NJPW WrestleKingdom VIII
NJPW WrestleKingdom VIII (1/4/2014)- Tokyo, Japan
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN, BUSHI, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & TAMAOKI HONMA vs. JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER, MANABU NAKANISHI, SUPER STRONG MACHINE, & TIGER MASK IV- 4/10
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Young Bucks(c) vs. Time Splitters vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi vs. Forever Hooligans- 6.5/10
The Young Bucks did some D-X pelvic thrusts and crotch-chopping during their entrance, straight out of 1997. TAKA and Taichi decided to drop in on commentary instead of wrestling the beginning of the match. When they finally got into the match, they put on Alex Koslov’s hat just to kick him while wearing it. They are such jerks!
This was pretty much a giant spotfest, but that was perfectly fine. TAKA and Taichi used a low blow, which reminded me that Hooligans never really got any revenge on them for beating them with low blows.
IWGP TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer)(c) vs. The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson) (w/Tama Tonga)- 6/10
K.E.S. rode in on motorcycles. Archer was wearing some sort of hood and mask get-up. Decent tag team match.
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Rob Conway(c) (w/Bruce Tharpe & Jax Dane) vs. Satoshi Kojima (w/Hiroyoshi Tenzan)- 6.25/10
Before the match, Harley Race punched out Tharpe. Conway worked over Kojima's midsection. At one point Dane jumped up on the apron and put Kojima in a sleeper in full view of the referee, and there was no DQ. Tenzan took Dane out and they brawled on the floor to help build up tomorrow night's NWA World Tag Team Title match.
YUJI NAGATA & KAZUSHI SAKURABA vs. DANIEL & ROLLES GRACIE-
Apparently Sakuraba has some legit history with the Gracies from back in his MMA days (he is 4-2 lifetime against the Gracie family, but he has never faced either Daniel or Rolles).
They did some worked MMA for a while until the Gracies lost when one of them used his gi during a choke on Nagata, which is legal in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu but not in pro wrestling, causing a DQ. The Gracies didn’t seem to realize this, though. I did like the finish, but I thought it would have worked better if they did some more spots where Nagata and Sakuraba got an advantage by exploiting the Gracies’ lack of wrestling knowledge (maybe doing things like hitting the robes or using double teams).
THE GREAT MUTA & TORU YANO vs. MINORU SUZUKI & SHELTON BENJAMIN (w/TAKA Michinoku & Taichi)- 5.5/10
Muta & Yano's entrance was proceeded by some dancing Dragons. Way too much interference. Yano also always comes off like an asshole to me, so I really had trouble getting behind him as a babyface. Muta took forever to summon up his green mist.
KING OF DESTROYER MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale- 6.25/10
"King of Destroyer" is apparently New Japan's term for "Last Man Standing." They did some stuff and used some weapons. They built to a big spot where Makabe was going to put Fale through a table, but Fale almost missed the table and pretty much hit his head on the floor. That looked like it f*cking hurt. That probably should have been the finish, too. It was much cooler that Makabe's diving knee drop.
HIROOKI GOTO vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA- 7.5/10
They work over each other's heads. Great stuff here.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Prince Devitt(c) (w/the Bullet Club) vs. Kota Ibushi- 7.5/10
Devitt came out in some sort of crazy mask and body pain on that him look scary.
IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito- 7.75/10
Both guys work over each other's necks. A great match, but really not the quality we have come to expect from Okada's reign. Not being in the main event also hurt this match because people really just didn't believe that New Japan would do a world title change not in the main event.
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi- 8.5/10
Tanahashi got a live guitar performance for his entrance. Nakamura's included dancers, both normal and pole. Tanahashi works over Nakamura's knee, Nakamura works over Tanahashi's mid-section. Match was awesome, though Nakamura stopped selling a bit towards the end.
A very good show from New Japan, but not quite at the standards they have set for themselves over the past year. They really went all out on the entrances here, and it did give it a very WrestleMania feel. If a few more of the undercard matches had been more than just solid, the show would have been much better.
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN, BUSHI, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & TAMAOKI HONMA vs. JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER, MANABU NAKANISHI, SUPER STRONG MACHINE, & TIGER MASK IV- 4/10
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Young Bucks(c) vs. Time Splitters vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi vs. Forever Hooligans- 6.5/10
The Young Bucks did some D-X pelvic thrusts and crotch-chopping during their entrance, straight out of 1997. TAKA and Taichi decided to drop in on commentary instead of wrestling the beginning of the match. When they finally got into the match, they put on Alex Koslov’s hat just to kick him while wearing it. They are such jerks!
This was pretty much a giant spotfest, but that was perfectly fine. TAKA and Taichi used a low blow, which reminded me that Hooligans never really got any revenge on them for beating them with low blows.
IWGP TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer)(c) vs. The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson) (w/Tama Tonga)- 6/10
K.E.S. rode in on motorcycles. Archer was wearing some sort of hood and mask get-up. Decent tag team match.
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Rob Conway(c) (w/Bruce Tharpe & Jax Dane) vs. Satoshi Kojima (w/Hiroyoshi Tenzan)- 6.25/10
Before the match, Harley Race punched out Tharpe. Conway worked over Kojima's midsection. At one point Dane jumped up on the apron and put Kojima in a sleeper in full view of the referee, and there was no DQ. Tenzan took Dane out and they brawled on the floor to help build up tomorrow night's NWA World Tag Team Title match.
YUJI NAGATA & KAZUSHI SAKURABA vs. DANIEL & ROLLES GRACIE-
Apparently Sakuraba has some legit history with the Gracies from back in his MMA days (he is 4-2 lifetime against the Gracie family, but he has never faced either Daniel or Rolles).
They did some worked MMA for a while until the Gracies lost when one of them used his gi during a choke on Nagata, which is legal in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu but not in pro wrestling, causing a DQ. The Gracies didn’t seem to realize this, though. I did like the finish, but I thought it would have worked better if they did some more spots where Nagata and Sakuraba got an advantage by exploiting the Gracies’ lack of wrestling knowledge (maybe doing things like hitting the robes or using double teams).
THE GREAT MUTA & TORU YANO vs. MINORU SUZUKI & SHELTON BENJAMIN (w/TAKA Michinoku & Taichi)- 5.5/10
Muta & Yano's entrance was proceeded by some dancing Dragons. Way too much interference. Yano also always comes off like an asshole to me, so I really had trouble getting behind him as a babyface. Muta took forever to summon up his green mist.
KING OF DESTROYER MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale- 6.25/10
"King of Destroyer" is apparently New Japan's term for "Last Man Standing." They did some stuff and used some weapons. They built to a big spot where Makabe was going to put Fale through a table, but Fale almost missed the table and pretty much hit his head on the floor. That looked like it f*cking hurt. That probably should have been the finish, too. It was much cooler that Makabe's diving knee drop.
HIROOKI GOTO vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA- 7.5/10
They work over each other's heads. Great stuff here.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Prince Devitt(c) (w/the Bullet Club) vs. Kota Ibushi- 7.5/10
Devitt came out in some sort of crazy mask and body pain on that him look scary.
IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito- 7.75/10
Both guys work over each other's necks. A great match, but really not the quality we have come to expect from Okada's reign. Not being in the main event also hurt this match because people really just didn't believe that New Japan would do a world title change not in the main event.
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi- 8.5/10
Tanahashi got a live guitar performance for his entrance. Nakamura's included dancers, both normal and pole. Tanahashi works over Nakamura's knee, Nakamura works over Tanahashi's mid-section. Match was awesome, though Nakamura stopped selling a bit towards the end.
A very good show from New Japan, but not quite at the standards they have set for themselves over the past year. They really went all out on the entrances here, and it did give it a very WrestleMania feel. If a few more of the undercard matches had been more than just solid, the show would have been much better.