Pantoja’s NJPW Anniversary Event Review 3.6.23

NJPW Anniversary Event

March 6^th, 2023 | Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 2,020

The New Japan Cup continues as part of an Anniversary Show with a major Tag Title match and some intriguing undercard bouts. I’m actually looking forward to this one.

El Phantasmo and KENTA vs. Kosei Fujita and Zack Sabre Jr.

One of the better Bullet Club duos possible against ZSJ and Fujita? I’m okay with this opener. While you know a guy like Fujita will bring fire and I’ve had some great fun with KENTA vs. ZSJ in the past, what stood out here was ZSJ vs. ELP. They are a pairing I’ve never thought about but they traded quality counters and had some great back and forth. I’d be down for a TV Title match between them. Fujita got worked over for a while until Sabre Jr. got the hot tag and had more good work against ELP. That also led to more hard hitting stuff from ZSJ and KENTA. In the end, KENTA made Fujita tap to a crossface after 9:20. I’m very likely the high man here but that was a blast. [***½]

As the Bullet Club left, ELP mentioned something to the camera about stuff going on backstage that he’s unsure of.

Aussie Open and Will Ospreay vs. Satoshi Kojima, Tama Tonga and Toru Yano

Kevin Kelly called the United Empire trio the best six man team in the world. Mark Davis meets Toru Yano in the tournament and then the winner gets Ospreay. That was mostly what this was here for, giving us a preview of that match and possibly Yano/Ospreay while also allowing Tama to exist and bring back Kojima. I did like the Ospreay/Tama exchanges and I wouldn’t have believed that to be true a few years ago. However, Ospreay as the arrogant prick and Tama as the fiery face made it solid. On the flip side, I didn’t like a lot of Will’s character stuff. He was a bit too goofy here from talking on commentary to overselling a lot of things. Fletcher’s bump on the Koji Cutter was pretty rad. Alas, Aussie Open cut off his next move and put him down with Koryalis in 8:31. A fine enough little match. [**½]

Dick Togo, EVIL and SHO vs. El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki and Ren Narita

I wonder how EVIL and SHO feel. EVIL went from an entertaining upper mid-card guy to someone everyone hates watching while SHO went from promising future junior ace to an absolute drag. It’s the House of Torture so they attacked early and gave themselves the upper hand but once the match really got going, they were outgunned by their superior opponents. Narita was the isolated guy who then made the hot tag to Suzuki. He cleaned house and tagged Desperado who eventually bested Togo with Pinche Loco in 8:08. Exactly what you’d expect here. Let’s move our champs away from these opponents please. Of course, EVIL attacked with a chair after the bell so it’ll likely continue. Gedo can’t get out of his own way. [**]

Aaron Henare, The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito

Has O-Khan been coming out without the over-the-top gimmick stuff a lot lately? He just rocked a hoodie and carried a flag here. Given who was involved here, it was no surprise that this was very good. They had some hard hitting exchanges and Henare really looked motivated. His stuff against Shingo was the high point of the match. Commentary again went HARD on hyping up a SANADA redemption during the New Japan Cup, furthering my belief that Gedo really wants to do Okada/SANADA 34 out of this. Things picked up late with Cobb throwing people around and reminding us why he’s so good. We love Matanza Cueto around here. Shingo ate Tour of the Islands before Henare went on a flurry and beat him with Streets of Rage in 10:01. A surprising result though it likely means Henare doesn’t win again in the tournament. Still, I liked a lot of this. [***¼]

BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Lio Rush and YOH

Oh, NOW we’re talking. I really liked the YOH/Rush team and am hype for Rush/Hiromu. They opened this against each other and had a great fast paced exchange that was a good preview of the title match. That was how the entire match went as it was worked like a high end Super Jr. Tag League bout rather than some undercard fare meant to preview the future. Lio did some really cool shit like his little frog hops to avoid Hiromu. It’s just the kind of odd, random thing that works perfectly against a strange man like Hiromu. BUSHI was good here but the other three really carried this. I thought 3K would be the finish but Hiromu saved BUSHI from being pinned. YOH kept Hiromu busy soon after though, allowing Lio to win with the springboard Stunner and frog splash in 12:55. A banger of a tag that was everything I wanted from this kind of juniors action. Lio/Hiromu should be great. [***¾]

New Japan Cup First Round: Shota Umino vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Yujiro is typically a quick loser in tournaments while Umino has some rebounding to do after a disappointing and poorly booked big match debut. PIETER THO! WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION! I don’t have much nice to say about this otherwise. Yujiro matches are filled with House of Torture antics and Umino isn’t good enough yet to negate that. So they had a really basic match with shenanigans, run-ins, cheating attempts, and more. Umino survived some low blow attempts, avoided a shot with the walking stick, and took out SHO before beating Yujiro with Death Rider in 9:47. Not the best start for Shooter so far in 2023. [*¾]

New Japan Cup First Round: David Finlay vs. Tomohiro Ishii

So the big news was that Finlay came out with Gedo and was revealed as the new Bullet Club leader. It felt pretty obvious given the attack on Jay White but still. I actually think the Bullet Club should’ve ended YEARS ago but whatever. The reveal ended up causing my biggest gripe with this match. Once we knew he was the leader, there was no way Finlay was losing here and that took away some of the drama. It’s Ishii and Finlay, so it was obviously good and at times, it bordered on great. I liked Finlay being a dick, attacking before the bell and defiantly slapping Ishii despite being down in the corner. Ishii brought the fire we know from him and they kept up a really fun pace throughout. The closing stretch was strong and that Prima Nocta Brainbuster counter was a thing of beauty. It’s just that I never believed in any Ishii near fall which can hurt a match. Finlay secured the win after 18:40 and there’s potential for him as a heel. [***½]

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Bishamon [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada

I’ve been vocal about my problems with this division, Okada’s booking, and Goto being a goof since Okada sent him to the midcard in 2016. That said, this ended up being a tremendous main event. The early exchange were kept fairly simple but made sense and the champs took control by isolating Tanahashi. That worked because they’re a better unit than the dream team duo and Tanahashi is kayfabe more vulnerable than the World Champ. Okada came in hot for a while and hit his signature shit until Goto finally managed to stop some of his momentum. The back half or so of this match was great with Tanahashi picking up several near falls on the “weaker” link of the champs, HASHI, who never gave up. HASHI getting his knees up on High Fly Flow made for a fantastic near fall. The close calls only got better late and the crowd kept getting louder before Bishamon retained with Shoto on Tanahashi at the 20:17 mark. Tanahashi was savvy and wise, Okada was dominant on his own, and Bishamon were the better tandem. I wasn’t expecting that to be this good and maybe I’m just desperate for good tag wrestling in this company but that ruled. [****¼]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I quite enjoyed that. Three really good matches, a handful of disappointing ones, and a fantastic main event to conclude it equals a good old fashioned 7/10 score that is in line with a lot of New Japan’s current product.