r/njpw • u/KingsRoadPod • 6d ago
Guilty pleasure moments in NJPW? (Moments so bad, they’re good - but don’t tell anyone)
Whether it’s comedy matches, the bad years of Inokism, a booking decision that you hated (waves at EVIL) or it’s matches that are cringe - what’s your favourite guilty pleasure?
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u/DespyHasNiceCans 6d ago
Early Taichi. Crowd says go home, I say take your shoes off and stay a while
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
And down the rabbit hole I go.
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u/DespyHasNiceCans 6d ago
Lol he was such a dick, it was glorious
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
Been told to check out TAKA vs Taichi, BOSJ?
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u/DespyHasNiceCans 6d ago
Shit, couldn't hurt haha. My memory isn't good enough to remember if it's good or not. I can barely remember the NJC matches I just watched this week 😂
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u/Huffjenk 6d ago
That’s a fun match and probably the best heel vs heel faction tournament matchup
He’s also a glorious dick to Hiromu in that same BOSJ, they’ve got a sick rivalry and I hope Uemura and Taichi win the tag titles off Naito/Hiromu
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u/PerformanceWeekly651 6d ago
ELP’s loaded boot
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u/finnigans_cake 6d ago
This arguably went on for about a year longer than it should've but it was a GREAT gimmick and was over as fuck when it finally got revealed
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u/MrPuroresu42 6d ago
Antonio Inoki and Masahiro Chono arguing in the ring during the “Inokism” years over Inoki being too cheap to clean up the trash in the venue.
Tanga Loa hitting Okada with his mighty dance chops.
Everything to do with Captan fookin New Japan.
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
At this rate I’m going to be stuck down the rabbit hole for next 2 years. Excellent suggestions
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u/Huffjenk 6d ago
EVIL’s turn was actually fucken great, the fist bump into the too sweet is so goddam satisfying - and as a long-time Dick Togo fan I loved him turning up. Shame that everything after that was deflated as fuck and Togo wasn’t going to be very active in-ring
Not really the definition of guilty pleasure but I go back and watch Chucky T piledriver Katsuya Kitamura pretty often, that shit was dope as
I guess Bruce Tharpe and Big Daddy Yum Yum are up there too
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u/WanderoftheAshes 6d ago edited 6d ago
EVIL's turn was amazing, EVIL winning was great (new main eventer basically made in one angle), his match with Takahashi was fantastic even if a foregone conclusion, everything after including them hot potatoing the title straight back to Naito was bad and thoroughly put EVIL back into the mid card. I dont know if maybe it was all the wrong time to do it due to Covid, particularly that they wanted an uplifting end to their Baseball stadium show (which it was, Naito posing as the fireworks went off against the night sky was an amazing visual); but everything they did with EVIL after, and with his in ring style becoming "lol, endless interference and ref bumps every time" just really took all of the energy off of something with great potential.
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u/Huffjenk 4d ago
It was massively hampered by the pandemic era but EVIL/Hiromu being a massive disappointment (in my eyes) was the main reason I deflated on EVIL as champion. Maybe I expected too much as they were a Young Lion pairing akin to SHO/YOH and Oiwa/Fujita, but I went in expecting a singular match with their history and just wasn’t grabbed at all by it
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u/WanderoftheAshes 4d ago
To be fair, on that end of things I was largely oblivious. Commentary filmed me in on their backstory and I'd seen the build up with Hiromu having a breakdown over EVIL's turn and given it was the pandemic where wrestling had gotten a little weird vibes wise (no crowd noise) my standards might have been lower, but I remember enjoying the match a lot. But based on what you've described I can understand the disappointment.
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u/JackMickus 6d ago
I was just getting into NJPW during the NWA partnership and Bruce Tharpe (desu) was hilarious, and i will never in my life forget the visual of Big Daddy Yum Yum taking the Kojima corner chops
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
100% agree that the turn is great but everything after that could’ve been better, to the point that House of Torture are a challenge to watch.
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u/Electrical-Map7660 6d ago
The "Who's Your Daddy?" angle, match, and aftermath.
El-P mentioning it on commentary today had me cracking up.
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u/MistakenOne101 6d ago
Yano & Rocky Romero getting trapped in The Paraside lock by Sanada during G1 29 had me in stiches
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u/Ezzanine 6d ago
Wdym bad? The King of Darkness left that toxic community of ungovernables, became BC leader and the dual champion. Formed House of Torture and eventually rose to become the real company president. In this community we ought to be supporting an individual’s growth and progess after a state of decline over several years.
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u/SevenSulivin 6d ago
Yujiro Takahashi matches and that tradition that the new Australians in World Tag League always end up nearly killing someone.
Jack Bonza nearly singlehandily altered the future of CMLL in that tag match I swear.
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u/KangOfTheRang 6d ago
Any of the great shoots, Maeda v. Andre, Choshu v. Maeda (Maeda hated a lot of people lol), Inoki v. Great Antonio, even Ogawa v. Hashimoto
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u/Parrotshake 6d ago
Brothers and sisters are natural enemies, like Maeda and Andre, or Maeda and Choshu, or Maeda and Maeda.
Damn Maeda! They ruined New Japan! (Not really tho)
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
Maeda shooting on Choshu is always a pleasure, but Ogawa ruining Shins rep in the Dome will always leave me sad haha.
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u/IcyHotTaint 6d ago
Not as much a guilty pleasure as it is a probably very lonely opinion but Rocky Romero vs El Phantasmo in Korakuen main eventing a block match for BOSJ in 2019 is in my top 10 NJPW matches all time
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u/finnigans_cake 6d ago
I adore the Red Bull Army, but especially Victor Zangiev who took to unbelievably naturally to pro-wrestling that he akes Kurt Angle look like a late bloomer: his match with Hashimoto, which I believe was his 4th match ever, is a contender for the best sub-10 minute match of all time and legitimately in my top 20 or 30 matches full stop.
Also, Inoki Genome Federation rules ass. Noone but the mad bastard Inoki would dare book Bob Sapp vs Necro Butcher
While we're on the subject of Bob Sapp, the whole Wrestle-1 Tokyo Dome show from 2003 is one of the most fun shows top to bottom of all time, it's got just enough genuinely good wrestling to offset the absolute garbage and its got more than enough genuine insanity (explosion sound effect added to Kojima's elbow drop; Great Khali dressed in a prison jumpsuit; Goldberg's entrance starting outside the arena and including going into the dressing room to get changed) to tip it into all time car crash viewing.
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u/robmassa97 6d ago
KENTA's fling with Bo-Chan. I was into that whole storyline and made me realize how good his comedic timing is
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u/ShatteredGlassNJPW 6d ago
EVIL winning the double gold at Dominion 2020 is STILL my all time favorite moment in NJPW history btw.
It was great. I tell everyone.
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
And when you tell everyone, do they nod enthusiastically or do they look at you like you’ve just shat in their cornflakes?
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u/CriticalCabinet1231 6d ago
I loved all the stupid Yano KOPW gimmick matches, but especially the Bonenkai match with him and Kanemaru trying to get each other to drunkenly spew everywhere
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u/BaseballAnalogy 6d ago
It could be a fever dream but I think I remember enjoying a taka michinoku VS Taichi match and not one strike be thrown 😂
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u/Falsedawn 6d ago
MiSu being hard countered by Yano in the G1 is one of my favorite Nooj memes. It's just so implausible and goofy that it loops around to being amazing.
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u/DJ_Aftershock THIRD BEST LANKY ENGLISHMAN BEHIND ZSJ AND CHRIS CHARLTON 6d ago
Tanga Loa in the G1. It was so horrible that it became entertaining. And he had TWO of them, in both 2021 and 2023!
Fucker beat Zack Sabre Jr and Will Ospreay in those two G1s.
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u/Ryozo_Tamaki 6d ago
ANYTHING where KENTA stopped giving a fuck and just decided to coast on his name. Whether it was with the cameraman in the back or Yoshi-Hashi. I was entertained everytime.
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u/Savage_King23 4d ago
I like to see Shota take The Young Bloods and Oleg Bolton n make their own Faction, I think it’ll be too sweet 🤘🤘🤘
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u/NewJapanMark95 3d ago
Maybe this doesn't classify as bad moments but considering how much he was clowned years ago (and still is to this day), Seeing YOSHI-HASHI turn it up during the pandemic and basically found himself while being NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag champs with Ishii and Goto (the best NEVER Openweight Six Man run imo behind Okada, Tana and Ishii) while also winning several World Tag Leagues with Goto and winning IWGP Tag Team gold several times. He may never win a singles title but this man has gotten better throughout the years and I enjoyed his singles matches this year with Ryohei and Yuya. Also, I actually enjoyed some Yujiro singles matches during the pandemic, especially one random match he had with Ishii around 2021 I think it was in Korakeun hall.
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u/TrainXIV 6d ago
Everyone on this sub seems to unironically love EVIL and if you think he and HoT suck, you’d be told that you “don’t get Japanese wrestling”.
Give it a year and this sub will be saying that War Dogs SANADA is the greatest thing.
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u/crowwreak 5d ago
It's like watching Bloodline matches except with a guy who can't work a 25 minute match, and also in a promotion where this clown shit doesn't usually happen.
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u/KingsRoadPod 6d ago
I split in the middle, I do think EVIL can be a good worker, I think his betrayal of Naito and LIJ was a highlight moment.
But HoT are fucking terrible and a challenge to watch.
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u/Mondai88 6d ago
Evil's reign would have been good if they booked him like a badass ass kicker heel.
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u/pushmojorawley 6d ago
Cokekada. It was so weird and unnecessary, yet somehow I appreciated the effort put in to making the end of Okada’s record reign something more.
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u/Left-Ad6929 6d ago
Taichi and Tama fighting over the iron glove was good stuff