New Japan Pro Wrestling held its Power Struggle event on 11/8. Here are the results:
Pre-Show match: Mascara Dorada & BUSHI defeated Fuego & Tiger Mask
3-way tag team match: The Young Bucks defeated TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado and Forever Hooligans. A fun opener as you'd expect with The Bucks involved. Rocky Romero proves to be underrated. The Bucks pick up the win after More Bang For Your Buck on TAKA.
NWA Jr Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Chase Owens to win the title. Bruce Tharpe was his usual over the top self here as Owens' manager, demanding that the Japanese crowd show him respect. He's the closest thing to a 1980's heel manager. This match was better than it should have been with Liger once again proving that he will always be great no matter his age. Liger wins after two brainbusters.
Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano defeated Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka. Thankfully this was a short crazy brawl with Sakuraba scoring the quick pin on Suzuki to set up a match between the two at Wrestle Kingdom under UWF rules. That match should be great as Suzuki is one of a few guys who Sakuraba's style works with.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship:
ReDRagon defeated Time Splitters to become champions. This match was sensational and even better than their last match at the G1 finals. Bobby Fish ran his mouth throughout and KUSHIDA & Shelley had lots of explosive bursts of offense. Lots of amazing believable near falls towards the end with Kyle getting the pin after a tornado DDT into Chasing The Dragon. Watch this match!
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson & Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Captain New Japan, Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma. Your usual Bullet Club vs. NJPW Babyfaces match. The moment of the match came when Captain hit his Rock Bottom on Fale. Fale got the win after the Bad Luck Fall on Captain.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Taichi to retain. All hell broke loose from the get go here with Taichi along with TAKA & Desperado attacking Taguchi with anything that wasn't nailed down. Taichi even pile drove Taguchi off the apron through a table. Taguchi paid tribute to his former tag partner Prince Devitt pulling out his signature pose and dive. Taguchi took out the Suzuki Gun members before retaining.
After the match, Bullet Club appeared to reveal Kenny Omega as their new member. With a new look straight out of a 90’s action movie Omega declared that he was in NJPW to clean up the junior division and challenged Taguchi. Taguchi accepted.
AJ Styles defeated Yoshitatsu. Of course Yoshitatsu got to do more here than he has in several years with WWE and he looked great considering it was his first match back in NJPW in years. Jeff Jarrett and Scott D'Amore in Bullet Club start to send it into nWo territory (not in a good way). AJ got the win after a distraction from Jeff Jarrett, hitting the Bloody Sunday and a nasty looking Styles Clash to win. After the match Jarrett hit Yoshitatsu with a guitar and Tetsuya Naito ran in to make the save. So it looks like we will have Yoshitatsu vs. Jarrett & Naito vs. Styles at Wrestle Kingdom.
NEVER Open Weight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii def. Hirooki Goto to retain. This is New Japan Pro Wrestling at its best. If you like physicality and "Strong Style" go out of your way to see this match. Two warriors going at it with neither backing down. Ishii got the win with a brainbuster. After the match Togi Makabe challenged Ishii for the next title shot.
Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada. Another outstanding match here with the focus on YOSHI vs Ibushi. Both men looked great and Ibushi as always defies the laws of physics with his aerial assault. He got the win with the Phoenix Splash. Lots of great imagery after with Okada and the Tokyo Dome briefcase standing over a fallen Tanahashi. Little things like this are what make NJPW special, creating intrigue heading towards January 4th.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Katsuyori Shibata to retain. Another incredible match as expected. Lots of hard hitting strikes and submissions built around a great story and their history. Nakamura retains after several Boma Ye's. Another match everyone needs to check out. After the match Kota Ibushi ran in and German suplexed Nakamura to make a title challenge.
The last three matches along with ReDRagon/Time Splitters sum up everything great about NJPW and is the perfect starting point for anyone looking to dive into New Japan Pro Wrestling.
So the provision and unconfirmed Wrestle Kingdom card looks like:
*Tanahashi vs. Okada
*Nakamura vs. Ibushi
*Ishii vs. Makabe
*Sakuraba vs. Suzuki
*Styles vs. Naito
*Jarrett vs. Yoshitatsu
*Taguchi vs. Omega
*ReDRagon vs. Young Bucks vs. Forever Hooligans vs. Time Splitters
No comments:
Post a Comment