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Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 2.24.17
Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 2.24.17
IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Briscoes defeated Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa @ 14:00 via pin to become the NEW champions [**½]: Mark Briscoe in Japan is so much fun, he feels even more energetic and like he’s having the time of his life. The saddest thing here is that the crowd, which was really hot all evening, has died because of Tonga and Loa. They went back and forth for the first three minutes until Jay hit a dive, and then the Briscoes started to double team Tonga and got a near fall. The champions eventually got Mark to the floor, used a chair shot and then Loa powerbombed Jay onto the apron. That had to suck. The champions took the heat, well they took control because there was no heat because no one cared here. There was some energy when the Briscoes were in control, but when the champions take over it just dies. They seemingly worked over Mark forever, and we finally got the tag to Jay. Jay ran wild, the Briscoes have been working their asses off but the crowd does not care and they can only do so much with Loa. The Briscoes isolated Tonga, Loa ran in and was then tossed to the floor. The Briscoes went for the doomsday device, but Loa knocked Mark off the top and then the champions hit a double team neck breaker for a near fall. They then hit the doomsday blockbuster for a near fall as Jay made the save. After some back and forth Jay hit the Jay driller on Loa for a near fall. The Briscoes finally hit the doomsday device and won the titles. I give the Briscoes a lot of credit, they managed to get the dead crowd to start caring near the end; it took a lot for them to do so, but they did it. It wasn’t a bad match; it just felt very average despite the Briscoes’ best efforts. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa were still very rough at this stage, but have thankfully improved.
IWGP NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata defeated Champion Yuji Nagata @ 14:53 via pin to become the NEW champion [****¼]: Nagata is accompanied to the ring by the rest of the NEW JAPAN DADS (Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi). After a slow feeling out process, both lit into each other with strikes and kicks. They then transitioned into some grappling, with Shibata working for an arm bar, but when he got it, Nagata got the ropes. Shibata kept the focus on the arm, laying in kicks to the shoulder and challenging the champion to fight back. Nagata finally fired back with a series of kicks to a downed Shibata, who repeatedly called Nagata on to deliver more. Shibata then fought back with a series of running corner kicks and forearm strikes. The crowd cheered for Nagata to get back to his feet, where they traded devastating forearm strikes. They both popped up from and no sold suplexes, leading to a big double down spot, which fired up the crowd big time. Shibata then went back to the arm, and even shoved the ref away as he worked over Nagata in the corner. Shibata worked the sleeper, Nagata somehow powered out but Shibata fired away with more kicks and a bridging German suplex for a near fall. Nagata escaped the sleeper, avoided the PK and slid into the arm bar. The eyes rolled back in his head and the crowd loved this, but Shibata made the ropes. Nagata laid in the kicks and then ht the backdrop driver for a great near fall. Nagata then hit the brainbuster and PK, but picked up Shibata for more abuse. Shibata countered the backdrop driver, they traded strikes center ring and Shibata got the sleeper. Nagata rolled, but Shibata kept holding on for dear life. Nagata slowly started to fade… PK from Shibata, and we have a new champion. Post match Shibata bows to Nagata, and Nagata hugs him. Kojima, Tenzan and Nakanishi all enter the ring and clap for Shibata, showing their approval. Shibata shakes all of their hands and bows to them. Shibata gets the endorsement from the old guard, the commentator is crying, the crowd was insane; this is the shit that makes you love wrestling. That was an awesome, hard hitting match that took you on an emotional ride as Nagata fought to prove that he and his generation were still relevant; the crowd was fully into it and reacted to even the smallest of things. This told an amazing story and took you on one hell of an emotional ride, I loved it. This was one of my favorite NJPW angles of 2016.
– KUSHIDA praised Ospreay for his abilities in the ring and fact that he can adapt so well during matches. He also praised his match with Taguchi, and was proud of what they accomplished. He wanted the BOTSJ finals to be recognized as something important, and looked forward to the match.
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: Champion KUSHIDA defeated Will Ospreay @ 14:40 via submission [****]: They did a lot of back and forth, fast paced grappling early. Really nice work from both, slowly picking the pace up as they worked and doing some nice variations on the basics. As Ospreay worked for a handstand, KUSHIDA kicked the hell out of his arm and sent him to the floor. KUSHIDA immediately went to work on the arm, dragging Ospreay back in and using the hanging kimura. KUSHIDA was doing some nice focused work, and then Ospreay hit the handless handspring off the ropes into the kick to cut off the champion’s momentum. That’s a great sell and callback to their first match. Ospreay then followed with the Sasuke special, and the action returned to the ring with KUSHIDA going back after the arm with vicious kicks. They then both fired up and went into an insane striking exchange, leading to a cartwheel kick by KUSHIDA. Strong story here, as on top of the arm work, KUSHIDA is staying one step ahead of the challenger, learning from their first match. They did some really great back and forth counter stuff, from the back handspring, into the electric chair, then a powerbomb and RANA tease and finally into a code red. The pacing kept escalating here, with Ospreay digging deep into his bag of tricks to string enough together to get KUSHIDA down, but only getting the near falls. The story then became that both men had learned from the original match, leading to a series of counters (some not so clean), Ospreay hitting the Spanish fly, but KUSHIDA turning it into a cross arm breaker. KUSHIDA transitioned to a triangle, Ospreay powered him up and struggled a bit but then turned it into an inverted lung blower. Ospreay hit the shooting star press for the near fall. KUSHIDA would counter the jumping cutter into the hover board lock, and then roll Ospreay back center ring and Ospreay had to tap. This was a great match, but not as good as their first meeting. Some of the exchanges felt a little off at times, not bad or totally botchy, but not nearly as clean as the first meeting. As for the booking, Ospreay didn’t have to win yet, just look great, which he did.
– In the post match interview, Ospreay was upset that he let his countrymen down after being a hero to them by winning the BOTSJ tournament.
– In the final interview, KUSHIDA, put over Ospreay for being a student of the game and the fact that he had to work so hard to outwit him to retain the title. He admitted that he was desperate at times to keep up, and was even a bit afraid. The crowd helped him overcome, and he still has goals that he wants to work towards.
– End scene.
– Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
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