I’m going to do a new thing here where I review matches shown on the NJPW AXS show. I’m a lapsed Japanese wrestling fan, like over a decade lapsed, and the only stuff I’ve watched since then is this year’s Wrestle Kingdom and I think Ibushi vs. Nakamura. Am currently catching up on the 2016 stuff shown on AXS thanks to 4AM DVR’d replays, but will throw my thoughts at you on the more recent 2017 stuff in the meantime.
NJPW on AXS (6/2/17): The New Beginning in Sapporo Part 1
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Beretta) [c] vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi w/ Miho Abe, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2/5/17)
This was the first match I watched of New Japan on AXS and it kind of blew my mind. I’ve got so many questions. First of all WHAT HAPPENED TO TAICHI!? The last time I watched that baby-faced pup was Kawada’s trainee who wasn’t quite panning out. And Rocky and Trent? are a team now, so that’s happening. Also Yoshinobu Kanemaru is just hanging out with TAKA in a tracksuit. Also, TAKA IS STILL HERE! This is pretty good. Rocky knows how to pop the Japanese folk, nice clothesline spot by him here. Trent? is very good. Taichi is OK but all gimmicked up and not necessarily in a good way. TAKA is old as shit but still so smooth. Gorgeous Asai Moonsault by 43-year-old TAKA towards the end, and a wild finisher by Roppongi Vice closes it. ***
3-Way Match – IWGP Tag Team Title: Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano [c] vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) (2/5/17)
The Tanahashi/Naito/Omega matches are fun, but it’s the midcard randomness AXS puts out that really pops me. Lance Archer is just spitting water at people now! Davey Boy Smith is also tanned and jacked. And YANOOOO!!!! Toru Yano brings the energy to these 3-way tag matches with the comedy gimmick, just a guy happy to be there who gets by with badass Ishii as his back-up. They kept this moving with fun spots – Yano being a goof, Ishii no-selling big boots and trying to suplex Archer, Honma’s headbutt, an awesome double-arm suplex and bridge by Smith, the ref being ON TOP OF IT for Yano’s blind tag of Honma after the Kokeshi, Archer’s big crossbody after walking the ropes, and Yano’s double low blow leading to the finish. Action action action! ***1/4
NEVER Openweight Title: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. Juice Robinson (2/5/17)
I very much like how legitimate a professional wrestler CJ Parker has become. This was pretty good. Liked Juice going AT IT with offense right away – lariats in the corner, a running cannonball, diving headbutt, and finally running cannonball miss on the outside leading to Goto on offense, which is I don’t know competent. Pretty standard solid Japanese wrestling match. “Man, when did Juice Robinson get so good?” asks Goto post-match. **3/4
NJPW on AXS (6/2/17): The New Beginning in Sapporo Part 2
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada [c] w/ Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki w/ Taichi (2/5/17)
I’ve watched around 30 Japanese wrestling matches over the last couple weeks and this was the one that stayed with me the most. Lots of NJPW matches follow a formula that makes for fun hard-hitting matches but lack an extra THING … this meanwhile was 40-minutes long and had character and felt unique, even if 20 minutes of it was Suzuki deliberately attacking a leg. I’ve always liked Suzuki because his matches aren’t just a Strong Style Competition, there’s real character to him – this match is his return from going away, terrorizing NOAH, returning and going after Okada. His theme remains epic, and his henchman Taichi stares down Okada as he enters. Suzuki’s a monster here… snapping like a snake and going after Okada’s taped leg, smashing a camera tripod over it, wrenching it in the guardrail, beating up Gedo, smiling at Tanahashi who’s on commentary. This is really kind of a great classic match too, a back in the day type of thing where the guy in black tights went after an injury and the crowd bought in. Suzuki wasn’t always going for the kill, he was wearing Okada down. Some real nasty interesting legwork here, loved Suzuki wrenching Okada’s leg and pulling his hand away so he couldn’t grab the ropes.
Okada is amazing selling all of it too… he fights back with boots to Suzuki’s face while gritting his teeth, tries to fight through the pain with a kip-up or dropkick but regrets it every time. Gedo teasing the towel was a neat idea but a tad goofy. Finish is pretty incredible, a really really beautifully laid out 10 minutes of pro wrestling. The ref gets bumped and Taichi goes RIGHT after Okada with a smile on his face. Archer and Davey Boy come out to join the beating until Ishii and Yano run-in for the save, Gedo drags Taichi off, Okada fires off a dropkick, and the crowd goes wild. The crowd pops for Okada’s Gotch-style setup for the tombstone, but Suzuki GORGEOUSLY reverses it into a heel hold. Suzuki just repeatedly DDT’ing Okada’s leg while applying the achilles lock was incredible. These two fellas slapped each other and Suzuki fought for his Gotch piledriver but Okada managed the Rainmaker and both went down. The camera zoomed out, then zoomed in on Okada’s hand as he held on and went for another Rainmaker. Suzuki SLAPPED at Okada who just TOOK IT and nailed another Rainmaker. A bunch of counters led to a deadlift German by Okada and a final Rainmaker for 3. God damn. A true short film of a professional wrestling match, awesome stuff. ****1/2
