NJPW INVASION ATTACK
April 7, 2013
Ryogoku Sumo Hall, Tokyo, Japan
MATCH 1: IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA) (CHAMPIONS) vs. Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi)
Good way to start. Devitt and Taguchi attacked before the bell and teased a pair of dives, but Shelley and KUSHIDA turned it around on them. The match started with the champions working over Taguchi, but changed once Taguchi countered a splash and Devitt, the REEEEAL shooter, tagged in. The chops he gave Shelley were re(eeee)al enough to leave his chest bleeding, so he’s clearly not bluffing. KUSHIDA made a comeback which started off a back and forth finish. Devitt broke a pin with a double stomp after a KUSHIDA moonsault. With Devitt out of the way KUSHIDA managed to counter the Dodon a couple of times and surprised Taguchi with a leg roll clutch for the pin.
The real story came after the match. Devitt wasn’t happy afterwards and he blamed Taguchi for the loss. They got in a shoving match and Time Splitters tried to convince Devitt to calm down. They shook hands but Devitt clotheslined Taguchi from behind, before King Fale returned to beat everyone up and gave Taguchi a samoan drop, setting him up for the double stomp from Devitt. Then they beat up and unmasked Captain New Japan, because well that’s what he’s there for. Devitt got on the microphone and said it was no more mister nice guy. So Devitt is officially a heel and King Fale, who he called Bad Luck Fale, is his new bouncer, as teased before the show. Which presumably leads to Taguchi and Devitt for the Junior Title down the line.
Winners via pinfall and still champions (10:42): Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA (***)
Okada and Gedo were interviewed backstage. You’ll forgive me for not translating.
MATCH 2: Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Super Strong Machine and Akebono vs. CHAOS (Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI and Bob Sapp)
Nothing against King Fale, but imagine if Bob Sapp were Devitt’s bouncer. Incase you’re wondering, yes Iizuka beat up the poor commentator again. This time, Iizuka spray painted him gold.
Ishii and Tenzan had a chop battle at the start which might have been the highlight. It all descended into a brawl around the ring. Akebono came in and awkwardness ensued, thanks to Sapp missing his cue and coming in early. In the end Akebono ran through everyone, YOSHI-HASHI got singled out by the opposition and Nakanishi won with of all things a flying tomohawk chop. On first view it looked fairly unimpressive, but they showed a replay and I’m fairly sure he clobbered YOSHI-HASHI. So that’s good. I’m sad Ishii was stuck slumming it with the CHAOS B-team considering how good he’s been in recent months.
Winners via pinfall (10:00): Nakanishi, Tenzan, Machine and Akebono (3/4*)
MATCH 3: CMLL WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Tama Tonga and El Terrible (CHAMPIONS) vs. Valiente and La Mascara
I think it’s fair to call Valiente “stocky”. He did a double springboard Kota Ibushi style moonsault off the turnbuckle post which was unreal. La Mascara was put in the position to impress and pulled off most of what he did okay. But he doesn’t look very convincing and he always seemed one move away from slipping up. The champions retained when Terrible blocked a hurricanrana from Valiente and turned it into a powerbomb. Mascara got into it with the champions after the match so I assume Tonga isn’t done in CMLL yet. I’d like to see more of Valiente, personally.
Winners via pinfall and still champions (8:56): Tama Tonga and El Terrible (**1/4)
MATCH 4: Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma vs. Yujiro Takahashi and Masato Tanaka
Yujiro’s new look is quite something between the pink snakeskin tights, sunglasses and white feather boa. Makabe and Honma jump started the match before the bell. Crowd were into Makabe and Honma. Tanaka used the singapore cane on Honma early. Makabe ran wild and left Tanaka to Honma, but Yujiro kept appearing to help every time Honma had Tanaka in trouble. Including, at the end, hitting Honma with the cane. Honma kicked out of a brainbuster, but not a Sliding D. Yujiro and Makabe fought briefly after the match. This was solid, but the crowd took it up a notch by being so into Honma.
Winners via pinfall (10:43): Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi (**3/4)
Tanahashi was interviewed backstage. Same deal as before.
MATCH 5: Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki
First CHAOS versus Suzuki-gun match of the night. On the Friday Korakuen Hall show, Yano won a tag team match over Suzuki by pulling the classic Eddie Guerrero trick and pretending he’d been hit by Taichi’s crutch.
So Yano attacked Taichi before the match, then tried to win by count out by taping Suzuki’s arm to the guard rail. This, as you’d expect, pissed Suzuki off a little. A lot of antics here with exposed turnbuckles, Taichi using his crutch on Yano, Suzuki choking Yano with the commentator’s headset. Suzuki tried to turn it into a wrestling match where he was on top. Yano, of course, kept cheating. Finish saw Taichi use the crutch and Suzuki try to choke Yano out. Yano used the referee to escape and sent Suzuki into Taichi before rolling him up. But Suzuki narrowly kicked out for a super close near fall, then quickly put Yano away with the Gotch piledriver. He choked Yano out after the match to add insult to injury. Or injury to injury. I was expecting more Yano antics, but this all made sense.
Winner via pinfall (10:10): Minoru Suzuki (**1/4)
Before intermission there was some kind of ceremony in the ring with Nakanishi.
MATCH 6: Yuji Nagata and Hirooki Goto vs. Laughter7 (Katsuyori Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba)
This was paired off somewhat, with Goto and Shibata a little more on the pro wrestling side while Nagata and Sakuraba had more of the MMA style exchanges. The crowd were into all of this. Nagata gave Sakuraba a brutal release german suplex right on his head. Nagata got the armbar but before he could do the ‘eyes back into the head’ deal, Shibata slapped him.
Then things went awry. Nagata gave Sakuraba a suplex and his arm got caught up landing. I’m no doctor, but there were bones sticking out where there shouldn’t have been bones sticking out. Sakuraba’s first instinct was to try and pop his arm back into place, making him a crazy man. They had to stop the match, since HIS ELBOW WAS NOT WHERE HIS ELBOW SHOULD BE. Doctors tried to pop something back into place, so luckily it must have been a dislocation and not a break. Shibata was having none of this bullshit and slapped Goto and Nagata, daring them to fight two on one. Once his elbow was taped up, Sakuraba calmly got up, shook Nagata’s hands, asked for one more match and they PINKY SWEARED on it. Then he left shaking hands with the fans, including with the arm he just had dislocated. Crazy man. This was really good and really heated up until the injury. Not much you can do about the finish. I’d say “if you’re squeamish don’t watch this”, but I’m squeamish and I survived, so man up!
Winners via referee stoppage (11:34): Yuji Nagata and Hirooki Goto (NR)
MATCH 7: NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Rob Conway (CHAMPION) vs. Satoshi Kojima
Bruce Tharpe was at ringside for the NWA. If Vince McMahon were cast for a made for TV movie, he’d be in with a shot. Make of that what you will. Conway had Jax Dane at ringside as his second, who got involved throwing Kojima into the safety rail. Conway kicked out of a couple of Koji Cutters, before Dane tripped Kojima to stop the lariat. Conway tried some lariats of his own with little success. Kojima hit the lariat but Dane pulled the referee out. He laid out Tenzan before Kojima gave him the lariat. When Kojima turned around Conway was waiting and won with the Ego Trip. Conway didn’t do anything mind blowing and it was a fairly simple match. But he was fine and he’s got charisma. Don’t know how long his future in NJPW will last though. The finish was cheap, but not exactly unexpected.
Winner via pinfall and still champion (14:23): Rob Conway (**1/4)
MATCH 8: IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Shinsuke Nakamura (CHAMPION) vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Davey beat Nakamura in the New Japan Cup to earn a title shot. Davey is also one half of the Tag Team Champions and part of Suzuki-gun, while Nakamura is one of the key members of CHAOS. DBS gave Nakamura a belly to belly over the top rope to gain control. Archer attacked outside and Ishii made the save, which at least gave the fans reason to cheer Ishii. A missed legdrop off the top let Shinsuke back into the match. It also probably hurt a lot. Davey avoided the Boma Ye and almost won with a DVD style Jackhammer. He also used the sharpshooter but Shinsuke got the ropes. DBS got a near fall with a lariat, before hitting a powerbomb which won the NJC match for two, then a tiger suplex for two. Shinsuke fought out of a second powerbomb and hit a flying Boma Ye from the top rope in the middle of the ring, then a second Boma Ye to retain.
I’d been saying before this match, I wasn’t 100% sold on DBS yet. Well, he had a really good match here. The crowd really bought into him getting the win. Probably for the best that he didn’t win yet, for a number of reasons. I’ve got a feeling this could be a really good role for Shinsuke now that CHAOS are being put in more of a face role while facing Suzuki-gun. It’s hard not to like the guy, let’s be honest.
Winner via pinfall and still champion (18:05): Shinsuke Nakamura (***3/4)
MATCH 9: IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
So this was Tanahashi Okada IV. The crowd were split about 80/20 in Okada’s favour I’d say. Tanahashi, as he tends to do, subtlely played up to this. Some amazing hairstyle choices on display here by the way. Tanahashi tried a Rainmaker in the opening minutes and mocked Okada’s pose after he ducked. So Okada slapped him and then gave him a boot right to the face. Tanahashi focused on Okada’s arm until Okada gave him a DDT on the apron and worked on the neck. At one point Okada tried a modified cattle mutilation with Tanahashi sitting down and had a ton of trouble bridging. Which could have been embarrassing, but when he finally made he was so happy it saved the whole thing and he even gave a thumbs up down the camera afterwards. Tanahashi avoided a tombstone on the floor and hit the standing High Fly Flow to the outside, before going after the arm again.
Okada hit his elbow drop off the top, but only after switching his elbow pad to his injured arm for extra protection. Okada hit an awesome dropkick and tried to apply Red Ink but Tanahashi fought it off. Tanahashi then fought back, but Okada dropkicked him off the ropes when he went for the High Fly Flow. Okada gave him a draping DDT off the safety rail and Tanahashi only just made it in at 19. When Okada went for the Rainmaker Tanahashi attacked the injured arm. Okada finally hit the Rainmaker, but couldn’t cover straight away because of his arm, allowing Tanahashi time to recover and kick out. Tanahashi countered a tombstone, but Okada reversed a roll up into Red Ink. Which they teased for all it was worth before Tanahashi got to the ropes. Tanahashi injured the arm again with a ‘dragon screw’ in the ropes, the same thing he did to Minoru Suzuki’s knee near the end of their match at King Of Pro Wrestling. He hit a standing High Fly Flow, a Sling Blade and a dragon suplex for two. He then hit a High Fly Flow to the back, but Okada got his knees up on a second one. Crowd went nuts. Okada gave Tanahashi a dropkick to the back then tried a tombstone. They fought over it before Tanahashi went after the arm. Tanahashi countered a Rainmaker and tried a tombstone, but Okada reversed into one of his own and hit the Rainmaker again for the pin.
Winner via pinfall and new champion (31:42): Kazuchika Okada (*****)
So, where to start? Hot crowd. Tons of drama. Exciting action. Limb work which paid off at the end of the match. Callbacks to a match in the same building 6 months ago. Oh and somebody kicked out of the Rainmaker for the first time and Okada wasn’t hurt by it at all. And to top it all off, the right man won. A 25 year old, dethroning the established star of the company to win the championship. Need I go on. Maybe it’s five stars, maybe it’s not. Star ratings are what they are. This was pretty much perfect.
After the presentation, Gedo called out Minoru Suzuki, saying Okada wanted revenge for Suzuki’s win in February. Okada did his pose so Suzuki slapped him, then put Gedo in the choke, before throwing him at Okada. So they also set up the first challenger for Okada and gave him a decisive win.
All in a day’s work for New Japan.