Csonka’s NJPW on AXS TV Review 9.23.16

NJPW on AXS TV Review 9.23.16

– The matches this week come from the 2016 New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW Road to the Tokyo Dome (12.19.15) event.

– Hiroshi Tanahashi and his fabulous hair are our guests for the evening’s interviews.

CMLL World Welterweight Championship Match: BUSHI defeated Champion Mascara Dorada @ 12:12 via pin [***]: This is a match for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship, which is a title that means both jack and shit. Dorada had the title for a year, and since he’d been in NJ, hadn’t defended the thing once. Prestigious! This was a solid but completely unspectacular match. Los Ingobernables basically became Bullet Club 2.0 here, as EVIL distracted the ref, allowing BUSHI to use a low blow for a near fall. This became a trend and we didn’t need two stables doing the same act. BUSHI jumped off the top rope and hit the MX (codebreaker) to pick up the win and get the title. I was really down on the match last year, and in hindsight feel that it is slightly better than what I rated it last year, but it came across as a good but disappointing match built around the bullshit of Los Ingobernables, and that really hurts it.

– Hiroshi Tanahashi and his fabulous hair discussed facing AJ Styles in August and then won the G1, he is very confident but it has been hard on him There is no time to be tired a she works the final main event of 2015, he does it to thank the fans and felt he had to win.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata defeated Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii @ 23:02 via pin [****]: Once again the main event of the show was worth your time, with everyone working hard to deliver a fun and quality match with a ton of energy and a real sense of urgency. This was obviously designed to sell the IWGP and NEVER title matches at WK 10, and in that aspect it also worked. They did the title match pair offs at different points, giving the fans a taste of what is to come, including some tremendous exchanges from Shibata and Ishii. It then broke down during the home stretch, including Ishii suplexing Tanahashi to the floor. Tanahashi would battle back and Okada got taken out, leading to Tanahashi and Shibata double teaming Ishii. After a hot closing stretch, we got the Ushigoroshi from Shibata, high fly flow from Tanahashi and then the PK from Shibata signaled the end for the NEVER champion. The challengers stood tall heading into the big WK 10 event after delivering the only thing you need to watch on this event and providing a nice final build for two of the biggest matches on the January 4th show.

– Post match Shibata thanks the fans for their support, and then allowed Tanahashi to close out the year. Tanahashi called Okada into the ring so that they could have the big final confrontation before WrestleKingdon. Tanahashi basically didn’t give a shit about anything Okada, other then to tell him that he would beat that ass as the take the title at WrestleKingdom. Both promised to take NJPW to a higher stage, and Tanahashi asked who was the man to do it. he then said it will be settled at the Tokyo Dome.

– In the final interview, Hiroshi Tanahashi and his fabulous hair spoke about the tag with Shibata and says that the Shibata and Ishii feud has a great dynamic and is very exciting. He says he and Okada had faced man times, but that the WK 10 match was a year in the making. He had to overcome a lot, and he felt refreshed. There was no heel or face, just two men battling to take things to the next level. Tanahashi is always great on these interviews, every time I feel he’s on them too much, he says some cool shit and I forgive him.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

7.3

The final score: review Good

The 411

It’s a good, but far from must see show this week. Next week is when the WK 10 coverage begins, and that is well worth your time; it begins with AJ vs. Nakamra....