After an outbreak of COVID-19 and the winner of BOSJ 19, New Japan is back. Or at least they were fired up to be back and it translated into some pretty great wrestling. Selections from the “Road to Dominion” tour are Thought About below.
1. Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI (6/1/21)
Absence makes the heart grow fonder – that’s what they say. Naito and Ishii are scrapping, Shingo is bringing it to Okada, and YOSHI-HASHI is bringing it to everybody — that’s a stew, baby, and it made for the best New Japan 8-man in like seven years (approximately).
I missed the boys dancing and these two groups in particular are the best in the world at complex tag team wrestling exchanges. There’s plenty of tremendous changes in tempo and the finish is as good an example as any: SANADA misses a moonsault but lands on his feet and gets the Cold Skull on Goto, Okada boots SANADA, Shingo lariats Okada, Ishii backdrop suplexes Shingo, Naito dropkicks Ishii low, YOSHI lariats Naito, and it’s YOSHI who saves the day when he blocks BUSHI’s impending attack with a superkick. Soon he and Goto hit their finish on SANADA for 3. ***1/2
2. IWGP Tag Team Title: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [c] vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (6/1/21)
I’m trying to think of an interesting way to say this match is way better than you or I could ever expect but I still don’t think you need to, like, experience it or anything. The Guerillas of Destiny fit some kind of role, but that role is still not 30-minute tag match guys. Just not happening. Luckily this is way more about the Dangerous Tekkers being amazing babyfaces, a role that may not come natural to the British prick and pervert who sings but here we are. This shit is compelling.
ZSJ pops people with highspots ranging from a Frankensteiner off the top rope to a tilt-a-whirl cobra twist into a heel hook (!!), while the people love and cherish their hero Taichi Ishikari — especially when those dirtballs Sons of Haku harassed the returning Miho Abe. They manage a pretty wild finish with everything from run-ins to guys getting spiked on their head to a crowd delighted over Taichi just kicking ass. Taichi absolutely slaughters Tama with a gamengiri and superkick to the face to setup a ZSJ Michinoku Driver for the win. Hugs. Celebrations. Something felt miscast. ***1/2
3. Kota Ibushi & Master Wato vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan (6/2/21)
If it wasn’t obvious, this is mostly our blue-haired kung-fu pal Master Wato getting beat up by a couple fellas. The satisfaction on his face when he successfully escapes a bodyslam and brings the Great O-Khan down with a Zig Zag is almost worth it – almost. Ibushi gets in a few shots on current rival Jeff Cobb and wrecks O-Khan with a double stomp before he tags Wato back in and sees him lose. **1/2
4. NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Title: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI (6/2/21)
Like the 8-man tag above, here’s another example of the CHAOS and Los Ingobernables guys just being above everybody else at complex tag team exchanges – impressive movement, genuine surprise, and just a rhythmic pattern that keeps the half-hour journey fresh and downright enthralling they build towards a dramatic and exciting conclusion. Seeing a motivated Tetsuya Naito throwing down in a multi-man tag is pretty great too – singles wrestler Naito has ups and downs; bring me tag team ace Tetsuya.
SANADA/Goto and Naito/Ishii pair off, while YOSHI-HASHI just kind of messes with everybody: he takes most of the beatings while Ishii brings the ass-kicking and angry faces. Goto is his low-key all-star self too, the guy relied on to add that extra fire to every exchange of moves he’s involved with — maybe because you’re just like, “My god – Goto is actually firing up.” He does this like every time though.
Towards the end the Korakuen crowd gets into BUSHI possibly beating YOSHI nearly as much as they’d get into YOSHI beating anybody at all — before he proved himself. BUSHI hits a MX that YOSHI bumps like a freak for and it makes for an incredible false finish before BUSHI ends up caught in YOSHI’s Butterfly Lock. I loved how this came together, as after all the big moves and close calls the end of the match was BUSHI struggling to escape for a real minute as Naito tried in vain to escape Ishii’s grasp to save and just… couldn’t. Tap tap tap. ****
