LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS AROUND 11:30 PST. KEEP REFRESHING THE PAGE FOR UPDATES!
1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (c) vs. Kota Ibushi & El Desperado
The Young Bucks dominated early on. Ibushi had a great hot tag sequence that looked smooth and fantastic. They traded near falls down the stretch but the Bucks were able to retain clean via More Bang For Your Buck on El Desperado. This was really good.
Winners: Still IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks
2. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
This was okay. It felt like they were going through the motions. There was nothing really memorable about this match. It does seem like they are building towards a singles match between Suzuki and Sakuraba down the line. A singles match between those two would garner a lot of interest I would think. Makabe, Nagata and Sakuraba get the win when Taichi tapped out to the Kimura Lock applied by Sakuraba.
Winners: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba
3. NWA World Tag Team Title: Rob Conway & Jax Dane(c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
This match wasn’t that good. Jax Dane is still very green in the ring and Conway is not that over in NJPW. Everything was standard up until the finish. Bruce Tharpe attempted to interfere but the ref stopped it. There was some tag miscommunication when Dane speared Conway by mistake taking out Conway for the rest of the match. Kojima hit the Lariat then Tenzan hit the moonsault press for the win to become NEW NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS to a surprisingly big crowd pop. The last thirty seconds were the best and only parts you need to watch.
Winners: NEW NWA World Tag Team Champions TenKoji
4. Wrestling vs. Jiu-jitsu MMA Fight: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka vs. Daniel Gracie & Rolles Gracie
This was weird. It was very sports entertainment but the Gracie’s had no idea how to brawl. At one point one of the Gracie’s was handcuffed to the rail and had to be cut free for the hot tag. Yano and Iizuka pulled lots of smoke and mirrors here to make the Gracie’s look good. The Gracie’s won with a single leg lock submission on Iizuka. This wasn’t that good and at times made the Gracie’s look completely clue less when brawling on the outside.
Winners: Daniel and Rolles Gracie
5. Special Singles Match: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Prince Devitt
I’m still not sure this match is “Loser Leaves Town” as it was just announced as a “Special Singles Match”. They played a great hype video before where they should Devitt turning on Taguchi exactly one year ago at Invasion Attack 2013 to start the whole Bullet Club angle. Devitt is rocking the black body war paint again. At the start, the Bucks tried to interfere but Devitt told them to “stay away” and not to interfere. Later on the Bucks pulled out Taguchi and started to beat on him. Devitt got pissed and shoved the Bucks. The Bucks turned on Devitt and began to attack him! Devitt responded with a dive on the Bucks on the outside. The match continued on one and one. The match finished hot down the stretch as they exchanged close near falls kicking out of each others finishers. Taguchi busted out a torture rack version of his finisher the Dodon for the win. Very interesting turn of events with the Young Bucks turning on Devitt. Was this Devitt’s farewell? We’ll see.
Winner: Ryusuke Taguchi
6. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
This was nothing special. Okada won with the Rainmaker on Tonga as you’d expect. What happened afterward was the most important part. AJ Styles came out and attacked Okada! He delivered the Styles Clash and he called Okada a “young boy” and said he wants the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Styles then took off his jacket to reveal a Bullet Club shirt! AJ Styles is the newest member of Bullet Club! This a a HUGE shake up in the heavyweight division for NJPW. I am really excited for what’s to come from these two.
Winners: Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI
7. NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
This match was great and best match of the show so far. It almost reached the level of their first mach back in February, but still excellent none the less. Naito took some sick lariats from Ishi in this match. These two just have great chemistry in the ring together. They both did the spot where they kicked out at one after a big move. They exchanged germans and head butts but Naito was never able to hit the Stardust press. Ishi was able to hit the Brainbuster for the win. With this loss, maybe this will make Naito move up and start challenging for the IWGP Intercontinental Title instead. Great match from these two.
Winner: Still NEVER Openweight Champion: Tomohiro Ishi
8. IWGP Tag Team Title: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata
The first half started out slow and uninteresting. The last five minutes were good with some close near falls making you think a title change was coming. It was after a series of counters and a Gun Stun from Anderson to setup the Magic Killer on Goto for the win. The timing seemed to be a little off at times, but a good final five minute stretch.
Winners: Still IWGP Tag Team Champions Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows
9. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
This match started out slow, but with a purpose. Tanahashi acted heel throughout the match which was surprising. The story of the match was Tanahashi working Nakamura’s left knee. Tanahashi dominated the first half with strong leg work. The second half told the story of Nakamura fighting through the pain in order to come back and hit a Boma-Ye to the back of the head, a sliding Boma-Ye and a regular Boma-Ye to finally put down Tanahashi and regain the IWGP Intercontinetal Title. The Gracie’s came out after the match and I think Daniel Gracie challenged for the Intercontinental Title. Sakuraba comes out too. I believe they setup a IC title match with one of the Gracie’s and a future tag match with The Gracie’s against Sakuraba and Nakamura.
Winner: NEW IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION Shinsuke Nakamura
This show was good but not great. The angles were really the most important things to remember here. It seems Prince Devitt is out of the Bullet Club and possible out of NJPW as well. AJ Styles literally invaded and attacked here at Invasion Attack and it seems as though he has immediately replaced Prince Devitt as the leader of the Bullet Club. Styles/Okada will be incredible, so I can’t wait for that. It also seems the Gracie experiment will continue and they’re hoping Nakamura can pull a rabbit out of a hat for them. We’ll see how that goes. Overall I give this show a 7.5/10.
