Awesome video package to start. Love a good old-fashioned card rundown.
Liked the entrance ramp a lot, real skinny so you have the crowd all trying to get a piece of these STARS.
AXS done fucked up a few times. All the cues of the commercial break music were outstanding.
Ya watch a lot of NJPW on AXS and ya think god damn New Japan has good wrestling and then ya remember – oh yeah, New Japan doesn’t have great undercards. A lot of the multi-man matches were perfectly fine showcases for a lot of the stars, and I dig a tournament, but there was also a lot of filler, and maybe stuff that shouldn’t have felt like filler feeling like filler.
I had the TV turned down so heard more crowd than JR and Barnett, which is probably a good thing. These two aren’t terrible, and they bring a weird kind of wrestling mark credibility, but they also joke around at the wrong times, Josh tries too hard, and JR doesn’t always seem to give a fuck.
1. The Briscoe Brothers, Will Ospreay & Roppongi Vice vs. Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, The Young Bucks & Marty Scurll
This was a very fun bunch of crazy-ass moves, I think they used to call it a spotfest. Probably would’ve dug a few more homegrown New Japan guys but this set a great tone. Scurll and Ospreay had themselves an exchange and to be honest it was my first time seeing them have an exchange and I wasn’t that into it. It was very impressive in an athletic sense but not a wrestling sense, if that makes… sense. All 10 fellas did a lot of crazy shit here but it was Yujiro introducing himself to the crowd with a SWIVEL that gave me the most cathartic reaction, to be honest. Rocky Romero vs. Bad Luck Fale was fun too. Served its’ purpose to get the crowd rocking and get a bunch of crazy characters on the show, fun stuff. ***1/4
2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Dragon Lee, Titan & Volador Jr. vs. EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
Think the entrances here were my favorite part. That POP for Hiromu. He got his own entrance because he is a STAR. SANADA, EVIL and BUSHI also had themselves a pretty star-making entrance too. This moved pretty quick, had a couple dope exchanges and was over before ya knew it. Loved Liger working the crowd, Lucha guys did some dives, LiJ did their shtick, and I ADORE watching Takahashi do his thing. **3/4
3. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament – Quarterfinal: Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page
They turned a better match around Page attacking Lethal’s ribs into a Good Basic Fun ROH Match that was so vaguely solid and so very forgettable. Some decent stuff here and there, but they just had to get their shit in, and Lethal kept trying to set up his finish which is dumb to begin with. **
4. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament – Quarterfinal: Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
More of a showcase for each guy than anything, but a fun showcase – Juice showed off his strength and ability to do Cool Wrestling Maneuvers, ZSJ did his contortionist-based offense. The Juice powerbomb out of the ZSJ triangle choke was AWESOME. Finish came together well too, with ZSJ resorting to trying to snap Juice in half to get him to tap. **1/2
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Billy Gunn, Yoshitatsu & The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu)
I mean… jesus, it’s Billy Gunn. And Yoshi Tatsu. And two fellas named the Tempura Boyz. And Tanahashi. And the Jr. Heavyweight ace. And Jay White and Fit Finlay’s son. A match to let the folks see some stars and Billy Gunn drop Tanahashi on a crossbody. *3/4
6. No DQ Match – IWGP Tag Team Title: Guerillas of Destiny [c] vs. War Machine
Ah man, I dunno. Probably a fun match live, four big fellas flying all over the place and hitting each other with trash can lids. War Machine have got a thing to them. The No DQ announcement pre-match was fun. Rowe catching Tama Tonga and throwing him into Camacho’s back was wild. Just can’t imagine this being anything that would get anybody into this New Japan Pro Wrestling thing. **1/2
7. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament – Quarterfinal: Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
This was really fun but a little too Touring New Japan Match for it to stand out from all the others. Liked the first 5 minutes more than anything, with Naito being a wonderful piece of shit – looking around with condescension, attacking pre-bell, posing, stalling, slapping Ishii around and smiling. And then Ishii got his revenge. Otherwise – they hit hard, had some really great near falls, popped the crowd like crazy… they did their job just nothing more. ***1/2
8. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament – Quarterfinal: Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega
Oh man, all the phones popping up as Omega’s music hit… there’ your star, folks. Omega has developed into an entity that feels VERY special, good for him. This was a crazy-ass blast… similar to the last match but had that EXTRA going for it in that Kenny was very excited to show these American fucks that he’s the best in the world. Kenny has such precision in hitting all his big shit, feels reckless and beautiful at the same time. I wish Elgin looked scarier because he is a strong son of a bitch and a special kind of wrestling beast. The catch of Omega’s big asai moonsault to the outside was wild, helped more by Elgin almost not fully grabbing Omega and getting to show off his brute strength.
Big suplexes, big strikes, and big pops, with both guys selling the sheer deadliness of wrestling this style. Liked Omega trying to take it to Big Mike earlier and Mike being all naawwww maaan. They went next level pretty quick with the last-millisecond countout tease. German on the apron and the powerbomb off the top were both suitably nuts, and I loved Omega just exhaustively throwing chops at Elgin and getting wrecked with a lariat. Omega knocked Elgin around with nasty knees before wrapping it up with a One-Winged Angel. Tremendous. ****
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Cody Rhodes
This was one part a solid Kazuchika Okada main event another part Cody Rhodes doing shtick and another part Cody Rhodes trying to keep up with a Kazuchika Okada main event. It was good not great. The stalling and kissing Brandi early made me think we might have been getting something interesting, but it eventually went into the usual stuff. Cody tried a Disaster Kick early, which Okada blocked and tried a Rainmaker early. Cody ran tried to escape into the crowd, so Okada leaped onto him with a crossbody. Cody caught Okada as he tried to get back inside and went to work, which was very… alright. And then they moved into the STUFF. I’m not usually a big stickler for selling but Cody takes a DDT to the floor and 30 seconds later is jumping up to the top with an armdrag and hitting Beautiful Disaster – the fuck? Did enjoy Okada turning into Steve Austin on his mudhole stomp comeback. Not sure Cody was fully capable of that finishing sequence though. Killer Rainmaker to wrap it up. ***1/4
New Japan took their moment, man – Omega/Okada 60-minute draw got some buzz, they got some recognizable names (JR, Cody, Billy), hard sold NJPW World, G1 Climax AKA lots of good wrestling coming up… yes buddy. Not sure this was the card to keep the folks, but using this to bridge to NJPW World for Night 2 is a pretty solid business plan. A fine show, just bloated… was neat seeing so many faces, but also felt like it was lacking that New Japan flavor – more Ring of Honor than Kojima and Nagata. If anything, might have convinced me that keeping up with the AXS shows is more enjoyable than watching things in full on NJPW World. Cut this down to the opener, Naito/Ishii, Elgin/Omega, and the main and you’ve got yourself a show.
