#njusa

NJPW G1 SPECIAL in USA Night 2 Review (July 2nd 2017, Long Beach, CA.)

KUSHIDA, Jushin Thunder Liger & David Finlay vs. Yoshitatsu & The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu) ***1/4

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semifinal: Kenny Omega vs. Jay Lethal ***3/4

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semifinal: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ****

Juice Robinson, Jay White, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi ***3/4

Michael Elgin & War Machine vs. Hangman Page & Guerrillas of Destiny ***

IWGP Jr. Tag Title Match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Roppongi Vice ****1/4+

Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes vs. Cody, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll ***1/2

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Billy Gunn **1/2

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final: Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii ****3/4

Photos.

This was an excellent show which was capped off by a MOTYC in the main event. Every match delivered in its own way, and even Tana vs. Billy Gunn for goodness sake was better than it had any business being. Things started off with a strong 6-man opener which saw some really good exchanges between KUSHIDA and the Tempura Boyz. Finlay submitted Yoshitatsu with a horse collar to win for his team. Kenny Omega advanced to the finals of the US Title Tourney when he pinned Jay Lethal with the One Winged Angel in a great match with a hot closing stretch, and which also told a compelling story revolving around Lethal’s injured ribs. Ishii and ZSJ was a very different match in the second semifinal bout of the tournament. To the layman this was an odd match up, but these guys were always going to have an enjoyable clash together. Sabre would use his impressive submissions and Ishii would power his way out with hard strikes. There was an amazing spot where Zack had Ishii in a Triangle/leg lock combo, and Ishii kept powering for the ropes, only for Zack to keep grabbing more limbs and applying more stretches, then when Ishii made the ropes it blew the roof off. The finish came after a strike exchange, ZSJ hit a PK, the came off the ropes for another, only to be wiped out by an Ishii lariat, which enabled the Stone Pitbull to hit the match winning Brainbuster after 11:42  of excellent action, and advance to face Omega in the finals.

Jay White pinned BUSHI to win a crazy Lucha spotfest which featured all kinds of great high-flying action. Hiromu and Dragon Lee’s chop battle tore the house down, and this was one of the better 10-man tags in NJPW of late. The legend that is Haku accompanied his sons in G.O.D. to the ring en route to their team scoring the win over Elgin and new IWGP Tag Champions War Machine. Page pinned Rowe with an Omori Driver to win a good match, the win sets him up as one half of the next challengers to the belts. Good God don't let his partner be Yujiro again. After intermission The Young Bucks and RPG Vice had an incredible IWGP Jr. Tag Title Match. This was almost identical to what this would have looked like had it been held in PWG with all the crazy spots and sequences, and the fact it was given a lot of time (22:41). This was a total “superkick party” as there were way too many to keep track of throughout. The Jacksons worked Trent’s back all match, powerbombing him on the ramp and leaving Rocky to fend for himself again, as well as powerbombing Rocky on to his partner’s injured back. There was a crazy spot where the champions hit a Meltzer Driver on Romero on the floor, with Nick doing a springboard 450 out of the ring. They didn't hit it like they would have liked but it still looked really cool. The teams went back and forth for a bit, until Romero ate another Meltzer Driver, then submitted to a Sharpshooter/Scorpion Death Lock. The post match was incredibly eventful to say the least. Firstly, Ricochet ran out and attacked the Bucks, nailing them both with dives, before issuing a challenge on behalf of he and Ryususke Taguchi, which was accepted, then he proceeded to bury Lucha Underground. As if that weren't enough, RPG Vice then amicably disbanded, with Beretta now becoming a heavyweight, and Rocky potentially hanging up the boots.

The following 8-man tag was lots of fun, but went on forever, and, speaking of PWG, came across like that annual multi-man losers match on the final night of BOLA. This was mainly comedy, with the heels just tagging each other in and out, doing nothing for over 5 minutes. Once that was out of the way it was really good once it got going. Cody pinned Ospreay with Cross Rhodes after about 17 minutes. The I.C. Title Match was, er, interesting. OK, first things first, this wasn't bad, though certainly by no means was it any good either. I was expecting much worse, but they worked a pretty watchable, yet totally pedestrian 14 minute wrestling match, though the crowd were always into it. The whole thing was just bizarre. The sight of Billy Gunn in there with Tanahashi. Make no mistake about it, he was carried through this thing, and Tana is to be commended for making it as good as it was. After some “pantsing” comedy, Billy hit an impressive Cobra Clutch Bomb and scored a closing near fall with his Fame-asser, before Tana retained with the High Fly Flow. 

Then the finals of the U.S. Title tournament which was by far the best match all weekend. Ishii and Omega went to war and produced one of the years finest matches. This went 31:20 and featured just loads of brutal sequences. They brawled through the sold out crowd early, and both guys destroyed each others chests with hard chops, Omega hit devastating V-Triggers aplenty, while Ishii fought back with stiff lariats. There was a really rough spot where Kenny hit a Dragon Suplex off the apron, through a table on Ishii, which just looked horrible to both take and deliver. Back in the ring, they traded hard forearms before Ishii hit his gigantic top rope superplex, then scored a really convincing near fall with Kenny’s own One Winged Angel. Omega hit an Ushigoroshi, followed by a stiff looking V-Trigger, which Ishii did his kick-at-one spot on, which made the entire building explode. A reverse Frankensteiner by Omega, which Ishii no-sold, then ate another V-Trigger, before The Cleaner hoisted the Stone Pitbull up and became the inaugural IWGP United States Champion with the One Winged Angel. This was a fantastic match to cap off a great weekend. The entire Bullet Club came out to celebrate, while Cody teased he was going to turn on Kenny. It wasn't to be however, as they hugged and made up. The BC lifted the triumphant Kenny on their shoulders as the show came to a close. I preferred this show to the previous night, though both were successes. NJPW announced a return to North America in 2018.