#cmll/aew matches are what I look forward to the most now

[zedxspacess]

I’m a Hechicero girlie now, idgaf

[wrestlingisfake]

Best of the Super Jr. preview

This is New Japan’s annual junior heavyweight tournament--if you’ve heard of the G1 Climax, it’s basically like that, but ony for wrestlers under 100 kilograms (220 pounds).  The tour runs through fifteen dates from May 13 to June 5.

BOSJ is a round-robin tournament with two blocks of wrestlers.  Each wrestler will face every other wrestler in his block in a one-on-one match.  For each match, 2 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a time limit draw, and 0 points for a loss.  (Double disqualifications and double count-outs are rare, but I believe both participants get 0 points in those outcomes as well.)  The wrestlers with the highest scores in each block then face one another to determine the winner of the tournament.  The tournament winner earns a trophy and the right to challenge Dragon Lee for the IWGP junior heavyweight champion at the Dominion show on June 9.  (If Lee wins the tournament, he gets to select his challenger.)

This year’s tournament is expanded from 16 men to 20, and for the first time every show will be streamed live on New Japan World with full English commentary.  Most shows will feature five matches from one block with filler in the undercard, but the ones on May 22, 23, 24, and 26 will feature ten block matches, and should be pretty action-packed.

We’ll take a look at the participants and some highlights after the cut.

A Block

Dragon Lee [CMLL] - The current IWGP junior heavyweight champion, who won the title at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden.  Lee specifically wants to hold the title until he can defend it against Hiromu Takahashi, who was injured in a successful title defense against Lee last year.

Jonathan Gresham [ROH] - A submission specialist, this is Gresham’s first BOSJ.  Like all the first-timers from outside New Japan, he’ll be looking to make a good impression to earn a spot on future tours.

Marty Scurll [ROH] - One of the ROH trios champions.  Over the past 18 months Scurll went from being Bullet Club’s key junior heavyweight, to breaking away with the Elite, to remaining in ROH while the rest of the Elite left to found AEW.  I get the feeling he’s waiting out his contract to leave, and I suspect that will cause him to be booked with a lower score this year.

Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables de Japon] - The absolute unit of the junior division, Takagi gets people wondering if he’s really making weight.  He jumped from Dragon Gate to New Japan last year to help fill in with LIJ after Hiromu Takahasi was sidelined.  Since then he has never been pinned or submitted, which makes him a favorite on paper to win this thing.  If someone can beat him in this tournament, it’ll be big news.  If he can go undefeated, it’ll be even bigger news.

SHO [CHAOS] - One half of Roppongi 3K, the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team champions.  Sho is the shy quiet one who wears gold.  After the Young Bucks left the junior tag division, R3K kind of got stuck wrestling the same two teams endlessly, so I’m looking forward to them in singles action.

Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] - He’s been BC’s main junior since the Elite exodus, and a dominant force as Kushida, Scurll, Ospreay, and Takahashi have fallen by the wayside.  A strong pick to go all the way.

TAKA Michinoku [Suzuki-gun] - He's one of the “Indeed!” guys from the WWF 20 years ago.  Taka mainly seconds Zack Sabre, Jr. these days, so I expect him to pick up a few wins but mainly put over the rising stars.

Tiger Mask [Hontai] - The fourth and longest-running performer of the role based on the Tiger Mask manga.  Tiger is the veteran of this field, having debuted in 1995.  It’s hard to imagine him scoring many wins in this block.

Titán [CMLL] - One of a handful of CMLL guys who regularly come in for New Japan tours.  This is Titán‘s first BOSJ since 2013.  He hasn’t had much of an impact in New Japan yet, and I don’t follow CMLL so we’ll have to see what he’s got.

Yoshinobu Kanemaru [Suzuki-gun] - I mean, he’s pretty much just the guy with the whisky bottle from Suzuki-gun and that’s about it.

B Block

Bandio [ROH] - A rising star from the Mexican indie scene, who was plucked from obscurity to headline last year’s All In show.  Bandido was a lock to go to AEW, but he chose to sign with ROH instead because of the opportunity to go to New Japan, so you have to figure BOSJ is a dream come true for him.  Another newcomer with a lot to prove.

BUSHI [Los Ingobernables de Japon] - He was LIJ’s resident junior until Hiromu Takahashi joined, and then he spent most of the past year being Robin to Shingo Takagi’s Batman.  My main interest in Bushi is that he sprays poison mist and Rocky Romero hates on him in color commentary.

DOUKI [Suzuki-gun] - A last-minute replacement for El Desperado, who broke his jaw in a match on May 7, Douki works for small promotions mainly in Japan and Mexico.  The story is that Suzuki-gun’s Taichi hand-picked Douki as a hired gun for the group.  There’s very little info on him, which makes him a pretty cool wild card for the tournament.

El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] - A Canadian wrestler who just came in from Rev Pro in the UK.  ELP got a hot start with a series of “coming soon” videos throughout the New Japan Cup and a flashy debut at Wrestling Dontaku.  He should do very well.  He might even win.

Ren Narita [Hontai] - One of the Young Lions, the rookies in black trunks who pull double duty as the ring crew and opening match jobbers.  Narita is a late substitute for ROH star Flip Gordon, who ran into work visa issues.  Here’s the interesting bit: In theory a young boy should lose every single block match, but Flip was probably supposed to get several key wins, which can’t be re-booked without altering the layout of the entire tournament.  So if there was ever a time for Ren Narita to score an upset, it’s gotta be now.

Robbie Eagles [Bullet Club] - An Australian, Eagles has been brought in for a couple of tours, particularly when Taiji Ishimori needs a tag team partner.  It’s not clear yet where his level is in the pecking order, but we’ll soon find out.

Rocky Romero [CHAOS] - The coach of Roppongi 3K and my pick for the best guy on the English announce team.  Rocky’s great, but as a wrestler he’s been largely a comedy prelim guy since the original Roppongi Vice broke up.  I’d love to see him get a big run, but I’m not counting on it.  Rocky’s dream scenario for this tournament is a three-way tie between Yoh, Sho, and himself.

Ryusuke Taguchi [Hontai] - ONe of the NEVER trios champions, and the coach of “Taguchi Japan,” which is basically “anybody teaming with Taguchi that wants to pretend he’s their coach.”  His ass is both an indestructible weapon and his secret weak spot somehow.  Taguchi kinda drops the comedy bullshit for BOSJ, but even 50% serious Taguchi is still pretty wacky.

Will Ospreay [CHAOS] - Ospreay recently had a run as the NEVER openweight champion, and was starting to move up into the heavyweight division before he lost the title at Madison Square Garden.  As long as he can still make weight, it makes sense for him to pursue this opportunity for junior gold, but it’s not clear yet if this is a retreat from the heavyweights or an attempt to do both at the same time.  Ospreay’s great but he runs himself too hard, too fast, and this would be a bad time for it to catch up to him...

YOH [CHAOS] - Sho’s partner in Roppongi 3K, the IWGP junior tag team champions.  Yoh is the pretty one who looks like a male model and wears silver.  He feels like the star of the team, and this could be an opportunity to make it official.

All right, let’s quickly run down some key matches I’m looking forward to...

May 13

SHO vs. Shingo Takagi - After months of their respective tag teams feuding, the Dontaku tour really played up the idea that Sho is obsessed with beating Shingo.  Now they’re going to get a chance to go at it one-on-one.

Dragon Lee vs. Taiji Ishimori - A rematch of their great title bout from Dontaku.  It’s time for Ishimori to get a win in this series, unless they just want to close the book on him chasing the title this year.

May 14

Ren Narita vs. DOUKI - As luck would have it, I guess Flip Gordon and El Desperado were slated to be each other’s first opponent, so now we get to see their replacements go at it right away.  This will be my first look at Douki, so I’m real curious what he’s got.

May 15

Marty Scurll vs. Taiji Ishimori - The Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club match I didn’t get to see last year, when these were the two juniors in the group, and the group was embroiled in civil war.  I guess that issue doesn’t matter anymore, but I still want to see the match.

May 16

Will Ospreay vs. Rocky Romero - A Chaos vs. Chaos match.  These guys have been the foundation of Chaos’s junior roster for years, but Ospreay came up just as Rocky was drifting down, and they’ve never met in BOSJ before.  I dig the idea of Rocky pulling his “sneaky style” on a guy from his own faction that ain’t got time for that shit--it’s basically the junior equivalent to Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano.

Robbie Eagles vs. Ren Narita - If Ren is gonna score a win in this block, it’d probably be here, against an expendable prelim guy that would never have been booked to pin Flip Gordon in the original plans.  I don’t have my heart set on it happening, but it will be interesting to see if they can work around not doing it.

May 19

El Phantasmo vs. Robbie Eagles - The real Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club match of the tournament.  Both of these guys are just holding Ishimori’s water until they step up.  Phantasmo needs to squash Eagles hard if he’s gonna be a title contender, but Eagles can’t just lay down for that.

May 22

YOH vs. Rocky Romero - Will Yoh be able to stay a step ahead of his coach?  Will Rocky be able to bring himself to cost Yoh 2 points in the tournament?  I expect some big drama in this one.

Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo - I don’t follow the British scene so I’m not clear on the backstory between these two, but it’s definitely there.  I’m counting on some intense flippy violence here.

May 23

Rocky Romero vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - It’s coach vs. coach.  The alliance between Chaos and Hontai has led to some overlap in the roles of these two--in eight-man tags they often call “plays” for their teammates.  There was some talk a while back that they agreed the winner of this match would be the one and only coach going forward, but I’m not sure if they’ll follow through with it.  This should be some quality comedy nonsense.

Dragon Lee vs. Shingo Takagi - One’s champion and the other is (so far) undefeated.  One put Hiromu Takahashi on the shelf, the other took his spot.  This could get real interesting, especially if Shingo has managed to avoid a loss up to this point.

May 30

Rocky Romero vs. BUSHI - Listen, I’m a Rocky Romero mark, okay?  He is furious that Bushi even exists, and complains about him constantly on commentary.  It’s like Corey Graves and Elias!  Or Corey Graves and Booker T!  Or Corey Graves and Bayley!  Or Corey Graves and Renee Young!  Except it’s actually going to culminate in a match!  This match!

May 31

Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori - I have a pretty good feeling that this one match is going to end up deciding the A Block--it’s a pick-’em and it would make sense as the main event.

June 3

Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - The last day of B Block doesn’t have any super obvious feature match but I could see Ospreay needing these last two points to win the block over Phantasmo.

El Phantasmo vs. DOUKI - Likewise, I don’t see this as a top attraction--ELP is a clear favorite to win--but it could be more important in determining who gets mathematically eliminated.

June 5

I’ll come back around later to preview the finals.  At this point, though, it’s real hard to predict who will make it to the end.  The logical favorites are Shingo, Ospreay, Phantasmo, Dragon Lee, and Ishimori.  But it’s not like the main event of a stadium show is riding on this, so they could surprise everyone with a big run from Sho, Yoh, Taguchi, or Bushi.  Hell, Douki could unmask and turn out to be Michael Nakazawa or something, and go 10-0, and it wouldn’t knock the earth out of its orbit or anything.  Anything could happen, which should make this a fun time.

[zedxspacess]

I’m seeing people say Forbidden Door is too AEW focused this year, but when you objectively look at the card, it really isn’t.

Mercedes v Vaquer

Toni v Mina

Danielson v Shingo

Mox v Naito

Orange v ZSJ

MJF v Hechicero

AEW only matches:

Ladder match (so far)

Swerve v Ospreay

That is only 2 out of 8 matches, like what are you saying. And there's a high chance there will be more cross promotional matches revealed later this week, since Gabe Kidd and El Phantasmo showed up to Rampage pretapings last week.

There’s less multimans this year, so numbers wise, it feels like there’s less representation from other companies. BUT I counter that the downside to the multimans is not everyone can share the same amount of spotlight--you have some wrestlers getting more shine while others mostly hang out on the apron. These singles matches can have more focus on the individual wrestlers of other companies. Tho I do anticipate the inclusion of more multimans on the pre-show.

I think the mistake on both AEW and the fan's part is marketing FD as a NJPWxAEW event moving forward. NJPW is still getting most of the representation (they're half of the outside talent), but this is definitely an AEWxThe World type of ppv now. And the downside to opening the door to more companies collaborating is that the spots and plots that would've gone to NJPW are now going to CMLL or Stardom. The shows are already 5+ hours long, and you can only fit so many matches on the card. People were complaining on the lack of interpromotional women's matches or lucha libre rep in past years, and now we have two title defenses from two different companies! And while I don't think the MJF-Hechicero match is the best combination, it's still something for CMLL along with Stephanie Vaquer. The optimal FD card is having 0 AEW v AEW matches, but I believe we can get there.

Personally, I don't think there should or can be separate ppvs for the different promotions ie, a FD just with NJPW or a FD just with CMLL. Logistically, it sounds like a nightmare considering implementing build time, working out visas and travelling. I don't think it's a coincidence Fantasticamania Mexico and USA are happening in close proximity to FD--all the relevant NJPW talent are in the same continent so travel between the states and Mexico is easier than if they're going back and forth from Japan. The moment I saw Hiromu Takahashi on the Fantasticamania MX card for a week, I knew there's no way TK could resist booking him for AEW while he's in the same hemisphere. Hiromu, Titan, and ZSJ were on Tuesday's CMLL show in Mexico City and they're literally showing up on Dynamite in Buffalo, NY the day after.

Now the interesting question is: why are fans feeling like it's AEW-focused when on paper, it's the opposite? I think it partly falls down to the aforementioned issue of the expectation of more NJPW presence on a program where there's two other promotions sharing the spotlight now. CMLL doesn’t have a big presence in ENG speaking circles as compared to NJPW, so there’s less familiarity/hype when a CMLL wrestler shows up in a guest spot vs when a NJPW fan fav shows up on AEW. But I also think the other part of the problem lies on the plots/build leading up to the show and how unbalanced it is.

I'd argue the builds that have the most presence on AEW programing are Swerve v Ospreay, Toni v Mina, Ladder Match and the rest following suit in varying degrees. You get the occasional appearance from TMDK or Shingo or a luchador but those top three matches are given the most promo+match time until the couple shows before the ppv. Hechicero has shown up a lot lately but his match up against MJF felt last minute and not the direction they were headed with his character. Naturally, AEW talent have more free time to promote the matches in ways the outside talent can't due to travel, visas and scheduling--NJPW are still doing their tours in Japan and Fantasticamania Mexico this week, CMLL do shows 4 days a week every week plus some of their talent had visa issues earlier this year. Mina is the only exception to this as she's been reliably flying in and making appearances even before Double or Nothing, which I consider a plus and how AEW should book for FD moving forward. She's been so seamlessly integrated into the show and the story with Toni and Mariah having been such a constant presence, she doesn't feel too much like an outsider. I think the issue with FD in previous years is that most of the ongoing plots in AEW have to take a pause for FD season, or they have to awkwardly insert NJPW talent into it somehow or the build only starts a couple weeks before the show. Mina's handling has avoided that, but you can't say the same for the Ladder Match and Swerve v Ospreay which has the opposite problem of not involving outside talent at all. I'm not entirely too happy with Swerve v Ospreay main eventing but I don't hate it either. I can see why AEW chose to do it and how it's probably more beneficial to their long term plans. But at the expense of downplaying the interpromotional focus of the show for TWO their biggest titles is :/ and something I hope they won't repeat again in the future.

And speaking of titles, there's the whole discourse of Moxley being the iwgp champ and questioning the relationship between the promotions that's skewed people's perception of FD. I'll say Mox deserves to be world champ and its unfair to say he's unworthy or his defenses are meaningless; the guy was in the G1 and appeared in NJPW before joining AEW, plus it's also up to NJPW to approve of the title defenses in the first place. I think half of this problem lies with NJPW's struggle in pushing new main eventers from their already talented roster and the other half is AEW protecting themselves too much in the booking. There’s an existing story of a full on AEW vs NJPW war the wrestlers and fans talk about but the companies don’t want to play into it to protect the image of their partnership. I originally wrote a whole thing explaining this point further, but it kinda got off topic and too lengthy so I'll just say this: regardless of what your thoughts are about the title reign, the discourse around it and how the match most likely isn't main eventing is not a good look on AEW's part and has swayed some fans' opinion of the representation of the card. I don't think this assessment is entirely fair to knock the whole ppv down or doom write about how AEW is screwing over NJPW, but I understand how a fan's frustration of it can taint their perception of FD.

[gdwessel]

Super J-Cup 2019 Night 1 - 8/22/2019; Jon Moxley Has MRSA In Elbow, Missing AEW All Out, Probably Won’t Make Destruction Tour; Many Special Jushin Liger Matches on NJPWWorld Now; Tonight’s NJPW on AXS

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 56 on Pro Wrestling Only

Hey, this is about a day late, and sorry for that; with the Super J-Cup show being on the West Coast, it wasn’t ending til near midnight my time, and yesterday, something came up and wasn’t able to get to my PC all day. Sorry.

In any event, Thursday was the first night of the 2019 edition of Super J-Cup. 9 matches total, 8 of which were the first round. This show is still not posted anywhere, so can’t speak to any quality, etc.

Super J-Cup 2019 - 8/22/2019, Temple Theater, Tacoma, WA

Jushin Thunder Liger & Karl Fredericks d. Shota Umino & Ren Narita (Fredericks > Narita, Boston Crab, 7:30)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Soberano Jr. [CMLL] d. Rocky Romero [CHAOS] (Tornillo, 11:04)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: TJP [FREE] d. Clark Connors (Pinoy Stretch, 11:56)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Caristico [CMLL] d. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (Top Rope Spanish Fly, 10:08)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Ryusuke Taguchi d. Jonathan Gresham [ROH] (Inside Cradle, 12:59)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] (Schoolboy, 12:17)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Dragon Lee [CMLL] d. YOH [CHAOS] (Desnucadora, 18:51)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: SHO [CHAOS] d. Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] (Shock Arrow, 17:06)

Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] d. Amazing Red [FREE] (Stormbreaker, 28:19)

If there are any surprises in this, it is that all three CMLL luchadores made it through to the next round, and SHO beating Ishimori. The latter is to set up an inevitable IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team match more than anything. There was no way TJP was going to lose. There was no way Amazing Red was going to win. El Phantasmo wins this round of the grudge feud with Robbie Eagles.

The card for tonight’s quarterfinals show in San Francisco will be posted at the end of the post.

Jon Moxley tweeted out yesterday the above, stating he has MRSA (staph infection) in his elbow, which will prevent his wrestling against Kenny Omega at AEW’s All Out PPV event on 8/31/2019 right in my backyard (I won’t be going). He went on to further say:

I apologize to all involved, most importantly the fans. I am incredibly frustrated and pissed off. I'll have surgery this week to remove the bursa sac in my elbow and be done with it for good. Should be a quick recovery so I will be 100% for AEW Wednesday nights on TNT.  

Still, I expect All out to be an amazing ppv and hope all the fans out there looking for an alternative tune in. You will be blown away by AEW and be excited to be a wrestling fan. I'm looking forward to watching as a fan myself

A bursa sac removal takes approximately 3-4 weeks to heal up, generally, before being able to use that elbow again. Moxley also tweeted at former NJPW on AXS commentator Josh Barnett lamenting the match the two were due to have on 9/16/2019 at the GCW Presents Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport II event, so safe assumption that match will also not be happening. As of right now, no lineups for the Destruction cycle of shows have been announced, but the timeline for recovery makes it unlikely we will see Moxley on that tour. AEW on TNT is supposed to start on 10/2/2019; King of Pro Wrestling is on 10/14/2019 from Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, so we may be waiting until then to see Mox in the NJPW ring once more.

NJPWWorld has a treat for fans wanting to see more of Jushin Thunder Liger before his retirement. First off, they have posted what is, unbelievably, Liger’s  debut in Pro Wrestling Zero-1, the promotion founded by former Three Musketeer, the late Shinya Hashimoto, only this past July, on 7/28/2019 in Tokyo Korakuen Hall (I missed this happening due to all the move shenanigans). In this, Liger teams with his old pal The Great Sasuke, against two former NJPW junior heavyweight legends from the days of yore, Shinjiro Otani (the main man in Zero-1 since Hashimoto’s passing in 2005) and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. 

The service has also posted Liger’s farewell match to Arena Mexico, from 7/19/2019 at CMLL’s  Viernes Espectacular, where there was a farewell ceremony, as well as a 4-corners “Relevos CMLL” match with Liger facing off against Caristico, Negro Casas & Ultimo Guerrero. In addition, the bout from the next night, at Lucha Libre Real in Arena Coliseo, featuring Liger against 10 different luchadores, then the winners of a Battle Royale of those 10 (yes, winners, plural), are posted as well. Some fun matches to watch, perhaps, as we wait for the Super J-Cup to come. (These matches are region-locked if you are in Mexico, sadly)

Tonight’s episode of NJPW on AXS wraps up their coverage of G1 Climax 29, with the showing of the Finals between Kota Ibushi v. Jay White, from Tokyo Nippon Budokan on 8/12/2019. Also advertised is the tag match between Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. Show starts at 9pm EDT / 8m CDT. 

There is not a new episode next week, considering a) Labor Day Weekend b) AEW’s All Out would be direct competition c) no new post-G1 material yet. They are showing Okada v. Chris Jericho from Dominion in June, if that interests you.

Here is tonight’s lineup for the second night of Super J-Cup, from San Francisco:

- 8/24/2019, SFSU Student Life Events Center, San Francisco, CA

Jonathan Gresham [ROH] v. Alex Coughlin

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] v. Clark Connors

Shota Umino v. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Ren Narita & Karl Fredericks v. Taiji Ishimori & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Jushin Thunder Liger & Amazing Red [FREE] v. Rocky Romero & YOH [CHAOS]

Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: Caristico [CMLL] v. Soberano Jr. [CMLL]

Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: TJP [FREE] v. El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: Ryusuke Taguchi v. Dragon Lee [CMLL]

Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] v. SHO [CHAOS]

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 56 on Pro Wrestling Only