1. NEVER Openweight Title: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. Taichi
This is very much JIP. New Japan is not good at interference in matches but they keep doing it, and they did it here with Suzuki-gun. Taichi got a couple decent near falls off and then he actually won the title. I’m happy Taichi got his big win on AXS but this wasn’t much.
2. Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki
The first half of this was very bad and the last half of it was really good, so I am going to label it “good enough.”
With 30 minutes to kill, the first 15 was dreadful. As far as two guys relying on the goodwill of their past greatness having a plodding brawl, I guess it was slightly better than The Undertaker vs. Triple H. It had its’ occasional charms… a lone slap or elbow causing the crowd to flip out, Suzuki throwing three PK’s in a row to really take it to Naito. But man oh man was nothing really happening.
Suzuki’s assault on Naito’s leg paid off though and they got some pretty awesome drama off of a 5-minute heel hold at the end. The crowd got way behind Naito (as they do) and it made his eventual comeback and win all the sweeter. These two have had better days but they got things rocking at the end. ***1/4
