I’ve got that feeling about New Japan again.
1. Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino
Lots to love here – Umino attacking early, the German suplex near fall on Mox, Mox in this basic environment, Dirty Deeds 1.0 winning, Mox declaring for the G1, Mox helping his defeated opponent to the back. **
2. Satoshi Kojima vs. Shingo Takagi
A match that met and exceeded my lofty expectations. They started flexing their pecs at each other and ended with a hot finish based around whether Shingo could get in all his big suplexes on the heavyweight man that is Kojima (Narrator: He did). In the middle Shingo got beat up (cause he’s classified as a junior heavyweight, such an inferior species) before he made an incredible comeback by catching Kojima with a back elbow, punching him in the face, and smashing him with a lariat. Kojima was quietly great here too, still capable of a hot match after all these years. I dug him not being able to stand for a lariat Shingo wanted to set up later on, as well as him dropping Shingo with a proper brainbuster unlike that Goldberg fool. The Made in Japan DEADLIFT on Kojima was a great near fall, and hell yeah to NJPW giving Shingo that W. ***1/4
3. Jushin Thunder Liger & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.
Oh no, we’re going to hear the Liger theme in a big arena only a few more times. This was a fun little undercard match that continued one great feud and kicked off a questionable one. All the Liger/Suzuki interactions were fun as usual, but this was all about YOSHI-HASHI getting stretched by Suzuki and Sabre before Liger KICKED HIM and yelled at him to step it up, which was somehow an all-time great Liger moment in a career filled with them. It was like when an aging Undertaker would work the corner during 6-mans in 2011 and hype the crowd up while Sheamus worked over Cena or something – YOU CANNOT DENY THE POWER!!! YOSHI going toe-to-toe with Zack afterwards was neat, while YOSHI pinning Zack afterwards was incredible. YOSHI has got this thing going where he’s playing a Honma role as the lovable helpless underdog, but he’s such a crap wrestler that I’m not convinced if it’s totally working or he isn’t pulling it off at all. **3/4
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White, Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens
Juice limping to the ring all defeated after losing to Mox awwwwwww. Meanwhile, Tanahashi tries to walk with the confidence of a poor man who just lost to Jay freaking White. Taguchi can always go and the Tanahashi hot tag was nice, but this was one of those lower card New Japan 6-mans that gives their undercards a bad rep. I’m not sure what the hell Tana finished Chase off with but Juice yelling “EAT SHIT” and clocking White to set it up was very good. **
5. NEVER Openweight Tile: Taichi [c] vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Here comes Ishii, just casually having another classic match that stands out in an era of them. This was straight-up midcard FURY, two men with two opposing approaches to the wrestling ring laying it all out there for the occasionally important NEVER Openweight Title. The dynamic really made this, from the early character stuff to the finish that had me going wild. At a little over 15 minutes these guys didn’t have a moment to kill time with and so they didn’t. Early on the sneaky Taichi stalled while the honorable Ishii got tired of his shit and just laid down for a pin. Eventually Taichi to get some stuff going and Ishii just brushed it off like the trash it was, until a legitimately compelling chop/kick battle ended with TAICHI firing up and slapping Ishii down to the mat, which was a real MOMENT if I have ever seen one.
The difference maker here was Taichi of all people showing UP for a physical match with Ishii, all the while he threw a couple Gamengiri’s and applied a Stretch Plum to remind you he isn’t from around here. It felt like he had an answer for everything Ishii was trying for the finish, which led to an incredible Last Ride kickout by Ishii that so felt like the end but WASN’T. They threw elbows, they threw kicks, they threw lariats, and they knocked each other around until Ishii ended Taichi with a brainbuster. I knew Ishii had to win but they still got me. Him casually stumbling away from an unconscious Taichi, aware of the destruction he caused behind him and a new title hanging in his hand, was special. ****1/2
6. IWGP Tag Team Title: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [c] vs. EVIL & SANADA
I’m digging SANADA trying out weird stuff like posing for cheers at the start of the match, but I was way more into EVIL absorbing a shoulderblock and hitting the ropes for another, only to stop and fall to his knee. Otherwise, the New Japan tag division continued its run of simply existing. There were a few SANADA vs. Tama rope-running sequences that were legit impressive, otherwise this was mostly a Guerillas of Destiny beatdown and these boys ain’t shit, consistently feeling like placeholders and guaranteeing mediocre tag matches. EVIL and SANADA walking away separately in disappointment at the end HAD ME though. Tell some stories, New Japan! **1/2
Katsuyori Shibata pointed at the entrance ramp for a really long time to setup the reveal of KENTA joining New Japan, which was a tremendous moment that properly kicked off the Big Deal Matches on this card. For a second I thought Shibata was actually making a comeback and got way too excited, but KENTA being here is good fun and if he can still go the fresh matches are endless. Oh no I hope he can still go. Regardless, give it up for the Master of ** Hideo Itami having a ***** moment again.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Dragon Lee [c] vs. Will Ospreay
I’ve never seen anyone like Will Ospreay, one of the most gifted to ever do it athletically who also wants to be a respected worker guy/New Japan heavyweight wrestler but he is trying so hard to do that that it comes off as inauthentic, and sometimes his opponents can’t fully take advantage of all he’s wanting to do anyways. It’s this weird mix of greatness and things that get me hot. Plus he’s gotta stop Tweeting.
Regardless, there was a god damn Sasuke Special where he landed on his feet in front of all these people. And Dragon Lee kneed him in the face right after. It was CRAZY. I don’t even know how to rate this match. There was no plot but it was a rare match where no plot actually was the right plot and they just brought the non-stop perfectly executed jaw-dropping acrobatics mixed in with dangerous bumps and stiff strikes. Dragon Lee doing a tope suicda over the commentary table was properly insane, as was Will’s corkscrew off the top to the floor soon after, as was the PERFECT powerbomb to Canadian Destroyer that nobody could pull off like these two freaks. Everybody please welcome back New Japan to the cutting edge of professional wrestling. ****1/2
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Kota Ibushi [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
Here go these two nutjobs go again. You ever think they get bored of wrestling each other? I swear, I had this all written up a few minutes in before the disgusting apron German suplex bump by Ibushi. It’s the same great risk-taking insane fast-paced match but, like, it’s kinda the same deal every time and seems pretty dangerous. A lot of this was “good” – but at what point does it become pointless? Where’s the interest in Naito endlessly busting his ass for a championship he should be too cool for? I know he wants to beat Ibushi, but – jeez.
Lots of fast-paced wild rasslin here, but the finish just felt like too much. And obviously that Ibushi bump was horrifying, both how it was the side of his skull landing on a hard spot but also how the slow-mo revealed his neck seemingly snapping. And here’s the thing – overly-dangerous crazy suplex-filled wrestling has been discussed a ton, and it’s a problem that should be addressed by the professionals that do this for a living. What gets me as a fan is how they’re doing all this nutty stuff for… what? Ibushi is an enigma but he’s also kind of a blank slate personality-wise in-ring, while Naito’s too-cool-for-school act makes it seem weird that he’d go full Budokan Hall for a finish in every big match. There’s just not enough story or in-ring dynamic here for this to continue to be interesting. You do it once, cool. You do it more – yeah it’s wild and impressive, but it just gets less fun and feels kind of empty.
The Destino Outta Nowhere probably should’ve finished, but they had to get in two more Destino kickouts, two reverse ranas, and Naito killing Ibushi with an Emerald Flowsion for another kickout before a head spike Destino FINALLY ended it. The Ibushi loss is kind of a bummer too – he had rising main event star run all over him, and now Naito has the belt for the umpteenth time to screw around with. A wild match but my least favorite of their series that’s just starting to feel unnecessary, not just because they seem to try to commit suicide every time they wrestle but also because the feud just isn’t interesting. ***3/4
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Chris Jericho
A match we’ll all be glad happened years from now, even if it wasn’t some classic Okada title defense. I fully support Jericho adding “hot mess” to his gimmick, and he did the brawling and the beating while Okada sold like the man he is. Jericho is interesting to watch these days because he still wants to do creative spots but his body isn’t always there… the Walls of Jericho catch to counter a missile dropkick didn’t quite work, and Okada had to practically levitate for the the Codebreaker counter of the guardrail crossbody to work. Still did a bunch of Lionsaults though, and he and Okada pulled off a few tombstone reversals to probably spite Goldberg or something. Yes, that was the second Goldberg mention in the middle of these thoughts on NJPW Dominion. That Super ShowDown show really sucked. ***1/2
A good show, though quality-wise it was a little all over the place: some weak spots (Tag Titles, Bullet Club 6-man), some good solid fun (Moxley in the opener, Shingo/Kojima, Liger rallying YOSHI), and some truly epic wrestling in Taichi vs. Ishii and Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee. The last two matches weren’t so bad either. Most importantly, between this show and the BOSJ Finals and Shingo moving up to heavyweight and Moxley being around and KENTA being around and Ospreay blowing minds and Ibushi not being crippled and Okada back to being Okada, New Japan feels more relevant than they have in a while. 8/10
