Opinion
Chris Platt’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 Diary
Chairshot Radio personality Christopher Platt brings you his diary of New Japan WrestleKingdom 13! Follow along and see how the show struck him.
Greetings & Salutations. It’s your man, Mr. Velvet Pipes and novice New Japan watcher, giving you a running diary of Wrestle Kingdom 13!
NEVER Openweight Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs Will Ospreay
- Tonight’s festivities are kicking off with Will Ospreay facing Kota Ibushi
- These are two of my favorites in the world to watch inside a ring & two of the best in the world period
- Good to see Ospreay’s neck still in place
- Ibushi has the Ric Flair circa NWO Nitro haircut
- Does every NJPW match have to have the dick measuring, forearm spot in the middle of the ring?
- Damn, that knee Will took was something else
- BTW, Kevin Kelley is doing his best Michael Cole impersonation on commentary
- There you go Will! A Melonfarmer naught gonna keep slapping me in the face without getting kicked in the face
- Kota looking like Koba from Planet of the Apes
- Damn good match
- There’s only so much of a push you can expect for Ibushi considering how he doesn’t want to sign long-term with anyone
- Kota doing the stretcher job
- Ospreay is the future of this industry
- If he can find a way to not break his neck, add 20 lbs, and maintain his agility, he’ll be a main eventer anywhere in the world
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Roppongi 3k vs Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado(c)
- Next up we have the boy band known as Roppongi 3k vs Kanwmru & El Desperado vs BUSHI & Shingo Takagi for the IWGP Jr Tag Team Titles
- I gotta admit, nobody does pomp and circumstance like NJPW. Americans could learn a lot from them. There’s only so many nondescript white guys in plan trunks doing flipping shit you can see
- Nothing wrong with adding sizzle to the steak
- Chico El Luchador >Rocky Romero
- This brother has a Japanese mullet
- Sho looks like a tan Justin Bieber
- Hell of a clothesline
- Is that Jushin on commentary?
- Mulletman picks up the win for his squad.
- Word to the wise…don’t fight a man with a mullet or jheri curl in 2018
- The Boy Band mad they lost their belts… you can only be so tough looking like a boy band
- NJPW going to LA to Charlotte to Nashville…that’s like going from Ruth’s Chris, to Waffle House, to gas station taquitos
Rev Pro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title: Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii (c)
- ZSJ give me Alex Wright vibes
- ZSJ looks like the lost member of Cobra Kai
- Sweep the leg Zack!
- Thus far, everyone’s hair on the show looks like they stop seeing American tv in 1999
- Ishii left his neck at home for tonight’s festivities.
- ZSJ and Roderick Strong should have a winner is the next Superman match
- Is Ishii a bear or pit pull Kevin Kelley cause that’s quite a difference
- ZSJ looks like me in tighty whiteys..with a slightly bigger bulge
- I mean me with the bigger bulge
- All jokes aside, Michael Phelps is a damn good wrestler
- I meant ZSJ
- ZSJ wins British Heavyweight title in a decent match
- Just hard to believe a giraffe could beat rhinoceros
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Championships: EVIL & SANADA vs The Young Bucks vs Guerillas of Destiny (c)
- Up next The Young Bucks (maybe the best team in the world) vs Evil and Sanada vs Guerillas of Destiny for the IWGP tag titles
- “The Good Guy” Tama Tanga!
- The Tanga’s dad could beat up everybody in the ring at the same damn time
- I wasn’t the biggest Bucks fan but they showed me something in 2018
- Evil’s a bad ass
- Train wreck of a match but I can dig it!
- Gotta be a plus going through such a cutthroat industry with your brother
- Evil and Sanda pick up the win a good frenetic paced tag match
IWGP US Heavyweight Title: Cody (c) vs Juice Robinson
- My main man Juice Robinson is up next facing Cody
- Juice has all the tools: charisma, the look, and good enough in the ring to be a huge star
- Shout out to Cody for having the hottest chick in the game
- Cody and Brandi rocking the Jaguar colors
- Pure coincidence I’m sure
- What are the odds we see Dustin Rhodes in AEW in some capacity?
- Cody and Brandi are legit one of the hottest acts in the game
- Side note: Pump Friction was the name I gave to the porno I’d show young ladies back at the dorm in college
- Juice won. Wow…didn’t see that coming (note the sarcasm)
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title: Kushida (c) vs Taiji Ishimori
- Now we have Kushida vs Taiji Ishimori
- I don’t know about you but I have a strong craving for top ramen right now
- Shout out to Doc Brown and Marty McFly
- Oh my God he killed a kid!
- The rest of this article is dedicated to that kid that got blown up
- I don’t wanna hear any of you lames saying WWE has too many titles when every match on this card has been for a title thus far
- In terms of in ring product, pro wrestling is at an all-time high; I still miss legit stars though
- If you’ll excuse me, this appears to be the smoke break match
- And yet another title change. Can’t lie, all these title changes have been surprising. It’s almost as if New Japan is preparing for a mass exodus or something
Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White
- Now we have Okada vs Jay White
- Okada has been living his best life since losing the heavyweight title
- He seems to be having a lot more fun wrestling
- New Japan has strapped the rocket to Jay White’s back and he’s delivered
- He’s delivered more than I thought he could and is heading towards being a legit main eventer
- Jay White is the correct moniker…only thing more fitting is Jay Casper
- Okada’s so damn good in the ring
- Wow. Don Callis quoting Lex Luger
- He made up for it by calling Gedo a human wood tick. Classic
- I do like that NJPW makes wins and loses count. There’s something to that
- Okada throws a pretty legit flying elbow
- Excellent heel work by Jay White in this bout
- The crowd is into it for really the first time this evening
- That’s a testament to both Okada being the man and Jay White’s heel persona
- Good match with Jay White picking up the win.
- Honestly thought this one could have used a little more time
- It appears New Japan is basically using the Tanahashi story for Okada
No Disqualification IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs Chris Jericho (c)
- The ‘Best in the World’ Chris Jericho puts his Intercontinental Title on the line vs Naito
- Naito looking like a cross between ‘Saturday Night Fever’ and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’
- Seriously Japan, I dig the pageantry, but let’s get y’all some tapes from this millennium
- Coming to the ring with your band’s music = GOAT status
- Jericho dressed like the Legion of Marcel Marceau
- Red Shoes!
- Shout out to Y2J representing for all the dad bods out there
- Vintage Jericho with the springboard dropkick
- I think Naito just lost a couple of inches
- Jericho is teaching a master’s class on being a heel tonight
- Naito is really good as well
- He oozes charisma and is doing a great job playing the sympathetic babyface
- The announcers are doing a good job of playing up how big of a deal Jericho is
- I love how the Boston Crab has become the Walls of Jericho
- The crowd is really into this one
- Got em!
- Kick out!
- Naito with the Codebreaker!
- This is the hottest the crowd has been all night
- German on the chair!
- LOL Callis with the ‘Japanese two’
- They’re starting to pick up the pace
- Match of the night thus far!
- Both men played their parts well and the No DQ stip really helped
- The gaga helped a veteran Jericho who doesn’t has fastball any more tell an entertaining story
- Well played by both men
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Now we have our main event with Omega defending his World Heavyweight Title vs Tanahashi
- New Japan has done an excellent job of telling the Tanahshi road to redemption story
- The outcome of this match will tell us quite a bit about the immediate future of pro wrestling
- Apparently, Omega killed an eagle on his way to the ring
- Wonder how the lack of his ‘partner’ at ringside will affect Kenny
- There’s a definite big fight feel that’s coming through the tv
- Is Kenny the best big match wrestler in the game?
- I’d really like to see Omega wrestle Ricochet or AJ Styles
- I’d like to see Tanhashi versus Cena or Pentagon Jr
- Omega playing the good cocky heel
- Callus having a good night on the stick
- Tanahashi’s chest looks like hamburger meat
- Red Shoes!
- Kenny tweaked his knee
- Tanahashi tweaked Kenny’s knee
- That cloverleaf gotta hurt in real life
- Styles Clash!
- Damn! That sounds like it hurt
- Which one goes through the table?
- Welp. Asked and answered
- Oh shit! I don’t know how you fake some of this stuff
- Here we go with the dick check….but they’ve earned it
- They been wrestling for a minute now
- I hate to agreed with Ballz and Meltzer but this is a damn good match
- Hell of a reverse of the one winged angel
- The crowd is bananas
- Omega kicked out of 2 consecutive frog splashes
- DRGAON SUPLEX OFF THE TOPPPPPP!
- And the crowd goes wild!
- Tanahashi picks up the win
- Which pretty much means Kenny’s going to All Elite
- Overall the show started off strong, lagged in the middle, but pick up steam in the last 2 matches
- Omega/Tanahashi did the damn thing. Match of the night, and set the bar high for the rest of the year
Overall
- Somewhat of a transitional show, with a a lot of theoretical moving parts
- But if you’re a wrestling fan, I recommend you checking it out
- I give the show overall a 7/10
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY – DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY – The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY – The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!