Is that a bump only a man cleared to wrestle would take? Credit: NJPW
Power Struggle is our last big stop before Wrestle Kingdom (no-one counts Tag League), and I expect to come out the back of this show with more of an idea of what to expect on January 4th and 5th. The big question? Is BUSHI challenging Will a sign that Hiromu is returning? Or is my heart going to be hurt once more?
With Power Struggle on Sunday, this is our final stop before the power is fought over. Is that what is happening there? Fuck knows. The point is that we’re wrapping up the Super Junior Tag League with it still being possible for us to have a four-way tie at the top of the block. Fingers crossed that is not the case.
After the best show of the tour, New Japan returned to Korakuen for more Super Junior Tag League action (there is other stuff going on, but as usual, I’m choosing to ignore it). The Super Coaches brought the house down in the previous main event with Roppongi 3K, and had a chance to do so again (on Rocky’s birthday) against Birds of Prey.
After a couple of rough nights attendance-wise for New Japan in Korakuen, they returned after a trip around Japan and, from what I could see, had managed to plug the gaps (although I am an awful judge of these things, so don’t take my word for it). So far the Super Junior Tag League has been a lot of fun, and a night in Korakuen was unlikely to be the place where that changed.
The easiest ‘what happened next’ ever. Credit: NJPW
Our one match shows continued in Saitama and Gunma. Well, they weren’t one match shows, that would be very weird. There were multiple matches, but I only care about one of them. Make sense? No? Fuck it.
The serious sport of Japanese wrestling. Credit: NJPW
In an attempt to stretch the Road to Power Struggle tour out for the rest of recorded history (which is roughly six months at my estiamate), New Japan is only putting one Super Junior Tag match on certain shows. Honestly, writing a review of a single tag feels a bit silly, so I’m going to do them in groups meaning that these matches come from Akita, Iwate and Fukushima.
For the second night in a row, there were a plethora of empty seats in Korakuen Hall which has been a rare sight at New Japan shows in recent years. It’s not a great sign for the Super Junior Tag League as it’s clearly not proving strong enough to draw fans on its own, and it will be interesting to see if New Japan react to that issue in the future.
Guess what, everyone? We’re into Tag League season! It’s the worst time of the year. I jest, but it’s safe to say that the Super Junior Tag League and World Tag League tend to fall short of their singles counterparts. However, every day is Christmas, and there’s a chance this will be the year that changes. Yea, I don’t believe it either.
As usual, I’ll be ignoring the undercard unless something particularly exciting happens.
It feels only right to start this review with a shout out to those in Japan who were affected by the typhoon over the weekend, and I hope everyone looks after themselves. It feels a bit cheap to go from that to talk of card changes, as in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big a deal, but it did leave Jon Moxley and Zack Sabre Jr unable to travel. Mox was the bigger loss of the two as his absence forced New Japan to strip the US Title from him and give the match to Lance Archer instead. Amazingly, that’s caused some conspiracy chat, which seems oblivious to the actual typhoon which makes cancelled flights seem perfectly reasonable. Anyway, that silliness aside, this was a hella stacked card, so let’s see what went down.
Night two of Wrestling Dontaku finally brought this never-ending tour to an end. It wasn’t a horrible way to finish things off either. New Japan served up EVIL vs Ishii and a rematch of one of the best matches of the year so far, SANADA vs Okada. There was a real chance they were heading out on a high.