wrestling / TV Reports
Kevin’s NJPW 49th Anniversary Event Review
NJPW Anniversary Event
March 4th, 2021 | Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 3,026
I’m going to do my best to review the New Japan Cup. It’s a lot of shows and NJPW doesn’t have my total attention these days but I’ll do what I can. I’m mostly here today for the Ibushi/Desperado clash.
DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd, Hirooki Goto, Master Wato and Tomoaki Honma
Suzuki-Gun attacked before the bell. I like how they’ve kind of been babyfaces for a bit but they still do shit like that. Also, I’ve missed Suzuki. The idea here was to help build some New Japan Cup matches like Suzuki/Honma, Goto/Taichi, and one that I’m really anticipating, Sabre/Kidd. Speaking of Kidd, he keeps getting bigger and bigger and I love that he just goes after Suzuki. He holds nothing back. Taichi was a dick to Goto, Suzuki looked to murder everyone, and Kidd impressed greatly. I don’t care for DOUKI but it’s hard not to pop for a move when Gino Gambino excitedly calls it the DOUKI CHOKI! Alas, it was DOUKI who ate the pin after getting hit with GTR in 10:39. That was a fun sprint of an opener that helped set up the tourney bouts. Just what I needed. Also, Master Wato basically didn’t exist in this. [***]
Chase Owens, EVIL, Jay White KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare
Jay White’s theme is so fucking sick. There are some things to note here. 1) It’s Toa Henare’s first match since the New Japan RAMBO. 2) Tanahashi and EVIL have tourney byes. 3) Juice Robinson now has his hair out in an afro. 4) This builds to Henare/White, Juice/KENTA and Owens/Finlay. Honestly, not much to write about here as a match itself. It was exactly what it needed to be in terms of building the upcoming matches, while throwing in some fun little aspects like some old Taguchi Japan antics and Bullet Club shenanigans. EVIL put down Taguchi to win in 7:39. [**¾]
BUSHI, SANADA and Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada, SHO and Tomohiro Ishii
Okada opted for the DDP look, going with heavy rib tape. He’s set to face Shingo in the tournament, while SANADA and Ishii are lined up. I’m hoping Shingo/Okada can be better than their G1 meeting. That one was very good but it lacked something. Anyway, this was more of the same as it was there to preview singles stuff. The SANADA/Ishii exchanges were crisp, while Shingo and Okada did well. I actually felt like SHO, once again, was the star here. He’s so good. He scored the win by hitting BUSHI with Shock Arrow after 9:13. A fine match and nothing more. [**¾]
New Japan Cup First Round: Jeff Cobb vs. Satoshi Kojima
Now, we’re getting into the good stuff. BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT! Eww, NJPW are calling Cobb the “Hatcher.” What the fuck? Anyway, as a match, this was exactly what I wanted. It made the first half of the event feel like a Kickoff Show and like this was the opener. In more traditional times, this probably would’ve opened a night of NJC action. It was hard-hitting and played into their characters well. Cobb looked vicious and like he enjoyed dishing out a beating while Kojima showed the awesome fire that he’s known for. I love getting random BIG MATCH KOJIMA every once in a while. Kojima gave it his all but Cobb caught him with Tour of the Islands to advance in 11:50. Exactly what this needed to be. Compact, hard hitting, and to the point. My kind of match. [***½]
New Japan Cup First Round: The Great-O-Khan vs. Tetsuya Naito
Both guys are in dire need of a win. However, I came in expecting an upset. It’s classic NJPW booking and it’ll allow Naito some time away from the spotlight. They did a very good job of laying this whole thing out. I would’ve thought that going over 20 minutes for O-Khan was a mistake but they did well with it. Naito seemed outmatch at points because O-Khan had a brilliant strategy. He went after Naito’s leg with vigor and aggression. Though he did well against Tanahashi, this was his best performance. His offense wasn’t dull and it all had a focus behind it. The finish was also great because it played off of all of the hard work. Naito was trapped in a leg lock for an excruciating amount of time. He wouldn’t tap but he flailed and grabbed at the referee, who eventually stopped it after 20:20. That was really good and an excellent win for O-Khan. [***¾]
IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Championships: Kota Ibushi [c] vs. El Desperado
I think this was a bad time to make the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship a thing. Commentary hyped the first ever champion being the winner of this and as much as I love Desperado, there was no way it would be him. That certainly took away a lot of the drama surrounding this. I really dug some of the story elements here. Ibushi just took strikes from Desperado and dared him to hit harder. Ibushi is no longer the junior heavyweight Despy knew years ago. He’s an absolute machine now. However, Desperado indeed delivered more and you could sense his confidence growing. He’s also not the same guy from all those years ago. He might not be much bigger but he is better. While it lacked the drama and never made me feel like Desperado would win, it was more about showing he could hang and he certainly could. Desperado is better than a lot of the company’s heavyweights. He fell to Kamigoye after a hard fought 20:36. Desperado is great, Ibushi is great, and this match was awesome. [****]
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