NJPW Power Struggle Review, 3/11/18

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New Japan returned to Edion Arena in Osaka for Power Struggle, headlined again by an Intercontinental Title Match, this year between Chris Jericho and EVIL.  The NEVER Openweight Title and the Rev Pro British Heavyweight Title were also on the line at this show, along with the final of the Super Jr. Tag League.

Ryusuke Taguchi, ACH, Chris Sabin, and Toa Henare vs. Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Soberano Jr., and Volador Jr. – The opening tag match where they stuck all the wrestlers from the Super Jr. Tag League.  This was a fun but inconsequential match, which had a few highlights from ACH and Taguchi, and another Soberano Jr. botch on the ropes.  Taguchi got the win after a double team Dodon with ACH.

Winners: Ryusuke Taguchi, ACH, Chris Sabin, and Toa Henare, 6:10 

Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe) and KUSHIDA vs. Guerrilas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) and Robbie Eagles – Originally Taiji Ishimori was supposed to be in this match, but an ankle injury forced a change to the card.  Ishimori accompanied his Bullet Club teammates to the ring on crutches, which made the injury looked quite serious.  This match was also quite skippable, but it did feature KUSHIDA standing up to Tama Tonga and kicking out of a Jado kendo stick assisted roll-up.  However, Tama got the pin over the Jr. Heavyweight Champion after Ishimori attacked him with a crutch when the referee was distracted.  Obviously Ishimori’s injury wasn’t as serious as it seemed, and this will most likely lead to a title match at Wrestle Kingdom between KUSHIDA and Ishimori.

Winners: Guerrilas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) and Robbie Eagles, 7:39 

Beretta and Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale and Jay White – This was more of an angle than a match, as Okada and White started brawling before the bell and didn’t stop, leaving Beretta and Fale to go through the motions in the ring.  Fale looked to have the match won with a Bad Luck Fall, but Beretta reversed it into a roll-up for a CHAOS win.  After the match White called out Okada for a one-on-one match, which presumably sets up what they will be doing at Wrestle Kingdom.

Winners: Beretta and Kazuchika Okada, 4:32

David Finlay and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. The Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega) – Omega finally returned to New Japan to hype up the main event of the Tokyo Dome against Tanahashi.  This was a decent tag match, certainly the best of the card so far, but it ended fairly predictably with Finlay eating a pin after a Golden Trigger.  Ibushi broke out a crazy looking corkscrew standing moonsault on Finlay, which was the highlight of the match.  Post-match Omega taunted Tanahashi and celebrated with a less than enthusiastic looking Ibushi.

Winners: The Golden Lovers, 9:47

Super Jr. Tag League Final

Roppongi 3K (SHO and YOH) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI and Shingo Takagi) vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) – As the result of a draw in the Super Jr. Tag League all three teams faced each other in the finals here.  For some reason this has become a real trend in New Japan – think of the seemingly endless GOD-War Machine-KES triple threats, and then Roppongi 3K-LIJ-Suzuki-gun earlier in the year when Hiromu Takahashi was still healthy.  This time round LIJ was reinforced by the addition of Shingo Takagi, who looked great in this match, especially taking on SHO.  This match ended up being very good, and they did a really good closing stretch with close finishes for all three teams.  Shingo looked to have the match won, only for Kanemaru to pull the referee out of the ring before a three count.  Suzuki-gun then nearly won the match, but ultimately it was SHO who picked up a win for Roppongi 3K after hitting El Desperado with a Shock Arrow to become back-to-back Super Jr. Tag League winners.

Winners: Roppongi 3K, 15:55

NEVER Openweight Championship

Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi (c) – This match was originally scheduled to be Taichi vs. Will Ospreay, but an injury to Ospreay meant that Goto was drafted in as his replacement.  The match began with Taichi hitting Goto with a big suplex from behind, which seemingly could have ended the match before it really began.  Taichi, however, attempted to pin Goto with just his hand, and the failure to put Goto away ultimately came back to hurt him.  The opening stages to this match were quite slow, which is often a criticism of Taichi matches, but it picked up steam in the closing stretch, and both competitors battered each other with big kicks and strikes.  Taichi came close to victory with a Gedo Clutch and a Last Ride powerbomb, but he couldn’t keep Goto down, and when he attempted to use the title belt to cheat Goto was able to stop him with a headbutt.  Finally Goto was able to hit an ushigoroshi and followed it up with a GTR for a victory and a fourth NEVER Title reign.  This match was okay, but I don’t understand the booking decision to go back to Goto, who has really done everything he can with the NEVER Title.

Winner: Hirooki Goto, 15:02s

Revolution Pro Wrestling British Heavyweight Championship

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii (c) – The Rev Pro Title has bounced back and forth between Suzuki and Ishii this year, after Ishii won the title from Zack Sabre Jr. during Wrestlemania weekend.  Ishii beat Suzuki at Global Wars in October to regain the title, and then this rematch was added to Power Struggle.  Suzuki has been hard to predict this year – he started off with a classic against Goto at Wrestle Kingdom but since then has had some thoroughly average showings, especially against Naito.  Thankfully this was much closer to peak Suzuki, and the two really delivered in a hard-hitting bout.  The opening stretch of the match saw both men throwing savage forearms in the middle of the ring, refusing to back down until Ishii could barely stand.  One of my main complaints about Suzuki matches is the excessive amount of time spent brawling on the outside, but this match was pretty much entirely contained in the ring.  Suzuki came close to hitting a Gotch-style piledriver on several occasions, but Ishii was able to counter, and finally won after hitting a brainbuster on Suzuki.  I think the match could have had a little less emphasis on the strike battle and developed the closing stretch, but overall this was a very good match.  If giving Ishii outside titles is what it takes to get him good singles matches on New Japan shows then I am all for it.

Winner: Tomohiro Ishii, 19:21 

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito – This match came about as the result of ZSJ’s victories over Naito in the New Japan Cup and the G1 Climax, along with his attempted beatdown of EVIL at King of Pro Wrestling.  Going into the match it seemed unlikely that Naito would take a third loss against Sabre, but with his arsenal of submission holds you can never write off the British technician.  The first half of this match began at a relatively slow pace as both competitors tried to feel each other out, and Sabre aimed to soften up Naito for a submission.  Once this match hit its stride it got up to being very good – certainly better than Naito’s matches with Suzuki this year – and there was a very good back-and-forth pinning sequence that saw Sabre come close to picking up the win with the clutch that he used to beat EVIL, and nearly hit the Zack Driver that beat Naito in the G1.  In the end it was Naito that was finally able to vanquish his Suzuki-gun adversary after hitting two Destinos.  This match didn’t hit the heights of the Suzuki vs. Ishii bout, but it was certainly Naito’s best outing in recent events.

Winner: Tetsuya Naito, 20:12

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

EVIL vs. Chris Jericho (c) – Jericho won the IC Title from Naito at Dominion in June and promptly disappeared, with this match being his first title defence.  Jericho attacked EVIL before his scheduled match with ZSJ at King of Pro Wrestling, reigniting the feud that had started post-match at Dominion.  In the lead-up to this match Jericho veered into racist territory with his promos, accusing Japanese people of being timid and afraid, which disappointingly seems to have become part of his New Japan character.  EVIL jumped Jericho before the bell, and this match ended up being mostly a brawl, with a lot of fighting outside the ring.  This worked better than the match with Naito, probably because EVIL is more of a brawler than Naito, but it’s pretty clear that this is Jericho’s ceiling in New Japan at this point.  After Jericho started the match strongly, EVIL took control with some vicious chair shots and an STO through a table on the outside.  Back in the ring Jericho managed to catch EVIL in the Walls of Jericho, but he survived an hit Darkness Falls for a close two count.  Jericho even managed to kick out of an STO in the middle of the ring, and reversed an attempted Darkness Falls into another Walls of Jericho.  This proved too much for the LIJ challenger, who was forced to tap out.  This was a better match than I was expecting, and certainly a lot better than Jericho’s match with Naito at Dominion.  Post-match Naito ran out to save EVIL from Jericho’s attack, and challenged him to a match.

Winner: Chris Jericho, 21:40

 

Final Thoughts  

This was one of the better New Japan shows in recent memory, certainly an improvement on King of Pro Wrestling.  The undercard was quite weak, but barring the NEVER Title match the card picked up from the Super Jr. Tag League Final match.  The final three singles matches were all good – Ishii vs. Suzuki was probably the standout – and Jericho actually impressed me in his outing against EVIL.  I worry a bit about the match with Naito, since their offering at Dominion didn’t do much for me, but since I have to imagine Naito will get his win back at Tokyo Dome I can live with it.  A lot of the matches were quite predictable given the booking for Wrestle Kingdom, which is why the Jr. Tag Final and the Rev Pro Title match were the highlights of the night.  Ideally Ishii will get to defend the Rev Pro Title at Wrestle Kingdom, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he just gets stuck in a tag team match somewhere on the card.

I thought that Jericho had run his course in NJPW at this point, but I was happy to be proved wrong on this show, which also saw EVIL step up in the main event spot.  EVIL can be somewhat intermittent with his performances, but he delivered here in a match against Jericho that felt like it had some personal stakes for him.  The loss made sense to advance the storyline with Naito, and I could possibly see EVIL and SANADA winning the World Tag League to take on GOD at Wrestle Kingdom.  BUSHI and Shingo also came out on the losing side in their match, which seems to leave them at a bit of a loss at Wrestle Kingdom.  Will they just end up in the NEVER gauntlet match, or even worse the New Japan Rumble?  I’m hesitant about Naito’s match with Jericho, since their last match wasn’t that good in my opinion, but he delivered a good showing against Sabre.  At least he ought to win at Wrestle Kingdom if he’s going up against Jericho.  I don’t buy the argument that having Jericho on New Japan shows is driving up their popularity, but if he shows up occasionally and delivers matches like he did with EVIL I would be okay with that.  Having him hold the IC Title hostage for half the year was a poor booking decision on Gedo’s part though.

The biggest disappointment on this show was the NEVER Title match, which really was quite average, and showed that New Japan don’t trust Taichi to go into Wrestle Kingdom as champion.  Presumably the plan was for him to drop the belt to Ospreay, which would at least have been more interesting, since Goto doesn’t really have any fresh matchups left.  After the show Goto called out Ibushi on Twitter, so that could be a decent proposition for Wrestle Kingdom, and could lead back to Ospreay challenging down the line if Ibushi wins

Following Power Struggle most of the pieces are in place for Wrestle Kingdom.  A main event of Omega vs. Tanahashi, Okada vs. White, Naito vs. Jericho, KUSHIDA vs. Ishimori, Roppongi 3K vs. Suzuki-gun, and potentially Goto vs. Ibushi.  World Tag League will fill in what happens with the Tag Team Title Match, although the fact that GOD are also the NEVER Six Man Tag Team Champions needs sorting out, unless they plan to pull double duty on the card.  There’s a notable lack of Minoru Suzuki and ZSJ on the card right now, so I’d put them in the same bracket as EVIL and SANADA as likely to win the World Tag League.  Two months out and my interest levels for Wrestle Kingdom are growing, but there’s still some way to go before I reach the same levels as last year.

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