The NEVER trios titles headline New Japan’s return to Korakuen Hall, as the Kizuna Road tour enters its second week.
Quick Results
Taichi pinned Yuya Uemura in 10:12 (***)
Zack Sabre Jr. submitted Yota Tsuji in 13:59 (***½)
YOH, SHO, Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano pinned Gedo, Jado, El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori in 10:04 (**¾)
Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Kota Ibushi pinned BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi in 18:02 (***)
Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto pinned Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi in 32:03 to retain the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship (***)
We’re back at Korakuen Hall for the first of just two shows there this week as New Japan’s finally got some stuff to aim for, in terms of title matches – Taiji Ishimori challenging El Desperado at the first Summer Struggle in Sapporo on July 10, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito challenging for the tag titles on the next night, and of course, Kota Ibushi vs. Shingo Takagi at the Tokyo Dome two weeks later on July 25.
Yuya Uemura vs. Taichi
Taichi’s already beaten Yota Tsuji in this trial series, and you’d expect he’ll make it 2-0 here.
Uemura charges out at the bell, scoring with dropkicks and forearms in the opening seconds to take Taichi outside. Following him outside, Uemura reverses a whip to throw Taichi into the rails, before he measured up for a crossbody off the apron. Back inside, Uemura’s charge came to a shuddering halt by way of a gamengiri in the corner.
Taichi slows the pace down as he prodded Uemura with toe kicks in the corner, before an abdominal stretch trapped Uemura in the middle of the ring. There’s a Great-O-Khan-ish head claw too briefly, before Taichi turned it into a Cobra twist as he swapped around holds. Eventually Uemura fought back with a series of dropkicks, before he teased a backdrop driver of his own.
Taichi escaped and tried one too, but Uemura gets his back suplex off first for a two-count. A Boston crab follows, ending in the ropes as Uemura followed up with a release Kanuki suplex. It’s good for a two-count, so Uemura heads outside for a springboard crossbody… which Taichi sidestepped.
A quick Axe bomber nearly puts Uemura away, while the Young Lion rolled his way out of a powerbomb for a near-fall… but another high kick from Taichi begins to close the door on the match, with the Last Ride finally putting Uemura down for the count. A solid outing by Uemura, whose early fire just couldn’t burn long enough. ***
Yota Tsuji vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Just like his tag partner, Sabre’s looking to “complete the set” when it comes to Young Lions…
From the opening tie-up, Sabre’s working over Tsuji’s arm as the pair grappled on the mat, Tsuji’s able to escape with a toe hold, before we reset with a knuckle lock that saw the pair jockey for position. Sabre’s forced to the mat, but bridges up from Tsuji’s pin attempt… only to get caught in a modified Deathlock that made Sabre look like he was trying out for a remake of Titanic.
Annoyed by that, Sabre began to get a little more serious with Tsuji, but ended up getting surprised with a series of flash pins that nearly ended the match. Tsuji takes Sabre outside with a dropkick, but doesn’t chase him to the floor, instead biding his time as Sabre’s met with kicks upon his return.
Forearms and elbows follow between the two, but Sabre snapped ahead with a neck twist en route to a Japanese stranglehold that ended in the ropes. Kicks from Sabre follow as Tsuji’s taken into the corner, from where he returned with elbows, only to get caught in a cravat and a side headlock on the mat.
Tsuji slammed his way out of a cravat, then charged through Sabre with a shoulder block and a powerslam for a two-count. A camel clutch looks to follow, which Tsuji relented on so he could go for the Mount Tsuji splash, then a standing surfboard stretch. Sabre’s attempt to reverse it is easily countered, before Sabre finally rolled Tsuji into a leg lock.
The ropes save Tsuji, who’s soon forced to slip out of a guillotine as he almost put away Sabre with a sunset flip. A spear lands for a near-fall, but Sabre looks to return with a Cobra twist… which Tsuji countered! From there, a reverse Gory special surprises Sabre, but Zack sits up and clambered around into a triangle choke while on Tsuji’s shoulders, bringing him down to the mat for the eventual submission. For “a Young Lion match,” this was superb – with Tsuji coming close to winning on several occasions. Time to graduate, surely? ***½
Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Jado) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH), Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano
We’ve got the junior tag title match tomorrow, so this is the obligatory warm-up match…
We’ve a jump start as the Bullet Club were attacked during their Too Sweeting… while Okada nearly forced a submission in the first 20 seconds as he trapped Gedo in a Money Clip. Ishimori makes the save, but Okada ran through the interference while Gedo accidentally poked Jado in the eye.
A DDT from Okada leaves things for Yano to tag in for his usual shtick. After undoing a pad, Yano ducks a punch from Gedo, before Gedo and Jado worked out that back rakes don’t work on t-shirts. So ELP comes in and rakes Yano under his shirt anyway. SHO & YOH are dragged in to take some extravagant back rakes from Ishimori and Phantasmo, while ELP broke out a double-jump backrake for Yano. The usual stuff.
We keep going through the back rakes, until Yano broke free and tagged in SHO, who ran wild, dropkicking Gedo of the apron before going after Ishimori. Elbows from SHO eventually get cut off with Ishimori’s handspring enziguiri, while Phantasmo’s whirlibird neckbrekaer gets countered with a suplex from SHO.
In comes YOH, who nearly loses to a roll-up as the pair go back-and-forth… leading to a Falcon arrow from YOH for a near-fall. An enziguiri from Phantasmo has YOH down, as did a release German suplex as the match began to break down into a Parade of Stuff. Ishimori avoids an Okada dropkick, as Phantasmo kicks Okada to the outside, while a pair of leaping knees from SHO and YOH had Ishimori down.
Gedo gets a pasting from the junior tag champions next, leading to the 3K, and that’s the win. I’d totally missed Gedo tagging in, but that’s the champions going into tomorrow’s defence on the back of a win… which could raise some eyebrows. **¾
Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & SANADA)
Shingo vs. Ibushi is the focus here, so Ibushi’s partnering with some of the New Japan Dads against LIJ.
Ibushi and Shingo start us off, heading into the ropes from the initial tie-up, which led to a fake-out on the clean break from Shingo. Shoulder blocks from Ibushi had little effect, but some headscissors did, only for Shingo to charge Ibushi back down as the pair reached a stand-off.
Tags bring us to Naito and Tenzan, but Naito’s in no hurry to lock up as he took Tenzan to the ropes… where BUSHI was on hand to pull at the mullet. Tenzan retaliates with a shoulder block, then with some Mongolian chops as Naito took a beating with some New Japan Dad chops.
Tenzan splashes Naito in the corner, then hit a brainbuster for a two-count, before the rest of LIJ flooded the ring to take the sting out of the match. With everyone else on the floor, Naito begins to work over Tenzan’s leg, while SANADA tagged in to keep that motif going. BUSHI wraps Tenzan’s leg around the ropes in the corner, before Naito returned for a Combinacion Cabron dropkick to the leg.
While Shingo’s elbowing the daylights out of Ibushi on the floor, Naito’s got Tenzan trapped in a Figure Four deathlock – with SANADA having Kojima in a regular old Figure Four next to him. The ropes save Tenzan, but he’s still on the defensive until a Mountain Bomb took down SANADA. A tag bring in Nagata, who lands a double underhook suplex on SANADA for a two-count… then an overhead belly-to-belly on Naito.
SANADA recovers for an atomic drop, but can’t follow with a Paradise Lock, as Nagata powered out before a springboard missile dropkick took down Nagata. In comes Shingo, but he eats an Exploder as Ibushi joined the fray, peppering the champion with kicks before a springboard missile dropkick took down Shingo.
A standing moonsault from Ibushi lands for a two-count, but Shingo recovers, clotheslining Ibushi into the corner as they exchanged strikes. It’s a barrage of jabs from Shingo that put him ahead, as did the combination of a jab, an elbow and a lariat… BUSHI’s in to eat his half of a backflip kick, before Kojima tagged in to take BUSHI to the corner for the Machine Gun chops.
Naito gets some too, but Kojima can’t follow through with the top rope elbow as SANADA press slams him off the top. BUSHI tries to capitalise, landing a missile dropkick off the middle rope, before a Fisherman Screw’s countered into a Koji Cutter. Nagata, Tenzan and Ibushi hit the ring to gang up on BUSHI, leading to a TenKoji Cutter attempt, but BUSHI blocks it as it was LIJ’s turn to hit the ring.
A back cracker from BUSHI gets a near-fall on Kojima, while an attempt to clothesline Ibushi to the outside didn’t quite go to plan. Meanwhile, BUSHI ends up not quite being able to hit Terrible on Kojima, and quickly fell to a Cozy lariat seconds later. A decent little tag match, but this was starting to feel a little long in the tooth by the end. ***
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Bullet Club (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo) vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (c)
The CHAOS lads already have the record for the most defences of the titles – and a win here would almost surely get them to the record for the longest single reign (unless we get a quick turnaround with another defense in the next month). That being said, the return of Pieter in the Bullet Club’s corner may well prove a good luck charm…
We’ve a jump start as the Bullet Club took things outside at the bell, leading to guard rail spots before Dick Togo threw Tomohiro Ishii into the ring for some stomps. Yujiro’s in for the elbow drop, leg drop, falling headbutt series, before EVIL tagged in to throw Ishii outside… and wipe out the timekeeper as well.
Back inside, chops and eye rakes are traded, before Ishii’s taken outside again for trips to the guard rails. Out come some chairs as EVIL goes for the home run, before he kicked away at Ishii’s leg. An eye rake stops Ishii as he tried to fight back out of the Bullet Club corner, with Togo returning to hit a fist drop for a two-count.
Yujiro’s back as my feed dropped out… it recovers with Goto clearing house, having tagged in, before hiptossing YOSHI-HASHI onto Yujiro. A quick elbow drop gets Goto a two-count, with Yujiro returning fire as he spiked Goto on a sheer-drop Fisherman buster for a near-fall. The pair clatter into each other with clotheslines from there as the buffering returned, and we get tags out to EVIL and YOSHI-HASHI…
Right hands from YOSHI-HASHI stop EVIL briefly, as did a Head Hunter neckbreaker. More chops keep EVIL in the corner ahead of a regular neckbreaker from YOSHI-HASHI for a two-count, before EVIL threw YOSHI-HASHI to the outside as the floor became his playground again. More trips to the guard rails follow for YOSHI-HASHI and Ishii, before they returned to the ring with EVIL looking to be in control.
A Scorpion Deathlock from EVIL looked to get a submission, but Ishii slides into the ring to break up the hold, eventually landing a blockbuster on EVIL. Yujiro’s back as he sidestepped Ishii’s charge into the exposed corner… only for YOSHI-HASHI to throw Yujiro there. The Parade of Stuff continues with a YOSHI-HASHI superkick to EVIL, then a superkick-assisted ushigoroshi and a running double knees that almost won the match.
YOSHI-HASHI says on EVIL with a Butterfly Lock, but YOSHI-HASHI pulls EVIL away from the ropes as he looked to stick a foot out. Reapplying the hold, YOSHI-HASHI had EVIL in trouble, before he swivelled out for a sleeperhold, which EVIL broke with relative ease, pulling YOSHI-HASHI into the ropes and unsighting the referee as a Dick Togo chairshot forces the break.
Togo tries to choke out YOSHI-HASHI with the garrot wire, but Ishii just yanked him off the apron. EVIL keeps the momentum going in the ring with Darkness Falls for a two-count, before YOSHI-HASHI elbowed out of Everything is EVIL. A thrust kick stops EVIL, as did a back cracker, before a tag brought in Ishii to try and close out the match.
EVIL pulls the referee in front of him before Yujiro tripped Ishii in the ropes… a tag brings in Togo as some two-on-one awaited Ishii, leading to leg drops and back sentons for a two-count. A clothesline from Togo nearly wins the match, as he then instantly locked on a crossface on Ishii. That ends as Ishii dragged himself to the ropes for a break, before he took Togo up for a superplex… and lands it with aplomb.
Togo kicks out at two from that, before he and Ishii traded places with some quick counters into a back suplex from Ishii. A sliding lariat from Ishii is countered as Togo goes back to the crossface, which again looked to end in the ropes… so Togo rolls into the middle of the ring as they tease the WrestleMania 20 finish, before YOSHI-HASHI finally came in to kick it apart.
A Parade of Moves breaks out, leading to a ref bump as YOSHI-HASHI ran into the official… and there’s the cue for bullshit. Chair shots. Cane shots. You know the drill. EVIL jabs Ishii in the ribs with a chair, then wears it out on his back, before Togo spiked Ishii on it with a Pedigree. Just in time for Red Shoes Unno to get rolled back in to make the two-count. From there, EVIL and Togo land a Magic Killer on Ishii, but it’s still not enough…
Togo lands a second Pedigree in the corner, then went up top… only for Goto to press slam him to the mat. Yujiro’s interference sparks yet another Parade of Moves, leaving everyone laying in the ring. Ishii’s back up, but gets knocked down again, then returned with a clothesline as Ishii had one more comeback left in him, dumping Togo with a powerbobm for a near-fall.
Yet more run ins ensue, allowing Goto and YOSHI-HASHI to hit a GYR on Togo, before Ishii rolled Togo up for a sliding lariat. It’s still not enough as we sailed past the 30-minute mark, but we don’t go much longer as Ishii pulls up Togo for a sheer-drop brainbuster… only for Togo to slip out and tease a ref bump. Chaos ensues, with Togo almost nicking a win with a roll-up, as we have YET ANOTHER PARADE OF STUFF as I feel they might be recycling material here.
Goto and YOSHI-HASHI’s sleeperholds end with stereo mule kicks as Togo grabs his garotte wire and tries to choke out Ishii. It’s overpowered, as Ishii then blasts through Togo with a lariat, before the sheer drop brainbuster finally put a lid on things. This was fine, but fell victim to the current New Japan mandate (seemingly) that hyped main events in Korakuen need to go long. It didn’t, and it began to age badly because of it. ***
After the match… new challengers appear! Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and a microphone-wrecking Yuji Nagata. Nagata seemingly issues the challenge for the hontai team, and I’d suspect that’ll be part of the Summer Struggle tour? Especially once Nagata decked an already-knackered Ishii with a forearm…
We’re back tomorrow with the junior tag titles headlining, with El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori challenging Roppongi 3K for the belts in a rematch from WrestleKingdom. That’s probably also going to be going close to half an hour too, I’d wager…
This was looking to be one of the better Korakuen shows in recent months, with the Young Lion trial series starting the show off strong… only for things to waver by the main event. It’s amazing how much more focused the same matches feel when there’s a defined end point, with matches actually building to something concrete.