McXal's Reviews

Road Rage in Japan continues this week as we take another look at Honor Rising weekend from back in February. Last week the TV Title changed hands, so anything really could happen. And by ‘anything’, I of course mean ‘anything that actually did happen in February when they taped it’. We journey back to the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, JP. Kevin Kelly and Mr Wrestling III provide taped commentary.

Here we have the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and ROH Champion locking horns in tag team competition. Okada has CHAOS stable-mate Yoshi-Hashi partnering up with him, whereas Lethal has recruited the leader of Los Ingobernables to tag up. The pairing of the House Of Truth (i.e. Lethal and Truth Martini) with LIJ is hugely entertaining. Naito has BUSHI and EVIL at ringside with him, and his entrance includes antagonising Milano Collection AT (who is on commentary, for what I presume is Japanese TV since it’s not available on NJPW World). Given that Truth Martini and Gedo are also at ringside, there are a lot of combustible personalities surrounding the ring now!

Okada and Lethal start, which feels rather significant. The IWGP Champion controls the pace but finds himself unable to shake the talented top dog from ROH…who goes right to the Lethal Injection and comes perilously close to eating the Rainmaker as punishment. It’s a legitimately high quality couple of minutes which comes to an end all too quickly to make way for Naito and Yoshi. Lethal and the LIJ members at ringside lure Hashi to the floor…where Jay can wipe him out with a tope suicida. Naito and Lethal have an odd, intense dynamic as partners…but find a way to work in unison as they beat Hashi down. Finally the CHAOS member tags out after a Codebreaker on Naito, bringing in Okada to rip into both the heels. Naito bails to avoid the flying elbow drop and returns to drop the champ with a tornado DDT. Lethal heads upstairs for his version of the flying elbow – Hail To The King – but finds Okada in place to block it. Lethal Combination instead for 2! He then accidentally superkicks his own partner, leaving the way clear for Okada to take his head off with the big dropkick. Head Hunter by Hashi, into the Bunker Buster for 2. Martini hands Lethal the Book Of Truth, but he is attacked by Yoshi before he can use it. Evil shoves Yoshi off the top rope, leaving him in position for the Lethal Injection! The ROH Champion pins Hashi at 13:02

Rating - ** - Lethal and Naito were so entertaining as a team that they were more over as babyfaces than Okada. The match itself was largely filler content as you might expect. The valuable commodities (Naito and Okada) were heavily protected by the New Japan office, meaning the whole match had a sizeable ‘B-show’ aura it never quite escaped – but Lethal looked good and genuinely came across as a star, which is vitally important for Ring Of Honor and their champion. 

Kaz was a late replacement for Adam Cole on this tour, with the latter dropping out due to family issues. This is a significant match though, as it pits Frankie against the regular Japanese partner of his current ROH rival Alex Shelley – fellow Time Splitter, Kushida. At this point Kushida is now acknowledged as one of the finest junior workers on the planet, and he has some big matches lined up for his forthcoming tour of ROH. He’ll want to lay down a marker with a win in his home country.

Kushida annoys the Frankie because he is too quick and too skilled for him in the early minutes. Every approach Kaz tries is emphatically countered or negated by the outstanding Japanese athlete…until Frankie goes old-school and opts to start kicking and punching for all he is worth. Next he pokes him in the eyes and plants him on the canvas with a slingshot DDT. He celebrates that with some mid-ring posing which is supposed to be funny but gets met with total, uniform and utter silence from the confused Japanese audience – it comes off as unintentionally hilarious. He recovers quickly to drop Kushida with a hanging lungblower out of the corner for 2 though. A spectacular springboard dropkick brings Kushida back into things, before he scales the ropes for the SOMERSAULT SENTON TO THE FLOOR! Madness, and when Frankie tries to re-enter with another slingshot Kushida lies in wait to lock in the cross armbreaker! He looks for the Tajiri-style handspring elbow, which is a move he has done his whole career meaning Kazarian has it scouted and counters with an ocean cyclone suplex. In turn Kushida blocks trademark Kazarian move the Flux Capacitor with a FLYING HOVERBOARD LOCK! Kick to the arm…into the Hoverboard Lock again! Kazarian taps at 09:45

Rating - *** - I’d read some less than enthusiastic things about this match, but I thought they struck a great tone (for a low key house show). Frankie was made to look a fool by the exceptional Kushida, and his only viable tactic was to make it an American-style, ‘sports-entertainment’-esque fight. The kick/punch/cheat-heavy style which wasn’t necessarily compelling viewing but was completely logical. I loved that they countered each other’s long-time signature spots (I always dig familiarity countering) and the finish was spectacular. 

Mark Briscoe walks the streets of Tokyo looking for Godzilla, taking time to mock Japanese culture and make fun of the local cuisine too. It was meant in good spirit…but this all came off as uncomfortably racist in my opinion. 

We’ll see six world class wrestlers perform for us in this match. The Bucks and reDRagon have a lot of history with (and have traded titles with) each other across both promotions, so neither team will want to give an inch in their ongoing rivalry. Teaming with them are top drawer singles stars Shibata and Omega. ‘The Cleaner’ was really about to get red hot in New Japan having just orchestrated the ejection of AJ Styles from the Bullet Club and assumed his place as the new ‘leader’. 

Omega disrespectfully slaps Shibata, igniting a six-way brawl before the bell even rings. Instantly those two brawl off into the crowd as inside the ring reDRagon try to snap the Bucks’ arms with stereo cross armbreakers. Omega back in…but Shibata dives in as well with an armbar to cut him off! STEREO TOPE SUICIDAS by the Bucks! RISE OF THE TERMINATOR by Omega! The Elite isolate Fish whilst both his partners struggle to recover on the floor after those dives. He survives though, and brings O’Reilly in after suplexing one Jackson brother into the other. Two Man Smash Machine gets 2 on Matt! Nick saves his brother from Chasing The Dragon, before we get more of Omega and Shibata beating the sh*t out of each other. Shibata looks for his Sleeper, but the Bucks run in and break it. SUPERKICK PARTY knocks Shibata back…TRIPLE SUPERKICK COMBO knocks him down! TORNADO DDT TO THE FLOOR from Nick to Fish! O’Reilly hits the double dragon screw on both Bucks! Nick then accidentally Superkicks Kenny in the face! DOUBLE REBOUND MCLARIAT by Kyle! V-TRIGGER BY KENNY! ONE-WINGED ANGEL COUNTERED TO A FRONT CHOKE! SLEEPER BY SHIBATA! Matt finally breaks O’Reilly’s hold by spraying a substance in his eyes, out of sight of the official. POP-UP INDYTAKER! DEAD-LIFT F*CKING ONE-WINGED ANGEL! The Elite win at 10:18

Rating - **** - It wasn’t particularly substantive, but the Young Bucks and reDRagon are so adept at working this sprint/spot-fest style that even ‘toning it down’ they are light years ahead of so many others. Omega and Shibata were the star turns of course, with Kenny looking totally at home with his new, elevated top billing. His composure (and raw effing strength) to salvage the final spot from disaster was seriously impressive too.

Tape Rating - *** - Not as good as last week, and there was less ‘effort’ made to make this a different production from the New Japan version of the event. I really didn’t like Mark Briscoe’s culturally insensitive walking tour of Tokyo, and there was nothing as good as Strong/Ishii in terms of in-ring content. I said last week it was critical that they got one of The Elite’s trios matches on these Road Rage episodes though, and the main event was as much fun to watch here as it was when I reviewed the full events. It also introduces Shibata to the US audience ahead of him coming to the States later in the year. One certainly can’t deny that these episodes feel totally different and fresh compared to ROH’s usual taping format.