NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15.

[Brian Fowler]

Dave throwing out snowflakes like it's Stiiiiinnnngggg.

Five for Ibushi/Naito and Shingo/Cobb, five and a quarter for Ibushi/White and Okada/Billy Bird. 

[The Natural]

3 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Dave throwing out snowflakes like it's Stiiiiinnnngggg.

Five for Ibushi/Naito and Shingo/Cobb, five and a quarter for Ibushi/White and Okada/Billy Bird. 

Cheers, @Brian Fowler.

I'd give ***** to Shingo/Cobb and Ibushi/White though I still think their best match was in the final of G1 Climax 29. Need to watch Naito/Ibushi back to see if it was ***** or not.

Edited January 8, 2021 by The Natural

[Log]

I’m not good a nailing down a star rating or anything, but I really loved Osprey/Okada and Cobb/Shingo. I liked Ibushi/Naito a lot. I’m pretty lukewarm on Okada and I outright dislike Osprey, so they had to do a lot to win me over and they did. 
 

Going to try to get to Ibushi/White today!

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

On the one hand: I don't care how many stars Dave Meltzer gives a match!!! 

 

On the other hand: I sure hope he gave Hiromu vs El-P at least 4 stars. 

[Craig H]

I think the best matches were Shingo vs Cobb, Okada vs Osprey, Ibushi vs White, and Hiromu vs Ishimori. Out of all of those, Shingo vs Cobb and Ibushi vs White were the absolute best and I probably give the edge to the big dudes slappin' meat, but after White's promo, I almost want to say it's Ibushi vs White. Plus, Ibushi vs White had more pure hatred in it, whereas Ibushi vs Naito was a really good match where thankfully neither guy killed himself in.

[Salads]

I was thinking that being in five star matches on consecutive days has to be a first, but thanks to rating escalation over recent years this is by my count the fourth time and the second for Ibushi.

Speaking of escalation, how's this for a five star rating scoreboard:

AEW - 6

The 2000s - 7

Ospreay - 13

[Craig H]

4 minutes ago, Salads said:

I was thinking that being in five star matches on consecutive days has to be a first, but thanks to rating escalation over recent years this is by my count the fourth time and the second for Ibushi.

Speaking of escalation, how's this for a five star rating scoreboard:

AEW - 6

The 2000s - 7

Ospreay - 13

Yeah, he's way more liberal with the stars now. I wonder if part of it came from going to so much SoCal wrestling and not really giving as much of a shit.

[The Natural]

11 minutes ago, Salads said:

I was thinking that being in five star matches on consecutive days has to be a first, but thanks to rating escalation over recent years this is by my count the fourth time and the second for Ibushi.

Speaking of escalation, how's this for a five star rating scoreboard:

AEW - 6

The 2000s - 7

Ospreay - 13

Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega are closing in on Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa for ***** and + matches. Might have surpassed them. The Young Bucks won't be that far behind either.

[Guest Jimbo_Tsuruta]

Cobb v Shingo was my favourite WK match, with Ibushi v White and Okada v Ospreay not far behind. Looking forward to what the rest of 2021 brings from NJPW.

[Salads]

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

Yeah, he's way more liberal with the stars now. I wonder if part of it came from going to so much SoCal wrestling and not really giving as much of a shit.

I used to be irritated with how revered his ratings were until he broke through the five star barrier making it clear he agreed. I forgot all about him handing out a seven, which remains tremendous.

1 hour ago, The Natural said:

Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega are closing in on Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa for ***** and + matches. Might have surpassed them. The Young Bucks won't be that far behind either.

Surprisingly I only count 4 for the Bucks. There's a list on wikipedia with a handy league table of the top ***** earners at the bottom. Appropriately it goes up to 11.

[matwarz]

6 hours ago, Craig H said:

Yeah, he's way more liberal with the stars now. I wonder if part of it came from going to so much SoCal wrestling and not really giving as much of a shit.

Not really. We are living through a golden period of great workers and superior Athletes. The first Okada v Omega has basically become the template for today’s ‘great’ match. Storytelling, callbacks, length, that match will go down as one of the most important in history for multiple reasons. You can kinda take that as a measuring stick now working up to the 70 min forth match. It’s all subjective of course, apples and oranges.

Dave’s just as critical as always, the standard is just that much higher. I’m sure if he went back he would probably push several matches higher up the scale but history is just that. 

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

He's actually been working on a ten-star scale this whole time. He has very high standards and his grading is really strict. He only considers a tiny handful of matches in the entire history of pro wrestling to have been even a little above average. 

[matwarz]

Steady Gordi, you know there’s a percentage of people who will actually believe that. Put some more sarcasm in there wouldya!

[The Natural]

There you go, @El Gran Gordi and @matwarz. :).

Edited January 9, 2021 by The Natural

[Jiji]

Green text.

[TheVileOne]

17 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Dave throwing out snowflakes like it's Stiiiiinnnngggg.

Five for Ibushi/Naito and Shingo/Cobb, five and a quarter for Ibushi/White and Okada/Billy Bird. 

I thought Ibushi vs. Naito was good but not what I would call a five star classic. I thought Ibushi/White was the superior match. To me five stars means as close to perfection as possible, if not right there at perfect. But whatever, everyone has their own view on things.

[ka-to]

I think that I remember when 1* was average and 2* was good in his ratings. Now it seems like average gets 3* and it goes up from there. 

Beer reviews are also on the zero to five scale. There are so many beer reviews where the description is of a bad beer yet the rating is like a 3.2.

The purpose of modern wrestling is to keep you from changing the channel when there is a commercial break. I grew up when the purpose of TV was to get you to buy a ticket to the real wrestling card at your local venue. I still have a hard time with TV drawing more fans than regular house shows. TV is full of promos, skits, and bullshit. Whatever happened to a card with an opening match through a main event? That's why I watch more wrestling from Mexico and Japan.

Gordi-san, If I ever see you again we must drink some sake together. I don't remember if I had to catch the Shinkansen or if I went to meet my Osaka friends after we were at Osaka Pro, but we didn't go drinking. I've lost contact with my Osaka friends, half of them were my senpai and might be dead by now.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

29 minutes ago, ka-to said:

we were at Osaka Pro

Definitely drinks next time. I also think I was with me wife at that show and we had somewhere to be afterward...

[Jiji]

Yo, Tiger Williams jersey tho?

[Big Z]

Overall, very good two nights of Wrestle Kingdom, and props to Hiromu and especially Ibushi for those two efforts on back-to-back nights. Really wish that Naito had a better title run, but after the Kenta program, it was mostly uncontrollable factors that hindered him (first and foremost the pandemic, and second being victim of an Evil program/turn that just failed to connect). Still, it feels like the right time for an Ibushi run, and this is a welcome, fresh run in main events. Believe that The Empire should not have gone 0 for 3 through the two nights, especially with Bullet Club feeling mega-stale and Suzuki-Gun becoming a bit more of a tweener stable. Their statement at Dash will connect more in Japan then it would have in a similar situation in America (and the only thing later that night that would have overwhelmed that attack on Tenzan is the Jay White story), but they need to heat up fast to establish another strong heel group. Not nearly as down as O-Khan as some people here, but concede that he fits better as a tag/trios guy (or heater in Ospreay singles matches) at this point, and needs some polish before another big singles match (both the Okada and Tana singles matches did little for me, and it's hard to have anything short of really good matches against those two guys, even modern day Tana). On the whole, the wrestling is still really good and just enough fresh stuff to keep me fairly involved in the product, but still feel like there needs to be a bigger shake-up then just finally putting Ibushi over in the biggest matches and a new group that just lost three big matches at the biggest event of the year. 

[Kang]

[Web Conn]

I wrote this very detailed review of Night 1 then I lost it all and im not gonna retype it but I really dug night one alot. Ibushi vs Naito was really good.

[Web Conn]

Lets try this again, slowly watching New Japan 2021

Night 2:

There's no Riki Choshu in a tuxedo holding a baby or a Japanese Don King to start off Night 2. We open with a Video Package with that catchy ass song then we get straight into the show

1.  King of Pro Wrestling Trophy Championship Match - Bushi vs Chase Owens vs Bad Luck Fale vs Yano (c?): I'm not too sure what the King of Pro Wrestling Trophy is really suppose to be. It's a tad confusing, who ever starts the year off with the Championship is Champ for the previous year, who ever ends the year as Champ was Champ for the year that had just been and everyone who holds the title during the year are all Provisional Champions or something like that. Yano came out with the Championship or Trophy or what the fuck but I'm considering him the defending Champion if you ask me he's been Champion since he pinned Okada in the four way back at the stadium show in August. Going off the line up here I get 2000 Hardcore Championship vibes from this in the sense that it's centered around an underdog lower card comedy character in Yano who constantly outwits the doofus lower card heels (I'm referring to Owens and Fale) and gets away with his Trophy in tact. So what I'm saying is Yano is Crash Holly and Bullet Club Black n White are The Mean Street Posse. and Bushi is here too. The match? Oh the match, It was cool. Owens and Fale use the numbers game to dominate most the match. Fale whipped Yano into the guardrail leading to Bushi getting double teamed for a good bit then Yano showed back up and Bushi was left in a heap on the outside as Yano got beat up by Brain Adams and Vincent. Bushi returns hits outside dives on the to Brain Adams and Vincent. Yano and Bushi mix it up for a second. Then some more shit happens. Yano ends up on the outside. Owens hits a bridging suplex on Bushi almost gets the three but Fale kicks his leg of from him breaking up the pin. Owens and Fale get in each others faces as ego's have prevented them from letting the other win, the ref wants one of them to pin Bushi they lift the ref off the ground for a double choke slam but Yano shows up and double low blows from behind then he pins Bushi to retain the King of Pro Wrestling Trophy. I like the finish as Yano steals another victory. I like Yano's gimmick of being an eccentric opportunist.  

2. IWGP JR Heavyweight Tag Team Championship - El Desperado and Kanemura (c) vs Taguchi and Master Wato w/Tenzan: Desperado and Kanemura won a tournament final on September 11th, to become the champions. Wato and Taguchi are a team now, Taguchi has taken a shine to Da Blue Guy and so has Tenzan. Kanemura carries with with a bottle of brown liquid that could very well be whiskey and could very well be used during the course of action. So right as the bell rang Wato does a running dropkick to Desperado just as he's about to connect they cut to a wide shot of the ring and then zoom back in. a very peculiar choice if you ask me. I really enjoy that Suzuki-gun are dastardly heels that are not afraid to break the rules to get what they want. The match breaks down early on, as Taguchi is running the ropes encouraging Despardo to join him while Desperado looks at him like "what the fuck" then Kanemura pulls Guchi outside the ring ties him up into the guardrail and goes to work on the knee. On the other side of the ring Des tosses Wato into Tenzon, who inadvertently spears his mentor. Kanemura does this move where he tosses Guchi up in the air and he lands knee first onto a chair while the ref ins't looking. after that a lot of time is spent working over The Funky Warriors knee. The babyface team held their own and we got a very competitive fast paced match. not really spotfesty as it was just full throttle which i think is the true essence of a junior match. The whiskey was not used during the match, so whats the point of the whiskey? Desperado hits a underhook spinning facebuster on Tacughi for the 3. Suzuki-gun retains. 

3. NEVER OpenWeight Championship - Shingo Takagi (c) vs Jeff Cobb: Cobb has joined Ospreay's group so he has gone from smiling  just happy to be here foreigner to a mean and nasty foreigner. Shingo took his time getting to the ring cuz Shingo doesn't move for anybody. This is exactly what you would expect from these two. 20 minutes of beating the hell out of each other. These a big guys just tossing each other around. It was fun. I will say that I am all for working over a body part but the New Japan mid card sure seems to prefer working the knee over. It's the body part Shingo focused on but also the body part of Taguchi's that his opponent's focused on the match before. New Japan most not have any agents. Maybe they should. Two highlights of the match that stand out to me are; Cobb hitting Shingo with a huge belly to back suplex on the floor after loosing him up with a couple whips into the guardrail and Cobb had Shingo up in the Outsiders edge on the apron, Shingo got to his feet  knocked Cobb off the apron to the outside then Shingo hit a cannon ball senton over the top rope crash landing onto Cobb on the outside. In probably my favorite spot cuz it's probably the most Japanese pro wrestling spot of the match for me possibly the night I don't know yet but Shingo came of the ropes hit Cobb with a lariat so powerful that Shingo himself went through the middle ropes and landed on the floor and almost didn't make the count of 20, Strong Style the lariat had so much momentum Shingo couldn't stop and was almost a victim of collateral damage. I dug that spot. I also liked that as the ref is making the count the camera cuts to a shot of the NEVER Championship. Shingo made the count  he rolled into the ring and Cobb hit him with a piledriver all  that effort to take the big man down and Shingo still eats a piledriver. Shingo hit a devastating lariat followed by a Flacon Arrow for the 3. Shingo retains.

4. Evil w/Dick Togo vs Sanada: Every other match on Night Two was for some sort of championship this match wasn't. It was about betrayal, redemption and restoring sanctity to the LIJ name. Sanada took the most exception to Evil betraying LIJ dare I say more so than Naito who was probably more concerned with losing his championships more than anything else. Sanada got his big win. So there's a payoff here. This had everything you would have wanted; a paradise lock, Evils baseball swing with the chair, a ref bump, a chair shot, Sanada getting choked with the cable and Dick Togo going through a table. A boy did he go through that table. Imagine that Batista stutter step bump when Mark Henry shoved him on SmackDown that one time. Evil set that table up early on in the match and they teased it once or twice, the played the long con with that table and I appreciate them for it. Togo basically elbow dropped that table he wanted to make sure it broke. I liked the match I don't have anything against the match but I am really having a hard time getting use to Sanada's Spaceman Cold Skull (I originally typed Cold Stone but I knew he wasn't sponsored by the Creamery) get up. I'm not digging the silver. I liekd the pirate blue and yellow get up, the bleach blonde look especially that Silver hair I don't know Okada has silver hair, gotta differentiate yourself there pal. Sanada hits his mid air cutter followed by a moonsault for the 3. Sanada wins.

5. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship - "Bone Solider" Taiji Ishimori (c) vs Hiromu Takahashi: I'll give them this, Taiji didn't target the knee he went after Hiromu's shoulder and neck two prior problem areas for Hiromu. Also yes the flipped around at the beginning but a good portion of this match was on the mat rolling around with Taiji working over the afore mentioned body parts with Hiromu countering with a fast paced offense. An enjoyable watch. Taiji wasn't just focused on the his mat work he also landed a slew of aggressive strikes, he wasn't giving up his championship without a fight and a fight he brought. The spinning head scissors converted into the cross face with the arm bent back was an awesome move. Had me like Whoa! (RIP Black Rob). Hiromu hit a firearms carry into an exposed ring post at i believe the 22 minute mark which I found pretty neat. This wasn't a highflying match I expected it was a change of pace and I think I enjoyed it more because of that. Hiromu hit his Time Bomb (?) finisher on Taiji for the 3. Hiromu Takahashi is your new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion! Good on Hiromu for finally ascending back to the top of the Junior Division after the string of bad luck he endured over the last few years. However brief as, all was right again on this night. 

6. IWGP Intercontinental  & Heavyweight  Double Championship - Kota Ibushi (c) vs Jay White w/Gedo: I'm struggling to find what to write about this match. With 48 minutes they took their time telling the story and that isn't a bad thing. Jay White has really grown into an obnoxious cowardly heel, Ibushi has the fiery babyface down pat and they worked well together. Tremendous chemistry if you ask me. Ibushi hit this piledriver out of a sunset flip that I thought was a cool move. Jay White was ever the opportunist, running from Ibushi, distractiing the ref but then when the time was right he'd take over and start being the overly aggressive heel with those sling shot whips between the guardrail and the apron. I took alot for Ibushi to finally put White away. I hope my lack of words on the match doesn't insinuate my lack of enjoyment I just don't know what else to say other than what i said. Sometimes less is more. Ibushi hit White with a V TRIGGER FOR THE 3. Kota Ibushi retains the Double Championship. I may not like Spaceman Sanada but I think I can get use to Sharp Dressed Sanada, contradictory to the LIJ montra maybe he isn't too long for the stable. I'm looking forward to seeing Ibushi vs Sanada.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Web Conn

[The Natural]

On 2/24/2021 at 2:37 AM, Web Conn said:

I wrote this very detailed review of Night 1 then I lost it all and im not gonna retype it but I really dug night one alot. Ibushi vs Naito was really good.

Sorry to hear that. Been there and it sucks. Cheers for Night 2 review.

[Web Conn]

I lost the review I did again, This time it was for New Year Dash but this time I said fuck it and watched the show again and rewrote the review.

New Year Dash from the Tokyo Dome City Hall 1/6/21:

1. Gaberial Kidd vs Yuji Nagata: Big Yuji Nagata fan. Blue Justice like a mother fucker. Gaberial Kidd he's cool, he's one of 3 Young Lions they've had since the Covid Relaunch in June of last year. This was pretty back in forth for an 8 minute opener involving a veteran like Nagata and a Young Lion like Kidd. This starts with a chain wrestling/wrist lock spot cuz the match involves a Young Lion. But they kept it simple and the match as a fun watch. Nagata literally kicked the hell out of Kidds chest, Kidd hit a missile drop kick that prompted an applause break so he's getting over with the New Japan audience. He even got a half crab in on Ole Blue Justice. Kevin Kelly and Capleton? I know Capleton is a raggae artist but it's that the guys name right? Chris Capleton. Well they are pulling a Tony and Brain talking about the nWo as they are talking about Jay White's contract status as there was a Jay White Contract Angle going on at this time. Jay White elected to stay in New Japan but the english commentators instead of calling this match are going on about Jay White. Nagata makes a comeback of kicks and suplexes. Nagata sinks in a crossface variant where he has trapped Kidd's the arm in between his legs and Kidd taps. Yuji Nagata wins the match.

2. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Douki) vs Tiger Mask IV and Yuya Uemura: Minoru Suzuki is a favorite of mine, I love that he's just a 50 plus sadistic old fuck. He'll never be world champion but he doesn't have to be he just likes watching the world burn and I can respect that. With all the buzz for the new Mortal Kombat movie, it's a shame there's the travel restrictions due to Covid and all cuz with his get-up Douki would have headlined a Wrestlemania weekend show against Glacier. Once Covid clears up if it ever does we may one day see Douki vs Glacier in a Mortal Kombat Characters Rip Off Match. mark it down, this is the rare gun match that doesn't begin and complete and utter chaos at the sound of the bell. This actually starts off with chain wrestling/wrist lock spot between Uemura and Douki. Look at Suzuki-gun adhering to the unwritten Young Lions Match rules. It's pretty rudimentary to start off until Douki whips Uemura towards the ropes and Uemura pumps up the volume by elbowing Suzuki off the ropes then he does oit agin followed by a huge lariat onto Douki. The crowd erupts into applause. Suzuki kicks Uemura in the back and tries him up in an armbar in the ropes. As Douki knocks Tiger Mask off the apron and follows him to the outside. Now its starting to resemble a Suzuki-gun match. Capleton, the musician said on commentary kept bringing up that Minoru Suzuki wrestled Antonio Inoki back in 89. I went to New Japan World and typed it in the search bar, no dice. I did some investigating on cagematch, Inoki wrestled Minoru and Vicious Warrior on the same show. Beat em both. Whose Vicious Warrior you ask? None other than Sid Vicious. Uemura gets the Ricky Morton in the heels corner as he tag partner stands there and watches. Minoru was laughing at one point. He really likes fucking people up. Uemura finally gets the hot tag after some struggle, Tiger Mask hits a crossbody so he finally gets in the match. He punches Minoru off the apron cuz he must have a death wish. Tiger gets Douki in a leg submission of sorts. Douki gets the tag to Minoru, he and Tiger mix it up a bit, then Tiger hits Minoru with this underhook powerbomb that was pretty cool. Uemura bombards Minoru with a flurry of forearms in the corner. Minroru hulks up and starts swinging. Uemura had a really exciting underdog babyface run toward the end there,  just fighting out of everything Minoru putting him in, hitting offense left and right, plus going for inside cradles and roll up pins whenever he could. Tiger Mask even breaks up a Boston Crab attempt and Uemura got a big drop kick off. Minoru hits Uemura with a Gotch Style Piledriver for the 3. Suzuki-gun are victorious.

3. The United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb and The Great O'Khan w/Bae Priestly) vs TenCozy (Tenzan and Kojima) and Yota Tsuji:  This match starts off the way I thought the previous match was going to start, a complete malee from the heels at the start of the babyfaces introduction. As the others take to the outside, Tenzan and O'Khan stay in the ring and brutalize each other. O'Khan is gunning for Tenzans signature move, the Mongolian Chop is its a battle to see who will use it first. After several attempts O'Khan hits Tenzan with his own move. Ospreay handles Kojima on one side of the ring, Cobb has Yota on the other side as Khan works over Tenzan's elbow in the ring. The United Empire the dominant force in this match. Jeff Cobb comes in and continues the attack on Tenzan. Cobb going from friendly smilin' foreign wrestler to become mean and nasty foreign wrestler will only further his career in Japan. Nice to see him get out of perennial Mid Card Championship matches with Hirooki Goto for the time being. Tenzan gets the Ricky Morton in the heel corner. Tenzan crawl to his corner like 3 time sand all 3 times Kojima is knocked off the apron before Tenzan could make the tag. Tenzan got his ass kicked, especially Khan but Cobb too, looked like unstoppable monsters putting the boots to Tenzan. Ospreay is clearly the groups leader as he lets his henchmen wear Tenzan down then he gets in there and ties it up with the man. Tenzan manages a rolling kick on Ospreay gets the hot tag to Kojima, who makes up for lost time knocks Cobb and Khan off the apron and chops the shit outta Ospreay's chest in the corner. Ospreay eventually takes back over. Yota ends up in the ring, shows some babyface fire against Cobb, but Cobb does hit a massive scoop slam it was crazy. Power moves are awesome when they look like the impact could cause an earthquake. The babyfaces get some heat on the heels who up to this point have fully been in control of the match as the spurts of offense from the faces have been just that spurts. Cobb and O'Khan lift Yota up, Ospreay hits an Oscutter from the 2nd rope and Cobb covers Yota for the 3. The United Empire stand tall at the final bell. After the match The Empire beats down Yota, Tenzan makes the save but Khan hits him with 4 consecutive Mongolian Chops and his own TTD tombstone piledriver and the beat down continues on Tenzan before Kojima runs in and lays on top of Tenzan to protect his tag partner and friend. The Empire just start stomping the shit outta Kojima. Ospreay hits a running spinning elbow. Ospreay cut a promo the Empire stodd in unison as their opponents lay incapacitated on the mat. The match and the post match angle all but solidified The United Empire as the nes top heel stable they laid waste to their opponents this was an old school heel beatdown. Tenzan was taking out on stretcher for crying out loud. Gedo is a student of Memphis and this is how they would establish the new dominant heel stable back in Memphis.

Intermission

4.  Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, El Desperado and Kanemura w/Douki) vs Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, Tama Tonga and Tonga Roa w/Jedo): This starts off the way a gun match should properly start off, with a preemptive strike on the opposing team before the bell can ring. Capleton brought up that Taichi wants to know where the Iron Claw that Tama used on him 2 nights before but Tama was acting coy which lead to chaos ensuing. Needless to say Taichi and Tama stayed in the ring with Tama taking the brunt of the punishment until Roa made the save for his brother. Taichi fights out of a Bullet Club attack with as Capleton calls it a Greco-Roman choke hold on everbody including Jado. It all comes full circle as Taichi reapplies the choke hold onto Tama and the semblance of a match starts to form. As Suzuki-gun were taking their turns beating up Tama in their corner Capleton explained that when The Crazy Dog Man Iizuka was last seen he left his Iron Claw in the ring and Taichi grabbed it. I think Tama stole it after using it on Night 1 and now he won't give it back. So far the match is built around Taichi vs Tama over an Iron Claw. Gedo watches 80s Memphis. Jado hits Desperado in the back with his kendo stick leading to Bullet Club taking over as only Bullet Club could through obnoxious heel tactics. Taichi stormed the ring and went straight for Tama on the apron and Roa had to toss him out of the ring. Commentary alluded to the Claw having some sort of mystical possession on Taichi and its evident as he is laser focused borderline obsessed with Tama Tonga. Desperado gets a lengthy Ricky Morton in the heels corner even enduring a titty twister from resident sleaze ball El Phantasmo. An Eyepoke and slap to the face of Tonga Roa leads to a hot tag to Sabre. Sabre and Roa go back and forth for a hot minute and we are all better off because of it. Sabre's unorthodox submission based offense and Roa's power based offense really gelled. Sabre stretched Roa, Roa beat the hell outta Sabre. There was a spot in there where Sabre had Roa in a submission, Taichi had Tama in a hold and Kanemura had Phantasmo in a half crab then it went right back to Sabre vs Roa so Gedo took notes during his and Jedo's short lived ECW run I see. Kanemura and Phantasmo get tagged in. They traded moves, everybody ran in hit each other with there moves, it went back to 'Mura and Phantasmo, 'Mura swung his whisky bottle Phantasmo ducked, A couple near fall attempts from both men, Desperado distracts 'Mura. El Phantasmo Super Kicks Kanemura for the 3. Bullet Club leave the victors of this contest. After the match Ishimori fame-assers Desperado and runs away with the Jr Tag Straps along with Phantasmo. They toss the belts into the ring and Tama taunts Taichi over the Claw. This isn't over between gun and clizz.

5. Bullet Club (Evil, Jay White, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale w/ Dick Togo and Gedo) vs Chaos (Yano, Yoshi-Hashi, Ishii, Hirooki Goto and Okada): Theres been 9 members of Bullet Club in the last two matches. plus 3 at ringside. Thats 12 members of Bullet Club plus KENTRA whose isn't on the show so there's 13 members of Bullet Club. Has there ever been another point in time BC had this many Members at once? This is the "last night on Jay White's contract", Kevin and Capleton bring it up. Yano's worked all three nights. So has Owens and Fale. Bushi too (he shows up in the next match). Yano and Owens start. Owens teases tossing Yanos trophy into the crowd. Yano walks into a double team between Fale and Owens. it ends up with Yujiro and Goto int he ring and the trade offense on each other. Yujiro bites Goto's thumb. Cxhaos uses the number advantage and beats down BC 5 on 1. Dick Togo even takes a beating. Bullet Club takes the match over, Evil even doing his chair baseball swing on Okada. Jay White tags in and the commentators start talking about how it could be Jay Whites last night in New Japan. Spoiler, it wasn't.  Okada gets the Ricky Morton in the heels corner, including an extended showdown with Evil. Okada gets the hit tag to Ishii who mixes it up with Jay. They duck and reverse each others moves, Ishii hit a big scoop slam and White hit a crazy DDT that had Ishii doing a hand stand using only his neck. Chaos all run in and hit movez on White. Jay White hits a Blade Runner on Ishii gets greedy goes for a second Ishii reverses in and hits a Vertical Brainbuster for the 3. Choas wins. Yano never tagged in, once. 

6. LIJ (Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Naito, Shingo and Sanada) vs Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero & Sho), Master Wato,  Golden Ace (Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi) :  LIJ all made separate entrances, meet on the ramp and entered the ring together it was pretty rad. Bushi, Hiromu and Kota wrestled all 3 Nights. I'm sure others have wrestled all 3 nights but these are the handful i noticed. This set up at least 3 upcoming matches; Hiromu vs Sho, Shinjo vs Tanahashi and Ibushi vs Sanada. Well Ibushi vs Sanada was set up the day before but they got in the ring together and gave us a little test. They all did, thats something I like about New Japan they set up or build for upcoming single matches by putting the opponents of said match across the ring from in each other in a multi man tag match. I also dig that even though the crowd love them LIJ still wrestle like the heels. I don't know if Bushi and Wato have an upcoming program, I know they had wrestled each other in a Junior Tag Title match the night before so this could be an epilogue to that but after watching them mix it up in this match I wouldn't mind a one on one matchup between them.  For a 17 minute match this goes by fast, match breaks down into everyone running into the ring, hitting movez on each other, ends uo with Bushi and wato back in the ring alone. Bushi hits a mid rope front backstabber to Wato for the 3. LIJ wins. They further build to the upcoming single matches with stare downs between Champions and Challengers. Bushi cuts a promo challenging Wato to a match, called it. Also they are alluding to some friction between Naito and the rest of the group I think.

Edit: This was the better write up on the two I wrote. Almost a blessing in disguise that I lost the first one.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Web Conn