Continued from the action of Night One…
David Finlay, KUSHIDA and Jushin Thunder Liger vs. The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu) and Yoshi Tatsu
Jushin Liger is 50+ at this point, and he’s still popular with crowds as ever. Part of that I feel is how his mask and full body suit obscure his face so his aging isn’t as noticeable, not to mention how well conditioned he is physically, and his charisma and personality. For a respected veteran, he’s consistently one of the funniest guys in New Japan. Tatsu and the Shrimp Boys get booed every time they play to the crowd after Liger’s team does, in a nice Bugs/Daffy spot.
Most of everyone gets to hit their signature bits, and KUSHIDA gets in a nice springboard back elbow onto two opponents. Finlay absolutely creams Yoshi with a sliding European uppercut, then all three members of Liger’s team lock in submissions on Team Tatsu for a triple tapout victory, which is a cool visual.
US Title Tournament, semi-finals match: Jay Lethal vs Kenny Omega
In wrestling, the taped ribs are like a big target on your back and a simple visual cue to the crowd that you’re the struggling hero in peril, and Omega is a perfect bad guy as he works Lethal’s sore spot over. Jay of course won’t go quietly, and hits Kenny with a Lethal Injection for a near win, but Omega rolls outside only to be hit by Lethal’s multiple suicide dives.
Jay then drops a diving elbow before locking in a figure four leglock, and Omega struggles with all his might but finally makes the ropes. Kenny then gets a powerbomb and nails Lethal with a V-Trigger knee for two, which gets the crowd chanting for him. Lethal struggles in spite of his injuries, but Omega hits the One Winged Angel to advance.
US Title tournament, semi-finals match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Tomohiro Ishii:
ZSJ grinds on Ishii’s limbs to the best of his ability and bends them in visually unsettling ways, but the Stone Pitbull keeps coming at him with lariats and headbutts. As rough as Ishii can be in his matches, he probably has one of the best looking brainbusters I’ve ever seen, which gives him the win here to advance. He’s crazy strong so he can get the guy up fast, then he tucks their head in and he puts ZSJ down perfectly, in such a fluid motion. It gives the illusion of a full head-drop without hurting his opponent.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) vs. Juice Robinson, Jay White, Dragon Lee, Titan, and Volador Jr.
I’m not sure what Hiromu exactly has a plush of that he’s carrying to the ring, looks like a weird mutant cat. Juice continues to look strong, and he gives Sanada a Marty Scurll-esque bird taunt at one point. Some fun sequences between Hiromu and Dragon Lee, as usual for them. Eventually BUSHI takes the fall (I called it) as Jay White levels him with a Flatliner for the win.
The Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa) and Hangman Page vs. Michael Elgin and War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe)
If I was booking a wrestling company, I’d gather however much cash I needed to sign up War Machine. They ‘re athletic and can hang with a variety of opponents, while they have a crazy and fun look to them that I think is really marketable if NJPW keeps using them wisely. There’s a funny exchange between G.O.D and Big Mike as Tanga and Tama bark insults at him while Elgin tees off on them with forearms. Mike then eats a neckbreaker, only for Hanson to smash G.O.D with a great top rope senton. Finish comes when Page nails Rowe with a lariat and Rite of Passage for the three count. A decent little tag match.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) (C) vs. Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero)
Sure, the Bucks like to do a ton of flips in their matches, but they tend to be well-timed flips that make sense with the context of the match’s storyline. Add that to how great their character work is (including mouthing off to the camera after successful moonsaults- “Did you see that? That was badass!”), and how strong they make their opponents look. Their reputation as spot monkeys I feel is a bit unfair, because I see a ton of good old school fundamentals in their work.
One consistent key spot that shows up in Bucks matches is when they get too overconfident for their own good, and they make a miscommunication. RPG Vice finally turns the tide when Romero gets Nick and Matt to bonk into one another, then countering a double superkick with a one-man double lariat. But the pendulum swings again as the Bucks hit Romero with another superkick, then stereo top rope dives on Beretta- but it only gets two, and the shocked expression on Matt’s face is hilarious. But as hard ad Vice fights on, each team member succumbs to the Bucks’s Meltzer drivers- a flipping combo into a piledriver- and sharpshooter holds for the Bucks of Youth to retain.
Bad Luck Fale, Cody, Yujiro Takahashi and Marty Scurll vs. The Briscoes, Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada
Fale has a MAKE JOBBERS GREAT AGAIN shirt, so someone please needs to tell him that the Great Again meme isn’t exactly the cool thing anymore. Lots of WOOP WOOPing early on another example of Scurll getting over massively with the fans despite his role as a heel. Mark Briscoe chops Marty crazy hard in the chest, sending the Villain scampering into the arms of Cody, who tags himself in to massive boos. Marty’s too colorful for a lot of people not to support, I guess.
Cody hits a picture perfect arm drag from the top rope on Ospreay, then the smaller Bullet Club members do Rick Rude hip grinds while Fale just sits on poor Ospreay. Fale eventually has some fun exchanges with Okada, dodging the flying elbow before responding to a dropkick with his lariat. Ospreay is pretty much the whipping boy in this match, as Scurll gives him his patented finger break before he blocks Okada’s german suplex attempt….by opening his umbrella. He’s got a Penguin motif, you see. Cody catches Ospreay with the CrossRhodes for the win, which is a needed rebound for him after his loss to Okada.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Billy Gunn
Wrestling fans call Tanahashi “the John Cena of New Japan” for good reason. They’re both unironic babyface wrestlers, they’ve both held their promotions’ world title a record number of times (Tanahashi is a seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, while Cena is tied with Ric Flair stateside at sixteen), and they’re both known for having great matches with a variety of opponents. This isn’t the usual fast paced affair one would expect from Tanahashi, as Gunn- who still wrestles well, to take nothing away from him- is older and slower than he used to be.
It’s still a pretty fun battle though, and the double “I’ll yank down your tights” spot was cute. Gunn’s “Fame-Ass-er” legdrop to Tanahashi’s neck gets a two count, then Tanahashi takes out Gunn with one High Fly Flow to win. Often, like Cena with his Attitude Adjustment, Tana will use more than one Flow splash in his more “epic” bouts.
US Title Tournament, Finals: Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
At the end of this tournament to crown NJPW’s first US Heavyweight Champ, left standing is a man from Japan and a man from Canada. We all know how tough as nails Ishii is, but people are sleeping on Omega so far as the physical gifts of this man, proven when he backflips out of Ishii’s german suplex attempt on the floor before hitting him with a successful snap suplex of his own. Then later he hits a rolling fireman’s carry slam, followed by a moonsault.
These kinds of stiff matches can gradually take a toll on your body, and at some point I think Kenny might want to consider toning down his style a bit so he can hopefully have a longer career. His charisma is enough to take him far on its own- look at Cody’s late father Dusty Rhodes, he wasn’t the best athlete in the world, but he was so crazy and energetic you couldn’t ignore him.
The same goes for Ishii, who Omega hits with a dragon suplex onto a table outside. At first I wasn’t sure they were actually going to go through with that spot, like when Ishii bit the top rope to block it (that got a big pop from the crowd), but they went through with it anyway, and both guys looked like they were knocked loopy.
Omega’s One Winged Angel is blocked by Ishii with a brutal DDT, followed by a lariat that sends Omega flipping. An insane looking superplex only gets two, as does another killer lariat, but then Omega hits a brainbuster of his own for two. Ishii answers back with his own O.W.A for two, and it’s an impressive one. After lord knows how long of both men unloading everything in their arsenal, Omega finally hits a One Winged Angel for the three count and the first Us Heavyweight Title. This most definitely will give him huge momentum heading into the G1 Climax later this month, but he’s got a lot on his plate in terms of matchups, including a third match with Okada.
My overall thoughts? This is more or less a “westernized” version of Japanese wrestling, as Gedo draws influence from things here in the United States like crazy entrances, cool bad guy stables and dirty tactics, but it’s in moderation. None of the angles here feel convoluted, and New Japan’s promotion style does a nice job in both making the roster feel like legit contenders, and the championships as incredibly important. Because of this it’s easy to get invested in the show, everything is treated as a big deal. Combined with the high quality of the in-ring portion, I think these shows are a good representation of a promotion that’s really hitting its stride. Easily recommended, even if you’re new to pro wrestling in general.