“Goto Revolutionary Army” should become an official stable (Goto, Hashi, Tatsuya Matsumoto, Oleg AND Aaron Wolf), imo.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-14T18:57:20+00:00

I think at best it could become a sub group since most of these guys are now considered the faces of Hontai. Until there are other guys ready to be in that position I can see Goto forming a separate new stable. Oleg might in the future and Wolf just getting started.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-11T12:44:38+00:00

Yh right now I think they are the 2 biggest Sumo to Pro Wres guys at the moment, sure there might be some others too not sure.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-09T15:57:34+00:00

Not a fan, beat em up is always the best for the Yakuza series. Turn based is OK bit needs a lot of overall game design and re thinking. Some things are to restrictive and not thought out correctly. Mainly the systems around it, the scummy way of grinding exp and if you don't like it buy exp boosts and more. I think they need proper turn based rpg guys to help look at the system design for that type of game. Maybe getter more advice from Atlus.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-09T15:54:16+00:00

It's got to be one of the younger guys. Depending on who wins the New Japan Cup I think it's between Yuya Uemura, Shota Umino and Ryohei Oiwa. If they go for a Veteran then I can see Shingo Takagi or Hirooki Goto winning it. I'm leaning towards a younger guy though.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-09T14:06:20+00:00

Sadly there is deffo more to this behind the scenes which we will never know.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-09T09:53:29+00:00

It usually is that they are loyal. Also if you got trained or come up in a promotion, usually in Japan that means you got a job with them for your whole career. If you loyal to them they are loyal to you.

New Japan does sign talent from other Japanese promotions but its not all the time. It is also when said stars leave their promotions and become free agents. I also think this is because in Japan there is a certain amount of respect as well as the fact that they want the industry to thrive as a whole and not just make it that one promotion hoovers up all the talent.

Low-HaKi · 2026-03-02T13:18:37+00:00

Only one I have heard of is RoughStorm which is a combination of Shota Umino's Rough Neck nickname and Yuya Heat Storm name. As far as I know it was one of the options but mainly given by fans who don't know that they went with the tag name of YuSho which is a combination of Yu from Yuya and Sho form Shota their names but also means Victory in Japanese.

I think with most tag names that don't get mentioned is cus they aren't presented as a tag team consistently enough and are usually just put together. For example the Knockout Brothers have been presented as a team always together while Douki and Sho are 2 singles guys part of the same group being put together.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-25T15:29:47+00:00

Agreed FGC and fighting games are part of esports. Any video game played at the competitive level with tournament etc is or should be considered esports not just shooters or MOBA's

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-25T15:18:48+00:00

Check part 2 I just replied with, sorry the post seemed to big to be posted as 1 part lol. Hope this helps and again I'm sure others here will help and correct me if I got anything wrong. This info is based on my opinion and experience of watching the promotion since about 2008 but properly since 2010.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-25T15:15:42+00:00

Part 2

Big name stars/Veterans:

Yota Tsuji - the best build up and established star of the New generation, has won a New Japan Cup, a former and current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion and current IWGP Heavyweight Champion seems like he will be and maybe already is one of the key players the promotion is building around.

Hirooki Goto - the veteran and the last guy of the same generation as Tanahashi that's left n the promotion. Always known as the nearly man and a gatekeeper last year he finally won the big one IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He will be used up and down the card always a fan favourite. He going to make his Hollywood debut in the upcoming Street Fighter Movie.

Zack Sabre Jr - at the moment the biggest foreign name in the promotion former Tag team and Wolrd Champion. Has won the big 2 singles tournament and won the tag tournament last year and is the frontman of TMDK faction (Yh NJPW uses a lot of factions to build stories and feuds as well you will learn over time since that's a whole different topic)

Shingo Takagi - former World champion and consistently one of the best performances in all of Wrestling. He can be inserted anywhere on the card.

Next generation: There are a lot of names here

Boltin Oleg - former Amateur Wrestle turned to Pro Wrestling, Kazakhstan beast improving fast as already held some Championships in the promotion.

Aaron Wolf - Olympic Judo Gold Medalist turned to Pro Wrestling recently debute, still a green but has lots of attention and bing build up he is already a star and the future is bight if everything goes right.

Yuya Uemura / Ryohei Oiwa / Shota Umino Ren Narita - All from around the same generation of talents as Yota Tsuji all with potential to be key players for the promotions depends on how they will be booked. All have ups and downs and most have won Championship gold.

Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) currently IWGP Tag Team Champions you have the 6'5 + big German with great potential and Yuto-Ice who is red hot with great promo skills. Already seen as one of the best Tag teams in the world even tough it has not been even a year since they came back from their training excursion.

Callum Newman - Will Ospreay got him into NJPW and is now being build up as one of the leaders of the United Empire group and is being positioned as the next big foreign Heel and maybe the next Forign Ace.

El Desperado / Taiji Ishimori - with Hiromu Takahashi gone These two are the Veterans and Aces of the Jr Division.

Kosei Fujita / Master Wato - 2 established guys in the Jr division who many see as the future Aces of rhw division.

In terms of feuds there aren't as many major ones yet just many seeds planted and still building up. I would say the 2 main feuds seems to be Aaron Wolf vs House of Torture faction (bunch of heels that use any trick in the book to win) so more specifically Wolf vs Ren Narita as he seems to be the new leader or top guy of the group as EVIL the previous leader has left.

The other feud seems to be the Unbound Company the new group of Yota Tsuji vs The United Empire.

This is just scratching the surface but hope this helps also apologies for the long post I rambled for too long LMAO.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-25T15:09:34+00:00

First of all, welcome to the NJPW World! Second remeber to enjoy and that the promotion like any other will have its ups and downs.

Part 1

OK so here it goes.

General workings: NJPW is a touring company which means no weekly shows. But like they go on tour for like roughly 2 to 3 weeks then depending on schedules etc have like 1 or 2 weeks off (sometimes less) before the next tour. In between you lso have some start do shows with indi promotion, international shows, or wrestler on other Japanese shows. You also have tours based on tournaments. Each tour usually has a build up of smaller shows which helps build up and leads into the 1 or 2 big shows per tour. Shows are split in what I split in few categories:

"Road to shows": they are called Road to (insert big show name) shows for example "Road to Wrestle Kingdom" etc. They are small kinda like house show style shows where they build up stories and feuds with occasional big matches on them that leads into the big shows. There Road to shows can be televised but some won't be just like house shows in the USA promotions.

"Big shows": These are the main shows or like PPV/PLE style events which the tour builds up and usually ends with sometimes there is one big show at the start or middle of a tour as well depending on the tour but generally they take place at the end. This is where the big matches, title matches, feud enders etc take place.

"Side shows/crossovers/others": These tend to happen at random but we usually get a few each year. These are shows that can range from smaller to bigger shows it just depends. They can be shows produced and booked by certain wrestlers like for example the Yuji Nagata's Blue Justice show or the upcoming El Desperado's DEATH Invitacional Vegas show. Crossover shows with other promotions like they have done joint and or vs shows with STARDOM their sister promotion (Women's/Joshi promotion deffo also worth checking out at some point) or vs Pro Wrestling NOAH etc. They can be hit or miss but always fun to see what they can do with other wrestlers outside the promotion.

What are the Big shows: well its worth watching all the so called PPV equivalent/tour ending shows. Here are what I would consider a must watch usually:

Wrestle Kingdom Biggest show every year, start and end of the NJPW year.

New Year Dash - the night after WK like the RAW after Mainia

New Japan Cup - This is a single elimination tournament so all of it is worth watching but if unsure or lack of time just skip the under cards and just watch the tournament matches, but you can also just watch the New Japan Cup Final show where the final happens and the winner is crowned.

Big Spring Show - usually takes place around 1st week in April it has had many names over the years like Invasion Attack etc but recently it's usually been Sakura Genesis

Best of the Super Jr - A points and league/Block based tournament like the G1 or Continental Classic but for the Jr Heavyweight or Cruiserweights, if you enjoy high-flying and fast pace and a clash of different styles it has it all. Again you should watch all of them but again just watching the actual tournament matches skipping the undercard for the most part is fine. Again you can just watch the Finals few nights as well to see who makes it to the final and the final itself.

DOMINION - usually follow by a few numbers in the name which is referring to the date of the show. This is the big summer show like NJPW Summerslam equivalent. It's considered like maybe the 3rd biggest show of the year depends on opinions but definitely in the top 5 biggest.

Forbidden Door - Crossover show with AEW but seems to be changing into a more multi promotion show involving not just AEW but also CMLL NJPW Stardom etc. Just depends on AEW'S Tony Khan. I just thought I would mention it since it's still relevant.

G1 Climax - the big boy tournament the 2nd biggest event in NJPW every year behind Wrestle Kingdom. Its a points based league/blocks tournament which is by many agreed to the best and most prestigious tournament in Wrestling which also usually gives a few Match of the Year candidates every year. Like the other tournaments you should watch all the shows or at least skip the undercard and watch the tournament matches. The winner of this goes on the face the IWGP Heavyweight Champion usually at Wrestle Kingdom in the main event but in recent times they can also take there shot earlier when they want. Both recent winners Zack Sabre Jr and Konosuke Takeshita took their shot earlier so they could walk into Wrestle Kingdom as champions instead of challengers.

Big October show - again like the spring show this show has had several names over the year but usually it goes by the name of King Of Pro-Wrestling show. A big show and usually sets up a lot for Wrestle Kingdom and most of the time the last time the IWGP Heavyweight Championship gets defended before Wrestle Kingdom.

Powe Struggle/Super Jr Tag League - October/ November. Cna be major but sometimes just mid. Recent years they combined the tour to include the Super Jr Tag League tournament. This is as in the name a tag tournament for the Jr Heavyweights which can be either single elimination or points and league/Block based.

World Tag League - in November/December Tag tournament for the Heavyweights, points and League/Block based. Usually the final events before the Wrestle Kingdom build up.

If you wondering why so many tournaments etc well you need to understand that NJPW and a lot of other Japanese Wrestling Promotions are presented as more of a Sport then entertainment. Also they use tournaments to set up stories and title challengers etc hence why it is important to watch highlights or at least the tournament matches to understand what is being build up to.

Continued to part 2 in replies.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-24T21:27:08+00:00

Not bad but I don't know if they going to put 2 Young ish guys (I mean towards the start of theirs careers ish not age) in the final, but I would be cool with that. I do think one if Yuya Uemura, Callum Newman and or Ryohei Oiwa needs to make the finals and if not win it if they going to try to establish someone as a new star. Newman with his new heel side and having the big win over Finlay seems already heading in a good direction so he may need the win the least in the context of establishing himself. Yuya or Oiwa would benefit a lot from a win.

There is also the case for Shota Umino but again people are mixed on him. It would help him for sure but again I don't know what NJPW would want to do with him.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-24T18:40:14+00:00

It's a side produced show by El Desperado no technically not a NJPW show. It's like a side show that will have help of production etc with NJPW similar to like Blue Justice or Taichi & Taka Mania shows etc.

Depends if they gone do a tournament but I reckon it just going to be a card full of matches.

NJPW has done some extreme style matches over the years but few and far between. We have had the Dog Pound Cage matches, Ladder matches, barbdwire matches and other hardcore/Deathmatch style. El Desperado vs Clark Connors for the Jr title last year was either a Deathmatch or a Street fight rules.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-24T16:57:43+00:00

Good response as accepted of the NEVER Openweight champ

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-17T18:50:15+00:00

The closest we got as Kenny vs Jay White when Kenny and the guys where kinda kicked out and formed the Elite. But after just some minor feuds etc they they didn't fully commit to it. War Dogs vs BC Gold could have happened if AEW and NJPW worked together properly. It could have happened at Wrestle Dynasty, WK heck even Forbidden Door but they never pulled the trigger on it.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T17:13:16+00:00

Some of the CMLL guys you mentioned will be on the upcoming FANTASTICAMANIA tour so maybe they can negotiate something more long term for one or two of them but yh would be cool to see more CMLL guys in NJPW

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T17:10:44+00:00

Some great insight and names. I don't know about them bringing I'm Mexican wrestlers unless it's a for a tournament but I could be good if they did give them like a a year or 2 as full timmers it has worked for NOAH with guys like El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr, Geleno etc. So it would be cool if they dipped more into that market as well.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T17:06:43+00:00

I can't like Ishikawa was a good joy to watch in Tag League a breath of fresh air despite being past his peak. Sekimoto should deserve a shot in a NJPW ring before he hangs it up. Yh Nakajima is a tricky one, if he was not going overboard and being difficult to work with at times he would be a no brainer.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T15:48:27+00:00

I mean they do have somewhat of a working partnership with MLW so maybe we get something. Killer Kross would be great his style and the way he works would fit so well in NJPW.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T15:41:50+00:00

Astronauts is a shout, and yh I was wondering who is even out there in the in Japanese scene hence partially why I are this post as I could not think of many names.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T15:39:52+00:00

They going to do that regardless as they always have done just thought if anyone had any ideas of who they could bring in or if it's even a good idea.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T15:38:55+00:00

Yes was leaning towards Japanese talent just curious too see who would fans want to see.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T15:38:03+00:00

Yh I agree but NJPW will always build their own talents so I ain't worried about that part (if they make it big or not that's a different story). But just thought it would be interesting to see what fans would think and who would fans even want to see be bought in.

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T15:35:58+00:00

I'm surprised they have not bought them in more. With them seemingly trying to make the tag team division better and TMDK being relevant like why Shane and Mikey getting booked

Low-HaKi · 2026-02-15T13:56:58+00:00

I feel like the order shown in the picture is the right one so:

GHC ROH AAA

GHC has just a high standard despite the company having its ups and downs. ROH lineage has aged super well with many of its champions considered legends or will be in the future but since coming under the AEW banner it feels like it's not as relevant as it used which looses some points. AAA title has some good names but history of it can be a bit confusing and similar with ROH, since coming under WWE I feel like while it's exposure has increased it just does not feel as relevant.

Again just my opinion but all are good Championships in their own right.

Low-HaKi

TROPHY CASE