Views from the Hawke’s Nest: NJPW Dominion 2013

June 22, 2013
Osaka, Japan

Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi & TAKA Michinoku)
This match should be aight. It’s relatively rare to see TAKA wrestle on these iPPVs, which I guess is somewhat significant.

Taichi ate a powerbomb from Liger early. Liger then gave him a brainbuster, but TAKA pulled the ref out of the ring. TAKA then used a crutch on his opponents. Suzuki-gun worked Liger over for a bit. Liger eventually hit Taichi with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and tagged out to Tiger Mask. Tiger Mask made a comeback. Eventually, Taichi caught Tiger Mask with a knee strike on the knee with his brace: 1…2…3

This was better than the typical NJPW pre-show match.
Match Rating: **

Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero)© vs. Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) [IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match]
A very original matchup!

Seriously, this is reaching Dolph Zigger vs. Kofi Kingston levels. Shelley got worked over for a while. I have to admit that I’m having trouble caring about this match. Shelley of course eventually tagged out to KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA made an awesome comeback. He Splitters almost had the match won during that comeback. The teams went back and forth. KUSHIDA ate a series of doubleteam moves, but he survived them all. He then avoided a shooting star from Koslov. KUSHIDA went for a handspring move, but Koslov caught him. Romero then hit a springboard diving knee: 1…2…3!

Rocky screamed forever a lot. Always amusing.

Despite being a stale matchup, these teams managed to deliver a super fun opener. KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley are an excellent team. Let’s hope they can occasionally work stateside over the next year or so.
Match Rating: ***1/2

BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. Captain New Japan, Tomoaki Honma & Yuji Nagata
This is quite the combination of men. The Bullet Club managed to isolate Honma, and they worked him over. Nagata tagged in, but he got cut off quickly. Nagata made his own comeback. The Captain wanted to tag in. Nagata knew this would end badly, but he could not deny the people. Captain did an admirable job, but he could not handle the numbers agme. Anderson hit him with a Gun Stun. Fale then gave him the Samoan Spike: 1…2…3

This was far more enjoyable than I expected. The Bullet Club trios matches are going to be very easy for the crowd to get into for the foreseeable future.
Match Rating: **3/4

TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima)© vs. CHAOS (Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano) vs. Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) [IWGP Tag Team Title Three Way Dance]
I want to watch Takashi Iizuka vs. the scrawny commentator he keeps beating up in a Taipei Deathmatch instead of this match.

Ugh, the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Scenes is so blah. All the matches run together. At least Iizuka is involved in this one. The match started as a brawl. It went all over the place. Lots of brawling. They eventually made their way back to the ring. It was not in the least bit interesting. Yano ate the double team powerbomb from KES. The referee was knocked out though. Iizuka gave Davey the claw. Tenzan took out Iizuka. Archer ate the 3D: 1…2…NO!!! Kojima eventually caught Archer with a lariat: 1…2…3!

I was really not in the mood for this match. It was sporadically amusing, but I don’t know, the heavyweight tag scene just isn’t that good in NJPW.
Match Rating: **1/2

Rob Conway© vs. Manabu Nakanishi [NWA World Heavyweight Title Match]
My gawd, how is this real life? Rob Conway is to NJPW what Joey Ryan is to PWG.

They quickly ended up on the floor. Nakanishi had the advantage until Conway poked him in the eye. Conway got the heat after that. Conway got a nearfall with a diving Rough Ryder. LOL Conway screamed “Japan Sucks.” This is the worst. Nakanishi then made his comeback. He hit a slingshot plancha. Yep. Nakanishi hit a big lariat and then locked it the torture rack. Conway attacked Nakanishi’s face to escape. Nakanishi dropped him on his fucking head with a German!!!! HOLY SHIT! Nakanishi went to the top rope! Bruce Tharpe distracted him. Conway pounced and hit Total Anarchy: 1…2…3

This was WAY better than it had any right in being. Nakanishi has that old guy charisma that I’m a sucker for. I would not say this was exactly “good,” but I enjoyed far more than I expected.
Match Rating: **1/2

CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Shelton X Benjamin)
Ishii showed a lot of fire early on, but he was eventually isolated and worked over. Taichi attacked him with his crutch. Minoru Suzuki is the best. Your argument is invalid. Suzuki got cocky, and Ishii caught him with an exploder. Nakamura made a big comeback. Nakamura used many knee strikes, as he is wont to do. Suzuki came back with a SLEEPER. Shelton tagged in and hit his Superkick/German combo: 1…2…NO! Shelton did the leap to the top rope/superplex spot: 1…2…NO! Shelton doing tag matches is good for NJPW and Shelton. Nakamura dropped him on his head and called for the Boma Ye, but Suzuki blocked it. Ishii saved Suzuki with a LARIAT! Shelton avoided the Boma Ye and hit the Paydirt: 1…2…3!

Suzuki and Ishii got into a big brawl after the match.

I really enjoyed this. Everything looked good, and everyone was over. Good stuff. Suzuki vs. Ishii will be quite the contest when it happens.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi
NO LIMIT explodes. Yujiri turned on Naito. Naito got hurt. Yujiro hurt him again so that he missed much time. MATCH. WRESTLING.

Yujiro started going after the injured leg. Yujiro got a firm advantage after he dropped Naito on the injured leg and then relentlessly went after it. Naito made a comeback after a while, but Yujiro cut that off with a belly-to-belly suplex. He then hit a super bely-to-belly suplex. Yujiro hit a German and then locked in a submission on the injured leg. Naito survived, but Yujiro continued to dominate. Naito finally came back after he avoided a moonsault. He then got a bridging German for a nearfall. Naito then hit a Gloria and a Stardust Press: 1…2…3

Naito had one of the best matches of the year last year with Okada. This was not that Naito. I’ve never been a Yujiro guy, and I’ve always thought he was much better off as a tag team guy. This was a competent pro wrestling match. It was logical, but I just didn’t get emotionally invested.
Match Rating: ***

Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
This has a ton of hype to live up to.

Goto immediately hit a lariat. Goto is hyped. They started beating the shit out of each other. Shibata had Goto down in the corner. He hit a NASTY delayed dropkick in the corner. IN THE FACE. Geezus. Goto hit a spinning wheel kick and a big saito suplex. He hit an arm-trap Drunk Slam for a nearfall. They traded backdrop drivers. LARIAT FROM GOTO! PELE KICK FROM SHIBATA! They got to their feet and slapped the fuck out of each other. They hit big slaps at the same time and both went down. That was the spot that caused the double countout at the last PPV. They got to their knees and continued to beat the fuck out of each other. Shibata killed him with a kick to the chest. Goto appeared out of it, but he fired back with a headbutt. HOLY FUCK SHIBATA MURDERED BOTH OF THEM WITH A HEADBUTT OF HIS OWN. THESE ARE MEN. They traded big boots and lariats. Goto hit a Discus Lariat: 1…2…NO! Goto went for one of his finishers, but Shibata escaped and hit a backdrop driver. Shibata hit a DVD and then a DVD on the knee. Sleeper on Goto. SOCCER PUNT OF DEATH: 1…2…3!!!!

The fact that both men got to their feet after this and walked to the back is somewhat astounding. This was thirteen minutes of pure brutality. Shibata is fantastic, and he needs to have a PPV main event with Okada by the end of the year. I haven’t been a huge Goto fan over the years, but he definitely did his part in this MOTYC.
Match Rating: ****3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt
Tanahashi is the only babyface who can rock out to air guitar without irony. Wrestler of the Year. Devitt kept trying to bait him to the floor. He called him a chicken. Tanahashi fell for it. Bad Luck Fale took him out with a lariat. Devitt was in control after that. Devitt sent him to the floor with an enzuigiri, and he called for a tope con hello. He stalled instead though, which allowed Karl Anderson to give him an apron powerbomb. The referee tired to kick out Anderson, but for some reason, it didn’t happen. Tanahashi made a comeback and hit Fale and Devitt with a High Fly Flow to the floor. Tanahashi then hit a pair of dragon screws on Devitt. Cloverleaf from Devitt. Devitt survived and hit a Pele kick. Devitt then hit a slingshot double stomp. Devitt then hit a Ghetto Stomp for a nearfall. Devitt then hit the Reverse Bloody Sunday: 1…2…NO! Tanahashi avoided a second ghetto stomp and hit a Sling Blade! Strait Jacket German from Tanahashi got a nearfall. Tanahashi called for the High Fly Flow, but Fale hit him with a Samoan Spike! BLOODY SUNDAY: 1…2…3!

This show is loaded. I don’t know what the payoff to the Bullet Club storyline is going to be (it presumably involves a cage), but it’s at the very least leading to lots of enjoyable matches in the meantime.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Togi Makabe [IWGP Heavyweight Title Match]
This is not a world title match that interests me much. Okada is one of the best in the world, but Makabe has never been someone that I cared about watching. I’ve heard good things about the match though.

Stan Hanson comes out before the match. The best. The crowd, unsurprisingly, seems perfectly willing to get behind Makabe. That can only make the match better. Okada went for the Rainmaker early on, but Makabe avoided it. Okada managed to hit an elevated DDT on the floor. Okada almost won by countout. Okada was in firm control after that. Makabe eventually made a comeback and got a couple of nearfalls. Okada came back with a neckbreaker. He hit a diving elbow and called for the Rainmaker, but Makabe bounced to his feet. Makabe hit a series of lariats. Makabe got a nearfall with a bridging German. Okada managed to avoid the diving knee, and he then locked in the Red Ink. Makabe made the ropes. Okada hit an Air Raid Crash on the thigh and a FU for a nearfall. They ended up on the floor, and Makabe shoved a table into Okada’s face. Makabe then powerbombed him through the table. Back in the ring, Makabe got a nearfall with a powerbomb. Makabe followed that up a Spider German, but Okada avoided the diving knee again. The crowd exploder for the Spider German. Makabe avoided the Rainmaker and hit a bridging Dragon: 1…2…NO!!!!!!!! Geeez. Okada avoided a lariat and hit a tombstone. It’s over baby. Rainmaker: 1…2…3!

Wow, this worked in ways I could not have imagined. Makabe proved to be a great challenger for the simple reason that the crowd was completely willing to believe that he could win (or at least like him enough that they were willing to go along with it). Okada continues to show why he is so goddamn good. The only thing the match was missing was Makabe having a clear strategy (like how Tanahashi would go after Okada’s Rainmaker arm).
Match Rating: ****1/4

Prince Devitt came out after the match. He says he is coming for Okada. Okada comes up with a scenario where Devitt must defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Gedo first. The winner will get a shot at Okada. Devitt “shoots” Okada, who promptly does the Rainmaker pose. Best company. Devitt left. Gedo cut a promo. It didn’t really seem get over with the crowd.

Photo credit to Chris Bacon’s print screen button and PWPonderings.com

**Bonus Match Review**

Road to Kizuna Road

July 5, 2013
Tokyo, Japan

Prince Devitt(c) vs. Gedo [IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship]
This was the main event of an iPPV that received far less attention than the typical NJPW iPPV. Frankly, I was very surprised that this show was even an iPPV.

Devitt obviously had the Bullet Club in his corner. Gedo had Jado and Kazuchika Okada in his corner. Devitt was not having much success in the early goings of the match. He finally managed to cut Gedo off with a slingshot double stomp. Devitt was in control for a while. Devitt was attacking the back a lot. Devitt finally went for the Ghetto Stomp, but Gedo avoided it and hit a superkick! Gedo started going after the left leg of Devitt. Gedo went for a frog splash, but Devitt got his knees up. Deviit hit a lariat and killed him with a ghetto stomp. He then planted him with a reverse Bloody Sunday: 1…2…NO! There was a ref bump, and Gedo kicked Devitt in the balls. The crowd did not care. Devitt tired to use a care, but Gedo threw the chair at him. Bullet Club tried to interfere, but Okada blocked them! Gedo hit the frog splash: 1…2…NO!!!!!!! WOW! Great nearfall. They traded nearfalls after chair spots. Devitt then hit a Trouble in Paradise and a Bloody Sunday: 1…2…3!

The match absolutely peaked with that frog splash nearfall. The last couple of minutes couldn’t follow that spot, which is pretty much the only negative I have to say about the match. Anyway, this was a really entertaining main event. Gedo can still go.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Also, check out my Best of Chikara blog and an archive of all my 411 video reviews.

Watch some NJPW for free (legally):
Kurt Angle vs. Yuji Nagata
Kota Ibushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (one of the best BOSJ matches ever)
Prince Devitt vs. Kenny Omega
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson
Prince Devitt vs. Kenny Omega
Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibsuhi
Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi
Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
Mistico vs. Averno
PAC vs. Bushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Masato Tanaka
Prince Devitt vs. Koji Kanemoto
Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuyori Shibata
ORLANDO JORDAN vs. Yuji Nagata

The 411: This is absolutely one of the best wrestling shows of the year. I think it's not quite as great as Wrestle Kingdom, but I can totally understand if anyone thought that this was better. Okada continues to show that he is going to be the new ace of NJPW, and that he could carry the promotion for the next decade. Shibata showed that he's one of the most exciting pro wrestlers working today. Devitt's Bullet Club storyline continues to create fantastic environments for pro wrestling. Even the Forever Hooligans and the Time Splitters managed to top all their previous efforts together. This show is wrestling magic.

Final Score:  9.3   [  Amazing ]