Another Level

I think we can all agree that Kazucika Okada is a pretty talented dude. You don't make it to the top of a company like New Japan if you're not, especially when they're on the sort of hot streak they've been on for the last few years. He is easily amongst the best wrestlers in the world today, being capable of putting of good matches with lesser performers and having classics with great ones, possesses that all important star look, and (from what I can make out from his confidence and body language) he's a pretty solid promo.

As good as he is I've been wondering recently how far he'd make it outside of the confines of NJPW. In other words I've wondered how much of his success is down to him being booked well and how much is down to his own innate ability and work ethic. Not in a disparaging way, more idly thinking about whether he could succeed elsewhere without his formidable 'Rainmaker' gimmick.

Much of his success since returning to New Japan from TNA can be attributed to the way he's been presented. This goes beyond the way his matches are booked and how he's presented. No wrestler, no matter how good they are, is going to make it to the top if they're not given the time to compete in good matches or showcase a compelling character. I'm thinking more specifically about the character redesign Okada got when he returned.

He wasn't booked like this in TNA.

It's all about that 'Rainmaker' gimmick I described as formidable two paragraphs ago. It's one of the best in wrestling today. A great look was put together for it, one that makes the most of Okada's statuesque physique and good looks, but it's the basic premise that really sets it apart. The idea that Okada is so great, so valuable and talented, that he adds lustre to New Japan just by being on the roster is a perfect fit for wrestling. It's something incredibly simple that does loads for the man it's attached to and plays into the fact that he's a young lad who has really good matches on a regular basis.

But without this gimmick what would Okada have? For argument's sake let's say he signed for WWE. He wouldn't have the 'Rainmaker' name. That belongs to NJPW. He could do a version of the gimmick but part of the reason it works is the name. He wouldn't necessarily receive the focused booking and various protection methods he's been afforded in New Japan. He definitely wouldn't have Gedo with him, and that counts for a lot as by all accounts Gedo is not only his on-screen manager but his off-screen mentor. Their relationship seems to be pretty similar to the one Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman share. It seems fair to assume that Gedo has helped Okada progress as a performer. He's definitely been the one booking him strongly for the past several years.

A move to WWE would leave Okada reliant on his own showmanship abilities and, well, they don't seem to be all that strong. His most prominent work outside of NJPW was in TNA. Okay, nobody truly succeeds in TNA and Okada was booked as a low card afterthought while he was there but he showed no aptitude for making himself stand out. His run there ended with him playing Samoa Joe's Green Hornet-inspired sidekick, and that was awful, but he had time before being lumbered with that gimmick to change up his look. That he didn't indicates that presentation is an aspect of the wrestling business lost on him. That would be a massive hindrance in WWE, who want guys who know how to get themselves over before being given any sort of significant push. That and guys who look like Roman Reigns.

All of which is fair enough. Nobody's good at everything. Okada doesn't have much flamboyance to him. That doesn't matter right now. He has a gimmick that allows his lack of emotion to be interpreted as him thinking himself above everyone else because of how talented and inherantly valuable he is. He has a manager who can help with this too. And a flashy entrance outfit. He has everything he needs for the spot he's in. And really that's all that matters.

NJPW Dominion 2015 review

With the G1 tournament currently in full swing this seems like the perfect (or most illogical, whichever you prefer) time to review the promotion's last major show, Dominion. I'd been looking forward to this show a great deal due to the fact that it featured a far greater number of singles and championship matches than the average New Japan show. It felt like it was a big deal because of this and, pleasingly, all of the bigger matches were worth watching. This was a show that didn't disappoint.

This said it actually seems like this was a relatively minor New Japan show, designed more as something to get people in position before the G1 tournament. Which does a fair amount to illustrate just how good NJPW is: even its B shows are excellent. It's impossible to imagine the likes of Payback or Battleground being this good. But then New Japan and WWE (and Gedo and Vince McMahon, for that matter) have different approaches and goals with the companies they head.

The show kicked off with a trio of tag matches. The first saw Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka, Mascara Dorada and Manabu Nakanishi defeat Jushin Liger, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yohei Komatsu, and Tiger Mask when Dorada pinned Komatsu. The second was the traditionally high spot filled junior tag title match, the Young Bucks successfully retaining against reDRagon and Roppongi Vice in a three-way. The latter seems to have drawn criticism from some for being "too American" but with six westerners in there what else could you expect. As far as these sorts of matches go it was very enjoyable.

The third saw Tetsuay Naito and Tomoaki Honma pair up to defeat Bullet Club lads Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale. Naturally it was Takahashi who took the pin because New Japan go out of their way to protect Fale, presumably because he's the closest thing they have to a big, bad monster. Less naturally it was Honma who got the pin for his team, playing into a match-long story of Naito seemingly being unmotivated and not trying especially hard to help his partner out. This story (which has progressed considerably with the G1) was the highlight of the match, although the work between eternal underdog Honma and 'The Underboss' was fun too.

The first singles match of the show pitted Kazushi Sakuraba against Katusyori Shibata. This match was only a little over ten minutes but it felt longer. These are two of the least compeling guys on the New Japan roster for me and as such I found this difficult to engage with. It was technically proficint but it was the least engaging portion of the show for me. Shibata went over with a punt kick to Sakuraba's face after having weakened him with a lengthy sleeper.

Things improved considerably after that with Kushida's return to the top of the junior division with a junior heavyweight championship win over Kenny Omega. Kushida had earned the match by winning the Best of the Super Junior tournament in June, playing into the simple (but slightly unpleasantly racially charged storyline) story of Kenny Omega, a Canadian, having defeated challengers of Japanese, Mexican, and American origin and gloating about how none of them had beaten him. Obviously he was going to get his comeuppance at the hands of a Japanese guy, and it was Kushida, a man who's popularity has been growing considerably over the last eighteen months and who had been perfectly positioned for a singles run away from his Time Splitters partner Alex Shelley, who had to be the one to beat him.

This was the first standout match of the show (and there were several standout matches, as you'll read below). There was early use of a rubbish bin (trash can, for y'all across The Pond) from Omega, designed to play into his weird 'Cleaner' moniker, and then a prolonged sequence of Kushida's leg being worked over against tables and barriers outside the ring. That set him up as even more of an underdog against the despicable westerner and got him doing some very sympathetic selling, drawing the crowd in and prepping him for a piping hot comeback later on in the match.

It came just shy of the fifteen minute mark when Kushida reversed a suplex. From there he hit the champion with a roundhouse kick on the apron, a handspring elbow, and a cross body block from the turnbuckle to the floor (handily wiping out the Bucks too). Omega managed to briefly hold back the tide with, of all things, an Oklahoma Stampede, a decidedly more junior dragon suplex, and a top rope Aoi Shoudou, but it wasn't enough to get him the victory. Kushida would fire back with a number of kicks and applications of the kimura lock. It took a few tries but it was eventually that hold which got Kushida the win, trapping Omega's arm as he hoisted the challenger up for the One-Winged Angel and then locking the hold in place in the centre of the ring.

Following Kushida's lengthy celebration Tomorhiro Ishii strode down to the ring to challenge Togi Makabe for the NEVER championship. Makabe had defeated Ishii at Wrestle Kingdom 9 but was stripped of the title the following month after suffering form influenza and being unable to compete. Ishii would go on to beat Honma for the vacated gold at New Beginning, only to lose it back Makabe at Wrestling Hi no Kuni.

We had the same sort of enjoyably rough and tumble match here as we'd had in their previous meetings. They pummelled one another non-stop for getting on for twenty minutes, throwing elbows like they were going out of style. Big lad matches don't get much finer than what they gave us here, and they built to a great crescendo with Makabe German suplexing Ishii off the top rope before dropping on a knee on his head to once again beat him to retain the championship. This, for the record, was the second standout match of the evening. 

It was followed by a decidedly non-standout match: The Kingdom versus Bullet Club for the IWGP tag team championship. These aren't teams that do great things together. They've wrestled three times on major New Japan shows this year (Invasion Attack, where Bennett and Taven defeated Gallows and Anderson for the tag belts, and Wrestling Dontaku, in a six person match also involving Maria and Amber) and met in a number of matches on house shows in both New Japan and ROH. Despite this they've not managed to develop any sort of noticeable chemistry or interesting spots that can be called back to.

On the one hand that's fair enough. Not every feud is going to see guys find a rhythm that leads to a string of classic matches. It's not their fault that they've been put together so much, that they're all foreign heels (leading to audience disinterest and lack of focus) or that all they've been given to work with in terms of basis for a rivalry is Karl Anderson being infatuated by Maria. But it is their fault that they've not managed to drag any of these matches up to an acceptable level.

Bullet Club regained the titles here when they hit Taven with a 3D and Magic Killer. Hopefully they can move onto something with more talented teams that the audience actually like. Tanahashi wouldn't be a bad idea: he's super over and being in tags would help limit his ring time, preserving his utterly knackered body. It could also give a rub to whoever he was partnered with.

Speaking of Tanahashi, he wrestled in the match after this. It was a feud-ending collision with Toru Yano. Why he'd been pitted against Yano in a series is beyond me. Tanahashi, the man NJPW promotes as 'The Ace of the Universe' is one of the most over men in the company, quite possibly the most over. Yano is a comedy heel. Nobody stood to gain anything from this pairing: Yano wasn't going to be brought up to Tanahashi's level, Tanahashi was only going to be dragged down. It gave Tanahashi a rest, that's true, but there were other ways of achieving that without putting him with Yano.

The match was at least enjoyable. Because Tanahashi, despite being injured and overrated, is still very good, and Yano's shtick works. The obvious result came to pass when Tanahashi gave Yano the sling blade and the High Fly Flow.

The semi-main event was a Shinsuke Nakamura versus Hirooki Goto in a rematch for the Intercontinental championship. Goto had defeated Nak at Wrestling Dontaku in early May after Nak had underestimated and belittled him. The story here was that 'The King of Strong Style' wanted to prove the result had been a fluke and that he had been right to disregard Goto.

They started off with a lengthy feeling out process, Nak toying with the champ by jabbing at him with taunting kicks. Goto would get the best of the first lockup exchange, however, and would also be the first to go on a prolonged offensive streak, grounding Nakamura and wearing him down with chin locks. Nakamura would miss a running knee to the corner before knocking Goto out of the ring and smacking him into some guard rails.

The referee started a count. Goto made it back into the ring at eighteen but was too beaten up to do anything but lay there. Nakamura took advantage of this with some kicks. When he switched to elbows Goto's fighting spirit kicked in and he started fighting back. Nakamura survived a crazy lariat attempt, a spinning heel kick, and a bulldog before buying himself some time with a drop kick. A running knee in the corner missed but he managed to hoist the champion to the top rope and strike him with one there. That earned him a two count.

Goto tried to fire up again but Nak cut him off with another drop kick and a fall forward suplex. A Bome Ye attempt was reversed into a Samoan drop attempt, Nak wriggling off the shoulders and trapping Goto in a Gogoplata. Goto made it to the ropes but not quickly, and he was clearly even more worn down after being released from the hold. So Nakamura slapped on a rear naked choke to keep the pressure on.

Goto fought to his feet only for Nakamura to release the hold and drop him with a couple of suplexes. He again went for the Boma Ye and again found it countered, this time with a lariat. Goto hit an Angle Slam for two. He followed up with a neckbreaker out of the corner and Shouten Kai attempt. Nakamura kneed him in the head to escape that, only to be clotheslined in the corner seconds later. Goto tried to hit something from the top rope but Nak slipped away and power bombed him down to the mat then walloped him with a Boma Ye as he staggered back up.

Back on their feet the two lads traded blows, Nakamura getting the best of the exchange and felling the champ with an axe kick. Goto blearily tried getting back up but got struck with a Shining Wizard. Despite the crowd being convinced it was a match-ender Nakamura's pin attempt only got him a two count. Goto ran the ropes, avoiding two further  Boma Ye strikes before getting punched straight in the face. That caused him to drop to his knees. Nakamura again tried a Boma Ye but Goto caught hold of his knee, allowing him to hit a Goto Shiki and a dangerous-looking bck drop into an inverted power bomb for a beautiful false finish.

Nak got back to his feet and punched Goto again. Goto no-sold and gave Nak some head butts. Nak fell to the mat where he was pulled back to his feet to be hit with the match-winning Shouten Kai, bringing a cracking match to a close. Being a big fan of Nakamura I was disappointed he didn't get to regain the title he, more than anyone else has helped to build up but it would have been pointless for Goto to lose it back in his first defence. It's nice for someone else to have it for a bit to create some variety and allow Nakamura to do other things.

The main event saw AJ Styles defend the IWGP heavyweight championship against Kazuchika Okada. It was preceded by a really quite excellent hype video that did a great job of setting the mood for the match. Footage was used from some of the ROH co-promoted show, establishing how popular Okada is outside of Japan. He was also shown staring wistfully at Madison Square Garden, a building he's unlikely to ever wrestle in unless he makes his way to WWE at some point. It seemed to be presenting him as a humble man driven by ambitions and goals. Meanwhile Styles was presented as brash, arrogant and condescending. It did a great job of setting the scene for the story to come.

That story saw an Okada who refused to be intimidated by Styles dominate the early going. Okada was clearly confident and determined to overcome the entirety of Bullet Club being at ringside and become the heavyweight champion for a third time. The opening minutes saw 'The Rainmaker' outwrestle Styles multiple times, demonstrating that he had the champion's number and would win a fair match. Then, to illustrate that it wasn't a fair match, the interference began. Amber tripped Okada, allowing Styles to take control of the match. Moments later the challenger was tossed out of the ring to receive a kicking from the Biz Cliz.

Okada tried to fight back in the ring ut he got nailed with a drop kick and thrown out of the ring for a second kicking. This time the referee realised what was happening and ordered all Bullet Club members back to the locker room (maybe they should have secured themselves managers licenses and avoided this issue entirely). Okada rocked Styles with elbows, reversed a whip into a DDT, and hit a kip Up. Because athleticism.

Okada got a two count with a flapjack then headed to the top rope. Styles charged in but Okada leapt over him and struck him with an elbow. The champ no-sold that and hit his Asai DDT. He tried to follow up with a springboard but Okada kicked the ropes, toppling him back down onto the ring apron where he took an Okada drop kick.

After a brief brawl around ringside the two returned to the ring and Styles hit Okada with a facebuster for two. Styles tried a springboard again. Okada countered again, this time drop kicking the champion as he sailed into the ring. He followed up with a Macho Elbow to Styles then signalled for the Rainmaker. Styles escaped and suplexed Okada into a turnbuckle board. Then, finally, he hit his springboard forearm.

Okada turned a Styles Clash into Heavy Rain. He tried to follow up with a Tombstone but Styles fought his way out of it. They traded punches, uppercuts and elbows, Styles getting the better of the exchange when he elbowed Okada to the ground and stomped him. Back on his feet Okada hit that perfect drop kick of his and went for the Tombstone again. Styles reversed his way out of it and hit the move himself, following up with the springboard 450 for a two count.

Styles headed to the top rope. Okada followed and hit a dangerous, almost botched-looking, Death Valley Driver from the second rope to the apron. After a pause Styles crawled back into the ring, only to be hit with a drop kick from the top rope. A dazed Styles staggered to his feet and straight into a Tombstone piledriver from Okada. He signalled and went for the Rainmaker again but Styles ducked and struck with a Pele kick, flooring the challenger and buying himself some time to recover.

Back on his feet 'The Phenomenal One' attempted a Styles Clash. Okada pulled out of it and tried the Rainmaker again. Styles ducked it and gave Okada a back slide, rolling him through into the Styles Clash. Okada fought out, only to be set up for Bloody Sunday. He escaped that too and grabbed Styles for the Rainmaker. Styles fired off elbows so Okada dragged him into a back slide and hit him with the Rainmaker. Just to make sure he had him Okada pulled Styles up for another but Styles ducked. It didn't help him though. Okada nailed a pair of German suplexes and another Rainmaker to put AJ down for a three count and win his third IWGP heavyweight championship.

The match was excellent, one of the best I've seen Styles have since joining New Japan. It was easily the best on the card and was of a quality befitting the beginning of 'The Rainmaker's' third title reign. The pair wrestled like the title meant something and did a great job of weaving their finishers and signature moves into the closing third of the match, each man's arsenal being portrayed as absolutely devastating. The match can't be praised enough. It was one of the finest NJPW efforts of the year, and that puts it up against some stiff competition.

The show as a whole was, as I intimated earlier, great. Every match did exactly what it needed to. Makabe v Ishii was great and the junior heavyweight, IC, and heavyweight title matches were all match of the year contenders. This show just edged out Wrestle Kingdom 9 for New Japan's show of the year spot. With this being such a great show and there being two new champions crowned I'm interested to see what New Japan does next.

***

Results summary:

Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka, Mascara Dorada and Manabu Nakanishi defeated Jushin Liger, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yohei Komatsu, and Tiger Mask
The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice and reDRagon to retain the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team championship
Tomoaki Honma and Tetsuya Naito defeated Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale
Katsuyori Shibata defeated Kazushi Sakuraba
Kushida defeated Kenny Omega to win the IWGP junior heavyweight championship
Togi Makabe defeated Tomohiro Ishii to retain the NEVER openweight championship
Bullet Club defeated The Kingdom to win the IWGP tag team championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Toru Yano
Hirooki Goto defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the IWGP Intercontinental championship
Kazuchika Okada defeated AJ Styles to win the IWGP heavyweight championship

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2015 review

Back at the start of the month New Japan presented their twelfth Wrestling Dontaku show. Plenty of people have reviewed it in the weeks since but I thought I'd add my voice to the cacophony. Because I've been enjoying New Japan since Wrestle Kingdom and I thought "Why not, right?" Plus there's that sweet poster.

The show kicked off with a peculiar all-babyface eight man tag. The team of Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada and Yuji Nagata took on Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kushida, and Captain New Japan. The crowd were really into it, presumably because of the involvement of Liger and Tiger Mask, but it wasn't anything special. Nakanishi looked good though. He's a guy I'd like  to see involved in the NEVER title scene. He was on the losing team though: Nagata got the win off an Exploder suplex on the Cap'n.

Match two saw Kota Ibushi and Yohei Kamatsu team to defeat Sho Tanaka and Tetsuya Naito. Ibushi and Naito were the respective stars of their teams, both guys frequently being talked about (by people more knowledgeable than me) as being amongst New Japan's next batch of headliners. I definitely see it in Ibushi. He's had two dazzling matches this year at Wrestle Kingdom and Invasion Attack, opposite Nakamura and Styles respectively. He lost both but was elevated by lasting as long as he did and entering solid showings. I've yet to see anything similar from Naito. He's not been put in a position to shine in the same way but there's nothing abou him that makes me want to see him have the chance, and his tag work has been wholly uninspiring. It doesn't help that his haircut is amongst the ugliest on the roster.

The Bullet Club made their first appearance of the night after that, represented by the dream team of Tama Tonga, Cody Hall and Bad Luck Fale. They would lose to TenCozy and Tomoaki Honma. It was Cody who took the loss again as he was pinned after a Honma top rope headbutt. That he keeps losing to Honma, the man who never wins, is presumably leading to something, probably a singles match where Hall finally gets a win. The match was fine for what it was but what it was wasn't much. Which was the intention. It was more a way of getting Honma, TenCozy and Fale onto the show and keeping Hall's stream of losses flowing.

The junior tag straps were up for grabs in match four. Roppongi Vice defended against former one time champions reDRagon and former two times champions the Young Bucks. It was, unsurprisingly, the best match of the night until that point. Highlights included: a Bucks double super kick on Baretta as he went for a tope; stuff shots from O'Reilly as he mounted Baretta; Baretta suplexing Nick onto the ropes and Rocky following up with a top tope knee; reDRagon's assisted wheelbarrow DDT and backbreaker-top rope knee combo; Baretta suplexing Matt from the top rope onto their respective teammates, reDRagon, and some young boys at ringside; the Bucks' buckle bomb-enziguri combo on O'Reilly onto Fish and Romero slumped in the corner; a run-up top rope German suplex from Baretta to Matt; the Indy-Taker to O'Reilly on the floor; and a series of super kicks on Baretta followed by a match-winning More Bang for Your Buck.

Taken as spot-fests with little psychology and no proper selling these matches are always good fun. All the teams involved here (plus former frequent contributors Time Splitters) have a good range of moves that can be mixed and matches in new ways to ensure there's always something new and-or interesting on offer. That said it wouldn't hurt to mix the division up a bit and get some new pairings involved.

The first of only two singles matches on the show, Kenny Omega v Alex Shelley, was preceded by a video package. It reminded us all that Omega has been on a mission to "clean up" New Japan's junior division and that Shelley is a fightin' babyface with the support of the deity Hiroshi Tanahashi himself. It did its job of elevating the match and reminding us that Omega's not a nice guy.

Shelley entered wearing a biker helmet for whatever reason (I suspect this was a gaming reference lost on me) and had Kushida and Taguchi with him. Omega entered in his Matrix-style leather jacket (get with the times, mate) and had the Bucks in his corner. Omega kicked the match off by offering a handshake. Shelley gave him a middle finger, earning himself cheers. The sequence seemed a bit off because Omega, the clear bad guy, had seemed pretty genuine. Maybe we were just meant to assume he'd cheap shot Shelley or something during the handshake but that sort of negativity is no way to go through life.

The pair exchanged the advantage in the opening moments and did a tonne of running about. Omega was the first to get in some extended offence when the Bucks distracted the referee and he countered a Shelley suicide dive with a trash can to the head (because he's cleaning up, geddit?). He stayed on the challenger with a camel clutch, a backbreaker and a nice bicycle kick into the corner before reintroducing the trash can. After belting Shelley in the face with that he gave him a fisherman buster, from which the Time Splitter kicked out.

On the outside Omega continued to use the bin (can) and also brought in a broom. A power bomb onto the bin (can) was countered by Shelley and was followed up by a vault over the top rope, catching hold of Omega and driving him down to the floor with a DDT. 'The Cleaner' took more damage when he rolled back into the ring in the form of a top rope double stomp but he managed to kick out. He withstood a super kick and attempted a power bomb but Shelley countered with a DDT. The challenger tried to follow up with a top rope splash but Omega got his knees up then gave Shelley a modified blue thunder bomb.

Shelley kicked out of that and escaped an attempted electric chair drop before hitting a dragon suplex. The pair exchanged blows, Shelley getting the better of Omega with an enziguri then giving him a super kick and Automatic Midnight for a convincingly close two count. Sensing their boy was in trouble the Bucks hit the ring but were cut off by Taguchi and Kushida and wiped out with some sweet, sweet Time Splitters double teaming. Shelley then hit Sliced Bread Number Two on Omega but only got a two.

Back on their feet Omega heelishly thumbed Shelley's eye. That was enough to open up Shelley for the Croyt's Wrath electric chair drop, which lead to a three count for the reigning champion. Afte the match Omega cut a heel promo about being too good to wrestle in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament but wished all the lads at ringside good luck in it. Kushida seemed particularly irate with Omega's behaviour. Having him win the tournament and going on to take the gold from Omega would make sense. It would establish him as a singles force and would play into Omega's defeat of his Time Splitters partner here.

After a lethargic intermission the show continued with Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Amber Gallows facing The Kingdom trio of Michael Bennett, Matt Taven and Maria Kanellis. The story was that Anderson was still smitten with Maria and Amber had been roped in to counteract her effect on him. It was pure silliness made worse by the lack of clear faces. Were we supposed to root for massive perv Anderson? Or were we supposed to cheer for Maria, who hadn't done anything wrong but seemed very happy to be presented as nothing more than an object to be ogled? It wasn't clear, and the only clue offered by the production team was that the match's biggest star was Maria's backside.

In terms of match quality this was adequate. The four lads are good in tag situations, although Anderson was hampered at points by his weird Maria-fixation gimmick. Maria's not bad, Amber is, but neither was bad enough to make the match a stinker. The match ended, fittingly enough, with Anderson stroking Maria's face only for her to kick him the privates. Amber then came in and went for a suplex on Maria but got rolled up with a small package.

After the match Anderson grabbed Maria and threw her to the ground. Seemingly unsatisfied by this the Bullet boys pulled her back up and gave her the Magic Killer. Then they ran off as Bennett and Taven returned to the ring to make the save. Anderson seemed unremorseful about possibly having broken the neck of his object of lust. I'd like it if this match were the end of the unpleasant Maria aspect of the Kingdom versus Bullet Club rivalry but I don't think it was.

More tag action followed that. First Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed to defeat Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano in a lively tussle when Tana fell on top of Yano in an awkward, botched-looking exchange. Then AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi when Styles dropped Hashi with a brainbuster and a Styles Clash. This was a particularly good match that did its job of reigniting the Styles-Okada dispute. Okada having the champ's number was hammered home after the match when 'The Phenomenal One' went to give Okada the Clash and Okada slipped out and came close, twice, to walloping Styles with the Rainmaker. It was 'The Ace of the New Era' who stood tall at the end of the segment.

The main event of Intercontinental champion Shinsuke  Nakamura defending against Hirooki Goto was preceded by a prime video package that established Nak as the cocky, charismatic champion and Goto as the underdog who wouldn't give up on his pursuit of the gold. It was also made clear that Nakamura simply didn't consider Goto a real threat to his title reign, something which carried over into the story of the match.

Nakamura refused to take Goto seriously until the halfway point of the match, by which point it was too late. The combination of the wearing down he'd already taken and Goto's tenacity meant he was unable to mount the comeback he needed to to retain his championship. Goto gave it his all, surviving a pair or Boma Yes in the closing moments before finishing Nakamura off with a Goto Shiki from the second rope and a Shouten, showing up the bigger star and earning the prize he'd bee determined to reclaim (he'd held the title in 2012 and had been the man beaten to start Nak's first reign, something I imagine the commentary team touched on during the match). A return bout between the two could be really interesting.

Overall this show wasn't bad but it was clear it wasn't intended to be taken as one of New Japan's better offerings. The IC championship match and Omega v Shelley were both very good and the junior tag match and semi-main event were both enjoyable offerings but nothing was better than it needed to be. It was a decent show and that's all it was intended to be.

***

Results summary:

Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada and Yuji Nagata defeated Captain New Japan, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Kushida
Kota Ibushi and Yohei Komatsu defeated Tetsuya Naito and Sho Tanaka
Tomoaki Hona, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima defeated Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Cody Hall
The Young Bucks defeated reDRagon and Roppongi Vice to win the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team championship
Kenny Omega defeated Alex Shelley to retain the IWGP junior heavyweight championship
Michael Bennett, Matt Taven and Maria Kanellis defeated Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Amber Gallows
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe and Katsuyori Shibata defeated Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazushi Sakuraba
AJ Styes and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi
Hirooki Goto defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental championship

NJPW Invasion Attack 2015 review

The night before WrestleMania 31 New Japan presented their third annual Invasion Attack show. Unlike the offerings from Ring of Honor and the WWN this show wasn't held in the state of California. It wasn't even held in the US. That's what kept me from reviewing it at the time: it was happening on WrestleMania weekend but it was so detached that it didn't feel like a part of it. Not that it was intended to be, of course. New Japan is big enough that it doesn't need to tie itself into WWE's schedule.

The opener pitted the Time Splitters, Captain New Japan, Yohei Komatsu and Yuji Nagata against Ryusuke Taguchi, Manabu Nakanishi, Sho Tanaka, Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger. It was a fun but instantly fogettable ten man tag. Shelley pinned Nakanishi with a belly-to-back piledriver for the win.

Tomoaki Honma and the Tencozy lads, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima, versus Bullet Club representatives Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga and Cody Hall was second. Takahashi was accompanied by a girl in a bikini because he's been corrupted by The West. Cody Hall was sporting a slightly altered look channelled Brock Lesnar, while his mannerisms channelled his father. Sadly this didn't translate to a super-hot match or even anything memorable from him. Hall ate the pinfall after a Tencozy 3D and a top rope headbutt from Honma. The thing that most sticks with me is that Hall looked incredibly uncertain a lot of the time. That and the gratuitous shots of Takahashi's gal pal.

Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta had their first two-on-two NJPW tag match as Roppongi Vice after that. They'd wrestled six matches in the company before this but all had featured additional partners. In a slightly surprising move the match was for the junior tag straps. In an even more surprising move the new team defeated the Young Bucks for the titles. This evelopment seemed like something that could have been built to a bit more but it did get a pop and provide a nice surprise.

The match was really good fun. Baretta was sharp and gelled well with Romero. The finish saw Romero tagged by Baretta as Romero was being hoisted up for More Bang for Your Buck. Romero then got his knees up as Nick hit him with the 450 and Baretta, the legal man, dashed in to hit Matt with a top rope German suplex. Romero took out Nick with a suicide dive before the Vice boys hit an inverted Tombstone-springboard combo on Matt, Baretta pinning him to win. That pin sequence was notable: Baretta is the junior member of his team and Matt is the senior member of his. You'd usually expect Nick to be the one laying down in this situation. Clearly the intention was to make Baretta look good by not only having him get the winning fall but doing it against the more impressive member of the opposing team.

The junior heavyweight singles gold was up for grabs in match four. Máscara Dorada challenged Kenny Omega. Dorada had various junior heavyweight babyfaces (among them the Time Splitters, Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask) with him at ringside to ensure there was no Bullet Club-related foul play. Even being unable to utilise his teammates Omega got the win, pinning Dorada with the electric chair driver. After the match Omega challenged Alex Shelley to a title match. Shelley accepted. That should be a highlight of Wrestling Dontaku in May.

The non-Japanese action continued with Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson defending the IWGP tag straps against Matt Taven and Michael Bennett. It was below the standard of the usual Anderson 'n' Gallows match but it was better than anything else I've seen The Kingdom pairing do so far. There were a bunch of spots involving Maria interfering, all of which seemed to really excite the commentary team. Maria ended up distracting Anderson after grinding on the apron, leading to him being hit with a double spike piledriver (prompting cries of "Massacre! Massacre!" from an excited commentator) for the surprising loss. Gallows screamed at Anderson after the match. I'm assuming this title change was done to set up a return match on the ROH-New Japan co-promoted shows in May. Bullet Club, faces in ROH, can take the gold back from the hated Kingdom there.

Two tag matches preceded the show's closing singles bouts, each featuring one of the promotion's top acts. The first saw Shinsuke Nakamura team with Chaos teammates Yoshi-Hashi and Tomohiro Ishii against Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito and Togi Makabe. The second saw Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katauyori Shibata face Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano. The six man was the more enjoyable of the two. It was nice to see Ishii and Makabe's rivalry flaring up again after it had stalled following Makabe's illness in February. Plus I never fail to enjoy a Nak match. The Tana match was fine but I find it hard to get passed my feeling that he's a little overrated, an opinion I've developed because I've yet to see him in a great match that doesn't involve a lesser worker. Anyone can shine against Okada and Styles. His average match against Michael Bennett last year spoke volumes.

The teams with the big stars lost in both instances. Nak was pinned by Goto after a mad lariat and what I believe was a Shouten Kai. That set up an Intercontinental title match between the Goto and Nakamura for Wrestling Dontaku. In the tag match Shibata submitted to a Sakuraba armbar. I'm less clear on the intention there. Perhaps a singles match between Tanahashi and Yano? I'd enjoy it even if no one else would.

The semi-main event was Bad Luck Fale versus Kazuchika Okada, a match-up with a nice story going into it. Okada had been overconfident ahead of his Wrestle Kingdom 9 title challenge against Tanahashi and that overconfidence had led to him being beaten. The following night, confidence shattered, he'd been beaten by Fale in a tag match. Which isn't a soul-crushing embarrassment in itself because Fale is kept strong by New Japan, but it was a further blow to the former two time world champ and company golden boy.

Since that match Fale and Okada and met in a variety of tag and six man matches, with 'The Underboss' being on the winning side more often than not. This singles match was Okada's chance at retribution, his opportunity to change his fortunes, show that he was above the likes of Fale and get his career back on track. Naturally he did so. Just as naturally the match was very good. Not that I'm especially well-versed in Fale matches (nor do I want to be) but this was certainly the best work I've seen from him. Fale managed to make Okada look strong without making himself look weak, a useful skill to have for someone who's clearly meant to be a big ol' monster.

Highlights of the match included a lovely Rainmaker reversal into a choke slam attempt and a sequence that saw Okada escape the Bad Luck Fall, counter a choke slam in mid-air with a drop kick, and avoid a Fale Rainmaker before hitting a Tombstone (something he'd attempted several times during the match). There was also a very nice top rope splash from Fale.

The main event featured IWGP champion AJ Styles defending against Kota Ibushi, who'd earned a title shot by merit of his victory in the New Japan Cup tournament. It seemed designed to reinforce the standing of both guys as bona fide headline stars by having them close out the show without Nak, Tana or Okada around. You can't fault New Japan's star-building process. Nor can you fault their storytelling: Kenny Omega was the lone Bullet Club member at ringside. This was notable as the two men have (or possibly have, at this point) tagged together as Golden Lovers since the beginning of 2009. They primarily teamed in DDT but did make a couple of appearances together in New Japan, capturing the junior tag straps when they did so. Both transferred over to New Japan from DDT and took up new singles roles unaffiliated with one another until this point, and stationing Omega at ringside was a superb move. It allowed for a genuinely interesting "what will he do?" scenario to play out throughout the match, something that's tried fairly often and usually fails.

The match started with Ibushi and Styles locking up a few times. Styles got the better of them and loudly proclaimed Ibushi wasn't ready for him. Ibushi responded with a hurricanrana that sent the champion rolling out of the ring. They ran through a nippy exchange of near falls, as well as a Styles Slash attempt, with Ibushi getting the final word with a very close two count. The champion was then sent out of the ring again, this time with a drop kick.

Ibushi tried a moonsault to the outside. First AJ blocked it. Then, after Ibushi had fought him off, he sidestepped it and tossed Ibushi with a wild German suplex. Ibushi just made it back into the ring before the twenty count was reached but he was left at the mercy of 'The Phenomenal One'. The challenger absorbed punishment for several minutes, including a guardrail to the face and an Indian deathlock.

Styles targeted Iushi's leg when he started throwing out kicks. Ibushi fought overcame that and managed a desperation double stomp as Styles went for a low drop kick. Styles rolled outside, allowing 'Golden Star' to finally hit the springboard moonsault he'd tried for earlier. Ibushi stayed on the champion with a springboard drop kick, a power slam, and a Lionsault, all which scored him a two count. A German suplex got him the same result. Styles reversed a suplex and dropped Ibushi into a turnbuckle then hit his moonsault into a reverse DDT.

Ibushi kicked out so Styles signalled for the Styles Clash. Ibushi fought out with a series of strikes. AJ responded with strikes of his own then hit a Pele kick. Ibushi stayed on his feet long enough to hit a Pele kick of his own. After a brief pause Ibushi pulled Styles to his feet and tried to dragon suplex him off the apron into the ring. Styles elbowed out, hit a springboard elbow, then dropped Ibushi on his head with a "Styles buster" (as named by the commentators) for two.

Frustrated, the champion gave the challenger a high Bloody Sunday. Without going for the cover he tried for the Clash again. Ibushi escaped but immediately found himself locked in a Calf Killer. It took him a while but Ibushi made it to the ropes. Back on his feet he kneed Styles in the face but hurt himself doing so and so couldn't capitalise. Styles floored him with a lariat and hauled him to a corner to take another stab at the Styles Clash. Ibushi fought out and tried a hurricanrana. Styles fought out of that and tried for the Clash again. Ibushi escaped that and rolled onto the ring apron, where he leapt up to the top rope to finally catch AJ with the hurricanrana.

Styles kicked out. Ibushi botched a power bomb. Styles escaped on the correction attempt and got walloped with a lariat for his efforts. Ibushi tried for the power bomb a third time and finally got it. But Styles kicked out in a great near fall.

Ibushi went to the top rope. Omega finally made his move, scrambling to the apron to stare at Ibushi. The two men paused before Omega shook his head and returned to the floor. But that brief pause was enough: Ibushi went for the phoenix splash but Styles was on his feet to catch him, turning the move into a Styles Clash to win the match at the twenty-seven minute mark.

This lad's on... another level.

Takahashi and Tama Tonga hit the ring to proudly celebrate with AJ as Ibushi was helped backstage. Omega joined them in the ring but looked distraught. Clearly he had mixed feelings on the plight of his former teammate and felt that his momentary distraction and cost him a win and the title. But we weren't allowed to dwell on an evil Bullet Club member having feelings for long: Okada hit the ring to destroy everyone and lamp Styles with a Rainmaker. The final major shot of the show was Okada standing over the champion as Gedo said words and smirked.

Invasion Attack was a great show. There were matches that weren't all they could have been but there were no flat-out stinkers and we got a couple of title changes. More importantly it got Okada back on track as a title challenger, solidified the standing of both Styles and Ibushi, and set up something for the future involving Kenny Omega. Not bad for what was not intended to be a A-list show.

***

Results summary:

Yuji Nagata, Time Splitters, Captain New Japan and Yohei Komatsu defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Sho Tanaka
TenCozy and Tomoaki Honma defeated Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga and Cody Hall
Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks to win the junior heavyweight tag team championship
Kenny Omega defeated Máscara Dorada to retain the junior heavyweight championship
The Kingdom defeated Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson to win the tag tea championship
Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe and Tetsuya Naito defeated Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi
Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata
Kazuchika Okada defeated Bad Luck Fale
AJ Styles defeated Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP heavyweight championship

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 review

“This is the WrestleMania of Japan,” said Jim Ross at the start of the English language broadcast of Wrestle Kingdom 9. Comparing one company’s biggest annual show to another’s may not be the best idea, opening up a number of undesirable comparisons to sports entertainment in this case, but it does create a useful shorthand and make an immediate impact on people watching New Japan for the first time.

Yes, Wrestle Kingdom 9. This is the first time I’ve reviewed a New Japan show (their co-productions with Ring of Honor last year were enjoyable but weren’t full NJPW cards). I thought it would be a good one to start with for a number of reasons. Firstly it had English language commentary provided by Jim Ross and Matt Striker, which set it up as a natural jump-on point for anyone who doesn’t speak Japanese. Secondly it was the company’s biggest show of the year, which meant a nice recap of recent plots and what will likely be amongst the most important matches I the company all year. Plus it simply looked like a good show.

After a pre-show Royal Rumble rules battle royal, won by Yuji Nagata, the show proper got underway with a four-way tag team match. The IWGP junior tag team champions reDRagon defended against The Young Bucks, Forever Hooligans, and Time Splitters. As Kushida and Alex Shelley made their way to the ring JR discussed Kushida’s 6-0-2 MMA record. His would be a theme throughout the show (it made a nice substitute for the college football natter he’s more known for).

It took a while to turn into the spot-fest it was destined to be but when it got there it was very enjoyable. Highlights included Shelley super kicking O'Reilly as he leapt off the apron; the Bucks performing a series of dives onto everyone else; Kushida hitting a Swanton onto the three other teams; the Bucks throwing out kicks and JR using the words “super kick party”; a Meltzer driver on Koslov, broken up by Fish and O'Reilly; a double handspring elbow to reDRagon from Kushida; a Bucks buckle bomb; an assisted DDT into a German suplex from reDRagon; and the match-ending exploder and Chasing the Dragon on Koslov. It was the ideal opener, fast paced and action-packed.

Match number two saw Jeff Jarrett, Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale take on Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma. The Bullet Club lads had Karen Jarrett (I approve) and Scott D'Amore (I do not approve) at ringside with them.

It was not the best match, but it wasn't meant to be. It was a nice concoction of heel shenanigans and hot tags. Being a Jarrett match this naturally included the use of a flimsy stunt guitar. The introduction of that prop ended up backfiring on him when he accidentally smashed it over Takahashi's head, leading to Honma getting a top rope headbutt on Takahashi for the win.

Sticking with tag action, the third match on the show was an eight man tag bout pitting Toru Yano and NOAH's Shane Haste,  Mikey Nicholls (collectively known as The Mighty Don't Kneel) and GHC heavyweight champion Naomichi Marufuji against Takahashi Iizuka, Shelton Benjamin (who has reinvented himself as the totally different Shelton X Benjamin in NJPW) and Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr (collectively known as Killer Elite Squad).

Yano and Iizuka started with some comedy but it didn't last long. TMDK and KES soon got into the ring to provide some swift, enjoyable tag action and make sure the match passed muster. That was followed by a spirited but sloppy in places exchange between Iizuka and Marufuji. Benjamin provided the spot of the match with his vault-to-the-top-rope belly-to-belly suplex on Marufuji. The GHC champ won the match for his team after all the Suzukigun members bar Iizuka disappeared, leaving their partner to take a double gorilla press and a tiger uppercut knee lift. The match was short enough to stop the eight outstaying their welcome but long enough for them to make it an enjoyable watch.

Match four saw Kazushi Sakuraba pitted against Minoru Suzuki in a match JR informed us had been a lifetime in the making. Both men had been taught to wrestle by British shooter Billy Robinson, with Suzuki having also received training from the equally formidable Karl Gotch (that guy JBL references every other pay-per-view). It was talked up as a shoot match. It wasn’t a shoot, but it was super stiff.

The pair brawled out onto the entrance ramp within minutes of the opening bell. There Sakuraba applied a kimura to his foe. He ended up breaking when he was told he had to get into the ring to earn a victory. Not that Suzuki had tapped out.

When they returned to the ring Suzuki was clutching his arm. He took a barrel-load of kicks and survived an armbar before they exchanged slaps and he managed to apply a rear naked choke. Sakuraba passed out in that. Suzuki won via referee stoppage. After the match Sakuraba offered a handshake. Suzuki accepted after a Dramatic Pause™.

That slobberknocker (which, amazingly, Ross had to be prompted to say) was followed by another. NEVER openweight champion Tomohiro Ishii defended against Togi Makabe. The early going was characterised by elbows, clotheslines, power slams, chops, forearms, and no-selling. Lots of no-selling. It wasn’t in danger of being overly flashy but both men put such force and ferocity into their performances that even the basic moves they were running through seemed devastating.

The second wrestling move of the match was a northern lights suplex from Makabe. Ishii followed up with a lariat to a cornered Makabe, a stalling suplex from the second rope, and a power bomb. Makabe kicked out and floored the champ with a lariat, then dropped him with a power bomb before hauling him back to his feet for a German suplex.

They returned to the corner, where Makabe hit a ropey fire carry off the top rope. Ishii kicked out, no sold some lariats, fell to a Makabe lariat, and kicked out at one. Back on his feet he gave 'The Unchained Gorilla' a German suplex, but Makabe rolled to his feet... where he was dropped by an lariat from ‘The Stone Pitbull’.

More clotheslines followed. Makabe got a near fall off a dragon suplex. They traded more forearms, then headbutts, and then double arm sledge shots. Makabe ended it with a knee drop from the top rope. By what Striker said it was something of an upset as Ishii is the more popular of the two and has been on a hot streak. Perhaps it was done to get the title off him to free him up for bigger and better things later in the year?

After a lengthy bit of shilling for future shows (which could have been boring but was presented in such an energetic fashion that it wasn't) we were treated to the IWGP junior heavyweight title match. Ryusuke Taguchi, former Apollo 55 tag team partner of Prince Devitt, defended against 'The Cleaner' Kenny Omega. Yes, 'The Cleaner'. JR said Omega reminded him of Brian Pillman. His new entrance gear gave him a look that reminded me of Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton, with Razor Ramon's toothpick thrown in for good measure.

The match had a great opening stretch, being heavy on lightning counter sequences. Omega took control when he sprayed Taguchi in the face with what could have been anything from spray paint to hair spray (judging by Omega’s hair it could have been black tinted hair spray). The challenger controlled the match for several minutes before Taguchi came back with some topes that wiped out both Omega and The Young Bucks, who were acting as heel cornermen.

Taguchi tried for Eddie Guerrero’s Three Amigos but Omega halted it after one. He hit the champion with a Fameasser and then a drop kick as Taguchi went for a cross body block from the top. A power bomb earned him a two count. Power bomb by omega.

Taguchi hit a Chickenwing facebuster, which used to form the basis of Apollo 55’s Black Hole Vacation. That got him two. Sensing their man was in trouble the Bucks tried to distract the champion but ended up getting knocked off the apron. Left alone without any Bullet Club assistance Omega seized the initiative, delivering a German suplex and a knee to the temple on Taguchi. He then pulled him to his feet and gave him an electric chair driver, the One Winged Angel, taking the victory and the championship and ending a great match. 

The gold kept coming as IWGP tag champs Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, representing Bullet Club, defended against Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata, collectively known as Meiyu Tag. What followed was a lively bout with plenty of strikes, traditional tag psychology, and power moves. Shibata and Goto worked well together, overcoming the power, dirty tactics and experience of the Bullet Club to capture the titles off a double team alarm clock and a PK on Gallows.

Tetsuya Naito and AJ Styles were up after that. Worth noting is that Ross and Striker discussed the controversial nature of the Styles Clash as AJ walked to the ring. In case you’ve missed the hubbub around, Styles has legitimately broken the necks of Lionheart and Yoshi Tatsu after they instinctively tucked their chins when taking the move, instead of tilting their head back. It was a clever move to get the discussion in as it reminded everyone how dangerous the move and made Styles appear heelish for continuing to use it.

It's a good job they mentioned it during the entrance because Styles went for the move as soon as Naito was in the ring, kicking the match off with a bang. Naito fought him off and they brawled to the outside, AJ taking a drop kick from the apron and sprawling into the guardrail. Back in the ring he turned the tables and worked over Naito’s leg, softening him up for the Calf Killer. After a couple of minutes Naito got a little bit of hope when he hit Styles with a tornado DDT, a drop kick to the back of the head, and a senton splash. He couldn’t keep control of the match though, Styles soon regained the advantage, fighting out of a top rope hurricanrana and smashing Naito with a springboard forearm.

Naito tried a suplex. Styles countered into a neck breaker. Naito took a German suplex and then got a flash rollup for a two count. He smacked Styles with a series of chops then set him up for the Stardust Press but Styles made a quick recovery and trapped him in the Calf Killer. After a lengthy bit of time trapped in the hold Naito gallantly made it to the ropes, but it was clear the damage had been done. He managed to hit 'The Phenomenal Ome' with a Uranage and a dragon suplex but quickly found himself blasted with a Pele kick and Prince Devitt's Bloody Sunday.

Then Styles tried a Styles Clash again. Naito escaped, back dropping Styles over the top rope to the floor. When he returned to the ring he was met with a drop kick and propped up on the top rope for a hurricanrana. That would be Naito’s undoing: Styles halted the move halfway through, turning it into a Styles Clash from the second rope for the victory. It was a good match, constructed and wrestled so well that Naito wasn't weakened by the loss, but that Styles was strengthened by the win.

After that we got, astonishingly, the first video package of the night. It showed us Kota Ibushi and Shinsuke Nakamura talking to the camera, interspersed with shots of them competing. The most noteworthy part (for someone who didn't understand the promos) was that Ibushi snuck up on Nakamura during an in-ring promo and gave him a German suplex. That was presumably the way of setting the match up, Ibushi sending a message to Nakamura that he wasn’t intimidated by his status and wanted a chance to compete for the IWGP Intercontinental title.

Ibushi entered in a T-shirt. Nak entered wearing a humorously long cape and a crown. The match began with a feeling out process that Ibushi got the better of. He couldn't maintain control though. Nak turned things around with a variety of knee strikes and stomps. Ibushi would get a few shots in at points but Nakamura always fired back with a strike that would floor him.

That changed when Ibushi got Nak outside the ring and hit him with a top rope moonsault. Back in the ring he followed up with a springboard drop kick, a wild knee to the face and a standing shooting star press. Nakamura wheeled out his one legged drop kick and a flapjack suplex. Ibushi came back with a top rope hurricanrana. That didn't get him a win. Nor did a standing corkscrew moonsault.

A roundhouse kick floored Nakamura, putting him out long enough for Ibushi to hit a sit out power bomb. Nak kicked out and avoided a phoenix splash, connecting with a Boma Ye to the back of the head and firing himself up with a prolonged series of kicks on Ibushi before punching him in the face. Ibushi tried to come back with a lariat but Nak turned it into an armbar. When Ibushi escaped he gave the champ an inverted exploder suplex before kneeing him with his own Boma Ye, complete with Nakamura-esque pose beforehand. 

A series of strikes followed, Ibushi getting the final word with a double stomp to a running Nakamura. A German suplex from the apron into the ring earned Ibushi a two count. ‘The King of Strong Style’ came back with half a dozen elbows to the back of ibushi's head, connected with his second Boma Ye, a fireman's carry driver, and a third Boma Ye for the victory. After the match Nakamura and Ibushi did a little fist bump. It was another cracker of a match that elevated both men and told a compelling story: Ibushi got closer and closer to beating Nak as the match progressed, only losing at the last minute after Nak fired himself up and hit a series of moves. It was clear that Ibushi could have won if things had just been a little different. For me this was the match of the night.

Finally we came to the main event: Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP heavyweight championship against Kazuchika Okada. It was only the second match on the card to get a video package. It focused on Tanahashi's history in New Japan, specifically how popular and successful he is, and Okada's G1 Climax win, which earned him the title match, and his previous matches opposite Tanahashi, before giving way to comments from both men. During the entrances JR and Striker put over the importance of the match. Tanahashi was the biggest name in the company, the man who'd helped rebuild it over a course of years, with more world title reigns and Tokyo Dome main events than anyone else. Okada was one of the fastest rising stars ever, the man being built as the future of the company. They had had five previous matches, with Okada winning three and Tanahashi winning two. It was presented as a match that could turn Okada into 'The Man' if he won.

They wrestled at a steady pace, so as not to burn themselves out across the half hour they were allotted.

They expertly built up to a frenzied and incredibly enjoyable final five minutes. Tanahashi kicked out of a Rainmaker before the two traded forearms on their way back to their feet. Okada grabbed Tanahashi for a Tombstone but the champ rolled through and straddled him for an attempted pin. Tana laid into Okada with slaps before Okada ducked one and school boyed him for a two count.

Tanahashi ducked a Rainmaker and got a straightjacket suplex for another two count. Okada escaped a dragon suplex and hit a German suplex. He held on as Tanahashi kicked out and tried to give him another Rainmaker but Tanahashi ducked and hit a German suplex of his own. Okada kicked out and nailed the champion with his much-ballyhooed drop kick. Another Rainmaker attempt failed and ‘The Ace of the Universe’ was able to twist Okada with a pair of nasty dragon screw leg whips in the ropes.

This left Okada propped up against the ropes, allowing the champion to leap to the top rope and hit him with a High Fly Flow. A seated Okada was hit with a second, and then a third as he lay on the mat staring up at the ceiling. It was too much for him to kick out of. Tanahashi got the win and retained his championship.

It was a top notch main event that ended a top notch show. Following the match Tanahashi took a microphone to tell Okada he’s a long way from being the ace of New Japan and that he was proud to still be champion. Because Tanahashi’s character is basically that of late 90s Rob Van Dam: a guy who knows he’s the best and isn’t shy about saying so. Then he gave a short promo and played air guitar to send people home happy. Lovely stuff.

I’d watched New Japan matches in isolation before but this was the first card I watched start to finish. I’m pleased I did. There were no bad performances across the entire show, each match being given exactly enough time as it needed to fulfil its role. Every wrestler seemed motivated and keen to put on the best show possible. There were two early match of the year contenders (Nakamura v Ibushi and Tanahashi v Okada) and some gems on the undercard (Makabe v Ishii and Omega v Taguchi). In an ideal world New Japan would sort out some English language commentary for their top four or five shows this year, but with or without it I’ll definitely be watching more from the promotion.

***

Results summary:

reDRagon def The Young Bucks, Time Splitters and Forever Hooligans

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma def Jeff Jarrett, Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi

Toru Yano, Naomichi Marufuji, Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls def Shelton Benjamin, Takashi Iizuka, Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr

Minoru Suzuki def Kazushi Sakuraba

Togi Makabe def Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER openweight championship

Kenny Omega def Rysuke Taguchi for the IWGP junior heavyweight championship

Meiyu Tag def Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows for the IWGP heavyweight tag team championship

AJ Styles def Tetsuya Naito

Shinsuke Nakamura def Kota Ibushi

Hiroshi Tanahashi def Kazuchika Okada

Second Opinion: RPW Uprising 2014

I wasn’t the only person at last Saturday’s RPW Uprising show. Michael King was there too. Sitting next to me, as it happens. On Sunday I asked him if he fancied contributing some thoughts to my write-up (you can find that here). What he sent over ended up being over one thousand words long. Which, y’know, is easily a blog post in its own right so I decided to present it in full. It’s presented below, with anything in italics added by me. Because why not?

***

Lionel Richie’s All Night Long runs four minutes 19 seconds. Rich Swann’s entrance, based around the song, felt significantly longer. By the end of the match the crowd had cheered itself out, much to the detriment of what followed. It’s a shame this didn’t go on after the interval.

The match was good. Think a PPV/Network Special opener, or post Cena-promo Uso tag match on RAW. Lots of reversals, combos and dives to the outside, all pulled off with exceptional timing and little to no regard for psychology. Aries is as crisp in person as he is on TV. 2 Unlimited bad-guyed it up despite their adorable denim waist coats and propensity to move their mouths as if to taunt the crowd, but not actually say anything. Maybe they have very silly voices (They’re Irish so they probably do). Aries took the mic after the match to tell the crowd to keep the energy up. He obviously knew what was happening before we did.

Britain's premiere hoss. That'd be a good moniker for him, actually.

The next match featured Dave Mastiff against Karl Anderson. You’d think Anderson, being used to wrestling to the sound of a dripping tap in the Tokyo Dome men’s room (and only getting a pop for re-entering the ring) would have adapted better to the lack of atmosphere, but it seemed to put him off. Mastiff lives his gimmick and generally held up his end of the match. On reflection this match was pretty decent. A good ol’ meat bash (Oh!) with some big spots and a decent finishing sequence, but it felt a little flat whilst it was going on. We have Swann and Richie to thank for that.

To take us into the break we saw the best wrestler in the world face Adrian Neville’s old tag partner. To be fair Joel Redman is a much better singles wrestler than viewers of NXT would believe, but he was the wrong opponent, in the wrong slot. A big part of these RPW shows is being part of the reaction these big ticket foreign stars receive. Seeing Hiroshi Tanahashi burst through the curtain twelve months ago (in the main event) was surreal, and the reaction appropriately massive. Okada got some weak chants and a single streamer. The crowd wasn’t ready for him.

The match itself was decent, despite a complete lack of chemistry between the two men. Redman seemed a little unsure of his role and Okada’s deadpan arrogance didn’t work with the smaller crowd in the same way as Tanahashi’s stiff  arm air-guitar or Nakamura’s nuanced epileptic routine. I can’t stress enough how insane it was that this went on pre-interval. Okada, at 26 years old, is the biggest star in the world’s number two promotion, and will most likely be on top for at least another decade. Anyway, enough of that. Okada won.

The show resumed with the Revolutionists facing Too Cool. I should preface this by saying that I spent a long time where my only access to WWE was VHS tapes and Sunday Night Heat, which at the time seemed to consist of lovingly framed shots of Trish Stratus; Mick Foley going to theme parks; and Too Cool main events. This probably goes some way in explaining why I enjoyed this so much (Amazingly other people enjoyed their tedious routine too. I think I was the only one who didn’t see the appeal in a former light heavyweight champ, a grossly overweight Samoan, and Jerry Lawler’s estranged son). I wanted to be angry for Okada, but seeing these three men go through their old routine moved me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. This was so, so, so stupid and I loved it.

That said, Sha Samuels is great and deserves better than this. (I couldn’t agree with this more)

The championship match was set up with a video package. I didn’t hear a word but most of it still came across. Stone was angry because he is less well thought of than Mojo Rawley. Scurll is crazy now because he has a beard and an umbrella and that’s why he is the best Martin. These two had by far the best match of the evening, with plenty of outside brawling, near falls, heelish shenanigans and Scurll’s Vince McMahon impersonation. Scurll seems a little restless with his gimmick and it’s easy to see why. He is so far ahead of those round him in terms of presentation, pacing, crowd interaction and work rate that he probably changes things up so frequently to keep himself entertained. I can’t get into Stone. As a wrestler he’s fine, but his ring gear, promo delivery and lack of personality give him the feel of a fill-in main eventer.

Michael isn't one for national pride.

The post-match angle involving the (wonderfully panto) Knight family was a fun bit of wrestling nonsense. It went on far too long, but so did everything on the show. Dave has said all that needs to be said about the pacing, so instead I’ll complain about the constant references to the UK made on the show. This was the first RPW offering in a while to not feature anyone in Union Jack trunks (the UK wrestler equivalent of black wrestlers wearing animal print), but we still had it incorporated into the set (see right for one of Michael’s least favourite aspects of the show), and the Knight family patriarch (who based on the relative appearances of his sons and daughter (Paige), is a dismal producer of XX chromosomes) referring to the invaders as The UK Hooligans.

No-one in the building was confused about where we were, neither will anyone be when watching a DVD. The ostensible main event featured a man called Martin fighting another man called Martin. Wrestlers used scarfs and umbrellas as foreign objects. Not one reference was made to college football. All the UK references make the production look as indy as anything.

Ospreay vs Sydal went on last. There were flips. I question the decision to put an amiable face v face crusierweight match on after a number a genuine star attractions and a hard fought, angle heavy, championship match. But hey I also like my brief intervals to last less than 40 minutes (He wasn’t interested in a picture with Austin Aries and former TNA megastar Rosita).

A strange show, bafflingly less than the sum of its parts. Too Cool were oddly perfect, but with so many indy free agents now snapped up by NXT and the NJPW roster tapped, I wonder whether RPW can channel some of it’s momentum into building the size and profile of its home grown roster. Scurll versus Gangrel at Summer Sizzler?

RPW Uprising 2014 review

In October 2013 Revolution Pro Wrestling revived the Uprising name previously associated with the FWA for what was billed as their biggest show ever. In addition to using some of the best British wrestlers available they brought in foreign stars Michael Elgin, Prince Devitt, Ricochet, Davey Richards and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Colt Cabana was also there. It was an approach designed to do two things: demonstrate that the promotion was a big deal and attract fresh eyes. It certainly achieved the latter. Whether it achieved the former depends on your perspective, but I think they did a solid job and put on an excellent show.

This year RPW returned to York Hall for their second Uprising card, once again bringing in foreign stars. This time they took the form of Matt Sydal, Austin Aries, Karl Anderson, the triumvirate that is Too Cool, and Kazuchika Okada. There were actually a greater number of imports on this card than there had been the previous year, but somehow the event didn’t seem as significant leading into it.

Part of the problem here was that RPW had booked a second show the night after (it was originally titled Okada vs Ricochet although I suspect it will end up changed to Okada vs Aries). It’s possible that the company stretched itself a little thin by splitting some of the fly-ins over two cards. Concentrating everyone on this show would have added one or two matches and made better use of the time the show got.

The line-up for Uprising 2013 was incredibly strong. There was almost no way it could be topped. It was Tanahashi, the man who had carried New Japan through a rough patch and come out the other side as their unquestioned top star, wrestling in front of a thousand people in East London. That was very obviously a big deal. Using Nakamura and Okada since has almost made it an expected thing that New Japan talent will appear on the larger RPW cards. Tanahashi benefited from being the first (Liger had appeared a few months before him, at York Hall, but the show did not receive anywhere near the hype Tana’s did), and from being presented as the star attraction.

It also seemed hard to get into the rest of the import line-up to the same degree this year. Elgin and Richards were bona fide ROH main eventers (and personally I was delighted at the opportunity to heckle Richards). Devitt was a New Japan upper mid-carder who everyone was beginning to expect would move to WWE (which he did) or move up to New Japan main events. Ricochet could accurately be described as one of the most exciting wrestlers in the world (and it’s worth noting he went on to become the first non-Japanese grappler to win the Open the Dream Gate championship in March of this year).

By contrast Sydal was benched by WWE for years, Aries is booked pretty poorly by a flailing TNA, Anderson is a tag guy in New Japan, and Too Cool are Too Cool (but not too cool). Only Okada had flawless, unbridled star power. And none of the matches looked as though they’d be able to hold a candle to the 2013 match of the night Ricochet v Prince Devitt.

I know how unfair these complaints sound but it’s what was going through my mind going into the show, even though everyone had something to offer. For all of the poor booking they’ve been subjected to Aries and Sydal are very talented wrestlers. And ‘A Double’ wasn’t initially booked for the show, he was a last minute replacement for Ricochet following a scheduling conflict with Lucha Underground. Anderson is enjoyable enough if taken on his own terms. Okada is world class. Even Too Cool can be enjoyed as a nostalgia act. There was the British roster too, of course. But still there was a nagging sense that Uprising ’14 was not going to live up to its 2013 counterpart.

Sadly, these fears were merited. Uprising 2014 had some significant flaws.

One of the biggest problems was something that occurred before the first match started. It was Rich Swann’s entrance. He danced his way out to Lionel Richie’s All Night Long, a long-time staple of his act. It was very entertaining and the crowd got into it. But it went on. And on. And then it went on some more. It lasted so long, in fact, that the audience was burnt out from it. By the time match two rolled around reactions had died down considerably.

The second problem was the evening’s running order. This biggest misstep in that regard was Okada going on before the intermission. The audience clearly didn’t expect to see him that early in the night. He got a good response, but it was nowhere near what I’d expected. This wasn’t a result of the audience not knowing who he was: Tanahashi and Nakamura had got much louder responses in the same building for their RPW work. Everyone knew who he was, cared about him, and wanted to see him perform. They’d just expected him later.

The second half kicking off with Too Cool wasn’t the worst decision in and of itself, but their shtick would have been a better fit for the slot Okada was placed in, dancing people into intermission. And the final two matches should have been swapped around. The fifth match saw Martin Stone unsuccessfully challenge Marty Scurll for the British heavyweight championship. The sixth saw Matt Sydal defeat Will Ospreay. Each was followed by its own angle. They could have been combined and used to close the show, which would have trimmed the running time. Which was the other major problem the card had: it was far too long. Entrances were lengthy, there was a lot of stalling from pretty much everyone, the post-Stone-Scurll match angle featured a promo that was far too long, and matches were given too much time. Things could have been tightened up considerably without losing anything of value.

This man has a lot to answer for.

There were good points, and before I get to them I’ll run through the card itself. The opener saw Rich Swann and Austin Aries defeat 2 Unlimited in an exciting tussle. Swann, as already noted, milked the crowd, but he was able to do so because he was so over. I’ve knocked him for his lack of psychology in the past (and his willingness to eat up heat when he’s on first proves my point nicely, I think) but he’s fun to watch. Aries was, obviously, very popular too. Which meant the Irish lads were left to play heel, which they did a cracking job with.

The match featured flying spots, dancing, and some solid double team work from the brothers. Swann was worked over for a while before tagging out to ‘The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived’, who came steaming in to clean house. The faces picked up their win after Swann wiped out one of 2 Unlimited (I apologise for still being unable to tell them apart) with a dive to the floor and Aries dropped the other with a brainbuster. All four shook after the match and Aries cut a promo thanking the fans and telling them to keep the energy up (which I now suspect meant he knew Swann’s grandstanding would have a negative effect long term).

Match two pitted IWGP heavyweight tag team champion Karl Anderson against ‘Big Bad’ Dave Mastiff. I adore Mastiff for his Henry VIII look and kids’ TV facial expressions. The crowd favoured him too, although there were still a lot of people inexplicably into Anderson. Their timing was a little off throughout the match but they still pulled off some good power spots, including a ‘Double A’ spinebuster from Anderson, a deadlift German suplex from Mastiff, a German suplex into the turnbuckle on Anderson, the Swivel Gun Stun, and a cannonball reversed into a traditional Gun Stun. The last earned Anderson the win.

After the announcement that AJ Styles had been booked for the February 15 return date (which ring announcer and promoter Andy Quildan plugged incessantly, one of the many timing cuts that could have been made) it was time for the Okada match. As already noted the crowd were not expecting to see him that early on, which meant he received a slightly subdued response and no streamer treatment. The bout also suffered because Okada’s opponent, former NXT Superstar™ Joel Redman, didn’t seem to want to play heel. His build and the fact that he was facing a man who nobody in the building was going to boo meant that he should have switched to the antagonist role for the match.

Okada? He doesn't deserve to go on after an intermission?

The crowd didn’t get into the action until its second half. I suspect this was a combination of the surprise at seeing Okada so early, Swann burning people out, and nobody believing any of the early pin attempts. Things did eventually warm up when Okada went for a Tombstone piledriver and Redman reversed it, resulting in the best false finish of the night. From there we got a suplex from the apron into the ring, a lovely Okada drop kick, and, after a failed attempt earlier the night, a match-winning Rainmaker.

The intermission was another contributing factor to the unnecessarily long running time. It was closer to half an hour than the usual ten or fifteen minutes. The explanation for this was that Austin Aries and Rosita were at the merch stands signing pictures. Because there was money to be made from these pictures the break was extended to fit in as many signings as possible, a classic Quildan move.

The second half kicked off with the Revolutionists striding to the ring. They did their usual crowd-bullying stuff, Terry Frazier wading into the audience to shout at a particularly boisterous group of lads that I assume are regulars at RPW shows. To be fair the trio had a serious amount of heat on them. Too Cool also spent a long time milking their entrance, although as a nostalgia act that seemed to make more sense.

The match was not good but avoided being actively bad. Rikishi struggled to climb on to the ring apron so actual wrestling was obviously going to be tough for him. Meanwhile all Brian Christopher contributed was bad dancing and looking astonishingly like his dad. It was left to Scotty to do the bulk of the work for his team. He got worked over to set up a hot tag to Rikishi, who came in, pulled his trunks down, and gave Sha Samuels a bare Stinkface in the corner. It was not pleasant to watch. I can only imagine what it was like to take. The move got a loud reaction but I think Terry Frazier would have been the right man to take the “move”. He’s by far the most irritating member of the group.

Surprisingly it was Too Cool that won. As the promotion’s top heel stable I’d expected The Revolutionists to win after cheating and then get chased off by the faces. But no, they went down clean to the guys who have wrestled on TV. After the match Brian Christopher told us Rikishi had pulled his calf muscle (perhaps he has a doctorate nobody knows about) and said that celebratory dance may not happen. Rikishi took the mic and said it would happen… and then it did. There’s very little to say about it. An underrated wrestler, Jerry Lawler’s overly tanned 42-year-old son, and the out of shape father of the Usos boogied to WWE music they didn’t have a license to play. That’s it. Everyone else seemed to love it though, so clearly I was missing something.

The British heavyweight title match was preceded by promos played on the video screen. Marty’s was hard to make out but it seemed to be about Martin Stone moving to America and having to come back after he was released by WWE. Stone’s promo was about not getting the opportunities he felt he deserved and the demoralising atmosphere in which he worked while with WWE. He dropped some F-bombs that were bleeped out, but he managed to slip in a C-bomb that went unedited. Good work by Quildan there.

The crowd had heated up by this point and were evenly split between champion and challenger. Before the match Stone spoke to Norwich-based wrestler (and father of WWE’s Paige) Ricky Knight, who had been sat in the front row all evening. Scurll entered carrying an umbrella. This went unexplained. It was probably linked to the new character traits he was exhibiting: he had mostly dropped his bantering with the audience in favour of pulling peculiar facial expressions and generally trying to make out that he was unhinged (which basically meant he’d occasionally tilt his head to a funny angle). I always enjoyed Scurll’s Butlins circuit comedy but this was a welcome change of pace from him. He was also back to being introduced as the star of ITV’s Take Me Out and TNA’s British Boot Camp. The more time passes since his sole appearance on Take Me Out the funnier the gimmick gets.

Marty 'Penguin' Scurll there.

The match was styled on WWE main events. There was a lengthy brawl around the building, including a fireman’s carry on the entrance ramp by Scurll and a variety of guardrail bumps. Back in the ring Stone acted more and more like a Steve Austin knock-off, prompting me to ask Michael (yeah, Michael was with me) if he thought Stone was deliberately trying to evoke ‘The Rattlesnake’. He said “A little bit.” Then Stone did a Thesz Press.

Stone gave Scurll a running RKO, prompting cries of “Out of nowhere!”, taking chant of the night honours. Scurll skinned the cat but got caught with a concrete slam before he could right himself. Stone followed up with a power bomb and then went to the top rope for a superplex. ‘Party’ Marty ended up countering that and muscled Stone up for a crucifix bomb. It was a bit wobbly but he managed the move well enough.

Scurll hauled Stone back to his feet and set up for a Pedigree, screaming “You’re fired!” in a Vince McMahon voice before hitting it. Stone kicked out of that at one (probably designed as a metaphorical middle finger to WWE in general) and smashed the champ with a wild lariat and a top rope draping DDT. He locked in a Crippler crossface (it’s been seven years, jog on with your complaints) and Scurll tapped. The referee didn’t see it as Terry Frazier and Sha Samuels had rocked up at ringside to provide a distraction.

Moments later there was a contrived ref bump. Samuels got into the ring to crack Stone over the head with a steel chair. Scurll made the cover, the ref came to enough to make a slow count, and Stone just got his shoulder up before three, getting a great reaction. Stone tried to fight back but Scurll applied the crossface chickenwing, trapping ‘The Guvnor’ in the centre of the ring. There was no tap out. Instead the referee ruled the match in Scurll’s favour when he realised Stone could take no more.

It was a good finishing sequence. Stone looked strong in defeat and Scurll’s submission finisher got over as a powerful match-ender. I was initially against the use of the chair but because it was only used once it ended up being an effective addition to the match. Considering the finish, the heat, the storyline (which we’ll get to momentarily) and the fact that it was for the promotion’s top title Scurll versus Stone should have gone on last.

After the match Stone took a microphone to cut a textbook babyface promo. He said he’d tried his best and then moved on to the topic of his sojourn to NXT. Apparently he was told he was awful every day, although I find it hard to believe all WWE trainers would be that blunt. He put over Andy Quildan, saying the RPW boss picked up his phone the day Stone was released and offered him his old spot in RPW on the roster.

Then the angle went down. Ricky Knight left his seat and got into the ring. He called Stone a failure and said his boys Roy and Zak would have succeeded in NXT. He also referred to Joel Redman as Noel Edmonds, claimed Quildan wouldn’t pick up the phone for the Knight family, and announced that he’d never heard of Kazuchika Okada (which could very well be true). The holding down of the Knight family that he mentioned has been an aspect of his character for at least twelve years. I remember him calling into the Talksport radio show to claim that host and wrestling promoter Alex Shane was holding down The Zebra Kid (Roy) by not booking him. He’s nothing if not consistent.

Stop holding these lads down, Quildan.

Stone eventually had enough of this and grabbed hold of Ricky. Zak and Zebra left their seats and barged passed security, getting into the ring to attack Stone. Redman came out for the save but he was taken out too. There was an extended beatdown of Stone and Redman, who are the tag champions, and then Zebra and Zak took a turn on the microphone. Zebra responded to a “Who are ya?” chant with the classic playground heel response of “Ask your mum” while Zak said the Knights weren’t worried about bad write-ups from internet fans (they won’t be getting one here).

The Knights then walked out of the building’s (referred to as an arena during Knight’s promo) front door with the tag belts. Amusingly Zak went to walk backstage before remembering he was part of a worked shoot invasion angle. Redman and Stone recovered and gave chase, amusingly asking fans which way the heels went.

I liked the angle a lot. All the wrestlers played their parts well and it was about as believable as it was going to get. The only let-down was Quildan, who should have seemed more flustered as the promoter. He simply said he wouldn’t dignify the invasion with a response and went into announcing the main event like an idiot. That aside it was a sensible, interesting way to introduce a tag team and get a new feud underway. Presumably the angle will carry over to Okada vs Aries and we’ll get a match at the February 15 York Hall show.

Sydal vs Ospreay.

The main event couldn’t compete with the angle or the previous match in my mind. It was a babyface versus babyface cruiserweight encounter, ideal opening match material and out of place headlining a card that had featured a main event style match and Kazuchika Okada. It was a good match, it was just in the wrong spot.

Sydal won with the Shooting Star Press. After the match The Revolutionists returned to attack the faces. Scurll ended up alone in the ring and was confronted by his old British Boot Camp rival Rockstar Spud (hence the reference to that show during Scurll’s intro). Marty was sent packing and another fresh feud was established. Spud said a few words to send everyone home happy.

The planning for the future exhibited with Spud’s return and the introduction of the Knight lads was nice to see. It was one of the show’s greatest strengths, providing plenty of reason to give RPW’s next major show a try. And taken at face value all the matches delivered exactly what was expected. Even the Too Cool match avoided being actively bad. I imagine it would make a solid DVD.

But those positives were outweighed by the mistakes that were made. I can’t understand why Okada, easily the biggest draw on the card, went on third. Having him in the semi-main event spot would have made more sense, allowing the Brits-only title match to go on last. That could have been followed by the angle with the Knights and then a Revolutionists beatdown of Stone and Redman with Spud making the save. It felt as though there was no faith in Okada’s rep with British fans and that everything was built too heavily around the angles. And, for the record, only the match that didn’t involve a foreign talent featured a Brit winning. I’m all for fly-ins getting wins, but for them all to go over on what is apparently RPW’s biggest show of the year doesn’t seem quite right.

But hey, at least Terry Frazier didn’t spit at anyone. That’s something, right?

Results summary:

Austin Aries and Rich Swann defeated 2 Unlimited
Karl Anderson defeated Dave Mastiff
Kazuchika Okada defeated Joel Redman
Too Cool defeated Sha Samuels, Terry Frazier and Josh Bodom
Marty Scurll defeated Martin Stone to retain the British heavyweight championship
Matt Sydal defeated Will Ospreay