New Japan BOSJ 2010 Pt. 1

So I am full aware of the insanity of this idea. I have very little tolerance for current Japanese wrestling, and current US Indy wrestling, add to that my dislike of current main event CMLL wrestling, a tourney full of NJ Juniors, US Indy dudes and a CMLL main eventer isn't in my wheel house. Still I used to love the BOSJ back in the 90's, and I have dug recent Hayato Jr. Fujita and recent Koji Kanemoto, and am coming off a bit of a wrestling high from seeing live Jushin Liger. Plus it is the Summer of Segunda Caida and the BOSJ is a summer wrestling event. I could see not making it all the way through, but I am trying to come in with an open mind and I am going to give it a shot.

Looks like the 6/1 matches are the first to go up on NJ's Youtube account

Nobuo Yoshihashi v. Hayato Jr. Fujita

This is the first time I have seen Yoshihashi and I was pretty underwhelmed. He wrestles kind of like a Pequeno Manabu Nakanishi with all that entails. Fujita is probably my favorite guy in this tournament and there were some moments where you got a glance at what makes him special. When you compare how he applies shootstyle moves to how Taguchi applies them, he is clearly on another level. Despite the flashes by Fujita this wasn't a good match, Yoshihashi is lumbering and Fujita is going to have to hit him a lot harder then he did for me to buy a TKO finish.

Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tama Tonga

This was perfectly inoffensive stuff, but nothing particularly stood out. Tama Tonga really needs to wrestle more like a Samoan. I want headbutts, thrust kicks and flying splashes. Instead he was doing a lot of verticle suplexes and rolls of the dice. You are the son of Haku, stop wrestling like the son of Ace Darling. Taguchi does a lot of cross armbreakers and kimuras, he wasn't doing anything particularly interesting with them, but I will see how he does with an opponent more suited to that style.

Jushin Liger v. Gedo

This was pretty great. They open up with some basic mat wrestling with Liger continuously getting the advantage. Gedo gets pissed off, heads to the floor grabs the ring hammer and smashes it into Liger's ribs. Then we get Gedo being a total fucker working over the midsection, and cracking Liger with some rights. Liger is great as a Steamboatish underdog timing all of his comebacks really well, with Gedo taking some really athletic bumps off of shotays. Finish was really cool with Gedo trying for a bunch of close rollups, with Liger countering with a Thez press for the pin. Liger didn't look like he had much left athletically (he looked like Andre Miller on the Thez press) but he can put together a wrestling match. Gedo was awesome and I am really looking forward to him matching up with flashy guys like Sombra and Ibushi.

Koji Kanemoto v. Kenny Omega

I was pretty surprised at how much I didn't hate this. Omega's offense all looked fine and Kanemoto kicked the shit out of him, which is what you want this match to be. Koji is pretty great at spin kicking a guy in the thigh and some of his ankle pick submissions looked really good. I wasn't in love with Omega spring boarding on a bad leg, but that was before Koji really tore it up. Omega kept most of his goofy shit to a minimum and his Street Fighter move actually looked like it connected with some force. Seems kind of bullshit to have Omega go over, but his finisher feels like a finisher so I can tolerate it. So far all of these matches have been kept under 15 minutes which really helps mitigate some of the bloat which can make both US Indy wrestling and current Japanese wrestling difficult to stomach.

La Sombra v. Kota Ibushi

You want a bunch of flips and dives from this match up and they delivered that. Sombra is pretty much a poor mans Dinamic Black, but he hit a nice armdrag and a crazy Orihara moonsault. Ibushi is a guy with some really cool spots who has fooled people into thinking he is a good wrestler. I like Flip Kendrick, I got no beef with a spot guy with cool spots, and this was pretty much just an opportunity to bust them out. His Valiente special off of the ringpost was damn impressive looking, as was his standing 720. If I am going to watch a bunch of Ibushi matches in a row, I imagine his stuff will lose some of its shine, but this delivered what you wanted from it.

I was pretty surprised how easily my first attempt at this went down. One match I really liked, two pretty good matches and two mediocre matches isn't bad at all. Davey Richards and Prince Devitt haven't arrived yet so the waters may get choppier, so far though thumbs up to New Japan.