Csonka’s NJPW G1 Special in The USA (Night 2) Review

Csonka’s NJPW G1 Special in The USA (Night 2) Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– David Finlay, Jushin Thunder Liger and KUSHIDA defeated Sho Tanaka, Yoehi Komatsu and YOSHITATSU @ 8:55 via submission [***]
– IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semifinal Match: Kenny Omega defeated Jay Lethal @ 12:55 via pin [***¾]
– IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semifinal Match: Tomohiro Ishii defeated Zack Sabre Jr. @ 11:45 via pin [****¼]
– Dragon Lee, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Titan and Volador Jr. defeated BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito @ 12:30 via pin [***¾]
– The Guerrillas of Destiny and Hangman Page defeated Michael Elgin and War Machine @ 11:16 via pin [**½]
– IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice @ 22:45 via pin [***¼]
– Bad Luck Fale, Cody, Marty Scurll and Yujiro Takahashi defeated The Briscoes, Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay @ 15:59 via pin [**½]
– IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Billy Gunn @ 14:25 via pin [**]
– IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Tournament Finals: Kenny Omega defeated Tomohiro Ishii @ 31:20 via pin to become the first ever IWGP US Heavyweight Champion [****¾]

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– Since this is so delayed, due to the fact that I had to cover Slammiversary live and then had my normal week of work, I am going to skip over the match action and focus on my thoughts on the matches since Kevin already provided a great play by play report the day of the show.

David Finlay, Jushin Thunder Liger and KUSHIDA vs. Sho Tanaka, Yoehi Komatsu and YOSHITATSU: This was a good opener, with Finlay, Komatsu and Tanaka getting some opportunity to shine. The crowd loved KUSHIDA & Liger, and that added some good energy to things as it got the crowd into things. They also loathed Tatsu, so they have good taste. Good action with Finlay picking up a rare, and needed victory. He may not be a young lion anymore, but he’s certainly been in limbo for months so it was nice to see him get the win. Komatsu and Tanaka were two of my favorites when they were young lions and continue to improve and impress. Once they return to New Japan proper, I’d love to see them get into a feud with the Bucks or whoever the junior tag champs are at the time. David Finlay, Jushin Thunder Liger and KUSHIDA defeated Sho Tanaka, Yoehi Komatsu and YOSHITATSU @ 8:55 via submission [***]

Jay Lethal vs. Kenny Omega: I have not been overly impressed with the majority of Lethal’s NJPW work, to me he has felt like he has been missing something but that turned around here tonight. Sure working with Kenny Omega helps, but Lethal really picked up his game here and they had a very good match. The story was that Lethal was coming in with banged up ribs, and Omega focused on that right away and looked to expose and capitalize on Lethal’s injury. But Lethal quickly realized this, and threw his usual gameplan out the window and started going for the finish and looked to hit the Lethal injection. The best part about this was not only was the gameplan of both logical, but the crowd immediately knew what was happening and got into the action very quickly. This had some great back and forth action; Lethal gave it his all, hitting the triple dives, but just couldn’t overcome Omega’s attacks. Omega then destroyed him with V triggers, Dr. Willy and the one winged angel for the definitive finish. Lethal lost nothing here with the injury angle and losing to a guy that fans largely regard as one of the very best in the ring today. This was very good. Kenny Omega defeated Jay Lethal @ 12:55 via pin [***¾]

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.: Once night one ended, the night two match that fascinated me the most was this one; the clash of styles, the freshness of the match, it all appealed to me. Ishii is just such a violent brute, but also sells amazingly well. That selling, along with Saber’s finish from night one, led to an amazing struggle spot that got the crowd insanely into the match; Sabre locked in the submission from night one, locking up the body and an arm. Ishii struggled in an amazing spot, but Sabre trapped the other arm but Ishii would have none of this shit an fought and fought and fought. It was so good. Sabre was working with great aggression and purpose, dropping a lot of the busy work that lengthens his matches when they don’t need it. Sabre looked to finish things off with a PK but you do not kick Tomohiro Ishii like that; Ishii destroyed Sabre with the lariat and brainbuster for the win. This was absolutely great, and bodes well for Sabre’s G1 run as a lot of matches fall into the hard-hitting, 10-15 minute window, just like this. Tomohiro Ishii defeated Zack Sabre Jr. @ 11:45 via pin [****¼]

Dragon Lee, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Titan and Volador Jr. vs. BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito: LIJ continue to deliver in high quality multi-man tags, fun and different versions of the multi-man tag match. They are the most stable in wrestling right now, and rarely disappoint. This was all action, heavy on the lucha style, which played well into the babyface team and allowed everyone to shine, In what has been one of the more under-discussed points of the weekend, Jay White picked up another win, this time pinning BUSHI. He’s been great on his ROH excursion and has really grown as a performer. It feels like NJPW has big plans already in mind for when they bring him back; especially after his standout ROH PPV match with Will Ospreay. This was a blast, we got some Lee vs. Takahashi interaction (which is always awesome), LIJ delivers in another big tag match, but everyone looked great when it was all said and done. My only complaint is that I feel that they missed the boat in not putting on another some Lee vs. Takahashi match, which easily would have been better that all of the multi-man tags. Dragon Lee, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Titan and Volador Jr. defeated BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito @ 12:30 via pin [***¾]

The Guerrillas of Destiny and Hangman Page vs. Michael Elgin and War Machine: Michael Elgin continues to break protocol by not painting up like War Machine, that’s the rule when you tag with them. It’s the second time he’s not painted up, and they lost both times. For shame Big Mike, for shame. This wasn’t bad, but technically the worst thing on this show so far. This was hard-hitting with a lot of power moves, but just didn’t do much for me. Page hit the lariat and last rites on Rowe to pick up the win and to set up a tag title shot for himself and a partner to be named later. It served its purpose, but is nothing you need to see. The Guerrillas of Destiny and Hangman Page defeated Michael Elgin and War Machine @ 11:16 via pin [**½]

Champions The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice: At least for now, this was the final stand for Roppongi Vice (more on that later). The Bucks had two objectives here, to continue to pick up wins with the sharpshooter, and to “hit the craziest Meltzer driver ever) in tribute to Dave Meltzer’s father that had just passed away. I know that a lot of people don’t like the Bucks, but I thought that was really cool of them. This was a good and fun match with a lot of crazy moves, but it just felt way too long for me; cut off 5-7 minutes and I honestly feel that it would be a much better match. In the end, the Bucks hit a crazy ass Meltzer driver, stereo sharpshooters and retained the titles. Champions The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice @ 22:45 via pin [***¼]

– Post match, Ricochet arrived and took out the Bucks, hitting a dive wearing his hoodie and glasses. He explained that he wanted to wrestle on these shows and “a certain Underground fighting company are being pricks right now.” Then, he challenged the Bucks for a junior tag title match, with Taguchi being his partner.

– Roppongi Vice then took the mic and did a polite break up angle, noting that they agreed if they lost that they were done as a team. Romero gave Trent his blessing to carry on as a heavyweight. Rocky is in golden with NJPW, he’s a big part of establishing the US West Coast audience, will reportedly be a trainer at the dojo, and with Tiger Hatori getting older, may be groomed for his spot in the company. Trent has had an awesome year so far, has been an amazing post WWE success story. I am not sure where he’ll fit into the “heavyweight division” right now, but am thrilled he’s getting the chance. Roppongi Vice is a huge loss to the division, and it looks as if NJPW will try to replace them, at least for now, with “super teams” like Ricochet & Taguchi.

Bad Luck Fale, Cody, Marty Scurll and Yujiro Takahashi vs. The Briscoes, Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay: Like the Guerrillas of Destiny and Hangman Page vs. Michael Elgin and War Machine match, this was perfectly average but did little to entertain me or to justify its inclusion on the card, other than Bullet Club is still over huge. This match was comedy, stalling and Cody getting a win the night after losing to Okada. The cross Rhodes on Ospreay looked amazing though. The closing stretch where it broke down and every one did cool moves saved this, but again, it’s nothing you need to see and if short on time, you can give it a skip. Bad Luck Fale, Cody, Marty Scurll and Yujiro Takahashi defeated The Briscoes, Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay @ 15:59 via pin [**½]

Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Billy Gunn: I was not a fan of the match when it was announced, and their interactions on night one were scary bad, with Gunn almost injuring Tanahashi. While not bad, this certainly wasn’t good. The match was a complete waste of Tanahashi on the weekend; it felt long with Gunn working with all of the enthusiasm of a top of the hour 1998 Raw match. There was no drama, no real fire and then they pulled each other’s pants down, because comedy. Don’t watch this, save yourself the time and get a root canal or something equally as fun. I did not need to see Tanahashi vs. William Ass in the year of our lord 2017. And I say this as someone who liked Gunn’s work in the 2016 world tag league. This was a huge mistake by the NJPW office. Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Billy Gunn @ 14:25 via pin [**]

Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii: And so we came to the main event of the NJPW visit to the US, the finals of the US Title tournament; it was the exact match that I would have booked not only because both guys are great and not just because they have a great history, but because a guy like Ishii makes Omega up his game that much more in terms of creativity and atmosphere in a match. It had long been rumored that Omega would be the face of the North American expansion, he can cut a promo, he can speak Japanese and the Japanese have embraced him as a star. He can represent both sides of the coin very well, and his association with the Bucks can be a huge drawing card in the US. I keep discussing how under appreciated Tomohiro Ishii is by much of the fan base, and that continues to be the case and 99% of the talk was focused on Omega. Ishii is one of if not the most consistent performers of the last 3-4 years, always delivering, working as an iron man, and always putting on high caliber matches just like this. But he’s not Tanahashi, Okada, Shibata, Omega or Naito (who have all been really great for the last few years) so he has been not only overlooked, but in a way he’s almost been disrespected.

Omega and Ishii have developed such a great chemistry that their matches almost feel effortless, that is until they start lighting into each other and the aggression and intensity starts to grow, and grow, and grow. This match, like their others, doesn’t rely on basic face vs. heel dynamics, it’s the competition and sporting nature, like a real fight, that is played out through the rams of pro wrestling. Ishii takes the defacto babyface role in these matches, he’s so fired up and awesome that he’s impossible to ignore because he pulls you into his matches so easily. But on the flip side, when his opponent takes control, Ishii’s selling is second to none and he becomes one of the best babyfaces in wrestling; his struggles, his emotion, his facial expressions are all so on point that this man beast does something that other monstrous characters just can’t do; he can gain sympathy and his selling is just so real and believable. Lots of guys talk about being artists, but Ishii really is one.

The match had all of the hard-hitting action I expected; it had great counters, great drama and great moments. In the Ishii vs. Sabre match I spoke about the great submission/struggle spot by Ishii. They did a great spot here, which was in ways even better. Omega tried to German suplex Ishii off the apron and through the table, but Ishii kept fighting. Omega the tried to work his hand off the ropes and work for other suplexes, but Ishii kept fighting. Omega was finally looking for the dragon suplex and got Ishii’s hands off the ropes. But Ishii kept fighting and BIT DOWN ON THE ROPES to try and save himself in the ultimate act of desperation. Omega finally was able to fight and suplex him through the table in an incredible dramatic spot. They then played hard off of their previous matches in an insane closing stretch, filled with counters, V triggers and Ishii even stealing the one winged angel. But Omega was just too much, Ishii fought an amazing battle but eventually fell to the V trigger and one winged angel. This was absolutely fantastic, easily on par with their previous matches this year (also ****¾). This was worked with deeper sense of urgency, they played off of the previous matches very well and even improved on some of the minor flaws they had, but both were also content to not go balls to the wall, because they had each tasted defeat as they were tied 1-1 this year, so they were trying to be smarter. You really couldn’t have asked for a better match to close out the US debut, Ishii continues to be amazing, Omega continues to deliver in the big time matches and this was just amazing to set him up as the first US champion. Kenny Omega defeated Tomohiro Ishii @ 31:20 via pin to become the first ever IWGP US Heavyweight Champion [****¾]

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

The second NJPW G1 Special in The USA was another great event, completing a successful weekend for the company. The IWGP US Heavyweight Championship already feels like a legit title, Omega is the face of the US expansion, and the company delivered two overall great events to show that they have a lot to offer wrestling fans.