Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
Very mat-based match with Tsuji applying the most digusting leglock ever at some point, the crowd showing legit concern for his opponent’s ankle. This big bastard is a total monster already. Meanwhile, Uemura keeps providing good underdog charisma. Clever leg work vs arm work story with some sweet counters just before the draw finish. **1/2
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino
Shota has such respect for his elders that he screams ‘’NAGATA-SAN!’’ while charging at old man Nagata with a back elbow in the corner. Solid meat and potatoes wrestling with the grumpy vets easily dispatching the young lions. Crowd popped big time for Oka suplexing Manabu. **1/2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori
Watching Taiji mix it up with the New Japan undercard scum (I mean this in a loving way) was a fun time. He’s the type of wrestler that could make those lifeless Bullet Club house show matches a lot more watchable. Yujiro is Yujiro but the guy does get his role as a sleazebag heel and him dickishly slapping Narita around was quality wrestling. Milano going ‘’YES! YES! YES!’’ during Taiji’s Yes Lock was also tremendous. **3/4
Togi Makabe, Jeff Cobb, Toa Henare, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH
This started with SHO and KUSHIDA basically continuing their BOSJ grapple-fest extravaganza and it was lovely but everything after that was your run-of-the-mill Taguchi Japan comedy multiman tag match. The finish was another showcase for Cobb and I’m still not seeing much in terms of charisma from this guy, but his movez look rad and the crowd pops huge for them. **1/2
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Takashi Iizuka, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku
Taichi instructing Iizuka to bite off Naito’s eye (damaged from the Jericho match) was a real stroke of genius and probably the only time in wrestling history where Iizuka’s biting attacks meant anything. Everything else was fine but forgettable. We were meant to get a preview of the Hiromu/Despy title match here but they got kind of lost in the shuffle of Korakuen multi-man tag numbness. The post-match stuff with Naito further busting up Hiromu’s trophy was the real highlight here. **3/4
Kazuchika Okada, Jay White & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay
Okada being forced to come out to Jay White’s theme, without his belt, looking depressed as fuck = quite the sight. This match got a lot more time than I expected and it turned out mostly well, but never reached that next level. Tanahashi playing the broken vet in peril to setup the Juice Robinson hot tag and house cleaning action was some solid, time-tested wrasslin’. Juice is such a god damn PRO that both Jay and Finlay come off as second-grade just by being around him. Finlay seemed to be flubbing shit left and right with Ishii and it was not a good look. The whole post-match angle with Jay trying to destroy Juice was well done, I just wish Jay was able to inject the personality of his angles and promos into his actual wrestling. **3/4
Michael Elgin © vs. Hirooki Goto – NEVER Openweight Title
Look, Michael Elgin is a shady human being, the Taichi run-in could have been saved for after the match and the whole thing went about 5 minutes too long but I was WEIRDLY into this. They took a similar route to the Elgin/Ishii match (Big Bombs All The Time), except instead of working an even match they went 80/20 in Elgin’s favor and I think this is what pulled me into the action. Hirooki Goto can be the most generic Japanese pro-wrestler, but there’s something about him that makes him an incredibly sympathetic character.
Maybe it’s because he’s the last of a dying breed: the last Kensuke Sasaki-type Strong Style Warrior in an increasingly americanized New Japan. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I love watching Goto take the beating of a life time and fight back against all odds with his old-school samurai fighting spirit. It’s what made his match against Minoru Suzuki at WK12 awesome, and it’s what made this one (mostly) awesome. Seriously, Goto took some brutal shots in this match. Elgin, being the 90’s All Japan dork/all-around creep that he is, decided to recreate the Hansen/Kobashi ’93 lariat-off-the-top-turnbuckle spot and absolutely DECAPITATED Goto.
I have vague suspicions that my enjoyment of this match might have been influenced by Milano on commentary. Dude was losing his god damn mind and it was truly infectious. Whatever man, that Black Tiger Bomb near-fall was fucking unreal, as was Goto busting out the rarely-used PRAYING AVALANCHE-STYLE CODE RED. Plus, the belt is back on old Aramusha, so all is well. ***3/4
Everything on this show is completely skippable, but you might want to check out the main event if you have a high tolerance for Michael Elgin.
