1. IWGP Tag Team Title: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [c] vs. Togi Makabe & Toru Yano
I can’t believe this match worked but it did – maybe so many 3-Way Tags have numbed me to the possibilities of New Japan tag team heavyweight wrestling. They went around 15 minutes and sure there were periods of Bullet Club on offense but never enough to kill the match, as it was a match that mostly relied on Yano and Makabe’s charisma, which remains off the charts. So instead of a collection of moves, one of which gets a pop every few minutes or so, this thing had a crowd buying in and buzzing for everything. Yano has been doing the same thing for 15 years and somehow remains the most charming little bastard there is, and Makabe Hulking Up was a beautiful thing. I respect Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa because they are clearly talented businessmen and, well, Haku. But as wrestlers it usually seems like they suck. Here they were fine heel foils for the Makabe and Yano Show, but they were also hustling all over the place putting together a hot wrestling match. Tama at one point did a Stinger Splash that I can’t stop thinking about. Most inexplicable great match I’ve seen all year. ***3/4
2. Hirooki Goto vs. Jay White
Hirooki Goto has weird chemistry with the weirdest guys so there was a chance this could’ve ruled but it ended up merely very good. I don’t know. White reads as the most serviceable possible New Japan main event guy, a guy that just fits. And that’s good and bad. It’s good because it fits. It’s bad because I still can’t shake that this could’ve probably been Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi and it would’ve been the same fine match. But indeed, a fine match for a little while. And then it got legitimately good, as the crowd got behind Goto and they had a great peak when they battled for leverage on the top turnbuckle all sweaty and stuff, which led to a wild top rope sunset flip powerbomb. A decent main event that’s biggest detriment is that I am not sure why it was a main event. ***1/2
