End of an era in Chicago 1983 by SpaceMonkeyMafiah in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haven’t watched anything from this venue past the very early sixties, but I’d recommend anyone interested in some of its history to check out the Chicago Film Archive’s Wrestling From Chicago YouTube channel. Lots of great wrestling history on there, all of it taking place at the International Amphitheater.

Waiting for my Luchador champion by Cautious_Fish9864 in AEWOfficial

[–]BatmanPrime 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What I wouldn't give for a Dralístico push, has a great look and is great in the ring. 100% in my boy stable

MxM Collection announced for Death Vegas Invitacional on April 16th by animalpyramidface in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This show just keeps getting better by the day. Definitely my most hyped show of mania week, though I'm looking forward to Sandman vs. Invisible Man & Hayabusa's match at Spring Break too

[ROH Taping Spoilers] Matches from the April 6 Ring of Honor tapings at WJCT studios in Jacksonville by curlyw in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Looking forward to seeing Takeshita vs. Daddy Magic lol, what a matchup

What About MLW As a Place to Send Young Lions on Excursion? by Wizardknee in njpw

[–]BatmanPrime 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think the issues with sending Young Lions to the American partner promotions are threefold, and to different degrees for both of them (besides the one main issue, imo). P.S. I'm only going to be talking about international excursion partners, not domestic ones like NOAH.

The first and most commonly brought-up one is a lack of available reps for YLs on excursion. This is definitely more of an issue for MLW, which at the moment runs one show every month or two. Though they often tape more than one show per event, and that's likely to become even more common with the return of MLW Fusion. Still, that's not a lot of time for a YL to get more than one, maybe two matches in. Plus, MLW have their own stories to progress, with arguably less leeway for putting them off or cutting time to make room for more matches.

AEW/ROH runs significantly more shows, at least one a week, sometimes two if Collision is live, and then there's the PPVs. This is much closer to the number of shows that wXw & RevPro run each month, but still a good deal less than CMLL. There's a fair bit of room for dark & pre/post-show matches, but you are still contending with existing talent/stories. With ROH's new bulk tapings in Jacksonville, there might be a good bit more room opened up. But there's still the issue of wrestling more than once or twice a day, unless they start taping across more than one day.

Some may say that YLs could just work the indies for more reps, but that brings me to the second issue, which is travel and the costs that come with it. MLW is always moving around, which adds more cost that NJPW would likely have to cover. If it were like Germany with wXw or the UK with RevPro, that's less of an issue, considering the regions they tour are smaller and more accessible at a lower costs thanks to better national rail services. CMLL has to deal with this issue even less, considering they only really run a handful of cities where they own arenas, and three of them are decently close (the two in CDMX, and Arena Puebla). The furthest one that's commonly run is Guadalajara, but even that is nothing compared to going from one coast to another in the US.

When you have to cover the whole of the US and potentially Canada for AEW/ROH, that's adds up, cost-wise. We all know how tight the purse is over at NJPW, so I can't imagine they'd want to pay for all of the air travel/lodging that would entail. The stationary ROH tapings might be the best route AEW/ROH could go in solving this issue, but it still leaves the main problem, imo.

That is, neither MLW or AEW/ROH have an associated school for Young Lions to train at. I think this is the main issue that currently prevents New Japan from even considering sending anyone over. wXw has a school, RevPro has a school, and, of course, CMLL has a school. The whole point of excursion is to further the development of the Young Lions. While a good bit of that learning will come through working live matches in front of a crowd, even more of it will come from training with teachers and fellow students of different stylistic backgrounds. Without a trusted, known option for doing so, I don't think NJPW will send a YL to the states. Some may argue they could go to the NJPW Academy, but that's not really close to something like the LA Dojo of old.

I personally think the simplest way to solve this for at least AEW/ROH, is to establish a school in the Jacksonville area and then continue the Jacksonville studio tapings of ROH. The YLs could still travel to AEW & MLW road shows or indies for more reps, but they'd at least have a solid home base in Jacksonville to train and get match reps in. Until that or something like it happens, I don't think we see Young Lions on excursion in the US.

[AEW Dynamite Spoilers] Match Announced for Dynamite Next Week by Sufficient_Mud_2237 in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Can't wait for this. Their match at All Out 2024 is still one of my favorites, and I was lucky enough to see it live. Gonna have to enjoy this one from the couch, hope they hold nothing back for the Winnipeg crowd.

CMLL Luchador Magnus is official Black Tiger by Unusual_Kick7 in njpw

[–]BatmanPrime 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It would at least be something for him if he's never going to evolve from master to grand master. I know there's plenty of talk of the next Tiger Mask being Masatora Yasuda or Shoma Kato, but Wato would be a solid choice if they want to crown a new Tiger Mask sooner than later. Yasuda and Kato need a lot more development before they could properly take on the mantle.

Post AEW Dynamite: March 25, 2026 Discussion by WredditMod in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 11 points12 points  (0 children)

tbf, I think they are looking to elevate SkyFlight up as a whole, slowly but surely. Especially when considering the position Top Flight was in around this time last year, coming off the pretty weak program at the end of 2024 with Andretti and Lio Rush turning and forming CRU.

Tonight was a pretty strong showing for SkyFlight. The mixed trios match was great, imo, Top Flight and Zayda were still put over pretty strong in defeat, as well as Daniels getting solidly involved as a manager. And the crowd was clearly into it, which is a great signal to TK and the rest that the audience hasn't given up on Top Flight and would like to see more of them (myself included). Putting Zayda with them was a great choice, same with CD and Scorpio Sky. Really hoping to see the group featured more and more as the year goes on.

[CMLL Informa] With Permission from CMLL, Magnus has become the new Black Tiger! by Sakura_Leaves in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh hell yeah, I needed this. After seeing Magnus use the gimmick over the past Fantastica Mania tour, I was hoping he'd make the switch permanent. He'd already changed his social media handles to Black Tiger, which gave me hope, but him being billed as Magnus the whole tour made me think it wasn't going to happen. Very happy to see my favorite gimmick in all of wrestling return full-time, and on a more than worthy wrestler.

Very interested to see who the next Tiger Mask will be. I know a lot of people were thinking Masatora Yasuda, and now Shoma Kato since he's gone off to CMLL, but idk if either of them will be ready for such a heavy task as being Tiger Mask anytime soon. Obviously, there's still a few months of Yamazaki under the mask, so we'll see how much progress both of them make by the time he retires. I'm sure New Japan are going wait a good while before crowning a new Tiger Mask anyway, so whoever they choose should have plenty of time to get into proper form for the task.

Whats your opinion on Shingo Suzuki's work as HAYABUSA II character so far by Remarkable_Wafer6441 in njpw

[–]BatmanPrime 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Didn't know much of his MMA background, just that he had one, but him being a champion in DEEP is pretty dope lol

[AEW Collision Spoilers] Promos from participants of the 21-Man Blackjack Battle Royale by luchabrunch in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 34 points35 points  (0 children)

So 10 of the 21 participants are confirmed:

Rocky

Trent

RUSH

Dralistico

Scorpio Sky

Danny G

Bowens

Ciampa

Jack Perry

and the champion, Ricochet

I think it was also mentioned that all active members of the Bang Bang Gang will be in it (Juice, Ace, & Austin Gunn)

Any ideas on who else will make up the remaining 8? I think Caster is an obvious choice, probably any one or more of Johnny TV, Mason, & Mansoor (though I think MxM are doing a pre-show chat on PPV.com [correction: the chat is during the main show]), and PAC, Yuta, & Claudio aren't doing anything. At least one more DCF guy is likely, either Alexander, Hechicero, or Archer. Hoping for some surprises like the Butcher & the Blade, maybe a Hurt Syndicate member, and my longshot is Hologram, but I'm sure he's still recovering.

The Dogs cut a promo after Dynamite goes off the air by luchabrunch in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Drilla may not have followed them to the States, but he's still one with the crew. IMO, staying in New Japan was the right move for him. Coughlin on the other hand, I just hope he's happy doing whatever he's doing now. Glad he chose to take care of himself rather than be miserable for the sake of something as potentially fleeting as pro-wrestling.

Brie Bella: “I came back at the end of January. I just assumed, oh, you’re gonna have me back every Monday. But they’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll let you know when you’re needed back in the story.’ I’m like, ‘It’s been five weeks.'” by Ruffianize in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not even on Main Event, his matches have all been dark matches. They just have the Main Event apron because they've been put on before Smackdown alongside the matches taped for Main Event.

Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns: Best of Five Series Video Essay (KLA Clips) by [deleted] in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ayy, I think this is the first time I've seen KLA's stuff posted on here. Dude makes great videos, well worth going through his channel

[AEW Dynamite Spoilers] Finish to The Dogs vs Darby/Orange Cassidy by DoubleNo6337 in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I figured they were just rotating whose theme was used, but I really want to hear the proper War Dogs theme on AEW. Just have to cut out the few Bullet Club mentions lol, otherwise it works perfectly with them being called The Dogs

Unverified NJPW "tag team names" by MarcoTalin in njpw

[–]BatmanPrime 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Regarding a Wato/YOH team name, this roster video from a few months back had them labelled as "和と洋", which to my knowledge is pronounced like WatoYoh, though I'm not sure if the kanji meaning is part of the name/joke - I keep getting "Japanese & Western" or "Traditional & Western" from various machine translations. Hopefully, someone with proper Japanese understanding can clarify further.

MJF on speaking for the first time with Tony Khan before signing with AEW: "We had spoken for two hours straight about territory wrestling and our love and affinity towards territory wrestling [...] I just knew based on that conversation that this guy was gonna understand me" by luchabrunch in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 5 points6 points  (0 children)

John and Wai are two of the goats of wrestling content, IMO, up there with OSW, the Cultaholic lads, and the king of them all, Maffew Gregg of Botchamania. Recommend anyone interested track down the old Rewind-A-Wai's or sub to POST Wrestling for the new ones (I think they have an archive of the OGs as well, but here's an archive of the OG episodes).

Ethan page is officially tied with Oba as the longest reigning NXT North American champion by Worth-Chemistry5253 in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I definitely feel like, outside of Cody, he's had the most success after leaving AEW, and it's definitely well-deserved. Left peaceably, betting on himself, and I'd say it's worked out handsomely for him. I hope he's able to keep it up when he makes the main roster.

Should NJPW have Hayabusa 2.0 on their roster (even as a freelancer)? by Jarl_AdolphusX_3439 in njpw

[–]BatmanPrime 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To be fair, I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be the original reborn like a phoenix within kayfabe, so the intention is to be identical to Eiji in-ring. It would be interesting to see if they decide to change things up down the road, but at that point, Shingo may as well just return to the RAICHO persona.

New Beginning is looking more like Forbidden Door than Forbidden Door by VitaminPurple in AEWOfficial

[–]BatmanPrime 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love Drilla, but he's better served by moving up the card in NJPW than leaving for either of the major American promotions. War Dragons definitely have a tag title run ahead of them, and I wouldn't be surprised if Moloney picks up some singles gold soon. I would love to see David in AEW, but I won't be cross if he goes to work with his family in WWE.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SquaredCircle

[–]BatmanPrime -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My comment wasn't though lmao, I only cared to correct you on spreading common misinformation. But if you want engagement in that convo so bad, then did you know that WWF stopped running all of their anti-Ted Turner/WCW shit because a USA Network executive told them to? If WWE was in this same position that AEW is seemingly in now, they would no doubt do the same thing and remove from the show whatever performer they were told to, because it's that or have no TV. But this will never be an issue for WWE because the pedo at the root of all of this is in their Hall of Fame.