Pantoja’s NJPW Burning Spirit Review 9.25.22

NJPW Burning Spirit

September 25th, 2022 | Kobe World Hall in Hyogo, Kobe

I feel like I haven’t paid much attention to New Japan since the G1 Climax, which was honestly kind of the case even back when I loved the company and September rolled around. That said, this show looked pretty good on paper and seems to have replace Destruction of sorts in the PPV rotation.

The opening video reminded me that Okada won the G1. Gedo really has no new ideas. With Vince no longer in charge of WWE booking, he has to be at the bottom of the list right? Triple H and Tony Khan have major issues as bookers but they’re ahead of Gedo at least.

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi vs. El Phantasmo, HIKULEO and KENTA

I really wish the Bullet Club trio would’ve come out to KENTA’s theme. Commentary said we have no cheering crowd again here which sucks. They also reminded me that we didn’t get the chaos 7-way D Block tie in the G1, which was a shame. Remember when Shingo was the top champion in the company and now he’s holding a dumb trophy? The Bullet Club attacked before the bell because one or two of these matches always has to start that way. The main idea here was to build to the next Shingo/ELP meeting after the G1, let HIKULEO be the big boy he is, and give us some entertaining KENTA/Hiromu exchanges. I’m down for that singles match again at some point. The Shingo/ELP back and forth was good and saw both men go for various pins since Shingo just can’t seem to get the upper hand on him. He finally did after a sneaky low blow in 8:42. This is an odd story to tell. Shingo needs to cheat to beat ELP? Also, why do the pin here and not wait for Shingo to beat him in a singles match? Match was solid though. [***]

Post-match, Shingo put ELP over his knee and spanked him. Kinky.

Doc Gallows vs. Toru Yano

Maybe I change my mind about this card being solid. Ah, another jump start before the bell. It’s almost as if the Bullet Club has ONE go to move. This was filled with the usual stuff from these two. Gallows was the vicious heel while Yano did the turnbuckle pad remover, tease a countout, and try to use the tape to hold Gallows in place. Gallows got pissed and pounded away on Yano until we got a double countout in 3:42. Hell yeah, keep this short. [*]

Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens vs. The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb

Is this a preview of the World Tag League? There is nothing in wrestling less interesting/important than the World Tag League. Even the Mixed Match Challenge was better. Guess what guys? This is the third straight Bullet Club match and the third straight where the fight started before the bell. Variety isn’t Gedo’s thing. Despite the brawling start, this broke down into a more traditional tag pretty quickly. Owens got his ass kicked for the most part as the smallest guy in the match though he managed to avoid some of Cobb’s biggest offensive moves. Owens threw some C-Triggers but couldn’t get the Package Piledriver to work. The United Empire finished him with the Imperial Drop in 7:57. That was a match that happened. [**]

The Dangerous Tekkers vs. SANADA and Tetsuya Naito

These teams met in the World Tag League last year (***¼) and at Summer Struggle in Sapporo (***½). Both matches went 29+ minutes and I think if they trim it down to around 15, they could do something special. We got some early goofiness from Taichi and SANADA who got into a push-up contest. I liked that even though Taichi didn’t do his, SANADA did his while trapped in a Boston Crab to break free. ZSJ wanted nothing more than to get his hands on Naito, who beat him in the G1 in about two minutes and cost him the C Block. The exchanges here were strong throughout though this was a case where they may have kept things too short. After 9:32, this wrapped up when Taichi caught SANADA in the Gedo Clutch and got the three, adding push-ups as well to win in more ways than one. Very good for what we got though I wish we had more. [***¼]

SANADA and Taichi exchanged masks afterward. Commentary suggested they become a team or kiss. Honestly, let them kiss. New Japan hasn’t been gay enough since the Golden Lovers left.

Bad Dude Tito, JONAH and Shane Haste vs. Great Bash Heel and Kazuchika Okada

It was kind of a bitch ass move for Okada to be like, “Nah, I’m not defending my briefcase,” right? Despite that, commentary had the balls to say Okada’s matches going into the Tokyo Dome had “raised stakes” because if JONAH beat him again, he’d have a case for a top contender. Wouldn’t the Dome title shot mean more? Actually, I won’t try to find logic in this. I had to stop the show midway and return to it later and it was weirdly no longer available in full, only in individual matches. Bad Dude Tito kind of looks like if Michael Elgin had hair. This match had potential as I like the JONAH/Okada pairing and Haste is fine enough for a tag like this. The issue is that Great Bash Heel just doesn’t really do it for me anymore and the effort of Makabe is pretty lackluster these days. The stuff that worked as JONAH being a total monster. Okada never really got the upper hand over him here. In the end, JONAH put down Honma with the Tsunami in 12:08. That was good and did exactly what it needed to. [***]

Jay White and Taiji Ishimori vs. Jado and Tama Tonga

Goddamn, Jay White is really good. I must’ve missed something but I believe KUSHIDA was supposed to be here, not Jado. That’s a big, disappointing drop-off. I don’t have the energy for this without KUSHIDA and I have bigger matches to write more about. Jado got beat up for the majority of this, setting up the expected hot tag to Tama Tonga. He came in on fire and again, I appreciated this as his babyface run has been far better than I expected. Damn shame he jobbed to Karl Anderson. We got more build to Tama/Jay but the finish saw Jado lose to the Bone Lock in 10:39. This was fine. [**]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Francesco Akira and TJP [c] vs. Team Six or Nine

The match where United Empire won the titles at New Japan Road was very good (***½). I enjoyed Akira a fair bit during the BOSJ. The early goings of this were basic tag fare and that’s fine. TJP and Akira showcased their mat skills while Taguchi brought the personality and Wato did some aerial stuff. It worked. Things progressed and got bigger with all four men entering the ring at one point and Wato cutting off a tandem move from the champs with a modified lungblower. He also came close to winning with an Empress German. That kicked off a strong back half with bigger offensive moves, close calls, and some decent drama. These titles change hands all the time so you can never be sure of the champs retaining. The United Empire used the Leaning Tower on Taguchi to keep the straps after 12:43. That was slightly below their previous outing but probably the best thing on the show so far. Nothing special, yet entertaining throughout and well laid out. [***¼]

NEVER Openweight Championship: Karl Anderson [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

I’ve actually seen these two have BANGERS in the past, including at The New Beginning 2013 (****¼) for the IWGP Title. Alas, this is a MUCH different Anderson. Their last match came at Wrestling Dontaku that year, which marked the debut of the Bullet Club. Goddammit, this was everything I’ve come to dislike about Gedo’s booking. It was riddled with interference and shenanigans that made it feel like the House of Torture. The actual exchanges between Anderson and Tanahashi were decent but not enough to make up for the rest of this. It came across like a mess and really feels like the NEVER Title has fallen hard since the days of Shibata and Ishii. It feels like the Good Brothers are acting like it’s still their heyday when it’s not. Tanahashi had this won with the Texas Cloverleaf and Anderson tapped but Gallows distracted the referee. Yano fought Gallows but Tanahashi missed High Fly Flow. Soon after, Anderson countered Twist and Shout into the Gun Stun for the win in 13:37. Damn, they’ve made me give a poor rating to Tanahashi. Our Ace deserves better. [**]

The important stuff came after the bell. Well, somewhat important. Jay White arrived and the BC put the boots to Tanahashi and Yano. Tama Tonga made the save but then HIKULEO came out to have a staredown with his brother. However, HIKULEO turned on White to side with Tama though they telegraphed that pretty hard. He sent Jay right into the Tama Gun Stun and the brothers embraced to a pop.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [c] vs. David Finlay

Will Ospreay won at the Road to Power Struggle 2016 (***¼) and the 2021 New Japan Cup (****), while Finlay bested him in this year’s G1 (***¾). Commentary again went HARD trying to put over how Will isn’t the guy who people online think he is. Finlay did have one of my favorite matches of the year and was the G1 MVP this year. Ospreay came out more aggressively this time, throwing Finlay around into tables and lighting him up with chops. Finlay weathered the storm a bit but mostly remained in trouble. After Willy’s impressive aerial offense, Finlay found an opening through nefarious means. He slammed the shillelagh onto Will’s hand on the table, crushing it. That negated the Hidden Blade, gave Finlay something to target, and put him in the driver’s seat. Will even had to have the hand taped up and looked at by medics. He couldn’t hit the Oscutter, giving Finlay the chance to do Prima Nocta (or is that Trash Panda? I struggle with following NJPW now so I’m not sure) onto a table outside that didn’t break. Will was now desperate though he survived more of what Finlay threw at him. He even tried a random pinning combination just to get out of there. Finlay’s Oscutter counter leading to a near fall was pretty sick. He had one more big close call where Ospreay got his foot on the rope to save his title before the champion retained by hitting Stormbreaker in 28:22. I still think their New Japan Cup match was the best and Finlay’s best match was with Juice this year. That said, this was really good and a fitting main event. I dug the aggressive start and the wild finish though the middle portions didn’t totally click until the shillelagh spot. [***¾]

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

This is unfortunately about what I expect from New Japan these days. A main event that is strong, a few fun multi-man tags, several good matches, and a handful of things that just don’t work at all and bring the rest of the night down.