This was a great wrestling show and a great general life experience.
The NEW JAPAN TOKYO DOME SHOW always has an aura to it, but the last few years have been really special. Live streaming of the show, a more well-rounded talent roster, hotter and more involved crowds, and New Japan understanding all the new eyeballs on them and an enhanced need to deliver = pretty dang good professional wrestling.
Nearly every match brought a variety to the show and told the story it needed to. The undercard over-delivered, while the STARS were still able to stand out. I liked a lot about every match but one, which is a wild batting average.
Plus, anything has to be pretty special to be an over six hour thing that keeps me awake overnight. I struggled a little for a couple matches towards the end, but these boys did good. The show just flew by. Really impressive.
Plus – the banter. The Facebook Chat. The Twitter. The world has come a long way from complaining about 1/4 Tokyo Dome show results as they come in over mIRC. It is truly special.
Also – and I’ll get into it, but man. Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki. MAN. Way to go from legitimately my least anticipated match on the show outside the Gauntlet Match to an all-time favorite match. As Goto made his entrance, I thought to myself, “Man – I am too tired to even go refill my coffee.” But this thing WOKE ME UP.
Anyways – the wrestling.
0. New Japan Rumble (Featuring: Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, YOSHI-HASHI, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Yujiro Takahashi, Katsuya Kitamura, Henare, BUSHI, TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, David Finlay, Chase Owens, Leo Tonga, Delirious, Cheeseburger and Gino Gambino)
Always love how campy and crappy the New Japan Rumble usually is. It’s all about the pops, and the brief cool showdowns that don’t really get fully milked. Lots of pops, though. The Liger pop! Liger wrecking Suzuki-gun! Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Suzuki-gun (really needed an El Samurai cameo, c’mon)!! The WHAT THE HELL of GINO GAMBINO! YOSHI-HASHI appearing to not be happy to be there! The HUGE TOKYO DOME POP FOR CHEESEBURGER!!! Cheeseburger chopping away at Kojima! And finally, cancer survivor Masahito Kakihara returning to New Japan and winning the Rumble was amazing, as was commentator Yamazaki taking off his jacket when the UWF theme hit. Great little tribute to Takayama too. The star rating for this match was WHO CARES THIS WAS COOL.
1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) [c] w/ Rocky Romero vs. The Young Bucks
This was like a half your usual crowd-pleasing sometimes impressive but ultimately empty Young Bucks match and half a straight-up junior heavyweight battle with a crowd that was HOT and biting for near falls during a junior heavyweight match in the Tokyo Dome. Back in the day they’d barely care about LIGER, but here we are. And outside of that weird-ass near fall with everybody shoved into the corner, it was very good. All four tacked on way more intensity than these matches usually have and they also decided to sell the shit out of body parts which was either a deliberate choice to make the match interesting OR a deliberate choice to make the Internet talk. Matt Jackson in particular was selling his back so much that he might be legitimately hurt, and it added this interesting dynamic to the match.
Roppongi 3K meanwhile continues to deliver on their potential – Sho had an impressive run and did some wild strength spots, while Yoh’s cool skin-the-cat spot made me happy. Some of the exchanges towards the end with superkicks were completely insane too. Nice near fall off the cradle and the one Buck being held on the top rope, nice insane Nick Jackson dive to the outside, nice wrestling. ***1/2
2. Gauntlet Match – NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Title: Takashi Iizuka, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Michael Elgin & War Machine vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Beretta vs. Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga, Tonga Roa & Bad Luck Fale [c]
These matches, as a rule, tend to not be very good. Most of the New Japan multi-man matches (tags, 6-mans, whatever) usually end up total clusterfucks that don’t have enough cool moments to make up for the fact that they are clusterfucks. But here we are. This isn’t great or anything but it might just be the best Tokyo Dome Dome Gauntlet Match of all-time. The first pairing was certainly no good and went way too long, though Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ray Rowe was kind of neat at points and I liked ZSJ’s tapout of Rowe and muscle pose right after.
Then Yano got a pin. Then Makabe kinda played a Japanese Randy Orton, just running through his stuff and it being super over. Then Taguchi did his thing too and it ruled. Ass spots = OVER. Then Taguchi teased a KINSHASA but lost. Then Trent? took an insane bump on the apron. And THEN. THEN THEN THEN. TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. BAD LUCK FALE. This thing RULED. Ishii’s suplex practically blew the roof off the Tokyo Dome!! And THEN Tonga caught Trent?’s moonsault with an RKO, which eventually somehow led to Trent?’s triumph. This was fun. The crowd was popping and so was I. ***1/4
3. Special Singles Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Cody w/ Brandi Rhodes
For a guy currently playing a Big Money Cody gimmick, I thought Cody had a pretty third-rate Tokyo Dome outfit. Anyways, this was pretty awesome and might just be the bext example of Super Indy Worker Cody. He tried all kinds of crazy stuff, and his dance partner was Kota Ibushi who is like the most spectacular guy currently wrestling. The Brandi drama added some fun too – the whole spot with Cody punching out Ibushi as he lifted up Brandi was amazing stuff.
Of course, there was the CROSSROADS OFF THE APRON too, which is just an insane thing to do in general but of course also had Ibushi being insane enough to just TAKE IT ON HIS HEAD. Serious WrestleMania moment right there. Ibushi’s strikes towards the end were beautiful too, and I loved his brief celebration after the 3 followed by instant collapse. A really fun match with an incredible last few minutes. ***3/4
4. IWGP Tag Team Title: K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) [c] vs. EVIL & SANADA
These fellas were in a tough spot after a hot last match but had a match that was pretty much perfect for after a hot last match. It’s real simple stuff, as EVIL and SANADA got beat up, kept getting little comebacks but would keep getting cut off, and then finally – TRIUMPH. And they kept it interesting with all kinds of stuff – EVIL almost being pinned 30 seconds in, EVIL selling, young boys getting beat up, Davey Boy’s tan, and of course LANCE ARCHER.
Lance Archer has found his professional wrestling voice and it is AWESOME – beating a crazy man on his entrance and spitting water all over the place, beating up young boys, being aggressive as all hell, hitting hard, showing crazy intensity. I am in love. Give me Okada vs. Archer. Also highly enjoyed the EYES of young boy Kawato on the floor after taking his beating – that boy is gonna be something one day. The hot tag could’ve been a little hotter, otherwise great stuff. ***1/2
5. Hair vs. Hair & No Seconds Death Match – NEVER Openweight Title: Minoru Suzuki [c] vs. Hirooki Goto
First of all, Hair vs. Hair and No Seconds Death Match is an awesome match name. Second of all, WHAT WAS THIS FUCKING AMAZING MATCH. Finally, somebody in New Japan decided to stop fucking around with limbwork and building to near falls that may or may not work and instead just tell a STORY. Monster Heel – Babyface Who Tends to Fail – FIGHT. Minoru Suzuki endlessly kicking Hirooki Goto’s ass is MUCH better than limb work. And Minoru kicked some ASS – just SLAMMING a chair on Goto, slapping him around, busting his lip, throwing cocky kicks, applying sleepers that made Goto’s eyes roll in the back of his head… just a BEATDOWN. Goto has never been my favorite but this was the perfect use of a guy and he over-delivered on his end – amazing selling for a guy in this spot, where he got his ass kicked but never truly looked like a WUSS. He’d fire up and not stay down but he just couldn’t get anything going.
So many great moments, too: Goto firing up, only for Suzuki to laugh in his face and elbow him down. Goto finding hope by somehow catching a Penalty Kick only for Suzuki to viciously slap him down. Suzuki’s insane high kick/dropkick and LAUGH. And of course that insane series of Suzuki slaps and body shots that just absolutely transfixed me and made me believe again that professional wrestling can be the greatest form of anything anywhere.
And the FINISH: the Gotch piledriver setup > Goto’s counter and desperate lariat > Suzuki taking a GOD DAMN SUPER USHIGIROSHI > Suzuki taking elbows but RISING FROM THE DEAD AND LAUGHING > a Goto headbutt finally taking Suzuki down, leading to the GTR.
This match not only added an awesome variety to the show, it was the match I dug the most and got the most out of – impactful comebacks, great cut-offs, everything just had me buy in. It was so unlike any of the usual epic NJ stuff, while at the same time delivering on an intense, stiff, compelling wrestling match. Suzuki is a god damn legend and Goto played his part perfectly. I can’t think of any issues with this match – it did everything wrestling is supposed to do and managed to be memorable and crazy and all that good stuff. It just made my wrestling fan insides glow. *****
MINORU SUZUKI SHAVES HIS OWN GOD DAMN HEAD.
6. 4-Way Match – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Marty Scurll [c] vs. KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay
Alright. The wings were cool. You won that round, Marty Scurll. Otherwise – I can see arguments for why this match was good, but it didn’t do a thing for me. It continued the variety show theme, with a ton of dumb turn-off-your-brain spots and a lot of just plain cool stuff, but it was just STUFF. It weirdly felt like a comedown match, and it came nowhere close to blowing my mind like the 4 “top” juniors colliding at the Dome might promise. It just never seemed to click, and that’s especially glaring when everything else before it clicked so much. They went for something special and it just didn’t deliver – it happens. The cool stuff was cool, though: the rana by Ospreay off KUSHIDA’s back onto Scurll, Ospreay’s big moonsault off the steel column, Hiromu’s big run, Ospreay’s SSP on the outside. They did manage some solid drama towards the end and got it bumping, but this was classic good not great and stuff along with a few too many things that bothered me. Also, the slapfights look stupid. Stop doing those. **3/4
7. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi [c] vs. Jay White
Aw shit. This was the LIMB WORK match. And for some reason it was limb work where Jay White went after Tanahashi’s leg, when Tanahashi was kind enough to essentially scream TARGET THIS by putting colors and god damn designs on his arm cast. This was a match where I learned that patience can be challenging when you are up at 5AM. It was very much a Big Tanahashi match, so the formula kept it from being outright bad, but it was just such the wrong match with the wrong guy. Jay White has a ton of potential but broken down Tanahashi wasn’t the right guy to pair him with third from top at the Dome. You could feel the frustration by both men, Tanahashi in particular, through the screen. Also, that poor poor apron brainbuster attempt. Aw. It just didn’t work. None of this did. **
8. No DQ Match – IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega [c] vs. Chris Jericho
This was Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega working a one-half WWE car crash clusterfuck and one-half an epic New Japan match and I liked all of it. More than anything I liked how outright insane it was – it dragged a bit here and there, but then they’d bust out a unique spot that made ya go – OK, keep on doing your thing. It felt like the type of wrestling Kenny Omega always says he wants to do – the ring was their canvas and they just TRIED SHIT. Not everything worked and I don’t know why there was a countout tease, but by god was this good. Brawling all over the place, the Walls of Jericho counter of the rana, Kenny’s springboard splash into commentary, Omega’s bump off the Jericho springboard corner dropkick, Jericho’s camera spots, the Walls of Jericho on a young lion, Jericho’s half-speed table bump, the V-Triggers towards the end, the Walls counter of the One-Winged Angel, the One-Winged Angel rope break near fall, an all-time great Codebreaker, chairs, smoke, mirrors, blood, cold spray to the dick. Omega meanwhile was just bumping his ass off for everything. The chair throw on the Lionsault leading to the final One-Winged Angel was inspired stuff too. This was a chaotic masterpiece of a big time match in the god damn Tokyo Dome with Kenny Omega trying to prove he’s The Guy and Chris Jericho trying to prove he still is. ****1/4
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
Star power. Credibility. AJPW Budokan main event atmosphere. Entrances. Theme music. Naito chants. Okada’s pants. Oh my GOD. Every wrestling maneuver that Okada and Naito do to each other is so smoth and beautiful, every step they take just has this extra credibility to it that makes this feel like they are truly wrestling professionally. I love it. What a match. One of the finest examples of high-end New Japan heavyweight professional wrestling. These are the two TOP GUYS and they are going to have rapid-fire exchanges as one tries to gain control, with Naito all “mmmmm hmm you know I’m the best” and Okada all “hooooo boy you might actually be right but I don’t think so.”
Tetsuya Naito is such a freak, so speedy and explosive when he wants to be. There’s a legsweep he does here that is among the finest ever legsweeps in pro wrestling. NECK WORK keeps the 25% or so vaguely interesting, and then the last 75% is just one of the all-time great New Japan finishing stretches. Frantic, beautiful, intense, hard-hitting, well-timed pro wrestling with crowd and commentary and myself going absolutely wild. The Stardust Press attempts, the stiff-ass shoulder tackle, a top 10 Okada dropkick, Naito’s wide-open mouth as he took a German suplex, the Rainmaker teases and near falls. Both guys are just SPENT and Okada’s selling of him just having NO ANSWERS was incredible stuff. Naito at one point hit some crazy headscissors piledriver off the top rope that made me think I was hallucinating. I wish Naito went for the Stardust Press once more towards the end, I wish the neck work had a little more oomph to it, otherwise this was completely utterly brilliant. An excellent match brought up by both guys just being absolute superstars. ****1/2
