NJPW SAKURA GENESIS

Tokyo

GREAT O'KHAN, MINORU SUZUKI & TORU YANO vs. EL DESPERADO, HIROSHI TANAHASHI & YOH (13:10): This show started with four straight multi-man matches. Jesus. I don't know why New Japan wastes everyone's time on their big shows with these short, usually meaningless matches. I guess the idea is to at least put all of the stars on every show so the fans don't feel ripped off, even if some of the stars are in pointless matches like this. Early on, with Suzuki and Desperado in together, this was good. Once Great O'Khan entered, though, things went south. Toru Yano didn't want to get tagged in so Suzuki slapped him hard across the chest as a tag. I don't even know what was going on in terms of these teams. It probably didn't help that I watched the Japanese language broadcast, which I always do anyway because it's better. **

UNITED EMPRE (AARON HENARE, FRANCESCO AKIRA & JEFF COBB) vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, SHO & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI) (8:01): There wasn't too much interference/cheating in this match. Usually these House of Torture matches are aptly named because they're a torture to watch. Dick Togo got into the ring to choke Jeff Cobb at one point while the ref tried to rip a hammer out of Sho's grasp. There obviously wasn't much to this match except Jeff Cobb came across as a beast. *

JUST FIVE GUYS (DOUKI, TAICHI & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU) vs. LOS IGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, SHINGO TAKAGI & TETSUYA NAITO) (9:20): Just Five Guys is the new Sanada group. It's filled with a bunch of losers, though, although I will admit that Taichi has grown on me since his debut in the company. The crowd treated the entrance of Naito like he was the King of Japan or something. I was wondering if maybe this show was in Naito's hometown or something but the show was just in Tokyo. Maybe Naito is from Ryogoku, a part of Tokyo that's the home of sumo wrestling, where this show was from. Who knows? Sadly, Shingo was in this match instead of being in a better singles match later on. I can't really say they're burying him, considering he was in a 36 minute Korukaen Hall main event against Henare a few weeks ago that everyone was talking about (it was good not great). But seriously...Shingo should be in the main event picture and stat. There really wasn't much of note in this match. *1/2

BULLET CLUB (DAVID FINLAY, EL PHANTASMO & KENTA) vs. GUERRILAS OF DESTINY (HIKULEO & TAMA TONGA & MASTER WATO (8:46): At least this multi-man match had a big storyline in it. The Bullet Club (why do they still exist?) turned on El Phantasmo after the match and beat him up. I guess he's turning into a good guy, which doesn't make sense because he's a great heel. The only other noteworthy thing about this match is that Tama Tonga is still wearing that stupid suit that looks like Iron Man. *1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. AZM vs. HAZUKI (13:53): I'm not entirely sure why New Japan now has an IWGP Women's title. They don't even have a women's division! Literally, Mercedes Mone is the champ and the only woman in the division. Mercedes won the title in San Jose awhile back against Kairi Sane, who's in Stardom. Tonight she successfully defended against AZM and Hazuki, who are both in Stardom. Considering Bushiroad owns both Stardom and New Japan...why not just have Stardom championship matches on these shows instead of having an IWGP Women's title? And we all thought New Japan had too many titles...but they already introduced two new ones this year: the women's title and the TV title. They also have a Strongman tag team title...and who the hell knows where that came from or what the point of that is. As for this match...it wasn't as good as the Kairi Sane/Mercedes match from San Jose. While this wasn't sloppy or anything, it wasn't crisp and it was kind of messy and all over the place in terms of women falling all over each other. It was fast paced, which makes sense considering Stardom has a High Speed title. I haven't watched one of those High Speed title matches yet, but it makes me wonder: is it because there's a time limit? Because what if a wrestler just starts wrestling slow? Is the ref supposed to DQ them for going too slow? It seems like a silly title to me. I'm not sure where Mercedes goes from here. She's more an "attraction" than a full time New Japan wrestler. I think she's wrestling on a big Stardom show next. This was an entertaining match and Mercedes looked great. **1/2

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. SHOTA UMINO (13:35): Zack retained the TV title here. There's a 15 minute time limit for these TV title matches. Would it have killed this company to put the time on the screen? The crowd was actually on fire at the end of this when Shota was getting a bunch of near falls. Are they that into Shota Umino? I do remember he was a big crowd favorite in that Jericho match at last year's Forbidden Door. Considering he lost here, they haven't pulled the trigger on him yet. He is referee Red Shoe's son, so I'm sure he'll get that mega push eventually. This match was kind of dull until the last few minutes, which were great. **1/2

AUSSIE OPEN (KYLE FLETCHER & MARK DAVIS) vs. BISHAMON (HIROOKI GOTO & YOSHI-HASHI) (15:30): This was the match of the night and one of the best matches of the year. Fuck, this was awesome. Were they chanting that in Japanese? The crowds are allowed to finally chant now, although 99% of the crowd was still wearing masks even though you don't have to (one couple in the front row didn't have masks on...but it looked like everyone else did). I've been seeing a lot of Aussie Open lately because they've been on AEW's Dynamite and Rampage a lot lately. They actually wrestled in Milwaukee four days after this for Rampage to defend the tag titles they won here against Best Friends. I'm surprised by that, considering Kyle Fletcher did a moonsault off the top rope and his head whiplashed against the bottom of the guard rail after he landed and the wound was pouring blood so he had it wrapped up mid-match. It definitely looked like he got a concussion from that, although he continued the match and looked fine. Aussie Open looked like the greatest tag team of all time in this match and the crowd was loudly behind them. Goto and Yoshi-Hashi were okay, but Aussie Open was on another level in this match. This was just all action and fast paced and the crowd was going nuts and we got a title change. Fantastic match. ***1/2

HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. ROBBIE EAGLES (21:12): Most of this was a bore because Eagles worked on Takahashi's leg for the majority of this match. I was so bored I was focusing on the woman in the front row for a lot of this match. Eagles did an over the top rope dive and he landed on Hiromu and the guardrail and his feet hit a lady's head in the front row. Zack Sabre, who was ringside because he's a part of Eagle's stable, gave the lady an ice pack to tend her wound. The lady kept the icepack on her cheek the whole fucking match! Did the injury hurt that much or, what I suspect, she was just being courteous and also didn't know what to do with the ice pack? Just put it on the floor when she was done? Yell to one of the ringside boys to fetch it? Considering I was focusing on that, what does it say about the greatness of this match? At least the final flurry was great. New Japan really comes through with the final five minutes of their big matches. It's kind of like...why not just do a five minute match if the rest is going to be trash? Eagles gave Hiromu some sort of Frankensteiner maneuver from the top rope that put Hiromu right on the top of his head that was gruesome. Eagles had Hiromu in a long submission hold that the crowd got into because they thought Eagles would win the title. He didn't. I heard last year that Hiromu might turn heavyweight and be in the G1. I guess that idea is out the window. And where's Kushida? He wasn't at Wrestle Kingdom because he got hoof and mouth disease. Is he still sick with that? Has he turned into a cow? **1/2

SANADA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (26:58): The one problem that New Japan has is that it's kind of obvious when a title change happens. AEW has the same problem. Sanada got a new look with a new haircut and shaved face and started a new stable. He's lost to Okada in the main event a billion times so why would they even have this match if he was going to lose again? It was kind of obvious he was winning the title here. And while most of this match was just okay and fairly standard, the last five minutes or so were excellent and the crowd was frenzied and loud and ready to burst. Okada just won the title in January, but I think everyone is sick of him as champ so it's good that somebody else has the title. I'd prefer Ospreay or Shingo, but Ospreay's hurt and they don't seem to be pushing Shingo too hard these days for whatever reason. Sanada got this title opportunity because he won the New Japan Cup. Ospreay was injured and had to leave the Cup. Could Ospreay have possibly been the one that was supposed to win the title here? Who knows? Sanada's not the greatest, mostly because he has the personality of a rock, but he's good enough. Plus, I was so sick of them putting him in main event title matches constantly against Okada for years and never having him win. I doubt he'll keep the title long, but it was nice to finally see him win the big one. **1/2