Tags
Bullet Club, Hangman Page, Independent Wrestling, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, Kenny Omega, Ladder Match, Main Event Madness, Matt Sydal, Michael Elgin, New Japan Pro Wrestling, NJPW, NJPW Dominion 6.19 in Osaka jo-Hall, No Holds Barred, Ricochet, The Bullet Club, The Young Bucks, Yujiro Takahashi
There has been a lot of different types of matches where the rules are allowed to be bent like a no holds barred match, a hardcore match, a leather strap match, a steel cage match and even a house of horrors match. One type of match that we have not covered that usually garners up some great matches in the history of the sport is the Ladder match which in it’s own right can be one hellacious kind of match. That is why for today we are checking out one from NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) that features one current candidate for match of the year in 2017 in Kenny Omega taking on the beast Michael Elgin in a ladder match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at NJPW Dominion 6.19 in Osaka jo-Hall. You had to wonder going into the match what kind of role Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi were going to play in the match as they hung out at ringside in Omega’s corner. Before the match could officially start, the referee inspected the ring and discovered that The Young Bucks were hanging out under the ring which made things a little better for Elgin. As soon as the bell rang, Omega tried to get a head start on Elgin, but it didn’t work as he was able to fend him off with a big shoulder block.
Omega was going to have to rely and his speed and agility in the ring against the powerhouse abilities of Michael Elgin and he was doing a very good job of it at first as Elgin put his power on display. A match of this magnitude is also about the spots and Kenny would use his head when he noticed Elgin grabbing the ladder, he springboard crossbodied himself on the ladder which landed on top of Elgin. He followed it up with a huge moonsault over the top rope and on to Elgin, but that is when it pays to be in a club because Page and Takahashi made their presence felt as they attacked Elgin. As Kenny grabbed a ladder and went into the ring, Page and Takahashi attempted to make him watch as Kenny climbed, but he fought out of it forcing Omega down and proceeded to use the ladder like a helicopter as he took out all three Bullet Club members. Elgin began to abuse the heck out Omega as he used the ladder to his advantage to punish him.
For most of the match, these guys were seriously punishing each other to the point you wondered just how much could they take. We see Kenny do a springboard sunset flip powerbomb over a ladder that Elgin was standing on. We see Elgin deliver a backbody drop and send Omega into the ladder crushing it and rendering it useless. After making a makeshift ladder table with two trash cans holding the ladder, Elgin gets powerbombed into it by Omega. They must use all of the ladders available to them as weapons as they beat each other senseless. They were also throwing everything they could at each other like big forearm shots from Elgin or a sling blade from Omega, but both refused to quit. Later in the match after he powerbombed Omega into two tables that didn’t break, he went for it, but The Young Bucks stopped it as they stopped him from climbing. They proceeded to handcuff him to the corner and they beat him up until Ricochet and Matt Sydal came to the rescue eliminating The Young Bucks. Noticing that Omega started climbing the ladder, Elgin used all of his strength to rip the handcuffs from the corner. He grabbed the ladder and sent Omega to the outside eliminating him from the picture as he climbed the ladder grabbing the belt for the win. What a match between the two reminding me of the Attitude Era.
