wrestling / TV Reports

Kevin’s NJPW X CEO When Worlds Collide Review

June 30, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
CEO NJPW When Worlds Collide
6.5
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Kevin’s NJPW X CEO When Worlds Collide Review  

NJPWXCEO When Worlds Collide
June 29th, 2018 | Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida

It’s kind of crazy to think that this show, a crossover event between New Japan Pro Wrestling and CEO Fighting Game Championships, is happening in the same building where the nWo was formed in 1996. It’s not a major NJPW show, but should be fun. There were some non-NJPW “dark matches,” but I won’t be reviewing those for the sake of time.

The Fire Pro Wrestling World commercial with Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi is great.

During the introduction to the official NJPW portion of the show, audio was messed up. I did hear there were production issues.

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Rocky Romero
I’m sure these two met in some Best of the Super Juniors at one point. I thought this was a good choice to open, as both guys were able to use a lot of character work to pop the crowd. Anything Liger did got a reaction, because he’s a legend. Meanwhile, Rocky was cocky and taunted the crowd throughout. Rocky put the focus on Liger’s leg when he took control. It was strange to see Liger pull out an avalanche Brainbuster. He doesn’t even do that for big matches. Even stranger, Rocky kicked out. However, he couldn’t survive Shotei and a Liger Bomb, losing in 10:43. It was a fine way to start the show. The crowd was into it and they gave us some fun moments. The big brainbuster spot felt out of place, though. [**¾]

David Finlay and Juice Robinson vs. The Guerrillas of Destiny
One of the more successful NJPW teams over the past two years against one of the hotter duos currently. Tama Tonga and Juice Robinson are also gearing up for G1 Climax runs. Right off the bat, it was hard to get focused as there was this really annoying squeaking sound that just kept going. Anyway, Juice was still selling the hand injury, which was wrapped up. A lot of this seemed to focus on how well the former champions work together, due to their history as a team. They were a well-oiled machine. For some reason, Tama Tonga took Finlay way into the crowd to work him over. Juice did his best to make Loa’s offense look alright. As good as Juice and Finlay are, since GOD are Bullet Club guys, the fans were behind them. It made a lot of the comeback stuff not work the way it usually would. Tonga hit the Gun Stun eventually to win in a long 14:19. It was technically fine, but never really got going and went too long for what they went for. [**¼]

Chase Owens vs. Jeff Cobb
Owens is clearly the smaller guy, yet he is the taller one. That’s kind of interesting. Cobb opened this by toying with Cobb a bit, moving him around with ease. To combat it, Owens played off being taller, so Cobb threw him around more. Owens got more way more offense than I expected, and looked quite good. Cobb got the chance to showcase his athleticism with somersaults and moonsaults. He’s a versatile dude. Near the end, Owens was throwing some of his best shots at Cobb, who was just taking them. Owens made the mistake of going for the Package Piledriver. Cobb was too big and got free. He wrecked him with a clothesline and the Tour of the Islands to win in 12:54. I liked that more than I expected. It was cool to see Owens get a shot on a show like this. Some solid back and forth.[***]

Dragon Lee and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Roppongi 3K
A surprising bit of history here. Taguchi’s last real tag team was Funky Future (with Ricochet) and they lost the Jr. Tag Titles to Roppongi 3K last year. Lee and Taguchi aren’t a regular team, but they’re part of Taguchi Japan, so they’ve joined forces in multi-man tags. After some fun stuff involving Taguchi, we got a redo of the awesome SHO/Dragon Lee match from the BOTSJ. Lee ended up taking a short heat, before making the tag to Taguchi, who used his “funky weapon” on both opponents. Rocky Romero showed up and attempted to his own “funky weapon” on Taguchi. BUT YOU CAN’T OUT FUNKY WEAPON THE MASTER! Taguchi sent him packing. Down the stretch, the pace picked up and everyone got to shine a bit. In the end, Taguchi countered a pinning combination with one of his own to upset the former Jr. Tag Champs in 14:07. That was the best thing so far. It had a fair amount of action, some nice callbacks to past matches, and a cool, unexpected, finish. [***¼]

The Golden Lovers (IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito
Wow. Talk about a match LOADED with talent. Ibushi might be the worst guy in the match and that’s insane to think, because he’s incredible. Hiromu brought out the BOTSJ trophy and we got the return of DARYL! We’re getting all combinations of Omega/Naito/Ibushi in the G1, but seeing Hiromu against these guys was a treat. The guys had fun early, teasing Ibushi vs. Daryl, complete with Naito cheering for Hiromu’s cat. The crowd was hot for everything these guys did. They all got to hit their signature spots and the exchanges between basically everyone was a lot of fun. There were some bonkers spots, like Ibushi taking a sick neck bump on the sunset flip bomb or Naito seemingly getting knocked out on an assisted German suplex. As expected, the junior heavyweight took the fall, but he survived a fair amount and even countered the One Winged Angel. It was the Golden Trigger that put Hiromu out at 21:56. This was a very good main event. They didn’t need to put forth this much effort on a show like this but they took some risks. As good as it was, I do think it would’ve been better on an important show with some stakes. Still, a really fun match that we never get to see again.[***¾]

6.5
The final score: review Average
The 411
The in-ring stuff was mostly solid. The show basically got better as it went along, with a strong semi-main event and a very good main event. However, it has hard to fully enjoy things thanks to all the production issues. From the random squeaky noises to the inexperienced commentators to the other audio problems, it kept me from enjoying this as much as I could’ve.
legend