Pro-Wrestling On My Mind

First off, happy anniversary New Japan Pro-Wrestling!  If you didn't already know, t oday is New Japan’s anniversary event, being held at the Ota City Gymnasium. It’s an interesting match lineup, with ELP facing a mystery opponent, the Bullet Club fracture being battled out in the 4th match (another post on that strife is coming soon), El Desperado’s 3rd title defense this reign (the match I am most interested in), and, in what is a pretty darn big deal, the main event is possibly Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last chance at capturing the IWGP heavyweight title before he retires. Tanahashi’s challenging Goto is the match that has given me the most food for thought. I am pretty bad about guessing how matches and storylines will play out in NJPW (either that or, as a more fun theory, Gedo can read my mind and always decides “Yeah I’m definitely doing the opposite of what that fool thinks ” ). My initial idea on learning about this match was that Goto is a placeholder champion, that he is defin...

Kota Ibushi is my favorite pro-wrestler. Hands down, no contest, no one else comes close. One of the reasons is that, every time I see him wrestle, it feels like a religious experience. The way he performs, he moves, he acts, all of it is a glorious spectacle to behold. Ritualistic dances are par for the course when he is in the ring, as the following pictures show.    I should get these images made into a triptych... Notice Okada in the middle picture, kneeling in reverence, mouth hanging open in awe (as he should be). I would be in this same posture every time I watched a Kota Ibushi match if there was not someone in front of me to block my view. What inspired me to ruminate about my pro-wrestling god today was having another religious experience, though this one was food-based. I tried a croiffle, a croissant waffle, for the first time today. From now on, any time I read about manna from the heavens, I will be imagining this. Dear reader, my soul transcended to a higher pla...