Suzukigun vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirai Kawato
Highlights:
El Desperado has one of the coolest masks I've ever seen, Taka Michinoku is in desperate need of a grown ups hair cut.
I will give Taka credit, there are very few Attitude Era wrestlers still in the ring and he took some pretty stiff looking bumps selling like he's still a 20 year old.
Kawato may only be 19 but that kid can sell a beating with the best of them.
Hot tag to Taguchi who immediately comes in and delivers a second rope booty bump to Taka's face.
Taka and Taguchi had a fun little crossover exchange ending with each wrestling giving the other an enzuguri.
Taguchi must have buns of steel because they keep selling his booty bump like its sledghammer to the face.
El Desperado with a Guitarra de Angel on Kawato for the three count
Winner: Suzukigun by pinfall
Grade: 2 1/2 Stars
Thoughts:
Very fun opening match. Kawato is star in the making and it was fun to see Taka still performing at that level. Some of the transitions border lined on silly and the booty bump party dropped it down a bit. However, this was still the type of match that you want to start a show with.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask IV & Tomoyuki Oka
Highlights
Huge crowd reaction when the legend Liger was tagged in.
Tiger mask with a suicide ploncha to Liger on the floor
Kojima with a "Stan Hansen" Lariat for the three count
Winner: Tenzan, Kojima, and Liger by pinfall
Grade: 1 3/4 Stars
Thoughts:
Both Tenzan and Nakanishi looked every bit of their age in this one. Nakanishi looked like he was moving in slow motion for the majority of his time in the ring. In fact I'm not entirely sure why this match happened considering only one man in the match is under the age of 45. Oka coming in at only 25 looked like he was slowing himself down to let the senior citizens keep up with him. It's always great to see Liger and Tiger Mask in action but this is a match that maybe should have been on a retirement tour. Then to have Oka eat the pinfall by a slow motion lariat after kicking out of a cutter really hurt the young guy.
Bullet Club vs Chaos
Highlights:
The nice thing about Yujiro Takahashi is that he always has a ridiculously hot woman accompany him to ring side. The Tokyo Pimp is probably my favorite member of Bullet Club for that reason only.
Yoshi-Hashi desperately needs a haircut.
Bullet club with the sneak attack before the bell sending Ishii to the floor.
Weird looking dropkick to the knee of Ishii by Omega which led to Takahashi inflicting more damage to the knee on the outside of the ring.
Omega with a kick to the face of Ishii which only seemed to anger him. The look on the Cleaners face was priceless when Ishii growled at him.
Omega hits the One Winged Angel for the win with the crowd cheering the move from the moment it was set up.
Post match stare down between Ishii and Omega suggests something may be brewing between them down the line.
Winner: Bullet Club
Grade: 2 3/4 Stars
Thoughts:
Takahashi plays such a fantastic heel. He is a perfect addition to Bullet Club and does so much to play his part in every match. I wasn't a real big fan of the chaos in this match. The fact that neither team really cared who was legal and who wasn't with people running in to hit move after move took away from the overall heel dynamic of Bullet Club. Omega and the Tokyo Pimp worked well together though and all in all it was a fun match. This may be the lowest graded match that Omega has been in for quite some time though.
Los Ingobernables de Japon vs Katsuyori Shibata, Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA, & David Finlay
Highlights:
Finlay with a flying European uppercut on Bushi.
Juice Robinson catches Bushi in a cross body attempt then chaos ensues.
Naito Attacks Finlay's arm on the entrance ramp while Bushi chokes out Robinson with his shirt in the ring.
Naito picks up Robinson by the braids.
Robinson with a straight right hand that knocks Bushi of the ring apron
Shibata with his beautiful hesitation dropkick on SANADA in the corner.
SANADA with a Skull End getting Finlay to tap
Winner: Los Ingobernables by submission
Grade: 3 Stars
Thoughts:
Shibata is so no nonsense and focused it's a treat to watch. There is a quality about him that makes you watch everything he does and he doesn't need flashy tights or high flying moves. He just goes out to the ring and beats people up. Every movement is calculated and with purpose from his walk to the ring looking down at his feet to his post match walk back he demands your attention. Naito, Shibata, Bushi and SANADA are all great. Finlay seems to get better every time I see him. There was not nearly enough Shibata in this match but all in all it was well done.
Chaos vs Suzuigun
Highlights:
Every time I see Okada's entrance I get chills. Still one of the best entrances in the world.
Suzuigun attacks Chaos before the bell.
Jado with reverse chops, on Kanemaru, ala Ric Flair complete with the WHOOO after each one.
Suzuki with an arm bar over the top rope on Gedo.
Iizuka gets tagged in and immedietly gnaw's on Gedo's knee.
Ishikari rips his pants off and kicks Okada in the face.
Ishikari mocks Okada and gets two boots to the face followed up by a Rainmaker for the three count.
Winner: Chaos by pinfall
Grade: 3 1/2 Stars
Thoughts:
Okada is the Heavyweight champ for a reason, quite simply he is the best in the company. I've always prefered him as a heel but his face work with Chaos is a thing of beauty. along with Gedo, Goto and Jado they put on a hell of a performance. Ishikari is always fun to watch and Iizuka doing his cross between Rick Steiner and George the Animal Steel is fun to watch.
Now as much fun as these matches have been, they are going to take a quick intermission then on to the tournament.
Yuji Nagata vs Tanga Roa
Highlights:
Tanga got quite a bit of hang time on his leap frog. Especially since Nagata barely ducked.
Nagata faked a dropkick high and went low when Tanga tried to block it.
Nagata rolls his eyes to the back of his head during an arm bar submission hold, much to the delight of the fans.
Nagata hits the Backdrop Hold for a three count.
Winner: Nagata by pinfall
Grade: 1 1/2 Stars
Thoughts:
This match started a whole lot slower than I would have thought considering it was only an 11 minute match. Tanga is quite the in ring talker, if he can refine that a little bit and add more trash talking and less OH MAAANNNN!!! exclamations I think he could become on par with someone like Kevin Owens.
I think fewer rest holds and a faster paced match would have made this much better.
Toro Yano vs Tama Tonga
Highlights:
Yano comes to the ring carrying a DVD, chair and wearing what looks like cut off LuLaroe's.
Tama attacks before the bell and beats Yano with his dvd case.
Winner: Yano by pinfall
Grade: 1/2 star
Thoughts:
The creepier half of the Guerrillas of Destiny takes on the resident lunatic in an awkwardly short match. I don't and never will understand the crowds fascination with Yano. Another match of his where the closest thing to a wrestling move performed by him was a low blow. Thankfully this was a short match cause anymore Yano tonight and I would have started drinking straight from the bottle.
Bad Luck Fale vs Michael Elgin
Highlights:
Fale catches Elgin off the ring apron and drives him spine first into the ring post.
Fale hits the Grenade for a three count
Winner: Fale by Pinfall
Grade: 2 Stars
Thoughts:
Bullet club goes 1 for 3 so far in this tournament. Fans go 0 fo 3 in entertainment. This match was basically two big bulls punching and kicking each other until one of them couldn't get back up. It was a weird site watching Elgin play the little guy and he has really fallen down the card from where he was this time last year.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs EVIL
Highlights:
EVIL puts Tanahashi's head in a chair and then hits it with another chair with a really hard baseball swing.
Tanahashi with a superman punch followed up with a forward senton bomb for a two count.
Tanahashi with a leg whip while on the outside of the ropes to Evil who was climbing through the ropes. For the record this move made me cringe in pain at home.
The ref in this match took a few nasty bumps. props to him for the good story telling.
EVIL gets the knees up on a frog splash attempt.
EVIL with the mist to the eyes and an Evil STO for the three count.
Winner: EVIL by pinfall
Grade: 3 1/2 Stars
Thoughts:
I still think Tanahashi looks an awful lot like 1997 Chyna when you catch him from certain angles. EVIL puts an awful lot of work into the look of his character, the silver caps on his teeth may be the part that puts it over the edge with the creep factor though. All in all this was a good main event and end to day 1.
Final Thoughts:
This card had a few clunkers and really faltered with a depleted roster and without the ROH guys being a part of it since they had their own mega show to deal with. (review coming soon) All in all Chaos delivered a gem and EVIL vs Tanahashi was better than expected. Not a bad start to the New Japan Cup.
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