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Csonka Reviews The Golden Lovers vs. Apollo 55 (FantasticaMania 2011)

March 16, 2020 | Posted by Larry Csonka
njpw golden lovers apollo 55 Kota Ibushi Kenny Omega Image Credit: NJPW
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Csonka Reviews The Golden Lovers vs. Apollo 55 (FantasticaMania 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 from a show that sounds as fascinating as it is wacky on paper…

– World Class Tag Team (Gedo & Jado) defeat Danshoku Dino & Maximo
– Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson) & Jushin Thunder Liger defeat Atlantis, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Taichi
– CMLL World Trios Title Captain Falls Match: La Mascara, La Sombra & Mascara Dorada defeat NO LIMIT (Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro Takahashi) & OKUMURA
– Mask Vs. Hair Match: Tiger Mask defeats Tomohiro Ishii
– Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Mistico defeats Averno [2:1]

I love a card like this that looks to have quality stuff as well as what the fuck stuff like Jushin Liger teaming with Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson, and Tiger Mask vs. BIG TOM in a luchas de apuesta match. So when they posted this bad boy, I jumped. The Golden Lovers are always great, I really need to catch more Apollo 55, as the Sumo Hall match they had was one of if not the best tag matches of that year. Lets look back on this bad boy and see what it brings us…

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IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega) vs. Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi): Kenny and Devitt worked the opening stretch, working some nice counter wrestling and ending in a stalemate. Ibushi and Taguchi tagged in, picking up the pacing nicely and leading to quick tags and the challengers taking early control and clearing the ring. The champions quickly made a comeback, and isolated Devitt. Kenny took the heat, picking up near falls and grounding Devitt. Kenny worked his power advantage over Devitt, and the champions followed with double teams until Devitt made the comeback and tagged in Taguchi. He ran wild on both, picking up near falls on Ibushi. The three amigos were countertrend and Ibushi follows with cradles and a bridging German for 2. Taguchi fought back and cut off Ibushi as Devitt tagged in and the challengers ran wild, hit dives and were on fire. The Korakuen Hall crowd was great here as it broke down and the champions made their comeback hitting cross slash. They then followed with beautiful double teams as Devitt made the save until Ibushi cut him off and the champion started to dominate the action. The double top rope 450 followed, but Devitt made the save with the double stomp. Taguchi countered one winged angel into a German, but Kenny hit the snapdragon and the challengers were down until Taguchi countered into dodon. It broke down, and Devitt took out Ibushi and the double team lung blower followed for a great near fall. Bloody Sunday finished it and we got new champions! Apollo 55 defeated Champions The Golden Lovers @ 16:35 via pin [****] This is a really fun match to look back on. Both teams were great, but Kenny was years away from his peak performances, Ibushi also got better since then (and may be even me more handsome if possible), Devitt/Balor was full of life prior to WWE reprogramming and inconsistent booking, while Taguchi was an actual professional grappler and not the fun loving ass man he is today. It’s always fun to take a tip back like this, and to see how much can change in 9-years. As for the match, it was great, built well throughout and the work was so good. The title change came off very well and I am glad I revisited this.

 photo The411onWrestling-KHC15_1A_zps84kblpqb.jpg

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 98. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook review the latest episodes of NXT & AEW TV, look the Coronairus’ Impact on Wrestling, & preview the ROH weekend events. The show is approximately 105-minutes long.

* Intro
* The Coronairus’ Impact on Wrestling: 2:05
* AEW Dynamite (3.11.20) Review: 33:10
* NXT (3.11.20) Review: 58:40
* The Head to Head Comparison: 1.12.20
* ROH Weekend Preview: 1:18:42

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
The Golden Lovers vs. Apollo 55 match was a great one, and also a really fun look back at these four from 9-years ago. If you have New Japan World, it’s worth the time to go and check out.
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