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Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 5.12.17

May 13, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
KUSHIDA
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Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 5.12.17  

Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 5.12.17

KUSHIDA is the guest for interviews this week.

Super Junior Tag Tournament Final: Roppongi Vice defeated ACH & Taiji Ishimori @ 18:40 via pin [****]: Romero and Ishimori to begin, with Roppongi again teasing issues and arguing. Barreta tagged in and worked ACH, but ACH ran into double knees and the Roppongi dropkicked Ishimori to the floor. Big dive from Barreta as Roppongi gets back on the same page. Ach tripped up Barreta on the apron, he took a wild bump on that and ACH and Ishimori worked him over on the floor. Back in the ring, ACH and Ishimori took the heat on Barreta for a bit; he finally fought them off and got the tag to Romero, who hit a running sliced bread on Ishimori for a near fall. Ishimori hen countered sliced bread in the corner and it a spin kick. Romero then set Ishimori in the corner and tried his Nakamura tribute, but got cut off. Ishimori and ACH then hit Germans on both for the near fall. They went up top, but the 450s got cut off. Ishimori hit a big dive to the floor onto Romero. ACH and Ishimori looked to isolate Romero, Barreta made the save but he then got sent to the floor and ate an ACH dive. Ishimori set Romero up top and hit a Spanish fly variation for a good near fall. Ishimori looked to continue the attack, but Romero dropped to the mat. ACH in, Romero told them “FUCK YOU” and ate kicks. They hit corner clotheslines, and then Romero sent Ishimori into ACH. Roppongi scored with double knees to ACH, Ishimori fought off strong zero and then set Romero up top. Ishimori followed and Romero tried to fight him off and then Barreta snagged him up and Roppongi hit this wild Burning Hammer/knee drop combo for good near fall. ACH tagged in, and ran right into chops from Barreta. ACH fired back and hit the lumbar check. He and Romero went back and forth, with Romero hitting forever clotheslines. ACH then hit the lariat, and then the Sasuke special to both on the floor. ACH and Ishimori went for the 450s, but ate knees and Roppongi rolled them up for 2. Romero and ACH traded strikes center ring, Romero then fired up and was feeling no pain. He fought off the brain buster and hit the jumping knee. ACH fought back with a head kick ad brain buster for the near fall. ACH up top now but Barreta ran up and hit the release German. Romero hit the dive onto Ishimori. ACH fought, but Roppongi hit strong zero to a great reaction and picked up the win. This was an excellent match, with ACH & Taiji Ishimori again having a great outing and bringing great fire out of Roppongi. They did a good job playing off of the Roppongi issues early, allowing ACH & Taiji Ishimori to get a lot of run before Roppongi was able to get in the same page and overcome. They also did a great job of constantly building into the end and not blowing everything early. The finish felt as if it came at the perfect time. It’s easy to say that ACH and Ishimori “should have won,” but with NOAH being sold and the nature of the relationship changing, staying with Roppongi was the safe call. Also, they had set the stage for a Roppongi break up, but instead of going with what everyone thought they were going to do, they opted to tell the story of a team, two friends, that were having a bad go of things and had to fight through to overcome. This was great stuff.

NEVER Openweight Title Match: EVIL defeated Champion Katsuyori Shibata @ 17:17 via pin [****]: They beat the hell out of each other early, gong back and forth with strikes and more power based moves. Shibata then kicked EVIL in the face and sent him to the floor. When Shibata followed to the floor, he was in EVIL’s world, and EVIL attacked the taped up shoulder and used the chair to wrap around his arm and post him. We got a countout tease, and then when Shibata returned, EVIL kept attacking the arm and shoulder. EVIL then started to kick away at Shibata, who dared him to keep attacking and even brushed it off. Shibata fired up, hitting corner strikes and the running dropkicks. Shibata then face washed him several times a she took control back. Shibata then slowed things down, working the abdominal stretch. EVIL didn’t appreciate that, fought out and worked over Shibata in the corner. Shibata is so great in what he does, nothing overly elaborate, jus a stiff shot here and there, a kick to the face and he’s back in control. Shibata tried for the sleeper, but EVIL scored with the belly to back suplex to cut him off. EVIL I coming off particularly brutal here today, and I dig it. EVIL hits the sitout powerbomb for the near fall. They did some great counter work, with Shibata countering the STO and scoring with one of his own. He was slow to follow up, trying to shake out the arm, which allowed EVIL to lay in some strikes. They traded center ring, just beating the hell out of each other. EVIL would keep going back to the arm, escaped the sleeper once but Shibata went for it again. EVIL pulled away at the injured arm to try and escape, started to fade and then Shibata killed him with the sleeper suplex. EVIL rolled to the floor, Shibata followed and Evil tossed the ref into him and then hit a belt shot. EVIL then tossed chairs into the ring, wrapped one around Shibata’s head and then hit it off with the other chair. The fisherman’s buster followed and got 2. EVIL then hit the STO and picked up the win. That was a really important win and performance for EVIL. He’s had some great outings, but really felt as if things were coming together here against Shibata. The ending took away a bit for me, I don’t thin it was needed and also feel that EVIL winning clean in a hard fought battle does more for him, but they worked the right match, they got a great crowd response and it was different from everything else on the show and that made it feel fresh/more important.

KUSHIDA discusses losing the title to BUSHI in his hometown. KUSHIDA then discusses having to take a month off to heal up a neck injury from LIJ’s attacks. BUSHI thought he may be too weak to challenge, and while he didn’t have a lot of preparation for the rematch, he was desperate to win.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: KUSHIDA defeated Champion BUSHI @ 15:00 via submission [***¾]: They of course brawled to the floor early because it’s an Ingobernable match. But instead of BUSHI getting control right away, KUSHIDA took the advantage and hit a piledriver on the floor. Back in, BUSHI avoided a charge and hit the back stabber out of the corner. KUSHIDA was sent to the floor, where he favored his taped up shoulder. When he returned, BUSHI did the shirt choke spot and then worked a guillotine. KUSHIDA made the ropes and then BUSHI ripped off his shoulder tape. BUSHI hit another backstabber as he continues to work the shoulder and back. BUSHI then started to kick away at the arm of BUSHI, and ht the flatliner to the corner. They traded kicks in the corner, battled up top and then KUSHIDA role doff the top into the hover board lock. He transitioned into the arm bar, but BUSHI rolled and made the ropes. KUSHIDA continued to work the arm, they traded strikes and kicks center ring and BUSHI then sent KUSHIDA to the floor and followed with the suicide dive. Back in, BUSHI hit the missile dropkick and corner knee strike, which got a near fall. BUSHI went for the code breaker, KUSHIDA countered and then they worked reversals and BUSHI locked in the guillotine again. KUSHIDA fought it off and finally made the rope. Code breaker by BUSHI, and KUSHIDA kicks out at two. BUSHI to the second rope and then ht the code breaker again, but KUSHIDA survived again. BUSHI then went up top; KUSHIDA avoided him this time and jacked him in the jaw with a big right. He then tried to rip off BUSHI’s mask to a big heel reaction. They traded strikes again, and BUSHI hit the destroyer for a near fall. BUSHI up top, but he jumps into a lung blower and then a cradle from KUSHIDA for a near fall. KUSHIDA then hit the PK and then locked in the hover board lock. BUSHI fought, he rolled, but KUSHIDA kept the hold and looked to escape. KUSHIDA rolled a final time and BUSHI gave up. This was an overall very good match, but never got great. It felt too much like the KUSHIDA revenge show so that he could move on to something else. I was not a fan of the booking, because BUSHI comes off as the random challenger of the month and doesn’t feel like a main player in the division with the short title run, but he’s always come off as the second tier junior to me. The booking of the division was still struggling at this time, thankfully Takahashi arrived and business picked up. While very good, this match felt as if it was lacking something to put it over the top into great territory. The Time Bomb went off and we got that sweet jazz flute; the artist formerly known as Kamaitachi arrived. Going forward, he is Hiromu Takahashi. He challenged KUSHIDA for the Dome. KUSHIDA accepted, and awesome things happened thanks to Takahashi.

– In the final interview, KUSHIDA admitted that he was more relieved than happy with his title victory. But time doesn’t stand still, and he had to prepare for a new challenger. That excited him for what was to come in 2017.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
Very good show this week, with everything being worth the watch. It’s wild how quickly some things change, the NOAH relationship fell apart due to it’s sale, Shibata may never wrestle again and Takahashi has become the breakout star the junior division needed.
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