NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2016
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & JUICE ROBINSON vs. BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale)- DUD!
A match so short it felt pointless, with Fale screwing up the Grenade for the finish.
DAVID FINLAY JR., TIGER MASK IV, JAY WHITE, & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI vs. CHAOS (Kazushi Sakuraba, Will Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo)- 4.5/10
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Roppongi Vice(c) vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet- 8/10
It’s nice to have am IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title match that is athletic without 100% revolving around superkicks. Roppongi Vice are a really underrated team. I wish they got more chances like this to show what they can do in plain old simple tag team matches instead of either four-way spotfests or smooshed into an undercard ten-man tag.
NEVER OPENWEIGHT SIX-MAN TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Yoshitatsu(c) vs. Bullet Club Elite (Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks)- 7.5/10
They had their ref bump so they could bring out the weapons to build to the Omega vs. Tanahashi ladder match next month that would be set up in the segment after this match. Part of this involved Elgin getting put through a table, but he didn’t do through it squarely in the middle so his head seemed to hit the ground quite hard, and scarily close to the metal feet of the guardrail.
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Guerrillas of Destiny(c) vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma- 6.5/10
Started off dull but picked up towards the end.
NEVER OPENWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Katsuyori Shibata(c) vs. Yuji Nagata (w/Manabu Nakanishi)- 7/10
A great match with a finish that really felt like one hell of a great moment for Nagata.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: KUSHIDA(c) vs. Jushin â€"Thunder†Liger- 8/10
Liger can still go when the pressure is on, and KUSHIDA can have an awesome match with anybody, so obviously these two had an awesome match.
EVIL vs. HIROOKI GOTO- 6.5/10
Slugfest.
SANADA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (w/Gedo)- 7.25/10
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Tetsuya Naito(c) (w/EVIL & BUSHI) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (w/Kazuchika Okada & Gedo)- 8.75/10
I was not prepared for what I saw in this match: Ishii wrestling a submission style. He cut out all of the usual no-selling crap and spent a lot of time working over Naito’s knee. If you had told me that these two had had a match and that the guy whose selling would bring it down was Naito I would have thought you were crazy, but by G-d that’s what happened.
In addition to Ishii working on Naito’s knee we had the story of Naito working on Ishii’s head. Ishii also got some work in on the lead with his usual lariats and stuff, capped off by blocking an attempt at Destino and transitioning it into an Inverted Ishii Driller, which looked absolutely sick. There were also some other fantastic moments in here, like Naito not only getting the big guy up for a German Suplex but doing so emphatically. One of my favorites was a brilliant little touch they added into an extended struggle where Ishii had Naito in a kneebar and Naito was trying to get the ropes… and meanwhile BUSHI and EVIL were trying to run in and break it up to cause a DQ and save the title but Okada and Gedo were holding them back on the outside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before from guys who aren’t legal participants in the match. Anyway, do what you can to see this one.
A great show from New Japan. Just skip the first two matches.
A match so short it felt pointless, with Fale screwing up the Grenade for the finish.
DAVID FINLAY JR., TIGER MASK IV, JAY WHITE, & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI vs. CHAOS (Kazushi Sakuraba, Will Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo)- 4.5/10
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Roppongi Vice(c) vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet- 8/10
It’s nice to have am IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title match that is athletic without 100% revolving around superkicks. Roppongi Vice are a really underrated team. I wish they got more chances like this to show what they can do in plain old simple tag team matches instead of either four-way spotfests or smooshed into an undercard ten-man tag.
NEVER OPENWEIGHT SIX-MAN TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Yoshitatsu(c) vs. Bullet Club Elite (Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks)- 7.5/10
They had their ref bump so they could bring out the weapons to build to the Omega vs. Tanahashi ladder match next month that would be set up in the segment after this match. Part of this involved Elgin getting put through a table, but he didn’t do through it squarely in the middle so his head seemed to hit the ground quite hard, and scarily close to the metal feet of the guardrail.
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Guerrillas of Destiny(c) vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma- 6.5/10
Started off dull but picked up towards the end.
NEVER OPENWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Katsuyori Shibata(c) vs. Yuji Nagata (w/Manabu Nakanishi)- 7/10
A great match with a finish that really felt like one hell of a great moment for Nagata.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: KUSHIDA(c) vs. Jushin â€"Thunder†Liger- 8/10
Liger can still go when the pressure is on, and KUSHIDA can have an awesome match with anybody, so obviously these two had an awesome match.
EVIL vs. HIROOKI GOTO- 6.5/10
Slugfest.
SANADA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (w/Gedo)- 7.25/10
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Tetsuya Naito(c) (w/EVIL & BUSHI) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (w/Kazuchika Okada & Gedo)- 8.75/10
I was not prepared for what I saw in this match: Ishii wrestling a submission style. He cut out all of the usual no-selling crap and spent a lot of time working over Naito’s knee. If you had told me that these two had had a match and that the guy whose selling would bring it down was Naito I would have thought you were crazy, but by G-d that’s what happened.
In addition to Ishii working on Naito’s knee we had the story of Naito working on Ishii’s head. Ishii also got some work in on the lead with his usual lariats and stuff, capped off by blocking an attempt at Destino and transitioning it into an Inverted Ishii Driller, which looked absolutely sick. There were also some other fantastic moments in here, like Naito not only getting the big guy up for a German Suplex but doing so emphatically. One of my favorites was a brilliant little touch they added into an extended struggle where Ishii had Naito in a kneebar and Naito was trying to get the ropes… and meanwhile BUSHI and EVIL were trying to run in and break it up to cause a DQ and save the title but Okada and Gedo were holding them back on the outside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before from guys who aren’t legal participants in the match. Anyway, do what you can to see this one.
A great show from New Japan. Just skip the first two matches.