chrom
Backup Wench
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Post by chrom on Jun 25, 2017 15:44:00 GMT -5
Tomorrow's lineup
Shota Umino vs Tetsuhiro Yagi
Tomoyuki Oka vs Katsuya Kitamura
Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask and Hirai Kawato vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi and Taka Michinoku
Tencozy and Blue Justice vs Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano and Jado
Kazuchika Okada and Gedo vs Davey Boy Smith Jr. and El Desperado
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi and David Finlay vs Los Ingobernables de Japon
NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki vs Yoshi Hashi
Also, we'll find out who's facing who in the A and B blocks.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
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Post by chrom on Jun 26, 2017 7:45:36 GMT -5
Suzuki retained today.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jun 26, 2017 12:51:10 GMT -5
I know some folks hate how schmozzy a Suzuki Gun title match can get, but they handled it very well on this show; YOSHI came out looking great, and they wound up getting to what felt like a cleaner finish than I thought we were getting after the first 10 minutes or so.
Also, we finally saw CHAOS run out to help out one of their friends! The world as we know it is ending!
That said, looks like the NEVER title won't be coming to America, after all, unless they do the most glorious thing imaginable and have Suzuki be a surprise appearance on one of the shows (VERY unlikely, but let me dream of singing Kaze Ni Nare).
Big questions now: when will YOSHI HASHI's first major singles win come, whom will it be against, and what will be the context of that win? Dude's close, but no cigar just yet.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Jun 26, 2017 13:56:29 GMT -5
NJPW Kizuna Road June 26th, 2017 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,305
We’re at that point between Dominion and the G1 Climax. NJPW has their “A” shows (Wrestle Kingdom, Dominion, King of Pro Wrestling, the G1 Finals, Sakura Genesis and New Beginning), their “B” shows (Power Struggle, New Japan Cup, Wrestling Dontaku, Destruction, etc.) and their “C” shows (Kizuna Road, World Tag League, Wrestling World, etc.). At least that’s how I see them. Though traditionally not a large event, Kizuna Roads tend to give other titles besides the Heavyweight and Intercontinental, a chance to shine. On this set of three shows, the NEVER Six Man Tag, NEVER Openweight and Jr. Heavyweight Titles close out shows.
Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi Two of the newer Young Lions met in the opener. Though they’re juniors, they brought some hard strikes in the early goings. Both guys went after the arm, which surprised me since they typically use a Boston crab as a finish. Umino was the aggressor, meaning Yagi had to make the fiery comebacks. Despite that, Umino reaching the ropes to survive the crab got a very positive reaction. You could tell the crowd was into this. The resilient Yagi went back to the crab and time expired at 10:00 before Umino could give up. That was fun. A lot of energy and a hot crowd helped this be one of the finer openers in NJPW this year. [***]
On these shows, NJPW have been doing some backstage interviews. Suzuki-Gun got one, but I couldn’t understand it.
Katsuya Kitamura vs. Tomoyuki Oka The big brothers of the Young Lions now got their shine. I’ve said it before, but this screams future main event feud. They wrestled this like the heavyweight fight I was hoping for. I got to see them trade chops like their names were Ishii and Honma. Kitamura used his strength to gain control, but Oka escaped the crab. From there, Oka began his comeback and ran a bit wild. The final stretch saw more chops, some suplexes and some extra aggression from both guys. Oka took Kitamura down, hit a slam and then time expired at 10:00. I was very surprised to see them do two straight draws, but it worked well. They’ve been playing these two as evenly matched and it showed here again. Good exchanges, a hot crowd again and their chemistry impressed. I didn’t see the draw coming in either match, which is good because they’re typically easy to spot. [***¼]
YOSHI-HASHI was interviewed backstage.
Hirai Kawato, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask IV vs. Taichi, TAKA Michinoku and Yoshinobu Kanemaru I love when Liger and Kawato team, because Liger gets sick of his shit quickly. While Oka and Kitamura are future stars, wild man Kawato has the best crowd connection of the Young Lions so far. He started the match and that was fine. When Liger came in and took the heat, things went downhill. The Suzuki-Gun guys are just so bland and unoriginal. There was brawling outside and a bell hammer spot. As always. Tiger Mask got a hot tag and then Kawato got one as well. Kawato nearly won a few times, causing the crowd to come alive. They bit on every single one. Kanemaru hit a sloppy Deep Impact to put him away at 8:56. The SG heat segment was painful and the finish was sloppy, but Kawato saved this from being a bad match. [**]
Hirooki Goto, Jado, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Manabu Nakanishi, TenKoji and Yuji Nagata The New Japan Dads vs. CHAOS. Despite involving Jado, this was a fun tag match. Almost everyone brought some sort of energy. Tenzan had his usual nice moment of attempting Kokeshi in honor of Tomoaki Honma, while the guys set for the G1 (Nagata, Ishii, Kojima, Yano and Goto) all brought it. There were some exchanges between Kojima and Goto that would make you think they had a rivalry going. Same for Nagata and Ishii. Yano had fun exchanges with Nakanishi, before the dads used a trio of submissions in a good spot. Nakanishi accidentally hit Nagata, allowing Yano to roll up the big man at 9:44. Things moved quickly and had a fair amount of action. [**¾]
During intermission, the blocks for the G1 Climax were announced.
A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Bad Luck Fale, Yuji Nagata, Zack Sabre Jr., Tetsuya Naito and Kota Ibushi.
B Block: Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, EVIL, SANADA, Tama Tonga, Michael Elgin and Minoru Suzuki.
I have mixed feelings. The blocks probably could’ve been split a bit better. My main issue is the amount of rematches. I’ve seen Tanahashi vs. Makabe, Fale and Goto more in the G1 than I’d like. I also didn’t need Naito/Tana a third time this year. I also wouldn’t have done Okada/Omega III already. The B block should be consistently stronger, though the A Block will probably have better main event stuff. I’m looking forward to most Ibushi matches (mainly against Naito, Ishii and Tanahashi). I was hoping Omega dethroned Okada at Dominion, Naito won the G1 and we got Naito/Omega at WK. With Omega and Ibushi in different blocks, I can see that as the finals, with Naito getting shafted again. Still, the tournament should be a blast.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. and El Desperado vs. Gedo and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada With Minoru having such a weak year in the ring, I’d say DBS and Desperado are my favorite Suzuki-Gun guys right now. Even so, they aren’t immure from the tired pre-match attack, which is what we got here. That led to the expected heat segment on Gedo. Okada’s hot tag was basic as you could tell it was a night off before the G1 for him, which is fine. Surprisingly, it was Desperado who got the win for his guys when he hit Gedo with Angel’s Wings at 9:39. Despite my enjoyment of Desperado and DBS, this fell flat. Gedo did a bulk of the work for his guys and the Suzuki-Gun offense never fully clicked with me. [**¼]
David Finlay, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito and NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA I got a kick out of Togi not being interested in some of the Taguchi Japan antics. LIDJ is the best stable in wrestling and I’ll take them over the rest of the ones in NJPW combined, but even they use the pre-match attack too often, which they did here. Speaking of Makabe and Taguchi Japan antics, the crowd loved when he used a Taguchi style ass attack on Naito. They also did a spot where he got left alone with a few LIDJ members. Typically, that happens to Taguchi, who begs off, but Makabe dared them to bring the fight. It was a nice small twist. Tanahashi came in hot down the stretch and hit a goddamn dragon screw on both SANADA and EVIL at the same time. I didn’t even know that was possible. The highlight might’ve been the interactions between Juice and SANADA, who I expect to have an awesome G1 match. There was a great flurry of exchanges down the stretch, which surprisingly saw LIDJ have the upper hand for the most part. Finlay got left alone and fought hard, but submitted to EVIL at 12:30. LIDJ against Taguchi Japan will never not be fun. They keep moving things around so it becomes different. Togi was an interesting addition and this was the most I’ve enjoyed him since Honma got hurt. [***½]
NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki (c) w/ Suzuki-Gun vs. YOSHI-HASHI w/ CHAOS Like the lumberjack match at Dominion, both guys had their respective stables at ringside. A rare chance for YOSHI-HASHI to main event. You could tell this was going to go rather long by the slow paced start. Suzuki took things outside and beat on YOSHI with chairs. He put the focus on the leg, like he did against Okada back in February. We got the typical tropes from Suzuki-Gun matches, with countout teases, cheating and interference. The CHAOS guys were pretty bad teammates outside. It took forever before their impact would be felt. Once they reached the closing stretch, the match finally started picking up. YOSHI got some near falls that the fans bit on, including a great false finish with the butterfly lock. Suzuki faded to the point where you thought it could be over. Suzuki got pissed late, slapping the piss out of YOSHI, hitting a bunch of strikes, locking in a sleeper and hitting the Gotch Piledriver. That got the win at 26:13. Similar to his match with Goto on “Road to Wrestling Dontaku”, there were elements of a good Suzuki match here. However, it was overshadowed by the standard nonsense we’ve come to expect from his matches. It also went a bit too long as 20+ minute matches isn’t a YOSHI strong suit. [**½]
Overall: 5/10. Definitely on the weaker side of NJPW shows this year. It’s a relatively easy watch due to the length, but most of the show is an easy skip. The main event needed to deliver to put this show over the edge (that was the case with Evolve 86) but it lacked and fell way short. Though the runtime is short, only check out the LIDJ tag and the Young Lions. They were the only real highlights.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,896
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Post by chrom on Jun 26, 2017 18:56:14 GMT -5
Lineup for the last show
Shota Umino vs Tetsuhiro Yagi
Tiger Mask and Hirai Kawato vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku
Tencozy and Jushin Thunder Liger vs Blue Justice and Tomoyuki Oka
Togi Makabe and Katsuya Kitamura vs Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi and David Finlay vs Los Ingobernables
Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi Hashi and Gedo vs Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Taichi and El Desperado
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Kushida vs Bushi
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Post by eJm on Jun 27, 2017 4:19:19 GMT -5
Ok, whoever thought of streaming the first four matches on YouTube for these shows is simply a genius. Considering they want to grow their international audience and for NJPW World, it's a fantastic idea.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,896
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Post by chrom on Jun 27, 2017 7:35:57 GMT -5
El Desperado makes his intentions known to Kushida.
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Post by Magic knows Black Lives Matter on Jun 27, 2017 10:01:38 GMT -5
The Once in a Century Artist
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Jun 27, 2017 13:26:03 GMT -5
NJPW Kizuna Road June 27th, 2017 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,544
It’s the final Kizuna Road show, which means the G1 Climax is right around the corner. After shows headlined by the NEVER Six Man and NEVER Openweight Titles, the last one is main evented by the sixth match between KUSHIDA and BUSHI in a year and a half. Despite happening a lot, that main event helped the show draw the highest attendance for an Kizuna Road show this year.
Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi Yesterday, these two also opened the show and wrestled to a fun draw. They both worked the leg here, looking to set up the crab. Lots of back and forth stuff, showing how even they are at this stage in their career. Like yesterday, Yagi slapped on the crab, which he couldn’t get Umino to tap to. They used that as the drama builder here, with Umino coming close to giving up a few times. Umino fought back and trapped Yagi in the crab, but this time the bell sounded for another draw at 10:00. Nice way to twist on yesterday’s draw, with the other guy in peril at the bell. Though I like where they’re going with it, this wasn’t quite as energetic as yesterday’s. The crowd also wasn’t as excited for it. Still solid though. [**½]
Hirai Kawato and Tiger Mask IV vs. TAKA Michinoku and Yoshinobu Kanemaru At least it’s not Taichi and Kanemaru. They’re pretty much the bane of my existence. If you know these characters and I asked you how you thought a match involving them would go, this was basically it. Kawato was his usual wild self, leading to him getting jumped. The one surprise in the match was that they didn’t use a ton of cheating. Maybe not having Taichi in the match was helpful. Like almost every match he’s in, Kawato was the star. The crowd bit on his near falls again, before he tapped TAKA’s crossface at 8:59. An average match put slightly over the hump by Kawato. [**¼]
Jushin Thunder Liger and TenKoji vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Tomoyuki Oka and Yuji Nagata Oka and five dads. I love it. Oka started for his guys and brought the expected energy. The dads seemed less involved today. I don’t think they phoned it in, but the effort just didn’t seem to be at the level it usually is. Nakanishi looked especially slow today and had a comically bad rapid fire chop sequence at one point. However, he did have the balls to take a superplex from Liger. I feel like I don’t see that move often in NJPW. Oka came close with a crab, but ultimately fell to a vicious Kojima lariat at 8:14. Not quite what I was hoping for. I like everyone involved, but they’ve all performed much better on recent shows. [**¼]
Katsuya Kitamura and Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano My goodness, Kitamura looked extra jacked today. It’s easy to forget that Yano and Ishii held the IWGP Tag Titles this year. Kitamura and Makabe started hot, before we got a fun exchange between Kitamura and Ishii. Makabe and Yano were much less interesting. After some unenthused back and forth, Makabe saved Kitamura and got some of his stuff in. Kitamura got left alone with Ishii and avoided a Brainbuster, but like Oka in the last match, lost to a lariat at 7:32. Inoffensive. Kitamura and Ishii brought some intensity, but Yano and Makabe seemed to go through the motions. [**]
During intermission, some G1 match announcements were made.
7/17: Ibushi vs. Naito and Tanahashi vs. Sabre Jr. (both sound great) 7/20: SANADA vs. EVIL and Suzuki vs. Omega (both should be good, unless Suzuki’s streak of lackluster matches continues) 7/21: Ibushi vs. Sabre Jr. and Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI (again, sounds good) 7/22: Omega vs. Tonga and Suzuki vs. SANADA (second one could be a sleeper) 7/23: Ibushi vs. Ishii and Makabe vs. Goto (f*** the 2nd one, Ibushi/Ishii should be match of the tourney) 7/25: Yano vs. Omega and Okada vs. SANADA (neither sounds great. Okada/SANADA was solid but unspectacular both times last year) 7/26: Makabe vs. Ibushi and Tanahashi vs. Goto (neither interests me) 7/27: Suzuki vs. EVIL and Elgin vs. Omega (1st sounds dope, 2nd had regressing singles matches last year) 7/29: Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI and Ishii vs. Naito (Ishii/Naito will never be excellent) 7/30: Kojima vs. Omega and Juice vs. Okada (both sounds awesome) 8/1: Nagata vs. Ishii and Tanahashi vs. Ibushi (yes, both sound rad) 8/2: Kojima vs. Suzuki and Omega vs. EVIL (I like the sound of it) 8/4: Naito vs. Sabre Jr. and Tanahashi vs. Makabe (I’m all for the first. 2nd has never been great to me) 8/5: Kojima vs. SANADA and Okada vs. EVIL (awesome) 8/6: Makabe vs. Naito and Tanahashi vs. Ishii (both sound cool) 8/8: Omega vs. SANADA and Okada vs. Suzuki (I’m all about that 1st match. 2nd could rule if it’s like their 2014 G1 match and suck if it’s like their New Beginning match) 8/11: Ibushi vs. Goto and Tanahashi vs. Naito (1st sounds solid, 2nd will be good but I’ve seen it enough in 2017) 8/12: Yano vs. Suzuki and Okada vs. Omega (1st bad, 2nd good)
David Finlay, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions EVIL and SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito Some fans have their own version of Daryl, Hiromu’s stuffed cat. This had some of the fun we’ve come to know and love from these tag matches. They brought some twists of the usual spots. Yesterday, it was badass Makabe getting cornered but today, it was SANADA who turned around to find several Taguchi Japan members facing him. They tried tying him into a ball but failed. Juice took the first short heat, followed by Taguchi, which led to a hot tag for Tanahashi. SANADA put Finlay in Skull End near the finish, but Tanahashi made the save. Things broke down, with everyone getting involved. Finlay managed a rollup that the fans bit on but got put back in Skull End. He tapped at 13:24. Like I’ve said before, these are always entertaining. This wasn’t quite as good as yesterday’s or some of the ones on previous shows, but still good and the best thing on the show so far. [***¼]
Davey Boy Smith Jr., El Desperado, NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki and Taichi vs. Gedo, Hirooki Goto, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI CHAOS vs. Suzuki-Gun has been one of the worst feuds of the year. Not just in NJPW, but all of wrestling. Suzuki-Gun jumped CHAOS before the bell because that’s all they’re booked to do. It’s so tiring. DBS is a welcome addition, as he’s fresh and talented. His interactions were basically the high point. YOSHI played the face in peril before Okada got the hot tag and got his shit in. Suzuki cut him off, teasing their upcoming G1 match, which I’m hoping redeems their last outing. Taichi accidentally hit Desperado at one point, making me think it would lead to the finish but it didn’t. Instead, Desperado got left alone with Gedo and bested him with Angel’s Wings at 12:35. Solid match that was one of the better in this rivalry. Considering the score it gets, that should tell you about the quality they’ve produced leading up to this. Give me more DBS and Desperado. [**¾]
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (c) vs. NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champion BUSHI It was BUSHI who dethroned KUSHIDA at Destruction last year, ending his nine-month reign long before Hiromu Takahashi came around. As noted, this is their sixth meeting since last February. KUSHIDA holds a 3-2 edge, including two straight wins. The opening exchanges were fast and KUSHIDA targeted the arm. After some time outside, BUSHI took control, grounding KUSHIDA. You could tell they’ve met a bunch, because BUSHI had a lot of KUSHIDA’s signature stuff well scouted. KUSHIDA’s comeback was slow, but earned. When he applied the Hoverboard Lock, Hiromu Takahashi strolled down for a distraction. KUSHIDA mostly ignored it until a ref bump led to Hiromu getting involved. He hit the sunset flip bomb before Ryusuke Taguchi arrived. KUSHIDA beat the countout and kicked out of a destroyer. He also survived the mist and MX, before countering a second one and winning with Back to the Future at 19:21. A very good main event that wasn’t one of their better outings. Their BOTSJ match this year ruled as a straight singles match, while this one had some shenanigans sprinkled in. KUSHIDA survived a bit too much in the end too, as it felt like overkill. Despite that, it was still the best thing on the show and the fourth best of their matches. [***½]
Post-match, El Desperado showed up and broke a guitar over KUSHIDA’s head. Looks like Desperado/KUSHIDA is the next title program. Their BOTSJ match was solid and I hope it doesn’t involve too much Suzuki-Gun nonsense.
Overall: 4.5/10. Like yesterday’s show, I felt this was a middle of the pack event. It was rather flat and only had two matches I’d consider checking out. And even so, LIDJ/Taguchi Japan and BUSHI/KUSHIDA have had several matches that were better than these, so they aren’t must see. You can skip this show as the highlight was the G1 Climax announcements.
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