Wrestling Chatter

Hi guys, For me, New Japan Pro Wrestling has to be one, if not, the best company in the world for giving us amazing wrestling content. With the introduction of their streaming site NJPW World, more worldwide shows and English commentary (from the AMAZING Kevin Kelly) on most of their shows, it’s becoming a massive rival for other massive companies. But, when I started watching it a while back, the whole format was really confusing because it was so different from what I was used too. So, in the lead up to Wrestle Kingdom (which is the biggest show/s of the NJ calendar year), here’s a beginner’s guide to New Japan Pro Wrestling (Shin Nihon Puroresu) for anyone who wants to watch NJPW but has no idea where to start. History New Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in 1972 by wrestling legend Antonio Inoki after he left the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. Inoki put himself as the star of the company and drew on the experiences of foreign wrestlers (Gaijin’s) like the Bri...

Hi guys, If I thought that the world was going to shit and the fact that I've been an anxious mess, trust New Japan to make me feel slightly better about myself. Last week, NJPW announced the line-up for their G1 Climax 30 and it was something that just put a massive smile on my face. I was worried about what ti would look like because nobody knew about who was going to be allowed into Japan and restrictions on travel. Luckily, everything seems to be slightly back to normal and there are some huge names across the board. I've also done a quick video overview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx_SFxoBZYM&t=52s  so make sure to give that a watch too! So, here is a look at the participants in this years A Block!  Kota Ibushi After failing to capitalise on his G1 victory last year, you can bet that the Golden Star is going to try and go for two consecutive wins. I mean if anyone can do it, why shouldn't it be Kota Ibushi? It's been an odd year for Ibushi from his loss a...

Hi guys, Welcome to another preview post from Wrestling Chatter aka Sonal aka yours truly... When EVIL betrayed Los Ingobernables de Japon and decided to join Bullet Club, a big question being thrown around was what was going to happen to the NEVER 6-man titles. EVIL said he didn't care about defending them and even Shingo Takagi had no idea. Earlier this week, New Japan announced an 8-team tournament for the NEVER 6-Man Openweight Tag Championship to deal with that! The tournament will take place at Korakuen Hall over three days and here is my preview of the first round matches and my predictions!  6th August Okada/ Yano/ SHO (CHAOS) v Yujiro/ Gedo/ Jado What I like about this first-round matchup is that there is some storyline consistency. After Okada and Yujiro's single match at Sengoku Lord, the Tokyo Pimp has made it clear that their feud is far from over and this is a nice continuation. There is also the fact that Jado and Gedo were OG Chaos members before they betrayed t...

Hi guys, So I first wrote this post almost 5 months ago and because of a certain worldwide pandemic, I couldn't really do anything with it after New Japan cancelled all of their events.  However, I'm over the moon after NJPW announced that they were going to start putting on shows again and returning with the New Japan Cup next week. What's even more exciting is that they've changed it up a bit and sort of combined the New Japan Cup with the BOSJ giving us a mix of matches between Jrs and Heavyweights. Normally, you might see the odd Jr, but this is a distinct split between the divisions. Because of the times we're in, the brackets also have a distinct lack of Gaijins due to travel restrictions but the bracket is still amazing and all I've had to do is make some adjustments to matches.   So, with all that said and done, here' s a look at the New Japan Cup first-round matches. Like last year, because the field is so huge, I'm going to look at ...

Hi guys, I've really been looking forward to writing this post, but I never knew when or if I was going to be able to do it in the first place. Last year, New Japan announced the new film My Dad's a Heel Wrestler, a film that follows a young boy who's dad happens to be a heel wrestler. So, not only did it actually have a really solid plotline, but it also had some of my favourite wrestlers in the world in it. Tanahashi plays the lead role and and then we've got guys like Taguchi, Makabe, Okada and Baretta in it as well. We all got a taster when NJPW put on a match with the characters of the film. I was so gutted when I found out that it wasn't going to be airing in the UK and when it did a few months ago, it was only in a few places that I just couldn't get too. Luckily,New Japan announced that they were putting the film on New Japan World with English subtitles for NJPWTogether, I think I might have screamed a little bit... or a lot.  So, on ...