New Japan: New Beginning Pt. 1 PPV (9th Feb 2014)

[Gibby]

I haven't seen much about NJPW on here so this might go down like a lead balloon in concrete shoes but was compelled to start this thread because i. no one else has and ii. I've started to prefer NJPW over WWE. Not that I'm a massive puro mark and I still love WWE and prefer it to ROH (for example), but over the last year I've been drawn in by some excellent matches and done some research into the wrestlers' characters and gimmicks, I feel I understand it to a greater degree.

So, did anyone see night 1 on 9th Feb? Night 2 is occuring as I type but I couldn't shell $25 twice so I'll have to resort to other means to catch that tomorrow.

It's been getting a bit of a ripping from various write-ups, but I think I'm going to go through it match-by-match. Apologies if you know about the wrestlers but I might explain various characters and their stories. SPOILERS of course.

Kota Ibushi & BUSHI vs. El Desperado & Jushin Thunder Liger
So, with the PPV stretched over two cards, some of the matches were to continue to set up the feud - in this case IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ Kota Ibushi vs El Desperado, who I believe is Japanese but playing a luchadore. Good, quick wrestling all around and a decent opener. Desperado got the heel rub by pinning BUSHI, the match's equivalent of that guy on the bridge in Star Trek who is designated to die.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tama Tonga
Now I couldn't really figure out why this match occurred. Tonga is the greenest member the gaijin heel stable Bullet Club, but Suzuki seems to have unresolved beef with Toru Yano of CHAOS. A short match where Tonga got barely any offence, but entertaining enough and Suzuki's Gotch Piledriver is really impressive.

Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
Now tonnes of people have been bagging the Nagata/Sakuraba v Fake Gracies feud and I think part of it is to do with a lack of appreciation for the cultural standing of Sakuraba and the Gracies as well as the kind of worked-shoot matches Sakuraba enters. This match effectively managed to put everyone over in their role: Nagata as new GHC champ got to wrestle well, Sakuraba developed some new offensive moves that weren't just strokes, Yano got to play the heel troll role he has *mastered* and Iizuka beat up a commentator and spray-painted his face. The match ending was a deliberate recall to Wrestle Kingdom where a DQ was made after a choke-out using the judoka's gi - but it's not clear to the passing observer so it looked messy. The story is what mattered here in an arena-wide brawl, but it was pretty fun. Iizuka really does carry off the new George Steele bit quite well.

Special Singles Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Michael Tarver
Here's where the IWC started to really kick off (though I suppose I am part of it too). Tarver, the Nexus flop, has been selected by NWA President Bruce Tharpe as part of a line to SHOOT restore pride to the NWA belt WORK take over New Japan. Mixing Tenzan and Kojima into the programme works well as they're classy veterans who give shine to whatever they're carrying. Tarver has improved since his WWE days but he still managed to accidentally bust Tenzan hardway, all the while lumbering around like a man out of depth. That he got the win shows how seriously NJPW are taking this story, which is a shame because NWA don't seem to have the workers to make this into the hot feud it could become.

NWA World Heavyweight Title: Satoshi Kojima © vs. Big Daddy Yum Yum
So this follows the last match as Kojima, Tenzan's tag partner, is the NWA Champion having beaten Rob Conway and really improved the image of the belt by looking genuinely elated to have it presented to him by Harley Race. Sadly this match was not great despite Kojima's efforts because BDYY was a clumsy galoot in total indy loser get-up (leopard print trunks edged with magenta). If this feud is going to warm up then Tharpe is going to have to find a credible guy. That the PPV on 11/2 contains Tarver and BDYY again is something to dread.

Special Tag Match: Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Yujiro Takahashi
'Special' inasmuch as it sets up Naito v Ishii for the NEVER belt, which I think is the equivalent of the NXT title but maybe a bit more prestigious. Ishii is fantastic, about 5'7" but build like a fire hydrant, really intense and a great striker. Naito won the prestigious G1 tournament and challenged Okada for the big belt at Wrestle Kingdom but lost. His character is a bit lost on me, I must admit, - a generic babyface who doesn't really tell much of a story - though he won me over in this match. A really solid tag match all around, with Ishii getting the win over Honma.

Special 8 Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
Really good match here with the majority of Bullet Club taking on a motley crew of faces to set up the IWGP Jr Heavyweight match between Time Splitters and The Young Bucks which you've seen before on TNA, only substitute KUSHIDA for Chris Sabin. Everyone got to show off their offence and bumped around a lot for each other. The inclusion of big men stopped it from becoming overly spot-heavy too, or at least added to the variety - see where Fale gets reverse-whipped into his own corner and knocks all of his own teammates off the apron. I didn't actually remember the winner and it wasn't important though I just looked it up now: could have gone 5 minutes longer for my money, I was enjoying it that much.

Special Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
So I left the house for a bit to recharge, paused the video, and came back so I could enjoy the last three matches. There are a lot of strands to this match and arguably I was looking forward to it the most. Goto and Shibata SHOOT go way back to college and have an intertwined rise to their positions in the upper midcard. They feuded through much of 2013 but after their absolutely fantastic match at Wrestle Kingdom where they walked out arm-in-arm and became tag partners. This inflated the anger of Tanahashi, the King Babyface and champion of all things New Japan, saying if Goto wanted to mess around with Shibata then he could say goodbye to him - and he did. Does this mean Goto is going heel? Is Shibata going face? Is Tanahashi darkening? Who knows? It's a storm brewing and I love it because all the guys involved are shit-hot.

This is all forgetting that in the match is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and critics' choice Kazuchika Okada, who I am growing more and more impressed with by the day, and he is to face Goto for the title in the second half of this PPV. Shibata also faces YOSHI-HASHI, who was clearly there to lie down in this match. This match really puts over the newfound unity between Goto and Shibata, uniting in some new moves and some devastating kick combinations, as well as the general strength of the champion. Good little match that pushes the agenda of all.

IWGP Tag Team Title: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows © vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr
All-gaijin, all-heel semi-final. The crowd seem to love Anderson and Gallows though, and I read a lot about how good Anderson is and how Doc 'Luke' Gallows is holding him back. Personally I don't see either - they're a good match for one another as heavyset brutes. Archer & Smith Jr are a fine tag team despite neither finding much luck in the US. Champions retain in a saggy match that I found hard to care about much, though a nice spot where Smith/Archer delivered their finisher to their opponents and much of their entourage.

IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
These two are so popular they headlined the last PPV by popular demand whilst feuding for the secondary title. Tanahashi is the Cena of NJPW, except that he can wrestle spectacularly well. Nakamura is simply without compare and he might be my favourite worker alive today (though I read a criticism of his gimmick that said 'it's hard to have a heated feud with him' that I do agree with - his character is so detached and personality-driven that it's hard to see how he'd ever get riled by a babyface and their goody-antics. He must be an inspiration for Dean Ambrose though, all swagger and askew poses. Anyway, the word was that they only got 20 minutes headlining the last PPV so they didn't upstage the Okada-Naito title match. This match was a little better but was the same length, dynamic and result, with both men going at maybe 85% (which is still great) but not quite delivering an instant classic.

It's worth a watch if you're new to NJPW though I'd start with some random G1C matches. Their PPVs run for 4hrs min every - add in the 10 matches for the card happening now, you've got a lot of wrestling on your hands. Perhaps too much. Someone criticised the federation for being on a poor streak and I haven't seen enough of their previous output to comment. If this is poor then I can't wait to see great because this was a solid B+.

 

[Gibby]

NJPW New Beginning Part 2

Though my original post didn't exactly set the world or even Wrestlezone on fire, I'm going to write up the second night from Osaka in the same way and will probably spoiler most of the matches along the way.

This was actually the card I was looking forward to most what with the two major singles titles and the Jr Heavyweight tags on the line (as well as Naito's NEVER title and the #1 contendership for the NWA tag belts, mysteriously), but by dint of getting ill during the one on the 9th, I bought that and sat in my sick bed and opted to catch up with my job instead of watching the show on the 11th live, which is fine as it turns out because my internet was patchy as hell all morning.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson © vs. KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley
You might laugh when I say this, but after seeing a couple of Alex Shelley matches in TNA, I thought we had a candidate for the new Shawn Michaels. He's young, not bad looking, can wrestle with fliers and heavyweights, and best of all, he's got a slightly better sense of timing so he doesn't look like he's constantly in spotfests; he can make things more organic-seeming. Now, obviously he lacks in charisma and my prediction was wrong, but being a show opener in NJPW is a step up from TNA and he takes to it well.

Everyone in this match is fantastic. The Bucks sell all over the show and do their highlight reel offense, KUSHIDA nearly steals the show with some heartstopping handspring kicks and Shelley matches the workrate and performance of everyone. Even though I'm primarily a fan of heavyweights with good striking skills and plenty of suplexes, and even though these kind of cruiserweight tags can do my head in from time to time, this is an early contender for Tag Match of the Year for me, better than pretty much everything from Day 1. There's one spot that was just WOW: KUSHIDA dropped a Buck with a body slam and mounted the turnbuckle for the moonsault attempt...and changed his mind and did some kind of diving thing to the other Buck recovering outside the ring. Totally unexpected and well worth seeking out.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. YOSHI-HASHI
I love Shibata as previously discussed but maybe he could use two or three moves more and some good reversals for his opponents to do – that's the limitation of a strike-based offence, no matter how vicious and convincing they are. YOSHI-HASHI took the pin from Shibata's now friend Goto the other night and as the jobber of the CHAOS stable he knows he's got his hands full here. He goes after Shibata's kicking legs before the bell and attempts to leather him up and down the arena. Shibata sells on the outside, waits for the 20 count to get into high double figures, and then enters the ring and kicks the fuck out of YOSHI-HASHI for four or five minutes before getting the pin. There was a lovely bit of direction as Shibata entered, him in foreground, the gigantic poster advertising Goto next to him in the background, totally deliberate and subtle stuff setting up their relationship and ongoing potential.

Suzukigun (Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr). vs. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga)
OK so this is why Suzuki fought Tonga – Suzukigun, the heel stable led by Minoru Suzuki – are feuding with Bullet Club in a battle of the heel stables. This match is mostly a brawl on the outside with some moments of fleeting goodness spoiled by inability to segue; witness as Smith Jr holds up Gallows in a vertical suplex for ages, drawing the crowd to gasp at this physical feat, and then watch as Smith Jr loses the crowd by following this up with a crap splash attempt. Suzukigun get the win, Bullet Club run holding the heavyweight tag belts claiming 'this is all that matters'. Fair point.


Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale
A solid but unspectacular big man/little man tag match between Bullet Club's leader and his bodyguard taking on Fale's opponent at Wrestle Kingdom 8 and seemingly random cruiserweight Taguchi. Makabe won the overlong Last Man Standing match with Fale, still pretty green and his offense a little bit dated. Throughout this match it felt like Taguchi, usually the pin candidate, was getting the best of many manouvres and sure enough he stole the win over Devitt, reversing Devitt's finisher into a pinning predicament for the 3. This decision should shake up the Jr Heavy division a bit because Devitt can't go back to feuding with Ibushi again, and besides he might either be off or moving into the heavys.

NWA World Tag Team Title #1 Contender Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Big Daddy Yum Yum & Michael Tarver
Ten-Koji are heroes for agreeing to this cross-promotional boulder-carrying mission. The NWA Tag belts were introduced in a two-fall match at Power Struggle 2013, the first fall taking the NWA Tags and the second fall the IWGP (won by Archer and Smith Jr). Rob Conway & Jax Dane are the present champs, not that they are mentioned once here or even present. And sadly, because Ten-Koji won, we'll have to see them again. Tarver and BDYY are just not good enough at this level, despite the great hype Bruce Tharpe gives them in his customary heel gaijin pidgin-Japanese promo. What they're booking toward I have no idea but I'm not sure how much I can take because Tenzan is broken down and slow and Kojima is good but occasionally stoops to the level of his opponents. Tenzan gets the win back over Tarver by making him tap. Tenzan then cuts a half-English, half-Japanese promo telling Tharpe to bring his champs over because Ten-Koji are going to ruin them (or something).

Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Daniel Gracie & Rolles Gracie
Despite the things I said about the IWC ripping this match at Wrestle Kingdom 8, it wasn't very good to watch without knowing the storyline. I now know the storyline and can say this rematch was even worse with a doubly-incomprehensible ending. Firstly, Sakuraba took a clean loss to a Gracie. Then Toru Yano and Iizuka came out to steal the limelight a bit, for no apparent reason. I can't make any clearer the distinction between a quality stiff worked match and a crappy worked shoot mach like this. Bury all of that 00s Inoki shit in a massive ditch please.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi
There's no way a match with these four could suck and they proved it. Takahashi, working a sort of Venis/Martel/Ziggler gimmick, gets to look really good with some strong offensive moves on company ace face Tanahashi including a wicked powerbomb into the corner. Nakamura has fun with the whole thing, really working his character skills and just being there at the right moment. Liger, the elder statesman, doesn't put a foot wrong either. It's too short to be a classic but it's well-worked match. The heels work Tanahashi's arm but he makes a comeback and gets the pin on Takahashi with his frog splash and the three major matches of the night have been given a fine lead-in.



IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi © vs. El Desperado
One of those belts on a hot streak, always seeming to produce fantastic matches like the GHC title in the early-00s TNA X Division title in the mid-00s or the NWA Heavyweight belt in the pre-WCW days. Ibushi, in his third reign as champion (though you feel with Devitt in limbo, set to be his longest), is an excellent guy to put the strap on. He's young. He's got that Japanese boy band look, like a thinner Tanahashi. And blow me down can he wrestle.

El Desperado is no slouch either and these two have a ding-dong back and forth that begins with a handshake and ends with respect. El Desperado establishes his technical and mat superiority early on, then devastates Ibushi with a tope that sends El Desperado flying into the crowd and across the commentary desk. Ibushi comes back strong, with convincing strikes that suggest a possible future in the heavyweight division, kicking out of El Desperado's finisher and planting his own set-up and finisher for the first defence of his title. A really good match that sets Ibushi up nicely, though I expect El Desperado will leave and the worker will come back as his real self (I mean, his finisher is ruined now, first real match and it's kicked out of?).

NEVER Openweight Title: Tetsuya Naito © vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Naito, Naito, Naito. According to general consensus, the man suffers from Del Rio Syndrome. All the tools in the bag to work a top line match, has been given a big push and a run on a belt and the win of a prestigious event – but can't make the crowd fall in love with him. He couldn't even headline Wrestle Kingdom despite challenging for the big belt. For one of those two guys, you can't see that ever changing. For Naito, the signs are that NJPW's push is paying off. Ishii on the other hand is well-regarded and -liked despite being third rung in a heel stable with Nakamura and Okada. His matches are unglamorous and brutish and he was left off the Wrestle Kingdom card altogether for reasons I have yet to ascertain. There's a stylistic clash here and I was thinking that this might disappoint.

I could not have been more incorrect. Naito switches styles to maximum effect, taking the match to Ishii with some stiff offence and headbutts. It might look slightly unrealistic, what with Ishii being built like a postbox and Naito in the hinterland between cruiser and heavyweight, but as a tactical ploy AND to bring this match screaming and wailing to the boil it is a masterstroke. When Naito is on top, he switches back to his all-out attack, dropping bombs from above, reversing this way and that. His near falls are the best I have seen since Michaels too – at two points in the match the crowd think that he has been covered for the full three but watching back shows he did beat the count. The match never leaves the ring (iirc) and goes for longer than 20 minutes at a guess and is enthralling all the way to the glorious finish line where Ishii grabs the win with a series of devastating moves. A fantastic encounter. Instead of celebrating, the phlegmatic Ishii limps away, selling the pain of the battle. Early MOTY contender.

IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada © vs. Hirooki Goto
It is my contention that the IWGP Heavyweight Championship is the most prestigious belt in professional wrestling today, and behind The Streak, the second most important thing for two men to have a match over. Now the WWE titles are unified and hopes are pinned on Daniel Bryan to have a successful run with the title this dynamic may change. But due to the IWGP always being contested by fine wrestlers, with transparent and clean booking producing definitive winners, that title gets the nod from me.

Goto is out first with his new/old friend Shibata. Usually the bridesmaid, winning tournaments but not belts, Goto is off the back of a great 2013 where he posted some classic matches before ducking of the year early with a broken jaw. Now fully recovered, it's not believed 100% that he can do it here, but there's always that chance that if Okada is complacent or arrogant in the face of Goto's workmanlike ethic then he will get absolutely powersmashed. Okada's entrance is pure WTF, mixing not only an animatronic raptor but a sword that Ser Gregor Clegane would consider a bit big. The debate is over for me whether Okada is a worthy champion: he is. He works great matches and his flaws (charisma) are covered well and also being worked upon.

This was a great match with lots of fantastic psychology and periods of domination for both men. Okada turned some of his spots inside out; where he gets slapped on the ropes and reverses and then refuses to slap, instead tapping gently as if to mock the opponent – he doesn't do – he just charges into Goto, treating him like a respected and feared warrior. It's a Japanese main event style match with a hot crowd and plenty of big crunching moves and awesome spots. Okada comes out on top with his as-yet unbroken finisher, the Rainmaker Lariat. Shibata challenges Okada after the match but Okada tells him to do well at the New Japan Cup to have a chance.


Day 2 was much much better than Day 1 on reflection, but the whole thing – though fatiguing – contained some top quality work.Next time around I'd like to see more quality control. I'll give Day 2 a solid A and call the whole thing an A-.