I can’t praise this card enough, and it was an incredible way to kick off what will be an amazing couple of weeks for New Japan, and obviously for wrestling fans watching. The card built from bottom to top, and with only a few exceptions it felt like each match was getting incrementally better as they went on. I’m glad Yano and Suzuki went about two-minutes, as it was a nice way to lead into intermission, the live crowd popped for it, and as it was about 3:00am my time, I don’t think I could have hung on a minute more.
I like how much of an influence the Bullet Club has in this tournament. It gives the whole thing an overarching story, without being too ever-present to where it feels like it’s every single match. The big story is obviously Okada trying to win it all, in the hopes of getting another title shot against AJ Styles, which is something everyone is already invested in, or will be in two weeks time.
The second half of this tournament is, collectively, one of the best events of 2014 all on its own. Goto and Makabe worked a stiff old-school veteran style match, followed by the more high-flying styles of Honma and Tanahashi, and both matches were great. It takes a lot of work to pop a Japanese crowd – especially one that’s been sitting through so many good matches already, and are probably exhausted – but I can imagine its so much more rewarding when they’re hot throughout the entire event. Shibata and Nakamura are on par with Okada and Styles in my book, but the storyline aspect (or at least the one I’m aware of) gave the main event a slight edge in my opinion, but you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking the opposite.
I was a bit worried about the $160 price tag for this tournament, as I always am, and I’m still kicking myself for missing the $110 pre-order window, but if each event is at least half as good as Night One it will be worth twice that much.
