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Puro Reviews: The New Beginning 2012

September 20, 2016 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
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Puro Reviews: The New Beginning 2012  

NJPW The New Beginning 2012
February 12th, 2012 | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 6,200

Here we have one of the more important shows in recent New Japan memory. It is important for one specific reason and that is that it marks the true arrival of Kazuchika Okada. While I’m personally not the biggest fan of Okada, this started his run to the top of the company. He would go onto to become Gedo’s favorite plaything and earn the moniker of “ace” of the company in a few short years.

I have to preface this by saying that NJPW World doesn’t have this entire show. The first two matches are not available so I cannot review them. YOSHI-HASHI and Yujiro Takahashi defeated King Fale and Tomoaki Honma and then Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano beat Captain New Japan, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tama Tonga.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Davey Richards and Rocky Romero def. Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) (c) in 15:09
Ryusuke Taguchi looks so weird here. NO REMORSE CORPS! This is apparently a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom VI. Romero and Devitt start and work at a very fast pace. Davey and Ryusuke is less exciting but I chuckle each time Davey chooses to stop and yell “NO REMORSE”. He shouts it again after they take out Devitt on the apron, kicking off a short heat segment. Taguchi hits two amigos and when it gets interrupted, he turns it into a leg sweep/reverse DDT double team move. Things break down and move at a really fast pace, with everyone getting a chance to shine. Apollo 55 nail stereo tope con hilos, though Devitt’s looks miles better than Taguchi’s. They also do a really cool assisted Bloody Sunday spot for two. Both teams pick up near falls on some big blows. Rocky takes Devitt out with a tope suicida, while Richards gets the win with a powerbomb. Really strong opener, but I feel like the finish fell flat after everything they did beforehand. They built to some good false finishes and didn’t overdo anything. ***½

Elimination Match: Suzuki-Gun (Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku and Yoshihiro Takayama) def. KUSHIDA, Seigigun (Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata), Tiger Mask and Togi Makabe in 23:08
It’s like the Survivor Series! Makabe and Suzuki just beat the shit out of each other to open. Pretty much everyone gets their shit in for the first few minutes. Takayama is in rough shape. It’s great to see young KUSHIDA at work but he is the first one eliminated by Archer. Taichi and TAKA double team Tiger Mask to set up his elimination at the hands of an F5 by Archer about a minute later. Archer continued to show his dominance and tossed Inoue over and outside. I’m not certain but I believe this gets him counted out or something and Nagata and Makabe are left to a 5 on 2 disadvantage. Makabe took the heat for a while after getting rid of TAKA and Taichi. Nagata got the tag and came in hot. His interactions with Suzuki were great but then Suzuki dumped him over the top to eliminate him. Makabe fought hard, despite being down 3-1. He kicked out of a double chokeslam and running boot but fell after a flurry of offense from the heels that was finished off by a Gotch Piledriver. About as good as it could have been. It seemed to be meant to put over Suzuki-Gun as dominant, so it succeeded there. It just wasn’t too entertaining. **½

IWGP Tag Team Championship: TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) (c) def. Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) in 17:47
This is near the end of Bad Intentions’ run. They had just held the titles for a record 564 days before losing them at Wrestle Kingdom to the recently reunited TenKoji. Bernard tries to use his giant head to headbutt Tenzan but it fails because Tenzan has a head like a Samoan. Some good double team work leads to Kojima taking the heat for a bit. Tenzan got the tag to some fire but it feels like something is missing. He attempts the Anaconda Vise but Anderson is able to break things up. Anderson’s sell of Kojima’s corner chops was hilarious as he just flopped around. Kojima kicks out of a Magic Killer and then Bernard takes a Koji Cutter for two. Anderson hits Tenzan with Gun Stun and turns around into a Koji Cutter from Kojima. That leaves it to a one on one situation and Kojima puts down Bernard with a lariat. Good tag match but it never clicked into something great. I didn’t get the feeling that this was a team that just had a record reign end. They never felt angry enough. Fine work other than that for the most part. ***

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto def. Masato Tanaka (c) in 13:26
It’s the first match on NJPW World to include the entrances. Well, at least it includes Goto. They pretty much spend the first few minutes just beating each other up in and outside of the ring. I spot Tomoaki Honma outside though I’m unsure of his role at the time. Tanaka holds serve until Goto gets an opening with a backdrop driver. Still, Tanaka seems to have an answer for everything Goto brings out, including a lariat following Goto firing up. Tanaka powered up after a German but ran into a massive lariat. Goto takes a bunch of elbows but stops the roaring one with a headbutt. Goto eventually hits Shouten Kai to capture the title. This was a good, hard hitting match, though I came away feeling like they were capable of more. ***¼

Tetsuya Naito def. Shinsuke Nakamura in 17:38
It’s a rematch of the 2011 G1 Climax finals, which Nakamura won. While they trade stuff early on, Nakamura looks like he’s kind of playing with Naito. It’s as if he knows he can beat Naito since he already did in the G1. They fight up to the entrance where Naito busts out a great running, leaping dropkick. It looks really awesome. Even with that, Nakamura takes control before things get back in the ring. Naito begins the comeback with a lot of his fast paced, high flying offense. To combat this, Nakamura lights him up with a series of kicks. Naito avoids Boma Ye and they trade blows in the middle of the ring. Naito misses the Stardust Press and takes a Boma Ye to the back of the head. Nakamura is too hurt to cover and Naito counters several other attempts at the move. Naito gets him in position and wins with the Stardust Press. Good but not great match. It felt like one of Nakamura’s “B Show “ performances where he doesn’t bring his all. Naito did well and looked like a guy on the cusp of breaking out with a big win. ***¼

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) win 23:23
It is the first chapter in one of the greatest rivalries in wrestling history. Okada just returned from a TNA stint and had a middle of the card match at Wrestle Kingdom, but challenged the champion, who entered in the midst of a 404 day reign. The purple in Okada’s hair looks ridiculous. Tanahashi takes the youngster to school in the early stages with a seemingly inescapable headlock. Once Okada gets free though, he nails a beautiful dropkick. Okada shows his heel tendencies by choking Tanahashi on the guardrail outside. Though Okada takes control for a while, Tanahashi still has moments where he’s one step ahead, like when he skins the cat on an unsuspecting Okada. Shortly after, he nails the first High Fly Flow of the night onto a standing Okada outside. Tanahashi takes over but things go bad for him when Okada delivers a tombstone on the concrete in the crowd. He brings Tanahashi inside and nails the elbow, complete with selling of the leg that Tanahashi worked on while he was in control. Tanahashi prevents a Rainmaker but Okada gets his knees up on High Fly Flow. Okada goes into his offense but Tanahashi continues to have the Rainmaker well scouted. In the end, he ducks one but Okada ducks his shot and finally nails it to become champion. This seemed like a match booked so the young guy could hang with the top star and show his worth. You can’t underestimate Gedo’s love for Okada though as he puts him over in shocking fashion. This was a great first chapter in their rivalry. At times, Okada looked overmatched and at others, he was rightfully cocky. It isn’t a patch on their best work (King of Pro Wrestling 2013) but was much better than their worst (Wrestle Kingdom 10). ****

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
The matches that were available on NJPW World were all pretty enjoyable. The elimination match was decent and everything else ranged from good to great. I thought the Jr. Tag Title match was fun, Naito/Nakamura and Goto/Tanaka were both good, the heavyweight Tag Title match was solid and the main event was some great work. The crowd was hot throughout the show and it gave extra juice to the event. Add in the shocking, historic finish to the main event and this is a key show.
legend

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NJPW, Puro Reviews, Kevin Pantoja