wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW New Year’s Golden Series Review 2.20.22
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW New Year’s Golden Series
February 20th, 2022 | Hokkaido Sports Center in Hokkaido, Sapporo
I’ve fully reviewed the 2/19 show and am pressed for time today so this review will be less in-depth.
El Phantasmo, Jado and Taiji Ishimori vs. Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask IV
It looks like we’ve had some changes to the card as things look a bit different than what was scheduled. No major things though. Lots of jokes from commentary while talking about Team Six or Nine and how you can’t be on that squad and be in it for yourself. A basic tag here with the heels isolating Tiger Mask IV. I liked ELP’s spot where he impressively balanced on the top rope only to leap off and do a back rake. It’s great heel stuff. Eagles got the hot tag for his team while Fujita brought fire when he came in but you knew he was there to eat the pin. He took the loss when Ishimori delivered Bloody Cross after 6:44. It was fine. [**]
DOUKI and Taichi vs. Ryohei Oiwa and Tomohiro Ishii
I feel like it recently seemed like we were headed toward Taichi vs. Shingo but last night’s focus was on Taichi/Ishii and that was the focal point here again. They brought it to each other with aggression as Ishii never seems to really take a night off. Their matches in the past have been pretty good too. DOUKI and Oiwa existed as junior heavyweights but nothing more than that. Taichi defeated Oiwa in 9:10 and I keep typing Iowa instead of Oiwa. [**]
El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi
I feel like this was one of the changes to the card because this feels odd as a non-title match. I’m not mad at it though. These guys have meet in so many tags over the years (though Wato is new to it) that they know how to work well together. This wasn’t going to blow you away or reinvent the wheel but it was a good time. Wato brought back his old Young Lion ways by bringing the energy right from the start, opening this like it was a match that mattered. Taguchi’s knee became a problem in this and the heels targeted it late. However, Taguchi managed to turn a Figure Four around into a pin to win in 10:31. Good tag wrestling. [***]
The Great-O-Khan vs. Satoshi Kojima
This match was certainly changed as I specifically remember O-Khan had a different opponent. Plus, he beat Kojima earlier in the tour (***). This was more of the same as they likely didn’t have much time to come up with something totally different. It’s fine for what it was as Kojima can still go and have a hard hitting battle with a guy like O-Khan. It’s his wheelhouse. It was slightly better than the last one though because Kojima brought emotion as if he knew this was one of his final notable singles matches, though we’ve been saying that for years. O-Khan sold well for him, which is something he hadn’t had to do much in the past. His ribs were done to the point where after the match, he even collapsed. Though Kojima gave him a hell of a fight, O-Khan won with the Eliminator in 10:23. [***¼]
They announced that this year’s New Japan Cup would feature 48 WRESTLERS. I don’t think this company even has 48 viable guys on the roster. They could try to bring in outside talent but I’m not too high on this idea. Expanding to 32 wrestlers recently only caused the tournament to dip in quality.
BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Shingo Takagi vs. Great Bash Heel, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata
SANADA got to come out last for his guys and was treated as the biggest star. With his title win in the main event last night, every member of LIJ has done just that: win a singles title in a main event. Even BUSHI pulled it off in 2016. While on paper this was fine, the execution lacked a bit. Tanahashi and SANADA started but kind of took it easy after the grueling effort of the previous night. Hiromu and Shingo, usual bright spots, were good though not at their best. Meanwhile the Dads on the other side also kind of just went through the motions. It’s whatever, this existed. Shingo pinned Honma after a Pumping Bomber in 11:16. [**½]
KOPW Trophy: Minoru Suzuki [c] vs. Toru Yano
So this was some kind of Dog Cage Death match or something. The only way to win is to put your opponent in a dog cage. And better whine about the absurd stuff WWE books. Wrestling is inherently goofy, people, let it go. This was basically everything you would’ve expected from these two. It was goofy, filled with ridiculous antics, and at times, Suzuki just beat Yano’s ass. Some of it was clever, like Yano handcuffing Suzuki only to still get beat up and then end up cuffed on his own. After fighting all over the place, Suzuki put Yano in the cage but he managed to switch things around and trap Suzuki to win in 13:48. The highlight was Suzuki immediately choking out a Young Lion in the cage. [**]
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi [c] vs. Hirooki Goto, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI
Goddammit, not more House of Torture. Look, I’m too tired of that group to go deep into this. It sucked and continued to be a case of this stable and New Japan booking ruining guys I used to like. 10-15 minute EVIL matches ruled but now they’re 20-35 minute slogs with interference. SHO was a highlight and now I don’t care at all about him. This match was ass and featured all of the same stuff you’ve seen from their multi-man tags before. YOH took a flurry of offense and lost to Pimp Juice in 17:07. I’m over it. [*]
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito
Remember when New Japan blew the chance to give Naito the top title at the perfect time in early 2018 and instead waited two more years to do it and now Naito is physically hammered and just exists? I remember. From what I’ve seen, their 2012 match is still the best (****½). I also saw them at WK 8 (***¾), the G1 24 (****¼), Invasion Attack 2016 (****), Dominion 2016 (****), WK 12 (***½), and WK 14 (****¼). I kind of like Okada’s black and red gear. In a lot of ways, this match was typical Okada/Naito and that’s fine. They started things slow but this didn’t feel completely like Okada formula. It wasn’t just for the sake of going long. It was two guys with a lot of history who didn’t want to make the first mistake. When Okada snapped off his dropkick, it kicked things into the next gear and meant something. Naito continued the focus of the tour on the neck and leg, looking for any opening on those body parts. They moved into bigger moves late, including Naito taking a hanging DDT outside. I feel that moves like that should be more important than just a transition. Like, that should end your shit. Anyway, the closing stretch was as wild as always with counters and cool shit. Of course, Destino didn’t end it because that move is hot garbage these days. However, I did like Okada doing one of his own just because it’s at least something different. He added a few more moves and won with the Rainmaker in 29:34. YASSS SUB-30 MINUTE MAIN EVENTS. This wasn’t their best work together but it was better than their worst and a case of two greats just doing their thing. [****]
Post-match, Okada mentioned El Desperado as we’re likely to get our heavyweight vs. junior heavyweight match at the Anniversary shows.
