IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW 38th Anniversary Series - Day 1 05/03/2010
Marufuji comes into this as the heel outsider that happens to be champion, getting booed straight away against the babyface veteran defending his company. The story is fairly typical in Japan but they pull it off in a special way. They were non stop for 30+ minutes with some breathtaking sequences, some great limb work from both Marufuji and Kanemoto early on with Marufuji pulling out a funky submission and Kamemoto going to town with kicks and submissions. They moved past it quickly though but it’s for the best with Marufuji in the match. Kanemoto constantly switches from face to heel with his attitude but it comes off so well with his great facial expressions being coming off as both smug and sympathetic. He was able to get the crowd to boo him so soon after cheering him and getting them back in his side like it was nothing. Marufuji was excellent with his counter wrestler offence, his incredibly fast movements followed up by his signature knees or drop kicks looked great against the more calculated Kanemoto. The whole tease of the face wash by Kanemoto was great. Another great example of crowd control. The closing stretch was great as well. The initial hard slaps into the shiranui was a great near fall. And the fight for the ankle lock/teasing off the tap was awesome. The crowd going crazy for it helped the drama a ton. In the end Marufuji put Kanemoto away with a brutal Spanish fly and then the Tiger Flowsion. I was exhausted after this match which shows how good it is. The only thing flaw I have with this match is Marufuji's selling after the leg work. Even if the leg work didn’t factor into the match later on, a little show of pain afterwards would’ve been fine. However, I think there are far more elements of greatness, which far outweigh the flaws of the match. Kanemoto gave one of the best career performances in the match. For someone who was in his old man stage of his career, he looked great. Marufuji bounced of Kanemoto really well and give the match a great sense of urgency in his attacks. Honestly, this is one of my favourite matches and I always love watching it. *****
New Japan Cup 2nd Round Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito - NJPW Circuit 2010 New Japan ~ The Perfect Generalist ~ - Day 5 20/03/2010
The crowd is rather split with Naito seemingly getting a bit more chants than Tanahashi does. Tanahashi controls the match being the more experienced, and better, of the two. Keeping Naito on the ground but Naito gets some things on him like the headscissors counter which Tanahashi keeps getting caught in, no matter what he tried to do early in the match. Naito posts Tanahashi’s leg which caused Naito to focus on it. Naito’s work on the leg is basic with Naito with him applying a few submissions holds and using the leg work to cut off Tanahashi’s comeback attempts. Tanahashi sells the leg much better than I initially thought he was going to - it was fairly consistent with no real moments of him blowing it off. I think the match suffered from Natio locking on long submissions that felt really drawn out and they took the steam out of the match for me. The Stardust press finish ruled though. He got tons of impact on it. The match felt a bit flat though. This was supposed to be something to put over Naito and Naito really didn’t bring that stand out performance. Tanahashi sold well for Naito but I feel like he could’ve done more too. ***
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW New Dimension 04/04/2010
Yet another Marufuji invader match! Marufuji might not be your cup of tea but I think it’s undeniable how great he is in this role. He really added to that dynamic with his title disrespect towards Liger which really helped the dynamic of the match and the stakes involved. The early mat wrestling was awesome with both struggling for their signature holds like the Surfboard into the straight jacket chinlock counter. The transition out of that section of the match was really weak though. Liger just throw Marufuji outside and into the guardrail out of nowhere, no set-up at all. But the match got better from there. Marufuji locked on a sleeper hold through the post onto Liger which a creative way to upgrade a simple move. I loved the constant momentum switching, it made the match feel like a struggle and forced both guys to up their game. Marufuji even pulled off his drop kick over the top rope which is frightening to watch. Liger had great timing in his counters and really knows how to make the most out of them to get a great near fall. The bomb heavy finishing stretch was good as always. Class match with an extremely hot crowd. Who can stop Marufuji? ****1/4
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hirooki Goto - NJPW New Dimension 04/04/2010
Slow start with both men feeling each other out with pushes into the ropes until they brawl on the outside. Then the match starts getting better when Nakamura starts heeling it up a bit, going to town on Goto’s midsection with his brual knee strikes and kicks. There is a really good sequence when Namakura locks on a cross armbreaker out of nowhere with Goto broke with a stomp, leading to a nasty breaker on the ropes which Nakamura sells excellently. The match grew from that point on with Goto bring out his biggest bombs like the Ushigoroshi and Nakamura getting more desperate and urgent in his attacks. Nakamura has a great cross arm breaker counter when Goto tries to hit the GTR, jumping up and headscissoring Goto over into the move. The strike exchanges were so well done too. They didn’t go to long and they lead to the finish with Goto hitting a big lariat with a running lariat attempt countered into a knee by Nakamura and then the Boma Ye for the finish! So the match turned into a great one after a mediocre start. Nakamura’s selling was great. His bumping for Goto made Goto look like a force to be reckoned with and I loved the urgency he had near the end of the match, not wasting any time hitting the Boma Ye when he got the chance to. Goto was rather bland as the fight from beneath guy early on but excelled more as he gained control. ****
Marufuji comes into this as the heel outsider that happens to be champion, getting booed straight away against the babyface veteran defending his company. The story is fairly typical in Japan but they pull it off in a special way. They were non stop for 30+ minutes with some breathtaking sequences, some great limb work from both Marufuji and Kanemoto early on with Marufuji pulling out a funky submission and Kamemoto going to town with kicks and submissions. They moved past it quickly though but it’s for the best with Marufuji in the match. Kanemoto constantly switches from face to heel with his attitude but it comes off so well with his great facial expressions being coming off as both smug and sympathetic. He was able to get the crowd to boo him so soon after cheering him and getting them back in his side like it was nothing. Marufuji was excellent with his counter wrestler offence, his incredibly fast movements followed up by his signature knees or drop kicks looked great against the more calculated Kanemoto. The whole tease of the face wash by Kanemoto was great. Another great example of crowd control. The closing stretch was great as well. The initial hard slaps into the shiranui was a great near fall. And the fight for the ankle lock/teasing off the tap was awesome. The crowd going crazy for it helped the drama a ton. In the end Marufuji put Kanemoto away with a brutal Spanish fly and then the Tiger Flowsion. I was exhausted after this match which shows how good it is. The only thing flaw I have with this match is Marufuji's selling after the leg work. Even if the leg work didn’t factor into the match later on, a little show of pain afterwards would’ve been fine. However, I think there are far more elements of greatness, which far outweigh the flaws of the match. Kanemoto gave one of the best career performances in the match. For someone who was in his old man stage of his career, he looked great. Marufuji bounced of Kanemoto really well and give the match a great sense of urgency in his attacks. Honestly, this is one of my favourite matches and I always love watching it. *****
New Japan Cup 2nd Round Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito - NJPW Circuit 2010 New Japan ~ The Perfect Generalist ~ - Day 5 20/03/2010
The crowd is rather split with Naito seemingly getting a bit more chants than Tanahashi does. Tanahashi controls the match being the more experienced, and better, of the two. Keeping Naito on the ground but Naito gets some things on him like the headscissors counter which Tanahashi keeps getting caught in, no matter what he tried to do early in the match. Naito posts Tanahashi’s leg which caused Naito to focus on it. Naito’s work on the leg is basic with Naito with him applying a few submissions holds and using the leg work to cut off Tanahashi’s comeback attempts. Tanahashi sells the leg much better than I initially thought he was going to - it was fairly consistent with no real moments of him blowing it off. I think the match suffered from Natio locking on long submissions that felt really drawn out and they took the steam out of the match for me. The Stardust press finish ruled though. He got tons of impact on it. The match felt a bit flat though. This was supposed to be something to put over Naito and Naito really didn’t bring that stand out performance. Tanahashi sold well for Naito but I feel like he could’ve done more too. ***
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW New Dimension 04/04/2010
Yet another Marufuji invader match! Marufuji might not be your cup of tea but I think it’s undeniable how great he is in this role. He really added to that dynamic with his title disrespect towards Liger which really helped the dynamic of the match and the stakes involved. The early mat wrestling was awesome with both struggling for their signature holds like the Surfboard into the straight jacket chinlock counter. The transition out of that section of the match was really weak though. Liger just throw Marufuji outside and into the guardrail out of nowhere, no set-up at all. But the match got better from there. Marufuji locked on a sleeper hold through the post onto Liger which a creative way to upgrade a simple move. I loved the constant momentum switching, it made the match feel like a struggle and forced both guys to up their game. Marufuji even pulled off his drop kick over the top rope which is frightening to watch. Liger had great timing in his counters and really knows how to make the most out of them to get a great near fall. The bomb heavy finishing stretch was good as always. Class match with an extremely hot crowd. Who can stop Marufuji? ****1/4
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hirooki Goto - NJPW New Dimension 04/04/2010
Slow start with both men feeling each other out with pushes into the ropes until they brawl on the outside. Then the match starts getting better when Nakamura starts heeling it up a bit, going to town on Goto’s midsection with his brual knee strikes and kicks. There is a really good sequence when Namakura locks on a cross armbreaker out of nowhere with Goto broke with a stomp, leading to a nasty breaker on the ropes which Nakamura sells excellently. The match grew from that point on with Goto bring out his biggest bombs like the Ushigoroshi and Nakamura getting more desperate and urgent in his attacks. Nakamura has a great cross arm breaker counter when Goto tries to hit the GTR, jumping up and headscissoring Goto over into the move. The strike exchanges were so well done too. They didn’t go to long and they lead to the finish with Goto hitting a big lariat with a running lariat attempt countered into a knee by Nakamura and then the Boma Ye for the finish! So the match turned into a great one after a mediocre start. Nakamura’s selling was great. His bumping for Goto made Goto look like a force to be reckoned with and I loved the urgency he had near the end of the match, not wasting any time hitting the Boma Ye when he got the chance to. Goto was rather bland as the fight from beneath guy early on but excelled more as he gained control. ****
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