Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Shota Umino, Tetsuhiro Yagi & Ren Narita
Same match as yesterday except the vets might be even crankier. Tiger kicks the living fuck out of Yagi and throws the stiffest rolling solebutt of all time at some point. Narita pulls off a tricked out modified Texas cloverleaf out of an intricate lucha roll setup. Very cool and un-young lion. He works the finish with KUSHIDA and it’s fun stuff. KUSHIDA Cross armbreaker for the tapout. **1/2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo
Started off boring but got pretty good. Oka hitting an IPPONZEI on big Leo is pretty awesome. Oka kicks out of the Fisherman’s buster and Leo’s high-angle Flatliner but eats the Pimp Juice for the finish. **1/2
Katsuya Kitamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi – Trial Series Match #5
Like the Tenzan match, this is kind of a drag. It’s worked in a way that makes Kitamura look like anything but a threat to the broken down New Japan Dad. Again, this is puzzling to me, as the main goal of this trial series should be to show Kitamura slowly rising through the ranks, not getting easily beaten by Manabu Nakanishi. There’s some fun chop exchanges, but it’s mostly Manabu running through his stuff: lariats, brain chops, OOOH. Argentine Backbreaker seals the deal. Meeeeeh.**
Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku
Rocky coming out with his Black Tiger mask is pretty rad. Direct sequel to yesterday’s R3K/Suzuki-Gun junior tag. SHO has a bad back and now YOH has a bad knee. The Suzuki-Gun juniors dickishly go after their weaknesses. Both guys selling is totally ON POINT. Despy and the R3K kids have really awesome chemistry. Despy stretching the shit out of YOH with the Numeros Dos is my jam. Rocky sneaks in a backslide on TAKA for the win but R3K eat a big time heel beatdown after the match. Very much looking forward to the non title match in Osaka. ***
Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Toa Henare vs. Jay White, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
The Jay White feud is giving Finlay some kind of purpose and drive for the first time in forever and it’s actually getting him over with the crowd too. Henare/Ishii death feud continuing is the best. They really lay into each other. Juice only works the comedy opening with Yano and then they both stay out of the way. White is on the receiving end of a bunch of offense but ends up catching Henare with the Bladerunner and then traps him with his SHOOT ELBOWS while smiling at Finlay fo the ref stoppage. Cool finish. Dug all the little storylines that were put to the forefront here. ***
Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & Taichi
More buildup for Suzuki/Makabe. Same deal as the match from yesterday, with more crowd brawling from Minoru and old Togi. Elgin gets in all of his athletic big guy spots on Iizuka. Taguchi trying to pull his Nakamura routine on Suzuki only to get caught in a heel hook for the insta-tapout is a highly amusing finish. **3/4
YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay & Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
I’m always amazed by how over BUSHI is in Korakuen. The guy really doesn’t do much for me as as a westler, he’s just a generic junior heel dude, but the Korakuen fans seem to loooove his look. There’s BUSHI cosplayers all over the place. So anyway, a lot of this is just not clicking at all. The LIJ beatdown on YOSHI is kind of boring and totally loses the crowd. There’s some really iffy exchanges between YOSHI and Naito with bad timing. YOSHI blows his freaking reverse enzuigiri at some point. Everything else not involving YOSHI-HASHI is fine. Ospreay pops the crowd with his usual shit. YOSHI gets the win with the Karma on BUSHI. Not on the level of the usual CHAOS/LIJ matches. **3/4
EVIL & SANADA © vs. Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto – IWGP Tag-Team Title
This match is a huge first step in the restoration of New Japan’s stagnant tag title scene. For the first time in forever: Killer Elite Squad, G.O.D. and War Machine are nowhere in sight. We have four beloved native wrestlers fighting for the belts in front of a hot Korakuen crowd and it’s hugely refreshing stuff. Not gonna lie, this thing doesn’t come anywhere close to the classic native vs. native All Japan tag matches of the past. Hell, it’s not even the best NJPW tag match of the year (That would be R3K/Young Bucks II). But it’s a rock-solid tag match that doubles down as an exciting preview of the upcoming Okada/SANADA and EVIL/Goto title matches.
They work the match using a time-tested formula approach, nothing that’s gonna change the wrestling landscape as we know it, but all four guys gel really well together and the crowd eats it up. Goto gets chair-brutalized by EVIL, leading to Goto In Peril, leading to a blazing Okada tag tag, leading to a fun mid-section and finally a big-time closing stretch with huge near-falls. A few things of note: the crowd absolutely loses its shit for SANADA’s double leap frog dropkick right into a PERFECT pescado to the floor. Also, SANADA using the old Keiji Muto jumping spin kick is adorable. Team CHAOS blocking the Magic Killer and countering with the stereo Heavy Rain/Ushigoroshi is the BEST SPOT.
The last few minutes are filled with awesomeness. EVIL and Goto killing each other with lariats and chest headbutts, Okada trying to save his partner only to get caught in a SANADA RAINMAKER! Goto eats the Magic Killer and an EVIL STO for the pin. Probably not gonna appear on a lot of year-end lists, but this was still a whole bunch of super enjoyable pro-wrestling. Bring on the EVIL/SANADA tag title defenses, baby. ***3/4
Check out the last match to witness the potential of a revitalized NJPW tag-team division, free of cartwheeling Sluggy Goofs and other Gaijin slugs. Rest of the card is nothing must-see, but man am I enjoying the current midcard booking. Roppongi/Suzuki-Gun, Finlay/White and Henare/Ishii is pure midcard money, my friends. And that about wraps it up. I will see you all in OSAKA!
