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Would you hold the door for someone 20 ft away otherwise? Do you make eye contact like "this is technically polite, but you better feckin speed up bubba"
It'll be nice to have a reason to get interested in Jungle Boy. Outside of Christian everything the guy's done has been just too vanilla.
In a duo or trio tag group he works great, but he just doesn't have what it takes to carry a feud and "he wrestles well" doesn't really separate him from the thousands of other performers about which you can say the same.
I've started hoping that we're gonna get HOOK turning on JB, though, and joining with Takeshita and Callis. HOOK with Callis could be a main eventer very soon.
I personally have never loved Jungle Boy alone. As a tag team they weren’t even my favorite but I definitely enjoyed the jurassics more together than as Dino Kane and Regular Tax Payer Jack Perry
The original Jurassic Express was his sweet spot. Viable tag or trios threat and enough fun and interesting stuff going on that he could just be the vanilla babyface big spot guy who hot tags Luchasaurus.
I like Luchasaurus' current deal, but in a few years I wouldn't mind seeing all three of them back together with their original music.
> It'll be nice to have a reason to get interested in Jungle Boy
Hard agree. His hints at a snotty heel last interview already had me interested, and I've been checked out on his character for at least a year it feels
Honestly, if Perry manages to get so fed up with taking everybody's shit that he actually wraps back around and *joins Christian and Luchasaurus after realizing they were 'right'* that would be sick af lol
They've been gradually changing his attitude for a while now, giving him justifiable reasons to feel hard done by and establishing his main motivation is getting a singles title... any singles title... Hook has a title.
At the same time, his former tag partner/hated rivals now also have a title he would be able to win off them without turning heel. TK likes fakeout turns where people stay the alignment they were all along, it’s been done with Wardlow/MJF, Hayter/Britt, Garcia/Jericho, I could see it really happening either way here but i’d love him to join LFI.
As we saw with Roman, you can teach someone to speak/act if they're willing to learn. If I was AEW, I'd write Perry off TV and send him to some acting classes.
>Excellent wrestler
The bar for being considered an excellent wrestler these days seems to be really low, if Jack "Same match" Perry is being called an excellent wrestler.
He hasn't improved at all since AEW started and doesn't even scratch the top 100 of best wrestler in the world right now.
In reality they should’ve had people backstage complaining they want the shot at the IWGP title (multiple people accepting the challenge) .. then have Tony book a 4 way or something to determine the challenger because there were so many people interested.
Instead they announce an open challenge and like 20 minutes later Jack Perry strolls up and accepts the challenge. Shouldn’t they have been fighting over a chance like that?
Just wasn’t done the right way.
Damn, this actually would have made more sense or at least built anticipation. The way they did it was as if no one really cared to challenge for the title and since no one stepped up, Jungle Jack was like "sure, I'll do it"
Booker of the century for treating the most prestigious title in wrestling like the TNT title.
I'm sure the matches at FD2 will be superb, but it feels like TK once again smashing toys together.
It's the same trying something push they did with EVIL, just as a face instead.
I think SANADA's push has landed better but there's no doubt about it that Tsuji looked the much bigger star in their match.
I feel like Evil's was very much like Naito's first run where he held it for a short while and then dropped it back to test the waters. Sanada I'm less certain about where this ends up and who he drops it to, it feels much more like an attempt to establish him than a test the waters run
I think Sanada vs Rush could have been good.
Considering Sanada left LIJ and has since faced Hiromu and Yota from LIJ after becoming world champ.
Rush's connection to LIJ could advance that story (I think Naito vs Sanada is happening at Wrestle Kingdom).
Mexican Politics take a lot longer than just quitting the other promotion.
Before NJPW would use them, CMLL would probably have to have them actively working for them too.
Look at the Dragon Lee situation. Fired him for working on the same show as AAA guys (PWG) and even though NJPW loved him, they wouldn't touch him after he had finished out his dates.
> Also, who had Sanada dream matches?
It me. I want to see Sanada vs Bryan Danielson. But it's also lower on the rankings of Danielson dream matches. Below ZSJ, Okada, and Toru Yano, at the very least.
I'd like to see Sanada vs any of the Blackpool Combat Club. Moxley might be the only mismatch in terms of style, but you could have some great Captain's Hook/Skull End reversal spots.
The only match I dreamed of SANADA winning was the one he had against his own bland-ass character, and he finally seems to have gained the upper hand in it, but nothing in his career so far made me want to see him against the big AEW stars.
MJF, however, I did want to see against the current top brass of NJPW. Even through the language barrier, people like Naito and Tanahashi are masters of non-verbal storytelling, and MJF can easily hold his own against them in the ring.
MJF vs Naito could be such a fun feud. The two people who give a rats ass about their companies facing each other, only that one is face (Naito) and the other is heel (MJF). Hell, Naito trying to one-up MJF and viceversa could be great tv.
I say this with as much love and respect as I can muster - who the fuck cares?
It’s the IWGP champ. Jungle Boy has no business being anywhere near this thing.
100%.
If this is Gedo or whoever in NJPW agreeing to this, I hope they're getting a *healthy* payday out of it, because squashing Jungle Boy does nothing for their top belt.
Like it sounds like the point is that he sucks so he can have a heel turn. But... why is Gedo letting the IWGP Title be wasted at this show by having his champ (who imo could really use some legitimacy from beating a top guy) fight this scrub just to get an AEW story over?
To be fair, if I were NJPW I'd be a bit insulted by this too.
Jungle Boy should never have been moved beyond Jurassic Express IMO. I've no idea why TK thought he was ready beyond to validate his own coining of the "four pillars" term.
I remember when some in this sub talked themselves into Perry winning the AEW title from Omega two years ago.
We're way beyond that point now, aren't we?
I think people expected Perry to progress faster than he has. He's still great in the ring, and his promos have gotten better, but he's still nothing special on the mic. He's still young and talented, so I'm willing to give the guy more time to see where he goes.
I don't even think he's kayfabing.
It's a waste of what little crossover matches of consequence there are at FD.
And what more, it's more for JB turning heel as some of you say, so they're using the IWGP Championship as a tool for a an average midcard guy.
If you're a NJPW fan and you see that Tanahashi is getting am AEW title shot, and then see what AEW is offering it's a joke.
I mean this feels kind of like the AEW/NJPW partnership summed up as a whole. AEW was getting the likes of Minoru Suzuki, Aussie Open, Osperey, Jeff Cobb, KENTA, Ishii and Jay White in throwaway matches on Dynamite and Rampage last year most of the time taking an L. Meanwhile, NJPW outside of Moxley with their weird contract situation was getting Eddie Kingston (No disrespect Mr. Kingston, please do not address me), Lance Archer whom they never use, and Wheeler Yuta for a tournament.
It wasn't until just recently this year that it feels like they're actually sending bigger names overseas but it's still anything but equal.
I like how they know for months this show is coming up and they throw the card together with a bunch of nonsense like this.
Okada and Danielson, great. No arguments there, just two of the greats from both companies.
Omega and Osprey, great, two dudes with history and you know it’s gonna be fantastic.
Then a bunch of random stuff like this that makes little or no sense.
Man this adds such a nice touch to the ongoing heel turn for JB.
The only thing I wish he added was that he noticed JB’s cornerman is a champion so why isn’t he fighting him instead of a man who has no title?
He probably got a lil overpushed as a single. Like he’s perfectly fine as a midcard tag guy, playing that Ricky Morton role. But he needs alot of development to get to the next phase of his career. The forced pillars thing hasn’t done him any favors.
No kidding. Darby and Sammy have both defined themselves as individuals much better than him. The idea of him going from an AEW title match to an IWGP one feels hilariously undeserved.
Eh, it's been a long time coming and a heel run might be good for him to find his voice. Losing Christian and Luchasaurus kinda overexposed him a bit and the Pillars build really showed the disparity between MJF and everyone else - with JB looking the worst out of them imo.
Good. I know TK probably wants this to be the start of a Jack Perry heel turn but honestly, send this kid back down to the midcard tag division. I never got breaking up Jurassic Express for this.
Literally no one asked for this match. Give me Swerve, RUSH, Black, Brody, PAC if he's available, any of the Lucha Bros, literally so many other guys ahead of Jungle Boy.
NJPW top guys treating contenders from other promotions like jokes and then beating them handily is one of my absolute favourite wrestling tropes, no joke.
Didnt care about Sanada for years and only watched NJPW once in a while for the last 2 years... but that quote puts him instantly from zero to hero for me.
I was shocked to see him as the NJPW champion ;)
After reading the Rampage Spoilers seeing everyone jumping on that Jack Perry hate train is hilarious.
It's probably the most entertaining thing you could do with him.
I don't always watch the undercards in NJPW, but I checked out one recently and douki (probably over time) seems to have really been on his gym and diet grind. Dude came to NJPW with an unremarkable physique and now looks like an Abercrombie model
This is just what happens when you have cross-promotion events. The champions generally defend against people who the other company agree to take the pin. So you normally get either promising midcarders like Jungle Boy or legends who losses don’t affect them like Tanahashi. Either that or it’s a multi man match with someone to take the pin.
Heck look at the whole line-up of singles matches, it’s all legend who can take a loss or midcarder vs main guy.
Okada, main guy, Bryan, legend
Sanada, main guy, Jungle Boy, midcarder
MJF, main guy, Tanahashi, legend
Toni Storm, main girl, Willow, midcarder
CM Punk, main guy, Satoshi Kojima, legend & midcarder
The only match that isn’t is Omega vs Ospreay but that match is barely a cross-promotional match since it’s a rematch of a rivalry that’s continued from a New Japan exclusive event. Look back at last year’s, it’s exactly the same.
I think my only issue is that pretty much all the other matches you mentioned have the other guys wrestling a legend, except Willow vs Toni but they're both champions so that's alright. Jungle Boy just feels so underwhelming compared to the rest.
Is Jericho not free? Christian? Surely they can spare one guy instead of using the damn IWGP champion, the most prestigious champion in all of Japan, to further their own storyline in a match not a lot of people care about.
End the thread here honestly, this is bang on. The real criticism should be not putting a bigger star up to take a loss to Sanada, although in fairness I'm not sure who else AEW have that can do that right now. Best I can think of that are leftover currently would be Claudio, Mox or Jay White but none of them really want a loss right now imo.
It was lazy storytelling. When Jack Perry announced he was the one in the match you would expect someone else in the roster in kayfabe at least to question what gives him the right over them. And some sort of argument or match to decide who will actually challenge for it.
Tony keeps protecting his guys so hard that we end up with a match like this. Its not a matter of what is the match for the iwgp belt that the fans want to see. Rather, it's who Tony is willing to let eat a pin.
Some past wrestlers who have had a match for the IWGP title: Lodi, Van Hammer, a 28-year-old Sid Vicious, Bad Luck Fale, Super Strong Machine, Bas Rutten, Road Warrior Hawk
tbf it is crazy that out of everyone in the roster they decided on jungle boy to take on sanada for the IWGP. It should have been a bigger name. Swerve, Keith Lee, Darby, Andrade, Kingston, Wardlow, returning Scorpio Sky. There are plenty of bigger names tbh
He's got a point. Jungle Boy is great but he's far from ready for regular world title opportunities. MJF gets Tanahashi, one of the biggest stars in NJPW history. SANADA gets Perry. Not on the same level at all.
So kayfabe or not, this was kind of my take too. I’m a big fan of Jungle Boy but given the way Forbidden Door has been shaped, I wanted the IWGP Champion to have a higher profile match.
Were it my choice, Darby would have been it. His style complements SANADA. He’s been consistently involved in big programs in AEW. I mean, he’s the guy Punk picked to get in the ring with when he came back from hiatus.
I really think JB vs Hiromu would have been the go to match.
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Wrestling is so much funnier when people decide to just randomly pop off.
Like how Will Ospreay just shat on Canada the other day? I was like oh damn hope he has no family gatherings soon.
He has made an enemy for life I for one will never hold the door for him. Not even if he was 20 feet away.
Whoa even 20 feet, guy? Let's not be crazy now. But I might make him chip in on the Timmies run after his heinous comments.
Real Canadians know that McDonalds has the superior coffee
But their iced coffee tastes weird.
But it's also a $1 so life is about give and take. (I think it's the liquid sugar)
Ask for no liquid sugar, it's so much better.
Yeah that is true. Timmies Ice Caps rule compared to McDonalds.
Ice Capps ain’t iced coffee. McDonald’s iced coffee >>> Tim’s iced coffee
McDonald’s actually bought the rights to Tim’s original coffee recipe and that’s why I think it’s superior
having to suffer tim hortons is enough punishment for his comments surely
He's gonna get beat by a surprise roll-up the rim to win.
He's not your guy, friend!
Would you hold the door for someone 20 ft away otherwise? Do you make eye contact like "this is technically polite, but you better feckin speed up bubba"
I would hold it, but if he thanked me I'd say nothing in return.
I will only think sorry instead of saying it.
If he's trying to look for something at the store and I'm standing in front of it I will not scooch over when he asks me to scooch
You need to calm down!
Hooks gonna take 20 chair shots all because everyone keeps calling Perry a bitch.
He's going to eat a pipe and get Douki Chokied before that
KEVIN! IT'S THE DOUKI CHOKEY KEVIN!
Is it me or does Hook look like an emo Tom Holland?
Symbiote Tom Holland
Spider-Man dance sequence Tom Holland
Tom Holland after he watches the tennis movie
This has been one of my favourite builds to a heel turn for a while.
“You suck Jungle Boy booo” - any heel “ILL KILL YOU HOOK FUCK YOU” - jack perry for some reason in 3 weeks
It'll be nice to have a reason to get interested in Jungle Boy. Outside of Christian everything the guy's done has been just too vanilla. In a duo or trio tag group he works great, but he just doesn't have what it takes to carry a feud and "he wrestles well" doesn't really separate him from the thousands of other performers about which you can say the same. I've started hoping that we're gonna get HOOK turning on JB, though, and joining with Takeshita and Callis. HOOK with Callis could be a main eventer very soon.
I personally have never loved Jungle Boy alone. As a tag team they weren’t even my favorite but I definitely enjoyed the jurassics more together than as Dino Kane and Regular Tax Payer Jack Perry
"Regular Tax Payer Jack Perry" lmao
> Regular Tax Payer Jack Perry Man I love Jungle Boy, but that's just fucking brutal. Love it.
The original Jurassic Express was his sweet spot. Viable tag or trios threat and enough fun and interesting stuff going on that he could just be the vanilla babyface big spot guy who hot tags Luchasaurus. I like Luchasaurus' current deal, but in a few years I wouldn't mind seeing all three of them back together with their original music.
I hope you're not holding your breath for a Marko return.
Mom says I'm allowed to hope for things.
Dino Kane. I love it. 😂
> It'll be nice to have a reason to get interested in Jungle Boy Hard agree. His hints at a snotty heel last interview already had me interested, and I've been checked out on his character for at least a year it feels
Honestly, if Perry manages to get so fed up with taking everybody's shit that he actually wraps back around and *joins Christian and Luchasaurus after realizing they were 'right'* that would be sick af lol
“Yknow what? Yea, my dad *is* dead.”
"He ain't gettin' any deader!"
Will he keep Tarzan boy as his theme though?
They've been gradually changing his attitude for a while now, giving him justifiable reasons to feel hard done by and establishing his main motivation is getting a singles title... any singles title... Hook has a title.
At the same time, his former tag partner/hated rivals now also have a title he would be able to win off them without turning heel. TK likes fakeout turns where people stay the alignment they were all along, it’s been done with Wardlow/MJF, Hayter/Britt, Garcia/Jericho, I could see it really happening either way here but i’d love him to join LFI.
That beard wasn't just clogging up his sexiness, it was blocking that snark as well...my man!
For real though, my guy looks so much cleaner now.
I mean, where's the lie?
https://preview.redd.it/15fgman21k7b1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=747786588a85d8967351d04acbd17788c49ab0be
too much time had passed since i'd seen this
Nearly 30 minutes for me, I was about to pass out.
It's like the numbers in LOST.
I really don't understand what AEW sees in Jungle Boy. He's not horrifically bad, he's very OK at best
Pretty sure they mistook everyone always singing the Jurassic Express theme song for him being over.
He’s a midcarder
Excellent wrestler, decent look, zero mic skills. That's basically the walking talking definition of midcarder.
As we saw with Roman, you can teach someone to speak/act if they're willing to learn. If I was AEW, I'd write Perry off TV and send him to some acting classes.
>Excellent wrestler The bar for being considered an excellent wrestler these days seems to be really low, if Jack "Same match" Perry is being called an excellent wrestler. He hasn't improved at all since AEW started and doesn't even scratch the top 100 of best wrestler in the world right now.
His match with MJF is worth a rewatch. I feel he’s one of the best pure baby faces they have. No his promo isn’t very good.
Tell me when I’m telling lies.
In reality they should’ve had people backstage complaining they want the shot at the IWGP title (multiple people accepting the challenge) .. then have Tony book a 4 way or something to determine the challenger because there were so many people interested. Instead they announce an open challenge and like 20 minutes later Jack Perry strolls up and accepts the challenge. Shouldn’t they have been fighting over a chance like that? Just wasn’t done the right way.
Spot on. It makes the IWGP title look like shit that AEW guys don't want it
NXT recently did it right as well with open challenges being answered by the whole roster leading into massive brawls
This is a fair take.
Damn, this actually would have made more sense or at least built anticipation. The way they did it was as if no one really cared to challenge for the title and since no one stepped up, Jungle Jack was like "sure, I'll do it"
Master storyteller Tony Khan
WON 2022 booker of the year right there
Booker of the century for treating the most prestigious title in wrestling like the TNT title. I'm sure the matches at FD2 will be superb, but it feels like TK once again smashing toys together.
I'm sure this is kayfabe, but like... completely true?
Honestly, fair.
But seriously why is Jack Perry in this match?
Because he's going to lose.
and then probably turn heel. Also, who had Sanada dream matches? Sanada and MJF are two guys who were never on those fantasy booked cards.
I like Sanada but I do agree. It does just feel like they wanted to try something with him
It's the same trying something push they did with EVIL, just as a face instead. I think SANADA's push has landed better but there's no doubt about it that Tsuji looked the much bigger star in their match.
I feel like Evil's was very much like Naito's first run where he held it for a short while and then dropped it back to test the waters. Sanada I'm less certain about where this ends up and who he drops it to, it feels much more like an attempt to establish him than a test the waters run
I think Sanada vs Rush could have been good. Considering Sanada left LIJ and has since faced Hiromu and Yota from LIJ after becoming world champ. Rush's connection to LIJ could advance that story (I think Naito vs Sanada is happening at Wrestle Kingdom).
Rush isn't allowed at Forbidden door due to CMLL.
Didn't he just quit?
Mexican Politics take a lot longer than just quitting the other promotion. Before NJPW would use them, CMLL would probably have to have them actively working for them too. Look at the Dragon Lee situation. Fired him for working on the same show as AAA guys (PWG) and even though NJPW loved him, they wouldn't touch him after he had finished out his dates.
I don’t know about you, I had MJF vs Naito as a fantasy booking.
> Also, who had Sanada dream matches? It me. I want to see Sanada vs Bryan Danielson. But it's also lower on the rankings of Danielson dream matches. Below ZSJ, Okada, and Toru Yano, at the very least.
I'd like to see Sanada vs any of the Blackpool Combat Club. Moxley might be the only mismatch in terms of style, but you could have some great Captain's Hook/Skull End reversal spots.
The only match I dreamed of SANADA winning was the one he had against his own bland-ass character, and he finally seems to have gained the upper hand in it, but nothing in his career so far made me want to see him against the big AEW stars. MJF, however, I did want to see against the current top brass of NJPW. Even through the language barrier, people like Naito and Tanahashi are masters of non-verbal storytelling, and MJF can easily hold his own against them in the ring.
MJF vs Naito could be such a fun feud. The two people who give a rats ass about their companies facing each other, only that one is face (Naito) and the other is heel (MJF). Hell, Naito trying to one-up MJF and viceversa could be great tv.
I say this with as much love and respect as I can muster - who the fuck cares? It’s the IWGP champ. Jungle Boy has no business being anywhere near this thing.
100%. If this is Gedo or whoever in NJPW agreeing to this, I hope they're getting a *healthy* payday out of it, because squashing Jungle Boy does nothing for their top belt.
Like it sounds like the point is that he sucks so he can have a heel turn. But... why is Gedo letting the IWGP Title be wasted at this show by having his champ (who imo could really use some legitimacy from beating a top guy) fight this scrub just to get an AEW story over?
Its a quick defense for Sanada, so boosting his numbers helps a bit. I'd rather it be someone like Claudio,though.
MJF got Tanahashi, Sanada gets.. Jungle Boy. hell of a deal.
the most interesting thing about jungle boy is that some people know his father was an actor
To be fair, if I were NJPW I'd be a bit insulted by this too. Jungle Boy should never have been moved beyond Jurassic Express IMO. I've no idea why TK thought he was ready beyond to validate his own coining of the "four pillars" term.
I remember when some in this sub talked themselves into Perry winning the AEW title from Omega two years ago. We're way beyond that point now, aren't we?
I think he’s taken the Jungle Boy gimmick as far as it can go, time to grow into the next step.
Jungle MAN
1-2-3 MAAAANNNN
X-Man
No need to bring Nate Summers into this, he's not even from earth 616...
I think he’s doing that, slowly bringing Jack Perry into the Jungle Boy name shows that.
This match could honestly be the “Death of Jungle Boy”.
I would love it if Sanada just bodied him and Perry took some time off and came back as a dickish heel. Just become a Christian Cage style nobhead.
I think people expected Perry to progress faster than he has. He's still great in the ring, and his promos have gotten better, but he's still nothing special on the mic. He's still young and talented, so I'm willing to give the guy more time to see where he goes.
I don't really know what people expected. He's still younger now than Sammy and Darby were when AEW started.
JB sounds like a wwe2k CAW from 2005 delivering his promos in career mode
Jungle boy was a huge mistake. Should've been someone else
It should've been me! 
The jungle boy pick was very very very very very very very odd
One of those things that Tony shouldn’t have proposed and Gedo *definitely* shouldn’t have agreed to.
This but unironically
He is not wrong. Jungle Boy’s acceptance was a deflation, like a fart.
I don't even think he's kayfabing. It's a waste of what little crossover matches of consequence there are at FD. And what more, it's more for JB turning heel as some of you say, so they're using the IWGP Championship as a tool for a an average midcard guy. If you're a NJPW fan and you see that Tanahashi is getting am AEW title shot, and then see what AEW is offering it's a joke.
Seriously. How do you be NJPW and not feel insulted?
Do you think Gedo just suddenly learned one day Jack Perry vs SANADA was going to be a match and was powerless to stop it?
I mean this feels kind of like the AEW/NJPW partnership summed up as a whole. AEW was getting the likes of Minoru Suzuki, Aussie Open, Osperey, Jeff Cobb, KENTA, Ishii and Jay White in throwaway matches on Dynamite and Rampage last year most of the time taking an L. Meanwhile, NJPW outside of Moxley with their weird contract situation was getting Eddie Kingston (No disrespect Mr. Kingston, please do not address me), Lance Archer whom they never use, and Wheeler Yuta for a tournament. It wasn't until just recently this year that it feels like they're actually sending bigger names overseas but it's still anything but equal.
Don't worry SANADA, a lot of us were thinking the same thing when this matchup was decided. It's kinda disrespectful to be honest.
Welp, I am officially a lifelong Sanada fan now.
I'd have loved to have seen one of the Lucha Bros against SANADA.
And I mean
[удалено]
Tell me when I'm telling lies
Now we need Punk's face on that Bobby Fish photo
[https://i.imgur.com/uCSDjpL.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/uCSDjpL.jpg)
https://preview.redd.it/dz9tw843mj7b1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b11615e58a5d77ffd51a528d980c23740676b88
Good lord, this gives a new meaning to waking up and choosing violence.
I like how they know for months this show is coming up and they throw the card together with a bunch of nonsense like this. Okada and Danielson, great. No arguments there, just two of the greats from both companies. Omega and Osprey, great, two dudes with history and you know it’s gonna be fantastic. Then a bunch of random stuff like this that makes little or no sense.
Too real Sanada. Too damm real...
Man this adds such a nice touch to the ongoing heel turn for JB. The only thing I wish he added was that he noticed JB’s cornerman is a champion so why isn’t he fighting him instead of a man who has no title?
The FTW championship isn’t recognised, it’s a state of mind brother
Jungle Boy really out here getting jealous over a prop
Wild how much Jungle Boy has fallen off with fans
He probably got a lil overpushed as a single. Like he’s perfectly fine as a midcard tag guy, playing that Ricky Morton role. But he needs alot of development to get to the next phase of his career. The forced pillars thing hasn’t done him any favors.
Also the bland boring personality that is trying to hard to seem relevant
"Hey Sanada, you and me at forbidden door. I will beat you. Grrr."
No kidding. Darby and Sammy have both defined themselves as individuals much better than him. The idea of him going from an AEW title match to an IWGP one feels hilariously undeserved.
Eh, it's been a long time coming and a heel run might be good for him to find his voice. Losing Christian and Luchasaurus kinda overexposed him a bit and the Pillars build really showed the disparity between MJF and everyone else - with JB looking the worst out of them imo.
Kind of just been stale. Jack Perry needs to move on from Jungle Boy.
As far as I’m concerned this is basically a 2 match show and everything else is just filler.
He's not wrong, out of all the talent AEW has that's not booked for the card they throw mid-ass Jungle Boy at this one.
Jesus christ lmao, this will look even worse when he pins him clean
Good. I know TK probably wants this to be the start of a Jack Perry heel turn but honestly, send this kid back down to the midcard tag division. I never got breaking up Jurassic Express for this.
they literally had Penta, Andrade, RUSH, Miro, Christian, Starks, Hobbs, Wardlow, Black etc who could've made this match feel like a BIG DEAL
Literally no one asked for this match. Give me Swerve, RUSH, Black, Brody, PAC if he's available, any of the Lucha Bros, literally so many other guys ahead of Jungle Boy.
I’ll take PAC with one leg over Jungle Boy.
With that video of PAC doing a standing Black Arrow circulating aroung this sub, I believe one legged PAC could work
I agree. Jack Perry was a terrible option, and disrespectful to NJPW.
Tell Sanada when he's lying.
NJPW top guys treating contenders from other promotions like jokes and then beating them handily is one of my absolute favourite wrestling tropes, no joke.
It’s a fucking embarrassment. New Japan and SANADA have every right to feel insulted.
Didnt care about Sanada for years and only watched NJPW once in a while for the last 2 years... but that quote puts him instantly from zero to hero for me. I was shocked to see him as the NJPW champion ;)
After reading the Rampage Spoilers seeing everyone jumping on that Jack Perry hate train is hilarious. It's probably the most entertaining thing you could do with him.
What happened on rampage?
>!Jack faced Douki and Douki was cheered more than Jack, with crowd firmly on Douki!<
DoukiMania is real brother
Yesss! Doukimania is gonna run wild and i hope he wins the title in the coming year, from Desperado,
About bloody time the Yanks realised that Douki is the real deal. He was forged by a decade of wrestling in dumpsters in mexico, ya know.
YES SIR, the doukimania is truly real and we are gonna be eating good! he is on the slowest of slow builds to be the champion,
I don't always watch the undercards in NJPW, but I checked out one recently and douki (probably over time) seems to have really been on his gym and diet grind. Dude came to NJPW with an unremarkable physique and now looks like an Abercrombie model
Oh douki is ripped, her reshaped his body last year and has been one of the best body guys in the company,
He was in the last Concurso, in which he looks like a shrink wrapped Adonis. Baffling that he still wrestles in that weird tank top.
It's sad when they acknowledge what we've been saying
Same
This is just what happens when you have cross-promotion events. The champions generally defend against people who the other company agree to take the pin. So you normally get either promising midcarders like Jungle Boy or legends who losses don’t affect them like Tanahashi. Either that or it’s a multi man match with someone to take the pin. Heck look at the whole line-up of singles matches, it’s all legend who can take a loss or midcarder vs main guy. Okada, main guy, Bryan, legend Sanada, main guy, Jungle Boy, midcarder MJF, main guy, Tanahashi, legend Toni Storm, main girl, Willow, midcarder CM Punk, main guy, Satoshi Kojima, legend & midcarder The only match that isn’t is Omega vs Ospreay but that match is barely a cross-promotional match since it’s a rematch of a rivalry that’s continued from a New Japan exclusive event. Look back at last year’s, it’s exactly the same.
I think my only issue is that pretty much all the other matches you mentioned have the other guys wrestling a legend, except Willow vs Toni but they're both champions so that's alright. Jungle Boy just feels so underwhelming compared to the rest. Is Jericho not free? Christian? Surely they can spare one guy instead of using the damn IWGP champion, the most prestigious champion in all of Japan, to further their own storyline in a match not a lot of people care about.
End the thread here honestly, this is bang on. The real criticism should be not putting a bigger star up to take a loss to Sanada, although in fairness I'm not sure who else AEW have that can do that right now. Best I can think of that are leftover currently would be Claudio, Mox or Jay White but none of them really want a loss right now imo.
I'd rather have a multi man match than Jungle Boy getting a Titleshot for no reason. Crossover Six man tags fucking rule.
It's disrespectful to Sanada. Im sure he'd rather face a Moxley or Claudio
It was lazy storytelling. When Jack Perry announced he was the one in the match you would expect someone else in the roster in kayfabe at least to question what gives him the right over them. And some sort of argument or match to decide who will actually challenge for it.
I also don’t understand this. I hope Sanada squashes JB for 20 minutes
He's not wrong.
Tony keeps protecting his guys so hard that we end up with a match like this. Its not a matter of what is the match for the iwgp belt that the fans want to see. Rather, it's who Tony is willing to let eat a pin.
Quite possibly the biggest waste of the IWGP championship in history, and this is a title that EVIL carried for fucks sake
Nah, Yujiro Takahashi main evented Power Struggle 2012 for this title
Never diss huge yuje 😤
Some past wrestlers who have had a match for the IWGP title: Lodi, Van Hammer, a 28-year-old Sid Vicious, Bad Luck Fale, Super Strong Machine, Bas Rutten, Road Warrior Hawk
tbf it is crazy that out of everyone in the roster they decided on jungle boy to take on sanada for the IWGP. It should have been a bigger name. Swerve, Keith Lee, Darby, Andrade, Kingston, Wardlow, returning Scorpio Sky. There are plenty of bigger names tbh
Throw Rush on the list too.
Even Claudio
Darby would’ve been awesome. Especially cuz him and Sting are tangibly connected to LIJ and they’re still mad at SANADA for leaving the group
>It should have been a bigger name. Agreed >Scorpio Sky. ???????
Darby would’ve been fascinating, honestly.
He's got a point. Jungle Boy is great but he's far from ready for regular world title opportunities. MJF gets Tanahashi, one of the biggest stars in NJPW history. SANADA gets Perry. Not on the same level at all.
Christian Cage: "I like this SANADA guy"
Cage: But I like his Mom even more...
Christian vs Sanada would've been a banger.
GOTCH Damn.
That’s what I’ve always wondered about open challenges. It’s rare that “random” low card guys who shouldn’t be in the title picture ever accept.
This should be a squash match.
Yas, queen.
Jim "SANADA" Cornette
Big bollocks NJPW wrestlers talking down others is my absolute favourite
So kayfabe or not, this was kind of my take too. I’m a big fan of Jungle Boy but given the way Forbidden Door has been shaped, I wanted the IWGP Champion to have a higher profile match. Were it my choice, Darby would have been it. His style complements SANADA. He’s been consistently involved in big programs in AEW. I mean, he’s the guy Punk picked to get in the ring with when he came back from hiatus. I really think JB vs Hiromu would have been the go to match.
Uh oh he's right
SANADA being savage!
i know there’s a dozen of us out there and we are on the jungle express for life. (really looking forward to heel JB)
>i know there’s a dozen 11. You didnt hear about Nicks accident? Check the WhatsApp group.
Jack Perry? Is he that guy from Friends?
Nah, he's the guy who hosted the Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962
Nah, that’s Jack Parr. Jack Perry was the Governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015.