Match Ratings For NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed From Sean Ross Sapp Of Fightful.com

Ryusuke Taguchi, ACH & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Roppongi 3K
5/10

• Triple submissions by the babyfaces gets a nice pop. 
• There are seas of empty seats, and the venue is lit pretty bad. It’s time to move on somewhere else. A loud crowd despite all the empty seats.
• There’s a neat finger up the ass spot.
• Jim Ross makes a joke about Rocky Romero as “The Rock,” then explains the joke. Smooth. Either way he does his clothesline spot, and Taguchi goes into an ass-butt spot similar, then taunts like Nakamura. 
• Dodon wins it. This was a cutesy opener match.

SCU’s The Addiction defeated Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Adam “Hangman” Page)
5.75/10

• Kazarian is stitched up after taking a shot from Mark Briscoe recently. 
• Page and Kazarian go at each other with lariats, but Owens is really successful with his burst offense. 
• Page dropkicks Daniels to moonsault Kazarian. A “this is awesome” chant comes a bit early, but hey, I’m glad the crowd is into it. 
• Nobody hits an STO like Christopher Daniels. He then slams Page down with one, while throwing Owens. He’s on fire. 
• Kazarian counters the Shooting Star Shoulderblock with a Codebreaker. Very cool.
• Best Meltzer Ever beats Chase Owens. 

Jeff Cobb, Flip Gordon & Chris Sabin defeated Best Friends & Hirooki Goto
5.5/10

• I wonder how much, if at all NJPW uses Flip Gordon and Chris Sabin outside of BOSJ, and the tag tourney.
• Cute spot where Sabin needs help to whip Jeff Cobb. Cobb also breaks up a Best Friends hug, but they eventually get it and flip over the top rope. 
• The Lawn Dart from the Best Friends never seems to quite connect. 
• Flip Gordon put his athleticism together in this match and had a lot of great spots. Often times it seems like he’s waiting on the next thing, but he was on fire tonight. He’s also blasted by a knee from Beretta. 
• Goto gets tagged in and we have a Sirloin Beef Sunsabitches division stand off with he and Cobb.
• Chuckie T can’t suplex Cobb, but he and Trent can. Cobb returns the favor with a suplex on both of them, but is almost pinned by a Chuckie piledriver.
• The Cobb showcase continues when he wins with Tour of the Island.
• Goto wants some more of Cobb. Cobb doesn’t back down, but Goto does.

Zack Sabre Jr & KES defeated LIJ (Evil, Tetsuya Naito & Sanada)
5.25/10

• That pop-up powerslam from Killer Elite Squad is fantastic. I’d love if AOP used it as a finish.
• Archer hits some clotheslines HARD.
• Naito is tagged in to a huge pop and runs through his dropkick spot with Sabre. He has the crowd in the palm of his hands.
• Sanada flies over the top onto KES, and really gets some air doing it. Inside the ring, Sabre and Evil go back and forth, with Evil getting 2 on Darkness Falls. Sabre bridge pins Evil while flipping off the crowd. 
• Sabre has Evil’s number, as Kelly and Ross tell the story of technique over size. Sabre gives a thumbs up.
• KES beat up a Young Lion on the way out. 

“Switchblade” Jay White & Gedo defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kushida
4.75/10

• White and Tanahashi battle outside the ring, with White beating up Tanahashi pretty bad. 
• Kushida hasn’t been tagged in through about seven minutes. 
• For those who aren’t NJPW regulars, Gedo turned on Okada last week to hitch his wagon to Switchblade.
• There’s a terrible spot on a body press with Tanahashi and Gedo.
• Kushida makes it in, and gets some offense. Tanahashi is back with a rolling neckbreaker and Slingblade, but Gedo breaks up the pin.
• Jay White comes in, hits a Blade Runner and pins Tanahashi.
• Jay White cuts a big promo saying New Japan is scared to lose Tanahashi, but he’s not. He feels like a really big deal. The work isn’t always there yet, but the character is. 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tourney
Marty Scurll defeated Will Ospreay 
8.25/10

• The crowd is really, really hot for this match. Ospreay’s neck is zeroed in on early.
• Sometimes I forget how good Ospreay is and how effortless he makes things look. It doesn’t take long to for him to remind me of how good he is. Countering an Irish whip with a handspring kick with a full flip.
• A sunset bomb to the floor kills Scurll. This is good, hard-hitting back and forth action with stakes.
• Ospreay saves a bit of a flub by crotching himself on the top rope then eating a top rope Frankensteiner.
• Ospreay runs up Scurll with a moonsault kick, but gets suplexed into a chickenwing in a BEAUTIFUL spot. 
• Ospreay 360s out of a double underhook suplex. That was wild. I loved it. Not as much as I loved the top rope Tiger superplex.
• Scurll is amped up. He wins with Graduation. This was a must-watch match. A slapper.

IWGP Heayweight Tag Team Championship
Guerrillas of Destiny (w/ Haku) defeated Young Bucks (c) to become champions
6.25/10

• I’m most interested to see how Tonga Loa keeps up with everyone in this match, because Tama is going 100 MPH.
• Matt’s back goes out on him for the first time in a while and he has to tag out. Loa attacks him and powerslams him on the floor.
• Nick prevents more of a beatdown, but Matt still ends up getting pushed through a table at ring side. 
• Nick hits a badly connected moonsault on Loa on the outside. He’s in a bad way, because Matt is still taken out.
• A Tongan Twist is countered into a dropkick by Nick, who tags out to Matt. Still hampered, Matt scores a suicide dropkick, but a Sharpshooter takes too much out of him. 
• Superkicks on Loa don’t get the job done. I dunno why psychologically Matt Jackson would even try a fireman’s carry for the More Bang For Your Buck, but he did. Why didn’t Nick take over for the moonsault? It gets two.
• A Meltzer Driver with more inexplicable back injury offense is intercepted by a Stun Gun and a Riksihi Driver. Then a 3D hits for the win for GOD. 

IWGP United States Championship
Cody (w/ Brandi Rhodes) defeated Juice Robinson (c) to become champion
6.25/10

• When the action goes outside, Brandi distracts and feigns an injury, allowing Cody to hit Juice with a falling reverse DDT. Cody catches Juice with a Flatliner back in the ring. 
• Cody’s versatility is increasing, as we see him huracanrana his way out of a powerbomb, and into the turnbuckle. 
• Juice counters an apron Disaster Kick for a flying body press.
• Cody hits a nice low single leg from a waistlock position to sit into the Figure Four, which is eventually reversed.
• Brandi has been getting involved and scoring some good, cheap heat. She gives him water to spit into Juice’s face to set up a Disaster Kick. She pulls him out of the ring after Pulp Friction hits. 
• Juice grows impatient and goes out to get Cody, and is Cross Rhodes’d to the floor. They both barely get in the ring before the 20 count, and Juice kicks out of a gnarly Vertebreaker.
• On a Juice Robinson superplex attempt, Cody turns it into a small package cradle and wins!
• Cody Rhodes holds championships in ROH, NWA and NJPW right now. 

Golden Lovers defeated CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada)
8/10

• JR called Ibushi a possible “young ace — what could be.” He’s 36.
• Ibushi throws some stiff kicks, while Ishii returns with chops. Okada gets in Omega’s face.
• Ibushi is tossed around outside the ring, into the guard rails and worked over. Okada is really trolling Omega, but wants no parts of him. 
• Omega finally gets the tag and hits a sloppy running DDT on Ishii. 
• Okada is tagged in, but Ibushi hits him with a missile dropkick out of nowhere. The Cross Slash Golden Triangle Moonsaults hit.
• Okada kicks out of the rolling Samoan drop, standing star press and double moonsault combo with a dual pin.
• Finally Omega and Okada go at it on American soil, which this whole match built to. Omega avoids a couple of Rainmakers, lands a Snapdragon, and a V Trigger into a German suplex with the aid of Ibushi.
• Omega and Ibushi tease a Meltzer Driver, but Okada ends up scoring a Tombstone, all starting from a One Winged Angel attempt. 
• Omega counters a Rainmaker with a huge uranage. The match gets really, really stiff, and Ibushi kicks out of some harsh offense.
• Golden Lovers get the win with the Golden Trigger. Ishii got cracked hard. 
• Kenny Omega challenges Kota Ibushi to a match in a week. Cody Rhodes wants them to HOLD THEY HORSES. Cody wants in, and he gets it. Triple threat for the title at King of Pro Wrestling.

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor
Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5.