Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup Day One Review 3.03.16

Csonka’s NJPW New Japan Cup Day One Review 3.03.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Toru Yano defeated Yujiro Takahashi @ 1:13 via countout [NR]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Michael Elgin defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan @ 8:22 via pin [***½]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Tama Tonga defected Togi Makabe @ 7:40 via pin [**¼]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Satoshi Kojima defeated Tomoaki Honma @ 11:50 via pin [***½]
* Kazuchika Okada & Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Katsuyori Shibata & KUSHIDA @ 11:25 via pin [***]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Hirooi Goto defeated Yuji Nagata @ 11:28 via pin [***]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Naito defeated YOSHI-HASHI @ 13:42 via pin [***]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Tomohiro Ishii defeated “King of Darkness” EVIL @ 15:20 via pin [***¾]
– New Japan Cup Opening Round Match: Bad Luck Fale defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi @ 13:55 via pin [***]

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Toru Yano defeated Yujiro Takahashi: I had no desire to see Yano and Takahashi try and do a professional wrestling match, so I was perfectly fine with what they did here. Also, this is Yano’s shtick, winning by cheating or not really winning. They brawled on the floor, Takahashi posed and Yano hit the low blow and beat the count to score the win. It was harmless fun, and as long as they didn’t over do it, I can work with this.

Michael Elgin defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan: I am really happy that Elgin scored a new Japan contract, first of all because it seemed as if this was something that he really wanted, and secondly because I have enjoyed his work and presentation here more than in ROH. Now I will say that Tenzan decided to work really hard here, and put on one of his 3-5 really good singles matches for the year here, but the match felt like a showcase for the newly signed Elgin. That’s a good thing, because now that he’s signed and locked in for two-years, they can book him as “their guy” and also really play with the positive crowd reactions he receives. After the Elgin showcase, Tenzan did get a comeback and really felt as if he was motivated hitting his signature stuff. But the moonsault was cut off, and Elgin ended him with the buckle and Elgin bomb. This had some good ass kicking, and a nice pacing overall that made it feel easy to enjoy.

Tama Tonga defected Togi Makabe: This was a perfectly fine match with a great result as Tonga picked up a big win. While the action was solid and unspectacular, I felt that Tonga came off well here, and the win does a ton for him. Tonga is a guy who has been a lot of fun in the multi-man tags and continually improving so to see him pick up a big win here was cool. The best part of the match was when he countered Makabe and hit the gunstun and did the Machinegun pose in a tribute to Karl Anderson. I really liked Tonga winning and felt that it was the right call because he gets so much more out of it than Makabe would have. It also plays into Tonga and his mystery partner challenging for the tag titles.

Satoshi Kojima defeated Tomoaki Honma : The action picked up again here as they worked a really good, hard-hitting, back and forth match. The key here, as with pretty much all good Honma matches was the homestretch where you really feel that he can win the match. They teased a double countout, and then Honma countered he lariat with a kokeshi to the arm. He finally heeded to the top, but Kojima rolled out of the way. Kojima then hit the lariat, but Honma survived and the people believed he could win, until he ate another and Kojima picked up the win. This was a well done and worked match from both guys, and the win can also be used to allow Kojima and Tenzan to build to a tag title shot at some point.

Kazuchika Okada & Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Katsuyori Shibata & KUSHIDA: While not as good as the previous match, this was a good midcard tag match as you would expect. Okada, KUSHIDA and Shibata were really god here, and Shibata and Okada has some great exchanges that made me want to see a title match between them. I hated that KUSHIDA had to take the fall, since he is also a champion, but it set up the post match announcement that Will Osprey was coming in as a member of CHOAS to challenge him for the title. I am all about that match.

Hirooi Goto defeated Yuji Nagata: Another good match here as Goto gets back on the winning track with a victory over old man Nagata. It felt as if they were actually trying to go forward with Goto’s new personality and gear, which is a good thing because they need to do something with him to make people care. They worked good striking exchanges, Goto escaped the arm bar, and when Nagata missed with a kick, Goto scored the victory with a roll up. I felt that they told a good story overall, with Goto coming off as am opportunist and taking what was given to him when his opponent made a mistake. Good stuff.

Naito defeated YOSHI-HASHI: Another good match here, better than I thought it would be and they also did a good job of making the crowd react and think that HASHI could win. I felt that this was really key here, because Naito winning was the obvious and right choice, but matches like this can fail when no one buys into the other guy. We got a good back and forth match here, with HASHI really stepping up and delivering a quality performance. After a big slap battle, in which they really lit each other up, HASHI locked in a dragon sleeper and the crowd was buying that this could be the end. Unfortunately for him, Naito survived and then hit destino to pick up the win. This was another good match with the right guy winning.

Tomohiro Ishii defeated “King of Darkness” EVIL: This was the bets match on the show, with Ishii being Ishii and EVIL stepping up big time to deliver his best match since his return and likely the best singles performance I have seen out of him. I haven’t been the biggest fan of EVIL, I like the gimmick and pairing with Naito, but he’s just been a guy for the most part. In this match it felt like he locked into what he wants to be, and stepped up against a guy that you can’t have bad match with. As I have previously stated, Ishii has been one of if not the most consistent guys for the last two years, he always delivers, and EVIL stepped up his game and it just worked. We got some brawling, we got hard hitting action and they built well through out and it climaxed at the right time. Ishii finished things off with the brainbuster, but I felt that EVIL got more out of this with a great performance. If EVIL can keep putting in performances like this, he can be a much needed fresh face to the NEVER title scene.

Bad Luck Fale defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi: While these two have had better matches, this was a good main event and I do like Fale winning here. Tanahashi is reportedly healing up well, but unless he’s winning the tournament, he doesn’t need to move on as much as Fale does. Fale works hard in matches with Tanahashi, and Tanahashi generally doesn’t try to get out of the lane as he will work to Fale’s strengths. Tanahashi worked hard, but they never got to the level that their previous matches had. But what they did do was have a good match with Fale winning clean and looking like he is a threat. No real complaints here.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.8

The final score: review Good

The 411

I felt day one was a good show, leaning towards very good, with quality wrestling and the right guys moving forward in the tournament. No real complaints from me, and while the Cup doesn’t always excite me, they kicked off this year’s tournament well and made me excited to see the next show.