Riki Choshu/Akebono is like something out of my nightmares. Lesnar F-5s him to wow the crowd though.

Anyways. I think Nagata/Tanahashi and the title matches will all be worth checking out at some point. Nakanishi/Bernard as tag champs would be interesting.

The CTU/Apache Army stuff has been fun stuff to follow for me. I'll probably download it some time. Card looks decent, like you said, the title matches and Nagata/Tanahashi could be good-great.

I'm not as familiar with the Apache guys. New Japan has been filling me with hope so far this year. They could finally be headed back to being a quality fed again.

I could do without the Akebono tag match, but everything else is surprisingly solid from NJ. I really hope they can turn the direction of the company. Any good wrestling is good enough for me.

I think they're on the right track. They've built Lesnar really well and the juniors have been stepping it up for about a year now. Hopefully Tiger Mask doesn't win the belt back.

Hey MD, you seem to be a NJPW faithful................who they got lined up to fight Lesner for the IWGP? I'm curious as I saw his match with Nakamura and I actually liked it. I'd like to see what they have planned for Lesner.

I think Giant Bernard is going to be a challenger sooner rather than later. I could see them throwing him Nagata or Chosu as a warm up title defense and then use Lesnar/Bernard to carry them through the summer. I think that's the money program for them.

Well, Lesner/Bernard has the chance to be something decent at least. I wonder how charged up the fans over there would get over a Lesner/Choshu encounter. Nagata would be a good match, but I doubt anyone would take him as a serious contender. Actually, they probably wouldn't buy Choshu as one either. I could see Bernard/Lesner as a decent money program.

I'd be lying though if I didn't say I would love for them to maybe bring in a Sasaki or Kawada to face him though.

Bernard's huge in Japan right now. I imagine Lesnar is catching on as well. So they'll probably go apeshit for that match.

Is it just me or is it kind of sad that one of the more major challengers for the IWGP that the fans would go nuts about (Bernard) is another Giajin?

It's very sad but it's what happens when you don't build any new stars in the 90s. Gaijin are going to be what keeps a few companies alive until they can get some new people that the Japanese public wants to see.

I would like to see them push Tanahashi as the old school AJ young lion. Make him the total babyface that gets his ass handed to him, but fights his way back for the win. They could start now by bringing in established freelancers to go over on too.

I think he'll get his chance soon. I could see a G-1 win for him this year. He's been creeping closer and closer over the last couple of tournaments.

Note: Bernard turned on Nakanishi and joined up with Chono and Tenzan after the match.

Sounds like a good show for the most part. Not very keen on Tiger Mask getting the junior title back though. It's also nice to see El Samurai with a title again.

So is it safe to say that Lesner is going to run through Chono's team anytime soon. Honestly I think a Tenzan/Lesner match would be pretty fucking swank.