Pantoja’s NJPW New Japan Soul Review 6.16.24

New Japan Soul

June 16^th, 2024 | Hokkaido Sports Center in Sapporo, Hokkaido | Attendance: 2,370

There was no way I’d have watched a C or D level New Japan show in 2024 but I did say that I was looking to get back into things for the G1, so here I am. That said, it is a stronger card than most C-tier events, so that helps. I also have a STARDOM review or two lined up, as well as another look at Marigold, so I’ll be busy coming up.

Callum Newman, Catch-22, The Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb vs. Katsuya Murashima, Satoshi Kojima, Shoma Kato, Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii

Katsuya and Shoma are Young Lions. For the most part, this was your standard New Japan opening multi-man tag in how it was constructed but a few things gave it a bit of a boost. Kojima had some energy in there, Cobb and Ishii laid into each other like their Dominion match, and the Young Lions did usual Young Lions things. One thing I liked was the focus on Callum. He’s been a solid undercard guy from what I’ve seen and he was given the late showcase. It was Akira who got the win with the Fireball knees in 7:40. Solid enough and I liked the teases of Newman/Ishii. [**½]

DOUKI and Taichi vs. Ren Narita and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

I forget Taichi is around because I feel like he hasn’t done anything of relevance in a while. DOUKI has gone from random dude in the BOSJ to one of the highlights of the juniors division. House of Torture attacked right at the start, with the focus on the smaller DOUKI. That triggered some brawling outside and seeing Narita in this stable is just depressing. He’s gonna become the new SHO. Kanemaru put the focus on DOUKI’s knee with various moves that set up a kneebar of sorts. DOUKI rallied with the DOUKI CHOUKI (I know that’s not the proper spelling but it’s fun) and blocked the whiskey spit from Kanemaru. He then rolled him up to steal this in 9:04. Not enough Taichi for my taste and it’s House of Torture, so meh. [**]

Bishamon vs. Dick Togo and EVIL

New Japan doubling up on House of Torture is a choice. This was initially a six man tag with Yujiro Takahashi and Shota Umino involved but Shooter got hurt on Rampage. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. At least the previous match had some semblance of actual wrestling. This was just the usual House of Torture BS that I’ve grown to hate. I legitimately think they are the least entertaining stable I’ve ever seen. Bishamon won with Shoto on Togo in 8:10. I’ll be generous. [*]

TAKA Michinoku and Yuya Uemura vs. Tetsuya Naito and Titán

Considering his upcoming match at Forbidden Door, this was clearly something of a night off for Tetsuya Naito. The man’s body has been broken down for years and he needs shows like this in between his actual performances. I like Titán (as I do basically all of LIJ) so watching him handle the workload here was fine. TAKA is someone I’ve always enjoyed and this was mostly him against Titán. Yuya and Tetsuya barely got involved. Thankfully, that’s mostly a fine concept and Titán used a springboard double stomp to take this in 7:53. [**½]

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano

This is a quick rematch from Dominion. The former champions are a fine little trio but the current champions are more interesting in this role since Hiromu gets to mix it u with heavyweights and it’s Yota’s first title. BUSHI and Yano were kind of just here, doing what they usually do and Hiromu is always good TV. Among the standouts were Tanahashi giving one of his better performances in recent memory, busting out things like a double dragon screw and a High Fly Flow onto all three opponents. Yota and Boltin went at it like two beefy brutes and I really dug it. Boltin feels like he’s gonna be a star and we already know that about Yota unless Gedo gets in the way of either of them. The finish saw Boltin hit the Finlay Roll on BUSHI to regain the belts in 9:52. A fun little match though the title switch feels pointless. Then again, Gedo is booking so that comes as no surprise. [***]

 

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney [c] vs. Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles

A win for the challengers would mean the heavyweight and junior tag titles are in the same stable and it would make Fujita the youngest champion in NJPW history. In the early stages, this as kind of paint-by-numbers and felt kind of simple. That’s not exactly a bad thing as Fujita is still young and sometimes you need that kind of start before gearing up for something better. That’s just what this did as it certainly picked up as it progressed. Fujita got isolated and did well as the face in peril. When he and Eagles worked together, they showed off impressive chemistry and look like they could have a solid run as a team if this division mattered. Eagles got taken out hard with the Drilla Killa on the outside and he was done. They’ve done a great job of selling that as a vicious move. Kosei was left alone and fought valiantly, even picking up a near fall but he fell to the Full Clip in 17:52. Once this got going, it pretty much rocked. [***½]

Now it’s time for something that’s always fun…G1 Climax entrants! Though the tournament has been a shell of its former glory in recent years, I’m always intrigued at who gets in. 18 of the 20 participants are announced with the final two slots needing qualifying matches to enter.

A Block: Tetsuya Naito, Shota Umino, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, The Great-O-Khan, Zack Sabre Jr., Gabe Kidd, EVIL, and Jake Lee (the NOAH star got a pop).

B Block: Hirooki Goto, El Phantasmo, Yota Tsuji, Jeff Cobb, HENARE, David Finlay, Ren Narita, Yuya Uemura, and Konosuke Takeshita (AWESOME).

The final two spots are up for grabs among these folks.

A Block: Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Callum Newman, KENTA, Chase Owens, and Yujiro Takahashi.

B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg, Satoshi Kojima, Taichi, and TJP.

NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi [c] vs. HENARE

These two had a hell of a match at Dominion that ended in a draw and they’re 2-2-1 against each other overall. Honestly, this is one of those things where there isn’t much to say because you know what you’re going to get from them. They came out with forearm strikes that progressed to headbutts and it was a lot of what we got at Dominion, which I mean in a good way. It took like five minutes before they graduated to things like Samoan Drops and Death Valley Drivers. By the time they hit the 10 minute mark, they were back to trading headbutts and such. The bigger moves came in the final five minutes as they unloaded their best offense to try and take it home. I liked that they didn’t rely on near falls. Instead, both men would be down after big moves like the Pumping Bomber because they were simply exhausted. The finish and result were surprising as HENARE used a trapping headbutt to the collarbone to win the title in 18:46. As usual, I think this is a New Japan match that they could’ve shaved a few minutes off of. It’s still great though a step below Dominion. I’d keep them apart for a while now though since we’re already getting diminishing returns. [****]

IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: David Finlay [c] vs. SANADA

SANADA is returning after dealing with some concussion issues. They opened this with a feeling out process that dragged a bit and I immediately got the sense that this would go long. Given who was involved, that’s not what I was hoping for. Finlay’s heel offense is kind of plodding and SANADA’s flurries that he uses to rally aren’t all that exciting so it’s not the best formula. Things picked up when they fought outside and SANADA hit a piledriver on the concrete. I did not see that coming. It was as if Finlay’s antics triggered an angry SANADA who even shoved the referee. Back in the ring, we got the dumb Skull End release for a moonsault and of course Finlay got his knees up. From there, they went into the typical New Japan finishing stretch with counters and near falls (as well as some Gedo interference) before Finlay hit a flurry of moves capped by his finisher to retain in 25:31. That was better than expected though still would’ve been far better at 15-18 minutes than 25. [***]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match: SHO [c] vs. El Desperado

I’d never seen a cage match in New Japan and now we’re on our second in 2024. I came in pretty excited because Despy is obviously great and SHO could remind the world of how fantastic he is without the House of Torture shenanigans dominating things. Alas, we didn’t get exactly what I wanted. I think part of the issue was, and I know I sound like a broken record, pacing. Because they knew they were going 28:57, a lot of aspects of the match dragged, especially in the early stages. It was good that SHO took a beating. The dastardly heel needs to get his comeuppance and he got it here. Both guys worked the arm when they could which is a fine idea in a normal match but feels a bit off in a cage. Just as things were really starting to get going, we got a ref bump and I audibly groaned because you just knew the House of Torture were going to trot out. Thankfully, they couldn’t really get involved and their attempts to throw chairs over the cage backfired when Desperado hit SHO with him. Various faces cleared the heel stable from ringside but SHO hit a low blow. However, Desperado countered Shock Arrow and went into his finishing stretch, capped by Guitarra de Angel to win the title. I like the set up of the cage and thought that was a good but not great main event. Desperado deserves to be the face of the division though. Very overdue. [***¼]

Post-match, Desperado called out DOUKI, handpicking him as the first challenger.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

The first half of this show is pretty messy and something easy to skip. There are two stand out matches in the back half but there are issues with pacing, as matches drag and booking, like the six man title change.