NOAH Kohai 2: The Road to New Sunrise 2020

This review article is part of a series where I Chronicle my attempts to watch all of Pro Wrestling NOAH's 2020 catalogue. The previous article can be found here and the next one chronologically, if I haven't fallen off the reviewing wagon, can be found here. Give them all a read if you want the full context of what I'm talking about.

If you have issues with the fact I use Star Ratings for some of the matches I review here, kindly follow this link for my explanation.

Alright, the biggest show of the year is over with. There's a new singles championship that the entire roster can gun for with the National title, RATELS have control over both of NOAH's Junior titles, and Kongo went 0-2 in their attempt to take over the Heavyweight Division. The next significant show in the timeline, to me, is the New Year's show on January 4th of the cursed year 2020. But that doesn't mean we have nothing to do until then. We have four title matches over the course of three regular shows. On top of that, we have a trio of "Produce" shows run by three of NOAH's factions; RATELS' Showtime, Kongo's DIAMOND, and Sugiura-Gun's All Dogs Gather! (That Exclamation is part of the show name, not reflective of my excitement for the show). 

If I tried to attentively give every match on all of these shows a full blown review I'll probably burn myself out, almost definitely not finish by the time Budokan show gets here. So there's select matches I'll definitely give the full treatment, title matches or important singles matches mostly, but the best I'm probably going to do in between the big shows on my timeline is to glance over and give general feels on the smaller build up shows. I guess, at this point I'm trying to figure out if I can even FINISH before Budokan, I thought the show was on the 21st of February and not the 12th. But the success is in the effort, not the results for this one. Let's get started.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Starting Over, Night 5 November 16th 2019

This was the first show I watched after Aesthetic and I honestly wasn't expecting much, barring the crown jewel match I knew was coming. But, after the first two matches, all three of the 6-man tag matches on the show ended up being really good/ The RATELs/Stinger War was a break neck match which somehow surprised me, Kongo vs Kaito, Marafuji, and Hi69 was a good bounce back performance for Kenoh's unit, and the main event was a great prelude to the National title match coming up between Sugiura and Taniguchi. But the obvious reason anyone would watch this show was-

IPW UK Junior Heavyweight Title [1st Defense]

Atsushi Kotoge (c) (STINGER) vs Daisuke Harada (RATELS)

The Peach Twisters EXPLODE for the...Jesus Christ Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge have wrestled 34 times. I'm not joking, it's all right here. 

 

Anyway, THIS MATCH RULED. Oh my God this match was so good. It started with Daisuke outmatching Atsushi in the grappling department and keeping on the offense for the opening stretch of the match. Any time Atsushi gained the advantage, it was due to a high risk maneuver or from brawling outside the ring and into the crowd. You can see throughout the whole match that these two men know each other so well; each man at one point went for a splash that was countered with the same knee raising and quick pin, while later in the match each was able to easily avoid or endure the other's sugnature maneuvers. Technical exchanges turned to crowd brawling, which itself turned into an exchange of strikes in the ring. First  Elbows, then slaps, until both men were brought to the ground while the crowd rose to their feet. Finally, Atsushi gained control and almost had Daisuke with a top rope Spanish Fly. This is his one shot and I think he knew it as well. He landed a vicious headbutt on his old friend and a Killswitch for the two count. Desperation set in with some amazing and baffling roll ups from both men. Kotoge's luck ran out, as all luck does against the Young Master, who railed the champion with a knee and rolling elbow, a Katayama German, and finally the infamous top rope Katayama German Suplex for the Three Count. What a Goddamn War.

****

NOAH Kohai: Best of the Best, Battle of Aesthetics

 Happy New Year!

With 2021 coming around the corner, there's a lot of change in my life. I turned 27 a few days ago, just got my MBA from the University at Buffalo, and I'm about to finish buying a condo. With all the shake up in my life, I'm hoping I'll have a lot more time to work on my blog (maybe finally find a good name for it) and watch a lot more wrestling.

I've always called Pro Wrestling NOAH my Soul Mate promotion. Since I started watching it on and off in 2016, I've always felt a connection to it somehow. Maybe I appreciated the story behind it's founding, maybe it's because I like a good underdog story, or maybe (definitely) it's because I followed Katsuhiko Nakajima here from his performance in the 2016 G1 Climax and he immediately won the Heavyweight title at NOAH's next show right after that tournament finished. On the 21st of February, NOAH returns to Budokan hall and I wanna be there...in a metaphorical sense. So I'm planning to take the next month and a half to power through the end of 2019 and all of 2020's shows to get myself ready for the company's return to Budokan. We're starting with their biggest show from 2019 that also had the best name of the year; Battle of Aesthetic.

 

KAZMA SAKAMOTO, El Hijo del Dr. Wager, Jr., and Kinya Okada (Sugiura-Gun) vs Hitoshi Kumano, Mohammed Yone, and Quiet Storm

I wish I could say I payed attention to this match at all, but I used the time this match was on to set up the bones of the review...so Hijo del Dr. Wagner won the match with a Moonsault press that got a lot of hangtime and I miss Hitoshi Kumano.

Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue vs Mitsuo Momota and Tamon Honda

This was a comedy match, mostly between Masao Inoue, Momota, and Honda. The moments that Akitoshi came in resembled more of a match than when Inoue was in, but that's about the best I can say about it. No disrespect meant to the four men, but it just wasn't for me. The best part of the match was watching the 71 year old Mitsuo get a pretty complicated roll-up on Masao.

Hi69, Junta Miyawaki, and Osamu Nishimura vs. Hajime Ohara, NOSAWA Rongai, and Kazushi Sakuraba (Sugiura-Gun)

Miyawaki has a shirt here that says ORANGE RIOT and if I can get my hands on it I would like one. A good, fast paced match that mostly got me excited to be watching more Kazushi Sakuraba in the next few months. Actually, this match had more than a few of my low key favorite NOAH roster members in it, including Junta with his creamsicle gear and Hajime Ohara. Definitely can't wait to watch a whole bunch of Junior Heavyweights having respectful, peaceful matches.

Kazushi won the match for Sugiura-Gun with a heel hook into a Figure Four on Nio Hi69.

Masaaki Mochizuki, Minoru Tanaka, and Super Crazy vs. Atsushi Kotoge, Chris Ridgeway (Stinger), and Eddie Edwards

Another good exhibition of the NOAH Junior Heavyweights, mixed in with some outside talent. I was reminded how much I liked Chris Ridgeway and I'm sorry that I wont be seeing much of him in the next month of my watching. Good finishing scramble that left Super Crazy and Eddie Edwards in the ring together. Eddie used the Tiger Driver and a Shining Wizard to put away Crazy...so mixed message there.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Shuhei Taniguchi

Alright, the show really starts now; Kenta Mother Loving and Respecting Kobashi is in the commentary booth. 

 

This match was brutal but in an amazing way. To give a really short and probably bastardized rundown, Fujita was an Antonio Inoki prospect and three time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. MMA trained and 1st degree Inokism, I wouldn't want to fuck with Fujita. But Taniguchi, it seems, wants to fuck around with Fujita, taking him down early in the match and punting him in the head. The whole match is characterized by long bouts of Taniguchi having control but occasionally losing it to a much stronger and harder hitting Fujita. Shuhei showed amazing spirit here, more than I have ever seen out of him, and while ultimately coming up short got me to think differently of him. If you prefer your wrestling to be hard hitting, I would go out of your way to watch this short but brutal contest.

 

***3/4 This is a weird case. The high rating is for the intense heat from the crowd moreso than the the actual wrestling. If you watch this match on silent the rating drops hard. But as it is, everyone likes a good outsider dick story.

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles [6th defense]

Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinari Ogawa (Stinger) (c) vs. Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke (RATELS)

Oh my God RATELs feels so long ago. The story of this match was an easy one. "AYY! Tadasuke! you can't step up to the plate." At least that's the feeling I got from it. It was otherwise a basic tag team match. Daisuke is NOAH's best Junior Heavyweight in my opinion. I'm torn between wanting him to step up and fight heavyweights and maybe go after the National title or be the Ace for NOAH's junior heavyweights. Match ends with a Lariat/German Suplex combo and a...well, it looks like an Eight Second Ride, James Storm's old finisher, so we'll go with that. Tadasuke gets the pin.

**3/4, but the audio got desync'd on my video towards the end so it might be better.

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title[2nd Defense]

HAYATA (RATELS) (c) vs. YO-HEY (RATELS)

I know I just gushed about Daisuke in the last match, but I would like to take a hot second to gush about my boy HAYATA. I sincerely believe that if they wanted to, NOAH could build the Junior Heavyweights around HAYATA like they could around Daisuke. Maybe he's a little more flashy than the Young Master, but he's got the look and the crowd behind him and the handsome face...yeah, I think HAYATA is handsome, fight me. Early on in the match, HAYATA hit The Headache as YO-HEY was hanging between the ropes and it was terrifying. Both men bring out some serious high flying offense and high impact good shit in pursuit of the blue and silver belt. I was waiting the whole time for the match to slow down but it never really did. It was a great exchange of two men who each knew the other's moves and thought processes. HAYATA eventually planted YO-HEY with a Thrust Kick, a Headache in the middle of the ring (for a 2 count) before going for a moonsault but getting caught with YO-HEY's knees for another 2 count. YO-HEY kept fighting for kickouts, but after another Headache the match was over.

***3/4

GHC Tag Team Title 

Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Masa Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura (KONGO)

 First RATELS and now AXIZ. Leave the memories alone, damnit! This is an awesome match up; Brute power from THE TOUGH against the focused technique of AXIZ. The young determination of Yoshiki, the sadism of Nakajima. This match fucking ruled. AXIZ isolating Inamura early for punishment, Nakajima taking joy in humiliating his opponent as he took him apart. Shiozaki got in on the action himself, showing a brutal side we don't often see today (I know it's only been a year but this still holds). The hot tag was eventually made to Masa who came in a house of fighting spirit, vinegar, and fire. He would stay in the rest of the match and get several close falls on both men. The Kongo pair did their best to put AXIZ away, but their raw power and determination couldn't match the skill and focus of their opposition. The match ended the way one would hope, with Nakajima in the ring with his old tag partner and friend, knocking him out with a high roundhouse kick and a Vertical Spike Brainbuster. I can't do this match justice, this is the first match on this show I would highly recommend anyone who's a fan of pro wrestling watch. THIS is NOAH.

****1/2

 

Great Muta vs. Naomichi Marufuji

Alright, I guess we have to cool down from that awesome tag title match we just watched, right?

God bless both these men and bell their knees. They tried but the result of this match was a plodding, gimmick filled match. I love both men (not enough to want Mutoh to win the GHC title at Budokan in a few months( but this wasn't a good match. Quite frankly I don't know how good it could have been. Out of respect to how I feel about Mutoh and how great I know Marufuji's matches normally are, plus what I feel for sure is a match that wasn't structured to be conventionally good, I'll pass on rating this one.Don't watch this one.

GHC National Title Match (vacant)

Takashi Sugiura (Sugiura-Gun) vs. Michael Elgin 

Some one call Big E, cause we're about to have two meat men slapping meat for a Meaty, red strapped title. Great touch in the opening package to show why both men were chosen to be in this crowning match; Sugiura was the losing finalist in the N1 League (missing out on the Main Event tonight) and Michael Elgin killed Marufuji with a Burning Goddamn Hammer at Impact Wrestling's Bound For Glory event the month before. It's rare to see Takashi "Murder Uncle Mk II" Sugiura being the sympathetic wrestler in the match, but for the first part of the match Michael Elgin was able to take it to him hard. When Sugiura got his feet back under him with a big ol' Spear the match became the hard hitting contest I was excited for it to be. In the vein of New Japan's NEVER Title, Big Japan's Strong Divion title, or seemingly any ZERO1 Heavyweight title match, these two men set the pace and the taste that the National Title seemingly promised to give. As the year goes on, we'll see that advertised style be refined and evolve. If you don't like the strike heavy, fighting spirit focused matches of Japanese pro wrestling, this match won't be for you, and that's okay. but if you're all for this kind of wrestling I can't recommend this match enough, An accidentally hilarious exchange saw Elgin his Sugiura with two rolling German Suplexes, shortly before Sugiura got an Ankle Lock. That'd be incidental at best, but Elgin transitioned into a Crossface from being in the Ankle Lock. Which just makes me want to watch Angle/Benoit after this. Not to mention Sugiura going for the Olympic Qualifying Slam a minute later. After failing to put Takashi away with a rocking Lariat and a Post-Bucklebomb Powerbomb, Big Mike went for the Burning Hammer, which you can't do in Misawa's house. His hubris cost him as Sugiura locked in a Guillotine that almost ended that match. The strike exchange at the end of the match lead to two Olympic Qualifying Slams to crown Sugiura the first National Champion.

****1/4 A Hell for Leather (is that how it's said? I dunno) contest that set up the new title extremely well

GHC Heavyweight Title [6th Defense]

Kaito Kiyomiya (c) vs. Kenoh

Okay it was a hell of a struggle to watch this match. I went to go watch this match on Youtube and about ten minutes into the video the audio desyncd. I went onto Dailymotion and found a different version of the match and...okay no Dailymotion's version is way too pixelated on my bigger screen so that one ended up being out, too. Last resort, my hard drive that has this full show on it. Finally, I had a great looking and properly sounded version.

I could watch Kenoh and Kaito feud for the next decade and, hopefully, that seems to be the actual plan. The opening moments of this match were arguably some of the best, with Kenoh belittling Kaito on a rope break that lead to an opening exchange of strikes. The contest was pretty even until Kenoh caught the champion with a rocking DDT on the apron, followed by a scary Double Foot Stomp to the back of Kaito's neck. For the next stretch of the match, Kenoh kept the champion down with submissions and beat downs, letting Kaito only come back with one or two strikes before being smothered once more. Kaito made a proper comeback started with an AMAZING dive from the ring to the floor over the turnbuckle pole onto Kenoh, followed by one of his beautiful top rope dropkicks to the back of Kenoh's head. Shit's on. Both men start going for Tiger Suplexes and Double Foot Stomps, but most miss and the other takes the opportunity to swing the match into their favor off of it. I thought it was over once Kenoh nailed a Dragon Suplex on the apron (Baba help me that was terrifying) but somehow, somehow Kaito managed to kick out. Finally, Kenoh was caught by a trio of dropkicks strait to the face and a par of Tiger Suplexes for the successful defense by Kaito in what was an awesome match that did good by the name of GHC.

****1/4

Was every match on this show a homerun? Not exactly, but every match I expected to be great at the very least met my expectations.I'm really looking forward to watching more of the shows as I carve my way through 2020. I'm really hoping you join me, and that I've convinced at least SOMEONE to watch Pro Wrestling NOAH off this review. Next time, before I watch the New Sunrise show that kicked off NOAH's 2020, I'm going to be taking a look at the handful of shows the company ran in 2019 and give selected recommendations from those shows. Keep a lookout for those!

Thanks for reading! I'm glad that I can turn my passion for wrestling into something that so many people enjoy. If you want to get regular updates on when I release more reviews, you can follow me at Twitter at @LSWayne21. Big shoutout to Hisame, the one woman workhorse translating NOAH news and interviews. You can catch her updates, translations, and overall charm at her Twitter here.
See you down the Road.

Kaito, The Agumon (Kaito Kiyomiya, Volume 1)

So I really like Pro Wrestling, but I haven't been watching a lot for it lately. Blame Grad School, blame work, blame the pit of despair and self loathing depression's sunken me into (but mostly that last one), but I just kinda stopped after the G1 this year. So I want to try and kick my ass into watching it again. So instead of trying and failing to cover big shows...I'm just gonna watch wrestling. Sometimes it'll be a single wrestler, other times a string of title defenses, and sometimes I'm just gonna watch random matches during the week. Fuck it, I don't have a format anymore.

Ask literally anyone who I'm friends with or have talked to for more than 5 minutes at a wrestling show, they'll tell you I love Pro Wrestling Noah. I don't know why. Maybe I like the little guys. Maybe it's the fanatical fan-base. I got in just as Suzuki-Gun and New Japan's booking influence was heading out, so a lot of my opinions on the company are skewed compared to contemporary fans. I never knew KENTA in NOAH, or Morishima, Kobashi, or Akiyama. I call Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji "Uncle". I consider Junta Miyawaki, Yosiki Inamura, and Kinya Okada my Young Boy class (and occasionally think of myself as being in that class. If you tell me you've never even briefly fantasized about being a wrestler, you're lying). So I'm hoping to use my new style to watch literally as much NOAH as I can, as well as some good 90s All Japan to kind of grasp where NOAH's roots came from.

So, Kaito. I...I don't know how I feel about Kaito. My emotions are mixed. There's something about him I don't like, but everyone else loves him so I find myself grudgingly biting my tongue. I guess I'm hoping to use this and future entries on my blog to suss out what it is I don't like about him. So thanks for coming with me on this journey, for the three of you who didn't violently close the tab to this blog.

Vs. Minoru Suzuki, Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2,10.26.16
Look at Kaito here. So tiny, so full of hope.

Suzuki's gonna crush him like an orange.

This match is from the first whole NOAH show I ever watched, the same show where Katsuyori Shibata and Go Shiozaki went 20+ minutes and Katsuhiko Nakajima won the GHC Heavyweight championship (Put a Big Ol' pin in this match, we'll be coming back to it and the following title reign one day.) I remember liking the whole card, but besides the two above mentioned matches, Suzuki vs. Kaito was the match I remembered the most vividly. Probably because I love any time Minoru (rocking his old theme here) takes apart Young Boys on a whim. The same proved true in this match, but Kaito honestly got more offense in than most trainees usually do against Suzuki. After a flurry of offense and trying his hardest to stand up to The King, Suzuki brutalized him with strikes for a good 30 second stretch, which includes Kaito being stood back up to take more by Suzuki more than. A great mauling.
**1/2

G1 Climax 29, B Block Session 2: The Middle Nights

We're two thirds of the way there, and I'm starting to feel the heat. Reviewing 5 really good singles matches every other odd day sounds really great at first, until you try putting that shit in practice. While I don't think it's gonna burn me out like the effort to watch every G1 match last year did, I'm definitely going to need a week or so away from wrestling after this year's tournament wraps up. If you wanna read my thoughts on the first three nights, you can find them here. But, for now, let's get going or I'll never get finished.

G1 Climax Night 8, 7.24.19

Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano (CHAOS)
Juice Robinson had, at the time, the best match with Yano in the G1 (this wouldn't last). Yano tried to ply his usual tricks, but Juice countered most by just bull rushing through. Pulp Friction put Yano away.
**1/4

Hirooki Goto (CHAOS) vs. Taichi (Suzuki-Gun)


Easily the best match these two have had, out of the three. Taichi tried getting into Goto's mind early by attacking one of the LA Dojo Young Lions, which Goto did not appreciate. The last minute was very good, with Taichi trying to use his mic stand, Goto thwarting it, then landing a Mexican Foul and a Gedo Clutch for the pin. Wish I had more to say, but this was better than I'm making it sound.
 ***1/2

G1 Climax 29, B Block Session 1: The First Three Nights

We are one third of the way through the tournament and it's been...really solid?

I've heard people call it the best tournament of all time. Which is a stretch, especially since last year's G1 was so amazing. I think a lot of people are using last year's G1 as the benchmark to make this claim so...that's a victory for 2018. Anyway, I decided there was no way that I was reviewing both blocks. So I picked B-block due to who was in it and the matches that excited me. I did a preview to the Block you can find here, but now we have to start looking at the tournament itself. Which is below. Let's fucking start this good shit.

G1 Climax Night 2, 7.13.19

Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
This was a weird pick to open the B Block, but in the end it turned out to be a really good, back and forth match. These two have never had a singles match together as far as I know, but what they got from a cold open was actually above anything I could have expected. The crowd was wild and getting really into both men at the finish. Juice picks up the surprise win here with the Pulp Friction after the Left Hand of God.
***1/4

Pro Wrestling NOAH Presents: Global Junior Tag League, Night One

Well, it's been a while. Don't really have an excuse, but I'm here now, and I'm gonna be reviewing what I can. So, starting off this fourth(?) run of trying to review wrestling is the first night of Pro Wrestling NOAH's Global Junior Tag League. The downside is that the actual tournament matches on the card tonight were outdone by the semi-main and main event 6-mans that followed them. There is an upside, though, in that this was a perfect show that a non-fan of NOAH could jump in on. What do I mean by that? Hopefully once you've heard me talk about this card you'll see why.

Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue and Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Mitsuya Nagai and 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone and Quiet Storm)
I think the best thing I can say about this match is that it was inoffensive. There was nothing in this match that would cause someone to not keep watching the show, but I also wouldn't highly recommend it to anyone. It's the opener, what're you gonna do. Taniguchi eventually got the submission on Quiet Storm with some kind of Hammerlock Camel Clutch.
**

Tadasuke (RATELS) vs. Yoshiki Inamura (Kongoh)
Yoshiki is, or was, one of the local Young Boys in NOAHand he's only been here for less than a year. Although he's now in Kongoh (more on these glorious bastards later) I don't know whether his graduation was official or not. Here he squared off against Tadasuke of RATELS, who I've always subconciously classified as "the other RATEL" between him and his three stablemates. Inamura had a really fun match with Yuji Hino at the finals of the Tag League in early MAy I suggest you try and find, but this match turned out to be alright. Yoshiki landed an Oklahoma Stampede, getting brownie points from me, and went for what looked like a copy of Yuji Hino's FUCKING BOMB, which I will henceforth refer to as the GODDAMN BOMB if it becomes a regular thing. Tadasuke got out of the attempted plagiarism and after some quick pin attempts he nailed the rookie in the back with an elbow and got the pin with some kind of clutch. A neat match that did a good job at showcasing Inamura, even in loss.
**1/2

Archive Dive: G1 2006/ Wrestle Kingdom 1

No one tells you how unstable it is trying to review wrestling...or reviewing anything, probably.

There's a lot of lows, with time crunches to be the first one to talk about a show, being able to see exactly how many people aren't reading your reviews, and I still don't think I've recovered from last summer when I tried to watch all of the G1 and it shut my brain down for a week. But there's highs. Seeing the people that are reading some of the reviews of a relatively nobody never-done is astounding and it's been nice to share my thoughts on wrestling with the world at large. So how do I work around the parts of doing a wrestling blog I don't like while still doing it? New Japan World and ROH's Honorclub have huge libraries that, while not complete, have a lot of matches that people probably don't know about. Combine that with my want to get as much of my money's worth out of the subscriptions as possible, and I was struck with inspiration.

An Epiphany.

No time limits, no pressure. Most of Falcon Arrow Emporium is going to be focused around diving into these backlogs, wading through them like Zhang Liao in a Dynasty Warriors game, and finding what's good, what's great, and what's worth $10 a month for. There'll still probably be reviews of modern stuff scattered around (NOAH, ZERO-1, Anything else that might really interest me) and I still want to do a monthly Top TV match list. But as for New Japan and ROH? I'll get to modern stuff when I get to it.

Doing my research for this project (Read: After watching New Japan's CHAOS history video), originally I was going to start with dissolution of Great Bash Heel in April of 2009. But then I started digging a little father (Read: going to the GBH Wikipedia article), I found out the roots of Great Bash start coincidentally a few months before the original Wrestle Kingdom. Review every Wrestle Kingdom? Sounds fucking mad right? Well I'm that kind of fucking mad, so let's do this. ROH will come along when we get to it in the timeline as set by Honorclubs limits (2011). so let's go back in time, to August of 2006. The G1 was two blocks of 5. Liger was in one of the blocks (it did not go well for him, 1-4) and the stage is set for the finals. Satoshi Kojima, who at the time was part of All Japan Pro Wrestling's roster, taking on New Japan's Hiroyoshi Tenzan. The 3rd Generation explodes!...for the 3rd time since Kojima left New Japan.

8.13.2006
G1 Finals
Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tenzan looks incredibly trim here, which is either due to him gaining bulk over the years or black being a truly slimming color. This little under half hour match was something interesting to watch 13 years later. the biggest profile match I've seen out of either man here came from their NEVER Title shots against Shibata in 2016. The two were very evenly matched throughout the contest, with Kojima occasionally taking advantage using underhanded means. nothing as glaring as a low blow,  small things like taking a little longer to break when Tenzan reached the ropes, or "accidentally" raking his opponents eyes in an attempt to escape a hold. Tenzan made up for what his opponent was doing by using his sheer power advantage over him. He would win most of the strike exchanges, and capitalized with moves off the top rope more than Kojima did. Satoshi tried to take a count out victory by first DDTing Tenzan on the apron, then Lariating him over the ropes as he got back in the first time. As the match goes on, it's fun to spot the wrestlers surrounding the ring, like Makabe and his clearly fried yellow hair or the sphere that is Nakanishi. As the match picked up, Tenzan started busting out bigger and harder moves, leading to the anaconda Vice from him for the first time in the match. Kojima had applied it earlier but both times the Vicee reached the ropes to escape. Kojima hits a Koji Cutter out of a blocked Lariat, which is a new one for me, before going for another Lariat and being caught for a slam leading to the Anaconda Vice, which everyone thought would be the end. Kojima raked eyes out of it, before leading into two flesh crashing Lariats that should have been it for New Japan's chances. But, after kicking out, tenzan decided something needed to be done about all this, and proceeded to chop the ever loving piss out of Kojima's arm. After he nearly took his opponents arm off like a Buzz Lightyear action figure, Tenzan executed a pair of perfect Big Man Moonsaults, and two Tenzan Tombstone Drivers for the pin.
***1/2

1.4.2007
3, Koraku 1-chrome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
The Home of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Yomiuri Giants
42,000 seats
The Big Egg
The Motherfucking Dome.

I just wanted another excuse to do that intro. Let's get into the undercard.

El Samurai, Masanobu Fuchi, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Akira Raijin, Kikutaro, and Nobutaka Araya
Ryusuke Taguchi looks like he wishes he were literally anywhere other than this match. Kikutro was Back Suplexed, DDT's, and Dodon'd to be pinned at the end of this short, bizarre match.
*, only because of Taguchi's bitchin' pants

Gedo and Jado vs. MAZADA and NOSAWA Rongai (Tokyo Gurentai)
An okay contest. Jado and Gedo are really good asa tag team and it showed here. Going to be honest when I say that I had no idea who NOSAWA and MAZADA were before this match and I probably wouldn't go out of my way to see them again in the future. Superbomb from the top rope followed by a frog splash by Gedo for the pin.
**

Buchanan, D-Lo Brown and Travis Tomko vs. Togi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano (Great Bash Heels)
THE ATTITUDE ERA IS INVADING.
AND THEY BROUGHT A HIRED GUN FROM TNA WITH THEM.

D'lo Brown and Tomohiro Ishii were in the ring at the same time here, which is something right out of a custom Fire Pro Wrestling Promotion. Entertained by the time capsule that is the GBH team, knowing what directions Ishii and Yano will take in the future, and how uninspired they really were in the ring here. Match ends when Buchanan is hit in the back with a chair and Lariated by Makabe. Only seek out as a curiosity, not if you're looking for a good match
* 1/2

Suwama, TARU (Voodoo Murders), Giant Bernard, and RO'Z  vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Riki Choshu and Takashi Iizuka
The Chosu coalition was winning early, until they decided to tag Naofumi (now YoshiTatsu) in, who was promptly and immediately taken advantage of. During the beatdown of Yamamoto, we got a shot of the commentators, including my new favorite picture of the week; Yoshihiro Takayama in a Hawaiin shirt, looking as unimpressed as anyone who's ever been on commentary.

I feel you, man. This undercard has been a slog.

I thought this would be another match on the pile of skippables until Nakanishi tagged in and started going nuts. I get why this man was IWGP Heavyweight Champion now. He out the Rack on TARU, and when Suwama tried to save his friend, Manabu chucked the Fuck from his shoulders ONTO THE CHARGING SUWAMA. All this before Racking (Read: Olympic Slammed) RO'Z, who I want to remind you was about 300 pounds. A fucking Monster, was Monster Morning here. Unfortunately, someone decided to tag Yamamoto back in, who Suwama killed with a Bridging Backdrop Driver. Catch the last five minutes of this one.
**1/4

Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru, Milano Collection AT (CTU), Shuji Kondo and YASSHI (Voodoo Murders) vs. Kaz Hayashi, Koji Kanemoto, TAKA Michinoku, Tiger Mask and Wataru Inoue
Fuck's Sake. No.
i'm sorry if this comes off as unprofessional, but I'm a Lab Technician not Dave Meltzer, so excuse me if this one isnt as deep as it could be. But I knew a grand total of three of the men who started this match. Two of them wear masks, and TAKA is an ageless demi-god who hasn't changed since 1997. I know many of these men, just by name, were staples of Junior Heavyweight action in their times, but their times were not my times. You want to send me Minoru or Wataru Inoue matches, be my guest. But here, it was just "Liger and four bodies" against "Tiger Mask, TAKA, and three bodies". Tiger Mask won by Tiger Suplexing a man who I think was YASSHI.

Oh wait, I figured out Milano Collection based on the Paradise Lock. So...Yeah, thanks for that SANADA.
**

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Okay, Undercard over. Let's get serious with a fucking serious match.

There was a definite feel in the air between these two men. Shinsuke came in looking like he had something to prove, Kawada had another body to put in the ground. This was the greatest story in wrestling of the young upstart and the confident veteran.

Fuck. Yes.






Kawada was definitely easily the more powerful man in the ring this night, but Shinsuke was willing to cut whatever corners he could to win this match. Holding on after rope breaks, taking every shot that was open to him, nothing was held back. And then, Shinsuke slapped Kawada, and Kawada proceeded to beat the fuck out of this young man. At that moment, not 5 minutes in, the future multi time IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion was on the fast track to losing this match. Despite his best efforts, trying hard to power through being dumped on his head, and cinching in armbars multiple times, it was all for naught by the end. A sick powerbomb from Kawada got a one count. A Brainbuster got a two. Shinsuke, going for what I could only assume was the only thing he could think to try, went for Kawada's legs and cracked himself against his foe's knee. Twice, somehow, it wasn't his best night. That put Nakamura out for the three. Not the greatest match on the show, or either man's best, but it was still very good.
***1/4

Triple Crown Championship [2nd Defense]
Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Yuji Nagata
I never thought I'd enjoy watching Uncle Murder and Uncle Justice fighting each other, or at least as much as I did here. I just see them as two completely different entities who, in todays New Japan, just wouldn't meet in a full blown contest. But not even two minutes in they decide to slap the piss into each other, and it's on from that point. Suzuki took over early, taking Nagata outside and busting him open with a chair against the post. Unfortunately, this only managed, once Yuji busted Minoru up himself, to invigorate the challenger. For maybe the third time in my watching history, Suzuki is on the ropes and getting kicked down at every step for the better part of the match. He'd start a comeback here and there, including a sweet reversal from an exploder and hitting the Gotch piledriver at one point in the match, but Nagata seemed to have his number the whole time. Yuji had the title won, Suzuki was dead to rights, wasn't coming back. But he got the cover, the ref counts 1, counts 2, and New Japan's challenger lifted the champions shoulder up. Because it was apparently time to go to school. That one opportunity, like any time in a Minoru Suzuki match, was all it took to doom Nagata. Minoru fired up with strikes after this insult, stopped a backdrop, and locked in a Rear Naked Choke for the win. Hopefully I haven't understressed how awesome this match was. Definitely paired well with the previous match.
***1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Championship [3rd Defense]
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Taiyo Kea

Look at that fucking beauty of a belt.

Having never seen Taiyo before, I was very impressed by his athleticism. I almost was admiring how good he was, until he NAILED TANAHASHI WITH A LANDSLIDE ON EXPOSED CONCRETRE. HOW DARE YOU USE A COUSIN OF THE FALCON ARROW IN SUCH A TERRIFYING WAY. I'd Gif it, but I don't want New Japan taking my blog down before it even gets too far off the ground. Taiyo took over most of the match from here, just annihilating Tanahashi in the ring. Using a great combination of strength and athleticism to take apart the defending champion. Tana showed some bursts of life, but each time he tried to capitalize on a mistake, he was shut down and the beating continued. Kea hoisted Tanahashi into the Fireman's position to finish him off, when Hiroshi slipped behind him and started to fire back. With this renewed energy, the fight became very back and forth, each man gaining advantage when he could and trying to end the match. Taiyo's last big moves came in the form of a Saito suplex and a Sleeper slam that dumped the champion right on his head. Yeowch. A normal man would be defeated by this, but even 12 years ago Tanahashi was not a normal man. He fought long enough to catch Kea with a Strait Jacket German, a Dragon Suplex, and finally putting Taiyo away with the High Fly Flow. A great match.
***3/4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima vs. Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono
Mutoh immediately cleaned house with Shining wizards.

New Japan Pro Wrestling Presents: Dominion 2018

Fuck, I needed a Glass of Brandy and a Cigar after this one.

There was buzz in all the corners of my wrestling world about this one. People preemptively calling it the best show of the year, many saying of all time, caught me off guard. Was it going to be really? Wrestle Kingdom was packed, not to mention the other great shows of the year's past.
But Fuck, was I wrong.
This was, as I texted to my brother at 7:30 in the morning, the best wrestling show I've ever seen. Top to bottom the show flowed great, and while not every match was a homerun, they didn't all have to be. Now, I'm going to be reporting every match finish cause that's just how I roll. But if you want to avoid the spoilers, there's a star rating sitting all alone at the end of each match report for a TL:DR recommendation. All the fluff outta the way, let's get started.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships [3nd Defense]
El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-Gun) (c) vs SHO and YOH (CHAOS)
There was no breaks in this match, and it was definitely better the second time watching it. At 92 days, Desperado and Kanemaru are the longest reigning Jr. Tag Champs in the past 2 years. That's crazy but it's also telling to how the Jr. Tag Titles are a proverbial hot potato. I thought that Roppongi 3K had this easily, their potential as individuals is huge but right now they could be very comfortable at the top of the tag team pile. I would have slated Desperado to challenge for the Junior Heavyweight title down the road, and he still might as one half of the tag champs. Whoops, let the ending slip, didn't I? After several attempts to cheat, Kanemaru planted SHO with his bottle of Suntory, before Despy pinned him with some variety of clutch pin. A good opener, but not phenomenal like I know it could be.
***

Zero1 Presents: Dream Series, Sozo no Jin

Alright, its been a month and a half since I reviewed anything. So it's time to get back into the swing of things. I have 50 days worth of All, New, and NOAH to catch up on ( still trying to figure out how I'm presenting all of that), but I figured before I publish my thoughts on all of that, I could take a few days to review one of my new favorite follows, Zero1. If you go back to my first Zero1 review, I really enjoyed what I found, walking in practically blind. So was the follow up show just as good?
 Better?
Horrendous?
Let's find out.

Highlights of Yoshikazu Yokoyama vs. Shoki Kitamura
 Yokoyama has the worst hair ever. It's like some strange lovechild of a Pompadour and a Mullet. I mentioned in the review for the New Year's show that there was obviously some joke I was missing with Yokoyama, and I was so right. He's basically the parts of Ryuske Taguchi and Tichi that no one likes and cranks it to 12. He's cocky and loudmouthed but is beyond satirical in how much he can't back it up. You may think this sounds terrible, but it works so well here/ Kitamura took it to him, including the goddamndest spear you've ever seen in your life from a Young Boy, before Yokoyama hurriedly cut him off and tapped him a Camel Clutch. Shoki joins Kohei Sato and Tomoyuki Oka  as my favorite Young Boys right now.

Highlights of TARU, KAMIKAZE, Hartley Jackson & Chris Vice vs. Super Tiger, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shoji Fukushima & Towa Iwasaki
The entire segment was just to show off VooDoo Murder's shiny new toy, Vice. Opening slaughtering of a Young Boy lead to the ending minute of the match with a Package Piledriver from hell on Iwasaki. Iwasaki is currently not one of my favorite Young Boys right now.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Presents: Navigation for The Future 2018

2017 could definitely be called a year of rebuilding for Misawa'a company. With Suzuki-Gun and the last of New Japan's influence gone, the fate of the company was in question more than ever as the year began. But, these men persisted, and all things considered it's looking much better than they were last year. Coming into 2018 we have a new Champion figurehead, a returning Young Boy, and one of the most solid midcards in Japan right now. Will the Navigation for The Future set a great pace for 2018 to come? Or will it set us up for a year of limping? Let's find out.


Junta Miyawaki vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Junta, being a Young Lion who makes stupid decisions like this, jumped Ogawa hard before the bell. Streamers were still in the ring. He showed great courage, like Jack Burton of old, but was killed with a back suplex out of nowhere. I chortled.
*

All Japan Pro Wrestling Presents: New Year's War, 2018

I don't want to surprise anyone, but Grad School while working full time eats up any decent gaps for wrestling.


But I will persist, because people need to know about All Japan Pro Wrestling! (And NOAH, but we'll get to that). New Year's War is the usual 2 day event that sets the tone for the year in a whole. We had most of the company's titles on the line (Sorry, All Asia Tag) and some of the undercard shows a good amount of promise. We're losing watching time for NOAH before New Japan's New Beginnings, so let's get rolling


Night One

Atsushi Maruyama, Dick Togo and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura, Ultimo Dragon and Yohei Nakajima
Fuchi is so, ridiculously not good. I'm sorry if I'm missing something here, if he was much better when he was younger, or if I just have a lack of nostalgia, but I will never complain about Manabu Nakanishi again. Opening comedy about closed fists between Fuchi and Dragon, and thank Shinya that things picked up after Dick Togo and Yohei came in to bring life to the whole thing. Togo puts on the greatest crossface of all time, Yohei bent in angles that shouldn't be possible in a submission like this, and tapped out.
*1/2

Lions, Pillars, and Arks: NOAH New Year's Navigation 2015

Pro Wrestling NOAH, a company that has worn a mantle of both fame and infamy over the years. Those who don't know the history of NOAH, I'll give the most barebones of it. In 2000, practically the entire All Japan locker room left that company to form their own, naming it after the biblical story of Noah and the Ark escaping the flood. Through a series of deaths, retirements, and the Yakuza (No, I'm not kidding) we find NOAH in 2015 not in the best of sorts. It's around this time that New Japan stepped in to help, for what ends I have no definite reason. But what means? Well, one of the major means was to send Jado to help with the booking. We'll see another major means at the end of this show, but for now we'll just go down the card.

Hitoshi Kumano vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Hitoshi, a future member of the Back Breakers tag team, and Day One NOAH member Ogawa managed to get a little more than the usual out of each other. Kumano here either is full Young Boy, or just coming out of it, so the offense he got was limited. There was some brilliance out of the young man, but Ogawa stiffly ended it with a high angled back suplex.
*3/4

Jonah Rock (TMDK) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
I love Sabre's work normally, and besides being shorter here than recent bouts it was very good. Jonah is a larger man, and watching Zack try and work submissions around someone his size was a fun change of pace. Between the size difference and Zack hurting his leg early, the Technical Wizard had to avoid anything close to a power move and somehow manage to work in holds. As good as Zack is though, Jonah's size and strength were too much, and he put Zack down with A Blade Runner/Sister Abigail.
**

Lemme Tell You About: Zero-1 Happy New Year

I'm trying really hard to expand my tastes and viewing in Japanese Pro Wrestling. Beside the New Japan that was already on my plate, I started watching All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH last year. I was richly rewarded with refreshing match up and wrestlers, and I walked out of it with a handful of new favorites to follow as they go on to other promotions, and maybe even come to New Japan. But, it's time to make the same, pointed effort to watch other companies. I've taken it, regardless of advice and warnings, to take a look at ZERO1 and Wrestle-1 throughout the year. Will I be left hurting, as such things as hotshot booking and Bob Sapp claim? Or am I going to have my curiosity rewarded? Only one way to find out.

Highlights of Ganseki Tanaka & Tsugutaka Sato vs. Shoji Fukushima & Towa Iwasaki
The two young ZERO1 men, Shoji Fukushima in red and Towa Iwasaki in black, want me to know their name. They threw themselves at their Wrestle-1 opponents (who were given no entrance on TV), and it doesn't go as well as they would hope. Towa was laid out with "A Judo throw that could kill a Bull Elephant" as I wrote, and Shoji was caught in the Boston Crab. He tapped out but showed great spirit.

Lions, Pillars, and Arks: New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 9

3, Koraku 1-chrome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
The Home of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Yomiuri Giants
42,000 seats
The Big Egg
The Motherfucking Dome.
(I'll never get tired of that.)

This is a significant show for a lot of people, including me. It was the first time, I believe, that there was an English broadcast of a Wrestle Kingdom. It was my first ever Wrestle Kingdom, and my first New Japan show if you don't count the War of The Worlds tour from the previous year (I'll be getting to those some day). While I didn't have Jim Ross and Matt Striker this time, I was perfectly alright with the Japanese commentary this time around (You get used to the white noise, I promise). Every title in the company was on the line this night, and the single matches that didn't have a title per see still had consequences. So, does nostalgia cloud my memory of how good this night was? Or do the matches hold up to my memory? Let's find out.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title [1st Defense]
reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) (c) vs. Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) (CHAOS) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club) vs. Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA)
This match is all action from bell to bell, and depending on your taste it was either great or just above alright. I'm stuck in the latter, not being that big a fan of a match that has more than four men in it to begin with, combined with being out of the loop of any stories that went into the formation of this match. I love ReDRagon well enough, but two of the teams here ceased to be shortly after this show, and the Bucks were right in the middle of Kliq parody heights. If all you want is to see insane action and pinfall breakups, look here. Koslov made the mistake of Chasing The Dragon, leading to Fish and O'Reilly successfully defending. I should go back and watch more Timesplitters and Forever Hooligans. They were very fun here.
** 3/4

New Japan Pro Wrestling Presents: Wrestle Kingdom 12

3, Koraku 1-chrome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
The Home of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Yomiuri Giants
42,000 seats
The Big Egg
The Motherfucking Dome.

The best day of the Puroresu year has passed us by. The most hardcore of fans watched it live, while the rest of us couldn't or decided not to use a vacation day and watched it on Thursday night. While you can't deny that the show was good, this may be the first Wrestle Kingdom I've seen where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Not to spoil my review going forward, but no match sticks out as a match of the year, or even as the definite best match on the card. That's not necessarily a bad attribute in the case of the latter, though. Each match on the show was unique, appealing in different ways, but all entertaining. It was for sure, however, a can't miss show from top to bottom.


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles [1st Title Defense]
Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (W/Rocky Romero) (CHAOS) (c) vs. Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club)
It's only the first match, but I need to start with an aside. In 1994, Rick Rude's career effectively ended when he injured his back, on a dive to the outside of the ring, at a dome (specifically the dome in Fukuoka). When the crux of this match is that one member of each team has fucked up their back with falls, on a Dome show with a notoriously raised platform, I was on edge for the rest of the show.

That being said, Matt Jackson's selling was on point.
SHO and YOH needed to impress here, getting a hat-trick of victories to cement themselves as the next big things of the Junior Division. The Bucks, meanwhile, were coming off a string of well fought matches over the Junior Titles and ROH Tag Titles last year. They continued that trend here, working over YOH's back after one of the aforementioned falls. For the majority of his time in the ring, the defending champ was taking a lion's share of abuse to his back. SHO would try his best to get his team going after being tagged in, and for a while it seemed as if the young men would upset their challengers, but the injury was something that couldn't be overcome. A Meltzer Driver and a Sharpshooter made The Young Bucks a record-cementing seven time champions. A great way to start the night with a fast paced, hard hitting contest
****

Lions, Pillars, and Arks: All Japan New Years War 2015

It's 2017, on the eve of 2018. I've unofficially been a fan of  Japanese professional for a few years now. But there's still a lot I haven't really watched. I've exclusively watched New Japan for two of those three years, and even then it wasn't always consistent. Since then, I've found All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH, and those I've been very sparse on. So I decided to amend this problem, and here we are. I launched Falcon Arrow Emporium mostly as a vehicle to log my progress through the library before me. So join me, if you will, as I cut through 3 years of Japan's finest wrestling. 

All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Year's War 2015
The year is 2015! With The Triple Crown and the Junior Heavyweight Title held by Joe Doering and Atsushi Aoki, respectively, Evolution is on top of All Japan! However, the group XCeed is in the game as well; Go Shiozaki will challenge Joe on the second night of the wars, while Kotaro Suzuki and Kento Miyahara hold the All Asia Tag Belts. As the first shows in the new year, there's a lot hanging in the balance for the men of All Japan!



Night 1, January 2nd, 2015

Naoya Nomura vs. Yuma Aoyagi
This was a Young Boy match, and if you've seen one at any point in the past, then you've seen this one. The only really neat thing to mention is that these men would one day be All Asia Tag Champions together. Nomura won with, shockingly, a Boston Crab
*

Kotaro Suzuki (Xceed) and Ryuji Hijikata (not of XCeed) vs. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Instead of a Yohei Nakajima match, which happened but we apparently skipped, we got this. I've heard of Kotaro Suzuki before, but looking at all the hardware he's had in his career tells an amazing story. Masanobu Fuchi took  the entire beating, then his fire up was composed of a single nose hook and the coldest hot tag ever. I don't want to surprise anyone, but Yoshinobu turned the match's pace around for the absolute better, making a great comeback. He and Suzuki clicked very well, and Hijikata wasn't an entire slouch. We had a string of La Magistrals from Suzuki until one actually worked, pinning Fuchi for the three.
*3/4

NJPW Destruction in Kobe: A Solid End to the Destruction Tour

The insane Weekend of wrestling ended for me with The Destruction show in Kobe. Well, that's a bit of a lie. I watched it in parts at work. It was slow, but I definitely think it helped me enjoy the show a bit more. Four hours is still a lot of wrestling to intake, no matter what company it is. Regardless of that factor, I think Kobe still brought a more than adequate ending to the trio of shows that needed a good ending more than anything.


Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hirai Kawato vs. Tomoyuki Oka and Katsuya Kitamura
We got to hear Tenzan's theme in this match, which was a plus. Apparently, according to English Commentary, Kitamura and Oka are now known as Monster Rage. Which I guess makes Oka the Rage. I drool over these two a lot, but Kawato is definitely my favorite Young Lion at this point. I've really warmed up to him, and his personality is really defined at this point. Hirai is hungry and determined to get that first, defining win of his career. He didn't pick it up here, Tenzan put the Anaconda Vice on Oka and it was over, but one day he will. Maybe it'll be in the Young Lion's Cup?
*1/2

NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima: A Leap Beyond Fukushima

Before you even begin this review, let me assure you, Fukushima has now been rendered mute. Every match in Hiroshima was mechanically and performance-wise superior. I bear no ill will to those men on the previous show, several factors were working against them. But, enough of the negatives, let's continue the New Japan Summer tour with the war between Suzuki-Gun and Taguchi Japan.

Spoilers; Suzuki-Gun got wrecked. For real this time.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Jado, and YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Tiger Mask IV
Liger's music played his team in this night, so we didn't get to bask in Tenzan's musical glory this time. CHAOS played the heels in this match, and both Goto and HASHI were very uncomfortable in the situation. Jado was excellent in the role, as he should have been. Speaking of the former two, clues are lending to them being World Tag League partners every day, which I'm not a fan of. But I already talked about my love of Ride The Lightning last time. This was a stock 6-man otherwise, still better paced than the opening tags from Fukushima. Action broke down before YOSHI tapped Tiger Mask out with the dreaded Butterfly Lock.
*1/4, the extra quarter was given because they're trying to keep that submission strong.


Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Leo Tonga) vs. Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson and David Finlay)
Kevin Kelley was hinting that Juice and Finlay may be teaming up for the World Tag League this year. I am 300% in for this team of leg warmers and dreadlocks. Again, this match was better than the match from Fukushima mechanically, but it didn't have the same charm of Fale teaching Leo how to be a monster heel. Tonga got Stunned then Switched. Simple process, Juice/Omega will be pristine.
*1/2

Destruction in Fukushima: A Lukewarm Start to September

Well, here it is. Falcon Arrow Emporium is open for business. And it's first presentation is this? Well, work with what you got I guess...

 The first stop in the Destruction tour ended up being a real below average show. It wasn't that the matches were overall bad, just most were painfully average. It didn't help that the crowd seemed non-existent for most of it. The arena was at about one-third capacity, and it sure as hell sounded it through the card. On a card that needed all the help it could get, a lack of heat for anything impacted the presentation hard, as we shall see.

Hirai Kawato and Yuji Nagata vs. Shota Umino and Manabu Nakanishi
The opening match saw the continuation of the random Nagata/Nakanishi blood feud that has developed in the past month. If you watched either of the "Road to" matches involving these two and the Young Lion Army, they were all better than this match. The G1 proved that Nagata can easily still go, whereas Nakanishi is a serious detriment to most matches. The Third Generation members are able to slow their paces down to his and still deliver an alright match, but the rest of the roster suffers from trying to keep down. As it stood, most of the match was either Nagata/Umino or Nakanishi/Kawato. Hirai is still my favorite Young Lion, and needs to be moved up from this kind of match. Nagata eventually made Umino tap to the Crossface-Nagata Lock

1/2*, if Umino and Kawato spent more time in the ring together the rating could have been higher.