New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 8 - 1/4 iPPV

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I'll tell you what, these fuckos give you your money's worth.

3h11m in and haven't gotten to anything good, but damnit, time for a lunch break.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'll tell you what, these fuckos give you your money's worth.

3h11m in and haven't gotten to anything good, but damnit, time for a lunch break.

I really dug the four way spotfest & the IWGP Tag match.

And Bruce Tharpe makes any match good.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I really dug the four way spotfest & the IWGP Tag match.

And Bruce Tharpe makes any match good.

I gave the first two matches ***+'s...good, but I'm waiting for the WrestleKingdom quality shit. The rest has been kind of Sports Entertainment spectacle stuff, which is fine. The Makabe-Fale match nearly put me into a coma. But now I'm hitting the good matches, so we'll see. I've got high hopes for the rest of the show.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I gave the first two matches ***+'s...good, but I'm waiting for the WrestleKingdom quality shit. The rest has been kind of Sports Entertainment spectacle stuff, which is fine. The Makabe-Fale match nearly put me into a coma. But now I'm hitting the good matches, so we'll see. I've got high hopes for the rest of the show.

You'll get what you're looking for from Shibata/Goto onward.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Looks like the 35,000 number announced by New Japan is legit. They haven't bullshitted an attendance since Kidani took over.

That is a huge success. 6,000 over last year. Anybody who doubted Tanahashi as a hall of famer is a clown. Drawing like a motherfucker.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

EL DESPERADO

People have studied this photo and concluded that it isn't Namajague (Kyosuke Mikami). Nobody has a clue. Maybe somebody from K-Dojo due to the TAKA connection, or someone from NOAH since they've been trading talent. Harada & Kumano were in town for the 1/3 warm up show across the street at Differ Ariake.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Well, that turned into an All-Day affair. Over 5 hours...I probably cut off a half hour by skipping the PPV START SOON screen after the opener and the intermission...for $35, you get your god damn money's worth.

Overall, show was really good...started off strong, hit a lull in the middle of the card...for a 5 hour-plus show, I expected a lull, but not quite like that. Otherwise, the show felt BIG in every single way. You had your token legends appearances with Harley Race and Stan Hansen. You had the larger than life entrances. You had the sports entertainment spectacle type matches. You had the big match feel. Great video packages. All in all...New Japan always gives you your money's worth. $35, 5 hours of wrestling, big time matches. Show of the Year contender...it probably won't be, but it'll be in the mix.

Capt. New Japan / Honma / BUSHI / Tenzan vs. Nakanishi / Liger / Komatsu / Super Strong Machine - Typical card opener. I never grade these things because they are usually not very good.

The Young Bucks v. TimeSplitters v. Forever Hooligans v. Suzuki-Gun - TimeSplitters coming out in a god damn Delorean was fantastic. Nothing special, but I was entertained. Everyone got their shit in. ***+

KES v. Bullet Club - Awesome entrance for Bullet Club...Doc comes out with a fucking Bazooka. Right team won. Gallows-Archer had some really fun exchanges. ***+

Rob Conway v. Kojima - It was ok. The NWA Title matches never get my jimmies going. Bruce Tharpe was fantastic. **3/4

Nagata / Sakuraba v. Gracies - I didn't like this at all. It was a hair above train wreck simply because they rolled on the ground for 10 minutes. Crowd hated it. Nearly a show-killer. DUD

Suzuki-Gun v. Yano/Muta - Didn't get into it. I'm a bit over Suzuki/Yano, it is no longer entertaining. Mutoh was resourceful as always. **

Makabe v. Fale - Coma inducing. I can't find anything wrong with it, it was just boring. **

Goto v. Shibata - Now we get to the good shit. What you'd expect from Goto and Shibata. ****1/4

Prince Devitt v. Kota Ibushi - The Undertaker should steal Devitt's entrance for Mania. Fantastic. Although, I'm not sure exactly what Devitt was supposed to be. I'm guessing Carnage? The Bullet Club shenanigans kind of got me out of the match early, but it picked up. Most impressive thing about this match was Devitt's paint job did not come off. ***3/4

Okada v. Naito - I thought this was the best match on the card. Well put together long match. Just when you thought it was going home, they went for another 10 minutes strong. I really liked it. ****3/4...might need a rewatch though.

Nakamura v. Tanahashi - Nakamura wins the whole damn thing. Coming to the ring through a jungle of strippers. Crown'em. Good match. The only knock I got for this match, at the end, I felt like I wanted more. ****1/2-

---

A few other notes...

Had the SPANISH commentary...no thanks...won't do again. I believe they were the CMLL team...at least they sounded like it.

The stream was pretty fucking good. I had this thing running VOD, via HDMI to my 60" Television and honestly, the picture was damn good considering. It wasn't some flawless 1080p production and when the camera panned out for wide shots of the Dome, it was pixelated to hell, but everything from a medium shot inward was way above standard definition and probably looked similar to a 480p broadcast, with the video packages looking absolutely crisp...for a stream put on a big ass TV, that is pretty damn good. Thing ran smooth all of the way through, too.

Overall, money well spent.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Based on intermission, it looks like no New Japan Cup this year, and G1 is a full 3 week tour instead of 11 days. Probably so nobody dies.

New Japan Cup was an easy push, like KotR. Wonder why they dropped it.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Well, that turned into an All-Day affair. Over 5 hours...I probably cut off a half hour by skipping the PPV START SOON screen after the opener and the intermission...for $35, you get your god damn money's worth.

Overall, show was really good...started off strong, hit a lull in the middle of the card...for a 5 hour-plus show, I expected a lull, but not quite like that. Otherwise, the show felt BIG in every single way. You had your token legends appearances with Harley Race and Stan Hansen. You had the larger than life entrances. You had the sports entertainment spectacle type matches. You had the big match feel. Great video packages. All in all...New Japan always gives you your money's worth. $35, 5 hours of wrestling, big time matches. Show of the Year contender...it probably won't be, but it'll be in the mix.

Capt. New Japan / Honma / BUSHI / Tenzan vs. Nakanishi / Liger / Komatsu / Super Strong Machine - Typical card opener. I never grade these things because they are usually not very good.

The Young Bucks v. TimeSplitters v. Forever Hooligans v. Suzuki-Gun - TimeSplitters coming out in a god damn Delorean was fantastic. Nothing special, but I was entertained. Everyone got their shit in. ***+

KES v. Bullet Club - Awesome entrance for Bullet Club...Doc comes out with a fucking Bazooka. Right team won. Gallows-Archer had some really fun exchanges. ***+

Rob Conway v. Kojima - It was ok. The NWA Title matches never get my jimmies going. Bruce Tharpe was fantastic. **3/4

Nagata / Sakuraba v. Gracies - I didn't like this at all. It was a hair above train wreck simply because they rolled on the ground for 10 minutes. Crowd hated it. Nearly a show-killer. DUD

Suzuki-Gun v. Yano/Muta - Didn't get into it. I'm a bit over Suzuki/Yano, it is no longer entertaining. Mutoh was resourceful as always. **

Makabe v. Fale - Coma inducing. I can't find anything wrong with it, it was just boring. **

Goto v. Shibata - Now we get to the good shit. What you'd expect from Goto and Shibata. ****1/4

Prince Devitt v. Kota Ibushi - The Undertaker should steal Devitt's entrance for Mania. Fantastic. Although, I'm not sure exactly what Devitt was supposed to be. I'm guessing Carnage? The Bullet Club shenanigans kind of got me out of the match early, but it picked up. Most impressive thing about this match was Devitt's paint job did not come off. ***3/4

Okada v. Naito - I thought this was the best match on the card. Well put together long match. Just when you thought it was going home, they went for another 10 minutes strong. I really liked it. ****3/4...might need a rewatch though.

Nakamura v. Tanahashi - Nakamura wins the whole damn thing. Coming to the ring through a jungle of strippers. Crown'em. Good match. The only knock I got for this match, at the end, I felt like I wanted more. ****1/2-

---

A few other notes...

Had the SPANISH commentary...no thanks...won't do again. I believe they were the CMLL team...at least they sounded like it.

The stream was pretty fucking good. I had this thing running VOD, via HDMI to my 60" Television and honestly, the picture was damn good considering. It wasn't some flawless 1080p production and when the camera panned out for wide shots of the Dome, it was pixelated to hell, but everything from a medium shot inward was way above standard definition and probably looked similar to a 480p broadcast, with the video packages looking absolutely crisp...for a stream put on a big ass TV, that is pretty damn good. Thing ran smooth all of the way through, too.

Overall, money well spent.

I think this was a great show for a WWE fan sampling to see what the fuss is all about. First of all, it certainly came off big time with presentation that rivals any WrestleMania. The match quality was a notch below New Japan standards but above what you get on any WWE PPV, especially Mania where match quality is secondary to the spectacle. The video packages were great and have no language barrier unless you're retarded.

The word I keep coming up with is fun. It was a fun show.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Oh, and somebody needs to make a YouTube video of all the entrances.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I think this was a great show for a WWE fan sampling to see what the fuss is all about. First of all, it certainly came off big time with presentation that rivals any WrestleMania. The match quality was a notch below New Japan standards but above what you get on any WWE PPV, especially Mania where match quality is secondary to the spectacle. The video packages were great and have no language barrier unless you're retarded.

The word I keep coming up with is fun. It was a fun show.

If any fan tuned in to sample the product, I have no doubt they would purchase another show. Outside of the time (and seriously, 5h30m is a long fucking show), I really don't see a reason why a casual checking it out would come away anything less then impressed.

Big show feel, big match feel, had a little bit of everything.

I've seen NJPW with Japanese and now Spanish commentary. I understand a fair amount of Spanish, especially when watching wrestling...I'd rather watch it in Japanese knowing not a single word they say. Zero language barrier...the product is as straight forward as it comes.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

NJPW “NEW YEAR DASH!!”, 1/5/14 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,015 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Special 4WAY Tag Match: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley beat Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov and TAKA Michinoku Kaientai Dojo & Taichi (7:01) when Shelley pinned TAKA after the OUTATIME.
2. Minoru Suzuki beat Sho Tanaka (4:30) with a facelock hold.
3. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Jado & Gedo beat Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine & Yohei Komatsu (11:16) when Jado used the Crossface of JADO on Komatsu.
4. El Desperado (debut) & Jushin Thunder Liger beat Kota Ibushi & BUSHI (8:22) when Desperado used the Guitarra de Angel on BUSHI.
5. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale beat Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma (9:43) when Devitt used the Bloody Sunday on Honma.
6. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Shelton Benjamin beat Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga (11:50) when Archer used the Killer bomb on Tonga.
7. NWA World Tag Team Title: Rob Conway NWA & Jax Dane NWA (c) beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (11:29) when Conway pinned Kojima.
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito & Captain New Japan beat Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI (20:30) when Goto used the Shouten Kai on YOSHI-HASHI.

* After his triumphant Tokyo Dome return and win over Shibata, Goto challenged Okada to a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Title following his main event win. Around the same time, Nakamura asked Tanahashi for a rematch for the IWGP Intercontinental Title and Tana was positive to the idea!

* From double main event to NEVER… Naito must build his way back up, but for now has been challenged by Ishii for a NEVER Openweight Title match, a new grudge breaking out at Korakuen. Naito was booed and the fans more supportive of the CHAOS brawler.

* Rob Conway earned some revenge over Kojima after dropping the NWA World Heavyweight Title to him at the Dome, with Conway & Jax Dane successfully defending their NWA World Tag Team Title with a win over TenKoji, Conway pinning Kojima.

* Ryusuke Taguchi saved Honma from a Devitt beatdown after the fifth match. Taguchi announced his long awaited return from injury and to no surprise former friend turned betrayer Prince Devitt will be his target.

* Masked man El Desperado made his debut, teaming with Liger to defeat new IWGP Jr. Champion, Kota Ibushi, and BUSHI, Desperado pinning BUSHI. A popular theory is that Desperado is former young lion Kyosuke Mikami who was away in CMLL for a long time, but some still aren’t sure so he must have changed a lot if it is him!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naito still getting booed. What do the kids say? SMDH?

Goto looking like the challenger at New Beginning.

Tanahashi is gonna feud with Nak. Meh, i'd save all of their matches for special scenarios, maybe its just me.

Taguchi is back, EL DEPERADO, Young Bucks, Kota Ibushi...all of a sudden the stale juniors have a nice injection of freshness.

FANTASTICAMANIA has like 3 iPPV's later this month. Should be awesome. I might do Spanish commentary for one of those for the fuck of it.

Calling it now. English commentary before the end of 2014. Lots of people are waiting for that due to the imaginary barrier. Fools don't know what their missing.