Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 8.26.16

NJPW on AXS TV Review 8.26.16

– The matches this week come from the 2015 New Japan Pro Wrestling Power Struggle event.

– Tomohiro Ishii will be our guest for interviews this week.

IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Karl Anderson @ 21:37 via pin [****]: They had a lot to follow, but delivered a very good main event. I know that everyone loves to praise Nakamura, but Anderson is a good big match wrestler, seemingly always making the best of his opportunities. The thing here was since Nakamura had the big challenge out there for WrestleKingdom, and there being tons of rumors of who the opponent would be, he wasn’t losing here. So the degree of difficulty is a bit more for the performers, as they need to make you believe Anderson could win for it to really be a success. They kept the Bullet Club shenanigans to a minimum, mainly using it early to give Anderson the heat and to set Nakamura up to fight from the bottom. Anderson scored with a running apron powerbomb at one point, which had to suck for Nakamura but it looked cool. Anderson does great counters revolving around his finish in big time matches; they did that here, including a sweet arm bar counter by Nakamura. They worked hard, they delivered a very good match and I enjoyed it. Anderson knows his role; he works hard, gets to look good in these matches but also makes the bigger star look great when they finally conquer him. I miss new Japan Karl. We also got the set up for the Tokyo Dome match with AJ Styles.

– Tomohiro Ishii says that Honma beat him in the G1, and he beat Makabe, so the time was right for the match. He was ashamed that he lost to a man with such a losing streak.

NEVER Openweight Title Match: Champion Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma @ 17:26 via [****¼]: These two faced off back at the New Beginning in Sendai event, in what I felt was a five star match. They didn’t get quite to that level here, but they once again delivered an awesome match. This had everything I wanted from these two, they put on a real battle of warriors with brutal strikes, sequences that look as if they are going to kill each other, head butts and some really well done near falls. The real treat is watching these guys work a match that makes the live crowd believe in Honma and his chances of winning, in many ways the Ishii matches did this the best as the crowd was amazing here. And they again did that here, as Honma pulled out all of the stops, including the Kokeshi from the top rope all the way to the floor. As with many Honma matches, the Kokeshi is the salvation but at the same time his damnation; he missed late with it and ate the brainbuster, and Ishii retained after an amazingly well done and hot home stretch. These guys ruled it as I expected, and I thought the fresh commentary did a great job of adding to an already excellent match.

– In the final interview, Tomohiro Ishii says that it was a natural result that he won. He doesn’t care about Honma at all, be was on the way to the Tokyo Dome

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

If you haven’t watched these matches already, this is a must see show.