THE REVIEW: New Japan Pro Wrestling – “The New Beginning in Osaka” 2015

RESULTS & RATINGS

(1) Sho Tanaka def. Yohei Komatsu in 5:38. 

After a good early grappling contest Tanaka starts throwing hard elbows. Komatsu throws a few of his own but is caught with a spinebuster. Tanaka puts on a half crab; Komatsu escapes and puts on the half crab. Tanaka catches Yohei in the air and slams him down, putting on the half crab again for the win. I’m not sure what the story is with these two other than they’ve been a tag team, even teaming earlier in this tour, but have also had singles matches against one another. It was booked as a mirror match, right down to the one knee pad on each guy, and was a fun albeit short opener. [5]

(2) Mascara Dorada & Tiger Mask def. Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi in 5:03. 

Dorada starts off against Nakanishi, who strong-mans all his moves. Tiger Mask tags in and takes the kick-out-his-legs approach, but the big man suplexes them both instead. Tiger Mask takes out his knees with a dropkick forcing Captain to tag in. Dorada does a nice dropkick, walking the ropes, but takes a double choke bomb from Nakanishi. Captain comes up empty on a top rope splash and Dorada hits him with a corkscrew senton then rolls him up for the win. They packed a good amount of fun into a short match, and New Japan seems to want to do something with Dorada while he’s around. [4]

(3) Chase Owens & Rob Conway def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jushin Thunder Liger in 7:53. 

Bruce Tharpe came out pre-match and got into it with a Japanese announcer, and built some heat for the NWA guys calling the U.S.A. the “greatest country on earth”.  Tenzan got a big chant at the bell. Liger sold for the heels for a few minutes until Tenzan made the hot tag and cleaned house. He trades forearms with Conway, who rakes the eyes and spears him. They build up another hot tag for Liger, but Owens over-castles him from the second rope. Liger comes back with a lariat but gets caught going after Brunce Tharpe, and Conway hits him with the Ego Trip. Another Ego Trip on Tenzan, and Owens pins Liger after a package piledriver. They put the NWA flag on Liger after the match. Pretty standard, westernized tag match. It was here to set up Owens vs. Liger, and Conway vs. Tenzan at Sendai, and not much else. [4]

(4) Kota Ibushi def. Tomoaki Honma in 12:15. 

Ibushi tries to control the match early on, but Honma gets back up after every move and gets right in his face. After two failed headbutt attempts, Honma hits a delayed suplexed and actually connects. He teases a headbutt from the ropes but gets caught with a pele kick. The crowd pops huge for everything Honma does, or even tries to do. Ibushi with a snap hurricanrana and double foot stomp, but again Honma gets right back up and hits a running headbutt. Honma gets all of a back superplex and a Michinoku Driver for a close two, but comes up empty on the headbutt again. They trade elbows and forearms with Honma almost winning off a sunset flip powerbomb, but Ibushi turns him inside-out with a lariat. He connects with a kick, the sit-down powerbomb, but Honma kicks out at two-and-a-half. Ibushi finally puts him away with the Golden Star Press (a corkscrew 630). Ibushi tries to shake hands after, but Honma wont so they slap each other instead. Really good work from both guys. [8]

(5) The Young Bucks def. The Time Splitters (Alex Shelly & KUSHIDA) and reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) (c) to become the NEW IWGP JR. TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS in 13:31. 

KUSHIDA taunted the Bucks with “suck it” gestures at the bell. Time Splitters double team Matt until Kyle blind tags and reDRagon hits Shelley with camel clutch/dropkick combo. They do a bit of comedy with Kyle running from KUSHIDA, leading him into a clothesline from Fish. They build to a hot tag for Shelly, who cleans house. He counters a superkick and tags in his partner, who suplexes both with an interesting bridge combination. Everyone starts flying to the outside to build up the obligatory pile-up spot. In an amazing sequence, KUSHIDA tries for a moonsault but O’Reilly catches him out of the air into a triangle choke, transferring into a cross arm breaker as Fish headbutts him from the top. Matt saves it with a diving elbow, then Shelley double foot stomps Matt, then Nick hits a 450 on O’Reilly and everyone is down. All the crazy spots start flying and it ends with the Indytaker, but Fish saves the match. Superkicks to reDRagon, More Bang for Your Buck on KUSHIDA for the pin. The last few minutes were excellent, but most of the match was much slower than you’d expect from these guys. They took their time, and I’m not sure it paid off. [7]

(6) Kenny Omega (c) def. Ryusuke Taguchi to retain the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship in 13:58. 

The Bucks cause shenanigans from the very start. They played up Taguchi’s flying butt bump by having Omega target his rear. Lots of atomic drops, and they even had Kenny shove the Bullet Club flag “up his ass”. Taguchi stole the flag and returned the favor, but didn’t get the reaction I thought it would. Kenny tries for an electric chair, but takes the reverse Frankensteiner for a nearfall. Challenger almost dead-lift Germans him, but drops him on his head instead for another close count. Omega takes him off the top rope, almost losing balance, but recovers and hits the Aoi Shoudou for the 1-2-3. Weird match. They tried for comedy and I don’t think it went over well. After the bell, the Young Bucks climb the ropes and hit a double team Indytaker on Taguchi into a chair, killing him. Mascara Dorada and the Time Splitters rush the ring and we get a staredown between Omega and Dorado, which looks like the next title program. [6]

(7) Kazuchika Okada & Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano def. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi) in 11:45. 

Takahashi bites Sakuraba, then gets his chest caved in by a huge kick. Okada tags in to a big pop, but his offense is useless against the big man. Fale harasses an announcer and takes his tie to choke Okada with it, who sells for the Club for several minutes. Yano makes the hot tag plays up the crowd and ends up in a test of strength with Bad Luck, which he loses. Okada tags back in and foolishly tries to lift the big man, but settles for a DDT. He tries again and actually gets the 330-pouner up for a bodyslam! The Club clears the ring and Fale goes for the crucifix powerbomb, but Okada breaks free and dropkicks him. The heels triple team Okada hitting their signatures, but Yano saves the match and a brawl breaks out. Okada counters a chokeslam and dropkicks Fale to the outside, then hits a top rope elbow on Tonga, followed by the Rainmaker for the win. [6]

(8) Satoshi Kojima & Tetsuya Naito &  Yuji Nagata def. Chaos (Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi) in 16:30. 

Shinsuke starts things off against Nagata as a teaser for their title match at Sendei. Naito tags in and instantly gets booed heavily. He has a nice exchange with Yoshi-Hashi, taking him down with a headscissors, but the crowd gives him massive heat. Kojima tags in but refuses to fight Hashi, and demands Ishii tag in. They have a big man no-sell contest, destroying each other with about 35 elbows each until they can barely stand; Ishii catches him with a snap powerslam. Their fight continues on with knife-edge chops and kicks in the corner. Naito and Hashi get bored and start fighting on the ramp. Chaos triple teams Kojima for several minutes, slowing down the pace. Nakamura misses the running knee and hits the corner, and Nagata makes the hot tag and throws the champ across the ring with a big German suplex. He hits another suplex, but Shinsuke pops back up and dropkicks the back of the head. Naito is back in to major heat; Yoshi-Hashi blocks a top rope senton and Chaos takes turns splashing him in the corner. Hashi hits a neckbreaker, then another neckbreaker from the top rope, but Kojima makes the save. Hashi with a massive lariat on Naito, followed by a running powerbomb for a close two-count; Naito is bleeding from the mouth. He looks for the Tombstone, but Naito counters with an enzuigiri and a shoulder tackle. He hits the Stardust Press for the win. Nakamura and Nagata have a stardown with the title after the bell. [7]

(9) Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) def. Hirooki Goto (c) & Katsuyori Shibata (c) to become the NEW IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS in 16:26. 

Gallows throws big right hands to Shibata to start things off, and Shibata throws them right back. Shibata locks in the Figure Four and they trade turning it over until Doc gets into the ropes to break. Goto makes the tag and they try suplexing Gallows, who throws them both instead. Anderson throws Shibata over the barricade and leaves him lying in somebody’s chair. Doc slows things down with a headlock on Goto, but breaks it for Anderson to powerbomb him into the apron. Anderson does repeated pins on Goto and gets upset that he can’t put him away. Gallows in with shots to the mid-section, as they continue building towards the hot tag. Eventually Goto suplexes Doc to a big pop and makes the tag. Shibata starts throwing elbows in the corner, at least a dozen to Anderson, then hits the running dropkick. Shibata throws the kitchen sink at him, then tags in Goto who suplexes Anderson for two. He accidentally clotheslines his partner off the apron, and turns around into a bicycle kick from Doc. The Club hits a double team neckbreaker for a nearfall, but Shibata comes back and breaks it up. Goto with a big lariat to Anderson. He and Gallows collide twice, and Goto takes him down on the third attempt. Shibata back again with elbows for everyone, and the champs go coast-to-coast with dropkicks. The get Gallows up for a big brainbuster, but Anderson back to save. All four go crazy and Doc hits a powerbomb on Shibata for a very close two-count. Shibata locks in a sleeper hold, but Anderson uses the elevation to hit him with a neckbreaker. The Gun Stun connects, but Shibata comes back with elbows to everyone as the crowd goes insane. Another Gun Stun connects, followed by the Magic Killer for the 1-2-3 and the title change. Awesome ending sequence. [7.5]

(10) AJ Styles def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) to become the NEW IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION in 26:08. 

The entire Bullet Club is ringside. Tanahashi has Captain New Japan, so it’s almost a fair fight. They start out slow, Styles working a headlock, then the champ working a wristlock and armbar. Tanahashi ends up crashing and burning to the floor, and AJ distracts the ref while the Club beats him down. From here it’s the slow dissection of the champion. After about five minutes of rest holds, Hiroshi fights back with elbow strikes a big shoulder tackle. He hits a second rope senton and throws a few uppercuts, then skins the cat to throw AJ to the floor and escape the entire Club. He launches off the top rope, with a “Super High Fly Flow” taking an entire sea of Bull Club members down with him. They crawl back into the ring and Styles hits a big lariat that somehow puts a huge gash in the champ’s face, covering him in blood. Styles with a suplex into the turnbuckle, but Tanahashi comes back with the Florida Key for two; he holds the waist and hits it again for two; holds it again but AJ grabs the referee and hits a low blow off the distraction. Anderson gets on the apron to distract the ref, but Tanahashi is the one with the low blow this time. Slingblade connects, buts its AJ up first, and he does a 450 splash into the knees of the champion. Slowly they fight on the top rope. Tanahashi teases a Styles Clash from the second rope (ala Wrestle Kingdom), but AJ escapes and hits the Pele Kick. Styles Clash attempt from the challenger, but he can’t get the legs over so he just drops him on his head, then hits a brainbuster. Styles Clash connects for the win. [8]

Anderson gets on the mic and says “it feels like we’ve been here before”, and calls themselves the best faction in 20 years. He puts over Cody Hall as the son of the legendary Scott Hall, and Tama Tonga as the son of Haku, then individually announces every single one of the Bullet Clubs members. They now hold the Jr. Tag, Heavyweight Tag, Jr. World and World Heavyweight IWGP titles. Streamers drop from the ceiling and the Club celebrates as AJ does snow angles in the middle of the ring to end the show.