Hirooki Goto © vs. Taichi – NEVER Openweight Title
TAICHI NEW HERO! Big fan of this result, but sadly the match was an overbooked mess. Taichi already proved he can have compelling, interference-free matches earlier this year against Tana, Naito and YOSHI-HASHI, so I have no idea why Gedo felt the need to drown his big title win in non-stop Suzuki-Gun run-ins. Total bummer, because the match had a couple of really strong moments, like Taichi selling the shit out of Goto’s sleeper and Miho freaking out at ring-side over her man losing consciousness, or all of the big near-falls near the end where the crowd seemed genuinely shocked by all the Taichi kickouts. Whatever, DANGEROUS T getting the belt is tremendous and should be a fun change of pace for the NEVER scene. If Gedo chills with the run-ins. ***
Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki
For a good while here, they almost had something. The first 10-15 minutes were pretty much Naito/Jericho-lite: relentless crowd brawling, Naito getting destroyed, chairs, tables, etc. And the violent ass-kicking contest is a match that suits them, because as we’ve discovered in the year 2018, straight-up wrestling between Naito and Suzuki is not something that works too well. Suzuki seemed game to take more risks than usual, what with that running dropkick on the floor and table bump for Naito’s apron neckbreaker.
The thing that hurt this match and eventually completely took me out of it is that Minoru went for his leg-destroying shtick so absurdly late into it. I love the Suzuki torture routine, but 10 minutes of kneebars was not what this match needed after Naito made his epic comeback by dropping Minoru through that table. Total momentum killer. They went back to the slap war bit of their first match for the finish, and as much as I dug it the first time, it came off flat here. Naito’s permanently bored facial expressions aren’t doing him any favors in these types of strike exchanges. Unlike Okada or Tana, I’m having a hard time rooting for the guy when he seems so disconnected.
I usually like sudden finishes against Suzuki (see the G1 match against Tanahashi), but this one didn’t work for me, probably because of how little Naito seemed to care. His blown Gotch-style Piledriver didn’t really help either. Hopefully we’re done with this feud and both guys can move on to bigger and better things. ***1/4
