NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2019 Main Event Revealed

[cero2k]

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (C) vs SANADA

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
Dragon Lee (C) vs Will Ospreay vs Taiji Ishimori vs X

EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii

X is supposed to be Phantasmo

[Big Red Machine]

Well that's a stupid main event. Okada just be Sanada in the New Japan Cup finals.

[cero2k]

Well that's a stupid main event. Okada just be Sanada in the New Japan Cup finals.

and he promised him a title shot

[Big Red Machine]

Well that's a stupid main event. Okada just be Sanada in the New Japan Cup finals.

and he promised him a title shot

That's fine and all, but Sanada still needs to earn the shot. At least give him a couple of singles wins between now and then. There is no reason Okada can't defend against someone more worthy at Dontaku while Sanada gets some wins and challenges Okada in the semi-main event of the BOSJ finals.

[cero2k]

Well that's a stupid main event. Okada just be Sanada in the New Japan Cup finals.

and he promised him a title shot

That's fine and all, but Sanada still needs to earn the shot. At least give him a couple of singles wins between now and then. There is no reason Okada can't defend against someone more worthy at Dontaku while Sanada gets some wins and challenges Okada in the semi-main event of the BOSJ finals.

I don't disagree that it's too soon, it almost gives me suspicion of a surprise win or swerve. I just disagree that SANADA needs to earn it with wins if Okada is giving it to him, in Okada's eyes, SANADA already earned it.

[Big Red Machine]

and he promised him a title shot

That's fine and all, but Sanada still needs to earn the shot. At least give him a couple of singles wins between now and then. There is no reason Okada can't defend against someone more worthy at Dontaku while Sanada gets some wins and challenges Okada in the semi-main event of the BOSJ finals.

I don't disagree that it's too soon, it almost gives me suspicion of a surprise win or swerve. I just disagree that SANADA needs to earn it with wins if Okada is giving it to him, in Okada's eyes, SANADA already earned it.

Who died and made Okada the kayfabe booker? Okada's opinion is important, sure, but it's important in the "it's a useful tiebreaker for someone on the fence" kind of way. It shouldn't override key facts like getting wins. Your goal differential doens't matter for squat in terms of getting into the NHL playoffs if sixteen other teams have more points than you do.

[cero2k]

Who died and made Okada the kayfabe booker? Okada's opinion is important, sure, but it's important in the "it's a useful tiebreaker for someone on the fence" kind of way. It shouldn't override key facts like getting wins. Your goal differential doens't matter for squat in terms of getting into the NHL playoffs if sixteen other teams have more points than you do.

no one died because NJPW doesn't have a booking authority. All title shots are done via challenges and stuff and they all go. What kind of weak champion doesn't have the minimum power to go to the office and say, I want to give this man a title shot on our next show. It's not like Okada is booking Dominion or WK.

[Big Red Machine]

Who died and made Okada the kayfabe booker? Okada's opinion is important, sure, but it's important in the "it's a useful tiebreaker for someone on the fence" kind of way. It shouldn't override key facts like getting wins. Your goal differential doens't matter for squat in terms of getting into the NHL playoffs if sixteen other teams have more points than you do.

no one died because NJPW doesn't have a booking authority. All title shots are done via challenges and stuff and they all go. What kind of weak champion doesn't have the minimum power to go to the office and say, I want to give this man a title shot on our next show. It's not like Okada is booking Dominion or WK.

They do have a booking authority, though. Someone is booking all of the matches on the shows, determining who is in which block for the G1 or what the brackets are for the New Japan Cup, etc.
The problem with the idea that "all title shots are done via challengers" and that's all there is to it is that it begs the question why the entire roster doesn't come out. Why is it almost always one guy/team? The concept of a booker/matchmaker/GM/championship committee, even if they are completely unseen like in EVOLVE and we just "get word from the back" that an unscheduled match has been authorized, creates a kayfabe reason for why this doesn't happen: Because the wrestlers know that the championship committee/authority figure won't take their petitions seriously unless they have some good wins under their belts. Sanada's most recent singles match was a loss to Okada, and he is now 0-4 in his career against the guy. Okada's charity is not enough to make this man a worthy challenger. I mean... if you want us to think that Sanada actually has some sort of claim to make us think he could beat Okada, at least have the finish of the New Japan Cup finals be Okada being locked in Skull End but flipping over with his head still in the hold like Riddle and TVD did at TakeOver (Bret and Austin at Survivor Series, or many other examples throughout history). Then you can at least have Okada admit that he was two seconds away from tapping out or something like that.

It's not that this sort of thing is a big deal the way that WWE/TNA/ROH logic problems are often big deals because of how stupid they are, but these sorts of things are, in their own way, almost more frustrating because of how easy it should be to get this right.

[KILLdozer]

BRM-you're your own worst enemy with this kind of thing lol