Invasion Attack Report
I had set an alarm to wake me
up at exactly 3 am. At that exact time, I flipped on NJPW World to the message,
‘service unavailable.’ Of course, I wasn’t alone as others also flocked to
twitter to report the same situation. For many the stream was apparently fine
while others in Japan and abroad hit refres to no avail. Is it fair to say ‘Ibushi
VS AJ Styles’ broke the internet? I gave up after what would be an hour into
the show, got some sleep and watched the archived program at 8 am EST, about an
hour after the live event would have ended. I could find some complaints and
demands translated from Japanese on twitter. The next day, a statement linked
to on the NJPW World twitter account seemed, by way of a very rough
translation, to express an apology to viewers and a commitment to finding a
solution to such problems before they affect viewing. When all is said and
done, nothing evokes forgiveness more than an outstanding show. So after
watching Invasion Attack, it’s quite easy to say all is forgiven, let’s let
bygones be bygones. It was an incredibly good wrestling show.
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Time Splitters (KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley), Yuji
Nagata, Captain New Japan, and Ryohei Komatsu VS Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger, Tiger
Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, Nakanishi Manabu, and Sho Tanaka
The match: Former tag team
partners from days relatively long gone, Tanaka and Nakanishi started off. The
commentators drew attention to the pair’s advanced ages (Nakanishi, 48 and Nagata, 47). Taguchi
broke up Nagata’s submission hold on Nakanishi, prompting jeer from the
audience (as the commentators pointed out ‘booing desu!’) Taguchi seemed ready
and able to work with the audience’s disapproval, going on to strike his
mystifying and mocking double circle pose. Tiger Mask and KUSHIDA had a very
good fast-paced exchange that ended with a Tiger Driver applied to KUSHIDA.
Captain New Japan blocked one of Ryuske’s signature jumping butt bumps by punching said butt. Liger and his team took turns blasting the Captain in the corner. The sequence ended with Taguchi hitting yet another butt bump and rookie Sho Tanaka performing a standing body slam by. The opposing team’s rookie Ryohei Komatsu was able to run through the larger veteran Nakanishi with a diving spinning forearm. There was a super kick by shelley on Tanaka. Tanaka was able to fend off a double team by Time Splitters. Nakanishi later hit a double suplex on both Captain New Japan and Nagata. There was more double teaming by Time Splitters on Tanaka. Shelley brought the match to an end with his Automatic Midnight (an over the shoulder back to belly piledriver somewhat similar to Okada's neckbreaker over the knee) finisher on Tanaka for the 3 count and win.
Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Tomoaki Honma VS Yujiro Takahashi, Toma Tonga, and Cody Hall
Before the match: The Bullet
Club came to the ring first. A lot was made of Yujiro’s companion ‘Mao.’ I
hadn’t known her name before, and I assure you it was not due to lack of
interest in the strikingly beautiful young lady, whose name I am quite sure I never
heard mentioned by the commentators, but I will surely never forget because the
commentary team must have mentioned it no less than 25 times over the course of
the approximately 2 minute ring entrance. The scantily clad valet was zoomed in
on without shame, and indeed made a Bullet Club hoodie look sexy, in an 80s
hair metal sort of way.
During the match: The heels
started out by jumping the babyfaces, with Hall and Tonga getting Honma down in
the ring. Tonga attempted Honma’s Kokeshi head butt, but missed. Then, Honma
successfully landed one of his own much earlier on in the match than usual. The
combined forces of Tenzan and Kojima known collectively as Tencozy hit one of
their classic double team maneuvers on Yujiro, with Kojima landing a slingshot
elbow the ring apron while Tenzan ran off the ropes to hit a diving head butt.
Hall hit a big clothesline on Tenzan to take him down. The heels isolated
Tenzan from his corner. Tonga hit Tenzan’s own patented Mongolian chops on the
veteran. Tenzan would eventually hit a spinning heel kick on Yujiro to escape the
Club, and tag in Kojima, who hit a huge round of rapid-fire chops to the chest
of Takahashi. Tonga literally slithered around the ring and hit a jumping
splash on Kojima.
The cameraman decided to zoom
in on Mao’s breasts as she sat at ringside, perhaps practice for when Maria would
accompany The Kingdom in their match against Anderson and Gallows. There was a
triple team assault on Honma, with Cody Hall landing a tremendous looking
spinning lariat and almost pinning Honma before the attempt was broken up. Hall
made an Outsiders Edge attempt, which looked huge (when the second generation
wrestler does hit this move it is going to look fantastic) but Honma escaped
and hit a diving kokeshi head butt on the son of Scott. Tencozy hit their
finishing maneuver, the Ten-Koji cutter, followed by a kokeshi head butt off the turnbuckle and
pin by Honma for the babyface team to
claim the victory.
After the match: There was
yet more talk about Mao, who was seated throughout the match, and was
apparently still ok afterwards. Mao.
The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) VS Roppongi
Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta)
(IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championship; The
Young Bucks defend)
Before the match: The Roppongi
Vice (often written as RPG Vice, as will be the case herein) entrance was first.
Rocky and Trent wore matching black jackets with the RPG Vice logo. Baretta’s
jacket looked like a standard Uniqlo while Rocky’s had the fur trim.
During the match: Nick Jackson
and Trent Baretta started off. Nick got right into it with the ‘suck it’ taunt,
which Baretta answered with a big chop to the chest. Rocky caught Matt off
guard, as he was ready waiting for the Buck coming off the top turnbuckle,
punching him when he landed. Baretta propelled himself over the ropes to
stomp and drive his boot into a fallen Matt Jackson’s head. The Bucks fed up, they
decided they were done with the match and walked up the ramp toward the back.
Romero and Baretta gave chase only to walk into super kicks in stereo. Young
Bucks returned to the ring and RPG crawled their way back, barely making it in
time. Romero hurled Baretta through the ropes into the ring at the very last
second. There was a lot of double teaming to Baretta. Matt brought baretta near
his corner and hit a long ‘suck it’ taunt to Romero on the outside. Romero came
in and landed a loud slap, but Matt answered with a super kick that knocked him
to the floor as he was returning to the ring apron. Romero would later tag in. He
hit running lariats to the Bucks in opposite corners. Rocky got caught by both
Bucks, who tried to do a powerbomb, but Rocky reversed the move into a huricanrana
on both at the same time.
Matt did a running ‘suck it
taunt’ into a lariat that hit Romero in the corner once, but was reversed by
Romero, who then hit his own lariats into the corner on Matt.
Nick had an insane sequence
of slingshotting himself into ring for a leg drop on Romero, and then hitting
a moonsault immediately afterward onto Baretta outside the ring. The match drew
to an end when Baretta blind tagged himself in as the Young Bucks prepared for
a top rope assault. He hit a German suplex on Matt from the top turnbuckle.
Then, RPG Vice hit their Strong Zero finisher (Romero hits drop kick from from the turnbuckle as Baretta drives opponent head first into mat as he is held behind his back) for the three count and
victory to win the titles away from the Bullet Club.
After the match: Romero addressed the audience, in Japanese at first,
saying “Tokyo, konbanwa (good evening)” and talking about the night and Roppongi.
This match went at a slightly
slower pace than the Young Bucks often work, allowing them to take time to pose
and sell each move as a big deal.
Kenny Omega VS Mascara Dorada
(IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship; Omega defends)
Before the match: Dorada came
out in an ostentatious gold robe, with a lion symbol emblazoned across his mask.
Omega walked to
the ring with Toma Tonga in his corner,
waving the Bullet Club flag behind the ‘Cleaner.’
During the match: Dorada was thrown
into the corner but climbed the ropes, carried out his rotating ring rope walk
and landed a huricanrana on Omega. On
outside, Omega caught a huricanrana attempt, and lifted Dorada into a power bomb
onto the ring apron. In the middle of trading chops Omega teased a big chop but
then hit a poke to the eye of Dorada. Dorada hit a crazy looking running
huricanrana to Omega, standing on the ring apron, to the outside floor. Omega
later got Dorada into his own unique twist on a fireman’s carry, and then spun him
around several times before hitting a backbreaker.
Dorada gave his own ‘suck it’ taunt but his attack was reversed into a dragon rush (a very quickly executed full nelson suplex). Omega hit a high knee and then his finisher, the One Winged Angel (putting opponent on his shoulders and flipping him forward into a head first drive), picking up the pinfall victory. The match, surprisingly went down without any outside interference. It also involved far less comedy than Omega’s program with Taguchi.
After the match: Omega got on
the mic and called himself a ‘master of the dark custodial arts.’ He said he ‘cleaned up Japanese garbage’ and ‘Mexican
garbage,’ while pausing in between to deliver Ric Flair style ‘Woo’s. ‘Now there
was only 1 left, the worst garbage of them all, American garbage, Motor City
garbage,’ he went on, addressing Alex Shelley. He concluded, ‘Try and try as he
may, he can’t win. You will be cleaned up next.’ Shelley entered the ring and
got in Omega’s face, directing Omega’s his gun hand gesture directly into his
own chest as the two exchanged words and seem set to go in the next battle over
the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship.
Karl Anderson and Luke ‘Doc’ Gallows VS The Kingdom (Mike Bennet and Mike Taven w/ Maria Kanelis)
(IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team championship; Anderson and
Gallows defend)
Before the match: The Kingdom
entered with a loud revved up rock n roll entrance. The cameraman quickly found
Maria Kanelis’ ass, even as she faced the crowd with her backside presumably
safe inside the ring.
During the match: Anderson had
traded the Bullet Club black for baby blue tights. Perhaps to impress Maria?
Sure enough, he was blowing a kiss in her direction before locking up with
Taven. Anderson stopped Gallows from driving fists into the head of a fallen Bennet,
reminding him of…Maria. They surround Maria on the outside, who escaped by
running in. Their creepy advances continued until Bennet broke it up. Taven hit
a series of kicks on Anderson in the ring. Anderson set up for finisher, the
Gun Stun, when Maria climbed onto the ring apron to distract Anderson. There
was a big murmur throughout the crowd in reaction. The two got into a mating
ritual-like gyrating dance routine until Gallows grabbed Maria on the outside, and
teased punching her lights out. Anderson pleaded to not do it. The Kingdom took
control off the distraction with Taven hitting a huge tope (toe-pay) to Gallows
on the outside. The Kingdom hit a Spike pildedriver (a Brett Hart-style piledriver by Bennet with Taven jumping off the top rope to assist by pushing down the opponent's feet) on Anderson for the victory and title change.
This was an ok match, but the
comedy angle of obsession over Maria overshadowed the action. The upside is
that the program will likely continue with even better matches between them when
ROH and NJPW do their War of the Worlds and Global Wars shows in Philadelphia
and Toronto this May. I add that last part selfishly, as I will be going to one
of the Philadelphia shows featuring talent from both promotions.
----------------------Intermission-------------------
There is a BIG video
presentation of the G1 Climax schedule, featuring a digitalized map of Japan
with highlighted locations and dates of the famous tournament this summer.
There was a commercial for a
DVD set showing the career of Kzuchika Okada. Clips are shown of Okada riding
go-carts with Gedo and Toru Yano. We see Okada doing a choreographed action
sequence against thugs in a warehouse.
The announcers run down the
action of the first half of the show.
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Hiroki Goto, Togi Makabe, and Tetsuya Naito VS
Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, and YOSHI-HASHI
During the match: Goto and Shinsuke started off in the
ring. Soon after, Makabe and Ishii tagged in. They exchanged heavy forearm
shots and loud slaps. Ishii was downed and Naito got tagged in to continue the
assault. Later, on the outside, Ishii nailed Makabe with the metal chain that
Makabe always carries with him. Shinsuke hit a jumping knee to Naito and with
him down, he gave a mocking binocular view gesture (I can’t see you?) to Goto.
He then kicked Goto off the ring apron. Naito and YOSHI-HASHI went at it
with a quickly paced volley of strikes and wrestling moves. Makabe and Ishii
both tagged in AGAIN, and Makabe won a running lariat exchange.
Goto cleaned house on all 3 CHAOS members. He was then taken
out by Nakamura’s Inverted Exploder (like lifting opponent up for an atomic drop but flipping him backwards onto his belly). The ‘King of Strongstyle’ hit a Bomaye knee from the
second turnbuckle to Goto. Goto then hit his ushikoroshi (fireman’s carry neckbreaker across the knee). Goto clobbered Nakamura with a
clothesline, and then hit the shotenkai
for a pin on the Intercontinental champ, setting up to challenge for the title!
After the match: A big brawl with forearm exchanges ensued
between Ishii and Makabe but was quickly broken up.
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata VS Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba
Before the match: Shibata entered first. Then Tanahashi. Team
CHAOS’ Yano and Sakuraba came out together next to a medley of their music
themes. Sakuraba, wearing a blue and red mask, continued to get me wondering if
he' is referencing sadakiyo from
20th-century with his masked entrances.
During the match: The match started at a slow and steady
pace. Tanahashi and Yano had a brief exchange first. Then sakuraba and Shibata were
tagged in and got into a series of chain wrestling takedowns. Yano grabbed
Tanahashi to the outside and threw him into the railing. He then hit a chair
shot on Tanahashi, giving Sakuraba the advantage. Yano tagged in and threw
Tanahashi into the exposed turnbuckle.Sakuraba then grabbed Shibata and threw
him into the exposed turnbuckle, a bit of a ‘screw you’ after Shibata had been
keeping things on the up and up as they squared off.
Yano threw Tanahashi toward the exposed turnbuckle again
where Sakuraba was on the apron. But this time, Tanahashi turned it into a high
cross body knocking Sakuraba to the floor. Shibata hit a serious round of forearm
shots to Sakuraba downed in the corner. The last one was thunderously loud.
Shibata hit a flying drop kick into Sakuraba in the corner, which hits him so
squarely in the face, I wondered if Sakuraba’s teeth were still intact.
Shibata got Sakuraba’s shirt pulled over his head and a submission
locked in. Sakuraba would regain the advantage and apply a sleeper hold, which
was broken up by Tanahashi. Sakuraba was able to lock in a kimura armbar submission
on Shibata to tap him out for his team to pick up the win. This was a good
quick match with the exchange between Shibata and Sakuraba overshadowing the
few interactions between Tanahashi and Yano.
After the match: Shibata was selling serious pain in his arm,
clutching it as ice was applied, and also looked irate over the loss. The two
grapple based wrestlers will definitely meet again.
Kazuchika Okada VS ‘Bad Luck’ Fale
Before the match: A very
dramatic video package was shown, starting with a teary eyed Okada reacting to
his loss at Wrestle Kingdom. It traced his battles with Fale, which have mostly
ended in losses. Okada entered the ring to the slightly revamped version of his
theme song that has been used lately.
During the match: Okada spun Fale around and hit a big boot,
but Fale came back with his own boot to the skull, knocking Okada down. Okada
dropkicked Fale over the barrier onto the outside. Fale got control and teased
a big move on Okada to the floor below, but Okada got out of it and hit a
lariat that knocked Fale back over the barrier again.
Okada fought off attempts to put him in the Grenade (lifting opponent with one hand, dropping him while bringing a Samoan spike to the neck with his other hand) and
hits an uppercut on the ‘Underboss.’ Okada managed to get him up for a bodyslam
that looked like it took a lot of effort, and landed the ‘Randy Savage elbow’
off the top turnbuckle. Fale got Okada up for the Grenade again but Okada knocked
Fale’s thumb aside in midair. Fale hit a big splash off the second
turnbuckle which looked like a miracle to kick out of. Okada wriggled out of
the Bad Luck Fall and hit a big dropkick to the back of Fale’s head. Okada missed the Rainmaker but hit a huge German suplex.
With a badly bruised cheek, Okada hit the tombstone piledriver
in the center of the rain. This led to the Rainmaker in the center of the ring
for the pin, signifying that Okada is back.
AJ Styles VS Kota Ibushi
(IWGP Heavyweight championship; Styles defends)
Before the match: A video
package showed Ibushi winning the New Japan Cup and telling the announcer he
wanted to face AJ for the Heavyweight championship. It then showed Styles
speaking calmly at a gym about his respect for the collection of talent in
NJPW. He said that Ibushi has been impressive, but has never faced Styles, and
was not ready to challenge AJ for the title.
Ibushi walked down to the ring, looking a bit nervous,
carrying his New Japan Cup trophy in one arm. AJ walked to the ring
without any accompaniment, hooded and wearing the IWGP Heavyweight title.
During the match: The commentators talked about how AJ
represented the American dream, and Ibushi represented, not a Japan, but a New Japan
dream, probably alluding to the fact that Ibushi is challenging for the title at a
fairly early point in his meteoric career.
They started out with a lock up, with Ibushi being backed into
the corner. AJ gave him the clean break, showing his joined together hands that
form the Bullet Club sign on his gloves and serve as a show of confidence. The
two went back and forth with roll up pin attempts early on. AJ suddenly turned
one of the attempts into the Stylesclash position but the Ibushi escaped.
AJ rolled to the outside off a dropkick. Ibushi climbed the
ropes for a moonsault but AJ quickly cut him off with punches to the back. Ibushi
went for the moonsault again, this time off the second turnbuckle. AJ avoided it
and hit a nasty release German suplex onto the floor. AJ got Ibushi on the
outside again, thrust his face toward the belt and assured to him that he would
not get ahold of it tonight. Then he lifted Ibushi up and dropped him on the
metal railing.
Midway through the match, the camera cuts to Kenny Omega at
ringside to support his Bullet Club ally, looking on passively. For those who
know of his past association with Kota Ibushi, this was a very subtle hint of
real life story overlapping the tale being told inside the ring adding an
additional layer of intrigue to the match. Omega and Ibushi have had a very
strong friendship, working together frequently as a tag team in the DDT promotion
that Ibushi still works for and Omega left for a full time schedule in NJPW
(*While I do not know this from watching the program, Omega recently spoke on
the roads he and Ibushi have traveled down in the past on the LAW Network with
Chris Charlton, cohost of the Japan Audio Wrestling Podcast, an excellent
resource for learning about all things Japanese wrestling).
The champ wore down Ibushi with a rear chin lock. AJ tried to
slingshot himself into the ring but was caught by a high kick from
Ibushi. AJ caught a kick and drove his elbow into Ibushi’s knee. He then
hit the same knee with a baseball slide and continued working over the leg of
Ibushi. AJ attempted another baseball slide that Ibushi jumped over,
landing with a double foot stop on AJ's chest.
AJ rolled to the outside. Ibushi hit his Triangle Asia Moonsault. Ibushi looked to be putting AJ on the
turnbuckle for a huricanrana or superplex. AJ pushed himself off the post with
his legs and then suplexed Ibushi into the corner. Ibushi drove AJ toward
the ropes but AJ held on, kicked Ibushi off and hit a moonsault off the second
rope that he followed through and turned into a DDT for a pin attempt.
The two each hit a vicious combination of punches and kicks,
and then both hit Pele kicks that left one another lying on the mat. AJ lifted
him up for a Stylesclash that Ibushi kicked his way out of. Then, AJ cinched in
a calf killer submission. Ibushi went for a huricanrana , got caught in another
Stylesclash hold but bicycle kicked his way out again. Ibushi successfully
landed a huricanrana off the top but could not pin Styles. Ibushi followed up
with a lariat and sitdown powerbomb. Ibushi climbed to the top turnbuckle
to set up for his Phoenix splash. Suddenly, Omega popped up onto the apron,
brandishing a fist at Ibushi. The referee ran in his direction, and the Junior
Heavyweight champion quickly regained his composure and began to back down.
Ibushi, clearly rattled by the distraction, hit the Phoenix Splash but landed right
in a standing AJ’s grasp, who got him
into the Stylesclash and pulled off the move for the 3 count victory.
After the match: Ibushi was
helped to the back by fellow wrestlers on the roster. As AJ celebrated, flanked
by Yujiro, Toma Tonga sans face paint, and
a reluctantly encouraging Kenny Omega. From out of nowhere, Okada appeared,
quickly taking out Yujiro, Tonga, and Omega. He hit the champ with the
Rainmaker and posed over him as Gedo cut a promo. The gold confetti fell from
the rafters, and Okada is really
back. Styles was carried off to the back by his Bullet Club pals, really
selling that the Rainmaker knocked him out of commission. There was no backstage
interview. The commentators just talked about the show until it went off the
air.
This match was excellent,
with both wrestlers performing their moves with extraordinarily graceful
execution. AJ has a knack for selling audibly, letting out a sharp groan when
he is hit with a powerful move. It does not sound over-exaggerated or
cartoonish. Kudos to the use of restraint in putting together the conclusion
while still emphasizing the fact that interference was present and, had it not
been, the outcome could have been completely different. Omega also did an
excellent job showing subtle signs of disappointment over costing longtime
friend Ibushi the match, while still celebrating his group’s victory. If I had
one slight criticism of the match it is that it had a certain timeless aspect
that left me feeling the two could have gone at it another 5, 10 minutes…Perhaps
they just didn’t seem like they were quite on the brink of collapse when the
match ended. And perhaps that is less a complaint of what I saw, and more like a
desire to see more.
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Start to finish, this was a
great show. At every level, something was offered. I feel that as much as I enjoyed
NJPW’s product at the beginning of 2014 and my introduction to the NJPW World
service, it has shown steady signs of improvement. I hate to speak in terms of
detractors, but the show benefited from some of the not so great aspects of
recent programming being jettisoned. I love the antics of Bruce Tharpe and
would love to see him representing heels, or even one heel wrestler in the
future. But the NWA wrestlers that have been appearing on specials have not
been adding much to the presentation. They are very talented for sure, but don’t
seem to work at the level of the performers on the NJPW roster. Their absence
here led to a more cohesive program. At the same time, the talent exchange with
Ring of Honor has allowed talent to go away for a bit and come back fresh and
exciting. reDRagon for instance has been made excellent contributions to the
promotion, and I’m sure they are not finished. They could easily return to
challenge RPG Vice for the Junior Heavyweight tag team titles, but their
absence on the Invasion Attack show left no apparent void.
Big themes came up over the
course of this show. Of course there is Okada’s big come back story. If it
seemed stilted or lacking in direction up until now, Invasion Attack showed
proved the wait to be well worth it. There was a clear direction in mind and a
payoff that was all the more impactful after the build up. Excuse me while I
bring up the giant that gets the lion’s share of attention, but imagine if WWE
had treated John Cena’s downfall the same way after being soundly defeated by
Brock Lesnar at last year’s Summerslam. Instead of throwing him back into a
dominant position and having him challenge for a rematch immediately, what if
they made Cena vulnerable and had him go through a slump, only to finally
overcome a challenge looming over him after a hard road back. And only then
even tease the notion of getting back to the main event scene that he was
dropped from. If WWE treated their talent with such ups and downs, and the
level of seriousness shown by New Japan, audiences would likely take more to
the characters and give them the hero’s treatment they could potentially
achieve.
This show also featured a
well crafted and subtly told story of conflicted loyalties. It was possible
that Omega never interact with Ibushi, their past friendship unacknowledged.
But with this insertion of reality into the story, the match between Ibushi and
AJ took on a heightened sense of drama. There are also many places the story
can go from here, all of them intriguing.
What could lay on the road
ahead? The next major event is Wrestling Dontaku in early May. And further down
the line, the integral G1 Climax tournament in the summer. Alex Shelley is
clearly next in line for a Junior Heavyweight title shot. Omega’s spot with
Ibushi along with his over the top promo on cleaning up the ‘garbage’ of the
company may be signaling a move toward a program in the Heavyweight division
with Ibushi. A loss to Shelley could refresh the Junior title once again and
pave the way for Ibushi and Omega to get into a substantial feud. This would
not take any of Ibushi’s achievements away from him, allowing him to challenge
for a major championship again down the line. I could also imagine an excellent
tag team match playing off the conflicts on Invasion Attack pitting Style and
Omega against Ibushi and Shelley. NJPW has been proving that the long game
yields more than thinking in the short term, though.
Okada may very well have set
the stage for an immediate challenge to the Heavyweight title. It is not a belt
he hasn’t had before. His real goal would seem to be the victory at the January
4 Tokyo Dome show in 2016, presumably against Tanahashi. Meanwhile, Tanahashi
has suddenly dropped in stock as well, leaving a question of whether he will
regain momentum and be on the other side of a Wrestle Kingdom main event or
fade to the back. It makes sense now, if another match with Okada is in the
works, that Tanahashi struggle to overcome Okada’s CHAOS cohorts. Perhaps Yano
is the first of a host of challenges from within this faction, as opposed to
the usual fight against Bullet Club.
Shinsuke Nakamura is set to
defend his Intercontinental title against Goto. I think Nakamura is only
looking to move up in status, but when is a question. Til then, I think this is
his title to keep. Goto could put up a great challenge, but eventually return
to teaming with Shibata and challenging for the Heavyweight tag belts.
Shibata and Sakuraba should
no doubt battle in singles competition after the heated interaction they had at
Invasion Attack. Sakuraba seems to be getting enough substantial experience
that, perhaps, the plan is to include him in the next G1 tournament instead of
keeping him on the periphery with special programs only.
RPG Vice will probably
continue a feud with the Young Bucks, thus representing the CHAOS VS Bullet
Club conflict. As mentioned before, I see reDRagon returning to challenge for
their titles as well.
Til the next show…
Twitter = @mondocurrymark
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