It’s Tetsuya Naito v Jon Moxley for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Matt Vandagriff vs. Zane Jay
STRONG Survivor match and a really fun three minutes. It was fast-paced throughout with Zane working as the heel and Vandagriff getting over in Chicago. He even did a Montez Ford-style dive over the top turnbuckle to the floor before winning with the Styles Clash. **3/4
Alex Windsor and Trish Adora vs. Mina Shirakawa and Viva Van
Solid women’s tag here with Alex Windsor making an impressive NJPW debut. She was super crisp with all of her offense and when she had to bump, she had her bumping boots on with a great performance. Mina has been a major part of the recent AEW/STARDOM crossover so I assumed she would win here. She stood out again while Viva and Trish more than held their own in a solid match. Windsor isolated Van and hit a Fisherman’s Suplex for the 1, 2… 3! WOAH. Surprising win for Windsor who may get a featured spot on the STRONG shows. ***
Minoru Suzuki vs. Ren Narita
This is their first interaction since Ren turned his back on Suzuki’s teachings and joined House of Torture so Suzuki wants to beat some sense into him. This was another good showing from Narita in particular who seems to be dropping some of the cringy bullshit heat stuff. He really took the fight to Suzuki and wanted to prove he’s the better man and it made for a decent brawl. The finish saw Suzuki get stopped by the referee from bringing a chair into the ring and Ren took advantage of the distraction to use the push-up bar and hit Double Cross to win. A good way to incorporate the heel cheating as this was a smart ploy by Narita rather than being obvious. ***1/4
Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. AZM for the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship
Power vs. speed always works and that’s what this was for 11 minutes. Vaquer has a point to prove still as she feels people doubted her against Guilia but guess what? She beat her and she wanted to beat the fan’s new favourite in Chicago (AZM) to shut them up again. This was a good struggle as Vaquer did everything to slow down and ground AZM but a few flurries from the challenger nearly pulled it off. There was some spectacular sequences and Vaquer going after AZM’s knee was smart to slow her down. Vaquer retained with a vicious backbreaker and was challenged by Alex Windsor for a match next. ***1/2
Guerrillas Of Destiny (El Phantasmo and Hikuleo) (c) vs. Fred Rosser and Tom Lawlor vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) vs. The West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) for the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship
Pretty fun multi-man tag with actual stakes for once. It was non-stop action with constant tags to keep things fresh and while the match lacked a real focus as a result, it was fun to watch. They teased Lawlor facing off WCWC but ELP tagged himself in to stop that. He got beat up a while until Hikuleo came in and cleaned house. It broke down (with Lawlor breaking up a WCWC pin and fighting with them) and GOD had the match won but Haste stole the tag from ELP and the pin on Nelson to win the titles. YES! TMDK HAVE GOLD IN NJPW FINALLY. Well-deserved and a decent midcard match. There was nothing that memorable but it’s good time for all four acts. After the match, WCWC officially turned on Lawlor to pay off a LONG-TERM STRONG angle which is great. ***1/4
Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry
A cauldron of noise for Perry in Chicago and he REVELS in it from start to finish. There’s a few story beats here. Perry’s whole gimmick is he’s a scapegoat, but the effect he’s had on Shota over the last few months is similar. Shota continuously fails to rise to the big occasion and is getting lost on who he is. He wants to be the Ace and act like Tanahashi but the truth is, he’s better when he’s a scrappy shot-taker like Moxley or Ospreay. For Jack, he can be ultimate troll tonight at the home of CM Punk and he leans into it. Perry has all the cheap heel heat tricks (back rakes, a low blow behind the referee’s back and other stuff) and he’s great at reacting to the crowd here. They chant ‘you got choked out’ at him so he slaps on a stiff front face-lock to mimic it which got a big reaction. He answers some of Shota’s offense with a blast from the past in Christian Cage’s Killswitch. Obviously, the CM Punk offense came out as expected and I popped for the announcers mentioning KENTA like who else does the GTS? That was the key moment here. Shota knew Jack would go to the CM Punk trolling and it cost Perry. GTS countered. BLAZE BLADE. DEATHHHH RIIIIDEEERR. Shota actually wins a big match holy shit. ***3/4
Mustafa Ali vs. Hiromu Takahashi
This started slow but got VERY good. There was a lot of comedy at the start but when they got to doing crazy athletic shit, it was awesome. Ali baiting Hiromu to diving to the floor and catching him with a draping DDT was a clever spot. A lot of Ali’s dives were spectacular while Hiromu was just trying to make it more of a mat game. They teased Taka going after the X Division title with a win while Ali’s intentions were more offensive. He hates the idea that Hiromu is the king of junior wrestling and sees him as a false prophet (great line Walker Stewart) so it’s time to shatter people’s beliefs. Believe in Ali. The X Division champion got busted open but managed to squeak out a win with a great finish. Taka charged at Ali who dived off the top rope to hit a Sunset Bomb and the 450 wins it. ***1/2
Eddie Kingston, Homicide and United Empire (TJP and Jeff Cobb) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Gabe Kidd, David Finlay and Clark Connors) and KENTA
This was basically an Anarchy in the Arena style match. I thought this was supposed to be Kingston v Kidd for the NJPW Strong title so I have no idea why they’re dragging it out. Jeff Cobb telling us on commentary at Sakura Genesis that he is not booked for Chicago and then a week later turning us as a surprise is interesting. It’s either a telling example of how NJPW’s booking is all over the place or it’s a really well done work. There’s a lot of this match spent fighting in the stands but that’s where the problems come from as we have no idea what’s happening. The lighting is too dark to see and the camera work is so limited that it just didn’t work. When it got back to the ring, the brawling was good and the fans were into it. Connors wrapping barbed wire around his head and just dropping the nut on TJP was a cool spot. UE were taken out of the equation and War Dogs had the numbers so made Kingston watch as Kidd took out Homicide with the DDT and won. The best part was Kingston v Kidd by a MILE. The fight continued after the match and it was broken up leading to Kingston challenging Kidd to a no ropes, Last Man Standing match at Resurgance. ***1/4
Matt Riddle (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW TV Championship
Even the announcers struggle to make sense of ZSJ going back after the TV title. Riddle has apparently challenged Zack to this and they basically say Zack ain’t arsed about it which is bonkers. It’s obviously course-correction but Zack deserves so much better. His reign as champion deserved better follow-up too. The match is well-wrestled but they’re thrown off by Riddle being heavily booed in the US. They play into by the end with Riddle flipping off the crowd but it definitely shocked them. Zack’s the technical guy who knows how to win these matches and while it was close to a time limit draw, Zack won with the crucifix pin. Zack v Jeff Cobb seems to be the next direction. GOOD JOB YOU ENDED UP BEING BOOKED FOR CHICAGO HUH JEFF?! ***1/4
Nic Nemeth vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Decent match to prepare Nemeth for an eventual title defence against Hiroshi Tanahashi. The crowd weren’t hugely into it as neither guy are the same draw they once were, but they are both very good wrestlers so they had a very good wrestling match. Ishii had the striking advantage so Nemeth did his best to outwrestle him on the mat. They built up the pace well, had a couple of good near falls before Nemeth won with the Danger Zone. Perfectly fine to decent match. ***
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the IWGP Heavyweight Champion
The story is Naito is living off the high of being champion but how much can his body take? Meanwhile, Mox hasn’t been pinned in a NJPW ring since 2019 and he’s one of the best in the world who knows how valuable a shot like this can be so he’s not going to let it slip away. The opening stages saw Naito doing everything he could to get in Mox’s head but it backfires when it turns into a brawl around ringside as that’s Mox’s playground. Naito eventually got it back in the ring and the work was good, but limited due to the fact that Naito’s body is just failing him. I think we’re probably heading to Tana v Naito as a retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom by the way. The match picked up when Naito nailed a chair shot and Mox was busted open (obvs). The pace quickened and it was much more of a Moxley match which is a really good thing. Naito held his own (as much as he could) but saw his first Destino attempt countered into a cutter and a Death Rider for a good near fall. Moments later, Naito came out of nowhere with the Destino but Mox kicked out at 2. A second Death Rider was hit but Naito kicked out again and has this great desperation selling. Because Mox has the experience, he doesn’t let it get him down and knows the win is around the corner. A THIRD DEATH RIDER! AND NEW!!!!! Jon Moxley is the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the crowd were LOUD for it. It’s honestly the right call. Naito had his Tokyo Dome moment but when backstage issues are making a company lose stars, putting the top belt on Jon Moxley for a run is a proven success (see AEW TWICE). It’s a good match with a really well-crafted finish. Mox looks like the best in the world as he should. ****
The show ended with Mox cutting a promo and telling Shota this will be his final test teasing a match between the two. Instead, we got REN NARITA attacking Mox with the push-up bar and honestly, after watching their interactions at Sakura Genesis, I’m all for it. As long as it’s the Narita we’ve seen over the last two weeks and not full of HOT interference, it could be a GREAT match.
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