Forbidden Door 2024
Date: June 30, 2024
Location: UBS Arena, Elmont, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness, Taz

It’s back to the pay per view schedule with one of the biggest shows AEW presents every year. This is built around the international guest stars, including several stars from New Japan and CMLL. The main event will see Swerve Strickland defending the World Title against Will Ospreay in a pretty big showdown. Let’s get to it.

Zero Hour: Kyle Fletcher vs. Serpentico

Bonus match (on a card that already has 14 matches). Fletcher runs him over to start and poses a bit before going after the mask. The comeback is cut off with another kick to the face, followed by a running kick to the back. The piledriver plants Serpentico but Fletcher would rather put him on the ropes. An El Generico brainbuster in the corner finishes for Fletcher at 3:12.

Rating: C-. Total squash as I guess Fletcher gets some heat back after losing the ROH TV Title in Mexico on Friday. The match was nothing to see as Serpentico gets wrecked again, but it also didn’t make me any more interested in Fletcher. He does well enough in the ring, but there is little about him that stands out in any significant way.

Zero Hour: Private Party vs. House Of Black vs. Tomohiro Ishii/Kyle O’Reilly vs. Gabe Kidd/Roderick Strong

O’Reilly and Black go to the mat to start before trading shots to the ribs. Ishii comes back in to a nice reaction and gets to chop it out with King. Kidd tags himself in and Strong adds a running shot to the face. Quen tags himself in as the rapid fire tags continue, only to be sent outside. Kidd comes back in to chop away (and bark) at O’Reilly, who gets caught in the corner for an exchange of chops from Kidd and Strong.

The team argues over who gets to chop him so it’s off to Ishii for a double clothesline. The House kicks Ishii down before everything breaks down. Quen hits a Trouble In Paradise on Black, who is back with a jumping knee to the face. Kidd brainbusters Ishii but gets chopped by King. Private Party hit stereo running flip dives before Kassidy rolls King up, with tights, for two, only to get Ganso Bombed for the pin at 8:35.

Rating: B-. This was the wild match that you would have been expecting and that’s not a bad thing. There is something to be said about getting a bunch of people in the ring and letting them fly all over the place to go nuts, which is what we got here. Good choice to fire the fans up, as this kind of thing almost always tends to be. The House winning is the right choice too as they’re the bigger of the two regular AEW teams.

Zero Hour: Willow Nightingale/Tam Nakano vs. Momo Watanabe/Kris Statlander

Stokely Hathaway is here with Watanabe and Statlander. Nakano takes Statlander down to start and hits a quick dropkick before it’s off to Nightingale. That means Statlander runs off to Watanabe, who is quickly dropkicked down for two. Watanabe and Nakano slug it out until Nakano hits a heck of a superkick. A Hathaway distraction slows things down though and Statlander gets in a belly to back suplex.

Statlander’s delayed vertical suplex gets two and Watanabe hits a hard shot to the back of the head. Nakano finally manages a quick shot and brings Nightingale back in to beat up Statlander. That lasts for all of ten seconds before the threat of the Pounce means it’s back to Watanabe. A hard spinebuster gives Nightingale two but Statlander offers a distraction, allowing Watanabe to get in a kick to the head.

Nightingale is back up with a dropkick, only for Nakano to miss a high crossbody. Nakano’s German suplex gets two on Statlander and a tiger suplex plants her again. That leaves Nightingale to hit a super Death Valley Driver for two on Watanabe, followed by a heck of a Pounce. Nakano comes back in and grabs a bridging German suplex to pin Watanabe at 10:23.

Rating: B-. Another good one here, though a middle rope Death Valley Driver not being the finish is a bit ridiculous, especially when the finish came a minute later. Either way, this was more about teasing Statlander vs. Nightingale, which does feel like a personal feud and a big rivalry. Throw in the fans loving Nightingale and things are even bigger.

Zero Hour: Women’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Mariah May vs. Saraya

Toni Storm and Harley Cameron are here too. May sends her into the corner to start and hits some running uppercuts, setting up a rather spinning side slam for two. A Stratusphere plants Saraya again and a missile dropkick gets two more. The hip attack takes too long though and they fight up to the top. May gets sent crashing out to the floor, leaving Saraya to do some jumping jacks until she gets back in.

A double knockdown gives them a breather and they slug it out from their knees. May sends her into the corner for the running hip attack but Storm has to cut off Cameron. Saraya’s superkick into the Rampaige gets two but the Scorpion Crosslock is broken up. Instead Saraya rams her face first into the mat over and over but a suplex is countered into a bridging rollup to give May the pin at 8:28.

Rating: C+. That was the only way this should have gone as May winning the whole tournament to set up a title match against Storm at All In is not the worst idea. At the same time, May gets a nice boost here and beats another former champion in Saraya. Good enough match here, though I’m not sure why it needed to be on this show.

Zero Hour: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Mistico/Lucha Bros

Fenix and Titan start things off with Fenix knocking him down and springboarding around, setting up a double flip into a standoff. The fans greatly approve as it’s off to Penta vs. Tsuji, with the latter blocking Cero Miedo. Penta isn’t having that and sends him into the corner for the running dropkick, only to be stomped face first onto the mat. Back up and they chop it out before trading shots to the face.

The Fear Factor is broken up so Penta kicks him to the floor instead. It’s off to Mistico to face Takahashi and the fans greatly approve again. An early mask tear attempt is blocked so Mistico sends him outside instead. Tsuji and Titan come in to stomp away but Mistico breaks that up and hits a dive onto Takahashi. Back in and the Bros strike away, setting up Mistico’s Swanton for two on Takahashi. Titan and Tsuji send the Bros outside for dives, followed by a running sunset bomb from Takahashi to send Mistico onto the floor.

Back in and Mistico fights off all three of them at once, allowing the tag back to Penta. Everything breaks down and Fenix’s assisted splash off of Penta’s shoulders gets two on Titan. We hit the parade of big knockdowns until Titan tornado DDT’s Fenix into a superkick for the six way knockdown. Mistico hits the big dive to the floor and the spike Fear Factor hits Takahashi, who rolls out to the floor. Back in and La Mistica finishes Titan at 12:05.

Rating: B. I’m not sure why this wasn’t on the main show, or maybe just make this the only Kickoff Show match. It had the action, but having Mistico, a CMLL star, and the Lucha Bros, best known as AAA guys, on the same show is a big deal that you do not see very often. Almost like it would be….forbidden.

The opening video looks at the major matches and how big this night really is.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Hechicero

MJF is of course the big hometown boy and gets a hero’s welcome, even doing a bit of crowd surfing. Hechicero takes him to the mat to start for a quickly broken cross armbreaker. Back up and MJF shakes his hand, which allows for a kick to the ribs and a “yeah of course I did” shrug.

MJF flips (yes flips) away into a double eye poke ala Roddy Piper. They head outside with MJF setting him in a chair and hitting a running boot to the face. Back in and Hechicero snaps the arm across the top rope to take over and we hit the armbar. MJF fights up but the Heatseeker is blocked, allowing Hechicero to plant him down for two. A running knee in the corner connects for Hechicero and the fans are NOT happy.

MJF manages a quick clothesline before spinning around into a piledriver for a needed breather. Hechicero is right back up with a springboard spinning dropkick before grabbing the cross armbreaker. That’s broken up as well so MJF tries the Salt Of The Earth, which is reversed into a double arm crank with Hechicero’s legs. The ropes are reached for the break so MJF hammers away in the corner and even bites the mask. A Canadian Destroyer into the brainbuster gives MJF the pin at 9:48.

Rating: B-. The match could have been worse, but it still feels like quite the waste of MJF in a spot where he could have been doing something more important. At the same time, it made Hechicero look great all over again, as he has more than enough talent to be a star anywhere. That kind of thing will always work, though I’m not sure if it was the best idea in this spot.

We get a rather praise-heavy Young Bucks video (with Kenny Omega’s face blurred in a nice touch) which mocks the Acclaimed and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Elite vs. Acclaimed/Hiroshi Tanahashi

Caster’s rap mocks President Biden at the debate and Okada’s use of the word b****. Okada and Caster start things off but Okada decks Tanahashi off the apron, meaning it’s time for a historic standoff. Instead of doing anything though, it’s off to Matt, who gets taken down with a middle rope crossbody into some air guitar. Bowens comes in to take Matt into the corner, where some running elbows put him in even more trouble. Nick is brought in and it’s a double Scissor Me Timbers for a nasty crash.

Back up and Okada gets in a cheap shot to take over on Caster, with Matt putting on the headphones so Okada can dance. Caster gets caught in a camel clutch so Nick can run the ropes and then kiss his brother on the cheek. The slow beating continues in the corner as we get a few CM PUNK chants. That turns into a HE GOT FIRED chant as Caster knocks Matt off the top and hits a high crossbody.

Okada comes in and gets dropped as well, allowing the tag off to Bowens for the house cleaning. Okada gets dropped with a right hand and a spinning torture rack slam gets two on Matt. Bowens is taken down as well though and it’s a double tag to bring in Okada and Tanahashi. The dragon screw legwhip sets up the Texas Cloverleaf on Okada but the Bucks make the save.

Everything breaks down and the Rainmaker is countered into the Arrival into the Mic Drop. The High Fly Flow is broken up though and the rather delayed version hits raised knees. A superkick puts Tanahashi down again and the Bucks hit stereo slingshot dives to take the Acclaimed down on the floor. Okada hits his top rope elbow but the Rainmaker is countered into a small package for two. Back up and the Rainmaker finishes Tanahashi at 13:02.

Rating: C+. Tanahashi was trying here but those knees are just not holding him up any longer. Other than that, it was about what you would expect with the Bucks and the Acclaimed, which was only going to go so far. We still have the title match to come between the teams and that probably should have been here, but instead we get this feud extended even further.

We recap Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi

McGuinness is already on Danielson, as you knew he would be. Danielson goes after the arm to start before tying up Takagi’s leg. That’s broken up in the ropes so Danielson takes him down again and grabs a surfboard. As usual, that doesn’t last long and it’s Takagi dropping him down hard. A backsplash gives Takagi two as McGuinness compares Danielson to Mozart and Napoleon, both of whom were FAR more successful.

Danielson gets knocked out of the corner but manages to send Takagi outside. The suicide dive doesn’t quite work though and Takagi catches him with a hanging fisherman’s neckbreaker,. Danielson lands on his head, because Danielson, and we pause for the medics to check on him. Thankfully he gets back up and beats the count back in, where Takagi drops a knee to the back of the head. Danielson fights up and they trade shots to the face until Takagi hits a clothesline.

Another kick to the head gives Danielson a breather and he goes up top. Takagi is right there with him, so Danielson grabs a belly to back superplex for the big double knockdown. Danielson’s triangle choke is muscled up into a powerslam and they’re both down again. Back up and Takagi superplexes him into a heck of a sliding lariat for two.

Made In Japan is broken up but Danielson misses a charge into the corner. Now Made In Japan can connect for two more, with McGuinness being left speechless. Danielson can barely get up so Takagi hits a running shot to the side of the head. Another sliding lariat is loaded up but Danielson reverses into a Fujiwara armbar.

That’s switched into the LeBell Lock but Takagi slips out. A reverse fisherman’s suplex puts Takagi down and the running knee gives Danielson two. Danielson stomps away at the head and grabs a triangle choke but Takagi powers up. That doesn’t work though as Danielson pulls him into a Disarm-Her for the referee stoppage at 19:58.

Rating: B+. These guys beat the fire out of each other and it’s another awesome Danielson match. At some point he needs to win a few of these things and this was a goo example of how to make it work. Rather awesome match here and Danielson gets to move on towards what could be a rather deep run in the whole thing.

We recap Toni Storm defending the Women’s Title against Mina Shirakawa. The bigger story though is the battle over Mariah May, as both of them want her too.

Women’s Title: Mina Shirakawa vs. Toni Storm

Storm is defending and Mariah May is in a neutral corner. As you might expect, Storm is dressed as the Statue Of Liberty. May refuses to pick before the match so they circle each other instead. Shirakawa stops to dance and gets a hip attack to the face for her efforts. That just earns her more dancing before Shirakawa drops Storm knees first onto the mat. The Figure Four around the post goes on and McGuinness thinks May needs a hug. Back in and a dropkick to the leg keeps Storm in trouble but she’s back with a fisherman’s suplex for two.

There’s the running hip attack to put Shirakawa on the floor but another one only hits the steps. Shirakawa uses the breather to hit a big dive, only to have Storm catch her with a super chokebomb back inside. Storm misses a charge though and Shirakawa grabs the Figure Four to stay on the bad leg. They sit up and slap it out until Storm manages to escape.

Back up and they slug it out with Shirakawa getting the better of things and going up top. Storm is right there for another forearm off until Shirakawa hits a super DDT for two more. Shirakawa’s Glamorous Driver is broken up and Storm snaps off a release German suplex. Another hip attack gives Storm another two but Shirakawa is right back with the Glamorous Driver for her own near fall. Storm gets in a quick rollup for two, followed by Storm Zero to retain at 11:38.

Rating: B. Storm continues to feel it in these big pay per view matches, but May was more or less just window dressing. That’s normally a good thing, but she’s the entire point of the story in the first place. The match was good, though it was hard to believe that Shirakawa was going to be the one to end Storm’s reign.

Post match Storm and May look at each other and Shirakawa wants a handshake. Respect is shown and we get the big hug and we get the three way kiss. So May’s choice of a side was to not pick a side. Got it.

We recap Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Orange Cassidy.  Sabre isn’t over Cassidy pinning him last year and Cassidy is having a rough time but is ready to fight again.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Orange Cassidy

They go technical to start with Cassidy not being able to get very far with some arm cranking. Instead Cassidy bails out to the floor for a breather before rolling back inside, with Sabre holding the ropes open. Back in and they fight over a cross arm choke until Cassidy ties him up on the mat.

That’s broken up as well so they trade rollups for two each. Sabre ties him up in a headscissors but Cassidy makes it over to the ropes rather quickly. Sabre does his own slow kicks but Cassidy takes out the knee to put him down for a change. Cassidy twists on the leg outside and again inside, setting up a top rope DDT for a rather near fall.

Sabre is right back with a kick to the arm and some finger snapping to put Cassidy down. The double arm crank goes on but Cassidy escapes and goes back to the leg. The Texas Cloverleaf is broken up so Cassidy hits the Beach Break for two instead. Back up and the Orange Punch is blocked so Sabre pulls him back into the European Clutch for two. Cassidy tries the Mouse Trap but Sabre reverses into a….well he tied up all four of Cassidy’s limbs at the same time with Cassidy having to give up at 16:20.

Rating: B. I’m still not sure I get why Cassidy was so upset coming into this one but he was holding his own out there well enough, only to get tied up by Sabre. It was a good back and forth match, with Sabre being able to do things in there that no one else can make work. Cassidy needs something new though, and I’m not sure what that is going to be coming off this loss.

Post match Sabre actually gives him the sunglasses back.

We recap the Learning Tree vs. Samoa Joe and company. Joe and company are sick of Chris Jericho and want a fight, with Jericho bringing in Jeff Cobb to replace the injured Bryan Keith.

Learning Tree/Jeff Cobb vs. Samoa Joe/Hook/Katsuyori Shibata

Jericho is sure the fans don’t really want him to retire as he starts with Shibata. Before that goes anywhere though, it’s already off to Bill to face Shibata instead (third time tonight we’ve seen the “heel tags out instead of fighting” sequence). Chopping ensues with neither being able to get the better of things so it’s off to Cobb vs. Joe for the hoss showdown.

Cobb takes over by powering Joe into the corner and Jericho comes in to rake the eyes. Cobb comes back in and Joe gets the better of things for a change, allowing the tag off to Hook. Jericho chokes him on the ropes to cut him off and Cobb adds a standing moonsault. Hook manages to fight back and brings Shibata back in, with the good guys taking over on Cobb in the corner.

Jericho comes back in to take over on Shibata as everything breaks down. Shibata gets posted and Hook goes up top for an ax handle to Bill. The referee gets distracted though and Jericho hits Shibata low, setting up the Walls. That’s broken up so Cobb comes back in for the Tour of the Islands, only to have Hook t-bone him. The Codebreaker gives Jericho two on Hook but Hook comes back up with his own Judas Effect for the pin at 13:38.

Rating: C+. Hook gets a nice rub off the ending but this was the least interesting match n the card and the match didn’t make things much better. While the ending would suggest something of a downgrade for Jericho and the Learning Tree, that doesn’t seem to be the most likely outcome. Perfectly fine match, but it could have been on any AEW TV show instead.

TNT Title: Jack Perry vs. Dante Martin vs. El Phantasmo vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Lio Rush vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Ladder match for the vacant title. Takeshita drops Perry to start and everyone else goes after ladders. With that not working, the fight heads outside instead with Briscoe grabbing various toys. Perry goes up a ladder but Rush makes the fast save. A ladder is thrown outside and almost hits Briscoe, leaving Rush to go up the ladder for a change. Phantasmo goes up but Martin makes the save and climbs as well.

That’s broken up but Martin dives onto Phantasm on the way down. Back up and Takeshita brainbusters Martin onto the side of the ladder, only for Briscoe to come in with the ladder around the neck. Briscoe grabs a chair and hits a step up flip dive onto a ladder onto Takeshita on the floor for the big crash. Perry goes up but Phantasmo walks across a bridged ladder to cut him off on top.

Martin gets taken down and bangs up his leg, leaving Perry to set up a table. Briscoe and Takeshita brawl on the floor until Rush dives onto the latter. That leaves Briscoe to go up a ladder for a splash but he lands on his feet, instead hitting a forearm on Perry on the table, which doesn’t break (similar to how Adam Copeland broke his leg).

Back in and Takeshita powerbombs Rush onto a ladder before pulling Phantasmo into a knee to the face. One heck of a Blue Thunder Bomb puts Phantasmo through the tables but Briscoe cuts off the climb attempt. Briscoe plants Takeshita onto the ladder and goes up, only to have Perry breaks up Briscoe’s climb. Perry beats on Briscoe with the chair and then wins the title at 16:48.

Rating: B-. That was a ladder match alright. Looked like it had about six people, some ladders, a chair and some tables too. There really isn’t much else to say about this, as it featured pretty much exactly what you would expect and had the most likely winner getting the title in the end. That’s pretty much exactly what was expected the second the match was announced and while it was ok enough, it was hardly thrilling.

We recap Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer, which is winner take all for the TBS Title and the New Japan Strong Women’s Title respectfully.

TBS Title/NJPW Strong Women’s Title: Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer

Title for title. We get the referee’s instructions and Vaquer headbutts her to start. They trade rollups for two each until Vaquer grabs a wristlock and hits a very springboardy wristdrag. Mone gets in a quick breather and hits a Meteora for two. Vaquer is right back up with a shot of her own but Mone grabs Two Amigos, with Vaquer countering the third. Vaquer starts in on the leg and ties her legs around Mone’s head for some rams into the mat to wake the crowd up.

Mone fights up again and knocks her into the corner for the running knees and a springboard DDT gets two. The Mone Maker is countered into a DDT from Vaquer and she drops a leg for two more. Another shot from Mone leaves them both down so it’s a double nip up for the forearm exchange. Vaquer grabs a crossface but Mone reverses into a Bank Statement. That’s broken up as well, with the fans mostly cheering for Vaquer now.

Some knees to the ribs put Mone down but Vaquer can’t follow up. The fans give us a F*** THE CELTICS (as in Mone’s hometown team) chant as Mone goes up, only to dive into raised boots. Vaquer dragon screws her into the corner as the fans move on to the Red Sox. Mone’s crossface is countered, as is the Mone Maker, only to Mone pull her into the crossface for the tap at 16:47.

Rating: B-. This is where the Forbidden Door concept stops working for me. The action was fine enough, but it was really hard to get interested in a match between Mone, who has only wrestled here a handful of times, and Vaquer, who has had one short match in the promotion. It didn’t feel like a feud or a rivalry, but rather two people who don’t have a history around here having a match. It was good, but I had no attachment to either of them and it kept me from getting into this one.

Post match Mone celebrates….and Britt Baker returns to a hero’s welcome.

We recap Jon Moxley defending the IWGP World Title against Tetsuya Naito. Moxley took the title from him a few months ago and it’s time for the rematch.

Jim Ross is back for the last two matches.

IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is defending. They slug it out to start with Moxley going after the knee to take Naito into the corner. Some corner clotheslines have Naito in more trouble and they head outside with Moxley dropping him onto the announcers’ table. Back in and Naito spits in his face so Moxley slaps him down for two. A piledriver gives Moxley two more and he puts Naito on top for a rake to the back.

Naito slips between the legs though and shoves Moxley down to the floor for the big crash. They go outside with Naito grabbing a piece of the barricade to beat on Moxley, sending JR into a hilarious frenzy about that not being tranquilo. Back in and Naito has to fight out of a Figure Four, turning it into a small package for two. Moxley’s Death Rider attempt is countered into a springboard tornado DDT for two more and they’re both down.

Moxley gets up and tries a sleeper, only to be reversed into Destino for…no cover, as Naito tries it again but gets reversed into a Death Rider. They slug it out again until Moxley hits a heck of a lariat into the Death Rider for two. With nothing else working, Moxley grabs a chair, which is quickly taken away by the referee. Destino and the Death Rider are both blocked, only for Destino to to give Naito the pin and the title back at 16:41.

Rating: B-. Much like the previous match, this was a feud that has been taking place elsewhere and the match was only taking place here because it had to. Naito getting the title match is a good thing, if nothing else to get it away from AEW, which doesn’t need another title floating around. The match was good and it feels like a big deal when Moxley loses in AEW, but it wasn’t overly interesting.

We recap the AEW World Title with Swerve Strickland defending against Will Ospreay. Strickland is the reigning champion but Ospreay is the hot new star so it might be time for a changing of the guard.

AEW World Title: Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay

Ospreay is challenging and his International Title isn’t on the line. They fight over a lockup to start before both of them flip out of hurricanrana attempts. Missed kicks to the head leave us with a standoff and the fans are WAY into this. Swerve kicks away but Ospreay chops him into the corner to cut that off. They head outside with Ospreay striking away, only to get caught with the middle rope elbow to the back of the head back inside. Swerve slows things down and chops away as Prince Nana is a bit worried.

They go outside again and Swerve loads up something on the barricade, only to be hurricanranaed back down. Back in and Swerve manages a short armscissors but Ospreay slips out. Swerve hammers away but Ospreay gets up and they forearm it out. The Hidden Blade and House Call both miss, with Ospreay grabbing a Styles Clash for two. The Oscutter is countered into the Swerve Stomp as we cut to Daniel Garcia watching in a sky box.

They go up top again with Strickland grabbing something like a super Angle Slam for the big crash and a near fall. Swerve takes it to the apron, where the Oscutter misses, sending Ospreay crashing onto the apron. The Swerve Stomp is loaded up but Ospreay rolls away before it can launch, leaving Swerve to hit the Stomp onto a standing Ospreay against (not through) the announcers’ table.

A piledriver onto the barricade (geez) rocks Ospreay again and the JML Driver gets two back inside. Another Swerve Stomp takes too long and Swerve gets crotched, setting up a springboard Oscutter for a very near fall. The Hidden Blade is blocked and the Oscutter is as well, leaving Swerve to go after the arm. That’s broken up and now the Oscutter connects, setting up the Storm Breaker for two. Ospreay scores with a headbutt but the Tiger Driver 91 is countered into a cradle to give Swerve two of his own.

The Hidden Blade connects for Swerve but he misses a Swerve Stomp. The referee gets hit by another Hidden Blade, followed by another to Swerve….and Don Callis is here. Nana won’t let Callis use a screwdriver so Ospreay goes after him, only to let him go. Back in and the House Call into the Swerve Stomp gets two more with a second referee. Swerve snaps the arm and another House Call (that looked great) gets a VERY near fall. Another House Call sets up a JML Driver to retain the title at 27:04.

Rating: A-. This was pretty easily the best match on the show and I might even be underrating a bit. They beat the living daylights out of each other but took their time to get there, with Swerve getting to show just how awesome he can be. Swerve needed a big win like this and even Callis being around didn’t bring it down. Awesome stuff here and a heck of a main event.

Medics check on Ospreay and Swerve shows respect to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The main event pulled it up a lot and there is nothing really bad on the show, but this is absolutely not my show and it never has been. The amount of matches and the parade of guest stars isn’t something that draws me in, as it feels more like Tony Khan getting to run loose in a candy store and do a show he finds fun rather than something for everyone else. As usual, the wrestling is more than good enough to hold up, but you could pretty easily chop off almost all of the pre-show and not lose anything.

Results
Kyle Fletcher b. Serpentico – Brainbuster onto the turnbuckle
House Of Black b. Tomohiro Ishii/Kyle O’Reilly, Gabe Kidd/Roderick Strong and Private Party – Ganso Bomb to Kassidy
Willow Nightingale/Tam Nakano b. Momo Watanabe/Kris Statlander – Bridging German suplex to Watanabe
Mariah May b. Saraya – Bridging German suplex
Lucha Bros/Mistico b. Los Ingobernables de Japon – La Mistica to Titan
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Hechicero – Brainbuster
Elite b. Acclaimed/Hiroshi Tanahashi – Rainmaker to Tanahashi
Bryan Danielson b. Shingo Takagi via referee stoppage
Toni Storm b. Mina Shirakawa – Storm Zero
Zack Sabre Jr. b. Orange Cassidy – Arm and leg crank
Hook/Samoa Joe/Katsuyori Shibata b. Learning Tree/Jeff Cobb – Judas Effect to Jericho
Jack Perry won the TNT Title Ladder Match
Mercedes Mone b. Stephanie Vaquer – Bank Statement
Tetsuya Naito b. Jon Moxley – Destino
Swerve Strickland b. Will Ospreay – JML Driver

 

 

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It’s that time again as we have the show built around the idea of gust stars from a variety of other promotions. You get to wrestlers from around the world coming in to compete against the stars of AEW, which can make for some rather interesting situations. The buildup to the show is not often the strongest but you can see one heck of a night of action. That should be the case again so let’s get to it.

Zero Hour: Kris Statlander/Momo Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale/Tam Nakano

This, along with the other two Zero Hour matches, were not important enough to be announced on Dynamite but rather a few hours later on Twitter. I’m not sure I get the thinking, but it isn’t exactly making me interested in what we’ll be seeing here. In this case, Statlander vs. Nightingale is the big draw, as they are already set to face off in the Women’s Owen Hart Tournament.

I’ll go with Statlander and Watanabe winning here to give a bit of doubt about Nightingale being able to make it to the finals of the tournament. That should make for a good match here, but Watanabe and Nakano are people who have not been around AEW very much over the years. That doesn’t exactly make for a big time match, but that is kind of the point in having the match on the Zero Hour show.

Zero Hour: Women’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Mariah May vs. Saraya

It’s a little weird to have May on the show when she already has a major role in another, bigger match on the card. For now though, we could be in for a nice match as either of them going forward could be an interesting way to go. Both of them could make for an a solid choice for the next round, though there is some logic that comes into play here which should determine the winner.

At the end of the day, May being involved in the Toni Storm vs. Mina Shirakawa match is a lot more important and there is pretty much no reason for her to go into that spot as a loser. May going over here makes a lot more sense and while there is something to the idea of Saraya going on towards a title shot in London, it isn’t the best option that they have available here.

Zero Hour: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Mistico/Lucha Bros

The big draw here is that Mistico and the Bros have never teamed together before. That isn’t the biggest draw in the world but it is certainly a cool enough moment and better than nothing. In other words, this feels like an excuse to get Mistico onto the show and that is not a bad idea. The match itself is only so important here, but that is often the case on Zero Hour.

There is pretty much no reason for Mistico and the Bros to lose here as Mistico can do his stuff and pop the crowd. There are some talented people in Los Ingobernables but it feels like they are here for the sake of making Mistico look that much bigger. It’s not a bad idea either, so hopefully they at least have an entertaining match on the way to the main show proper.

Zero Hour: House Of Black vs. Tomohiro Ishii/Kyle O’Reilly vs. Gabriel Kidd/Roderick Strong vs. Private Party

Yes there is a fourth match on this show, which was added during this week’s Collision. This feels like little more than a way to get a bunch more people onto the card, which is often not the most thrilling way to go. In this case we do have some big names who probably should have been on the show, but that doesn’t exactly make for the most exciting match possible.

I’ll take the House Of Black here, as they’re the biggest of the two regular teams (at least in AEW) and it makes the most sense to give them the win. This is going to be the insane match with everyone going nuts all over the place and trying to get in as much as they can, which isn’t going to be easy given how many people are involved. Odds are it should be fun though and that’s what you want out of a match like this one.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Orange Cassidy

We’ll start the main card here as Sabre wants revenge on Cassidy for beating him at last year’s show in a four way match. The other idea is that Cassidy isn’t good enough to beat Sabre on his own and is going to need some kind of special trick to pull it off. I’m not sure what that is going to be, but then again that’s kinds of the point of watching the match in the first place.

As much as I want to take Sabre here, it feels like a situation where Cassidy is coming in as the huge underdog but manages to pull it off somehow anyway, as tends to be his custom. It might not be the most thrilling way to go but that has never really stopped AEW with Cassidy before. It’s always fun to see whatever Sabre can do to torment someone else so we should be in for a good one here with Cassidy winning.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Hechicero

This is a bit early for a match involving someone as big as MJF but it isn’t like AEW has treated it like anything important. For the second year in a row, MJF’s Forbidden Door match feels like it was thrown on for the sake of giving him something to do and I do not get the thinking behind that move. It’s MJF’s first pay per view match since December and he’s more or less an after thought. That’s quite the odd way to go, but at least it’s an easy pick.

Save for some wacky interference, there is no reason for Hechicero to win here so we’ll take MJF in what should be an easy one. MJF will probably get in some trouble here but then wind up winning anyway, because there is pretty much no reason for Hechicero, who is probably not sticking around, to beat one of the biggest stars in the company. I’m still not sure I get the thinking here, but MJF wins.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi

The roller coaster that is the last full time year of Danielson’s career continues and that means we have another match against a hard hitter. That is kind of his trademark at this point and in this case he actually has a better chance to pull it off. It’s quite the way to go for a first round match in a #1 contenders tournament, but Danielson has a tendency to go a bit nuts anyway.

While Danielson might not have the best win/loss record, there is no reason to believe he goes down here. Takagi is another guy who isn’t likely to be around for the long term, which would likely include another match in the tournament. That leaves Danielson to win a heck of a fight, which isn’t something you get to say very often in AEW but it makes all the sense in the world here.

Learning Tree/Jeff Cobb vs. Samoa Joe/Hook/Katsuyori Shibata

Cobb is substituting for an injured Bryan Keith as Jericho’s latest weird character gets a pay per view match. The good thing about Jericho being in the match is that he can’t talk, which would be about as bad as it could get around here. Joe vs. Cobb is the hoss fight fans would want to see while the rest…well they’re all involved as well, no matter how odd it might be.

I’ll take the Learning Tree and Cobb to win here, as it seems like we’re going to be seeing Jericho do his thing for a long time to come, no matter how much of a mess it might be. That doesn’t go well if he loses his big match as part of the team, so odds are Cobb pins Shibata to get the win, giving Jericho something else to talk about. The match itself should be ok, but egads this has been a rough sit for a good while now.

Elite vs. Acclaimed/Hiroshi Tanahashi

Tanahashi is replacing Billy Gunn for the sake of it’s Forbidden Door and therefore Tanahashi has to be on the show. Much like the Learning Tree match, the good thing here is that if the Bucks are in the match, they can’t be talking (in theory at least) and that should make things a bit less annoying. This feels like a match that should be on Dynamite but here we are instead, though at least the addition of Tanahashi makes it feel more special.

It’s hard to imagine the Bucks losing a big match until Blood And Guts at the earliest so we’ll say the Elite wins here and keeps things going. Odds are we get a rematch of this later on with Gunn in there rather than Tanahashi, but for now at least we should be in for something good enough. The Elite go over though, as they’re a bigger deal than another makeshift team.

TNT Title: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Dante Martin vs. El Phantasmo vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Lio Rush vs. Jack Perry

Here we have a ladder match for the vacant title as Adam Copeland decided that jumping off a cage and landing on his feet was a good idea. The ladder match part makes it all the more eye roll inducing because it’s such a cliché at this point, but it also lets someone potentially steal the title without having to get a pinfall. That opens up some doors, but I think you know where this is going.

As much as I’d love to see someone like Martin, who could actually be made by something like this, get the title, this feels like it’s Perry all day. AEW is obsessed with getting this guy over one way or another and it feels like he’ll do it here as a way to become that much bigger of a deal. The match will be the usual car crash, meaning it’s only going to be so good, but it should be exciting.

Women’s Title: Toni Storm(c) vs. Mina Shirakawa

This is both a title match and part of a love triangle, as both of them are trying to woo Mariah May. That has made for quite the unique story but it is something that has been set up well enough that I’m curious to see where it goes. The match quality itself might be up in the air as Shirakawa doesn’t have a long track record in AEW, but that is far from the most interesting part here.

I’ll go with Storm to win of course, as the title isn’t likely changing hands here, though the question becomes what happens with May. It would not surprise me at all to see her side with Storm before eventually winning the Owen Hart Tournament and getting a shot against Storm at Wembley. For now though, all is right in the world as May signs with Storm and moves forward, though it could be quite the path there.

AEW TBS Title/NJPW Women’s Strong Title: Mercedes Mone(c) vs. Stephanie Vaquer(c)

We’re going title for title here and…I have almost no idea what to expect here as all I’ve seen from Vaquer is most of an eight minute match this week on Collision. Other than that it’s been all hype videos and promos from Mone, which isn’t the best way to go. What matters though is that we have what could be a huge match which could go either way, as the title vs. title stipulation shakes things up.

While there is a chance that Vaquer wins, I can’t imagine Mone loses anywhere near this close to her AEW debut. AEW knows that she is a star and isn’t about to have her lose a big match, or any match for that matter, here. They have also hyped up the idea that she needs to win the NJPW belt, even if that means we are going to be seeing another title running around AEW, because we haven’t had that in a bit.

IWGP World Title: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

This is the other World Title match on the show, which is arguably a bigger match than the main event. Thankfully AEW has managed to avoid treating this as such a big deal, as that would be about as bad of a result as you could get for the AEW World Title. Moxley is already one of the biggest stars in AEW, but that brings up the question of whether or not he gets to retain the title here.

This one could go either way, but I’ll take Naito to win here, as I can’t imagine Moxley being the next big thing in AEW. Naito can get back the title that Moxley took fro him and we could be in for a rather good match on the way there. It also gives the other promotions their big win on the show, which very well could otherwise be dominated by AEW. This one could go either way of course, but I’ll take Naito to get the title back.

AEW World Title: Swerve Strickland(c) vs. Will Ospreay

Here we have the biggest match on the card and thankfully the best built up story. It’s an idea that has been done before, as you have Ospreay as the new ace of the company and Strickland being the “not so fast” champion. Ospreay has pretty much been able to do no wrong so far in AEW and Strickland can work well with anyone. That opens up the door for something great, but there is one thing in the way.

That thing is the Don Callis Family and unfortunately I’m expecting them to be what costs Ospreay the match here. Ospreay getting the World Title at some point seems to be an inevitability, but I would hope that Strickland gets at least one successful defense in the main event spot. Strickland has done incredibly well in this role and this could be another great one, though odds are the Family gets involved to cost Ospreay. It’s predictable, but that’s about all I can expect to happen.

Overall Thoughts

As you can probably tell from here, this is going to be a very long show. Fourteen matches and a show that could go around six hours makes for one heck of a marathon and I’m worried about things getting bogged down by sheer volume. There is a great show in there somewhere but AEW has a tendency to put in way too much on any pay per view. Hopefully they can find a way around it, but they’ve got a big challenge in front of them.

 

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Supercard Of Honor 2024
Date: April 5, 2024
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

It’s time for another of these pay per views which have a limited connection to what has been going on with the regular show. The main event will see Eddie Kingston defending the World Title against Mark Briscoe, eleven years to the day of Briscoe’s brother Jay winning his first World Title. Let’s get to it.

Zero Hour: Premiere Athletes vs. Rhett Titus/Tony Deppen/Adam Priest

This is the Athletes’ return after a rather lengthy hiatus. Titus and Josh Woods start things off with Woods wrestling him to the mat rather quickly. That’s broken up as Titus fights into an armbar but Woods breaks that up even faster. Tony Nese comes in but gets his arm cranked on as well. It’s off to Deppen for a dropkick, only to have him get hammered down into the corner so the villains can take over.

Said taking over doesn’t last long as Deppen gets over for the tag to Priest to pick the pace back up. Ari Daivari is in for a reverse DDT and two on Priest, who also gets over for the tag almost immediately. Titus’ dropkick into a belly to belly suplex gets two as everything breaks down. Titus is left alone to roll Nese up for two until Woods is back in with a nasty German suplex. Priest gets muscled up over the top into a powerbomb from Woods, setting up stereo top rope fists from the other Athletes for the pin at 8:16.

Rating: C+. It’s hard to get behind the idea of the Athletes being back as they haven’t exactly been impressive during their time in Ring Of Honor. I can go with the idea of pushing someone fresh and this was a nice start, but they did what they could here against fairly low level competition. I’m not sure how far they can go, but at least ROH is trying something.

Zero Hour: Beast Mortos vs. Blake Christian

Mortos is better known as Black Taurus. Commentary even brings up WWE superfan Vladimir being here for the show, which always feels off when WWE isn’t involved. Christian takes the leg out a few times and snaps off an enziguri. Mortos’ headscissors is reversed for a standoff so Christian hits a springboard elbow. Mortos finally gets smart by running him over with straight power before grabbing a bearhug.

That’s broken up as well and Christian’s handstand into a headscissors out of the corner sends Mortos outside. The big running flip dive drops Mortos again and a top rope elbow gets two. Mortos isn’t having this and grabs a pop up Samoan drop for two of his own. Christian is right back with a Death Valley Driver, followed by a spinning tornado DDT onto the ramp for two. They both go up top, where Mortos grabs a super gorilla press into a pumphandle piledriver for the pin at 8:41.

Rating: B-. I got into this one, despite it being another bonus match with no story or even appearances from the people involved. Mortos is a good monster and Christian hung with him well enough, though it isn’t likely going to matter if the two of them are going to be gone again after the show. For now though, I’ll take a nice power vs. speed match, which is as classic of a story as you can get in wrestling.

Post match Komander comes out for a stare of respect at Mortos.

Zero Hour: Griff Garrison/Cole Karter vs. Spanish Announce Project

Maria Kanellis is here with Garrison and Karter, who have stolen Serpentico’s mask. The villains jump them to start but get cleared out rather quickly. Stereo dives to the floor connect but Maria distracts Serpentico with the mask. The ensuing cheap shot puts Serpentico down and they head inside, where Garrison puts on the mask. That earns him a rather violent…sunset flip, which is broken up by Karter.

Garrison rips at Serpentico’s mask (as in the one he’s wearing) but Serpentico grabs a hurricanrana, allowing the tag off to Angelico. A small package gives Angelico two as everything breaks down. Serpentico hits a double Downward Spiral so Maria gets in, only to be ejected. Angelico mocks her as she leaves but gets tripped down by Garrison. Back to ringside and Garrison steals Serpentico’s mask, allowing Karter to roll him up (with tights) for the pin at 8:31.

Rating: C. I could go a long time without seeing the stolen mask into a rollup pin finish. Also, after weeks of Angelico and Serpentico being upset over having the mask stolen, they just lose again. For the sake of protecting Garrison and Karter? As in the team who has been stuck in at best second gear since they came together about 68 years ago? I’m not sure why this wasn’t the big revenge moment as it’s just a showdown at one of the biggest shows of the year after more than a month of buildup.

Zero Hour: Momo Kohgo vs. Mariah May

May takes her into the corner for a clean break before taking things up against the ropes for some forearms to the back. Some running knees to the back give May two and she plants Kohgo for two more. Kohgo fights up and sends her to the corner, setting up a 619 for two of her own. May is right back with a missile dropkick but a German suplex is countered with a kick to the head. A DDT gives Kohgo two and they trade kicks to the head, allowing May to hit a Saito suplex. It’s Gonna Be May (running knee) finishes at 6:12.

Rating: C. There wasn’t much to see here as it was just a step above a squash. May never felt in danger here as Kohgo was little more than someone getting beaten up. That’s not something you expect from a Stardom wrestler but it did a nice job of showcasing May. She’ll be fine going forward, as the Toni Storm match is going to be a big deal sooner than later.

May decks her post match.

The opening video focuses on Ring Of Honor’s history in Philadelphia while looking at the show’s major matches.

For a bonus, here is Nigel McGuinness to join commentary.

TV Title: Kyle Fletcher vs. Lee Johnson

Fletcher is defending and Johnson is on the roll of his career. Since it’s a big show, Fletcher is dressed up as Kishin Liger (Jushin’s evil alter ego). They stare each other down for about a minute before going with the grappling, which goes nowhere. Johnson hits a dropkick, followed by some rather hard chops in the corner. That doesn’t work for Fletcher, who grabs a swing out Side Effect for two of his own to take over.

Fletcher goes up but gets knocked to the floor, meaning it’s a big flip dive to take him out. A charge sends Johnson over the barricade though and Fletcher adds his own running dive. Back in and Johnson gets in a shot of his own, setting up a standing shooting star press for two. The Blue Thunder Bomb gives Johnson two more but Fletcher catches him on top with a super Falcon Arrow.

Johnson goes up again but gets kicked down, allowing Fletcher to it a sitout Last Ride for another near fall. Some more kicks cut off Johnson’s comeback bid but they head to the apron, where the Big Shot Drop (more like a little shot given how much elevation he got) plants Fletcher hard.

The double dive back in lets them beat the count and they slug it out. Fletcher grabs a heck of a Tombstone for two and they go up top, where Johnson is back with a super Canadian Destroyer. A frog splash gives Johnson two but the Big Shot Drop is countered into a hard Lawn Dart. Fletcher takes him up and hits a twisting brainbuster onto the turnbuckle to retain at 19:52.

Rating: B-. And yes, we continue to keep the title on Fletcher because he just gets so much out of being champion. Johnson’s hot streak was enough to get him the title shot, but it feels like he’s just filling in for Ethan Page. It was a hard hitting opener, but my goodness I do not get the hype with Fletcher whatsoever.

We run down the rest of the card.

Video on Stardom.

Mei Seira/Maika/Mina Shirakawa vs. Tam Nakano/Saya Kamitani/AZM

Stardom showcase. AZM rolls Seira up for two to start as they’re moving rather quickly. Saya gets in a cheap shot from the apron to cut Seira down and it’s Nakano coming in to take over. Seira’s forearms don’t get here anywhere but a superkick and a running Blockbuster do a bit better.

Maika (Stardom World Champion) comes in to suplex Saya and Nakano but the latter’s running knee connects for two. It’s off to AZM for a Disarm-Her as everything breaks down, with AZM hitting a suplex on Maika. Mina comes in to go after Saya’s knee but the Figure Four is broken up. Saya’s northern lights suplex gets two but Mina is right back on the leg.

This time the Figure Four goes on until AZM makes the save and everything breaks down again. Nakano hits a huge dive to the floor to take out a bunch of people, leaving Mina to forearm Saya down. A snazzy rollup gives Mina two with Nakano and AZM making the save. Back up and a lifting reverse layout DDT gives Mina the pin on Saya at 14:26.

Rating: B. This was the match with some rather impressive action to pop the crowd over and over again and that’s not a bad thing. I’m not sure why it needed to be added over something that had been built up on ROH’s regular show but to be fair, this was probably better than anything else they could throw out there. The oddest thing: this was longer than any match on the full Stardom show from the weekend.

Post match here is Mariah May to celebrate with Mina, her Stardom stablemate, though Mina and Toni Storm don’t get along.

Tag Team Titles: Kingdom vs. Infantry

The Infantry is challenging after going to a time limit draw in a Proving Ground match. The champs jump them from behind to start, with Bravo being kicked to the floor as the bell rings. We settle down to Dean chopping Bennett down in the corner and dropping an elbow for two. Everyone but Taven goes to the ramp so Taven hits a running dive to take all of them out.

A table is loaded up at ringside before the Kingdom hits a Hail Mary to plant Dean on the ramp. Bravo gets taken into the wrong corner for a bunch of stomping but he uses the ropes to pull himself away. The diving tag brings Dean back in and a jawbreaker into a German suplex gets two. Taven is back in with Just The Tip to give Bennett two and the Proton Pack hits Dean for two more.

Everything breaks down and Boot Camp hits Taven, with Bennett having to make a save of his own. An assisted swinging Rock Bottom plants Bennett on the ramp and Bravo splashes Taven through the table. Back in and the top rope splash hits Bennett but there is no referee. There is however a Wardlow to run Dean over and give Bennett the retaining pin at 13:50.

Rating: B-. Yeah that isn’t the biggest surprise as this was set up earlier this week so it’s not like it was some big story. At the same time, there was the chance to have a nice moment with the Infantry winning but they went with the heels winning again off some cheating. Ring Of Honor has a real problem with not giving the fans many of those happy moments and that was the case again here, as the Undisputed Kingdom’s lame run continues.

We recap the Women’s TV Title Tournament.

Women’s TV Title: Queen Aminata vs. Billie Starkz

For the inaugural championship. Feeling out process to start with Starkz taking her down but not being able to hit a big kick. Instead Aminata sends her into the ropes for one heck of a kick to the face. A full nelson with the legs has Starkz in more trouble and Aminata sends her flying with a suplex. Starkz fights back up but gets caught with a fisherman’s neckbreaker for two.

Back up and Starkz manages a quick clothesline for a double knockdown and a needed breather. Aminata sends her throat first into the ropes but misses a running dropkick, allowing Starkz to send things to the floor. Starkz’ Swanton only hits apron and a German suplex on to the floor knocks Starkz silly.

Back in and a running Air Raid Crash gives Aminata two, meaning it’s time for doubt to set in. A running kick in the face hits Starkz again but she’s able to knock Aminata off the top. The Swanton hits raised knees though and it’s time for the referee to pause things to check on Starkz. Everything gets all serious and Starkz gets a neck brace applied. Aminata holds the ropes open….and gets German suplexed into a sleeper to make Starkz champion at 17:41.

Rating: B. Well the ending was certainly creative and I think I liked it, as it fits something that a follower of Athena’s “win at all costs” mentality would do. At the same time, Starkz is a much better choice for the inaugural champion as Aminata just caught some fire in recent weeks. Probably the best match of the night so far and the right call.

Top Flight is ready to face FTR on Collision.

Here is Bullet Club Gold, with commentary saying you never know who might show up in Ring Of Honor. Coleman: “Even the champions!” It’s time for an open challenge for the Six Man Tag Team Titles, so here are some challengers.

Six Man Tag Team Titles: Bullet Club Gold vs. Lance Archer/Alex Zayne/Minoru Suzuki

The Club is defending and I guess we ignore that Archer and the Righteous are a regular three man team but aren’t getting the shot here. White and Suzuki start things off with the fans thinking White’s chops were a bad idea. Suzuki’s sleeper sends White bailing out to the floor, with White promising to knock Suzuki out.

Austin comes in so Suzuki calls him “A** Boy” before no selling his chops. It’s off to Archer for a choke toss to Colten, who pokes Archer in the eye. That doesn’t do much good as it’s Zayne coming in and getting dropkicked down. It’s back to White to take over on Zayne, including the chinlock. Zayne fights up and rolls over to Archer so the house can quickly be cleaned.

Austin escapes the Blackout and manages to knock Archer down for a double breather. Suzuki and White get the double tags with a running kick to the chest getting two on White. The Blade Runner is countered into the sleeper but White breaks that up as well. Zayne comes in with a running hurricanrana out of the corner but White gives him a swinging Rock Bottom. 3:10 To Yuma hits Archer and the Blade Runner to Zayne retains the titles at 15:26.

Rating: C+. This was your “here is a random team to challenge for the titles because these titles still exist because reasons”. I’m aware that Archer/Zayne/Suzuki have enough of a connection in New Japan. Why that is enough to warrant a fifteen minute title shot on a show that is probably going to run over four and a half hours isn’t clear.

I really hope the Six Man Titles are unified with the Trios Titles sooner than later, as these matches just drag things doing, even when they include Suzuki and his “I make funny faces and don’t sell much but I’m a legend so it’s cool” status. I get that he’s a legend but he shows up infrequently and doesn’t really do much of note these days. Find someone else to do it instead.

Post match the champs brag about their win so here are Billy Gunn and the Acclaimed for the brawl. Anthony Bowens gets taken down with a Blade Runner and the Club bails.

We recap Dalton Castle vs. Johnny TV. Johnny and Taya Valkyrie have stolen everything from Castle, including the Boys (who got fired due to no showing events so they’re not here despite being the focal point of the story), so now it’s a Fight Without Honor.

Dalton Castle vs. Johnny TV

Fight Without Honor so anything goes and Taya Valkyrie is here with Johnny. Castle has the replacement Boys with him, which do help a little. Castle also seems back to normal, which should help him out a good bit here. The Boys leave but Castle is fine enough to try an early Bang A Rang, with TV bailing out to the floor. Taya shouts about the Boys to annoy Castle though, allowing Johnny to drop him onto the barricade.

Back in and Castle grabs a DDT before going after the arm. They go outside again where another distraction lets TV gt in a running knee to take over. Back in and the flipping neckbreaker gives TV two and he whips Castle over the corner for a crash to the floor. The table is set up but TV is smart enough to kick Castle in the head to keep him down. TV and Taya whip out his and hers kendo sticks to beat Castle down, both on the floor and back in the ring.

Castle fights up again and gets the stick, which has TV running away for cover. Back in and Castle snaps off some suplexes to send TV outside again. That leaves Castle to take the kendo stick and….slide it through his trunks before it falls onto the floor. Taya gets creative by spraying Castle with a leaf blower, allowing TV to powerbomb him through a table. TV wraps a chair around Castle’s head and hits him with the stick for two more, meaning it’s time to get frustrated.

Starship Pain takes way too long though and Castle knocks him outside again, meaning it’s time for the Boys to come out and get throw outside. The biggest one doesn’t quite hit TV so here is Jack Cartwheel as a Boy to take TV out. That’s not enough so here is actor/wrestler Paul Walter Hauser as a Boy to chill in the corner. That leaves TV to dive onto the pile at ringside, followed by Hauser laying out TV with a Sky High. The Boys kidnap Taya, leaving Hauser and Castle to pour out the thumbtacks. A Bang A Rang onto the tacks finishes TV at 22:06.

Rating: C+. This was a weird mixture of anger/violence and goofiness, which didn’t make for the best match. Castle didn’t really feel like he wanted to get revenge on TV and instead came off more like he was just having a half comedy match. The Cartwheel and Hauser stuff didn’t do much for me but I get why ROH would want to have someone as big as Hauser around. That being said, this was one of the matches I wanted to see on the show and it really didn’t work as well as it could have.

We recap Hikaru Shida challenging Athena for the Women’s Title. Shida is a multi-time AEW Women’s Champion and beat Athena (ten years ago) so now it’s time for a big showdown.

Women’s Title: Hikaru Shida vs. Athena

Athena is defending and bails to the floor to start as they hit the stall button early on. Back in and Shida cranks on the arm but Athena bails from the threat of the Katana. Athena comes back in and gets dropped with a string of clotheslines but is able to tie Shida’s leg up in the ropes. An ankle lock keeps Shida down, at least until she slips out and slugs away against the ropes. A suplex gives Shida two and she hits a dropkick, only to get booted out to the floor.

Shida hits a running knee against the barricade but is too banged up to stay after things. Back in and Shida misses a kick, allowing Athena to snap off a Saito suplex. Athena is already getting frustrated so she goes up, only to have the O Face blocked. With that not working, Athena gets smart by going back to the leg with another ankle lock. Shida bails out to the ramp, where she gets in a knee to block Athena’s dive.

Strong Zero on the ramp plants Athena and the top rope Meteor gives Shida two. The Dominator into the Codebreaker gives Athena two and she is looking rather stunned. Shida grabs a Falcon Arrow for one and she hurricanranas Athena to the floor, where she hangs on to powerbomb Shida hard. Back in and the O Face gives Athena two but Shida is right back up with the Katana for the same. Athena gets back up and ducks a knee, setting up a superkick. Another O Face retains the title at 22:35.

Rating: B. Yeah it’s a good match and no the result isn’t a surprise. Athena has held the title for so long now that these wins barely register anymore. Shida felt like the most “here’s an AEW star to come after the belt” challenger ever and that isn’t exactly inspiring. Good match, but Athena continuing to hold the title has not exactly been interesting for a long time.

Here’s what’s coming on various AEW shows.

We recap Eddie Kingston defending the Ring Of Honor World Title against Mark Briscoe. They’re friends and Eddie is giving Mark a shot because he deserves it. At the same time, Eddie just lost the Continental Crown and can’t handle losing again. This match is eleven years to the day that Mark’s brother Jay won his first World Title so it’s a mixture of honor and family.

Ring Of Honor World Title: Eddie Kingston vs. Mark Briscoe

Briscoe is challenging and Kingston backs him into the corner to start. They fight over wrist control to no avail until Kingston snaps off a backdrop driver. Briscoe fights up and hits a big boot, followed by a running boot to send Kingston outside. Kingston gets in his own shot out there and hits a dive off the apron to make it worse. The announcers’ table is broken up and Briscoe is busted open as he gets back inside, with Kingston pounding him down into the corner.

Kingston snaps off a suplex and hits a clothesline to drop Briscoe to the floor. The suicide dive is cut off though and Briscoe dropkicks him into the barricade. There’s the Cactus Elbow to hit Kingston but he knocks Briscoe down again to take back over. Things get more violent as Briscoe is tied in the Tree of Woe before falling out for two. Back up and Briscoe wins a chop off and grabs a fisherman’s buster for two of his own.

There’s the Blockbuster from the apron to the floor to put Kingston down again and a Death Valley Driver connects back inside. The Froggy Bow gives Briscoe another near fall and they trade suplexes before a double clothesline leaves them both down. They go to the apron again, where Kingston snaps off a t-bone suplex to the floor.

Briscoe has to dive back in to beat the count and they slug it out from their knees. Another chop off goes to Briscoe, who hits a running clothesline to take Kingston down. A discus forearm puts Kingston down and they trade spinning shots to the head. Briscoe goes old school with the Cutthroat Driver into the Jay Driller for the pin and the title at 24:13.

Rating: B. It was another good fight and Mark finally getting his big moment was nice to see, but the lack of animosity between them made this feel a bit flatter than it should have been. Briscoe should have won the title a long time ago but I’ll take it over him losing again like he did last year. This was the only thing that could have headlined and it was a special feeling, though Kingston’s collapse could make for some rocky moments going forward.

Friends, family and wrestlers celebrate with Briscoe to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show might have been every Ring Of Honor problem rolled into one. As usual, the action itself was good to very good so the criticisms are not aimed at the wrestlers. Instead, we had a show that went on WAY longer than it needed to (just shy of four hours and forty minutes counting Zero Hour) with a staggering five matches going over fifteen minutes.

It’s a good example of a show that just needed to be trimmed WAY down, including cutting off say three Zero Hour matches and shortening some of the midcard stuff. It isn’t that the show was bad, but I was sick of watching it bay the end as it just kept going for hours. On top of that, it’s another big show with only so many noteworthy things happening, as the World Title and Women’s TV Titles changing hands aren’t likely to mean much in Ring Of Honor’s week to week status. Overall a pretty good show, but as usual, Ring Of Honor is REALLY in need of someone to say “and that’s enough”.

Results
Premiere Athletes b. Tony Deppen/Adam Priest/Rhett Titus – Double top rope fist drops to Priest
Beast Mortos b. Blake Christian – Pumphandle piledriver
Griff Garrison/Cole Karter b. Angelico/Serpentico – Rollup with tights to Serpentico
Mariah May b. Momo Kohgo – It’s Gonna Be May
Kyle Fletcher b. Lee Johnson – Super brainbuster onto the turnbuckle
Mei Seira/Maika/Mina Shirakawa b. Tam Nakano/Saya Kamitani/AZM – Lifting reverse layout DDT to Kamitani
Billie Starkz b. Queen Aminata – Sleeper
Bullet Club Gold b. Minoru Suzuki/Alex Zayne/Lance Archer – Blade Runner to Zayne
Dalton Castle b. Johnny TV – Bang A Rang onto thumbtacks
Athena b. Hikaru Shida – O Face
Mark Briscoe b. Eddie Kingston – Jay Driller

 

 

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American Dream 2024 In The Keystone State
Date: April 4, 2024
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Tom Lawlor, Veda Scott

So this is from Stardom, the Japanese women’s promotion, who are in town for Wrestlemania Weekend. I was in town for the weekend and since I’m not likely to ever see something like this again in person, it was worth a look. I’m not sure what to expect from this and that’s part of the fun. Let’s get to it.

I was sitting in the corner of the arena for this show with the entrance on my right and the ring pretty much straight in front of me. Keep in mind that I do not follow Stardom whatsoever and will likely have no idea what is going on as far as characters or storylines. I apologize in advance for any errors but I’m coming in mostly blind.

The opening video runs down the card, which is only five matches.

High Speed Title: Mei Seira vs. Ram Kaichow vs. Saki Kashima

Seira is defending and from what I can tell, this is similar to the X-Division/Cruiserweight Title. The audio mix is really missing as commentary is barely audible over the entrance music and I can’t make out more than a few words of what they are saying. Seira has two belts and Kaichow has one, making things all the more confusing. The fans seem to like Kaichow, who might be a bit dead.

Kashima locks up with Kaichow, who has dust flying off of her to scare Kashima away. More dust gets Kaichow out of a double wristlock before they pick up the pace with Seira hitting a running basement dropkick on Kaichow. They run the ropes until the challengers fall down, leaving Seira as the only one standing. Kaichow rolls Seira up for two and an exchange of rollups give not-Kaichow two each. Back up and Kaichow throws more dust, allowing Kashima to pin Seira for the title at 5:06.

Rating: C+. Well they weren’t kidding about the HIGH SPEED part as this was rather fast paced until the ending, which came out of nowhere. I got the concept well enough and Kaichow’s dust thing made her stand out, but the other two didn’t do much to separate themselves from the other. Either way, it was a nice introduction to the show as it was flying by and kept me interested.

AZM/Saya Kamitani/Camron Branae vs. Stephanie Vaquer/Starlight Kid/Momo Watanabe

Saya and Kid start things off, which is apparently a big rivalry. They go to the mat and get nowhere so they both flip up for a staredown. Branae comes in for part of a triple Gory Bomb to put Kid down for two and it’s back to Saya, who gets caught with a headscissors. Watanabe crushes Saya in the corner but gets cut off with a spinning kick to the face. A springboard crossbody gives Saya two and a triple dropkick takes Watanabe down again.

Back up and Watanabe kicks Saya in the head and the double tag brings in AZM and Vaquer. AZM kicks Vaquer in the head and it’s back to Branae, who gets caught with Eat Defeat. Some running knees give Branae two but the villains (I think?) take her into the corner for the train of running shots. Everything breaks down and Kid dives onto the floor to take out AZM and Saya. That leaves Vaquer to headbutt Branae in the corner and go after her recently injured knee. Branae manages a neckbreaker but walks into a package piledriver onto the knee to give Vaquer the pin at 9:11.

Rating: C+. Another fast paced match here as they had a bit more time to showcase the people involved. Six women spread over nine minutes isn’t much but it’s better than cramming it into even less time. Vaquer felt like a star and that makes sense as she is the New Japan Women’s Strong Champion. Not a great match, but if the idea is to get as many people on the show as possible, they’re doing well.

Willow Nightingale/Saki vs. Konami/Syuri

Syuri is one of the most revered names going today and I might have seen her once before. Saki and Syuri start things off with Syuri grabbing a rollup for a fast two, giving us an early standoff. Nightingale comes in for a double shoulder to Syuri but she’s back up t kick Saki in the back for two. Konami comes in for a dropkick and a one kneed cover gets two. It’s already back to Syuri for a kick to the back but Saki suplexes her way to freedom. Nightingale comes back in to run Syuri over, setting up a spinebuster for two.

A Cannonball misses though and Syuri gets two off a DDT. Everything breaks down and Syuri and Konami grab stereo holds, both of which are broken up just as fast. Syuri chokes Saki on the floor, leaving Konami to missile dropkick Nightingale. Saki is back in to make a save and Konami is tossed onto Syuri. Nightingale has had enough of this and hits a heck of a Pounce on Konami, setting up a DDT for two. The Babe With The Powerbomb finishes for Nightingale at 8:28.

Rating: B-. Another fun match here but they were blazing through it again. That’s been a trend with this show, which isn’t the best idea for a five match card. Nightingale continues to be a ball of energy no matter where she is and it’s great to see her getting a win like this. Now give her a win with some gold on the line and it’ll be even better.

Mayu Iwatani/Tam Nakano/Momo Kohgo vs. Mina Shirakawa/Mariah May/Xia Brookside

This is Stars vs. Club Venus, the latter of which comes off as some kind of pop band/Mean Girls deal. Venus seems to be mainly about Shirakawa, with the other two being her henchwomen. May ducks Kohgo’s running dropkick to start and plans her with a very spinning side slam. Brookside comes in for the running knees to the back and we get a triple Venus pose.

The fans approve of Shirakawa coming in and grabbing a quickly released surfboard. May comes back in but gets caught with a dropkick, allowing Kohgo to hit a crossbody. Iwatani comes in and gets to pick up the pace, including a double springboard wristdrag to May and Shirakawa. May is back up with a Sling Blade and it’s Shirakawa coming in for a kick to the head. Nakano comes in for the first time for a shake off (just go with it) with Shirakawa.

A hanging suplex gives Shirakawa two and it’s Brookside coming in with a neckbreaker for the same. Everything breaks down and a double 619 hits Brookside to give Nakano two. Venus is back in with a double Paige Turner to give Brookside her own near fall on Nakano. There’s a running Codebreaker to drop Nakano as everything breaks down again. Iwatani hits a big dive to the floor and a kick to the face gets two on Brookside, with the rest of Venus making the save. Nakano has had it with this and grabs Twilight Dream (tiger suplex) for the pin at Brookside at 12:13.

Rating: B-. This was another case where the extra time helped but the other thing here was it felt like Venus came off as a full time team rather than two people thrown together. Everyone got a chance to shine here and it felt like more of a showcase, with Brookside getting a lot of time in there. Good stuff here, and probably the best match of the show so far.

Post match the winners leave….and here is Toni Storm, with the AEW Women’s Title and a bouquet of flowers. She talks about the time she has had in Philadelphia, where she started with Easter Championship Wrestling. Storm: “I’ll have you know that this is the very place where I entered Sandman.” She puts over Stardom and praises May, even giving her the flowers. As for Mina Shirakawa, who is standing in the ring as well, the Forbidden Door is always open. Shirakawa is game.

We recap the main event. Maika is the World Champion, Megan Bayne is a power monster, they’ve teamed together and fought before, title match on.

World Of Stardom Title: Maika vs. Megan Bayne

Bayne, billed as the Megasus and the much larger of the two, is challenging. Maika tries some running shoulders to no avail so she tells Bayne to come on. An armdrag works better but Bayne is back up to run her over with a real shoulder. A butterfly suplex gets two, followed by a Samoan drop for the same.

Back up and some running clotheslines in the corner give Maika two and she goes after the arm. Bayne powers up and suplexes her way to freedom, setting up a side slam for two more. Maika puts her up top for a superplex and another near fall, followed by a cutter for the same. Bayne is back with a big boot and a heck of a running clothesline to leave them both down.

Back up and they slug it out until Maika snaps off a powerslam. Maika catches her up top with a powerbomb for one but Bayne is back with a heck of a spear. An apron German suplex gives Bayne two more with an F5 getting the same. They go up again and this time it’s a super Michinoku Driver to give Maika two of her own. A Michinoku Driver II gives Maika the pin at 14:24.

Rating: B. This was just starting to cook when they went home, with Maika being a good fighting from underneath champion. Bayne is a monster with something of a Beth Phoenix look/style so there was an obvious story to be told here. Good match and the best part of the show, though they could have gone longer.

Post match respect is shown and here is Momo Watanabe to say she’s the next challenger. Watanabe pulls back her baseball bat to swing at Maika but Bayne gets in her way and sends Watanabe bailing. Maika says they’re on for April 27 in Yokohama before leading the fans in the WE ARE STARDOM chant to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. That’s it? The show didn’t even run an hour and forty five minutes, with the longest match out of five lasting less than fifteen minutes. I’m not sure if that is Stardom’s style, but this was really short and felt like it could have gone another hour or so. What we got was good, but I was sitting in the crowd wondering what else they were going to do because it wasn’t even two hours and then the show just ended. For the prices being charged, this should have been more, as it just didn’t last long enough. What we got was good, but egads give us more than that.

Results
Saki Kashima b. Ram Kaichow and Mei Seira – Crucifix to Seira
Stephanie Vaquer/Starlight Kid/Momo Watanabe b. AZM/Saya Kamitani/Camron Branae – Package piledriver onto the knee to Branae
Stars b. Club Venus – Twilight Dream to Brookside
Maika b. Megan Bayne – Michinoku Driver II

 

 

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Stardom Supreme Fight 2023
Date: February 4, 2023
Location: EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Attendance: 1,832
Commentators: Haruo Murata, Makoto Oe, Mai Sakuai

Let me get this out of the way first: I have no idea what is going on with this show as I do not follow Stardom and since I do not speak Japanese, I am going to be going with whatever I can tell from the show itself. I apologize in advance for any continuity errors or names I get wrong, as the only thing I have to go on is a list of people in each match and whatever pictures I can find to remember who is who.  The only thing I know is that Stardom is about as well received of a women’s promotion as there is in the world today so let’s get to it.

We run down the card.

Naniwa Roulette Match

This seems to be something of a gauntlet match with a roulette wheel announcing the entrants. Mayu Iwatani, who has appeared in Ring Of Honor, is in at #1 and Waka Tsukiyama is in at #2. Waka starts fast with a running Downward Spiral for a fast two before jumping on Mayu’s back for a double arm crank. A missile dropkick gives Waka two more but Mayu grabs a cradle for a near fall of her own. Mayu is right back with a dragon suplex for the pin at 2:05.

Momo Kohgo is in at #3 and talks trash to get the crowd behind her (I think?). Mayu is willing to fight her on the apron and they slug it out until Momo hits a dropkick. A 619 misses and the referee’s motions make me think you can be eliminated by going over the top to the floor. Back in and a springboard missile dropkick gives Momo two but Mayu kicks her down. Something like an arm trap Brock Lock makes Momo tap at 6:41 (total, as all times will be) and it’s Miyu Amasaki in at #4.

Mayu wastes no time in taking her down but Miyu grabs some rollups for two each. A DDT gives Miyu two but Mayu grabs a lifting dragon sleeper (ouch) for the tap at 9:57. Tam Nakano is in at #5 and kicks Mayu in the face to start. Mayu misses her own kick and gets kneed hard in the face to send her through the ropes.

Tam goes up for a dive but someone shouts at her not to (the over the top rule seems to be a reality), allowing Mayu to try to pull her down. Instead Tam pulls her back in with Mayu snapping off a super hurricanrana. They strike it out from the mat and trade nasty bridging German suplexes for two each. Another from the knees slugout ensues as the ring announcer keeps saying something, which sounds like a time left call. The bell rings after a two count and both of them seem to be eliminated via the time limit (of what seems to be five minutes a fall) at 17:02.

Mina Shirakawa is in at #6 and Natsuopoi is in at #7 to start things fresh. They run the ropes to start with Mina taking out the knee, only to get caught with a running dropkick against the ropes. Natsuopoi goes up top but gets punched in the head to bring them both back down.

Something like a running sideways sunset flip gets two on Mina and they slug it out. Mina drops her with a spinning backfist but gets rolled up for a few near falls. Natsuopoi snaps off a release German suplex but gets caught in a Figure Four. The ropes break that up so Mina grabs it again, only to have time expire for another double elimination at 25:36. That means Mariah May is in at #8 and Mai Sakurai is in at #9 as we start over again.

Mai dropkicks her down to start but Mariah hits a middle rope version of her own. That just earns Mariah something close to an STF and a top rope missile dropkick (if that was an intentional back and forth idea with the two of them topping each other, well done), followed by a lifting double underhook DDT for two. Mariah is right back with a short powerbomb though, followed by a Tombstone for the pin at 31:53.

Thekla is in at #10 and starts fast with something like an Octopus hold to send Mariah to the apron. That doesn’t go anywhere so Thekla goes up top, only to have them fight to the apron at the same time. They both crash out to the floor and that indeed is a double elimination at 37:51. We’ll hit the reset button again with Natsuko Tora in at #11 and Momoka Hanozono in at #12.

Tora steals Momoka’s sword and chops the head off of Momoka’s doll to start (well that was mean) so Momoka swings at her. That means a doll to the head, only to have Momoka take her down and…look at her. A low bridge sends Tora to the apron but she pulls Momoka out with her. Momoka can’t get a German suplex off the apron (but she can hang off of Tora’s waist in a unique visual), only to get pulled into a fireman’s carry. That’s broken up with what looked like a mini streamer explosion to knock them both to the floor at 43:49.

That means it’s time for Billy Ken Death to come in at #13 and Yuna Mizrumor to come in at #14 as the roulette wheel only has one name left. Death seems to be some kind of a wildcard and is dressed something like a golden clown to make things even odder. A bunch of posing has Yuna annoyed but she takes Death down for a splash. Death is right back with a rollup for the pin at 49:23, leaving Saki Kashima to complete the field at #15. Death’s small package gets a fast two but Saki blocks a suplex attempt. Saki catches her on top and hits a middle rope backsplash for two of her own. A cradle gives Saki the pin at 54:51.

Rating: B. This one took me by surprise as I wasn’t expecting the opener to go nearly an hour. The match felt like something of a Stardom buffet, as you got a little taste of a bunch of people, but unfortunately only a few (Iwatani in particular) stood out. I do like the match getting time though, as gauntlet matches with thirty second falls get annoying fast (If you can beat someone that fast in a gauntlet match, why can’t you in a regular one?).

That’s where the twist of the time limits makes things more interesting, as they have another reason to go as fast/hard as they can. I liked the rule tweaks here and I saw a lot of people who probably wouldn’t have made the show otherwise, so well done on a fun and unique opener that kept me interested for a long time.

Post match Saki gets a scroll and says something on the mic.

Triangle Derby I: Stars vs. Oedo Tai/Karuka Umesaki

That would be Hazuki/Koguma/Saya Iida vs. Ruaka/Starlight Kid/Umesaki and this seems to be something of a six woman tag tournament. Koguma and Kid start things off with the fans seeming to like the latter better. Everything breaks down fast and Kid heads to the floor, where she hits Koguma with….it looks like a suitcase that Ruaka brought with her.

Ruaka (as shown by a name bar during the match for a NICE addition) comes in to slowly kick at a dazed Koguma. Iida comes in to strike away at Ruaka, who runs her over with a crossbody. Umesaki hits a running dropkick against the apron but Hazuki comes in to take over. Everything breaks down and the Stars hit stereo kicks to the face against the ropes.

Hazuki and Umesaki slug it out until the latter catches her with a suplex. Kid gets sent to the apron by Koguma, who gets sent face first into the buckle for her efforts. A standing moonsault gives Kid two and an assisted double suplex drops Koguma again. Kid’s Lionsault gets two but a crucifix sets off a pinfall reversal sequence with Koguma stacking her up for the pin at 9:06.

Rating: B. This was quite the departure from the first match as they had all six women going all over the place until someone got the pin. It was a different style from the opener and showcased more of the teamwork, which was nice for a change. Another solid match and I could go for seeing more of all six, especially Umesaki.

God’s Eye/Konami vs. Queen’s Quest

That would be Ami Sourei/Syuri/Konami vs. AZM (a champion of some sort)/Lady C/Utami Hayashishita. AZM and Konami start things by going to the mat for a wrestle off. It’s quickly off to Syuri, who snaps off a butterfly suplex for a fast two. Syuri kicks AZM in the back and then sits down so AZM can kick her….which is a ruse to sucker her into a rollup (point for not doing the weird thing).

AZM’s run up the ropes is pulled out of the air though and a trio of running knees in the corner has her in more trouble. Ami unloads on AZM with chops against the ropes until a suplex gets AZM out of trouble. Utami comes in for a running hip attack in the corner and a running shoulder puts Ami down. It’s back to Konami with a missile dropkick and a cross armbreaker, with AZM having to make a save.

Everything breaks down and some armbars over the ropes have Queen’s Quest in more trouble. Utami’s arm is fine enough for a German suplex to Konami before Lady C comes in with a giant swing to Konami. The chokeslam gives Lady C two and Utami’s double stomp off of Lady C’s shoulders gets two more. The cobra clutch is broken up and a Death Valley Driver plants Lady C. Stereo running kicks set up Konami’s cross armbreaker but AZM makes the save. Everything breaks down (again) and Konami rolls Lady C into an armbar for the win at 11:27.

Rating: B. They changed gears again here as this was more about the intensity and pain instead of athleticism. Lady C was treated like a monster and Konami got to take her apart piece by piece for a good story to the ending. It was more good stuff with a lot of talented stars and I could go for more of them. This would especially include Syuri, who I’ve heard a lot about but haven’t seen much of so far.

We recap Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mirai, which seems to be Mirai trying to slay a monster.

Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mirai

Chihiro backs her into the corner to start and grinds away on a headlock. A headscissors stays on the head/neck as Mirai can’t figure out what to do here. Back up and they trade hammerlocks until Mirai reverses into a quickly broken Fujiwara armbar. More grappling gets Mirai backed up against the ropes again and a hard slam puts her back down.

Some shots to the face seem to wake Mirai up but Chihiro runs her over again. A middle rope flipping splash misses for Chihiro though and a basement dropkick to the back of the head staggers her a bit. Mirai adds a missile dropkick for two but gets pulled into an abdominal stretch to mix things up.

With that broken up, Mirai grabs a sleeper and a quick Downward Spiral gets two. Chihiro suplexes her way out of what looked like an armbar, only to get knocked down again. Mirai’s backsplash gets two and they strike it out until Mirai blasts her with a clothesline for another near fall. Chihiro grabs an ankle lock into a German suplex Mirai is mostly done and Chihiro’s hard lariat gets two more. A bridging German suplex finally finishes Mirai at 15:20.

Rating: B-. This was just slightly weaker than the rest of the show and if this is the low mark, we’re in for a rather good one here. They played the story of Mirai trying to chop down the monster and not being able to do it until Chihiro finally put her away. It’s something that has been done forever and it worked here, though I never bought Mirai as a big threat and the main comeback didn’t seem to get close to stopping Chihiro.

Post match Chihiro says something to the still unconscious Mirai. Syuri comes in and we seem to have another match set up.

Intermission (I think).

We recap the Tag Team Titles match, which again seems to be a team coming after some monsters.

Goddesses Of Stardom Titles: Neo Stardom Army vs. Donna del Mundo

This would be the Tag Team Titles and it’s Nanae Tahahashi/Yuu (Neo Stardom Army) defending vs. Himeka/Maika (Donna del Mundo). After the big match intros, Yuu shoulders Maika down to start but gets taken down as well. Maika’s sliding lariat misses though and we have an early standoff. It’s off to the partners but everything breaks down rather fast, with the champions getting caught in the corners.

The Army is sent outside for running knees from the apron….and Himeka is hurt. Nanae throws her back inside anyway and goes after the banged up knee, with Maika’s save not really doing much good. The bigger Yuu starts in on the knee but misses a charge in the corner, allowing Maika to get in a kick to the head. The tag brings in Maika to clean house (the fans approve) but Yuu knocks her down for a backsplash.

A Cannonball crushes Maika in the corner and Nanae drops her again with a suplex. They slap it out until Maika scores with a legsweep, followed by a belly to back suplex. Nanae gets in a shot of her own but a clothesline cuts her off, allowing Himeka to come back in for the house cleaning. A kick to the knee takes her down again but she’s fine enough to hit a sliding lariat for two. Everything breaks down and Nanae grabs the logical Figure Four.

That and a kneebar send Himeka bailing to the ropes so Maika catches Nanae on top. Himeka adds a powerbomb to her partner to make it a Tower Of Doom but the knee gives out, allowing Yuu to hit a Cannonball. Himeka is back up for a double suplex, meaning Yuu has to make a save. Somehow the knee holds up for a powerbomb out of the corner to Nanae but Yuu breaks up a running knee (which didn’t seem to be a good idea). The Army hits back to back splashes for two and Nanae’s sliding lariat gets two on Himeka. A hammerlock air raid crash gives Nanae the pin on Himeka to retain at 18:55.

Rating: B+. This match felt like the biggest on the show and that is how it came off in execution. There were near falls and false finishes until one of the teams got a pin. I got into this one near the end and it was a heck of a showdown. The fact that it is (so far) the best match on a pretty awesome show is quite the feat and they made it work here.

Post match the champs brag and receive a trophy but Oedo Tai (Ruaka and Natsuko Tora in this case) come out, seemingly as the next challengers.

We recap the Wonder of Stardom Title, with champion Saya Kamatani and Momo Watanabe wanting the title and fighting on the way here.

Wonder Of Stardom Title: Saya Kamitani vs. Momo Watanabe

Saya is defending and this seems to be the company’s midcard title. They trade kicks to the head and near falls in the first twelve seconds before Watanabe misses another kick. The fight heads outside with Watanabe hitting her with some kind of paddle and then whipping Saya into the chairs.

Back in and Saya grabs a Boston crab but Watanabe reverses into a rollup for two. Saya slaps on a figure four necklock, which doesn’t last long either as Watanabe knocks her out to the apron. The table is set up at ringside but Saki hurricanranas her off of it for a breather. Saki puts Watanabe onto the table and hits(ish) a top rope double stomp which knocks her off (but doesn’t break) said table.

Back in and Watanabe snaps off a German suplex to leave both of them down for a needed breather. Watanabe fires the kicks to the chest but Saki is back up with the hard forearms. A pair of dragon suplexes give Watanabe two but Saki bulldogs her way out of trouble. Saki hits a sitout fisherman’s buster for two, followed by a 450 to retain the title at 16:41.

Rating: B. It was a good match, but I didn’t quite but Watanabe as a major threat here. It felt like she was supposed to be this evil challenger and while she came close here and there, I didn’t quite buy the title as being in jeopardy. Maybe knowing more of the backstory would help, but this was a step down from some of the other matches on the show.

We recap Suzu Suzuki challenging Giulia for the World Of Stardom Title (seems to be the World Title). It seems that they used to be friends but now they’re fighting over the title, which is a story that will work every time.

World Of Stardom Title: Suzu Suzuki vs. Giulia

Giulia is defending and while I’ve heard a lot of great things about her, I’ve never seen her in the ring. Suzuki (whose video says CRAZY GIRL) has a title of her own but for the sake of clarity, I’ll only refer to Giulia as champion. They fight over wrist control to start until Giulia grabs a headlock to slow things down. Suzuki reverses into a headlock of her own, which is broken just as quickly.

An exchange of rollups gets two each and they’re at another standoff. They roll away from each other again before going with the slow exchange of forearms less than five minutes in. Suzuki gets in the first hard shot to take over though and it’s a running knee to the back to rock Giulia again. A tornado DDT gets her out of trouble though and it’s time to work on Suzuki’s arm. Giulia suplexes her down again but Suzuki takes it to the floor and whips Giulia into the chairs.

They go up the ramp, where Giulia counters a suplex into a DDT, only to get planted right back by Suzuki. Back in and they trade headbutts until Suzuki kicks her in the head. Giulia is able to catch her up top though and a butterfly superplex sends Suzuki crashing. Suzuki flips out of a suplex and grabs a Spanish Fly to leave both of them down.

It’s time to start going after Suzuki’s arm, with Giulia first tying up the legs for easier access. Something close to a Rings of Saturn has Suzuki in more trouble but she’s able to get to the ropes. A piledriver in the vicinity of the apron (to avoid the whole broken neck thing) knocks Giulia silly and a super half nelson slam makes it worse.

Something like a reverse Paige Turner gives Suzuki two and a bridging German suplex gets the same. A top rope bridging German superplex (egads) gets another two on Giulia and they’re both down again. Suzuki grabs some rollups for two each but Giulia plants her with a suplex. The knee to the face gets one before a Snowplow finishes Suzuki to retain the title at 25:07.

Rating: B+. This was another match that felt like a struggle with both women working as hard as they could to beat the other. I’m not sure how personal it felt, but what mattered is the fact that they did so much to each other that it felt like Suzuki finally fell at the end. Heck of a fight here and it felt like a main event, which is one of the hardest things to do these days.

Post match Giulia gets the mic and says something to Suzuki, which the fans seem to appreciate. Suzuki gets the mic and says something also positively received before talking about Stardom. She says something to Giulia, who seems to agree, before falling down and leaving Giulia alone in the ring. Giulia seems to thank the fans and poses for a bit.

Overall Rating: A. I’m not sure what else I could have asked for her as this show was pretty awesome. The best compliment I can give it is that while I watched it in a few different sittings, I wanted to come back and see how the rest of the show would go. It kept me interested in people I don’t know and in stories I don’t understand because the action was that good. There isn’t a must see match on the show, but there is a bunch of very good stuff and for a three and a half hour card, that is pretty awesome. Check this out.

 

 

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Wrestle Kingdom XVII
Date: January 4, 2023
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Chris Charlton, Gino Gambino

It’s time to go back to New Japan for a promotion that I have not looked at since last year’s Wrestle Kingdom. As tends to be the case with this show, I’m coming in mostly blind, save for knowing the wrestlers involved. The main event is Jay White defending the IWGP World Title against Kazuchika Okada, who he took the title from back in June. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: Boltin Oleg vs. Ryohei Oiwa

This is a three minute exhibition and Oleg, an amateur champion, is making his debut. They go with the grappling to start and Oleg powers him down, followed by some over the shoulder armdrags. Oiwa cranks on the arm and an armbreaker sends Oleg to the rope. Back up and Oleg grabs a slam as we go to the draw at 3:02.

Rating: C. Even commentary was saying “this is meant to go to a draw” so it is kind of the definition of getting your feet wet. I’m fine with something like this as nothing more than a warmup as Oleg seems to have some name recognition based on his amateur credentials. It’s three minutes, it came and went, no one pretended it mattered. That’s an easy way to start the night.

Pre-Show: New Japan Ranbo

This is the Royal Rumble (minute long intervals, pin/submission/over the top eliminations), with the final four moving on to a match at New Year’s Dash to crown this year’s Provisional King Of Pro Wrestling Champion. Sho is in at #1 and Hikuleo is in at #2, leaving Sho looking nervous. The forearms have little effect on Hikuleo so Show bails to the floor for some regrouping.

Evil (with Dick Togo) is in at #3, meaning Hikuleo gets to beat up two people instead of one. Tomohiro Ishii is in at #4 and stares down Hikuleo before helping Evil beat him down. Great-O-Khan is in at #5 and takes his sweet time getting to the ring as Ishii and Hikuleo fight. With Khan taking forever to get in, Douki is in at #6 and helps clear the ring without eliminating anyone.

Evil and Togo try to get rid of Ishii but Rocky Romero is in at #7 for the save. Romero gets rid of Evil and the Forever Lariats have Sho in trouble. Kenta is in at #8 and gets in a brawl with Ishii until Yoshinobu Kanemaru is in at #9. With more brawling ensuing, Aaron Henare (he’s big) is in at #10 and slugs it out with Ishii to limited avail. Ryusuke Taguchi is in at #11 and helps Henare get rid of Ishii.

Taguchi and Romero (former team) go after Henare but Jeff Cobb is in at #12 as Hikuleo gets rid of Douki and Kanemaru. Shane Haste is in at #13, with Romero countering his powerbomb attempt. Mikey Nicholls (Haste’s partner) is in at #14 and Romero is out fast. Haste and Nicholls (The Mighty Don’t Kneel) double team Taguchi for the pin as Yujiro Takahashi is in at #15.

Cobb whips Khan into Hikuleo, who gets clotheslined out as a result. Toru Yano (who has dominated a lot of this title’s history) is in at #16 as Cobb is tossed as well. There goes Haste, followed by Nicholls, leaving Khan and Henare to stand tall. El Phantasmo is in at #17 and starts raking backs (as the Dermis Destroyer). A nipple twist (yep) gets rid of Henare and it’s Taichi in at #18.

Everyone but Taichi (including some eliminated names) fight on the floor and it’s Shingo Takagi (last year’s champion who reportedly doesn’t want to be here) in to go after Taichi. I believe (as there are a lot of people outside) that leaves us with Sho, Khan, Taguchi, Takahashi, Yano, Phantasmo, Taichi and Takagi as the final group (remember the final four advance).

A bunch of people get together to dump Taichi and there goes Takahashi. Phantasmo is knocked off the apron but lands on the barricade, where Kenta (who was apparently eliminated somewhere in there) and Takahashi help him back to the apron. Takagi joins him out there and Sho accidentally knocks Phantasmo out, meaning Khan, Takagi, Sho and Yano win to advance at 30:35.

Rating: C+. This is the Wrestle Kingdom “get everyone on the show” match and it still works. What amazes me every year is that this match always flies by and it did so again here, with thirty minutes feeling like it was less than half that. It’s a fun match that gives the fans something to cheer about while also setting up something for the future. That’s more than you get on most Kickoff Show style matches so well done.

A woman tells the fans to vote for something.

Pre-Show: Yuji Nagata/Satoshi Kojima/Togi Makabe vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Minoru Suzuki/Tiger Mask

This is the Antonio Inoki Memorial Six Man Tag and Tiger Hattori is special referee for a real bonus. Nagata and Fujinami start things off with an exchange of wristlocks. That goes nowhere so Nagata shoulders him down, only to get dropped as well. Suzuki comes in to slug it out with Nagata.

Tiger Mask gets in a few kicks and it’s Nagata getting beaten down in the corner by a rotating cast. Nagata manages a suplex so Kojima can come in to chop Suzuki in the corner. This proves to be rather stupid as Suzuki glares at him and laughs at the idea of a forearm off. Tiger Mask comes in for the tiger driver and a near fall, only to get caught in the Kojicutter.

It’s off to Makabe as everything breaks down, with Nagata and company getting caught in stereo holds. All of those are broken up until Tiger Mask crucifixed Makabe for two. Suzuki catches Makabe on top so Tiger Mask tries a…something that doesn’t work, allowing Makabe to cradle him for the pin at 9:07.

Rating: C. Much like the other two matches, I don’t think this one was entirely meant to be taken seriously. This was much more about getting some legends in there for the sake of honoring the most important person the company has ever seen. That is completely understandable so soon after Inoki’s passing and the match was certainly watchable, if a bit formulaic.

Post match, Fujinami welcomes the fans to the show and honors Inoki.

We start with a tribute to Antonio Inoki, as you had to know was coming.

The opening video, if you can call it that, runs down the card, in order. As per tradition, I’m still not sure if I like that or not.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Catch 2/2 vs. LiYoh

Catch 2/2 (TJP/Francesco Akira), of the United Empire, is defending against Lio Rush/Yoh (who are an unlikely team that managed to win the Super Junior Tag League to get this shot). It’s a wild fight to start with Rush dropping TJP and taking Akira up the ramp, where Akira plants him face first on the steel ramp. Back in and Yoh fights them off for a bit, only to get caught in the wrong corner.

Akira hits a rope walk Tree of Woe dropkick to send Yoh outside, setting up Take A Picture (kind of a toss from the apron hip attack). The busted open Rush is picked up as TJP hits a Shinjiro Otani to Yoh but Rush cuts him off with a spear. Rush comes in off the tag and picks the pace way up, including the Tajiri handspring elbow to both champs. Suicide dives take out both of them again and it’s back to Yoh, whose superkick is cut off. Everything breaks down and everyone but TJP is knocked down.

Back up and a powerbomb/suplex combination drops Yoh but Rush makes the save with the Final Hour. The 3K (3D into a Downward Spiral) connects on Akira, only to have TJP come in with the Mamba Splash for the save. The Detonation Kick gets two on Yoh but the Leaning Tower is countered with a poisonrana. Another 3K gets another two but TJP is right back with a small package to pin Yoh and retain at 10:31.

Rating: B-. That’s a smart way to open the show as it was all energy and they didn’t bother wasting time with anything fancy. 2/2 is a good team and they did their thing here. Rush’s eye being busted open is what is going to be remembered here as it was a gusher, but other than that you had a ten minute match which I feel like I’ve seen several times before.

IWGP Women’s Title: Kairi vs. Tam Nakano

Kairi (formerly Sane) is defending and this is Stardom’s portion of the show. Kairi is in her pirate gear, complete with…Grim Reapers? They fight over a lockup to start until Nakano grabs a headlock. A basement dropkick puts Kairi down and Nakano gets to give her what might be described as a cute stare.

Back up and Kairi sends her into the corner for the sliding forearm but charges into a spinning kick to the face. With Kairi outside, Nakano hits a dive (left a bit low), followed by a Steiner Screwdriver for two back inside. That’s quite the kickout move less than five minutes in but Kairi is back up with a spinning backfist for two of her own. The Insane Elbow retains the title at 5:57.

Rating: C+. They went through this as fast as they could as they didn’t have much time here. Kairi is still rather good in the ring and I’ve heard good things about Nakano. The Screwdriver was weird and felt like something they were trying to squeeze in whether it fit there or not. For a fast match though and what I believe is the first women’s match ever at Wrestle Kingdom, it went well.

Post match the lights go out and Mercedes Mone (Sasha Banks) debuts, shocking….I’m sure there is someone there who didn’t know this was coming. Thankfully commentary acknowledges that it wasn’t a surprise as they have the staredown with Kairi holding the title in the air.

Mone pulls her into what looked like a Gory Stretch spun into a faceplant (or it might have been some kind of an armbar that didn’t go right). That leaves Mone to introduce herself as the CEO of the women’s division. She’s coming for the title in San Jose next month and you can bank on it. That was certainly a debut but it didn’t quite blow the roof off.

IWGP Tag Team Titles: Bishamon vs. FTR

Bishamon (Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi of Chaos) are challenging and commentary tells us about FTR’s travel issues getting here. Hashi shoulders Wheeler down to start so we’ll try Harwood vs. Goto instead. That doesn’t last long as Hashi comes back in for the double team, only to have it broken up just as fast.

The champs send them outside for a dive, setting up the PowerPlex for two on Goto. A powerbomb into a bridging dragon suplex gets two with Hashi making the save. The Big Rig is broken up though and Goto hits the fireman’s carry backbreaker for a breather. Harwood comes in off the blind tag and gets taken down with a running neckbreaker.

Bishamon’s Sho Tow (I think?) finisher is broken up and it’s a Big Rig for two on Goto. Wheeler and Hashi suplex each other to the floor, leaving Goto to fight out of a piledriver attempt. Another piledriver attempt works just fine, followed by the spike piledriver for two with Hashi making the save. Another Big Rig is broken up and it’s Sho Tow to Harwood for the pin and the titles at 10:05.

Rating: B-. And thus FTR’s downfall continues as they are now out of titles after holding a bunch of them for several months. The good thing is that they lost them in another solid match, which shouldn’t be a surprise in the slightest. Bishamon winning the titles is fine as commentary hyped them up as the best team in Japan. Give them the titles so FTR, who seem to be more guest stars than anything else, can head back to AEW and sit around some more.

TV Title: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita

Tournament final for the inaugural title with a fifteen minute time limit, meaning a draw will require a rematch at a later date. They both fight for a cross armbreaker attempt to start before Sabre’s penalty kick misses, giving us a standoff. Narita kicks him down but Sabre is right back up with a twist of the arm.

A belly to belly gets Narita out of trouble for a few seconds but he can’t hook an abdominal stretch. They trade kicks to the back, with Narita sitting down so Sabre can hit his own. An exchange of kicks to the chest goes to Sabre but Narita goes after Sabre’s arm for a change and a double knockdown.

Back up and a bridging t-bone suplex gives Narita two but Sabre pulls him down by the leg. Sabre can’t get a triangle choke so Narita hits him in the face. They trade snap German suplexes but Narita misses a running spinwheel kick. Back to back German suplexes are no sold so they fight over another abdominal stretch, only to have Sabre switch to an armbar for the tap at 10:30.

Rating: C+. I wasn’t feeling this one very much as it was a lot of both guys doing the same thing and often popping up right after. Sabre is good at tormenting people with his holds but that wasn’t really on display here. Narita is someone who has come a long way in a short amount of time, but it wasn’t exactly an awesome showcase.

Post match the Mighty Don’t Kneel come out to offer Sabre a spot on the team and the shirt goes on.

Never Openweight Title: Karl Anderson vs. Tama Tonga

Tonga, with Jado, is challenging and gets decked before the bell. Anderson drops him on the barricade and throws him over before going back inside to pose a bit. The Burner (Rikishi) Driver on the ramp knocks Tonga silly again, leaving Anderson to chant his own name. Tonga blocks a Gun Stun on the ramp though and they fight to the apron for a slugout.

They slug it out on the apron with Tonga getting the better of things before hammering away in the corner. A charge misses though and Anderson hits the HI YAH kick. They head up top with Tonga knocking him down, setting up a top rope clothesline. Supreme Flow gives Tonga two and they run the ropes, only to have Anderson’s Gun Stun blocked. A middle rope Gun Stun to Anderson sets up a regular one (with Tonga slipping off, making it look like Anderson shoved him off) to give Tonga the pin and the title at 9:33.

Rating: C. This felt like a match that had a lot more history behind it and if that is the case, fair enough. Tonga winning makes sense as Anderson is in WWE full time so put the title on someone who is going to be around. Good enough match here, but that ending didn’t exactly do it any favors.

Keiji Muto/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Shota Umino vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon

This is Muto’s (Great Muta, but in normal form) final New Japan match. Muto and Sanada start things off with a teased Too Sweet but Sanada takes out the bad knee. A springboard dropkick takes Muto down again, only to have Muto grab a backsplash. The moonsault is loaded up but Tanahashi calls Muto off for the sake of his knees.

Instead Muto snapmares him down and hits the Power Drive elbow. Tanahashi comes in for the springboard spinning crossbody but Naito takes him down. A basement dropkick rocks Tanahashi again and we slow things down. Bushi’s neckbreaker gets two but Tanahashi gets in a dragon screw legwhip on Naito. That’s enough for the tag off to Umino to pick the pace way up and clean house.

Everything breaks down and Los Ingobernables get caught in triple submissions but a rope break leads to the triple escape. Bushi missile dropkicks Umino and Bushiroonis (just go with it) up. Tanahashi comes back in with some Twists and Shouts, setting up Muto’s Shining Wizard on Bushi. Umino adds the Death Rider for the pin at 9:21.

Rating: C+. This was rather formula until the end when everything broke down and the good guys dominated, as they should. There was a grand total of no way that Muto’s team was going to lose in his last match in the promotion so the result was little more than waiting for the obvious ending than anything else. Giving Umino the pin was a nice moment and it isn’t like there is any shame in losing to Muto in his last match around here.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Master Wato vs. El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori

Ishimori is defending and this is one fall to a finish. They start fast (I sense a theme beginning here) with Takahashi and Desperado running Wato over. An exchange of rollups give us a big standoff as we hear about a fight backstage, possibly involving Tetsuya Naito. Ishimori bails to the ramp for a breather and that’s not cool with everyone else, meaning the chase is on. That’s fine with Ishimori, as the fight breaks out on the ramp and Ishimori is the only one to get back inside unscathed.

Back in and Desperado goes after Ishimori’s knee but the other two make a save. Wato strikes away at Takahashi and sends him outside, meaning it’s time for the string of dives. Takahashi caps it off with a huge dive off the top to put everyone down before they all head back inside. A series of strikes leads to Desperado hitting something like a Blue Thunder Bomb on Ishimori.

Desperado punches Wato down and everyone is on the mat as we hear about Los Ingobernables getting in a backstage fight with the Kongoh stable of Pro Wrestling Noah (right before the New Japan vs. Noah show as luck would have it). The four way chop off is on until Takahashi and Desperado are sent outside. Wato kicks Ishimori down and goes up top, only to get pulled down in a Tower of Doom as Takahashi comes back in.

Desperado joins everyone else and goes after Takahashi, setting up an Angel’s Wings for two. Takahashi grabs the Time Bomb for two of his own but Wato is back in with a tiger suplex into a crucifix for two more as Ishimori pulls the ref. Back up and a SCARY German suplex gives Wato two on Takahashi, who is right back up with the Time Bomb II for the pin at 16:39.

Rating: B. They were flying through most of this and it didn’t feel nearly as long as it was, but there were quite a few times where they stopped, which stood out a bit. That being said, I’d call it more than acceptable when they were going that fast. All that being said, this is the fourth time Takahashi has won the belt at Wrestle Kingdom, to the point where I was actually thinking “Really? Again?” when he won here. Very good match, but maybe let someone else get this spot next time.

IWGP United States Title: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay

Ospreay, with the United Empire, is defending and this is a pretty long time in the making. Don Callis joins commentary (great) as Ospreay headlocks him to the mat. Ospreay tries to pick up the pace but gets knocked off the apron, sending him hard into the barricade. Back in and Omega kicks him down and rips off a turnbuckle pad. Omega hits a hard backbreaker to cut Ospreay off again, only to have him come back with a hot shot.

A big boot and cutter drop Omega and a Phenomenal Forearm does it again. Ospreay kicks him to the apron for a strike off, only to miss the middle rope Oscutter. Omega puts a table on top of Ospreay on the floor and strikes away even more. That’s fine with Ospreay, who knocks him away and goes up top for a Sky Twister to drop Omega again. Back in and the Hidden Blade gives Ospreay two but he still can’t hit the Oscutter.

Omega is fine enough to grab the Snapdragon for two and they’re both a bit winded. Back up and Omega takes him up top but Ospreay flips out of the top rope dragon superplex. The Oscutter finally connects for two and there are some HARD Cheeky Nandos kicks to keep Omega in trouble. Ospreay goes up again but this time Omega DDTs him onto the exposed buckle, drawing a good deal of blood. There is blood all over the floor as Omega hits the Rise of the Terminator.

Ospreay is sent head first through the table (leaving a big hole in the middle) before the beating continues back inside. There’s the Snapdragon into a V Trigger, with Callis complaining about a slow near fall. Omega goes up top but Ospreay stumbles into the ropes to crotch him down. Ospreay goes up as well but gets dropped face first into the buckle again (ouch).

Another V Trigger looks to set up a super One Winged Angel. Since that would, you know, kill Ospreay, it’s a super German suplex instead. Another V Trigger seems to wake Ospreay up as he strikes away, including a big shot to drop Omega. The Hidden Blade gets two on Omega, followed by a Styles Clash for the same. Another Hidden Blade misses and they strike each other down while holding wrists. More strikes set up a V Trigger and the One Winged Angel to give Omega the pin and the title at 34:38.

Rating: A-. This was a different match than I was expecting as they didn’t go as nuts with the flying and instead focused on the hard hitting fight. Omega is a lot easier to watch around here, as he goes a lot more serious and actually feels like he is having a match instead of a performance, making it that much better. Ospreay got in some of his high flying to go with the strikes, but that blood is what is going to be remembered. Heck of a match here and it felt worthy of Wrestle Kingdom.

We recap Kazuchika Okada challenging Jay White for the IWGP World Title. White took the title from him last year and now Okada wants it back. Game on.

IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada

White, with Gedo, is defending and Rocky Romero is on commentary. They glare at each other to start until Okada shrugs off a chop. Okada takes him down but Gedo pulls White away from a running something. White gets in a shot of his own though and we hit the chinlock. A DDT gives White two and he drives Okada into the barricade for two, which he shouts over and over again.

After some chops, he adds a SWEET, only to have Okada come back with a DDT of his own. Okada grabs a flapjack and dropkicks White off the top to send him outside. Back in and a missile dropkick sets up the Money Clip, which is broken up just as fast. White is back with a swinging suplex, leaving commentary thinking White wants the fans to cheer him. The chinlock goes on before White goes after the knee for a change.

The knee is fine enough for Okada to hit his dropkick though, followed by the spinning Tombstone. White is sent outside for a top rope flip dive but he’s smart/beaten up enough to drop to the ground before the Rainmaker. Okada tries it again but this time White spits in his face, setting up a swinging Rock Bottom to put Okada down for a change. Back up and Okada grabs the arm for back to back clotheslines, only to have the Rainmaker countered into the Blade Runner.

Another Blade Runner is blocked so White hits his own standing clotheslines. Now it’s White doing the Rainmaker pose, allowing Okada to hit the real thing for a close two. White wins a strike out and says Okada isn’t taking this from him. They slug it out until Okada hits his own Blade Runner, followed by a Cobra Flosion. The Rainmaker gives Okada the title back at 33:04.

Rating: A-. Another very good match as White continues to feel like a star. Then you have Okada who is….well he’s Okada, and that is about all you need to say about him. This didn’t quite hit the top level that some Wrestle Kingdom main events have reached in the past, but I’ll take a near classic to close out the show any day. Much like Takahashi winning again though, seeing Okada win the World Title again isn’t the most exciting result. Great match though and that’s all that matters.

Post match White pulls himself up and actually seems to show some respect. With White gone, Shingo Takagi comes out to issue the challenge for February 1 (commentary seems a bit confused by Takagi picking that date). With Takagi gone, Okada asks if Antonio Inoki saw the matches and thanks the fans to wrap things up. Actually hang on, as we’ll get in one more Inoki chant to really finish it off.

Commentary talks a lot, as tends to be the case.

Overall Rating: A. It’s not quite at the same level as previous Wrestle Kingdoms but how can you complain about something this good? The last two matches were both great and there was more than enough that was either solid to near awesome throughout. Nothing was bad, but perhaps more importantly, this FELT like a Wrestle Kingdom. Maybe it’s the fans cheering or maybe it’s having the show on one night again, but this was another blast, as tends to be the case with Wrestle Kingdom.

Results
Boltin Oleg vs. Ryohei Oiwa went to a time limit draw
Great-O-Khan, Shingo Takagi, Sho and Toru Yano won the New Japan Ranbo
Togi Makabe/Yuji Nagata/Satoshi Kojima b. Tatsumi Fujinami/Minoru Suzuki/Tiger Mask – rollup to Tiger Mask
2/2 b. LiYoh – Small package to Yoh
Kairi b. Tam Nakano – Insane Elbow
Bishamon b. FTR – Sho Tow to Harwood
Zack Sabre Jr. b. Ren Narita – Armbar
Tama Tonga b. Karl Anderson – Gun Stun
Keiji Muto/Shota Umino/Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Los Ingobernables de Japon – Death Rider to Bushi
Hiroshi Takahashi b. Master Wato, El Desperado and Taiji Ishimori – Time Bomb II to Wato
Kenny Omega b. Will Ospreay – One Winged Angel
Kazuchika Okada b. Jay White – Rainmaker

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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Wrestle Kingdom XVI Night Two
Date: January 5, 2022
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 6,379
Commentators: Chris Charlton, Kevin Kelly

It’s the second of three nights of this show and this one feels like the biggest. Last night’s main event saw Kazuchika Okada win the IWGP World Title again, which leaves him ready for his first defense against Will Ospreay. The second biggest match on the card is Kenta defending the United States Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi in a No DQ match, which could be a heck of a fight. Let’s get to it.

Here is Night One if you need a recap.

Pre-Show: Togi Makabe/Yuji Nagata/Tomoaki Honma vs. Bullet Club

That would be Bad Luck Fale, Gedo and Jado for the Club. The Club jumps them to start but Jado and Gedo are knocked to the floor to start. Fale is fine enough to run Honma over though and the good guys are in trouble early. Honma is sent outside and Makabe gets taken into the corner with Jado standing on his chest.

Gedo and Fale take Jado’s place but Makabe fights up and brings Nagata in to strike away on Fale. Jado breaks up a Crossface on Fale and it’s Honma coming coming in. Everything breaks down and Fale is clotheslined out to the floor. That leaves Honma to headbutt Jado down, setting up a middle rope headbutt for the pin. Kelly: “Heavens be praised, Honma has won a match!”

Rating: C. This worked out well enough as it was all about warming the fans up and the good guys beating the evil villains is as smart of an idea as there is. Honma seems to be a bit of a cult hero so give him a pin to pop the crowd early on. Perfectly watchable six man here and that’s all they were shooting for.

Pre-Show: Master Wato/Tenkoji vs. Suzuki-Gun

It’s El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kantemaru/Taka Michinoku for Suzuki-Gun. It’s a brawl before the bell again until we settle down to Wato kicking away at Desperado. Wato stomps away in the corner and Tenzan tags himself in and has to back Wato off from the beating. Tenzan headbutts away but Kantemaru gets in a cheap shot from the apron to take him down. The brawl heads outside for a bit with Suzuki-Gun taking over again. Back in and Tenzan manages a mountain bomb but Taka is right there to cut him off.

As tends to be the case, one more shot is enough to get Tenzan over for the tag to Kojima, meaning we get the very rapid fire chops in the corner. A DDT hits Taka and the Koji Cutter drops Kantemaru and it’s a double tag to bring in Wato and Desperado. Wato strikes away but gets caught in a spinebuster, setting up kind of a gutwrench blue thunder bomb. That’s broken up as well and Desperado walks into the Tenkoji Cutter (3D). Everything breaks down again and it’s Wato grabbing something like a reverse Rings of Saturn to make Desperado tap at 9:24.

Rating: C+. They packed a lot into this one and it made for a good match as a result. Wato making Desperado tap should give him a future Junior Heavyweight Title match so they are even going somewhere with the result. The other four did well too, but this was about Wato and they did what they needed to do.

Pre-Show: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Suzuki-Gun

That would be Shingo Takagi/Bushi/Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taichi/Zack Sabre Jr./Douki. Bushi armdrags Douki to start so it’s off to Takahashi, who wants Sabre. Takahashi has to slip out of a backbreaker and runs Sabre over, only to get pulled into a kneebar. A bridging leglock has Tanahashi in more trouble and it’s Douki coming back in for a double stomp. Various choking and stomping ensue but Takahashi manages a dragon screw legwhip.

The dragon screw legwhip and it’s Takagi coming in to clean house. Sabre tries a guillotine but gets suplexed down in a hurry. Taichi comes in for an exchange of clotheslines but Douki manages to low bridge Takagi to the floor. Everything breaks down and Douki dives off the top to take them out. Back in and Takagi hits a sliding lariat on Douki, followed by a Gory Bomb on Sabre. Takahashi comes back in to beat on Douki, setting up Last of the Dragon to give Takagi the pin at 10:28.

Rating: C+. Nice job here of giving Takagi a quick win to get him back on track after losing the World Title to Okada last night. This was a rather action packed match as they flew around the ring and kept things moving. That being said, Los Ingobernables are a good bit deeper than Suzuki-Gun so this wasn’t exactly in doubt.

The opening video runs down the card.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Mega Coaches vs. Bullet Club’s Cutest Tag Team vs. Flying Tigers

The Tigers (Robbie Eagles/Tiger Mask) are defending against Ryusuke Taguchi/Rocky Romero (Coaches) and Taiji Ishimori/El Phantasmo (Bullet Club). Before the bell, Phantasmo jumps Tiger though and we’re starting 2 vs. 2 vs. 1. The Coaches get to clean house and Romero catapults Phantasmo into the back of Taguchi’s tights. Eagles is back in to take out the Coaches but the Club takes over on Eagles with an assisted back rake.

Phantasmo uses his loaded boot to take over until Eagles is back up with a dive. The Coaches hit dives of their own but it’s Tiger butterfly superplexing Phantasmo. Back to back tilt-a-whirl backbreakers drop the Coaches as everything stays broken down. The Coaches hit a double hip attack on Eagles but the Club is back in with double knees to Romero’s chest.

A top rope knee sets up the UFO on Tiger and a Thunder Kiss 86 gives Ishimori two. Eagles sends Phantasmo’s kick into Ishimori’s face though and it’s time for the other teams to go after Phantasmo. It’s time to unload the boot though, which contains a piece of metal. As a result, the Club is eliminated and we’re down to a regular tag match. An exchange of rollups gets two each and Tiger dives onto Taguchi on the floor. That leaves Eagles to tie Romero up with a leglock for the tap to retain the titles at 12:09.

Rating: B-. This was pure chaos throughout but they did pay off what seemed to be a long running story with the loaded boot. There was nothing resembling a tag match here and that’s what they were trying to do. It can get a little complicated and hard to follow, but some good commentary kept it simple enough to understand for the most part. It’s also nice to see these titles retained, as they seem to change hands most of the time at this show.

Tam Nakano/Saya Kamitani vs. Mayu Iwatani/Starlight Kid

This is a Stardom (women’s promotion) exhibition tag. Each one is from a different faction and they drew straws to determine the participants. Kid headscissors Kamitani down to start and snaps off a basement dropkick to make it worse. Iwatani comes in for a double 619 into a double standing moonsault, meaning it’s time to kick Kamitani in the back. Kamitani comes back with a spinwheel kick but Nakano can’t add a German suplex.

Iwatani kicks Nakano in the head for a breather and there’s a Sling Blade to take her down again. The double tag brings in Kamitani and Kid as everything breaks down. Iwatani dives onto Nakano and Kamitani, setting up Kid’s twisting top rope splash back inside. Kid climbs onto Iwatani’s shoulders (already on the middle rope) for a high crossbody onto Kamitani for two, with Nakano making the save.

That’s fine with Kid, who grabs a Texas Cloverleaf on Kamitani to make it worse. Nakano breaks that up as well and hits a big dive off the top to the floor. Back in and Kamitani’s bridging northern lights suplex gets two on Kid with Iwatani making the save this time. Kid and Kamitani trade rollups for two each but Iwatani is back in with a superkick. Nakano tiger suplexes Iwatani and it’s Kamitani hitting a sitout fisherman’s buster to knock Kid silly. A Phoenix splash is enough to give Kamitani the pin at 9:16.

Rating: B. This was a straight sprint as they didn’t waste time doing anything but getting in as much as they could. What made it work was that most everything looked crisp and they were flying through the whole match. I’ve heard almost nothing but good things about Stardom and it is pretty awesome to see them getting a showcase match on the biggest card in Japan. Heck of a match here and very fun.

King of Pro Wrestling Provisional Title: Cima vs. Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano vs. Chase Owens

This is a weird title, as it isn’t so much about winning the title here, but rather holding it at the end of the year. These four were the final four in a battle royal yesterday to set this up. The other three jump Yano to start, because he has won the trophy two years running. With Yano and Owens sent outside, Suzuki and Cima strike it out until Suzuki is sent to the floor as well.

Cima hits a big dive onto all three of them and everyone heads back inside. Yano takes off a buckle pad as Owens hits Suzuki in the face. Owens immediately apologized and gets beaten up again, leaving Cima to put Yano in an Indian deathlock. Suzuki beats Cima up, which cranks on Yano’s leg over and over. That’s broken up so Suzuki grabs his sleeper on Owens, with Yano hitting a double low blow to break it up. Suzuki isn’t having this so he kicks Yano in the face and hits the piledriver for the pin at 6:09.

Rating: C. They didn’t waste time here either and it was a fast/to the point match. Suzuki shouldn’t have had any trouble with Yano or Owens so once he got the chance, he ran through Yano for the win. That being said, this is just the start of the year’s story, but Suzuki hurting people for trying to go after his title could be rather entertaining.

Post match, Suzuki beats up Yano some more and pulls out some handcuffs. In Yano fashion, he manages to handcuff Suzuki to the rope instead and runs off.

Never Openweight Six Man Tag Team Titles: House of Torture vs. Chaos

That would be Evil/Yujiro Takahashi/Sho, who are defending, vs. Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi/Yoh. It’s a brawl on the floor before the bell until Goto spinwheel kicks and bulldogs Evil. Sho and Yoh come back in to continue their rivalry, with Yoh dropkicking him outside and hitting a dive. The Torture corner’s turnbuckle pad is ripped off as Sho knees Goto in the ribs back inside.

Takahashi comes in but can’t hit a suplex, instead getting clotheslined down by Goto. Hashi gets the tag to pick up the pace and a running dropkick to the back gets two on Takahashi. A kick to the head rocks Hashi but he’s back up with a running clothesline. It’s back to Yoh vs. Sho for the strike off but Torture catches Yoh in the corner for the series of running shots to the face.

Sho grabs a wrench Yoh can get choked behind the referee’s back until Goto and Hashi make the save. A superkick sets up the fireman’s carry backbreaker on Sho, with Yoh hitting his own superkick. Takahashi offers a distraction though and it’s a low blow from Evil into a wrench shot from Sho for the pin at 9:39.

Rating: C. I was getting into it but then the lame ending brought it right back down. I can understand not wanting to see Yoh pin Sho on back to back nights but they didn’t have anything other than a low blow into a weapon shot? Evil’s match yesterday felt rather out of place and that was the same here, though at least this came after a good enough match.

The teams yell at each other post match and odds are we’ll be seeing a rematch.

Here are a bunch of Pro Wrestling Noah stars, led by Keiji Mutoh (better known as Great Muta) to say that they are ready to face New Japan on Saturday. Cue Shingo Takagi and company to say he knew Noah would say something offensive and it is time to show who is better when they face off. Noah issues the challenge but Takagai and company being down about 20-3 is enough to make New Japan think twice. Noah promises to win and that’s it.

New Japan is back on AXS TV on March 3.

Here are some upcoming shows.

Intermission.

Sanada vs. Great-O-Khan

Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. United Empire. Feeling out process to start with neither getting very far early on. They fight over some armbars until Sanada dropkicks him to the floor. Khan is ready for the dive and takes him out, setting up a half nelson Skull Crushing Finale. A release gordbuster drops Sanada for two but the Mongolian chop is blocked. Sanada armdrags him down and hits a backbreaker to send Khan outside for some pleasant applause.

Back in and Sanada can’t get the Paradise Lock as Khan kicks him right back to the floor. Khan shouts down at Sanada, who stands there as Khan dives on him (with commentary pointing out that there was no reason to believe he would actually jump, meaning Sanada thought he had nothing to fear).and then a rollup gets two back inside. The Sheep Killer (I think? It’s something like an abdominal stretch.) has Sanada in trouble but he fights out hand tries an O’Connor roll.

That’s broken up as well and the Sheep Killer goes on again, but this time Sanada reverses into a tiger suplex for two. Sanada’s top rope splash hits raised knees and they slug it out with Khan getting the better of things. A kick to the face staggers Khan, but he knocks Sanada silly with a straight right hand for two of his own. Khan hits a middle rope moonsault and tries a claw, only to get reversed into a European Clutch for the pin at 13:22.

Rating: B-. This was the first singles match of the night and it was nice to see things change pace like they did here. The idea seemed to be that Sanada needed to prove he could win here and he took Khan down in the process. Khan’s improvement over the last year is still close to remarkable, as he was dreadful last time and put in a pretty good match here.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb

More Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. United Empire and this should be good. Cobb lost to Naito on a quick rollup recently and now it is time for revenge. Said revenge starts fast with Cobb unloading on him in the corner to start. Naito gets a boot up in the corner though and dropkicks the knee out to slow Cobb down. Another dropkick to the knee takes Cobb outside and the tease of the Tranquilo pose lets Naito kick him in the face again.

This time Naito follows him outside so Cobb grabs a suplex and drives Naito into the post over and over. Naito takes his time getting inside again, allowing Cobb to drive some knees into his back. There’s a gorilla press toss before Cobb puts him on his shoulder for some rams into the corner. Back up and Naito slugs away with forearms to no avail but a running boot to the face manages to drop Cobb.

Naito goes after the knee with a running dropkick, followed by a basement version in the corner. A version of the Indian Deathlock goes on but Cobb is in the rope before too long. Cobb blocks a shinbreaker and hits an overhead belly to belly, followed by a belly to belly (minus his usual running start) for two.

Tour of the Islands is broken up and Naito hits a DDT for a breather. It’s time to go back to the knee but Destino is countered again. Naito kicks him in the knee to send him into the corner and it’s time to go up. The super hurricanrana is countered into a superbomb but the knee gives out again. Naito slaps on a leglock but Cobb pounds his way to freedom. A German suplex drops Naito, only to have Cobb pop up with a hard clothesline. Tour of the Islands is broken up again and Naito hits a scoop brainbuster. Destino is enough to finish Cobb at 15:36.

Rating: B. These guys beat each other up and it was a much more definitive win than a rollup. Naito picks Cobb’s knee apart and took away a lot of his power, which made him closer to a mortal. This felt like a big win for Naito, who seems ready to move back up to the main event. He’s always good for a solid match and Cobb is still a heck of a monster, with this being the best match on the show so far. Or at least the best singles match so far.

IWGP United States Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenta

Kenta is defending and it’s No DQ. Tanahashi is all about honor and Kenta is all about the title, but Kenta has pushed Tanahashi too far. That could make Tanahashi extra dangerous. Before the bell, Kenta grabs some kendo sticks and throws one to Tanahashi so we start fast. The battle of the sticks goes to Kenta and a belt shot makes it worse. More stick shots rock Tanahashi and it’s time to bring in a bunch of weapons.

Various shots to the head and back have Tanahashi in more trouble as this is one sided to start. A short ladder is put in the corner but Tanahashi dropkicks Kenta’s knee, sending the champ face first into a trashcan. Tanahashi puts the trashcan over Kenta’s head and beats on it with a chair, meaning it’s time for a guitar. A good shot to the head puts a hole through the guitar (which doesn’t seem to be gimmicked) and let’s bring in a table for a bonus.

Tanahashi dragon screw legwhips Kenta down but a briefcase shot gives Kenta a much needed breather. They both go up top with Tanahashi palm striking his way out of trouble. Let’s throw in several more chairs and it’s a Sling Blade to drive Kenta into said chairs. The High Fly Flow only hits chairs though and Tanahashi is down again. Kenta buries him underneath the chairs in the corner for a running dropkick to crush him again.

Go To Sleep is loaded up but Tanahashi reverses into Twist and Shout onto the chairs. With nothing else working, the table is thrown inside and is decorates with a nice Kenta holding a chair. Tanahashi takes too long going up top though and gets chaired down, setting up a super Falcon Arrow to send Tanahashi mostly through said table.

Another table is thrown in and Kenta finds a big ladder (that thing is huge) for a bonus. Kenta sets up the ladder (and has to screw in the support) and puts Tanahashi on the table. That takes way too long though, as Tanahashi gets up and knocks Kenta down in a SCARY crash. The High Fly Flow through the bloody Kenta gives Tanahashi the pin and the title at 22:16.

Rating: B+. This took some time to get going, but the violence worked because it stood out. New Japan doesn’t seem to do this kind of thing very often and it felt like a physical fight as a result. Tanahashi beats Kenta at his own game because he is the better man and as a result, it was a great way to blow off their feud. That being said, Kenta was very banged up in this match, suffering a dislocated hip, a broke nose, nerve damage in his finger and the lacerations, meaning he’s going to be gone for a little while.

Tanahashi is tended to but walks off on his own.

IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada

Okada is defending but Ospreay has his own belt, as he was stripped of the title due to an injury. They stare at each other for a good while to start before some grappling goes nowhere. Okada takes him down by the leg before switching to an early headlock. Back up and Okada scores with a big boot into a backdrop to keep Ospreay in trouble. A neckbreaker sets up another chinlock as Okada is going after various parts. Ospreay fights up and scores with a Phenomenal Forearm to send Okada outside.

There’s no big dive though, as Ospreay instead opts to go outside and hit Okada in the face. Back in and some chops rock put Okada down, setting up a suplex to bang up Okada’s back as well. The cravate keeps Okada in trouble but he’s right back with a flapjack (Ospreay: “Oh s***!”) for a breather. A DDT and neckbreaker give Okada two each but Ospreay lifts him out to the apron.

That’s fine with Okada, who hits a running dropkick to knock Ospreay out to the floor. Okada whips him into the barricade but Ospreay superkicks him out of the air, sending Okada’s knee into the concrete. Ospreay climbs the lighting rig (as he did at a previous Wrestle Kingdom) and moonsaults down onto Okada for the big crash. Back in and a top rope forearm to the back of the head gives Ospreay two and the confidence is starting to roll. Okada is sent outside and Ospreay tries the Sasuke Special, only to get caught in a tombstone on the floor.

Back in and Okada hits a missile dropkick for two, setting up the Money Clip. Okada lets that go and hits a top rope elbow but Ospreay kicks him in the face. Ospreay’s standing shooting star press hits knees but Ospreay is back up with a Liger Bomb for two. With Okada draped over the top rope, it’s a shooting star to the back for two more. There’s the Oscutter for two more but the Hidden Blade misses. Ospreay doesn’t seem to mind and hits his own tombstone.

Since he didn’t watch last night, Ospreay tries the Rainmaker on Okada, who reverses into his own Stormbreaker (Ospreay’s finisher) for two. Back up and Okada hits his dropkick but the Rainmaker is countered into a C4 for a double knockdown. A super Oscutter gets two on Okada but Stormbreaker is countered into a spinning tombstone.

Okada hits a discus lariat into the Rainmaker for two but Ospreay is back up with his own Rainmaker. They slug it out from their knees and Okada hits another Rainmaker, but he tries again and gets reversed into the Hidden Blade for two. Stormbreaker is countered so Ospreay knees him in the face but another Hidden Blade is countered with a dropkick. The Landslide sets up the Rainmaker to retain Okada’s title at 32:53.

Rating: A-. It’s a really good match and felt like a Wrestle Kingdom main event, but it did have some of the same problems that almost always pop up in an Okada match. The kickouts got ridiculous here as it was at least three tombstones and about 73 Rainmakers to finally put Ospreay away. That being said, these two beat the fire out of each other and it was nice to see them finally have a definitive champion after all the months of screwiness (which wasn’t the company’s fault). Great match, but it could have had some finishers trimmed out.

Post match Okada says he respects Ospreay but now there is no doubt about who is the real World Champion. Cue Tetsuya Naito to praise Okada’s victories but he needs to be the next challenger. Okada thinks that’s a good idea and Naito leaves. Okada thanks the fans for coming out and giving the wrestlers their strength. He wants to wrestle and promises to keep making it rain.

Commentary has their big recap to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was better than the first night and it felt like a Wrestle Kingdom worthy show. The two main events are the best parts of the night, as tends to be the case, but there are also some awesome matches earlier on the card to make it that much better. You could tell that everyone was working hard and wanted to make this the biggest night of the year. I had a rather good time with it and that’s the right feeling to have after a show this big.

 

 

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