NJPW 53rd Anniversary Special

Walker Stewart greeted the English-speaking audiences tuning in, joined by the returning Chris Charlton, who hadn’t been seen on commentary since Wrestle Dynasty.

El Phantasmo defeated Master Wato for the NJPW World TV Championship

**3/4

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Wato and Phantasmo locked up, with the latter increasingly agitated. The pair traded high-flying and acrobatic maneuvers, mainly flying headscissor takedowns. Wato flipped over the top rope to Phantasmo on the outside. The Canadian clung as hard as he could to the match, but Wato spiked him on his head and cranked his neck. A well-placed dropkick swung the match in Phantasmo’s favor, capitalized by chops to the chest and a springboard crossbody. Phantasmo soared from the top rope, successfully landing a moonsault to the outside.

Wato mounted a comeback with an arm hold and a crucifix hold to ground Phantasmo, failing a rollup in the process. Seeking to disorient the champion, Wato rolled around while holding a pin to no avail. Phantasmo gained his momentum back, using a Burning Hammer for a nearfall. Wato’s Tsutenkaku resulted in the same outcome. Phantasmo landed a Thunderkiss ’86, beating the clock and gaining the win.

El Phantasmo’s first TV title defense post-Jeff Cobb went well. If he continues to take on members of the undercard, even better. Use a title like this to elevate some people as more talents age out.

BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens) defeated TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa)

***

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Oiwa easily manhandled Owens, using his overall strength and control to keep him at bay. Owens followed this up by kicking Jackson into the blue steel barricades. Jackson at last collided with Fale, withstanding the latter’s stiffness. His attempt to fireman’s carry Fale went about as expected, with Owens interfering to rub further salt into the wound. Oiwa returned, delivering a gut wrench suplex to Owens but suffered another collision to the barricades. Fale concluded the match with a lariat after a sneak kick by Owens for the win.

Post-match: Owens and Oiwa had a verbal altercation, hinting at a future match between the two.

The last remnants of base Bullet Club just hanging out while a civil war is taking place between its faction’s subsets is amusing. Unexpected win, however. Nothing else to say about this short match.

BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Gedo, SANADA & Taiji Ishimori) defeated Just 4 Guys (Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)

***1/4

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The War Dogs allowed no time before the bell to attack their opponents. SANADA quickly dispatched Uemura while Gedo patiently handled Michinoku. Ishimori and Gedo crushed Michinoku further as Taichi unwittingly distracted the referee in his attempt to help his partner. Michinoku continued to suffer further torment, with Gedo and Ishimori exposing the turnbuckle until he mounted a comeback and tagged Taichi in. Ishimori threw everything he had to Taichi, but he caught it and returned the offense in kind with an Axe Bomber.

Uemura made his hot tag, delivering justice to SANADA with the crowd in Ota City General Gymnasium fully in support. This babyface comeback was thwarted by Ishimori tripping Uemura. SANADA teased a guitar strike to Uemura, but instead tossed it to Uemura and feigned an injury. The referee played into his hand, ending the match in disqualification for Just 4 Guys and Uemura.

SANADA taking a page out of Eddie Guerrero’s book isn’t one I’ve seen much in NJPW as of late, so I couldn’t help but smile. Uemura and SANADA have unfinished business, and the match did a good job of promoting that.

House Of Torture (Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Gabe Kidd) ended via count-out

**1/2

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Two masked assailants surprised the House of Torture members, revealing themselves to be Moloney & Kidd. The match then went to the outside, with both Kidd handling Narita and Moloney grappling Kanemaru in the stands. Kidd threatened to toss Narita over an exit balcony, but instead let him escape. Both teams ventured closer to the ring again. Kanemaru eventually found freedom from Moloney, but was sent into the chairs by Kidd. Moloney aided Kidd in flattening Narita. Narita stalled for time, battling Kidd on the outside, hoping to earn a count-out. The referee’s count reached 20; the match was over but the war continued.

— Post match: Moloney ran interference on any Young Lion attempting to save the beatdown Narita faced by Kidd, involving several tosses into the crowd chairs.

While not overly exciting, this pairing works oddly well together. Narita and Kanemaru are the strongest parts of House of Torture, but that’s not saying much. Kidd and Moloney were the highlight as usual. The crowd is as hot for Kidd as ever since January.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji) defeated House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi)

***

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Bedlam begat this 8-man tag, with Tsuji and EVIL colliding, the former emptying the ring of House of Torture interference. After Tsuji’s one-man wrecking crew performance, Naito and Takahashi unleashed their tag team fury. This momentum was temporary, as House of Torture carefully and strategically picked apart the LIJ members. Naito endured the brunt of the odds, long enough to send SHO’s head into Takahashi’s boots.

Takagi made his grand tag, unleashing a torrent of forearms to SHO. Singlehandedly clobbering several House of Torture members, Takagi struck SHO hard. Takahashi couldn’t follow up on this and inevitably suffered a Dick-to-Dick Contact. Takahashi submitted Togo with a leg hold for the win.

The tease for EVIL versus Tsuji in the New Japan Cup was a fine advertisement for their match. Takagi and Tsuji are the ones to watch for this match. Speaking of Takagi, congratulations on the publishing of your new book!

El Desperado (c) defeated Francesco Akira for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

***1/4

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Akira made an epic yet understated entrance, determined and confident. He and Desperado traded loud chops, but the challenger met the barricade and took a shot to the head by a smartphone. The young Italian overcame the champion’s offense, wrenching the neck in a hold ended by a rope break. Desperado targeted Akira’s knee, the hope visibly draining from his body. Following a moonsault to the outside, Akira took advantage of his prone opponent by following up with a nasty Tope Con Hilo. Using his core, Akira clung onto Desperado’s hold on him, transitioning into a Destroyer.

With the crowd clapping for him, Akira unleashed a Speedfire to no avail, yet remained in control. Desperado wrought a symphony of slams onto Akira, and it was unable to put him away. Desperado capitalized with the Numero Dos multiple times, but Akira powered out. Attempting a Fireball, Akira was seconds away from victory but Desperado kicked out. Akira followed with another Fireball, thwarted by a rope break. Following a Fireplex, Akira reached for another Fireball, leading to Desperado’s Numero Dos, narrowly escaped. Hoping once more for a Fireball, Akira’s knees gave out at the last second. The champion inched closer to victory with a Pinche Loco, but Akira kicked out of his pin. He held on as long as he could, but he ultimately tapped to a final Numero Dos by Desperado.

Standout performance by Akira. Incredible selling, and it was impossible for me to not root for him. Quite possibly the most worthy match to watch from this night. Man, this was so heartbreaking.

Main Event

Hirooki Goto (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

***1/4

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Goto struggled initially in his earlier lock-ups with Tanahashi after the bell, but eventually trapped The Ace’s head between his legs, squeezing and holding. Tanahashi regained control via a flying crossbody and targeting Goto’s left leg. Goto chased Tanahashi’s level, evading and enduring each strike, dropping him with a lariat. Tanahashi stole Goto’s Ushigoroshi and soon exploited this with a Slingblade. Goto briefly recovered, but aggravated his left knee after a well-executed Ushigoroshi.

A series of Dragon Screw Legwhips worsened Goto’s left leg, which Tanahashi capitalized with a Texas Cloverleaf. Failing to execute a straightjacket hold, Tanahashi opted for a Slingblade. When that didn’t work, he soared with a High-Fly Flow, but missed a second attempt when Goto rolled out of the way. Goto clutched the control of the match back in his favor, but couldn’t secure a pin via inside cradle. Wincing away a swat by the challenger, Goto crushed The Ace with a GTR. A Shouten Kai to Tanahashi at last switched the crowd’s applause from him to the champion. Goto at last, defeated Tanahashi with a Shouten to close the main event.

— Post-match: Goto joked that if Tanahashi wrestled this type of match earlier in this career, he’d have been champion sooner. He then followed up by expressing deep gratitude for Tanahashi. The Ace beckoned the roster’s babyfaces as he responded that he leaves the fate of New Japan Pro-Wrestling in Goto’s hands, requesting he leads the promotion to new heights. Goto then addressed Yuji Nagata from commentary, challenging Blue Justice. Nagata accepted. Goto ended the night by stating that the Goto Revolution has just begun.

Tanahashi played mean, yet respectfully. Goto sold his left knee well. Tanahashi’s putting in the best final year he can. The way Goto eventually won over the initially pro-Tanahashi crowd adds much more to his reign, taking the love of the crowd from one of the company’s biggest stars.

A primarily House of Torture-centric show, the 53rd Anniversary Show had some standout performances, but the Junior Heavyweight and World Heavyweight matches are the ones to watch.

Overall: Thumbs In The Middle Pointing Up