Intro
I've got to say, British pro wrestling is super duper out of my wheelhouse. The WWE sponsored UK tournaments (which I might go back and review in 2020) was my introduction to a lot of British wrestlers. But, with the J-Cup coming back round in the fall, and Liger retiring at the end of the year, 'tis the season to review yet another 'J' show! Let's get crackin, I'm excited to watch all these guys I've grown to love over the years in a no-restrictions indy/puro environment!
British J Cup 2017 Round 1 match
Tiger Mask IV vs "The Villain" Marty Scrull
Tiger Mask IV vs "The Villain" Marty Scrull
Man, Marty's Bullet Club ring jacket looks awful. The ring announcer big ups Tiger Mask IV during his intro. Marty disrespects the legend and the people cheer. This is the kind of thing that keeps Jim Cornette up at night, I'm sure.
We get some standard technical exchanges to start, as well as a tease of a Test of Strength that leads to a "Too sweet" thumb to the eye. We get a long, "Aloha Marty" spot, at which point Marty does the Bird Man a-la Koko B.Ware and grabs the fingers. They tease a finger break, but Tiger gets to the rope, Marty's shocked that someone actually thought to do this, and the crowd applauds. Marty takes control anyway with basic offense which leads into a top rope dropkick. A back rake, and Marty struts around. Tiger tries to take momentum but Marty uppercuts him. Running apron superkick by Marty. Marty struts around and does more simple moves to Tiger. Tiger tries to work his way out of a submission but gets Straight Jacket Backstabbered for his trouble. Tiger fires back with a crossbody for a nearfall and a Tiger Driver. Back and forth by both guys now. Double Underhood suplex by Tiger Mask for a nearfall. Marty fires back and gets the Chickenwing in. When Tiger fires back, he breaks his fingers! Tiger fires back, but is still selling his hand. Marty locks in the Mousetrap for the win.
This was a classic example of doing a lot with a little, Nobody took any insane risks, and Marty got to get over his relatively recent "Villain" persona. This was a solid opener.
7/10
British J Cup 2017 Round 1 Match
Jushin Liger vs Josh Bodom
Jushin Liger vs Josh Bodom
Bodom is the current British Crusierweight Champion
Man, Jushin really likes to book getting jumped immediately into his matches. Anyway, Bodom hits big offense right, away, Liger gets the momentum after a superplex, hits his signature shit (even giving Bodom the rub of kicking out of a Liger Bomb) but pins him with a brainbuster in less than three minutes.
This might be the best squash I've ever seen. It gives Bodom a couple things to hang his hat on when people bring up that he was effectively squashed, and getting Liger out of there quick won't expose the obvious pitfalls of having a 50 year old man wrestle twice in one night
No rating, AMAZING squash
Post match: Bodom throws the most realistic temper tantrum I've ever seen, harassing refs, announcers and etc, making a big stink about leaving, but not attacking Liger. Bodom comes across more like a spoiled superstar athlete than a pro rassler. Liger is announced the winner again because everyone is trying to give Liger a proper exit and just move on from it.
British J Cup 2017 Round 1 Match
KUSHIDA vs Kyle O'Reily
KUSHIDA vs Kyle O'Reily
Kushida is the current NJPW Junior Heavyweight and ROH TV Champion. This is a rematch from the finals of the 2015 Best of Super Juniors.
They have an amazing couple minute long technical exchange....after which Kyle just stands in place for a hand spring elbow. They trade Val Venis hip swivels during sunset flip counters. KUSHIDA then works the arm. Kyle meanwhile tries to work over KUSHIDA with Inoki sweeping leg kicks, and Kushida answers with a big basement dropkick. They're doing spots, but after they'll each be fighting to work their limbs of choice. Kyle works the leg of KUSHIDA. Kyle teases working the arm but goes back to the leg, which I thought was cool. KUSHIDA fights back but Kyle gets right back to the leg. KUSHIDA gets back into it with an arm whip on the apron which teases a dive but Kyle cuts that off right away. Even when they're setting up spots an older fan preposterous, such as a Samoa Joe-esque Ole kick, they manage to tie to the story of KUSHIDA's leg and Kyle's arm. They do a double springboard spot using an unfolded chair that would make Sabu proud. Both men sell expertly. The heel announcer whines about a count out/DQ, and the babyface, while agreeing explains there must be a winner. Even when KUSHIDA is firing up, they manage to work working the arm into it in a completely organic way. Kyle counters a moonsault which he then transfers into a Triangle, into an armbar, into an ankle lock because Kyle is a master. A strong style strike exchange which somehow still manages to work their hurt limbs is AWESOME. KUSHIDA is a master at selling. Both guys trade body scissors submissions because this is pro wrestling and of course they do. O'Reily does a rope rebound clothesline, which leads to one of the most painful looking right hands to the face from KUSHIDA I've ever seen. KUSHIDA hits a sloppy looking Sliced Bread for a 2. KUSHIDA somehow hits a top rope powerslam and keeps The Hoverboard Lock locked in. O'Reily fights out, but it allows KUSHIDA to hit Back to the Future for the three count.
This was VERY close to being Styles vs Ki at "Night of Appreciation" levels of great, but there were some things that were very "Indy Wrestling in 2017" about it, mostly from Kyle (but, in his defense, that might be him trying to show off before he stopped taking indy bookings) that took away from an otherwise flawless match . That said, go and watch this match.
9.75/10
British J Cup Round 1 Match
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Will Ospreay
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Will Ospreay
Will gets some heelish stuff in. Ryuske tuckers himself out running the ropes on a clothesline, to which will revives him with Red Bull, and they repeat the spot. Taguchi gets some Rikishi offense in and Will gets to pull his best William Regal faces. Ryuske gets some moves in but eventually Will wins.
Normally, comedy wrestling gets a dud from me on principle, but Will managed to get a quashi heelish character over, as well as showcase himself decently well considering the other dude in the match is Taguchi.
2/10
The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu) vs Josh Wall & Kurtis Chapman
The Tempura Boys are the future SHO and YOH.
SHO and YOH have a fun dynamic of being both fun athletic crusierweights while also pulling sneaky foreign heel manuvers like back rakes and eye pokes.The heels isolate Chapman, Hot tag to Wall. Wall hits a leg lariat that looks like it could've broken it. Wall is not in synch with the Tempura Boys at all. Babyfaces get a blind tag. Wall powerbombs Chapman onto YOH for a two count, and it looked sloppy. Tempura gets the heat but Wall fires back. A Gutwrench/Neckbreaker combo isn't the finish. SHO (or is it YOH) hits Chapman for the pinfall win.
The Tempura Boys understood their place on the card. The school students did not, and tried far oo much, and when you're following Liger, O'Reily, and KUSHIDA, you just look like a dork if you don't keep it simple. This match went 9 minutes. It could've gone four, and I'm sure the rest of the card filled that time.
3.5/10
CCK (Chris Brookes & Travis Banks) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi)
We're of to a bad start right away. The ring announcer calls LIJ "Los Ingobernables", wrong team. Also one of the announcer completely buries the idea of Daryl, and in the process buries both LIJ guys, and the other announcer just ignores it. CCK are the current RPW tag champs, but this is non-title. Also, they just came off of a "huge" win against Chapman and Wall, and I refuse to believe anything about either man is huge. Again, both announcers bury Daryl, which, if you're gonna sell stupid properly, at least come to the stupid character's defense. The heel announcer has been studying his Bobby Heenan tapes but the babyface announcer DESPERATELY needs to watch his Gorilla Monsoon commentary tapes and "do his homework" you might say.
The caucasians cycle through spots, and somehow ends on Brooks getting a wrist lock on Hiromu. Between that and LIJ jumping their opponents, I don't know who the heels are. Now it's LIJ's turn to cycle through double team moves. Brookes makes his own comeback. Now Banks gets some spots in on LIJ. Wacky stacked Double Coast to Coast is not a finish. LIJ gets the heat on Banks, who makes his own comeback and cold tags Brookes. Brookes hits a "Slingshot RKO" but it honestly looked like Hiromu countered with a facebuster from the angle they used. LIJ randomly do moves for a nearfall. Brookes and Banks hit the world's laziest Magic Killer for a nearfall. Banks and Brookes set up for some wack ass move that makes them look like they're playing Chicken, but Hiromu counters with a low blow for the DQ.
This felt like one of those early ROH tag matches, where the guys just did moves, but it was underwhelming and tepid. And one of CCK has a title shot against ZSJ at their next show, and instead of no-names like the SAT, one of the guys was FORMER IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION Hiromu Takahashi. Why was this match even here? Lazy finish, and mind-boggling use of great talent aside, this was simply a below average match.
4/10
Post Match: Kid Lycos makes his debut and saves CCK from LIJ. This was meant to set up a feud, which this match does not make me interested about seeing.
Tomohiro Ishii vs Matt Riddle
The story of the match is these two guys beat the shit out of each other. Really, that's it. If you like a more choreographed version of those big, hard hitting puro matches, this guys for you. Riddle is also desceptively strong, basically powering brick shithouse Ishii from a sidewalk slam position into a tombstone slam thing, which Ishii kicks out of. The match ends when Riddle hits a Cradle Brainbuster, but Ishii just stands up (the announcers sell it like Riddle kept the grip for another move, but Ishii was obviously leading Riddle) into a brainbuster for the pin.
Matt Riddle was always kind of an enigma for me, and I got that he had a lovable pothead thing going on, but geez did this put the Bro in a new light for me. And it wasn't like I didn't know he was a main event talent already, but man, this dude's on another level.
8.25/10
Gust of honor Marty jones: He puts over the venue, some of the wrestlers he's wrestled, and RPW as a whole while the British J Cup is next to him. This was cool, and the crowd laughed at his dad jokes, which was nice.
British J Cup 2017 Final Four Way Elimination Match
Jushin Thunder Liger vs KUSHIDA vs Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay
Jushin Thunder Liger vs KUSHIDA vs Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay
We get VTRs of all the finalist's entrance videos, which is a cool way to hype a main event with no video package.
We get some fast paced action to start, and we get an interesting inversion of the Eddie Guerrero Lie Cheat and Steal spot, where Marty hits Liger with the umbrella, and then throws to Ospreay, and convinces KUSHIDA that Ospreay did it. Whie it's an interesting way to set up the inevitable double team in a four way match, you have to wonder about KUSHIDA's IQ if he's willing to trust a guy who's a member of the Bullet Club, and who cals himself "The Villain" but hey, you gotta set up a double team spot with three faces and one heel someway right? We get some tandem Marty offense which is pretty cool. We get some 3-man spots that would make Joe, Daniels, and Styles blush. Oscutter into the Mousetrap sends KUSHIDA packing! Wow! Wasn't expecting him to go this early. Marty keeps making sure Liger is in the way of Will's offense which is a GREAT way to set up Liger vs Marty later on in the match. The announcers also do a great job of setting up that Will has a bone to pick with Marty because of the shenanigans ealier. Will goes apeshit with flips, and Marty goes for a Falcon Arrow of some sort, and counters it into a stunner! This is when we get into some Steen/Generico "You and I are destined to fight forever" between Marty and Will, both thanks to the announcers and the guys themselves. Both guys make sure to pimp New Japan, Ospreay with a Rainmaker, which is countered into a CrossRhodes by Marty, which makes sense if you imagine they train with the people who's moves they're aping. Marty hits both 'L' buttons on his PS2 controller and steals Ospreay's moves, but that doesn't put him away! Marty teases actually letting Liger in the match, but low blows him instead! Boooooo! Ospreay hits the Rainmaker but that doesn't put Marty away! The tease Liger and Will getting their commupance with Marty's umbrella, but a miscue leads to a Mousetrap on Will for the elimination! Will is basically the Liger cheering section now, begging Liger to get up. Marty knocks Liger around, but Liger fights back, and the pop for this can only be described pure jubilee. Liger gets some big top rope moves for nearfalls. Liger gets his finger broken, but kicks out of the Mousetrap, which gets less of a pop than you'd think, as that's been built up all tournament, in this match especially. Liger breaks out of a chicken wing, gets Brainbustered BUT KICKS OUT AT ONE! LIGER BOMB! BRAINBUSTER! LIGER WINS!
This was an INSANE match. I've never seen a non-tag multi-man match that built to two of the competitors facing off so well. Was it a bit contrived to have Liger taken out of the match so many times? Yes. But did it make the crowd want to see Liger vs Marty and build to it? Yes. And that's what's important, that the crowd got the story, and the story climaxed perfectly. AND, it built in such a way that made Marty look like the most evil fucker on the planet AND made it so that the majority of the action belonged to Marty and Ospreay, the guys that could actually carry that for 20 minutes AND subverted expectations with the KUSHIDA elimination. This was the best four way I've ever seen
10/10
Post match: AWESOME! Josh Bodom storms to ringside like a baby and attacks Liger. Him and Marty Jones square off, and Josh look like the college aged dudebro who drunkenly tries to fight your beloved uncle at Thanksgiving . The babyfaces run down and break it up. I've never seen a guy get squashed, and in the same night look like the most despicable person on the planet. This is how you book professional wrestling! Everyone helps Liger's up and celebrates with him, which is a great way to cap off the night
Conclusion
The main event was perfection. Ishii vs Riddle was a war, KUSHIDA vs Kyle was a classic Liger vs Bodom and Scrull/Tiger Mask were classic examples of how to tell a story with very little. This is a great show just to watch, but this is one of the few shows I've ever watched where I've come away having learned more about wrestling, so I especially recommend the above if you're an aspiring wrestler.