It was a huge night for NJPW fans in the US as they got to witness the first ever major NJPW show outside of Japan. The first leg of the weekend show saw the start of the tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW United States Champion as well a huge title match between the current ROH World Champion Cody and the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. Also on the card was a no disqualification Tag Team match between War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) and current champions Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa) for the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
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The first night of the NJPW US Championship Tournament saw four big singles matches play out as part of the quarterfinals: Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Juice Robinson, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin.
NJPW's first big event in the USA also saw Jim Ross and Josh Barnett on English commentary on AXS TV
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#1 The Bullet Club vs. Chaos (10-man Tag Team Match)
The show kicked off with a 10-man Tag Team Match featuring Marty Scurll, The Young Bucks, Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale as The Bullet Club against the team of Will Ospreay, The Briscoes, Rocky Romero and former WWE Superstar Beretta.
The match started out strong and there were a lot of quick tags and taunting going on in the beginning but eventually, it got a bit crowded and it was hard to tell which contestants were legal. The match saw a ridiculously high number of finishers from the ten contestants and it was easy to see that each of the stars was given time to show off to their US fans.
Bad Luck Fale added some high flying moves to the mix and it was a welcome addition to the otherwise packed match. The excitement came to a sudden conclusion when Rocky Romero caught one of the young bucks in a roll-up and scored the first victory of the night.
Chaos (Will Ospreay, The Briscoes, Rocky Romero and Beretta.) def. The Bullet Club (Marty Scurll, The Young Bucks, Yujiro Takahashi)
#2 Los Ingobernables De Japon vs. Jushin Liger, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee and Titan (8-Man Tag Team Match)
The second big match of the night was also a Tag Team match but this time it was eight of NJPW's finest facing off in the squared circle. Having serious luchadors from CMLL really helped the credibility of G1 Special as an International event. Seeing the two very different styles of wrestling from each team was exciting, to say the least.
The very evenly paced match ended after Titan took an illegal chair shot from Hiromu Takahashi behind the referee's back followed by a Time Bomb and a pin.
Los Ingobernables De Japon def. Jushin Liger, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee and Titan
#3 Hangman Page vs. Jay Lethal
The NJPW US Championship tournament kicked off with former Impact star Jay Lethal facing off Hangman Page in a singles bout. Hangman Page established his heel status early by attacking Lethal before the bell rang. The match eventually slowed down after the first few minutes and it felt like a familiar NJPW match after the two high-intensity matches that came before it.
The match saw both men perform to their full potential but ended up being a bit too short. Lethal pinned Page to secure his place in the second round of the tournament.
Jay Lethal def. Hangman Page
#4 Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Juice Robinson
The second match of the tournament was between CWC participant Zack Sabre and former NXT Superstar Juice Robinson (f.k.a CJ Parker). Both men are technically sound wrestlers and as the match went on, Sabre took on a heel persona, creating an interesting dynamic between the two.
A very even match between the two ended after Sabre caught Robinson in a very intricate combination of submission moves.
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Juice Robinson
#5 Gunn, Yoshitatsu and the Tempura Boyz vs. White, Finlay, Kushida and Tanahashi (8-Man Tag Team Match)
The second 8-Man Tag Team Match of the night was between the teams of Gunn, Yoshitatsu and the Tempura Boyz and White, Finlay, Kushida and Tanahashi. The match took a slower pace than the other tag matches from earlier but was exciting nonetheless.
Gunn’s taunts got huge reactions from the crowd and the simply hard hitting match gave every competitor the time to show off their skills. After a great back and forth between the teams, White took Yoshitatsu down with a flatliner and secured the victory via pinfall.
White, Finlay, Kushida and Tanahashi def. Gunn, Yoshitatsu and the Tempura Boyz
#6 Guerrillas of Destiny (c) vs. War Machine (IWGP Tag Team Championships)
The first title match of the night saw Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa, the current IWGP Tag Team Champions, go up against Hanson and Raymond Rowe. The teams agreed to declare the match as no disqualifications at Rowe’s suggestion. Both tag teams put on a terrific show and gave the audience the most hardcore match of the night.
The intense matchup ended with a leg drop through a table following which War Machine secured the victory and the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
War Machine (c) def. Guerrillas of Destiny
#7 Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii was next in the card. The third match of the US Championship tournament saw Naito attacking Ishii during his entrance. Ishii caught up with his opponent and shrugged off any attacks at first. The match got more even as the two men were heavily reliant on strikes, a style that is very NJPW fans are familiar with.
A few tense near falls later, Ishii took out Naito with a brainbuster and secured his spot in the next round of the tournament.
Tomohiro Ishii def. Tetsuya Naito
#8 Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega
The second last match on the card saw Kenny Omega face Michael Elgin and was the last tournament match of the night. Kenny Omega rarely fails to impress the audience and this hard-hitting match was no exception. Elgin is both powerful and agile as was proven after the two competitors improvised unique counters against each other.
Omega weakened his opponent with multiple knee strikes to the head before finishing up with a trademark One Winged Angel and securing the victory with a pin. It was easily the best match on the show so far and the crowd was one edge throughout the match.
#9 Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Cody (IWGP Heavyweight Championship)
Cody got a huge heel reaction from the crowd starting with his entrance and as the match went on, his antics got worse and worse ranging from walking out during the match to kiss his wife, to spitting in the referee's face. Both Superstars struggled to gain an advantage over each other in this very even match but the commentators cheered on Okada nonetheless.
Kenny Omega came out during the match with a white towel, the same thing that his latest stable mate had done during Omega's match with Okada. Cody's wife Brandi and The Young Bucks attempted to persuade Omega to not throw the towel in the ring, thus ending the match in a forfeit on Cody's part, the newest member of The Bullet Club took the towel from Omega and threw it in his face. This spot made for one of the most iconic moments of the night but the match carried on.
Okada caught Cody in a jumping tombstone piledriver and finished him up with a rainmaker clothesline to get a pinfall victory.
Omega showed respect to Kazuchika Okada after his victory but reminded us that he was not done chasing the IWGP Title.
Kazuchika Okada (c) def. Cody
