VA has been pounded by winter storms, so this will be a broader-strokes recap than usual just to ensure that I can at least get it done. Rambo features Henare and Chase before Tenzan's out with the Mongolian chops being revamped as the Big Egg Bombs. BIG EGG BOMBS! GO BEYOND THE LEGACY is a great tron and SUZUKI IS HERE! Kevin brings up the AEW controversy with his theme too. Chase wants him! Fujita goes for a dropkick and a kneebar taps him. Nakashima taps! Another young lion taps to a choke. He goes for Tenzan and Kojima saves. TENKOJI CUTTER to Chase!
CIMA IS HERE! He takes out TAKA! Honma is here too and god, he just can't do anything. Just walking to the ring is agonizing. DOUKI is out before Nagata takes out Kojima with a dogpile backdrop driver. FUJINAMI IS OUT IN T HIS MATCH IN 2022! Figure four on Makabe and he gets dogpiled to lose! Yano, CIMA, Chase, and Suzuki are in the four way.
INOKI HYPE VIDEO! He's hoping to be in person at the 50th anniversary show. SHO vs. YOH is up and SHO's emo getup is great. Okay match overall here but hurt greatly by BC-bullshit. YOH gets a reverse cradle on YOH and he sends him into Dogo to win. NEVER Open tag is on the line tomorrow and I would expect SHO to retain. TANA, Rocky, and Tagushi vs. KENTA, ELP, and Ishimori. KENTA eats a butt-butt before tagging Tana in. Flying forearm to KENTA before he dragon screws everyone. KENTA schoolboy results in the ref going down off a kick off into him. DDT gets nothing due to the lack of a ref. Kendo stick shots aplenty! Tana grabs the kendo stick and hits KENTA - so he loses tonight, but gains a bit of an edge for tomorrow's US Title.
Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, and Great O-Khan are here to face SANADA, Naito, and BUSHI. TKO for Oka leads to a Skull End instead. Sheep Killer and a pump kick to Bushi. Rana counter by Will to Bushi gets 2 - gorgeous pop-up powerbomb. Hidden Blade KO gets the win. Fun stuff. Oka says that a new era is coming with the United Empire. Shibata's return match is against Ren Narita - a perfect choice! Chris asks what does The Wrestler do when he can't wrestle? NO ONE IS MORE EPIC THAN CHARLSTON - he's the best at putting things in their place in history. He raps the mic on his head and says it's a REGULAR MATCH!
They work the mat to keep it catch-style and safe. Back and forth headlocks before a trip and figure four by Shibata. CORNER FOREARMS AND THE BASEMENT DROPKICK HIT! Shibata armbar countered by a Narita Special 3 - the scorpion deathlock. Hard kneeling kicks to the chest of Narita! Round kick countered by Narita with elbows! Narita throws kicks but isn't there and Shibata gets a choke>PK combo to win! THIS RULED!
NJPW comes to AXS again on Thursdays after Impact! NJPW Strong Spirits app launches on 2/28. Ishii vs. EVIL for the NEVER Title is up. Nice Ishii-war until an EVIL belt shot hits. STO hits and that's it. EVIL wins the title and overcomes the curse of losing to Ishii. Goto and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Dangerous Tekkers in an all-action battle. Taichi fires up with gamenguri shots and Black Mephisto is countered into a destroyer and reverse GTR! Full Nelson powerbomb combo ends it and YOSHI-HASHI'S RISE CONTINUES!
Jr title is up with Hiromu vs. Desperado. TONS of chops to start! Smart move by Hiromu to start working heavyweight style to ease that idea into the head without going overboard with it. Loco countered by Hiromu! Crunchy hits for 2.9! Pinche Loco hits and gets 2! Rollup by Hiromu gets 2! Hiromu eats a big forearm another Pinche Loco back to back ends it WITH A TAKER PIN! This was fantastic.
The IWGP World Heavyweight Title is on the line with Okada coming out with the V4 belt. Charlton says that Okada wants to reign over the world as the King of Sports. Epic intro with the bills for Okada while Shingo gets an extended version of his theme.
Love the epic intros for both guys and Shingo really benefits from it because he is the less-established main eventer in this one. This feels so much lesser without the crowds cheering though. Nice brawling on the ramp and Shingo eats a DDT on the floor and another off the top. German into the Rainamker BLOCKED BY A BACKFIST! Last of the Dragon into the Landslide, but DRAGON SUPLEX BY SHINGO! OKADA DROPKICK! LANDSLIDE AND THE RAINMAKER GET IT! Okada is now the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion! He has the belt on and...yeah the V4 is so much better overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment