Blue Wolf vs. Katsuyori Shibata
I like this match. It’s basically a 2002 version of a young lion match. Emphasis on the basics but both wrestlers' personalities still shines through. Blue Wolf comes across as this beast of a man. Shibata, who sort of looks like Kanemoto, is less of a shoot fighter and more of a traditional pro-wrestler with some bite to him. The match stays on that same note for the whole 7 minutes but it’s a very good note. Blue Wolf pulls the seemingly upset win against his senior with a roll up and celebrates like he’s won the G1. ***
Wataru Inoue vs. Dan Devine
I’ve never heard of Dan Devine. From the looks of his gloves, he might be a low level mma fighter but he’s pretty good. Not much charisma but his work is solid. His holds seem tight and his strikes are snug. Inoue is a great athlete and is a great body for Devine to work around. The match works at a quick pace, never settling down for too long, even on the submission wrestling spots. I think the match was cut by 1-2 minutes but 7 out of 9 isn’t too bad of a time length. I enjoyed this. Devine wins, naturally, with an underhook driver with a twist. A proto-stormbreaker or a unique tiger driver? You decide. ***
Katsushi Takemura & Osamu Nishimura vs. TEAM2000 (Giant Singh & Tatsutoshi Goto)
Great Singh, ala The Great Khali. People tend to forget that New Japan had brought him in first. Thank you, booker man (I think it was Chono). Singh, obviously isn’t good but he’s HUGE and takes bumps. One of which almost kills poor Nishimura with a cutter off the shoulder, Nishimura recovers though and goes for the manji gatame and then a cross body, which is blocked. Goto and Takemura have some spots in there, nothing special but solid, before Singh gets back in the ring and the fun starts again. Takemura quickly hits a dropkick, barely staggering the man before he gets gorilla pressed into the floor. They are making great use of Singh, using his strength and surprising agility to their benefit. You could almost consider it a good match. Singh finishes off Takemura with a powerbomb to win the match. I’m impressed. I would love to see more of Giant Singh in New Japan if this is what happens. **1/2
Super J vs. Scott Norton
It’s Sting, or, as Larry Zbysko says, Stink. He’s been a low key fixture in New Japan since the NWO so it’s not a surprise that he’s still here. He’s good fodder for the midcard heavyweights and veterans. And that’s his role for Norton here. Occasionally he gets a big slam and some offence but Norton generally gets back control quickly enough. Super J goes to the outside where he is attacked by Team 2000 but he fights back to a great reaction. His momentum continued with a delayed suplex but that run was stomped with a botched powerslam attempt. Shame really. This was going so well. They were smart in not going back to it straight away, however. Norton does get it done with a powerslam and a running lariat, ending Super J’s hot streak. In came Team 2000 and the post match angle was awesome. Super J is beaten briefly by the group before Norton calls them off, then extending a hand of respect for the good fight. Super J takes it only to kick Norton in the gut and slamming him to a big pop! And runs! Let’s go Super J. Man for a match that I wasn’t looking forward to, that was shockingly worthwhile. Solid undercard match between a New Japan great and a career jobber with a solid angle to cap it all. The botch was unfortunate but that’s the only blemish. ***
Tadao Yasuda & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kensuke Sasaki
Another promising match on the card that might be one people would skip, due to Yasuda and Yoshie, but I was eager to watch. Yoshie and Sasaki have some great wrestling exchanges, being two wrestlers with great strength despite a low frame. Chops begin to fly as well. Tanahashi is in a precious stage where he’s young and inexperienced but he's getting pushed. He would improve by 2004 but here? He needs a bit of work. Yasuda is who he is. Okay in spurts. He honestly looks a tad better than Tanahashi does but I put that on Sasaki being awesome and leading him through with his energy and charisma. Yoshie and Sasaki continue to prove their tremendous chemistry, ending the match with a terrific little sequence. Awesome bout. Mainly because of two wrestlers but worth watching, I’d say. ***1/2
Ten Man Tag Team Singles Elimination Match: El Samurai, Jushin Thunder Liger, Masahito Kakihara, Masayuki Naruse & Minoru Tanaka vs. TEAM2000 (Black Tiger, Eddie Guerrero, Gedo, Jado & Koji Kanemoto)
Along with the classic UWF vs New Japan or New Japan v Ishin Gun Gauntlet Match, we get a Junior Version. And I just had to see this. This is the match I considered watching the entire event for (thank you by the way) and while it wasn’t near those matches, I thought it was a quality match, with a tiny lull in the middle when El Samurai came in to the match but the rest of the match came off really well done. The opening story with Jado not hiding his intention of eliminating both of them, and succeeding was wonderfully executed. Eddie Gureero’s contribution was really good and made me wish that there was more of this run in our reality before he went back to the WWF and went on to be an icon. Kanemoto and Tanaka at the end were very good as well. Plus the shock finish with Kanemoto winning the match before Gedo had entered the ring swerved everyone and gave the match the exclamation point it needed to be a great match. Well worth watching, definitely. ****
Jado vs Liger
Jado was very tactical and deliberate against Liger, willing to escape to the floor and let Liger simmer in the ring. He then tried to take out Liger’s knee which would be important in a match based on endurance such as this. Liger gets some offence but makes the mistake of going to the outside where Jado tries to keep them counted out together. That fails on the first try. Jado traps Liger in a crossface, keeping with that pragmatic plan. Jado takes Liger to the floor once more and holds him down. Liger fights but he can’t shake Jado this time and both are eliminated. Jado gets so much heat for this. Fucking awesome way to begin the match.
Black Tiger vs Masayuki Naruse
Submission heavy with Naruse taking control with his technical superiority. T2000 tries to interfere when Black Tiger takes too much offence but it doesn’t seem to faze Naruse. Black Tiger works like a luchador rudo, which I like and prefer from the Black Tiger Mask character. He hits a wonderful Tiger Feint kick and a lovely moonsault. He eventually wins with a Death Valley Driver to eliminate Naruse.
Black Tiger vs Masahito Kakihara
Basic match. Kakihara cheats a little but seems like a fan favourite. He submits Black Tiger with a cross armbreaker in 3 minutes.
Eddie Gurerro vs Kakihara
Now this is what really piqued my interest. Former Black Tiger, back under his real gimmick prior to his WWE return and his career peak. And he’s awesome. He stomps away at Kakihara’s back with stomps and elbows, even using the ropes to his advantage. Kakihara fires back with some kicks but Eddie persists with the hand and uses his weight advantage wisely to get Kakihara into the desired positions. Eddie drills Kakihara with the three amigos (the suplexes being brainbusters) and then the frog splash to pin him
El Samurai vs Guerrero
I’m not the biggest El Samurai fan but I can accept his status as a mainstay of the Jr Heavyweight division in New Japan. He is the more dominant of the two, being the freshest one and gets some decent moments of offence against him but Eddie is able to still threaten Samurai. Eventually Eddie is able to push Samurai off the top rope and hit a frog splash, which Samurai sells like he would a roll up. Fuck off dude. Fuck his status too. You suck.
Minoru Tanaka vs Gurerro
This starts off well with Tanaka wasting no time hitting a springboard dropkick. The action is much quicker with this match-up. Quicker sequences, fresher spots and a terrific sense of urgency and planning from Eddie, who is quick to counter Tanaka and wear him down. Tanaka does the opposite though, catching Eddie out and submitting him with a cross armbreaker
Koji Kanemoto vs Tanaka
Kanemoto comes in quickly and establishes his threat, stiffing Tanaka with kicks and punches, acting all arrogant like he has the match won too. Tanaka catches him out with a headkick and then a hard kick to the chest that set Kanemoto to the floor. Kanemoto is the heel of the match, but his fans are loud (women tend to cut through on these shows). Tanaka takes Kanemoto to a corner and rattles him with kicks and slaps, almost like he’s proving a point to his rival. Kanenmoto seemed beaten by Tanaka, who had the armbreaker locked in but T2000 went on the apron, distracting the ref and Gedo came in to break the hold. Liger went nuts, throwing a chair at Gedo. Kanemoto is terrific after this. His facial expressions during the knee bar were amazing. It made it so sweet when he missed the moonsault and got stuck in Tanaka’s knee bar. And in a surprise, Kanemoto was able to sneak the win, countering a wasit lock and hitting the tiger suplex. Gedo didn’t even get involved, which seemed like the natural progression but everyone was swerved.
IWGP Tag Team Title Tournament Final Match (vacant): Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata vs. TEAM2000 (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono)
The match has a surprisingly strong opening with Tenzan and Nakanishi. I didn’t realise that the crowd were hissing already for Tenzan by this point. It’s cool though. Nakanishi isn’t great but he hits hard and he’s a fucking dude and that’s easy to get behind. Nagata and Chono are more technical when they pair off and they were quite good running through the classical holds, if I must say. Even if it's painting by numbers, I love seeing it. The match progresses nicely into T2000 taking over through their long standing tricks plus using their stable mates. Nagata and Nakanishi are good babyfaces, especially Nagata, who is just terrific during this period. It’s a shame he never caught on as the guy. Nakanishi is an awesome hot tag wrestler as he uses his strengths perfectly. He’s very impassioned in short bursts and gets a surprisingly amount of momentum doing little during it. Despite being double teamed constantly, he is booked strongly against the 2 of them, being able to hold his own by himself but eventually he succumbs to the master teamwork before Nagata makes the save. Chono is far from his mobile self but he pulls off a sweet counter to Nakanishi’s spear, rolling through to lock on a front butterfly lock. Nakanishi is able to power out of it though and hit a suplex! Nagata tries to finish Chono off, getting a close two on a Northern Lights suplex. The end seems to be nigh when Nagata looks on a crossface (Nakanishi has Tenzan in an abdominal stretch) but victory escapes them once more. This is followed by a magnificent exchange between Nagata and Tenzan which ends with everyone hitting a big move against each other. Tenzan hits the mongolian chops, spikes Nagata on his head for a big two count before finally putting him away with the moonsault. Fucking great match. Match of the night for me. Another quality match by this team. The crowd cheers for the result, which crowns Tenzan and Chono IWGP Tag Team Champions for a fourth time. Last time they were champions was 1998, so this was a big win. A feel good moment for the company, despite these two being heels, they are fan heroes. ****1/4
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