Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ Night One Review 5.21.16

Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ Night One Review 5.21.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Block A Match: Rocky Romero defeated David Finlay @ 11:00 via pin [***½]
– Block A Match: Gedo defeated BUSHI @ 11:34 via pin [***]
– Block A Match: Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Matt Sydal @ 10:20 via pin [***½]
– Block A Match: Kyle O’Reilly defeated KUSHIDA @ 20:05 via submission [****½]

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– Much like last year, I will be focusing only on the tournament matches.

Block A Match: Rocky Romero vs. David Finlay: Young Finlay decided that he was going to make a mark here tonight, attacking Romero right away and sending him to the floor. Finlay was awesomely aggressive here, working the taped up shoulder of Romero and repeatedly posting him. Finlay worked a smart match, constantly working the shoulder and also going for quick pins when he could. Romero got to fight a lot from the bottom and show that he is a resilient performer. Romero is a guy that gets greatly overlooked, likely because his consistency gets taken for granted. Romero is just such a season performer that every thing, and I really mean everything he does looks so good and like he’s not even trying. The crowd was good for this as well, both in supporting Romero when he was down and then getting into his comeback. Romero was very giving in the match as well, as Finlay is a late replacement for one of the Bucks. Finlay has been growing and is a great young performer, but he’s still a young lion and isn’t always allowed this much offense. Both guys looked great here, the work was good and clean, they got the crowd involved and I even bought on a few of young Finlay’s near falls. Romero’s charging knee finally put away the game youngster. This was a very good way to kick off the tournament matches. If you guys haven’t had a chance to check out young David Finlay, this is a good match to start with.

Block A Match: Gedo vs. BUSHI: Fuck yes grumpy old man Gedo! Gedo largely controlled the early portion of the match, bullying BUSHI around and just being a glorious asshole. BUSHI would then cut him off as they brawled on the floor, post him and then take the heat. BUSHI slowed the pace, and was grinding on Gedo and trying to keep him down. BUSHI looked to pick up the pace, but ended up getting crotched on the ropes, allowing Gedo to make a comeback and get in some offence and then work the crossface. They had a good back and forth here; BUSHI hit a sweet suicide dive and chilled as they teased the countout. Okada on commentary was DEMANDING that Gedo get up and fight. BUSHI worked a low blow into the code breaker spot after shoving the ref, which Gedo sold like a champ, but only got the near fall. Gedo then fired up with his grumpy old man punches, shoved BUSHI into he ref, hit a low blow and the Gedo clutch to steal the win. WAR OLD MAN GEDO! That was a good and fun match, with both guys going into the underhanded tricks playbook at various times, in what ended up being a game of anything you can do I can do better. BUSHI misted Gedo post match.

Block A Match: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Matt Sydal: Taguchi came to the ring wearing a Big Bird balloon and playing a recorder. They made sure that their match was different from the previous two matches, working a straight forward wrestling match. Trading holds, Sydal trying to work the leg, and then Taguchi doing the same as he worked for the ankle lock. Really good energy from both guys, Sydal is just locked in these days, and much like Romero is overlooked because he has such good outing with everyone. Taguchi cheek got busted up here as they were having some really well done back and forth, including some really good near falls. Taguchi finally hit the dondon after some great near falls to pick up the win. I personally would have preferred that Sydal won, but this was really good stuff, and Taguchi kept the as splay to a minimum.

Block A Match: KUSHIDA vs. Kyle O’Reilly: This is a rematch from last year’s awesome BOTSJ finals. These two have faced 4-5 times over the last year, and are the standard as far as the top tier juniors matches go these days. Both guys looked to take it to the mat on several occasions, playing off of their MMA love and also playing off of their previous matches. O’Reilly worked to soften the legs of KUSHIDA up, not as a focus of the work, but to get him to the ground repeatedly so that he could work for the arm bar. They battle dup top as O’Reilly kept control, but KUSHIDA finally locked in a kimura and then basically turned it into the single arm DDT off the ropes. KUSHIDA then turned his attention to the arm of O’Reilly, looking to soften his opponent p for the hover board lock. The work as been slowly escalating, with the action getting more intense and more call backs to their previous matches, showing that they have learned and that they know each other very well. They worked to the floor, O’Reilly placed KUSHIDA into a chair and then we got this…

KUSHIDA catches O'Reilly in an armbar!! #njbosj pic.twitter.com/LNL2FMq9fA

— LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) May 21, 2016

I love the jump off of shit and get captured into a hold gimmick, and that one was original and really cool. Not only was it cool, but it also plays into KUSHIDA’s end game, the hover board lock. They both kept attacking the arm down the stretch, both focused on the possible submission finish. They got a great near fall off of KUSHIDA reversing a bally to balk off the top into a high cross. O’Reilly then scored a good near fall off of the brain buster, got pissed and stopmed the ever living shit out of KUSHIDA; O’Reilly finally gets the arm bar, and after struggling, KUSHIDA has to tap. Awesome. O’Reilly sent the message last year that he was here to stay with an overall awesome performance in the tournament and finals, and has continued to be great. The win here not only serves notice of how seriously NJPW takes him, but it’s huge for his career. Beating the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion, clean, in the first round is huge for him. The match is amazing, top tier for the year so far and about on par with last year’s epic encounter. These two men have a great chemistry, they work to each other’s strengths, and also know how to work the hybrid MMA stuff into the matches without overdoing it or making it boring.

– Post match, O’Reilly vowed to win the tournament.

BLOCK A STANDINGS:
– Kyle O’Reilly (1-0) – 2 points
– Gedo (1-0) – 2 points
– Rocky Romero (1-0) – 2 points
– Ryusuke Taguchi (1-0) – 2 points
– BUSHI (0-1) – 0 points
– Matt Sydal (0-1) – 0 points
– KUSHIDA (0-1) – 0 points
– David Finlay (0-1) – 0 points

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

This was a great night to kick off the tournament, with three good and strong matches and MOTY contender in the main event. This gets a recommendation, all three matches are well worth your timer as they are completely different from one another and succeed in their own ways.