Night 2 starts off with a dark match between Gedo, Jado, and Fale against Nagata, Honma, and Makabe - BOY are Makabe and Nagata doing heavy lifting here. Jado is largely outside and Makabe runs wild before Honma gets a lariat and can barely fall forward and the rocket and kokeshi hit! Charlton gets off a "from the deadliest rope!" OSW reference with the Bret's rope kokeshi! Wato and Tencozy face off with TAKA, Desperado, and Kanemaru. Lots of nothing until Wato beats Despy with his neck tie submission! Wato getting that Jr push in 2022. Shingo, BUSHI, and Hiromu face Taichi, ZSJ, and DOUKI. ZSJ and Shingo are fantastic together with uppercuts and lariats! Last of the Dragon to DOUKI ends it.
The Mega Coaches face ELP and Ishimori, and Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask. I like Charlton just outright saying they were thrown together to fill out the numbers. THE LOADED BOOT is exposed and the Bullet Club is DQed. Eagles gets the Miller special on Rocky and taps him out. The Flying Tigers are a good use of each talent. STARDOM tag with no music due to copyright and a tribute to Hana. Starlight Kid and Mayu Iwatani face Tam Nakano and Saya Kamitani. Iwatani and Nakano just beat the hell out of each other with forearms. Crucifix bomb gets 2.9! Charlton says that STARDOM was behind only NJPW in Japan in attendance. Nakano taken down with a slingblade.
Charlton puts Tam and Mayu over as the Tana and Nakamura of STARDOM. Mayu gets a fantastic double run-up armdrag on the ropes. Starlight with an Asai moonsault! Rana victory roll by Starlight gets 2.9! TIGER SUPLEX TO MAYU! Star Crusher and the phoenix splash by Kamitani ends it! This was a blast! KOPW 4-Way is up with CIMA out with Strong Hearts and Charlton puts over GLEAT! Suzuki getting a bit Tokyo Dome intro again feels great, and Yano as A YOUTUBER on his tron is hilarious. Also Chase is there.
Everyone beats up Yano and CIMA kicks him on the ass. Meteora to Chase gets 2 for CIMA. Low blow and the schoolboy to Suzuki get 2. CHOKEOUT AND THE GOTCH PILEDRIVER! THE KING OF PANCRASE IS THE KING OF PRO WRESTLING! Suzuki beats the shit out of Yano afterwards and NOW HE CAN MAKE TORTURE STIP MATCHES! YANO HANDCUFFS HIM! This is going to be great. He beats up the young lions who free him, then beat them up more on the floor.
Goto, YOH, and Yoshi-Hashi face off against SHO, EVIL, and Yujiro for the NEVER titles. Fucking Bullet Club bullshit all throughout this. SHO teases a wrench shot, but Togo chokes out YOH with the garat. Ushigoroshi and a double superkick on the mount hit! Patela brainbuster hits for YOH, but an EVIL low blow leads to a wrench shot from SHO and the win. Mutoh comes out and gets another Tokyo Dome intro. He hasn't been in the Dome since WK 8 and the whole roster is here. KENOH says that NOAH is out to take the top spot from NJPW. Mutoh takes photos mid-ring and looks like he's having a lot of fun.
SANADA vs. Great O-Khan is up and these two have fantastic chemistry. Great matwork to start out before they bust out bigger moves throughout. Japanese clutch gets a quick two for SANADA. SANADA goes for a moonsault, but they botch it up a bit and O-Khan locks him in a cravate before turning it into a sheep killer. SKULL END, but Oka flips over. Backlund bridge is avoided another sheep killer is on. SANADA avoids a powerslam and a bridging Tiger suplex gets 2.
SANADA moonsault meets knees! Kneeling forearm exchanges! Jumping sole butt by SANADA, but he eats a giant right straight for 2. This is a fantastic match here - more fun than Oka vs. Tana last year. SECOND ROPE MOONSAULT BY OKA gets 2, but the eliminator is countered into another rolling clutch and SANADA WINS. This was a blast!
Jeff Cobb vs. Naito is up as Cobb continues his inter-mingling with main eventers. Charlton talks about this being one of the last Naito revenge battles because more of his career is behind him than in front of him and it's important to look at this as one of his final big runs due to injuries. Kelly runs through Naito's record being horrible for 2021 due to his knee injury. Cobb rushes in with forearms and Naito goes for a kneebreaker that Cobb easily avoids. Sidewinder suplex by Cobb! Tour is avoided and Valentia hits! DESTINO HITS!
Tana is the best face ever. Wow. What a teary-faced entrance. KENTA's out in slick bright white and black trim gear. It's a great, new look for him. Charlton puts over how this would be a dream match a decade ago, but both men have adapted themselves to time. KENTA throws a stick in to Tana. KENTA gives his back and Tana waits until he turns around to attack for a stick fight. Tons of cane shots to the back of KENTA! KENTA belt shot to Tana leads to more cane shots, now to Tana. KENTA throws in some chairs and his smashed 2020 case. KENTA breaks a chair over Tnaa's back.
KENTA brings a ladder in and sends Tana's back into the corner-cradled ladder. TANA GRABS A GUITAR! AND IT'S A SHOOT GUITAR. Jesus! Trash can shots to the head of KENTA! DRAGON SCREW IN THE ROPE after Tana sets a table up. Cloverleaf attempt by Tana leads to the case on the head! BUSAIKU KNEE WITH THE CASE!
KENTA sets Tana on the table and they fight up top. A short left sends KENTA down and Charlton puts over how that took Goto out. MORE CHAIRS! Tana wants a German on the stack, but KENTA avoids it. A SLINGBLADE ON THE CHAIRS, but Tana eats them! A roaring Tana MISSES THE HIGH FLY FLOW ON THE CHAIRS! KENTA face wash and the dropkick is set up with chairs. AND IT HITS HARD!
The fans are now clapping for KENTA just setting this thing up. KENTA sets him up on this table before climbing up top and TANA SHAKES IT and Jesus is this not the kind of ladder you want to move at all. KENTA falls off and lands kinda face-first on the trash can. New Japan needs to never ever use a ladder like this again for any reason. KENTA ate shit on that one and is busted up.
KENTA put on the table and Tana climbs! HIGHEST OF HIGH FLY FLOWS THROUGH THE TABLE and that fucker is just covered in blood. Goddamn. KENTA is going to be hurting after this one and Tana took months off his knees with that move. KENTA's face is all smashed up and Tana wins it, thank God! This was one of Tana's most insane matches and a perfect example of a great worker having a fantastic match in a hardcore setting because they make the stip mean more by not just making it a weapons walk and brawl.
Ospreay vs. Okada is up and Okada is wearing the V5 belt - which just looks odd on him. Ospreay talks shit about his belt being the real one and Okada's being fake and tells them to be gentle with his belt. Matwork and then forearm shivers before we hear the train under the building. CLAPS IN UNISION WITH FOREARM SHOTS! OKADA SLAYS HIM WITH FOREARMS! Rainmaker hits! ANOTHER! A third is avoided! HIDDEN BLADE HITS FOR 2.9! Kawada kicks by Ospreay! Uppercut by Okada, HOOK KICK BY OSPREAY! HIDDEN BLADE MEETS THE DROPKICK! RAINMAKER HITS AND STACKS HIM FOR THE WIN!
Okada says he is THE IWGP World Heavyweight Champion - there is no dispute now. Okada is the fitting champion for the 50th year of NJPW. NAITO IS HERE! He wants to face him for the title and be the champion. Good stuff - they set the table for the future pretty well, although I'm hoping this all leads to at least one Okada vs. Mutoh match, even non-title in NJPW for the 50th year. Bell-to-bell, night 2 topped night 1 and had far more variety in the card. The filler was more pronounced in quantity, but did pay off with things like the loaded boot and giving the NEVER 6 titles a Tokyo Dome match.
No comments:
Post a Comment