Tonight’s show is our first of two shows looking at the highlights of last year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament. I believe all matches on this show took place on May 22nd, 2015 at Korakuen Hall
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Yohei Komatsu
This was a wild, back and forth match from the get-go. Komatsu brought it early and they brawled everywhere. Really good match, Komatsu showed the most fire I’ve ever seen in this match. Once he comes back from Mexico, he’s going to be awesome no matter where he’s at. The future of the Junior Heavyweight division in New Japan is so bright, I hope they realize that. As with every young lion match, Komatsu gave it his all, but fell to a Liger brainbuster.
Liger says Komatsu has some nice stuff, but all he needs is some experience. He’s interested in seeing how he incorporates new moves in future matches. Komatsu’s sole reply after the match was “Damn it”.
Mascara Dorada vs. Kushida
I was really excited to see this as the one match I wanted to see Mascara Dorada in last year was a singles match with Kushida. They’re both so immensely talented I thought for sure they’d tear the house down no matter what situation they were put in. This match ended up being really good, but unfortunately they weren’t given enough time to make this a really memorable match, with it only going eight minutes with Kushida getting the win with his hoverboard lock (kimura) submission.
Kushida says he debuted in Mexico ten years ago, and finally he had Lucha Libre eating out of his hand. Someday, he wants to make the Best of the Super Juniors bigger than the G1. Watch him climb up the ladder.
Gedo is interviewed. He says that he was surprised he was in the tournament this year, but he was last minute as Omega cancelled at the last minute. In terms of their upcoming match, he said he didn’t allow himself to be in awe of Taguchi so he was careful not to have him get the upper hand. He was surprised about being in the main event, and felt pressure about headlining, but they knew there were certain expectations for him, so he was a bit relieved, especially since Okada was on commentary nearby.
Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
This was pretty good. You’re not going to get anything flashy with these two, but Gedo is one of the most underrated juniors in the divison as he can have a great match by doing very little. It’s nice to see these kinds of matches every once in awhile as you don’t have to kill yourself every time you step into the ring; it’s simple as just knowing your audience and knowing what works. Taguchi had the ring bell hammer and as the ref was taking it away from him, Gedo low blowed him and used the Gedo clutch for the win.
Taguchi said “oh my penny” and this this was the most “Oh my and Garfunkel” moment ever. He sincerely hopes his son feels better later tonight. I have no idea what he meant.
Gedo made fun of Okada during their interview, saying he thought he couldn’t win, and said so earlier. Okada only said he thought he would win two in a row. Gedo said they’ll both be champions in Osaka. Since Taguchi is favored to win his block, winning tonight gives him confidence. Gedo says there’s no doubt Okada will win the title from AJ at Osaka Jo Hall, and reiterated he’ll beat Kenny Omega in the same building.
Gedo reiterated that he thought Taguchi looked goofy, but had to not be in awe so that he could get into his rhythm. He said his win gave great atmosphere in that anyone ould advance. He mentions how other promotions don’t have a junior heavyweight class (well, I know at least All Japan and NOAH have one, but true for the most part in North America) so for many, the best way to get noticed is by going to New Japan.
—– Nice highlight show this week. Next week features the Kyle O’Reilly/KUSHIDA match which was all kinds of awesome, so check it out if you haven’t yet.
In an appearance on the Max & Marcellus ESPN radio show on 3/11, Dana White said that UFC 196, which took place six days earlier in Las Vegas, broke all kinds of records and ended up doing 1.5 million buys on PPV.
The number, if accurate, would be significantly up from both the November (Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm) and December (Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo and Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold) shows that are believed to have done in the 1.05 to 1.2 million buy range. It would beat every UFC event to date with the exception of UFC 100, which is estimated at 1.6 million buys. The difference is that UFC 100 was supposed to blow away all numbers, with title matches featuring the company’s two biggest drawing cards at the time, Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre.
New Japan Pro Wrestling tonight announced four matches for its next major show, Invasion Attack, which takes place on 4/10 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
The show is the company’s biggest since the Tokyo Dome event on 1/4. It will start a 3 a.m. Eastern and midnight Pacific time late on Saturday night in the U.S.
Tetsuya Naito made it clear after winning the New Japan Cup that he was challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP heavyweight title in the main event. An angle for that match was already shot at the end of Saturday’s New Japan show in Aomori.
Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe will be defending the IWGP tag team titles against the Guerrilas of Destiny, a new tag team of Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa, who is the former Camacho in WWE and Micah in TNA. Roa would be the brother of Tonga.
Already announced last week is Kushida vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP jr. title in Ospreay’s Japanese debut.
Also announced was Ricochet & Matt Sydal defending the IWGP jr. tag team titles against Rocky Romero & Baretta.
I’m wondering why we haven’t seen the newer young lions on these tours. I guess they’re holding them off for future Lion’s Gate shows or something. There is something of a feud here between these two as David beat Jay in their first outing, but hasn’t beaten him since. Your usual good match between these two. Jay comes off as clearly better than Finlay technically but David’s a bit more charismatic. David had Jay in the Boston Crab, tried to escape several times until getting the ropes. White rolled through a pin attempt and went for the Boston Crab and submitted Finlay. They were given a bit more time than they normally get on this tour and worked a really solid match.
Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan vs. Jushin Thunder Liger and Juice Robinson
Tiger Mask is still recognized as the NWA Jr. champion even though they really haven’t done anything with the title in months. Tiger Mask did a big suicide dive onto Liger on the outside. They worked the match together on occasion while most of it was Robinson and CNJ. Robinson got the submission win over Captain New Japan with what looked like a choke sleeper.
Tiger Mask then motioned he wanted a title match with Liger. Liger seemed fine with this. It made no sense given Robinson got the win, not to mention this feud has been done to death over the last two years so why do it again? It seems like these two are just destined to feud over this title forever for no reason, which is the worst kind of feud you can do.
Evil and Bushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi
Evil’s regular move on the outside is to grab a chair, put it on his opponent’s throat, and shove him into a ringpost. Didn’t that use to put a guy out of action for months back in the day? Ishii and Evil squared off as that seems to be a future ROH TV title program. Ishii laid out Evil but Bushi came in and sprayed him. Evil came back and pinned Ishii clean to win the match. Good while it lasted, but it was clear the intention of the match was to put Evil over as a title contender.
Evil grabbed the title after the match and made the throat cutting gesture to Ishii, making his intentions clear.
New Japan Cup Semifinals: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano
Yano immediately ran to the ring the minute his music played and beat up Naito with a chair. He tried a flash pin but it didn’t work. They teased a lot of roll up finishes but on the last one Yano accidently bumped the referee. Naito low blowed him and rolled him up to advance to the finals. Really short, comedy style match.
New Japan Cup Semifinals: Hirooki Goto vs. Michael Elgin
There wasn’t much of a feeling out process as they immediately went for big moves. This turned out to be a really good match, nothing but action throughout. Elgin hit all of his trademark spots early was clearly the guy people liked in the match. Elgin drilled him with tons of high impact moves, suplexing him left and right, even dished out a tiger suplex, but Goto kicked out of everything. Goto came back with the neckbreaker. Elgin deadlifted Goto from the top rope to the floor with a falcon arrow and hit the buckle bomb, but Goto came back with a sleeper.Goto came back and surprised Elgin with a roll up to advance to the finals. Crowd didn’t like that one, but they protected Elgin as much as possible with the loss and made him look dominant.
Ryusuke Taguchi and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Fine match while it lasted. The focus here seemed to be on Shibata and Kojima. Taguchi was in for a time, doing his butt based offense on Tenzan. When their partners came in, Kojima immediately did his comeback, but Shibata came back and fired chops of his own in the corner. Taguchi came in for a hot tag and looked good for a bit but Kojima simply laid him out with one lariat for the win.
Kojima took the mic after the match, seemingly challenging for the NEVER title. Shibata responded by kicking him flush in the face. That’s one way of responding to a challenge. Kojima came back and laid him out with a lariat and laid the belt over him. It’s on.
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kazuchika Okada and Kazushi Sakuraba
It’s a weird situation here has Nagata and Shibata seemed to be programed for the NEVER title, or at least it was hinted at on the last show, but it didn’t come into fruition. Fine match, nothing special, just something for Okada to do on this show. Nakanishi and Sakuraba did some grappling, believe it or not. It didn’t look all that bad considering Nakanishi didn’t have to run around or anything. Nagata & Nakanishi hit double clotheslines and did their usual tease finish of the armbar/torture rack, but again it didn’t work. It’d have more credibility if someone actually lost in that manner. Nakanishi countered the rainmaker but Okada came back with a dropkick, hit the rainmaker and pinned him.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi
Good back and forth match. Not a whole ton to talk about, everyone just came in and did their thing. They made Fale look really strong here as they always protect him. Bullet Club used Fale as their heavy as he hit a whole bunch of high impact moves. Tanahashi wiped everyone on the outside out with a high fly flow. Honma hit his kokeshis and tried for the top rope finish but Tama Tonga came up and hit the gun stun off the top rope (that was really cool) then finished Honma with his waistlock DDT for the win.
Bullet Club laid everyone out after the match. Fale left Tanahashi lying with a grenade, so that’s probably another Invasion Attack match. Tonga took the mic and said he and his brother, the former Camacho under a new name (I believe it’s Tama Roa but could be wrong), would be the next champions.
New Japan Cup Finals: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto
Really good match, but live the constant buffering live, especially towards the latter part of the match, hurt it. It’s an issue that’s been cropping up all year and was at its worst during the main event on this morning’s show. Crowd were hot for everything and was full of hot near falls. Of course, Bushi was on the outside and freely interfered the moment Goto was on the outside. The story here is that Goto had a long twelve minute match while Naito had a relatively easy match that ended in a few minutes. Goto hit a big superplex and followed with the knee neckbreaker.
Naito made a comeback and hit Gloria. Goto tried for the shouten kai but Naito countered. Goto headbutted him, hit a penalty kick then landed the shouten kai but Naito kicked out at two. Evil suddenly appeared as Bushi distracted the ref. Goto laid him out which allowed Naito to come back. They hit back and forth countered until Naito hit Destino and pinned him to win the New Japan Cup.
Naito made it clear after the match that he’s gunning for the IWGP title and Kazuchika Okada. Evil and Bushi brought back in Goto and they all put the boots to him until Okada made the save, clearing the ring. He extended his hand to Goto, but he got up on his own. Okada still wanted a handshake, and after teasing he wouldn’t, he finally did, so it seems Goto may have joined Chaos after teasing it for the last couple of months.
Goto left as Okada brought up how Naito has said he wouldn’t challenge at Invasion Attack, then requested he face him there. Naito entered the ring once Okada left and changed his mind, saying fine, since Okada wanted to face him so bad he’ll face him at Invasion Attack. He and the rest of Los Ingobernables de Japon posed as the streamers came down and the show finished.
—-
Overall, a very good show with some pretty great matches. Everything had a purpose and there’s some interesting directions towards Invasion Attack. Okada/Naito has some real juice as a headliner and with matches like Ospreay/Kushida, Shibata/Kojima and Evil/Ishii it’s probably going to be one of the better cards of April.
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.
The original alternate is back to catch all of the feels on our 10th anniversary show. Well, not all of them as we didn’t really expect to do a special when we hit record. But, enough feels to make you either tear up a bit, or soil yourself. Or both.
The nostalgia includes, but isn’t limited to: changes in the biz and show over the years, remember when nothing happened in Japan?, why we do what we do, a meeting of the Inspirational Alan4L Appreciation Society, names like KEN 45, octopus, Turkish oil wrestling, porpoise slapping, some thoughts on Hayabusa, and much more. Upset we didn’t mention Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend in one of several languages? Or RAMBONE~! Or Super Strong Sean Avery Machine?! (Just kidding, he’s mentioned.)
Don’t worry, we’ll catch back over decade number 2. Thanks everybody! It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDO NIGHTMARE!
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.
