NJPW Repoto: The Road to Dontaku, April 17, 2015

The Road to DONTAKU was a great show that continued to develop rivalries between the wrestlers on the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster, while building excitement toward the next big shows. Along with Dontaku on May 3^rd, Wrestling hinokuni (Fire Country) will take place on April 29, also available to watch live on the NJPW World live stream. It will feature matches that help to build toward Dontaku, along with a main event that is a destination long built to in itself: Togi Makabe challenging for the Openweight Never title held by CHAOS’ Tomohiro Ishii.

The matches on this show were presented in a logical order, with the rookies getting a chance to show their progress in the opening matches, followed by action involving the smaller Junior heavyweights. This was followed by the players in the main event picture taking each other on after the intermission. It was no lo-fi production either, with full commentary, backstage interviews, and varied camera work in effect.

Here’s how the show went down.

Tiger Mask VS Sho Tanaka

During the Match: Sho hit serious chops and slaps to the chest of the veteran Tiger Mask, who was against the ropes. Tiger Mask would catch Sho mid-run with a rough kick to the gut. Sho would fire back with a Gut Wrench Suplex. 

Tanaka locked in a Boston Crab but Tiger Mask got out of it. Tiger Mask hit a sidekick to Tanaka's head for a near fall. Tiger Mask ended the match by hooking in the Double Underhook Suplex Bomb for the pinfall victory.

After the Match: Tiger Mask thumps his chest and gives a show approval for the rookie who has been working his way onto the card.

Macara Dorada and Ryohei Komatsu VS Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Beretta)

Before the Match: Dorada’s robe is sparkling, showing off some eye catching gold tones. Komatsu comes in and shoves Berretta. The entrance music for Dorada is pretty memorable.

During the Match: Dorada is thrown towards the corner and executes a very fluid walk across the second rope into a dropkick from the second rope to Romero's head. Beretta works in some Young Bucks-like hijinks, rolling back-and-forth along the ropes to tease a bit move, Then he slingshots over the ropes into a Leg Drop spot but but merely lands on his feet and stomps Komatsu’s head.

Komatsu hits his flying forearem off the ropes on Beretta. He locks in a Double Leg Boston Crab. Romero breaks it up, but only after three effortful kicks to Komatsu’s chest. Romero catches himself in between the top and middle rope to gloat, but Dorado Drop Kicks him to the floor. Dorada misses with a Tope. RPG hit the Strong Zero double team finisher on Komatsu for the 3 count and win. 

Yuji Nagata and Ryusuke Taguchi vs Manabu Nakanishi and Captain New Japan

During the match: Nagata and Nakanishi start off. After an even exchange, Taguchi and the Captain get in the ring to face each other. Taguchi mocks champion Kenny Omega’s video game referencing Time Stopper. Captain New Japan then successfully applies the Time Stopper on Taguchi and Nagata but Nagata breaks the spell with a kick. Captain New Japan landed punches to Taguchi's ass, threatening to weaken his ‘funky weapon’ attacks. Nakanishi hits Taguchi with his own ‘Funky Weapon.’ The words ‘hip replacement’ immediately comes to mind seeing the older wrestler thrust like this.

Nakanishi gets Nagata into the Torture Rack. Taguchi goes to break it up with his rear thrust but Nakanishi counters it with an Atomic Drop. Taguchi thrusts his ‘Funky Weapon’ on Captain New Japan followed by Nagata hitting his Backdrop Hold (a bridging Bely-to-Belly Suplex) for the 3 count. 

Tencozy (Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyuki Tenzan) and KUSHIDA VS Kenny Omega, Cody Hall, and Yujiro Takahashi (no Mao)

Before the Match: As the Bullet Club comes out, Yujiro is not accompanied by Mao, perhaps suggesting representation by Paul Heyman; she only works the big shows.

During the Match: KUSHIDA starts against Omega. The Junior Heavyweight Champion offers the handshake to the partner of his opponent at Dontaku. KUSHIDA agrees but Omega pulls his hand away mockingly. At one point, Cody threw KUSHIDA way up in the air to land disturbingly on the back of his head. Omega attempted a brain buster on KUSHIDA, hoisting him into a vertical position, not once but twice before KUSHIDA escaped. Tenzan tries to take down Cody with the Mongolian Chops but can't bring the towering Bullet Club rookie down. He runs at Hall and is greeted by big boot to the head. Kojima escapes the Hall’s attempt at the Razor’s Edge. Then KUSHIDA lands a dropkick from the top rope on Hall. A Ten-Koji Cutter is used on Yujiro. Kojima hits one of his massive lariats on Cody hall to pick up the 123.

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Yuji Nagata is a guest on commentary. He’s wearing a new t-shirt featuring the white letters NGT and TNG against a lblue background. Nice clear and bold propaganda. There are interviews with both Makabe and Ishii who calmly discusses their upcoming Never title match at Wrestling Fire Country. It leads one to wonder how long that calm will last, with the two on opposing sides of a big 5 on 5 tag team match in the main evwent of the night.

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Tetsuya Naito and Tomoaki Honma VS Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows

Before the Match: Anderson comes out with a conventional look, thinking well-groomed may be the way to Maria’s heart, while Gallows rocks a blackened skull face mask and a metal military style helmet with a bullet club sticker on the side. Along with the army greens, his look eschews mechanized Nazi zombie chic.

During the Match: Gallows rains punches down on Honma and uppercuts him in the corner, while on the outside Anderson takes it to Naito all the way up in the stands. Naito hits Gallows with a reverse DDT from a crouching position, and attempts the Corner Leg Sweep & Slingshot Dropkick in the corner but Gallows catches him in a choke and pushes him to the opposite corner.

Anderson mocks Naito’s ‘Stardust Genius eye’ motion and hits repeated uppercuts to him against the ropes. Naito recovers from this with a big Tornado DDT. Anderson hits a bicycle kick on Honma, and he and Gallows attempt the Magic Killer but Honma kicks out.  Fans are crying for the Kokeshi (Head Butt). He sets up for the falling Kokeshi off the top turnbuckle but Anderson pops up and catches it, turning it into the Gun Stun in an amazing looking spot. The Bullet Club’s Heavyweight Tag Team champs hit the Magic Killer finisher on Honma for the win.

After the match: Anderson professes more love for Maria, which gallows protests. Gallows even brandishes his fist exclaminig that he will kill Maria. 

Kazuchika Okada and Gedo VS 'Bad Luck' Fale and Toma Tonga

During the match: Fans are cheering for Okada right from the get-go. 

Gedo gets the better of Tonga with punches until Fale grabs him in a chokehold from the ring apron, allowing Tonga to get the upper hand. Falet lifts Gedo way up in the air with a choke in both hands, throws him down and goes for a halfhearted pin by just standing on him with 1 foot. He continues demeaning Gedo by sitting down on his back, thus completely immobilizing Okada's advocate and CHAOS associate.

Later, Okada nips up after hitting Falet with the DDT, and then lifts the big Samoan up for a Body Slam. He attempts a move from the top turnbuckle but it's interrupted by Tonga. Falet attempts a choke slam on both Okada and Gedo but they fight out of it and sidestep Tonga who knocks his Bullet Club associate off the ropes. Okada hits the Rainmaker on Tonga for his team's victory.

Hiroki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata, Kota  Ibushi VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba, YOSHI-HASI

Before the Match: Entrances our exchange with members of both teams taking turns entering the ring to their individual entrance themes. When Kazushi Sakuraba came out, we are shown a big fan in similar looking ring gear and a mask holding up what looked to be a homemade title. Unlike WWE officials, nobody forced him to change out of his costume due to having too much fun. There is a lengthy stare down between Ishii and Makabe as Goto’s entrance music hits. He comes to the ring before the final participant Shinsuke Nakamura heads to the ring holding his Intercontinental Championship belt.

During the match: This is a fast-paced and, aptly enough, chaotic match. Difficult to recall in order so I will just mention some of the highlights.

- Things started with Nakamura mocking Goto, giving him the binocular eyes, what I like to call ‘I can’t see you.’ As he walks toward his corner, Goto attacks him from behind. His offense is evaded by Shinsuke who plays it cool and jokey. An irritated Goto gets him into his team’s corner and hits a downpour of forearms till Ibushi tags himself in, urging his partner to calm down.

- Yano avoids Tanahashi, and decided to tag in…the referee, ‘red shoes’! who teases mixing it up with Tanahashi before tagging Yano back in. 

- Nakamura and Goto once again tease an insanely dangerous looking Suplex spot with each vying for control outside the ring by the fans. This could play out with big pay off when they face each other in the main event of Dontaku.

- Ishii and Makabe exchanged forearms and headbutts. At one point Ishii hit a huge brain buster off the top turnbuckle onto the challenger to his title. 

- Shibata pulled Sakuraba’s shirt up over his head, making him indeed resemble tomodachi (The Friend) of 20^th Century Boys as opposed to sadakiyo, who his varied masked entrances usually call to mind. After Shibata landed several kicks, Sakuraba got the upper hand and, without bothering to fix his shirt, locked in the Kimura Armbar. Goto broke up the hold but had to land several kicks before Sakuraba even considered letting go of the hold.  

- Shinsuke was ready to take out Goto with a bomaye but Tanahashi jumped in  and interrupted with a Sling Blade.

- Goto had YOSHI-HASHI alone in the ring, and you can pretty much call the youngest CHAOS member the sacrificial lamb being marched up to the slaughter at this point. But, Goto tagged in an eager Kota Ibushi. Ibushi and YOSHI-HASHI went back and forth. At one point, a pin attempt by the fledgling CHAOS member was interrupted by an explosion of bodies flying around the ring. After the melee cleared, Ibushi was able to hit his Phoenix Splash on YOSHI-HASHI for his team to take the win.  

After the Match: Goto fired verbal shots at Nakamura once again, whose binoculars turned into a monocle as he held his intercontinental title belt over his shoulder with his other hand. He then backed up the ramp, still playing at not taking Goto seriously as a threat. Makabe took the mic next and made his intentions to take the Never title from Ishii clear as the reigning champ walked back up the ramp.

Rarely would one consider a 5 on 5 match at a main event level, but these wrestlers worked amazingly well together to put on a great show mixing comedy, athletic displays and HEAT between enemies. The match did exactly what it set out to do: give a preview of the conflicts that will take place at Wrestling Fire and Dontaku, which have been brewing in various forms for some time. Things will not exceed a certain level of intensity but the excitement will come pretty close and create plenty of anticipation for the upcoming big shows.

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In the back, the members of the winning team each entered the interview area to cut promos on their rivals from team CHAOS. It was orderly, as if each were waiting in line to get their school picture taken.

Nagata and the commentary team reflect on the evening as, one of my favorite elements of the New Japan World broadcasts, the fan interaction with the camera unfolds. Surely informed by some savvy world subscribers who realize their chance to insert themselves into digitally captured history, fans have been doing a number of their own charmingly polite shows behind the broadcasters. One adorably happy go lucky pro wrestling fan couple pulled off every signature gesture, from Shinsuke’s guns blazing to the Rainmaker pose to Yano’s shrug, finally ending in Nagata’s salute as he did likewise in the forground.

Stay tuned for a combined preshow of Wrestling Fire Country (hinokuni) and Dontaku, as well as reports following both shows.

Twitter: @mondocurryMARK

Facebook: MondoProWrestling

Your feedback is appreciated.

NXT Toki エネクスチ時 2: April 15, 2015

This edition of NXT was a time for the show to regain momentum. After the looming spectacle of Wrestlemania, right before which Kevin Owens successfully kept Finn Balor at bay, and a show celebrating the NXT’s presence at Mania and Hideo Itami achieving a spot on the card, this week’s show would move some programs forward while introducing some newer and potentially major players to the field.

Solomon Crowe VS CJ Parker

Before the match: Showing no illusion of the show being live, the recent WWE deserter CJ Parker came to the ring holding up one of his environmentally friendly, fan unfriendly signs. Solomon Crowe came out to face him, still working the hacker identity as he slammed his palms on a n LEDNXT display along the side of the ring until it turned to static.

During The match: started out quickly with Parker raining fists down on Crowe in the corner until Crow reversed things and hit several forearms. Crowe dived through the ropes to hit Parker head on and knock him down on the ramp. After a bit, the match slowed down dramatically to an uneven pace. Parker is bleeding from the mouth, and some unintentional damage may have been done early on. CJ hit a Senton on Crowe. Another attempt would be blocked when Crowe put his boots up. Parker hit a powerful clothesline and an impressive scissors kick in Crowe. Crowe would recover, though, and hit a head butt from the top turnbuckle directly onto Parker’s leg before pulling CJ’s leg back over his head and overextending it for a submission finisher called the Stretch Muffler. Crowe gets the tap out victory.

After the match: Crowe promises that the show is just beginning. Despite a bit of an awkward spot, this was a good match showing off some unique offense in Crowe’s back pocket and the ability to work a fast paced match.

Baron Corbin VS Steve Cutler

Before The Match: Corbin comes out to his music, with the lesser known Steve Cutler waiting in the rain. The announcer notes Cutler's background as a Marine.

During the Match: There is a countdown taking place amidst the crowd, but to a much lesser extent than previously. After a few punches, Corbin hits End Of Days finisher for the win.



After a bit of an absence. Corbin’s return did not come with anything new or different in tow. The reaction to him in the crowd has fizzled drastically. Something new is going to be needed to get his mojo back on. A heel turn may even hold some interesting potential for the quiet, brooding young talent.

Sami Zayn is interviewed in the back about his upcoming match with Rhyno after the former ECW champion challenged the former NXT champion. He talks about how Rhyno wants to cut the line and put himself directly into the NXT title picture. He says that there is a lot of this going out lately, a subtle reference to Kevin Owens winning the belt from him. He says he will not let Rhyno or anyone else do the same thing. This is a logical succinct promo showing that Zayn can speak in a calm register and still be compelling on mic.




Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady VS Sawyer Fulton and Angelo Dawkins

Before the Match: The team of ‘Big Cass’ and Enzo, accompanied by Carmela, came out to the ramp to a chorus of ‘How ya doin?’ chants in the crowd, and talked about how Blake and Murphy have something they want, the NXT tag team championship, and they plan on taking it.
In the ring, Amore tried out a number of catchphrases, saying that he has ‘spectacular vernacular’ and is ‘the Michael Jordan of  jargon.’

Dawkins and Fulton came out to the ring, and no that is not Rick Steiner. It is Angelo Dawkins rocking collegiate wrestling headgear the likes of which we haven’t
seen since the days of Rick Steiner, the Steiner that was not recently accused of threatening to murder Hulk Hogan. Wait, didn’t Marcus Louis rock the protective headgear for a minute after losing his hair in his feud with Amore and Cassady? How’s he doin’?

During The Match: Cass launches Enzo into Fulton. Fulton and Dawkins double-team Amore, lifting him up and planting him face first onto the mat.

On the outside, the tag team champs Blake and Murphy came to ringside and gave Carmela a pair of very small rose bouquets. She takes them, reluctantly at first, but becomes ever more taken with the gesture.
Cass hit a splash into the corner onto Dawkins followed by a bodyslam. Cass then lifted Amore off the turnbuckle and drops him into an assisted splash onto Dawkins for the win.



After The Match: They exchange words with Carmela about the flowers from the tag champions, none too thrilled about their advances.

Alex Riley is in the locker room and says that he will get revenge on Owens. His eyes are noticeably large, and appear to be bulging thanks to some kind of color enhancer. It gives an effective enough look of intensity in this short promo setting up for a rematch on next week’s show.

Blue Plants VS Dana Brooke

Before The Match: Blue pants comes down to the ring in her X-Men cosplay gear. No, Cassady has not come back out, but Pants’ ring entrance still comprises of ‘Big Cass’ calling her out and humming the Price is Right theme song jokingly.
Dana Brooke comes out for the first time in front of the NXT crowd with some loud Evanescence-like music for her entrance theme. She does a cartwheel and flexes her body ostentatiously, showing off her physique. 



During The Match: Blue pants goes for a sunset flip in the corner but Brooke throws her down. Brooke slingshots Blue Pants into the bottom rope, right on her neck. The
crowd is firmly behind Blue Pants. Brooke does a handstand and locks her legs around Pants in a choke. After a few kicks from Blue Pants, Brooke finishes the match with a Landslide, a move out of Shinsuke Nakamura's repertoire in which the opponent is hoisted up in a Death Valley Driver or FU position and then twisted into a Michinoku Driver.  

After The Match: Brooke poses some more to celebrate her in ring debut and victory. She is poised to be a dominant heel, able to bully her opponents with her impressive stature. With all of the fan support behind Sasha Banks, the current NXT Women’s Champion could conceivably turn babyface and have a very interesting program with the physically impressive newcomer.



Two matches are announced for next week: a triple threat match between Charlotte and Becky Lynch and Bailey for top contender position to the Women’s Title, and Alex Riley Vs Kevin Steen in a rematch from a few weeks ago.


Sami Sayn VS Rhyno

Before The Match: Zayn is out first for the main event, and the former champ’s first match back since his loss to Kevin Owens. Zayn seems to have adapted an Owens-like mannerism, sitting back in the corner nonchalantly while awaiting his oponent.


During The Match: The crowd chants for both Rhyno and Sami Zayn. After a slow start with a lot of lock ups, Zayn hits an amazing sequence with a springboard backwards over Rhyno’s head into a reversal of a powerbomb into a huricanrana that sends Rhyno to the floor. This frustrates the former ECW champion, who slams his fists against the ropes on the outside.
Rhyno hits a big spinebuster for a near fall.

He then hits Zayn with two close range spears in the corner.

Sammy escapes a Fireman's Carry, ducks a clothesline and gets Rhyno up for the Blue Thunder Bomb.

Zayn knocks Rhyno off the turnbuckle onto the floor with a big forearm and then hit a huge Senton to Rhyno on the floor.



Back in the ring Rhyno hits a belly to belly suplex but misses with the Gore, giving Sami the opportunity to hit the Helluva Kick and pick up the pin fall victory.



This was a very good match with sound in-ring storytelling. Zayn had a psychological game going, showing a more aggressive side and ayt one point slapping the bigger competitor, Rhyno right across the face. Rhyno kept up as the veteran whose size and experience would suggest an assured victory, but found himself exasperated by an inability to keep the smaller opponent down.

This was a very solid show for NXT in ‘build up’ mode. It could stand to have more action, but NXT is about shifting dynamics, having a few very strong moments on some shows before things culminate in a fantastic special. There are a LOT of babyfaces right now, in Zayn, Balor, and Hideo Itami and it is interesting how they have been kept apart. Some work definitely needs to be done to provide effective foils for the heroes. Meanwhile, the women’s division remains strong, and appears to have gained an asset in Dana Brooke.

Comments? Questions? Criticisms? Corrections? Leave them in the box below.

Twitter: @MondocurryMark

NXT Toki エネクスチ時 1: April 8, 2015

Thinking about what to do and came to the conclusion: why not recap and comment on episodes of NXT? I wanted to keep things more open and free from structure, to just riff on what got my attention in the wrestling world from week to week. But a couple things have removed other wrestling promotions from the conversation, in a sense.

1)   TNA. I’m just done. I thought there was some excitement when Impact was still on SPIKE and the possibility of it closing its doors was looming. How would the company prove its relevance? And then, when it moved to far less widely known station, Destination America, but with a larger presence there, the question became ‘how would it reinvent itself?’ The answers soon became evident: Not really making much effort to do either. Same silly stories, same rushed pace, same, or perhaps more, investment in goofy promotional campaigns, like ‘superlatives’ that seem like it’s about some generic reality tv project, not pro wrestling. Furthermore,  very few compelling matches and misuse of talent, making the top guy someone who is was past his prime and should be giving the shine to up and coming talent. While I’d be glad to hear about any exciting developments that may happen in Dixieland, I don’t plan to watch or chronicle here for the time being.

2)   Ring Of Honor: Actually, this is a great wrestling promotion, despite whatever may be holding it back from growing. I’m sure I’ll be speaking about it here and there, especially considering its connection with New Japan Pro Wrestling, a relationship that gives both promotions a sense of worldliness and vitality. However, with the mystifying policy of making viewers that don’t have access to it on television pay to see the most up to date episodes of its tv show, which I’m not sure owes more to ROH or its parent company the Sinclair Broadcast Group, reviewing it from week to week seems pointless. Especially when you can live in New York City and its surroundings, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and many parts of California, have cable, and still not receive it.

3)  Lucha Underground has a unique program, but it may be going on hiatus. Besides that, while I enjoy a lot of the show, I can’t help but feel it is a product that exists in a bit of a bubble. There are familiar faces, though many of them are of the past or lacking relevance. Still, after several months I am not a big fan of the overproduced feel, and I liken it to watching a wrestling show within a fictional drama. It is very cool to watch the luchadores from Mexico, but I get a sense that what those stars are doing in heavily affiliated Mexican promotion AAA holds far more weight. I am sure I will give some mentions to some of the more remarkable talent and angles, but I cannot see myself devoting too much time to watching anymore or documenting, with NJPW proving to be so captivating.

4)   And finally, there is WWE. With a presence as major as that of WWE, I am not going to feign disinterest. In many ways, it is the trendsetter. And the path to Wrestlemania, as well as the event itself, held a LOT of intrigue. However, having come down from the huge party, some realizations came into focus. I am a HUGE fan of Brock Lesnar and was looking to his new contract with WWE to mean more involvement. He is still going to be a ghost most of the time. That could be fine, it means when he is in the picture it is more exciting and not played out. But it leaves you to face the rest of what WWE is offering up on its weekly RAW and SMACKDOWN programs, which isn’t much. Storylines and match outcomes are pretty much maintaining the status quo. A mark has been made in terms of new talent coming in from NXT. This improves match quality, so I feel I can keep an eye on RAW and SMACKDOWN for the occasional good match. Beyond that, I’ll probably report on the specials and give the following of RAW and SMACKDOWN a bit of a rest.

So here we are back with NXT, giving a solid hour of wrestling every week to those with the WWE Network, Hulu Plus, as well as those who know how to find their way around the internet. It finds itself in the unique position of being owned, without casting any illusions to the contrary, by WWE,  but growing in stature. Triple H and many of the wrestlers on the roster have made a point of saying, “it is a brand in itself.” So going with that notion, and considering it is home to two key figures in recent Japanese wrestling history in Finn Balor (former Bullet Club member and IWGP Junior heavyweight champion Prince Devitt, and Hideo Itami, who has achieved legendary status wrestling under his real name Kenta Kobayashi in the organizations NOAH and All Japan Pro Wrestling. So let’s start taking a close look at the week to week of NXT, with this especially apropos episode focusing on Itami’s path to his first Wrestlemania.

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The show begins with a look at the buzz of activity among fans and performers, and then the scheduled NXT tournament at AXXESS Wrestlemania, an annual event giving fans the chance to interact with WWE talent held days before Wrestlemania. We are reminded that the tournament winner would go on to participate in the Andre ‘The Giant’ Memorial Battle Royale taking place in the preshow right before Wrestlemania proper began. Highlights of first round matches are shown, in which Finn Balor defeated Baron Corbinn with a surprise rollup, Tyler Breeze beat Bull Dempsey with the Beauty Shoct, Hideo Itami won his match against Jason Jordan with his Shotgun Kick, and Adrian Neville defeated Kalisto with his Red Arrow splash from the top turnbuckle.

The show picks up from here showing the remaining matches in the tournament.

Hideo Itami Vs Adrian Neville

The match: Itami attempted some roundhouse kick's which Neville backed away from. Neville grounded Itami forcing him into a wristlock Wich Itami was able to reverse a few moments later. Hideo hit a big roundhouse kick that sent Neville to the corner to regroup. Itami landed a stiff penalty kick to a seated Neville, and then clotheslined him to the outside. Neville regained control after not giving a clean break in the corner. He hit a snap suplex on Hideo. Hideothen hit an interesting tornado DDT that snapped Neville’s head onto the top row.

Hideo lifted Neville into a GTS position but he escaped to the corner and hit a huge super kick leading to a near fall on Itami. Hideo would pick up the win with his Shotgun Kick, a running dropkick off the ropes with one foot making impact, and the pin. Hideo showed off a much bigger variety of moves then he usually does on the weekly NXT program filmed in the WWE Performance Center. Perhaps being in front of a big crowd charged him up.

Finn Balor vs Tyler Breeze

Before the match: Balor is shown coming to the ring as Tyler breeze looks himself over on his cell phone cam, propped up on a turnbuckle.

The match: Balor mocks Tyler breeze by lying down across the top turnbuckle to pose. At one point, Breeze missed a splash in the corner and Balor kicked him in the chest, sending ‘Prince Pretty’ a few feet into the air. Balor reverses a sunset flip into a huge dropkick to Breeze’s chin.

Balor hits his massive running dropkick that sends Breeze into the corner and then finishes him off with the coup de grace, a double foot stomp off the top turnbuckle, for the win.

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A promo for Dana Brooke is shown, and she will be on an NXT the following week. With Charlotte’s move to the main WWE roster seeming closer and closer, Brooke looks to be ready to fill a top babyface position among the NXT women’s wrestlers. I can see her moving quickly through the ranks to set up as challenger to Sasha Banks at the next NXT special.

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Hideo Itami vs Finn Balor

Before the match: Itami comes in first. Balor is next, without facepaint, but is still making a more theatrical entrance than before his match with Breeze.

During the match: Both wrestlers engage in a quick series of armbar reversals until Hideo takes Balor down with a single leg takedown. Balor hits a big dropkick to Hideo as Itami runs off the ropes. Itami tries the same spinning tornado DDT as in his match with Neville, but Balor rotates Hideo back onto the turnbuckle and hits a big enzuguri.

Itami takes Balor down with a combination of strikes and kicks, but Balor and Itami then both manage to hit pele kicks to drop one another to the mat at the same time. Balor hits his big running dropkick knocking to Itami into a corner. He goes to the top rope but Hideo crotches him, sets up the GTS, but is countered with a roll up. Hideo comes out of the corner with the shotgun kick and pins Balor for the victory.

After the match: Hideo points toward the Wrestlemania sign above the bleachers. He and Balor shake hands and embrace in the ring, still no tease of a feud between these two. It should be noted that this is the second tournament in which the two friends have competed against one another. They now hold one victory each

With the winner of the tournament revealed, for anyone who had not already followed the course of events Wrestlemania weekend, the show shifted gears to focus on Hideo’s journey from signing a contract with the WWE til now. Clips are shown from the press conference in Japan where Hideo, then Kenta, signs the contract, followed by Kenta speaking in front of fans with Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart.

Clips are shown of Triple H and Daniel Bryan speaking about Itami. Bryan focuses on the strength of Itami’s kicks.

Itami is shown backstage after his Axxess win, taking pictures with Triple H, as well as Hall of Fame inductee Tatsumi Fujinami. 

We are then taken to the San Jose University arena where the Friday night live NXT event would be held. Itami is seen taking in the empty arena with his children. Clips from Itami’s match that night with Tyler Breeze are shown, including when he hits the GTS to a huge audience reaction. Clips of more superstars speaking about Itami are shown, including Hogan pointing out that Itami is the originator of the move.

Next, Itami’s limousine ride to Levi stadium on the way to Wrestlemania is shown. Itami is shown early in the day walking around the vast arena and taking photos. Next, cameras zoom in on Itami as the battle royale is in progress. He is shown delivering a series of kicks to Bo Dallas before eliminating him. We are then shown Itami’s elimination at the hands of The Big Show, who delivers a big knock out punch to Itami on the ring apron. Itami is shown walking to the back as fans audibly chant his name. In the backstage area he is congratulated for being in that event by numerous superstars on both the WWE and a next your roster.

What could have appeared like an insignificant appearance was framed as a triumphant success story. It makes it seem as though a lot is being invested in Itami, and he has a bright future ahead of him in the WWE. He has the move set of a crossover fighter with a martial arts and professional wrestling background, and the size to play the underdog that rises to the challenge of more physically intimidating opponents. Perhaps we are building to a Wrestlemania 32 match in 2016 pitting Hideo Itami against The Big Show in a singles match?

Comments and questions welcome in the box below.

Twitter: @mondocurryMARK