Okada retaining is upset of the year.

And i mean 2018. Nothing will be more shocking.

Not hot though. Okada is top notch.

I agree, unless Roman doesn't walk out of Wrestlemania with the title.

Y'all are about to have your nips blown off when Heath Slater wins the Royal Rumble.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">34,995 fans for Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njwk12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njwk12</a></p>&mdash; STRIGGA (@STRIGGA) <a href="https://twitter.com/STRIGGA/status/948889751242895361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">RAINMAKAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NJPW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NJPW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WK12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WK12</a><br><br>▶️<a href="https://t.co/5zxa6so4SQ">https://t.co/5zxa6so4SQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/fgqEt8TsQ9">pic.twitter.com/fgqEt8TsQ9</a></p>&mdash; Kayden (@KVR216) <a href="https://twitter.com/KVR216/status/948897837487665152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Looks like way more than 35k


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">And this is how it looks. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njwk12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njwk12</a> <a href="https://t.co/aDnYak27jv">pic.twitter.com/aDnYak27jv</a></p>&mdash; Shrimpsmann (@Shrimpsmann) <a href="https://twitter.com/Shrimpsmann/status/948891445619916800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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35k in presales. they had walk ins for sure. Look forward to the day they can pack that house again.

People are speculating that the Suzuki thing defying his stable to be a man might get him kicked out of Suzuki-GUN ala Kojima-GUN.

I want Sabre-GUN.

honestly I never watched any NJPW other then watching Bullet Club and Omega videos on You Tube, but this show seems like a blast. wish i could of seen it.

the Main event looked bad ass

can someone explain the NEVER Championship? what is this

I spent like 9 bucks to subscribe to njpw to watch it

You can probably find it online somewhere I bet and watch it/parts of it

I think I'm *significantly* more likely to watch NJPW now after this...what day/time does it air on Axxcess (sp?) or w/e the network is called it's on in the U.S.

NEVER was supposed to be their kind of NXT brand show, but it didn't take, so they just use the belts.

Then they made a 6 man belt with the same brand for some reason.

The NEVER titles are also Openweight titles which means any weight classes can go for it but so far the singles title has been held pretty much exclusively by heavyweights. Theoretically though it'd be a good way to have a junior heavyweight win the belt, have a nice run and use it to transition to the heavyweight division.

The 6-man belts you get more of a mix of weight classes.

I was able to check out the Jericho/Omega match before work. Haven't got to watch the rest. But man was it refreshing to watch! It reminded me of the older, grittier product of the attitude era that I loved. I'm not expecting the rest of the show to be the same style as this match, but I am excited.


Also... do any of my fellow Canadians know how to get NJPW? We dont get AXS tv or whatever... I've seen the website for njpw and I think its a fee, but I don't know what exactly I get from it

I think you'll have to get the membership just like anyone else. Don't think it matters that you are in Canada.

Who will Bryan Danielson be wrestling at WK13?

I would fly out to watch Danielson v Okada

The Gauntlet match sucked and the IC Title match was disappointing. Everything else was great. 4 way was the match of the night.

I love how impossible it seems for someone to win the title. I had become convinced just by reading people's thoughts that Naito was pretty much a lock. The story seemed to be leading there, too. And then... nope. It's like you have to be established as an all-time great for them to put the title on you. It's the polar opposite of WWE where everyone gets a run to see if it sticks.

Okada's reign is very special in all fairness but yes the belts are protected

It's also become synonomous with utterly brutal, knock down, drag out fights, which is why guys like Goto and Ishii are typically the champion.

The other belts seem to hotshot more though. Especially when they talk about how someone's on their 7th reign or they're the 75th person to hold a title that's existed for 30 years. I'm sure it's not WWE bad still but it seems like the others are a little more subject to hotshotting.

The junior belts are hotshotted, but the IC isn't really. Only 5 reigns were under 100 days.

It's weird how MVP won the first IC title on a US show. Like they were trying to build him the same way they are Kenny now. I love MVP, but I think they might do better with Omega somehow.

MVP? How did I miss that!?! lol

I love MVP but he does not fit in with New Japan at all.

Not the IWGP belts

I posted this in the other thread because I didn't see this, but the Okada and Tanahashi wins didn't shock me in the slightest. Okada is the guy, he's having a very special reign, and there are people that would just be cottoning on to that now. Putting it on their cool heel act who didn't need the belt to get over doesn't really...make as much sense as it does to a lot of American spectators where a guy gets half-way there and you switch it.

I can't actually imagine who beats Okada for the belt, and it's nice to have a strong babyface you legitimately believe in like that. It'll make it shocking and heart-breaking when he does drop it. Ideally. If Danielson jumps, which is still surreal to think about (I think he re-ups with WWE for millions, even if he is paid to do nothing), then that would be an obvious switch. Or Brock Lesnar, should he decide that he wants a change of scenery in order to change the wrestling landscape for a couple of million a year (I doubt they would pay him WWE salary, but does the dude really need money at this point?). If Brock got bored in Japan, Vince would take him back in a heartbeat, lol.

Hell, Bobby Lashley's TNA contract is coming up. I fully expect him to sign with the WWE, but he'd be a fool not to send feelers out to New Japan and see if they'd do something with him part-time in order to boost his rep even more. He's probably come a long way and has had great matches with Angle. "The Destroyer" in New Japan beating the snot out of the hero Okada would make for compelling stuff.

Eh, he had a lot of good rep leaving the WWE as a technical guy who never got to show his stuff. I think he teamed with Shelton Benjamin there as "Black Dynamite" or something. And it was always his dream to go and work in Japan. Kind of felt like the IC Title was their prototype US Title, which they'd use to get a gaijin they liked over. Now it's become sort of like what the WWF IC Title used to be, in that you put it on a guy that you want to be a big deal that you just aren't willing to derail the A1 main event program for. Shinsuke Nakamura became synonymous with it when Tanahashi was the guy, and now Tanahashi is synonymous with it now that Okada is the guy. One day Okada will become synonymous with it if Goto or Ibushi get to that main event spot.

Actually, Goto is probably my pick to get the next IWGP Title run, assuming that there isn't a MAJOR shake-up in the wrestling world and the Punk, Brock or Danielson thing doesn't end up happening.

Jericho worked exactly the match he should have. There were a couple of spots that were tricky but he focused heavily on brawling and telling a story instead of trying ti keep up with the younger/fitter Omega... Which imo has been his downfall in his wwe matches. He was able to do the charactet work while working at a high level. V impressed. He understood the limits of his age and worked beautifully around them.

Dale, we missed you on the live show! Should've called out of work!

I wouldn't want to see Jericho do that match all the time though.

Well yeah then it'd cease to be special. Also, a lot of that match had to do with Kenny Omega. So it'll change depending on the opponent. However, that's the only way he can work at a high level. He's not going to be able to have amazing technical matches anymore, he has just lost too many steps.

He really has. He'd make a great manager or something, if he wanted to throw himself back into wrestling though. Still don't see it with Omega. He's such a geek. "You cannot escape!" Holy shit, so bad. He was a lot more toned down, but Jericho was clearly leading that thing.

Hate that finisher of Omega too. Way too convoluted. Like something you'd give a CAW. In fact, Omega himself looks like the sort of wrestler my brother would have made in one of the games. I just don't get it with him.

Yes Noid. We get it. No matter what Omega does, you won't like him.

Didn't see his entrance, so that probably helped my overall enjoyment. Does he still do shit like this:

https://statics.sportskeeda.com/wp-c...774263-800.jpg

I think he's good in the ring. It's the same patterned stuff as everyone else, but he does it really well. I just think his personality and everything else around his athletics is hokey and off-putting. It's like if someone cast Rob Schneider to be in a good movie.

I typically don't find Omega's silly stuff bothersome, and even enjoy it most of the time, but the Anubis entrance stuff was a little too much and din't fit the tone of the encounter at all.

Yeah that entrance was brutal. But other than that, I don't have a problem with most of his stuff. It's different, and kinda "neat"

Haha, I'm almost tempted to seek this out.