crazy to think DOUKI did it in just a year

NJPW Power Struggle 2024 review/thoughts: -10 Man Tag Team match- Bullet Club (Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori) vs Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA, The Velocities (Jude London & Paris De Silva) & Katsuya Murashima --BC got the win --This was a fine opener --1½ stars

-8 Man Tag Team Match- Dragon Dia, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji) --I'm really thinking about skipping this match, I hate Taguchi & Yano. They have the same go away heat with me as House of Torture does. --Honma missing the Kokeshi is the ultimate sadness --Another fine match that was nothing special --1¼ stars

-Oleg Boltin & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs House of Torture (EVIL & Ren Narita) --as always, fuck House of Torture --HOT got the win --for an HOT match, this wasn't as bad as usual. It was somewhat enjoyable, mostly because of how good of a babyface Tanahashi is. --2 stars

-Shota Umino vs SANADA --I wonder if Shooter & Mox have any interactions on either show on the 4th or 5th in January --Shota got the win --this was really good. Good on New Japan finally giving Shooter a win of SANADA. Hopefully this means a more consistent push for him. --3½ stars

-IWGP Tag Team Championship Match- TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste (w/ Hartley Jackson) (c) vs United Empire (Great-O-Khan & HENARE) --Haste & HENARE beating the shit out of the each is so good --HENARE reminds me of Ishii, which is great --Haste did a shoot headbutt to HENARE, what a fucking idiot 🤦, did nobody learn from Shibata? --UE got the win --This was great, I really enjoyed this especially when Haste & HENARE were in the ring together (except for the headbutt) --4 stars

-2024 Super Junior Tag League Final Match- Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) vs Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP) --Sweet Boys got the win --God damn what a match, absolutely great --4¾ stars

-IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match- DOUKI (c) vs Master Wato --I believe this is a double babyface match --I like that Wato's character is more serious now, however I feel like he needed a name change --DOUKI got the win --Alright match with an excellent finishing sequence --2¼ stars

-IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship match- David Finlay (w/ Gedo) (c) vs Taichi (w/ Taka Michinoku) --Wasn't Taichi like super serious in challenging Finlay? Why is just doing his normal goofy entrance? --So despite doing his goofy entrance, he's been extremely serious this entire match which I love --Finlay got the win --Good match but SANADA's heel turn doesn't make sense. Like I guess it makes sense that he wouldn't want Taichi to do what he couldn't but why would he leave the group he's effectively the leader of, to just be another guy in Bullet Club. --3 stars

-IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match- Zack Sabre Jr. (w/ Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa) (c) vs Shingo Takagi --ZSJ got the win --Excellent match, it started off pretty slow but then it hit its stride. Also great selling by both guys as well. --4¾ stars

Overall thoughts: This was a good show, all the main matches really delivered for the most part. Tag League final & main event are definitely match of the year candidates. This show really built the cards well for the January 4th Wrestle Kingdom & January 5th Dynasty shows. Though there were a few booking decisions that I didn't like. The Tag League final match & the tournament felt like a waste of time after the champions immediately wanting to add the team that Fujita & Eagles just beat & then BCWD coming down & beating all the teams down. SANADA's heel turn was dumb. The turn itself would've been fine but joining Bullet Club makes no sense & at the end with Finlay & Tsuji, him joining was kind of an afterthought. Shota getting the title match at Wrestle Kingdom is awesome, and also seems like they are heading towards a heel turn. But definitely check out the big matches on this show.

Overall rating: 8¼ out of 10