New Japan Cup 2015

[shoe]

On 2/27/15 NJPW World had it's Road to the cup houseshow. It was a solid show. Nothing bad, but nothing great either. The opener of Fastlane had more storytelling than pretty much everything on this show.

 

1.Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu

 

I liked this. They've worked each other a ton. One thing I'll say these guys have worked each other a lot, but it doesn't have that cooperative feel to it. I really liked that build to the finish. 3*

 

2.Kushida & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Gedo & Jado

 

Man this was my favorite match of the night. It wasn't the best, but my favorite. The schtick that Gedo and Jado do in this was great. In fact Gedo on these houseshows has been one of my favorite performers. Easily the smartest worker on the roster. I'd love to see Gedo and Jado vs. The Time Splitters. I wish we got this style of match than all of those matches with Yano/Sakuraba etc. This was your southern tag in front of 75 people in a gym in Virginia. That is a compliment. 2 1/2*

 

3.Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jushin Liger vs. Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask

 

I really liked Tenzan and Kojima's interactions in this match and have hopes they can have a good singles match. I liked Liger and TM also, but not as much. This match was more about the match ups than the match. 2 1/2*

 

4. Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto

 

This was good. Goto and Nagata looked great against one another. The former champs isolate the Captain and work him over. Nagata had his moments to look good. Eventually the Captain couldn't hang. 2 3/4*

 

5.Tetsuya Naito & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi

 

This was a match I liked. Again the schtick really was well done with Taguchi. Naito and Okada had some nice exchanges. Taguchi is best used in this role. 2 3/4*

 

6.Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano.

 

I thought this was the best worked match on the show all because of Honma's FIP work. Honma was also on tremendous on offense. He was able to so draw me into the match. I wish we would have just gone from his FIP to the hot tag finish. We didn't get that and instead in watered the match down. Honma really does need a tag title run. 3*

 

 

 

 

[pol]

Very happy with the booking today. The main event scene has felt very stale lately, and to their credit they're finally going to main event a Sumo Hall show without Okada or Tanahashi. Of course they can still fuck it up by throwing Goto or Makabe in there, but I'm cautiously optimistic for now.

[shoe]

I thought the show was pretty good. What a downer to end the show on those 2 matches . The cup is showing how thin the roster is. They do need an injection of talent in some spots .

[Shining Wiz]

The roster might be top heavy, but it's hardly thin. And having two of the top three guys drop out clean in the first round shows they want to take some steps to rectify that.

 

That was a fun first round show. Couple of good matches, a big upset and what has to be rock bottom for Okada. I assume he gets revenge on Fale at Invasion Attack, then wins the G1 and beats AJ at Wrestle Kingdom.

 

Curious to see who wins the Cup now. With all three belts open to challenge, the winner could legitimately be anyone of the 8 left.

[shoe]

I don't know about any of the 8 could win. I can buy into 5 for sure, maybe 6. Yano and Takahashi are no way they'll win levels for me. Fale is a bubble pick. If Gedo doesn't mind the cup being mediocre then Fale has a chance.

 

In regards to talent they need to mix it up with fresh matchups. Booking Okada and Tanahashi with losses in night 1 is promising on fresh matchups.

[Shining Wiz]

They seem to see something in Takahashi. I could see him winning and challenging for the NEVER title again.

Yano is the least likely to win, but stranger things have happened.

As for Fale.....he just beat one of the triumverate at the top of the promotion clean and has the most protected finisher in New Japan. Like Takahashi, they see soemthing in him for some reason. One of them will be in the finals repping the Bullet Club.

[Dylan Waco]

I said when they announced the Never Title could be the title match that the winner requests that Makabe would win and challenge Ishii for the belt he never lost. I have no reason to believe that's not the case based on the first nights results.

[Shining Wiz]

Most likely outcome, I would agree. Especially after the first round.

 

 

Unless they're finally going to pull the trigger on Shibata. Haha

[Jmare007]

Night 1 upsets are almost mandatory in tournaments. I'm glad they kept the tradition and didn't go chalk with Tana and Okada though.

[shoe]

Night 1 thoughts

 

Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA, Yohei Komatsu & Jay White vs. Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka

 

I liked this match. Though it was rushed it felt like it was being paced for 20 minutes. Then bam done. I liked the Dorada and Kushida interactions. Solid opener. 2 1/2*

 

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi

2 guys I'm not at all interested in. This started a little off but it found its way and was solid stuff. Nothing special. 2 1/4*

 

 

Togi Makabe vs. Tomoaki Honma

 

Now we're talking. This was really good. Honma so far this year has been incredible. Like an easy top 10 worker year so far. He's been the best guy on the NJPW house shows. Here he was his great self. He put over Makabe stuff. He timed his comebacks. The crowd got behind him. Honma wasso great at selling here. Makabe was solid, but this was the Honma show. 3 1/2*

 

Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata

 

This was another good match. Both guys were just beating the crap out of each other. Just 2 dudes making you believe. Nothing fancy just a hard hitting affair. I liked how Shibata worked the leg while smacking Kojima in the back of the head. 3*

 

Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata

 

I really enjoyed the physicality mixed in with the mat work. A super fun match with good reversals. It also had some real crowd pleasing spots. 3 1/2*

 

Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan

 

This was a good match. It's just hard to get into a match that is so lopsided in main eventers. 2 1/2*

 

Kota Ibushi vs. Doc Gallows

 

I liked this match but it could have been better.I liked how Ibushi started with leg kicks. Gallows immediately uses his size and takes over. Gallows beats on him and uses power moves along with his physicality. They could have put some hope spots here and there. Their was a mistimed bump from Gallows to the outside. We go the finish. The key to the match was Ibushi's selling. It made the match. 3 1/4*

 

Tetsuya Naito vs. Karl Anderson

 

This was another good match. We start with Anderson apron bombing Naito . Anderson in control and this all good. As a hope spot Naito uses a standing senton onto Anderson. I hated that choice since the heat was set up with Anderson destroying the back. We get Anderson in control and he works the neck and back. We even see a top rope power bomb. We get Anderson teasing his finisher. Naito makes a comeback and a run at Anderson. Good stuff. A couple of things knocked it down for me like the back senton. Overall, good stuff. 3 3/4*

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yano

 

This finish was a shocker. At least it was short.

 

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale

 

These guys just don't work all that great with one another. Okada isn't Nakamura. Still plodding, and boring. 1 3/4*

 

 

Overall the show as a lot fun. Can't wait for the next one.

[Dylan Waco]

I just watched the show myself. I won't do a full review, but a few quick thoughts:

 

I thought it was a good, not great show. The worst things on it from my perspective were the Goto v. Nagata match which felt really, really long even though it wasn't and Yujiro v. Yoshi-Hashi which wasn't awful, but had nothing going for it either.

 

I thought the performances of both Ibushi and Honma were impressive. I like Gallows, but he doesn't click in NJPW at all for whatever reason, and I thought Ibushi carried that match with his selling, bumping and timing. I'm still not convinced he's a great wrestler,but he's had a hell of a run when it comes to output this year. The Honma performance was even more impressive because it was a complete and total carry job of a really mediocre wrestler in Makabe. It probably wasn't at the level of Honma's G1 2014 carry job of Fale, but it wasn't far off as he was making Makabe brawling spots look impactful and violent which is a tall order. Match built really well and the finish was great. I'd say at this point Honma is as good a pick as anyone for number one in the World so far this year.

 

Kojima/Shibata and Anderson/Naito were both frustrating to me in their own ways. I thought both were good matches, but both could have been great. Anderson/Naito was shockingly good as I'm not really a fan of either guy (I kind of loathe Anderson to be honest), but they built a nice match around the early Anderson assault, Naito making comebacks and Anderson killing him with big offense before he could put anything together. The problem I had with the match is that the final Naito comeback felt both flat, excessive and inorganic. It had a real post-comeback Shawn Michaels feel, where Naito was done being on the defensive, decided he had some spots he wanted to get nearfalls off of, and then he was going to hit his finish. I actually think Anderson should have won the match anyway given how it was set up, but if Naito was going to win that last comeback should have been more gradual and/or had less shit shoehorned in. With Kojima/Shibata the problem was the ridiculously long opening forearm exchange and the stupid and wildly unnecessary mirriored no sell spots down the stretch. Just lazy and pointless nonsense that is so overdone it doesn't even have meaning as a novelty anymore because you know it is coming. Shame because I liked the rest of it.

 

Captain New Japan doing parity mat exchanges with Sakuraba was absurd as was the effort of Tanahashi in his match with Yano. I can see why both things would be done, but both fall in the category of "if the WWE did this they'd be eviscerated" category.

 

I think shoe is being way too hard on Okada v. Fale. I thought it was perfectly fine as a main event, better than I thought it would be, and way better than it should have been considering how much time it got. That sad Okada's offense is pretty dire and it hurt the match at times as his offense is both fairly weak and not nearly varied enough. Say what you want about Fale, but his offense is actually better than Okada's.

[pol]

I said when they announced the Never Title could be the title match that the winner requests that Makabe would win and challenge Ishii for the belt he never lost. I have no reason to believe that's not the case based on the first nights results.

I find it hard to believe they didn't already have a winner in mind prior to the New Beginning shows. Ishii already declared himself the interim champion anyway so the implication is that match is happening regardless.

[Shining Wiz]

Decent quarter final show. Ibushi/Naito could be good, and Makabe/Goto will be hard hitting at least.

 

Highlight of today for me was Sho Tanaka getting considerable offense in on Tanahashi, and the crowd loving it.

[shoe]

This was an interesting show that I'd give a thumbs up to. It has me excited to see the Final 4 on Sunday. On paper this show looked pretty mediocre, but the matches exceeded my expectations.

 

 

Jay White vs. Yoshi-Hashi

 

This was a solid opener. Jay White looked real good again. I thought White's offense looked good. The match wasn't much, but they had a fun stretch of nearfalls. 1 3/4*

 

Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima vs. Kushida, Jushin Liger, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Captain New Japan and Tomoaki Honma

 

This is a tough match to rate. It had a lot of great moments, along with some great pairings. I just not sure how it translates into a match. The match they want us to want to see after this match was Tenzan/Kojima. I want to see Kushida/Dorada. That was the most ooooh ahhh pairing. Honma played a FIP that was solid. It would have been better if his opponents all were on the same page in working him over. I liked seeing Kushida trying to chop down Nakanishi. I feel Taguchi is better in multiple tags where his schtick is fun, as opposed to grating during a singles match. Tenzan's hotb tag was ok. I think the story telling might have been crisper if their were less people in the match. Still this was good 3*

 

Yohei Komatsu and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata and Sho Tanaka

 

This was my match of the night. The crowd was really excited to see the Young Lions mix it up with the main eventers. The story of the match was the Young Lions are ready to mix it up with the stars. The big guns gave them enough to keep it interesting. It was cool to see the Young Lions build the finish which was tremendous. 3 1/2*

 

Tama Tonga, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall vs.Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Tomohiro Ishii

 

This was a good match. We got some comedy early. It was a little sloppy in spots or the timing was a little off early. They got it together and had a fun match. Hall looked pretty athletic, but looked real green. I loved Ishii knocking his head off setting up the Razors Edge. Nakamura did amazing job working that finish. I thought this was one of the best performances I've seen Tama Tonga. He showed athleticism, and a lot of charisma. 2 3/4*

 

Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi

 

This match did nothing for me. I thought a lot of the strikes looked weak. The story they were telling was disjointed. I wasn't expecting a killer match, but this was worse than I thought it would be. 2 1/4*

 

Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi

 

This was a match that looked bad on paper. It still had its moments. 1 1/2*

 

Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito

 

This was a legit good match that was hurt that it went a few minutes too long. Fale was good working the back and using his weight and size to his advantage. Naito sold pretty good and might have been the best I've seen him at it. I've complained about Naito's selling in the past. I liked Naito's attempting to chop down Fale's leg to bring him to the mat. This was all good.Then it lost its way a bit toward the finish. Like they were doing stuff that didn't compliment the story they were telling. 2 1/2*

 

Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata

 

Another match I wasn't sure what to make of it. A lot of it I liked then they would do stuff that hurt the match. Main thing I hated was the no selling of the suplexes. I loved Shibata's work on the arm, and Goto selling it after using clotheslines. Shibata went after it late in the match, I just didn't understand why he didn't go after it more. Eventually Goto catches Shibata in a Key Lock, and Shibata doesn't sell it as well as Goto. I liked the match, but it had a lot of inconsistencies. 3 1/4*

[pol]

I thought the show was just a blow away great match away from being a Show of the Year contender. I enjoyed everything except for Yujiro/Makabe and Shibata/Goto. The show was really boosted by everyone in the undercard tag matches working hard, which is by no means a guarantee on New Japan shows.

 

I agree with shoe re: really wanting to see KUSHIDA/Dorada. That has the potential to be a feud you could rebuild the Junior division around.

 

I thought the young lions match and Fale/Naito were both really good. It was surprising to see how much they gave the young lions - makes me wonder if they're going to bother with the excursion deal or just promote them to 'real wrestler' status soon. Fale worked hard. I thought the match was possibly better than his match with Nakamura, which I guess would make it the best match of Fale's career.

 

Yujiro trying to break Makabe's neck on the buckle bomb was scary. Shibata/Goto was as dumb as all their matches are, but lacked the heat that would normally carry them - it seemed to have that WWE undercard style crowd reaction, where the fans pop for the big spots but aren't actually hot for the match. Not only do matches between these two lean heavily on the most annoying tropes of modern New Japan, but they don't even utilise them correctly - the mirror suplex no-sell spot came at a completely random point in the match to little reaction from the crowd. Just doing stuff for the sake of doing it. That said, I do generally enjoy Shibata and Goto going over left a bad taste in my mouth to end the show. Not at all looking forward to a Goto/Makabe match and one of them being in the finals if not winning the whole thing. Either Naito or Ibushi (and preferably Ibushi) has to win this thing. The top of the card is so stale right now and adding one of those guys into the mix would really help shake things up.

[shoe]

I watched the last show before the Cup finals set for Sunday. This was a pretty ho hum show.

 

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Sho Tanaka

 

I liked this match. You had Taguchi working over Tanaka's leg. Which Tanaka sold well. He also mixed in his schtick and Butt strikes. Tanaka was great at showing fire and fighting underneath. They timed Tanaka's comebacks well and overall it was fun. 2 1/2*

 

Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask and Mascara Dorada vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Yohei Komatsu and Hiroyoshi Tenzan

 

I thought this had some moments, but overall lacked direction. Seemed everyone was concerned in pushing forward their own agenda, while not treating this as a match. Had more of a Lucha 1 st caida feeling out process with people just pairing up. 1 3/4*

 

Captain New Japan and Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata

 

This was solid. I like Goto and Shibata as a team. The Nagata exchanges were good. It just felt like the Captain felt out of place . 2 1/2*

 

Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall

 

Another match that had it's highs and lows. I liked Honma's FIP work but felt it had no consequences to it. I liked Honma's missing of the headlock when Anderson was caught in the backbreaker stretch. That was a nice little twist on a common spot. I thought the finish was a bit overkill. Hall showed the same excact amount as he did on the previous day show. They do a good job hiding his greeness with some flashy spots. 2 3/4*

 

 

Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida and Togi Makabe

 

This was my match of the night. They played up the results of the booking from the 1st 2 nights of the Cup. Tanahashi wanting Yano. Makabe and Ishii wanting each other. I thought Kushida was the star of the match. he was great at working spots with Gedo when he was on offense. He was real good at FIP On top of it he did a nice dive along with Tanahashi to set up a good finish with the King Kong Knee Drop onto Gedo.Gedo again does a solid job on the houseshows carrying his side in the ring with some help from Ishii. Yano was real good here as well playing cheating chicken shit heel. It felt like a real match with something at stake. 3 *

 

Shinsuke Nakamura, Yoshi Hashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi

 

A pretty cookie cutter match. Where everyone had their spot in the match. Again Tonga showed some real good personality in the match. 2 1/2*

[hammerva]

I realize that he is probably not even a top 15 guy in terms of ability in the ring but man I do love Toru Yano. He has got that goofy crazy vibe to him. When I saw that he was involved in backstage/outside stuff on the new Okada DVD I thought it looked amazing. His cheating is top notch. Granted I haven't seen him in a match over 4 minutes so I am sure if I watch stuff before 2015 I would be considered a moron.

 

I really enjoy watching the new young lions right now but I feel like an idiot because I always get Tanaka and Komatsu mixed up. Good thing that Komatsu has the shoulder wrap now. But really loved the tag match from 3/8 involving them and Ngata and Tanahashi. In the big US com the rookies are taught to almost be scared of the top guys and they were like fuck it I want to kick your ass and prove myself.

 

Would like to see Ibushi win but it looks like Makabe is a lock to win this. In booking terms it makes sense to go against Ishii but man those are definition of "if you seen them once you seen them a million times" with me

[Bierschwale]

Makabe for a NEVER challenge seems totally pointless. It's not like that they'd need him winning to justify booking an Ishii-Makabe title match.

 

I have to think that it'll be Ibushi for a 1/4 rematch.

[shoe]

I was pretty shocked at the Observer letter feedback. We all have our biases. Me I love limb work.Seeing someone give Ibushi vs Yano 3 3/4* stars is crazy. The match barely got 3 minutes.

[hammerva]

Giving a star rating to that match is like giving a star rating to a squash match. Trying to rate a match that was all based on cheating and fooling their opponent is just stupid. My guess is that the same people rated this higher than Ibushi vs Homna which I loved <_>

[tim]

That Shibata/Honma tag match was a blast, great stuff. Easily the best match on the finals.

[shoe]

The Finals was a good show. I'm glad we are going to see an Ibushi vs Styles match in April. Though I don't think it's time for Ibushi or Styles to lose.

 

Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Liger, Jay White and Kushida

 

This was a fun opener and it seemed to get enough time. It wasn't rushed or too crowded. The highlight was the big dive train. I enjoy Taguchi stuff much better in the 6 man format better. Kushida needs a more prominent spot in the promotion. A great worker with big time personality.He'd be over more than Itami in NXT. 3 1/4*

 

Yuji Nagata and Sho Tanaka vs. Satoshi Kojima and Yohei Komatsu

 

This was another solid bout. It felt more about the moments than the match itself. Nagata's selling was pretty hokey at times. I was surprised at Komatsu scoring the victory for his team. 2 3/4*

 

Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto

 

The opening brawl was fun. I liked when it settled down Goto focused on Makabe's leg.It also made sense to work on Makabe's legs since it's a big component of his finisher. The work was well done on the leg. Makabe's Hulk up irritated me. I also wasn't digging Makabe's inconsistent selling. I did like how the leg work tied into the finish. Still the good outweighed the bad. 3*

 

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

 

This was my match of the night The parity thing at the start made no sense since Naito controlled the match..Seeing Naito work on top was interesting and it worked because it didn't require him to as much. I loved Naito's working over Ibushi's neck area. . I loved Ibushi's comebacks because it was based on revenge spots on Naito's neck area. Naito's selling of that spike move was off the charts and I almost believed he was hurt. I would have liked that as the finish though. 4*

 

Katsuyori Shibata and Tomoaki Honma vs. Cody Hall and Tama Tonga

 

This is the perfect example of fun match. Honma and Shibata are the partners that can't get along. They were great as the Odd Couple tag team. They had a few fun spots and their schtick was the story of the match. Gotta give Cody Hall major props here. He carried the majority of the match for his side and he 's pretty raw right now.. 3*

 

Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Captain New Japan

 

I liked Sakuraba and Tanahashi at the start. Sakuraba owning Captain NJ on the mat was perfect. Yano played his role well. The lead up to the finish was the shits . The NJPW super fans are ready to riot. 2 1/4*

 

Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Yoshi Hashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada

 

I thought this was ok. Chaos looked good. The Bullet Club was kinda just there. The main story was Fale/Okada and that's where it ended. Yoshi Hashi was FIP for a bit and that was pretty mediocre. Ishii then went FIP for a drink of water and he made his own comeback. The Bullet Club offense was mediocre. 2 1/2*

 

Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi

 

This is for the NJPW Cup. That spin bump on the apron by Ibushi was pretty damn sick.Ibushi does a great glassy eye sell job like Barry Windham used to do so well.I like Goto following up from the previous match and targeting Ibushi's neck. Not a fan of no selling German Suplexes. They build a finish with a lot of nearfalls. 3 1/4*

[Dylan Waco]

I was kind of lukewarm on the final. I didn't hate anything on the show, but the only matches that really grabbed me were the opener - which was fun but not great - and the Honma/Shibata v. Bullet Club D-Team match. I did get a kick out of Tanahashi being the worst guy in a match involving Yano, Cpt. New Japan and Sakuraba, and Ibushi winning was the right decision, but as a whole the show did little for me.

 

Edit: Ibushi v. Naito was decent enough I guess, but some of the stuff missed badly, the timing was really off at times, and I thought the build was all wrong. The head drop heavy, tribute to late 90's AJPW was perversely entertaining, but as a whole the match was more what I feared it might be, than what I hoped it could be.