TOGI MAKABE & TORU YANO & RYSUKE TAGUCHI vs. YUGI NAGATA & JEFF COBB & DAVID FINLAY vs. HIROOKI GOTO & CHUCKIE T. & BERETTA vs. MINORU SUZUKI & LANCE ARCHER & DAVEY BOY SMITH, JR. vs. MARTY SCURLL & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & HANGMAN PAGE (27:47): This was the pre-show match...meaning the lights in the Dome were still on and it was sort of like the usual, opening Rumble match they typically put on first on this show. This match was for the #1 contender to wrestle for the NEVER 6-man title, a totally superfluous title if there ever was one. You can tell how deep the New Japan roster is because this was the pre-show match and had Jeff Cobb and Hangman Page and Suzuki and Goto and Scurll. Kind of crazy, really, that such big names like Goto and Suzuki were left off the big show and stuck in a silly match like this. It turned out okay. It was way too long. Early on, Jeff Cobb and Page were entertaining, but then it just got tiring. *1/2
WILL OSPREAY vs. KOTA IBUSHI (18:13): Fuck. This is the opener? A match with two of the best wrestlers in the world wrestling each other for the first time? Jesus Christ. The anticipation was monumental. So of course it was a letdown even though it was a great match. Since it was early, the crowd was not as boisterous and crazy loud as they were later during the Okada match and the final moments of the main event. Which is kind of the opposite on the WWE shows when the early matches have a hot crowd and then the longer the show goes the quieter the crowd grows. So the not-as-loud crowd didn't help here...and of course everyone thought this would be the greatest match in the history of the world...so it wasn't, and couldn't be...and that didn't help. I think if it had gone a few minutes longer it might have been better. It was also for the useless NEVER title which nobody cares about. They didn't do anything completely suicidal here, although they did a ton of very brutal strikes and kicks. The final had Ospreay running and giving Ibushi an elbow to the back of the head then delivering his finishing move to a lifeless, apparently knocked out Ibushi. They took Ibushi out on a stretcher and it was said that he suffered a concussion during the match. Really good match but it did not live up to the hype. It couldn't have, though, really. ***
BUSHI & SHINGO TAKAGI vs. SHO & YO vs. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU & EL DESPERADO (6:51): This match just happened a month ago or so when these three faced each other in the finals of the Jr. tag team tournament. At six minutes, you didn't really get much here, and I think that this show suffered a bit from all of the short matches. The Los Ignobernables team won the titles here. It was noted later that every title changed hands on this show...something I didn't even really realize until later on...which probably proves how pointless most of these titles are (this title became pretty meaningless when The Young Bucks left the division). Okay match, pretty forgettable. **
ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (11:37): Good match. Pretty short, though. Sabre won the REV-PRO title...which is a promotion in the UK. I would loathe being a wrestler in REV-PRO because the title is always held by foreigners that rarely even work in the company. Ishii had the title and before him Suzuki had the title. This was the best Zack Sabre, Jr. match I've seen in some time. I think because we got more action out of him than just submission holds that last eons. ***
JUICE ROBINSON vs. CODY (9:03): These two actually wrestled each other two years ago at Wrestle Kingdom 11. Juice won the U.S. title here in another match I'll probably forget happened. This was the one dud on the show. Cody is leaving to go wrestle for AEW, plus he got hurt a month or so ago. This was just lame. 1/2*
TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. KUSHIDA (11:17): Kushida is rumored to be going to the WWE. What a fucking mistake that would be. Kushida is fucking awesome, and he's been awesome for so long you kind of forget. He was a master in this match. His ring entrance had a young boy with a Kushida mask come out and then Taguchi, dressed as Doc Brown from Back to the Future, run out and grab him and pull him back up to the stage where he was changed into the real Kushida after a burst of smoke spewed forth from the depths of the stage. That was amusing. And Kushida will have to get used to silly shit like that if he goes to the WWE and is stuck in 205Live purgatory. ***
JAY WHITE vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (14:20): Up to this point, this was the match of the night. Okada revealed that he was wearing shorts when he unfurled his multi-colored robe and the crowd popped. This is how big Okada is...people care that he's not wearing his stupid pants anymore. No, Okada is all business now. Gone are the balloons and red hair. And Okada proved tonight that he's the man. I might even fathom to say that he gave the best performance of the night. He looked as incredible as he ever has...and that's wrestling against Jay White, who's definitely a better character than wrestler. This was short, again, but super heated and super dramatic. Jay White won on the big stage (which he pretty much had to do) and this was great stuff. ***1/2
TETSUYA NAITO vs. CHRIS JERICHO (22:35): By the end this match turned out to really good, but early on it was just typical ECW-style brawling around the outside of the ring. Jericho gave Naito a DDT on the announcer's table that seriously looked like it broke his neck. No blood, but we got chairs and a Singapore cane. Jericho is old and fat but the crowd loved this. It was probably about as good as a Jericho match is ever going to get these days. ***
HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KENNY OMEGA (39:14): This was boring early but by the end it was one of the greatest matches you'll ever see. Tanahashi actually wrestled the next day on New Year's Dash but after this match I envisioned both guys being in a hospital bed for a month. Tanahashi did a High Fly Flow through a ringside table when Omega moved out of the way. And Omega must have hurt his leg or foot because he could barely stand or put pressure on it by the end. The big, shocking moment came when Tanahashi delivered two High Fly Flow's and then Omega kicked out. That brought the high drama to a deafening crescendo and the end of this was just awe-inspiring stuff. Tanahashi is older and he didn't even look as good as he did during the G1 tournament (that probably took a lot out of him...and this is six months later!) but he still produced a masterpiece of a match and took a wicked beating. These two are at another level when it comes to wrestling. They both know what to do and when to do it. And they both beat the shit out of each other for forty minutes. Tanahashi won the title and Omega never even got to use the One Winged Angel. It seems like Omega just won the title...so does this mean he's leaving? His contract is up at the end of January. I kind of figured if he didn't win here he'd be gone. Although it could just be that Tanahashi is the John Cena of New Japan. And remember how many times Cena won the big one and kept winning the title? Tanahashi hasn't had the title in years and he's the big crowd favorite...so it makes sense that they wanted to close the show on a happy, dramatic note. Great match and a really good show, as usual. ****
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