HIROYOSHI TENZAN, JUICE ROBINSON & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. MANABU NAKANISHI, TERUAKI KANEMITSU & YUJI NAGATA (5:49): The pre-show match. Kind of an old man and fresh faces mix. Nothing too this, but semi-entertaining. **
DAVID FINLAY, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, RICOCHET & TIGER MASK vs. ANGEL de ORO, FUEGO, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & TITAN (5:30): The Mexican team came out dancing. That was one of the more amusing things on this show. Ricochet was the other. He's so awesome that it's kind of a shame they fly him all the way to Japan just to be in a five minute forgettable match. But his awesomeness was on display for a short while. And, hell, I'd pay to see him face Bone Soldier. He's that good! **
BONE SOLDIER, CHASE OWENS & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI vs. TOGI MAKABE, HONMA & YOSHITATSU (7:36): Voicesofwrestling.com had a hilarious preview of this show where they ripped apart Bone Soldier and his feud with Yoshitatsu. Yes, Bone Soldier is awful. Honma is fading but still fun to watch. But, alas, this was pretty awful. *
GUERILLAS OF DESTINY vs. ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI (14:32): Shocking, but this match was better than the next one. Perhaps because the crowd got into it to cheer on Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi. There were some exciting near-falls and drama at the end. It was better than I expected, considering the Guerrillas fucking suck. **1/2
RAPPONGI VICE vs. ACH & TAJI ISHIMORI (18:49): This was the finals for the Jr. Tag Team tournament. The problem was that either of these teams would have been in a better match with the Bucks (ACH and Ishimori beat the Bucks a week ago in the tournament in a good match). ACH, from ROH, is a lot of fun, and him and Ishimori do some crazy high-flying leaps and jumps (their finisher is a double Shooting Star Press). But this went too long. Rappongi Vice will go on to face the Bucks for the titles at the Dome. **
KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI (15:11): Bushi just won the Jr. Heavyweight title...yet he lost it already. The end was odd. The ref just called it when Bushi was in a submission hold for awhile. Bushi is not the best cruiserweight, so I'm not sure why they even gave him the title in the first place. This was just okay. And is Kushida going heel? It seemed like it. Post-match, out came Kushida's Dome challenger, the arrogant, brash Hiromu Takahashi, who was wrestling spectacular matches in CMLL earlier this year against Dragon Lee. **
ADAM COLE, THE YOUNG BUCKS & KENNY OMEGA vs. OKADA, GEDO, GOTO & WILL OSPREAY (14:01): These four Bullet Club members are, right now, the most entertaining team in wrestling. Even the Japanese crowds love to yell, "Baby!" when Adam Cole does his stupid yet amusing, "Adam Cole...Baby!" refrain mid-match. And the Bucks are as awesome as ever these days. And Omega is perhaps the wrestler of the year. Add Okada to this mix and add Ospreay's super-jumps and cat-like speed and, hell, this was one of the most entertaining matches I've seen all year. All four BC members super-kicked Okada and Gedo and Omega pinned Okada to win. ***1/2
EVIL vs. SHIBATA (16:15): Wow. Evil, the boring brute, won the NEVER title here. I guess this is so Shibata can go and have his match with NOAH's Go Shiozaki without a title on the line. Either way, this was good but not great. Hard-hitting. Surprise ending. Probably Evil's best single's match this year...which isn't saying much. **1/2
HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. SANADA (21:33): Sanada never did sign a full-time contract yet with New Japan. Maybe that's why he always looks like he doesn't want to be there. And while he's tall and athletic...he has zero charisma. The end did have a good sequence where Tanahashi kept blocking Sanada's finisher. And we got a High-Fly Flow. It was average stuff. **
JAY LETHAL vs. NAITO (24:29): Lethal used to be entertaining and in good matches back when he was a high-flyer in the X-division in TNA and he dressed up as The Macho Man. He had the ROH title this year but lost it to Adam Cole and now he's a good guy again. The reason he was in this match was because Elgin was injured. And this ended up being a bore. Lethal just does not put on good shows in Japan for whatever reason. Naito is the type of wrestler who's usually only as good as his opponent...so this was long and mostly dull. It was for the IC title, which Tanahashi will challenge Naito for at the big Dome show in January. Towards the end there was some drama and near-falls and it started with Lethal doing three straight dives through the ropes to Naito on the outside. But the majority of this just didn't work. **
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