1. 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
2. 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. **
