wrestling / TV Reports

Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup – First Round 2015 Review

March 7, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
6
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup – First Round 2015 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.

 photo NJPW Logo_zpsavga7ohe.jpg

NJPW New Japan Cup – First Round Review 3.05.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Sho Tanaka defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA, Yohei Komatsu & Jay White at 8:04 when Dorada pinned White with a Corkscrew Senton Bomb [**½]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Yujiro Takahashi defeated YOSHI-HASHI at 7:56 with the Tokyo Pimps [*]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Togi Makabe defeated Tomoaki Honma at 10:08 with the King Kong Knee Drop [***½]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Katsuyori Shibata pinned Satoshi Kojima at 8:55 with the Penalty Kick [***½]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Hirooki Goto pinned Yuji Nagata at 11:24 with the Shouten Kai [***¾]
* Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba d. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan at 11:46 when Ishii pinned Captain with the Brainbuster [***]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Kota Ibushi pinned Doc Gallows at 8:47 with a hurricanrana cradle [**]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Tetsuya Naito pinned Karl Anderson at 12:11 with the Stardust Press [****]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Toru Yano pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi at 2:46 with a hair pull [NR]
* New Japan Cup First Round Match: Bad Luck Fale pinned Kazuchika Okada at 16:30 with the Bad Luck Fale [**]


Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Sho Tanaka defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA, Yohei Komatsu & Jay White at 8:04 when Dorada pinned White with a Corkscrew Senton Bomb: So depending on what team won, we all knew that Sho Tanaka or Jay White were taking the loss here right? Cool. In many ways this was your usual NJPW multi-man tag match opener. Ryusuke Taguchi still frustrates me and is not all that enjoyable to watch, and due to it being an eight man I felt it got a bit too chaotic at times. And not wacky and fun Dragon Gate chaotic, I mean sloppy chaotic. I am enjoying getting to see more Mascara Dorada, who is in for the year and scored the win here in a fine, but this was a forgettable and really, not needed opening match.

Yujiro Takahashi defeated YOSHI-HASHI at 7:56 with the Tokyo Pimps: I was hopeful that we’d have a better match and really get things going here, but we got Takahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI instead. They worked a really slow match that I did not enjoy. Takahashi hit the Miami shine and then YOSHI-HASHI FUCKING KICKED OUT! Bad New Japan, that’s a very bad New Japan. You guys have done such a good job of protecting finishes, and then you do this in the first round of a tournament in the show’s second match. Good day sir. I SAID GOOD DAY.

Togi Makabe defeated Tomoaki Honma at 10:08 with the King Kong Knee Drop: I am not gonna lie, I was hoping that Tomoaki Honma was going to make a run in this thing, but alas, I was denied. They had a fun match that was easy to get into, the stiff forearm battle, some good work on the knee by Makabe, the Kokeshi teases from Honma. They had a good match and one that made me forget about the bullshit I just watched. This wasn’t one of those amazing MOTY wars or anything, but a really good third match on the card presentation. While I am disappointed that Honma lost, it makes sense for Makabe to win. He was stripped of the NEVER title due to illness and not being able to defend the title, and then Ishii won the title. Makabe possibly winning the tournament to challenge for the NEVER title does make sense.

Katsuyori Shibata pinned Satoshi Kojima at 8:55 with the Penalty Kick: After the first two matches came off as disappointing overall, the last two matches did a very good job of turning things around. Neither were MOTY style stuff, but the presentation of the work feels crisp and real and brought me into the matches though the beauty of violence. They tried to destroy each other with forearms and teased a countout early, which I liked because it wasn’t mindless crowd brawling for the sake of doing it. This was just a fun and smooth match, with Shibata using the sleeper, GTS and penalty kick to finish off Kojima. This was a good looking finish and I felt that this ended at the right time.

Hirooki Goto pinned Yuji Nagata at 11:24 with the Shouten Kai: Every time I consider counting Yuji Nagata out, he ends up delivering in a good match and tonight was another one of those times. Nagata’s left arm was all taped up, and Goto worked that early in the match. Nagata did things like using he hair to escape to sell his desperation and injury, which was appreciated. Nagata pulled an arm bar later, which the crowd loved, but Goto was able to reach the ropes. The final few minutes featured both men just brutalizing each other, leading to Goto hitting the Shouten Kai to put Nagata away. Nagata sold the frustration of the loss well, and made it mean something. This was the best match on the show thus far, and overall things have really turned around.

Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba d. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan at 11:46 when Ishii pinned Captain with the Brainbuster: And we jump back into tag team action to break up the tournament bouts, which I am fine with. This was another good match, but not quite as good as the previous few. Tenzan and Ishii did a head butt battle, because they could. Nakanishi got some run against Nakamura and Sakuraba, and had some fun exchanges there. Ishii pinned Captain New Japan with the brain buster, and all is right with the world. It was fun.

Kota Ibushi pinned Doc Gallows at 8:47 with a hurricanrana cradle: I really enjoy Doc Gallows as a tag guy, but his singles outings have disappointed regularly. In the G1 he had chances to step up against some of the best workers in the world and failed, and basically I felt he did again on this show. Was the match bad? No. But was it just a match that did nothing to pull me in or make me invested in it. I also feel that they really failed to capitalize on and work a match that really played on the size difference. I didn’t exactly hate it, but I also didn’t really like it. Moving on…

Tetsuya Naito pinned Karl Anderson at 12:11 with the Stardust Press: This was you match of the night. Take everything I say about Gallows, and Anderson is the opposite. The man seems to always make the most out of his singles opportunities, and he did so again here tonight. I really believe he had a chance for the big push if he didn’t have to keep playing second fiddle to Devitt, AJ and others. Not that those guys were undeserving, but Anderson is really good and should get the shot. They worked hard; they worked a good pace and simply worked well together. For the most part it felt effortless, and the match flew by. They had a great near fall as Naito went for a super RANA, but had it countered into a superbomb by Anderson. This was so, so good. Naito hit the Stardust Press to move on, but Anderson again made the most of his singles opportunity.

Toru Yano pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi at 2:46 with a hair pull: Yano has this dick head heel shtick where he hits a low blow and cradles the guy for wins, and even did it in the G1 this past year. They did some basic wrestling, and a little over a minute in he did it and got a near fall. He then did a ton of cradles and roll ups, all of which were kicked out of. And then, Tanahashi was about to hit the ropes, Yano pulled his hair to slam him to the mat and covered for the pin. Toru Yano pinned THE FORMER MULTIPLE TIME IWGP CHAMPION Hiroshi Tanahashi at 2:46 with a fucking hair pull. UUUUUUUUUUGH. I have no issue with the upset in theory, and I have no issue with shenanigans as Yano has established his deal, but I absolutely hated that this happened that way it happened in under three minutes. I get that they wanted to deliver an anything can happen vibe, but I felt that this came off as completely ridiculous. There have been constant rumors that Tanahashi has been working hurt forever, but if that was the case and they wanted him out early, it would have been better to not even include him. I did not like this at all.

Bad Luck Fale pinned Kazuchika Okada at 16:30 with the Bad Luck Fale: Following his loss at Wrestle Kingdom, Kazuchika Okada has been a sad panda and Fale has been trying to make his life a living hell. They’ve worked a bunch of tag matches to build to this and now we’re here. This match felt long, and not in a good way. Okada is really good, but Nakamura got so much more out of Fale in their singles bouts. This was a struggle, and then Fale won and that was that. I expected Fale to win the first match here, but I also expected Okada to work some magic and that we’d get an enjoyable match. I was wrong. As a regular match it is rough but acceptable, but as a main event it fails big time on any card, but especially a NJPW one.

* For those of you that have asked about a way to read up and learn more about New Japan Pro Wrestling, I highly suggest the Voices of Wrestling NJPW 2014: Year in Review eBook.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

 photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
This felt like a tale of two shows, one good and one not good. Makabe vs. Honma, Shibata vs. Kojima, Goto vs. Nagata and Ibushi vs. Anderson are the matches you need to see. The Nakamura tag match was also enjoyable. The opening tag was unnecessary and should have been a pre-show match or left off the card, the Takahashi match was bad, the booking of the Tanahashi match was horrible and the main event severely disappointed. Those last two matches really hurt the show in my opinion. After weighing the good and the bad, I will call this an average show. If you have New Japan World, cherry-pick the matches I mentioned and wait for the next round of the tournament. You don’t want to watch the final two matches.
legend