3(K)-PEAT! 

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE 2019 Review (Nov 3rd, Osaka, EDION Arena)

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yuya Uemura vs. Volador Jr., Titán, TJP & Clark Conners  ***

Rocky Romero & Robbie Eagles vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori  ***

SANADA, EVIL & Shingo Takagi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer  ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi  ***1/2

Tetsuya Naito vs. Taichi  ***1/2

Super Jr. Tag League 2019 Final: SHO & YOH vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru  ****

NEVER Openweight Title Match: KENTA (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii  ****1/4+

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. BUSHI  ****1/2

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Jay White (c) vs. Hirooki Goto  ****

Photos.

This was a really fun show that featured nothing but good matches, and a few excellent angles. TJP pinned Uemura to win an all-action Junior opener that was fun whilst it lasted (5:43), ELP hit the CRII on Rocky Romero to end a good doubles match, and SANADA got the pin on ZSJ with a Japanese Leg Clutch to win another really good 9 minute six man. The highlight of this were Shingo’s exchanges with Suzuki, who also had a brawl in the post match. I’m very much game for that singles programme, Archer called out David Finlay for a US Title match in San Jose on November 9th, and Zack locked the referee in a kimura. Tanahashi and YOSHI-HASHI had a fantastic exchange in their tag match, which brought the maych up from what would normaly have been just a match. Tana got the pin on YH with the High Fly Flow at 10:51. Again, the post match here was most notable; Chris Jericho appeared on the big screen and challenged Tanahashi to a match on night 2 of WK14 on January 5th. Tana accepted. And Naito got win back against Taichi after losing to him in the G1. This was much better than that match, but this was very good, not great. Saying that though, it was the best match they’ve had in my opinion, as it was just a straight singles outing as opposed to the chicanery filled nonsense of their previous outings. It started fairly slow, but built into a good closing stretch. Naito finally got the win with Destino at the 12:56 mark. It was inferred that Naito is getting an IC Title match at WK14. Now, if you ask me, Naito, though still popular, has cooled off exponentially this year, and he just doesn’t feel like one of the top guys at this stage. But hey ho.

The Roppongi 3K team of SHO and YOH won the Super J Tag League, when they defeated the Suzuki-gun team of Desperado and Kanemaru in an excellent, old school tag match. This told the old Young Bucks/RPG Vice story, in which SHO was dumped on the ramp iat the very start, selling his back, and YOH had to go it alone for a while, until SHO returned with the hot tag. Despy locked him in his Numero Dos Stretch Muffler submission, which built great drama as it seemed as though SHO would have to submit, but YOH managed to break it before he could tap. SHO and Desperado had a great exchange, before the Roppongi boys hit 3K on the masked man to win the match and the tournament at 14:13. The IWGP Jr Tag Champions, Phantasmo and Ishimori, laid them out with belt shots in the post match, then took off with the trophies. KENTA and Ishii had an absolute war for the NEVER title next. This was profoundly hard-hitting stuff, with both guys killing each other with hard strikes. KENTA devastated Ishii with super hard slaps, and the Stone Pitbull kept firing back with just as hard forearms, after one of which, KENTA did a fantastic job of selling being legit KO’d, which played nicely off what happened in their match in London. This too was devoid of the shenanigans we’ve come to expect from a modern day Bullet Club KENTA match, and was just two guys swinging for the fences. After KENTA escaped a Brainbuster attempt, he rocked Ishii with a series of Busaiku Knees, then nailed two Go 2 Sleep’s to retain the title in 20 minutes of hard-hitting action. If I have one complaint, its that this maybe went a little long, and all the punishment these guys took felt like overkill at times, but that aside, this was great stuff.

And in the best match of the night, Will Ospreay succesfully defended the Jr title against BUSHI in a tremendous outing, that also ranks as probably the best singles match I’ve ever seen BUSHI in. This one had a load of shenanigans, but they were done in such a creative manner that they actually helped to enhance the match. Things got chaotic after a ref bump, BUSHI tried to blow the Dokukiri at Ospreay, but Will cut him off, then sucked the mist out of BUSHI’s mouth, and blew it in his face. He then tried an Oscutter, but BUSHI pulled Red Shoes in the way, and delivered the move to the refferee. BUSHI gets his knees up on a Shooting Star attempt, then finally mists Ospreay, and hits a Canadian Destroyer as a new ref comes in for a near fall. The masked man tries MX, but Ospreay hits a head kick in mid air for the double down. BUSHI counters Storm Breaker into the BUSHI ROLL for a believable near fall, then he hits MX for another great near fall which had the crowd going crazy. He goes for another MX but Will catches him in an Oscutter, hits Hidden Blade, the top rope Oscutter, and finally Storm Breaker to win at the 16:20 mark of an exceptional wrestling outing. Once again, the post match here was significant; Ospreay gets the mic and says that he’s beaten everyone in the Junior division, there’s no one left for him to beat, then the lights went out and a Time Bomb video played, which brought out the returning Hiromu Takahashi, who has been out with a broken neck since July of 2018. He charges down to the ring, gives the commentators stuffed cats, then takes a bump into the barricade for no reason. He eneters the ring, thanks the fans for waiting for him, and tells Ospreay that he’s ready and wants the belt. He takes a back bump and rolls into a bridge, from where he cut the rest of his promo as Ospreay holds the mic for him, and challenges Ospreay to a title match on January 4th. Ospreay accepts, then Hiromu licks the belt, hugs Ospreay, and leaves. This was tremendous.

This left the main event with a lot to follow. Typical to form with these guys, they had a great, hard-hitting match, but it couldn’t really follow the stuff that preceeded it. The match went 27:40, which was much too long, especially as no one believed Goto winning this, despite scoring some great near falls. He hit the reverse GTR, then a Shouten Kai for a tremendous near fall (it works every time, even though he hasn’t won a match with it in three years), which lead into the token White counter exchange, which is always incredible, culminating in him hitting Aramusha with the Sleeper Suplex. Goto however, pops up and hits the GTW (the Ushigoroshi into a Final Cut), then follows with GTR, but Gedo pulls the ref out. This causes Katsuyori Shibata, who was providing commentary at ringside, to jump in and lay Gedo out with kicks, and locking in a sleeper. This brought out KENTA, who kicked Shibata off the apron, hit the Go 2 Sleep on Goto, then tossed Shibata into the barricade and nailed a few chest kicks. This allowed White to recover and hit Blade Runner to successfully defend his title. White cut a promo in the post match, caling out Okada and Ibushi, saying he’ll face the winner on January 5th, but instead out came Naito. White says he’s isn’t defending against Naito, and out comes Ibushi. All three vow to be the first double champion. They call out Okada, who eventually shows up, and asks them what the hell they’re all talking about. He has the most prestigeous belt in the company, why would he want the secondary title? He proposes there be a fan vote (a hark back to the controversial issue with the WK8 main event) to solve this issue, then White tells them all to “fuck off” as this is his moment, and he celebrates his win. All in all, this was a great show that more than over-delivered on its potential. Every match was at least good, at least four where excellent, and the angles were very memorable indeed, so its a thumbs up from me.