Ramblings of an Englishman

  I started writing this on my way to work the Thursday after All In, I didn’t want my thoughts to be wrapped in hyperbole as for the second year in a row I attended the show. However, I find myself unable to shake that and truly believe this is one of AEW best shows they have done.  I won’t break the show down match by match I feel it’s different being their live to watching on TV. For example, pretty sure I missed half of last years Stadium Stampede because there’s just too much going on and too many places to look. But I will say for a PPV card it flowed so much better than last year. This could be because of the build to All In being more fleshed out this year headed by a main event where someone puts their career on the line over two friends fighting.  I do think as expected Ospreay vs. MJF and Swerve vs. Danielson were the stand out matches. I will honestly say that Swerve vs. Danielson was one of the best matches in AEW history and is for sure the best match I’ve ever seen live.

 New Japan Pro Wresting is in a transitional period. Gone is the peak of the 2010s and the Okada and Tanahashi feud, the rise of Los Ingobenarbles De Japon (L.I.J) and the various other peaks we are now in a state of flux. The old guard are even older, top stars have left in Okada, Will Ospreay and Jay White and with Naito looking closer and closer to retirement New Japan needs to change and evolve with its young roster to pick back up a bit of momentum.  I’d love to sit here today and say the way to change New Japan back to its peak to get rid of the likes of EVIL and David Finlay and replace them with the likes of Kaito Kiyomiya and Luke Jacobs but that is an unlikely thing to happen. I wanted to outline some key changes I’d like look at implementing with the current roster which I feel would help reestablish New Japan as a force in the pro wrestling world despite really being the third biggest company in the world right now.  House of Torture First things first probably one of the m

As we enter the summer month there's no bigger tournament in wrestling then New Japan Pro Wrestling and their G1 Climax. The premiere tournament which the winner main events Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. Following a weird G1 last year of 4 blocks we are back to the normal 2. With this being a G1 without Okada, Ospreay, White, Tanahashi & Ishii this will provide New Japan with a sink or swin situation. With the G1 back to 2 blocks of 10 away from the clusterfuck of the last years 32 man tournament in 4 blocks this is the first traditional G1 for multiple wrestlers. The main one to look out for in this G1 is who does New Japan trust the most for their future. The following wrestlers are entering their first 2 block G1 (and some their first ever G1 Climax) Shota Umino Gabe Kidd Yota Tsuji Ren Narita Yuya Uemura Boltin Oleg Callum Newman That's over a quarter of the people invovled and with Umino & Tsuji you have two of the favourites. With New Japan wanting to usher in a

Back again with the crossover wrestling event of the year. At a time when co-operation between companies seems at an all time high it shouldn't be forgotten in large part where we were a few years ago. Forbidden Door the term coined by now NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi was because the partnership simply didn't exist and now we have not just AEW & NJPW on this show but representatives from CMLL and STARDOM as well a true big corrover event (and if I'm RevPro I'd be begging to get invovled with this considering they have partnerships with NJPW & CMLL already).  Regardles on that I always feel this is an odd show to buidl towards. You have four companies working together and three not in the same country as the main company hosting the show. It hurts who you can book and when they can show up. Either way on the show on the day should be good fun. Zero Hour Kyle Fletcher vs. Serpentico A surprise addition to the card following on from Kyle Fletcher losing the ROH

Five years ago the wrestling landscape changed with the formation of All Elite Wrestling and with their 2024 edition of Double or Nothing it was a chance to reflect and look back and celebrate the company and its achivements (and falls) in that time. While I feel the weekly TV has been hit and miss with dropped stories and a feel of lack of direction for many stars the PPV's for AEW normally deliver as they focus on the companies strength being the in ring action. It's no secret AEW ticket sales are down so hopefully they can boost things starting with this show. Failing that they can just manipulate the wrestling media like WWE and just lie about the show being good and have twitter lie and boost it as well. Anyway, forgetting that let's break down the action for Double or Nothing match by match.  The Buy In: Thunder Rosa vs. Deonna Purrazzo This has been a good feud being built up on the past of both women being unavble to beat Toni Storm. I feel that Deonna works best as

As AEW begins to expand it's PPV schedule to six a year we get the first ever AEW Dynasty PPV. A card that is top to bottom filled with championship matches and feuds all built up through their previous weeks of television. I personally have enjoyed the last little run of AEW shows building up to this but really do wish AEW could gaslight an audience and have a PR division to manipulate people into thinking literally everything they do is great like WWE does. Regardless of another companies lifeless product which people will lie to your face and say is good I think on paper this was set to be a good show. With that in mind hopefully this show can live up to the card it is on paper.  Zero Hour Trent Beretta vs. Matt Sydal A bit of an odd one to be on PPV all be it a pre-show. Trent's heel turn is a major angle based on who it is against but still this feels like a match you'd see on Dynamite, not questioning the talent invovled just feel that this could've been on Dynami

At the turn of March we welcome in the frist AEW PPV of what seems to be the biggest schedule of them since the companies inception. I think AEW will need to work on how they manage all of these PPVs with their TV time. Regardless, this show has been built arond the final match of Sting and his legendary career. I have had the privlage of seeing Sting live multiple times including at All In last year and can only add to the praise for his career. It is fitting that he main events a PPV on his final show. With that being said AEW has been strong in their booking so far this year and I think having MJF out injured has become addition by subtraction as it has helped elevate Swerve and Hangman into the main event picture which have been well recieved and with Samoa Joe and a great run as champion is has made the top of the card feel fresh. Zero Hour The Bang Bang Scissor Gang (Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, and Jay White) vs. Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh, J

For New Japan Pro Wrestling the year 2024 is off to a start where they need to look into a massive rebuild of their company. In the past 12 months or so they have lost Jay White, Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada leaving a hole in the top of their card in such quick order without being able to build replacements for them. It does seem dire but such is the current landscape of the wrestling world. New Japan will have to settle into being the third biggest company in the world unable to match the money that WWE or AEW can offer. I just wanted to cover my thoughts and if it was down to me how I would approach 2024 & 2025 for New Japan Pro Wrestling and booking the company. On the majority of things I'm willing to give New Japan a pass on booking decisions this year. This is a rebuilding year and as such some things will be done. I don't like them hiring Matt Riddle for dates and personally wouldn't but understand they want anyone with a name in wrestling to hope to fill any

With the dust settling and fists meeting fate the story mode for Tekken 8 has given us the conclusion to the feud between the two main protagonists (and sometime antagonists) of the series in Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima and it feels like Tekken 9 will usher in a new era for the story of these games. I wanted to take some time like with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to go over my thoughts on this instalment and my hopes for the ninth entry in the series. I will say this however, I would be perfectly fine with another Tekken Tag Tournament next instead of Tekken 9. I feel that 9 will have such a shift when it comes to story and characters it may be best for the team and series director Katsuhiro Harada to give themselves some breathing room and thinking time to work over the plot and where to take their world. Plus it would be a nice time to test some things. I’d bring everyone from 7 onwards back including DLC characters. See who people like, who they team with each other and use it

 Spoilers from throughout the Like a Dragon/Yakuza franchise Man 25th January 2024 was a fun one. Both Like a Dragon 8 & Tekken 8 both releasing on the same date I had to make a decision on what one to play first. Deciding narrative over fighting I started Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and now just making the final preperations for the final bosses of the game I feel I made a good choice in what game to start (full disclosure I think Tekken 8 is good and the small amount I played I really enjoyed). Being at the end of the game and unfortunately the ending spoilt in some capacity I end up looking to the future. Becomming the series fastest-selling game to date with over 1 million units in the first week we can expect Like a Dragon 9 at some point in the future. So I wanted to go over Like a Dragon 8, what I felt and what I hope for in the future.  With an expanded map and roster of party members I expect us to be visting both Hawaii and Isezaki Ijincho again for the next game, this

With 2023 coming to an end I think it's time for many to look back at the year they had. For me one thing I wanted to do this year was go to more wrestling shows. I only ever seem to go to one show a most a year but this year managed to get to a few more. Always a fun time so I wanted to compile my favourite matches I saw live in person. For the record the events I went to this year as follows: Revolution Pro Wrestling 11th Anniversary - 26th August 2023 AEW All In - 27th August 2023 NJPW Royal Quest 3 - 14th October 2023 Revolution Pro Wrestling Uprising - 16th December 2023 So without any other delay my top 5 live matches from this year are as below. 5) MJF vs. Adam Cole - AEW All In Starting with the main event of the biggest show I went to this year I found mtself as part of the group of people that enjoyed this match. While I understand those who don't like it due to it being like an old NXT Takeover style main event which I did like. It felt like a large part of telling t