NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco Review, 7/7/18

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By Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87

New Japan returned to California for the second time in 2018 for the G1 Special in San Francisco, which was held at the historic Cow Palace in Daly City.  Before the show there had been a lot of speculation about if they would be able to sell-out the 10,000 seat Cow Palace, and the final figure was 6,333 tickets sold, not a bad gate in a part of California that doesn’t have a massive wrestling scene.  During the event they announced that New Japan will return to Southern California for more shows later this year, so they clearly haven’t been deterred by this experience.  The card was headlined by Kenny Omega vs. Cody, in Kenny’s first defence as the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, with a semi-main event of Jay White defending his US Championship against Juice Robinson.

CHAOS (SHO, YOH, Rocky Romero, Gedo, and YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, and King Haku) – California were very behind Bullet Club when they made their entrance, especially King Haku.  GOD went all out on their face paint for this event, and were clearly enthused by the prospect of teaming with their dad in the opening match.  Haku started against YOSHI-HASHI, and easily overpowered him to loud cheers.  Bullet Club controlled a lot of this match, although SHO and YOH got to show off some of their tag team moves.  Gedo took the pin after Haku grabbed his beard and Tama Tonga hit him with a Gun Stun.  This was a decent opener, but nothing to write home about other than seeing Haku wrestling again.

Winners: Bullet Club, 9:20

Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. – Suzuki has a cool new remix of Kaze ni nare that he’s using for his ring entrance, and the US crowd enthusiastically joined in the chorus.  Suzuki beat Ishii last week to win the Rev Pro Undisputed British Heavyweight title, so this match had some added bite to it.  Ishii and Suzuki continued to give each other no quarter in this match, but my personal favourite was the development of the growing rivalry between Yano and Sabre.  Yano’s comedy timing works perfectly with Sabre’s serious, technical style of wrestling, and I can’t wait to see them face off in the G1 Climax.  ZSJ caught Yano’s arm with his legs as Yano attempted a low blow, but then Ishii hit him with a stiff lariat and Yano was able to score a surprise pin on his English opponent for a CHAOS victory.  After the match ZSJ and Suzuki beat up some Young Lions on their way to the back.

Winners: Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano, 9:42 

Marty Scurll and Hangman Page vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and KUSHIDA w/ Ryusuke Taguchi – At Dominion Scurll and Page were part of the Bullet Club team that beat Tanahashi, Jyushin Thunder Liger, and Rey Mysterio.  Since Mysterio resigned with WWE, I guess KUSHIDA has been brought in for this match.  This was also a preview of the G1 Climax A Block match between Tanahashi and Page, which I’m excited about.  Tanahashi was very over in the Cow Palace, and the Japanese commentary team made a point that the cadence of the “Tanahashi” chants is different in English than Japanese.  This was a good, fast-paced match – KUSHIDA and Tanahashi make for a great team, and Scurll and Page were on form too.  Page picked up a victory after hitting KUSHIDA with the Right of Passage, after countering an attempt at the Hoverboard Lock.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the G1, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Page manages to beat Tanahashi.

Winners: Marty Scurll and Hangman Page, 9:52

NEVER Openweight Championship

Jeff Cobb vs. Hirooki Goto (c) – Jeff Cobb was introduced to New Japan as Michael Elgin’s partner in the World Tag League last year, and he issued a challenge to Goto following his victory on the Kizuna Road tour.  Cobb is from Guam, but he’s spent a lot of time wrestling in California and the crowd was clearly behind him at the start of this match.  Goto was notably at a power disadvantage in this match, so he had to work tactically to try and overcome Cobb, including a slingshot crossbody to the outside, which I don’t remember seeing Goto use many times before.  Cobb was no slouch either, and on top of his array of suplexes he hit an impressive standing moonsault.

This match had the requisite NEVER match suplex exchange, but the ending was quite abrupt – Goto countered Cobb’s suplex attempt with a reverse GTR, then hit a GTR for the three count.  Presumably the decision was made to give the later matches more time, but this could have done with a bit more to really push it to the level of great.

Winner: Hirooki Goto, 12:10 

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

EVIL and SANADA vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) – The Young Bucks won the tag titles at Dominion from Los Ingobernables de Japon, so this was a title rematch.  The Bucks were very over in their home state of California, and there were loud “The Elite” chants to start the match.  Both of these teams have great athleticism and chemistry, and the Young Bucks have looked really good since their move to heavyweight tag team.  This match was fast-paced, which suited the Bucks more than LIJ, although both teams traded near falls – LIJ hit the Magic Killer on Nick Jackson, and SANADA was nearly forced to tap out to the Sharpshooter.  A ref bump allowed for some fun shenanigans with a chair that led to LIJ hitting an Indytaker on Matt for a very close two count.  The final stretch saw Matt hit EVIL with his own STO, then the Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on EVIL for the three count.  This was another really good match between these teams, and even though the result makes sense ahead of the G1, I’d like to see them face off again later in the year.

Winners: The Young Bucks, 16:05

Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI – This match was essentially an exhibition for two of New Japan’s biggest stars who just lost their titles at Dominion – Okada to Kenny Omega, and Naito to Chris Jericho.  Okada spent most of the  Kizuna Road tour looking lost without his title, but he seemed to have recaptured some of his mojo at this event.  He had a new remix of his theme music, and new red and black trousers that he debuted at Strong Styled Evolved the previous weekend.  And for some reason red balloons for his entrance.

The fans were really behind Naito as he started the match against Okada, and clearly enjoyed playing up to the crowd with his tranquilo antics.  Naito and Okada really work well together, and they showed off numerous counters to each other’s signature moves in this match.  Ospreay delivered his usual high quality performance, and BUSHI kept up his end of the match too.  CHAOS got the victory here after Ospreay hit a Strom Breaker on BUSHI.

Winners: Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay, 11:58 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 

Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi (c) – I should preface this match review by saying that after the match it was revealed that Hiromu had suffered a bad neck injury – possibly a broken neck – on a botched Phoenix Plex in this match, so it’s hard to be objective about how this match went.  Having said that, this match started out like so many Dragon Lee-Hiromu matches do, with them both absolutely trying to kill each other.  The match began with Dragon Lee hitting Hiromu with a Frankensteiner from the apron to the floor, before the bell had even rung, and it didn’t slow down from there.  Dragon Lee hit Hiromu with a double foot stomp from the top rope to the outside, and then Hiromu immediately retaliated with a powerbomb from the apron to the floor.  They exchanged a vicious barrage of chops in the centre of the ring, which included Dragon Lee shushing the audience so that everyone could hear the meaty slap of flesh getting bruised.  Hiromu managed to lock in the triangle choke, and as a way to counter it Dragon Lee lifted him up and attempted a release Phoenix Plex, which ended with Hiromu landing on his neck in a very nasty looking bump at around the 15 minute mark.  Dragon Lee followed this up with a vertical suplex powerbomb for a close two count.  Hiromu somehow managed to finish the match, hitting a Canadian Destroyer for a near fall, and then a Time Bomb for the three count.  In hindsight, knowing the severity of his injury, the match should really have been stopped after the botch, but Hiromu seemed to indicate that he wanted to continue, and it makes for uncomfortable viewing seeing him take more bumps afterwards.  Amazingly, Hiromu managed to walk out without assistance, and hopefully the injury turns out to be less severe than feared.

Winner: Hiromu Takahashi, 16:18

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship

Juice Robinson vs. Jay White (c) – This rivalry has been years in the making, since Juice and Jay were both Young Lions together in the New Japan Dojo, and before the match they aired a good video package summarising the history between the two.  Juice’s new persona as the “Flamboyant One” is fun, but his ring entrance attire looked like he’d raided Kairi Sane’s discarded pirate outfits and found the most outlandish one to wear.

Jay White on the other hand, had a red leather outfit on that had a Michael Jackson-esque vibe about it.  Before the match started it was announced that if Juice used his cast as a weapon then he could be subject to disqualification – Jay injured his hand in an attack during the Kizuna Road tour.  The build-up for this match has been excellent – Jay played his role as a slimy villain perfectly, and Juice delivered some fire promos in the weeks before this event.  This was a real grudge match, and a lot of the action happened outside the ring as both men tried to hurt each other.  Jay was masterful at generating heat, particularly when he stomped on the injured hand of Juice, which drew a chorus of “fuck you Switchblade” from the crowd.  Jay focused a lot on Juice’s injured hand to cut him off whenever he tried to make a comeback, revelling in the hate that he received from the crowd.  This match took a slightly weird turn when Jay suplexed Juice into the barricade in front of the AXS announce team, which knocked over Jim Ross.  In response Josh Barnett got up and made a beeline for Jay, going as far as getting into the ring.  There’s been a lot of speculation about whether this was a work or a shoot, although both JR and Barnett have claimed it to have been a shoot.

Juice put everything on the line in this match, at one point hitting a Russian leg sweep on Jay from the apron, willing to sacrifice his body to win his first title in New Japan.  Juice finally got the better of Jay after a ref bump took down Red Shoes momentarily, and he was able to hit Jay with his cast, then hit a Pulp Friction for a very close two count.  Juice tried for another Pulp Friction, but it was countered, and just as Jay went for a Blade Runner, Juice rolled him up for a three count!  This was a really great match between two top performers – Juice is one of the most charismatic babyfaces out there right now, and Jay was a great heel.  After the match, Juice was presented with the belt and hugged a surprised looking Red Shoes.

Winner: Juice Robinson, 23:22

IWGP Heavyweight Championship 

Cody w/ Brandi Rhodes vs. Kenny Omega (c) w/ The Young Bucks – This match came about as a result of the Bullet Club civil war angle, and was touted as being the deciding match over who would be the leader of Bullet Club.  The Bullet Club feud hasn’t really interested me, so I’m glad to see it come to an end.  Cody came out wearing a purple Roman-inspired outfit, and was carried on a palanquin to the ring, whilst Kenny notably came out with the Bucks but not Ibushi.

Kenny has had a tough week with the fallout from CEOxNJPW, so doubtless he was happy to get back to focusing on wrestling.  Kenny was the clear favourite in this match, and the crowd cheering for Kenny clearly got to Cody, who played up his role as the heel who doesn’t understand why everyone hates him.  I enjoyed the start of this match, and I thought Cody and Kenny had good chemistry – the highlight being an exchange of palm strikes while Cody had Kenny in the figure four.  However, the match descended into an overbooked mess when, for some reason, they decided to introduce a ladder into the match.  This led to numerous ladder spots, table spots, will-they-won’t-they suplex someone off the ladder onto a table spot, Brandi getting involved to protect Cody spot, a ref bump, Cody wrestling with his conscience about hitting Kenny with the title spot, and another dodgy neck bump spot when Kenny tried to powerbomb Cody through a table from the ring, and he didn’t go quite far enough to break the table.

All of these shenanigans really killed the momentum of the match, which ended up with Kenny winning after a series of V-Triggers and a One Winged Angel.  The fact that this match got over 30 minutes, and some of the other matches didn’t even make 20 was disappointing, because this really was unnecessarily overbooked.  It felt like they wanted to put on a classic grudge match, but ended up trying far too hard and just throwing together a lot of spots without much psychology.  It was a particular shame since the early part of the match showed a lot of promise.

Winner: Kenny Omega, 34:14

After the match, Omega took a microphone and cut a face promo about his first title defence, and offered Cody a second chance after his heroic effort tonight.  Kenny mentioned the fact that there had been a lot of doubts about this show, but the he had seen pretty much a full house, and everyone there had been very lively.   As Kenny and the Bucks made their way up the ramp, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and King Haku came out to celebrate with them.  In true wrestling style, the celebrations dragged on a little bit too long, and just as Kenny and the Bucks turned to pose for the crowd, the Tongans attacked them and dragged them back to the ring.  Tanga Loa hoisted Kenny up for a powerbomb and Tama Tonga hit him with a reverse Gun Stun on the way down.

The other members of Bullet Club ran out to help their leader, but they were taken out by the three Tongans, the worst betrayal of all being when they attacked the Honorary Tongan, Chase Owens.  During the beatdown the three Tongans took off their Bullet Club t-shirts to reveal “Firing Squad” t-shirts, which is presumably the name of their new faction within Bullet Club.  Finally Cody came back out and it looked as though he would attack Kenny and side with the Tongans, but instead he tried to attack Tama Tonga and suffered a beatdown as well.  Finally the Tongans exited, claiming that Kenny and Cody’s in-fighting had driven them to this, and that there is no leader of the Bullet Club.  The show ended with Kenny and Cody seemingly patching things up in the face of this new threat.

 

Final Thoughts 

There’s a lot to unpack after this show.  Firstly, I thought it was much better than the show in Long Beach earlier this year, both in terms of ringwork and presentation by AXS.  There were less camera botches, and the show had a much bigger feel to it, even if the main event was a let-down.  Full disclosure, I watched this show with Japanese commentary, so I didn’t have to endure the AXS team of JR and Josh Barnett, who by all accounts were terrible.  The fact that AXS sticks with this team is bizarre – presumably they think that they will draw casual fans to the product, but if a casual fans’ first experience of New Japan is terrible commentary they’re unlikely to stick around.  Add in Josh Barnett’s strange intervention in the Juice-Jay match and they didn’t cover themselves in glory tonight.

In terms of match quality, the US title match between Juice Robinson and Jay White was definitely the high point for me, although The Young Bucks vs LIJ match was very good.  The undercard was solid, although I would personally have liked to see some of the time given to Kenny vs. Cody given over to the NEVER title match.  Of course, it’s impossible to talk about the matches without mentioning Hiromu’s terrible injury, and that match makes uncomfortable viewing in light of that knowledge.  Hopefully Hiromu makes a full recovery and is able to return, but it would be great to see less gratuitous neck bumps in the future, from all competitors.  Watching Cody smack his neck on a table that didn’t break didn’t make for good watching when someone earlier in the night may have broken their neck.

Storyline wise, there were some interesting developments at this show.  I don’t think that the Bullet Club civil war storyline has been that interesting, but I’m glad that Tama Tonga and the other OG Bullet Club members are getting something to do now.  It will certainly make for interesting viewing during the G1, when Tama Tonga and Kenny are in the same block.  Plus, it seems that the interminable Cody vs. Kenny feud for leadership of Bullet Club is over.  I’m excited to see Juice as US champion now, he’s had some great matches this year, and he looked genuinely emotional winning his first title in New Japan.  He has all the makings of being a great US champion for the company.  The G1 could throw up some interesting challengers going forwards as well – ZSJ, Ibushi, and Ishii spring to mind.  Thankfully Hiromu has a good amount of time to heal up, since the Jr. Heavyweight title takes a back seat during G1.  Similarly The Young Bucks probably won’t be around much, but I could see Ishii and Yano challenging them post-G1.  Goto will probably earn some new challengers in G1 – a match with Ishii would be perfect for the NEVER division, but SANADA could be interesting as well.

Overall, it was hard to know what to make of this show.  There was some excellent wrestling, a seriously overbooked main event, and a tragic accident that cast a long shadow over the whole thing.  In terms of New Japan’s US expansion it was probably a solid success, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the show.  6,333 people is not a bad gate, and obviously New Japan are committed to making California into a touring territory, with more shows this year in Southern California.  If you didn’t see this show, go out of your way to watch Juice vs. Jay, and The Young Bucks vs. LIJ if you like tag team wrestling.  Otherwise save your strength before the gruelling schedule of the G1 begins next weekend.

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