NJPW 2014: New Beginning to Dominion

[Red_And_Yellow]

I'm very much excited to check this out.

[Red_And_Yellow]

8 Man Tag: Bullet Club v. Nagata, Nakanashi, Honma and Captain New Japan was a good tag. I give it ***

[Red_And_Yellow]

3 Way NWA Tag Title Match: Tenzan & Kojima v. KES v. Conway & Brisco

Another good match. Very strong start to the card. Each opponent got some offense in and a good finish, even though Tenzan may have kneed Brisco in the face on that moonsault. **3/4

But I begin traveling back to my apartment so will have to watch the remaining 2:45 or so there.

[jsnnmk]

[Red_And_Yellow]

Not sure what to make of that turn by Iizuka. No rating for that tag match, it barely even occurred.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Fale v. Naito was good, pretty good build to the finish I thought. ***1/4, best match I would say so far but not much better than the Bullet Club 8 man tag.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Just checked and now I'm at 2:45, miscalculated time earlier. I hope this doesn't mean we are getting 40+ minutes of matches between the two Gracie singles.

Show recap 5 matches in and only 1 1/2 hours into the show? A bit weird.

[Greg_McNeish]

Don't worry. You're only getting 37+ of matches between them.

[Red_And_Yellow]

It's always impossible to rate a Gracie match but Gracie/Sakuraba was ehh. I give it *3/4. But if they clocked at 37 minutes total, that must mean Nakamura/Gracie must go like 28 minutes.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Greg, I saw you say this:

Words cannot express the degree to which Tomohiro Ishii matches bore the shit out of me.

And, well, I disagree with it in re: to this match. I thought this was very good. Ishii/Ibushi has been the best match so far. I don't know where they are going with Ibushi but he seems destined to be a IWGP Champion at some point. This is very good though, good back and forth action, Ibushi fighting spirit and come backs. Only real complaint I have is the opening section of the match when Ishii was in control and kept working in the corner but didn't really hit any impact moves, which should've been something I think he should've wanted to do against Ibushi, well that and the incredibly dangerous catch huracanrana on the 2nd rope power bomb attempt. ***3/4

Next show possible match:

Fale, Tonga & Yujiro v. Ishii, Ibushi & Naito?

[Red_And_Yellow]

I think the Tanahashi/Makabe v. Goto/Shibata match was the most disappointing so far. It was fine, a little better than average but nothing really stands out. There was heat in the match but the only thing that people really wanted was Tanahashi/Shibata and they didn't get enough of it. Looks like they are going to break up Shibata/Goto. **3/4

[Red_And_Yellow]

I'm very curious on what the story for this Gracie/Nakamura match is since Nakamura wore a gi during that tag match. I'm almost wondering if the story is "wearing the gi is a mistake because it makes me think like the Gracies in their element. I'm going to get Daniel out of his gi and turn this into a wrestling match." Or at least that's the impression I'm getting watching it.

I'm going to give it **1/2, it didn't suck, it didn't blow me away, though it was better than any Gracie match could be I would think. That's the best it gets for the Gracies, I'd imagine.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Did NJPW accidentally give away the winner of Styles/Okada? They showed a picture of the belt before the match and it has Okada's name on it. DOH

[Red_And_Yellow]

Styles/Okada, this was very good as well. Though not the MOTN, this was still very good. We got a cleanish finish as well, which should help AJ a lot. ***1/2

Overall, great show, highly recommend checking it out.

[Greg_McNeish]

It's possible that this was an okay or even good bomb-trading match from Ibushi & Ishii. I have no idea, because I am just so numb from Ishii having 17-22 minute matches every month, that are put together EXACTLY the same, regardless of who he's in there with. Ibushi is a junior wunderkind, with great fighting spirit, so it would make sense that he could actually deliver on the formula, where others have not. I'll be watching it again in a couple days, to review with Jason, so I'll be paying extra attention to details I probably glossed over live. I am just emotionally destroyed on Ishii matches. He is one of the least versatile wrestlers I've ever seen, and the one thing that he does, I find he has to be carried to be any good at.

[Red_And_Yellow]

I haven't seen as much Ishii, so it's hard for me to be annoyed by what he does. Talk to me around WK9 time and maybe I'll have a different tune.

I'm not expecting much out of Yujiro/Ishii though as I felt Kota was the real star of his match with Ishii and given the little I've seen of Yujiro, he'd have to pull out a lot of stuff that I'm not seeing from him.

[Greg_McNeish]

Takahashi/Ishii is a style clash that makes my insides cringe. There's very little chance that isn't a messy disaster.

[GooberBM]

Especially with Pillow Talk, Yano-in-training Takahashi seemingly dead for now

[Jama7301]

So, how vastly different is Bullet Club Takahashi from Chaos Takahashi?

[Greg_McNeish]

Black towel, instead of white and pink, and no sexy sax man music.