ROH and NJPW G1 Supercard in MSG

For the first time in over 40 years, a non-McMahon pro wrestling card is being held at MSG proper. The pre-show starts off with about two seconds of talking before a black screen hits. Then we get the show and it's Honor Rumble time with Kenny King out first. They've got a major league look to them tonight, which is great. Kenny wanted to be the first and now he FACES THE KING MINORU SUZUKI!

Kenny's chops are met with a nasty forearm. CHEESEBURGER IS DOWN AND HE EATS A NASTY FOREARM. Bruiser comes down and punches and bites everyone. Burger begs for mercy but BRUISER LIKES BEEF. Sho is out and he works with Bruiser before Shingo Takagi comes out. Japanese commentators can be heard over the English feed. Bushi and Takagai work on Sho. Yoh is here to save. Bruiser's gone and Ali's in. Rhett Titus as Chris Masters Jr is out.

LSG comes down in Mets colors and Taguchi hits a hip attack. Will Ferrera returns. Chase Owens is here, and then Rocky Romero. Taguchi leads a train of lariats. FINALLY A HIGHSPOT!  Brawler Milonas and then Fale comes down and takes down R3K. Burger is tossed out but caught and saved! Fale takes out the Shadow Squad and then Gresham comes down and gets bowled over by Shingo.

Tracy Williams comes down and is put over as a BONAFIDE MAIN EVENTER! Yoshi-Hashi is 20. PJ Black comes down and is hyped as a man who wrestled Bret Hart in MSG...well he shared a ring with him. Chase accidentally punches Suzuki, oh this isn't good for him. LIGER IS OUT AND GODDAMN IS HE OVER.

Shotay takes out Milonas and TK O Ryan is here and then the tatted ballon guy comes out too. Delerious is here and now HERE'S ISHII! TORU YANO COMES OUT AND GIVES HIS SPOT TO COLT WHILE COLT GIVES HIM HIS HEADSET! Yano is asked why he isn't competing and he says he doesn't know. Hirooki Goto is here! Haku is Sheiky-baby levels of immobile. Tongan death grip is on Colt and Yano comes in for a save. MUTA RETURNS!

Muta can still sorta move for having double knee replacement. Ishii and Suzuki beat the shit out of each other with elbows as God intended. Suzuki gets the rope triangle, but gets a lariat from Ishii and is gone. Haku's taken out and I'm just amazed he can bump. ISHII'S GONE! Liger and Muta vs the Kingdom. It's the last of the '90s prime NJPW guys against these guys. KINGDOM IS GONE AND IT'S DOWN TO LIGER VS. MUTA! We get a few spots before Kenny King runs in and tkaes out both guys. OH FUCK. Muta at least mists him and the legends share the ring. Liger takes a bow and gets a huge THANK YOU LIGER chant.

This is a pretty damn epic video package. The roster puts over MSG as a halliowed hall. The NJPW roster joins in and Naito says he isn't nostalgic for it. A huge NEW JAPAN chant starts things off - so ROH is clearly over. Naito vs. Ibushi could be a classic. Cobb vs. Ospreay starts things off! 

Ospreay looks like such a star. This sure is...theme music for Jeff Cobb. Generic Entrance #14 would've been a better fit. Well at least the TV belt looks great. Cobb starts off with a charging uppercut in the corner and then tackles him mid-ring INTO THE CORNER! Cobb catches him on a dive and Will lands a forearm.

Avalanche delayed superplex gets 2 for Cobb. LAST RIDE INTO A BEARHUG BY COBB! Kevin ties Cobb into  Kurt Angle saying that 19 years ago, he opened the Rumble show. PIP PIP CHEERIO HITS FOR 2. CAPTURE FALLAWAY TOSS BY COBB! Will gets a desperation boot and lands a big lariat and superkick AND A SPANISH FLY. Cobb misses a frog splash and the Robinson special hits. Cobb catches him off the Oscutter and throws him into the buckle - BUT OSPREAY SPRINGS OFF AND HITS IT ANYWAY FOR 2.9!

SUPER TOUR OF THE ISLANDS! POP-UP TOUR OF THE ISLANDS HITS AND COBB WINS IT. He's now not only ROH TV Champ, but NEVER Champ too! This was a fantastic opener and pretty much a star-making match for Cobb. Dalton comes out with a big-time entrance...except for the cardboard feathers.

RUSH IS OUT IN A SUIT! Rush jumps him with a shotgun dropkick, nails a second and a third to win quickly. This was exactly what it should've been since Dalton is all show and no go now. A heel turn would freshen up Dalton. Kevin asks what's missing  YES! HE ATTACKS BOY 1! BANGARANG TO BOY 2!

G1's history is shown off and then we're told that this year's G1 starts in Dallas. Mandy Leon is out to do commentary and we see Juice down after an attack. God bless her, but can someone please tell Kelly to get more flattering gear. At least she HAS gear now and isn't just in $20 Wal-Mart gym shorts, but this look isn't great.

Miyu Iwatani comes out with an MSG mask! Kelly sends her entourage to the back as they tell a slow burn tale of her being a babyface. Miyu doesn't give her a good handshake until they're gone - a nice little touch there that I love.

Running kick to the BAD KNEE by Kelly - nice dick move. Modified STF/Dragon clutch by Klein. Samoan drop hits for 2 for Kelly. Shotgun knee misses for Klein and she eats a big dive to the floor. Kelly grabs her on the floor and smashes her arm into the post - cool move there. SPIKE GERMAN TO MAYU!MAYU MOONSAULT MISSES. Folding powerbomb gets 2 for Kelly. 2 AAs hit for the win.

Mandy attacks Kelly and the BPs attack. Velvet and Angelina would've felt out of place in old ROH, but for modern ROH? Sure why not. I love Colt saying that this isn't fetch. The BPs and Mandy are now The Allure and have a tron, which Ian says is odd and wants to know who they know to get that made. That name has no ring to it at all.

Mega Ran is here to get all up in several areas. Bully comes out to hopefully mangle the guy in a Dewel decimal system shirt. Crowd chants "fuck him up Bully, fuck him up!" Bully shoves him and chains him. Bully re-issues his challenge and FLIP RETURNS! Flip superkicks him and hits a springboard spear! Bully gets a kendo stick and a table. Silas and Shane Taylor come down and beat up Flip. Taylor badly needs flattering gear.

They prepare to attack him with a kendo stick before Haskins and Juice return to make it a six-man match. Ian says they grabbed some stuff from behind the building and Kelly says to send the bill to Gary Juster. Juice and Bully brawl and Juice tells him to eat shit before hitting the Left Hand of God. Haskins and Gordon do double dives.

The heels get canes and Flip tells them to fucking hit him and goddamn do they ever. Shane fucks his back up hard. Bully gets the odds against him and just leaves. Juice throws him in and Bully apologizes. Fan chants THAT'S NOT D-VON when they set up the superbomb. SUPERBOMB TO GORDON! Juice and Haskin split the balls of Bully on the post.

Haskins double stomps a chair bridge on Young. Juice cannonballs Taylor into a shipping palette. Wazzup headbutt makes Bully utter OW MY BALLS yet again. Flip hits a 450 and the faces win after a long, perhaps a bit too long match. Bandido vs. Dragon Lee vs. Ishimori is up and should be fantastic.

Bandido hits a dive and Lee hits a crazy rana off the apron! Lee htis a billion things in rapid succession, but eats an X knee. Ian says he isn't the next Rey, he's the first Bandido - now that's perfect. That's how you SHOULD do comparisons like that. Lee sets up a double stomp to Taiji, but eats a Bandido super rana! Dragon Destroyer hits Ishimori. Bandido hits a pop-up cutter for 2. BANDIDO HITS A DOUBLE FALLAWAY SLAM MOONSAULT OFF THE TOP! Lee hits a modified Orange Crush on Bandido to not only give him his first loss in ROH, but also win the IWGP Jr Title! Bandido puts the belt on him.

Tag title winner takes all match is up. EVIL and SANADA get such a great intro graphic. Mark calls the fans motherfuckers and then Brody King comes out looking great with two belts. PCO gets an electric chair for his intro. Destro sparks up a car battery and uses it to bring PCO back to life. PCO gets chopped and then hits a flip dive. Now we're getting Spanish and Japanese commentary bleeding into the English. Paradise lock and a dropkick to the ass.

Tama dropkicks Jay. Jay driller and a froggy bow to SANADA gets 2. APRON SWANTON HITS FOR PCO! It's like Kurt hitting the moonsault or Flair hitting anything off the top. Gonso bomb from Brody! MOONSAULT HITS BUT G.O.D. breaks it up! DOUBLE POWERBOMB OVER THE TOP TO PCO. MOTHER OF FUCK! HE GETS UP AND THEN GOES DOWN! Gun stun to Brody and a superbomb hits and the G.O.D. wins it. Comacho is now an ROH and IWGP Champion! Yano steals the IWGP belts!

Tana is out and he is just God. He has to be the best worker over 40 ever - even better than HBK. ZSJ works over the arm a bit on the mat before slapping him arrogantly. European uppercut exchange leads to an armbar in the ropes to Tana. Abdominal stretch to Tana and then Tana reverses it. 

Tana goes up and ZSJ dropkicks the knee and Kimuras him up top. Slingblade and a folding cradle get 2. ZSj gets his crazy everything lock on and wins it. Naito vs. Ibushi is hyped as UNGOVERNABLE CHARISMA VS. GOLDEN STAR! Naito and his amazing coat cape come down and they get a HOLY SHIT chant just standing still.

Snap rana to Naito and he goes outside. Naito sends Ibushi's beautiful face into the buckle and then eats a rocket kick. HOW DARE NAITO SEND HIS BEAUTIFUL FACE INTO THE BUCKLE. That will ruin the next Handsome Battle. Naito hits the Christian knee/reverse DDT combo off the rope and a dropkick for 2. Deadlift German is teased and Naito escapes. He wants an apron tombston, but IBUSHI ESCAPES THAT AND THEN HITS A RANA TO THE FLOOR! That gets a mama mia chant in honor of Mauro.

High-angle Gloria hits for Naito! DEAD WEIGHT GERMAN GETS 2 FOR IBUSHI! Naito hits a short-drop Dudebuster for 2. Kneeling forearm exchage REVERSE RANA AND A DESTINO GET 2.99999! HOLY SHIT! Ibushi avoids a second Destino and high kicks him!  Kinshasa to the neck, then to the face! SITOUT LAST RIDE HITS FOR 2.9! KAMIGOYE HITS AND HE WINS IT!

 

Aldis is on commentary and man is he good at that - better in that role than in the ring. Scurll comes out and someone plays piano for Taven. Sadly, it's not the Maestro. He gets a more major league getup here. Lethal and Marty start things off with a brawl and then Taven dives onto them. Lethal tries to set something up, so Marty just slugs him and throws him into the ladder. Marty sends Taven corner to corner into a variety of ladders!

Jay gets stuck in a tree of woe and Marty chairshots the ladder into his head. Marty climbs and gets attacked by Jay. LADDER FIGURE 4! Marty brawls with Taven and hits a 619. Marty lands a superplex off the ladder to Taven and my feed goes all weird. Marty gets the chickenwing on the ladder to Lethal. Taven climbs, but Marty snaps fingers on both hands! Marty moves a ladder X and Taven eats a gordbuster on it.

GRAB THE UMBRELLA TO JUMP UP 10 FEET OFF AN X TO GET A BELT. Great idea Colt. Then Lethal has an EVEN BETTER IDEA! Throw the X out of the ring and hit a half dozen fans. This gets a hilarious. THAT'S A LAWSUIT chant.Taven spears Marty off the apron through a table. Lethal hits a flying Savage elbow off a ladder onto Taven through a table on the floor.

Taven brings a giant purple ladder which is not only taller, but also wider. Marty sets up a ladder bridge and then Jay does the same. They pay homage to Jericho vs. HBK with Taven bonking Lethal with the belt and then he grabs it. ZERO reaction to any of this.

Kevin Kelly says that if White loses here, then it will be the first time since '91 since there were two back to back no-defense reigns. Jay dominates with cheap heel tactics. Okada whipes out both White and Gedo on the floor!  SNAP SAITO SUPLEX TO OKADA! SHOTGUN DROPKICK TO WHITE and then a shotgun missile dropkick.

White gets a flatliner and then a deadlift German! White lands a series of nasty chops on the ropes, BUT EATS THE GODDAMN DROPKICK! Okada attacks Gedo and HITS ANOTHER ONE! SLEEPER SUPLEX ONTO OKADA! SPINNING RAINMAKER AND THEN THE REGULAR RAINMAKER GET 2.99999!

Okada wants a tombstone, but White gets a desperation Blade Runner! He's got nothing left! White barely collapses onto White after landing a big elbow, but Okada lands one too! White has nothing left, but Okada does. Gedo distracts Okada and WHITE LOW BLOWS OKADA! BLADE RUNNER, BUT OKADA GETS A GERMAN! Finishers are dueling countered with backslides that are countered. DROPKICK! OKADA GETS A DESPERATION RAINMAKER. He goes for a full one, BUT WHITE AVOIDS IT. He can't resist fate and eats a lariat, THEN A FORMAL RAINMAKER ENDS IT! Goddamn what a classic battle this was.

Ian runs down some copy thanking the fans and all 500 that did commentary at a mile a minute and then we close with Okada wearing gold.