Apollo 55 want their belts back!
January 23, 2011 – Tokyo, Japan
IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Tag Team Champions: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion: Prince Devitt
IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions: Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega
The show kicks off with a mariachi band playing La Bamba before most of the fans are in their seats.
Jado & Gedo vs. Danshoku Dino & Maximo
Gedo is disgusted at the demeanor of his opponents. He smacks Maximo. Maximo hits armdrags and a dropkick. Dino cops a feel on Jado. He forces jado to grab his crotch. Jado stomps him down. He chops Dino off the apron. He and Gedo hit a double shoulder tackle. Gedo puts the boots to Maximo. Dino gets fired up and kisses Maximo. He charges Jado and gets elbowed to the mat. Gedo hits a neckbreaker for 2. He hits a back elbow. Maximo hits Jado with a head scissor takedown. He makes Gedo dropkick Jado. He hits Gedo with a sit-out powerbomb for 2. He misses a senton atomico and Gedo pins him for 2. Gedo hits a thrust kick for 2. Dino makes the save with a dick to the eye. He puts on the testicular claw but the referee breaks it up. Dino kisses referee. He hits a low blow on Jado. He gets la magistral for 2. Maximo hits Gedo with a suicide dive. Dino kisses Jado a couple times. He dropkicks the knee. Jado comes back with the crossface for the win at 10:39. This was pretty toned down by Dino standards, but I’m assuming it’s because the New Japan crowd isn’t that used to him. The match started in a rather disturbing way, with the CHAOS boys giving the gay boys no quarter, but once this stopped being a squash it felt like the appropriate way for this matchup to play out.
Rating: **
Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Jushin Liger vs. Atlantis, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Taichi
Liger and Atlantis start. Atlantis gets a clutch for 2. He goes after the leg. He hits armdrags and a dropkick. Anderson hits an armdrag and taunts Rojo. They trade lariats in an exchange that Anderson wins. A chop exchange goes the same way. Anderson hits a leg lariat. Rojo hits a dropkick on the apron. Atlantis helps him hit another in the ring. Taichi tries to avoid Bernard, but the big man catches him with a shoulder tackle. He whips Taichi hard into the corner. Taichi hits Liger with a chest kick. Rojo hits a dropkick to the crotch. Atlantis hits a backbreaker. He hits one on Anderson. He puts Liger in the Atlantida but Bernard makes the save. Bernard suplexes Atlantis and Rojo together. He whips all three opponents into the corner at the same time and hits an avalanche. He splashes all three of them for 2. Liger hits Tiachi with a palm strike. He hits a plancha. Atlantis hits a suicide dive. Anderson hits a topé con hilo. Rojo hits a topé con hilo. The crowd wants to see Bernard dive so he hits a crossbody off the second rope. His, “hell, why not?” face just before diving is priceless. In the ring Taichi goes Bernard’s eyes. He punts him for 2. Bernard hits the Bernard Driver for the win at 11:08. This was just good fun all around, with the Bernard stuff absolutely making it. Maybe he should take a trip to Mexico and just goof around in the ring for a few months.
Rating: ***
After the match Bernard gets on the microphone. He calls out the Muscle Orchestra again, telling them Bad Intentions are going to gun them down. I like the way he tells the fans to duck while Anderson fires his pantomime gun. The losers soak in the adulation of the crowd after the winners leave. That’s just about the cheapest heat you can go for. In the back Bernard puts over Liger. He and Anderson threaten the Muscle Orchestra again.
La Sombra ©, La Mascara © & Mascara Dorada © vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & OKUMURA [CMLL World Trios Championship Match]
Three out of five falls match here, as I guess is typical of trios title matches in CMLL. If La Mascara doesn’t have it together tonight I’m going to lose my mind. OKUMURA and Dorada start. They do some typical lucha stuff. Naito and Sombra go at it on the mat. Takahashi puts Mascara in a headlock. He hits a shoulder tackle. Mascara hits a head scissor takedown. Dorada hits OKUMURA with a head scissor takedown. Mascara botches the suicide dive AGAIN!!! Sombra hits Takahashi with a split legged senton to win the first fall at 5:18. Before any rest period can happen Dorada hits Naito with a DDT to win the second fall at 5:31. Dorada armdrags Takahashi to the floor. He hits OKUMURA with a head scissor takedown. He hits Naito with an armdrag. He did some fancy rope jumping there. Takahashi hits Sombra with a cheap shot. Sombra comes back with a dropkick. He hits Naito with a head scissor takedown. He hits OKUMURA with a back bodydrop. He hits a head scissor takedown. Mascara and Naito trade chops. Naito hits a leg kick. Mascara hits a dropkick. He hits a high kick. OKUMURA hits him with a topé. Naito rolls Dorada up to win a fall at 10:06. Takahashi and Naito hit Sombra with the Limitless Explosion to win another fall at 10:20. So now I’m confused because the graphic says it’s now one fall to one fall. If someone wants to explain the specifics of the rules here I’d be grateful. I think we can assume though that the next fall wins the match and the titles. Takahashi hits Masacara with a lariat. No Limit throw him onto OKUMURA’s feet. They hit Sombra with a double hiptoss. OKUMURA hits a dropkick. Mascara dropkicks OKUMURA. Sombra and Dorada do the same to No Limit. The luchadors hit tandem suicide dives and Mascara doesn’t botch his! Mascara catches OKUMURA with the Gedo Clutch for 2. He hits an enziguiri. He hits a plancha. Dorada dropkicks No Limit. He hits (but almost kills himself because he trips) the Destello Dorada. Sombra hits a moonsault press. Mascara puts OKUMURA in the Campana for the win at 14:34. There was some decent stuff sprinkled throughout this and Mascara only botched one move. Overall though, it didn’t amount to much.
Rating: **½
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tiger Mask [Hair vs. Mask Match]
Ishii bails at the bell… whistle? He baits Mask to the apron and knocks him off of it. He beats on Mask with a chair. He exposes a turnbuckle and whips Mask into it. He loosens Mask’s mask. Mask whips him into the exposed turnbuckle. He hits a dropkick. Ishii stalls for a while. He hits a powerslam back in the ring. He hits mounted punches. He hits a lariat. Mask comes back with headbutts. Ishii matches his headbutts and hits a superplex for 2. Mask hits a German suplex. They slug it out until both guys collapse. Mask hits a tiger driver for 2. He hits a tombstone piledriver. He misses a diving headbutt. They fight on the floor where a double count out seems like a real possibility but they beat the count at 18. Ishii rips the mask. Mask gets a crucifix pin for 2. He goes for another but Ishii falls back. He hits a lariat for 2. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Mask hits a high kick. He hits a buzzsaw kick. He hits a tiger suplex for the win at 12:16. Nothing all that special going on here in terms of action, but there was a decent amount of intensity and hatred present throughout.
Rating: **¾
Mask and the referee start to shave Ishii’s head. Ishii shoves the referee away, sneaks up on Mask and rips off his mask before covering his new baldness and running to the back.
Mistico vs. Averno [2/3 Falls Match]
Mistico hits an armdrag to start. Averno returns the favor. Mistico puts on the head scissors. He hits a satellite head scissor takedown. He hits an insane topé. Back in the ring Averno hits a facebuster. He hits the Devil Wings to win the first fall at 3:06. Averno hits a head scissor takedown. He hits a topé con hilo. Mistico hits a high kick and a springboard head scissor takedown. He gets a sunset flip to win the second fall at 4:59. He hits an armdrag. He hits another head scissor takedown. He hits a suicide dive. He gets another sunset flip for 2. He hits a hurricanrana for 2. Averno hits a dropkick. He hits a quebrada. Mistico stood still for it so long that he looked like a dope. Mistico hits another high kick. He goes for another springboard head scissor takedown but Averno powerbombs him for 2. Averno hits a standing moonsault for 2. Mistico counters the Devil Wings to La Mistica. Averno gets to the ropes. Mistico hits a head scissor takedown. He hits a plancha. He dodges a dropkick. He hits another high kick. Averno hits an avalanche Devil Wings for 2. Mistico hits a dropkick for 2. He hits a senton atomico for 2. He botches a spot off the top and Averno zeroes in on him. Averno hits a running sit-out powerbomb for 2. Mistico dropkicks the knee. Averno gets la magistral for 2. He puts on La Mistica for the win at 16:50. The first half of the match was a lot of spot-rest-spot-rest action. Luckily, botching that spot lit a fire under Mistico’s ass and he brought it down the stretch. Still, I was expecting more from WWE’s newest acquisition.
Rating: ***
Kota Ibushi © & Kenny Omega © vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi [IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship Match]
Devitt and Omega trade holds to start. Taguchi hits Ibushi with a dropkick. Devitt puts on a hammerlock. Ibushi gets to the ropes. Taguchi puts on an armbar but Ibushi gets to the ropes. Devitt and Taguchi hit a dropkick sandwich. Devitt dropkicks Omega. The champs hit stereo hurricanranas and dropkicks. Ibushi puts Devitt in a chinlock. Omega hits a backbreaker for 2. He hits a pumping vertical suplex for 2. Devitt dropkicks both opponents. Taguchi hits Ibushi with a missile dropkick. He hits the Complete DDT. He hits a basement dropkick for 2. He hits a pair of vertical suplexes. Ibushi gets a roll up for 2. He hits the schoolboy suplex for 2. Taguchi hits an enziguiri. Ibushi hits Devitt with a chest kick. Taguchi dives onto Omega and Devitt blocks Ibushi’s moonsault with his knees. Devitt hits a topé con hilo. Ibushi hits both opponents with a back flip kick. Omega hits them with facebusters. He and Ibushi hit massive stereo quebradas. Omega hits Taguchi with a Finlay roll. Ibushi hits a standing SSP. Omega hits a standing 360 SSP for 2. He hits the Hadouken into an Ibushi German suplex. They hit Taguchi with a spike piledriver. They hit the Golden Shower for 2 when Devitt hits them with a double stomp off the top. Omega hits Devitt with a dropkick. Taguchi blocks the Croyt’s Wrath and hits a tiger suplex. Omega pops up and hits a tiger suplex. Taguchi hits a dropkick. He hits the Dodon for 2. Devitt hits the reverse Bloody Sunday on Ibushi. He hits a spin kick on Omega. He and Taguchi hit the Blackhole Vacation for 2. They hit the Black Sunday for the win and the titles at 16:32. Well this was just incredible. Fast-paced action from start to finish with an insane home stretch. The only weird moment was when Ibushi kicked Omega up top but they sold it as though he kicked Devitt (while the crowd and commentators laughed at them). One flaw however does not change the fact that we have our first outstanding NJ match of the year.
Rating: ****¼
After the match Devitt and Taguchi are awarded their titles. NOSAWA Rongai and TAKA Michinoku rush the ring. Michinoku gets on the microphone and challenges them for the titles. New Japan really needs some home grown juniors so they can stop bringing outsiders.
The show ends with all the luchadors coming out to the ring and celebrating the successful shows. Karl Anderson, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask and Hiroshi Tanahashi come out as well.
In the back Devitt says he and Taguchi would be open to a rematch with the former champions. As far as Michinoku is concerned, he’ll face him for either one of is titles.
