Mar 8, 2017

@WrestlingBros
This week, Sports Illustrated's 'Week in Wrestling' (published every Wednesday) featured Jim Ross previewing last year's NJPW G1 Climax tournament, which begins airing on AXS TV this Friday.
source: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/03/08/week-wrestling-jim-ross-okada-naito-njpw-g1-climax

More specifically however, this tournament featured some of the top talent in NJPW, resulting in Jim Ross giving his thoughts on both these wrestlers as well as the NJPW booking philosophy in general. Also he gives some thoughts on WrestleMania too, if you're into that.

On Kenny Omega: “He doesn’t put himself in a comfort zone for long, which is unlike a lot of guys you see on American television, who have the same basic structure for all their matches on television. I don’t know if you’re doing your best effort or if you’re being a real pro if you’re having the same basic match every Monday or Tuesday night on television. I don’t see Kenny Omega having the same match every week, and I call a lot of his matches on AXS TV’s New Japan. Granted, there are some high-profile matches that we’re able to bring the fans on Friday nights, but Omega is continually going out and tweaking his game, trying new things, and refining what he’s doing.
“It’s a good time to follow a guy like Kenny, who, some day, will be a WWE guy. There’s no doubt. I’m glad that he came back to New Japan for another year, and I would think that after he stars at Wrestle Kingdom in 2018, then he very well could be the most coveted free agent that WWE has tried to sign in years.”

On Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi: “Okada and Tanahashi have great skill levels,” “They would be main event guys in anybody’s territory, even WWE. They’re both skilled enough to be a main eventer in that company or anywhere else. You just have a feel for greatness, and when I first called Steamboat-Flair back in ’89, and Rock-Austin in WWE, there is just a feel for how it looks, the texture of it, the buzz it creates for the audience, and those guys have that."

On NJPW Booking: “The product is based in athletic reality, and their philosophy of booking is different,” "They’ll give you some twists and turns that you may not fathom. A star may actually get on a losing streak, and will have to work his way out of a disadvantage, which is what all great heroes have done at some point. I like their philosophy of booking, and it’s different from what a lot of fans are used to today where the sizzle is first. Any time you see a TV show where the champion is introduced first, it tells you that they’re a whole lot more about the sizzle than they are the steak. That’s real simple.”

On Tetsuya Naito: “Naito is a different breed of cat with a unique level of charisma,” “Wrestling is not ballet, but it’s almost so choreographed in the States that you could put music to it. That’s taking us away from the fundamental charm of the business that got us all interested. But Naito, along with Omega, has done the most to recreate himself and get better at his craft, going from a semi-crowded level to clear-cut main event status. Now that they’re there, it’s going to be really interesting to see how they can contribute to building the New Japan business model."