Csonka’s NJPW Power Struggle 2018 Review

Csonka’s NJPW Power Struggle 2018 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Taguchi Japan defeated Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Volador, & Soberano @ 6:12 via pin [***]
– Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, & Robbie Eagles defeated Makabe, Honma, & KUSHIDA @ 7:52 via pin [**¾]
– Kazuchika Okada & Trent defeated Jay White & Bad Luck Fale @ 4:50 via pin [***¼]
– The Golden Lovers defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay @ 9:50 via pin [***½]
– NJPW Super Jr. Tag League Finals: Roppongi 3K defeated Desperado & Kanemaru and BUSHI & Shingo @ 15:55 via pin [****]
– Never Openweight Title Match : Hirooki Goto defeated Champion Taichi @ 15:05 via pin [**]
– Rev Pro British Heavyweight Title Match: Champion Tomohiro Ishii defeated Minoru Suzuki @ 19:15 via pin [****½]
– Tetsuya Naito defeated Zack Sabre Jr @ 20:25 via pin [****]
– IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Chris Jericho defeated EVIL @ 21:45 via submission [***¾]

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– My full preview is at this link.

– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– Kevin Kelly & Chuckie T are on commentary.

Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Volador, & Soberano vs. Taguchi, ACH, Henare, & Chris Sabin: Tiger & ACH start us off. ACH is playful to begin, but quickly picked up the pace and hits a running double stomp. Team Liger works quick tags, isolating Sabin and Liger hitting an apron cannonball to the floor. Back in and Liger locks on the Romero special, and then tags in Volador who hits a high cross and RANA. Sabin cuts him off by stunning him off the ropes and follows with a missile dropkick. Sabin connects with corner clotheslines until he runs into a superkick. Henare tags in, eats an enziguri and then catches a high cross and follows with a suplex for 2. He then blocks the RANA into a powerbomb. The lariat follows and we get wholesale changes to Taguchi and Soberano, Soberano runs wild and hits the tornillo high cross for 2. It breaks down and Taguchi runs wild with ass attacks, Taguchi Japan all hit ass attacks and have taken control. They isolate Soberano, and the double team x-factor finishes him. Taguchi Japan defeated Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Volador, & Soberano @ 6:12 via pin [***] This was a good, fun, and action-packed opener to start off the show.

Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, & Robbie Eagles vs. Makabe, Honma, & KUSHIDA: Bullet Club attacks before the bell, Ishimori isn’t working here due to an ankle injury so Eagles gets another big shot. The faces fight back, as Honma works over Eagles until fuck face Jado hits him with a kendo stick, allowing Eagles to take control. Loa tags in and slams Honma, lays the boots to him and covers for 2 as KUSHIDA makes the save. Bullet Club maintains control, with Tonga in. Honma hits the desperation backdrop and tags in Makabe. He hits corner clotheslines on the Guerrillas and then tags in KUSHIDA. The faces work over Bullet Club with strikes, and KUSHIDA runs wild until Eagles takes out the knee. It breaks down, Makabe hits clotheslines and Honma hits a falling kokeshi. KUSHIDA hits the springboard dropkick and Honma hits another falling kokeshi. KUSHIDA counters gun stun into the hover board lock, but Jado hits KUSHIDA with the kendo stick and Tonga gets a roll up for 2. Ishimori in with a crutch shot, looking fine, and the gun stun finishes KUSHIDA. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, & Robbie Eagles defeated Makabe, Honma, & KUSHIDA @ 7:52 via pin [**¾] This was pretty good stuff, with the goal of setting up Ishimori vs. KUSHIDA, as Ishimori holds a pin over KUSHIDA from the tournament.

Kazuchika Okada & Trent vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale: Okada attacks White and they brawl to the floor right away as Chuckie T says, “Yeah Okada, get that ass!” Chuckie is a global treasure and he talks shit on White, calling him a knife pervert. Okada and White brawl on the floor and Fale works over Trent. Okada hits the draping DDT on the floor to White while Trent dropkicks Fale to the floor and hits a suicide dive. There is great intensity to kick this one off. Back in the ring and Fale works over Trent, hitting the splash for 2. Fale hits the grenade but Trent counters the bad luck fall into a cradle for the win! Kazuchika Okada & Trent defeated Jay White & Bad Luck Fale @ 4:50 via pin [***¼] Good sprint here with great intensity and CHAOS getting some needed revenge. The post match was well done as well.

– They all brawl post match as White & Okada try to kill each other. White challenges Okada one on one anytime, and beats up young lions before bailing.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs. The Golden Lovers: Tanahashi and Omega brawl at the bell, and work into a stand off. Ibushi and Finlay tag in, they lock up and Finlay hits the dropkick. Omega tags in and double teams follows on Finlay. The Lovers work quick tags, isolating Finlay. Ibushi lays in forearm strikes and Omega tags in and work double teams. Omega follows with rights and chops, and then whips Finlay to the buckles and Tanahashi makes the save but Omega takes him to the floor and whips him to the barricade. Back in and Omega hits a plancha onto Tanahashi. Back in and Finlay hits an uppercut, and tags in Tanahashi. He runs wild, dropkicks Ibushi to the floor and hits a dragon screw on Omega. Omega’s knee buckles on you can’t escape, but he fires back with a jumping knee and snapdragon. Tanahashi counters one winged angel and hits twist and shout. Wholesale changes to Ibushi and Finlay, Ibushi lights him up with strikes and the standing corkscrew moonsault gets 2. Finlay fights off a German, they trade strikes, and Ibushi fires away with kicks but runs into a uranage for a good near fall. Finlay fires up and Ibushi counters the stunner into a German for 2. He misses kamigoye, it breaks down and the Lovers hit an Indie taker and the golden trigger is countered by Tanahashi with a high cross. He’s taken out by knee strikes, and the golden trigger to Finlay connects and he’s done. The Golden Lovers defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay @ 9:50 via pin [***½] This was a very good, high-intensity tag match that added to the build to Omega vs. Tanahashi.

NJPW Super Jr. Tag League Finals: Desperado & Kanemaru vs. BUSHI & Shingo vs. Roppongi 3K: To the shock of no one, Despy & Kanemaru attack before the bell. 3K quickly cuts them off and clear out LIJ. They isolate Despy until he rakes the eyes and tags in BUSHI. LIJ work quick tags, and we get Sho and Shingo trading strikes and chops. Shingo gives no fucks and starts beasting on Sho, hits the suplex and covers for 2. BUSHI back in and LIJ double teams follow and the cover gets 2. BUSHI works his shirt choke spot, but Sho fires back and cuts him off, tagging in Yoh. He runs wild on LIJ, Despy trips up BUSHI and pulls him to the floor as Kanemaru tags in and attacks Yoh. He dumps Yoh as Despy attacks on the floor. Yoh is rolled back in and Kanemaru hits a slam and stomps on his face. Despy back in, he and Yoh trade strikes and chops, and Despy knocks Shingo to the floor. Kanemaru tags back in and he and Despy double team Yoh as LIJ breaks up the pin. The champions dump LIJ and Despy follows with a suicide dive. Kanemaru hits a reverse DDT on Yoh for 2. He follows with uppercuts but Yoh counters the tornado DDT and does the deal with a falcon arrow. BUSHI takes out Despy, Shingo tags in and works over Kanemaru and Despy with clotheslines and shoulder tackles. Shingo now hits a pop up DVD on Kanemaru for 2. BUSHI joins in and double teams follow as 3Kmake the save. Despy cuts off BUSHI, and Kanemaru cradles Shingo for 2. Sho tags himself in and dumps Kanemaru. He and Shingo battle, dropkick by Sho, but Shingo fights off the German and hits uppercuts and rights. 3K hit stereo knees, take out BUSHI, and follow with double teams on Shingo. They call for 3K, but BUSHI makes the save and the gets Germaned by Sho. It breaks down, lariats by Shingo follow, Gory special on Sho connects and the pumping bomber kills Sho, but he somehow kicks out. Yoh saves Sho and 3K gets a great near fall as Kanemaru pulls out the ref. Belt shot by Despy, and the cover gets 2 as Sho kicks out. Despy looks for pinche loco, BUSHI in with the mist, Kanemaru misses the whiskey mist and Yoh hits a big tope. Sho hits project Ciampa on Despy and that only gets 2! Shock arrow connects and Despy is toast. Roppongi 3K defeated Desperado & Kanemaru and BUSHI & Shingo @ 15:55 via pin [****] While I wasn’t a fan of the booking of the tree-way, I am glad to say that they delivered an absolutely great match. Roppongi 3K becomes the first back-to-back NJPW Super Jr. Tag League winners and their path to redemption is almost complete. This was a great match with extremely good pacing, a great layout, and a very well done homestretch with a molten crowd and the right winners. This was the right way to close out the tournament.

Never Openweight Title Match: Champion Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto: This was supposed to be Ospreay challenging, but a rib injury has him out of action. Taichi attacks before the bell with a backdrop driver as Chuckie calls Taichi a “gothy theater dork who leaned karate.” Goto is down and out, Taichi covers for 2 but pulls him up before 3. Taichi shoves the ref down and takes Goto to the floor. He drags him into the crowd and whips him into some chairs. He heads back to the ring and we get a countout tease. Goto barely beats the count and Taichi covers for 2. Taichi talks shit and mocks Goto. Goto tries to fire back, follows with kicks and the spin kick and Saito suplex gets 2. Taichi fights off ushigoroshi and follows with kicks. Goto blocks one and they trade strikes and kicks. Taichi takes him down with kicks, and the enziguri follows. The head kick gets 2. The pants are off now. Taichi sets for the superkick and Goto blocks and hits Ushigoroshi. Both men are down. They trade clotheslines, Taichi rakes the eyes and hits a lariat. Goto fights off the powerbomb, hits the spinning slam and that gets 2. Ref bump, low blow by Taichi and the Gedo clutch gets 2 in a solid callback. Enziguri by Taichi, and the last ride follows and that gets 2. Goto fights back with a reverse GTR and both are down. Taichi gets the title belt and shoves the ref down. Goto hits a head butt, ushigoroshi, follows with a big kick for 2. Taichi counters GTR but Goto hits shouten kai. The GTR connects and he wins. Hirooki Goto defeated Champion Taichi @ 15:05 via pin [**] Well that certainly changes things as Taichi joins the likes of EVIL and Elgin as NEVER champions who never defended the title successfully. The match was ok, told a solid story, and Goto’s selling was excellent but it lasted far too long. Where is the Taichi that stepped up against Naito and Tanahashi? I miss that guy.

Rev Pro British Heavyweight Title Match: Champion Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki: No fucking round here, it’s cloobberin time right away as they light each other up with strikes. They now face off center ring and start trading again, rocking each other until Suzuki gets the arm bar in the ropes until Ishii knocks him to the floor. Ishii now follows with knee strikes back in the ring, but Suzuki starts walking through the chops and fires back with kicks and Ishii is down. Ishii to the floor and Suzuki dares him to come back in. Back in and Suzuki follows with grounded knee strikes, this is just down and dirty here. Ishii fires back, but Suzuki just talks shit and fires back to cut him off. Suzuki continues to lay in strikes and kicks, but Ishii fires back with chops to the throat. He just punishes Suzuki and Suzuki drops to the mat and Ishii lays in kicks, but Suzuki is pissed. They trade big forearm strikes, Ishii smiles as they continue to fuck each other’s day up. More strikes follow, but neither man will go down. They go crazy fists, Ishii is rocked and Suzuki finally knocks him down. Suzuki tries an Irish whip but Ishii collapses. Suzuki follows with a running kick to the face and that gets 2. The running boot and PK follows, but BIG TOM ISHII FIRES THE FUCK UP, absorbing strikes and firing back. Ishii follows with a clothesline, takes Suzuki up top and Suzuki fights him off, but Ishii hits a big powerbomb. Suzuki counters the lariat, but Ishii counters the sleeper and just kicks Suzuki in the head reputedly. They now slap the ever-living shit out of each other, and work into a double down. Back to the feet and they start firing away with slaps and strikes, just emptying the tanks and giving it everything they have left. Head butt by Ishii, suplex, and Suzuki cuts off the lariat with a running dropkick. Suzuki is bleeding from the mouth, but I’m sure he likes it. he locks on the sleeper, transitions for the Gotch, but Ishii counters out and Suzuki drops him with a huge right. Ishii fights off the Gotch with an Omori driver and the lariat follows with 2. Head butt by Ishii, sliding lariat and the cover gets 2. Suzuki counters the brain buster, locks on the sleeper, transitions for the Gotch and Ishii hits an enziguri and hits a lariat. Another connects and the brainbuster finally finishes Suzuki. Champion Tomohiro Ishii defeated Minoru Suzuki @ 19:15 via pin [****½] I absolutely love that pro wrestling can be so many different things and succeed. This match was completely different from anything else on the show, as it was just two old warhorses throwing everything they had at each other. This was an all out brawl for 12-minutes until they worked into some more traditional pro wrestling, and then back to ass kicking city. This was a beautiful symphony of violence, working at a level of physicality and brutality you don’t often see. It was so basic at times that it was almost ridiculous, but everything worked so well as they worked the kind of match I know I wanted to see, and more importantly, broke from what can be the tired submission based Suzuki attack (which was smart with a Sabre match following this). No one got involved, it was awesome, and this was the definition of a certified banger.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr: Taka is out with Sabre. They lock up and Sabre takes Naito down. They work into counters and a stand off. Sabre now starts to attack the arm, grounding Naito. Naito counters out of the bow and arrow, and tranquilos. Sabre goes right back to the arm, grounding the action again. Naito escapes, hits arm drags, and a basement dropkick. Sabre fights back into a flying triangle, but Naito makes the ropes. Sabre now starts working submission in the ropes, being a proper dick. Back center ring and Sabre stomps away at the arm, and follows with uppercuts and kicks as they work to the floor and Sabre starts working submission on the ramp. He then slams Naito’s knee into the ramp and heads back in, looking for a countout. Naito beats the count, but Sabre immediately grounds him and starts working the knee. He now mixes in uppercuts and leg kicks, just breaking down Naito. Naito fires back with an atomic drop and RANA, but is slow to follow up. The neck breaker and basement dropkick follows but Sabre counters the corner dropkick combo. Naito cuts him off with a draping neck breaker and reverse DDT for 2. Naito follows with back elbows, and is clearly focusing on the neck to set up destino. They work up top and Sabre counters the super RANA rolling through and transitioning into an STF and then a rings of Saturn; nice. Naito makes the ropes, but Sabre attacks the knee again before going back to the arm. Naito fires back, hits the sliding dropkick and tornado DDT. Gloria follows for 2. Sabre counters Destino, they work into counters, and Sabre gets the octopus stretch, and transitions into the calf killer. He now looks for orienting with napalm death, but Naito attacks the neck and is able to escape. They trade strikes, Sabre hits the PK and that gets 2. Naito counters the Zack driver, hits a German and destino for a great near fall. Sabre counters into a European clutch for a near fall as his neck gave out on the bridge. They work into counters, and the destino connects and Naito finally wins. Tetsuya Naito defeated Zack Sabre Jr @ 20:25 via pin [****] After going 0-2 vs. Sabre in 2018, Naito finally overcomes the man that ruined his title chances and can move on with life, and life after Sabre is Chris Jericho. The match was great, and I loved the layout of Naito fighting fire with fire, attacking the neck of Sabre, which not only set up destino, but also created many issues with Sabre’s trademark moves. It was also a great change of pace from the previous match as this was filled with great counter wrestling and was more grappling than the previous striking war.

IWGP IC Title Match: Champion Chris Jericho vs. EVIL: EVIL attacks before the bell and is out for revenge right away. he runs wild as Jericho powders, and EVIL follows. They brawl into the crowd, with EVIL controlling and posting Jericho. The suplex follows and EVIL gets a table and sets it up on the floor. He works over Jericho but Jericho fights off the powerbomb attempt and whips him to the barricade and chokes out EVIL with his shirt. Jericho takes EVIL to the announce table and spikes him with a DDT onto it. I am the table. Jericho then blows his nose on the NJPW banner and continues to attack. Back in and Jericho hits a high cross for 2. Jericho follows with chops, and the enziguri follows for 2. Jericho slaps EVIL, who fires up with strikes but Jericho hits a superkick and lionsault for 2. The slam follows, and Jericho lays the boots to EVIL and heads up top. EVIL cuts him off, follows him up and Jericho fights him off and hits a back elbow off the top for 2. They trade, EVIL hits the assisted kick and clotheslines Jericho to the floor. EVIL follows and whips Jericho to the barricade. EVIL gets chairs and attacks, and wraps one around his head and posts Jericho and does the baseball swing spot. Back in and EVIL hits clotheslines, and a fisherman’s suplex for 2. EVIL lays the boots to Jericho, chokes him out, but Jericho counters for the walls, but EVIL counters out and Jericho hits the dropkick and EVIL cuts him off and looks to the table on the floor. They work to the apron and EVIL hits the STO from the apron and through the table. That looked like it sucked. They work back into the ring and EVIL heads up top and hits the senton for 2. Jericho counters and locks on the walls of Jericho. EVIL fights, and makes the ropes. Jericho shoves the ref down and EVIL hits a lariat for 2. Jericho misses the lionsault and EVIL hits darkness falls for 2. Jericho counters everything is evil, EVIL counters the code breaker, and they work into a double down. Back to the feet and they trade strikes and chops, code breaker by Jericho and EVIL kicks out! Jericho is pissed, slaps EVIL around and heads up top. EVIL cuts him off and hits everything is evil for a great near fall. EVIL follow with a big lariat, but Jericho counters darkness falls into a RANA and then the walls. EVIL fights, but starts to fade, and Jericho transitions to more of a lion tamer and EVIL taps. Champion Chris Jericho defeated EVIL @ 21:45 via submission [***¾] I think that we all knew going in that unless there was some drastic change in direction that Jericho was retaining here to set up the Naito program. So with that being said working a match that not only makes it appear that EVIL can win, but also gets the crowd invested was key. They succeeded with that here, delivering a very good and heated brawl where Jericho looked strong but the loss didn’t hurt EVIL as he threw everything he had at the champion before finally falling. Mileage will vary on the Jericho brawl style, but I’d call this a success.

– Post match, Jericho keeps the hold on until Naito makes the save. Jericho bails and walks off. Naito proclaims that he will challenge Jericho and win back his title.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

NJPW Power Struggle 2018 was a great show, with three big time matches that are very much worth your time and a ton of good wrestling up and down the card. The WrestleKingdom picture also became clearer, with White & Okada continuing, Roppongi 3K winning their shot at redemption, Naito winning to set up the Jericho rematch, and Ishimori & KUSHIDA likely to clash (unless it changes to a multi-man, which is possible). The NEVER title picture became less clear, with Goto regaining the title, leading to questions as to Ospreay’s title shot he had coming here before the injury. The show felt as if it flew by with an invested crowd and just good stuff all around, a joy to watch.