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Sengoku Lord and Post-Booking For LIJ after the event and how it can be tied back to Sengoku and Edo period Japan and their Shogunate based on a reddit post that brought attention to it (linked onto here)
A thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/njpw/comments/huwt0z/sengoku_lord_historical_parallels/
A thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/njpw/comments/huwt0z/sengoku_lord_historical_parallels/
And for those who canât pull up he link for whatever reason hereâs a screenshot of the post, I will be stating my booking theory as I go.
So as you can see stated, Naito is Nobunaga, EVIL is Mitsuhide, and Hiromu is Hideyoshi. Quite fitting with Naito being one who was influenced by the west and has been a polarizing figure much like Nobunaga, EVIL being a traitor for an ulterior motive much like Mitsuhide.
And Hiromu being so well liked and respected (by comparison) much like Hideyoshi when he ruled Japan. One could say Naito isnât as truly heelish as he was earlier in his LIJ incarnation, you could say it was not committing to what he was suppose to lead by example as.
And thus, EVIL did not feel comfort in following in it, to him this is why he says what goes on in LIJ is ârottenâ and thus he made his own stake at ârulingâ which in this case being the top champion of the company. Oddly enough, the reason for Mitsuhideâs betrayal has been mixed
Some stories say he did it to stake claim at power, some says that it was cuz he saw Nobunaga being far too ruthless and had to stop his tyranny, and among others. In this comparison, the characteristics of being ruthless is swapped, Naito not being ruthless enough in this case
And with EVIL having the motive to not keep following someone he feels like he can do more than, he takes the opportunity to strike Naito when he didnât expected, much like Mitsuhide attacked Nobunaga at a temple in Kyoto dubbed âThe HonnĆ-ji Incidentâ
Now letâs stretch out the NJC Finals and Dominion as the entire HonnĆ-Ji Incident as itâs basically the full betrayal altogether. Naito is overthrown as the most powerful DaimyĆ, and in wrestlingâs case, weâll call em top champion. And this has caused splits in retainers.
Retainers being ones who serve under a more powerful, larger ruler in offer of protection and receiving land to rule in return. The split being EVIL (Mitsuhide) and other LIJ members as the others, more notably Hiromu as Hideyoshi in this case, and thus conflict begins.
Seeing as Sengoku Lord is set 13 days after Dominion, and Mitsuhideâs reign over the country was of that length of time, we can speculate that Hiromu may come out the victor at Sengoku Lord and unifying the IWGP Heavyweight, Intercontinental, and Junior Heavyweight titles
And thus being a unifier much like Hideyoshi who also followed Naito who unified the former two titles much like Nobunaga did. And if like Hideyoshi, may a nice lengthy-ish time come for Hiromuâs reign as top champion and favorable by many.
However, as history does foretell, it wonât last forever, and those aligned with Hideyoshi will come to blows to rule after his time. But in this case weâll have Hiromu hold the titles and not vacate it for any reason as a metaphor to Hideyoshiâs death.
Now on the other end of the Sengoku Lord event, letâs say Shingo loses the NEVER title to Desperado, heâll have more free reign to fight for other titles. Out of all LIJ members, he seems to be the one to want to fight a lot. The Dragon is much like a âDemonâ in wrestling.
And so comes the part of retainers under Nobunaga fighting one another to which LIJ members under Naito will fight one another, especially given the G1 Climax is to come. Now as a warning note, not all battle comparisons will happen in the exact order as history foretold.
In this G1, letâs say Jrs. are also participants within in, and we have one block that has Hiromu and Shingo in the same one and either BUSHI or SANADA sharing it with those two, either one works but separate one from the other three.
Shingo will be much like Katsuie Shibata, a retainer under Nobunaga who staked his own claim into ruling Japan and was among some of the fiercest samurai in the time, much like Shingo being a fearsome wrestler, and Katsuie being called âDemonâ like Shingo being called âDragonâ
Since each member will always do their best to claim any top spot that they can, they contend with one another, same as ruling leaders of japan. Hideyoshi and Katsuie came to blows after the death of Nobunaga (Naito) and defeat of Mitsuhide (EVIL).
And so Hiromu and Shingo can face off for the first time in the G1, with matching to history, Hiromu coming out the victor in their encounter. Whether or not we let this be descension in LIJ to be metaphors to âdeath and defeatâ of these samurais wonât matter too much.
I will however write it off as âtheyâre no longer in contension for the titles for a period of time.â Hideyoshi goes to fend off other rulers to truly unify the land and thus Hiromu fends off most other block participants to maintain a higher score for the block.
While much of this is happening, my preferred person to have in the same block as Hiromu is BUSHI, who I compare to is Mitsunari Ishida, a trusted strategist under Hideyoshi and Toyotomi loyalist, but also somewhat disliked which is a metaphor to western fanâs criticism of him
He too is killing it in the same block and having a great score that even competes with Hiromu. BUSHI is likely the most loyal person to Hiromu, much to how Mitsunari was absolutely loyal to Hideyoshi and his clan (Toyotomi). Their encounter will be all friendly.
Either Hiromu or BUSHI can win their fight against each other, it doesnât matter as Hideyoshi didnât fight Mitsunari, but what must remain is that BUSHI comes out the block winner, and Hiromu comes up short as a metaphor to Hideyoshiâs death, Hiromu no longer leads the block
And BUSHI leads on the block but still repping under Hiromu as Mitsunari did for the Toyotomi after Hideyoshiâs death. Meanwhile on the other block, SANADA leads out his block and comes out the winner of it and will face off against BUSHI. SANADAâs role you may ask?
Well SANADA is Ieyasu Tokugawa. Much like Hideyoshi, he was a retainer of Nobunaga, much like SANADA is to Naito. And with Hiromu being the top champion and being of the same faction, SANADA serves as an underling for him in tag matches, much like Ieyasu a retainer to Hideyoshi.
And much like BUSHI/Mitsunari, SANADA has more recently become one of heavy criticism from western fans which is comparable to the criticism Ieyasu faced as ruler. After Hideyoshiâs death, Ieyasu took opportunity to restake a claim at ruling Japan.
On New Japanâs parallel, Hiromuâs shortcomings of his block is Hideyoshiâs death, and SANADA winning his block is the opportunity taking for power. And now BUSHI and SANADA faces off much like the Toyotomi and Tokugawa did in The Battle of Sekigahara.
The Toyotomi lead by MItsunari/BUSHI, and Tokugawa lead by Ieyasu/SANADA. The Tokugawa was overwhelming and just shut out the Toyotomi, and so SANADA would be the G1 winner as BUSHI falls, though the Toyotomi still stands for now.
Now you know how often times LIJ individuals often get attacked on and rarely do another member comes out to help, and that out of everyone, SANADA seems to help out the least. Some would say Ieyasu was all willing to sacrifice men for the greater good in the end if willing.
Thatâs not to say SANADA/Ieyasu probably didnât care, but it could be seen as letting it happen because âthey know what they signed up for for the end goalâ which is individual success for LIJ, so SANADA may be showing concern for himself as long as he isnât already present.
And now we skip ahead to Wrestle Kingdom, SANADA has won the right to face Hiromu at Wrestle Kingdom. Now to note, the Toyotomi still technically stands as Hideyoshiâs heir, Hideyori, was a stand-in ruler, so weâll use this as Hiromu still standing even if Hideyoshi wasnât.
While respect to the opposing side, SANADA/Ieyasu still sought for their glory, and faces off with strong force against Hiromu/Toyotomi (to which oddly enough the main general of the Toyomo was named Yukimura Sanada). This battle was known as The Siege of Osaka.
Eventually, the Toyotomi fell after the Tokugawa forces became far too overwhelming in a battle set among the biggest city at the time, much to how possibly SANADA may dwindle down and defeat Hiromu at the biggest stage, The Tokyo Dome, ushering a new era
As the Tokugawa Shogunate grew essentially unapposed after many victories in major wars, SANADA may grow into a strong champion, a strong ace even, having being his own unifier in the IWGP titles and the G1 victory, much like Ieyasu before him unifying Japan.
If given Hiromu a lengthy reign as well as SANADA, they along with Naito can be seen as the âThree Great Unifiers of New Japanâ unifiying different points of prizes together, same as Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu was referred to as âThe Three Great Unifiers of Japan.â
So in essence, LIJ could be booked to be similar to Japanâs ancient history of samurai rulers in the Sengoku-Edo period, especially with plausible descension in the group that may happen and individuals getting their own personal shine throughout this time until Wrestle Kingdom.
