It was a busy weekend, with two GCW shows, an AIW show, and NJPW as well. I wanted to see it all, and review it of course, and well, I got lucky that I am able to do that. NJPW was live from the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California, and had a bunch of matches, including the tournament to crown a women’s champion. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, so it was interesting to see what I got here, and if you’re a fan, you probably don’t need anything I’m going to say, but alas, I don’t do it for everyone I do it for the two readers that come along with me for this pro wrestling journey.
El Barbaro Cavernario and Virus defeated TMDK (Bad Dude
Tito and Zack Sabre Jr.)
I’ve been a huge Zack Sabre fan ever since I saw him take on
Okada in one hell of a championship match. It was good to see him in this tag
match, and the two teams had some great back and forth. There wasn’t anything too
crazy to write home about, but the back and forth action was good, with a mix of
technical wrestling and lucha style. This was very much a good, fast paced
opener, even though there was some slow down here and there to setup some tag
team moves. A solid opener for sure, fun stuff to introduce you to NJPW. I
gotta admit that the ending was a little lackluster, but overall, a fun match
with some nice moments, but yeah not a great ending moment with a submission,
oh well.
Mercedes Mone defeated Stephanie Vaquer
So here we go, the first match of the tournament for the
women’s title. Mercedes is whom I wanted to win, and whom I figured would get
the upper hand, as I was a fan of her WWE work especially when she was tearing
up arenas in NXT. I hadn’t heard of Stephanie Vaquer so I couldn’t comment on
her, but this match was definitely worthy of checking out overall. There was
some great back and forth here, I loved the intensity from both women. Mone is
a little different in NJPW than in WWE and it shows. I liked that, I liked the
way she pushed through a bunch of moves, and Vaquer is no slouch either, mixing
lucha and modern wrestling styles overall. I liked it a lot, and feel that this
was a good opening tournament matchup. Good stuff, with Mone getting the big
win moving forward. I miss Money in WWE, or rather I miss the NXT version where
she had more time to display action like she did with this match. Roughly 12
minutes, and not a moment wasted, good stuff.
Willow Nightingale defeated Momo Kohgo
I have never heard of either one of these wrestlers, but was
impressed with the overall match. Momo was the lighter one here and Willow put
on a great show with power moves. The lighter wrestler was throwing a ton of
moves at the larger one, and it was a good back and forth matchup. I was
impressed with the pacing, and the move set of each woman, including a 619 at
one point that I marked out for! Momo was excellent here, and Willow’s power
moves made it interesting too, which made me like this match a lot. A good job
reeling me in by both women here. The crowd got into it, and I was all for it,
great match in the tournament with Willow getting the win.
Juice Robinson defeated Fred Rosser in a Street Fight
I love a good street fight, and I wasn’t sure what to expect
out of this. I’ve heard of Juice Robinson before but I never heard of Fred
Rosser. Apparently the two were feuding or something and they were led into a
street fight to settle their differences. A hardcore match, but not a death
match mind you, this was a good showing for the two wrestlers. Both wrestlers
had their turn beating up the other, and it was fun overall. There was a belt
introduced at one point and it looked painful as all hell. The two fought
outside in the aisle at one point, and then would break a couple of doors
overall. This was good. It reminded me of a hardcore match from the ECW days or
even some of the better WWF matches. The crowd was into this, I was into this,
and the two put each other through the ringer to get this going. There was a
lot of hard hits, kendo sticks, a stop sign, chairs, doors, and just hard
hitting moments. This was a good street fight, and in the end, Juice Robinson
got the victory, but it wasn’t without a war of a match. Fun stuff here, a good
one has been had.
Kenta defeated Hikuleo in the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship
Match
I’m tempted to say that Kenta couldn’t hack it in NXT but it
wasn’t that. What happened was he got injured, and the WWE didn’t do a whole
lot to help his cause. Anywhere else, he’s good, and it shows. Kenta was on the
offensive at first here, but he didn’t back down, getting some fight back
against Hikuleo. Hikuleo is huge, mind you, he’s bigger than Kenta and he was
dominant at first, with some hard hits on Kenta, getting the crowd to woah a
great deal. It was mostly Hikuleo until Kenta dropped the big guy off the
stairs and through a table! Quite the bump, and that would get Kenta the win,
as he beat the 20 count, and that’s that. I disappointed with the ending, but
meh, Kenta wins the title with a count out. Hey, it’s their rules.
The Blackpool Combat Club and Shota Umino defeated CHAOS
A six man tag match, with some interesting back and forth.
As far as six man tag matches are concerned, this wasn’t too bad. I liked the
back and forth, good overall fighting, and some nice submission holds. This was
like a clinic in Japanese style modern wrestling as there was a lot of action.
There were some moments where if you blinked, you missed it. I was impressed throughout,
the pacing was fast, there was some back and forth and the crowd was into it,
making this a fun match to watch. Everyone got a bit of their offense in, so it
was frenetic at times, but it would be the Blackpool Combat Club that would get
the upper hand after a sick DDT called the Death Rider, or writer, I don’t know
it was sick and it was all she wrote for CHAOS.
Will Ospreay defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the number 1 contenders’
tournament match
Back to the singles competitors, I knew these two going into
the match, and always love to see them work. Tanahashi and Ospreay were on
another level here, with a lot of back and forth, speed, and overall crowd interaction.
These two took their time, built a solid match, and was fun to watch. It was a
mix of modern and even a little lucha, with a lot of action between. Ospreay
with his finisher and a huge lariat, sheesh, the ending sequence was great.
Ospreay definitely put Tanahashi through the matt at one point, and I loved it.
Great match here, and roughly 16 minutes, but it was good. Back and forth, but
Will Ospreay getting the win. He’s really good, I hope he continues to rise up.
Tanahashi is no slouch, mind you, but it wasn’t his night that’s for sure.
Willow Nightingale defeated Mercedes Mone for the NJPW
Strong Women’s Title
Before this night, I wasn’t familiar with Willow’s work, and
through this match and the first match, I was impressed overall. She’s a hard
hitting, really good wrestler, and Mone just couldn’t last. Don’t get me wrong,
Mone had some good moments here, and she was definitely throwing around some
counters, but it was Willow that seemed to get the upper hand. I was impressed.
Mone took a beating, Willow showed up to the main stage, and this was one of
the best women’s matches I’ve seen in a long time. Loved it, and recommend it.
Overall Thoughts
I heard that Mone broke her ankle during the main event. That
sucks overall, but other than that note, this was a good night of wrestling. You
didn’t need a lot of hype packages, and you didn’t need to get a lot of story
to enjoy the wrestling. I found the wrestling to be hardcore at times, and
something for everyone. There was lucha style, Japanese strong style, modern
style, and even a little martial arts and mma for that matter. The main event
delivered in spades, and I liked this whole 4 hour some odd venture from NJPW.
The crowd was into it, the matches delivered, and Money is money! Willow too!
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