NJPW's Front Office Shakeup & EVIL’s Legacy + Goto vs Oiwa Preview | Speaking of Strong Style

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[SPEAKER_01]: New Japan was on the road this week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They had a couple of shows, some weather-addled, but nevertheless, they were able to get them done.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But all the news was overshadowed with the revelation that evil will indeed be leaving New Japan pro wrestling.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They made the former, now, the formal announcement this week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to talk about that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to look ahead to a couple of cork and haul shows this coming weekend.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All of it's in the service to set up new beginning in Osaka.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So there's a few things to go over right here, including some front office stuff that may or may not be significant, we're going to look at it for both directions.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So with Jeremy Feinstein, I'm Stephen Conway, this is Speaking of Strong Style.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome, everyone, to Speaking of Strongstyrene, we discussed the news issues and events surrounding New Japan pro wrestling.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Got a little volume this week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And Jeremy, you know, I was looking at this and we talked about it here on the show last week and it was on the minds of a lot of New Japan fans.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna cover evils to parter in a little while.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And although it was something that a lot of people saw coming and it was reported there were some house shows, but other than that, evil departing is a big deal, he's a former, he's a faction leader, not a former one and has been a key cog in this machine for quite a while, so play to go over there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: but no shows to watch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing was on NJPW world this week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So we were kind of passive observers for a lot of this.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I ended up catching up on other things.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The TJPW has this tag team tournament going.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I watched Start on my watch Marigold.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I watched them Noah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I've been catching up on other things around Japan, and of course as usual my Luchely Bre and things.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that's how I spent the week while scanning for other news and other Lion Mark.

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[SPEAKER_00]: message for anything interesting to talk about with the each fan of the click.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And they gave it to us.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And, but how did you spend your week out?

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[SPEAKER_01]: How have you been?

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[SPEAKER_01]: What's going on with you?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I am, I'm doing okay, Steven, in my life, from let's say like Dave's giving to around the 27th to 29th of January.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's just chaos for me because

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[SPEAKER_00]: Thanksgiving, it's Christmas, it's family, it's holidays, it's New York, it's my birthday, and we're ending it with the Queen Herbert Day at the end of all of this, and that has to end with the finale, and that looks on me, and I just finished all of that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So like the craziness of two months of my life is now behind me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm coming down from that level of like, okay, hold on to your hats.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I got a got a deliver on all these things in my life.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I really wanted to thank New Japan for having no shows this week.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And it allowed me to really focus and walk down on making sure my wife birthday, which didn't include a surprise party.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, well, what else about it?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Organizing surprise party is surprisingly stressful that's not easy to pull off.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It is in an absolutely a director of love and affection from one person to another.

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[SPEAKER_00]: but everything worked out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We all met up for some soul food over the last couple of days.

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[SPEAKER_00]: People were celebrated, cupcake were eaten, people were happy, birthday for celebrated.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And magically, instead of getting older, it appears that weird math my wife just keeps getting younger.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's good as she tells her singers, but we had an ice storm here over this past week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And last time we had an ice storm in a traumatized the whole state because the electrical grid failed spectacularly on a huge scale.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of people were without power for that we in particular at our old house, were out of power for days of the time when it was you know, below freezing temperatures out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then we were without water for almost a week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was a real challenge in that time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It sort of traumatized everybody and made everybody very, very nervous about this storm.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thankfully, this year, much less of a problem.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It seems some of the grid issues were fixed and

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[SPEAKER_01]: the best part about it was that the cold temperatures which last time came through and stayed below freezing for days at a time didn't do that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It got cold and we got ice because it was sleet and then it got below freezing down into the teens and all that stuff with windshield and all.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But the good news was in the days of follow the temperature crept back up above freezing so we didn't have to have

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[SPEAKER_01]: that sit on top of us for a week like we did last time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, you know, down here in Texas, just not prepared to handle snow like they are up north with plows and salts and sand and all the things they do to help make life possible, didn't have that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Don't normally need it, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so,

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[SPEAKER_01]: this time things went a lot better thankfully, but it also kept everybody stuck in the house.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So the schools were closed Monday and Tuesday in our area really couldn't leave the house much on Sunday because everything was still ice at that point.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was just kind of being being cooped up a little bit, but I felt like we were a little bit better prepared for at this time and it worked out a lot.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Lessons were learned.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And you had what you were what you needed this time knowing you were going to go through what?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Were you homebound for like five days?

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[SPEAKER_01]: About three, about three from Saturday and Saturday Sunday and Monday there wasn't much going on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was pretty much in.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, Tuesday, a lot closer to normal and then it's been fine since so still hanging in there with that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a Sunday morning.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I could see my the frost when I breathe.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was it was just really that cold, but that was it really for me and California.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: our dog loved it though we have we have a wind dog he's he's a great parent he's in he's very fluke and he absolutely loved the cold weather he loves the cold loves to snow all that stuff so he didn't want to come back in once we went out I have one dog that loved warmth and pillow though uh when that frosty call the breath they knocked out and went right back inside from the door

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[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, cool.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's I hope everybody's doing well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that there's been a lot going on out there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I hope everybody is either handling the weather well or the news well, whatever, whatever you believe, it's been a difficult week out here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, good luck there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I just best wishes to everybody going on about there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: going about their lives in a strange day.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, Brad is here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Nick is here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Glad to see you guys.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Glad you're a little less here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And Nick has said that snow here in Kansas City has melted just enough to become ice this weekend.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Went temperatures drop into the single that just suddenly gone.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's a rough break.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Brad is here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He says, hey, fellas, now when he uses his finisher, everything is evil, it won't be figurative anymore.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, yeah, so evil has left.

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[SPEAKER_01]: New Japan, we might as well just dive right into that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We got the official Lion Mark announcement.

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[SPEAKER_01]: No fair.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, man, she's just gone immediately Jeremy out of character, like within a day of that announcement coming out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There's a photograph on Jado's social media.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the two of them hanging out and smiling together saying I haven't had dinner with him.

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[SPEAKER_01]: in a very long time, and we wish him the best, and this next chapter of his life, and there was, and there was Watanabe with Jada outside of a restaurant right there, just kind of by with a little smile together.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, evil is no more in New Japan pro wrestling.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We, again, had wind of it before, but now that it has happened, it does feel like there's a void.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting the way it hit me this week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I have always said that I dislike House of Torcher because it takes so many tools out of these guys, toolkits.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You're forced to do that House of Torcher stuff with the the ref bumps and the cheating and the way and I mentioned that it you know it's New Japan's not that good at it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It frustrates me because they take really good wrestlers and make them work that way.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And we saw hints of Watson Abe when he was

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[SPEAKER_01]: free to that when he had the G1 final match there have been other times back when the he was a hell of a good wrestler with L.I.J.

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[SPEAKER_01]: and things so it made me think back to all those times and it the one that correct me up Jeremy the one that I remember a time when evil

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[SPEAKER_01]: was the baby face in a feud with Zach Saber Jr. when Zach was in Suzuki Goon.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And the story was that evil couldn't beat Zach.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Just whatever happens, Zach would get the jump on him.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get the drop on him, get one of those rollups with the bridges out of nowhere and beat him.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And he'd tap him out or it would be something where he would get himself caught in a submission hole and have to give up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And

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[SPEAKER_01]: There was a pretty big match.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I could remember off the top of my head which major show it was on, but it was a it was a done taco or a king of pro rustling or a saccharid genesis type of show.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember being heavily invested in hoping evil finally beats the sky, which seems kind of funny now because we've spent all these years annoyed by evil's house of torture antics and it just made me think that many.

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[SPEAKER_01]: when he and Sonata were healthy in L.I.J., hell of a good tag team, that feud was Zack worked and the matches were really, really good.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The G1 final reminded me how good of a worker he is.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And despite me belly aching about him and the way he's been portrayed for five years, I always knew he was a good wrestler and said it on their show that I thought he was very good worker.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It seems very strange that he has been

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[SPEAKER_01]: as new Japan ish is anybody has been maybe not town of Hashi, but you know what I'm talking about.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He was very loyal company guy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it's strange to think that he's going to be somewhere else.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We saw the WWE has trademarked the name Sinister.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that was that was a

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[SPEAKER_00]: an attempt for Hickelale that has nothing to do with it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, really?

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's not to do with it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I didn't it up being and then it being to banged in being.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it was four Hickelale at one point.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I read that to my girlfriend.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She just said, oh, so this is a lot of all the sort of stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, all the synonymistic name that you can come up with, uh, synister, I way fan of the villain, Mr. Sinister, uh, from the endspin comic book.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So any time, somebody wants to invoke the, uh, the synister moniker.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, who was it?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Was it Mitchell?

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was the, the sinister minister for Roy and pro wrestling.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I remember.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sorry to have me a little bit of Lucifer action going on when he was doing that thing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No, listen.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Evil was never a superstar, you know, but he was competent and he was able to teach a lot of people while he was there.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He'd do a lot of credit in a lot of ways, you know, for keeping that upper midcard of float, when there weren't any real heels, there wasn't any like anything to think your teeth into, whether you hated house of torture or not.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He kept you kept

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[SPEAKER_00]: He kept the promotion going because he was a true heal, like legitimately there was nothing about him that you wanted to share, that you wanted to like, you hated him, you hated everything that he represented.

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[SPEAKER_00]: when you were there at the show.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But now is, you know, the the way or the appeal and you're finding out just how important this guy was.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he was the guy behind training Aaron Wolf.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He was training all these young young lions and doing all these things when they're on the tours.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he was one of those older states than that we're healthy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That could show the way of how you could wrestle sustainably long-term without like killing yourself because God knows.

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[SPEAKER_00]: getting your new Japan, there's a lot of trainer, there's a lot of people that do not that do not evoke the safety aspect of the strong style, and he's come out of it relatively in one piece, you know, you got guys like Ocada, you got guys like him, I don't wrestle that like completely brutal style all the time, but they're they're doing the shows every night, and he could

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like he could do that style, you've seen him do the G1 final where you saw that he was perfectly capable of doing all the things they needed to do, but his role dictated he was a certain way and he never deviated from any of that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: the guy that they like sort of could have said, no matter what guys you know, foreigner and the heel, you're always going to be this top like heel guy that we have.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And he had already won the IWGP, you know, title, like he is he has all part of the lineage, he's checked off all the boxes, you know, it's like go get your bag and go see your queen buddy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like I

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[SPEAKER_00]: And evidentably, I wish that we would have had that baby face run where you know the redemption arc where you just he kind of, he sees the light and we kind of go on the way, I think there would have been something to it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But I also you know the timing of everything.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't have any ready-made heels at that top level during the whole Tana-Hoshi retirement, but that would have been like a perfect time to do that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But it was one or the other.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Who else would you have put in that position to be like the sustainable top heel while, you know, evil somehow renounces evil, you know, before he gets out of it?

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's all just circumstantial.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You were never, it just, this is the cost of the pro wrestling business.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And my issues with the House of Torture have always been booking related, not talent related with the exception of uturo who I just don't think is is good.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But when I look at evils run there, my issues are always just the way he's portrayed, not his effort nor his talent.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I find it very frustrating that nobody in house the torture seems to have any character development at all in the course of their run there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's just cartoon villainry.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like that hindered evil quite a bit in the five years, six years almost.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's coming up on six years since he really did that switch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And those like 22's during the pandemic, that you won the title, the oneee,

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[SPEAKER_01]: twenty one maybe twenty twenty one but it it we're talking five years here like a good five years he's accepted the same as when he switched you know and and that's not again that's not his fault he's doing what the company's telling him to do none of these guys seem to

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[SPEAKER_01]: progress to revolve at all.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that was always my issue with that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then, of course, then you'd just stop wrestling much in the House of Torture gimmick.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You just don't.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We're seeing that with Nareda, who's backslid severely since he's joined House of Torture.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Ren now is he going to be the guy that steps up is going to be somebody else.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We, there's not much House of Torture Presence in Osaka.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They, they aren't booked for this thing except for an arena challenging air and wolf for that never open way title.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't expect wolf to be beaten that soon.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think they're crazy if they do it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's usually the darkest before the dawn part of a faction storyline that would put house a torture about as low as they'd been right there out of the trio's title picture they don't have much going on except dokey yeah who you know that's that's one but

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[SPEAKER_01]: When it comes to that, you know, is Narita going to be the guy or is there going to be some turmoil, they're going to bring in somebody else, but I suspect that house torture will kind of leave.

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[SPEAKER_01]: new beginning and then go through fantastic a mania, which doesn't really have to do with it, as kind of a non entity in New Japan, just waiting for something to spring up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It could be somebody turning, it could be somebody coming in, but it could be in Rita.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They could just decide it's going to be run, but

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's a void and you mentioned how he was the perfect person for Wolfe and I think you're exactly right what they needed from Aaron Wolfe was 100% unanimity in terms of support.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody else might have had fans in their corner.

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[SPEAKER_01]: but everybody wanted Aaron Wolfe to be evil.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right, I mean that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And especially the casual fan base, you have to have 100% fans behind this guy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And we had talk like who would be a good opponent for him.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, maybe Zach could have carried him to something special, but he would have had some fun.

17:28.255 --> 17:48.036
[SPEAKER_01]: can't have that with Wolf you need him to that it's no mistake that another house torture guys is first opponent for that title right i mean they want to build that 100% were with Aaron momentum and that's going to be a big deal for them so you know it's really funny about that evil and Aaron will match yeah

17:48.623 --> 17:50.766
[SPEAKER_00]: look at total WWE WrestleMania match.

17:51.367 --> 17:52.249
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're really was.

17:52.809 --> 17:58.318
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's going to WWE and we were like, I don't know, can he adopt in the WWE style?

17:58.638 --> 18:01.002
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, what the earth is?

18:01.022 --> 18:02.925
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been wrestling WWE style matches.

18:03.045 --> 18:03.526
[SPEAKER_01]: I've here.

18:03.546 --> 18:05.288
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we've been complaining about.

18:05.328 --> 18:07.772
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we've been complaining about.

18:07.792 --> 18:10.436
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, everybody will sign he we just saw that animal match.

18:10.456 --> 18:11.678
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the

18:11.658 --> 18:14.402
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and so we're talking about Renderita.

18:14.542 --> 18:17.106
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay, Tokyo Sports.

18:17.206 --> 18:20.891
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't interview a couple of days ago since he's taking over out of the torture.

18:22.473 --> 18:28.061
[SPEAKER_00]: He, to me, said, does not appear to have the cashier to be the leader.

18:29.263 --> 18:31.506
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, in, in, in, in,

18:31.925 --> 18:32.926
[SPEAKER_00]: in any way, shape of form.

18:32.966 --> 18:42.099
[SPEAKER_00]: When people are wondering, hey, if Doki going to be the leader of House of Torture and not Rennerita, they're not going to put a junior in charges of the faction.

18:42.620 --> 18:48.068
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, looking at it like that, Rennerita seems a bit weak.

18:48.909 --> 18:51.974
[SPEAKER_00]: And we talked about how he hasn't stepped up.

18:52.194 --> 19:00.025
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the conversations that I was orbiting around with some of the insider was

19:00.950 --> 19:05.994
[SPEAKER_00]: when he was training with Shabbatah, Shabbatah or broke him, then made him.

19:06.014 --> 19:10.598
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's not the guy that he was when he started out in this business.

19:11.579 --> 19:16.984
[SPEAKER_00]: And potentially, he needs to learn to love it again if he's going to be at that top level.

19:17.044 --> 19:30.535
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you hear that inclination and you see all those magic that he has, like you can almost see it, like he's doing this as a job, not as a passion and it kind of explains it away.

19:30.903 --> 19:31.464
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

19:31.504 --> 19:41.015
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he could prove us all wrong and he can really own this and turn house the torture into something different, something for 20, 20 cents that matches the rest of the product.

19:41.336 --> 19:55.694
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's the issue with it right now with the product that they're trying to develop with its new strong style, the emphasis on the young talent, the cowardly, almost hewish ways doesn't really fit in with that vision.

19:55.874 --> 19:57.636
[SPEAKER_00]: So they have to reassess them.

19:57.616 --> 20:10.258
[SPEAKER_00]: The only other thing is, if it's not Ren, it's going to be a three or four month story until we get to Dominion, where we have a new leader of that faction, challenging Yota Fuji, because right now Yota Fuji needs challenges.

20:10.678 --> 20:21.717
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to have Jake Lee at one point, but then after that, it's going to be the

20:22.473 --> 20:26.838
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we get to Domingon and if you still the champion, got to have the big match.

20:26.858 --> 20:48.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and that big match is one of the three guys, like you, or Shota, and it could be red, you know what I mean, but like those are the matches that need to happen to Domingon, like to not the him versus Horocchi Gota or him versus Schinger, like as much as I love those matches, you need to be looking forward to the future and building made of that Khutouki Underground.

20:49.034 --> 20:50.155
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll see if they do that.

20:50.215 --> 20:52.017
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not convinced there is a youth movement yet.

20:52.037 --> 20:53.118
[SPEAKER_01]: They have to prove it to me.

20:53.259 --> 20:59.465
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been hearing this talk from New Japan for too long to believe it until I actually see it.

20:59.505 --> 21:05.231
[SPEAKER_01]: Because, man, I heard a lot of yamoring about how you, you way more is the next thing.

21:05.291 --> 21:09.376
[SPEAKER_01]: And they did producing all these videos, then they just beat them and beat them and beat them.

21:09.396 --> 21:12.199
[SPEAKER_01]: And I showed it home and I'll beat them, beat them, beat them.

21:12.339 --> 21:13.240
[SPEAKER_01]: Suji did win.

21:13.340 --> 21:14.241
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Suji did win.

21:14.301 --> 21:18.906
[SPEAKER_01]: Renderita has vanished into House of Torture

21:19.004 --> 21:21.667
[SPEAKER_01]: wrestling ability along with him, just doesn't anymore.

21:22.067 --> 21:22.848
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he can.

21:22.928 --> 21:23.648
[SPEAKER_01]: He just doesn't.

21:23.668 --> 21:24.850
[SPEAKER_01]: That's my issue with evil too.

21:25.070 --> 21:28.433
[SPEAKER_00]: The next month are going to be important to this, Steven.

21:28.453 --> 21:28.613
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

21:28.673 --> 21:30.415
[SPEAKER_00]: But just not a one month.

21:30.655 --> 21:32.457
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, like, we've turned it around.

21:32.537 --> 21:37.622
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there are there are other podcasts that are like, we're back, baby.

21:37.702 --> 21:40.404
[SPEAKER_00]: We've restored the feeling and I'm like, I feel it.

21:40.745 --> 21:41.285
[SPEAKER_00]: We are not.

21:41.305 --> 21:43.627
[SPEAKER_00]: But we need, we need sustainability.

21:43.667 --> 21:48.572
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to like create, create,

21:49.092 --> 21:52.756
[SPEAKER_00]: We've watched Wrestle Kingdom, we saw a couple of really great shows.

21:53.177 --> 21:56.521
[SPEAKER_00]: What are we following up with granted the new beginning card?

21:56.941 --> 22:00.846
[SPEAKER_00]: I am really excited for, but it like the card has to play out.

22:01.046 --> 22:03.830
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we have to play off of that momentum.

22:04.130 --> 22:07.914
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I'm at right now is that I am constantly optimistic.

22:08.215 --> 22:12.500
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we're heading in the right direction, but we have to get through the people leaving.

22:12.900 --> 22:18.407
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to figure out exactly what exactly what

22:18.809 --> 22:21.272
[SPEAKER_00]: this product is going to look like going forward.

22:21.973 --> 22:25.417
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're all operating on our best hopes and our worst fear on it.

22:26.077 --> 22:27.880
[SPEAKER_00]: But the product you have to show is what it is.

22:29.121 --> 22:31.364
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's take a look at some of these comments right here.

22:31.484 --> 22:33.446
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a fair point.

22:33.746 --> 22:38.572
[SPEAKER_01]: As far as evil in WWE goes, we're going to get your comments just second.

22:38.632 --> 22:41.155
[SPEAKER_01]: One thing I wanted to say about that, evil in WWE.

22:41.894 --> 22:54.951
[SPEAKER_01]: with the exception of the long-form talking that you have to do in WWE, where, man, I missed the days where you just walked over to the announcer's desk and did like a two-minute thing after your match in the studio.

22:55.432 --> 23:01.540
[SPEAKER_01]: But now you have to do these 20 minute long involved scripts with five people interrupting you and all this stuff.

23:02.181 --> 23:09.150
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be where he might struggle a little bit, maybe a mouthpiece is needed right there, but he works at WWE style now.

23:09.130 --> 23:10.973
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be okay there.

23:11.073 --> 23:12.314
[SPEAKER_00]: How are you going to fit in there?

23:12.334 --> 23:13.536
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, guys.

23:13.556 --> 23:13.656
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

23:13.676 --> 23:16.000
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be just going to fit in.

23:16.020 --> 23:16.340
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

23:16.360 --> 23:22.208
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that that's the only part of it I'm nervous about is that the long-form talking thing.

23:22.288 --> 23:27.976
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, they found a way for Julia to do fairly well with its E.O.

23:28.016 --> 23:30.079
[SPEAKER_01]: Certainly not a great English speaker and E.O.

23:30.099 --> 23:31.601
[SPEAKER_01]: is not having any issues getting over.

23:31.661 --> 23:32.963
[SPEAKER_01]: So it can certainly be done.

23:34.105 --> 23:34.525
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see.

23:34.966 --> 23:37.129
[SPEAKER_01]: Some comments here, though, Brad mentioned.

23:37.261 --> 24:05.192
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... the amount of celebrating for people who watch and jpw with the announcement was wild so many who are happy he's no longer a new japan and that they no longer have to deal with him and house of torture i don't i don't think there are those people are rid of house of torture just think that evil uh... and then next just as i think the people are excited about evil being gone haven't thought through what house of torture will actually be like without him yeah that's one of the best workers in the group that's no longer there and then uh...

24:05.662 --> 24:08.225
[SPEAKER_01]: Brad mentioned that he was down on the signing.

24:08.306 --> 24:13.172
[SPEAKER_01]: I would have thought he even he would have gotten evil and how good he is, but he kind of blasted able this week.

24:14.814 --> 24:20.162
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, you know, I didn't hear what Dave said about him, but it, it's a good worker, but nothing spectacular.

24:22.765 --> 24:26.410
[SPEAKER_01]: It's he's not he's not the number one guy.

24:26.430 --> 24:28.513
[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's not like they've signed.

24:28.645 --> 24:39.559
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, it's not like, okay, it's not like a W. It's not like they got knock and murk, you know, playing a cold and that can work with your knock and murk, you just get a lighted up in WWE.

24:39.579 --> 24:45.326
[SPEAKER_00]: But frankly speaking, it's almost exactly the same side, you know, like one of the top heels at the time.

24:45.346 --> 24:46.948
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm no forever.

24:48.490 --> 24:52.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Knock and murk is a better worker, but more charismatic.

24:52.555 --> 24:55.599
[SPEAKER_01]: And just all the round more popular than evil was at the time.

24:55.619 --> 24:57.842
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, evil might be a better worker now.

24:58.295 --> 25:08.410
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think with Triple H in charge, I think there's a real opportunity for him to thrive in a way that Nakamura kind of flailed at the time.

25:08.690 --> 25:14.078
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was more due to the booking and the belief that the Japanese talent couldn't carry the product.

25:14.399 --> 25:18.465
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know, here's the thing has Nakamura Ebs and Flo's, but he's been there for a long, long time.

25:18.505 --> 25:20.668
[SPEAKER_01]: Kevin Owens had been float over his time, too.

25:20.728 --> 25:21.669
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, exactly.

25:21.709 --> 25:23.492
[SPEAKER_01]: But he might, Nakamura,

25:24.232 --> 25:27.597
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, challenged for the world title of WrestleMania one, a royal rumble.

25:27.897 --> 25:30.641
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like he's gone over there and just failed, you know?

25:30.721 --> 25:31.903
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's been hit.

25:31.963 --> 25:32.644
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been hit.

25:32.744 --> 25:34.046
[SPEAKER_00]: You, you won't ask with AJ.

25:34.467 --> 25:36.490
[SPEAKER_00]: You haven't really watched his career much.

25:36.630 --> 25:37.731
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, though, right?

25:37.751 --> 25:38.753
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah.

25:38.773 --> 25:39.814
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of five years.

25:40.315 --> 25:45.342
[SPEAKER_01]: He's working a very different style than he worked in New Japan because he doesn't have to do all that stuff.

25:45.362 --> 25:45.703
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

25:45.743 --> 25:45.923
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

25:46.003 --> 25:49.128
[SPEAKER_00]: He liked to surf and he'd really enjoying getting that paycheck.

25:49.528 --> 25:52.753
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'll tell you, Stephen, the first time I saw Nauka Murad,

25:53.037 --> 25:54.459
[SPEAKER_00]: do anything really.

25:54.519 --> 25:57.744
[SPEAKER_00]: Frequently worth the damn in WWE.

25:57.764 --> 26:08.782
[SPEAKER_00]: Was that Saturday night to made event with AJ Styles that he had last week, where with basically his version of like, all right, fuckers, you want to see a Tokyo don't match, like those two went out there and they ripped it up.

26:09.162 --> 26:11.145
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was like, that was just a awkward moment.

26:11.165 --> 26:12.227
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't seen him here.

26:12.207 --> 26:15.633
[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to say, I think that's a little rough to say that that's the only good thing he's done.

26:15.653 --> 26:21.041
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he was a good NXT champion, a very good NXT champion, it's first year and a half or so in WWE.

26:21.082 --> 26:23.005
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just 10 years ago.

26:23.345 --> 26:26.611
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand, but it's still in the last five years.

26:26.991 --> 26:31.178
[SPEAKER_00]: He hasn't rolled up last five years to the product, this is what I'm trying to say.

26:31.158 --> 26:53.183
[SPEAKER_01]: haven't used too much so uh yeah and uh let's see oh Jeremy's asking what I ever do a history of new Japan book I would love to but uh they'd have to pay me I can't I can't take that much time away from work on paid to actually do it well uh but if someone were to pay me you're damn right I would I think I think the way for instead of the love part uh really take precedents on that one

26:53.163 --> 26:54.745
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I kind of have to pay for this house.

26:55.125 --> 26:57.768
[SPEAKER_01]: And this house needs to need to pay it in pain for.

26:58.369 --> 27:10.462
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, yeah, I would love to because I actually think there is a void there as far as just a good solid history of New Japan, Crow Wrestling from a narrative standpoint.

27:10.482 --> 27:22.815
[SPEAKER_01]: Chris Charlton's Lions Pride Book is terrific at giving you an outline of the most important people and some of the most important events and some of the concepts that make New Japan what it is.

27:23.234 --> 27:38.592
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think there's more meat on the bone as to, you know, what happened where with whom and that type of thing going forward, especially as the era has returned from, you know, the anoki to, you know, the dark days of the odds through the resurgence and things.

27:38.752 --> 27:40.775
[SPEAKER_01]: I, yeah, and I'd love to.

27:41.115 --> 27:42.377
[SPEAKER_01]: I would absolutely love to.

27:42.397 --> 27:46.862
[SPEAKER_01]: And then Jeremy also wanted to ask, should they go away from factions for a while.

27:46.842 --> 27:48.104
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think we're going to see that.

27:48.244 --> 27:56.275
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's too ingrained into New Japan's culture these days, especially with the people in charge of it right now.

27:56.616 --> 28:09.213
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, Tana Hashi came up in an era of factions, factions have been part a strong part, part of the pun, of New Japan going back to the 80s, really.

28:10.315 --> 28:11.837
[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't see

28:12.087 --> 28:16.214
[SPEAKER_01]: formal factions as much in the 70s, early 80s.

28:16.334 --> 28:23.725
[SPEAKER_01]: It was more like the the New Japan UWF feuds, Jeremy that really saw people choose up size.

28:23.786 --> 28:26.810
[SPEAKER_01]: There were allies, certainly people were allied with one another.

28:26.850 --> 28:27.171
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

28:28.253 --> 28:29.775
[SPEAKER_01]: And Alex Toshu,

28:30.346 --> 28:33.710
[SPEAKER_01]: Ricky show shoe was the faction that was before UWF.

28:33.750 --> 28:43.441
[SPEAKER_01]: So that I would say like the rise of Ricky show shoe as that anti-establishment guy and I've got my group of guys who have my back and I've got theirs.

28:44.402 --> 28:49.648
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not necessarily a heel, but I'm not doing everything Antonio and Okey says.

28:50.229 --> 28:51.190
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not doing everything.

28:51.691 --> 28:57.838
[SPEAKER_01]: Fujianami's a goody two shoes, a little bit, that kind of, I'm gonna grow my hair long and be a little more.

28:57.920 --> 28:59.505
[SPEAKER_01]: a little rebellious.

29:00.509 --> 29:06.951
[SPEAKER_01]: When that caught fire, then they started really seeing the idea of, let's put these guys together and give them a theme.

29:07.454 --> 29:27.575
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and I'm not saying there wasn't any of that before Choshu, but I think the Choshu's Army and that culture clash between the very traditional, you know, button down almost baby faces of earnest baby faces of Antonio Anoki and Fujianami versus more rebellious style.

29:27.595 --> 29:35.824
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it could have changed the philosophy a little bit and like, I don't know if we can give these guys personality and a theme that's, it kind of hits.

29:35.804 --> 29:37.446
[SPEAKER_01]: That's been an awfully long time.

29:37.487 --> 29:43.596
[SPEAKER_01]: That's 40 years of new Japan culture, and I doubt they're going to be breaking apart their mass assaulting and plus going, you know?

29:43.876 --> 29:47.341
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, and more than that, which gets into our next thing, it's part of their marketing.

29:47.722 --> 29:53.230
[SPEAKER_01]: And those logos and things, I mean, they made a lot of money with the L.I.J.

29:53.250 --> 29:53.571
[SPEAKER_01]: stuff.

29:53.591 --> 29:55.333
[SPEAKER_01]: They make a lot of money with TMDK.

29:55.373 --> 29:57.897
[SPEAKER_01]: There's one of their towels right over my shoulder here.

29:58.636 --> 30:21.208
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, I did maybe realize that startup put out rap hoodies this time we can and they're expensive and I saw them like holy shit if they did those for New Japan like they did a rap hoodie for Yoda Suji or the knockout brothers or Schingo or any one of them They would be fire and they would sell so quickly.

30:21.589 --> 30:28.018
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope they do the same thing when you talk about them and doing those like factions when you do that like the giant

30:27.998 --> 30:36.034
[SPEAKER_00]: all the shirts, all the hoodies, you know, like clapping that logo on top of whatever, you know, individual wrestler, they're so viable.

30:36.254 --> 30:39.581
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it really brings, it really brings the whole promotion together.

30:39.601 --> 30:45.653
[SPEAKER_00]: We have like four or five icons that you can kind of throw in there and really say, hey, this is what makes a new trip.

30:46.122 --> 31:03.827
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, it does work for the way that they tour also, I mean, the idea of these preview tags, where it's the guy in the main match and his buddies, his allies, his training partners, his his running buddies against the other guys, it works in a lot of ways there, USVA guys will say us about it.

31:03.807 --> 31:07.271
[SPEAKER_01]: And it says, Western fandom is going to receive a big gut check this year.

31:07.391 --> 31:07.591
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks.

31:07.911 --> 31:10.434
[SPEAKER_01]: Those that refuse to understand the intricacies of the company.

31:10.514 --> 31:11.876
[SPEAKER_01]: It's history and Japanese culture.

31:12.356 --> 31:14.699
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be looked at poorly.

31:14.719 --> 31:16.501
[SPEAKER_01]: So it helps to know the stuff folks.

31:16.681 --> 31:19.805
[SPEAKER_01]: I will help with the history lessons and keep us going with this stuff.

31:19.845 --> 31:22.908
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if he's right, if he's right.

31:23.008 --> 31:27.553
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they are going, you know, moving toward.

31:27.871 --> 31:35.023
[SPEAKER_01]: a youth movement or something more that is in line with the history and the traditions of Japanese wrestling, I'm all for it.

31:35.043 --> 31:43.197
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the reasons I like it is that it is an alternative to what's going on here, even when WWE and AEW are good.

31:43.177 --> 31:44.779
[SPEAKER_01]: I still like to have an alternative.

31:44.899 --> 31:49.726
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's not, I don't move away from New Japan when one of the companies here is on fire.

31:49.866 --> 31:52.710
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that there are different styles of this stuff.

31:53.251 --> 31:58.598
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want to see, I don't want to see Japanese countries westernized.

31:58.618 --> 32:05.468
[SPEAKER_01]: I like the Japanese companies acting like Japanese companies, Luchelibre acting like Luchel and I like when it's good.

32:05.889 --> 32:09.133
[SPEAKER_01]: I like when WWE and AEW were doing that American style.

32:09.113 --> 32:13.818
[SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean that like a new Japan is going to go a bit more isolationist this year?

32:15.319 --> 32:35.779
[SPEAKER_00]: I doubt that just because they seem to they seem to be working with a lot of people in terms of the tournaments and all that and I think that's going to help me for her, but there's like top-level stuff where they're not going to do IWGP title shots outside of new Japan shows and they're going to global

32:36.350 --> 32:39.913
[SPEAKER_00]: that in some rules in guidelines so say like forbidden door.

32:40.298 --> 32:48.986
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to have to go to Fuji defending the title on that card because there's no way that Tony Connor's going to have that like going to have that title close to show.

32:49.626 --> 32:51.128
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the global title in that case.

32:51.488 --> 32:52.269
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's what I'm saying.

32:52.309 --> 33:10.305
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like there's a, there's a sense of like a barrier there where like AEW, if you're watching AEW only or CMLL, you're not going to get the full like new Japan product when it comes there because of the rules that new Japan is imposing.

33:10.285 --> 33:13.574
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, and let's take that all with a grain of salt.

33:13.594 --> 33:19.772
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a guy talking, and boy, they've done a lot of talking about what's going to happen going forward, and then not done it.

33:20.731 --> 33:21.612
[SPEAKER_01]: there's been a ton of that.

33:22.173 --> 33:23.836
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at what the TV title is.

33:24.437 --> 33:33.953
[SPEAKER_00]: Compared to what it was going to be when they established it, look at what they also brought back the V4 when they sent up many times that they were going to and didn't and now that they did.

33:34.133 --> 33:46.553
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's also indications that there are willing to put their money where their mouth is at this time that they haven't done in the past that makes me give them a little bit more leeway when they say they're going to do

33:47.630 --> 33:51.777
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll say, and basically we're down to sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't.

33:52.317 --> 33:59.349
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, and then the illness is on that, after this, Brad mentioned, starting up as the same as rap t-shirts, I wish they weren't so expensive.

33:59.369 --> 34:00.991
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, those were what I've talked about.

34:01.031 --> 34:06.260
[SPEAKER_00]: I call, I got the toka on shop email, and I looked at the shirt, like the rat, like the rat style shirt.

34:06.280 --> 34:11.528
[SPEAKER_00]: You remember, like, Odie did like the rat shirt with him holding like a cigar, and it reminded of, like, the

34:11.508 --> 34:19.999
[SPEAKER_00]: biggie, like, or the two-pocturne, where they're just, like, completely out insane, like, helicopter think dunks and women in cash.

34:20.379 --> 34:24.685
[SPEAKER_00]: They're all starting shirts like that, and I was like, man, that's definitely cool.

34:25.806 --> 34:28.089
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm a 45-year-old guy for whatever reason.

34:28.590 --> 34:30.652
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's cool.

34:30.672 --> 34:33.956
[SPEAKER_01]: Holy smokes, they're $170 US in the Tocon shop.

34:33.976 --> 34:40.705
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I'm saying, like, they're really trying to hit the clientele in that one.

34:42.929 --> 34:46.295
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Sia, I love you, but boy, that's a lot.

34:46.315 --> 34:50.283
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, just a bunch of a track for a sweatshirt.

34:50.303 --> 34:52.107
[SPEAKER_01]: It actually leads us to a pretty good segue, though.

34:52.908 --> 34:54.691
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, the marketing, right?

34:54.732 --> 34:58.659
[SPEAKER_01]: Because yes, this past week it was mentioned that Taro O'Cata.

34:59.721 --> 35:03.308
[SPEAKER_01]: He is one of the executives in the in the start of Mendebushi Road.

35:03.649 --> 35:04.971
[SPEAKER_01]: He has also

35:05.407 --> 35:12.603
[SPEAKER_01]: He's also on a couple of committees that involve New Japan pro wrestling as they've tried to bring those two companies a little bit closer together over time.

35:13.846 --> 35:22.065
[SPEAKER_01]: They went through that whole difficult transition, shall we say, from Rossio Gawa being fired to

35:22.788 --> 35:24.832
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, a guy in charge of the talent didn't really like.

35:24.852 --> 35:26.616
[SPEAKER_01]: Tarot will cut ended up with it.

35:26.636 --> 35:31.807
[SPEAKER_01]: Since then, of course, 25, one of the best years of the start of history, probably is the best year of starting history.

35:31.927 --> 35:36.978
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, two crowds over 6,7500 and Yoke Hama.

35:37.839 --> 35:41.006
[SPEAKER_01]: And frankly, it's the Tokyo Sports MVP.

35:41.046 --> 35:43.952
[SPEAKER_01]: They have had the run of their lives on that one.

35:44.843 --> 35:46.008
[SPEAKER_01]: on their 15th anniversary.

35:46.329 --> 35:51.189
[SPEAKER_01]: It was an Alcittaro Cotta will be taking a role in New Japan.

35:51.410 --> 35:53.740
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, his role has kind of been expanded.

35:54.023 --> 35:56.086
[SPEAKER_01]: Not booking, not creative.

35:56.106 --> 35:56.847
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, keep in mind.

35:56.867 --> 35:59.330
[SPEAKER_01]: They wouldn't announce if it was as not how they do things.

35:59.771 --> 36:08.743
[SPEAKER_01]: But his role is more in the realm of merchandising and marketing, sponsorships, stuff that he's done very, very well on the startup side.

36:09.644 --> 36:13.510
[SPEAKER_01]: And now he's going to be doing it on the New Japan side as well apparently.

36:14.211 --> 36:21.921
[SPEAKER_01]: As of now, as I'm sitting here right now, the day that we're doing this podcast because things change constantly, that's about it.

36:22.475 --> 36:23.236
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about it.

36:23.256 --> 36:24.417
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about what he's taking over.

36:25.138 --> 36:32.606
[SPEAKER_01]: Some start of fans are a little skittish about this one because they like what he's doing day-to-day for the most part.

36:33.026 --> 36:39.053
[SPEAKER_01]: There have been some criticisms of the starting book in the last year that it doesn't go deep and up after Tom Atani.

36:39.613 --> 36:42.877
[SPEAKER_01]: But right now, I think that it's pretty good.

36:42.897 --> 36:46.761
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that there are multiple things going on within starting that are interesting.

36:47.281 --> 36:52.971
[SPEAKER_01]: They're worried that he's going to be taken away from started him and put in charge of New Japan because New Japan had a very bad 2025.

36:53.432 --> 36:58.501
[SPEAKER_01]: I urge everyone to take some deep breaths on that.

36:58.621 --> 37:00.825
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that's what this means right now.

37:01.165 --> 37:03.670
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I mentioned January 29th, 2026.

37:05.673 --> 37:08.378
[SPEAKER_01]: Bushy Road once, Tana Hashi to succeed.

37:09.050 --> 37:11.975
[SPEAKER_01]: That is, I'm very, very confident of that.

37:12.035 --> 37:13.839
[SPEAKER_01]: He is a good spokesperson.

37:13.919 --> 37:14.841
[SPEAKER_01]: He's good at PR.

37:14.901 --> 37:26.722
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's the exactly the kind of guy they would like to have front and center at these press conferences that all these non-restling show events.

37:26.842 --> 37:29.467
[SPEAKER_01]: He's exactly the kind of guy you want out there doing that.

37:29.507 --> 37:30.990
[SPEAKER_01]: He's good PR.

37:32.827 --> 37:36.655
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think they're going to do everything they can to help him out.

37:37.496 --> 37:44.229
[SPEAKER_01]: I think O'Cotta working a little bit more, but I do think they also see that startup is thriving like it hasn't before.

37:45.452 --> 37:46.975
[SPEAKER_01]: Better than it did with Rossi, even.

37:47.235 --> 37:49.620
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not sure a lot of people thought that was gonna be possible.

37:50.680 --> 37:57.168
[SPEAKER_01]: So it makes sense for Bushy Road to say, hey, we got one side that's absolutely thriving and is having the year of its existence.

37:58.049 --> 38:01.333
[SPEAKER_01]: Another side that is having a very rough time right now.

38:02.154 --> 38:10.545
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's take the guy that is big part of that success and hopefully some of that rub's off on the other company.

38:11.065 --> 38:19.801
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not talking about, at this time, replacing Tana Hashir, having him take over Tana Hashir's role or a get-a-l's role for that breaker or anything he created that we know of.

38:20.544 --> 38:21.227
[SPEAKER_01]: But

38:21.595 --> 38:39.543
[SPEAKER_01]: It does make sense, Jeremy, that they would take a guy who's been so successful on that and bring him over if he's good at sponsorships, that always helps pay for things, including foreign talent, keep in mind, or other just other Japanese talent for that matter, sponsorships help pay for a lot of that stuff, marketing helps pay for the lot of that stuff.

38:40.143 --> 38:45.732
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a company that in a culture, a wrestling culture that does not have monster television contracts.

38:45.752 --> 38:49.678
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not getting hundreds of millions of dollars or billions of dollars from

38:49.658 --> 39:02.011
[SPEAKER_01]: streaming services and networks, they have TV, they have TV, they get some, but it's still, it's ticket sales, it's merchandise sales, and you know, that's the main driver of all this.

39:02.772 --> 39:17.067
[SPEAKER_01]: So if he's able to come over and increase any of those things, well, that helps New Japan be a little bit more competitive when it comes, you know, for talent, maybe it doesn't hemorrhage talent as much as it has lately, maybe they're able to bring in some

39:18.953 --> 39:26.263
[SPEAKER_01]: At the same time, he's kind of there, and he's around the New Japan books, and if things don't turn around.

39:26.733 --> 39:27.454
[SPEAKER_01]: They do have a guy.

39:28.436 --> 39:45.122
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's more, I think it's more along the lines of trying to help, trying to get the tied lifting all ships more than take Tarro, Kada away from Stardom, just as it's starting to catch fire or not catch, it didn't start to catch fire.

39:45.142 --> 39:50.310
[SPEAKER_01]: As it is on fire as a company and move him over to New Japan

39:50.290 --> 39:51.351
[SPEAKER_01]: Screw over start him.

39:51.411 --> 39:58.258
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that's what Bushy was trying to do, but I do think they want to take some of what he does well and bring it across the hall to New Japan.

39:59.059 --> 40:04.624
[SPEAKER_01]: That's my thought on this as I've looked over this whole terrible kind of situation, but they want time to hash it to succeed.

40:04.684 --> 40:04.984
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.

40:06.706 --> 40:08.788
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you call it a big job promotion for him?

40:09.809 --> 40:12.932
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I think it's more of just an expansion of a role he already has.

40:14.133 --> 40:18.137
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not getting more responsibility is not a promotion.

40:19.045 --> 40:23.730
[SPEAKER_00]: Not necessarily isn't in the Japanese culture.

40:23.970 --> 40:30.236
[SPEAKER_00]: I just kind of thought, you know, like he's given more responsibility that's considered a promotion over there.

40:30.877 --> 40:33.339
[SPEAKER_01]: So they can term it that way with that semantics.

40:33.359 --> 40:37.343
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the whole thing is he still has his primary job running started him day to day.

40:37.383 --> 40:43.749
[SPEAKER_01]: His roles in terms of sponsorship and marketing have expanded over to the men's side as well as the women's side.

40:44.130 --> 40:45.791
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he did such a great job on the women's side.

40:46.092 --> 40:47.533
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes sense in that sense.

40:48.053 --> 41:12.745
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think a start small within the company with in that division, but I don't know, it does seem like to me, we're going to start hearing that name more and more and more and it would not shock me if, you know, in three, four or five years, we're talking about how this guy came over from start him and if now we're in a new Japan.

41:14.412 --> 41:14.873
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.

41:15.133 --> 41:32.013
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it is like that's how I bring that's how I just kind of like, you know, click the you don't see these news bolted from New Japan or Vouchy Road, where they're like announcing these people coming in and doing certain jobs.

41:32.474 --> 41:35.357
[SPEAKER_00]: So this does feel a little bit out of the norm.

41:35.641 --> 41:36.682
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's fair.

41:36.843 --> 41:37.544
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a fair point.

41:37.584 --> 41:41.890
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't normally announce things like that in publicly the way they did this one.

41:41.910 --> 41:42.911
[SPEAKER_01]: That is that is true.

41:44.153 --> 41:45.755
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what it reminds me of a little bit.

41:45.795 --> 41:46.897
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not Apple Staples.

41:47.097 --> 41:48.259
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not Apple Staples.

41:48.279 --> 41:54.768
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you remember when NXT really took off and it was the best show.

41:54.828 --> 41:59.134
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the best wrestling show and Ryan Ward was the main guy on it.

41:59.114 --> 42:15.365
[SPEAKER_01]: Ryan Ward was the the main creative right with with Paul running NXT Vince was still with Ron Smackdown and the the main roster so to speak, but you had Triple H, she was the biggest baby face in front office history.

42:16.106 --> 42:20.194
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time we saw Triple H, it went nuts for him, you know, because he was giving

42:20.174 --> 42:31.578
[SPEAKER_01]: a WWE fans this sort of, you know, indie promotion style wrestling show where we had, you know, Sammy Zane and Kevin Owens and, you know, Adam Cole, WWE, the rig of honor.

42:32.740 --> 42:36.107
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, yes, hey, yeah, our PWG or however you want to say.

42:36.914 --> 42:43.446
[SPEAKER_01]: And Ryan Ward was the guy writing the show was a one hour show, you know, it was, it was the best show the WWE had.

42:44.308 --> 42:47.214
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they brought him up and they put him on SmackDown because it's a promotion.

42:47.234 --> 42:50.841
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like we're going to bring you up to the main lesson, you don't hear Ryan Ward at all anymore.

42:50.921 --> 42:57.393
[SPEAKER_01]: But back then, he was Booker the Year, you know, in the Observer Awards, the people are talking about this is a rising star on the wrestling industry.

42:58.335 --> 42:58.956
[SPEAKER_01]: And

42:59.155 --> 43:08.528
[SPEAKER_01]: They brought them up to SmackDown and you know you get into that machine and you can get lost in the years and there because that machine is going to drop up the five people they choose.

43:09.089 --> 43:09.590
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

43:09.610 --> 43:10.511
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.

43:10.571 --> 43:15.959
[SPEAKER_00]: And the company and, you know, Triple H and Sean Michael now, Triple H and Sean Michael.

43:16.520 --> 43:23.830
[SPEAKER_00]: If they're in there, if they're a booking decision, Triple H and Sean Michael or John Tina, making decision for himself, but typically Triple H and Sean Michael.

43:23.810 --> 43:26.275
[SPEAKER_01]: more the rock making decisions for nobody except himself.

43:27.156 --> 43:31.745
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, you know, there's a pivot there where the machine directs you to a certain person.

43:32.386 --> 43:39.760
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, you know, it's like I never heard the name Jen Jennifer Peppermint before she came to right W.

43:39.740 --> 43:45.207
[SPEAKER_00]: And for a while there, it was like anything that you wanted to scrutinize about the women's division.

43:45.688 --> 43:48.952
[SPEAKER_00]: You just pointed it to Jen Papyrin and said, see, it per her.

43:49.032 --> 43:54.338
[SPEAKER_00]: She came from deputy w e and she putting it on a w and this is w w e crap.

43:54.399 --> 44:01.107
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just one of those like you identify somebody and you like lock in that whatever your

44:01.475 --> 44:10.742
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever your issue is, it is clearly this one person, and this one person alone in the Ratsling industry, pitch of kind of

44:11.060 --> 44:12.742
[SPEAKER_00]: become your focal point.

44:12.862 --> 44:20.008
[SPEAKER_00]: And I see that with the name like Ryan Ward, where it's like, sure, he was like a name, a person.

44:20.689 --> 44:25.113
[SPEAKER_00]: But he wasn't strong enough to sustain that level of scrutiny.

44:25.573 --> 44:35.062
[SPEAKER_00]: And instead of just became somebody else, who they pointed out and said, hey, this is the reason we don't like this one product, or this is the reason this one wrestler is really thriving.

44:35.882 --> 44:41.067
[SPEAKER_00]: And this one person got behind them,

44:41.047 --> 44:42.890
[SPEAKER_00]: somebody takes off in.

44:42.910 --> 44:50.562
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I didn't say anything about that to knock on Ryan Ward or to tell them at all, I think you did a great job.

44:50.582 --> 44:54.228
[SPEAKER_00]: You did a great example of somebody that you heard of, and now you don't hear of anymore.

44:54.248 --> 44:57.773
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and what I mean with like, oh, kind of did a terrific job.

44:58.208 --> 45:00.914
[SPEAKER_01]: writing the ship of stardom and then guiding it through it.

45:00.934 --> 45:03.479
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, it'll, there are challenges ahead, right?

45:03.820 --> 45:05.323
[SPEAKER_01]: Comitani took off, right?

45:05.503 --> 45:11.095
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't, but you can only retire Tam Nakano that once that effectively.

45:11.195 --> 45:13.380
[SPEAKER_01]: Anything else is going to be derivative after that.

45:13.400 --> 45:15.585
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if she came back, you can't do it again.

45:15.605 --> 45:16.767
[SPEAKER_01]: It'll never be the same, right?

45:17.128 --> 45:18.090
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if she did come back.

45:19.336 --> 45:23.100
[SPEAKER_01]: So there are certain things like, you know, is he going to be able to sustain all that?

45:23.120 --> 45:26.244
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's had a terrific run in start.

45:26.264 --> 45:31.190
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's no doubt, and I don't blame them for wanting, this guy's got the hot hand.

45:31.250 --> 45:34.353
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's bring him over, especially in terms of marketing and sponsorships.

45:35.334 --> 45:36.175
[SPEAKER_01]: New Japan needs money.

45:37.196 --> 45:39.039
[SPEAKER_01]: That's one of the main reasons are losing these guys.

45:39.259 --> 45:39.879
[SPEAKER_01]: They need money.

45:40.360 --> 45:45.125
[SPEAKER_01]: And so yes, increasing ticket sales, better booking will increase ticket sales.

45:45.346 --> 45:49.090
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, no question about that.

45:50.318 --> 45:57.506
[SPEAKER_01]: But if they have a direction that the company says, okay, Tana, you know, we, we're gonna, we believe in you.

45:57.606 --> 45:58.767
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we'll believe in you.

45:58.787 --> 46:00.189
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll let your stories play out.

46:00.890 --> 46:04.754
[SPEAKER_01]: At the same time, this guy's done wonders as far as selling merchandise.

46:04.834 --> 46:11.782
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy's done a terrific job as far as getting some really good logos on the mat and on the turn buckles and some other deals going.

46:12.242 --> 46:14.144
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna bring him over and help out a little bit.

46:14.645 --> 46:17.608
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if the revenue comes up on the New Japan side,

46:17.791 --> 46:35.513
[SPEAKER_01]: And on that end as well, then that's the kind of stuff that might be the difference between the key guy leaving for North America and staying, especially the domestic talent who might not want to go overseas and live in a foreign country for years at a time.

46:35.493 --> 46:56.623
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes just can't turn down that paper and maybe maybe they'll be able to be a little bit more competitive with those guys going forward or bring in good foreign talents, all of it helps and that's what I think O'Count is there to do now if new Japan continues to struggle in 2026 the way it had in the end of 2025.

46:58.325 --> 47:17.924
[SPEAKER_01]: a year from now, if Russell kingdom does like, you know, 20, 25,000 people down from 45,000, because you don't have a ton of hockey retirement on top, then I think, you know, then people need to start looking over their shoulders a little bit, and it's all I'm saying on that, especially if starting to stay as hot, then you got to start looking over things.

47:17.944 --> 47:20.569
[SPEAKER_01]: And the lot of options after that.

47:21.055 --> 47:26.423
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, but it's, it's one of those deals then where I mean, I, I think I feel confident.

47:26.443 --> 47:32.612
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't, I don't know this, but I feel confident that they, they wanted to work with Tomahashi and are going to give him every opportunity.

47:32.833 --> 47:34.795
[SPEAKER_01]: He has to play himself out of the job.

47:35.376 --> 47:37.560
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he has to prove to them that he should be president.

47:37.600 --> 47:42.467
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he has to prove to them he shouldn't be, and that would mean, you know, got it.

47:43.248 --> 47:49.898
[SPEAKER_01]: Two years of really bad results, then they might start thinking maybe he's not the guy, but I think they're going to, I think they're going to be very patient.

47:51.650 --> 47:56.895
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the analogy that I wanted for me on the, took a long time getting there.

47:56.935 --> 47:59.177
[SPEAKER_01]: Folks, sorry, that was a, that was a big brand.

47:59.197 --> 48:07.945
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a, I just didn't Steven and he, he gave me like, I think the one on Monday or Tuesday when the news came out and I said, hey, what are your thoughts on this?

48:07.985 --> 48:13.630
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said like a couple of poll, I like, Dada, Dada, and then all of a sudden I had to like one more question.

48:13.650 --> 48:17.053
[SPEAKER_00]: A string of responses all the way through.

48:17.073 --> 48:18.174
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, there it is.

48:18.374 --> 48:20.256
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, well, let's talk about a filter.

48:20.236 --> 48:22.138
[SPEAKER_01]: and we don't normally do that.

48:22.158 --> 48:24.240
[SPEAKER_01]: We try to keep in fresh for the show, but I had thoughts.

48:24.621 --> 48:25.121
[SPEAKER_01]: I had thoughts.

48:25.141 --> 48:27.024
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, I just kind of poked and brought it.

48:27.084 --> 48:28.545
[SPEAKER_00]: And I actually didn't respond.

48:28.565 --> 48:30.227
[SPEAKER_00]: I just stomped up at that.

48:30.247 --> 48:30.407
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

48:31.108 --> 48:31.689
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

48:31.909 --> 48:32.870
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I knew.

48:32.890 --> 48:35.873
[SPEAKER_00]: AJ, I just wanted to get your ride rolling on it.

48:35.893 --> 48:37.155
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how I knew I should shut up.

48:38.276 --> 48:39.337
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, you don't want to hear all that.

48:39.377 --> 48:39.918
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

48:39.938 --> 48:43.061
[SPEAKER_01]: So then Brad just says, I think town is spot is about as safe as anyone can be.

48:43.101 --> 48:45.404
[SPEAKER_01]: They'd get such pushback if they got rid of him as president.

48:45.744 --> 48:49.028
[SPEAKER_01]: As the other side of Jeremy, you push him out of a job.

48:49.582 --> 48:55.028
[SPEAKER_01]: If it ever happens, I think he would be pressured to resign just so it doesn't look like that because my good is firing time.

48:55.048 --> 49:03.897
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be faster or a fountain head or an, like, uh, you know, like an honored status and emeritus, you know, like just.

49:04.858 --> 49:14.488
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, like he just, there are too much cashier with Tana Hawks, you being associated with the product that if he's not actually running it, he'll still be a part of it.

49:14.968 --> 49:17.631
[SPEAKER_00]: It just, that's the reality of it.

49:18.775 --> 49:21.723
[SPEAKER_01]: But it just goes to show the 2026 is a critical year.

49:21.743 --> 49:23.989
[SPEAKER_01]: This could be where either it turns around.

49:24.230 --> 49:34.658
[SPEAKER_01]: And oh, we are indeed back, which I don't think we're gonna know until, and maybe the G1, maybe even pass that if we're actually back or not, takes time to build this stuff.

49:34.790 --> 49:45.663
[SPEAKER_01]: And if not, then I think we could be looking at buying necessity some house cleaning in a year or so, is they can't keep going like this.

49:46.243 --> 49:47.364
[SPEAKER_01]: And they just can't.

49:47.545 --> 49:50.408
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, it's something's gonna happen this year.

49:50.648 --> 49:52.110
[SPEAKER_01]: It's in 2026, something's gonna happen.

49:52.150 --> 49:57.736
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm rooting for the comeback, but as always, the typical baby face fashion, I root for the comeback.

49:58.357 --> 50:04.324
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, if we're still having this conversation next year and we're seeing record low attendances

50:04.709 --> 50:08.547
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't justify keeping the same people in charge anymore.

50:08.567 --> 50:10.416
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how, you know, look.

50:11.763 --> 50:12.304
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

50:12.364 --> 50:15.207
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like it's going to be a pretty it's a big year for her Hiroshi Tanahashi.

50:15.327 --> 50:16.868
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm saying it's a big deal.

50:17.469 --> 50:28.440
[SPEAKER_00]: You build it around one guy like I've been saying, you know, it's like you just need to have one person that they're building around, you know, when we talk with Dave, you said, we asked him how do they move forward?

50:28.460 --> 50:33.725
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you make one guy and then you have two guys underneath him and you have them chasing and you have him there.

50:34.186 --> 50:41.213
[SPEAKER_00]: And right now, it feels like you have Yoda Suji and you got you

50:41.648 --> 50:47.595
[SPEAKER_00]: That could good, that could good start to the whole generational new, what do you got?

50:47.616 --> 50:53.223
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you know, it's one of the thing about that though is you have three baby faces at the moment and that don't work.

50:53.943 --> 50:55.806
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, somebody needs to remember.

50:55.886 --> 50:57.188
[SPEAKER_00]: You think it should have gone heal.

50:58.049 --> 51:01.513
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I just don't know, it just it feels.

51:02.303 --> 51:02.804
[SPEAKER_01]: feels like it.

51:03.164 --> 51:13.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's an interesting thing too, because they teased Uemora with the whole not kneeling on the lion mark with Tanaashi and Shota, like he had a little bit of resentment right there.

51:13.537 --> 51:15.941
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's been nothing like that since that moment.

51:16.201 --> 51:17.202
[SPEAKER_01]: That moment was it.

51:17.683 --> 51:20.386
[SPEAKER_01]: There hasn't been even a hint of anything else.

51:20.466 --> 51:24.512
[SPEAKER_01]: So that might have been done just to misdirect you that, oh, it's going to be Uemora.

51:24.552 --> 51:30.319
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it actually is Shota because Shota almost seemed to

51:30.299 --> 51:41.176
[SPEAKER_01]: as to which one might turn, but I don't know, and one of those guys needs to turn heel and win the New Japan Cup because that New Japan Cup should not be about baby faces.

51:42.679 --> 51:49.930
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if they should turn heel and win the New Japan Cup or turn heel because they didn't win the New Japan Cup.

51:50.972 --> 51:51.733
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, okay.

51:52.760 --> 51:57.024
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, New Japan kept place for turns, so not I did it, you know, that was, that was cool.

51:57.044 --> 52:00.347
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, you have the bolt cup to shore for a couple of years.

52:00.687 --> 52:08.374
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, last year, it was basically the, the David thinly get your flowers tournament where it's like that was basically his big accomplishment.

52:08.474 --> 52:13.238
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, more or less have been down, cycleed ever since, you know what I mean?

52:13.278 --> 52:17.302
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you got a tighter shot with Godo, but he hasn't been in the wrong title picture sense.

52:17.422 --> 52:22.767
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's a few guys below the wrong in his own

52:22.747 --> 52:28.054
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the new spin cup of worth ain't happened and you get kind of a sense of the year.

52:28.414 --> 52:36.544
[SPEAKER_00]: And right now, it, it feels like new spin cup really needs to help define some of the faction.

52:36.625 --> 52:47.218
[SPEAKER_00]: Because right now, you know, you're an empire of getting a lot of love and attention, but that's going to be interesting how it goes after new beginnings, all the new beginning shows.

52:47.907 --> 52:55.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you start to figure out what's going on in the House of Torture if Rend Arena is really going to be the guy on bound company appears to have

52:56.041 --> 53:04.308
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, more or less the bones of whatever it's going to be there, TMDK, the bones of whatever it's going to be is there.

53:04.908 --> 53:16.458
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Hauntai, which is just this big sprawling mess that frankly need to split up into a couple of different things that people need to, you know, get out there because there are too many mouths to feed at the top.

53:16.478 --> 53:18.320
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's showing you, you're both there.

53:18.380 --> 53:25.626
[SPEAKER_00]: One of those people need to kind of go to another faction, create a new faction, or lead one of

53:26.213 --> 53:49.605
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when we get to the G1 and you pick those six guys that we're talking about that are going to go into the finals, it's probably going to be like Yoda, it'll be Zach, it'll be Jay Tweet, Yoda, Julia, and then maybe somebody else, like an ex-factor guy, but those are the people that we're talking about, like those are that that's who this year is going to be built around, you know,

53:49.585 --> 54:08.067
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm pretty confident he's going to be viable through the entire year and consider to threaten to that title all year round he's going to be in the g one post block, what like these are things in my mind that are already like put it on and kill him newman's going to be a factor going forward to that.

54:08.047 --> 54:13.196
[SPEAKER_01]: And then a turn to Rumbar says showed it taking over how the torture would be interesting.

54:13.837 --> 54:19.647
[SPEAKER_01]: And a USVA guy asked about says there's one person who got to keep an eye on HOT forever.

54:20.248 --> 54:23.894
[SPEAKER_01]: Jeremy Orr is asking, why no TV deal to help promote in Japan?

54:23.914 --> 54:26.078
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, they have TV shows in Japan.

54:26.138 --> 54:28.502
[SPEAKER_01]: They have, I think, three.

54:28.482 --> 54:36.392
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a show that is basically cobbled together matches from the shows that we see on NJPW world.

54:37.353 --> 54:41.738
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why one of the reasons they have the Japanese announced teams there.

54:41.778 --> 54:48.987
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are, I believe it's just edited together shows from the same touring programs we see.

54:49.748 --> 54:53.933
[SPEAKER_01]: There's another one that's I think on television, it's more of a talk show.

54:53.913 --> 54:59.227
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not totally sure off the top of my head, I used to know this.

54:59.247 --> 54:59.849
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, exactly.

55:00.170 --> 55:01.373
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it was a TV asahi.

55:01.995 --> 55:03.860
[SPEAKER_01]: TV asahi is the one that I'm talking about.

55:03.880 --> 55:09.475
[SPEAKER_01]: The one hour show a week that is highlights of entering action.

55:09.455 --> 55:15.042
[SPEAKER_01]: What they don't have is a SmackDowner or a Raw that, you know, this week they're in Osaka, this week they're in Tokyo.

55:15.062 --> 55:16.404
[SPEAKER_01]: Here, we're coming live from Negata.

55:16.424 --> 55:17.365
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't, they don't do that.

55:18.466 --> 55:23.413
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, with the set and the, you know, the traveling show with the promos and all that kind of stuff.

55:23.433 --> 55:25.135
[SPEAKER_01]: That's something that New Japan doesn't do.

55:25.375 --> 55:33.285
[SPEAKER_01]: They have TV where I mean the culture is different is that they're not getting hundreds of millions of dollars in rights fees.

55:33.704 --> 55:38.733
[SPEAKER_01]: The audience isn't there and Japanese television culture just doesn't do that.

55:38.993 --> 55:40.416
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just not how it goes there.

55:41.057 --> 55:43.401
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're just not in a position right now to demand that either.

55:43.781 --> 55:49.852
[SPEAKER_01]: So while they have the TV shows to promote the shows and they do, they promote their touring programs on those shows.

55:50.553 --> 55:54.941
[SPEAKER_01]: And try to show you the highlights of and then make sure you come and see them when they visit your town.

55:54.981 --> 55:55.682
[SPEAKER_01]: They do all that.

55:56.183 --> 55:58.547
[SPEAKER_01]: But what they don't get is like WWE.

55:59.236 --> 56:05.082
[SPEAKER_01]: These guys don't have for run house shows, AEW doesn't run house shows, WWE really doesn't run house.

56:05.122 --> 56:09.106
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes they'll do a live event, but those are kind of few and far between now.

56:09.126 --> 56:15.192
[SPEAKER_01]: They are essentially a television show that is done in front of a live studio audience.

56:15.212 --> 56:17.834
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just the studio audience is in an arena every week.

56:18.956 --> 56:23.160
[SPEAKER_01]: WWE and AEW are essentially television shows that have wrestling.

56:23.340 --> 56:24.501
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not.

56:24.481 --> 56:26.846
[SPEAKER_01]: a touring wrestling company with a TV show.

56:26.866 --> 56:32.878
[SPEAKER_01]: If that makes any sense, their main job is to supply these networks with programming.

56:33.619 --> 56:36.806
[SPEAKER_00]: The easiest way that I can look at it and roll the pro wrestling.

56:36.826 --> 56:37.567
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Esteban.

56:37.607 --> 56:38.489
[SPEAKER_01]: We're all the pro wrestling.

56:38.509 --> 56:39.030
[SPEAKER_01]: That's never.

56:40.158 --> 57:00.799
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the event that I can compare it to is it's like a franchise like league schedule where, you know, the NFL or the NBA or the major league baseball or even baseball and Japan and every week different night to the week you're going to have a game it's not the same from week to week.

57:00.779 --> 57:10.096
[SPEAKER_00]: depending on like getting to get to a town, you know, what arena it's at, they have a home base of cork and hall.

57:10.576 --> 57:23.800
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's how I look at is then, you know, it's like a sport league where every day of the week you might have a show or not, just depending on, you know, the way that we work out.

57:23.780 --> 57:39.443
[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy for me to just compartmentalize it like that, where it shows here, in the state like you know every Monday, every Friday, every Wednesday, you're going to get your TV shows for wrestling, and then on the weekend, every so often you get a special show.

57:39.980 --> 57:43.546
[SPEAKER_01]: And not every company in Japan has a television show at all.

57:43.566 --> 57:45.308
[SPEAKER_01]: So New Japan is I have the game on that.

57:45.449 --> 57:49.114
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of the reasons they're number one and have been for a very, very long time.

57:50.096 --> 57:51.338
[SPEAKER_01]: So they have that.

57:51.478 --> 57:56.065
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just what they don't have is a source of income that they can live on from it.

57:56.045 --> 57:59.268
[SPEAKER_01]: it's just not the way Japanese television is with rights fees the way.

57:59.328 --> 58:16.906
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, jesus, if WWE never, WWE doesn't even need to do those PLEs, like they could, they could, could, don't want to, could, subside on their contracts with universal for SmackDown and Netflix for RAW and live quite happily.

58:17.406 --> 58:20.289
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you get Saudi blood money, you take that too.

58:20.449 --> 58:23.352
[SPEAKER_01]: That's their philosophy and all that,

58:23.332 --> 58:28.561
[SPEAKER_01]: just different different business systems, just business structures, and between the two cultures, so.

58:28.701 --> 58:34.791
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so we've talked about some of the business end of it.

58:34.831 --> 58:37.195
[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked about evils departure.

58:37.335 --> 58:40.480
[SPEAKER_01]: No other official departures this week.

58:40.628 --> 58:41.589
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we'll keep an eye.

58:41.609 --> 58:43.492
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more a rumored to be happy on it.

58:43.572 --> 58:49.842
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I feel like we're not going to get any real news until after new beginning when you get coming to outcome of some of these matches.

58:49.902 --> 59:01.759
[SPEAKER_00]: And then all of a sudden, we have like, you know, we will be which, so, so, uh, a great, you know, happy time moving forward or come both, so, so the dual contract or whatever, just.

59:01.857 --> 59:21.520
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have any, there's no reason to announce any of the stuff evil like you knew he was leaving, you know, like, could he show up on the rumble, maybe I doubt it, you know, I mean, like he doesn't feel like anyone of you to know who he is shows up this number 17 in in the Saudi Mania rumble, whereas if you like build up that.

59:22.242 --> 59:29.615
[SPEAKER_00]: build up that, like, debut on TV over the course of some time, you might actually get somewhere with that.

59:29.635 --> 59:35.886
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, it just, it feels weird to debut that guy there.

59:36.207 --> 59:37.349
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't work for me.

59:38.231 --> 59:39.974
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious if they do it with them though.

59:39.994 --> 59:42.759
[SPEAKER_01]: Brad mentions that Clark Conner's was working collision on Saturday.

59:43.200 --> 59:43.921
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you don't say.

59:44.442 --> 59:45.163
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he is.

59:45.484 --> 59:46.225
[SPEAKER_00]: Shocking.

59:47.234 --> 59:48.817
[SPEAKER_01]: But still, no official announcement, right?

59:48.837 --> 59:49.958
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll talk about all that one in a half.

59:49.978 --> 59:51.120
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, I wonder mentioned this.

59:51.601 --> 01:00:01.076
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been talking about things like creative and people who are involved with creative power bombshells or siblings show did an interview about the, I guess it's almost three weeks ago.

01:00:01.096 --> 01:00:07.086
[SPEAKER_01]: So I apologize, I haven't mentioned it earlier with Michael Lee and Arty's former member of the WWE creative.

01:00:07.306 --> 01:00:11.132
[SPEAKER_01]: And go check that out, by the way, on the,

01:00:11.112 --> 01:00:12.774
[SPEAKER_01]: the fight game media YouTube feed.

01:00:13.175 --> 01:00:14.416
[SPEAKER_01]: Check out PowerBlobshells anyway.

01:00:14.456 --> 01:00:16.419
[SPEAKER_01]: They're on every Sunday, want to clock PM Eastern.

01:00:17.040 --> 01:00:23.708
[SPEAKER_01]: You should watch that anyhow, but they have your ship of any show on our network.

01:00:23.728 --> 01:00:26.732
[SPEAKER_01]: And Sam did a heck of a job getting that interview together.

01:00:26.772 --> 01:00:31.899
[SPEAKER_01]: She has other interviews going so I would definitely recommend that one by the way.

01:00:32.400 --> 01:00:34.943
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, if you're looking for written content,

01:00:34.923 --> 01:00:35.925
[SPEAKER_00]: you can hire her.

01:00:36.145 --> 01:00:40.835
[SPEAKER_00]: She used to work for daily DDT and they don't provide a written content.

01:00:41.296 --> 01:00:47.869
[SPEAKER_00]: She had excellent at the written word articles, actual substitute content, when it captured the world of progress.

01:00:48.220 --> 01:00:50.443
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jerry said he heard our beta podcast.

01:00:50.823 --> 01:00:52.886
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's I'm glad that's getting out there.

01:00:52.906 --> 01:00:54.829
[SPEAKER_01]: The one we did on beta and in a nokey.

01:00:54.869 --> 01:00:56.131
[SPEAKER_01]: So oh cool cool.

01:00:56.151 --> 01:00:57.272
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, very grateful for that.

01:00:57.512 --> 01:00:59.515
[SPEAKER_01]: So there were a couple of shows this week.

01:00:59.535 --> 01:01:01.117
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, nothing on NJPW world.

01:01:01.137 --> 01:01:01.838
[SPEAKER_01]: These were house shows.

01:01:02.499 --> 01:01:07.005
[SPEAKER_00]: And he wanted to move it to laughter like this.

01:01:06.985 --> 01:01:20.785
[SPEAKER_01]: a memorial on Wednesday happened and there were there were issues with transportation in the guys getting to the building to the point that after the main event, Suji was in the ring doing the post-match promo and said, oh, by the way, the other bus actually got here.

01:01:21.026 --> 01:01:22.488
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have two more matches for you tonight.

01:01:22.868 --> 01:01:28.757
[SPEAKER_01]: When it didn't, and I guess some guys didn't have the luggage and we're working in either other people's gear and warm-up gear

01:01:28.737 --> 01:01:32.421
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a bit of a slab dash issue there in A.O.

01:01:32.441 --> 01:01:40.311
[SPEAKER_01]: Mori on Wednesday, but it's still true almost a thousand people, you know, because I think it was more getting into the town than once they were in the town, because the people in A.O.

01:01:40.331 --> 01:01:42.454
[SPEAKER_01]: Mori were able to make it out anyway, thankfully.

01:01:42.494 --> 01:01:50.083
[SPEAKER_00]: But I guess I'm trying to show that I'm going to include in black gear, because all of the gear will call the other, because on the other box, so you had nothing to work with.

01:01:50.583 --> 01:01:52.686
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it's those, it's those, it's those,

01:01:52.868 --> 01:02:03.247
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess, here they would be called county roads, Jeremy, but I don't know what they're called and in Japan, but some of those roads between the cities can be a little treacherous.

01:02:03.327 --> 01:02:05.692
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what they had in their photo from the show.

01:02:06.654 --> 01:02:15.450
[SPEAKER_00]: He he's got it pooped and he's got it knee pads, but he's wearing like lion mark, she'll like like elastic band pants.

01:02:15.430 --> 01:02:18.473
[SPEAKER_01]: a possible that was taken to possible that came from the merch table.

01:02:18.974 --> 01:02:21.557
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it could tirely possible that it came from the merch table.

01:02:22.197 --> 01:02:25.741
[SPEAKER_00]: And you've got a white hoodie on and you should go and for it.

01:02:26.362 --> 01:02:27.163
[SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing.

01:02:27.663 --> 01:02:28.524
[SPEAKER_01]: Man's doing what he can do.

01:02:29.065 --> 01:02:40.597
[SPEAKER_00]: So, uh, no, it's the, um, it's the 20, 20 cents, uh, lion mark suit that he's wearing.

01:02:40.998 --> 01:02:44.762
[SPEAKER_00]: He's wearing the, he's wearing the

01:02:44.894 --> 01:02:45.435
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

01:02:45.455 --> 01:02:52.547
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so that was a morion when say a latte Thursday that was earlier today here, but both drew about a thousand people.

01:02:53.509 --> 01:03:00.040
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you latte was part of the road to new beginning to our last year and drew almost the same number of people, almost the same number of people.

01:03:00.060 --> 01:03:07.273
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think they found they found the audience out there and I want to they show up in about the same numbers no matter what, but all preview tag stuff.

01:03:07.253 --> 01:03:09.416
[SPEAKER_01]: nothing really to to speak up on that.

01:03:10.016 --> 01:03:15.764
[SPEAKER_01]: And then February 1st of the next time we're going to see everybody first and second in cortical and haul.

01:03:15.824 --> 01:03:20.169
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when they would be back on NJPW World, though, we back on Tokyo.

01:03:20.310 --> 01:03:24.915
[SPEAKER_01]: And then on February 1st, the lineup is this, mostly pre-D tags with a couple of exceptions.

01:03:24.955 --> 01:03:30.983
[SPEAKER_01]: We will have Shomekato versus Kasimura Ashima in the new

01:03:30.963 --> 01:03:38.335
[SPEAKER_01]: I mentioned a few more preview tags and then two tag matches will end the night previewing feuds that are going to be on new beginnings.

01:03:38.355 --> 01:03:44.405
[SPEAKER_01]: So we will have Hiromu and Finlay against Newman and Jacob Austin Young.

01:03:44.425 --> 01:03:52.718
[SPEAKER_01]: So Hiromu Chakaashi David Finlay against Newman and Young Betta Courses, the lead up to Newman versus Finlay.

01:03:52.698 --> 01:04:00.144
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we will see Suji and Taiji Ishimori against Francesco Akira and Jake Lee.

01:04:00.244 --> 01:04:03.968
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to get Hiromu and Ishimori is a team.

01:04:04.008 --> 01:04:05.068
[SPEAKER_01]: One of my dream tag teams.

01:04:05.088 --> 01:04:06.289
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad we're getting it.

01:04:06.510 --> 01:04:08.631
[SPEAKER_01]: If FF and it's still enough, Hiromu leaves.

01:04:08.692 --> 01:04:10.593
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad I at least get to see this one, Jeremy.

01:04:10.853 --> 01:04:13.295
[SPEAKER_01]: Hiromu and Ishimori against Akira and Yang.

01:04:14.176 --> 01:04:17.159
[SPEAKER_01]: Finn-Layvers' Newman, Suji versus Lee.

01:04:17.399 --> 01:04:22.283
[SPEAKER_01]: And so these two tag matches are kind of jumbling all those guys up and giving us a preview.

01:04:23.292 --> 01:04:26.659
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really excited for these two nights of cards.

01:04:26.839 --> 01:04:36.558
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really looking forward to the second, but for the most part, I think that the build that they've been doing for this new beginning show has been really strong.

01:04:36.999 --> 01:04:42.870
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like they put Jake Lee and Yota Suji in this position where

01:04:42.850 --> 01:04:52.980
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, a lot of people weren't really all that interrupted in Jake Lee going into the feud, but I think that they've managed to spin something that people at least have an eyebrow.

01:04:53.000 --> 01:04:53.301
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

01:04:53.481 --> 01:04:53.981
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, you know what?

01:04:54.102 --> 01:04:55.863
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the same Jake Lee that I thought in books.

01:04:57.645 --> 01:04:57.745
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

01:04:57.765 --> 01:04:58.406
[SPEAKER_01]: There you have it.

01:04:58.426 --> 01:05:02.590
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I'm looking at this because that's about mentioned.

01:05:02.610 --> 01:05:03.091
[SPEAKER_01]: So A.O.

01:05:03.111 --> 01:05:08.877
[SPEAKER_01]: Mori and then you watch these are indeed a snowy area.

01:05:08.917 --> 01:05:10.258
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a

01:05:10.728 --> 01:05:17.934
[SPEAKER_01]: in the very north part of the primary island of Hunsch, you're there.

01:05:18.415 --> 01:05:27.483
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's the same island that has Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, even Sendai up there, but it's up north of all that.

01:05:27.503 --> 01:05:32.528
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, Hokkaido and Seporo, of course, that area, that's the northern island.

01:05:33.529 --> 01:05:40.735
[SPEAKER_01]: I found this out Jeremy, some places on that island has some of the highest snowfall totals on the face of the earth.

01:05:40.715 --> 01:05:47.704
[SPEAKER_01]: Among the highest per year, sometimes the highest per year, up in very north island of Japan.

01:05:47.724 --> 01:05:53.070
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what they were, but they were on the north end of Hanshu, which is ambitious for this time of year.

01:05:53.171 --> 01:05:54.012
[SPEAKER_01]: And can't be treacherous.

01:05:54.032 --> 01:05:58.077
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about I mentioned that Morioka is a very snowy area hard to get around.

01:05:58.097 --> 01:06:02.542
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes I had an issue getting around during World Tag League final in 2018.

01:06:02.622 --> 01:06:09.591
[SPEAKER_01]: So apparently he was snowed in a little bit in those spots.

01:06:09.571 --> 01:06:11.855
[SPEAKER_01]: They had the winter Olympics, well, south of that.

01:06:11.875 --> 01:06:14.620
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is even further north on an island during the winter time.

01:06:14.680 --> 01:06:19.728
[SPEAKER_01]: So plenty of snow and then Here's one from Braddy.

01:06:19.748 --> 01:06:22.854
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm still not totally into Jake, but he gives a bit of a night.

01:06:22.874 --> 01:06:24.016
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, feeling this new role.

01:06:24.436 --> 01:06:25.498
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm warming up to them.

01:06:26.320 --> 01:06:29.004
[SPEAKER_01]: The United Empire Jake.

01:06:29.024 --> 01:06:34.093
[SPEAKER_01]: We've only seen hints of him a little bit feels a little more.

01:06:34.867 --> 01:06:42.775
[SPEAKER_01]: It feels like he's more comfortable in the role than the war dog version of Jake Lee, or the Bulla Club version of Jake Lee.

01:06:43.195 --> 01:07:03.675
[SPEAKER_01]: The one that got hurt, this version of him, this kind of smirking kind of, I'm just in your head, taunting you type of, you know, the Call of Newman being that kind of, the malice that's within Call of Newman and the anger within him and Jake's kind of cool,

01:07:03.790 --> 01:07:19.369
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to mess with your head every day, type of thing, fits this faction to me a little bit better than when he was in there with David Finlay and the rest of him, I feel like this might be a more natural fit for him, Jeremy, so far, early returns.

01:07:19.619 --> 01:07:35.738
[SPEAKER_00]: I uh, I saw somewhere I think a bath gauge comment or something where he called himself a jethker to the court to the court, where as like he doesn't consider himself the king, but he's more like the man speaking truth through humor.

01:07:36.106 --> 01:07:47.325
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that kind of threw the wind beneath, and I can see that with what he's doing, and that's still kind of protects Calenium and it's being the king and in, you know, Empire or the Prince to be king, that kind of thing.

01:07:48.286 --> 01:07:53.114
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a little bit of riddle to that whole mentality, but I do like what Jake is doing.

01:07:53.274 --> 01:07:57.321
[SPEAKER_00]: I like what United Empire is doing, and it also kind of make me think.

01:07:57.807 --> 01:08:04.233
[SPEAKER_00]: Relative, you know, after seeing AEW last night and seeing what, you know, Newspam seemed to have planned with Andrade.

01:08:04.634 --> 01:08:11.781
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you're going to be here in Starts and maybe some more to the Takeshida thing.

01:08:12.421 --> 01:08:23.292
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think if he's not actively in the World Title picture, that can work fine until you want to do potentially a few to the G1 or something where he has an opportunity after he's

01:08:23.272 --> 01:08:24.073
[SPEAKER_00]: rest of it in there.

01:08:24.173 --> 01:08:37.829
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, these dual contract, all of these things, United Empire, all this stuff, I don't think it's going to work the way that we want it to, and I'm not sure that it will be sustainable.

01:08:37.950 --> 01:08:44.217
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think focusing on Jake Lee, I think focusing on Callum Newman, I think those are the right place in that faction.

01:08:44.517 --> 01:08:45.639
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree with you on that.

01:08:45.699 --> 01:08:56.756
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and I think the results, the pinfall results of this match matter a lot less than what happens after it, whatever wins whoever loses, I would recommend two things.

01:08:56.956 --> 01:09:01.363
[SPEAKER_01]: One, Yoda Susie does not take a pin even in a, even in a tag match.

01:09:01.423 --> 01:09:03.746
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't beat the guy right now, Jeremy.

01:09:03.767 --> 01:09:07.352
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Yoda Susie is taking any kind of pinfall for like three months.

01:09:07.332 --> 01:09:08.033
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

01:09:08.473 --> 01:09:11.417
[SPEAKER_01]: And at the same time, I think Lee should stand tall.

01:09:11.677 --> 01:09:25.473
[SPEAKER_01]: So whether that means he gets into cheap one after and hits the big boot in the corner to Stooji and knocks him out, I just feel like there's work to do in getting lead to that spot of looking like a real threat.

01:09:26.314 --> 01:09:28.337
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's probably what we're going to see.

01:09:28.417 --> 01:09:32.081
[SPEAKER_01]: I would recommend doing that anyway, but don't pin Stooji that be my fault then.

01:09:33.102 --> 01:09:33.863
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

01:09:34.332 --> 01:09:39.818
[SPEAKER_01]: February 2nd, more preview tags in Corknog curious to see attendance on this one on these shows.

01:09:40.679 --> 01:09:53.251
[SPEAKER_01]: Preview tags plus a three match series of singles matches at the end of the card that pits TMDK versus, I guess, the Godo Revolutionary Army in some ways.

01:09:53.772 --> 01:10:00.559
[SPEAKER_01]: So we will see first and the order will, I think, kind of tell you how this is going to go.

01:10:01.349 --> 01:10:06.075
[SPEAKER_01]: Bolton, Oleg Bolton against Hartley Jackson in the first one.

01:10:06.615 --> 01:10:09.639
[SPEAKER_01]: The second one, Zach Saber Jr. versus Yoshi Hashie.

01:10:11.081 --> 01:10:19.671
[SPEAKER_01]: And the third main event, February 2nd, in Korkin Hall, a hero key goto versus Rio Heo Wewa.

01:10:19.691 --> 01:10:25.078
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't have to do it this way, Jeremy, but boy, that feels like it'll be one-to-one going into that main event.

01:10:25.396 --> 01:10:33.427
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, what I absolutely do is, and not only do I think this match will be called sequential, I wouldn't be shocked if they run this match back in the New Japan Cup.

01:10:35.550 --> 01:10:49.990
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, like they did the same thing with a Spingo and Jirola last year, where they had one of these special single matchers and then one of those matches that they had like right afterwards was like second round of the New Japan Cup.

01:10:50.071 --> 01:10:54.677
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, if it were me, Steven, oil will go over.

01:10:55.771 --> 01:11:21.103
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it might be healthy to do so, but again, there's, there's, if this is chapter one or chapter three of a story really, because these teams have been added, they were, they were the last two involved in that mess of a trio's gauntlet match at rest of kingdom that's better left on better left on discussed, but then they had a title match that was pretty good for those trio's titles, and that was won by Bishop on and Bolton.

01:11:21.123 --> 01:11:24.327
[SPEAKER_01]: So these teams have been kind of clashing all month long.

01:11:24.577 --> 01:11:38.354
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you're right, I think this is going to go further into the cup and then if they want to, they can take whatever happens in the cup and have it be part of those two being in the same block in the g one like this could this could this could roll on and on for a while.

01:11:38.474 --> 01:11:42.559
[SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like we are only in the middle of this story not coming to the end of it.

01:11:42.579 --> 01:11:53.773
[SPEAKER_00]: If it wasn't for the promo that oil would did in the middle of the ring where he basically said,

01:11:54.040 --> 01:12:08.397
[SPEAKER_00]: Either that's a declaration that he fails and then eventually he overcomes with that mountain at some point either the G1 or something like that or you are really serious and putting these guys on the map early on in the year.

01:12:09.899 --> 01:12:23.895
[SPEAKER_00]: Based off of everything I lean towards you know not pulling that trigger and them doing the G1 thing, but my heart really want them to just go you know what we believe in you and we're going to give you this.

01:12:25.445 --> 01:12:29.973
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's also possible they just want to feel good when with go to at the end.

01:12:30.374 --> 01:12:31.897
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Kirk and Hall on the microphone.

01:12:31.917 --> 01:12:32.819
[SPEAKER_01]: It could very well be.

01:12:33.059 --> 01:12:34.181
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it could very well be.

01:12:35.163 --> 01:12:37.948
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they it's been a struggle in court lately for the company.

01:12:37.968 --> 01:12:42.977
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's I'm curious to see how many people show up for these because they they haven't put it a lot into these matches.

01:12:43.418 --> 01:12:48.668
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a 100% a lot of intrigue with this match in this match alone like.

01:12:48.648 --> 01:12:50.130
[SPEAKER_00]: You could go either.

01:12:50.150 --> 01:12:50.571
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

01:12:50.991 --> 01:12:51.332
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

01:12:51.452 --> 01:12:59.263
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I mean, it's good to go to a winning because he's a former world champion and beating a former world champion in the single match has to mean something.

01:13:00.004 --> 01:13:05.993
[SPEAKER_00]: Does this big enough to mean something in 2026, New Japan is really the question?

01:13:06.213 --> 01:13:08.877
[SPEAKER_00]: Are the singles matches going to be consequential?

01:13:09.378 --> 01:13:10.499
[SPEAKER_00]: Are they telling your story?

01:13:10.700 --> 01:13:13.203
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are we going to be in a situation of, yes?

01:13:13.263 --> 01:13:18.030
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet again, the young guys are close, but not close enough.

01:13:18.618 --> 01:13:19.199
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see this.

01:13:20.341 --> 01:13:22.885
[SPEAKER_01]: Last time they ran two nights in Corican.

01:13:23.666 --> 01:13:31.798
[SPEAKER_01]: They had the embarrassing 1,09 number and then about 1,200 that showed up for the two type of matches on the junior heavyweight side.

01:13:33.221 --> 01:13:39.410
[SPEAKER_01]: Looking at these cards, now one's on Sunday and one's on Monday, which is not to be discounted either.

01:13:40.151 --> 01:13:43.657
[SPEAKER_01]: If I put the over under at 1,100, which way are you gonna take?

01:13:44.358 --> 01:13:45.059
[SPEAKER_00]: On each card?

01:13:45.540 --> 01:13:45.840
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

01:13:50.157 --> 01:13:50.497
[SPEAKER_00]: under.

01:13:51.899 --> 01:13:52.600
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think so too.

01:13:53.181 --> 01:13:54.143
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a lot of empty seats.

01:13:54.803 --> 01:13:55.945
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what it is.

01:13:56.105 --> 01:13:57.107
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm not.

01:13:58.429 --> 01:13:59.530
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not worried about it.

01:13:59.710 --> 01:14:07.922
[SPEAKER_00]: We just had this conversation last week that it's going to take time for the New Japan fans to realize that this is a different product.

01:14:07.942 --> 01:14:09.784
[SPEAKER_00]: You have it in the course.

01:14:09.804 --> 01:14:10.225
[SPEAKER_01]: If it is.

01:14:11.286 --> 01:14:12.388
[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't seen that.

01:14:12.448 --> 01:14:14.931
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't have any option but being a new product.

01:14:15.312 --> 01:14:19.658
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that to me is the

01:14:20.009 --> 01:14:23.353
[SPEAKER_00]: This company does not have any old stars to rely.

01:14:23.374 --> 01:14:29.802
[SPEAKER_00]: This company cannot live off the fumes of 20, 08 to 2020 anymore.

01:14:29.822 --> 01:14:34.208
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they are, they're fucking bound if they don't like go with these guys.

01:14:34.629 --> 01:14:35.650
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know what I agree with you.

01:14:35.670 --> 01:14:40.396
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying that there's not a lot, there's not, we haven't seen firm evidence that they're aware of.

01:14:40.436 --> 01:14:42.439
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, so I had the first real like,

01:14:42.419 --> 01:14:51.395
[SPEAKER_00]: Big show of the year is impressing them, you know, like that's coming up in two weeks, which by the way I meant to ask you and I'm going to put you on the spot here now.

01:14:52.136 --> 01:14:59.449
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to do the new beginning show recap on Wednesday of on the 11th of the video you want to wait today and do another.

01:14:59.429 --> 01:15:01.292
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's stick to our regular schedule.

01:15:01.372 --> 01:15:02.014
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

01:15:02.034 --> 01:15:05.640
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll just keep it nice and consistent because that shows on a Wednesday and then we come in on Thursday.

01:15:05.660 --> 01:15:06.021
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.

01:15:06.041 --> 01:15:07.844
[SPEAKER_00]: I just didn't know what you wanted to do.

01:15:07.864 --> 01:15:09.687
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would want to do it if it were a weekend thing.

01:15:09.727 --> 01:15:12.632
[SPEAKER_01]: But the February 11th is national holiday in Japan.

01:15:12.672 --> 01:15:16.238
[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, in case you're wondering why on Earth this big card is stuck in the middle of the week.

01:15:16.298 --> 01:15:18.482
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a it is a national holiday February 11th.

01:15:18.502 --> 01:15:18.923
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk about it.

01:15:18.903 --> 01:15:47.897
[SPEAKER_01]: more about that as we get to it because we're going to preview that one the next week and talk a little bit about the holiday itself and all that so we'll get into it but that's why it's in the middle of the week you know like normally something like that would be on a Saturday or a Sunday but now we're this year we're on a Wednesday because of the holiday so there's one more show next week that is not on NJPW world as it stands right now the house outshow and Fukushima it's not like I said not scheduled to air and it's made up of

01:15:49.548 --> 01:15:57.640
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I don't have anything else really my dog losing his mind because apparently I haven't like given enough creeps through the entirety of the day.

01:15:57.701 --> 01:16:00.030
[SPEAKER_00]: You got anything else for us to visit.

01:16:00.078 --> 01:16:04.965
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm scanning to see if we missed any questions here, but I don't think we did.

01:16:05.005 --> 01:16:08.751
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I got to everything that was asked live here in the chat.

01:16:08.771 --> 01:16:11.495
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to thank Brad certainly Nick Reeves.

01:16:11.535 --> 01:16:15.661
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was here today, Jeremy or us VA guy.

01:16:16.121 --> 01:16:16.542
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, guys.

01:16:16.562 --> 01:16:23.352
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for for chatting with us and giving us some things to talk about as we went on with this week.

01:16:23.753 --> 01:16:30.821
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the evil thing is an interesting situation and it leaves a gap a top one of the main state factions in the company.

01:16:30.881 --> 01:16:38.850
[SPEAKER_01]: So, got to think there's some repercussions coming from that, not necessarily immediately because we mentioned a new beginning.

01:16:38.870 --> 01:16:41.192
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not really book, Ben Fantasco Mania.

01:16:41.212 --> 01:16:42.013
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't really need them.

01:16:42.674 --> 01:16:50.723
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not really until the New Japan

01:16:50.703 --> 01:16:54.671
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, the other thing Brad, he mentions that the US show is on sale on the site.

01:16:54.691 --> 01:16:59.160
[SPEAKER_01]: $19 to watch new beginning USA.

01:16:59.280 --> 01:17:00.723
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, probably we watch it.

01:17:00.903 --> 01:17:01.664
[SPEAKER_01]: I will too.

01:17:01.925 --> 01:17:02.406
[SPEAKER_01]: I will too.

01:17:02.426 --> 01:17:04.370
[SPEAKER_01]: The company needs the money for God's sake.

01:17:04.390 --> 01:17:04.911
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.

01:17:05.793 --> 01:17:12.205
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I didn't do what because I got into it into the card in general, but I haven't really announced the card yet though, have they?

01:17:12.185 --> 01:17:22.898
[SPEAKER_00]: They got to choose to actually have me interested, which is Bolton Oleg versus Tomo Hero Shee and Elfantazzo versus Takeshina, which if you're going to advertise two matches, I'm here for those.

01:17:23.178 --> 01:17:29.266
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are totally cromulent matches that of Jeff Hawkins, who would say as I were.

01:17:29.686 --> 01:17:32.590
[SPEAKER_00]: The only thing that I wanted to say before we get out of here is

01:17:33.211 --> 01:17:49.647
[SPEAKER_00]: We talk about like the unknown and the mystery of New Japan, you know, going into 20, 20, but the fact of the matter is evil left, evil's gone and that means they're spot to fill to somebody to step up and take that role and really redefine that and leave their mark on it.

01:17:49.868 --> 01:17:52.333
[SPEAKER_00]: And if anything, I hope somebody does.

01:17:52.718 --> 01:17:53.279
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

01:17:53.339 --> 01:17:58.463
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are likely to be other roles and other gaps to be filled in as this year goes on.

01:17:58.523 --> 01:18:15.759
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a lot of rumors going around again, no official announcements, but boy, there's a lot of the lot of smoke and even if it's not all of the people that are being rumored, it would be strange if none of the others left that many people rumored to be leaving and none of them left.

01:18:15.779 --> 01:18:17.160
[SPEAKER_01]: And that would be a surprise as well.

01:18:17.180 --> 01:18:19.562
[SPEAKER_01]: So I have a feeling we're going to be having conversations like this again.

01:18:19.843 --> 01:18:20.363
[SPEAKER_00]: So.

01:18:21.254 --> 01:18:39.752
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to even next week or again, we go on oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint oint o

01:18:41.116 --> 01:18:41.777
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we will.

01:18:42.057 --> 01:18:43.979
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have anything else, everybody.

01:18:44.139 --> 01:18:46.542
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for letting us off the hook 10 minute early.

01:18:46.882 --> 01:18:48.925
[SPEAKER_00]: We're usually 10 minute or 15 minute gover.

01:18:49.265 --> 01:18:52.068
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like this time coming back to be just a little bit.

01:18:52.929 --> 01:18:53.290
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

01:18:53.370 --> 01:18:55.192
[SPEAKER_01]: So for Jeremy Feinstein, I'm Stephen Conway.

01:18:55.232 --> 01:18:56.513
[SPEAKER_01]: This has been speaking a strong style.

01:18:56.553 --> 01:19:01.118
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your time, whether you've joined us here alive on YouTube or as a podcast later, we're very grateful.

01:19:01.138 --> 01:19:04.162
[SPEAKER_01]: And we will talk to you again real soon.

01:19:04.182 --> 01:19:05.183
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye.