from Osaka, Japan
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. RICOCHET & MATT SYDAL vs. reDRAGON vs. RAPPONGI VICE (15:23): There were four matches on this four and a half hour show that I didn't watch. I doubt I missed anything, but this show wasn't as good as last year's Dominion, which I named the best show of 2015. AJ Styles and Nakamura went to the WWE in January, and Tanahashi is injured, so this show was missing three major players. It still felt like the old New Japan, though, as these four teams battled yet again for the Jr. Tag Team titles. To mix it up they made this an odd, over-the-top-rope elimination match...which negated any cool high flying out of the ring maneuvers. Which meant that this wasn't as good as previous bouts between these eight awesome wrestlers. **1/2 (out of ****)
KUSHIDA vs. WILL OSPREAY (14:36): Losing AJ and Nakamura was tantamount to a death blow...but gaining Will Ospreay, the best free-agent in the world, certainly helped. Ospreay won the Super Juniors tournament last month...but this was his second straight loss to Kushida. It was exciting and fun (Ospreay is one of the best high-fliers in the sport), but not as good as their April match. Ospreay is still young, still learning, so perhaps one day he'll be in a masterpiece. **1/2
THE BRISCOE'S vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY (14:02): Jay and Mark Brisco are wild and energetic, so that helped. They won the tag titles here, a pointless trophy since all the good teams are in the Jr. division. The Somoan bores, Guerrillas of Destiny, are like a bad team from WCW Thunder days. *1/2
SHIBATA vs. NAGATA (14:53): Good, hard-hitting, dramatic stuff. Nagata lost the NEVER title here. He had just won it last month from Shibata. Nagata is 48 years old, but he can still go, and the story here was that Shibata had to gain the respect from his elders, which he did. Shibata goes on to probably face Honma sometime in the future, but, really, Shibata deserves to be the champ and main eventing. He's just awesome. **1/2
KENNY OMEGA vs. MICHAEL ELGIN "LADDER MATCH" (33:32): This was a kitchen sink match; it had pretty much everything. Ladders, tables, trash cans, handcuffs, outside interference, etc. It was, simply, a typical WWE ppv main event. Which was odd...as this show was on the same day as WWE's Money in the Bank ppv. And New Japan never does gimmick matches, and yet this match blew away anything on MITB. It would probably have been better if I hadn't seen all this shit all the time in the WWE over the years. And, sure, it went on way too long...but it was pure spectacle; a true cluster fuck of brutality and chaos. Hiroshi Tanahashi was supposed to face Omega here. It would have been their re-match from February when Omega won the Intercontinental title. Tanahashi was hurt so they threw in the big man, Elgin. And while Elgin took some hard bumps (power-bombed onto a ladder resting on two trashcans in the ring), Omega might be in the hospital for awhile. Omega was slammed off a ladder onto two tables that didn't break at ringside. He was tossed onto a ladder bridge at ringside. Even the hits to the face with the ladder to Omega looked like they broke his jaw. He's certainly putting himself out there this year trying to make a statement as the new Bullet Club leader. When the Young Bucks ran down and handcuffed Elgin to the ring post, Ricochet and Matt Sydal ran down for the save. The Bullet Club beat them up while Omega climbed the ladder. But Elgin is so strong he broke free from the handcuffs! He tipped the ladder, spilling Omega off the ladder and out of the ring onto the other BC members. And Elgin won. This was a very exciting, wild match. ***1/2
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. RICOCHET & MATT SYDAL vs. reDRAGON vs. RAPPONGI VICE (15:23): There were four matches on this four and a half hour show that I didn't watch. I doubt I missed anything, but this show wasn't as good as last year's Dominion, which I named the best show of 2015. AJ Styles and Nakamura went to the WWE in January, and Tanahashi is injured, so this show was missing three major players. It still felt like the old New Japan, though, as these four teams battled yet again for the Jr. Tag Team titles. To mix it up they made this an odd, over-the-top-rope elimination match...which negated any cool high flying out of the ring maneuvers. Which meant that this wasn't as good as previous bouts between these eight awesome wrestlers. **1/2 (out of ****)
KUSHIDA vs. WILL OSPREAY (14:36): Losing AJ and Nakamura was tantamount to a death blow...but gaining Will Ospreay, the best free-agent in the world, certainly helped. Ospreay won the Super Juniors tournament last month...but this was his second straight loss to Kushida. It was exciting and fun (Ospreay is one of the best high-fliers in the sport), but not as good as their April match. Ospreay is still young, still learning, so perhaps one day he'll be in a masterpiece. **1/2
THE BRISCOE'S vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY (14:02): Jay and Mark Brisco are wild and energetic, so that helped. They won the tag titles here, a pointless trophy since all the good teams are in the Jr. division. The Somoan bores, Guerrillas of Destiny, are like a bad team from WCW Thunder days. *1/2
SHIBATA vs. NAGATA (14:53): Good, hard-hitting, dramatic stuff. Nagata lost the NEVER title here. He had just won it last month from Shibata. Nagata is 48 years old, but he can still go, and the story here was that Shibata had to gain the respect from his elders, which he did. Shibata goes on to probably face Honma sometime in the future, but, really, Shibata deserves to be the champ and main eventing. He's just awesome. **1/2
KENNY OMEGA vs. MICHAEL ELGIN "LADDER MATCH" (33:32): This was a kitchen sink match; it had pretty much everything. Ladders, tables, trash cans, handcuffs, outside interference, etc. It was, simply, a typical WWE ppv main event. Which was odd...as this show was on the same day as WWE's Money in the Bank ppv. And New Japan never does gimmick matches, and yet this match blew away anything on MITB. It would probably have been better if I hadn't seen all this shit all the time in the WWE over the years. And, sure, it went on way too long...but it was pure spectacle; a true cluster fuck of brutality and chaos. Hiroshi Tanahashi was supposed to face Omega here. It would have been their re-match from February when Omega won the Intercontinental title. Tanahashi was hurt so they threw in the big man, Elgin. And while Elgin took some hard bumps (power-bombed onto a ladder resting on two trashcans in the ring), Omega might be in the hospital for awhile. Omega was slammed off a ladder onto two tables that didn't break at ringside. He was tossed onto a ladder bridge at ringside. Even the hits to the face with the ladder to Omega looked like they broke his jaw. He's certainly putting himself out there this year trying to make a statement as the new Bullet Club leader. When the Young Bucks ran down and handcuffed Elgin to the ring post, Ricochet and Matt Sydal ran down for the save. The Bullet Club beat them up while Omega climbed the ladder. But Elgin is so strong he broke free from the handcuffs! He tipped the ladder, spilling Omega off the ladder and out of the ring onto the other BC members. And Elgin won. This was a very exciting, wild match. ***1/2
NAITO vs. OKADA (28:58): This was pretty boring actually. The best moment came when Okada delivered his pile driver then Rainmaker clothesline finisher and Naito kicked out. Wh-wh-what? My God, man! Okada ended up having to give Naito three more Rainmaker's in a row to pin him and reclaim the title he lost in April. I was kind of surprised that Naito lost the title already. Why did they even give it to him in the first place? Naito is a heel now, part of Los Ingobernables, which is apparently super popular in Japan...but not in Osaka, where this ppv was held. Osaka hates Naito...and he hates them back (he spit at the crowd numerous times). I guess they didn't want to tarnish Okada by having him lose at straight big shows. And the heel Naito is amusing but fairly dull. He slowly walks to the ring, slowly takes off his suit...slowly wrestles except in spurts. The final few minutes were dramatic but it was mostly dull. **
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