NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Osaka

DAVID FINLAY vs. KATSUYA KITAMURA (5:32): This was a pre-show match. Kitamura is tanned and looks like he's on steroids. AKA he's dull. Forgettable. 1/2*

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. TITAN & DRAGON LEE (7:18): Good match, obviously. Dragon Lee is awesome, Titan does some of the highest high flying moves in the business, and The Young Bucks are the most entertaining tag team in the world. This was short, for no title, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. ***

HIRAI KAWATO, JUICE ROBINSON, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, KUSHIDA & TIGER MASK vs. SUZUKI-GUN (5:19): Ugh. Another NWO-esque melee. Suzuki Gun is awful. Kawato, a Young Lion (meaning his outfit is a simple pair of black underwear), is one to watch, though. Dude's nuts. **

HIROYOSHI TENZAN, SATOSHI KOJIMA & TOGI MAKABE vs. CHASE OWENS, CODY & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (8:11): Takahashi comes out with two prostitutes on these big shows...so there's at least eye candy during his boring matches. Cody has a new heel gimmick where he tries to make his opponents kiss his ring. Nobody ever does. There wasn't much else beyond that. *

RAPPONGI 3K vs. ACH & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI (15:11): Good match. This was the finals of the Jr. tag team tournament...which Sho and Yoh won even though they're the champs. Which means they won but don't get any sort of prize. They're facing the Bucks at the Dome for the titles. Taguchi is a comedian...which sometimes works. It didn't really work for this; what was supposed to be a highly competitive tournament final. ACH did some cool high flying and Rappongi 3K are fun. **1/2

GEDO, HIROOKI GOTO, KAZUCHIKA OKADA, TOMOHIRO ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI vs. BUSHI, EVIL, HIROMU TAKASHI, SANADA & TETSUYA NAITO (12:07): When Okada and Naito faced off this was good...which was most of the match, actually, setting up their Dome main event. The rest was the usual multi-person throwaway New Japan match. **

MINORU SUZUKI vs. TORU YANO "BULL ROPE MATCH" (15:21): Wow. NJPW is doing stupid gimmick matches now. And this was as dumb as they come. But a regular match with Yano would've been just as dumb. Suzuki Gun interfered. Goto interfered. A steel chair was used. They choked each other. Eh. 1/2*

MARTY SCURLL vs. WILL OSPREAY (17:28): Shocking. Ospreay just won the Jr. title last month and Scurll beat him for it tonight. They did it to set up a 4-way at the Dome with Takahashi and Kushida, but still, a one month title reign? I was looking forward to Ospreay/Takahashi for the belt. As for this match...it was stellar late. These two know each other like the back of their hand. I did think that their match earlier this year in the Super Jr.'s tournament was better, though. But the last five minutes of this was as good as it gets. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. BERETTA (21:33): Good match. Beretta is crazy. Yes, this has been established. Earlier this year he did a flip from the ring to the floor and landed on his back. He also had thumbtacks put in his mouth by the Young Bucks who then Super Kicked him at a ROH show in the Spring. In this match he did a top rope flip to the floor through a table. Omega retained the U.S. title, which probably shouldn't exist (this company has way too many titles). Beretta was better in the tag team division. I doubt he could have a good singles match with anyone else. I guess we'll see. And post-match, Chris Jericho showed up in a video package to challenge Omega at the Dome. Ugh. I guess that's cool and all...but Jericho is a shell of his former self. And I really wanted to see Omega/Ibushi at the Dome. ***

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KOTA IBUSHI (29:28): This was the match of the night. Ibushi did all of his crazy high flying leaps and dives and Tanahashi had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout the high drama. It started slow and built to a great match by the end. After Tanahashi won, Jay White showed up to beat up Tanahashi and challenge him to a match at the Dome. Honestly? I'd rather have seen this match at the Dome than a Jay White match. But White did have a great match against Ospreay in NYC at ROH's War of the Worlds last Spring. And Tanahashi always brings it. So we'll see. It'll be a long two month wait. ***