New Japan Professional Wrestling Proudly Presents...
NJPW Super J Tag Tournament 2010
Welcome, cats and kittens to yet another installment of the ever late, ever magnificent Cewsh Reviews! We have a special treat for you tonight as we head over to visit our friends in the land of the rising sun once again, and review NJPW’s Super J Tag Tournament 2010. A show full of nothing but tag matches between small flippy guys is not exactly what you may expect from a team containing a guy who is a self confessed hater of tag team wrestling and flippy spotfests, but we yearn to please here at Cewsh Reviews and we realized that this sort of wrestling had really been brutally underrepresented by us thus far in our reign of terror, so now with the Super Juniors flourishing in Japan again, the fact of the matter is that enough is enough and it is time for a change. Of course, as you may be aware, Japanese wrestling is not our specialty here at Cewsh Reviews. We have some knowledge of it, and in some areas quite a lot, but when it comes to something like this you’re going to need more firepower than that. It’s like microwaving a potato. Just pressing buttons that seem familiar isn’t going to get the job done.
Luckily for us, on the Cewsh Reviews microwave we just have to hit Defrost.
So without any further ado, let’s do a motherfucking review!
Segment 1 – Welcome To School, Kids.
Cewsh: Instead of beginning with our usual OPENING VIDEO FEVER madness, let’s get a little history lesson. Relax, I promise you won’t be tested on it.
Much.
Defrost: This was the second of two big shows New Japan ran for Golden Week. Golden Week is a series of National Holidays occurring on the first week of May. Every promotion in Japan runs shows during this week so for Puro fans Golden Week is always a good time.
The famous Super J Cup was the brain child of Jushin "Thunder" Liger. The idea was to bring all the top Jr. Heavyweights together for a one night tournament. Held on April 16,1994, it was a rousing success selling out Sumo Hall when All Japan was running the finals of the Champion's Carnival at the same time in a sold out Budokan Hall. Not only was it a business success but an artistic one as well. The Super J Cup First Stage is considered by many to be the greatest wrestling show of all time. Considering the talent involved it would be hard not to be. A one night tournament featuring: Jushin Liger, Eddie Guerrero, Taka Michinoku, Hayabusa, Great Sasuke, Gedo, Dean Malenko, Negro Casas, Shinjiro Ohtani, El Samurai, Ricky Fuji, Masayoshi Motegi, Super Delphin, and the eventual winner Chris Benoit could not have been anything less than spectacular. This was followed the following year by the Super J Cup Second Stage, won by Jushin Liger, which was not as good, but was note worthy for the inclusion of Chris Jericho and Ultimo Dragon from the host promotion WAR as well as a special non tournament match that AAA had sent on a world tour. Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis.
1996 saw the formation of the J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship. Eight champions came together over four nights during the G1 Climax to unify the: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship(New Japan Pro Wrestling/Great Sasuke), WWF Light Heavyweight Championship(World Wrestling Federation/El Samurai), NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship(Wrestle Dream Factory/Masayoshi Motegi), WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship(Wrestle Association R/Ultimo Dragon), British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship(Michinoku Pro Wrestling/Jushin Liger), NWA World Welterweight Championship(Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre/Negro Casas), UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship(Universal Wrestling Association/Shinjiro Ohtani), and WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship(World Wrestling Association/Gran Hamada). The tournament was won by Great Sasuke and many pictures of him with all the belts are on the internet.
I Know What I'm Dressing As For Halloween.
The third and fourth stages of the Super J Cup, won by Jushin Liger and Naomichi Marufuji respectively, were not well received. The most interesting match was actually a generation clash 6 man tag pitting KENTA/CIMA/Heat against Jushin Liger/Super Delphin/Jinsei Shinzaki at the Fourth Stage Super J Cup in 2004.
For Christmas 2009 the Super J Cup returned and it was a return to form as well. It was a great tournament with two standout MOTYC matches in the final of Naomichi Marufuji and Prince Devitt and an earlier match between Koji Kanemoto and Fujita "Jr." Hayato. Marufuji won the tournament and went on to beat Tiger Mask IV for the IWGP Jr. title at Wrestle Kingdom IV which was the subject of an earlier review, and the rematch took place on this show as a non tournament match.
And with the success of the most recent Super J Cup tournament and the cooperation of several promotions going on at the moment led to the first ever Super J Tag Tournament being reviewed here.
Cewsh: Holy god, I have puroresu coming out of my eyeballs. Is this healthy?
Defrost: Oh, one other thing. Prior to the tournament Apollo 55 vacated the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship. So the winner of the tournament would also win the titles which are represented by a brand new set of belts New Japan had commissioned.
Cewsh: You got all that people? The stars aligned to make this show possible. Here’s hoping they stay aligned to make it a damn good one. Tally ho!
Segment 2 – OPENING VIDEO FEVER!
Cewsh: In Japan they do videos a little differently. Namely, they do them in Japanese so, as I have said previously, I have no idea what they’re talking about. But luckily they do a really great job of selling you the feuds and history without requiring you to do anything but look at the images on the screen. Try putting TNA on mute sometime and figuring it out. Anyway, the idea here is that this show is the first of its kind, and talent from all over the planet is here to bring home the belts and the glory, and the focus is especially on Apollo 55, seeing as Prince Devitt, the non funky weapon of that team, just won the Super J Cup and is on the push of his life.
Also this show features Marufuji. Excuse me while I squeal with glee.
They also do this super snazzy thing where all of the guys stand behind a big white sheet so you can see their silhouettes and then the sheet drops as the music and lights start going crazy. It was a really cool and simple visual to make this all seem important, like they’re introducing these guys. Hell, for many of them, they are.
Badass.
Segment 3 - Round 1 - Jushin (Heart Break Kid) Liger and Nobuo (Just Kid) Yoshihashi vs. Fujita “Jr.” (Anime Character) Hayato and Taro (The Bald Monk Guy From Pro Wrestling Summit) Nohashi.
Defrost: Liger should be known by all. His partner is a green boy just out of the dojo so there is not much to say there.
Their opponents represent Michinoku Pro Wrestling. Fujita "Jr" Hayato has really gotten noticed over the last year. His performance in the Super J Cup has already been mentioned here. He works a hard striking pseudo Battlarts kinda style that I usually hate. However, this guy has really grown on me even if he does look eerily like Tetsuo from Akira.
Taro Nohashi rocked a Hakushi gimmick for several years before turning heel and started looking like he was auditioning for a heel role in Dragon Gate. So not big on originality is Mr. Nohashi.
He Also Doesn't Seem Excited To Be Getting Kicked In The Balls.
Both are in the heel Kowloon stable in M-Pro which is led by the freshly turned Ultimo Dragon.
Cewsh: Jushin Liger is a goddamn wonder. Long after all of his contemporaries have slowed down or stopped altogether, the King of Super J keeps right on trucking, putting over a new youngster everytime that classic music hits. It has gotten to the point where he is entirely peerless. His skills aren't what they were, his body isn't what it was, and his drawing power is dimming, and yet he remains, like the ultimate measuring stick for each youngster to compare themselves to. Enjoy him while you can, dojo boys. Men like Jushin Liger are a dying resource.
Oh the other hand, the other three dudes here are the young uns I was talking about, and most amusingly Taro Nohashi is the bald guy from the Pro Wrestling Summit show we reviewed way back when. Remember? The show that was supposed to herald the coming stars? Well two of those guys are on this show and they aren't the ones we would have expected then at ALL (more on that later). Anyway, I don't know much of anything about the other two (aside from Frosty's squealing about Hayato) so this should be interesting.
They start off the way most Japanese matches start off. With people hitting each other a lot. Yoshihashi spends nearly the entire match as the legal man, trying valiantly to hold his own against two much more proven and vicious guys, especially the downright demented “Jr.” who has to be the most badass individual I have ever seen whom you could safely stow in an overhead bin. He and Nohashi lay ten kind of beatdown on the kid, but his fighting spirit won't let him quit, and he finally tags in Liger, who cleans house big time before, for some reason, tagging the kid in again. This is a fairly awful plan as Jr. proceeds to cave that motherfucker's head in with a knee to the temple that would have sunk the fucking Titanic. Nohashi and Jr. celebrate the victory while Liger looks on, dismayed, having barely broken a sweat the entire time.
One of the big problems of a show like this is that all of the matches are essentially opening matches. They're all going to be fast paced, high flying affairs so it make sense to start things off with something a little less spectacular. Unfortunately that results in a pretty lackluster start to the show, and it's going to be an uphill climb to build momentum for this tournament from here.
65 out of 100.
Defrost: The match itself follows the basic formula you get with a veteran/green boy tag team. Yoshihashi gets the shit kicked out of him, then he shows some fire, then he needs the veteran to save him. That is how it works. The Michinoku Pro team are perfect for the shit kicking and Liger is perfect in his role so this turned into a good formulaic match. A solid opener to the tournament.
Nohashi and Hayato Over Liger and Yoshihashi Following A KICK!
Segment 4 - Round 1 – Koji (Ironside) Kanemoto and El (Not More Than One) Samurai vs. Davey (The Dynamite Pegasus) Richards and Tama (BLOODLINE) Tonga.
Defrost: Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai are staples of New Japan's Junior Division going all the way back to the early 1990s. This is Samurai's return to New Japan after his contract was not renewed a couple of years ago. He is currently a freelancer.
Tama Tonga is the son of KING HAKU.
Then there is the current king of the indies Davey Richards. I am not a fan of Davey Richards. I watch his matches and I just don't get it. There is nothing there even when he is wrestling great workers. Yet I read people just heaping praise on this guy. Like last year when people were talking up his match with KENTA as the best match the weekend of Wrestlemania 25. Now I love KENTA. He is my favorite wrestler. I do believe that he is the best wrestler in the world. I did not like that match at all, and I am a guy who tends to love unconditionally everything KENTA does. When people on the internet seemed to turn on the guy I would defend matches people were shitting on. I might be the only person who rated his title defense against Mushiking Terry. And I did not like that match KENTA had with Davey.
Cewsh: Hello dear reader. Possibly you have read a Cewsh Review previously and thought to yourself “Well golly, this sure is great, but who is this Davey Richards fellow they keep insulting?” Well if so, then today is your lucky day, because this show has required, nay, DEMANDED that I talk about him. And so, much to my dismay, I shall dedicate the next paragraph to Davey Richards. Should you happen to be his mother, sister or parole officer, this would be a good time to go get a cup of coffee.
Davey Richards is what you would get if you went to the store looking for an amazing professional wrestler, and instead of buying the name brand that everyone knows is good, you decided to save some money and buy the generic brand instead. But it's the same thing! No, it isn't. It is something with similar elements that is nonetheless not anything that you actually wanted. Such is Mr. Richards, who is a composite of KENTA, Chris Benoit and the Dynamite Kid, who nonetheless manages to pale in comparison to any of them. He is a lifeless, emotionless, void of charisma who sucks the life out of every match that he's in and is so obssesed with being Chris Benoit that he's a closer imitation than Black Machismo. The trouble is he doesn't get the fucking joke and neither do indy wrestling fans.
The Dynamite Pegasus.
Davey Richards is overrated and mentally questionable. And he has disproportionately large ears. Yes, I went there.
Ahem, anyhow moving right along, the other guys here are Tama Tonga, who is built like a brick shithouse (great phrase) and Kanemoto and Samurai, who were force choking insolent fools when you were in diapers. The forecast for this match is partly shitty with a 170% chance of kicking. Back to you at the news desk, Frosty.
Defrost: So between what I just wrote and how green Tonga is this was not a good match at all. That's before mentioning my discomfort watching Davey to begin with. I mean I can sorta understand emulating the wrestling style of Chris Benoit and Dynamite Kid, but what kind of sick fuck tries to emulate everything else about them? The way this guy apes the look and mannerisms of those two comes across way too Single White Femaleish to me, and that is before taking into account that the two men he decided to pattern this all around are probably the two biggest scumbags in the history of his chosen profession. That seems apt since all you hear are stories on how big a prick Davey is, but really how fucked up is that?
Cewsh: Fucking incredibly. But despite that, this match really isn't that bad.
The idea here is clearly some sort of kicking holy war between Kanemoto and Richards with Samurai and Tonga just there to kill time in between. Samurai does the same things he has done for 2 decades and is totally forgettable, which is his specialty. Tonga, on the other hand, actually really impressed me. He's as green as the Giant Cactuar without a doubt.
This Green.
But he seriously showed some flashes of being an absolute powerhouse, and a guy with the ring instincts of his fellow family members, which is high praise indeed.
Oh, and Koji and Davey kicked each other, like, totally a lot. Much kicking was had. Yippee kick yay motherfuckers.
Kick.
Kick.
Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Kick.
Kick Who?
72 out of 100.
Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai over Davey Richards and Tama Tonga Following A KICK!
Segment 5 – Round 1 – (Not Jado) Gedo and (SMASH SMASH Baby) KUSHIDA vs. Kota (Defies The Laws Of Physics) Ibushi and Austin (Defies The Laws Against Steroids) Creed.
Defrost: Gedo is one of the bookers of New Japan and is a long standing legendary heel in Japan. This will become important later.
KUSHIDA is the young guy talked up in the Smash review Cewsh and Vice did. He was a low card babyface just starting out in Hustle before the fall of that company and now works for Smash. Kota Ibushi is the most exciting wrestler going today. He does amazing things that look so pretty and so effortless. Plus the company he works for, DDT, is wacky so sometimes he wrestles blowup dolls or copy machines. Austin Creed is the artist formally known as Consequences Creed in TNA.
Cewsh: Austin Creed looks like he ate a Terminator robot. What the fuck is going on? Also KUSHIDA! YUS.
Christ, Weren't You Scrawny A Year Ago?
Defrost: This was a fun match. Kota Ibushi and Creed come off as a super athletic tandem here. I really liked how Gedo's heel tactics were used to offset the dives and splits and the displays of how Creed and Kota would never blow up in a match. I say Gedo's heel tactics because KUSHIDA refused to take part in Gedo's underhanded shenanigans. This is called foreshadowing. A concept that Creed's former employer was unaware of. So KUSHIDA used mat wrestling and smarts to keep up with his hyper athletic opponents which played great into the finish where Creed tries to repeat the jabs into a split into a roundhouse punch combo of his only for KUSHIDA to be ready for him turning it into a backslide and the win. Great booking and great work to make the booking work. Damn good match thumbs up here all around.
Cewsh: This was the match that sent me from kind of ambivalent about the show, to absolutely and completely hyped, and all it took was a masterful heel to take everyone by the scruff of the neck and force them to tell a story.
As Frosty said, this match revolved primarily around Gedo trying to convince KUSHIDA to come to the dark side. And while everyone did a great job telling their side of the story, with Creed and Ibushi on the constant attack and KUSHIDA playing the gullible but good hearted young babyface, it was Gedo who totally stole the show here as a heel of truly epic proportions.
Would This Face Ever Do Anything Bad?
You may have noticed that i'm always going on huge gushing rants whenever anybody in Japanese wrestling plays a worthwhile heel for five consecutive seconds. It isn't a coincidence, because those individuals are so, so, so, so rare in Japanese wrestling that even finding someone TRYING to be one is something worthy of applause and consideration. This may seem weird living in the United States as the majority of you reading this do, but traditional heels are not something they do a lot in Japan, mostly because they set such a high stock in respect and honor in their wrestling that being a heel makes you REALLY a heel. Once you go bad, you are a worthless piece of shit from that point forward, and it's rare to see anybody shrug that aside and really go for it. More money in kicking.
Suffice to say that Gedo, and his tag team (life?) partner Jado aren't really interested in making fans. You may be aware of their famous catchphrase “Fuck you, we are JADO and GEDO”, which tells you about everything you need to know about them. Here Gedo employees that rebel spirit by dicking over the plucky faces at every turn, except for KUSHIDA who he acts almost fatherly towards. KUSHIDA doesn't seem to trust him, but they work together enough to pick up the victory, so they seem to be on the same page at least for now.
Round 2 is going to get interesting.
76 out of 100.
Gedo and KUSHIDA Over Ibushi and Creed Following A KICK!
Segment 6 – Round 1 – Apollo (Play That Funky Weapon, White Boy) 55 vs. Mascara (The Grown Up Version) Dorada and (The Naked Luchadore) Valiente.
Defrost: Apollo 55 vacated the Jr Tag Titles prior to the tournament allowing this tournament to be for the titles
I know little of CMLL, but I do know Valiente is jacked. I mean he is huge. I know he is a very short man, but he is built like the freaking Warlord. Creed and Tonga were also rather large men. I am iffy on the Jr Heavyweight credentials on some of these guys.
Cewsh: Ahem, with all due respect, Apollo 55 are great and Dorada is nondescript, so all you actually need to know about these guys is what i'm about to show you.
I Love Him So Much.
I think that says more than enough.
Way more.
But here's another shot anyway.
Just Chillin'
Defrost: I'm not a big Lucha guy. So I sorta have a bias going in against how this was worked. Also it was a short match that obviously had some communication issues. The botches in this match were not of the screwing up something complicated variety. They were of the one guy going one way and the one guy going the other variety. Which you'd have to blame on the language gap since the match features two Mexicans against a guy from Japan and a guy from Ireland. Aside from the shortness and mishaps this was a fun mindless little match. A lot dive spots and lucha guys acting wacky. I've seen worse.
Cewsh: The thing to remember here is that when lucha guys come over to Japan, they don't come to win matches. They come to do flips and make the crowd ooh and ahh so that they can get exposure and raise their profile worldwide resulting in bigger pushes back home. Pair that with the fact that Apollo 55 is the hot shit Jr. tag team on the block and what you have is a match with the finish practically written in the stars. But, on the other hand, you have a match with a very different style to contend with than any so far.
Hmmm.
As they start. The naked luchadore who looks like he just ate Austin Creed starts doing totally insane flips and springboards and even just blatantly stands on the top rope for awhile for no reason. Then he and his partner do about 85 jumps to the outside of the ring, while Devitt and the Weapon just kind of stare at them. Then Apollo 55 goes on the offensive for about 8 seconds and suddenly they have won and the match is over. They look as confused as I am at the suddenness of this, and after the match ends, Valiente loosens his partner's mask and applies an ice pack immediately, making me think somebody got hurt. He's not only naked, he's also compassionate. What a hunk.
As a match, there wasn't much to this. Some brief excitement in the beginning, and then some absolute domination by the eventual winners and there you have it. If this show were a meal, this would have been the salad course. It may hold your interest, and it may even be enjoyable, but you'll forget about it the second the real food arrives.
Hey, what's happening over th...
67 out of 100.
Apollo 55 Over The Naked Luchadores Following A Kick?
Segment 7 – Togi (The Pitbull Champion) Makabe, Yuji (The Pirate Companion) Nagata, Hirooki (The Evil Nemesis) Goto, Wataru (The Impetuous Sidekick) Inoue, and Tomoaki (Him Too) Honma vs. Shinsuke (The Lead Singer) Nakamura, Toru (The Bad Boy) Yano, Yujiro (The Smart One) Takahashi, Tetsuya (The Cute One) Naito, and Tomohiro (The One Too Old For The Group) Ishii.
(Cewsh Note: For whatever reason, my copy of this show did not have this match on it. So please do not consider this match as part as my overall score for this show, as I have not seen it, and was not considering it.)
Defrost: I love non tournament matches on tournament shows. I'm a total mark for them. This is the first of two non tournament matches on this show. I love Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules. I love Demolition vs. Strike Force. I love Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis. And Shawn Michaels vs. Crush. And well you get the picture.
This match sorta springs out of Wrestling Dontaku 2010 which is the PPV New Japan ran earlier the same week as this show. On that show Nagata and Inoue won the IWGP Tag Team titles from Yujiro and Naito in a three way match that also included Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson. Also on that show The Unchained Gorilla Big Togi Makabe defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
Big Togi's team are the babyfaces and Shinsuke's team are the heels.
You know what this match reminds me of? Those really good tags that would involve Evolution and a team of babyfaces on Raw from 2004. I was really into that series of matches of various members of Evolution against Shawn and Shelton and Foley was in there and a few other guys. Watching Raw in 2004 was easy since you were always going to have a quality main event. Here you had the babyfaces run wild at the beginning with new champ Makabe and long favorite Nagata looking good. Then you have the weak link Honma taken down through nefarious means such as taking the padding of the turnbuckles and then the babyfaces making the big comeback for the win. Good well worked stuff by a group of good wrestlers having an entertaining match right before intermission. Good stuff here.
Good Guys Over Bad Guys Following Several Kicks To The Head Region.
Segment 8 – Semi Finals – Koji (Mean Old Bastard) Kanemoto and El (Lame) Samurai vs. Fujita “Jr” (Bacon Cheeseburger) Hayato and Taro (Periwinkle) Nohashi.
Cewsh: Now we're on to the semi-finals, and we have here essentially a match between the young punk upstarts, and two of the most venerable legends in the history of Jr. Heavyweight wrestling. According to Frosty, Kanemoto and Fujita had such a kickfest at the Super J Cup this year, that he is salivating over this, whereas I just like to see crotchedy old men like Kanemoto cave peoples faces in with kicks when they don't respect him. Imagine somehow a cross between “Respect Me' Undertaker and Sonic the Kickhog and you've got Koji dead to rights, and his character has essentially been “Takes No Shit, Kicks You To Death” for two decades now.
El Samurai is a bit more of a puzzler, as he's one of those guys who became a legend by not really doing anything except hanging around for 20 years. You are unlikely to encounter any wrestlers who look less credible physically than him, and his style is essentially “take up some time and tag in the other guy” so he's entirely inoffensive, if not exactly inspiring.
Defrost: Psyched going in to see Fujita and Koji go at it again after their aforementioned MOTYC from last year. What we get of those two is great, but Fujita spent way too much of the first part of the match selling for El Samurai. When you watch him you want to see him kick people hard not sell. So the fist part of the match was meh. It did pick up and have a hot finish, but I think expectations based off the history were higher than what we got.
Cewsh: Before long here, Kanemoto gets into his second kickfest of the night with Hayato and the two appear evenly matched (which says a lot for Hayato), trading blows back and forth. Always, though, before the match can explode into full scale insanity, someone's partner steps in to cool things down giving this match an oddly disjointed feel. It's like the match starts to climax IMMEDIATELY every time Hayato and Kanemoto are in the ring together, but nothing is happening at all when they aren't, so there isn't much to be excited about. Samurai gives a sporting effort, stretching Hayato around in a million different submission manuevers, but the kid isn't so easily defeated and kicking resumes until Kanemoto gets bored and says fuck it, and slaps an ankelock onto Nohashi. Nohashi doesn't sweat this until Kaneomoto starts KICKING HIM IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD WHILE APPLYING THE ANKLE LOCK.
HOLY SHIT OW.
This is just entirely unfair, and Nohashi pleases his case to the ref, until this too pisses Kanemoto off, causing him to twist Nohashi up like a fucking pretzel and continue applying the Ankle Lock. Finally Nohashi taps out, possibly just to deny Kanemoto the sick pleasure of ripping his leg clean off and dancing around with it.
Is His Body Supposed To Be In The Totally Wrong Direction Like That?
This was a really well wrestled match by everyone involved, and everyone had a part to play that they executed well, but what this match was essentially doing is teasing us with Kanemoto/Hayato, and then never truly giving it to us. I understand the motivation behind that (money down the road), but it made every moment they weren't interacting incredibly flat and disappointing for both me and the crowd.. But Kanemoto single handedly elevates this one with his romper stomper awesomeness.
In a world with so very few badasses, Koji Kanemoto is the undisputed king of kickery. Believe it.
73 out of 100.
Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai Over Hayato and Nohashi Following A KICK!!!
Segment 9 – Semi Finals – (Showtime At The) Apollo 55 vs. (Japanese Chavo Guerrero) Gedo and (Cewsh's Choice) KUSHIDA.
Defrost: This was fun. This was the payoff of what I talked about in Gedo and KUSHIDA's first match. The plotline going through through the match with KUSHIDA showng sportsmanship shaking his opponent's hands and then Gedo trying the same going so far as to shake the referee's hand, but when Taguchi shook his hand he got a boot to the gut. Gedo tossing Devitt out of the ring repeatedly wanting KUSHIDA to jump him and KUSHIDA refusing. Although the usual thing there is to throw your opponent into the barricade, but the way JCB Hall is set up there is no barricade. I guess Gedo wanted KUSHIDA to toss Devitt into the fans or something.
Then the finish with the ref bump and KUSHIDA stopping the hammer attack, but causing Gedo to walk into the Vertical Drop DDT. This was a damn good match with a great payoff from what was setup earlier. I'm a big fan of this match. A KUSHIDA vs Gedo feud would be interesting given how great their stuff was booked on this show.
Cewsh: See, this is what great heels have the ability to do.
You take a match like this where you have a team everybody knows is going to the finals (Apollo 55), and despite the forgone conclusion, you wrap the match together with a completely independent story of them and that, and use your skills to get over your young teammate in a big, big way, and that's exactly what Gedo does here.
KUSHIDA is just sort of a nice, sportsmanlike kind of guy, here, who wants to wrestle his very best and impress the tag team legend Gedo as much as he can. So when they come to places in the match where Gedo asks him to cheat, it's actually compelling to see him struggle with making the decision one way or another in a way that just wouldn't be possible in American wrestling. Long ago did we stop cheering for the guy who deep down just wanted to obey the rules and make everyone happy, but here it makes KUSHIDA relatable and plucky. Unfortunately, it also makes him a loser as Apollo 55 take advantage of the miscommunication between KUSHIDA and Gedo to grab the victory and head to the finals, a fact that Gedo is none too pleased about.
So Apollo 55 move on to the finals where they damn sure belong, and KUSHIDA seems to feel damn guilty as Gedo berates him and blames him for their failure. If this isn't the start of a hot blooded mentor/student storyline then they're making a huge mistake, because this thing has legs and I think they both know it. The match itself would have been good regardless of the story here, but with it included, you very nearly have something special.
The further we go, the better the matches get. That's what we call a hopeful sign, kiddies.
78 out of 100.
Apollo 55 Over Gedo and KUSHIDA Following A K.I.C.K.
Segment 9 – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship – Naomichi (2nd Best Wrestler Alive) Marufuji © vs. Tiger (Best Wrestling Animal Alive) Mash IV.
Cewsh: MARUFUJI MARUFUJI MARUFUJI MARUFUJI MARUFUJI MARUFUJI.
Defrost: It sounds like hyperbole, but anyone who pays attention to New Japan is not a fan of Tiger Mask IV. Yet he seems to always be pushed as the top junior. He always wins the title back from the guy he drops it to. Which was the fear here since Tiger Mask IV lost the title to Marufuji at Wrestle Kingdom IV. Not to mention the fact that Marufuji had already defended the title at Wrestling Dontaku and last year Hiroshi Tanahashi did the same quick turn around in title defenses and lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Manabu Nakanishi.
I have no idea what it is, but Marufuji somehow gets a level of quality and effort out of Tiger Mask IV that no one else seems to be able to. He got a great match out of IV at Wrestle Kingdom and he gets a damn good one out of him here. I say I don't know what it is because as great as Marufuji is, and I believe him to be far ahead of everyone in the best wrestler of 2010 debate, the matches have not been carry jobs. Tiger Mask IV is pulling is own weight against Marufuji. He doesn't against anyone else. It is very odd.
Cewsh: It may, just to speculate, be because he's FUCKING NAOMICHI MARUFUJI.
Defrost: This was a very New Japan style match too. Work over a limb and then use a hold on it for the win. Marufuji adapted to this style well which I give him even more credit for. I also like how the more Marufuji works in New Japan the more his signature spots are getting countered like Tiger Mask IV kicking Marufui over the top rope when he went for the following lariat or turning the avalanche Shiranui into a top rope back suplex.
The finish was interesting with IV being very upset over the ref stoppage and the dueling promos where it seemed Tiger Mask IV may be turning heel. He told Marufuji he didn't win since IV had not given up and Marufuji fired back telling Tiger Mask IV he should be thanking the ref for saving his arm from getting broke.
Cewsh: This match was very, very different from anything that I was expecting. I was expecting Marufuji to fly around and take total advantage of the fact that Tiger Mask is roughly as athletic as my grandmother after a bottle of brandy, but instead what we got here was Marufuji methodically and precisely picking apart the left arm of Tiger Mask, while the Tiger struggled to keep the champion away from his damaged limb. Marufuji unloaded everything in his arsenal on the damn arm, including just about every submission known to man without actually physically taking blot cutters and threatening to cut the damn thing off. Tiger Mask, for his part, wasn't willing to give up his last shot at the title in the immediate future for something as silly as a broken arm, and just kept fighting back and kept refusing to lose.
There actually were points where Tiger Mask took the advantage here, usual ones in which his more placid and calm demeanor helped him outsmart Marufuji and Fuji came charging in like a madman in his trademark lightning fast style. He does his best, and the two of them turn this into a truly epic fight, where Fuji has laser sights on that left arm, and Mask pulls out all the stops to keep his vulnerability from costing him the title. Ultimately, Tiger Mask finds himself in the Pedigree position and starts to panic, so Marufuji pulls him out of midair and slaps on one more armbar. Mask slithers out, but before he can get away, Fuji catches him in mid twists and sits on the back of his head, using Mask's open hand against him to wrench on the arm to a sickening degree. Mask holds out valiantly for a few moments, but he's done and he knows it, and Naomichi Marufuji becomes the first man to successfully retain the title against Tiger Mask after beating him for it. Cue the fireworks.
All too often Jr. matches devolve into kicks and flips with little room for anything else. But once upon a time, there were Jr.s as renowned for the mat based technical skills as for their sweet moves, and this was really a throwback to that kind of Jr. match. Just a fantastic contest that had a clear vision all the way through, and told a story that anyone could understand. Oh, and did I mention that Naomichi Marufuji is the best professional wrestler walking this Earth not named Kurt Angle?
Consider it said.
86 out of 100.
Cewsh's Download Seal of Approval.
Naomichi Marufuji Over Tiger Mask IV Following A Overflow Of Excellence.
Segment 10 – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships – The Finals – Apollo 55 vs. Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai.
Defrost: The final pits the former IWGP Jr Tag Team Champions Apollo 55 who vacated the titles shortly before the tournament and the veteran duo of Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai.
A match in three parts. Chain wrestling at the beginning, the veterans get the advantage, then the young lineal champions take control looking good toward the win, but in the end veteran guile wins out with Samurai reversing the move Devitt used to finish KUSHIDA to win the tournament and the titles. Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi can really go. Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai are all time greats and have years of experience. Koji is still great and Samurai, well Samurai looks like the Crypt Keeper in a weird mask. So the combination here was a good one and a good match came of it with the feel good ending of the long time favorites taking the tournament and winning the Jr Tag Titles.
Apollo 55 has been the best tag team in the world the last year and a half in my opinion. Their great matches with The Motor City Machine Guns and the combination of Milano Collection AT and Taichi, and who knows where that would have gone if Milano hadn't been forced into retirement, were a step above most tag wrestling and most wrestling I can think of. With the end of their run as tag champs and the likelihood of a Prince Devitt reign as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion it looks like the tag team is about to dissolve. So I wanted to just recommend that everyone who hasn't checks out their matches.
Cewsh: There are a lot of elements that can go into a great match.
Depending on the kind of match you're trying to have, there can be different kinds of wrestling, personalities, and stories told, and not all of them would suit every situation. There is this endless myriad of options and possibilities that spirals off into the ever expanding void of infinity that represents all that a wrestling match could have the potential to be. But the great matches, the best matches, are the ones where there is something tangible that you instinctual understand to sink your teeth into. When The Rock faced Stone Cold, you didn't need the match to tell you that those were the two biggest stars fighting over who was going to be considered the best wrestler alive. You just knew. When Hogan fought Andre, you didn't need the announcers to tell you that Hulk Hogan had his work cut out for him against the giant that had never been defeated. It was an archetype that your mind was ready to accept. This match is not one of the greatest matches of all time, but regardless it contains a backstory so simple to decode and so easy to accept, that it boosts the match just by existing.
The veterans against the rookies. The old vs. the new. Experience against vigor. Is there anything more universal? The veterans don't want to give up the place at the top they've worked so hard for, and the young guys want them to move out of the way to make room for the new generation. So it is here, as the relics of days gone by is the guise of Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai find themselves in their third match in one night up against the lightning quick, upstart sensation of Apollo 55. Even they appear to know just how high the odds are stacked against the pulling the upset on the former champions here, but Kanemoto and Samurai know their business, and for one or both, this could be their last hurrah.
The match prgresses smoothly, first with the veterans keeping the pace down and staying in control on the mat, keeping Apollo 55 from having the match they wanted. Then the match dissolves into the kind of lighting fast chaos that Apollo 55 thrives on, and Kanemoto and Samurai take one hell of a beating just trying to keep up, and then we come to the end, as Apollo 55 just pound relentless on both men with everything they have, but the veterans just always seem to be in the right place at the right time, until Prince Devitt makes one mistake too many, and El Samurai manages to roll him up for the quick, surprising pin that left the crowd in shocked wonder, and left Prince Devitt wondering where everything went wrong.
So the old men win the titles after going through three tough tag teams full of young men, and they reign supreme over the division they helped to foster.
Congratulations Guys. You've Earned It.
It may not be a storybook ending. But it'll do for real life.
88 out of 100.
Cewsh's Download Seal of Approval.
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Cewsh's Conclusions:
Cewsh: With Jr. Heavyweights on the rise again in Japan, this crop of guys we had on this show have an enormous responsibility to carry the torch for all of those who will follow after and inherit the newly opened doors that they are creating. Unfortunately the growing pains of that sort of thing are shows like this that are overshadowed by other, similar, shows that happened just recently. The Super J Cup Tournament hung over the show the entire time, daring it to be as good, and ultimately it wasn't. But what was here was a lot of young guys and older veterans mixing it up and showing off the tremendous, tremendous depth of Jr. heavyweight talent from all over the world just ripe for the booking now that all of the companies have opened their doors to each other.
There has never been a better time to be a fan of Jr. Heavyweight wrestling. So if you need a quick fix, this show will do just fine. But that's all it is. Watch the last two matches, and revel in their awesomeness, but for those of you seeking a show of unabashed fabulousness, seek the true greatness elsewhere.
Cewsh's Final Score: 67.22 out of 100.
Defrost's Demarcations:
Defrost: All in all this show wasn't an all time great show or even show of the year, but one night tournaments are a fun change of pace from the norm. Plus I cannot think of many tag tournament shows outside of the NWA/WCW. For any fan of tournament shows I would tell you to give this show a chance you might enjoy it.
Defrost's Final Score: .6 on the MUTA Scale.
Well that'll do it for us this week boys and girls. We hope you enjoyed our walk down Oriental Avenue on our way to Park Place, and we hope you'll forgive us for the lapse in time it took us to get it to you. Next week we'll be back to normal (whatever that officially is) as we eagerly review the controversial and ever intriguing TNA PPV, Hardcore Justice. No longer simply a TNA affair, Dixie Carter has handed the reigns over to Tommy Dreamer and his ECW buddies for one night only. What will we see? Who will we see? What will this mean for TNA? You're just going to have to wait and find out. In the meantime, and as always, be sure to keep reading, and be good to one another!
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