Csonka’s Takeaways From a Loaded WWE & NJPW Weekend

Welcome back to column time with Larry! In case you were traveling off planet or were just too busy to keep up, you should know that last weekend was a really stacked weekend for wrestling in both WWE & NJPW. There were four shows that made for a great weekend, and those shows were NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo (Night One), NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo (Night Two), NXT Takeover: Philly, and the WWE Royal Rumble. I have a few takeaways from the weekend I’d like to discuss, and feel free to share yours. Thanks for reading, and remember, it’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

Minoru Suzuki is an Absolute Artist When Not Overbooked: Many think that I am not a fan of Minoru Suzuki, but that is completely false. I love Suzuki as a performer, what I hate if the tired ad cliché booking of the Suzuki-gun stable that all too often has destroyed matches that had the chances to be good or great. Some will defend it by saying “it’s heel being heels,” but it stops being that once it starts destroying matches and taking away from shows. The booking of Suzuki-gun juniors did a lot to hurt last year’s BOTSJ tournament, and the group also ruined several Suzuki singles matches last year. But what’s very obvious if the fact that when left alone to work his style of match Minoru Suzuki is an absolute artist at what he does. While I didn’t love the match with Goto at WK 12 as much as others, I really liked it and thought it was so refreshing to see Suzuki in his element. But the match with Tanahashi at NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo (Night One) was a beautiful symphony is violence. When Suzuki is left to be Suzuki, there is no one better at what he does. His match with Tanahashi was so well done, Suzuki is the most sadistic bastard in all of wrestling and the way he broke down and slowly destroyed Tanahashi was so well done, laughing at the former Ace of NJPW as he dared him to fight back, and constantly tried to rip off his leg. Suzuki hitting the Gotch piledriver and refusing to cover, and instead continuing to attack the leg may as well have been him ripping off Tanahashi’s leg and beating him with it. January was a great month for Suzuki and age 49 shows no signs of slowing. I hoe we get a lot of this Minoru Suzuki in 2018.

The WWE Remembered How to Book The Rumble Match: Over the past few years, I have overall been less than impressed with the WWE Royal Rumble matches. They have been mostly lazy, uninspired, and lacking the superior layout and structuring of the Pat Paterson designed ones I had loved.

* 2014 (**¾)
* 2015 (*)
* 2016 (***¾)
* 2017 (***)

But I felt that this year, things thankfully changed and certainly for the better. I felt that WWE found their groove again and remembered what the match should be. I thought that the men’s match was excellent, and not only one of the best in recent years, and possibly in the top 5 all time, The layout was great, and I thought that the booking to get to the final six (Balor, Nakamura, Reigns, Rey, Orton, & Cena) worked extremely well, as you had guys that were over, guys the fans wanted to win and just as important, guys the fans wanted to LOSE in the worst way. Nakamura’s WWE run has been less than spectacular, but this was a great rehabilitation match for him. As for the women’s match, I thought it was great and very entertaining, and had a lot to overcome, a crowd that was dead for the last two matches after the men’s Rumble, the fact that the guys killed it, and also the fact that this was their first rumble match and had a ton thrown onto them with all of WWEs making history media blitz. But with that being said, I felt that they delivered a great match, and again, the layout was a big part of that. Banks working the iron woman role and Lynch getting a ton of time helped and also I think that they way they set up the surprise appearances, and how much they gave them. The crowd was dead coming into this, but between the hard work, the smart use of past names, and much like the men’s match, who it came down to all really worked. I was greatly entertained by both matches, and more importantly had a ton of fun watching them.

.@CodyRhodes WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? CROSS RHODES TO KENNY OMEGA #NJNBG #NJPW #NJPWWorld pic.twitter.com/bdbXbVKLZy

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 28, 2018

OH MY GOD WHAT A MOMENT, @ibushi_kota SAVES @KennyOmegamanX #NJNBG #NJPW #NJPWWorld pic.twitter.com/LMmFAkQj8U

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 28, 2018

#NJPW #njnbghttps://t.co/4ULitIni5Z pic.twitter.com/ExAHLr1Wdd

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) January 28, 2018

The Bullet Club is Exploding But Golden Love is Alive: At the 2017 NJPW Dominion show, Champion Kazuchika Okada and challenger Kenny Omega fought to a draw, and the seeds were planted for the Bullet Club split. During that match, Cody tried to throw in the towel on Omega, claiming that he was trying to save Omega. In realty it was all a set up as Cody would challenge Okada post match, leading to Cody getting a title shot at the NJPW debut in the US. From there, we have gotten slam teases in NJPW, but even more on the Being the Elite Youtube show, which has actually been a great storytelling tool for ROH & NJPW. There have also been signs of discouragement from Fale, Tonga, & Loa as they look to represent OG Bullet Club. Also during this time; Kota Ibushi returned from cosplaying Tiger Mask W, and fans dreamed of an eventual Ibushi vs. Omega feud, and were upset when they didn’t get it at WrestleKingdom 12. But things have a funny way of changing from what we all think will happen, want to happen, and what will happen, and that includes myself as I had this going in a completely different direction. At the New Year’s Dash, Cody, Yujiro, Scurll, Leo Tonga, & Owens defeated Ibushi, Juice, Finlay, KUSHIDA, & Taguchi. After that match, Cody, who lost to Ibushi at WrestleKingdom 12, attacked and looked to beat him down with a chair, that was until then Bullet Club member, Kenny Omega made the save. This added to the strain between the Bullet Club members, and it all came to a head at NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo (Night Two). Omega lost his US Title to Jay White, Adam page looked to set himself up as the first challenger to White, and that’s when the shit hit the fan. Cody arrived, calling Omega a loser and accusing him of taking Page’s moment. Marty & The Bucks arrived, and Omega accidentally knocked an injured Matt down. Things calmed, it looked as if all was well, but Cody turned on Omega, looking as if he laid his claim to leadership of Bullet Club. he looked to take out Omega with a chair, but it came full circle as Ibushi made the save, blowing the roof off of the building and chasing off Bullet Club. This led to the former tag partners reuniting and hugging, signaling a big change in the landscape. Ibushi * Omega reuniting is something fans wanted and gives NJPW an awesome and fresh tag team. It also sets up Cody vs. Omega in a big singles match, and also Omega & Ibushi vs. The Bucks. Also, Bullet Club is now fractured, likely into The Elite (Cody, Marty, Page, & The Bucks) vs. The rest (Fale, Tonga, Loa, Leo, Yujiro, & Owens). I think that the ring is more than right; it freshens up the product, and gave us a memorable reunion.

With All Respect to AJ Styles, Johnny Gargano Is Becoming WWE’s Single Best Performer: I love AJ Styles & Johnny Gargano, and asking me to choose between them is like choosing my favorite child, which I would never do unless there were large amounts of un-taxable cash involved. But with that being said, in the world of WWE, Johnny Gargano had the best 2017 out of anyone. He had great matches, filled with emotion, drama and high quality against a wide variety of opponents. Styles had a strong 2017, but Gargano was the man in WWE for me. I have said before and will say it again, Gargano is an amazing babyface, he’s relatable, easy to root for and gets me emotionally invested in just about everything he does, and that’s where Styles lacks overall for me lately. Sure the main roster booking doesn’t do Styles any favors, and he has to work so hard to overcome it. Styles is still an all time great to me and one of my all time favorites, but right now, Johnny Wrestling is the best single performer in all of WWE as far as I am concerned.

I Understand The Ronda Rousey Thing, But I’m Concerned With It: We all knew it was coming, and despite the fact that it doesn’t seem to be a popular decision, I completely get the signing of Ronda Rousey. Whether we like it or not, and despite the fact that her UFC run ended in disastrous fashion, Rousey is still a name that will attract main stream attention, and the proof was there following her Royal Rumble debut. The thing I try to remember, is that WrestleMania to WWE isn’t about the best matches, WWE is allegedly about telling stories and creating moments, and that’s partly why Rousey is there. You also have to consider that WWE is in negotiations for a new TV deal, and locking up Rousey to a deal looks really good as they negotiate for new TV rights fees. So from a business side of things, I get it. But I won’t lie, I am very concerned. First of all, Rousey is an absolutely horrible actress. The reason she succeeded in MMA wasn’t because she was a trash talker, she was looked at as a bad ass because she dominated, had that bad mother fucker look about her, ripped off arms and for a time was simply above the rest of the women she fought. I don’t have any faith right now in her promo ability, and her look at the Rumble was the exact opposite of what I hoped for, she looked too happy, and not like she was ready to kill someone. And then there’s the wrestling part, sure she’s been training a lot at the performance center, but that doesn’t mean she will transition to wrestling well, no matter how much of a fan she is. The rumored tag match at Mania may be for the best, but no mater what, I expect a lot of rehearsal to be needed to make her in ring debut come off well. And there’s nothing wrong with that, she may very well be a success, but I have a lot of concerns about it if I am being completely honest with you.

– Overall it was a hell of a weekend, and while a busy one, was also one that reminds me why I love what I do for a living.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”