Naito vs. Elgin to headline NJPW Power Struggle

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

New Japan tonight announced the Power Struggle lineup, which is the final major show of the year on November 5th at the Edion Arena in Osaka.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin for the IC title is the main event, although Elgin suffered a broken eye socket in his left eye at yesterday's King of Pro Wrestling show in Sumo Hall from a low dropkick by Naito. As of right now, there is no word on whether he'll need surgery, which could force a change in the main event.

Three more title matches are on the show, as Katsuyori Shibata defends the NEVER title against EVIL, BUSHI defends the IWGP jr. title against KUSHIDA and the tag team titles are on the line with Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa defending against YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii.

In addition, there will be a Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Seiya Sanada singles match, as well as the finals of the junior heavyweight tag team tournament which starts on October 21st.

The first round matches of that tournament are Young Bucks vs. ACH & Taiji Ishimori, David Finlay & Ricochet vs. Gedo & Will Ospreay, Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Fuego and Rocky Romero & Baretta vs. Angel de Oro & Titan.

[Big Red Machine]

Yeah... New Japan has really screwed up the follow-up to their G1 booking. Sometimes champions don't automatically get rematches, but sometimes they do. Guys who pin champions should get title shots, but half of the time they don't. The Fale thing is the absolute worst of it, obviously: He pins Okada in the G1, then his booked to face him in a big match on one of the Destruction shows... but it's non-title? And he does the job? WHY? If Okada's going to beat him, why not just give him the title match he should have earned.
If Elgin is going to lose the IC belt to Naito- who is getting a title shot because he beat Elgin in the G1-, shouldn't EVIL- who also beat Elgin in the G1- get an IC Title shot? And if you don't want to have EVIL face Naito for the belt, then why didn't you have Elgin defend the belt against him at one of the two Destruction shows before Elgin dropped the belt to Naito? And why the f*ck is GOTO getting a G1 briefcase match when he LOST to Omega, while Elgin, who beat Omega in the G1, isn't?
As things stand now, by the time we get to the Dome:
- The G1 winner, who lost to three guys in the G1, will have defended the briefcase against just one of them over the course of five major shows.
-The IWGP Heavyweight Champion,who lost to three guys in the G1, will have defended the title against just one of them over the course of five major shows (and yet, for some reason, also beat one of them in a non-title match).
- The IWGP Intercontinental Champion lost to four guys in the G1, but only one of them will wind up getting a title shot
- The NEVER Openweight Champion, who lost to four guys in the G1, will have defended the title against just one of them (although at least he had two other defenses against two other guys who had recently beaten him).

What's even the point of splitting PPVs into two or three shows if you're not going to use that opportunities it provides you do to anything more than filler?

[cero2k]

Yeah... New Japan has really screwed up the follow-up to their G1 booking. Sometimes champions don't automatically get rematches, but sometimes they do. Guys who pin champions should get title shots, but half of the time they don't. The Fale thing is the absolute worst of it, obviously: He pins Okada in the G1, then his booked to face him in a big match on one of the Destruction shows... but it's non-title? And he does the job? WHY? If Okada's going to beat him, why not just give him the title match he should have earned.
they did say that if BLF won that match he would get a title shot, but you're right in all accounts, why not make it a title shot for Okada to put in the bag.

If Elgin is going to lose the IC belt to Naito- who is getting a title shot because he beat Elgin in the G1-, shouldn't EVIL- who also beat Elgin in the G1- get an IC Title shot? And if you don't want to have EVIL face Naito for the belt, then why didn't you have Elgin defend the belt against him at one of the two Destruction shows before Elgin dropped the belt to Naito? And why the f*ck is GOTO getting a G1 briefcase match when he LOST to Omega, while Elgin, who beat Omega in the G1, isn't?
this one is understandable, EVIL can't get a title shot after Naito takes the title and Elgin is entitle to rematch before Naito/Tana starts to build up, EVIL could take on Elgin for a no 1 contenders spot, but Elgin already has that anyway, so EVIL may as well go for another title in Shibata, who he also defeated in the G1. I totally believe they didn't want to defeat EVIL now since he could lose the momentum they want him to have if he is gonna chase Shibata.

Goto vs Omega was a challenge thing, so i guess it's ok, and Omega did put the titleshot on the line against YOSHI-HASHI, by all means Elgin could go for the titleshot too if he wanted, but he wants to get the title back, same with Shibata. AND Naito vs Omega is definitely worth saving for a bigger show, if Omega wins the title WK, Omega vs Naito for the title should be HUGE

As things stand now, by the time we get to the Dome:
- The G1 winner, who lost to three guys in the G1, will have defended the briefcase against just one of them over the course of five major shows.
-The IWGP Heavyweight Champion,who lost to three guys in the G1, will have defended the title against just one of them over the course of five major shows (and yet, for some reason, also beat one of them in a non-title match).
- The IWGP Intercontinental Champion lost to four guys in the G1, but only one of them will wind up getting a title shot
Do you mean Elgin or Naito? In Elgin's case, they could have had ElginVNaito title change be at power struggle, but since i think they want Tana to win the title at WK11, they wanted to give Naito a longer reign. The others are Evil (who i already explained) and Yano, who is to my belief, doing more NOAH stuff right now.
In Naito's case, both Omega and Shibata have 'titles' so they themselves have to focus on defending those on their side and I don't think they would want the IC title defending against lesser titles. They MAY do Naito vs Nagata for power struggle now that Elgin is injured.

- The NEVER Openweight Champion, who lost to four guys in the G1, will have defended the title against just one of them (although at least he had two other defenses against two other guys who had recently beaten him).

What's even the point of splitting PPVs into two or three shows if you're not going to use that opportunities it provides you do to anything more than filler?

[Big Red Machine]

Yeah... New Japan has really screwed up the follow-up to their G1 booking. Sometimes champions don't automatically get rematches, but sometimes they do. Guys who pin champions should get title shots, but half of the time they don't. The Fale thing is the absolute worst of it, obviously: He pins Okada in the G1, then his booked to face him in a big match on one of the Destruction shows... but it's non-title? And he does the job? WHY? If Okada's going to beat him, why not just give him the title match he should have earned.
they did say that if BLF won that match he would get a title shot, but you're right in all accounts, why not make it a title shot for Okada to put in the bag.

If Elgin is going to lose the IC belt to Naito- who is getting a title shot because he beat Elgin in the G1-, shouldn't EVIL- who also beat Elgin in the G1- get an IC Title shot? And if you don't want to have EVIL face Naito for the belt, then why didn't you have Elgin defend the belt against him at one of the two Destruction shows before Elgin dropped the belt to Naito? And why the f*ck is GOTO getting a G1 briefcase match when he LOST to Omega, while Elgin, who beat Omega in the G1, isn't?
this one is understandable, EVIL can't get a title shot after Naito takes the title and Elgin is entitle to rematch before Naito/Tana starts to build up, EVIL could take on Elgin for a no 1 contenders spot, but Elgin already has that anyway, so EVIL may as well go for another title in Shibata, who he also defeated in the G1. I totally believe they didn't want to defeat EVIL now since he could lose the momentum they want him to have if he is gonna chase Shibata.
There is nothing that says Elgin deserves his shot "first." Tanahashi never even got a rematch after losing to AJ in Feb. 2015. And even so, EVIL beat Elgin before Elgin lost the belt (and thus before Elgin was entitled to a rematch), so using that logic, EVIL should get his match first, anyway. There is no reason they couldn't have given EVIL a shot at an earlier Destruction show (which could have even been used as part of a story about LIJ wearing Elgin down for Naito).
I don't think there are any plans for EVIL to "chase" Shibata. It's just a time-filling match, like Shibata's defense against Homna on the Kuzuna Road tour was. And speaking of Honma, he pinned Shibata before anyone did, so shouldn't he get his shot first?
As for the need to build to Tanahashi vs. Naito... I don't think they should be doing that match at all this year (I think it would be best for both New Japan and Tanahashi himself to win the heavyweight tag belts with Elgin at the Dome), but even if they are, giving EVIL the title shot he is entitled to back in September wouldn't hurt this build at all. This show should have had Naito defending the IC Title belt against Nakajima and Omega defending the briefcase against Elgin.


Goto vs Omega was a challenge thing, so i guess it's ok, and Omega did put the titleshot on the line against YOSHI-HASHI, by all means Elgin could go for the titleshot too if he wanted, but he wants to get the title back, same with Shibata. AND Naito vs Omega is definitely worth saving for a bigger show, if Omega wins the title WK, Omega vs Naito for the title should be HUGE
I agree that Omega vs. Naito is worth saving, but you don't have to do that one because Naito wasn't the champ when Omega beat him in the G1. As for the whole "well it was a challenge" thing... if Omega didn't have anyone else to defend against that would be one thing, but that's not the case. He's got both Elgin and Shibata, both of whom should be huge matches for him (and are all the more reason that they should have taken the NEVER belt off of Shibata. Actually, if they had put it on Kyle it would have:
1. Freed up Shibata to challenge for things he has earned
2. Let Shibata take those losses without adding further entanglements to who deserves a shot at what title which get even screwier when you have two champions facing off.
3. Lets the people who have earned NEVER shots get them against Kyle, earlier in the card
4. Gets over the "openweight" part of the NEVER belt name
5. Helps ROH out a bit by making Kyle look like a bigger star (and they could even help ROH out by sanctioning one of those NEVER title defenses on an ROH show).

As things stand now, by the time we get to the Dome:
- The G1 winner, who lost to three guys in the G1, will have defended the briefcase against just one of them over the course of five major shows.
-The IWGP Heavyweight Champion,who lost to three guys in the G1, will have defended the title against just one of them over the course of five major shows (and yet, for some reason, also beat one of them in a non-title match).
- The IWGP Intercontinental Champion lost to four guys in the G1, but only one of them will wind up getting a title shot
Do you mean Elgin or Naito? In Elgin's case, they could have had ElginVNaito title change be at power struggle, but since i think they want Tana to win the title at WK11, they wanted to give Naito a longer reign. The others are Evil (who i already explained) and Yano, who is to my belief, doing more NOAH stuff right now.
In Naito's case, both Omega and Shibata have 'titles' so they themselves have to focus on defending those on their side and I don't think they would want the IC title defending against lesser titles. They MAY do Naito vs Nagata for power struggle now that Elgin is injured.
I really hope you're wrong about them having Tanahashi win the title from Naito at the Dome. Naito is getting so over and having such great matches that now is 100% the time to push him. They already gave him a short reign with the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Another short one (and 3 and a half months is short when you only defend the belt once before losing it) would kill him.

[cero2k]

There is nothing that says Elgin deserves his shot "first." Tanahashi never even got a rematch after losing to AJ in Feb. 2015. And even so, EVIL beat Elgin before Elgin lost the belt (and thus before Elgin was entitled to a rematch), so using that logic, EVIL should get his match first, anyway. There is no reason they couldn't have given EVIL a shot at an earlier Destruction show (which could have even been used as part of a story about LIJ wearing Elgin down for Naito).
I don't think there are any plans for EVIL to "chase" Shibata. It's just a time-filling match, like Shibata's defense against Homna on the Kuzuna Road tour was. And speaking of Honma, he pinned Shibata before anyone did, so shouldn't he get his shot first?
As for the need to build to Tanahashi vs. Naito... I don't think they should be doing that match at all this year (I think it would be best for both New Japan and Tanahashi himself to win the heavyweight tag belts with Elgin at the Dome), but even if they are, giving EVIL the title shot he is entitled to back in September wouldn't hurt this build at all. This show should have had Naito defending the IC Title belt against Nakajima and Omega defending the briefcase against Elgin.

I agree with all this, but i do kinda understand why they did things their way. So who do you see Shibata working at WK11?

I really hope you're wrong about them having Tanahashi win the title from Naito at the Dome. Naito is getting so over and having such great matches that now is 100% the time to push him. They already gave him a short reign with the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Another short one (and 3 and a half months is short when you only defend the belt once before losing it) would kill him.
i'm with you on this one, he shouldn't lose, but i find it hard to believe Tana takes another lose at WK, I mean they're considering doing the vote to put Tana in the main event.

[Big Red Machine]

There is nothing that says Elgin deserves his shot "first." Tanahashi never even got a rematch after losing to AJ in Feb. 2015. And even so, EVIL beat Elgin before Elgin lost the belt (and thus before Elgin was entitled to a rematch), so using that logic, EVIL should get his match first, anyway. There is no reason they couldn't have given EVIL a shot at an earlier Destruction show (which could have even been used as part of a story about LIJ wearing Elgin down for Naito).
I don't think there are any plans for EVIL to "chase" Shibata. It's just a time-filling match, like Shibata's defense against Homna on the Kuzuna Road tour was. And speaking of Honma, he pinned Shibata before anyone did, so shouldn't he get his shot first?
As for the need to build to Tanahashi vs. Naito... I don't think they should be doing that match at all this year (I think it would be best for both New Japan and Tanahashi himself to win the heavyweight tag belts with Elgin at the Dome), but even if they are, giving EVIL the title shot he is entitled to back in September wouldn't hurt this build at all. This show should have had Naito defending the IC Title belt against Nakajima and Omega defending the briefcase against Elgin.

I agree with all this, but i do kinda understand why they did things their way. So who do you see Shibata working at WK11?

I really hope you're wrong about them having Tanahashi win the title from Naito at the Dome. Naito is getting so over and having such great matches that now is 100% the time to push him. They already gave him a short reign with the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Another short one (and 3 and a half months is short when you only defend the belt once before losing it) would kill him.
i'm with you on this one, he shouldn't lose, but i find it hard to believe Tana takes another lose at WK, I mean they're considering doing the vote to put Tana in the main event.
So that thing that helped kill Naito in the first place. How stupid are they?

[cero2k]

I'm watching KOPW right now, some of the booking of Power Struggle makes more sense now

[Big Red Machine]

I'm watching KOPW right now, some of the booking of Power Struggle makes more sense now

It's not that the booking of the actual matches doesn't make sense as it is that the choices made by the kayfabe promotion don't make kayfabe sense.