NJPW 2.19.18 Results From Perth, Australia – Cody in Triple Threat, Moretti

– New Japan Pro Wrestling held the final of their Australian tour in Perth on Monday. The results are below, courtesy of Wrestling Inc:

* Juice Robinson and Toa Henare vs. The Young Bucks. Everybody here got a decent pop, especially the Bucks. YB got the win after a Meltzer Driver on Henare.

* Elliot Sexton (TMDK) vs. Lance Archer (Killer Elite Squad). Surprisingly strong support for Elliot this match. Crowd was really behind him after Archer bagged on Australia and spat three bottles worth of water in the face of the crowd. Archer wins after the pump handle slam.

* Guerrillas of Destiny vs. “Blue Thunder” Yuji Nagata & Mareko. Guerillas with a fairly decent pop towards the start, especially Tama Tonga who was really vocal with the crowd. Referee was getting bagged on by both wrestlers and the crowd for this match, which became a recurring theme for the night. Nagata got hot tag but ultimately was only in the match for 3-4 minutes. GoD with the win.

* TMDK (Marcius Pitt, Damien Slater, Jonah Rock & Slex) vs. Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens and Gino “Juicy” Gambino). Both teams received really good pops, however, none of them compared to the singular pop for Kenny. He was billed as the headline act (over Okada) and was treated as such. Kenny thanked the crowd and mentioned this was the last night of the tour. Omega tried to get a chant for Chase Owens over with “Chase, Chase, Chase on the case,” which started out with a lukewarm reception but was definitely over come match end.

A recurring theme for the night was the inability to knock the larger men over and this match was no exception with Bad Luck Fale and Jonah Rock, which got a “Big Bois” chant. Fale really wasn’t over with the crowd and was actually told to F off by a couple of fans sadly, despite Kenny revealing it was actually Fale and Gambino’s idea to pitch bringing the tour to Australia. Omega gets BC the win with a One-Winged Angel onto Slex.

– Intermission –

* Minoru Suzuki vs. David Storm. Local hero Storm went into a chop match with Suzuki and lost hard. Suzuki ended up giving storm a 5cm-long swollen gash from the chops on his left shoulder. Suzuki gets the quick-win after about four minutes.

* Chaos (“Switchblade” Jay White & Tomohiro Ishii) vs. Mick Moretti & KUSHIDA. Moretti, the Sydney-based wrestler, came out to an almost Kazarny-themed gimmick but was incredibly ripped and got over with his manerisms of being scared of Ishii; who received little to no reaction. Switchblade got a decent pop but the real highlight was KUSHIDA who everyone got behind. Chaos with the win after Blade Runner on Moretti, causing KUSHIDA to get in his face, potentially teasing at a future title shot.

* Triple Threat match: Cody vs. Robbie Eagle vs. Will Ospreay. Match of the night. All three men put in a fantastic performance, with Cody being extremely over as both a Face and a Hell. The west side of the arena booed him into oblivion while the east side cheered him fanatically. The reverse was then true for Eagle with his “Bandana Power.” Finally, Ospreay interacted with the fans was cheered by everyone, especially the fans who were on ramp-side.

This match was all about the fan interaction and Eagle and Ospreay hitting high-flying moves. Cody, in all his heel nature, allowed the east side to air-kiss his hand and continuously flipped off the west area. Cody got the win after Ospreay Os-Cuttered Eagle and then throw Will out of the ring for the pin. Eagle and Ospreay then 450’d and Moonsaulted Cody after the match.

* Main Event: Chaos (Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA). Basically no reaction for LIJ, despite their shirts selling out at the merch stand. Rocky Romero received no reaction when he first came out but got good fanfare as the match went on. Okada came out to a ginormous pop but didn’t actually do that much in the match.

Match was rather underwhelming. My girlfriend and I both agreed the match before was the real main event and we were left unimpressed with the performance here. EVIL agets the win on Romero with an STO. Referring blatantly ignored the fact that EVIL was holding and using a belt multiple times which got the referee booed into the ground.

Post-match LIJ gave the closing promo.

NOTES:
Crowd was about 1000 in attendance of about a 2500 seat arena. Only taped off areas were the really-side on spots and behind the merch area, although the small crowd was VERY vocal.

Overall, I was really pleased with the NJPW product and even my girlfriend, who has never been to a wrestling show and doesn’t watch it with me, actively enjoyed herself and is in love with Will Ospreay.

Biggest Pops:
– Kenny Omega
– Kazuchika Okada
– Elliot Sexton
– Young Bucks
– KUSHIDA

Most Heat:
– Cody
– Lance Archer
– Bad Luck Fale
– The NJPW Referee (There was two referees tonight, one a local and the other a NJPW ref. No joke, the NJPW referee I mentioned before got bagged all night for being slow and oblivious to stuff.)