The OtherArena

[JAG]

So has anybody gotten the New Japan version of the WWE network?

I'm thinking about adding it later in the week to get the Tokyo Dome show, but it's limited without having a Roku app.

Jagdip

[jdw]

If they had all the 70s, 80s and 90s stuff available, I'd get it. ;)

[JAG]

From just browsing the site and reading a little, they have matches from each year, but it's limited.

10s 535
00s 108
90s 203
80s 153
70s 39

That's the breakdown on the site right now via Google translate.

Jagdip

[DGinnetty]

[jdw]

That's not a bad starting point.

One could hope they do an organized walk through the older stuff, and not overly slow. Even if they release 1 show per Week from the 70s & 80s & 90s each, that would take 10 years to get through. In the long run that's not bad... but you also worry about them getting bored of doing that and stopping after two years.

[Steve Yohe]

Watched the Tokyo Dome tonight, if I've seen a better show I can't remember it. NJW nailed it.--Yohe

[JAG]

I thought it was a great event and J.R. did add to the show for me.

I also agree with their decision to ride Tanahashi until he's done. No reason to get cute when you're still building and he's the guy that created the turnaround.

Like a good, old-school promotion, NJPW has a bit of everything right now, which makes for fun shows. Only thing it was missing was Inoki showing up to slap dozens of wrestlers and fans.

Jagdip

[DalyCityTrain]

It was an awesome show.

I'm not the one to try to rank it all-time since it was probably the first start-to-finish Japanese event I've ever watched. But it was easily the best show I've seen since I started watching modern wrestling again in 2014 (the last NXT Special was excellent and this blew it away).

But every Podcast I've listened to liked it even more than I did, calling the main and semi-main among the best back-to-back matches ever and that kind of thing (my favorite match was Ishii vs. Makabe, which makes me wonder if my tastes aren't just out of date). It seems to be not just a huge hit with fans of Japanese Wrestling, but with people who are just getting into NJPW from the buzz around this show, or who just follow it casually.

A lot of the raves are for Nakamura who had a killer entrance. He and Ibushi showed a ton of personality, and also had easily the best crowd heat. But even when they weren't as loud throughout the match, the crowd seemed keyed in to every important element like

SPOILERS FOR WK9 HERE

Honma getting a pin, the dangers of the Styles Clash, Okada's dropkick, Sakuraba tapping...

END OF SPOILERS

I mean, those stories were all obvious enough for a noob like me to follow, but I never see a WWE show where every big moment pops the crowd like they'd been waiting for it.

As far as bringing that stuff up goes, Jim Ross and Matt Striker did a good job. They were catering their announcing to those of us not as familiar with the product, more like they were being dubbed over a video rather than acting as if they were regular announcers. I could imagine that someone who already knew New Japan in and out wouldn't get much out of them. But they worked for me, and they're also getting great marks from every review I've seen or heard. Ross certainly keyed right in to what spots and which guys should be taken seriously and raised the intensity a notch, then another notch for what might potentially be all-time-classic moments. He wasn't so good remembering names and moves off the top of his head, but that's where Striker filled in. Since Striker isn't so good at taking the action as seriously as it deserves, or engaging the viewer in big moments, they complemented each other even though they're both play-by-play guys and it came across.

Anyways, I'm really glad I watched it and I'm gonna try to add New Japan to my regular viewing. I also watched my first whole UFC event, but apparently that was a bad choice to get started with.