New Japan Pro Wrestling 2/20/2022 - New Years Golden Series Day 15

New Japan Pro Wrestling 2/20/2022 - New Years Golden Series Day 15

I saw the first few matches live and the rest taped. I skipped the Tanahashi tag match.

Ryohei Oiwa & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Suzuki-gun (DOUKI & Taichi)

Oiwa pounded on Taichi with forearms and Douki tried to break it up, then got some too. Oiwa was picked on in the corner and Taichi kicked him in the back. Douki eye raked Oiwa then double stomped him.

Oiwa hit a big slam on Taichi then Ishii fought the heels 1v2. He ran them into each other and used Taichi's leg to kick Douki. Taichi did Kawada kicks on Ishii and back kicked him. Ishii fought back with forearms and a corner lariat. They both grabbed each other by the throat then Taichi took a german.

Oiwa hit a great running dropkick on Taichi in the corner that he flipped off of. Oiwa crabbed Taichi but he hit the ropes. Taichi hit a nice facekick on Oiwa and Oiwa came back with forearms but Taichi lariated him. Taichi hit a release saito suplex and won it.

It wasn't really much of a tag match and was just kind of 2 singles matches. It was okay with Oiwa's offense looking good before his inevitable loss. Ishii barely got in. 

Taichi nailed the ref after and pushed him out of the ring. 

Team Six or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

The faces hit a double back elbow then double spin kick early on Desp. Taguchi got on the middle buckle and Watos's head was thrown into his butt. Taguchi danced and celebrated as he thought it was an opponent. Taguchi then got 2v1'd.

Taguchi had his legs split then Desp butt dropped it as it was laying on the middle rope. Taguchi went for a butt bump on Desp but Desp moved and atomic dropped him. Taguchi then hit it. Wato hit some dropkicks on the heels then did a springboard euro uppercut for 2.

Desp backdroppped Wato high and they traded shots. Desp then spinebustered him and Wato leg lariated YK. Taguchi went up top and came down with his leg giving up. He then hit a butt bump on both opponents then did a springboard butt bump on YK.

YK figure four'd him and was held up for a YK dropkick. YK then reverse ddt'd him for 2. YK got pushed into the ropes and then rolled up by Taguchi for the Taguchi and Wato win.

The match was pretty much nothing but butt bumps and it got old after a while.

Satoshi Kojima vs. Great-O-Khan

Koji gets jumped as he enters and is armbarred. Koji rope breaks for it. Khan uses a weapon on Koji's arm then chairs a chair that is on the arm. Khan cobra twists him while grabbing the chin then hits Tenzan's TTD on him.

Koji gets some offense in on Khan on the outside and Khan is almost counted out. Koji then machine gun chops him. He does his running corner forearm and does a top rope elbow. Koji hits a DDT for 2 and a big cutter. Kojima brainbustered Khan for 2.

Khan put him over his back with the claw, spun him around and tossed him. Khan then hit a claw slam and won it.

This went too long. It had a slow pace in front of a crowd that couldn't cheer and would have been better with 5 minutes cut off.

Dog Cage Match - Toru Yano vs Minoru Suzuki

You win the match here by putting your opponent in the dog cage. They've been building it up on the house shows so it kind of makes sense. Yano came out with a mascot and Minoru came out with handcuffs.

They chain wrestled early. They traded forearms and Yano lost that battle. Yano hit him with some slaps in the back of the head and Suzuki was not amused. He then slap flurried him and threw him into the rails outside. Suzuki then rammed the dog cage into him.

Yano was thrown into the cage and Minoru went in with him to pound on him. They fought in the cage but Suzuki couldn't lock it. Suzuki was then sent into the rails. Yano took off a turnbuckle pad and Yano went into the exposed buckles. Suzuki PK'd him and tried to handcuff him, but took a low blow. Yano then handcuffed Suzuki's hands together.

Yano grabbed Suzuki and got headbutt and kicked. Suzuki then hadncuffed Yano and both are now handcuffed. They hit each other with double handed chops. Suzuki sleepered him and Yano brought out a key. Suzuki got it first though and free'd himself. Suzuki then whipped him with a leash and tried to hang him over the top rope. Suzuki then put the leash on him and hit him with the turnbuckle pad.

Suzuki pulled him on the leash and put him in the cage Yano handcuffed Suzuki to the leash and cage while he was tyring to do this then threw a young lion on him. Suzuki then locked the cage door and won it! Yano then mocked and teased Suzuki while he was in the cage after. Suzuki was then rolled to the back in the cage.

This went a little long but it was fun. It mostly made sense and while it definitely was comedic, it didn't get too stupid.

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Match - House Of Torture (EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi) (c) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI)

Everyone brawled to start. Yujiro was double shouldered, then Goto hiptossed his partners onto him. The faces triple clubbed Sho then Togo. The heels came back and choked the faces with weapons outside. Yujiro then mounted and pounded on Yoshi.

Yoshi was thrown into an exposed buckle by Evil and hit with a turnbuckle connecter pad by Sho. Yoshi then took a chair to the gut outside. Yoshi hit a big suplex on Evil after reversing his attempt then Goto got in. Goto stopped himself from going into the exposed buckle and sent Evil into it, then backdropped him. Goto hit a bulldog for 2.

Sho got in and Goto spinning lariated him then Yoh got in. Yoh backflipped out of a lariat and german'd Sho for 2. Yoh hit shot with a reverse dragon screw and Sho did a nice sell for it and the faces put triple submissions on the heels. Sho put the ref in the way and hit a jumping knee on Yoh, then german suplexed him. Yoshi hit a running flipping neckbreaker on Yujiro and Yujiro came back with a baseball slide. The heels hit running corner moves then a fisherman's buster on Sho.

Yujiro got a cane but the ref took it. Yujiro then took some superkicks  and Yoh plancha'd Sho. Goto and Yoshi did a powerbomb/elbow slice for 2. Evil came in with a chair and used it on the faces then Evil and Togo hit a magic killer on Yoshi at 15 minutes. Yujiro was on Goto's shoulders and took 2 superkicks then a neckbreaker over the knee. Yujiro low-blowed Yoshi then Sho hit him with a stick. Yujiro then spinning lifted ddt'd Yoshi for the win.

This was alright. Unlike a lot of the house show matches these combinations had, this was a little bit faster paced and there were titles on the line, so the result mattered a little more. They still did the usual interference, weapons and ref bump spots as usual but it felt like the faces were actually going to win, making it better.

 

IWGP Title - Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito

They stall to start. They reverse some basic holds on the mat and as Naito poses, Okada dropkicks him. Okada misses a slingshot in and Naito armdrags then dropkicks him. They go outside and Naito neckbreakers Okada on the floor.

They went to the mat a little and Naito teased a punch and Okada went for the block, but then was dropkicked in the knee. Naito went for his corner slingshot special but was neckbreakered over the knee of Okada. Okada hit a big flapjack for 2. Okada then implant ddt'd him on the apron then bridging ddt'd him on the floor.

They beat the count back in and Naito gets another implant ddt. Naito then comes back with a tornado ddt up the ropes. Naito hiptosses him and baseball slides him for 2 at 15 minutes. Naito bridges Okada from the top turnbuckle and neckbreakers him in the ring. Okada comes back with a boot to the face. Naito gets a couple of shots in on the knee and Okada money clips him. Okada then hit a big dropkick and puts him back in the money clip.

Okada hit his top rope elbow and Naito put him in the koji clutch. Naito top rope hurricanrana'd Okada then hit something like a diamond dust. Okada went for something like a TKO but Naito hit a reverse ddt off of it then took a big clothesline.  Okada hit some short arm clotheslines and Naito stopped his rainmaker attempt. Okada hit a spinning tombstone then Naito came back with a lightning spiral then hit a destino for 2.

Naito hit a beautiful stardust press for 2. He went for a destino but took a reverse ddt off of it. Naito reversed a rainmaker and hit a german then did a koppo kick. Okada came back with a dropkick and hit a sit down slam. He then rainmaker'd Naito for the win.

I liked the finishing stretch somewhat but the match really took too long to get going. The knee work that was built up all tour long never really factored into this. They did a ton of reversing each others moves and the reversals here were often sloppy. There was a lot a lot of "your move, my move" here.

Overall thoughts: Of what I saw, the trios title match and the dog cage match were the best things on the show. It was fine but nothing great.