This week, it’s part 2 of our look at Wrestling Dontaku 2015 (which took place on May 3, 2015) is again the theme of tonight’s show. We have a look at the IWGP title match, as well as some multi-man tags.
Interesting to note the title match isn’t the main event of this show, as Karl Anderson welcomes us to the program.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Alex Shelley
This was fine, but didn’t feel it was anything too special. Omega camped it up big time during this match, using weapons and the like. It was also edited for time. There was some cool stuff towards the end, but it felt like just another title defense. Omega retained the title, pinning Shelley after the One Winged Angel.
Omega cut a hammy promo after the match, saying he won’t be in the Super Juniors tournament but will be ready to face whoever wins the Best of the Super Garbage tournament.
Maria vs. Amber Gallows
Karl Anderson started to speak. He didn’t care that he lost the tag titles to the Kingdom several episodes ago, he only cared about Maria. Usually he wants the championship, but the only thing he could think about in Ryogoku was Maria. He started saying all these nice things about Maria as beautiful music played. He wasn’t happy that Amber Gallows was coming to beat up Maria and was mad at Doc for instigating it. He hoped he could protect Maria in the match.
So the match aired. It was pretty much angle oriented around Maria and Anderson, and little else. It was a fine mid card type of program, but it’s really didn’t rejuvinate a divison that sorely needed jumpstart after being stagnant for so many years. Anderson and Gallows argued a lot about Maria during the match. Maria did a few spots with Amber Gallows and got a near fall after a crossbody. Anderson and Maria ended up in the ring together. They danced for a bit before Maria low blowed him, then Maria got the big win with a inside cradle on Amber.
Anderson in the post match seemed to have snapped out of his Maria infatuation. He said the Bullet Club is the strongest group in the last twenty years. He says Maria won’t get in the way. Everything they do is because they planned it.
Anderson, who in reflection has snapped back into the infatuation. puts over the Kingdom as good wrestlers, but they didn’t care about them. He only cared about Maria. The only thing he thought about, the only thing he thinks about during the day and night is for Maria to come to Bullet Club. He can win the G1, Intercontinental or World titles, but the tag team scene is his focus right now.
Makabe, Tanahashi and Shibata vs. Ishii, Yano and Sakuraba
Shibata and Sakuraba grappled, Makabe and Ishii beat each other up with stiff attacks and Yano pretty much avoided Tanahashi’s offense by doing his usual routine. This was a nice, quick six man bout with plenty of action and set the tone for future bouts. Tanahashi got the win for his team, gaining a measure of revenge by grabbing Yano’s hair and getting a flash pin over him while holding the hair.
Tanahashi was happy he finally got one over Yano now. All he has to do is wait, as he bets he’ll walk right into the mouse trap.
Not a great week for match quality, but a nice show that highlighted some of the midcard antics that went on last summer.
Tonight’s show features a match from May 3, 2015 in the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, our first look at the NJPW Dominon event.
This is Jim Ross’ first show and he obviously has a different style than Mauro Ranallo in that he focuses on the match and does that very well. It also changes Josh Barnett’s role as he goes into more into the history and storylines since he is more well versed in the product, calling these shows from the beginning. It adds a new dynamic to the show and makes it feel fresh, while at the same time they both compliment each other very well in what they do and they excel at it.
Yoshi-Hashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Champion AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi
The match itself was fine. It’s goal is to set up a future match between AJ and Okada for the IWGP title at Dominon on July 5. They have terrific chemistry with one another, and Yoshi-Hashi is still pretty underrated by New Japan standards. Yujiro’s going to be Yujiro no matter what. He’s okay, but a step below a lot of what New Japan has to offer. Okada got the win with the rainmaker over Yujiro.
Styles calls himself the man in a post match interview and says if you want to beat him, try. He’s better than the rest of the world. You want some, come get some. Okada promises he’ll take his title and become a fantastic champion. Gedo says he has two months to live.
Goto interview time. He says it’s not really about the belt, but rather the provocation from Nakamura that has him clamoring for a chance to face Nakamura (throughout their feud Nakamura imitated looking through binoculars looking for Goto as he pretended not to see hi). They mentioned that Nakamura had beaten Goto for the title back in 2012. Goto says that he completely redesigned the title and has made it as his own.
Hirooki Goto vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura
This is one of those feuds from last year that really dragged on to the point of overkill. I believe they faced off at least four times in 2015, and I’m not sure which one we’re on. Actually this is probably their first or second match, as this is the one where Goto regains the Intercontinental title. Again, this is not to say they had a bad match. They didn’t. They struck hard, had a great back and forth contest, and the last few minutes were pretty exciting.
Goto was due for a big win for a while and they paid it off here, which is good as Goto is booked as someone who is always near the top, but doesn’t score the big win. He did here, and the crowd was into him regaining the title. Again, both Ross and Barnett were great here in calling the match and you can tell they gel well pretty much instantly.
Both Nakamura and Goto made comments after the match. Goto drank beers, Nakamura obviously didn’t like the fact that he lost. Goto, in his reflective interview, says that he was always behind Nakamura, but is now glad he has not only caught up to him, but now with the win, surpassed him.
In the world of sports announcing and play-by-play, Jim Ross is as venerated and decorated as they come. After a four decade span calling wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW, and WWF/E, “good ol’ J.R.” is practically synonymous with the sport of the squared circle. Fans connect with Ross on commentary for one reason; he emotionally invests in every call he makes. Deep down, fans still want to believe wrestling is more “sport” than “entertainment” and Ross doesn’t call matches like he’s reading a script or knows the outcome in advance.
That’s part of what makes J.R.’s new gig for AXS TV so intriguing. Fans grew to love the emotional “from-the-gut” reactions of Ross during live events, but starting this Friday for New Japan on AXS TV, he’ll have to react to pre-taped matches, calling them in the studio alongside veteran pro wrestler and MMA fighter Josh Barnett. He’s also in the rare position of having to replace one of the few announcers who is as emotionally invested in pro wrestling as he is.
Mauro Ranallo sounded like he was going to have a heart attack during any big New Japan match, but his ebullient joy and apoplectic rage were so convincing that WWE recruited him to become the voice of SmackDown.
As we prepare for the debut of “good ol’ J.R.” for New Japan on AXS TV, Ross took a little time out of his busy schedule podcasting, selling sauce, and preparing for his return to boxing commentating for CBS Sports on March 12th to chat with yours truly for Wrestling Observer about the latest chapter in his already historic career.
You’ve been inducted into both the WWE and Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. You’ve had opportunities to call boxing and MMA since leaving WWE. What led you to come back to announcing pro wrestling after having already done it all in the sport?
Well, I never stopped loving wrestling. I certainly didn’t stop loving being a broadcaster; it’s that I didn’t have a team to play for. After leaving WWE, there were some opportunities that came about but nothing really fit what I was looking for. I guess I’m an in-ring snob. If I want to invest my time at this stage of my life, I want to really enjoy the product.
After doing (New Japan’s) Wrestle Kingdom 9 in January of 2015, I knew that I was going to like the product. Going beyond watching the one hour edited show that I was watching every Friday night on AXS with Mauro and Josh, I got to see the product unedited, live in person at their biggest event of the year – and it hooked me.
You departed from WWE and will now call New Japan on AXS TV, while Mauro Ranallo left AXS TV and New Japan to be the lead announcer on SmackDown. What are your thoughts as your two career paths cross going in different directions?
It’s coincidental isn’t it? It’s very ironic that’s how its worked out, but I think we’ve both got wins. Mauro’s living a dream of finally working in WWE, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, and so that’s good for him. He’s allowed to continue to do his MMA and boxing, so he came out on the other side really well. I think that I did as well. I think I found my gig, I found my home that I hope is in place for years to come.
Josh Barnett and I are really hell-bent on helping build a brand. We want to do more with New Japan on AXS. I don’t know what shape that’s going to take right now, I don’t know how all of this is going to evolve, but I know that from the AXS upper management team, they are very interested in joining New Japan in as big of a way as New Japan will allow.
On this week’s debut, you call a tag team match that features AJ Styles and an Intercontinental title match for Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestling Dontaku 2015. Both men are highly touted WWE signings this year. What do you think of the talent exodus?
I’m always happy for guys that want to change their scenery, upgrade, just change – whatever their reason is – and live their dream. I got to live mine for 40 years in the business and I’m still living it, so I’m always happy when somebody gets to do the same thing. WWE made some really good hires, not just with those guys – Shinsuke, AJ, Gallows and Anderson – but hiring Mauro! That’s a great hire! So they’ve done a really good job, WWE being they, with those acquisitions.
I only hope that all four of those guys are allowed to remain essentially intact, and that their characters are not wholeheartedly changed for a whim just to be different.
How difficult do you find it to call matches that are pre-taped? Can you convey the same level of emotion in a pre-taped match where dedicated wrestling fans have already watched it and know the outcome in advance?
All those years working with Bill Watts, I called a lot of matches over in post-production at WCW in the Crockett era, and then afterward, I did tons of voiceovers in a studio. Sometimes you’d voiceover the same match three, four, five times in a week, because it went on different shows and to different markets. I became accustomed to it, so it was not an adjustment for me, it was part of what I had done for years.
Quite frankly when I came to WWE in the early going, I was kind of that third team guy — there was Vince and Gorilla and then me — and so I got a lot of the extra voiceover work. You voice over this for the UK, and voice over this for South Africa, and voice over this for Canada – and it’s the same show. That was no transition for me at all. I still like wrestling, and I still love broadcasting so letting it all come together in an audio booth was not that challenging at all. It was like riding a bike.
You’ve been part of many great announcing teams, including a legendary friendship and partnership with Jerry Lawler in WWE. How does working with Josh Barnett compare?
I don’t think I could find a more perfect partner than Josh Barnett. He’s the perfect broadcast partner for me on this project. He has been calling that brand since the start on AXS, he has competed in New Japan, his first pro match was in New Japan in the main event of the Tokyo Dome against Yuji Nagata. He’s had many many fights in Japan so he understands the culture. He has great hold recognition, he understands why holds are being utilized, why they’re effective if applied correctly.
You notice the New Japan guys apply a hold, they don’t just grab a hold. You hear that slang in wrestling a lot ‘Grab a hold,’ and literally that’s what guys do — they just grab a hold. They don’t apply a hold, they just grab an arm or a leg or whatever. If you use any logic, you can see right through it oftentimes. Guys in New Japan seem to be more fundamentally sound than a lot their peers on a lot of other TV broadcasts around the world, so Josh is perfect to identify these holds in these scenarios.
We would like to have a more realistic sports like presentation, so at least for that one hour, maybe you can let your guard down and let the story take over.
Can the sport of professional wrestling still thrive in an era where the curtain may have been pulled back too far on the machinations going on behind it?
I think it can if the in-ring product is focused on, and if the in-ring product is fundamentally sound and logically booked. Guys with the sensationalistic knee jerk in-ring content has a propensity of forcing people to tune out because what they’re seeing is not believable. You see guys crash and burn and not sell. All of a sudden, you eliminate the most crucial emotional element in a wrestling match, the selling, because it exudes all kinds of emotion. Selling becomes the heartbeat of a match and unfortunately a lot of guys are working so rapidly, no matter if they got a four minute match they’re gonna do eight minutes of material, that they rush things.
When you rush things in a pro wrestling match, you’re bound to leave some fundamental aspects of it out. When that happens the perception of the match begins to erode.
*****
In addition to J.R.’s debut Friday night for New Japan on AXS TV at 9 PM EST, check out a special edition of “The Voice Versus” before that debut where Michael Schiavello interviews him. Here’s a preview.
Quick opener. Solid for however long it lasted. Both guys looked fine in what they did, and had some cool back and forth with one another. Just didn’t last all that long. We’re in for a couple of years of these kind of matches, since they only started last year. Finlay took the loss this time, submitting to Jay White’s boston crab.
Yujiro Takahashi and Cody Hall vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Juice Robinson
Solid match. For whatever reason, they’ve taken Moose’s chant and have given it to Juice Robinson as they tried to get that over a lot during the match. It ended up working, but that’s kinda blatant just stealing it from Moose, who was here only a week or so ago doing the same thing. Both Hall and Robinson are improving as workers as they both did some good stuff here and there. Tanahashi got the win over Hall with a Texas Cloverleaf, which is his go to submission finish. I think Tanahashi’s gotten more wins with the cloverleaf than Okada has with the Red Ink.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Kushida, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma and Katsuyori Shibata
Your good, typical New Japan ten man tag. Tiger Mask worked on Taguchi’s butt. And by that I mean he kicked it, literally to ward off future offense. Nakanishi worked a lot of the match for whatever reason. Everyone got a great flurry of offense near the end of the match. He got the torture rack on Shibata but he countered into a sleeper. Nakanishi escaped but Honma gave him a kokeshi when sent him right back into Shibata’s sleeper. Shibata followed that with the penalty kick for the win.
They teased some potential matches after this match between Shibata/Nagata, GBH/Tencozy and even Liger/Kushida, though Kushida is already taken for next month’s PPV. Those all feel like pretty fresh bouts. Shibata/Nagata had an excellent G1 match a few years ago.
Bushi and Evil vs. Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi
Crowd wasn’t into this match a whole lot for whatever reason despite Okada being in here. Nothing was bad, but it just lacked heat and felt like something was missing. Both heels worked over Okada a lot as Yoshi-Hashi tried to make the save, but was eliminated to the floor. Yoshi-Hashi clobbered Evil with a lariat and got rid of him as Okada did his comeback then pinned Bushi with the rainmaker.
New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Satoshi Koijma vs. Toru Yano
Didn’t last long, but was a fun match while it lasted. It was more Yano antics. Kojima went for the lairat but Yano tried to do the ref spot. Kojima grabbed the ref, knowing what he was about to do, but Yano ended up low blowing him. Kojima blasted him in the back of the head, but Yano came back and cradled him for the surprise win, so he makes it to the semifinals next week.
New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
This wasn’t that interesting for a while, but it started to pick up as the match went on. Tonga’s clearly doing some of Karl Anderson’s spots as a tribute to him. Goto and Tonga had some great back and forth counters before Tonga laid him out with a gun sun. He went for the waistlock DDT but couldn’t get him. He shoved the ref into Goto then tried for a headbutt, but Goto responded with one of his own followed by a penalty kick for the win.
Okada came to the ring after the match to extend his hand. Goto blew him off, so they’re still playing off that storyline of Okada wanting Goto to join Chaos.
New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale
Solid match. It had a few cool bumps and Elgin worked well with Fale. He was also one of the more over guys on the card, so match reactions were better here. They worked a big guy match and did a lot of power spots. Elgin was able to get Fale up, unlike a lot of people, because I guess his gimmick is that he’s a strong guy. Elgin gave him a suplex and tried for a buckle bomb but Fale came back with a spear. He hit the grenade, but Elgin kicked out. Fale went to the top rope, but Elgin cut him off and managed to hit a powerbomb and pin him.
New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Great match. The last five or ten minutes of this was fantastic. Crowd really liked Ishii but absolutely love Naito so they were into this match from start to finish. They traded a lot of back and forth offense. Naito spit at one point, which is really gross. I don’t know what’s worse, that or all the headbutts these guys like to do. Naito’s confidence as a heel is staggering; it really is amazing to witness. He hasn’t had too many big profile matches like this, but it really shows when he’s put in a position like this.
Naito slapped Ishii hard, but Ishii retaliated with a bit time lariat and a press powerbomb for a near fall. He went for a sliding D, but Naito came back with an enziguri. People were 100 percent behind Naito. It’s so funny in pro wrestling when you try and be a babyface you get booed, but as a heel you get cheered. Naito hit a koppo kick and Gloria but Ishii kicked out. Ishii came back with a sliding D but Naito still kicked out. Ishii picked him up for a brainbuster but Naito transitioned into Destino and nailed it to win the match.
Evil and Bushi came to the ring after the match. Evil beat up Ishii and laid him out with an STO. Maybe he’s a challenger for the TV title down the line. Naito cut a promo, saying when he wins he won’t challenge for whatever title he chooses in April.
The last New Japan Cup show, featuring the finals and semifinals, will be on March 12. Hirooki Goto will face Michael Elgin and Toru Yano will square off against Tetsuya Naito in semifinal bouts, with the winners facing off in the finals
The stream started with the announcements that New Japan promised earlier in the week. The first was something called “Lion’s Gate Trial”. From what it sounds like, it’s the initiative to find new young lions no matter
Takaaki Kidani then announced that Michael Elgin has officially signed a two year deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He comes to the ring wearing the lion mark t-shirt. He says that he had two goals growing up – one was to be the very best, and the second was to wrestle in NJPW. He has accomplished the latter, but since NJPW has the best wrestlers, he still needs to accomplish the former.
The third announcement involved Katsuyori Shibata. He’s officially signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He’d been a freelancer since making his return in 2012. He officially signed his contract in the ring.
The next announcement was that the Super J Cup would be coming back for the first time since 2009. Promotions from all around the world would be involved, including NJPW, CMLL, ROH, Kaientai Dojo, NOAH, Zero One, Dragon Gate, Suzuki-Gun (they do hold their own shows every now and then) and Ryuku Dragon. KUSHIDA, Naomichi Marufuji and Taka Michinoku came to the ring and said a few words. Very interesting as the Global Cruiserweight tournament is scheduled around the same time.
Following that, Kidani announced that the Tiger Mask anime would be revived. It featured an image of Okada staring down Tiger Mask.
Aside from the tag match, All matches tonight are the opening round of the New Japan Cup.
Yujiro Takahashi vs. Toru Yano
This didn’t last long. Yujiro jumped him at the bell and beat him up with a steel chair on the outside. The referee was counting as Yujiro posed. As the referee approached 18, Yano got up, low blowed him, and entered right at 20 to win by count out. Clever finish.
Michael Elgin vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Good little match while it lasted. Hard hitting and basically what you would expect from these two. Elgin took control of the match. Tenzan cut him off, hit a uranage and went for the anaconda vise but Elgin escaped. Tenzan went for a moonsault, but Elgin grabbed him and gave him a buckle bomb, then pinned him with a spiral powerbomb.
Tama Tonga vs. Togi Makabe
Tonga came out wearing new gear, which included a chest protector and camo pants. Tonga jumped Makabe at the bell, but Makabe started no selling his offense and made a comeback. He missed the king kong knee drop and Tonga took advantage. He cut off Makabe with a gun stun then pinned him with his waistlock DDT in a big surprise. Match itself was solid but nothing special.
Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomoaki Honma
This was a really good match. They had a back and forth stiff kind of match as you’d expect. The finish was really good as Honma does a great job of making you believe he’s about to get the big win, only for something to stop him right before he can get it. Kojima did his comeback and even DDT’d Honma on the apron outside. Honma got up rather quickly from that and teased a double count out spot.
Kojima went for the lariat but Honma kokeshi’d this arm. Honma followed with two more, then went for his top rope kokeshi finish but Kojima rolled out of the way. Honma tried for a sitout piledriver but Kojima blocked it and hit a lariat, but Honma kicked out. He hit one more and got the win.
Katsuyori Shibata and Kushida vs. Kazushi Sakuraba and IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada
This was pretty good while it lasted. They all did different things, and felt like there was a different dynamic with Kushida being in here as he doesn’t do heavyweight tags all that often. Shibata and Okada worked together, while Sakuraba and Kushida grappled on the mat. Kushida and Okada had some fun interactions near the end. Okada eventually got the win with the Rainmaker.
Okada grabbed a mic after the match and talked about the new member of Chaos they had been hyping for a while. They showed a video of Will Ospreay, who said he was the newest member of Chaos. He officially challenged Kushida for the IWGP Jr. title at Invasion Attack. He promised to be the first champion from the United Kingdom and also said he would defend the title all over the world. That should be one hell of a match.
Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata
Pretty good match. They worked stiff and the dynamic of Goto’s new edge worked well here. The last few minutes were pretty good. Goto came out wearing all white, which I guess is the next step in whatever direction he’s taking. Goto was working a more subtle heel style as he’s been doing a bit more recently. People were totally behind Nagata. They pelted each other with a lot of kicks. Nagata got him in the white eyes armbar but Goto escaped. Nagata nailed Goto with a high kick to the head and Goto sold it like he was nearly knocked out. Nagata missed an enziguri which allowed Goto to grab him and roll him up in a unique way to win the match.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Yoshi-Hashi
Very good match. Yoshi-Hashi is one of the more underrated guys on the roster and he and Naito had a good back and forth contest. Yoshi-Hashi shows a lot of fire as a babyface.They brawled around the ring, then eventually found themselves back in the ring as they had a decent back and forth contest. YH at one point gave Naito a clothesline that sent him to the floor. Naito made a comeback and hit some high impact moves but YH kicked out of them.
YH waffled him with a clothesline and hit a tombstone and a powerbomb into a bridge but Naito kicked out of all of that. He went for the swanton bomb but Naito moved. Yoshi Hashi and Naito traded some great back and forth slaps and YH even had Naito in a new submission. Naito cut him off with a big spinebuster then hit the Destino for the win.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Evil
Really good match, the last few minutes are great. They brawled around and out of the ring to start. Evil got the heat by grabbing a steel chair, placing it on Ishii’s head then smacking him with a steel chair shot, sending the other chair flying in a cool spot. This is Evil’s first big time singles match and looked really good. He has a ton of potential with matches like these.
He scored a nearfall with a nice looking clothesline from the top rope. He went for the STO but Ishii headbutted him. Ishii actually hit and STO of his own and smacked Evil with a lariat but he kicked out. Ishii hit a Dragon suplex and another lariat but Evil still kicked out. Ishii followed that with the brainbuster and that’s it.
Bad Luck Fale vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Pretty solid match as Tanahashi did a great job in carrying Fale and worked a pretty good match with him. They worked this match like you would expect – Fale dominated early while Tanahashi sold and tried to rally a comeback. Big time high fly flow from the top rope to the floor. Fale came back with a big splash and tried for the grenade but Tanahashi blocked it and gave him a big time German suplex. Fale came back and tried for the Bad Luck Fall but Tanahashi countered.
He went to charge at him in the corner but Tanahashi countered. Tanahashi went for a high fly flow but Fale grabbed him in mid air and hit the grenade, then followed that with the Bad Luck Fall and won the match in a upset, though they push him strong every year in this tournament so it’s not a gigantic surprise.
Fale takes a mic and says the Bullet Club is still here, and this is a new era.
Matches for the next round are Fale vs. Elgin, Tama Tonga vs. Hirooki Goto, Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito.
In an effort to compete with WWE, New Japan owner Takaaki Kidani announced Thursday that the company will be bringing back the Super J Cup this year, a one-night junior heavyweight tournament that is clearly the company’s shot at WWE’s cruiserweight tournament on the WWE Network.
The Super J Cup, which has occurred five times previously, the most recent being in 2009, will take place on 8/21 at the Ariake Coliseum. New Japan, Ring of Honor, CMLL, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragon Gate, Suzuki-Gun, Zero-One and K-Dojo all will participate.
At today’s New Japan show at the Ota Ward Gym, NOAH president Naomichi Marufuji and K-Dojo’s Taka Michinoku appeared to say wrestlers from their companies would be competing.
They also announced the revival of the Tiger Mask television cartoon, which was a famous series in Japan during the 1970s. New Japan wrestlers will be characters in the new series which the company hopes will open up their audience more to kids. When making the annoucement, Kidani even made a remark that this is something WWE won’t be able to do.
Announced last year, this morning’s Lion’s Gate event was the first in what is to be a regular series of events highlighting rookies from New Japan, NOAH, and other associated promotions with New Japan. Tonight’s card is a mixture of NOAH and New Japan rookies and veterans squaring off in a nice mix of singles and tag matches.
Takumi Honjo vs. Shuhei Taniguchi
Taniguchi is the former Maybach Taniguchi who I guess has taken off his mask in recent weeks and has sided in NOAH in their battle against Suzuki-gun. This is Honjo’s debut match, graduating from the New Japan dojo. The former Maybach isn’t the best first match to have. Honjo looked like someone in his first match and Taniguchi wasn’t that good. Honjo got some chants going for him at least. Taniguchi got the win quickly with a Boston crab.
Kawato Hirato vs. Hitoshi Kumano
Kawato is the really young NJPW lion, only 18 years old. He looked good here and showed some fire with his offense, and his strikes look good. This didn’t last long either. Kuwato him have some offense, cut him off and pinned him with a fisherman’s suplex.
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Kiyomiya is a NOAH rookie, wearing green tights as I guess that’s the rule over in that promotion. He has a good dropkick and handled basics pretty well. It was very much in the same formula as the previous two matches. Taguchi eventually cut him off and got the win with the dodon.
David Finlay vs. Taiji Ishimori
Pretty good while it lasted. Ishimori came off looking really good, doing some great dynamic spots throughout the match. I wonder why he didn’t get a spot in the Super Juniors tournament last year. Finlay got some great near falls and submissions, including the stretch muffler. Ishimori gave him a lot. ishimori gave him a uranage then followed with a 450 for the win.
Jay White vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Another good match. White looked good here too. He’s the best out of the current crop of the young lions in terms of overall athleticism and ability. He would have been my rookie of the year if Chad Gable hadn’t come along. He took a lot of this match and people were behind him big time. He even handled some mat wrestling with Ogawa well. He cut him off with an eye poke and tried to go for a superplex but White stopped him. Ogawa avoided him, gave him a dragon screw and put him in a figure four, submitting him.
Lion’s Gate Project 2 was announced for 5/19.
Quiet Storm vs. Manabu Nakanishi
I haven’t seen a singles bout from Nakanishi in forever. There’s a good reason for that. Storm is an interesting story as he wrestled in the very early era of Ring of Honor, was mostly a small independent level guy, then went to Japan in the mid 2000s and has pretty much found consistent work there ever since. They did a lot of big guy spots even though Nakanishi is about a head taller than Storm. Wasn’t bad. Nakanishi can only do so much, but he got all of this spots in and was fine. After Storm teased putting the Rack on Nakanishi, he cut him off and put him in the rack, with Storm quickly submitting.
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH
Genba was billed as Captain Genba as he was wearing a mask like Captain NOAH’s. Kojima & Tenzan dominated a lot of the match. Genba got heat momentarily by cutting off Kojima with a testicular claw. That’s one way of halting a comeback. The masked duo got double submissions on Tencozy but they didn’t submit. Kojima came back with a diamond cutter and a brainbuster but NOAH broke it up, only to get a 3D. Genba tried to get a cheap win with the claw again and a roll up, but Kojima hit the ropes and scored a lariat for the win. Perfectly fine match.
Juice Robinson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
This was pretty good. Robinson was given a lot and has improved a lot in his time here with New Japan. He’s that weird situation where it doesn’t seem like he’s a young lion, but not really a pushed guy either in New Japan, so he was given a lot more here than other young lions in previous matches. Nakajima is riding a big wave of momentum as he’s pinned Minoru Suzuki and is probably next in line for the GHC Heavyweight title. Robinson also got over big time with the crowd as they were with him from the start. Lots of back and forth great action. Nothing too fancy, but a really well worked match that people got into. Nakajima picked up the win after a brainbuster.
Yuji Nagata vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya
Kitamiya looked good against Nagata, who did a good job in this match. There’s the occasional showing his age signs here and there, but he’s still a tremendous preformer and looked great here. He gave Kitamiya a lot and they had a pretty good back and forth match, as was the theme for many of tonight’s matches. Nagata hit the backdrop driver but Kitamiya kicked out. Kitamiya laid into Nagata with some slaps but Nagata no sold them and fired back with another backdrop driver for the win. Very nice main event with a great finish.
Nagata said a few things to close out the show.
Overall, this was a solid show. Quality wise, maybe about your average New Japan house show, maybe a little less. Nothing really bad, mostly solid to good. The unique matches really added a lot to the show and made it a fun watch.
There is quite a bit of news related to Japan today.
WWE held a press conference on Monday in Tokyo to announce Shinsuke Nakamura has signed with the company, a formality since that’s been known since 1/4 and he was already announced at the NXT tapings for a match with Sami Zayn on 4/1 in Dallas.
The other big news is that Kota Ibushi will be returning on 3/21 at DDT’s Tokyo Sumo Hall show, but will no longer be under contract to either DDT or New Japan. Ibushi said that while he was injured, he realized he was keeping a ridiculous pace working for both groups.
He announced he was forming the Kota Ibushi Pro Wrestling Kenkyujo (which means Ibushi Pro Wrestling Research Institute. Not a lot is known about what that all means, but Ibushi was very important to New Japan with Shinsuke Nakamura gone, as he could have been elevated to big four status easily, and a feud with Kenny Omega would have been a natural.
His first match back with be a falls count anywhere weapons three-team match with Jun Kasai & Sanshiro Takagi, Ibushi & Gota Ihashi and Kenso & Michael Nakazawa.
Also announced today by New Japan is the first round matches in the New Japan Cup tournament, which take place on 3/3 at the company’s anniversary show at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo.
The single elimination tournament will decide Kazuchika Okada’s opponent at Invasion Attack on 4/10 at Sumo Hall.
On last night’s Honor Rising event, Tomohiro Ishii shocked everyone by beating Roderick Strong for the ROH Television championship. It’s one thing for a title to switch hands, but is it possible for both ROH singles titles to change hands on the same tour two nights in a row? It’s entirely possible as this morning, ROH World champion Jay Lethal faces off against perrenial underdog Tomoaki Honma. While Honma is known for getting the occasional big win when it matters, Lethal not only has been very strong as champion, but his manager Truth Martini is known for getting involved in matches. Will the same happen here tonight, or will Honma reign supreme as a double champion?
David Finlay vs. Jay White
Really nice back and forth match. These two will probably be facing off in singles bouts just like Komatsu and Tanaka, and those two always had nice, solid matches. Lots of back and forth with some nice uppercuts by Finlay. White continues to look very good as well. He gets the submission with the Boston crab.
Jushin Thunder Liger and Matt Sydal vs. Gedo and Delirious
Not really much of a match but there were some funny antics by the heels. There was a funny moment before the bell where everyone was wondering why Delirious turtled up in the corner. The bell rang, he went crazy…then promptly tagged in Gedo. Gedo was all nice and wanted to shake Liger’s hand twice. Everything was cool the first time, then he jumped him after the second. Babyfaces always seem to fall for that in New Japan. Delirious took a lady’s purse from the front row and used it as a weapon. That’s a new one. Matt Sydal won with the shooting star press on Gedo.
Delirious mentioned Stokely Hathaway and Cheeseburger (who should have totally been on these cards) after the match.
Frankie Kazarian vs. Dalton Castle
Nice match. It was a slow build kind of match, given a lot of time, but things got going pretty well towards the end. People liked Castle but there wasn’t a ton of heat for this which hurt it. There was some comedy to be had here as Castle did a lot of antics to start off the match, including posing with the boys as well as doing a bit with Tiger Hattori where he leaned all the way down to the floor and Hattori counted his shoulders. Fans tried to start some American chants, rooting for Castle, but they never lasted really long. Castle unleashed some great offense towards the end and pinned Kazarian after a tilt a whirl reverse facebuster.
Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. reDragon, Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto
Bullet Club were all wearing new shirts. They had their usual eight man tag. They continued teasing something with Goto as he argued with Shibata at one point in the match. He’s had offers from Okada to join Chaos since losing the IWGP title match. Gallows and Anderson teased the Magic Killer but Goto came back and he and Anderson had some good comebacks. Gallows gave Shibata the Gallows Poll for a great near fall. Shibata came back, put him to sleep and hit the penalty kick for the win. Last few minutes were really good.
Bullet Club all got together and hugged after the match as it’s Anderson and Gallows last match with the company (I’m pretty sure, anyway). Tonga and Fale bowed to them and made their exit. Gallows and Anderson then bowed to all four corners of the ring, then knelt down at the last one. Fans were emotional and so were they. Anderson’s music then hit as they made their exit.
Moose and Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito and Bushi
Fine tag team match. Again, this was to showcase Moose, who is very much over with the crowd in doing his chant. Evil accompanied Naito and Bushi on the outside and aided them in beating up the faces whenever possible. Moose looked really great on offense, especially when having to do the hot top. He even did the Okada dropkick to Naito, who tumbled out of the ring. He pinned Bushi with the spear.
Michael Elgin, Roderick Strong and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi and Kazuchika Okada
Pretty good six man bout. It was shaped like a lot of New Japan tags as everyone worked with their rival (Tanahashi/Okada, Strong/Ishii, etc.). A lot of the focus was on Ishii and Strong. Everyone looked pretty good and worked well with one another. Crowd was here and there, but were really into the last few minutes of the match where Yoshi-Hashi got some near falls on Elgin. He overcame them and got the win for his team, pinning Yoshi-Hashi with the buckle bomb and spinning power bomb.
Ishii and Strong got pulled apart several times after the bell rang, making it clear that there’s probably going to be a rematch down the line for the title. Maybe at the TV tapings at the end of the month?
NEVER Six Man Tag Team titles: Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks vs. The Briscoes and Toru Yano (c)
Good match. Omega and the Bucks gel really well togther and helped make the match stand out. Kenny Omega came out wearing a New Day t-shirt saying he’s going to get Austin Creed (Xavier Woods). They have a rivalry going on for the Up Up Down Down show.Cody Hall accompanied the heels and freely interfere in the match, giving the Bullet Club the advantage. Lots of cool tandem work. Yano at one point undid the turnbuckle and laid out Omega with it. It played a part later in the match as all the heels ended up taking the turnbuckle spot.
Omega went for the hairspray but Yano rolled him up for a very close two count. Eventually the Bucks came back and laid out the Briscoes with a double Indytaker. They laid out Yano and gave him an extra More Bang for Your Buck (with Omega also hitting a swanton bomb) to win the titles. Makes sense as they’ve been building them as The Elite as of late.
These NEVER titles seem to be like the Hardcore title of New Japan at this point – we’re already on the fourth champions and the belt’s only existed for over a month!
ROH World Champion Jay Lethal vs. Tomoaki Honma
Good main event. Not great. Honma looked really good. Lethal looked good in places but the finish was kind of lame considering it happens in every Lethal match in Japan. Started off kinda slow. Good action, but nothing extraordinary. Lethal had him laid out and went for the Lethal Injection but Honma countered with a kokeshi. He took him to the floor and hit another one off the top rope. Honma hit all kinds of kokeshis but missed one off the top rope. Ref bump. In a surprise, suddenly Evil and Bushi came out and helped Martini lay him out with the Book of Truth…only to no sell it! He took out Martini but the distraction was enough as Lethal came back and laid him out with the Lethal Injection to retain the title.
Lethal wanted to shake Honma’s hand. There seems to be a theme to never trust the heels when it comes to shaking hands, but the babyfaces fall for it every time anyway. Of course, Honma obliged, and immediately Bushi sprayed him with the mist, leaving him a mess on the outside. Seems obvious the next tag title program is GBH and Naito/Evil.
Truth has the mic and says that Los Ingobernables and Lethal together are unstoppable. Naito then cuts a promo putting over Lethal, calling him his amigo, to end the show.
Pretty good show. There’s nothing absolutely you need to see, but for a live show this was pretty fun to watch. Hope ROH and New Japan do more shows together in the future as they both have some great talent that really shone on these last two shows.
Tonight’s episode are matches from NJPW Wrestling Hinokuni, which took place on April 29, 2015 at Grandmesse Kumamoto
First up is a NWA title defense as new champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan defends against Big Daddy Yum Yum. The challenger is former WWE developmental wrestler Byron Wilcott who has been here a few times in the past, most famous for selling Kojima’s chops in the most bizarre manner possible. He has good presence but everything else just feels off, from his offense to his selling to his ring gear. Even the announcers were saying this wasn’t good, and it really wasn’t. Tenzan should be the one carried at this point, not the other way around. Tenzan eventually got the win with a second anaconda vise. Pretty bad.
Makabe talks about how he had to vacate the NEVER title due to the flu. He mentions how Ishii said he’d have to win the title from Ishii for it to really mean something. He thinks wrestling is all about your heart, and this upcoming match shows this.
The match aired. I’m torn when it comes to these matches. They’ve never been terrible. Both guys are great brawlers and know their style very well. Ishii has always been consistently great. Some people want to rip on Makabe because he’s one of the more protected guys (he has mainstream popularity due to his love for sweets, among other things) even though he’s not as dynamic as others on the roster, but he can still put up a tremendous performance. Problem is, in 2015 they faced off for the NEVER title at least four times. It was overkill by the third defense, and the fourth was just kind of unnecessary.
But in terms of how the match was…it was every match they’ve had. Which means, in other words, it was quite the spectacle. People were into it from the start, as Ishii has this kind of vibe and style where you can get into his work pretty much immediately. Lots of stiff shots, kicks, lariats and all the like. Ishii took very hard suplexes to the back of his head. He can’t be doing this style forever. After 25 minutes of intense back and forth brawling, Makabe won the NEVER title back after pinning Ishii with the King Kong knee drop.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the match, and if you’ve never seen it before, it’s worth your while to check it out. For me, personally, I’ve seen these guys have plenty of great matches, and I just kind of want to move on from watching them. They spent too much of last year feuding, is what I’m getting at here. I think we’re only halfway done with this feud as well as far as this timeline goes, so that’s kind of a bummer for me personally.
Ishii didn’t have anything to say after the match.
Makabe takes a microphone after the match and says that no matter how many times we’ve been beat, we come back up because we have guts. Makabe says he and Ishii might look dirty, but we are talented. He gave away this belt once, but it came back to me. That’s what a true wrestler does.
Makabe backstage says he’ll disprove andy prejudices with this belt. He then says anyone else watching this that has championships, he’ll overthrow them.
In his reflective interview, he says that he knew he had to get the belt back. It was an obstacle, for sure. But he knew that’s the match the people wanted, which is why it was so intense. It’s nice to see different kinds of matches. To him, it’s all about the heart of the match.
And that’ll do it for this season of New Japan on AXS! We’ll return March 4 with Jim Ross replacing Maruo Ranallo. Much thanks to Mauro as he really helped these initial seasons of New Japan on AXS feel really special, and his knowledge of the product felt really refreshing compared to virtually everyone else who does English language broadcasting.
