El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships at today’s Road to Castle Attack event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Desperado and Kanemaru defeated El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori in the main event, dethroning the former champs. Desperado pinned Ishimori with a Pinche Loco to win the titles in 20:12.
Desperado and Kanemaru were not originally scheduled for a title match on this tour, but an injury to Hiromu Takahashi left BUSHI and Hiromu unable to challenge for the Jr. Heavyweight titles as planned. Instead, an angle was shot at the February 22 Road to Castle Attack show where Desperado and Kanemaru laid out ELP and Ishimori to set up the title bout.
This reign is the third with the Jr. Tag titles for Desperado and Kanemaru. They most recently lost the titles to ELP and Ishimori at a Road to The New Beginning event on January 23. ELP and Ishimori did not manage a successful defense in their just-ended reign.
NJPW held the final Road to Castle Attack show today in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
In the main event, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, defeating El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori.
To open the show, Hiromu Takahashi vacated the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and asked that BUSHI wrestle scheduled challenger El Phantasmo for the vacant title on Sunday’s Castle Attack show at Osaka-Jo Hall. After the main event, Desperado cut a promo and asked to be added to ELP vs. BUSHI, or to face the winner at the March 4 NJPW Anniversary show. ELP then laid out Desperado with a Sudden Death superkick. BUSHI would then attack ELP with a codebreaker and posed with the Jr. title belt.
After missing several shows with a knee injury, Tetsuya Naito returned to action on today’s show and wrestled in a six-man. Naito is scheduled to challenge Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on Sunday.
Castle Attack takes place this weekend over two nights, with shows Saturday at 2 a.m. Eastern time and Sunday at midnight Eastern time.
Here are results from today’s show:
Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb (w/Bea Priestley) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima & Yota Tsuji (8:24)
Ishimori pinned BUSHI after BUSHI was hit with ELP’s Sudden Death superkick.
El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru attacked ELP and Ishimori after the match. Desperado and Kanemaru vs. Ishimori and ELP for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag titles will likely be added to Thursday’s show. ELP and Ishimori had been set to defend against Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI, but Hiromu is now out for six months.
SANADA defeated Tomoaki Honma (12:45)
SANADA won by submission with Skull End.
EVIL & Jay White (w/Dick Togo & Gedo) defeated Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii (13:40)
EVIL pinned Okada after hitting Everything is EVIL.
NJPW’s Road to Castle Attack tour continued today with the fourth consecutive night of action in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
The originally scheduled main event of Tetsuya Naito & SANADA vs Kota Ibushi & Yuji Nagata did not take place due to a knee injury suffered by Naito on yesterday’s show. Instead, Naito opened the show with a promo, apologizing to the crowd and addressing Ibushi. SANADA then face Nagata in a singles match in the semi-main.
According to NJPW’s Chris Charlton, the severity of Naito’s injury is unclear, but Charlton speculated that Naito will likely still wrestle Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Castle Attack in Osaka-Jo Hall on February 28.
The Road to Castle Attack tour continues this weekend with untelevised events on Friday and Saturday. The tour returns to Korakuen for broadcast events on Monday, February 22 and Thursday, February 25. Castle Attack will be a two-night event in Osaka on Saturday, February 27 at 2 a.m. Eastern time and Sunday, February 28 at midnight Eastern time.
Here are the results from today’s show:
Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb (w/Bea Priestley) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Gabriel Kidd (11:39)
Cobb pinned Kidd after hitting a Tour of the Islands.
Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano went to a no contest with Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens (w/Gedo & Jado) (11:41)
This wasn’t good, but I’ll say this for Jado — he’s moving much better than he has in recent years.
Jado and Uemura began as the legal men. Goto and YH stopped G.O.D. from interfering. Jado hit a tackle and cut Uemura off. G.O.D. brawled with Goto and YH on the outside. Bullet Club spent several minutes working on Uemura.
Uemura came back with a dropkick and tagged Goto. Goto hit a bulldog for a near fall on Tama. Goto and YH double teamed an interfering Tanga. YH got a tag and got triple teamed by G.O.D. and Jado. Jado hit a draping DDT for a near fall.
Uemura stopped Jado from using a kendo stick as everyone jumped in at the finish. YH hit a lariat for a two count, then used the butterfly lock to submit Jado.
Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb (w/Bea Priestley) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yota Tsuji (9:28)
This was paint-by-numbers.
United Empire attacked while Tanahashi was posing on the ropes during his entrance. Tenzan and Ospreay ended up the legal men. After a short triple team on Ospreay, Tenzan found himself on the wrong side of the ring and being worked over by United Empire.
O-Khan taunted Tenzan with Mongolian chops. Cobb joined in and hit Tenzan with Mongolian chops. Ospreay tagged in and hit some as well. Tenzan came back with a wheel kick on Ospreay.
O-Khan and Tana got tags. Tana hit a high cross for a near fall. They traded strikes. O-Khan blocked a slingblade and used a kneebar. Tana forced a break. Cobb tagged in and was hit with a dragon screw. Tana tagged out to Tsuji.
Tsuji used a dropkick on Cobb. Cobb was tripled up on. Tsuji hit a splash for a near fall. Cobb got rolled up for a two count and placed in a crab. Cobb forced a break.
Cobb hit a spin cycle for a two count. All six men were in. O-Khan used a claw to drag Tana to the floor. Cobb then hit Tour of the Islands for the pin.
I’m not advocating for these Road to shows to be longer, but with about five extra minutes this could have been a good match. Instead, it was a standard house show undercard tag that felt too quick.
Ishimori and ELP tried to double team BUSHI at the opening bell. BUSHI and Hiromu fought them off. Yujiro caught BUSHI with a boot from the apron and Bullet Club turned this into a ringside brawl.
Back in, Ishimori teased going after BUSHI’s mask. Yujiro tagged in for more of the same. ELP tagged in for some of his comedy spots. Ishimori and ELP tagged in and out and continued the assault.
BUSHI made a tag after a step-up enzuigiri on ELP. Hiromu got a hot tag and took on Ishimori and ELP 1-on-2. He hit a double shotgun dropkick and avoided ELP’s airplane spin neckbreaker.
SANADA and Yujiro tagged in for the closing sequence. Each bit the other’s hand.Yujiro hit a basement dropkick and fisherman buster for a two count. SANADA avoided Miami Shine and landed on his feet off a suplex. LIJ hit a triple dropkick.
ELP, Ishimori, Hiromu and BUSHI brawled to the floor. SANADA used Skull End with a body scissors for the submission win.
ELP gave Hiromu and ELP t-shirt after the match. That was kind of him.
EVIL, Jay White, Chase Owens & Dick Togo (w/Gedo) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & SHO (14:28)
This was the best match on the show to this point.
Bullet Club kicked the ring announcer out of the ring as CHAOS made their entrance, but the cameras missed it. Bullet Club wisely retreated out of the ring as CHAOS entered to avoid a sneak attack before the bell.
All eight brawled around the ring. Owens again teased a strap match with Yano, using the strap on the outside. Yano ended up getting a Bullet Club beatdown in the ring. EVIL sent him into an exposed buckle. Owens tagged in and repeated the spot with a second exposed buckle.
Owens attached himself to Yano with the strap. The referee untied them after a couple of comedy spots. Ishii and White tagged in. Ishii was sent into the turnbuckle. SHO entered for a double team and hit a jumping knee strike. Ishii used a powerslam.
White avoided a vertical drop brainbuster and hit a DDT after an intricate series of counters and teases between the two. White hit a DVD. Ishii came back with a vertical suplex.
Okada and EVIL got tags. Okada hit a running back elbow. EVIL dumped Okada over the post to the floor and Okada landed awkwardly. EVIL went after Okada’s left leg. EVIL ducked a Rainmaker and avoided a dropkick. Okada avoided Darkness Falls. EVIL hit a misdirection lariat. Okada hit a DDT.
SHO and Togo tagged in and had a very nice exchange. CHAOS went 4-on-1 against Togo. EVIL jumped in for the save and hit Everything is EVIL on SHO. He then took out Okada with a lariat.
With SHO down after taking EVIL’s finisher, Togo covered SHO for the pin.
White and Gedo choked Ishii with a scarf after the match. EVIL put Okada in the Darkness Scorpion. Owens attacked Yano with the strap. Bullet Club stood tall.
Naito and Ibushi began the match with mat work, as they did yesterday. It was very good and different than anything that anyone in the promotion is doing right now aside from Sabre. Their grappling ended in a stalemate.
Nagata and Shingo tagged in. Naito entered for an illegal double team to help Shingo gain the advantage. Naito went after Ibushi on the outside and sent him into the barricade. Naito tagged in for a long chinlock on Nagata.
Shingo fired off some short, taunting strikes to Nagata. Nagata fired up and hit a kitchen sink. Ibushi and Naito got tags. Naito worked on Ibushi’s left leg with a low dropkick and other kicks. Ibushi hit a mid kick and standing moonsault for a near fall.
Naito escaped a last ride attempt. Naito hit another low dropkick and did a weird delayed sell of an Ibushi mid kick to set up a double down. Shingo tagged in and continued to target the left leg. Ibushi hit a snap rana and tagged out.
Nagata hit a boot in the corner and a suplex for a near fall. Shingo blocked another boot and hit a dragon screw. Nagata fought off a figure four and landed a series of kicks. Naito hit an exploder. Shingo answered with a lariat.
They traded strikes. Nagata missed an enzuigiri and Shingo hit a sliding lariat. Naito cut off a tag to Ibushi from Nagata and hit a combinacion. Nagata blocked Destino and used a Nagata Lock. Shingo broke up the hold with elbows. Ibushi entered, but Naito took out his leg with a dropkick.
Naito used a jackknife cradle for a near fall as Ibushi saved. Naito then hit Destino for the pin and mocked Nagata’s salute as he held the pin.
Yuya Uemura defeated Yuto Nakashima by ref stoppage (0:27)
This was quite the inauspicious debut for the newest young lion, Yuto Nakashima.
Nakashima shot for a double-leg takedown. Uemura blocked and they began grappling on the mat. Nakashima landed awkwardly on his left arm and appeared to break or dislocate it.
After a few awkward seconds, the ref realized what had happened and called for the bell. Ringside attendants checked on Nakashima. Nakashima began shouting and cursing. He was helped up and shoved Uemura and stared him down.
They either shot an angle on the fly in the post-match or this was a very convincing work.
Main card —
Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb (w/Bea Priestley) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima & Gabriel Kidd (8:03)
This was a standard opener. Kidd made the most of his time and looked good.
Tanahashi’s side attacked as they entered the ring. Empire overcame the attack and cut Tana off. Tana came back with a dragon screw on Ospreay and tagged Kojima.
Kojima ran wild with machine gun chops on Ospreay. Cobb illegally entered and pressed Kojima off the top as he teased his diving elbow. Ospreay hit pip pip cheerio for a near fall. Kojima blocked a Storm Breaker attempt and hit a cutter.
Kidd and Cobb got tags and traded chops and strikes. Kidd hit a dropkick. Tana and Kojima cleared the apron and helped Kidd slam Cobb for a near fall. O-Khan and Ospreay broke up the pin.
Tana hit slingblade on O-Khan. Ospreay hit a hook kick to Tana. Kojima hit an elbow to Ospreay. Cobb hit an elbow on Kojima. Kidd hit a dropkick for a near fall on Cobb.
Kidd teased a butterfly suplex. Cobb blocked and hit a spin cycle for a near fall, then used Tour of the Islands to pin Kidd.
This was another standard undercard tag. Hiromu sold most of the way and didn’t get much offense on his next challenger.
ELP and Hiromu began with some comedy and crowd work. Your mileage may vary, but this was better than usual ELP comedy.
ELP hit a cartwheel out of a hurricanrana attempt. Hiromu used a backslide for a quick near fall. ELP hit a superkick to the gut, then began with his back rake attacks. Hiromu found himself isolated in Bullet Club’s corner.
Hiromu blocked a superkick with the loaded boot and hit a dragon screw to ELP. BUSHI and Ishimori got tags. BUSHI hit some trademark spots and scored a near fall. Ishimori used a shoulder breaker. BUSHI fought off ELP interference. Ishimori hit a backflip kick into a double down.
Yujiro and Shingo tagged in and traded strikes. Yujiro hit a neckbreaker for two. Shingo fought out of Miami Shine and LIJ triple teamed Yujiro. Everyone jumped in and hit a move. Yujiro used Miami Shine for a near fall on Shingo.
Shingo blocked Pimp Juice and hit a DDT and a sliding lariat. He followed with Last of the Dragon for the pin.
Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated Kota Ibushi & Yuji Nagata (13:32)
There was a lot of very good mat wrestling from Naito and Ibushi in this one. SANADA and Nagata were good as well.
Ibushi and Naito started off. Both missed on takedown attempts. They traded waistlocks. Ibushi got a head scissors applied on the mat. Naito escaped and tried to bar Ibushi’s knee, but Ibushi forced a rope break. They continued the mat work, grappling to a stalemate. Both tagged out.
Nagata fought out of a paradise lock attempt and hit a kitchen sink. Nagata hit some kicks. Naito tripped Nagata as he hit the ropes and the LIJ playbook was on full display.
All four began brawling around the ring. LIJ gained the advantage in the brawl. SANADA and Naito worked on Nagata in the ring. Naito hit a basement dropkick for two. Nagata fired up and they traded strikes. Nagata hit an overhead bell-to-belly and tagged Ibushi.
Ibushi hammered Naito with a flying kick and used a standing moonsault for a near fall. Naito caught a kick and worked on Ibushi’s legs, first with dropkicks, then a a figure four. Ibushi forced a rope break. Naito ducked a high kick and swept the leg. Ibushi hit a dropkick into a double down.
SANADA and Nagata got tags. Nagata hit a running boot in the corner. SANADA avoided the follow-up exploder and hit a springboard dropkick. Nagata blocked a TKO. SANADA tried for a dragon sleeper. Nagata reversed into a crossface. Naito broke up the hold.
Ibushi jumped in and took Naito out with a high kick. With the deck cleared, Nagata hit a step-up knee in the corner and a vertical suplex for a two count. SANADA landed on his feet off a suplex. Nagata hit an enzuigiri.
SANADA then used an O-Connor roll and bridged to pin Nagata.
Elimination match: EVIL, Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens (w/Gedo, Jado & Dick Togo) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano (22:57)
As lukewarm as the promotion feels right now, they are doing a great job building up White vs. Ishii and G.O.D. vs. YH and Goto. They’re really trying to heat up Okada vs. EVIL as well, but that feels less successful than the other two feuds between CHAOS and Bullet Club.
CHAOS attacked as soon as they stepped through the ropes. They brawled around the ring. Owens produced a strap, teasing a strap match against Yano for the KOPW title. Owens threw Yano over the top by the strap for the first elimination. *Yano eliminated*
Yano then pulled Owens over the top to the floor for the second elimination. *Owens eliminated*
The sides continued brawling around ringside. Okada and EVIL finally squared off in the ring. CHAOS cut EVIL off in their corner. Okada used a slingshot senton. G.O.D., Goto and YH jumped in. White knocked Ishii off the apron.
The match devolved into a brawl again. Bullet Club cut Okada off and worked on his padded left elbow. Bullet Club used their human centipede abdominal stretch. White slapped on a chinlock to slow things down. Okada finally came back with a big boot and tagged Ishii.
Ishii and White had a nice exchange. Ishii chopped White half to death. White hit a DDT and a Blade Buster. Ishii blocked a uranage backbreaker and hit a powerslam. Ishii knocked White off the apron, but Tanga caught him for the save. Gedo jumped on the apron and took a bump. White and Ishii fought on the apron. Tanga ran into White by mistake and knocked him to the floor. *White eliminated*
Tanga took the ref. White pulled Ishii off the apron. The ref didn’t see it, but called for the elimination anyway. Ishii and White brawled to the back. This elimination was very weak. *Ishii eliminated*
G.O.D. double teamed YH. Goto saved. Jado hit YH with a kendo stick from the floor, knocking him off the apron. *YH eliminated*
G.O.D. doubled up on Goto. Goto made a valiant comeback. Okada must have been taking a nap on the floor. Goto clotheslined Tanga out for an elimination. *Tanga eliminated*
Jado tripped Goto on the apron and Tama hit a gun stun to eliminate him. *Goto eliminated*
EVIL and Tama double teamed Okada. Okada sent Tama to the apron. EVIL knocked Tama to the floor by accident with a shoulder block. *Tama eliminated*
It came down to just EVIL and Okada. EVIL ducked a Rainmaker, but that set up Okada’s dropkick. Okada used the Money Clip. Togo jumped on the apron and Okada gave up the hold. EVIL used the distraction to dump Okada to the apron.
EVIL took the ref. Togo choked Okada with his ligature. EVIL then knocked Okada to the floor for the last elimination. *Okada eliminated*
Okada ran back in and chased EVIL out of the ring to close the show.
**********
Okada cut a heated promo on EVIL in the backstage comments after the show.
