NJPW Kizuna Road (Day 3)

NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING 
KIZUNA ROAD: DAY 3
4th July 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

Six days ago we as one united earth family witnessed the passing of the torch in the NEVER division from the greatest wrestler of the last 12 months to one of the most annoying and ultimately insignificant. Many of us put dropping the tertiary title as a sign of a likely push for Tomohiro Ishii (which as time goes on I doubt and expect that the Stone Pitbull has risen as far up the card as can be allowed) but the pain still lingers inside.

Not to matter because here we are at the last televised event before the commencement of the annual G1 Climax tournament. It is possible that this blog might preview that event in a little depth so I won't waste too much time writing a florid introduction this week. Like last week's show, this edition of Kizuna Road is basically a house show with two or three meaningful matches sprinkled throughout the card to keep us guessing.

Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, Tiger Mask IV and Mascara Dorada vs. BUSHI, Fuego and Sho Tanaka

So I post in an online chat group about this majestic sport of professional wrestling w/r/t its specific iterations in Japan and happened to bellyache about the perceived weakness of the Tiger Mask gimmick and how it was probably about time they knocked it on the head. Especially, as I continued to opine, seeing as the current Tiger Mask is nowhere near as good as the three Tiger Masks before him (and indeed, who could be?). 

"y u no like me Fujiwara?"

The response was instantaneous and unanimous: Tiger Mask should stay, the Tiger Mask anime is incredibly popular and the crossover market between the puroresu and anime markets should not be underestimated. I did not attempt any kind of protest, clearly bettered by experts in the field. However I just wanted to write that down in public in case any historians of the internet want to know exactly what my position on the fourth version of Tiger Mask is: he is mediocre.

Almost identical to last week's junior curtain-jerker except Sho Tanaka has replaced Yohei Komatsu as this week's pin candidate. Tanaka, who looks a bit like Tanahashi, works a bit more of a submission-based style and has some quite heelish facial tics. Only the latter really fits with a match of this type where motion is conveyed merely to let people know the show has started rather than to advance a scene. 

After some pretty impressive flips and dives and topes and reversals, it is my best friend Tiger Mask IV who does the deed to the Young Lion, forcing his hand with a Chicken Wing Arm Lock on around the 7 minute mark. **1/4

Liger, Tiger and Dorada d. Fuego, BUSHI and Tanaka.

To(u)gi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Captain New Japan and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi

As if to show how arbitrary these matches are, both Taguchi and CNJ are now up against their tag team partners from last week's six man match whilst the four remaining members of said match have all clubbed together to form a team that must be nearing some kind of record for combined world championship reigns (12).

Manabu Nakanishi indicates how much he likes Tiger Mask

Though Honma is on fire personally, nothing in this match will feature on any of their personal Best Of DVD. They play up the hilarious/futile peril of Captain New Japan possibly picking up a first pinfall, over the current GHC Heavyweight Champion Yuji Fucking Blue Justice Nagata of all people. Never one to suffer fools gladly, Nagata hits his very nice Backdrop Hold pin on the Captain for the victory. *3/4

Nagata, Nakanishi, Tenzan and Kojima d. Honma, Makabe, Captain and Taguchi.

Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI (CHAOS) and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku and Takashi Iizuka (Suzuki-gun)

Full disclosure: the video I was watching had some significant errors for this match alone, so I don't think it fair to review it as such. Some will say this was a sign that even the God of the Internet wants this feud to stop but it's worthy of one last spin out before the Yano/Suzuki singles match on opening night of the G1 Climax AND NO FURTHER. What are you going to do one show out from a tournament? Build a new feud? Actually you could do that. Anyway. Suzuki pinned YOSHI-HASHI with a very tasty-looking Gotch-style piledriver. N/A

Suzuki-gun d. CHAOS & Sakuraba

El Desperado vs. Alex Shelley

Shelley is still (kayfabe?) nursing his shoulder after sustaining an injury at the Best of the Super Junior event. With Shelley's tag team partner KUSHIDA main-eventing in a singles capacity, it would have been very easy to palm the lad off into a multi-man match. The prevailing wind of belief indicates that there's a storm brewing around the former Motor City Machine Gun. And why not? He's always good value and storylines famously help wrestlers grow beyond their moveset.

"hey y u no like Tiger Mask m8?"

His opponent is El Desperado, who defeated Shelley during the BOSJ blocks in a decent-if-not-classic encounter. Decent-if-not-classic is probably the best way to describe much of what the former Kyosuke Mikame has managed since his repackaged arrival at Wrestle Kingdom 8. On the annual Dome Show he emerged after Ibushi vs. Devitt and presented the champion with some black roses signifying a rumble to come at New Beginning. 

That match, though fine, didn't exactly blow the roof off (in defence it was a lot of pressure to place on a debuting character). Since then Ole' Despy has bounced up and down the junior scene, not only unsure of his place within the card but his alignment to the forces of good and bad. Six months have now passed and many of us here at Fujiwara Armbar Enterprises are wondering what is next for this talented but shackled young performer.

His match with Shelley, which he loses by way of a very cool-looking pinning predicament, is decent-if-not-classic. Shelley sells his shoulder and Desperado works it intelligently. Whilst the match is full of the kind of innovation you'd expect from a junior heavyweight singles match in 2014, there's a very small touch that tickled me more than anything. Shelley locks Desperado's arm in behind his back. Instead of struggling to break free, Desperado walks his opponent to the ropes, steps out between the second and third ropes and returns between the first and second ropes, forcing Shelley to release the hold lest he be trapped as well.

After the match, Shelley's celebrations are curtailed as the dastardly TAKA joins El Desperado for a post-match beatdown, indicating a new alignment for Mr. E. Desperado and some kind of potential storyline. Hurrah! Huzzah! Interval. ***

El Desperado as part of Suzuki-gun as drawn by @hitomi_njpw

Shelley d. El Desperado

Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero (CHAOS) vs. Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Doc Gallows and Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club)

The ever-growing annals of matches between these rival factions are enough to fill several volumes, with contests ranging from singles bouts right up to 5-a-side with every integer between accounted for. Undoubtedly they have a good chemistry though the cynical part of me accounts much of this to CHAOS' generosity in allowing their opponents room to show off.

The width and breadth of the Korakuen is traversed by the brawling decet. One particular shot of Okada-san lying in the aisle after being decked by Fale particularly hit home the following: that our man Kazuchika is not actually the champ anymore nor is he a hateful heel prick. Since AJ Styles vaulted the fence at Sumo Hall and berated Okada as a 'young boy', sympathy has been easily-found, suggestive of i. an easy transition to the role of top babyface and ii. Bullet Club are at least doing their job well.

Speaking of Bullet Club doing the job: Okada blasts Tonga with that gorgeous wrist-clutch short-arm lariat named Rainmaker for the win in an entertaining but ultimately disposable contest. **3/4

CHAOS d. Bullet Club

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto (Meiyu Tag)

Were a match like this to occur on a WWE go-home show between four star names with no obvious pin candidate amongst them, you'd be counting down the minutes until the inevitable fuck finish. Part of me even thought that NJPW might resort to it with so much on the line and the G1 around the corner.

We've established that Shibata and Tanahashi seem to have real-life beef in addition to the team of Goto & Shibata rivalling Tanahashi & Makabe for the tag title contendership. Naito, for consecutive weeks, appears to just be here and making up the numbers.

Tanahashi (l) and Naito (r): friends for the day

Except after a heated couple of minutes in the ring with Shibata, Naito is as supercharged as anything. Stinging slaps between the two starts to generate some real fantasy booking scenarios in the head and the realisation that these two could be perfect for each other: Naito needs to get fired up more often rather than coast and look dazed. Shibata needs someone to guide him through the middle section of an NJPW main event style match because kicks and slaps and submissions only go so far. Every second they work together during this match is a treat.

The match holds off on giving us Shibata vs. Tanahashi together for too long, instead pairing the company ace with Goto, who can switch between battering ram and smooth pro-wrestler mode without missing a beat.

Naito takes the surprising pinfall victory with a Stardust Press over Block B opponent Hirooki Goto as Block A rivals Tanahashi and Shibata continue to press their ideological and physical cases upon one another on the outside. A decent match but a good hype-builder. ***1/4

Naito and Tanahashi d. Meiyu Tag

IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Kota Ibushi (c) vs. KUSHIDA

Five minutes into this dream match candidate, with the pace building, KUSHIDA executes a handspring kick that sends Kota Ibushi silly. He staggers around the ring looking dazed and sags into the mat for an attempted pinfall, which he weakly kicks out of. Whether the match should have continued is not a debate we'll have here.

It's credit to Ibushi's toughness that he carried on after spending a good three minutes in no-man's land. Understandably this accident sucks some of the heat out of the contest but the pair continue bravely onward.

KUSHIDA begins with dominance, patrolling the low ground with his MMA smarts, looking for opportunities to apply submissions or hit the ground and pound. As Ibushi finds his way back in, the incident occurs. KUSHIDA intelligently baby-walks Ibushi back into the match, playing for time with rest holds and slow offence on the outside. Recovering sufficiently to perform and ever the professional determined to give his best, Ibushi attempts a dangerous-looking moonsault to the outside, wiping KUSHIDA halfway down the Korakuen aisle.

CREDIT: Dramatic DDT

An in-ring moonsault by Ibushi is very smartly countered by KUSHIDA into a triangle choke, which wears the limbs of our champion down ahead of the surprising finish: KUSHIDA wins with his Hoverboard Lock (kimura) to become the new IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion! ***1/4

KUSHIDA d. Kota Ibushi to become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion

Shelley emerges to congratulate his friend and tag partner. They are disturbed by El Desperado, who runs in with TAKA, until Ryusuke Taguchi appears to even the score and register his name on the challenger list for the singles title. Desperado cements his role in Suzuki-gun by accepting Minoru Suzuki's t-shirt and wearing it with pride, cutting a promo on the babyfaces in the ring but as mentioned before I don't speak Japanese but I'd guess he was not merely enquiring after their health.

After the show it was announced that Ibushi would miss the next two DDT shows to recover for the G1 Climax. Kizuna Road was a decent house show but let's face it we're all just waiting for the first night of G1. HURRY UP!!