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Post by Rangerh on Sept 28, 2018 18:41:31 GMT
It's completely wrong, Omega can do 2 styles of matches actually.
While he was doing it the majority of time before signing with NJPW, he only do it yearly nowadays in the G1 when they pair him with the true Ace of NJPW ( Toru Yano obviously ) :D
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Post by Spunk on Sept 29, 2018 2:10:23 GMT
It's completely wrong, Omega can do 2 styles of matches actually. While he was doing it the majority of time before signing with NJPW, he only do it yearly nowadays in the G1 when they pair him with the true Ace of NJPW ( Toru Yano obviously ) :D Toru Yano was the MVP of the G1. |
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Post by harris on Sept 29, 2018 13:45:29 GMT
Actually Tanahashi does need the old ace gets one last run with the belt because he's the only guy they have other than Naito who isn't godawful in calling longer main events. Seriously? I love Okada's matches, he has put out classic after classic, I like Naito too but he's not as consistent. |
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Post by Rangerh on Sept 29, 2018 13:59:33 GMT
Yeah, Okada has not been the top guy for years for nothing, the man has been able to carry main events after main events for so long it's incredible.
It was also a big risk NJPW took in order to refresh things to push Omega to his place, fortunately the fans are still involved in Omega thanks to the Golden Lover storyline.
Naito has always been a mystery to me, he seems to be elevated into a "choosen" candidate sometime (especially considering how popular he is) but other time he seems to get demoted from the candidate position and fall back in the fold.
I wonder why it is happening with Naito, last year after his G1 victory it seemed he was going to be the guy to break Okada streak, but i'm not sure why they finally went with Omega instead.
Expansion strategy ?
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Post by wakigatame on Sept 29, 2018 18:01:18 GMT
Actually Tanahashi does need the old ace gets one last run with the belt because he's the only guy they have other than Naito who isn't godawful in calling longer main events. Seriously? I love Okada's matches, he has put out classic after classic, I like Naito too but he's not as consistent. Okada's main event formula got boring as fuck when he was put in position to start leading matches instead of having veterans lead him through his shit. Yeah, Okada has not been the top guy for years for nothing, the man has been able to carry main events after main events for so long it's incredible. He hasn't been carrying anything, dude. It was also a big risk NJPW took in order to refresh things to push Omega to his place, fortunately the fans are still involved in Omega thanks to the Golden Lover storyline. Are they, though? Naito has always been a mystery to me, he seems to be elevated into a "choosen" candidate sometime (especially considering how popular he is) but other time he seems to get demoted from the candidate position and fall back in the fold. I wonder why it is happening with Naito, last year after his G1 victory it seemed he was going to be the guy to break Okada streak, but i'm not sure why they finally went with Omega instead. You kinda answer your own question, actually... Bingo. The idea seems to be push more white guys because westerners aren't as likely to cheer for people who don't look like them or fluently speak the language...even though Naito is the biggest star they have. |
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Post by harris on Sept 29, 2018 19:39:59 GMT
Interesting. I don't deny that Okada has a formula but doesn't everyone? And I think Okada deviated from his formula a lot during his title reign. He also seems to mix up a bit with his moveset adding in a move once a year (this year it's the rolling lariat thing, last year he added the spinning tombstone and cobra clutch, then before that he did the German into Rainmaker, then Red Ink etc.) I think it's the best title reign I've ever seen! I mean in that reign at the start you had vs Marufuji, vs Kenny, vs Suzuki and vs Shibata. All of those matches were stellar but also worked very differently. vs Zack also stood out to me as very unique for a New Japan main event considering the amount of technical work. Also, the second Kenny match, wow. I don't think Naito or Tanahashi could have a 60 minute draw be as compelling as that match was. But I like all of the "Big 4" a lot! |
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Post by Spunk on Sept 29, 2018 19:42:02 GMT
New Japan really sort of missed the boat on their expansion strategy IMO.
They haven't been paying attention. ROH's biggest shows? Yeah, they were shows that people traveled from all over the country to see New Japan's stars in, not ROH star vs. ROH star. Taking guys that compete in ROH and making them stars in New Japan, then coming to the US with these same folks against each other isn't going to feel that big.
Kenny, the Bucks, the Bullet Club, etc. would all do fine without being pushed as NJPW's top stars right now. These guys all used it as leverage to elevate themselves, which, good for them, but New Japan I don't think is getting any more popular here from that. New Japan had a different product for a long time, now they've been integrating in US stars and making them banner stars while you've got a guy like Naito, who is red hot in Japan and the time to act on him has probably passed, but it passed because they think they're gonna sell more tickets in the US with gaijin champions across the board. It's weird.
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Post by Rangerh on Sept 29, 2018 21:12:42 GMT
Okada boring ?
What a silly notion considering how very diverse his type of match work can be (go back and check how Okada worked the Suzuki match, the Shibata match, the Omega matches, the Ospreay matches etc... )
I can understand people hating on Omega because out of his Yano matches he often follow the same process, but Okada that's something new considering he was acclaimed because of how adaptable he is, a key to his success and longevity.
The big interest from NJPW in the Bucks is that they're actually doing the "expansion" work for NJPW with their Be the Elite youtube show as it gets even people not really interested in wrestling to actually follow their antics.
The Bucks also use this as a platform to get the public more acquainted with the NJPW foreign wrestlers basically they're doing more for the "expansion strategy" than the company is doing itself, without mentionning it even contribute to building storylines that are then used in ROH or NJPW
They're lucky to have the Bucks as employees, because they really know how to work with modern medias.
Their problem for NJPW is that they don't really have anything similar to what the Bucks are doing but for their native wrestlers, so they're only counting on those joint operations with ROH or CMLL to get them getting more spotlight.
Recently by example Okada got some spot in ROH and CMLL shows so people could still keep in mind how good he is, probably the best guy NJPW has in order to put their native wrestlers in the light, it's probably a reason Okada has been featured a bit in the Bucks video too (the lead to All In by example).
If Tanahashi would have been younger it would have been him, because he's the one with a wrestling style that is the closest to what american fans are used to, so him as their spearhead there would have made sense. But he's closer to retirement than wrestling prime unfortunately.
But as said, with their foreign wrestlers, thanks to the Bucks, it looks like they're going smoothly (probably a reason why there was so many rumours that WWE contacted the Bucks trying to hire them) , oh sure they're not going to dethrone WWE because that company is a monopoly in North America now , but they can be an interesting success that could push other promotions to increase their quality and also get some more spotlight.
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Post by Spunk on Sept 29, 2018 23:12:47 GMT
They'll never touch WWE in the states.
The Bucks and co might sell out an arena once a year or so, but there's a big difference between putting on events and selling them as iPPVs and being the media juggernaut that the WWE is.
Even AXS TV has scaled it back on doing their events live instead of tape delay, which is troubling.
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Post by Rangerh on Sept 30, 2018 15:25:25 GMT
And that's why they don't invest giant Ted Turner-like truckloads of money into the US part of the expansion strategy, they're not completely stupid to think it's possible to get on level with a promotion that has a quasi-monopoly in a country and has so many media contracts, that would be the best way to bankrupt themselves.
Their goal is to be present worldwide as it's what's going to inflate their business (as their competition in Japan has lost a vast amount of their past power, NJPW is nearing the monopoly position there that WWE has in the USA ), and having a solid foot on the US territory will be enough without risking an economic war with the local monopoly promotion, thanks to all the collaboration contracts they're building with minor US promotions around.
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Post by wakigatame on Oct 1, 2018 20:44:15 GMT
Okada boring ? What a silly notion considering how very diverse his type of match work can be (go back and check how Okada worked the Suzuki match, the Shibata match, the Omega matches, the Ospreay matches etc... ) You mean the Suzuki match where one of the most legit wrestlers ever tore at Okada's legs for the better part of a 40 minute match only for Okada to shrug that shit off and hit his entire comeback and not sell the legwork AT FUCKING ALL? You mean the Shibata match where Shibata basically lead the entire fucking thing and it was clearly a Shibata match until Okada got to flip the 'fuck you I win' switch? You mean the Omega matches which are overlong, masturbatory exhibitions of MOVEZ and ACK-TING? That's not a resume for an all time great, nor is it the resume for being some generational talent. If you look at New Japan's current 'big four', the only thing from stopping Okada from being the worst of the group is the fact they have Kenny Omega under contract. Okada never has been nor will he ever be a worker on the level of Tanahashi or Naito. I can understand people hating on Omega because out of his Yano matches he often follow the same process, but Okada that's something new considering he was acclaimed because of how adaptable he is, a key to his success and longevity. "how adaptable he is" No dogg, that's a silly notion. He works basically every match exactly the same, it all comes down to how good his opponent is and how good their offense is. |
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Post by wakigatame on Oct 1, 2018 20:45:46 GMT
Also shoutouts to Kenny for failing to sell out all three shows he's headlined in the US as IWGP Champion while simultaneously having one of the worst reigns ever with the title.
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Post by unimportantguy on Oct 1, 2018 21:16:55 GMT
I think this may be a new high in "People on the internet hate anything popular."
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Post by ninjabrute on Oct 2, 2018 1:55:57 GMT
Shibata could have had that match with just about anyone. I hope Okada thanked him.
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Post by Spunk on Oct 2, 2018 6:25:16 GMT
TBH I don't get the Okada hate.
If you were to argue that his first IWGP run was not great and that he was a product of booking and GEDO carefully laying out his finishing stretches, I get it. But he's grown a lot and is probably one of the best in the world. He adapts his style to work differently with everyone else, which is about all that you can ask for in a champion and top star. Watching Okada's G1 run this year and Omega's it was super clear that Okada is many, many steps ahead of Kenny, as are a few others (Naito, Tanahashi, Ishii, maybe even ZSJ and obviously Yano).
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