Another month, another debutant it feels like, as Ren Narita became the latest to break free of the New Japan dojo on this month’s Lion’s Gate show.
We’re live in ShinjukuFACE in Tokyo as “those who didn’t go to Long Beach” held the latest round of the developmental shows.
Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino
Umino’s coming off the back of a few draws on the Kizuna Road tour, whilst this is Narita’s debut. The pair exchange holds early, with Narita forcing Umino to back off, before Shota’s headlock takedown was quickly escaped. Narita succeeds in taking down Umino in a wristlock as he looked to work over the taped shoulder and arm, grabbing an armbar that forced Shota to reach for the ropes to break free.
Eventually, Umino escapes a hammerlock with a drop toe hold, as he then switched around into almost a STF on the newcomer, as Umino showed some dominance. A toe hold followed, before it was turned over into a single-leg crab, which Narita broke by reaching for the ropes.
We go back to the limited movesets as Shota gets a two-count out of a slam, before rolling his opponent into a camel clutch. That’s again broken by the ropes as the pair launched into a strike battle that Umino handily won, only for Narita to pull out a slam, then a hiptoss for a near-fall. Heck, Narita even gets in a Boston crab, and the obligatory rope break, as we start getting more time checks… is Umino going to get yet another draw?!
A dropkick from Shota puts Narita in the corner for a back elbow, then a hiptoss that nearly won it, with a Boston Crab, an inside cradle and a schoolboy getting him closer to victory, as a spinebuster and another Boston crab was applied… and time ran out on Umino! Not too much of a match, with Narita largely being a crash dummy, but I like this wrinkle on Shota’s character in being someone who’s perhaps underestimating his fellow Young Lions. **
Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. TAKA Michinoku
Now for the regular “Young Lion vs. veteran” match, and yes, TAKA is coming. He started by taking Yagi into the ropes, before wearing down on him with some grounded headscissors as the pair rolled into the ropes.
Next up for Yagi – a bicycle knee in the corner before being rolled into a guillotine choke as TAKA was just squashing him… and mocking him by stepping back from a dropkick attempt. At the second attempt, Yagi connected with the dropkick as he then mounted a flurry of offence, ending with a PK to the back for a near-fall. He even manages to tie up TAKA in a single-leg crab, but TAKA escapes and issues a receipt that’s eventually escaped via the ropes.
More knees and kicks from TAKA take down Yagi for a near-fall, from which he floats into a Bully Choke for the submission. A pretty simple squash, which is exactly what you’d have expected given the gulf in experience. *¾
Manabu Nakanishi & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Dinosaur Takuma
Finally, we get the fierce bull and the Dinosaur, together on a team at last! Nakanishi makes a point of complaining about Takuma’s tail, and of course, that means those two start out together.
Nakanishi resists a bunch of shoulder tackles early, then grabs the Dinosaur by the tail… who uses Mongolian chops to free himself. Well, he’s learned, but he has no answer for Nakanishi, so he rolls out to bring in Tenzan, just as Kitamura tags into play. Those two batter each other with shoulder tackles before Tenzan brings back the Mongolian chops and then gets a Kokeshi to weaken the rookie.
Takuma tags in again and goes back to those Mongolian chops, but Kitamura quickly responds with knife-edge chops before isolating him away from Tenzan. A Northern Lights-ish suplex gets Kitamura a near-fall, as he then went back to the Standard Issue Arsenal of moves with a slam for another two-count. Nakanishi returns to clothesline Takuma in the corners, before the Dino moved away from a knee drop to bring Tenzan back in.
Tenzan hits back with Mongolian chops before just about getting off a suplex for a near-fall. Kitamura returns, but runs into a Mongolian chop before reversing a suplex to take down Tenzan for barely a two-count, before he and Nakanishi combine with a spear and a clothesline as that particular tandem looked to surge ahead. Duelling Argentine backbreakers follow, but Tenzan fights free as things almost fall apart when Takuma spears Nakanishi to the outside.
That leaves us with Tenzan in the ring to collect a near-fall from a spinning heel kick, before setting up Kitamura for an Anaconda Vice that led to the submission. Pretty decent, but so far all of these matches have been insanely short. **¼
After the match, Tenzan gives the Dinosaur a Mongolian chop for the hell of it. Well, that was a thing!
Hirai Kawato vs. Dick Togo
Well, this was quite a return for Togo, who’d been away from New Japan for over six years. On paper it’ll be an easy outing, against a Kawato who’s been in a lot of high profile outings in recent weeks.
Togo instantly went for the arm of the Young Lion, but Kawato replied in kind… although Togo was able to escape as the pair went back and forth on the mat. Again, Kawato goes for a hammerlock, but he’s tripped to the mat as Togo took over, before the pair ended up outside, where Kawato was thrown into the ringpost. Back inside, Togo keeps up the pressure, launching Kawato into the air with a hiptoss before a simple elbow drop gets him a near-fall. An attempt at a comeback brutally ended with a shoulder tackle for a near-fall as Togo racked up those two-counts, before Kawato finally connects with a dropkick for a near-fall of his own.
A springboard dropkick does a similar job, but Togo quickly snaps back into a crossface as Kawato dragged his body to that bottom rope… but you sensed the end was nigh… and then Kawato countered a Pedigree attempt with a small package for a near-fall. Togo’s response was to nearly decapitate him with a clothesline, before a Pedigree and a back senton off the top crushed poor Kawato for the win. A fun sprint, but again way too short for my tastes. ***¼
Tomoyuki Oka vs. Satoshi Kojima
Oka starts out rather cagey, looking for a takedown before trying to escape Kojima’s headlock takedown instead. After chopping Kojima, Oka enjoys some success with shoulder tackles as they headed outside for a spell, which is where these fixed camera shows can be a major pain.
After some brawling, Kojima took over in the ring with some clubbing blows, but Oka gave as good as he got, until Kojima took down Oka with a neckbreaker. Some chops followed in the corner as Kojima built-up to the rapid-fire chops, and of course, the top rope elbow drop that sometimes follows… when he’s not cut-off!
Oka mounted something of a comeback from there, taking Kojima into the corner for an avalanche before going to the Boston crab. When that didn’t work, a powerslam came for a near-fall, but Kojima hit back with a Koji Cutter to leave the rookie down. Still, Oka kept up the fight, blocking a Strong Arm lariat and delivering a spinebuster for a near-fall, before Kojima slipped out of a hanging suplex gave one of his own, as the Strong Arm lariat succeeded on the second attempt for the win. Pretty decent, and given that Kojima’s going into the G1, he probably shouldn’t have given as much as he did… but there you go! **¾
Koji Iwamoto vs. YOSHI-HASHI
It’s a return for All Japan’s Koji Iwamoto here, after appearing at May’s Lion’s Gate show in a losing tag team effort against Gedo and Jado.
After shrugging off some early offence, Iwamoto takes YOSHI-HASHI to the mat for a chinlock… but they’re quickly taken outside as YOSHI-HASHI throws him into the post in what looked to be the turning point in the match. Back inside, YOSHI-HASHI borrows Okada’s style of putting on an STF, but Iwamoto makes the ropes, and that sparks a comeback by way of a running back elbow off the ropes.
A basement dropkick and a knee drop gets Iwamoto a near-fall, before he outfoxes YOSHI-HASHI with some Tama Tonga-esque rope running, and traps his opponent in an Octopus. Hey, it works, I guess! A rope break follows as YOSHI-HASHI chops his way back into it, with a superkick almost getting him the win… as did a suplex.
YOSHI-HASHI grabs a single leg crab just to keep the trend going for the show, but of course it’s broken by the ropes. Iwamoto replies with a hiptoss into a knee strike, before a Magic Killer using the ropes gets him another near-fall. A scoop headlock takedown gets Iwamoto another near-fall, before a version of what looked like an Anaconda Vice forces another rope break. That scare seemed to wake up YOSHI-HASHI, who rebounded with the left-arm lariat for a two-count, before rolling up Iwamoto into a Butterfly Lock for the submission out of nowhere. This one felt a little flat to me – aside from the suspension of disbelief thing (on a New Japan show, are they really going to let a main roster guy lose to an outsider?), this kinda felt like they were going through the motions. **½
GO Asakawa vs. Yuji Nagata
Asakawa was a late replacement for Ayato Yoshida, who is out with a fractured jaw… GO tried to switch holds with Nagata early on, but the veteran felt like a move ahead the whole time, taking him down with an armbar before reversals upon reversals led to a stand-off.
The pair then take each other into the ropes for some clean breaks, which led to Nagata going straight back to the arm… and getting slapped as GO started to lay into him with some forearms. Of course those were given receipts, as a PK to the back just seemed to up the ante until a dropkick from Asakawa took Nagata to the outside… where he ate a plancha!
Nagata easily beat the count, but rolled back into a series of stomps as he was put on the back foot, even more so when GO drilled him with knees in the corner. Yeah, of course Nagata gave him one of those in return, along with an abdominal stretch as the Kaientai DOJO trainee struggled to make the ropes. Some kicks from Nagata are eventually caught and replied to with forearms, some of which knock down the veteran, but again Nagata comes back, throwing forearms before a spinning uranage left him down and out.
GO elbows away an Exploder attempt when Nagata got back to his feet, before landing a clothesline for a near-fall, but his attempts at more elbows backfire as Nagata takes him down into the eye-rolling armbar! Asakawa’s too close to the ropes and easily forces a break, so Nagata goes back to kicking him for a spell, as more blows rain in from the K-Dojo guy.
Slaps follow, but they just rile up Nagata, who goes back to the armbreaker, before a step-up knee in the corner and an Exploder gets him a near-fall. From there, more kicks follow, and it’s just a matter of time before GO’s dumped on his head with a Backdrop Hold for the win. For Nagata, read Kojima – he took a lot for someone who’s less than a fortnight away from his final G1, but this was a pretty solid main event that at least ended the show on a high. ***¼
It’s harsh to say, given these are effectively trainee shows, but this was the weakest of the Lion’s Gate shows so far. At least the squashes on prior shows have been entertaining, but today it felt very run-of-the-mill, and we didn’t even get Dinosaur comedy for whatever reason. Still, it’s more exposure for the Young Lions that is much-needed, so at least it ticked that particular box! At time of writing, there’s nothing on the books for an eighth Lion’s Gate Project show, but I’d have to imagine that it’ll not be until well after the G1 has concluded.