Ring of Honor
Date: September 28, 2016
Location: Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly

We’re at the end of a taping cycle and it’s the final show before we’re off to All-Star Extravaganza this coming Friday. It’s hard to say what the big story is at the moment as the main event will be ROH World Champion Adam Cole defending against Michael Elgin so odds are that gets some attention here. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Silas Young vs. Toru Yano

Young makes sure to yell at a fan holding an “it’s my birthday” sign. Now that’s what being a heel is all about. Yano is a comedy guy who tries to sell some DVDs before the match. Silas goes after him to start so Yano hides in the ropes before offering a handshake. It’s time for a chase around the ring and it’s very clear we’re in a comedy match. Perhaps one of the wrestlers being a comedy guy should have been a hint.

Back in and Yano atomic drops Young to the floor and Silas takes a breather. A low blow via a kick to the rope doesn’t seem to hurt Young that badly as he hammers on Yano. Toru goes for a turnbuckle pad but Young takes him down because he doesn’t understand American pads.

Back from a break with Yano throwing him outside and going back to the buckle pad, this time with wire cutters. Yano hits him with the pad and they trade forearms but Yano’s second low blow is blocked. A quick cutter gets two for Silas and a suplex into a swinging neckbreaker gets the same. Yano sends him chest first into the buckle for another two, followed by a low blow for the fourth near fall in a row. Silas kicks Yano low for a change and since Americans are better at hitting people low, it puts Toru away at 10:12.

Rating: C-. Yeah it’s a comedy match and that’s fine. I’ve long since reached the point where I understand that the two promotions are co-promoting in this company and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Yano is a good enough comedy act and he did fine here, though Silas winning was the important thing as it’s really tiring to see the New Japan guys winning more often than not.

Silas stays on him post match but the Briscoe Brothers (Yano’s six man tournament partner) comes in for the save.

Christopher Daniels gives a very serious promo about what he’s willing to give up to continue being a champion in Ring of Honor. He’s been a father and husband for thirteen and twenty three years each and he’d give them both up to keep his title. Wrestling and championships are his life so he’s going to spit in the face of cliches. This was really good and like nothing I’ve heard from Daniels in years. Why can’t he do this kind of thing more often?

Cheeseburger vs. Punisher Martinez

Martinez has BJ Whitmer and Kevin Sullivan with him and Sullivan gets on commentary to talk with Corino. Cheeseburger gets his head taken off with a spinning kick to the face as Sullivan talks about Corino trying to circumvent evil. The palm strike has no effect and Punisher’s sitout chokeslam finishes Cheeseburger at 1:39. This would be so much better with Sullivan as a complete non-factor. What is this supposed to lead to? More Corino and Whitmer?

The beating continues with Will Ferrara coming in and taking a beating of his own as Kevin tells Corino to embrace what he is.

Post break, Corino is looking at the golden spike that was driven into his head at Best in the World. Now Whitmer wants Corino to meet him in the desert and of course Steve will do it.

We go to the break where Whitmer called Corino Mizar and told him to accept the guidance of the father (Sullivan) and they can be each others salvation. This is still stupid.

We run down the All-Star Extravaganza card and get some promos from some people on the card.

Bobby Fish is ready for Donovan Dijak and promises that Dijak will wake up a much wiser man after All-Star Extravaganza.

Jay Lethal wants to beat Tetsuya Naito to make a statement. That statement will be LOSS because Naito is now the IWGP Intercontinental Champion so the result is almost guaranteed.

Adam Cole is going to prove that he’s better than Michael Elgin, who took the title from him two years ago. Elgin held the title for a few months and then went back to Japan like a coward. Now it’s time for Cole to show that he’s the best in the world, just like his title proves.

Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin vs. Adam Page/Adam Cole

Kyle O’Reilly is on commentary again. As expected the fans are behind Tanahashi because the guy not even on Friday’s show is more important than this company’s World Champion. Page hammers on Elgin’s back to no avail so it’s time for the long delayed vertical suplex. We take a break and come back with Tanahashi playing some air guitar. Cole sends him outside and Page scores with a running shooting star off the apron. When did he start getting good?

The double teaming begins as the Adams take turns stomping away until Tanahashi finally drops Page. It’s off to Elgin to clean house with a good looking falcon arrow getting two on Page. A DDT gets two on Elgin and it’s off to the second break of the match. Back again with Cole’s Destroyer being broken up with a Samoan drop. It’s off to Tanahashi vs. Cole, which sounds like an interesting match that we’re not likely to see for a variety of reasons.

They strike it out until Cole gets caught with a Sling Blade to put both guys down. Another hot tag brings Mike back in and everything breaks down. Well stays broken down but close enough. The Rite of Passage doesn’t work so Elgin takes Page’s head off with a clothesline for two instead. The Elgin Bomb puts Page away at 14:19.

Rating: C+. This was the only way they could have had this match end as Elgin gets a bit of a rub going into his title match. Cole vs. Tanahashi has the potential to be something good but there’s no secret about the fact that Cole vs. O’Reilly is headlining Final Battle. That’s not a bad thing but I’m getting a little tired of the two of them fighting with Kyle seeming pretty far beneath Page.

Cole and Elgin stare each other down to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Sullivan stuff aside (as always), this actually felt like an authentic go home show. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that about an ROH show and it’s something that they really needed to fix. The opener was fine for a one off match and the main event actually went somewhere (albeit down the dead end that Cole vs. Elgin is going to be) and that’s a step up over the clip shows we’ve gotten before.

This was an easier sit and that’s a positive sign for Ring of Honor. That and them finally saying on their website that New Japan is presenting the pay per view as well. It’s been New Japan’s subsidiary for months now and they’ll be better off as a promotion that gives New Japan what it needs if they’ve given up standing on their own two feet.

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Death Before Dishonor 2016
Date: August 19, 2016
Location: Sam’s Town Live, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly

It’s time for another ROH pay per view and in this case that means more from the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Unfortunately that also means a lot of matches with almost no story and a lot of NJPW vs. ROH matches. The main event has potential though as Adam Cole challenging Jay Lethal for the ROH World Title. Let’s get to it.

The opening video mainly focuses on the World Title match, which makes sense as that’s certainly the biggest match of the show.

The announcers run down the card.

Kamaitachi vs. Donovan Dijak vs. Jay White vs. Lio Rush

Winner gets a TV Title shot at some point in the future. Dijak and Kamaitachi (the heels) start things off but instead of fighting each other they go after the good guys on the apron to turn it into a brawl. Rush comes right back with a flip dive over the top to take out Dijak though, leaving White to dive onto Kamaitachi. The good guys fight in the middle as the announcers take every chance they can to suck up to Rush. Actually hold that though as it’s time to plug the New Japan TV show. We wouldn’t want the fans to think this is an ROH show.

Things settle down to White and Kamaitachi forearming each other in the face before it’s back to Rush for a bunch of suicide dives. Dijak pulls him out of the air but that means Lio Rush isn’t treated like the biggest star ever so he hits his reverse hurricanrana on the floor. Back in and Dijak hits the chokebreaker on Rush, only to get caught in a Rock Bottom from White for two. Kamaitachi dives over the top to take out White and Dijak throws Rush onto all of them. Dijak hits his own dive before having to stop Rush’s running C4. That means it’s a discus boot to the face and Feast Your Eyes puts Rush away at 8:10.

Rating: C+. This was their best option for an opener. I like Dijak and White so this is one of the better options. Rush…..I still don’t get it. I know they’re VERY high on him but I honestly don’t see the massive appeal. Granted that might have something to do with me being a big fan of Punisher Martinez, who actually felt like something different. Rush just feels like an indy guy who keeps getting pushed all over the place.

We recap Katsuyori Shibata vs. Silas Young. Silas is annoyed that he keeps fighting through ROH but all he ever hears about are the New Japan guys. GEE, YOU THINK THAT MIGHT BE A PROBLEM??? Tonight he wants to fight Shibata, who is considered the toughest guy in New Japan so he can prove a point.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Silas Young

This is Shibata’s American debut and his Never Openweight Title isn’t on the line because they never are in ROH. Silas slaps him in the face to start and the fans tell Silas that he’s made a big mistake. Shibata starts in with the strikes but Young goes after the bad shoulder to take over.

A Boston crab doesn’t get Young anywhere as Shibata goes into his “zone”, or basically Hulks Up. Shibata starts forearming Silas down in the corner and grabs an abdominal stretch. A belly to back backbreaker gets two for Young, followed by a cutter for the same. The springboard moonsault gets two more on Shibata and the fans actually say it was three. Shibata comes right back with a standing choke and a running kick to the chest for the pin at 9:30.

Rating: C. Young’s promo summed up every issue I had with the New Japan guys in a nutshell: Ring of Honor wrestlers do everything they can ever time but “oh never mind, we’ve got New Japan”. It’s like a reverse invasion where the fans are happy that the New Japan guys are here and buy tickets for them instead of ROH talent. Maybe the ROH guys would be worth more if they were actually presented as a big deal or actually won some major matches over the bigger New Japan stars, but that’s just not how it works on here and it’s getting really old in a hurry.

Silas actually shakes hands post match. I wouldn’t have expected that.

Yujiro Takahashi/Guerillas of Destiny vs. Roppangi Vice/Toru Yano

Bullet Club vs. Chaos, which means ALL NEW JAPAN! Caprice Coleman of the Cabinet (the most useless stable I’ve seen in a long time) is here to scout the Guerillas for a match at tomorrow’s TV tapings. Yano, a comedy guy, runs away from Tonga Loa so Beretta comes in and gets shoved right back down. Now we get Yano for real and he hides in the ropes, drawing a LET HIM GO chant.

Romero comes in for some running clotheslines on Tama Tonga. Everything breaks down for a bit and it’s Romero being taken into the wrong corner for a beatdown. Coleman starts screaming at Nigel about having something against the Cabinet, who can’t get on pay per view while these “less talented jive turkeys” can get on the show. Loa gets two off a powerslam as Kelly tries to explain the story here, almost all of which happened in Japan.

Romero finally kicks his way over to the corner and it’s off to Beretta to clean house. It’s off to Yano who can’t take off a turnbuckle pad, allowing Yujiro to hit a running kick to the chest for two. Yano finally gets the pad off and uses it as a weapon (that’s a new one) and of course the referee is fine with it. I guess incompetent refereeing goes across the world.

The Guerillas hit a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo onto the pad (Wouldn’t that weaken the blow?) for two on Yano with Vice making the save. A double knee takes out Loa and there are the stereo dives. Yujiro hits a fisherman’s buster for two on Yano as Coleman complains about Nigel not stopping the match due to the cheating. Yano hits Yujiro low and grabs a small package for the pin at 11:16.

Rating: C-. Well that happened. We had a referee who doesn’t mind cheating, a matchmaker who is called out on treating the ROH roster like a bunch of losers and a face who cheats to win and is cheered for it. Oh and Coleman is still really annoying. As I’ve said before: the booking in this company is all over the place and if you don’t cheer for New Japan, apparently you just don’t get it.

Post match a brawl breaks out and here’s Hangman Page to choke Yano, only to have Jay Briscoe run out for the save.

Jay Briscoe vs. Hangman Page

This actually started in ROH but of course was advanced in Japan, as everything else is. Anything goes so let’s start with a chair duel. Briscoe gets the better of it and sends Page outside in a big crash. A suplex on the ramp makes things worse for Page and it’s time to go back inside where Jay chokes with the noose.

Page fights off the attempted murder and knocks him outside for a powerbomb through an open chair. A VERY hard chair shot to the shoulder/head knocks Jay silly but Page would rather set up a table. Back in and a Death Valley Driver onto a chair gives Jay a break but no cover. Briscoe keeps up the violence by wrapping a chair around Page’s neck for a neckbreaker and only two.

We get the chair wedged in the corner and Jay ties Page to said chair. That’s different. Some running knees drive Page’s head into the chair but he blocks a third charge, which really doesn’t make a ton of sense. Page gets off the table and comes back with a hard running clothesline for two of his own. They’re beating the heck out of each other here and it’s really starting to work.

It’s back to the noose with Briscoe being sent over the top but fighting his way out of the hanging. Page tries a running shooting star off the apron but Briscoe superkicks him in the shoulder (which required a replay to see). The Jay Driller through the table is broken up and Page hits the Rite of Passage (over the back piledriver) through the table for a VERY close two. Adam’s leg is cut all to pieces and Jay is bleeding from the back. Page chokes with the noose and hits another Rite of Passage for the pin at 17:42.

Rating: B+. Now THAT is how you give someone a rub. Page felt like the Buff Bagwell of the Bullet Club and now he’s got the biggest win of his career over someone who has lost like two matches in a year. The Rite of Passage through the table was a great callback to their first match and I was way into the violence and seeing who could hang on. Awesome match here and it worked really, really well.

Dalton Castle sees the Boys playing with Okada Bucks. Castle: “WHAT THE DICKENS???” Dalton says it’s ok because he loves New Japan too, but he’d rather drop someone on their head. He eats one of the Okada Bucks and that’s the extent of the build to this match.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Dalton Castle

Non-title again. Castle has a grand entrance with even more Boys than usual, including some wheeling him through the curtain. The announcers praise Okada during his entrance to make sure they don’t anger their New Japan overlords. Okada works on the wristlock to start as the fans are actually split for a change. An early Rainmaker attempt doesn’t work (and it’s one heck of a CLOTHESLINE) so Dalton gives him the peacock pose.

The Boys actually fan Okada and the distraction lets Castle get in a running knee to the head. Back in and Dalton works on the arm to slow things way down. Castle sends him outside for a suicide dive, followed by a bulldog for two. A t-bone suplex plants Okada and a great looking bridging German suplex gets two more.

Cue the Boys into the ring to apparently side with Okada, only to have Castle hit the Bang A Rang. Okada rolls outside though because he can’t get pinned around here. The Boys start cheering for Castle again but the second Bang A Rang is countered. A Tombstone plants Castle and the Rainmaker gives Okada the pin at 13:54.

Rating: B-. Who would have thought the match would have been Castle getting close but coming up short against Okada and the IT’S STILL A FREAKING CLOTHESLINE? The thing with the Boys was a weird story that kept changing sides before the end, which was about as predictable as anything else on the show. At least the match wasn’t bad.

Okada and Castle post after the match.

We recap Mark Briscoe vs. Bobby Fish. Briscoe is the workhorse of ROH and wants to finally win something on his own but Fish says he’s just not good enough. Somehow this turned into a battle between chicken and fish because…..I have no idea actually.

TV Title: Bobby Fish vs. Mark Briscoe

Mark is challenging. Fish takes him to the mat to start and cranks on the leg before switching to a headlock. The technical stuff continues until Mark forearms him in the jaw to take over. Fish bails to the floor and says it’s his time. I’m not sure why we need to have every TV Champion (at least the ones who work for ROH) turn heel around the time they win the title but at least it’s working here.

Back in and Fish starts the kicks to the chest, only to have it countered by Redneck Kung Fu. The Blockbuster off the apron has Fish in trouble but Briscoe comes up holding his back. Ever the smart one, Bobby starts in on the leg before opting for a kick to the back. At least he’s thinking. Mark blocks a suplex but hurts his back even worse, followed by missing a charge into the corner.

A Sick Kick and fisherman buster get two on Bobby but the Froggy Bow hits knees. It’s off to the kneebar on Mark for a few seconds, only to have him grab the rope and plant Fish with a slam. Now the Froggy Bow gets two and Briscoe is spent. Fish sends him back first into the corner, followed by an exploder suplex into the same corner. A falcon arrow retains the title at 16:08.

Rating: B. They told a good story with the back injury and Fish being able to pick him apart throughout the match, which is all you need to do here. I’m fine with Fish retaining the title, though Fish vs. Dijak could be a little weird. Good match here though as the wrestling continues to work, even when New Japan isn’t around.

The Addiction says they’re so great that two top New Japan teams want a chance at the titles. Every team looks up to them because they’re the kings of the best tag team roster in the world.

Tag Team Titles: Addiction vs. Los Ingobernables de Japan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin

Addiction is defending and Matt Taven is on commentary, again for no apparent reason. Tanahashi and Naito start things off but Daniels tags himself in before there’s any contact. Naito quickly sends him outside and poses on the mat, earning himself a face pop despite being a huge heel in Japan. It’s off to Elgin to run over both champions in succession before suplexing them at the same time.

Tanahashi comes in but the champs take over, only to have Naito tag himself in. Makes sense as you have to be in the ring to win the titles. We get a weird collaboration between Daniels and Evil but everything breaks down with Elgin throwing everyone around with German suplexes. The Addiction gets German suplexed at the same time, followed by a fall away slam/Samoan drop combo to the other challengers.

Daniels suicide dives onto Evil (Taven: “Show me that beautiful bean footage.”), only to have Tanahashi break up Celebrity Rehab. We get the big spot of the match with Elgin hitting a running flip dive over the top to take out everyone at the same time. Eh big men flying are always cool.

Back in and Elgin powerslams Evil off the middle rope, followed by the reverse Alabama Slam splash from Tanahashi for two. Cue Kamaitachi for a distraction so Addiction can get two off a belt shot. Evil plants Tanahashi for the same as I wonder how the ROH boss isn’t fired for letting this happen in a match he’s calling. The Sling Blade plants Evil and sets up the High Fly Flow but Daniels tags himself in and steals the pin to retain at 14:48.

Rating: C+. I’m not wild on the three way tags or the Addiction in general so this was about as good as it was going to get. Not that it really matters though as there’s a good chance that the Young Bucks take the Tag Team Titles in a few weeks anyway. I’m glad they didn’t give the belts to one of the invading teams here for the sake of “building the titles up” as that almost never goes well for anyone and often screws things up even more. Match was fine but nothing I’m interested in.

We recap Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal with Cole attacking months ago, waiting for Lethal to retain against Jay Briscoe, and then cutting the champ’s hair to earn a shot here. Lethal has been champion for over a year now and they’ve done a very good job of setting him up as unbeatable.

ROH World Title: Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole

Lethal is defending and they’re both here alone. Apparently Nigel has told the referee to relax the rules here so there must be a winner. Cole pulls out some of Lethal’s shaved hair and the fight is on in a hurry. Lethal hiptosses him down and cartwheels into a basement dropkick. Cole comes back and it’s time to SHOUT A CATCHPHRASE.

They head outside with Lethal taking over again and setting up a table, which is kind of outside his nature. A cutter on the floor knocks Cole silly but he’s still able to roll off the table, sending Jay’s flying elbow through the table instead. Adam very slowly takes his time getting back inside so we can hit the chinlock.

Lethal finally gets up and hits a middle rope leg lariat to start the first of probably multiple comebacks. There’s a springboard dropkick to knock Cole off the apron and Lethal hits three straight suicide dives. That’s WAY too common of a move around here and it doesn’t get any better when he does it a fourth and fifth time. The sixth (this is reaching superkick levels) hits the barricade though and Cole is suddenly fine. To be fair they’re really just flying shoves so this isn’t a huge stretch.

Back in and Cole kicks him in the face to cut off a second comeback, followed by a Shining Wizard for another near fall. A superkick misses (I’m sure he’ll get to throw more) and Lethal takes him down with a clothesline. It’s way too early for the Lethal Injection though and Cole hits him low for two more.

Lethal can’t get a Figure Four but the Lethal Combination breaks up a choke and puts both guys down. The top rope elbow connects for two more and it’s time to trade big strikes. Cole’s Canadian Destroyer is countered but the Lethal Injection is blocked with, of course, a superkick.

The suplex backbreaker gets a VERY close two and the fans are way into this. Cole actually takes the time to talk trash and the Lethal Injection only gets two on Adam. Both guys are spent so Cole flips him off, sending Lethal into a rage. That’s exactly what Cole wants though as he grabs another suplex backbreaker for the pin and the title at 24:00.

Rating: B. They did a very good job with the ending as I was waiting on the Bucks to run in and then Cole just pinned him clean by getting inside Lethal’s head and throwing him off his game. Cole winning was the only real option here as Lethal can’t do anything else with the belt and it’s WAY past the point where the Bullet Club should have gotten the title. If nothing else now they’re not just on the sideline and dominating the show. Besides Cole is rather awesome and made a good champion the first time around.

Since a show can’t end cleanly around here though, here’s Kyle O’Reilly to lay out Cole and hold up the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. It’s amazing how much more I liked this show once we had people I actually know and care about. The New Japan matches were mostly fine but for me, wrestling is about the storylines and caring one way or another about what’s going on. Just having matches for the sake of having matches, especially when you know the New Japan guys are going over, gets tiresome in a hurry.

The other major issue though is how the booking continues to go. Make no mistake about it: this company is ALL about New Japan, the Bullet Club, and making sure Ring of Honor wrestlers look like second class performers by comparison. I can’t think of the last time a major New Japan star did a job to an ROH wrestler and it’s becoming a waste of time to watch them wrestle.

Yeah I know it’s cool for the live fans but “Come see Okada and Tanahashi!” stopped being a draw for me a long time ago. Would it really kill them to have an ROH only pay per view for a change? I really can’t imagine the buys would change that significantly. Maybe if they built their own talent up, the New Japan talent wouldn’t be as necessary.

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Ring of Honor
Date: July 6, 2016|
Host: Kevin Kelly

We’re at a special show this week with the 250^th episode, which is going to showcase the best of 2016 so far. This could mean several things, though I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of the New Japan wrestlers who have basically dominated the year so far. Unfortunately that means even more time away from the new stuff ROH is doing but that’s a common problem for the promotion. Let’s get to it.

TV Title: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bobby Fish

From Global Wars with Ishii defending after taking the title from Roderick Strong, the champion that Fish had been chasing. Fish actually runs the much bigger Ishii over to start but Ishii does the same to send Fish outside for a bit of his time. Back in and Fish fires off some kicks to put Ishii in trouble, which isn’t something you see happen to him that often. Ishii wins another slugout though and a headbutt puts Fish down with ease.

Fish makes the mistake of headbutting Ishii and the referee has to check on him as a result. The champ gets knocked off the top but Fish misses a flying headbutt, only to start back in with kicks to the knee. We take a break and come back with Fish hitting an exploder suplex for two but getting headbutted for his efforts. Ishii gets his own near fall with a delayed vertical superplex, followed by a Saito Suplex.

Fish looks mostly dead so Ishii powerbombs him for two more but Bobby grabs a sleeper. I could go for a small vs. big match without the smaller guy jumping on his back with a sleeper. It’s just so overdone. Ishii, seemingly annoyed with how lame Fish’s strategy was, German suplexes him down.

They head to the apron with Fish back on his feet and slugging it out. As expected, Ishii easily knocks him down but Fish kicks the leg out to put both guys down on the floor. Back in and a hard lariat gets two for the champ but Fish goes back to the sleeper. He fires off some elbows to the head and survives a flip attempt to actually knock Ishii out at 15:30 (original time).

Rating: B. The match was a good, hard hitting brawl but Ishii is the definition of a guy that had no business winning the title or being involved in this story whatsoever. Strong vs. Fish had been a well built up story but instead of getting the payoff we had been set up for, Ishii got the belt despite having no connection to either of them. That’s becoming too common of a tradition and it’s getting old in a hurry. This match was good but Fish vs. Strong would have been as well and had a strong story to go with it. Which sounds better?

Briscoe Brothers vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin

From the 14^th Anniversary Show and no real story here other than ROH vs. New Japan in a “dream” match. Jay and Michael get things going with Jay kicking him in the face but getting gorilla pressed to put him right back down. We get the very cool delayed vertical suplex with Mark’s interference not doing a thing to stop Elgin. That’s such insane power.

It’s off to Mark vs. Tanahashi for the air guitar vs. Redneck Kung Fu battle which results in Tanahashi grabbing an armbar. Naturally that means it’s time to talk about Hiroshi’s hair but Jay is tagged in, only to stay on the floor while Mark hits a Blockbuster off the apron to take Elgin out. We get the big showdown (which isn’t treated as big or a showdown) with Jay getting two off an elbow to Tanahashi’s jaw. Mr. Wrestling 3 finally realizes what we saw there but it’s already off to Mark for a Russian legsweep.

The fans chant for Elgin but get a commercial instead. Back with the tag bringing in Elgin for some running strikes to Mark’s chest. Jay has to save his brother from Rolling Germans as everything breaks down. A back elbow/German suplex combo sends Mark flying but Jay breaks up the High Fly Flow.

Mark shouts a lot and flips Mike off the top for two. With Tanahashi down on the floor, the brothers take turns with headbutts until Mark is backdropped over the top. Elgin no sells a boot to the face (he’s from New Japan remember) and clotheslines Jay down for a breather. The hot tag brings in Tanahashi for some dragon screw leg whips but he walks into a neckbreaker.

Froggy Bow gets two before Elgin breaks up the Doomsday Device. In a cool move, Elgin gives Tanahashi a reverse Alabama Slam onto Mark for two more with Jay making the save. Jay is dispatched so it’s a powerbomb into the High Fly Flow for the pin on Mark at 14:50 (original match time).

Rating: C+. The match was fine though I’m rarely a fan of these matches where the only story is one great team against two guys who might team together for a few months. Oh and of course the New Japan team goes over clean. Heaven forbid Tanahashi isn’t treated as the biggest star in the history of ever over here.

Clips from the Fight Without Honor to blow off Silas Young vs. Dalton Castle. We see less than a minute of the match which ran over sixteen minutes. To recap: we can see a full TV Title match where a New Japan guy took a spot from an ROH guy for no reason other than “we need ROH vs. New Japan” and then we can see a full meaningless “dream” match where the freshly created New Japan team defeated the undisputed best team in ROH history. The blowoff match to a year long ROH only feud can’t even get a minute of TV time though. I’ve said it many times now but this isn’t an ROH show. This is New Japan TV: America.

ReDRagon vs. The Kingdom vs. Young Bucks

From ROH TV on January 20. It’s Cole/Bennett for the Kingdom here and this is a street fight. The Bucks jump O’Reilly and Fish during the entrances and we’re starting fast. The injured Taven gets a double superkick, as does ring announcers Bobby Cruz. ReDRagon gets back in to work on the Bucks, only to have the Kingdom come in again to turn this into a wild brawl that is going to be almost impossible to keep track of.

Bennett punches Fish down and it’s Cole setting Matt in a chair in the middle of the ring. A running charge sets up a chinlock and even Kelly has to acknowledge that it’s a spot they’ve seen before. Kyle backdrops Nick on the floor for a thud before diving into a superkick. We take a break and come back with Cole in a shopping cart and being wheeled into a superkick.

The Bucks set up a table at ringside but it’s ReDRagon double teaming Matt inside. The Kingdom brings in a ladder (Mr. Wrestling III: “It’s amazing what you can find in south Philadelphia”) to take out ReDRagon and it’s Cole putting the ladder around his neck. That only allows ReDRagon to blast the ladder with chairs before setting the ladder on top of those chairs.

Bennett comes back in to spinebuster Kyle onto the steel but the Bucks powerbomb him (Bennett) through the ladder. A Swanton onto the ladder sets up More Bang For Your Buck but Cole pulls the referee out at two. Kevin Kelly accidentally eats a superkick and Mr. Wrestling III freaks out while still shouting SUPERKICK in a funny moment.

We take another break and come back with Cole hitting the Canadian Destroyer on Matt but walking into a superkick from Nick. Bennett takes Chasing the Dragon on the floor, leaving O’Reilly and Cole to fight in the aisle. That leaves Fish alone against the Bucks but he stops to spear Bennett through a table on the floor. A double superkick off the apron gives Fish the weakest table bump in history with Nick having to splash him the rest of the way through.

Back in and the Bucks put a party hat on Bennett for a superkick party, only to have Maria hit them both low for a save. This brings out AJ Styles to hit Bennett in the ribs with a chair before laying him out with Bloody Sunday. Maria gets a Meltzer Driver and the Indytaker into the Styles Clash puts Bennett away at 16:45.

Rating: B. Totally wild brawl here and a lot of fun at the same time. This wasn’t about anything more than carnage and that’s all they delivered the entire time. The piledriver to Maria was a good way to write her off TV and the Kingdom goes out in a great performance, especially considering it wasn’t their usual combination.

Overall Rating: F. The wrestling wasn’t the problem here (obviously). The problem is the same thing I covered earlier: this isn’t about Ring of Honor anymore. I know the next set of TV tapings doesn’t feature the New Japan wrestlers but look at what they consider the best of the first half of 2016: New Japan wrestler, New Japan wrestlers, one minute of ROH only and the New Japan stable.

Also this was somehow their usage of the 250^th episode. No mention of the history of the show, no classic matches (or even match), nothing but “Hey here’s a bunch of New Japan stuff in case you haven’t seen enough of it yet.” ROH should be better than this by now and it’s not like they can’t stand on their own feet without New Japan.

I really can’t imagine their ratings go up that high when they’re there, especially when they’re around that often. It’s not even a novelty anymore as they’re around so much that we just had a highlight show featuring them in every match. Having them around every once in awhile for a set of tapings here and there is fine as they’re certainly an attraction but this is WAY too far and has been for a long time.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Ring of Honor
Date: June 1, 2016
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

Could this finally be the week? Could this finally be the week that we do something other than just recap stuff or show matches from Japan? It would be nice to finally get somewhere with this stuff as it’s been going on four months since we saw a Ring of Honor show without the Japanese contingent. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from the end of Global Wars with Adam Cole joining the Bullet Club and laying waste to various people.

The main event tonight: three New Japan guys vs. the Bullet Club. Of course it is. Well to be fair one of those New Japan guys is Michael Elgin but still, close enough.

Lio Rush vs. ACH

In case one of them isn’t enough. ACH and partner Matt Sydal amicably split up at a recent house show. Silas Young sits in on commentary because he’s sick of people like ACH playing video games in the back before the show. A dropkick puts Lio down to start as Silas rips on the two of them for trying to be fake wrestlers. Rush sends him to the floor for a flip dive but gets kicked in the head back inside. A snap German suplex gets two on Rush and he runs into a superkick. ACH gets a brainbuster and the Midnight Star pins Rush at 4:10.

Rating: C. Yeah I know it was high flying and exciting but I’m really not a fan of this style. If nothing else you have two guys who wrestle a very similar style, which still makes me wonder why they even hired Rush in the first place. This was better than most ACH matches though so maybe it was Sydal holding them back.

Young comes in and lays both guys out post match.

Clip of the Addiction cheating to beat War Machine for the Tag Team Titles at a recent show.

Here’s the Addiction for a chat. Daniels talks about how much better the world feels right now because everything is just a little bit better now that they’ve got the Tag Team Titles back. He says no one else is worthy of them and since they’ve never been beaten in a Ring of Honor ring (Kelly: “SAY WHAT?”)……and here are the Motor City Machine Guns to interrupt.

Sabin thinks that since they’re already losing their battle with male pattern baldness, how about they lose those titles to the Guns tonight too? Roppangi Vice comes out as well with Trent saying they’re the young and cool tag team while the Addiction is getting old. That’s too much for Daniels so he says let’s do a triple threat right now and if either team can beat them, they get a title shot at Best in the World.

Roppangi Vice vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Addiction

Non-title. Sabin and Romero start things off while the Addiction chills on the floor, only to have the champs come in for some cheap shots. Romero clotheslines Kazarian and Daniels down before it’s off to Trent for some dancing on the apron before coming in to rake his boot over Kazarian’s eyes. The Guns come in and beat on Daniels for a bit with their fast paced (well high speed paced at least) but Kazarian takes Shelley down and we go to a break.

Back with the Addiction still in control on Shelley with a stomping in the corner. Not that it matters as Shelley gets over for the tag to Sabin a few seconds later as things speed up again. Everything breaks down with Trent suplexing Kazarian and kneeing Daniels in the face for two. Strong Zero is broken up and Daniels plants Trent with a Rock Bottom and the BME. That cover is broken up as well as the Guns get in one of their quick sequences capped off by a basement dropkick to Daniels, followed by Skull and Bones for the pin on Daniels at 9:28.

Rating: C+. The right team won here and I like it a lot better than having the champs lose a clean tag match to any team to set up the title match. Vice didn’t serve much of a purpose but it was nice to see them there to make this match different from the eventual title match.

Roderick Strong is going to prove how good he is to Jay Briscoe this Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. Strong is still not great on promos but he’s WAY better than he was just a few months ago.

The Bullet Club brags about throwing 51 superkicks at the end of Global Wars and says we’re just living in their world.

Nigel announces BJ Whitmer vs. Steve Corino in a Fight Without Honor for Best in the World after Whitmer has stalked Corino’s family.

We see Adam Page joining the Bullet Club and helping beat down a bunch of wrestlers at a recent show with the highlight being a Rite of Passage (over the back piledriver) onto a table (as in the table didn’t break) to Jay Briscoe. I get the NWO vibe but the group is getting WAY too big, just like the NWO back in the day.

Elite vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin/Yoshi Tatsu

Kelly almost laughs off the idea of there being groups within the Bullet Club. Matt Taven is on commentary for no apparent reason. The match begins after a break (thankfully without the bell ringing before the break) with the non-Bullet Club guys (I have no idea who the faces are in this as the Club gets ridiculous pops every time) telling them to suck it. The Club is sent to the floor and it’s Elgin flipping over the top to take them down.

The Bucks get double suplexed and Omega gets caught in the air, only to slip into a dragon suplex on Elgin. Tanahashi comes in to clean house but a double superkick breaks up the Cloverleaf. A triple dive takes the New Japan crew down and Tanahashi takes a triple kick to the head. Nick comes in for a bunch of cartwheels as Taven rips on how stupid this concept is, along with how easy it is to make fans cheer them.

Back with Tanahashi ducking a superkick and sending the Bucks into each other for the hot tag off to Elgin. Both Bucks get German suplexed at the same time but Taven accurately points out that they combine to weigh as much as one average wrestler. The Falcon Arrow from the apron gets two on Matt with Omega making the save. Everything breaks down and it’s Tatsu getting the tag as house is cleaned. With the referee looking away, Nick sprays Tatsu in the face and it’s a triple superkick for two. Omega adds the One Winged Angel for the pin at 10:02.

Rating: B-. It’s a fine enough main event if you can handle another Bullet Club match. Elgin continues to be an amazing strong man with seemingly limitless strength and that’s all he needs to be at this point. Tatsu being the Bullet Club Hunter over them injuring him a long time ago makes sense but he could use some wins over them. That can’t happen though because BULLET CLUB IS AMAZING.

Overall Rating: C+. What am I even supposed to say here? It’s very clear that Ring of Honor is all about the Bullet Club now and I can’t imagine Best in the World doesn’t end with the screwing up the main event. It’s nice to have some regular stuff going again but Ring of Honor becomes New Japan Jr. more and more every single week.

On top of that though, it’s really annoying to have the Bullet Club running around like heels but getting the biggest face reactions on the show. For all intents and purposes, they’re the top faces on the show despite being heels and that gets old in a hurry. Unfortunately they’re going to be here for a very long time because they make a fortune and the fact that they’re so upside down with psychology and absorbing half the roster just like the NWO. That group turned out fine though, right?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Ring of Honor
Date: May 4, 2016
Location: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 1,367
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Mr. Wrestling 3

We’re still in Japan for the Honor Rising tapings from February and it’s still the first night of the show. Tonight it’s almost all about the Bullet Club, including appearances by people who are no longer in the promotion. I’d assume we’ll be getting at least two or three more weeks of this stuff so there’s a long way to go. Let’s get to it.

Moose/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin/Tomoaki Honma vs. Bullet Club

In this case it’s Bad Luck Fale/Cody Hall/Tama Tonga/Yujiro Takahashi. Moose and Fale, the big monsters of each team, start things off with Fale pounding away to take over, only to eat a dropkick to take the bigger man down. Fale is sent to the floor and we take an early break. Back with Tonga hammering on Honma (a Tag Team Champion coming in here) before everything breaks down into a big brawl.

The good guys clear the ring and pose before everything breaks down again and the brawl heads to the floor. Yujiro chairs Tanahashi in his bad shoulder to take over and it’s Fale standing on Tanahashi’s back to keep him in trouble. Hall comes in for a few shots before it’s back to the scary looking Tonga. Tanahashi ducks his head and Tonga slides around him a few times before scoring with a great dropkick.

Takahashi comes in for a bit before it’s quickly off to Elgin for the scary power displays, including holding Tonga over his head with one arm for a gorilla press. We take another break and come back with Elgin suplexing Takahashi and Hall (who stands 6’6) at the same time. A deadlift German suplex gets two on Takahashi but he gets in a low blow to slow Elgin down. Moose comes in for his fist pump punches but Hall ducks underneath one and gets in a Samoan drop.

That’s no sold of course so Hall has to knee Moose in the ribs to block the spear. He can’t get Moose up for the Razor’s Edge though so instead it’s a discus lariat as everything breaks down again. Hall chokeslams Moose for two before Elgin Samoan drops Tonga and fall away slams Takahashi at the same time. Egads that’s scary power. Elgin isn’t done as he throws Tanahashi onto everyone but Hall. Moose runs the corner for a spinning cross body to set up the spear to put Hall away at 11:37.

Rating: B-. This was a bit too messy at times but it was still a lot of fun. Elgin and Moose are just natural freaks and Hall/Tonga have great looks and potential. The match wound up being more entertaining than I was expecting and that’s really all you can hope for out of something like this with no real backstory other than good guys vs. bad guys.

The House of Truth tours Tokyo.

We look at Lio Rush getting a World Title shot against Jay Lethal at Supercard of Honor with Rush’s top rope C4 being countered into a cutter, followed by the Lethal Injection to retain Jay’s title. Post match Colt Cabana came out and talked about being an independent wrestler who can’t be fired by the people. Lethal accused him of running away from Ring of Honor because no one wants him here. The following night, Cabana came out and pinned Lethal in a quick exhibition to earn a title shot.

The House of Truth goes to a massage parlor when Delirious walks out the door. This leads nowhere. We cut to Lethal and Martini going to the New Japan store….and then we cut to Jay Briscoe trying to find a gym. Back in the store, Delirious is hiding among the masks. After some dinner is consumed, here’s Dalton Castle at a cat cafe. Absolutely none of this meant anything other than a way to kill time.

Karl Anderson/Luke Gallows vs. Briscoe Brothers

Anderson and Gallows (Bullet Club) attack to start but Jay takes Gallows to the floor with a Cactus Clothesline. Mark’s running apron Blockbuster drops Anderson and we take a break. Back with Mark rolling across the ring and stopping Anderson with the threat of a crane kick. We’re told that next week will feature a preview episode for Global Wars, which is nice for a change but unless you see it in syndication, you won’t get to watch it until AFTER the show. But hey, at least we’re getting to see A THIRD STRAIGHT WEEK of meaningless matches from February.

Mark gets taken out to the floor with Gallows dropping a legdrop onto the apron to keep Mark in trouble. They brawl out to the floor with the Club in full control as Wrestling 3 talks about the history of Korakuen Hall for at least the second week in a row. We take another break and come back with Jay getting the hot tag to clean house. A Death Valley Driver gets two on Karl and everything breaks down again. Gallows is low bridged to the floor but slides back in to break up the Jay Driller. Mark mostly misses a top rope dropkick to put Gallows down and it’s the Froggy Bow to put Karl away at 8:23.

Rating: C. The match was fine but there was no mention of the Briscoes having an ROH Tag Team Title match against a team similar to Anderson and Gallows in FOUR DAYS because Ring of Honor has done a horrible job of setting up the show. Anderson and Gallows are long gone too, but again that’s too far in the past to actually mention.

A long video package on the entire February tour wraps us up.

Overall Rating: D-. Unless you live in an area that has Ring of Honor in syndication, THIS was your go home show for Global Wars. Yeah there’s going to be a preview show next week but in case you’re in an area that doesn’t get the show on your local station, you’ll be seeing it AFTER THE PAY PER VIEW AIRS. This really shouldn’t have to be explained but either record some new commentary that actually mentions the specific matches (other than Lethal vs. Cabana, zero specific matches have been announced for the show on TV) or cut out one of these shows and air the preview earlier.

This is the kind of stuff you expect to have heard about WCW doing in their dying days instead of a company that seems to be rather intelligent. I get that they wanted to brag about their big tour of Japan but was there really any need of airing three weeks of stuff from February instead of talking about a pay per view that might make them some money? This was a very shortsighted way of doing things and that’s much more disappointing than anything else.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Ring of Honor
Date: March 23, 2015
Location: Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Mr. Wrestling III, Kevin Kelly

It’s a special show this time as we have a new taping cycle including the New Japan crew. These things can go a bunch of different ways and unfortunately a lot of those ways don’t often go well for the normal Ring of Honor guys. It’s also the fight show after the 14^th Anniversary Show so things can start moving forward. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

TV Title: BJ Whitmer vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Ishii is defending after taking the title in Japan because WE MUST PRAISE NEW JAPAN. The graphic says “Tomorhiro” but I can’t find anything else that spells is that way. We’re not quite ready to go yet though as Veda Scott and Cedric Alexander come out with Veda offering a check in exchange for the title shot. Whitmer is appalled at the suggestion that he could be bought off and then takes the check anyway.

TV Title: Cedric Alexander vs. Tomohiro Ishii

The match starts after a break with Ishii hitting a hard shoulder and throwing Alexander across the ring with ease. Ishii headbutts him down but Veda grabs the boot to finally give Cedric an opening. See, she’s effective as well as gorgeous. Cedric starts stomping at the head before going with a far less painful chinlock.

That’s enough for the champ though as he Hulks Up and scores with chops and a suplex. Cedric is up at two and climbs the corner for a spinning kick to the head. Back up and Ishii just headbutts the heck out of him, only to have the sliding lariat get countered into a crucifix for two. Ishii is done playing though and he braninbusts Alexander for the pin to retain at 6:32.

Rating: C. I’m really not a fan of the NEVER stuff that Ishii does over in New Japan but he’s perfectly acceptable when he’s doing more wrestling than all that strong style toughman nonsense. Alexander is way too generic for my tastes but at least Veda is awesome in her role and can carry anyone however far she needs to.

Here’s the Addiction to complain about the reunion of the Motor City Machine Guns. Oh great that’s a thing again. They take credit for bringing Chris Sabin back from the depths (I’d have cheered if they added “of TNA”) and now they’ve been betrayed for a Machine Guns reunion. Kazarian gets in a few shots at Las Vegas being the land of bad decisions and thinks this was all one bad choice. Daniels thinks the fans are all thinking it’s Christmas morning to see Sabin/Shelley back together again but it’s time for an apology.

Cue the Guns, unfortunately without their rocking TNA theme. Before they get going, how in the world is Sabin the only former World Champion out of this group? Sabin has reached the conclusion that the Addiction are just delusional jerks. The brawl is teased but of course the Addiction bails. Daniels says they’ll have a match but it’s up to them, the adults, to decide when that happens.

Jay Lethal is ready to defend against Hirooki Goto next week.

Reno Scum vs. Briscoes

Scum (Luster the Legend/Adam Thorestowe) is a team who has been around before but aren’t that well known. Adam and Mark get things going with the former getting double teamed in a somewhat heelish attack by the Briscoes. Back in and Adam can’t get anywhere with Mark so it’s off to Luster for a running shoulder in the corner. Mark gets pounded down but finally comes back with some right hands to both Scum.

It’s still not enough though as a catapult sends Mark into a Death Valley Driver for two. Not that it matters as Mark flips onto his feet and makes the tag off to Jay as house is cleaned. Everything breaks down and a powerbomb into a neckbreaker gets two on Luster. A German suplex followed by a double stomp gets the same on Mark, only to have him pop up with a Death Valley Driver. The Froggy Bow is enough to put Adam away at 6:55.

Rating: C-. Scum didn’t do anything for me here and I’m really not sure who is supposed to benefit here. The Briscoes were fine enough but this had that Ring of Honor style to it that doesn’t get me interested. There are more than enough teams in Ring of Honor already and Scum really wasn’t needed here.

Dalton Castle is excited for his Fight Without Honor with Silas Young in three weeks but the Boys aren’t old enough to know what he has planned.

Young Bucks vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin

The fans are far more behind Tanahashi than the Bucks here, which is a nice sign for the future of wrestling. Elgin and Nick start with Michael actually trying a test of strength. Now since no power guy has ever gotten a small heel to try a test of strength, I’ll let you guess how this goes. The Bucks start speeding things up and a pair of dropkicks have the good guys (I think?) on the floor.

Matt dives over the top to take Tanahashi out and we take a break. Back with Elgin bicycle kicking Matt out to the floor before giving him a double suplex. Elgin and Tanahashi give Nick a double SUCK IT in a nice visual. There’s a delayed vertical suplex with Nick trying a save, only to have Elgin suplex both of them at the same time. Tanahashi grabs an abdominal stretch and uses Matt’s ribs as an air guitar. Eh that was amusing.

We hit the chinlock for a bit until Nick pulls Elgin to the floor for our first superkick. Nick gets in a regular SUCK IT and there’s the slingshot X Factor. We take a break and come back with the Bucks still in control and getting cheered way too loudly. Tanahashi gets in a cross body though and the tag brings Elgin back in. Big Mike picks up the Bucks for a Samoan drop/fall away slam at the same time because he’s got freaking strength. The Falcon Arrow gets two on Matt but double superkicks set up a double 450 for two on Elgin.

Tanahashi no sells ANOTHER superkick and gets loaded up into kind of a reverse Alabama Slam from Elgin to send him onto….Matt’s knees. Now you might think we just had enough double superkicks for a lifetime, but that’s not how the Bucks roll. FIVE more superkicks have them in control but the Meltzer Driver is countered with Elgin’s powerbomb. The Sling Blade and another powerbomb sets up the High Fly Flow to give Tanahashi the pin at 16:10.

Rating: B. Better match here but I’ve made my opinions on the Bucks pretty clear over the last year. I still don’t get why they’re faces in this or any other promotion (well maybe PWG would make sense) but the fans go nuts over them and that’s the point of bringing in acts like this. Tanahashi continues to be amazing (I’m a bit late on that one) and Elgin has that freakish strength that only a handful of people ever have, making this a rather fun match. Not exactly the kind of match I’d like as I’m not big on the styles of either promotion, but at least it was a fun performance.

Overall Rating: C+. This was good enough but the New Japan shows can get annoying in a hurry. At least we had a good match and the Fight Without Honor offers some promise, especially if it gives Castle the boost that he’s been needing for months. Unfortunately I have a feeling we’re in for A LOT more New Japan before we get there and that’s not the most entertaining thing in the world.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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Wrestle Kingdom X
Date: January 4, 2016
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 25,204
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Matt Striker, Yoshitatsu

This is one of those shows that I have to do almost every year as it’s pretty much become a tradition. New Japan is pretty easily the second biggest wrestling promotion in the world and this is its annual Wrestlemania level show, always held on the same day of the year. The main event is Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP World Title for the third time in four years, which is totally ok because it’s Japan and therefore each of their matches MUST be five stars because it’s a saga or something. Let’s get to it.

On a side note: I barely keep up with New Japan and there is a very good chance that I’m not going to know a lot of the history, storylines or proper names for these things. I’m checking this out as a very rare viewer so hopefully the English commentary helps out a lot.

Pre-Show: New Japan Rumble

This is an eighteen man Royal Rumble style battle royal, with eliminations by pin or going over the top, made up of the people who aren’t on the show for whatever reason. I don’t know most of the people in the match but I’ll do what I can. Jushin Thunder Liger (last year’s winner) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara (as in the man the man the armbar is named after, age 66) start things off. I believe we have ninety second intervals here though the English commentary doesn’t kick in until the regular show.

Tiger Mask IV is in at #3 and takes his sweet time getting to the ring. Mask and Liger take Fujiwara down with a double leg lock but you don’t try to put an old man in a submission hold, meaning it’s Fujiwara putting them in a double hold instead. The times are getting weird here as the clocks are either at one hundred seconds or don’t start until someone gets to the ring. Or it’s a timed battle royal and it’s just as close as they can get to set intervals. Anyway ROH’s Cheeseburger is in at #4.

Everything stops for some reason with Liger and Tiger pulling Cheeseburger by an arm each. Fujiwara works Cheeseburger over in the corner as I guess this is some kind of initiation. That goes nowhere until it’s Hiro Saito in at #5. Saito goes after Liger but has to fight with Tiger over a suplex. Mask takes him over and it’s Yoshi-Hashi in at #6. Now it’s starting to feel like a Royal Rumble with the ring filling up this quickly. The match stops again for a bit before everyone starts having random fights with each other.

Yoshi is taken to the mat for a backsplash from Saito and it’s Mascara Dorado, who looks like a superhero, in at #7. There’s almost nothing going on in between these entrances. Liger goes after Dorado, likely due to gimmick infringement, and puts on a seated abdominal stretch. Dorado counters into one of his own and it’s Captain New Japan, an actual superhero character, in at #8.

Fujiwara quickly takes the Captain down for a very quick namesake armbar and our first elimination. Not that it matters though as most of the people in the ring cover Fujiwara to get rid of him a few seconds later. Manabu Nakanashi is in at #9 to get us to the halfway point with a grouping of Nakanashi, Dorada, Hashi, Saito, Cheeseburger, Tiger Mask and Liger. Yoshi goes up top to chop various people on the head until Liger wisely shakes the ropes to get him back down.

Yuji Nagata (a much bigger deal here than in his lame WCW run) is in at #10. Tiger saves Cheeseburger from Saito coming off the top, only to have Saito crush Tiger with a middle rope backsplash, leading to a group pin for the elimination. Satoshi Kojima is in at #11 as Saito and Liger are thrown out. Well at least they’re not letting the ring get too full. Cheeseburger chops I believe Nakanashi for no effect until it’s Hiroyoshi Tenzan in at #12. Nakanashi is put out off camera as the shot stays on the entrances the entire time.

Long time partners Tenzan and Kojima start working together on Hashi until we get some miscommunication, resulting in Kojima getting clotheslined down. Ryusuke Taguchi, a party guy that I’ve actually heard of, is in at #13. Taguchi is immediately stomped down by everyone left in the ring for no apparent reason. Shiro Koshinaka is in at #14 to give Taguchi a much needed break by cleaning house.

The ring is starting to get too full so here’s the Bullet Club’s King Haku (yes THAT King Haku) at #15, with the referee holding the ropes open for him. Well to be fair that’s probably the best idea he could have had. Haku cleans house and easily puts out Nagata and Kojima. As the Great Kabuki (who was in the 1994 Royal Rumble and 67 years old) is in at #16, Dorado is put out off camera.

Kabuki’s nunchucks entrance takes forever, allowing Haku to go from dominant to tapping out to Tenzan. The momentum is shortlived though as Tenzan is pinned ten seconds later. Cheeseburger hides from Kabuki and it’s Kazushi Sakuraba, an MMA guy and seemingly big fan favorite, in at #17. We get an immediate showdown between Kabuki and Sakuraba to freak the announcers out all over again.

There’s the mist to blind Sakuraba though, drawing a DQ. Sakuraba is pinned a few seconds later as Jado is in at #18, giving us a final field of Cheeseburger, Hashi, Taguchi, Koshinaka and Jado. By the time Jado gets to the ring, Hashi pins Cheeseburger with a swanton bomb, only to be pinned by Taguchi a few seconds later.

So we’re down to three after Jado (and some pop singer he’s with) take FOREVER to get to the ring. Jado is quickly double teamed with knees to the head and a double hip attack for two but Taguchi breaks up a pin attempt after helping with the beatdown. Back up and Jado backdrops Koshinaka out before low bridging Taguchi to the floor for the win.

Rating: D. Well that happened. I know this was more like the Andre battle royal than anything else but the weird timing and taking forever to get on with each entrance really took away from a lot of what this had going for it. The ending was far too sudden too with Jado getting the big entrance and then winning in about two minutes. Too long for what they were going for here and I never got into it, especially when the regular show is over four hours long.

After the PA announcers says a lot of stuff I don’t understand, Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan’s John Cena) and I believe Togi Makabe appear on screen, dressed as cavemen. They introduce what I believe is a comedian, a child actress and some characters for a giant song and dance number. I have no idea what any of this means and I really don’t want to know.

Ad for some anime movie.

The opening video talks about the company’s 44^th anniversary and shows the main names appearing on the show, thankfully in English. Each match is listed in the order it airs for a nice touch, meaning we get the entire card.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Young Bucks vs. ReDRagon vs. Aerial Dogfight vs. Roppongi Vice

ReDRagon is defending and Dogfight is Matt Sydal/Ricochet, known in Lucha Underground as Prince Puma. The Bucks are part of Bullet Club and have Cody Hall in their corner. Aside from about three months, the Bucks, ReDRagon and Vice have traded these titles since November 2013. In case you’re not familiar with the teams, The Bucks are Nick/Matt Jackson, ReDRagon is Kyle O’Reilly/Bobby Fish and Vice is Baretta (or Trent Baretta) and Rocky Romero. This is one fall to a finish.

The Bullet Club clears the ring before the bell until it’s Fish being thrown in for a double team from the Bucks. Kyle gets in a shot from the apron, allowing Fish to start in on Nick’s arm. Nick tells them to suck it (because DX used to do that) and tags in Sydal to miss an enziguri to Kyle. The tags start speeding up with both members of Vice sneaking in to double team Matt, including a double SUCK IT to the Bucks.

An enziguri drops Sydal as Yoshi talks about driving with Sydal and Baretta in WWE. The Bucks come in to start a Superkick Party and thank goodness Corino isn’t on commentary. It’s Baretta in trouble with Matt doing Chris Jericho’s posing cover for two. Things slow down with Nick holding a front facelock and then a chinlock before it’s back to Matt for a superkick to knock Rocky off the apron. A really quick tornado DDT drops Matt and the hot tag brings in Ricochet as everything breaks down.

Dogfight hits a quick moonsault/shooting star combination to Nick before the champs kick Matt in the chest. Nick dives on a bunch of guys and superkicks Kyle to break up a cross armbreaker over the ropes. Ricochet loads up a dive of his own but Cody (who looks EXACTLY like his dad) trips him up and Razor Edges him over the top onto the pile.

Back in and Ricochet gets caught in an elevated swanton bomb from the Bucks but Sydal breaks up More Bang For Your Buck. Dogfight starts taking over on the Bucks with Ricochet hitting an INSANE springboard shooting star to take out Cody at ringside. ReDRagon comes back in to break up stereo shooting stars from Sydal and Ricochet before taking their turns to beat up the Bucks. Cody pulls Fish to the floor for a save, only to be taken down by Kyle.

We get a pretty ridiculous quadruple suplex with Romero having to decide which half to help on. Romero starts running the corners for clotheslines to everyone he can find and a Shining Wizard from Sydal gets two. Ricochet saves Sydal from something called Strong Zeo but the Bucks tag themselves in to steal two off the stereo shooting stars. A quick More Bang For Your Buck is enough to put Romero away and give the Bucks their fourth titles.

Rating: C. This was fun albeit a bit too long. I’m rarely a fan of these insane matches with little flow and nothing but spot sequence after spot sequence but this was entertaining enough. That being said, does it really matter if the Bucks win their fourth title in just over two years? Based on how long three of these teams have dominated the division, some fresh blood would have been nice. Still though, fun choice for an opener.

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Titles: Briscoe Brothers/Toru Yano vs. Bullet Club

NEVER is kind of a hard concept to explain but basically it’s for people who have never had a real chance to succeed. This is for the inaugural titles and the Bullet Club is represented by Bad Luck Fale (a monster)/Tama Tonga (Haku’s adopted son)/Yujiro Takahashi (a New Japan traitor). The Briscoes are making their New Japan debut. Yujiro is accompanied by a good looking woman named Shiori. Yano is a comedy guy who keeps hyping some DVD of his.

The Briscoes clean house on Yujiro to start with Jay clotheslining him out to the floor. A Cactus Jack style elbow from Mark crushes Yujiro on the floor and the fans aren’t sure what to make of the Brothers. Back in and it’s Tonga taking Mark into the corner before it’s off to Yano for a slap to Fale’s neck. Tonga comes back in to scare Yano and it’s time to beat on the comedy goof.

Yoshi doesn’t like a Japanese man being in the otherwise foreign Bullet Club as Fale throws Yano down. All three Club members come in but Yano pulls off the turnbuckle pad (remember it’s one pad over all three buckles in Japan) to send Fale crashing into the steel. Fale misses another charge into a different corner and the hot (minus the heat) tag brings in Mark. Some Redneck Kung Fu wakes the crowd up a bit but Yujiro takes Mark down with a fisherman’s buster.

Jay comes in for a Death Valley Driver on Tonga but he can’t hit the Jay Driller. Instead it’s Tonga getting two off a running boot to the face for two on Jay. An Alabama Slam gets the same as the announcers put over the idea of Tama never winning a title in New Japan. Tama goes up top but gets caught in an electric chair, allowing Yano to blast him with a chair to knock him into a Doomsday Device from the Briscoes for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C-. I wasn’t feeling this one though at least it was a unique ending. Unfortunately this match felt like something they added to the show just so they could have another title match. That’s rarely an idea that makes you think you need to see something and the fact that the Briscoes never wrestled in this company before does little to make me think I needed to see this match, especially on this show. Not bad, but nothing that really needed to exist.

Ring of Honor World Title: Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin

Elgin is challenging after having won a tournament called Survival of the Fittest. He’s been on fire in Japan lately so Lethal, also making his debut in this company, is in trouble here. The champ also has Truth Martini in his corner. Elgin powers him into the corner to start as the announcers put over the basic story of power vs. speed. A big clothesline in the corner has Jay in trouble and there’s a delayed vertical suplex with Jay not being able to knee his way out of it. That’s insane strength.

There’s a one armed press slam to make it even worse but Martini breaks up the powerbomb onto the apron. Michael is smart enough to stomp on the Book of Truth, only to get dropkicked right in the face for his efforts. A suicide dive puts Elgin into the barricade and Truth does an off camera Spinarooni. Nice job camera people. Back in and Lethal makes the mistake of chopping a power guy. Like, when has that EVER worked in history? Jay spins out of a hiptoss and dropkicks a seated Elgin for two.

We hit the reverse chinlock to kill some time until Elgin starts firing off some running forearms to the jaw, followed by a nice slingshot splash for no cover. The fans are finally starting to get into this after a just average match so far. In a cool visual, Elgin dead lifts Lethal up into the bridging German for two. The look on Lethal’s face was perfect as he seemed terrified.

Jay comes right back with the Macho elbow for two but Elgin counters the Lethal Injection with another suplex. I’m not sure but it could have been due to Jay shouting LETHAL INJECTION. The apron suplex (think Cesaro) into a falcon arrow is only good for two (and to freak Yoshi out) but Elgin has to smack Martini. A shot to the head with the Book of Truth knocks Michael silly though and the Lethal Injection retains the title.

Rating: C+. Again this was fine but nothing you wouldn’t see at any Ring of Honor house show. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t change the title here for a big ROH moment on the biggest New Japan show but Elgin being awesome in Japan was only going to get them so far. Still though, not bad and the match did what it was supposed to do.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega vs. Kushida

Omega is defending and is part of the Bullet Club, meaning he has the Bucks with him. Kushida is part of the Timesplitters team and therefore has Taguchi (from the battle royal earlier) dressed as Doc Brown from…..you know I really shouldn’t have to tell you what Doc Brown is from. Omega gets a Terminator entrance so it’s easily Kushida already out in front. These two have traded the title since last year’s Wrestle Kingdom, making me think the junior heavyweights as a whole need an adjustment.

The Bucks jump Taguchi before the bell, only managing to tick Kushida off in the process. Omega spits on him and stomps away so Kushida dropkicks him in the face for his efforts. The champ bails to the floor and grabs some hairspray (so he’s ripping off DJZ), only to have Kushida baseball slide him down. The referee is easily distracted of course though and Matt throws a trashcan at Kushida’s head, allowing Omega to do a one man More Bang For Your Buck with the aforementioned trashcan.

A flip dive takes Kushida down again but he’s able to block a suplex back inside. Kushida starts firing off some kicks to the arm and grabs the Hoverboard lock (modified Kimura), only to have Omega get his legs into the ropes. Something like a handspring kick to the head drops Kenny again and Kushida nails a nice top rope flip dive to the floor.

Back in and we hit another Hoverboard lock but Omega rolls out again, this time into a quick suplex. Omega takes him into the corner for a superplex, only to have Kushida stay smart with a Hoverboard lock, complete with a flying armbar to bring Kenny right back down for a huge crash. Kushida shrugs off a jumping knee to the face (as you do) and blasts Omega in the jaw to put the champ down. Back up and Omega tries a German suplex but gets pulled down into the Hoverboard lock.

Taguchi takes out the Bucks as the hold is broken, only to have Omega win the slugout. Oh wait he holds his arm after the brawling is over because he sells. A sitout powerbomb gets two on Kushida and Omega puts him up for the One Winged Angel (a reverse piledriver out of an electric chair) but Kushida reverses into one of the worst looking small packages I’ve ever seen to get the title back. Omega’s shoulder was so ridiculously off the mat it was unforgivable.

Rating: B-. I was liking the match but the arm work didn’t go anywhere and that ending looked horrible. However, the good vs. evil story was working here and Kushida looked better than I’ve seen him look in almost any of his matches. Omega would become the new leader of the Bullet Club the next day and it was a nice, though not great, farewell to the junior heavyweight division.

IWGP Tag Team Titles: G.B.H. vs. Bullet Club

Yes another title match with Bullet Club involved. In this case it’s Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows defending for the Club against Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma. The Club has the good looking Bullet Babe (Amber Gallows, Doc’s wife) in their corner, which is better than the Bucks again.

Big fan favorite Honma starts with Anderson and the Club quickly takes over in the corner. A quick tag brings Makabe in to clean house with right hands as the fans are suddenly much more interested after not having much of a reaction to the ROH guys. Everything breaks down for a bit and Doc gets in a chain to Makabe’s neck (complete with an F bomb) and the champs take over. Back in and it’s Makabe in trouble with a lot of hard shots to the mouth for two.

Anderson is starting to get annoyed and walks into a clothesline, allowing the hot tag to Honma as house is cleaned. Gallows trips him up to give the champions control again and a reverse 3D plants Honma very nicely. Anderson puts Honma up in a fireman’s carry for a running boot from Gallows, knocking it into a spinning flapjack for a great crash. Honma is put up top and has to escape a super cutter, only to get caught in a running Liger bomb for two.

Back down and Honma blocks some RKO’s before headbutting Karl square in the chest. The hot tag brings in Makabe for some hard clotheslines to finally drop the much bigger Gallows. Honma starts hitting a bunch of headbutts, capped off by a falling version from the top rope to Doc. Makabe adds a top rope knee drop for the pin and the titles in a big upset.

Rating: C-. Again, not bad but nothing that I really cared about. I’m assuming Honma getting a title is a big deal but they really didn’t put that over too well. I liked the story here of the native Japanese wrestlers fighting the evil foreigners but it still wasn’t the most interesting thing in the world.

Ad for upcoming shows.

Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito

This is the only non-title match on the show. Naito has two masked men with him and seems to be a heel here after having turned his back on the fans. Striker takes this chance to continue his show long trend of talking about all the heat he has as a commentator. You know, because people talk about him. As has happened too many times tonight, Naito’s goons jump Goto from behind before the bell to give the heel an early advantage.

Everything quickly breaks down and the goons also beat up Captain New Japan who is here due to no apparent reason. Or at least no explained reason. Goto takes a big chair shot to the head and a neckbreaker from the apron puts him through the table, leaving Naito to pose in the ring like a real villain. Back in and we hit a headscissors on Goto before Naito just pulls his hair. Well he certainly is being evil.

Goto dropkicks the knee out and starts firing off some kicks to the chest, only to have Naito easily kick him down in the corner. Naito puts him on top for a superplex, only to get countered into a sunset bomb (Tatsu: “Really? Really?”) for two. Goto starts no selling kicks to the head but loses a slugout because you have to trade forearms at some point. The referee gets bumped and here are the goons to help, only to have one mist the other by mistake. Naito low blows Goto and gets a nice rollup for two, only to have Goto pop up with a suplex into a side slam (think something like Matt Morgan’s Hellevator) for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: D+. I really didn’t care about this and I easily could have seen it cut off the show. That’s the problem with this show as a whole: so much stuff is being crammed into here and it’s making the show feel a lot longer than it needs to be. I’m still not entirely sure what the story was here and that’s not good on a show this big, especially when there shouldn’t be a language issue.

NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Ishii is defending and let me stop here for a second. I’ve heard a lot of glowing things about this division and this style of match. I’ve also seen a few of the matches that receive such high praise from a lot of fans and I do not care for it. I’ll spare you a very long rant that will get me in trouble and just say this isn’t my style. I understand why some fans like it and even like it a lot, but this really isn’t my kind of wrestling. I’ve had similar opinions changed before, but this kind of match has never done anything for me.

Before the match, Striker says the previous match between the two of them received five stars from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which is really rare. Well maybe in America, whereas in Japan you get four and a half for a good sneeze. They slug it out to start and trade the big forearms for the first time. Shibata takes over and slowly kicks at Ishii’s head but Ishii pops up and gets in his face. Now they take turns sitting down and dare each other to kick each other in the back. Ishii gets the worst of it but is allowed to chop Shibata over and over.

A big forearm puts Ishii down but he pops up with a Saito suplex. Shibata kicks him in the head for two and slaps on a modified octopus hold. That goes nowhere and it’s time for another slugout with Ishii getting the better of it and taking Shibata into the corner for a quick facewash. Shibata comes back with a quick dropkick and tries something like a triangle choke. Ishii gets over to the ropes and they slug it out again until a double clothesline puts them both down.

Back up again and Ishii starts firing off chops to the throat (actually illegal) before powerbombing Shibata down for two. A superplex is countered into a Shibata armbar which he snaps down over the top. Shibata clotheslines him down and slaps on a rear naked choke to slow things down again. More kicks to the back keep Ishii in trouble until he blasts Shibata in the chest with a headbutt. Now they just headbutt each other for some very cringe worthy sounds. Ishii starts firing off some clotheslines for two until Shibata fires off a bunch of kicks, capped off by a running kick to the seated Ishii’s chest for the pin and the title.

Rating: C+. This is a really hard one to grade as I definitely didn’t hate it and it’s a lot less annoying than I was expecting but I had almost no reaction to this. The match runs about seventeen minutes and you really could have cut out a good chunk of it to help shorten this way too long show. Again I get the idea here but I just don’t care for it.

Video on AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, which is happening for the first time and is rightfully being billed as a dream match.

Intercontinental Title: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura is defending and one of the guys I like best in New Japan. Styles is Bullet Club (with no seconds here) and I don’t think he needs much of an explanation. Feeling out process to start as they have nearly an hour and a half for the last two matches here. Nakamura takes it to the mat and gets nowhere, meaning it’s time for another standoff. Back up and Nakamura drives him into the ropes before they trade headlocks. Things start to speed up and AJ ducks the running knee.

We get AJ’s drop down into the dropkick spot but the champ quickly kicks him down and drops a knee. AJ goes to the ropes but gets pulled down, possibly reaggrivating his bad back. Nakamura gives him some space but AJ pops up and nails him from behind to take over. A quick bridging reverse crossface (think something like the Last Chancery if the feet are tied together) has Nakamura in trouble but he pops up with a backbreaker to send AJ to the floor.

The champ drives him into the barricade to keep the back in trouble. An enziguri puts Styles in the corner but the running knee misses in the corner. That’s fine with Nakamura as he puts Styles on the corner for a running knee to the already bad back. Well you can’t fault his psychology.

AJ avoids another charge and hits the springboard forearm, which he really shouldn’t be able to do with his back so screwed up but I love that move so I can forgive it. Styles gets him over with a snap suplex into the corner, only to hurt his back even more. A quick Backstabber has AJ in trouble but he grabs the Calf Killer out of nowhere.

Nakamura reverses into an armbar so AJ gets to his feet and drops a big right hand to break it up. AJ is able to pick him up for a torture rack (what back injury?) and spins Nakamura out into a powerbomb for two. The Styles Clash is broken up and Nakamura jumps to the middle rope for the knee to the chest but can’t follow up.

Back up and we get the slow forearms (which I can live with after a long match like this) until AJ scores with the Pele, only to take a running knee to the chest for two. Nakamura gets back up and charges right into a knee from AJ, followed by a 450 for another two count. There’s a cross armbreaker on AJ which is switched over into a triangle choke but AJ lifts it up into a one armed Styles Clash for a VERY close near fall.

With nothing else working, AJ takes him to the corner for a super Styles Clash, only to have Nakamura kick him in the and put him on the shoulders for a fireman’s carry into a falcon’s arrow from the top for another insanely close two. Both guys are barely able to get up until Nakamura blasts him with a running knee to the back of the head. Another one to the chest is enough to finally retain Nakamura’s title.

Rating: A-. The back injury just stopping in the middle of the match hurt a bit but the back and forth bombs helped it quite a bit. This was about two guys beating on each other as long as they could and that’s all it needed to be. For once it did feel like a dream match and it lived up to the hype. Really good match but the back not instantly healing halfway through would have made it even better.

They fist bump post match.

We recap the very long history between Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, who have been trading the World Title for the better part of ever. Since January 4, 2011, these two and AJ have been the only three World Champions in the company. Again, you think they might need some fresh blood? The idea is that Okada is going to be the new star and take Tanahashi’s place but he has to beat Tanahashi here at Wrestle Kingdom.

IWGP World Title: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Okada is defending and Tanahashi won the shot by winning the G-1 Climax tournament (not exactly but close enough). This is their eighth match and it’s a tie (3-3-1) coming in. At least it’s not one sided. Okada has Gedo in his corner. Very slow feeling out process to start with Okada putting him up against the rope and giving Tanahashi a condescending pat on the chest. A forearm puts Tanahashi down but another does the same to Okada.

They get in each others’ faces and it’s the champion kicking Tanahashi in the face to take over. That means it’s time to hit the mat with neither guy being able to get the better of it. Tanahashi takes a small advantage with a headlock but Okada counters into one of his own. Now we get somewhere as Tanahashi starts in on the leg. Again it doesn’t seem to matter as Okada pops up to try a tombstone, only to have Tanahashi wind up on the apron.

The leg work hasn’t had much effect though as Okada is able to dropkick him out to the floor for a big crash. A running cross body puts Tanahashi over the barricade, which apparently is a callback to last year’s match. Now that’s a good use of English commentary as I never would have remembered that from a match I haven’t seen in a year. We hit the chinlock with a knee in Tanahashi’s back, followed by a running elbow in the corner and a DDT for no cover.

Some uppercuts stagger Tanahashi and he misses a running dropkick to the knee. Tanahashi is right back at it and the second dropkick to the knee works, allowing him to start the comeback. A dragon screw leg whip in the ring and another on the corner (that’s a new one) has Okada in even more trouble and the Sling Blade on the apron drops him again. Tanahashi is right back up with a high cross body to the floor and Okada has to dive back in at nineteen to beat the count.

Back in and a middle rope High Fly Flow (frog splash) crushes the knees again as Tanahashi is getting creative. Okada grabs a quick White Noise onto the knee but can’t follow up. I can buy that actually as he had to hit something big and he sacrificed his own body to slow Tanahashi down. Back up and they slug it out again with Okada’s knees suddenly being fine enough for three straight dropkicks. A top rope dropkick gets two for the champ and a top rope elbow (gah) gets the same.

Tanahashi grabs another leg whip to get a breather but has to block a dropkick (GAH) and counter into a Texas cloverleaf. He can’t get it all the way on though and Okada rolls out, only to take the Sling Blade. The High Fly Flow misses and a tombstone (you really could have cut out the leg work part of this match and not missed a thing) plants Tanahashi. Now the Rainmaker connects for two (BECAUSE IT’S A LAME CLOTHESLINE!) and Okada casually pops up top for a High Fly Fly Flow of his own.

If you’ve watched a main event style wrestling match in any country in the last fifteen years, you know what’s coming next. Tanahashi hits a Rainmaker of his own before going back to the knee in vain. I say in vain as Okada lifts him up for another tombstone, only to have Tanahashi reverse into a third Sling Blade.

A dragon suplex (always liked that move) gets two and two straight High Fly Flows get another near fall. Now we’re getting somewhere on these false finishes. Tanahashi goes up again but dives into a dropkick with Okada holding his ribs instead of his knee. A good looking dropkick sets up three straight Rainmakers (he actually followed through on the third) to retain Okada’s title.

Rating: B+. Yeah it’s big, yeah it’s epic, yeah it tells a story, and I guess that completely excuses the waste of time spent on the legs and THE RAINMAKER BEING A REALLY LAME FINISHER because it’s some saga or whatever. Of course I’m sure the New Japan fans who worship this stuff will be talking about fighting spirit or whatever as it’s the grand out for pretty much any criticism you can throw at this style of wrestling.

I actually liked Styles vs. Nakamura a good bit more than this one as the legs being abandoned here was actually ticking me off with Okada flying all over the place without even wincing. Tanahashi was trying but there’s only so much you can do when you tear the knees to pieces and five minutes later Okada is flying off the top. Also, I get that it’s an epic main event and needed the time, but when a show is pushing five hours, I was kind of begging for this to end already when it hit twenty five minutes and it had ten more to go. It’s very good, but the near universal praise these two get really doesn’t hold up.

Post match Okada gets the big victory speech (With Tatsu FINALLY offering something by translating. I completely get why he didn’t say much all night as his English is rather limited but his role could have easily been eliminated.) and says he’s awesome. We should all stay tuned.

Overall Rating: B+. This was LONG. Last year’s show was under four hours and this one was over five (including the pre-show), which I’m sure has a lot to do with this being a good bit lower. You really could have cut some of this show out (the six man and Goto vs. Naito would be a great place to start, plus trimming the opener by about five minutes) and really not missed much. That’s a common issue with this show though and I’m not surprised it was a problem again here.

The show definitely had a better flow this year and jumped from match to match really easily. I got into almost every in one way or another to keep things from getting dull and there’s some good action throughout. Nothing on the show is truly bad, but it wasn’t until the final matches that things really started to pick up.

Now that being said, I really can’t get over the praise the main event gets. I mean, does selling mean nothing in Japan? I’m well aware that it happens in America too, but this is supposed to be the greatest wrestling in the history of ever and their ace is flying off the top and ignoring a good stretch of leg work mere minutes later. Seeing that at the end of a show I really wanted to end isn’t the best idea in the world.

Overall though, the problem here is the length. No show, including Wrestlemania, needs to be this long. Get this thing under four hours (start by cutting down some of that battle royal and put another match on the pre-show) and it’s instantly better. The show is definitely good and worth watching, though I’d highly recommend fast forwarding through a match here or there.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Ring of Honor
Date: December 30, 2015
Host: Mandy Leon

This is another Best Of show and I’m actually looking forward to seeing what Ring of Honor considers their best. I’ve had a good time watching the show since the summer and things have been getting better for months now. You can almost guarantee a lot of New Japan talent to appear on this show so let’s get to it.

As usual, the matches on this episode will be heavily clipped but I’ll be posting the full review of each match. All dates listed are when the match aired.

We’ll start with those New Japan guys in a tag match from Global Wars. From June 17.

Matt Sydal/ACH vs. Tetsuya Naito/Hiroshi Tanahashi

Sydal is formerly known as Evan Bourne, ACH is a high flier and Tanahashi is basically the John Cena of Japan. The Japanese guys won’t shake hands to start, in theory making them heels here, even though an ROH crowd isn’t going to boo a star like Tanahashi. Sydal and Tanahashi trade go behinds to start until Matt takes him down for a standing moonsault. A double tag brings in Naito and ACH with the fans being split. They take their time to start until Naito slugs him down in the corner to take over.

ACH avoids a clothesline and does some unnecessary flips before dropkicking Naito in the face. Tanahashi knees ACH in the back and throws him into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Tanahashi missing a middle rope swanton but still preventing a hot tag. We hit the chinlock from Naito as I’m struggling to find things to say here. There’s no real story here other than company vs. company and the announcers aren’t giving me any information about any of the four guys.

Naito sends him into the corner for a basement dropkick. ACH finally counters a hurricanrana and makes the hot tag to Sydal, who comes in to clean house. In a nice counter, Sydal loads up the standing moonsault but Tanahashi is waiting on him with a German suplex. ACH fires off a bunch of kicks to Tanahashi and a clothesline for two. A German suplex from ACH gets the same and he mocks Tanahashi’s air guitar. Tanahashi puts on his Texas cloverleaf but Naito tagged himself in. Granted the referee didn’t seem to notice, leaving ACH to have to grab a rope.

The New Japan guys break up Sydal’s Asai moonsault but ACH hits a big dive to take both of them down. Back in and ACH hits a kind of springboard downward spiral to Tanahashi, followed by Sydal’s shooting star for two. Now it’s ACH going up top for a 450 but Tanahashi seemingly got the knees up. A sling blade sets up the High Fly Flow (frog splash) to give Hiroshi the pin.

Rating: C+. Fun match but it got a bit messy near the end. I still don’t get why they’re trying to make all the Japanese guys heels when they’re naturally faces for the most part, especially with fans like the ROH crowd. Still though, good enough match here and it got the crowd going like it was supposed to.

From June 24.

Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Strong is on a roll at the moment and is known as Mr. ROH. Nakamura is a huge star in New Japan and has amazing charisma. I’ve always been a Strong fan and Nakamura is one of the few New Japan guys who lives up to the hype he receives. Nakamura takes him down by the arm to start but Strong reverses into a key lock of his own. Back up and Strong nails some dropkicks but can’t put on a bow and arrow hold.

An Angle Slam gets two on Nakamura but he kicks Strong in the head and starts with his signature knee strikes. Another knee puts Strong over the barricade and we take a break. Back with Strong winning a slugout but falling to the mat. Strong is back up with a torture rack into a backbreaker though (he’s been called the Messiah of the Backbreaker), sending Nakamura to the ropes before the Strong Hold (Boston crab) can be locked in.

Instead it’s Nakamura slamming him down but missing the running knee (Bryan took it from him) and taking a jumping knee to the face. A backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle gets two as I’m digging the psychology in this one. His move is a back hold so work on the back. Why is that so complicated? A big forearm drops Strong and a jumping knee from the middle rope knocks him silly.

Strong is up first and grabs the Strong Hold, sending Nakamura into the ropes for a break. They slug it out again with Strong taking Nakamura’s head off with a running boot (Sick Kick) but a suplex backbreaker (I told you he knew a lot of them) only gets two. The running knee gets one on Strong and Nakamura can’t believe it. Granted he usually gyrates around like that so it’s hard to tell how mad he is. Strong hits another knee but Nakamura just blasts him with a knee/kick to the face for the pin at 17:05.

Rating: B+. This was a hard hitting wrestling match here and that’s the kind of stuff that Ring of Honor is shooting for. Strong is a big star in ROH but Nakamura comes off like a natural performer, which makes him stand out anywhere he performs. This was a fun match that again lived up to its hype, which is what Nakamura does best.

Also from June 24.

Roppongi Vice/Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles/Young Bucks

This is Chaos vs. Bullet Club with Vice being a tag team of (Trent) Baretta (with its 19,000 spellings) and Rocky Romero. The Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) are the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and Styles is IWGP Heavyweight Champion, making this champions vs. challengers. Styles and Okada get things going with AJ snapping off some armdrags before they trade victory rolls for two each. An early attempt at both finishers fails as well and it’s a standoff after a very fast start.

Off to Baretta vs. Nick for some missed superkicks before Matt and Rocky come in. The Bullet Club gets tired of waiting and cleans house with a single superkick. Yeah the Bucks REALLY like throwing superkicks. Baretta gets triple teamed but Romero comes in to break up a cover. The Bucks start their pretty slick double teaming before it’s off to Styles for a suplex into the corner. I like it when wrestlers do normal moves into different places. It’s simple yet still seems fresh, which is hard to do these days.

Back from a break with AJ taking Romero and Okada off the apron to prevent a tag, so Trent whips out a tornado DDT for the tag to Romero. Rocky cleans house by dropkicking AJ off the apron and hurricanranaing both Bucks at the same time. Matt nails a superkick to slow him down but Rocky pops off the ropes and hits a clothesline to put both guys down. Okada and Styles come in off another double tag with Okada taking over in a hurry. AJ comes back with his moonsault into a reverse DDT but Okada reverses into something like White Noise into a backbreaker.

Nick gets double teamed by Vice as everything breaks down. A Doomsday Device but with a running knee and on the floor, plants Nick but AJ plants Okada with Sunday Bloody Sunday (Prince Devitt’s old move, basically a one arm DDT brainbuster). Like so many Japanese stars, Okada isn’t interested in selling though and pops up with a tombstone. The Rainmaker (maybe the most overrated finisher I’ve ever seen. It’s a standing clothesline with theatrics) misses and Nick takes Okada to the floor with a tornado DDT which clearly didn’t connect.

Romero gets hung over the ropes for a swanton and More Bang For Your Buck (a quick series of dives) is broken up and Okada drops a top rope elbow on Nick. AJ’s springboard forearm (I love that move) takes Okada out again but Matt starts firing off even more superkicks, only to have Okada dropkick Styles down to break up the Clash on Romero.

All six slug it out and a triple superkick staggers Chaos. Okada again pops up and a double superkick/Pele combo and a spike piledriver into a flipping spike tombstone (the Meltzer Driver. Yes that Meltzer) puts him right back down, followed by a double superkick into a Styles Clash on Baretta for the pin at 17:25.

Rating: B. Here’s the thing: this match was not a very well done match. It was sloppy at times, the “fighting spirit” thing still comes off as a way to not have to sell, the flips are borderline meta, the move is actually called the Meltzer Driver, Kelly has to shout SUPERKICK every single time one connects, the tagging part was forgotten halfway through (and no that’s not an ROH thing. It annoys me when every company does it) and the fans cheering for the heels is always annoying because they’re cool heels instead of trying to do, like, heel stuff.

We recap the main event of Best in the World with Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe for the TV/ROH World Titles, winner take all. Both guys had been on a roll for over a year and this is the showdown of the best in Ring of Honor for both titles. This match will be clipped as well and I don’t have a full version so there will be clips listed.

ROH World Title/TV Title: Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal

They shake hands to start and we’re ready to go. The House of Truth tries some early interference and get thrown out to make this one on one. Well two on one as Truth Martini is still at ringside. Lethal drops to the floor twice in a row to start but the fans declare it awesome anyway. Well to be fair that was indeed some AWESOME walking around on the floor. A lockup doesn’t go anywhere so they trade wristlocks with both guys challenging, only to have Briscoe take over with a front facelock.

Both guys get back up and it’s time for the slugout with Briscoe being sent out to the floor. Lethal follows him out and drives Briscoe into the barricade to keep his control as we take a break. Back with Briscoe kicking Lethal in the head, only to be sent to the floor for a suicide dive. Lethal loads up another but Briscoe decks him with a hard clothesline and a big suicide dive of his own. Martini finally does something by grabbing Briscoe’s leg, allowing Lethal to stomp away some more.

We hit the chinlock for a bit before Briscoe fights back up and grabs a neckbreaker. Back from another break with the Lethal Combination getting a quick two. The Macho elbow is broken up for a bit, only to have Lethal shove Briscoe off to stop a superplex. Now the elbow gets two but a Koji Clutch is quickly broken up.

They head to the apron with Lethal hitting him low to save himself from a Jay Driller through the table. Well I’d hope he broke it up as it would have meant a bad case of death otherwise. Martini’s distraction earns himself an ejection and NOW the Jay Driller puts Lethal through the table as we take a third break.

Back with both guys inside and Briscoe running into a superkick, only to counter the Lethal Injection with a discus lariat. The fans are losing their minds over this stuff, though I’m still getting over the rolling out of the ring earlier. Lethal grabs the Injection out of nowhere for a very close two and Corino can barely keep going. With nothing else working, Lethal grabs a Jay Driller, followed by another Lethal Injection to finally become undisputed champion at 27:13.

Rating: B. The clipped version was good and I’m assuming the full version is even better. Lethal winning clean here, especially after going through the table like that, was a great way to make him look like the top guy in the promotion. Briscoe is pretty easily the most decorated name in the company’s history so having him lose a major match like this, especially going down fighting, isn’t going to cost him that much. This was good stuff all around and felt like a major showdown so well done all around.

Delirious of all people comes in to wish us Merry Christmas to wrap things up.

Overall Rating: B+. These shows are hard to screw up if they’re being put together by a competent company such as Ring of Honor. Giving us a pay per view main event nearly in full was a nice present though I’m not sure I’d call this a full on Best Of the year show as they really only touched on two things. Still though, it’s fun while it lasts and a really easy sit so well done.

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Ring of Honor
Date: June 17, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino

It’s week three of Global Wars and this show will feature the debuts of some major New Japan stars. The big story continues to be the battle of the Jays as Lethal and Briscoe get ready for their showdown at Best in the World 2015. There’s only one more week after this before we get to something fresh so let’s get to it.

We open with……the opening sequence. Makes sense.

Decade vs. War Machine

War Machine is Hanson/Ray Rowe, a pair of monsters who look like vikings with foot long beards. Decade is BJ Whitmer/Adam Page here. The fans tell Whitmer to shut up but he reminds them that the microphone is a lot louder than they are. Whitmer doesn’t think King Corino learned his lesson a few weeks back, so Colby Corino, who remember is 18 years old and might weigh 180lbs, is his replacement.

Rowe starts with Page, who immediately tags in Colby. Corino gets right in Rowe’s face and slaps him, setting up a tag to Hanson. Rowe tags out and a big side slam plants Colby down. Back to Rowe for a nice backbreaker into a gutbuster into a powerbomb on Colby. Rowe throws Colby over to Page but Page won’t tag. A belly to back suplex/guillotine legdrop finally ends Corino at 2:12. This was an angle instead of a match and I’m starting to get into this, even though I’m not entirely familiar with Corino vs. the Decade’s backstory.

Here’s Cedric Alexander, who has been on a losing streak lately after being billed as a breakout star last year. He has to start getting some wins, and he wants to start with the undefeated Moose. Here’s his chance.

Moose vs. Cedric Alexander

Moose has Stokely Hathaway and the very lovely Veda Scott. Cedric’s dropkick has little effect as the huge Moose slams him down but misses a splash. They head outside with Cedric escaping a slam and sending Moose into the post. Back in and Moose hits a nice dropkick of his own to put Alexander on the floor and us on a break. We come back with Cedric hitting a big dive to the floor, followed by a nice springboard tornado DDT for two.

That’s not cool with Moose who takes his head off with a hard clothesline, followed by some hard chops. Cedric comes right back with a bunch of dropkicks in the corner but Moose spears him down. Both guys are in trouble and Veda slips Moose a wrench. He isn’t interested in using it, so Cedric takes it away and blasts Moose in the head for the pin, giving Moose his first loss at 9:05.

Rating: D+. The match was back and forth but what in the world are they thinking with the booking? Moose is less than a week away from a #1 contenders three way on pay per view and you give him his first loss on the go home show? This is a very bad choice in booking and they really need to think these things out. I do not get this, but I’m assuming it leads to Veda leaving Moose.

Matt Sydal/ACH vs. Tetsuya Naito/Hiroshi Tanahashi

Sydal is formerly known as Evan Bourne, ACH is a high flier and Tanahashi is basically the John Cena of Japan. The Japanese guys won’t shake hands to start, in theory making them heels here, even though an ROH crowd isn’t going to boo a star like Tanahashi. Sydal and Tanahashi trade go behinds to start until Matt takes him down for a standing moonsault. A double tag brings in Naito and ACH with the fans being split. They take their time to start until Naito slugs him down in the corner to take over.

ACH avoids a clothesline and does some unnecessary flips before dropkicking Naito in the face. Tanahashi knees ACH in the back and throws him into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Tanahashi missing a middle rope swanton but still preventing a hot tag. We hit the chinlock from Naito as I’m struggling to find things to say here. There’s no real story here other than company vs. company and the announcers aren’t giving me any information about any of the four guys.

Naito sends him into the corner for a basement dropkick. ACH finally counters a hurricanrana and makes the hot tag to Sydal, who comes in to clean house. In a nice counter, Sydal loads up the standing moonsault but Tanahashi is waiting on him with a German suplex. ACH fires off a bunch of kicks to Tanahashi and a clothesline for two. A German suplex from ACH gets the same and he mocks Tanahashi’s air guitar. Tanahashi puts on his Texas cloverleaf but Naito tagged himself in. Granted the referee didn’t seem to notice, leaving ACH to have to grab a rope.

The New Japan guys break up Sydal’s Asai moonsault but ACH hits a big dive to take both of them down. Back in and ACH hits a kind of springboard downward spiral to Tanahashi, followed by Sydal’s shooting star for two. Now it’s ACH going up top for a 450 but Tanahashi seemingly got the knees up. A sling blade sets up the High Fly Flow (frog splash) to give Hiroshi the pin at 11:12.

Rating: C+. Fun match but it got a bit messy near the end. I still don’t get why they’re trying to make all the Japanese guys heels when they’re naturally faces for the most part, especially with fans like the ROH crowd. Still though, good enough match here and it got the crowd going like it was supposed to.

It’s time for the contract signing, as run by ROH match maker Nigel McGuinness. TV Champion Jay Lethal is up first with World Champion Jay Briscoe following him up. Briscoe is flanked by his brother Mark and for a pair of rednecks, I’m really not feeling shirts with Twitter handles on the front. Both guys sign up and McGuinness talks about how this is the biggest match in ROH history.

Lethal would love to flip the table and beat Briscoe down right now, but he’d rather have Briscoe at his best. Notice that Lethal repeats the date of the show instead of just saying “at Best in the World”. Briscoe promises to beat Lethal so bad that Lethal has to become Black Machismo again and those are fighting words. The belts are held up for a big jawing session to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. I’m looking forward to getting through this Global Wars stuff as it’s really taking away from the ongoing stories. Instead of a bunch of Ring of Honor stuff, we’re getting a meaningless series of matches which don’t make either promotion look better than the other. They did a good go home build to the title vs. title match though, which I liked a lot better than anything else on the series so far. Good episode, but I’m looking forward to the first regular ROH show.

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Wrestle Kingdom IX
Date: January 4, 2015
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 36,000
Commentators: Matt Striker, Jim Ross

So yet again I’ve been asked to do the biggest New Japan show of the year. I usually can’t stand doing these because I have no idea what’s going on and I really don’t care to know. However, this time the show has English commentary, which could be a solution to a lot of my problems. That being said, Matt Striker is on commentary and I don’t particularly care for him to put it mildly. Let’s get to it.

The pre-show match has Japanese commentary so I apologize for not knowing any stories that I may be missing.

Pre-Show: New Japan Rumble

As far as I can tell, it’s a fifteen man Royal Rumble with pinfall, submission or over the top eliminations and what seem to be one minute intervals. Tiger Mask is in at #1 and Yuji Nagata (remember him from WCW? There’s a good chance you slept through most of his matches) is in at #2. Tiger fires off kicks to start but Nagata bails into the corner. They go to a test of strength followed by a Nagata chinlock until Taichi, who appears to be a rock star and is flanked by lackey bandmates El Desperado and Taka Michinoku, are in all at once at #3, #4 and #5.

The match just stops as the trio gets in, as wrestling matches tend to do in this situation. Tiger Mask takes a microphone to the face and Taichi hits Nagata low for a fast three count from Taka. They can’t throw Tiger Mask over though and Jushin Thunder Liger (again, you might remember him but for much better reasons) is in at #6. The running palm strikes put everyone down and Michinoku is put in the surfboard with a dragon sleeper added for good measure. That always looked awesome.

We must have one minute intervals because Sho Tanaka is in at #7. I’m not sure why but everyone is coming in from the side of the big ramp for a reason that isn’t given. Well maybe it is but I don’t speak Japanese. Taichi is getting beaten up in the corner. Hiro Saito is in at #8 and looks to be about 172 years old. Liger charges right at him but gets caught by a slow motion spinebuster and a backsplash. No eliminations so far.

Another spinebuste and backsplash have Tiger Mask in trouble and everyone except Taichi and company pair off. Yohei Komatsu is in at #9 as Saito is getting double teamed. They really have to double team a guy that old and slow? Tanaka puts him in a chinlock as this is just a standard battle royal with no one trying eliminations. As the brawling circles around the ring, the wide shots showing how big the Tokyo Dome is really are impressive. This place is freaking huge.

Captain New Japan, a superhero/mascot character, is in at #10 and the ring is getting way too full. The Captain uppercuts everyone down and seems to be a crowd favorite. Tama Tonga (Haku/Meng’s son) is in at #11 and crawls along the mat ala Goldust, only to easily dump out Captain New Japan. Desperado hits Liger low and they head to the apron, only to have both guys get dropkicked out to the floor.

Yoshi-Hashi is in at #12 and comes out carrying a big stick, which doesn’t make it into the ring. The match slows way down again with a lot of people just standing around the ropes and now even fighting. Saito gets double teamed again as Liger and Taichi are fighting in the aisle. Manabu Nakanashi is in at #13 and takes his sweet time getting to the ring.

The ring is way too full again and Yoshiaki Fujiwara (65 years old and the inventor of the Fujiwara Armbar) is in at #14, limping out to Flight of the Valkyries. He headbutts Tiger Mask a few times and gets in a lockup with Nagata, which seems to be a big deal. A low blow and headbutt have Yuji in trouble and the 66 year old Great Kabuki rounds out the field at #15. The final grouping is Nagata, Tiger Mask, Taichi, Michinoku, Tanaka, Saito, Komatsu, Tonga, Hashi, Nakanashi, Fujiwara and Kabuki. In other words, WAY too many people.

Again, everyone stops to watch Kabuki get in, which takes far too long as he has to disrobe and play with knunchucks. Taichi and Taka go right for him with Taka taking red mist, sending him right into the Fujiwara Armbar for a submission. Everyone piles on Fujiwara for a pin as the field is getting thinned out quickly. Apparently the mist disqualified Kabuki, who probably couldn’t take a bump anyway. Taichi gets sunset flipped and jackknifed pinned by I believe Funaki and Komatsu (I lost track of who everyone was a long time ago) to get us down to eight.

Saito misses a middle rope backsplash and gets gang pinned as well. Are they really that worried about old guys sticking around? I believe Funaki and Komatsu (they’re two guys who look alike and are wearing identical black trunks) dropkick Tiger Mask out but get surrounded by Nakanashi and Nagata. Nakanashi, who looks like a gorilla, suplexes both of them down and racks Tanaka for an elimination. Tonga gets racked as well but Komatsu makes a save, allowing Tonga to small package Nakanashi for a pin. Tonga pays him back with a DDT and pin, leaving us with Hashi, Tonga and Nagata.

Tama tries a charge and gets backflipped to the floor, only to have Nagata wake up and suplex Hashi in half. Hashi comes back with a hard clothesline but Nagata hooks his kneeling armbar into a cross armbreaker, only to have Hashi get into the ropes. Back up and a bridging belly to back suplex gives Nagata the winning pin.

Rating: D+. I know New Japan is supposed to be the greatest promotion in the history of this planet and all others, but they’re not great at battle royals. That being said, this was clearly just a way to get everyone on the show, which has long since been a tradition on these major shows. However, I really don’t like the guys in their 60s being out there. I know it gives the live fans a thrill, but it looks really sad seeing these guys looking like they do and barely able to move.

We get a long, as in like nine minutes long, video recapping all of the matches. I have no idea what’s going on but it looks really cool.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Time Splitters vs. Young Bucks vs. Forever Hooligans vs. ReDRagon

This would be like Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles. The Time Splitters are Alex Shelley and Kushida, Forever Hooligans are Alex Kozlov and Rocky Romero and ReDRagon, the champions coming in (as well as the ROH Tag Team Champions), are Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. The Time Splitters are a Back to the Future inspired team, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The Bucks are Matt and Nick Jackson and they like to use superkicks. One fall to a finish here. Striker’s advise on how to learn more about these teams: use the Google. So why does he get a paycheck for this show again?

Kushida and Fish get things going with Kushida taking him down by the arm. He rides Fish into a nice technical sequence until both guys try dropkicks. For once it’s not a standoff with Kushida hitting another dropkick, allowing Shelley to tag himself in for a knee to the ribs. The Young Bucks (members of the Bullet Club. Expect to hear that name a lot tonight) come in and are easily sent back to the floor.

The Time Splitters stay on offense but Fish sends Kushida into Shelley, knocking Alex off the apron. Kozlov tags himself in for a headscissors on Fish, followed by a double stomp for two. Fish makes a quick tag to kick Kozlov in the back before it’s back to Fish for a running forearm. It’s still weird to hear the crowd go silent to the point where you can hear almost every sound the wrestlers make. The Bucks try to double team Kyle but Nick winds up kicking Max in the face by mistake. Serves them right.

Back in and Nick tells Romero to suck it, only to have Kozlov kick him in the face. Everyone gets in the ring with Romero nailing everyone with clotheslines in the corner as Striker goes on about Black Tiger. Nick knees out of a double suplex attempt but it’s Kushida coming in to knock everyone down. Max gets taken down by a DDT and Shelley drops Romero with a running knee off the apron.

Now it’s O’Reilly diving off the apron at Shelley but eating a superkick for his efforts. Romero trips up Kushida and dives at Shelley, only to have Kozlov dive on both of them. Not to be outdone, Nick kicks the Hooligans down and Max hits a big corkscrew dive onto all of them. It’s the champs’ turn now as Kushida dives on everyone at once and the Time Splitters take over.

Back inside and the Splitters start using a bunch of Motor City Machine Guns moves, including Skull and Bones but with a Kushida moonsault instead of a splash (Outta Time). Kozlov breaks up an elevated Sliced Bread #2 with a tag (why not wait until after Nick was knocked silly?) but the Bucks start busting out the superkicks.

They have to flip out a double Doomsday Device attempt (that looked awesome) and it’s time for a superkick party. Nick loads up Romero for a tombstone and Max springboard flips into….nothing as he just lands behind Romero as he lands with the, I kid you not, Meltzer Driver. See because it’s an insider name. Kushida drops the champs with a double Tajiri Elbow but takes a double superkick for his efforts.

Fish saves his partner from More Bang For Your Buck and some running knees in the corner set up something like the Demolition Decapitator’s second cousin twice removed (a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker into a middle rope knee drop) for two on Shelley. ReDRagon hits a DDT into a wheelbarrow suplex (cool) on Nick and a super falcon’s arrow sends Max flying. Romero saves Kozlov from Chasing the Dragon (brainbuster/kick to the back combo) but Kozlov takes it a few seconds later for the pin to retain.

Rating: B. This was about what I was expecting and as usual with matches like this one, there’s a firm cap on how high I can rate them. The main things holding this back are the length of the match (cut out about a minute or two and it’s a lot better) and how similar some of the guys out there look. I kept losing track of who was in the ring and who I was watching as they look so much alike and you have to see the backs of their trunks to tell them apart. Still though, really fun opener and good stuff.

So far, Striker and Ross have just been glorified background noise. Then again, it helped that I was familiar with everyone in the preious match.

Jeff Jarrett/Bad Luck Fale/Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Satoshi Kojima/Tomoaki Honma

Jarrett’s team is part of the Bullet Club, Takahashi is a turncoat and Fale (pronounced Fah-lei) is a monster. Tenzan and Kojima are a legendary tag team and Honma used to be a death match wrestler in Big Japan. Surprisingly enough it’s Ross bringing up Tenzan vs. Savage at Starrcade 1995. It’s a brawl to start the Bullet Club in early trouble. A double headbutt has Takahashi in trouble and it’s Kojima….gently tapping his chest in the corner. The idea is that they’re so fast they hurt more but I didn’t buy it with Kobashi and I don’t buy it here.

Fale runs Kojima over in the corner and it’s off to Jarrett for a Jake Roberts short arm clothesline. Some big shots from Fale set up Takahashi for some cocky kicks to the back of the head. Kojima hits a quick Diamond Cutter and makes the tag off to Honma for some clotheslines and chops. He misses a falling headbutt attempt though and walks into a fisherman’s buster for two. Apparently Honma is a guy who never quits but isn’t that bright. There’s always a role for someone like that in wrestling.

Scott D’Amore (remember him?) uses a Karen Jarrett (remember her?) distraction to send in the guitar but Jeff hits Takahashi by mistake before taking a double belly to back suplex. Fale gets clotheslined to the floor and a 3D from Tenzan and Kojima sets up a falling headbutt from Takahashi (which, according to Striker, never hits. See, THAT is why you have English commentary) for the pin.

Rating: C. Totally acceptable six man tag here which didn’t stick around long enough to overstay its welcome. Jarrett is a great addition to any company, because even though he’s 47, he looks almost exactly the same as he did back in 1999 and wrestles a very smooth style. The rest of the match was fine and the kind of match you need to let the crowd breathe a little bit during a major show.

Toru Yano/Naomichi Marufuchi/Mikey Nicholls/Shane Haste vs. Shelton X. Benjamin/Lance Archer/Davey Boy Smith Jr./Takashi Iizuka

This place loves their tag matches. Benjamin’s team is part of Suzukigun, another big heel stable led by Minoru Suzuki. On the other side, everyone but Yano is from Pro Wrestling Noah, where Marufuchi is the GHC (World Heavyweight) Champion. Nicholls and Haste are an Australian tag team known as TMDK (The Mighty Don’t Kneel. Iizuka turned on former partner Yano to set up this match. Got all that? I do, because there’s English commentary (and Wikipedia) for a change.

It’s a brawl to start with the chubby Yano getting jumped by Iizuka. That’s fine with Yano, who calmly grabs Iizuka’s beard to slow him down. Yano rips off a buckle pad (remember that they’re columns instead of individual pads) but gets blasted in the head with it for his efforts. Thankfully Striker mentions that there’s a metal bar inside, even though the whole thing bent like it was made of paper. Off to Shelton for the Dragon Whip before Archer and Smith hit a Hart Attack with Lance playing Bret. Archer misses a charge into the exposed buckle and bounces head first off the buckle.

TMDK comes in to hammer on Archer and Smith (the Killer Elite Squad), including a powerslam to Smith. Back up and Archer gives Haste one of the biggest chokeslams I’ve ever seen but doesn’t cover. Instead it’s off to Iizuka vs. Marufuchi with Marufuchi firing off a quick series of strikes, only to have Shelton run the ropes and superplex him down. Everything breaks down and Iizuka brings in a foreign (maybe it’s domestic in this case) object but Marufuchi stops him with a superkick. TMDK adds a double gorilla press sitout slam, followed by an uppercut knee from Marufuchi to pin the knocked out Iizuka.

Rating: D+. I didn’t care for this one nearly as much, even though it was shorter. The story helped, but this felt much more like setting up something for later on. TMDK was good and looked like a polished team with potential, but Marufuchi felt more like a standard Japanese guy who would get on my nerves after more than just a few minutes. Yano was overweight and that’s about all I have to say about him. Archer and Smith continue to be a team that WWE seemed to miss the boat on, but the last time I said that it resulted in Tensai.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

This is treated as a big deal and you can only win by knockout or submission. I really hope this doesn’t turn into an MMA style match. Naturally, Striker immediately starts talking about UFC and MMA which takes away a lot of my hope. Suzuki is the head of the Suzukigun (Suzuki’s Army) stable. Both guys here are over 45 as age isn’t nearly as big of a deal in Japan. Striker and Ross immediately start calling these two the most important/best MMA fighters of all time, which really means nothing to me as this is a wrestling show, but if you can say they’re the same things online, why not in a company as well?

Feeling out process to start and they head to the mat for a fast paced exchange into a standoff. Suzuki gets on his back and kicks at Sakuraba but has to escape a Sharpshooter attempt by rolling into the ropes. They stay in the ropes for the better part of ever, which makes sense given that you can’t lose by DQ. JR won’t shut up about MMA until Suzuki grabs a triangle choke around the top rope.

They tumble out to the floor and start slugging it out on the ramp as Striker finally mentions the wrestling story here: Sakuraba helped Yano after Iizuka turned on him, triggering the feud with Suzuki. Now why did I have to listen to all that MMA talk first? Sakuraba grabs a Kimura on the ramp, which Striker describes as legendary. The referee breaks the hold and sends Sakuraba back to the ring. Striker and Ross talk about the twenty count in this match not two minutes after saying the match can’t end via countout. Well to be fair it’s better than just Japanese I can’t understand.

Back in and Sakuraba fires off a bunch of kicks and Suzuki looks mildly annoyed. He’s back up at eight though so Sakuraba goes back to the kicks. Suzuki slaps him in the face a few times, probably due to bad psychology for not going after Suzuki’s bad arm. Sakuraba hooks a cross armbreaker but Suzuki gets in the ropes. Again that shouldn’t matter but it’s something you have to live with.

Suzuki takes a nine count (why it’s in English is anyone’s guess) and it’s time to no sell! You knew this was coming at some point. Even kicks to the arm have no effect because adrenaline heal potentially broken arms. Suzuki kicks him in the face, setting up a rear naked choke for the referee stoppage.

Rating: D+. Yeah whatever. I’ve never cared for this style of a match and I still can’t stand it here. I watch wrestling to see wrestling, not old guys doing MMA style stuff. I’m sure I just don’t get some cultural thing here and the Japanese fans seemed to like it but I just do not care about stuff like this. JR and Striker loved it though and it’s very annoying hearing them casually talk about wrestling and then get WAY into the MMA style match.

Never Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makabe

Never is an acronym for “New blood, Evolution, Valiantly, Eternal, Radical” and this is basically a midcard title. Makabe is insane and Ishii is a guy who wrestled forever before finally winning a title last year. Ishii is defending and comes in with a heavily taped shoulder. They go right to the short range forearms that you see in ROH and my head begins to hurt again. Ishii powerslams him down as this is already a hard hitting brawl. Chops and right hands are no sold for a bit until more chops actually put Makabe down.

Makabe says bring it on and the chops have no effect. Ishii sells some right hands and takes the ten weakest punches in the corner that I can ever remember. They slug it out again until Makabe hooks a quick northern lights suplex for two. Back up and it’s the champ’s turn to no sell forearms and Striker says this is the answer to “is pro wrestling real?” The answer to that would be no, because people don’t usually growl at you when you repeatedly hit them in the head.

Ishii powerbombs him down for two but walks into a discus lariat to change control again. A German suplex (Striker calls it a German suplex hold for some reason) gets two for Makabe so he loads up the super German, only to get knocked into a Tree of Woe. Makabe does a pretty awesome looking situp and a top rope Samoan drop (not a fireman’s carry drop Striker) is good for another two. A huge lariat only gets one for Makabe and frustration is starting to set in.

He’s so frustrated that he no sells a German suplex but gets clotheslined for two. They trade more standing clotheslines until Makabe FINALLY goes after the shoulder…..which doesn’t have much effect. A chop and seated clothesline get two for Ishii and a dragon suplex gets the same for Makabe. They trade more forearms and shout at each other in Japanese until Makabe ax handles him in the chest. About the 38^th clothesline gets two more for Makabe and a top rope knee drop of all things gives him the pin and the title.

Rating: C-. This is a hard one for me to grade as I completely get the idea behind the match but I can’t stand it. It’s cool to see people beat each other up, but that growling at each other and no selling the strikes drives me up a wall. All I ask is that you at least stagger a bit and act like it had an effect. Otherwise, it looks like a waste of time, especially when the forearms don’t look all that hard. I’ve never been a fan of this style and I don’t think I ever will be. The ending was questionable too as this needed a big spot, and the Ivan Koloff’s old finisher doesn’t quite do it.

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IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

This is basically the Cruiserweight Title and Omega, a member of Bullet Club with the Young Bucks in his corner, is challenging. Ross likens Omega to Brian Pillman as he’s a bit off kilter. Taguchi has been feuding with Bullet Club since the team’s debut, when Prince Devitt (Finn Balor, which Striker mispronounces) turned on Taguchi to found the team. They take each other up to the ropes with only Taguchi (called the Funky Weapon) offering a clean break.

They speed things up until Taguchi hits a Rear View to take over but first, a Rude hip swivel. Omega’s hurricanrana attempt is countered into an ankle lock before Omega is quickly sent to the floor. The Bucks offer a distraction and Omega blasts Taguchi in the eyes with cold spray (used to help with injuries after matches). JR: “That’s not too cool.” Striker: “No but it is too sweet.” It should be noted that Bullet Club does the Too Sweet hand sign to make it even better. Omega gets two off a running elbow in the corner. Nick Jackson: “You’re the worst referee in the business.”

Taguchi blocks a suplex attempt but Omega shows off a surprising amount of power by just muscling him up. He walks around instead of covering though and JR gets back into his old form by asking why Omega isn’t covering. Kenny misses a spinwheel kick and Nick trips Taguchi, only to have the champ sidestep a charging Omega, sending him into the Bucks. Taguchi hits a big dive of his own, making him seem more like a standard cruiserweight. Back in and Omega escapes Three Amigos before taking out Taguchi’s knee.

Kenny’s cover gets two and SWEET GOODNESS his eyes are freaky looking. They’re bugging out of his skull before he loads up a buckle bomb, only to have Taguchi hurricanrana him into the buckle for a sweet counter. Back up and Kenny dropkicks him out of the air, followed by a sweet gutwrench sitout powerbomb for another near fall. A faceplant gets the same on Kenny and it’s back to the ankle lock.

Taguchi mocks the Too Sweet sign but Kenny blocks what looked to be a torture rack attempt and hits a hard German suplex. He throws Taguchi onto his shoulders for an electric chair but drops him down into a driver (the One Winged Angel. He’s a Final Fantasy fan?) for the pin and the title.

Rating: B. This took its time but got rolling eventually. Omega certainly deserved the win here as he was blowing Taguchi out of the water for most of the match. The visuals on his face were outstanding and made the match that much better. Really fun match here with Kenny being all confident but just knocking Taguchi silly with all his his high powered offense. I had a good time with this and liked it a lot more than I was expecting to.

Tag Team Titles: Hirooki Goto/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Doc Gallows/Karl Anderson

Anderson and Gallows are defending and part of Bullet Club, meaning they’re accompanied by Tama Tonga and the Bullet Babe (Gallows’ wife, indy wrestler Amber O’Neal). Goto and Shibata beat them to win the World’s Strongest Tag League in 2014. JR compares Karl Anderson to Arn Anderson which is some of the highest praise you can get.

Goto and Anderson, former partners, start things off with a stalemate out of a quick sequence on the mat. The challengers are in trouble early as they’re sent into each other on the apron and Gallows kicks Goto’s head off for the early advantage. Back in and the champs hit a pair of splashes for two on Goto with a leg lariat getting the same for Anderson.

The monster Gallows comes in (it’s amazing how much better he is with some intensity instead of just being a standard big man) to exchange some clotheslines with Goto and the champ goes down. Off to Shibata who nails a running dropkick as everything breaks down. The champs take running dropkicks in the corner and a double belly to back suplex gets two on Gallows. Anderson comes back with a backbreaker, setting up a standing Demolition Decapitator for two on Goto.

A reverse 3D gets the same on Shibata but Goto breaks up a Tornadoplex (AJ Styles and Tomko’s old move, where Gallows loads up a spinning suplex with Anderson adding a spinning side slam) and AA’s Anderson onto his knee. Gallows chokeslams Shibata for the same but the challengers pop up to double team the monster. A bunch of kicks from Gotp set up a running kick to the chest for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad but I didn’t get a big feeling from the title change. Goto and Shibata feel like any two guys who happen to be fighting the champs. The problem here though is I’ve only been told about the history here. A video package of the champs being dominant and then losing to Shibata and Goto in the tournament final would have helped, but the talking about it is far better than nothing.

The new champs sit down in the ring to pose.

AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito

Styles is Bullet Club and Striker plays up the two broken necks from Styles Clashes. AJ goes right after him at the bell and tries the Clash but Naito sends him to the apron. They head outside with AJ moonsaulting to the floor but landing on his feet. Back in and Naito hits a top rope dropkick but AJ comes back with a Stunner on the leg to slow down the high flier. Psychology is fun.

A Robinsdale Crunch sets up an Indian deathlock as AJ keeps mixing up the offense. I love it when people avoid just doing the same moves over and over because there are so many different things you can do. Naito comes back with some right hands and a neckbreaker out of the corner. The knee gives out though and AJ hits that springboard forearm (love that move) to take over again.

AJ tries a suplex into a neckbreaker but slips up on the landing. Yes, people do botch things in New Japan too. A wicked German suplex on Naito looks to set up a faceplant but Naito rolls through for two of his own. Styles pops back up and crotches him on top but Naito backflips out of a belly to back superplex. It jams the knee again though and AJ puts on the Calf Killer (which Striker screws up by calling it the Calf Killer), eventually sending Naito diving to the ropes for the break. AJ fights out of something like a German suplex but gets caught in a dragon suplex for two.

Naito’s leg is suddenly fine so AJ Pele’s him down for a lack of selling. Sunday Bloody Sunday (a single arm implant DDT which used to be Devitt’s finishing move) looks to set up the Clash but Naito backdrops him to the floor. After a quick breather, AJ sends him into the buckle but collapses, allowing Naito to hit a slingshot dropkick. He loads up a top rope Frankensteiner but gets caught in a super Styles Clash (now with 100% less neck breaking) for the pin.

Rating: B. I liked the match and AJ’s offense made perfect sense, but having him in the finisher leg lock and then Naito hitting dropkicks and trying high risk offense made my eyes roll. What good can AJ do if Naito won’t keep selling the leg injury? They had a good story going here though and the action was good enough. Solid match and one of the better AJ matches I’ve seen in a good while. See what happens when you get away from the overrated TNA roster?

Video on Nakamura vs. Ibushi. The two fought as junior heavyweights where Ibushi won a big showdown, so tonight they’re fighting as heavyweights for Nakamura’s Intercontinental Title. This match has received rave reviews with Meltzer giving it five stars (You knew he was giving something on this show five stars) so I’m curious to see how great it is. I’ve only seen one Nakamura match and I liked it quite a bit so hopefully this lives up to that standard.

Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi

I still can’t quite describle Nakamura but he seems to be something like a Dean Ambrose who marches to his own drum. Ibushi is a very high flier who does a lot of cool looking flips. Nakamura comes to the ring in a robe and a crown to a huge reaction. He certainly has more charisma than almost anyone else tonight. I get a kind of Mick Jagger feel from him and that’s a very high compliment.

They slowly feel each other out by throwing some kicks and Nakamura drives him up against the ropes for some knees to the ribs. The champ offers him a handshake but pulls him in for a knee to the ribs, only to miss the Daniel Bryan running knee. Kota takes him down into the corner and puts his boot on Nakamura’s face, which is apparently a Nakamura signature. That would be proven correct as Nakamura does the same thing to him ten seconds later.

Another knee to the back of the head sends Ibushi to the floor as JR talks about Mr. Wrestling II. Off to a cravate from the champ and we hit the chinlock. Nakamura steps it up a bit and gets some two counts without breaking the hold. That’s a new one. Back up and Nakamura slaps him in the face over and over before they do the face to face staredown. A Backstabber puts Kota down but a hurricanrana sends Nakamura outside, setting up a huge moonsault to the floor.

Back in again and a springboard missile dropkick sends Nakamura sprawling across the ring. Nakamura backflips him to the apron, which Striker attributes to his “veteranness.” Now a normal person would just use the word “experience” there, but Striker seems to prefer to invent words that are more complicated than they need to be in an effort to sound smart. Ibushi’s second missile dropkick attempt is kicked out of the air and a front suplex sets up more knee strikes to Kota’s head.

Another running knee attempt misses and a great looking springboard hurricanrana gets two on the champ. A dragon suplex (WAY too popular of a move tonight) sets up a standing corkscrew moonsault for another near fall. Something like a Chick Kick sends Nakamura into dream land and a Last Ride sitout powerbomb (cool) gets the third straight two count. Kota misses the Phoenix Splash (moonsault into a 450) though and a big knee to the back of the head knocks him silly and both guys are down.

Back up and Nakamura stomps away but Kota just smiles at him. Kota just unloads on him with right hands and Nakamura shoves the referee down for no apparent reason. There’s a cross armbreaker on Kota but he fights up and viciously stomps Nakamura’s face to escape. A reverse T-Bone suplex sends Nakamura flying and Kota hits the champ’s running knee for two. Nakamura is all ticked off now and it turns into a slugout until Nakamura drops down so Kota can hit a standing double stomp. That was a horribly telegraphed spot.

Kota takes him over to the apron, springboards up to the top and muscles the bigger Nakamura up for a German superplex. Ok that made up for the double stomp. Freaking awesome move there. Somehow it only gets two and therefore Nakamura is going to retain. Nakamura headbutts out of something called the Phoenix suplex and elbows Kota in the head.

A middle rope knee to the back puts Kota down but it’s time for FIGHTING SPIRIT, which is Japanese for no selling. They both try knees and collide in a good spot before a fireman’s carry driver (Lucha Underground’s King Cuerno’s Thrill of the Hunt) sets up Nakamura’s running knee to retain.

Rating: A. Here’s the match where I get in trouble. I really liked this one and it’s by far the best match of the night so far, but giving this five stars is a BIG stretch. That would put this on the level of CM Punk vs. John Cena from Money in the Bank, Flair vs. Steamboat (pick one), Undertaker vs. Shawn in the Cell and Hart vs. Austin at Wrestlemania XIII? There’s no way I can see that happening, but this is Meltzer talking about Japan so you have to expect a lot of over hype.

The match itself was indeed very good though and Nakamura thankfully can do more stuff than just the knee strikes. Not a lot more mind you but at least he can mix things up. Ibushi’s strength surprised me here and he looked like someone who could succeed anywhere. Really good match here and worth checking out. It’s not as good as it’s hyped up as, but most matches rarely are.

Nakamura bows to Ibushi post match and grabs the mic to say……I have no idea actually. Striker offers some websites to find out the translation, because the idea of having a translator there on sight is too complicated I guess.

We recap Tanahashi vs. Okada, which is the NJPW equivalent of Rock vs. Austin. They’ve fought time after time now and traded the title for years. Tanahashi is the old guard and Okada wants to be the new top guy.

IWGP World Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

Tanahashi is defending. Okada, 27 here and known as the Rain Maker, has an entrance video of gold coins falling for a nice touch. He also has Gedo, one of NJPW’s bookers and a famous tag wrestler, in his corner. Tanahashi, basically a superhero, plays air guitar on the way to the ring. They lock up after a minute of circling each other until they trade wristlocks. Tanahashi takes him down into a headlock but Okada reverses into one of his own. The champ tries another headlock but gets countered into a headscissors for a stalemate. They’re going for the big match feel here and they’re off to a good start.

They head into the corner and Okada nails him in the face, causing Tanahashi to go straight at him with forearms. He heads to the middle rope though and a hard running elbow knocks him down to the floor. A big boot knocks him over the barricade and an Orton DDT brings him back to the floor. They fight up the ramp where Tanahashi has to block a tombstone attempt. Instead it’s a jawbreaker to stagger Okada but he comes back with something like a Roode Bomb. JR brings up that Tanahashi has a bad back and neck, which is exactly the reason they brought him in.

Back in and Okada elbows him in the jaw but misses a backsplash. A middle rope Swanton gets two for the champ but he gets caught in a majistral cradle into a choke. Again, staying on the neck. A slingshot hilo gets two for Okada and things slow back down. They slug it out with Okada getting the better of it until they grab each other by the hair. The champ heads to the top but has to elbow out of what looks like a Samoan drop, setting up the High Fly Flow (Five Star Frog Splash) but Okada rolls away.

Something like White Noise onto the knee gets two for Okada but the Rain Maker (the move, not the person. It’s a wristlock into a big clothesline, which has been named Best Wrestling Move two years in a row in the Observer. For the life of me I don’t understand the huge appeal. It’s just a clothesline) is countered into a rollup for two. A dragon screw leg whip takes Okada down again and Tanahashi dropkicks the knee out to send Okada outside.

This time it’s Okada being sent over the barricade and getting taken down by a huge cross body. Striker: “Dare I say a Wrestle Kingdom moment???” JR’s silence is glorious. Back in and Tanahashi teases a Rain Maker but takes him down with a Sling Blade (spinning clothesline neckbreaker), only to have Okada pop up and try a tombstone, but Tanahashi reverses into one of his own. High Fly Flow hits Okada’s back and a second hits the chest for a very close two. The camera goes over to a shot of the title in a very nice touch.

Okada kicks away from an attempted Texas Cloverleaf but gets caught in another Sling Blade. Tanahashi mocks the Rain Maker post but walks into the real thing for two, which is the first time he has ever kicked out of it. They slug it out from their knees until Tanahashi reverses a tombstone into a rollup for two. A big slap staggers Okada but he grabs a backslide of all things for two, only to get caught in a German suplex for two.

Okada hits an even bigger bridging German for two more. The Rain Maker is countered into a dragon suplex for two and a big old dropkick catches Tanahashi in the jaw. JR is in full on main event mode here and it’s really working. Tanahashi twists the knee around two more times with Okada in the ropes, setting up the High Fly Flow for no cover. Instead he cranks on the knee even more, setting up a High Fly Flow to a seated Okada, followed by a fifth High Fly Flow to retain the title.

Rating: A-. So when Tanahashi does it it’s a classic but when Cena does it, he’s repetitive and only knows a few moves? I really don’t care for the repetition of a move to get a pin but it’s how main events work today. The knee work didn’t really go anywhere here and Tanahashi never even hooked the Texas Cloverleaf.

I need to get on something more positive here because it sounds like I hated this match. It’s the same rating I gave to them at this show two years ago and it’s about the same level as the previous one. This was a good, back and forth fight with both guys looking like big stars. I wouldn’t call this a classic, but it was certainly worthy of ending the biggest show of the year. They hit a point near the end with the suplexes that got me far more into things and kicking out of the Rain Maker was a nice touch.

Post match Okada leaves but Tanahashi gets on the mic to shout at him. I’m not sure what he’s saying but it doesn’t seem to be angry or mean. With Okada gone, Tanahashi seems to thank the fans but they won’t let him leave. He gives us some air guitar and collapses in a nice bit. We get a quick translation of his comments to Okada: Okada is a long way from being the ace and Tanahashi is proud of his performance. That’s kind of a heelish comment no? He takes a few more minutes to leave and we’re out of here.

Overall Rating: A. As usual, I liked the show but I have no desire to keep watching it full time. There are some very good and entertaining matches on the show and the wrestling is more than good enough to warrant sitting through this once. The worst match for me was the Suzuki match but that’s much more due to me not being a fan of the style than anything else. It’s definitely an excellent show and lived up to (most of) the hype it had. There are a lot of people I’d keep watching on here and that’s not something I often say.

Striker and Ross were fine on commentary though nothing outstanding. They were definitely a positive for the show and experience as a whole as the Japanese commentary can get annoying in a hurry since it’s just gibberish to me most of the time. Striker had some annoying moments but he was FAR better here than he usually is in Lucha Underground. Ross sounded like an old, grizzled veteran but he got into the main event, which is all you really could ask from him at this point. They could have been better, but they were a very welcome addition.

Overall I did like the show and I can see why its fans are so passionate about this company, but it’s just not something I care about enough to keep watching. For the most part I have no reason to care about most of these characters because I don’t follow them enough. The strong style still gets on my nerves and I can’t imagine ever becoming a fan of it. I like my wrestling more character based than in ring based and that’s really hard to do here when I can’t understand what’s being said most of the time.

One last thing: cutting this down to under four hours is a GREAT move. I remember one of these breaking five hours and it felt like a nightmare slogging through the whole thing. Three hours and forty five minutes (not counting the pre-show match) is acceptable for the biggest show of the year and the show never felt like it was dragging. Really good show though and worth checking out if you have the time.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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