#zacky the ring leader

[loki104-uwu]

Art trade with @creator-of-monsters

drew his oc's Steph and Zacky

I tried my best

[chainsawcorazon]

Hi I'm looking for essentially the origin story for Suzuki-gun and how this involved Kojima in his pre-Bread Dad form. I'm still learning my NJPW history.

OK, so Kojima-gun was essentially, as most sources will dictate, an army. It didn’t immediately start off as a pack of dudes who’d give their life for Kojima, it started off as Dad Kozy and Son Taichi’s wonderful adventures. Eventually, more folks joined, and then it became a real army, hence, Kojima-gun (or Kojima’s army).

It’s important to note that during Kojima-gun’s heyday, Kojima was actually champion, and a lot of the respect he earned was because of his prowess and his power. Folks like Taichi with very little power and average ring prowess found solace in being able to follow men like Kozy.

However, like with all stories, kings fall. Kozy eventually lost his title, went through a terrible wrestling period, and was eventually overthrown by the very son who first devoted his life to him (it was Taichi). I want to note that though people say Kojima-gun wasn’t established until after some other members joined, I do not agree. Kojima’s rise to power as a warlord started with Taichi’s devotion and it ended with Taichi’s devotion. When Taichi (and Michinoku) turned on him, they turned on him because he couldn’t hold up his end of the bargain of leading a group of undesirables (everyone hates Taichi except Misu and his seven other kids). I want to again note that Taichi, as one of the founding members of the group, is not a top card draw, nor is he the best wrestler in the promotion, and yet, his existence hinges the transformation of Kojima-gun into Suzuki-gun.

After Taichi and Michi turned on Kozy, Misu rolled up on him and laid him the fuck out. Misu was declared the new leader, and from thereon, Suzuki-gun have thrived as Japanese pro wrestling one true heel family (they also worked in NOAH for some time). I say family because over its six years of existence, it’s dramatically changed, the narratives had shifted and developed, and though Misu’s still mean and the family is still made of a bunch of rude ass heels, they’re arguably a family. For more recent developments, just look at the way new member Zacky is treated by long-time member, Desperado. For more father-son feels, just watch the interactions between Misu and Taichi (they are lovely and I cry every time), the most recent one being their fist bump right before Misu murdered Kazu in Kanagawa.

Taichi. Taichi is very important to the narrative. Misu’s wrestling career is pretty simple to understand- he freelances because that’s his best life, used to do MMA, he’s been a heel for the majority of his career, and his return to New Japan had everyone and they grammy shook. He also has an unspoken bond with Masakatsu Funaki (also a wrestler and former MMA), but we don’t talk about him unless we’re poking fun at Misu about the one that got away. I would highly recommend watching Kozy vs Makabe at Wrestling Dontaku 2011, plus post-match shenanigans. Everyone hates Suzuki-gun, but Misu loves his kids. They’re all a bunch of weirdos that can’t dress right (except, weirdly, Misu himself and sometimes Zacky), but they’re a family of weirdos, and Misu loves them. They cheat, run interference, cause havoc, and then laugh. Sometimes members get expelled for being bitchasses, but Taichi’s still here. It’s sweet, and you should love them.

[henrytcasey]

Watch This Wrestling 14 (4/6–12)

But first, about that elephant in the arena...

I want to reaffirm some of the reason behind this weekly roundup. Every week, WWE provide more than enough hours of pro wrestling for most, but there's more. From those wacky Brits in Progress to the insane bastards of New Japan, wrestling isn't just WWE.

This past week, there was as much reason to reiterate the above as ever before. No, not because of the phenomenal match between Kazuchika Okada and Katsuyori Shibata at Sakura Genesis. But because of the big outside-the-ring story of bullying in the WWE making the rounds in major publications such as Sports Illustrated and the New York Post.

Vince's love of fucking with people is no secret, but this has popped up because of speculation that SmackDown Live color commentary announcer, noted veteran, and all-around-cancerous-motherfucker JBL is the reason for the absence of SDL play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo. You know, JBL, the guy who thought it'd be OK to goose-step like a Nazi during a show in Germany.

While we haven't heard any stories about what JBL did to Mauro, who has been public about his bipolar diagnosis, and is off-air for what has been reported as stress, nothing would surprise anyone at this stage. It's currently expected that Mauro and WWE will settle in private, and that WWE will address this in some way, as the story has been made too-public to ignore.

If it were up to me, and Mauro were not available to the WWE anymore, the SDL announce team would be Corey Graves, Byron Saxton and Renee Young. Of related note this week was the shamelessly transparent "we're trading the black commentators!" moment where Raw traded Saxton for the useless lump of humanity called David Otunga.

Thankfully, we get a six-week window before Raw Is 3 Hours of Otunga goes into effect, thanks to his commitment to filming a movie where he's playing a lawyer. In that time, Booker T will be filling in, because (again), "LOL BLACK COMMENTATORS, GOTTA HAVE ONE, AND NO MORE THAN ONE!" Assuming Book does well, I'd like to see a Raw team some day that's him, Graves, and Tom Phillips.

As always, a list of what I watched for this week's edition and what I'm planning to watch next week. If I'm missing anything that can be accessed without too much trouble, @ me on twitter: henrytcasey.

What I Watched:

Progress Ch. 46: I Like To Chill Out Here And Shoot Some Dinosaurs, 4/7

NJPW: Genesis, 4/9

Monday Night Raw, 4/10

ROH Wrestling, 4/10

Ethan Page - It's Not Over Yet, EVOLVE, WWN Live, 4/10

SmackDown Live, 4/11

205 Live, 4/11

Talking Smack Live, 4/11

NXT, 4/12

Mini-Doc: Zack Sabre Jr. Can't Make a Mistake, EVOLVE, WWN Live, 4/12

Upcoming Watch List:

PROGRESS Wrestling Presents: Freedom's Road S01E07, 4/13

OTT: Scrappermania III, 4/15

Monday Night Raw, 4/17

ROH Wrestling, 4/17

SmackDown Live, 4/18

205 Live, 4/18

Talking Smack Live, 4/18

NXT, 4/19

Non-WWE Match of the Week:

Kazuchika Okada (C) vs Katsuyori Shibata for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship

NJPW: Genesis, 4/9

Most matches don't get 38 minutes between bells, but that's because few have the conditioning and technical prowess of Okada and Shibata. The former is the crown jewel of New Japan and the latter, well, he would have been on the rise after one hell of a match. More on that in a moment.

The story here is that Shibata enters the match guns ablazin and in a far more passionate state than Okada. The crowd is on board with this, vocally entirely behind Shibata. Okada is entering that mixed-reactions phase of his career most people associate with John Cena and Roman Reigns, and this match cemented it. Felt a bit like Punk/Cena MITB in that way. Except Okada starts taking shortcuts, playing to the boos.

Without spoiling any spots, I'll leave discussion of the good parts of the match at that.

Part of me doesn't want to give the win to the most-talked-about match of the week, but it was the best match outside of the week, despite its serious flaw. And that flaw is so bad that I won't go back and rewatch this match, despite loving (the majority of) it.

While I always suggest people go watch these matches, this one comes with a brutal asterisk. Near the end of this match, which was already going to win MOTW, Shibata leveled Okada with what is now believed to be a shoot-headbutt. As in the skull-to-skill headbutt that split Shibata open was legitimate, despite early reports of it being a work.

As reported by many, including Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, reports are coming out that Shibata is currently hospitalized, dealing with lingering right-side paralysis. Meltzer noted that Shibata has "some memories of the match" as if to infer that memory loss is involved. After all of this, it is expected that Shibata will never be cleared to wrestle again, ending his young career. Thankfully, it appears he will recover, but we shouldn't have needed to hope for that.

It brings up a question of what kind of stiff work is actively encouraged or at least tacitly endorsed by the New Japan management. Much like WWE with its bullying problem, NJPW needs to take this moment to consider how it does business.

Sakura Genesis is available on NJPW World.

Honorable Mentions:

Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) (c) vs The Hunter Brothers (Jim Hunter & Lee Hunter) for the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles, Progress Ch. 46: I Like To Chill Out Here And Shoot Some Dinosaurs, 4/7

Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews for the PROGRESS World Title, Progress Ch. 46: I Like To Chill Out Here And Shoot Some Dinosaurs, 4/7

Hirooki Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr., for the NEVER Openweight championship, NJPW: Genesis, 4/9

Curt Stallion vs John Skyler in a 2017 Top Prospects Tournament semi-final match, ROH Wrestling, 4/10

Non-WWE Segment of the Week:

EVOVLE Mini-Doc: Zack Sabre Jr. Can't Make a Mistake

EVOLVE, WWN Live, 4/12

Evolve's mini-docs, which get attributed to Kenny Johnson, are typically great previews or recaps. This one, though, goes further. It tells twin stories of frustration, from the current EVOLVE champ Zack Sabre Jr. and recent signee ACH.

As the title suggests, the focus of the feature is ZSJ hanging onto his title by a hair. What that means for Zack is that he's getting closer to the "do whatever it takes" mentality that heels use, to cheat to keep his championship.

This, if you're following Sabre Jr. outside of this promotion, is intriguing. In Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) and New Japan, to name a couple of the other place he pops up, things are different.

Everywhere but EVOLVE, he's called "Zacky Three Belts" because he's crossed over to the dark side, turning heel. So whether he's joining Minoru Suzuki's nefarious Suzuki-Gun faction or tag-teaming with The Villain Marty Scurll as The Leaders of The New School, he's always drawing ire. It's the role that many who see his lanky frame and know-it-all submission style believe he was born to play.

And then we have ACH - who has worked as a friend of Zack's in EVOLVE - who came here to win gold. ACH who should have been a world champion by now, but was passed over. ACH who couldn't get the job done in Orlando, against Sabre Jr. at EVOVLE 80.

ACH who says he doesn't know what comes next. ACH who's been a face all this time and maybe that's not enough.

Of course, this video doesn't hammer home either potential turn all that hard. Gotta keep that surprise going. I love how the focus and zoom fall out of the scene where Michael Elgin cold-cocks Zack Sabre Jr. after basically demanding their match be for the title. And then the brief moments they bring from Elgin/ZSJ definitely paint Sabre Jr. as valorous and Elgin and the prick.

And then the other challengers. Lio Rush, who challenges Sabre Jr. for the title at the next EVOLVE events, and has "no more time to waste." Ethan Page, tired of getting looked over by the booking committee, and more than happy to remind you of his two wins against Zack.

And finally, back to Sabre Jr., who speaks of the weight of the belt on his shoulder. If that doesn't get you buying tickets or a FloSlam subscription, then I'm confused.

Honorable Mentions:

Ricochet addresses Hiromu Takahashi, NJPW: Genesis, 4/9

Ethan Page - It's Not Over Yet, EVOLVE, WWN Live, 4/10

WWE Match of the Week:

AJ Styles vs Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin in a #1 Contender's match for the United States Championship

SmackDown Live, 4/11

The Superstar Shakeup gave SmackDown Live the kind of roster that everyone wished it had on day 1. Sure, we thought Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt were amazing workers, but that just wasn't happening.

So this past week saw them add a flurry of talent, with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens coming over as two marquee acquisitions. Oh, and they're also adding Big E, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston (give me New Day singles runs) and Rusev to a show that already had AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Baron Corbin, Tye Dillinger and Luke Harper? So hot, hot damn.

And as if they felt the need to prove themselves, Zayn, Styles and Corbin put together a match worthy of their names. So while Styles is still working through being a good guy, Sami's trying to prove himself against a bully he can hurt (Corbin is no Strowman), and Corbin is showing that he's a fast learner.

This was the closest call for WWE MOTW in a while. While this had to be the winner, I appreciated the work in the other two matches, also worth checking out. This one just had more time and better pacing. Find the full version on Hulu if you have to.

Honorable Mentions:

Jack Gallagher vs TJ Perkins, 205 Live, 4/11 

Oney Lorcan vs Drew McIntyre, NXT, 4/12

Note: Both Galloway and Gallagher hit headbutts, no reports have emerged of resultant injuries.

WWE Segment of the Week:

Braun Strowman Savagely Attacks Roman Reigns

Monday Night Raw, 4/10

I'm really confused about what WWE meant to do with this segment, but I loved it so much nonetheless. This isn't the best WWE segment of the year (remember the Festival of Friendship?), but damn it's a close second.

Sure, he didn't lift the ambulance (hello, it's pro wrestling), but everything else about it was just so damn cool. Braun just rag-dolling Reigns around the backstage area elevates him to the most awesome thing on the Raw roster.

I watched this Raw at a bar with other fans, and this segment became the most amazing moment when consumed with a dozen or so fans screaming their heads off. So I just can't emphasize enough how huge this moment is. 

WWE needs to handle this properly on Monday, and keep Roman off TV and let Braun continue to be the next wonder of the world, but not overdo it.

Some notes:

Roman takes a moment to remove his clipped-on microphone, because he's a good employee who treats company property with care.

The segment wins by demonstrating impossible awesomeness by way of camera tricks.

Someone (possibly the WWE) started a god damn online petition to fire Strowman. That, if done outside of the company, is today's version of that time people thought the NWO actually invaded WCW and called the police.

How does this happen the same week as The United Incident?

And about my confusion:

So, this made Strowman cooler than ever for many. Was it supposed to make Roman pitiable? Likable? Is this just to get Roman cool as a vengeful motherfucker?

After Roman Reigns had all the heat last week, are they trying to cool him down? What the hell?