NJPW New Beginning 2/10/2013

NJPW New Beginning 2/10/2013

I am probably just doing selected matches here. I'd like to do the Shibata tag match but I am out of time at the moment.

IWGP Intercontinental Title - Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kengo Mashimo

Shinsuke Nakamura got the win with a Boma-Ye. Good match here with tons of stiff kicks. It was good to see Mashimo get a chance here as he's been a good worker for years and he showed he can hang with Nakamura. This was almost too short but every minute of it was quality. Rating:***1/2

Lance Archer made the challenge after for the Interncontinental Title:

"The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki

Minoru Suzuki beat Kazuchika Okada with a Gotch-Style Piledriver. Good match here but it went a little long. The camera shots were amazing here and Suzuki dished out some nasty slaps. Okada looked kind of weak in the loss and definitely not like the undefeatable Rainmaker of old, but we will see what happens. Nothing too memorable here. Rating:***

IWGP Heavyweight Title - Hiroshi Tanashi vs Karl Anderson

"I always had the confidence in myself that someday I would be the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. I truthfully feel that all my hard work and my hard training will pay off." - Karl Anderson

Hiroshi Tanahashi got the win with the High Fly Flow. The match was alright. The crowd loved it and I know some people on the internet loved it alot more than I did. There wasn't anything really wrong with it, it is just that Karl Anderson is limited in some different ways and I just didn't believe in him winning it at all. Yes, he did get the G1 win over Tanahashi, but we all know that was to save Tanahashi/Okada for another time. There were like a million cutters here and too many step kicks for my liking. The heat was very good though and both guys did their best, and Anderson probably even stepped up his game for this. Rating:***1/4