New Japan Pro Wrestling 10/6/2024 Wrestling Life 40th Anniversary Yuji Nagata Produce Blue Justice XIV

New Japan Pro Wrestling 10/6/2024 Wrestling Life 40th Anniversary Yuji Nagata Produce Blue Justice XIV

Daiki Nagai, Katsuya Murashima & Oleg Boltin vs. Masatora Yasuda, Shoma Kato & Toru Yano

KM = Katsuya Murashima

Oleg backs Yano up on the ropes. Yano hits him from behind then is shouldered over. Nagai hits forearms on Yano and Yano takes off a turnbuckle pad. Yano eye rakes Nagai and sends him into the exposed buckle. Nagai is hiptossed.

Yasuda hits forearms on Nagai and shoulders him over. Kato single leg crabs Nagai and Nagai ropebreaks. Kato and Nagai trade shots and Nagai dropkicks him. KM gets in and shoulders over Kato. KM slams Kato then shoulders him over.

Kato armdrags and dropkicks KM. Yasuda and Oleg go at it. Yasuda hits forearms then Oleg shoulders him over. Oleg splashes him and gets his karelin's lift attempt stopped. Oleg takes a double dropkick for 2. Oleg karelin's lifts Yasuda then crabs him for the win.

Thoughts: It was mostly a young lions style match here with everyone getting a little in before the vet picked up the win. It was standard fare for the most part and Murashima wrestled like a power fighter here and did good.

BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Caveman Ugg & Taiji Ishimori) vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)

TI = Taiji Ishimori

TMDK is hit from behind. Everyone fights outside and Shane gets forearmed through the rails. Shane then gets tossed over the commentary table. Hart and TI go at it. Har shoulders him over and says, "Jackson Power". TI takes a double shoulder and a leg split.

TI boots Hart out of the corner. Ugg gets in. Ugg kind of does a jumping footpress on Hart's gut then axe kicks him in the back. Ugg running boots him. Ugg splashes him. Fale stands on Hart with help from TI.

TI dropkicks Hart in the knee then Hart samoan drops him. Shane comes in and hits forearms on TI then dropkicks Ugg off the apron. Shane release reverse suplexes him and pumping knees him. TI ddt's Shane.

Fale gets in and takes a dropkick. Fale shoulders over Mikey and Shane. Ugg and Hart lariat battle then Hart lariats him. Ugg does a wild spinning lariat on Hart. Ugg then does a nice swinging waistlock slam on him and picks up the pin.

Thoughts: It didn't really get enough time here. Ugg's an interesting guy. He's built like Miro. He tries to do kicks and stuff but it doesn't look great but he also does power stuff which does look good. I think thre is something in him but I don't know if he's fully figured it out yet. They put out a good effort for this being a throwaway match and Hart gave up more offense than he had to. 

House Of Torture (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Just 5 Guys (DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)

Sho gets on the mic and says Chiba is second to Tokyo. The heels attack Taka and Douki. Douki hits forearms on Sho and takes an eye rake. Douki hits a flying headscissors and flying double chop. Douki is tripped into a basement dropkick.

Taka eye pokes Sho. Taka and Douki get sent into the rails outside. Kanemaru dropkicks Taka in the knee then yanks on it. Kanemaru knee drops Taka's leg and twists the foot. Taka gets his legs split then Douki is sent into the rails.

Taka eye pokes Sho then step up knees him in the corner. Douki springboard double back elbows the heels then double stomps Sho. Sho spears Douki for 2. Sho goes for shock arrow and Douki does the douki chokey out of it. Douki suplexes Sho and both tag out.

Taka cradles Kanemaru then running knees him. Taka puts him in just facelock. Kanemaru drops Taka's knee on his knee then figure fours him. Kanemaru then taps out Taka.

Sho puts a hold on Douki and doesn't let go after the bell. Sho then shock arrows Douki on a chair. Sho then talks trash on the mic after.

Thoughts: It didn't really get enough time to be anything special. Kanemaru worked Taka's knee leading up to the finish at least which made sense.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji) vs. United Empire (Jakob Austin Young & Jeff Cobb)

HT = Hiromu Takahashi

Yota and Cobb stare down. They lock up and Yota side headlocks him. Cobb flying shoulders him over. Yota basement dropkicks him in the knee then the face. HT is dropped on Cobb. Cobb backrolls HT and gorilla press slams him. Jake stomps on HT and cravates him.

Jake snapmares and knee drops him. Cobb mongolian chops HT and says something to Tenzan on commentary after. HT tries mongolian chops but can't really figure out how to do it. HT dropkicks Cobb then superkicks him.

Yota is tagged in and flying headscissors Cobb. Yota 2nd rope diving armdrags Cobb and slams him. Cobb muso's him then hits a standing moonsault. Yota flatliners Cobb. HT and Jake trade forearms. Jake hits corner euros then 2nd rope diving euros him for 2.

HT takes corner attacks and a dropkick. Jake takes superkicks then a running lariat from HT. Cobb and Yota trade forearms then Yota pumping knees him. Cobb superkicks him. Cobb takes a double superkick. Jake enzugiri's HT. HT drops Jake on his knees and taps him out with a weird figure four variation.

Thoughts: Jake and HT didn't really get enough time here. We got more of the same athletic hoss stuff from Yota and Cobb which was decent like usual.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii vs. House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi)

Tana and Evil start us off. Evil kicks Tana low and the heels triple team Tana. Tana 2nd rope twisting crossbodies Evil then Taka and is sent into the exposed buckle. Ishii gets sent into the rails outside. Evil eye rakes Tana. Togo chokes Tana then Shota helps out. Shota gets sent into the exposed buckle.

Togo snapmares and fist drops Tana for 2. Yujiro legdrops and headbutt drops Tana. Evil pulls Tana's hair on the ropes. Tana dragon screws Yujiro. Ishii gets in and sends the heels into each other. He then shoulders over Yujiro.

Ishii backdrops Yujiro for 2. Yujiro bites Ishii's fingers then hits a big boot. Yujiro takes a suplex from Ishii. Shota comes in and basement dropkciks Shota. Shota fisherman suplexes Yujiro. The ref gets grabbed and Shota is hit with a turnbuckle pad. Shota takes corner attacks and a 2nd rope chop to the crotch for 2.

Togo chokes Shota with a weapon. Shota avoids a magic killer then the faces hit dragon screws on the heels. Tana slingblades Togo then Ishii sliding lariats Togo. Shota hits a death rider ddt on Togo and wins.

Thoughts: It was the usual HoT match. It was more tolerable than usual as they didn't overdo it and I was okay with it, though it was a throwaway match.

Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI), Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) & Tomoaki Honma vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd & Gedo)

Kevin Knight is making his first appearance in a long time here.  The heels attack before it starts and veeryone fights outside. Clark gets sent into the wall outside. DF and Goto trade in the ring. Goto gets pounded on by Gabe and DF. Gabe takes a double shoulder then Goto hiptosses faces onto Gabe. Kush and Knight hit a double baseball slide and Gedo gets clubbed on by 5 people.

Honma falling headbutts Gedo but misses one on Gabe. The faces are beaten up outside. Gabe foot chokes Yoshi then DF does as well. Gedo chokes Yoshi and Drilla headbutts yoshi.

Gabe foot chokes Yoshi more. Yoshi avoids a corner attack and suplexes DF. Goto gets in and fights off a double team. Goto lariats DF. DF rolls up Goto then euros him for 2. Goto and DF trade forearms. DF lariats him.

Knight hits shots on Clark and hits a nice dropkick. Knight corner splashes Cark and jumping hurricanrana's Clark while Clark sits on top. Clark powerslams Knight then Knight avoids a high low with a leapfrog. Knight does a jumping ddt on Drilla then Clark hits a big spear on Knight. Clark nd Kush then lariat each other down at the same time.

Knight does a springboard twisting double crossbody then Kush does a handspring double back elbow. Knight then top rope springboard plancha's everyone outside. Knight spring board lariats Gedo. Gedo takes an asai moonsault + neckbreaker combo and is pinned.

Thoughts: It didn't get enough time but was a decent tag. They got what they could out of it. It's nice to see Knight back and doing his flying again.

They scuffle outside and a guard rail is thrown. Kush is having trouble getting up. 

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Naito and Zack go at it. Zack backs him up on the ropes and Naito spits at him. Naito armdrags him, Zack headscissors him and Naito poses. Naito sticks his fist in the air and Zack grabs the arm. Kosei and Nito fight. Kosei takes a sunset flip into a baseball slide.

Oiwa is sent into the rails outside by Shingo. Naito cravates Kosei. Shingo knees Kosei in the gut and knocks Oiwa off the apron. Bushi chops up Kosei. Naito back elbows Kosei the natomic drops him. Naito neckbreakers Kosei. Shingo suplexes Kosei for 2.

Shingo and Kosei trade. Kosei side headlocks him then step up enzugiri's him. Oiwa gets in and hits forearms and dropkicks. Oiwa karelin's lifts Shingo for 2. Shingo lariats Oiwa over. They lariat battle. Oiwa spinning forearms him then sleepers him. Shingo backdrops him out of it then lariats him over.

Bushi gets in. He pulls Zack over the top then ends up doing a tope on Oiwa. Zack snapmares and neck twists Bushi. Kosei springboard dropkicks Shingo then backdrops Bushi. Oiwa does a sleeper on Bushi and his team has triple submissions on. Oiwa spinning lariats Bushi and wins.

Zack has words for Naito after.

Thoughts: They didn't have enough time here but it was okay overall. The Shingo and Oiwa sections looked good. Bushi and Zack barely got in this one here. 

Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs. Atsushi Kotoge & Go Shiozaki

Yuji and Go start us off. Yuji hits a big slap. Yuji blocks a chop and they trade forearms. Yuji hits leg kicks on Go. Kotoge gets in and facekicks Jun off the apron. Yuji knees Kotoge and kicks him in the back.

Kotoge and Jun go at it. Jun kicks im in the leg and sends him out. Jun is thrown into the rails and facekicked on them. Kotoge goes into the rails and is slammed on the floor. June piledrivers him into the ring. They trade shots in the ring. Jun knees him in the back.

Yuji bangs Kotoge's arm off of his shoulder and pounds on him. Kotoge facekicks him then puts his foot in his face. Go hits big chops on Yuji. Yuji hits forearms back then Go back elbows him. Go facelocks Yuji.

Yuji hits forearms on Go. They trade chops for forearms. Yuji hits kicks and takes a headbutt from Kotoge and Kotoge looks out of it after that. Kotoge boots and kicks Yuji outside then sends him into the rails.

Kotoge forearms and headbutts Yuji outside. Back in the ring, Yuji overhead belly to belly suplexes Kotoge. UJun snapmares Kotoge and sliding knees him for 2. Jun curbstomps Kotoge and hits knees to the chest. Kotoge hits headbutts and leg lariats him.

Go gets in and flying shoulders Jun. Go hits a chop flurry on Jun then does one on Yuji. Go lariats Jun over for 2. Jun armbars him. Yuji hits chest kicks on Go. Yuji running facekicks Go. Go hits kicks and takes a suplex.

Yuji takes a backdrop + neckbreaker combo for 2. Go 2nd rope twisting suplexes Yuji for 2. Yuji puts a crossface and armbar on Go while Jun king crab holds Kotoge. Yuji running facekicks Go then exploders him. Jun hits a sliding knee on Go.

Kotoge is thrown out hard and splats on the floor. Yuji enzugiri's Go then Go hits a big lariat on Yuji. Go slams Yuji then misses a top rope moonsault. Jun exploders Go then Yuji step up knees Go in the corner. Yuji brainbusters Go for 2. Yuji backdrops Go and wins.

Thoughts: It was a good tag here with everyone being stiff and the four matching up well together. Kotoge didn't get a ton in here. This wasn't going to be bad and it was not. I think Yuji, Jun and Go showed up most of the modern day NJPW roster for the most part here and really made me miss the old days when Jun and Yuji were on top. Their strikes hit harder, they didn't do anything too fancy and they made it feel more real than this generation does.

Yuji gets on the mic and thanks everyone. He says he likes having these events every year and wants to fill this place next year. He says he has a long way to go and isn't retiring soon. Yuji then does his lines. Yuji goes around the ring after and probably bumps fists with like 200 people.

Overall thoughts: It was a decent house show style card. The main was good and the work of Jun and Yuji was just way better than anything the current gen does. They hit harder and didn't do all the flashy stuff the current gen does. Most of the tags were okay but none got that much time and none of them were super memorable. I'd recommend checking out the main and maybe staying around for the top half if you feel like it.