NJPW New Beginning Day 2 Grades: Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi Reunite

Credit: njpw1972.com

The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi 3K

The best match of the night featured Roppongi 3K defeating The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles. This match had an incredible story that featured Matt Jackson injuring his back and selling it throughout the match. Matt had a nasty welt on his side, which just furthered the injury angle.

With Matt unable to fly, Nick flew all over the ring at an even faster pace than normal to make up for Matt being hurt. The finish saw Matt locking the Sharpshooter on Yoh, and almost getting the tap out, but his back couldn’t hold up. Yoh used an inside cradle and pinned him to regain the titles. Fantastic stuff here. Excellent story told, and amazing selling from Matt Jackson.

Omega vs. White

The main event saw Kenny Omega vs. Jay White for the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. In my preview of the show, I speculated that Jay White might would win the match to establish him as a major player. While I didn’t think that was the direction they were going to go, it was a possible direction, and that is exactly what they did. White took an incredible beating in this match, and just would not quit.

The near falls were clever with White just barely getting his shoulder up. The camera zoomed right in on White’s shoulder which was just barely off the mat. He was just able to raise it enough to break the pinfall, which was incredible. Omega just beat on him without mercy. However, just at the end, White was able to hit the Blade Runner, and just barely pin Omega, who kicked out just after the pinfall. This was incredible storytelling.