NJPW SENGOKU LORD in NAGOYA Review (July 25th 2020, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium)
Taiji Ishimori vs. Yuya Uemura **1/2
Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, & Gabriel Kidd ***
Hirooki Goto, SHO & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI ***
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI ***1/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi **1/2
NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. El Desperado ***3/4
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT AND IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL DOUBLE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: EVIL (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi ****1/2
Photos.
New Japan returned to Aichi with a socially distanced crowd of 2,200 for an enjoyable show that was probably a little better than the two Osaka-Jo Hall shows from a couple of weeks ago, though obviously not up to the usual high New Japan standard, for obvious reasons. Taiji Ishimori defeated spirited Young Lion Yuya Uemura in a standard opener, when he pinned him with Bloody Cross in 8 minutes. Togi Makabe pinned another promising Young Lion, Gabriel Kidd, with a German Suplex to end a decent six man tag at 10:25. What was notable here is the match was also supposed to feature Honma and Yota Tsuji, but both were pulled as a precautionary measure as they were on a TV show earlier in the week with someone who tested positive for COVID. Another enjoyable multi man followed, in which SHO was the star of the show. He had great exchanges with everyone, then of course was submitted by SANADA’s Skull End (get a new finish, man!) at the 10:31 mark. It’s worth pointing out here that Naito, the former double champion who was betrayed by one of his best friends and subsequently screwed out of said titles by said friend was once again a nonchalant body, merrily going through the motions, exuding no fire, or anger, and just doing a match. In the post match, the LIJ victors even beat up the referee for shits and giggles. I’ve no idea whats going on here.
There was an announcement that they’re doing a big Jingu Stadium show for the first time since 1999 on August 29th. That should be interesting. The first show 21 years ago drew nigh on 50,000 people and was headlined by an absolutely wretched No-rope Exploding Barbed Wire Double Hell Death Match between The Great Muta and Atsushi Onita. I can only but hope this coming show has a better main event. An all-action 10 man tag followed that was highlighted by Suzuki and Nagata destroying each other throughout. Tana and Ibushi were going at it with Zack and Taichi, whilst Wato and Kanemaru kept their burgeoning programme going. The finish saw Ibushi pin, you guessed it, DOUKI, with Kamigoye at the 12:55 mark. Kazuchika Okada, to the surprise of not a single solitary soul defeated Yujiro with his new Cobra Clutch Variant at 13:43 of a decent enough, but deeply uninteresting encounter next. It was literally just a match, and cemented the fact that Takahashi just isn’t cut out to be at the top level. Okada has been in a weird impasse since losing the title at WK 14, and just feels kind of lost on the card at this point in time, if you ask me.
The NEVER Title match that followed was great stuff indeed. Shingo is without doubt one of the standout wrestlers of the year, and whilst this was by far his weakest Title defence thus far, it was still thoroughly enjoyable. Despy worked over Shingo’s knee with chairs in the early going, and Takagi would battle back with his power moves. Desperado took the cheap road by nailing Shingo with the Title Belt, then locking on his Numero Dos Horse Collar submission, but Shingo makes the ropes. Takagi then starts hammering the challenger with hard forearms and Lariats. The Dragon finally hit a massive Pumping Bomber, and put Desperado away with Last Of The Dragon to retain in 17 minutes. As I say, this was a great match, but it was just missing something that really put it below excellent for me. That and the fact no one bought Despy winning.
Then the main event. I’m certain this will be an incredibly divisive outing, but I thought it was great, and was by a wide margin the best match of the night. The crowd were into this at a level that nothing else on the show was at, and the action was tremendous. Now yes, the shenanigans in the finally few minutes were the wrestling equivalent of deflating a balloon, but on the whole, it didn’t ruin this for me entirely, and it was a potentially star-making outing for Hiromu. They never once brought attention to the fact he was the Jr. Champion, and they never made it seem like he wasn’t capable of taking the top two singles titles. This was also a great outing from EVIL, who looked like more of a star here, and pulled out a better match than either of his Osaka matches with the top two guys in the company. He’s also dropped the leather skirt, which is an added bonus. EVIL lived up to his namesake in the build-up, threaten to re-brake Hiromu’s neck, like the dastardly evil bastard he is, and worked over it in the early going. Hiromu fought back, hitting a Death Valley Bomb on the apron and that crazy Senton Plancha to the floor, wiping out the double champ and Uemura and Kidd at ringside. Back n the ring, EVIL incessantly dropped the challenger on his neck with a series of devastating German Suplexes, but Takahashi fought back with his Casadora into a face buster for the comeback, and scores a near fall with a huge Lariat. A corner clothesline inadvertently takes out Red Shoes, and then the shenanigans started. Dick Togo, decked out in a fancy suit, hit the ring, and he and EVIL laid Hiromu out with the Magic Killer. Togo goes up top for his beautiful, patented Senton Backsplash, but Takahashi kicks EVIL into the ropes, causing the veteran to spill to the floor. EVIL tries the STO, but Hiromu counters into one of his own... but no ref! Hiromu then hoists EVIL up and hits a horrendously uncomfortable looking running Death Valley Bomb into the exposed turnbuckles, then hits Time Bomb for a super believable near fall, which had the Nagoya faithful going crazy. Hiromu then hits Time Bomb II, and just when it looks like he’s about to pull off a miracle... Dick Togo pulls Red Shoes out of the ring. After an EVIL low blow, Togo chokes Takahashi unconscious with his dreaded garrotte, allowing the Double Champion to hit Darkness Falls, followed by the EVIL STO, to successfully defend both titles for the first time in 33:57.
I loved this match. I’ve never hated the interference spots as much as some, but too much can get tiresome, and they’re really running the gamut with these EVIL matches, even if it is succeeding in getting him heel heat. I suppose the major question when watching all of the “heel stuff” in the final few minutes is the same I asked during the Naito match; where the hell is the rest of LIJ? They’re honestly the most useless friends to have as they don’t come out and help at all. Well, except Hiromu, who came out to save Naito in both his matches with KENTA and EVIL, but where in God’s name are SANADA and BUSHI? It gets fairly ridiculous at times and you start to lose interest in the match as you yell these questions at the TV/computer screen instead (well I do anyway). The post match saw Taiji Ishimori come out and nail Hiromu with Bloody Cross and stand over him with the Jr. Title. These two had an absolute classic in the 2018 BOSJ Finals, so I’m very much looking forward to that one. Then Naito sauntered out to confront EVIL, so it looks like that is potentially your Jingu Stadium main. I must confess, I’m not too bothered about that happening again so soon.
NDT
