wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW Sakura Genesis 2023 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW Sakura Genesis
April 8th, 2023 | Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 6,510
I have been on vacation since Tuesday the 4th, so this review is a bit late but it’s a major show so I had to make sure I covered it. Vacation also means I’m pretty behind on STARDOM which will be my focus afterward. Gotta see what went down during the Cinderella Tournament.
El Desperado, Hiroshi Tanahashi and YOH vs. The Great-O-Khan, Minoru Suzuki and Toru Yano
I’m immediately intrigued by the teams. The idea of Suzuki and Yano teaming given their history is fun and having so many conflicting stables on the same side livens things up. This was a fun opener as everyone got to have some good interactions and they made sure to have intriguing stuff involving Yano and Suzuki. Guys like Tanahashi, YOH, Desperado, and Suzuki brought it as they always do. Things got way chaotic late with Suzuki battling his own partner O-Khan outside, leaving Yano all alone against his trio of opponents. Tanahashi directed traffic as the three ganged up on Yano. However, YOH and Desperado started arguing and fighting as Tanahashi couldn’t keep the pace. That allowed our Sublime Master Thief to roll up Tanahashi with a low blow and steal this in 13:10. More openers like that, please. This was a blast with storytelling, fun spots, and wacky antics that felt different from the traditional multi-man tags we get. [***¼]
Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira and Jeff Cobb vs. EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi
From something enjoyable, we move onto traditional stables and the House of Torture. I don’t have much to say here as it was the basic House of Torture match. They dragged this down and did nothing of real interest outside of a neat little spot where SHO had to deal with the much bigger Cobb. Cobb scored the win with a sweet Tour of the Islands on SHO with Dick Togo hanging onto his back. It went 8:01 and was totally forgettable. Post-match, Akira accepted KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight’s challenge for a title shot. [**]
BUSHI, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito vs. DOUKI, Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Part of the intrigue here is that SANADA left LIJ to join JUST FIVE GUYS and the stables are clashing here. Otherwise, this is just a match. The one thing I always appreciate in these tags, regardless of how mundane they may be, is that we get some interactions we never see in singles action. For example, Shingo against DOUKI was pretty solid here and there’s not really another case where we’d see it. Interestingly, Naito was a bit more heel here. He was overly aggressive with DOUKI and that led to a few cheers going against him and instead for his opponent. Shingo and Taichi reignited their KOPW rivalry for a bit in a strong outing. The closing stretch saw LIJ get trapped in submissions, including Naito being in the DOUKI CHOUKI, as BUSHI tapped to a Kanemaru kneebar in 9:20. A solid tag with some interesting potential implications. [**¾]
David Finlay, El Phantasmo and KENTA vs. Hikuleo, Master Wato and Tama Tonga
How many times in the past 10 years has a major New Japan show had Naito, Tanahashi, and the Bullet Club leader in undercard tags? That’s not even to mention Shingo, who is a former IWGP Champion currently going nowhere. This was another one of those tags that was just “mostly there” but the main story was that David Finlay is a mess as a leader right now. He showed up ELP and bickered with him more than once. That helped Wato escape a beating and made the hot tag as the Tongan brothers got going. Things broke down until we ended up with ELP and Wato again as the legal men. Wato jumped into a superkick and then ELP beat him with CR2 in 8:46. It was a match that happened. [**¼]
After the bell, Finlay hit Tama with the NEVER Title and KENTA laid out HIKULEO with the Strong Openweight Title. ELP tried to pull Finlay off of Tama and they started fighting. KENTA played peacemaker but then hit ELP with the GTS. Taiji Ishimori, ELP’s partner, ran in to stop the assault only to turn and low blow ELP. ELP also got hit with the shillelagh and Finlay shouted that he fucked with the wrong guy. Solid segment that turned ELP face.
IWGP Women’s Championship: Mercedes Moné [c] vs. AZM vs. Hazuki
It’s rare that I’m this excited for a New Japan match. Mercedes has been my favorite wrestler for just shy of 10 years now, AZM is a current Stardom favorite of mine, and Hazuki has been wildly impressive lately. Hazuki is notably 0-5 or so in big title matches, while AZM is the record-setting High Speed Champion and the best 20-year-old wrestler I’ve ever seen. This was worked at a wild pace and that’s right up the alley of the STARDOM ladies. Mercedes fit into that style seamlessly. They came up with a lot of creative spots from rollups to mat work to some aerial moves. They didn’t always come off smoothly though I did like it at times when it felt more realistic because of that. If you hit every athletic spot cleanly, it feels more choreographed than as if I’m seeing a real clash. An AZM dive took out Mercedes for a bit, allowing for some AZM/Hazuki action for a bit. As this hit the 10 minute mark, I got the AZM/Mercedes solo interaction I was dying for and it mostly delivered. Then, I loved Mercedes and Hazuki throwing haymakers at each other. The finish saw Mercedes catch AZM in the midst of a rollup on Hazuki with the Money Maker, which she did onto Hazuki, retaining in 13:53. A hell of a fast-paced match with plenty of exciting moments and great action. Not every worked but the vast majority did as Mercedes shined again, AZM continues to be incredible, and Hazuki delivered once more. [****]
Post-match, Mayu Iwatani (who was at ringside throughout with Momo Kohgo) hopped on the apron and into the ring to a solid hand. She came face to face with Mercedes and congratulated her but said the belt will be hers on 4/23. Mercedes went to respond but instead slapped Mayu and walked away. I’m so pumped for that match.
NJPW Television Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. [c] vs. Shota Umino
Another big chance for Shota to deliver. Their New Japan Cup match was very good (***¾). I loved Umino coming out with pin attempts immediately. You have to beat the champion in 15 minutes, not the other way around, so that desperation is vital to show. I didn’t like the urgency disappearing as Umino got goaded into a forearm exchange with the champ. ZSJ made sure to work the arm throughout and some of the holds he trapped the challenger in looked brutal. Umino didn’t tap out though as he kept wanting to show heart but it felt like the submission attempts and story peaked a bit sooner than the actual ending. Maybe it’s because Umino still lacks a presence but what they were going for never totally worked for me. It was mostly very good though in theory and you can see the bare bones of Umino being a guy with potential. Umino got some close calls late before ZSJ beat him with a rollup in 13:35. That was very good but never quite got great. [***½]
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Bishamon [c] vs. Aussie Open
They had a solid match at the World Tag League (***¼) but Bishamon has been on fire lately while Aussie Open is one of the best teams in the world. This got off to a strong start with the teams bringing some big offense early on, telling me this wasn’t going too long. However, it got taken up a notch when Kyle Fletcher banged his head on the guardrail and started gushing blood. He had to get bandaged up and used that to add fuel to his fire. He was angrier and there was a sense of danger to everything he was involved it, which really made the match better. Fletcher also took a nasty tailbone bump on the apron and looked to be in a lot of pain. Still, he was game to trade stiff forearms with Goto and threw shots that could rival Mark Davis’. Aussie Open had Shoto well scouted, cutting it off or avoiding it a few times. The fans could sense a change as they started chanting for Aussie Open down the stretch. A pair of superkicks and clotheslines set up Koryallis to give us new champions after 15:30. A spectacular tag team match boosted by the real injury to Fletcher. The change was made at the right time, the match peaked just at the right time, and this all worked. [****¼]
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi [c] vs. Robbie Eagles
I’m late into my night so I don’t have time to look up my previous ratings for these last two matches. Just know that I’ve loved this pairing in the past. Here? Not so much. The idea of the match was simple. Eagles worked the leg to cut off Hiromu’s speed and set up the Ron Miller Special. The issue is that Hiromu is at his best when he’s working with that speed so that automatically hurt this. I’m a sucker for well done limb work though, except they made some key mistakes. For example, I don’t love Hiromu getting his knees up on a 450 splash as it just hurts his leg more. It makes the wrestler look dumb and leads to inconsistent selling. There were several instances of a total lack of selling too, which was disappointing. I try not to be too harsh on selling when I review stuff but when it hurts the match, it hurts the match. Hiromu ultimately won with Time Bomb II in 21:12. This had a lot of good moments in it and was far from bad but the problems held it back from being on par with their best work. [***¼]
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. SANADA
Now this is a pairing I really don’t like. They both work a lot better with others and their recent title matches have been overly long, dull affairs. SANADA has a new haircut/shave/stable/gear so maybe that’ll make him interesting. If SANADA loses, he’s officially the new Goto. If he wins, he’s a guy given the top title who doesn’t feel like a top star. SANADA worked the neck from the start, clearly having an idea of using Skull End down the line. But since it’s Okada vs. SANADA, you know how this went. It moved at a snail’s pace and nothing of real interest happened. It was like Okada Formula but on an even duller level. When SANADA went into using the Skull End, it felt like rest hold city as they just laid there. I understand the point of it but that doesn’t make for interesting wrestling. Of course, the closing stretch was hot but it came at a point where I couldn’t care less. Normally, Okada matches are weak for 1/3, then become solid, and then end hot. This was lame for maybe 75% and then got good but by then it was too late. The crowd popped when SANADA finally won the big one with Deadfall after a LONG 26:58. Maybe I know nothing. All I can say is that I really didn’t enjoy this and SANADA winning didn’t feel like the culmination of some story where a guy finally got over the hump. It just felt like New Japan said “well we gotta finally try with this dude.” A shame too because I was actually shockingly enjoying Okada in this reign with his asshole antics in NOAH. [**]
