Tag: New Japan Pro Wrestling

This morning literally marks the road to a New Beginning as Shinsuke Nakamura is set to make his final appearance in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Nakamura’s career has always gone in different paths than normal wrestlers who made their way through the New Japan system. He won the IWGP championship within his first year of wrestling, which is something that almost never happens, be it New Japan or anywhere else in the world. He was alright in his role as a main eventer, but came across as bland and uninteresting, perhaps due to the fact he was put in the spotlight very quickly and wasn’t able to find himself. It wasn’t until his return from an excursion in Mexico where he became known for his charismatic style that made him into a bona fide star in New Japan, not just a guy headlining cards.

But now he’s leaving the promotion that made him  to test new waters – the WWE. Personally, I think he’ll do fine as you need to be charismatic in the WWE to truly succeed, and Nakamura has that down pat. It’s also up to creative and luck of the draw. But at least here, tonight, we’ll be able to see him one last time as a true headliner and top star of one of the biggest promotions in the world.

They’re treating this as a bigger deal than most “Road To” shows as there is commentary and a multiple camera setup tonight.

Hirai Kawato vs. David Finlay

Finlay’s titantron respectfully gives his birth year and stats. That’s kinda plain…then again, I guess that’s the goal of a young lion. Kawato seems very tiny, even by young lion standards. Finlay, who is also a junior heavyweight, dwarfed him. He’s the eighteen year old straight out of the dojo. He looked fine, a bit green but that’s expected in his second match ever. Finlay looked great. Its these kind of matches that make you feel like you’re seeing great results from the New Japan young lion system as you see noticeable improvements a year in. Finlay submitted him with a Boston crab.

Jay White vs. Yoshi-Hashi

It’s so rare to see a Yoshi-Hashi singles match…I think I can count on one hand how many televised singles matches he’s had in the last year! White also looked very good here. If it wasn’t for Chad Gable being a bit more colorful I think he would have gotten more votes for rookie of the year. People were into him and he got a few near close calls, including a crossface. YH eventually powerbombed him then bridged him for the win.

Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask vs. Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger and Hiroyoshi Tenzan

I wonder if Liger and Tiger Mask are still feuding over the NWA Junior Heavyweight title. They kept pushing Nakanishi out of the ring as they worked over Tiger Mask and Nagata. He finally got a tag and Nakanishi looked slightly more mobile than usual in making a comeback, which isn’t saying a lot. He ran roughshod on everyone. Tencozy made their comeback with the 3D and Kojima pinned Nakanishi with a lariat. Solid bout given the participants.

Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi

This seems to be a continuation of a feud that’s been going on lately between Yano and Bad Luck Fale, but now it’s also over Yano’s six man tag titles. Not much of a match, just some back and forth with added Yano antics. He did his taunt as Fale was going to the grenade but Yano caught him. Yano tried to use the ref as a distraction, but not only did it not work, Takahashi low blowed him. Fale followed that with the grenade and pinned Yano.

They showed the press conference where Nakamura relinquished the Intercontinental title during intermission.

Ryusuke Taguchi, Kushida & Captain New Japan vs. Evil, Bushi and Tetsuya Naito

This tour, Taguchi decided he’s going to dress like Dr. Doom: green cape, mask, everything. As usual, Taguchi & Kushida did most of the work and didn’t seem interested in tagging in CNJ. I don’t blame them since he takes the pin in literally every match he’s ever been in. Regardless, I guess because he hasn’t been around most of this month Korakuen Hall were into his comeback. Kushida tried to do a run in but Bushi sprayed him and did a suicide dive. The rest of Los Ingobernables left Taguchi lying with their finish, then Evil laid out CNJ with the STO for the win. The finish was hot, everything else was just okay.

After the match, Bushi cut a promo saying he hopes he’s looking forward to his last title defense.

Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall vs. Michael Elgin, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma and Juice Robinson

Typical multi man NJPW tag match with all the usual tropes. Doesn’t mean it’s bad, actually the last few minutes were pretty great. Elgin powerbombed Anderson into the rest of the Bullet Club. Omega came back in and hit a reverse rana, which was pretty damn amazing. He hit a running knee to the corner, taking out Robinson, then pinned him with a knee strike very similar to the boma ye, I guess to mock Nakamura. Another solid match.

They aired a fantastic video highlighting all the big moments of Nakamura’s career, from his debut match to winning the IWGP championship for the first time in 2003, the arrival of Chaos, winning the G1 Climax in 2011, winning the Intercontinental championship for the first time, and much more.

Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura

Korakuen became lit when Nakamura’s music hit. Signs were everywhere. They teased Nakamura and Tanahashi squaring off but Goto came in instead and he and Okada started. He’s been acting way more heelish since the title callout earlier this month, but that’s probably just through the title match. Mostly a straightforward match where everyone worked each other’s rivals. Fans were into whenever Nakamura did his trademark spots. Nakamura has Tanahashi down at one point and motioned for the boma ye but Shibata and Goto laid him out. Tanahashi went for the high fly flow but got the knees up. Nakamura went for the boma ye, but Tanahashi countered with the slingblade. Shibata and Ishii closed out the match. After a good back and forth sequence, Ishii pinned him with a brainbuster. Just a tag match, but a good one.

Omega hit the ring. He said that Nakamura calls this a graduation, but he’s just scared of facing him. Tanahashi then appears. After saying a few lines, he makes it clear that he is X, and will face him at New Beginning. Omega leaves, unamused.

Nakamura takes the mic and says he won’t say goodbye, but thanks everyone. The rest of Chaos come out to celebrate with him as they posed for pictures. Both Okada and Nakamura were emotional as Okada put Nakamura on his shoulders and they left the arena.

Very memorable show for the ending and main event, obviously. Usual solid action up and down the card.

Tonight’s episode took place on April 5, 2015 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan, our first look at the matches that took place on the Invasion Attack 2015 card.

First up we have the Young Bucks taking on Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) for the IWGP Junior tag team championships. I believe this is their first tour together, as Romero’s former partner Alex Kozlov has taken a sabbatical from wrestling at the start of this year. I always like it when they do singles matches in this division. This was the year they went overboard on the multi tag bouts that are fine, but get kind of stale if you do them over and over. I don’t mind a multi-man match every now and then, but I’d like to see more singles tag team bouts in 2016 as I just feel it means a bit more when competiing for a title. Very good stuff overall in this bout. Romero is pretty underrated in these kind of matches, he’s really tremendous in what he does and he’s usually the most over guy in the division. They win the titles with the Omori Driver/dropkick combination.

After the match Romero says let’s get the party started in Roppongi. Backstage, Romero says that Beretta has proved himself here tonight by winning the titles. Beretta says this is just the beginning and joked they were just going to go to McDonalds or something to celebrate.

Kenny Omega faced Mascara Dorada next for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship. This was easily the highlight of Dorada’s tour as he looked great. His agility is outstanding and and is a really refined worker in knowing the style of New Japan while also implementing lucha libre moves. Omega looked fine in keeping up with Dorada and they had a really great match. It’s astonishing that they didn’t do more with Dorada during his excursion in New Japan. I would have loved to see him work a match with Kushida (they did, but it was really short during the Super Juniors tournament). Feels like a waste of talent just putting him in multi man tags. He lost here, with Omega getting the win with the One Winged Angel.

Omega takes a mic after the match and says that as the master of dark custodial arts he’s cleaned up Mexican and Japanese trash, but now it’s time to take out the worst – American trash. Shelley, who is helping Dorada after the match, is called out by Omega. They two have a staredown before Omega bails. Omega is prone to over-acting in promos as I guess he’s going for an anime heel vibe in terms of delivery, but he was fine here.

Shelley says he (Omega) can clean up his body parts after their match as he’ll take him out piece by piece. How can you do that if your body parts are all over the place? He promises he’ll be the next champion..

Time for a chat with Kazushi Sakuraba. He thought forming a tag team with Toru Yano would be interesting, and felt most natural to him. After not knowing if he’s a member of Chaos or not, he talks about facing Shibata. He says when you are in the ring, you have to think of everyone as your enemy. He doesn’t really have anything special to say in facing Shibata.

Sakuraba, teaming with Toru Yano, faces Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata in the main event of this program. This is interesting, as Shibata and Sakuraba are facing off against one another despite coming back to New Japan together in 2012 as Laughter7. They did a lot of technical wrestling and looked good, since both have experience in MMA (obviously). Got very heated towards the end as Sakuraba fireman carries Shibata to the floor and taps him out with a kimura. I liked the latter half of this match, but the first just kind of stalled. I didn’t buy this as a main event, but obviously this is just one part of a multi-show series on the event, and I guess it was fine when you think about that.

Yano after the match says Tanahashi is no longer the ace and will change him into a garbage wrestler. Sakuraba says he came to NJPW to stir things up. He suggests Tanahashi should face Shibata. He also says he would face him if he got the chance. Tanahashi simply says Yano got him.

Tonight’s episode will feature the semifinals and finals of the 2015 New Japan Cup, which was held on March 15, 2015 at Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall.

First semifinal shown is between Hirooki Goto and Togi Makabe. They only showed a few minutes of highlights, but was as solid as you were gonna get with this time. Goto won after a roll up. It’s usually during these kind of tournaments where they do finishes like that as opposed to their actual finishers.

Tetsuya Natio & Kota Ibushi followed. This is one of those matches that are four star plus level in New Japan, which is awesome, but isn’t good enough to be truly memorable because it’s been a year of spectacular matches. Rewatching this again made me remember just how great of a worker Ibushi is. He not only has the basics down but he has the flash and charisma in his bouts to really be something. Naito has all of this as well, but of course has switched his style and that’s worked out better for him in recent months. Just a bunch of crazy back and forth moves. Naito did a sick reverse rana on the top rope and Ibushi landed right on his head. He must have Daniel Bryan syndrome or something as one’s body can only take so much damage for so long before there are repercussions. Naito took a ganso bomb. Ibushi finally got the win with a press powerbomb. Terrific match.

Ibushi in a post fight interview says he can’t lose now, he has to, and will, win.

Pre-match sitdown interview time! Ibushi talks about how the tournament style works for him the best, as he has to give his all in every match, or else he’ll be eliminated. When talking about Goto, he mentions that his performance and clumsy and straightforward, and would have thought the same if he would have faced Makabe in the finals.

The finals aired next. Really good match, though not as dynamic as the previous match. It was stiff and unpleasant to watch at times, but Ibushi’s timing is excellent and Goto has always been top notch in these kind of performances. The crowd was hot for everything and helped a lot too. Lots of back and forth action, especially towards the latter stages of the game where Ibushi was coming up with a lot of cool reversals and nearfalls. Eventually, Ibushi scores the big win with a phoenix splash and pins Goto to win the New Japan Cup.

After the match, announcer Shinpei Nogami asks Ibushi what title he would like to challenge for. Ibushi says he wants to challenge for all of them, but he wants to fight AJ and wants that title shot. He says he’ll beat AJ and thanks everyone for coming.

In his post match interview, he thanks Goto & Naito for their performances tonight. He wants to answer back for the fans’ support as they are always supporting him, so he’ll do his best against AJ. In the reflective interview, he had always wanted a shot at the IWGP title, so he challenged for it. 

Good show. All three matches were good, with the last two being pretty good to great. 

New Year’s Dash, the equivalent of the Raw after WrestleMania, has come and gone and in its wake there were a lot challenges made, as well as a big change within the Bullet Club. It was a newsworthy show in terms of what we’ll be seeing in the next month for New Japan. Aside from one angle, which I’ll cover further down this article, it seemed like the big news that broke Monday afternoon had no effect on this show or the booking for the next month, so we’ll see what happens from here.

Sho Tanaka, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Shiro Koshinaka vs Yohei Komatsu, Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Cheeseburger and Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Decent, fun match. Cheeseburger was immediately over in Korakuen Hall. Everyone loved his offense, which was pretty much every one of his opponents no selling it because he’s so tiny in comparison. He is pretty great in his role; he looked so miniscule next to Nakanishi. There was one point in the match where Fujiwara slapped and headbutted him after he motioned for a high five or something. I guess Fujiwara isn’t a fan. It boiled down to Taguchi and Komatsu after Koshinaka took down Cheeseburger with a hip attack. He and Taguchi did a double hip attack on Komatsu then Taguchi followed it up with the dodon for the win.

Fujiwara headbutted Cheeseburger again after the match. That’s not very nice!

Jay White and David Finlay vs. Matt Sydal and Ricochet

Really good, fast paced match. Sydal and Ricochet are just an excellent team, they gel really well together. If they continue to tag here in 2016 they’re really going to be something special. White and Finlay held their own and looked awesome here. In terms of rookie of the year for 2015 it’s a very close race between White and Chad Gable. Sydal and Ricochet won with the stereo shooting star presses on both young lions.

Jay Lethal vs. Juice Robinson

Fine match. Mostly just a platform to put Lethal over as he’ll more than likely be on the ROH tours next month. Martini got involved at one point. Robison looked like he was going to punch him but Lethal did a big suicide dive, sending Robison crashing into the guardrail. This looked great the way they shot it. Martini got involved again toward the end, looking to hit Robinson with the Book of Truth but Robinson gave him an airplane spin. Lethal recovered and hit a cutter from the middle rope, then pinned Robinson with the Lethal Injection.

Togi Makabe, Kushida, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe and Satoshi Kojima vs. Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga, King Haku and Yujiro Takahashi

Really fun ten man tag. Lots of the usual New Japan mult-tag spots you’d normally see, but they worked hard and this ended up being fun. Haku was in a lot. He didn’t look awesome in terms of mobility, but looked fine in everything he did, if that makes sense. He gave Honma a piledriver which led to Gallows and Anderson going for the Magic Killer but Honma escaped. Anderson hit him with a stun gun and eventually they were able to hit the Magic Killer and pinned Honma. This makes sense as they’re probably doing a rematch somewhere at the New Beginning shows.

Sure enough, Gallows and Anderson put the belts on Honma after the match and indicated they wanted the next title shot. They went over to the announcers where Anderson said they were the best tag team in professional wrestling….just not using those words, as his actual words were not FCC friendly.

Intermission. No announcements regarding Fantasticamania but I’d expect something over the next couple of days since those are very soon.

Mascara Dorada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Bushi, Evil and Tetsuya Naito

Maybe it’s just me, but there have been hints lately there might be something between Yohei Komatsu and Naito. He helped him to the back last night at WrestleKingdom and Naito ordered him to help him enter the ropes here.

There was a great spot where everyone was cheering for Naito. He tagged himself in as he got a bunch of chants against Tanahashi, then simply just tagged himself out for the heel heat. Of course, the minute Tanahashi turned his back Naito jumped him. They all got the heat on Tanahashi following that. Dorada looked good here too.  Bushi did the red mist spot, low blowed Dorada after Dorada blocked the first attempt and pinned him with the top rope codebreaker.

Ingobernables laid out everyone after the match. Evil hit Tanahashi with the STO. All of the young boys were laid out. Kushida came in to make the save but Bushi sprayed him with green mist and all of them beat him down. Bushi took a microphone and said that he wants the next shot at the IWGP Jr. title. There’s that program, and probably something between Tanahashi and Evil/Naito. Interesting in that they had Dorada took the fall here as I thought they’d do a CMLL Welterweight title match during the Fantasticamania shows. They still may for all I know.

Kenny Omega and AJ Styles vs. Yoshi-Hashi and Shinsuke Nakamura

Seems based on this match they may have moved Omega up to heavyweight. He and Nakamura had some good interactions with one another. The stream was really bad during this match, even in low quality. That was an on and off issue for the last three days that mostly resolved itself after this match, aside from one or two hiccups. Nakamura hit the reverse powerslam and was going for the boma ye but AJ Styles hit him with the springboard forearm. Omega followed with a reverse rana and pinned Nakamura with the One Winged Angel in a big surprise. That not only cements the move to heavyweight but that also pretty much puts him in line for a title shot.

Big angle time. Omega and Styles were celebrating when Omega grabbed Styles from the top rope, put him in the electric chair position and laid him out with the One Winged Angel. The rest of Bullet Club came out and separated them like they had no idea what he was doing. They argued for a bit before eventually everyone giving the Wolfpac sign to one another and put the boots to Styles, effectively putting him out of the Bullet Club.

Omega said that you had this coming, AJ. We made you a star and paid you like star. He forced  and starved himself to be a junior. Everyone thought you were the boss. You’re fired, this is your severance package. He won’t challenge Kushida again, he’s challenging Shinsuke Nakamura. The Bullet Club rules the world, because they are for life…without AJ Styles.  

The Bullet Club leave like they were going to the back, but Omega and the Bullet Club come back and lay out AJ again, with a double superkick by the Young Bucks followed by a Styles Clash by Omega. They leave for good as the young boys check on Styles. Korakuen Hall starts chanting Styles’ name loudly as he eventually gets up and bows to all four corners of the ring. Great moment and felt like a really nice send off, if it is one. It certainly felt like one.

Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and reDragon vs. Roppongi Vice, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada

Another fun, action packed match. Usual eight man stuff where everyone worked against their rivals. Tomohiro Ishii and Shibata were in a while and continued to pummel one another. Everyone worked against one another really well and there was a good pace to everything. Goto won the match for his team, submitting Beretta after trapping one of Beretta’s arms while putting the other in an armbar.

Goto grabbed the mic after and challenged Okada for the title. I figured as much when Goto won last night. They haven’t done this match in a while, but the problem is Goto has had so many chances at the title I very much doubt anyone would take a title match seriously, though I guess the match will be good enough regardless. Okada seemed to accept the challenge while also mocking Goto for losing the Intercontinental title, as Goto previously challenged Okada while he was still champion and wanted a unification match.

NEVER Openweight Six Man Championship: The Briscoes and Toru Yano © vs. Bad Luck Fale and the Young Bucks

Okay main event. Wasn’t designed to be awesome but that’s fine. A lot of Yano antics here. Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device but Matt got on his feet and laid them out with superkicks in a pretty cool spot. They went for the Meltzer Driver but Yano took down Nick. Jay Briscoe hit the Jay Driller on Matt and Mark followed with the Froggy Bow to mark their first successful defense of the titles.

It’s the last New Japan show of 2015 as we are back at Korakuen Hall for some more tag action. In the main event, we’ll see Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsyuori Shibata take on the team of Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii, which promises to be one hell of a match if it plays out the right way. We’ll also see Mascara Dorada defend his CMLL Welterweight championship against Bushi, and a bunch of other tag matches that have Tokyo Dome implications.

Kushida, Jushin Thunder Liger and Jay White vs. David Finlay, Tiger Mask and Ryusuke Taguchi

Solid opener where everyone worked with one another. Finlay looked pretty alright here as he worked a lot of the match. He and Kushida were the ones in the ring as the finish happened. Kushida laid him out and pinned him with a moonsault. Everyone shook hands after and raised everyone’s hands. Kushida took a microphone after the match and spoke a few words, probably Wrestle Kingdom related but not sure.

Tencozy and Yohei Komatsu vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata and Sho Tanaka

Solid match. A lot of the bout was Tencozy and Nakanishi/Nagata. Sho Tanaka and Satoshi Kojima looked really great in the ring together. The crowd and the announcers flipped out when Tanaka gave Kojima a deadlift suplex for a nearfall. Tanaka hit the ropes but Kojima fired back with a lariat and pinned him.

Tenzan and Nakanishi teased something as Tenzan goaded Nakanishi into going back into the ring with him and Tenzan jumped him. They did a pull apart brawl to set up a possible feud that, well, no one asked for.  Nakanishi should not be doing singles matches at this point. Let’s hope its hype towards the battle royal or something.

Kazushi Sakuraba and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma

It’s weird that Sakuraba has been teaming with Chaos members all year, but technically he’s not a part of the stable. Sakuraba worked over boy Honma and Makabe with submissions. Yoshi-Hashi made the hot tag and went toe to toe with Makabe but fell to a lariat. They did a variation of the Doomsday Device as Honma went to the top rope, Makabe held YH on his shoulders and Makabe connected with the headbutt. Makabe followed with the king kong knee drop and pinned him. Solid match.

Hirooki Goto and Juice Robinson vs. Evil and Tetsuya Naito

Before the match, Naito offered a mask to Goto that looked similar to Captain New Japan’s mask. He promptly refused and attacked him to start the match. Match was fine, didn’t last that long. Naito choked out Goto on the outside as Robinson was mounting an offense. He looked good here. Evil laid him out with a lariat. Goto came for the save but Naito low blowed him. Evil laid out Robinson with a perfectplex into a brainbuster but only got two. He finished the job with the STO.

Mascara Dorada vs. Bushi for the CMLL Welterweight title

Match was fine. They had some nice back and forth early, but aside from one cool suicide dive by Bushi on the outside it was nothing remarkable. Naito started to get involved but Goto came back and they brawled towards the exit. Dorada went to the top rope but Evil came to the ring and distracted the ref. Bushi low blowed him then pinned him with a bridge but Dorada kicked out. Bushi then went to the top rope and hit a codebreaker from there to win the title. I understand this a nice program to do in the months of leading up to the Fantasticamania shows next month, but one stable already does the cheating gimmick, so there’s really no need to do another.

Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano vs. Cody Hall and Bad Luck Fale

It’s weird seeing Yano with jet black hair. The guys who dye their hair here have been inconsistent lately. Yujiro used a chair on Yano but he mostly no sold it and tagged in Nakamura who made the comeback. Cody Hall came in and worked with Nakamura towards the end They had a schmozz in the end that ended up with Nakamura hitting the boma ye and getting the win. Just a match.

Toru Yano got the mic and introduced his partners for the eight man at WrestleKingdom 10 via video. It was none other than the Briscoes from ROH. They cut a short promo with Mark mentioning Yano’s DVDs and Jay saying they’d help out at WK10. Crowd didn’t recognize the name at first but popped when they appeared on the video screen.

Katsuyori Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada

My stream kept going in and out during this match. Same thing during the CMLL Welterweight title. I saw most of it, which was very good. Everyone worked with one another. Okada and Tanahashi had a some good back and forth that people got into. Tanahashi laid him out with the sling blade and was going for the high fly flow when Ishii stopped him and superplexed him to the floor. Eventually Tanahashi and Shibata double teamed Ishii, laying him out as Tanahashi hit the high fly flow. Shibata covered with the penalty kick and pinned him.

Tanahashi cut a promo on Okada after the match, one that ended with Okada storming out. Snow started to fall from the arena as Tanahashi started to leave, then came back inside the ring and did his usual routine to close out the show.

Not as good as yesterday morning’s Korakuen Hall show, but it was a fine show to watch, technical issues aside.

Friday’s matches took place February 14, 2015 in Sendai, continuing our New Beginnings coverage.

First up is an NWA Jr. title match between Jushin Thunder Liger, reigning champion, against challenger and former champion Chase Owens.

This was only about five or so minutes overall and was cut for time. Just a match. Liger is good, but can only do so much at this point. He’s good at what he can do. Owens is okay but nothing he does stands out, at least not in this match. He fits in well in New Japan but only just fits in, nothing more. Liger scores a phantom clutch hold for the win.

Owens says he might have gotten the 123, but this isn’t the last time you’ve seen this face, or the last time he’ll get a shot at the Junior heavyweight title.

It was shown in between commercials that AXS TV will air the five WrestleKingdom 9 shows on New Year’s Day.

We follow that up with a NWA World Heavyweight title match between NWA Champion Rob Conway and Hiroyoshi Tenzan

I remember this match live, and it was awesome. Not because of the work in the match itself – while it was fine, it wasn’t the highlight of the match. It was the crowd. Even in 2015 where the NWA title doesn’t mean a whole lot, people wanted Tenzan to win the NWA title that night, and they let themselves be heard. They were super into the match, and freaked out when he finally won the title. He headbutted NWA manager/President Bruce Tharpe three times, busting him open and sending him to the outside. He followed with the moonsault and pinned Conway to win the NWA title.

Tenzan thanks the fans for supporting him during the match and asks for their support in the future.Conway says he was cheated. He is the NWA He will be back for what is his.

Time for the main event, and thus we get an interview with one of the challengers. This week, it’s Yuji Nagata. He talks about how he and other wrestlers back in his day set the standard by having everyone wanting to compete for the title, including those outside of wrestling. Nakamura has done similar things with the Intercontinental title, and Nagata is amazed how he wrestles in his own world. His match with Ibushi intrigued him, and now wants to prove he can still bring his own form of wrestling to the table.

Shinsuke Nakamura defending the Intercontinental title against Yuji Nagata was next.

This was pushed like the old veteran getting the title shot as the rest of his colleagues from his era (Tenzan, Kojima, Nakanishi) were all in his corner. Overall, it was a nice back and forth match, but something just felt missing that didn’t make it stand out from normal New Japan main events.. I think it’s more of the style than anything. In the great Yuji Nagata matches I’ve seen in the last few years, they were awesome, stiff back and forth matches with some of the top talent in New Japan like Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata. This wasn’t it. Everything they did looked good, and the crowd was into it for the most part, but this was just a back and forth match. It seemed like they were starting to do the hot nearfalls that you’d usually see in a New Japan main event after Nagata kicked out of one boma ye, but then Nakamura laid out Nagata with another and pinned him out of nowhere. No one felt ready for the finish, it was pretty weird.

Nakamura says he wants to show respect by saying welcome to the world where everything is accepted. Okay. It was a whole new Nagata that made him boil over. Nagata says backstage that Nakamura was stronger than him. It would have been cool if he won, but today, Nakamura was stronger. He asks Nogami. He says he has a big dream now, and he is glad people backed him up. He’ll keep on fighting.

In his reflective interview, he says he should have fought him on the ground a little longer. He felt the audience still felt he had it. He wanted to pull Nakamura into his own wrestling style, but he couldn’t\, so that’s why he lost. He says his son told him good luck next time. All this was only possible by his fans supporting him.  

Overall a fine show, but there have been better. The Jr. title match was okay, the NWA title match was cool, and so was the main event, but there have been better main events.

The World Tag League finals are nearing an end, as tonight we’ll finally see the winners of this two week tournament be crowned. Evil and Tetsuya Natio, a relatively new team, will fight against one who rarely teams up in Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. With the aces of the tag division, Anderson and Gallows awaiting whichever team wins, who will make it past the finals and into the Tokyo Dome to face the dominant champions?

Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka vs. David Finlay and Juice Robinson

Really fun match. All four guys worked hard. Not given a ton of time, but looked really good with the time they were given. Robinson, as mentioned before, has really adapted to the style well and fit in here with the likes of Finlay, who is good, and Komatsu and Tanaka, who are great. Robinson and Finlay got the heat on Komatsu. Tanaka got the hot tag and ran wild, soon turned into a ruckus with everyone getting involved. Tanaka and Komatsu hit the dual boston crabs, with Komatsu submitting Finlay.

Jay White vs. Mascara Dorada

This is an interesting match as I don’t think White has had too many singles matches in the year he has been wrestling regularly for the promotion. He did some heel antics early, ripping Dorada’s mask. Dorada did this really cool spot where he walked back to the entrance, ran and gave a hurricanrana over the guardrail to White. They had some good back and forth, with Dorada winning after a springboard hurricanrana and the Dorada screwdriver. White looked good and held his own. He’s really athletic and is a surefire candidate for rookie of the year. Good match.

Bushi came to the ring after the match, wearing his Los Ingobernables hat. He offered it to Dorada. He signaled to the crowd he wasn’t interested, turning his back on Bushi. Bad mistake. He laid him out, then took his mask off to embarrass him. He exited the ring and stole Dorada’s CMLL Welterweight title, so looks like that’s a title program down the road.

Jushin Thunder Liger and Kushida vs. Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask

The focus here is between Liger and Tiger Mask, who are feuding over the NWA Jr. heavyweight title. Yes, this a repeat of a feud from last year, except Tiger Mask is now the champion. They went at it for a while. Taguchi and Kushida were tagged in and had some nice offense. It’s so hard to take Taguchi seriously with his new butt attack gimmick. I mean it’s fine for opening level matches but if they ever put him in a IWGP Jr. title situation again that’d feel like a waste of time. Tiger Mask and Liger were back in the ring, then Tiger Mask rolled him up out of nowhere with a crucifix for the win. It was fine.

Tencozy, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata vs. Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi

Mao-chan was back with Yujiro selling her DVD as if she were Toru Yano. I don’t think their DVDs are the same genre. Typical eight man tag you’d see on a New Japan show. Nothing bad, just kind of there. It was decent overall. Anderson caught Nakanishi with the stun gun, then pinned him after a Magic Killer. Makes sense for them to get a win here as their next challengers are being crowned.

All of a sudden, Truth Martini appeared in a video, highlighting him and the House of Truth. That was random. He appeared with Jay Lethal, who said he will defend the ROH title at the Toyko Dome and questioned who will challenge him. Apparently he doesn’t check the internet I think most of us know who that will be by now (Elgin).

The Kingdom vs. The Addiction

Liger, who was on commentary, went completely crazy for Maria as they made their entrance. Good match but nothing out of this world. Very much a back and forth match. The Kingdom win with a spike piledriver on Kazarian.

Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano vs. Cody Hall and Bad Luck Fale

Not that interesting of a match. Nakamura worked a lot with Hall with Fale and Yano continued their feud. Yano taped up Fales ankle as Nakamura and Hall were in the ring. Hall went for the Razor’s Edge but Yano low blowed him, allowing Nakamura to hit the boma ye for the win.

After the match, Yujiro Takahashi and Tama Tonga ran in. Takahashi beat up Yano with a chair as Fale entered the ring again. Nakamura came back and cleared house, so I guess this sets up a Yano feud with the Bullet Club B squad.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto vs. Yoshi-Hashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazushi Sakuraba

They did some atypical eight man tag house show gimmicks, including the “everyone brawls out of the ring spot”. Elgin came in and took everyone out, which got him over big time with the crowd. He and Yoshi-Hashi have real good chemistry with one another. Okada and Tanahashi had their big moment that the crowd got into as well, chanting for Okada. Shibata and Ishii worked a lot in the end, doing their usual, stiff offense. Shibata had in in a sleeper and Ishii fought forever until finally being taken to the ground and was pinned after the penalty kick. Good match overall

Shibata dropped the NEVER title on Ishii after the match, so there is your NEVER title program. It’s been done, but then again when it was done those were incredible matches, so not much to complain about. Okada and Tanahashi posed in the ring after the match, the crowd 100% behind Okada.

World Tag League Finals: GBH (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) vs. Evil and Tetsuya Naito

They set up a table at one point and Honma set it up like he was going to piledrive Honma through the table but Bushi interfered and instead Naito gave him a neckbreaker on the table. Makabe had a chair wrapped around his neck and Evil grabbed another chair and smacked the two chairs together at one point. Not a fun spot. Bushi came in at one point and gave the mist to Makabe, who took him out while Naito gave Honma a top rope hurricanrana for a nearfall. They worked over Honma for a long time after this. Makabe came back and gave the lairat to both Evil and Naito. Honma came back and helped set up the King Kong Knee drop by Makabe, then followed with a top rope kokeshi for the win. The match was good in spots but overall didn’t feel like a big deal until the ending, which was actually pretty great and heated.

Three more matches in the World Tag League took place early on December 4 in Kagawa. Only a few more days until the World Tag League finals, and two shows away from deciding the finals. Every match is becoming more important as we wind this tournament down!

Block A: Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata vs. Kazarian and Daniels

There wasn’t a lot to this match, and most of it was just dull. Nagata worked on Daniels for a very long time. Addiction made a brief comeback after Nakanishi was tagged in. Daniels shoved Nakanishi to the floor then used the ropes to pin Nagata.

Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale

Fine match but it felt like it dragged on a bit. Elgin and Fale did a lot of big guy power spots. Elgin and Tanahashi made their comeback but Fale and Tonga made a comeback. They isolated Elgin but he made comeback until getting cut off by a Fale lariat. Then in somewhat of a surprise, Fale pinned Elgin after a spear and a lariat combo.

Block B: Tomohiro Ishii and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tencozy

A lot of back and forth. Good stuff for the most part, but at this stage of the tournament it’s all been done. Some good double team maneuvers towards the end of the match though by Ishii and Nakamura. Ishii tried to whip Nakamura into Kojima but he dodged and hit a lariat on Ishii. Nakamura rebounded and hit a tope rope boma ye, then followed with another for the win.

Current Standings:

Block A:

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin- 6

Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma- 6

Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi- 6

Christopher Daniels and Kazarian- 6

Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata- 4

Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano- 4

Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga- 4

Block B:

Evil and Tetsuya Naito- 8

Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata- 8

Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii- 6

Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson- 4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima- 4

AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi- 2

Matt Taven and Michael Bennett- 2

One day off and we’re back for yet another day of World Tag League matches! This time we’re in Kumamoto for more tag team action. Since AJ seems to be out of the tournament (New Japan still hasn’t commented on what’s going on here) his and Yujiro’s match against Evil and Tetsuya Naito results in another forfeit, giving them another two points. Let’s get to the matches that actually took place Wednesday morning:

Block A: Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. The Addiction

Not much to this at all, very basic stuff aside from the usual Yano antics. I did like the spot where Yano went to whip Daniels into the exposed turnbuckle but Kazarian flung his body into the ropes, absorbing the blow for Daniels. Match ended when Yano shoved Daniels, low blowed him, Sakuraba kicked him and Yano rolled him up for the win.

Block B:The Kingdom vs. Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata

Another match that really was just there. Hard time getting into it. Not that anyone was bad here, but the crowd was dead for the most part and the work was fine at best. They took out Beneett with a STO/Side Russian Legsweep combination, then did the same to Taven and pinned him. Finish was pretty anti-climatic.

Current Standings:

Block A:

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin- 6

Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma- 6

Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi- 6

Christopher Daniels and Kazarian- 4

Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata- 4

Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano- 4

Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga- 2

Block B:

Evil and Tetsuya Naito- 8

Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata- 8

Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson- 4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima- 4

Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii- 4

AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi- 2

Matt Taven and Michael Bennett- 2