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Must provide most recent bill showing payoff amount of eligible phone. Additional terms apply. [MUSIC PLAYING] What is going on, everyone? Or good morning, actually. I don't get to say that much, but welcome to the Fightful review post show for Wrestle Kingdom 19, New Japan, Pro Wrestling. Big event that kind of ended with a-- Like just-- [MUSIC PLAYING] Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] But it was overall it was a good show, but want to say thank you for everyone that's joining me. My name is Rob Wilkins. We are joined by SP3 Scott E. Wrestling and Lyric. So I want to say thank you guys for joining me, because you could have just gone right to bed. I'm actually surprised you guys are still here after that main event, so it put a lot of people to sleep, I think, in the timeline. But we'll get started. Ah, New Japan put on their biggest show of the year. Always. It's the first big show. And I thought it started off with a bang when you have Great Ocon and Josh Barnett go out there. So that's what I tweeted out earlier. I was like, this is already the best event of the year, so-- because I'm a Josh Barnett guy, but-- and you just add Great Ocon to it, and here we are. But before we get started, SP3, what overall? What was your favorite match? My favorite match is I was David Finley versus Yoda Sugi. I thought those guys were the peak of the show, and then the show fell off a cliff. It was kind of weird to watch unfold. I felt like I was still on the high from the Sugi and Finley match-up during Haromu and Naito. So only any good moments made me believe that that was a good match-up. And then after I watched the main event, I was like, you know what? In retrospect, that actually was good compared to this. Yeah. Scott, how about yourself? Show to Umanova versus Zack Statewood Jr. Without a doubt. That was classic. Classic that I'll never get my time back from. No, I'm with SP3. I thought that's Finley and Sugi was fantastic. It was an incredible performance, specifically from Finley, who, man, oh man, I remember a year ago when he won that global title. I was like, okay, we'll see. And he spent an entire year proving me wrong. And then, you know, he had his moment, I think, in losing to Sugi. And you know, I walked away from the show. I was like, well, he's gonna be the IWGP role champion if he continues doing what he's doing. As long as he doesn't leave. I don't want him to leave. AEW, AEWE, stay away. Stay away. I don't know. I don't know. I said it on Twitter after the match up. You know, they talk about in sports, people have contract years and stuff like that. That was a contract match up. Like, he's got to get the bag after that match. Yeah. Yeah. Licker, cover yourself. I have to agree. I think that Finley versus Njub Suji was the match of the night. But I do think that Shingo and Takeshja was immediately afterwards. I've, yeah, David Finley tonight, I think he just went absolutely crazy. And it's really weird because I think he was thrust into that position at Battle in the Valley in 2023. You know, when he attacked JY and everybody was like, "Huh?" But I think he's really evolved, had a really strong G1 this year. The second run with the IWGP Global Belt, has that really been really good. He's been one of the highlights in New Japan this year. So I too hope he stays, but we all see. Yeah, it was, that was my favorite match too. And it was just very solid, which is, I, as far as like the main event goes, it was 20 minutes too long. And we said that before the show. So it was, it got good. It's just the last 20 minutes was the best part. So, but overall, I would give this a, it was a good show and I'm glad I stayed up for it. So we will, we will get started here. Yeah, the Rambo match that always starts off. And we saw Heroki go to get this win. This was a very entertaining match. Usually kickoff shows don't do it for me, but this one did. Yeah, Great O'Con, Josh Barnett, Eugene Nagata, Yoshi, Hashi, Torio Yono. Just so many different people in there. Alex Zane, ECE, SB3, I'll start with you. This match number one contender go to, is now the number one contender. What do you think of the, what do you think of him winning? Well, Rambo is always fun to see who's going to be like the guest stars, who gets a big reaction from the crowd. I like Josh Barnett going out there, being a part of this matchup. I thought they kind of highlighted a great O'Con who otherwise would have been defending his KOPW provisional championship in this matchup. So it made, it made the Rambo more interesting because it was interesting to see who they were going to make the number one contender. And I like them going with Heroki Godo here. When it was down to like the final six, I was like, they should probably go with Godo 'cause Godo will get a good match, it will get a good, good to great matchup out of Zack if they do the style that they're used to. I think that he's the right choice and it capitalizes on all the momentum that he got in the G1. I felt like the matchup wit to catch the really turned around Godo's whole year and really made everybody kind of see him as kind of a semi main eventer. He can be in the main event spot in certain places. And I think this was the right spot to make him number one because then. - Scott? - Yeah, I love Heroki Godo. So I had no problem with him winning once the Tai Chi possibility was gone. I would have loved to see Zack and Tai Chi go one-on-one because of their history, but I knew Sonata would ruin that for me. So it's fine. But Heroki Godo, Heroki Godo is the man and I'm looking forward to that title match, especially after what I had to watch in the main event. I'm going to say it after every match in this review, but yeah, no Godo's the man. So I'll go with it. - Lyric, how about yourself? - Yeah, I'm a big Heroki Godo girl, especially after the G1 this year. I think I fell for it, I'm delusional. I was like, maybe he's going to do it. Maybe he's going to do it. And I don't think I'll never ever stop falling for it. So I'm excited for the match. I think him and Zack are going to have a great one. He's just phenomenal. I think like he's one of the last people left in New Japan who can really like teach that style, like the, you know, the New Japan big match style who's still in like working condition, you know, who still has their knees. So yeah, Godo's my God, I'm really happy for him. - So if that brings us to the main card now, you get Walker Stewart and Chris Droughton on commentary. And welcoming us to the show. They start off with a bang with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. You had the Tokyo Ter ladder match. Now I did some research. It was this indeed the first ladder match that New Japan's had? - At the Tokyo Dome, yeah. - Okay, that's okay. Because I looked and I was like, well, I'm showing different things, but then that's where it makes sense. Okay, at the Tokyo Dome, that's where, okay. So you had TMDK taking on intergalactic jet setters, Kevin Knight and Tashita, catch 2-2, or catch 22, and Bullet Club Wardogs, Clark Connors is my guy. I'm a, I mean, Clark Connors guy. So I was actually rooting for them to get the titles, you know, but it didn't happen. But TMDK, Robbie Eagles, Vegeta, they win. Lyric, what do you think of this match going into it? - So I was a little nervous about that. 'Cause I think sometimes when the Dojo grads, they do these plunder matches, they genuinely don't know when to stop. Like I think we saw it with like the steel cage match. We saw it with the kid Kingston match. So like I was very scared for a lot of parts of this, but I think that the two stars of this match ended up being, I'd say, Jose Fujita and, you know, Kevin Knight, who made their dome debuts tonight. And so it was cool seeing the jet setters come in as champions and watching like, you know, each about Sweet Boys leave as champions. I'm excited. I was really happy with the result. And I was also really happy with like the pad entry of it all. Like everybody really stepped it up. Entrances were big. Like Connors and Maloney had a fantastic, you know, the entrance that really was like, okay, welcome to Wrestle Kingdom. And so I think it really set the tone like, you know, for the night. So I was really, you know, it was fun. Really fun plunder ladder match. - Scott, there's a good change up on the usual opener for Wrestle Kingdom. You know, they love to put the juniors in that opener and do something different every time. So I was fine with them going with the ladder match. You know, I feel like we've seen so many ladder matches in the past couple of years especially. So I was like, all right, we'll see. But it was different for New Japan. So I had no problem with it. Kofi Fujit, I think is the future of the junior division. I hope he's in the big junior title match next year at this show because I just think he's ready for that spot. And I'll just say one last thing. New Japan needs to do more with Kevin Knight. This guy is unfreeking believable because if they don't, someone's going to. - Absolutely. - And I'm gonna love every bit of it. 'Cause when I watch this guy, I'm always blown away. He's always the star of the match. He shouldn't just be here for the junior tag league and the best of super juniors. He needs to be there more. Also, this guy could just go up the heavyweight soon, like this guy is, he's just getting bigger and bigger and better and better. So that's kind of my takeaway. Those two, I agree, stood out. And I'm hoping the world's for both of them because I think they're clearly two very bright stars from New Japan moving forward. SP three. - We have to first talk about how good that entrance was for the Bullet Club War dogs. It felt like if Tony Khan was flipping the bill, he would have got Jay-Z Big Pimpin or 50 cent PIMP for them coming out with this. Oh my God, it was so clean. The new gear, the jackets, the ladies. I was like, oh, they look like superstars right off the back. I agree with Lyric, like the pageantry of the entrances, got you into the vibe of Russell Kingdom. And then this was your big stadium, like a kind of multi-man ladder matches. This kind of, if you're used to WWE, this is kind of what they used to do in like the mid 2000s into the 2010s with Money in the Bank on Russell Media shows. There's a bunch of guys on the card. They get fly in, it's a lot of dangerous stuff, a lot of moments where I was worried about people's health, especially Kevin Knight with that perfect timing off the ladder, all you have to do, 'cause she is just step of inch forward. You need to stop believing this guy can jump. He has hops, not length, he can't go up length. If he has hops, he can get high, but he can't go far. Like that whole spot, I was just like, that was a good idea if you step a foot forward. I thought this was a super fun ladder match. I felt like they highlighted the right people in Kevin Knight and Kosei Fujita. 100% agree with Scott. Fujita needs to be IWGP, Junior Heavyweight Champion, bye next year. - Yeah, that, this match, the way they came out, a bull club war dogs man, they just, that was just killer. I liked it, it was good stuff. So we move on to the new Japan Women's Championship match. May, Iwatani versus AZM, Scott, what do you think of this? - Yeah, I think this is the match, the only reason I'm here is for this match is it's fine. I mean, obviously, I really are. That's why I watched this show live this year, 'cause you know, a little shaky going into it. I gave them eight minutes and 46 seconds, and they delivered in those eight minutes and 46 seconds. They maximized every single second they got. I knew they wouldn't get 10 to 15 minutes. That was a pipe dream that I just knew was not possible with the placement on the card and just, you know, the past, all I asked for more, was for more than what Kyrie and Tam got two years ago. They didn't even get on the card last year. Those are the big things for Mayu especially after, you know, delivering last year in the pre-Stardom Show match against Shuri, where they got, you know, the 20 minutes. So I'm just grateful that it happened. I'm grateful that Mayutani gets her Tokyo Dome main event. There is a reality that this may have never happened. I accepted that, well, not main event, but title match. It felt like a main event for me. And Azumi, I think is someone who stardom should have seriously considered putting the belt on on this show. I think that's my like one critique of this match because obviously I loved it. If anyone follows me, they know my thoughts on Mayu. They don't, my thoughts on Azumi. I think Mayu is the greatest of all time. But I would have put the belt on Azumi. Whether Mayutani is leaving stardom or not does not matter. I think you had an opportunity to crown a young bright star who had an incredible 20, 24, right? Those for any of our care and Tony Storm matches in America, put her on the map. Everyone's watching Wrestle Kingdom, right? This is the one New Japan show everyone's watching. I would have put the belt on her, but I understand not. There's other stardom stories to tell, so I get it. But that was my one critique. And that's coming from someone who always wants Mayu to win. But this was awesome for the eight minutes and 46 seconds they got. Way better than that main event. See, I didn't forget it. Don't you worry, way better than that main event. Yeah, I'm grateful for it. So yeah, loved, loved every bit of it. That's B3. Yeah, I definitely enjoyed this one. I thought these ladies went out there and had a banger because they knew how much time they had. And they started out in like second gear. And but they started out in second gear and they built to third gear by the time by the time we got to like the three minute, four minute mark, they do like a double down and then they just go into like the epic style final five minutes of what would have been like a 20 minute matchup in stardom. But they only had about nine minutes here. And they made the most of it. The crowd got involved in this. They reacted a lot more than I thought they would to this matchup as well. And I felt like these two ladies just worked really well with one another. Mayu Iwatani was one of the best women's wrestlers in the world last year. And I don't think a lot of people have mentioned that enough with the matches that she had with Momo Watanabe and Sarai and Shuri, those are three of the best women's matches anybody had in the world last year. And I felt like if you got five more minutes in this one, this would have been kind of talked about in the same kind of vein for this year. But it was definitely one of the better matches on the show. Yeah, so I feel like, obviously, this match was short. But it gives me hope, I think, for coming years that that match will be longer, that IWGP match. Because I think when they first like created this belt, when they first put that women's match on the Wrestle Kingdom card like two years ago, I think the argument was, well, this crowd isn't here for women's wrestling. But clearly this crowd was. And I think like as long as Wrestle Dynasty is going to be part of this package, going forward, you're going to see more of these crowds that are more geared towards women's wrestling. So I think that this was hope. I think these were the perfect people to do it. Obviously Azumi is the queen of high speed. She was perfect in this spot. And I think Maya Watani is just, she's just like the gold, man of like, I think behind like, sorry, she was clearly like women's wrestler of the year coming in second there. But I mean, I think it was a knockout dragout race until probably like that very, very end of the year. But this was great, it was short. It was really nice to see Maya get her moment in the dome. And I think like, I thought the title change was coming here, but I mean, I have no doubt that Azumi's going to hold that belt or the new Japan Strong belt or something like that. She has just a tremendous upside. So I think obviously, like everybody said, if this got five more minutes, probably would have been, you know, one of the higher matches on the card. But they still had like an incredible performance for the time that they did have. And I need to first off say that that that was an inside joke. But I realized not many people that are here watch my show. So Azumi, that's her name, AZM is because I once wrote ATM on the card, so I just called her ATM. And I'm like, that's not right. So I, that was an inside joke. So for people that don't know, and I just realized that when somebody sent me a message. So there you go. We will move on to our next one. The new Japan World Television Championship four-way match. El Fantasma, who is great to see him in the ring. vs. Dorita, Jeff Cobb, and Oyoha. SB3, let's start with you on this one. What do you think? This was a lot better than that that I thought it would be. And I will say that again with the next match that we're going to talk about. But I felt like this one, they kept it at the right pace. They played to each other's strengths as well. They put, you know, Cobb in there with Oyoha. So we can have like a heavyweight battle between them. And they can clover each other. You had EOP come into the ring and just get battered by a couple of people come back and have his hope spots to get the crowd engaged. And then you had Renorita to get all the heat and come in with the push-up bar and stuff like that. And I like the payoffs that we got. Like Cobb breaking the push-up bar. I like EOPs run at the end, taking out everybody before getting the win with Thunderkiss 886. And he was the only choice in this match-up. I was a little bit worried. I majored in entrances. Like I came into the show being like the one result we need is EOP to win the TV time. You can't have this man come back from cancer just a few weeks ago. Come back for the Tokyo dope and have him not win. I was a little worried during the entrances. I was like, they might put it on Oyoha to kind of say, oh, new generation on the rides. And I wouldn't have mine that either. But EOP was the only choice. He was the right choice. Larry? Yeah, so I will say, I think ever since two years ago, when this belt was created, aside from the whole riddled debacle that I like or forget about, I think that this has been one of the most solid titles in New Japan. Very well booked. The champions have been strong. And the matches have been strong. Even like last year, Zach versus Tana was good. The original Zach versus Reinerina Batch was really good. And so this was just, you know, continuing so that I love the four way. I think the entrances were so cool. There was that shot of Oyoha like when he comes in and like from the back, like, you know, and then had like the Tokyo dome behind him. It was very reminiscent of like that old school pyro, especially with the bomber jacket. Very like Jumbo Saruda, like, it was really cool. You could see like they have like high hopes for him. I listened. I wanted him to win it all. But you know, I wasn't mad with EOP winning. He looks great. And I'm really happy that, you know, he's back in the ring. But my biggest takeaway was Jeff Cobb. I think we take him for granted. You know, he's been so solid. He had a really good 2024. And I think like he's really hit his groove. But, you know, I think he's probably the person who's benefited most from Will Osprey leaving and really kind of, you know, being that guy for, you know, United Empire. So he just looked freaking fantastic throughout this entire match. Reinerina is unfortunate. Very unfortunate. To the point where I don't even like, right, really want to talk about him the way that we talk like. The other people have just like, like the other ones have problems sometimes in his generation. But like he's just on a whole different level of bad. He was much better as a Shabbatah cosplayer. I mean, I think like he should get back to that. But everything else, fantastic. Scott. Give Reinerina one one shout out. He didn't make me watch 43 minutes of him. Emotionally getting booed. That is true. Thank God. So I only call Oi with a grip. So just prepare for me for the second. But the grip is the future of this company. He showed him when I could call himself the ace. This man's the ace. So it's fine. It's fine. He didn't win this match. I understand ELP, you know, like SP3 said, kind of, you know, came back from cancer. Kind of a big deal out here. And truthfully, I would have been upset if he didn't get this moment. Like, no matter how you feel about ELP, if you're a fan of his or not, what a story for him, he's always been kind of destined to get that singles title in New Japan. And I just remember seeing that message that day where he's like, yeah, I gotta, I gotta go away for a while. You know, it's really often the fact that he was able to come back, get on Wrestle Kingdom, have the showing he did and have the moment he did. One hell of a story for him. I think Jeff Cobb, like you said, Lyric deserves a ton of credit for what he did. When he did that dive, I was like, all right, I'm not gonna lie. Didn't know you still had that in you. Shouts out to him. I don't remember reading the reader in this match. I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't remember a single thing he did, besides maybe use the bar. Probably. Put it in your spot. Yeah, yeah, what a run he has. Listen, he gets paid to do that on Tough Life, I guess. Hey, he didn't have the biggest decline in the House of Torture, though, to be fair, because cosplay, cosplay, Norita was not that good. So it's not that big of a fall from. That is fair. Norita to House of Torture, Norita. It's not like show, Rapongi 3K show, compared to House of Torture, to be fair to. Yeah, absolutely, but yeah, I'm happy for ELP. And I think it's one of the sweeter moments on this show, obviously. And yeah, I look forward to what he does with the title, because this is one of the better titles in New Japan. Every show that you see this match or this title defended, it made the KOPW irrelevant. No one needed that belt anymore, cos this is so good. So ELP versus Cobb, give it to me, I'm excited for that. ELP versus the Grip, I'm here for that. That's it, I'm not naming the other guy. So yeah, let's move forward with that. But it also completed the ELP story that started in G1, cos I felt like him and the G1 had the best character work of anybody. Just his whole being depressed, because all his friends was gone. And I still remember Gabe Kid all commentary, like, "Oh, my friends with the WWE." And then him in Kurgen Hall made him become ELP again, and he has that five-star match up with Takeshta. And then you have House of Torture trying to capitalize on his old depression, and trying to bring him into the group. And then him denying him, joining Hontai, and then to complete it, and then adding the whole real-life thing of him beating cancer into the whole story. It makes it one of the better arcs that New Japan has done this year. I'd honestly take it a step further. And I think his story goes a full year earlier than that. I think it starts from getting kicked out of Bullet Club. And I think it's constantly him jumping from faction to faction, group to group, and just being a backup guy, and really trying to find himself as that singles performer. His G1 run from, I would say, 2023 was really more so about making amends for things like Bullet Club, really repairing some of these relationships than losing them. And so really seeing him stand on his own was really satisfying, I would say. And now he's a part of Hontai, of course. But it's really cool seeing him evolve and become just the full package on his own. All right. Well, we do have some super chats. I believe it's tin Rosa or Rosa. So if I get that wrong, you let me know. Sorry. This show was fun. Robbie with the Australian Rep. Aussie Rep rather loved it. They did this show well. So well pumped and pumped for tomorrow. Weird no-o-cotta, but Zack Saber Jr., Takashita, etc. We're just fired. I will just say thank you for the Super Chat donation. But I don't think it's weird that it's no-o-cotta. If we had o-cotta this year, guys, you wouldn't appreciate it. You need to be without o-cotta for at least a couple of years for really appreciating. Oh, I appreciate it after that main event. Oh, I know you do. I know that part. I know that part. But I'm saying as far as like everybody's saying and the impact that o-cotta could have had, it's not going to be an effect. No, I'm with you. I just had to get the bid in about that. I know. Got another Super Chat from Vala B says, "I like the main event match as a match. It's just like the urgency of a Wrestle Kingdom match. The live crowd enjoyed the match more too, at least from the impression that I got from the friends who were there." I can definitely see that. Yeah, I went to Wrestle Kingdom last year and like, I was there for like the Naito Sonata main event. And like in the room, it was great. And then I watched it back at home. I was like, this is terrible. But it's one of those things to where like, it's just the vibes, man. Like it's really all aura involved vibes in there, just like too. It's kind of like, especially I think since the night started off so well, they really almost come like WrestleMania in the sense of like, you know, the pageantry is off the charts to where it's just like, people are kind of happy with guard lists as long as you don't like do like anything like super like terrible and for the most part. Yeah, you know, I mean, even the main event, like don't get me wrong. It was rough, it was long, but unfortunately we've seen worse. Like like we've, we've definitely seen worse. And so it's kind of like, I don't think anybody really walked away from it. Like this is terrible. I'm never going to watch New Japan again. Like, you know, like there was so many nights, you know, at WrestleMania. I'm like, I'm unsubscribed. I'm never doing this again. Like, you know, growing up. So like, I think it's one of those things people are just happy to be there too. And so I think like that's a cool thing for New Japan. Like half fans just genuinely happy, you know, like to be a part of the experience again. Yeah, 100% like being, being there is different from actually kind of watching it, watching it back. Because I remember I did a review for All In after being in Wembley Stadium. And I was like, man, Mercedes versus Brit wasn't that bad. It just was in a bad spot. It came after MJF and Will Osprey. And then I'll watch the match back and I was like, it was pretty bad. Y'all got it. Y'all got it. WWE also extended his membership. So want to say thank you. He goes, I knew LPN was going to win. Easiest bet. He beat cancer. Well, period. I mean, he deserved the win. He's awesome. We move on to another great, great match here. Pekeshta taking on. Whoops, lost my, sorry, lost my screen here. You guys, I can't see anything. Yeah, I think next was Hiroshi Ta-Nehisi versus. Tommy, yeah, it's on a verse evil. Yeah. I'm going to exit out real quick. I'll be right back. No worries. Can you take over? I got you. So, yeah, it was Ta-Nehisi versus evil. Lumberjack, Def match. They did, yo, they gave evil Aura enhancement. Oh my God. That entrance? He's always been cool, man. Okay. Like, like, no, I literally sent this on Twitter. I would say it here. No one in the wrestling business has done more with less than evil. Like, it's just Aura enhancement. They've played the piano. I was like. It was crazy. Wait. I was like, I was like, wait, am I enjoying it? It was like the opening chords on the piano. I was like, wait, I'm into this. I've always loved this. I know this is evil. I know this is evil too. It's one of those things to wear. Like, Tommy's entrance at Russell Kingdom is a spiritual experience. And so, like, very few people can, like, I can honestly say, okay, yeah. Like, they went toe to toe with him. Like, no, evil had the better entrance. That's kind of crazy. It was fantastic. I said, oh my God. I hate this Aura. Is this, is this rest? I said, oh my God. But no, it was fire. And like, everything was fire. The gear was fire. It was, it was just great. It was a diva off. Um, I love it. It was a really great diva off. And, you know, I have to stand. Yeah. And they went out there and they had their type of match. It wasn't as great as like, like, 2018. I thought they had, like, a great match in the G1. But this is not 2018. Tarahashi. This is no niece Tarahashi. This is evil in house of torture. But they went out there and they had the best match they could possibly have. Which was Phil of the bells and whistles. Phil of the smoke and mirrors. Phil of interference. They worked well in the ring. They had the interference. Everybody coming in. They had the usual restaurants and the usual house of torture-ness. But they did it in a more compact way that told the right story. They didn't have, oh, let's have one guy run out. They, they get dispatched. Let's have another guy run out. They get dispatched. Let's have another guy run out. They does dispatch. They all come back and then that's how they beat them. No, they just had them all coming at once. Then you have the baby faces coming. They do the little, uh, offs with the baby faces. Made, they made Watte look like a punk. But then he got his come up. It's in the end doing the tope con hilo onto the rest of the gang. And then they left it into Tarahashi and evil in Tarahashi. Got the win, which was the right choice here. And then they did the post match, which was even better. Because the post match you have house of torture. Jump Tarahashi and then some guy in the hoodie. Where I'm thinking, oh, this guy's going to come out here. We think he's going to run off house of torture. And then he's going to attack Tarahashi. Then he took off the hoodie. I was like, no, that's Shabbata. I was like, oh, wow. I was like, Shabbata's in the new Japan ring. And then I'm thinking, OK, they're going to do a Shabbata in Tarahashi tag team matchup against house of torture tomorrow. That's nice. That's cute. But then Shabbata challenges Tarahashi to a war on one match up in the Tokyo Dome tomorrow. Yo, Wrestle Dynasty is out drawing Wrestle Kingdom. I'm convinced. I'm convinced you can't have Kenny Omega in Tarahashi versus Shabbata. They're going to get like a thousand more tickets on the walk up. That's going to it's going to outsell Wrestle Kingdom, which I don't think a week ago, any of us would have would have guessed that. Brother, this was crazy. Here's the thing. I would like to give a shout out to Tarahashi as a president because a part of his 10-point plan was he was talking about, like, you know, reducing interference. And I feel like if anybody's been watching New Japan this year, they found a way for like house of torture. They're still annoying, but for them to not envelop the product. And even him taking on the evil match, you know, on the card and just letting, you know, the rest of the time, I really focus on things that are really going to advance the cup in the forward of like him taking that on the house of torture match. I think this was a great placement, like just a really great placement. And, you know, of his time, you know, his current abilities. And like the Shabbata moment, like I literally started screaming. I probably woke up my neighbors, but like I like Shabbatas in like my top five all time. And so like to see him be able to finally return home to New Japan, like, you know, I think that's something that a lot of us have been really scared about, you know, ever since Tana return, you know, announced that he's going to be retiring sooner, like would they ever be able to like cross paths again, due to like, you know, bad blood, you know, and everything. But they, not only did they solve it, we're going to see them in the don't to borrow. Like that is just amazing. Yeah, I that was that was one of my favorite parts for sure. And the crowd loved it when he revealed himself. That was that was good. Scott, or yeah, I mean, the moment itself, you know, in a way made the show. Like I was like, I'm good. I'm good from here. This, you know, getting them in the ring one more time tomorrow is amazing. Getting in the ring one more time just for this little agreement was amazing to me. I was like, I'm good here. I'm good here. I do want to give credit to the match itself. I think, you know, I listen, I know I'm the one person that is often on some of these reviews. And I'm like, you know, he was not that bad. So it's fine. I understand that's my thing. But when evil's in the mid card heel role, which he was on the show, and he gets his comeuppance, it always is a nice payoff. And this was a nice payoff, right? Tom, Tom, how she gets the big win rolling them up on after everything is evil works. Done. Cool. This was a good vibes match. Thought I was looking for. So I have no complaints here. I thought they did everything they could to make this the best match they could, considering the circumstances. And yeah, I mean, you can't beat the Shabbat at Tanohashi thing. That's kind of one of those matches. You know, you should probably announce ahead of time. So a ton more tickets, but you know, it's fine. It's fine. Well, the moment was cool. So it's okay. And we're going to get it anyways. It's a nice surprise for us. But I'm sure they would have sold like thousands of more tickets just for that match alone. So we'll see if SB3's hope comes alive of that outselling today. It's really hard to outsell one four. But I mean, that matches. It's just perfect. That match could be five minutes. Well, at least what I'm telling each other. It's five minutes. Oh, it's an exhibition? Yeah, it's going to be five minutes. Yeah. You know, you know, New Japan ain't going to let you get somebody out of a real batch. I got my hopes up. Maybe I'll see you at AEW. You know, our, you know, Forbidden Door at London. Shabbat is loved in the UK. So maybe we'll see a real one like a strong one. But I just want to see it. I don't, you know? Still five stars, five minutes. Doesn't matter. They can stare at each other for all five minutes. I'll be happy. I'll be happy. I'm here for it. Got another super chat from Vala B. He says, I knew Tana vs. Evil was going to be, he knew what it was going to be. And I, he enjoyed it. Best version of the hot vs. baby face or Hill vs. baby face. And Tana vs. Shabbat is a five minute grapple. So thank you for that. So, oops. We now, I got it. We now go to the Never Open Weight Championship and the AEW International Championship match. Takeshita with SB3's guy Don Callis taking on Shingo Takagi. SB3, what'd you think of this? Well, they missed out on five stars because they didn't have Don on commentary. Even though I love, I love Walker Seward and Chris, Chris shalted. But I need my Don Callis on New Japan commentary. It would have taken me back to the late 2010. But man, this was, this was exactly what I think we all expected. We all expected strong style personified. We all expected high intensity, hard hitting action. And we got that. We got that almost for the minute go. I love the beginning of the match up with Takeshita being like, no, we're not going to start in the middle of the ring. You go in your corner, I'm going to be here. We're going to do, we're going to do what you always do. We're going to do what you do. We ECE, we're going to do what you do with all your never open weight piles. We're going to do, we're going to start the match like this. This is a never open weight match up. I want to work a never open weight style match up. So I love Takeshita just the way he kind of structured those type of match ups and starts off those type of matches because you knew going in that he looked up to Shingle Takagi and that he was going to go out there and have a hard hitting certified banger. And that's exactly what we got here. Takeshita getting the win with the raging fire made a whole lot of sense. I really wish this another match up but on the show where I really wish it got like five more minutes. It kind of just ended like right when it was going to, it was still going up the peak. It was still peeking up and it just ends. I wish that it got the five more minutes because I really felt this would have been our first five star classic of 2025 but still a tremendous match up between two of the best in the world. Yeah, so I won. I love this match but I think that will appreciate it a lot more in hindsight. Like I think something shifted today. I think this is where I tweeted this but I said that Kenosuke Takeshita I think is now the most valuable asset to the Forbidden Door not named Kenny Omega, at least on the inside at this point of we've never really seen anything like him before in the sense of he can actually conquer the world. Like, you know, he's already working this split schedule between Japan and the US and so new Japan clearly will do anything to be in proximity to him as they should. I think every wrestling company should. I think we should just put all the belts on him and I think like we should make new belts just to put on him too. But this was great. It was a never open-weight style match and we knew that it was going to be awesome. We knew that but just because like, you know, who was in it but this was just really strong in like the fact that he's going to do this all over Guinamara versus Ishii is crazy and that he's already wrestled in DDT of just I think this is going to be his year, you know, and hopefully I think the only thing is hopefully his AEW presentation is able to be comparable to the outstanding work that he's done in Japan but specifically since the G1 run. Stop trying to make him have heat segments Tony and AEW producers. Like stop trying to eat. He did well with Hobbs, I won't front. But that's two back-to-back pay reviews where you're not letting Tkestra have a Tkestra style match. I just want to mention it's God. Yeah, to take from what both of you said, Tkestra and New Japan pro wrestling is just a different monster, right? We saw it in the G1. It was just, it was like, oh my god, this guy's the ace of the universe. Sorry, sorry. I know it's a previous nickname for others but he really does feel like the ace of pro wrestling when he's in a New Japan ring. Like he feels like the guy and if New Japan, you know, could have beat AEW once upon a time and signed him to some sort of deal. It'd be a very different world for New Japan pro wrestling right now. But I watched him, I watched Shingo just absolutely slugged it out. This was a pure bombs-type match. You just watch an awe of like, what are they going to do next? And when it was all over, you're just like, I wanted to keep going. Like, I didn't want that to end. I never wanted that to end. Tkestra should be IWGP World Champion sometime in his career. I'm going to be very upset if he's not IWGP World Champion sometime in his career. He should be AEW World Champion as well. But there's just something about him holding an IWGP belt that I need and I hope it happens some day. But what a guy, the fact that he, like you said, is going back at it tomorrow and you know he's going to crush it again. Yeah, if this isn't his year, I will be very upset and I will blame someone in AEW. I will blame Tony Khan. He's the champion. So you think we're on our way, right? Just look at that Osprey match in Revolution last year. I know he could do it in AEW each and every show. So I'm hoping that's what we do. But Tkestra is incredible. Tkestra is incredible. Shingo Tkog is incredible. If he didn't watch it, watch it. If you watch it, watch it again. Yeah, and usually I don't put up the non-super chat, but yeah, this was definitely main event worthy. And the other thing too is you were talking about how he needs, how he's going to be a champion. He needs to be a champion. He also needs to be a Cinnabon franchise owner. I just want that out there. He does need that because it's very important to him and obviously me for some reason, but we will move on to the match that was unfortunate, the way it ended. It had to end because of a referee stoppage. We never liked that, but it was the IWGP junior heavyweight championship match. Eldes Verado defeated Doki because again, referee stoppage. I mean, if you watched it, he definitely injured his elbow arm somewhere in there, but they re-showed it and then they stopped after that, thankfully, because nobody needed to see that again. Before this ended the way it did, what did you guys think of it, what did you think of it, on the lead up to it? Scott, I'll start with you on this one. Yeah, I mean, ultimately turned it out this way, but it felt like a car crash of a match. They were just going for it. When you were in the junior title match, I just feel like on these Wrestle Kingdom cards, they always go for it in terms of we're considered juniors and some people just look at that bad way for some reason. They have a chip on their shoulder and you saw Doki and Eldes Verado go out there with a chip on their shoulder. Doki had such a great championship reign, so it broke me watching him get injured here. Man, this was his moment. He took the ball and ran with it when Des Verado got hurt and they needed to get the belt on to someone new, and he just ran with it. To see it end like this was really heartbreaking because I truly thought they were on to something special. These two were going and going and the things that they were doing were terrifying at times. When I watched the Doki bomb at first, I was like, Des Verado must have smashed his head off of that railing. That looked nasty, and then you watch in the replay and you're like, "Oh, I'm watching the wrong person." It was Doki's arm, unfortunately. It just was a freak accident. The junior division had some bad luck over the past year. Injuries continue to add up, so hopefully we stop here with Doki, really heartbreaking stuff. Des Verado did have a great promo after. I thought it was as good of a promo as you could do in that situation. I'm hoping for the best for Doki. I hope he gets his chance again someday because it was really heartbreaking to see this happen to him. Yeah, I think it was really unfortunate and just because something so similar had happened, what was that? A couple of months ago when Doki was wrestling on what show? The immediate ref stoppage, like you said, the junior division has had a lot of bad luck. I think what's even more unfortunate is that what I did like about this match is that it was a fresh matchup. I think over these last few years, they've gotten particularly lazy. I would say when it comes to the junior title match, and so a lot of revisiting old feuds are doing the trademark hooromoo despy over and over again. You feel worried? Yeah, you should worry. Rotating those three. It was nice to have a fresh match up. I think that's also too why I'm so kind of scared for Doki just because to be quite honest, by the time we get the next year, it needs to be somebody like Jose Fujita in that spot. It needs to be the Kevin Knight and then those type of people in that spot. I think they've kind of like held off or I'm really pushing some of the junior singles guys. I'm not sure where he's going to fit in, but I do hope that he makes a speedy recovery. He was on one hell of a run, so you hate to see. Like you said, they were going for it. They really were. It's just unfortunate. Yeah, this match had two of the scariest dives that you will see probably this year between the bump that Doki took that broke that dislocated his elbow, apparently. And Desperado before that, the Toe Plaikani, the Toe Plaikani Yellow or Toe Plaik Suasita through the ropes and then he just banged both of his shins onto the guardrail. And I just get nervous about that ever since Eddie Kingston at Emergence last year. That just got me scared. I thought when he was walking off, I thought when he came back and he was walking towards him, he was just going to collapse. The adrenaline was going to wear off and he was just going to fall. So I was thankful that that didn't happen and that the match continued. And then we get that bump and I was just like Scott where I was focused on Desperado and seeing if his head hit the guardrail and not realizing that the real person to watch was Doki here with dislocating his elbow. This was such a heartbreaking ending to this match up because it was just getting good. It felt like we were just getting going. They were going out there, crazy dives, going full speed ahead. And it would have been one of the best matches on the show. Unfortunately, it ends with something that was really devastating for the rest of the show and for Doki when you know how much hard work. This was a guy that everybody was calling him Doki when he first got here. And he was like they decided on commentary. There he was a replacement for El Desperado in the Super June and Best of Super Juniors. He was always kind of viewed as the last guy in Suzuki Goon. And over the last year, he's really coming to his own. He's really stepped up as a guy in the junior heavyweight division and Larry's 100% right. Because case in point, if Doki is not here, it would have been Master Watteau here. Because Master Watteau was the guy. He was the guy after after Russell Kingdom in 2023. He went to Best of Super Juniors. He had the match with Heromo. And after that great match with Heromo at Dominion in 2023, everybody was saying Watteau needs to be the next guy you crown junior heavyweight champion. He gets injured and he's got skipped over the line and Doki took his spot. And I think that that's what's going to happen to Doki with Fujita and Kevin Knight and maybe even Master Watteau coming back into play. >> Also too, Doki's 40 if I'm not mistaken. At the end of the day, he's great. It's just really unfortunate though of just like, it's hard when a company is like, they really have to rebuild their core. They really have to rebuild that foundation and you have to invest in a young talent. So not saying that he's never going to hold the belt again, but being in the WK Tokyo Dome spot, I don't see it. But I love to be wrong. >> Doki's 33, my fault. >> Yeah, he's pretty young. But no, it's unfortunate, but Kudos anytime the referee stopped the match. >> Yeah, he was MVP here. >> Yeah. >> Our next match, IDWGP Global Heavyweight Championship match, Suji, taking on David Finley. We have a new champion. Lyric, what did you think of this match? >> You know what, I don't know what happened to David Finley, but from the entrance to like, and the thing is, I was expecting Suji to have the better entrance, especially after the press conference yesterday, when he gave us two outfit changes. I was so just blown away by that. I was like, he's going to give us Paris in springtime. It was great, but you know, David Finley just like knocked everything out of the park and I think like this is his best performance. Like you said, this is a contract performance. But I also think like it's a, I think Zach being pushed the way that he was this year kind of like opened up the door. So I think for other foreigners to be like, okay, this is attainable. Like, you know, maybe there is a chance to be the guy for this company. And so I think even if he stays, I think it was also really crucial for him to have this performance. And I also think too of just Suji's been waiting, I think, on that one match to really take him to the next step and like Naito couldn't do it and even like the Osprey match couldn't do it. And this did it. Like I think like, we didn't know that David Finley was a person who could make stars, but he is. And so that's, it was a really great match. I will say it was easily like, you know, the match of the night. But one of my only big things about Suji is that I worry about him eventually being world champion because his stamina isn't all the way there. Like it's not all he gets winded pretty easily in long matches. And so like trying to do that law, you know, the new Japan epic style, he struggles with that a lot, you know, once you get deeper into matches. And I think like over the past year, I think we've kind of gotten around it because everybody understands that they're in transition. But I think fans are ready to start seeing that style again. And so, but this is a great test run, you know, like this global heavyweight championship, hopefully this is going to help him develop, you know, that skill because I think he he can do it. I think he's just like a few pieces away from being the complete package. But I agree with putting the title on him here. Scott. Yeah, I'm I'm right there with you on Suji. I've had many ups and downs with him since he did that Dominion debut against Sonata. I feel like every big match is like, all right. You know, I kind of like, I don't know what are we going to do here this time? Because he's he's had great showings. He's had not so great showings. You know, I think it's that you you're more match for the hair, the hair versus hair match last year, which was rough that night to match. You know, it's been up and down. It's been up and down. But when you step in there with David Finley, he just things things happen. Never did I think I'd say that. But David Finley, I have a rule of thumb. If you do a dominator, you were one of my favorite wrestlers by default. It's just the rules. It's just the rules. When I was a kid in Bobby Lashley did that, I was like, this is the greatest move of all time. I don't know why it just has always stuck with me. And he did three of them in a row. I was like, this is this is what a monster this guy is. This is incredible. I watched David Finley. And I watch a guy who went from a J the J White's replacement cosplay sort of guy to he's a Finley. And when I when I say by that is he is a brawler. He is a powerhouse. And he just gets his role now. It's why I don't want him to leave New Japan yet because he has completely found it. And he is now at the level that they want him to be when they put him in this role. There is a potential world title down the line for him in this company. I think if he goes anywhere else, that's going to be a lot tougher. But here he can have that. And you know, there's something about a great match can have both people win. This was one of those. I watched out of this. I was like, David Finley, New Japan Cup here, we come if he sticks around obviously. And Suji, this was one of those things you had to happen. I think we all knew Shoto Umana was not getting that win in the main event. Thank God. Because if he did, we would have bigger problems on hand. But Suji had to, right? As the, you know, kind of we have to crown one of the new guys or this is a failed wrestling to me because that was the purpose of this show. Putting the new guys in the big spot, seeing what happens. I don't know if any of these new guys have the capability to wrestle the New Japan style main event. I know Shoto Umana doesn't. I know. Yeah. And you know, to Suji has struggled to do it. So we will see. But you're not going to learn unless you give him the chance to do it. So I'm excited for him. I'm excited for New Japan. And I'm hoping David Finley just keeps sky rocking up because what a performance by him. If you told me he had the best match at a wrestling kingdom, I would have laughed at you. Now look at us. So what was that? I actually have a hot take. I think, you know, there was a time like I think especially once Jay White signed the AWS, like if they ever run like that forbidden door match, like, you know, David Finley versus Jay White, like I said, like, David Finley is going to get out of class. In 2025, I think we've actually reversed roles. And I'm probably terrified. I actually don't want Jay White to ever set himself up like that. Oh, just saying. Like, you know, I used to have people were always talking about like that bullet club leader versus leader match. And then Twitter, I don't think that match is going to go like we originally thought like, yeah. Yeah, it's worth the thought. I mean, you know, I've been thinking about this after the past year, David Finley has, it's like, you know, right now, it's not the best bullet club leader. Just saying, like current day, current day, I'm taking him over everyone besides Kenny. I don't know what Kenny looks like after a year off. But out of the bullet club leaders, just saying, it's just that's just the where Jay White is now. You're not wrong. I think the only person who could potentially have an argument is maybe AJ, but like he only has like two good matches a year and then, you know, he just kind of like coast. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I ain't jumping out the window like these two. And I'm not about the disrespect. Jay, Jay White, the greatest counter wrestler of all time. I'm not going to try to act like Jay White and just have two great matches. We hang man out of eight at the last two people. We got the deaf writers dragging them down right now. I don't forget that. I say jumping out the window here. I say this as a hangman stand, none of those matches were better than this. I mean, that's fair, but it was great matches. It was great matches. I will have a hot take. David Finley. David Finley is a year ahead of schedule on Jay White's schedule. He's a year ahead of schedule because Jay White becomes the leader of the bullet club in 2018. He does not have his legacy game until 2021 when he faces a poogee in the Tokyo dough. You like it for lyrics said Finley became the bullet club leader in January of 2023. He did two years later. He had his legacy game here. Liz, I love Yoda Suji. I've been on the Suji bandwagon since he made his reday view at wrestling Don Taku in 2023. And that was immediately the first person I remember on any of these podcasts that was like strap him up. Who cares about Sonata? I don't care about the Sonata crap. Put it on Suji. Suji shock. And every people like Scott, people like Scott trying to argue with me. I still feel right. We should keep it on Sonata. We should keep it on. I still feel right. Most overrated of 2023. I still feel right, man. No, we should have strapped up Suji then. You wasn't ready. We're still trying to catch up on that. We should have strapped. No, you're not going to be ready. Listen, give him an opportunity to get him in a rocket. They just gave show to Umanoa. Hey, hey, guess what? Guess what? So here we are. He was on the pre-show today. So here we are. Hold on. Shingo made evented with the IWG World title and then was on the pre-show the year after. So no, no, no, no. Do not compare. No, no. I'm just saying. He went from IWGP World title match to Ramba. I also think Sonata has booked so much better now without the belt than he ever was with the belt like he had. His 2024 compared to his 2023 are like night and day and it's crazy because like he was so much better when he was a champion. I just didn't want the Suji shock. Suji. No, no, guess what? Guess what? I come from I come from New York City. I grew up with a whole black family. You know how we teach people how to swim? We push them into the eight foot section of the swimming pool and that's what I wanted with Suji. I wanted him to learn how to swim or drown. He was, I will say he would have bombed the opportunity so quickly though. I don't think so. And the reason it comes back to that stamina piece of just like if you get winded after 15 minutes you think you're going to hold the World Championship and do this on the road? But look at the World title picture. Not until today's show has anybody been asked to have a 40 minute main event. Like the main event, the main event scene was perfect for him at that time because Sonata's having like 20, 25 minute matches. That's usually his range when he starts again tired anyway. So Suji should have been the champion but that's besides the four. We're here to talk about this show and this match up here and these guys just had amazing chemistry and I knew they would because I liked their first match. That was good. Their first match in the G1 last year was good as well. Their match in the semis though was tremendous and this one was even better than that one because they just went out there and they had what the main event lacked completely a sense of urgency. They went out there. They worked their asses off. I love the commentary talking about how Finley is so different from the other bullet club members because you have Jay White who's a counter wrestler. You got Kenny Omega who's a hybrid who could do the high fly and you could do the high impact epic style matches. Same with AJ Styles. Same to a lesser extent to Finn Balor Prince Devitt but Finley is this power guy but he's not. He doesn't have the look of a power guy like the rest of the power guys in New Japan. You got your Jeff Cobb. You got the Bolton Ole. Finley looks nothing like these guys but he might be more powerful because he just works like a brute. He works like a brute. He works like his father mixed with like the power of like a guy that's seven feet tall. It's so weird. It worked in this matchup. All of his power moves look even more impressive on a guy of Suji size. Love the near fall so is the end. The into the the overkill that he did. The first one which was just a different variation of it completely where he didn't even lift him up for the super plays. He just lift him up slightly. Boom. Me right to the face. I just love the near falls here. Love the counterwork. Love the reversals. They wasted no minutes. This was balls to the wall. Just an absolutely fantastic encounter and Finley man. Finley. These people been disrespecting my guy. Let me put some respect on this man's name. This man. Y'all want to put some respect in his name and want to shit on Jay White in the process. I ain't doing that. You know what I will do? David Finley is the best second generation wrestler in the game right now. You heard me. Yes, wrong breaker. You all know this. Look, you need to go to perform it. Give the way up the stop. Domisario and then the bell rings. No one cares when the bell rings. David Finley or return to entrance. Bullstalk. And then and then the bell ring and that man worked like he was an adult made of it. David Finley, the best second generation wrestler in the goddamn game. That wasn't that great of competition, man. Like that wasn't like a scorching hot tag. Like Bob Raker. I like Bob Raker, but Hook Dom. That was great though. I appreciate that. That was awesome. David Finley is a man. I'll also say too of just like, yeah, you mentioned like some of the nevermind. You know, so there's other second generation wrestlers that I think could have come on here. But I will say, as much as I'm all for like glazing, like David Finley right now, I think he deserves it. I don't think that we need to lie and act like the entire run has been good. He's he's had a lot of bad matches to get to this point. We were up until probably the G1, I think and not actually not even the G1. I think when he gets injured like around huge pant cup, I think he was already starting like you were really starting to shift there. But it got really bad before it got really good. There was a woman from Nick Nemeth. I blocked out that whole like Nick Nemeth riddle era in my mind. Like it got Rick Conant ever happened. But I just think that we do need to be honest. There was a people was like, Gabe, can't you be the real Bullet Club leader? Like a North member. That lasted a long time last year, too. And it felt valid at the time, too. I mean, it felt really valid. Like I mean, he was doing like David Finley was doing terrible promos. He was still technically doing J White cosplay. And I mean, it was kind of in my great matches. Just like now I'm thinking about the Patzier for David Finley. The promo he did in the car after the this is very random. But the promo he did after the car after that steel cage match when he talked about Alex Coglin being gone and the injuries. Like he's that was like, I feel like that might have been the turning point, because like in him as a leader. And he it was the type of leader moment that I think he needed. And I'm just very happy for him, ultimately, because I was a Finley fan before the Bullet Club stuff. Finn Juice was a good tag team, folks, back in the day. Speaking of what they should run that, they should run that juice when juice comes back. Let's run that. But yeah, I like David Finley a lot. And then like, you know, the J White replacement did not help him. And it took a long time, but he's here now. And we're gonna celebrate that. Hey, Steph Curry had a lot of bad games before he really started expanding his game. And I feel like he had it. He had his Steph Curry MVP year starting at the G's call. He's definitely Steph Curry. I think that we're being a bit hyperbolic here. But I'm just saying since the G1, man, this man's been this man been on the run. He's been on the run. Yeah, I don't dispute that. I think that David Finley has had. And if you really like break it down, the top 20 matches in New Japan this year, he's in at least five of them. I would say there's been several nights where, especially while Naito still had the belt where the Global Championship match probably outperformed, you know, the World Championship match. And so like, no, I think like the praises totally valley. I just think that we just do need to be honest about how we got here. You know, I'm glad that we're here. It's awesome that we're here. But it was rough. It was rough. He learned. That's it. Yeah. But I think that's also the thing too of being teachable. And I think that's kind of like the difference between right now, I think that with people like showed and stuff of just, at the end of the day, you know, two years, what do you have to show for it? You know, of like, did you take the opportunity? A lot of times, people get pushed into, you know, positions before they're ready. That's just per wrestling. But I think like a lot of these guys who first came off excursion in that generation were looking about, like, you know, a year, two years, you know, some people even three years later. And like, if you don't have anything to show for it, like, we can't justify you continuing to, you know, be pushing these big cart positions. But David Finley, more soon than just about everybody, has really grown into the role, like actually stepped up and became who he was supposed to be, like, you can see it. Yeah, not to rob. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm trying to avoid the last two matches. So I'm just going to continue. I think one thing I was thinking about with Suji and Shoda after the show was the two matches that everyone remembers for them were the ones with Osprey. And I think there was everyone was waiting for the stand out for the next person. And this was the show to do that, right? Shoda gets Zack Saber Jr. in the main event. Yoda Suji gets David Finley, who if you haven't been watching you Japan the past year, you were probably like, I don't know. I don't know about that, folks. And look who walked out the success of this show. So I think that's certainly something to think about moving forward. But I am excited for the global run. And like I said, I'm excited for whatever David Finley does next. Rob, I'll give it back to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I don't want to go to the next matches, but I will give it back to you. Well, my biggest question, we went from Steph Curry when I was thinking more like Seth Curry during all that stuff. So he wasn't that bad now. I know, I was giving you a hard time because of Rudy Gilbert. But you know, that's a whole different story. That's fair. That's fair. We got two more super chats here. Volo B sends us another one. Thank you. He says Carmen's Carmen Sushi Carmen Sushi Carmen Sushi. Carmen Sushi. He did. He did look like Carmen San Diego. Yes. Yes. Changgun Finley and altogether the vibe of the smooth criminal music video. This was awesome. Finley was so vicious. Yeah, he was vicious. He was kind of like relentless in his attack throughout the matchup. Like there was no waste and movement throughout this matchup from Sushi. This was a A plus like heel performance. This was probably the best performance of any single person on the show to me. Yes. Oh, sorry. I have another one from Cog CG. SV SV three standing on business. Let's F and go. Let me let him know. The Switchblade is still the guy booking aside. He's my dark horse for 2025. Yoda and Shoda ain't they need need to choose the new young guy, new young guys for next year. I can't read because I'm so tired. Sorry. Well, it was right there. Don't worry. Oh, it was coming. Yeah, we got your competition on the phone. Don't worry about it. We got your competition on the phone. It's hard. I think that's why I guess I don't take it so seriously. I was just imagining I said this is going to look so nice. Oi was up in here. Like this time it looked great. It's going to be awesome. Think about Oiwa. I've seen him have the big world title match already. Unlike everyone else before today, you know, with Sushi, like he's done it in Noah. So he's he's ahead of everyone. He was just he's just being nice on this show. He was like, yeah, I'll do the TV match. It's fine. Next year, though, that's mine. That's what it's going to be. You know what though? I think that that's also a thing to have just like hate to get in like excursion top. But I do think that that's a very valid conversation to have going forward of just like, stop sending these guys to Repro. For like looking wrong, I love Repro. Like that was the first place I ever saw Yoda Sushi right before he came out of excursion. But I don't think that the UK system currently has the infrastructure to really give these guys what they need to like, you know, really be successful. I don't think anybody has had a successful excursion other than Oiwa. And I think that everybody who's going on on excursion has had to go through massive unlearning of some of the stuff that they picked up between Yoda Sushi, Shoda Umano, Yuiwa Mura, his TNA, Joya. You know, I think so many of these guys, like they didn't get anything out of their excursion to be, you know, man, I've been guys. And like by the time they got back, there's no real big top guys to work. Ocada's on his way out, Naito and Tanahashi have no knees. And so like, I think other than Oiwa, he's the only person who's really complete. I mean, outside of Fujita and who's a junior, and he didn't even go on excursion. So I do think like, this should be a wake-up call, I would say like for these next couple guys, like, you know, in the doja, like they have like, what's the guy? Like, I think like he's awesome. He's with the like the blood, I forgot his name, man, I forgot he was on the entire world tag lead tour, the guy, the guy, one of the young lions. And I think a couple of them, that's something that they really need to start considering heading because like, this isn't working. Yeah. If they're going to go on excursion, it needs to be fruitful. And like, maybe everybody won't be able to go on domestic excursion. But like, Oiwa, it's kind of like the blueprint of how you want somebody to come back right now. And like, I don't think anybody else has even been put in like a position to do that. Totally agree with that. You know, both and all legs luckily didn't go anywhere either, which was nice. I want to like them to go like all Japan or something. I always wanted to go all Japan. But still, yeah, I think you're absolutely right with the excursion thing. It makes you think, it makes you think after this show. But all right, let's get to the last two, I guess, Rob. Yeah. Got one more super chat from Dan B900. Thank you. It was funny how many people thought May was losing the clear setup for months has been Athena facing her, most likely before she jumps in Marigold. That was my dream match. I would say for Russell Dynasty, I wanted Athena versus Mayu, especially like when I thought like Athena was going to drop the title and final battle. Like, for me, I think that's the dream. That is the dream match. Now, I don't think that it's been clear. I don't like, I don't know if they've been teasing that, but personally, I want it. I wish I could say that was definitely happening, but it's definitely going to be Tamnekano. Like that is, if anyone of all started them, like that is the match, if you know, that happens. But I mean, I'd love to do my unit. I would not say no. I watched Athena and started me yesterday. Sorry. Looks like no sidebar. Can we just do that more, please? Listen, her net, ROH is great, but I want her everywhere else now. I've seen a lot of Athena and ROH. She just fits. She just fits and start them. I need more of it. I need more of Athena against the top talent in the world. She wants it clearly. She talks about it all the time. So more of that, please. I'm very excited for Tamara, by the way, which I believe. She took it to like water to a fish, I would say like a, you know, I think a lot of times foreigners go over like, especially the start of now. I feel like that's the new thing. Like, people just say, oh, yeah, just send them to start them. But in my opinion, I think that for the forbidden door to remain strong, when you're having these import promotional issues, yes, of course, people are always going to learn things from like excursions. But you're really supposed to send your best, you know? And I think this is the first time the AEW has sent their best. Just I'm just talking about Athena. Willow once. No one remembers it because it happened. The team match, yeah, but like, but I agree. Like, I think, I think, and I was a great learning opportunity for her, but like, I think like for the five star, especially, like, if you want somebody to just learn you send them on another independent tour or something like that, and they can do like, you know, how she is. But for the five star going for it, it needs to be a star. Like, you know, like, you didn't, we're not sentenced or pentacles to the G one, you know, they get questioned. So, like, it needs to be the same type of standards when we're talking about women's wrestling. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. If you ever listened to Mariah Mae about her time there, she learned most from being there for all that time. It wasn't just go to the do the tournament matches, it was learn and train with these wrestlers and do the house show matches, because that's when you get to learn the little things and try new things. So, yeah, I don't, I won't go on a rant on stardom and stuff, I promise. But, uh, lyrics, absolutely, right, they should kind of, if you're going to do the big matches, the big tournaments send the willows, the Christatlanders of the world, there's a very little chance we get one of them these days, they're very important. But like, Athena, please record the ring of honor tapings and just bring her over for a month, you know, please. And is going to hit like a McDonald's, right? Jesus Christ. It almost happened once. Fun fact, just didn't work out. She was hurt at the time, unfortunately. Got another super chair here from Landon, he says, out of the new, out of the new three Musketeers, who's going to win the big one? There's something. Seugee. Seugee's obviously ahead. Seugee show down. Who's the third one? Rendering. I'm like, we got a railway era, actually. We've done with them. We on to the game. That generation of, uh, they'll be. We'll just take Seugee and then we'll be placing with Oyoa and Ulamora. We got big, old leg. We get what is it? Nakashima and you know, like, yeah, we've done with the railway era, actually. We've done with them. I'm gonna, you know, we forgot who the third one was. So thank you for that. We're gonna get through these last two matches. So we have Naito, who defeated Takahashi. So if you want to get out of it, Scott, I'll let you start. Listen, the spirit was there, okay? The spirit was there. And that was very important to me. Um, I think when Naito took the power bomb on the outside, the match went off the rails. So he takes that power bomb, big thud. And I was like, I feel like he should probably have not taken that one. That's, I've seen him the past year. He probably should not have done that bomb. And it just felt a little bit off from there. Either, you know, the kind of Naito moments we've seen the past year or just match flow was odd. It was just kind of the finishers for the most of the match. And I was like, this is not what I wanted it to be. The crowd was very into it. And I think that helped just push it to be fine. It just, man, we've been waiting so long for these two to face off it. It's hard to not be a little bit heartbroken. But as SP three said before the show, the moment after was worth it. And I also thought there was a great touch of Naito teasing the Stardust press. And in a way, Haromo saying, I'm saving you from doing that. Please finish me off any other way. So I thought that was a nice touch. But yeah, it was a disappointing match because of what these two could have done five years ago. But it wasn't the main event. So it's a victory. And when I say it wasn't a main event, I mean, the actual main event that happened, of course, like, if this was the main event, I would have lived and moved on. But that main event, I have words, if you couldn't tell. There's a part. Larry, let's have you go next. Yeah. So I kind of tempered my expectations for this match. I said, at best, it would be 3.75 to 4.25. I think we ended up, I would say, maybe 3.25, maybe three and a half. Not terrible. But I think the thing is, we always knew the selling point of this match was going to be the emotion. It's like, L.I.J. is the top merch seller for New Japan, like, you know, Naito Haramuz is popular as it gets. And so like, this was always going to be like, you know, a fan service match. And I think like, they achieved that, I think, as far as the emotions. Like, I think I wanted to see more than just finishes. But like you said, like, the end point was like, you know, made it all worth it. And even too, like, like, what I like the win. Naito looking at the turnbuckle for like, you know, the star press and it was reminiscent of the moodo final. When, you know, moodo is about to get back on the turnbuckle. And like, he's about to do, but he's like, no, I can't do it anymore. And it kind of like, it almost makes you sad in a way too, because it's just like, Naito looking at it kind of, you know, what is it, what, two years later? And he's now in that spot of being like, you know, the older veteran, you know, whose body is just not able to, you know, go with it. And once did. And so, I think, at the end of the day, this match was as good as it could possibly be for 2025. I have so much respect for Naito, like, the man just went and got surgery to make one hour to match the other eye just so he could have this match. So clearly, I mean, a lot to him and her own mood. So, I mean, at the end of the day, people say whatever they want about the match. But like, this one of the matches that probably brought, you know, fans put butts and seats, you know, at the end of the day, Naito is still the top draw in Japan. He's like the really the only male mega star that you know, that's really left, you know, I mean, excited for Tanahashi and both of them, their knees are like chopped cheese. So it is what it is. It is what it is. I think I'm just, I'm just grateful, but I'm just interested to see of just like, I don't know if he can hold out until 2027. I know they probably don't want him and Tanah to retire at the same time, but like, one year is already a lot, but two is crazy to ask for. So we shall see. We shall see. Yeah, this was the domestic main event. Like, it was weird because usually New Japan has your domestic main event and your international main event, but usually the international main event is in the semi main event spot. This year, the domestic main event with Naito over Saromo was in that same semi main event spot. And like I said, there were sections on this matchup that I did enjoy. I did enjoy like the little, the little spot with the star dust press. I enjoy him busting out a room, busting out the Destino and then busted out a time bomb too. I really thought that would, that would be the finish. I thought that should have been the finish, honestly. But yeah, that was those parts were good. So I tried to hold on to those and I was like, Oh, this was a good match. And then I was just like, no, it wasn't that good. It was fine. It was solid enough. Like you said, like lyrics said, the most you can go is probably like a three star, three and a quarter, three and a half or something like that. And that's being generous. That's being generous off the vibes off the reaction of the crowd, because everything they did do, did get a reaction from the crowd. The crowd was invested the whole time. But no knees and I tell, I knew was going to be the struggle with these final two matches. And it was exactly what I expect. All right. Got another super chat here from Valaby. Thank you very much. He says, it is totally okay to send someone on a second excursion. Naito went wrestle for the IJWP title and then went to CMLL and became part of IOJ. So, yeah. I think right now the thing about the second excursion of just like, how do I say, I'm just unsure where to show to go, because the answer, he's already been somebody who's been struggling with his identity. The answer is not go to CMLL and become Naito. You know, like a that's one of the things. The answer is not go to ADW and become John Moxley. Like, it's just such a weird thing. And I think also too of think back to when Naito did that excursion, we're in a global wrestling society now. Everything's available on streaming. There's really nowhere that he can go where he's really going to be able to like develop without eyes on him. Unfortunately, they pushed him out to the forefront. He's in the road. He's been a Russell kingdom main event. So it doesn't matter where he's going to go. He's still going to get that scrutiny. And I think like that's one of the things that Naito didn't have to worry about when he went on that second excursion kind of like when he went to CMLL, he could really focus on CMLL. And then he could really become, you know, who he, you know, wanted to be without like so many, I guess, like eyes and opinions, but like in a global internet society, there are everybody's connected. I'm not sure how a second excursion looks like in 2025, especially like with AEW now in the mix and all these other companies and contracts and like, who knows, you know, like, I would love to see it, but I just don't know how it will work. I think the real issue with a show to this entire time is he's trying to be other people, trying to be Hiroshi Takahashi, he's trying to be Tentsuya Naito, he's trying to be John Moxley. A lot of the newer generation, you know who they are now and they have their own characters, like Suji, the Jean Blaster, Carmen San Diego, Big Smile, you got those kind of characteristics about him. Renorita, he was a shabado clone for a while, but now he's house a torture bummer, where's the shirt? He's like, you know that, that's his character. Hey, that's it, that's who he is. At least you know who he is. That's identifiable. Like it is what it is. Oio, the hard hitting the grip. You got that about him. Like all these young guys have their character make them self different from everybody else. All Shoutos trying to do is trying to be a lesser version of somebody else and not to never gonna work. I'm not gonna lie, I had no idea who was trying to be tonight. And so he was, he was a mixture of Tana and Mox with a strawberry shortcake, like that glitter bomb that exploded all over him. Just to, I've been saying this, I hate his pants. I've hated his pants, but he managed to put on a pair of pants that I hate more. I, I, I miss the long pants, like not the pants that he has now. The types of types. I think when he first came back from excursion, when he looked like Tana ashi. Exactly. I think sometimes, I'm gonna be honest, sometimes I think you should cosplay until you figure out what you want to do. I think that he was great at cosplay and then when he was doing those matches, like, you know, like when he was like, you know, in the tights and the longer hair and the white jacket, you know, that was great cosplay, right? Like just keep doing until you figure out. Now he's a goddess hair pink, forgot how to use conditioner. This, this just, the thing about Tana, the thing, and I think people have to understand. He uses a lot of conditioner. Well, yes. But Tana has always been a presentation first kind of guy, like, you know, he understands that it's kind of like, kind of like, like food, right? You eat with your eyes first, you know, and I don't, presentation is everything. If you don't look confident, I think in like whatever you have on what you're doing, I think David Finley's a good example. I think, you know, he was really starting to look like Jay White after a while, like really darken up his beard and everything. And I think what I really liked about him tonight is that he looked like himself. Like, you know, he's really fine. He brought a gun. Absolutely. I was so beast. Um, but he found a lane for himself. And you know, he found a way to look like himself. And so I think that's the, that's the thing right now with like, with Shoda of, he has no idea who he wants to be. And I think also, too, the people he's trying to emulate, they don't even look like that anymore. To be quite honest, like they, everybody's completely different. Like, you know, Moxley is different than he was two years ago. Like, Tana's different than he was two years ago. Naito's different than he was two years ago. Osprey's different than he was two years ago. And so, yeah, it's like, it's continuously that lack of identity. Like, if you don't look, I think that's why people like Suji so much when he debuted, because like, when he walked in, he looked so confident. Like, he immediately looked like he owned the room, like, and he knew himself. And he had a good idea, like, who he was. And I'm not sure if we've ever gotten that from Shoda without like, the help of his mentors. So we're going to move on to the main event, but as we go to each person, I just want you to plug your, plug your shit, as we call it on my show. So tell everybody where they can follow you, find you everything like that. So Sp3, we'll start with you after I introduce this match. It's the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match, Zach Sabre Jr. Defending his title against Shoda Umino, Sp3. We've been taking shots almost all night or all night. Since we started this show, go ahead. Tell us how you feel about this match and then tell us about you. I went 43 minutes. That's all I could think. That's all. It was 43 minutes. Oh, I just think that this was not the right move for them. We've seen them have great matches before, whether it be in the New Japan Cup, whether it be Sakura Genesis last year for the World Television Championship. Those were all great matches. This was not it. This was, they saved their worst match for the biggest stage possible. And I don't think that was the right move. Like, if you give them, if you take that out 20 minutes of this match, it would have been a very good to even great Tokyo domain event. But there was no sense of urgency for the first half of this matchup. You have Zach doing a couple of submissions, then he would stop and try to do some other stuff. He was kind of trying to slow down the pace. And it just looked like a lot of time. Both guys were trying to stretch things out and make this 40 40 minute 45 minute epic that they were trying to get across instead of filling all the spots and trying to make it feel like a coherent story. It felt like they were stretching out certain parts to get to the 40 minute mark. Like they were trying to check that off the list. Like they were like, oh, let's slow this down a little bit. And there's no sense of urgency there. You're not going to get the people at home. I hear that it did do well with the people in attendance there. And that's great. But this this thing did not really get going until like the 30 minute mark. And we still have 13 minutes to go. So yeah, I did not enjoy this too well. This was one where I did not hold on to the good moments like her own move and night out. And I was just I was fully aware of what I was watching and I was just like, what are we doing? What are we doing? I was like, Zach, they were junior has been his great in any type of situation that you put a bit. And then you put them in his first ever Tokyo domain event. And you take them totally out of his of his wheelhouse. That doesn't make any sense for a guy that you just started pushing in the summer in Zach as the top guy. And a guy that you've been pushing, but Jess hasn't connected with the fans and showed a amino. This was not the match to lay out for them. So I think all aboard. This was New Japan, setting these guys up to fail. I'm going to put this more on New Japan than the actual performance because I care about the performance first. But I'm SB three. You're following me on the Twitter machine at True Hill, SB three. If you like hearing me talk about New Japan or Wrestle Kingdom or Wrestle Dynasty, you can see me on the True Hill, he YouTube channel. I'll be there for the flagship podcast tomorrow. And if you if Rob's doing a Wrestle Dynasty review, I'll probably be back for that to rant about something else, including David Finley, the best second generation wrestler in the world today. As of today, as of today in my chase tomorrow, but as of today, David Finley, the best second generation wrestler in the world. Yeah, follow that. So this is how I feel about the beta band. I think that it's not as bad as some people are saying. I don't think it was terrible. I just don't think it was Russell Kingdom Warby. I think that's where it mostly comes down to. I don't think it should have been 40 something minutes. I don't think it should have been 40 something. I don't know. This was him struggling. I still I still can't believe this was his face. I just stared at it. I paused my screen. I was good. Yeah, I think it was just long. Here's the thing. I liked like the first 10 minutes of the match. I think like it, you know, they were Zach was selling his ass off and stuff. I've just it's kind of like you haven't seen that meme and this said like he's trying to do his best to make this this pit this dog of vicious. That's how I felt. I think that's how I felt. I think like and I think I think Zach was overly ambitious in this match of really trying to make it seem like shoulder was just like this legitimate threat. And I think also well showed a woman. I was a terrible striker. Has the worst forums I've ever seen in my life. And I saw that for the first time during the Mox match, which I think was really good. By the way, except for the striking, he tried to go elbow for elbow terrible, terrible. But in a match like this, when they're just filling time and like stretching it out, it's even more evident. And I don't know how you're ever going to be the ace of a strong style promotion. If you can't strike. I just I think like that's kind of like a prerequisite. And he's he's gotten worse. I don't know. And it was just so weird how the match was structured of just he was trying to gain sympathy. And then he's just like, Oh, you know what? Actually, I'm just going to be the heel of this match and everything. It was it was just a lot. And I think like like you said, I think a lot of it falls on New Japan for one, the match is too long. And I think also to the structure of it was not complimentary to either party. However, I do think that people have to realize of just this is a part of a rebuilding phase. These are two first time Tokyo domain of dinners. And for the next foreseeable future, we're probably going to have several first time Tokyo domain of dinners. And it's going you sometimes you got to have a couple duds to get to, you know, like to where you need to be. And so like this is trying things out because like, let's just be honest, there were no real other options for this year. Like it's not, you know, too many, you know, guys who are ready, you know, are even like even a position to even kind of be ready. Things have kind of been kind of crazy. And so yeah, I think Zach is going to be fine. I think the match with ricochet is going to end up being actually pretty great. Ain't no telling what that showed a Claudia a match is going to look like tomorrow. I'm kind of yeah. And I think also too, the thing about Zach is he's been very honest about what he sees himself as a tool to basically kind of stand in the gap while these young guys get ready. Like he knows his role, he understands where he fits in it. So this is honestly more damning for show to umino, more so than I would say anything of more so than any other guy. He got the top matches, you got to work will Osprey a million times, you know, like you've got to work your mentor, you know, John Moxel. Like as a young lion, you were taken under, you know, these guys is weighing even when he went off to excursion, Osprey took him out in his way. It's hard to like, and I think also too, you have to catch up, doesn't even work here, who is like loads ahead of you, you have oil who just came back who looks great. Yulia was looking fantastic before he got injured. Um, you know, Yoda Suji, he's putting the pieces together. I mean, being better than Rin Narita is not an accomplishment. Um, and so it's kind of like one of those things of like, yeah, you got to get off the pot at this point. And yeah, and even two of just honestly in the fans. Oh my gosh, like, you're up against a foreigner and the dome and they booed you. And the foreigner won and they rejoice. They clap, they cheer, they got, they stumble their feet. I said, Oh my God, this is terrible. You got shot on them. They sit in the front row having to watch this of just, this is like generational embarrassment. Honestly, your dad's in the rink. Everybody's looking at you. You're crying again. I'm like, I'd be honest, like, this is a terrible night for you. Um, and you got to fag, you're fighting Claudio again tomorrow, Jesus Christ. Um, but I don't think it's condemning for New Japan as a whole though. I think some people like you deserve it. It's not, um, it's just unfortunate. It's just, it's just, you know, it's unfortunate that it was that long. But like I said, Zach, a bounce back. Shoda might have to relocate. And, uh, for the Rambo. Sorry. You know what? You know what I think though, Shoda could probably benefit from a domestic excursion, but it would require humble and himself tremendously. Like a all Japan, not Noah right now. I was think, um, but I think all Japan could really work with him. But I also too, all Japan's their young stars in my opinion are better. So we'll see. Yeah. You have a lot of nepotism in that company. Absolutely. Humble himself at all. I can just feel it. He won't humble himself. I mean, well, after the night, who knows? I, I ain't gonna lie. This was the ultimate humbling. This is what I'm doing. He's done. And there's ever been a humbling before. This, this is it. But, um, I've never seen like a public flogging, um, the way that this is crazy. Like, this is a public flogging. Um, they, they, they got your competition on the phone. And I think your brother, um, that was awful. Like just the embarrassment, like the crowd cheering is crazy. Like, oh, just like, yes. Yeah. All right. And tell everybody where they can follow you. Oh, yeah. That is important. Um, you can follow me at lyric wrestling, um, on mostly blue sky. I kind of came back to Twitter today, but that's not going to last long. Um, and, and on Instagram as well. Um, I had interviewed that just dropped a day for play rep per wrestling, illustrated with, um, Zach, Sabre, Jr. So, um, check that out. And, you know, heading into wrestling dynasty at 930 PM EST, we doing a pre-show with, um, one of my lovely, my lovely co-host, um, Danny, um, are totally normal wrestling dynasty pre-show hashtag Henny for Kenny. So, please join me. Nice. Well, thank you very much for joining us here. Scott. I legitimately can't believe you left me left, uh, for the match, the way I'm talking about it. I figured you'd want to just say it was a match. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that. I want to start with positivity. Rob, you, you said great earlier. This is still a very good show. Like we, we could talk about these last two matches and it left it, it really dampered the mood, right? The injury kind of hurt that too, but everything else was really good, right? And even the nitro and haramu, like it gave us the moment. So like, everything was pretty positive. It's just this made of it that, you know, it's heavy. Uh, now to the negative side of things, this is the worst Tokyo don't met in event I've seen personally. Personally, since I've started watching Wrestle Kingdom live each and every year, uh, there's nothing even close to this for me. Um, I know some people don't love last year's match. Obviously, I'll take that. I'll take that again. I'll take that again after this one. Uh, it was just really long. Took up all my time. Uh, we've went on an hour and 41 minutes and this feels shorter than my viewing experience with that match. That's, and I'm, I'm exhausted. Uh, but it just, it's just the truth. I didn't enjoy it. I was really sad when it was over because like, you know, I had, I said, I'm going to give a show to him, you know, this chance. If he proves it, you know, we're back because I was a big show to Umino guy when he came back and it just continuously went down, continuously went down to the point where this past year, I was done, but they gave him the main event. He gave him a second chance and when you absolutely fail as miserably as he did in his main event, you're pretty upset. Zach Sabre Jr has a real shot to redeem himself tomorrow with ricochet, obviously, right? Uh, good luck to them following Kenny Omega, but they have a shot. Um, that's not a spot I'd want to be in personally in the year 2020 or any year to be, uh, firmly honest. Um, but ricochet's probably feeling great. I said this before the show, ricochet's feeling good. He was like, man, we're in a tough spot and they saw this main event happen. He's like, Oh, I just got to like wrestle for 10 minutes and I'm going to have a better match. Um, so like that's kind of how I feel. But yeah, I think this match should not, um, affect people's opinions on New Japan going forward as a whole. I think there was a lot of positives from this show just because this wasn't, doesn't mean it was a bad show by any stretch. I'm very excited for New Japan this year, even after this main event, because listen, I, I know Zach could still have great matches. I'm not out on him showed over now. Go to the Rambo. We don't need you anymore, but everyone else, you know, it's fine. It's just, it's just how it is. So, uh, yeah, it was, it was a good time. Over. I have a question. Do you think that Zach or Ricochet are going to be the last match? It is. The last match. It is. It is the last match. Oh, they already announced it. Okay. So then it's for the world title. So yeah, good luck to them. Wouldn't love the spot. I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't sign up for that. Following Kenny Omega. Good luck, Charlie. She's in Shabbat in town. Hashi for five minutes, which listened on surface. Like, but the fact that we're getting that at all, you want to talk about the domestic fans being pumped. Did you hear that roar? Yeah, good luck, Zach. Good luck, Ricochet. I wish you the best. Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward to Wrestle Dynasty. Maybe it's kind of get the bad taste of it as well from the main event. Um, it's, it's good to have a rebuttal, right? The next day for Zach, um, and for showed, I guess, but, uh, I don't know. Yeah, put him in a Rambo spot. I actually, or no, he could be the second match. Get the four, get the, no, if it's a Claudia, but get the four person women's match on the main car, but showed on the pre-show. He can get the same amount of time that my you and the zoomy got. He's not going to maximize those minutes. I can tell you that. He had 43 to maximize, and he couldn't maximize more than five. You know what though? I think that if they really want to salvage that match, though, I think they should just let Claudia absolutely demolish him. And cause I think like after this, I think he needs to go away. I think he needs to go away recently. No, seriously, I think he needs to go away. I know you're right. But yeah, like, you know, restructuring. He needs to get dog walk tomorrow. I'm talking about, I want to see Claudia do the big swing for about two straight minutes in the dome. They're going to go crazy for that. It just run again and again and again and again and again and again. Like, I think like he should just get absolutely like, you know, but I also think too, like that was part of the risk for him in the main event anyway of just kind of knew the fans already were kind of like iffy towards them. So like, they had to know this was a possibility. So I think might as well just commit to it, just just ruin them completely. Cause I think at this point, there's nothing salvageable. You have to tear him all the way down and build a brief back up, break by break. Yeah. Yeah. Well guys, that was our post show for Wrestle Kingdom 19. You can follow me at Rob Wilkins on X. I'm also on Instagram and threads at Fightful Rob and then every Friday on Fightful Overbook at three o'clock Eastern for coexisting with Rob and Maggie. We have a ridiculous show, but we have a lot of fun. So that's what matters the most. But we want to say thank you for tuning in and we hope you enjoyed the Wrestle Kingdom and we hope you enjoy this show. But want to say thank you again for everyone who joined me, Scott, SP3, and Lyric. Thank you very much for joining us. And we will see you guys very soon. Peace out. At King Super's Pharmacy, care is what's most convenient for you. Care is being here when you need us. We're open evenings and weekends. 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Join Fightful's Rob Wilkins, @ScottEWrestling of Fightful & WrestlePurists, SP3 of Tru Heel Heat & SI.com, and @LyricWrestling of Maps & Graps with Lyric Swinton. The Post-Show will begin approximately 5-10 minutes after the show ends.
They will review and discuss everything that went down at the Tokyo Dome!
(Card Subject to Change)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 19 Card:
New Japan Ranbo to determine the #1 contender for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: All TBA
Four-Way Tokyo Terror Ladder Match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight and Kushida) (c) vs. Ichiban Sweet Boys (Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita) vs. Catch 2/2 (TJP and Francesco Akira) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney)
IWGP Women's Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. AZM
Four-Way Match for the NJPW World Television Championship: Ren Narita (c) vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Ryohei Oiwa vs. El Phantasmo
Lumberjack Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL — If Tanahashi loses, he has to retire.
Winner Takes All Match for the NEVER Openweight Championship and AEW International Championship: Shingo Takagi (Openweight) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (International AEW Championship)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Douki (c) vs. El Desperado
IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: David Finlay (c) vs. Yota Tsuji
Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Shota Umino
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