Missing Pro Wrestling? Watch the entire RoH/NJPW G1 Supercard for free on youtube!

[Skizzit]

If you are a wrestling fan like me, with pretty much the entire wrestling world put on hold right now, you are probably missing seeing wrestling with a live crowd. Well Ring of Honor is trying to help us out! They put up the entirety of the joint show they did last summer with New Japan Pro Wrestling, the G1 Supercard, up to watch for free on their Youtube channel:



This was a really great show, especially the New Japan matches. This might also be a chance for WWE fans to check out what else is out there as well. I know just jumping into a PPV without knowing who anyone is nor any of the build-up for any matches, I say don't worry about all of those and just enjoy some quality wrestling for a few hours.

[Santti]

Isn't that like, super fake and all? I'm sure they get hurt and all, but still...

[Darkeon]

Isn't that like, super fake and all? I'm sure they get hurt and all, but still...

I, too, can't watch TV shows and movies. How can people believe those are real is beyond me.

[Skizzit]

Isn't that like, super fake and all? I'm sure they get hurt and all, but still...

Every single time. Without fail. You mention Pro Wrestling on a message board or something and someone has to pop in to make sure we know that they know it is scripted. Yes. We are aware. Same as any other scripted form of entertainment, it is a group of people working together to put on a show and entertain an audience. I am almost tempted to start going into every single thread about a TV series or a movie just to make a post making sure everyone knows they are not real.

The people on The Walking Dead aren't really fighting zombies you know. It's super fake you guys, those are actually just people wearing make-up. They don't even use real guns!

[Santti]

Every single time. Without fail. You mention Pro Wrestling on a message board or something and someone has to pop in to make sure we know that they know it is scripted. Yes. We are aware. Same as any other scripted form of entertainment, it is a group of people working together to put on a show and entertain an audience. I am almost tempted to start going into every single thread about a TV series or a movie just to make a post making sure everyone knows they are not real.

The people on The Walking Dead aren't really fighting zombies you know. It's super fake you guys, those are actually just people wearing make-up. They don't even use real guns!

Sorry.

It was actually a serious question. I, personally, find no value in watching them, and know absolutely nothing about them, but I was curious about that one aspect. I have seen people present them as serious sports, where as some say they are totally fake.

I guess I presented my question quite poorly.

[Skizzit]

Sorry.

It was actually a serious question. I, personally, find no value in watching them, and know absolutely nothing about them, but I was curious about that one aspect. I have seen people present them as serious sports, where as some say they are totally fake.

I guess I presented my question quite poorly.

My bad. It just gets very annoying trying talk about wrestling anywhere online outside of dedicated wrestling websites and forums. No, it's not real. It has never been a real sport. It has always been a TV series or a live show about a fake sport. It is part stage show, part stunt show, part ballet, part magic show, and part soap opera. What we know as "pro wrestling" sort of grew out of an actual sport known as Catch Wrestling, but at some point, mostly when it began to be presented as a sideshow at traveling carnivals, the promoters realized it would be far easier and less dangerous to just fake the show. That way, they could put on the same match at each stop of the carnival and they didn't have to worry about competitors being injured. They still kept up the pretense that it was real in front of the audience for quite some time. Eventually, around the mid to late 80's or so, they pretty much gave up pretending. They still obviously present it as if it is real and the audience accepts that as a part of the suspension of disbelief to better enjoy the show. But everyone, or at least 99%of the people watching wrestling are well aware of this fact. It's the reason the vast majority of the performers don't use their real names, they have characters and stage names. It's why the most famous wrestlers ever are not Terry Bollea and Dwayne Johnson. They are Hulk Hogan and The Rock.

All that is a long-winded way to say a long, long time ago there was a form of actual competitive wrestling, but what today is known as pro wrestling it a form of entertainment where everyone knows it is scripted and the wrestlers are not actually fighting but working together to put on a show, making it look as real as possible without actually hurting each other.

It is just a form of entertainment like any other. I just enjoy the spectacle, athleticism, story telling, and over the top characters. And watching a show live with a really hyped up crowd is unlike anything else I have ever been a part of.

[Kyphael]

I don't follow NJPW or ROH but in NJPW, I know Jay White is a great character and Will Oespray is amazing. They also have KENTA and Kota Ibushi who is phenomenal.

[Biomega]

Sorry.

It was actually a serious question. I, personally, find no value in watching them, and know absolutely nothing about them, but I was curious about that one aspect. I have seen people present them as serious sports, where as some say they are totally fake.

I guess I presented my question quite poorly.

It's a serious sport in that people are invested in it emotionally and financially. That doesn't mean it's not a performance. Of course you'll always find someone who believes whatever thing you pick, but I think it's very well understood by most people that this kind of wrestling is an elaborate show performance, not a competitive sporting event.

It doesn't have to be real for people to enjoy it.

And it's also totally fine NOT to enjoy it. I certainly don't, but I also enjoy things other people don't so it all evens out.

[Stormcall]

On a related note, NJPW has put up several shows at njpwworld.com, including night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom which has some truly amazing matches, for free viewing as well. Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi and Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi are both fantastic and should be watched by any wrestling fan. Here's a direct link to the Wrestle Kingdom show. The others can be found at the NJPW World link.
https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00532_5_1

DDT Universe(ddtpro.com) also has several DDT pro wrestling shows(including some featuring Kenny Omega), as well as shows from their women's wrestling sub brand Tokyo Joshi Pro(for the AEW fans, this is the home promotion of Yuka Sakazaki and Shoko Nakajima, and Riho has wrestled there in the past as well) available for free viewing right now. DDT's Ultimate Party from Nov of 2019 is posted for free at DDT Universe and is well worth a watch. It's a long show, and there's a mix of great wrestling, and the typical weird DDT comedy/gimmick stuff.
DDT Ultimate Party:
https://www.ddtpro.com/universe/videos/7212

If you have any interest in women's wrestling, the Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/4/20 show is one of their better events and features a mix of all their styles. TJPW overall is more focused on characters and comedy rather than the more hard hitting workrate focused Japanese women's promotions like Stardom or Seadlinnng, but there's some matches on this show that should appeal to the workrate crowd as well(Miyu Yamashita vs Yuka Sakazaki, and Natsumi Maki vs the soon to be WWE bound Sareee for example):
https://www.ddtpro.com/universe/videos/7950

[molliewoof]

Sorry.

It was actually a serious question. I, personally, find no value in watching them, and know absolutely nothing about them, but I was curious about that one aspect. I have seen people present them as serious sports, where as some say they are totally fake.

I guess I presented my question quite poorly.

just a little but also wrestling fans are tetchy about it, myself included :P

i always find it weird that you can bet on it!

on topic, i watched this semi live (the next day) i wasnt keen on ROH and the NJPW script annoys me a lot, i find it difficult to get around the long drawn punching matches they have in the middle of the ring at the start of each match and a few other things that i cant remember off hand.

one of my mates tells me to watch it every now and again but i am too stuck in aew and nxt that i cant really watch much more wreslting each week!

was this the one with cass and enzo and the rolling ladder into the crowd though?

[Jotaux]

Sorry.

It was actually a serious question. I, personally, find no value in watching them, and know absolutely nothing about them, but I was curious about that one aspect. I have seen people present them as serious sports, where as some say they are totally fake.

I guess I presented my question quite poorly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYvMOf3hsGA

This is a good answer to what wrestling is.

[Skizzit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYvMOf3hsGA

This is a good answer to what wrestling is.

I almost posted that exact same video, but I don't know how I feel about supporting alleged skuzzbag Max Landis.

It is a great video though. So many random cameos.

[Jotaux]

I almost posted that exact same video, but I don't know how I feel about supporting alleged skuzzbag Max Landis.

Oh, I didn't really know anything about him beyond that video.

[Okacz]

Oh, I didn't really know anything about him beyond that video.

He also made a pretty freaking great short movie about Death of Superman, you should check it out, he even got Frodo Baggins playing a role. Plus he wrote Chronicle, pretty fun movie.

[Orange Joe]

Isn't that like, super fake and all? I'm sure they get hurt and all, but still...

I hope your joking. Or do I have to tell you that 90% of tv is fake?

[Santti]

I hope your joking. Or do I have to tell you that 90% of tv is fake?

See post #5.

[Orange Joe]

See post #5.

Yeah I read after I replied.


All I'll do is add on that it's more scripted than fake. While most punches are held back, a lot of the moves they do still hurt no matter what.

[Highelf]

Is AEW still going on with the quarantines?

[Kyphael]

Is AEW still going on with the quarantines?

Yea, they have no choice. They're filming Dynamite from a closed set at an undisclosed location.

[Skizzit]

Is AEW still going on with the quarantines?

When the state of Florida put restrictions in place on gatherings of more than 10 people, at least I think it was 10, they had to move their filming location. They found a place and announced they would be in a new locations but didn't say where in fear that it would attract a bunch of people there and cause the large crowds everyone is trying to avoid. It turns out it was a gym owned by QT Marshall in Georgia, Dustin's friend and new tag partner. There were rumors that the police had shown up to try and shut them down and even that people at WWE had been the ones who alerted the police but they were untrue and the cops were they just to make sure the filming permits and such were up to date. They actually filmed a whole bunch there and now say they have enough material to be able to keep putting on new episodes of Dynamite and Dark at least until May.

Filming a bunch like that was probably more important for AEW than WWE. I am sure TNT wouldn't end their contract or anything if they did run out of new stuff to air but WWE had literally decades worth of past matches and such that they could build compilation or best-of episodes to air if they had to where as AEW has only been around on TV for 7 months.