Tag: Tama Tonga

NJPW World Tag League live results: The tournament begins

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Just as we finish with one tag team tournament, another begins.

New Japan starts their World Tag League tonight in Kanagawa. Much like the last tournament, blocks have been eliminated for this year’s tag league. Instead, everyone will fight one another, with the top two winners advancing to the finals on December 9.

Tournament matches tonight include The Guerillas of Destiny vs. Togi Makabe and Toa Henare, Chuckie T & Beretta vs. Yujiro Takahashi and Hangman Page, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata and David Finlay & Juice Robinson vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino.

A ten man tag team match will headline in the main event. The CHAOS contingent of Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOH and SHO will take on Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi.

Join us for live coverage starting 4:30 a.m. EDT. There will be English commentary.

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Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin defeated Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura

Good opener. Cobb and Elgin gel well as a team. Both Uemura and Tsuji looked good; the former stood out more in this match than in others I’ve seen him in. Cobb got the win for his team after pinning Tsuji with the Tour of the Islands.

Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi defeated Tomoaki Honma and Ren Narita

Taka Michinoku, who’s in a middle of a scandal in Japan, accompanied Zack Sabre Jr. to the ring and cut his usual promo.

This was very much like the previous match, though this felt longer. Honma’s fine in these tag matches but he comes off as slow at times, which is pretty sad. But it’s also a legit miracle he’s still wrestling after being paralyzed for a short period.Taichi controlled the last few minutes of the match, busting open Narita’s nose. He then struck him with a kick to the temple for the win.

Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka and Desperado defeated Killer Elite Squad and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Both teams brawled to start things off. Iizuka took to bit both Archer and Smith. Archer went to chokeslam Iizuka but he managed to escape by biting Archer’s hand. Kanemaru and Desperado, the current IWGP Jr. tag champions, battled one another as well.

KES had the killer bomb on Suzuki but Iizuka broke it up. Kanemaru came in with an enziguri on Suzuki, but he quickly cut off Kanemaru and pinned him with the Gotch piledriver. This was okay, but only interesting because of the Suzuki-gun interfighting.

World Tag League: David Finlay & Juice Robinson defeated Shota Umino & Ayato Yoshida

This was worked like a slightly better version of the opener. The young lions looked great — Yoshida definitely has something and Umino is the best overall young lion in the promotion right now so they gel well here. 

Umino went off on both Finlay and Juice with strikes. The two countered with a double flapjack. Finlay then hit the stunner for the win, right as Juice took out Yoshia with a crossbody off the top rope.

World Tag League: Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi defeated Tencozy

I liked this match. These four haven’t been around much this year, so this was a nice highlight reel for them. Nakanishi was thrown into the barricade as Nagata had Kojima in the armbar. He took out the returning Tenzan and speared Kojima. He then connected with the exploder suplex for the win. This was fun.

World Tag League: Best Friends defeated Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi

This was very fun, the best match of the show up to this point. Chuck Taylor and Hangman Page in particular were great here. Beretta was right behind them and Yujiro, well, he was there.

Page powerbombed Chuckie T and tagged in Yujiro, who went for the Tokyo Pimps on Beretta. Chuckie T pushed Hangman off the top rope and the two ended up hitting Roppongi Vice’s old finish, the Strong Zero, for the win.

World Tag League: Guerillas of Destiny defeated Togi Makabe and Toa Henare

This was just…there. It was fine, but it felt like just two teams having a wrestling match for 90% of the bout. The last 10% was at least pretty heated.

Makabe made a comeback and tagged in Henare as they did a double ten count in the corner. Loa fired back and hit a blue thunder bomb. Makabe came in and hit the ropes, which allowed Jado to strike Makabe with the cane. Loa blocked the gun stun and hit a samoan drop. Loa came back with a big lariat and connected with the sitout piledriver for the win.

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano and Roppongi 3K

This was pretty good, but felt like a shorter version of the usual ten man tag matches they do on these tours. Nothing wrong about it, solid overall, but nothing you need to go out of your way to see.

Sure enough, things get crazy not that far into the match as LIJ quickly takes things to the outside. Once things settled down, LIJ began working over Yano, who was up to his usual antics. Okada came in and ran wild, doing a million things at once and taking out most of LIJ.

SHO and YOH are tagged in and take on BUSHI, then Naito. EVIL takes guard as Naito eventually picks up the win with the Destino on YOH.

All of LIJ cut a promo in the ring, with Naito doing the LIJ roll call (twice, as he forgot to include himself in the first) to close out the show.

Current World Tag League Standings:

David Finlay & Juice Robinson: 2
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi: 2
Best Friends: 2
Guerillas of Destiny: 2
Togi Makabe & Toa Henare: 0
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi: 0
Tencozy: 0
Shota Umino & Ayato Yoshida: 0

Three matches announced for NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Three matches are official for NJPW’s next show in the United States.

Cody Rhodes challenging for Juice Robinson’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, The Young Bucks defending their IWGP Tag Team titles against Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa, and Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll in an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal match have been announced for Fighting Spirit Unleashed, which will take place at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on September 30.

Ospreay vs. Scurll is part of a four-man tournament to decide the next Junior Heavyweight Champion. KUSHIDA will face BUSHI at Destruction in Kobe on September 23 in the other semifinal match, and the finals will be held at King of Pro Wrestling on October 8.

Hiromu Takahashi had to relinquish the Junior Heavyweight title after suffering a neck injury at last month’s G1 Special in San Francisco.

Cody was set up as Robinson’s next challenger when he pinned Robinson during a tag match at the G1 finals. The Young Bucks and Tonga & Loa are on opposite sides of the feud between the Bullet Club and the Bullet Club OGs, and Tonga, Loa, & Taiji Ishimori won the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles from The Young Bucks & Scurll at the G1 finals.

NJPW taking ‘disciplinary action’ against Tama Tonga

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan has taken disciplinary action against Tama Tonga following what they are calling ‘inappropriate conduct’.

NJPW’s official English site released a statement this morning saying “NJPW takes actions taken by our wrestlers seriously. In light of recent inappropriate conduct by Tama Tonga including SNS usage, the company has decided to take disciplinary actions against said wrestlers, and will issue updated guidelines to all wrestlers.”

Tama Tonga has been making waves on social media, specifically Twitter, since splitting from the Bullet Club and forming his own faction with the Guerillas of Destiny and Bad Luck Fale, including trading barbs with the likes of Roman Reigns. He was recently suspended from the service for a short period of time. Reasons for the suspension were not made clear, but tweets insulting fans using profane language have since been deleted. There was also an incident on a recent G1 card where he grabbed a fan by the throat after a match.

His most recent tweet was a video posted on August 5 where he was shown littering in a public area.

NJPW G1 Climax 27 night 12 results: Kenny Omega vs. EVIL

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Fukuoka was home to the twelfth night of the G1 Climax 27 this morning. B Block action continued as Kazuchika Okada took on Tama Tonga and Kenny Omega squared off against EVIL in the main event.

Prelim matches —

– Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino defeated Katsuya Kitamura & Ren Narita when Oka submitted Narita with a Boston crab.

– Kota Ibushi & Tiger Mask IV defeated Yuji Nagata & Hirai Kawato when Tiger Mask pinned Kawato after a butterfly suplex off the top rope.

– Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens when YOSHI-HASHI submitted Owens with the butterfly lock.

– Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & El Desperado defeated Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI when Taichi pinned BUSHI with the Gedo clutch.

– Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Togi Makabe & David Finlay when Tanahashi hit Finlay with the High Fly Flow.

B Block matches —

SANADA defeated Juice Robinson

After a hot exchange at the start, SANADA clipped Robinson’s leg as he entered the ring, finding a body part to work on for the duration of the match. SANADA continued to work on the leg, applying a figure four on the floor. 

SANADA went for a magistral cradle until Robinson reversed it. Robinson landed a spinebuster and followed with a powerbomb. SANADA sprang back to life with a springboard dropkick, followed by a back suplex. Robinson escaped the Skull End and eventually ended up laying out SANADA with a lariat. 

SANADA had the Cold Skull applied, but Robinson escaped as the two traded finisher attempts. Finally, SANADA latched on the Skull End once again and then let go to hit a moonsault for the win. This was a good sprint of a match.

Toru Yano defeated Michael Elgin by DQ

This did not last long. After Elgin proved he was the better of the two, Yano did a ref spot and low blowed Elgin. Yano then fell to the floor and told the referee that Elgin low blowed him. The New Japan ref, for some inexplicable reason, believed him and disqualified Elgin, effectively putting him out of the tournament. This was dumb.

Minoru Suzuki defeated Satoshi Kojima

Suzuki wasted no time in jumping Kojima, taking him to the outside and throwing him across the barricades. When Desperado and Taka Michinoku came in, Tenzan took care of them, but the referee stopped things and sent Tenzan away as Suzuki dominated.

Kojima came back and unloaded chops on Suzuki’s chest. Suzuki started to go for the Gotch piledriver before Kojima fought back. Desperado and Michinoku came in to interfere, but Tenzan came back and dished out Mongolian chops. Kojima hit a brainbuster, though Suzuki kicked out.

Kojima missed a lariat, allowing Suzuki to wreck him with a flying kick. He followed with the sleeper, then the Gotch piledriver for the win in a nice match.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Tama Tonga

Tonga jumped Okada and posed with Okada’s ring entrance gear to cheers. Okada fought back, but Tonga immediately came back with the heat. When Tonga missed a splash, Okada followed with a neckbreaker. 

Okada eventually went for the Rainmaker, but Tonga fought back, running around the ropes, confusing Okada and ending things with a spear. Okada went for another, but Tonga countered with his waistlock DDT. Okada fought back and looked for a third, but Tonga countered everything Okada could muster, including his dropkick.

Okada avoided the Gun Stun but ate a kick to the face for his troubles. Tonga went for another Gun Stun, but Okada dropped him with a German suplex and then pinned him with the Rainmaker. The match was pretty good, though not great.

Kenny Omega defeated EVIL

This was easily the best match of the night by far. EVIL really stepped up his game and was just as good as Omega in this match. Cool table spots and fast-paced action made this a memorable bout.

EVIL took Omega out of the ring, removed the mats, and tried for a body slam, but Omega fought back and body slammed EVIL instead. EVIL tried to mount a comeback with a senton, but Omega got his knees up in response.

Omega put up a chair and tried to suplex EVIL onto it, but EVIL fought back and went for the chair to the throat spot. Omega countered it, then went to do a springboard off the barricade, but EVIL countered and laid him out with the chair to the throat.

When he regained control, Omega took out a table and sent EVIL through it. He took out another and looked to hit a double underhook piledriver on the apron before EVIL fought him off and instead hit a uranage, sending both of them crashing through the table.

With his eye busted open, EVIL hit a senton but Omega started to fight back. After some great back-and-forth offense, EVIL took him down with the Banshee Muzzle, but Omega made it to the ropes.

Omega fought back with a V-Trigger and the reverse rana. I think that legitimately knocked EVIL out as he struggled to continue the match. Omega eventually got him up for the One Winged Angel and landed it for the win.

Omega cut a promo after the match. He said he looked into the crowd and saw Los Ingobernables de Japon shirts, but he also saw Good Night and Good Luck t-shirts as well. He said G1 Climax 27 will be the first time a gaijin has won the tournament twice. He finished off by saying he has to go to sleep now, but goodbye and good night.

Current standings — 

A Block:

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

B Block:

Kazuchika Okada — 12
Kenny Omega — 10
EVIL — 8
Minoru Suzuki — 8
SANADA — 8
Tama Tonga — 4
Michael Elgin — 4
Toru Yano — 4
Juice Robinson — 2
Satoshi Kojima — 0