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Csonka’s NJPW 47th Anniversary Show Preview

March 4, 2019 | Posted by Larry Csonka
NJPW 47th Anniversary Show

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the NJPW 46th Anniversary Show on March 6th. So today, I will break down and preview the show, which has some interesting matches. Last year’s show was headlined by IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Junior Champion Will Ospreay, and Ospreay returns to the main event again, this time as a heavyweight. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Lee vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku: This has the makings of a fun opener, with Dragon Lee returning and the builds to Honma vs. Taichi & Suzuki vs. Kojima for the NJ Cup. Those four will pair off following the traditional Suzuki-gun pre-match attack, and there will be a lot of floor brawling. I see the faces winning with Dragon Lee pinning TAKA to get the show off to a positive note. WINNER: Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Lee

Yuji Nagata & Toa Henare vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI: I really like this match on paper as HASHI & Henare always work hard, but the real hook is the NJ Cup build to Ishii vs. Nagata. They have had some really great and spirited interactions, as I feel Ishii is really keeping that fire alive in Nagata, who is willing to take an ass kicking to give it. I have really high hopes for this as well as their singles match. I think Henare will be the fall guy here as Ishii & HASHI pick up the win. WINNER: Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano, Ayato Yoshida, Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & Hikuleo: Makabe, Yano and the lions go into battle against the Bullet Club in this big old tag match. This should largely be a Bullet Club rout, with the real highlights being watching Ayato Yoshida, Shota Umino & Ren Narita, who are just a joy to watch evolve and perform. They should steal the match here. WINNER: Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & Hikuleo

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IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shingo & BUSHI defending against SHO & YOH: Since the arrival of Shingo, these two teams have shown really good chemistry and this feels like a potentially great match. If I had to bet money on a title change, it would be on this one. R3k have been without the titles for a long time and NJPW has historically loved to bounce the titles around. WINNER: SHO & YOH

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IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori defending against Jushin Thunder Liger: A few years ago, Liger faced KUSHIDA for the title, and turned back the clock with an amazing match. He gets the chance to do it again here against Ishimori, who will be more than game. I highly doubt Ishimori loses, but it is the anniversary show and if Liger can turn back time again, I can’t rule out a Liger win. But if I had to guess, he’d refuse; this is a man that refused to politic to get on WrestleKingdom 13. As a fan of both I’m really curious to see what they can pull off here. WINNER: Taiji Ishimori

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Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, & Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, & SANADA: This is the all-star tag to get Naito, Tanahashi, & Okada on the card. With the star power involved, combined with the fact that this is an LIJ trios match, I have high hopes for the match as it has all the right ingredients to kick ass. Tanahashi & Okada have lost a lot of tags so I think that with Goto they pick up the win here. WINNER: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto

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IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White vs. NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay in a non-title match: Prior to the birth of the Switchblade, Jay White vs. Will Ospreay happened in ROH and it was fucking awesome. That is why I feel Ospreay is perfect as the opponent for White here. To me, the anniversary main event has always felt like a showcase match. The champion will win, but hopefully he gets an opponent that gives us an interesting as well as high-quality match. White just won the title, so who better than Ospreay to give him the best chance to deliver an absolute banger and get his run off to the right start. That’s why I have high hopes for this match. I want to see white deliver, and I want to see Ospreay cement himself as a heavyweight talent as well. If they can recapture some of the magic from that ROH meeting, we could be in for something special here. WINNER: Jay White

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”