Wrestling Chatter

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, Sorry for being so quiet recently, it's been a crazy few weeks and sometimes a girl needs a bit of a break to watch a lot of wrestling without writing about it. However, I'm back with another New Japan tour review and, after the huge Osaka-Jo Hall New Beginning in Osaka tour, I thought it was a great way to end an amazing tour. This tour ran alongside the US part of the tour, but it was these shows broadcasted on New Japan World. Going into the 'Road to' shows, we had some amazing matches. Obviously, going into the tour, we were aware of a few of the big matches to look forward to at the end of the tour including Jay White v SANADA, Jon Moxley v Minoru Suzuki for the US title, Roppongi 3k v El Desperado and Kanemaru for the Jr tag titles, Hiromu Takahashi v Ryu Lee for the IWGP Jr title and last but not least Naito v Kenta for the IWGP Heavyweight and IC title. These matches gave us some crazy teams from Jon Moxley teaming with the likes of Roppongi ...

Hi guys, This weekend has been huge because it was the biggest weekend in the New Japan calendar: Wrestle Kingdom 14! This year was even bigger and better because it spanned over 2 amazing nights meaning even more amazing matches and chances for the wrestlers to shine, not to mention Jyushin Thunder Liger's retirement matches. So, after watching a cumulative 14 hours of wrestling over three days and not sleeping, here are my top 5 matches from the weekend. With even more matches to choose from, it seemed near impossible to pick so here's a round of applause for me for actually doing it! Tetsuya Naito v Kazuchika Okada - Night 2 With all that was on the line with this match, is it any surprise that it was so amazing and quite possibly the match of the entire weekend! It was THE match everyone had been waiting for and it was the match that was going to make history by crowning the first ever IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental champion. In traditional Red Shoes...

Hi guys, Around a month ago, I had a look at the teams announced for the Power Struggle Super Jr Tag League. This tour all came to an end on Sunday in Osaka and, even though for some reason the tag final was not the main or semi or even semi semi main event of the final date, the entire tour was a great showcase of the calibre of Jr talent not only within NJPW but also CMLL.  So, here are my top 5 matches in the Power Struggle Jr Tag League, but in no specific order because they were all so amazing - Enjoy! Roppongi 3k v Mega Coaches When the line up for the Super Jr Tag League was announced, this was the match that I was most looking forward too in so many ways. With Sho and Yoh going up against their mentor Rocky Romero and fellow coach Taguchi, there was a lot of conflicted fans watching (including myself). From the very start, you knew it was going to be a great match because everyone was already laughing after Sho and Yoh spotted a stain on Taguchi's pants. Howe...

Hi guys, Another month, another New Japan tournament which is always exciting. This time, we've got Power Struggle aka the Jr Tag League which is my favourite of the two tag league's because #JrPride. Over the past few months, we've seen the Jr tag division thin out slightly, but that doesn't stop the talent from being out of this world. As always, the league is bringing together some of the best Jr tag teams from NJPW, ROH and CMLL. As always, I'm here with a preview of the upcoming tour and specifically looking at all the teams involved this year. TJP and Clark Connors After teasing his appearance for the Jr tag league, it's nice to see TJP back in NJPW and the Jr heavyweight division. I know there's always grumblings, but TJP is home. For any of you who don't know, he was part of the original LA Dojo under Inoki with the likes of Rocky Romero and Bryan Danielson. You're putting the old with the new as he teams with LA Dojo Captain Cla...

Hi guys, The G1 only ended yesterday and I'm already feeling it. I mean over a month of a jam packed schedule with matches coming out of my ears and I seriously couldn't believe the calibre of the matches from tag to singles. I did my favourite G1 matches for the first half of the tournament, so here's the second with even better matches. Jay White v Shingo Takagi Jay White has always been one of my favourite wrestlers and I’d seen him against pretty much any opponent. However, White v Shingo Takagi was something I didn’t really know what to expect because they’re so similar but so different. Jay White is a very smart wrestler using every tactic in the book to win whereas Takagi is a straight up brawler with the perfect mixture of speed and strength. With this force of Shingo, the match started extremely brutally for a White match and from then, Jay realised he needed to notch the heel up. He went for those blistering chops, tried to cahoot with Red Shoes by Two ...

Hi guys, We're just over halfway through the hottest tournament of the Summer and, by looking at some of the matches so far, it's crazy to think we're only this far in.  Normally I wait until the end of a NJPW tournament to write my favourite matches. However, with the calibre so high and so many amazing matches already, it would be rude of me not to do one already! (This will be all matches from the start to 24 July). Lance Archer v Hiroshi Tanahashi After the tournament, I'll do my usual MVPs of the G1 but this match will probably show one of the names on that list. After dropping matches to Kenta and Okada, Tanahashi had a lot to prove in the G1, especially as the reigning tournament winner. However, Lance Archer wasn't going to make this easy for the Ace of the Universe. Although Tanahashi picked up the win, I don't think that's the main thing to take away from this match - it's Lance Archer. His first G1 in 5 years, Archer has come b...