By Ryan Clingman
New Japan Pro-Wrestling February 11th 2013 Road to New Beginning
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Overall Thoughts:
This show in many ways was your default New Japan house show with many of the same matches that you have come to expect like the junior tag match and other multiman matches. There were some unique matches on the show with three or for building to the New Japan anniversary show. I found it interesting that they decided to book another tag match featuring Anderson and Tanahashi for the mainevent, but with the stipulation going into the anniversary show match with Devitt being that Tanahashi will relinquish the title if he loses, I wouldn't be surprised if Tanahashi enters the New Japan Cup looking to regain his title.
If you haven't seen some of the New Japan house shows over the last six months or so it could be fun for you to check this out, but for everybody else the only real key match here was the mainevent, with the majority of the show being pretty forgettable.
Match by Match:
1. BUSHI & Sho Tanaka vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
I don't mean this as an insult to any of the men involved, but from the outside looking in Watanabe, Tanaka and Takahashi all looked pretty indistinct wearing the same Young Lions gear. Obviously Watanabe is the broadest and stiffest of the three, but in some of the fast sequences I could see some people having to do a double take. It looks like they are going with Takahashi and Watanabe as a team for the time being, which seems like a good idea. The finish was quite unexpected as Watanabe had Tanaka in a Boston crab, Tanaka looked like he was going to fight his way out, but landed up submitting in 09:13. Takahashi, Watanabe and Tanaka all have promise.
** 1/2
2. Gedo, Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) & Jado vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) & Tiger Mask
This was pretty much a given going in, but they did everything that you would expect from an opening level multiman juniors match featuring the men involved. The heels got the heat on Liger until doing a quadrupedal hug spot, which allowed Liger to make the hot tag to KUSHIDA. Rocky Romero came in after a while with more lariats, but Tiger Mask eventually pinned Gedo with a Tiger Driver in 11:18. After the match Koslov and Romero cut promos saying how the titles were theirs. These junior matches are usually fun and work on the house shows, but after such a long period of doing pretty much the same match they really need to freshen up the formula. Plus it doesn't make much sense having Forever Hooligans ask for a title shot after they lost at the iPPV.
** 3/4
3. Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
Inoue and Ishii had a fiery chop exchange early on. Goto and HASHI went at it and Goto landed his fireman's carry over the knee neckbreaker, but HASHI kicked out and landed a big lariat for two. Ishii and Inoue were tagged in while Goto ad HASHI went at it on the floor. Inoue kicked out of a top rope brainbuster, and Goto ran in with a big lariat. Inoue landed his buster, but HASHI was in to break it up. Goto pulled off a plancha on HASHI, and a fired up Ishii went after Inoue with a stiff clothesline and brainbuster for the win in 12:33. I found it interesting that they beat Goto and Inoue while they are in the midst of a program with Sakuraba and Shibata. Hopefully this becomes part of a trend for Ishii, as he really is one of the most underutilized people in the company.
***
4. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan vs. TAKA Michinoku, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer & Hiro Tonai
Michinoku did his usual “lets get crazy!” spot before the bell, which was the signal for KES to jump the face team before the bell. Unlike at the pay-per-view Tenzan and Kojima did not avoid the ambush. Suzuki-gun had their way at the start of the match, but Kojima was tagged in and landed a flurry of chops on both Smith and Michinoku.. Kojima landed his ace crusher, but Suzuki-gun snuck behind the face team and knocked them off the apron. New Japan was still open for the tag, but in a spot, which was either unintentionally humorous or cringe worthy, Archer and or Kojima were out of place so Kojima had to wait in place for ages before Archer could break up the tag, only for Archer to get it seconds later. Tonga landed his splash and New Japan grabbed the Caribbean death grip on Archer, but Smith came in for the killer bomb for the win in 11:19.
** 3/4
5. Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano
Surprisingly enough they didn't stick to the usual formula of having Iizuka and Yano use foreign objects for most of the match and then have the babyface comeback. No, in fact they didn't even remove the turnbuckle pad. Instead, they had a pretty average match, the babyfaces ran wild at the end, but Yano landed a low blow and chain shot on Makabe for the DQ. Despite the fact that the Takahashi/Makabe match at the pay-per-view seemed like it was just a way to get both men on the show, it looks like they are continuing with the program by the looks of it. At least this way it made more sense than having Yano get disqualified after Iizuka and Yano have done their shtick.
** 1/2
6. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada w/ Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo w/ TAKA Michinoku
There were some great exchanges between Okada and Suzuki early on with Okada and Suzuki both screaming at each other to hit one another. Suzuki then began to choke Okada with the barricade at the same time that Mashimo went after Nakamura. Nakamura landed his big knee in the corner on Suzuki for two, Suzuki brushed his boot against Nakamura's face, which led to a strike exchange. In came Mashimo, and Nakamura managed to make the tag to Okada who grabbed a flapjack. The referee was pulled to the outside, which allowed Michinoku to run in with a boot on Okada. Okada however managed to land his dropkick and rainmaker on Mashimo for the win in 11:10. The match didn't go as long as I expected, but as a house show match it served its purpose building the Suzuki-gun/CHAOS program further.
*** 1/4
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Prince Devitt & Karl Anderson
I was surprised that they went with this tag match following the New Beginning show, considering the fact that Tanahashi had already defeated Anderson the previous night. It wasn't much of an issue, but these tags are normally used to set up title matches, which in a round about way is the case considering that Devitt was in the match and Tanahashi pinned him giving impetus to make their match a non-title match. Devitt and Anderson worked over Taguchi before he made the hot tag and Devitt was sent off of the apron to the floor by Tanahashi. Anderson landed the spinebuster for two and he and Tanahashi had a forearm exchange. Devitt dropped Taguchi and Tanahashi to the floor for the topé con giro. This allowed him to land the double foot stomp, he went for Bloody Sunday, but couldn't get Tanahashi up, which allowed Tanahashi to land the highfly flow. Devitt got the knees up off of a highfly flow. Taguchi landed the chicken wing face buster and Anderson was thrown to the floor, which allowed Tanahashi to land the highfly flow for the win in 14:11. They worked a very good match, even if the story going in and coming out is a little strange. Out of everything on the show this is the one thing that you should search for. After the match Tanahashi attempted to help Devitt up, but Devitt pushed him away, which led to a shoving contest and Devitt walking off. Tanahashi then did his long promo to close the show off and he and Taguchi did the air guitar, and Tanahashi sang.
*** 3/4
New Japan 41st Anniversary Show – Tanahashi vs. Devitt
New Japan are running their 41st Anniversary show on the 3rd of March at Korakuen Hall, which will not be on internet-pay-per-view, but will be broadcast live on Samurai TV in Japan. It is shaping up to be a pretty interesting card, particularly when it comes to the mainevent match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Prince Devitt.
The match was originally set up before New Japan's last pay-per-view, the New Beginning, when Devitt pinned Tanahashi in a tag match teaming up with Karl Anderson to face Tanahashi and Taguchi. The finish came as a major surprise, as it isn't customary for junior heavyweights to pin heavyweights in that kind of match, plus in theory it would set up a title match at the next show, which I know a lot of people were excited about. Well, Tanahashi got his pinfall back in a tag team match the night after the pay-per-view, but they are still doing the match at the Anniversary show, but not for the title.
Instead Tanahashi said that if he does not win his match he will vacate the title, which makes me think that they may be doing a similar thing to what All Japan did with Get Wild last year, as in have Tanahashi lose to Devitt and then enter the New Japan cup to reclaim the title. Initially I wasn't a big fan of it being non-title, as it took the edge off the match, but after they added the new stipulation I changed my stance somewhat. It makes logical sense for it to be non-title given the fact that Tanahashi pinned Devitt, and the nearfalls will be even more believable given the stipulation.
In terms of the match itself I am expecting nothing less than a phenomenal match. It is in many ways a dream match as you have Tanahashi who is probably the strongest case for best wrestler in the world, and Prince Devitt who is one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. Neither man ever has a bad match, and when they are given the mainevent they always shine so the chances of this match being great are very high.
The other big match on the show is Shinsuke Nakamura defending his Intercontinental Championship against one half of the IWGP Tag-Team champions, Lance Archer, in what should be a very intriguing match. It is a part of the ongoing Suzuki-gun/CHAOS feud and I fully expect Nakamura to retain. The other Suzuki-gun/CHAOS match on the show is an eight-man elimination match with Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Gedo and Jado versus Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kengo Mashimo and TAKA Michinoku. Given the fact that it is an elimination match it could be very good, as all of the members of CHAOS apart from Jado and most of the people on Suzuki-gun have the opportunity to take part in some great sequences.
I expect the match to come down to Okada and Suzuki with Suzuki getting the win in some devious way – that would make the most sense if they are building towards Okada finally getting the big win. Apart from your standard multiman matches on the show there is also a Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match with the Time Splitters versus Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask, in a match where I am not expecting anywhere close to greatness, but it should be a very fun match.
The card looks really good at this point, and I would recommend that you keep eye out for it.
By: Ryan Clingman Cubedcirclewrestling.com
New Japan Pro-Wrestling February 11th 2013 Road to New Beginning
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Overall Thoughts:
This show in many ways was your default New Japan house show with many of the same matches that you have come to expect like the junior tag match and other multiman matches. There were some unique matches on the show with three or for building to the New Japan anniversary show. I found it interesting that they decided to book another tag match featuring Anderson and Tanahashi for the mainevent, but with the stipulation going into the anniversary show match with Devitt being that Tanahashi will relinquish the title if he loses, I wouldn't be surprised if Tanahashi enters the New Japan Cup looking to regain his title.
If you haven't seen some of the New Japan house shows over the last six months or so it could be fun for you to check this out, but for everybody else the only real key match here was the mainevent, with the majority of the show being pretty forgettable.
Match by Match:
1. BUSHI & Sho Tanaka vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
I don't mean this as an insult to any of the men involved, but from the outside looking in Watanabe, Tanaka and Takahashi all looked pretty indistinct wearing the same Young Lions gear. Obviously Watanabe is the broadest and stiffest of the three, but in some of the fast sequences I could see some people having to do a double take. It looks like they are going with Takahashi and Watanabe as a team for the time being, which seems like a good idea. The finish was quite unexpected as Watanabe had Tanaka in a Boston crab, Tanaka looked like he was going to fight his way out, but landed up submitting in 09:13. Takahashi, Watanabe and Tanaka all have promise.
** 1/2
2. Gedo, Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) & Jado vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) & Tiger Mask
This was pretty much a given going in, but they did everything that you would expect from an opening level multiman juniors match featuring the men involved. The heels got the heat on Liger until doing a quadrupedal hug spot, which allowed Liger to make the hot tag to KUSHIDA. Rocky Romero came in after a while with more lariats, but Tiger Mask eventually pinned Gedo with a Tiger Driver in 11:18. After the match Koslov and Romero cut promos saying how the titles were theirs. These junior matches are usually fun and work on the house shows, but after such a long period of doing pretty much the same match they really need to freshen up the formula. Plus it doesn't make much sense having Forever Hooligans ask for a title shot after they lost at the iPPV.
** 3/4
3. Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
Inoue and Ishii had a fiery chop exchange early on. Goto and HASHI went at it and Goto landed his fireman's carry over the knee neckbreaker, but HASHI kicked out and landed a big lariat for two. Ishii and Inoue were tagged in while Goto ad HASHI went at it on the floor. Inoue kicked out of a top rope brainbuster, and Goto ran in with a big lariat. Inoue landed his buster, but HASHI was in to break it up. Goto pulled off a plancha on HASHI, and a fired up Ishii went after Inoue with a stiff clothesline and brainbuster for the win in 12:33. I found it interesting that they beat Goto and Inoue while they are in the midst of a program with Sakuraba and Shibata. Hopefully this becomes part of a trend for Ishii, as he really is one of the most underutilized people in the company.
***
4. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan vs. TAKA Michinoku, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer & Hiro Tonai
Michinoku did his usual “lets get crazy!” spot before the bell, which was the signal for KES to jump the face team before the bell. Unlike at the pay-per-view Tenzan and Kojima did not avoid the ambush. Suzuki-gun had their way at the start of the match, but Kojima was tagged in and landed a flurry of chops on both Smith and Michinoku.. Kojima landed his ace crusher, but Suzuki-gun snuck behind the face team and knocked them off the apron. New Japan was still open for the tag, but in a spot, which was either unintentionally humorous or cringe worthy, Archer and or Kojima were out of place so Kojima had to wait in place for ages before Archer could break up the tag, only for Archer to get it seconds later. Tonga landed his splash and New Japan grabbed the Caribbean death grip on Archer, but Smith came in for the killer bomb for the win in 11:19.
** 3/4
5. Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano
Surprisingly enough they didn't stick to the usual formula of having Iizuka and Yano use foreign objects for most of the match and then have the babyface comeback. No, in fact they didn't even remove the turnbuckle pad. Instead, they had a pretty average match, the babyfaces ran wild at the end, but Yano landed a low blow and chain shot on Makabe for the DQ. Despite the fact that the Takahashi/Makabe match at the pay-per-view seemed like it was just a way to get both men on the show, it looks like they are continuing with the program by the looks of it. At least this way it made more sense than having Yano get disqualified after Iizuka and Yano have done their shtick.
** 1/2
6. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada w/ Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo w/ TAKA Michinoku
There were some great exchanges between Okada and Suzuki early on with Okada and Suzuki both screaming at each other to hit one another. Suzuki then began to choke Okada with the barricade at the same time that Mashimo went after Nakamura. Nakamura landed his big knee in the corner on Suzuki for two, Suzuki brushed his boot against Nakamura's face, which led to a strike exchange. In came Mashimo, and Nakamura managed to make the tag to Okada who grabbed a flapjack. The referee was pulled to the outside, which allowed Michinoku to run in with a boot on Okada. Okada however managed to land his dropkick and rainmaker on Mashimo for the win in 11:10. The match didn't go as long as I expected, but as a house show match it served its purpose building the Suzuki-gun/CHAOS program further.
*** 1/4
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Prince Devitt & Karl Anderson
I was surprised that they went with this tag match following the New Beginning show, considering the fact that Tanahashi had already defeated Anderson the previous night. It wasn't much of an issue, but these tags are normally used to set up title matches, which in a round about way is the case considering that Devitt was in the match and Tanahashi pinned him giving impetus to make their match a non-title match. Devitt and Anderson worked over Taguchi before he made the hot tag and Devitt was sent off of the apron to the floor by Tanahashi. Anderson landed the spinebuster for two and he and Tanahashi had a forearm exchange. Devitt dropped Taguchi and Tanahashi to the floor for the topé con giro. This allowed him to land the double foot stomp, he went for Bloody Sunday, but couldn't get Tanahashi up, which allowed Tanahashi to land the highfly flow. Devitt got the knees up off of a highfly flow. Taguchi landed the chicken wing face buster and Anderson was thrown to the floor, which allowed Tanahashi to land the highfly flow for the win in 14:11. They worked a very good match, even if the story going in and coming out is a little strange. Out of everything on the show this is the one thing that you should search for. After the match Tanahashi attempted to help Devitt up, but Devitt pushed him away, which led to a shoving contest and Devitt walking off. Tanahashi then did his long promo to close the show off and he and Taguchi did the air guitar, and Tanahashi sang.
*** 3/4
New Japan 41st Anniversary Show – Tanahashi vs. Devitt
New Japan are running their 41st Anniversary show on the 3rd of March at Korakuen Hall, which will not be on internet-pay-per-view, but will be broadcast live on Samurai TV in Japan. It is shaping up to be a pretty interesting card, particularly when it comes to the mainevent match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Prince Devitt.
The match was originally set up before New Japan's last pay-per-view, the New Beginning, when Devitt pinned Tanahashi in a tag match teaming up with Karl Anderson to face Tanahashi and Taguchi. The finish came as a major surprise, as it isn't customary for junior heavyweights to pin heavyweights in that kind of match, plus in theory it would set up a title match at the next show, which I know a lot of people were excited about. Well, Tanahashi got his pinfall back in a tag team match the night after the pay-per-view, but they are still doing the match at the Anniversary show, but not for the title.
Instead Tanahashi said that if he does not win his match he will vacate the title, which makes me think that they may be doing a similar thing to what All Japan did with Get Wild last year, as in have Tanahashi lose to Devitt and then enter the New Japan cup to reclaim the title. Initially I wasn't a big fan of it being non-title, as it took the edge off the match, but after they added the new stipulation I changed my stance somewhat. It makes logical sense for it to be non-title given the fact that Tanahashi pinned Devitt, and the nearfalls will be even more believable given the stipulation.
In terms of the match itself I am expecting nothing less than a phenomenal match. It is in many ways a dream match as you have Tanahashi who is probably the strongest case for best wrestler in the world, and Prince Devitt who is one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. Neither man ever has a bad match, and when they are given the mainevent they always shine so the chances of this match being great are very high.
The other big match on the show is Shinsuke Nakamura defending his Intercontinental Championship against one half of the IWGP Tag-Team champions, Lance Archer, in what should be a very intriguing match. It is a part of the ongoing Suzuki-gun/CHAOS feud and I fully expect Nakamura to retain. The other Suzuki-gun/CHAOS match on the show is an eight-man elimination match with Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Gedo and Jado versus Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kengo Mashimo and TAKA Michinoku. Given the fact that it is an elimination match it could be very good, as all of the members of CHAOS apart from Jado and most of the people on Suzuki-gun have the opportunity to take part in some great sequences.
I expect the match to come down to Okada and Suzuki with Suzuki getting the win in some devious way – that would make the most sense if they are building towards Okada finally getting the big win. Apart from your standard multiman matches on the show there is also a Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match with the Time Splitters versus Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask, in a match where I am not expecting anywhere close to greatness, but it should be a very fun match.
The card looks really good at this point, and I would recommend that you keep eye out for it.
By: Ryan Clingman Cubedcirclewrestling.com
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