NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome 12/17/16 Review

NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome 12/17/16 Review

Yoshitatsu and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger and Henare

Well, Liger is teaming with Henare here so we already know which team is winning off the bat, and it’s not the one with Henare on it. The match started off nice with good back and forth between Liger and Taguchi. Liger is honestly such a joy to watch because I’m left in awe every time. What he’s doing you wouldn’t normally think is extremely mind boggling, but at his age it really is. He still moves like a young guy and it’s crazy. Henare didn’t have too bad of a showing either here. Taguchi used his ass too much for my liking (as per usual) so that kind of hurt this for me. Overall it was a fun opener and a solid way to kick off the show, New Japan’s good at having solid, fun opener’s. Nothing special here but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Rating: **3/4

Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. BONE SOLDIER and Yujiro Takahashi

Alright so we’ve got one of my favorites in New Japan and three of my least favorites in here, so I can already tell you I won’t be too enthused by this one. BONE SOLDIER is actively shitty and continues to be one of, if not the very worst, the worst additions to Bullet Club ever. The highlight of this match was Ishii fucking up two of the worst members of BC. I feel bad that Ishii is having to go from huge NEVER Openweight Title match at Wrestle Kingdom last year to teaming with Yano this year in a match that will more than likely be the worst on the card.

Rating: *1/2

GBH (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) and Juice Robinson vs. Guerrilla’s of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tonga Roa) and Chase Owens

Fun antics to start off this match with Chase coming out, and then realizing halfway that his Bullet Club brethren weren’t following him. He heads back up the aisle to try and find them and can’t. Little do GBH and Juice know that they’re about to get sneak attacked by GOD, and that attempt is failed in entertaining fashion. Another match here where I don’t like most of the members in it. I like Honma and Chase while the others I can’t stand. Typical six man tag after that with nothing special, but nothing horrible happening.

Rating: **

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yuji Nagata

Looking at this match on paper I went “fuuuuuck, I have to watch Nakanishi wrestle a singles match”. It was almost as if he knew that would be most peoples reaction so he went out there to shut us all up. Hard hitting action in the early goings. SUPERPLEX FROM NAKANISHI AND NAGATA BOUNCED OFF THE MAT. Then not so long after NAKANISHI HIT A MISSILE DROPKICK. I honestly didn’t know Nakanishi was capable of jumping high enough to hit a missile dropkick because he’s practically immobile. So many great near falls near the end of this match. NAGATA HITS AN EXPLODER OFF THE TOP ROPE. NAGATA HITS A BRAINBUSTER and Nakanishi kicks out at 1! We’ve got lots of great action going on here. This is just two old ass motherfuckers laying it into each other and showing everyone that they’ve still got it, though I don’t know if Nakanishi ever actually had it. Nagata ends up winning with a second Brainbuster. Hats off to these two, they ended up putting on one hell of a contest.

Rating: ***1/2

Hirooki Goto and Jado vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Tiger Mask

I don’t give a fuck about anything Jado and Tiger Mask do in this one, and I like Tiger Mask, but we’re getting a Wrestle Kingdom 11 preview right here with Goto and Shibata. Shibata went for the PK early on but Goto quickly ducked. A bulk of this was just Jado and Tiger Mask going at it which makes sense as you don’t want to give away too much of Goto/Shibata. Jado is not fun to watch at all. Tiger Mask hit the Tiger Bomb on Goto which is one of my favorite moves in all of wrestling. Goto went after Shibtata on the apron which proved to be a dumb move because Shibata dodged and locked him in the Sleeper. In a hilarious part of the match and Jado’s only highlight in this one, Shibata lays into Goto in the corner and Jado clubs Shibata from behind to no affect on his Shibata, so Jado just shrugs and backs away while his partner gets pummeled. When he tries again it angers Shibata and Jado gets frightened. It only takes a few shots from Shibata to take down Jado. Shibata and Goto ended up really going at it and I’m very excited for their match at Wrestle Kingdom. The camera misses the PK, which is the second time the camera missed the finishing move of the match tonight. Entertaining stuff. Pretty decent tag match here.

Rating: ***

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, BUSHI, SANADA, and Hiromu Takahashi) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Satoshi Kojima, Hirotoshi Tenzan, and David Finlay

Thought we were starting with some action between the former Kamaitachi and KUSHIDA who will face off at Wrestle Kingdom, but BUSHI sneak attacks KUSHIDA and Hiromu makes the tag to SANADA. Great fast paced action by KUSHIDA to start, one of my favorites to watch in New Japan. The action becomes hot quickly as everyone is getting involved and Hiromu hits a diving senton to the outside. Naito is my favorite wrestler however I’m not all that excited for his IC Title defense against Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom. I’m far from a Tanahshi fan so it’s hard for me to get excited for his matches. At one point Kojima chopped EVIL about 20 times and I think the last person I’d want to be in that moment in time is EVIL. His chest will be hurting for a week. After a very fun closing stretch with everyone getting involved, Kojima nails his signature Lariat on BUSHI, the normal fall taker, to get the win for his team. Nothing you haven’t seen before here but it was fun.

Rating: ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kenny Omega and Bad Luck Fale

Sure we’ve got three great wrestlers in this in Okada, Omega, and HASHI, but we’ve also got the always awful Bad Luck Fale so it’ll only be good when he isn’t in the ring. Omega and Okada kick this off and give us an awesome preview for their Wrestle Kingdom main event match. I can’t wait for it and these two here within just maybe a minute or two into the match got me even more hyped for it. It’s honestly such a displeasure watching Bad Luck Fale wrestle so any time he was in the ring I just found myself tuning out. I would’ve much preferred seeing Okada and RPG Vice take on The Elite here, however the Bucks and RPG Vice were back in the US as I know the Bucks and Trent had worked PWG Friday night. At one point Omega did an over the top rope crossbody onto Okada and Okada’s head landed directly on the bottom of the guardrail which looked nasty. This entire match was far from anything special and I wouldn’t recommend taking time to watch it, but it was decent and the stuff between Omega and Okada was exciting and the last couple minutes were fun. Plus the post-match stuff was awesome.

Rating: ***1/4

Not one of the better New Japan shows but these “Road To” events usually don’t deliver mind-blowing cards, just some good matches or some decent matches and in some cases awful matches. This show only had one pretty bad match whereas everything else was decent or good. Fine show. I’m just excited for Wrestle Kingdom.

Show Rating: 6/10