NJPW Sakura Genesis 2023 Review: Kazuchika Okada v SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

The winner of the New Japan Cup tries to take the title from the Rainmaker.

El Desperado, Hiroshi Tanahashi and YOH vs. Great-O-Khan, Minoru Suzuki and Toru Yano

A sponsored match to push a Japanese TV show and Toru Yano gets punished with the match-making in a funny bit. He has to team with Suzuki and O-Khan, who both don’t like him and it leads to some funny stuff. It’s a decent opener mainly because it feels very different. Despy, YOH and O-Khan provide the speedy sequences, Suzuki and Tana have some great intensity and it’s all glued together by Toru’s personality. It works. YOH and Despy argue with each other leaving Tana to fall victim to the Toru Yano special (sneaky roll-up) for the finish. ***

United Empire (Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira and Jeff Cobb) vs. House Of Torture (EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi)

The House of Torture stuff was tiring in early 2023, let alone 12 months later. Henare and Cobb try to take the fight to them and Akira sells well for the HOT offense but it’s rather plodding and boring. Cobb actually won with the Tour of the Islands on SHO. **

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito) vs. Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

A logical point to this with SANADA’s recent deflection from LIJ to J5G and it worked here. Shingo/DOUKI showed their potential as a match up as did Taichi v Naito. Naito showed his displeasure at recent moves by wrestling more of a heel here and it made sense in story. Shingo v Taichi was great again and the finish saw Naito get caught in the DOUKI CHOKEY and Kanemaru made BUSHI tap with a knee-bar. DOUKI refused to let go of the choke and challenged Naito to a 1 v1. ***1/4

BULLET CLUB (David Finlay, El Phantasmo and KENTA) vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny (Hikuleo and Tama Tonga) and Master Wato

Finlay’s the new leader of Bullet Club and ELP has issues with that so they continue to further their story here with some great anamosity between the two. KENTA is doing his best to be peacemaker and against GOD, it’s a problem for the Club. However, because ELP is that damn good and should be the real leader of Bullet CLUB, he pins Wato with a CR2. After the match, Finlay and ELP have a great pull-apart brawl until KENTA and Taiji Ishimori both break it up but both turn on ELP. Face ELP is a good call. ***

Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Hazuki vs. AZM for the IWGP Women’s Championship

They only gave this 14 minutes and THEY COOKED in that time. It allowed them to have a sprint-style throw everything at it type of match. Mercedes more than kept up with the two STARDOM greats and we got lots of Mone v AZM which was the selling point. Hazuki wormed her way into the match and told that story of her nearly worming her way into the title really well. Lots of really great counters, three-person spots and great saved near falls too. Some of the creative spots they did didn’t look SUPER smooth but it made it better as a desperate battle for the belt. Truly great finish as AZM rolled up Hazuki but Mercedes rolled AZM into the Money Maker (which looked great) to retain. ****

Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Shota Umino for the NJPW TV Championship

Shota beat Zack in the New Japan Cup but can he pull off a victory inside the 15 minute time limit for the title? That’s the story here as Shota’s great at hanging in there, showing heart and fighting until the end but Zack’s game is quick transitions, unexpected submissions and not giving an inch so it’s a different ball game here. Zack worked the arm and had some brutal holds at times, but weirdly, Shota didn’t have loads of intensity which these shorter matches needed. It was still good stuff, but their Cup match was miles better as Shota doesn’t have enough presence yet needed for a shorter intense match. Zack retained with the Wake-Me-Up-Before-You-Go-Go pin. ***3/4

Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) (c) vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) for the IWGP Tag Team Championships

Two top teams who are in great form so I expected greatness here and we got it. Bishamon have been strong champions and early on, Fletcher takes a nasty bump from a top rope moonsault to the outside and gets busted open in a nasty fashion. The blood automatically puts Aussie Open as outsiders to win the title, but this team shouldn’t have even made it to New Japan (Davis’ ACL, pandemic issues), they upset the odds at World Tag League and they shouldn’t have been counted out here. Bishamon changed tact a little here and worked as the heels, leading to a terrific closing sequence where the crowd willed Aussie Open on. And they got their reward. Double lariats. Coriolis. 1. 2. 3. NEW CHAMPIONS. Terrific match made better by the circumstance. ****

Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Robbie Eagles for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Underrated match here. I wasn’t expecting loads but a great performance from both men exceeded any expectation. Hiromu allowed Eagles to get most of the offence in the first half of this and Eagles looked great as a tactician (clearly learning from ZSJ). He targeted Hiromu’s leg to set up his submission finish, but Taka fought out of any attempt to lock it in desperately. The champion fought back, still selling the leg really well, ran through most of his offense and won with the Time Bomb II. Good match but could have been better with more drama in the finish – it felt like Hiromu let Eagles dominate for a while before making a predictable comeback. ***3/4

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

Well, well, well…

This was a good main event with a logical, driven story throughout it. SANADA should have been the guy by now. But over the past few years, he’s been happy to sit in the background behind guys like Naito and just wrestle without purpose. But with Just 5 Guys pushing him, the New Japan Cup was a turning point for SANADA. He showed purpose, viciousness and a sense of punishment that only top guys in the business have. But is it enough to beat NJPW’s greatest champion (in theory)? For a large spell of this, the ‘New’ SANADA dominated this and left Okada looking a little stuck against the new beast. But every now and then, the old passive SANADA popped up and that allowed the champion to get some momentum. Okada, who was being dickhead Okada a lot, had little respect for SANADA so tried to win with the Money Clip to no avail. This had a great finishing run – SANADA had counters for the Rainmaker but tried to win with Destino (Naito’s move) which was a mistake. It looked like it would cost SANADA, but he countered the Rainmaker one last time and hit a Deadfall to finally win the title. Good match and a good piece of booking over the past month. Let’s hope they give him good opponents to solidify him as champion (Hiromu up first is good) and not like House of Torture bullshit. *checks how 2023 plays out* FUCK. ***1/2