Cero Reviews NJPW/ROH Honor Rising 2018 2.23

NJPW, RevPro, CMLL, DDT, etc
Post Reply
User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Cero Reviews NJPW/ROH Honor Rising 2018 2.23

Post by cero2k » Feb 23rd, '18, 14:53

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising 2018
February 23, 2018
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale) vs Katsuya Kitamura & Henare - 4.5/10
I don't know who Yujiro's valet was tonight, but hot diggity dang. Match mostly built towards Kitamura and Fale facing off with the Young Lion actually getting Fale to his knees on some occasions. Match was mostly good, there was a lariat that looked crazy. Fale pinned Kitamura after the Choke Slam Lariat.

I just realized that if the whole Tama Tonga and Tongan Bullet Club thing happens, Henare could be a good option for the Jr division.

Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tonga Roa, and Hikuleo) vs Jyushin 'Thunder' Liger, Delirious, & Cheeseburger - 2/10
Man, it feels forever since I saw Delirious wrestle, I used to be a huge mark for him. We got bad comedy until BC got the heat on Liger, they worked him for a while until BC had communication problems and Cheeseburger got the completely cold tag. Delirious then came in, did stuff, and rolled up Hikuleo with the help of a Cheeseburger Shotei. Fuck this match.

The Young Bucks vs Juice Robinson & David Finlay - 6.5/0
Finally, Bucks wrestling with the big boys tonight! Bucks are super over tonight and completely on another level than the babyfaces. Bucks got heat on Finlay, Robinson with the hot tag who at least had size on them, this led to Robinson and Finlay getting heat on Matt Jackson, actually acting quite heely. I can't remember the last time I saw both teams in a tag match do a babyface in peril run IN the same match. Bucks won with the Meltzer Driver.

Flip Gordon vs KUSHIDA vs HIromu Takahashi - 8/10
Stipulation for this match should be whoever makes Gordon look better wins, this was completely prepared about introducing him in a big way to the Japanese crowd, problem here is that this was in-between one of the best rivalries that NJPW has seen in the last years, so a part of me just wanted to see Hiromu and KUSHIDA fight by themselves. When not fighting each other, Hiromu and KUSHIDA worked on Flip, focusing on the arm and knee respectably. The match escalated as it went on getting really hot close to the end, where in a HUGE upset in my opinion, Gordon pinned Hiromu after a 450.

I didn't like Hiromu taking the pin, Gordon doesn't need to win here, he just needed a valiant good match. I really hope they don't just put him against Ospreay out of nowhere, I rather see him get a win during the Juniors' cup or BOSJ. And if Hiromu is taking pins here, he may as well just have a run with BUSHI in the tag division.

CHAOS (Jay White & The Best Friends) vs Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, & Ryusuke Taguchi - 7.5/10
Castle had no boys, but Taguchi did come out with him, yet Lethal came out by himself. For some reason, Taguchi is eating fish sticks at the start of the match. This match had Castle, Taguchi, and Chucky T, so yeah, it had a lot of comedy and probably Jay White groaning in the corner.

The match, comedy included, was actually really good and fun. It was all back and forward between both teams,
and the thing I got out of this was that I really really want to see the new Jay White take on Jay Lethal, but it gave me the impression that Taguchi may actually challenge White in the future, which I really wouldn't complain about either if Taguchi goes serious for it. White pinned Taguchi after the Switchblade.

Post-match - Beretta challenged Castle for the ROH championship match. There was nothing between Lethal and Castle, who have a match coming up.

NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Beer City Bruiser vs Hirooki Goto (C) - 7.5/10
Bruiser seems to be a fan of Lance Archer. Bruiser actually got somewhat over with the crowd quickly, he was the big ugly brawler, Stan Hansen style, versus the never say die clean fighter Goto. The match was kinda like when you're playing a game and you're fighting a mid-level boss, and you know he really isn't that good, but you still can't beat him. Goto had trouble with Bruiser's weight and size, but eventually managed to hit an Ushigoroshi from the top rope and the GTR later on for the win. This was surprisingly good for a Bruiser match.

Golden Lovers & Chase Owens vs Bullet Club (Cody, Hangman Page, & Marty Scurll) - 8.5/10
Scurll has gray hair now, glad to see a change from the black attire. Huge pop for Golden Lovers coming out together. Cody was talking shit to Omega for choosing Ibushi over the Bullet Club. There were two interesting stories going on here, one is that Page and Cody were being dicks to Scurll when tagging him in, almost forcing him to fight Kenny, and while Kenny vs Page was about hurting each other, Kenny vs Scurll was a technical exchange, with Scurll once again being pushed by Cody to do the finger break spot. When Page and Cody were mocking the terminator spot, Scurll refused to do it and instead did his own superkick from the apron spot.

The other story, which took me a while to notice, was that Kenny and Ibushi, while completely working together and trying to, never actually tagged each other. May not matter at all, but I found it really interesting. Let's not pretend like this whole thing could end with Kenny turning on Ibushi.

Match itself saw Cody and Co. cut the ring on Chase Owens for a while, until he made a comeback on Cody and got the tag to Ibushi and both lovers came in for the hot tag, hitting the Cross Slash on the Club, and as they're getting ready to hit the Golden Trigger (new move), they were jumped by the Club finally leaving Cody and Omega alone in the ring. They went at it for the first time in the ring, Kenny having the upper hand and coming close to killing off Cody but Page came in for the save, and likewise, Ibushi saved Kenny from the CrossRhodes. After a lot of fighting, finish saw Page kill Owens with his piledriver for the win.

Post-match - Cody and Kenny went at it, and it was the Bucks who broke the fight apart. One Buck had a Cody t-shirt, the other a Kenny t-shirt. Scurlll and Page walked out on their own, Bucks walked out on their own. Cody then cut a promo saying that you're either Team Kenny or Team Cody. He ended the promo saying Bullet Club is Fine, Bullet Club is Mine!

Tama Tonga and Fale are not gonna like that.

Post-show - Page is pissed at Cody for stealing his spotlight for winning the match. Cody blames Kenny, he says he's giving the press conference time to Page, but cuts the promo instead.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
A quick and easy show by NJPW and kinda ROH. Overall worth watching since most of the matches were good, the last one being heavy on this whole Bullet Club Civil War story.
Image

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests