[***]November 5th, 2022 | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 4,006
[***]Apologies for these reviews being later than expected. This and Crown Jewel are airing on a really busy weekend for me involving a family gathering and a road trip for a football game so I’ll be out of the house for a lot of it.
[***]It’s an odd time for New Japan as the company as most agree they’ve been stuck in a rut for a couple of years now and the upcoming Wrestle Kingdom card doesn’t look like it’ll change that. However, we do have a new title coming in, FTR is here, and hopefully this show can mark a change.
[***]IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Francesco Akira and TJP [c] vs. BUSHI and Titán
[***]I’m still unsure on Titán as an LIJ member but he’s very good. The challengers started hot with dropkicks and that set the tone for a match filled with action. The teams moved quickly and hit a bunch of impressive offense. It was indeed a throwback to when the division was often placed as the hot opener on major shows. TJP and Akira work really well together and a lot of their offense looks smooth. The LIJ duo clearly hadn’t worked together as much as a few of their moves missed the mark or came off awkwardly. Things did slow a bit but not in a way that hurt the match. It was nice to have a bit more control and structure. With how often these titles change hands, there is always intrigue because you just never know the outcome. Titán’s corner clothesline where he launches himself to the outside is nuts and should’ve gotten a better reaction than it did. The champs put down BUSHI with the Leaning Tower (I think that’s what commentary called it) after 11:36. That was a fun opener that could be better if they rematch it after the LIJ crew has had more time together. [***¼]
[***]Aaron Henare, Aussie Open and Gideon Grey vs. Alex Zayne, David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano
[***]I like the gimmick of Gideon Grey introducing his partners. On the other hand, the babyface team is one I really like. Yano is fun 90% of the team, Finlay is a budding star who always impresses, Zayne had a great BOSJ, and Tanahashi is Tanahashi. Zayne continued to be a blast here and his back and forth with Henare was a highlight. I love when juniors mix it up with big men and it works. Never mind as commentary said Zayne isn’t a junior anymore. Boo, that division needs a guy like him. Anyway, we also got good stuff from Tanahashi against Mark Davis. Aussie Open is really good, by the way. Yano did his thing for a bit but then took offense from Aussie Open that Tanahashi had to save him from. Still, Aussie Open hit their finisher on Yano soon after to win at the 9:50 mark. That was a good, fun multi-man tag. Hey, this show is off to a strong start!. [***]
[***]Hikuleo vs. Yujiro Takahashi
[***]Wait, never mind what I said about a strong start. WAIT, TAKE IT BACK AGAIN BECAUSE PIETER IS THERE. Anyway, New Japan have looked like total GOOFS throughout the Karl Anderson situation. Yujiro jumped Hikuleo before the bell but he fought him off and did the same to SHO. He asked for the bell to be rung, hit a powerslam, and won with a chokeslam in 0:28. At least they kept this short. Who is this company and what have they done with New Japan? [NR]
[***]NJPW TV Championship Tournament Semifinals: Ren Narita vs. SANADA
[***]Narita feels like a rising star with loads of potential. That was kind of where SANADA was back in 2016 and 2017 before he plateaued. This company doesn’t need a new title but that 15 time limit is something I am ALL about, especially for a guy like SANADA. I love that Narita is basically a mini Shibata. I think Skull End sucks but at least SANDA did it differently here, wrapping Narita up on the bottom rope with it. Twists like that are needed for a guy who feels stale. SANADA kept up the aggression here, going for lots of covers and apparently not trying to come to close to the time limit, which he has done in the tourney so far. Narita got going with high impact offense as commentary said that in the event of a time limit draw, a coin flip picks a winner. Seriously? They couldn’t go with judges or something? That’s such a dumb way to determine this thing. Because it’s SANADA, we had to get down to a minute left. Narita slapped the shit out of him and caught him with the Narita Special #4 to win in 14:31. That was another strong match and the right guy went over. [***½]
[***]NJPW TV Championship Tournament Semifinals: EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
[***]So in the G1, ZSJ beat EVIL in under a minute to cost him the block. He did so by having Kosei Fujita dress up as him and trick EVIL. Here, he had Fujita cut a promo on EVIL mocking him in the back. The House of Torture guys brought out Fujita, beaten and then a second guy hilariously and badly disguised as ZSJ was on the stage. Togo went after him and ZSJ snuck in from behind to nearly beat EVIL quickly again. They proceeded to have more of a match this time but not by much. ZSJ overcame interference from Togo to win in 4:48 with the Cobra Twist. [**½]
[***]El Desperado and Master Wato vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori
[***]So, these four men are set to meet for the Jr. Heavyweight Title at Wrestle Kingdom. This is a tag where the partners were picked at random. Hiromu messed with his partner a bit, waiting for him on the stage and calling them “Team True Pals” when they are certainly not friends. Look, it’s obvious that Master Wato is at least a step or two below the rest of the guys in here but given their talent, you just knew this would at least be entertaining. They brought a lot of action, fast paced offense, and things like chop exchanges. Most of them have wrestled each other so much that things come easy and naturally. From a story perspective, Ishimori was more than happy to let Hiromu handle the major stuff and take a beating ahead of the upcoming title match. It wasn’t until Wato was left lying that Ishimori became interested in tagging back in. I liked the spots where the partners went at it, including a pin attempt by partners. It was good fun. The finish saw Hiromu take out Wato only to eat an accidental knee from Ishimori, allowing Wato to steal it after 16:49. They’ve had better matches in terms of crispness and action but I really liked the character stuff here. [***½]
[***]Jay White and KENTA vs. Kazuchika Okada and Tama Tonga
[***]Another match to continue the Tama/Jay issue and build towards Okada/White. Nothing against Okada and White but I don’t know anyone who is legitimately excited about this Tokyo Dome main event. I’m sure it’ll be good but it’s not interesting. Anyway, this was pretty generic and I don’t have much to say about it. If you’ve seen one of these tags, you’ve seen them all. When Tama and KENTA were in there, they really brought it, while Okada and White did enough to tease the match without going too hard or giving too much away. My biggest problem here was the length. It went 17:34 and didn’t need to as it dragged at points, especially since we aren’t get the best of Okada/White here. The Gun Stun on KENTA ended this and I thought it was fine and nothing more. [**½]
[***]IWGP Tag Team Championship: FTR [c] vs. The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb
[***]FTR is easily the best tag champs in this company since I started watching back in 2015. If only the division was booked like it mattered. The teams went through the expected feeling out process to kick things off but I think this is one of those matches where the clap crowed hurt it more than others. FTR’s superb tag work is the kind of thing that typically leads to great crowd reactions and high emotion but the clap crowds prevent that and cuts off some of their steam. The idea here was that FTR had to use quick tags and tandem offense to get in control because one-on-one, their opponents were simply too big for them. It’s a good way to utilize tag formula without building to the hot tag for the heel challengers. However, it wasn’t until late that this really picked up and got going, They traded good stuff and countered each other before a blind tag set up the Big Rig to give FTR the win in 17:31. Another really good match here. [***½]
[***]IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
[***]Their first meeting ever came during the G1 Climax and was great (****). I have to give Willy props for playing the heel role so well. He comes across as unlikable and that makes his face stuff not click quite as well. Again, what worked here was the character work and psychology more than the cool moves the guys did. Naito’s laid back attitude is a perfect foil to aggressive villain Ospreay. Ospreay tried to match him early, even stealing his signature pose but it takes more than that to get into Naito’s head. Naito also went after the neck, which made sense given Ospreay’s history there. It’s cool that Will can do his fancy, eye-catching moves but the simple whip he did into the guardrail was the kind of stuff I love. He did it with such aggression that it looked violent and felt worse for Naito than any Oscutter ever could. The segment with Ospreay in full control was fine, especially since he kept up the violent streak. I appreciated that a lot of big offensive chances for Ospreay were cut off because his neck would flare up. He did a really good job of selling. The neckbreaker onto the floor sounded sick and commentary’s “ewww” reaction was spot-on. The champ was out of it afterward and looked out on his feet several times. Will did the LAND ON MY FEET ON A RANA spot smoother than he often does. As usual, I didn’t love the closing stretch here because so many from New Japan feel so similar and Will’s neck didn’t both him as much here. He won with Stormbreaker in 30:17 in what was Will’s best singles match in a long time. Same for Naito who hasn’t been on his game over the past two years. [****½]
[***]Post-match, Shota Umino returned from excursion and is set to answer Will’s open challenge gimmick. Fun, I love Shooter.
