New Japan mid-year review

A+

The good

• New Japan World is the best thing on my internet
  
• Wrestle Kingdom 9
  
• I've not really formally sorted my top matches of the year, but I know that New Japan has 3 and it could even be 4 of the top 5
  
• They've got a stronger top card than WWE right now and every one at the top is fully contributing in their singles matches
  

The bad

• I might not be totally over the Bullet Club because AJ is on an awesome run of performances.  But I'm so over most of the members like Anderson and Gallows
  
• They need a bit more variety in their tag divisions
  
• If they are going to work with RoH and Rev:Pro, etc. then they must be interested in some Western viewers, so would an English commentary just for the big events kill them, it doesn't have to be JR and Matt Stryker, just someone who can call the moves and tell me what they are saying sometimes
  

A

The good

The match quality, particularly in the main event is light years ahead of any other promotion in the world

The double main event at WK9 was not just back to back MOTY contenders, they were two ATG contenders

They have 5 bonafide main event stars who are treated and presented seriously

Allowing for an undercard of guys who are all very talented in their own ways but there isn't the pressing need to push them up the card, can you imagine having a guy as awesome as Honma presented as loveable loser in any other promotion without any significant backlash?

The rise of Kushida, particularly in the past couple of months

Shinsuke Nakamura is God

And on top of all that the G1 is still to come

The Bad

The tag divisions are both very flawed, the heavyweight division in particular is dying on it's arse, the Guns & Gallows v Kingdom matches are easily among the worst title matches I've seen in modern New Japan, the Jr Division has 3 awesome teams on top but nothing underneath, and since WK9 in January we've seen at least 4 multi man title matches involving the Bucks, ReDragon and Rocky Romero +1, they desperately need fresh blood to allow these guys a break from each other because as talented as they are, I can only see that match so many times

The Bullet Club is wearing thin, they have some very talented wrestlers in their ranks, AJ, Omega and the Bucks are in particular among the elite in the world, but their antics often reduce them to lesser than the sum of their parts

On the note, the Omega/Taguchi flag sodomey debacle (yes you read that right) was beyond the pale

Booking can often move at a snails pace with endless rematches, which can be refreshing and rewarding when something pays off but often it's frustrating

Ishii, who for my money was easily the best bell to bell worker in the world in 2014, has really been stunted in his feud with Makabe, they have zero chemistry for me, which I feel bad about because they're obviously working very hard, but given the standard Ishii set last year it's a shame he's only produced 1 match up to that level this year