NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2021 5.4
Announcement - Show opened with President Sugabayashi announcing that the card had changed due to COVID precautions and some of the talent was off the show. Some matches have been replaced, some postponed.
Virtually the same match we've seen all tour, with a lot of weapon use by both teams. DOUKI was the babyface in peril, Taichi got the hot tag, but quickly tagged in Sabre, who ended up tapping out Jado. Match was ok, not terrible by any means.
This is a match that we're gonna be getting a couple more times, now that Sabre defeated Loa to earn a tag title shot against GoD.
This was a replacement match, so it was just like an exhibition match. Maybe because of the last minute notice, it was mostly a Wato vs Bullet Club match, he took most of the match with Tenzan only coming in and out. Ishimori pinned Wato with the Bloody Cross.
Good fun match, quite basic, but it was what it had to be. Naito was babyface in peril, SANADA the hot tag, and at the end, it came down to BUSHI and Cobb, with the latter winning with the Tour of the Islands. They still did the same pair ups of SANADA vs Henare and Naito vs O-Khan.
Imagine being Tanahashi and you have to wait for all of Yano's introduction.
This was 70% comedy, 30% White vs Tanahashi. With Yano and Taguchi in the same team, they did a lot of comedy early on, which bled into Taguchi being the babyface in peril. Tanahashi would end up getting the hot tag against White and then Togo for some wrestling, but at the end, the match was sandwiched with more Yano comedy. Yano pinned Togo after a low blow.
Post-match - White and Tana had a moment with the NEVER title, Taguchi too, but I think there are more chances we get a White/Tana rematch, than a White v Taguchi match.
IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
Fantastic match, I'd place it slightly better than the New Japan Cup, but still not up there with the first BOSJ finals. The only thing that I think this match had against it was that it going 45 minutes, it felt less tightly packaged. Nothing in this match felt unnecessary or out of place, but somewhere in the middle, there were some minutes that you could just feel like they should be hitting 3rd gear, and they still hadn't.
I liked the callbacks to some previous matches, I enjoyed both table spots, I loved the striking sequences, I'm not crazy for Shingo doing Poisonranas, but they're still really big spots to have.
I don't think Shingo ever stood a chance at winning, and surely that also took away some of the emotion. I never forgot that Ospreay was winning.
We can easily call this a one match show, but truth be told, for a show that lost three matches, including a title match, this was quite a good to great show. People usually complain that the undercard is meh because they're tag matches, but watching today's show felt like a nice showcase of everything New Japan, as they led to a big awesome main event.
Suzuki-gun (DOUKI, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. BULLET CLUB (Jado, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) - 6.5/10
Virtually the same match we've seen all tour, with a lot of weapon use by both teams. DOUKI was the babyface in peril, Taichi got the hot tag, but quickly tagged in Sabre, who ended up tapping out Jado. Match was ok, not terrible by any means.
This is a match that we're gonna be getting a couple more times, now that Sabre defeated Loa to earn a tag title shot against GoD.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato vs. BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) - 5/10
This was a replacement match, so it was just like an exhibition match. Maybe because of the last minute notice, it was mostly a Wato vs Bullet Club match, he took most of the match with Tenzan only coming in and out. Ishimori pinned Wato with the Bloody Cross.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) vs. The United Empire (Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) - 7/10
Good fun match, quite basic, but it was what it had to be. Naito was babyface in peril, SANADA the hot tag, and at the end, it came down to BUSHI and Cobb, with the latter winning with the Tour of the Islands. They still did the same pair ups of SANADA vs Henare and Naito vs O-Khan.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Toru Yano vs. BULLET CLUB (Dick Togo, EVIL & Jay White) (w/Gedo) - 6/10
Imagine being Tanahashi and you have to wait for all of Yano's introduction.
This was 70% comedy, 30% White vs Tanahashi. With Yano and Taguchi in the same team, they did a lot of comedy early on, which bled into Taguchi being the babyface in peril. Tanahashi would end up getting the hot tag against White and then Togo for some wrestling, but at the end, the match was sandwiched with more Yano comedy. Yano pinned Togo after a low blow.
Post-match - White and Tana had a moment with the NEVER title, Taguchi too, but I think there are more chances we get a White/Tana rematch, than a White v Taguchi match.
IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
Will Ospreay (c) (w/Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) vs. Shingo Takagi - 9.75/10
Fantastic match, I'd place it slightly better than the New Japan Cup, but still not up there with the first BOSJ finals. The only thing that I think this match had against it was that it going 45 minutes, it felt less tightly packaged. Nothing in this match felt unnecessary or out of place, but somewhere in the middle, there were some minutes that you could just feel like they should be hitting 3rd gear, and they still hadn't.
I liked the callbacks to some previous matches, I enjoyed both table spots, I loved the striking sequences, I'm not crazy for Shingo doing Poisonranas, but they're still really big spots to have.
I don't think Shingo ever stood a chance at winning, and surely that also took away some of the emotion. I never forgot that Ospreay was winning.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
We can easily call this a one match show, but truth be told, for a show that lost three matches, including a title match, this was quite a good to great show. People usually complain that the undercard is meh because they're tag matches, but watching today's show felt like a nice showcase of everything New Japan, as they led to a big awesome main event.