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Tag: Tetsuya Naito

  • NJPW Kizuna Road results: G1 announcements, Naito and Bushi vs. Okada and Ospreay

    The card for Kizuna Road itself isn’t all that interesting, though we do have a unique match in Will Ospreay and Okada teaming up to take on Naito and Bushi in the main event. The real interest will be during the intermission, in which the participants for the G1 will be announced, and the big matches on the tour will be highlighted as well. Will Tanahashi make the cut? Who gets left out? Will Yujiro still somehow maintain a spot? We’ll find out soon enough!

    David Finlay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

    About as solid of a match as you’d expect from these two. Taguchi looked good, as did David, who is now sporting a beard. He lost here to the dodon by Taguchi.

    Rocky Romero, Trent Baretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Captain New Japan and Manabu Nakanishi

    Nakanishi has a new shirt that says Monster Morning, because he has a really big breakfast. No, really, he posts his breakfast like every day on Twitter. Captain New Japan demanded for Sakuraba to get in there. Sakuraba wasn’t interested. Eventually he relented but CNJ ran to Liger for protection. A lot of comedy stuff to start out with- Baretta wanted to shake Liger’s hand. Liger, who is probably aware by now the handshake spot almost always leads to the dumb babyface getting jumped, had no interest.

    Baretta went around shaking everyone’s hand (including a member of the audience) until Liger finally relented. This time, however, Liger caught Baretta trying to lay him out and instead took him out. Basic eight man tag with with pretty fun spots. CNJ and Sakuraba did have another confrontation towards the end, with the latter getting the upper hand. Ishii’s the one to get the win, pinning CNJ with the brainbuster.

    Hangman Page, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Satoshi Kojima, Yoshitatsu and Matt Sydal

    Heels jumped faces before the bell rang. Everyone looked good here, as it was an  action packed six man tag. Page and Sydal worked together and aside from one noticeable botch they worked pretty well with one another. Kojima made the hot tag, took out Yujiro who was interfering, and pinned Owens with the lariat.

    Bullet Club didn’t like that too much, so they jumped the faces after the match and hanged Yoshitatsu. Given he was out for over a year with severe neck injuries I’m pretty sure they could have put someone else in this spot.

    Here we are: G1 time!

    • A Block: Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Sanada, Naomichi Marufuji, Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi
    • B Block: Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma, Michael Elgin, Toru Yano, Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Katsuhiko Nakajima

    Big matches:

    • 7/18: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sanada, Okada vs. Marufuji
    • 7/22: Nagata vs. Naito, Shibata vs. Honma
    • 7/23: Tanahashi vs. Makabe, Okada vs. Sanada
    • 7/24: Nakajima vs. Shibata, Honma vs. Yoshi-Hashi
    • 7/25: Makabe vs. Sanada, Okada vs. Goto
    • 7/27: Yano vs. Naito, Shibata vs. Elgin
    • 7/28: Ishii vs. Marufuji, Goto vs. Sanada
    • 7/30: Omega vs. Elgin, Shibata vs. Naito
    • 7/31: Makabe vs. Marufuji, Tanahashi vs. Goto
    • 8/1: Yoshi Hashi vs. Nakajima, Honma vs. Naito
    • 8/3: Tanahashi vs. Ishii, Makabe vs. Okada
    • 8/4: Nakajima vs. Naito, Shibata vs. Omega
    • 8/6: Tanahashi vs. Marufuji, Okada vs. Ishii
    • 8/7: Omega vs. Nagata, Naito vs. Evil
    • 8/8: Ishii vs. Sanada, Tanahashi vs. Kojima
    • 8/10: Honma vs. Elgin, Shibata vs. Nagata
    • 8/12: Goto vs. Marufuji, Tanahashi vs. Okada
    • 8/13: Shibata vs. Evil, Naito vs. Omega

    Additionally, all shows will be airing live on New Japan World.

    Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tomoaki Honma vs. Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe and Katsuyori Shibata

    Good match, fast paced and solid throughout. Honma and Shibata, who are in the same block and are also facing off soon over the NEVER title, worked against one another for a lot of the match. Tenzan, who is not in the G1 this year, seemed particularly motivated in this match. He got the win with the moonsault, pinning Robinson. I guess that’ll stick it to those in charge.

    Shibata and Honma had to be separated after the match. Tenzan cut a short promo once that was all settled, wondering why he wasn’t in the G1.

    Evil and Sanada vs. Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi

    Really great match, easily the best of the night in terms of heat. This was all about Yoshi-Hashi and Sanada as they’ve been feuding for the last month.This got a lot of great heat towards the end as Yoshi-Hashi got a submission in on Sanada and nearly tapped him out. They had a really good back and forth exchanged towards the end. Yoshi-Hashi is ready in terms of being a big breakout singles star. They’ve kept him in tags for years and it’s time to go beyond that. Sanada is going to excel here and in the G1. Evil flattened him with a lariat but Yoshi-Hashi kicked out. They did several more great near falls that people were super into. Finally Sanada went for the Skull End once again but Yoshi Hashi slipped to the ground and rolled up Sanada for the flash pin.

    Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito and Bushi

    Since Naito didn’t have Milano Collection AT or any announcers to bully, he opted to lay out the camera guy instead. Pretty good main event overall. It couldn’t match the previous bout, but people were still very much into it. This crowed loved Naito and there were huge changes for him throughout the match. Ospreay came in for fun great highspots including a tornillo dive to the outside. He hit a spanish fly on Bushi, then a spinning kick but missed the springboard cutter and ate a Canadian destroyer by Bushi. Okada broke up that fall, but Bushi came back and hit the codebreaker for the win.

    Bushi cuts a promo and asks why he isn’t in the Super J Cup. Naito says yes, those are the two big events of the summer…but until then, tranquilo.

    Good show, and very newsworthy to boot. Definitely check out the co-main as it has some awesome heat and action.

  • New Japan on AXS report: AJ Styles vs. Tanahashi highlights more G-1 ’15 action

    Tenzan welcomed us to the show this week. I don’t think he’s been interviewed once since these shows started airing on AXS.

    This is from August 14, 2015 in Sumo Hall.

    Doc Gallows vs. Katsuyori Shibata

    Gallows chokeslammed Shibata on the apron early, which is a big time owwie. I mean apron spots are cool, but New Japan has some of the nastiest ones I’ve seen. This wasn’t one of them, but they remind me of the ones Will Ospreay and Ricochet took during the Best of the Super Juniors. This was fine, but nothing memorable. Gallows got the surprising win with the Gallows Poll.

    Kota Ibushi vs. Togi Makabe

    Ibushi is so great at adapting to styles. He’s not only a terrific aerial wrestler but a great striker as well, and this that made this match memorable. Facially Ibushi is awesome at everything he does. A really fun, stiff match. Makabe is great in this role, but Ibushi shone in being able to hang with him. He got the win with the Phoenix splash.

    Tenzan mentioned that 2015 was his 20th anniversary in the ring, so this year’s G1 was tough for him. He was outraged when someone wrote he wasn’t capable of being in the G1, and thus got him enraged and motivated. Regarding Naito, he says he really wanted to tear him apart and it was in his mind the whole time. He’s wasted his chances by acting out, doesn’t seem committed. He wonders if there is any motivation. He’s not a type of guy he enjoys wrestling against.

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tetsuya Naito

    First off, I hope Tenzan didn’t read what I said prior to the G1 because…well, Tenzan has on and off days. Sometimes he’s super awesome, other times it’s kind of sad that he’s still wrestling. Time’s never kind to pro wrestlers, Tenzan being a good example of this in recent years. But despite all that, he did some great work in this match, and with the announcing of JR and Barnett, they turned this into a really good match.

    Announcing was great here, getting over that Naito was being disrespectful to his former mentor. In terms of work, nothing blow away awesome, and some of it wasn’t pretty but as a whole the match was pretty good. Tenzan gets the submission win with the anaconda vise.

    Tenzan ran down Naito after a match, saying it would take a million years before he could beat him. Naito said good job, was he able to regain his honor in the end? Nice work, he’s heading home now.

    Tenzan mentioned that it was a really long G1 – he was determined, however, not to lose. It wasn’t a refreshing victory, and physically it was tough. At times, his body didn’t move like it wanted to. It is NJPW’s most prestigious series right now, though, and he wanted to fight until the end.

    Tanahashi welcomes us to the 200th episode of World Pro Wrestling Returns! This also took place on August 14.

    Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale

    This really wasn’t much. Jim Ross called it a “bowling shoe ugly” match and I wouldn’t disagree. They always tease the count out spot in New Japan, and here they finally did it as Fale didn’t make it to 20 and got counted out.

    Already time for Tanahashi to talk. He mentioned his match against Kota Ibushi where he was lawn darted into the turnbuckle (and in hindsight, what a dangerous spot), and was still banged up from that spot.. AJ’s match was one of concern. He definitely didn’t want to lose against him. The winner of the match was going to the finals. He considered AJ one of the best wrestlers in the world – why wouldn’t he want to beat Styles and reclaim that title?

    AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

    They, of course, pulled out all the stops here and was a great match that you totally need to see if you haven’t yet. I really liked the leg work from Styles on Tanahashi early in the bout, only for Tanahashi to return it a while later. Another factor that you have to remember is that even before Styles came to New Japan, Tanahashi used the Styles Clash, so that was also a big part of the match, with Styles escaping before eventually landing one.

    Styles even hit a high fly flow but Tanahashi kicked out. Finally Tanahashi hit a big high fly flow to a standing Styles then finished him off with another one. This was so fantastic, a great story told by both men. One of the best matches of 2015, easily, and stands out even more today thanks to the English commentary.

    Tanahashi announced he was in the finals match to big applause. ‘

    In his reflective interview, he mentions how it took eight years for his favorite match (vs. Goto) to be replaced by this one. He mentioned that how of the four wh made it to the semifinals, only two would be continuing to 2016 in New Japan, which shows how great 2015 was.

    On Styles leaving, he would like to thank him as a member of New Japan Pro Wrestling. In his first match against him back in 2007, he was booed. But after, he said he wanted to face him again. “Let’s do this again, genius” is the exact quote. When AJ left for WWE, he told him the same thing.

    First hour had some pretty good action. The second one is great and highly recommended, as it was fantastic.

  • NJPW on AXS G1 2015 report: Naito vs. Tanahashi; Ishii vs. Nakamura

    We got two hours to cover this week of G1 2015 coverage, so let’s not waste any time!

    July 26, 2015 in Hiroshima:

    Katsuyori Shibata vs. Togi Makabe

    This, of course, was super stiff, but nothing out of the ordinary. Good, not great. Shibata got the win with the penalty kick.

    AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi

    This was good stuff. I loved the sequence near the end where Kota tried a hurricanrana off the top rope, but AJ blocked hit and hit a hurricanrana just for Ibushi to counter with a rollup, but AJ countered with a Styles Clash attempt. I keep saying this like a broken record, but Ibushi is so great; the last place he needs to be is in IGF where there’s like zero buzz. The burnout is totally understandable, but at the same time I feel like his eccentricities are getting the best of his career. Kota wins with the phoenix splash in a really great match.

    Tetsuya Naito is interviewed. He went to Mexico in May (2015) and mentioned how he met people like La Sombra and Rush and how they wrestled freely; he was jealous. As he teamed with them in matches he felt a sense of joy, so he wanted to bring that to Japan. He felt that he needed to stick to his own style. But after wrestling in Mexico, he realized he needed to branch out. He could say he has no feelings regarding Tanahashi, but that would be a lie. He doesn’t have much more to be say regarding him.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito

    A great showcase for the new Naito here. He took his time taking off his suit (he’s replaced that with just taking a very long time getting to the ring and harassing Milano Collection AT), posed during matches and even took his time brawling around the ring, including a neckbreaker onto a table. In fact, a lot of this match was the two just brawling around, with Naito getting the upper hand. They eventually make their way back to the ring and bust out a ton of great offense.

    I really liked the work on Naito’s knee (he was out for a long period of time a couple of years prior due to a blown out knee) including the two high fly flows on it. Naito got the somewhat surprising win with his new finisher, Destino (a standing sliced bread).

    In a post match promo, he told the Japanese people to calm down. No one can stop him now, He finished off his short promo saying LOS INGOBERNABLES!

    Tanahashi says this was one of his top 5 disappointing matches as he’s helped out backstage. He said the match was what it was – it was destiny. At first, no one could even pronounce los Ingobernables, but as the tournament went on he gained more confidence. He wants Los Ingobernables to gain strength in New Japan.

    Shinsuke Nakamura welcomes us to the second hour of New Japan on AXS.

    This footage is from August 1 in Osaka.

    Karl Anderson vs. Yuji Nagata

    Pretty decent match. I liked the work in the beginning where Anderson worked on Nagata’s ribs while Nagata worked on the arm. Anderson got the win after a gun stun out of nowhere.

    Anderson told Nagata in a very rude manner to make him some food and do his laundry. Nagata didn’t have much response.

    Tomoaki Honma vs. Michael Elgin

    Elgin was such a fresh face in this tournament -literally everyone else was in the tournament a year prior, so seeing some new match ups here was pretty great. Elgin proved just how great a talent he really is by doing some of the best work of his career in this tournament, and prove a lot of his haters wrong with some terrific offense that really got Elgin over.

    This was a great match. People were super into both guys and wanted Honma to get the big win. My favorite spot was the deadlift falcon arrow onto the apron to the mat – such a great spot! Elgin gets the win with the buckle bomb and a sitout powerbomb. Great match.

    Elgin says he’s back on track and how he’s on his way to the finals, because that’s just how good he is. Honma was amazed by Elgin’s power; he really wanted to win, but he will be happy with a win next time.

    Nakamura mentions his elbow injury that kept him off some of the G1 shows and mentions how he wanted to get back in the ring very quickly. He stayed on tour during his injury, saying he would go to different hospitals to get the treatment he needed. It was tough for him to get his way back, and wasn’t until Osaka where he was finally able to return.

    Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii

    This was really great. Just built up really well from start to finish and the crowd was totally into it from start to finish. Both guys worked super hard. I loved the spot near the end where Nakamura went for another boma ye, Ishii stopped him but countered with the flying armbar scissors. Is that not the coolest move in pro wrestling? Both guys are awesome and they had, in fact, a really tremendous match. Nakamura got the win after a boma ye.

    Nakamura says he had to give his all against Ishii, and glad he was able to face him. He was also happy he only missed one G1 match due to injury so he’s still in the game. In his reflective interview, he says he was very eager to face Ishii. Each one of their hits was full of passion. He appreciated that Ishii never tried to attack his elbow. He had to bring out everything he had, or he wouldn’t be able to stand. He felt that, even though saying this was weird, that it was a great comeback story.

    Lots of great action on these shows; be sure to check them out!

  • FREE: Adam & Mike: Wrestling Dontaku preview and more!

    Worth it at half the price, the original alternate is back with the GRATIS edition to help get you in the mood for Tuesday morning’s New Japan Dontaku show. After we talk for 13 minutes about other random things like the state of women’s hockey, we get into NJPW-ROH in Chicago, Zeus matches, Junior Fujita, lying about attendance, the ballad of Ryusuke Taguchi, spotlights on SANADA, snowflake predictions for Tuesday morning’s Naito-Ishii main, and much more.

    Right click save

  • NJPW Wrestling Dontaku results: Super Juniors lineups; IWGP champ Naito vs. Ishii

    Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi

    This did not last long at all. Fale pinned Captain New Japan quickly with the grenade in under 3 minutes. I don’t know why Yoshitatsu let this guy in his Bullet Club Hunter club, he’s worthless in every way.

    Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay & Gedo

    Fun little match. Usual good eight man match you’d see on the first half of any New Japan show. Ospreay’s offense is so dynamic. He had a great dynamic with Finlay as they did some fun spots together. He did the Sasuke special at one point during the match, taking everyone out in the process. He ended up getting the win for his team after a springboard diamond cutter.

    Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. IWGP Junior Tag Champs Matt Sydal & Ricochet 

    Really good match. I think they’ve had better, but this built up nicely and had some good near falls toward the end. RPG Vice had the heat early. Ricochet did this great move where he caught Baretta in mid air while he was executing a tornado DDT, countered into a northern lights suplex, floated over then gave him a brainbuster. Sydal gave Baretta a reverse rana, then aided Ricochet in laying out Romero with a double Benadryller. They followed with the stereo shooting star presses and pinned RPG Vice to regain the junior titles.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu vs. NEVER Six-Man Tag Champ Kenny Omega & Young Bucks for Never

    Good match, though like the previous match, their last bout was a bit better. Unlike their previous match, where they had crazy spots just about everywhere, they mostly kept this in the ring for most of the match. Elgin made a great comeback for his team. Tanahashi and Omega were in there when Omega went to use the hairspray but it hit Tiger Hattori instead. Elite acted like they were helping him, but then Omega low blowed him because he’s mean.

    That’s when the weapons were brought out. Elgin powerbombed Matt Jackson into a ladder, but Omega came back and with the help of the Bucks, powerbombed Elgin through a table on the floor. They gave Yoshitatsu the triple kick, then Omega pinned Yoshitatsu with the One Winged Angel to win the titles.

    Tanahashi cut a promo after the match, asking Kenny Omega for a rematch, saying he is the next Intercontinental champion. Kenny said no, but then took out the ladder and said if he wanted a ladder match, then he would say yes. They both climbed to the top of the ladder and shook hands, so it’s on.

    Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa for IWGP tag team titles

    Okay match, mostly picked up toward the end. Guerrillas of Destiny just lack something here. Makabe and Honma are great singles guys, and have had great matches but this program just doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. Tama Tonga and Makabe had some great back and forth that got the crowd into the bout. Tonga and Tanga took out Makabe on the outside as they cornered Honma. He tried to fight his way out of losing, but didn’t work as the brothers laid out Honma with their finish to retain the titles.

    This year’s Best of the Super Junior lineups:

    • A Block: Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Sydal, Rocky Romero, Gedo, Bushi, Matt Jackson
    • B Block: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Nick Jackson, Will Ospreay, Trent Beretta, Bobby Fish, Ricochet, Volador Jr.

    No real surprises other than Volador Jr. He and Will Ospreay make the B block far more interesting. I’d really like to see how their singles match goes down.

    Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for Never title

    Good match. Started off slow with some mat wrestling, then picked up from there. They had a better G1 match, but this was good stuff while it lasted. Shibata went for the penalty kick but Nagata grabbed him and gave him a big boot and backdrop driver. Shibata mounted a comeback but Nagata put him down on the ground, gave him a penalty kick and pinned him with the backdrop driver to win the title.  Shinpei Nogami, the biggest fan of Yuji Nagata you’ll ever see, freaked out after the match and kept screaming “JUSTICE!”

    IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida vs. Jushin Liger

    Really good match. Different than most junior heavyweight matches. Kushida is one of th best all around workers in wrestling today just by how he’s able to adjust to any style and have a great match no matter what.

    This was a more traditional match, working on body parts and applying submissions. Liger worked on Kushida’s leg early in the bout and kept working on it throughout. Liger can’t fly like he did back in the day but as far as technical wrestling goes he’s really good. Liger hit the shotei once, then went for it again but Kushida blocked it and countered with the hoverboard lock. Liger took a while, but eventually submitted.

    Kushida grabbed a mic and said that he’d like to see Liger wrestle for many years to come. Liger said if the champion thinks so, he might have to challenge again down the line.

    Hirooki Goto vs. Evil

    Another good match. Kinda short, but it was explosive as they went at right away. A lot of brawling, and a lot of back and forth stiff shots. Goto kicked out of a fireman’s carry into a spinebuster, but then Evil gave him the STO and pinned him clean in the middle, just like that. Pretty surprising.

    Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada

    Really good match. Another match that had some good back and forth early. Sanada’s really good, definitely upper midcard/main event kind of character. Okada did the rainmaker pose but Sanada came back and put him in the Skull End submission. He missed the moonsault. Okada went to go for the rainmaker but Sanada kept dodging and trying for the Skull End. Sanada got him back down to the floor but Okada transitioned back to the tombstone, laid out Sanada with that then pinned him with the rainmaker. That’d probably put him in line for a rematch against Naito soon.

    IWGP Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii

    Awesome match, especially in the last ten minutes or so. Sure enough, Okada was out there with Ishii to second him, along with Gedo. They had a straightforward match for a while, pretty solid back and forth offering until Evil interfered, hitting Ishii with a steel chair. Ishii was working on Naito’s leg and had an ankle lock in as Chaos warded off Los Ingobernables.

    Eventually they got free, but Ishii held his own until Okada made the save. Ishii hit the sliding D and went for a brainbuster but Naito countered with a DDT. Ishii countered the Destino and laid him out with an inverted brainbuster (that’s a new one!) for a nearfall. Finally, Ishii whipped Naito across the ropes but he came back with a forearm, then pinned him with Destino to retain the title.

    Okada took shirt off and stared down Naito after the match. He didn’t respond at first, but eventually they had a staredown as Okada left. After all the ceremonies, Naito cut a promo asking Kidani to see the pop he’s getting in front of his crowd, and that he knows Okada wants a title shot but he has to “tranquillo”.

    – This was a really good show. Everything was good for the most part, with the IWGP and Jr. title matches being really exceptional.

  • New Japan Cup Finals results: Cup winner crowned; build to Invasion Attack

    Jay White vs. David Finlay

    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.

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    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.