NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Hiroshima

AARON WOLF, KUUKAI & MASTER WATO vs. UNITED EMPIRE (FRANCESCO AKIRA, JAKOB AUSTIN YOUNG & ZANE JAY) (5:57): I thought this show would be better. There were a lot of AEW wrestlers on this show, and they set up a bunch of AEW vs. NJPW matches for Wrestle Kingdom. I don't know, though...shouldn't NJPW focus on themselves? Especially on their biggest show of the year? I haven't watched much of New Japan ever since all the big stars abandoned the company. The company feels like a faucet leaking, with their talent leaving the premises constantly. Recently, Clark Connors and David Finlay went to AEW and Hiromu and Evil went to WWE (Evil is, hilariously, in NXT now). And New Japan is still starting these supposed "big shows" with a bunch of lame, short, multi-man matches that nobody cares about. Ugh. At 6 minutes, there wasn't much to this match. I don't even know who half of these people are. 1/2*

KUSHIDA, MASATORA YASUDA & MISTICO vs. UNBOUND CO. (DAIKI NAGAI, GEDO & TITAN) (6:48): Mistico and Titan were in the Super Juniors Tag tournament, so that's why they were in this match and still hanging around Japan. Kushida actually teamed with Nick Wayne for that tournament, which is an odd team because isn't Wayne supposed to be a heel? I didn't even realize Kushida was still wrestling. Gedo is the head booker. Why is he even wrestling? This was another short, superfluous match. I wish they had just cut out these short matches and given more time to the actual matches on this show we wanted to see. *1/2

TMDK (HARTLEY JACKSON & RYOHEI OIWA) vs. THE SWIRL (BLAKE CHRISTIAN & LEE JOHNSON) (7:25): Oiwa won the G1. Stupidly, the G1 winner doesn't get to main event the Tokyo Dome anymore for no good reason. Oiwa got his title shot last month at King of Pro-Wrestling where he lost a good match to Tsuji. I mean...way to keep the momentum going for a new star like Oiwa. They put him in some ROH level forgotten match like this. What is this company even doing, anymore? At 7 minutes, I don't even know what they expect. Do they think the crowd just wants to see every wrestler on the roster? After this match, MJF came on the screen and challenged Oiwa at Wrestle Kingdom. *1/2

KAZUMA SUMI, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, TORU YANO & YUYA UEMURA vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (DICK TOGO, SHO & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI) (6:53): Kazuma Sumi was in the Super Jr.'s tag tournament even though he's in DDT. He's a fucking star and I barely even glimpsed him because this match was so short. I watched this show with the Japanese commentary (because it's awesome), so I had no fucking idea what was going on with Sho and Yoh and a contract and handcuffs and a masked man straight out of Squid Game. I looked it up online and found out that Sho and Yoh are going to wrestle at Wrestle Kingdom and Sho has to leave the House of Torture if he loses. Okay. Nobody cares. Who is the leader of House of Torture now that Evil is gone? Does it matter? *1/2

UNBOUND CO. (JEFF COBB & SHINGO TAKAGI) vs. DEATH RIDERS (JON MOXLEY & WHEELER YUTA) (14:03): The crowd seemed excited to see Jon Moxley. He was the IWGP champ a few years ago. Maybe NJPW should just start calling themselves AEW. It's funny seeing Jeff Cobb back, since he left to go to WWE and that didn't last long (blink and you missed him). This match was fine but nothing special. Shingo and Moxley are going to wrestle at Wrestle Kingdom. **

KNOCKOUT BROTHERS (OSKAR & YUTO-ICE) vs. UNITED EMPIRE (WILL OSPREAY & CALLUM NEWMAN) (18:18): This was for the tag titles. It ended in a DQ. What is this now, WWE? It started with Callum hitting his opponents before the bell and Ospreay was pissed. This eventually led to Callum and Ospreay fighting each other and they're going to wrestle at Wrestle Kingdom. The most interesting thing about this match is that Ospreay is wrestling in the Blood & Guts match on Dynamite in Jacksonville a day after this match. That's cutting it close, no? I guess Tony Khan has a private jet or something. I looked up how long that flight would be if you were a regular person and it's 21 hours with two stops, the stops being Tokyo and Dallas. This match was fine. Ospreay and Yuto-Ice have great chemistry together, so I'd love to see them do a singles match sometime. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. OLEG BOLTIN vs. YOTA TSUJI (12:50): I kind of thought this would be the main event and a much longer match. This wasn't for Tsuji's title, though, but if Boltin or Omega pinned him they would get a title match at the Dome. Omega eventually gave both men a One Winged Angel and pinned Tsuji. This was Omega's first match since his match against Ospreay in August at All In that might've been the greatest wrestling match of all time. This was not that. It's kind of strange that Omega vs. Tsuji will be the main event of the Tokyo Dome in January. Omega isn't in New Japan though I can't really see him losing that match. If he does lose then what's the fucking point of that? I guess to get butts in seats just to have Omega there. In a perfect world, Tsuji vs. Oiwa would've been the main event...but I guess that doesn't get the crowds. **1/2

UNBOUND CO. (ROBBIE X & TAIJI ISHIMORI) vs. ICHIBAN SWEET BOYS (KOSEI FUJITA & ROBBIE EAGLES) (11:08): This was the finals of the Super Jr.'s tag tournament. What a final! 11 whole minutes! What are we even doing? Shouldn't this be, like, a long, epic, dramatic finale? What gives? The match was good and really fast paced. Ishimori and Fujita together were awesome, doing lightning quick moves one after another. Robbie X did a cool top rope twist flip to the floor and then high fived Tanahashi who was at the commentary table. Good match but way too short. Because of this result, the tag titles are now vacant, and these two teams will face Mistico and an unknown partner at the Dome for the titles. ***

GABE KIDD vs. TAICHI (30:01): This was a good match. This is the reason you watch New Japan in the first place: a long, dramatic match that builds momentum and gets the crowd revved up and the announcers going ape shit by the end. There were probably too many kickouts. Gabe gave Taichi a piledriver off the apron through a table. Taichi gave Kidd a wicked Tiger Driver. Gave Kidd retained the Global title, whatever the heck that is. After the match, Gabe Kidd beat up Tanahashi. Yuya Uemura ran out to help. Moxley ran out to help Gabe. Shingo ran out to stop Moxley. This show wasn't particularly good, though at least this main event was worth watching. ***