| pokoko said: Even Honma can't make me care about Makabe. |
You are one cold hearted woman. 
I wouldn't say I care about Makabe. He alright, but on his own he's just very... there. But Honma as Chester to Makabe's Spike is always heartwarming and usually really entertaining to me.
| pokoko said: Speaking of Ishii, though, I wonder if this is like a paid vacation for him? Otherwise, he's too good to just mill around. |
I dunno, I think that's just his level in their eyes. That win over Okada in the G1 gives me some small hope that they'll prove me wrong, but I think the tag title or NEVER Title is about it for him. Part of the problem with their having so many titles now is they don't seem to want to spend time developing programs that don't directly involve titles, so we probably won't be getting anything like the Ishii/Shibata or Ishii/Honma series out of him unless they put him in a title picture again.
| pokoko said: With the elevation of Okada to god status, New Japan is in a wierd place where it feels very stratified. I know they're brining new guys into the fold but things really need a shake-up. I was hoping SZG would create that but maybe not. I'm hoping the next G1 throws a serious monkey wrench into the works. |
I hope it starts with the New Japan Cup. I wouldn't really say I'm hoping for this because it's awfully specific and quite a long shot (plus I don't think they put champions in the NJC since, stupidly, the winner can choose to challenge for any title... like someone would pick the NEVER Title over the IWGP), but I thought about it and what I'd really like to see happen is:
- Goto wins, beating Omega in the final and getting his wins back from last year.
- Okada naturally beats Goto, putting him at a record 0-9 for IWGP challenges. Haha, what a loser!
- But then Goto wins the G1, too, beating Tanahashi in the final. Oh, snap! He's going to Wrestle Kiiiiiingdom!
- But, of course, they always have the G1 winner defend his challenging rights a couple of times before hand. Which is pretty stupid because nobody ever wins the briefcase off of the G1 winner, since that's the guy they've decided to push. (incidentally, I fucking hate briefcases in wrestling for some reason... I guess I'll blame IRS for that). So we'll have Goto/Omega to help plug the gap between August and January. Except, lo and behold, Omega wins! Omega/Okada II is set for Wrestle Kingdom! Goto, you fuckin' goof...
- Since there's so much time to kill, though, Omega has to defend the briefcase once. So Goto gets another chance... and he wins! He's main eventing Wrestle Kingdom after all!
- There's maybe some low key tension between them but Okada/Goto team up in the tag league and take turns outdoing each other and getting strong wins. Let's say they meet Tanahashi & friend (Elgin or Juice would be good) in the final, with Tanahashi pinning Goto to finally win the tag league for the first time since that's the one big accolade he's missing on his resume. Goto, you dolt!
- Now some recriminations fly back and forth and little heat starts building between Goto and Okada, though they keep teaming with the rest of Chaos for the last shows of the year and don't actually lock up until the Dome where the tenth time turns out to be the charm and Goto finally stops being almost-great to become the real fucking deal. At that point he could split off from Chaos and go back to the main group, which would be good because besides Tanahashi the regular, unaffiliated babyfaces are kind of thin on the ground and mostly old as fuck.
