wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW Sakura Genesis 2025 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW Sakura Genesis
April 5th, 2025 | Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 6,640
I’ve been vocal about my feelings on New Japan. I saw their talent issue coming a mile away with how Gedo booked things. While everyone was praising him, it was clear that they never made any star who wasn’t either Okada or a foreigner. The only other cases are guys they waited too long on (like Naito) or guys who didn’t get long enough runs at the top (Shingo). Now they’re in a spot where they clearly have the least amount of talent in any major company and have to try and make it work. That makes it hard to get excited for their shows but I’m hoping Sakura Genesis can surprise me!
SANADA vs. Yuya Uemura
Now SANADA has a guitar? That man’s identity crisis is wild. Yuya is kind of like a younger SANADA in terms of his looks but his style is much different. There’s energy and fire in Yuya were SANADA always tried to seem too cool for it all. That made for a clash of styles as SANADA looks more checked out than ever while Yuya was doing his best to make this interesting. Together, it was kind of just there. These two met in the New Japan Cup this year (***). Yuya was in control until they went outside and SANADA threw him into the guardrails a few times. His heat segment wasn’t very engaging but Yuya fighting back was. They had some relatively smooth exchanges down the stretch. SANADA missed the moonsault and Yuya snapped off a rana before winning with an armbar in 10:26. Yuya brought the effort, SANADA existed. [**¾]
NJPW Television Championship: El Phantasmo [c] vs. The Great-O-Khan
I wasn’t too big on their New Japan Cup match earlier this year (**¼). ELP came out firing, hitting a running boot at the bell and taking the fight to the outside where he delivered a tope suicida. That sparked a brawl in the crowd though it never felt quite as heated as you want in that situation. It was weird to have chairs set up for a spot only to have O-Khan do a spinebuster on the apron. The apron thing looked cool but the chairs were right there. It made no sense to avoid them. They did some decent power vs. speed stuff in the ring but again, something wasn’t clicking the way they probably hoped. They lifted spots from other matches like ELP getting help from ringside in popping his shoulder back into place. The finish was awful here as they awkwardly did a spot involving Jado and a chair where they did some bad acting. ELP decided against using the chair only for O-Khan to Tombstone him onto two others and win the title via countout in 11:09. Yeah, this is a pairing that I don’t like. [**¼]
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
I saw the video of my Ace running the ropes against Taguchi and my man’s knees were on fire. The Shota Umino push has not been working but like Triple H with Charlotte Flair, Gedo is gonna keep going with it. The action and technical work here wasn’t great because Tanahashi just can’t go the way he used to. However, he still knows how to get the crowd invested and he got the best responses from the audience that this needed. For his part, Shota continued the more aggressive style that he’s displayed since having to shave his head. I think him going after Tanahashi’s legs made sense given the state of Tana’s body these days. Tanahashi’s comeback still had some fire and the crowd was invested but you knew he wasn’t going to win this. I did pop for Tanahashi countering the Northern Lights Bomb to an inside cradle. Shota succeeded in hitting it right after to win in 12:47. A good match here though I still need to see more from Shota. [***]
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Ren Narita, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi [c] vs. Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd & Taiji Ishimori
New Japan has to book Gabe to win the G1. He’s too hot to risk bullshitting with him for too long. The challengers attacked quickly and started a solid fast-paced match with a fair bit of action. I could watch Drilla and Gabe beat the shit out of these dudes all day. A lot of the brawling around the ring wasn’t super engaging but it was decent enough. Everything Gabe did popped though and the crowd loves him. Of course, it’s the House of Torture so we can’t have nice things. This was riddled with their usual antics, culminated by SANADA showing up in giant red boots (which were a thing months ago and were worn by Seth when it was topical) and hitting Drilla with a guitar, aligning himself with House of Torture. That allowed the champs to retain in 7:30. A boring wrestler joins up with a terrible stable. Fitting. [**]
It’s time for Best of the Super Juniors announcements! Participants are El Desperado, Ryusuke Taguchi, YOH, Master Wato, KUSHIDA, Kevin Knight, Ninja Mack, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, Francesco Akira, Taiji Ishimori, Clark Connors, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, a CMLL entrant, Dragon Dia from Dragon Gate, Mao from DDT, and Nick Wayne from AEW. I don’t need the likes of BUSHI and Kanemaru in 2025 but a handful of these entrants are interesting and different.
NEVER Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita [c] vs. Ryohei Oiwa
Okay, this show has been a lot of nothing so far but this is a change to turn the tide. It wasn’t until he took of his jacket that I remembered how much of a big boy Ryohei is. As expected, this was an evenly matched, hard hitting fight. They took things outside early but didn’t rely on that or go into any kind of over the top brawl. I liked Ryohei taking things to the mat as it plays into his relationship with Zack Sabre Jr. while also setting him apart from the champion. He targeted Konosuke’s arm and threw some German suplexes. However, Takeshita is hard to keep down and he responded with a Blue Thunder Bomb from out of nowhere. Of course, they still had to do the traditional forearm exchange that is a staple of this title. That said, it was Ryohei’s different style that gave Konosuke problems. Ryohei came close with an impressive powerbomb and the London Dungeon submission and he got a pretty cool kickout at one from a Takeshita Brainbuster. Takeshita weathered the storm and hit a second Brainbuster to retain in 12:54. Takeshita rules and Oiwa is quickly becoming one of my favorites to watch in New Japan. That wasn’t quite a classic but it was pretty great and the shot in the arm that this show desperately needed. [****]
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito [c] vs. Callum Newman and Jeff Cobb
Cobb to WWE is a rumor that has been going around. Naito has looked more broken down than ever in the past year or so and his matches with Callum have been pretty bad so it’s hard to get excited about this one. Hiromu handled a lot of the action here, which is why the tag team with Naito has worked relatively well. He can carry things and allow Naito to work in shorter bursts. Naito did about as well as you can hope for from him. That said, he delivered an awkward Destino that commentary said was “the cleanest one he’s hit in a long time.” Hiromu and Naito showed off some solid tandem offense. Watching Hiromu hoist up Cobb was pretty impressive and Hiromu also took a great bump on Tour of the Islands. Cobb vs. more juniors, please. Callum’s Ospreay cosplay offense wasn’t enough to beat Naito still but when Cobb got involved, that changed. They hit a sweet tandem knee spot and then Callum finally pinned Naito with Firebomb in 10:45. A good match, better than expected. But like every other IWGP Tag Team Title change, it means very little. [***]
IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji [c] vs. EVIL
I stand by what I said about the New Japan roster being thin and devoid of stars but two men stand out as potential game changers for them. One is Gabe Kidd, the other is Yota Tsuji. Unfortunately, both men were saddled with the House of Torture on this card. EVIL attacked during the entrance BUT WAIT. It wasn’t Yota. It was his twin brother and that allowed Yota to get the jump. That was a cool little twist but this was still riddled with House of Torture shenanigans, especially with Dick Togo at ringside. It’s madness that New Japan just keeps doing this even though everyone agrees that it sucks. EVIL targeted the leg to wear down the champion. It hurt Yota even when he got something going, as he had to sell it immediately after hitting a tope suicida. EVIL has a bad Sharpshooter. Why can nobody seem to do that move right anymore? Yota rallied only for his brother to be attacked by Dick Togo for more shenanigans. Shingo showed up to make the save and clean house. From there, we got some good back and forth that reminded me of EVIL back when he was good. That was ruined by more Dick Togo interference. The powder backfired as EVIL got hit with it. Yota then hit the Marlow Crash and Gene Blaster to win in 21:24. Too long for what they were going for. Better than most EVIL matches because Yota did his thing and sold well but still a bit too much BS for my liking. [***]
After the match, Yuya Uemura came to the ring as the next challenger for Yota.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. David Finlay
David Finlay has gotten better but I still cannot buy him as the top heel. That said, getting a strong match out of Shota Umino was impressive. This match told a simple story and that’s why it worked. Goto is the beloved babyface and Finlay is the dastardly heel. Sometimes, that’s all you need. That said, some of Finlay’s attempts at menacing faces and stuff like that during his heat segments don’t really work for me. Goto has been a man possessed in recent months and he was doing wild shit like a rana that sent Finlay into the ring post. I don’t think I’ve seen him do something like that in years. I did love him also hitting a goddamn Death Valley Driver off the apron through tables right after Finlay taunted the crowd. That’s what a hero does goddammit. As they neared the 20 minute mark, it was time for them to trade big blows like a sunset flip bomb from Goto and Overkill by Finlay. Finlay got two on Oblivion but had his second attempt blocked. From there, Goto delivered three GTRs to win in 24:21. Again, better than I expected. Goto played his role so well and Finlay did his part, delivering a very strong main event in front a hot crowd. [****]
Post-match, Goto called out Shota Umino, who will apparently challenge him for the title in Chicago. That’s, umm, a choice.
