It wasn’t the first time Kazuchika Okada had heard criticism for New Japan — the company he had ostensibly led for the past 10 years — but he hadn’t remembered it being so prolonged, so passive, so… snarky. Even worse, he thought to himself more often than he was happy to admit: maybe they were right.
He was still showing up to the Tokyo Dome or the G1 Climax every year to remind them of his greatness, but with time even those performances’ impact lessened and called attention to the fact that he wasn’t having them otherwise. Moreso, it seemed that New Japan’s fortunes exactly followed his, and the evidence displayed on tape was that either he had lost a step or he had lost the aura. Maybe both.
He could explain some of it away to a number of reasons, some heaped onto the company with no warning but some brought on themselves. There was the jarring crowd environment of a pandemic that still persisted, but in the few years since he was regularly contending for the heavyweight title a handful of his colleagues had been promoted into more prominent roles and for a number of reasons — Jay White’s unavailability, Kota Ibushi’s inconsistency, EVIL’s catastrophe — none really took.
After headlining a 3-night Wrestle Kingdom to begin the year, Okada was once again the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and — with a promotional presentation evoking the legacy of New Japan founder Antonio Inoki — maybe another plane of wrestling star entirely. Any step or aura that appeared lost appeared entirely replaced by a new robe, haircut, and maybe just better general posture. He could have spent a lot of time then and now thinking what they’d say about him when he was gone, but for now he’d have to settle for showing them the truth.
New Japan’s first tour of 2022 was the New Year Golden Series, a first for them since 1989. Back then the company was moving towards a new era and away from the formula they were relying on, with the emergence of the Three Musketeers and Jushin Liger about to revitalize the entire company. I watched seven matches from the tour and seven matches from the last two nights in Sapporo.
1. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & SANADA (1/20/22)
2. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & SANADA (2/11/22)
The Kings of Chemistry are back! Both of these matches were The Usual, but in a good way: Tanahashi and SANADA grappling, Okada and Naito reminding, and Shingo and Nagata just kicking each other’s ass. After a few more shows (and a few cancelled ones), they ran it back except on the undercard and in a bigger arena than Korakuen Hall. I liked the Korakuen match a little more, but what we had here was a pair of ***‘s.
3. YOH vs. SHO (2/11/22)
The fourth YOH/SHO match was their longest and with the clapping crowds that usually means worst, but here it really meant that. It also followed a 15-minute Gedo vs. Tiger Mask IV match, and I’ve got respect for those two but someone has to draw a line. YOH hit a particularly nice dropkick and tope con hilo, but otherwise as they relied on SHO doing arm work and lazy interference spots the runtime just endured. **1/2
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: El Desperado [c] vs. Master Wato (2/11/22)
After a push out the gates that can best be described as “rough,” somewhere in the last 6 to 12 months the blue-haired Master Wato got to a place where you can kind of take him seriously as a wrestler. And that’s all El Desperado needed. His confident body language knocking down Wato’s general scrappiness made this a fun champion vs. underdog match, and some of the 2-counts later could reasonably be described as good near falls. There was a ceiling because of the crowd and Wato just not being all there, but this is a rock solid notch in Despy’s championship belt. Cool finish too. ***1/2
5. Lumberjack Death Match – NEVER Openweight Title: EVIL [c] Tomohiro Ishii (2/13/22)
Great selling by Ishii, and despite the stipulation minimal bullshit from EVIL… God bless this Lumberjack Death Match, which stood out in current stodgy New Japan but also as just a good old-fashioned wrestling slugfest. EVIL throws a few nasty lariats and Ishii’s eventual headbutt comeback is — like a lot of the match — timed so unbelievably well. ****
6. Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA (2/13/22)
This was a preview of what would go on to be two excellent matches, and what it lacked in character and reaction it made up for with 33-minutes (!) of main event pro wrestling and Naito/SANADA seeming especially “on.” ***1/2
7. 4-Way Match – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask IV [c] vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (2/19/22)
Wild match of high-flyers and other guests that got right to the point, highlighted by Robbie Eagles’ ridiculous double-jump springboard rana to the floor and a moment where he exclaimed to something or another, “What the hell was that!?” Could’ve opened a Tokyo Dome show. ***1/4
8. IWGP Tag Team Title: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI [c] vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (2/19/22)
EVIL and Yujiro attacked before the bell. Goto and YOSHI made a comeback. They kept it around 15. It’s EVIL and Yujiro. ***
9. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi [c] vs. SANADA (2/19/22)
Lots of guys can try it, can do it… only a few can commit to it. Tanahashi and SANADA commit. Or, Tanahashi commits and SANADA commits when he is in the ring with Tanahashi. Like their G1 Climax 2020 masterpiece (I’ll write it and defend it), they provide holds upon holds upon beautiful holds, getting a lot out of a little with seemingly every movement from the lockup a direct reaction to the other guy’s very serious strategy.
Eventually they find their way to a dramatic conclusion, both guys completely spent. Tanahashi throws a desperate Sling Blade that barely slings, but SANADA moves when he tries to follow up with the High Fly Flow and rolls him up for the actual win. ****1/4
10. Satoshi Kojima vs. Great-O-Khan (2/20/22)
I was tempted to watch O-Khan’s matches on the tour against Makabe and Honma too, just because O-Khan seems to “get” the basic and usually reliable New Japan heavyweight style and all the vets still hanging around seem to get a kick out of him too. This isn’t much different than any of the few other Kojima/O-Khan matches that have happened over the last year, but a Kojima lariat sends O-Khan flying from the turnbuckle to the floor and O-Khan does an HBK sell off a Koji Cutter. Those few other matches were pretty good too. ***1/4
11. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI (2/20/22)
Shingo Takagi didn’t do anything but play second or third option in tags all tour, but in each one he managed to light people up and get all his shit in. Here he did the same and it was the highlight of an undercard: good energy, fast pace… New Japan? ***1/4
12. Dog Cage Death Match – KOPW 2022: Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano (2/20/22)
Minoru Suzuki might be one of the only people on Planet Earth that can make the Toru Yano KOPW gimmick “work,” but even he was dragged down to the depths of whatever this is supposed to be. *1/2
13. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Title: EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO [c] vs. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH (2/20/22)
A breezier version of the Tag Titles match from the previous evening, with the addition of SHO, YOH, and a less happy ending. ***
14. IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito (2/20/22)
I don’t know if there’s anything new I have to say here that wouldn’t have been covered in either the intro or almost every New Japan main event of the last 10 years, but other than a reminder that Okada and Naito are still capable of greatness I was most struck by Okada’s reverse chinlock. He applied it about 4-minutes into the match. He’s applied the reverse chinlock before — for godssakes, he’s a wrestler! But the reverse chinlock he applied defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 2017 and the reverse chinlock he applied in 2020 were different.
Okada brought a wrestling style to the highest levels of wrestling that only a guy who spent time under the learning trees of Ultimo Dragon, the New Japan Dojo and the goddamn Young Bucks could really bring, but above all else he carried himself with such a presence that his run on top was both A) among the best things to happen in pro wrestling ever and B) really hard to follow-up on. When it came time to follow-up, that presence seemed to have gone away.
But then came that chinlock. The intent with which he applied that reverse chinlock about 4 minutes into the match. The robe and haircut were new, but the aura was familiar. Excellent, purpose-renewing professional wrestling match. ****3/4
Happy Thoughts: The ability to pick-and-choose what I saw was helpful, but Tanahashi/SANADA and Naito/Okada were excellent and the matches that led to them felt a step above New Japan’s output of the last couple years. I wouldn’t say they’re “back” but these matches are a reminder of how reliable (and really good!) New Japan can be. 4.0 / 5.0
