12 Ups & 5 Downs From NJPW The New Beginning In Osaka 2019

1. Honma & YOSHI-HASHI Labour To Defeat

Chase Owens Pieter
NJPW

There's no other way of putting it: YOSHI-HASHI and the ghost of Tomoaki Honma versus Yujiro Takahashi and Chase Owens was rough. Really rough.

Honma can't go anymore. It's sad, but the beloved underdog hero isn't even a shadow of his former self, and as heartening as it was to see him return to the ring after his brush with paralysis, he's so far below the New Japan working standard that he probably shouldn't be doing anything other than 10-person tags in Korakuen Hall.

He was ropy here, but so did YOSHI-HASHI. Having recently returned from his own medical scare, YOSHI has looked pensive and jittery over the past few weeks, and it manifested here in a particularly clunky exchange with Owens. Though Chase worked hard, he couldn't get anything out of his struggling opponents, though he did eventually score the pinfall with a Package Piledriver on Honma.

While YOSHI will get back to where he was, Honma is a different matter. If his deficiencies can't be hidden in a 9-minute tag match, it's hard to justify his inclusion on shows like this, particularly as - and this is the worst part - he's still building matches around Kokeshi diving headbutt spots after 16 months on the sidelines. It's not easy to watch.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.