Makai Club #1

This has been a feud that's been going for a while now. Naito has beaten Tanahashi a few times now, once in the New Japan Cup in 2010, got Tanahashi to a draw, which was a win for Naito at that stage and then in the G1 in 2011, but this was his big shot at the title. The match had was a bit bland for the first half of the match, Naito dominating Tanahashi, establishing himself as a force and Tanahashi working the leg but it was very paint by numbers. The match got better as the match progressed when there was little more back and forth and Naito looking to finish off Tanahashi. Tanahashi's dragon screws near the end added some nice drama to it with Naito having to sell the leg much more and it having a bigger factor into the match. The tap out tease with Tanahashi locking on the cloverleaf was excellent. Naito began to come alive while making his comebacks which I liked a lot. It was the only time he really seemed to have any fire. The finish was decent but wasn't that homerun they were going for. The match I think really tried to have that epic feel that solidifies Naito as a main eventer but so much of the match was just generic and was done so much better in most Tanahashi title defences of the year (Nakamura, Goto, Kojima, etc). Don't get me wrong, this had a ton of good things in it but it just left you with the feeling of disappointment at the same time. ***1/4

Short little match but they go nuts having a bit of everything in one setting and it works perfectly. Tajiri at one point, goes from saying Guido's tights stink when he pulls them in the "show you arse" spot to going to town on Guido's cut which he split open with two consecutive running chair shots. This isn't just the Yoshihiro Tajiri show though. Guido is great in the match. Love his selling, he brought tons of aggressiveness to his offence and his playing to the crowd only got them more into it. ***3/4

Like Tanahashi, Okada, he is very formulatic. It can work at its absolute best but it's something I find myself burned out on. And that's from someone who loves watching New Japan main events most of the time, so it's safe to assume Miyahara has something to do with it. I wouldn't agree with the best in the world talk at all though. Miyahara is more like top 20-50, especially in 2019. Just too many lacklustre performances for me. But he does have some class matches. Both Zeus matches last year (21/10/18 & 27/07/18), Suwama (09/10/17), Shuji Ishikawa (27/08/17)

This was a very good match. I think the match went a bit too long, had a few no-selly moments at the end but mostly a well worked technical battle. They incorporated each other’s size differences well with Hero getting most of the leverage, using strength to get certain holds while Hidaka had to find holes in Hero’s game and work it to his advantage. Hero’s work on Hidaka’s arm was the main focus, and there was some good work done. Hidaka sold it nicely as well. A better finish, a better match but this was still pretty great. ****

Classic BxB Hulk entrance~! Hulk just radiates stardom. Some beautifully fluid exchanges between BxB Hulk and CIMA early on. WORLD-1 do a superb job of establishing control early on with Speed Muscle, being the best tag team in Dragon Gate history, along with BxB Hulk’s coolness on offence staying ahead of WARRIORS with some good tag work. The switches of control were solid, helping the match along, allowing the commentum flow. The triple team work by WARRIORS was also good - that triple drop kick was insane in both theory and execution. And GAMMA hitting BxB’s little Hulks with a kendo kick was brutal. Great heel work that establishing the difference between the teams. Loved it coming back to haunt him with a great little comedy spot that didn’t detract at all. Dragon Kid really stood out in the match. Loved the interactions with all of WORLD-1, the Yoshino hurricanrana/powerbomb sequence especially. The FIP section Dragon Kid had was a great mix of tag wrestling and great selling. One thing Dragon Gate matches excel at and do better than anyone is the chaotic finishing stretches where everyone comes in and goes nuts. It’s both chaotic but worked perfectly. Seamless action - it’s incredible. The finish with BxB Hulk protecting Yoshino who has the Sol Nociente locked on GAMMA as well. It was just incredible wrestling. Great tag team action, great individual sequences, great performances all round. ****3/4

This was everything I expected it to be but even more. Usually both guys, Davey especially, have great ideas but lack the follow through or the pay off to fully utilise it correct but here he did. Loved the early strike exchange but I loved Davey wanting to isolate Ibushi’s arm use to neutralize his supperios strikes. And the fact that he kept it up the entire match just brings his performance together. The work on the arm was great, as was the use of it for the finish. Ibushi was exclectiiying with his aerial dives and strikes as well. He worked superbly as the underneath wrestler. A heck of a match. Much more well rounded than I thought. ****1/4

This was too raw for me. Seriously. The stiff strikes. The scarily realistic screams of agony. This is wrestling! The fact that there isn't much people at the shows makes this even better as you can hear each individual cheer and talk about the match. Hero's work on the knee was so nasty and violent. The horrible (as in good) ankle picks were a nice touch to add onto the knee work, as well. Totally blew me away. ****3/4

Different ball game from the G1 Finals match. Kojima now has Taichi by his side, he has turned heel after attacking Tanahashi in December. This is the Tokyo Dome, could he pull off the win in his element? Loved the battle of the individual limb works really on with Tanahashi attacking the strong arm of Kojima and Kojima attacking the leg of Tanahashi. Kojima comes across well in the aggressive role. Especially against Tanahashi’s flashy offence and he has the facials for it. I loved some of the counters they had for each other, or the little struggle they would have whenever they would attempt something big, like Tanahashi countering Kojima cutter midair with an elbow which looked awesome. Their selling was really good as well. It wasn’t crippling pain in a way where they couldn’t move, rather than take a little longer to hit or follow up on certain moves. Also, big credit to Tanahashi. He doesn’t really strike me as someone who takes spine chilling bumps but he took a wicked neck bump on the apron after a Kojima lariat. The finishing stretch was really well done as well. Tanahashi doing some dragon screws on the arm of Kojima which prevented Kojima making the immediate cover once he hit the lariat a few minutes later. The nearfalls for the dragon suplexes that Tanahashi was teasing for the entire match. And it was kept pretty brief compared to today’s standards as well and it made for a quick and fulfilling finish. So back to the “can Tanahashi do it” question. Yes. Yes, he can. Great match. It felt much bigger than most main events of this era that I watched. The Dome atmosphere, the match layout. Everything felt big. ****

I remember watching this live and all I remember from it is the little kid chanting “let’s go cena” for the entire time. One part of me was annoyed and wanted him to shut up but the other part makes me feel for him seeing his hero get destroyed. So yeah, let’s go Cena. A hot fire start with Lesnar going right in for the kill early, hitting the F5 which set off the pure dominance that Lesnar had the entire match. Cena’s selling for the entire match was great. Loved his desperate attempts at mounting a comeback only for Brock to shut him down - the AA nearfall was amazing. Lesnar’s suplexes were brutal as you can get outside of the neck drop era of All Japan with Cena landing right on top of his head. Lesnar proved his greatness by mocking the Undertaker sit up and sticking his tongue out on Cena who is trying to recover in the corner - what a guy! One of the best squashes ever! ****1/4

Loved both guys and the match but it’s not without its criticism. For one, the match felt way too long. It was a great 20 minute match that went 40. So it felt bloated and admittedly a little dry in parts. The early work was good and simple. It played off the set up well (thank you, video package). Bate sold fairly well but I really didn’t like him doing the “strong boi” spots that he does. It wasn’t the match for it and it didn’t respect the back work or the weight difference nearly as I liked but I wouldn’t say he no sold it completely. I would just want a little less power moves from Bate. Especially early on. Maybe one or two here to make it matter more. The ending wasn’t great either. Went on way past its peak. The rest was a well worked match had two very good performance. Bate worked the underdog role well and WALTER fit the big man monster well too. Even if it got marred down by the forced epicness of every Takeover main event trope. ***3/4

I didn’t like this as much the second time round. It was just a basic back and forth match with momentum switching back and forth every now and again, and that can work sometimes but it felt way too surface level to be anything than solid. It could’ve done with it being shorter but a bigger narrative mid match. It felt like a match you’d see two random wrestlers on Raw have, not Kenny Omega and PAC. Wasn’t terrible but I wanted more. Omega’s facial expressions were really bad all match as well. Like really bad. **1/2

Live experience makes it so much better. I bought a ticket to see an Okada match and I got a hell of a smackfest. I was in complete awe of Okada. The guy had a magnatism that you couldn't take your eyes from and Suzuki... oh well he made sure it was him that you couldn't take your eye off. For the longest match of the show by a considerable margin, this was superbly wel paced. The early 5 minutes breeze by with the two masters of wrestling, controlling the crowd, playing off each other and their other matches well. Which then built and built until they had an awesome strike off. The striking from Suzuki was amazing - his elbows were viscous and pinpoint as was his slaps. Okada sold every strike like a champ - the pain after each shot, the determination to not let Suzuki win the battle by getting back up and firing off his own even if they didn't have any effect. The closing stretch was top notch, also. Great drama with the dropkicks being used to great effect and the teasing the Gotch piledriver. Just two fantastic performances that was able to take components of their previous matches and up the ante for the unfamiliar (ish) crowd. This is everything I wanted from these two and then some. ****3/4

Slow start with both men feeling each other out with pushes into the ropes until they brawl on the outside. Then the match starts getting better when Nakamura starts heeling it up a bit, going to town on Goto’s midsection with his brual knee strikes and kicks. There is a really good sequence when Namakura locks on a cross armbreaker out of nowhere with Goto broke with a stomp, leading to a nasty breaker on the ropes which Nakamura sells excellently. The match grew from that point on with Goto bring out his biggest bombs like the Ushigoorishi and Nakamura getting more depertete and urgent in his attacks. Nakamura has a great cross arm breaker counter when Goto tries to hit the GTR, jumping up and headscissoring Goto over into the move. The strike exchanges were so well done too. They didn’t go to long and they lead to the finish with Goto hitting a big lariat with a running lariat attempt countered into a knee by Nakamura and then the Boma Ye for the finish! So the match turned into a great one after a mediocre start. Nakamura’s selling was great. His bumping for Goto made Goto look like a force to be reckoned with and I loved the urgency he had near the end of the match, not wasting any time hitting the Boma Ye when he got the chance to. Goto was rather bland as the fight from beneath guy early on but excelled more as he gained control. ****

Pre-Weirdo Nakamura! I know people prefer Nakamura’s character later on, but I love his serious demeanor. There is something “big match” about it. And against someone like Takayama, you need to match his intensity. The first half of the match is all Takayama - a real mauling. Takayma lays in the strikes hard early on and completely nosells Nakamura’s (weak) forearms. And beats on Nakamura with his brutal knees on the outside, and then, in a great feel moment, he makes the count to 10 himself. And then he elbows Nakamura right on the bridge of the nose! Nakamura sells really well too. He really seems out of it at times, just lying motionless. Nakamura slowly starts to get back into the match though and keeps up the selling, taking more time to pull things off like the german suplex, for example. Nakamura has some really nasty knee strikes to the stomach that would make any normal person vomit. Loved the counter from Nakamura from a clothesline attempt into an armbreaker. Nakamura following it up with kicks to the elbow was even better. There was some really good struggles for it later on with Takayama breaking out of an armbar stomping on Nakamura’s face which was followed up by a wicked knee to the face - a call back to their more famous match in six years prior. The finish of Takayama and Nakamura exchanging punches and kicks allowing Nakamura to catch Takayama off guard and nail the Boma Ye was absolutely amazing. Had me off my seat. Great way to end the match, highlight both guys strengths (Takayma’s strikes and Nakamura’s wit and counters). Never watched this match before I don’t believe, never really hear it brought up as a match to even watch let along a great match. But that’s what this was. Takakyama looked like a total behemoth beating the hell out of Nakamura with his violent offence. Nakamura brought him great selling to the match, some great counters and striking too. Excellent main event for the Tokyo Dome. Maybe I'm overrating it but what the hell. ****1/2

A typical Tanahashi start to a match. There was a solid exchange on the mat with both ringling around, grabbing limbs and reversing them. Shiozaki fluffed an armdrag sadly but his wicked chops more than made up for it. Loved the transition into Tanahashi attacking the leg with Tanahashi blocking a knee lift attempt and dropping Shiozaki while in the ropes. The usual Tana idiosyncrasies take place - stomps to the knee, the knee bar. Unfortunately Shiozaki blew it off pretty much straight away not showing any signs of Tanahashi’s attacks. The little sequences with the spinning back fist into a superkick leading to the slingblade was really good and sometimes they can come across as contrived but it didn’t here. There was a good near fall by Shiozaki, which is a good accomplishment considering he is facing Tanahashi in the Dome, where he hits some of his biggest bombs followed by a moonsault. The finishing stretch was a bit weak unfortunately. Shiozaki had a big chunk off offence and then Tanahashi made a comeback and that was that. It never felt “earned” to me, although the set up for the Dragon Suplex near fall was slick as hell. I do wish they kept on with the initial leg based offence early on but I think it was probably for the best. The rest of the match was really good. Shiozaki got a bunch on Tanahashi, got some really good nearfalls and looked good for the most part, until the easy loss. Tanahashi did a good job from fighting from beneath. Tana has great comeback offence for the most part but he doesn’t feel go all out for the finish, I feel. Probably indicative of the spot on the card. ***1/2

Loved the hesitant, slow start of the match. Since this was impromptu, it makes sense that everyone wants to start off slow. A few of these wrestlers wrestled earlier as well. So it’s natural to take your time and let the match progress. There is some really smart wrestling, short in and out tags. Also some small details that set apart the two teams with Generation Next being the more aggressive and heelish group early on. There is an awesome section of the match where the face team show great tag team chemistry when they trap Jack Evans into their corner, have short turns making Evans pay for GenNext’s crimes. Evans bumping was really good during this part, that flip bump for Mark Briscoe’s lariat especially. Roddy showed his big promise in the match. At one point, he spat at the face team while Mark Briscoe was crawling to the corner,to bait them into the ring and prevent the tag. The escalation of violent and action was superb. The pace of the match getting a bit more frantic, a bit more intense as the match progressed. A great mix of tag and singles wrestling. The whole pacing of the match was just excellent and helped the run time of 40 minutes wiz by. It’s hard to pick an MVP. Maybe Roddy gets my pick but everyone was superb and played their roles well regardless of how big or small it was. ****3/4

Miyu Yamashita pummeled Misao early in the match with some nasty kicks, and knees to when she trapped her in the corner which was awesome. Sakisama doing the paradise lock (eat your heart out SANADA) and then sitting on Miu Watanabe was great heel work. And then baiting Yamashita to come in and move out of the way of her dropkick, which then hit Watanabe was just the tip of the iceberg. Biishiki-Gun as a duo worked well together, cutting off the ring, working so viciously on Miu’s arm. Yamashita when she came in looked top level with how smooth and finesse she is. Everything she did came across as flawless from her strikes to simple things such as snapmares. Her strike battle with Sakisama was awesome. It didn’t feel aimless or pointless, every strike had poise and painful intent behind it. Miu’s run on offence was so much fun. She has that uncanny ability to make you root for her. She had that plucky underdog offence that works so well when you have the domineering wrestlers in the match alongside you. The match got streamers after the fact and trust me, this was well earned. ****1/4

Well, this blew my expectations out of the water. Gisele Shaw looked very awkward making her entrance and I thought she was going to be a total stiff in the ring. Even her first headlock looked so wooden but then she totally blew me away. I loved Shaw's condescending heel performance early on. When she offered a handshaw with that fake smile which slowly turned into a look of intent, I just smiled. Shaw using her size to her advantage really well, putting tons of aggression behind her offence, also blending that with her great athleticism. Her strikes in the match was actually pretty good, at one point she cut off a Natsumi Maki comeback with a nasty punch to the stomach.The selling by Natsumi Maki was very, very good and made Shaw look that much better - her screams made Shaw pulling into the corner post seam all the more painful. The attempted comebacks by Natsumi Maki were incredibly well done. They were filled with a ton of fire, they respected the size difference and was cut off at the right moments. What I think the match did well was to keep its momentum going. Even in the down points of the match, which weren’t many, they were able to recover or get back into the swing of things well. Like the “sort-of” messed up Springboard cutter. I think the finish could have been executed better. However, this was a cracking match overall with two very good performances. Both lead into each other’s strengths and made each other look great. ****

This match is known for a few things. One, Necro has shoes!! Motherfucker. And two, it was done just hours after the classic Joe vs Necro match in the same arena for IWA Mid-South. The match were Necro face-planted off a scoop slam, and here he is ucking it up in CZW having yet another wild brawl. Legend. Toby Kelin running out without Necro and getting assaulted 2 on 1 was great and got the crowd to go mental for Necro’s arrival even more son. Klein getting split open so early ruled also. The crowd brawling that went backstage was phenomenal. The crowd either scattered or run towards the action. This is where the bumps got insane. Necro being thrown into the steel shutter with so much velocity, Gage getting a gusher by having his head rammed into said shutter. Klein suplexes Pain on the road outside the building and being thrown off the balcony, feet first!! And by the end of it, everyone is covered in each others and their own blood. There is also a great ECW/Chairs homage spot which suited the match more than you’ll usually see it. But one of my favourite parts of the match was the punches. I usually hate the spot where two wrestlers would sit and chairs and do whatever but the stiffness in these punches made it all worth it. You could hear Necro’s potatoes to Gage’s head. Great spot. The finish was sadly messed up with the time keeper ringing the bell too early. Oh well. And Zandig announced rematch afterwards! Yay! ****1/2

Both men have a little rep of getting a bit too cutesy with the suplex no sells/fighting spirit spots and cutesy this was. Mainly towards the end. It wasn't a total turn off but I do think they could've done much better. The rest of the match was perfectly fine. I think they did a great job of getting the crowd into the match, not like they needed any help, and played to them well. It just didn't grab me a whole lot. It didn't drag or seem unwatchable, it just felt there. **1/2

The match starts off like any traditional big match, rather slow and hesitant. Big feeling out process to gauge each other due to the size difference. Before they quickly start hitting big chops, and by “they, I mean Okabayashi leathering Nomura up with vicious sounding chops. Nomura got his spots in early with his hard kicks and begins to target the arm, even getting the better of the champion before falling victim to Okabayashi’s chops once again. Nomura’s kicks to the arm sounded great. The audio made it painfully clear how forceful the shots were. He had some nice arm submissions, like the Octopus Stretch. Which lead to a great visual of Okabayashi, with him being a giant beast of a man, being strong enough to walk to the ropes with Nomura still hanging on like a vice. Nomura kept going after the arm whenever Okabayashi went on offence. Okabayashi’s selling of the arm, for the most part, was good. Nomura throwing closed fists and giant suplexes near the end was great in a sort of “I'm getting desperate to beat him” way. Gave him something new and different to build upon in this match, with it after all being his big coming-out party. The finishing stretch with Okabayashi fight back against Nomura was good. Kinda basic with it not being as emphatic as I thought it could've been, as far as Okabayashi was concerned. Still. I thought this was a very good match. A hell of a Nomura performance with his great assaults on the arm, his desperation near the end when Okabayashi was getting back into it. This was his match and he more than earned it. Okabayashi was also good, even if I haven't really praised him. His selling was good, it could've easily been forgotten about and whilst his comeback felt run of the mill, it was a pretty good mill at that. His chops were brutal as always and he put over Nomura greatly. ****1/4

Not much of a match since all the lumberjacks attacked Nash. nash got the taser and beat all of them, kidnapped Gorgeous George and went off with Torrie, who was quite happy to leave with Nash. And of course, Sting was in a hummer (was he driving the hummer). The only problem was it was Black. Lol.

I've always been someone who wasn't a huge fan of these matches. Didn't hate any of them, but like most NXT matches, I thought it was slightly over hyped. It's similar to this match. It's a very good match but I wouldn't give it high marks like some/most would. The Revival do an excellent job of establishing their roles in the match. Whilst making their entrance, DIY were standing on the ropes and Scott Dawson, in a moment of simple & pure genius, pushes him off and taunts him. Lovely touch that was just a sums up what they did in their match. I adore their bruiser approach to things. Constant communication to keep on top, tagging in and out and hitting some double team offence. You got a bunch of that in this match. DiY are very likable and their offence suited being the underdogs perfectly. Ciampa was excellent as the FIP and Revival maximized that further with their great cutoffs. The closing stretch didn't grab me as much as it should've. The near falls weren't as dramatic as they were intended to be, imo, but I do acknowledge the crowd bought into it. The finish was extremely clever too. ****

This was just nothing. The first two falls were so filled with nothing. Paint by numbers on an engeigous level. Basic can usually be better but this was basic on top of basic. The third fall was better in parts. Much better tag wrestling with the two interacting more past house show offence. Disliked the forced drama at the end where Dawson seemed more pre occupied by telling Dash not to tap then sell the seemingly "painful" hold locked upon him. Big step down from their last match. **1/2

This was it, their time to show me that they are the “GOAT” like people are saying about them and they didn’t deliver one bit. I thought Trish out in a ton of effort but her output was so mediocre. She is very athletic but most of her offence lacks any fire and looks flimsy as hell. That odd rope assistant lucha roll that she pulled off earlier in the match is a perfect example of that. Charlotte did absolutely nothing to make me care about the match. Her beat down of Trish was so paint by numbers, very boring to sit through. And hearing her unenthusiastically trash talking doesn’t help things one bit. The crowd came alive for Trish’s comeback but that’s really all the praise I can give it.