1. 3-Way Match – IWGP Tag Team Title: War Machine [c] vs. Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) (JIP)
Davey Boy Smith Jr. rocking the 1999 WWF return British Bulldog look is amazing. Lance Archer is bulky. Tanga Loa has lost weight. I speak of these looks because there is not much here to speak of. Raymond Rowe whiffs on a knee at one point but they do a near fall anyway. Look – the New Japan tag division is bad.
2. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Title: EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI [c] vs. Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & Rocky Romero
This was definitely a NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Title match. There isn’t much to say about them sometimes. The action is fine, there’s some solid sequences, and the live crowd seems appreciative. It is just all the stuff you would expect from these six individual performers. It honestly feels more like a comedy match than an actual battle to win a championship. Best part, as it always tends to be, is JR saying “BUSHI.” **
3. Lumberjack Death Match – NEVER Openweight Title: Minoru Suzuki [c] vs. Michael Elgin
Suzuki is one of the greats but this did not work. Big Mike’s Big Guy Indy Style vs. Suzuki’s Old Man Cocky Shoot-Style just did not mesh at all, and the lumberjack stuff was more goofy bullshit than anything that actually added to the match as a compelling dramatic performance of scripted physical entertainment. Elgin in particular looked rough here – his slingshot neckbreaker where Suzuki held himself on the ropes was the dumbest thing, and he throws what might have been one of the worst punches ever thrown in professional wrestling. The last 2 minutes do rock: both guys finally throw down and just start throwing wild slaps and elbows, they get a great near fall off a sit-out powerbomb, and CRAZY TAKASHI IIZUKA interferes which is all good fun. But this fucker was 20 minutes. *1/4
AMAZING heel promo by Minoru Suzuki post-match. I love him having such a merry band of crazies – Davey Boy, Archer, Iizuka, TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, Taichi, and YOSHINOBU KANEMAURU of all people. Was the best part of a weak AXS show.
