[2019-02-03-NJPW-New Beginning in Sapporo: Night Two] Tetsuya Naito vs Taichi

[paul sosnowski]

Naito defends the IWGP Intercontinental title.   Talk about it here

[nivvad]

Perfectly good for what it needed to be. God bless us who have to suffer through a Taichi match much less in a New Japan main event, but thankfully this wasn't your generic 30 minute title match where it takes a while to get going. The pre-match stuff was a callback to the previous Sapporo incident with Fujinami and Choshu, and it dragged for way too long. They had to convince the crowd that Taichi had some semblance of a chance of winning the title, so this was their method. And then the match happened and nothing in that pre-match beatdown mattered. Just a huge bombfest with Naito moving quick across the ring proving he has no time for this "selling" shit, and Taichi proving once again how overrated he is just because he does a bunch of King's Road moves. This was good because it didn't try to be anything more than what it was, which was a filler title defense, ***3/4.

[Makai Club #1]

When Iizuka came out to attack Naito I thought "this cool, something different" but it went on for SO LONG. The crowd doesn't know what to make of it. Naito is out for an absurdly amount of time, so much so that Taichi should be rewarded the belt due to Naito being unable to compete but he comes back after 10 minute or so. That sucked then we get to the match which was pretty dull. The match doesn't know what it wants to be. Taichi cheats all match but then Taichi is kicking out of Naito's stuff, absorbing everything and staying alive - like a face. It's just a mess really. As a Tachi fan, this was disappointing. Taichi beating down Naito all match simply wasn't compelling enough for this match to be any good. *3/4

[Tetsujin]

This was awesome. Having something new and fresh in your big matches is always good, and yeah, maybe It went too long (fuck you Iizuka you slow bastard), but Naito's superb selling, Taichi's sunovabitchesque performance and the crowd buying everything carried this from a cool segment to a great match. Naito was in a position where he needed bombs to equalize thingd and survive, and that's the role he shines the most. Fantastic big spots and counters were seen here. I was so invested... That's pro wrestling magic, fellas. Not a MOTYC or whatever but maybe the best NJPW match in 2019 thus far.

[Boss Rock]

There was a really good idea for a match here but the execution just wasn't there. I dug the pre-match attack quite a bit as well as Taichi jawing with Makabe. But it went on. And on. And for God's sake what the hell are we doing here? Naito finally came back after what felt like an eternity to have what could have been a really good match if it hadn't had all of the momentum from the pre-match angle sucked away. Naito's selling for the most part was pretty good and I thought the overbooking kind of worked to an extent because Taichi's not supposed to have any real shot at Naito. But there was just too much. The finishing stretch was cool in a vacuum but Taichi shouldn't be that heavily protected when it comes to stuff like an emerald flowsion. If you have Naito come back right as Taichi is arguing with Makabe and make this match about five minutes shorter I think you have something really good here. But ultimately, what we got was a really bizarre mixed bag.

[Microstatistics]

Taichi challenged Naito for the Intercontinental Title but coordinated a pre-match assault with Takayuki Iizuka to injure Naito’s neck. Taichi feigning ignorance and prancing around as they assessed Naito’s condition was pretty funny, but they really could have shaved off several minutes from the segment. Naito made his inevitable return but was in a weakened state and it looked academic for Taichi. But Naito reversed Taichi’s attempt to permanently incapacitate him and Taichi ended up injuring his neck in a pretty fantastic momentum-shifting spot. Naito recovered to an extent, leading to a dueling neck-work section with focused offense, well-paced action, and consistent selling. Naito weathered some of Taichi’s surprising resilience and heel tactics, before giving him a taste of his own medicine and finishing him off. They probably did one near fall too many, but this was a slow-burning modern NJPW classic. ****3/8
 

[cactus]

Taichi knows that he's not on Naito's level, so he has Iizuka attack Naito from behind as he's making his entrance. After Iizuka's done with Naito, Taichi lands a Black Mephisto on the walkway and Naito has to be carried out of the arena. We then have to sit through TEN MINUTES of Taichi gloating and declaring himself as the new champion before Naito finally makes his way to the ring. The match finally begins, but Naito is only able to land some weak strikes that have no effect on Taichi. Naito crumbles to the mat and we get more gloating from Taichi. You could call this heel heat, but I just found this boring. Naito was at least decent here. The fans are right behind him and he sells well and he bumps like crazy for Taichi. He spikes himself on a lariat and takes a violent chairshot to the head in a failing effort to get Taichi over as a serious threat. There are a few cool sequences during the finishing stretch, but it ultimately went on for way too long. I like the idea of this match, but I don't think it was executed particularly well. I've heard great things about this and I was expecting to find a career performance from Taichi. What I got instead is an underwhelming title bout that reminded me that Taichi doesn't have the tools to be a singles star. ★★½