Pro Wrestling, Recycling the Stars of the 90s and 00s....(2017)

[imref]

NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 11 is getting very good reviews, the main event of Okada vs Omega is said to be an easy match of the year candidate.  That match will air on AXS on 1/13 at 8 PM, with the remaining card airing over the following three weeks.

Omega's entrance is 5 stars alone:  https://streamable.com/otusr

[Vega]

NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 11 is getting very good reviews, the main event of Okada vs Omega is said to be an easy match of the year candidate.  That match will air on AXS on 1/13 at 8 PM, with the remaining card airing over the following three weeks.

Omega's entrance is 5 stars alone:  https://streamable.com/otusr

No way in hell Omega/Okada is a MotY candidate. It's FORTY-SEVEN minutes long. I don't care who is in it or where it happens, that is WAAAAAAAAAY too long for a wrestling match.

[imref]

No way in hell Omega/Okada is a MotY candidate. It's FORTY-SEVEN minutes long. I don't care who is in it or where it happens, that is WAAAAAAAAAY too long for a wrestling match.

You gotta remember that the NJPW bookers grew up watching WCW in the 1980's during the Steamboat-Flair era when long matches that started slow and built to a crescendo were the norm versus the WWE style of today.  That's the style of wrestling that the promotion features, along with more physical Brock Lesnar-type matches and high flying Lucha style matches.  The main events are always long.  Last year's card featured two 30 minute plus matches that were both ***** (AJ Styles vs Nakamura and Tanahashi vs Okada).  Okada is very much a clone of Flair in his peak, but more athletic.

I was reading through the comments on Reddit, it is receiving pretty much universal praise as a five star match.  The ending sequence is unreal. https://streamable.com/mcb2r

The best match I've ever seen live was Flair vs Steamboat around 1986, and it went well over 40 minutes.  I stood the entire time.

[Lintyfresh85]

Kind of sort of agree with Vega on this one. I start to lose my attention span north of 25 minutes.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

You gotta remember that the NJPW bookers grew up watching WCW in the 1980's during the Steamboat-Flair era when long matches that started slow and built to a crescendo were the norm versus the WWE style of today.  That's the style of wrestling that the promotion features, along with more physical Brock Lesnar-type matches and high flying Lucha style matches.  The main events are always long.  Last year's card featured two 30 minute plus matches that were both ***** (AJ Styles vs Nakamura and Tanahashi vs Okada).  Okada is very much a clone of Flair in his peak, but more athletic.

I was reading through the comments on Reddit, it is receiving pretty much universal praise as a five star match.  The ending sequence is unreal. https://streamable.com/mcb2r

The best match I've ever seen live was Flair vs Steamboat around 1986, and it went well over 40 minutes.  I stood the entire time.

Flair/Steamboat would routinely go over an hour and bring down the house, and these marks are saying 47 minutes is too long.

[imref]

The art of telling a story in a wrestling match is lost in the WWE sadly.

[imref]

Anthem sports officially announces it has acquired TNA.  Dixie Carter has been deleted.

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Dave Meltzer gave a rare 6 star rating to Okada vs.  Omega.  "Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada may have put on the greatest match in pro wrestling history."

[Vega]

Y'know, Kenny can opt out of his contract very soon. He didn't do anything of note the following show after main eventing WK and no new feud was established for him while every other upper level guy in NJPW has a new feud now. He's never gonna have more buzz than he does right now and I'm sure both he and WWE know that. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him debut in the Rumble and get AJ at Mania.

[imref]

Y'know, Kenny can opt out of his contract very soon. He didn't do anything of note the following show after main eventing WK and no new feud was established for him while every other upper level guy in NJPW has a new feud now. He's never gonna have more buzz than he does right now and I'm sure both he and WWE know that. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him debut in the Rumble and get AJ at Mania.

You are right.  They did nothing with Omega at this mornings show where they set up the programs for the next few months (Okada and Chaos are moving into a program with the returning Minoro Suzuki and Suzuki-gun.)

If Omega shows up at the RR the response would be absolutely astounding.   However he's blasted the WWE and McMahon in recent weeks for trying to, in his words, monopolize pro wrestling.   He really should have beaten Okada.  Maybe he does a short program with Cody for control of the BC?

I saw that NJPW World added more than 10k US subscriptions this past weekend.

[imref]

Jeff Jarrett is reportedly back at the helm of TNA, Dutch Mantel is returning to help with creative. 

[Vega]

Watched Omega/Okada. I'm gonna take back what I said. It was about as good as a match that long can possibly be. Kenny Omega delivered an absolute god-tier performance and Okada was smooth as hell. (He reminds me less of Ric Flair and more of a fully motivated Randy Orton with how he makes every move look perfect.) I don't think I'd go six stars, but it is certainly either 4.75 or 5. My personal distaste for the moves-bombing no-sell sequences near the end might drop it from 5 in my own personal ratings, but that is strictly subjective while there wasn't anything wrong with it from an objective perspective.

If NJPW has any sense, they will do whatever is necessary to keep Kenny given the US expansion they are doing soon. He would be invaluable to them going forward and Cody Rhodes is a MASSIVE downgrade in every way; going from Kenny to Cody as your top BC guy is like going from a Ferrari to an entry level Hyundai.

[imref]

If NJPW has any sense, they will do whatever is necessary to keep Kenny given the US expansion they are doing soon. He would be invaluable to them going forward and Cody Rhodes is a MASSIVE downgrade in every way; going from Kenny to Cody as your top BC guy is like going from a Ferrari to an entry level Hyundai.

Omega tweeted earlier that he was leaving Japan to 'reassess his options,'  it doesn't look like he's staying with NJPW.

I have a renewed interest in the Royal Rumble....

[Vega]

Omega tweeted earlier that he was leaving Japan to 'reassess his options,'  it doesn't look like he's staying with NJPW.

I have a renewed interest in the Royal Rumble....

Omega vs. Styles at Mania is THE match if they want to make a new star. So long as they rein in Kenny from doing too much of his goofy schtick, the sky is the limit for him in WWE.

[imref]

Just watched the match on YouTube. Absolutely incredible. 

[Vega]

Also worth pointing out that lots of WWE wrestlers have been tweeting about the Omega/Okada match. It's rare to see numerous WWE employees mention matches occurring outside of WWE. Could be a directive from on high to keep the buzz high around the match a guy who is headed to WWE just had.

[imref]

Wendy's is a fan of Broken Matt Hardy:

https://twitter.com/Wendys/status/818000113159258112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Jeff Jarrett is reportedly back at the helm of TNA, Dutch Mantel is returning to help with creative. 

Good move (bringing in Dutch).

After listening to various shoot interviews, I'm wondering if a wrestling promotion would ever bring in Scott Hall to work creative.  Dude has a brilliant wrestling mind.

[imref]

Good move (bringing in Dutch).

After listening to various shoot interviews, I'm wondering if a wrestling promotion would ever bring in Scott Hall to work creative.  Dude has a brilliant wrestling mind.

i can't imagine anyone would trust him to stay clean.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

That wouldn't be a problem if he's part of a larger creative team.  If he stays clean, you have a great wrestling mind contributing ideas.  If not, you move on with the rest of your team, no harm done.

[Vega]

WWE released the brackets for this weekend's UK Championship tournament today. It's a bit predictable since the four most well-kwown guys in the tournament (Trent Seven, Tyler Bate, Mark Andrews, and Pete Dunne) all have clear paths to the semis. In any case, should be fun.

[imref]

Impact taping spoiler, air date likely in February.

- The Hardys came out. Vanguard 1 has new powers of teleportation. They said they were being teleported all over the world and beat the best tag teams everywhere and win all the titles, no matter what the company. They will go to the Honorable Ring and face the Bucks of Youth or to the Meekmahan show. Then, they disappeared.

 

[Vega]

UK tournament starting right now!

[Vega]

So the first round of the UK tournament was fun. Not a lot of blowaway matches, but it was generally solid, the crowd was fantastic, and Cole and Nigel are a fantastic commentary team. If you haven't already, give it a watch.

[Vega]

So the second day of the UK tournament was fantastic stuff. Everyone should watch it.