Tag: juice robinson

NJPW G1 Climax 27 night 14 results: Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Interesting developments took place this morning in the B Block as the G1 rolled into Osaka. Kazuchika Okada faced EVIL in the main event, while Kenny Omega battled Juice Robinson in the co-main.

I won’t spoil the results in the opening paragraph, but it’s safe to say that after tonight the story of the B Block is that both Okada and Omega are having very similar G1 experiences thus far.

Prelim matches —

– Chase Owens defeated Katsuya Kitamura with the package piledriver.

– Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & El Desperado defeated Yuji Nagata, Shota Umino & Ren Narita when Desperado submitted Umino with the stretch muffler.

– Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tomoyuki Oka when Takahashi pinned Oka with the Pimp Juice DDT.

– Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Togi Makabe, Hirai Kawato & Tiger Mask IV when BUSHI submitted Kawato with an elevated Boston crab.

– Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & David Finlay when Goto pinned Finlay with the GTR.

B Block matches —

Toru Yano defeated Tama Tonga

This didn’t last long. Tonga grabbed the ring bell hammer and tried to use it on Yano as they both entered the ring. The ref tried to take it away from Tonga. In the confusion, Yano low blowed Tonga and pinned him in a surprise. Not particularly good at all.

Mr. August himself, Masahiro Chono, was on commentary for tonight’s matches.

Satoshi Kojima defeated SANADA

Fairly standard start to the match. Kojima gained the early momentum, but SANADA ended up low blowing him. Kojima retaliated but got cut off with a SANADA springboard dropkick.

SANADA took Kojima down with the Skull End as Tenzan willed his partner to make it to the ropes. After the ref let Kojima’s hand fall twice, SANADA went to the top rope for the moonsault, but Kojima dodged just in the nick of time.

SANADA went for another moonsault, but Kojima avoided it, got up, and managed to whack SANADA in the back of the head with a lariat. SANADA went for the Skull End, but Kojima maneuvered it into an inverted DDT, then laid out SANADA with two more lariats to pick up his first win of the tournament. This was pretty good and told a nice story.

Michael Elgin defeated Minoru Suzuki

I found this to be disappointing for a first-time match. I know Suzuki-gun’s gimmick is that they interfere a bunch, but they did too much of it in this match to the point it was overkill. The match was good, but not great.

Desperado and Taichi made themselves known early, continually interfering outside of the ring as Suzuki gained control, beating Elgin with a chair. He wrapped Elgin’s arm against a chair and slammed it on the ring post.

Elgin countered back with a couple of roaring elbows but was taken down with a Suzuki armbar. Desperado hit him with a chair as Suzuki sunk it in again, but Elgin managed to lift up Suzuki and released himself from the hold by throwing him to the floor.

Elgin hit the buckle bomb, but Suzuki fell on the ref, allowing Taichi and Desperado to interfere yet again. Elgin took them both down, then went to finish off Suzuki, but Suzuki instead latched on the sleeper. Elgin cut him off upon release, then hit the Elgin bomb for the big win. 

That probably gives Elgin a shot at the NEVER title later this fall.

Juice Robinson defeated Kenny Omega

They had a really good match. Robinson has been connecting well with the crowd and is excellent at selling, which played a big part in the match. The surprise win and the shock from the crowd was great.

Omega gave Robinson a suplex out of the ring, hurting his leg in the process. Omega quickly took note of the injury and began working on it, wrapping Robinson’s legs on the turnbuckle and sinking in a figure four leglock. Lifting the injured leg, Omega threw him into a nearby table, which proceeded to not break.

After more work on the leg, Robinson came back with a full nelson slam. He went for the Pulp Friction a couple of times, but Omega found ways to escape. He laid out Robinson with a V-Trigger, though Robinson came back with a hard shot to the face.

Robinson went for it again, but Omega countered with a reverse rana. Omega followed with a big V-Trigger and went for the One Winged Angel until Robinson countered with a small package and got the three count, scoring a big win.

If Omega ends up winning the whole thing, Robinson could be a challenger for the briefcase down the line.

EVIL defeated Kazuchika Okada

This was such a great match, and it was different than your usual Okada matches. EVIL has established himself as a brawler and he brought it to Okada, with a lot of cool spots and great false finishes. The surprise win, and how it was executed, was absolutely awesome. This isn’t the best match of the tournament, but it’s awfully close.

Okada mostly dominated the match until going for his rolling splash off the apron — EVIL pushed him off the ring instead and began attacking him on the outside, using the usual chair spot to gain the advantage.

Back in the ring, it was mostly a very good back-and-forth affair. Okada hit the elbow and went for the Rainmaker, but EVIL grabbed him by the hair and hit a superkick. They went to the outside, where Okada hit a big boot, sending EVIL out of the ring. He went to jump over the barricade but instead ate a chair right in the face thanks to EVIL.

EVIL set up a pile of chairs in the crowd and laid Okada out with the Darkness Falls on the chairs. He took him back in the ring and hit another Darkness Falls. He went for the STO, but Okada blocked it, so he took him to the top rope. Okada fought it off, then hit a really amazing looking missile dropkick to a kneeling EVIL.

They continued to battle back and forth until Okada nailed a dropkick right in the back of EVIL’s head, then followed with another. EVIL escaped a Rainmaker attempt. Okada kept on the assault until EVIL hit two lariats for a great near fall.

EVIL went for the STO, but Okada launched back with a Rainmaker, then followed with another. When he went for a third, EVIL blasted him with a headbutt and went for the STO once again, but Okada countered with a German suplex. He went for a fourth Rainmaker, but in mid-motion EVIL hooked Okada’s leg and landed the STO to pick up the shock win.

This more than likely sets up a title match between Okada and EVIL for later on in the year.

EVIL cut a promo after the match, saying “Welcome to the darkness world.”

Current Standings —

A Block:

Hiroshi Tanahashi — 10
Tetsuya Naito — 10
Zack Sabre Jr. — 8
Tomohiro Ishii — 8
Hirooki Goto — 8
Bad Luck Fale — 8
Kota Ibushi — 8
Togi Makabe — 6
YOSHI-HASHI — 4
Yuji Nagata — 0

B Block:

Kazuchika Okada — 12
Kenny Omega — 10
EVIL — 10
Minoru Suzuki — 8
SANADA — 8
Michael Elgin — 6
Toru Yano — 6
Tama Tonga — 4
Juice Robinson — 4
Satoshi Kojima — 2

NJPW G1 Climax 27 night 10 results: Okada vs. Juice Robinson

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Gifu was home to the tenth night of the G1 as B Block action took place this morning, featuring an intriguing main event as the up-and-coming Juice Robinson battled Kazuchika Okada.

Prelim matches —

– Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens defeated David Finlay, Katsuya Kitamura & Tetsuhiro Yagi

– Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado defeated Togi Makabe & Shota Umino

– Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Yuji Nagata & Tomoyuki Oka

– Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kota Ibushi & Hirai Kawato

– Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Hirooki Goto & Gedo

B Block matches —

EVIL defeated Toru Yano

This didn’t last long at all. EVIL messed around with Yano, jumping him while still in his entrance gear. Yano sent EVIL into the exposed turnbuckle. He tried to low blow EVIL early, but EVIL sensed it and shoved him away. 

Yano tried to follow with a ref spot, even getting in a low blow amid the chaos, but EVIL transitioned and hit the STO for the win.

Minoru Suzuki defeated Tama Tonga

They had an okay brawl, but it wasn’t particularly interesting. It was easily a step below from what both men have been putting out previously in the tournament. 

The match started with a brawl into the crowd, with Suzuki throwing Tonga into a garage wall and even throwing a barricade at him. Tonga made a comeback, but Suzuki retook control as they entered the ring.

Well, they didn’t last in the ring long as they quickly went back outside. Suzuki threw him into the bell keeper’s table. Then they brawled into the crowd, both using a chair. They kept brawling until they made it back into the ring.

And again, that didn’t last long as they exited, took out chairs, and came back in. The chairs disappeared as Suzuki went for the sleeper twice, but Tonga escaped each time. Tonga hit the Gun Stun, but there was no ref, as he was taken out previously in the melee. 

Tonga went for another Gun Stun, but Suzuki caught him in the sleeper, then hit the Gotch piledriver for the win.

SANADA defeated Michael Elgin

I liked this match a lot. In the ring, both SANADA and Elgin excel and they had a great match with some cool spots.

Elgin hit the stalling suplex, then acted like he was going to strike SANADA on the outside, but didn’t. He invited him back into the ring, and SANADA accepted. He took out Elgin and wiped him out with a plancha.

Back in the ring, Elgin hit a powerslam and took SANADA to the top rope. SANADA went for a sunset flip bomb. Elgin refused, but SANADA got it after a dropkick and powerbombed him. SANADA went for the moonsault, but Elgin dodged. SANADA responded with a missile dropkick and landed on his feet after a German suplex attempt by Elgin.

Elgin landed a German suplex on the apron and hit the deadlift Falcon Arrow for a near fall. SANADA came back, floating over Elgin and clinching in the Skull End. SANADA followed with the moonsault for the win.

Kenny Omega defeated Satoshi Kojima

This was good. It took a while to get into, but it turned into a pretty good match towards the end.

Omega controlled early, taking out Kojima on the outside and body slamming him on the apron as Tenzan, who seconded Kojima for this match, watched on. Omega continued to work on Kojima until he finally got the upper hand with a Koji cutter.

Kojima ripped off Omega’s shirt, chopping him in the corner. Omega responded with a superplex off the top rope. He went for the lariat, but Omega blocked it. He tried a second time, but ate a V-Trigger in response. The third time, as they say, was a charm. But Omega struck back, hit another V-Trigger, then got the win with the One Winged Angel.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Juice Robinson

They started off slow, doing some mat wrestling. But like in some of the other matches in the tournament, Okada played the heel and began to rough up Robinson on the outside, including taking out a steel chair. He then took him to the barricade, where he gave him a big boot, sending Robinson tumbling to the outside.

Back in the ring, Okada continued to gain momentum. Robinson got a brief comeback, but Okada took him down and wrapped him in a figure four. Robinson responded with a reverse DDT. He went to the apron and tried to suplex Okada, but the latter fought back. Robinson took him in for a piledriver, but Okada countered with a back body drop.

Okada went for the Rainmaker, but Robinson countered with a full nelson slam, then followed with a lung blower. Robinson went for the Pulp Friction, but Okada was able to maneuver it into a tombstone. Robinson fired back with an axe kick, but Okada took him out with a Rainmaker, then a second. 

Okada went for a third, but Robinson hit him with a giant punch. He tried for the Pulp Friction, but Okada grabbed him in mid move and planted him with a German suplex, then pinned him with the third Rainmaker.

Gedo and Okada finished the show with a promo.

Current standings — 

A Block:

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi — 8
  • Tetsuya Naito — 6
  • Zack Sabre Jr. — 6
  • Hirooki Goto — 6
  • Bad Luck Fale — 6
  • Tomohiro Ishii — 6
  • Togi Makabe — 6
  • Kota Ibushi — 4
  • YOSHI-HASHI — 2
  • Yuji Nagata — 0

B Block:

  • Kazuchika Okada — 10
  • Kenny Omega — 8
  • EVIL — 8
  • Minoru Suzuki — 6
  • SANADA — 6
  • Tama Tonga — 4
  • Michael Elgin — 4
  • Juice Robinson — 2
  • Toru Yano — 2
  • Satoshi Kojima — 0

NJPW Kizuna Road results: Six-man tag titles on the line

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The first of three Kizuna Road shows aired earlier this morning at Korakuen Hall. The show had a big main event as Los Ingobernables de Japon defended their NEVER Six-Man tag titles against KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson. We also found out who will be in this year’s G1 Climax.

Korakuen Hall looked particularly empty this morning — some visible empty seats could be seen in wide shots.

Tomoyuki Oka defeated Tetsuhiro Yagi

Oka worked over Yagi a ton of the match. Yagi did a good job in playing the babyface in peril. He kicked out of a running powerslam, but Oka immediately locked in the Boston crab and submitted him.

El Desperado, Taka Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Shota Umino, Tiger Mask IV & Jushin Thunder Liger

Umino worked a lot of this match and looked pretty good — the crowd got into him and he was great in his selling and execution of moves. Really good performance from him. Desperado submitted him with the stretch muffler.

Liger and Tiger Mask posed for fans after the match.

Yuji Nagata & David Finlay defeated Katsuya Kitamura & Manabu Nakanishi

This was just there. Kitamura is very green, but he’s perfectly decent for his experience level. Nakanishi seems to move slower and do less the more I see him in the ring. Nagata controlled Kitamura for a lot of the match and ended up pinning him with the backdrop driver.

Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Jado, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii

This was a solid six-man bout. There was a lot of brawling outside of the ring and through the crowd early. Ishii worked a lot of the match and looked good, so did everyone else here really.

Kojima and Tenzan hit the 3D on Jado, then Makabe followed with the King Kong knee drop for the win.

The participants in this year’s G1 Climax tournament were then announced. The field is:

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, Juice Robinson, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., and Kota Ibushi.

The blocks will be announced on June 26th, with matches revealed the next day.

Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirai Kawato

Takahashi came to the ring with a stuffed cat doll. He treated it like it was a living thing. Naito even fist-bumped it. His name is Darryl, if you were wondering.

This was Kawato’s big test, being in a more higher profile match than usual and he ended up scoring pretty well. He did great in his selling and has such great natural intensity that it resonated with the fans, so they got into him early, especially when he ran out and jumped Naito before the bell.

He still lost the match for the team, with Takahashi submitting him with the Boston crab.

A female interviewer talked with Taguchi Japan before their title match. Taguchi talked about the team and their match tonight for a bit.

YOSHI-HASHI, Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto defeated Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

YOSHI-HASHI jumped Suzuki right at the bell and kept hammering at him until the ref had to pull them apart. It then turned into a solid back-and-forth match. I think this is Smith’s first time on a tour in ages and he looked really good both physically and in the ring.

Suzuki and YH had a great back and forth towards the end of the match. Suzuki laid him out as Taichi went to get a chair, but Okada broke it up. YH came back and locked in the butterfly lock for the submission.

Suzuki-gun tried to clear house after the match, but Okada and YH fought back, enabling YH to apply the butterfly lock on Suzuki for a long time until Okada finally broke it up.

The interviewer tried to talk to the NEVER Six-Man tag champs, but none of them seemed all that chatty. BUSHI did end up saying a few words.

NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Champions SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & Juice Robinson to retain their titles

This was good, and it was easily the best match on the show. It wasn’t out of this world, but for a Korakuen Hall house show main event it delivered.

BUSHI and KUSHIDA started the match. They looked really good against one another, a positive sign for their match on the 27th. There was a cool spot where KUSHIDA struggled to get the armbar on BUSHI, so Robinson responded by headbutting BUSHI to execute it properly. 

Everyone cleared each other out of the ring as Robinson cleared house. Taguchi did a Doomsday hip attack from the top rope. Robinson then went for the Pulp Friction, but when SANADA countered he hit a powerbomb instead. He went for it again, though SANADA kept escaping.

SANADA tripped him on the rope, which allowed EVIL on the outside to wallop him with a steel chair shot. SANADA threw him into BUSHI, who hit the MX, with SANADA following with his Skull End submission and leaving Robinson no real alternative but to tap.

My Favorite Wrestler (This Week): Juice, Dieter Jr., Micro Estrellas, SPPT

Posted on by Zach Dominello

It was another busy week in pro wrestling as WWE put on its first post-WrestleMania 33 pay-per-view and NJPW produced multiple big shows. Here are our favorite wrestlers this week. Who’s yours?

This week’s panel —

  • Chris Aiken (ROH and CMLL writer)
  • Alan4L (Dr. Keith Presents host and Figure Four Weekly writer)
  • Mike DellaCamera (Columnist)
  • Zach Dominello (Columnist)

Juice Robinson

By Zach Dominello

Ugh, I just want to talk about how great Hiromu Takahashi is again, but in lieu of repeating myself, this week my favorite wrestler is Juice “Not CJ Parker” Robinson.

This past week, Juice had the highest profile match of his career when he faced Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental title. Usually, I’m not a big Juice guy, but even I can appreciate how much he’s improved since his NXT days, and how hard he’s worked since coming to New Japan.

He literally started from the bottom, taking on the role of the Young Lions by working opening matches and watching and learning from others at ringside. Slowly, he worked his way up the card and won the crowd over to the point that he’s main eventing with Naito. It’s a credit to him and New Japan’s booking.

Axel Dieter Jr.

By Alan4L

With his wXw career coming to an end this past weekend, the pride of Hamburg City is going to go on to show the world what a truly special performer he is. WWE have got themselves an absolute star, and I’d lay money that they don’t even realize the degree yet.

Junior has a passion and a fire that connects with crowds on a real, legitimate level that is just so rare in this day and age. Either as an underdog babyface or a sneering heel, Axel has an ability to project himself and make people truly believe in him.

His big matches at the Markthalle in his hometown of Hamburg are totally must watch and may be the best hidden gems in wrestling this decade. The 2013 Hot & Spicy tag title challenge against the AUTsiders and then the Junior vs. Walter World title match a year later are so special. Watch them and you’ll see why.

This year with his work in PROGRESS as part of the Ringkampf group, he has been able to get more eyes on his work and has certainly turned heads in the process. Junior had so much more to give the European wrestling scene, and it’s a shame he’s leaving, but the worldwide scene is going to feel his presence very soon. He left his mark while we had him, that’s for sure!

Micro Estrellas

By Chris Aiken

My favorite this week is not just one person, but a group of several. This past Sunday in Arena Mexico the mascot tag match stole the show as part of a Kids Day celebration.

Billed as “micro estrellas” on the CMLL card, the special attraction match featured the in-ring debut of Microman as he teamed with El Gallito to face El Perico Zakarias & Mije. The micro estrellas were heavily-promoted leading up to the holiday show, and they more than delivered in their featured role on the card.

With reportedly almost 17,000 people in attendance at Arena Mexico, the Kids Day card was an undeniable success. The most talked about match before and after the show involved the micro estrellas. Besides arguably proving to be a draw for the holiday, the micro estrellas match itself more than lived up to its billing and far exceeded expectations in the ring. In preparation, they apparently rehearsed and practiced ahead of time with the help of Ultimo Guerrero.

Everyone involved should feel they succeeded in not only helping to draw such a large crowd, but also putting on a memorable match that stole the show.

The South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black)

By Mike DellaCamera

I was in Europe for the past few weeks, so I’m a bit behind in the world of wrestling. But the good thing about getting to spend hours cruising through the countryside on trains is that it allows you to catch up on some older wrestling that might have slipped through the cracks.

As a PROGRESS on-demand subscriber (which is highly recommended), I got to watch most of the WrestleMania week stuff that I missed, specifically PROGRESS vs. EVOLVE and PROGRESS: Orlando. The standouts of both shows were, by far, the New Zealanders.

When I first started watching PROGRESS, I was struck by how good TK Cooper was at making me hate him (I think he was featured in this column a while back). In the ring you could tell he was still a bit green, but everything else was very much there. His weaknesses were compensated by the Kiwi Buzzsaw, Travis Banks — someone who I have yet to see have a bad match.

Those two, combined with Dahlia Black as their third made for a perfect team. Watching the various chapters, you could clearly see them grow and become more comfortable in the ring and as characters. This came to a head WrestleMania weekend with their matches against Catch Point and Shane Strickland & Sami Callihan (maybe my favorite tag match of the whole weekend). Both matches were excellent and, to me, seemed like a team that finally got everything, it all came together.

Unfortunately with the visas of Black and Cooper expiring and them being forced to return to New Zealand, the future of the SPPT is a bit murky. Their last match against the London Riots at PROGRESS Chapter 47: Complicated Simplicity, was a fantastic sendoff for the two. Here’s hoping they can return soon, and that above all else, they always keep it 100.

NJPW Wrestling Toyonokuni results: Naito vs. Robinson for IC title

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are the results from this morning’s NJPW Wrestling Toyonokuni event in Beppu, featuring two big title matches and the continuation of the feud between EVIL and Hiroshi Tanahashi:

– Jushin Thunder Liger, Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka defeated Tiger Mask, Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Umino when Oka submitted Umino with the Boston crab.

Nice opener. All of the young lions looked good, including Umino, who’s adapting to the young lion style pretty well.

– Roppongi Vice defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado after Baretta pinned Desperado following the Strong Zero.

Good back and forth match — Baretta and Romero continually improve as a team and complement each other very well. Desperado went to use a chair but Baretta dodged it. He and Romero then laid Desperado out and followed with the Strong Zero.

– SANADA & BUSHI defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoshitatsu when SANADA submitted Yoshitatsu with the Skull End.

This was an okay match, though nothing was really worth noting.

– Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & David Finlay after Roa pinned Finlay with a sit-out piledriver.

This was kind of just there as a match. Tonga worked it despite his recent biceps injury.

– Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Minoru Suzuki, Taka Michinoku & Taichi when Ospreay pinned Michinoku with the Ozcutter.

Of course, the focus was on Goto and Suzuki, who traded some good back and forth with one another. They had a typical tag match with some brawling around the stage to boot.

Suzuki and Goto traded blows after the match, signaling they may be continuing their program.

– Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano defeated Bad Luck Fale, Kenny Omega & Chase Owens when Okada pinned Owens following the Rainmaker.

Everyone got involved and looked good here. Okada laid out Fale with the Heavy Rain, then took care of Chase Owens for the finish.

Okada immediately went for a tope to wipe out Fale following the match, but Fale grabbed him and laid him out, giving him the upper edge heading into Wrestling Dontaku.

– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defeated Ricochet to retain his title

This was a really great, crazy match with tons of incredible spots. I wouldn’t say it was as good as previous Hiromu Takahashi matches in the past year, but this was by no means a disappointing match — they lived up to expectations.

Ricochet immediately flew into action, hitting a suicide dive, a fosbury flop, and a 450 splash within the first minute of the match, perhaps a callback to the last Junior title match that lasted only a few minutes. Ricochet went for a springboard, but Takahashi caught him in mid-air and laid him out with a German suplex. 

The match had lots of frenetic action from there. Takahashi slingshotted Ricochet on the top rope and tried for the sunset bomb on the floor, but Ricochet countered with a hurricanrana that sent him into the barricade. After spending some time in the ring (including dropping Takahashi with a reverse facebuster off the middle rope), Ricochet took him to the outside where he laid him out with two suplexes.

Ricochet went for a shooting star press, though Takahashi managed to get the knees up. He went to charge in the corner, but Takahashi countered and laid him out. The action picked up more from there as Takahashi went for the Time Bomb, but Ricochet countered and eventually landed the Benadryller for a near fall.

Ricochet tried to follow that with a 630, but Takahashi rolled out of the ring and hit what I can only describe as a Canadian Destroyer-like DDT. He followed with the running Death Valley Driver in the corner and pinned him with the Time Bomb.

– Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated EVIL

This was a very good match. Tanahashi does tag matches most of the year, but he still can deliver when it comes to high profile singles bouts. I think I would have been fine without the LIJ interference, but the face prevailed in the end with a clean win so there’s not much to complain about.

Like the previous match, Tanahashi wasted no time in starting things as he took out EVIL with a tope and whipped him around the barricades. EVIL managed to do the chair on the throat routine on Tanahashi and threw him into the post for heat. 

Tanahashi tried to rally a comeback, but in a clever spot EVIL grabbed one of his legs, threw it to the ref, then superkicked Tanahashi to continue the beatdown. Finally, Tanahashi laid out EVIL with a High Fly Flow to the floor. After getting back in the ring, they battled with forearms until EVIL waffled him with a lariat.

Tanahashi came back and started gaining momentum, hitting the slingblade and going for the High Fly Flow when BUSHI and SANADA decided to start interfering just because.

It eventually backfired when BUSHI sprayed SANADA on accident with the mist and Taguchi came out to clear the ring.

Tanahashi hit the dragon suplex bridge but there was no ref, as the whole time he was laid out on the outside. Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow again, but EVIL got his knees up. After a bit more of back and forth, Tanahashi laid out EVIL and hit the High Fly Flow, then another for the win.

– IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito defeated Juice Robinson to retain his title

I thought this was a very good main event. The crowd was behind Naito for this but didn’t boo Robinson at all and he managed to get over just by doing a few key spots like the spinebuster and the kick out of the Destino. He’s improved dramatically since his NXT days and this was another example of that.

Naito brawled with Robinson on the outside early into the match, eventually focusing on a leg. He took him back into the ring and started working him over. Robinson tried to mount a brief comeback with a rolling senton into the corner but Naito dodged it, sending him crashing. He next followed with a powerbomb attempt, but that failed too. 

Robinson finally got some heat by countering Naito and laying him out with a kick. After battling back on the outside, Robinson grabbed a charging Naito and planted him with a spinebuster right on the apron. Naito eventually fought back, targeting Robinson’s knee, landing a running dropkick, then following that by clipping him from behind.

Naito went for a hurricanrana off the top rope, but Robinson instead powerbomed him off the ropes and followed with another powerbomb on the mat for a good near fall. He went for the Pulp Friction until Naito countered with a koppo kick. Robinson tried for another Pulp Friction, then when that didn’t work he went for something else, but Naito was able to land a version of the Destino in mid-air. He followed with another, but Robinson kicked out to a huge pop.

Naito tried for a third until Robinson overpowered him and began to make a comeback. He landed a firm punch to the face and tried for the Pulp Friction again, but Naito countered with a third Destino and scored the win.

Tanahashi came out after the match to challenge. Naito ignored him coming out but then gave him a mic as he cut the promo. Once he left, Naito cut his usual promo to close out the show.

There were no match of the year contenders or anything, but this was a very good show overall. All three top matches met their expectations and we now have a few ideas for the next big PPV, which is Dominion on June 11th.

NJPW Road to Dontaku results: Juice & Tanahashi vs. Naito & EVIL

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan was back for a second Korakuen Hall show this weekend as they continued the build towards Wrestling Dontaku and other big events slated for the next couple of weeks. Here are some quick results from this morning’s show:

– Tomoyuki Oka & Hirai Kawato defeated Shota Umino & Katsuya Kitamura when Oka submitted Umino with the Boston crab.

Oka/Kitamura and Umino/Kawato worked one another early. Umino briefly escaped a Boston crab attempt by Oka but a powerslam and a second Boston crab attempt sealed the deal.

– Will Ospreay & Jado defeated Taka Michinoku & El Desperado when Ospreay pinned Michinoku with the Ozcutter.

This was a basic, solid match. Jado was worked on for a lot of it. Ospreay did his thing and looked good. 

– Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & David Finlay when Takahashi pinned Finlay.

They had an okay match, but nothing out of the ordinary. Finlay and Yujiro had some good back and forth towards the end. Finlay kicked out of the Miami Shine before falling to the Pimp Juice DDT.

– Roppongi Vice, Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto defeated Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & Yoshinobu Kanemaru when Yano pinned Iizuka with a roll-up.

Suzuki and Goto brawled around the ring, with Suzuki freely using a steel chair as a weapon. A lot of the focus was on them, which made the match pretty solid for what it was. With the help of Roppongi Vice, Yano was able to block the iron fingers and roll up Iizuka for the win. 

– Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI & SANADA defeated Ricochet, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoshitatsu when SANADA submitted Yoshitatsu with the Skull End.

This was a bit slow, but turned out fine with Ricochet and Takahashi’s program getting a push here. Takahashi now has dolls with his and Ricochet’s name on them; I guess because he’s weird. BUSHI threw down Yoshitatsu as everyone came in. SANADA floated over Yoshitatsu and submitted him for the win.

– Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Kenny Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii when Owens pinned YOSHI-HASHI.

Of course, the two big feuds highlighted here were Okada/Fale and Ishii/Omega, who continued where they left off from last night. YH had Owens set up for Karma but Fale came in and broke it up. He laid out Okada with the Grenade, then laid out YOSHI-HASHI with a tombstone. He dragged the lifeless Owens on top of YH so he could pick up the win. This was another solid tag team match with good action.

Ishii and Omega had a staredown after the match, with Omega backing off first. It looked like somewhere during the match Ishii busted his nose as it was bloodied up.

– Juice Robinson & Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated EVIL & Tetsuya Naito when Tanahashi pinned EVIL with the High Fly Flow.

They had a great match; easily the best match New Japan put on this weekend. Robinson jump started things by laying out Naito with a tope. Naito had Robinson in the Destino, but that was countered into a lungblower by Robinson.

The action really picked up towards the end as everyone countered one another and laid everyone out. Juice caught EVIL and assisted Tanahashi with a slingblade but Naito crotched him. Robinson took care of Naito and laid out EVIL with the Pulp Friction. Tanahashi followed with the High Fly Flow for the win.

Both Robinson and Tanahashi played the air guitar to close out the show.

NJPW reveals cards for Wrestling Dontaku and Wrestling Toyonokuni

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the lineups for Wrestling Toyonokuni and Wrestling Dontaku at a press conference this morning.

The shows will be headlined by title matches that were set up at Sakura Genesis. Kazuchika Okada is set to defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Bad Luck Fale in the main event of Wrestling Dontaku on May 3rd, while Tetsuya Naito will put his IWGP Intercontinental title on the line against Juice Robinson in the top match at Wrestling Toyonokuni on April 29th.

Wrestling Dontaku will also feature another singles match between Kenny Omega and Tomohiro Ishii, which could have future title implications for the winner.

Two other titles will be up for grabs at a smaller show on April 27th, where Hirooki Goto will defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against Minoru Suzuki and Roppongi Vice will challenge for Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru’s IWGP Junior tag titles.

Due to what NJPW reported to be a subdural hematoma, Katsuyori Shibata underwent emergency surgery following his match at Sakura Genesis and will miss this upcoming tour.

Wrestling Toyonokuni on April 29th will have —

  • Jushin Thunder Liger, Tomoyuki Oka & Hirai Kawato vs. Tiger Mask IV, Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Umino (another new young lion making his debut soon on the April 13th Lion’s Gate show)
  • Rocky Romero, Beretta & Jado vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & El Desperado
  • Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoshitatsu (returning from CMLL) vs. SANADA & BUSHI
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & TAKA Michinoku
  • Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defending against Ricochet
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
  • IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito defending against Juice Robinson

Wrestling Dontaku will follow on May 3rd and will feature —

  • Yoshitatsu & Hirai Kawato vs. Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura
  • YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Tiger Mask W, Tiger Mask IV & Togi Makabe vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Thunder Liger
  • Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, Jado, Rocky Romero & Beretta vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & El Desperado
  • David Finlay vs. Cody
  • Juice Robinson & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
  • NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Ricochet defending against SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine defending against Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima and Guerillas of Destiny in a three-way match
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega
  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Bad Luck Fale

NJPW World Tag League 2016 results: Tanahashi & Robinson vs. Tencozy

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here is an update on the World Tag League currently going on in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The latest event took place this morning in Aichi. A pretty decent card with a good main event, but nothing going out of you way to see, as is the norm with the World Tag League. Here are prelim results, tournament results, and the latest standings.

Prelim bouts:

Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato after Kawato submitted to the Boston Crab. This was a good, stiff match with Kawato’s mouth bleeding at the end.

Togi Makabe, Jushin Liger, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask defeated Billy Gunn, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yoshitatsu & David Finlay when Makabe pinned Finlay with the King Kong knee drop.

Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata & KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA when Shibata pinned BUSHI following a penalty kick.

Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Bone Soldier when Goto pinned Soldier with the GTR.

Tournament Matches (Block A):

Leland Race & Brian Breaker defeated Henare & Manabu Nakanishi

This was just kind of there as far as a match goes. It went a bit too long and was devoid of heat. Henare and Nakanishi are a good pairing and work together well in terms of chemistry. Leland Race scored the win, pinning Henare with the standing assisted sliced bread.

Guerillas of Destiny defeated War Machine

They brawled all around the arena, with War Machine throwing both Roa and Tonga into walls. It was a pretty cool, different kind of brawl. They went back to the ring and had some good back and forth, with the crowd picking up as the match continued. GoD managed to catch Rowe, laid him out, and pinned him with the Guerilla Warfare.

Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Rush & Tetsuya Naito

Okay match. People were into the Ingobernables, but were quiet for most of this match. Nothing about it was bad, but just kind of average with no real heat and the crowd was dead for the finish. Page pinned Rush with the Omori Driver.

Tencozy defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson

Pretty good main event, with the last few minutes being great as it got really good with Robinson kicking out of everything and there being actual heat for once on this show. It had solid back and forth action throughout. There was a funny spot at one point where both Robinson and Tanahashi had Tencozy in double abdominal stretches and played air guitar on their ribs.

Tanahashi missed a High Fly Flow which gave Tencozy an opening to attack. Robinson came in for a hot tag and helped Tanahashi do an assisted slingblade. Tanahashi took out Tenzan on the outside as Kojima fired back with a lariat on Robinson for a nearfall. Robinson also kicked out of the 3D. Kojima then busted out another lariat and pinned Robinson for the win.

Current standings as of 11/23:

Block A:

  • Tencozy [6]
  • War Machine [4]
  • Brian Breaker/Leland Race [4]
  • Hangman Page/Yujiro Takahashi [4]
  • Rush/Tetsuya Naito [2]
  • Guerillas of Destruction [2]
  • Henare/Manabu Nakanishi [0]
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi/Juice Robinson [0]

Block B:

  • Billy Gunn/Yoshitatsu [4]
  • EVIL and SANADA [4]
  • Hirooki Goto/Tomohiro Ishii [4]
  • Great Bash Heel [2]
  • Kazuchika Okada/YOSHI-HASHI [2]
  • Bad Luck Fale/Bone Solider [0]
  • Chase Owens/Kenny Omega [0]
  • Katsuyori Shibata/Yuji Nagata [0]

NJPW World Tag League 2016 results: Tetsuya Naito’s mystery partner revealed

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s final tournament of the year started this morning as World Tag League kicked off at Korakuen Hall, with the winners very likely getting a shot at the heavyweight tag titles at WrestleKingdom 11. Here are prelim results and recaps of the main tournament matches:

Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato by submission with a Boston crab. Kanemitsu showed pretty good fire. Solid match overall.

Yoshitatsu, Billy Gunn, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Jushin Liger & David Finlay when Billy Gunn pinned Finlay with the famouser. They teased a Makabe/Gunn showdown after the match since their respective teams are facing off soon.

SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Tiger Mask, Yuji Nagata & Katsuyori Shibata when SANADA submitted Tiger Mask with the Skull End. It looked like SANADA was injured early after botching a leapfrog on Nagata, but he finished the match just fine.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Bone Soldier when YOSHI-HASHI pinned Owens with Karma. The match got a ton of heat toward the end when Okada and Omega were in.

War Machine defeated Henare & Manabu Nakanishi

This was better than you’d think. War Machine are pretty good. Henare shows a lot of potential and Nakanishi didn’t look nearly as bad as he usually does. Henare kicked out of an aided powerslam and Nakanishi broke up a pin to save him. War Machine isolated Henare again then pinned him with Fallout (belly-to-back suplex/legdrop from the top rope combo).

Brian Breaker & Leland Race defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page

Decent match. Page worked a lot of it. Breaker and Race looked fine but don’t really stand out. Page looks good while Yujiro is, well, Yujiro. Breaker comes off as a big powerhouse type and works well with that style.

Yujiro and Page were looking to finish it but Page was shoved to the floor. Breaker did a big dropkick that sent Yujiro to the corner, then Race pinned him with an assisted standing sliced bread.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa)

This was a pretty solid match throughout, but nothing interesting. GoD are coming off as a more polished team, and will probably be even more polished when this tournament is all over. It seems like Tencozy haven’t actually been a team in forever even though they are in eight and six-man tags all the time. Kojima hit the cutter on Roa, gave him a lariat to the back of the head, then one more to the throat for the win.

Tetsuya Naito came to the ring, wearing a white suit. BUSHI followed, then EVIL, and of course SANADA followed. The ref wanted answers. After a minute or so, another man came out wearing the Ingobernables hood. He revealed himself to be none other than original Ingobernables member, Rush from CMLL.

Tetsuya Naito & Rush defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson

This was just okay, but it picked up toward the end. Crowd was into Rush and were very into the main event. Rush’s offense looks (and probably is) super stiff and he spent a lot of the match beating up Juice Robinson. Rush drilled Tanahashi with the Rush Driver and Naito followed suit with the Destino on Robinson to score the win.

Naito cut a promo on Tanahashi after the match and reaffirmed Rush’s standing in the group to close out the show.

A solid show overall. Nothing blow away, but this tour isn’t going to have a lot of out of this world matches anyway. Everything’s being set up for WrestleKingdom.