THE PYRAMID is an awesome-looking venue.
Not sure I have anything to say about Jim Ross and Josh Barnett’s commentary that hasn’t been said anywhere else, but I talked about these two HERE. All in all, they stink. No passion, no knowledge, and just generally condescending.
Anyways. Let’s talk about the wrestling.
1. Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH) vs. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky)
A relatively crowd-pleasing opener. The people just wanted to pop for something and they got to. SoCal is a group of guys who have been around forever, so they’ve got cred, but they really only went half in on the heel work – otherwise they were doing spots and trying to get pops just like Roppongi and it didn’t connect. Scorpio telegraphing the mistaken cutter on Daniels was kind of a metaphor for the match itself – nothing really stood out, even if stuff was occasionally impressive. Roppongi 3K is still cool as heck. **1/2
2. Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto & Gedo
David Finlay seems to be going for a dirtier Bray Wyatt look. Juice meanwhile is now going for… Elton John? Eric Embry may have been a better guy with Flamboyant moniker but Juice is good. More than anything here, I was kind of struck by Goto’s confidence. He might not be the best guy in New Japan, but as an example of a solid no-nonsense Japanese wrestler to hook you – he might be the guy. The bloody mouth probably helped. I dig Gedo giving himself a spot on the big U.S. show too, just eye-raking his way to international stardom. The match was OK, solid work but nothing really notable, the very definition of **.
3. Toru Yano & Chuckie T vs. Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer)
This match more than almost any on this show worked the crowd into feeling something and god damnit I appreciate that. TORU YANO being super over in Long Beach is so awesome – I’m introducing NJPW in America, I am pushing Okada, Naito, Omega, and Toru by god Yano. The KES beatdown didn’t quite hit, but building to the Yano hot tag was the good stuff and Yano messing with Archer was pure magic. Chuckie’s cradle near fall was HOT too. This was fun. ***
4. Cody & Marty Scurll vs. Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
Hahahaha Cody is such a wrestling superstar. It shouldn’t be a surprise given his lineage, but I am still amazed that the blonde dye job was what he needed to put it all over the top. The pre-match mic work gave this very unappealing-on-paper match a nice hook, and the Guerillas as fired up babyfaces was some inspired stuff. Once that settled down, it was a match. Marty and Cody can work a crowd, but yeah – just a match. I liked Camacho pulling down his padding to take Cody’s chops, I guess. **1/2
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Lee vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
What happened to KUSHIDA? Where’s this guy been? What’s he been doing? He was the Jr. ACE and now I’ve got to watch a bunch of BILL matches. Anyways, love Naito. Love Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu. This was very much a solid match filled with fun characters and spots but nothing more than an exhibition. That’s fine. Just fine. **3/4
The BUZZ as Rey Mysterio came out for his promo was very cool. Classy stuff given the circumstances.
6. Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Will Ospreay
This was 53-year-old Jushin Thunder Liger playing all the hits and looking effortless doing it. The guy just transcends time and it was a pleasure to watch him in a singles match that got some love and time. Bill was popping folks with his stuff – it was half impressive and half making me grimace like I’m Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. The 619 reference was neat. They ended it at just the right time… got in, got over, got out. Cool match. ***1/4
7. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.
This was a fun match that showcased all that is good about each guy in here. Okada and ZSJ paired up well to build their match, with Zack busting out some awesome counters – him blocking the Rainmaker by grabbing an arm and locking in an armbar was awesome. Ishii and Suzuki meanwhile just beat the piss out of each other and that’s a win for everybody except Ishii and Suzuki. Suzuki’s exhausted face after the Ishii chops in the corner was great, as was the crowd SHHH’ing and screaming in horror at their disgusting forearms. Ishii collapsing into the ropes popped me, as did Suzuki just stretching Okada so Zack could stretch Ishii for the sub. Nothing crazy but these guys are good. ***1/2
8. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Jay White [c] vs. Hangman Page
Jay White’s story – great. Jay White trying New Japan epics – always disappointing. Maybe this is some kind of meta 2018 heel thing? Or maybe it’s just a drag. This was two guys who haven’t fully found themselves going for a New Japan main event and kind of sort of failing. There was a crazy moment once in a while but at 25 minutes this thing just lost me and everybody in attendance. The crowd would go WHOA for Page occasionally almost dying but the EH Train kept on rolling. The early stuff was cold and the later stuff was kind of the very definition of a bunch of crazy shit that just didn’t connect. The Rite of Passage into the Blade Runner finish was kind of cool. Kind of. **
9. Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. The Young Bucks
Look. I’ve been watching professional wrestling for a long time. And for a while, the wrestling that The Elite brought to the table didn’t click with me. I will always respect how popular they’ve become without the WWE machine, but I just wasn’t – for lack of a better term – all in. It wasn’t that they were too over-the-top or weren’t adhering to the tenants of RASSLIN – it was just that despite the moves being impressive, their matches were always neat versus legitimately compelling. It never felt like wrestling that would stand the test of time, even if people were calling it the Greatest Thing Of All Time when it happened.
I’ve come around on these boys over the last year or so though and it feels like everybody is really putting it together. It probably helps that with this New Japan/ProWrestlingTees/Bullet Club worldwide expansion, they come off as STARS. But these stars are delivering.
The Young Bucks look like the most confident tag team in the world and are pulling out the coolest most incredible double teams maneuvers. Kota Ibushi (who I’ve always dug) is, between his speed and explosiveness and face-in-peril selling, just the most fun guy to watch in wrestling. And Kenny is Kenny – a wrestling superstar who delivers all the insanity the modern wrestling fan demands.
This had it all, man. This was their canvas and they painted the shit out of it. A Dream Match that wasn’t just a collection of moves building to a crescendo and some near falls and lifeless claps. This was 40 minutes of action with LAYERS. Jaw-dropping speed, spots, and sequences. Legitimately surprising and impressive cut-offs of flying moves. Double heat segments – first poor Kota, then poor Matt and his messed up back – all while everybody was blowing people’s minds. It went from a cautious match of a guy and his lover versus the guys’ friends who don’t like the lover to a classic tag match to a crazy moves-fest to a FIGHT.
There was just so much great stuff here: the Bucks going after Kota to prove a point to Kenny, Nick and Kota tearing it up early, Matt pushing Kenny down in frustration, Kenny’s acceptance that he’d have to take it to his buddies to win the match, Nick’s insane cut-off of Kenny’s tope, the SPEED of Kota before he hit that massive plancha as he tried to mount a comeback, Matt’s “get me out of here!” to his brother as the Golden Lovers just wrecked his back. The DOUBLE SUPERPLEX. The SPRINGBOARD GERMAN SUPLEX. Matt goading Kenny into hitting him only for Nick to just superkick Kenny’s head off and dive outside onto Ibushi like a crazy person. The build to and delivery of Kenny going through the table setup. The Meltzer Driver Kickout. The One-Winged Angel save. And finally, the hot death that was the Golden Trigger.
If the Bucks formula was a problem to anyone, this was their fuck you. It was the perfect match for the audience too. 40 minutes of balls out stuff that told a story and never lost me.
Wrestling is fun, wrestling is art, wrestling is… evolving. ****3/4
Hey, WWE had some one-note shows in 1985 too. Then the people got sent home happy with Hogan, just like the people got sent home happy tonight with an incredible tag match. The undercard wasn’t terrible, but there was so much average stuff that everything just ran together and it wasn’t much fun. I bet it was a blast live, but it just took a while to get going. And I just couldn’t imagine any of it hooking anybody. I love Japanese professional wrestling, but I don’t know if this properly conveyed even half of what is so great about it. The Bucks/Lovers tag delivered though and the Liger and Okada matches were fun as hell. At the end of the day, a poor battering average in regards to quality, but it was fun as hell to see this on my cable TV. 6/10
