Kota Ibushi & Consequences Creed vs. KUSHIDA & Gedo from NJPW 2010

Recap from Case Lowe:

An incredibly odd match that was brought to us during the 2010 Super J Tag Tournament. Ibushi comes in here as a DDT regular and his partner, Austin “Consequences” Creed is fresh off a TNA run and only a few months away from reporting to FCW. KUSHIDA looks like a cheaper version of Jun Kasai here. Of course, even at this point in his career, had more talent than the deathmatch master. Gedo is looking crabby, which can only lead to good things.

Creed and Gedo kick things off. It’s an odd dynamic from the start. Creed is Creed. He’s happy being in the ring and his smile shows that. Maybe it’s just his lack of teeth, but Gedo doesn’t seem too thrilled to be there. Creed ends the string of chain wrestling with a series of leapfrog/drop downs that ends with a crossbody to Gedo, which sends him rolling out of the ring and complaining about Creed’s, and I quote, “fucking bullshit”. Points for Gedo. Creed ends up getting the best of Gedo during their next exchange, which sends Gedo to the corner to tag in KUSHIDA. Creed follows suit by tagging in Ibushi. House of fire from the two fresh men. They come out exchanging in a series of brutal strikes. Sadly, Ibushi quickly tags out.

Really long heat session on Creed. KUSHIDA worked over his arm quite a bit and Gedo played the role of being a prick quite well. Creed brings the match to a stalemate after a dropkick to the knee of Gedo, then some awful looking elbow drop maneuver. Man, that looked pretty bad. CREED MAKES THE HOT TAG! Ibushi comes in hotter than he was before. Gedo ducks out of the way of his Springboard Dropkick, but not to fear, as Ibushi rolls through and ends up knocking KUSHIDA off the apron before continuing his attack on Gedo. Ibushi’s run of offense was incredible. Yes, the moves were cool, but they were all so well-timed. His flurry ends with Gedo getting his knees up on a moonsault, bringing the match back to a stalemate.

Finishing stretch saw Creed try and fend off the two vicious heels to no avail. Creed’s offense looked sloppy throughout the match and it really showed here. His combination of punches followed by doing the splits only to hit another punch just wasn’t doing it for me. Luckily, it didn’t do much to KUSHIDA either, as he caught Creed with a backslide for the three count.

Creed was just a body in this match. Ibushi was a ton of fun here. His strikes were great, his flips were great, and he played an awesome face with momentum here. In the other corner, Gedo and KUSHIDA were great! Gedo needs to watch this tape back and realize that CHAOS is in need of a fiery junior like KUSHIDA. Jeez, they were great. Watching this makes me want KUSHIDA to turn heel yesterday. Really fun match. Creed, even with his weak offense, had enough charisma to make the match fun. The other three were excellent. Thumbs up from me.

Rating: ***1/2