The Big Takeaway —

The two Tiger Masks defeated IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada and Gedo in the main event, setting up the showdown between Okada and Tiger Mask W at the 45th Anniversary show. The rest of the card built momentum towards their eventual matches in the New Japan Cup preliminary round.

Show Recap —

Yujiro Takahashi defeated Tomoyuki Oka 

Yujiro had him in control early, Oka came back and looked good and nearly had him in a Boston Crab, but Yujiro escaped. Yujiro cut off Oka and planted him with the pimp juice DDT for the win in a basic match.

Roppongi Vice, Yoshi-Hashi & Jado defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Desperado & Taka Michinoku

This was a solid, action packed eight man match. Taichi used a ring bell to beat up Jado with. Everyone worked on Yoshi-Hashi at one point with Taka Michinoku signaling him out. Yoshi-Hashi cut him off and locked in the butterfly lock to which Taka submitted quickly.

Taichi was mean, throwing the ref to the floor after the match. The rest of CHAOS posted for the fans and helped the referee to the back.

Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tonga Roa defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi

Another solid bout although the previous match was a bit better. The heels worked over Kojima, but both Nagata and Nakanishi came in to clear house. Omega laid out Nagata with a snap German suplex but walked into the tomahawk chop by Nakanishi. Omega came back with the knee strike and Tama Tonga followed with the gun stun for the pinfall.

Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe

This was another pretty good tag team match. Honma and Ishii had a really nice exchange, and so did Ishii and Makabe. Yano came in and was worked over by all three of his opponents. Liger did Yano’s spot where he shoved Yano into Ishii then did a low blow/roll up, but Yano kicked out. Yano did his own low blow and Ishii rebounded with a lariat, then Yano rolled up Liger for the win.

Minoru Suzuki and Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated David Finlay and Katsuyori Shibata

Suzuki and Shibata started things off, but he tagged in Finlay, who got worked over by both men. In terms of physical appearance, I think this is the best Smith Jr. has ever looked. Shibata came back in but his bum shoulder got worked over. They both wore each other out and DBS unloaded with a butterfly suplex. Suzuki put Finlay in the sleeper but Shibata came back and wiped him out on the outside. DBS cut off Finlay and planted him with the bulldog bomb for the win in a good match.

Shibata and Suzuki brawled after the match. Desperado and Davey Boy Smith wiped out the ringside staff and DBS even powerbombed one of them. Suzuki bailed as Shibata tried to recover on the outside.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA defeated SANADA, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito and EVIL

This felt shorter than the other tag matches on the card, but was pretty good as well. Tanahashi and company actually laid Naito out with a five way dropkick which looked kinda silly but cool at the same time. They tried it again, but failed. Elgin went for an assisted inverted Alabama Slam using Tanahashi, but it backfired with EVIL getting the knees up. Juice and BUSHI came in, and after some back and forth, Robinson pinned BUSHI with the Pulp Friction.

Naito immediately jumped Juice after the match but Tanahashi made the save. EVIL and Tanahashi met and had a staredown as they are due to meet at the opening round of the New Japan Cup. 

Tiger Mask W and Tiger Mask IV defeated IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada and Gedo

This was a good main event as people were into it and the action was really well done. W sported a new mask and worked tons better under it than he did with the old mask, which had to be a pain.

W and Okada went at it and exchanged some great back and forth, both dodging Tiger Driver and Rainmaker attempts. Okada and Gedo worked as heels, trying to rip off the masks. IV and Gedo went at it as W wiped out Okada with a hurricanrana. Gedo kicked out of the Tiger Driver at one point for a big pop. 

Gedo had IV n the Gedo Clutch roll but W broke it up. Both Tiger Masks took out Okada with a double dropkick and hit diving headbutts on Gedo. W wiped out Okada with the Golden Triangle moonsault on the outside and IV followed with the Tiger Suplex into a bridge for the win.

Both Okada and IV cut promos after the match. W and IV interacted with fans to close out the show.

Final Thoughts —

This wasn’t a bad show, but there was nothing absolutely blow away. It was a skippable show, but did do a good job to building for the New Japan Cup and the 45th Anniversary show that are taking place soon.