Csonka Reviews Apollo 55 vs. Taichi & Taka Michinoku (G1 Climax Special 2011)

With everything that’s been going down due to the Coronavirus, NJPW canceling 14 shows this month, ROH canceling their 18thanniversary weekend, I’ve been trying to fill the void with some other content. NJPW uploaded today’s offering to New Japan World, and it’s one I haven’t seen. Apollo 55 defeated the olden Lovers at FantasiticaMania 2011. On September 11th 2011, they would defend against Taichi & Taka Michinoku. We’ll look back on that one now..

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IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Champions Apollo 55 vs. Taichi & Taka Michinoku: Devitt and Taichi begin, with Taichi stalling. Taichi fakes the handshake and attacks, but Devitt fires back and Taichi powders. Devitt attacks and brings him back in, Taguchi tags in and follows with a RANA. The champions follow with double teams, working over Taka as well and clear the ring until Taichi attacks Taguchi with a chair shot to the knee, working him over on the floor as Taka dumps Devitt. They isolate Taguchi, working quick tags and double teams. Taka takes out Devitt to stop the tag and continue to control on Taguchi, focusing on his knee. The heat segment here is good, with the heels controlling well and Taguchi’s selling being really good. Taka again stops the tag, as the challengers continue to assault Taguchi and his poor knee, delivering double teams and picking up near falls. Taguchi survives a submission, making the ropes but still can’t make a tag. He manages a desperation enziguri, and finally gets the hot tag to Devitt. He runs wild, follows with a beautiful tope and then works over both back in the ring with dropkicks. The double stomp misses, and he’s cut off with double teams as the Taichi superkick gets 2. Black mephisto follows until Taguchi makes the save. Devitt hits the PELE to cut off Taka, Taguchi tags in and misses the missile dropkick, leading to Taka locking on the figure four. Taichi takes out Devitt, Taguchi fights and manages to make the ropes. Taichi tags back in, talks shit and goes back to Taguchi’s knee and then covers for 2. THE PANTS ARE OFF, and the powerbomb gets 2. The head kick follows but Devitt makes the save. Taka takes him out, Taichi and Taguchi trade cradles and Taguchi finally gets him to retain. Champions Apollo 55 defeated Taichi & Taka Michinoku @ 19:10 via [***¼] The match was good, but overall came off as a standard Korakuen Hal/Road to type undercard tag. The work was good, the layout good, but it never kicked into that high gear of a great match or had he hot crowd behind it. The main issue I feel was that Taka & Taichi were a team nobody gave a chance at winning the titles or saw as strong challengers as the teams Devitt & Taguchi usually defend against, and while good overall, the champions never truly felt in trouble of losing their championships.

Apollo 55 would reign for another month until losing to the No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero) at Destruction 2011, ending their thier run with the titles after 260 days with seven successful defenses. But before that loss, Devitt would defeat KUSHIDA to win the vacated (after Ibushi was sidelined with a shoulder injury) IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship (his second), and would reign for 227 days, with four title defenses until he dropped it to Low Ki at Wrestling Dontaku 2012.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 99. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka is joined by Steve Cook. Jerome Cusson, & Kevin Pantoja to talk the big news of the week, review the latest episodes of NXT & AEW TV, & do a retro review of WCW Uncensored 2000. The show is approximately 201-minutes long.

* Intro
* News Roundup (Coronavirus based cancellations, Mania to the PC, Gronk to WWE, Alberto Returning or Just Bullshitting?, More): 6:45
* AEW & NXT Reviews (3.18.20): 39:35
* Jerome Cusson talks ROH looking to rebound in 2020, the possible damaging effect on Mania week event cancellations due to Coronovirus, & more: 1:23:07
* Retro WCW Uncensored 2000 Review with Kevin Pantoja: 2:17:06

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– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Apollo 55 vs. Taichi & Taka Michinoku is an overall good and fun tag match, but more importantly for me, it was fun to go back and catch some Apollo 55, as I didn’t get to enjoy it live it while it happened.