NJPW NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING 2010 DVD VHS
Shin Nihon Puroresu Videos ISO


NJPW WRESTLING KINGDOM IV in TOKYO DOME DVD 1/4/10
-3hr 25min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

New Japan Pro-Wrestling 10 Beginning: Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Kazuchika Okada 4:59

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title ~Amistad combativa~: Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Averno 9:07

IWGP Tag Title - 3WAY Hardcore Rules Match ~Victim and Greed~: Brother Ray & Brother Devon vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito 13:28

Wrestle Kingdom Special Tag Match ~Blood Stream Blue~: Yuji Nagata & Akebono vs. TAJIRI & Masato Tanaka 9:37

Wrestle Kingdom Special 8 Man Tag Match ~The legend never rots~: Terry Funk & Riki Choshu & Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii 8:52

NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Wilderness~: Togi Makabe vs. Mohammed Yone 5:39

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title ~Highest sky~: Tiger Mask vs. Naomichi Marufuji 14:14

NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Radiance~: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki 19:04

GHC Heavyweight Title - NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Blast~: Takashi Sugiura vs. Hirooki Goto 20:54

IWGP Heavyweight Title - The newest & The strongest: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 15:51

NJPW WRESTLING KINGDOM IV in TOKYO DOME PPV 1/4/10
-4hr. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

New Japan Pro-Wrestling 10 Beginning: Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Kazuchika Okada 4:59

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title ~Amistad combativa~: Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Averno 9:07

IWGP Tag Title - 3WAY Hardcore Rules Match ~Victim and Greed~: Brother Ray & Brother Devon vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito 13:28

Wrestle Kingdom Special Tag Match ~Blood Stream Blue~: Yuji Nagata & Akebono vs. TAJIRI & Masato Tanaka 9:37

Wrestle Kingdom Special 8 Man Tag Match ~The legend never rots~: Terry Funk & Riki Choshu & Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii 8:52

NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Wilderness~: Togi Makabe vs. Mohammed Yone 5:39

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title ~Highest sky~: Tiger Mask vs. Naomichi Marufuji 14:14

NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Radiance~: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki 19:04. Ridiculously, this classic between the rival promotions current generation aces was only 3rd from top, but they didn't let that keep them from their rightful place at the top of the best match list. Crafting a highly intense life or death struggle, or in other words exactly what a major interpromotional match should be, Tanahashi & Shiozaki tore down the house with a match impossible for the next two to even hope to follow. Both men were at the top of their game and gave their all, with the crowd was going nuts throughout. To a large extent it was Tanahashi's knee attack vs. Go's chops, but Tanahashi tends to go for exciting and entertaining the crowd at the Tokyo Dome, so they mixed enough other moves and elements that stylistically it managed to come off as more of a desperate, back and forth sprint. Tanahashi did a great job of putting over the impact of Go's chops early, trying to match one with a series of elbows, but having Go brush them off and chop him over the top to the floor. It was a very high impact match, but I liked that they were able to keep it from being all about the chops. Though Go had his Kobashiesque run of them, generally he instead used just 1 to set up an (attempted) comeback or big move, getting countered if he tried for any more. Tanahashi attacked Go's knee early, and this worked brilliantly because they were able to organically go away from it while coming back to it with a single move at crucial times (Tanahashi's comeback, to explain go not being able to mount an offensive after getting his knees up for the high fly flow, to justify the sloppy cover after the moonsault, and finally as the reason Go couldn't get up quick enough to avoid the two high fly flows that beat him). So while the knee attack wasn't as big a part of the match time wise as in their 7/10/10 NOAH rematch, which had better psychology but lacked aura, intensity, and really anything to make it a special match, that was simply because they used it wisely as the catalyst for much of what Tanahashi did while those timely if sometimes a bit contrived spots ultimately freed them up to do a lot of other things, still telling the same basic story but not beating it to death. Though Go lost here and won in his home promotion, this was the much more competitive contest of the two, with Go playing even throughout as they traded their stiffest blows and best moves until his knee finally betrayed him. ****1/4

GHC Heavyweight Title - NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Blast~: Takashi Sugiura vs. Hirooki Goto 20:54

IWGP Heavyweight Title - The newest & The strongest: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 15:51. Nakamura may be one of the best wrestlers, but he still needs something to work with, and Takayama was little more than an out of shape warm body that couldn't bend at the waist. Takayama was supposed to be giving Nakamura a merciless beating, but basically the match was just Nakamura standing or laying around letting Takayama hit him with a lot of strikes of inconsistent quality when Takayama felt rested enough to attack again. It hardly even seemed like a match, as forget about defense, there wasn't even any semblance of interplay whatsoever. Takayama dominated the entire match, doing nothing with any semblance of grace, coordination, or consistency. His overall striking technique is so lazy and poor he makes Samoa Joe look like Giorgio Petrosyan, and that's actually the better part of his game! Certainly, a guy who has been doing worked and real shoots for 18 years should at least know how to apply a jujigatame so it looks like he's sort of doing something with his legs and his opponent's arm isn't bent so he's not putting any pressure on the joint or lock a choke sleeper so you can't see inches of light between his arm and Nakamura's chin. Some of Takayama's strikes had good to impressive impact even though he doesn't get his body or core or anything beyond the actual appendage he's striking with into the blow, particularly the knee where Nakamura did all the work sliding into it at full speed. In spite of himself, really only Takayama's overhand clubs, which were little more than feeble slaps, were bad, but his domination was very hard to buy even despite the huge size advantage given his strikes weren't a 50th as sharp, fast, precise, or hard as Shinsuke's, and the match was just so frustrating in the way a Samoa Joe match often is where the guy with all the skill is subjugated to simply making the one-dimensional one look like a deity. Stylistically, it was more like a Kensuke Sasaki match though, except there's way more intensity and effort put into those, and they seem to be a battle of egos where both men raise their level to duel with the opposition in almost a game of standup chicken where it's not about the pin, just a masochistic exercise to see who's standing at the end. Shinsuke was capable of that sort of match, and really brought it for the 5% of the match he was actually on offense, but the rest of the time this didn't seem like the blood vessel popping war Kensuke would deliver. In fact, it was so one-sided that a Takayama totally laid back was generally relaxing, playing to the crowd while taking rests or just letting Nakamura lay around longer to accomplish the same goal of Takayama not blowing up the whole 15 minutes they were out there. Nakamura looked as good as you can look against a broom, but the match was pretty much devoid of sequenes and had only a few counters, for instance Nakamura's comeback when he kneed Takayama in midair to prevent Yoshihiro from completing a suplex. I couldn't get into this elongated squash or the contrived finish where Shinsuke overcame the odds with a couple moves, never feeling it had any real drama or excitement despite the fans desperately wanting to like it. In spite of my Shinsuke fandom, I was generally bored and indifferent, just sitting around wishing they came up with a striker of actual skill for him to have a back and forth battle with. **

NJPW STV 2/9/10 NEW JAPAN ISM #1 taped 1/27/10 Chiba Port Arena Sub Arena
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Koji Kanemoto vs. Taichi 8:31

Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Tiger Mask 13:45

Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi & Riki Choshu 13:33

Gedo & Jado & Toru Yano vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto 15:03

Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada 14:10

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson & Shinsuke Nakamura 16:23

NJPW Battle Station 2/10/10 NEW JAPAN ISM taped 1/30/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Tomoaki Honma vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi

Black Cat Memorial Match: Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask & El Samurai vs. Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa

Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada

Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Jado & Gedo vs. Riki Choshu & Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi & Taichi

Special Six Man Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito vs. TAJIRI & Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson

Special Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Manabu Nakanishi

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Prince Devitt

NJPW SXW 2/8/10 CIRCUIT 2010 NEW JAPAN ISM taped 1/31/10 Tokyo Differ Ariake
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Super Strong Machine & Tiger Mask & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Taichi & Nobuo Yoshihashi 9:26

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tamon Honda & Kentaro Shiga 9:14

TAJIRI & Takashi Iizuka vs. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue 9:32

Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega vs. Jado & Gedo 10:43

Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito & Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Toru Yano & Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson & Tomohiro Ishii 12:00

Kazuchika Okada Farewell Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 13:26

Shinsuke Nakamura & Masato Tanaka vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Hirooki Goto 17:25

NJPW SXW 2/22/10 CIRCUIT 2010 NEW JAPAN ISM #9 taped 2/10/10 Osaka Central Gym Sub Arena
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi 10:15

Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask vs. Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue 17:09

Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi & Riki Choshu 9:46

Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 13:47

Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi & Yuji Nagata vs. Gedo & Takashi Iizuka & TAJIRI 15:15

Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano & Masato Tanaka 17:51

NJPW CIRCUIT 2010 NEW JAPAN ISM PPV 2/14/10 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
-3hr 35min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask vs. Fujita Hayato & GENTARO & Kota Ibushi 11:23

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Dick Togo & Gedo 14:01

Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Riki Choshu & Wataru Inoue 9:10

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii 8:34

Yuji Nagata vs. TAJIRI 4:42

IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro vs. El Terrible & El Texano Jr. 10:37

Hardcore Match: Masato Tanaka vs. Hirooki Goto 15:45

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano 14:04

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi 18:02

NJPW SXW 3/8/10 38th Anniversary Series taped 3/5/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi

Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Dick Togo & Gedo

Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa

Yuji Nagata & Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Karl Anderson

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Koji Kanemoto

Shinsuke Nakamura & Masato Tanaka & Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe

NJPW SXW 3/22/10 38th Anniversary Series #2 taped 3/7/10 Act City Hamamatsu
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyosuke Mikami 6:45

Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Atsushi Aoki & El Samurai 11:22

Manabu Nakanishi & Riki Choshu vs. Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Yuji Nagata 10:02

Karl Anderson & Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro Takahashi & Wataru Inoue 14:23

Dick Togo & Masato Tanaka vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 13:05

Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Gedo & Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano 15:50

NJPW STV Near Live Circuit 2010 New Japan ~The Perfect Generalist~ #1 3/14/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr 40min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Kyosuke Mikami 6:13

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Toru Yano vs. Tomoaki Honma 10:34

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Tetsuya Naito vs. Karl Anderson 9:52

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Wataru Inoue vs. Giant Bernard 7:39

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Yuji Nagata 13:41

Hirooki Goto & Jushin Thunder Liger & Riki Choshu vs. Gedo & Shinsuke Nakamura & Takashi Iizuka 11:57

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii 11:46

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Masato Tanaka vs. Manabu Nakanishi 18:01

New Japan Cup 2010 First Round: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Strong Man 8:37

NJPW WPW Complete #22 Circuit 2010 New Japan ~The Perfect Generalist~ #5 3/20/10 Aichi Prefectural Gym
-2hr 35min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

El Samurai & Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Kyosuke Mikami & Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask 5:15

Manabu Nakanishi & Riki Choshu & Tomoaki Honma vs. Gedo & Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii 8:33

Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Yuji Nagata 12:05

New Japan Cup 2010 Second Round: Masato Tanaka vs. Wataru Inoue 13:05

New Japan Cup 2010 Second Round: Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano 14:26

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Strong Man 9:09

New Japan Cup 2010 Second Round: Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi 15:04

New Japan Cup 2010 Second Round: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 23:17

NJPW STV 3/27/10 Circuit 2010 New Japan ~The Perfect Generalist~ #6 3/22/10 Amagasaki Memorial Park Gym
-2hr 40min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kyosuke Mikami & Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask 7:34

Yujiro Takahashi vs. Mitsuhide Hirasawa 7:47

New Japan Cup 2010 Semifinal: Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito 15:52

New Japan Cup 2010 Semifinal: Hirooki Goto vs. Masato Tanaka 11:15

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson & Toru Yano 15:14

Gedo & Shinsuke Nakamura & Takashi Iizuka vs. Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata & Riki Choshu 9:39

New Japan Cup 2010 Final: Hirooki Goto vs. Togi Makabe 21:42

NJPW WPW Complete #23 NEW DIMENSION 4/4/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-3 1/2hr. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs.. Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Kyosuke Mikami 7:34

King Fale Debut Match: Manabu Nakanishi vs. King Fale 6:51

Yuji Nagata & Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue vs. Masato Tanaka & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo 10:51

Togi Makabe vs. Tomoaki Honma 10:30

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka & Karl Anderson 10:25

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 19:36. Liger is the underdog, the old man trying to regain his own as well as his promotion's past glory. The fans are entirely behind him as he tries to dethrone the NOAH interloper and former GHC Heavyweight Champion. Liger did a great job in the early portion, wrestling entirely with purpose. Unless he could get a big move off, everything was directed at Marufuji's back. By being focused he was able to tell a compelling story even though he lacks the athleticism of his youth. My favorite spot comes early when Marufuji draped Liger's neck over the middle rope and tried for his windsprint dropkick only to get clobbered with a shotei. This allowed Liger to hit a less than stunning powerbomb on the floor, but I felt the match started to go downhill here as instead of sticking with the back, he followed with his suichoku rakka brainbuster on the floor. After this point, it was mostly about Liger hitting big spots, which would have been great had his big spots not been largely limited to the shotei and suichoku rakka brainbuster, neither of which had anything to do with the back. Marufuji had one awesome moment where Liger was leaning on the apron and it appeared he was going to use a baseball slide, but instead he vaulted over the top for a missile kick. The match was hurt by his new toned down style that lacks big moves though, as he really needed to help Liger out by providing some of the spectacular moves he's capable of, but instead he continued to mainly focus on the superkick and the shiranui. Even though the match lacked something in terms of junior style spectacle, the fans were super into it with sustained heat for the finishing sequence. Overall, one of Liger's better matches of the past few years, but obviously nowhere near the level it could have been if either great was at peak form. ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto 19:41. Goto followed his 2008 G1 CLIMAX with the 2009 & 2010 New Japan Cup, but it never felt like New Japan was ready to pull the trigger and make him their champion. Nakamura totally dominated the match, doing little beyond burying one brutal knee after another into Goto's gut. Nakamura didn't show the challenger much respect, taunting him in between these knees and kicks to the bread basket. Goto had two brief patches of offense then made a big late run when he finally countered what seemed like the 350th knee, turning it into his fireman's carry neckbreaker. This was the best portion of the match, with Goto going to town with all his signature spots, but Nakamura soon took him out with the boma ye to retain. The match was very stiff and well executed, but it lacked diversity and drama. ***1/4

6/26/75 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan & 2/3 Falls NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Antonio Inoki 10:41, 2:47, 4:23

5/2/02 Tokyo Dome Masahiro Chono vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 30:00

NJPW WRESTLING DONTAKU 2010 PPV 5/3/10 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
-3hr 45min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

AKIRA & Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo 7:56

Manabu Nakanishi vs. King Fale 8:15

CMLL Middleweight Title Match: Negro Casas vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 10:04

IWGP Tag Title 3 Way Match: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson 12:20

Hirooki Goto vs. Masato Tanaka 13:41

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ryusuke Taguchi 22:40

Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 16:57

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Togi Makabe 18:18

NJPW Battle Station 6/8/10 BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. XVII ~ STRIKE GOLD~ Opening taped 5/30/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr. Q=Perfect

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII B Block: Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. AKIRA 12:43

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII A Block: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. KUSHIDA SMASH 12:44

GBH, New Japan Seikigun & Aogi-gun vs. CHAOS Special Ten Man Tag Match: Toru Yano & Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito & Takashi Iizuka vs. Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue 18:28

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII A Block: La Sombra vs. Tiger Mask 10:33

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII B Block: Taiji Ishimori vs. Ryusuke Taguchi 11:40

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII A Block: Prince Devitt vs. Davey Richards 16:26. High level match pitting Devitt's gracefulness against Richards' brutality. Richards was mostly winning out, putting a wicked beating on Prince with one blistering kick after another. Richards is stiff, but it's more that his Dynamite Kid mannerisms give the illusion of overaggressive savagery. Devitt showed impressive offense on a sporadic basis, but it was basically Richards putting all his might into his strikes, and throwing a big move in here and there. I thought Devitt ultimately won awfully easily considering the respective damage the two had sustained, especially given an opponent of Richards perceived toughness. ***1/2

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII B Block: Koji Kanemoto vs. Fujita "Jr." Hayato 15:38. A big match for Hayato, stepping up against a legendary junior and proving he's ready for the big stage. It was an exploration into how many ways, styles, and angles they could find to kick each other from. It wasn't exactly worked shoot style as they often ran the ropes, but the limited the scope of the moves to kicks, suplexes, and submissions and just beat the hell out of each other for 15 minutes. The first half saw them standing toe to toe and trading the same style of strike in a battle of one upsmanship and machismo. Kanemoto injured Fujita's knee Dragon screwing him off the apron, but Fujita choked him out on the floor and dominated the rest of the match. Kanemoto made a brief comeback, and later exploited the weak knee to end the match somewhat out of nowhere. The finish wasn't so bad given the context of the match, but it's one of those matches where they are kind of impervious to pain, and then it ends. ***1/2

NJPW Battle Station 6/12/10 BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. XVII ~ STRIKE GOLD~ taped 6/8/10 Tokyo Differ Ariake
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Jushin Thunder Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi & AKIRA vs. Davey Richards & Tama Tonga & King Fale 8:11

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII B Block: Kenny Omega vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi 14:30. Omega had his way with the youngster, injuring his knee early and methodically taking it apart for much of the rest of the match. Omega's performance was totally across the board, going back and forth between looking like a real talent and a mediocre worker. He was a bit too deliberate for me, but part of that was his dominance and Yoshihashi's "injury". Yoshihashi was a lot more consistent, generally seeming the more solid worker but as he's in the developmental stage he wasn't given much opportunity to do anything but sell.

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII A Block: KUSHIDA vs. Gedo 10:09

New Japan Seikigun & Aogi-gun vs. CHAOS Special Ten Man Tag Match: Toru Yano & Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito & Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue & La Sombra 13:06

GBH vs. NOAH Special Tag Match: Go Shiozaki & Mohammed Yone vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 13:07

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII B Block: Koji Kanemoto vs. Taiji Ishimori 13:13. Ishimori is a better overall wrestler than Hayato, but he's not nearly as good in singles as in tag, and current Kanemoto isn't the best opponent for him. The Kanemoto of the 90's would have done a big time spotfest, but now he has to pick his spots to leave shoot style, which is not one of Ishimori's strong suits. Kanemoto was giving Ishimori a lot of attitude early, as he knew Ishimori couldn't match him in his style, and was growing increasingly cocky as he punished Taiji with kick after kick. Kanemoto dominated the match, with Ishimori finding moments to fly. Ishimori faired better in the second half, as Kanemoto moved more toward a traditional junior style match. It was entertaining throughout, but you never had the feeling that it had potential for more. ***

BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VXII A Block: Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt 10:59. Not so much a match as an 11 minute gymnastic spectacle. An opening and a middle would have been nice, but the finishing segment they gave us was a standout to to the athleticism being so fantastic. Ibushi actually makes Devitt look kind of slow. He's so quick and can control his body in midair so well that he makes some of the most implausible offense seem to be kind of believable and suitable to the situation. I enjoyed this thoroughly, but especially since it was a main event, I wish they pushed themselves to at least put something before the flying. ***1/4

NJPW Battle Station Near Live BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. XVII ~ STRIKE GOLD~ Final 6/13/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-3hr. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kyosuke Mikami & Manabu Nakanishi & Manabu Nakanishi 7:37

Toru Yano vs. KUSHIDA 2:57

Best Of The Super Junior XVII Semifinal: Prince Devitt vs. Taiji Ishimori 6:56

Best Of The Super Junior XVII Semifinal: Kota Ibushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi 10:14

Davey Richards & La Sombra vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Nobuo Yoshihashi 10:57

Kenny Omega & Tama Tonga vs. AKIRA & Koji Kanemoto 8:32

Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tetsuya Naito & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Yujiro Takahashi 17:29

Best Of The Super Junior XVII Final: Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi 14:34

NJPW DOMINION PPV 6/19/10 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
-3hr 50min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Koji Kanemoto & El Samurai & AKIRA vs. Super Strong Machine & Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga 8:48

Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Mitsuhide Hirasawa & KUSHIDA 9:24

GBH vs. NOAH Special Singles Match: Mohammed Yone vs. Tomoaki Honma 8:58

Shinsuke Nakamura Return Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Daniel Puder 4:41

Hirooki Goto vs. Masato Tanaka 13:39. Back and forth sprint. There wasn't much in the way of an opening or even a body, they just exchanged strikes then moves throughout. The announcers were going wild the entire second half of the match, and as it was basically a lengthy finishing segment there were some really believable near falls in the final 5 minutes. Tanaka was working on a high level, and Goto was hanging with him. Goto doesn't really have the offense for this style of match, but he does have the energy and desire and his moveset has improved. ***1/2

IWGP Tag Title 3 Way Elimination Match: Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito 18:24

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Prince Devitt 20:20. Excellent, fully developed match with Devitt overcoming an early knee injury to take back the junior title. Marufuji was the solid wrestler here, giving a thoughtful, well rounded performance that mostly took advantage of Devitt injuring himself on an early no touch tope con giro. Just after Devitt got back to the ring apron and signaled that NJ's hopes were still alive, Marufuji ran up from behind with a kneecap dropkick and proceeded to abuse the knee mercilessly for several minutes. Devitt was the spectacular one, reinjuring his knee on his jumping/flying kicks, but continuing to go for broke anyway. The fans were totally behind him, and the win was huge because Marufuji has simply whiped the floor with the NJPW junior division since enterting in late 2009. ****

Loser Bald Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano 12:54

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Togi Makabe vs. Go Shiozaki 20:40

NJPW Circuit 2010 New Japan Soul PPV 7/19/10 Sapporo Tsukisamu Alpha Court Dome
-3hr 50min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Taichi & Tama Tonga vs. AKIRA & Kyosuke Mikami 7:29

KUSHIDA vs. Gedo 8:41

Hirooki Goto & King Fale & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Super Strong Machine & Riki Choshu 9:20

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: El Samurai & Koji Kanemoto vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi 13:59

Toru Yano vs. TAJIRI 5:56

IWGP Tag Team Title Three Way Dog Fight: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro Takahashi 36:55

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Takashi Iizuka 20:00

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Togi Makabe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 18:15

NJPW Battle Station Near Live 8/6/10 GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ taped 8/6/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr 55min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

G1 CLIMAX B Block: Giant Bernard [2] vs. Wataru Inoue [0] 9:19

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Manabu Nakanishi [2] vs. Toru Yano [0] 7:30

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Prince Devitt [2] vs. Strong Man [0] 7:36

Satoshi Kojima Return Match: Hirooki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Satoshi Kojima & El Samurai 13:50

G1 CLIMAX B Block: Go Shiozaki vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0] 10:36

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Karl Anderson [2] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [0] 11:42

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Tetsuya Naito [2] vs. Togi Makabe [0] 14:34

G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [2] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura [0] 17:43. Battle of the tough guys saw them mostly stand toe to toe and trade stiff shots. The shooter matches always went over really well at Ryogoku, but outside of Nakamura getting booed heavily when he broke the exchanging routine with a closed fist, the crowd wasn't exactly helping to make the match. It was a good paired down match, but as they didn't really even explore the plausible submissions and suplexes, nor did they build to anything, it was a bit too predictable and repetitive. ***

NJPW Battle Station 8/9/10 GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ taped 8/7/10 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan
-2hr 45min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Special Tag Match: Manabu Nakanishi & TAJIRI vs. Tetsuya Naito & Takashi Iizuka 12:41

GI CLIMAX A Block: Prince Devitt [4] vs. Karl Anderson [2] 10:44

GI CLIMAX B Block: Giant Bernard [4] vs. Yuji Nagata [2] 13:05

GI CLIMAX B Block: Go Shiozaki [4] vs. Wataru Inoue [0] 16:03. A well wrestled match that would have been much better if it were simply more competitive. Inoue hit a knee off the apron early, but Go's quick comeback on the outside ended abruptly when he chopped the post. Even though every chop hurt his hand, Go was still more than happy to exchange chops with Wataru since his weight of shot was far superior. It was readily apparent that Go was way too powerful for the former junior, and he'd have little trouble overwhelming him in a striking contest. Wataru had little luck ever getting the match out of the realm of striking, so it was just a matter of time. Everything was well done, but there wasn't much in the way of drama. ***

GI CLIMAX B Block: Satoshi Kojima [2] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0] 8:20

GI CLIMAX A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] vs. Strong Man [0] 6:50

GI CLIMAX A Block: Toru Yano [2] vs. Togi Makabe [0] 7:18

GI CLIMAX B Block: Hirooki Goto [2] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura [0] 16:51. As with their 4/4/10 match, it was almost all stiff striking. The difference is Goto was able to hold his own this time. He avoided the big boma-ye's, and was able to work some moves in to help counteract Nakamura's striking advantage. It may not have had quite the big match feel, but it was more importantly a match where I wasn't sure who was going to win. A very solid, hard fought match between two of the best in the league, but again nothing really outstanding or memorable about it to elevate it to the upper eschelon. ***1/4

NJPW WPW Complete #27 GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ 8/8/10 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
-2hr 25min. Q=Perfect. 1 DVD

Special Tag Match: Yujiro Takahashi & Takashi Iizuka vs. Yuji Nagata & TAJIRI 8:06

G1 Climax A Block: Manabu Nakanishi [4] vs. Karl Anderson [2] 7:29

G1 Climax A Block: Toru Yano [4] vs. Strong Man [0] 5:16

G1 Climax B Block: Hirooki Goto [4] vs. Wataru Inoue [0] 10:14

G1 Climax B Block: Satoshi Kojima [4] vs. Go Shiozaki [4] 15:13. A nice hard hitting, well executed professional looking match, but far from what they're capable of. Shiozaki dominated, attacking Kojima's lariat arm and blistering him with chops. Kojima never made it feel like his match, but did what was asked of him, which to some extent was enough since Go was motivated and making the match. Kojima hit a move here and there, but wasn't able to turn the tide until the final minute when Go became too predictable with his chops and Kojima stopped three running chops in a row by countering with his lariat then hit an enzui lariat and a regular one for the win. ***

G1 Climax B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [2] vs. Giant Bernard [4] 10:39

G1 Climax A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [3] vs. Tetsuya Naito [3] 30:00. Well focused long match that was solidly wrestled and told a simple story. Having upset Tanahashi in the New Japan Cup, up and comer Naito knew he was capable of winning this match. Tanahashi was determined to prove that was a fluke, and took it to Naito for the majority of the match, abusing his knee. Naito just kept coming no matter what though. Just when you thought he finally had a chance to take control, he reinjured his knee when Tanahashi avoided his stardust press. This wasn't a competitive match per se, but Naito was in it by simply refusing to give up. The longer Naito hung in, the less confidence Tanahashi had, and the more he began to press, which gave Naito the opportunity to capitalize on a few mistakes. Although Naito ultimately didn't win this one, going the distance with Tanahashi backed up his previous win well enough, and showed him to now be a force to be reckoned with in singles. ***1/4

G1 Climax A Block: Togi Makabe [2] vs. Prince Devitt [4] 13:36. Though Makabe spent many years in the junior division and is virtually the same height as Devitt, they portrayed this battle of the jr heavyweight vs. heavyweight champions as David vs. King Kong. It was a total speed vs. power match, structured simply with Devitt running around and either hitting a flying move or getting clubbed/slammed. They kept catch each other off guard as Devitt was slipper and played hard to catch, and to a lesser extent Makabe was dangerous when he was in striking range. Devitt's flying and craftiness made the match a lot of fun, doing things such as thwarting Togi's whip into the guard rail by leap frogging over it, and Makabe was a good sport, not minding being made to look foolish since he was ultimately coming out on top. A considerably better match than I was expecting, highlighted by Devitt's diving body attack off the balcony. ***1/2

NJPW Battle Station 8/11/10 GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ taped 8/10/10 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
-2hr 45min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

GI CLIMAX A Block: Tetsuya Naito [5] vs. Karl Anderson [2] 11:52

GI CLIMAX B Block: Satoshi Kojima [6] vs. Wataru Inoue [0] 13:56

GI CLIMAX B Block: Giant Bernard [6] vs. Hirooki Goto [4] 11:25

Special Tag Match: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Toru Yano & Gedo 8:45

GI CLIMAX B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [4] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0] 11:47

GI CLIMAX A Block: Togi Makabe [4] vs. Strong Man [0] 5:57

GI CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [4] vs. Go Shiozaki [4] 16:25. Definitely lived up to the potential. It was all striking like the 8/7/10 Nakamura vs. Goto match, but there was no comparison between the quality of the blows, and especially the intensity. These guys were proving what they could give and take, continually upping the ante. It started out as a simple striking war with Go beating Nagata's chest red, but they developed a storyline when Nagata stopped Go's charge with a low kick to the knee. Nagata kept working Shiozaki's knee over, but Shiozaki would come back and blow Nagata away with lariats that just weren't quite enough to put the former New Japan ace away. Go was really pushing though, and Nagata was hanging on through some desperation counters such as forward rolling a lariat and coming back with a kneecap dropkick. You felt Go had a real chance here, and that made it a lot more exciting, but finally Nagata stopped a lariat with a front kick and took him out. It was a bit short on paper, but it didn't really feel that way because they fought with such fervor, packing a lot in while keeping it realistic. These two definitely need to have a rematch, preferably a big GHC Heavyweight title match. ****

GI CLIMAX A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [5] vs. Manabu Nakanishi [4] 15:01

NJPW SXW GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ 8/12/10 Sendai Sun Plaza Hall
-2hr 40min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

GI CLIMAX A Block: Strong Man [2] vs. Karl Anderson [2] 6:30

GI CLIMAX A Block: Toru Yano [6] vs. Tetsuya Naito [5] 10:59

GI CLIMAX B Block: Hirooki Goto [6] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0] 13:03

Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & TAJIRI vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 9:39

GI CLIMAX B Block: Go Shiozaki [6] vs. Giant Bernard [6] 11:07

GI CLIMAX B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [6] vs. Wataru Inoue [0] 11:18

GI CLIMAX A Block: Manabu Nakanishi [6] vs. Prince Devitt [4] 9:23

GI CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [6] vs. Satoshi Kojima [6] 16:18. I loved that Kojima eschewed his usual playing to the crowd and wrestled a serious tough match that leaned way toward Nagata's style. I felt as though this had the makings of a memorable match, but settled for being a good enough match. It was always high quality, with stiff striking and pretty good technical wrestling, but it was wrestled like they were going 30, only to be half as long. Kojima took Nagata's knee out with a lariat from the floor while Yuji was on the apron, and Nagata went after Kojima's lariat arm, but it felt like the match was almost over before either of these story aspects became a serious factor. ***1/4

NJPW Battle Station Near Live GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ 8/13/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr 45min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

GI CLIMAX B Block: Wataru Inoue [2] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0] 8:19

GI CLIMAX A Block: Manabu Nakanishi [8] vs. Strong Man [2] 8:41

GI CLIMAX B Block: Satoshi Kojima [8] vs. Giant Bernard [6] 11:44

Special Tag Match: Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Aoki vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Gedo 12:19

GI CLIMAX A Block: Togi Makabe [6] vs. Karl Anderson [2] 11:07

GI CLIMAX B Block: Hirooki Goto [8] vs. Yuji Nagata [6] 15:22. A highly competitive, well executed stiff match that's pretty comparable to Goto's 8/7/10 contest with Nakamura, but slightly better because Nagata is the most skilled, fiery, and dramatic of the three. Goto wrestles more or less as proficiently as all the top heavyweights, but tends to be the least dynamic. He's good enough to be champ one day, but he needs more range and more charisma. I felt like Nagata put his stamp on the match, but Goto perhaps doesn't really have a stamp for me, he's a great counterpart who can always more or less match the opposition, but his moves don't quite add up to a style. ***1/4

GI CLIMAX A Block: Prince Devitt [6] vs. Tetsuya Naito [5] 11:42. Devitt is a junior moonlighting as a heavyweight because Naomichi Marufuji is injured again, and Naito is a junior who they always pretend is a heavyweight even though he's shorter than Devitt. They didn't bother fronting, and just did a flashy little junior match. It wasn't exactly well developed, but it was the most spectacular match of the 2010 G1 CLIMAX and they showed me a few things I haven't seen such as the stardust press to the floor and a backdrop off the guard rail. I wish it would have lasted another 5 minutes, but I enjoyed it for what it was. ***1/4

GI CLIMAX A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [7] vs. Toru Yano [6] 14:49. An effective match that had some drama, but wasn't overly exciting. Yano dominated with his heel routine, which passed the time while getting the crowd behind Tanahashi. The ref had several issues with Yano, and eventually got taken out, leading to Yano using a chair inside the ring. I'm not that thrilled with Tanahashi's offense that it should be all the excitement of the match, but they made it work. Highlight was a surprising near fall where Yano got his knees up for Tanahashi's high fly flow and went into a cradle. ***

NJPW GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ 8/14/10 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
-3hr. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Special 6 Man Tag Match: Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin & Atsushi Aoki 15:00. I'm not sure what this match was supposed to accomplish, but it seemed like a bunch of guys who didn't want to be juniors kept the couple who did from doing anything related to the junior style. It had a fast and intense start, but it was all downhill from there. They quickly settled into featuring Taguchi vs. Aoki, which is probably the least interesting pairing possible given neither really has a move set. Ishimori & Marvin took control of Taguchi with their double teaming, which actually resulted in some good action, but then they went back to Taguchi vs. Aoki, with Taguchi bizarrly never making any attempt to tag. Taguchi even had a good run on Aoki, and just kept on going. The match was more than half over before Kanemoto came in, and by the time IV got involved I'd changed his name to Tiger Mascot! Kanemoto & Tiger both only wanted to kick, and Taguchi & Aoki didn't show anything more athletic than a dropkick. Marvin tried, but he was the one who sold for his team, so the second half for him was mainly taking a few Koji or Tiger kicks then firing back with an elbow. The match never threatened to take off, and then time expired. They tried to get heat between Koji & Tiger and Ishimori & Marvin to set up the 8/22/10 GHC Jr Tag Title Match, but they'd have done a much better job setting up the match if they showed us some of the wrestling we wanted to see. **

GI CLIMAX A Block: Strong Man [4] vs. Tetsuya Naito [5] 7:55

GI CLIMAX B Block: Yuji Nagata [8] vs. Wataru Inoue [2] 10:18

GI CLIMAX B Block: Yujiro Takahashi [2] vs. Giant Bernard [6] 8:03

GI CLIMAX A Block: Karl Anderson [4] vs. Toru Yano [6] 9:16

GI CLIMAX B Block: Go Shiozaki [8] vs. Hirooki Goto [8] 17:52. The best match of all the important wrestlers in B Block except Kojima, who hardly showed up, was against Go Shiozaki. This was the most exciting of Goto's G1 matches, as he was actually showing a move set here. The match lacked direction as neither seemed to want to carry it. Go normally does a much better job of telling stories, but while they didn't really focus on any one thing, they did do a very nice job of playing off each other well and mixing things up. In particular, rather than the usual strike and then do big moves, they used the suplexes and other power moves to intermittently break up the striking sequences so they were both important but neither were the entire match. As a whole, this shifted the match more toward high impact than simply a stiff one, but I feel like the bigger points were it made the match less predictable and that ultimately resulted in more drama. ***1/2

GI CLIMAX A Block: Togi Makabe [8] vs. Manabu Nakanishi [8] 10:52

GI CLIMAX A Block: Prince Devitt [8] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [7] 11:35. Fun match, but just too short. Tanahashi tried to work Devitt's knee to deter his flying, but they really didn't have time to develop this, so it was more like Tanahashi would do a couple knee moves then Devitt would start leaping at him. In the second half, they just did what they do best, providing some exciting action. The match had tons of potential, but the junior vs. heavy thing kept them from seeing it through. Devitt actually won, but so early, so suddenly, and unfortunately in the most contrived of manners. Devitt vs. Naito was a little better since it felt like a complete match. ***

GI CLIMAX B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [8] vs. Satoshi Kojima [8] 16:45. Kojima is doing something right because his matches feel shorter than they are. It may be a bit odd to follow that by saying he was rather methodical here, but in a good way as he put the boots to Nakamura's knee, and generally took it apart. Kojima dominated the first half of the match, working in some of his trademark moves. Nakamura finally came back with two knees, but his own knee was in such bad shape he barely beat Kojima back to his feet. I didn't like that Nakamura proceeded to throw a series of furious knees, but Kojima soon came back when he avoided a knee in the corner and hit an enzui lariat. The match was getting really interesting at this point, but instead of building upon it or even taking things in a different direction they went home rather suddenly. I don't think the finish was bad, but I wanted to at least see more first. ***1/2

NJPW GI CLIMAX XX ~20th Anniversary~ PPV 8/15/10 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
-3hr 35min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

G1 CLIMAX B Block: Yujiro Takahashi [4] vs. Yuji Nagata [8] 5:28

G1 CLIMAX B Block: Shinsuke Nakamura [9] vs. Go Shiozaki [9] 30:00. It's been a long long time since a heavyweight match of this caliber batted in the 2 hole. Hell, heavyweight matches of this caliber are few and far between anywhere, on any show. I felt as though I was transported back to All Japan for a 1994 Budokan main event. This was just a super dramatic, epic battle, a match where you had to put everything into every blow because the opposition was that good. Both men were tremendous, executing to perfection and selling everything so it had impact beyond the impact. It wasn't just that they executed to perfection, but there was a genuine depth to this match, they really made you believe there was a purpose to what they were doing. What impressed me about the match wasn't the stiffness, loads of current matches are stiff, but these guys wrestled with thoughtfulness, patience and foresight, using the heavy blows to tell a story and set up their actual moves. They had the crowd hanging on every shot in the second half. Shiozaki was booed coming out, but cherished the role of being the evil outsider and looked for ways to incite the crowd without straying from his stoic persona, generally succeeding simply by taking Nakamura apart with methodical precision. The crowd was really awesome here, as they wanted NJPW to defeat NOAH, and Nakamura to get the win to make the finals, so they booed Go for hanging Nakamura's head off the apron and giving him a running knee. Shiozaki launched a knee attack, including directing several of his chops there. The fans began to go nuts when Nakamura reinjured his knee landing a running knee on Go, and Shiozaki blew him away with a couple of his most deadly chops, but couldn't get the pin and lost the advantage missing his moonsault. The match really gave you the feeling it could have gone either way, and ended at just about any time in the last 15 minutes. I didn't really like the lack of a finish, but it was a superb struggle. ****1/2

G1 CLIMAX B Block: Satoshi Kojima [10] vs. Hirooki Goto [8] 12:09

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Toru Yano [8] vs. Prince Devitt [8] 7:26

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Tetsuya Naito [7] vs. Manabu Nakanishi [8] 10:52

G1 CLIMAX A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [9] vs. Togi Makabe [8] 11:58

Special Tag Match: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Strong Man & Wataru Inoue 8:20

G1 Climax Special 6 Man Tag Match: Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & AKIRA 8:17

G1 Climax Final: Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 21:25. Kojima answered the question of whether he could still go with one of his vintage, energetic and exciting matches. Tanahashi added a more solid aspect to it by attacking Kojima's surgically repaired elbow early (as well as the right lariat arm later), and Kojima came back by attacking Tanahashi's knee, both injuries playing some role in the later stages. They put some pretty good effort into the selling, though Kojima's mannerisms can be a bit corny at times. The crowd wasn't quite as into this as the Nakamura vs. Go, but what was interesting is they were very much pro Kojima even though he's the outsider. Granted, Kojima spent the majority of his career in NJ and has theoretically returned, but it was somewhat surprising since Tanahashi wasn't even playing heel. Kojima became the 1st outsider in the 20 year history of the G1 CLIMAX to win it, breaking the streak of the hired guns getting stopped in the final, an even bigger upset given he did this in his first tour back from surgery. ***3/4

Corazon Produce STV 10/1/10 Corazon #2 taped
9/2/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Kikutaro vs. Kana

Brahman Kei & Brahman Shu vs. Tokyo Gurentai FUJITA & NOSAWA Rongai

Minoru Suzuki vs. Hoshitango

Big Murakami vs. Muscle Sakai

Sanshiro Takagi & Shigehiro Irie vs. Kazuhiro Tamura & Yuji Nagata

NJPW CIRCUIT 2010 G1 CLIMAX SPECIAL Final PPV 9/26/10 Kobe World Kinen Hall
-3hr 50min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Riki Choshu & Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask vs. Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi & Tomohiro Ishii 8:51

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jado & Gedo 15:50

Special Singles Match: TAJIRI vs. Toru Yano 6:14

Koji Kanemoto 20th Anniversary Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Davey Richards 15:19

IWGP Tag Title Match: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue 20:06

Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomoaki Honma 9:10

Special Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto 18:07

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Togi Makabe vs. Masato Tanaka 18:08

NJPW DESTRUCTION 2010 PPV 10/11/10 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
-3hr 45min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tama Tonga 6:11

Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson & Tiger Mask vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Yujiro Takahashi 11:32

Gedo & Jado & Masato Tanaka vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tomoaki Honma & Wataru Inoue 9:55

TAJIRI vs. Toru Yano 6:48

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi 15:05

Koji Kanemoto & Yuji Nagata vs. Atsushi Aoki & Go Shiozaki 17:14

Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 16:08

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 19:59

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Togi Makabe vs. Satoshi Kojima 19:12

NJPW WPW Complete #31 G1 TAG LEAGUE Final 11/7/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr 10min. Q=Perfect. 1 DVD

Takashi Iizuka & Daniel Puder & El Terrible & El Texano Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask & Tama Tonga & King Fale 6:03

G1 Tag League Semifinal: Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man 11:54

G1 Tag League Semifinal: Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson 9:54

Masato Tanaka & Jado & Gedo vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi & Tomoaki Honma 10:39

Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & TAJIRI vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii 9:49

Special Singles Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Koji Kanemoto 13:07

G1 Tag League Final: Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito 17:49

NJPW SXW Live J SPORTS CROWN ~SUPER J TAG LEAGUE~ 11/11/10 Tokyo Differ Ariake
-2hr 15min. Q=Perfect. 1DVD

Young Lion 3 Match Series III: King Fale vs. Hiromu Takahashi 8:11

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE B Block: Jado & Gedo [4] vs. Fujita "Jr." Hayato & Taro Nohashi [2] 12:59

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE B Block: AKIRA & KUSHIDA [2] vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Super Shisa [2] 12:25

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE A Block: La Sombra & Mascara Dorada [4] vs. NOSAWA Rongai & FUJITA [2] 11:25

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE A Block: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi [2] vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai [2] 14:11. A truly disappointing match where they mostly killed time. Samurai was poor and Apollo 55 did nothing. Liger & Samurai dominated, working Devitt's injured ribs. Liger was effective here, but they never built on this, or actually did anything interesting. Samurai was the only one who tried anything of note, but unfortunately his signature spots were now done at 1/4 speed. *1/4

Special 6 Man Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask 16:17

NJPW Battle Station 12/10/10 J SPORTS CROWN ~SUPER J TAG LEAGUE~ taped 11/9-11/13/10 Tokyo Differ Ariake
-2hr. Q=Perfect

11/9/10

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE A Block: Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. La Sombra & Mascara Dorada 11:56

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE A Block: Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi 14:41. Devitt vs. Richards was quite good, as they had good chemistry and were complimenting each other nicely. I liked the Bulldog style athletic counter laden opening between Devitt & Richards. Unfortunately, their partners weren't adding much to the proceedings. Taguchi was a blank, but Romero just needs to work more with Richards to get their teamwork to the level it was with Reyes. Richards catapulting Romero to the floor for a plancha was fine, but running from corner to corner holding Romero with his knees in the air made little sense, as Romero could get there with much more speed and impact on his own. **3/4

11/11/10, SUPER J TAG LEAGUE A Block: La Sombra & Mascara Dorada vs. NOSAWA Rongai & FUJITA 11:25

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE B Block: Jado & Gedo vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask 12:27

11/11/10, SUPER J TAG LEAGUE B Block: AKIRA & KUSHIDA vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Super Shisa 12:25

11/13/10

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE B Block: Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask vs. Fujita "Jr." Hayato & Taro Nohashi 11:58

SUPER J TAG LEAGUE Final: Jado & Gedo vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero 23:00

NJPW Circuit 2010 NEW JAPAN ALIVE PPV 12/11/10 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan
-3hr 45min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

King Fale vs. Hiromu Takahashi 8:04

TENZAN come back to Osaka: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Gedo 8:43

Manabu Nakanishi & Koji Kanemoto vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga 9:25

Special Singles Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tiger Mask 8:27

Special Tag Match: Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin 12:39

IWGP Tag Title Match: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue 17:23

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Prince Devitt vs. Davey Richards 13:04

Special Tag Match: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 10:46

Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto 16:55

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 19:17

NJPW WPW Complete #32 NEW JAPAN ALIVE taped 12/11/10 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan
-3hr 15min. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

King Fale vs. Hiromu Takahashi 8:04

TENZAN come back to Osaka: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Gedo 8:43

Manabu Nakanishi & Koji Kanemoto vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga 9:25

Special Singles Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tiger Mask 8:27

Special Tag Match: Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin 12:39

IWGP Tag Title Match: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue 17:23

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Prince Devitt vs. Davey Richards 13:04

Special Tag Match: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 10:46

Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto 16:55

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 19:17

NJPW STV Near Live NEW JAPAN ALIVE #15 taped 12/12/10 Aichi Prefectural Gym
-3hr. Q=Perfect. 2 DVDs

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Jado 10:40

Koji Kanemoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. King Fale & Tama Tonga 10:51

Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Davey Richards vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson & Tiger Mask 10:35

Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi 13:52

Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi 10:41

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Wataru Inoue 9:44

Masato Tanaka & Toru Yano vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 13:54

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 17:37

Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto 18:57

NJPW Battle Station 12/25/10 Road to KINGDOM ~Battle X'mas taped 12/23/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
-2hr. Q=Perfect

Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Jado. Digest

Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto & Tama Tonga. Digest

TAKA Michinoku & NOSAWA Rongai & Taichi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi 11:24

Special 6 Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tiger Mask vs. Masato Tanaka & Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii 14:06

Special Tag Match: Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Aoki vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Gedo 12:25

Special Tag Match: Yoshihiro Takayama & Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue 14:46

Special Tag Match: Satoshi Kojima & Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Prince Devitt 18:21. The heavyweight and junior champions battling their Tokyo Dome opponents. The juniors got a few over on the heavies a few times, and the fans were dying to see if Devitt could push Kojima, but mainly they stuck to the weight pairings so they could promote the big matches. It started a bit slow with the fans mainly reacting to Taichi's attack on Devitt with loud boos, but Ibushi soon gave a big effort, showing his far from cautious flying to make the match notable. Devitt, who never needs much prodding, stepped it up to meet him. The heavyweight stuff wasn't nearly as good as junior stuff, but Tanahashi put on a decent show as always. Kojima was just kind of there, not hurting the match in any way but on the other hand not really adding to it. I was hoping they'd tell some sort of story beyond the most obvious, but instead they just did moves and let the outcome speak for itself. The fans were really into it by the end, which saw Devitt seem to have a chance against Kojima only to get flattend with a lariat. Kojima riled the audience up after the match by dragging Tanahashi up and taking him out with a lariat as well, which resulted in Tanahashi doing a stretcher job. ***1/4

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