Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI vs. AJ Styles & Kenny Omega (1/5/16)
Outside of the 1/4/17 show, this was the first Japanese wrestling match I had watched in at least five years. Pretty interesting starting point, with Nakamura and Styles both on the verge of leaving New Japan for WWE, and Omega on the verge of becoming a top star in New Japan. Took a bit to get re-acquainted with New Japan’s style – ya watch probably a thousand WWE tag team matches, ya get used to a shtick.
This is a good solid tag match. Nakamura and AJ working each other is magical, though they’re taking it easy tonight. Kenny Omega wrestles at warp speed and throws a couple wild knees here. Not sure if YOSHI-HASHI moved me one way or another. I popped for Dave Finlay and Jay White just chilling at ringside as young boys – always loved the Young Lion stuff. Omega goes over Nak for the 3. ***
Post-match angle with Kenny and the Young Bucks laying out Styles and announcing Omega as the new leader of the Bullet Club is great. I liked how quickly Omega grabbed Styles for the One-Winged Angel so he couldn’t escape. Young lions getting beat up is always awesome too. What an awesome way to write a guy out of a territory, just tremendous.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Togi Makabe (1/30/16)
This is Shinsuke Nakamura’s farewell match. The match is pretty good, lots of old pals just going at it and having themselves a back-and-forth wrestling match. Brought up a notch by the spectacle of Nakamura’s farewell (crowd chanting SHIN-SKAY, Okada helping Nak into the ring, Okada crying post-match). Had Ishii and Shibata chopping and elbowing the shit out of each other, Tanahashi vs. Nakamura one more time, Shibata doing the Nakamura taunt, and a bunch of fun exchanges but didn’t exactly come together as anything must-see, but were all fun to watch. I mean, respect to all these guys – this just isn’t the first thing I’m showing to any friends. Extra points for JR’s wacky commentary: he compares Ishii’s size to a “soft drink machine” and drops this line: “That is colder than an ex-mother-in-law’s hug. And that is COLD, my friends.” ***1/4
Another solid angle with Omega post-match. Omega talked some shit to Nakamura as Tanahashi stared Omega down, finally cutting him off with “SHUT UUUUP!” as the crowd erupted in TA-NA-HASHI chants.
