r/njpw • u/sufferinsuccotashson • 21h ago
Kidd vs Shota Post Match Discussion Spoiler
One of NJPW’s best matches of the year. Shota delivers at a top level again. Surprising winner here but damn I think this one deserves its own thread, genuine MOTY contender
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u/SevenSulivin 21h ago
Can Shota Umino please for the love of fucking god WIN?
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u/SwiftScotsman Let's get high! Big up! 20h ago
Classic Gedo booking, he’ll spend another year losing all his big matches before he finally wins a title.
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u/Capable-Education724 20h ago
After Naito left and Goto finally won the big one, Gedo had to find a new guy to hand pick as “Guy who isn’t gonna win till the iron is ice cold” apparently.
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u/thisiseriousbusiness 20h ago
If this is leading to Yuya vs Kidd and Mox vs Shots at the Dome..then those rumors of Tsuji’s Dome defense are sounding a bit more likely.
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u/BamaKeith 20h ago
How do you even logically get to Mox v Shota? I mean he just lost clean as a sheet to Mox’s henchman.
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u/SpyralRush 20h ago
Yuya and Shota are former tag team partners....Gabe and Mox are stable mates. Pretty easy math. Gabe has been presented as a top guy in NJPW he's not some random scrub henchman. In AEW he's a random henchman in NJPW he's been a top heel. I'd rather Gabe go after Tsuji so we can get a blood feud out of it.
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u/BamaKeith 19h ago
Yuya v Kidd is the easy part booking wise. At Power Struggle Gabe beats Taichi, Yuya helps Taichi to the back. Gabe talks shit. Yuya challenges him. Mox v Shota doesn’t make sense for the Dome because Shota has been booked far beneath Mox.
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u/Captain_Energy_567 "THE ACE" Yota Tsuji 18h ago
And Shota needs to WIN!!! there's no way Mox is losing unless he says to Gedo to fuck off with his Umino hate booking
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u/SpyralRush 8h ago
God I want Umino to win this so badly. I hate when he loses. Shota Umino is the wrestler with the most reasons to turn heel ever.
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u/SpyralRush 8h ago
Shota and Mox have years of history. Shota turned down The Death Riders and they've been on his ass since. Mox totally squashed Umino in all their matches a win over Mox is super personal for Shota Umino. That win is a huge part of his Second Chapter. I really think the storytelling with Umino is very very well spelled out. This is long term booking.
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u/BamaKeith 7h ago
100% he needs to overcome Mox at the Dome I just don’t think it’s setup to be a big enough deal right now. I mean Mox beats Shingo and Shota comes out to challenge after being in a random multi man against HoT. For the story nothing has changed since Shota challenged Moxley for Wrestle Dynasty and Mox sent Claudio as his emissary.
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u/SpyralRush 7h ago
Sure I suppose you can see it that way but....a HoT multiman is directly part of Umino's story as he has been building alliances to protect against them for the past 2 years. It's direct progression for him to go from a HoT win to challenge Mox who has been his personal hurdle. Nah I think ppl get so caught up in their fantasy booking that they overlook the story being told.
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u/Tex_Tin_Star 21h ago
I wouldve bet the house that umino was winning. But looks like taichi is getting a 2nd tier goto treatment.
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u/Tex_Tin_Star 21h ago
Cause like it or not, taichi not getting the iwgp heavyweight title.
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u/sufferinsuccotashson 21h ago
I think this is gonna lead to Kidd vs Yuya since it doesn’t seem like he’ll have a big match otherwise
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u/sufferinsuccotashson 21h ago
Taichi vs Kidd is set up for Kidds next defense too, should be another banger. Should be a good segue for Kidd vs Yuya at the dome too
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u/ExpendableMan84 15h ago
I only dip in and out of NJPW occasionally, but I have yet to see a bad Shota Umino match. The man's name is becoming a byword for show-stealing bouts, and this was no exception. Tremendous match; loved all of it.
EXCEPT THE BLOODY RESULT! Let Shota win a big one for the love of heaven.
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u/Liesbw 21h ago
0 stars cause i wanted shota to win
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u/JeromeInDaHouse_90 20h ago
Yeah, I really thought Umino would be the one to take the belt from Gabe.
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u/TheFergPunk 20h ago
Remember when people thought Shota was the next Tanahashi?
Turns out he's the next Yoshi-Hashi
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u/KingChingLing Goto Revolutionary Army Cadet 12h ago
Which is crazy with how much of a good soldier and great worker he is, like how the fuck do you get all of the WESTERN fans from hating you to hating when you lose. I’m never flinching but between being a Shota guy, a Goto Army Cadet, and a Watomaniac, it’s rough
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u/Strange-Answer-3743 20h ago
Umino should go to AEW, their crowds and their booker like him more than New Japan's
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u/Huffjenk 21h ago
I'll throw out Oleg and Goto possible WK challengers as Hontai stablemates but it feels weird that either would get booking priority over Umino, even if Goto vs Kidd should have a ton of history behind it
Umino/Moxley could get higher billing and maybe there's a reason that'll be non-title (hopefully it's not because Moxley will win or that he's still Continental champion), but otherwise I don't see why they wouldn't back Umino as a topcard talent yet
It's also possible Tsuji/Moxley or Tsuji/Okada ends up being the main event, but not a fan of not centering core roster members, hopefully that's not a new TV Asahi mandate
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u/Woobix 20h ago
It's also possible Tsuji/Moxley or Tsuji/Okada ends up being the main event, but not a fan of not centering core roster members, hopefully that's not a new TV Asahi mandate
In general I agree with this, but I would be pretty damn happy to see Okada finally put over one of the young New Japan guys, even if it is years after leaving.
The monkey paw has curled though and Okada's gonna be a part time champ isn't he :(
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u/Capable-Education724 20h ago
I think Okada’s unironically one of the best wrestlers of the last two decades.
But I think I’d only be able to laugh (derisively) if he somehow ended up a part time champion being fed the new generation now.
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u/BamaKeith 21h ago
I immediately turned off the show. Great that Taichi gets a challenge but the Shota Must Suffer booking is far past being ridiculous.
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u/JeromeInDaHouse_90 20h ago
Hell of a match. What a slobberknocker. I really thought they were setting up Umino to be the hero and bring the title back.
As much as I love Taichi, I don't think Gabe is losing that belt until the Tokyo Dome. I don't know who they've got in mind to take it from him tho.
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u/EffingKENTA 20h ago
OP I have added the required Spoiler tag but please remember to use it in the future.
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u/sufferinsuccotashson 19h ago
I checked for it I couldn’t find the flair - unless there was another option I was missing. I posted this from mobile
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u/EffingKENTA 19h ago
It’s a tag not a flair. Shows up as a toggle option under the list of flair, along with the NSFW and Brand Affiliate tag options.
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u/sufferinsuccotashson 19h ago
Oh I see it now. On mobile it’s the three dots at the top, didn’t notice when making it, thanks for adding!
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u/EffingKENTA 19h ago
When you’re creating a post there should also be an “add tags and flair (optional)” button underneath the post title section that’ll bring up those tag and flair options.
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u/Capable-Education724 20h ago
A more baffling decision than even them pathetically rolling the red carpet back out for a 44 year old Cobb after he left them high & dry to jump ship (and now have not only given him a title but let him siphoned some of KOB’s heat by proxy).
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u/EffingKENTA 20h ago
New Japan knew Cobb was leaving for WWE and gave him the Tag titles and set up for his WHC challenge with that knowledge. The wrench was that WWE decided they wanted Cobb sooner than everyone anticipated so they had to nix those things. The fact that they gave him a Tana match as his last in the company was a pretty good indicator there probably wasn’t any bad blood.
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u/Capable-Education724 20h ago
Still not a fan of them pushing him as strongly as they have since his return when they should be focusing on the future & a younger talent with more upside (and longevity) could’ve benefitted from the spot he’s been given.
Cobb’s a solid hand, but at this stage he should be making way for younger talent.
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u/EffingKENTA 20h ago
Eh. He got a very natural story-wise singles match that he lost, then he won the lowest belts in the company. I don’t think there’s much there for a younger talent to have gained unless they wanted to use a NEVER 6 win to graduate Nagai.
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u/Capable-Education724 20h ago
Agree to disagree on our views on the NEVER 6, I think Nagai or Drilla (coming off that Global loss) could’ve both benefitted from the position they gave Cobb and I’d have much rather seen. Especially cause Nagai is ready in my opinion.
And Cobb is, like, 14-4 since returning with his only singles loss to Callum. So far that’s pretty strong booking as far as NJPW is concerned if you’re not a priority(/top act) talent like Tsuji, KOB, etc.
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u/funnyboylmao 12h ago
It’s tag team matches where he pinned barely above young lion Zane Jay every time. That’s not really monster level booking.
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u/Far-Restaurant-9455 17h ago
I wouldn't call winning the lowest titles in the company and losing to Callum Newman the "red carpet."
He will get 6-8 points in next year's G1.
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u/funnyboylmao 12h ago edited 12h ago
I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with bringing back Jeff Cobb (when he clearly left on good terms) as a midcard guy who’s well liked by their domestic audience and has some decent name value when they run in America. He’ll never win a singles title above the NEVER level (and I doubt he’ll ever win that either), he’s here purely to put over people, be a guy they can feature in the heavyweight tournaments (to mostly put over people), and potentially be a solid enough smaller show title challenger.
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u/Okaringer 12h ago
I am so afraid of having an ice cold Shota show up in a couple years with a death rider hunter gimmick. Let this dude win some matches ffs.
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u/disneysatlantis 5h ago
Does Gedo just have personal beef with Red Shoes or something? At a certain point it feels like he's just punking out his son as a bit
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u/TheDeflatables 4h ago
Shota Umino has been suffering for 4 years.
Watch the Moxley dome match not even be with Shota.
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u/Somerandomguy20711 Yota on my Tsuji till I GENE BLAST 11h ago
Taichi vs Gabe Kidd is a match made specifically for me
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u/FewElk6678 18h ago
Am I the only one that doesn't like Umino at all? Sure he had a great match, but so did Tsuji at WK and look what happened. He became boring as fck as champ. Umino is boring as fck.
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u/AdministrationFun767 17h ago
I think both cases are due to Gedo's bad booking
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u/FewElk6678 17h ago
Maybe, but its also probably due to the fact that I've never really clicked with either. I thought Tsuji had won me over at WK, and after bringing back the V4, but he just went back to feeling kinda mid imo
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u/AdministrationFun767 17h ago
I feel the same way about Tsuji. He’s good, sure, but I struggle to see him as a top guy. With Shota, I clicked instantly with him since I return to NJPW, but his booking has been torture to watch...
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u/FewElk6678 17h ago
I agree on Tsuji, but I've never gotten the hype behind Umino, mostly because I've always found his in ring stuff kinda generic, but thats just me
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u/TonyRedgrave92 20h ago
Gosh, I wonder why Shota has had trouble getting over with fans? Could it be that Gedo always has him lose important fucking matches? How on earth do you not put the belt on Shota especially when he’s been producing bangers.