The New Japan Los Angeles territory welcomed fans back in-person to The Torch at L.A. Coliseum for a show featuring wrestlers from the LA Dojo, AEW, SoCal indie scene, Impact Wrestling — even New Japan!
1. Alex Coughlin Challenge Match Series: Alex Coughlin vs. Karl Fredericks
I spent the last couple years working on my sleep schedule and over-reliance on takeout; Katsuyori Shibata spent it re-constructing the future of wrestling. Both Fredericks and Coughlin were from the first class of the re-opened L.A. Dojo and may have wrestled in Japan by now if it weren’t for the pandemic, but as far as U.S.-based wrestlers go they are kind of already top-tier. Or at least they wrestle like they know they have to be top-tier because their trainer is waiting behind the curtain.
They unsurprisingly wrestle like a pair of New Japan young lions, opening the show with a physical match that didn’t try to be anything else. There’s a reality to both their movements, and Fredericks is especially great reacting like he’s offended any time Coughlin doesn’t accept the beating. Coughlin does a deadlift belly-to-back suplex on big Karl too. The future is presumably bright. **3/4
2. Fred Rosser, Rocky Romero & Wheeler Yuta vs. Clark Connors, TJP & Ren Narita
3. Lio Rush, Chris Dickinson, Fred Yehi, Adrian Quest & Yuya Uemura vs. Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs & Danny Limelight
The filler tag match doesn’t provide the best look at anyone in particular though it does provide that authentic New Japan experience. I hadn’t seen much if anything from most guys on the lineup prior, and days later I’m still not convinced I’ve seen Jorel Nelson wrestle. Clark Connors is another Shibata special, while Ren Narita is fine but feels like a fifth-year senior still wearing the black boots and trunks. Fred Rosser (the former Darren Young) continues to be rock solid, and the other Fred (Yehi) impressed me as he found creative ways to chop down big JR Kratos. Call it **1/4 for the whole bag of random wrestling.
4. Juice Robinson vs. Hikuleo
Oof. The thing here is Hikuleo is a tall guy, and Juice Robinson is not as tall as him. So they told that story, but I’m not really sure they TOLD that story. The finish looked like trash too. Back to work. *
5. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose
Yes, Ishii will have a good bordering on great match with Moose. Of course he will. He had a good bordering on great match with Yujiro recently, so it’s really not that big a deal. Still – fun match and for all I know Moose’s best ever. Ishii keeps the first 10 minutes compelling with his “I dare you” approach, then as they close up they use Moose’s move where he leaps to the top rope and hits a crossbody to not just do something cool but wake up the crowd and pull off the most dramatic near fall on the powerbomb that followed. Plus Hiromu does the “Moose!” chant. Big win. ***1/2
6. Jon Moxley & X (Yuji Nagata) vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
Yuji Nagata was Jon Moxley’s mystery partner and I was a little underwhelmed but only because I’ve already seen Nagata wrestle Mox once on TV this year. Overall that’s a plus. This was a 10-minute tag that did what it needed to, mainly put Jon Moxley on the show. Anderson occasionally picked up the pace while Gallows… did not. **3/4
7. NEVER Openweight Title: Jay White [c] vs. David Finlay
Just like their New Japan Cup quarter-final match where the Finlay boy eliminated Jay White, this was more technically proficient if not super interesting wrestling. Big issue for me here was with the long hair and wrestling tights it is getting more difficult to tell these two apart. ***
8. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Lance Archer [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Here’s a New Japan main event that clocks in just under 20 minutes, and though Tanahashi can kill time better than anybody it’s also really fun when he can get right to the point. He pops the crowd and works his way into an offensive flow early, but soon Archer catches him and is all intimidating for 15 minutes as the king babyface sells (also probably better than anybody). The Murderhawk Monster doesn’t do anything fancy on offense and doesn’t need to – one of the biggest reactions comes from a well-placed elbow to Tana’s face, and Tana is always popping little comeback attempts anyways. Basic setup, great wrestling. ***1/2
Happy Thoughts: The best parts were the two great wrestling matches. The rest is OK but skippable, a decent framework for a territory other than the Guerillas of Destiny/Good Brothers and Will Ospreay/TJP showdowns in the middle of it all. 2.75 / 5.0
