Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 5) Review 5.22.17

Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 5) Review 5.22.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Volador Jr. @ 9:41 via pin [***]
– Tiger Mask IV defeated ACH @ 11:45 via pin [****]
– El Desperado defeated Ryusuke Taguchi @ 13:20 via pin [***¾]
– KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI @ 16:15 via pin [****½]

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* Csonka’s Top 5 Omissions From The 2017 BOTSJ.
* Csonka’s Top 5 Potential BOTSJ Winners.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 1) Review 5.17.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 2) Review 5.18.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 3) Review 5.20.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 4)Review 5.21.17.

– These are block B matches today..

Volador Jr. vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru: TAKA is out with Kanemaru . It’s another match in the war between Suzuki-gun and masked flippy boys. The work a solid back and forth, Volador picks up the pace but Kanemaru takes him to the floor. They brawl up the entranceway, and then back to ringside where Kanemaru hit a running dropkick. Kanemaru takes control, and works a Boston crab. Volador makes the ropes, but I again tossed to the floor. The DDT follows from Kanemaru, and we get our Gedo special countout tease. They really need to have someone lose by countout to actually make that work. Back in and Kanemaru works the camel clutch, but Volador escapes, hits a RANA sending Kanemaru to the floor and follows with a tope. Volador rolls him back in, heads up top and hits a high cross, but Kanemaru rolls him off right away. Kanemaru then counters a sunset flip, grabs the ropes and that gets a near fall. The slam follows and Kanemaru then misses the moonsault. Volador locks in the la magistral cradle for 2. Volador up top, lands on his feet on the moonsault try as Kanemaru rolled away. He then hits the backstabber for 2. They teased a ref bump, allowing Kanemaru to hit an enziguri and reverse DDT for 2. TAKA distracts the ref, tosses Kanemaru a bottle of tequila and he hits Volador with it (straight out of WCW). The deep impact finishes Volador. Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Volador Jr. @ 9:41 via pin [***] I was really enjoying that and felt that they were on their way to a very good match, and then they dialed up Vince Russo to book the finish and it really hurt my enjoyment of the match.

ACH vs. Tiger Mask IV: They lock up to begin and work to a stalemate. ACH looks to fire up on Tiger Mask, and does hitting a dropkick and sending him to the floor. ACH follows but runs into a superkick. Back in they go and Tiger Mask lays in the kicks to ACH in the corner. The back breaker follows. Tiger Mask follows that up with kicks to the back. ACH finally starts to fight back, hitting a trip and a running double stomp. He sends Tiger Mask to the floor, and hits a plancha and then three suicide dives to fire up the crowd. STOP HURTING DAD ACH! This leads to the countout tease, but ACH breaks the count. Back in we go, and ACH hits the slingshot cutter for 2. Tiger Mask fights off the German, and goes on the attack to the back again. ACH fights back with a dropkick; heads up top but Tiger Mask cuts him off, hitting a superplex. Tiger Mask then hits the tiger bomb for 2. Tiger Mask then works the back kicks again, but ACH fires up and they trade strikes and kicks. ACH then cuts off Tiger Mask with the lariat. He looks for the fisherman’s buster, but his back gives out. He then opts for the spin kick, but Tiger mask counters the suplex and gets the crucifix for the win. Tiger Mask IV defeated ACH @ 11:45 via pin [****] This was a GREAT match, with good pacing & sense of urgency, a smart layout and the work of the back playing into the finish perfectly. This was really great stuff from these two, who were obviously there to wok hard.

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. El Desperado: Desperado tosses his shirt at Taguchi, he tries to play matador, but Desperado spears him and beats him down. They pick up the pace, work some arm drags and hip tosses and then Taguchi stars to attack with his ass. Desperado hits an atomic drop and then they brawl to the floor. Desperado then beats on Taguchi in the first few rows of seats, and then slams several chairs onto him. Desperado stole a pen from commentary, and then proceeded to shove it up Taguchi’s ass.

…………..uhhhhh #NJPW #njbosj pic.twitter.com/cd0iSe3IiU

— LARIATOOOO!!! (@MrLARIATO) May 22, 2017

So that happened. Desperado then took the heat, grounding Taguchi and working a single leg crab. Desperado then works the leg, locking in an Indian death lock. Taguchi made the ropes, but Desperado continued his attack. Desperado cuts off the ass attack, but gets sent to the floor. Taguchi then fired up, hitting a springboard high cross to the floor and then followed with a tope. Back in the ass attack off the top connected, and the cover got 2. Taguchi then scored with the blue thunder bomb for 2. He looked for dodon, but Desperado counters out and works the stretch muffler. Taguchi struggles, and just makes the ropes. Desperado stomps away at the knee and then works another Indian death lock variation. Taguchi escapes, gets the ankle lock but Desperado gets the ropes quickly. Taguchi hits the bum-ba-ye and then the dodon for the near fall. Taguchi looks for dodon, but Desperado counters, so Taguchi locks in the ankle lock. Desperado fights, but he’s trapped center ring. He rolls out, pulls his own mask off and tosses it to Taguchi. Taguchi tries to explain this to the ref, but Desperado hits the low blow and follows with Guitarra de la Muerta for the win. El Desperado defeated Ryusuke Taguchi @ 13:20 via pin [***¾] Very good match here, they played the right amount of Taguchi’s hijacks against Desperado’s heel shtick. They kept a string pace through out, and the finish was creative, not simply the usual distraction bullshit.

KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI: The longtime rivals and former tops of the division face off, with both in desperate need of a victory. BUSHI offers a handshake, but then shoves the ref into KUSHIDA and attacks. He then cuts off the back handspring kick, and then takes KUSHIDA to the floor and beats him down. Drop toeholds BUSHI into a chair, sets him on it and then follows with a running dropkick. They work to the apron, where BUSHI spikes KUSHIDA with a DDT. Back in the ring and they trade strikes, BUSHI drapes KUSHIDA over the ropes and follows with a dropkick for 2. The neck breaker follows for another 2 count. BUSHI then works the STF, keeping KUSHIDA grounded. KUSHIDA makes the ropes, but as he makes it to his feet eats a missile dropkick. KUSHIDA cuts off BUSHI with a flatliner to the buckles and sends BUSHI to the floor and follows with a tope. Back in they go, KUSHIDA misses the kick, but counters the code breaker into the hover board lock. He transitions into a triangle choke and then an arm bar, but BUSHI rolls him up to escape. KUSHIDA follows with a DDT, but BUSHI then rakes the eyes. V now rakes the eyes in return as he’s getting desperate. BUSHI counters the back handspring with the back stabber and both men are down. BUSHI follows with a suicide dive. He calls for MX, but KUSHIDA avoids him and gets a backslide for 2. They trade kicks and into a double down. They now trade strikes from their knees, work to their feet and trade more forearm strikes. They then slap the shit out of each other. BUSHI hits the destroyer, but KUSHIDA survives. BUSHI follows with the MX, but KUSHIDA kicks out! BUSHI back up top, but this time KUSHIDA counters and catches him with the code breaker on the way down. KUSHIDA locks in the hover board lock, BUSHI fights but KUSHIDA pulls him back center ring but BUSHI continues to fight, but KUSHIDA rolls into God’s last gift and finally gets on the board. KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI @ 16:15 via pin [****½] EXCELLENT main event, one of the best of the tournament so far. I think that they played very well off of their past encounters, but more importantly off of the desperation of the KUSHIDA character, who realized that he had to dig deep and change things up in order to get a win.

BLOCK A STANDINGS
– Marty Scurll: (2-1) 4pts.
– Will Ospreay: (2-1) 4pts.
– Ricochet: (2-1) 4pts.
– Dragon Lee: (2-1) 4pts.
– Taichi: (2-1) 4pts.
– TAKA Michinoku: (1-2) 2pts.
– Hiromu Takahashi: (1-2) 0pts.
– Jushin Liger: (0-3) 0pts.

BLOCK B STANDINGS
– Desperado: (3-0) 6pts.
– Ryusuke Taguchi: (2-1) 4pts.
– Yoshinobu Kanemaru: (2-1) 4pts.
– Tiger Mask: (2-1) 4pts.
– Volador Jr: (1-2) 2pts.
– ACH: (1-2) 2pts.
– KUSHIDA: (1-2) 0pts.
– BUSHI: (0-3) 0pts.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Block A may be the sexy block, but Block B stepped up huge here and delivered a must see effort.