Toa Henare, under a new name, has joined The United Empire.
Henare, going under the name Aaron Henare, joined the group during tonight’s NJPW Sakura Genesis event, revealing himself as their mystery tag team partner. He teamed up with Jeff Cobb and The Great-O-Khan to take on the Los Ingobernables de Japon team of Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and Shingo Takagi. He picked up the win for his team, pinning SANADA after a death valley driver.
After the match, Henare and Cobb held Naito down as Great O-Khan attacked Naito’s knee with a steel chair.
Henare had been doing a storyline earlier this year where he expressed frustrations about his recent losses. He mentioned on Twitter that he was not in Japan for the current tour and was back home in New Zealand under quarantine.
Starting off as a young lion in 2016 under the name Henare, he would later emerge out of his young lion stage without taking an excursion, going under the name Toa Henare. Despite no longer being a young lion, Henare has spent the last few years in NJPW’s midcard, usually taking the pin for more established stars.
New Japan Cup first round match: David Finlay defeated Chase Owens (11:20)
The work here was solid, but Owens is typically presented as a comedy guy and Finlay isn’t all that over, so this didn’t feel like it should be a tournament match.
Finlay tried a couple of amateur takedowns before settling on a side headlock. Owens reversed the headlock. Finlay hit a dropkick for an early two count.
Owens pulled Finlay off the second rope and dropped him on his knee while hitting a lariat. Owens used a bow and arrow and a running elbow drop. Owens hit a northern lights for a two count, then used a body scissors. Finlay came back with a neckbreaker.
Finlay hit a leg lariat and a slingshot plancha. He followed with a blue thunder bomb for a two count. Owens sent Finlay outside and hit a dropkick through the ropes. Back in, Finlay hit a uranage backbreaker. Owens blocked an Acid Drop attempt and hit a Jewel Heist before a series of near falls.
They traded cradles. Owens hit a shining wizard and a uranage backbreaker. They traded strikes. Owens hit a clothesline for a two count. Owens rolled outside and pulled up the padding around the ring. While the ref went to fix it, he hit a belt shot for a two count.
Owens hit another backbreaker. Finlay reversed a package piledriver attempt into a cradle and rolled Owens up for the pin.
New Japan Cup first round match: YOSHI-HASHI defeated Yujiro Takahashi (15:50)
This was too long given who was involved. YH needs a good dance partner and Yujiro is too beat up to be that guy.
YOSHI-HASHI was in control for the first couple of minutes as they brawled. Yujiro used his pimp cane on the outside to gain the advantage. YH made it back in after a countout tease.
Yujiro hit a legdrop, an elbow and a headbutt for a two count. Yujiro hit a slam, then used a chinlock to set up a dropkick to the back for a two count. Yujiro hit a back suplex for another two count. YH came back with a headhunter. Yujiro bit YH’s hand to halt his momentum.
They exchanged strikes and lariats. Yujiro hit an Angle slam, a superplex and a fisherman buster for a two count. YH blocked Pimp Juice with a kick. He hit a thrust kick, but Yujiro answered with Miami Shine for a near fall.
YH fought off another Pimp Juice attempt. YH hit a dragon suplex and a lariat for a near fall. YH went for Kharma, but Yujiro fought it off. YH hit a neckbreaker and a senton bomb for a near fall.
YH used the butterfly lock to set up Kharma. He hit Kharma for the pin.
New Japan Cup first round match: Jay White (w/Gedo) defeated Toa Henare (24:46)
I’m guessing that this was the longest singles match of Henare’s career and he did well, but this was the Jay White show. He’s firing on all cylinders right now and is one of the best guys on the planer. We’re watching an all-time great in him.
Henare broke cleanly on the opening lock up. White twice rolled to the floor to control the pace. White used a headlock. Henare hit a couple of shoulder tackles as they began to establish the story of the match –Henare had the power edge.
Henare whipped White into the barricade. Back inside, Henare hit a knee drop. White dumped Henare outside with a suplex over the ropes to the floor. White used the barricade and ring frame as weapons, bouncing Henare around.
White began to target the lower back with knee strikes, then a single-leg crab. Henare forced a rope break, but White went after the back again with strikes, then a chinlock with his knee planted in the lower back.
Henare whipped White into the corner pad. Henare hit a tackle and a delayed vertical suplex for a two count. Henare sold the damage to his back after the cover. White avoided a Samoan drop and hit a DDT. White hit an underhook suplex into the corner pad, then used a Blade Buster for a near fall.
White hit a series of forearm strikes. Henare dropped White with one forearm. White hit a deadlift German and a uranage. White rolled Henare outside three times and tried to steal a countout win, but Henare made it back in.
White sent Henare into the barricade. White hit the Kiwi Krusher for a near fall. Henare powered out of a chinlock, but White again attacked the back. White hit a sleeper suplex. Henare fought off two superplex attempts and hit a diving tackle off the top rope.
Henare hit a Samoan drop and a lariat for a two count. White avoided Toa Bottom twice. Henare ducked a lariat and hit a spear for a two count.
Henare reversed a Blade Runner attempt and hit Toa Bottom for a two count. Gedo jumped on the apron. White used the distraction to try a Blade Runner. Henare slid out and hit a diving tackle. White avoided another Toa Bottom with a sleeper suplex into a double down.
White hit a second sleeper suplex, then hit Blade Runner for the pin.
The entrants for this year’s NJPW World Tag League have been announced.
Several people will be making their return to the company after being gone due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Guerillas of Destiny, Toa Henare, and Bad Luck Fale will all be making their return on this tour.
It was announced that The Great O-Khan will team with a mystery partner, or “X”. It wasn’t made clear who that would be. O-Khan is part of The Empire stable along with Will Ospreay and Bea Preistley.
One notable team that will not be on the tour is TenKoji, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. This would be the first time since 2011 that the team won’t be competing in the tournament.
Here is the full list of participants for this year’s tournament. Opening day starts on November 15 in Aichi and will run through December 11 in the Nippon Budokan:
NJPW and CMLL kicked off their Fantasticamania tour this morning in Osaka with a number of matches, including the debut of Atlantis Jr., son of Atlantis.
Taiji Ishimori, Templarino and Gedo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask and Audaz
Gedo stalled early. Kinda boring until Audaz was tagged in and did an amazing corkscrew moonsault to the floor, wiping out Templarino. They ended up having some pretty good chemistry together and was a highlight of the match.
Ishimori and Taguchi, who was wearing his pharaoh outfit as he normally does on these tours, went at it. It was pretty okay.Templarino picked up the win over Audaz with a sitout powerbomb. Pretty solid opener.
Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Forastero defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Titan and Flyer
This felt kind of uninteresting until Liger started to make a hot comeback, sending Forastero to the floor. He took out Kanemaru on the outside as Flyer and Kanemaru went at it.
Titan and Forastero had some fun back and forth towards the end. Forastero scissored him and went for the triangle armbar, submitting Flyer. Dull in parts but largely okay.
Okumura and Sanson defeated Atlantis and Atlantis Jr.
This is the debut match of Atlantis Jr., who naturally is the son of Atlantis. He and Sanson worked together early and looked okay, doing some cool spots including a suicide dive to the floor, taking out Sanson.
It was kind of sad seeing Atlantis, as it seems clear his knee is still bothering him, especially when he has to run. Atlantis Jr. wiped out both with a tope con hilo as Atlantis went to the top rope, hitting a crossbody to the floor.
As the match wore on, Atlantis Jr. continued to work the bulk of the match, looking good.
Okumura planted him with a draping cutter off the top rope but Atlantis broke it up. Sanson took Atlantis out of the ring as Atlantis Jr. got a near fall with a roll up. As he was arguing with referee, Okumura grabbed him and hit a spinning DDT for the win.
Okumura and Sanson took the masks of both father and son after the match.
Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero and Cuartero defeated Mistico, Dragon Lee and Niebla Roja
Everyone paired off against one another with some good back and forth. Gran and Ultimo teamed up to slam Mistico off the top rope. The technicos then teamed up to send all three rudos out of the ring.
Dragon Lee and Mistico teamed up to work on the rudos, doing some great tandem offense to take out the Guerreros. Niebla Roja and Cuatero worked against one another, and both looked good. Roja took out Cuatero with a giant Sasuke special as Lee and Mistico took out the Guerreros with stereo topes.
Roja and Cuartero continued their offense until Cuartero cut off Roja and pinned him with the Cuatero bomb. A pretty good match, with Mistico and Dragon Lee’s offense being the highlights.
Caristico, Namajague and Barbaro Cavernario defeated KUSHIDA, Volador Jr. and Soberano Jr.
Namajague was Desperado’s gimmick during his CMLL excursion years ago.
Volador and Caristico had a hot sprint early. Namajague used his belt as a rope to choke and attack KUSHIDA throughout the match. Soberano came in and did a big moonsault dive to the floor that wiped out both KUSHIDA and Namajague on the outside.
Volador and Caristico were back in the ring and did a few more spots before Volador tapped to la mistica. Short, but good action while it lasted.
Tetsuya Naito, El Terrible, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi defeated Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin and Fujin
Fujin and Raijin, much like Desperado, were SHO and YOH wearing their CMLL masks.
The first few minutes of this was just kind of a match. People would tag in, get worked over for a bit before tagging out. Nothing particularly interesting.
Fujin and Rajin picked things up toward the end by working over BUSHI with some tandem offense. They went for the 3K, but it was broken up by Shingo who attempted to clear house.
Fujin went for a dragon suplex, but BUSHI countered with the BUSHI roll and got the win. Again, the first half of this was really dull but it picked up towards the end.
This was an easy two in a half hours to watch. If you like these shows, it’s worth a look, but there isn’t anything that I would consider must see barring the debut of Atlantis Jr..
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
