Thanks Sun and Bootaaay, and to anyone else who read through my mad, incoherent ramblings.
We will now continue with part two of Super WrassleGAF Wrestling Write-up Number One Featuring XenoRaven". The first part can be found here.
There is about a half hour intermission at this point. There are promos for upcoming shows and then interviews with seemingly random people. They are probably not random, but I don't understand Japanese. I skipped all of that. If you watch these live, this is probably a good time to get a snack, or perhaps breakfast considering it's probably about 5 am on the east coast of America.
6th Match
Special Singles Match
Hirooki Goto
vs.
Katsuyori Shibata
There is a distinct difference in the feel of the show after the intermission. There's a lot of fun and craziness in the first part. Post-intermission is where shit starts to get serious. There's not a match on the card that could have drove that point home better than Goto vs. Shibata. My god.
Shibata kind of reminds me of Piston Honda. Is that racist? I hope not. Anyway, it's apparent right from the beginning that these two are competitive as hell. I have no idea why these two are wrestling, but there's a tension here that tells me before they even lock up that these two guys are equals in the ring and they both have something to prove to each other.
Cool little amateur wrestling exhibition to start off. Shibata appears to be something of a submission specialist. One of my favorite spots in the match is when Goto is sitting on the mat. Shibata kicks him hard in the back, Goto falls to protect his back, so Shibata stomps on his stomach. Then he immediately locks in a Figure Four. They start trading slaps while Goto is in the Figure Four. These guys are going at each other.
Good back and forth from both guys. Did Shibata just steal Okada's signature submission? Oh well. They start trading elbow smashes to the head. They continue trading elbow smashes to the head. Dear god I have never seen so many elbow smashes in a match. They eventually beat the hell out of each other so badly that they both go down and neither of them can continue. Ref counts to 10, match ends in a draw.
If this happened on a WWE PPV I feel like the crowd would boo and the IWC would be talking about how much of a cop out ending it was. I don't know the story behind these two and why they went at each other so hard, but I felt from the beginning that the match was going to end in a draw. When it did, it just worked. I don't know. I loved the match. No wacky spots. Nothing that will make a highlight reel. Just two guys with something to prove coming together as equals. Great stuff.
I should point out that the match proper was only about 15 minutes. They did a hell of a lot with that time. I thought it was at least 20-25.
7th Match
Special Singles Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi
vs.
Karl "Gotta Get My Nickname Over" Anderson
"Machine Gun" Karl Anderson. This is what I was talking about before with Alex Koslov. "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson's theme music starts with a machine gun. His intro video is him doing machine gun taunts over and over. Sometimes bullet holes appear on the screen. When he comes out, he does a machine gun taunt and a machine gun noise plays again. When they announce his name, the machine gun sound plays again. I feel like there are roughly 20 machine gun themed visual and audio cues before the match even starts. I had never heard of this guy before in my life, and with one intro "Machine Gun" is forever burned into my cerebral cortex.
Is Tanahashi the biggest face in the company? I think so. His taunt is an air guitar. I guess he is a rock star or something. I'd be interested to know if he actually plays. I'd also be interested to know what percentage of Japanese wrestlers have cauliflower ear. Initial estimates are somewhere around 100%.
This was a good match, although I don't remember much from it and don't feel like going back to watch it on Daily Motion. Which you can totally do right now by the way. All the matches appear to be up there already. Jahmale Hepburn works fast. Anyway, toward the end of the match Karl is adamant about hitting his finisher OUTTA NOWHERE. His finisher is the "Gun Stun" by the way, which is basically a stunner without the gut kick. He keeps going for it. He probably tries it 8 times in a row and Tanahashi reverses it every time. I kind of like that though. Everyone in NJPW has a very distinct wrestling style. Karl's a big guy, and he has this sort of all or nothing style. It feels like he thinks if he can just hit this one move it will be over. That's a theme I'm noticing in NJPW. Instead of people hitting their finishers like 5 times to put someone away, a finisher is a finisher. The guy that's about to be on the receiving end will do everything in his power to avoid being hit by it. At one point Karl actually locks it in and is able to drop, but Tanahashi uses his strength to stop Karl's momentum going down and nullify the impact. Pretty cool. Tanahashi wins with the High Fly Flow (Frog Splash).
Devitt comes out on his horse and attacks Tanahashi. Karl appears to not be cool with this, but also appears to not want to get involved. So he just stays on the sidelines saying "What did you do that for?" over and over. Then he gets involved...by attacking Tanahashi. An unholy alliance of gun taunts is formed. What havoc will these two imaginary gun wielding maniacs unleash on NJPW?
8th Match
IWGP Intercontinental Title Match
Shinsuke Nakamura (c)
vs.
Shelton Benjamin
So I guess NJPW's Intercontinental Title is actually worth a damn, because it's part of a "double main event". I dare say that the IC Champ is possibly considered the number 2 guy in the company. I don't know exactly. But at least the belt has some damn prestige in this promotion.
When the card was initially announced, someone in this thread said that they felt that in terms of the story Shelton either hadn't earned the match or didn't seem like he was good enough to beat Nakamura. Maybe that's true, but his in-ring abilities and his presence dispelled that idea in a hurry. Shelton looked great. Better than Nakamura in my opinion. Frankly I need to see more Nakamura matches because the ones I have seen involve him getting his ass beat until he can hit a Boma-Ye. One thing about Nakamura though, the dude can sell. I actually feel bad for the guy sometimes. He seems like he's in so much pain.
Really good match. I love Shelton's little quips at the crowd. At the start of the match the crowd chants for Shinsuke. Shelton turns to the crowd, shakes his head and says "Forget it. I'm gonna destroy Shinsuke." Made me laugh. Looks like Shelton's adopted the ankle lock and is able to apply it early. Nakamura sells it like his foot was getting eating by a shark. Shelton is still athletic as hell. WWE missed the boat on this guy. At one point, Nakamura is on the top rope. Shelton runs at him. I see flashbacks of Kurt Angle top rope belly-to-belly suplexes. Nope. Instead, Shelton just leaps up onto the top rope in one jump and does a superplex. Frankly I feel like the match should have been over here. Nakamura gets some momentum back after this and botches a top rope dive. Probably would have been ok if he did it from the turnbuckle, but he decided to stand on the ropes about 2 feet from the turnbuckle. Really I felt the whole ending was sloppy. Nakamura tries another move on Shelton and it just doesn't seem to work. I don't know if Shelton reversed it or what. Shelton sold it like he got hit with something though. Boma-Ye. Nakamura wins.
Final Match
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Kazuchika Okada (c)
vs.
Minoru Suzuki
I don't know what it is about Minoru Suzuki. I don't understand a word he's saying, I don't know anything about him, but I like him. Of all the wrestlers in NJPW, I think he's the last one I'd ever want to mess with. He looks tough as hell and he has this sort of cool arrogance about him. He knows he can beat your ass, but he's not a showboater. He backs it up with action. I like it. Plus, he sounds like an anime villain so that's a plus.
I kind of wonder how aware NJPW is of their foreign audience. So many of their guys do such a great job of conveying their characters through their actions and their body language. It makes it very easy and enjoyable for someone that doesn't know the language to watch. Maybe that ability is just natural to great wrestlers. Either way, I'm impressed by it.
Now is a good time to say that in NJPW there are a bunch of stage hands (ring hands?) outside the ring. They do a lot of stuff. They clear crap out of the ring, they clean up messes on the outside, they check on wrestlers after their matches and put ice packs on them, etc. One of their responsibilities is to sit on the ring ropes to allow more space for the wrestlers to get through during their entrance. Basically what a valet would normally do. Well, Suzuki comes out and is kind of eying the guy holding the ropes open for him. At that moment I began praying to the wrestling gods that Suzuki was going to do what I thought he was going to do. Prayers answered! Suzuki pretends he's about to step through the ropes and then just kicks the poor hapless stage hand in the head. Amazing. He might be my favorite.
As an aside, I have seen more of Taka Michinoku in this show than I had in my whole life before it.
Okada time. I didn't really get why he was called the Rainmaker until I watched the Tanahashi/Okada match from Invasion Attack. I always figured he was rich because he's always holding money. But I didn't realize that he actually made it rain on the audience. That's right, money falls from the ceiling when he comes out. I feel this is a dangerous thing to do. If you're trying to get someone over as a super rich guy by making money fall from the ceiling, it damn well better be real money. On top of that, I'm not going to be impressed if you just drop $1 bills everywhere. I'm thinking at least $10 bills. But then you run into the question of how much money you want to spend on this guy's entrance. On the bright side, a bunch of money falls on the ramp where the crowd can't go so at least you can recoup some of your losses there. There's a joke here about how much money gets set on fire during an Undertaker WrestleMania entrance, but I can't put the pieces together so you'll have to come up with it on your own.
Another thing to note is that while Rainmaker is Okada's nickname, it is also the name of his finisher. Maybe I'm reading into it a little too much, but I feel like in the context of a finishing move "Rainmaker" is a play on the term "haymaker". If I am indeed correct in this assumption, a Japanese person has a more creatively named finisher than the entire WWE locker room.
I feel a little bit bad that I talked more about the entrances than I will about the match. It seems I don't really remember particular spots in a match, but more how the match flowed and how it felt to watch. That said, I'll do my best. Suzuki works over Okada's right arm (his Rainmaker arm) for most of the first part of the match. This also happened during the Tanahashi/Okada match. Does it happen in every Okada match? It makes sense though. He needs it to do his finisher and Suzuki establishes himself very early on as a bit of a submission specialist.
Actually, I think Suzuki's style comes from the fact that he appears to be an accomplished MMA fighter. 30-20 record. I have no idea how many of those fights are against decent fighters. What I do know is that if 50 trained fighters try to kick the crap out of you and you beat up 30 of them, that's pretty damn good as far as I'm concerned.
Another thing about Suzuki's style. He knows he looks like a tough bastard, and so he wrestles like a tough bastard. Part of his strategy seems to be to goad Okada into trading strikes with him, because he can take more hits than Okada. Again, I like it. I don't think Suzuki has quite the in-ring skill that Okada does, but he definitely knows where his strengths lie.
Suzuki seems to beat the hell out of Okada for most of the match. There is a lot of angry screaming as Okada tries to psyche himself up enough to trade strikes with Suzuki. I wish there was more angry screaming in WWE. Suzuki's finisher is a cradle or "Gotch style" piledriver. He sets it up by putting his opponent in a sleeper hold to tire them out before he hits it. I bring that up now because there are a lot of sleeper holds in this match. A LOT. And it goes on for awhile. I'm not bored though. I don't know what they do to make it not seem like a lame ass rest hold, but it works on me. I wish the commentators would shut up though. Seriously. I'm trying to concentrate on the match and they're talking loud and fast about how the weather is outside or something. It's not like there's fast and furious excitement in the ring right now. I have no idea what they're saying, but it sure as hell reminds me of when Cole and King talk about some random bullshit while I'm trying to watch the match.
Suzuki goes for several Gotch Style piledrivers. Okada is determined to not get hit by one, presumably because he knows it's over if he does. Again, I like that about NJPW. Eventually, Okada gets some momentum back and hits a Tombstone (one of his signature moves). Suzuki is able to escape the Rainmaker. Eventually Okada gets Suzuki up for ANOTHER Tombstone. He cradles this one to make it "Gotch Style" as final insult to Suzuki. RAAAAIIINMAAAAAKAAAAAAAH!! 1-2-3. Okada retains.
I posted in here about how cool I thought it was when Okada won a certificate, 3 trophies, and the belt when he won his match against Tanahashi. Well apparently you win all that stuff if you defend your title too. There's still a ceremony with pictures and all that. I love Okada's insistence that anyone that takes a picture with him must do the Rainmaker pose.
Tougi Makabe comes out during Okada's friend's promo (who, by the way, appears to have recovered from his embarrassing loss to Mutant Red Power Ranger). Some words I don't understand are exchanged. I'm not sure how this process works. Is there some sort of ranking system in NJPW based on wins and losses that allow someone to face the champ? Or if you want a shot at the belt to you just come out during their championship celebration and cut a promo? Anyway, it appears the match for the next PPV is set. Okada vs. Makabe.
Overall, I really enjoyed the event and plan to order Wrestle Kingdom. I think the Best of Super Juniors tournament will be good. Tanahashi vs. Okada from Invasion Attack set my expectations REALLY high. Unrealistically high. That's why I don't feel comfortable giving this show a number grade. I will say that the further removed I get from the show, the more I think about it. It was really good. I think Goto vs. Shibata was my favorite match of the night. It's a tough call because Suzuki really won me over, but I think I enjoyed his character more than the actual match.
All in all, I think the best thing I can say is that I am on board with NJPW now. I think it will serve as a good source to get my wrestling fix. I appreciate all of you guys who put all the effort into bringing these great promotions to us. I would never have tried NJPW if it weren't for your tireless badgering.
I may do more of these in the future if at least a few people read through and enjoy them.
We will now continue with part two of Super WrassleGAF Wrestling Write-up Number One Featuring XenoRaven". The first part can be found here.
There is about a half hour intermission at this point. There are promos for upcoming shows and then interviews with seemingly random people. They are probably not random, but I don't understand Japanese. I skipped all of that. If you watch these live, this is probably a good time to get a snack, or perhaps breakfast considering it's probably about 5 am on the east coast of America.
6th Match
Special Singles Match
Hirooki Goto
vs.
Katsuyori Shibata
There is a distinct difference in the feel of the show after the intermission. There's a lot of fun and craziness in the first part. Post-intermission is where shit starts to get serious. There's not a match on the card that could have drove that point home better than Goto vs. Shibata. My god.
Shibata kind of reminds me of Piston Honda. Is that racist? I hope not. Anyway, it's apparent right from the beginning that these two are competitive as hell. I have no idea why these two are wrestling, but there's a tension here that tells me before they even lock up that these two guys are equals in the ring and they both have something to prove to each other.
Cool little amateur wrestling exhibition to start off. Shibata appears to be something of a submission specialist. One of my favorite spots in the match is when Goto is sitting on the mat. Shibata kicks him hard in the back, Goto falls to protect his back, so Shibata stomps on his stomach. Then he immediately locks in a Figure Four. They start trading slaps while Goto is in the Figure Four. These guys are going at each other.
Good back and forth from both guys. Did Shibata just steal Okada's signature submission? Oh well. They start trading elbow smashes to the head. They continue trading elbow smashes to the head. Dear god I have never seen so many elbow smashes in a match. They eventually beat the hell out of each other so badly that they both go down and neither of them can continue. Ref counts to 10, match ends in a draw.
If this happened on a WWE PPV I feel like the crowd would boo and the IWC would be talking about how much of a cop out ending it was. I don't know the story behind these two and why they went at each other so hard, but I felt from the beginning that the match was going to end in a draw. When it did, it just worked. I don't know. I loved the match. No wacky spots. Nothing that will make a highlight reel. Just two guys with something to prove coming together as equals. Great stuff.
I should point out that the match proper was only about 15 minutes. They did a hell of a lot with that time. I thought it was at least 20-25.
7th Match
Special Singles Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi
vs.
Karl "Gotta Get My Nickname Over" Anderson
"Machine Gun" Karl Anderson. This is what I was talking about before with Alex Koslov. "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson's theme music starts with a machine gun. His intro video is him doing machine gun taunts over and over. Sometimes bullet holes appear on the screen. When he comes out, he does a machine gun taunt and a machine gun noise plays again. When they announce his name, the machine gun sound plays again. I feel like there are roughly 20 machine gun themed visual and audio cues before the match even starts. I had never heard of this guy before in my life, and with one intro "Machine Gun" is forever burned into my cerebral cortex.
Is Tanahashi the biggest face in the company? I think so. His taunt is an air guitar. I guess he is a rock star or something. I'd be interested to know if he actually plays. I'd also be interested to know what percentage of Japanese wrestlers have cauliflower ear. Initial estimates are somewhere around 100%.
This was a good match, although I don't remember much from it and don't feel like going back to watch it on Daily Motion. Which you can totally do right now by the way. All the matches appear to be up there already. Jahmale Hepburn works fast. Anyway, toward the end of the match Karl is adamant about hitting his finisher OUTTA NOWHERE. His finisher is the "Gun Stun" by the way, which is basically a stunner without the gut kick. He keeps going for it. He probably tries it 8 times in a row and Tanahashi reverses it every time. I kind of like that though. Everyone in NJPW has a very distinct wrestling style. Karl's a big guy, and he has this sort of all or nothing style. It feels like he thinks if he can just hit this one move it will be over. That's a theme I'm noticing in NJPW. Instead of people hitting their finishers like 5 times to put someone away, a finisher is a finisher. The guy that's about to be on the receiving end will do everything in his power to avoid being hit by it. At one point Karl actually locks it in and is able to drop, but Tanahashi uses his strength to stop Karl's momentum going down and nullify the impact. Pretty cool. Tanahashi wins with the High Fly Flow (Frog Splash).
Devitt comes out on his horse and attacks Tanahashi. Karl appears to not be cool with this, but also appears to not want to get involved. So he just stays on the sidelines saying "What did you do that for?" over and over. Then he gets involved...by attacking Tanahashi. An unholy alliance of gun taunts is formed. What havoc will these two imaginary gun wielding maniacs unleash on NJPW?
8th Match
IWGP Intercontinental Title Match
Shinsuke Nakamura (c)
vs.
Shelton Benjamin
So I guess NJPW's Intercontinental Title is actually worth a damn, because it's part of a "double main event". I dare say that the IC Champ is possibly considered the number 2 guy in the company. I don't know exactly. But at least the belt has some damn prestige in this promotion.
When the card was initially announced, someone in this thread said that they felt that in terms of the story Shelton either hadn't earned the match or didn't seem like he was good enough to beat Nakamura. Maybe that's true, but his in-ring abilities and his presence dispelled that idea in a hurry. Shelton looked great. Better than Nakamura in my opinion. Frankly I need to see more Nakamura matches because the ones I have seen involve him getting his ass beat until he can hit a Boma-Ye. One thing about Nakamura though, the dude can sell. I actually feel bad for the guy sometimes. He seems like he's in so much pain.
Really good match. I love Shelton's little quips at the crowd. At the start of the match the crowd chants for Shinsuke. Shelton turns to the crowd, shakes his head and says "Forget it. I'm gonna destroy Shinsuke." Made me laugh. Looks like Shelton's adopted the ankle lock and is able to apply it early. Nakamura sells it like his foot was getting eating by a shark. Shelton is still athletic as hell. WWE missed the boat on this guy. At one point, Nakamura is on the top rope. Shelton runs at him. I see flashbacks of Kurt Angle top rope belly-to-belly suplexes. Nope. Instead, Shelton just leaps up onto the top rope in one jump and does a superplex. Frankly I feel like the match should have been over here. Nakamura gets some momentum back after this and botches a top rope dive. Probably would have been ok if he did it from the turnbuckle, but he decided to stand on the ropes about 2 feet from the turnbuckle. Really I felt the whole ending was sloppy. Nakamura tries another move on Shelton and it just doesn't seem to work. I don't know if Shelton reversed it or what. Shelton sold it like he got hit with something though. Boma-Ye. Nakamura wins.
Final Match
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Kazuchika Okada (c)
vs.
Minoru Suzuki
I don't know what it is about Minoru Suzuki. I don't understand a word he's saying, I don't know anything about him, but I like him. Of all the wrestlers in NJPW, I think he's the last one I'd ever want to mess with. He looks tough as hell and he has this sort of cool arrogance about him. He knows he can beat your ass, but he's not a showboater. He backs it up with action. I like it. Plus, he sounds like an anime villain so that's a plus.
I kind of wonder how aware NJPW is of their foreign audience. So many of their guys do such a great job of conveying their characters through their actions and their body language. It makes it very easy and enjoyable for someone that doesn't know the language to watch. Maybe that ability is just natural to great wrestlers. Either way, I'm impressed by it.
Now is a good time to say that in NJPW there are a bunch of stage hands (ring hands?) outside the ring. They do a lot of stuff. They clear crap out of the ring, they clean up messes on the outside, they check on wrestlers after their matches and put ice packs on them, etc. One of their responsibilities is to sit on the ring ropes to allow more space for the wrestlers to get through during their entrance. Basically what a valet would normally do. Well, Suzuki comes out and is kind of eying the guy holding the ropes open for him. At that moment I began praying to the wrestling gods that Suzuki was going to do what I thought he was going to do. Prayers answered! Suzuki pretends he's about to step through the ropes and then just kicks the poor hapless stage hand in the head. Amazing. He might be my favorite.
As an aside, I have seen more of Taka Michinoku in this show than I had in my whole life before it.
Okada time. I didn't really get why he was called the Rainmaker until I watched the Tanahashi/Okada match from Invasion Attack. I always figured he was rich because he's always holding money. But I didn't realize that he actually made it rain on the audience. That's right, money falls from the ceiling when he comes out. I feel this is a dangerous thing to do. If you're trying to get someone over as a super rich guy by making money fall from the ceiling, it damn well better be real money. On top of that, I'm not going to be impressed if you just drop $1 bills everywhere. I'm thinking at least $10 bills. But then you run into the question of how much money you want to spend on this guy's entrance. On the bright side, a bunch of money falls on the ramp where the crowd can't go so at least you can recoup some of your losses there. There's a joke here about how much money gets set on fire during an Undertaker WrestleMania entrance, but I can't put the pieces together so you'll have to come up with it on your own.
Another thing to note is that while Rainmaker is Okada's nickname, it is also the name of his finisher. Maybe I'm reading into it a little too much, but I feel like in the context of a finishing move "Rainmaker" is a play on the term "haymaker". If I am indeed correct in this assumption, a Japanese person has a more creatively named finisher than the entire WWE locker room.
I feel a little bit bad that I talked more about the entrances than I will about the match. It seems I don't really remember particular spots in a match, but more how the match flowed and how it felt to watch. That said, I'll do my best. Suzuki works over Okada's right arm (his Rainmaker arm) for most of the first part of the match. This also happened during the Tanahashi/Okada match. Does it happen in every Okada match? It makes sense though. He needs it to do his finisher and Suzuki establishes himself very early on as a bit of a submission specialist.
Actually, I think Suzuki's style comes from the fact that he appears to be an accomplished MMA fighter. 30-20 record. I have no idea how many of those fights are against decent fighters. What I do know is that if 50 trained fighters try to kick the crap out of you and you beat up 30 of them, that's pretty damn good as far as I'm concerned.
Another thing about Suzuki's style. He knows he looks like a tough bastard, and so he wrestles like a tough bastard. Part of his strategy seems to be to goad Okada into trading strikes with him, because he can take more hits than Okada. Again, I like it. I don't think Suzuki has quite the in-ring skill that Okada does, but he definitely knows where his strengths lie.
Suzuki seems to beat the hell out of Okada for most of the match. There is a lot of angry screaming as Okada tries to psyche himself up enough to trade strikes with Suzuki. I wish there was more angry screaming in WWE. Suzuki's finisher is a cradle or "Gotch style" piledriver. He sets it up by putting his opponent in a sleeper hold to tire them out before he hits it. I bring that up now because there are a lot of sleeper holds in this match. A LOT. And it goes on for awhile. I'm not bored though. I don't know what they do to make it not seem like a lame ass rest hold, but it works on me. I wish the commentators would shut up though. Seriously. I'm trying to concentrate on the match and they're talking loud and fast about how the weather is outside or something. It's not like there's fast and furious excitement in the ring right now. I have no idea what they're saying, but it sure as hell reminds me of when Cole and King talk about some random bullshit while I'm trying to watch the match.
Suzuki goes for several Gotch Style piledrivers. Okada is determined to not get hit by one, presumably because he knows it's over if he does. Again, I like that about NJPW. Eventually, Okada gets some momentum back and hits a Tombstone (one of his signature moves). Suzuki is able to escape the Rainmaker. Eventually Okada gets Suzuki up for ANOTHER Tombstone. He cradles this one to make it "Gotch Style" as final insult to Suzuki. RAAAAIIINMAAAAAKAAAAAAAH!! 1-2-3. Okada retains.
I posted in here about how cool I thought it was when Okada won a certificate, 3 trophies, and the belt when he won his match against Tanahashi. Well apparently you win all that stuff if you defend your title too. There's still a ceremony with pictures and all that. I love Okada's insistence that anyone that takes a picture with him must do the Rainmaker pose.
Tougi Makabe comes out during Okada's friend's promo (who, by the way, appears to have recovered from his embarrassing loss to Mutant Red Power Ranger). Some words I don't understand are exchanged. I'm not sure how this process works. Is there some sort of ranking system in NJPW based on wins and losses that allow someone to face the champ? Or if you want a shot at the belt to you just come out during their championship celebration and cut a promo? Anyway, it appears the match for the next PPV is set. Okada vs. Makabe.
Overall, I really enjoyed the event and plan to order Wrestle Kingdom. I think the Best of Super Juniors tournament will be good. Tanahashi vs. Okada from Invasion Attack set my expectations REALLY high. Unrealistically high. That's why I don't feel comfortable giving this show a number grade. I will say that the further removed I get from the show, the more I think about it. It was really good. I think Goto vs. Shibata was my favorite match of the night. It's a tough call because Suzuki really won me over, but I think I enjoyed his character more than the actual match.
All in all, I think the best thing I can say is that I am on board with NJPW now. I think it will serve as a good source to get my wrestling fix. I appreciate all of you guys who put all the effort into bringing these great promotions to us. I would never have tried NJPW if it weren't for your tireless badgering.
I may do more of these in the future if at least a few people read through and enjoy them.
