Hangman/MiSu RULES

Bad Luck Fale vs. YOSHI-HASHI

The David vs. Goliath dynamic in this one brought some personality, fire & charisma out of YOSHI-HASHI - he put on a very good fiery underdog performance, and I usually always enjoy Fale's Goliath work on top, and such was the case here. Good match. ***

Hangman Page vs. Minoru Suzuki

He got called a boy multiple times in this match, but after the match, Hangman Page is now a made MAN in New Japan. I am not sure what I was expecting this match to be like, but one of the best matches of the year sure wasn't that; Hangman put on such a phenomenal babyface performance, and Minoru played his role perfectly. Loved the quick start w/ Hangman going right after Suzuki, not waiting for the entrances to be complete - that Moonsault was simply beautiful. This of course pissed Suzuki off, and you could see from the first wristlock on that Hangman wasn't gonna have it easy this night. His beatdown was even more grumpy & vicious than usual; brutal work over the arm & those strikes of his are beautiful in the most violent way possible. Hangman's selling was pretty damn great, and his brief comebacks ruled; I love me a good, well timed & done SPIT SPOT, and here the one Hangman delivered to Suzuki was just awesome. Another thing I loved about the match was Suzuki's amazing selling of Hangman's lariats - Hangman throws a good one in general, but here Suzuki helped to make them look truly devastating. The finish too, so, so, so good. Perfectly done upset victory. Excellent stuff all around. "COME ON FUCKING BOY!" ****1/2

Jay White vs. Togi Makabe

This was actually very enjoyable with Switchblade being a total dick to Makabe, and Makabe answering with his bruiser offense. ***

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin

A very solid dynamic with Elgin being the obviously more stronger of the 2, and using that against the always-banged-up Tanahashi. They built the match with that, and then by the end, it turned into the usual dramatic big movez back & forth -fest. A good one. ***

EVIL vs. Kazuchika Okada

Started off in very good, energetic fashion, and it continued to be very good & energetic until about halfway through; that's when things started to drag, and it felt like another generic New Japan main event. Far from the worst example of that though, as overall it was pretty good. **3/4