Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura
Look at these two fine young men subverting the tropes of young lion pro-wrestling before our very eyes. Instead of working towards the obligatory Boston crab finish, both guys got their crab on mid-match, sold like they just had their gotten backs completely shattered and then played a fierce game of ‘’Who can bust out the coolest suplex?’’. Uemura almost took it by unleashing a God damn arm-trap suplex shades of world famous vampire wrestler GANGREL~! but Narita then went above and beyond with a bridging belly to belly suplex of sheer death. Love me some suplexes, love me some wrestling. **3/4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino
Anime haircut enthusiast Ayato Yoshida now being a NJPW undercard fixture is a beautiful thing. Him and Shota are a great team and they managed to fire up the Dads’ decrepit carcasses and have a fun match. Shoutout to the flapjack/face crusher double-team combo from Tenzan and Manabu which blew Milano’s mind on commentary. **1/2
Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare
Ishimori/Taguchi being a better pairing than Ishimori/KUSHIDA is absolutely mystifying, yet here we are. Not only are these guys smooth as silk together, but Taguchi’s Sailor Boy trolling is of the highest quality and Taiji’s reactions display the appropriate amount of soul-crushing regret and boyband shame. Yujiro and Henare are perfectly capable of putting together a solid finish together, but this was all about getting hyped for the IWGP Jr title match. And I’m hyped. ***
Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens vs. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Tomoaki Honma
An undercard showdown between Bullet Club and Neo GBH is as a mid as it gets. So thoroughly mid that the highlight of the match was actually Good Guy Tama Tonga. This angle seemed random as fuck at first but the crowd is eating this shit up with two spoons and Tama screaming ‘’SORRY!’’ while Stinger Splashing dudes was the only saving grace of this match. **
Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
This really got the job done in a house show wrestling sort of way. YOSHI-HASHI was your sluggy goof in peril, Okada still the hottest tag in wrestling, Fale did fat dude stuff and Jay nailed the heel shtick. Props to Jay for persevering: a lot of his spots that got complete non-reactions a year ago (his sneaky Backdrop suplex and half-hatch suplex into the buckles) now get ‘’Aaaaaww’’ pops from this lovely Korakuen crowd. **3/4
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Naito’s hair dye is darker than usual and it is completely throwing me off. Other than that, this was a good time and did a fine job highlighting the upcoming Naito/Taichi, EVIL/Zack and Suzuki/SANADA matches. All of these pairings have A1 chemistry together and the never-ending Suzuki-Gun/LIJ feud feels like it’s actually working now that they’ve taken the spotlight off Naito vs. Suzuki and rearranged the whole thing in a more palatable configuration. ***
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KUSHIDA
A note-perfect sendoff for KUSHIDA, as he got to wrestle his last match against the Ace of the company in the world’s greatest wrestling venue in front of an adoring crowd. This had a lot going for it, but my favorite thing about it is that they made damn sure that KUSHIDA’s last match in New Japan was a quintessential New Japan match.
Not only did both guys lay into each other with the hardest of slaps/forearms and try to dismantle one another on the mat, but they literally peppered the match with references to classic NJPW history – Tana busting out the reverse Indian deathlock and KUSHIDA always falling back to the Ali kick whenever on defense.
Tanahashi’s entire body might be Jell-O at this point, but he still excels at projecting an aura of toughness like the great aces of the past. He used this skill to great effect here, asserting himself as a final hurdle while still making the match all about KUSHI. And boy did KUSHIDA grab that opportunity to show what he’s all about. Tremendous grappling early on, great babyface comebacks bursting with life and fun signature spots, spot-on selling.
All of the various subplots (Tana tormenting KUSHI with dragon screws, KUSHIDA working towards the Back to the Future while targeting the arm) coalesced naturally into an air-tight ending stretch where the crowd was biting on KUSHIDA near-falls before Tana finally caught him in the Cloverleaf. No excess fat, no tricks – just a wickedly smart wrestling match that put KUSHIDA over on the way out and showed the potential of him working against heavyweights. ****1/4
Throwing that Jay White run-in right after the match seemed unnecessary and kind of killed the mood for a while, but the final KUSHIDA speech was a big moment and the Korakuen reaction was quite touching. See you later, KUSHI.
