1. IWGP Tag Team Title: EVIL & SANADA [c] vs. K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) (JIP)
This is only the last 5 minutes or so and though it cuts in on a good near fall from the Magic Killer, there doesn’t seem to be much heat here. SANADA shows off his impressive hops and there’s a chairshot or two and that’s about it, just a bunch of stuff. Can’t really judge it based on seeing only 25% of it, but something tells me this was nowhere close to the Wrestle Kingdom match between them that I really liked.
2. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Minoru Suzuki [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
Damnit.
I think these two guys are the bee’s knees and there was some great character work / attitude early, but once they settled into 20+ minutes of Suzuki offense it completely lost the plot. The dynamic of two guys who just don’t give a shit is cool on paper but didn’t translate to anything close to compelling. Naito looked like the worst guy to match up with Suzuki’s shtick as there was just no drama or urgency in the comebacks, and a blown spot here or there sure didn’t help. I’m not sure if Naito’s thing is purposeful laziness or just straight laziness now – perhaps he has still been paying tribute to Keiji Muto all along.
It had good bits to it, namely Naito slapping the shit out of Suzuki and the milking of Naito’s hurt leg, but damn man. At 30+ minutes, you’re going to need a whole lot more. And then it just kinda ended. What a bummer. **3/4
Full babyface promo by Naito post-match – with the laissez faire attitude he has going both in-ring and out of ring he might just be building a special legacy, but at some point if it’s not capitalized on we might veer into “what if” territory.
