Wrestling Chatter

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, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe it's already 2020 and 2019 seems like a distant memory... But, what a 2019 it has been? Never mind what a year it's been in professional wrestling. It seems as if I've been spending more of this year watching wrestling and writing about it than anything else. Because of this, it almost seems impossible for me to write about a year in wrestling because I wouldn't even know where to start. Even if I just looked at one promotion, for example my fave New Japan, there could be a post per month which is crazy. So, I thought that the best thing to do would be to look at all the promotions I watch and pick my MVP wrestlers of the year. I'm taking on board a lot of different things when making these choices including level of improvement, how much I've enjoyed watching them and obviously how well they've done in matches this year. However, I've given myself a near impossible task by only picking 5 and I ca...

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, Welcome to part two my NJPW Preview of the New Japan Cup which starts on the 8th March! This post's going to have a lot bigger names that part one (which you can find here https://wrestling-chatter.blogspot.com/2019/02/new-japan-cup-preview-part-one.html ), and it's also got some match ups that I'm way too excited about. Just a note, I'm sorry this post is so long but I managed to have missed an entire day of matches! Will Ospreay v Bad Luck Fale When I heard that our own jr/ heavyweight hybrid Will Ospreay was going to be in the NJ Cup, I screamed slightly... but that scream faded when I heard his first round match is against Fale. I mean after Ospreay's win against Cobb, anything is possible especially when it comes to someone as talented as Ospreay. He can literally do anything he sets his mind too! For me, Ospreay being in this tournament is a great step forward for the Jr division and I can actually see him going so far . Like Chase Owens, Os...

Hi guys, It's been a crazy few weeks of this years NJPW G1 Climax and it's been so exciting for me because it's the first time watching this tournament when it happens! So, in the lead up to the final two block days and the final on the 12 Aug at Budokan Hall, here's my review of the last few weeks, including some of the highlights, the storytelling and what I expect from the last few days of matches! Even though I'll probably do another post with my top 5 matches of the ENTIRE G1, this tournament really has had some amazing matches in the first few weeks! We've had the pure beauty of matches like Okada v Naito, Ibushi v Ishii, Ishii v Kenny and Jay White v Tanahashi, which were all just pure brutal wrestling that made me want to hide behind my pillow. There's been matches that have surprised me at how invested I got into them like Sanada v Ibushi and Ibushi v Juice Robinson. I don't think there's been one match where I've been bored o...