Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 4.22.16

NJPW on AXS TV Review 4.22.16

– The match this week comes from the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dominion (7.05.15) event

– Kazuchika Okada will be the special guest for interviews this week. He speaks on the important of NJPW running Osaka Jo Hall for the first time in 21-years, and the fact that he got to man event the show. In regards to AJ Styles, he is a great wrestler and everyone knows it, but he stole his title with help of Bullet Club. He knew that in order to get the title back, that he would have to be on the top of his game and be one step ahead of Styles and Bullet Club.

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Kazuchika Okada defeated Champion AJ Styles @ 26:00 via pin to become the NEW Champion [*****]: The Dominion show, prior to this main event, was already a great event with some excellent matches on the show. Okada and AJ were constantly delivering, and I expected an excellent match here, but they blew me away with a five star, match of the year special. These men are so great, and work so well together that it almost comes across as effortless on their part. Bullet Club tried to get involved early, but red shoes kicked then out and even tossed a crotch shop their way in doing so. In my original review, I had discussed the build and drama of Nakamura and Goto, but this match did that and took it to another level as they continually played off of each other, their past matches and everything simply clicked. Tremendous action, an awesome crowd and unparalleled drama made this one of the year’s best matches so far. The final five minutes or so was simply beautiful, filled with constant counters and a tremendous atmosphere that rarely gets achieved. Okada connected with the rainmaker, a German suplex and one more rainmaker to finally put Styles away and recapture the title. The match was 26-minutes and never felt long, they pulled me in from the opening bell and delivered a match worthy of the main event spot on any show; it was easily one of the top 4-5 matches of 2015. This was also the culmination of Okada rising back to the top after his emotionally crushing failure at Wrestle Kingdom, where he broke down in tears when he lost his chance to beat Tanahashi. This was pro wrestling done right. That’s not a slam at any other promotion, but the look, the feel, the reactions, everything they did; it was simply excellent. One of the big draw backs to AJ coming to WWE is that I don’t get to see more Okada matches, they developed a special chemistry and did it quickly. This match was an excellent example of the maturation of AJ Styles as a complete performer. If you haven’t seen the match, make a point to do so. Finally, Ross and Barnett were excellent on commentary here and added a lot to the match. They have developed an excellent chemistry, with Barnett being more active than he was with Ranallo and Ross delivering the big call he is known for. I may have loved this even more on this viewing, and they were a big part of that.

– We get the post match comments from Gedo, who is fired the fuck up after that match, and who can blame him? RAINMAKER! We also got Okada’s post match presser comments, where he said he couldn’t beat AJ for a long time and finally overcame. He also loved performing in front of the big audience at the venue.

– In the final interview, Kazuchika Okada admits to being nervous, due to the venue and the pressure of drawing the crowd. But when he got out there, it was a great feeling and even better when he got his title back from the man that took it from him. People all over the world know Styles and his skill level; he is a very talented performer and was grateful to face him because he had to up his game.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

10.0

The final score: review Virtually Perfect

The 411

Simply perfect.