NJPW New Japan Cup 2014 Finals
NJPW New Japan Cup 2014 Finals (3/23/2014)- Amagasaki, Japan
SHO TANAKA & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN vs. KUSHIDA & BUSHI- 4.5/10
Sustained offense for Captain New Japan?! WHAT?!
HIROYOSHI TENZAN, SATOSHI KOJIMA, TIGER MASK IV, & JUSHIN "THUNDER" LIGER vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoki,& Taichi)- 6/10
The heels jump the babyfaces from behind... and TAKA almost ripped Liger's Mask off! The heels continued to get good heat until the comeback when TIGER MASK RAN WILD! I hated the finish, just because Tiger Mask's offense had gotten me so pumped to see him win. I'd love to see him and Liger against either of the heel tag teams in this match.
YUJI NAGATA, KAZUSHI SAKURABA,& MANABU NAKANISHI vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, & Jado)- 2/10
This time, the announcer who Iizuka usually torments before the match was smart enough to RUN AWAY FROM HIM. He also had a sign that seemed to be warning Iizuka off from touching him. Yano had a hammer "hidden" in a painfully obvious spot, where the referee could not possibly have missed it. He then delivered a few horrendous looking shots to the stomach with it. Iizuka choked one of the babyfaces with a microphone cord in a horribly obviously way and the ref missed that, too. Worst referee ever... and that is saying a lot.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2014 SEMIFINAL MATCH: Bad Luck Fale vs. Shelton Benjamin- 3.5/10
Well... that was short.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2014 SEMIFINAL MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/TAKA Michinoku)- DUD!
The referee clearly saw TAKA choking Nakamura with a chair, but rather than calling for a DQ, he just ejected TAKA from ringside. WTF?! Then he catches Suzuki using a chair on Nakamura... and doesn't call for a DQ. Then Suzuki spits in the referee's face. STILL no DQ! Then TAKA came back out to ringside. The referee STILL does nothing. What the f*ck?! I thought I was watching New Japan! Not a Jeff Jarrett NWA World Heavyweight Title defense from 2005. I need to apologize to the referee from the six man tag. THIS GUY is the worst referee ever.
Anyway, Minoru Suzuki spends THE ENTIRE MATCH working over Nakamura's arm. Nakamura gets NO OFFENSE IN AT ALL. They do ONE hope spot, then Suzuki locks in the sleeper hold for a false finish, one more arm submission... then Nakamura hits Boma Ye. Suzuki kicks out. Nakamura hits another Boma Ye. And that's the finish. WHAT THE F*CK?! This made Suzuki look like such a chump, just for the sake of setting up a finals with an obvious winner... which was eventually used to set up ANOTHER Tanahashi vs. Nakamura match (their third this year!) for the IWGP Intercontinental Title rather than the still fresh Nakamura vs. Okada match up, further burying Okada and that IWGP World Heavyweight Title.
HIROOKI GOTO & KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. CHAOS (Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI)- 2.25/10
So Yujiro gives Shibata a Fisherman's Buster, which Shibata sells very well. Then Yujiro hits Shibata with one of his finishers, an Olympic Slam... and Shibata no sells it. Then he gives Yujiro a backdrop driver, which Yujiro fighting spirits out of, getting up and giving Shibata a lariat, which Shibata sells. To recap. Shibata sells one move, then no sells a finisher targeting roughly the same part of his body... just so he can then hit Yujiro with a move that Yujiro no-sells... then Shibata sells a regular move targeting that same part of his body. Shibata might have his legit MMA credentials, but those don't help your matches when you have NO CONCEPT OF PSYCHOLOGY WHATSOEVER.
I started to root for the heels towards the end of the match because YOSHI-HASHI was the only one selling well.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI, TOGI MAKABE, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. BULLET CLUB (Prince Devitt, Tama Tonga, Doc Gallows, & Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson)- 7/10
Despite being a mid-card match on a show that it is really all about the tournament finals, this managed to have a big-match feel to it because it was most of the Bullet Club taking on most of the babyfaces who they have been feuding with. Gallows is now wearing stupid-looking face-paint. Despite this, the heels managed to get some good heat on Honma. After Honma made the hot tag, we got some pairings that got me REALLY excited for the Devitt vs. Taguchi match at Invasion Attack 2014 and really made me want to see Anderson and Gallows take on Makabe and a partner in a tag match. Based on the finish, it seems like Tanahashi might be that partner, which would be totally awesome.
KOTA IBUSHI, EL DESPERADO, & TETSUYA NAITO vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, & Gedo)- 7/10
Good build to a rematch between Naito and Ishii. This was the first time in months that I cared about Naito as a babyface in months. maybe since his match with Tanaka in September.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2014 FINALS: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck Fale (w/the Bullet Club)- 6/10
Very disappointing. Nakamura got busted open pretty badly when he pulled Fale down for a cross armbreaker the way Del Rio usually does and Fale's head slammed right into Nakamura's. He bled A LOT.
Overall, a very disappointing show from New Japan. The undercard the eponymous tournament both sucked, with the only good stuff coming from big, thrown-together tag team matches which were still much below the usual New Japan standard over the past few years.
SHO TANAKA & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN vs. KUSHIDA & BUSHI- 4.5/10
Sustained offense for Captain New Japan?! WHAT?!
HIROYOSHI TENZAN, SATOSHI KOJIMA, TIGER MASK IV, & JUSHIN "THUNDER" LIGER vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoki,& Taichi)- 6/10
The heels jump the babyfaces from behind... and TAKA almost ripped Liger's Mask off! The heels continued to get good heat until the comeback when TIGER MASK RAN WILD! I hated the finish, just because Tiger Mask's offense had gotten me so pumped to see him win. I'd love to see him and Liger against either of the heel tag teams in this match.
YUJI NAGATA, KAZUSHI SAKURABA,& MANABU NAKANISHI vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, & Jado)- 2/10
This time, the announcer who Iizuka usually torments before the match was smart enough to RUN AWAY FROM HIM. He also had a sign that seemed to be warning Iizuka off from touching him. Yano had a hammer "hidden" in a painfully obvious spot, where the referee could not possibly have missed it. He then delivered a few horrendous looking shots to the stomach with it. Iizuka choked one of the babyfaces with a microphone cord in a horribly obviously way and the ref missed that, too. Worst referee ever... and that is saying a lot.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2014 SEMIFINAL MATCH: Bad Luck Fale vs. Shelton Benjamin- 3.5/10
Well... that was short.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2014 SEMIFINAL MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/TAKA Michinoku)- DUD!
The referee clearly saw TAKA choking Nakamura with a chair, but rather than calling for a DQ, he just ejected TAKA from ringside. WTF?! Then he catches Suzuki using a chair on Nakamura... and doesn't call for a DQ. Then Suzuki spits in the referee's face. STILL no DQ! Then TAKA came back out to ringside. The referee STILL does nothing. What the f*ck?! I thought I was watching New Japan! Not a Jeff Jarrett NWA World Heavyweight Title defense from 2005. I need to apologize to the referee from the six man tag. THIS GUY is the worst referee ever.
Anyway, Minoru Suzuki spends THE ENTIRE MATCH working over Nakamura's arm. Nakamura gets NO OFFENSE IN AT ALL. They do ONE hope spot, then Suzuki locks in the sleeper hold for a false finish, one more arm submission... then Nakamura hits Boma Ye. Suzuki kicks out. Nakamura hits another Boma Ye. And that's the finish. WHAT THE F*CK?! This made Suzuki look like such a chump, just for the sake of setting up a finals with an obvious winner... which was eventually used to set up ANOTHER Tanahashi vs. Nakamura match (their third this year!) for the IWGP Intercontinental Title rather than the still fresh Nakamura vs. Okada match up, further burying Okada and that IWGP World Heavyweight Title.
HIROOKI GOTO & KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. CHAOS (Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI)- 2.25/10
So Yujiro gives Shibata a Fisherman's Buster, which Shibata sells very well. Then Yujiro hits Shibata with one of his finishers, an Olympic Slam... and Shibata no sells it. Then he gives Yujiro a backdrop driver, which Yujiro fighting spirits out of, getting up and giving Shibata a lariat, which Shibata sells. To recap. Shibata sells one move, then no sells a finisher targeting roughly the same part of his body... just so he can then hit Yujiro with a move that Yujiro no-sells... then Shibata sells a regular move targeting that same part of his body. Shibata might have his legit MMA credentials, but those don't help your matches when you have NO CONCEPT OF PSYCHOLOGY WHATSOEVER.
I started to root for the heels towards the end of the match because YOSHI-HASHI was the only one selling well.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI, TOGI MAKABE, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. BULLET CLUB (Prince Devitt, Tama Tonga, Doc Gallows, & Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson)- 7/10
Despite being a mid-card match on a show that it is really all about the tournament finals, this managed to have a big-match feel to it because it was most of the Bullet Club taking on most of the babyfaces who they have been feuding with. Gallows is now wearing stupid-looking face-paint. Despite this, the heels managed to get some good heat on Honma. After Honma made the hot tag, we got some pairings that got me REALLY excited for the Devitt vs. Taguchi match at Invasion Attack 2014 and really made me want to see Anderson and Gallows take on Makabe and a partner in a tag match. Based on the finish, it seems like Tanahashi might be that partner, which would be totally awesome.
KOTA IBUSHI, EL DESPERADO, & TETSUYA NAITO vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, & Gedo)- 7/10
Good build to a rematch between Naito and Ishii. This was the first time in months that I cared about Naito as a babyface in months. maybe since his match with Tanaka in September.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2014 FINALS: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck Fale (w/the Bullet Club)- 6/10
Very disappointing. Nakamura got busted open pretty badly when he pulled Fale down for a cross armbreaker the way Del Rio usually does and Fale's head slammed right into Nakamura's. He bled A LOT.
Overall, a very disappointing show from New Japan. The undercard the eponymous tournament both sucked, with the only good stuff coming from big, thrown-together tag team matches which were still much below the usual New Japan standard over the past few years.