NJPW The New Beginning in USA - Day 2: Beretta vs. Juice Robinson
As expected, this was unnecessary long w/ it going almost 30 minutes, but I understand it. This was an NJPW show, and with the visa issues of Japanese wrestlers, it was the only real NJPW match on the card. They filled the 27 minutes pretty greatly, with it not feeling masturbatory at all, as they told a solid story w/ Trent's ribs; he very much had Juice in trouble, but Juice time & time again went back to that mid-section to gain the control. Trent's selling was pretty solid throughout, too. It did indeed start dragging by the end, but as I mentioned, I understand it, and the effort to make it as compelling as possible was there, and I did very much enjoy it overall. ***1/2
NJPW 47th Anniversary Show: BUSHI & Shingo Takagi vs. SHO & YOH
The start was great w/ Shingo being badass on the offense; obvious highlight for me was the bit with him & SHO just slugging it out, absolutely loved that lariat exchange they had. Then a bunch of stuff happens in the middle, and I just don't care about it, very forgettable & generic stuff, but at least the finishing stretch was great - that Rebellion nearfall was legit really, really good. The start & the finish were good, but the actual meat of the match was very meh. **
NJPW 47th Anniversary Show: Jushin Liger vs. Taiji Ishimori
It's LIGER in a big match, so of course it ruled. He played his greatest hits, which is always fantastic & Taiji was great bumping his ass off for him. They created a real compelling battle w/ some great drama revolving around Liger pushing the younger champ to the absolute limit. ***1/2
NJPW 47th Anniversary Show: Jay White vs. Will Ospreay
The first half or so was pretty great. Some good mind games w/ White being a dick & Ospreay showing off with his athleticism - then the ribs of Ospreay become the main target of Switchblade's onslaught, and it's FANTASTIC. He's really vicious working over Ospreay + has some awesome rib-targeting-cut-offs to Ospreay's comeback attempts. That's when I thought this match might be heading towards something really good, but as Ospreay gets more of his shit in, he drops the selling except for a few coughs here & there, and the match adopts the more typical NJPW main event formula w/ counters & finishing stretch-wrestling. It's not interesting, but the first half & White's work there was so good that the match couldn't be bad overall, even with a very boring 2nd half. **3/4
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