NJPW & STARDOM Assortment Review
I don’t have the time to cover a bunch of shows for New Japan and STARDOM that are basically house shows with one or two big matches on them. So, I’m going to do a combined review of the most important matches from these events while I wait for STARDOM’s 9/4 event and more from Marigold’s Grand Prix.
NJPW Road to Destruction
September 7th, 2024 | Aimesse Yamanashi in Aimesse Yamanashi | Attendance: 1,678
BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & YAMATO vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito and Yota Tsuji
First up we have a main event that was designed to honor Shingo’s 20th anniversary in wrestling. Hence the inclusion of YAMATO, a key figure in Shingo’s career from their Dragon Gate days. It’s wild to consider that Shingo has been around this long. I mean, he was on the first ROH show I ever watched/attended, Final Battle 2006. After some fun little opening exchanges, including getting to see YAMATO mix it up with the likes of Naito, this went into a bit of a lull. You could tell that they were going long. It’s a shame that it hit that point because I always felt that multi-man matches shouldn’t drag. There’s always someone fresh who can enter and keep things going. Most long New Japan matches feature a slow start, better middle, and hot finish but the solid start and weak middle made this different. That said, we did still get a good closing stretch. Putting Naito in there against Shingo made for something really good and it’s easy to forget that he’s actually the stable’s de facto #2 until Yota eventually gets the top title. Shingo, like everyone else, survived Destino a few times and delivered the Pumping Bomber but time expired at 30:00 as he covered. This was good though it would’ve been much better served as a 20 minute time limit. Shingo rules though. [***]
NJPW Road to Destruction
September 8th, 2024 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,384
NJPW Television Championship: Jeff Cobb [c] vs. Yota Tsuji
So far this year, these two have met in the New Japan Cup (****) and the G1 Climax (***). Obviously, I’m hoping things are closer to that first outing. The big difference here is that 15 minute time limit you get from this title. Some folks would rather every title match or main event go 30+ but anyone who has read my reviews knows that I love compact greatness and this title is one of my favorite in this company. The time limit allowed them to get right into the swing of things, trading offense from the opening bell. I’ll never tire of watching Cobb do things like launch Tsuji across the ring with a suplex throw. It’s hella impressive. Some of the spots they pulled out were surprisingly innovative and creative, adding to the overall enjoyment of this bout. I thought Tsuji had it when he hit a super rana (madness in itself) and then added a pump knee but Cobb kicked out. The true highlight of the match had to be Cobb catching a springboarding Tsuji and just swinging him into a suplex. Cobb hit a Spear of his own for two just as we hit 14 minutes, leading us into a frantic closing stretch. Yota kicked out of an F5 just before the clock hit 15:00, giving us a draw. That was really good, much closer to their awesome New Japan Cup outing. I will say, Yota needs to win SOMETHING of note soon. Sure the Cup was solid but he keeps coming up short in title situations. [***¾]
STARDOM in Korakuen
September 8th, 2024 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,022
We’ve got two matches lined up from this show.
Wonder of Stardom Title #1 Contender’s Match: Hanan vs. Hazuki vs. Thekla
The winner gets a shot at Natsupoi on 9/14. Hazuki is who I really want to challenge her but Hanan has been getting an uber push in 2024. Hanan and Hazuki are pure babyfaces, while Thekla was there to give this some heel flavor. That included HATE members at ringside getting involved by pulling Hanan and Hazuki outside for an assault. Man, where are STARS to level the playing field? That gave Thekla a short upper hand and that was kind of the crux of this match as nobody really held serve for too long. Each woman kept trading off the advantage and finding ways to come close. I liked when they turned the numbers game around on Thekla, as both Hanan and Hazuki caught her cross body and worked together to take her down. Unfortunately, HATE got involved again and that kind of brought things down a bit. Thekla also brought a chair into play but the faces overcame it all. It came down to Hanan and Hazuki, with the latter taking this by using a pinning combination in 12:54. Hazuki vs. Natsupoi sounds outstanding, especially after their stellar Grand Prix match. As for this one, it was good but the HATE stuff brought it down. [***¼]
High Speed Championship: Mei Seira [c] vs. Xena
This is one of those matches that I didn’t see coming. Xena has been very impressive in 2024 but her game seems predicated on power offense, not high speed stuff. From the start, it was clear that Xena wasn’t as quick as Mei but she did well enough to hold her own. The opening exchange was relatively even and Xena busted out some kip-ups to try and match Mei. When Xena realized she was in trouble, she opted to slow the pace which isn’t something you typically see in this division. She utilized a single leg crab and then added the arm into the hold to prevent Mei from reaching the ropes. They also had some spots that didn’t quite work like a back suplex where Mei nearly landed on her neck. They went into the classic High Speed battle of flash pins and the quality of the match picked up as they neared the final few minutes. Mei delivered a crucifix to set up a pin just as time expired at the 15:00 mark. This was good but not quite as good as I was hoping for. It didn’t feel like a High Speed Title match. That said, there was still good action in here and I am curious to see if the draw means they get another chance to hit their peak. [***¼]
NJPW Road to Destruction
September 9th, 2024 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,190
NEVER Openweight Championship: HENARE [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi
For the most part, you avoid the “Road to” shows in New Japan like the plague these days. But every once in a while they deliver some big matches and once I saw HENARE against Hiromu Takahashi lined up, I had to make time for it. This was everything I always wanted from this title. If it’s Openweight, actually let junior heavyweights contend for it. Hiromu has been ready to move up for years anyway. Still, he is undersized in this bout so they played that up. He used his speed and elusiveness while HENARE could just throttle him with big offense. Hiromu wasn’t about to outmatched in strikes, dishing out some vicious chops to hold his own. For 25:02, Hiromu was able to stand toe-to-toe with one of the hardest hitters in wrestling. Commentary kind of summed this up well by saying Hiromu is a guy who will take five shots to dish out the sixth but it’s hard to survive five shots from someone like HENARE. This didn’t follow the traditional New Japan formula where it started slow and built to a hot finish. It was great from start to finish. Hiromu kept countering Streets of Rage and surviving whatever HENARE threw at him, lasting longer than any prior junior in this environment. HENARE finally hit Streets of Rage to retain, ending one of the better New Japan matches of 2024. [****¼]
NJPW Road to Destruction
September 11th, 2024 | Sendai Sun Plaza in Sendai, Miyagi | Attendance: 1,126
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: DOUKI [c] vs. Taiji Ishimori
It’s still kind of wild that DOUKI is the Jr. Heavyweight Champion. I remember when he was simply the replacement for someone in the BOSJ and I thought his name was pronounced DOOKIE. These two have a history of meetings in the BOSJ in 2020 (***), 2021 (***), 2023 (***½), and 2024 (***¼). Along with the six man tag I reviewed earlier in this, maybe New Japan is changing their style. I’m kidding but this followed that formula by starting hot and then slowing down. It’s a nice change of pace to be honest. The red-hot back and forth to kick this off was followed by Taiji taking control and working the arm. It’s something I’m used to from him but he typically finds creative ways to do it and that was the case here. DOUKI did well to sell the damage and there’s a reason why arm work often makes for a better match than leg work. They don’t have to get hampered by running the ropes. Anyway, the Taiji heat segment lasted a bit too long to really hit for me though. Things picked up again when it was time for the DOUKI rally. The DOUKI CHOUKI close call was well done and set off a really strong final few minutes. From jumping knee strikes to a crucifix bomb to a series of suplexes, there was really good stuff in there. DOUKI’s implant DDT was sick and probably should’ve been the finish but then he countered Taiji into what started as a spinning Tombstone and ended in a Dragon Suplex at the 22:21 mark. As is often the case, the big matches tend to deliver in New Japan and this was another of them. I’m glad to see DOUKI getting this run as it’s different for the division. [***¾]
