Check out Dave’s review of Night 1 here.
Jay White vs David Finlay
White works on Finlay’s arm to start. Finlay grabs White in a horse collar. Finlay gets a nice dropkick. Finlay ends up with a Fujiwara armbar. White gets his own dropkick in and starts throwing forearms. White hits a vertical suplex followed by a missile dropkick. Finlay fights back with some uppercuts and a bridging German suplex. Finlay applies a Boston Crab and White gets a rope break. They trade forearms and uppercuts. Finlay goes for a suplex but White rolls through and applies a single leg crab, transitioning into a Boston Crab. White sinks it in further by putting his knee on the back of Finlay’s head and Finlay taps. I like this a lot and it’s some of the best work I’ve seen from either guy. Finlay refuses a handshake after the match.
Delirious and Gedo vs Matt Sydal and Jushin Liger
Delirious and Liger are set to start but Delirious runs all around the ring and tags Gedo for a good reaction from the fans. Gedo and Liger then start with some exchanges until Liger clotheslines him in the corner. Liger and Sydal work over Gedo and Liger gets him in a wristlock. Delirious runs around them and circles the ring where Sydal hits him with flying knees. Delirious brawls with Liger on the outside and grabs a purse from a lady in the front row and hits Liger with it. Liger fights back and hits Gedo with a clothesline. Sydal tags in and hits a leg lariat on Gedo and a Here It Is Driver on Delirious. Sydal goes for his knee-tuck moonsault, with Delirious avoiding the first attempt but Sydal hits a second one. Gedo tags in and hits Sydal with a chinbreaker and superkick. Sydal and Liger double-team him and fight off Delirious. Sydal hits a shooting star press on Gedo and gets the pinfall victory. This was a short and simple match, with another look at the dream team of Sydal and Liger and Delirious and Gedo getting to have some fun. Delirious yells into the camera about Stokely Hathaway after the match and then says “Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger” into the camera.
Dalton Castle vs Frankie Kazarian
Castle has Japanese young boys as his valets again tonight. They trade wristlocks early. Castle rest in the corner and gets fanned by his valets. Kazarian sits in the corner and asks for the same but is denied. Castle entertains the crowd with his gimmick and then gets a pumphandle slam on Kazarian. Castle misses a charge in the corner but hits a knee-lift on the apron. Kazarian hides behind one of Castle’s boys on the floor and then beats down Castle. Kazarian does a slingshot legdrop on Kazarian in the ring. Kazarian puts Castle on the second rope and hits a lungblower. Kazarian grabs a leglock in the ring and Castle gets a rope break. Castle comes back with chops and a clothesline. Castle hits a knee and a forearm in the corner but takes a boot to the face. Castle then throws Kazarian. Castle goes for a German suplex but Kazarian avoids it initially. Castle then does a deadlift German into a bridging pin attempt. Kazarian fights back and hits an electric chair and bridges into a pin. Castle gets to the apron where Kazarian hits a leg-sweep. Kazarian slingshots Castle in for an Ace Crusher. Kazarian goes after the boys on the floor and then legdrops Castle on the ropes. Kazarian gets in the ring and dropkicks Castle to the floor and hits a tope. Kazarian whips Castle into the guardrail and then Castle hits a hurracanrana on the floor. Castle then hits a tope suicida and a twirling slam for the pinfall. This was probably one of the weaker matches out of the two nights so far.
Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows vs Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto
Goto is wrestling without body paint. O’Reilly and Anderson start but Fale and Goto tag in and everyone starts brawling at ringside. Goto beats a twenty-count and gets worked over by Fale who gives him a bodyslam and sits on his chest. Gallows tags in and he and Anderson are getting big reactions for what I believe is their last Japan appearance. Gallows drops some elbows and tags in Anderson who slows things down with a chinlock. Goto hits the ropes and Anderson hits a leg lariat. Tonga is in and hits a corner splash and then a dropkick on Goto. Shibata comes in and breaks up a pin and then kicks his partner Goto who seems confused. Fish tags in and he and O’Reilly double-team Tonga and hit their kneedrop decapitation. O’Reilly does a pescado on Anderson. Shibata and Gallows tag in and trade strikes. Shibata kicks Gallows’ feet out and goes for a figure four but Anderson comes in for the save. The entire Bullet Club enters and they all splash Shibata in the corner and Anderson and Gallows hit a double-team neckbreaker. O’Reilly cuts off a powerbomb attempt by Gallows and everyone is in the ring. Goto saves Shibata from a double=team and then has an awkward segment with Anderson. Gallows hits a big boot on Shibata and then hits his Gallows Pole. Shibata gets his back and sinks in a sleeper and a kick to the chest for the win. Anderson and Gallows were a lot of fun in this match and they get a nice send-off from the fans afterward.
Tetsuyo Naito and Bushi vs Moose and Kushida
The fans are into Moose and this one takes a bit to get going. But when it does it’s fun, with Moose jumping to the top rope and hitting a bodypress on Naito and Bushi. Kushida hits a handspring elbow on Naito and spills to the floor where Bushi hits him with a tope suicida. Evil beats on Moose and then Kushida outside. Naito controls Kushida inside and hits a reverse neckbreaker. Bushi tags in and dropkicks him in the back and hits a second rope dropkick. Naito and Bushi do some double-teaming. Kushida comes back and clotheslines Bushi. Naito tries to block the tag but takes an enzuiguri from Kushida. Moose tags in and starts headbutting his opponents and then corner splashes Bushi. Naito gets to the top rope where Moose dropkicks him. Kushida then stands on Moose’s shoulders and does a plancha to Evil and Naito on the floor. Bushi tries to take control on Moose but eats a clothesline and then a spear allowing Moose to pin him. This was short but fun and Moose seems to fit in well in Japan,
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong vs Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi
Ishii has the ROH TV Title with him and he and Strong get in each other’s faces. Okada and Elgin start the match and trade forearms. Elgin knocks him down with a shoulder-block. Elgin press-slams Okada and gives him a delayed vertical suplex. Both Hashi and Ishii kicked him in the gut but he held it and completed the suplex while Tanahashi suplexed Hashi and Strong suplexed Ishii. Elgin, Tanahashi and Strong flex for the crowd. We get Tanahashi vs Hashi and they trade strikes and forearms. They go outside and brawl while everyone else enters the ring. Hashi rolls Tanahashi inside and tags in Ishii who slams Tanahashi and applies a single leg crab. Strong comes in and chops Ishii who kicks Strong to the outside. It would seem they are developing into a rivalry. Okada tags in and gives Tanahashi a slingshot senton. Hashi is in and drapes Tanahashi on the ropes for a dropkick to the back. Ishii is in and trades strikes with Tanahashi and headbutts him. Tanahashi headbutts him back and staggers. Tanahashi hits a bodypress but Ishii keeps control with headbutts. Tanahashi gives him a dragon-screw legwhip. Strong tags in and chops Ishii and then Hashi and Okada run interference. Strong fights them off and hits a knee-strike on Ishii and a double-knee gutbuster. Ishii fights back and hits a powerslam. They trade forearms and strong hits a knee-flit. Okada is in and takes a backbreaker from Strong. Ishii hits Strong with a clothesline and Hashi tags in and does nothing. Strong hits him with an Olympic Slam and then Elgin tags in and hits Hashi with forearms and a German suplex. Elgin clotheslines him and hits an enzuiguri followed by a tilt-a-whirl variation. Ishii and Okada come in and Elgin fights them all off but Okada gets a flapjack on Elgin followed by clotheslines from Ishii and Hashi. Ishii and Strong brawl outside while Hashi and Elgin trade forearms in the ring. Elgin clotheslines him I the back of the head but gets taken down by a shoulder-block. Hashi bodyslams him and goes to the top rope but Strong knocks him off. Elgin tries to give Hashi a deadlift superplex but Okada blocks him and attempts a rainmaker. Tanahashi fights off Okada and Elgin gets the deadlift superplex on Hashi for a near-fall broken up by Okada. Tanahashi throws Okada outside and Elgin gorilla presses Tanahashi onto Okada and Ishii on the floor. Hashi fights back against Elgin but eats a clothesline. Elgin gets a buckle bomb and a sitout powerbomb for the pinfall victory. Ishii then got in Strong’s face and Strong grabbed the TV Title and they brawled before Ishii left the ring. Ishii rushed the ring again and we get a pull-apart brawl. Strong and Ishii did some good work to develop their rivalry here and Elgin really got to shine in the end. I would think Elgin and Tanahashi are working toward a tag title shot. This was probably the best multi-man mixed promotion match of the weekend at this point, and there’s been a few of them.
Never Openweight Six-Man Titles: Toru Yano and Jay and Mark Briscoe vs Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (with Cody Hall)
Omega talks down Austin Creed (Xavier Woods) before the match and is wearing a New Day shirt. The Bullet Club take out the Briscoes early and then surround Yano and beat him down and knock him to the floor. The Briscoes come back in and brawl with Matt and Omega. Nick gets thrown in and gets double-teamed by Mark and Jay including them doing a double beel throw over the top turnbuckle with Nick doing a flip onto his partners on the floor. Omega and Yano face off for some comedy but Hall holds Yano for double superkicks from the Bucks. Omega and the Bucks then all do tope suicida’s together. Omega and the Bucks control Yano inside and Omega puts him in an abdominal stretch and gets an assist from Hall, Matt and a fan in a chain which was funny to see. Yano gets his back raked a lot. He takes stereo kicks from all three opponents in the corner but then rips the turnbuckle cover off, blocks a superkick with it and then beats up Omega and the Bucks with it. Mark tags in and uses redneck kung fu and a modified icono-clasm. The Briscoes are in and out with all of their opponents. The Bucks do a combination buckle bomb and enzuigirui. Matt drapes Mark on the ropes for a senton from Nick. Omega hits a nice full nelson superplex and then hits a superkick in unison with superkicks from the Bucks. Jay makes the rescue. Mark eventually gets a hot tag to Yano who gets whipped into the exposed corner but stops himself and teases throwing his opponents in until he manages to throw Omega headfirst into the buckle. Omega goes after Yano with the spraycan but Yano avoids it and Hall gets sprayed in the face. Yano takes over and gets a roll-up but Omega sprays him to break it. The Briscoes are in and take knee-lifts from Omega and Matt. They give the Briscoes tombstones that are spiked by Nick. Omega hits a moonsault on Yano followed by a swan-ton from Nick and a 450 splash from Matt. Omega then pins Yano and he and the Bucks win the six-man titles. Even though the six-man titles aren’t as big a deal yet, it is cool that NJPW allowed this title change on what is an ROH show. And it is more momentum for Omega. As cool as AJ Styles was tagging with The Young Bucks, in some ways Omega is just as good with them while it is different in its own way. They link the three title belts together and hold them up. They try to skip rope with them but they break apart. Omega wears his title belt with the Intercontinental title. I would say this was also better than the previous match so it is a good show.
ROH World Title: Jay Lethal vs Tomoaki Honma
It’s cool getting to see Honma main event the weekend. The fans do some duelling chants, which they have been doing through the weekend, showing that there is awareness of ROH in the crowd. Lethal and Honma work wristlocks to start. Lethal stomps Honma down in the corner. Honma gets a bodyslam and then gets tripped up by Truth Martini. Lethal knocks Honma to the floor and hits him with three tope suicida’s in a row. Honma rolls back in and he and Lethal trade chops. They spill to the floor where Lethal whips Honma into the guardrails. Lethal brings him back inside, drops a knee on him and applies an Indian Deathlock variation. Lethal goes for a vertical suplex but Honma fights through and gets one of his own. Honma hits forearms and gives Lethal and ace crusher followed by a headbutt. Honma hits a blockbuster to create the usual Tomoaki Honma/Buff Bagwell juxtaposition. Honma applies a single leg crab and stomps on Lethal’s head. Lethal fights back and gets the lethal combination. Lethal bodyslams Honma and delivers a top rope elbow. Lethal goes for his lethal injection but Honma headbutts him in the back coming off the handspring. Lethal is on the apron and Honma headbutts him to the floor. Honma bodyslams Lethal on the floor and goes to the top rope and delivers a ridiculous diving headbutt to the floor. Honma brings Lethal inside for a two count. Honma hits the ropes and take a superkick but flips Lethal in the air with a clothesline. Honma gives Lethal a brainbuster and the fans are firmly in Honma’s corner. Lethal fights back with a spinning head-kick. Honma jumps off the top rope and hits Lethal with a headbutt, then headbutts him on the mat. Honma goes up top and does a diving headbutt but Lethal gets out of the way. Honma charges Lethal who gets out of the way and Honma collides with referee Todd Sinclair. Bushi and Evil then charge the ring and team up on Honma. They hold him and Martini hits him in the head with the Book of truth. Honma fights them off and Tetsuyo Naito hits the ring and gives Honma a low blow. Lethal then hits the Lethal Injection and pins Honma to retain his title. Lethal offers a handshake and Honma tearfully looks to the crowd for approval. Honma then shakes Lethal’s hand but Lethal ducks down and Bushi blows mist in Honma’s face for a cool angle. Martini and Lethal then celebrate with Naito and company and it appears that Lethal and Martini are part of Los Ingobernables. This was a good title match that felt like Honma might win it. The interference takes it down a notch but does further stories in NJPW and ROH.
Overall: Although the first night had the best match of the two shows with Strong vs Ishii, this show was better top-to-bottom. I would call it a pretty successful return to Japan for ROH and hope it will be a yearly tradition going forward.
