BRM Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXIV: Day 6

[Big Red Machine]

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXIV: Day 6 (5/23/2017)- Tochigi, Japan

BLOCK A MATCH: Marty Scurll vs. TAKA Michinoku- 4/10
Not much to say because they really didn’t do much.

BLOCK A MATCH: Will Ospreay vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger- 6.25/10
Liger lost, which all but eliminates him from what he had announced would be his final Best of the Super Juniors Tournament- a tournament he has been virtually synonymous with- just half-way in, showing that nothing has been learned from last year’s similar treatment of Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the G1. It’s more evidence that Gedo really doesn’t know how to tell a story on anything above the most basic level of “guy wins lots of matches.” He has shown himself to be pretty good at making stars by protecting guys, but in terms of actually telling stories with them, he is at a level of only the most basic competence (hence the lack of real stories in the G1. The story every year is just “it’s a clusterf*ck at the top”). He’s not going to have these terrible inconsistencies like you’d see out of Vince Russo or Delirious, but, like the proverbial blind squirrels that they are, those guys do also occasionally find nuts. Gedo doesn’t even go looking. He has just gotten lucky that a number of very nutritious nuts have fallen into his lap and he has done a good job of preserving his store by rationing them out.

BLOCK A MATCH: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taichi (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 7/10
This is a great match that would have been even better if they had cut out the first chunk of it, which consisted of bland heel stuff from Taichi, some dumb comedy with pants, and the Taichi wailing on Hiromu with a chair right in front of the referee without being disqualified. The rest of it was a great story about guys working over each other’s heads, but that first part really brought it down.

BLOCK A MATCH: Dragon Lee vs. Ricochet- 7.75/10
They did some cool stuff but at this point in the tournament it feels like I’ve seen most of it already. It’s going to take a story being told in the ring to really draw me in.

This was a fine show, but nothing blow-away either. You should probably check out the main event if you have the time, but there really isn’t anything you need to go out of your way to see. 

[cero2k]

BLOCK A MATCH: Will Ospreay vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger- 6.25/10
Liger lost, which all but eliminates him from what he had announced would be his final Best of the Super Juniors Tournament- a tournament he has been virtually synonymous with- just half-way in, showing that nothing has been learned from last year’s similar treatment of Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the G1. It’s more evidence that Gedo really doesn’t know how to tell a story on anything above the most basic level of “guy wins lots of matches.” He has shown himself to be pretty good at making stars by protecting guys, but in terms of actually telling stories with them, he is at a level of only the most basic competence (hence the lack of real stories in the G1. The story every year is just “it’s a clusterf*ck at the top”). He’s not going to have these terrible inconsistencies like you’d see out of Vince Russo or Delirious, but, like the proverbial blind squirrels that they are, those guys do also occasionally find nuts. Gedo doesn’t even go looking. He has just gotten lucky that a number of very nutritious nuts have fallen into his lap and he has done a good job of preserving his store by rationing them out.

i do wonder how much of this is Gedo booking, and how much is Liger wanting to put everyone over in his final BOSJ, it would be a good indication why his group was so loaded to begin with

[Big Red Machine]

BLOCK A MATCH: Will Ospreay vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger- 6.25/10
Liger lost, which all but eliminates him from what he had announced would be his final Best of the Super Juniors Tournament- a tournament he has been virtually synonymous with- just half-way in, showing that nothing has been learned from last year’s similar treatment of Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the G1. It’s more evidence that Gedo really doesn’t know how to tell a story on anything above the most basic level of “guy wins lots of matches.” He has shown himself to be pretty good at making stars by protecting guys, but in terms of actually telling stories with them, he is at a level of only the most basic competence (hence the lack of real stories in the G1. The story every year is just “it’s a clusterf*ck at the top”). He’s not going to have these terrible inconsistencies like you’d see out of Vince Russo or Delirious, but, like the proverbial blind squirrels that they are, those guys do also occasionally find nuts. Gedo doesn’t even go looking. He has just gotten lucky that a number of very nutritious nuts have fallen into his lap and he has done a good job of preserving his store by rationing them out.

i do wonder how much of this is Gedo booking, and how much is Liger wanting to put everyone over in his final BOSJ, it would be a good indication why his group was so loaded to begin with

Personally, I would tell him that putting someone over in a round robin doesn't mean sh*t unless you make sure it happens in a very important spot and also follow up on it because everyone knows that there are going to have to be a few upsets, (although Gedo's booking of guys like Tananashi and Naito in last year's G1 shows that he clearly doesn't understand this). I'd also tell him that he 1) can put those guys over down the road and 2) has been putting some of them over decently often already. Also I'd tell him that I'm the booker and I have decided that the best thing to do for business is to give the greatest junior heavyweight of all time one last moment of glory.

Dammit, now look what your line of questioning has made me do:

I probably would have swapped Hiromu and BUSHI, and have Block B come down to Volador Jr. and Hiromu alive on the final day of block competition with Hiromu facing KUSHIDA, who has had a disappointing tournament for him and setting up for people to expect KUSHIDA to spoil Hiromu's chances of winning but Hiromu would beat him again to further that long-term story, which would force Volador to have to win his match on the final day against Kanemaru, so we'd have Volador facing interference from not only Suzuki-Gun but LIJ as well trying to stop him from winning, though Dragon Lee and some of the Taguchi Japan type of random babyfaces would help him out to make it one-on-one again and Volador would win to advance to the finals (and also to set up Volador and Dragon Lee as a team for the Super Juniors Tag Team Tournament).
Block A would be my clusterf*ck block where we try to keep a good chunk of people alive on the final day (which would allow for Liger to put as many people over as possible in the tournament, but also to hopefully make some effort to disguise where we are going). One of them would be Dragon Lee, who would get screwed by cheating from the already-eliminated Taichi (to help explain why he would help Volador Jr. the next night). I would probably have it come down to Liger and Marty on the final day in the main event with Liger pulling out the win. Liger would then go on to beat Volador Jr. in the finals and earn himself a title shot at Dominion against Hiromu where he would just fall short. We could then announce his retirement next May to try to fill a dome, and he can put people over to his heart's delight in between the G1 and that show.

[cero2k]

you say it like you're not talking to Liger, but it Liger says he WANTS to put everyone over, he puts everyone over. I don't disagree with you, but it's the kind of thing where the vet wants to go out on their back

[Big Red Machine]

you say it like you're not talking to Liger, but it Liger says he WANTS to put everyone over, he puts everyone over. I don't disagree with you, but it's the kind of thing where the vet wants to go out on their back

But he's not "going out" just yet, is he? If he was retiring surely they would have announced it. He can spend the next six months putting people over, but this isn't the time for it. This, like the Tenzan thing last year, is a feel-bad moment. Gedo is basically telling us that our hero is way too old and broken down to go anymore and rubbing it in our faces.
Also, Gedo is a veteran, too, and veteran or not, you do what the booker tells you to do.

[cero2k]

But he's not "going out" just yet, is he? If he was retiring surely they would have announced it. He can spend the next six months putting people over, but this isn't the time for it. This, like the Tenzan thing last year, is a feel-bad moment. Gedo is basically telling us that our hero is way too old and broken down to go anymore and rubbing it in our faces.
Also, Gedo is a veteran, too, and veteran or not, you do what the booker tells you to do.

that i don't know, but it may become a Ric Flair type of thing where a losing streak leads to his final hoora

[Big Red Machine]

But he's not "going out" just yet, is he? If he was retiring surely they would have announced it. He can spend the next six months putting people over, but this isn't the time for it. This, like the Tenzan thing last year, is a feel-bad moment. Gedo is basically telling us that our hero is way too old and broken down to go anymore and rubbing it in our faces.
Also, Gedo is a veteran, too, and veteran or not, you do what the booker tells you to do.

that i don't know, but it may become a Ric Flair type of thing where a losing streak leads to his final hoora

I think you've got the Flair angle backwards. Vince told him that he would have to retire if he lost. He was on a winning streak until Shawn beat him and forced him into retirement.
And do you really think that's what is going to happen, given the "stories" Gedo has "told" over the years? He knows how to protect people to create big match-ups but that's all he knows how to do. He doesn't know what to do with the wrestlers to make the various match-ups feel different from each other.

[cero2k]

I think you've got the Flair angle backwards. Vince told him that he would have to retire if he lost. He was on a winning streak until Shawn beat him and forced him into retirement.
And do you really think that's what is going to happen, given the "stories" Gedo has "told" over the years? He knows how to protect people to create big match-ups but that's all he knows how to do. He doesn't know what to do with the wrestlers to make the various match-ups feel different from each other.

not a Gedo thing, but considering Japan, I think they're just gonna keep Liger in there doing whatever he wants, some small feuds here and there a la Nagata/Tenzan/etc. As nice as Liger winning his last BOSJ, or going to the finals, it also doesn't make sense for the man saying it's my last and winning everything, if he loses everything, then at least he has a point saying that he's too old for this.

[Big Red Machine]

I think you've got the Flair angle backwards. Vince told him that he would have to retire if he lost. He was on a winning streak until Shawn beat him and forced him into retirement.
And do you really think that's what is going to happen, given the "stories" Gedo has "told" over the years? He knows how to protect people to create big match-ups but that's all he knows how to do. He doesn't know what to do with the wrestlers to make the various match-ups feel different from each other.

not a Gedo thing, but considering Japan, I think they're just gonna keep Liger in there doing whatever he wants, some small feuds here and there a la Nagata/Tenzan/etc. As nice as Liger winning his last BOSJ, or going to the finals, it also doesn't make sense for the man saying it's my last and winning everything, if he loses everything, then at least he has a point saying that he's too old for this.

It's called a swan-song. He says it's his last one because he knows his body is going and he thinks this will be the last year he has a chance. So you can have him win it but then fail to win the belt and job him out for the next eleven months and even if he won this year it makes sense that he wouldn't think he can win again next week if he hasn't beaten anyone in a year and also he then wouldn't be going back on his word.

If you just have him get beaten the whole time so that he's not even close you don't gain anything from even announcing that this is his last one, so why make the announcement. IMO saying "this is my last chance" and then getting beaten every night doesn't just validate the idea that this should be your last one: it says "last time should have been your last one because you couldn't even put up a respectable showing this time." Better to not announce it at all.

What feuds have Nagata and Tenzan had? Nagata traded a belt back and forth with Shibata once and that's it.