New Japan TV

Taped 6/20/09

New Japan continues their war with NOAH, and Tanahashi gets a chance to right the horrible wrong from the previous month.

GO SHIOZAKI vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA

Far too little of this is shown, and the match in its entirety is only about eight and a half minutes. We’re only treated to a few of the cooler looking spots, which portray how much of a dick Shiozaki is being, such as the running knee to the head while Okada is laying across the apron, as well as some typical young lion stuff from Okada. Okada throws forearms and Shiozaki and just when he seems to be making a little progress, Shiozaki hits a big chop and sends him back to square one. Okada surprisingly kicks out of the lariat, but Shiozaki just stoically picks him up and hits the Go Flasher to put him away. This obviously wasn’t going to be on the level of Jumbo/Kobashi from May ‘91 or Kawada/Akiyama from the ‘95 Champions Carnival, or really even your average Flair/Hometown guy NWA Title match from the ‘80's, if for no other reason than Shiozaki was only GHC Champion by circumstance, rather than him being a legit top guy. It was fun enough to watch, but that’s all that can really be said, with how little was shown.

TAKASHI SUGIURA vs. HIROOKI GOTO

This is also heavily clipped, damnit! It’s not even fifteen minutes in full, the world must really need to see the entire Nakanishi/Tanahashi match. Hopefully somewhere down the line an NJ/NOAH 2009 feud compilation will surface with this stuff shown in full. Just about the only nice thing to see here was one of the first things shown, Sugiura and Goto do a sequence of ducking lariats and blocking Irish whips, and they have quite a few go arounds with it, until Sugiura outsmarts Goto and hits the spear. Most of the clips are just shots of various spots, Goto hits the Shouten for a near fall, Sugiura tries to tap him out with the ankle lock, and he winds up winning after two Olympic Slams. I suppose it’s worth nothing that his win here was the start of Sugiura climbing the proverbial mountain, but hindsight shows that beating Goto doesn’t mean as much as it seemed to at this point.

Well, no, I guess the world didn’t need to see the entire match. It’s clearly not thirty-one minutes, but they did a great job with the editing because I wasn’t able to tell exactly where they clipped it. This isn’t bad, mostly thanks to Tanahashi. Nakanishi’s performance is just as inconsistent and erratic as the way he’s been booked for the last six or seven years. He’s good at putting over how Tanahashi is having success by working his knee over, his selling is usually good and his reaction when Tanahashi grabs his leg for a Dragon screw is hilarious. But he’s just as often to be found doing goofy things like falling backwards before Tanahashi can do the Dragon screw and using his knee for offense, without selling, it’s especially glaring when he does a gutbuster like it’s nothing. Some will like this just for Nakanishi digging out some fresh spots, he actually does a dive to the floor and pulls out a missile dropkick, but they’re there to be there, not to further any sort of story.

The best way to sum up Tanahashi’s performance is that he does his best with what he’s given. They work a few spots early to make it clear that Tanahashi isn’t going to be able to have his way with Nakanishi due to the size and power advantage, and Tanahashi’s only viable chance to win runs through his ability to take out the knee. Tanahashi is no better nor worse than he usually is at taking out someone’s knee, although he lacks the heelish edge that he’s shown previously. It doesn’t help that his Texas Cloverleaf is less a knee submission and more Tanahashi holding him in place for a headstand. Like Nakanishi, Tananhashi’s best stuff is his selling, he’s great at getting over how Nakanishi’s power is bleeding him dry, especially when he’s stuck in the Argentine Backbreaker. There’s a great moment later on when Nakanishi attempts the German suplex that won him the title and Tanahashi blocks and throws back his head to counter it. There are a couple of other nice moments, such as the Sling Blade counter to the Argentine Backbreaker, but the best stuff is the leg work. The finish is the usual annoying affair with Tanahashi getting the pin after two High Fly Flows. I guess it’s plausible to think that taking out Nakanishi’s knee keeps from avoiding the splash or putting up knees to block it, but I still wish he’d either just do it once or at least aim it for the leg area.

Conclusion: The NJ/NOAH stuff looked promising, but was far too clipped up to tell. Nakanishi/Tanahashi II wasn’t eye gouging horrible, which might be a miracle in itself, but that’s the best thing to say about it. No reason to go out of your way for this stuff.