Tag: ryusuke taguchi

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.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Taguchi vs. KUSHIDA

Posted on by Bryan Rose

NJPW was back at Korakuen Hall this morning as we head through the last few shows before the Best of the Super Juniors finals on June 3rd. Here are the results:

– Taka Michinoku & Taichi defeated Syota Umino & Dragon Lee when Michinoku submitted Umino with a crossface.

– EVIL & SANADA defeated Hirai Kawato & Ricochet when EVIL submitted Kawato.

– War Machine & David Finlay defeated Guerrillas of Destiny & Yujiro Takahashi when Raymond Rowe pinned Tama Tonga after an assisted powerslam by Hanson.

– Marty Scurll, Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale defeated Gedo, Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada when Scurll submitted Gedo with the chickenwing.

Tiger Mask defeated El Desperado

Desperado controlled a lot of the match, attacking Tiger Mask’s left leg and working on it extensively. Tiger Mask tried to muster a comeback but was limited on what he could do. Out of nowhere, he hit a Tiger suplex and bridged it for the win. This was a good little match that told a nice story.

Tiger Mask wasn’t done, motioning that he wanted to remove Desperado’s mask as he threw him back in the ring. But being a good guy, he decided not to go down that road and left him laying instead.

BUSHI defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Kanemaru jumped BUSHI before he even entered the ring. They brawled into the crowd where BUSHI stunned Kanemaru, giving him enough time to climb onto an arena entryway and launch with a big crossbody, wiping out both Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku.

A good back and forth match followed. Kanemaru has like zero charisma to speak of, but he’s good at being intense.

BUSHI took out Michinoku with a suicide dive. Kanemaru used the opportunity to grab the whiskey bottle Suzuki-gun has been using on this tour to blind BUSHI, but instead BUSHI low blowed him (the ref, of course, was distracted) allowing him to soon follow with the MX for the win.

Volador Jr. defeated ACH

This was a very good, fast-paced match. Both guys looked great and worked well with one another, leading to a great match that met my expectations going in.

Volador outed himself as the heel early, taking a cheap shot after shaking hands with ACH. High-paced action followed. Volador unleashed a giant tope con hilo that looked like it connected more with the young lions protecting the crowd than ACH himself.

ACH soon followed with five suicide dives that sent Volador further into the crowd each time he did it. ACH hit a giant superplex to the floor and tried to go to the top rope once more, but Volador cut him off and instead hit the super rana off the top rope for the win.

KUSHIDA defeated Ryusuke Taguchi

This was such a great match. It was two guys going out there and giving it their all. The work early was good and pretty fast paced; a lot of cool dives and submission work as well. Taguchi has rapidly evolved into one of the more reliable great workers in this division over the last year and KUSHIDA is clearly one of the best workers in the world right now.

After starting slow with some chain wrestling, KUSHIDA started to work on Taguchi’s arm. They got up and fast-paced action followed. Taguchi went to the apron and flew off with a hip attack, but KUSHIDA grabbed him in mid-air, grabbing the bum arm and applying an armbar.

Taguchi started working on KUSHIDA’s right leg as the action continued. KUSHIDA cut him off after a hip attack attempt, rolled over, and actually landed the Dodon. When Taguchi tried to mount a comeback again, KUSHIDA caught him with an armbar. They countered each other with many submission attempts until KUSHIDA finally grounded Taguchi with a figure four leglock.

They continued fighting until Taguchi landed a straight punch to the gut, sending KUSHIDA reeling. KUSHIDA tried to go for his new finish — the move previously known as God’s Last Gift (which is now called Back to the Future) — but Taguchi took him down with the Kimura and focused on KUSHIDA’s arm. Taguchi nailed the Dodon, but KUSHIDA kicked out.

He followed with a running hip toss, but KUSHIDA kicked out of that as well. Taguchi sunk in the ankle lock. KUSHIDA struggled to escape, then managed to do so, and after some wrangling sunk in the hoverboard lock. Taguchi kept trying to escape, but KUSHIDA got up and landed the Back to the Future for the win.

KUSHIDA cut a promo after the match, giving props to Taguchi as he raised his hand in a sign of respect.

Standings —

Block A has Will Ospreay, Dragon Lee, Ricochet, Taichi, and Hiromu Takahashi all tied with eight points. Marty Scurll (six points), Taka Michinoku (two points), and Jushin Thunder Liger (zero) are out of contention.

Everyone in the B Block has six points, meaning anyone can walk out of the June 1st show as the winner of the block. A lot of variables are in play, to say the least.

NJPW Road to SG results: NEVER six-man titles on the line

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are this morning’s results for the final Road to Sakura Genesis show before the PPV itself takes place on Sunday morning. This aired live from Korakuen Hall on New Japan World.

– El Desperado, Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku defeated Hirai Kawato, Jushin Thunder Liger & Manabu Nakanishi when Michinoku submitted Kawato with a crossface.

Kawato jumped the heels at the bell. He scored a ton of near falls towards the end as he battled with Michinoku. 

– Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens defeated Tomoyuki Oka & Yuji Nagata when Owens pinned Oka with the package piledriver.

This was a hot match with a lot of fast-paced action. 

– War Machine & David Finlay defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask when Rowe pinned Tenzan after hitting Fallout.

This was another solid match with a lot of heat. The finish was interesting as it gives War Machine the advantage heading into the IWGP tag title match at Sakura Genesis.

– Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, Jado & Gedo defeated Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr. when Yano pinned Taichi following a cane shot to the groin.

Yano’s usual antics led to the finish. It was fine, but not as interesting as the last few matches. Suzuki beat up some of the young lions with chairs after the match.

– Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Baretta when Fale pinned Baretta with the grenade.

Baretta looked really good here. It was a good tag team bout overall with solid heat. 

– Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defeated KUSHIDA & Juice Robinson when Naito pinned Robinson following a low blow and the Destino.

Early in the match there was a wild brawl where KUSHIDA did a running missile dropkick onto Takahashi that sent him through the guardrail. This set the tone of the match, as it was all action and by far one of the best matches of the night.

– Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata when Okada pinned Makabe following the Rainmaker.

They had a good, standard tag team match. 

Shibata and Okada had a staredown after the match. As Shibata started to leave, Okada sat down and did Shibata’s pose, mocking him. Shibata didn’t like this one bit, dashing to the ring and kicking Okada square in the back. He went for the penalty kick, but Okada countered with the tombstone. He cut a promo on Shibata before leaving.

– Ryusuke Taguchi, Ricochet & Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI to win the NEVER six-man tag titles when Ricochet pinned BUSHI after hitting a lifting DDT.

This was a long, very good main event that built well and had some great action, especially towards the finish. Tanahashi had it won with the High Fly Flow, but the heels ganged up on him. BUSHI went to mist Ricochet but it hit SANADA instead. After an assist by Taguchi, Ricochet hit the benadryller but BUSHI kicked out. Ricochet finally won it with the lifting DDT.

NJPW Road to Power Struggle results: The junior tag tournament continues

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Road to Power Struggle continued today with a stop at Korakuen Hall. Tag team bouts dominated as usual, hyping the various matches going down at Power Struggle.

Meanwhile, we also saw the semifinals of the Jr. Tag Team Tournament, with Ricochet and David Finlay facing ACH and Taiji Ishimori in the main event. The other semifinal bout had Ryusuke Taguchi and CMLL’s Fuego teaming to take on Roppongi Vice.

Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato

Both guys have filled out compared to earlier this year. Kanemitsu has size, at least compared to Kawato who is pretty tiny. Solid young boy match with a lot of basic back and forth sports. Kanemitsu got the win, submitting Kawato with the Boston crab.

Yoshitatsu & Juice Robinson defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Bone Soldier by DQ

This was on the same level as their worst match of the year candidate a few weeks ago. Devoid of heat, uninteresting wrestling,and a bad finish to boot. Yoshitatsu cut a promo on Bone Soldier and jumped him as the match started. Yujiro worked on Yoshitatsu for a bit, then Juice got the hot tag, which made this match a bit better than the last tag but not by much.

Other than that, there was absolutely no heat for this match. Then Bone Soldier just low blowed Yoshitatsu for the DQ. He put on a full nelson, then tried to choke him, but Robinson made the save. This feud is quickly outpacing Titus O’Neil and Darren Young for worst feud of the year in record fashion.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask defeated Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Angel de Oro & Titan

Standard eight-man tag match. Angel de Oro and Titan looked good when they were in. Tenzan worked with them as well and looked good. Tiger Mask gained the win for his team with the tiger suplex hold on Titan.

Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa & Chase Owens

Another standard match, mostly good action throughout with Ishii getting the win with the brainbuster on Chase Owens, who was wearing some sort of pumpkin face paint. GoD taunted Ishii after the match that sent him in a rage, brawling with Tonga into the crowd.

The roster for January’s Fantasticamania shows are as follows: Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr., Maximo Sexy, Dragon Lee, Titan, Stuka Jr., Blue Panther Jr., Soberano Jr., Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Ephesto, Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Okumura and Raziel.

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks defeated Will Ospreay, Gedo & Kazuchika Okada

Great match, blew away everything on the show up to this point. Your usual great Young Bucks six-man with plenty of cool spots galore, plus Ospreay is one of the best high flyers in the world and he showcased that here.

Omega and Matt were dressed as Ghostbusters while Nick was playing the ghost. Actually pretty amazing outfits, loved it! This was a fun tag match full of the normal spots you’d see whenever The Elite team up. Ospreay was on point with his great offense as well, putting on Nick’s ghost costume and launching off with a corkscrew. The last few minutes of this were great with Ospreay doing a double hurricanrana on the Young Bucks.

Everyone ran in to do some great spots. Ospreay went for the springboard cutter but Omega grabbed him. Matt came in and accidentally superkicked Omega. Ospreay went for the Sasuke Special but Omega grabbed him and the Young Bucks hit the Indytaker on the outside. A triple superkick followed but Gedo broke it up. Omega hit the One Winged Angel on Ospreay and picks up the in.

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma

Solid match. Crowd was into this since Ingobernables are hot as a unit right now. Tanahashi and SANADA had some cool exchanges in preparation for their singles bout next week. Honma was on a hot streak, laying out Naito with a lariat. But BUSHI misted him and Naito rolled him up for the win. Shibata went after EVIL after the match but was laid out with a belt shot and the STO.

Rocky Romero & Baretta defeated Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi in a tournament match

Fuego and Taguchi have such terrific chemistry as a comedy face tag team, it’s actually amazing they’ve never done it until now. Taguchi worked the first half of the match, both on offense and defense. Fuego made the hot tag and did a step up crossbody to the floor.  Romero got in and was running wild until he got derailed with an assisted dropick by Taguchi.

Baretta ran in and did a giant tope to the floor. Taguchi came back with the Dodon but Baretta kicked out. Fuego came in, and after laying out Taguchi on the floor, Romero helped Baretta pin him with the dudebuster/dropkick combo. RPG Vice did tease dissension throughout the match, but were fine after.

ACH & Taiji Ishimori defeated Ricochet & David Finlay in a tournament match

This was fine. Not bad by any means, but I expected more. Also felt pretty short. Some good back and forth wrestling from ACH and Ricochet, some cool dives, but not really much of anything. Crowd was quiet in spots, which hurt the match. ACH and Ishimori won the match, getting the win with their stereo 450 splashes.

That makes it Roppongi Vice vs. ACH and Taiji Ishimori for Power Struggle.

RPG Vice came in after the match. Romero cut a promo in Japanese, then said this is New Japan territory and he’ll send Ishimori and ACH back to NOAH. Ishimori then cut a promo to close out the show.

A good show overall. Tag matches can get a little too same-y at times, but the last three matches were pretty good, especially the six-man.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors finals results: Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are the results for the Best of the Super Juniors 2016 finals, held live this morning in Sendai. A lot of tags fill this card, but there was also some pretty good build towards Dominion, plus we had a stellar main event. Here are the results:

Jay White vs. David Finlay

This was different than their other matches as it had an air of intensity that’s sometimes has lacked in their other bouts. Went by pretty fast. Finlay laid out White with a European uppercut and went to grab him but White caught him in a small package and pinned him.

Yoshitatsu and Captain New Japan vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi

Match was better than you’d think considering who was in here. The crowd helped a lot. Yujiro picked up the win with the Miami Shine. I’m pretty sure this is the first win for Yujiro in 2016. 

Katsuyori Shibata and Juice Robinson vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata

Of course, the focus here was on Nagata and Shibata. Pretty solid action from everyone. Nakanishi actually moved pretty well for once, all things considering. He’s even been doing a crossbody off the top rope as of late. Didn’t do wonders for him here though as he was pinned with the penalty kick.

reDragon and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Roppongi Vice and Tomohiro Ishii

Crowd popped whenever Ishii and Tenzan were in the ring. RPG Vice tried to help out Ishii but Tenzan is still a bit too strong for them. Solid, quick match with reDragon getting the win with the Chasing the Dragon.

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask and Volador Jr vs. Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Kushida

This was really great towards the end. Lots of high flying and cool dives by everyone. Kushida did a dive that wiped out people on the floor, and even Liger and Tiger Mask did crossbodies off the top rope to the floor. Volador and Ricochet did some great looking back and forth in the ring. Ricochet laid him out with a kick and hit the 630 for the win. Quite the spectacle in the last few minutes.

reDragon came to the ring. Fish mentions they never lost the Jr. tag team titles. O’Reilly said they want to challenge for the belts. Roppongi Vice follow suit and challenge. Beretta has a contract and mentions that the contract states that they get a rematch. Ricochet says that they’ll accept both challenges for Dominion in a triple threat match. I guess it’s a newer version of the triple threat tag matches they like to do, so why not? Everything seemed to be settled when RPG Vice jump the champions to boos. reDragon make the save, but the champions come back and do stereo moonsaults that wipe out both challengers.

Satoshi Kojima and Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale and Kenny Omega

Omega brought the broom but discarded it quickly and worked on Elgin for the heat, with Fale working the match as well to keep control. Omega did a great tope con hilo to wipe out Elgin and introduced a ladder for…well, I don’t know what reason but both her and Elgin climbed it. Elgin have Omega a suplex off the ladder. Chase Owens was also out there to distract, and while he did Omega smashed Elgin with the ladder.

Omega tried to go for the One Winged Angel but Elgin countered and powerbombed him through the ladder. The referee saw this but just stood here, no DQ as Elgin gave him another powerbomb for the win. Fun match but mostly just an angle to build towards the Dominion show.

Elgin grabbed the title after the match and motioned for Omega to come get it. Omega got a mic and said the challenge Elgin issue has been accepted. Elgin said the belt would be his as he made his exit.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi and Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Sanada and Bushi

Another wild brawl to start things off. Sanada bring a bat to the ring, which he used here while they brawled on the outside. Mostly a pretty good back and forth match, not as long as the other matches on this tour. Bushi scored another win with the codebreaker off the top rope.

Los Ingobernables try and clear house after the match but Ishii comes for the save. If fails as Bushi mists him. Okada attacks him and tombstones him, pointing at Naito.

Best of the Super Junior Finals: Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

This was of course awesome, one of the best matches in the tournament in terms of drama and selling. Taguchi has a dumb gimmick but is also a very good big match guy and excelled here. Ospreay is already awesome at this stage of the game and will really be something in a few years as he gains more in ring experience.The first few minutes had them feeling things out, a few taunts between one another, etc. Taguchi starts working over Ospreay’s leg to ground him.Ospreay tried for a rainmaker but Taguchi countered into an ankle lock.

Taguchi remained in control, giving Ospreay hip attacks and a giant flying senton to the floor. It’s funny because even though Taguchi is a hometown guy and even carried a flag to the ring representing his hometown a lot of people were rooting for Ospreay. He made a comeback with a hurricanrana and was going for the springboard stunner when Taguchi countered with an ankle lock. They did a long, great sell here and it even included a dodon nearfall. Ospreay finally back back and superkicked Taguchi to the floor. He hit an inverted 450 splash and followed that with the springboard stunner to win the tournament.

After being given the trophy, Ospreay called out Kushida, who was doing commentary. He made it clear he wanted a title match and challenged Kushida for the title. Kushida says sure, he is a champion and wants to see who is the strongest between them. He exits the ring as Ospreay thanks his family and his fans as the streamers go off and he celebrates.

At 23, Will Ospreay becomes the youngest Best of the Super Juniors winner, the first English winner and the fifth gaijin to win the tournament. He has a very bright future ahead of him, that’s for sure!

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Posted on by Bryan Rose

We roll on to day nine of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, as the morning of 5/31 brought us more action, this time from the A Block. Matches held on this day were in Hiroshima:

Bushi vs. David Finlay

Nothing wrong with this, but felt like every young lion match you’ve seen. Makes sense as Finlay is a young lion. This was solid, but patterned in other words. Finlay made a comeback, Bushi cut him off and pinned him with the codebreaker off the top rope.

Rocky Romero vs. Matt Sydal

Good match. Solid work here as well. Romero got the heat at one point by dousing Sydal with what looked like a water bottle and gave him a sliced bread on the floor. They went back to the ring exchange some strikes .Sydal took Romero out with a powerbomb and went for the shooting star press but Romero blocked it, throwing him off. Sydal came back with a rana to the floor and pinned Romero with a shooting star press.

Gedo vs. Kushida

Really good match, best out of all four here. Kushida worked on Gedo’s arm throughout the entire match and came back to it whenever he had the chance. Gedo had a lot of offense and looked tremendous. I think he’s secretly the MVP of this tournament even though there has been a lot great matches without him. Kushida went for the armbar but Gedo countered with a roll up and did some great near falls. Crowd was really into this too. Gedo went for the Gedo Clutch but Kushida kicked out. Kushida sinked in the hoverboard lock again and after rolling around to the middle of the ring Gedo submitted.

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Another good match! There were some pre match shenanigans as Taguchi wanted the ref to pat his crotch area. When he refused, Taguchi took out a banana, because he’s wacky, you see. It’s kind of funny as Taguchi can be a pretty great worker at times, but the comedy stuff is total prelim level. There was a cool spot early where O’Reilly went for the leg sweep but Taguchi jumped, then dropkicked O’Reilly in one swift motion. They exchange leg submissions and went back and forth on another another. Taguchi grabbed the leg again and dropped in elbow, and that caused O’Reilly to eventually submit.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 8
  • Matt Sydal – 8
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 6
  • Kushida – 6
  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Bushi – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • David Finlay – 2

Block B:

  • Ricochet – 6
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Baretta – 4
  • Volador Jr. – 4
  • Tiger Mask – 4
  • Bobby Fish – 4
  • Will Ospreay – 2
  • Chase Owens – 2