This Japanese wrestling review is dedicated to Scott ‘’Doc Gonzo’’ Madsen, who just passed away. Doc was one of the original HWL inhabitants and an all-around great human being that will be dearly missed. So long, buddy.
Ryusuke Taguchi & Ren Narita vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
Super effective opener with everyone playing his role well. The Suzuki-Gun juniors are thirsty for young lion blood, Narita is a perfect babyface in peril and Taguchi is the ideal hot tag recipient. Hip attacks for everyone until Kanemaru hilariously cuts off the BOMA YE HIP ATTACK with a dropkick. A couple of very cool hope spots for little Ren before going down to Despy’s Spinebuster and Numero Dos. **1/2
Yuji Nagata & Shota Umino vs. David Finlay & Tetsuhiro Yagi
Best moment of this match is Yagi rush-tagging out to avoid wrestling Nagata. Everything else is fine, basic young lion wrestling. Finlay with the Prima Nocta on Shota. **
Michael Elgin & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
Team CHAOS work heel, isolating Oka and ramming him in the exposed turnbuckle. Elgin cleans house with his power spots and brings the stiffness against Ishii. Old Stone Pitbull is still clearly pissed at the botched Splash Mountain from yesterday because he seems more aggravated than usual, even spitting on Big Mike at some point. Oka gets to do a lot of stuff and it all looks darn sharp. Get that lad on an excursion, stat. Solid midcard wrestling. **1/2
Juice Robinson & Toa Henare vs. Takashi Iizuka & Davey Boy Smith Jr
The Urban Outfitters sponsorship has officially ended: Davey Boy is out of the skinny jeans and back in wrestling tights. Here’s another pleasant-enough house show tag match with a clear heel/babyface structure, hot tags and house cleaning segments. Feels like I’m repeating myself but Juice is such a pro at working these crowds. **1/4
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr & TAKA Michinoku
Right, so this was all kinds of awesome. If you want any proof that LIJ vs. Suzuki-Gun is the ultimate money feud for 2018 New Japan, look no further than this match. Naito vs. Suzuki is one of the last remaining protected matches in NJPW and you can tell by the crowd reaction here that the fans are crazy hyped to see it. I legitimately feared for Naito’s life when he broke a Suzuki submission by punting him in the head and spitting on him. And there’s the beauty of their whole dynamic: Naito is such a brat that he could be the guy to bring out the absolute WORST (in a good way) out of Minoru.
The next best thing about this match: my boy SANADA looking like a MILLION BUCKS, taking Suzuki’s Loudest Forearms Ever like a champ and FIGHTING BACK, momentarily looking like The Next Ace, the guy that could take down Okada if given a second chance. The spinning Skull End on TAKA looked absolutely gnarly and was a perfect finish. Didn’t even go over the very-very solid Naito/ZSJ wrestling that built towards their Cup match, but it all happened. Liked ALL OF THIS! ***1/4
Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Chuckie T vs. Kota Ibushi, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Tanga Loa
Another good one. The weirdness of Ibushi teaming with Bullet Club is finally addressed here as Kota refuses to Too Sweet his partners but is down for formal handshakes. Seems reasonable to me. I am genuinely curious to see where this all goes. The obvious twist would be for the BC guys to turn on both Ibushi and Kenny, but Gedo might have a curveball up his sleeve. Speaking of Ibushi, his stuff with YOSHI-HASHI is awfully inspired for a house show and has me hyped for the Cup match. I mean we even get a BALCONY MOONSAULT for cryin’ out loud. Just a fun sprint all around. Okada cracking up during the goofy-as-fuck CHAOS 5-Man Pose is tremendous. ***
Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer – New Japan Cup (Round 1)
The opening of this thing is brilliant, Fale and Archer working their own lowgrade version of Hansen vs. Vader and battling it out in the crowd like two giant monsters, Fale throwing Archer into chairs, Lance using young lions as weapons (!!). Just great stuff. Once they get into the ring, the actual wrestling is pretty okay, like a solid WWE Big Guys match. Dug the teasing of the finishers and Archer doing the Undertaker rope-walk, but the action never lives up to the potential of that bonkers opening. Still dug it. **3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi – New Japan Cup (Round 1)
What a wrestling match this was. Heavyweight Taichi is already one of my favorite NJPW storylines of 2018 as the guy once again knocks it out of the park and pulls out a fantastic performance against the returning Tana. Both of these guys are masters of the ‘’little things’’, and my god this match has so many of them: Taichi cackling at his own evil genius during the early stalling portion, Tana stopping in his tracks to give the crowd a smoldering look during a ‘’GO ACE’’ chant. Both of them actually just seem to have a blast working a classic American-style match with a bunch of old-school tropes: valet distractions, foreign object usage, stalling, etc. Sidenote: Miho Abe gleefully trying to cuddle with Tana during the introductions is such perfection, I can’t even…
THIS MATCH! If you thought Taichi going FULL KAWADA against Naito was awesome, you haven’t seen nothing yet: dude unleashes the motherfreaking GANSO BOMB in this one. The fans, the announcers and yours truly all proceed to freak out at such a genius display of brutality/Japanese wrestling nerdery. The look of pure evil on Taichi’s face after drilling Tana is gold. THIS GUY IS A STAR! The near-falls are amazing and the crowd absolutely bites on a nutshot/Gedo clutch sequence and I don’t blame em, Tana’s been on an epic New Japan Cup Losing Streak for the past few years. Love the callback to the Naito/Taichi match during the finish, Tanahashi doing the morally-correct thing as opposed to Naito.
Best match of the tournament by a mile so far, another huge step forward for Heavyweight Taichi and further confirmation that Tana’s still got it. As if there was any doubt. ****
I was expecting very little from this show outside of the main event but was pleasantly surprised as we got some very fun tag team action with the Suzuki-Gun/LIJ and Ibushi Club matches. Do go out of your way to see Tana/Taichi and witness the DANGEROUS T phenomenon in all of its glory.
