Csonka’s New Japan Pro Wrestling BOTSJ Finals Review

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

New Japan Pro Wrestling BOTSJ Finals Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu defeated Jushin Liger & Sho Tanaka [**½]
– Tiger Mask IV defeated Chase Owens via submission [**]
– Mascara Dorada defeated Barbaro Cavenario via pin [***]
– Bobby Fish defeated Beretta via submission [***½]
– Rocky Romero defeated Nick Jackson via pin [***¼]
– Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma defeated Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & David Finlay via pin [**½]
– Kazuchika Okada & Gedo defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall via pin [**½]
– Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan via pin [***]
– Best of the Super Juniors Finals KUSHIDA defeated Kyle O’Reilly via submission [****½]

---

Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu defeated Jushin Liger & Sho Tanaka: This was your basic juniors opening tag team match. Since he wasn’t in the tournament, they gave Sho Tanaka a lot of chance to shine here including some near falls on Taguchi. Tanaka is coming along as a performer, he’s not Komatsu yet, but I like him. Taguchi picked up the win on Tanaka, in a short and fun opening match.

Tiger Mask IV defeated Chase Owens: This was a solid match, but there was no heat for this, even with Owens going after the mask of Tiger Mask. They worked, nothing really happened and they tried to pick it up down the stretch but it was bland. The ref also appeared to get hurt here, which didn’t help anything. Tiger mask won with his double arm submission, but Owens then attacked post match with Jay White making the save. You got to set up those under-card tags.

Mascara Dorada defeated Barbaro Cavenario: These guys had a really good match early on, working well together and looking like we were on the road to a great match. They worked in a ton of good highflying, they had some good heat from the crowd, and it was clicking. And then they had some hiccups and the finish was supposed to be the Dorada ropewalk RANA, but he slipped off the ropes and it got all FUBAR. They then went to an alternate finish, where he hit the Dorada screwdriver. It ended up being good, but they have the potential for a great match in them.

Bobby Fish defeated Beretta: This was the best match on the show so far, while it didn’t have the flash of the previous match, it was way cleaner. Obviously they have history working together in tags, and they brought that here and delivered. Both men have been good, but Beretta has been surprisingly good all tournament long, and I was already a big fan of the guy. They worked a really good closing stretch and Fish countered the dudebuster into the heel hook to pick up the win.

Rocky Romero defeated Nick Jackson: This was another good match, where Romero scored the win and announced that he and Beretta would win back the tag titles. Again, another pairing that has worked well together in tag matches bringing it to the singles ranks, and they delivered a good match. I will never argue that the Juniors don’t need more teams, because they do, but I also love watching reDRagon, The Bucks and Roppongi Vice working against each other. Romero won with a roll up after good work by both.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma defeated Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & David Finlay: Hey it’s young David Finlay, here are some parting gifts, some BOTSJ t-shirts with your name misspelled and anther loss, thanks for coming. They had a fine match, HONMA got to pin Finlay so that made my day. There was nothing wrong with it, it had its moments, but nothing you have to watch either.

Kazuchika Okada & Gedo defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall: Hey Cody Hall, what’s flying through the air and about to crush your throat? RAIN MAKA MOTHERFUCKER THAT’S WHAT! Bur seriously, Okada is challenging Styles on July 5th so this will be one of the many Okada and Gedo vs. Bullet Club matches we’ll see as he runs through the underlings in various formations pinning Hall, Takahashi, Tonga and Fale. Gedo worked a little less, his shoulder is taped up as he likely got banged up during the tournament run.

Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan: This was every NJPW multi-man tag with stars that you’ll ever see. It’s fun, it’s enjoyable, but there is nothing special about it. The good Captain New Japan was back, and he lost because that’s what he does. They paired off the people that have matches on 7.5 (Tanahashi/Yano, Nakamura/Goto, Makabe/Ishi, Sakuraba/Shibata) during this, so it was to help build to those matches and it served a purpose. These aren’t ever bad and they add some star power to the shows but it feels like groundhog day because we see them all the time.

KUSHIDA defeated Kyle O’Reilly: Holy fucking shit this was insane, and exactly the kind of match I hoped for and expected from these two. They worked a basic and methodical start, to feel each other out and then moved into some arm work, to set up their finishers (arm bar from O’Reilly and hoverboard lock for KUSHIDA). This ended up like a seven layer cake of awesome, as they kept building and building, and landing big spots, and building and into near falls and building and it was just a tremendous piece of business as it never slowed, it never felt long, and I was buying into a lot of the near falls. They did some wild shit, hard strikes, sweet suplexes (REGAL PLEX~!), apron suplexes, O’Reilly catching KUSHIDA off a moonsault attempt to grab a triangle choke; it was beautiful. The work was excellent, the build was excellent, they had a great crowd and this was the perfect climax for the tournament. This is KUSHIDA’s breakout win, always one of the top junior tag guys and he had the great finals run last year, this was exactly what he needed to become the break out star many pegged him to be. This is was the exact kind of breakout performance he needed to have with the big win, and the guy more than deserves it. O’Reilly had a hell of a tournament, was the right guy to go to the finals and if he stays working with New Japan, could be a frontrunner for next years tournament. This is in the upper tier of the best matches of the year so far, make sure if you watch nothing else from this show that you watch this match.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.9

The final score: review Good

The 411

This was an overall good show, with lots of build to the Road to Dominion/Dominion events, a lot of good wrestling and the awesome main event. There was nothing bad, and as an overall package it delivered. Make sure you watch O’Reilly vs. KUSHIDA, it was great.