NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2014

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2014NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2014

By Big Red Machine
From May 03, 2014
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NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2014 (5/3/2014)- Fukuoka, Japan

CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN, EL DESPERADO, BUSHI, & MASCARA DORADO vs. HIROYOSHI TENZAN, KUSHIDA, YOHEI KOMATSU, & TIGER MASK IV- 4/10

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Young Bucks(c) vs. Forever Hooligans- 7.25/10

TORU YANO & TAKASHI IIZUKA vs. MINORU SUZUKI & SHELTON BENJAMIN (w/TAKA Michinoku & Taichi)- DUD!
Did we really need interference and weapons here? Could we not have the semi-relevant heels get a clean win over the undercard heels who haven’t done anything at all in years? Is that really too much to ask? In fact, by brawling with the in the crowd during their entrance, Shelton and Suzuki probably stopped Iizuka from tormenting that announcer he always torments, so that almost makes them babyfaces.
I mean really! Why can’t Iizuka take a clean loss? Yeah he and Yano had a tag title reign in 2012, but they didn’t even successfully defend the belts! Aside from that, when was the last time he was relevant? The 90’s?
Anyway, the referee also sucked here, as he clearly saw Iizuka use a foreign object to choke Suzuki and didn’t call for a DQ. He also saw Suzuki handcuff Yano to the ropes, which should probably be a DQ. Finally, after Suzuki throws him around a few times, does the ref decide to call for a DQ> I don’t know what they’re trying to build to here, but I do know that I don’t give a sh*t about it.

NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Satoshi Kojima(c) (Hiroyoshi Tenzan) vs. Wes Brisco (w/Bruce Tharpe)- 4.25/10
Brisco works over Kojima’s leg a lot. Possibly the best match I’ve ever seen from him.

HIROOKI GOTO & KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI- 6.5/10

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kota Ibushi(c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi- 7.25/10
I liked it a lot. Crowd was surprisingly quiet.

NEVER OPENWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Tomohiro Ishii(c) vs. Tomoaki Honma- 6/10
Honma was working over Ishii’s shoulder and Ishii was selling it very well. They even did a spot where Ishii threw a lariat, but couldn’t capitalize because of the pains in his shoulder. Then, right after that spot, he through THREE STRAIGHT LARIATS (while also getting lariated himself)… and didn’t sell it at all! He then had no problem lifting Honma up for a brainbuster… but when Honma gave him a reverse piledriver, he started selling his shoulder again. So after not selling his shoulder for a while, he starts selling his shoulder after getting dropped on his head? WHAT THE F*CK?!
There was some very good stuff in here, but stuff like the above just completely takes me out of matches.

ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makbe, Tetsuya Naito, & Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. The Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows, & Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson)- 6.25/10
Tanahashi and Makabe survive, working together to eliminate the tag champs, further building them up for a title shot.

POST- MATCH SEGMENT- Makabe and Tanahashi ask for an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Title shot. That makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is Shibata and Goto also coming out and asking for one when they just lost a tag title match to these same champs last month.

MMA MATCH: Daniel & Rolles Gracie vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazushi Sakuraba- 5.25/10
Not soo much action, but they made their big spots feel really big.

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Kazuchikla Okada(c) vs. AJ Styles (w/the Bullet Club)- 7.75/10
A great match, but disappointing considering its place. AJ wins when Yujiro Takahashi turns on Okada, joining the Bullet Club.

A pretty good show from New Japan, although the main event was disappointing considering all the hype for it.

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