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heartsoulrocknroll · 8 months ago

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NJPW Windy City Riot 4/13/24

Minoru Suzuki vs. Ren Narita -- This starts with them throwing each other around into the barricades outside, then trading sleepers inside, which Suzuki gets the better of and refuses to break after Narita grabs the rope for 5. Narita lands his guillotine knee, then sets up a chair in the corner. Suzuki grabs the chair, the ref takes it away, and while the ref is distracted, Narita nails Suzuku with a board and lands his facebuster finisher for the pinfall.

Lol, this was fine for what it was. Not much to it. Rating: 2.5

Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. AZM for the NJPW Strong Women's Championship -- Vaquer with a nasty dragon screw. AZM with a nice round kick to the head on the apron, then a double stomp off the second rope to the outside, then a missile dropkick off the top inside! AZM covers for two, then transitions into an arm bar. AZM misses a double stomp off the top, Vaquer lands a dropkick, AZM lands a round kick to the head, Vaquer lands a back suplex! Elbows by AZM and headbutts by Vaquer! Vaquer grabs a smooth arm bar, then transitions into a choke with the arm trapped! Beautiful! AZM gets a foot on the rope. Snap suplex by Vaquer for two! AZM lands a superplex, then a double stomp off the top for two! Vaquer with Sole Food, AZM with La Mistica into an arm-trap pinning combo for two! Nice, that looked great!! Vaquer with headbutts and vicious running double knees in the corner! AZM escapes the package by Vaquer and runs the ropes, Vaquer nails her with a kick, AZM goes for La Mistica again, but Vaquer reverses and lands a double underhook package neckbreaker for the pinfall!!!

That rocked!!! Just fantastic, fast-paced action throughout with great counters and an awesome finishing stretch. Both of them were great here. I was very impressed. Rating: 4

El Phantasmo and Hikuleo (c) vs. TMDK vs. Tom Lawlor and Fred Rosser vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew for the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship -- Lawlor and Rosser with a chicken wing and rear naked choke on TMDK, but Hikuleo breaks it up with a double clothesline, then lands a double chokeslam on Lawlor and Rosser. Hikuleo with a body slam on Nelson, then tags ELP, who sets up for Sudden Death, but gets pulled out of the ring. Stunner by Nelson on Hikuleo to send him outside, then a series of double teams by WCWC on ELP. Running double knees in the corner by Nelson, uppercut by Isaacs, Isaacs throws ELP into a pop-up powerbomb by Nelson, Nelson catapults ELP into a DVD by Isaacs onto Nelson's knees! Double cover by WCWC, but Lawlor breaks it up. Nice sequence there. Double discus elbows on Nelson by Lawlor and Rosser. They go for it again on Isaacs, but miss and hit each other. Lawlor with a knee strike to Isaacs. Nelson lands a dropkick on Lawlor. ELP comes from behind with Sudden Death on Nelson, then Hikuleo lands a chokeslam. ELP lands a topé to the outside, then comes back and lands an assisted somersault senton over ropes and over Hikuleo onto Nelson. But Haste makes the blind tag on ELP in the process. ELP goes for a cover on Nelson, but Haste comes in, throws him off, and gets a jackknife on Nelson for the pinfall.

This was a very solid match that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to. They did a good job with the four-way tag dynamic, which often doesn't work. Fast-paced action, good double team maneuvers. Good stuff from all involved. Wish TMDK had been more involved in the match before getting the win out of nowhere. Rating: 3.25

WCWC attack Lawlor and Rosser after the match. They cut Lawlor's hair and feed it to Rosser. Wtf.

Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry -- Perry enters with guards with armored vests and shields. Lmao. The crowd is so unbelievably loud!!! The crowd sings cry me a river chants. Nice. Perry slaps Umino in the face, then rolls outside like a little bitch! Nice. Umino follows and rolls him back in. Perry with a facelock, then a snap suplex for two! Running uppercut in the corner and a gorgeous fisherman suplex by Umino for two! Umino with a drop toe hold into the ropes, then a nice slingshot DDT over the ropes, planting Perry's face on the apron!!! Umino lands a dropkick off the top, then a nice release suplex. Umino goes for something, but Perry escapes, grabs the ref, lands a backward low blow to Umino, then drags Umino to the edge of the ring lands a draping DDT off the apron onto the floor!!! Perry lands a double underhook powerbomb for two!! Perry spits in Umino's face! They trade elbows! Umino with an uppercut! Perry with an elbow to the top of the head! Umino with a beautiful dropkick and a reverse DDT for two! Umino lands a a knee strike and a corkscrew neckbreaker? for two!! Perry escapes a Death Rider attempt and lands a jumping poison rana, then a Killswitch for two!! Running knee strike by Perry! Umino kicks out at two! Perry lands the Punk running knee lift in the corner, then goes for the GTS and flips off the crowd, but Umino reverses into a DDT!!! Nice. Umino lands a beautiful, aggressive running corkscrew uppercut followed by Death Rider for the pinfall!

I really liked this match. The heat from the crowd puts it over the top, but it's great on its own, with Umino looking really great, and Perry holding his own very well. Good stuff. Rating: 3.75

Perry shakes Umino's hand and raises Umino's hand in victory after the match, which I thought was a really nice moment.

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Mustafa Ali -- Hiromu enters with Daryl Jr, who has come back from his excursion with twelve pack abs. Hiromu waves in the faces of Ali's security detail at ringside, trying to get a reaction. Lmao. Commentary mentions that Ali is 25-0 in 2024. Ali's hometown crowd is fully behind Hiromu here with Takahashi chants to start the match.

They start the match running the ropes and trading nearfalls. Hiromu an fakes injury tags in Daryl, who he sits in the middle of the ring. Hiromu starts a Daryl chant. Hiromu finally comes back in, throws Daryl in Ali's face as a distraction, and lands a dropkick! Hiromu lands another sliding dropkick. Hiromu with chops to Ali in the ring, Ali rolls outside, but Hiromu follows with more chops! Ali runs around the ring. Hiromu follows and tries to slides under the ropes in the corner of the ring, but Ali catches him with a draping DDT off the apro, absolutely spiking Hiromu's face into the floor! Damn! Ali rolls Hiromu back inside, Ali wrenches back on Hiromu's neck and drives knees into Hiromu's back on the mat. Hiromu gets his foot on the rope to break. Ali lands a nice rolling neckbreaker into a nice cover for two. Ali the runs ropes and lands another nice neckbreaker for two! Ali props up Daryl in the corner and talks trash. He yells at Hiromu, "Suffed animals can't talk, you idiot." Lmao. Hiromu with a head scissors takedown, running lariat in the corner, then a running dropkick! Ali rolls out, but Hiromu follows with a running dropkick off the apron, sending Ali into the guard rail, then rolls Ali in for two! Ali escapes a corner DVD attempt, but Hiromu lands a falcon arrow for two! Ali lands two running corner dropkicks and goes for a third, but Hiromu cuits him off with a wild lariat! Ali lands a nice tornado DDT without the ropes for two!

Ali goes to the top, but Hiromu stops him with an elbow. Hiromu shoves Ali off the top, and Ali back flips off the top into the cameraman on the floor, but lands on his feet! Ali comes back immediately and shoves Hiromu off the apron into the guard rail outside, then lands an aggressive tope to Hiromu, sending both of them hard into the guard rail!! They take out Chris Charlton in the process. Lmao. Back inside, Ali misses a 450 off the top as Hiromu moves out of the way. Ali's head is busted open. He runs at Hiromu, who moves and shoves Ali hard into the corner! Hiromu puts Ali on the top. Ali lands a headbutt to take Hiromu down! Ali with a nasty sunset flip powerbomb!! Ali goes back to the top and lands a 450 for the pinfall!

Hiromu is funny with the Daryl nonsense, but this match relied on it a little too heavily. There were glimpses of Hiromu's usual, crazy, caution-to-the-wind self, but he never fully went there. But even when Hiromu isn't giving it 100%, he's still good. Ali looked very good as well. It was a fast-paced match, and there were some crazy spots. I expected more from these two, and I wanted this match to hit another level that it never really did, but I still liked it. Rating: 3.5

Ali offers Hiromu a handshake after the match, but Hiromu wants Ali to shake Daryl's hand. Ali is hesitant, but he finally gets Daryl, hands him to Hiromu, and shakes Daryl's hand. Lol.

Eddie Kingston, Homicide, Jeff Cobb, and TJP vs. Gabe Kidd, Kenta, David Finlay, and Clark Connors (No DQ Tornado Tag Match) -- This starts off with a lot of aimless wandering around the arena, with the camera going back and forth between the competitors. It finally picks up a little in the ring. TJP skateboards on Kenta's back lmao. Finlay lands a nice uranage backbreaker on TJP. Kidd with the Terry Funk airplane spinning ladder shots to everyone in the ring. Cobb comes into stop it with a German suplex with the ladder still around Kidd's neck. Connors spears Cobb, then wraps barbed wire around his head and headbutts TJP. TJP turns it around and uses his boot to drive the barbed wire into Connors' face, then lands running knee/kick in the corner. Homicide takes a fork to Connors' head. Kenta in with backfist to Homicide, then boots and running corner dropkicks to TJP. Kenta goes for G2S on Cobb, but can't get him up. Cobb lands lariat on Kenta. TJP misses off the top, and Kenta lands G2S on TJP. But Cobb takes Kenta out with running cross body. Finlay throws Cobb into barbed wire chair in corner. Kingston comes in with low blow and kendo stick shots to Finlay. Finally, Kingston and Kidd face off. They exchange hard chops. Kidd bites Kingston's head. Kingston lands exploder into table in corner. Kingston has barbed wire in hand, but gets taken down by Kidd's other team member. They choke Kingston with a steel chain. Homicide comes in to try to make the save, but eats a spike piledriver from Kidd. Kidd covers Homicide for three, while the others hold Kingston back.

I wasn't into this at all at the beginning, as it started with just a lot of wandering around the arena with no focus and nothing really happening. It picked up a little toward the end when they finally got in the ring, but it was certainly nothing special and kind of a waste of time. And way, way too long. I do have to say though, so happy to see TJP. Rating: 2

Kingston challenges Kidd to a no ropes, last man standing match at the next big show and says fuck a lot, because he is so ~~edgy~~.

Matt Riddle (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW World Television Championship -- The build for this is hilarious, as Zack has said that he has accomplished all he can with the TV title and is ready to chase the world heavyweight title. He doesn't even want this match, and has forced Riddle, the champion, to jump through hoops and beat the other members of TMDK just to get this chance to defend his own title against Zack. Beautiful stuff.

Nice mat start. Zack with an armbar, then he transitions into a knee bar. Riddle reverses the pressure and escapes. Zack ducks two kicks by Riddle. Riddle lands two gut-wrench suplexes without letting go. Riddle goes for a back senton, but Zack catches him in an armbar. Riddle gets to the ropes, but Zack just wrenches back even harder on the arm for five!!!! 😍 Zack slaps Riddle. Riddle responds with a big slap that takes Zack down. Riddle lands round kicks to the chest. Zack catches Riddle's foot and snaps back his toes!! Zack wrenches back on the foot, and stomps the foot into the mat. 😍 Beautiful snap vertical suplex by Zack. Zack grabs the foot again, wrenches back on the ankle, then ties up the legs and transitions into a bow and arrow.

Riddle with an overhand chop, then catches Zack in a hanging armbar in ropes for five. Riddle goes for a knee off the top, but Zack catches the ankle again and goes for an STF, but Riddle gets to the ropes. Riddle lands a German suplex into a bridge for two, then lands a back senton. Riddle misses a moonsault off the top, and Zack just dives into a triangle choke on Riddle, and lays in vicious elbows to the top of the head. 😍 Riddle deadlifts Zack up and powerbombs him to escape, then lands a nice knee strike to the jaw for two! Riddle with round kicks in the corner, then a running elbow shot. Riddle goes for another elbow, but Zack catches him with a tornado DDT, then smoothly rolls into a guillotine on the mat. 😍 Riddle powers up to his feet and goes for a suplex, but Zack reverses into a rear choke. Riddle escapes with a snapmare, then transitions into an armbar, but Zack escapes and grabs an armbar of his own.

Riddle tries to escape with elbows to the jaw, but Zack transitions into a triangle choke. Riddle deadlifts Zack and goes for a powerbomb, but Zack escapes and lands a Zack Driver for two! Zack goes for a PK, but Riddle catches it and grabs a single-leg crab. Zack lands a pele kick to the arm. Riddle lands a German suplex. Riddle lands the corkscrew senton off the top for two! Riddle with round kicks and overhand chops, but Zack catches his leg and lands an overhand chop of his own! Riddle lands a nice jumping knee! Riddle then lands the ripcord knee! Riddle goes for a Tombstone, but Zack counters into a victory roll, then into a Euro clutch pinning combo for two!!!!! Beautiful 😍. Zack lands a round kick to the chest, Riddle responds with a running, jumping knee! Riddle runs for another knee strike perhaps, but Zack stops him and catches him in a pinning combo for three!!!!!

Damn, what a match!!!!! Not to be that guy, but I am in love with Zack Sabre Jr. I cannot express how absolutely incredible he is every time he steps in a ring. Riddle was very good here as well. Great back and forth on the mat. Great use of strikes by Riddle, with Zack almost always using it to his advantage to bait Riddle into a hold. Awesome, violent joint manipulation by Zack. Just an incredible, well-constructed match. I loved every second. Rating: 4.25

Zack says his year didn't start off well. He had his sights set on the world heavyweight title. But he took his baby back. And he needs some industrial cleaner, because he doesn't trust the last champion. This is usually where he would open up the floor to challengers, but he can't be arsed, he's very tired, so he's going straight to the pub. But he will be defending the title in the US very soon, so cheerio, everyone, bye bye.

But here comes Jeff Cobb! He faces off with Zack in the ring. Zack yells, "Not today, I'm tired, we'll do it another time," and offers Cobb a handshake. Cobb accepts it. Zack tries to pull Cobb in for a Zack Driver, but Cobb reverses and picks up Zack. But Zack manages to escape to the outside. Zack asks, "Hawaiian Jeffrey, please, may I have my championship back? And I promise I will give you a championship match another time, just not today, because I'm tired." He compliments Cobb's hair and asks what conditioner he uses. Cobb hands the title back. Zack says thank you and leaves. Lmao. ZSJ, light of my life. Hilarious, great stuff here.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Nic Nemeth -- They trade chops. Nic stands toe to toe with Ishii. Ishii plows him with a shoulder tackle. Ishii with two hard chops that take Nic off his feet! Ishii lands a brainbuster for two. Nic with a dropkick and a series of elbow drops for two. Weird. Nic tries some elbows, but only one elbow from Ishii puts Nic down. Ishii lands a superplex. Ishii goes for a piledriver, but Nic escapes and locks in a sleeper. Ishii reverses with a sleeper of his own. Nic reverses with an Olympic Slam. Nic lands a DDT for two. Nic goes for a Fameasser, but Ishii catches him in midair with a powerbomb! Nic with a headbutt, then lands the Fameasser for two! Ishii takes Nic down with a lariat for two. Nic ducks a sliding lariat, but Ishii lands an enziguri, then lands the sliding lariat for two! Nic lands a headbutt, Ishii blocks a Danger Zone attempt, then Nic lands a superkick for 2.5! Nic lands a German suplex, but Ishii gets right back up. Ishii ducks another Danger Zone attempt, then Ishii lands a Danger Zone of his own!!! Nice! Ishii absolutely blasts Nic with a lariat!!!!! But Nic kicks out at one! Nic lands a superkick, but Ishii kicks out at one! They collide with lariats at the same time, then trade headbutts, then Ishii just NAILS Nic with a jumping cross body into a cover for two!! Nic escapes a brainbuster attempt, then lands a right hand, a superkick, and a Danger Zone for three!

Wow. I don't know what to say. I mean, I've historically been the world's biggest Ziggler hater, and a huge Ishii mark. So for me, this was a great match, but I attribute it mostly to how well Ishii can carry a match and make anyone look good. Nic held his own here, and it was a nice contrast of styles that managed to work a lot better than I thought it would. But I still think he stands out like a sore thumb in New Japan, and I hate him going over Ishii. Rating: 3.75

Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship -- Naito takes his sweet time taking off, re-fastening, and taking back off his pants. Naito spits in Moxley's face, throws him outside, runs the ropes, and does the tranquilo pose in the ring. 😍😍 Moxley follows him outside with elbows, then throws him over the barricade, and smashes his head into the announce table. Naito throws Moxley into the barricade in the crowd, grabs a chair, and sits down to relax. Moxley takes him down with a boot to the face. Mox rolls Naito back in, steps on his throat, and lands a spike piledriver for two! Mox with alternating chest chops and round kicks to Naito's historically problematic knees. Naito with a sunset flip, but Mox rolls through into a Figure Four. Mox then transitions into a Texas Clovereaf, then into an STF. Naito gets to the ropes. Mox with multiple kicks to the chest, but Naito just sits back up! Naito catches the foot and rakes the eyes. 😍 Mox lands a brainbuster, then just chokes Naito on the mat. Mox comes off the top, but Naito catches him with a shot to the abdomen, then an enziguri. Naito with a rapid-fire sequence -- Manhattan drop, chop to the chest, and dropkick to the back! Naito goes for a combinación, and his leg gives out, but he follows up quickly with a beautiful neckbreaker for two, then quickly grabs a kravat! Mox gets to his feet, then dumps Naito over the ropes to the apron. They trade elbows to the face! Mox lands a DDT on the apron! Mox rolls in and does the Naito tranquilo pose to boos from the crowd. Nice.

Naito rolls in, and Mox immediately dumps him back outside and goes for topé suicida. But Naito is lying in wait, and nails Moxley as he dives out with a steel chair to the head!!! Geez! Naito lands a nasty neckbreaker on the apron!! Damn! Mox makes it back in at 19.5. Mox is bleeding from the head, what's new. Naito lands a nice tornado DDT off the ropes and sets up for Destino, but Mox stops it with a big lariat! They trade right hands and elbows in the middle of the ring! Naito laughs and spits in Mox's face. 😍😍 Mox spits back. Mox locks in a sleeper. Naito backs Mox hard into the corner to escape, but Mox follows up with a curb stomp to the head for two!!! Mox goes back to the sleeper with body scissors on the mat, then transitions to the bulldog choke. Naito gets to his feet, but Mox holds onto the sleeper. Naito drops down and escapes with a victory roll for two!! Naito with repeated, nasty elbows to the head and goes for Destino, but Mox escapes! Mox lands a cutter, then Paradigm Shift and covers, but Naito kicks out at 2.5!!! Naito chants from the crowd!!! Mox goes for Paradigm Shift again, but Naito escapes and lands Destino!! Cover! Mox kicks out at 2.5!!!! Naito goes for Destino again, Mox blocks it and lands two strong elbows, then lands a second Paradigm Shift and covers. Naito kicks out again at 2.5!!!! Mox pulls Naito back up, then puts him down hard with a huge lariat and covers, but Naito kicks out at one!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!! Mox lands a high angle Death Rider!! Cover! 1, 2, 3!!!

Wtffffffffff!!#^#^#($*!@%@$#<$>!!!!!!!!!! I could literally throw up at the sight of Moxley pinning Naito and holding that title. Disgusting. Wtf is the plan?? He doesn't work for this company?? Why does this stupid shit always happen at Naito's expense???? It's hard for me to even talk about the match. It was a fantastic match. But what else does anyone expect from the man himself, big match Tetsuya Naito? Naito makes every main event feel big and important, and this was no different. Moxley works Naito's knees and Naito works the neck to set up Destino. Some great spots throughout, and a great build to the dramatic, back and forth finish. Naito gave Moxley a moment he should be kissing Naito's boots for. Rating: 4.25

You deserve it chants after the match. Fuck that. Moxley says this was a treat for everyone who may not get the chance to fly across the ocean to see a New Japan show. Moxley says he is just getting started, and his first order of business is to pick who is coming at him first. He calls the shots now. He says he has beaten a lot of Japanese legends in the last five years, but he isn't going to back down from the young lions. He calls out Shota Umino. But he then gets attacked from behind by Ren Narita, who grabs the mic and says he will be the next challenger. Umino comes out to save Moxley. Moxley says Narita just graduated from behind a young boy to being a dead man.

I guess Moxley putting over Umino with their history and all could save this garbage. But why couldn't Umino just be the one to go over Naito later on this year or something? Why do we need to involve Moxley? Do they think this increases American viewership? I don't understand. Someone help me understand.

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