r/njpw

Will Ospreay, Francesco Akira, HENARE def Brian Cage, Rocky Romero, Lance Archer — Hidden Blade

• Ospreay made his full entrance alone, then HENARE and Akira inexplicably came out to Callum Newman’s theme.

• Commentary did briefly talk about the Ospreay and Callum dissension.

• Decent match, Akira was in for a lot of it but that’s because they spent the commercial break doing a “poor little white boy” heat segment on him. Akira and HENARE worked well with Ospreay, no hints of issues.

• UE all did the hand sign and hugged to celebrate their win. Before he left, Ospreay made a telephone hand sign and said something into the camera but we couldn’t hear it over the music and commentary.

In a later pretaped sit down segment between Ospreay and Kenny, they spoke a lot about their careers in NJPW and the comparisons between them. Was a good segment and I’ll link it when it’s available somewhere.

This has been the best G1 in years, and it's incredible that all 20 warriors brought something unique to the field, got more over or stayed over, and enhanced different stories in the process:

- Takeshita and Tsuji maintained their top guy statuses, and in turn they consistently delivered in-ring. 110 percent given every night, as it should be.

- the last 3 major stars (Goto, ZSJ and Shingo) all did their parts selflessly to enhance the next generation, being veterans and former World Champions. New Japan can and will utilize them as gatekeepers to get the new guys ready, and the tournament showed this method will work brilliantly.

- Yuya Uemura is the most natural babyface in wrestling, the Ricky Steamboat and Bret Hart of this age. At most, at some point in his career he can deliver a Crossbody to the floor and wrestle a sound style before and after that, and the people would still love him.

- Boltin Oleg's transformation into a beast is complete. A humble foreigner who rips heads off if pushed hard enough, Oleg leveled up from a good low upper midcard hoss to a future top star. Similar praise can be sent Aaron Wolf's way, who has an even higher ceiling arguably. Yes, his lack of confidence is still present, but the same was said for Oiwa 9 months ago and look at him now. Wolf will be a big problem a year from now.

- Callum Newman and Gabe Kidd exhibited quality mixing of great heel character work whilst simultaneously having great matches. The sky is the limit.

- Dan Moloney became the bad boy of the people, and he is slowly but surely getting progressively and organically more popular. Drilla Killa is still the death blow it should be, and Dan is now at a point where he is one big feud away from reaching the upper echelon.

- Ryohei Oiwa proved that less is more, and with his promos finally starting to come together, he is on his way to becoming virtually untouchable. Outstanding choice for the winner.

- even the two "misfits" who didn't have the greatest of matches (Great O'Khan and Jake Lee) had good showings, because their character work was so strong and they set important things up for the future. Every G1, a person or two is delegated into this "enhance a future story, don't have good matches" slot, and this year those spots were in the UE corner.

- HENARE, as reliable as ever. Looks like a wrestler, brings it in the ring and then some with unmatched intensity. G1 was made for guys like him, and vice versa.

- SANADA had a mini rebirth, and showed he can still rock it. Much like Take, the babyface spirit cannot be hidden - this man was born to be a shy but likeable good guy.

- KOB had their first showings as singles competitors, and didn't disappoint at all, with the fire and ice (pun intended) of their team firmly set in stone. Ice is the unlikely and unconventional man of the people, OSKAR is the loud yet athletic giant, with both Brothers suffering from overconfidence, ultimately leading to defeat.

Sadly, the only two people who didn't do anything impressive were, ironically enough, the two original promised sons, Shota Umino and Ren Narita. Shota's circumstances was out of his control, and he definitely would have been one of the MVP's of the tour considering how over he was getting, but sadly an injury prevented that. Ren unfortunately was overshadowed at every turn and didn't deliver standout performances in the ring or as a character. Hopefully, his luck turns with the upcoming HOT turmoil.

Buzz about Yuya and Oiwa is still going strong, HOT and UE are falling apart, KOB are bringing tag team wrestling back... again, midcard titles are regaining prestige - the hype is real. Overall, I think a year from now, we'll look at this tournament even more fondly as the time New Japan's new generation concisely took over and brought the promotion to the heights and love it once had.

And do the people making them know that January 2025 was 18 months ago?

- Oiwa vs Uemura II for the World Title

- Newman vs Ospreay, "Prince vs King"

- Tsuji vs MJF

- Shota vs Gabe for the Global Title, Shota wins and brings back the Intercontinental Title

- Shun vs Narita

- Zack vs Wolf for the NEVER Title

- Jeff Cobb vs Boltin

- multi man Junior Title match, Shoma Kato makes his re-debut

- Ranbo

You get a little bit of everything. You get modern, high octane stuff in the Junior match, a hoss fight with Cobb and Oleg, a technical masterpiece with Wolf and ZSJ, an emotional spotfest in the UE match, a clash of styles in MJF and Tsuji, shenanigans in the HOT match, comedy and "get everyone on the card" with Ranbo, a strong style square down with Gabe and Shota, and a classic main event with the Grip and The Sun.

Now I want to start off by saying that most of my exposure to Jake Lee was during his time back in NOAH and last I knew he was a member of War Dogs before that injury that really screwed him up.

But upon coming back to NJPW during the G1 hes been really entertaining from a character work standpoint. Sure he's absolutely cooked in ring wise but all his matches I've seen so far has been really fun watching him be this scumbag jester who would sell out his mother if he knew it would benefit him.

What do y'all think?

My line up:

- Shun Zaddywalker: leader

- SHO and DOUKI: Junior tag team, would love to see SHO move up at last but unlikely

- KATO (fka Shoma Kato): Junior singles, top heel

- Great O'Khan and Jake Lee: I think these two will pull a New Day, and swerve us. They're not beefing, they're just scheming - GOK is sick of UE in general, and Jake would turn on his own mother if it benefitted him. Plus, GOK in black and purple would look sick.

The "mischievous codgers as evil cartoon characters" era of HOT was fun, but now it's time for Shun to do a deep clean of The House and bring upon us the era of disturbed goths. Thankfully, the House Dads all have a home, pun intended, to go to once they get their asses stomped out:

- Yujiro: controversial somewhat, but I'd love to see Yuj in Unbound Co. as its dad number 2 behind Gedo. Since that group is a fusion of Bullet Club and LIJ, Yujiro fits great. He was in BC for like 10 years, and was Naito's partner for years before that. Do a fun backstage comments moment where Tsuji reveals he got a letter from Naito, giving his blessing to let Big Yuj join.

- Dick: since Dick was a Junior his entire career, I'd like to see him form a fun comedy team with Taguchi. Dick & Ass Connection if you will.

- Fale: is never around anyway.

- SANADA: also Unbound Company, since it's the only damn group he hasn't been in and unless they reveal SANADA is actually Belgian or something he doesn't fit United Empire. Alas, he has the LIJ AND Bullet Club membership card, so an occasional Yosheh-Hasheh/Okada-esque team of drip gods with Tsuji doesn't sound too bad.

- Chase: do a story where he tries to join every faction by undergoing gimmick changes to fit that specific group. Have Chase be the beggar in a wealthy kingdom (UE), a failing musician (TMDK), a menace to society who tries to be edgy but just can't (UCO), and even a fake goth cowboy for a little while longer to suck up to HOT. Nobody wants him though, and then he gets fired. Bye Chase!

Upon inspecting Dylan Fuentes de Japon's arrival, his debut match, and the two subsequent Backstage Comments, a few things stood out:

- DOUKI loves Shun already, and is very excited for his inclusion in The House

- SHO loves Shun too, he was quick to raise his hand and do the wrestler point (brother) after Skywalker's first win

- Dick Togo's reaction to Shun's "smart and charismatic but evil and psycho dude who took Ayahuasca once and only became more evil and psycho" ramblings was confused at best, terrified at worst

- SANADA is not feeling the new guy at all, he made sure to stay out of all the shenanigans. Perhaps Shun's speeches remind him of his time in the Redneck Bloodline..

- the rest of the House so far is indifferent, we'll see how that develops

- Narita is not a happy camper. He was very much aware that Shun was overshadowing him already, as Shun displayed his BDE by immediately speaking first both times ahead of his leader. Ren tried to shut it down the second time by interrupting Shun and announcing him as the new member.

It's interesting how the actual gothic members of the group vibe with Shun, while the dress up-playing old men are shook and/or intimidated. If the new House ends up being Shun, SHO, DOUKI, Shoma Kato, and maybe 2 other Heavyweights, sign me up for a permanent residence. Shun will not destroy The House, he'll just rebuild it to what it was always meant to be.