NJPW Wrestling Toyonokuni
April 29th, 2017 | Beppu B-Con Plaza in Beppu, Oita
The middle show of NJPW’s three big events this week. As I stated before the last one, this easily has the best card. When LIDJ headline a show, they tend to deliver and we’ve got Hiromu Takahashi, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito at the top of this one against one of the most fun wrestlers around (Ricochet), the ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi) and a fresh fiery babyface (Juice Robinson).
Hirai Kawato, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tomoyuki Oka vs. Katsuya Kitamura, Shota Umino and Tiger Mask IV
Today, I learned that his name is Shota, not Syota. Go figure. They ran this match at the 4/27 show. Like that match, the junior dads opened things. We got another taste of Oka against Kitamura, which was again fun. Everyone played the role you’d expect, from the dads to powerful Kitamura to Wildman Kawato. Oka put Umino in the young lion crab but he fought out. Oka hit a spinebuster and slapped it back on, making Umino submit at 7:28. Pretty similar to the match two days ago. The junior dads stayed back and let the lions do their thing, but it lacked some of the energy from the tag on 4/27. [**¼]
Non-Title Match: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi Vice vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Kanemaru lost the titles with Taichi at the last show. He got a new partner for this non-title affair. He was pissed and brawled with Rocky before the bell. I appreciate that it wasn’t the typical Suzuki-Gun match opening since it didn’t lead to a floor brawl or anything. After an energetic start, the match slowed thanks to some typical Suzuki-Gun antics. Desperado pulled the DREADED RING BELL from his boot. Someone took notes from Taichi. Beretta brought some of the energy back with a tope con hilo that took out both opponents. Desperado tried using a chair but failed. He ate double knees and Strong Zero to end it at 8:00. A fine undercard tag match to get the champions a win. I give RPG Vice credit for making these Suzuki-Gun guys watchable. [**½]
BUSHI and SANADA vs. Ryusuke Taguchi and YOSHITATSU
Taguchi feels left out since his name isn’t all caps. TATSU is still in Triple H cosplay mode. Will it ever end? Also, why does he do it? LIDJ got control early as BUSHI choked TATSU with his shirt and SANADA tied Taguchi up in the ropes. The faces fought back behind Taguchi (and partially by using Taguchi’s behind). He made the mistake of leaving TATSU alone with SANADA though. We all know how that story ends. The Skull End made TATSU tap at 6:24. Man, YOSHITATSU can even drag down matches involving guys I really like. BUSHI and SANADA tried, even Taguchi put in effort but TATSU’s just bad. [**]
David Finlay and TenKoji vs. The Guerillas of Destiny and Yujiro Takahashi
They did the same match two days ago but with Chase Owens instead of Yujiro. In a nice turn of events, it was the face team who jumped the Bullet Club. Tama Tonga worked with a sleeve on his arm due to an injury yesterday. Kojima took a short heat for his guys, getting beat down in the Bullet Club corner. Tenzan eventually made the save and put Tonga in the Anaconda Vice. Yujiro made the save and match came down to Tanga and Finlay. Tanga got the win using a Rikishi Driver at 8:39. Slightly less inspired than the Chase Owens tag two days ago. That match had the Bullet Club mocking TenKoji, which was fun. This was less so. [**¼]
Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay and YOSHI-HASHI vs. NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and TAKA Michinoku
Learning from the previous match, CHAOS jumped Suzuki-Gun before the bell rang. Goto was clearly yearning for revenge after losing his title at the last show. Either way, it still led to the Suzuki-Gun brawl around the ring. Suzuki and Goto focused on one another for the most part. I suspect they rematch their title match at Dominion. YOSHI got worked over for the most part, with Suzuki looking joyful at beating him up. Suzuki and Goto went at it again before it came down to TAKA and Ospreay. Ospreay hit his signature shit and picked up another win with the Oscutter at 9:26. A step up in quality for the show so far. Angry Goto was fun, YOSHI took a fine beating and Ospreay had a good finishing stretch. [***]
Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens and Kenny Omega vs. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
Fale hit the ring announcer during his introduction. That oddly never gets old. This CHAOS team didn’t learn, getting jumped before the match. That led to Yano taking a beating for a while. Ishii came in and ran over Owens before going at it with Omega. Their New Japan Cup match ruled as have their interactions in the buildup to the rematch. We also got some limited back and forth with Fale and Okada, as expected. Okada ate some group offense for a bit but was left alone with Owens. He countered the Package Piledriver and hit a dropkick. Fale returned, looking for a Tombstone, but Ishii made the save. Okada nailed Fale with an impressive air raid crash like move before putting Owens away after a Tombstone and Rainmaker at 13:11. Good stuff to hype the upcoming matches. It was kept short enough with a good amount of action. The crowd was hot and Okada winning made sense since Fale has dominated these matches lately. [***]
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Ricochet
Takahashi has been one of, if not the best wrestler in 2017. Takahashi charged at the bell, so Ricochet met him with a big boot. He followed with a series of dives and offense, including a springboard 450 splash, nearly winning in a minute like Hiromu did against KUSHIDA. That set the tone for a wild match full of crazy action. Ricochet had the champ scouted, countering the sunset flip bomb to the outside with a rana and a top rope move into a super wheelbarrow slam of sorts. Takahashi responded with a brutal apron DVD but his next dive was caught into an awesome Northern lights suplex into a brainbuster. WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING? They traded blows inside, punctuated by a series of Germans from Hiromu. Ricochet went for the SSP but Takahashi got his knees up. He smelled blood, following with a belly to belly to the corner and the Time Bomb for a near fall. Ricochet survived a corner DVD and went into a flurry, capped with the Benadryller (he didn’t hit it cleanly) and it only got two. He made a crucial mistake, crashing and burning on the 630. Takahashi nailed a destroyer, corner DVD and another Time Bomb to retain at 16:29. Hiromu Takahashi is mental and I love every second of it. This was wild and as frantic as I hoped for. There’s a sense of urgency in Hiromu matches that I don’t get from other people. He’s had the best Jr. Title match in the Dome in a long time, an insane match with Dragon Lee, a more subdued but still great encounter with Taguchi, squashed KUSHIDA and now this. Hiromu is the best wrestler in 2017 so far. [****¼]
EVIL vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Tanahashi took his annual first round New Japan Cup loss (Yano in 2015, Fale in 2016 and EVIL in 2017) and is out for revenge. That was clear as he took out EVIL during his entrance with a plancha. He held serve for a bit until EVIL turned the tide with his signature steel chair spot. EVIL remained in the driver’s seat for the most part, with Tanahashi getting in a hope spot here or there. They went back and forth, nearing the quality of their NJC match. That all changed when we got a ref bump and out came BUSHI and SANADA. BUSHI messed up and misted SANADA before Taguchi arrived and fought them to the back. Tanahashi nailed a dragon sleeper but the referee was still down. When he finally got up, EVIL took back over but never had enough to keep Tanahashi down. He rallied and won after two High Fly Flows at 18:46. Like I said, this was nearing their previous encounter but the interference and ref bump took me out of it. It wasn’t overdone too badly but I think it made EVIL look a bit weak and ultimately was unnecessary. [***¼]
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Juice Robinson
It’s the biggest match in Juice Robinson’s career. The video package before the match talked about how Juice has grown since arriving in NJPW and the pride he has in the company. Juice wanted to go but Naito was Naito and avoided contact. They got going on the outside, where Naito used the guardrail and dropkicks to weaken Juice’s leg. It looked quite violent and set up the knee bar. That knee became the focal point of everything Naito did. Juice sold the hell out of it, from limping to struggling with offense to clutching it after using it. Naito threw himself into everything Juice did, including big bumps on a ridiculous apron spinebuster and taking the cannonball into the guardrail. I didn’t like how Juice did a full sprint for that though, since the leg had bothered him so much to that point. Back inside, they traded blows only for Naito to go back to the knee. Juice fought like hell in the knee bar before finally reaching the ropes. Shortly after, Naito escaped Pulp Friction and hit a modified Destino. He hit a full Destino for a near fall that made everyone lose their minds. Juice countered his next attempt into a rollup for two. Naito got his own rollup but ran into a huge left hook from Juice. Juice tried Pulp Friction again only to have it countered into Destino and Naito retained at 26:42. That ruled. They both did everything in their power to make Juice look like a star. They had a great plan and told a simple, but effective story. Juice sold well and is so good at the plucky babyface character that it all worked. The finishing stretch was top notch as well. It’s a successful coming out party for Juice, who should have a fun G1 run. Meanwhile, Naito has had three singles matches in 2017 and all have been awesome. For all the talk about Okada's Heavyweight Title reign, I've preferred Naito's IC Title work. [****¼]
Post-match, Hiroshi Tanahashi showed up because he doesn’t like how Naito treats the IC Title. It looks like that’ll happen at Dominion. With that, Bucks/RPG Vice and the rumored Omega/Okada bout, Dominion sounds like it’ll be full of Wrestle Kingdom rematches.
Overall: 7/10. A step up from the 4/27 show. There’s not a bad match on the show, though a few of the early matches are easy skips. The second half of the show is where things pick up. You have a good CHAOS/Bullet Club tag and a solid but disappointing match involving Tanahashi and EVIL. The two title matches are killer though, with Naito and Hiromu reminding everyone why they’re the best things going in NJPW right now by a fair margin.
Spring Stampede 1997
April 6th, 1997 | Tupelo Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi | Attendance: 8,356
1997 will forever be remembered as one of the hottest and most important years in wrestling history. The WCW was riding high as, thanks to the nWo angle, and beating the WWF in the ratings war. Interestingly enough, this card seems to be something of a “B” show. Hulk Hogan and a few other main event guys are missing, while the Macho Man/DDP feud is thrust into the main event spotlight. This is the second Spring Stampede Pay-Per-View.
The show opens with a video that runs down the card. Honestly, it doesn’t sound too bad. Commentary is Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon
Ah, I love these cruiserweight opening contests on WCW shows. Mike Tenay joins commentary for this and discusses that they have split two PPV matches (both in 1996). They start with some mat work, playing off of the fact that they know each other well. Dragon hits the first big spots with a spinning rack drop, followed by a powerbomb right into an alley oop tat drops Rey on the top rope. He hits a SICK Liger Bomb an then a jumping tombstone. How are people later in the show supposed to do any offense later? Dragon continues to pick up Rey from pins, wanting to prove some sort of point. Commentary has no idea what the point is though. Dragon continues to stretch Rey. Rey finally knocks Dragon outside and somersaults out onto him. While this great action is going on, we go to a damn split screen of Lee Marshall trying to interview Kevin Nash, only to get Syxx instead. Seriously? You couldn’t do this after the match? Rey does the babyface comeback work during this until he gets dropkicked off the top and outside. Back inside though, Rey tries an Asai moonsault but Dragon dropkicks him in midair. Then he swings like him Cesaro. Dragon hits a top rope rana but Rey gets his foot on the bottom rope. There are some really close near falls until Rey springboards off the second rope with a rana for the win.
Winner: Rey Mysterio Jr. in 14:55
Great opener. I’ve seen all of their PPV matches and this was about on par with Hog Wild. The only issues I had with it was that no explanation was given for Ultimo not wanting to pin Rey early and the split screen stuff. A fast paced match between two guys with great chemistry. ***¾
Lee Marshall tries to interviews Kevin Nash again but gets held back. Then the Steiners show up and want to fight so badly that Scott has to be maced.
WCW Women’s Championship
Akira Hokuto (c) w/ Sonny Ono vs. Madusa
Instant “USA” chants. Madusa starts jabbing Hokuto in the corner like she’s the Undertaker or something. Hokuto quickly turns it around and goes for a pin after a body slam. Madusa bridges out of it impressively and goes into some of her offense. Hokuto kicks out of a cross body by just choking Madusa. HEEL! Sonny Ono gets involved by slapping Madusa while she’s in a submission. Madusa again nearly wins with a German. Ono gets on the apron and Madusa kicks him off. Madusa goes for a powerbomb but Luna Vachon runs out and kicks Madusa in the knee. This allows Hokuto to fall on top of Madusa and retain.
Winner and Still WCW Women’s Champion: Akira Hokuto in 5:13
Solidly worked match. Madusa was doing things that weren’t really the norm for any other American women in the era. I wish we got to see Akira do a bit more though. **¾
WCW Television Championship
Prince Iaukea (c) vs. Lord Steven Regal
Prince Iaukea gets close to ZERO reaction from the crowd. Both guys go through some exchanges of holds but none of it is particularly interesting. Usually, I can get into Regal’s style even if some people can’t, but it’s not working here. Commentary also seems to be focusing on everything but the match. I can’t blame them. Regal is stretching the champion, who is sloppy with most of his attempted offense. After Regal continues to twist Iaukea, he then randomly scores on a rollup.
Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: Prince Iaukea in 10:01
Whoever decided to give this ten minutes must not have known how the match would go down. I like Regal’s style, but nobody cared for Prince Iaukea and they sucked the energy out of the building. Just very dull. *¼
A pissed Steven Regal attacks Prince Iaukea after the match. Cutting to Mean Gene, he teases a Kliq coming to WCW. I’m pretty sure all Kliq members that would ever be in WCW were already there. Ric Flair is interviewed about his upcoming return.
Jeff Jarrett and Steve “Mongo” McMichael w/ Debra McMichael vs. Public Enemy
Kind of funny to think that Debra would again manage Jeff Jarrett in the WWF. They give us no backstory for this match so it seems very random. Mongo and Jarrett clean house within the first few minutes and both strut to a pop. Public Enemy regroup and work over Jarrett, causing him to take a breather outside. Commentary plays up the fact that Jarrett nearly walked out and is barely communicating with Mongo. They give us the terrible split screen effect again as Debra slaps Johnny Grunge a few times while Mongo tosses Rocco Rock around by the stage. Things calm down a bit and end up back in the ring, where Debra trips Rocco. Jarrett starts hitting dropkicks before Mongo breaks up a piledriver with an ugly clothesline. Rocco comes in with a briefcase and nails Jarrett in the back as he tries the Figure Four. Grunge lays in Figure Four position so his leg is on Jarrett’s and they count the three.
Winners: Public Enemy in 10:42
I have no idea what this match was. Almost nothing that happened made any sense and I came out more confused than I went in. The only thing I understood was that they wanted to show friction within the Horsemen, but the match was just so bad. ½*
As is usually the case with WCW, we got to Mean Gene once again. He interviews Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri about the Four Corners Match later. Sherri basically says that even if they end up facing each other, there is a plan for it. This is the infamous promo where Booker drops the N bomb. Classic.
WCW United States Championship
Dean Malenko (c) vs. Chris Benoit w/ Woman
Okay, this should pick things back up. They start with a feeling out process, with both men jockeying for position. Nothing they’re doing is groundbreaking, but it’s all very crisply done. Both guy are masters on the mat and it shows here. Things start to pick up when Benoit just lays into Dean with some loud chops. Benoit hits a big back suplex for two as things are starting to hit second gear. He stays in the driver’s seat, even stopping anything Dean tried. Dean tries a suplex but Benoit counters into an inverted one of his own. With both men down, Jacqueline shows up and starts laying into Woman. Jimmy Hart rushes out and past the catfight. Benoit hits the diving headbutt for two. Hart takes the US Title and goes to leave with it when Eddie Guerrero stops him. Eddie’s arm is in a sling. Dean gets on the apron and suplexes Benoit to the outside. With the referee looking at the ladies brawl, Arn Anderson shows up and levels Malenko. Now comes Kevin Sullivan who hits Benoit in the back with a kendo stick of some sort, finally resulting in a DQ.
Match ends in a No Contest at 17:56
I’ve seen these two do far better. The action was just starting to get really good when we got the overbooking galore. I mean, five different people running in is seriously too much. Disappointing, but a solid showing. ***
Kevin Sullivan, Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart now steal the US Title and put is on Eddie Guerrero’s shoulder while dragging him out. What the hell just happened?
WCW World Tag Team Championship
Kevin Nash (c) w/ Ted Dibiase and Syxx vs. Rick Steiner
Leave it to WCW to have the Tag Team Titles defended in a singles match. I feel like this happened more than once in the company. Nash clobbers on Rick while commentary talks about how unheard of this kind of match is. Rick gets two on a powerslam. Schiavone complains that Nick Patrick gave a slow count, since he’s with the nWo but it was actually a fair count. He does show how crooked he is when he turns his back to Syxx putting the boots to Rick. Nash connects on the Jackknife but Rick manages to kick out. He goes for it again but Rick just hits a low blow. Surprised that Patrick didn’t call for the bell. Bulldog by Rick though Patrick gives a slightly slow count so Nash kicks out. STEINERLINES! Syxx exposes the turnbuckle and Nash hits snake eyes. He continues the beating and Ted Dibiase gets in to say that’s enough. They argue and Ted leaves while Nash continues hitting snake eyes. Nash then pins him and it’s over, but even Nick Patrick wasn’t pleased with this.
Winner and Still WCW World Tag Team Champion: Kevin Nash in 10:20
The angle they were going for to cause dissension in the nWo made sense but it didn’t really come off well until the end. Everything leading up to the finish was relatively dull. *
The Giant and Lex Luger are interviewed about the upcoming match. Nothing they say is intriguing since neither is goo on the mic, though Giant would get much better as Big Show. Also, I feel like he joined the nWo a few months before but he’s already face again.
Number One Contender’s Four Corners Match
Booker T vs. The Giant vs. Lex Luger vs. Stevie Ray w/ Sister Sherri
Sherri comes out with both Harlem Heat members but I only wanted to list her once. Two men are allowed to be legal at once while the other two are on the apron. They work it like a normal tag match for the most part until Luger and Giant end up against each other. They fight for a bit before tagging in Harlem Heat to fight. Surprisingly, the crowd goes WILD for this. Unfortunately, the actual interaction is way less exciting. Outside of that interaction, it goes back to being a tag match of sorts, with Harlem Heat tagging each other and the same goes for the Giant and Luger. Schiavone talks about Luger drawing power from the fans more than anyone in the sport, which is laughable considering how badly miscast he always is as a babyface. They basically end up doing a hot tag to the Giant. He cleans house, then tags in Luger and steps aside so Luger can put Stevie Ray in the Torture Rack and get the title shot.
Winner: Lex Luger in 18:18
As noted several times, this was pretty much just a tag team match with only slight interaction of the teams facing each other. Neither team was lighting the world on fire with their matches at this time, so this was about as basic as it would get. By the way, Luger didn’t get the shot until August. **
No Disqualification Match
Diamond Dallas Page w/ Kimberly vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
They show Macho Man and Elizabeth walking backstage towards the ring. Savage kills it here, talking about a party later where he will invite 14-22 women. Elizabeth has no problem with this, causing Savage to get excited and say “SLIM JIMS FOR EVERYONE!” I can’t make this up. This happens to be DDP’s first foray into the main event and, judging by the buyrate for the show, it showed he was a legit player. They brawl from the start, which is what I like from this kind of match. It goes through the crowd and spills to the back. Back to the ringside area and Savage hides behind Kimberly before getting in a cheap shot. Savage throws DDP around outside and into the steel steps. Savage continues to stay in control until DDP rallies inside. He gets in some right hands and a big spinning clothesline. Savage hits a slam and looks to fly off the top with a ring bell. Kimberly snatches it from him but Savage is just like “I’ll just do the elbow anyway” though DDP gets his foot up to block. Even so, he still can’t officially get in the driver’s seat. When DDP kicks out again, Savage just piledrives the referee. The fans chant that they want Sting. Savage connects on the elbow and covers but he looks like an idiot since he just threw the referee out. Oh wait, here comes Nick Patrick. DDP busts out the Diamond Cutter from out of nowhere! He struggles to cover and Patrick takes a bit but counts the three.
Winner: Diamond Dallas Page in 15:37
Solid but unspectacular. They would go on to continue the feud and have better matches, but this was a good start. It came off as a personal battle and gave DDP a relatively big win in his first PPV main event. ***
Kevin Nash and the nWo show up. Nash plants Nick Patrick with the Jackknife. Savage tries to go after Kimberly but Eric Bischoff calms him down. OR SO WE THINK! The fans chant for Sting and Savage looks at the rafters but he’s not here. Savage shoves Bischoff leading to a pull apart brawl. The dissension of the nWo overshadows DDP’s big win.
Overall: 3.5/10; Not good. Well, this got off to a good start but really fell for the most part. After a strong opening contest, the rest of the show was below average. Even the solid matches, like Savage/DDP and Benoit/Malenko, were much less than I usually come to expect from those performers. There was some bad stuff outside of that, bringing the overall score even further down. Not a recommended event. Next time on “Random Network Reviews” will be The Wrestling Classic!
NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku
April 27th, 2017 | Hiroshima Green Arena in Hiroshima, Japan
This is the first of three big NJPW shows this week. The shows get progressively bigger, though the middle one has what looks like the best card on paper by a long shot. It’s New Japan’s thing of having a singles title headline each show. This one has the NEVER Title, the next one gets the Intercontinental and the last one gets the Heavyweight. Of note, Takashi Iizuka is off the tour with a fracture ankle.
Hirai Kawato, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tomoyuki Oka vs. Katsuya Kitamura, Syota Umino and Tiger Mask IV
The junior dads kicked this off against one another. I enjoy these matches because it really feels like a take your kids to work day. Wild Kawato came in and promptly got his ass kicked. He’s so good at it. Umino and Kitamura worked some quick tags on him before Tomoyuki got the tag. We got another small tease at he and Kitamura going at it. I swear that’s a future NJPW main event. Oka locked Umino in the crab and his partners held back the rest of the team. Umino fought and nearly escaped but got pulled to the middle of the ring, where he gave up at 8.32. Typical NJPW opener but made a bit more fun by the young lions getting all the shine and bringing energy. Liger and Tiger Mask really took a backseat. [**½]
El Desperado and TAKA Michinoku vs. Toru Yano and Will Ospreay
I never like to hear someone is hurt but Iizuka’s ankle injury made this a regular tag as Jado was pulled from it too and no Jado is always a good thing. Plus, Yano and Ospreay could be a wacky fun team. Desperado and Ospreay started and had some fun interactions. I got a kick out of Yano doing Ospreay’s signature pose with him. Once Yano got the tag, he got in all his shenanigans, which I mostly enjoy. He hit TAKA with a low blow and tagged Ospreay, who finished him with the Oscutter at 5:06. Short and to the point. They got their shit in and like I said, Yano was entertaining. Ospreay continues to win tags heading into the BOTSJ, which he won last year. [**¼]
Chase Owens and the Guerrillas of Destiny vs. David Finlay and TenKoji
This helps set up the three-way Tag Title match at Wrestling Dontaku involving the Guerrillas and TenKoji (as well as champions War Machine). Bullet Club did the pre-match attack to get us started. It quickly backfired as TenKoji took turns battering Tama Tonga. After some brawling outside, the most interesting part of the match happened. The Bullet Club guys stole Kojima’s trademark chops and offense. THOSE BASTARDS! Kojima came in and did it to all three of them. Tenzan grew tired of the Bullet Club’s shit and eventually put Owens down with the Anaconda Vice at 6:57. More fun than I expected. Owens and Finlay had some solid interactions and the Guerrillas stealing TenKoji’s stuff adds fuel to the upcoming title match. [**½]
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs. Roppongi Vice
RPG Vice won a surprisingly good match at Wrestle Kingdom to become champions before dropping them to this dreadful team. As expected, we got the underhanded Taichi and Kanemaru stuff. Taichi’s lady got in a cheap shot, he went after the ring bell, they beat up RPG Vice outside, etc. You know the drill by now. El Desperado was also at ringside and got in some shots until Jado and Gedo showed up to even things out a bit. That signaled a turn of the tides. Beretta avoided some of Taichi’s attempts to cheat and Romero came in with his FOREVER clotheslines. The challengers nearly won it only for Taichi to pull the referee out before he counted three. The teams did a tower of doom spot, which I feel like I haven’t seen in NJPW for a while. They all went back and forth for a while until RPG Vice won back the titles with Strong Zero at 16:53. It went too long as the stuff down the stretch wasn’t as engaging as they probably hoped. Still, it was the best Taichi & Kanemaru match since their return to NJPW. The Gedo and Jado part made sense and the babyfaces overcoming the cheating was a good move. [**¾]
Post-match, Rocky Romero called out the Young Bucks for some reason. That’s stupid. You beat them at WK and took their titles. There’s nothing left to prove. Plus, that match is tired as hell. On the flip side, RPG Vice/Bucks for the thousandth time is preferable to Jado and Gedo against Taichi and Kanemaru so I should count myself somewhat lucky. Still, this division is in DIRE need of a facelift.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito) vs. Juice Robinson, YOSHITATSU and NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi
This previews Ricochet/Takahashi, EVIL/Tanahashi and Naito/Juice. Taguchi Japan was ready for LIDJ’s pre-match attack but still got beat up anyway. LIDJ looked to isolate TATSU because he’s a scrub but Taguchi was there to help. That led to BUSHI taking a bunch of attacks from the faces. He was supposed to be sent into Taguchi’s ass but TATSU got thrown instead. Taguchi celebrated since he didn’t see and ended up facing off with LIDJ. His attempt to call timeout did not work. He got worked until Ricochet was tagged and he, again, brought lots of energy and fun offense. The crowd ate it up. Tanahashi also got some shine before we got the big Juice/Naito showdown. Like he did in the build for the Elgin match, Naito focused on Juice’s knee. Naito blocked Pulp Friction, hit a tornado DDT and tagged SANADA. We got a wild series of offense from everyone before Juice and SANADA countered each other’s finisher. Juice hit a lariat and Pulp Friction to win at 12:31. This was a blast. Lots of fun and effort from mostly everyone involved. There was non-stop action, comedy spots, build for upcoming matches without giving too much away and Juice got momentum. I like it. [***½]
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Kenny Omega and Yujiro Takahashi) vs. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI)
Here we have build for Omega/Ishii and Fale/Okada at Wrestling Dontaku. When Okada saw Fale was starting, he hopped in. Fale basically said, “Fuck you” and tagged out but still jumped Okada to give Yujiro an advantage. After a bit of that, Ishii got the tag and took the heat for his team. Though YOSHI is the weakest guy on the team, Ishii’s great at drawing sympathy. There was a particularly nasty spot where Ishii tried to counter an Omega rana into a powerbomb and just dropped him on his head. They cut off Ishii’s hot tag at every turn. Okada got the tag and did his thing before bringing YOSHI-HASHI in. While everyone else goes at it outside, Fale puts down YOSHI with the tombstone at 13:28, gaining even more momentum. I’d say this was fine but nowhere near the levels of the other tags involving the Wrestling Dontaku pairings in recent weeks. [**½]
NEVER Openweight Championship: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
This opened with a slow pace. They grappled a lot, trying to gain an advantage. It picked up when Suzuki went after the arm and the fight moved to the crowd, where he used a chair to his advantage. El Desperado also got in cheap shots. Goto beat the countout but was in serious trouble. Suzuki spent the next few minutes going after Goto’s arm. The champion would find a few hope spots, but it all came back to the arm. It helps that Zack Sabre Jr. worked something similar in his match with Goto, softening him up for the Suzuki-Gun leader. They progressed to trading forearms in the middle of the ring, with Suzuki getting the better until Goto pulled him to the mat. Goto escaped the sleeper and hit USHIGOROSHI! Mauro Ranallo made me pop for that move each time I see it. Goto beat up Desperado but Suzuki countered GTR. Suzuki held the referee, allowing Desperado to whack Goto with a steel chair. Suzuki then used a string of vicious strikes, a sleeper and the Gotch piledriver to win the title at 24:19. I wanted to like this a lot more. It felt like it dragged, Goto didn’t sell the arm down the stretch very much and the typical Suzuki-Gun interference bogged it down. I’ve been very disappointed in Minoru in 2017, which is a shame since I was so happy he was back. [**¾]
Overall: 5/10. One of the weaker NJPW shows I can remember. Even with this one having two title matches, I preferred the recent, lesser “Road to” shows. The main event disappointed and though the Jr. Tag Title match overachieved, it wasn’t enough. A completely skippable show as even the best match (LIDJ vs. Tanahashi and Lads) is something we’ve seen a bunch before. Still, nothing on the show is what I’d classify as outright bad so the show is a thumbs in the middle.
Evolve 83
April 23rd, 2017 | St. Finbar Catholic Church Gymnasium
Due to an injury suffered in the main event of Evolve 82, Darby Allin is off the card. He’s replaced by David Starr.
Austin Theory vs. Ethan Page w/ Gatekeeper McMassive
Theory interfered on Allin’s behalf in the main event last night against Page. He took out the Gatekeeper early but still ended up in trouble. As Page wore him down, he talked trash to Zack Sabre Jr., telling him Evolve is his company. Priscilla Kelly came to the ring to get a closer look. Theory got a few hope spots in but Page kept control. The fans gave “we want Darby/no we don’t” chants. Theory managed a standing SSP for a near fall but then rolled into the Spinning Dwayne, ending things at 7:33. Fine little opener. Theory got to look good against a top guy, while Page won heading into an upcoming Evolve Title match. [**½]
Stokely Hathaway and Tracy Williams came out. Tracy said managing isn’t his job and it’s time Catch Point got one. Hathaway now officially represents the group, including Matt Riddle. Chris Dickinson, Jaka and Fred Yehi showed up. Yehi said Tracy lost his way and quit the group. The Tag Champions agreed to stick around if it was still about competition. I’m all for Yehi being on his own.
Chris Dickinson w/ Jaka vs. Tracy Williams w/ Stokely Hathaway
This is a friendly Catch Point exhibition. They worked a clean opening until Dickinson got a bit aggressive with a big clothesline. Tracy’s strategy was to go after anything that could weaken his stronger opponent. The arm, the leg or whatever he could get a hold of. They traded more offense, with Williams hitting a brainbuster and buckle DDT and Dickinson hitting a falcon arrow. HE DID THE DEAL! The two went into a forearm battle that Dickinson won. He tried a springboard clothesline but Tracy caught him in the crossface and made him tap out at 10:39. I liked the small touches throughout of Tracy doing a few underhanded things to gain advantages. His heel turn is being handled well. This was a good back and forth match. [***]
ACH vs. Jaka w/ Catch Point
Jaka got on the microphone and called out his opponent to start their match now. I don’t care much for Dickinson, but Jaka has impressed me in short stints. Their early exchanges saw them fight to a stalemate, with each guy having counters for the other. They continued to play up Jaka’s tolerance for pain. Chops, strikes and especially shots to the head don’t seem to bother him much. The frustration we saw from ACH at Evolve 82 spilled over, with him going quite low on a kick. To combat Jaka’s aggressiveness, ACH used his athleticism. Like last night, every ACH near fall seems to get to him. The finish came from out of nowhere, with Jaka hitting a tiger drive to take it at 13:26. A rather surprising result but one I like. At least one tag champ won and it keeps ACH frustrated. The match was better than expected and both guys have been welcome additions to Evolve. [***]
David Starr vs. Keith Lee
Starr is not an Evolve regular, last competing on Evolve 69. Starr used his speed early only to run into an apron bomb within minutes. Back inside, Starr fired up and ran off a series of forearms to try and wear Lee down. That plan wasn’t working well for Kyle O’Reilly at Evolve 82. He made similar mistakes when trying to suplex Lee. It led to Starr taking a MASSIVE bump on a uranage. Starr knocked him down with a big lariat following a great DDT. The fans were way into Starr. He pulled out a destroyer for a near fall before Lee busted out a goddamn flying headscissors! Lee went into a flurry and won with a jackhammer at 8:50. I liked this sprint and it could go a long way towards getting Starr a more permanent spot with Evolve. Lee got to be dominant enough in a needed win after losses to Ricochet and O’Reilly. [***¼]
Fred Yehi vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Once it was announced Kyle would return to Evolve (last night was his first show since Evolve 6), a match with Fred Yehi was the one I wanted to see most. As expected, we were treated to some grappling exchanges to start. Kyle went after the arm, while Yehi brought his unique offense to an attack on the knee. In between the mat work, they brought both kicks and strikes. Kyle wanted the arm so badly he shrugged off Yehi forearms to continue the work on it. Yehi retaliated with his signature stomp and a figure four. Each time Kyle seemed to get something going, Yehi went back to the leg with things like a dragon screw or a basement dropkick. Kyle sold the legs to the point where he fell trying to hit the ropes. As this neared its conclusion, both men showed exhaustion. They countered one another and fought off signature moves. Both men paid attention to detail in their moves. Yehi delivered knee strikes to avoid a Kyle submission but took a brainbuster. When that got a near fall, Kyle transitioned to Armageddon and won via submission at 20:36. My kind of match. They blended striking with submissions well and both men sold their asses off. I loved how they made sure to do all the little things to add something to this. The match of the weekend. [****]
Evolve Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Lio Rush
Simple setup here where Rush asked for a shot and Sabre, impressed by him, accepted. Knowing that Lio’s much faster, Sabre look to take out the legs. Lio would try to utilize it and Sabre would just wrap him up. He’d go for a kick and Sabre would catch it. The more aggressive Sabre we’ve seen in other companies (RevPro, NJPW) was eminent here as he fired off hard uppercuts and kicks in between torturing Lio’s legs. Everything was going fine until Lio started his comeback. He didn’t sell the leg. He didn’t struggle to hit his stuff, shake his leg out or anything. Lio had his first frog splash caught into a triangle choke, but escaped. His next flurry saw him hit a Spanish fly and succeed with the frog splash for two. After a battle of strikes, Sabre countered a kick into the prawn hold for the three count at 19:10. With better selling in the second half from Rush, this could’ve been great. Without it, it just remains a good title match. Rush’s resiliency was played well and Sabre continues to find ways to win.[***¼]
After the match, Ethan Page came out and ran down Sabre for ending the career of one of his Gatekeepers. Page fired the Gatekeeper and brought out a new one, who attacked Sabre. He and McMassive laid the Evolve Champion out.
WWN Championship I Quit Match: Matt Riddle (c) vs. Drew Galloway
Commentary hyped how WWN spent years building their brand and if Galloway wins, he could take their title to NXT. That begs the question, why change it to a title match before the show started? They came out of the blocks firing away on one another. Like their Mania weekend outing, Galloway overwhelmed Riddle to take control. He kept the focus on Riddle’s neck, which was good. They used some creative spots including Galloway using the turnbuckles for leverage on a submission and instead of quitting to the Bromission, Galloway took the microphone and blasted Riddle in the head. Galloway tied Riddle up at one point and the referee untied him. I don’t know if that was meant to play into Galloway’s conspiracy theories that Evolve was out to get him. It should’ve been clearer. Galloway got a sledgehammer, which led to Riddle saying, “You ain’t Triple H, bro.” When Riddle refused to quit, Drew argued with the referee. That gave Matt the opening for the Bromission and Galloway quit at 17:37. I felt this needed to be shorter. With the way Galloway dominated Riddle during Mania weekend, a turnabout for Riddle would’ve been cool. The finish fell flat and some of what they did was awkward but there were also good ideas in there. [***]
Post-match, Stokely Hathaway and Catch Point came out to make their deal official but Riddle declined. Galloway attacked and Catch Point left their former brother behind. Keith Lee ran out to make the save. Galloway bailed and Riddle nailed Hathaway with a Bro to Sleep. Lee picked up the WWN Title, put it on Matt’s shoulder and let him know he was coming. They fist bumped to end things.
Overall: 7/10. This show had a higher ceiling than Evolve 82 but also a lower floor. As usual with Evolve, most of the card was good. The two title matches, Starr/Lee and the two matches involving the Tag Team Champions were all solid. Yehi/O’Reilly was certainly worth going out of your way to see. I also liked how Evolve advanced some storylines like ACH’s frustrations, the Catch Point stuff and Lee looking for a title shot.
NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku
April 23rd, 2017 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Hirai Kawato and Tomoyuki Oka vs. Katsuya Kitamura and Syota Umino
It’s a young lion battle! Kawato and Oka are my favorites right now, so it was cool to see them team up. Kawato beat up Umino, looking happy to have someone he can do that to. He and Oka took turns working him over and avoiding the jacked monster that is Kitamura. Kitamura got the hot tag and had a fun exchange with Oka. I’m looking forward to future wars between them. Umino became legal again and survived the young lion crab from Oka. Oka hit a powerslam and put it back on to win at 7:59. The young lions are always fun. They all bring energy and that Oka/Kitamura exchange felt like something we’ll be seeing on bigger shows in a few years. [***]
El Desperado and TAKA Michinoku vs. Jado and Will Ospreay
Pair the exciting Ospreay with the most boring man in NJPW, Jado. Ospreay started quickly, trying to bring some fun to the match. Jado came in and everything went to shit. Desperado did his best to make Jado look good, but it’s impossible. Ospreay got choked with a chair, leading to a heat segment on Jado. Ospreay got the hot tag and again, brought energy. They overcame some typical Suzuki-Gun underhanded tactics and Ospreay pinned TAKA after the Oscutter at 8:08. Bland as hell when Jado was in, with Ospreay providing a bit of relief. Somehow, this is the best Jado match since Wrestle Kingdom I think. [*¾]
The Bullet Club (The Guerillas of Destiny and Yujiro Takahashi) vs. David Finlay and TenKoji
I stand by my thought process that Finlay is TenKoji’s adopted son. They previewed TenKoji against Haku’s kids a bit since they’re both part of a three way Tag Title match at Wrestling Dontaku. The NJPW tag division is a joke. It’s these two teams and War Machine. Tenzan got worked over by the three BC members for a bit. Kojima got tagged and brought chops with him. Yujiro came in and ate the Koji Cutter. It came down to Yujiro and Finlay, with Finlay picking up several near falls. Yujiro got the win though, hitting Pimp Juice at 9:47. Standard stuff from these guys. Nothing you need to see.[**]
CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, Roppongi Vice and Toru Yano) vs. Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Again, this is here to build RPG Vice/shitty Jr. Tag Champions and Suzuki/Goto. Of course, this started with the typical Suzuki-Gun brawl around the ring. Yawn. The Jr. tag teams faced off and Beretta even got to steal the bell hammer from Taichi. More brawling outside followed, with Suzuki and Goto fighting through the entrance and bringing a chair into play. Back inside, Beretta tried standing up to Suzuki but got his ass kicked for it. Besides the preview for upcoming matches, we got some Yano/Iizuka interactions, which weren’t great. RPG Vice stopped Iizuka from using his iron hand and Yano rolled him up to take it at 11:39. Multi-man tags follow similar formulas, but the Suzuki-Gun ones are already tired and dull. There wasn’t even enough Goto/Suzuki interactions to save this. [**]
BUSHI, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi and SANADA vs. YOSHITATSU and NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi
Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this specific LIDJ combination before. Takahashi and Ricochet started, giving the impression that their upcoming match is gonna be wild. YOSHITATSU had half his face painted like the Japanese flag. The match dipped in quality whenever he came in. Taguchi came in and got worn down by LIDJ with frequent tags. Ricochet eventually got the hot tag and worked the crowd into a frenzy. There was a great spot where Takahashi caught a handspring elbow into a German suplex. They made the mistake of tagging TATSU back in. He did hit an ugly looking Pedigree but only got a near fall. We got a flurry of offense from everyone before SANADA made TATSU tap to the Skull End at 9:30. As usual, LIDJ delivers the goods in a multi-man tag. Ricochet has been a breath of fresh air in these combos too. [***]
The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens and Kenny Omega) vs. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI)
Okada and Fale opened things, previewing their Wrestling Dontaku match. Fale held serve, continuing the story of his dominance over Okada. YOSHI and Ishii came in and did their thing after, before Ishii ran into a double superkick from Owens and Omega. Ishii got worked over in the Bullet Club corner for a lengthy period. It was easily the longest of the night. Ishii made a comeback but was cut off by a rana from Omega. He still found a way to make the hot tag to Okada. He did well but continued the angle of wanting to prove how much better he is than his opponent and it costed him here. Okada got out of trouble by tagging YOSHI and things broke down. Ishii and Omega cancelled one another out, Fale took out Okada with the Grenade and then again used the tombstone, this time on YOSHI. He placed Owens on top for the three count at 15:17. Another solid match here. They’re doing better than usual in building up Fale, while the Omega/Ishii interactions were again a highlight.[***¼]
EVIL and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and Juice Robinson
GO ACE! Juice grew tired of watching Naito kick the title to the ring and launched himself onto him with a plancha. See, Gedo? You do know how to get to the brawling outside part without the heels having to jump the faces. Tanahashi and Juice were in control until a cheap shot form EVIL allowed LIDJ to swing the momentum. EVIL got to do his corner chair spot to Tana before smashing it over Juice’s leg while on the guardrail. Look at them setting up Naito’s knee bar. That led to Juice taking the heat and selling his leg. EVIL toyed with him at times. Tanahashi got the hot tag and proceeded to kick EVIL’s ass. I was happy to see some Tanahashi/Naito interaction after their awesome Wrestle Kingdom match. We got more of Juice and Naito going at it, with Juice bringing fire. Down the stretch, we got the barrage of signature moves from everyone. Juice and Tana busted out a double team slingblade. Juice took Naito out with a huge lariat before hitting Pulp Friction on EVIL. High Fly Flow finished him at 21:33. Best thing on the show and it was on its way to being a great match but it felt long by the final stretch. My favorite part was seeing Juice counter Destino, which adds intrigue to their upcoming title match. There was a fair amount of action and good build for the 4/29 show, which is all I can ask for. [***½]
Overall: 5.5/10. Not as good as yesterday’s show. Again, the final two matches were the highlights but neither was anything that I’d consider must-see. However, the show did do a fine job of building to the bigger upcoming shows and are always easy watches thanks to their runtime. Give me more young lions and less Suzuki-Gun though.
