u/redizzy

Oiwa:
I'm not really thinking about my best record. Yesterday, I just wanted to get through the semis for Tenzan-san. But today, I want to win for me.

(about Uemura) He's a wrestler that I can do my ideal type of wrestling with. His technique is great, and I'm confident in mine. Whoever wins tonight will be king of that style. That's why I need to win tonight. Yesterday's match was for Tenzan-san, but today is the day I achieve my dream. Please cheer for me.

Uemura:
My feelings right now? I just gotta win.

(Honest feelings?) I've never won a title before. I want to win the G1 Climax and win my first title.

(About Oiwa) I think this card... the fact that we are going up against each other in the finals. It's going to be a pivotal match. I want to establish the New Standard, and hype up pro wrestling. I want to win it all. So three, two, one... Ossha!

Quick translation of the Tenzan impromptu Q&A session!

In commemoration of Tenzan's retirement on August 15, we asked things we never got to ask before! An impromptu 15 Questions and Answers during a car ride in Sapporo.

T: I'll answer any questions thrown at me.
OK, c'mon!

Q: Tenzan is known for his unique hairstyle. Why did you go for this hairstyle?

T: I started to grew my hair during my excursion.
I wanted to grow the back long like Riki Choshu and Kensuke Sasaki.
There's a barber I went to since I was a young lion, and asked him for advice on a hairstyle that would be different and have an impact. He suggested I dye this part, do that... so I had him try it. The barber's name is Maki. He's the one who came up with this hairstyle. It ended up being unconventional.

A. Tenzan gave barber Maki artistic freedom and this is how it turned out.

Q: Does Maki still cut your hair?
A. For almost 30 years.

T: Yes. He's about four years older than me. He said he's retiring soon. I asked him who's gonna do my hair? I want to keep this hairstyle even after I retire. I might keep this until the day I die. If I don't dye my hair and cut the back, I'm just an old man with a buzz cut. I won't stand out.

Q. Your favorite move?

T: Mongolian chop. Tombstone. Anaconda Vise too. And Tenzan Press.
It's a moonsault. I lost the Moonsault Ban match against Keiji Muto. But I'm still using it. I just changed the name to Tenzan Press. I have a lot of feelings for each of my moves. So it's hard to pick a favorite.

A. He can't pick his favorite.

Q: Which do you think the fans picked for your favorite move?

T: Mongolian?

A. Mongolian Chop

T: Fans started calling out, shoo shoo.
When I started it, I was a heel. I thought the fans were mocking me. So when they called, shoo, shoo. I would yell at them to shut up. I hated it at the time. But now, I'm happy that the fans say it.

Q: Why is the call, shoo?

T: Abdullah the Butcher, who I watched as a kid, he would make karate moves and he would make shuu sound, kind of like a breathing technique. I thought it was cool, and so I made it a part of my move. It was a feint and give them damage.

A. Saying shoo, shoo was a feint movement

T: I used it when I was on my excursion. And I would make the sound effect. Then the fans started saying it too. I don't have to say it anymore because the fans said it. It's really a feint now.

T: What was number two and three?
Anaconda Vise, huh? Tetsunosuke Daigo (Tenzan's mentor) helped me come up with the move, and Daigo named it that. Like an anaconda tightening a vise. Vise means to squeeze out. To squeeze out a prey like a snake. He gave it a great name.

T: What was number three?

*Tenzan keeps pushing

T: Ah, TTD! Tenzan Tombstone Driver. I haven't used it in a while, but when I used it, I held on to make sure my opponent couldn't counter. When it works, I'm able to hold them tight. I would do the Tombstone then a headbutt. Or Anaconda Vise. It was a key move of mine.

Q: Any wrestler with a head harder than yours?

T: I had a hard head since I was a young lion. Shinya Hashimoto would make me break a brick. "Not your hands, use your head." It was for a TV show, so I did it. The brick broke, but I had blood pouring out. That wasn't the trigger, but I started using the headbutt as my weapon. The person who I thought had a hard head was Scott Norton.

T: He's big. He had a body like a fridge. His face was bigger than mine too. He had a completely different frame as a foreigner. I headbutt him and it reverberated back and I was hurt. He looked fine. I couldn't beat him with a headbutt.

Staff: There was a move that took you out for a while. Hirooki Goto's move was named "Ushi Goroshi" because of it.

T: I didn't die, but I was half dead.

Q: How do you feel when you see "Ushi Goroshi"?

T: When I'm on commentary, and he does the move in front of me. I wonder why he doesn't change the name...lol

T: Hirooki has a lot of moves. He comes up with a lot of original moves. But I think he needs to change Ushi Goroshi. Tell him for me.

Q: Something you think about when developing a move?

T: The damage caused when doing the move. How much damage will it give the opponent, without causing damage to me. Something easy, in a way.

A. Opponent's damage >>>>> Damage to self

T: Something that gives my opponent damage, but easy on me. Something easy to understand. A move that looks like it hurts.

Q: Most intense moment as a wrestler?

T: I became a fan of wrestling seeing the first Tiger Mask. I was inspired by Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami. When I fought against Choshu and I thought I would die from his lariat.

A. A lariat from his idol, Riki Choshu

T: Being in the ring with your heroes is a dream come true. But when I took that lariat, I was happy but in pain and sad. I might lean on the masochist side. I like to receive pain.

A. He realized he might be a masochist.

Q: Craziest happening as a wrestler?

T: A lot of things happened in the ring and in personal lives. I screwed up when Koji went to All Japan and I was in New Japan, and we had a triple crown match. I was dehydrated at the end.

A. February 2002. Tenzan lost with 15 seconds on the clock due to dehydration

T: I came to in the locker room. I woke up not knowing what happened. I saw the video later. That was my biggest screw up.

Q: How are you at home?

T: I'm unwanted.

A. His wife is always mad

T: I always get scolded. My wife's never complimented me. She told me to work until I had blood coming out of my eyes. Do other wives say that? Then one day, I had retinal detachment. I almost had blood coming out of my eyes.

Q: First impression of Satoshi Kojima?

T: I joined the dojo first. And he joined about a year later. He was kind of chubby then. He was over 100kg. He looked like a walrus.

A. He looked like a walrus

T: He came from Hamaguchi Gym. Koji is good at impersonations. He would always make me laugh. I'm retiring first, but I want him to keep going.

Q: Kojima's best impersonation?

T: Sanshi Katsura, the rakugo artist.

A. Bunshi Katsura's (at the time, Sanshi Katsura) "Irasshai"

T: Koji's from Tokyo, but he would impersonate Sanshi from Kansai.

Q: Any arguments between TenKoji?

T: I don't think so.

A. No, but...

T: Maybe when he went to All Japan

A. When Kojima went to All Japan

T: I was in shock. We had a belt as TenKoji. I felt betrayed.

Q: When Kojima said the infamous "We are 1+1 making 200. We're 10 times stronger." What did you think?

T: We're pretty pumped up during post match comments. We just blurt out what we're feeling. I'm not really paying attention to what others are saying.

A. He wasn't paying attention

T: Koji made a calculation error. He was trying to say together we're more than 1+1. It's exponential. So he didn't make a mistake!

A. That line is "Proof of our additional strength"

T: We were still in our late 20s. We were fearless. Even in nWo Japan, we had nothing to be scared of in the ring. We said things that we didn't know what it meant.

T: Thank you for supporting me all these years.
I will be retiring on August 15 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall.
But I ask that you support me to the very end and give me your strength.
OK, c'mon!

Just to start the discussion, here is the card and results from last night.

Match 1: Yasuda/Boltin vs Kanemaru/Sanada
Kanemaru def Yasuda (figure four leg lock)

Match 2: Matsumoto/Goto vs Yano/Takeshita
Yano def Matsumoto (single leg crab hold)

Match 3: Gedo/Yuto ICE/Shingo vs JAY/GOK/Jake Lee
JAY def Gedo (Bites the Dust)

Match 4: Nagai/Tsuji vs Big Jag/Oiwa
Big J def Nagai (Death Valley Bomb)

Match 5: B Block - Drilla vs Oskar
Oskar with ref stoppage

Match 6: B Block - Zack vs Narita
Narita with single leg crab

Match 7: B Block - Callum vs Gabe
Callum with small package

Match 8: Uemura vs Wolf
Uemura with Lion's Shiner

Just a list of matches for now.

Match 1: Kojima/Yuya vs Nakahara/Yano
Match 2: Matsumoto/Wolf vs Gedo/Oskar
Match 3: JAY/Henare vs Togo/Narita
Match 4: Nagai/Drilla vs Zane Jay/Callum

A Block: Goto vs O-Khan
A Block: Jake Lee vs Sanada
A Block: Takeshita vs Boltin
A Block: Yuto-Ice vs Oiwa
A Block: Tsuji vs Shingo

It's been several days and no one posted a thread. So starting this one, and hopefully Night 6 will be started soon? I can finally stay up and watch the show live!

The main event (ZSJ vs Callum) is available to watch for free on NJPW World until 7/31.

Matsumoto/Goto vs JAY/O-Khan
Didn't watch this. I saw the highlight reel and don't know what direction O-Khan is going.

Zayne Jay/Jake Lee vs Kanemaru/Sanada
Sanada came out in his futuristic costume for his home prefecture. I remember the pre-heel days when he used to main event in Niigata. Also, Zayne... there is no need to speak in broken English to Jake.

Yano/Takeshita vs Yasuda/Boltin
Saw it but it went too quick and it's a blur.

Gedo/Ice vs Big Jag/Oiwa
I'm enjoying the story behind Ice and Oiwa. Per interviews and JP commentary, Ice says pro-wrestling is professional fist fighting, and Oiwa has a more artistic approach. I always thought Yuya had a similar aura as Tanahashi, but now I'm seeing Oiwa looking more like Tana. Could be the hair.

Nagai/Tsuji vs Ishimori/Takagi
Sorry, I skipped this match.

B Block: Wolf vs Gabe
I still think Gabe is a little over the top as a heel. That might just be my fondness for him from the LA Dojo days.

B Block: Oskar vs Henare
I wish Henare would stop yelling in the backstage interviews.

B Block: Yuya vs Drilla
I will keep telling myself that Yuya needs to struggle to win the G1. He will win this year.

B Block: ZSJ vs Callum
Zack is a delight to watch! I think the main camera missed it, but Callum held Zack's shorts during the roll up? I think they showed it in the highlight reel later. The highlight of this show was when Zack flashed his booty a bit when complaining to the referee. Oh Zack! Not in front of my husband!!

This show is on NJPW World!
6/19 Chino, Nagano & 6/21 Sagamihara, Kanagawa are not...
Now that I look at the Road to G1 schedule, a lot of them are not streaming

Random thoughts that may or may not be about wrestling. Let's go!

match 1 Makabe, Yano, Matsumoto vs Kojima, Yamato, Nakahara
I haven't seen Makabe in the ring in a long time. Welcome back, boss. I guess there are no restrictions for local politicians (Yamato) to get back into the ring while being a public servant.

match 2 Wato/Yasuda vs Sho/Douki
Can anyone tell me what Wato is looking for when he looks afar and points? Fans? He doesn't smile, so count me confused.

match 3 Shota/Taguchi vs Jake Lee/Zane
After the match, PAC video plays. But we've seen this the day before... the other subreddit already talked about it. Vid release error?

match 4 TMDK Oiwa/Jackson/Fujita vs UE Henare/O-Khan/Jakob
Backstage, Fujita calls on Francisco Akira for taking a "break" when the other three are working... towards the Jr title contendorship. Fujita also the first to complain about the heat in the arena. The building is so old, they don't have air conditioning. Bleh, in the June humidity?

match 5 Taichi/Yuya/Despe vs KOB+Nagai
Taichi & Yuto go outside, into the hallway. Taichi on his YT channel mention cameras follow but World doesn't show the footage. He says there are photos posted on the website, but something about trying to stick Yuto's head in the toilet. Taichi also rants about the lack of air conditioning.

semi Goto/YH/Yoh vs Tsuji/Shingo/Gedo
Something brewing between Goto and Tsuji? Next challenger to the Heavy title?

main Nagata/Wolf/Josh Barnett vs HOT Narita/Yujiro/Nobu
Barnett knows a lot of Japanese! In the Foreign Correspondents' press conference Aaron said he doesn't speak much English, but he knows enough.