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Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 2) Review 5.18.17

May 18, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 2) Review 5.18.17  

Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 2) Review 5.18.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Tiger Mask IV, Tomoyuki Oka & Hirai Kawato defeated Tetsuhiro Yagi, Shota Umino & Katsuyori Kitamura @ 6:45 via submission [**]
– Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado defeated ACH & Volador Jr @ 8:50 via pin [**½]
– Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hanson, Ray Rowe & David Finlay @ 6:57 via pin [**½]
– Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA @ 9:50 via pin [***]
– Block A Match: Taichi defeated TAKA Michinoku @ 9:58 via pin [DUD]
– Block A Match: Dragon Lee defeated Marty Scurll @ 13:12 via pin [***½]
– Block A Match: Hiromu Takahashi defeated Jushin Thunder Liger @ 8:14 via pin [***¾]
– Block A Match: Will Ospreay defeated Ricochet @ 27:34 via pin [****¾]

NOTE: Hiroshi Tanahashi is off of the rest of the tour, due to a ruptured right bicep tendon suffered on the ROH tour. He’ll be back for June 9th and Dominion; Satoshi Kojima is replacing him on the tour…

* Csonka’s Top 5 Omissions From The 2017 BOTSJ.
* Csonka’s Top 5 Potential BOTSJ Winners.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 1) Review 5.17.17.

Tiger Mask IV, Tomoyuki Oka & Hirai Kawato vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi, Shota Umino & Katsuyori Kitamura: I see Tiger Mask got picked to drive the car pool to school today. The lions trio attacked before the bell, isolating Tiger Mask and beating him down. The veteran slowly fought back, slapping the shit out of Kitamura and then working over the hoss lion with kicks. Oka in and he maintained control with clubbing strikes, but Kitamura hit a delayed suplex to cut that off. Yagi tagged in, laying in chops to Oka followed by forearm strikes. Oka tags out to Kawato, who hits hip tosses and then makes repeated covers. Yagi cuts him off with the dropkick, and tags in Umino. Yagi works the crab, Tiger Mask makes the save and it breaks down. Kitamura and Oka pair off as the others brawl; Kawato locks in the crab to pick up the win for his team. Tiger Mask IV, Tomoyuki Oka & Hirai Kawato defeated Tetsuhiro Yagi, Shota Umino & Katsuyori Kitamura @ 6:45 via submission [**] This was a solid opener, but really lacked the fire some of the recent lion openers have provided.

ACH & Volador Jr vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado: Volador and Desperado to begin, they work through some really sloppy lucha passes, Kanemaru in and they look to double team Volador, but he clears the ring. Kanemaru then trips him up before he can hit a dive, which pisses off the crowd. The Suzuki-gun brawl follows on the floor, and then Kanemaru sent ACH to the floor as Suzuki-gun worked the heat on Volador. I am not sure if there are communication issues, but it doesn’t appear that Volador is working all that well with these two. After a lackluster heat, Volador hit a superkick and got the hot tag to ACH. He ran wild, hitting suicide dives on both Kanemaru & Desperado. The slingshot cutter to Kanemaru followed for 2. ACH then bag tagged Kanemaru, Desperado tags in and it breaks down. ACH and Volador run wild with superkicks on Desperado, but Kanemaru makes the save. Volador tossed to the floor, with ACH left to fight on his own. Desperado takes the ref, allowing Kanemaru to attack with a weapon of some sort, and Desperado then rolled up ACH for the win. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado defeated ACH & Volador Jr @ 8:50 via pin [**½] This had a much better second half than first half, not sure what the issue was, but the early portions with Volador felt very off. Suzuki-gun steals the win in a completely average match.

Hanson, Ray Rowe & David Finlay vs. Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi: Everyone brawls before the bell, with War Machine taking the early advantage until the Guerrillas regrouped and isolated Rowe in their corner. Bullet Club worked a solid heat, Yujiro tried to be a bad ass but Rowe head butted him in the face and tagged in Hanson. Hanson ran wild with his stolen forever clotheslines. The Guerrillas cut him off, while Yujiro and Finlay tagged in and went back and forth. Finlay then hit the running uppercut on Tonga, but Tonga hit the spear and Bullet Club worked over Finlay until Rowe made the save. It breaks down, and Hanson hits the suicide dive. Back in and Finlay jumps off the ropes into gun stun from Tonga, that’s that. Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hanson, Ray Rowe & David Finlay @ 6:57 via pin [**½] Another average tag match, designed to give the Guerrillas momentum heading into their tag title match at dominion.

Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI: Naito took his abuse of the IC title to a new level tonight, not only tossing it around and kicking at it, but also repeatedly slamming it off of the steps. No fucks were given.

LIJ attacks before the bell, with Naito trying to rip out Juice’s dreads as the other clear the ring. Juice quickly fires up, hitting a running cross body and dropkicks. Taguchi tags in and runs wild with ass attacks, he and his friends work over Naito and he calls the plays. They slam Naito into his ass, but SANADA returns to dropkick Taguchi in the ass and take control back. Naito and BUSHI work double teams on Taguchi, SANADA tags in and looks to tie him into the ball, Taguchi tries to escape, so SANADA ties him up into a ball in the ropes and then hits the dropkick. LIJ keeps control, keeping Taguchi isolated. Taguchi manages to counter the fisherman’s buster of EVIL and tags in Kojima, rapid fire chops for EVIL & SANADA. But as he looked to head up top, SANADA kicked the middle rope into his balls. But Kojima has balls of steel, and fought back with Tanahashi like dragon screw leg whips. The Koji cutter followed on BUSHI, KUSHIDA gets the tag and he runs wild on BUSHI, attacking the arm. BUSHI hits a desperation code breaker and Naito is in, but KUSHIDA fights them off, locks in the arm bar but SANADA makes the save as it breaks down. KUSHIDA his the handspring elbow on Naito and BUSHI, but BUSHI then counters the hover board lock into the back slide/jackknife cradle combo for the win. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA @ 9:50 via pin [***] Good match to close out the first half, LIJ have become so good with the multi-man tags, and have worked with Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA so much that it just feels effortless at this point.

– Post match, Naito fucked up the IC Title even more, and the young lions at ringside tried to fix it by bending it back in place and even using the bell hammer to pound out the damage.

TAKA Michinoku vs. Taichi: Desperado is out with TAKA, Kanemaru is out with Taichi. Taguchi is out on commentary. They stall early, if Taichi was a real friend, he’d lay down and let TAKA win, because TAKA is 1-0 and also because Taichi already lost and fucking sucks. They slowly circled for 2-minutes. Nearly 4-minutes in now and they haven’t done a damn thing. At 4:30 they teased a bunch of stuff, with no one connecting and it looking very obvious that they were intentionally missing; it was pretty bad looking. I am sure that someone thought that this was a genius layout for the heel teammates as they continued to do nothing, getting in and out of the ring. Taichi tried to get back into the ring, but TAKA kicked the ropes into his balls. They then repeated the spot, with Taichi kicking the ropes into TAKA’s balls. Taichi removed the buckle pad, sidestepped the charge and TAKA then posted himself. Taichi then missed a superkick and faked an injury. Taichi then kicked TAKA in the balls and locked in the prawn hold for the win. Taichi defeated TAKA Michinoku @ 9:58 via pin [DUD] This was some amazingly stupid shit that took way too long, and really makes TAKA’s win over Liger look like a huge mistake. My word that was a waste of time, and not even on the fun Yano type of way; at least his shit is short; Randy Orton and Rip Rogers likely loved it.

Marty Scurll vs. Dragon Lee: Scurll looks to ground Lee early, opting for simple mat work. Lee uses his speed and counters out with arm drags. They then play to the crowd a bit, and shove each other. They trade sidekicks, Lee picks up the pace and looks for a sunset flip, but Scurll fights it off and does the bird dance. Lee to the floor and Scurll hits the superkick from the apron Scurll then attacks with uppercuts, and back in the ring ties Lee’s mask to the ropes and beats on him, I always love that. Scurll then lays in more uppercuts, follows with chops but Lee hits a German and follows with a great dive to wipe out Scurll. Lee is favoring his leg after the landing, but is back up and into the ring. He chops away at Scurll, hits knee strikes and covers for 2. Scurll fakes him out hits the superkick to the knee and then decapitates Lee with a lariat. Scurll follows with the running uppercut, but Lee hits the suplex to the buckles. The corner dropkick follows, he sets Scurll up top but Scurll fights off the double stomp with an overhead toss, the superkick connects for 2. Lee fires back with chops and looks for the cradle DDT, but Scurll does the finger break spot and calls for the chicken wing but Lee hits a superkick. Scurll then hits the Adam Cole last shot for a near fall. Scurll then runs into the Spanish fly for 2. Lee up top now, but Scurll grabs his mask to cut him off. Scurll up top with Lee, they battle for position and Lee hits a head butt and the double stomp for the win. Dragon Lee defeated Marty Scurll @ 13:12 via pin [***½] That was a very good back and forth match, with both men working hard and doing a great job of keeping the crowd interested the whole time. Lee keeps his momentum, while Scurll is getting star reactions like he’s been there for years, which is great to see.

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger: Both men are coming off of loses on night one. Liger hits the palm strike for an immediate near fall and follows with the cannonball to the floor and then the brainbuster on the floor as he takes the fight to the champion. Liger tosses Takahashi back in and works over Takahashi with chops, but Takahashi fights back, hitting the apron bomb on Liger. The dropkick off of the apron follows; Takahashi brings Liger back in and picks up the pace, hitting a dropkick and then working a head scissors. Liger makes the ropes, and Takahashi then tries to rip off the mask. Liger fires up, hitting chops and the back breaker. Takahashi counters the Liger bomb into a RANA and rolls into the cover for 2. The palm strike and Liger bomb hit, but Takahashi kicks out at 2. The crowd is firmly behind Liger; Takahashi hits a German but Liger fires up, no sells and hits the brain buster for a GREAT near fall. Liger misses the palm strike, and Takahashi hits the time bomb and pits the legend away. Hiromu Takahashi defeated Jushin Thunder Liger [***¾] Great little sprint there, with a hot crowd and Liger throwing everything at Takahashi before falling to the champion.

– Post match, a disappointed Liger said these were his last BOSJ Korakuen matches, and he lost both, but he will win every single match that’s left.

Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet: Aggressive lock up as they battle for control, they break and Ricochet takes it to the mat and works the arm. Ospreay counters out, they pick up the pace and do a series of side headlock takeovers, and then work into a stand off. They then work into a series of counters, with some flippity doos mixed in and then into the double superhero pose.

They trade forearm strikes, and then do a double down off of a double kick spot. It’s all even early as neither man can gain an advantage. Chops are exchanged, and then more forearms by Ospreay. Ricochet lights him up with chops, and then a pop up back breaker. Ricochet then lays the boots to Ospreay, and then hits a side slam out of the submission attempt. Ricochet continues to lay in chops, and then works a wacky inverted stretch muffler, and then grounds Ospreay with an abdominal stretch. Ricochet then cuts off the back handspring attempt with a dropkick. Ospreay lands elbow strikes, but Ricochet the hits the northern lights. Ospreay then hits the back handspring kick. Ospreay connects with the enziguri and then the slingshot senton and hesitation dropkick to take control. Kicks to the chest follow for Ospreay, but Ricochet hits the 619 and running shooting star press for 2. Ospreay escapes the benadryller, and hits a tornado DDT for 2. Ricochet counters the OsCutter by shoving Ospreay to the floor. Ospreay then pulls Ricochet to the floor and follows with the Sasuke special. Back in and Ospreay hits the springboard forearm, running shooting star press and then the corkscrew moonsault for 2. They work into a series of counters, as Ospreay counters the suplex with a stunner. Ricochet then about kills Ospreay with a sitout tombstone (galleria) for a great near fall. Ricochet up top now, Ospreay cuts him off and they trade strikes as Ospreay follows him up. SUPER RANA countered as Ricochet lands on his feet. Ospreay then lands on his feet as Ricochet tries a top rope reverse RANA. They pick up the pacing big time, Ricochet finally connects with a German and both men are down. They struggle to their feet, Ricochet with chops, but Ospreay fires up with forearm strikes. Both guys are spent, but continue to trade strikes. Ospreay goes rapid-fire, but Ricochet absolutely kills him with a lariat. Ospreay to the floor, Ricochet to the floor and they keep countering each other and battle on the apron. Knee strike by Ricochet, the northern lights and then suplex follow all on the apron. They roll to the floor and we get the count out tease. Ricochet beats the count, as does Ospreay at the final moment. Back in and Ricochet hits the spin kick and OsCutter for the near fall and general fuck you to Ospreay. Ricochet seems completely annoyed now, heads up top and misses the shooting star press, lands on his feet and rolls through but Ospreay block the benadryller, and then HE hits his version for a near fall, and a fuck you very much. Ospreay up top, but Ricochet crotches him. Ospreay hits an enziguri and the trapped superkick, and then flies in with a DRAGON RANA. Ospreay follows with a series of kicks, hits the OsCutter and puts Ricochet away! Will Ospreay defeated Ricochet @ 27:34 via pin [****¾] This was an amazing main event, and not only played well off of their encounters from last year, but also told an excellent story that both men were on the same level, knew each other very well and knew that they not only had to dig deeper than ever before, but even had to steal from each other in order to take the win. They had a very good layout, starting slow and continually picking up the pacing, and escalating both the action and the drama putting on an absolutely awesome display that the crowd loved and was hot for the entire time. They’re the early leaders in the clubhouse for match of the tournament.

BLOCK A STANDINGS
– Dragon Lee: (2-0) 4pts.
– Will Ospreay: (1-1) 2pts.
– Taichi: (1-1) 2pts.
– Ricochet: (1-1) 2pts.
– Marty Scurll: (1-1) 2pts.
– TAKA Michinoku: (1-1) 2pts.
– Hiromu Takahashi: (1-1) 0pts.
– Jushin Liger: (0-2) 0pts.

BLOCK A STANDINGS
– Desperado: (1-0) 2pts.
– Volador Jr: (1-0) 2pts.
– Ryusuke Taguchi: (1-0) 2pts.
– ACH: (1-0) 2pts.
– Tiger Mask: (0-1) 0pts.
– BUSHI: (0-1) 0pts.
– Yoshinobu Kanemaru: (0-1) 0pts.
– KUSHIDA: (0-1) 0pts.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
Night two was an overall good show (thanks to the final three matches) with an absolutely great, top tier main event. Skip Taichi vs. TAKA at all costs, and if your short on time, the last three matches are all worth your time.
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