These are short thoughts, as NJPW is a weekly 1-hour show we are Happy Wrestling Land do not watch… yet.
1. Clark Connors, Kevin Knight, The DKC & TJP vs. Brody King, ACH & The Riegel Twins
Brody, ACH and The Riegel’s wear ski masks to the ring but remove them beforehand, except for ACH who wears his through the whole match. It confused me. Brody seems to be the leader of this gang and continues to be intriguing, though I should probably see a singles match. Kevin Knight continued to show the skills of a Shibata trainee, big fire on the strikes and a bodyslam sell that could’ve made it the finish. A brainbuster from ACH wraps up a match as average as any New Japan undercard tag. TJP has to just get these gigs because New Japan thinks he’s a new guy that wants to tryout for the dojo, right? *3/4
2. Ren Narita vs. Chris Dickinson
What a weird excursion for Ren Narita: Some go team with Okumura; some go to Los Angeles during a pandemic. As long as he drops the Dirty Daddy thing, Dickinson seems capable of just showing up at Korakuen tomorrow. This was a good match, really basic but impressive chain wrestling, big fire from Narita on the elbows, and consistent focus on the leg. Narita kicked out of a Death Valley driver then won the match clean with a single-leg crab hold. Respect. **
3. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Jon Moxley [c] vs. KENTA
This is more about the journey, the way KENTA has surpassed his post-WWE expectation and how wrestling has adapted to empty arenas during a pandemic and how Jon Moxley is everywhere basically saving wrestling. It’s just a lot going on. The actual content is a rock solid New Japan main event, maybe even better because they had the audacity to only go 15 minutes. It got to the point, with snug work and a few questionable choices on the outside that left me more eh than compelled. ***1/4
Happy Thoughts: Moxley/KENTA isn’t worth really seeking out, though the show was solid and Ren Narita is the guy. 2.75 / 5.0
