I will rate these matches using the Meltzer scale. This scale determines the quality of match I thought it was. The scale goes from 0 star to 5 stars. That means 0 being the worst and 5 being the best. I'm not Meltzer so I won't break the scale like he has for publicity stunts.
Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page - Quarter Finals
I wasn't a fan of New Japan putting on a show with a lot of ROH and CMLL talent on the card but whatever. The fans came to see a New Japan show. That's what the draw was for this event. So what do we get in the first round of this history making tournament? An ROH match. The match was built around Hangman Page working on Lethal's already injured ribs. It didn't add to the match for me, it took away from it. This match felt so slow and too long. Hangman Page does that Shooting Star Press Shoulder Block off the apron to Lethal that just looks stupid. Lethal botches the also dumb Lethal Injection in here. He did sell his ribs after the botch making it seem like he couldn't get all of it because he was hurting too bad. He eventually does connect with it and picks up the win to move on to the next round. It was a match and nothing more. (**1/4)Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - Quarter Finals
Heading into this event, this was one of the more intriguing matches for me. Juice has really had a good year in New Japan. Zack has been on fire for quite some time now on the indies and New Japan. Juice is someone who was doing pretty much nothing in WWE's NXT, so he left and risked it all. He went to Japan where he would work his way from the bottom hoping to rise above all. A risk that has paid off quite well if you ask me. Sabre uses his technical wrestling and arm manipulation tactics to create the base for this match. He works on one of Juice's arms through out the entirety. Robinson has some great timing, he knows when to turn it up and slow it down. Zack is a fan favorite in California as he's a big name in the PWG promotion where he currently their World Champion. The crowd was more behind him in the beginning of this bout. His heel work was so well in this that he ended up getting the crowd behind Juice a lot. Robinson's selling was great. The match ends with Sabre making Juice submit after trying his hardest to reach the ropes. Zack heads to the second round of this tournament. This was a very good match and a coming out party for Juice Robinson. (****)Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii - Quarter Finals
I knew this one would deliver for the fans, glad I wasn't wrong. Naito messes around with Ishii a lot at first. He dictates the pace early on. The thing I love about Naito is that he works his gimmick of being calm into his matches without overdoing it. Naito knows when it's time to go into that second gear. Ishii is as hard hitting as always. He does headbutts per usual which make me cringe so much. Naito botches a Tornado DDT twice in a row but didn't hinder the match quality. The fans were really into Naito and Ishii. Very good near falls and a great finish with Ishii connecting with an awesome Brainbuster. Ishii gets the win and moves on to the second round. This match was well put together and the timing was nearly perfect. (****1/4)Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega - Quarter Finals
I was very excited for this match heading in. These two have had several matches with each other prior to this that were pretty damn good. One was a ladder match that was alright. The interesting thing to me was how different they would make this as opposed to their prior meetings. How was this one set apart from the rest? The crowd. It was very obvious that the fans were going to be a very pro-Omega bunch. He is in Japan too but not to the extent he was on these shows. This forced Michael Elgin to play a tweener role which isn't something we see often nowadays. He adjusted to this role perfectly. Elgin did his big man spots to perfection. Omega had to resort to heelish moves in order to gain the upper-hand on Big Mike. We get some insane spots in this. Elgin does a German Suplex on the apron to Omega. He also does a Crucifix Powerbomb from the second rope which was just awesome. Kenny does like a million knees in this which got a bit redundant over time. Omega connects with the One Winged Angel. He pins Elgin and moves on to the second round. This was absolutely match of the night. (****1/2)Kenny Omega vs. Jay Lethal - Semi Finals
After night one, I needed Jay Lethal to have a good match here. The first night I thought he was pretty underwhelming which seems to be his overall run as of late. Omega was coming off a killer match with Big Mike the night previous so I was curious to see how much he had left in the tank with less than a day of rest. Lethal has a very good performance here. He does several suicide dives to Omega to which the guardrails decide to take the night off and protect nobody. Lethal remembers to sell those ribs after just about every move he does which is great. Kenny turns it up. He drives his knees into the injured ribs of Lethal almost in a Nakamura tribute. He gets Lethal with the One Winged Angel and picks up the win here in a good match. Omega moves on to the Grand Finals. Great to see Lethal step it up in this one, hope he can keep it up. (***1/2)Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii - Semi Finals
This was an interesting dynamic here. A technical wizard taking on a hard hitting lunatic. I have to say, this had Rev Pro written all over it though. Zack tries to go toe to toe with Ishii with strikes and kicks, doesn't work well for him. He decides to work the arm of Ishii in which was great. I thought several times that Ishii might actually submit. Ishii is the type of person who would no sell that a body part is hurting him too. So when he sold Sabre's limb work, it made Zack come off that much stronger. Ishii does some great stuff in this per usual. I'm convinced Ishii can work with anyone. Sabre does a PK which made me want Ishii to carry that on in honor of Katsuyori Shibata and the classic they had. Ishii does an insane lariat and finishes Zack off with a Brainbuster. Ishii moves on to the Grand Finals. I thought that match was very good. (****)Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega - Grand Finals
These two have had a great match before, this was great as expected. Ishii and Omega went all out in this. The crowd was absolutely on fire for the second half of this. Omega does his beautiful Tope Con Hilo. Ishii lands on the back of head here and I'm concerned this guy has internal brain bleeding. This dude is made of steel, there is no other explanation on how he can take all these bumps. There is a table set up on the outside by the Young Bucks who accompanied Omega to the ring. We get this wonderful visual of Ishii biting onto the top rope to keep Kenny from doing a Dragon Suplex onto the table. Omega does the Dragon Suplex from the apron to the outside where I'm convinced Ishii is just dead now. These two continue though, which is just incredible. Omega and Ishii return to the ring. Kenny does his a Brainbuster for a near fall. The crowd really bought that this was the finish. Ishii gets the upper-hand again and does a One Winged Angel. I jumped out of my very uncomfortable chair for this one, absolutely lost my mind! Omega kicks out of it, crowd is turned up to 110% at this point. I couldn't even imagine what the atmosphere felt like in that venue. Omega gets the advantage back. He does a V-Trigger and Reverse Hurricanrana. He gets Ishii up for the One Winged Angel and while on his shoulders, Ishii tries to fight out of it. Unable to escape, Omega connects with the One Winged Angel and gets the pinfall victory over Tomohiro Ishii. (*****)Your winner and first IWGP United States Champion, Kenny Omega. This was a very successful tournament and did what it was made to do, establish Kenny Omega as the top guy in America for this promotion. Outside of one very dull match, this was a tremendous tournament. Ishii and Omega were easily the MVPs of this US Tour. I can't tell people enough just how great Tomohiro Ishii is. The man is 41 years old and has great matches like it's a daily routine. Kenny Omega's timing in matches might be one of his most overlooked strong points. The conditioning of these men to put go out and have three very good matches in two days is something else. I had absolutely no idea who would win this tournament heading in and still thought Ishii was going to win in the Grand Finals. I was glad to be out of the know and just soak in the matches in front of me. The tournament matches were the strong points of both nights. Thankfully the second night I could watch with the Japanese Commentary because JR and Barnett were pretty dreadful on night one. They kind of hurt the matches.
I would highly recommend you watch the tournament matches outside of Hangman Page vs. Jay Lethal as it wasn't good.
Kenny Omega said on the post-show press conference that he is scouting all competitors from every promotion to seek his first challenger. He says he is focused on the G1 Climax now and his match with Okada. He does add that he hasn't forgot about Kota Ibushi and that them having a match in the finals is destiny.
I hope you all enjoyed my rundown of New Japan's IWGP United States Championship Tournament. I will be back with something new soon. Thanks for reading!
