With the NJPW Best Of Super Juniors, All Japan’s Champion Carnival, BJW’s Strong Climb, wXw 16 Carat Gold and PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16 – it’s been the year of the great wrestling tournaments but the leader in the clubhouse thus far, and the tournament that has set the marker down for the G1, the CWC and the Super J Cup, was Dragon Gate’s King Of Gate!
Alan watched it all as did his guest this week: THE GURU OF GRAPPLING Mr. Joe Lanza! Alan and Joe talk all the best matches, the breakout stars, the stories of the tournament and so much more. The Dragon Gate wrestlers are among the best in the world and they don’t get enough credit. This week, the DKP shines a light on a very deserving promotion! It’s a must for DG fans but also a show worth checking out if you just wanna get excited about pro wrestling!
– Baron Corbin beat Dolph Ziggler with the End of Days.
– Titus O’Neil beat Curtis Axel after three backbreakers and the Clash of The Titus.
– WWE Tag Team Champons The New Day beat The Vaudevillians to retain the tag titles after a foot stomp from the top rope.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka submitted Becky Lynch with the Asuka lock to retain.
– John Cena & Usos beat The Club (AJ Styles/Gallows/Anderson). Cena got the pin. Post match, Cena cut a promo and allowed the Club to stay in the ring so they could get some recognition for their time in Japan.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte submitted Natalya with the Figure 8 to retain.
– Shinsuka Nakamura pinned Kevin Owens after hitting the Kinshasa
– WWE Champion Dean Ambrose won a three way over Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins, pinning Jericho after hitting Dirty Deeds.
The WWE’s July tour of Japan is coming into shape with the cards officially released on their Japan microsite including Nakamura’s first official scheduled WWE action.
Nakamura will face both Bray Wyatt and Kevin Owens on the tour, while WWE Champion Roman Reigns will be involved in two fatal-four way matches for the title. Also, it looks as if the John Cena/AJ Styles feud will last a few months as they are also scheduled for both nights.
Thanks to reader Robin Clarke for sending these over:
Friday, July 1st:
– Fatal Four-Way: WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
– John Cena vs. AJ Styles
– Fatal Four-Way: WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. The Usos vs. Vaudevillains vs. The Club
– Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bray Wyatt
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Curtis Axel
– Titus O’Neil vs. Baron Corbin
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Becky Lynch
– Ric Flair is also listed as doing an appearance.
Saturday, July 2
– Fatal Four Way: WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins
– John Cena vs. AJ Styles
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. Vaudevillians
More Super Junior action took place on 5/30 in Tottori as B Block matches commenced:
Will Ospreay vs. Tiger Mask
This was really good. Ospreay moved around great and Tiger Mask was the good grumpy veteran who kept things grounded. At one point, Ospreay hit what looked like an inverted phoenix splash but Tiger Mask got the knees up, took him to the corner and hit a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Ospreay kicked out of that, but eventually submitted to Tiger Mask’s scissors armbar.
Volador Jr. vs. Bobby Fish
Fish controlled a lot of the match and worked on Volador’s leg near the end. Volador went to do something on the top rope, flipped over to the floor but his leg buckled. That allowed Fish to come in and hit a falcon arrow, but Volador kicked out. Fish followed with an ankle lock and submitted him. Good match.
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ricochet
Pretty good back and forth match. Liger was very competitive and did all of his big moves, including the shotei and the running senton to the floor. Ricochet made a comeback, hit a big time brainbuster but Liger kicked out. Ricochet followed that with his cobra twist submission for the win.
Day 5 results are in (though you probably already know that reading this evening’s edition of the Observer), which featured A Block action in Iwate:
Gedo vs Matt Sydal
The heel Gedo jumped Sydal immediately with a superkick to the gut. He was in control for most of the match. Sydal escaped from Gedo and took him down, remained in control and got the win rather quickly with a shooting star press. Okay for what it was.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. BUSHI
This was just there. Crowd was kind of into it, but not really. It was solid but the crowd hurt it a bit. There was a ref bump but O’Reilly avoided the mist and hit the brainbuster for a nearfall. The referee recovered way too quickly over that ref bump; doing it in every Bushi match is going to get really tiresome, plus they come up with the most contrived ways to execute them. O’Reilly immediately sank in the armbar and got the submission.
Kushida vs. David Finlay
Another solid match here. Kushida worked on Finlay’s arm early. Finlay came back with a German suplex and did the uppercut in the corner. Finlay broke out the stretch muffler but Kushida made it to the ropes. Some hot nearfalls toward the end. After some back and forth reversals Kushida got in the hoverboard lock and after some fighting, Finlay submitted.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Rocky Romero
Taguchi decided to wear a pirate costume to the ring. And when I mean costume, I mean a plastic hook and an eyepatch. Not imaginative, but gets the job done I guess. Another okay match. Everything looked fine, nothing wrong with it. Romero kicked out of a running hip strike. Taguchi went for another but Romero grabbed him. Taguchi countered by reversing into an ankle lock submission, which got him the win.
Day 4 results of the Best of the Super Junior tournament are in. Here’s what went down this morning in Yamagata, which featured B Block action:
Tiger Mask vs. Volador Jr.
Pretty solid match. Both guys looked very good. Volador’s thing is he’ll wrestle for half the match with the mask on, then take off the mask for his comeback. Tiger Mask came back and laid him out with a Tiger bomb and tried to submit him with a seated armbar but Volador got to the ropes. He came back with a backstabber then submitted him with him standing over Tiger Mask and having him submit to an armbar while kneeling.
Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Solid match. Yujiro was at ringside. Owens has improved a lot in between tours, though he was never bad . Good back and forth match. Owens was going for the package piledriver, but Liger escaped and pinned Owens with the crucifix for the out of nowhere win.
Yujiro jumped Liger immediately after the match, allowing Owens to lay out Liger with a package piledriver. Not sure what exactly this is over, but I believe it’s something storyline wise since he got legit injured during the recent ROH tour. They stretched him out. Kind of a bit too much when you do two stretcher jobs on the same tour, no?
Bobby Fish vs. Ricochet
I know this is a shock but Ricochet is amazing. He hopped over Fish’s kicks on the apron early, ran towards the turnbuckle and laid him out with a moonsault. It really has to be seen just how great he’s able to execute stuff like that so flawlessly. This was really good, one of the best matches from this fixed camera shows so far. Ricochet looked awesome and Fish did his part well in being the guy that killed Ricochet’s momentum to get the heat. He worked over his legs and had him in some leg locks near the end but Ricochet was either able to escape or counter them. Ricochet drilled him with two knee strikes then finished him off with the Benadryller for the win.
Trent Baretta vs. Will Ospreay
Good back and forth early, crowd totally into Ospreay. Baretta gave him a German suplex on the apron and I’m pretty sure Ospreay landed on his head. Don’t take bumps like this, kids. Some great action towards the end. Baretta cut Ospreay off on the top rope and laid him out with a back to belly suplex off the top rope,, then followed that with a knee strike for a great near fall. Ospreay tried for a pin but Baretta kicked out and countered Ospreay with a Dudebuster for the win.
Day 3 results of the Best of the Super Junior tournament are in. Here’s what went down this morning in Niigata, all Block A matches:
Kushida vs. Rocky Romero
They did some mat wrestling early. Kushida was out of the ring and Romero opened the ropes. So like a true dope, Kushida enters and Romero jumps him. New Japan faces are really dumb at the cheap heel heat bait sometimes. Kushida made a comeback and hit the sliced bread but Romero kicked out. Romero made a comeback of his own and won with his running knee strike. Last half of the match was very good.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. David Finlay
Today’s Taguchi costume was him wearing an eggplant hat. I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to figure out what he’s trying to convey here. This was solid. Finlay looks good and will probably benefit a lot from working a lot of the guys on his block. He made a good comeback and traded some good near falls with Taguchi. Cool finish as Taguchi went for a hip attack, he countered looking like he was going for a German suplex but Taguchi floated over and snapped on an ankle lock for the submission.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Gedo
Pretty solid match. Gedo is so great in his style. He never does anything flashy but everything looks good and executes stuff really well when it matters the most. They traded submissions on one another throughout; Kyle worked on the arm, Gedo had a crossface in at one point. Kyle landed some stiff shots followed by a brainbuster, but Gedo kicked out. Kyle responded by immediately sinking in an armbar which got him the submission victory.
Matt Sydal vs. Bushi
Kind of just there as a match. Nothing wrong, just overly solid, if that makes any sense. They traded some back and forth offense. Some of the near falls toward the end were pretty good. Sydal won with the shooting star press, so Bushi (who is a favorite heading into this year’s tournament) has now lost twice in a row. One of the big themes of these tournaments is the slow rise towards victory, though, so we’ll see.
Here’s a recap of the four Best of the Super Juniors B block matches that took place this morning in Shizuoka. Thankfully, New Japan World cut the tag team matches that fill these shows. Not that they’re bad, but they’re super formulaic. Some people get into them, and for the very good ones I can get into them too. Most of the time, I just can’t.
Chase Owens vs. Will Ospreay
This was pretty good. Owens is solid. Not flashy like some guys in this tournament, but works really well with a lot of people. Ospreay’s offense was tremendous here, doing everything including the Sasuke special to Owens on the outside. Owens cut him off and pinned him with the package piledriver in a surprise (at least, for me).
There will probably be many examples like this during the tournament, not just because they want to add an air of unpredictability in the tournament but also because they probably had to change a lot of results due to the Young Bucks being pulled from the tournament.
Trent Baretta vs. Volador Jr.
I guess the rule in Japan if you’re a luchador that’s lost his mask is you can wear it for as long as you want, but you have to take it off sometime during the match. The first half of this was okay, nothing special. Volador did a cool dive to the floor. Seems like every time there was a big spot, things would slow down for a while. Things picked up after a while, but the match as a whole was just kind of there save for a few cool spots by Volador. He hit the top rope hurricanrana that won his match on the opening day, but Baretta kicked out. Volador went to charge in the corner, but Baretta lifted up up into the Dudebuster and nailed it for the win.
Bobby Fish vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Both Fish’s theme and Liger’s theme are no longer dubbed over. For some reason, though, Owens’ theme was. Fish smacked Liger’s leg with some kicks early and focused on throse throughout the match. Liger made a comeback and hit the liger bomb for a nearfall. Liger went for a hurricanrana off the top rope but Fish grabbed the ropes, causing Liger to land on his bad leg. Fish kept working on Liger’s leg in a long ankle lock submission. Liger escaped, then managed to hold Fish down long enough by grabbing the ropes t o pick up the sneaky win. Do what you gotta do, I guess.
Tiger Mask vs. Ricochet
This was okay for most of it. Nothing bad, but Tiger Mask’s work is always just there, just good enough not to be bad. Ricochet didn’t do anything flashy for this match either and as a result the match in general was just kinda there. Ricochet picked up the submission win with a modified armbar.
On Thursday, WWE announced its two annual shows in Japan at Sumo Hall in Tokyo which have already sold out with Shinsuke Nakamura as the primary reason.
The most notable aspect of the announcement is that WWE did not at all cater the shows for the Japanese audience, but instead just did a regular show with Nakamura and fellow NXT star — women’s champion Asuka — working down on the card instead.
In particular, Asuka is not working at all with WWE women’s champ Charlotte on the tour even though Asuka would be the lead babyface to the audience in the women’s division. Instead, both women will be defending their respective belts.
July 1st lineup
WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles vs. Kevin Owens
John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
WWE Tag Team Champions New Day vs. Usos vs. Vaudevillains vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Part 3 of our look back Wrestling Dontaku 2015, which took place on July 5, 2015, features two big title matches.
IWGP Jr. Champion Kushida vs. Kenny Omega
I forgot just how great this match was. Omega’s work on Kushida’s leg was great. Kushida made such a great comeback. Both of these guys are just simply phenomenal and showed that here. It’s worth going back and watching these title matches again as NJPW title matches are ALWAYS a big deal and this match came off as something important. Crowd heat was awesome towards the end too. Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Kushida went for the hoverboard lock and eventually got it, securing the submission.
Omega says that Kushida has now made the title garbage. Omega says he’ll clean him up. Kushida says lots of things have changed in the last year. He used to think the title was too far away for him, but now he wants to make sure it never leaves his grasp.
Hirooki Goto is interviewed this week. He mentions that before, he only went to Osaka Jo Hall for concerts. He doesn’t want to comment on the match but he would have loved to be in the main event.
Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Jim Ross made a good comparison at the start of this bout, comparing Nakamura and Goto to Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. It doesn’t fit perfectly, but there are some aspects here that work. This was a really great match. Everything just seamlessly clicked and these two were on a roll. Nakamura did everything well and got some cool nearfalls, including one where he straight up hit the boma ye and Goto kicked out. Finishes are so protected here that when people actually kick out of them, it’s a surprise. Goto powered back, hit his neckbreaker and walloped Nakamura with the shouten kai to retain the Intercontinental title. Another one of those matches where if you rewatch again, you kind of forget just how awesome it actually was.
Nakamura in the post match interview said you should be interviewing the champion. He says there is magic to that belt. Goto cuts a rather short promo to the fans after winning, simply saying “cheers”. Backstage, he feels things have calmed down. He destroyed his path, and that’s something to take pride in. There’s only one thing left, and that’s the G1. He’ll take it with his own hands.
Reflective interview: Goto says in the end, he broke Nakamura’s pattern, but there was still G1. He wants to fight in that tournament like they are all title matches.
Great show this week. If you’ve been missing out and want to check out just one show, check this one out. It’s really strong in two great title matches.
I took in the opening show of the Champion Carnival for All Japan. It was a really hot show, and even though I’m a big supporter of current AJPW even I was surprised by the attendance they did. Korakuen was not far off being packed. Had to be the best crowd they’ve drawn there in a while.
The undercard was fun with the stand-out actually ending up being The Bodyguard vs young Naoya Nomura. The rookie stepped up huge and gave a great performance en route to getting a big upset win. He looked alot more ready for the spot than Jake Lee who faced Atsushi Aoki in the opener. Jun Akiyama vs Super Tiger was on it’s way to being fantastic match when it ended abruptly at the 8 minute mark after Akiyama was KO’d and referee Kohei Wada called for the doctor and the bell rang. Can’t say for sure that it was a work but my instinct tells me it was Akiyama trying to get the outsider over for the tour. It was really well played by Wada and Jun especially. Felt very legit.
The novelty match of the undercard was an 8 man legends tag with a combined age of 436 and 10 months! It was amazingly my second time seeing Dory Funk Jr. wrestle this week. The star of the match was Masanobu Fuchi.
This show was all about the main event though. An absolute classic 30 minute draw between Triple Crown champ Kento Miyahara and Kengo Mashimo. This may have been the best performance of both men’s careers. Miyahara is stepping up in a big way since the departure of Go Shiozaki and Akebono, and the injury of Suwama. The company has been put on his back and he’s carrying it. He looked every bit the ace they need here.
Mashimo was off the charts good. New Japan really missed the boat on him in 2013. He has such a command over the situation when he’s in the ring. His facial expressions are perfect for a greasy heel with a chip on his shoulder trying to knock off a pretty boy ace. This performance he had with Miyahara would have been perfect for a title match with Okada.
The story of the match was Mashimo going at Miyahara’s arm like a pitbull, but the champ firing back with knee strikes and kicks to get a reprieve. It built and built to the point around the 25 minute mark when you realised they were fighting the clock as well as each other. The final few minutes were frantic as a result and the crowd was losing its mind.
Post match, Mashimo glared at the title, and he deserves a shot after this match. A rematch after the tournament could easily do a great crowd because everyone in Korakuen tonight lived and died with this match.
– There was a crazy amount of Naito support. We were seeing Los Ingobernables de Japón shirts from the station by our hotel all the way to Sumo Hall and then at the venue, it was covered in them.
– The line was wrapping around the building which regulars noted was not a normal occurrence.
– The merch was flying off the tables in the building. The scene down by the LIJ section was crazy, and really came across like a super hot product.
– The crowd was insane live, and was really heated the whole way through the show.
– Not many in the crowd knew Will Ospreay going in, but he was a star by the time he left. Many people were asking me about him after his match. In our section, a bunch of the Japanese fans were trying to chant for him, although they found the name a bit tricky!
-All of the confrontations to set up future matches got big reactions, particularly Omega vs. Elgin.
-The atmosphere for the main event was off the charts. The crowd was firmly behind Naito but they were never disrespectful to Okada. Naito’s post-match promo got over big.
I’ve been in Japan for a few days for some great wrestling action at Korakuen Hall. Here’s a rundown of what I’ve seen:
Dragon Gate:
Yosuke Santa Maria & Stalker Ichikawa (dressed as Stan Hansen for the second time this week) vs.Ryo Jimmy Saito & Genki Horiguchi H.A.GeeMeee!!!
Super fun comedy match with some good action at times.Santa Maria is such an entertaining performer and really got to shine here. Her push continued with a pinfall win over Genki.
Don Fujii & U-T vs. Kaito Ishida & Takehiro Yamamura
Wow, this was incredible. It had everything you’d want from it. Don Fujii being surly and beating the tar out of the young guys, the young guys being ultra-competitive with each other, great crowd heat and a fantastic finish. This was perfect for what they set out for.
El Lindaman vs. T-Hawk
Huge upset here as Lindaman got the biggest singles victory of his career, knocking off T-Hawk with a Cross Armbreaker after ten minutes of good action.
Kzy, CIMA & Gamma vs. Monster Express
Excellent fast paced trios match, with charisma abound. Like in the last match, this had a huge result as Big R Shimizu beat CIMA clean with the Shot Put Slam. The crowd went wild for the finish.
The stip here was that Punch had to retire if he lost. The result was a white hot atmosphere with the crowd living and dying with the nearfalls. Eita made Kotoka tap with the El Numero Uno. The finishing stretch of this was just out of this world.
Verserk vs. The Jimmys
With special “Jimmy for a night”, Masaaki Mochizuki in tow, the Jimmys scored a huge victory in the main event after 20 minutes of insane action. They did an incredible job weaving Verserk strife into a match which involved so much coordination and timing. It was incredible to watch a match like this in front of the Japanese fans. Susumu pinned YAMATO after a vicious Jumbo No Kachi lariat. Watch out for The Jimmys entrance and yours truly getting involved.
Post match, Verserk split into two sides to set up the annual DEAD OR ALIVE cage match where hair and masks are at stake. We got a bonus 19 second Cyber Kong/Mondai Ryu match to determine who could avoid the Cage. Mondai won.
Sendai Girls
This was the biggest show in the history of the promotion as they hit Korakuen Hall for the first time headlined by the renewal of a classic rivalry.
Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura
The result was a bona-fide Match Of The Year Candidate. I saw all the big matches from Mania weekend while I’ve been over here and this topped everything. It also topped the incredible Daisuke Sekimoto main event I saw last week at BJW. Aja Kong looked as good as she did in her prime. Not only was her offence looking fantastic but her selling and the subtle little things she did added so much to the match and made me realise I was watching one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
However, she was topped by Satomura, who was absolutely heroic as the babyface. Her fire and her execution were on another level from almost anyone I’ve ever seen in person before. I knew she was good, real good, but not this good. Satomura won the match after an epic closing stretch and retained the title. Kong sold the loss, and the damage, brilliantly after the match. It was like Godzilla being taken down, and slumping away to fight another day.
The undercard was a really fun variety show. We had a hard hitting opening tag match, a comedy match, a really good hardcore match pitting Hikaru Shida & Syuri against KAORU & DASH Chisako, and an awesome veteran vs rookie match as Nanae Takahashi defeated hot prospect Chihiro Hashimoto. This show airs on the 16th, and the main event is absolutely must-see stuff.
New Japan is back this morning in Korakuen Hall as the Road to Invasion Attack continues! On hand tonight is a six man tag featuring all of Los Ingobernables Japon taking on top members of Chaos. We’ll also see a big elimination match as the co-man, always a delight as these type of matches work pretty well in NJPW.
Hirai Kawato vs. Teruaki Kanemitsu
Solid opener. These two are pretty good considering how many matches they’ve had. That’s the entire point of the dojo though, to refine basic skills until you can graduate to having matches, and here they had a basic match with some fun back and forth between the two. Kanemitsu had the Boston Crab on Kawato but the ten minute time limit expired, thus turning it to a draw. He stomped on Kawato after the match and looked upset.
David Finlay vs. Jay White
Good match. These two have pretty good chemistry with one another. White looked really good. People buy into him and got behind him whenever he did a comeback or had a clever counter. Finlay is also very good. Both have a ton of potential down the line. Finlay had White on his shoulders, but White escaped and managed to counter into a boston crab, the required finish for all young lions. Finlay tried to escape, but ultimately couldn’t and tapped.
Kushida, Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger vs. RPG Vice and Gedo
Pretty solid stuff. It was very much your usual New Japan six man tag, but but the crowd was into it and maybe a bit more shorter than usual. Kushida stood apart from everyone else in terms of skill, he’s just fantastic at this point. Romero worked on trying to get the mask off of Tiger Mask during the match but couldn’t do it. Gedo & Kushida had a fun exchange towards the end with Kushida getting the submission with the hoverboard lock..
Kushida cut a promo on Chaos after the match, then danced with his friends. That’s nice!
Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
Not that interesting. It’s not the best four guys I’d put together to have a match. Wound up as a brawl on the outside fairly quickly with Yano using chairs and the like outside the ring. Nakanishi made a hot tag, or whatever you’d want to call it, and took down Yano. Nakanishi took out Yoshi-Hashi as he and Yano battled it out. Yano used the ref to his advantage, grabbing and lifting him high in the air. When Nakanishi went to check on him, Yano low blowed him and got the win with a roll up.
Katsuyori Shibata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tencozy
Good match. Largely a backdrop for the future NEVER title match coming at Invasion Attack, but still good stuff. Shibata and Tenzan went right at it at the bell. Kojima and Taguchi worked together as well, though wasn’t as interesting. Shibata kicked Tenzan right on the face on the apron, sending him crashing to the floor. He managed to get up rather quickly to be tagged in for the comeback. Maaaaaybe sell that spot a bit more. Kojima and Taguchi went at it for a while. Taguchi blocked a lariat attempt but after hitting a boma ye and attempting his own finish, Kojima clocked him with a lariat and pinned him.
Shibata and Tenzan continued to go at it after the match, with referees and young lions having to pull the two apart.
Elimination match: Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tonga Roa
Pretty fun match. Most elimination matches in New Japan are, as they’re pretty much full of action from start to finish. Everyone got a chance to shine early. Elgin came in and destroyed Yujiro, giving him a buckle bomb. Omega tried to stop it, but Elgin grabbed him off the top rope and powerbombed him into Yujiro, allowing Elgin to eliminate him with a powerbomb. Elgin and Omega fought to the outside of the apron where Elgin gave Omega a Death Valley Driver onto all of his opponents on the outside. Robinson made a comeback but Roa and Tonga hit their new finisher and pinned him, evening the odds.
Honma fought back but got eliminated after a huge dropkick by Roa, sending him off the top rope to the floor. Roa was eliminated after two lariats to the outside, and soon after that both Tama Tonga and Makabe eliminated themselves going over the top rope. All that’s left is Tanahashi and Fale. They have some good back and forth until Tanahashi gets the win with a hurricanrana into a rollup. At least, that’s what they tried, but the execution wasn’t exactly there.
Fale beat up on Tanahashi after the match. They’re still teasing something with these two as they’ve squared off on and on since New Beginning.
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto vs. Evil, Tetsuya Naito and Bushi
Fun main event. Everyone worked with one another and everything built up pretty well. Okada and Naito worked against one another and looked really good. They’ve had great matches in the past, so Invasion Attack shouldn’t be any different. Goto cleaned house as Okada set his sights on Evil. Bushi tried to interfere but was immediately given a Rainmaker. Evil came in but got tombstoned, then pinned after another Rainmaker.
Okada was about to do his promo, but Naito (after acting calm and tranquillo following the bell) ran in and took out Gedo. Okada chased him out as he cut a promo on Naito to close out the show.
Fun show overall. Nothing blow away, but if you like elimination and multi man matches, along with a couple of rookie bouts, this show is right up your alley.
Tonight’s Road to Show is a themed show! That’s great as these shows are usually a bunch of tag matches with or two singles. We are still getting a bunch of tags (well, three) but we’re also getting a best of five series tonight between New Japan and Bullet Club.
Toru Yano, Rocky Romero, Beretta and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kushida, Jushin Thunder Liger, David Finlay and Tiger Mask
It was your standard NJPW eight man tag opener. Good, solid action that set the tone for the night. It was cool in that you saw some people interact with each other where it couldn’t happen under normal circumstances. For example, Liger and Ishii worked together and it was actually pretty interesting. Kushida worked with him briefly as well. That would be a very interesting match if it were ever to happen. Yano was only in there briefly, doing his usual deal with the Finlay made his comeback but RPG Vice countered. Romero took out Kushida with a dive, then they followed with the dropkick/dudebuster combo for the win.
Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Captain New Japan, Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata
Why did Shibata agree to tag with Captain New Japan? Eh, I always bring this up but someone should go to management and mention CNJ’s never, like, won a match. If this were real he’d be canned a long time ago, old or not. The Old Lion Squad beat up Shibata and isolated him early. Kojima managed to thwart Taguchi’s hip attacks. It was Nagata who worked with CNJ towards the end. All of Shibata’s team mates tried to help take down Nagata but it was no use as he got the backdrop driver on CNJ and pinned him. It wasn’t that good or even interesting. Wrong team dynamics here.
Tenzan and Shibata got into a big brawl after the match, with Tenzan pelting Shibata with chairs as his team mates tried to stop him. They’re competing for the NEVER title at Invasion Attack.
Cody Hall vs. Michael Elgin
This is Hall’s first singles match in New Japan if I recall correctly. If not it’s been a very long time. He’s still green in spots but has tons of potential, has good facials and has improved dramatically in the last year. They had a short, but pretty solid back and forth match with Elgin getting the win, pinning Hall with a powerbomb pinning combination.
Jay White vs. Kenny Omega
This was pretty good. White is really good technically at this point. Crowd was kind of quiet early, but got into it towards the end, especially when White was making his comeback and was getting all the close submissions/near falls. Omega cut him off with a snap German suplex then a knee strike, pinning White to even things up.
Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Yujiro seems to not even have Mao or his cool theme song anymore at this point. He just came out to the usual Bullet Club theme. Tanahashi came out but Yujiro jumped him immediately. This was fine – short, but was probably the right amount of length. Yujiro low blowed him at one point and got a near fall with a cradle. Yujiro bumped into the referee towards the end of the match, and Tanahashi returned the favor. He gave him the sling blade, high fly flow, boom, there’s your winner.
Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale
I liked this match in the sense it told a nice story. People were into Honma’s comebacks and were totally behind him. Honma fought hard early but Fale took him to town and dominated, as he’s the big giant of the promotion. Fale beat him up forever and ever until he escaped the Bad Luck Fall and scored a roll up for a nearfall. Fale gave him a GIGANTIC lariat in retaliation, then pinned him with the Bad Luck Fall.
Tama Tonga vs. Togi Makabe
This is the deciding match in the best of five series as they’re tied with two wins each. This wasn’t really anything interesting. Not terrible, but I couldn’t get into it. Just a lot of back and forth brawling with no real significant heat. Tonga did do a ref spot and a gun stun at one point. Makabe fought him off, hit the spider German suplex and was going for the King Kong knee drop when Tonga Roa came in and shoved him off the top rope, then continued beating him for the DQ. So technically, the New Japan guys win the best of five battle.
Roa and Tonga beat up on Makabe (Honma was destroyed in the previous match) as young lions try to intervene, but Roa throws them around easily. They laid out Makabe one more time with a modified double team version of Tonga’s finish (waistlock DDT). Tonga cut a promo saying they are GOD – Guerillas of Destruction. Cool name. Don’t know if this team will work, but we’ll see. It’s something new at the very least.
Ingobernables were mean early with Bushi choking out Yoshi-Hashi and Naito beating up Gedo all the way back to the backstage area. What’s funny here is that now Crowd were into Goto as opposed to booing him, I guess because he finally joined Chaos. He and Evil worked pretty good together. Okada and Naito had some good back and forth before he tagged in Yoshi-Hashi. He made a good comeback and battled out of the Destino and walloped Naito with a lariat. There was another ref spot. That’s like three matches tonight where there’s been some sort of ref bump, pretty excessive and unnecessary. This allowed the heels to lay everyone out and pin Yoshi-Hashi for the win.
The original alternate returns with what’s basically a demo tape, that we hope will get us to the mix tape, as we move towards a whole album of a show. And, as a large, bearded, Albanian man once sang, “There’s no hit records on the demo.” But there are topics that include, but aren’t limited to: Apologies world, NOAH more Suzuki-Gun, NJPW, TAKA and Taichi produce EASTER without messy crucifixions or pastel colored eggs, Atsushi Onita takes another Bible story (sort of) to produce death via Barbed Wire Boards and Deadly Poison Apples, as well as some other things that were scribbled down illegibly. It’s the radio show that’s often imitated, but never duplicated (which probably makes sense); It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~! Proudly here at F4WOnline.com.
