Still early, but here goes

So Christian Cage vs. Jarrett and Joe vs. Daniels are possibilities...

what else?

New Japan might be sending Hiroshi Tanahashi over for this show. WOO.....

I thought FR was a WWE PPV... god damn these weird and generic names.

Bold Prediction: Jarrett loses by DQ after the entire country of Canada runs in on Christian.

Tanahashi would be good, but who would he wrestle? Joe immediately popped into my head, but it's been confirmed he's wrestling Daniels...

I read somewhere else that Tanahashi will be wrestling AJ Styles.

Daniels/Joe has been heavily advertised for the event.

And from the looks of things, Christian/Sting vs Jarrett/Brown will main event.

Tanahashi/AJ would be pretty sweet, so I'm all for that.

I should take the money I was saving for the canceled ROH event in Dorcester and order Final Resolution instead. It is shaping up quite nicely.

PWInsider is saying Tanahashi/Styles is probably happening.

Awesome. Forgot about AJ, a match versus Tanahashi would be great.

Well, that just makes me want to see the PPV about a hundred times more than I already did. That's fucking awesome that TNA could score Tanahashi.

I think for the PPVs after this they should just import New Japan guys for Joe to beat on PPV. That way you could give him a long reign without having to constantly build up guys for him to just destroy.

Lately, I've been thinking. You know what match I wanna see? I know he works everywhere in Japan right now, but I always thought that Joe/Kensuke Sasaki would be pretty swank. Two badasses destroying each other...........although I know why TNA wouldn't be cool with that match.....I still want to see it.

NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING HIGH-FLYING STAR “TANAHASHI” TO FACE “THE PHENOMENAL” AJ STYLES AT “FINAL RESOLUTION”

TNAwrestling.com has learned that it will be an “International X Showcase” at the TNA “Final Resolution” Pay-Per-View on January 15 as one of the fastest rising stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling – Tanahashi – will travel to the United States to face X Division pioneer “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles.

The bout will truly be another TNA “Dream Match” for fans of the high-flying X Division style, as two of the dominant stars from the United States and Japan face off at the Pay-Per-View.

TNA Wrestling will feature a video highlight package of the New Japan star on the January 14 edition of “iMPACT!”, the night before the Pay-Per-View.
The following is a bio of Tanahashi for fans in the United States unfamiliar with the New Japan Pro Wrestling star (courtesy of puroresufan.com)

Hiroshi Tanahashi pursued baseball during his high school days, before entering amaresu competitions while at Ritsumeikan University. He played an active part in the 85kg class, with good results, and always yearned to be a professional wrestler. Growing up, his favourite wrestler was Kenta Kobashi, and his dream to wrestle became a reality when in April, 1999, he joined New Japan. He debuted in October, 1999, against Shinya Makabe, and aimed to be a Japanese-made Dynamite Kid early in his career. With a great physique that most young wrestlers take a long time to develop, Tanahashi was viewed as a big prospect in his early days by both fans and New Japan management. A victory over Mexican great, Negro Casas, in July, 2000, indicated that he was making progress. His most surprising victory came in September, 2001, when Tanahashi caught an overconfident Scott Hall with a cradle for a singles win over the nWo co-founder. In the 2002 G1 Climax, Tanahashi advertised his potential to the world by pinning brief mentor, Kensuke Sasaki, in just 100 seconds! Tanahashi formed a new generation team with fellow young lion, Kenzo Suzuki, and the two made the difficult, but rewarding climb up the ladder together. They struggled for victories, but by the middle of 2002, were making great progress. Tanahashi was always the more skillful and vibrant of the two, but in terms of success, was a step behind Kenzo. When Kenzo left New Japan in 2003, Tanahashi had the chance to break out at last. Progress was quick from 2003 and beyond, Tanahashi quickly starting to capture titles and tournaments, including his self-proposed U-30 Openweight Title (for wrestlers under 30), with which he passed ten defenses. In August, 2004, he won all but one match en route to his first G1 Climax final, where he lost a close, epic match to Tenzan. In January, 2005, he and Nakamura headlined the Tokyo Dome against each other, a historic match that showed the future of New Japan in the boldest fashion. A disciple of Tatsumi Fujinami and his "Dragon" system, Tanahashi has developed from a promising young lion into one of the best heavyweights in the world. His vibrant and energetic style has won him many fans, and his devotion to "pure" professional wrestling has made him one of Japanese pro wrestling's biggest hopes for the future.

Instead of bashing it for no reason (especially since I don't know who it is), let me ask this question...

Why should I care about this guy that I've never heard of, and why should any other casual fan?

He's what Kurt Angle should be as a worker at this point in his career. Just so you know Tanahashi debuted the same year as Angle and has been miles ahead of him since at least 2002.

Because you should want to broaden your wrestling watching beyond WWE hosses and the X-division.

While I'm excited about the match and sure it will be awesome ( though I've only seen a little bit of Tanahashi) I don't think the Angle comparison is fair. The two have never worked in the same type situation, so don't see how we could be sure that Tanahashi is worlds better. Was he hampered by WWE style and time limitations? Is he nearly crippled too?

Well in all fairness, Angle is NOT hampered by the WWE style whatsoever. He's one of the WWE workers that rule doesn't seem to apply to (much in the same ways it doesn't apply to HBK, Undertaker, or Triple H for that matter) and I would still say that Angle may have some issues, but he's certainly not nearly crippled.

Well that's not the most convicing device, but the track record of everyone here not named me is pretty good, so I'll be open minded about the guy. And the guy holding the knife in your sig was a little creepy. :P

How about this then.............

Because Tanahashi is one of the best YOUNG workers found anywhere in the world and if you are going to spend ANY time watching the shitty guys that the WWE brings in from OVW..............you NEED to do yourself a favor and see Tanahashi.

Much better. I've been hearing conflicting reports on his style which is why I was questioning this at first, but based on what you're saying, he's a well-rounded type of guy that recieves unnecessary bashing from people who've never seen him.

Plus, throwing him in a match with AJ can only be a good thing. Besides Angle and Samoa Joe, I don't know who else you can say who has been on a role as much as AJ has........at least out of the US workers.

I take it you've been reading the DVDVR people shitting on the guy since this was announced? If so please remember that it's bizarro world there where good workers are constantly shit on. They're shitting on him for a sub-par 2005 but they conviently ignore the fact that he was battling through injuries and then didn't mesh well with the luchadores and their style in CMLL.

No, another board thats small like this. I wouldn't dare read DVDRRD or whatever. So retarded.

Also he became a main eventer at the same time so he's fighting through injuries while trying to transition from an underdog to more of a favorite. He didn't mesh with the lucha style but then you really can't hold that against a worker.

Especially when you're like me and could never really get into much lucha stuff.

So I'm ordering this and I have to admit I haven't been this excited for a PPV since Wrestlemania X-7.

Yeah, I'm pretty jazzed about it myself.

Just to give you an idea of how excited I am. I'll probably avoid every other board but here until I watch the show so I won't be spoiled on the results.

I would blame you for that........

While the show looks pretty enticing on paper, I hope you are saying that every PPV since WM X-Seven hasn't had you this interested until now, instead of "it'll be as good as/better."

Haven't been this interested since then. I've bought several since X-7 but it was mostly an "I'm bored and this will kill 3 hours" kind of thing.

Really? while most WWE PPV's since then haven't been that great... fuck it, I'm not lying. I watch WWE for three reasons:

1. Chris Benoit
2. Kane
3. Stupid crap I can laugh at

There hasn't been a single TNA pay-per-view in months that I would not have ordered if it weren't for not being able to afford it with all the stuff I have going on. I was tempted by Bound For Glory, more so by Turning Point, and once again I really would like to get Final Resolution.

I agree. They've given me at least one reason, and usually more than one, to order their PPV every month.

Most times WWE doesn't even give me one decent reason.

And I mean that genuinely.

For instance:

What I actually wanted to see on New Year's Revolution: The Chamber, kind of.

What I want to see on Final Resolution: Joe/Daniels, Styles/NJPW Dude, Jarret-Brown/Sting-Christian. And surely they'll get Aries and Shelley on the card after they went out and won.

Good point, Jamie.

I'm very excited about the possibilities for Alex Shelley in 2006. When Joe is done having his X Division run, I can see Shelley being pushed as the next long term X champ.

I would agree with the Shelley thing, but since they've started the TNA Gen Next angle it seems like Aries is going to be the leader of the group. So I'm sure he would be the one there that would get the long X-Division run. I could also see them using the group in the tag division at some point as well. It'd be pretty sweet if any combo of the three got a run with the tag belts.

Maybe it's just because they've been teaming up so much in ROH, but I had kind of envisioned Aries and Strong to be the tag champs, with Shelley getting the X title, but if Aries is going to be the leader than that makes sense.

Got this nice and ordered for tonight. Gen Next vs. Sabin/Bentley/Dutt and the NAO vs. Diamonds in the Rough as been added. Rumor has it that the U-30 Title might be on the line tonight as well.