NJPW, The King of Thoughts – Tanahashi must NOT lose his IWGP Title Shot Briefcase!

NJakePW here with a follow up to my not-so-prophetic previous column Ishii MUST Win the IWGP Title this Weekend!. So yeah, the title of this column feels like a bit of a jinx; however, Hiroshi Tanahashi MUST hold on to that briefcase this weekend despite the overwhelming momentum in Switchblade Jay White’s favour.

NJPW went the predictable route in the IWGP Title match between champion Kenny Omega and challenger Tomohiro Ishii, thus depriving (yet again) one of the greatest wrestlers alive his chance to shine in a top spot that feels increasingly unattainable regardless of his incredible effort, stunning performances and sizable popularity. But in this oddly unpredictable year of NJPW booking, it still feels like they are ready to break one of the typical through-lines from the G1 to WrestleKingdom they’ve established over the past few years.

If they’re not going to have the IWGP champion drop the belt during that time period, then that leaves losing the Title Shot Briefcase earned by the G1 winner that is supposed to be defended but has never been lost. There was some tension that Kazuchika Okada would be the one to defeat 2018 G1 winner Hiroshi Tanahashi, and that match felt like the contract-containing case was in the most danger given the history between these two (until the Japanese feed threw up the result-spoiling graphic about 10 minutes into the match… the first time ever I’ve regretted watching the Japanese version live over the English one).

And now at the quickly approaching King of Pro-Wrestling event, Switchblade Jay White is getting his shot at the briefcase, accompanied by the McMahon-like shadow of his new manager and company booker Gedo. Is this all part of an epic year-long story for White? After losing quickly and embarrassingly to Tanahashi at WrestleKingdom this year in his big re-debut after his contractual learning excursion, many felt (I think mostly Western fans) that this was a huge mistake at the time because it didn’t punctuate this new gimmick with a big win. When placing that loss in the bigger story of 2018, it now looks like the perfect first chapter that climaxes with Switchblade winning the briefcase from Tanahashi and equally humiliating him after his redemption year seemed destined to payoff in a big way.

This would be kind of fantastic long-term booking, and a great opportunity to cement Jay White as the anti-Omega: a dastardly foreign character NJPW desperately needs to combat the back-slapping friendly dominance of the Bullet Club across the main event scene. Cody Rhodes never proved interesting enough in Japan to pull this off, nor capable of the matches people there want to see, and they pulled back on the giant-killer Zack Sabre Jr. push for reasons that still befuddle me. Jay White, on the other hand, feels honed in Japan like a Hattori Hanzo sword, he’s got the creepily alt-Japanese leathery look, has been cultivating the right level of hate with his Chaos-meddling story, and has the recent clean victory over Omega for the NJPW US Title that sets him up as the perfect contender for seriously threatening Omega’s IWGP reign.

All that being said, again, I MUST protest! Hiroshi Tanahashi is my favourite!

That’s right, logic be damned, I love Tanahashi. And I love this current iteration of the veteran refusing to be pushed aside. I want to see him to continue having these great main event matches. I loved all three of his matches with Okada this year, and that it put me on the edge of my seat each time pulling for Tanahashi to best his greatest rival. The three different results were a rollercoaster of emotion, from acceptance to relief to joy! And I look forward to the drama that is sure to be palpable when Tanahashi faces off with White next week with the WrestleKingdom main event on the line. I like the fear, I like not knowing what’s going to happen, I like having someone to passionately root for… but still, I only like it because I hope Tanahshi will win.

So unlike that Ishii column, where I tried to lay out all the objective reasons why he should have won the IWGP Title, this one is a pure subjective plea. Let Tanahashi walk away with the briefcase again, NJPW, I’m begging you!

Stories From My NJPW Live Experiences

When I went to see one of these lame-ass ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds shows in Toronto a few years ago, I had the sad experience of seeing the utter lack of respect for Hiroshi Tanahashi. First of all, the Ted Reeves Community Arena, where ROH mostly plays in Toronto, is one of the worst venues for pro-wrestling I’ve ever been to, and I’ve watching wrestling in packed strip club basements, empty Korean gyms… and Hamilton. ROH is lucky fans haven’t enacted a class-action lawsuit against them for all the years of subjecting them to the detestable location, let alone forcing a wrestling angel to step foot in that hell on earth.

When I got there, some kind of meet-and-greet or autograph session was going on in the back of the covered ice rink, with popular wrestlers like the Young Bucks sitting at tables even ECW wouldn’t break to greet a dozen or so waiting fans. Tanahashi, on the other hand, was sitting alone, Virgil style. A man who literally gets has his home country fans rushing to rub their babies against his sweaty body post-match, was less interesting to the fans of Toronto than Luke Gallows. Figure that one out.

Why didn’t I go up to him then? Hey, I’m an older guy these days, my time gushing over wrestlers to their face at a meet-and-greet has long past. The MAN deserved better though, and I don’t even necessarily blame the fans. The current administration in ROH has used the NJPW stars to up their profile over the past fews year, but clearly that was to get access to the Bullet Club license and not give proper air to the real legends. This never would have happened in the Gabe Sapolsky era. Misawa wasn’t coming to America to be a mid-carder, who can’t get a title shot, and sits in the back of some rundown ice rink while no one even looks at him twice. Shame, ROH, shame!

The “Let’s All Laugh at WWE” Moment of the Week

The WWE’s “dissension” angles are so laughable. Whatever they’re doing with Dean Ambrose and the Shield is typically lame and telegraphed, especially in comparison to the Jay White / Chaos storyline that’s been playing out all year in NJPW.

First of all, The Shield is barely a faction in 2018. They’ve re-teamed for a couple of weeks, but the history of them as any kind of “faction” ended like 3 years ago. They did the work to re-establish Dean forgiving Seth, but that was last year, and even then as soon as they became friends again already fans were predicting the Dean turn. Roman Reigns was hardly interested in all that, by the way. Chaos, however, is a long-standing faction with multiple members, big and tiny angles that have played out with them through the years creating a true legacy for a faction that makes any dissension pretty shocking. There is no logic to The Shield being a team other than simply three guys who team together sometimes. Sure , there was an early concept that they were trying to stand up for “justice”, but that went out the window fast, as most things do in the “forget what happened last month” booking of the WWE.

This current story with Dean Ambrose now being courted to the dark side by, of all people, go-nowhere loser Dolph Ziggler, is so dopey. WWE trades interesting storytelling for teasing the most obvious things and then never pulling the trigger in any satisfying way. This is because the WWE is now in the business of manipulating these fans who love to claim creative knowledge by getting them to predict obvious shit on all their social media, blogs and podcasts over and over. It’s got nothing to do with giving you good matches or moments, it’s all about stringing you along to get more impressions from fandom frustration or self-congratulation.

Anyone buying into this as actual “storytelling” needs to just look at the Jay White / Chaos angle, and how subtly can play out when a long-term plan is established in advance, and a corporation isn’t trying to use you to push stock price discussion and rights fees negotiations.

Gedo, Jado, Yano, Yuji

1) That triple threat IWGP Title match thrown together at the end of the US show is the kind of booking many (including myself) give WWE shit over.

2) On the other hand, that entire card of the King of Pro-Wrestling show (including, yes, even the 3-way) looks pretty damn good on paper.

3) Last weekend’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed show didn’t look good on paper in the least, but turned out to be easily my favourite show NJPW did in the US this year.

4) With Taichi as the current NEVER champion, would anybody be upset if we NEVER saw that title again? Hey-o!

Don’t forget, your man NJakePW is on Twitter over at @MatchADay
so follow along to get rare and random hilarity thrown your way, like these gems!

How can you not love Hiroshi Tanahashi? He should win every match ever. Like Cena. Tanahashi vs. Cena would be a 1-hour draw and when the bell rings to end it everyone on earth would smile at the same like a soldier angel is playing air guitar with their soul strings #njdest

— Jake Chambers (@MatchADay) September 23, 2018

Kazuchika Okada didn’t win the briefcase at #njdest but he can take solace in the FACT that he retires in his 70s as the first IWGP President of the Moon, wrestles the biggest matches in our collective brain holograms, and leaves behind a New Japan full of his ageless clone army.

— Jake Chambers (@MatchADay) September 23, 2018