[smitlick]

All Japan - 14/4/83
Terry Funk vs Stan Hansen
***3/4

All Japan - 20/4/83
Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody
***1/4

All Japan - 22/4/83
Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody
***3/4

All Japan - 30/8/83
Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr & Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody & Terry Gordy
***

All Japan - 31/8/83
Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy
****

All Japan - 8/12/84
Funks vs Hansen/Brody
****3/4

[C-Cool]

I watched the main event for the NJPW “40TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW” (Okada vs. Naito).

I don't usually do a lot of match reviews, so I wouldn't use my views as a barometer at all, but to me it was awesome. I came in with low expectations (more on Okada than Naito, I like Naito more), but both of them impressed me with this match.

Okada had to be carried less than he did with Tanahashi, but he has many good things going for him, IMO. Hopefully he can fully adapt to the main event role he currently has before he gets the title taken from him (and hey, if he doesn't, he can always talk to Shinsuke Nakamura on how to recover from that... or maybe someone else). Naito usually impresses me, with exceptions (two of those exceptions being match pairings, one of them being Jeff Hardy, so it wasn't his fault), and this match isn't one of those exceptions.

I don't want to spoil much of the match, but I suggest that you watch that, and a few of the other matches from this event.

[Cactus]

NJPW 40th Anniversary Show

Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs Hiromu Takahashi, Takaaki Watanabe & Tama Tonga
They gave the jobber team a chance and it looked like they legit had a chance at beating the faces and made the match extremely enjoyable too.
***½

Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs Captain New Japan & Tomoaki Honma
Boring.
*½

Gedo & Jado vs Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask
**

Wataru Inoue, Yuji Nagata & Togi Makabe vs Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku
Exactly what you would expect out of any Suzuki Army versus Blue Justice match. Super fun match mostly because of the heels simply being great heels. They really need to book MiSu versus Nagata in singles action soon, maybe even MiSu versus Makabe along they way too.
***¼

Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
**¾

Masato Tanaka, Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi vs Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Karl Anderson
The match started off with some great matwork from all parties and planted the seeds for some future singles feuds. Also had an awesome finishing stretch with Anderson and Nakamura.
***½

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
We all know I'm a mark for great limbwork and it's going to be no surprise that I loved this match. Okada weakened Naito's neck to set up for his Rainmaker and Naito went all Mutoh-style and took out Okada's leg via basement dropkicks. Plus, 99% of the moves here are all aimed at those body parts. Add on top of that those nuclear near-falls we always get in IWGP title matches and you're looking at my current MOTY.
****¼

Overall:
Recommended.

[MF83]

I'll add another review in here. I guess first time readers should know that I have been doing these for a long time over at SSS and Re: the high ratings - What may seem overrated to you is me keeping a consistent scale over thew last few years, regardless of my increasingly "refined" standards. My (user)name is MF83 and I love pro wrestling.

***Contains Spoilers***


83 Spoiler-Free: ~ NJPW 40th Anniversary Show ~ @ Korakuen Hall... PPV Edition!

- President Sugabayashi ushers in the Bushiroad era and sets up the intro package of all intro packages.

• 3/6/2007! Oh Kotetsu, you wonderful soul.
• 3/6/2009! Old man Animal ftw!
• Fujinami! Fujiwara! Choshu! OG Tiger Mask! MUTOH! CHONO! SASAKI~!!!! Others~!
• An expanded version of the youtube 40 anny video! Gets a man all nostalgic and whatnot.
• The BushiRoad man welcomes us all!

1. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Tama Tonga, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe:
Good opener designed to make KUSHIDA and Tonga look like a couple of bosses. A55 pleasingly stayed in the background and Hiromu didn’t do much. Watanabe though, man. Those elbows, yesh. I lost it for that supersonicspeedy inside cradle. *usual Watanabe future leader of the free world line* I really want Watanabe vs. Okada. Interesting that KUSHDIA wins via Midnight Express, what with the main happening and all. **3/4

2. Tomoaki Honma & Captain New Japan vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii:
Fun, fun fun! Y-H has a prettier swanton than any I’ve seen. **1/2

3. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Gedo & Jado:
T’was okay, I guess. Worse and featuring less antics than I had hoped for. Remember when Jado had a killer lariat? Man's recent "lariat" makes a WWE comeback clothesline look Hansen-esque. *1/2

4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi:
On the other hand, this was better than I had hoped for and plenty anticful. I see that Taichi ending coming many a mile away every time it occurs, but each time it leaves me smiling. The Chain finally makes its return after the match. Chain deathmatch ASAP please. ***1/4

5. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka:
Nogami-san got dragged around the ring by the neck, and bah gawd, he continued to commentate! He is a man’s man if I ever did see one. This was Yano and Kojima in a contest to be the most entertaining, their partners being afterthoughts. Suffered from the usual Iizuka and modern Tenzan problems but helped tremendously by this being one of the few rare times a year that Kojima is motivated and tries. 2012 Yano is 2012 Yano and thus, fun was had. Kojima even earned chants going into his death lariat (a rarity for any closer to get chants these days) but he gets Yansacked ftw! "Yano, To-Ru!"! Nogami got a standing O and chants after the match - Nogami Jaasutiiiiiiiiisu I really enjoyed this. ***1/2

- I hope Yano wins a tag strap again. Please let him team with this man:


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccbvUhZPkIM)

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi:
Okay, now that was a Shinsuke pop. CHAOS Smooth (as I now dub them) make for a damn fine trio. Yujiro has taken to wearing sunglasses and a sleeveless sweater reading "BAD". He cuts another promo, give him a PurOscar! *puts above video on youtube* As expected, the work gets progressively better, but who should take it to infinity nd beyond? Why, Machine Gun ft. Shinsuke of course! Anderson just knows how and when to escalate a match, a skill he seems to have at his disposal more so than any other wrestler in the company. And Shinsuke is but the perfect foil for such a string of maneuvers. They bring that shit home hard too with a great finishing stretch! Great Shin Nihon Sprint . ****


- Holy shit, it's the old announcer Hidekazu(?) Tanaka~! I would be marking so much harder if he weren’t still working IGF and LEGEND regularly. I would be marking even harder if he was wearing his old blue and yellow toy soldier looking garb. Regardless, take it away, Takada-san!
: “IWGP Hebi-kyu senshuken shiai…”

7. IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Kazuchika Okada © vs. Tetsuya Naito:
The Rainmaker proves himself once again, especially with his superb facials and overall selling. I say overall selling because he didn’t sell his leg as well as the Tanahashi match, but we’ll get to that. He made it rain (made it rain), made it rain NAN-DAYO?! That was incredible . I must say that I made a point to type during the match just how much I enjoyed the opening rolling. The two styles and personas mesh well and it kept the crowd molten throughout. I’m glad Naito waited such a long time to bring the leg work back into his repertoire because it was that much more effective, and what work it was! So too was Okada's fantastic neck work and I love the D.I.D. "Down in Debt" name, regardless of which it is of the two holds they called it as. That Okada uses elbows like Misawa would, to actually hurt the neck, rather than as a weak face strike to set up an Irish whip or something, is very refreshing. The middle was kept exciting due to logical submission setups and death selling during, but after reading other reviews I have to say that this did drag in a few parts to the point that it lowered my enjoyment a bit. Don’t take that as a negative write off, because that two guys with this little experience pulled such a high caliber match off is remarkable. The finish is brilliant. Definite MOTYC, but I prefer Tanahashi vs. Okada for the organic heat, better selling and the story it told. ****1/2-****3/4 (85%)

I recommend another very enjoyable and uniquely historic event at Tokyo Korakuen Hall.

[Seabs]

AJPW "40TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR PRO-WRESTLING LOVE IN RYOGOKU VOL. 14", 20.03.2012 (GAORA TV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Akebono, Taiyo Kea, Ryota Hama & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura, KENSO, Yutaka Yoshie & Yasufumi Nakanoue
2. All Japan vs. New Japan - Special Singles Match: Seiya Sanada vs. Satoshi Kojima
3. AAA Offer Match - Special Singles Match: SUGI vs. Ronin
4. Akira Raijin Return Match: Akira Raijin, Kaz Hayashi & Minoru Tanaka vs. KAI, Hiroshi Yamato & Gillette
5. Stack of Arms vs. Aogi-gun - Cage Death Match: Yuji Nagata vs Masayuki Kono
6. All Asia Tag Team Title: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (c) vs. Suwama & Takumi Soya
7. AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Shuji Kondo
8. AJPW World Tag Team Title: Dark Ozz & Dark Cuervo (c) vs. Takao Omori & Manabu Soya
9. Triple Crown: Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Keiji Muto

Bossy as fuck card. 2, 5, 6 and 7 have tons of potential to rock. Main event could end up being awful but if the crowd are hot and it doesn't go too long it could also be great. Predicting both the tag titles and the Jr. Belt change hands.

[JoeRulz]

Ultimo Dragon vs. Great Sasuke announced for the next IGF show. Awesome.

[TelkEvolon]

Awesome six man tag right here!

[Cactus]

Dammit. Sekimoto (and Okabayashi to a certain extent) needs to stop being so consistently good. It's hard to keep up. At this point, I can see them realistically ending up as my worker of the year.

[ywall2breakerj]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Belt
****

Okada vs Naito for the IWGP Belt
WOW. LOVED THIS. Great performances by both of them, loved how every time someone gained the advantage the other one would attack the weakened limb. Don't see any problems with the finishing sequence as it had my interest at all times and IMO lasted as long as it should've as did the match. MOAR RAINMAKER~!

****1/4

My current MOTY.

[Tony Tornado]

Can someone tell me what the hell is going on with Shuhei Taniguchi? Why does he have that stupid mask on?