Day 2 – Round 1
Date: June 17, 2020
Taiji Ishimori def. Gabriel Kidd
Match Time: 8:53
This match is the definition of a solid opening act. I knew from the beginning, going back to his NOAH days that Taiji Ishimori is one of the best wrestlers today and he was able to show it here against Gabriel Kidd. Despite being a short match, they really pulled it off well, I thought this is Kidd’s best match in his young New Japan career thus far. I’ve seen a few of his matches in his WCPW days and there really is potential for him to become a future IWGP Intercontinental Champion one day, maybe even Heavyweight? We’ll see how his career progress. Ishimori was an easy pick for me to win, got over with a submission. Kidd is now my second favorite of the LA Dojo trainees behind Karl Fredericks. This will probably get overshadowed by the rest of the tournament matches, but it deserves to not be left unnoticed because it was a good performance from both guys.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Yuya Uemura
Match Time: 9:32
For the past like three or four years, Yoshinobu Kanemaru has slowed down immensely in his performances, he’s more of a tag-team act and a shell of his former self in singles matches when you compare his work in NOAH. However to his credit, we actually saw glimpses of the old Kanemaru in this match, it was evident he paced up more faster this time and I think facing of a young wrestler in Yuya Uemura who is full of energy all the time is one of the key factors for that as well. The story going in to this match is that Uemura has been feuding with Suzuki-Gun members for the past few months, finally a young lion standing up to the sadistic treatment they’ve been receiving from Minoru Suzuki. But of course he’s been on the losing end for all of them, he had a chance to pull off a massive upset here, a win over a veteran like Kanemaru would do wonders for his career. Before the bell could even sound, Uemura immediately attacks Kanemaru as he entered the ring. Pretty good back-and-forth action, Uemura mainly on the offensive side with his strikes, while Kanemaru playing the role of the sneaky tactician. There were some close calls for the dojo student but in the end, the top rope DDT got the win for everyone’s favorite drunk uncle.
Yuji Nagata def. Minoru Suzuki
Match Time: 20:35
Two 52 year old men slapping and elbowing the hell out of each other. That is a formula in having one of the best matches of the year! This match really reminded me of why I became a Puroresu fan in the first place, I remember watching some years back for the first time, NOAH Destiny 2005 in the Tokyo Dome, the dream match between Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki, the famous chop fest where the two just exchanged chops for what felt like an eternity, and it’s actually one of the most compelling spots I’ve seen in a wrestling bout, the intensity each time they delivered with each chop especially as their stamina became lower, you can feel the emotions and fighting spirit blazing through for both of those legends. We advance almost a decade later with this match between another set of legends and I think Japanese wrestling veterans work better than their American wrestling counterparts. Usually hitting the “best hits” as they call it is what mostly old wrestlers do as they get up in age, but you can see Nagata and Suzuki still be able to work out a competitive and great psychology of a match with mainly just striking one another. It also works because these two are familiar with one another, a long history with their rivalry going back into the 2000’s. Nice headbutt spots from Suzuki to, paying homage to his mentor Yoshiaki Fujiwara, then there was that Shibata-esque headbutt that really got the commentators shouting. Match result was surprising too, didn’t expect to Nagata score some major wins at this point of his career but forgive me for doubting the Blue Justice, we all know h can still go and he got the win here over his rival with back-to-back exploder suplex. While I thought this match was great, I could imagine the reactions from the crowd would’ve made it even better than it already is.
Kazuchika Okada def. Gedo
Match Time: 15:30
Gedo booking himself into the main event of the show? This man has turned into the modern day Vince Russo! Okay in all seriousness though, I thought this match was fine. Definitely way better than the Jado match for sure. Gedo played possum for the most part, even entering the ring with an arm cast, shades of “Cowboy” Bob Orton. Turned out he had spray behind it and got busted by the referee. That was pretty much the entire story of this match, Gedo attempting to cheat his way to victory with different methods throughout, but he still failed. Although if I have to be honest, I though he actually had Okada with the sneaky Gedo Clutch pin at one point, great near fall spot. In the end though, Okada got the victory over his former manager, not with the Rainmaker, but with a submission hold making him tap to get the win. I saw one comment on Reddit was that the commentators mentioned Gedo would see the Rainmaker coming so he opted for an alternative way in getting the win, so nice little detail there adding to the story. I found their match two years ago in the build up for WK 13 to be more entertaining, but the crowd probably factored in on that one. With these type of matches where you can’t just go full in-ring action and in need of some heel shenanigans, crowd reaction does help in the overall presentation but what we got here between these two and knowing their history, it was still a nice little match. Okada advances to the next round against Yuji Nagata, battle of the two former IWGP Champions, really stoked for that one!
All images used credit to njpw1972.com
