A few days out from the Invasion Attack special event, New
Japan Pro Wrestling put out another ‘Road to…’ show on NJPW World. This one
almost slipped by me, my forecast for the April 5 show already locked in. This
program marks a pattern of putting out 2 ‘build up’ shows before a major event,
the first usually low production and without commentary, the second very slick
and of the quality you would expect for a television or PPV product. Here is a
quick rundown of the show.
Sho Tanaka VS Ryohei
Komatsu
The match: Sho hit a very impressive drop kick to Komatsu’s
head, and later ran the ropes to hit a running, jumping dash ending in a fist
to the head. He put Komatsu in a crab submission that Komatsu was able to
escape by reaching the ropes. Komatsu ran the ropes and did a diving forearm
move, spinning right before impact to add extra umph. Komatsu also applied a
crab submission that Tanaka was able to escape. Tanaka then hit several pin
attempts in quick succession, showing signs of frustration at a failure to
reach a 3 count. Komatsu rolled Tanaka into a single leg crab, which Tanaka
almost fought his way out of, but Komatsu was able to pull his opponent back to
the center of the ring to achieve the tap out victory. There was a high level
of energy on the part of both of the rookies, who are showing improvements with
every outing. Emphasis continues to be placed on the effectiveness of Komatsu’s
single leg crab, as he is able to catch opponents off guard by rolling them
into the move and the fact that he is holding only one leg gives him the
leverage to drag potential escapees away from the ropes.
Time Splitters
(KUSHIDA and Alexander Shelley), and Ryusuke Taguchi VS Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger,
Tiger Mask, and Jay White
During the match: This match consisted mainly of high flying
junior heavyweights, with Time Splitters and Taguchi representing relatively
younger and hipper faces of the promotion while Liger and Tiger Mask make up
the character-based old guard. Along with them, up and comer Jay White is
gleaning what he can from his more experienced allies and opponents to rise in
the ranks. Taguchi taunted Tiger Mask with a mock combat stance. He started a 3
amigos series of suplexes but after 2, it was reversed by Tiger. Later, White
and Tiger Mask hit a drop kick and rushing attack to Shelley in the corner, and
then walked him into the palm strike from Liger. Jay followed it up with an
impressive drop kick from the top turnbuckle. Taguchi hit his singular butt
bump from the top turnbuckle to Tiger Mask. Then, Shelly was able to win the
match by holding White up horizontally across his back and then hitting a
dropping slam for the pin.
After the match: the competitors parted ways in a civil yet
boastful manner, suggesting a desire to go toe to toe again.
Satoshi Kojima,
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Yuji Nagata VS Karl Anderson, Luke ‘Doc’ Gallows, and
Cody Hall
Before the match: After the veterans came to the ring, the
Bullet Club came out with Anderson’s head concealed by a zipped up vest, and
Gallows boasting brighter Warrior style face makeup. Cody was back in the
classic ring gear echoing what his father wore in his prime NWO mode.
During the match: Second generation newcomer Hall towered
above his opponents and even made Anderson and Gallows look somewhat slight in
comparison. The babyfaces got the early advantage, with Tenzan and Kojima
hitting a double suplex on Gallows and teeing off on him with Mongolian chops.
Nagata faked out Anderson with the false jumping drop kick and landed a nasty
sounding slap across Anderson’s face. Kojima hit his rapid fire chops on
Anderson in the corner with the Bullet Club original actually laid out across
the turnbuckle. The advantage shifted when Kojima was struck from behind as he
went to the ropes. Hall took Kojima from a chin lock and easily slammed his
down to the mat. Anderson mocked Kojima, with rippling pectoral muscles of his
own, and went for a lariat that was reversed by Kojima who blocked it with
enough force to send Anderson spinning around. Later, Hall hit a spinning
windup punch to Nagata’s head. Nagata was able to reverse things and got Hall
into the arm bar on the mat. Just as his eyes were rolling back for the ‘kami
sama’ mode, Anderson broke up the hold with a kick. Cody and Yuji traded
strikes til the Bullet Club’s latest member attempted an Outsider’s Edge that
Nagata was able to escape. The faces hit a triple team assault on Hall with
Nagata hitting his back suplex into a pinning position for the 3 count and
victory.
Mascara Dorada and
Captain New Japan VS Kenny Omega and Toma Tonga
The match: Tongahit a frenzied series of punches and choke
holds on Captain New Japan as he lay on the ground. At one point, Dorada rolled
back into Omega, who seemed to lift Dorada onto his shoulder for a powerslam.
Dorada remained in control, though, spinning Omega into a DDT. Later, the
Bullet Club members landed punches in stereo on Captain New Japan, but the
Captain blocked and then hit both of them with a double chokeslam. Tonga was
able to escape a sudden roll up by the Captain, and then onto him to secure a
front headlock. He turned this into a DDT with a snapping motion, and pinned
Captain New Japan for the Bullet Club victory.
Some compelling exchanges between Omega and Dorada suggest a good match
will happen between them at Invasion Attack, with neither achieving a
particular advantage here.
-------------------------------Intermission---------------------------------------------------------
A prerecorded interview with AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi
of the Bullet Club was shown, in which AJ tells challenger Ibushi that while he
was wrestling with fake dolls (a reference to some of the more offbeat antics
of the DDT wrestling promotion where Ibushi alsohas a prominent spot), AJ was
doing what it takes to be a champion. He then says that he will be doing the
same thing at Invasion Attack: wrestling against a dummy. It was a short and
pointed promo by Styles suggesting unwavering confidence going into his title
defense on April 5.
We see the commentary team talking about the show, and the
commentators are joined by Nakanishi, who will wrestle on a team in the opening
match at Invasion Attack.
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Hiroshi Tanahashi,
Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Hiroki Goto, and Katsuyori Shibata VS Shinsuke
Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, and Kazushi Sakuraba
Before the match: This seemingly overstuffed match had a lot
of extremely well put together sequences of action and contained a few good
stories. The team members alternated entrances to lend weight to each of their
individual identities. Goto and Shibata entered first for their team, followed
by Yano and Sakuraba. Honma and Makabe entered next and, considering some of
the battles that took place at the New Japan Cup, I see a potential top drawing
match in Goto and Shibata taking on the loosely affiliated Makabe and Honma.
YOSHI-HASHI and Ishii came out next. Finally, Tanahashi entered followed by
team CHAOS’ highest level member Shinsuke Nakamura. Here it occurred to me that
this could be an excellent WWE classic Survivor Series style elimination match
with Tanahashi and Nakamura the captains of their respective teams.
During the match: Shibata started out against Sakuraba, and
Shibata opted for a grappling style against the MMA veteran. They exchanged
takedowns and stuck to clean breaks. It was a cordial exchange until Shibata
backed up Sakuraba into his team’s corner, and was tagged unwittingly from
behind by Honma. The blind tag led to instant heat between Shibata and Honma
who have had trouble getting along during matches during the New Japan Cup and
the previous ‘Road to…’ show. Honma took over with a not so cordial interaction
with Sakuraba, putting him down with a bodyslam but missing on the falling
headbutt off the ropes attempt.
Nakamura and Goto had a vicious looking lock up on the
outside of the ring, with both of them vying to land a suplex on the other well
into audience area. Ishii hit Honma with forearms that Honma shrugged off.
Honma then returned fire on Ishii, as well as his CHAOS partners on the ring
apron. Honma would then reverse a brainbuster attempt by Ishii and turn it into
a huge brainbuster of his own. Ishii would later get into it with rival Makabe.
They traded and deflected one another’s lariats. They were then able to knock
each other down, followed by more lariats with no effect, headbutts, after
which Makabe finally got Ishii down with a big lariat.
Goto hit a spinning clotheline on Nakamura. CHAOS’
constituents teed off on Goto in the corner with YOSHI-HASHI finishing the
sequence with his charging take down roll up for a near fall.
A relatively subdued Tanahashi attempted a slingshot splash
onto Yano on the outside, but Yano was able to sidestep in it; a brief exchange
suggesting a a conflict of questionable importance that will be continued at
Invasion Attack. Nakamura broke up a double team attack by Shibata and Goto on
YOSHI-HASHI. Nakamura was then taken out of the ring, allowing Goto to hit
YOSHI-HASHI with his fireman’s carry into a death valley driver that lands the
oponents head on Goto’s knee. This set up for Honma to jump of the turnbuckle
and land the diving headbutt. Goto then hit his shotenkai finisher for the pin
on YOSHI-HASHI.
After the match: Goto took the mic and threw down a brief
challenge to Nakamura, which the intercontinental champion seemed to regard
with bemusement. With that, my earlier prediction on my Invasion Attack preshow
post that Naito will challenge for the title is suddenly reversed and Goto now
seems likely to make another impact during the 6-man tag team match these
wrestlers are scheduled to be in, perhaps making a challenge for the title more
legitimate.
Kazuchika Okada and
Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Barreta) VS ‘Bad Luck’ Fale and The Young
Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)
Before the match: We get the same alternating entrances with
Roppongi Vice coming out followed by The Young Bucks; then Okada coming out
before Fale, thus setting the stage for the tag team and singles match that
will involve these competitors at the special on April 5. Okada’s entrance
music also seems different; a slightly revved up but less majestic remix of his
theme song.
During the match: Matt Jackson insisted on starting off the
match against Okada, assuring Fale that he’s ‘got this.’ After some exchanges,
Fale was tagged in to go up against his rival. Okada made an early attempt at a
tombstone piledriver but was unable to get the Bullet Club ‘Underboss’ up.
Later, Baretta shoulder blocked Nick Jackson to the ground. While still lying
on the ground, the Young Buck hit the DX style crotch chops and suck it taunts.
Baretta reversed offense from Nick and hit a crotch chop of his own.
Later, Fale tagged in and sat down on the back of Romero,
basically ridiculing his much smaller opponent. Okada would attempt another
tombstone unsuccessfully. Matt Jackson got Baretta into a corner and went to
his own corner to plan an assault when Romero slipped into the ring and
flattened him with a succession of lariats in the corner. After a few
impressive double team maneuvers, the Young Bucks hit their version of a
tombstone piledriver with an assisted leaping push from the top turnbuckle for
the pin on Baretta.
After the match: Okada ran into the ring and attacked all of
the heels from behind, focusing his assault on Fale. Fale gained control and
started dominating Okada with punches in the corner, but Okada was able to
power through and take down the larger Fale. The intense back and forth was a
perfect set up for a dramatic showdown between the two on the fifth.
Kota Ibushi and
Tetsuya Naito VS AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi
During the match: AJ and Ibushi traded takedowns before the
reigning champion tagged Yujiro into the match. Naito entered as well, this
time to cheers from the audience. During their exchange, Naito was able to hit
a diving plancha on the Bullet Club representative. AJ and Yujiro took control
of Naito, isolating him on their side of the ring. Later, Naito got the hot tag
to Ibushi, who leveled both Styles and Yujiro with powerful kicks. As Styles
was setting up to hit something off the top turnbuckle on Naito, Ibushi slid
into the ring and hit a huricanrana on the champ. Naito would go back and forth
with Styles until AJ could hit the Styles Clash finisher for his team to pick
up the win.
After the match: AJ got on the mic, with Yujiro standing by,
and said that he was the best gaijin wrestler in the world. He addressed
Ibushi, telling the challenger to his title that he will lose because he has
not prepared himself for the main event. Backstage AJ continued showing his
willingness to speak for himself, with Yujiro merely standing at the ready to
hit the ‘too sweet’ sign.
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This was a very good show, once again showing NJPW’s knack
for creating exciting and logical builds to major events. In fact, it’s
improving. This was a cohesive show with all of the matches making sense.
Everyone involved with the major factions had a spot on the card somewhere and
served a purpose. There was a combination of familiar confrontations
approaching a boiling point, and new conflicts arising. Putting heavyweights
Okada and Fale together with the junior heavyweight tag team contingents of
their groups was an interesting idea. I was skeptical at first at the idea of
putting Style and Ibushi in a match, as a completely unfamiliar confrontation
might hold more intrigue. But smart booking assured that not too much was given
away. If anything, the tag team match they were involved in served to display
how evenly matched the two are.
Comments and questions are welcome in the comment box below!
Twitter: @mondocurryMark
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