New Japan Pro Wrestling
At AEW’s Forbidden Door PPV on Sunday, Tetsuya Naito reclaimed the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship from Jon Moxley in a match that was lacking what makes the two normally special – crowd control, pacing, and the in-ring sequences. The two didn’t have any chemistry in this match as nothing was working. Part of it would have been fixed by running the match at Dominion instead of Forbidden Door as the match they were going with, Moxley being the outsider champion while Naito tries to bring back the gold to New Japan, would have connected fantastically with the Japanese audience who would have been begging for Naito to overcome Moxley and win the IWGP World Championship back.
The crowd reaction doesn’t explain the negative chemistry between the two as nothing was hitting. Both of these guys never went past the point of laziness to try to save it, and it almost felt like neither of the two wanted to be there in the first place. It was worked at a snail’s pace that never picked up. The finishing stretch was full of multiple noticeable miscommunications and awkward sequences, including a horrendous Death Rider counter by Naito and a terrible-looking Destino sell. Tetsuya Naito walking out as the winner was the right decision, but this did more harm than help either of the two.
Moxley winning the World Championship was a historic moment as he became the first wrestler to win the AEW-NJPW-WWE World Championship, and so the expectations were high for the run to be great as New Japan took a big gamble by giving away their top title to an AEW-signed wrestler, but was the run great? After thinking about it, it felt like a pointless run that was there to give Naito something between April and the G1.
The defences were disappointing as after he won the title from Tetsuya Naito that was carried by the *historic* feeling of the moment, the others were either just fine or underdelivered. The Ren Narita match was a failure as Ren wasn’t able to keep up and looked out of place in the main event of Dontaku, which is fine as he has the time to improve before he moves up the card, unlike Shota Umino, who was in-ring-wise the best match against Moxley, but even that underdelivered and dragged. Mox didn’t seem fully locked in, and both struggled with the length as especially the opening 15 minutes were lacking substance. Coming out of the match, he didn’t look much better than coming in, which is the opposite of what the goal should have been between a major match of the two. The EVIL match, which even got relegated to the semi-main event of Dominion, was surprisingly my favorite of his defences as it at least had some cool moments, but it wasn’t a great match from an in-ring standpoint as it relied on comedy elements.
Outside of Dontaku & Dominion, Moxley wasn’t in Japan for his run with the title, which is fine since the only real tour Moxley missed as champion was the Best of the Super Juniors tour and that is one that the World Champion often skips as the focus is of course on the junior heavyweights Meanwhile, Moxley was focused on wrestling unimportant “Eliminator Matches” against Rocky Romero & Konosuke Takeshita, that didn’t do anything for his run.
After defeating Jon Moxley, Tetsuya Naito is on what is hopefully his last run as the top champion of New Japan, and then the question arises : Who is the next big star in New Japan? The sad answer is that it will likely take a long time for Shota, Yota, Yuya, & Ren to be on the level of the prior main event scene in terms of star power and level. Ren & Yuya are far away from it, while Shota & Yota show potential, but are not there yet, but they need to be there soon for the sake of NJPW. The promotion needs to throw them into the deep end next year, and it could end really well or badly, which is all about how the two will perform. Fans have seen some of the best wrestlers in the world and established stars in New Japan failing to live up to the pressure of being a “Wrestle Kingdom Main Eventer,” but for the future of the promotion, one or more of these young stars need to emerge as the answer to their problems.
Interesting times are ahead in New Japan, where more than ever, the talent need to step up and show that they deserve to carry the flag of the promotion.
All Japan Pro Wrestling
AJPW held a show at Korakuen Hall on June 24th in front of 1,235 fans. The show featured a Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match and other important developments.
At the beginning of the show, Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Yuma Anzai, Junior Heavyweight Champion Rising HAYATO, Ren Ayabe, & Ryuki Honda came out and announced that their stable will officially be named “ELPIDA”, which is the Greek word for hope. They plan to bring hope back to All Japan Pro Wrestling. A great name for the faction feature four young talents that plan to carry All Japan in the next years.
A highlight of the show was the GAORA TV Title match between Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana, who in 12 minutes were able to tear the house down with a physical match full of desperation and great moments. Abe was able to defeat Seigo and win the GAORA TV Title and ended a surprisingly great run of Seigo, who continues to establish himself as a great midcard act in All Japan that always delivers regardless of the spot.
In the main event of the show, Yuma Anzai defeated Hideki Suzuki in a great match to retain the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. This was a rematch from the Champion Carnival match between the two, where Hideki was able to submit Anzai with a Single Leg Crab on the final day of the B Block to prevent the ‘Young Ace’ from advancing to the final.
Hideki, if motivated, is fantastic and he showed it in this match as he played the perfect veteran bully who worked all over Anzai and used his experience to get the advantage at every possible moment with his limb work. The crowd was fully behind Anzai, who had another tremendous underdog performance and survived every submission and lock of Hideki with his fire. The counters in this match were incredible, especially from Hideki, who always found a way to grab a limb of Anzai at every chance possible, which is what makes his such a fun and unpredictable wrestler on his day.
Yuma Anzai has been on a great run as Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion. His matches against Kento & Hideki Suzuki were incredible and elevated him. He rightfully is on top of AJPW. We throw around “once-in-a-lifetime talent” a lot, but that couldn’t be more accurate in this case. His next defence will be against Suwama on July 13th in Osaka. Another great outing is expected as the two have shown that they have great chemistry in their match during the Champion Carnival.
