#njsse

TMDK (Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste, Zack Sabre Jr)

NJPW STRONG STYLE EVOLVED Review (Mar 25th 2018, Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, CA.)

Roppongi 3K & Rocky Romero vs. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky  ***1/4

Hirooki Goto & Gedo vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay  **1/4

Killer Elite Squad vs. Toru Yano & Chuckie T  **1/2

Cody & Marty Scurll vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny  **1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Lee vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi  ***1/4

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Will Ospreay  ****

Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki  ****1/4

IWGP U.S. Title Match: Jay White (c) vs. Hangman Page  ****

Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. The Young Bucks  ****3/4

Photos.

This was a very fun show, which started slow but built to a fantastic climax. This reminded me very much of the first night of last July’s G1 Special in that sense. One issue is that many of the guys on the card seemed to just ‘turn up’, and have their house show boots on, and it went far too long (4 and a half hours) for my liking, but this aside, it was a fun event. Things started hot with an all-action 11 minute six man opener that was really good, but not without its sloppy moments. At one point it appeared as though Kazarian potentially blew out his knee on a botched springboard. It featured loads of dives and spots, with SHO and YOH looking great throughout. They scored the pin on Scorpio Sky after nailing the 3K. The next few tag bouts were all decent, but nothing special. David Finlay pinned Gedo with his Prima Nocta Stunner in 7:24. The fact Finlay scored the pin was a surprise, but it played into things later on the show. KES defeated the CHAOS clown squad of Yano and Chuckie (both of whom were super over) when they hit the Killer Bomb on Chuck after 10 minutes of mostly comedy. Then Bullet Club had another implosion as Cody and Marty Scurll took on the GOD. Cody scored the win over Tanga Loa with Cross Rhodes at 10:45. This too was fine, but again, it was strictly house show territory. The Tongans told The American Nightmare that they most definitely were not “Team Cody” in the pre-match promo, thus deepening the schism between the BC.

Things improved in the next 8 man tag, which saw representatives of Taguchi Japan take on all but one of the LIJ. This was another action packed multi-man, with Tana and Naito being especially over with the Long Beach crowd. The highlight though was the exchanges between Hiromu and Dragon Lee, who expectedly tore the house down. Naito scored the win for his team after 12 minutes when he hit Destino on Taguchi. Rey Mysterio came out and apologised for not being able to perform due to his torn biceps. He promised however to compete in New Japan once he’s recovered. I loved the Liger/Ospreay match, probably a lot more than most, but I make no apologies for being the full-blown Liger mark I am, and I always pop for him hitting his signature spots in this day and age. Ospreay was, as per usual, tremendous here, doing everything possible to sell Liger’s offence. Liger hit a Brainbuster on the floor and Ospreay barely made the 20 count, in a really dramatic moment. The legend got all his usual spots in like the Romero special and the Shoutei. He went for his trademark Frankensteiner off the top, but Ospreay flipped out and landed on his feet. He appeared to tweak his knee on landing and sold it for the whole match. It wasn't clear if he really was hurt or if it was all an elaborate sell, but I’m guessing the latter. He even did the Sasuke Special and springboard forearm spots on one leg. Liger countered an Oscutter into his patented Brainbuster, then hit the Avalanche version for a great near fall, before Ospreay turned a Shoutei into, ironically enough, a Liger Bomb, then got the win at 10:35 when he finally hit the Oscutter. I thought this was excellent. The post match saw Ospreay challenge Mysterio, who was sat at ringside and accepted the challenge, then Marty Scurll ran in and laid out Ospresay with an umbrella shot. Rey tried to intervene but Scurll unmasked him, but was sent packing by Liger. This here sequence appeared to set up a whole bunch of matches. Hey maybe we’ll see Rey in this years BOSJ?

Okada and Ishii faced off with Suzuki and ZSJ next in a great doubles clash. This was the best match on the show up to this point and it didn't disappoint. Ishii and Suzuki’s exchanges brought the house down and built towards a potential I.C. Title match, which I very much hope happens. I don’t think these guys have squared off against each other since the Kizuna Road show in 2013, which was an excellent match. Obviously, the main story here though was Sabre and Okada, who battle for the IWGP title next weekend in Tokyo, as Zack kept countering all of Okada’s moves into submissions. There was a really cool spot where Suzuki and Sabre used double team arm bars on Ishii, and then Ishii and Suzuki traded incredibly hard forearm blows. The finish saw ZSJ lock the Stone Pitbull in the same Breaks Special/half crab comb he submitted him with in the G1, with identical results as he verbally tapped at the 18:50 mark. Zack then locked Okada in the Manjigatame in the post match, then he and Suzuki roughed up referee Marty Asami in the post match, because they're no-good heels. It was announced that NJPW will return in July at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, which will be quite the test. Speaking of tests, Jay White successfully defended the US Title against Hangman Page in the semi main spot. This had a hard time following the quality and star-power of the last two matches, initially playing to a tepid crowd. However, both guys worked incredibly hard and won them over by the end. Mainly through trying to kill one another. White proceeded to dump Hangman on his head with some devastating suplexes, including a German on the apron, which saw Page miss the apron and careen to the floor. This could have been really devastating, but Page managed to avert disaster at the last minute. Hangman battled back with another scary spot, this time a swinging neck breaker off the top rope. Things really picked up when Page hit a shooting star press off the apron and an impressive moonsault to the floor. After kicking out of a Kiwi Crusher, Page tried the Rites Of Passage, but Switchblade escaped into Blade Runner for the pin at exactly 25 minutes. This ended up being great, but they had an uphill battle in that no one really saw them as stars and it went a little too long realistically. David Finlay laid out White in the post match and challenged him to defend the title on April 24th at Korakuen Hall.

Then the main event, an exceptional, story-driven tag team war which saw all kinds of action. I didn’t love this as much as most people (I never once thought it was ***** territory, but its all subjective), but this was tremendous pro wrestling.  The main arc of the story here being that Matt is working with a bad back and Kenny, who was reluctant to even be in the match in the first place, didn't want to damage it any further, but both Bucks and Ibushi kept pushing him to do so. There were a couple of really bad botches here, most notably Kota falling off the ropes whilst attempting the Cross Slash moonsault and apparently ended up concussed, then the Lovers clashed heads attempting that moonsault series, which resulted in Kenny’s eye swelling up. This got really scary at one point when the Lovers went for a double superlex on Matt, and he he nearly fell to Earth, before Ibushi rebalanced everyone and they hit the move perfectly. Thank God. From here on out though, it was all top-notch wrestling. The Bucks got a table out, but it came back to haunt them as Omega teased a OWA off the apron through the table on Matt. However, Ibushi instead hit a German on Matt off Kenny’s shoulders into the ring, which was an incredible spot. Omega hit a V-Trigger on Matt, then Ibushi scored a near fall with the Last Ride. After the Jacksons took Omega out with super kicks, Matt locked Ibushi in the Sharpshooter, but his back was too damaged and he collapsed out of the hold. They went for More Bang For Your Buck on Ibushi, but instead of the Moonsault, Matt elbow dropped Omega through the table at ringside, then Nick got a near fall on Ibushi with a 450. Kenny hit a Dragon Suplex on Matt, but Matt rebounded with a piledriver, which Omega did a great sell for, then began whipping Kenny with the weight lifting belt he was wearing. Omega got control of the belt, but refused to use it, choosing instead to obliterate Matt with two V-Triggers, before Matt countered the third with a spear. The Bucks went for the Meltzer Driver, but Ibushi hit the Last Ride on Nick through the time keepers table at ringside. The Lovers then hit their own version of the Indytaker on Matt, Omega hoisted him up in the one Winged Angel. However, he refused to hit the move, until Matt grabbed Kenny’s arm and told him to finish him off with the move. Kenny obliged, hitting the OWA, but Nick came in out of nowhere and broke up the pin as the place went crazy. Ibushi sent Nick to the floor, then the Golden Lovers hit the Golden Trigger on Matt to end a fantastic match at 39:21. Cody came out in the post match and berated the Bucks, shoving Nick to the floor in the process, but he was run off by Omega. Kenny then offered his hand to the Bucks, but they refused and left the ring. This match was predictably insane, with all four guys doing a tremendous job. Special mention goes to Nick Jackson, who worked super hard throughout.

As I say, this was a really good show, with a MOTYC of a main event, however, there are some things I must nitpick over. Most notably was the AXS TV production issues. Normally I’m pretty forgiving with these sort of things, but there were so many missed spots or out of place cameras that it got to the point of distraction. It reached a crescendo in the main event, when the cameras would miss a spot, then inexplicably focus on the guys selling the spot outside the ring, only miss a spot inside the ring. It was just all too jarring to me. But beyond this, the show is well worth checking out and the main event is a must-see.