Alrighty, we’re back this week after a New Japan event which saw two title changes, and some decent television! Next week will be the big crazy sexy one, but let’s see how we kick off April!

For those who may have noticed, I skipped last week. Multitudes of reasons, one being personal and the other being; nothing I saw was particularly good and just felt like it would cheapen the pool. So March is gonna be won by New Japan, just a matter of which match you liked best!

March Pool:

• New Japan Cup 3.6.2021: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
• New Japan Cup 3.14: NJC: Zack Sabre Jr vs Will Ospreay
• NJC 3.21.21: NJC Finals: Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi

 My vote will go to the NJC Finals: Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi. It played nicely off their previous encounters, and built for the eventual Shingo challenge. While it’s not likely Shingo will win, those matches are always great.

With that said, let’s see what kicks off April, as we brace ourselves for Mania week!

Quick Top 5:

1. Sakura Genesis: IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles: Roppongi 3k vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado (c)
   Rating: *** ¾
2. AEW Dynamite: Christian Cage vs Frankie Kazarian
   Rating: *** ¾
3. Sakura Genesis: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs Will Ospreay
   Rating: *** ¾
4. SmackDown: Street Fight: Daniel Bryan vs Jey Uso
   Rating: *** ½
5. NXT UK: NXT UK Tag Championships: Pretty Deadly (c) vs Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan
   Rating: *** ¼

Honorable Mentions:

• Sakura Genesis: Satoshi Kojima & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
  Rating: ***
• IMPACT! Eric Young w/VBD vs James Storm w/Chris Sabin, Chris Harris & Jake Something
  Rating: ***
• MLW Never Say Die: MLW Championship: Jacob Fatu (c) vs Calvin Tankman
  Rating: ***
• Sakura Genesis: United Empire (Aaron Henare, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs LIJ (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi)
  Rating: ***
• NXT: Roddy Strong vs Cameron Grimes
  Rating: ***
• IMPACT!: TJP & Josh Alexander vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
  Rating: ***
• NXT: Gauntlet Eliminator
  Rating: ***

5. NXT UK: NXT UK Tag Championships: Pretty Deadly (c) vs Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Williams rewinds, Howley anticipate and shoves Stoker out of the way, but into the ref! Williams hits Howley with the LARIAT! But now EVERYONE is down!! Williams sees that, and smirks. Williams brings out the Chancer and gets the title belts! Williams sets one in a corner and tosses the other to Jordan! Jordan doesn’t want to do it like this! Williams says Pretty Deadly would do it to them! Jordan says no, they have to do it right! Fine, Williams will do it himself. Jordan argues with Williams, “We don’t need to cheat!” They don’t need to use the belts to win the belts!

Williams throws the belt away, Jordan drags Stoker up, but Williams gets the other, to HIT JORDAN?!?  And from the look on his face, Williams didn’t do that by mistake, either! Williams drops that belt, Stoker tags Howley, and watches Jordan get SPILT MILK! Cover, Pretty Deadly wins!

Winner: Pretty Deadly via Spilt Milk

4. SmackDown: Street Fight: Daniel Bryan vs Jey Uso

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Jey drags Bryan up, takes aim, but Bryan blocks the suplex! Bryan fights back with body shots, then turns things around to suplex Jey off the steps and to the floor! Jey writhes, Bryan seethes, and Bryan glares at Edge to get something under the ring. Bryan brings out another chair and he SMACKS Jey again! And again! And again! Bryan bounces Jey off the announce desk, and again, and again, staring Edge down each time! Bryan puts Jey in, gets on the top rope, and leaps, to missile dropkick Jey down! Bryan fires up, the fans are joining in on their screens, and Bryan gives more YES Kicks to Jey! Jey flounders about as Bryan keeps giving KICKS!

Roman doesn’t like what he sees now as Bryan BUZZSAWS Jey down! Bryan paces, and he picks up the steel chain! Bryan wraps the chain around his arm, brings Jey up, and drives STEEL ELBOWS into Jey’s head!! Roman is furious as Bryan puts Jey in the YES LOCK!! Jey is stuck, he taps! Bryan wins!!

Winner: Daniel Bryan via Yes Lock

1t. Sakura Genesis: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs Will Ospreay

From My Results:

Ospreay goes for an Overhead Kick, and it looks like Ibushi was supposed to catch him for the Bastard Driver or Lawn Dart, but Ibushi couldn’t do it. Three separate attempts before they finally just gave up on the spot and Ibushi sold the back. If it wasn’t for the multiple attempts, it would’ve been more accepted as a sell, but that was a mess.

So in typical Ibushi fashion, a botch causes for some awkwardness in the match, Ibushi takes too long to slip out of the Stormbreaker and it looks weird. But thankfully, Ospreay ate two normal Kamigoyes, wouldn’t take the Exposed Kamigoye, hits a Flying Knee, the Hidden Blade and then Stormbreaker to win the match!

Winner: Ospreay via Stormbreaker

1t. AEW Dynamite: Christian Cage vs Frankie Kazarian

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Fans are fired up again as Kaz puts Christian in a corner and ROCKS him with that right! Kaz puts Christian up top to ROCK him again, then again! Kaz climbs up to join Christian, but Christian hits back! Kaz CLUBS Christian, adjusts, and brings Christian up, only for Christian to resist! Christian throws body shots, Kaz HEADBUTTS back! Kaz steadies himself, brings Christian up, and SUPER SPANISH FLIES!?! Cover, TWO!??!? Christian survives Kaz’s Flux Capacitor and no one can believe it!! Kaz stands Christian up but Christian gets the chicken wings! No Killswitch/Unprettier, and Kaz has Christian in ropes to KICK him! Then GUILLOTINE- NO! Christian avoids the leg!

Christian HOTSHOTS Kaz, climbs up top again, and FROG SPLASHES! Cover, TWO?!?!? Now Kaz shocks everyone! “This is Awesome!” Maybe even more awesome than earlier thought! The two slowly rise, time is running out on the limit, but Christian gets the chicken wings! He turns Kaz, Kaz shoves to get his chicken wing! But Christian rolls off the hold, POSTS Kaz, then gets the arms and turns, KILLSWITCH!! Cover, Christian wins!

Winner: Cage via Killswitch

1t. Sakura Genesis: IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles: Roppongi 3k vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado (c)

From My Results:

The near falls in this match actually made a lot of sense. Kanemaru hits Deep Impact, but SHO made the save, which allowed YOH to turn a Figure Four attempt into an Inside Cradle for 2. Then RPG 3k hit Strong X, which Despy comes in to make a save. But SHO grabs Despy and you hear Despy screaming at Kanemaru to fight back. But YOH hits a new move for his arsenal, and Roppongi 3k get the happy return win!

SHO did a great job helping YOH get over after his surgery while looking great, and Despy definitely looked to be on a different singles level than everyone, he was just a step short on helping Kanemaru retain. Well told story in the ring, just wish there was a normal build up to really enjoy the whole story telling aspect.

Winner: RPG 3k via Double Arm Brainbuster

Thoughts:

Even though the quality wasn’t through the roof, I felt it was a good enough baseline for the month. With how packed this coming week will be, I expect the matches from this article to get lost in the sauce. But there’s no reason to skip this article.

Anyway, I’ll give my vote to the IWGP Junior Tag match. Whereas it might not have blown doors off, it told a solid story and performed around where it should have. Unlike the Ospreay/Ibushi match which fell well below the expectations.

Now let’s get to Mania week!