BRM Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXVI: Day 9 (ROCKY VS. EL PHANTASMO!)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXVI: Day 9 (ROCKY VS. EL PHANTASMO!)

Post by Big Red Machine » May 24th, '19, 15:46

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXVI: Day 9 (5/24/2019)- Tokyo, Japan



BLOCK A MATCH: Tiger Mask IV vs. Sho- 5.75/10

BLOCK B MATCH: Will Ospreay vs. Ren Narita- 6.75/10
Another very good showing from Narita in the ring, and another bad showing from Juice Robinson on commentary.

BLOCK A MATCH: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Marty Scurll (w/Brody King)- 3.5/10
They start off threatening each other with their respective weapons but are talked into disarming. Then they went right to the outside to go fight in the crowd. Instead of counting, the referee followed right behind them, impotently ordering them back to the ring and being ignored. When someone finally paid attention to the referee, it was Marty shoving him down. This was not a DQ.
Eventually the referee went back to the ring and started to count because it was time for the special Kanemaru Count-Out Tease spot. Props to him for having a variation on things to make his feel different- this time he was in danger as well because Brody King was blocking his path- but it doesn’t change the fact that these rules are applied in such a ridiculous and inconsistent manner that the only conclusion one can come to while watching it is that rules only apply when the spot requires them to, as opposed to wrestlers setting up their spots in such a way as to make sure that they are fully compliant with the rules. The former is hokey and fake; the latter is the professional sporting contest that we are supposed to think this is.
Moments after they’re back in the ring we have our ref bump. Kanemaru then got a visual pinfall on Scurll. Then we did the spot where Scurll blocks the whiskey spit with his umbrella, followed by a roll-up for a nearfall. Then they both went and grabbed the others guy’s weapon. The referee took them away, which allowed Scurll to spit the Whiskey into Kanemaru’s eyes for a nearfall off of a backslide, then he hit Black Plague (which I’m pretty sure used to be called “graduation”) and got the win. If the name of a move is going to be changed, I think it’d be cool to have the wrestler cut a promo explaining the name change. It seems like something that could give us some insight into a character.
This was a decent match for what they set out to do (though it would have been better without the count-out BS in the beginning), but it was yet another disappointingly short Kanemaru match, which is even more frustrating because short matches started right after he had that awesome match with Shingo. If he’s hurt then just tell us he’s working hurt. This is New Japan, not WWE.
Also, once again I am compelled to comment on how terrible Juice Robinson’s commentary is. “THEY BOTH HAVE THEIR SIGNATURE ITEMS!” Really? And it’s not just the phrasing, either. It was the goofy, excited tone he used that took all of the danger out of the situation. If you’re going to partner with the NWA for whatever inexplicable reason ROH, New Japan, and CMLL have chosen to do so then you might as well capitalize on the only real benefit they bring, which is the ability to use Nick Aldis on commentary.

BLOCK B MATCH: Robbie Eagles vs. DOUKI- 6/10
Like every other f*cking New Japan match, we’re on the outside within two minutes. DOUKI shoved the referee for telling him to stop choking Eagles, then shoved him down harder when the referee tried to stop him from using a chair. There was no DQ for either of these things. He hit Eagles in the throat with the chair, then gave him a DDT onto it, which busted Eagles open and set up a count-out tease. Eagles worked the knee and got the win.

BLOCK A MATCH: Shingo Takagi vs. TAKA Michinoku- 4/10
Of course we’re on the outside and not getting counted out within moments of the match starting, but at least they’re using it to work over a body part. Now they’re back in the ring and continuing with the limb-work... and now they’re out of the ring again and not getting counted out, just so we can do the count-out tease after a headlock in the crowd. Isn’t that TAKA’s finisher, too? Way to kill your finish, dude.
Of course Shingo makes it back into the ring. You know what? It was a nice two days, but at this point I already feel like it’s back to being the Count-Out Tease That No One Ever Buys™ because it’s still happening in almost every match, to the point where the memory of that count-out a mere two days ago already feels like an eternity has passed since then.
Once Shingo got back into the ring, all of that limb-work was forgotten and the whole Story was TAKA working on Shingo’s head with his submission finish, which Shingo eventually fought out of, hit his stuff and got the win. This felt like there was a screw-up in the tape and I watched the second half of a completely different match.

TIME’S UP VIDEO- After two and a half days of hearing Juice Robinson on commentary, this guy can’t get here soon enough.

BLOCK B MATCH: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Bandido- 6.75/10
Taguchi did a good job of doing his butt-stuff while still coming across as serious Taguchi the whole time. Bandido had a bit of trouble getting the rebound part of his finisher to work. This doesn’t bug me from a logic point of view, as without that it’s still a bridging German suplex, which is a perfectly fine wrestling move, but it definitely made things look a little awkward, and might be a reason for Bandido to consider developing a second finisher (another reason for that would be to have a move that doesn’t require the ropes, just in case he winds up in a falls count anywhere match or something like that).
The commentary here was bad. Juice was the worst of it, but the other two stunk as well. They also seemed to be under the impression that a loss here would eliminate Taguchi from contention in the tournament, but that’s not even close to true. At this moment only Ospreay and El Phantasmo are ahead of him (by two points each, though El Phantasmo could be four at the end of the night) and only Eagles is tied with him, though Yoh could be as well by the end of the night. Of those four, Taguchi is yet to wrestle either man who is ahead of him, and has the tiebreaker against Yoh. Eagles does hold the tiebreaker over Taguchi, but Taguchi is also the only of himself, Eagles, Ospreay, and Narita who has not yet wrestled Ren “free-win” Narita. If Taguchi beats Ospreay and El Phantasmo (which we’re clearly supposed to think is a possibility because otherwise why is Taguchi even in the tournament?) he could easily win his block. Hell, even beating just one of them and the other stumbling could allow Taguchi to win the block. If you’re going to tell me someone has no chance, do the damn the math first to make sure you’re right!

BLOCK A MATCH: Taiji Ishimori vs. Jonathan Gresham- 4/10
We got a pre-match bit where Gresham offered a handshake but Ishimori did the gun-fingers in his face instead. Gresham went back at Ishimori so Ishimori spat on him... and the referee got between them and stopped Gresham from attacking Ishimori and backed Gresham up to his corner... so that the referee could then order the bell rung, allowing Gresham to attack Ishimori. Why not just ring the bell right there if they’re already spitting at and shoving each other? And this is especially silly in a promotion where sneak attacks are met with the bell just being rung because they’re already fighting, and referees let the wrestlers get away with all manners of abuse and cheating.
When the bell rang, Gresham charged in and got a single-leg, then hocked a big loogie at Ishimori but Ishimori got out of the way. Then Gresham hit the ropes so Ishimori went for the drop-down... and landed right in the looige and was disgusted. This is how you do comedy in wrestling. Something that it makes sense to occur organically within a match, not something that acknowledges that the match is fake and that he wrestlers are working together to make you laugh... and then you’re supposed to forget that two minutes later when they start fighting.
Juice Robinson took the commentary on a juvenile tangent when Chris Charlton, meaning to say “Liger got a flash pin on Ishimori” said that “Liger flashed Ishimori.” Look... I laughed, too. But once you’ve hit your “how did he get that bodysuit off so quickly” line, the joke is over. You don’t have to throw in “I’ve seen Liger in the shower, and if he flashed you, you’d remember it” or any of the six other lines he fired off, keeping the announcers from talking about the action in the ring.
Ishimori worked over Gresham’s neck and won a disappointingly short match.

BLOCK B MATCH: Yoh vs. BUSHI- 6.25/10
BUSHI jumped the bell on Yoh, and we immediately wind up on the outside. BUSHI then began whipping Yoh with his belt. Juice Robinson is apparently against weapon use in this match, even though that has not been his attitude in every match. Kevin Kelly makes the point that “as long as the referees don’t disqualify anyone, these athletes are going to continue to push the envelope.” THAT’S NOT A GOOD THING TO HAVE HAPPEN!
Juice Robinson responded to this by saying “we could use a couple DQs tonight. I’m looking to get to the pub. You know, the beer’s getting warm.” So it turns out it’s not moral reasons that Juice wants the rules enforced, but rather because he doesn’t give a sh*t about the show and wants to go drink. WWE commentary is terrible, but at least nobody says “Just stay down and get pinned already so I can get out of here and get a burger!”
And now, two sentences later, Juice is going off about how this is supposed to be about pure wrestling and not cheating and brawling on the outside. F*ck off, Juice.
There were, of course, no count-outs while they were on the outside. They got back inside and had a solid wrestling match from there. BUSHI won, which is in-keeping with Gedo’s usual desire to have everyone in a rather dense middle of the pack (though thankfully he’s not doing that this year with Block A).

BLOCK A MATCH: Dragon Lee vs. Titan- 8/10
Awesome Lucha, minus the part where they decided it was a good idea to no-sell a Canadian Destroyer.

BLOCK B MATCH: Rocky Romero vs. El Phantasmo- 9/10
El Phatasmo was a dick to Rocky before the match, so Rocky dropkicked him in the face to start things off. They immediately went to the outside, and stayed there for FOUR STRAIGHT MINUTES without the referee even attempting to count them out. This was not the only point in the match where they were on the outside for minutes at a time without the referee attempting to call them out. Of course the only time the referee did attempt a count-pout was when they wanted to tease one as a false finish.
Once again we got no DQ for multiple nut stomps in the corner. When Rocky returned the favor, the announcers were begging him to not listen to the referee and break on four because “no one else gets disqualified.” This should be taken as sign that something has gone horribly wrong with the way your referees are treated. I also despised the spot towards the end where Rocky tried to Eddie Guerrero himself into a win, and the commentators were all cheering and shouting to the referee that El Phantasmo had hit Rocky with the title when, in fact, he did not. An Eddie Guerrero DQ spot should only be done when a babyface has been put into such an unfair position that doing so is a way of using his/her brain to turn the tables on the heels. This did not even come close to qualifying.
Now that I’ve gotten everything I hated about this match out of the way, I can wax poetically about how awesome I thought it was. The storytelling was awesome, the emotion was top-notch (this was Rocky Romero’s first singles main event Korakuen Hall, and he wanted to prove himself worthy of the honor, despite being near the bottom of his block, so the crowd was 100% behind him, especially against the douchy and new El Phantasmo), and Rocky was a FANTASTIC babyface who overcame everything and handed El Phantasmo his first defeat in New Japan. Rocky’s selling was great, El Phantasmo was a great heel, and despite the fact that the referee not doing his job really irked me, they didn’t have him actually get abused, so that the ref bumps and stuff in the end didn’t feel like “yet another” ref bump but rather felt like the moments of drama they are supposed to. “Oh no! Rocky has the match won, but the referee is out and can’t see El Phantasmo tapping. But Rocky is so injured that I’m not certain he’ll ever get another chance to win if he doesn’t win right now!” If you took out all of the crap on the outside that didn’t need to happen (basically, excise the first part other than the shinbreaker on the apron, and then do the second long sequence on the outside but just have people rolling in to break up the count as necessary) and got rid of the nut stomping spot, this would have been a 9.5/10. And all of those were easy changes to make.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- very good
Sho and Yoh came out to celebrate with their mentor after his big win.

A very good show from New Japan, but once again the show felt hamstrung by artificially short matches in the middle of the card, resulting in time being taken away from exciting match-ups like Scurll vs. Kanemaru and Gresham vs. Ishimori rather than matches which are common enough fixtures in New Japan as to not feel exciting, such as BUSHI vs. Yoh or Sho vs. Tiger Mask IV. This seems to be a symptom of not having any pointless undercard matches on the show. While I do like these the all tournament matches shows better than the ones that are half tournament matches and half pointless bullsh*t, I would like them to make sure that all of the match exciting matches get time to breath as well. This is New Japan, there should be no reason to worry about going an extra twenty minutes to make sure everything gets a bit more time.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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