MY FAVOURITE MATCH OF RIGHT NOW: DEVITT V. IBUSHI - IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Maybe you haven't watched Japanese wrestling in a while. Maybe you never have. Maybe you don't know who Kota Ibushi and Prince Devitt are. Maybe you are among those that believe that puroesu doesn't have enough "storytelling or "psychology" or "selling" or other words you don't fully understand the meaning of. Maybe you're an idiot.

Or maybe you're just a fan of wrestling who wants to see a fun match between two of the most athletically gifted, fresh, young professional wrestlers in the world today because hey, wrestling is fun to watch.

If you aren't familiar with Japanese wrestling (have no fear, my knowledge of puro is very limited), these two guys are fighting for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, a belt that's been held by some of the greatest North American wrestlers of all-time, such as Owen Hart, Chris Benoit and Low Ki - so you can tell that Devitt (and Ibushi for that matter) are among pretty elite company.

It had been a while since I'd watched anything from Japan. This was a great reintroduction.

Feel free to skip the opening video package, but I found that to be pretty awesome to watch too.

NJPW "WRESTLE KINGDOM V" IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

PRINCE DEVITT (C) V. KOTA IBUSHI - 01/04/11

EVOLVE DEBUTS TONIGHT - WITH TOMMY DREAMER?

Or so it seems.

I feel like it's a weird choice. Actually, I feel like a lot of EVOLVE is kinda weird. At first, it seemed like this whole holier-than-thou thing that was about being soooo much better than all other indy wrestling, and at the same time being all like "but EVOLVE isn't a style, k?!"

So having Tommy Dreamer there, while cool and all (I do like Dreamer), seems to take away from the entire EVOLVE concept. Maybe I'm just missing the point. And no matter what all the hype is trying to say, the wrestling should be good.

Tonight seems like a decent show, and worth seeing if only for the epic main event of Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi. And the return of Jimmy Jacobs:

FULL CARD FOR EVOLVE'S DEBUT TONIGHT

MAIN EVENT

Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi

OFFICIAL TAG TEAM DIVISION SIX MAN TAG

Mike Quackenbush, Hallowicked & Frightmare

vs.

Gran Akuma, Icarus & Brodie Lee

OFFICIAL SINGLES DIVISION MATCH

TJP vs. Munenori Sawa

OFFICIAL SINGLES DIVISION MATCH

Arik Cannon vs. Ricochet

OFFICIAL SINGLES DIVISION MATCH

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Kenn Doane

OFFICIAL TAG TEAM DIVISION MATCH

Dark City Fight Club vs. Aeroform

QUALIFYING MATCH

Chuck Taylor vs. Cheech

ALSO SIGNED TO COMPETE

- Brad Allen

- Chris Dickinson

- Bobby Fish

- Johnny Gargano

- Kyle O'Reilly

- Silas Young

Holy crap this could be a long show.

WHOA: DAVEY RICHARDS VS. KOTA IBUSHI SET FOR EVOLVE INAUGURAL SHOW

This will be amazing.

DAVEY RICHARDS

INVOLVED IN EVERY OTHER 2009 MOTY CANDIDATE

KOTA IBUSHI

DOES IMPOSSIBLY AMAZING THINGS IN JAPAN

Put them together and what have you got? A badass, highly anticipated main event for EVOLVE's first show (January 16th, 2010 in Rahway, NJ).

- mitts