Jim Ross welcomes us to the gorgeous-looking Walter Pyramid while Josh explains what strong style is. The G1 Climax in USA shows are capped and the events of Wrestle Kingdom 12 are shown. So Cal Uncensored vs. Roppongi 3K is hyped up alongside the rest of the card. Jay White's US Title win is shown and Page's attempt to get the title and show off as a major member of the Bullet Club. The history of the Golden Lovers in New Japan gets a brief rundown and their reunion earlier this year shows the depth of their bond.
So Cal Uncensored is out for the opener. Faces are out next and JR hypes up the show as being a long one with a lot of depth on it. No commercial breaks either. Scorpio complains about a hairpull before Rocky beats him up with a billion strikes. Flying neckbreaker hits for Sky. Kaz eats some double team moves from Sho and Yoh. Sho gets a huge chant, and cheating leads to Yoh eating some offense. Outside-in cutter gets 2 for Sky. Romero hits a springboard dive to Kaz and he lands a double rana before a chain of lariats to the Addiction.
A springboard triangle dropkick to the back gets 2 for Rocky. Kaz and Daniels hit some kind of double tombstone that the director misses for 2.5. Sky ACCIDENTALLY CUTTERS DANIELS. Sho brings Rocky in with the old RNR Express deal of pulling his partner to the corner. Double jumping knee to Sky hits hard before the double team backbreaker/cutter gets 2. R3K hits their finish and wins it. Kaz's knee got messed up at some point here. Josh cusses up a bit with JR during a break that is aired - "Yeah JR, they should have gotten out of the fucking ring. Other than that, it was okay.". Whoops.
David Finlay and Juice Robinson are out to face Goto and Gedo. Goto and Juice smack hard on shoulderblocks. Big jumping back elbow hits for Juice and gets 2. GOTO SNAP SUPLEXES FINLAY ONTO JUICE. Goto is split open from the elbow and elbows Juice on the forehead. Gedo goes for eye-based cheating but GETS EYE RAKED. Finlay hits a flurry and hits a flying European uppercut off the top. Unigoroshi and a superkick by Gedo gets 2. Finlay hits a stunner on Gedo to win.
Killer Elite Squad comes out and YANO IS OUT WITH HIS DVD and gets his shirt plugged while Chuckie T is also there. Chuckie locks an octopus on DBS, but Davey hits a German and a big yakuza kick to Yano. Lance does a corner to corner Old School and tags DBS in. DBS hits a belly to belly for 2. He gets a liontamer and Lance hypes him up. Lance goes after Yano, but he's tied in the ropes! Lance blocks an inverted atomic drop and Yano brags - until Yano sees he's fine, THEN HE'S BACK TO THE ROPES.
We get a big dive from Chuckie, but Yano teases one - AND THROWS THE BUCKLE PAD AT LANCE! Chuckie sunset flips Lance for 2. SNAP PILEDRIVER HITS FOR CHUCKIE! Lance chokeslams Chuckie and gets 2! CHUCKIE CRADLES HIM FOR 2! Chuckie superkicks him out of a choke bomb, but the killer bomb ends it. This greatly over-delivered. Yano's act was tremendous and KES shined quite a bit.
Cody comes out while JR plugs his podcast and calls him "Cody Rhodes" before Scurll comes out and looks amazing in his getup. GoD is out. Cody gets the mic and tries to stall things out. He says that Bullet Club is fine, but the booking of this match sucks. He puts over GoD and Tama Tonga being an OG Bullet Club member who made the Bullet Club cool, but it's superstars like himself that make it popular. A gaint "fuck you Cody" chant breaks out, so he says they're chanting "Team Cody". Tanga Roa cuts a terrible promo on him, so Cody beats him up thank God. Cody gets sent over the top by Roa.
Marty tries to make peace with the Tongans with a "too sweet", and eats a double lariat. Marty is fantastic. Marty takes Roa down, but he eats a punch and Tonga is in with a slam and giant elbow. Cody's shirt is torn off and Brandi insults them for having nappy hair, so Marty hits an apron superkick. Marty goes for an arm stomp and a flap. Cody hits a delayed gordbuster. Superkick sets up the chickenwing, but Cody tags himself in for Cross Rhodes, but eats a variant of it! Roa demands he chop his bare chest, so he does and lands a series of lariats. Cody goes up and eats a Superman punch and a superplex. Cody goes for the Terminator dive, but EATS A SPEAR. Cody hits Cross Rhodes to Roa and wins it.
LIJ is out to face Tana, Dragon Lee, KUSHIDA, and Taguchi. Tana hits a headlock/scissor takeover. Tana's intro remians beautiful and Lee and Hiromu chop the shit out of each other! Snapback German by Lee to Takanashi! Triple team babyface attack on Takahashi! Hiromu avoids a corner charge from KUSHIDA and Naito dropkicks him. SANADA traps KUSHIDA in the Paradise Locks and kicks his ass. Bushi chokes Kushida out with a shirt. Tana hits a forearm and a hiptoss and a double dragon screw by Tana...and can anyone insult the Bucks' stuff for looking choreographed after that? Tana avoids a skull, but eats a springboard dropkick. Taguchi gets the ankle lock, Kushida gets the hoverboard lock, and Tana gets the cloverleaf! Destino hits Taguchi and the heels win it!
A Rey Mysterio video airs and he comes out asd a nice make-good for the live fans. He says that he will wrestle for NJPW before he's done - so that's good of him too. Liger is out and looks great, while Ospreay is out and Ross says that when Will was born, Liger was wrestling for nine years already. ROMERO SPECIAL BY LIGER! Liger hits a brainbuster on the floor and Will gets in at 19.9. This is the best-possible way to book Liger in this match - on one night, he can be as good as he ever was. AVALANCHE RANA AND WILL LANDS ON HIS FEET, but hurts the knee and then hits a rana. SASUKE SPECIAL BY WILL! Will goes for a 619, but Liger avoids it and hits the koppou kick! JR mocks the name and Barnett educates him to it being a martial art. LIGER BLOCKS THE OSCUTTER AND HITS A BRAINBUSTER FOR 2. AVALANCHE VERTICAL DROP BRAINBUSTER BY LIGER! Superkicks and the Oscutter hit and end it. This was an outstanding match. That was the best example of "there is no way this match could be any better" match since Brock vs. Goldberg at WM last year.
Will says that this was junior wrestling at its best and if he was 53 wrestling like Liger, he would be proud. He thanks Liger for all that he has done. He says that he is no one's replacement, he is the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion! He has to beat legends to establish himself and challenges Rey to a match - which really is the best and smartest match you can book for the long run. Rey comes in and Marty steals ihs mask after attacking Will. Clips air of Okada doing media with ESPN...which is just surreal.
ZSJ and MINORU SUZUKI COME DOWN. Both men have multiple titles around the world. The longshot on Okada looks remarkable in this venue. ZSJ outwrestles Okada for a bit on the mat and Okada outworks him until Ishii tags in against Suzuki! THEY EXCHANGE FOREARMS! Suzuki gets the rope armbar and ZSJ torments Okada on the railing. Suzuki chairshots Ishii on the back AND THEY FIGHT IN THE CROWD. Somewhere, Jeff Jarrett is crying about how it's okay for Suzuki to have a walk and brawl and not him - the big difference is that people care about Suzuki. SUZUKI CHOPS HIM HARD. Okada gets sent into the rail. ZSJ gets some cocky kicks to Ishii before landing a big kick and then eating a big backdrop driver.
Okada comes in with fire and forearms. Octopus hold with a figure 4 necklock on Okada! Okada is in the coil lock, but Ishii makes a save. A dueling Lets Go Sabre/Fuck You Sabre chant breaks out while Okada gets the cobra clutch before ZSJ avoids it. ZSJ armbars his way to avoid a Rainmaker. Suzuki kicks away. Ishii headbutts ZSJ and powerbombs him for 2. Okada dropkicks ZSJ and Ishii's lariat gets 2. ZSJ gets Ishii to tap out with the Napalm of Death. This was an awesome match and ZSJ locks the Octopus on Okada after the match. Then they attack the ref!
Jay White vs. Hangman Page is up. These poor bastards have to follow Suzuki, but first, we get an announcement of NJPW coming to the US again in July as the G1 Special comes to the Cow Palace with Fighting Spirit Unleashed. Page vs. White gets a big recap video. Switchblade's presentation works out well - but he's just not right for this role.They exchange chops and a backdrop suplex gets 1 for Page.
Muta lock by White. Page hits a running fireman's carry drop into the post. Variety of suplexes hit. Jay goes for the Kiwi Crusher, but a small package counter gets 2. Top rope draping DDT hits for Page. BLADE RUNNER OFF THE APRON IS TEASED, but doesn't hit, and JAY HITS A NASTY GERMAN ON THE APRON! Page avoids a super German, but a SUPER SWINGING NECKBREAKER BY PAGE HITS. Page gets 2 off a piledriver and misses a moonsault. SSP hits for Page to the floor! Kiwi Crusher gets 2. White avoids a driver and lands a head-snapping Blade Runner. This was the most crazy boring match ever. David Finlay comes down and spears Jay White to boos and makes a challenge for next month for a title match.
We get a history video showcasing the Bucks/Omega history. Ibushi and Omega have new shirts and Omega has new black, red, and green gear. The fans start this off by singing the BTE theme. Matt wants Kenny to start. Lots of back and forth stuff with Ibushi and the Bucks as Kenny is too conflicted. Kenny goes for the dive, but a superkick knocks him down and the feathers fly off his gear. They do a billion things and the cross slash misses. Nick runs wild with a flying lariat and neckbreaker combo. GOLDEN LOVERS HIT A DOUBLE TEAM SUPERPLEX!
SLOW MO GERMAN TO KENNY ON THE APRON! Kenny is on a table and Matt debates to attack Kenny on the apron or Ibushi on the mat. Ibushi stops the dive on Kenny! CACTUS CLOTHESLINE TO THE FLOOR. KENNY TEASES A ONE WINGED ANGEL OFF THE APRON THROUGH THE TABLE, BUT IT'S AVOIDED, BUT A SUPER GERMAN BY IBUSHI ISN'T!
Nick prevents a golden trigger. Nick and Kenny slug it up before Matt superkicks Kenny. Matt has the sharpshooter on, and an X Factor adds to it. Matt's back gives out on him and he can't hold the move. More bang for your buck is teased, but Kenny goes through the table instead. Matt avoids the Angel and Kenny eats a superkick! Kenny eats a nasty piledriver for 2. Kenny takes the weight belt off of Matt and won't hit him with it - but V Triggers him instead. IBUSHI LAST RIDES NICK THROUGH THE TABLE AT RINGSIDE TO AVOID THE MELTZER DRIVER! MATT EATS AN INDYTAKER FOR 2.9! Kenny can't hit the Angel on Matt, but Matt begs for him to just do it - so he does AND NICK MAKES THE SAVE! Golden Trigger ends it. Goddamn this was insane.
The match is over, and this battle is over - but the war isn't. Kenny and Ibushi refuse to leave. This is incredible storytelling. It's like Flair vs. HBK, but with a slower burn and a clear chance for a split of both the Bucks and the Golden Lovers later. You've got Ibushi willing Kenny to do things he doesn't want to do, while Nick is getting more arrogant and wants Matt to take greater chances despite his bad back. Cody shoves Matt down before Kenny comes in to save - so the plot thickens. Kenny offers a handshake and we get a hug from Nick. Matt just can't hug him yet though. This is fantastic. Kenny says that NJPW will feature them whether the company likes it or not. Kenny offers up a goodnight and hugs Ibushi.
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