And so New Japan is back.
Sad to see their premature return meaning that they have to earn Promotion of the Year the old fashioned way instead of by default now. Seems like it’s only ROH that has any claim to POTY by default right now but they don’t get any credit because I don’t really care about anything they’re putting out right now.
But yes, New Japan is back and, as is tradition, rather than do anything particularly big and special, it’s just back to business with your standard six and eight-man tags up and down the card. Why do anything grand when the largest fanbase in Japan has been waiting with bated breath anyway?
All that aside, they did manage to put together this delightful looking six man tag on paper and it certainly delivered. Naito gets to wrestle in a shirt for the duration of the match and isn’t trusted to do much except to have a charming little mini-rematch with Kazu at the opening. Okada himself has the weird distinction of having to perform the hot tag which is definitely not his strong suit. I hardly like his comeback sequence in singles matches but in a tag match playing to an empty building, it has a much steeper mountain to climb.
Luckily for the CHAOS side of things, SHO is there. What a performance he put in here tonight. Went toe to toe with old rival Shingo with the two trading some gnarly strikes and both bumping incredibly well for each other’s lariats. Shingo gets the early advantage which leads into an LIJ control segment that allows SHO to display some really strong selling. Great balance for the guy to be able to play a larger junior heavyweight bruiser while still looking vulnerable when being worked over. Very excited for his rematch with Shingo in the New Japan Cup.
Hiromu gets a good showing in as well, displaying some really nice aggression while working over SHO but this match was about Shingo and SHO for the most part. Outside of those two, the match’s best asset was its timing. It went home right as it peaked and it never got too long in the tooth. Just a fun six man tag with some tantalizing exchanges to prime us for the New Japan Cup.
