NJPW The New Beginning in Sapporo Day 1 Review

Credit: njpw1972.com

Michael Elgin vs. Katsuya Kitamura

This match was what you’d expect from these two. It was very hard hitting, with lots of chops and elbows. Kitamura kicked out of a bunch of moves like a Falcon Arrow and huge lariats, giving the crowd some reason to cheer. He looked quite good here. It’s clear he’s still green, but this was a solid match. Elgin got the win with an Elgin Bomb after a few minutes. 2 out of 5 stars

KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Taichi, Kanemaru, & Iizuka) w/ Miho

Taichi comes out to immediate heat, but before he can start lip syncing his theme song, Iizuka’s theme hits, and Taichi looks disgusted that he can’t perform. Thank goodness, as he’s awful. There were some usual Suzuki-gun shenanigans here as they attempted to cheat and take every advantage they could. Miho got involved and slapped Liger at one point. Kanemaru tried to spit his whisky into the face of KUSHIDA, but he ducked, and Kanemaru hit Taka by accident. KUSHIDA then locked in the Hover Board Lock and Taka tapped out. 2 out of 5 stars

CHAOS (Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii) vs. The Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi)

Very quickly at the start of this match, Owens indicated that he wanted no part of Ishii. Ishii then tagged out to Yano, and there began a series of amusing spots where Chase would try to out cheat Yano but fail to do so. Yano himself got cut off after trying to untie the turnbuckle padding. This was a lot of fun to watch, though nothing special. A perfect warm up match. Ishii eventually destroyed everyone, and Yano and Ishii get the win after a few minutes. 2 out of 5 stars