New Japan Pro Wrestling returned to Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan this Sunday with five championships on the line for SAKURA GENESIS. This was arguably the biggest single show since Wrestle Kingdom 11, with Kazuchika Okada putting the most prestigious title in pro wrestling today on the line against a true veteran, a man that should have been a legend long ago, and one of the most vicious fighters in the history of the business – Katsuyori Shibata.
For what appeared on paper to be a very top-heavy card, there really wasn’t a bad match anywhere on the show. The undercard certainly didn’t blow anyone away, but there were plenty of solid performances and some small surprises to set up the next few months of New Japan programming. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Juice Robinson, Ricochet and Yoshi-Hashi all got chances to step up in a big way, on a show where they weren’t really expected to have a major impact.
This was a surprisingly great event for the western babyfaces on the roster, which up until the last few years, weren’t really a common thing in New Japan. The history of Japanese wrestling is built upon the idea of the native super hero destroying western villains (even if their all-time great hero Rikidozan was himself a foreigner). Names like Michael Elgin have managed to find enormous success, and you can obviously see the way crowds want to get behind Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega. On this particular night, War Machine managed to take the heavyweight tag titles in a great match, with the big man Hanson getting some of the best reactions of the night. Ricochet also wowed the fans heading into the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, later establishing himself as the top contender to the juniors title. And most importantly, Juice Robinson continued his incredible rise from young lion to top star, pinning IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito to put himself in line for the biggest title shot of his career.
The one black spot on SAKURA GENESIS continues to be an overwhelming amount of Suzuki-Gun interference, specifically in ways that are at this point, blatantly unoriginal. I normally don’t have an issue with the repetitive antics of Taichi and Desperado during undercard matches; these bouts don’t really matter, serve to set up future programs, and they’re just trying to get their gimmicks over. But for those of us who remember Suzuki-Gun before they left New Japan, and who continued to watch Pro Wrestling NOAH during their era of dominance, this isn’t exactly uncharted territory. Where it became a bit much was during the NEVER Openweight Championship match, when the group ran in to ruin a bout on track to be one of the best of the year. I’ve always been of the mindset that taking away from one match just to build up another match that might be just as good – it’s kind of like cutting off your foot to help you run faster.
Ultimately this was a show filled with good matches from top to bottom, with a main event that in any other year would certainly be a lock for Match of the Year. But it also set up some intriguing matches heading into the summer, which will feature the Best of the Super Juniors tournament and the second biggest show of the year, Dominion. Before we get there, we have programs like Okada vs. Fale, Goto vs. Suzuki, and Juice vs. Naito to look forward to; maybe even Tama Tonga trying to retire a Tiger Mask! It had a couple disappointments here and there, but overall SAKURA GENESIS was a great show that felt like a stepping stone to a lot of bigger things still yet to come. But any time we get a match the quality of Okada and Shibata, there’s hardly room to complain.
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1. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] vs. Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask, Tiger Mask W & Togi Makabe. Nagata started the match out putting the boots to everyone, which broke down into a brawl on the outside with Takahashi using his cane to attack him. Bullet Club maintained control of Nagata for a good portion of the match until Makabe made the hot tag and cleaned house. Makabe and Tanga Loa had a really good back and forth with dozens of stiff lariats, rights and lefts, as they continue to try and make him the new powerhouse of the team. The obligatory 8-man brawl broke out with the babyfaces running a train of splashes into the corner on Tama, as Tiger Mask W launches himself onto the rest of the team with the Golden Triangle Moonsault. Tiger Mask hit a Tiger Driver on Tama but it was broken up by the rest of Bullet Club. He tried to fight back but couldn’t hold off against the numbers, and Tama Tonga picks up the win with a Gun Stun. [***1/2] This was a bit better, and went a little longer than your average multi-man tag opener. I enjoyed it for what it was, and it’s always good to see Tama Tonga picking up wins and separating himself from the pack. He tried to rip off Tiger Mask’s mask after the match and threatened to retire one of them, so it’ll be interesting to see if that goes anywhere. Perhaps a future Tama vs. Kota Ibushi program? I like Tanga Loa a lot more now that he has an established gimmick as the rock solid powerhouse of the group.
2. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado [Suzuki-Gun] vs. Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta & Yoshi-Hashi [Chaos]. Suzuki-Gun attacked before the bell as per usual, with Minoru using Yoshi-Hashi’s power pole. Trent started the match taking it to Desperado with a modified Northern Lights suplex off the ropes. Rocky tagged in and hit his never-ending clotheslines, trying to clear the apron, but Minoru trapped him in an armbar over the top rope. A brawl broke out as Minoru beat down Yoshi-Hashi in the crowd with a chair. Rocky threw kicks and chops at Minoru, who just absorbed the blows and laughed. Yoshi-Hashi eventually recovered and cleared the ring, trying to chip away at Suzuki as the leader just laughed at his attempt. Minoru caught him in a sleeper and tried for the Gotch-style Piledriver, but Rocky broke it up, and Yoshi-Hashi hit Karma on Michinoku for the upset win. Minoru couldn’t believe they lost and took a chair to all the young lions at ringside. [**1/2] Not a bad match, but nothing we haven’t seen a million times from Suzuki-Gun and Chaos already. It looks like they’re setting up Minoru vs. Yoshi-Hashi, but after what happens later in the night I’m not so sure that’s the case.
3. Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs. Gedo & Jado for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. The challengers locked in stereo crossfaces before the match even began. This turned into a brawl, and Gedo got leg dropped over the barricade into the fans. Desperado got involved from the start, distracting the referee so Taichi could attack Gedo with his bell hammer. Eventually Jado made the hot tag and took everyone down with clotheslines, and a big back suplex on Kanemaru. The advantage didn’t last long as the champs double team Jado, then continue to pick the bones of Gedo. Taichi tries for his top rope DDT but landed groin-first into a knee from the booker. Jado cleared the ring and put the crossface on Kanemaru, rolling the hold back into the middle of the ring; Taichi tries to make the save but Gedo puts him in a crossface as well. Before Suzuki-Gun could tap out, Desperado pulled the ref from the ring and went on the attack, prompting Rocky Romero and Trent to run down and even the odds. Jado hit the Hangman’s DDT for a very close nearfall, went back to the crossface, and had Kanemaru tapping out, but the valet was rolled into the ring to distract the referee. More antics from Desperado as Taichi assaulted both the challengers with his microphone stand. He laid out Jado with a superkick as Kanemaru hit a top rope moonsault, but somehow he kicked out at two-and-three-quarters. Jado took three kicks to the face, followed by the top rope DDT, and this time it’s enough to put him away. [***1/4] I seem to have enjoyed the match more than the general consensus on Twitter. It’s no secret that people are already bored with the Suzuki-Gun antics happening on every show (heck, if you watch NOAH you were probably bored of them a long time ago), but there were so many of them in this match I thought it created a nice struggle for Gedo and Jado to try and overcome. I had fun with it.
4. Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale vs. Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii. Yano tried to attack Fale from behind, but immediately regretted his decision and ran away screaming. He got blasted on the outside and barely made it back in before the count of 20. Bullet Club took turns picking apart Yano; Ishii tried to make the save, but Fale took him down with a single punch, looking like a monster. There was a bit of comedy early on as Kenny and Yano kept going after each other’s hair, prompting the referee to pull both guys apart by the hair. They each went for a turnbuckle and came out swinging, but Kenny accidentally hit his own partner. Ishii finally made the hot tag, and the “real” match began. Omega hit a hurricanrana on the big man, followed by the rolling slam into a second rope moonsault combo. He hit a snap dragon suplex and the V-Trigger, trying for the One Winged Angel, but with the referee distracted Yano crept back into the ring and caught him with a low blow. Ishii hit a big lariat for a close nearfall, but Fale splashed him into the exposed turnbuckle. Kenny hit a second V-Trigger, followed by a third with an exposed knee, then the One Winged Angel for the win. [***] I am of course happy that Kenny got his win back from the New Japan Cup, but we’re four months removed from his Wrestle Kingdom match and he’s become essentially an afterthought on these bigger cards since returning. He was the obvious focal point of this match, with Yano and Fale there to add their usual bit of comedy together we’ve seen a hundred times, but even if the plan is to have the rematch at Dominion in two months, are we going to care by the time we get there?
5. Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricochet & Juice Robinson [Taguchi Japan] vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Bushi & Sanada [Los Ingobernables de Japon]. The babyfaces ran a train on Bushi into the corner at the start of the match, then threw him into Taguchi’s rear. They tried to do the same thing to Sanada, but he dropkicked Taguchi to the floor. LIJ took turns picking apart the team captain, until Juice Robinson broke it up and got in Naito’s face. Ricochet finally made a hot tag and cleaned house in spectacular fashion. He evaded attacks from all four heels, planted Sanada with a DDT, lit up the others with spin kicks, used Naito to DDT Evil, hit a suicide dive to Bushi, then a tope con hilo to Naito and Evil, and finished it all up with a springboard elbow to Sanada. Just an incredible exchange. Tanahashi tagged in and hit double dragon screws on everyone, then came face to face with Evil in a heated exchange, throwing it back to their awesome New Japan Cup match. Tana had the advantage with his speed, but eventually got turned inside-out by a big lariat. Robinson tagged in and went right after Naito with a backbreaker into a Russian leg sweep, followed by a leaping senton for two. He tried for Pulp Friction on the champ, but LIJ hit the ring to break it up and clear the apron. This prompted the obligatory 8-man signature fest, with Tanahashi hitting the Slingblade on Naito, Evil with a lariat on Tanahashi, Ricochet with a spin kick to Evil, Bushi with a Codebreaker to Ricochet, Taguchi with the hip attack to Bushi, and Robinson lighting up Sanada with a huge spinebuster. Naito tried for a low blow, but Juice caught him with a massive lariat, followed by Pulp Friction! Juice Robinson pinned the champion! [****] This was so much better than I think anyone could have anticipated. Ricochet had the stand-out performance, which is crazy impressive given that I saw him in at least four matches during WrestleMania week that were even more insane, and then he got on a flight to Japan and did it again. Everyone put on a great performance with so much crammed into about 11 minutes. Juice Robinson got a huge reaction, picking up the biggest win of his career, and will move on to face Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. In 2017 alone, since joining the main roster, he has wrestled his Tokyo Dome moment, fought Goto for the NEVER title, and is now in line for a shot at the second most important championship on the roster against the most popular star going today. Is it even a discussion at this point which company has the better developmental program?
6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. War Machine for the IWGP Tag Team Championships. Rowe and Tenzan start things out, colliding in the middle of the ring over and over, neither gaining any ground. Kojima tags in and gets picked apart by the much bigger challengers. The beatdown goes on for about five minutes – at one point Rowe just picked up his partner and threw him on top of Kojima – until the champ hit a DDT and made the hot tag to his partner. Tenzan went right after Rowe with headbutts and lariats in the corner, who fired back with knee strikes. Tenzan caught him in the Anaconda Vice, Hanson came in to break it up with a kick to the head, but Tenzan just stared at him like it didn’t effect him at all. The match devolved into a four-way brawl with Tencozy hitting Rowe with the 3D, and Hanson accidentally splashing his partner from the top rope. Hanson threw both guys into the corner and hit a series of about a dozen running splashes, back and forth, that got the crowd fired up. He went up to the top rope but missed on a huge moonsault. The crowed absolutely loved Hanson at this point, as he leapt over the top rope with ease, hit an assisted powerslam on Kojima, then did a suicide dive to the floor on Tenzan. Rowe hit the Death Rowe on Kojima, but he fired back with a head of steam and hit a lariat that dropped the big man on his neck, taking both guys down. Kojima tried for another lariat, but got caught with a German suplex, a stiff knee to the jaw, and War Machine hit Fallout for the win. New champions! Just an awesome, hard-hitting match. Everyone was over, but Hanson was definitely the crowd-favorite and looked like a major star by the end of the match. Tencozy shook hands with the new champions after the match, and asked for one more shot at the titles. [****] Another really great match, ending with western stars getting great reactions for beating hugely popular Japanese stars. If there’s anything Michael Elgin has taught us it’s that Japanese fans love big, meaty western wrestlers that can throw around all their favorite champions, and War Machine has been getting consistently good reactions. Hanson looked like a massive star, showing off his power and strength, but getting huge pops for flying around the ring like a cruiserweight. I’m excited to see them potentially sticking around for the long haul. They’ll do well here.
7. Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The match starts with a slow exchange of holds, as Sabre has the obvious advantage on the ground, but Goto hangs in there with him and trades grapple for grapple. Sabre made the mistake of throwing a kick, which enters Goto’s realm as he lights the Brit up with elbows. Zack manages to get control back and goes back to the submissions, picking apart every individual spot on the champ’s body, from his ankle to his finger tips. Just buttery smooth transitions, from hold to hold. They play up that Goto may have a dislocated shoulder, and give him a few seconds to breath, but Zack goes right back after him with a mounted front choke, hammering away at the shoulder. Goto hit a lariat in the corner and fired up, going to the top rope for an elbow drop, but Zack caught him out of the air with an armbar. He transitioned into butterfly lock, then started going after the individual arms, then the wrists, until the champion got to the ropes. They go back and forth with kicks, but everything Goto tries gets blocked and turned into another submission. Goto caught him with the Ushigoroshi out of nowhere, but Desperado ran down and distracted the referee, as Minoru Suzuki came from behind and put him in the sleeper. Goto fought out of the Gotch-style piledriver, hit Minoru with the Ushigoroshi, cleared Desperado from the ring, but Sabre caught him in the armbar. Goto fought out of it, hit the GTR on Sabre, and picked up the win to retain the title. After the match Minoru got back in the ring and beat the hell out of the champion. [***3/4] I was so frustrated and disappointed when Suzuki-Gun hit the ring. I’m fine with their antics in the undercard where it doesn’t really matter, and it’s just characters trying to get their gimmicks over, but the first 90% of this match was some of the best work I’ve seen in a very long time. Goto and Sabre worked so smoothly together, and I could have watched this go another 20 minutes easily. I don’t have a problem with Minoru vs. Goto being the next title program, and in fact that sounds incredible, but why sacrifice an incredible match in the making just to set up another match down the road? It didn’t even make sense having them get involved after one move from Goto, as Sabre had completely controlled the entire match with pure dominance. I can’t take too much away from the final score because the bulk of it was still very, very good, but the finish and creative decisions took the wind out of my sails and really killed the flow of this show for me.
8. Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. KUSHIDA for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. KUSHIDA launched himself off the top rope taking them both into the barricade as Takahashi was making his entrance. This was not your normal happy-go-lucky KUSHIDA, but the more aggressive warrior we’ve seen over the past few months. He set the champion in a chair and got a running start for a huge dropkick that sent them back into the barricade a second time. They rolled into the ring to start the match officially, and KUSHIDA went right into the Hoverboard Lock trying to end it early. Takahashi fought out of it into the ropes, and sent the challenger crashing into the floor with a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron. He rolled KUSHIDA back into the ring and dropped him with the Time Bomb, a Death Valley Driver into the turnbuckle, and a second Time Bomb for the shocking pinfall in less than two minutes. Ricochet hit the ring after the match and issued a challenge for the belt. [n/a] What a powerful statement that Takahashi is here to stay. KUSHIDA has been the standard bearer for the juniors division for a long time, and he came out in a totally different, more vicious zone – and then got destroyed. Best of the Super Juniors is going to be very interesting this year…
9. Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Much like the NEVER title match earlier in the night, this started with Shibata in total control of the champion with amateur holds. Okada eventually escaped to the outside clutching his shoulder. When they locked up again Okada took more offense with a body scissors and a few other holds, but again Shibata easily took over and countered every attempt back into a side headlock or a heel hook. The champ backed him into the corner and took his time, but did not make a clean break and fired off with a series of cheap elbows, prompting a chorus of boos from the fans. Shibata cornered him and let fly his own flurry of elbows. The two came face to face in the ring and started trading stiff elbow shots back and forth; the challenger got the better of it yet again, and just pummeled Okada with a dozen elbow shots. He locked a modified Figure Four, slowing cranking away with subtle variations, and tried to for a surfboard stretch but couldn’t maintain it. Shibata went up to the top rope, but Okada fired up out of nowhere with his signature dropkick. He followed up, clotheslining his opponent over the barricade into one of the camera guys, then draped him over the railing and connected with a Hangman’s DDT. Finally in control, Okada took things back into the ring and hit a running knee and threw a few hard elbows into the corner. Shibata defiantly walked out of the corner and told the champ to hit him; Okada did, multiple times, but the challenger shook it off and destroyed him with an elbow of his own. Shibata went wild with elbows and kicks, throwing him into the corner and hitting a big hesitation dropkick. He took him to the outside and hit another hesitation dropkick, this time Okada’s head smashing into the barricade. Back in the ring Okada tried to crawl back to the ropes, but Shibata just kicked him away. The champ connected with a big boot out of nowhere, hit a DDT and a running forearm for a two-count. He tried for the Tombstone, Shibata countered looking for a sleeper, but Okada planted him with a flapjack instead. The champion took to the skies and connected with a top rope elbow drop! He signaled for the Rainmaker, but the challenger ducked under it and hit an STO; both men down. On their knees they go back to trading hard elbow shots, then get to their feet, foreheads pressed together, and continue firing off with elbows. Okada staggers, then recovers with another elbow; Shibata staggers, then does the same. Okada lays in with a series of uppercuts, then goes back to the apron and connects with a springboard dropkick. He tries for a cover, but Shibata kicks out a two and immediately traps him in an armbar! He cranks back on the hold, with Okada screaming out in pain, until the champ desperately makes it to the ropes. Shibata is now infuriated, and starts punting his arm over and over again, but he shows arrogance and slaps the back of his head hard. Okada got right back up…then sat down cross-legged, mocking the challenger’s signature pose. Shibata joined him on the mat and they went back and forth with slaps across the face and to the chest, until Okada threw him into the corner and just destroyed him with kick after kick; but Shibata did the exact same, trapping him in the ropes and kicking away at the back of the head! Standing dropkick by Okada out of nowhere, and both guys are dead on the mat. Okada caught him with a seated dropkick, but he sat back up. Another dropkick, but Shibata no-sells it and dumps Okada on his head with a German suplex! Okada gets right back up and hits a kick, and a German suplex of his own! Another Rainmaker attempt, but Shibata kicks his arm out; Okada holds onto it and connects with the Rainmaker, but Shibata just stands there and powers through! Challenger with a huge headbutt, and a trickle of blood starts running down his forehead. Shibata locks in the Octopus stretch and cranks away on it for several minutes, pulling it back to the middle of the ring several times, but after screaming out in agony the challenger barely gets his foot on the bottom rope to break it. Shibata immediately hits a penalty kick to the chest, then puts the sleeper on – Okada tries to fight out of it, standing up over and over again, but fades out as Shibata drops him on his head with a back suplex. Shibata grabs the wrist and goes for the Rainmaker, but instead slaps the champion in the face as hard as he can, and then levels him with a half dozen of the stiffest kicks to the chest that I have ever seen. Okada refuses to stay down, and he continues with another dozen brutal kicks. He sets up for the PK, but Okada catches him with the Rainmaker! He holds onto the wrist, goes for it again, but this time it’s Okada who fires off with a few kicks of his own, then connects with a third Rainmaker… then a fourth Rainmaker… and it’s finally over. [*****] There is a very real moment about 30 minutes into this match that I was so drawn in, I felt like I was watching the most brutal, unsanctioned UFC-style fight of all time, between two men that were legitimately trying to murder each other. Katsuyori Shibata is the irresistible force – Kazuchika Okada is the immovable object. We just found out who won. But “winning” isn’t even the right term exactly; these men SURVIVED a war. It’s possible Shibata may never win the world title now, not with so many ready to control the next generation of top New Japan talents, but we’ve now seen what he can do when he approaches the mountaintop. With this win, Okada may have established one of the greatest reigns in IWGP Heavyweight Championship history. Marufuji. Omega. Suzuki. Shibata. He has racked up classic after classic, every defense a potential Match of the Year candidate. The scariest thing about him is that Okada is still getting better. He may not even be in his prime. I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone thought this match was better than the “six star” bout with Kenny Omega, and while overwhelmingly the response was “no”, the fact that 15% of over 300 people thought it was means you NEED to go out of your way to see this.
