Leave us your feedback to tonight’s card from Long Beach, California.
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1 Like
Brandon from Oshawa
This was an outstanding show. Not a bad match on the card and even JR was good this time. I thank Kevin Kelly for that. Ross seemed more business like with him, than he usually does with Barnett. I think a petition needs to be made to replace Yoshi Hashi, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga in the G1 next year, with Ospreay, Kushida & Cobb. Those 3 are just awesome and its time Ospreay & Kushida make the jump to heavyweight. I’m glad Jay White pinned Tanahashi and they didnt go with the cop out of having Gedo get pinned. The U.S Title match was much better than the NWA Title match at All In.
I did have one issue with the show and that was the announcement of the triple threat at King of Pro Wrestling. Not the triple threat itself, but that Cody is in the match. I dont really get the reason or the point. Why take the U.S Title off Juice, if Cody is just going to be main eventing the next show and doesnt need that title? It wouldnt fit in storylines right now, but I’d really like to see a triple threat between Omega, Okada & Naito. The 3 top guys of the top stables would make sense to put in a triple threat.
1 Like
Eric from North Dakota
I made the trip down for this show and was nervous at first with no card and poor ticket sales - I think coming in with low expectations was perfect because this was the most fun I’ve ever had at a wrestling show, the pacing felt great but not rushed at all. Marty and Ospreay had me on my feet almost the entire match and was just an all around spectacle. That main event was easily the best match I’ve ever seen live, the place filled up pretty well after intermission and it definitely sounded like it. Seeing a lot of people saying Jay White has “go away heat” but we were all having fun booing him and treating him and Gedo like true heels. Highlight of the night was a very old and drunk Japanese man in front of me screaming “Gedo!!! fuck youuuuuuu!!” Incredible show and looking forward to hearing this review.
Bruce from Vancouver,
Hey guys, just thought I’d offer some thoughts from the show itself -
The dark match was classic Young Lions stuff, with Clark Connors defeating Alex Coughlin around the 8 minute mark with about as angular a Boston crab as you’ll ever see, leaning back so far his head touched the canvas. But the real excitement was seeing Shibata come out before the match to a great reception, hammer the bell, and slap the mat with a kendo stick. He hovered at ringside, leaning on the kendo stick and generally looking menacing.
The Pyramid was maybe only 75% full by the time the main card started, though who knows, maybe everyone else was in line for autographs from Scott Norton, who was set up with a table.
The crowd was loud for Liger, Naito, and Tanahashi, but the hatred for White and Gedo was through the roof, and easily sparked the biggest reaction of the first half.
Not sure how clearly it came across on air, but a good 30% of the crowd was behind GOD, which was something of a surprise to me.
I talked to several people who’d been at previous NJPW shows in California, and they all agreed that this one was being run the smoothest in terms of merch lines and actually getting into the building, even if it didn’t have the buzz of other ones.
This may not have have had as many major angles as some of the other US shows or as some were hoping, but the card delivered to the audience that was there, and I was more than happy with my first live NJPW show.
Bill from Omaha, Nebraska
For a show that had little to no buzz, I thought this was a fantastic show! It was a real easy watch and there wasn’t really a bad match on the card. Matches of the night for me are Ospreay/Scurll and the main event. As for the broadcast, I thought this was much better than earlier AXS broadcasts, but I still notice mistakes with cutting to the wrong cameras and camera operators not being in the right place at times. They’re getting better, but they still have much to improve on. Once again, I thought Kevin Kelly proved he’s the best wrestling announcer in the business and really helped JR by explaining some backstory as well as the names of moves that JR could pick up on. Let’s hope Kevin is here to stay. All in all, a really fun show and an 18 out of 20 for me.
Louis from Long Beach
I was also at this show live. Having been at the previous Long Beach show as well as the most recent show at the Cow Palace I would rank this show 3rd out of those 3.
The best match that I watched tonight was the Scrull Osprey match which was on fire from the bell till the end and was the best 16 or 17 minutes on the card. When they teased that Spanish Fly spot on the Apron I was legitimately wincing in hopes that they didn’t do it.
Outside of that and the main event it didn’t seem like the crowd got into anything that much on the card. The house ended up being like 75-85% full so still a pretty good showing despite the late reveal of the card.
One other note Jay White came across as a massive heel. He didn’t have go away heat, but what he did have was the audience eating out of the palm of his hand it was awesome to see.
Overall while this was my least favorite of the 3 NJPW shows I’ve seen live it was still solid. 15/20.
Jake from The Windy City
I haven’t the biggest fan of Jim Ross commentary post-WWE but him and Kevin Kelly really served the event excellently. It seems like Kelly was helping JR in education him on the NJPW product and it really helps. I don’t think it’s Barnett’s fault, JR at this point just works better with a dude who knows all the details, leaving him to pick his spots. Barnett openly admits to not preparing prior to calling shows. He just shows up and talks. No prior research into current story lines etc. and it shows with the prior events.