Golden Series in Hokkaido 2022

[Maridius98]

February 20: IWGP World, NEVER 6 Championships! KOPW at stake!



Headlining on night two February 20, Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naito. Everything seemed to come full circle for Okada on January 5 2022. After two years away from the top title in professional wrestling, he finally defeated first Shingo Takagi and then Will Ospreay to be undisputed as IWGP World Champion, only to be confronted by the very man who knocked him out of the top flight in the Tokyo Dome on January 5 2020.

Whether or not Naito agrees with Okada finally laying to rest the V4 IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and putting his stamp on a new era with the world title, Naito is driven and determined to be in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4 2023. To get to that point, the title that now sits around Okada’s waist is a critical piece to the puzzle. Will it belong to El Ingobernable after the Golden Series?

The NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships are also at stake on night two. After a typically controversial finish to the NEVER six match on January 5 in the Tokyo Dome that saw HOUSE OF TORTURE retain the gold with a wrench assisted triple play on YOH, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto agreed to put the IWGP Tag Team Championships up as collateral for a rematch. Now one team could leave with all the gold, and the hopes of the entire NJPW fandom will be on CHAOS having five belts between them.

Also on night two, Minoru Suzuki will defend his KOPW 2022 status against Toru Yano. After landing a Gotch Style Piledriver to take the win in a wild four way that included Chase Owens and of all entrants, GLEAT’s CIMA, Suzuki declared that NJPW would regret putting the KOPW rules in his hands. A whole world of terrifying possibilities has opened up with Suzuki the KOPW trophy holder, but before a reign of terror can ensue, the King will have to defeat Yano. Yano humiliated Suzuki after his win by handcuffing the Suzuki-Gun boss to the ropes. A hint perhaps as to what stipulations one or the other may have in mind?

February 19: Two tag title matches! IWGP United States main event!



Headlining night one will be the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship as Hiroshi Tanahashi defends against SANADA. After promising ‘a lifetime of rule breaking in one match’, Hiroshi Tanahashi went to a dark side of himself to begin his second title reign over KENTA. Now he holds the gold, and the key to worldwide matchups, but the Ace only felt empty in defeat. Feeling he needs to get back to the classical core of wrestling, Tanahashi was somewhat healed by his tag match against Kaito Kiyomiya and Keiji Muto January 8, and now takes on one of his favourite opponents in SANADA.

SANADA is coming off a victory over Great-O-Khan in the Tokyo Dome, via a quick flash pin that upset the Dominator. O-Khan learned it only takes three seconds to lose a match, and Tanahashi’s US gold could slip away just as quickly. Now approaching six years in NJPW, can Cold Skull finally secure singles gold tonight?

As mentioned, the condition for CHAOS to gain a NEVER Openweight 6 Man rematch on February 20 will be to put the IWGP Tag Team Championships at stake one night earlier. With HOUSE OF TORTURE potentially still in possession of four title belts, adding five and six to their collection will be top priority, and CHAOS will certainly have to look out for considerable outside interference. Can the champions respond?

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships are also on the line February 19. On January 5, Flying Tiger retained their titles to start the Year of the Tiger in satisfying form, Robbie Eagles not only submitting Rocky Romero, but four participants able to hold down El Phantasmo and finally removing his suspicious boot. The metal secret to Sudden Death finally revealed, BULLET CLUB’s Cutest tag Team were thrown out of the match. Now ELP and Taiji Ishimori are regrouping with another challenge, but can they top the tag ranks on their own considerable merits, without Phantasmo’s secret weapon?

[Maridius98]

Junior Heavyweights Take Sendai Center Stage February 11



In the main event, El Desperado will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Master Wato. After a hard hitting defence of the IWGP gold against Hiromu Takahashi on January 4, Desperado had no time to wind down, being upset the very next night on the January 5 kickoff by Wato. The blue haired prodigy managed to scoop submission victory with his new Vendeval submission.

Even Desperado, normally hyper critical of Wato, was forced to admit that the young man had made changes, but that this wouldn’t be enough to see him to tag gold. As Suzuki-Gun’s masked man has openly talked of desire to defend his title against competitors from across the Japanese wrestling landscape, he must first gain a mandate and move past his second defence against Wato- or might his young challenger suddenly make a massive step to Grand Master status?

Also in Sendai, YOH and SHO go head to head once more. At the Tokyo Dome on January 4, SHO tried to pull every trick he had in his pocket to defeat his former partner, but both the Murder Machine and Dick Togo were dealt with as YOH picked up a win with the Five Star Clutch and then landed a satisfying superkick to counter a post match assault. Now the two meet once more in Sendai, does SHO have an added trick up his sleeve to beat YOH in his home prefecture, or will it be another Direct Drive to success for YOH?

Tiger Mask will be taking on Taiji Ishimori in Ishimori’s home town to boot. One week after this Sendai card, Flying Tiger have to defend IWGP junior heavyweight tag gold against Ishimori and El Phantasmo in Hokkaido. This bout will serve as a preview of the later tag action, but could it also see the shape of things to come in the junior singles space?

[Rio146]

Desperado vs Wato izgleda zanimljivo. Nadam se da će dobiti barem 10-ak minuta.

[Sherpa]

okada naito

[Maridius98]

Krivo mi je što ima ovoliko HoT mečeva, inače jako lep card za B šou. Tana vs. Sanada mi je bezveze i ne gleda mi se ponovo YOH vs. SHO.

[Rio146]

Ma može ako će imat normalan meč, bez interferenca

[Maridius98]

Ma može ako će imat normalan meč, bez interferenca

Stvarno veruješ da će se to desiti?

[Rio146]

Ma može ako će imat normalan meč, bez interferenca

Stvarno veruješ da će se to desiti?

Ne

[Markovic619]

Red bi bio da se nesto i od New Japana pogleda. Title matchevi sa danasnjeg showa.

Tiger Mask & Robbie Eagles vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship)
Cijela divizija stala u jedan mec. A vidis koliko je divizija dobra i zanimljiva kad je Tiger Mask sampion... Mec iz dva dijela. Prvi dio uzasan. Klasicno WWE-ovski, dva covjeka ili dva tima u ringu, ostatak ucesnika na ringsideu. Naprave dva poteza, pa se ukljuci treci tim, izbaci jedan od timova i tako u krug. Krenulo je na bolje od Moonsaulta Ishimoria na ringside. Onda je uslijedilo nekoliko dobrih tag team spotova Bullet Cluba, sampioni su imali dobru Butterfly Suplex / 450 Splash kombinaciju. Wato i Taguchi su imali nekoliko dobrih spotova, pogotovo Wato, bio je dobar u ovom mecu. Najmanje smo u mecu vidjeli trenutnog Junior HW sampiona, El Desperada. Dobili smo nove sampione, ali nikog nije briga, kad ce titule za dva mjeseca na BC ili Suzuki-gun, i opet u krug **3/4

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (IWGP Tag Team Championship)
Uh, EVIL ima svoj stable, joj. Ocjena na Cagematchu 0.76, hahahaha. Znaci da ne ocekujem nista od ovog meca. Uz to mu Yujiro partner. Najbolje kod EVIL-a je ulazna pjesma. Sampioni ni iz svlacionice nisu izasli kako treba, ovi ih napali. Sta radi SHO ovdje... razvalili onakav tim zbog ovog... Kolicina Evilovih gluposti u ovom mecu se nije mogla izmjeriti. Bar jednom u minuti bilo je nekih upada, chair shotova, ili nesto trece... Sampioni su odradili dobar posao, pogotovo Hashi, bio je jako dobar. Bio je dobar koliko mu je EVIL dozvoljavao. Preporucujem da ovaj mec... preskocite **

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA (IWGP United States Championship)
Klasican NJPW main event. Dug mec, pola sata, spor mec. Uglavnom submissioni i kontre na svaki moguci potez. To je bila prica ovog meca. Bilo je jako predvidljivo sve do samog finisha. Nisam uopste ocekivao da ce SANADA osvojiti titulu. Bila dobra odluka ili ne, drago mi je zbog njega. I sto je zanimljivo, prvi put da je singles champ. Do sada samo je osvajao Tag Team titule i 6-Man. Mislim da bi mec bio bolji da je bio kraci za nekih 10-ak minuta, ne mora svaki main event biti 25+ minuta. Sve u svemu, jako solidno ***

Ovaj show se moze preskociti. Iako smo dobili dva title changea i jedno veliko iznenadjenje, kvalitet meceva nije bio bas na zadovoljavajucem nivou.

4/10

[SwitchBlade]

Nisam uopste ocekivao da ce SANADA osvojiti titulu. Bila dobra odluka ili ne, drago mi je zbog njega. I sto je zanimljivo, prvi put da je singles champ.

What in the actual Gedo? Odbijam povjerovati da je SANADA osvojio singles titulu dok to ne vidim vlastitim očima.

[Eumaus The Swineherd]

Jbt totalno zaboravia na ove eventove

[Markovic619]

NJPW New Years Golden Series 2022 - Final

Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki (KOPW Dog Cage Match)
Mislio sam da ce KOPW biti ozbiljan ali od pocetka KOPW je Yanova igracka. Nadam se da ce uskoro krenuti ozbiljnije bukirati ovaj trofej ili sta je vec. Ali ipak nece posto je Yano ponovo osvojio. Dobio je Suzukija u mecu gdje moras protivnika ubaciti u kavez i zakljucati ga kao kera. Koja stipulacija... Bilo je nekoliko zanimljivih momenata, kad je Yano samarao Suzukija po glavi i kad su sa lisicama na rukama razmjenivali udarce. Na kraju Yano izmislja nesto i dobija *3/4

EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi vs. YOH, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship)
Ovo cak i nije bilo lose. Svakako bolje od jucerasnjeg meca za Tag Team titule. Pocelo je naravno napadom House of Torturea prije zvona za pocetak meca ali Chaos sa nekoliko lijepih poteza se odbranio. Uglavnom Chaos dijelovi su bili jako dobri dok House of Torture dijelovi su bili jako losi. Jedino je SHO imao nekoliko dobrih spotova. Najbolji dio meca je bio kad su Chaos clanovi uhvatili protivnike u svoje submissione. To je jako dobro izgledalo. Zbog ishoda jucerasnjeg meca znalo se da ce HoT odbraniti ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)
Mislim da je ovo njihov 11. mec. Bio je ovo jako dobar mec ali ne na razini prethodnog (WK). Naito je imao dobar leg work koji Okada nije bas najbolje sellao. U prvoj fazi meca vidjeli smo dosta puta DDT i neckbreaker. Zavrsnica je bila odlicna i uzbudljiva i podigla ovaj mec za pola ocjene minimum. U jednom trenutku sam mislio da ce Naito dobiti ali izgleda da sam na trenutak zaboravio da je Okada na drugoj strani i da mu je ovo prva odbrana titule. Cini mi se da Naito ne moze mec dobiti bez minimum 4-5 puta da udari Destino ****

Na narednom showu ocekuje nas Okada vs. El Desperado mec

[Eumaus The Swineherd]

To s Destinom mi dosta smeta. Finisher mu je baš oslabia. Despy i Okader će pokidat.

[SwitchBlade]

Treba spomenuti da je Taguchi koji je 69. IWGP Jr. prvak jučerašnjom pobjedom postao 69. IWGP Jr. Tag Team prvak. The boyhood dream has come true.

[Eumaus The Swineherd]

Napokon je uspia.