1. 3-Way Match – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Roppongi 3K [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
I started watching the sweet sweet Japanese professional wrestling again in 2016 after a ten year lapse, and seeing Yoshinobu god damn Kanemaru as a pushed member of the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster remains one of the top 10 most ridiculous things in this great sport. Rocky Romero coming out rapping with a fire extinguisher might be right behind it.
This match is a bunch of STUFF. It’s pleasant. Some things are impressive. It popped the crowd, god dammit. But there isn’t much that stands out from any other New Japan 3-Way tag, from other pro wrestling matches in general. It feels a little empty. And JR’s commentary where he’s clearly unimpressed but tries to care probably helps re-enforce that thought. Hiromu Takahashi continues to stand out as a guy who jumps off the screen, as does SHO who was by far the standout here – the way he moves, his selling, charisma… I like that guy. The match though – eh, pretty good. **3/4
Everybody doing a little promo thing backstage after the match was cool as far as presentation to a person watching AXS, but it was like the match: not sure anything stood out. Like, these guys are in a feud. Suzuki-gun cheated. Guys talked about it and stuff. Where’s the heat, baby?
2. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Minoru Suzuki [c] vs. Togi Makabe
The death glare Minoru Suzuki gives off before his wrestling matches sets a tone unlike anything in wrestling. Nobody exudes a character like this guy. There is an aura to this match before it begins and it is based on complete credibility, a buy-in that every strike hurts and these guys are kicking each other’s ass. Everything is based around big simple strikes: Makabe just punching at Suzuki to escape the apron armbar, Suzuki just kicking and slapping Makabe’s head, Suzuki just pasting Makabe with an elbow to the face that is just a real elbow to the face. At one point they’re exchanging strikes on their knees (!) and Suzuki just punches Makabe in the head to put him down.
The crowd is all in on this too: Makable simply catching Suzuki’s foot on a PK gets a huge OH SHIT reaction and they totally buy in on Makabe struggling through a leglock. The final exchanges are like a god damn shoot fight. Suzuki tries a rolling kneebar but Makabe grabs his ass and German suplexes him. Suzuki does that thing where he dropkicks a guy’s eye sockets in. Suzuki slaps Makabe in the face repeatedly and Makabe just backfists him in the neck. Suzuki finally Gotch piledrives Makabe on his HEAD and wins. Everything here was just so cool and awesome and pro wrestling. They did nothing and everything all at the same time. ****
After the match Suzuki tells the entire crowd they should be hit by a car promises to win all the treasures of this world.
