Will Satoshi Kojima or Togi Makabe be the first to challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi for his new IWGP Heavyweight Championship? January 30, 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: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi Jushin Liger, Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask vs. Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii Ishii is wearing a Black Tiger mask to taunt Tiger Mask. The heels attack before the bell. Ishii goes after Mask’s mask. Jado rakes his eyes. Ishii hits mounted punches. Mask slams Ishii by his mask and unloads some kicks. Liger hits a palm strike. He hits Gedo with a backbreaker. Ishii hits a powerslam. He goes after Liger’s mask. The crowd really doesn’t like that. Liger cleans house with palm strikes. Kanemoto keeps it up with dropkicks. He washes Gedo’s face. He hits a falcon arrow for 2. He hits Ishii with a spin kick. He and Mask sandwich Ishii with kicks. Mask hits a tiger driver for 2. He puts on a sleeper hold and tries to rip off Ishii’s mask. Liger and Kanemoto hit planchas on Gedo and Jado. Ishii hits a lariat on Mask and rips up his mask. Mask hits a high kick and a buzzsaw kick. Jado rips off Mask’s mask, drawing the disqualification at 7:10 shown of 9:57. They never really got going and the finish was rather unsatisfying. Ishii walks out with the Black Tiger mask and Tiger Mask’s mask on his head. Rating: *½ Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Strong Man & King Fale Bad Intentions attacks before the bell. They show GHC Heavyweight Champion Takashi Sugiura at ringside. Bernard sends Nakanishi to the floor. Tonga hits a plancha. Anderson hits a topé con hilo. Bernard goes for his care free dive but Strong Man brings him back in the ring. Nakanishi hits Bernard with a German suplex. Anderson kicks Man’s leg. Man easily throws him across the ring. Anderson hits a pump kick. Man blocks a crossbody and hits a fall away slam. Fale hits Anderson and Tonga with lariats. Tonga hits an awesome corkscrew crossbody. Anderson hits a guillotine legdrop. Tonga hits the KneeDT. Fale hits Anderson with a vertical suplex. Nakanishi peppers Bernard with chops. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a backdrop. Man cleans house with shoulder tackles. He and Nakanishi hit a lariat sandwich on Bernard for 2. Fale hits a big boot. Anderson hits a neckbreaker. Tonga hits an elbowdrop. Anderson hits a senton. Bernard hits a splash for 2. He hits an avalanche. Anderson hits a SicK Kick. The Blue Justice boys put on torture racks. Bernard escapes and saves his partners. Fale hits Anderson with an avalanche. Bernard hits the Bernard Driver for the win at 8:40 shown of 12:37. This was decent enough back and forth action given the size and limitations of some of those involved. Rating: **¼ Sugiura stands up to Bernard after the match. Bernard goes right up to him and tells him that he’s going to take the GHC title. The New Japan crowd digs it. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue CHAOS attacks before the bell. Everyone brawls around the building. Inoue hits Yano and Iizuka with a plancha. He whips Nakamura into the barricade. CHAOS beats the count at 14. Inoue hits a vertical suplex on Yano for 2. Yano slams him by his hair and mimics RVD. Not sure why that’s still going on. Iizuka hits a chair shot. He and Nagata get into a chair battle. Iizuki hits Yano by mistake. Tenzan cleans house. He hits Machine Gun chops on Iizuka. He drives Iizuka to the mat with his knee. He hits Mongolian chops. He hits Yano with a leg lariat. Iizuka hits a Manhattan drop. Tenzan headbutts Nakamura. He hits a lariat. Nagata tags in and opens up with kicks. Nakamura hits a roundhouse kick. He puts on a sleeper hold but Nagata quickly escapes and hits a brainbuster for 2. Our heroes gang up on Nakamura in the corner. Nagata hits a hanging neckbreaker. He puts on the crossface but Yano makes the save. Nakamura hits Nagata with a back suplex. Inoue hits a spear in the corner. Nakamura hits Nakata with the kneelift. Yano hits the Oni Koroshi. Nakamura hits the Boma Ye for the win at 9:05 shown of 11:36. The first half was slow and plodding, with Yano, Tenzan and Iizuka bringing anything but their best. Nagata and Nakamura added a little flare, but this was basically filler. After the match Nakamura lays out Inoue with the Boma Ye as Tenzan and Iizuka brawl. Rating: ** Prince Devitt © & Ryusuke Taguchi © vs. Taichi & NOSAWA Rongai [IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship Match] TAKA Michinoku got hurt, so his Kojima Army teammate Taichi is taking his place here. Taguchi and Taichi start. Taichi hits a cheap shot. They trade holds on the mat until Taichi goes to the eyes. Taguchi hits a satellite head scissor takedown. Rongai beats him down. Devitt and Taguchi hit dropkicks. They work the arm. Taguchi hits a bodyslam. Rongai crotches him up top. Taichi hits a knee to the gut for 2. He puts on a chinlock. He hits a bodyslam and puts on a Camel Clutch. Rongai hits a dropkick to the face for 2. He hits a kick to the head for 2. He works the neck. He puts on a crossface but Taguchi gets to the ropes. Taichi hits a back kick. He hits a back suplex for 2. Taguchi catches Rongai with a dropkick. Rongai stops him from tagging out. Taguchi hits a springboard back elbow. He hits an enziguiri. Devitt cleans house with dropkicks. He kicks Taichi on the floor. He and Taguchi hit a Doomsday Crossbody on the floor. I dig that! In the ring they hit a double dropkick. Taguchi hits a facebuster. Devitt hits a double stomp for 2. He hits a spin kick. Rongai blocks the Bloody Sunday and hits a DDT. Taichi hits Taguchi with a backbreaker. He hits a jumping sit-out powerbomb for 2. Taguchi hits the Three Amigos for 2. Everyone does Some Circus Shit out of the corner. Rongai hits Taguchi with the Shining Wizard for 2. He and Taichi hit a double flapjack. They hit a head kick sandwich for 2. Taichi hits the Black Mephisto for 2. Taguchi gets an ugly clutch for the win at 16:09. Rongai is about as good at wrestling as he is at getting away with stealing cars. Nothing was actively bad, but Rongai and Taichi wrestled a boring match, and Taguchi having to sell for them made him look rather ridiculous. Also, the finish as crap as one of Taichi’s shoulders was about six inches off the mat. Rating: **½ Michinoku comes out after the match and gets on the microphone. He shows the champions respect and asks Devitt for a handshake, but then he pokes Devitt in the eyes and hits a superkick. He tells Devitt in English that he’s going to kick his ass. Dig Michinoku’s angry Engrish. In the back Devitt talks about wrestling with an injured shoulder while Michinoku sat out with a similar injury, so he knows he can beat him in an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense. He also calls Michinoku’s injury into question. He and Taguchi share a celebratory beer. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito Tanahashi and Naito start. They trade holds on the mat. Naito knocks Goto off the apron. Goto hits Takahashi with a shoulder tackle. He hits a hiptoss and knocks Naito off the apron. He knocks Naito off again and attacks him on the floor. Everyone brawls on the floor. Naito jumps off the apron to dropkick Goto into the crowd. Goto beats the count at 19. He tries to fight off both opponents but Naito gets control with an attack on the leg. Takahashi hits a bodyslam for 1. He puts on a Camel Clutch and Naito hits a dropkick. Naito hits a senton for 2. Goto hits a headbutt and a lariat. Tanahashi hits Takahashi with a dropkick. He hits a leaping elbow. He hits a senton for 2. Takahashi hits an overhead suplex. Tanahashi puts on a dragon sleeper. Takahashi hits a powerslam to escape. He hits a fisherman buster for 2. Tanahashi hits the Sling Blade. Takahashi and Goto trade lariats in an exchange that Takahashi wins after Naito hits a cheap shot on Goto. Naito dropkicks Goto but Goto stands strong. Goto hits a chest kick. Naito hits a neckbreaker. He hits a hanging neckbreaker. He hits a Frankensteiner for 2. Goto slams Naito onto Takahashi. He hits a chest kick. He hits a leg lariat. He hits a diving elbowdrop. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a neckbreaker. Naito hits a low blow. Takahashi hits a lariat and Naito gets a roll up for 2. Takahashi hits Tanahashi with a German suplex. Naito slams Goto and hits the Stardust Press for the win at 13:40. They told a great story here, with NO LIMIT, specifically Naito, targeting Goto and making him lose his temper so that they could take advantage of his state. Rating: ***½ After the match Naito continues to beat on Goto. Takahashi helps him keep Tanahashi out of the equation as he puts the boots to Goto. Togi Makabe vs. Satoshi Kojima [Number One Contender Match] Kojima attacks Makabe during his entrance. He drags Makabe through the crowd. Makabe rams him into the wall. In the ring Kojima hits a shoulder tackle. Makabe returns the favor. He shoves Kojima into the barricade. Kojima hits a lariat to Makabe’s leg on the apron. He hits a DDT on the apron. He hits another on the floor. He hits a couple chair shots. He puts on a chinlock in the ring. Makabe gets to the ropes. The crowd is behind Makabe. Kojima hits chops in the corner. He hits a running elbow. He hits the Bakayaro Elbow for 2. Makabe gets all fired up and hits a powerslam. He hits lariats in the corner and one in the center of the ring. He pitches Kojima to the floor and whips him into the barricade. He hits Taichi and Rongai with chair shots. Back in the ring Kojima hits another DDT. He hits the Koji Cutter. He hits a neckbreaker. He hits a back suplex. He hits a dropkick to the back. He hits an avalanche Koji Cutter for 2. Makabe ducks the lariat and hits a dragon suplex for 2. He hits a DVD but misses the King Kong Kneedrop. Kojima hits a lariat to the back. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Makabe goes for a lariat but Kojima hits his arm with a lariat of his own. Kojima hits another lariat for 2. He hits a series of elbows. Makabe chops his face and hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits a German superplex. Taichi distracts him on the apron. Makabe spends too much time working on Taichi, leaving himself open for Kojima to hit a lariat for the win at 15:54. The match was nothing special, though these two brawled just fine. However, that finish was a total copout. Color me disappointed in this match and the show as a whole. Rating: **¾ After the match Taichi and Rongai beat on Makabe. Tomoaki Honma runs out to make the save but Kojima hits him with a lariat. The beating continues until Tanahashi runs out and makes the save. Kojima leaves without incident and Tanahashi sends the fans home with a quick promo. Share this:FacebookRedditTwitterEmailTumblrNextdoorMastodonLinkedInPinterestTelegramPocket Related Post navigation The Impact Insight: 2/24/2011 ROH On HDNet Review: 1-Month Bumper Edition
