Two titles are on the line at NJPW Wrestling Satsuma no Kuni.
In the main event, Shingo Takagi defends the provisional KOPW 2023 title against Taichi in a Takagi Style Triad match. The winner will be the first to win three falls either by pinfall, submission, stoppage, knockout or countout.
In the semi-main, Aussie Open make their first defense of the IWGP Tag Team titles against Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste of TMDK.
The undercard:
- Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. SANADA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
- Tama Tonga, Hikuleo, Master Wato & Jado vs. David Finlay, KENTA, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
- Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Togi Makabe & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Yuto Nakashima
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
- Tomoaki Honma, KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight vs. Aaron Henare, TJP & Francesco Akira
- Shota Umino & Oskar Leube vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi
- Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg
Our live coverage begins at 4 a.m. Eastern time.
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Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano
This match was all Boltin, and he looked good. He was given a lot, especially considering he was going up against the former tag champs.
Boltin started the match by taking out Goto and YH with a shoulder tackle. After furthering this early lead, Boltin tagged in Yano, who immediately lost his team’s advantage by grabbing the turnbuckle pad.
The hot tag eventually came to Boltin, who retook control. He locked Goto in a Boston crab and chopped down YH when he tried to make the save. It took both of Bishamon working together to overwhelm Boltin. Together, they hit Shoto to win the match.
House Of Torture (EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Oskar Leube & Shota Umino
HOT started the match by rushing their opponents, isolating Leube in the ring. HOT cheated to maintain this advantage for as long as possible.
Shota eventually tagged in and led a prolonged comeback. Leube tagged in and held his own for some time, but a distracted referee allowed SHO to drop Leube with a wrench shot. Yujiro then hit Leube with pimp juice to win the match.
United Empire (Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP) defeated Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) & Tomoaki Honma
The match opened with UE attacking the babyface trio. The Jet Setters held on, winning out in the early exchange, even after being blindsided. After Honma tagged in, UE worked to isolate him, turning the match back in their favor.
The match eventually broke down, but even through the chaos, UE maintained their control. Honma tried to rally back, but Henare was able to catch him in Ultima, leading to the submission victory.
United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) defeated TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.)
O-Khan and Fujita opened the match with a scramble where O-Khan’s wrestling proved superior. With his protege on the back foot, ZSJ tagged in, gained control, and passed the match back to Fujita. Together they worked O-Khan’s legs, forcing Cobb to get involved.
Cobb took care of ZSJ outside of the ring. Back inside, UE beat down Fujita for his hubris. Once ZSJ recovered, he tagged in to mount a comeback, but he was overwhelmed by the strength of Cobb.
After tagging back in, Fujita wrestled O-Khan to the mat and secured a leglock, forcing him into the ropes. O-Khan answered with a suplex, leading into a back-and-forth sequence late in the match. Ultimately, O-Khan would secure the iron claw to win the match via submission.
Strong Style (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki & Ren Narita) & Yuto Nakashima defeated CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii), Ryohei Oiwa & Togi Makabe
Before the match could even start, Okada and Narita locked eyes. Once the bell sounded, Okada gained the initial lead over him, but the match broke down before he could achieve anything substantial. Once the fog cleared, Okada tagged out.
Ishii and Desperado fought outside while the match’s fillers traded tags and momentum for a while. Once Desperado and Ishii finally tagged in, they traded moves and control until neither could continue.
Okada and Narita came to blows again, and again, Okada bested him with ease. Suzuki followed Narita and knocked Okada to the floor before passing the baton back to Narita. Narita connected with offense, but Okada reversed the momentum back in his favor.
Oiwa tagged in while the match continued to devolve on the outside. Narita retook control, hitting suplexes and securing a hold that resulted in a submission victory.
After the match, Ishii and Desperado continued to brawl on the floor. Eventually, both teams fought as if the bell never rang. The brawl was chaotic and exciting. Great stuff here.
Guerrillas Of Destiny (Hikuleo, Jado & Tama Tonga) & Master Wato defeated BULLET CLUB (David Finlay, Gedo, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori)
Hikuleo gained the upper hand on KENTA, leading to a frustrated Bullet Club early on. Once Jado gained the lead, Bullet Club rushed the ring, gaining advantage for their team.
Eventually, Tama was able to fight back into the match. After knocking Finlay to the floor, Tama hit Gedo with a gun stun to win.
After the closing bell, Finlay laid out Tama with the shillelagh while KENTA beat down Hikuleo with a kendo stick.
Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito)
J5G opened the match by jumping LIJ. Most of the action fell outside of the ropes, but DOUKI and Naito were left alone in the ring. It didn’t take long for Naito to establish control. To get his team back in the match, DOUKI escaped to the floor, where he whipped Naito into the barricade. After returning to the ring, J5G were able to maintain their lead for a while longer.
SANADA and Hiromu tagged into the match. Hiromu gained a significant lead on SANADA, even withstanding aid from Kanemaru.
SANADA slowly worked his way back into a favorable position, eventually securing a skull end on BUSHI, resulting in a match breakdown as LIJ made the save. After the ring was cleared, SANADA established the hold again and forced BUSHI to submit.
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) defeated TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)
The match opened with a typical feeling-out process, but as all four men entered the ring, Aussie Open established the first lead. Once the action wandered outside the ring, TMDK turned things around.
After dropping him on the ring apron, TMDK isolated Fletcher from Davis. Once receiving the tag, Davis took out both of his opponents, setting up Fletcher for a dive to the floor.
After surviving a backdrop that resulted in a nearfall, Nicholls stepped up to Davis, trading strikes and moves with him until both men had to tag out. Fletcher and Haste kept the back-and-forth going after entering the match. Eventually, all four men found their way into the ring, and the action followed.
Haste hit Davis with a powerbomb for a nearfall. Nicholls then tagged in to drop Davis with a lariat, but Davis answered with a German suplex and a lariat of his own.
Aussie Open toyed with Nicholls before dropping him with a double superkick. As they tried to follow up, Haste hit them with a crossbody from the top rope and a suicide dive. Back in the ring, TMDK hit Fletcher with his own tag finisher, Coriolis; Davis made the save.
Aussie Open cleared the ring of TMDK, only for TMDK to hit Fletcher with a pair of tank busters. Again, Davis was able to break up the pin.
TMDK tried for thunder valley, but Fletcher reversed. Aussie Open hit tandem elbow strikes and a pair of drivers to fight back into control. After clearing the ring of Nicholls, Aussie Open hit Haste with Coriolis to win the match and retain their belts.
After the match, Bishamon walked to the ring, but before they could challenge the champions, House of Torture arrived and attacked everyone. The rest of Untied Empire made the save.
NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Championship Takagi-Style Triad Match: Taichi defeated Shingo Takagi (c)
To win this match, you needed to score three different victories, either by pin, submission, KO, TKO, or ring out. A bingo board on the bottom of the screen marked which options had been filled.
The match opened with some chop trading before wandering to the outside. On the floor, the strike trading continued, almost into a count out.
Once Shingo beat the count, the pair traded quick pin attempts, with Shingo scoring the first fall of the match.
Now with the upper hand, Shingo dropped Taichi on his face and called for the referee’s count. Once it was clear Taichi was beating the ten count, Shingo tried to submit him with a crossface, but Taichi found the ropes.
Shingo dropped Taichi on the apron, nearly scoring a count out for a second fall. Instead of a fall, Taichi scored one with a quick backslide after beating the count, tieing the score.
Taichi tried kicking Shingo down, but Shingo answered with a suplex. Taichi responded with a dangerous backdrop of his own but was floored, triggering a double KO count from the referee, which both men beat.
Once they were back to their feet, they traded more lariats before Taichi connected with a high kick, a powerbomb, and a Black Mephisto, initiating another count from the referee. Shingo failed to get to his feet, leaving Taichi with his second point and the lead.
Taichi didn’t waste time trying to score the deciding fall, locking in a choke that forced Shingo into the ropes. Shingo reversed the follow-up kick attempt and landed made in Japan to reset the match’s momentum. Once both men got back to their feet, they continued to trade clubbing blows. Shingo won out and hit a pumping bomber and last of the dragon to score his KO point.
Shingo landed STAY DREAM before trying for a choke. Taichi escaped to the floor, buying him some time to recover. Once Taichi was back between the ropes, Shingo hit him with a pumping bomber and attempted a choke, but Taichi reversed into a dangerous backdrop. Two more strikes from Taichi sent both men tumbling to the floor; Shingo barely beat the count.
Once both men were to their feet, they traded more strikes, which eventually escalated into headbutts. Taichi landed a front high kick before securing a choke, but the sweat on Shingo’s face allowed him to slip free.
Taichi landed multiple leaping high kicks and locked in the stretch plum. As Shingo began to fade, Hiromu climbed on the apron with a towel but chose not to use it, instead choosing to cheer Shingo on. Hiromu’s support couldn’t stop the inevitable, however; Shingo was out. Even without Hiromu’s concession, the referee stepped in and called the match for Taichi.
Taichi is your new King of Pro Wrestling.
After the match’s conclusion, Just 5 Guys cut the show-ending promo and hoisted Taichi onto their shoulders with his new belt.
