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Csonka’s NJPW Road to Destruction Review 9.04.15

September 4, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
6.5
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s NJPW Road to Destruction Review 9.04.15  

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NJPW Road to Destruction Review 9.04.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– David Finlay Jr. defeated Jay White @ 9:45 via submission [***¼]
– Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yohei Komatsu @ 10:40 via pin [***]
– Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Tomoaki Honma, Jushin Thunder Liger & Captain New Japan @ 13:10 via pin [**½]
– Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata & Tiger Mask IV defeated Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito & Juice Robinson @ 9:45 via pin [***]
– Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano defeated Tama Tonga & Cody Hall @ 8:15 via pin [**]
– Shinsuke Nakamura, Rocky Romero & Barreta defeated Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada @ 9:10 via pin [**½]
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & KUSHIDA defeated Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega @ 16:13 via pin [***½]


* NOTE: If you’re new to New Japan, and are wondering what the hell all of the tags are about, I will explain. #1, this is essentially a house show that they opted to air on New Japan World, with no commentary. #2, these “Road to” shows are essentially like a weekly TV show, similar to Smackdown. Their goal is to build to the next big NJPW shows, which are Destruction in Okayama on the 23rd and Destruction in Kobe on the 27th. The “Road to” shows will feature almost all tag matches that in some way help tease the big matches, along with some undercard matches with the young lions.

David Finlay Jr. defeated Jay White: Komatsu and Tanaka are the top of the young lion food chain, I love those guys and think that they have gotten really good; young Finlay and White are the next step down and are also doing very well. I really liked this match, it wasn’t flashy or anything that I haven’t seen before, it was two guys having a really good and technical wrestling match, where one left the winner. It had a different feel to it than the rest of the card, and just felt like a nice way to open the show. Young Finlay scored the submission victory with a stretch muffler. This will be one of a ton of matches between these guys opening shows, but they have great chemistry and are constantly improving; it makes it fun to watch their journey and growth as performers.

Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yohei Komatsu: This was the veteran teaming with the young lion combo match, which gives some star power to get the crowd into it due to the stars, and allows the lions to carry the action and work with more experienced performers. This was another good match; everyone played their roles well with Komatsu and Tanaka showing that they can go with anyone. Nakanishi continues to be pretty much immobile, at one point he appeared like a planet and Tanaka was orbiting him like a small moon.

Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Tomoaki Honma, Jushin Thunder Liger & Captain New Japan: The quality dropped off a bit here, it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have the sizzle of the previous two matches. The highlights were Liger and Ishii and Ishii and Honma working together, they were easily the best parts of the match. Captain New Japan got his run towards the end, and of course, ate the pin like he was at an all you can eat buffet. The character is only there to lose, but does nothing for me anymore; he’s past his expiration date with me, I just have no interest.

Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata & Tiger Mask IV defeated Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito & Juice Robinson: The action picked back up for this match, again not great or anything, but an enjoyable match to be sure. Shibata Ibushi, Naito and Makabe really carried the action in this for me. Tiger Mask came off a bit slow, still recovering from the injury that took him out of the G1 tour. No one cared about Juice Robinson, he came off as just a guy in there and not one that really belonged. I am not writing him off yet, but his first outing was completely unimpressive. The match likely would have been really good with out him and Tiger Mask. It was fun overall.

Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano defeated Tama Tonga & Cody Hall: This was a night off match for Okada, as there wasn’t much happening here. The match felt like a 10:35PM Raw match, it existed with a few fun spots to keep the crowd interested. Okada pinned Hall, and it was fine.

Shinsuke Nakamura, Rocky Romero & Barreta defeated Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada: This was one of those matches that could have been really good, but the execution was flawed. The main goal was to hype the Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura IC Title match on the 27th, and it did that perfectly fine. Taguchi doing his ass styled mimicking of Nakamura is not funny, and he continues to be a parody of himself. At times, it felt as if Dorada and Taguchi were working singles matches with Romero and Baretta, which killed a lot of the flow at times. Nakamura also felt as if he was in night off mode, which is understandable after the G1 and his injury. The work was solid mostly but there were some flashes at times of really good; but overall this did not have the flow that some of the earlier matches had. Again, this wasn’t bad, it was about what you’d expect on a show of this level.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & KUSHIDA defeated Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega: The main event was one of the best matches on the show, along with the opener. The action and pacing were good, and at a level that kept things in what felt like a constant state of motion; it didn’t feel like a lot of down or wasted time was involved here, which I appreciated. On top of that, the crowd was into the match more than pretty much everything on the card, which always helps in my eyes. For the most part, this was every 6, 8, 10-man NJPW small show main event. The crowd into the big names that don’t do too much, the other guys that are top guys but not TOP guys doing a lot of the heavy lifting and the general pairing off of the rivals. That may sound like a bad thing, but it’s exactly what it should be. Kojima scored the pin on Gallows to add to the build to thei September 23rd tag match. The tag division is stale as week old bread, but at least they did something to build to the match.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.5
The final score: review Average
The 411
Overall I’d call this a bit above average, but skippable show. There was nothing bad, some fun matches for sure, but nothing I’d say you have to see. To me the most interesting thing on the card on these shows is watching the young lions (White, Young Finlay, Komatsu and Tanaka) work on their craft and improve into better and more well rounded performers. Outside of that, the show was a house show that did some solid build to the bigger shows at the end of the month; it was exactly what it needed to be.
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