ROH NJPW War of the Worlds Night 1: Review, Grades, and Analysis
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (Bullet Club) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) w/ Daryl Jr.
The action is fast and furious in the early portions of this match, and it was quite hard to keep track of. Matt Jackson was notably selling his back again, as the injury suffered at Wrestle Kingdom 12 continues to be a story in their matches. The action spilled onto the stage, and Matt Jackson did a stage dive onto BUSHI and Hiromu, sending them crashing to the floor.
The grimace of pain on Matt’s face afterwards told the story, as he sold his back. Matt crawled towards Nick to make the tag, but BUSHI managed to catch him before that, and the heat segment continued with them beating on Matt. Matt managed to dodge a clothesline from Hiromu and hit a spear. He tagged out to Nick, and Nick ran wild.
Matt and Nick locked in stereo sharpshooter’s, otherwise known as Cease and Desist, but LIJ escaped. The Bucks hit a stereo moonsault and 450 splash on Hiromu, but Hiromu kicked out. BUSHI did a sunset flip on Hiromu, which sent Matt Jackson flying backwards into a German Suplex.
There was a really messed up spot with a doomsday device/suplex.
BUSHI managed to spray the poison mist into Matt Jackson’s face. Matt then superkicked everyone in the ring, including Nick by accident. Then Matt locked the referee in a sharpshooter because he couldn’t see. Nick Jackson washed Matt’s eyes out with some water, and Matt slowly realized he had the referee in the sharpshooter. He yelled, “Oh come on!” as Hiromu and BUSHI took them out.
There was a lot of fast paced action that followed, with Hiromu almost killing Matt Jackson with a powerbomb to the outside of the ring.
There were superkicks and dives galore in the closing moments of the match, as BUSHI hit a huge Canadian Destroyer as well. The action finally came to an end when the Young Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on BUSHI for the pinfall! Awesome match.
Result: The Young Bucks
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Spectacular main event here, as ROH made the right call putting the Young Bucks on last here since the World title wasn’t going to be defended. The Bucks had two opponents that could go with their crazy pace, and all four men delivered.
Final Thoughts
Show Rating: 3/5
This was a really solid show from ROH to kick of the War of the Worlds tour. If the other 3 shows are like this, we’re in for a good few days of wrestling. ROH is hitting on a lot of really strong points on their roster right now with how Silas Young and co. are getting organically over, Jay Lethal continuing to elevate new stars, and the influx of NJPW talent to help some of their shows as well.
Next: What Does the Future Hold for Daniel Bryan?
This was a fun and easy show to watch, and absolutely worth your time. Ring of Honor, knowing that the fans lost their advertised main event, called an audible and had The Kingdom win the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships. They also made the call of having The Young Bucks go on last, which was also a smart shuffling of the card to make sure the crowd went home happy. They gave the hometown hero a win with the Six-Man Tag titles, and their biggest babyface stars a big win at the end to make sure the crowd was pleased. Though, I do think Hiromu and BUSHI winning would have been just as crowd pleasing. With that being said, a great show all around, and definitely worth your time.