EVIL/SANADA vs. The Young Bucks, NJPW Dominion 6.9 (6/9/2018)

This was for EVIL and SANADA’s IWGP Tag Team Titles.

Really and truly, I think this rules.

I have spent the majority of the time I have known about them (their PWG debut in 2007 to present day) as a Young Bucks hater. This is not to say I am some weirdo who thinks they have had five to ten good matches ever or something like that, but I mean that I have never once found them likeable. Even before the turn in 2009, I never found myself rooting for the success of these weird little psycho kids. I have been watching wrestling for nearly their entire careers as name wrestlers, and through all of it, I have constantly rooted for, and on occasion, been truly delighted to see them on occasion be brought low, punished, and absolutely beaten into dust.

I say all of that to say that, in this match, I found myself rooting for The Young Bucks.

Part of that, I would like to reassure myself, is because they were against SANADA and EVIL. For whatever flaws the Bucks have, they are energetic and present. The LIJ boys often are the opposite of that, wrestling for long stretches of time while seeming almost vacant at times in like ninety percent of their other matches, and that is a generous figure. Put against spiritual non-entities, the Bucks’ psychotic manic energy can become a virtue on occasion, and here, it does.

However, part of that is also because the entire package here — individual performances and broader narrative — genuinely does a spectacular job of putting them in that role in a way that actually works, and that allows all facets of the thing to work together like hand in glove like never before (aided strongly by their opposition being what it is, of course).

The usual thing in 2018 happens here in the first half, as Matt Jackson’s bad back becomes an issue. He is once again shockingly good at selling it, managing to be occasionally sympathetic, but never ever forgetting it. He always feels like someone in pain, even when the champions rarely work it over.

What really makes this interesting though is when Nick Jackson hurts his ankle off of an errant kick against the ringpost during his hot tag.

Like the work on Matt’s back and Matt’s selling of it for the last five months, Nick’s selling of the leg is this wonderful intersection between quality narrative and shockingly great mechanical strength.

Nick gets the selling just right, and conducts his offense as well as possible considering. He flies and on occasion runs, but there is always a cost to it, one paid in key moments when he tries more than he can handle, such as collapsing off the top rope when trying the springboard for the Meltzer Driver. It is never what a lot of matches like this threaten to devolve into, all the spots hitting and then lip service to selling, so much as it feels like Nick tempting fate and occasionally getting brought down to Earth very severely for his hubris. More importantly, it never feels as if he is trying to show off, so much as that this is simply what they do. This feeling is helped in large part by how SANADA and EVIL approach the injury, not doing a whole lot to it outside of it being an opening to unload their heavier artillery, and allowing it to exist as a hindrance, rather than a point of focus. Nick gets exactly what he can handle as a seller, and the match is so much better for it, whereas it might have been doomed if the champions really zeroed in on it.

The real kicker though is that after all these months of Nick having to carry the burden and showing signs of real frustration when Matt’s hurt back has cost them big important matches, everything gets reversed in their biggest career opportunity so far. It’s not something they go extremely far with, but for once, restraint is a friend to the Young Bucks. Even small moments of Matt now knowing how it feels adds so much to the match, especially in the later moments, where Nick is able to muster up some strength, and contribute in spite of it all.

Nick is able to summon it up for two (2) double superkicks at the end to first cut off EVIL and then SANADA, making them actually mean something and have some genuine weight for once, before the Bucks hit More Bang For Your Buck to capture their biggest singles prize yet.

Really and truly, an actual miracle.

If not the level of match as their best work of the year, the sort of deeply impressive and unbelievably surprising thing that makes it a near lock that the Young Bucks are the 2018 tag team of the year. It’s not to say nobody else could have gotten this out of guys like EVIL and SANADA, but only The Young Bucks ever did.

***1/4

Yoshinobu Kanemaru/El Desperado vs. Roppongi 3K vs. Hiromu Takahashi/BUSHI, NJPW Sakura Genesis 2018 (4/1/2018)

This was for Suzuki-gun’s IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles.

On paper, a cheap retread from the month prior, but actually a real fun sequel.

What usually works always works here, first of all.

In a lot of ways, it’s an even more cohesive spotfest than the first match. Things run smoother and they’re put together in a tighter package, but the performances are also better on a mechanical level. Hiromu gets to do a lot more in the back half than he did in March, and while BUSHI fades more into the background, the trade off is that the first half of this match gives my favorite scum sucking dirthole Yoshinobu Kanemaru a lot more to do, so it’s worth it. Roppongi 3K in particular look better here than they did then, looking smoother than ever, and not really having any moments where I think they maybe aren’t ready to be in the ring yet with the people they’re in the ring with, which is another first for these kids. Generally speaking, SHO is also just the big standout of the match. He has an especially great hot tag, and is a big reason for the success of the last third of the thing.

Compared to the first match, they maybe don’t have as much to say here, narratively speaking, but it’s still pretty interesting, how they shove it in here and there. Both challenging teams rush Kanemaru and Desperado at the start, trying to not let them pull anything like they did last time, and stay on top of them. It works until it doesn’t, and the fact that Suzuki-gun is stopped from pulling the kind of bullshit that they did last time doesn’t mean they’re stopped from pulling an entirely different kind of bullshit.

Following an exceptional Hiromu Takahashi vs. SHO finishing run, with the kid really showing something, Kanemaru pulls the referee out following the TIME BOMB. Desperado removes Hiromu from the equation, and sneaks in the Pinche Loco on an already beaten SHO to hold onto the titles.

There’s a little more glory to it, as opposed to the mist and cradle from a month prior, but it’s theft all the same, and coming at the end of such a traditionally great finishing stretch makes it stand out maybe even more.

Not as great as the longer first match, also lacking the weight of expectation that first-time matches never have to carry, but another great one out of this sneaky little feud.

***

Roppongi 3K vs. Hiromu Takashi/BUSHI vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/El Desperado, NJPW 46th Anniversary Show (3/6/2018)

This was for SHO and YOH’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.

It’s maybe not as star studded a junior tag three or four way as fans of New Japan in the mid 2010s had grown accustomed to, but real real quietly, it’s one of my favorites in a whole.

On one hand, is it a real fun slice of life in New Japan, with three of the four big factions in CHAOS, LIJ, and Suzuki-gun going at it (thankfully there is no Bullet Club here). You get to see all the little layers there, from CHAOS being a traditional babyface unit now as represented by the young champions, to the far more interesting interplay with both challenging teams. LIJ is super popular and like its leader, Hiromu and BUSHI are not really full on villains anymore, but there’s an edge there, putting them in between CHAOS and Suzuki-gun. Kanemaru and Desperado are what really makes it work for the first half, before the switch is flipped, these complete and total cheaters without an ounce of scruples between them. The real joy here is in the more criminal elements of this thing, the oddballs of LIJ running into actual dirtbags and getting taught a thing or two about true skullduggery.

These are not things that make the match exactly, character work and fun contrasts and interplay alone are not going to deliver a great match, but when added to a match that would have been real fun anyways, it helps just enough.

Mechanically, the match is real fun. Kanemaru and Desperado try and mostly fail to get SHO’s back hurt again like it was nearly a month before, but have far less success when SHO didn’t already come into the match hurt. Their work is good, SHO’s selling is good enough again, but it’s not so much a focal point here as much as it is an expression of the idea of the match through mechanical elements of it. When the switch flips, the fireworks begin, and that’s also all really great. Super well constructed, flawless execution, and enough variance in the offense to always keep it interesting until they get to the finish.

It is one delightful finish as well.

Hiromu and BUSHI try to steal it from the kids, with BUSHI blinding the already hurt SHO with the black mist and going for a double team, only for Kanemaru and Desperado to cut it off. Kanemaru then blinds BUSHI with whiskey spit to the eyes, blocks Hiromu from the save, and Desperado pins the still blind SHO with a mouse trap crucifix combination to steal the title.

Thiefs beat to the punch by those with more experience in the devious arts, who yet again steal one from Roppongi 3K, and now for the titles. Beautiful pro wrestling.

A genuine thrill to continue what, sneakily, is one of the best feuds in wrestling at this point in time.

***