New Japan's worst show of the year is still leagues ahead of what everyone else is putting out.
For the first time in roughly six months, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has released a slightly above average iPPV event. It says a lot about just how amazing the promotion has been as of late if their worst effort still stands as one of the better events of the year thus far. Not going to do one of my traditonal reviews for this one, but here are my ratings for each match:
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA) (c) vs. Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov) - Terrific opener with the usual fast paced offense from both teams. Romero & Kozlov are building a lot of steam right now so the right duo won here. This match was a whole lot of fun. [***1/4]
Tag Team Match: Prince Devitt and Bad Luck Fale vs. Ryusuke Taguchi and Captain New Japan - A bit of a grudge match that was the result of Devitt's attacking of both his opponents last month. Most of the work here was about getting Devitt over as a bona fide top heel. His turn has been one of the best of the decade thus far. Good stuff. [**]
IWGP Tag Team Title Four Way Match: Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) (c) vs. Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka vs. Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima - Solid enough given the talent involved. As a K.E.S fan, I was a bit disappointed in the fact that they lost the titles without either man even being pinned to the mat, but such is the nature of a match like this. TenKoji earn their billionth tag title with this win. Didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted, but it wasn't bad by any means. [**3/4]
NEVER Openweight Title Match: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Tomoaki Honma - This is where things really started to pick up for me. I don't know how many of you feel about Honma, but he's subtly becoming one of my favorites in New Japan right now. I really can't put my finger on why, but there's just something about him that makes his matches especially captivating for me. And Tanaka is always outstanding at what he does. A very good matchup here. These two have great chemistry. [***1/4]
Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi - Nothing too special here. Yujiro is a great dickhead heel and Makabe is Makabe. Still, this sort of just...happened. [**]
Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata - One of my most anticipated bouts of the night. These two have a lot of history and after their amazing tag war at Invasion Attack, they had tons of momentum heading into this one. Excellent work in the storytelling department with some very stiff exchanges that could make Minoru Suzuki cringe. Most may scoff at the double KO finish, but I loved it. [***3/4] *Recommended*
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson - Another amazing match between these two that gets my vote for the second best match of the evening. It's nowhere near the level of their classic at New Beginning, but that's mostly due to time constraints and a much lower level of hype. A real back and forth thriller and yet another four star effort from Tanahashi. Devitt and Fale jumped Tanahashi after the match and Anderson and Tama Tonga soon joined in. They now comprise a stable called the "Bullet Club" (which is obviously, only open to REAAALLL shooters!). More great additions to back Devitt's heel turn. [****] *Recommended*
IWGP Intercontinental Title match: Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. Shelton “X” Benjamin - This match was in the running for the best of the night until a bit of sloppiness occurred near the finishing sequence. It's still one of the highlights of the show, but it's a shame that it was brought down by the Nakamura botch. Shelton thrived here in his new role. Really thought he showed more charisma in this one match than in his entire run with the WWE. Very enjoyable. [***3/4] *Recommended*
IWGP Heavyweight Title match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki - A very good world title main event that was built off of Okada's inability to score a real definitive win over perennial douche Minoru Suzuki. The leader of Suzukigun looked as dangerous as ever here and put the boots to the champ for about 85% of the contest, leaving some doubt in the audience's minds as to if Okada would again have a short reign. Great mat work, selling and psychology by both men. One of the best main events of the year, but it's New Japan so that's almost become expected at this point. [****1/4] *Recommended*
Overall PPV Score: 7.75/10
All Tanahashi matches are five stars or above, what the hell is this?!?
ReplyDeleteNice to see someone who doesn't think Dontaku was total shit man.
Bring on BOSJ XX, where REAAAALLLLLL Devitt cements his leagacy! (Or Taguchi wins the thing, because revenge storylines are ace!)
Ahaha such is the grumpy perspective of the Internet these days. Whining is the new praise. All the cool kids are doing it.
DeleteStill good PPV as usual, NJPW seems to move forward from now on.
ReplyDeleteMakabe might be a midcarder lately but he should bring solid match to Okada (They only met once it I correct).
Very excite for the return of Naito. Hope he have some new moves aside from Stardust Press. He needs some mat finishing move to keep himself healthy (and he seems to be bigger than Tanahashi now as well).
About BOSJ, I call KUSHIDA for a win. Don't know why, just feeling. I see devitt to drop Jr. belt soon since he should go for heavy division later this year.
Yeah I've been thinking Devitt's bulking up & slow heel turn have all been apart of a bigger plan to elevate him to a top heavyweight. As for Naito, I also look forward to his return. Should provide a great challenege for Okada in a (hopeful) rematch of last year's classic...the list of juniors they have for BOSJ looks amazing as well. Should be awesome!
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