Tag: Sanada

NJPW G1 Climax 31 night 10 results: Okada vs. SANADA

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The G1 Climax 31 B Block continued today at Korakuen Hall.

Kazuchika Okada faced SANADA in the main event, while Hirooki Goto took on YOSHI-HASHI in the semi-main. 

Taichi vs. Jeff Cobb, EVIL vs. Tama Tonga, plus Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chase Owens were the other tournament matches today. 

Here are results and a report from the show. 

**********

Recommended matches —

  • Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA
  • Hirooki Goto vs. YOSHI-HASHI
  • Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chase Owens 

Report —

B Block: Chase Owens defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi (10:58)

You have to see this if only for the result. 

They opened with some grappling. After trading holds, Owens hit a dropkick. Tana came back with a crossbody off the second rope. Owens answered with his own crossbody. As Tana went for a flying forearm, Owens hit a dropkick to the left leg to take control of the match. 

Owens continued to attack the left leg with holds and strikes. Tana managed a flying forearm, but Owens cut him off again by going after the leg. Owens hit a short clothesline in the corner and a jewel heist for a near fall. 

Owens went for the package piledriver, but Tana hit a backdrop and sent him to the apron. Tana hit a dragon screw in the ropes, then connected with a slingblade. 

Tana hit a standing High Fly Flow. He went for another High Fly Flow, but Owens got his knees up. Owens used a schoolboy with his feet on the ropes for a two count. Owens used a backslide for another near fall. 

Tana blocked a v-trigger with a palm strike. Tana went to hit the ropes, but Owens hit two more v-triggers to block. Owens hit the package piledriver and pinned Tanahashi. 

Chase Owens pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi clean in the middle. 

Owens draped Tanahashi’s IWGP US belt across the fallen Ace’s chest after the match to set up a future title match. 

NJPW seems to think that the American audience only wants to see Americans holding or challenging for the United States title. I think the Americans would much rather see the best guys and the best matches possible regardless of nationality. No offense intended to the Chase Owens and David Finlays of the world. 

B Block: EVIL (w/Dick Togo) defeated Tama Tonga (w/Jado) (13:47)

We were this close to finally getting a good match out of EVIL. Then the finish happened. 

All four did the too sweet hand gesture before the match to signify that they would be adhering to the Bullet Club code of honor. 

Tonga hit some classic Haku offense early. EVIL rolled outside to collect himself. Togo exposed a turnbuckle and Tonga missed a splash into the steel. Togo tried to interfere, but Jado wandered over to stop him. 

Tonga dodged a charge and EVIL ran into the buckle. Tonga hit a neckbreaker and three dropkicks as he turned the bout in his favor. Tonga whipped EVIL into the exposed buckle. Tonga hit a splash in the corner for a two count. 

EVIL blocked a Tongan Twist with a rake of the eyes and hit a ref-assisted mid kick. EVIL went for a scorpion deathlock. Tonga used a Tongan death grip to block, then used his own scorpion deathlock. EVIL forced a rope break. 

Tonga went up top, but aborted whatever he had planned as EVIL grabbed the referee. EVIL pulled the ref in Tonga’s path and hit a ref-assisted Magic Killer for a two count. EVIL got the scorpion deathlock applied, but Tonga got to the ropes. 

Tonga blocked Everything is EVIL and hit a Tongan Twist for a two count. EVIL blocked a Gun Stun. Tonga blocked a low blow and hit a death valley driver. Tonga hit a top rope splash for a two count. 

Tonga called for the Gun Stun, but the lights went out. When the lights came back on, Togo was choking Tonga with his ligature and the ref was out. Jado used a kendo stick on Togo. 

EVIL hit Everything is EVIL and revived the ref, then covered Tonga for the pin. 

SHO came to the ring after the match for the big reveal that he had turned the lights out. 

B Block: Jeff Cobb defeated Taichi (w/Miho Abe) (15:15)

These guys had a banger. Great stuff. 

Cobb broke cleanly against the ropes after locking up. Cobb threw Taichi to the mat after another lockup. Taichi needed a new plan, so he went after Cobb’s taped left leg with kicks. They fought to the floor and Taichi sent Cobb into the barricade and choked him with camera cables. 

Back inside, Cobb blocked a gamengiri in the corner and launched Taichi across the ring with a throw. Cobb stayed on offense and drove Taichi into the corner pads, just ragdoll-ing him around the ring. Taichi sold his back. Taichi came back with a high kick, then a gamengiri in the corner. 

Taichi removed his trousers. Cobb hit a dropkick for a two count. Taichi hit an enzuigiri, then hit a series of mid kicks to the chest. Cobb dared him to fire more kicks, but Taichi kicked his leg out of his leg instead. 

Cobb blocked an axe bomber and hit his own clothesline. Cobb hit a spin cycle and a standing moonsault for a pair of near falls. Taichi blocked a Tour of the Islands. His back gave out as he went for a backdrop suplex, selling the damage of the match. 

Taichi blocked another attempt at Tour of the Islands with an illegal choke, then hit his backdrop suplex for a near fall. Cobb blocked a thrust kick and hit a thrust kick. Taichi hit a gamengiri and used a Gedo clutch for a near fall. 

Taichi went for Black Mephisto. Cobb blocked and hit strikes to the lower back. Cobb dropped Taichi with a forearm strike. Taichi blocked Tour of the Islands with an axe bomber. Cobb avoided Black Mephisto and another high kick and hit a German. 

Cobb then finally connected with Tour of the Islands and got the win. 

B Block: Hirooki Goto defeated YOSHI-HASHI (16:57)

This was a great brawl. Great intensity from both guys. The crowd was alive tonight which helped greatly. 

They had a striking battle at the outset. They brawled in the ring, then brawled to the floor. YH had the upper hand after a neckbreaker on the floor. Goto made it back in after a countout tease. 

YH remained in control until Goto hit a lariat to cut him off. YH avoided a misdirection lariat, but Goto hit a throw and an ushigoroshi to get a near fall. Goto hit an inverted GTR, but YH kicked out. Goto went for a standard GTR, but YH reversed into Goto’s own Shouten Kai move. 

They exchanged strikes. YH fired off chops. Goto threw a kick, but YH caught it and hit a headbutt. YH hit double knees for a near fall. YH hit a dragon suplex. Goto no-sold, but YH hit him with a thrust kick and a kumagoroshi for a two count. 

YH used a sleeper at the 15 minute mark. Goto blocked Kharma and hit a headbutt. After a double down, Goto hit a GYW and a GTR for the pin. 

B Block: Kazuchika Okada defeated SANADA (29:14)

A great main event to cap what was probably the best night of the tournament so far. 

They did some basic mat wrestling. Headlock takeovers, head scissor escapes and the like. Okada broke cleanly against the ropes after teasing a strike. Okada hit a big boot and an elbow drop. SANADA hit a dropkick five minutes in. 

Okada avoided the paradise lock on the first attempt. SANADA used a frankensteiner to set up a second attempt and got the paradise lock on. SANADA broke it with a dropkick and got a two count. SANADA used a chinlock, Okada forced a rope break. 

SANADA hammered at Okada’s neck with elbows. He hit a snap suplex for a two count as Okada sold his back. SANADA hit a back elbow, but missed a standing moonsault. Okada hit a running back elbow. 

Okada hit a running back elbow in the corner, then a DDT out of the corner for a two count. SANADA blocked a tombstone attempt, but Okada hit a neckbreaker. Okada used a neck tie with SANADA’s own arms. SANADA forced a break at the 10 minute call. 

Okada hit a sliding dropkick. SANADA avoided a senton and Okada sold his back again. SANADA hit a basement dropkick to the left knee and kipped up. SANADA hit an arm drag, a back breaker and a plancha. 

Okada sent SANADA from a seated position on the top rope to the floor with a dropkick, then hit a DDT on the floor. SANADA beat the count back in at 18. Okada used the Money Clip. SANADA broke it quickly. Okada avoided a moonsault. SANADA landed on his feet and sold his right knee giving out on landing. 

Okada hit a knee breaker and continued to go after the bad leg. Okada used the Money Clip again. After a long submission tease, SANADA fought to the ropes for a break. 

Okada hit a slam and an elbow off the top. He hit his Rainmaker pose. SANADA ducked a Rainmaker and used Skull End. Okada immediately got out of the hold, but SANADA hit a TKO for a two count. 

SANADA used a spinning Skull End and applied a body scissors with it on the mat at 20 minutes. SANADA gave up the hold as he always does against Okada. It’s a total logic break when he does that. SANADA went for a moonsault. Okada rolled out of the way and SANADA landed and sold his knee. 

SANADA used a Destino to set up Skull End with the body scissors again. Okada made the ropes after teasing tapping out. 

Okada avoided a magic screw. SANADA avoided a Rainmaker, but Okada hit his dropkick. SANADA hit a pop-up TKO and a moonsault. Okada kicked out at two. We heard the 25 minute call. 

Okada used the threat of an air raid crash to use his sit-down cradle for a near fall. Okada hit a spinning tombstone into a double down. They traded strikes at the 27 minute call. SANADA no-sold a shotgun dropkick. Okada hit a German. SANADA used an O’Connor roll for a near fall at 28 minutes. 

SANADA blocked the landslide and got Skull End again. Okada escaped. SANADA ducked a Rainmaker. Okada hit the landslide, then hit a Rainmaker. Okada covered for the pin. 

Each gave the other a thumbs up after the match. 

**********

Here is the lineup for the next show: 

G1 Climax 31 night 11, Thursday, October 7, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • A Block: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Great-O-Khan
  • A Block: Shingo Takagi vs. Toru Yano
  • A Block: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Yujiro Takahashi
  • A Block: Kota Ibushi vs. Tanga Loa
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA
  • El Desperado vs. Ryohei Oiwa 

NJPW G1 Climax 31 night eight results: Tanahashi vs. SANADA

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The G1 Climax 31 B Block continued today at Hamamatsu Arena.

Hiroshi Tanahashi faced SANADA in the main event, while Kazuchika Okada took on Hirooki Goto in the semi-main. 

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Taichi, EVIL vs. Chase Owens, plus Jeff Cobb vs. Tama Tonga were the other tournament matches today. 

Yoshinobu Kanemaru faced Ryohei Oiwa in the non-tournament opener. 

Here are results and a report from the show. 

**********

Recommended matches —

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA

Report —

Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Ryohei Oiwa (7:36)

Small sample size, but I think Oiwa is the better of the two Young Lions in this class. 

Oiwa attacked Kanemaru before the opening bell to get this show started off right. Oiwa used a side headlock. Kanemaru sent Oiwa to the floor and worked over his legs to set up the finish. 

Back inside, Kanemaru continued the leg work. Oiwa tried a belly-to-belly, but Kanemaru blocked with a face rake. Oiwa hit a great dropkick and tried to get Kanemaru over for a crab, but Kanemaru blocked. 

Kanemaru hit his own dropkick, then used a single-leg crab. He transitioned to a figure four for the submission. 

B Block: Jeff Cobb defeated Tama Tonga (w/Jado) (12:47)

Once they got into teasing finishers this was very good. A very good closing stretch. 

The first half of the match was all Cobb, to the point where it dragged a bit. I always talk about the Ricky Steamboat rule of fighting from underneath, where the underdog can’t let the aggressor hit more than two consecutive moves without throwing in a hope spot. I think that applied here.

Cobb quickly established the advantage with a belly-to-belly throw. Tonga rolled outside. Cobb went out after him and pounded on his lower back with strikes. Back in the ring, Cobb hit a stalling vertical suplex for an early near fall. 

Cobb used a waistlock on the mat and some combination strikes in the corner. Tonga avoided a pillar to post and hit a dropkick, then guillotine grip to drop Cobb with a DDT. Tonga hit a neckbreaker. 

Cobb blocked a splash in the corner and tried his own, but Tonga escaped and then hit his splash. Tonga hit a death valley driver for a two count. Cobb hit a backdrop out of a powerbomb attempt and followed with a dropkick. 

Cobb hit a standing moonsault. Tonga blocked Tour of the Islands and hit a Tongan Twist and a frog splash for a two count. 

Cobb blocked a Gun Stun. They traded superkicks. Cobb blocked another Gun Stun attempt and hit a release German, then followed with Tour of the Islands for the pin. 

B Block: EVIL defeated Chase Owens (12:38)

EVIL can’t have a good match with this gimmick and these patterned matches. It’s not possible. 

EVIL asked Owens to lay down for him. Owens declined and slapped EVIL across the face. So the match was on, unfortunately. 

Owens made a point of telling Togo not to get involved, but he did. They did all the Bullet Club EVIL spots. EVIL bumped the ring announcer. They exposed a turnbuckle. Togo choked Owens with his ligature while EVIL took the referee. 

Togo took the ref, EVIL hit a low blow and Everything is EVIL for the pin. 

B Block: YOSHI-HASHI defeated Taichi (w/Miho Abe) (22:26)

They tried to have an intense brawl as the sparse crowd politely sat there in silence. This was a struggle. People like YOSHI-HASHI. The NEVER Six-Man titles have become the most prestigious titles in wrestling while he has held them. Long singles matches are not his strength.

Taichi hit a forearm strike before the bell and they brawled to the floor. Taichi threw the referee aside and taunted YH with his own title belt. Both used the barricade and hit strikes on the floor. 

YH fought to the ropes out of a stretch plum from Taichi. YH ducked an axe bomber and hit a dragon suplex. YH hit a lariat and the kumagoroshi for a near fall. 

YH escaped Black Mephisto and got the butterfly lock applied. He transitioned to a sleeper as Taichi tried to fight to the ropes. Taichi hit a backdrop suplex to break the hold as the crowd finally woke up near the 20 minute call.

Taichi hit a huge gamengiri. YH blocked Black Mephisto and hit a destroyer for a two count. YH blocked a high kick and hit a lariat. YH then hit Kharma for the pin. 

B Block: Kazuchika Okada defeated Hirooki Goto (18:06)

Okada was excellent here. He worked more heelish than he normally does, using some subtle facial expressions and things of that nature. He also did a great job of selling the cumulative damage of the tournament to his arms and neck. The lack of crowd reaction hurt this match too, though.

Okada broke cleanly in the ropes after the first lockup. Goto did not break cleanly against the ropes on the second lockup. They did some chain wrestling. Goto hit a clothesline, sending Okada to the floor. Goto threw Okada right back in. 

Goto used a chinlock. Okada hit a flapjack five minutes in. Okada sent Goto into the barricade and hit a DDT on the floor for a countout tease. Back in, Okada hit a sliding dropkick. They exchanged strikes. Goto ducked a boot and hit a lariat. Goto hit his heel kick in the corner and bulldog at the 10 minute call. 

They brawled to the floor as the niceties were dispensed with. Back inside, Okada hit a dropkick. Okada used the Money Clip, but Goto forced a rope break. Goto avoided a top rope elbow attempt and a shotgun dropkick attempt. Goto hit a neckbreaker for a two count 15 minutes in. 

Goto hit a lariat, a mid kick and an ushigoroshi for a near fall. Okada blocked a GTR and hit a clothesline into a double down. Goto ducked a Rainmaker, but ran into an Okada dropkick. 

Okada hit a tombstone. Goto ducked another Rainmaker attempt and used a leg sweep for a two count. Okada escaped an ushigoroshi attempt. Goto blocked a spinning Rainmaker and hit a reverse GTR. 

Okada ducked a spinning lariat, hit a backdrop, then sat down into a cradle and got the flash pin. 

B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA (25:35)

This was a great main event. The story of the bout was that they were evenly matched. Neither held a significant advantage for any length of time. One would attack the legs, the other would counter attack the legs. 

Tanahashi had the slight edge in the opening mat wrestling sequence. Tana tried the paradise lock, but he couldn’t figure it out and SANADA but Tana in the hold instead. SANADA played some air guitar. 

SANADA used a head scissors on the mat, but Tana rolled to the ropes. Tana fired up and hit the first real strikes of the match at the 10 minute call. Tana hit a flying forearm, a scoop slam and a somersault senton for a two count. 

SANADA reversed a whip into the corner, but Tana fired out with a basement dropkick to the knee. SANADA hit a dropkick to the knee. They traded dragon screws. Both ended up going for a dragon screw at the same time. They agreed to put each other down, but SANADA didn’t keep his promise and hit another dragon screw. 

SANADA hit a backbreaker and a plancha. Tana caught SANADA coming back into the ring and hit a dropkick to the right leg and two dragon screws in the ropes. Tana fought for the Texas Clover Hold, but SANADA got to the ropes. Tana hit another dragon screw instead. 

SANADA tried to block a slingblade with a rana, but Tana blocked the rana to set up the Texas Clover Hold. This was a great spot. SANADA made the ropes for a break. Tanahashi hit a plancha. Tanahashi was really trying to get the crowd into it, putting his hand to his ear and clapping. 

Tana blocked a magic screw attempt and hit two twist and shouts, but SANADA held on and got the magic screw. SANADA used a TKO threat to set up Skull End, but Tana reversed into his own dragon sleeper. SANADA kicked out of the hold. 

SANADA hit a springboard dropkick at the 20 minute call. SANADA hit the TKO for a two count. SANADA rolled through on a moonsault attempt. They stumbled as SANADA set up a spinning Skull End. Tana hit another twist and shout. 

Tanahashi hit slingblade for a near fall. Tana hit a standing High Fly Flow. He tried a standard High Fly Flow, but SANADA got his knees up. SANADA tried a moonsault, but Tana got his knees up. 

They traded forearms. Tana hit a slap. SANADA used an O’Connor roll for a two count. Tana used an O’Connor roll to hit a dragon suplex into a bridge for a two count. 

Tana then went back up top and hit a High Fly Flow to get the victory. 

**********

Here is the lineup for the next show: 

G1 Climax 31 night nine, Sunday, Ocotber 3, 3 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • A Block: Shingo Takagi vs. Kota Ibushi
  • A Block: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • A Block: Tanga Loa vs. Yujiro Takahashi
  • A Block: KENTA vs. Great-O-Khan
  • BUSHI vs. Toru Yano
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kosei Fujita

NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka night two results: Naito vs. Sabre

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The NJPW Summer Struggle tour continued today with the second of two straight nights in Osaka and the second of four consecutive days with major NJPW shows. 

Before they face off for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on Sunday at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, Tetsuya Naito faced Zack Sabre Jr.  in the main event of today’s show, while their partners SANADA and Taichi squared off in the semi-main. 

Sabre and SANADA went to a draw yesterday following a double pin, while Taichi beat Naito in Thursday’s main event. 

Below are results and a report on today’s show. 

Recommended matches —

  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Report —

Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado defeated Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero (10:10)

Lots of butt comedy here in this opener. 

Taguchi threatened to drop his pants a lot early on. He pinned Ishimori while sitting on his face with hit tights pulled down last week. Goto brought a whistle into the ring to serve as Taguchi and Romero’s coach. 

First Taguchi, then Romero were cut off and worked over. This built to a Goto hot tag. Everyone hopped in for a big move. 

Taguchi and Jado ended up legal for the closing stretch. Taguchi had Jado in the ankle lock. ELP jumped in and hit Taguchi with Sudden Death, then Jado covered and pinned Taguchi. 

**********

ELP hit Romero with Sudden Death after the match.

**********

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano defeated KENTA, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (w/Dick Togo) (12:29)

The post-match was significantly better than the match. KENTA and Tanahashi’s exchanges here were excellent, though.

KENTA teased starting off with Tanahashi, then immediately tagged out. 

Yujiro and Yano tagged in. Yano produced a pair of handcuffs and tried to cuff Yujiro to the ropes. The ref was shoved down and kind of rolled around on the mat for a while, not sure whether to sell this as a long ref bump or not. Bullet Club turned this into a ringside brawl and cut Yano off. 

Togo interfered and threw Yano into the barricade. EVIL made a cover, but Ishii and Tana saved. Bullet Club did their human centipede cobra twist spot. EVIL covered again, Tana and Ishii saved again. EVIL sent Yano into an exposed buckle. 

Yano came back with an inverted atomic drop on KENTA and tagged Tana. Tana hit a baseball slide to Togo. Tana hit a somersault senton. Tana and KENTA traded strikes. KENTA blocked a slingblade with a kitchen sink. EVIL tagged in and tried a mid kick. Tana caught the kick and hit a dragon screw. 

Ishii tagged in. Togo and Yano got involved, tripping Ishii and EVIL from the floor. EVIL got whipped into the exposed buckle and tagged out. Bullet Club tripled up on Ishii. Tana and Yano made the save after Yujiro fisherman buster. 

KENTA took the referee. Yujiro tried a cane strike, but Yano saved. KENTA took out Yano. Tana took KENTA out. EVIL took Tana out. Ishii took EVIL out with a backdrop suplex. 

Tanahashi hit Yujiro with slingblade, then Ishii followed up with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster for the pin. 

**********

After the match, Ishii went after EVIL on the floor. Togo attacked Ishii with a ligature and choked him out. EVIL then used a chair on Ishii’s right knee. Tana saved Ishii from more chair shots, but KENTA attacked from behind and Ishii and Tanahashi were left laying. 

**********

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan defeated Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI (12:02)

Okada attacked Cobb before the bell yesterday, so Cobb returned the favor here. Okada reversed a whip and hit a back elbow, then hit a DDT. YH tagged in and soon found himself beaten down by Cobb and O-Khan. 

YH came back with a heel kick to O-Khan. Okada tagged in and hit O-Khan with a back elbow and a flapjack. O-Khan countered with a backbreaker and tagged out. Cobb hit Okada with a running powerslam for a two count. 

Cobb hit a massive dropkick to Okada, then mocked the Rainmaker pose. Okada blocked a splash in the corner and hit an air raid crash neckbreaker. YH tagged in and hit a headhunter to Cobb. He hit a second headhunter off the top for a near fall. 

Cobb hit spin cycle for a two count. O-Khan entered for a double team and a pump kick into a Cobb vertical suplex to YH. Okada ran in and tried a dropkick, but Cobb plucked him out of the air. Okada blocked Tour of the Islands, but Cobb hit a throw to Okada. 

YH hit a lariat for a near fall on Cobb. He tried Kharma, but Cobb blocked, then hit Tour of the Islands and pinned YH. 

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI defeated Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato (12:35)

This was one of Honma’s better outings in recent years. 

Honma and Shingo began. Honma and Wato used an effective double team to score a shoulder tackle takedown. Wato tagged in and got a one count on Shingo after a kick. 

Wato fell victim to a double team as LIJ went to work on him. Wato came back with a crucifix bomb and a dreamcast to Shingo, then tagged Honma. Honma hit Shingo with a kokeshi. Honma fought for a suplex and finally got it for a two count on Shingo. 

Shingo answered with a sliding lariat for a two count. Honma fought off Last of the Dragon. Wato entered for a high kick. Honma hit a lariat for a two count. Honma pulled his knee pad down and teased a Kamigoye, but hit a kokeshi instead for another near fall on the champion. 

Honma went up top. BUSHI stopped him before a diving kokeshi attempt. Shingo hit a superplex. BUSHI came in for an assisted backstabber. Shingo covered, Wato saved. Wato and BUSHI fought to the floor. 

Honma and Shingo exchanged strikes. Honma hit two headbutts. Shingo no-sold a kokeshi and hit a Pumping Bomber for a two count. 

Shingo then hit Last of the Dragon and scored the pin. 

SANADA defeated Taichi (23:19)

There’s a way to slowly build a match when you’re going to go for a long time that doesn’t involve not doing anything for the first ten minutes. This was the problem I had with the main event of yesterday’s show as well. Good closing stretch, very dull until that point. 

They spent the first three-plus minutes of the match just flexing their pecs. Referee Red Shoes eventually declared SANADA the winner of the pec pop challenge based on fan response. 

Taichi was enraged and choked SANADA. Taichi locked SANADA over the bottom rope with his own paradise lock, then broke it with a dropkick to the floor. Taichi sent SANADA into the barricade and choked him with a camera cable. Back inside, Taichi continued with illegal chokes. 

Taichi used a cobra twist. SANADA blocked a last ride and hit a backdrop and a dropkick to the leg. SANADA hit a leapfrog dropkick at the 10 minute call. Taichi avoided a plancha and a springboard dropkick. SANADA used the paradise lock and broke it with a dropkick. 

Taichi hit a gamengiri out of a standing switch. He maintained the advantage with clotheslines. SANADA blocked two axe bomber attempts. Taichi hit a high kick. SANADA answered with a TKO for a two count.

They traded Kawada kicks. They exchanged strikes. SANADA used forearms, while Taichi used leg kicks. SANADA hit a rolling elbow and a tiger driver. Taichi kicked out at one. Taichi hit a backdrop suplex. Both popped up, then both dropped to the mat to sell in a double down. 

Taichi was first up. He removed his trousers. SANADA blocked a high kick and hit a dropkick. Taichi hit a chokeslam for a two count. SANADA blocked a high kick and used a moonsault to set up Skull End. Taichi slid out immediately. SANADA got back to the hold. Taichi escaped again. 

SANADA got Skull End on for a third time, this time with a body scissors on the mat at the 20 minute mark. SANADA gave up the hold and hit a moonsault to the back. He flipped Taichi over and tried another moonsault, but Taichi got his knees up. 

They traded kicks. Taichi hit an axe bomber and a gamengiri, then hit last ride for a two count. 

SANADA escaped Black Mephisto and tried an O’Connor roll. Taichi reversed the roll into a Koji Clutch for two, then SANADA reversed that into an O’Connor bridge for the pin. 

Tetsuya Naito defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (25:01)

This was an excellent match. Naito took the bulk of the offense and looked dominant in victory, the story being that Sabre’s leg was injured yesterday against SANADA and will still be injured Sunday at the Tokyo Dome. 

Naito would tease locking up with Sabre, then kick him and send him to the floor. This happened several times. Naito then led Sabre on a chase around the ring as he was in full Naito mode tonight. 

Naito went after Sabre’s taped left leg with kicks and a deathlock. Sabre avoided a basement dropkick to the bad leg and used a neck twist. Sabre stood on Naito’s back and neck. Naito fired off a big overhand chop. They exchanged strikes. Naito hit an inverted atomic drop and a dropkick to the leg at the 10 minute mark. 

The pace picked up as Naito continued going after Sabre’s left leg. Naito’s attack became two-pronged as he also began to soften up Sabre’s neck with back elbows. Naito got caught in a body scissors as he tried to bar Sabre’s knee. Sabre forced a break. 

Sabre used a neck twist and a full nelson. A nice exchange saw Naito hit another dropkick to the leg and use a cross kneelock. Sabre blocked a flying forearm and used a guillotine. Naito backed him into the corner to break the hold. 

Sabre hit a swing DDT out of the corner and went back to the guillotine. He switched to a triangle choke, but Naito forced a break. They traded strikes to the chest, but Naito went right back to kicking at the leg. Naito hit a swing DDT and a top rope frankensteiner. Naito hit a step-up enzuigiri. Sabre used a sleeper. Naito quickly escaped the hold. Sabre used another neck twist 20 minutes in.

Sabre used a dragon sleeper and trapped the arms as well. Naito got back to his feet as Sabre kept the dragon sleeper applied. Naito avoided a Zack Driver and kicked the leg again. Naito hit a sliding dropkick to the leg. Naito hit Esperanza for a near fall. 

Naito hit Destino, but Sabre kicked out. Naito went for a Michinoku driver, but Sabre blocked and hit a dragon suplex. Naito hit an enzuigiri. Sabre answered with an immediate PK into a double down. 

Naito hit Valentia, then hit another Destino for the victory. 

**********

SANADA and Taichi came to the ring after the match. Taichi helped Sabre to the back. 

Naito cut a promo to send the fans home happy. 

**********

Here are the lineups for the next two days:

NJPW Summer Struggle in Nagoya, Saturday, July 24, 4 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL
  • Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
  • Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
  • Robbie Eagles, SHO & YOH vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI

NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, Sunday, July 25, 3 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tetsuya Naito & SANADA (c) vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. Robbie Eagles
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (c) vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Pre-show New Japan Ranbo for the provisional KOPW 2021 

NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka night one results: Naito vs. Taichi

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The NJPW Summer Struggle tour continued today with the first of two straight nights in Osaka and the first of four consecutive days with major NJPW shows. 

Before they face off for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on Sunday at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, Tetsuya Naito faced Taichi in the main event of today’s show, while their partners SANADA and Zack Sabre Jr. squared off in the semi-main. 

The pairings will be reversed on tomorrow’s show, as Naito will face Sabre in the main event, while SANADA and Taichi will be the semi-main. 

Below are results and a report on today’s show. 

Recommended matches —

  • Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan vs. Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto 
  • SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Taichi vs. Tetsuya Naito

Report —

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI defeated Robbie Eagles, SHO & YOH (12:20)

There was some crisp wrestling here. There was also a ref bump and some questionable booking. Eagles is challenging for the title on Sunday. Frankly, he needs all the help he can get to look like a credible opponent. There’s no reason Eagles shouldn’t have pinned Kanemaru or DOUKI.

Desperado and Eagles started off with a nice chain wrestling sequence. YOH and DOUKI tagged in. SHO got a tag and Roppongi 3K hit DOUKI with some tandem offense. Desperado and Kanemaru interfered from the floor to help cut SHO off. The Suzuki-gun trio then went to work on SHO. 

SHO eventually made a comeback with a spear to DOUKI and a suplex to Kanemaru. Desperado and Eagles tagged in for another exchange. Eagles hit two meteoras and used a jackknife cover for a near fall. 

Desperado avoided a 450 to the legs and hit a spinebuster. Desperado got Numero Dos applied. Eagles fought to the ropes to force a break.They trades trikes into a double down. YOH got a hot tag and hit a flying forearm to Desperado for a near fall. Everyone jumped in for a big move. 

YOH avoided Pinche Loco and hit a falcon arrow for a two count. Desperado blocked Direct Drive by shoving YOH into the referee for a ref bump here in the opener. 

Desperado followed up with Pinche Loco and pinned YOH. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated KENTA, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (w/Dick Togo) (12:39)

Tanahashi and YOSHI-HASHI were the stars of this match. 

Bullet Club immediately cut Ishii off after interference from Togo and spent the first five minutes working him over. 

YH got a tag and showed great fire as he went after EVIL. KENTA tagged in and briefly cut YH off. YH hit a kick and managed a tag to Tana. Tana used a dragon screw. He tried for his Texas Clover Hold, but KENTA small packaged him for a two count. 

KENTA hit a clothesline off the top rope for another near fall. KENTA and Tana traded strikes and did a simultaneous knockout spot. Yujiro tagged in for a kick and a lariat for a two count. Tana avoided a fisherman buster, but Yujiro hit an inverted DDT for two. 

Yujiro took the referee. KENTA jumped in with a chair. Ishii knocked the chair back into KENTA. KENTA took a bump and rolled outside. YH took out Togo on the apron. Yujiro shoved the ref, so we had our second ref bump in as many matches tonight. 

Tana then hit a slingblade and High Fly Flow for the pin. 

Ishii used a kick to the ropes to low blow EVIL and Togo after the match. 

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan defeated Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto (10:05)

This was a fun sprint. 

Okada and Goto attacked before the bell. Okada still had his entrance gear on as he went after Cobb with a back elbow. Cobb overcame the attack and powered Okada to the floor and into the barricade. 

O-Khan got a tag and went to work on Okada. O-Khan knocked Goto off the apron. Okada tried for a tag but Goto wasn’t there. O-Khan used Mongolian chops on Okada. Cobb and O-Khan traded tags as they worked Okada over. 

Okada came back with a flapjack on O-Khan. Goto tagged in and hit a lariat for a two count. O-Khan blocked an ushigoroshi and hit his own version of the GTR. Cobb tagged in and ran across the ring with Goto, hitting a huge backdrop. 

O-Khan and Cob hit tandem thrust kicks to Goto. Okada saved as Cobb made a cover. Okada and Cobb traded dropkicks. Okada rolled to the floor to sell Cobb’s impressive dropkick. 

Cobb avoided two Goto lariats and a GTR attempt, then hoisted Goto up for a Tour of the Islands and the pin. 

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI defeated Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato (10:30)

This was a quick showcase for Shingo as it should have been. 

BUSHI and Wato began with a cool lucha sequence. Shingo and Honma tagged in. Shingo teased a clean break in the ropes, but Honma blocked an attempted strike. Shingo missed a senton. 

Honma used a bulldog, then missed a kokeshi. Shingo hit a series of elbows. BUSHI tagged in for a missile dropkick. Honma hit a double DDT and tagged out. 

Wato hit a springboard uppercut forearm and a tornillo to BUSHI. He followed with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a near fall. BUSHI managed a tag. Shingo hit a back suplex for two as Honma saved for Wato. 

Honma hit a kokeshi to Shingo. Honma and Wato doubled up on Shingo, but Shingo hit a double lariat. Shingo hit noshigami for a two count on Wato. Wato ducked a Pumping Bomber and used two quick cradles for near falls. That was a nice callback as Shingo pinned Wato with a Pumping Bomber last time they wrestled. 

Shingo ducked a kick, hit a lariat, then followed with another Pumping Bomber for the pin. 

SANADA & Zack Sabre Jr. wrestled to a draw following a double pin (24:21)

This was a total Zack Sabre Jr. match with a unique finish. I enjoy a long technical match, but the crowd was not into this most of the way.

They wrestled on the mat for the first eight minutes. Sabre used a head scissors on the mat. SANADA used a body scissors. Sabre tried a variety of techniques to break the hold, but was thwarted at every turn. 

Sabre finally found an escape and used an ankle lock. SANADA sent Sabre outside and attacked his left leg with a kick over the barricade. Back inside, Sabre used a kick and went after SANADA’s left arm. Sabre then used a kick over the barricade on the bad arm. 

Back in, Sabre continued using a variety of holds on the left arm. SANADA finally sent Sabre outside by kicking out of a hammerlock and used a plancha. Sabre blocked a TKO. SANADA avoided a kick to the arm and hit a standing moonsault for two. 

Sabre kept going for kicks to the left arm in between holds. SANADA avoided the kicks and hit a dragon screw. Sabre got his knees up on a moonsault attempt and used an armbar, but SANADA forced a rope break. 

Sabre finally hit a kick to the arm at the 20 minute call. SANADA answered with an immediate dragon screw in the ropes. SANADA used a figure four, but Sabre forced an immediate rope break. 

They traded uppercut forearms. SANADA avoided a Zack Driver. Sabre avoided Skull End and reversed an O’Connor roll for a near fall. They traded pinning combinations. SANADA caught a PK and hit a dragon screw to the damaged leg. 

SANADA hit a moonsault. He went for a figure four. Sabre tried to reverse into a European clutch. SANADA bridged with Sabre in the clutch position and elevated Sabre’s shoulders above his head to the mat. Red Shoes then counted a double pin. 

The two argued over who won after the bell, then traded small packages and cradles before the ring attendants broke them up. 

Taichi defeated Tetsuya Naito (26:42)

The second half of this was very good. The first half was kind of slow and plodding. 

Naito sent Taichi outside with a sliding dropkick. Taichi bumped into the barricade and took nearly the full 20 count to get back in. Naito began going after Taichi’s neck with knee strikes. Taichi came back with a gamengiri.

Taichi sent Naito outside and choked him with a camera cable. Back inside, Taichi continued choking Naito. Taichi hit a series of kicks to Naito’s back. Naito asked for more, then fired up with strikes at the 10 minute call. 

Naito avoided a chokeslam and hit a neckbreaker. Naito hit a back elbow and a basement dropkick to the back. He followed with the combinacion cabron. Naito hit another neckbreaker and used a crucifix hold. Taichi forced a break. 

Taichi reversed a whip and hit a hook kick. Taichi hit a series of short kicks. Naito fired back with forearms. They traded kicks and forearms. Taichi took Naito’s legs out with a kick. Naito fired up and hit a series of back elbows in the corner at the 15 minute mark. 

Taichi blocked one attempt at a top rope frankensteiner, but Naito eventually hit it. Taichi no-sold and hit a gamengiri into a double down. Naito ducked one axe bomber, but Taichi hit it on the rebound. 

Taichi used the Seitei Jujiro. They did a long submission tease, but Taichi gave up the hold and used a lateral press for a near fall. Naito blocked two last ride attempts and hit a swing DDT. He followed with a top rope frankensteiner. 

Taichi blocked Destino and hit an Alabama slam. Taichi removed his trousers. Naito hit a one-legged dropkick and Destino for a two count. Taichi blocked a second Destino. Naito hit an enzuigiri. Taichi blocked an Esperanza.

Naito avoided another Alabama slam and turned it into a piledriver for a near fall. Naito hit Valentia. Naito blocked another Destino attempt and reversed into Black Mephisto for a near fall. Naito blocked a backdrop suplex. They traded strikes. 

Taichi hit an elbow strike out of a three point stance. He followed with a superkick and a second Black Mephisto for the pin. 

**********

Sabre and SANADA came to the ring after the match. Sabre said he and SANADA aren’t done yet, but he’s concentrating on Naito. He said he’ll see Naito tomorrow and they’ll have some fun. 

Taichi mocked Naito’s traditional post-match promo as he addressed the crowd to close the show. 

**********

Here are the lineups for the next three days:

NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka night two, Friday, July 23, 1 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • SANADA vs. Taichi
  • Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
  • Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. KENTA, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado

NJPW Summer Struggle in Nagoya, Saturday, July 24, 4 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL
  • Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
  • Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
  • Robbie Eagles, SHO & YOH vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI

NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, Sunday, July 25, 3 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tetsuya Naito & SANADA (c) vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. Robbie Eagles
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (c) vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Pre-show New Japan Ranbo for the provisional KOPW 2021 

New champions crowned at NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo

Posted on by Ethan Renner

New champions were crowned on night two of NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo. 

Tetsuya Naito and SANADA defeated Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. in the main event of today’s show to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles. Following a battle of nearly 37 minutes, Naito pinned Sabre after hitting Destino. 

The story of the match was Naito overcoming Sabre and Taichi working over his left arm, while Naito and SANADA’s offense focused on softening up Sabre’s neck to allow Naito to hit Destino. Sabre kicked out of one earlier Destino, but the second was enough to put him away. 

The win marks Naito and SANADA’s first reign as a duo. Naito previously held the IWGP Heavyweight Tag titles with Yujiro Takahashi in 2010. SANADA is now a three-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. He had two prior reigns with EVIL. 

Taichi and Sabre’s second reign with the titles came to an end after 41 days. They defeated Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa to win the titles at a Road to Dominion event on June 1 in Tokyo. 

Naito, SANADA, Taichi and Sabre faced off backstage in the post-match comments following the event. Taichi and Sabre proposed that an immediate rematch take place at Wrestle Grand Slam on Sunday, July 25. Naito and SANADA appeared to agree, but NJPW has yet to make the match official.

A bevy of official match announcements for Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome should be made imminently. Matches teased for the event include Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA, Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb, Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL, El Desperado defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against Robbie Eagles, plus Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi and Rocky Romero for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles. 

Already announced for the Tokyo Dome are Shingo Takagi defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi, plus a pre-show New Japan Ranbo for the provisional KOPW 2021 title.

NJPW Summer Struggle night two live results: IWGP Tag title match

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships are on the line today on night two of NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo. 

Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. (Dangerous Tekkers) will defend the titles against Los Ingobernables de Japon’s Tetsuya Naito and SANADA in the main event. 

In the semi-main, Shingo Takagi will face Master Wato in a singles match. This was changed from Shingo and BUSHI vs. Wato and Kota Ibushi after Ibushi was pulled from his second consecutive event folowing side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine. Ibushi will challenge Shingo for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome on July 25. 

Kazuchika Okada and YOH will face United Empire’s Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan. Cobb and O-Khan beat Okada and SHO on night one of Summer Struggle in Sapporo. 

Three more tag matches fill out the undercard. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yota Tsuji will take on KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero will face the Bullet Club trio of EVIL, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo, plus SHO & Yuya Uemura will take on El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the opener. 

Our live coverage begins at 1 a.m. Eastern time. 

**********

Hiromu Takahashi began the show with a promo. He previewed the card. 

**********

El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated SHO & Yuya Uemura (12:03)

Kanemaru and Uemura worked the bulk of this fine opener. Desperado was in a long main event yesterday, so I’m sure welcomed the rest. 

Kanemaru is technically very good, Uemura is one of the best technical wrestlers in the company, but there was no storyline reason for this match. 

Kanemaru and Uemura began. Uemura got some shine, but was quickly cut off. Kanemaru and Desperado worked him over. 

SHO got a tag. SHO used a cross armbreaker. Kanemaru and Desperado tried a double team, but SHO answered with a double spear. 

Uemura got a hot tag. He used a flying forearm and a full crab on Kanemaru. Desperado saved for Kanemaru. Uemura tried a double overhook suplex, but Kanemaru blocked. 

Kanemaru hit a dropkick. Desperado and Kanemaru hit their tandem one-legged dropkick to Uemura. Kanemaru got cradled for two. Kanemaru hit an inverted DDT for a near fall, then hit Deep Impact for the pin. 

Tomohiro Ishii, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero defeated EVIL, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (12:44)

This served two purposes — to establish challengers for ELP and Ishimori and to further tease Ishii vs. EVIL. 

It had a good closing stretch, but I’m not a fan of the formulaic Bullet Club undercard garbage brawls. 

The teams began brawling before the bell. Romero started off as the legal man for his team. He was isolated on the outside and whipped into the barricade. 

Taguchi got a hot tag, then he was also isolated and worked over with Ishimori and ELP’s comedy offense. 

EVIL and Ishii got their tags. Ishii escaped a ref-assisted Magic Killer, then hit a vertical suplex into a double down. 

Romero and ELP got tags. Romero avoided a Sudden Death and a jackknife cover. Taguchi hopped in to double up on ELP. Romero hit an assisted swing DDT. 

Romero ran into a Sudden Death with his arm and sold his wrist. Romero reversed a CR2 attempt into a victory roll and got the pin over one half of the IWGP Junior Tag champs.

**********

Romero cut a promo after the match and declared himself and Taguchi the next challengers for ELP and Ishimori. Romero asked if they accepted the challenge. ELP and Ishimori said no. Romero said next time they meet, Romero and Taguchi will beat them. 

Not sure the purpose of having the heels decline the challenge when they’re just going to go ahead and make the match anyway in about 18 hours. 

**********

KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yota Tsuji (12:40)

I think this was the best thing on the show to this point. Tana and KENTA are beginning a feud with great intensity to it. In particular, their striking exchanges are fantastic. 

Tana and KENTA began the match by trading strikes on the mat, each trading top position. Tsuji got a tag and was quickly cut off. KENTA and Yujiro took turns on Tsuji. Tsuji managed a dropkick and hot tag to Tana. 

Tana hit strikes, a slam and a somersault senton. He teased a slingblade, but KENTA countered into a G2S attempt. Tana slid out and they traded strikes. They hit simultaneous slaps and both went down. 

Yujiro tagged in and hit a series of kicks. Tana blocked a fisherman buster and hit twist and shout. Tana then tagged out to Tsuji. 

Tsuji got a tag and hit a hurricanrana to Yujiro. He followed with a slam, a senton and a splash for a two count. Tsuji fed Yujiro to Tana for a slingblade. Tsuji then used a crab on Yujiro as Tana used his clover hold on KENTA. Yujiro forced a break. 

Tsuji used a series of cradles for near falls on Yujiro. Yujiro blocked a backslide, then rolled through into Pimp Juice position. Yujiro hit Pimp Juice and got the pin. 

***** Intermission *****

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan defeated Kazuchika Okada & YOH (12:45)

This was a very good tag match. Cobb’s power moves tonight were unreal. 

Cobb and Okada were in briefly at the start. Cobb used a shove to send Okada rolling outside to collect himself. O-Khan and YOH tagged in. YOH hit a forearm, then was quickly isolated as Empire took over the match. 

Cobb tagged in for some impressive power spots on YOH. YOH managed a leg lariat to O-Khan, then Okada got a hot tag. Okada ran wild on O-Khan with back elbows. O-Khan blocked a DDT and used a claw to set up a tag to Cobb. 

Cobb powered Okada around the ring. Cobb hit a running powerslam out of the corner for two. Okada blocked a Tour of the Islands and a spin cycle. Okada hit a flapjack into a double down. 

YOH tagged in for a neckbreaker and a one count on Cobb. YOH hit a shotgun dropkick off the top rope for a two count. YOH tried a falcon arrow, but Cobb blocked. O-Khan saved as YOH tried another falcon arrow. 

O-Khan hit a pump kick on YOH into a Cobb suplex for a two count as Okada saved. Okada went for a dropkick to O-Khan, but Cobb plucked Okada out of the air and hit him with a spin cycle. That was awesome. 

Cobb then hit a Tour of the Islands on YOH for the pin. 

Shingo Takagi defeated Master Wato (14:49)

This was the best Master Wato outing in quite some time. This was short of the level of a really good main event NJPW match, but a good semi-main. 

They locked up, then traded tackle attempts. Neither went down. Wato hit a dropkick, sending Shingo stumbling to the floor. Wato then hit a tornillo to the outside. Back in, Wato covered for a quick one count. 

Wato used a series of kicks for another one count. Shingo blocked a suplex attempt, then hit a slam and a senton. Shingo sent Wato to the floor with a clothesline over the top. Wato threw some flailing strikes on the outside, but Shingo shrugged them off and rammed Wato into the ring frame. 

Back in the ring, Shingo hit some stomps and posed. Shingo hit chops and a vertical suplex for a two count. Shingo used a chinlock on the mat, but Wato forced a rope break. Shingo remained firmly in control. 

Wato hit a series of strikes for a hope spot. Shingo dropped Wato with a double sledge to the chest. Wato stopped a lariat attempt by hitting a springboard uppercut forearm. Wato fired off some kicks and an enzuigiri for a one and a half count. 

Shingo hit his jab and lariat combination. He then used a back suplex for a two count. Wato avoided a sliding lariat and hit a buzzsaw kick into a double down. 

Wato was first up. He teased a piledriver, but Shingo hit a backdrop out of it. Shingo dared Wato to throw strikes at him. Shingo ate all the strikes, then hit a series of forearms. Wato ducked a strike and hit recientemente. He followed with a TTD. 

Wato went for the RPP off the top, but crashed and burned on landing. Shingo hit a lariat. Wato blocked a Pumping Bomber. Shingo hit a pop-up powerbomb with a stack cover for a near fall. Shingo used an STF to set up a cradle for a near fall. 

Shingo hit a sliding lariat. Wato reversed a Last of the Dragon into a crucifix bomb for a near fall. Wato caught another quick near fall, then Shingo cut him off with a sliding forearm strike. Shingo hit the Pumping Bomber, but Wato kicked out. 

Shingo then looked into the camera and called out Ibushi. He then hit Last of the Dragon and got the pin. 

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (w/Miho Abe) to win the titles (36:57)

This was paced slowly, but turned into quite the main event. The match never dragged despite going nearly 37 minutes. 

Naito and Sabre postured as though they were going to start off with one another. Both ended up tagging out. Sabre and SANADA started with some mat work. They grappled to a stalemate for the first five minutes. 

Taichi and Naito tagged in. Naito twice knocked Sabre down off the apron. Naito sent Taichi rolling outside. Naito teased a dive, but hit his Tranquilo pose in the center of the ring instead. 

Sabre tagged in, finally wanting to face off with Naito. Naito immediately tagged out, but interfered from the floor to allow SANADA to take control of Sabre. SANADA isolated Sabre in the LIJ corner. Naito tagged in and used a crucifix hold on the mat. 

SANADA tagged in and continued to soften up Sabre’s neck. Naito tagged in and worked over the neck as well. Sabre kicked at Naito’s left arm to set up a tag to Taichi. Taichi sent Naito outside and into the barricade. 

Taichi and Sabre continued to methodically work on Naito’s left arm as the match returned to the ring. Naito came back with a neckbreaker to Sabre. Naito managed to tag SANADA. SANADA hit an interfering Taichi with a leapfrog dropkick. 

Sabre avoided a SANADA plancha. SANADA hit a dragon screw in the ropes and a high crossbody off the top for a near fall. SANADA avoided an octopus hold. The two traded a series of clutch holds for near falls. 

Sabre caught SANADA in a triangle choke. SANADA escaped and tried a TKO. Sabre avoided the TKO and went after SANADA’s left arm at the 20 minute call. 

Taichi tagged in. Taichi fired off kicks as SANADA fired back with forearm strikes. They traded big boots. Taichi hit a gamengiri for a double down. Sabre caught Naito in a kimura on the floor to prevent a tag. 

SANADA ducked a buzzsaw kick. SANADA used a TKO attempt to set up Skull End. Taichi escaped and teased Black Mephisto. Taichi connected on a high kick. SANADA answered with a TKO into another double down. 

Naito sent Sabre into the barricade, then tagged in. He was still doing a masterful job of selling his left arm as he hit a combinacion to Taichi. Naito tried for a top rope frankensteiner. Taichi blocked at first and tried a Black Mephisto off the top. Naito blocked that and hit the frankensteiner for a near fall. 

Taichi blocked Gloria. Sabre and SANADA jumped in. SANADA hit a dropkick to Sabre’s left knee. Sabre hit a neck twist to Naito. SANADA hit Sabre with a dragon screw. Taichi avoided Skull End from SANADA and hit a high kick in the corner to Naito. All four were down in the ring just past the 25 minute call. 

Naito hit a swing DDT to Taichi. Taichi popped right up and hit a backdrop suplex for yet another double down. Sabre got a tag and used a neck crank on Naito. SANADA ran in for the illegal double team and tandem offense. 

Naito used a jackknife cradle for a two count to Sabre as Taichi saved. SANADA took out Taichi with a plancha. Naito hit esperanza for a near fall. Sabre reversed a Destino attempt into a cobra twist. Taichi caught SANADA in a dragon sleeper to stop the save 30 minutes in. Sabre switched the cobra twist to an octopus hold, but Naito forced a rope break after a long struggle. 

Sabre taunted Naito with short kicks. Naito caught a PK and hit a back elbow, again going after Sabre’s neck. Naito hit a series of hard elbows to the neck and a flying forearm. Sabre blocked Valentia and hit a dragon suplex for a near fall as SANADA saved. 

Taichi took out SANADA with a chokeslam, then hit an axe bomber to Naito. Naito fought off Zack Mephisto at the 35 minute call. Taichi hit a last ride to Naito. Sabre hit a PK, then covered for a two count. 

Naito avoided the Zack Driver and hit Destino for a near fall on Sabre as SANADA used Skull End on Taichi. SANADA hit a moonsault to Sabre. 

Naito hit Sabre with a second Destino for the pin to win the titles. 

**********

BUSHI and Shingo Takagi came to the ring to celebrate after the match. Hiromu Takahashi also joined his stablemates after sitting at the commentary table for the show. 

Naito closed the show with the LIJ roll call promo. 

NJPW Road to Dominion results: NEVER Six-Man title match

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW’s Road to Dominion tour continued today with a show in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. 

The NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships were on the line in the main event as Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI of CHAOS defended against Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and BUSHI of Los Ingobernables de Japon. 

Below are results and a report on today’s show. 

**********

Recommended matches —

  • NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI 
  • Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan vs. Kota Ibushi & Master Wato (at least the post-match angle)

Report —

EVIL, Chase Owens, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (w/Dick Togo)  Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura (11:47)

This was a fun opener. Lots of action and everyone worked hard. 

EVIL and Uemura started off. Uemura out-wrestled EVIL, then tagged Honma. Honma tagged in and was cut off right away. EVIL hit a senton. Owens tagged in to continue the attack. Honma hit a back elbow and tagged Tsuji. 

Tsuji hit Owens with a senton. He went for a splash, but Owens got his knees up. While the other six guys brawled on the floor, Owens worked on Tsuji in the ring. Tsuji got tossed outside and hit with a Togo right hand. 

ELP tagged in for some break dancing and comedy offense. Ishimori tagged in and continued with back rakes on Tsuji. Owens tagged in. He hit a pump kick. Tsuji came back with a suplex, then tagged Tanahashi. 

Tana hit a jumping forearm to Owens, cleared the Bullet Club apron, then hit a baseball slide to Togo. Tana hit Owens with a dragon screw. He went for his Texas Clover Hold. He got it applied. ELP tried to break it up, but Honma intercepted him. EVIL jumped in to break it up. 

Owens blocked a slingblade attempt and hit a jewel heist. Ishimori got a tag. Tana blocked a handspring kick and hit twist and shout. 

Uemura tagged in and hit a running forearm and a back suplex for two. He went for an overhook suplex, but ELP jumped in to break it up. Uemura avoided an airplane spin neckbreaker. He went for a crab, but Ishimori blocked. 

Ishimori then connected with the Bloody Cross for the pin. 

YOH, SHO & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI (10:48)

This was good. I expect YOH and Desperado to have a great match on Monday. Desperado really upped his game at the end of 2020 and has been very good this year. 

YOH and Desperado began with a striking battle. Suzuki-gun turned it into a ringside brawl and cut SHO off. It was his role again tonight to sell most of the way. He came back with a spear to Kanemaru and Taguchi got a hot tag. 

Taguchi ran wild with hip attacks. He used three amigos to set up an ankle lock. Taguchi gave up the hold and went for Dodon, but Kanemaru blocked. Taguchi hit a hip attack, then missed a bumaye. 

YOH and Desperado tagged back in. YOH hit a flying forearm, then used a neckbreaker for a two count. Desperado blocked Direct Drive with a hair pull. YOH hit a jumping knee. Desperado countered with a spinebuster, then tagged DOUKI. 

DOUKI, Kanemaru and Desperado tripled up on YOH. DOUKI hit a springboard double stomp for a near fall. He used a triangle, but SHO saved. Kanemaru took out SHO. Taguchi took out Kanemaru. Desperado took Taguchi out with a spear. YOH hit a dropkick to Desperado. 

YOH blocked DOUKI’s Suplex de la Luna, then used the Stargazer calf killer for the submission. 

YOH and Desperado faced off after the match. Desperado pie-faced YOH, but there was no physicality in the angle besides that. 

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Gedo (2:24)

They couldn’t top their effort last night, so they didn’t even try. 

Bullet Club jumped Suzuki-gun in the ring before Taichi’s song had finished playing. They fought around the ring on the outside. Sabre was briefly cut off in the ring. 

Tonga and Loa went for a Magic Killer on Sabre. Suzuki and Taichi saved. Sabre used a neck crank and a Clarky Cat to quickly submit Gedo. 

***** Intermission *****

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan defeated Kota Ibushi & Master Wato (9:07)

O-Khan tried a sneak attack before the bell. Ibushi fought it off and landed a flying mid kick. Wato tagged in, but O-Khan came back on him with an elbow and Mongolian chops. O-Khan and Cobb traded tags and continued beating down Master Wato. 

Wato managed a dropkick and a reverse bulldog. Cobb and Ibushi got tags for a crazy sequence. Ibushi blocked a pop-up powerslam with a hurricanrana. Cobb did some of his impressive power spots and landed a deadlift throw out of the corner. Cobb landed another huge slam and tagged out. That spot was ugly. 

O-Khan tied Ibushi to the tree of woe. He missed a basement dropkick. Ibushi popped up to the top rope and hit a double stomp. Wato tagged in and hit O-Khan with a springboard uppercut forearm and a dreamcast for a near fall. 

Wato used a rolling heel hook, but Cobb broke it up. Cobb just started throwing Wato and Ibushi around. Cobb used a spinebuster on Wato. 

O-Khan used the iron claw to set up the Eliminator on Wato for the pin. 

**********

Ibushi and Cobb had a wild brawl after the match. Tsuji and Uemura jumped in to try to pull them apart. Just when you thought it was over, one of them would break free and the brawl would start all over again. They fought in the ring, then all around the arena. 

This was intense and awesome, a great angle. 

**********

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI to retain the titles (31:15)

This was an excellent six-man. The first ten minutes were slow, but they had to go quite a long time and that’s to be expected. 

Goto pinned SANADA in a tag yesterday, so those two began here. SANADA broke cleanly off the opening lock-up. They briefly grappled to a stalemate. 

Naito tagged in and demanded Ishii. Ishii tagged in, then Naito immediately tagged out to BUSHI. Ishii tried to go after Naito on the apron. As soon as Ishii turned his back, Naito jumped him. LIJ tried a 3-on-1 attack, but Goto and YH saved. CHAOS then went 3-on-1 against BUSHI. 

BUSHI found himself isolated in the CHAOS half of the ring. YH tagged in for some chops. Goto tagged in and the pace slowed. YH tagged back in for a vertical suplex. They were pacing themselves to go a long time. 

Naito grabbed YH from the apron and turned the tide in LIJ’s favor. A brawl broke out on the arena floor between Ishii and Naito. Naito used a kravate over the barricade. YH was then isolated in LIJ’s half of the ring. Ishii and Goto tried to make saves, but Naito and SANADA sent them to the outside. 

YH came back with a headhunter to Naito. Ishii got a tag and beat up all three members of LIJ on his own. Naito was the legal man. Ishii hit a back suplex for a near fall. Naito and Ishii had a crazy striking battle in the middle of the ring. Ishii got the better of the strikes. Naito hit a back elbow and sliding dropkick at the 15 minute call. 

SANADA tagged in for a cool sequence with Ishii. Ishii worked for a German suplex. SANADA avoided it once. Ishii got it on the second attempt. Goto tagged in and dispatched an interfering BUSHI, then hit a wheel kick in the corner on SANADA for a two count. 

Goto teased an ushigoroshi, but SANADA blocked. SANADA took his corner flip bump and hit Goto with an atomic drop. SANADA put Goto in the paradise lock, then broke it with a dropkick. BUSHI and SANADA cleared the CHAOS apron. Goto avoided a TKO and grabbed a sleeper hold. Goto used the sleeper to set up the rolling cradle he won with yesterday, but SANADA kicked out. 

Goto and YH doubled SANADA up and used the finish from yesterday for a near fall, with Naito making the save for SANADA. SANADA kicked at Goto’s spine. SANADA tried an O’Connor roll, but Goto blocked with a kick to the spine. SANADA hit a TKO into a double down. 

YH and BUSHI got tags. BUSHI hit a missile dropkick and a tope suicida. All six guys were down and out on the floor just past the 20 minute mark. 

Back inside, BUSHI used a DDT for a two count. CHAOS went 3-on-1 against BUSHI. Naito saved BUSHI from a headhunter. Naito hit Ishii with a dropkick off a BUSHI sunset flip. LIJ went 3-on-1 against YH. BUSHI hit a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. 

BUSHI missed an MX. Everyone jumped in and hit each other with a big move. Goto hit BUSHI with an ushigoroshi. YH hit a meteora for a two count. 

YH locked BUSHI in the Butterfly Lock at the 25 minute call. YH rolled through and hit a sit-out powerbomb for a two count. BUSHI blocked Kharma and rolled YH up for two. 

Ishii and Naito jumped in and teased their finishers on each other. Naito blocked a brainbuster with a DDT. Ishii no-sold it. Naito hit a flying forearm. BUSHI hit YH with a codebreaker and an MX. Goto jumped in to break it up. SANADA hit a plancha to Goto. 

BUSHI tried the MX again, but jumped off the ropes into a YH lariat. BUSHI went for a tag to SANADA, but Goto pulled SANADA off the apron. Ishii and Goto went for stereo ushigoroshis on Naito and SANADA, but they blocked. BUSHI used the BUSHI roll on YH for a super near fall. BUSHI and YH traded kicks. YH hit a lariat for a near fall at 30 minutes in. 

YH went for Kharma. BUSHI tried to turn it into a codebreaker, but YH got him in the Butterfly Lock. Naito tried to save, but Ishii caught him in a heel hook. BUSHI verbally submitted or the referee called for the stoppage with the Butterfly Lock still locked in. 

**********

Naito and Ishii stared each other down after the match. The best part of all of this is that it looks like a Naito-Ishii singles match will happen at Dominion if they ever get around to announcing a card. 

YOSHI-HASHI cut a quick promo and the champs posed with their titles to close the show.

**********

Here is the announced lineup for Dominion. More matches will be announced at a later date:

NJPW Dominion, Monday, June 7, 5 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. YOH
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb

NJPW’s Naito, SANADA & BUSHI to challenge for NEVER Six-Man titles

Posted on by Ethan Renner

A new set of challengers for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles were established at today’s NJPW Road to Wrestle Grand Slam event.

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and BUSHI challenged NEVER Six-Man Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI to a title match at a later date. 

Naito and SANADA defeated Goto and YOSHI-HASHI in the main event of today’s event. Naito pinned YOSHI-HASHI with a jackknife cradle. After the match, Naito cut a promo and said that while his stablemate Shingo Takagi has his sights set on the IWGP World title, Naito wants some gold as well. Naito then issued the challenge. 

YOSHI-HASHI returned to the ring after the main event to accept the challenge, but was laid out by Naito, SANADA and BUSHI. Goto ran in to make the save for his partner. Ishii was not booked on today’s show, but his interactions with Naito had been heavily focused on on Monday and Tuesday’s Road to Wrestle Grand Slam events. 

The NEVER Six-Man title match, as well as the rest of the cards for next week’s Road to Dominion events should be announced imminently. To this point, zero matches have been announced for the June 1, June 2, June 4 Road to Dominion shows, nor for the Dominion event itself. Dominion will take place on Sunday, June 6 in Osaka-Jo Hall.

New Japan Cup night 12 results: Will Ospreay vs. SANADA

Posted on by Parker Klyn

The final two New Japan Cup quarterfinal matches took place during today’s show from Shizuoka. Here are the results of the preliminary matches and a full report of the Cup matches.

Yuya Uemura defeated Gabriel Kidd (7:22)

Uemura pinned Kidd with his overhead suplex.

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan defeated Yuji Nagata & Yota Tsuji (11:58)

O-Khan pinned Tsuji with the Eliminator.

KENTA & Bad Luck Fale defeated Juice Robinson & Toa Henare (8:37)

Fale pinned Henare with the Grenade.

Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI defeated EVIL, Chase Owens, & Taiji Ishimori (10:12)

Naito pinned Owens with the Destino. Shingo and EVIL will face off in the semifinals of the New Japan Cup in two days.

New Japan Cup semifinal: David Finlay defeated Jay White (19:26)

This was filled with NJPW tropes and annoyances at the start, but the finish was fantastic.

Juice Robinson joined Finlay out there as a second to counter Jay White and Gedo. Finlay was introduced as an Impact tag team champion.

White stalled at the start, attempting to play mind games. A brief distraction from Gedo allowed White to attack, but Finlay came back with a dropkick as the two went to the floor. Another distraction from Gedo allowed White to take advantage by driving Finlay into the ring and the barricades.

Back in the ring, White targeted Finlay’s midsection repeatedly. Finlay fought back with an uppercut, but yet another Gedo distraction allowed White to regain control. Finlay escaped a suplex attempt and hit a neckbreaker. He followed it up with a running uppercut and a plancha before landing a diving elbow smash for two.

White laid in a hard chop but Finlay fired up and clotheslined them both out of the ring. Yet another Gedo distraction gave White the chance to drive Finlay into the barricade again. Finlay fought off the attack, but upon re-entry, Gedo grabbed Finlay’s leg and White strung him against the ropes. That made five successful distraction attempts from Gedo, so Juice simply picked him up and carried him away from ringside.

With Gedo out of the picture, White hit the Blade Buster for two. They traded running strikes until Finlay hit a Blue Thunder bomb. White surprised Finlay with a flatliner and a German suplex. He went for the Blade Runner, but Finlay fought and fought until he was dumped out of the ring. White hurried to bring Finlay back in and nail a uranage for two. 

Gedo wasn’t out there, so White had to call for the Kiwi Crusher himself. He was able to hit it before just tossing Finlay into the corner. They both went for big moves before Finlay hit another Blue Thunder bomb. He tried to follow it up with the Acid Drop, but White escaped and tossed him back into the corner.

They traded forearms in the center of the ring, a battle which Finlay won before hitting a backbreaker for two. Finlay downed White with a lariat and a ushigoroshi for two. He went for the stunner, but White countered it into a sick sleeper suplex. Finlay countered the Blade Runner into the stunner and then hit the Acid Drop for the upset victory.

New Japan Cup semifinal: Will Ospreay defeated SANADA (18:55)

This was an awesome main event with tons of innovative, athletic sequences and spots.

SANADA immediately avoided a dropkick and hit one of his own. He feinted on a dive as Ospreay rolled to the floor, where the Brit took control by sending SANADA into the barricade, including a specific attack on SANADA’s left arm. Ospreay continued his beatdown in the ring, wrenching on SANADA’s arms until the latter reached the ropes.

After another beatdown on the floor, Ospreay hit Pip Pip Cheerio for two. SANADA came back by attacking Ospreay’s nose before dropkicking his legs out from under him. SANADA hit a dropkick after his signature high leapfrogs and caught Ospreay with a hurricanrana. Ospreay turned it around with a handspring kick. 

Ospreay laid in chops and forearms before being caught with another nose attack. SANADA tied Ospreay up in the Paradise Lock, setting him up so his face was propped up against the corner pad. He broke up the hold with a dropkick and followed it up with a plancha. Ospreay starched SANADA with a forearm and went for the Liger bomb, but SANADA turned it into Skull End before flipping over into a Magic Killer in a nice spot.

SANADA went for the moonsault, but Ospreay rolled out of the way and hit a standing Spanish Fly. He followed it up with a diving forearm to the back of SANADA’s head and a hard powerbomb for two. Ospreay laid in Kawada kicks, but SANADA turned the Stormbreaker into a tiger suplex bridge for two. He went for the moonsault again, but Ospreay stopped him and pulled him through for the Cheeky Nando’s kick and a facebuster for two.

They had a long counter sequence where Ospreay had to step up out of the Skull End but was met with a heel kick and a backflip into the Skull End. SANADA swung Ospreay around in the hold before locking it on in the center of the ring. Ospreay faded until SANADA released it and went for the moonsault, but Ospreay got the knees up. SANADA escaped Stormbreaker, fell victim to a hook kick, and locked on the Japanese Clutch for two.

Ospreay popped up and hit a great reverse hurricanrana and the Oscutter for a near fall. A forearm to the back of the head and the Stormbreaker followed to give Ospreay the win.

The two New Japan Cup semifinal matches are EVIL vs. Shingo Takagi and Will Ospreay vs. David Finlay.

After the match, Ospreay cut an unhinged promo complaining about the fans. He started to talk about how he was going to beat Jay White in the next round, but then was all happy when he remembered that Finlay is his opponent. He acted as if Finlay wasn’t a threat to end his promo and the show.

New Japan Cup night five results: SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The New Japan Cup tournament continued today at ZIP Arena in Okayama. 

Here are the results and a report on the Cup matches. 

**********

Recommended matches —

  •  New Japan Cup first round match: SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Report —

EVIL, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi (w/Dick Togo) defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano & Yuya Uemura (8:58)

EVIL got the submission win over Uemura with a scorpion deathlock. 

YOSHI-HASHI faces Yujiro in a first round tournament match on tomorrow’s show. 

EVIL faces Jeff Cobb in round two on Thursday, March 11.

Yano faces Great-O-Khan, also on Thursday.

Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb defeated Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma & Gabriel Kidd (8:36)

Cobb pinned Kidd after hitting a Tour of the Islands. 

Ospreay faces Zack Sabre Jr. in the New Japan Cup on Sunday, March 14. 

O-Khan vs. Yano and Cobb vs. EVIL are set for Thursday. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Jeff Cobb defeated Jay White, KENTA, Chase Owens & Gedo (11:34)

Henare pinned Gedo with a modified death valley bomb. 

Henare and White face off in a tournament match tomorrow. Tanahashi will face the winner on Monday, March 15.

Finlay faces Owens in a Cup match tomorrow. 

KENTA faces Minoru Suzuki in a second round match on Saturday, March 13.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & SHO defeated Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI (13:31)

Goto pinned BUSHI after a GTR. 

Goto and Shingo will face off in a second round match on Saturday. 

New Japan Cup first round match: Yuji Nagata defeated Yota Tsuji (13:42)

This was not Nagata’s best night, but Tsuji was very good here. Nagata was huffing and puffing his way through. 

They opened with some chain wrestling. Tsuji scored a knockdown off a tackle and began to try some strikes. He was initially successful, but Nagata caught his left arm and began to work on it. 

Nagata fired off some strikes, then went back to working the left arm with a fujiwara armbar. Nagata hit some big kicks. Tsuji fired up and demanded more kicks. Nagata hit the ropes to deliver a big boot, but Tsuji cut him off with a dropkick into a double down. 

Tsuji hit a slam, a senton and a splash for a near fall. Nagata fired back with kicks and a butterfly suplex for a near fall. Tsuji got two quick near falls off cradles. Nagata used a crossface. Tsuji bit Nagata’s hand to break the hold. 

They traded pinning combinations. Tsuji used two more cradles, then hit a spear to complete a trio of near falls. Tsuji got a Boston crab applied at the 10 minute call. Nagata forced a rope break, then hit a kitchen sink. 

They exchanged strikes. Nagata hit an exploder and a running knee lift in the corner. Tsuji trapped Nagata in another cradle for a two count. 

Nagata hit a wheel kick, then a backdrop suplex into a bridge for the pin. 

Nagata advances to the second round and faces the winner of the main event on Sunday.

New Japan Cup first round match: SANADA defeated Tomohiro Ishii (25:18)

This was very good. Ishii is always going to deliver in a main event and this was no exception.

They began with some mat work. They moved on to striking and Ishii got the best of the first battle. SANADA rolled outside to gain some distance, but Ishii went out after him and threw him back in. 

Ishii backed SANADA into the corner and scored with more strikes. SANADA charged out of the corner with a basement dropkick to the left knee. He followed with a leapfrog dropkick and a plancha. SANADA did some crowd work, then used a paradise lock. After some more crowd work, he broke the hold with a dropkick. 

Ishii hit a series of forearm and chop combinations in the corner. Ishii shoved referee Red Shoes down as he tried to force Ishii out of the corner. They traded strikes in the center of the ring. SANADA got a knockdown off an uppercut forearm. 

SANADA then trapped Ishii in the corner. Red Shoes tried to force a break, but this time SANADA threw him aside. They traded backdrop suplexes. Ishii hit a German. SANADA hit a shotgun dropkick. Ishii hit a German into the buckle, then used a delayed superplex for two. 

A crazy sequence saw SANADA hit a dropkick after Ishii hit a reverse buckle bomb. SANADA used a dragon sleeper to set up a TKO attempt. Ishii blocked. Ishii blocked a rolling elbow with a forearm shot. 

Ishii hit a powerbomb with a stack cover for a two count. He hit two lariats and used another stack for a near fall. Ishii went for a brainbuster. SANADA blocked. SANADA landed on his feet out of a suplex attempt and hit a TKO into a double down. 

SANADA hit a springboard dropkick. Ishii no-sold, but SANADA followed with an immediate forearm shot. SANADA used Skull End with a body scissors. After nearly a minute in the hold, Ishii forced a rope break. 

SANADA hit a magic screw for a near fall. Ishii missed an enzuigiri. Ishii avoided an O’Connor roll. SANADA hit a moonsault. He went for a second moonsault, but Ishii rolled out of the way. 

SANADA used another moonsault to set up Skull End. Ishii slid out. SANADA avoided a sliding lariat. Ishii hit an enzuigiri. Ishii hit a sliding lariat for a near fall. SANADA avoided two brainbuster attempts and used an O’Connor roll for a great near fall. 

They traded strikes. SANADA hit a hurricanrana and a pop-up TKO, then used another moonsault for the pin. 

SANADA advances to round two and will face Nagata on Sunday.

NJPW New Beginning in Hiroshima live results: Ibushi vs. SANADA

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI defeated Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd (8:51)

The purpose of this was to get Taichi and Sabre their heat back in an exhibition. It was effective enough at that. 

Tsuji and DOUKI began and had a quick exchange. Uemura and Taichi tagged in. Taichi gained the advantage and Suzuki-gun worked him over. Sabre tagged in and Uemura came back with a dropkick. 

Kidd got a hot tag and had a nice exchange with Sabre. Sabre kicked out of a suplex and used a Fujiwara armbar with some small joint manipulaton of the fingers for the tap.

Tomoaki Honma, SHO & Master Wato defeated Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (8:07)

Wato needs work, but he has flashes of brilliance. There were no such flashes tonight. Suzuki smiling during his entrance was the highlight of the segment. 

Suzuki and Honma started and traded palm strikes to the chest. Honma teased a kokeshi, but Suzuki blocked and Suzuki-gun turned this into a brawl around ringside. Back in the ring, Suzuki-gun used quick tags in working Honma over. 

Honma missed a kokeshi by about five feet but Suzuki sold it anyway and both tagged out. SHO took over on Desperado with kicks. Desperado reversed a power breaker into a cradle for a two count. SHO blocked Pinche Loco. They traded strikes. SHO hit a lariat to maintain the edge. 

Desperado avoided a second power breaker attempt and hit a spear. Kanemaru got a tag and SHO speared him. Wato tagged in and his team went 3-on-1 against Kanemaru. Wato hit a springboard uppercut forearm for a near fall. 

Suzuki-gun tripled up on Wato. Kanemaru hit Deep Impact, but SHO broke up the pin. Wato used a sloppy la carretera for the pin on Kanemaru.

Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI defeated Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (9:54)

Bullet Club cut BUSHI off after a missile dropkick and BUSH-a-rooni and spent several minutes working him over with their comedy offense. If you like ELP and Ishimori goofing off for five minutes, this is the match for you. 

Hiromu got a tag and business picked up. He hit a double shotgun dropkick on Ishimori and ELP. He used a falcon arrow for a near fall on ELP. Hiromu blocked a Sudden Death loaded superkick. ELP hit an airplane spin neckbreaker into a double down. 

Naito and Yujiro got tags. Naito hit combinacon cabron in the corner. Yujiro used a hand bite, a reverse DDT and a fisherman buster for a two count. Yuiro got a bloody nose here. 

LIJ triple teamed Yujiro. BUSHI hit a tope suicida to Ishimori. Hiromu sent ELP into the fence. Naito used Destino to pick up the pinfall win over Yujiro. 

Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano went to a double countout with EVIL & Dick Togo (1:27)

EVIL tried to stall at the opening bell. Okada went to the floor after him. EVIL used a chair to hold Okada’s neck to the floor and intentionally got them both counted out. 

**********

Okada chased EVIL up the ramp and hit him with a chair. Red Shoes ran out as ringside attendants tried to separate Okada and EVIL. 

Okada cut a promo and challenged EVIL to a singles match right then. EVIL accepted. 

**********

Kazuchika Okada defeated EVIL by DQ (5:41)

This was unique for NJPW, not only in how they set the match up with a sports entertainment angle, but the match itself. 

They basically skipped what would have been the first fifteen minutes of a big NJPW singles match and went right to Okada’s comeback. 

He hit his running back elbow, air raid crash, dropkick and used the Money Clip. EVIL fought to the ropes for a break. 

EVIL used a misdirection lariat to set up Darkness Falls. EVIL used the Darkness Scorpion deathlock. With Okada still in the hold, Togo ran in and choked Okada with his ligature for the DQ. 

Yano ran in to save Okada, but EVIL nailed him with a low blow. 

EVIL’s music played to end the segment as Okada was helped to the back. 

The last two segments were bizarre and not at all like NJPW. This was bad. 1998 Crash TV level booking. 

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champonship match: Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Jay White, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa to retain the titles (27:02)

This turned into a heck of a match. 

Ishii and White continued their run as co-MVPs of this tour. Their interactions were the highlights of this match and they got a good bit of time to work with. 

Something that I appreciate about these NEVER Six-Man title matches is that the teams always work in some three-man spots. It’s a nice detail that you don’t see in American wrestling. 

Ishii and White began with great intensity. White and Ishii tagged Tama and YH. YH hit a rana, but was quickly cut off and worked over in the Bullet Club corner. YH came back with a neckbreaker on Tama. 

Goto tagged in. He and Tama did a nice series of misdirection spots. Goto avoided a 2-on-1 from G.O.D. and hit a wheel kick and a bulldog on Tama for a near fall. 

G.O.D. doubled up on Goto. Tama used a Tongan Twist for a near fall. Tama blocked a GTR. Goto hit a neckbreaker over his knee and both tagged out. 

White and Ishii did a great series of finisher teases, over and over again. They ended with a huge uranage from White and a double down. 

YH and Tanga got tags. YH hit a headhunter and used the butterfly lock. Tanga powered out. Tama came in for a double team. YH fought out of a Magic Killer. Tanga hit a top rope diving headbutt. Tama hit a frog splash. Goto broke up a pin and fought off both members of G.O.D.

Goto and YH hit a GTW on Tama. They followed with an ushgoroshi/thrust kick combo. Ishii ran in for a sliding lariat. YH hit double knees for a near fall. 

Jado took the ref and White hit YH with a low blow. Bullet Club tried for a super powerbomb, but Ishii and Goto saved. Ishii hit Tanga wth a superplex and followed with a plancha to Tama. Ishii blocked a Blade Runner and hit a suplex on White. YH hit a lariat on Tanga for a two count. 

YH got the butterfly lock applied to Tanga. Gedo took the ref and Jado hit YH with a kendo stick. Tanga hit a lariat for a near fall. 

YH used a magistral cradle to roll up Tanga and pinned him. 

**********

Having pinned one of the tag champs, YH cut a promo and challenged G.O.D. to put the titles on the line against him and Goto. Expect that at Castle Attack. 

**********

IWGP Heavyweight Champonship & IWGP Intercontinental Championship double title match: Kota Ibushi defeated SANADA to retain the titles (27:41)

This was a very good main event. They continued the story they told all tour of the two being mirror images of each other in the ring. One guy would hit a move, the other guy would hit the same move or a similar one. 

They began with some mat work. They then traded shoulder tackles. Ibushi slipped a bit as he tried to kip up off a tackle. Ibushi sent SANADA to the floor after a flying mid kick. Both teased dives off the apron. SANADA hit a magic screw off the barricade for the first high impact move of the match. 

Back in the ring, SANADA got a quick one count off a lateral press. SANADA hit a back suplex out of the corner for a two count, then used a chinlock. Ibushi hit another running mid kick and used a standing moonsault for two. SANADA hit a leapfrog dropkick and a plancha. 

Ibushi avoided a springboard dropkick and hit his own dropkick. Ibushi hit a plancha of his own. SANADA avoided Ibushi’s springboard dropkick. Ibushi hit a snap rana. SANADA countered with a hurricanrana into a double down. 

Ibushi landed on his feet off a suplex attempt and hit a half-and-half suplex. Ibushi hit a last ride for a two count. He called for Kamigoye, but SANADA avoided it. SANADA fought out of a straightjacket German and hit his own Kamigoye. 

Ibushi avoided a second Kamigoye. SANADA lawn darted Ibushi into the corner pad. SANADA hit a top rope superplex and floated over into a magic screw for a two count. 

SANADA got Skull End applied with the hooks in. He used a bodyscissors while maintaining the dragon sleeper. SANADA gave up the hold and missed a monnsault at the 20 minute call. Ibushi lawn darted SANADA into the same corner pad. 

Ibushi teased a German off the second rope back into the ring. SANADA blocked and hit a TKO off the apron to the floor. Back in, SANADA used a tiger suplex with a bridge for a near fall. 

SANADA used a spinning Skull End. Ibushi slid out before the dragon sleeper could be applied and hit a bomaye. SANADA hit a pop-up TKO and a moonsault to the back. He went for another moonsault to the front, but Ibushi got his knees up. 

Ibushi hit a backflip kick. SANADA tried an O’Connor roll, but Ibushi blocked the bridge. Ibushi hit a Kamigoye to the back of the head. Ibushi hit a second Kamigoye — but SANADA kicked out. 

SANADA avoided a third Kamigoye and used two quick cradles for near falls. The second near fall was super close. 

Ibushi hit a high kick, a v-trigger and a third Kamigoye for the pin. 

**********

Ibushi grabbed a mic to cut a promo. Tetsuya Naito made his way to the ring before Ibushi said anything. Naito spoke first. 

Naito challenged for the Intercontinental title. He said he knows Ibushi wants to unify the titles and Naito doesn’t want him to. So Naito doesn’t want to be IWGP Heavyweight Champion?

Ibushi accepted the challenge. 

NJPW Road to The New Beginning results: Ibushi & SHO vs. LIJ

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Recommended matches —

  • Kota Ibushi & SHO vs. SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi 

Report —

Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd (7:36)

Suzuki’s interactions with Kidd and Uemura were the highlights of this match. 

Taguchi and company employed a Suzuki-gun tactic and attacked before the opening bell. Taguchi did some comedy. Suzuki-gun rebounded from the attack and cut Kidd off in the ring. 

Kidd tried to trade forearms with Suzuki. Suzuki actually gave Kidd a lot here, doing a subtle sell of the forearms and taking a dropkick. Uemura tagged in and peppered Suzuki with forearms and slaps. Uemura hit a dropkick in the corner and a forearm knockdown for a one count. 

Suzuki tried for the Gotch-style piledriver. Uemura blocked and tried for a crab. Suzuki fought out of the crab attempt. Suzuki-gun tripled up on Uemura. Taguchi saved with hip attacks. Uemura used a back suplex for a near fall on Desperado. 

Suzuki distracted the referee. Desperado hit a strike with a closed fist and Pinche Loco for the pin on Uemura.

EVIL, Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi (w/Gedo & Dick Togo) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto by DQ (5:17)

 This was more of an extended angle than a match. YOSHI-HASHI was on commentary and caused the DQ. 

Okada, Ishii and Goto attacked before the opening bell. Ishii and Goto went after White on the floor. EVIL sent Okada into the barricade and Abe the ring announcer took a bump. 

EVIL and Okada began as the legal men. Okada teased a dropkick. EVIL hit a lariat for a near fall. Okada tried for the Money Clip. EVIL shoved Okada into the corner to break the hold. Goto tagged in and got tripped by Togo. Yujiro tagged in for a sliding dropkick on Goto. 

White and Ishii jumped in illegally. Ishii suplexed White and White rolled outside. Goto hit an ushigoroshi on Yujiro. White tripped Goto from the floor. 

White grabbed Ishii and pie-faced YH on commentary. YH jumped the rail and got in the ring. He hit a series of strikes on White for the DQ. 

Ishii and YH chased White to the back. Okada cut a promo and challenged EVIL to a singles match right there and then. EVIL declined. Okada went out after EVIL. They ended up back in the ring. EVIL again fought out of the Money Clip. 

EVIL hit his baseball swing chair shot on Okada. 

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado (9:59)

This was a bad match with a bad finish. Tama was entertaining with his comedy. 

Tama brought three bags to the ring with him as this feud built on Tama stealing Taichi’s iron fingers continued. Taichi attacked Tama. The bags contained a glove, a baseball glove and a rubber chicken. 

Taichi beat Tama down. DOUKI tagged in and was cut off after a trip from Jado. Jado used a kendo stick on DOUKI. Bullet Club used quick tags in working DOUKI over. 

Tama teased pulling the iron fingers out of his tights. Instead, it was an elephant puppet. 

There was an extended DOUKI/Jado sequence. Sabre and Tanga got tags and had the best action of the match by default. Taichi got a tag and hit Tanga wth kicks. Jado got a tag. Sabre saved for Taichi. 

Tama took the ref. Jado tried to use the kendo stick again on Taichi. DOUKI saved with his pipe. DOUKI used the pipe on Jado. 

Taichi hit one superkick and pinned Jado. 

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI defeated Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato (w/Hiroyoshi Tenzan) (12:19)

This had its moments when BUSHI and Wato were in, but the Naito/Honma issue has run its course and it’s probably best for both that this tour is ending. 

Wato and BUSHI began with a solid exchange, trading kicks. Honma tagged in and was cut off by LIJ. Naito and BUSHI traded tags and worked on Honma. Naito mocked Tenzan. 

Honma managed a tag to Wato. Wato hit BUSHI with kicks and a nice tornillo. Naito and Honma tagged back in. Naito hit a combinacion in the corner. They traded hard slaps to the face. Wato saved for Honma as Naito looked to set up a frankensteiner. 

Honma hit a diving kokeshi and a superplex. BUSHI jumped in for an LIJ double team. Naito and BUSHI hit stereo dropkicks for a two count. Wato saved. 

Naito teased Destino. Honma blocked and cradled Naito for a two count. Honma hit two lariats for another near fall on Naito. 

Naito blocked a Michinoku Driver attempt and hit Destino. BUSHI entered and hit a sunset flip. Naito followed with a jackknife cradle and pinned Honma. 

Naito held the cradle long after the bell. Wato made the save for Honma. BUSHI sent Wato outside and hit him with a suicide dive. 

Kota Ibushi & SHO went to a time limit draw with SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi (30:00)

Ibushi and SANADA started out with some crowd work. Ibushi posed on the turnbuckles. SANADA attacked from behind and knocked Ibushi over the ropes to the floor. They did a series of teases. Both teased their finishers. 

They locked up. SANADA broke cleanly against the ropes. SANADA used a hammerlock. They traded waistlocks. Ibushi used a headlock takeover. SANADA used a handstand escape. Both tagged out after nearly five minutes of very good work. 

Hiromu and SHO tagged in and traded strikes. They traded tackles. Hiromu teased a dive, but sat in the center of the ring instead. SHO got the upper hand on Hiromu with strikes. Ibushi tagged in and hit a series of kicks for a two count. 

SHO tagged in and maintained the edge on Hiromu. Hiromu came back with a choke over the ropes. All four brawled to the floor. Hiromu and SANADA sent SHO and Ibushi into the barricade. LIJ now had the upper hand. 

Hiromu hit SHO with a series of chops. SANADA tagged in and continued chopping. SANADA put SHO and an interfering Ibushi in paradise locks. SANADA and Hiromu broke the holds with dropkicks. SANADA hit a back elbow for a two count. 

Hiromu tagged back in for more chops at the 15 minute call. SHO hit a kitchen sink. SANADA got a tag. SHO hit him with a vertical suplex and tagged out. Ibushi hit a running mid kick and a moonsault for a near fall. SANADA hit a dropkick to the knee. 

Ibushi and SANADA rolled outside. Ibushi blocked a whip into the barricade and sent SANADA into the fence with a drop toe hold. Back in, Ibushi hit a springboard dropkick. Ibushi fought out of a Skull End attempt. SANADA hit a magic screw into a double down. 

SHO and Hiromu got tags. Hiromu blocked a spear. SHO escaped a falcon arrow attempt. They traded forearm strikes at the 20 minute call. SHO hit a series of kicks. SHO hit a big mid kick for a two count. Hiromu blocked a deadlift German. 

SHO blocked a hurricanrana. Hiromu fought out of a powerbomb. SHO hit a spear for a near fall. SANADA and Hiromu hit stereo dropkicks on an illegal double team. Hiromu hit a falcon arrow for a two count as Ibushi saved for SHO. 

Ibushi and SANADA fought to the floor. SHO escaped a DVD attempt. SHO hit a jumping knee strike. Hiromu blocked a dragon screw. SHO blocked a sunset flip and slapped on a kimura. Hiromu broke the hold with a forearm strike at the 25 minute call. 

SHO refused to go down after a thrust kick and a lariat. They traded lariats. They hit a series of simultaneous lariats into a double down. SANADA and Ibushi dragged their partners to their respective corners and tagged in. 

Ibushi and SANADA traded strikes at the 27 minute mark. SANADA used an O’Connor roll to set up Skull End. Ibushi escaped and hit a high kick. 

Ibushi went for the Kamigoye. SANADA blocked and used a TKO threat to set up a spinning Skull End. Ibushi popped his head out. SANADA got the hold applied again. SANADA gave up the hold with one minute left. 

SANADA tried for a moonsault but landed on his feet. SHO jumped in and hit a knee strike. Hiromu hit a tackle to SHO. Ibushi hit a dropkick on Hiromu. SANADA hit a dropkick to Ibushi’s legs. SHO hit a German on SANADA. Hiromu hit SHO with a pop-up powerbomb with 30 seconds left before the time limit. 

Ibushi hit a high kick to Hiromu. SANADA hit a springboard dropkick to Ibushi and got Skull End. Ibushi cradled SANADA for a two count as the time limit expired. 

Ibushi and SANADA continued trading cradles after the time limit. 

NJPW Road to The New Beginning results: Ibushi & Wato vs. LIJ

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Recommended matches —

  • Ryusuke Taguchi & Gabriel Kidd vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura 
  • Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma & SHO 
  • SANADA & BUSHI vs. Kota Ibushi & Master Wato 

Report —

Ryusuke Taguchi & Gabriel Kidd defeated Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura (8:28)

This was a good opener. 

Kidd and Tsuji have been regular opponents on this tour and began with an intense striking battle. Kidd got the upper hand at first, but Tsuji came back with a slam and took over with a series of forearms. 

Uemura got a tag and used a kravate and a chinlock. Tsuji tagged back in for a slam and a near fall. Kidd avoided a vertical suplex. Tsuji hammered away again with forearms. Kidd reversed an Irish whip and hit a dropkick. 

Taguchi got a tag and hit Uemura and Tsuji with hip attacks. Taguchi hit a springboard hip attack to Tsuji for a two count. Tsuji blocked three amigos and hit a vertical suplex. 

Uemura tagged in and traded strikes with Taguchi. Tsuji entered and hit a splash. Uemura hit an elbow drop for a two count, then got a Boston crab applied. Kidd saved for Taguchi. Tsuji speared Kidd and they brawled to the floor. 

Taguchi blocked an overhook suplex. Taguchi tripped Uemura and used an ankle lock. Uemura escaped, then used a roll-up for two. 

Taguchi hit Dodon for the pin. 

Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano defeated EVIL, Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi (w/Dick Togo & Gedo) (11:07)

The post-match here was better than the match itself. 

Bullet Club attacked as soon as their opponents entered the ring. White and Ishii began as the legal men. White hit a series of strikes. Ishii no-sold. White tried to escaped to the outside, but Okada threw him back in. Gedo distracted Ishii and White hit a dragon screw in the ropes to take control of the bout. 

White used an inverted dragon screw and tagged Yujiro. Ishii went to the outside to go after White again. EVIL saved and White choked Ishii with a camera cable. Togo exposed a buckle. Ishii repeatedly got sent into the buckle. 

White tagged back in for some strikes and a suplex. Ishii managed a tag to Okada. EVIL tagged in for a sequence with Okada. Togo distracted Okada and EVIL threw Okada into the barricade. Back inside, Okada blocked a fisherman buster and sent EVIL into the exposed buckle. 

Yujiro tagged in and ate an Okada flapjack. Okada tagged Yano. Yano exposed a second buckle, then got sent into it himself. Yujiro hit a sliding dropkick and neckbreaker for two. 

White and Ishii jumped in. Ishii hit White with a German suplex. Okada hit a big boot on Yujiro. Togo tripped Yano. Yano sent Yujiro into Togo, then hit a low blow and a schoolboy on Yujiro for the pin. 

Ishii attacked White after the match and sent him into the barricade. Hirooki Goto jumped up from the commentary table and joined in the attack on White. EVIL attacked Okada with a chair. 

Goto and Ishii stood over White with their NEVER Six-Man titles. White went crazy and attacked ringside attendants Kidd and Tsuji with chair shots. 

Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado defeated Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI (12:18)

Bullet Club worked the match in their t-shirts to give you some idea of how seriously they were taking this match. 

The story of the G.O.D. vs. Dangerous Tekkers feud is that G.O.D. have stolen Taichi’s iron fingers. Taichi attacked Tama Tonga, who had a satchel that appeared to contain the fingers. Taichi opened the satchel and there was a toilet paper roll inside. 

Ishimori and Desperado tagged in. Jado hit Desperado with a kendo stick from the floor. Tama hit Desperado with the toilet paper. Desperado was isolated in Bullet Club’s half of the ring and they took turns working him over. 

Sabre and Tanga tagged in. Sabre got hit with a spear and they did a double down. ELP and DOUKI tagged in. DOUKI, Desperado and Kanemaru tripled up on ELP. Jado saved for ELP. DOUKI got two quick near falls on ELP. 

ELP then hit a superkick with the loaded boot and pinned DOUKI. 

Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Tomoaki Honma & SHO (12:45)

SHO blocked a shotgun dropkick from Hiromu with a spear at the opening bell and they were off to the races. Honma and SHO doubled up on Hiromu. SHO got an armbar, but Hiromu forced a rope break. Honma and SHO cut Hiromu off in their half of the ring. 

Hiromu went outside after SHO. Naito entered and used a camel clutch on Honma. Hiromu and Naito then used quick tags in isolating Honma. Honma came back with a vertical suplex on Naito. 

SHO and Hiromu tagged in. SHO hit a suplex for a near fall, then got another armbar applied. Hiromu forced a rope break. SHO continued attacking Hiromu’s left arm. Hiromu got D applied. SHO fought the hold for a long time, then finally broke it with a one-armed powerbomb. 

Honma and Naito got tags. Honma hit a DDT and a bulldog. Honma missed a kokeshi. Naito and Hiromu double teamed Honma and hit double dropkicks for a two count. Honma hit a superplex on Naito, then used a lariat for a near fall. 

Hiromu and SHO got in. Hiromu hit a pop-up powerbomb on SHO. Naito then hit Destino and pinned Honma. 

Hiromu and SHO had a nice face-off after the match. Somehow Hiromu’s BOSJ trophy got broken off-camera. 

SANADA & BUSHI defeated Kota Ibushi & Master Wato (18:47)

This was a fun main event to cap a very good show. 

Wato and BUSHI began by locking up. Wato hit a tornillo and gained the upper hand in their battle. Ibushi and Wato traded tags and continued working on BUSHI. SANADA saved with a dropkick to the knee and the match broke down into a brawl around the ringside area with LIJ in control. 

SANADA and Wato ended up the legal men. SANADA used a paradise lock. BUSHI got a tag in the plus position and used an STF and a knee breaker. SANADA tagged in and got hit with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. 

Ibushi got a tag and hit a springboard dropkick and a plancha on SANADA. SANADA hit his own plancha for a near fall. SANADA hit a hurricanrana. They traded strikes. Ibushi avoided a TKO. SANADA used an O’Connor roll to set up Skull End. Ibushi slid out and hit a high kick. 

Ibushi missed with a Kamigoye. Ibushi blocked a dragon screw. SANADA blocked a v-trigger and hit a back suplex. BUSHI tagged in for a missile dropkick. Ibushi blocked a swinging neckbreaker and hit a v-trigger before tagging out. 

BUSHI and Wato did a series of teases and counters. BUSHI hit a dropkick and a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Wato hit recientemente into a double down. BUSHI hit a dropkick to the knee and a DDT. 

SANADA tagged in as the match worked towards the climax. Wato hit an interfering BUSHI with a rana. Ibushi hit SANADA with a flying mid kick. Wato and Ibushi hit dueling high kicks for a near fall. 

BUSHI hit a codebreaker on Wato. Ibushi got sent outside and hit with a BUSHI tope suicida. Wato used two quick cradles for near falls. 

SANADA used a spinning Skull End. While BUSHI held Ibushi at bay, Wato tapped out and SANADA got the submission victory. 

SANADA closed the show with a promo. The arena lights were turned down and the crowd lit up the house with their cell phones for a cool visual. 

NJPW Road to The New Beginning results: Final build to Nagoya

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Recommended matches —

  • Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & SHO vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi 

Report —

Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask & Yota Tsuji defeated Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, Gedo & Jado (9:03)

This was a wild brawl to begin the show. 

Bullet Club cut Tsuji off early and the bulk of the match was spent working him over. Jado used a kendo stick shot from the floor. ELP and Ishimori hit their comedy offense. 

ELP hit a series of cartwheels and flips for no reason. He ultimately left the match and joined commentary. 

Tiger Mask got a hot tag and cleaned house with kicks and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Ishimori blocked a Tiger Driver and hit a handspring kick. Gedo tagged in and got hit with the Tiger Driver instead. 

Nagata got a tag. He hit Gedo with kicks. He teased an exploder, but Jado saved for Gedo. Jado used a kendo stick on Nagata. Gedo grabbed brass knuckles, but Tsuji speared him. 

Nagata won by submission with the Nagata Lock. 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima went to a no-contest with Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan (w/Bea Priestley) (2:23)

Tenzan and Kojima came to the ring with chairs. Ospreay and O-Khan cleared out of the ring. Priestley ran in and hit low blows on Kojima and Tenzan. 

Ospreay threw a table in the ring. Kojima hit Ospreay with a cutter. Kojima and Tenzan teased a cuter through the table, but O-Khan saved. 

Ospreay challenged Kojima to a no-DQ match at The New Beginning in Nagoya on Saturday. Kojima appeared to accept, but the match was not officially announced. 

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii defeated EVIL, Yujiro Takahahsi & Dick Togo (10:44)

Togo and Okada started the match. Goto tagged in and got tripped by EVIL from the floor and Bullet Club turned this into a brawl, as they proceeded to work virtually the identical match that they have every night of this tour. 

Goto got cut off and worked over in the ring. Yujiro exposed a buckle, tagged in, then threw Goto into the buckle. Goto came back on EVIL with a whip into the buckle and a Saito suplex. 

Okada tagged in and hit EVIL with strikes and a running back elbow. Okada hit an air raid crash neckbreaker for a near fall. 

Okada went for the Money Clip, but Togo jumped on the apron for a distraction. EVIL hit a mid kick and used a Darkness Scorpion, but Okada forced a rope break. 

Yujiro got a tag. Ishii tagged in and ran wild on Yujiro and Togo. Bullet Club jumped in to aid Yujiro. EVIL hit a fisherman buster. Yujiro hit a sliding dropkick for a two count. 

Yujiro brought his pimp cane in while EVIL took the referee. Ishii ducked the cane, but Yujiro hit an Angle slam for a near fall. Ishii blocked Pimp Juice. Goto choked Yujiro from the apron. Okada nailed EVIL and Togo. Goto hit an ushigoroshi on Yujiro. 

Ishii then connected with a sliding lariat and the vertical drop brainbuster for the pin. 

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI defeated Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato (13:11)

Naito took his time getting to the ring. He has been working for his own amusement on this tour. 

Honma and Wato attacked just before the bell. Naito used a jackknife cover to try to steal a pin on Honma, the same hold he pinned him with yesterday, but Honma kicked out. 

Wato and BUSHI got tags. Wato hit a series of kicks. Honma tagged in and began to work on BUSHI. BUSHI and Naito doubled up on Honma, then turned this into a brawl around ringside. Honma ended up being worked over in the LIJ corner. 

Honma came back on Naito with a vertical suplex. Wato and BUSHI got tags and the pace quickened. Wato hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. BUSHI hit a dropkick to the leg and started working on Wato’s right knee. They traded strikes. Wato ducked a rewind kick and hit a high kick. 

Honma tagged in and hit some chops. Honma missed a kokeshi. BUSHI tagged Naito. Naito hit a back elbow, a dropkick and a neckbreaker for a two count. Honma ducked a swing and hit a kokeshi. Honma and Wato doubled up on Naito. Honma hit a diving kokeshi for two as BUSHI saved. 

Wato and BUSHI brawled to the floor. Honma hit a DDT and a lariat for a near fall. Honma teased a Michinoku Driver. Naito escaped. BUSHI jumped in. Wato caught Honma with a kick by mistake. 

BUSHI hit a backstabber to Honma, then Naito used the jackknife cradle for the pin. 

Naito held the cradle for more than a minute after the three count, adding insult to injury. Wato and BUSHI had a quick pull-apart after the match. 

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & SHO vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi ended in a time limit draw (30:00)

This was a really good main event and easily the best thing on the show. 

Tanahashi and Shingo started with a quick chain wrestling sequence. SHO and Hiromu tagged in and had a brief, intense battle. SANADA and Ibushi got tags and slowed things down. They worked some holds. SANADA teased a dragon screw. Ibushi hit a dropkick and gave his team the edge at the 5 minute call. 

Tana tagged in and hit SANADA with a slam and an elbow drop. Tanahashi got a cobra twist applied. SHO tagged in and went after SANADA’s left arm. LIJ jumped in to save SANADA. After a brief brawl on the outside, SHO ended up cut off in the ring. 

Hiromu hit a dropkick for a two count. Shingo tagged in and stomped at SHO’s left leg. Shingo teased a cloverleaf to SHO to taunt Tana. Shingo went after Tana on the apron. SANADA tagged in and used the paradise lock. 

SHO hit a backstabber to Hiromu and a kitchen sink to SANADA. Tana tagged in and hit a dragon screw and somersault senton for a two count. Ibushi tagged in and hit a running mid kick and a standing moonsault. SANADA came back with a hurricanrana and a plancha for a near fall at the 15 minute call. 

SANADA used an O’Connor roll to set up a Skull End attempt. Ibushi escaped and hit a dropkick. SHO got a tag and got hit with a back suplex. Hiromu tagged in for a sequence with SHO. SHO hit a series of kicks and got a two count. 

SHO hit a vertical suplex. LIJ tripled up on SHO. Hiromu hit a Dynamite Plunger. Tana saved for SHO. Hiromu blocked a SHO spear. SHO hit a German suplex and a spear. SHO went for Shock Arrow, but Shingo and SANADA saved. Hiromu escaped another Shock Arrow attempt at the 20 minute call. 

Hiromu and SHO traded strikes. SHO got a kimura applied. Hiromu rolled through and hit a DVD into the turnbuckle pad. SHO avoided Time Bomb. They traded lariats. Hiromu hit a belly-to-belly throw into the buckle. 

Shingo and Tanahashi got tags and traded strikes. They continued to trade at the 25 minute call. Shingo blocked a slingblade. Tana hit twist and shout. Shingo blocked another slingblade and hit his own twist and shout. Shingo escaped a dragon screw and hit a sliding lariat. 

Shingo hit a dragon screw. Shingo used a powerbomb and a single-leg crab. Ibushi saved. Ibushi and SANADA brawled to the floor. Tana hit two dragon screws and locked on a cloverleaf. Hiromu broke it up. 

Shingo blocked another slingblade. Tana hit slingblade for a two count. Tana hit Ace’s High. Hiromu hit a shotgun dropkick to Tana. SHO hit a jumping knee to Hiromu. SANADA hit SHO with a dropkick to the knee. Ibushi hit a springboard dropkick to SANADA. Shingo hit a German on Ibushi. 

Shingo and Tanahashi traded strikes. Tana hit a slingblade. Shingo hit a lariat for a near fall as Tanahashi kicked out at the 30 minute call. 

All six guys were down in the ring at the finish. 

Tanahashi and Shingo cut promos on each other after the match. 

NJPW Road to The New Beginning results: The tour continues

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Recommended matches —

  • Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma & SHO 
  • Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Master Wato vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI 

Report —

Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI defeated Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura (10:06)

This was a fun brawl to kick off the show. The highlight was the interaction between Suzuki and Uemura. 

The Suzuki-gun side attacked before the opening bell. The babyface side was able to withstand the attack at first. Uemura and Suzuki brawled outside and Suzuki sold big for Uemura with his facial expressions. 

Tiger Mask got cut off in the ring after a pipe shot from DOUKI while the referee was distracted. Makabe got a hot tag and hit ten punches and a northern lights suplex on Suzuki. Suzuki used a Fujiwara armbar. The two traded strikes. 

Uemura and Desperado tagged in for the closing sequence. Uemura got a couple of near falls off quick cradles. Desperado used the ref as a distraction to set up his illegal right hand and a Pinche Loco for the pin. 

Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan went to a no-contest with Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (3:39)

This was a continuation of the finish of last night’s match between these two teams and more of an angle than a match. 

No Bea Priestley tonight for United Empire. 

O-Khan threw the ref out of the ring before Tenzan and Kojima had even entered. O-Khan and Ospreay attacked as Kojima and Tenzan made their way to the ring. 

All four brawled on the outside. The referee lost complete control. O-Khan and Tenzan got in the ring and traded chops. Ospreay entered with a chair and hit Tenzan. The ref waved off the match. It was ruled a no-contest for whatever reason rather than a DQ. 

Ospreay and O-Khan brought a stack of chairs into the ring. Kojima made the save for Tenzan with a chair and United Empire made a united retreat. 

EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (10:14)

This was practically the same middling undercard tag that some combination of opponents have had with this Bullet Cub trio on every night of the tour, only Bullet Club came away with a win tonight. 

Yujiro began with Goto and tried to get the advantage with biting. Okada and YH saved and they did some comedy. Togo and EVIL cleared the CHAOS apron. 

EVIL used YH’s staff as a weapon on Okada. Yujiro hit Goto with his pimp cane. Togo choked YH with a camera cable. Okada got a hot tag and made a comeback on Yujiro. EVIL and Yujiro cut Okada off. Okada hit a big boot to EVIL and tagged YH. 

Goto and YH hit some tandem offense on EVIL. EVIL took the ref. Yujiro jumped in with his cane. Togo choked YH with his ligature. EVIL hit Everything is EVIL and pinned YH. 

Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Tomoaki Honma & SHO (17:00)

If you’ve been watching the entire tour, then this match rewarded you for paying attention as it paid off the Naito/Honma interactions that have been going on. If not, enjoy the Hiromu/SHO stuff. 

LIJ immediately turned this into a brawl around ringside. Honma missed a kokeshi on Naito in the ring and Naito and Hiromu sent their opponents into the barricade repeatedly. Honma ended up cut off in the ring. 

Naito used a crucifix on Honma on the mat while Hiromu kept SHO away. Honma forced a break and hit a vertical suplex. SHO and Hiromu got tags and went a thousand miles an hour. SHO hit a spear and a series of lariats. The two had a long striking battle. Hiromu hit a pop-up powerbomb into a double down. 

Naito and Honma tagged in and brawled. Naito teased a top rope frankensteiner but Honma escaped. Hiromu entered for a double dropkick and a near fall. Honma hit a diving kokeshi to Naito. SHO and Honma doubled up on Naito and Honma hit a cannonball for a two count. 

The finish was unique. Naito hit a step-up enzuigiri. Hiromu jumped in to hit a thrust kick. Naito then used a jackknife cradle on Honma and pinned him. 

Naito and Hiromu did some goofing off after the match that was pretty entertaining. 

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Master Wato defeated SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI (16:26)

This was a good main event that picked up steam as it went along after a slow start. 

Ibushi and SANADA began with a sequence of chain wrestling that was not particularly inspired. Both fought off attempts at the paradise lock. Ibushi hit a dropkick and tagged out. Wato knocked BUSHI off the apron and then hit a sloppy backbreaker on SANADA. 

Tanahashi tagged in to face SANADA. Shingo tripped Tana from the floor and the LIJ rout was on. All six brawled around ringside. Shingo and Tana ended up back in as the legal men. Tana was cut off in the LIJ half of the ring. 

Shingo and Tana traded strikes. Shingo got the upper hand. Tana hit a dragon screw but Shingo no-sold and tried a pumping bomber. Tana ducked and hit a second dragon screw and Shingo sold the impact of both. Shingo tagged out. 

Tana tried to cradle SANADA. Ibushi tagged in for a mid kick and a standing moonsault for a near fall o his next challenger. SANADA busted out the leapfrog dropkick and hit Ibushi with a plancha. Back in, SANADA used a TKO threat to set up a Skull End attempt. Ibushi hit a high kick and both fell down. 

Wato and BUSHI got tags. Wato used a dreamcast for a near fall. They traded kicks. BUSHI hit a rewind kick. Wato hit a jumping knee strike. They traded palm strikes. Wato hit another dreamcast before tagging Tana back in. 

Tana dispatched an interfering Shingo with a slap. Shingo and SANADA climbed back in to triple up on Tana. BUSHI hit a backstabber for a near fall. SANADA and Ibushi, Shingo and Wato brawled to the floor. 

Tana hit a twist and shout, slingblade, then used a cloverleaf. Shingo teased breaking the hold with a pumping bomber. Wato was supposed to hit him with a springboard forearm but slipped coming off the ropes. Wato saved as well as he could, then hit Shingo with a forearm and a 619. 

With the cloverleaf still applied, BUSHI tapped out. 

Tanahashi, Ibushi and Wato played air guitar to close the show.