Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 7.22.16

NJPW on AXS TV Review 7.22.16

– The matches this week come from the 2015 New Japan Pro Wrestling Destruction in Kobe event.

– Tetsuya Naito will be our guest for interviews this week.

IWGP IC Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Champion Hirooki Goto @ 22:56 via pin to become the NEW Champion [****¼]: This was the best match on this entire show. Both guys felt as if they were really on their game, working a really pleasing back and forth battle as they tried to make the entire package fit together. In previous outings they have had lackluster beginnings and or middles, which felt as if they were killing time until they could open up and hit all f the shit for the closing stretch. This really felt like a cohesive and complete match, which was good to see from these two. I felt that they had it in them, but they just weren’t able to put the pieces together for some reason until today. It’s a cool thing to see guys have good matches, but finally find the right things to do to have a great match. Goto was able to survive the arm submission attempts by Nakamura, but the boma ye was still there to use, and it is what ultimately brought the title back to Nakamura. The final few minutes were pretty spectacular, good callbacks to the previous matches and great work by both guys. Post match, Karl Anderson challenged Nakamura to a title match, which was accepted. YEAOH! I loved that, because Karl Anderson getting chances to shine in big time singles matches was something I always loved. I miss New Japan Karl.

– Tetsuya Naito explained that he had been making up for his loss in the G1, and since Shibata had called him out, he wanted to finish things. Naito is too traquillo to hate Shibata, but he is on a different path and basically, he liked messing around with Shibata.

Tetsuya Naito defeated Katsuyori Shibata @ 11:50 via pin [***]: This was an interesting match, in that it wasn’t nearly as good as I had hoped it would be, but give no fucks Naito is greatly entertaining. The build for the match I felt was good, and this came off in another step to a longer, and hopefully more heated match down the line. Naito was a cheating bastard here, using a low blow after taking the ref, and then another before hitting destino for the big win. It was good for what it was, and the post match featured Naito beating up Jay White (attending to Shibata) and a cameraman, leading to Shibata attacking post match. This was all about setting the stage for the new Naito, and it did that.

– In the final interview, Naito explains that he had fun, and that Shibata should thank him.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

This was a good show, with Nakamura vs. Goto being the must see match this week.