New Japan Pro Wrestling - Wrestling Hi no Kuni 2019 4/29/2019

New Japan Pro Wrestling - Wrestling Hi no Kuni 2019 4/29/2019
レスリング火の国 2019

A shot of the arena:

 Mikey Nicholls vs Bad Luck Fale

The finish

Fale gets clotheslined over the top early. Mikey tries to dive on him, but Fale moves and he hits the floor and rails. Fale then throws him over the rail. Mikey takes a hard thud on the floor. The Aussie announcer Gambino does this eye rolling heel commentator schtick during this. Fale steps on Mikey's shoulder/arm. Fale continues to work on it and is working a smart match at this point, which is not what I expected. Mikey tries a clothesline but gets sent back down. Fale hits him back with 2 and Mikey stands, which should not happen with a hoss like Fale. Fale gets sent down by a lariat, which again, I have issues with, since Fale should have to take a big whooping for that to happen. Fale then hits a Samoan drop and a splash for 2. Fale then hits the thumb to the troat + chokeslam combo and that's saying something when Fale is working one of the smartest matches on the show.

Juice Robinson vs Chase Owens
Chase has one of the worst looks in wrestling right now. He looks like an out of shape Sami Zayn. Juice ain't much better as he has tights that you might find in Doink the Clown's closet. They do some mat wrestling to start. Juice hits some punches and an overhead hook kick that kinda misses. Juice does a crossbody from the top. Juice goes for an unprettier and gets slammed down then takes knees. Chase hits a rebound lariat. Juice gets up, punces him then hits Pulp Friction and thank God its over. The crowd wasn't into it. Why am I watching bad US indy guys in NJPW? I can already do that outside of NJPW.

Togi Makabe and Toru Yano vs Guerrilla's of Destiny - Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa

I really don't like Haku's kids, even though I'm a huge Haku fan. They are some of the most annoying twitter personalities. This should serve as another reminder to wrestlers that you should stay off social media.

The Tongans attack early and it goes outside quickly as they do some low effort brawling around the arena. The Tonganbs beat up on Yano for the early part of this and don't do anything of note for about 5-10 mnutes. Makabe gets the hot tag in and makes a comeback. He then takes a release german and a double dropkick. Yano gets back in and gets some offense in. One of the Tongan's takes a catapult into the exposed turnbuckle and Makabe takes a kendo stick to the back. Makabe kicks out of Guerrilla Warfare for 2. Then the tongan's do a diving headbutt and splash for 2 from the top. Yano low blows one of them with a chain then spears him into the butt. Makabe does a chain lariat with the ref down but still only gets a 2. Makabe does a knee drop off the top but Loa stops it. He then gets sent out. Makabe blocks a Jado kendo stick spot then is rolled up. This wasn't anything special. There was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't great and wasn't too interesting.


Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA vs Kazuchika Okada, SHO, YO, Kota Ibushi and Tomohiro Ishii

Okada puts Sanada in a cool submission to start. Sho and Yoh pick on Sanada for a bit and then Evil and Ishii trade forearms on the outside. Naito hammers Yoh and Yoh gets picked on a bit more. They bring up how Shingo is big enough to be a heavy but is yet with the juniors, and I don't really get it either. Shingo's been a top dude for a long time and I think it's disrespectful. Ibushi hits a cool backflip kick onto Sanada/Evil, then a kick combination + moonsault. Ishii/Evil charge each other. Okada/Sanada exchange and Okada neckbreakers then hits a top rope elbow on Sanada. Sanada and Okada roll through backwards and Sanada puts in a ground dragon sleeper. Sanada misses a moonsault then takes a john woo. Sho hits a super delayed deadlift german for Sanada. Sho and Shingo trade lariats and we get a train of signature moves from everyone. Ibushi flips out of a german. Bushi topes Yoh. Sanada dragon's Sho then swings him around and sits him down for the win. This a fun little way to get a bunch of people on the card and while nothing special, it fulfilled its purpose. Obviously could have been a lot more, but this was a throwaway on purpose.

Jay White vs Hirooki Goto

The finish

White and Goto played chicken with each other in and out of the ring to start. Gedo gets involved when they go out and White backdrops Goto on the outside mat. White rams Goto's back into the apron and rail. White calls Goto a "young boy". White takes over a bit with a chinlock and they trade a suplex a piece. 10 minutes in and it's been a pretty slow pace. Gedo trips Goto on the outside and then Goto takes a uranage, then a flatliner and a german. Goto then hits a turn around lariat. Goto takes a backdrop over the top, but trust me, it sounds cooler than it was. White hits a safe but weak looking Kiwi Krusher. Goto and White both reverse out of their finishers and White starts kneeing Goto on the ground. Goto hits a big lariat near 15 minutes in. They trade some forearms on their knees. They trade forearms and White goes down. Goto drops him again with another. They fool around on top and Goto hits a sunset flip powerbomb at 15 minutes. Goto throws in Gedo who was on the apron and hits a ushigoroshi on him, the one on White. They reverse out of finishers and White hits a half tiger/half dragon suplex, which Goto doesn't sell, then another. White then wins with a Bladerunner. The match really wasn't anything special. White doesn't have that good of offense and really got little in before the finish. He also is lacking in personalty and a decent gimmick. The commentary, crowd and camera shots were good, but this was not real memorable.