San Jose, California
DRILLA MALONEY vs. DANIEL GARCIA (10:26): This was a good show but not a show of the year or anything. One problem was that the show was too long at 6 hours (it ended at 1 AM Eastern time on a work night). The other problem was the crowd wasn't the greatest (they did get fired up for the "big" matches). This opened the pre-show. Drilla Maloney used to be in The War Dogs faction in New Japan, but Clark Connors and David Finlay left for AEW. So Drilla is a babyface now and seems to be pretty popular in Japan (he was cheered at Dominion, anyway). Drilla isn't the greatest wrestler, though. Daniel Garcia seemed fired up and hell bent on making this a great, slugfest match. It was average stuff at best. **
MAIKA vs. SKYE BLUE (9:18): Maika is from Stardom. Skye Blue came out later after the Thekla match wearing these thigh high, leather platform boots. They looked awesome. This match wasn't awesome. It was fine. This pre-show was pretty underwhelming. Tony Khan did announce after this show that the next PPV would start an hour earlier because everyone complains these shows end too late. *1/2
DIVINE DOMINION vs. OLYMPIA & THUNDER ROSA (10:48): Olympia is from CMLL. The crowd popped for a lot of what Thunder Rosa and Olympia did. This was more back-and-forth than a beatdown, which was good. Divine Dominion retained the tag team titles. **
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. EL SKY TEAM (MASCARA DORADA & MISTICO) vs. UNBOUND CO. (SHINGO TAKAGI & TITAN) (17:53): This was the PPV opener. It was also the best match on the show. This was just non-stop action, high flying moves, and a super boisterous crowd. Fantastic and super fun. I haven't watched a lot of New Japan lately so I haven't seen Shingo in awhile. I really want to see another Shingo/Ospreay match. For my money, that feud was better than Omega/Okada. ***1/2
KENNY OMEGA vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (26:25): Speaking of Omega...everyone seems to think that he's winning the title at the next PPV because it's in Montreal and it's called Redemption. Omega just lost to MJF in the main event of April's PPV. I mean...if they wanted the main event of All In to be Ospreay/Omega for the title...why didn't Omega just win the title in April? This match was good but it was pretty slow. Omega does pretty much everything he's always done but he's older now so nothing is as exciting as it once was. ***
JON MOXLEY vs. BANDIDO (18:07): This was a good match. The story was that Moxley ripped open Bandido's mask (that got a gasp from the crowd when you could see part of Bandido's face) and Bandido was bleeding. Every match Bandido is in is good. He has a knack for getting the crowd into his matches. Moxley retained the Continental title. ***
SHOTA UMINO vs. PAC (18:11): Shota retained the NJPW Global Heavyweight title. I kind of feel like Shota should leave New Japan and go to NOAH or something, because the crowds just consider him a Nepo baby (his dad is Red Shoes, the referee) and will never seemingly embrace him. This match was pretty good but the crowd didn't much care about it and it never turned into anything fantastic. There was a great spot when Pac did the Mike Awesome move and gave him a Razor's Edge over the top rope onto a table. **1/2
THEKLA vs. STARLIGHT KID (18:42): Starlight Kid looked pretty good here. I never watch Stardom so I've never seen her before. The story here was that Thekla was fired from Stardom so he wanted revenge on the promotion. She beat up their president and spit on the Stardom logo on previous shows. Thekla is a good talker and has a good heel persona but her matches are never exceptional. After Thekla won she took off Starlight Kid's mask and then went over to the front row and hit Stardom's president with the mask until he lay cowering on the floor. I guess the feud isn't over. **1/2
ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. THE DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DAVID FINLAY) (16:45): Did anyone think The Dogs were winning the tag team titles here? No. This felt more like a TV match. I think the only reason they did this was to have the surprise return of Jay White (The Bang Bang Gang had been feuding with The Dogs). Jay White's been out so long I can't even remember what he was doing when he got injured. Edge & Christian are always entertaining, so it was at least watchable. **1/2
MERCEDES MONE vs. MAYA WORLD (24:51): This was pretty dull for about 15 minutes or so and the crowd was quiet and sitting down. By the end, the crowd was on their feet. Maybe the WWE should watch this match and learn from it because they have so many short PPV matches and don't realize that time can build drama and momentum. These women completely had the crowd in the palm of their hands by the end, so much so that they probably should have called an audible and had Maya World win. This was the final of the Owen Hart Cup and the winner gets a title shot at All In. Right now that would mean Thekla vs. Mercedes. I suppose that's a big match. The only reason Maya got this far in the tournament seems to be because her brother died in a car accident (he was hit by a car on the side of the road when his car broke down and he got out). I'm thinking Tony and the people in charge felt bad for her and thought it'd be a good move to give her a push. It turned into a good underdog story for the Owen even though she tapped out. ***
DARBY ALLIN, KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & THE CONGLOMERATION (KYLE O'REILLY, MARK BRISCOE, ORANGE CASSIDY & RODERICK STRONG) vs. DON CALLIS FAMILY (ANDRADE EL IDOLO, JAKE DOYLE, KAZUCHIKA OKADA, KEVIN KNIGHT) & MJF "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (31:45): This was a round cage that went around the ring and the outside of the ring. This was a lot of fun. Kyle O'Reilly introduced a Nintendo game console to hit people with (he even blew into a cartridge before inserting it). Orange Cassidy brought out a bag of oranges and squeezed the juice onto Fletcher's bloody forehead. Darby got tossed face first onto thumbtacks and they got stuck in his nose and face. There was a strange spot where Kevin Knight climbed up onto the cage and grabbed a bag that Darby had placed up there. The bag exploded and Knight fell down onto four stacked tables. Why would anyone grab a mystery bag? There was another bag that Lio Rush was in. Lio Rush is now doing a Gollum gimmick for whatever reason. So they had Lio entranced by MJF's ring. Yes, this match was creative. The big deal was that Andrade turned on the Don Callis family to cause Mark Briscoe pinning Jake Doyle to win the match. There was just too much in this crazy match to even mention. Briscoe put a ladder on his head and swung it around. Takeshita gave Fletcher a Blue Thunder Bomb through a table. Very entertaining. ***
WILL OSPREAY vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND (35:06): This was the final of the Owen Cup. This was also the same main event from Forbidden Door 2024. I think that match was better. This match had double juice. It was slow in spots but had some incredible back-and-forth action spots. The crowd was really hot for this even though it was so late. Swerve was bleeding so much it was leaving pools of blood all over the ringside area, announce table, and ring. The Death Riders all came out at the end to cheer on Ospreay. Both men kicked out of everything, but Ospreay won with a Tiger Driver. This was bloody, dramatic stuff. Ospreay will now wrestle for the tile at All In. MJF is facing Briscoe this week on Dynamite for the title. There's also next month's Redemption PPV and Grand Slam Mexico in August. I think the champion will be either MJF or Omega at All In. We already saw MJF vs. Ospreay at Wembley (in 2024, Ospreay beat him). I want to see Omega/Ospreay 3 for the title. I think that's the match that more people would want to see. ***
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