NWK Reviews NJPW Wrestle Kingdom V (SUZUKI VS NAGATA)

[NWK2000]

January 4, 2011 Tokyo Japan

Intro

To get in the spirit of Wrestling Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa, AKA Wrestle Kingdom Season, I thought I'd look at one of the more interesting looking WK's on paper. You've got New Japan, NOAH, and TNA guys on the card, not to mention Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, who were just beginning to blaze the promotion-hopping trails that would make them New Japan mainstays, as well as some lucha cameos BUT New Japan has the top of the card , . Will this alleviate some of the early ought's New Japan supercard woes, or will it be just another victim of Japan's wrestling slump? Let's find out!
(As an aside, a special flip of the bird to New Japan/TNA for keeping their cross promotional matches in a vault for some stupid ass reason, and a special thumbs up to Russian internet for just having this available)

[Dark match] 1ST WORLD WRESTLING INTERPROMOTIONAL MATCH
CHAOS (Gedo, Jado, Tomohiro Ishii & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Tama Tonga, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Wataru Inoue

This is a typical "You've got less than 10 minutes, so just do the bare minimum" Three things stuck out to me, Tama Tonga basically aping every Samoan wrestling trope (bad) when he's featured, Ishii's work sticking out in a match in fast forward (great!) and Tiger Mask's pop when he got his few minutes in (good) Unfortunately, they go for a big 8 way in a match that no one cares about. Inoue pins Gedo with a spear.

2.75/10

[Dark match] 2ND INTERPROMOTIONAL WORLD WRESTLING MATCH
Kenny Omega & Taichi vs. Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi

What a random tag match . With nearly a decade of hindsight, this feels like someone selected all the characters to random in Fire Pro Wrestling World . It's even weirder when you realize that all four guys placed well in the previous year's Best of the Super Juniors B-Block.

For the sub 10 minutes we get, we get one of those great Japanese tag matches, where the babyfaces run wild, the heels cheat, the babyface mounts his own comeback but gets cut off. and then the babyfaces comeback, and trade big moves with the heels to win.

What's most interesting, at least to me, is watching Kenny Omega's very early matches, he has such a chaotic movement style, as if someone was trying to replicate Jim Carey's The Mask in a wrestling ring. I can see why he was on many an older timer's hitlist in the beginning, and how much he's refined his style since.

That aside, the guys knew they should've been higher on the card, and somehow manage to wrestle like the talented Junior Heavyweights they without taking away from the other matches on the card

5.5/10

3 WAY HARDCORE MATCH (IWGP Tag Team Championships)
Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) (c) vs. Beer Money vs. Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi Strong Man)

In researching for this match I found out that Tokyo Sports rated Muscle Orchestra the Tag Team of the Year despite having middle of the road stats in tournaments/leagues that year, and Bad Intentions are mad about it. Bad Intentions literally come out with prop guns which might be the dumbest entrance prop I've ever seen. Jeremy Borasch announces each entrance twice, likely to make the eventual Global Impact edits easier. "Hardcore" in Japan apparently means Tornado Tag Rules, as there aren't takes, but there also aren't any weapons used

This was a fun little match. The homestead guys got to hit each other hard, and Beer Money got their dumb gimmicks over. The only thing that knocks this down a peg is that we actually miss the finish.

5/`10

ROAD TO FANTASTICAMANIA
Hector Garza & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. La Sombra & Mascara Dorada

Hector is dressed in an MVP bodysuit for some reason.

Dorada and Liger trade arm drags until Liger decides to tie the luchadore up in a submission. Dorada fucks up a springboard armdrag, fakes a dive and tags out. Sombra and Garza tag in. Garza takes off the top of the bodysuit like it's some big dramatic moment but in reality he only got shoved. Sombra has to bump for and kip up from a double palm strike to the chest. Now Hector rips off his stripper pants and I can see why his nephew would use the spot later, it's great. Sombra gets worked over until he takes the momentum back and gets a dive. Liger body splashes Sombra on the outside, which prompts Dorada to hit a big tope to the outside on everyone. Garza chills on the top rope for an (admitedly dope as hell) twisting crossbody/splash thing. Liger sets up Sombra for a Garza PK which admitedly he sells beautifully. The faces do a cool Lionsault/Surfboard Stretch combo, and Liger makes a big show out of setting up a Surfboard Stretch but Dorada runs interference, which prompts Garza to run wild. The heels take control when Garza misses a Stinger Splash, but he's on the outside not selling so it's fine. Sombra does a springboard reverse 450 to standing people, and it sounds like all the momentum went on Liger's skull when Sombra kicks him in the face, ouch. Dorada even gets to show off his rope walk! They tease Liger motoring through his signature stuff on La Sombra, but Sombra hits two incredible dives, while Garza just kneels on the outside like a corner man, as the two future WWE stars pick up the duke.

This was on track to dudsville, which is a weird thing to say about a Liger match , but then La Sombra and Dorada brought it home to eek out a below average rating. As a side note, wtf was with Garza? Was he throwing a fit because he was 4th match on the show? Was he hurt.? We don't know. But whatever was up with him it almost tanked the match


4/10

DEEP SLEEP TO LOSE
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Takashi Iizuka

I demand AEW or some other promotion use "Deep Sleep to Lose" as their take on Last Man Standing Matches. Also, Jesus Christ, this is going to be a beef fight. Iizuka is wearing an arm cast around his neck

We start with Iizuka, unhinged mad man he is, attacking a commentator to which several women in the crowd scream in terror, , which brings out Tenzan to brawl on the ramp. Iizuka takes control with a DDT and sends Tenzan into the crowd. They brawl around and go back to the ring. Iizuka detatches the tag rope and chokes Tenzan with it. We get a tease at Tenzan hulking up but Iizuka takes control with clubs and chokes. The referee pulling Iizuka off can't stop a second choke, nor can Tenzan clawing at him. Now Tenzan hulks up sending Iizuka into a corner but Iizuka slams Tenzan's head into the unprotected barricade! This isn't enough to stop Tenzan who fights back and gets the momentum back when Iizuka runs into the turnbuckle himself! The fighting spirit has got the crowd invested. Tenzan hits his big moves and locks in the Vice, which Iizuka fights and gets to the ropes! Iizuka eventualy gets back the momentum, and the way the commentators and crowd are marking for Iizuka's sleeper makes me wonder if this is a submission/KO/No DQ hybrid. We again get a tease of Tenzan powering up but Iizuka shuts that down and takes out the ref! Booo! Iizuka acquires his arm cast to reveal...A COAL MINER'S GLOVE! YAY! The other announcer gets involved and runs interference on Tenzan's behalf. Tenzan hits his inverted piledriver, and locks in the vice. The announcer who interfered revives the ref, Iizuka teases powering out, but Tenzan hoofs him back down and this one is over.

I liked this match. It felt more chaotic than the tag title match and had the gravitas to match. Even though the announcer interfering made sense in terms of what happened, I still would've liked to have seen Tenzan come back on his own. That said, the ending spot of Tenzan powering Iizuka back down into the Vice is a definitive enough stamp on this feud.

6.5/10

RVD vs Yano video package: Hilarious. RVD starts off his promo with "Hola Japan, this is Rob Van Dam". He then cuts as threatening a promo as one can while sticking to a happy go lucky stoner vibe. Yano mocks RVD's pose, even going as far as to do a "Tor-ru-Yano"

TNA GREATEST SHOWCASE
Rob Van Dam vs Toru Yano

Yano offers RVD his sake. When RVD refuses, he takes a swig, and then offers more. this allows RVD to get in his pre-match "I'm Rob. Van. Dam" schtick in which the crowd chants along for. He gets booze spat in his face which RVD sells iike death, gets a spinning kick, and then continues to sell. I like the idea that RVD can do wack-ass Bruce Lee karate on reflex alone. RVD's now wiped the last of the sake out of his eyes and does his crazy rolling kick when Yano has his leg trapped. I thought this sequence alone told a great story. The guys gel well together, with RVD's high flying offense giving way to Toru's brawling style outside the ring, and vice versa. RVD introduces chairs which Yano uses to his advantage, babyface RVD powers through. More plunder gets introduced, including one of those Geisha umbrellas, which actually makes a great noise. More hardcore skullduggery from Yano. RVD teases a comeback but gets yanked by the ponytail down mid run. RVD does a top rope kick to necessitate a double down. RVD is first to it feet and makes the comeback. A breif flurry by Yano organically sets up a Rolling Thunder on a ladder which of course ends poorly for Rob. They even manage to set up typically dumb catapult into a turnbuckle ladder spot in an organic way. They even had the common sense to make sure Yano was angrily running at RVD with a chair to hit a Van Daminator instead of RVD throwing the chair to his opponent which I always thought was dumb. An unnecessary yet impactful Five Star Frog Splash onto a chair onto Yano nets RVD the win.

This is just a prime example of two people who understand hardcore wrestling and how to choreograph it, Unlike the announcer being attacked in the previous match, nothing external needed to be set up to lead to the finish, which puts it a cut above everything else so far.

7.5/10

NO JUSTICE, NO LIFE
Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki

Props to the match name people for giving the match a name from which I can infer the storyline. This is a rematch from WK1, and the story going is that Nagata views this as must win.

Wouldn't you know it, the guys wrestle like everything's on the line. They go strike for strike until Nagata gets the momentum by just kicking the shit out of Minoru, but then Minoru grabs the leg off of a big boot to the apron, and does a Tarantula leg lock!! Minoru works the leg, and uses the environment in a way that was different to Iizuka earlier.I love that New Japan gives each match enough love and care to be unique to everything else on the card. Minoru is just an evil bastard, just stepping on the leg, and stopping to let Nagata up, only to kick him in the leg, which causes him to howl in pain. Nagata tries to fight from the ground but gets the shit punched out of him in a mount. They make sure to get a big dirty closeup of a half dead Nagata desperate grabbing Minoru's fist for some separation. Minoru bullies Nagata some more with kicks, and we get the world's loudest hulkup from Nagata. The camera also makes sure to show us Nagata's gritted face, as if he's trying to channel out, but still reacting to, the pain. Nagata gets a big corner knee out of nowhere after he blocks a Minoru kick in the center of the ring. Talk about a beautiful sell of desperation! Nagata then proceeds to make We get a good short of Suzuki looking furious before an elbow flurry and kicking out of a T-Bone at 2. We get a strong style strike exchange, and some more big strikes, which ends up feeling wholly unnecessary as the destination is a rest hold, which actually looks like a sleeper when the guys stand up, which negates my earlier complaint. Nagata breaks the hold by doing the arm breaker with the shoulder which Suzuki sells like his shoulder is out of socket. Nagata gets to wail on Suzuki for a bit, working the arms with both kicks and that same armbreaker Suzuki gets the sleeper but it's haf locked in because of the arm, and instead of going for a third armbreaker, Nagata hip tosses Suzuki away. The idea that Nagata took the ess desirable road is proven, as Suzuki gets the momentum, but because Suzuki is more concerned with being sadistic and evil than being smart, he uses the opportunity to slap Nagata a bunch which only wakes him up. but Suzuki pushes the issue further with more slaps....so he can trick Nagata into throwing a punch he can duck and lock on the Sleeper! They tease Nagata fighting out again...but he fades, which gets the crowd into it even more. Instead of Suzuki going for the tapout loss, Suzuki seeks to humiliate Yuji with a pinfall loss, but Nagata catches his wind and kicks out at 2! Suzuki does a lazy pin after a running knee, another nearfall! Suzuki cranks in a guillotine and poses for the crowd, which gives Nagata the chance to fight out and hit a Belly to Belly! More kicks to Suzuki's arm. Nagata finally goes for an armbar, which he cranks, and cranks and cranks, but Suzuki does not submit! Nagata breaks the armbar, visibly frustrated Suzuki won't tap. He goes for kicks but Suzuki fucking no sells! Minoru likes pain so he invites a big puro slap fight. which Nagata accepts. Minoru makes sure to sell each one like they're briefly knocking him loopy, while Nagata barely sells at all. Finally Suzuki breaks the formula, blocking a slap, and then unloading with a barrage, setting yet another trap for Nagata! Suzuki locks in the sleeper despite a clear rope break because he doesn't care about winning at this point just putting Nagata down however he can. We get a triage of backdrops, interluded by some kicks when Minoru stands up after the second, for the pinfall victory! As if I couldn't love this match anymore, they did the goddamn Kobashi/Williams finish!

So, I feel like I've been too liberal about the 10/10 rating, so let me quantify that and provide a barometer . There are varying echelons of perfect in my opinion. Matches can be perfect for any number of reasons, but there's a separate echelon for perfect on every level. This match, Tenryu vs Macho Man, Gargano vs Ciampa at NXT Takeover: Chicago and Styles vs Ki at ROH Night of Appreciation are in that echelon.

10/10

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Kota Ibushi (w/ Kenny Omega) vs Prince Devitt (c)

BOSJ tournament winner Devitt already beat Naomichi Marufuji with his title shot at Dominion, so the logical #1 Contender is the runner up. Ibushi and Omega are the Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions. Speaking of, he's getting cat called by girls and he isn't in the match.

This is a babyface vs babyface match as denoted by the handshake at the beginning, but the lockup shows us that Ibushi is the better striker. The lads trade hold and work to a stalemate/standoff spot. Interesting take on 90s lucha and more ground based wrestling. They go tit for tat with some simple exchanges, and telegraph dives on one another to show that they can predict the other's moves, and deviations in the gameplan will get the advantage, as Ibushi does when he hits a Springboard Dropkick to block a dive. Ibushi works over Devitt for a nearfall. but Devitt suddenly takes control with a dropkick and hits a big tope to the outside. Now it's Devitt's turn to get a nearfall off of a missile dropkick. Kota suddenly gets momentum back, but Devitt just as suddenly gets it back. Devitt hits a top rope brainbuster suplex, and Kota sells like he's been ejected from a car. Now Ibushi has momentum and does a quebrada to the outside. Ibushi takes a long time to follow up, but hits a missile dropkick anyway for a nearfall. Now for the first time in the match Devitt is fighting from behind in a big strong style grapple exchange. Ibushi hits a standing corkscrew moonsault, lands on his feet off a moonsault when Devitt rolls away, and hits a standing moonsault for a nearfall. Ibushi postures for way too long as Devitt can block a dragon suplex, but that suddenness comes into play again with a snap german for another nearfall. Devitt tries to mount offense but he just gets handspring doublle kicked off the top for his efforts. Ibushi hits a top rope frankensteiner and despite the world's deepest pin, gets a nearfall. Ibushi hits the 450 for another nearfall. a kick sequence leads to a Devitt Pele Kick which gets a double down. Ibushi hits a wacky Chaos Theory backdrop for a nearfall. Ibushi goes for his twisting 450 but misses. Devitt hits Coup De Grace on Ibushi's neck who sells iike death. A second Coup De Grace nets a nearfall! Ibushi blocks a Bloody Sunday, but Devitt responds with a big Reverse Bloody Sundayfor a nearfall. Ibushi avoids a top rope Bloody Sunday by doing a backflip kick on the apron, which only looks like it succeeds in knocking Ibushi loopy. Ibushi tries for Triangle Frankensteiner but Devitt hits a top rope Reverse Bloody Sunday for the win.

Suddenness was the persisting theme through this entire match. They also did the underdog babyface vs babyface that throws everything out there, and they did it with dives. While this is far from either guy's best match I think this is worth seeking out if for no other reason than to learn how to tell a story with dives


7.25/10

NJPW VS. NOAH BATTLE COMBUSTION I
Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada vs. Takashi Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama

Okada is back in Japan for one night only because of his excursion to TNA, and somehow dressed more like Goto than the man himself

Goto and Sugiura hit each other hard, but Goto wins the exchange with a gnarly headbutt, which brings in Okada for the double team. Okada gets to have a strong style exchange with Sugiura, presumably to show everyone what he's learned (little does anyone know he just held a camera for Samoa Joe) Sugiura wins and team NOAH proceeds to beat the shit out of Okada for the next 6 minutes of the 10 minutes of the match remaining. He gets some hope spots but summarily gets destroyed. He makes the hot tag to Goto who runs wild. But then NOAH beats the shit out of him, so Okada gets tagged in. Okada gets some spots but Goto has to coe in and save the day, and things break down. NJPW gets some double teams in and it breaks down to a four way, but then we're back to Team NOAH beating up Okada again. Okada gets the big nearfal against the veteran Takayama, and he can't bridge the German Suplex, poor bastard. Takayama kills him with suplexes for the three.

It's like someone in the back said, "This Okada kid's learned nothing on his excursion, we must kill him!" and everyone else in the room agreed. It sucks to be Okada. First you get dick all out of your American excursion, and then come home and get the shit kicked out of you for the one night you're in town. This was the only thing on the card that was unwatchable, but nothing was technically wrong with it.

1/10

NJPW vs NOAH COMBUSTION BATTLE II
Go Shiozaki vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Announcer Jeremy Borasch pronounces Shinsuke's name "Shin-soo-peh" like he's speaking goddamn Pig Latin. Luckily second time is the charm. Nakamura hasn't gone full King of Strong Style yet, he's about %75 there , but he's got a swagger, while simultaneously looking flippant.

They wrestle about to begin, and end in a stalemate. They wrestle around a bit more, and like Suzuki before him, Go tricks Nak into some momentum so he can counter and take control Go is working the leg, including a chop to the knee, which seems like would hurt both people. Go also runs Nak into the guard rail knee first, ouch., more weird ass knee chops, and we're doing more traditional knee holds and submissions. Nak finds the ropes and fires back when he stands up. Now Go's thing is chops, which to his credit Nak sells like death. Nak somehow sets up his knee splayed out in the turnbuckle spot despite having done nothing. This allows Nak to get the upper hand on a double down by creaming Go with kicks., booting him into the corner. for more kicks, and knees once he''s down. Nakamura sets up for his release back suplex, but Go elbows out, getting hit with a dropkick in the back of the head for his efforts. I don't know if Go landed on his knee intentionally or if he botched the rotation, but I choose to believe the former because it plays into Go faking being hurt to go right back to the leg and get the momentum. More chops by Go, but Nak locks in an armbar. Big strikes out off nowhere, a strike exchange, and more strikes out of nowhere to get another double down. Go gets more leg work, and an F5 that's meant to work the legs, which is pretty awesome, followed by a Haas of Pain to Nak. Nak manages to find the ropes which is pretty incredible considering the hold he was in. Go gets a nearfall after more chops and slaps. But Go misses a moonsault but counters a Bom-Ba-Ye knee with lariat. A Northern Lights Bomb and weird spinning suplex only gets a nearfall. Go grabs the knee to get into an Olympic Slam position, but Nak goes behind and gets knees, Go blocks the Bom-ba-Ye., but Go is spent, and so Nak can go for another Bom-Ba-Ye for the win!

This match was a little tepid to begin, but when it got going, it got going. These guys put on a great match, and it's clear why they're some of the best in the world.

8/10

Jeff Hardy vs Naito video package: Jeff doesn't sound like he's on this planet for the one sentence of speech he has to do, during which he says he'll give the best match in the history of the Tokyo Dome. (HA!). We do get O Fortuna, a shot of Jeff Hardy's face transforming into the belt, as well as some background on Jeff's heelness, and the similarities between he and Naito style wise, so the good far outweighed the bad here.

TNA Heavyweight Championship
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Tetsuya Naito

Mark this one down in the "This match happened in real life" column. Jeremy fucks up another name, pronouncing Naito-Nai-yee-to" Naito comes out to a fun dance remix of "Du Hast" which is not a theme you'd expect a guy like Naito to have.

For some reason they decide to start the match with chain wrestling, which Jeff Hardy looks barely competent at. Then Jeff eats shit on a leap frog, and gets into position for Naito to feed into a Monkey Flip, but Naito has none of that shit. Naito immediately hits his running swanton for a nearfall because the sooner Naito gets out of the ring with the meth clown the better off everyone is. Both guys land funny on a Superplex. Jeff does his entrance dance he did as a babyface and flops into a pin. Jeff is too winded to follow up on a simple lariat and bless Naito, he sells for Jeff's wacky leg drop pin which gets a nearfall. We're five minutes into this match and Jeff is grimacing in pain despite having done sub-minimal amounts of work Hardy does a flying clothesline from the apron and sells like he tore something in his groin. Jeff is moving in the slowest of goddamn motion. Naito gets momentum, and is doing very basic power moves. Jeff is keeping up, presumably on adrenaine/reflex, but looks like he's in terrible pain. Naito has momentum, but then Jeff hits his three moves of doom and wins.

I feel iike, because they're on an island where little to no street drugs exist, at least not for foreigners, this was the first tour of any country in which Jeff Hardy was sober for any length of time. And you can tell it in Jeff's movement and facials. He's feeling the horrific shape his body is in and this poor Naito has to wrestle with him. This wasn't unbearable like the Okada tag match...it was just sad.


DUD

THE ABSOLUTE EXHAUST
Togi Makabe vs Masato Tanaka

This match is conducted under Last Man Standing Rules but can also be won by pin . While this subtitle is not as cool as "Deep Sleep to Lose" , it too should be used by an alternative promotion to denote this match type

The story of this match for the opening few minutes is that Togi sells for the ultra viscious Tanaka, who uses Makabe's chain, his own Kendo Stick, and other skullduggery to keep the injured Togi down whenever he fires up. Tanaka sells being an ultra viscious heel with quick kicks to the head and grinding his boot on the Stone Pitbull. Togi eventually fires up, but gets a little too cocky going for a 10 punch during his comeback, which allows Tanaka to bring momentum back to him. Togi fires back with a snap powerslam. The guys end up outside the ring, in which Makabe hits Tanaka so hard with a chair the seat goes flying while the body of the chair horsecollars Tanaka. Tanaka counters a powerbomb to hit a brutal brainbuster on a half folded table outside the ring. Tanaka breaks this count once he sets up his own plunder. He teases a One Night Stand 2005 powerbomb out of the ring through a table, but Togi breaks that up. They counter and no sell their each other's brutal signature moves for a while, Tanaka gets an insane amount of his signature elbows in, and Makabe kicks out at 2! Makabe avoids a big table dive and powerbombs Tanaka off the apron through a table! Makabe does another powerbomb but Tanaka stubbornly kicks out. A few more power moves nets Makabe the win.


I like how New Japan managed to tell two different stories in two separate hardcore matches. Whereas RVD vs Yano felt more like a fun exhibition between two weirdos who enjoy that sort of thing, Makabe vs Tanaka was full of hate and brutality. This was a great match

8/10

(11) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match
Satoshi Kojima [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

In a match where both guys have their fans, they do a great job of telling a story that makes Tana a huge babyface. Kojima no-sells the initial barrage on his arm because he's a tough old man with years of experience underneath him, Tanahashi sells the working over of his leg because of a can-do attitude and spirit. Tana does get a second barrage on the arm, and now Kojima is selling, which is a super cool piece of story in my opinion. A top rope cutter midway through the match gets a two count, and I think this is what separates this match from the much tighter Suzuki vs Nagata in that there's a lot of frivolousness going on. Hiroshi counters a lariat by O'Connor Rolling Kojima before just as he hits the ropes, and attempts to follow transition that into a Dragon Suplex. Genre savvy plus cool transitions make my heart sing. Kojima gets the arms down but Tanahashi just Germans him for it, awesome! After some more armworking, Tana hits High Fly Flow, but Kojima gets his knees up on a second. Kojima hits a lariat at about half power because of the arm, and having to go to the ropes gets him a Sling Blade! At one point Tanahashi get Lariated off the apron, and risks losing by count out, but Kojima, who's just taken a High Fly Flow and other moves, stops it. Tana works the arm some more, and as a result Kojima is slow to follow up on a lariat which only results in a nearfall. The same goes for a second lariat, which Kojima screams in pain when he hits! Now THAT'S selling! Some big move no-selling occurs, and Tana hits two more high fly flows to win!

I think this match had a solid beginning and a super solid climax/end, but there was a couple minutes in the middle where they were just doing moves to each other, and that's what keeps it away from a perfect match. It also ended abruptly because we have post match presentations and stuff to get to. That said however, this was yet another prime example of puroresu tonight.

9.5/10

Post match: We get the usual post match presentation and promo from Tanahashi.

Conclusion

Besides Okada's beating (which would be rectified a year later when he comes back as The Rainmaker and wins the belt) Jeff Hardy's drug induced haze, and Garza's weird behavior, this is a consistently good to great show, with the main event and Suzuki vs Nagata being must watches. Happy Holidays everyone!