NJPW The New Beginning In Sapporo 2023

 

NJPW The New Beginning In Sapporo 2023 - Day 1 - 04/02/2023

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Catch 22 (Francesco Akira & TJP) (c) (w/Great-O-Khan) vs. Just 4 Guys (DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (w/TAKA Michinoku)

We should thank Catch 22 for bringing life to these titles again. The Jr tag belts have always been something for a fun, almost guaranteed match that was fun and in the past few years, there has been none. Who were champions? I couldn’t tell you. But this, along with the title match at Wrestle Kingdom, has filled me with hope.  I thought one of the standouts of the match, where everyone had really stepped up to give a good performance was Yoshinobu Kanemaru. He and DOUKI had this cool double team spot where Kanemaru would whip DOUKI into a tope on TJP and then again, on the other side of the ring, onto Akira. He had some solid spells of action with TJP as well, with both using their submission knowledge to good use. I feel that Francesco Akira was very good too. He has come a long way since being yet another mediocre foreign wrestler All Japan were trying to make into a gem. And while he’s a bit of what I consider Will Ospreaycito, his work is much better. There is more intensity put into it, his movements are also much more fluid and natural.  DOUKI and Akira had some good spots at the end, going from the gogoplata move to a sunset flip. Which was then topped by Kanemaru hitting a moonsault, of all things! And then it was back to these two providing part of what was an amazing closing stretch. Although Akira’s finishers were a little weak. The match was strongly paced and well wrestled. Very good. ***1/2

Taichi (w/TAKA Michinoku) vs. Will Ospreay (w/Great-O-Khan)

So Ospreay is back to his awful gothic (yes, gothic, I know it's supposed to sound grand and main event but it doesn’t) theme. Ok. As this is a Taichi single match, it was natural to assume how the match would become: a homage to All Japan. And it sort of was. The match started off promisingly with Ospreay taking the match to Taichi, quickly establishing his dominance and working over a Taichi that had been hurt early on. But the match disrupted that story to do strike exchanges instead. A device that is beyond a chore and a hindrance by this point but more on this later. After that, the match became more of a match of homages than the more interesting story that was presented earlier in the bout. Although I won’t say no to a ganso bomb being performed. This was followed up with a brief Taichi hope spot that added some excitement that was cut off by the now weakened Hidden Blade that served more as a transition into the final third of the match. The two exchanged elbow strikes but there was actual selling that came from it, making it stand out. One of which was hit so hard that Taichi had been seemingly knocked out but then came a spot that didn’t really make sense to me while in the moment. Taichi is thought to be knocked out by the referee. But when Ospreay goes to engage Taichi, he prevents it. What if Ospreay wanted to pin a, perhaps, unconscious Taichi, is he not allowed? Or can’t Ospreay follow up on that elbow strike to hit a finisher?  That doesn’t happen with anyone else in any other match. The lapse in logic, or more rather consistency and clarity in the rules of wrestling, is lost here. Instead the ref begins counting to 10. Taichi got to his feet and got hit with the Stormbreaker anyway to win the match. I didn’t see the need for the spot. It seemed to be something to add needless drama when it was not needed,  forsaking logic for a minute of seeing Taichi trying to get to his feet.. A match that was interesting to watch but riddled with flaws that took away from two interesting wrestlers. ***

Tetsuya Naito vs. Shota Umino

This felt long. And was bland. The crowd didn’t seem half into the match and what part they did seem invested in was the physical presence of Tetsuya Naito more than anything the match did and especially not Umino. Umino would do a move and get crickets. I think they also see the complete lack of identity. Shota Umino has a sort of Tanahashi cosplay look but none of the charisma. He walks about holding a jacket, referencing a relationship with Moxley that was more amusing than anything concrete and he shows almost no intensity in the ring. He didn’t as a young lion either but that’s expected at least. He has no credible moves that are his own. Even his convoluted setup to a death rider was messed up twice. This was just a disaster on his part. Naito isn’t my favourite wrestler but by comparison, he was levels above Umino. Naito thankfully wins. Hopefully Umino goes back to the drawing board because whatever this is stunk. **

NJPW The New Beginning In Sapporo 2023 - Day 2 - 05/02/2021

IWGP Tag Team Title Match:Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) (w/Kosei Fujita)

This was a solid tag team match. TMDK are bland and aren’t really an exciting time but they are fine. Plus Goto has gotten to the stage where he’s a legacy wrestler and the fans are invested in him and YOSHI-HASHI as a team. The build and FIP portions produced some solid stuff and the match had one or two neat nearfalls and the end result came at the right time. Not bad for a V1 title defence by the champions. *** 

NJPW World Television Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) (w/Kosei Fujita) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

I like ZSJ’s new theme. It reminds me of the old classic mod rock theme that he’d use early on in his career. Although I still long for the Idles. This pairing hasn’t always been one of my favourites. I generally think that they bring out bad tendencies from each other, such as Zack no-selling suplexes more than someone his size should and Ishii’s selling method not really working during a submission style. And there was some of the former in this match. However, I liked the idea of Ishii, after having his arm attacked by ZSJ, getting a little retribution by returning the favour. It didn’t last too long but it was refreshing. And almost nothing about Ishii is refreshing in 2023. Likewise, Ishii pulled out a manji gatame attempt, which Zack reversed, leading to a yoshi-tonic by Ishii which was really cool, as it always is when Ishii does something like that. The match ramped up the pace after that point, as the time limit was looming, moving away from trying to get a submission to more of a strike and suplex heavy exchange, which was good when it avoided the fighting spirit spots. It became a quick exchange of reversals, with the other trying to beat the other and ZSJ won the exchange with the Sabre Driver (he definitely missed a trick by not calling it the Zack Attack). A cool match. Maybe their best. ***1/2

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. YOH

As a big match, this wasn’t very compelling. It had the usual components of one. Nearfalls (that the fans were into, mind you), last ditch counters, strike exchanges and, unfortunately, a lengthy run time. Hiromu has never been one for a great lengthy match unless there was a terrific story told and, like YOH, this was a rather bland story with so-so work on the leg. This felt too long, just too long. A shorter match could’ve gave YOH’s work on the leg feel more compelling and visibly exciting and Hiromu could’ve had his best attributes which come under a frantic pace. But what was left was a 30 minute version of a match between the two. Not very interesting, not very memorable. Something the fans in the building might enjoy but I’m not one of those people. This match got the same rating as Okada vs Tanahashi from Dominion 2012. I honestly can’t even think about rating these the same, and I don’t. **1/2