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Post by tyguy on Jan 5, 2011 18:55:28 GMT -4
pwinsider.com
New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the following dates for their American tour this May:
Friday May 13th in Rahway, New Jersey at the Rahway Rec Center.
Saturday May 14th in Brooklyn, New York - venue to be announced.
Sunday May 15th in Philadelphia, PA at the ECW Arena.
The tour is being coordinated with Jersey All Pro Wrestling, who announced their partnership with NJPW last year. Jushin "Thunder" Liger has appeared on a number of JAPW events in the last several months, including winning the promotion's Light Heavyweight championship at their anniversary show on 12/12.
New IWGP champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Prince Devitt, Gedo, Jado, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, and Tiger Mask IV have all been announced thus far for the tour.
pwinsider.com
New Japan Pro Wrestling will crown the first ever IWGP Intercontinental champion during their May tour of the United States, which is being promoted in conjunction with Jersey All Pro Wrestling.
The New York City location, originally planned for a venue in Brooklyn, has been moved to a former ROH venue, Basketball City (Pier 36 @ South Street) in New York City. If they are using the same room ROH used, it's a flat venue with no raised seating I can recall.
There will also be a fan gathering of some sort on Monday 5/16 in New York City. There will also be some sort of "press event" in NYC as well to officially kick off the tour. Details are still being worked out.
Based on how the initial tour goes, there are plans to do additional tours down the line.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2011 19:35:57 GMT -4
They can't possibly do any worse touring the US than AAA/Perros del Mal/CMLL have.
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Post by maddog1981 on Jan 15, 2011 19:52:57 GMT -4
You'd be surprised. New Japan isn't what it used to be honestly. Really, none of the Japanese promotions outside of Dragon Gate are anything to write home about anymore.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2011 21:03:12 GMT -4
You'd be surprised. New Japan isn't what it used to be honestly. Really, none of the Japanese promotions outside of Dragon Gate are anything to write home about anymore. Are you serious? NJPW is an amazing promotion, and is probably better now than it was in the 90s from an all around perspective. The Juniors Division I submit isn't what it was, but the Heavyweight Division is far better now than when it was just the Hashimoto/Muto show featuring Chono. More to the point, Wrestle Kingdom V (1/4/11) was easily one of the best shows of the past five years, maybe even further back, and DESTRUCTION (10/11/10) was better than any American PPV from last year. There's a ton of other NJPW shows from the past four years alone I could mention, saying they're nothing to write home about but Dragon Gate of all places is would be something I consider a massive slap in the face to guys who are awesome at what they do and can do it consistently like Tanahashi, Kojima, Makabe, Nakamura, Goto, Devitt, Omega, Ibushi, Kanemoto, pretty much the entire NJPW roster. All DG has IMO as far as someone who's a consistently great worker is Shingo. The above is strictly my opinion but ask most and they'll tell you NJPW is one of the best promotions in the world. I'd agree that AJPW and NOAH aren't what they once were, but NOAH's still better than DG at this point IMO.
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Post by maddog1981 on Jan 15, 2011 21:47:42 GMT -4
DG is awesome. It's the freshest of the Japan promotions and it's growing at a rate that shows this. NJPW is better than AJPW and NOAH but that's really not saying a lot. NOAH never had plans beyond Misawa and Kobashi. AJPW, well they're essentially a supersized indy at this point.
Now, I will give NJPW some credit. They're lightyears ahead of where they were in that 2001-2005 range where the promotion was just in the shitter. But they're having a lot of the problems that they've been having. Wrestle Kingdom V is the perfect example of the state of the Japanese scene today. A show just littered with outsiders.
But I disagree that it's better than the 90s. It has a lot of issues with the roster and how they approach things. It is the best Japanese promotion but that's really not saying much. I still enjoy the shows when I get them but not like I used to. I think 2007 was probably their best year most recently. I loved the Yuji Nagata comeback tour.
Dragon Gate is my favorite. The shows are just fun and they've really developed a good roster of guys from the ground up. I also enjoy DDT but more for how goofy it is.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2011 0:54:56 GMT -4
Now, I will give NJPW some credit. They're lightyears ahead of where they were in that 2001-2005 range where the promotion was just in the shitter. But they're having a lot of the problems that they've been having. Wrestle Kingdom V is the perfect example of the state of the Japanese scene today. A show just littered with outsiders. They've ALWAYS had outsiders for the 1/4 Dome shows, whether it be freelancers, AJPW, UWFi, NOAH, WCW, or TNA, they have always, or if not, almost always had them for 1/4.
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Post by maddog1981 on Jan 16, 2011 9:31:09 GMT -4
They always have but the volume has gone up huge in the last 5-6 years. They used to bring in a couple of WCW guys and a couple of freelancers. Now they bring in freelancers, TNA guys, NOAH guys and AJPW guys. And it used to be a couple of matches where the last few years seem like most of the matches involve outsiders.
It also annoys me to no end that Prince Devitt is the Jr. Champ. I've never liked Devitt in the ring.
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Post by Dustin on Jan 16, 2011 13:10:34 GMT -4
Devitt is freakin' awesome!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2011 14:51:52 GMT -4
They always have but the volume has gone up huge in the last 5-6 years. They used to bring in a couple of WCW guys and a couple of freelancers. Now they bring in freelancers, TNA guys, NOAH guys and AJPW guys. And it used to be a couple of matches where the last few years seem like most of the matches involve outsiders. You've also gotta factor in there weren't near as many freelancers back in the 90s as there are now. More guys had work because there were more promotions. Now, a lot of big stars (Takayama, Suzuki, Chono, Kojima, Kensuke) are freelancers. Devitt is best Junior they have, possibly the best in Japan with the exception of Ibushi.
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Post by maddog1981 on Jan 16, 2011 15:00:32 GMT -4
I've just never liked him. Just indifferent towards him. I guess it could be worse, Tiger Mask could still have the belt.
I don't mind freelancers as much. It's when they bring in AJPW and NOAH guys and job their native workers to them that I get really annoyed. They were horrible with that and could still improve that s bit.
I'll admit to largely checking out when Mutoh won the IWGP belt a few years ago. My Japan viewing as I said is largely DDT and DG mixed with some New Japan.
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