0. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura vs. Toa Henare, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin
It’s RARE for Young Lions to get a match of his magnitude. “Dark” or not, this is a big match to have for them and it ended with a win for the Young Lion Side with no big veterans on is pretty huge. The young lions beat the heck out of each other with stiff clubs and chops. All put in a ton of effort and out came a pretty good match.
0. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) vs. Blue Justice (Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi)
Two of these wrestlers are completely broken down. Two are slightly waning themselves - that’s age for you. But considering those two factors, this was pretty alright. It had it’s big spots that both teams usually hit. Kojima worked hard for his team. Nakanishi and Nagata doing stereo stomp -> lariats was good. **1/2
Jushin Thunder Liger Retirement Match I: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask with El Samurai vs. Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Ryusuke Taguchi with Kuniaki Kobayashi
Everything you expected from this match. Everyone came in and hit their greatest hits spot and went out. Sasauke taking some mad bumps is technically a nostalgia spot right? It was pretty great, there was a ton of energy in the air. Seeing all the legends and old rivals comeback which is rare for New Japan. Sano looked smooth and seemed perfectly ready for tomorrow. Fujinami coming in and getting a big pop for his dragon screws was awesome. Taguchi, who everyone picked for the guy in the match to take the bumps, getting the win was a shocking moment and a great result for this match. Great match. Everyone paying respects to Liger was a great moment as well, a good lead in to tomorrow’s show. ***1/2
Los Ingobernables de Japón (EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs. Suzuki Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & El Desperado)
It was your standard tag team match. The tag work was decent. The singles exchanges were a highlight, Shingo v Taichi was particularly great. But the match was perfectly decent and a device to get everyone on the show. I think everyone was expecting an angle to happen but that wasn’t to be the case. ***
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Bullet Club (KENTA, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens)
A pretty perfunctory multi man tag match. Likewise to the prior match, it’s a basic standard of a match we’ve seen before. Ishii struggling for the brainbuster was a great little part of the match. The best part of this match was the entrances though. KENTA staring down Goto while in the CHAOS corner is boss. **1/2
IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Guerillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa ©) vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
Finlay and Robinson winning the tag league breathed new life into this match. A new tag team and opponent for G.O.D to face. The result was pretty unpredictable as well thanks to Juice having a US title shot on the 5th as well. Would Juice be champion going in or will he have a stunted momentum going into his singles match with either Moxley or Archer. G.O.D have held the titles for ages and seem destined to drop it but you can never count them out. So there was a bit of drama in the match. I think that helped it a ton as the match played out. The wrestling had some struggle to it with the momentum switches every now and again with Finlay fighting from beneath instead of GOD dominating for 15 minutes with no resistance. Juice and Finlay overcoming Jado was another interesting part of the match. The finishing stretch had some good nearfalls and was a nice climax. Good match. ***1/2
IWGP US Heavyweight Title Match - Texas Death Match: Lance Archer (c) vs. Jon Moxley
I thought this delivered big time, if I’m honest. The stipulation was rather unclear but they did a great job of conveying it in the way that they wrestled. There was tons of drama for the 10 count teases. There wasn’t a ton of them so they all felt unique and special. I’d like to praise both guy’s performance as well. Both went at each other hard. Archer was killer on top with his aggressive and focused offence. Moxley took some crazy bumps as well. The throw from Archer’s shoulders through the pile of chairs was nuts. And the way the chairs either broke or were sent flying was a great visual. They worked with each other really well. Moxley unloading Archer with abundance of kendo stick shots after Archer fell off the ropes was a great spot. Archer looked out of it for a second. Archer using a bag to suffocate Moxley is a killer spot as well. You can see the Terry Funk inspiration from that alone. The crowd, and I bought it was a great finish as well. The finish was brilliantly set up as well. A great match overall. ****
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
This had to deliver. Ospreay’s dominance all lead to Hiromu Takahashi returning from his neck break and challenging him for this show. You can only have high expectations for it. And it delivered on that. Ospreay going for Hiromu’s neck is scary. He’s been cleared so the neck is healed but it still sends shivers down my spine. Every kick, every submission, every piece of offence Ospreay used on the offence made that feeling a little worse. The hidden blade being in Ospreay’s pocket as well definitely increased the drama tenfold. Hiromu’s selling of the neck was perfect for this type of match. Hiromu was excellent as the underdog. His offence is pitch perfect his counter style approach to the match as were the nearfalls he got out of that style. Hiromu and Ospreay had some incredible counter exchanges as well. Mainly the Sasuke Special counter sequence which was incredible. Hiromu moving out of the way of the 1st Sasuke Special to hit the German which in turn got countered, Ospreay somehow ending back in the ring and finally hits the Sasuke Special. It came together perfectly as well. The finishing stretch with tons of counters, tons of big nearfalls and the crowd going crazy made for the perfect peak. Hiromu picks up where he left off and Ospreay continues his great form. Fantastic match that came together excellently from every angle, except the Hidden Blade got brushed off after it being teased a killer move and Hiromu having the perfect injury to maximise that effect. ****1/2
IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Jay White (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
It was one of those matches were it benefited from going long because Naito was pretty much a ghost for a long portion of the match. I can love on White’s wrestling and his work on top but it’s not as fulfilling without that spark, that drama to keep you into it. Naito didn’t really get that until the near end once White attacked the knee of Naito, a long time injury focus of his. Once that happened, Naito began showing tons of fighting and struggle. A little determination in his quest to win the titles. I loved Naito beating the hell out of Gedo who kept interfering the whole match and Naito being persistent in the Destinos was a good pay off for him. That middle portion was pretty much White doing his thing and Naito hardly doing anything to keep you invested in his performance. ***1/4
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
This was dripped in uncertainty. Either could've won in this match, no one would be shocked. It's a rare thing to feel from an Okada title defence - a danger of him losing the title. This big stakes match and both had a real x-factor to show for it. Ibushi really brought an aggressive intensity to his game in this match, more so than you usually see from him even when he's angry. Ibushi's kicks are normally quite stiff but his were brutal at the worst of times. There was one kick early in the match that caught Okada right beneath the ribs that made a nasty THUD sound. You can hear everyone wince at the same time, too. Ha. Okada was more cocky and arrogant, sporting a new look with short trunks instead of the knee length ones he usually wears. Okada spent some time in the match trying to egg Ibushi on to take more risks, show that cold spirit that he brings out rarely. And it all backfiring on him was just amazing stuff when Ibushi changed. Ibushi laid all he had into Okada with palm strikes and kicks while showing no vulnerability in return. Okada's selling of that moment was excellent as well. All Okada could do as a defence was keep grinding away on the neck of Ibushi, hitting gnarly dropkicks and tombstones. The last 10 minutes was gripping wrestling. Type of wrestling that you can get totally lost in. The counters at pivotal moments, the way they let things breathe, the nearfalls, the sells of exhaustion. I guess this is a bit of a cliche now but THIS is the reason I love wrestlers. This was maybe one of the best examples of the New Japan's main event style. One of the best matches I've ever seen. *****
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