Topic: So I got the New Japan Network

[Zandrax]

World Tag League B Block Day 1 11/19 - House show with no commentary

Occasionally New Japan will show house shows for tournaments. These shows simply have two hard cameras with no commentary or graphics. But sometimes that's fine because it's like sitting in a seat watching live wrestling.

Only the tournament matches aired.

1. Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) b. Kenny Omega & Chase owens when Gunn pinned Owens with The Fame-Asser. Some comedy at the beginning with Gunn doing the Suck It routine and teasing mooning Owens. Yoshi became the babyface in peril during the eventual double team. Gunn finally tagged in and ran wild. Owens tried to hold Gunn so Omega could hit a Boma Ye, but of curse Gunn ducked and Omega decked Owens. Gunn tossed Omega out of the ring and finished off Owens with The Fame-Asser

2. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) when Ishii pinned Soldier with a Brainbuster. Pretty basic match with Fale being the big man that has to be teamed against to fell. Goto and Ishii were able to clothesline him over the top rope, enabling Ishii to vanquish Soldier.

3. Los Ingobernables De Japon (Sanada & EVIL) b. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata when Sanada made Nagata submit to the Dragon Sleeper. Cool double submission spot where Nagata had Sanada in the Nagata Lock and Shibata had EVIL in an Abdominal Stretch.

4. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) when Makabe pinned YOSHI-HASHI with The King Kong Kneedrop. This was of course the main event so it was the longest match on the show. Some brawling around the ring, and the usual great moves hit near the end. Makabe and Honma also use a variation of the Doomsday Device, only Honma hits a flying headbutt instead of a clothesline.

[Zandrax]

World Tag League A Block Night 2 11/20 - Multicamera show with no commentary

1. Teruaki Kanemitsu s. Hirai Kawato with a Boston Crab. Similar match to their last one.

2. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger, & Tiger Mask IV b. Yoshitatsu, Billy Gunn, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA, & David Finlay when Nagata pinned Finlay with the Backdrop Hold. Good solid undercard tag match between two teams made up almost entirely of babyfaces.

3. Los Ingobernables De Japon (Sanada, EVIL, & BUSHI)  b. Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomaki Honma) & Ryusuke Taguchi when Sanada submitted Taguchi with the Dragon Sleeper. Some comedy early on with Taguchi and BUSHI before EVIL wrapped Honma's head in a chair. The heels beat on Honma until Makabe got the hot tag. EVIL caught Makabe in a side slam, then tagged in Sanada. Makabe tagged in Taguchi, who rallied for a bit, but was caught in the Dragon Sleeper for the loss. Fortunately, the faces were able to retreat to lick their wounds before the heels could attack them like they usually do.

4. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro IShii, & Yoshi-Hashi) b. The Bullet club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, & Bone Soldier) when Goto pinned Soldier with the GTR. A brawl broke out before the bell with the heels taking advantage early. Goto and Ishii rallied back and hit Soldier with a few tag moves before Ishii nailed the GTR to get the win. So Bone Soldier has gone from being the guy who loses matches for his babyface teams to the guy who loses matches for his heel teams.

5. Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare when takahashi pinned henare with the Pimp Juice DDT. At one point, both Nakanishi and Henare had the Bullet Club members up in Torture Racks. I'm not very familiar with Henare, but he does play a good hoss.

6. IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. Leland Race & Brian Breaker when Tonga pinned Race after a Guerrilla Warfare DDT. Relatively short match with the logical winners.

7. War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) b. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson when Rowe pinned Robinson after hitting Fallout. Pretty good back and forth match with Robinson showing no fear against the huge team. Robinson did have both War Machine guys on the ropes, but after calling them MFers, he fell to a double chokeslam and the Fallout. Juice does seem to be getting over with the crowd.

8. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Rush) when Kojima pinned Rush with a Lariat. Good back and forth match between the grizzled veterans and the young wily heels. Rush superkicked Kojima, but Kojima was able to fell the charging Rush with his Lariat. Tenzan kept Naito at bay while Kojima made the pin.

Standings

4 - Hiroyoshi Tenzan & satoshi Kojima
4 - War Machine
2 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
2 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
2 - Leland Race & Brian Breaker
0 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
0 - Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
0 - Manabu Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World tag League B Block Night 2 - 11/22 - House Show

1. Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & EVIL) b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) When Sanada made Soldier submit to the Dragon Sleeper. Lots of brawling outside the ring between both heel teams. In fact, EVIL and Fale were brawling outside the ring when Sanada locked in the hold. EVIL kept Fale at bay while Solder submitted

2. Hunter Club (Billy Gunn & Yoshitatsu) b. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) when Gunn pinned Honma with the Fame-Asser. Two heel teams started the show in the first match, this match was two teams of babyfaces. Hunter Club dominated Honma for the first half of the match until Makabe got the hot tag. Gunn hit a jackhammer on Honma. Honma rallied with flying headbutts, but eventually Gunn hit his finisher while Tatsu and Makabe brawled on the outside.

3. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) b. The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) when Goto pinned Owens following an assisted GTR. Yujiro Takahashi and Hangman Page accompanied Omega & Owens to the ring. Strangely, so Fale or Bone Soldier. Goto and Ishii were jumped by Page and takahashi on their way to the ring. While the referee was ejecting the other Bullet Club members, Owens hit Ishii with a broom. A lot of back and forth action, inclusing, yes, brawling outside the ring. Eventually, Ishii started no-selling Omega's shots to the head and headbutted him out of the ring. This allowed Ishii and Goto to do a modified GTR to get the pin. Ishii helped hold Owens up in the air while Goto lowered the boom on Owens.

4. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi) b. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata when Okada pinned Nagata with The Rainmaker Clothesline. Crowd solidly behind Shibata when he was in the ring with Okada. Naturally the longest match of the night since it was the main event. While the crowd loved Shibata, there still were some cheers for Okada's pin on Nagata, and chants for Okada during his post-match promo.

This makes the standings for B Block so far

4 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
4 - Hunter Club   
4 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
2 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
2 - GBH
0 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier
0 - Shibata & Nagata

[Zandrax]

World Tag League A Block Night 3 11/23 - Multicamera show with no commentary

1. Teruaki Kanemitsu s. Hirai Kawato with a Boston Crab. This is the third straight match between these guys, however it was a much more physical match than their previous two, with Kawato being much more aggressive. Kawato has a nice dropkick. The crowd did seem to appreciate Kawato's efforts.

2. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma), Jushin Thunder Liger, & Tiger Mask IV b. Yoshitatsu, Billy Gunn, Ryusuke Taguchi, & David Finlay when Makabe pinned Finlay with the King Kong Knee Drop. It's still a little odd to see Billy Gunn play the part of a monster (Honma struggled trying to slam him a few times). Tiger Mask managed to do a suicide dive on Taguchi and still land on his feet. Lots of big spots toward the end. Somehow Taguchi's trunks were yanked so the top half of his ass was hanging out. Tension teased between Gunn and Makabe after the match.

3. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI) when Shibata pinned BUSHI with The Penalty Kick. The heels punced on the babyfaces during the introductions. Kushida played the babyface in peril to set up the hot tag to Nagata. Nagata and Sanada went back and forth before Shibata tagged in and started no selling much of EVIL's offense. The heels triple teamed Shibata until Kushida made teh save. Nagata held BUSHI for Shibata's Penalty Kick.

4. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, & YOSHI-HASHI) b. The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, & Bone Soldier) when Goto pinned Soldier with The GTR. Cool spot where all four CHAOS members quadruple teamed Fale to knock him off his feet. Bullet Club returned the favor on Ishii. Okada teased a Rainmaker on Omega, but Omega countered with a knee. The match ended with a bunch of moves that spilled the action out of the rng, enabling Goto to land the GTR on Soldier.

Intermission

TOURNAMENT MATCHES

5. Leland Race & Brian Breaker b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henari when Race pinned Henare after and assisted Sliced Bread. I'm starting to understand the Nakanishi/Henare pairing. Henare is basically a young Nakanishi, as they both did similar moves. Match wasn't anything to write home about, but only one guy in the match was any real veteran.

6. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) when Tonga pinned Rowe after Guerrilla Warfare. I'm always a sucker for a good hossfight, and this was no disappointment. A lot of brawling into the crowd. I don't know why the referee waited several minutes to start the countout. War Machine definitely got the better of the Tag Champs early on, but The Guerrillas rallied once the fight got back into the ring. Hanson climbed the top rope to hit the War Machine finisher on Tonga, but Roa made the save by pushing him off the top rope. The Guerrillas were then able to hit Rowe with Guerrilla Warfare for the win. Even though they are part of The Bullet Club, the Guerrillas were applauded by the crowd when they left the ring.

7. The Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) b. Los Ingobernables De Jaon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Rush) when Page pinned Rush Another match with both teams are cheating heels.

8. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson when Kojima pinned Robinson with a Lariat. This is the third straight loss for Tanahashi and Robinson, though Robinson did kick out of a left handed Kojima lariat. Good back and forth mig match action between the two babyface teams. Both Kojima and Tenzan cut promos after the match.

A Block Standings after three nights

6 - Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
4 - War Machine
4 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
4 - Leland Race & Brian Breaker
4 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
2 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
0 - Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
0 - Manabu Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World Tag League B Block Day 3 11/25 - House show

Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & EVIL) b. Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) when SANADA made Yoshitatsu submit to the Dragon Sleeper. This was the only straight Babyface vs. heel match out of the four. A ref bump allowed for the heels to double team Yoshitatsu with a chair. SANADA landed a TKO, but Yoshitatsu kicked out. SANADA then gripped Yoshitatsu with a Dragon Sleeper for the submission win.

The Bullet Club (Kelly Omega & Chase Owens) b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) when Owens pinned Soldier with a package piledriver. Omega tried to convince Fale to get Soldier to lay down for Owens, since both teams were Bullet Club. "Look at him, he's a joke! You have zero points!". He told Soldier "I'm the boss, you're shit". Soldier eventually did lay down, but of course kicked out at two. Omega tagged in and demanded again that Soldier lay down. Soldier obliged, and as Omega was thanking him, Soldier rolled him up for a two count. More arguing ensued, and the ring announcer let the audience know that five minutes had passed in the match. Omega used his superkicks and knees to knock Fale out of the ring so Owens could hit his Package Piledriver for the win. All four Bullet Club members made up and did the Too Sweet after the match. Obviously not a match for in-ring work, but hilariously entertaining for antics.

NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata b. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) when Shibata pinned Makabe with a Penalty Kick. This was a pretty physical match between two babyface teams. Honma took a beating before getting the hot tag to Makabe. After Nagata & Shibata chopped Makabe down, Honma sacrificed himself by laying over Makabe to keep him from getting a Penalty Kick. so Nagata and Shibata double teamed Honma. Nagata hit him with the backdrop and help Makabe for Shibata's Penalty Kick

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI b. Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii when Okada pinned Ishii with the Rainmaker Clothesline. Definitely the longest and most exciting match on the show. Like the Bullet Club match, both teams were members of the same stable, only in this case it's CHAOS. Both teams had their dominating moments. The crowd was solidly into this match

After the match, Okada took the mic and cut his usual "I have three things to say" promo. I didn't understand what he was saying, but the promo usually something like

"I have three things to say

1. I will win all my tournament matches

2. I will win the tournament/big title match

3... I got nothing..."

After that, Gedo cut a promo, and Okada's music played to the cheering crowd.

STANDINGS AFTER NIGHT 3

6 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
4 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
4 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
4 - Hunter Club
2 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
2 - GBH
2 - Shibata & Nagata
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier

[Zandrax]

World Tag League A Block Night 4 11/27 - House Show

The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare when Tonga pinned Hanare after Guerrilla Warfare. Decent hossfight, but nothing to write home abot. Once again, Nakanishi and Henare got the Double Rack spot. Nakanishi and Hanare were doubleteaming Tonga, but when Henare came off the top rope, Tonga landed a Cutter. The GODs were able to hit a double spear on Nakanishi to clear him out of the ring so they ould hit their finisher on Henare for the win.

War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) b.Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima when Rowe pinned Kojima following a Fallout. This was a better hossfight. The legends started out dominating, knocking Hanson out of the ring and double teaming Rowe. Crowd was solidly behind Tenzan & Kojima. Kojima did his rapid fire chops on Hanson. very loud "F--- YOU KOJIMA!" from Rowe. Kojima tried to hit his lariat, but Rowe turned it into a Hammerlock. Hanson got on the top rope for The Fallout on Kojima, and kept Tenzan at bay while the ref made the pin.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Rush) b. Leland Race & Brian Breaker when Naito pinned Race with Destino Crowd solidly behind the heel Naito. Breaker and Rush traded F-Bombs while clotheslinging each other. Race did some weird inverted slam that had Niato being thrown on his own feet. Crowd did pop for the finish of Naito hitting Destino for the win. Rush tossed around a ring crewman after the match

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson b. The Bullet club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) when Robinson pinned Page with The Pulp Friction (Unprettier). Nice "feel good" match with the white meat babyfaces Tanahashi and Robinson getting their first victory in the tournament. Long heat segment on Robinson as he was constantly double teamed and tossed outside. Tanahashi ran wild after a hot tag. The setup for the finish was a cool variation of The Hart Attack where Robinson held Page, and Tanahashi hit a Sling Blade. Tanaashi kept Takahashi at bay while Robinson finished off Page with the Pulp Friction. After the match Tanahashi cut a promo, and the crowd chanted "Juice! Ace!". Robinson searched under the ring for Tanahashi's Air Guitar. Tanahashi did his usual air guitar schtick, but then actually handed Robinson an air guitar and the two did an air guitar duet to the delight of the crowd.


STANDINGS - Night 4

6 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
6 - TenCozy
6 - War Machine
4 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
4 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
4 - Race & Breaker
2 - Tanahashi & Robinson
0 - Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World Tag League B Block Day 4 11/27 - House Show

NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata b. Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) when Shibata pinned Yoshitatsu witha  Penalty Kick. Early heat on Yoshi as he was worked over. Billy Gunn was very loud, yelling at his opponents. He asked Shibata not to kick Yoshi in the nuts, to which Shibata promptly kicked Yoshi in the nuts. Shibata no-sold most of Yoshi's offense. Nagata and Shiabta took turns kicking Tatsu while he was kneeling down. Gunn tried to make the save but was cut off. Nagata hit Yoshi with a Brainbuster, and Shibata finished him off with a Penalty Kick. Shibata and Nagata controlled like 80% of the match, and Yoshi really took a beating.

GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) when Honma pinned Owens with the Kokeshi Headbutt. Long heat segment on Honma. Funny spot where Omega put his boot on the top turnbuckle so Owens could slam Honma's head on it. When he did, Omega was the one that got hurt. Makabe got the hot tag and ran wild. Both Honma and Makabe had their opponents in opposite corners for the "Ten Punches" spot. Omega powerbombed Honma onto Owens' knees in a pretty sick looking move. In the end, GBH hit their variation of the Doomsday Device (substitute Honma's headbutt for a clothesline) to knock Omega out of the ring. Honma then it a brainbuster and Kokeshi on Owens for the win.

CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) when HASHI made Soldier submit with a Butterfly Lock. YOSHI-HASHI took a beatinng in the middle fo the match. He was thrown into Referee Red Shoes, which knocked Red Shoes out. Around this time, Okada was thrown into the barricade by Fale, temporarily taking him out of the match. Soldier choked HASHI with wrist tape. Okada finally made the save, clotheslining Fale out of the rin and hitting Soldier with the Too Awesome Dropkick. By this time Referee Red Shoes had come to. Okada kept Fale at bay while YOSHI-HASHI got the submission win with a Butterfly Lock.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & EVIL) when Goto pinned EVIL with an elevated GTR. Kind of short for a Main Event, but was very action packed, and the crowd was very into it. Sanada did have Goto locked into the Dragon Sleeper with Ishii tied up by EVIL, but miraculously Goto did not submit and Sanada broke the hold. Ishii  came in and ran wild on both heels. Cool double team move where Ishii hit a running lariat on EVIL while at the same time Goto executed a Russian Legsweep. Ishii and Goto held EVIL up, and Goto hit his GTR for the win.

STANDINGS

6 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
6 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
6 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
4 - GBH
4 - Hunter Club
4 - Shibata & Nagata
2 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier

[Zandrax]

World Tag League A Block Day 5 11/29 - House Show

Only two tournament matches on this show

Yoshihiro Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare when Kojima pinned Henare with a Lariat. Not a very fast paved match, as 3/4 of the men are well over 40. Nakanishi has aften teamed with Tenzan and Kojima, but this time they were adversaries. Nakanishi overpowered Kojima at the beginning, but Henare didn't fare as well. Still they managed to get the double rack in. Perfectly fine wrestling.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson b. Leland Race & Brian Breaker when Robinson pinned Race with the Pulp Friction. This actually was a really good match, it was the main event of a 2-part night. Long heat segment on Robinson in the beginning before Tanahashi got the hot tag. Then a little later the opposite happened with Juice getting the hot tag. What is great about Tanahashi is he is able to work with his tag team partner to come up with great double team moves. He and Robinson had fluid double dropkicks, and their version of the Hart Attack looks like they'd been teaming for years. They did do a funny spot where Robinson would pur Race in an arm ringer, then tag in Tanahashi, who would do one arm ring and tag in Robinson... who would do one arm ring and tag in Tanahashi... rinse and repeat several more times. After Race kicked out of the Hart/Sling Blade Attack, Robinson just hit his finisher and got the win.

Standings

8 - TenCozy (Tenzan & Kojima)
6 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
6 - War Machine
4 - Tanahashi & Robinson
4 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
4 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
4 - Race & Breaker
0 - Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World Tag League B Block Day 5 11/30 - House Show

Another two match show

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro ishii) b. Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) when Goto pinned Yoshitatsu with the GTR There was no greater example of how deceptively big Billy Gunn is than when he was in the ring with Ishii, who's tops maybe 5'6" but still 220 pounds. The crowd audiblly noticed when they got face to face. Gunn even got to play "big man" no selling offense, and hitting one armed Uranages. Goto and Ishii used their Clothesline/Legsweep combo to take down Gunn so Goto could hit the GTR for the win.

The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) when Omega pinned YOSHI-HASHI with The One Winged Angel. Naturally the crowd was pretty solidly behind Okada & CHAOS. The fight spilled out of the ring and into the crowd where Okada was taken down by Owens. A funny spot where Omega looked like he was going to hit YOSHI-HASHI with the broom, but the refereeturned around in time. So Omega quickly made it look like he was sweeping up outside the ring. Omega and Owens continued to double team Hashi as Okada made his way back to the ring. Okada got the hot tage and ran wild. Yoshi-Hashi got tagged back in and got some near falls before getting double teamed again. Okada hit is Too Awesome Dropkick on Owens, but Omega was able to dodge it and knock Okada out of the ring with a running knee. He finished off Hashi with The One Winged Angel.

After the match Omega cut a promo saying they will win, and the crowd should love them and shut the f up.


STANDINGS

8 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
6 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
6 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
4 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
4 - GBH
4 - Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn)
4 - Shibata & Nagata
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier

[Zandrax]

World Tag League A Block Day 6 12/01 - House Show

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. The Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) when Tonga pinned Takahashi with a Cutter. Once again, both teams were members of The Bullet Club. Tama Tonga came out sans makeup. All four men did the Too Sweet, then bowed to the audience and started to leave. Referee Red Shoes started the 20 count. All four stood on the stage laughing.. untill 18 when they all charged into the rin. Since each team are bad guys, they thought they were tricking each other. The match did actually start with each side trying to get chants going. They were also each trying to toss Red Shoes in the way to get bumped. After the finish, both teams made up, and were respectifully cheered.

Los Ingobernables De Japon b. War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson)  Naito demanded the ropes be held open wider for his entrance. Given the size difference, Naito had to really rely on his quickness and agility. He still wound up taking the beating for most of the match. The big turning point came when Rowe powerslammed Naito while Hanson was on the middle rope. Hanson decided to instead go to the top rope for a moonsault. Naito rolled out of the way. Rush ran in for a save, and the four man brawl happened. Rowe whipped Rush into the ropes, but Rush ducked him and vaulted to the outside to take out Hanson at ringside with a suicide dive. Naito then hit Rowe with Destino for the win. The rest of LIJ came to the ring as the heels threw out crewmen trying to help War Machine recover. Naito cut a promo, presumably predicting victory.


STANDINGS

8 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
8 - TenCozy
6 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
6 - War Machine
4 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
4 - Race & Breaker
4 - Tanahashi & Robinson
0 - Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World Tag League B Block Night 6 12/02 - House Show

NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) when Nagata pinned Soldeier with a Northern Lights Suplex. Straight up Heels vs. Faces here. Action silled out early on this one. Fale tried to pin Nagata by simply sitting on him. Soldier pushed Nagata into Red Shoes, which knocked out Red Soes. Soldier thrn tried choking Nagata with his wrist tape, but Shibata broke it up. The finishing combo on Soldier was a back Suplex by Nagata, followed by a Penalty Kick by Shibata, and the Northern Lights from Nagata. So Soldier ate like three finishers in a row.

GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & EVIL) when Honma pinned EVIL with the Kokeshi headbutt. Another straight up fave vs. Heel match. Again, the action splled to the outside. While Red Shoes was tending to Sanada and Honma, EVIL took to Makabe with chairs. Again, the "chair set up around the neck, which is hit by another chair" move. This took out Makabe for a while, enabling the double teaming on Honma. Makabe got the hot tag, and knocked Sanada out of the ring. Near falls on EVIL while Sanada recovered. Sanada had Honma locked in the Dragon Sleeper, but Makabe made the save. Eventually, GBH hit their Headbutt variant of The Doomsday Device on Sanada and Honma hit the Kokeshit to get the win in a very good match.

Makabe & Honma cut promos after the match

STANDINGS

8 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
6 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
6 - GBH
6 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
6 - Shibata & Nagata
4 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
4 - Hunter Club
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier

[Zandrax]

World tag League A Block Night 7 12/04 - House show

Back to four match shows

Los Ingobernables de Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Rush) b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare when Rush pinned Henare with a Rush Driver (Double Underhook Pilerdriver). Unlike the match with Tenzan & Kojima, where most of the guys were over 40, Nakanishi really stuck out in this match. All the other younger more athletic guys made him look big and slow. However, in an impressive spot, Nakanishi did a double Northern Lights suplex on both opponents at the same time.

War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) b. Leland Race & Brian Breaker when Rowe pinned Race after a Fallout. Hanson kept running back and forth to opposite corners yelling and hitting clothelines to Race & Breaker. He did it like 8 times. This was mainly a War Machine showcase match.

The Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) b. TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) when Page pinned Kojima with the Rite Of Passage (Back-to-Belly Piledriver). A bit surprising finish, but these happen in these tournaments. Sometimes the dominant team loses to a last or near last place team. Takahashi was actually accompanied by one of his escorts (he has a pimp gimmick). TenCozy dominated early, but Page was able to pull Kojima's feet out from under him to break the momentum. Back and forth from there until Kojima decked both Page and Takahashi with Cutters. in the ensuing brawl, Takahashi and Tenzan fought on the outside while Page hit the Rite Of Passage on Kojima.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson They did the multi-arm ringer spot again. Tanahashi got to run wild on the champions for a bit. Crowd would chant "JUICE" when Robinson was in the ring and "ACE!" when Tanahashi was. Eventally Tanahashi was cut off and the double-teaming began. Robinson got the hot tag but he too got double teamed. Tanahashi made the save from the Guerrilla Warfare. Tanahashi tried a comeback, but ate a cutter. The GODs then finished off Robinson with Guerrila Warfare. Match was a little slow at first but really picked up toward the end.

STANDINGS

10 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
8 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
8 - TenCozy
8 - War Machine
6 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
4 - Race & Breaker
4 - Tanahashi & Robinson
0 - Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World Tag Leage B Block Night 7 12/05 - House Show

GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) when Honma pinned Soldier (shocking, I know...) with the Kokeshi Headbutt. A brawl broke out before the bell, and it spilled outside the ring. When order was restored, Honma was on the receving end of a double team. Makabe tagged in and had a nice little hossfight with Fale. Once again, Soldier whipped Honma into the referee so he could choke Honma with his tape. Makabe made the save and kept Fale at bay so Honma could win with the Kokeshi headbutt in a rather short match.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & EVIL) b. Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) when EVIL pinned Owens with an STO. Another match between two heel teams, though the crowd seemed to side with LIJ. I probably said it before, but Sanada is a future main eventer. Omega whipped him into the buckle and he did the Flair-like tumble over, but turned it into a springboard dropkick. That plus a plancha to the outside kept Omega at bay while EVIL hit the STO on Owens for the win.

CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) b. Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) when Okada pinned Yoshitatsu with The Rainmaker Clothesline. Criminy, Billy Gunn is noticeably bigger than the IWGP World Champion. Action spilled outside with both Yoshis battling each other on one side and Gunn clashing with Okada on the other. Tatsu got caught in Okada's Red Ink submission but managed to make it to the ropes. Tatsu actually got a few near falls on the World Champion. But once Okada hit the Too Awesome Dropkick, it was all over. Hashi held Gunn at bay while Okada finished off Tatsu with thhe Rainmaker.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) b. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata when Shibata pinned Goto with The Penalty Kick. Some background on this, Shibata and Goto are lifelong friends who went to the same schools. They won the IWGP Tag Titles last year. Now Shibata is the NEVER Openweight Champion and teaming with Nagata, while Goto has joined the CHAOS stable. To top it off, Ishii is the man Shibata beat to win his first NEVER Openweight Title. CHAOS played the heels here because Nagata is a beloved legend and Shibata is a badass. Awesome double submission spot where Nagata reversed Ishii's clothesline into the Nagata Lock while Shibata locked Goto up in an Octopus Hold. The finish was Nagata laying out Ishii with a Backdrop while Shibata had Goto in a sleeper. Goto went down and Shibata nailed the PK for the win.

After the match Shibata cut a rare promo. It looked like it was directed at Goto and Ishii. He handed to mic off to Nagata who also cut a promo.

STANDINGS

8 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
8 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
8 - GBH
8 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
8 - Shibata & Nagata
4 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
4 - Hunter Club
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier

[Zandrax]

World Tag League A Block Night 8 12/07 - House Show

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare when Robinson pinned Jenare with the Pulp Friction. Another match with two babyface teams. Nakanishi overpowered Robinson early on, but Henare struggled. Both teams got double submission spots in, Tanahashi & Robinson with the Dual Abdominal Stretches, and Nakanishi and Henare with Dual Racks.

This leaves Nakanishi winless for the entire tournament, and Tanahashi and Robinson with a losing record of 3-4.

Leland Race & Brian Breaker b. TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) when Race pinned Kojima with a Sliced Bread #2. That is a bit of a shocker, but it does eliminate TenCozy from making it to the finals. TenCozy did take most of the match, and Race & Breaker worked heel. Not a terribly memorable match, but it is noteworthy for the results.

This leaves Tencozy at 4-3, and Race & Breaker at 3-4.

Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) b. War Machine (Raymod Rowe & Hanson) when Takahashi pinned Rowe with the Pimp Juice DDT. Bullet Club attacked War Machine from behind before the bell, but War Machine turned it around quickly. War Machine worked as faces and were running wild in the latter part of the match. They were setting Takahashi up for the Fallout when Page pulled Hanson off the top rope with his Hangman rope, and decked Rowe with a clothesline. This allowed Takahashi to hit the Pimp Juice DDT for the win.

This means both teams are 4-3. I believe War Machine were eliminated from the finals either way though.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. (Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Rush)  Due to the rules, if LIJ won this match, they'd tie GOD in points. But since they beat the team they tied with, they'd be in the finals. To top it off, both teams are heels, though the crowd sided with LIJ. GOD came to the ring sans facepaint. LIJ wrestled like babyfaces, stringing moves together. Exciting final sequence had GOD hitting Naito with a Magic Killer so Tonga could hit Rush with the Cutter.

This puts GOD as the winners of B Block with a 6-1 record. Naito & Rush finish with 4-3.

After the match, Tonga cut a promo saying they are the Tag Team Champions and the A Block winners

FINAL STANDINGS

12 - Guerrillas Of Destiny
8 - Bullet Club: Takahashi & Page
8 - LIJ: Naito & Rush
8 - TenCozy
8 - War Machine
6 - Race & Breaker
6 - Tanahashi & Robinson
0 - Nakanishi & Henare

[Zandrax]

World Tag League B Block Day 8 12/08 - House Show

Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) b. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier) when Yoshitatsu pinned Soldier with a Pedigree. Yoshitatsu finally got the match where he's in the same ring with Bone Soldier. Fale went after the announcer before the bell, but the announcer wisely scooted out of the ring. Fale and Gunn started the match, funny since they're the two biggest guys in the match. Shortly thereafter the action spilled outside the ring with Yoshi going after Soldier and fale going after Gunn. Once it got back in the ring, Gunn was able to slam the big man Fale. Soldier threw Tatsu into the referee so he could (wait for it) choke Tatsu out with his wrist tape. Gunn tried to make the save, but Fale started choking Gunn with his belt. Fale and Gunn fought outside the ring while Tatsu got the win, and a measure of revenge on Soldier.

This means Fale and Soldier are completely winless in the tournament, and Soldier got pinned in every single match. Hunter Club finish 3-4

Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) b. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata when Omega pinned Nagata with the One Winged Angel. Owens started the match with Shibata and demanded "No kicks, only wrestling, you got that?"... and then started hitting Shibata with forearms. The match went outside with Nagata dual whipped into the barricade. Owens hit Nagata with a Back Rake off the top rope (yes, you're reading that correctly). Shibata tagged in, and hit corner dropkicks on both Omega and Owens. Shibata and Nagata double teamed for a bit, and Nagata got the Nagata Lock on Omega while Shibata put Owens in a submission. Omega made it to the ropes to break the hild. Nagata smacked around both Omega and Owens until Omega countered with a knee and hit the One Winged Angel for the win.

This puts Omega & Owens at 3-4, but they eliminated Shibata and Nagata from Finals Contention. Shibata and Nagata finish at 4-3

Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & EVIL) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) when Sanada submitted Hashi with the Dragon Sleeper. CHAOS were the faces in this match, and ran wild in the early moments. The action for the third straight match spilled outside. Okada was subdued by Sanada off-camera so LIJ could double team Hashi. Okada ran wild after a hot tag, took his lumps, and tagged Hashi back in. Things went back and forth for some exciting near falls. Hashi and Sanada countered each several moves until Sanada locked in the Dragon Sleeper for the submission win

This places LIJ at 5-2, athough they are mathmatically eliminated from the finals. Okada & YOSHI-HASHI finish at 4-3

GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) when Honma pinned Ishii with a Kokeshi Headbutt. Had Goto & Ishii won this match, they'd have won their block. the points would be tied, but the tie goes to the winner of the match. CHAOS played the heels in this match. Both Makabe and Honma are rivals of Ishii, and they all got their exchanges in early. Makabe missed the King Kong kneedrop on Goto. Goto and Ishii lifted Honma for the assisted GTR, but Honma fought out. GBH set up Goto for a Doomsday Device, but Goto fought out. This set up makabe whipping Goto into a top rope Honma headbutt. GBH finally hit Ishii with the Doomsday Device Headbutt, followed by Honma's Kokeshi headbutt for the win.

This clinched the B Block win for GBH. They finished with a 5-2 record, while Goto & Ishii finished with 4-3.

Guerrillas Of Destiny came to the ring to cut a promo on GBH saing they beat them for the IWGP Titles, and at the final Tag League show, they will beat them again. Makabe told them in English to F off.

FINAL STANDINGS

10 - GBH
10 - LIJ: Sanada & EVIL
8 - CHAOS: Goto & Ishii
8 - CHAOS: Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
8 - Shibata & Nagata
6 - Bullet Club: Omega & Owens
6 - Hunter Club
0 - Bullet Club: Fale & Bone Soldier

[Zandrax]

World tag League Finals 12/10 - Full Show With Commentary

Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay b. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV when Finlay pinned Liger with a rollup. that was a bit of a surprise finish, but it was still a perfectly good cruiserweight opener. Tiger Mask hit Taguchi with a Tiger Driver, knocking him out. However, when Liger went for the kill, Finlay reversed into a rollup for the clean three count.

After the match, Liger shook Finlay's hand, and all four men held up each other's hands.What Sportsmanship!

The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi) b. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare when Takahashi pinned Henare with the Pimp Juice DDT. Takahashi was accompanied by two of his scantily clad escorts. Nakanishi and Henare did get the Double Rack spot in, which is impressive considering Fale is easily 350 lbs. Nakanishi brawled with Fale outside the ring, leaving Henare alone with Takahashi. Henare vlaiantl kicked out of a Finshermans Buster, but fell to the Pimp Juice.

Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) b. Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Bone Soldier) when Gunn pinned Soldier with a Fame Asser. It looked like it was going to be Yoshitatsu squaring off against his rival Bone Solder to star the match, but Owens nailed Yoshitatsu with a top rope double axhandle from behind before the bell. Tatsu got double teamed in the opening minutes, which set up the tag to Gunn. Gunn and Owens traded several "F You"s when hitting each other with moves. However it was Soldier that fell to Billy Gunn's ass in the end.

War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) b. Leland Race & Brian Breaker  Race & Breaker played the heels, attacking before the bell, but War Machine quickly turned things around. They were going to hit ther finisher, Fallout, but Breaker knocked Hanson off the top rope to take control of the match. A few minutes of double teaming Rowe set up the hot tag to Hanson. Back and forth action until Rowe tried a suicide dive to the outside. The heels tried pulling a ring crew in front of Rowe, but Rowe managed to put the brakes on and fall on his face rather than hit the innocent crew member. However, in the ensuing brawl, Hanson climbed to the top rope and dove on all three men. This allowed War Machine to get Race back in the ring and hit the Fallout for the win. War Machine bowed to the crowed after the match.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI)  Yuji Nagata & TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) when EVIL pinned Kojima with a STO. For the third straight match, the heels attacked before the bell. Once again, the faces turned it around to run wild on Sanada. EVIL and BUSHI attacked Nagata and Kojima outside the ring, leaving Sanada to mount a brief comeback before tagging out. Exciting final minutes had all the  men running in for clotheslines and other signature moves. Tenzan and Kojima hit a 3D on Sanada, but BUSHI sprayed Kojima with mist. This allowed EVIL to hit the STO for the win.

Kenny Omega came to the ring for a promo. He was accompanied by Chase Owens, Bad Luck fale and Yujiro Takahashi, but no Takahashi escorts. Omega introduced a video package to announce the newest Bullet Club member, as Bone Soldier was an "intergalactic failure". Of course, the new member is "The America Nightmare" Cody Rhodes.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) b. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson when Goto pinned Shibata with the GTR. Finally a match where the heels didn't attack before the bell. As I said earlier, Goto and Shibata are lifelong friends and former tag champions, so Goto is one of the few people Shibata respects. That said, Goto did still whip him into the barriers when Shibata tried to save Robinson from a double team. Long heat segment on Robinson before the hot tage to Shibata. Shibata and Goto faced off for a good few minutes, with Shibata getting the better of Goto. Shibata actually had Goto down with a sleeper and was about to hit the Penalty Kick, but Hashi made the save. Hashi kept Robinsn at bay so Goto could finish off Shibata with the GTR.

After the match Goto draped the NEVER Openweight Championship over Shibata, so we're likely getting a title program out of these (former?) friends.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Rush) b. Hiroshi Tanahashi & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA when Rush pinned KUSHIDA with a Double Underhook Piledriver (Jay Driller). Tanahashi and KUSHIDA were introduced first. And in true heel fashion, Naito literally took like five minutes to get to the ring. KUSHIDA got double teamed early on. Tanahashi was chomping at the it for a tag in, but Rush knocked him off the apron. KUSHIDA seconds later decked Rush and reached for the desparate tag, but Tanahashi wasn't there. Thankfully for KUSHIDA, he was able to get the hot tag to Tanahashi a few minutes later. Tanahashi and Naito went toe-to-toe, with Naito getting the better of Tanahashi. Rush threw KUSHIDA into the barrier right before Tanahashi started making a comeback. KUSHIDA tagged in and hit a plancha on both LIJ. KUSHIDA had the Hoverboard Lock on Rush when Hiromu Takahashi came to the ring. Naito pushed Tanahashi into referee Red Shoes, and hit KUSHIDA with some sort of Fireman's Carry slam. Rush then hit the piledriver for the win.

After the match, SANADA, EVIL, and BUSHI came to the ring to formally induct Takahashi into LIJ.

CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii)  b. Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Hangman Page) when Okada pinned Page with The Rainmaker Clothesline.Omega and Page were accompanied by Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi. Omega and Okada started out, with Omega cheapshotting Okada before tagging out. Page nailed Ishii with an inverted DDT to the apron, and then landed a shooting star press on both Ishii and Okada on the outside. This lead to the double team on Ishii. Okada got the hot tag, and dodged all the double team attempts. Omega dodged the Too Awesome Dropkick and the Rainmaker. Page superkicked Ishii out of the ring and hit a DDT on Okada. Omega powerbombed Okada for a two count. Ishii ran in to take out Omega, allowing Okada to hit the Too Awesome Dropkick and the Rainmaker on Page for the win.

During Okada's victory celebration, Omega attacked him from behind and hit the One Winged Angel. Gedo got in the ring and yelled "What are you doing?" in English, so Omega hit him with a Boma Ye and a One Winged Angel. Omega posed over the fallen Okada and Gedo. Pro Wrestling 101 folks.

In the main event, GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) when Makabe pinned Roa with the King Kong Kneedrop. You could say this match was GBH vs. GOD. Action spilled outside early, with all four wrestlers brawling into the crowd. GOD set Honma up on a table for a top rope dive, but Makabe made the save. Honma and Tonga brawled up the stage, until Tonga laid uout Honma with a DDT.  GOD continued to beat on Honma for several minutes until Makabe got the hot tag and ran wild. All four men commenced to brawlin', and GOD regained control of the match. GOD powerbombed Honma through the previously set up table. This left Makabe to fend for himself against GOD. GOD hit the Magic Killer on Makabe for a two count. Another Magic Killer, and another Two Count. Crowd is absolutely going bananas for Makabe. GOD set up Makabe for Guerrilla Warfare, but Makabe fended them off and hit a double clothesline. Makabe climbed the top rope for a King Kong Kneedrop, but Tonga ran in and hit a Cutter. GOD hit Guerrilla Warfare on Makabe and looked to have the match won, but at the last second Honma broke the pin. GBH slowly made their comeback, and eventually hit the Doomsday Device Headbutt. Honma hit the Kokeshi, immediately followed by Makabe hitting the King Kong Kneedrop. So Roa ate three finishers in a row.

GBH have won the World Tag League two years in a row. The last time a team won two straight Tag League tournaments was Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh in 1993/1994. This also means they will be getting an IWGP Tag Title Shot at WrestleKingdom 11.

After the match, GBH cut promos, presumably thanking the fans and predicting victory at WK11.

Most of the show was pretty good, but that main event was a legitimate MOTY contender.

[Zandrax]

Road To The Tokyo Dome Night 1 12/16 - Multi-Camera Show with no commentary

Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguhi, & Yoshitatsu b. Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask IV, & Henare when Taguchi submitted Henare with an Anklelock. Fun opening match with a mildly surprising finish due to Taguchi being a Junior Heavyweight. Henare was majorly selling his ankle upon leaving the ring.

After the match, Nakanishi got in Nagata's face, and said something into the mic. Looks like there may be a Nagata/Nakanishi match in the near future, which isn't exacttly my idea of a five star matchup.

Tomohiro Ishii p. Chase Owens with a Brainbuster. The only singles match on the show. Ishii overwhelmed owens early, no-selling much of Owens' offense. Owens took control when the action well outside the ring. Once the action got back in the ring, it became more back and forth. Ishii strung together his basement clothesline and brainbuster to get the win.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI) b. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, & David Finlay when EVIL pinned Finlay with the STO. Finlay was wearing a Jay White T-Shirt. Finlay and Bushi started things out. EVIL tripped up Tenzan from the outside, and LIJ charged in to knock the faces out of the ring. The heels ran wild for a bit. Kojima tagged in and did the rapid chops on Sanada. All six men got in and hit moves, with Finlay getting a two count on EVIL with a Uranage. However, EVIL kicked out and hit the STO to score the victory.

GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) & Juice Robinson b. Bullet Club (IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa, & Bone Soldier) when Robinson pinned Tonga with Pulp Friction. The Heels attacked the faces right off the bat.  the GOD were about to hit Robinson with Guerrilla Warfare when the bell rang. It turned out to be Toru Yano who rang the bell for the distraction. The faces rallied, with GBH clearing the ring enabling Robinson to finish off the tag champion.

After the match, Yano nutshotted the three faces. Bone Soldier and Roa tried to attack him, but Yano nutshotted them too. Yano then cut a promo.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Jado) b. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Jushin Thunder Liger when Goto pinned Liger with the GTR. Some comedy with Liger and Jado doing the "no sell the running shouldblock off the ropes" spots like big men would do. Shibata it several forearms on Goto in the corner before Jado pulled him off. This brought Shibata's ire on Jado, who got decked with a kick. Liger hit Goto with a top rope hurracanrana for a two count. Goto rallied, hitting Shibata with the Ushigorushi (Firemans Carry into a Neck Breaker over the knee). A GTR to Liger, and it was all over.

CHAOS (IWGP Heavuweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo)  Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, & Yujiro Takahashi)  A brawl broke out before the opening bell. Okada held Omega so Gedo could yell "we're gonna kill you motherf---er" and hit him. Fale tried to break things up, but he got triple teamed in the corner. Takahashi also tried, but things didn't fare much better for him either. A brawl spilled outside the ring with Omega smacking around both Okada and Hashi in the barriers. This gave Bullet Club control of the match, and they put the heat on Hashi. Okada got the hot tag and ran wild. Omega countered with his Firemans Carry Roll/Moonsault combo for a two count. Takahashi tagged in and faced off with Gedo. He went for the Pimp Juice, but hashi broke it up. This lead to the obligatory barrage of signature moves by all six men. Okada nailed Fale with the Too Awesome Dropkick. Gedo put takahashi in his rollup finisher, but Omega hit a Boma Ye to break it. Okada tried for the Rainmaker on Omega, but Omega Boma Ye'd his way out of it. This freed up Takahashi to hit the Pimp Juice for the win on Gedo. The heels stood over all three fallen CHAOS.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA  Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi)  Losts of stalling at first, with KUSHIDA wanting to start out against Takahashi, only for Takahashi to tag in Naito. KUSHIDA tagged in Tanahashi. Just when Tanahashi and Naito were about to lock up, Takahashi ran in and Sunset Flipped KUSHIDA to the floor (OW!). LIJ then double teamed Tanahashi on the outside, including a running dropkick on him while he was lined up next to the ringpost. The heels teamed Tanahashi for several minutes until Kushida got the hot tag. Kushida got to smack around Takahashi until Takahashi contered with a sit-out powerbomb. Naito locked in a Koji Clutch, but Tanahashi broke it up. Takahashi hit release German Suplexes on both Kushida and Tanahashi before hitting his finisher Timb Bomb, which is like a hybrid DVD/Powerslam.

After the match, Naito cut a promo partially in Spanish.

[Zandrax]

Road To Tokyo Dome Night 12/18 - Full Show With Commentary

Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoshitatsu b. Jushin Thunder Liger & Henare when Taguchi pinned Henare with the Dodon (wheelbarrow facebuster). Good faced paced opener. Liger and Taguchi started out Taguchi missed a plancha to the aoutside, but evaded Liger's dive. Henare showed some real athleticism against Tatsu. Taguchi got to run wild with his hip attacks. Tatsu hit a plancha on Liger. With Liger predisposed with Tatsu, Taguchi was able to nail the Dodon for the win.

After the match Liger, Taguchi, and Tatsu all danced in the ring.

CHAOS (Tomhiro Ishii & Toru Yano) b. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Bone Soldier) when Ishii pinned Soldier with a Brainbuster. One of the funny things about the CHAOS stable is how different some of teh members are. Yano is mainly comedy, but Ishii is a legit badass. Yano and Soldier started the match, which allowed Yano to do some of his signature comedy. Both Ishii and Takahashi tagged in, which made things more serious. Tkahashi lured Ishii out of the ring, where Soldier was able to whip him into the barricade. Takahashi decked Yano with a chair. After a heat segment on Ishii, Yano tagged in and immeediately started removing the turnbuckles. Soldier whipped Ishii into the ref, knocking the ref down. Soldier went to choke Ishii with his wrist tape, but Yano snuck up behind Soldier and started choking soldier with his own tape.Yano revived the ref while Ishii hit the Brainbuster on Soldier to win the match.

Juice Robinson & GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)  Bullet Club (Chase Owens & IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa)  Owens came out first, acting like he didn't know where GOD were. GOD snuck up from behind and ambushed the faces before the bell. The faces fended off the attack brefly, but then Robsinson got caught in mid-air trying a plancha onto GOD, and got tossed into the ringpost. The heels worked over Robinson's shoulder. After taking a beating, Robinson tagged in Honma, who hit a few signature headbutts. Makabe and Robinson clotheslined GOD out of the ring, enabling Honma to slam Owens and hit him with the Kokeshi. Makabe climbed the top rope, but Toru Yano snuck out and rand the bell, temporarily distracting him. Fortunately for Makabe, he still hit the kneedrop and got the pin. Yano grabbed the IWGP Tag Team Belts and ran off.

Yuji Nagata p. Manabu Nakanishi with an Exploder Suplex. This is the first singles match I've seen Nakanishi have in some time. Both men spent the opening moments trying to feel each other out with lockups. Nagata slapped Nakanishi. Nakanishi slammed Nagata and hit a running big splash. When Nakanishi superplexed Nagata off the top rope, the announcer lost his mind. Nakanishi even hit a top rope dropkick for a two count. Nagata escaped the Rack, but Nakanishi levelled him with a clothesline and locked in the Rack anyway. Turning the Rack into a Samoam Drop landed a otwo count. Nagata mounted a comeback, and put Nakanishi in the Shirome armbar. Nagata hit several Exploder Suplexes. A pin attempt after a standard Suplex got ony a one count. However, Nagata kept at it and hit another Exploder to get the three count.

NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata & Tiger Mask IV b. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Jado) when Shibata pinned Jado with the Penalty Kick. Tiger Mask and Jado started out, with Jado whipping Tiger into the barriers rather quickly. Goto and Jado double teamed Tiger. Goto went after Shibata, which gave Tiger a chance to recover. Shibata tagged in and once again levelled Goto with forearms. Shibata locked Goto in a Sleeper/Rear Naked Choke and may have gotten the win had Jado not broken it up. Shibata tried a lariat on Goto, but Goto reversed it into the Ushigorushi. Jado tagged in and hit an elevated DDT on Shibata, Randy Orton style. Tiger Mask and Goto it the ring for the Pier 6 Brawl. Tiger kept Goto at bay while Shibata nailed the PK on Jado to win the match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA, & David Finlay b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI, & Hiromu Takahashi) when Kojima pinned BUSHI with a Lariat. This is the first match with all five members of LIJ involved. A lot of stalling to start the match, with the heels acting like they're ready to fight only to back off. Finally BUSHI cheapshotted Kushida to get things rolling. Sanada took a beating from the faces until Takahashi crotched Finlay on the ringpost from behind. That brought everybody into the match. Takahashi hit a top rope senton to the outside on Tanahashi and Kushida. The heels controlled the next few minutes of the match, beating on Finlay. Tanahashi got the hot tag and ran wild until Naito hit him in the knee. Kojima tagged in and got the rapid fire chops on EVIL. Kojima was going to the top rope when Sanada nutshotted him with the ropes. Awesome multiman action saw Tanahashi lock Naito in the Texas Cloverleaf while Kushida put Takahashi in the Hoverboard Lock, Tenzan and Kojima hit BUSHI with a 3D, and Finlay hit Sanada and EVIL with a Plancha. This took all members of LIJ out of the equation so Kojima could lower the boom on BUSHI with the Lariat.

After the match everybody brawled around the outside. However the faces stood tall in the ring when it was over. Everybody left the ring except Tanahashi, who gave the crowd one final salute before leaving to his music.

Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) when Omega pinned Hashi with The One Winged Angel. Fale bullied the ring announcer out of the ring. Surprisingly, Omega and Okada started the match. Crowd solidly behind Okada. The two stable leaders went toe to toe, countering each other's moves to a standstill. Okada tagged in Hashi and they hit some tag moves on Omega. Fale decked Hashi with a clothesline, and the two Bullet Club members tossed CHAOS to the outside and into the barriers. Long heat segment on Hashi. Omega even planchad Okada on the outside to keep him from tagging in. Hashi hit Omega with a neckbreaker, and crawld toward Okada for the tag, but Fale knocked Okada off the apron. Fale continued to work over Hashi. He lifted Hashi for a firemwan's carry, but Hashi turned it into a reverse DDT. Double tag out, with Okada and Omega tagging in. This time Okada ran wild. Heavy Rain followed by the top rope elbow. However, Omega ducked the Rainmaker and hit his Firemans Carry Roll/Moonsault combo for a two count. Okada rallied and tagged in Hashi, Omega got a tag in to Fale, who hit Hashi with a Samoan Drop. More double teaming on Hashi. Hashi started his comeback, but fale and Omega cut him off. Omega with the V-Trigger (Boma Ye), but Okada broke the pin. Okada missed the Too Awesome Dropkick and got splashed by Fale. Omega then finished off Hashi with the One Winged Angel.

After the match, Okada and Omega stood face to face. I have no idea what Okada said. Omega told Okada that this was just a taste of what will happen at The Tokyo Dome. He said since this is nearly Christmas, and it's the last show of the year, he has a present for Okada. At that moment Fale clotheslined Okada from behind. The rest of Bullet Club ran out and set up a table. Omega did a One Winged Angel off the apron through the table. I'm not sure where the rest of CHAOS were. But Bullet Club dragged Okada back in the ring and draped Gedo over him. His final words were "Mery Christmas to all, and to all good bye and good night". Bullet Club celebrated over the fallen Okada with the world title in falling snow. Okada was stretchered out of the ring.

Heckuva closing angle to lead into WrestleKingdom.

[Zandrax]

New Year's Dash, 1/05 - Full Show with Commentary

New Year's Dash is notable for being the show that starts to set the stage for the rest of the year. Kind of like the Raw after WrestleMania.

Kyle O'Reilly, David Finlay, & Ricochet b. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, & Henare when Finlay pinned Henare. The usual fun opening match. Finish was Finlay using the rolling fireman's carry while Richochet hit the Shooting Star Press.

The Bullet Club (Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi) b. Hunter Club (Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn) when Page pinned Yoshitatsu with the Right Of Passage. Nothing really to write home about with this match. Nothing bad, but Tatsu really came across as a loser.

CHAOS (Roppongi Vice & YOSHI-HASHI) b. The Bullet Club Elite (The Young Bucks & Adam Cole) when YOSHI-HASHI pinned Cole witha  Small Package. A little surprising that the new ROH Champion was pinned, but it's a rpetty good bet this means Hashi will be getting a ROH Title Shot. This was a fun match with good action and some comedy spots including The Bucks ducking Romero's Forever Clotheslines like three or for times in a row. Cole lifted Hashi for a suplex, which would presumably be paired with a Superkick, but Hashi reversed it into the Small Package for the pin out of thin air.

Team 2000 (Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Hiro saito, Scott Norton, & Cheeseburger) b. The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa, Bad Luck Fale, & Bone Soldier)  It's hilarious to hear the Japanese ring announcer introduce "CHEEEEESABOWGAAAH". Fale once again bullied the announcer out of the ring. Omega had teh perfect cowardly heel reaction to starting off with Norton. he tried to recruit him to The Bullet Club. Norton smiled and shook his hand, and of coursed squeezed it and Omega screamed in pain. Norton no-sold everything and tossed Cheeseburger to the outside on the heels... Who caught him and threw him back in. BC cut off Cheeseburger and and worked him over a bt before Burger was able to tag in Tenzan. Kojima did the rapid chops on Bone Sldier and Omega. This lead to a four way chopfest in the corners with Norton giving them to Roa, Saito giving them to Tonga, and Cheeseburger trying to rapid chop Fale. Needlessto say the 140 lb. Burger didn't fare will against the 350 lb. Fale. Shortly afterward, Kojima nailed Soldier with the Lariat for the win.

Michael Elgin & KUSHIDA b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi) when Elgin pinned Naito with a Burning Hammer. This is a natural tag match because Elgin lost the IC Belt to Naito, and KUSHIDA lost the Jr Title to Takahashi. As such, most of the action was Kushida/Takahashi and Elgin/Naito. Naito went for a Tornado DDT, but Elgin powered it into a Falcon Arrow. Elgin also hit a German Suplex into the buckle on Naito, and DVD'd Takahashi onto him. Naito tossed the referee into Kushida, and low-blowed both Kushida and Elgin. With the referee still down Dragon Lee hit the ring and cleared the ring of Takahashi. Elgin hit a Burning Hammer on Naito for the pinfall.

After the match, Lee powerbombed Takahashi. Both he and Elgin posed with their respective fallen opponent's titles.

Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Juice Robinson, & GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay, IWGP Tag Team Champions Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii when Robinson pinned Goto with the Pulp Friction. Okada's body was heavily taped. A very cool exchange between Shibata and Ospreay, with Ospreay standing up to him. Yano tagged in and got headbutted by Honma. The funny thing about that is Honma almost always misses his first headbutt attempt. A brawl broke outwith ALL the competitors that spilled out into the crowd. This left the two legal men, Honma and Yano, in the ring. Okada threw Robinson into the barrier, while Ishi smashed Makabe's head into a concrete pillar. With most of the babyfaces down for the count, CHAOS teamed up on Honma. Honma kept trying to rally, but kept getting cut off until he finally got a hot tag to Makabe. Makabe ran wild and no sold Ospreay's chops. Ishi's nose got busted by a lariat, so Ishii leveled Makabe and tagged in Okada. Makabe tagged in Robinson, who actually got several moves on Okada. Goto also traded shots with Robinson. Goto hit the Ushigoroshi and went for the GTR, but Shibata ran in to break it up. Shibata ran wild, kicking all of the CHAOS members out of the ring and hitting Goto with the Penalty Kick. Robnson then hit Goto with the Pulp Friction for the surprising win.

After the match Suzuki-Gun made their sudden return, storming the ring and attacking everybody. For those that don't know, Suzuki-Gun is a heel stable headed by Minoru Suzuki. They spent the better part of the last two years in Pro Wrestling NOAH. Members include The Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer), Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Okada tried to rally, but Suzuki himself took out Okada with a cradle piledriver. Suzuki-Gun stood over the carnage as Suzuki cut a promo, and challenged Okada for the title. Suzuki left, and his minions continued to beat on everybody as Suzuki's theme played, which is pretty funny because his theme is actually pretty catchy.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi, & Ryusuke Taguchi b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI) when Nakanishi pinned Bushi with the Hercules Cutter. I'm not sure what these three did to earn a title shot. Funny spot where Taguchi used his own  butt as a turnbuckle for his partners to slam opponents' heads on. Evil smacked Tacguchi's butt with a chair and then threw Tanahashi into th rng barrier. and broke a chair over Tanahashi's knee. Heat on Taguchi, until Tanahashi got tagged in. Tanahashi tried to run wild, but his knee was hurt. Evil beat on Tanahashi until he was able to tag in Nakanishi. Nakanishi was able to run wild, levelling Sanada with a lariat. Sanada tried to lock in the Dragon Sleeperon Nakanishi, but Tanahashi made the save. Nakanishi tried to tag in Tanahashi, but Evil pulled Tanahashi off the apron. The teaming on Nakanishi continued until Taguchi ran in for a save. Stero dives from Taguchi and Tanahashi on Evil and Sanada so Nakanishi could land the Hercules Cutter (Torture Rack into a Neckbreaker) for the win.

This means LIJ had a one day reign as the champions, and Tanahashi is already a two-time champion.

After the match Nakanishi cut a promo. Have no idea what he said, but the crowd was laughing.

Outside of a title change and the awesome Suzuki-Gun return angle, this was a largely skippable show. But not bad at all.

[Zandrax]

New Beginning - 2/5

Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) b. KUSHIDA & Hirai Kawato when Desperado pinned Kawato with a gutwrench powerbomb. Not a surprising finish at all, as Suzuki-Gun are the freshly returned heel stable. The heels beat up the faces after the match because they're jerks.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, & Yuji Nagata b. Yoshitatsu, Henare, & Tomoyuki Oka when Nagata made Oka submit to the Nagata Lock II (Crossface). Simple match where the veterans beat the young lions.

CHAOS (Will Ospreay, Jado, & Gedo) b. Katsuyori Shibata, Jushin Thunder Liger, & Tiger Mask IV  when Ospreay pinned Tiger Mask with the springboard cutter. Fun little six man match that furthered the Shibata/Ospreay feud. After the match, Shibata tried to attack Ospreay, but Ospreay hit him with a Springboard Cutter as well. Ospreay posed with Shibata's Revolution Pro Title.

Yoshi-Hashi p. Takahashi Iizuka with Karma (pumphandle driver) Iizuka has a savage crazy man gimmick (think Brody or heel George Steele). This match was Iizuka beating up Hashi for 90% of the match, with Hashi rallying in the final moments.

Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Dragon Lee b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, Sanada, EVIL, BUSHI, & Hiromu Takahashi) when Lee pinned BUSHI with The Phoenix-Plex (powerbomb variant). This was the first really good match on the show. It had brawling, technical wrestling, and high flying. The closing sequence had Elgin powerbombing Naito to the outside onto his LIJ minions. Tanahashi followed that up with a High Fly Flow on LIJ when they were getting to their feet. With all of LIJ out of the ring, Dragon Lee hit his finish for the pin.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Beretta) b. Suzuki-Gun (Taichi & Taka Michinoku) when Beretta pinned Taichi. Since this is a Junior tag match, it had a lot off dives and high flying. The challengers were accompanied by fellow Suzuki-Gun stablemates El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, plus an unnaled scantily clad female. She distracted Rocky before the bell so the heels could attack. Taka distracted the ref so Sukuzi-Gun could triple team Beretta on the outside. This lead to a long heat segment of Beretta getting beat down. Hot tag to Rocky, who ran whild with the Forever Clotheslines. He yelled something in Japanese that sounded insulting, but the crowd laughed. The heels worked over Beretta again until he hit a Dudebuster in deperation. Beretta finally made a comeback with a chair, decking the other Suzuki-Gun members. Rocky hit a suicide dive. With all the other heels on the outside, Roppongi Vice hit their Strong Zero finisher on Taichi for the win.

After the match the heels beat down RPG Vice, then Kanemaru cut a promo, presumably issuing a challenge for the titles.

NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto  Juice Robinson with the GTR. The setup for this match was very simple. Juice pinned Goto during a tag match on New Year's Dash, and New Japan pays attention to wins and losses for champions. Thus Juice gets a title shot for pinning a champion. Juice was hot out of the gate, but Goto would not stay down. Goto eventually ducked the Pulp Friction and lander an Elevated DDT. Juice kicked out of that, but fell to the GTR. I figured Goto was winning but Juice looked good even in defeat.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions CHAOS (Toru yano & Tomohiro Ishii) b. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)  Killer Elite Squad (Lance Harcher & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) when Yano pinned Makabe with a roll-up. This match had varius levels of comedy (as most Yano matches do). Good, but not great. Yano low-blowed Makabe out of the referee's site, then Ishii nailed Makabe with a running lariat, which Yano used as a combo for his roll-up

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada p. Minoru Suzuki with The Rainmaker. Had I not seen Okada/Omega, this might be my match of the year. Suzuki injured Okada's leg in a press conference attack they day before, so Okada's leg was heavily taped. Of course, Suzuki targeted the leg early in the match. Crowd solidly behind Okada. Suzuki dominated most of the match, with all sorrts of leglocks and submissions, but Okada refused to stay down. Okada wiuld get just enough moves in to keep the crowd motivated. It got to the point where Okada couldn't even run on the leg. Gedo teased throwing in the towel. Referee Red Shoes got bumped, allowing Suzuki-Gun to run in and start beating down Okada. CHAOS members ran in for the save, leaving Suziki and Okada alone. Okada went for a Gotch Piledriverm but Suzuki reversed it into a leglock on Okada's bad leg. I don't think I've ever seen somebody in leglocks for as long as Okada was in them in this match. Okada hit a desperation Rainmaker, but wasn't able to make the cover. Suzuki kept dodging the second Rainmaker, until Okada hit a german Suplex, and landed it for the win.

After the match, Gedo cut a promo puting over Okada. Okada closed out the show with his "three things" promo, and mentioned something about the New Japan Cup. It also sounded like he challenged Tiger Mask W (Kota Ibushi)

First half of the show was OK, but the main event was awesome and the Openweight match was very good. It'll be interesting to see how Okada's leg holds up in future matches.

[Zandrax]

New Beginning In Osaka - 2/10

Taka Michinoku p. Henare with a pinning package combination. Standard opening match fare with the veteran and the young lion.

Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) b. Yoshitatsu & KUSHIDA when Kojima pinned Yoshitatsu with a Lariat. Tatsu surprisingly went on an aggressive offense out of the gate. Good back and forth match despite the size and experience difference. Kojima rached out for a handshake, but Tatsu slapped his hand away. A brief pullapart brawl after the disrespectful gesture by Tatsu. Looks like Yoshi may be turning heel.

Yuji Nagata, Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, & Tiger Mask IV b. CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, Jado, & Gedo) when Juice pinned Jado with Pulp Friction. Good action packed match that featured Juice pretty heavily.

Suzuki Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & TAichi) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavywight Champion Kazuchika Okada, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Rocky Romero, & Beretta) Suzuki attacked Okada before the bell, and continued the assault outside the ring while neither man were legal. An impressive spot where Suzuki had both Okada and Berreta in simultaneous leglocks. Romero got a hot tag and ran wild with the Forever Clotheslines. However Taichi and Kanemaru eventually cut him off and Kannemaru hit his leaping DDT to win the match. Okada and Suzuki continued to brawl postmatch.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (Sanada, EVIL, & BUSHI) b. NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi, & Rysuke Taguchi to win the titles when Sanada submitted Nakanishi with a Dragon Sleeper. Once again, the heels jumped the babyfaces before the match began. Great action with neither team establishing any real control. A three way submission spot had Nakanishi torture racking Sanada, while Tanahashi had EVIL in the Texas Cloverleaf, AND Taguchi putting BUSHI in an Anklelock. however, Sanada was able to grab the referee and cause him to tumble outside. This rallied the heels for a bit, and lead to the obligatory finishing sequence where everybody hits their signature moves. Sanada kicked out of a top rope splash by Nakanishi.  Nakanishi was going for another rack when BUSHI used mist. This allowed Sanada to lock in the Dragon Sleeper for the submission win. The heels continued to beat up the babyfaces postmatch.

Revolution Pro British Heavyweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata  Revolution Pro British Cruiserweight Champion Will Ospreay  Only Shibata's title was on the line. Crowd was solidly behind Shibata. Ospreay started out the mathc in control, hitting a suicide dive and a moonsault to the outside back to back. Shibata ran shoulder first into the post on the outside, and then got a wicked sounding kick to the head which seemingly knocked him out. This lead to an impressive moment where Ospreay had to carry Shibata into the ring on his shoulders. Ospreay hit a reverse 450 for a two count. Ospreay went for his springboard cutter finisher, but Shibata literally caught him in a sleeper. Once he put Ospreay down with the sleeper, he hit the Penalty Kick to finish him off.

In a good showing of sportsmanship, Shibata shook Ospreay's hand.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champiobns Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii b. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) and Suzuki-Gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr. Takashi Iizuka) when Yano pinned Smith with a rollup. It was originally going to be Killer Elite Squad representing Suzuki-Gun, but Lance Archer got injured so Iizuka subbed. Makabe and Honma jumped Yano and Ishii as they made their way to the ring. So the babyfaces actually jumped the heels first this time around.  Most of the beginning parts of the match were Smith and Iizuka working over Honma. Makabe and Honma rallied and amacked around Yano. Smith hit a bridging Butterfly Suplex on Yano for a two count. Iizuka put the referee in the way of a charging Honma, so the referee went down. Iizuka out on some sort of steel gloce and knocked out Makabe, Honma, and Smith. Yano hit Iizuka with a low blow, and rolled up Smith to get the pin.

They have 90 minutes left for the final two matches.

A video package aired about Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee. It covered their history in CMLL, and showed footage of ROH matches as well.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi p. Dragon Lee with the Time Bomb (Fireman's Carry to a side slam) Naturally this had a lot of high flying. INSANE spot had Takahashi on the apron, and Lee did a running hurracanrana over the top rope. They traded several very quick German Suplexes.  Takahashi got Lee to the top rope and tried a sunset flip like move. Le blocked it, and started to lift Takahashi for a slam, but Takkahashi pulled off Lee's mask! Lee was stunned for a second, then scrambled for the match. One of the rookie wrestlers at ringside helped Takahashi get his mask back on. Dragon made a comeback, and the two traded chops Yes/No style until Takahashi hit a Canadian Destroyer for a two count. Takahashi responded with a DVD to the turnbuckles and immediately hit a Time Bomb to get the win.

After the match, Ryusuke Taguchi came to the ring and seemingly congratulated Taahashi for his win. I'm presuming he was asking for a title shot, but whatever he said made the crowd laugh. Takahashi acted like he was going toleave the ring, and Taguchi did likewise. Takahashi tried to ambush Taguchi from behind with the title, but TTaguchi was smart enough to see it coming and ducked. He put Takahashi in the AnkleLock and Takahashi tapped. Color Commentator Don Callis took the heel route and accused Taguchi of hoarding in on Takahashi's moment, and making a cowardly attack... Even though it was Takahashi that threw the first strike. Simple but effective angle.

A video package aired for the main event of Michael Elgin challenging Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. They highlighted Elgin's broken orbital bone that happened during their last match. Elgin said hewas going to break Naito's f---ing jaw.

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito  Michael Elgin  Naito came to the ring in his usual suit, and took his time to get down to his gear. Crowd was very much behind Elgin. Elgin with the shine out of the gate, either blocking or countering just about everything Naito threw at him. He even caught Naito in a suicide dive to the outside and turned it into a suplex on the floor. Naito was able to make a comeback after knocking Elgin off the middle ropes. Since the aerial attacks failed, Naito wiseley changed his strategy and went for Elgin's lower leg. The match just continued to build with bigger and bigger moves, including two apron bumps by Naito. Elgin kicked out of a Destino, while Naito kicked out of Elgin's powerbomb. Naito reversed a Burning Hammer into another Destino, but Elgin still kicked out. Naito finished off Elgin with another Destino for the win.

After the match, all of Los Ingobernables De Japon came to the ring to celebrate. Kevin Kelly and Don Callis made sure to point out that LIJ won all their matches tonight. Every single member of LIJ is a champion. Naito cut a promo as well.

Very strong final two matches. I wouldn't go so far as to say MOTY Candidates (Okada vs. Suzuki is one fwiw), and the second of two good shows.

[Zandrax]

Honor Rising Part 1 - 2/26

As the name implies, both Honor Rising cards are co-promoted with Ring Of Honor.

KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson & David Finlay b. Gedo, Jado, & Silas Young when Robinson pinned Gedo with Pulp Friction. A fun match with comedy to start things out. Silas cut a promo about these three real men getting disrespected by the crowd. The heels started fighting the babfaces, only to get run off. Juice got busted open, possibly by a kick from Gedo. After the match, all the babyfaces celebrated by walking around the crowd slapping hands with the fans.

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Los Ingobernables De Japon (Sanada, Bushi, & EVIL) b. Tiger Mask IV, Jushin Thunder Liger & Delerious when Sanada submitted Delerious with the Skull End (Dragon Sleeper). Another match that started out with comedy. Delerious (whose whole schtick is he's a wild man who speaks gibberish) ran around the ring when the bell rang. Then without doing any moves, tagged out to Liger... and tagged back in. Heat on Tiger Mask before a hot tag to Delerious. Delerious got a few near falls on Sanada before EVIL hit him in the head with a chairshot unbeknownst to the referee. Sanada then locked in the Skull End for the tapout victory.

Trivial knowledge, Gedo is New Japan's booker, and Delerious is ROH's booker. And they both were the ones beaten in their respective tag matches.

After the match, Sanada put one of the ringside crew in a submission right in front of commentattor Milano Collection A.T., who is a retired wrestler. So they may be teasing a match between Milano and a LIJ member.

CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooko Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, & Will Ospreay) b. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga, & Tanga Roa)  CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooko Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, & Will Ospreay) when Yoashi-hashi pinned Takahashi with a pumphandle slam. Long heat on Ospreay before Okada got the hot tag and ran wild on Fale. Okada even hit an impressive looking bodyslam.

War Machine (Raymod Rowe & Hanson) b. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) when Hanson pinned Matt after hitting Fallout. Crowd was solidly behind The Young Bucks. Impressive power by Hanson when he powerbombed boh Bucks at the same time. There was even a This Is Awesome chant... IN JAPAN... Nick was tossed out of the ring, leaving Matt by himself agaist both War Machine guys. Matt hit a few superkicks, but eventually got caught and slammed. Mar Machine hit Fallout for the win, and repectfully bowed to all sides of the arena.

The Bucks are the ROH tag champions, so it's a safe bet War Machine will get a title shot out of this.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinetnal Champion Tetsuya Naito & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi) & Punisher Martinez b. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Dalston Castle when Martinez pinned Castle with a chokeslam.  Tanahashi and Taguchi accompanied Castle to the ring dressed as The Boys, complete with the feathered fans. Tanahashi and Dalton even did Taguchi's hip attack. Martinez was built as being the big threat, as he was definitely the biggest guy in the match. Naito didnt tag him in at all until Martinez managed to tag himself in. Martinez no-sold offense until the babyfaces nailed him with a triple dropkick. However, Martinez battled back and nailed a chokeslam on Castle for the win.

Katsuyori Shibata & Jay Lethal b. The Bullet Club (Hangman Page & Cody). Very good match. The heels beat on Lethal for most of the match until he got the desperation tag to Shibata. Shibata shook off a top rope dropkick from Cody. Page tagged in, and avoided a Lethal Injection. While Page was on the outside, Shibata hit Cody with the Penalty Kick, but Page was the legal man. When Page made it back into the ring Lethal hit The Lethal Injection to get the pin. Shibata and Cody brawled after the match.

The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & ROH World Champion Adam Cole)  The Briscoe Brothers  This was basically ROH's bestt tag team against the ROH World Champion and the top guy in Bullet Club. It was also Kenny Omega's first match in NEw Japan since the night after WrestleKingdom. Very good tag match. Funny spot had Omega trying to get Cole to help him do a double suplex on Mark Briscoe. However, Cole went for his "ADAM COLE BAY BAY!!" schtick and Mark reversed the suplex. The finish was Kenny Omega hitting Mark with the V-Trigger (Boma Ye/Kinshasa) and Cole followed it up with the Last Shot for the win.

After the match, Omega cut a promo putting over that he's back. 2017 will be his year and a year for The Bullet Club. Cole took the mic from Omega and said Omega forgot to mention that Cole is the ROH World Champion, and he's going to have a big year too. In short, it looked to be a tease of dissension.

This was a decent show, nothing blow away but a good three hours of rasslin'.

[Zandrax]

Honor Rising, Day 2 - 2/27

Jado & Silas Young b. KUSHIDA & David Finlay when Young pinned KUSHIDA with Misery (Fireman's Carry Cutter). Another fun opening match that had a good mix of action and humor. The crown chanted "Thank You Silas!". Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero speculated throguhout the match what place on the Real Man Scale the other competitors were. Since Silas Young is "The Last Real Man", does that make Jado "The Second To Last Real Man"?

Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, and NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Sanada, Evil, & Bushi) b. Delirous, Dalton Castle, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, & Ryusuke Taguchi When Evil pinned Delirious with Everything Is Evil (STO). A ten man tag match that involved all five members of LIJ. Taguchi came to the ring in the last show dressed as one of Castle's Boys. Today he came out dressed like Castle. This was the standard multi-man tag fare. You know you're going to get comedy with Delirious, Taguchi, and Castle all in the ring. Delirious went after Evil with a chair, wanting revenge for Evil hitting him with a chair the previous day. Delirious got the chair taken away, but managed to score several near-falls with rollups an crucifix backslides. Naito ran in and helped hit a combination move, which Delirious kicked out. Evil then hit his finisher to win the match.

After the match the fighting continued. Taguchi battled Takahashi (they have a Junior Heavyweight Title Match coming up). Naito did the unthinkable and ripped the mask off Tiger Mask and threw it into the crowd. The heels gloated together in the ring. Tiger did get his mask returned, and was wearing it by the time he left ringside.

Guerrillas Of Destiney (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) b. War Machine (Raymod Rowe & Hanson)  This was a great hossfight. Four big mean dudes throwing each other around. Hanson did his version of the Forever Clotheslines.  GODs did a great "flying headbutt/Frogsplash" combo. The finish was Tonga going for a Gun Stun (RKO/Diamond Cutter) on Rowe, but Rowe caught him hand heaved him up on his shoulders by sheer power. This lead to Hanson doing his top rope legdrop to complete the Fallout finsher.

This means War Machine has beaten both the ROH Tag Champions and the former IWGP Tag Team Champions.

After the match War Machine cut a promo stating that they want the OWGP Tag Team Championship. They then bowed to the crowd. They came across like badass babyfaces.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay Lethal, & Juice Robinson  The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, & Hangman Page) Lethal started out with the shine. The heat came when Juice tagged in and started getting beat on. Eventually Tanahashi got the hot tag. The babyfaces ran wild, knocking Fle out of the ring. Fale and Takahashi pulled Juice and Tanahashi out of the ring. lethal went for a Lethal Injection, but Fale tripped him up. Page dashed in with Inside Out Lariat for the win.

The heels continued to beat on the babyfaces because they're dicks. Takahashi hit Juice with the Pimp Juice DDT> Juice had to be helped from the ring

NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto p. Punisher Martinez to retain the title. Martinez is 6'6" and has a very bellowing voice, which means he has an evil overloard laugh. Very physical match with Goto using his strikes against the big man. My main issue is a 6.6" doing agility moves, but that's just modern styles these days I guess. Still the strikes were good. Martinez went for his sit out chokeslam, but Goto reversed it into the GTR. Goto got the pin, but Martinez was up and walking quickly, apparently showing a speedy recovery from Goto's finishing move.

ROH World Champion Adam Cole p. Yoshi-Hashi with The Last Shot to retain the title. Yoshi-Hashi won this title shot by pinning Cole in a tag match at New Year's Dash. Back and forth early on. Cole decked Hashi with a shoulderblock and did his "ADAM COLE BAYBAY!", only for Hashi to return the favor and yell "YOSHI-HASHI BAYBAY!". Cole yelled "That's MY bit!". Cole knocked Hashi off the top rope to the outside to start the heat. Cole did a nasty whip into the turnbuckle, which got the crowd to chant "ONE MORE TIME!". Crowd really did seem to be behind Cole. Cole was lifing Hashi for a suplex, presumably his Last Shot finisher, but Hashi reversed it. Hashi made a comeback while the crowd chanted Cole. Hashi caught Cole in a double armbar submission, and hit a swanton for a two count. He went for his pumphandle finisher but Cole got out of it hand hit a pair of superkicks. Cole then landed a Canadian Destroyer for a two-count. Cole went for The Last Shot, but Hashi reversed it into a cradle for another two-count. After Hashi kicked out of a running knee strike, Cole busted out THe Last Shot to win the match and keep the title. Very good match toward the end, and quite possibly the best I've ever seen Yoshi-Hashi look.

The announcers put over that Cole has all these high profile defenses coming up in Bbby Fish, Christopher Daniels, and Dalton Castle.

The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Cody, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) b. CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Jay & Mark Briscoe) when Cody pinned Ospready with Crossroads. Excellent match! Omega and Okada teased starting out the match with a staredown, but Okada motioned that he wanted Cody, then tagged out to Mark Briscoe. Omega tagged out to Cody. Cody and Matt Jackson worked over Mark, then Ospreay tagged in. Several areal spots between Ospreay and The Young Bucks, with Ospreay being too fast for both Bucks. Ospreay was finally caught by The Bucks iwth an enziguri. This lead to the heat on Ospreay as The Club worked him over. Ospreay finally caught Omega witha  counter DDT, and made the hot tag to Okada. Okada ran wild on all the Bullet Club including yelling "SUCK IT" to The Bucks as he hit each of them. Exciting sequence saw Cody superplex Ospreay to the outside onto both stables. This left Okada and Omega as the last two guys standing. They went at it with the back and forth blows. Omega and The Bucks hit a triple superkick on Okada. Mark and Okada both hit top rope elbows on Omega. By this time it looked like Ospreay and Cody were the legal men. Ospreay went for the Oscutter (springboard cutter) but Cody reversed it into Crossroads.

After the match, Omega cut a promo putting over The Bullet Club. The announcers and the crowd were wondering where Adam Cole was.

[Zandrax]

New Japan Road - 3/1, Full Show W/ Japanese Commentary

This was not a major event, basically what will become regular TV shows

Yujiro Takahashi b. Tomoyaki Oka This was effectively a squash match. Oka is a "Young Lion" who's just breaking in, and he did get some offense, including a Boston Crab. Takahashi got out of the Crab, and hit a basement dropkick before finishing off Oka with The Pimp Juice DDT. Oka legitimately busted his nose on a forward flop to the mat early in the match..

CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Jado, IWGP Junir Tag Team Champions Rocky Romero & Baretta) b. Suzuki-Gun (Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Taichi, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) when YOSHI-HASHI submitted Taka withThe Butterfly Lock. Jado and Desperado started the match, but things quickly spilled outside.Taichi smacked Jado with his cane and ran him into the post. The rest of SG knocked around CHAOS leaving Jado on his own in the ring. SG used the ring bell hammer on Jado. Jado made the tag to Baretta, and he and Rocky took control. Baretta traded Tornado DDTs before Baretta tagged in Hashi, who got the submission pin. I was expecting Suzuki-Gun to win, but maybe the point was to make Hashi look strong after his ROH Title loss.

After the match Taichi grabbed his cane and Baretta grabbed a long baton. They looked like they were going to fight with the staffs, but the referee tried to stop them. He got kicked and tossed to the outside for his efforts. CHAOS posed together in the ring as SG left, and Baretta made sure to fireman's carry out the referee. Good looking after the coworkers by Baretta.

The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa, & Bad Luck Fale) b. Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, & Yuji Nagata when Tonga pinned Nakanishi with a Gun Stun. The heels jumped the legends out of the gate. The legends rallied for a bit until Kojima got cut off. Tama Tonga hit Kojima with rapid fire chopes (one of Kojima's signature spots). Kojima took a real beating including a simultaneous splash by Fale and legdrop by Roa. After hitting Roa with a desperation Cutter, Kojima made the hot tag to Nagata. Nagata fired up and knocked around all the BC members. Roa kicked out of an Exploder, and hit a powerslam on Nagata.Nakanishi tagged in and also ran wild. Soon everybody hit the ring for the obligatory "everybody hits a move" segment. The finish was Omega hitting the V-Trigger on Nakanishi, which knocked him into a Gun Stun cutter by Tonga.

Jushin Thunder Liger and GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)  CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto & IWGP Tag Team Champions Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii)  Makabe and Yano (former tag champions) started out the match. Makabe would have none of Yano's heel comedy antics, so Yano tagged out to Goto. Honma tagged in and went back and forth with Goto. Ishii came in and no sold Honma's chops. Heat on Honma until Makabe tagged back in and smacked around Ishii. Liger rolled up Yano for a near fall, then argued with referee Tiger Hatori. Yano low-blowed Liger from behind, and Ishii hit a running lariat. The lariat paired withthe low blow and roll up was too much for Liger.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Davey Boy Smith, Jr.) b. Katsuyori Shibata & David Finlay when Smith pinned Finlay with a pwoerbomb. This was clearly meant to set up a singles match between Shibata and Suzuki, which we're getting in The New Japan Cup. Suzuki and Shibata started the match doing the feeling out moves. Both men tagged out. Smith and Finlay played the big man/little man roles. The action spilled outside the ring with Suzuki and Shibata brawling around the arena. With Shibata down on the outside, the heels worked over Finlay. Shibata eventually got the hot tag and laid into Suzuki. They did the back and forth forearm shots before Suzuki locked in a sleeper. Shibata back suplexed out of the sleeper, which lead to both men tagging out again. Shibata and Suzuki continued to brawl on the outside, leaving Smith and Finlay in the ring. Smith finished off Finlay with a powerbomb.

After the match, the brawling continued. Several ring crew tried to break up the fight, but weere tossed out of the ring. Suzuki eventually slid out of the ring and stared down Shibata.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi, & KUSHIDA b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Himoru Takahashi, Never Openweight Six Man Tag Champions SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI) when Robinson pinned BUSHI with Pulp Friction. Once again, all five members of LIJ were in the same match. Naito came out in a hoodie that said "Keep Calm And Say Tranquilo". The faces took a while to decide who was going to start, with Taguchi eventually getting the nod. Taguchi and Tanahashi did some quick teases, then tagged out. Naito and Elgin were next in, with Elgin getting the better of both Naito and Sanada. All five babyfaces whipped Naito into the ropes and hit him with a dropkick to a huge pop. They tried the same thing with EVIL, but he grabbed the rope so all five babyfaces crashed and burned with the missed dropkicks. This lead to heat on Kushida. After taking a beating from all five LIJ members, Kushida tagged in Taguchi, who ran wild with the hip attacks. Before long all ten men were hitting their moves, and the finish came with Robinson getting the win with the Pulp Friction.

After the match, Tanahashi jawjacked with EVIL, and a brawl broke out. Tanahashi and EVIL have a singles match at the New Japan Cup

Tiger Mask IV & Tiger Mask W  CHAOS (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & Gedo)  W and IV came in matching masks, which is an improvement for W. W is of course Kota Ibushi playing a role, though I don't think they acknowledge it on screen. IV and Gedo started the match. After a brief exchange both men tagged out. W and Okada exchanged moves before IV tagged back in for a double team Both Tiger Masks hit difes on opposite ends of the ring. Gedo got frustrated and took out W with a chair. This lead to the heels gaining control. Okada and Gedo tried unmasking bother Tiger Masks but couldn't do it. They continued to beat on IV bevore IV finally got the hot tag to W. W hit a German Suplex for a near fall. Double tag out brought IV and Gedo back in. Four way brawl saw Okada knocked to the outside. Both Tiger Masks hit a top rope headbutts at the same time on Gedo. W hit a moonsault to the outside on Okada while IV pinned Gedo with the Tiger Suplex

After the match, Okada took the mic for a promo. I don't know what he said but it looked like a challenge to W. IV took the mic and also cut a promo apprently putting over W.

Not a bad show, but nothing great either. But again this was meant for regular TV, not a big show.

[Zandrax]

New Japan's 45th Anniversary Show - 3/06, Ota Cuty General Gymnasium

Full Show with Commentary by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis

Manabu Nakanishi s. Tomoyuki Oka with a Rack. Obviously a one sided match with the rookie Young Lion taking on a 25 year vet. The announcers even said Nakanishi would win, it's just a matter of time. But as I've learned many of these Young Lions matches are to get the younger talent exposure and gradually build them up over a few years. Still, Oka managed to slam and Belly to Belly Suplex Nakanishi. He even got a crowd chant for him, so mission accomplished. Oka kicked out of Nakanishi's running lariat, but submitted to The Argentine Back Breaker Torture Rack.

CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Gedo, & Jado) b. Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr., El Desperado, & Taka Michinoku) when Hashi submitted Michinoku with Karma. Another battle between the two heel stables, though Suzuki-Gun are far more hated. Suzuki-Gun jumped CHAOS out of the gate before the bell. Heat on Gedo by having Smith toss him around. Hot tag to Goto who smacked around all of SG before being cut off by Suzuki. Goto hit Suzuki with the Ushigoroshi Neckbreaker and tagged in Hashi. SG failed to team up on Hashi, and Hashi was able to lock in Karma on Michinoku for the win. CHAOS celebrated the win whole SG went back to the locker room.

The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga, & Tanga Roa)  b. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, & David Finlay   Tonga atttacked Tiger Mask from behhind to start the match. So the early goings of the match were the heels beating down Tiger. Makabe got the hot tag and ran wild before tagging in Nagata. Nagata almost got a submission on Takahashi with the Shirome armlock, but Roa broke it up. All of Bullet Club isolated Finlay and took turns beating on him. Omega tried to slam Fale onto Finlay but collapsed under his size. This rallied the babyfaces for a bit, with Finlay firing up against Fale, but Fale hit him with The Hand Grenade to get the pinfall.

Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi) b. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Baretta) when Kanemaru pinned Romero with a flying DDT off the top rope.   A scantily clad woman named Miho Abe lead Taichi to the ring. RPG Vice made their entrance but Kanemaru and El Desperado attacked them from behind in the walkway. Long heat on Romero before Baretta got the hot tag. Some back and forth action, with some near falls for both sides. Romero kicked out of a Tornado DDT, so Taichi powerbombed him, Kanemaru came of the top rope and hit a flying DDT on Romero as he got up.

Taichi and Kanemaru threw Baretta into the ring to hit him with the flying DDT as well, but Gedo & Jado made the save. The staredown afterward seemed to imply a match between the Suzuki-Gun heels and the veterans Gedo & JAdo.

British Heavyweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata PWG & EVOLVE Champion Zack Sabre, Jr.  These two have history. Shibata beat Sabre for the British Heavyweight Championship at a Revolution Pro event. Shibata (primarily known for strikes) went to a mat wrestling approach to keep up with Sabre's technical style. But once Sabre started resorting to strikes, the classic Shibata kicked in. Shibata had Sabre in a headlock when Minoru Suzuki came to the ring. The referee tried to keep Suzuki from enterting the ring. Shibata nailed Suzuki with a running kick that also caused the referee to spill out of the ring. With the refere down, the rest of Suzuki-Gun hit the ring. Suzuki hit Shibata with the Gotch Piledriver, and held him so Sabre could hit his own Penalty Kick. The Davey Boy Smith revived the referee so he could make the count.

This is a finish we've seen thousands of times in American wrestling, but since it happens so rarely in Japan it got some serious heat.

After the match Suzuki cut a promo, presumably welcoming Sabre as the latest member of Suzuki-Gun.

TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) b. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions CHAOS (Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii) when Kojima pinned Yano with a Western Lariat. Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi accompanied their friends and fellow legends to the ring. The crowd seemed to back TenCozy, though they did laugh as usual at Yano's heel comedy antics. Kojima and Ishii did an extended exchange of back and forth forearms. Yano made fun of Tenzan's Mongolian Chops, which fired him up. Kojima tagged in and hit Yano with a Kokeshi Headbutt (Tomoaki Honma's signature move) which popped the crowd (Honma is hospitalized and may not wrestle again). Yano & Ishii tried to rally and hit Koima with their Low Blow/Lariat/Roll-Up Combo, but Tenzan broke up the pin. TenCozy hit a 3D on Yano. A lariat later, it was all over. The babyfaces celebrated in the ring with their newly won titles and posed for press pictures.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, and NEVER Openwieght Six-Man Champions Sanada, EVIL, & BUSHI) b. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson, & KUSHIDA when Naito pinned Robinson with Destino. A brawl broke out before the match began. Heat on tanahashi as all four heels beat him down. Tag to Elgin, who went back and forth with Sanada. Kushida ran wild, until he got tripped and crotched on the ringpost. Juice got in and also ran wild. The crowd has started to chant "JUICE!" each time he lands a forearm or kick. Naito and EVIL double teamed Juice, and hit a series of moves (Inverted atomic drop by Naito/Running Clothesline by Evil/Running Rollup by Naito) but Juice kicked out. Naito quickly finished off Juice with Destino.

After the match the heels continued to beat up the faces and ring crew because they're jerks like that. Robinson had to be helped from the ring.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi p. "The Funky Weapon" Ryusuku Taguchi with The Time Bomb slam.  As expected, this was a fast, highly paced match with a lot of big moves. Probably the best match on the show so far. Part of the story is Takahashi is afraid of Taguchi's anklelock, so when Taguchi would go for it early, Takahashi would scramble. Taguchi hit the Dodon, and when Takahashi kicked out, Taguchi just rolled him into the anklelock. However Takahashi reversed it into his own leglock. Taguchi kicked out of the Time Bomb powerslam. Takahashi went for it again, but again Taguchi was able to reverse into the anklelock. No matter what Takahashi did, Taguchi would find a way to get him back into it. Finally Takahashi was able to make it to the ropes. Taguchi no sold a German Suplex and leveled Takahashi with a lariat for a two count. Crowd is chanting very loudly for Taguchi. Takahashi rallied with three superkicks and a lariat, but Taguchi kicked out. Takahashi finally finished off Taguchi with a DVD to the turnbuckle and a second Time Bomb.

After the match, Takahashi took the mic and apparently asking who will challenge him next. This brought Kushida to the ring, to reply. So it looks like Kushida will be getting another title shot

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada  Tiger Mask W in a Non-Title Match  W came to the ring accompanied by Tiger Mask IV  In what I'm sure was an inside gag for the die-hard fans, Kevin Kelly mentioned a 2014 IWGP Championship Match where Okada defended the title against Kota Ibushi. Ibushi is under the W Mask. Okada wrestled as the heel, stalking W and trying to control the pace of the match. W rallied with a flying doeble chop (think Starman in the old NES Pro Wrestling game), and a moonsault to the outside. The match went back and forth, with several big moves traded by both. W hit a dropkick and a bridging German Suplex, and Okada got his signature Red Ink submission. Okada got more frustrated, and began kicking and stomping W while yelling at him. This of course made for the crowd cheering W's comeback. W ducked a Rainmaker and hit two consecutive kicks to the head while still gripping Okada's arm (The same way Okada hits multiple Rainmakers). Okada still kicked out of the Tiger Bomb. W perched Okada on the top rope, and appeared to try a Hurracanrana, but Okada caught him. Okada tried for a TOP ROPE TOMBSTONE but W flipped out and hit a TOP ROPE TIGER BOMB for a two count. W went for a third Tiger Bomb but Okada reversed it into a Rainmaker. Like W earlier, Okada still held on to W's wrist and hit a second Rainmaker. Okada went for a third Rainmaker but W ducked and hit a Pele Kick. W tied a body press of the turnbuckes, however Okada caught him and heaved him up for a German Suplex. After that, Okada hit his third Rainmaker to finally win the match.

After the match, Okada held out his hand to help Tiger to his feet, but W was either refusing help, or was too out of it to acknowledge.

Gedo took the mic and cut a promo putting over Okada.

Okada did his "I have three things to say" promo. Two of which appeared to be putting over Tiger Mask W and the New Japan Cup.

I didn't realize how long the main evnet was. It clocked it at about 30 minutes. Last two matches were very strong, but overall a good show.