously got Naito’s attention. 

It looks like White also took notice.  Since he didn’t win the G1 Climax, the earliest opportunity he will have to regain the heavyweight title would be if he’s in the possible double title match on January 5.  (If it happens--technically it hasn’t been officially announced.)  But to be in that match he has to have the intercontinental title, which means he needs to beat Naito for it.  To that end, he attacked Naito on August 25 and declared his “destino” to be the first double champion.

The Big Five in New Japan this year are Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, and Jay White.  (White’s mainly at that level because he filled in for the role of Kenny Omega earlier this year; it’s not clear if this current storyline was originally mapped out for Kenny.)  We already know Okada-Ibushi for the heavyweight title is set for Wrestle Kingdom, and Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho is also clearly pencilled in.  So it’s a safe bet we’ll get White-Naito for the intercontinental title on January 4, with the winner facing the winner of Okada-Ibushi on January 5.  The only real question is whether Naito or White will enter the Tokyo Dome as the champion.  This match will likely decide that.

With all that in mind, I think it makes the most sense for White to win the title here, so Naito can earn his way into a rematch.  On the other hand, White is 1-0 against Naito in singles matches, so a Naito victory here would set up a rubber match in January.  But the image of White gloating at all of us with his shiny new belt for the next three months is just too perfect to pass up.  It’s Jay’s time now.

Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo Takagi - This is a rematch from their G1 Climax match on August 11, which Shingo won.  Takagi entered New Japan as a junior heavyweight and just went sickhouse on everybody’s ass.  Then he entered the G1, had a respectable 4-5 record, and said “fuck it, I’m a full-time heavyweight now.”  Meanwhile, Goto returned from a stint at the LA Dojo with a head of steam, going 5-4 in the G1 Climax.  If Goto is going to finish 2019 in a better position than last year, he needs to start by avenging his loss to Shingo.  That won’t be easy.

Their previous match was intense as fuck and very well reviewed.  This one is going to come down to which guy is getting a big push.  If Shingo is on track for a title run next year, he should probably just go 2-0 on Goto and move on to bigger stars.  The thing is, these two are so similar that there’s no real reason to push them both, so if Goto is fed to Shingo I don’t see any point to rehabbing him for some other storyline.  In short, Goto needs this win a little more than Shingo.  I can’t really be sure which one will get it.

Kazuchika Okada & Kota Ibushi & Robbie Eagles vs. SANADA & EVIL & BUSHI - Okada and Sanada are on course for a title match on October 14.  Now that Ibushi has defended his G1 title match contract against Kenta, Evil is next in line, so those two have a match coming down the line, which hasn’t been scheduled yet.  This could go either way, but count on Bushi or Eagles eating the pin.

KENTA & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Will Ospreay & SHO & YOH & Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI - Roppongi 3K (Yoh and Sho) lost the junior tag title to Phantasmo and Ishimori a while back, but then everything got shook up on September 16 when Yoh pinned Tama Tonga.  Now R3K are in line for a heavyweight tag title match against the Guerillas of Destiny, who had just successfully defended against Ishii and Yoshi on September 15 with help from Kenta.  GOD is probably pretty pissed about it, and I would expect them to be on the warpath here.

Meanwhile, Phantasmo is looking to challenge Ospreay for the junior singles title at some point, and Kenta doesn’t have a challenger for his NEVER openweight title.  I could see someone pinning Kenta to set up a title match, but I don’t really see any of these guys doing it.  The smart money is on Yoshi losing this match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger & Rocky Romero & Tiger Mask vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre, Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI - Things are still heating up between Liger and Suzuki, although we still don’t know when they’re going to build to a singles match.  Suzuki managed to pull off Liger’s mask last week so I am more certain than ever (I was already pretty certain) that Liger is going to flip the fuck out and turn into Kishin Liger.  Could that happen tonight???  I mean, it could, but it could have happened half a dozen times before now, and it still could happen at King of Pro Wrestling or Power Struggle.  So my big question is, how much shit can Jushin Liger take before he loses his mind?  As for this match, I guess Douki or Tiger Mask loses, and between the two of them Douki is the bigger jobber.

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi - This is a trios match and Makabe is one of the NEVER trios champions, but he never actually teams with the other two champions anymore, so this isn’t a title match.  Anyway, forget all that shit, what matters is that Fale and Chase spent most of the G1 Climax tour talking up their plans to STORM AREA 51 to BEAT UP ALIENS.  I mean, that Storm Area 51 thing was kind of a dumb joke, but when BAD LUCK FALE is telling you about it, it seems a little more important.  They made a shirt and everything! 

So anyway these guys would have had about 48 hours to get from the 9/20 Kyoto show to Las Vegas, storm Area 51, and then fly back to Kobe for this match, so I am real real curious what they’re gonna tell us about that trip.  I assume Kevin Kelly will do his duty and try to get some comments from them about it.  I was about to say “before they get clobbered in this match” but actually for once they may be the favorites to win, so maybe the real aliens were Makabe, Honma, and Henare all along!

Syota Umino vs. Karl Fredericks - This is one of two Young Lion Cup tournament matchs on the card, and the last night of the tournament.  Umino and Fredericks are in a three-way tie with Ren Narita at 10 points.  Knowing how New Japan books these things, I would guess it all comes down to who wins this match.  My man Shooter Umino controls his own destiny, so if he wins this match he wins the tournament no matter what else happens.  Fredericks needs to win this match and he needs Narita to not win.  The big story of the tournament has been the New Japan dojo guys having a beef with the gaijin from the LA Dojo and Bad Luck Fale’s dojo.  It’s not New Gaijin Pro Wrestling so I’m pretty sure a Japanese guy is going to win, and my money is on the Shooter.

Ren Narita vs. Clark Connors - This is the other Young Lion Cup tournament match.  Connors can’t win the tournament even if he wins this match.  Narita could win, but he needs to win this match and he needs Umino to not win.  Ren doesn’t have to lose this match, but if he does Umino-Fredericks is for all the marbles, so I’m very sure that Connors will win to make that possible.

Yuji Nagata & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Alex Coughlin & Michael Richards - Once again Nagata and Nakanishi are teaming with all the Young Lion Cup guys that don’t have tournament matches on this card.  I could see Nakanishi’s team winning just to let Coughlin and Richards have a little moment before they go back home, but NJPW prides itself on making these guys suffer so maybe not.

[umbrahighpriestofgiratina]

Detective Pikachu Review

Over a week late but it’s here!

So! This is a half spoiler, half non spoiler review? I'm gonna have a read more where I discuss spoilers, but for the initial round if you haven't seen it and are reading to decide if you shoud you should be fiiiine.

Anyway, I'mma be real with you all. I thought live action Pokemon couldn't work. They already had inconsistent results getting the Pokemon world to work in the more flexible world of animation (as much as I think the anime's actually not bad, I swear) and fan attempts at blending real humans with CGI Pokemon just looked... Gross. When I heard there was a bidding war for the Western movie rights to Pokemon and Legendary won I had several concerns.

Then trailers started dropping, and I was unironically fascinated. I thought this movie could be good. I WANTED this movie to be good.

And hey, it was!

It wasn't perfect, and I'll get to why, but it... it was fun, the same sort of cheesy fun I think the anime has but refined and honed for a western audience and it somehow worked? What helps is that Tim and Pikachu have this amazing dynamic, with Pikachu's quips bouncing off Tim in an entertaining manner, and that helps makes certain scenes comedy gold - like the Mr. Mime scene. The female lead is fun as well - a neglected intern that tries to mask her issues by being a perky reporter. Also Psyduck.

For only having 50-60 Pokemon on display there was an excellent variety of them. A good chunk of them aren't even G1, and the non-G1s get to have some cool or funny moments.

Video game movies routinely have a problem of not feeling like their source material, being off in just the right ways. This number feels like a goddamn Pokemon movie - it's spiritually similar to both the game it's based on and the animated Pokemon movies, and that's mostly a good thing! It bodes well for future live-action Pokemon movies and live-action video game movies in particular.

Overall if you're a Pokemon fan and are considering seeing this movie please do. It's got some spoiler bits that are  bit head-scratchy or eye-roll worthy (plus it's got a couple instances of -groan- toilet humor) but it's a good time overall. Heck, maybe if Pokemon is only a fringe thing for you - I went with my family and they were cracking up the whole time.

(also for those in a certain RP with me the whole thing is very WAAPT and that is hilarious)

Okay now we talk spoilers. TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET.

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Okay so what I say is the biggest flaw of the movie is the villain, Howard. He kinda feels like one of the more bog-standard villains of the animated movies and as much as the animated movies are cheesy fun for me and some of them even go further beyond that into being personally important and formative experiences... the villains tend to not be strong points. His actual PLAN is cool and one of the many more WAAPT-y things about the movie but how he gets there makes... no sense? Also the fact that he's supposed to be a plot twist but you can guess he's the villain so easy it'd make a mid-2010s Disney villain blush. (I liked Hans and King Candy for very specific and weird personal reasons but most peeps after that sheesh...) It's more insulting that it's so easy to guess since they actually bait and switch you from the original game, where his son was the original villain but just gets done dirty in this movie.

On the more positive end, Howard's literal partner in crime is his Ditto. And his Ditto is SO COOL. The beady eyes are a brilliant and lovely touch and it's genuinely a good opponent for our protagonists in the climax.

The twist that Detective Pikachu is Harry and his partner Pikachu merged into one entity is handled noticeably better, even if I could also guess it pretty early on. It's genuinely well foreshadowed! And also apparently based on stuff in the original game! Pikachu's issues are such an excellent mirror for Tim's and it adds to their dynamic and makes you go "wait a fucking minute here"

One of my favorite scenes was the fight club scene since we get to see actual Pokemon battles going down and then there's the bit when the Magikarp evolves into a Gyarados and the Charizard's R wears off and Charizard has these huge panicked puppy dog eyes and oh my God it was hilarious.

Speaking of the R! I like how it's heavily implied to be derived from the Berserk Gene like in the original game. Very nice mythology gag. Mewtwo was cool in general too, just wish it got more time to shine.

Also. THE TORTERRA GARDEN. I got such a kick out of that scene and I'm not entirely sure why.

But yeah the movie was good. Not perfect but really fun and very much a step in the right direction for video game movies. I assume you have already seen it if you are reading this section of the review, so tell anyone who hasn't to go see it for me.