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Csonka’s NJPW LION’S GATE Project Review 2.25.16
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Csonka’s NJPW LION’S GATE Project Review 2.25.16
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Shuhei “Maybach” Taniguchi defeated Takumi Honjo @ 4:24 via submission [*½]
– Hitoshi Kumano defeated Hirai Kawato @ 4:32 via pin [**]
– Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kaito Kiyomiya @ 6:20 via pin [**½]
– Taiji Ishimori defeated David Finlay Jr @ 8:06 via pin [***]
– Yoshinari Ogawa defeated Jay White @ 8:50 via submission [***]
– Manabu Nakanishi defeated Quiet Storm @ 7:47 via pin [**¾]
– Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima Defeated Captain NOAH & Genba Hirayanagi @ 11:08 via pin [**½]
– Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Juice Robinson @ 12:20 via pin [***½]
– Yuji Nagata defeated Mitsuhiro Kitamiya @ 12:28 via pin [***]
Shuhei “Maybach” Taniguchi defeated Takumi Honjo: Honjo has graduated from the New Japan dojo and is making his professional debut here. He wasn’t bad, but overall worked like a guy wrestling his first match. I didn’t get a vibe ether way off of him here. Taniguchi didn’t really do anything here to help carry or make the match come off as anything resembling good. As many expected, it was a rough match overall, with Taniguchi scoring the win the devastating Young Lion crab.
Hitoshi Kumano defeated Hirai Kawato: Kawato is technically a cub, at the age of 18, but shows a lot of promise. His striking comes off well and he has great babyface fire, which alone made this match more enjoyable than the opener. This was another very short match, with Kawato falling victim to the fisherman’s buster. I am really curious to see Kawato develop.
Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kaito Kiyomiya: Kaito Kiyomiya is a NOAH lion, and this is my first time seeing him. They got a little more time than the previous two matches, but it felt largely the same as far as layout goes. Kiyomiya came off as a perfectly acceptable young wrestler, nothing he did was very impressive, but it all felt solidly executed. This had a bit more juice and excitement than the previous matches, and Taguchi won with the dodon.
Taiji Ishimori defeated David Finlay Jr: This was a good match, and easily better than the previous ones we’ve watched here. Finlay has quickly helped fill the spots Komatsu and Tanaka left, and has been really fun to watch. He got some great run here, scoring some good and believable near falls and nice submission work. I really felt that not only was Finlay working really hard, but that Ishimori was a giving opponent. Sometimes a guy knows he’s winning and gives a lot to his opponent before losing, and that is what Ishimori did here. They worked a really fun closing stretch, leading to Ishimori hitting his 450 to pick up the win.
Yoshinari Ogawa defeated Jay White: Back to back good matches, with white again looking good. Finlay has slowly impressed me, but White is the top of the young lion food chain with Tanaka and Komatsu on excursion. Besides the in ring work being good (good flow, pacing and communication between the two), White has done a good job of getting the New Japan crowd behind him, with for the lions can traditionally be a tough thing to achieve. They did some fun mat wrestling, but Ogawa is a dick, and used an eye poke to turn the tide. He’d then score with the dragon screw leg whip and put White away with the figure four. The show is turning around after a rough start.
Manabu Nakanishi defeated Quiet Storm: I want to get this out there, I am not a fan of Manabu Nakanishi. If you’ve read my reviews, I find him nearly impossible to enjoy even in the big multi-man tag matches because the guy moves as the speed of a giant planet. H’s 49, he’s broken down and tends to added nothing to any matches. When I heard that he was working a singles, against the old Storm Cradle Driver I had the shovel out and was prepared for a proper burial. Much to my surprise, they put on a perfectly good wrestling match here. They stayed in their lane, worked a methodical and smart match based off of power stuff and it worked. Nakanishi got his shit in, the crowd liked it and then Storm said “rack me, I’m out” and that was that. Color me surprised.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima Defeated Captain NOAH & Genba Hirayanagi: Genba is now wearing a Captain NOAH mask, and was announced as Captain Genba; it was wacky. This was a perfectly fine tag match, it never got into a higher gear, nor did I expect it too, and relied a bit too much on Genba using the testicular claw spot. It was one of those matches that simply existed on the show. Kojima scored the win after a lariat on Genba.
Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Juice Robinson: Remember some of the things that I said about Nakanishi? Well, in different ways that applies to Robinson, I am not a big fan. He’s fine in tags, but in many ways still doesn’t feel as if he belongs in New Japan. A show like this could be great for him, because he was really good here. For the first time he felt as if he had really improved, and was comfortable as a performer. They never went balls to the wall or did 32 flippidy-doos, this was a well laid out and executed wrestling match that had a good flow from bell to bell and didn’t so anything that pissed me off. It was basic and good wrestling with very good execution. Again, shows like LION’S GATE, working against some fresh opponents may just be what Robinson needs to really grow as a performer. I’m still winning to give him a chance. Nakajima had enough of Robinson trying to improve as a wrestler and dropped him on his head with a brainbuster to score the win. Nakajima was always going to win, but they cast some doubt, which is what really added to the match.
Yuji Nagata defeated Mitsuhiro Kitamiya: Nagata was in old man Nagata mode here, coming off surly and beating on Kitamiya as he took a good majority of the match. They had a good crowd, and were into Kitamiya trying to overcome and beat the elder statesman. Sweet arm bar set up here as Kitamiya went for a spear, which led to Nagata getting the arm bar, but Kitamiya was not done. Kitamiya did survive a first backdrop driver, and he tried to fire up and make a big comeback, but old man Nagata told him to fuck off and he hit another backdrop driver for the win. Not a great main event, but this was a good overall match that I enjoyed. I want to see old man Nagata working the main events of these show, teaching these kids respect and how to work. Do not disrespect old man Nagata.
* The next LION’S GATE PROJECT show will be on May 19th.
* End scene.
* Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
