New Japan Rambo
Yano winning while making his entrance made this match worth it but other than that, this was a pretty nothing match that served to give some of the undercard wrestlers a run out in the Tokyo Dome. Didn't expect much of a match, so it was fine. **
El Phantasmo vs. Hiromu Takahashi
The result of the match seemed obvious. No way was El Phantasmo facing Ishimori on Night Two, but he put in one hell of an effort to make that the case. ELP is a tricky wrestler. He has good schtick but can lack everything else in between to maximise that. This was a bit similar but it was done in a creative and interesting way. Hiromu Takahashi didn't get much of an offensive run out but conserving his energy for tomorrow is the smart route to go. This served well for an ELP showcase although it was disjointed due to the character work heavy start and the spotty finishing stretch. Hiromu’s injured hand should serve as an interesting hook for his title match on N2. ***
IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) (c) vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
I wanted to like this match a lot because I like both teams but the match never got out of its first gear until the finish. It was a long run time of basic tag team wrestling with G.O.D cutting off either Taichi or ZSJ for a seemingly endless amount of time. It would've served for a decent opening five minutes but with it extended longer, it felt like a drag. The finish was where things picked up with Taichi mounting a final charge with the Dangerous Backdrop before G.O.D cheated their way to victory. That's all there is to it. Um, and Zack Sabre Jr sold really well. Yeah. I got nothing. **1/2
IWGP United States Certificate Title Match: KENTA vs Satoshi Kojima
Nothing excited me more on this card than Kojima being added in to replace the injured Juice Robinson. Even at 50 years old, Kojima can still deliver a hell of a lot. He is also the perfect wrestler for KENTA to work off due to his age, personality, etc. And that delivered. KENTA went all out to hurt Kojima with his strikes and mocked Kojoma’s corner lariat. Kojima in turn didn't stand for KENTA’s bullshit with the briefcase and knocked it out of the ring straight away. The match was short as well, allowing us to get the best match both could deliver without it dragging on too long unlike the match prior. Awesome bout. ***1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
The result of the match may split a few people but we've seen before that Tanahashi beating a recently returned rising star doesn't hurt them much (Jay White is main eventing the Dome on the 5th) so I'll reserve my judgements for now. What was really important was how O-Khan looked in the match and I thought he looked great. His unique grappling style at the start was cool. O-Khan wrecked Tanahashi with some big suplexes. He generally came off super charismatic and a star. Tanahashi worked from beneath, allowing O-Khan to shine offensively which works because Tanahashi has some of the best comebacks in Wrestling. His selling was great and filled with urgency putting over the danger of O-Khan's signature offence well. Great match from start to finish. Great performances from both Tanahashi and Great O-Khan. ***3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Of course. These two had to knock it out of the park. That's what was expected of them and they absolutely delivered to that standard. Not only did they have a great classic match but they were able to mix and incorporate some of the elements of their grudge feud in with it which isn't easy to do. Okada started off like a rocket, hitting a relentless assault on Ospreay with his brutal running back elbow and then hitting a gorgeous tope con hilo. Okada's main issues are his execution of certain things but none of that showed. He laid in his strikes, tightened up his ring position and brought his A-game. That and his amazing chemistry with Ospreay gave us an outstanding Okada performance. Ospreay brought it as well. He knew how to adapt to a heel style, slowing down the tempo after initially being overwhelmed but also adding enough flair and speed to his offence to keep it from being mundane. But what really impressed me was his selling for the closing stretch. It's hard to sell as a heel because you could get sympathy but he didn't come off like that. Ospreay came off like someone who wasn't going to let a chance to overtake Okada, who plays into it by booting the shit out of the back of Ospreay's head, slip. This match packed a lot in with a near 40 minutes run time, including a nailed-on suplex on the table, Bea Priestley being knocked off the apron by Okada via Ospreay, a plethora of suplexes and counter wrestling sequences that came off really well and fluid, etc. It also went a risky route of changing (slowing down) the match flow instead of ramping it up to tell the story and it executed it perfectly. It was a tremendously worked match that brought the restricted Dome crowd alive. A Dome classic. ****1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title / IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
This wasn't a perfect main event, especially compared to last year's main events, but it eventually improved upon itself after an initially poor start and climaxed with a great finish and a great moment - Ibushi winning the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. If there was a show to put your neck on the line with no structure, reason or anything other than to win, this was it. And while it's not their best match together, it's the most important and the biggest of the whole lot. I'm likely not going to be among the consensus that thinks this is a MOTYC but it was a really good main event with two wrestlers that worked and meshed their styles together as best as they could. The start was very boring, to the point where I was just on my phone, but the rest of the match had a much higher standard of wrestling. So job done. Jay White coming out and cutting a promo about how Ibushi should take the time to celebrate since he'll take the titles tomorrow was awesome. What a sleazeball. Onto Ibushi vs Jay White! ***1/2
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