Five decades ago, Antonio Inoki — decent pro-wrestler, legendary promoter, actual politician — was sick of it. Yearning for a star role that couldn’t be achieved in the shadow of his (very) tall colleague and bored with the limitations of an approach to pro wrestling that looked like (paraphrasing) “fake bullshit,” he launched New Japan Pro-Wrestling on January 13, 1972.
Inoki presented his matches as fights and sometimes they looked like it. Sometimes, even, his opponent would be in on it. He fought Muhammad Ali, Lou Thesz, and any freakish oddity or martial artist willing to travel to Japan and take a fall. The formula worked as a feature attraction for almost 20 years as New Japan’s dojo trained wrestlers the way he wanted, introducing to the world names that carry weight years later like Fujinami, Choshu, Muto and Liger.
Five decades on he was no longer in charge or even really affiliated, the result of a complex history of ego and hustling over the next 30 years that could include chapters on both North Korea and Mirko Cro Crop. The company was now owned by publicly traded Bushiroad Inc and incorporated as New Japan Japan Pro-Wrestling, Ltd., with another subsidiary based in America, and it was airing its’ 50th Anniversary Show on New Japan World, an Internet streaming service available worldwide.
Though Inoki’s current health prevented him from attending himself, his ideas and legacy could be seen in most of the eighteen figures of New Japan history introduced before the show, including the four young lions mentioned above plus Tiger Mask, Tiger Hattori, Tiger Hunter and Wataru Inoue, who must be so nice.
1. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO vs. Tiger Mask IV, YOH & Ryohei Oiwa
EVIL and the boys opening up the celebration show would be something to ask about if the ability to have a strong feeling about EVIL and the boys wasn’t beaten out of me long ago, so let’s get to the point: Oiwa’s muscles are becoming spectacular. *3/4
2. Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Minoru Tanaka vs. Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
I was able to see Minoru Tanaka’s rise up the New Japan ranks, lucky enough to see the BattlARTS magician before he put on a mask and became Jushin Liger’s nerd protégé. He returns to New Japan after a 13-year absence and I can’t say him wrestling Bad Luck Fale and taking purple nurples from ELP was an ideal comeback, but he and Ishimori do pull off a really nice 60-seconds of wrestling for a couple of dads and it was really nice seeing him back in New Japan. **3/4
3. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI vs. CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman
Strong Hearts — CIMA, T-Hawk and the impeccably and outright astonishingly tanned El Lindaman — make the case for being regulars in the New Japan junior heavyweight division not just because of the tan but they also finish strong with some spectacular triple-team maneuvers. ***1/4
4. Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, Yuto Nakashima & Kosei Fujita vs. Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare
Will Ospreay is back, and even worse The Empire is still tonally inconsistent. One of the young lions puts O-Khan in a crab hold, then loses. **3/4
5. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano & Shiro Koshinaka
Shiro Koshiaka is 63-years-old but still bringing it: the music, the lumpiness, the legendary hip attacks that are really just him jumping and shoving his ass in a guy’s face. We have to show respect though: he still has the hops. He does the one off the apron! He’s 63-years-old! He breaks Yano out of the unescapable Paradise Lock by just nudging him with his foot too, like he didn’t follow or was above the canon, then closes up remarkably strong with Honma. Incredible performance, solid match. ***1/4
6. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato
With Okada busy in the main event and the traditional Champion vs. Champion match scheduled for the New Japan Cup, the consolation was a version with the Tag Team Champions. They delivered the match that most built by the New Japan Dojo who stick around are able to do, having a inconspicuous though reliable match that gets fantastically amazing at some point towards the end. The normally ass-focused Taguchi not backing down on strike exchanges with the heavyweights was fun, as were the couple near falls he pulled off. ***1/4
7. NJPW Launch 50th Anniversary Match: Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
This is an awesome lineup of wrestlers that successfully mixed up wrestling nostalgia and philosophies, Inoki the wrestler vs. Inoki the shooter spanning multiple generations. Fujinami is 68 and Fujiwara is 72 but everyone is committed is to the bit, with Tanahashi selling Fujiwara’s chops like death then watching in horror as he delivers a headbutt to the exposed steel turnbuckle post — that old whimsical spot everyone remembers and definitely wanted to see. Tanahashi and ZSJ matched up well trying to impress their heroes, as did Okada and Suzuki. ***1/2
Happy Thoughts: More a show for the fully committed, but even beyond the fun cameos and nostalgia this was one of the more well-rounded New Japan shows in a while. 3.5 / 5.0
