shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 If you're up follow along. This is a weird show on paper. In the end I think it will deliver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 1. Captain New Japan, Kushida, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Máscara Dorada, Tiger Mask and Yuji Nagata Poor guys having to bump for Nakanishi. Plus he gives Nagata a bloody lip. We get a great dive train capped off by a Nakanishi dive. A sold opener. They seemed to work around Nakanishi's shittyness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Thought the 8-man opener was better than usual. I liked the Nakanishi comedy rack spot and the dive train was a lot of fun. Rare non-Fantasticamania "dive" (term used loosely) from Nakanishi. KUSHIDA looked like the best guy in the match as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Young Lions was tag was good. Not sure it was better than the six-man from earlier in the week but still good in its own right. Best part was the near falls and crabs at the end from the young lions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Kota Ibushi and Yohei Komatsu vs. Sho Tanaka and Tetsuya Naito The opening of this has been super fun. They built well to the Naito/Ibushi part of the match. Though it lost a little steam getting there. Komatsu and Tanaka have such great strikes. A great near submission on a Tanaka crab. Komatsu's 1/2 crab was slick and we get ourselves a good finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 3. Bad Luck Fale, Cody Hall and Tama Tonga vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma Can Honma carry this? I liked Tonga and Cody's misdirection spot. I liked how it set up the shine. All 6 guys brawling on the outside. Bullet Club has control when the action gets back in the ring. Cody's gordbuster with Tonga onto Tenzan was a fun spot. Hot tag to Honma. Honma ate the discuss clothesline like a beast. He took a nasty bump. Honma finishes it. Man these matches are over delivering. Another good bout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 4. Roppongi Vice (Baretta and Rocky Romero) © vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship I really like all 3 teams in this. The Romero hug spot popped me. People talk about all the cool shit these guys do. For me it's how they incorporate or how they put modern twists on tag team tropes, along their other elements.The dives were fun. That superplex to the floor on the aftermath of the dives was awesome. So many hot moves. Pretty awesome match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Not much heat for the junior tag. Was just okay most of the way but picked up for the final few minutes. Romero was great. reDRagon were largely background players. Good match that didn't blow me away and the lack of heat in the midst of all the big moves was distracting at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Omega's shtick would be fine it was drawing heat, but its not. All the garbage can stuff was cute in theory but didn't add to the match in any meaningful way. In some ways, he is trying too hard. I think he would be more effective if he dialed everything back just a little. Shelley looked good. Liked the KUSHIDA & Young Bucks stuff. Great near fall on the Sliced Bread #2. Okay match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 5. Kenny Omega © vs. Alex Shelley for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Shelley seems pumped to have a showcase singles match. Some nice chain wrestling to start. Omega going after the back. A garbage can. Christ. Shelley is selling with Omega working on top. Now we get a broom. Omega is Dean Ambrose . Shelley's DDT to the floor was sick. Diving stomp to the head by Shelley. Omega gets his knees up on a dive. I've really like Shelley in this especially focusing on Omega's neck. This was good, but the gimmicks hurt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Poor Liger has to watch the time he fell to Maria's charms during the intermission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 6. Amber Gallows, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven and Michael Bennett in a six-person tag team match This has over the top mess written all over it. Can those camera shots get any closer? Well Maria is pretty damn fast. All things considered it could have been worse, still pretty bad. I love Maria gets the fall. Post match Anderson seems to be done with Maria. A kick in the balls will do that to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Love how every Yano pin attempt on Tanahashi gets a big reaction because of how good of a job they've done in establishing that he can beat him at anytime with any move. Sakuraba/Shibata interaction was strong yet again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 7. Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata and Togi Makabe The Shibata/Sakuraba stuff is so superior to the rest of the pairings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hirooki Goto for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship I thought this was an action packed match that told a really good story. I was shocked at the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Really enjoyed the show - first half was particularly enjoyable, perhaps due to it being unexpectedly good? Slight lull after intermission with the Maria shenanigans which were thankfully brief. Remainder of the card built nicely to a fantastic main event. Highly enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi This was a solid tag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 I give the show a thumbs in the middle/leaning up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InYourCase Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Poor Liger has to watch the time he fell to Maria's charms during the intermission. Liger making motorboat sounds on commentary was the greatest. Eight-Man Opener: *** Ibushi & Komatsu vs. Naito & Tanaka: ***1/4 Bullet Club B Team vs. TenKoji & Honma: **1/2 RPG Vice vs. reDRagon vs. Young Bucks: ***3/4 Omega vs. Shelley: *** Six-Person Fiasco: DUD Sakuraba, Yano, & Ishii vs. Tanahashi, Shibata, & Makabe: **3/4 Styles & Yujiro vs. Okada & YOSHI-HASHI: **1/4 Nakamura vs. Goto: N/R I have very mixed feelings about this card. The first two matches and the Jr. Tag Title match were all fun. Hell, Nakanishi’s dive was the best thing I’ve seen all year. Four out of the five Bullet Club performances, however, were bad. A Honma win is typically great but being in Fukuoka sucks the life out of anything that should be exciting. Wasn’t feeling the Omega match. I had high expectations going in and this wasn’t what I was hoping for. Take out the trash can spots and I think I would’ve really liked it. On a positive note, I thought Omega’s post-match promo was excellent. Nothing needs to be said about the IG match. “Serious Love Story” made me pop but I absolutely hated this match. The next two multi-man matches were there. For once in my lie I didn’t like something Ishii did. I thought he and Makabe’s felt forced. I liked their match earlier in the week but this wasn’t a good continuation of that. Yano throwing a water bottle at Tanahashi makes me laugh every time. The rest of the act doesn’t. I saw the main event but I don’t remember a thing about it. Will be rewatching it later today. So the undercard, sans Omega/Shelley, over delivered. It was fun to watch at the very least. The second half of the show sucked. Obviously that’s without rating the main event, but the three matches before that were dull and not enjoyable at all. Thumbs in the middle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 My star ratings for the show 1. Captain New Japan, Kushida, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Máscara Dorada, Tiger Mask and Yuji Nagata 2 3/4* 2. Kota Ibushi and Yohei Komatsu vs. Sho Tanaka and Tetsuya Naito 3* 3. Bad Luck Fale, Cody Hall and Tama Tonga vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma 2 1/2* 4. Roppongi Vice (Baretta and Rocky Romero) © vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 4* 5. Kenny Omega © vs. Alex Shelley for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 2 3/4* 6. Amber Gallows, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven and Michael Bennett in a six-person tag team match 3/4* 7. Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata and Togi Makabe 2 3/4* 8 .A.J. Styles and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi 2 3/4* 9 .Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hirooki Goto for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship 3 3/4* A total thumbs in the middle card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Watched the first half of the show thus far. The Young Bucks are officialy the most annoying act going today. Followed closely by Kenny Omega doing a DDP circa 95 tribute while he's trying to channel Brian Pillman. I dunno, all those matches with a gazillions death moves that don't even get a nearfall just lose me really quick. Yeah, it looks cool sometimes, it look akward and stupid at times too, but you don't even have time to register what is happening. And doing a million superkicks during a match really makes the move look like shit too. Omega is so ridiculously overracting and overbumping that whatever good he does is kinda negated by his way of working. So yeah, I kinda hate all the Jr. champions in NJ right now, with the Bucks having go-away heat with me. The opener and the young lions match were cool though. And Homna winning is always fun to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 11, 2015 Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 The Maria match was pretty much all about her and Anderson, and since Anderson was really funny it worked like a charm. If that camera came closer to Maria's ass, it would have been a coloscopia. The two tag matches were really solid. Yano vs Tanahashi was sloppy as hell at the end though, and I still don't get Yano's gimmick at all. Yujiro didn't do much for me, but his partner vs YOSHI-HASHI and Okada was terrific at times. The main event was great. So yeah, Nakamura is still the best worker to me this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted May 15, 2015 Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 Finally got a chance to watch this and thought it was the weakest big NJPW show in a long time, perhaps a few years. It wasn't bad, but there wasn't a single great match. I liked the junior HW tag as I dig the Young Bucks' schtick and think Roppongi Vice have a nice little role there, but they didn't make particularly great use of Fish & O'Reilly here who felt like second class citizens. The main event was good, but lacked any heat whatsoever, and as someone who's never been a big fan of Goto, well, this didn't do anything to change my mind. Nak can probably produce a good match with anyone on the roster, but I wanted great in a main event title match and this wasn't that. The tags featuring Ibushi/Honma, Tanahashi/Ishii and Styles/Okada were all fine, but in each case they seemed to be holding back so as to take things easy and wait for a big singles match down the road rather than deliver anything particularly special on this night. Not bad, but nothing you had to see as it felt like they were working this on a pass/fail basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted May 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 I thought the show was a thumbs in the middle and was pretty shocked that mine was one of only 3 that put it in the middle . No thumbs down , and 50 something thumbs up according to the Observer poll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted May 15, 2015 Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 Yeah, this was just about the definition, of a passable, thumbs in the middle show. I get the booking and set ups for 7/5 - other than Goto taking the IC title - and am very much looking forward to that and BOSJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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