The NJPW Review: G1 Long Beach Special Night 2 07/02/2017

 

This is the night 2 of the Long Beach shows and at the end of the night we will see the crowning of the inaugural IWGP United States Champion. Also a weird title match for the Intercontinental title between “Mr. Ass” Billy Gunn vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

KUSHIDA, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, and David Finlay Jr vs Yoshitatsu and the Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu)

Solid opener again as was on the first night. The Tempura Boyz have been showing a lot of promise from what i’ve seen of them but they still have the Young Lion look to them so I can’t get fully behind them, especially them being heels because KUSHIDA holding one of them to get kicked by Liger made KUSHIDA look like a heel but he wasn’t. I am a big fan of David Finlay Jr. and think he has a lot of promise if he keeps at it. He always impresses in these tag matches. Please put him in BOSJ next year.
Finlay Jr. gets the win for his team by submitting Tatsu

Match Rating: ***

Jay Lethal vs Kenny Omega

The winner of this would move on to the finals of the US Title tournament and with these names I knew it would be good. Lethal was still working the injured ribs angle and Kenny went right after them even removing the tape and sending shots to the unprotected ribs. I thought this was pretty damn good for the time it got which was just under 13 minutes but they packed a lot into that time. Omega is able to put away Lethal here to advance and will meet either Ishii or Zack Sabre Jr in the main event.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr

This match made me laugh a bit in the beginning because scrawny ass Zack Sabre Jr. getting tossed around and bullied by Ishii is hilarious. I love ZSJ don’t get me wrong but it was pretty damn funny. Other than that it was a good story of Sabre trying to work Ishii’s bruising style and just getting shut down at every turn till he starts getting into his submission game. Ishii is able to get the win making the main event Ishii vs Kenny Omega for the US Title.

Match Rating: ****

Titan, Dragon Lee, Volador Jr, Jay White, & Juice Robinson vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI)

I really liked this a lot and it got more time then the match from Night 1. Lots of fun spots from the Lucha guys that made this watchable. But my favorite part didn’t even happen in the match but during LIJ’s entrance when Naito made his entrance Takahashi with Darryl in hand made him clap his hands for his fellow stablemates. Passable tag work from everyone here, I can’t complain it could have Taichi. Jay White gets the win here pinning BUSHI which means he gets a 6 man title match right?

Match Rating: ***

Michael Elgin and War Machine (Ray Rowe and Hanson) vs Adam Page and G.o.D (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa)

Recently winning the tag titles after their match with G.o.D, War Machine has a ton of momentum. I always love the 6 man tags matches that G.o.D and War Machine are involved in but with the addition of Elgin and Adam Page this was bound to be awesome. While we’re on it, Adam Page is so underrated and i’m sure he can be big for both ROH and even NJPW as a nice midcard champion. Page ends up actually getting the win tagging the tag champs which means he has a shot at the belts as well. Let the rumor mill start on who his partner will be.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Young Bucks vs Roppongi Vice (Trent? and Rocky Romero)

If anyone knows me they know I love Roppongi Vice and that I love Trent and the Young Bucks are the Young Bucks. These guys have awesome chemistry as they have faced many times and this match reflects that. To get sentimental for a bit going into the match the Young Bucks promised to do their best Meltzer Driver in honor of Dave Meltzer’s recent passing of his father. They delivered on that promise with an awesome one onto the outside and even saw Matt Jackson mouthed “That was for you Herbert” and put up the praying hands. Such a feel good moment for me. Back to the match, it was awesome and one of the best matches these two have had. The Young Bucks retain which then leads to Ricochet coming out him an Taguchi want the titles. Also Roppongi Vice has officially broken up as Trent will be moving up as a heavyweight.

Match Rating: ****

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, and The Briscoe Brothers) vs Bullet Club (Cody, Marty Scurll, Bad Luck Fale. and Yujiro Takahashi)

There is no way this match will be bad with all that talent and it wasn’t. Lots of moving parts and awesome interactions and it was pretty fun. I really liked the one between Marty Scurll and Mark Briscoe that was a nice comic relief. Pretty good stuff that was an easy watch.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Billy Gunn vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

This match was for the Intercontinental Championship and I was a bit skeptical based on Gunn’s last performance on how he would do here. While the match was not that good, Gunn did way better then in the tag match. It was solid work and Tanahashi did his best to get it to that next level but I couldn’t get past the fact that I was seeing Billy Gunn wrestle in 2017 and it turned me away from it. Tanahashi finished him off with a High Fly Flow.

Match Rating: **

Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii

This is the culmination of the US Title Tournament and happens to be two competitors who are familiar with each other. This match was one of the most wild i’ve seen in a while. Ishii and Omega brawled in the crowd and around the arena. Ishii is known for his stiff strikes but Omega’s V Triggers he did in this match were right up there with anything Ishii did in this match. I was on my feet during the last like 10 minutes of the match as it was a very hot stretch. There was a fucking Dragon Suplex though a damn table that had me at a loss for words and it wasn’t even the end of the match. Omega finally is able to finish off Ishii after a little over 30 minutes of going to war to become the first ever IWGP United States Champion. Congrats to Kenny!

Match Rating: ****3/4