#tribute to taiji

[jongace]

actually, hard > cream soda

what if hard ends up one of my most listened songs in my spotify wrapped

[thekpopgossip]

Roundup: Freshest Releases

n.SSign "Funk Jam"

This is straight up 90's r'n'b and the guys got the vocals to pull of this sound. Really nice to hear something more funky and jazzy from a young boy group.

Young Posse "XXL"

And we're not leaving the 90's. This seems to be a tribute to Seo Taiji's "Come Back Home", which is a cool idea, but besides the engaging chorus, the mv is also hip and a rare concept for k-pop idols.

TNX "Fuego"

Nothing about this song stands out. PSY's musical genius is not coming through with his first boy group. Maybe he's more suited to producing for soloists. Same thing for Purple Kiss, who so far haven't been able to make a splash, although the girls could back it up with their talent.

[rocklady1973]

Two fake album covers I made...  Heath may call me, if he needs an album cover design.😅

[stargazer-sims]

#bkbutterflychallenge accepted!

With lead dancer Keigo front and center, as always, the boys of Sugar Valentine are re-working the choreography for their song "Dream Garden" from their second album, Love in Living Colour.

Since they are fans of BK, and since the song also features butterflies, they thought it'd be a fitting tribute to work this signature pose into the stage performance of it for their upcoming tour.

(L-R: Ryu, Haru, Keigo, Taiji, Senjirō)

_____

This was a lot of fun, @ladybugsimblr ! Thanks for the challenge!

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW WRETLE KINGDOM 17 in Tokyo Dome REVIEW (Jan 4th, 2023)

Ryohei Oiwa vs. Oleg Boltin  N/R

King Of Pro-Wrestling Title 2023 Right To Challenge New Japan Rambo

  **1/2

Antonio Inoki Tribute Match - Tatsumi Fujinami, Minoru Suzuki & Tiger Mask vs. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima  **1/2

IWGP Jr. Tag Championship - TJP & Francesco Akira (c) vs. YOH & Lio Rush  ****

IWGP Women's Championship - KAIRI (c) vs. Tam Nakano  ***3/4

IWGP Tag Team Championship - FTR (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI  ****1/4

NJPW World TV Championship Tournament Final - Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita  ****

NEVER Openweight Championship - Karl Anderson (c) vs. Tama Tonga  ***1/4

Keiji Muto NJPW FINAL MATCH - Muto, Tanahashi & Umino vs. Naito, SANADA & BUSHI  ***

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship 4-Way - Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Master Wato  ****

IWGP United States Championship - Will Ospreay (c) vs. Kenny Omega  *****

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada  ****1/4+

Photos.

Happy New Year one and all! Well, my first review on here in years is of the first New Japan show in years that actually felt like New Japan! This was a tremendous show that, despite its 6 hour runtime, was a breeze to watch. Pretty much every match was a sprint until the Double Main Event, and it was full of great to outstanding action. As well as being the first Wrestle Kingdom since 2020 to have actual cheering and a hot crowd. Which created quite the environment.

The pre-show section was fine, but nothing special really. It kicked off with a 3 minute exhibition match Young Lions Oiwa, and the debuting Olympian, Oleg Boltin. This was solid stuff, but much too brief to take anything away from, other than both guys looked really good. Oleg got a near fall with a big slam as the 3:00 time limit expired. Next up was the warm January 4th comfort blanket that is the New Japan Rambo. This was a fun but unspectacular battle royal, much like we’ve come to expect. There weren’t any surprises, and it came to an end at 30:37, when Shingo and SHO (who entered 1st) lastly eliminated El Phantasmo. The final four all “win” and go through to KOPW Title Decision Match at New Year’s Dash tomorrow. The other two winners were Toru Yano (to the surprise of no one), and Great-O-Khan (ditto). Then it was time for the Inoki Tribute Match, as 69 year old living legend Tatsumi Fujinami, who’s impossible good for his age, teamed with Minoru Suzuki and Tiger Mask IV, in a losing effort to historic NJ Dojo graduates, Makabe (who I haven’t seen wrestle in forever), and the still great duo of Kojima and Nagata. This was decent enough for what it was, though it did feature some dodgy looking old dude action, but it was a nice, feel-good nostalgia fest, and I’m not complaining that we got to see any of these guys on the show. Everyone came out in the patented Inoki red towel. The finish fell apart though as Tiger tried (and failed) to do a jumping victory roll on Makabe, time stood still for a minute, then Togi effectively just sat on him and got the win for his team in 9:10. Fujinami did the Inoki “Ichi, Ni, San, DAAAAAH!” catchphrase in the post match.

The main show kicked off in grand fashion as Catch 2/2 defended their IWGP Jr Tag Titles against YOH and Lio Rush in a great little opener. This kicked off a theme of this show, which is matches clocking in at 10 minutes or under, and generally being super fun sprints. This started off hot with YOH wiping the champs out with a topé as they made their entrance, but the champions retaliated by taking Rush out with an elevated facebuster on the ramp, which busted him open. Lots of hot back and forth action culminated in the challengers hitting TJP with the 3K, but Akira broke it up. From there, YOH went for the Direct Drive, but TJP turned it into a small package to reatin the belts at the 10:29 mark. KAIRI’s first defence of the IWGP Women’s Title was next, as she took on Tam Nakano in a really good little sprint. Let’s get the negative out of the way first; this only went around 6 minutes. But, it was a s good a 6 minute match as you’ll ever see! It was all-action, they exchanged strikes, Tam hit a big dive to the floor and scored a great near fall with the Violet Screwdriver. KAIRI came back with a near fall of her own after a Cutlas spinning back fast. She hit another Cutlas, followed by the Insane Elbow to retain her title. The post match is what will make the most news, however, as the former Sasha Banks, now going by Mercedes Moné made her way to the ring, sporting a bit of a different look. She also had some badass, The Chronic era vibe entrance music. After a staredown, she laid KAIRI out with... some move, declared herself the “CEO of the women’s divison”, then challenged her to a title match in San Jose in February. Moné very much came across as a star here.

More tag gold was on the line next, as Heavyweight champs FTR defended against Bishamon. This was an excellent match, and even only going 10:10, was a fast-paced hard-hitter, that managed to be better than I anticipated. Wheeler hit big dives to the floor, and the champions scored great near falls with a Power Plex and Spike Piledriver. After an exciting closing stretch, the challengers hit Shoto on Harwood, and YH scored the win and the titles for his team. I know there’s a lot of speculation about FTR’s future at the moment, but they’ve been nothing short of fantastic in the last year, and I personally feel there’s still a lot more for them to do in Japan. The inaugural NJPW World TV Champion was crowned next as a newly blonde ZSJ faced off against The Son Of Strong Style, Ren Narita in, you guessed it, another great sprint. These 15 minute time limit matches really are a ton of fun, and this was no different; a compelling combination of hard strikes and submission grappling. Zack worked over Narita’s arm throughout to prevent the Overhead Suplex, which payed off as during a grappling exchange he caught him in a Jujigatame, and Ren quickly tapped to give Sabre Jr. the title in 10:32. The post match saw Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls come out, who were ZSJ’s old mates in NOAH. They handed Zack a TMDK shirt, which he put on and appeared to declare himself the leader. It’s worth pointing out that during his entrance, Zack demanded that “dickhead” Rishi Sunak pay nurses fairly, and quite frankly I couldn’t agree more! But back to wrestling...

Tama Tonga rescued the NEVER title from Sports Entertainment oblivion in the next match, as he defeated WWE Superstar Karl Anderson in a fun match. To his credit, The Machine Gun put in some actual rare effort here, and Tama took some nasty bumps early, including a Bernard Driver on the ramp. The finish saw Tonga get near falls with a big splash and second rope Gun Stun, before scoring the win at 9:36 with another Gun Stun (which Anderson botched the bump for, but whatever). This benefitted from me having absolutely zero expectations going in, so I was pleasantly surprised here. Next was the final match in NJPW of one of the all-time greats, as the on-the-retirement-run Keiji Muto teamed with standout student Hiroshi Tanahashi, and potential “future ace” Shota Umino, to take on the LIJ Muto Fan Club of Naito, SANADA and BUSHI. From an in-ring perspective, this was likely the weakest match on the card, as nobody really did anything (except SANADA hitting the Moonsault on Muto in the early going to get a really close nearfall), but the crowd were super hot for Muto, and it helped the match greatly. This finishing stretch saw Tanahashi hit BUSHI with Sling Blade, the Natural Born Master followed up with a Shining Wizard, and Umino put the masked man away at 9:20 with the Death Rider. They all posed and left to Muto’s entrance theme in the post match. The IWGP Jr. Title was on the line next in a 4-way. This was something of a disappointment I feel, but still a great match. It was certainly all-action, but I don’t know, something just wasn’t clicking for me in this for a while. They all worked hard and hit the crazy multiman spots throughout, and Hiromu and Despy had a really great exchange later on. Things really picked up at the end, when Wato went on a tear, scoring numerous believable near falls with his Recietemente Crucifix Bomb, and had the 26,085 in the Dome believing he could pull off the miracle here. He scored another brilliant near fall when he hit a massive Everest German on Hiromu, but the miracle wasn’t to be as Takahashi escaped a Dragon Tiger Suplex, and hit Time Bomb II on Wato to regain his beloved Belt-San in 16:43. During this match it was announced that Naito and the LIJ guys got into a heated exchange backstage with Kenoh’s KONGO faction from NOAH, which is super interesting.

Things were kicked up a notch in the next match, and it finally felt like a classic Wrestle Kingdom show, as Will Ospreay defended his US Title against Kenny Omega in a dream match. This was just outstanding, and ended up being a completely different style to what I’d anticipated. This was a heated, super stiff, bloody war. Omega (complete with added Don Callis) returned to NJPW for the first time in 4 years, to take out the man who “took his spot”, and Ospreay, who came out as the Ariel Assassin of old, was there to beat the hell out of the guy who abandoned the company 4 years ago. This was a classic grudge match, and featured some insane action that was sometimes hard to watch. There were moments I actually feared someone was going to get seriously hurt, but thankfully that didn’t happen. Omega, who worked totally as the heel here, worked over Ospreay’s famously injured neck and back, including landing a double stomp off the apron onto Ospreay’s back whilst a table was draped over it, which culminated in him bleeding from the back. Ospreay fought back with stiff punches which caused omega’s right eye to swell shut, hitting a brainbuster on the upturned table, and then a big Skytwister Press to the floor. Kenny removed the corner pad, exposing the buckles, which both guys took bumps into. Things got crazy as Will went for a Spanish Fly, but Omega countered it into a top rope DDT onto the exposed buckle, which was insane, and Ospreay juiced heavily from the head. After teasing a countout, Kenny hit the Terminator Dive and a Cactus Jack Piledriver in the ring for a near fall. Omega began obliterating him with Snap Dragon’s and V-Triggers, before hitting a horrifying Croyt’s Wrath from the top. Ospreay hit a couple of stiff looking Hidden Blade’s to put Omega down, and scored a great near fall with a Springboard Oscutter. After a Styles Clash, Ospreay got another near fall with another Hidden Blade. However, Kenny escaped a Storm Breaker, hit a Tanahashi straigh jacket suplex, then followed that up with Kamigoye after a defiant Ospreay spat at him. Omega then hit the One Winged Angel to win the US Belt for a second time, and end this classic war at 34:38. Fantastic stuff, and I certainly hope there’s more to come here.

Then it was time for the second half of the Double Main Event. Rare is the day that I think to myself “Okada’s going to have a tough time following that”, but today was that day. Realistically, it was never going to happen, and as much as I love both White and Okada, the build to this match did nothing for me, and I’ve just seen enough of them. Regardless, this was still an excellent match, complete with all the intricate counters and big spots we’ve come to expect from an Okada main event. But I must admit it took a long time getting there. Okada, who was wearing Inoki inspired garb, broke out a huge senton atomico off the top to the floor on both Jay and Gedo, the big dropkick, and hit the sit-out Tombstone, followed by a Rainmaker, but Jay caught him in a Blade Runner, which is exactly how he beat Okada for the World Title at Dominion, but this time Okada kicked out to a big pop. This ultimately was White’s downfall, as the story was that he started to lose it after Okada kicked out of his finish. Jay tried a Rainmaker-inspired Blade Runner, however the challenger countered and hit a big Rainmaker, but the champion got a shoulder up at 2.99. After a dramatic forearm exchange, Okada connected with a ripcord Enzugiri, hit the champion with his own Blade Runner, then followed up with Tiger Flowsion, and a definitive Rainmaker to regain the World Championship at the 33:03 mark.

The post match saw an interesting moment where White at first refused to give up the belt, then they had a brief staredown, before Jay was dragged for the Dome despondent by Gedo. Shingo Takagi then came out, rightly pointing out that he never did a rematch after losing the belt a year ago, and threw his proverbial hat in the ring as Okada’s first challenger, which was accepted. And in an ultimately fitting move, a show that was dedicated to the late Antonio Inoki ended with the modern day Inoki victorious, and sending everyone home happy with the “Ichi, Ni, San, Daaaah!” catchphrase. All in all, this was easily the best Dome show since 2020, and it very much felt like a return to greatness for New Japan. A must watch.

NDT

[lokisasylum]

BTS songs that deserved better, pt II

[Part One]

#7.  “Save Me”

- As another senior Army once said: “Armys had no taste back then”.

#8. The entire “BE” album, but especially “Life Goes ON”.

- Again, the shippers and solo stans ruined this whole comeback with their biased asses. ALL  7 songs could’ve entered the Billboard Hot 100 first 10 spots. We could’ve played fucking ping-pong each week helping EACH SONG to hit #1. But no, ya’ll thought your bias written song deserved it more than the entire group (NEWS FLASH KAREN, YOUR BIAS IS PART OF THE GODDAMN GROUP).

And the way ya’ll let “Life Goes ON” tank after the first week... DISGRACEFUL.

#9. “Come Back Home”

- ....where to even start with this one... it was either the Jin solos boycotting it because Jin only had the intro to the song and armys in general not wanting to acknowledge it because BTS didn’t appear in the music video when BTS  did it for Seo Taiji’s 25th Anniversary Remake Project. It was a TRIBUTE song/cover that was written and originally performed BY Seo Taiji and Boys.

#10. “134340 (PLUTO)“

- Never will I forget the amount of shit-talking a lot of armys did about this song. I can understand the beat/style not being familiar or your particular fave, but to say this song is “bad” only proves how uncultured a great chunk of the fandom is.

But then again some of ya’ll didn’t even know Pluto was a planet so...

#11. “Lost”

- Out of all the Vocal Line unit songs, this one was one of the bests and it could’ve gotten so much more hype then it did during YNWA/WINGS.

#12. “Reflection (Namjoon’s solo)”

- I remember when YNWA/WINGS era there was so much hype for the majority of the songs, but not many spoke about Reflection. Maybe the fans were busy doing theories or what not, but Reflection is one of those songs you need to listen to several times to fully grasp its depth.

#13. “Don’t Leave Me”

- Seriously what do ya’ll have against their Japanese comebacks that they do so poorly? This song was A LEGEND and Jin & Jimin’s highnotes were on another level.

[gdwessel]

NJPW 50th Anniversary Show - 3/1/2022: Loads of Legends Appear For Celebratory Extravaganza; Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan Out of Anniversary and New Japan Cup

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Today was the 50th Anniversary event for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Although the actual date of the debut show was 3/6/1972, it’s not always strictly observed on that day. Nevertheless, it’s a long time for a pro wrestling company to be around (and it won’t be the only Japanese company observing that milestone, as All Japan Pro Wrestling is 50 this year as well). Through three ownerships and countless changing winds for the business, NJPW has weathered the storms, even during periods where it did not look like they would. Congratulations to them.

It was announced yesterday that neither Kota Ibushi nor Hiroyoshi Tenzan would be on this show, or in the New Japan Cup after all. Tenzan’s knee injury is still bothering him so that will pull him out. With that, the winner of Toru Yano v. Taichi will get a bye into the third round on forfeit. With Ibushi, it seemed like he was going to make it, but ultimately it was determined he would not be as fit as he should be given the nature of his injury. Ibushi is 39, he is not getting any younger. We may be seeing a decline in his ability to wrestle regularly at this stage, however as this show will prove, there are those far older who are still giving it a go. Great O-Khan now gets a forfeit win into the 2nd round, to face Taiji Ishimori. The fourth match on this show was changed as well, with Young Lions Yuto Nakashima & Kosei Fujita stepping in.

Prior to the opening match, long time veteran NJPW ring announcer Hidekazu “Kero” Tanaka brought out a Who’s Who of former NJPW stars and legends. Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono, Tatsumi Fujinami, Seiji Sakaguchi, Norio Honaga (who would be a special referee during the 6th match), Akira Maeda (!!!), Jushin Thunder Liger, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kazuo Yamazaki, Wataru Inoue, Tiger Hattori, Shiro Koshinaka, Kengo Kimura, Riki Choshu, Milano Collection AT, Minoru Tanaka, Masahito Kakihara and Motoyuki Kitazawa were all in the ring, along with Kazuchika Okada. The original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, gave a video message as he is not in good health to be appearing live (and neither is NJPW’s founder Antonio Inoki). Seiji Sakaguchi and Kazuchika Okada then gave short little statements, with Okada saying how nervous he was to be part of this historic event.

 NJPW 50th Anniversary Show - 3/1/2022, Tokyo Nippon Budokan (NJPWWorld)

EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO [Bullet Club] d. Tiger Mask IV, YOH [CHAOS] & Ryohei Oiwa (Yujiro > Oiwa, Pimp Juice, 6:35)

Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Taichi [SZKG], TAKA Michinoku [SZKG] & Minoru Tanaka [GLEAT] (ELP > TAKA, Thunderkiss ‘86, 9:50)

CIMA, El Lindaman & T-Hawk [#STRONGHEARTS] d. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] (CIMA > DOUKI, Meteora, 9:22)

Will Ospreay, Great O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare [United Empire] d. Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, Yuto Nakashima & Kosei Fujita (O-Khan > Fujita, Eliminator, 9:20)

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Shiro Koshinaka [FREE] (Shingo > Honma, Last Of The Dragon, 12:38)

Champion v. Champion Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] d. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato (Goto > Taguchi, Shoto, 15:04)

NJPW 50th Anniversary Match: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tatsumi Fujinami [Dradition] d. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG], Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] & Yoshiaki Fujiwara [FREE] (Okada > Suzuki, Rainmaker, 18:12)

The babyfaces win the main, with Fujinami closing out the show with an “Ichi, Ni, San, DAAAA!” in tribute to Inoki. Okada and Tanahashi gave their own tributes to Inoki and the future of NJPW as well. Fujiwara and Suzuki kinda got each others’ goat through the match as well, with Fujiwara still trying to act as Suzuki’s trainer. Bishomon defeat Team Six or Nine in the annual Heavy v. Junior match, and it was a fun match, showing the triumph of four guys on the roster who’ve been seen as chronic underachievers or joke wrestlers.

GLEAT and #STRONGHEARTS showed out big on this show, with a tease of a singles match between Els Desperado and Lindaman, both champions in their companies.

Overall this was what the Anniversary show is supposed to do, make you feel good about NJPW and pro wrestling, with a lot of teases coming for the New Japan Cup 2022 tournament that starts tomorrow. I won’t be posting about it until Thursday, mind, but I think we’ll all be OK for it.

Tomorrow’s card:

New Japan Cup 2022

All shows on NJPWWorld

- 3/2/2022, Tokyo Nippon Budokan

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: CIMA [#STRONGHEARTS] v. TAKA Michinoku [SZKG]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Tomoaki Honma v. YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Yuji Nagata v. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Togi Makabe v. Jeff Cobb [United Empire]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Toru Yano [CHAOS] v. Taichi [SZKG]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Hiroshi Tanahashi v. YOH [CHAOS]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] v. Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. El Desperado [SZKG]

While we are celebrating anniversaries, it’s also the 19th anniversary of Kenta Kobashi defeating Mitsuharu Misawa, at last, for a title, which was the beginning of one of the greatest title runs ever, Kobashi’s lone, 13-defense reign of the GHC Heavyweight title. Next year is the 20th anniversary for that; I will mark my calendar now to do a longer-form piece about it at some point.

That’s really it for today. WAVE ran today as well. Tokyo Joshi held a show at a swimming pool with one match yesterday so I don’t think I really need to get into that one. 

Be back Thursday, which promises a new unit reveal in Dragon Gate.

[bookofjin]

Annals of Jingming 3 (502)

[From WS008]

[Jingming 3, 24 January 502 – 11 February 503]

3rd Year, Spring, 2nd Month, wuyin [13 March], a decree said:

Since the recent amassed times of heat and drought, the farming people have discarded their trade. Awakening and talking about with increasing shame, is for me very often. Declare down to the provinces and commanderies, where there are those whose bones and skeletons are dessicated and exposed, they thoroughly can be buried and interred.

3rd Month [25 March – 22 April], the Man of Luyang rebelled.

Xiao Baojuan's younger brother, the King of Jian'an, Baoyin, came to surrender.

Summer, 4th Month [23 April – 21 May], decreed the General who Consoles the Army, Li Chong, to chastise the rebellious Man of Luyang.

This Month, Xiao Yan again deposed his ruler Baorong and was usurpingly installed, declaring himself as Liang.

Intercalary Month, dingsi [20 June], the Minister of Works, Mu Liang, passed away.

5th Month [21 June – 19 July], Yang province's Defence Master of Xiaoxian, Dang Fazong, assaulted Xiao Yan's Daxian Defence Post, routed it, seized his Dragon Prancing General, Zhu Pusa, and sent him off to the Imperial City.

Autumn, 7th Month, guiyou [4 September], the state of Yutian dispatched envoys to court to present.

Decreed to add to the civil official who accompanied campaign against Xianda two steps in the lodged guard, those who were idle and unassigned one step.

8th Month, guimao [4 October], Xiao Baorong's Great General who Garrisons the South and Inspector of Jiang province, dispatched envoys to request to surrender.

On yimao [16 October], used the former Grand Tutor, the Duke of Pingyang, Pi, as Thrice Venerable.

9th Month, dingsi [18 October], the Chariot Drove to travel to favour Ye.

On dingmao [28 October], decreed envoys to commiserate at the tomb of Bigan of Yin.

On wuyin [8 November], reviewed the military to the south of Ye.

On gengchen [10 November], the Heir to the state of Wuxing, Yang Shaoxian, dispatched envoys to court to present.

Winter, 10th Month, gengzi [30 November], the Emperor personally shot for a distance reaching one li and fifty paces. The crowd of subjects carved an inscroption at where he had shot.

On jiachen [4 December], the Chariot Drove to return to the Palace.

11th Month, jimao [8 January], decreed:

At the Metropol on the Luo the troops are disused for years exceeding ten cycles. When the Former Augusts settled the tripods at the old capital, be it new the Wei succession, they pruned and clear away the rampant weeds, built there cloudy structures, had universal merit and blooming achievements, their guideance and norms reaching long and far away. Now that temples and altar of soil are therefore established, and the palace ridgepole these revere, [We] readily will use the coming month's middle ten-day to purify and make auspicious moving the steering.

Looking up to and putting to use the bequeathed thoughts, [We] feel the felicity in exchanging the inmost feelings. Since the rites have flourished with the rules of Xuan of Zhou's These Riverbanks, and affairs are exalted with the ceremonies of the Han Founder's strong magnificence, [we] can rely on the standards of old, and prepare this analyzing announcment to declare to distant and near the sageness of the subjects.

12th Month, wuzi [17 January], a decree said:

The people originally farmed mulberry, the state esteemed silkworm registers, the broomcorn millet's abundance was relied on, and the crown's weave was depended on. Recently when the metropole district began to be founded, cultivating mulberry was for a while lacking. The bequeathed guideance's past purpose ought surely to be respected and studied.

Now that the bedrooms and halls are revealed to be complete, and the relocated steering's maintainance has started, in spring the suburbs are without distance, shaking out the feathes has a propitious time. [We] readily can put forth and lay out a thousand mu, to begin to construct a palace altar, grasp the plow handles and take in hand the basket, and personally urge the myriad millions.

On renchen [21 January], banqueted the crowd of subjects at the Taiji Front Hall, bestowed cloth and silk proportionally, and considered the beginnings to be completed.

On jiachen [2 February], Yang province routed Xiao Yan's general Zhang Xiaozhi, the beheaded talled 2 000.

This Year, the various states of Shule, Jibin, Poluona, Wuchang, Ayutuo, Luopo, Bulun, Tuobaluo, Fubonüti, Siluo, Dashe, Fuqixinatai, Luoban, Wuji, Xiwanjin, Zhujuban, Hepantuo, Bojin, Yanwei, Zhuliluo, Southern Tianzhu, and Chishanasitou all dispatched envoys to court with tribute.

In He province great famine, the dead were more than 2 000 mouths.

[choreogrphymoved]

made a godzilla tribute with the song "internet war" by seo taiji. enjoy!

[staygoldjimin]

....this new drama circulating Seokjin,,,,,it’s completely DISGUSTING!! 

No we are NOT “canceling” Jin because he didn’t fit your stupid ungrateful ass motives. 

“BTS paved the way” was meant to be a little fun joke not something to boost your dumb egos and competitive obsessive minds. BTS have always been humble and respectful to their elders and will continue to do it no matter how many records they break. YOU SHOULD BE HUMBLE AS WELL especially if you call yourself an “army” >:( BTS did not raise us like this! If you’re an army have you not been listening to anything they said or are you just hitchhiking on the bandwagon catching clout? Have you not heard the heartbreaking words Seokjin have spoken over the years?? How he left the internet due to the immaturity and hatred spreading around him?! Or are you too lost in your own toxic competitive world to care?? Seokjin does NOT deserve any of this! 

BTS have their own idols they look up to and YES majority of them are older kpop generation idols! Have you guys forgotten the big ass tribute they did with Seo Taiji?! One of the oldest Kpop Idols that they look up to!? BTS may be paving paths for kpop now, but don’t ever forget the beginning of Kpop. Kpop is not all about BTS, sorry that’s just not the truth but that’s okay! BTS themselves acknowledge it then so can you. yall so god damn entitled. 

And to the fools who are saying cruel shit about Jin then turn around and say it was a joke....

*rubs temples* being a jimin stan and constantly seeing the disgusting comments being thrown his way daily by his own fandom, i’m not shocked or surprised by this....just once again sorely disappointed in the fandom. 

ALSO PLEASE to  “some” people who are defending Jin, stop acting like Jin said it to be modest or whatever. HE GENUINELY MEANT TO SAY WHAT HE SAID. 

sorry if i didn’t make sense and my grammar is shit. i’m-

i’m just so pissed!

[hoststrust]

The i ching

The I-Ching was far more ambitious than the current practical applications of binary code, even in the most powerful supercomputer. These lines are combined in sets of three to produce the eight basic trigrams, which are in turn combined to give the 64 hexagrams, which are at the heart of the I-Ching's system of divination. They are notated with a broken line for Yin, and an unbroken line for Yang. Like 1 and 0, these are abstract concepts that can represent the poles of any binary set, but in the text of the I-Ching are often discussed as female and male. The I-Ching represents the binary poles of reality as Yin and Yang. Liebniz's insight was that even the most complex aspect of reality could potentially be represented in the binary form as 1s and 0s. That representation is basically just a string of binary signals that we commonly notate as 1s and 0s. When we listen to an MP3, look at a digital photo or watch the latest DVD box set of Game of Thrones, we are experiencing a digital representation of reality. Given that the meaning of a Chinese character depends on its context, he went so far as to translate the same phrases in four or five different ways which, in my opinion, is a bit exaggerated.To understand what Liebniz glimpsed in the I-Ching, we need to unlearn something that, in the digital era, most of us take for granted. I pay tribute to Richard Wilhelm (1873-1930), even if the text of the I Ching could no longer be translated in such a liberal way these days. Why do you say that his translation is outdated? The first to introduce the texts to the West was Richard Wilhelm, a German Sinologist, in 1924. I also found it to be a way of safeguarding it, even though the I Ching disappeared from China with the Cultural Revolution. It was therefore important to adapt the text to make it understandable to everyone. An individual in ancient China had to try to fit into a world based on natural rhythms but with a strong political hierarchy, which is quite far from our modern Western vision in which we seek to be the protagonists of our own existence. I wanted to provide a Western reading of the text, while scrupulously respecting its origins. There are several translations of the I Ching. His goal is to make the work accessible to non-specialists in the West so that everyone can make it their own. It's accompanied by commentaries and a new analysis of the hexagrams. Le classique des mutations ("I Ching: The Classic of Changes"). Thanks to his knowledge of classical Chinese and having practiced the I Ching for 50 years, Pierre Faure provides a new translation of the original text, Yi Jing. Through numerous texts as well as 64 figures composed of continuous or discontinuous lines called hexagrams, it aims to understand no less than 4,096 situations. Resulting from the divinatory practices of Chinese Antiquity, it is a tool that enables an analysis of the lines of force that underlie our behavior and the world in which we live. WIKIPEDIA / CC BY-SA 3.0Ĭanonized two centuries before our era, the I Ching has become a work of universal significance. Subscribers only The "I Ching" is often represented by the "Taiji" surrounded by the Eight Trigrams, here in a park in Nanning, China, on August 5, 2003. In a new version of one of the oldest Chinese texts, expert Pierre Faure offers an approach to the 'I Ching' that is both respectful of the sources and adapted to our modern world. Chinese spirituality: 'The 'I Ching' is a tool for self-improvement'

[mikethepoetla]

One of my favorite posts is Amy Uyematsu. traci kato-kiriyama & I are cohosting a Zoom reading this Sunday in Amy’s honor. Join in virtually to listen to friends reading from Amy Uyematsu's poetry as we send her the best healing energy possible at this critical time. This is not a fundraiser (per Amy's request to be very clear about this). It is a reading, plain and simple. And a wonderful one at that, with a beautiful lineup of friends in the community who can't wait to read one of Amy's poems and honor her!! Please join us on Sun Sept 5, at 4:00p PST, for a wondrous late afternoon poetic tribute to one of our very best - Amy Uyematsu ❤️ ->>> Zoom link: bit.ly/amyppetry Just copy/paste and go to this link in your web browser and you’ll be taken directly to our Zoom link. Featuring: Hosts - traci kato-kiriyama and Mike Sonksen Gloria Alvarez Teresa Mei Chuc Marsha De La O. Naomi Hirahara Miya Iwataki Kathy Masaoka Keiko Miya Taiji Miyagawa Carrie Morita Michelle Reed Phil Taggart Pam Ward (at Montebello, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTYYmYfFzrW/?utm_medium=tumblr

[seokjins]

What’s happening :(

i just have a feeling ................ that they gonna play him SO dirty for this MJ tribute the way they did for seo taiji where he gets maybe 2 lines in the whole thing .he looked really dead in the vlive lmao hes tired of this shit 

[friendship-korea-japan]

5.7. Mentality of "respecting the Ming and rejecting the Qing” and the Sojunghwa ideology

Question 5: Conditions in the middle part of the Joseon era › 7. Mentality of "respecting the Ming and rejecting the Qing” and the Sojunghwa ideology

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5.7. Mentality of "respecting the Ming and rejecting the Qing” and the Sojunghwa ideology

  Below is a quotation describing essential points about the relationship between Korea on the one hand and Jin, Qing and Ming on the other, from the text entitled “Jin and Qing invasions of Korea” in History of Korea by Tanaka.

[The invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi in the 16th century offered the opportunity to bring about change to the international order of East Asia. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the system of dictatorship by the Emperor collapsed and the national power of Ming declined due to the Imjin War, Nurhaci, leader of the Jianzhou Jurchens, who succeeded in getting out of the sphere of influence of Ming, built the Later Jin Dynasty in 1616 in the area to the north of Yalu River.

  After the Japanese invasions, Prince Gwanghae succeeded King Seonjo and ascended the throne in 1608 (in office between 1608 and 1623). He was a competent king who succeeded in strengthening of internal administration and national defense. […]

  In 1627 (second year of King Injo), Hong Taiji, Second Khan of Later Jin, dispatched an army of 30,000 solders to invade Korea (Jin invasion of Korea). King Injo took refuge in Ganghwa Island. In order to conquer Ming, the Later Jin concluded a pact of brotherhood with Korea. Both sides made peace on the condition that Korea should pay tribute to the Later Jin and start official trade.

  In 1636, the Later Jin changed its state name to Qing. When Qing forced Joseon to accept the sovereign and subject relationship, which Korea refused, Qing dispatched again an army of 120,000 soldiers to invade Korea (Qing invasion of Korea). Ganghwa Island, where the members of the royal family took refuge, fell, and South Hansan Castle, where Injo sought refuge, was encircled. Injo was forced to appear in the military camp of Qing in Samjeondo (today’s Songpa District, Seoul City) on the banks of Han River and surrender to Hong Taiji by taking the act of obedience called “three kneelings and nine kowtows”. […]]

  That was how Korea submitted to the Qing Dynasty for 259 years until it concluded the treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan in 1895. After that, in 1644 Qing annihilated Ming, moved its capital to Beijing and took control of China. For reference, below is a map showing the territory of the Great Qing Empire. KOREA is shown as a tributary state.

  View high resolution

  Below is a quotation of the article entitled “Chapter 5. Establishment and development of the Joseon Dynasty” from History of Korea by the Society for the Korean Historical Science.

[While the intellectuals of the day considered Korea as civilized as Ming, they regarded the Jurchens and the Qing Dynasty as a barbarian people/country. Therefore, faced with the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Sojunghwa (Little Chinese) ideology became popular among the intellectuals, according to which the Chinese state ruled by Qing was no longer a civilized state and Korea was the only successor to the Chinese civilization.

  King Hyojong, who succeeded Injo, had a strong anti-Qing sentiment, and gave important posts to a group of people led by Song Si-yeol, leader of the Westerners who advocated a pro-Ming and anti-barbarian policy. Under such circumstances, the Hyojong administration planned an expedition to the north to attack Qing. While the plan was not carried out, the idea in favor of the expedition to the north remained among the intellectuals, along with the Sojunghwa idea. With this situation, people started to believe that there was nothing to learn from Qing, a barbarian country, which became a factor that hindered the acceptance of new cultures.]

  This description shows that the Korean intellectuals of the day were quite arrogant with no knowledge of their own limitations and could not understand the real situation at all. It was quite fortunate for Korea that the expedition to the north was not conducted.

  The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, considered a barbarian state by Koreans, is regarded as the best monarch in the history of China. He compiled such works as Kangxi Dictionary, Da-Qing Huidian (Collection of official statutes of the Qing Dynasty), Encyclopedia of Poems for Paintings, Quan Tangshi (Complete Tang Poems) and Peiwen Yunfu (Chinese rhyme dictionary), and he also ordered the compilation of the Imperial Encyclopedia. He devoted himself to the Zhu Xi school of Neo-Confucianism and actively sought learning from Confucians. He was an emperor well known for his high cultural level. Moreover, the intellectuals of the Ming era and their culture were directly taken over by the Qing Dynasty.

   Nevertheless, Koreans vainly believed that they were the heirs of the Chinese civilization, being trapped into the Sojunghwa idea. This “Little Chinese” idea led Korean intellectuals to believe that Korea had the highest level of culture in the world. In consequence, they did not intend to see that their country was inferior to others in many aspects. We can say that this erroneous recognition hindered the modernization and development of Korea.

[sifukuttel]

(source: JetLi.com)

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, is going to be the main actor in a new short film, Gong Shou Dao (GSD). Gong Shou Dao is derived from and influenced by Taiji, Kung Fu, and Martial Arts. The meaning represented in Chinese characters roughly translate into “Martial Art” that is based on “Guard and Defense”.

GSD starring Jack Ma and many famous Kung Fu icons who are no strangers to us all. They are Yuen Woo Ping, Sammo Hung, Tony Ching, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Wu Jing, Tony Jaa, Shiming Zou, Asashōryū Akinor, Jacky Heung and Natasha Liu.

The executive producer Jet Li mentioned, “We all have the same dream with the aim to promote China’s excellent traditional culture and a tribute to the predecessors in the field of Taiji, Kung Fu and Martial Arts. The timing seems to be perfect and everyone involved in this project were so enthusiastic in making it happen.”

GSD is due to release sometime in November. It is a top secret project, but we also heard that it will appear on China’s Youku online video platform.

Jack Ma has always expressed interest in taking part as an actor in film projects, so it comes as no surprise to us because he managed to wow the world with his past projects. It is also a good fit as Jack has always been an advocate for Taiji and to use this as a cornerstone in this project will sure to be an eye opener. We all know that Jack is a Taiji Master himself, so it will definitely be an exciting short film to watch.

Promotion of the film is scheduled to coincide with Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival to enhance awareness of the movie and Taiji.

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW DOMINION 6.9 in Osaka-Jo Hall Review (June 9th 2019)

Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino  ***1/4

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shingo Takagi  ****

Jushin Thunder Liger & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.  ***1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White, Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens  **1/2

NEVER Openweight Title Match: Taichi (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii  ****1/4

IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Guerrillas Of Destiny (c) vs. EVIL & SANADA  **1/4

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Dragon Lee (c) vs. Will Ospreay  ****3/4

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito  ****1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Chris Jericho  ***3/4

Photos.

Well this was another tremendous Osaka-Jo Hall show, which started incredibly strong, but ended flat with a main event that was very dissappointing. IWGP U.S. Champion Jon Moxley convincingly beat Young Lion Shota Umino in a spirited 3:52 sprint with the Double Arm DDT. This was really fun, with Umino bringing the fire, and it was exactly what it should have been. Moxley announced he wants in G1 in the post match, then carried Shota to the back. Shingo Takagi defeated Satoshi Kojima in an excellent match next. Look, I unapologetically love both of these guys, and have done for many a year, so I’m biased, and probably enjoyed this more than your average fan, but this was great. It was an all-action hard-hitter, which was Shingo’s Heavyweight teaser. After ducking a Kojima Lariat and turning it into Made In Japan, The Dragon hit a Pumping Bomber, then put the veteran away with Last Of The Dragon at the 11:14 mark. Afterwards, Takagi got on the mic anddeclared his intentions to also be in G1. Tremendous. YOSH-HASHI pinned ZSJ with a cradle in a little under 10 minutes, to end a good doubles clash to set up their inevitable RPW British Title match. Suzuki and Liger’s brawling still continues to be a great tease. Things got a bit hit and miss in the next three bouts. The Team Tana vs. Team White six man was decent, but hampered by the fact Tanahashi looked just plain bad out there today. In contrast to his great showing on Wednesday, he seemed to be hurting and a shell of his normal self. He pinned Owens at 9:48 with a really messy looking Final Cut Sling Blade. He’s an all-time Legend, but here’s hoping Tana gets back to relative normality before the G1, because if he looks like this throughout that gruelling tourney, it could be a long one for him. 

Taichi defended the NEVER title against Ishii next, which was an excellent bout, as expected. It took a while to get the crowd, as they just weren’t feeling Taichi’s bullshit stalling and slo-mo tactics at all, but once they were into it, they were super hot. This picked up when Ishii took the lead, he threw Taichi’s gimmicks out of the ring, then proceeded in flooring Taichi with two big lariats. Ishii tries the sliding version, but the champion avoids, hits two gamengiri’s and the Gedo clutch for a believable near fall. Taichi follows with the Axe Bomber, and locks on the Stretch Plumb, but Ishii makes the ropes. Taichi hits the Last Ride for another great near fall, then the Stone Pitbull battles back with his trademark head-butt and lariat, hits the Press Powerbomb, the sliding lariat, then nailed the Vertical Drop Brainbuster to win his fifth NEVER Title at the 16:11 mark. As long as we get this Taichi at the end in his big matches, as opposed to the human sloth we got in the early stages, I’ll be good. The IWGP Tag Title match was by far the weakest thing on this show. No one cared. No one in the match. No one in the crowd. I’m sure no one at home cared either. This went on for what felt like half an hour (it went 16:38, but felt much longer), featuring four guys going through the motions of a match they’ve done what feels like 200 times before, with the same old bullshit shenanigans. Dear God (or Gedo), please sort out this tag division soon. The finish came when BUSHI fended off an interfering Jado with the mist, then took him out with a tope suicida. The LIJ team tried Magic Killer, but Tonga fended them off, then got the pin on EVIL with the old school boy/handful-of-tights finish. Wonderful.

In the big surprise of the show, Katsuyori Shibata came out to introduce his new protege/best friend, KENTA to the Osaka faithful. KENTA got a big reaction, then announced he’ll also be in G1. It was great to see him, and even though he’s all kinds of banged up from his disastrous WWE, I’m sure he’ll have numerous great matches throughout. Even though many are sore that he chose to go to NJPW as opposed to the sinking ship that is NOAH, I think he’s made the right decision. There’s way more for him to do here. The IWGP Jr Title match which followed was my MOTN. This was a near 5 star classic between two of the best high-flyers in the world today. It was 20 minutes of insanity and featured numerous mind-blowing spots. It began with them countering each others Hurricarana attempts, showing the double babyface respect, but broke down into craziness after Lee sat Ospreay on the barricade, then wiped him out with a magnificent tope suicida, into the Japanese announce team. Will battled back with a beautiful Stardust Moonsault to the floor. After Lee hit a knee strike and reverse rana, he ran straight into an Ospreay Spanish Fly for two. Ospreay on the apron, and Dragon hits the running Frankensteiner over the ropes, but The Ariel Assassin lands on his feet on the floor! This was an amazing spot. Dragon runs straight into an apron powerbomb, then a Shooting Star Press for another near fall. Ospreay goes up again, but Dragon cuts him off, then hits an insane tree of woe double stomp off the top to the outisde. Lee hit a big knee strike, then tries Desnucadora, but Will again flips out. Lee turns a powerbomb into a Canadian/Mexican Destroyer, then hits the sliding Boma Ye for a great near fall. He tries another padless knee, but Ospreay dropped Lee with a hook kick, hit the Hidden Blade, the Super Oscutter, and finally Storm Breaker, to win the match and the title after 20:07 of fantastic action, and Ospreay’s second classic match of the week. He challenged Robbie Eagles to a title match in the post-match, and backstage announced he too wants to be in G1. Man, this thing is getting all kinds of stacked.

Then it was the Ibushi/Naito I.C. Title match. Look, this was an excellent match, and I hate to be one of these crazy old preachers shouting at clouds, but some of the risks these guys took were just absolutely unnecessary. I know some people love these matches, and some thought this MOTN, but I myself am very uneasy watching these things. There is an escalation to them that is harrowing, and I hope we don’t see another bout between these two for quite some time. Also, I will say that taking insanely reckless head and neck drops, on the same day as a Mitsuharu Misawa tribute show, and throwing shoot head-butts on a card with Katsuyori Shibata present, maybe isn’t in the best of taste. And to make things worse, these guys can have incredible matches without this sort of thing, as I’ve seen it several times pre-2017. This was going fine, until Ibushi teased the terrifying Deadlift German into the ring. Naito fought free and teased another Fire Thunder Driver on the apron, ala their NJC match. Ibushi thankfully escapes, then takes an absolutely horrifying German Suplex onto, and off the apron. This was crazy, as his head bent in a very worrying fashion upon hitting the edge of the apron, then he sailed head first to the floor. Ibushi somehow isn’t dead, but looks glassy-eyed, and makes it in for 19.75. Naito follows up with a reverse rana off the second rope, which Ibushi of course takes right on top of his head, but Kota somehow counters Destino into a package Tombstone... which Naito, of course, takes right on top of his head. They finally make it up to their feet, and have an intense strike battle, which Naito wins by legit head-butting Ibushi right in the face, causing his left eye to swell up something fierce. Ibushi connects with a massive lariat, but misses a Boma Ye attempt, and eats a Dragon Suplex and Destino for a great near fall. Naito tries Destino again, but Kota turns it into Go 2 Sleep, then scores another near fall with the Last Ride. Ibushi tries Kamigoye, but Naito turns it into a DDT, which of course, Kota takes right on top of his head. Naito then hit another reverse rana, his version of Misawa’s Emerald Flowsion he’s calling ‘Valentia’, and Destino (both of which Ibushi landed right on his head for) to thankfully end this thing at 22:06. Taking the belt off Ibushi means he’s free to win the G1 and not take any L’s en route to WK14, should that be the direction they’re going, and giving it back to Naito gives him something of importance to do. Of course, thats IF Ibushi makes it to G1, he looked like he could be concussed here. I’m just thankful he’s not dead.

The main event between Okada and Jericho was very good, but has to rank as the most disappointing Okada big match I’ve ver seen. The work was solid, and the story good, but something just didn’t click here. I’ve seen Okada have better bouts with Bad Luck Fale than this. It started as a compelling brawl, but the wheels started to come off when they tried to work in some of Okada’s signature counter spots. Jericho, who doesn’t physically look his age, certainly did in the ring trying to do some of these spots. Both guys worked really hard, with Okada being stiffer than usual. Jericho countered Okada’s over the barricade dive into a (sort of) Code Breaker, then they traded Tombstone attempts, before the former Y2J locked in the Walls Of Jericho, but Okada makes the ropes. The champion hits a massive dropkick, and Tombstone for a near fall. Jericho counters a Rainmaker into a Tiger Driver with a cradle for a near fall of his own. Jericho off the second, but Okada dropkicks him out of the air. Another dropkick attempt, but Jericho holds the ropes, making Okada crash and burn, then scores a near fall with the Lionsault. Chris starts laying in stiff kicks, but Okada hits John Woo to send the veteran flying, then lays in stiff stomps and kicks of his own. Jericho removes the turnbuckle pad, eats another Tombstone, but counters Rainmaker into the Walls, then transitions into the old school Liontamer. Okada escapes, runs into the exposed turnbuckles, ducks a Judas Effect and scores the win at 25:43 with a folding press cradle outta nowhere. Erm...

I quite liked that Okada won with something other than the Rainmaker, but this just seemed flat to do it on such a big stage, and the crowd certainly weren’t expecting it to end it. But really this wasn’t up to scratch, especially when you compare it to the usual standard for a Dominion main event. This reeked of a political move to me, as the IWGP champion didn’t get a decisive, finisher win over the probable first AEW champion. I mean, it was something different at the least. Jericho goes crazy in the post-match and beats Okada down with a chair for what felt like an eternity. He was about to Powerbomb the champion through a table at ringside, but Tanahashi sent the cowardly heel packing. Tana then helped Okada to the back and the show just ended as the crowd erupted into boo’s. Oh dear. This was a seriously flat ending to what had been a great show up to that point. However, the finish can’t help but leave one slightly soured. The post match opens up a match between Jericho and Tanahashi (probably for Wrestle Kingdom) and a rematch against Okada (here’s hoping it’s better than this), but really the whole Jericho thing has ran out of steam for me. I didn’t much care for this programme leading into Dominion, and now it’s over, I feel somewhat justified in being so disinterested. On the whole though, this was an excellent supershow, with several great to tremendous matches and a, whilst disappointing, very good main event nonetheless. It’s now G1 season so it’s essentially wrestling christmas.

NDT