Wrestling Chatter

Hi guys, It's only been a few days since my last post, but I didn't want you waiting too long for the second part of my NJPW World Tag League Preview. If you missed the last one, you can read about the first set of teams here https://wrestling-chatter.blogspot.com/2019/11/njpw-wtl-preview-one.html . So, without further a do, here's part two and the rest of the amazing set of teams set for this year's league! Togi Makabe/ Tomoaki Honma Isn't it a nice surprise to see Tomoaki Honma back in tag league with his GBH partner Makabe. After being on the injured list for a long time, he wasn't in the right shape last year to compete so was replaced with Toa Henare as Makabe's partner. However, the teams back together and Honma is getting back to his old self. His kokeshi rate has improved amazingly and he's really put on some strong showings in tag matches, even if he mostly gets pinned. Yet, with Makabe by his side, there is no way that the unchained go...

Hi guys, So, I'm back from London after the NJPW Royal Quest show and what a weekend it was. If you follow me on my social media (and why wouldn't you?) then you'll probably have seen what a whirlwind I had. Because the show hasn't aired yet, I won't review the show as a whole but just tell you my highlights and the atmosphere. Also, because of everything that happened, I'm going to divide the post between the two days - just a note, this will be more of an experience post but please enjoy and of course, I will write about the show just not in so much detail! Friday 30th August Arriving in London, I was just excited to get out of Manchester and enjoy a weekend about me to forget my worries. It was amazing being back in Stratford where I spent most of my uni days and it felt like coming home in a way. Anyway, checking into the hotel, I was taken off guard when I walked into the foyer and saw Rocky Romero and Robbie Eagles sat in the foyer. I was s...

Hi guys, In the crazy world of wrestling companies, there's always going to be a massive roster full of so many talented stars and nothing is more true for the likes of New Japan Pro Wrestling. With a roster full of such amazing wrestlers and hardly (if any) weak links within the company, it's unfortunately inevitable that wrestlers are either going to blend into the background, no matter how talented they are, or they're going to get overshadowed by other wrestlers. So, for this post, I'm going to look specifically at NJPW but there are so many promotions with underrated wrestlers that this could just be the start! 1. Rysuke Taguchi The leader of Taguchi Japan and the funky weapon himself, I don't think that anyone can say that Taguchi isn't crazy popular (with me particularly), however I don't think that people appreciate how amazing of an in-ring talent Taguchi is rather than just a bit of fun in the ring. Taguchi is probably one of the most accomp...

Hi guys, With one of the biggest fields in NJ Cup history, another NJPW tournament has come and gone and what a few weeks it was! This year's New Japan Cup had a massive 32 competitors all fighting for the chance to challenge Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Madison Square Garden. The tournament started with some amazing matches on both sides of the bracket and it was only the first round. We had the amazing upset in Chase Owens beating Juice Robinson giving Owens a shot at the US title set for the final night of the Cup. Then another match with championship implications as Kota Ibushi v Tetsuya Naito stopped Naito's dream of being the first guy to hold two of the top belts in NJPW. The second round  had some of the best matches of the tournament. Taichi having a surprisingly clean match against Ishii and the giant killer Ospreay defeated Archer. However, one a stand out match but won't be for all the wrestling purist was Yano v Cabana. There wer...

Hi guys, About 6 months ago, I delved into the NJPW Faction system and basically ranked them all in order of my personal feelings toward them but things change. Looking back at that post ( https://wrestling-chatter.blogspot.com/2018/07/new-japan-factions-rated.html ), I put Bullet Club at number 3 and maybe I was being a bit too generous because the faction was basically falling apart which all culminated in a split within the faction which I wasn't a fan of. Fast forward to February 2019 and the BC OG's are the sole Bullet Club faction with the Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishmori, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Jado, Gedo and Robbie Eagles. The Bullet Club have now moved straight to the top of my favourite factions and I thought I'd look at the past few months and how they've gone from being hierarchical faction with the 'main cast' to the most dominant faction again! This is especially relevant after the New Beginning Osak...

Hi guys, After a week (in which I started my new intensive journalism course), I'm back for a preview of the New Japan Cup which is always exciting and really full on with the schedule! Like all the other tournaments, I'm going to run down all the participants who've been announced and the possible match ups that I'm mega looking forward too! With all the guys chasing Jay White for his title, the stakes are massive! I was initially going to do the usual ‘look at each competitor’ thing, but the card's so stacked and there’s 24 competitors. So I’ve decided to look at them in terms of first matches. They changed it up this year by putting most of the heavyweights which is nice! Also, I’ll split this preview into two posts because there’s so much to write about - I don’t want to blow your mind. Hope you enjoy! Yuji Nagata v Tomohiro Ishii When this match was announced, I was literally over the moon considering what happened at Iizka's retirement show. Both...

Hi guys, When I started watching wrestling, there were so many things I admired about the business from the hard work each wrestler put in to the storylines but I never aspired to be a wrestler (yet) because I'm small, not flexible and just weak. However, as soon as I heard the commentators day in and day out calling the action, I knew that it's what I wanted to do some day if I could - maybe it stemmed from my childhood dream to be a TV presenter or just how much they add to the matches and product. I always seem to write about the wrestlers but the commentators are just as important to me, so here are my top 5 commentators in the business. 1. Kevin Kelly Ever since I started watching NJPW, Kevin Kelly became one of the things that made this product one of the best in the world in my opinion- I mean every time I turn on a NJ show, hearing Kevin Kelly on commentary just makes me smile from ear to ear. What's funny is that most commentators have one person that they...

Hi guys, It's been about two months since I first started watching New Japan Pro Wrestling and I can most definitely say that I'm hooked (I mean I'm even going to see them when they come to the UK in July). So, the Best of Super Junior 25 has been the first NJPW tournament that I have been able to watch pretty much live (or a few hours later because of time differences) and I've been surprised at how invested I stayed from the start to the end.  There were a lot of superstars that I already knew pretty well before the tournament like Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Flip Gordon, Takahashi, Kushida and Taiji Ishimori. There were some I knew by name like Sho and Yoh and some I had no idea about like Chris Sabin, ACH, Taguchi and the rest of the participants. But, as well as putting hell-a-good matches, the tournament had some great storylines and kept me invested even in the house shows that were shown on NJPW World and some of the tag matches before the proper tour...