LSW

Callum Newman vs Yuya Uemura was REMARKABLE. An ambitious epic that only further solidifies my opinion that New Japan’s youth movement is the most unmissable thing in all of wrestling. What these two did well are things that, frankly, nobody of their experience level should even have the instincts to pull off. These men had that crowd in the PALM OF THEIR HANDS. There was nothing that possibly could’ve made the crowd take their eyes off of what was happening. And they accomplished this by holding space for tension to breathe and by giving the match different inflections at the perfect times. Anytime wrestlers can allow space for the live crowd to feel and sit with character tension, it makes the match that much better. Getting ample opportunity to FEEL the situation the wrestlers are in through their body language, facials, nonverbals, etc is such a sophisticated skill to showcase. Late in the match, there was excellent drama being carried out. Nearfalls that didn’t feel like overkill. And all of this had impact because of the momentum shifts. They had the crowd’s emotions in such a sensitive, tapped in state. And they really used that energy in the building to their advantage. Callum is such a talented guy. He just gets a lot of the little minutiae when he sells which makes his stuff so immersive. Using a lot of verbalizing, and selling even when he’s controlling. That’s something that not a lot of young heels have the instincts to do. And Yuya. Good lord, what a performance. This guy is next level. He wrestles with such spirit and passion and it is an infectious spirit which permeates throughout the building. We saw that here in this final. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here. This match is must see. And it gets a five from me. ***** #njpw #njcup

I thought NJPW put on a very good event on 3/21 for that Cup final. Independent of the main event, there was a lot of nice action that I really enjoyed.

I think there is a very strong chance that KOB drops to Oiwa/Zack

I LOVE Daiki Nagai’s motor and physicality. Dude is an animal in there.

The next KOB vs ZSJ/Oiwa tag will change lives

Aaron Wolf’s over involvement with HOT has been an active damper on his first few months. It’s not that it isn’t sound decision making. Putting a learning wrestler in with heels who will get heat and bump makes complete sense. It’s moreso a fatigue issue on my end. Every Wolf/HOT tag is lamer and more monotonous than the last one. I want Aaron in situations where he can be a dynamic wrestler. Explore different dimensions of his game. Expand and let him get his feet wet in non-restrictive environments.

Yes, his ceiling is much higher than what he’s being booked for. But acting like he hasn’t at least been a very solid heel worker on AEW TV is ignorant.

The action from the Drilla/Shingo/Ishimori vs United Empire tag was invigorating. The sequences these men pulled off were clean, sharp and tight. Great action down the stretch in that one.

Yujiro Takahashi is just a phenomenal worker. The prototypical “pros pro.”

I don’t know how exactly to describe this, but Konosuke Takeshita’s gear always looks AI generated.

#MAKEWAY LETS WATCH THE NJ CUP FINALS.

The “smug contrarian” archetype on wrestling Twitter is the most infuriating type of person. Because what do you mean that Will Ospreay and Callum Newman are bad workers? Moron.

More honorable metions

One company has had an immaculate year, if you can’t tell.

@clare_4th_burn Nah fam, what do you think this is? A wrestling match? We pay to see ref bumps.

@ItsLSDub Me If they actually just let Narita wrestle

Will likely end up being show of the year up to this point. This is the second big NJPW show I’ve said that about this year. That should SCREAM an unmistakable truth to you.

RIP 🌙 🚂