NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 1

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 1, January 16th 2015

Here we go, for the first time in history we get to see the greatest promotion in the world on American TV. No matter what happens next, we’ll always have this moment. We opened with the Ace of the Universe sitting in a production room and talking about himself and the rivalry with Okada. We all know Tana is an ubercool dude but he always finds new ways to show us his swag through humor, intelligence and self-irony. Awesome introduction, totally in Japanese style with cool smooth instrumental metal playing in the background, hopefully they stick around with these.

Now onto the match, but I want to talk about the commentators first, Josh Barnett and Mauro Ranallo, as I really think they did an awesome job, even better than Ross and Striker. Yes, Ranallo is the overexcited Tenayesque/Strikeresque human factoid, and yes, it can get annoying sometimes, but overall he was totally fine I think, plus on the other side there’s Barnett, who’s laid back and relaxed, so it really made for an excellent combo. Not to mention they know their stuff, so the HUGE PLUS for the commentary.

Wrestle Kingdom 7

(2013/1/4)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ©

This match is easily the most underrated one from their rich series of amazing matches, and trust me, I’ve been saying it for full two years now. Having it rewatched now, I’d only take Invasion Attack over this one. 2013 was loaded with classics such as THREE OTHER Okada/Tana classics, Shibata/Ishii, Ibushi/Nakamura, Ishii/Tana, etc., plus this match happened at the very beginning of the year so naturally it got neglected at the end of the year when people started making their MOTYC lists. It’s a shame, though, this match was simply superb, everything was hit to perfection, the submission work was the best in the series, the pacing was mesmerizing, the selling was top notch, there was a clear cut storytelling about the differences in characters, etc. There was a tight sense of Point A leading to Point B, just marvelous wrestling all around, a perfect match.

*****

After the match we got to see subtitled speeches from Okada and Tanahashi, both backstage and from the ring. Nice touch and it added to the general selling of the big match feel.

Final verdict: what a brilliant edition, one of the finest wrestling hours you’ll ever see, everything is so simple and so effective, loved every second of the show.