The opening 6 man was a blast. I loved the whole Southern tag feel it had. Had a Horseman vs Houston/Taylor/Bass feel to it. The opening shine was so much fun, and the schtick that set up the heat was so dripping with southern fried greatness. Also loved how the finish showed the clear pecking order of the teams.

Jay White has some of the best forearm strikes in the promotion. They always look good. All of his offense has a natural intensity to it, almost Benoit-like. I also liked the opener. It was straight-forward and everyone had a role.

Takahashi/Hall vs Kojima/Captain NJ

 

 

Hall looked like he was on the verge of killing Kojima by gripping him weirdly. Halls bump off a Kojima lariat to the outside was pretty great. Overall a pretty nothing match.

KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask and Yuji Nagata

 

I loved Nagata targeting Nakanishi. Nakanishi is so done at this point. He moves like a 60 year old. Kushida/Dorada need a singles match ASAP. Nice Tope' by Tiger Mask. A fun 6 man that didn't get enough time.

Liger vs Anthony

 

Tharpe is such a joy to watch. I wonder if these NWA guys showing up on NJPW shows helps with getting more bookings in the states? Anthony shows some charisma. I'm liking Liger owning him on the mat. That looked like a stiff sliding dropkick by Liger. Nice follow with Liger going after Anthony's back after the guard rail bump. Tharpe sets up Anthony's heat segment. Anthony's running drop kick was nice. We get a ref bump followed up by a Tharpe low blow. Anthony goes over. Pretty territorial finish to protect local babyface.

Liger vs. Anthony for the NWA Junior title was fine. Usual current Liger singles match with all of his signature stuff after short mat work to start things out. Anthony was competent or maybe a little more than that, but his performance did not exactly stand out. A little surprised he retained.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan © vs. Big Daddy Yum Yum

 

Yum Yum snapping Tenzan's head in the rope was nice. It wasn't my cup of tea.

Alex Shelley, Tomoaki Honma and Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson

 

 

We get a nice shine early. Honma in particular looked good. They use their size and cut off Alex. This turned into a pretty fun bout.

Watched the main event and while I liked it better than their match at WK, it still didn't do a whole lot for me. These are two big lumpy dudes having a beefy fight but this again featured no psychology and I just can't get behind that type of match with the way Makabe's strikes are. When Jay White is throwing stiffer looking forearms and strikes than your bruiser character, it takes a lot to stretch my believability. Also, I hate they just went back Makabe essentially resetting the first four months of the year.

Watched the main event and while I liked it better than their match at WK, it still didn't do a whole lot for me. These are two big lumpy dudes having a beefy fight but this again featured no psychology and I just can't get behind that type of match with the way Makabe's strikes are. When Jay White is throwing stiffer looking forearms and strikes than your bruiser character, it takes a lot to stretch my believability. Also, I hate they just went back Makabe essentially resetting the first four months of the year.

 

I feel (back) asleep before the main event so haven't watched that particular match yet, but I completely agree with the bolded in general. It is one thing if guys are going to have slug fests with little selling and lots of strikes when the strikes look great. Makabe's strikes don't most of the time. Goto tends to be the same way. When Ishii peppers forearms or elbows back and forth in rapid fire they can look weak, although in general he is a better striker than those two. I'm not sure what some people are watching sometimes when they talk about the great striking in these matches because I often don't see it. Like you said, if you are going to throw forearms and work an "I'm tougher than you match", the forearms better look really good. Otherwise, guys are just no-selling each other's weak looking stuff and what's the point in that?

Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale) vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASH

 

Everyone should know how this will end. and it's a good thing.This was a basic tag. I also liked Tama's energy here.

 

 

 

Katsuyori Shibata & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano & Shinsuke Nakamura

I enjoyed this. The pairings made sense and built to the future. Coming out of this I want Shibata vs Sakuraba, Goto/Nak. I totally dug Tanahashi and Yano playing off their past matches at the finish. Tanahashi needs to get his win and move on. 3 1/2*

Tomohiro Ishii © vs Togi Makabe

They start by marking their territory. Both trying to establish themselves as the big dog. Makabe as a guy who builds his matches around strikes he's not even in the top 10 in the promotion at it. The match is pretty repetitive. It does have drama. The crowd is totally into it. The finish run was done well . Overall a good match.

Overall a good show. My favorite match was the opener. It wasn't the best match, but most fun. If they got more time their is no doubt in my mind it would have been the best match on the show. Just another 5 minutes. I found it funny that some NJPW fans said the 1st match had stalling. Guys it's called schtick and it's an aspect of working a match. I liked the set up of the arena. It had a Worldwide 85 feel to it.

Gedo & Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Beretta) vs. Jay White & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka 3*

Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan 1 1/2*

KUSHIDA & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Mascara Dorada & Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata 2 1/2*

NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship – Steve Anthony © vs Jushin Thunder Liger 2*

Hiroyoshi Tenzan © vs Big Daddy Yum 1 1/4*

Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma & Alex Shelley vs. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega 3 1/4*

Bullet Club (Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale) vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI 2 *

Katsuyori Shibata & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano & Shinsuke Nakamura 3 1/2*

NEVER Openweight Championship – Tomohiro Ishii © vs Togi Makabe 3 1/2*

Finished up the show as well and thought it was one of the lesser New Japan shows overall. My favorite match was actually the Bullet Club vs. Naito/Honma/Shelley match with the opener a close second.