G1 CLIMAX 25: DAY 1

G1 CLIMAX 25: DAY ONE
Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Centre, Sapporo
20th July 2015

Press conferences watched, alarm clock beeps at 7.30am, coffee is made, where is the bread, where IS my sodding bread? I'll do this on an empty stomach then. Assholes. ANYWAY. 364 days after the commencement of last year's tournament, in the same venue, the enlarged charabanc containing the New Japan roster rolls back into Sapporo to commence another edition of the greatest wrestling tournament shut UP PWG fans. 

This review should be a rather short entry in the canon. The new format of the G1 has taken the sting out of the chances of any one night being completely blow-away awesome. At first I received the idea well, because I do believe it is important to spread these guys' workload out and let everyone recover, talk about what they're going to do out there and generally give everyone a great time. But they're all working every night, half of the time in tag matches, so it feels almost like a cruel joke.

DDT Saitama Super DDT 2015

Dramatic Dream Team
Saitama Super DDT 2015
15th February 2015
Super Arena Community Hub, Saitama

Dramatic Dream Team, to many the fools-at-errand of contemporary professional wrestling, are daring to dream big once again. Their successful show in August 2014 drew a sold-out house to Tokyo's Sumo Hall for what many take to be their annual excursion beyond the confines of the Korakuen and several countryside campsites. It's tempting to be patronising toward the largely independent company trying to present in-jokes and dick jokes and sex jokes on a grander scale but here they are with another show of allegedly 6500 butts on 6500 seats (caveat: the venue is scalable). Can many companies say that over the last 5 years?

NJPW New Beginning in Osaka

New Japan Pro-Wrestling
New Beginning in Osaka
11th February 2015
BODYMAKER Colosseum, Osaka

As Dinah Washington did not sing, and as Maria Grever did not actually write, what a diff'rence a month or so makes (just 912 little hours). In the early joustings of 2015, New Japan Pro-Wrestling could not have been arrested anywhere from Sendai to Saratoga. Look:

http://t.co/VSu3CxRNR4 - 2 NJPW novices gush about the awesomeness that was #njwk9 on this week's episode of @GNetworked
— Dustin (@DSpenceCantLose) January 7, 2015

Professional wrestling at its finest #WrestleKingdom9 #WK9 #njwk9 @njpwworld pic.twitter.com/JLvjJn5HX3
— Arthur Shimko (@artshimko) January 7, 2015

#njwk9 pic.twitter.com/0pVEKLOiTt
— DP1? (@WV_CAWS) January 7, 2015

DDT God Bless DDT

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)
God Bless DDT
30th November 2014
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

As we slope toward the end of 2014 we can begin to reflect on the kind of year that individual promotions have had in terms of business, art, the flow of talent, the health of talent and prospect for the future (amongst other criteria, I suppose). DDT, who often resist comparison to traditional promotions in a lot of respects, can't escape this particular microscope.

Business seems pretty healthy in DDT. Their Sumo Hall show did well and they're having a gallant crack at selling the Saitama Super Arena out in February when New Japan are out of town with a headline match of Kota Ibushi vs. whoever the KO-D Champion is, presumably HARASHIMA. They're not catching NJPW any time soon and their junior guys are still working in restaurants to pay the bills, but morale appears to be pretty much up.

NJPW Road to Power Struggle: Day One

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Road to Power Struggle: Day One

25th October 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Once again featuring translations by Yottsume! Be sure to check out his website as it's pretty much the only way you can get the proper New Japan merch with the Lion Mark.  

Don't worry, it's the 2010 design. No one needs to be fired.

It didn't take much or many changes for the complexion of NJPW to alter as we hurtle toward 2015. Kenny Omega signs. Katsuyori Shibata signs full-time. Kota Ibushi extends his deal and goes heavyweight. Jushin Liger indicates the winding down phase of his career. And new alliances are formalised to help Seikigun (New Japan Army) fight back against the menace of the three major factions: CHAOS, Suzuki-gun and Bullet Club.

NJPW Kizuna Road (Day 3)

NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING 
KIZUNA ROAD: DAY 3
4th July 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

Six days ago we as one united earth family witnessed the passing of the torch in the NEVER division from the greatest wrestler of the last 12 months to one of the most annoying and ultimately insignificant. Many of us put dropping the tertiary title as a sign of a likely push for Tomohiro Ishii (which as time goes on I doubt and expect that the Stone Pitbull has risen as far up the card as can be allowed) but the pain still lingers inside.