Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 4/27/16)

Elite: Dangerous 

– There were some aspects to the tag opener pitting Tetsuya Naito/ROH World Champion Jay Lethal against Kazuchika Okada/Yoshi Hashi. On top of the initial hesitant dynamic between Naito/Lethal for both having massive egos, it was always a pleasure to see both the ROH and IWGP World Heavyweight Champions square off in the ring. This match was actually at its highest points when it was purely Okada-Lethal. Commentary was okay here, but more could’ve been done to explain the factions involved and what significance they had on the bout for those of us who don’t nosedive into New Japan Pro Wrestling. Taking place in February from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, it always offers a unique environment, where the crowd’s more appreciative of the art of wrestling and whatnot. We liked that they didn’t pretend this was a few months back and made it feel “exclusive,” to help hype ROH’s “Global Wars” Pay-Per-View airing this Sunday, May 8. Anyways, as the match progressed, good action on both ends with an excitable pace that ended when Naito clonked Okada over the head with Truth Martini’s book to help Lethal score the pin. Post-match was telling in that Naito/Lethal embraced, signifying an alliance between The House Of Truth and the Los Ingobernables factions headed into the PPV.

– The Frankie Kazarian-Kushida match was something different with a slow start but molded its way into a decent technical affair with aerial tendencies. We can forget how good Kazarian can be when not overshadowed by Christopher Daniels, even though them as a duo always sells. A logical finish where Kushida won with the Hoverboard Lock after working on Kazarian’s arm throughout. Harmless but forgettable.

– Mark Briscoe has long been established as the “crazy redneck,” so based off that, the video package of him patrolling Japan’s streets to ask locals “where Godzilla was” and nodding up and down to an electrical bobbing noodle restaurant sign among other activities was kind of priceless. It accomplished what it went for, eventually plugging the New Japan dojo. Our only gripe was the amateur production boo-boo where the words “Commercial Break #5, 1:00” literally showed on our screens for a few seconds.

– The six-man tag main event between The Elite and Katsuyori Shibata/reDRagon was expectedly fast-paced and action-heavy. It was a cool clash of The Elite’s brash degeneracy against the hearty warriors of Shibata/reDRagon. Plenty of nice spots worked in and then the superkicks started raining down midway in, eventually leading to the heelish finish where The Young Bucks used a spray can to get out of Kyle O’Reilly’s guillotine submission and hit a piledriver/One Winged Angel combo to win. Evidently, a better lead-in for next week’s hype as it was advertised to be a “Bullet Club hour,” with Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows vs. The Briscoes and an eight-man tag to take place.

Quick Results

• Tetsuya Naito (w/Tetsuya Bushi, Evil)/Jay Lethal (w/Truth Martini) def. Kazuchika Okada/Yoshi Hashi (w/Gedo) via pinfall
• Kushida def. Frankie Kazarian via submission 
• Six-Man Tag – The Elite def. Shibata/reDRagon via pinfall