NJPW G1 Climax 25 – Day 3

Arnold Furious: 24th July 2015. We’re in Kyoto, Japan. Yesterday saw Block B kick off. After the wins and losses were tallied here’s how the Block looks:

BLOCK B:
Karl Anderson 2
Kazuchika Okada 2
Yuji Nagata 2
Hirooki Goto 2
Tomohiro Ishii 2
Satoshi Kojima 0
Yujiro Takahashi 0
Tomoaki Honma 0
Michael Elgin 0
Shinsuke Nakamura 0

Nakamura’s defeat, in the main event no less, was a big upset but the plan must surely be to have Nakamura on a slow burn. It’s likely he’ll lose again before he starts on the road to redemption. That’s how Gedo usually books. Seeing as we’re going back over to Block A, here’s a reminder of how that looks.

BLOCK A:
Hiroshi Tanahashi 2
AJ Styles 2
Tetsuya Naito 2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2
Togi Makabe 2
Doc Gallows 0
Toru Yano 0
Bad Luck Fale 0
Katsuyori Shibata 0
Kota Ibushi 0

Tonight’s big matches have Tanahashi against Tenzan. Both winners on Day One. Shibata vs. Naito, with Shibata anxious to kick Naito’s ass after their tag contest on Day Two. The other matches expose the weakness of Block A with Gallows, Fale and Yano all in different matches. With the exception of Yujiro Takahashi, the three weakest wrestlers in the G1.

Like Day Two this a show with no commentary, presumably being added later when it airs on Samurai TV, but unlike Day Two it’s a proper shoot with multiple cameras and it looks like someone is actually paying attention to the broadcast.

Michael Elgin, Mascara Dorada, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu
Elgin vs. Kojima is one of the Block B matches tomorrow, so they face off amongst a bevy of juniors. Both men had a decent showing but lost. They’ll be keen to set down a few markers to try and get inside their opponents head for their second bout tomorrow. There’s a good sign right off the bat; the crowd is rowdy and there’s a buzz around the venue. This was not the case at all during Day Two. It’s a pity last night’s card didn’t get this night’s crowd but on paper last night was better. Tiger Mask employs some totally weird psychology and hits the finish he used on Jay White last night in the first sequence in this match. That makes no sense, at all. He stays down selling afterwards, perhaps aware he’s erred. Liger is crazy over. The same way he is in America and the UK. Kyoto must not get to see him too often.

The juniors always get multiple man tags during G1 but rarely get booked into the tournament. How’s about this for an idea; winner of the Super Juniors gets a spot in G1? That would certainly give that tournament a bit more weight. And also, we’d get KUSHIDA all over these shows. There’s no downside to that. As Kojima and Elgin start to leather each other the crowd erupts, they’re going to be wonderful tonight. I love a good crowd. Elgin gets put over big time, double suplexing TM and Liger and making Komatsu look like a small child. If his pedigree was in doubt, in Japan, before this tournament that’s certainly changed already. Kojima gets the better of him with the Koji Cutter and Finlay takes the lariat for the loss. Elgin and Kojima looked seriously motivated here, which means good things for their match tomorrow night.
Final Rating: **3/4

Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI)
If anyone can get a good match out of Yujiro it’s Ishii, who worked wonders during their NEVER title feud last year. They’ll be working a Block match tomorrow night, hence this tag. For those who don’t follow NJPW all that closely, Yujiro used to be in CHAOS before defecting to Bullet Club during AJ Styles IWGP title victory. CHAOS have not been fans of him since and he’s worked series with Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI. The only good thing about Yujiro is he can make it believable that anyone can beat him. Cody works the match like he’s Yujiro’s bodyguard and that’s an ongoing angle I could get behind. Cody didn’t get the memo where you’re not supposed to get over on anyone who’s in the G1 and tries to bully Ishii a bit, which gets him a kicking. Cody is showing signs of improvement, one of the benefits of working in New Japan where the standard is so high. He’s still making mistakes, big ones at that, but his persona is coming across much better than before and he’s gaining in confidence. I don’t think the Japanese fans get the Razor Ramon references so much but they tickle me. Cody’s blunders continue with a botched spot with YOSHI-HASHI, which he forgets to kick out of. YOSHI-HASHI finishes moments later with a corkscrew senton, which makes me think Cody just forgot what move the finish was. This wasn’t very good. Ishii vs. Yujiro should be better tomorrow.
Final Rating: *3/4

Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan
Karl Anderson is the talk of the puro world after beating Shinsuke Nakamura in Day Two’s main event. It’s a logical upset, as Nakamura will always contend and Gedo’s booking always sets out with the intention of sewing seeds of doubt. Next for Anderson is another favourite for Block B; Hirooki Goto. The current IC champion and 2008 G1 winner. Goto has spent most of his career hitting his head on the glass ceiling so there will always be question marks as to whether he can hang with the top guys. Beating Nakamura twice recently seems to have removed the stigma I always felt Goto had. Tagging with Shibata, he always looked like a weak link. Interesting to note that despite his transformation into confident main eventer, he’s carrying an injury and has taped ribs. Will that come into play as the tournament progresses? Anderson has been stuck in the tag ranks for some considerable time but come G1 he’s always able to hang with the big stars. Anderson has too much for Captain New Japan and batters him into submission before finishing with the Gun Stun in short order. In the early stages of this year G1 he’s been a big deal.
Final Rating: **1/4

Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura & Gedo)
This is in the spot where so far in the tournament we’ve had our best tag team matches. The line up for this one is great, apart from the insufferable Taguchi who seems to have wheedled his way into teaming with people who are genuinely good. Nakamura, if he wasn’t already a favourite of mine, would go up in my estimation by booting the foolish Taguchi in the stomach for fucking around during the King of Strongstyle’s introduction. As if to try and out-do that Honma puts Okada on notice! Honma’s intention is to claim his first G1 win by beating the IWGP champion tomorrow night. It’s not impossible and it would be a magnificent result…but I can’t see it happening. Okada is brilliant in opposition, slipping by Honma when he sets up for the Kokeshi and catching the confused opponent in the Rainmaker, only for Honma to duck under it. That match headlines Day Four with good reason. It will be quite sensational. Honestly, the only part of this match that isn’t great is Taguchi and how much of my time he wastes with his butt-based offence and stupid mannerisms. He is quite dreadful. Honma more than makes up for it, with perfect reactions to everything. The Nakamura-Nagata stuff is a bit muted as they had a feud for the IC belt earlier in the year and already laid any groundwork for a rematch. When they do clash, Nagata dominates Nakamura. Perhaps suggesting a Nagata victory is imminent to give Nakamura a proper uphill struggle, going 0-2. Increasingly Block B is the place to be. It has the better stories and the better matches. Seeing as Okada comes in with bags of confidence, as IWGP champion and having beaten Elgin on Day Two, he takes a knock or two. He gets trapped in Nagata’s armbar and gets whacked with Kokeshi too. Speaking of which; Honma’s Kokeshi connection rate is insane during G1 and he hits the Super Kokeshi on Gedo for the pin. A marked contrast to the million misses last year.
Final Rating: ***1/4

KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 3 hit.

SUPER KOKESHI – 1 hit.

G1 Climax Block A
Doc Gallows vs. Kota Ibushi
Pre-match pick: Ibushi. His opening night loss was to Tanahashi but he looked like a genuine threat to one of the favourites. It’s unlikely Ibushi will win the whole thing but you’d want him to be a contender at least. Gallows is there to make up the numbers. The story they go for is an obvious one; Kota’s agility vs. Gallows sheer mass advantage. Gallows is very deliberate, throwing big hands in the corner in particular, reminiscent of the Undertaker. Ibushi isn’t used to working against bigger opponents and doesn’t really modify his approach to wrestling to suit. Hopefully this match will give him some ideas for the Fale match. Gallows certainly tries hard here, in a better showing than Day One, and throws in a combination of strikes and big spots. Some of the ideas are perhaps a bit ambitious and the set up to Ibushi winning with a sunset flip is all a bit contrived. At least the right guy went over.
Final Rating: ***

Picks: 7/11

G1 Climax Block A
Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe
Pre-match pick: Makabe. I think they’ll keep Makabe strong to start with. His third match is against Shibata, which is where the Block will start to get really intriguing. Fale offers very little by comparison, and lacks the conditioning he had last year. Togi’s idea of getting the match over is to take an enormous amount of heat, which Fale is ill equipped to dish out. He really is in horrible condition and the difference between Gallows effort in the last match and Fale’s total lack of effort in this one is noticeable. Several spots don’t work at all, even worse than the last match, and Togi’s answer to everything is a big overhand punch. Fale wins with a surprisingly safe Bad Luck Fall. I couldn’t get into it at all. Will probably end up being the worst match in the G1 this year. Unless Gallows vs. Fale is even worse.
Final Rating: *

Picks: 7/12

G1 Climax Block A
Toru Yano vs. AJ Styles
Pre-match pick: AJ Styles. Yano will probably win some matches here and there but surely AJ is going to be kept strong all tournament long and be there or thereabouts at the end. Even if it’s just as a target for someone else to overcome. Losing to Yano isn’t part of those plans. Surely. Yano goes into the ropes to start with. “BREAK. BREEEEEAAAAAAAAAK. BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKK. BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK”. Yano’s whole gimmick is making fun of people who take themselves seriously. AJ’s certainly a contender for that and he eats a chair doing the rail hurdling spot. AJ probably feels he’s too good to get suckered by Yano but Yano’s magic has worked on everyone. Red Shoes isn’t keen on AJ’s muscle pose pin and won’t count it. “I’m trying to be entertaining here!” – AJ. Yano somehow has this ability to be faster when he’s cheating, and his timing is uncanny. AJ plays along with all the spots, including Yano’s RVD style pointing, smacking Yano in the back of the head with the springboard elbow after being made to look foolish one time too many. AJ’s block of the low blow into the Pele Kick is outstanding business too. Yano is a creative guy, who always seems to be one move ahead, usually illegally. For AJ to match him, he has to get creative. Yano gets caught in the Calf Killer, bang in the middle of the ring, and that’ll do it. This had several memorable moments and Yano definitely shouldn’t have gone over AJ. He’ll upset somebody in this tournament but when the time is right.
Final Rating: ***1/4

Picks: 8/13

G1 Climax Block A
Tetsuya Naito vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Pre-match pick: Shibata. This is the most intriguing match of the night and easily the hardest prediction. I ended up flipping a coin but basically Naito has started strong and Shibata is injured so that would be the logical call. However, logic goes out the window with Shibata and myself. I keep picking him to win everything. I still secretly hope he wins G1. The reactions to Naito’s new Ingobernables character have been indifferent so far but he gets booed soundly in Kyoto (which is near Osaka, a typical hotbed of Naito hatred). The tag match last night did a good job of building to this match as Shibata got some genuine hatred going and he jumps Naito before he’s taken off his mask and suit. Part of the tactic is defensive as Shibata is carrying that arm injury and doesn’t want to get into trouble. If he dominates, he protects his arm. When Naito does get into the match he doesn’t just go after the arm, he uses the arm to set up the leg, which Shibata had worked over by AJ Styles on Day One. A lot of the folks on Twitter seem really into Naito’s new character but it does nothing whatsoever for me. I just find it frustrating that one of NJPW’s more entertaining workers now has weird ticks that make him look lazy. Shibata knows how to please me, and Kyoto, and destroys Naito’s face with the sole of boot. Then he refuses to go down for Naito’s corner legsweep spot, by holding the ropes and double stomps Naito when he slingshots in. It’s good stuff, using Naito’s trademark spot and Shibata’s wrestling ability. He’ll have prepared a game plan for all of Naito’s spots. It’s Naito who kills the spirit of the match with his usual glassy-eyed stare into the middle distance. If he doesn’t give a shit, why should I? Shibata puts the wanker in a sleeper and then finishes with a PK. Good! Some decent limb work from Naito but his character is the worst. People who don’t care about anything are impossible to care about.
Final Rating: ***1/2

Picks: 9/14

G1 Climax Block A
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Pre-match pick: Tanahashi. I’m pretty much picking him to win every match he’s in as I’ll be right 90% of the time. Tenzan won his opening match but he’s not on Tanahashi’s level, despite having three times as many G1 wins as New Japan’s ace. The crowd get Tana all pissed off during the opening exchanges by loudly chanting for Tenzan. Don’t they know they only get a star like Tanahashi once in a hundred years! It says so on his knee pads. It must be true. Tenzan gets lots of love for the Mongolian Chops and Tana starts getting a bit of heat. Tanahashi throws the kind of strop about it that you wish John Cena would do every once in a while. He gets so angry he stops off to play some air guitar. Have you ever gotten that mad? That’s Kevin Bacon anger dancing in a barn from Footloose levels of pissed off. Tanahashi wisely keeps the pace slow so Tenzan can keep up and not drop dead from exhaustion. Tanahashi never really seems in trouble and Tenzan’s domination of certain sequences seem to be Tana simply biding his time. Tana is content to simply wear Tenzan out by drawing the match out and hooking holds that cripple Tenzan’s cardio. The one spot that feels like Tenzan might get somewhere is when he hooks the Anaconda Vice bang in the middle of the ring and Unno is all over it, checking that Tanahashi hasn’t quit or passed out. Red Shoes has phenomenal false finish teases on submissions. He hints at ringing the bell, as if he heard an audio submission and then goes back to check again. It’s the work of a master. When the finish comes there’s a hint of inevitability. Tenzan is worn out from his attempts at getting a tap out and gets caught with the Slingblade. He kicks out of that but gets beaten with the High Fly Flow moments later. The crowd were really hoping for a Tenzan win but, despite the lengthy Anaconda Vice spot, it was never really on the cards.
Final Rating: ***3/4

Picks: 10/15. Best night yet for me on picks as I went 4/5. Only that son of a bitch Fale wrecked everything.

Before we go, here’s the new Block A standings.

BLOCK A:
AJ Styles 4
Hiroshi Tanahashi 4
Tetsuya Naito 2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2
Togi Makabe 2
Kota Ibushi 2
Bad Luck Fale 2
Katsuyori Shibata 2
Doc Gallows 0
Toru Yano 0

No hopers Gallows and Yano are the only two blanked after two matches, which will make absolutely no difference come the end. As predicted it’s AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi that are setting the pace. Expect those two to go to the wire. Shibata and Ibushi both picked up their first wins after losing to AJ and Tana, respectively, on Day One. I suspect both will still be in the running come the last couple of shows.

Summary: The least thrilling G1 show so far this year. A couple of decent matches but even the better matches didn’t deliver like the best matches on the other nights. Some of the undercard tags were quite fun but there’s a definite feeling that Block B has the better matches lined up. Still it worked fine as a show and kept me interested throughout. It was quite pleasing that they whole thing ran three hours instead of the bulging three and half hours of the other two shows. Avoid that awful Makabe-Fale match like the plague though.
Verdict: 64

NJPW Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall

Arnold Furious: June 11, 2017. We’re in Osaka at Osaka-Jo Hall. The English language commentary comes from Kevin Kelly and Don Callis. I’m reasonably happy with this team. It’s panning out better than any other combination they’ve used to date. Got to be better than Matt Striker right? Perhaps Steve Corino was a little better than Callis but Don makes this feel like a unique team, not just ‘let’s get ROH guys to do it’. Highlights today should include KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Goto vs. Mi-Su in a lumberjack death match, Naito-Tanahashi and Okada-Omega II.

 

Jushin Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tiger Mask W, Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask IV
The Dads division is in full force here. Plus several wild animals. It’s pretty wild that NJPW are still treating Tiger Mask W like he’s some new wrestler that belongs in opening matches, after battling Okada at the Anniversary show. These guys wrestle each other all the time so it’s an easy match to put together, apart from Makabe failing to get in position for a Nakanishi spear and the big man having to run the ropes again. It causes a chuckle amongst the crowd who know exactly what happened but it’s fairly embarrassing. Togi hits the King Kong Kneedrop on the big man to get the W. Not Tiger Mask, but the Win. This was fine. It always is.
Final Rating: **1/2

 

NEVER Openweight Championship Gauntlet
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI)
The New Japan cameraman is virtually gynaecological in trying to get a shot of Yujiro’s lady. The camera can barely find Fale for his introduction because it’s too busy gawking. “Don’t be such a perve” sayeth Kelly when Callis attempts the same. The match is ok, like the opener, with everything ticking over nicely at a decent speed. There are a lot of different characters and styles involved and it being the first match in a gauntlet series it has to be fast-paced. Yano pulls out the win by cheating. The Sublime Master Thief!

 

CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi)
Sabre pins Yano with superior grappling and SKG advance in a matter of seconds.

 

Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi) vs. Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Ricochet & Juice Robinson)
Taguchi Japan do a lot of goofy sports stuff to pop the Japanese commentary team. Sabre organises similar abuse and the crowd refuse to pop the heels. Quite right too. I’m proud of you, Osaka. I’m quite happy to see Sabre wrestle any of these guys and whenever he’s in there it’s a solid match. He wrestles most of it, which is fine by me. He should never tag out. They work in a really, really obvious ‘grab the ref’ spot but SKG f*ck up and Juice hits Pulp Friction for the pin. Sabre punishes Juice for this infraction, softening him up for LIJ.

 

Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Ricochet & Juice Robinson) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI)
LIJ are the incumbent champions so this should be the last match. Ricochet does some very cool stuff with kicks in the early going. Young Rico then gets f*ck*d up attempting to add a powerbomb to a Tower of Doom spot. Sometimes you get what you deserve, Mr Fancypants. The match continues at a fantastic pace with BUSHI isolated as the weak link in the LIJ team. This backfires because LIJ are a far superior team. Taguchi is triple teamed and the MX finishes.
Final Rating: ***1/2

 

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
Roppongi Vice (c) vs. The Young Bucks
The Bucks are going for their sixth IWGP junior championships. The Bucks look to eliminate Romero, with an assortment of abuse on the apron (it’s the hardest part of the ring) before relying on double teams to dismantle Trent. The Bucks continually destroy Rocky on the outside so Beretta has no one to tag. The match is a procession of Bucks offence, leaving Beretta with a series of desperation kick-outs. It’s bizarre to see the Bucks have an old school tag match, based entirely around heat and storyline. With a few less flips it’s the structure of a match from the 1980s. Romero finally returns for Strong Zero only for Nick to kill Beretta in the pin with a Swanton Bomb. It’s one the best ‘break up a pin’ spots you’ll ever see. The work on Romero’s back helps to set up some lovely near finishes. It’s a well-planned match and Romero’s crowd support allows them to tell this story. His heroic comebacks are interspersed with the Bucks killing him again. Eventually Romero, trapped in the Sharpshooter, taps out. This was one of the most logical, smartly worked Young Bucks matches you’ll ever see. It was tremendous work throughout.
Final Rating: ***3/4

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship
War Machine (c) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny
I’ve been somewhat critical of how companies book War Machine. It’s a simple process; they dominate and the other team makes them look good. Then when they eventually do lose it means something. You get over on them by cheating. This is so simple. It doesn’t happen here. GOD work heat and it’s all badly planned. Tanga especially as he tries to no sell. Tanga wants to be more important than he is. He’s not a star. He never will be. There are moments where they get the match right, with War Machine looking dominant but it’s almost immediately followed by Tanga doing something awful and nonsensical. Tama on the other hand is all sneaky in how he attacks and his stuff makes sense. I’m fine with it. He also knows when to take a thrashing off the champs. Tanga looks confused at times, lost at others and can’t match the standard set by everyone else. It ends up being a match where Tama Tonga has to carry everything and cover for his brothers ineptitude. As a team they are nowhere near as good as War Machine but Tama has some awesome ideas, like catching a Gun Stun in the middle of a double team. Most of the action is fine but the booking sucks. Guerrilla Warfare finishes after a bullshit referee bump and a chair shot. That might have been a forced change if New Japan aren’t using War Machine again but Gedo’s style of booking a tag division is to continually switch the belts.
Final Rating: **3/4

 

Michael Elgin vs. Cody Rhodes
Cody does a lot of posing and basic heel stuff while Elgin meets him with raw power. My main issue with this match is that Cody has so many fresh matches in Japan and they keep booking him against other gaijin. I don’t know if that’s just an issue with Cody not being able to communicate with the Japanese talent or wanting to ease himself into the promotion or what. Cody is particularly good at giving stuff room to breathe, which comes from working in WWE. He knows when to stop and pose. He perhaps does this too often, although he is working heel so it’s his job to control the pace. Is lack of drive in that department hurts the reactions though and Elgin doesn’t get those same massive pops that he usually receives. Elgin throws Cody around with his effortless power. Pound for pound he’s probably the strongest man in NJPW. Elgin’s dead lift superplex from off the apron is unreal. Cody picks up the big shock win with Crossroads. Looks like New Japan are very serious about pushing Rhodes as a top talent in their promotion, which isn’t surprising when you consider that Gedo likes Western wrestling. “Okada…let him know” says Cody to the English commentary.
Final Rating: ***

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. KUSHIDA
Hiromu beat KUSHIDA in less than two minutes the last time they wrestled but KUSHIDA has gone through Best of the Super Juniors to claim another title shot and gained a new finisher. But then Hiromu has a new entrance, inspired by Rey Mysterio. The intensity of this battle is there from the opening bell and KUSHIDA outdoes his previous performance. Hiromu has a delightfully violent and dangerous style, which results in KUSHIDA getting thrown around. Hiromu’s ‘antics’ over the course of the week have got in KUSHIDA’s head! KUSHIDA’s response is a Sabu-esque chair assisted dropkick that puts Hiromu through a rail. It’s a vicious spot and it helps KUSHIDA on his path of chasing Hiromu’s arm to get the submission. KUSHIDA once again does something completely sick with the Hoverboard Lock off the top takedown. However Hiromu refuses to give up and instead murders KUSHIDA with a sunset bomb to the floor. This match is insane. Hiromu has been on a tear this year and KUSHIDA’s BOSJ performance was fantastic. Now they’re having this sick match. Which features the Back to the Future off the top, Hiromu not killing himself with the bump as much as Ospreay did but it still causing a lengthy double knock down. KUSHIDA gets a lot of heat for a) punching and b) stomping on Hiromu’s face. Hey, he’s been met with dangerous and he has to respond with violence. That’s all there is to  it. KUSHIDA brutalises Hiromu’s arm, bending the wrist back, and Takahashi has no choice but to tap out. This was amazing. The crazy high spots, the psychology, the revenge, the catharsis, the potential for another match! The Junior division has been solid ever since KUSHIDA rose to the top of it and Hiromu has taken the standard even higher. This was all kinds of great.
Final Rating: ****1/2

 

Post-match: KUSHIDA gets a Mexican wave going and BUSHI jumps him from behind.

 

Lumberjack Death Match
NEVER Openweight Championship
Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Hirooki Goto
Having a lumberjack match means that CHAOS can actually offset the standard SKG interference. I normally don’t care for lumberjack matches, because they’re meaningless unless a guy keeps getting counted out during a feud, but at least it keeps the interference as part of the match. The match struggles along until Suzuki goes after Liger, who’s on commentary, and they almost get into a fight. Suzuki matches are generally great, because of his intensity, but Goto is a flat, bland character so this one falls flat. It’s not a bad match but it lacks the passion and excitement of the previous match. Goto very rarely gets the crowd fired up. In a match designed to eliminate SKG interference they still manage to insert a ref bump and have Suzuki-gun run in. Only to get single-handedly beaten down by YOSHI-HASHI. YOSHI-HASHI! That’s how shit SKG are. Goto has it won clean with GTR but Taichi pulls the ref out. Suzuki then hits the Gotch Piledriver to retain. Typical ‘big match’ failure from Goto. Horrible match choice, bad structure, two pointless ref bumps and Taichi is the finish. At least YOSHI-HASHI looked like a total badass during this. So while this was a poor match at least it gets us to Suzuki vs. YOSHI-HASHI.
Final Rating: **1/4

 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Osaka hated Naito as a babyface. Now he’s a heel the crowd are cheering for him. Such is life. Nice guys finish last. With Naito in his plum suit and Tanahashi in his robes, it’s like a battle of a supervillain and hero. As Naito starts to get some heat he comes to life. Naito is fun as a heel who people cheer but when he gets heat and gets angry about it, that’s peak Ingobernable. Tana comes in with a torn bicep, the latest in a string of injuries for the former ace. Naito, predictably, works the arm and illicits a very strong response from Osaka. It’s the best building for Naito because they always react strongly toward him. Tanahashi, when triggered, can become a total dick and Naito has a habit of triggering people. Naito’s latest way to irritate people is his treatment of the IC title but it has a specific purpose. Naito thinks there are too many belts and want New Japan to ditch it so he’s literally destroying the title belt to make it worthless. Naito comes in with a sneakily taped up knee, which Tana goes after when Naito is so relentless at working his injured arm. Thus is becomes a battle of injured limbs and Tanahashi is hurt worse.

It’s tough to watch because there’s a fine line between Tanahashi rolling around selling and Tanahashi being legitimately hurt. Tana’s injury means his bumps are a little awkward at times, which is a concern. The tornado DDT looks downright dangerous. The match starts to get really heated when they just f*ck off the injury angles and start popping off the big spots, leaving the crowd in a constantly unsettled state (like a lucha crowd). The finish is really weird as Tanahashi fails to score three of the High Fly Flow and switches to a high Cloverleaf until Naito simply taps out.

It’s a curious finish as it felt like a rest hold prior to the actual finishing stretch. But it does make logical sense as Tana spent the whole match working the leg. There was a nice tip of the hat to Nakamura right before the High Fly Flow. He promised Shinsuke he’d become the IC ace and here he is.
Final Rating: ****

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega
This is a much hyped re-match to Wrestle Kingdom’s *****(*) contest. That match went north of 45 minutes and there is a possibility of a 60 minute draw. This looks like a possibility from the opening exchanges, which are slow and deliberate. Commentary chooses to make this about match quality and how Omega was responsible for the six star match, not Okada, causing Kevin Kelly to read out Dave Meltzer’s star ratings history for both men, suggesting Okada has had more high calibre matches. What is happening?

The storyline kicks in with Okada “tweaking the knee”. Commentary bashes me over the head with that by telling us about it before the spot even happens. Omega works it over and that’s the focus of the match. I’d rather they didn’t do that, seeing as almost every Tanahashi main event has had that leg story. At least Omega is vicious about it and throws Okada onto the announce table knee first. Tonight has seen a lot of submissions so it’s interesting that Okada, in his defensive moveset, busts out Red Ink to wear Kenny down. There’s just a slight inkling that he might tap, given the other results. Okada does a decent job of paying tribute to that leg work, without letting it dominate the match. He’s hesitant to put weight on it and is slow to follow up on moves as he gingerly recovers from spots. The legwork is slowly forgotten as they move into bigger and bigger spots, and it’s clear that Okada is landing more successfully than during the first match; hitting Heavy Rain on the apron and his savage Shotgun dropkick into the rail. Also he busts out a table, clearly wanting to avenge the table spot from WK. As we get about thirty minutes into the match it becomes apparent this is a long-haul contest. Even more so than WK. Each big bump is greeted by a substantial period of selling. Although the spots are worth selling. For example; Omega countering Okada’s magnificent dropkick into a sit-out powerbomb in mid-move. That’s sensational work. The table comes into play for Okada dropping the elbow through it, leaving Omega a mess at ringside. I like how big spots genuinely turn the tide of the match for large periods of the action. It makes big spots mean something. Plus the storytelling ties in to Okada’s big match tropes. Omega becomes scared as soon as Okada gets wrist control because he knows what that means. The Bullet Club arrive in full force and Cody Rhodes tries to throw the towel in as Omega is finished. The Bullet Club then becomes Kenny’s cheering squad as he mounts his comeback. The match then becomes about the One Winged Angel. The only thing Kenny didn’t do to Okada at WK and the one move nobody kicks out of, ever. He hits it and Okada, showing incredible ring positioning, gets his foot on the rope.

The match is loaded with these little moments like Omega doing his gun taunt and Okada grabbing him for a Rainmaker out of it. At this point both guys look tired and it’s entirely believable that either of them could be pinned at any moment. They both throw out quite sensational last gasp counters to prevent this. At one point Omega collapses in mid-Rainmaker, thus saving himself by passing out. It’s utterly sensational. I’ve never seen anything like it.

It gets to the point where neither guy can lift the other so they wearily strike at each other. This is where Kenny can win because he has those heavy knees. The V-Trigger cannot set up One-Winged Angel because Kenny has no strength left. It’s such an exhausting match, both mentally for the viewer and physically for the wrestlers. Going 60 minutes is exceptionally hard and telling a story throughout that hour is even harder. This has been masterful. Inside a minute left and Okada hits the Rainmaker but can’t get a pin because he’s too tired. The time limit expires. It’s a 60 minute draw. Holy shit.

I preferred the Wrestle Kingdom match but that is in no way a criticism of this match. Just that I preferred that match to this one. This was phenomenal. They told a great story and battled through the hour switching gears and telling that long story. I love these boys. The second half of this was fantastic.
Final Rating: *****

 

Summary: With the streak of awesome main events they’re having this year, if you’re not watching New Japan you’re not watching the best professional wrestling on the planet.
Verdict: 100

NJPW G1 Climax 25 – Day 2

Arnold Furious: 23rd July 2015. We’re in Shizuoka, Japan for Day Two of the G1. Day One focused on Block A where Hiroshi Tanahashi and AJ Styles, the pre-tournament favourites, both racked up victories. After one night here’s the standings:

Block A:
Hiroshi Tanahashi 2
AJ Styles 2
Tetsuya Naito 2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2
Togi Makabe 2
Doc Gallows 0
Toru Yano 0
Bad Luck Fale 0
Katsuyori Shibata 0
Kota Ibushi 0

Tonight the focus switches over to Block B. Day One rather cunningly set these matches up. Kojima vs. Ishii featured heavily in a tag match, which resulted in a pull-apart brawl. Everyone else faced each other in tag action also, and the headline event is Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson. While it’s not the stacked card that Day One was those two matches should be great and Honma vs. Nagata as well. Plus it’s the first singles match in NJPW for Michael Elgin…against Kazuchika Okada. No pressure.

This show differs from the first one, in terms of production. While the first show was a multi-camera deal, this one is very much a tour set up with just the hard-cam. Sometimes that takes away from the action and it’s very odd if you’re used to watching WWE but sometimes it helps to intensify the feeling that you’re at a wrestling show.

Today I face my first major challenge since G1 started…eye strain. I woke up and could barely see anything. Perhaps a down side to last nights Brit Wres Roundtable Podcasting and possibly nothing to do with the Wild Turkey I drank afterwards.

Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Yohei Komatsu & Jay White
You’ll have to excuse a lack of details on this match as I was still eating breakfast while it was happening. You cannot beat a well made BLT. It is food of the gods. The contest pits junior veterans Liger and TM against young boys Komatsu and White. It’s interesting to see the young boys in this environment. The hard-cam is a bit odd. It feels like you’re sitting in the audience at the show, which has pros and cons. The young boys don’t get much, generally given a shoeing as Liger tests their resilience before Tiger Mask finishes. This was really basic stuff. Both Liger and TM looked a bit disinterested.
Final Rating: **

Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe & Captain New Japan vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall)
The lights on the entrance rig are ridiculous here. To the point where I cannot see anything and I can understand why Bad Luck Fale is wearing shades. Normally only two kinds of people wear sunglasses indoors; blind people and assholes. Ibushi, perhaps forgetting he got himself injured last year, goes ahead and throws high spots into this one to stop the crowd getting bored. Otherwise it’s a bit of a grind with a lot of samey workers doing clubbering. Togi polishes Cody off in about five minutes flat with the King Kong Kneedrop. There was suckage here. Lots of it.
Final Rating: ¾*

Bullet Club (AJ Styles & Tama Tonga) vs. Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI
Yano demanding a clean break is a definite highlight of his act. It makes me chuckle. Before anything even happens here he’s into the ropes. “BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK. BREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK”. Genius. Then he gets completely wigged out by Tama sliding around the mat, which is cool as Yano is normally not fazed by any of the tough guy acts in NJPW. It’s nice to see that something unnerves him. AJ Styles understandably takes this match easy. Most of it is heat on YOSHI-HASHI before Yano brings the usual comedy cheating and flukes a win by rolling up Tama. This was ok but the undercard has been brisk so far. Not that I’m complaining. The shorter the undercard the better. Especially if it’s just a bunch of tags. Although there is a concern here that they’re not building anything. Not like the tag matches on Day One where stuff was built up for this show. Yano and AJ were hardly involved with each other.
Final Rating: **1/4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Katsuyori Shibata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Mascara Dorada
This is more like it. A far better, and more intriguing, mixture of talents. Tana vs. Shibata is the big feud in there, even if they’ve made it a friendly feud now. With Tenzan and Shibata teaming up there are two opportunities for someone to beat the shit out of that sulky bastard Naito. There’s every chance he won’t get along with Tanahashi either, seeing as they’re in the same block. Naito called Tenzan washed up in the pre-tournament hype, which is ok because he’s a heel and Shibata just hates everyone so there’s a very strong chance of Naito getting his ass handed to him. Naito, because he’s an asshole now, goes after Shibata’s bad arm, which confirms there are two guys in Block A that will want to beat the crap out of Naito. His heel persona allows for a lot of cheap short cuts, like running away. Or Naito’s laid back version of running away. When Tenzan finally traps him Shibata tags himself in because he wants to kick Naito’s ass more! Shibata’s aggression levels makes me think the Naito match on Day Three will be solid. Naito shows some strong psychology too by not only working Shibata’s legitimately injured arm but also the leg that AJ worked over on Day One. Even Dorada and Taguchi have fun in this one with Dorada hitting some fun dives and Taguchi his usual butt-based offence. Unfortunately he smacks Dorada in the face with his bottom for the win after some stupid posing that makes me despise him. First really good match on the show, much like Day One where they saved a good multi-person tag for right before the intermission.
Final Rating: ***

G1 Climax Block B
Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Pre-Match pick: Kojima. It pains me to go against my boy Ishii but Kojima’s big lariat tends to end him. Also there’s logic here. Their last three singles matches have gone: Ishii win, Kojima win, Ishii win. There’s a pattern emerging. The build for this one, with them having a pull apart that busted Ishii’s lip on Day One, has me primed for this match. They carry on where they left off by wailing on each other from the bell. It’s the kind of contest where neither man wants to back down or show weakness. It’s the kind of wrestling that defines Japan. Ishii is, for me at least, the definitive Japanese worker for that very reason. In your face and gutsy. While the match mostly consists of back and forth brawling there are some tasty big spots too. Ishii takes a wonderful bump off the Koji Cutter and headspikes a DDT and the impact from an Ishii stalling superplex is intense. They even get a bit of psychology in there with Koji and Ishii going after lariats and working each other’s arms to stop it. Kojima is forced to switch arms and because it’s his weak arm Ishii kicks out. It’s good use of trademarks and common sense. Ishii brings his great selling too, where you’re not sure if he’s really injured because of how he holds himself. Ishii’s defensive headbutts are immense. Brainbuster puts Kojima down and gets Ishii off to a winning start. I love Ishii so I’m not even upset about him ruining my predictions. Great little match. Intense. Ishii is going to have a good tournament this year, I can feel it.
Final Rating: ****

Picks: 3/6

G1 Climax Block B
Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Pre-Match pick: Goto. He’s the IC champion and Yujiro is dreadful. At least he brings Mao with him and the perverted cameraman finally discovers the zoom function to check out her rack. The match is about as good as you’d expect. Goto even puts a fucking chinlock in it so Yujiro can do his bullshit thumb biting spot. At least they run it back the other way so Goto can lift it and get a few chuckles. The rest of the match sees Goto giving Yujiro way too much respect and hardly ever dominating the punk-ass bitch. The match improves down the stretch with some nice counters, Goto especially sliding out of stuff. Shouten Kai finishes Yujiro off and gives us the inevitable conclusion. This did not start at all well but the last couple of minutes picked up nicely. By that point they had pretty much lost the audience though.
Final Rating: **1/2

Picks: 4/7

G1 Climax Block B
Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuji Nagata
Pre-Match pick: Nagata. Because Honma always loses. Part of the joy of watching Honma is hoping that he’ll win. These guys tag together quite often, and as recently as 11th July, so they know each other quite well. Honma gets the biggest reactions of the night too, getting chants going at regular intervals. Given how quiet the crowd as been tonight, it’s probably in their best interests to save a Honma win for a bigger venue. Especially as Nagata’s aims are surely higher than Honma in this tournament. He wants to push toward the final, Honma wants to win a match. Honma shows a lot of resilience and Nagata beats the crap out of him. As per usual a lot of the story revolves around Honma’s desire to hit Kokeshi’s. He hits one standing and gets overconfident. Part of his charm is the combination of pluck, tenacity and uncertainty. You can see him thinking if he’ll be able to get that Super Kokeshi and costing himself time with the procrastination. He ends up scoring an unusually high number of Kokeshi’s, two of the torpedo variety, before being felled by not one but two Backdrop Drivers (the first one being of the release variety and a hideous looking head drop). This didn’t quite have the vibe of some of Honma’s matches from last year, where he was a late replacement. Very strong wrestling though with Honma showing testicular fortitude and Nagata showing his continued resistance to the aging process. I think I lost a little enjoyment during this as I developed indigestion. This was the only match effected and I tried to go back to it and re-watch but it just reminded me of the indigestion. Damn you, body, co-operate! We’re only one Day Two.
Final Rating: ***3/4

KOKESHI COUNT: 1 missed. 3 hit.

SUPER KOKESHI COUNT: 1 missed.

Picks: 5/8

G1 Climax Block B
Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin
Pre-Match pick: Okada. The IWGP champion vs. a guy who’s never had a singles match in New Japan? Normally that would be easy but AJ Styles beat Okada under similar circumstances in his first match in New Japan. Elgin is out to shock the world and beating Okada would certainly do that and probably guarantee him a title match between now and Wrestle Kingdom because that’s how Okada rolls. He does not take G1 losses lightly. Elgin is freakishly powerful, which gets him over with the crowd pretty quickly. He can’t get reactions for his near falls though because nobody buys him as a threat. Perhaps Okada wasn’t the best idea for his first match. Having him beat someone first might been a better idea. Elgin is a touch sloppy, not connecting cleanly on his flip on the ropes or a double stomp. I’m a big believer in sticking to your strengths and Elgin is out to impress in ways he doesn’t need to. He’s fine by doing all the big power moves, like jacking Okada up deadweight for a suplex. These little irritations take the sting out of the match but it remains a solid contest. Mainly because of Okada’s presence but also because of Elgin’s freaky power moves. Elgin knows Okada from working with him ROH so he recognises the set up to a few of his trademarks, not just the Rainmaker. Okada getting the Tombstone on the big man is very impressive and that’s enough to set up the Rainmaker for the finish. Surprisingly good contest, with Elgin growing in front of the crowd as the match continued. It’s a good way to catch his footing before more challenging matches roll around.
Final Rating: ****

Picks: 6/9

G1 Climax Block B
Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Pre-Match pick: Nakamura. Come on, it’s Nakamura. I have him winning every match. Seeing as his record will be very strong in the tournament I think that’s a fair bet. Karl does have his support out here (Fale and Cody included) but normally G1 means no interference. Even the IWGP title doesn’t get that kind of respect. Anderson is gifted enough to have a quality match without any help and his understanding with Nakamura allows for some tidy near miss sequences. Karl’s tactics lean toward illegal with hair pulling and eye rakes. I’m fine with heels being heelish, as long as we don’t get too much interference. Especially when good wrestlers are involved. Anderson does some top work on Nakamura’s neck, including a wicked diving neckbreaker. It’s better than working over Shinsuke’s legs as he won’t sell that. The neck allows Nakamura to do some selling without it drastically effecting his move set. It is a pretty slow paced match up because of this. Spending time building up to bigger spots, like the TKO off the top. Logically all this neck work would lead to Anderson getting a pin, seeing as his finish the Gun Stun works the neck, but in the main event? Surely the native babyface goes over. No sooner did I type that Anderson floors Nakamura with the Gun Stun to win. Holy shit. Ok, I didn’t see that coming. Good use of logic and body part psychology in this one. Karl earned the W. Not the most thrilling of main events though. It’s very weird seeing Karl close out the show with an interview, referencing his 2012 G1 Final. This win certainly puts him in contention and the interview, in Japanese, is a babyface move.
Final Rating: ***1/2

Picks: 6/10. Damn you, Karl! Three right and two wrong, the exact same thing that happened on Day One.

Summary: A very strong second day. Almost all the tournament matches delivered. The one disappointment coming from the Yujiro Takahashi match and that’s entirely expected. The hard cam and lack of commentary was a bit odd but most of the action took place in the ring so it wasn’t really an issue. Four of the five tournament matches were over *** so that’s arguably better than Day One where only two matches clocked in as ‘good’. But Tanahashi vs. Ibushi remains the best match in G1 so far.
Verdict: 72

AJPW Champion Carnival 2017 Final

Arnold Furious: April 30 2017. We’re in Fukuoka, Japan at the Hakata Star Lanes. It’s a weird location for the finals of the Champion Carnival and there are only 875 fans in attendance. It looks embarrassing on tape, especially for such a high profile event. At least dress the venue up a bit.

 

Yuma Aoyagi vs. Yusuke Okada
Aoyagi was in Okada’s position a couple of years ago and now he’s already a gatekeeper against the newest generation of plucky upstarts. Aoyagi beats the fuck out of Okada, intending to make sure he thinks twice about coming back after him. Okada’s response is plucky and involves a lot of dropkicks. If you watch Japanese wrestling you’re used to seeing this kind of contest as it frequently opens Japanese cards. Aoyagi gets it done in less than eight minutes with a fisherman suplex. He’s a solid talent. Okada is too green for me to form an opinion on as yet.
Final Rating: **1/2

 

Atsushi Aoki vs. Koji Niizumi
Niizumi is another in a string of imports into All Japan. He’s from Pro Wrestling KAGEKI, a local promotion. Aoki picks him apart until they switch to trading on forearms. It’s a fucking stiff little match up. Aoki nearly breaks poor Koji with a backbreaker. I mean, that’s the point right? A backbreaker breaks backs but fucks sake, mate! After tearing away at the spine Aoki gets a vicious submission with a version of the Cloverleaf. This was brutal and short, not even making it to five minutes. I enjoyed the shit out of it.
Final Rating: ***

 

Ultimo Dragon & KING vs. Koji Iwamoto & Yohei Nakajima
KING is masked but is a local grappler, again from Pro Wrestling KAGEKI, dressed up to look like a luchadore. Yohei tries to step up to battle the horrors of lucha-libre with sturdy chops. Iwamoto is a potential star but he shows none of that fire here, merely showcasing his good timing. For me, if you’re going to be a star you need to stand out in a meaningless tag match. If anything it’s Yohei who stands out. He even scores the pin with a wicked backfist that levels KING. Nakajima isn’t a great wrestler but he certainly tries hard and he’s showing improvements.
Final Rating: **3/4

 

Jun Akiyama & Daichi Hashimoto vs. Suwama & Hikaru Sato
I hope Akiyama has decided to take young D-Hash under his wing and turn the son of a wrestling legend into a legitimate star. Daichi is destined to be a star some day, partially because of his famous last name and partially because of his talent. Akiyama is a prize shithead, he demonstrates this here by stamping on Sato’s exposed feet. What an absolute prick! I love him dearly. Who doesn’t love an old man who likes to beat the shit out of people much younger than him? It’s that Lee Marvin/Clint Eastwood syndrome. I’m equally thrilled at seeing D-Hash throw big kicks and knees, like a motherfucker. I heard a level of criticism that he’s doing all his Dad’s moves and yet if you have that DNA, use it. Shinya was a fucking badass, channel that. Akiyama is keen to remind people he’s a surly asshole at every turn too. I could really get behind these two a regular team. Akiyama flattens Sato with the wrist clutch Exploder and my boys get the win. Yeah!
Final Rating: ***1/2

 

 

Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura vs. Takao Omori & The Bodyguard
When Jake Lee stands next to Bodyguard it makes me realise just how fucking tall that dude is. He looks huge. Obviously that’s just in Japan but it’s a good sign for his future star power. Nomura occupies the same space that Okada did in the opening match. He’s the young punk, trying hard, but fairly, to make his way in professional wrestling. Bodyguard and Omori beat him up extensively. Omori stuffs the poor bastard with a piledriver. It’s a nasty one. There’s perhaps something to be said for selling at this juncture as the piledriver serves as a point for Nomura to mount a comeback and tag out, where it should have produced an extended spell of veteran abuse. Jake Lee, to his credit, refuses to take any shit and uses his superior size to throw veterans around. You don’t like it? Too fucking bad, I’m 6’ 4” and can throw strikes. Jake Lee ends up manhandling Bodyguard and putting him down with a Backdrop Driver. Jake Lee, lads, he’s a bit good when he gets all fired up.
Final Rating: ***

 

Daisuke Sekimoto, Kento Miyahara & Kengo Mashimo vs. Zeus, Ryoji Sai & KAI
This is a ‘best of other guys that were in Champion Carnival but didn’t make the final’ kinda match up. It’s a solid collection and talent…and KAI. Sekimoto vs. Zeus unleashes a fantastic amount of testosterone. Wild bears would run away scared at this level of manliness. I bet Zeus would fuck up a bear. The thinking on Team Two seems to be that pinning Kento Miyahara would be good for my career. So they all have a go. There’s also a nice little continuation of Sekimoto looking for revenge on Sai for their series in Big Japan. Zeus goes after Miyahara like he considers Kento to be his mortal enemy. It’s as if he just figured out that if he’d beaten Miyahara 18 months ago he’d have been the ace of the promotion and been earning a lot more money. At first he’s annoyed at this realisation and then he becomes focused.

 

And then Sekimoto batters him. Everyone involved gets all fired up during this, as if honour is at stake and losing again here makes you a double loser. This is especially prevalent with Miyahara, who’s the companies top guy. He feels he can’t lose the tournament and then get owned by Zeus before the main event too. Both Miyahara and Zeus are terrific throughout this, showing their combined desperation but also being calm in smashing their opponents face in. Zeus repeatedly kicks out of vicious running knee strikes before the German suplex puts him down for three. This was fucking good. I know I shouldn’t be shocked, because Kento Miyahara has been having excellent matches ever since he was crowned as Triple Crown champion but they didn’t need top bust this much ass in a throwaway trios match. They did. It was great.
Final Rating: ****

 

Post-match: Kento gets a backstage talking opportunity and KAI strolls in to demand stuff. Kento is all “who are you?”

 

Champion Carnival Final
Joe Doering vs. Shuji Ishikawa
You had to put Joe in the final after he came back from a brain tumour. He’s looked suitably motivated too, perhaps aware he may never have wrestled again. As expected this is a very physical match, due to their collective styles. Basically it’s two guys who make it through life by using clubbing shots. Shuji Ishikawa is the more talented of the two, by some distance, but they’re both capable Big Lads. Sometimes you just want two big guys to beat the shit out of each other, which is what Japanese wrestling, at it’s core, is all about. Shuji is nuts. Some of the bumps he takes are those of a much smaller man.

The big back bump from a missile dropkick is crazy. Doering abandons any pretence of subtlety and just throws himself into Shuji repeatedly. The clash of two 300lb chunks of meat is something else. The lack of mobility on Doering makes Shuji look more spry and exciting than usual and he seems to revel in being the smaller man. Not only when trying to be faster but also when he’s popping off impressive power spots. If I was Joe I probably wouldn’t want to take the Greetings from Asbury Park for example. Especially if I’d just had brain surgery. Joe does a fine job of showing how the fatigue is overwhelming him and he struggles to lift Shuji for planned spots. This results in Ishikawa fucking him up. It’s a bruising encounter, exhausting to watch. Joe takes a second Greetings from Asbury Park and stays down. This got a little sloppy and fifteen minutes was as much as Joe had in the tank but it was one hell of scrap. Shuji Ishikawa has been great this year.
Final Rating: ****

 

Summary: This was a rock solid show. The undercard had moments of loveliness  from the likes of Aoki and Akiyama but the top two matches are where this show was hot fire. The trios match was a fucking banger and the main event is one of the best Joe Doering matches I’ve seen, which is fantastic news for a man whose career was almost over. Ishikawa was great as always.
Verdict: 83

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2017 Final

 

Arnold Furious: June 3, 2017. I got into this tournament to begin with and thought the blocks looked awesome but I rapidly ran out of time to watch stuff and I’ve gone from night two to the end of the tournament. I got the chance to check out KUSHIDA’s win over Volador Jr the other night. KUSHIDA has been an exceptional wrestler for some time. So has Ospreay. I’m fired up to see the final. As per usual the undercard is a mess of multi-man tags.

 

Manabu Nakanishi, Katsuya Kitamura & Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. Yuji Nagata, Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino
I can imagine Nagata and Nakanishi setting this up over a few pints. Alright, I’ll grab a couple of lads and you grab a couple of lads and we’ll have a ruck. There’s no doubting a talent gulf between the bigger Oka and Kitamura and the smaller Yagi and Umino. It looks like hosses are coming back to New Japan! Yagi looks outclassed, although it’s important to note he only looks small and weak because he’s in with Big Lads. Oka taps him out with the Boston crab. This was fine. I enjoy seeing the Young Lions, especially Kitamura who looks jacked as fuck.
Final Rating: **1/4

 

CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Jado) vs. Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hirai Kawato
I hear a rumour that Kawato is eating the pin in this one. Japanese wrestling does frequently have that level of predictability that makes upset wins extremely rare and mean significantly more. Kawato seems to think he can fuck up Jado, which is delightful. The other lads run through bits of a match they’ve had thousands of times. It screams ‘house show’. While it’s a shame Ishii is wasted in this capacity, I’m happy he has minimal work to do for his Yen tonight. Kawato tries to beat him, which is a major highlight of the match with him doing Young Lion offence like dropkicks and roll ups. He even kicks out of the brainbuster before Ishii batters him back into Young Boy world with a lariat. I love seeing the Young Lions get all fired up and I like that Ishii beat him clean without being a dick about it.
Final Rating: ***

 

Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku) vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Volador Jr
Suzuki-gun had fuck right off. The only thing of note is that Liger competed in his final Best of the Super Juniors and only won one match. It was quite sad. It would surely have made for a better story if he’d pushed for the Block win. I get the point; Liger is getting too old to wrestle in tournaments so that’s why he lost so much. There’s a logic to all this. Liger looks crisp and it never ceases to amaze me how well he’s aged. Volador Jr is in the match for a matter of seconds, and doesn’t even remove his mask, before beating TAKA with the Spanish Fly. Liger spent most of the match eating heat. He continues to be, as he has been his entire career, too generous.
Final Rating: **

 

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. War Machine, ACH & David Finlay
This must be a big show because Yujiro not only has the bunny girl with him but also a second valet. No expense spared by Kidani-san. The New Japan cameramen exercise their usual restrain, stopping just short of a proctology exam. New Japan have found it difficult to get a balance between War Machine being dominant and other challengers looking capable. In reality when you have a dominant team on top of your division, then the challengers should be sneaky and underhanded. GOD come flying in there head to head. They should check out some Roadwarriors feuds from NWA to see how to effectively attack a dominant tag team without making them look less dominant. Finlay looks sharp here, justifying NJPW’s decision to upgrade his status from Young Lion to regular roster member without an excursion. Meanwhile ACH hits one of the wackiest topes you’ll ever see, virtually face planting himself into the announce table in the process. There’s nothing more impressive in wrestling than raw, unshackled speed (unless it’s raw, unshackled power). Takahashi ends up planting Finlay with a short DDT for the pin. Assist from Fale. This was very solid but I like that GOD didn’t get a win over War Machine to help sell the tag title match.
Final Rating: ***

 

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
Goto and Suzuki continue their rivalry. The other two are just window-dressing. Mainly so Taichi can do his usual ring bell hammer nonsense. Suzuki is as enchanting as ever. His bullying of YOSHI-HASHI is quite wonderful. As is Goto standing up to Suzuki’s vicious forearm strikes. It’s another of those occasions where I think “if Goto can’t get over from this then it’ll never happen”. I tend to think that quite often. It’s not that he’s a noise vacuum or anything but he can’t quite get over that hill. Like Naito before Los Ingobernables. This match goes 12 minutes but it feels really long. I blame Taichi. An improbable ref bump leads to Suzuki-gun piing in there in numbers. The referee can actually see all of this happening. Where are the fucking rules in this promotion? Taichi is so useless that despite the weight of numbers YOSHI-HASHI pins him with Karma. I find it weird that nobody from CHAOS comes to help a post match beatdown and Goto makes his own save.
Final Rating: **1/4

 

Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ricochet & Dragon Lee) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)
This is a rare outing for the entire of LIJ, as they usually have at least one of their guys in a big singles match. They’re a popular group and Naito is shifting merch like there’s no tomorrow. Taguchi’s sporting endeavour amuses me and here Naito lobs the IC title into the ring, allowing Taguchi to recover the strap from harm’s way briefly. It doesn’t stop Naito slamming the belt into the desk in front of Liger. Fuck your belt! I love the punk rock vs. sports motif attached to this match. Especially as Taguchi starts a “Nippon” chant. This is Japan and it’s traditional values vs. the outside influence of music and Mexican sleaze. LIJ have always worked well as a unit but this match allows them to shine in so many different ways and everyone seems to click beautifully. The highlight is yet more Hiromu vs. Dragon Lee. That’s a feud I may never tire of. This is also a match that allows the junior style to shine. It’s quite deliberate, including a tonne of flips and the action is faster and more exciting than anything else on the card. I love Kojima lifting Tanahashi spots, as he replaced Tana on this tour. The sequences where everyone coming spilling in and spots follow at breakneck pace is fantastically entertaining stuff. Destino puts Kojima down, with Naito keen to show that Kojima isn’t on his level. This was tremendous fun from start to finish. The LIJ multi-man tags are always a highlight, even if Naito couldn’t even be bothered to take his t-shirt off.
Final Rating: ****

 

Post-match: Naito starts mouthing off and Hiroshi Tanahashi nonchalantly strolls out to make his presence known. He missed this tour with injuries, a commonplace occurrence of late.

 

Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo
This is certainly not a match I expected to ever see going on second last for a New Japan show. This match exists as hype for Dominion with Okada vs. Omega II headlining that event in a few weeks. Technically Scurll is a junior so he’s supposed to pair off with Gedo in this contest. Omega is in a goofy mood, mainly because he’s wrestling with a bunch of goofballs. He never takes his shirt off but he does pull Gedo’s beard and use an umbrella to prevent a sunset flip. So there’s that. Okada spends most of the match on the apron, probably chuckling to himself about getting paid to do nothing. Omega gets in a few shots at Okada’s legs to help set up the Dominion match but it’s Scurll who gets the big pops for all his spots. Especially the finger snap ahead of the chickenwing. The crowd genuinely get freaked out by that. Well played, Marty.
Final Rating: **3/4

 

Best of the Super Juniors 24 Final
Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA
Ospreay won last year but didn’t win the title from KUSHIDA afterwards. KUSHIDA is trying to restore his reputation after losing in under five minutes against current junior ace Hiromu Takahashi. However you slice it, these are two of the best junior wrestlers in the world. KUSHIDA is aggressive and goes after Ospreay’s leg right from the bell, intent at grounding the Aerial Assassin. A secondary assault sees Will bleeding from the chest in the early going. The junior speedy counters are still there but there’s an intensity that takes this to another level. They are evenly matched and the crowd buy into all their flip counters.

These lead to Will bleeding from a busted lip and him encouraging KUSHIDA to him as hard as he can. It’s one hell of a scrap. I like that Will doesn’t back down and tries to batter KUSHIDA, only to get undone by KUSHIDA technically. Will sells the shit out of that leg injury while keeping the intensity that’s defined this match. KUSHIDA switches targets to the arm when his leg work doesn’t get the job done, looking to set up the Hoverboard Lock. In keeping with the tone of the match it’s super aggressive and intense. Ospreay pulls out all the stops; hitting an SSP on the ropes and a reverse rana on the apron as back to back offensive moves. Ospreay isn’t the only one putting his body on the line as KUSHIDA takes a horrific bump from the Essex Destroyer, literally flipping onto his own head. The match contains a tremendous number of modifications, move theft and tantalising near finishes. It’s excellent match planning from two guys at the top of their game. The sequence that leads into the two baseball punches is wonderful. My only issue with Ospreay is you can constantly see him slapping his thigh on moves. Which is not good work. However KUSHIDA makes amends by hitting the Back to the Future off the top rope, popping the shit out of Ricochet, and then rolling into another Back to the Future for the win. Huge finish to a terrific match. Maybe the best match of both men’s career. Full boat? Oh, go on then.
Final Rating: *****

 

Post-match: KUSHIDA convinces the crowd to do a Mexican wave because he’s so wholesome and pure.

 

Summary: Obviously the undercard has a lot of skippable content but the ten-man tag is great and don’t miss KUSHIDA-Ospreay. Definitely on the radar for Match of the Year voting. New Japan have had a ridiculous number of excellent matches already this year and we’ve not even got to Dominion yet.
Verdict: 94

NJPW G1 Climax 25 – Day 1

Arnold Furious: This year I’m trying something a little different for G1. Normally I watch the shows that I like the look of and if anything else gets good reviews I’ll check that too. This year I’m going full bore. I’m watching everything. Yes, every fucking thing and I’m going to busting those reviews out right after the shows (or as soon as I can, what with work and such). That means 19 shows in less than a month. It is the longest G1 in history. All other projects are going on the back-burner for this one. In order to full prepare you, and me, for such a momentous tournament here are the line up’s complete with some serious analysis of the individuals chances. I’ll be listing the blocks in the order that I think they’ll finish so you can laugh at me in a month’s time when I’ve made a complete arse of it.

BLOCK A:

1. AJ Styles. This in itself is wishful thinking because I’m off the opinion that we’ll get Nakamura vs. AJ as the final, which is being hotly debated on Twitter. Nakamura is the big favourite, having dropped his IC belt to contest the G1. Nakamura and AJ have almost zero history so the big hope is a dream final between those two. In order to get there AJ has to fend off Hiroshi Tanahashi, who seems to have AJ’s number in fair fights and Kota Ibushi, winner of the New Japan Cup and showstealer at Wrestle Kingdom. Given AJ’s reactions during last year’s G1, the tournament that *made* him in New Japan and his IWGP title match with Kazuchika Okada, the fans are ready to accept him as the top dog. My primary thinking is that Nakamura vs. AJ is a hot ticket for the final though. Rather than the oft repeated Nakamura vs. Tanahashi. I’m very torn over this pick.

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tana is the big spoiler, potentially, for AJ (especially as they wrestle each other right at the end). He’s not won G1 since 2007 and considering he’s been NJPW’s biggest star for that entire time, it’s a bit of a surprise he’s only got the one win. Plus a victory would almost ensure another Okada-Tanahashi Wrestle Kingdom showdown. A match that Okada struggles with. Could they give Tana an elusive second G1 only to fall to Okada, ending the curse of the Rainmaker at WK? It’d be one hell of a story. I personally see them saving that for next year, hoping the dream match of Okada vs. Nakamura (many people’s MOTY for 2014 and G1 Final) will sell WK10 big time. Whichever match they go for, it’ll be huge. I’d watch the shit out of both of those contests. Or indeed Okada vs. AJ, seeing as their last match was the mutts nuts. The more I think about it, the more I think Tana could squeak into the final, at AJ’s expense. Thus saving AJ vs. Nakamura for another time.

3. Kota Ibushi. A strong showing for Ibushi would be nice, seeing as he’s been a big deal this year but not on the same level as the really top guys. Defeats to AJ and Nakamura have reflected this and he’s not beaten any of the big names. Kota missed last year’s G1 with injury and surely has a point to prove. It’s a tournament he’s perhaps considered a little too lightweight to win outright. Maybe in years to come he can change perception of himself. I’m not seeing it this year, although Okada-Ibushi would be another terrific match. New Japan have tonnes of them lined up.

4. Katsuyori Shibata. He was in the hunt last year until a dubious count-out loss to Bad Luck Fale. I can see him being the bridesmaid once more thanks to a pre-tournament arm injury. Expect a slew of opponents to work that arm and him to incur early set backs because of it. Especially as he’s wrestling AJ Styles tonight (more on that later as I stupidly pick Shibata to win). They’ve also got him working Doc Gallows on the last day, which suggests another cheap finish as Doc is a guy they’re happy to put over anyone as he’s big. So expect a poor start, remarkable comeback and cheap finish from Shibata (and despite saying all this I go ahead and pick him to beat AJ, which is why my predictions will fail. I think it through and then pick Shibata to win everything because he’s Shibata).

5. Togi Makabe. New Japan generally treat their champions quite well and Togi is carrying the NEVER belt into G1. For that reason alone he should finish in the top half. He’s generally put over most midcard guys anyway so he shouldn’t be losing to Yano or Tenzan or even Fale. He’s the kind of guy who should contend until the last few nights at the very least. I don’t see him winning but he already has one G1 win from back in 2009. It does happen.

6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. At one point it looked like Tenzan was heading towards replacing Masa Chono as Mr August. He’s won G1 three times, closing in on Chono’s record of five. He has no chance of winning this one but is carrying the NWA title, which needs to be kept fairly strong if he’s to draw anything in defending the belt. For this alone I see Tenzan getting a good run and his nostalgia pops should be fun. “SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH”.

7. Tetsuya Naito. Placing Naito is hard because his new found attitude (he looks like he doesn’t give a fuck about anything) could result in a lot of defeats. The weird part of his new persona is he still wrestles exactly the same but only without any interest in wrestling, people or life in general. Like some sort of zombie robot. He could potentially come in last if he starts taking count outs against the likes of Doc or Tenzan. His very first match is with Fale. If he loses that…he could be in for a long, long tournament. He does have a tournament pedigree however winning G1 back in 2013. His resultant title match with Okada got bumped off top though and resulted in him being turned heel (eventually). He’s not yet been rebuilt to a winners circle level.

8. Bad Luck Fale. Fale was a spoiler last year and finished very high up but was also involved with Nakamura around the tournament and was being booked strong so they could finish their series. This year he’s due no such protection and he doesn’t deserve it.

9. Toru Yano. I suspect he’ll probably finish higher but Yano’s sole purpose is to provide the wrestlers with an off night. Last year his matches were routinely short and inoffensive. The idea being that it gave everyone in the block a night where they didn’t have to bust ass. I’m sure Tanahashi and Tenzan will appreciate working Yano. Look for their matches to be especially short. Yano will probably go 50-50 throughout the tournament so I’ve probably got him a bit low.

10. Doc Gallows. While he’ll probably pick up a few unexpected wins to keep people guessing who’ll win the overall prize, I don’t see Gallows over anybody in a straight up match. Maybe Yano. The match with Fale will be skippable. He could potentially be spoiler for Shibata right at the end and could inflict an early defeat on Tenzan this evening but ultimately he’ll be nowhere.

BLOCK B:

1. Shinsuke Nakamura. It’s hard to look past Nakamura. The only other major player in Block B is Kazuchika Okada and he’s already the IWGP champion. The tournament exists to set up the number one contender for Wrestle Kingdom. While IWGP champions have won in the past that was before it was such a deliberate set up for something else. Like how Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble when he was WWF champion. Kensuke Sasaki was the last man to win G1 while holding the title so it’s highly unlikely. Nakamura on the other hand is free of IC title issues, having lost the belt to Goto and lost the re-match, and already has a terrific match with Okada in the books. They’ll face each other again in the Block here in what could, potentially, be a preview of WK10’s main event.

2. Hirooki Goto. Most people have Okada as #2 in this Block and I would totally understand that but G1 is never that cut and dry. I don’t see Nakamura and Okada being the only guys capable of winning going into their match at the end of the tournament. I can see Goto winning to go top before their match leaving us to wonder whether Nakamura or Okada can overcome him. Ultimately I see Goto as a red herring but he’s been making overtures toward the big belt, one he challenges for sometimes (and loses), claiming he’ll unify NJPW’s big two belts. I can’t see either of those things happening but beating Nakamura twice sets him up for the hat trick and to be taken seriously as a main eventer.

3. Kazuchika Okada. The IWGP champion coming into G1, which virtually guarantees he won’t win but New Japan will want people to think he’ll win so he’ll be up there all Block long. Probably in the lead for most of the tournament. His first big match is against Elgin. Unless they’re looking to break Elgin in big, that’s a win for Okada. His next big match is Honma and, no offence to Honma, he won’t lose that either. Honma was blanked last year and it’ll all be about Honma getting a big win. He won’t get it against Okada. He just won’t. So Okada will contend the whole way and lose to Nakamura in the last match to miss out. Whether Nakamura wins the Block based on this is debatable but most people think he will.

4. Karl Anderson. A former runner up, in 2012, the Machine Gun is a legitimate singles threat and they usually have one of the gaijin have a good run to contend. AJ is the obvious choice but Karl is the other guy capable of a good run. I see him getting a few upsets and possibly beating Okada, as he has done before (like last year).

5. Yuji Nagata. This is another guy I’d love for NJPW to push but it seems to rarely happen. His IC title shot at Nakamura came after he contemplated retirement after being left off the WK9 show. He’s back to being on the pre-show and you wonder how long they’ll carry on sticking Nagata into tournaments they’ve no intention of having him compete in. With that in mind I’m hoping he has a good showing. To prove he belongs and next year they can put him back into having great matches and finishing in the bottom half.

6. Tomohiro Ishii. I’m a massive Ishii mark. My Twitter avatar at the moment is me standing next to, and towering over, New Japan’s diminutive Stone Pitbull. I’m always hoping he pushes for the big win and I’m constantly crushed he comes up short in big matches. He should at least steamroller the likes of Yujiro but won’t upset any of the big guns. Unless Shinsuke is feeling generous. He loves #141.

7. Satoshi Kojima. Another veteran and it seems like an eternity since Kojima won the G1 back in 2010. He certainly won’t be in contention here and will probably be the cause of much frustration regarding selling and inconsistencies during this G1. He’ll still finish above Honma because Gedo is mean.

8. Michael Elgin. I’m not sure how well Elgin will be received. Mainly because of his lack of experience in NJPW. The crowd were notably silent at his name being announced in previous tours. I can see him getting a few wins and being given the opportunity to prove himself. He’ll hope for a long term gain of future tours by throwing a tonne of effort in. The match with Nakamura alone should be worth his inclusion. His opening match, against Okada, should be a fine demonstration of how well he’ll do.

9. Tomoaki Honma. The loveable loser was blanked at last year’s G1. I’m expecting a wait during this one for Honma to break his duck but I can’t see him going 0-9. I have him winning at least twice, if not more frequently and staying out of last place. The fans will love him regardless and I can’t face the prospect of Yujiro beating the poor guy.

10. Yujiro Takahashi. I hate this guy.

So that’s the preview. Should be a fantastic 19 shows. Day one alone boasts Tanahashi vs. Ibushi and AJ vs. Shibata. It promises to be one wild ride. The anticipation of not only seeing G1 live but also paying a minimal amount for it on the outstanding New Japan World is a genuine thrill. New Japan are bringing the best value for money in the world. Even better than the WWE’s $9.99 Network.

Tomoaki Honma, Mascara Dorada, David Finlay & Jay White vs. Yuji Nagata, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu
I actually ate my dinner during this match. That’s not a metaphor or anything. It was a baguette. I had fries with it and JR’s BBQ sauce. The hot one. Bangin’. Anyway, the guys to watch here are Honma and Nagata. Two massive crowd favourites with differing goals during G1. Honma just wants to win one match and land as many Kokeshi’s as possible. Nagata wants to prove he belongs at the top end of the card, despite his advanced years. They leave the legwork to the juniors. Jay White, and his shitty new Mohawk, looks eager to make an impact and looks smoother than usual. As if his training has kicked up a gear. He’s very impressive. There are moments where he hesitates, perhaps giving himself a second of thinking time that a veteran wouldn’t require and some of his movements are quite mechanical and deliberate but he’s improving. Nagata singles out Finlay Jr. for abuse and finishes with the Backdrop Driver.
Final Rating: ***

KOKESHI COUNT – 1/4

Tangent: Nagata and Honma had the best preparations for G1. Nagata did some work on limboing to avoid the Rainmaker. Meanwhile Honma perfected his Kokeshi by doing a Kokeshi bungee jump. This is the kind of thing they show on New Japan World when you’re watching Swerved or Total Divas.

Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan)
Scott Hall’s boy is starting to progress up the card and feature in matches with no other young boys. This has nothing to do with his ability and everything to do with how tall he is. One day he will be a monster. Yujiro doesn’t bring Mao with him so he’s completely worthless. Cody on Twitter joked “what’s yellow on the outside but white on the inside…Yujiro Takahashi”. I see political correctness runs in the family. Goto’s stock has raised of late and he’s wearing a new robe to the ring for G1, a sign he’s likely to do well. It’s at times like this I wish that New Japan didn’t put on such big shows. This one is three and a half hours and this match is completely unnecessary. Captain New Japan opts to take the joke route, pretending he has mind powers and missing stuff. It’s all very silly and it’s a bit early in the show for a comedy break. The result of this half-assed approach is a house show level event, which only picks up when Goto decides to impose himself on Yujiro as an early marker in Block B. All the tag matches involve Block B participants, with Block A open for business in singles in the second half. Cody throwing Goto around is pretty surprising. He is a beast. If the WWE catch wind of him they’ll be calling. He’s 6’ 8”. He’s second generation. Vince must surely want him. Goto pins Cody with a cheeky roll up, which is a bit odd. You’d expect the IC champion, and a guy in G1, to murder the young boy with his finisher. Match was filler.
Final Rating: *1/2

Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI)
You don’t get Nakamura and TACOS tagging often. Y-H usually tags up with Okada. Likewise Anderson & Tama as the Machine Gun usually tags with Doc Gallows. Doc is in G1 action tonight though and Tama seems to be working a buddy gimmick during G1. Nakamura might be the most entertaining wrestler in the world right now. His entrance alone is something else. All he has to do is walk into a room and you can’t take your eyes off him in case he does something awesome. Karl knows him well so they have great counters lined up and their G1 match should be really good. The mockery alone makes it entertaining but they can work too. The match is divided in half. The Nakamura half is full of inventive counters and ridiculous showmanship. The YOSHI-HASHI half is meaningless heat. Nakamura gets Tama alone, YEAOOOH, and the BOMAAAA YEEEEE finishes. Tonga had a decent showing but it was all about Nakamura vs. Anderson. Their Block match should be a belter.
Final Rating: **1/2

Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi & Michael Elgin vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo)
This is Elgin’s first match in New Japan. They haven’t got his name right though. “Michael Elgar” according to the announcers. Interesting that Kojima and Taguchi come out together and Elgin comes out alone. He does face Kojima in the Blocks so that might factor into how well they operate as a team. That’s true of Okada and Ishii but they’re normally teammates so it’s less of an issue. Ishii gets right in Kojima’s face from the get-go. That’s going to be a hard-hitting contest. I mark out hard for Okada’s blinged out entrance. He has that same X-factor that Nakamura has, only without doing anything ridiculous to achieve it. Elgin wants to start his first match, rather than watch to see how it’s done. Okada obliges. It’s great to see Ishii’s reaction to an early Elgin powerslam. He steps down the apron toward Elgin, sizing him up. As if to say “I’m going to beat the shit out of you”. And he will. And I’ll love it. Kojima provokes the Stone Pitbull further and Ishii full on jumps in there to attack him. Ishii is in the kind of mood that will result in some serious snowflake action during G1. Elgin rather steals the match with a ridiculous stalling suplex, which both Ishii and Okada fail to break up. Okada’s look of disbelief is great. Ishii’s bad mood eventually spills into the ring and we get another prize reaction from him when Taguchi tries that stupid hip attack and then he NO SELLS KOJIMA’S SHITTY CORNER CHOPS! I don’t think Ishii realises he’s supposed to take the tag matches lightly. They’re rest days, mate. NO! Ishii’s determination raises every else’s game, apart from Okada who’s too clever for that. Perhaps the idea is for Ishii to act as Gatekeeper for Okada, wearing out his future opponents. Elgin drops Ishii square on his face, during an ambitious spot where he lifts Okada and Ishii and that takes the starch out of his performance. Okada steps it up to finish off Taguchi but it was Ishii and Elgin who stole this match. Elgin must be thrilled with how his debut came off, despite dropping Ishii on his head.
Final Rating: ***1/2

Tangent: Some good stuff after the bell too where Elgin eyeballs Okada and Ishii full on belts Kojima in the face. Those are going to be two fucking awesome matches. I love Okada here. He just kicks back and watches Ishii and Kojima fighting. Ishii even gets a bloody lip during the ruck but Okada is way too cool to get involved. I would say G1 turns Ishii into a maniac but he’s like this ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

That takes us up to the break with the G1 matches to follow. The break sees clips from the NJPW presser with various suited competitors making comments on the forthcoming tournament. Okada looked remarkably dabber. Champions are men who know their way around a waistcoat.

G1 Climax Block A
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Doc Gallows
Pre-match pick: Tenzan, because he’s NWA champion and he’ll get tired as the tournament progresses. Start him out strong. Doc is likely to win whenever it suits the booking and winning here would start us out on a downer. No one likes downers. Speaking of which, they work really hard to avoid having a stinker to open G1. I’m not really into either guy, which makes it a tough one to sit through. You need a degree of investment to really get into a match. Gallows looks in poor shape, carrying a paunch and being rough around the edges. It’s not as noticeable when he’s working tags but in singles he’s exposed. Tenzan is even more random, selling a knee for no apparent reason (unless he’s really hurt, which would be terrible for him). Maybe they’re going for an injury angle with him, like they did with Makabe and his jaw last year. In which case, I change my pick! Tenzan decides to ground the match, to work around the injury, and hooks the Anaconda Vice. Doc can’t get out and taps. Let me just revel in my 100% predictions accuracy to this point.
Final Rating: **1/4

G1 Climax Block A
Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
Pre-match pick: Makabe, because he’s NEVER champion and Yano’s wins and losses will be nights off. Togi doesn’t need one of those yet. Plus Yano upset an injured Togi in the Blocks last year. I’m sure the unchained gorilla hasn’t forgotten that. Togi looks angry, but often that’s Yano’s aim. He winds you up so you lose your focus while he’s laughing at you. Yano tries that here and gets a roll up inside a second, which freaks the crowd out. Yano’s insistence at hiding in the ropes yelling “BREEEAAAAAAAAAAKKKK” is incredibly endearing. I find myself smirking before he’s even started doing it. Yano brings an assortment of the usual, loveable, cheating (chair shots, crowd brawls, exposed turnbuckle, low blow). Togi kicks his ass and finishes with the King Kong Kneedrop. My 100% predictions record remains in tact! Yano isn’t supposed to have good matches but this was actually a welcome break. I feel suitably refreshed ahead of the final three bouts.
Final Rating: *1/4

G1 Climax Block A
Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito
Pre-match pick: Fale. He won an awful lot last year and Naito’s sulky gimmick doesn’t seem to involve effort. Both these guys are into hats all of a sudden. The Underboss has a Blues Brothers hat, and sunglasses. Naito brought a baseball cap back from Mexico as a souvenir and has started sulking because no one complemented him on it. Naito actually comes out here in a Skeletor mask and a suit. He can’t see properly and trips on the ring apron. Twat. Despite Naito looking like getting up in the morning is a massive effort for him (is he bipolar?) he goes hell for leather when he’s on offence and Fale is in the mood to impress. He’s also looking tubby around the waistline. Maybe Bullet Club should cut down on the buffets. Either that or Fale has been dining at Chez Paul to try and get the band back together. Naito’s new personality is hard to get a read on. He’s a morose nihilist. I’m really not sure how I feel about that. It sucks a lot of the fun out of his character and regresses his personality to that of a glum teen. Some of his facials are borderline psychotic and it’s hard to get a handle on what he’s going for. Naito ends up working the leg and going after submissions. It’s a ballsy tactic. Especially as Fale isn’t known for selling limbs (not that anyone does nowadays). He’s known for accidentally avoiding assassination attempts by Carrie Fisher. Naito and Fale have some really nice counters, especially when going after big moves. They make a royal fucking mess of the finish with Naito going for some sort of jack-knife pin and Fale selling his groin. Naito doesn’t even bother staying on top for the full three count. I think I hate Naito’s new gimmick, which means it works? He’s supposed to be a heel after all. Incidentally, there goes my 100% predictions record. I feel like Fale must feel when he saw Blues Brothers 2000 and realised the dream was over.
Final Rating: **3/4

G1 Climax Block A
AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Pre-match pick: Shibata. This is a ballsy call, considering I think AJ will either win Block A or finish second. Shibata is injured and that could count against him. I remember talking about the potential for this match up late in 2014. Thinking it would be a strong contest. They’re both great on the mat with AJ capable of countering Shibata’s range of strikes. They’ve hardly encountered each other at all before this match, which makes it all the more intriguing. Shibata’s arm is a cause for concern, after he missed the lead in shows with an injury, and it’s heavily taped. It looks like the elbow that was causing him problems. He’s eager to avoid that being an issue, using kicks to keep AJ at a distance and giving up his left arm for AJ to work over rather than his injured right arm. As expected the match is technically excellent with strong countering and great proficiency from two mat masters. It’s nice to see Shibata switching to the left arm for his elbows, out of sheer necessity. His kicks are firmly on point and one of them knocks AJ over the rail with the impact. It’s a great mixture of AJ’s willingness to bump and Shibata’s raw aggression. As expected they click like nobodies business. They have an absolutely killer spot too where Shibata kicks the ring post, with AJ ducking, and the brutal CLUNK noise is horrific. It’s one of the most organic spots I’ve ever seen with someone ducking and someone else hitting the ring post. AJ had Shibata chasing him to set the spot up. From there AJ works over the leg, which at least offers respite for Shibata’s bad arm but probably doesn’t make him feel any better.

“You’re crazy, man” yells AJ at Shibata as he gets in AJ’s face, asking for more abuse. It’s a great moment of AJ realising how nuts Shibata really is. AJ is a composed wrestler though and knows when and how to pick his fights. He won’t go toe to toe, not if he can bait Shibata into a move that he can counter. His speed is sufficient to get Shibata into trouble and he uses the Styles Clash as a distraction to set up the Calf Killer, on that injured leg. Naturally Shibata gets the ropes but then AJ springs up and kicks the injured arm too. He’s dissecting Shibata and all the guts in the world won’t get you through busted limbs. AJ goes to those injured body parts to counter just about everything. Shibata has to alter his sleeper by BITING HIS OWN HAND instead of using the bad arm. It’s awesome stuff. AJ ducks the PK though and flattens Shibata with Bloody Sunday and the Styles Clash finishes. The psychology in this one was off the page. Some genuinely brilliant selling and limb work. I’m a little disappointed the Calf Killer wasn’t the finish after all the set up work but the big storyline is that Shibata’s injuries will hinder his run.
Final Rating: ****

G1 Climax Block A
Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Pre-match pick; Tanahashi. If there’s one thing I’ve learned watching New Japan is that if you bet on Tanahashi you’ll be right more often than not. That said, I can totally see Kota going over to establish himself as a threat to this Block. Tana is just starting to look a bit haggard, showing his aging rock star good looks more than in the past. Ibushi is keen to show he belongs in the ring with New Japan’s ace (is he still considered the ace? He still beat Okada this year). Kota is younger, faster and possibly hungrier. Kota misses a standing moonsault to set the story of the match in motion; a knee injury for Tana to work over. Kota isn’t the best at selling an injury. He’s in the school of thinking where you can sell a bit but then stop and carry on like nothing happened. It’s a popular school nowadays. Besides Ibushi is far more fun when he’s hitting moonsaults to the floor and flipping around like a lunatic. I had similar issues with KUSHIDA vs. Omega a few weeks ago. Tana is relentless with that knee deal too, going back to it after Kota has moved on. When Kota bails to avoid more abuse he gets himself a HIGH FLY FLOW TO THE FLOOR!

It does become a battle, of sorts, where Ibushi is determined the limb work segment of this match is over and Tanahashi won’t let him forget it. Kota is in the mood to take big bumps though and everything Tana throws at him is met with Ibushi landing his neck on the mat. This includes the Slingblade, which he takes a huge concertina bump on. The match takes a turn as Ibushi javelins Tana into the buckles. It’s a fucking sick bump and Tanahashi looks absolutely fucked after flying head first into the middle of the buckle. Tana tries to sneak out under the ropes but Kota hauls him back into the ring with a German suplex off the apron. It’s batshit crazy. Tana’s neck must be destroyed after those two moves. Both guys attempt their top rope finisher but both times they take too long and allow the opponent to move. A little too much showboating before finishing the contest. The match hits a flow of big bumps, creating a fantastic atmosphere, drawing the crowd in. Tana eventually messes Ibushi’s leg up so bad he can’t stand and finishes with the High Fly Flow. The limb work didn’t work for me but Tanahashi’s persistence was eventually rewarded. The crowd helped to create the big match atmosphere they wanted here.
Final Rating: ****1/4

Picks: 3/5. Not bad. I should have gone with my gut on AJ Styles rather than my heart and should have realised that Naito’s new character wouldn’t be jobbing in his first singles match. Otherwise a grand victory for logic.

Summary: The undercard was a bit patchy but we’re one night in and we’ve already seen two terrific matches. Shibata’s sleeper where he couldn’t use his one arm and had to bite his hand was amazing. Some of the best selling and improvisation I’ve seen all year long. Tanahashi made the main event special. The veteran took a couple of sickening bumps and told a story, forcing Ibushi to go along with it whether he liked it or not. Those two matches are worth the price of admission alone. Obviously thumbs up. Fuck Battleground. See you for Day Two on Thursday!
Verdict: 71

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom XI

Arnold Furious: January 4 2017. We’re in the Tokyo Dome for WK 11. English language hosts are Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. That’s been the best pairing New Japan have come up with so I’m glad they’ve stuck with it. No more Striker bullshit or ‘Tatsu giving us colour.

 

THE RAMBO
First two men are Michael Elgin and Billy Gunn. I never thought we’d be seeing that contest in a New Japan ring but here we are. #3 is The Boner. Kelly and Corino make fun of him and actually call him “The Smuggler” because someone wrote it down wrong. #4 is Cheeseburger. To confirm Boner is a total jobber he’s thrown out first by Cheeseburger. #5 is Jushin Liger. Elgin dumps Billy after telling him to “suck it”. #6 is Kuniaki Kobayashi. He’s older than dirt but he still has a ****1/4 style war with Liger. Admittedly his spin kick isn’t quite as high as it used to be. #7 is Tiger Mask IV. He teams with Liger to dump Kobayashi. #8 is Manabu Nakanishi. #9 is Ryusuke Taguchi “this clown” according to Corino. He seems to have stopped giving a damn, bless him. Pile on eliminates Nakanishi. Then another dumps Liger. Liger, in a dick move, helps Taguchi dump TM. #10 is Yoshitatsu. He stinks. He’ll always stink. #11 is Yuji Nagata. He’s about to submit Taguchi when Tatsu breaks it up to the chorus of boos he deserves for being terrible. #12 is Hiroyoshi Tenzan. #13 is Hiro Saito. #14 is Scott “Flash” Norton. He’s a legend in NJPW, even if he was worth nothing in North America. Especially in WCW where he had his biggest run. He murders Taguchi and teams up with some of the nWo Japan lads. Mike eliminates all of the nWo Japan guys one after another and is left facing ‘Burger. Naturally Elgin gets the pin and wins the Rambo.
Final Rating: **1/2

 

Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger The Dark
TTD is ACH. Exciting times! Tiger Mask W was Ibushi last time. It doesn’t really matter who is under the hoods because the match only exists to pimp a children’s cartoon. That said ACH brings the flipz and W responds with the Triangle Moonsault. Well, that’s Ibushi then. ACH’s eye reaction look amazing when they’re done through a red tiger mask. It’s like the mask has come to life. Obviously Tiger Mask W wins, with a Tiger Driver, but ACH did good work under the hood.
Final Rating: **1/2

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
The Young Bucks (c) vs. Roppongi Vice
The Bucks are also PWG and ROH tag champs so they’ve made some “Superkick Party” belts to carry around too. Do they really need those? The Bucks do typical Bucks things like luring the challengers down the ramp, superkicking them and leaving them there. Lots of superkicks are thrown. Even Corino is strangely low key calling the action though. It doesn’t feel particularly important. Romero with his Forever Clotheslines manages to pick the crowd up. I love the Bucks trying to avoid the final one, ducking twice before catching a double clothesline. The match changes again when Trent hits a suicide dive and lands back first on the floor. That’s a horrible bump to take. The Bucks can bully poor Rocky from there on out. This is the peak of the storytelling with Romero refusing to stay down after repeated abuse until Rocky rolls Nick up to stop More Bang For Your Buck and RPG Vice score the upset win.
Final Rating: ***1/4

 

NEVER Openweight Six Man Championship
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. CHAOS (Jado, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI)
Yujiro brings four scantily clad women that the cameraman becomes obsessed with. The Bullet Club bunny has a banging body. Love the B’s. Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet & David Finlay are the champions but this is a gauntlet match so they don’t start. Weird to see guys like Ospreay and YOSHI-HASHI, who’ve had huge years for NJPW, stuck in a relatively meaningless undercard mess like this. Will, with his new haircut, does the flipz including the Sasuke Special. From the moment he tags in it’s the Ospreay Show. Page tries to overwhelm him by hitting an SSP off the apron and that gives Yujiro enough space to hit his short DDT on Jado. So no more Ospreay, which sucks, but at least the ladies stay out here. Pros and cons.

 

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI)
Page is now the guy who cares the most about this match, which is fairly shocking. LIJ are usually great at multi-man tags, although they don’t have much to play with here. They switch modes, without thinking, and out-heel Bullet Club with ease. SANADA puts Yujiro out with the Dragon Sleeper.

 

Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI) vs. Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet & David Finlay
The champs are here! They’re the last team to enter so they only need to overcome LIJ to retain. Seeing as LIJ barely broke a sweat in beating Bullet Club they’re on even ground here. Ricochet immediately starts with crazy flips but it’s not just the insanity, it’s how smooth and clean everything is. How does he flip off the buckles to the floor like that? Landing on his damn feet. Sometimes I fall over getting out of bed in the morning. Kojima is the perfect foil for all this flipping and youthful exuberance. He just chops away happily. LIJ are so good as a unit though that it’s an uphill struggle for the champs to retain. Finlay is out of his depth, for storyline purposes, and Ricochet’s flying gets him into trouble when BUSHI picks him off with a mid-air MX. Kojima eats the Mist with the ref missing it. There’s mist all over his face! That’s surely a DQ. Nope. EVIL puts him away and we have new champions. This whole shebang was highlighted by Ospreay doing his thing and LIJ doing great work at the end.
Final Rating: ***

 

Juice Robinson vs. Cody [REDACTED]
Cody Rh*des isn’t allowed a surname for he is the American Nightmare. Cody is a heel but struggles to contain his smile as he walks out here. Cody has been specifically put on this card to give lapsed WWE fans something to attach themselves to. Juice goes nuts in the opening sequences, doing a crazy cannonball into the rail. Cody takes over because of that, stealing BUSHI’s pose in the process. The match is extremely patchy. Sometimes they land some incredible counters, like Juice countering Cody’s dive into an overhead suplex on the floor, and then we see less impressive counters. Juice’s knee is the story of the match and Cody’s chop block looks great. His hanging DDT looks devastating too. Shame it doesn’t finish. Instead Cody hits Cross Rhodes for the duke. This was fine. There were two stories colliding, the knee and Cody being heel. The first was fine, the second didn’t work.
Final Rating: **3/4

 

ROH World Championship
Kyle O’Reilly (c) vs. Adam Cole
Kyle is out of contract so this is a fairly unique situation. I hope something bigger is planned than Cole simply winning the belt back as I find him mediocre. Like the whole thing being a ruse. Or Kyle going into business for himself and tapping Cole out quickly. Cole does his “BAY BAY” business and Kyle jumps him from behind twice because why wouldn’t you? Cole works the arm. This crowd don’t care whatsoever. Kyle’s offensive segments are far superior to Cole’s. I suppose that’s the idea, because he’s the babyface, but the way Kyle approaches wrestling is far better. His hybrid style is the future of professional wrestling. As Adam gets stiffer, with his strikes perverts, the match improves. Whether he’s stomping on Kyle’s face or hitting multiple superkicks. Last Shot finishes and out of contract Kyle O’Reilly shockingly drops the title. Unfortunately it’s to Cole who becomes the first ever three-time ROH champion. The actual action was strong, especially O’Reilly’s offence, but the match came off flatter than we thought the Earth was a thousand years ago (and Tila Tequila does now).
Final Rating: ***1/4

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Guerrillas of Destiny (c) vs. GBH vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano)
Ishii & Yano got chucked into this because Ishii had nothing to do. Yano stole the belts and the tag league trophies to get kayfabe included. I’ve not seen it but I’m told the tag league finals (GOD vs. GBH) was really strong (Larry Csonka went ****1/2). So it’s disappointing that the random CHAOS team have been inserted here. At least Ishii gets to beat the shit out of Honma on the biggest show of the year. Tanga swears like a sailor in this one, yelling “f*cks” and “shits” and “m*th*rf*ck*rs” to his heart’s content. He’s swearing so much that Corino has to turn his microphone off. It’s a tirade of profanity that’s frankly staggering. GBH do some fun work, beating on Tanga, while he swears a lot. The match takes place at a breakneck pace, like we’re seeing a juniors multi-team tag without the flipz. Unless you consider Kokeshi a flip. Then it’s a spotfest. Yano sneaks in a blind tag and rolls up Tanga for the belts after a low blow. That was unexpected! Oh, now Ishii is stuck in this tag team. Pros and cons.
Final Rating: ***3/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
KUSHIDA (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
The ticking timebomb Takahashi was, until recently, Kamaitachi. But he’s ditched that lucha gimmick and is now himself again. Only with the flamboyance of his former incarnation. The match immediately flies into top gear and Takahashi attempts to murder the champ with a sunset bomb to the floor. This leads to KUSHIDA playing dead, and getting suplexed on his head some more. Hiromu must feel bad for KUSHIDA’s wellbeing because he hits his ridiculous senton to the floor. One day he’s going to land that badly, like even more badly than every time he does it, and bust the back of his open like a ripe pumpkin. In between they botch a rana to the floor. It’s very obvious because KUSHIDA immediately bails out afterwards to be in the correct place. A second spot to the floor is far better executed as KUSHIDA catches a flying Hiromu in an armbar. The match is sloppy around the edges but that adds to the attraction of Takahashi. Like he’s genuinely out of control. He comes across as equally insane for refusing to tap out to the Hoverboard Lock. KUSHIDA’s response? He punches Takahashi square in the jaw. Hiromu isn’t phased by this and hits a bunch of crazy shit, culminating in the Time Bomb. Takahashi bags the belt and licks it. KUSHIDA has been a great champion but perhaps it was time to freshen things up. Where KUSHIDA was sleek and technically sound, Hiromu is insane. We’re likely to see some crazy matches with him as champion.
Final Rating: ****1/4

 

NEVER Openweight Championship
Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Hirooki Goto
I love that Shibata brings the British Heavyweight title with him, from Rev Pro. Shibata is wonderful at getting his opponents fired up. When Goto doesn’t show much in the opening exchanges Shibata belts across the face with a slap. Shibata is covered in tape, with two bad shoulders and a bad neck. And a bad knee. He’s falling apart in front of our eyes and he doesn’t give a f*ck. He won’t tone himself down. He wants Goto to have that same fire and recklessness and because Goto is so passive Shibata just beats him up. When it’s Goto’s turn Shibata decides he’s selling absolutely nothing. The way Shibata no sells is amazing though. He refuses to show pain but you can see him holding it back. It’s so measured. There’s nobody like it. It’s such a realistic approach to selling. Not wanting to be phased and show how much he’s hurt but at the same time showing that pain with the grimaces. Great stuff. Goto tries to match that fire as the match progresses, although Shibata always seems to be one step ahead. You can hear the big stadium crowd reactions to every strike as well, echoing away into the ether. It’s an incredible atmosphere. Goto survives a lengthy sleeper. Shibata survives Shouten Kai. It heads towards epic in violent fashion. Just when you think it’s only big shots left they go toe to toe on strikes and it’s just wonderful. I love that Goto pretty much knocks Shibata out with a knee before symbolically executing him with GTR. I never liked that as a finisher but Shibata was already toast. This, naturally, was great.
Final Rating: ****1/2

 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Every title has switched hands so far on this show. Tanahashi is looking for a late career reinvention. He’s changed his music. It’s deeply disturbing. Luckily his hair remains the most magnificent barnet in pro-wrestling. Naito counters this by arriving in a purple suit that makes him look like a pimp. I love that Tanahashi is still massively over and Naito is likewise. Only Tana is playing cheerleader and Naito doesn’t give a shit. He still remembers the crowd booing him as a face and bantering him off the top a few years back in the Dome. Tana, interestingly, refuses to clean break and punches Naito in the ribs in the first exchange. Naito’s response is to work over the knee. Naito is already a jerk, people know this but Tanahashi’s churlish response to this upsets people and the crowd are divided. Naito sometimes struggles with his injured knee, which inevitably Tana works at in response to Naito working his knee. While Tana is predictable, as he’s worked this way for ten years, Naito comes at Tanahashi from different angles and keeps him unbalanced. However Tanahashi’s offence is more impactful and he has more power. The predictability factor kicks in when it comes to the High Fly Flow. That gives Naito time to prepare counters. The match lives in an interesting balance of old vs. new, tactics vs. tactics and honour vs. anti-heroism. That sense of balance is so prevalent in one of the matches biggest spots; Tanahashi’s High Fly Flow being blocked by Naito’s double knees, which in turn injures himself. The layers of storytelling in one spot is fantastic. A tornado inverted DDT sets up the Destino and Naito retains! More importantly he beat Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom! Holy shit.
Final Rating: ****1/2

 

IWGP Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega
Kenny gets a pre-match video where he’s the Terminator. It’s pretty cool, although distinctly low budget. I love him bringing a shotgun to the ring instead of a broom. It’s the ultimate in telling the story of how much more serious he is for this match than he was for the Junior title and all the undercard work he did. Now he means business, goddamn it. He’s spent his entire career building to this moment. Meanwhile Okada is the Main Event in Japan. He’s seen off Tanahashi and he’s become the benchmark. Suddenly we’ve got two guys fighting over the company. Whoever wins will define 2017 and help to mould the company. For Okada it would be business as usual. For Omega it could alter everything. They start slowly but it’s not long before they’re countering finishers and Kenny is eating a DDT off the guardrail. The sickening thud noise that accompanied that cannot be understated. Omega is so fast and unpredictable that he takes Okada out of his game, which is exactly what happened with Naito against Tanahashi. Omega loads the match with a mixture of his familiar spots and things less recognisable. The effect being to unsettle Okada and leave him unbalanced. Some of Omega’s offence is brutal. Like the missile dropkick to the neck. Holy f*ckballs. That’s not even Kenny’s craziest top rope move with him hitting a moonsault from the ring, over the rail onto Okada and into the announce table. Okada sells like a drunk man. He reminds me of watching someone who’s fallen over outside the pub on a Friday night trying to get up to get a taxi. Omega follows that with a double stomp onto a table, which is on top of Okada. Good lord, that’s a brutal shot to take. Okada plays dead after this. Absolutely dead. It sells the brutality of that spot in a way that so man other wrestlers don’t understand. Sometimes you need to play dead. Any offence he hits for five minutes is to protect himself and buy time. This is amplified by another game changing moment where Omega is backdropped out of the ring through a table. The table betrays Kenny by partially breaking. The near side doesn’t move and must do damage to his shoulder. The only way he gets back into the match is by going back to the mid-section of Okada that’s already hurt. Omega hits a dragon superplex and Okada lands on his head! Holy shit. The bumps in this match have been utterly insane. Everything feels more important because of what they’ve been through. V-Trigger is huge in that respect. Okada then flips out of the One Winged Angel because he’s a complete freak of nature. Rainmaker doesn’t get it done and it’s such a rarity for someone to kick out of that. The near falls are so ridiculous that the crowd are having kittens. Kenny does amazing work in the stretch. The facials tell how he’s completely knackered, his game plan hasn’t come off and Okada keeps coming back at him and he looks mentally spent. But the great part is how he suddenly fires up and goes again, knowing Okada isn’t 100% and he’s got a great chance of beating him. Okada increasingly resorts to defensive work to block Kenny’s dynamic offence, which includes him grabbing the wrist to get out of the One Winged Angel and hit a Rainmaker. Okada maintains wrist control and the way Omega tries to break it, with repeated knees because he knows what happens when Okada controls the wrist is great. Omega can never get the One Winged Angel though and Okada fights his way out one final time to hit a Tombstone and the Rainmaker finishes. I’ve heard incredible, borderline nonsensical, complaints about this match being too long. While I argue that about NOAH all the time, because they don’t have the wrestlers to put those matches on, this was an epic storyline. I loved it to bits. Everything built to something else and we worked our way to the brilliant finishing stretch. Probably MOTY.
Final Rating: *****

 

Summary: While the show is long at almost six hours the final four matches compensated for everything that preceded it. The last four matches were all incredible, all different and all worth going out of your way for.
Verdict: 100

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom IX

Arnold Furious: We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Dome. Hosts are Jim Ross and Matt Striker. It is very weird having an English commentary track for a Japanese show. The last time I saw one was when FMW was trying to crack the American market. That was in the 90s and their shows were not that good. This show is pretty special, being the January 4 Tokyo Dome show, but also the first show Jeff Jarrett has tried to expose America to. A different style of wrestling. Hopefully it’ll be a hit and Jeff will bring the crew back over to Japan for future shows. Obviously the Flipps app disaster didn’t help. Maybe just a stream online next time? My decision to even attempt Flipps resulted in signing up to New Japan World instead, which you should all do immediately if not sooner. 36,000 in attendance.

 

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
reDRagon (c) vs. Young Bucks vs. Time Splitters vs. Forever Hooligans
Striker brings the details, Ross brings the gravitas. I immediately approve of their approach. Striker has clearly done his homework. Striker stops off to put over ROH as reDRagon are also the ROH tag champs before shilling for PWG. He’s pretty much rocking the Mike Tenay in WCW approach and JR just lets him get on with it.  Naturally the match is fast-paced with frequent tags. “The wrestling will always triumph” – Striker. Having seen a lot of these junior tags, it’s hard for them to break out anything new, despite the addition of reDRagon. The other three teams are extremely familiar with each other. So some of the spots are recycled from previous matches including Rocky Romero’s corner lariat obsession. As per usual the Bucks don’t bother with tags, which upsets some people more than others. Seeing as virtually every junior tag match breaks down nowadays anyhow, they might as well make everything tornado rules and have done with it. The first really solid spot is O’Reilly flying after Shelley on the floor but eating a superkick. O’Reilly can sell like a motherfucker. As the action continues to break down we get a “Superkick Party” call from JR. “I’ve got my invitation” – Striker. They’re doing well on commentary. The Bucks wow the crowd with flipping and follow that with more superkicks. Bucks manage the Meltzer Driver but More Bang for Your Buck is broken up. From there the tag moves go nuts and they build to a hot finish. Chasing the Dragon finishes off Koslov and a reasonably hot opener concludes with reDRagon retaining. This was 13 minutes long but never felt like it. Depending on how much junior heavyweight stuff you’ve seen, you might find this around the same level of entertaining as me, or you might like it a bit more. Enjoyable anyway. A solid spot-fest to open.
Final Rating: ***1/4

 

Bullet Club (Jeff Jarrett, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. TenKoji & Tomoaki Honma
Fale tickles JR’s fancy because he’s 290lbs (although Striker claims 330lbs). Yeah, he’s a hoss alright. Plucky underdog Honma finds himself second choice again here as Yoshitatsu was originally booked before getting his neck broken by AJ Styles (Power Struggle in November 2014) but Honma did an awesome job replacing Kota Ibushi in G1. Karen Jarrett shoves Honma around making him look like a total jobber. Which is pretty much how he’s booked normally only with more pluck. JR continues having kittens over Fale’s size, switching weight to 319lbs, as Yujiro acts like a dick. The match switches focus to Honma as he misses yet another Kokeshi. He evades the Miami Shine, hits the flying Kokeshi but Jarrett pulls out the old Acoustic Equalizer. Jarrett miscues on Yujiro, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, Takahashi eats the 3-D and the DIVING KOKESHI finishes! This was a total mess but the conclusion was joyous. You have to love Honma.
Final Rating: **

 

Suzuki-gun (Takashi Iizuka, Shelton Benjamin, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) vs. Toru Yano, Naomichi Marufuji & TMDK
Iizuka comes in down the aisle rather than through the crowd and assaulting Shinpei Nogami. Striker has done his research and almost bails. Yano’s partners are all from NOAH, hinting at future antics between the two promotions. Marufuji is way too good to be in this match and TMDK, one of the most promising tag teams in Japan, are getting a bit screwed by being dumped in this match. But hey, at least they’re on Wrestle Kingdom. The issue with an 8-man tag is if you don’t give it time to develop, there’s almost no point doing it. Especially if Yano and Iizuka just recycle the spots they’ve been doing in tags. The beard pull is here again, the corner pad. Haste shows his usual disregard for his own wellbeing while Mikey tries to out-Bulldog Davey Boy Jr. But he’s more ‘Doug Furnas’ to Davey Boy Smith Jr’s ‘Davey Boy Smith’. It’s pleasing to see Marufuji just destroy Iizuka with kicks. Like the last match it’s a bit of a mess but the spots they have planned out are better. Specifically Shelton doing the vertical leap to take Marufuji off the top rope. TMDK set Iizuka up for the Ko-Oh and that finishes him off. Great to see the relatively useless Iizuka taking the job and Marufuji going over. I’d love to see Marufuji mix it up in NJPW again, seeing as he’s come on a long way recently.
Final Rating: **1/2

 

UWFi Rules
Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
UWFi means you can only win by KO, submission or referee stoppage. The rules in UWFi changed a few times. Suzuki surprises the crowd by having dyed his hair white and it draws a wonderful “oooooooohhhh” when he reveals it. During the build up tags these guys have been doing tremendous mat work and that’s true from their opening. It feels legitimate. The shoot-style is often hard to accomplish but Japan is the place to do it as they appreciate both the MMA and the pro-wrestling aspects. Saku tries to slap the shit out of Suzuki while he’s on the apron, which leads to the hanging armbar. I like Suzuki being able to incorporate his pro-wrestling spots into a different style of match. They do make the mistake of fighting down the ramp, which kills the vibe they had going and Sakuraba gets a kimura out there but obviously can’t win on the ramp. Suzuki opts to sell the arm and fight one handed, which results in him giving Saku a beating with one arm. It’s a pity Suzuki can’t tear his own arm off and beat Sakuraba down with it because if he could, he would. He’d be fine, he’s tough. Saku works the arm over with kicks with Suzuki shrugging that off. Then Suzuki just wins with the choke. Huh. That was…unexpected. The whole focus of the match was on Suzuki’s arm, which was perhaps a mistake in of itself, so the finish was a bit odd. I certainly preferred the match in the early going with the back and forth on the mat. Maybe the fault is with me, as I expected a more exciting bout but the match came across as a bit underwhelming. The most interesting part is the post-match where Sakuraba offers a handshake and Suzuki accepts it. Where will this lead them? A tag team? Suzuki turning face? Sakuraba joining Suzuki-gun? Or nothing at all. It’s nothing at all isn’t it?
Final Rating: ***

 

NEVER Openweight Championship
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Togi Makabe
When this was booked I thought Togi was a strange choice for the NEVER division as I always figured the point of it was to get over upcoming wrestlers. Ishii pretty much defines that belt (even though he’s late 30s). Togi used to be IWGP champion. I’m not sure he even fits into the division, unless it’s to put someone over. So I was convinced that Ishii would win here. They work a lot of hard-hitting mirroring and the opening sequence is them both smashing into each other. That’s won by Ishii just flat out chopping Togi IN THE THROAT. They just wail away on each other here, which was to be expected. The problem with Makabe having this match is Ishii has had the same brutal match with everyone up and down the card and done it better. Makabe isn’t much of a wrestler, and his strikes tend to clubbing forearms and gimmicked punches. He’s not convincing as a striker. Ishii marks JR out by walking into Togi’s forearms. Ishii is a man’s man. As I expected they can’t maintain a full match of strikes, like Ishii has done against others, and they start exchanging high spots. Ishii looks hurt, as he always does, after taking a German suplex on the injured shoulder. You wonder if he’s so hurt he’ll be taking time off. He has to get surgery on that shoulder sooner or later, or rehab at the very least. Ishii’s knee is heavily taped too and Togi is able to block the gamengiri because of this secondary injury. The story they’re telling is that Ishii is broken but he refuses to stay down. I love his headbutt to Togi’s chest as a defensive move. As the match builds the tension does also and I find myself riveted to the match. The strike duels down the stretch are fucking amazing. The intensity they get is wonderful and it’s all down to Ishii’s selling. Ishii catches a lariat to the side of the head, which looks brutal and the KING KONG KNEEDROP wins it for Makabe. That was a shock, for me at least, as Ishii had been booked as being on the up and up but it might just be so he can take time off to recover from that shoulder injury. They hooked me with this match, it was a war.
Final Rating: ****

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. Kenny Omega
The feeling when Taguchi won the belt was that he was just a placeholder until New Japan got their next champion sorted out. He’s been surprisingly reliable (who else has good matches with Taichi? – Power Struggle ***) considering his normal standard of wrestling. Omega and Taguchi have history too, having a solid match to headline night one of the Best of the Super Juniors 2014 (***3/4). JR compares Omega to Brian Pillman. He certainly has an interesting look now. Omega’s versatility allows some exciting and different opening sequences including lucha-esque stuff and a cracking counter into Taguchi’s anklelock. The match changes tack with Omega spraying ‘cold spray’ in Taguchi’s eyes. It’s unfortunate that Bullet Club feel the need to do this. I wouldn’t mind it if it was later in the match and didn’t effect the whole thing. However it does allow Omega to bust out the ridiculous, DDT-esque Arm Chainsaw. The idea being he shaved his arms four days before the show and uses the stubble as a weapon. Omega is fairly innovative in taking Taguchi apart but the pacing of the match is somewhat off. JR seems to think the same, being polite in his assessment of Omega’s approach. They seem to build to bigger spots with cool counters but it creates a spot, rest, spot, rest, spot, rest pace. Some of the spots are really cool though with counters in mid-move. Omega is more interesting in that respect as Taguchi goes specifically for his trademarks; Dodon, anklelock etc. Omega’s hard-hitting eventually pays off and the One-Winged Angel finishes for the new champion. They did good work here albeit with too much resting in between spots. Also the Taguchi eye injury didn’t really go anywhere.
Final Rating: ***1/4

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) (c) vs. Meiyu Tag (Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto)
This, for me, was a lock. Bullet Club have had those belts for a year and Meiyu Tag’s whole year has been building to this match. Both have gone after singles glory, and come up short, and gone after the tag belts and lost. This feels like the very last shot of success they have as a tag team. If they lose here they may never team up again. The crowd seem to sense this too and there’s a lot of anticipation for this match. That’s intensified by Goto accidentally knocking Shibata off the apron in the early going as he’s been screwing up a lot of late and possibly even holding Shibata back in the big matches. This leads to the inevitability of Goto getting himself isolated and beaten up. He even gets smacked by the Bullet Babe (Doc’s wife Amber Gallows). When the hot tag connects Shibata finds it harder than expected to dominate both guys. Bullet Club look like the better unit with planned out double team spots. There’s a sense that Meiyu Tag’s big chance is slipping away. Goto saves Shibata from Magic Killer before a phenomenal sequence between Goto and Anderson, which is based on their familiarity on being former tag partners. The challengers isolate Doc, Goto throws him into GTS and the PENALTY KIIIIIICK wins the belts and completes the childhood dream of Goto & Shibata. Wonderful pacing here and it’s a year-long journey complete for Goto & Shibata. Seeing them smile as they’re putting the tag titles on each other is a thing of beauty. I’m genuinely thrilled for them. I love the pose with them sitting in the ring after the win, wearing the belts. It’s like they’re posing for a photograph in school. This made me very happy.
Final Rating: ***1/2

 

AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito
AJ’s first attempted move is the Styles Clash, he’s not hanging around. AJ gets smart to Naito’s moves after the first few spots and takes Naito’s leg on the corner legsweep/dropkick combo. Both guys are fast and capable of pulling counters out of nothing. They do have previous as they met on Day 4 of the G1 Climax this year, a terrific little match that I scored ****1/2. It was rather lost as Shibata vs. Tanahashi headlined that card and their match was stunning. The early focus is on Naito’s injured knee, which isn’t the best of ideas as almost all his moves are aerial. The standard ‘I don’t want to sell this anymore’ spot is punching your own injured body part back into place. It doesn’t make a jot of sense to me but as soon as I see Naito do it here, that segment is over. I can understand frustrations over selling but that’s what they seem to be doing now. The leg does come into play right after that as Naito tries to sell it while AJ is hitting his suplex into neckbreaker spot. The result is a botch that JR calls “ugly but effective”. They immediately recover and throw out some nice sequences based on familiarity and big moves connecting. This leads right into AJ using the Calf Killer, which is his submission hold and if anything is to replace the Styles Clash it’d be that. This makes particular sense with the leg work that AJ has done. He’s done the preparation now he gets the rewards. Naito gets into the ropes and it’s a little disappointing he doesn’t bother selling the knee afterwards, going right into a dragon suplex. BLOODY SUNDAY! AJ again goes for the Styles Clash only for Naito to throw him clean over the top. Now he drops selling the knee. He’s been wildly inconsistent with that. Either sell it, or don’t. Naito tries for a super rana but that’s blocked; SUPER STYLES CLASH! Naturally that’s it and AJ Styles picks up the big win. The move has extra importance ever since AJ broke Yoshitatsu’s neck with it. It’s a killer. You can sense the concern, although Naito was smart enough to take the bump properly and instead sells the knee on his way out. Damn it, Naito! Either sell the fucking thing or don’t. Good match but perhaps a let down compared to their G1 match, which was much better.
Final Rating: ***1/2

 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
The booking of Ibushi coming into this show makes me wonder if he was originally booked to win G1. They’re suddenly making a very big deal out of him. I know he’s impressed any time he’s set foot in the ring with a heavyweight over the past three years. Nakamura arrives dressed like a military version of the Statue of Liberty, complete with spiky gold crown. KING of Strongstyle. The match starts out with the almost perfect level of intensity. Nakamura always brings it but Ibushi is keen match him. Ibushi even MOCKS Nakamura with his corner taunting. Nakamura beckoning him in right afterwards to eat a knee strike was perfect. Nakamura throws himself into the big spots, including a kneedrop on the apron where he wings Ibushi and then kills his knee into the floor. Unnecessary, brilliant. Nakamura goes from there to schooling Ibushi on the mat. If Ibushi has a weakness that will prevent him from unseating any of the top guys in NJPW it’s his mat game. It’s not on a par with Nakamura. Not even close. From there it’s strike duelling and Nakamura gets in some mockery there by no selling and then slapping Ibushi in the face repeatedly. Ibushi ends up going to what brought him and hitting flying moves like the Triangle Moonsault. This allows Ibushi to unleash kick combos. Ibushi goes to the well though and tries a springboard, which gets him KICKED IN THE FACE, straight-leg, by Nakamura. The slow motion replay reveals just how much Ibushi got tagged square in the face. KNEES! Striker brings up Ibushi’s concussion a few months back as Nakamura rocks Kota’s head. Ibushi again comes back with flying and it becomes apparent that despite the risk, he’s willing to keep taking those shots because it’s his best hope for winning. Nakamura takes a series of them, which allows the Phoenix Splash but Nakamura moves and knees Kota back down. Ibushi then switches gears as Nakamura kicks him in the head, a lot, and Kota just smiles. It’s beautiful stuff and he comes firing back with SHOTEI palm strikes, which full on turns into a punch up. Kota goes for a lariat, COUNTERED INTO THE FLYING ARMBAR. A great call back to the G1 final again with Okada. Now Kota starts acting like a prick by lifting Nakamura’s little head-kicks. YEAOOOOH TAUNT FROM IBUSHI. BOMAAAAAAA YEEEEE FROM IBUSHI!!! HOLY SHIT! Awesome knee, Nakamura kicks out. Nakamura is NOT HAPPY and kicks the fuck out of Kota for that, at one point standing on Ibushi’s lips. SLAPS! KNEES! FLYING STAMP FROM IBUSHI! Where did that come from? Nakamura tries to slide under the ropes but gets dragged back in with the SPIDER DEADWEIGHT GERMAN SUPLEX!! That pops Jim Ross big time, which should tell you how cool it is. Nakamura headbutts his way out of a Phoenixplex to set up a flying Boma-Ye and Kota no sells it again with a smile. BOMA YEEEE and Ibushi, perhaps stunned by the first one, stays down. Good lord that was great.
Final Rating: *****

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
No dinosaurs or gigantic swords for Okada. He’s all business tonight. Tanahashi basically conceded the IWGP title to Okada after failing to unseat him during his last title run but thanks to Yujiro Takahashi, AJ Styles got the belt, now Tanahashi has the belt again. It’s a second chance for Tanahashi to be the Man. Whoever wins this match is officially New Japan’s biggest star. The opening exchanges sell the parity the two share before Okada makes the first dick move; offering a clean break before elbowing Tanahashi in the corner. That provokes some back and forth violence with Tanahashi getting the better of it. That is until Okada DDT’s Tana off the rail. When it comes to trading, Tanahashi is almost impossible to beat but big spots are Okada’s thing. Tana, like the knob he is, does some air guitar and charges Okada on the ramp; HEAVY RAIN! Which should teach Tanahashi for messing around. Tana still has loads in the tank, despite a back problem, and he’s able to avoid stuff like the senton. Okada seems better off letting Tanahashi take over and hit counters instead. Okada seems able to think quicker when he’s under pressure and in danger of being hit. Tana seems to slow down around this point and Okada flat out challenges him to duke it out. It’s as if Tanahashi’s injuries have finally slowed him up. Okada goes to the well with a second Heavy Rain and Tanahashi, out of nowhere, counters it into a neckbreaker. The same again with Okada going after his big dropkick and Tana kicking him in the face. Tanahashi has Okada well scouted. An early High Fly Flow misses allowing Okada to take over with the Savage Elbow.

RAINMAKER POSE!!!

The Rainmaker, as always, is countered into an inside cradle. After Nakamura’s big Flying Armbar counter, everything else comes as a disappointment. From there Tanahashi goes after Okada’s leg, the right one incidentally, to stop a lot of Okada’s offence. To the floor; HIGH FLY FLOW PRESS OVER THE RAIL! Okada’s knee seems to heal up in the process. Back inside; RAINM…COUNTERED INTO THE SLINGBLADE. HIGH FLY FLOW…ROLLED INTO THE TOMBSTONE…COUNTERED INTO A TANA TOMBSTONE! HIGH FLY FLOW to the back. He flips Okada over. HIGH FLY FLOW. 1-2…NO! Kickout from Okada. That ends a great sequence of excitement and Tana slows it right down. Sling Blade. Rainmaker pose from Tanahashi…and the camera goes wide! RAINM…BLOCKED INTO THE RAINMAKER!!!!! TANAHASHI KICKS OUT!!! Nobody has ever kicked out of the Rainmaker. Ever. Okada looks stunned. They follow up with strike duels and Okada’s wobbly legged selling is near perfect. Tombstone, countered into a pin from Tana…for 2. Tanahashi dishes out a beating with slaps and Okada collapses, holding Tana’s leg. His spirit has been broken. He goes for the Rainmaker again but it’s blocked into the Straightjacket Suplex…for 2. The counters continue as Okada goes after another Rainmaker but it’s countered into the dragon suplex but still no fall. TOO AWESOME DROPKICK! Okada is back! Rainmaker is ducked again and Tanahashi goes after Okada’s other leg, dragon screw in the ropes. HIGH FLY FLOW IN THE ROPES! Okada can’t stand. HIGH FLY FLOW! He’s still down. HIGH FLY FLOOOOOWWWW. 1-2-3! TANAHASHI RETAINS! Okada’s selling at the finish was so wonderful and the way he watched the ref count two before closing his eyes was epic. As if he was getting ready to time the kick-out and then gave in, knowing he’d got nothing left. You cannot teach that. There’s only one kind of wrestler in the world that can bring that. The very, very best. Which is what these guys are.
Final Rating: *****

 

Post Match: Tanahashi grabs the title. He’s still the Ace of New Japan. He’s finally seen off Okada’s threat. Okada’s selling continues as he weeps openly as Gedo helps him leave the ring. He’s never shown this kind of vulnerability before. Meanwhile Tanahashi, in a bit of a dick move, grabs the mic and says “Okada! Okada! How do you feel right now? I’ll tell you one thing, so listen closely. IWGP is still so far away from you.” Then he plays some air guitar to celebrate.

 

Summary:
The first show since Wrestlemania X where I can clearly recall two MOTYC’s headlining the show. You need this!
Verdict: 100

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom VIII

Arnold Furious: You know how WrestleMania is a bit on the long side? Well, Wrestle Kingdom is getting longer every damn year and this years (2014) show ran to a staggering 319 minutes. That’s 5 ½ f*ck*ng hours people! I know it’s the years biggest show and they like to hype that shit but damn.

4^th January 2014

We’re in Tokyo, Japan. Crowd is 35,000.

 

Dark Match
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tomoaki Honma, Captain New Japan & BUSHI vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine, Jushin Liger & Yohei Kamatsu
That’s how big New Japan is nowadays, they wheel out Tenzan, Nakanishi and LIGER to open the show. Technically it’s not even on the PPV. I’ve never heard of Kamatsu but he’s a young lion they want to get over so despite all the legends on show, the match focuses on him. His team are jerks so try and isolate Honma for a kicking. Liger’s heel act is brilliant and seeing him count pins is a lot of fun. Like he knows he’s the most experienced guy out there, so screw the ref, he’ll just referee the match himself because Liger Knows Best! When the tide is turned it’s so Team Tenzan can test out Kamatsu. See what he’s made of. Kamatsu can’t really measure up to anyone, apart from Captain New Japan (who’s pretty much a joke gimmick anyway). Nakanishi tags in anyway and since when has Nakanishi been so useless looking? Then it occurred to me, he was Kurosawa in WCW and that was in 1995. How old is he? 47! When did Nakanishi become 47 years old? Well, he looks it and he moves like an old man. Time is a bitch. The sad part is it doesn’t look like he’s aware that he’s moving at half speed. Tenzan is evergreen by comparison so it’s a bit sad to see him have to compensate so often. Kamatsu gets all his best stuff in against Tenzan too, catching him in flash pins. Liger earns his coin by yelling support from the apron but all the support in the world can’t make you bigger and stronger and Tenzan just cuts him down with a clothesline. As if to say ‘ok, enough of that’ Tenzan then makes short work of the rookie with a vicious Boston crab. They took a stab at trying to get over a greenhorn in Kamatsu but at the end of the day, I thought he looked like a little bitch. I guess if they keep trying with him he’ll get somewhere as you can’t fail with Liger in your corner. Typically for dark match fare, this was quick and harmless. 307 minutes left on the show. Egad. Nakanishi and SSM do a spot of apologetic bowing before leaving. I don’t remember SSM even tagging in so he’d better apologise. If you spend the entire of your match standing on the apron, do you still get paid?
Final Rating: ½*

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (c) vs. Forever Hooligans vs. Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku & Taichi) vs. Time Splitters
This match is a colossal spotfest. There’s innovation aplenty even if some of the spots border on ludicrous. To my surprise it’s Forever Hooligans who end up stealing the show, both with their spots and their comedy. They have a great spot where Koslov picks up Romero and charges at the opponent in the corner, Romero screaming the whole time, into a knee smash. Like Rocky is some sort of superhero doing an amazing flying knee and Koslov is merely an invisible helper. Like Romero is the plastic blow up doll from DDT, only with 90% more knee strikes. Then Koslov puts his I AM RUSSIAN hat on to does HOPAK DANCING, inserting a nice Cossack head kick in between each squat. Considering the rest of the match is pure spotty insanity, that breaks it up nicely. They do an epic dives spot, which culminates in wonderful comedy as everybody almost gets counted out before everybody rolls back in at the last second to beat the count. Superb stuff. The Bucks take it by both hitting top rope moves consecutively to get the job done. The Bucks have surely arrived now as a top tag team but they almost got lost in the mix here. If you like spotfests, you’ll be quite happy with this highlight reel match. I got enough out of the characterisation to dig it.
Final Rating: ***1/4

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Killer Elite Squad (c) vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
The challengers are representing Bullet Club, Prince Devitt’s evil gaijin stable. Gallows you probably know from being CM Punk’s muscle in Straight Edge Society. The champs are the rather uninspiring pair of Bulldog’s son and Lance Hoyt. Basically the match is a bunch of North American rejects…and Karl Anderson. Supposedly New Japan are keen on Anderson, to the point where they see him as a potential main event. The match is a total downer because it has to follow the juniors, who were also wrestling a tag match. So none of the tag stuff is interesting and none of the wrestlers are interesting or have a unique style so it drags. Tama Tonga, one of my favourite wrestlers in Bullet Club (if not outright favourite), makes valuable contributions here; showing off his mobile phone case, which reads, rather predictably, “Bullet Club”. Well, I’m glad they booked him on the show. The match improves as Gallows starts taking huge bumps for Archer. It makes Lance look like a monster and the ring shakes when Gallows lands. The match is structured to make Archer look like a beast. When he has the match won Tama interferes and Archer lifts him into the ring and into a double team slam. You’ll notice I’ve not mentioned Davey Jr…he strikes me as somewhat bland at the moment. He’s solid. He comes out there and hits a load of suplexes and stuff but there’s no personality, which is why he’s not in WWE. Compare that to Archer who steals as many Undertaker moves as possible to get himself over and the crowd reacts completely differently. Chokeslam is countered right into the Gun Stun though and Harry has to save. Archer is left giddy and the Bullet Club finish him with Magic Killer. Archer is certainly building a reputation for himself. He looked like a genuine star here and if NJPW keep booking him that way he might even get some main events out of it. Everyone else looked mildly disinterested. The same as me. Easily the most forgettable match on the show.
Final Rating: *1/2

 

NWA World Championship
Rob Conway (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima
It seems bizarre but this is the only ‘official’ world title on offer this evening. What with the IWGP belt mostly defended in Japan and even the Intercontinental belt rarely leaving the land of the rising sun. But this is a genuine world title, dating back to the 40s, even if nobody gives a single damn about it anymore. Nor have they since Shane Douglas threw it away to get ECW over in 1994. Hell, even TNA threw it away in 2007, preferring their own untainted title to take over. To add insult to injury the title only found its way over here because Adam Pearce vacated the title over a dispute with the NWA. No offence to Adam Pearce but that’s quite the slap in the face for the NWA. He was so sick of listening to the NWA’s bullshit that he’d rather walk away than be their champion. The belt ended up on Kahagas (yeah) and eventually Conway. He’s defended the title in Japan before, and even against Kojima. Conway and NWA president Bruce Tharpe seem to be treating this like an old timey territory angle with Tharpe even taking a right hook off NWA veteran Harley Race! The match is wrestled much the same way with Conway doing a lot of posing. When Kojima feels so inclined he mashes Conway. Conway’s subsequence retaliation always seems a lot tamer and lot less thrilling. When Koijma does win with the lariat it’s almost inevitable. Conway does a credible job of selling the lariat but it wasn’t the stiffest move in the world. Kojima seems far more interested in getting a photo for his family album, posing with the belt and Handsome Harley after the pinfall. And that’s what’s happening to the NWA title these days, kids!
Final Rating: **

 

Daniel & Rolles Gracie vs. Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba
I didn’t sign up for this bullshit! Sakuraba was obviously the “Gracie Hunter” when he was in MMA but I’m sure he wouldn’t even have bothered hunting Daniel (5-4 in MMA). Basically what happened here was that the Gracie’s turned up and made an open challenge and Sakuraba, and Nagata (because why not?) accepted. I’m surprised they didn’t just challenge Sakuraba, possibly as revenge for Renzio’s broken elbow. There’s a lot of grappling to start with until Nagata gets bored with that and slaps the shit out of Daniel. Rolles responds with a totally illegal choke hold, which the ref admonishes him for. Yanno, after Nagata is unconscious. Daniel mounts with punches and the ref is all “actually, you can’t do that either”. Yes, I know Steve Austin does it all the time but it’s not actually legal. I love that Rolles tries to get an armbar and Sakuraba just strolls in and kicks him in the head. Another big “f*ck you” to Gracie Jujitsu from Kazu! Rolles keeps using the gi so Sakuraba tries to tear his arm off and beat him to death with it, once again reminding me of Sakuraba’s Gracie arm destroying ways. Then Kazu makes a big show of using open handed strikes on the fallen Gracie (much like he did in actual shoots, only funnier and slower). Daniel fancies his chances against Nagata so Yuji suplexes him on his head and tries to armbar him into submission. I’d have bought that as the finish as the match hadn’t outstayed its welcome. Rolles chokes Nagata full on unconscious with his gi and the ref gets sick of the Mixed Martial Cheating and disqualifies them. I’d have rather seen Sakuraba full on tap Daniel for shits and giggles but the finish at least allows for a re-match. Considering the brutal clash of styles and the inability of either Gracie to figure out how to work Nagata, this was actually ok. Colour me surprised.
Final Rating: **1/4

 

Tangent: In case you missed the whole Gracie Hunter history, it was a lot of fun. Basically the Gracie’s had been boring the MMA world into submission since the birth of the UFC and Sakuraba was Mr Fun Times so he came along and trolled the hell out of the Gracies. In victories over five different Gracies, Sakuraba quite happily inserted cartwheels into fights, danced around, did jumping kicks, spanked his opponents, nodded off in mid armbar and had a damn good time. When one the Gracie’s, I forget which (Royler?), tried the whole Inoki-Ali defence and laid on his back trying to throw kicks. Sakuraba was unimpressed, he just kicked that bitches legs until they hurt. At one point dragging the poor defenceless Gracie around by his now bruised and battered limbs. And when Renzo stepped up to the plate, thinking himself Sakuraba’s equal in wrestling, Sakuraba broke his arm. I would say Sakuraba 1 Gracies 0 but by this point it’s at least 6-0. And why is any of this relevant? Because Sakuraba is a wrestler and he’s been doing all this to demonstrate why wrestling owns everything else. Which it does. F*ck jujitsu!

 

Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin vs. Great Muta & Toru Yano
Suzuki is another fine exponent of the shoot-style, which he can back up with 29 MMA victories. He is arguably the surliest man on tonight’s card, which stems from his career of bumming around and beating the ever loving shit out of anyone who looks at him funny. Muta can barely even walk, which puts this match at odds with New Japans normal behaviour towards veterans; leaving them in dark matches where they belong. Yano somehow arrives in worse condition than an ancient old fossil who can barely stand. That takes some doing. The frankly amazing thing about Muta isn’t that he can still walk but that he can still hit all his trademark moves…at the same speed as before. He’s barely in the match, which keeps him fresh for his bursts of energy but that unfortunately means never-ending Yano comedy spots. Muta mists Suzuki and he has to job to Yano’s inside cradle. Considering Suzuki is my favourite guy in this and he had to job to comedy, I wasn’t best pleased. Still, Muta is a walking miracle. I can’t believe his legs still work after all those knee destroying moonsaults. Plus he’s the guy who thought; my knee hurts a lot, I should get a different finish to a moonsault and selected a move where he runs the side of his knee into an opponent’s head. Other than discovering Muta to be significantly more mobile than I was expecting, especially after seeing him hobble to the ring like a inebriated giraffe with rickets, the match was skippable. I’d rather have seen Suzuki in a match where he kills people with his churlish behaviour. I guess I’ll have to dig that Real Japan tape where he hated everyone he was working with. That’s the Minoru Suzuki I know and love.
Final Rating: *1/4

 

King of Destroyer Match
King Fale vs. Togi Makabe
The “King of Destroyer” stipulation just means it’s Last Man Standing. They start out by clubbing at each other a bit and a voice in the back of my head says “you know this match is going to suck, right?” Damn it, voice, I think you’re probably right. I’ve only seen Fale once before and I wasn’t really sure what to make of him but he keeps it basic. Too basic for my tastes and his grinding style reminds me of the worst New York workers of the 80s. Japan is supposed to be escapism for me, to get away from New York style. Not to cringe as it invades the hallowed halls of Tokyo’s wrestling institutions. Togi, to his credit tries to strongstyle it up a bit by hitting harder but even he resorts to hokey 80s nonsense like the 10 count punches. Basically, everyone in Bullet Club is more fun to watch than Fale. Fale should be their bodyguard or something. Not the dude that wrestles. Why isn’t Tama Tonga wrestling instead? Also, the match type, a Last Man Standing, doesn’t suit either guy at all as they’ve got nothing intense enough to cause a KO. The only thing Fale has going for him in that respect is a gleeful lack of concern for his opponents wellbeing and a habit of releasing every move as early as possible. Which includes flinging Togi across the ring on a chokeslam and even further across the ring on the Bad Luck Fall, which is a release powerbomb at the best of times. Togi makes it back to his feet both times. Togi returns the favour as they set up a table at ringside, Togi goes to powerbomb Fale through it and basically dumps his butt on the table. Fale takes the bump anyway, like a man, and plants the back of his head onto the floor of the Tokyo Dome. That looked like it sucked to take. Fale looks knackered so Togi clubs away at him to set up the King Kong Kneedrop, TWICE! I appreciate the wink of psychology behind dumping Fale on his head and then kneeing him in the head twice but I suspect the connection is luck more than skill. Or misfortune, rather, as the table spot was a blatant botch. So, did the match suck? You betcha! Fale’s style does nothing for me and it looks like he’s trying out for WWE…in 1988. At least Togi won, even if he’s just as one-dimensional, he does at least kick ass.
Final Rating: *3/4

 

Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Goto was on the verge of a big push last year, and may even have won the G1 Climax, but some bastard broke his jaw and cost him his spot. This is his first match back and the positioning on the card reflects how much faith New Japan have in him. Shibata is a strange guy in that he’s so unmemorable and yet after five seconds of any match he’s in, I suddenly remember that I’m a complete mark for him and he’s one of the best wrestlers in the world. Of course his missing decade, spent in MMA, makes it easy to disregard his actual wrestling talent but trust me on this one. He is brilliant. The older I get, the more inclined I am to watch guys who bring a realistic style. I’ve always dug that style but when I was younger I also leaned towards the fliers who brought dynamic excitement. Now, I just want to see two guys realistically beat the crap out of each other. Shibata kicks the sh*t out of Goto here, specifically targeting the broken jaw with a series of elbows. When Goto fires up and comes back after him Shibata PUNTS HIM IN THE FACE. MORE ELBOWS! Goto tries to fire up and MORE ELBOWS! F*CK YOU, BITCH, YOU WILL F*CK*NG STAY DOWN! God, I love this guy. Goto goes for a breather so Shibata throws him back in and, wouldn’t you know it, KICKS HIM IN THE JAW AGAIN. Goto does a great thing during the match and that’s as soon as Shibata hits the ropes he follows. It’s the only time Shibata takes his eye off him so it’s the only opening he’ll get. Shibata goes after the jaw with elbows again and the THUD noise of each one landing is awesome. What’s even better is Goto MANNING UP and coming back for more. There’s absolutely nothing in wrestling more satisfying than watching two guys just beat the piss out of each other. The great thing about Shibata is he doesn’t just have one way of hurting you. It isn’t *just* strikes. He goes for a German suplex, Goto blocks that, and Shibata effortless segues into an abdominal stretch and when Goto just about fights out of that, goes back to the German suplex. It all gets a bit silly with the FIGHTING SPIRIT as both guys don’t want to stay down off a suplex. The only concern for the match is that it’ll all get a bit too silly as they continue to no sell and kick hell out of each other and, in a lesser complaint, that Goto just can’t hit as hard. Shibata goes to set up his finish with the sleeper, the Penalty Kick (basically he just kicks his opponent in the chest). PK connects but Goto casually kicks out. Goto comes back with his inventive offence like the Ushikoroshi and the reverse version of the same move. SHOUTEN KAI! That’s his finish, a sitout version of a suplex into a sideslam. Fatigue finally sets in though and they both stay down. As if the match hasn’t been manly enough they go into the HEADBUTTS. Both guys are now reduced to smacking each other from kneeling positions. Clearly the match has taken its toll. Goto catches a kick and hits a lariat but Shibata, constantly wanting to mess with Goto, kicks out at 1. Goto responds with another lariat and the Shouten Kai finishes a superb match. You want all this. Shibata’s level of brutality is such that I wish he’d been around in the late 90s so he could have wrestled in All Japan with Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada. I love this guy.
Final Rating: ****1/4

 

Post Match: Shibata, clearly having had some respect beaten into him, helps Goto to his feet and the two leave together. And thus a new tag team is born.

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Prince Devitt (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Devitt has done well for a stiff little bastard from Ireland. He’s arguably one of the best cruisers in the world and New Japan rate him so highly he heads up his own stable now, the Bullet Club. Along with Low Ki, this is the same match they had at last year’s Dome show. Devitt won that match by hitting Ibushi with Bloody Sunday off the top and retaining his title. Will lightning strike twice? Devitt, perhaps not taking the match entirely seriously, stumbles into the arena bodypainted to look like a zombie. The entire Bullet Club joins him at ringside. That’s Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga, King Fale and the Young Bucks. It really stresses the importance of Devitt and his title. Bullet Club drags Ibushi out to the floor and give a shoeing while the ref stands in the corner shaking his head disapprovingly. Considering how good both guys are at a spot-heavy style they totally avoid it and I’m not sure if that’s refreshing or frustrating. Ibushi does bring an immense sell for a chop though as he takes it on the top rope and falls to the floor. If that wasn’t sick enough, along comes King Fale to POWERBOMB HIM ON THE APRON. As per usual from Fale there was no protection at all; he just threw Kota into the apron. The whole set up is: Evil gaijins vs. single heroic happy-go-lucky Japanese guy. Kota clearly realises he needs to do something and hits the Golden Star Press onto the entire of Bullet Club. This kicks off the spots as Flippy McGillicutty brings everything in his twisting, flipping locker. After that Kota switches from a roll up into a bridging suplex after powering Devitt up. It’s brilliant. Pointless but brilliant. Ibushi is clearly out to steal this with his bumps though as he takes another sickening one over the turnbuckle. Officials kick Bullet Club out, clearly upset with the level of cheating. I think it was when Karl Anderson threw that chair at Ibushi’s face in mid-move. That gets the dander up. Devitt’s response to his team being kicked out? SUPERMAN DROPKICK INTO THE RAIL! Like a flying punch with his feet. I think a lot of the flipping in this match has suffered, having to follow on from the more realistic style of the last match and HOLY SHIT, SUPER RANA WITH BOTH MEN UP TOP! That takes some doing. This is the point though. Every now and again my mind is blown by the slick and amazing flying and then I start thinking about the last match again. I think it’s because of how soft Kota’s kicks are. When he actually man’s up and hits a stiff lariat, he hurts himself. Oh my God, some of the flying though. The Phoenix Splash that finishes for Ibushi is absolute perfection. He hits it so clean that I almost wish I could go back in time to 1999 and show it to Jeff Hardy. Look, mate, you can do this shit clean as a whistle. Just lay off the drugs. The match didn’t have enough flow to be a classic (the entire first half is just Bullet Club stuff) or anything but the high spots were incredible.
Final Rating: ***1/2

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Okada’s rise to the top of New Japan has been astonishing. Consider this; in 2010 he was still sitting around in TNA’s locker room, waiting for a chance to do something. He couldn’t even get on their TV. He returned to New Japan exactly 3 years ago, aged 23, and has since stormed to the top. Now, aged just 26, he’s already into the top ten all-time IWGP champions for time served and has a massive future ahead of him. There’s still a tiny bit of doubt as to whether he’s a bigger star than Tanahashi, hence him not headlining Wrestle Kingdom despite being the IWGP champ. But apart from that, he’s The Man. I realise I’m somewhat papering over Naito but that’s because he’s always been an overachieving guy. The typical plucky midcarder who has to fight for everything. I appreciate that, in New Japan at least, trying hard for a long time is rewarded but I don’t really buy Naito as a title threat. It shows in the opening exchanges too as Okada is clearly superior technically and his tactics are better. Naito has to speed up the pace as that’s his one clear advantage. The lack of crowd reaction is palpable though and you can see why the fans voted for Tanahashi-Nakamura as the main event. The ‘it’s only Naito’ mentality is hard to shake. Maybe they shouldn’t have treated him like a total jobber for as long as they did? I missed the 2013 G1 so I don’t know how well he was booked in winning that but in previous G1’s, anything he won was an upset. When he was on the verge of a big push he went out for 8 months with a knee injury in 2012 and sometimes, see Hirooki Goto, missing action with an injury isn’t a bad thing in New Japan. Fans are reminded of the wrestler’s best attributes and his return is big news. Maybe it’s just me but I’m not feeling Naito as a top level guy.

That’s the vibe here as his stuff feels a bit twee and lightweight compared to Okada. His punches look really worked. He has some fun counters and manages to switch a Tombstone on the floor into a tornado DDT, using the ring apron. If you want evidence that the crowd just don’t buy him as a champion check out the Pluma Blanca though. He hooks that son of a bitch in the middle of the ring and there’s no crowd reaction at all. Nothing. They know Okada is getting out of that shit. Then Naito gets all fired up and hits a bunch of headbutts to set up something off the top and Okada just escapes and dropkicks him to the floor, Naito injuring his knee on the way down. That’s the difference between the two. Okada can’t even be sacked with pinning Naito and DDT’s him off the apron to take a count out. Which is how Naito REALLY gets over. By surviving. That’s how he got here. Naito beats the count but gets elbow dropped. RAINMAKER POSE!!! I love that shit. Naito takes advantage with a few kicks and a DDT but if you get the time to do your signature pose, that means you win. Pluma Blanca again and again the fans don’t bite on it. I think if Okada had passed out and Naito had won the belt there would have been one of those epic NEEEEEEEEEE sounds from the crowd. Disbelief, Japan style. Naturally Okada survives and kicks out of the German suplex too. Red Ink is hooked and Okada senses he’s got this one in the bag but his arm is sore from Pluma Blanca and he can’t hold on. Okada is a genius with the way he makes himself vulnerable. Naito had to earn Okada selling and Okada only sold the effects of something when it meant something. Good logical psychology from the champ. Naito’s bits of flying would be more impressive if he wasn’t following Ibushi, who does all the same spots only better. I like that he uses ‘wear down’ holds to get Okada to stay in place for his spots off the top though, which is a contrast to earlier where Okada was too healthy. He still finds himself outmuscled and outwrestled at every turn though. Okada just dodging the big spots and hitting his own. Naito’s defensive wrestling remains one of his strengths and when he sees the Rainmaker coming he counters into an inside cradle, which is superb. Another Rainmaker is ducked and yet another one is countered into a roll up. This is brilliant! Okada hits a Tombstone but another Rainmaker is countered so Okada counters back into another Tombstone! RAINMAKER! Game over. Naito comes close but can’t get the job done. For me the first half of the match was a little sluggish and really didn’t play on Naito’s strengths as a wrestler. Namely that he’s great at escaping misfortune and getting lucky. The Rainmaker counters were making me mark out like crazy though and if the whole match had that vibe it’d be awesome.
Final Rating: ****

 

Tangent: The amazing thing about Okada is he’s doing all this shit at just 26. To compare; Shawn Michaels at 26 had just barely gotten out of the Rockers. Hulk Hogan at 26 had just about joined the WWF…the first time round. Ric Flair at 26 was still about six years off his first world title. Does that put it into perspective? I realise modern wrestlers seem to ascend quicker than in the past (Lesnar was a world champion at 26 also) but Okada seems so assured in the role. His character seems so well rounded. Plus his current title reign is the longest non-Tanahashi run since Nagata’s amazing run in 2002. If success is measured on title defences however he’s basically the 6^th best champion, ever.

 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
These guys have grown up through the New Japan ages. Nakamura becoming more unhinged and weird while Tanahashi has become New Japan’s ace. Nakamura’s 3 IWGP titles pale in comparison to Tanahashi’s record equalling 6 titles. The IC title is very much a secondary one and this is only going on last because of who’s in the match. Hell, it’s only 3 years old and was created for a tour of the USA. Nakamura has given the belt some serious credibility just by holding onto it. But now he has to wrestle New Japan’s ace for it, on the biggest show of the year. And unless he breaks Tanahashi’s orbital bone again with his finisher, chances are this’ll do for him. Tanahashi gets the Sportz Entertainment entrance as he’s played to the ring by his own guitarist so Nakamura out does him with STRIPPERS pole dancing and fireworks. CHAOS in the house! Nakamura is a strange banana. He thinks he can dance like Michael Jackson, which he can’t, and thinks he’s graceful (like a swan or some such) and he really isn’t. He’s an awkward gangly f*ck*r with a terrible haircut. But once you’ve got past him looking like a small Kevin Nash clone crossed with a transsexual professional karaoke singer he’s really good in the ring. If you were wondering how on earth New Japan managed to make this show over 5 hours long, the entrances take about 20 minutes. The match is only 23.

The match starts out with Nakamura looking to beat the highlights out of Tanahashi’s hair only for Tanahashi to take his leg. Which is fine until Tanahashi lines up a chop block…and hits the wrong knee. You’d think a ring general like him would know better. Nakamura decides to take the Rob Van Dam school of selling and hit kicks anyway before staying down selling. Tanahashi was undoubtedly thinking; if I take out the knee, he can’t knee me all match. And Nakamura does a lot of knees. Well, as soon as Tanahashi stops working the leg Nakamura goes back to kneeing him repeatedly. So much for that theory. Don’t get me wrong; I like seeing Nakamura knee people in the head. It’s one of his finest attributes. I’d just rather Tanahashi didn’t work the knee at all so we don’t get selling inconsistencies. Anyway, Nakamura re-injures the knee by missing a kneedrop on the apron and Tanahashi wipes him out with the High Fly Flow to the floor. Tanahashi has taken the frogsplash to the next level. Not only can he hit it from anywhere, he can use it equally as effectively on a standing opponent. Nakamura is forced into a ground defence, seeing as he can’t stand, which is his other major strength as a wrestler. Looking at the freak you’d never know he was a talented mat wrestler. Tanahashi wrestles his way out, seeing as he’s also a talented mat wrestler, which you’d never know looking at his flowing blonde locks. Basically, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Both these guys are in the main event for a reason. Tanahashi decides to use the ropes, gets kicked in the head for it, then tries to skin the cat and gets killed with a Lungblower for it. Pride comes before a fall…and working the knee was working out a lot better for him. Nakamura decides it’s time to stomp the hell out of Tanahashi and settle this. Tanahashi decides to hide in the ropes and gets even more f*ck stomped out of him! There’s no place to hide! Tanahashi goes after the knee so Nakamura gives him the knee…in the back of the head! Has he got metal knees or something? Tanahashi hits the Sling Blade out of desperation and heads up top leading to an awesome counter sequence where Nakamura will not let go of the ropes and eventually counters a powerbomb into a knee to the face. Because his knee is knackered he stays down and Tanahashi is able to get the High Fly Flow…for 2. Again, Nakamura’s selling inconsistencies are remarkably frustrating as he pops back up and knees Tanahashi into position for Boma Ye. Tanahashi naturally kicks out, having had his own finisher disrespected. Tanahashi goes back to the knee and slaps on his submission finish, the cloverleaf. When Nakamura won’t tap Tanahashi turns that sumbitch into a Styles Clash. As Nakamura stumbles to his knees; HIGH FLY FLOW. That puts him down. HIGH FLY FLOW finishes. Selling aside this was an enjoyable back and forth between two big hitters. The persistence at Tanahashi working the knee, despite Nakamura having no interest in selling it, was a touch frustrating. Was it a good match otherwise though? Yes, yes it was. Their countering and a few elaborate spots worked really well.
Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Summary: With Wrestle Kingdom you cannot go wrong. It is New Japan’s WrestleMania. They’re doing big shows with such conviction now that even when they book the wrong main event, it still comes off without a hitch. The last four matches are all worth your time. Even Devitt-Ibushi with the awful Bullet Club interference ruining the first half of the match. The outstanding match, for me anyway, is Goto-Shibata though. Goto showed incredible resilience and fighting spirit to overcome the unrelenting assault of Shibata. The history between the two and the jaw injury just made it all the more exciting.
Verdict: 72

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom VII

Arnold Furious: 4.1.13. The first major Japanese show of the year is also the biggest. Wrestle Kingdom has become New Japan’s flagship PPV event. Held in the Tokyo Dome, also known as the “Big Egg” on account of its appearance, it routinely outdraws every other Japanese show by a mile. The 2012 attendance was a whopping 43,000 fans. 2013 was down to 29,000. New Japan remains the top Japanese promotion so it’s only appropriate to start 2013 with them and their biggest show. There may be a few new names here but there will be familiar ones too. I’ll try to keep you abreast of who’s who in case you’re new to Japanese wrestling.

 

Dark Match
Wataru Inoue, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
The first thing you may notice is the capitalisation of YOSHI-HASHI. This stems from a long running Japanese habit of putting bad guys names in all capital letters. That said there are is generally less heel/face alignment in Japanese wrestling and the fans tend to support whoever they like rather than a babyface good guy. Wrestling is also treated far more like a sport. So the fan reactions are somewhat unusual. That said a popular star in Japanese wrestling will get every bit the pop of a popular American worker.

Captain New Japan is one of the goofiest characters working for NJPW. He used to wrestle under the name Hideo Saito in the CHAOS faction but he was considered unpredictable and got kicked out. This sent him a bit loopy and he started wearing a modified Captain America costume. These things happen…in Japan. Tama Tonga is one of the lesser known members of the Islanders family. He was adopted by Haku. He’s worked in Puerto Rico, Mexico and has carved out a niche for himself in New Japan. Wataru Inoue is a grizzled veteran who worked his way up through the Indy circuit to earn a spot with New Japan. Often Japanese workers come through schools belonging to different federations. So NJPW’s new talent is usually brought through their dojo’s. Inoue busted his ass to get above those people and the crowd tend to respond to him because of it. He’s a loveable loser and perennial underdog. On the other side we have Tomohiro Ishii. He’s a thick set midcard journeyman who plied his trade in WAR, Michi-Pro, World Japan and Riki Pro before making it to New Japan in 2006. YOSHI-HASHI is one of the New Japan dojo trainees. He came through in 2008 and jobbed around the undercard before being farmed out to CMLL, which is often what happens to young Japanese talent. They’re sent away to discover themselves. When he came back he was initially jobbed out before joining CHAOS and switching gears somewhat. CHAOS is a scuzzy heel group with the likes of Jado, Gedo, Iizuka, Yano and Nakamura. Jado rounds out the CHAOS team. With his tag team partner Gedo he’s been hanging around the Japanese scene for my entire tape trading history dating back to the mid 90s. Initially both he and Gedo were roundly hated on by reviewers but experience has made them both better.

The match is a dark match in front of half the audience and Jado’s Flair-esque WHOOO’s echo around the empty arena. You’d think it’d be a no-brainer for CHAOS to use their experience and continuity as a unit to overcome the weird combination across the ring from them. This is wrong. Japanese booking sometimes makes sense like that, as it’s treated like a sport, but like a sport strange things happen. Ishii looks like someone shat in his cereal as he sells NOTHING. Jado tries to orchestrate some Dragon Gate no tag double teaming, which is a mess. Tonga finally gets the crowd buzzing by hitting Jimmy Snuka spots. Oh shit, this guy is going to sign for the WWE in the next 3-4 years. Guaranteed. CHAOS stink up the joint with more dreadful double teaming. This is like the nWo B-Team of CHAOS though. Tonga finishes with a bodyscissors DDT, which I believe he calls the Headshrinker. The match never had time to develop but frankly I’m glad they kept it short as the heel team had such terrible continuity they couldn’t carry the match against the misfits opposing them. Tonga looked every inch the star of this one and an easy pick to advance up the card.
Final Rating: ½*

 

Dark Match
Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & BUSHI vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi
A second dark match featuring one of Japan’s most enduring and enigmatic stars; the evergreen Jushin Liger. Now 48 years old Liger has been one of wrestling’s best high fliers and cruiserweight technicians since 1986. Initially considered “too small” to be a star in New Japan he was farmed out to England (All Star) and Canada (Stampede) before a staggering run of excellence in NJPW rings from 1989 onwards. Liger has, during that time, been consistently one of the best wrestlers anywhere in the world. He has about seven finishers, all lethal, and invented the shooting star press. Tiger Mask is not the same one who faced off against Dynamite Kid in the 80s. This Tiger Mask has as much claim on the name as anyone though as he’s used it since 1995. He’s nowhere near as good as any of the other previous three TM’s but is a capable flier. Takahashi is only a few years out of the New Japan dojo and has yet to develop much of a personality. On the other side we have “Funky Weapon” Ryu Taguchi. His nickname stemming from his dance moves. He’s been paired with Irish wrestler Price Devitt as Apollo 55 for the past 4 years. They’ve had good matches as a team and against each other. Without Devitt Taguchi is less interesting. KUSHIDA may look like a punk but he’s a former shootfighter with a 6-2 record. He currently teams with former ROH and TNA star Alex Shelley as Time Splitters. Another fine team. BUSHI is another Japanese guy who got farmed out to Mexico. He came back as a luchadore. He came through the All Japan dojo however and was poached by NJPW last year.

Liger is the biggest star on show thus far and gets a nice reaction. Takahashi starts out, to no one’s excitement, so he can do pretty reversals with KUSHIDA. At least it looks vaguely like a struggle. Liger then tags in so he can demonstrate the mechanics of selling, bumping and such to a guy who thinks he’s a luchadore. BUSHI’s first mistake is a ridiculous Irish whip where Liger has to run under his own steam across more than half the ring. Taguchi tags in so Liger powerbombs him into the Mexican surfboard. Because he can. Liger’s execution is still flawless despite his advanced years. I think he may have aged better than any other wrestler, ever. He wrestles like a man 20 years younger. He lets Taguchi run his usual new age spot monkey nonsense and makes it look good. BUSHI then gets an almighty shoeing from all of Team Liger including a swank Tiger Driver from Tiger Mask. When the kids take over the match falls apart in spectacular fashion as they try for a tonne of Dragon Gate stuff without the execution and BUSHI finishes scrub Takahashi with a 450 splash. Good when Liger was in there, worthless when he wasn’t.
Final Rating: *

 

Tangent: A Japanese announce team has to be seen to be believed. Not content with a 2 or 3 man team New Japan, the most serious and revered of all promotions, has a six man team. Five guys in tuxedos and an excitable schoolgirl in a short skirt. This may be some sort of Japanese gag as the Japanese sense of humour can be a bit unpredictable. This point marks the actual start of the show as all the pre-show antics are over.

 

Manabu Nakanishi, Akebono, Strong Man & MVP vs. Bob Sapp, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi
A bizarre combination of wrestlers for this one. We’ll start with MVP because he was in the WWE. MVP signed a big money deal with New Japan after being released by the WWE in late 2010. He’s had a decent two year run but this is his last big match for NJPW. At least for the time being. His departure may have had something to do with his tweet after this match:

“I have never been paid so much to do so little. #ILoveJapan.”

Akebono has also appeared in a WWE ring against the Big Show in a sumo match at Wrestlemania 21. He’s better known as a sumo wrestler, and a much beloved one at that. He ventured into MMA after retiring with injuries from sumo but had a poor record at MMA and kickboxing. Bob Sapp actually knocked him out on Akebono’s K-1 debut. Akebono has worked for AJPW and NJPW. Strong Man is a jacked up muscleman who competed in strongman competitions before working for CMLL. New Japan have a strange fascination with his physique but aren’t quite sure how to push him. Nakanishi is a big man with power moves. A New Japan regular. On the CHAOS side we have former shootfighter Bob Sapp. A former IWGP champion Sapp freaked out all of Japan with his MMA fights to the point where he had Nippon at his feet. Until he lost. Yano and Iizuka are both bruisers. Yano a creative cheat while Iizuka favours an iron glove. Takahashi is a plucky and capable undercard worker who’s on the lightweight side. He’s turned to the dark side of late. On the upside New Japan has a pleasant habit of getting all the crap out of the way before we get down to business. Unlike All Japan who put their Triple Crown on Ryoto Hama. I love Sapp’s insistence at coming out here in a white fur coat and getting pyro. Like he belongs to a different universe. Takahashi’s personality has come along a lot in the last two years. Being a bad guy suits him. Even if most of his mannerisms are lifted from The Rock.

Akebono and Sapp instigate a slack brawl in the aisle before we get underway. The commentators get disproportionately excited by it. MVP breaks out the BALLIN’ elbow drop on two opponents before Akebono and Sapp square off again. I realise that’s the selling point of this match but watching two fat people fight isn’t my bag. Especially when one is as utterly worthless as a wrestler as Akebono is. They decide the match would be better positioned as a goofy comedy match with Nakanishi freaking people out by getting SAPP up in the torture rack. All that beef breaks his spine so they work heat on Nakanishi. Including a dubious double chair lock instigated by the nefarious cheat Yano. If there’s cheating to be done, Yano will do it. Sapp then blows his interference so badly that he has to step back out of the ring, after standing around looking confused for a while. The secret to good wrestling is timing. Everyone stands around looking a bit confused about what went wrong before they start running Dragon Gate multiple man spots that are totally out of place. After a brief comeback Nakanishi finishes Iizuka with the rack. So many booking mistakes. Where to begin? No hot tag. The guy with the injured back finished with a move that uses the back primarily. I have no idea who was legal. I had no reason to care. Akebono and Sapp did nothing and were the focus of the match. Yujiro’s pre-match rant lead to him doing virtually nothing throughout the entire bout. Strong Man still moves in slow motion. Nobody cared here. Nobody at all.
Final Rating: ¼*

 

NEVER Openweight Title
Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin
Tanaka is a name most people recognise thanks to his run in ECW in the late 90s. His insane tactics involving ridiculous chair spots and taking blows to the head that would kill a normal man. Tanaka has bounced around numerous Japanese federations since his American run but settled in New Japan in 2009. Like half the roster he’s in the CHAOS stable. NEVER is a little side project of New Japan to inject new blood into the company. In fact the N part of NEVER stands for New Blood. The rest? Evolution. Valiantly. Eternal. Radical. So naturally their first champion is a 40 year old. I don’t really get Japanese booking sometimes. Tanaka won a 16 man tournament back in November 2012 to claim the belt but this is his first title defence. Shelton Benjamin should be another familiar name considering his 8 year stint with the WWE and subsequent run of awesomeness on the Indies including 3 years with ROH. He’s been working for New Japan on and off over the last year or so.

Tanaka shows he means business by bringing a kendo stick with him. Shelton responds by popping off a few suplexes and wowing the crowd by flipping over Tanaka and landing on his feet. Tanaka takes a powder so Shelton wipes him out with a tope. Benjamin’s risk taking doesn’t always come off. While the tope connects a follow up corner splash misses leaving him open for an elbow assault. Tanaka slows things down with a sloppy chinlock. It’s a 1.2 Sags, frankly. Tanaka was never a big technical guy. He just likes to wail on people. He demonstrates this technical failure further with a series of awful Irish whips. Oh, it’s like being back in FMW. Benjamin ducks under Sliding D and hits the Shell Shocka. When they go to the high spots the match comes to life. Shelton gets a blockbuster and a superkick for near falls. Considering we’re only five minutes into this we’re already at the match’s climax. Tanaka’s cornerman begins a campaign of massive interference culminating in a kendo stick shot for a near fall. Tanaka goes for his patented tornado DDT only for Shelton to counter into the ankle lock. Tanaka’s cornerman, which I’m fairly sure is Yujiro Takahashi because of Tanaka’s CHAOS links, tries something off the top allowing Shelton to vertical jump up there and suplex him off. Always impressive. On landing Shelton eats the Sliding D for the pin though. The actual wrestling was shit but the big spots were delightful. The counters and so forth. Superbly well executed. Which is an issue in modern wrestling. Some guys can hit a perfect release German suplex but can’t do a chinlock.
Final Rating: **1/4

 

IWGP Tag Team Titles
Killer Elite Squad (c) vs. Sword and Guns
Killer Elite Squad is WWE alumnus Harry Smith, now competing as Davey Boy Smith Jr, and “American Psycho” Lance Archer; the former Lance Hoyt in TNA and Vance Archer in the WWE’s version of ECW. Sword, of Sword and Guns, is Hirooki Goto, who also worked in TNA for a while but has been knocking around NJPW’s undercard for years after graduating from their dojo. The Guns part is Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson, formally one half of former tag champions Bad Intentions with Giant Bernard who is better known as Albert, A-Train or Lord Tensai. He’s been working in New Japan since 2009 and has gained quite a following. I personally dig when he fires an invisible machine gun. Goto getting in on the act by bringing a samurai sword to demonstrate the differences between American and Japanese society. Killer Elite Squad come out wearing masks and Archer on a motorbike. As if to say; symbolism is good but bikes and masks are cool. They also have a much better name. This is their second title defence. They’re cornered by TAKA Michinoku (a fellow Suzukigun member) who shouts “LET’S GET CRAZY” into the mic pre-match. I love Japan.

Goto looks like a child compared to the enormous Archer. The “American Psycho” has what we in the business call “the look”. In terms of work…he looks like a clumsy version of the Undertaker. He even does the Ropewalk. Badly. Smith isn’t much better. He’s a big guy and he’s solid but how long is he going to coast by on his father’s reputation? Anderson, who’s far less talented, shows much more in this match. He’s got guts, personality and creativity. Archer continues his Undertaker love with a chokeslam. Is he angling for an Undertaker II job in the WWE or something? He goes to do the Ropewalk again and thankfully Anderson cuts him off and hits the GUN STUN off the top rope. Archer has the temerity to kick out of that and kill Anderson’s finisher forever. I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I kicked out of someone’s finisher off the top. Goto gets himself isolated but escapes the Killer Bomb by kicking Davey off. The tag rules go out of the window as both teams just hit a bunch of spots, Anderson’s Gun Stun getting the biggest pop despite Archer’s best efforts. Goto actually tries to do some wrestling for which he’s punished by the Killer Bomb. Anderson breaks up the pin so he gets a Killer Bomb too. All four guys have now been in the ring for about 3 minutes. Goto attempts a comeback and the champs hit the Killer Bomb AGAIN for the win. I might be getting a bit old when I consider a match like this to be a total mess without any structure. The idea, chaps, is to build to a big finish. And that doesn’t mean ignoring the rules for the entire second half of the match because you can’t get your shit in otherwise. Hey, it works for teams like the Motor City Machine Guns or the Briscoe Brothers because their stuff is hugely inventive. These guys only had one double team move and did it three times. Why? What’s the point?
Final Rating: *

 

Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
Now we’re talking. Nagata is a surly old man who likes to beat the crap out of people. He’s been in New Japan since 1992, a year or so in WCW in the late 90s aside, and is the head of the Blue Justice Army, a babyface stable. Suzuki is also a surly old man, perhaps the surliest ever seen, and is a former MMA fighter. He also spent about 6 years in All Japan perfecting the strongstyle that company is so famous for. While both competitors are into their 40’s I still anticipate a good contest. Mainly because they’re not going to do all the bullshit that made the last match so insufferable. Suzuki is so awesome that Ayumi Nakamura is on hand to sing him to the ring. Suzuki gets impatient waiting for the bell and shoves one of Nagata’s young boy minions off the apron to my amusement.

Suzuki starts with elbows AND LAUGHING. Which is awesome. Then they start wailing away at each other, neither man backing down, neither man even flinching as they raise the stakes on strikes. Because they’re getting tired they switch gears and try to break each others arms to stop the striking. The seconds get involved and Suzuki has Taichi (fellow member of  Suzukigun) out there wailing on Nagata’s young boys with a chair. The ref tries to remove him, which just allows Suzuki the opportunity to park a chair on Nagata’s throat and attempt to murder him. As Nagata starts to redden up in the face department I think about matches between 40-something wrestlers in the US. They don’t have this intensity. Suzuki, ever the shooter, tries for a knee bar when Nagata recovers his pallor. Suzuki then switches to a choke, which Nagata, the expert grappler, EXPLODER suplexes out of. Nagata with kicks to set up another Exploder, which Suzuki blocks with a choke! Genius. Nagata switches to a belly to belly and hooks the Nagatalock II, which is a crossface basically, only for Suzuki to counter out into a knee bar again. I love wrestling. Nagata brings a bit of comedy by zombie sitting up as Suzuki tries to get a cocky pin. Not sure how productive that is but the crowd pop, so what do I know? They run more comedy as Suzuki slaps away at Nagata and as Yuji drops down Suzuki pulls him back up for more slapping. Suzuki puts a sleeper on the worn down Nagata only for Yuji to twice wrestle out of it. The second time his face is purple. He’s running the ‘rainbow’ of selling. Seeing as he won’t quit and is incapable of passing out because he’s too manly, Suzuki switches to the Gotch Piledriver, which Nagata successfully wrestles out of. Nagata goes back to the arm, which brings Taichi’s big blond ass onto the apron. Nagata kicks him square in the face. You, you’re too fucking BLOND. Back to the slapping until Nagata kicks Suzuki in his now bad arm. Suzuki tries to instigate a slapfest only for Nagata to kick the absolute crap out of him and just destroy that arm. Nagata’s eyes roll back into his head as he cranks on the arm in a fantastic visual. Suzuki won’t quit either. You’d have to tear his arm off. So Nagata slaps him across the chops and hits the Backdrop Driver for the hard earned win. This match was right up my alley. A beautiful combination of hard strikes and earnest grappling. I could have lived without the interference, the comedy and some of the looseness in the early going but otherwise it was bang on.
Final Rating: ****

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
Prince Devitt (c) vs. Low Ki vs. Kota Ibushi
The term “junior” isn’t a derogatory one, as the WWE would never use it, but rather a remark on the size of the participants. Juniors are generally the smaller workers. Unlike in TNA where they had the X division where anyone could compete as long as they wrestled a cruiserweight style. Junior heavyweights are all small. This particular title has existed since 1986. Liger has held it 11 times. This is Devitt’s third title run and his first defence since winning it from Ki in November. Ki incidentally won it from Ibushi. Who won it from Ki. Who won it from Devitt. We’ve come full circle, again. Devitt is Irish and got his break on a surprise invitation to join the New Japan dojo in 2006. He’s been one of their mainstays ever since. Ki is a former star for ROH, TNA and the WWE. He’s changed his image slightly and tonight wrestles in a full dress suit, complete with tie and driving gloves. Not sure I get that. He looks like a limo driver. Ibushi has been around the Indies for a while before officially settling in New Japan in 2009.

Ki and Devitt start at frightening speed before Ibushi gets involved and we get a 3-way stand off that reminds me of TNA’s threeway stuff with Joe, Daniels and AJ. Like most cruiserweight threeways the action is fast and hard to call. Suffice to say to they nail a lot of difficult spots, which must have taken many planning sessions to figure out. I appreciate the effort and preparation. An early favourite is Ki going for the Tidal Krush only for Ibushi to jump him with a rana in mid run. Ki seems to single out Ibushi for abuse after that, kicking him at unusual angles. However all I can think is; why is he wrestling in a suit? According to Wikipedia it was a tribute to the Hitman video game series. O….k. The idea behind the match is far easier to understand; it’s here to establish Devitt as the leading light in the junior heavyweight scene. He gets the better of both opponents when the odds are even. It’s only when he’s unsighted that Ki is able to clock him with a koppou kick. The other, less thrilling, aspect is to throw out silly high spots. Like Ibushi hitting a twisty dive onto the other two while they just stand there like idiots admiring how much he can twist in mid air. They work in a nice spot after that where Devitt rolls away from a moonsault only for Ibushi to see, land on his feet and hit a standing moonsault instead. That was cool. Ibushi does a mean Last Ride too and the execution of the big spots have been good. Ibushi tries for something stylish on Ki, a release half nelson suplex, only for Ki to land on his feet and stomp him. KI KRUSHA follows and Devitt is slow breaking up the pin with a stomp off the top. Ki finally ditching his jacket before the sequence. Ki sets up his corner stomp off the top only for Ibushi to sneak up and springboard rana Ki off the top rope. That was awesome sauce. The spots have gotten better as the match goes on, which is promising. Ki is looking increasingly dishevelled. Shame, he wore that suit like a boss. Ki goes for the super Ki Krusha only for Ibushi to dropkick him to the floor. Devitt sees the opening as Ibushi mounts the buckles and KILLS HIM with a Bloody Sunday off the top rope. See, Vance Archer, that’s a finish! The match started badly but got progressively better including spots that made sense and several thrilling high spots. Not on a par with the better threeways from TNA or ROH but an entertaining contest and not the disaster it could have been.
Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Tangent: I love how they take a break at this point so the fans can process what they’ve seen and properly prepare for the run of main events. This also allows New Japan the chance to flog a few DVD’s including what looks like a career retrospective of Shinya Hashimoto, a thing where Yuji Nagata dances with a video game character and Takashi Iizuka attacks commentators. 2 hours into the show and four main event matches remain. Like Wrestlemania this is a bum-number and no mistake.

 

Keiji Mutoh & Shinjiro Otani vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
Otani is one of my favourite wrestlers. He used to be a big star in the junior division until their booking went awful around the turn of the century (when NOAH was crushing everyone for good shows) and Otani got so frustrated he jumped ship with Shinya Hashimoto and formed Zero-One. He’s been one of their top guys ever since and rarely ever sets foot in another company. He’s a late substitute for Daichi Hashimoto; Shinya’s son, who unfortunately broke his arm a few weeks before the show. Mutoh has a long history with Shinya dating back to their early years in wrestling. Mutoh is known to North American audiences as the Great Muta and he blew a few minds with his flying antics in the NWA in the late 80s. He jumped to All Japan back in 2002 to help fill the void left by Misawa. On the other side of the ring Tenzan has been with New Japan since his wrestling debut in 1991. He’s a company man. Kojima is another that’s been elsewhere as he jumped to All Japan with Mutoh back in 2002 but a few years ago he jumped back to New Japan. So Mutoh has issues with him over that defection, which happened under Mutoh’s watch as head booker in AJPW.

Otani takes Hashimoto’s headgear to the ring with him to symbolise how he’s fighting on behalf of his old friend and colleague. Tenzan still has awesome hair. Kojima still looks like Bill Hicks. Given how immobile Muta is the pacing on this is gentle. Kojima and Tenzan are more of a team and work better as a unit. Old man Otani is tough as day old steak and actually leans into Tenzan’s chops as if to criticise their power. Shame he’s so immobile too because everything creeps along slowly. A marked contrast to the earlier matches. Even the Suzuki-Nagata bout. Muta sneaks in a few trademarks like the Muta Elbow and the STF. Muta has Tenzan’s leg but Otani is unable to subdue the lively Kojima allowing him to break any submission attempts. Kojima chop rushes Muta to set up the Savage Elbow. Muta nonchalantly kicking out. The babyface side of things in this match have seen better days. Muta can still forward roll like a Conquistador but that’s an exception to his general mobility. I’m sad that Otani is so inert compared to the last time I saw him in a New Japan ring. Although to be fair that was a long time ago. He can still boot scrap Kojima’s face off. I do love a good BOOOOOOT SCRAAAAAAPE. Kojima and Otani manage to figure out some tidy counters ahead of a hot tag with Muta hitting the Shining Wizard and the Hash team slap on stereo Figure Fours. Muta looks in agony applying his, which shows the condition of his knees. Otani stumbles into the Koji Cutter and the match slides back into mediocrity. Otani unresponsive to Tenzan’s slow motion chops. Muta running in and signalling where he wants Kojima to be is a bit embarrassing. Not that Muta ever cared about stuff like that. Muta connects with a pair of Shining Wizards before hitting Tenzan in the back of the head with another. Tenzan not bothering to sell it because a) it’s the Shining Wizard and b) Muta hits a dozen of them every match. Otani busts out the far more awesome SPIRAL BOMB only for Kojima to recover from his Shining Wizard to save. Otani does a bit of work on Kojima’s lariat arm only to run into the 3-D. Kojima ignores the arm work and immediately hits the lariat before Tenzan finishes with the moonsault. Tenzan got his lip busted by one of the many times Muta stuck his knee in Tenzan’s face. The match suffered from issues relating to Muta and Otani’s old age. They weren’t surly enough to compensate. Tenzan and Kojima aren’t great technically and didn’t bring enough intensity to match Otani’s heart and soul approach. Daichi tries to make things interesting by slapping Tenzan afterwards. I bet Tenzan armbars the hell out of him in that eventual match.
Final Rating: **

 

Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata is Kazu Sakuraba’s mate. They’ve both returned to New Japan after a spell in MMA. Shibata came through the New Japan dojo in the late 90s but left to pursue a career in MMA back in 2006. Makabe has spent his entire career in New Japan and worked his way through the ranks to become a heavyweight star. While known more as a deathmatch wrestler who carries chains around his neck he has been the IWGP champion. He’s a solid wrestler but a better brawler. I’ve not seen Shibata wrestle in a decade so it should be interesting to see what he brings to this.

Shibata works a shoot style, which leads to a lot of takedowns and short shoot-style strikes. He’s definitely going for realism, which makes it all the more annoying when he throws in an Irish whip into the guardrail. Urgh. That’s a Togi spot. When they stay in the ring and stick to the striking Shibata absolutely dominates. Makabe getting crushed by big kicks, short knees and headbutts. Makabe’s attempts to turn it back into a wrestling match are met by a combination of scorn and no selling. Also kicks to the face. So many facial kicks that Makabe resorts to lying on the mat as a form of defence because that makes it harder to kick his face. Makabe has to change the game on Shibata and turns it into a hardcore match. First running Shibata into a ring post then powerbombing him through a ringside table. Makabe could probably win it on count out and has to drag Shibata back inside. Shibata swiftly returns to his no selling ways, kicking out of a German suplex at one and not flinching on a series of follow up assaults. Togi serves up a lariat to stop that shit and hits the King Kong kneedrop for a shockingly quick victory in under 10 minutes. Shibata looks rusty but his strikes are hugely effective. I’d question him getting jobbed out here but he did dominate proceedings until Makabe went all Sportz Entertainment on him. Shibata certainly needs to fine tune his style if he wants to stay in the upper echelons of New Japan.
Final Rating: **1/2

 

IWGP Intercontinental Title
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
The IWGP IC title came about in 2011 when New Japan started running shows elsewhere. MVP was the inaugural champion. Nakamura won the belt from  Hirooki Goto last summer. This is a particularly big match as Sakuraba is a huge name in the wrestling world courtesy of his MMA career. He was known as the Gracie Hunter and had a phenomenal MMA record until 2005 or so. With his shoot career winding down he signed, along with Shibata, for NJPW in late 2012. Nakamura meanwhile has been at the top of his game in recent years, making huge improvements and being a high card star in a company full of potential superstars. Nakamura initially reminded me of Kevin Nash in his mannerisms and style but he’s like that aggressive 1994 Nash. The one who actually gave a shit. Since becoming leader of CHAOS he’s changed his image somewhat and has a posing emo vibe about him. He’s extremely hard to get a read on.

Sakuraba is at a size disadvantage against the gangly Nakamura and so uses his speed to get into technically strong positions. Nakamura is deceptively fast though and in the early going deliberately shoots for a single leg leaving Sakuraba sprawling into the ropes. Noticeable that Sakuraba immediately gets a single leg himself as if to assert his wrestling superiority. Nakamura’s initial gameplan seems to be one of containment. Minimalising the threat. He leaves his head exposed and if it were a shootfight Sakuraba would win on chokeout. Which is a logic hole for me because there shouldn’t be a huge difference in techniques. He should go for it and have Nakamura use the ropes to get out. Instead they get stood back up where Nakamura dances around trying to land a kick. Sakuraba takes offence and slaps him. A resultant slapfest is like a kinetic version of the earlier one between Suzuki and Nagata. The problem with that being that it looks like two girls fighting over a lipstick at 3am outside a pub. Sakuraba cleverly baits Nakamura into one of his daft trademark spots, the corner stomach punt, only to slip out and apply a choke. Nakamura comes flying after him and runs straight into a knee, which knocks him out, LEGIT. The ref stops the match to revive him and Sakuraba mounts, attempts to choke Nakamura with his own arm (quit hitting yourself) and lands a few punches before switching to a triangle choke. Nakamura steps on his head, using his gangly limbs to his advantage, before kneeing Sakuraba in the back of the head. Wonderful spot. Sakuraba is into his rhythm though and goes after an armbar only for Nakamura to return to defensive tactics. They roll around looking for an armbar until Sakuraba mounts again and they’re doing a decent job of making it look like a shoot on the mat. Nakamura escapes by powering up and hitting a Michinoku Driver but Sakuraba slaps him in a keylock to escape a follow up. Nakamura again uses his legs, this time knee strikes, to escape. Sakuraba gets another armbar so Nakamura stamps on his face and hits the BOMA YE to win. I’m not keen on that finish either. A far better finish would have been him pinning Sakuraba while Kazu tried desperately for a submission hold. A’la Steve Austin & Bret Hart at Survivor Series ’96. Otherwise this was a great storyline and a frantically paced match up. Nakamura is a strange beast. He struts around like a peacock on ecstasy but somehow manages to incorporate every bit of his weirdness into a new kind of shootesque wrestling. He’s a goddamn weirdo and obviously one of New Japan’s biggest stars. Match of the night.
Final Rating: ****1/4

 

Tangent: I don’t agree with the booking there. I’d have put Sakuraba over and had Nakamura win the IWGP title sometime soon to set up a re-match for the companies biggest title. But hey, it’s not my company. The rumour has it that not everyone agrees with Sakuraba being hired and thrown into a high profile feud, hence the loss to Nakamura, but the problem New Japan face as their domination of Japan continues is creating new legitimate main event stars. Speaking of which…

 

IWGP Title
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
Both these guys have something in common. They were both farmed out to, and misused by, TNA. Tanahashi, on his return to New Japan, became their ace overnight. TNA used him in multiple person spotfests. Okada didn’t get even that and barely appeared on TV during his year in America. Rumours persist that the WWE is interested in him, largely due to his muscle gain during the last year or so. This seems to be Okada’s time. He won the 2012 G-1 Climax and defeated Tanahashi for the IWGP title last year. Tanahashi reclaimed the title in June and now has record setting six title reigns. His combined days as champion are more than anyone else in history bar Muta. He’s also defended the title more than anyone else in history. This is the rubber match with Okada though. Whoever wins here is officially top dog in New Japan.

They exchange cleans breaks and Rainmaker poses to begin. I should probably add that Okada’s nickname is “The Rainmaker”. Incidentally he’s also in CHAOS. Given this is a massive main event they start slow and deliberate. I wouldn’t call it boring but the pacing is very deliberate compared to how hasty everything else on the card has felt. As if they’re living off the build in the opening minutes. Business picks up as Okada gets a DDT off the top rope. Look, I hate it when Randy Orton does it, I can’t say I like it appearing as the FIRST SPOT of a title match. At least Tanahashi rolls to the floor so it isn’t a near fall but even so. It takes the wind out of Tanahashi’s sails and slows up a slow match even more. Tanahashi starts with the Shawn love and skins the cat ahead of huge flapjack from Okada. Tanahashi’s bumping isn’t as extravagant as Shawn Michaels’ but some would agree that’s not such a bad thing. I know overselling is an issue sometimes but so is overacting and I love Christopher Walken, Nicolas Cage and Alan Rickman. Okada’s pacing isn’t his only issue. His tactics throw in the occasional risky spot he doesn’t need to do. As if he felt he shouldn’t be too dull or the fans would hate on him. But throwing in a senton, which misses, for no reason doesn’t make you look like a genius. Tanahashi switches gears and wipes out Okada’s knee. When Okada attempts a big boot to stop him it sets up the dragon screw. Okada bails and Tanahashi hits an amazing High Fly Flow to the floor. The way he changes direction in mid-air is absolutely freakish. It might have been easier to roll Okada back in and try for the submission though, eh? Okada replies with his own dragon screw, which is the old mirroring psychology but it also should slow down those rope moves. Weak DDT sets up the Deep in Debt; Okada’s submission hold. Unfortunately it’s more of a choke than a leg hold. Okada then does another dumb thing; he goes up top, again taking needless risks, and his elbow drop finds Tanahashi’s knees. That dragon screw from Okada really meant nothing didn’t it? Tanahashi using the injured body part as a weapon moments later. They head out to the ramp, as is customary during big Japanese matches, where Tanahashi hits the Sling Blade. Tanahashi has constantly found a way to out perform Okada during the match. Tanahashi completely no sells Okada’s comeback spot; Heavy Rain. He heads up for the frogsplash only for Okada to get knees up and FINALLY busts out the psychology by hurting himself in the process. Okada hits an Air Raid Crash over his injured knee, which naturally just injures it further. He might be bringing the selling but never in this match has he brought the brains. RAINMAKER POSE! Tanahashi ducks it and hits a Straightjacket suplex before rolling into a dragon suplex for a near fall. Sling Blade sets up the High Fly Flow and Okada KICKS OUT! Tanahashi is stunned but quickly recomposes himself and works over Okada’s knee some more. Okada comes very close to tapping in the Texas Cloverleaf, which would make perfect sense but deflate the crowd. He makes the ropes instead and somehow manages a dropkick right afterwards. The inconsistency in the selling has been hugely frustrating in this match. They do manage a nice spot where they have to hold onto each other to get back up, exhausted. Tanahashi again ducks the Rainmaker only to eat a Tombstone. Tanahashi counters another Rainmaker this time into the Sling Blade. Business has picked up. Tanahashi escapes another Tombstone by dropkicking the injured knee. Tanahashi with his OWN Tombstone. Okada barely gets back up and Tanahashi hits a pair of High Fly Flows to retain. The match is hard to rate as the building blocks in the early going were poorly executed but the last third of the match was much better. The psychology never quite clicked and yet the match was really enjoyable and popped the Dome hard.
Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Summary: The main event was overly long for what they had planned. They shot for epic and fell a little short. It’s still a good match but it’s not the great match they probably wanted. Nakamura and Sakuraba stole the show with one spot; a stunning knee to the face to block a single leg. It will be my favourite memory of the show, by far. That match over achieved big time. In 11 minutes they had a kinetic battle. Non-stop switching and countering. Suzuki-Nagata also delivered and was the match I’d been most looking forward to. For the biggest show of the year it didn’t quite live up to the hype but for a PPV you’d be happy with four of the big matches hitting ***1/2+. If you ignore the two dark matches, which are filler, and all the yapping between bouts this wouldn’t be the five hour show I just watched and it’d be far more enjoyable. Try to skip over the filler when you watch this but definitely watch it.
Verdict: 64