King Of pro Wrestling - 10/10 Sumo Arena
Full show with English Commentary by Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino
Pre-Show Match: Tiger Mask W p.Red Death Mask. Purely a match to promote the Tiger Mask W anime series. This Tiger Mask is separate3 from the current Tiger Mask IV, and the mask is much cornier. It looks similar to King's mask if you played the Tekken games.
1. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi, & Will Ospreay) b. The Bullet Club (Adam Cole, Bad Luck fale, & Yujiro Takahashi) when Ishii pinned Takahashi with a Brain Buster. Good hardhitting match with a lot of action. Takahashis female escorts helped Takahashi from the ring.
2. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) ROH TV Champion Bobby Fish, & Ryusuke Taguchi b. CHAOS (Toru Yano, Rocky Romero, Berreta, & Jado) when Honma pinned Jado with the Kokeshi Headbutt. Gedo & Jado (The bookers of New Japan and NOAH respectively) recently won the GHC Junior Tag Championship. Before the match, Yano squirted Makabe with a water bottle (Yano was part of GBH and tag champions with Makabe before turning on him and joining CHAOS). As expected, the match had a lot of comedy. Dissension was teased between Romero and Beretta. After the match Makabe and Yano brawled.
3. New Japan vs. NOAH: Go Shiozaki, Maybach Taniguchi, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya (NOAH) b. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, & Manabu Nakanishi (New Japan) when Shiazaki pinned Nakanishi with a lariat. I know very little about NOAH, but I have been impressed with Shiozaki in ROH and Nakajima in the G1. If you like kicks and chops, this match was for you. This was also a match of Grizzled Veterans (everyone on the new Japan side is over the age of 45) and Young Stars. Crowd was solidly behind New Japan, so the NOAH stars heeled it up. n a post match brawl, Nakajima slapped Nagata. Seed planted.
4. IWGP Junior Heavyweight and ROH Tag Champions The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson of The Bullet Club) b. Ricochet & David Finlay to retain the IWGP Titles when Matt Jackson pinned Finlay after More Bang For Your buck Finlay is clearly working his way up the ladder because he wears custom tights now rather than the generic black trunks the "Young Lions" wear. This match had The Bucks and Ricochet in it. 'Nuff said. Lots of high flying and Superkicks.
5. The Guerrilas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa of The Bullet Club) b IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark Briscoe) to win the titles when Tonga pinned Mark after Guerrila Warfare (Elevated DDT) Good gravy this was "Big Ugly Tough Guy Heaven". The Briscoes gave Roa the Doomsday Devicec, but Tonga was behind Mark and caught Roa, so tehy managed to counter a Doomsday Device. Tonga gave Mark one of the sickest looking powerbombs I've ever seen, before hitting a Cutter and Guerrila Warfare for the win.
After the match, The Young Bucks ran out to attack The Briscoes. Ishii ran out for the save, and did run wild for a bit with headbutts, but he still fell to the numbers. Tonga issued an open challenge to anybody in ROH. This means The Bullet Club have the Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions in their ranks.
They replayed the Tiger Mask W match during intermission for some reason
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, KUSHIDA & Jay Lethal b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, Sanada, EVIL, & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion BUSHI) when Elgin pinned Naito with a Powerbomb. It was a little weird seeing Lethal team with babyfaces, but Lethal and Naito have been feuding in ROH. Early heat on Tanahashi before he got to tag in KUSHIDA. Toward the end it was mainly Elgin vs. Everybody. Elgin got the pin on the IC Champion after Lethal hit a Lethal Injection and Elgin did his signature Buckle Bomb/Powerbomb Combo.
After the match the heels attcked the faces just to be dicks. KUSHIDA got beat up by getting a chair placed around his neck. Why Elgin and Lethal just stood in the ring while this happened, I don't know. KUSHIDA was stretchered ou.
7. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata s. Kyle O'Reilly (w/Bobby Fish) with a Rear Naked Choke. Both men have a MMA inspired style. Much like the defense against Fish, this was a very physical match with a lot of kicks and strikes. Technically O'Reilly didn't submit, the referee stopped the match. In a rare sign of respect, Shibata helped O'Relly to his feet and shook hands with both him and Fish. after the match, Go Shiazaki came to the ring for a staredown. Shiazaki walked to the back. Just when it looks like Shiazaki would be the next challenger, EVIL attacked Shibata and laid him out.
8. In a match where the Tokyo Dome IWGP World Championship shot was at stake, Kenny Omega p. Hirooki Goto I'm not sure why they had a rematch, as Omega beat Goto in the finals of the G1 to claim the title shot in the first place. Goto was very aggressive out of the gate, attacking Omega before the bell rang. They brawled around the ring, and Goto smashed the briefcase. Omega booted Goto out of the ring, where The Bucks double superkicked him. Matt Jackson laid a table over a fallen Goto and hit a douple footstop off the apron. The Bucks set up Goto onto the table, but Yoshi-Hashi made the save. Referee Red Shoes then ejected both Bucks and Yoshi-Hashi. Of course, Omega was the one who went through the table. It's worth noting that Goto got Omega back into the ring before the countout, and the announcers pointed out that Goto could have won the title shot on a countout. Omega kicked out of Sohouten Kai, one of Goto's finishers. Several big move near falls that got the crowd roaring. Goto tried to battle hs way out of The One Winged Angel, but Omega managed to hit it for the clean pinfall.
The announcers pointed out that Goto has once again lost "The Big Match", and that he's 0-8 in world title matches. But the visual of The Bucks and Omega posing with a cardboard briefcase was funny.
9. IWGP World Champion Kazuchika Okada p. Naomichi Marufuji with The Rainmaker Clothesline. This match took place because Marufuji pinned Okada during the G1. Marufuji was backed by the Pro Wrestling NOAH roster, while Okada came out alone. Crowd was solidly behind Okada. Classic big time match that started out slow, and built from there. Marufuji has some of the best kicks around. Several near falls, including several thrust kicks counters to The Rainmaker, and a Sliced Bread #2 from Marufuji. While there were NOAH wrestlers around the ring, none of them interfered. Okada won the match by hitting Marufuji with his own Emerald Flowsion finisher, then nailed The Rainmaker for the win.
After the match, Omega and Okada and stood in the ring, since their Tokyo Dome Main Event is now official. Omega claimed that everything OKada has in New Japan was given to him, whereas he has taken everything he has. He said he will take the title at The Tokyo Dome, and treat Okada like a little bitch, like they did in America. Okada replied that he has beaten everybody and is not afraid of Omega.
This was a great show, albeit a long one (FIVE HOURS!), but those last three matches were off the charts. I can see somebody calling them MOTY candidates.
