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fagcrisis · 1 year

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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)

#njpw #wrassle #yall this is nearly 5000 words please read it and watch njpw i worked so hard. for you to watch njpw. its so extensive #i explain literally everything

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chloewatcheswrestling · 8 months

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Wrestling Love Letters

The Ring General: Reigning after Roman.

Gunther's journey as the Intercontinental Champion is now etched in the history books, securing him the esteemed title of 'longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time.' Yet, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, paving the way for even greater achievements. But how do you book the end of such an epic run without harming the dominance and significance of this championship reign? Gunther has ran through the majority of the superstars the WWE roster has to offer, so let’s explore a path for Gunther to ascend to the pinnacle of the wrestling world, cementing his legacy as a world title holder.

With a reign nearing 500 days (at the time of writing), Gunther undeniably deserves a shot at the top title. His longevity as Intercontinental Champion gives him a claim superior to many on the roster. In a previous blog post, I explored why I’m backing Shinsuke Nakamura to take the World Heavyweight Championship from Seth Rollins but, as a future feud, Gunther doesn’t seem the right fit here. Shinsuke would be a fresh champion with his own reign to cement and whilst I love a villain vs villain clash, this one doesn’t seem fitting.

Doesn’t Roman Reigns vs Gunther for the WWE Universal Championship at Wrestlemania XL (2024) sound appropriate for the longest reigning IC champion of all time? Champion vs Champion? Tribal Chief vs Ring General? Now that’s a Wrestlemania main event.

With Roman currently taking a break, WWE has some time to manipulate the moving parts in this potential matchup. Maybe they could continue to add fuel to the fire of the Giovanni Vinci storyline and identify Vinci as a pivotal figure in Gunther's journey moving forward. The Triple H era has seen the re-emergence of faction-based storytelling but, recently, every faction seems to be experiencing turbulence. Imperium should be portrayed as an impenetrable fortress, a united force that remains dominant and cohesive. Amidst the descent in the other factions on television, Imperium should stand tall, keeping their internal conflicts off-screen and projecting an aura of strength. At Wrestlemania, Vinci could have the opportunity to prove his loyalty to Gunther and Imperium and play a crucial role in Gunther emerging victorious, further solidifying their alliance. Perhaps intercepting a Solo Sikoa run in? Or perhaps putting himself in the path of a superman punch?

To prevent another instance of a champion holding multiple belts, Gunther should make a significant announcement. Given the lack of formidable contenders for his Intercontinental Championship, he was forced to explore new horizons. Gunther will be relinquishing the IC belt to focus on establishing a historic reign with the Universal Championship.

The future of the IC title could be determined by a tournament that features hungry and determined competitors. This not only showcases the talented WWE roster but also ensures that the next champion feels like they have truly earnt their place. This could be a great time to showcase all the talent that have come up short against Gunther but who still remain worthy contenders, roster members who deserve title shots but have been overlooked and perhaps even some hungry NXT stars.

Now, picture this: Gunther, seated at ringside in a sharp suit, proudly draping the Universal Championship over his shoulder. The Intercontinental Championship sits on a silk-covered platform, flanked by Ludwig and Giovanni. The tournament unfolds each week, with Imperium observing, analysing, and critiquing the suitability of the competitors.

For the brackets, after much consideration—taking into account Sheamus's injury and other superstars tied up in different storylines—I settled on a mix of suitable contenders. When it comes to showcasing NXT stars, while Ilja is a personal favourite, Carmelo Hayes or Bron Breakker would also shine in this spotlight.

As for the winner, recognizing that LA Knight is a huge fan favourite, my vision for the IC title aligns more with Drew McIntyre. It presents Drew with a well deserved opportunity for a dominant championship run playing out in front of real life crowds.

The legacy of Gunther's historic Intercontinental Championship reign will undoubtedly leave an enduring mark on the sport, setting the tone for an exciting new era and setting the stage for another unforgettable chapter in WWE history.

With pins, submissions, and a whole lot of heart, Chloe xoxo

05.10.2023

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solarsonicsoda · 1 month

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Wrestlemania Main Event Reviews - Final Rankings!

And with that yesterday, all 43 matches have been watched, rated, and reviewed! I hope you all enjoyed this series and be sure to check out the tag if you missed any!

But there's one thing left to do before Wrestlemania XL tonight, and that's to rank all of these matches from worst to best! Here's my rankings! Let me know where your favourite finished.

43. Wrestlemania VIII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice

42. Wrestlemania IX: Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Bret Hart (c) for the WWF World Championship/Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna (c) w/ Mr. Fuji for the WWF World Championship

41. Wrestlemania VII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter (c) w/ General Adnan for the WWF World Championship

40. Wrestlemania X: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (c) w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette for the WWF World Championship with special guest referee “Rowdy” Roddy Piper

39. Wrestlemania II: King Kong Bundy w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Hulk Hogan (c) in a steel cage match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship

38. Wrestlemania XXVII: John Cena vs. The Miz (c) w/ Alex Riley for the WWE Championship

37. Wrestlemania XXXII: Roman Reigns vs. Triple H (c) w/ Stephanie McMahon for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

36. Wrestlemania I: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff w/ “Cowboy” Bob Orton vs. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T w/ Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka

35. Wrestlemania XI: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor with special guest referee Pat Patterson

34. Wrestlemania XXXVIII, Sunday: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns w/ Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, & Paul Heyman for the WWE Championship & the WWE Universal Championship

33. Wrestlemania 25: Randy Orton vs. Triple H (c) for the WWE Championship

32. Wrestlemania XXXIV: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (c) w/ Paul Heyman for the WWE Universal Championship

31. Wrestlemania 13: The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid (c) in a No Disqualification Match for the WWF World Championship

30. Wrestlemania X8: Triple H vs. Chris Jericho (c) w/ Stephanie McMahon for the WWF Undisputed Championship

29. Wrestlemania XXXIII: Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred Match

28. Wrestlemania III: Andre the Giant w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Hulk Hogan (c) for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship

27. Wrestlemania IV: “Macho Man” Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase w/ Andre the Giant in a tournament final for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship

26. Wrestlemania XXXVIII, Saturday: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred Match

25. Wrestlemania V: Hulk Hogan vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (c) for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship

24. Wrestlemania 21: Batista vs. Triple H (c) w/ Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship

23. Wrestlemania XXXVI, Sunday: Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar (c) for the WWE World Championship

22. Wrestlemania XXXVII, Sunday: Edge vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns (c) w/ Jey Uso & Paul Heyman for the WWE Universal Championship

21. Wrestlemania XXXI: Roman Reigns (vs. Seth Rollins) vs. Brock Lesnar (c) w/ Paul Heyman for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

20. Wrestlemania 22: Triple H vs. John Cena (c) for the WWE Championship

19. Wrestlemania 2000: The Rock w/ Vince McMahon vs. Big Show w/ Shane McMahon vs. Mick Foley w/ Linda McMahon vs. Triple H (c) w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley in an elimination match for the WWF World Championship

18. Wrestlemania XXXIX, Sunday: Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns (c) w/ Solo Sikoa & Paul Heyman for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

17. Wrestlemania XXVIII: John Cena vs. The Rock

16. Wrestlemania VI: Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championship

15. Wrestlemania XXXV: Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (c) for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship

14. Wrestlemania XXIX: John Cena vs. The Rock (c) for the WWE Championship

13. Wrestlemania XV: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. The Rock (c) in a No Disqualifications match for the WWF World Championship

12. Wrestlemania XII: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart (c) in a 60-Minute Iron Man Match for the WWF World Championship

11. Wrestlemania XIV: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (c) for the WWF World Championship with special guest enforcer Mike Tyson

10. Wrestlemania XXXIX, Saturday: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso) (c) for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships

9. Wrestlemania XXIII: Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena (c) for the WWE Championship

8. Wrestlemania XXX: Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton (c) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

7. Wrestlemania XXXVI, Saturday: AJ Styles w/ Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. The Undertaker in a Boneyard Match

6. Wrestlemania XIX: Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle (c) for the WWE Championship

5. Wrestlemania XXIV: The Undertaker vs. Edge (c) for the World Heavyweight Championship

4. Wrestlemania XX: Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H (c) for the World Heavyweight Championship

3. Wrestlemania X-Seven: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. The Rock (c) in a No Disqualifications Match for the WWF World Championship

2. Wrestlemania XXXVII, Saturday: Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks (c) for the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship

1. Wrestlemania XXVI: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker in a No Disqualifications, Streak vs. Career Match

So there's my rankings. I think about 31 out of the 43 are at least decent, which is not a terrible track record! Now, let's see how #44 and #45 are this weekend!

#wrestlemania main event reviews #wrestlemania #wwe #wrestling #pro wrestling

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omegawhiskers · 6 months

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Dynamite 29/11/23

The Jack Perry Conspiracy

Dynamite continues the Continental Classic with Jon Moxley vs. Jay Lethal. The only thing about this tournament I don’t like is that we’re told no one can interfere, and that everything is put into place to make sure we get clean matches. If this is possible to do in story, then why not do this for every wrestling match? It doesn’t make any sense. But I digress. Lethal loses the opening bout due to rear naked choke. Moxley leads with six points. Poor Lethal has zero.

Eddie Kingston is disappointed in his defeat last week and here he said he will be ready for Bryan Danielson. Eddie has a lot more to lose in his tournament than everyone else. Bryan is on commentary – eyepatch and all – and he delivers some strong words for his preparation on Saturday. This match is going to be awesome.

Sting will have his last match on March 3 in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum. Both Sting and Ric Flair talked about the match they had there 35 years ago at Clash of Champions for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The match ended in a draw at 45 minutes. Take in as much Sting as you can because we only have 4 months of him left.

In the second Continental match of the night, Rush pinned Jay Briscoe to obtain his first three points. Jay – like Lethal – have zero points. Rush and Briscoe had better matches last week, although this was decent.

Toni Storm will be defending her title next week. Against whom? No body mentioned a name.

MJF comes out to the ring and praises Samoa Joe for his accomplishments. He said Joe paved the way for people like him and that Joe never got the recognition he deserved in WWE. MJF gets fired up for his match and breaks his cane in half. This is when the goons who work for the Devil make an appearance. Three masked men hold MJF as a large guy with a baseball bat threatens him. It’s worth noting when Wardlow comes out next, his hair looks quite messy; as if it could had been under a mask. Joe comes to Max’s aid just as he promised. The Devil requests a tag match with Max and Joe next week, and the challenge is accepted. I’m not sure if this is with two of the goons or with the Devil himself, who I still believe is Jack Perry. For a fun little dive in to the Jack Perry conspiracy, check out this thread on X.

Wardlow – with mask hair – came out to fight AR Fox. Fox gets some offensive early on, but Wardlow dominates most of the match and wins by stoppage. I don’t see Wardlow going into a solo feud with MJF. Wardlow is still getting his momentum back, so the feud wouldn’t really be strong, but if he is apart of this new group, then I think this would be a great way for him to get his match with Max.

Dante Martin is back from a horrific looking injury and he teams with his brother and Action Andretti to take on the Hardy Boyz and Brother Zay. Martin showcased some nice athletic moves while picking up the win. This match was built around the return and it worked for Dante. The Hardyz are floating around not doing much. It's fine to take the loss, but they gotta get them in some sort of story.

Julia Hart defended her TSB title against Emi Sakura in a decent bout. The ending was strange as Emi rolled as Hart delivered the moonsault which caused Hart land awkwardly.

Christian Cage called out Adam Copeland so that he could convince him to team up. He brings up their past and that Adam’s mother said she would have loved to see them tag again, but unfortunately, she passed away. Adam was contemplating the offer before Christian tried to hit Adam with the TNT belt, but Copeland knew his former best friend too well and deliver a kick to the balls sending Christian to the mat. Adam tells him to shine the belt up real nice for next week for their match and tells Christian to go fuck himself. This entire segment had me hooked. Christian is such a mean bastard, and I keep thinking of how low he can go each week.

Jay White and Swerve Strickland was our main event. Swerve picked up the win and continues his winning streak.

I like this episode of Dynamite. Matches were good and we have some excitement rolling into next week with this Devil storyline. Julia needs a new feud and something needs to be done with Matt and Jeff as they are not being used effectively.

#aew dynamite #aew mjf #swerve strickland #professional wrestling #adam copeland #christian cage #jack perry #julia hart #jon moxley #continental classic #wrestling #samoa joe #the hardy boyz

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kevingotabigasschin · 2 years

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tw// mentions of racism, redface and blackface //

I’m so sick of this s**t I knew WWE was infamous for their s****y blackface promos

But having white people use a Native American stereotype as a f**king gimmick is just adding on to the list of s**t they’ve done wrong.

A lot of people are going to be like “well it happened a long time ago and it was during a time where people didn’t know any better so it doesn’t matter” no it does matter because it’s f**king wrong.

Redface should not be celebrated and Native Americans shouldn’t be looked at as just a f**king gimmick but rather as an entire race of people.

Now let’s celebrated wrestlers that were actually Native American and successful in the WWE.

Princess Victoria, a Native American activist who has stated that due to the WWE’s lack of medical care for their wrestlers she is now disabled and sometimes has to use a wheelchair to get around.

Her and Velvet McIntyre were some of the first women to be recognized for holding the WWF Women’s Tag Team Championship belts.

Wahoo McDaniel was a 5-time NWA United States Champion and a football linebacker.

Wahoo was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in the class of 2019.

(The fact that Strongbow who wasn’t Native American, got in before him just says a lot about the WWE’s priorities)

Tatanka who was the first Native American to get a title-shot for the WWE Intercontinental championship and is also known for an undefeated streak higher than Goldberg’s.

(The fact that he never held a single damn title in his WWE reign just pisses me off)

Jack and Gerald Brisco, Jack Brisco was the first Native American to win the NCAA Wrestling National Championship and the first NWA National Heavyweight Champion after defeating Terry Funk in a tournament, him and his brother Gerald were multi-time NWA tag team champions.

Both were inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in the class of 2008.

Chief Jules Strongbow, (Jay’s Kayfabe brother who was actually Native American) was the first Native American man to hold the WWF World Tag Team Championship.

Mickie James, won the WWE women’s championship 5 times and the Diva championship once during her tenure, she is currently on her 5th reign as TNA knockouts world champion.

She also made history for her royal rumble appearance last year for being the first woman to enter the rumble while wrestling for another company at the time, she even brought the TNA Knockout championship with her and entered with her TNA theme.

#wwe #native american representation #princess victoria #tatanka #wahoo mcdaniel #jack brisco #gerald brisco #jules strongbow #mickie james

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writingcombatfan · 6 months

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WWE - SmackDown 12/1/2023 Review

Tonight, I decided to tune in to the December 1st edition of SmackDown. My Friday had gone perfectly. After work, I had absolutely nothing to do except wait for 4 hours until Smackdown would come on.

From the beginning, we are already told that Randy Orton will be making an appearance on this week's SmackDown. The Viper is a free agent currently. His inclusion for tonight is a bidding war between RAW and SmackDown for his exclusivity.

Damage CTRL Segment:

WWE continues to remain creatively stagnant in their Damage CTRL related segments. The same old shit happened where Bianca Belair calls out Damage CTRL, they walk out and talk some shit, then Charlotte and Shotzi walk out and brawl with Damage CTRL. My problem with these segments is that it's become so repetitive that it feels like there are absolutely zero stakes involved since it's not Iyo putting her WWE Title on the line. Overall I rate the segment a 2/5, character work really shined here but there was nothing else. I know Bailey will be kicked out of the group soon enough.

Butch vs Bobby Lashley

Following being abandoned by his tag partner last week on SmackDown, Butch decides to indulge in a singles career, and was matched up with Bobby Lashley.

The match was solid, with the main highlight being the beautiful finish by Bobby Lashley spearing Butch and pinning him.

Overall, I rate the Butch vs Bobby Lashley match a 4/5. Served it's purpose.

Nick Aldis and Paul Heyman Segment

Fun fact about the British SmackDown General Manager, Nick Aldis was actually a wrestler that held the championship that Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Kevin Von Erich, and more had held throughout history. Nick Aldis held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for over 1000 days.

This fact fascinates me when I see how they're using Nick Aldis in the Bloodline related segments. Nick Aldis could 100% be the guy to beat Roman Reigns. Paul Heyman ends up knocking on Nick Aldis' office door and asks Nick why Randy Orton would be appearing on SmackDown that night. Nick Aldis then revealed that Randy Orton would be offered a contract to be exclusive to SmackDown, which would be very enticing to Randy Orton given his motivation to destroy The Bloodline.

Paul then asks Nick if Our Tribal Chief was made aware of this, and Nick Aldis proceeded to shut it down by delivering the message to Paul Heyman to then tell to Roman Reigns. Nick Aldis is getting increasingly territorial with SmackDown by competing with RAW and demanding dominance by his talent.

This segment is awesome for the ongoing Bloodline storyline. I rate this a 4.5/5.

Butch gets bullied by Pretty Deadly

This segment is utterly pointless and only serves to hammer in the fact that Butch was abandoned. 1/5.

Santos Escobar vs Joaquin Wilde

Santos Escobar continues to be one of the fastest rising heels in SmackDown history. Joaquin Wilde was matched up with him to attempt to defend the LWO's honor against Santos, but Santos actually beat Joaquin and proceeded to beat him up in the middle of the ring.

Match was a 3.5/5. Beatdown at the end added nothing except to continue to fuel the Santos Escobar heat.

Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce bidding war on Randy Orton

Adam Pearce had caught wind of Nick Aldis offering a SmackDown contract to Randy Orton tonight, and had prepared a counter-offer for Randy Orton in a segment later tonight.

This GM rivalry is incredible to me and I'm excited to see what it brings.

Logan Paul appears on SmackDown

Outside of WWE, Logan Paul is an asshole. However, inside of WWE, he is an incredibly pivotal heel in the United States title picture. Logan Paul boasts about his totally fair championship victory over Rey Mysterio, and he reveals that he spoke with Nick Aldis to introduce a tournament including the following wrestlers.

Santos Escobar

Bobby Lashley

Dragon Lee

Karrion Kross

Austin Theory

Grayson Waller

Kevin Owens

An NXT superstar that will be called up to the main roster.

This tournament has some supremely talented performers and sports entertainers, and we had the privilege of seeing a sneak peek over the rest of the tournament with a match against Kevin Owens and Grayson Waller.

Overall, I rate this segment a 4/5. Crowd really added to this segment and Logan has shockingly good promo skills.

Kevin Owens vs Grayson Waller

The KO vs Grayson Waller match ended up being a comedic pleasure to watch. There were many out of ring shenanigans with Austin Theory that really added to the match and helped gather my attention. Kevin Owens ended up beating Grayson.

Match was a 2.5/5. Not horrible. Not great.

CM Punk Segment

WWE played a video segment of reactions to CM Punk returning to WWE at Survivor Series. At the end of the video segment, it was revealed that CM Punk would be at next week's SmackDown. Pretty interesting to see if CM Punk and Paul Heyman will interact.

Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair

Match was kinda boring. Bringing back Kairi Sane just to make her lose a lot is a bad booking decision. 1/5.

Randy Orton makes his Decision

WWE decided to book the equivalent of Lebron's The Decision. Randy Orton makes a great and uninterrupted entrance and at the end he even hit the pose.

Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce then get heated with each other and try to throw out their offers for Randy. Adam Pearce offered Randy the winner of Seth Rollins vs Jey Uso on RAW, and Nick Aldis offered Roman Reigns and The Bloodline.

At that point, Paul Heyman interrupted. He gave his whole schtick about how Randy was taken out by Our Tribal Chief, WWE Undisputed Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Paul declared there will be no RKO's that night and that Randy won't have time to make that decision because The Bloodline would stop him.

Solo walks out with Jimmy Uso, then Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce leave the ring. Nick and Adam have had a wrestling career so it doesn't make sense as to why the WWE has not used them for wrestling.

LA Knight runs out to make the save for Randy, and ends up brawling with Solo Sikoa, leaving Randy in the ring with Jimmy. Randy hits a DDT, and then a RKO.

Randy ends up signing with SmackDown, to the ire of Paul Heyman who was shouting "GO TO RAW!" Just like that, Randy Orton returns to Friday nights. At the end of the segment, Randy RKO's Nick Aldis and Paul Heyman calls Roman Reigns on his cellphone. 5/5

Final Rating

7/10

This episode of SmackDown truly shined in the story telling department, but really could have benefited from higher quality matches.

#wwe #wwe smackdown #wwe nxt

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