The ZSJ Era

By Scott Keith on 19 August 2024

Good morning Mr. Keith, hope all is well in the land up North. So Spoilers first, Zack Sabre Jr. won the G1 in a fantastic finals over Yota Tsuji, even got a great pop for the win against the home town boy. And then! Is using his Tokyo Dome title shot in October instead.

Me thinks they are going this route to get the title off Naito and build to a bout, maybe even a G1 Climax rematch, that would fit the standards of a Wrestle Kingdom. Naito is ready to ride off in the sunset and he has had his fair share of WK Main events as it is. I really think this G1 showed NJPW is ready to give the keys to the kingdom to this guy and he's certainly built a reputation amongst the crowd there over the years.
How much has your opinion of ZSJ changed over the years? In this era of (so many)trading finishers, shocked two counts, and Bloodline-story heavy matches, his style and technique stands out even more and the crowd takes it as a welcome change I'm sure.
(Side note: now I'm kinda even more bummed he's not booked for All In. Would have been a great moment for him to stroll into wembley with that briefcase.)

I love Zack! His run in the New Japan Cup a few years back where he tapped out the field was awesome. I don't think he's a long term solution on top of New Japan because they're more likely going to want a native like Umino as the future, but I think Zack can carry things for a year or two.