NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed 9-30-18

The ads for the Tana movie are something else. The show starts off with a recap of the March show, along with iffy in and out audio. If Babelfish was a voice, it would be this voiceover guy - he has zero emotion and it sounds like a machine saying words. Juice vs. Cody is hyped up with a nice recap of their past. Hoping JR and Kevin Kelly have good chemistry tonight. It's amazing that a time has come where I'm hoping Jim Ross can keep up, but Kevin Kelly has hit his stride with NJPW. Rocky is out with Sho and Yoh to face Liger, Taguchi with a rugby outfit on, and ACH. Liger's legend grows with time - he has an aura around him now that he never had before.Giant JUSHIN LIGER chant starts the match off.

Sho eats a tilt a whirl and then a Romero special! DUELING ANKLE LOCKS BY THE PARTNERS! Taguchi is putting more effort into cheering on his partners for this parade of strikes in the corner than most of the NWO put in all of their matches combined. HIP ATTACK BY TAGUCHI! 3K miscue leads to Liger getting another backbreaker. ACH comes in and runs wild with a basement sliding dropkick. HIP ATTACKS TO 3K! Rope to rope to rope hip attacks! Hip attack leads to a double atomic drop, but ACH lands a slew of dropkicks.before the babyfaces (and an iron ass) win the day - but the camera misses the finish. This was an absolute blast.

Page and Owens are out to face The Addiction. Chase and Daniels have great chemistry and Daniels hits a BME off a Kaz tombstone onto him to win. Goto has a main event-level theme. It would be perfect in a God of War game, and he teams with Baretta and Chuckie T. They'll face Sabin, Jeff Cobb with the ROH TV belt, and Flip Gordon. Sabin really needs the MCMG gear again - trunks weren't flattering for him before and they're much worse now as he's older, way paler, and in worse physical shape.

Sabin apron PKs Goto after Cobb does big man spots. Goto clubs and elbows Sabin a bunch. Sabin and Baretta get into a chop fest. Flip hits a springboard slingblade, but Trent avoids a 450 and hits a knee plus. Goto and Cobb have fantastic chemistry together and Cobb avoids a GTR and gets a suplex out of it. The Best Friends suplex Cobb and flex before Cobb hits a double teardrop suplex on them! Jeff hits the wrath of the Gods on Chucky, who takes some awkward bumps. Goto and Cobb argue, and I'm fine with that - more of them!

Archer and Davey Boy Jr., with bling team with ZSJ to face hte LIJ team of SANADA, Naito, and EVIL. EVIL attacks the shoulder of ZSJ and Davey forearms the shit out of SANADA. Inverted snapping Muta locks from DBS are great. Davey Boy Jr has finally found charisma! Sada reverses a Lance chokeslam with a rana. Naito runs wild on Davey. ZSJ uppercuts EVIL, who chops him down. EVIL lands a fireman's carry powerbomb, but the STO is countered into a bridge and ZSJ wins. Davey attacks a young boy on the floor after the match. Kairi Sane is shown in the front row. Love this massive EVIL chant and how disappointed EVIL is in himself for losing - thus making it seem important.

Gedo and Jay White are out to face Tanahashi and KUSHIDA. Tana and Jay have a wonderful brawl on the floor. Switchblade and Tana have fantastic chemistry - but White's babyface works against this gimmick. I can see this really being a perfect fit for him when he gets a bit of age on his face.Gedo is a great base for people to work off of and he has to be the best booker/wrestler ever in that he is still prominent - but not THE guy in any way and perfect as a second for anyone.

Blade Runner countered into the twist and shout. Switchblade distracts the ref so Gedo can crotch Tana before the Blade Runner hits and he beats Tana. At the least the camera caught the finish - off to the side and in a way that made it hard to see. This is great stuff because in the shorter term, Jay gets the win and looks stronger - but it's clear that Tana will hold the case through WK and if they want to have Jay take the case from someone, they set up that he CAN beat the man who held it before. He gets unreal heat after the match with a huge FUCK YOU SWITCHBLADE chant. He says that he beat Tana and should have the rights to the case. Time for intermission.

I love the bell tolling and the intro song airing to end the intermission. I would probably mark out for that live, bros. Marty vs. Ospreay is up. Marty is the Guy - his theme is one of the best in the business. Kevin Kelly says they won't know how long Takanashi will be out for, but he will be back. Marty's revamped jacket is great, but the Bullet Club-style side is far better than the goofy leopard-print version.

Ospreay hits a suicide dive to the floor to start. Apron superkick by Marty! Marty chops him down and Will does this sweet bridging bump for it. Marty does a slick bottom rope choke and flexes before eating a flying Chuck kick. SUNSET BOMB TO THE FLOOR. Goddamn! Oscutter leads a backslide into a superkick by Marty. They go for a double-up-top super rana on the ropes, but slip and Marty turns it into a much safer version. Marty chops the shit out of him and Will fires up! They each do a bunch of things for a few seconds until Will hits a superkick to the neck for a double-down. SUPER BUTTERFLY GETS 2. Package side piledriver hits and then the graduation ends it! Goddamn that was just an insane match.

Kenny Omega's rise to the top of the Bullet Club is shown. AJ's New Japan run feels like it was a decade ago - it's amazing how much the business has changed since then. The Firing Squad's domination is shown too. GoD is out with a fan grooving to their theme, and Haku is at ringside. Bucks are out in their BTE Ibushi-influenced gear. It's amazing how the Bucks truly did make themselves the stars they have become - and they've changed wrestling in the process. When history looks at them, it will be quite favorably.

Shockingly, the Bucks are over here. Giant corner knees hit, but a big bulldog is led into a lariat for a flip sell. A TABLE BREAKS ON A NEW JAPAN SHOW! Loa hits a super legdrop and Tama hits a frog splash for 2.9. Matt is still down on the floor off the table bump. Nick gets a one-man comeback- he is a fantastic Ricky Morton tonight. Handstand as a counter into a superkick! MATT GIBSON GETS THE TAG AND FIRES AWAY. Pop-up double sotmp to Tonga into a Loa backstabber in the the other corner. Loa ducks one superkick, but eats a double for 2! Delayed More Bang for Your Buck hits for 2.9!

Meltzer Driver into a GUNSTUN OUTTANOWHERE! IT ONLY GETS 2! Ape Shit hits and gets 2.9, but another Gun Stun gets the win. The GoD wins the gold in front of their dad! This show has been far greater than the sum of the parts going into it. This was another fantastic match, and the US Title mach is up next. We see Juice's dad hype him up on Skype before his title win. Cody is shown beating Juice with a Vertebreaker to build this up. Cody looks custom-made for the NWA Title. I love Juice doing the Bret deal of giving his glasses to kids in the crowd.

Cody with Ziggy Stardust paint is a cute touch. Cody has 6:05 on his boots whle Kevin Kelly talks about how Dusty was a huge influence on both of these men. Cody had him for his life, while Juice was made better by Dusty in NXT. Kevin Kelly is telling a compelling narrative of both men essentially being sons of Dusty in some sense - with Juice being an NXT son who had his promos influenced by him, while Cody had his entire life influenced by him. TRIANGLE CROSSBODY BY CODE IS MET WITH AN OVERHEAD BELLY TO BELLY. Goddamn, Juice is turning into Brock!

Cody gets taken down in the corner and hit with a super-fast cannonball. A running powerbomb by Juice is turned into a rana by Cody. Apron disaster kick misses for Cody. High crossbody off the top hits for Juice. Nice figure 4 by Cody. Juice hits Pulp Friction, but Brandi pulls Cody to the floor! Juice's punch combo meets a thumb to the eye and a SUPERKICK! VERTEBREAKER HITS FOR 2.9!!!! Superplex by Juice hits, BUT CODY SMALL PACKAGES HIM TO WIN IT! WOW!

Ishii and Okada come out to face the Golden Lovers, who have a fantastic VTR with Ibushi as a young boy. Kevin Kelly is so good at telling the narrative of the competitors - he's doing the best job of that since Jim Cornette in OVW. Boy howdy are Ibushi and Okada good together. Ishii and Omega bully each other around until Ishii just pounces him down. Omega forearms him to death, but Ishii barely registers. Ibushi comes in and kicks away before Ishii chops the shit out of him. Kevin talks about Okada coming back from excursion and beating Okada to become the legend he is today. Omega hits Ishii with a froggy crossbody for 2.

Omega hits a running spinning...DDT-ish thing? Ishii lands a brainbuster. Okada's in and eats a missile dropkick by Ibushi. Gorgeous mix of moonsaults by the GL for 2.5. Shotgun dropkick by Okada! Okada and Omega face off! Forearms plenty! GIANT CHOP BY OMEGA! DROPKICK HITS! Ibushi hits a KENTA combo into the V Trigger for Okada and then a snap German!

Rope V Trigger hits! Angel turned into a tombstone, turned into a tombstone - but Ibushi gets knocked down and Okada gets the tombstone and an Ishii sliding D gets 2! Rainmaker into a half-nelson uranage right on the neck! Ibushi boots Ishii and they just forearm each other hard. Golden Trigger is avoided and Ibushi eats a spike DDT. DROPKICK TURNED INTO A POWEBROMB BY OMEGA! Pele by Ibushi to Ishii! Billion slap exchange by Ishii and Ibushi!

Ibushi eats a nasty lariat for 2.9! CRO COP HIGH KICK TO ISHII! Golden Trigger to Ishii ends it. This was incredibe. Ibushi and Ishii have tremendous chemistry. Hopefully Ishii has a long run in him yet, because he's having the run of his career now. Ishii is peaking at a shockingly old age - it's not quite like Nick Bockwinkel being incredible at 49, but damn near close - especially given how much more hard-hitting the style is now. The Elite is out to congratulate them.

Kenny talking about all the yellow seats in the building to start with a camera shot SHOWING TONS OF YELLOW SEATS is amusing. Omega talks about the fans wanting to see him face Ibushi once again. Kenny speaks in Japanese to Ibushi and tells us he's just translating what he said to Ibushi. Kenny wants the rematch in one week, BUT CODY INTERRUPTS! CAN WE SEE HANDSOME BATTLE II!? Cody says he and Kenny are friends now and he and Ibushi are...getting there... Cody wants a 3 way against them both. Kenny says let's do it. Well, this is a great way to get Cody into the main event scene, make you want Ibushi vs. Omega, and Ibushi vs. Cody once again. GOODBYE AND GOODNIGHT! BANG! What an incredible show. Ibushi and Cody shake hands and they all pose to end it. A highlight reel properly closes the show out.

The post-match press conference airs with Omega and Ibushi. Kenny says that Ibushi says it feels weird for three men on the same team to fight and he has two losses to avenge this year. Kenny says that three ways are rare in NJPW and with them on the same team, it's very weird. Ibushi says this could become legendary, and Kenny agrees. Kenny says it won't be strong style, but it will be new style. Kenny says he wants to face Jay, but when he's found himself. It took him 10 years to find himself, and he finds Tana annoying as The Ace. Kenny talks about the Jericho cruise and puts him over as his toughest foe.