Kobe

Destruction 2015 in Kobe

(2015/09/27)

Okayama

Destruction 2015 in Okayama

(2015/09/23)

G1 Climax 25 - Final Day

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/16)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 3 (Lazy-Ass Edition)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/24)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 1

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/20)

Dominion

Dominion 2015

(2015/5/7)

Wrestling Dontaku '15

Wrestling Dontaku 2015

(2015/5/3)

Wrestling Hinokuni

Wrestling Hinokuni

(2015/4/29)

Road to Invasion Attack

Road to Invasion Attack 2015

(cherry-picked)

Invasion Attack

Invasion Attack 2015

(2015/4/5)

NJC '15 - Round 2

New Japan Cup 2015

(2015/3/8)

1.       YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jay White

***1/4

2.       10-MAN TAG: Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, Tomoaki Honma, Cpt. New Japan, KUSHIDA

***1/4

3.       Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yohei Komatsu

Damn good match with some great moments, the Young Lions were on FIRE here as they got a big chance to prove themselves tough against the big dogs. It led to few truly amazing moments playing off the age and pecking order differences. Now I really want to see Nagata/Komatsu and Tanahashi/Tanaka.

***3/4

4.       8-MAN TAG: Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga, Cody Hall)

Average match that should’ve been much better. There were some glaring botches and timing issues, Tonga was very bad here.

**1/4

5.       NJC 2015 – Round 2: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Togi Makabe

A Yujiro Takahashi snoozefest.

bad

6.       NJC 2015 – Round 2: Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi

Yano got Yanoed, haha. I loved this.

***1/4

7.       NJC 2015 – Round 2: Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito

Great shit and right up there with the last year’s NJC Finale as the best Fale match. The body of work was very clever with Naito attacking Fale’s leg after being outpowered on multiple occasions. They even grappled and struggled for control on the mat for a little bit, very unusual for a Fale match. The finish was beautiful.

****

8.       NJC 2015 – Round 2: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto

Finally these two didn’t work their usual strikefest style for once, instead they worked a traditional match and it rocked. I loved all the ground game and power struggle, limbs were attacked and everything looked very organic and coherent. They still found time to smack each other silly, but that wasn’t the theme of the match, no, it was pound-for-pound wrestling. Excellent match!

****1/4

NJC '15 - Round 1

New Japan Cup 2015

(2015/3/5)

1.       Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada, Sho Tanaka vs. Jushin Liger, KUSHIDA, Yohei Komatsu, Jay White

Good, energetic opener with constant movement, loved all the pairings. The Young Lions shined and Taguchi’s ass attack sequence was the highlight.

***

2.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Yujiro Takahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Good match! Y-H carried the useless Yujiro whose offense sucked for the majority, which resulted in a heatless affair saved by Y-H’s great work, especially in the closing run.

***

3.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Tomoaki Honma vs. Togi Makabe

Excellent match, they made few tweaks and tricks to avoid a Honma formula repeating, and I loved everything. Honma sold Makabe’s offense like death, and in matches like this you can see how important is the hierarchy in New Japan – Ishii is obviously way rougher than Makabe, but Makabe is higher on totem pole, therefore Honma must sell Makabe’s blasts better. Heavy smacks and nifty counters, this was great.

****

4.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima

Good match, but not great. I wanted a great match. The reason it wasn’t awesome is because they worked a Shibata match instead of a Kojima match. There were some “all over the place” moments that I didn’t particularly care for. Kojima fell for Shibata’s pace and it made for a not-great match. His chops and lariats were brutal, though, smashing shit right there.

***1/4

5.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata

Hard hitting, smashmouth strikefest, and naturally I dug it very much.

****

6.       Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Cpt. New Japan

Awesome 6-man tag with everyone looking great, but man, Tenzan was simply glorious, the match workhorse. Dude was holding his own against Ishii and Shinsuke like it was 2005, not 2015.

***3/4

7.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Doc Gallows vs. Kota Ibushi

Damn fine power vs. speed story with both dudes having one thing in common – hard strikes. Doc’s palm strikes and punches looked particularly vicious, he even threw a nasty superkick at Ibushi. The finish was beautiful. Kota is on the major roll this year, and Doc’s been having a severely underrated New Japan run.

***3/4

8.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Karl Anderson vs. Tetsuya Naito

Amazing match! Knew it would rock because these two have a fantastic chemistry (G1 23 anyone?), but they outclassed each other here. This was totally amazing, bell-to-bell, Karl ambushed Naito to start the match and was kicking his ass silly, while Naito was bumping like a damn madman for him, he landed onto his neck and head few times, I fucking cringed. I’ve never seen Karl this aggressive, awesome shit. Naito worked from behind and the crowd really got into him and his inevitable comeback. Such an outstanding G1 style match, Karl’s best match ever and Naito displayed the magic that made him a rising star few years ago.

****3/4

9.       NJC 2015 – Round 1: Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Short, sweet and priceless.

***

10.   NJC 2015 – Round 1: Bad Luck Fale vs. Kazuchika Okada

Here we go, after exactly two months of feuding through all the tags, it’s time for some one-on-one. Kind of colorless and dry in the middle during Fale’s dull workover, but the whole second half was awesome, Fale redeemed himself with some great sequences and Okada did a helluva job in making him look badass. Good match and we’ll see more of these two, I’m looking forward to it because the chemistry is there, mos def.

***1/2

The New Beginning in Sendai

The New Beginning 2015 in Sendai

(2015/2/14)

1.       Manabu Nakanishi & Cpt. New Japan vs. Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu

Look, I know Komatsu must lose, but why the fuck give the win to Nakanishi and not the Captain? Makes no sense, Nakanishi has nothing to gain, nothing at all. Bad match.

bad

2.       reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. Tiger Mask & Jay White

Man, O’Reilly and Fish are awful but somehow the match did not bomb, that’s because TMIV and White were awesome in this, especially Jay White, dude’s extremely talented, I see bright future for him. Maybe it’s because of slightly different Young Lion booking, but he already looks better than Tanaka and Komatsu.

**3/4

3.       Bullet Club (Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Kenny Omega) vs. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley, Mascara Dorada

Nice 6-man tag with Mascara Dorada owning inside and outside the ring. The match got enough time to tell effective stories, also the FIP session on Shelley was good. Omega looks good without Taguchi dragging him down, the Bucks brought some of their classic PWG gags with them, all in all this was fun.

***1/2

4.       NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Liger ©

Solid little match with cool finish. Glad Liger retained. Tharpe is still trying WAY too hard. Liger’s next title opponent is none other than his tag team partner Tiger Mask, I’m looking forward to it.

**3/4

5.       NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Rob Conway ©

Man, this was such a feelgood moment, reminded me of Tenzan’s shocking win over Goto at the G1 in Korakuen, Tenzan being the new NWA Champion is both fabulous and surreal at the same time. Very good match, both competitors worked hard and the result was more than visible, props to Conway for being a suitable foe to Tenzan.

***3/4

6.       Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba

This was actually very good, Sakuraba and Ibushi seem to have one helluva chemistry that looks straight out of an UWF match, and Yano/Naito stuff was fun enough to keep the other half interesting. Typical Yano tricks worked in this environment, loved the finish. Sakuraba/Ibushi needs to happen.

***1/2

7.       Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI

Decent. Yujiro is truly hopeless without Ishii carrying him. I like Fale and can’t wait to see how’ll his singles match with Okada turn out.

**3/4

8.       Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga)

Too by-the-numbers to be good, but enough to be solid. But still, these wrestlers can and know better than this.

**3/4

*** Makabe couldn’t make it, so the NEVER title has to be vacated. It’s Honma/Ishii for the strap. THANK YOU, FLU! Now, I don’t know how and why is Honma eligible to fight for a title (other than giving a guaranteed stellar performance) after losing dozens and dozens of matches, but I don’t really care because the match is bound for glory. ***

9.       NEVER Openweight Championship (vacant): Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii

They brutalized each other in a sinister fashion and everybody loved it, that’s pretty much everything I can say about the match. Truly fantastic stuff all around, just incredible.

****3/4

10.   IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Yuji Nagata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura ©

So, the story here is the veteran Nagata trying to overcome the newer generation prototype of fancy pants stars for the IC strap, and Nagata is backed by Tenzan, Kojima and Nakanishi who came to show support. Nice touch there. The match was good but they had the impossible task to follow Honma/Ishii, which in the end proved to be impossible. They grappled in the beginning before smacking each other silly with all the rough strikes. Seriously, some of those shots gave Honma/Ishii a run for their money. However, the story wasn’t as captivating and there lies the problem. Overall good match and main event, but not great, although Nagata proved once again he can still go full throttle.

***3/4