1. Toa Henare vs. Yota Tsuji
Yota Tsuji seems like my kind of guy: ducked a spin kick, got a near fall off a rollup, then quickly transitioned to a crab hold. Also did a nice spear and took a big Rikishi bump off a lariat. Then he lost. This was fine. **
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura
Whether he’s throwing chops to help Tiger Mask escape a crab hold or just standing around after the match waiting to give a speech, Manabu Nakanishi looks ready for the couch. Regardless, I give in to the charm that is these guys all still doing their thing with young Yuya. **
3. El Phantasmo vs. Gabriel Kidd
This was a wonderfully basic Young Lion fellow trained by Katsuyori Shibata vs. whatever El Phantasmo is trying to do. They played their roles – one of the roles sucked though. *1/2
4. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Robbie Eagles vs. Shingo Takagi, EVIL & BUSHI
Takagi Two Belts is an amazing look, and this was a solid undercard 6-man with Ishii and EVIL deciding to beat each other up at random intervals. EVIL’s got to avenge that loss one day, right? There was a moment here where all the heavyweights just started throwing shoulderblocks at each other that was great in its weirdness. BUSHI’s struggle to get out of the submission at the end was quality work too. **
5. Jon Moxley, Ryusuke Taguchi & Roppongi 3K vs. Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & DOUKI
As tremendous as the Moxley vs. Suzuki feud is, Mox has got to lay those elbows in. Regardless – Suzuki rushing into the crowd to attack him as soon as he emerged from the curtains was tremendous stuff, the work of a man who knows who he is. Taguchi was a legend here too – highlight was him trying to get Moxley to join along with his clothesline train spot but Mox was too busy fighting Suzuki so Taguchi got ganged up on. **3/4
6. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA, Jay White & Taiji Ishimori
A solid match building up to a pair of matches I could really care less about, and that bums me out. The Bullet Club gets boos but are such a bore – plenty of acts in history that got boos and weren’t bores. Is a chinlock the only way to truly get heel heat in 2020? Is that where we are?? Do better. **1/2
7. RPW British Heavyeight Title: Zack Sabre Jr. [c] vs. Will Ospreay
As ridiculous as it might sound: just a pleasure to watch. These two are in an elite class when it comes to their respective styles, and they both adapted to each other to create an awesome compelling piece of business. ZSJ getting in Will’s face as he was announced, raising his arms while Will stayed stoic – almost disappointed at a show of arrogance in this sacred ring – set the tone for a match that delivered on that tone.
They didn’t do the usual work the mat and stare each other down stuff that feels kind of lazy these days – they did a bunch of smooth brilliant chain wrestling and monkey flipping and bridging that felt like there was an intent to win. The only time they really did do the intense staredown is when they teased running the ropes and instead just stared each other down like, “This isn’t the time.”
Did I mention Will Ospreay barely ran the ropes in this match? This was absolutely the slowest I have ever seen him work and it RULED. Zack stretches him for awhile and when he finally manages to fire back with a handspring kick he waits to follow-up longer than he has ever waited for anything in his life. There was also a Sasuke Special here that in between all the recovering felt like a legitimate offensive maneuver and payoff to an ass-kicking.
Part of it didn’t feel blowaway great compared to a 2020 wrestling world, but that’s a plus: it created a world where wrestling was this classy thing where people sat down and not only appreciated the technique but the technique was legitimately worth watching. Plus afterwards Zack held the title up in Will’s face like “I knew it bitch” as Will stumbled off all sad. Bravo. ****3/4
8. Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi
Meanwhile, here’s Okada shooting for the MOTY with Taichi and maybe getting there. This is 30 minutes long and felt right at home with Okada’s straight-up legendary title reign from 2016-2018, a match that both followed the Big Match Kazu formula but also conjured the ultimate version of his opposition’s potential. The catch with Taichi is that he is too silly to be a full main eventer but if he drops the silly he’s not as interesting. Here he had the best of both worlds, bringing the strangest most beautiful concoction of both All Japan Pro Wrestling and General Japanese Indy Sleaze right at Kazuchika Okada and the title wasn’t on the line but they made it feel like it was.
Taichi does it all: pre-bell attack, stiff kick to the neck, Iron Claw gimmick, choking with a wire, backdrop suplex hold as tribute to Jumbo Tsuruta. Okada sold his ass off for all of it and still does the best comebacks, with a look on his face that asked why this was even a challenge in the first place. There was a genuine disgust in his eyes as he actually had to lift Taichi for a second Rainmaker, and the absolute stubborn grit he emoted as he refused to be lifted for Taichi’s Black Mephisto move should be recognized by The Academy. ****1/2
Happy Thoughts: Not much for a while, but the last two matches are must-see. 8/10
