1. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuya Uemura & Yota Tsuji
Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji, two young lions who have experienced nothing less than Growth during this tour, adorably team up for the kill on Makabe and Honma before they adorably walk to the back defeated, arm-in-arm. **
2. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hirooki Goto & Gabriel Kidd
This is an OK match with an amazing finish. It’s all about the Gabriel Kidd development – he is doing a bunch of basic sequences with TenKoji and that has to be the dream, you know? He tries a suplex on Kojima, Kojima reverses it, Kidd lands on his feet, and hits the suplex anyways. Classic! He is all fired up and ready to win and then he just runs into a lariat from Kojima and loses. **
3. Master Wato Return Match: Master Wato vs. DOUKI
Master Wato’s first showcase in the ring was very OK, not as hilarious as his debut though not awesome enough to overcome it. His corkscrew dives hit well, as did that backfist towards the end – but I think he’s going to have a kick gimmick, and the kicks need work. DOUKI played along well enough in a pretty short match. *1/2
4. SANADA & BUSHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori
There isn’t much to this outside of a decent run of the ropes here and there, though Yujiro is just over the moon when he wins the match. An outlier, or a sign of things to come? Hmmm… *3/4
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
Leg work. **
6. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & SHO vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi
This got very close to rocking – SHO vs. Shingo continues to rule, they made me bite on a Yano over Naito near fall, and LIJ put together a tremendous combo at the finish. **1/2
Katsuyori Shibata removing his facemask, sanitizing his hands, and showing them to the camera is very good pro wrestling.
7. New Japan Cup – Final: Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL
I don’t know if I marked out harder for the angle itself or just New Japan actually shaking things up, but EVIL winning the New Japan Cup Finals with the Bullet Club’s help then turning on Tetsuya Naito to join the Bullet Club was the biggest rush I got from pro wrestling this year outside of maybe WWE pulling out the Saturday Night’s Main Event and nWo gimmicks for the Firefly Fun House match.
Before that, there was 30 minutes of wrestling. I’d say it was OK, but it was 30 minutes of stuff in search of a point and the point was always coming in the form of a big time angle. Why go 30? I don’t know. Why have Yujiro Takahashi be a crucial part of it? I’m glad they got to where they got. The match was almost comically generic – Okada and EVIL have had solid matches, for the IWGP Title and in the G1 Climax, though they were never Okada’s best matches. This match was weaker than those, the only thread beyond what could only feel like time-killing being Okada constantly going for his submission.
Doesn’t matter. They got to the angle. **1/2
Happy Thoughts: Weak show that happened to end with one of the most awesome, newsworthy things New Japan has done in a while. I like EVIL, maybe not in-ring all the time but I like EVIL. 3/10
