It’s a top of the table clash as the Super Junior Tag League continues!
Iwate’s Prefectural Coliseum’s the venue for Tuesday’s tape-delayed action…
Super Junior Tag League 2019 – Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi
It’s an early battle of the leaders, and Rocky’s drawing on the spirit of Black Tiger again… Yeah, there’s a jump start. They’ll learn.
Despy and Taguchi head outside early, but it’s Desperado who taste the guard railings after a reversed Irish whip. Meanwhile, in the ring, a low dropkick from Rocky has Kanemaru in trouble… and invited Taguchi in to help out. Rocky calls the shots as Taguchi runs endlessly into Kanemaru in the corner, before we had some role reversal as Taguchi got whipped into Rocky’s arse in the corner. Oh. And Despy slapped Rocky’s arse for good effect.
We’re back into the crowd next, with Taguchi tasting the guard rails ahead of Kanemaru’s slicing legdrop, as the Suzuki-gun pair looked to snatch the win by count-out… but Taguchi rolls in in the nick of time. Taguchi remained in trouble, as Suzuki-gun kept him on their side of the ring, exchanging quick tags and slams to keep any chance of a tag out at bay.
A missed hip attack from Taguchi is finally followed up with one that hits, giving him enough clearance to tag in Romero, who went wild with headscissors to Kanemaru and Despy. Forever lariats follow, eventually following up with a springboard into a tornado DDT for a near-fall, as suddenly the momentum was shifting. It shifted back just as quickly as Desperado hit a spinebuster before trapping Rocky in Numero Dos, but a rope break saves Rocky.
Kanemaru’s back to try and keep up Despy’s good work, but a rewind enziguiri keeps him away as Rocky got the tag out to Taguchi, who delighted in running at Kanemaru with hip attacks in the ropes. Taguchi senses change from there, but Desperado runs in to dropkick Taguchi in the arse as he was setting up for a Bummer-Ye… and that has Suzuki-gun back at the races.
A Deep Impact DDT from Kanemaru nearly gets the win, but Rocky breaks up the pin before the “Super Coaches” had one last flourish, with a running Shiranui from Rocky and a diving hip attack from Taguchi nearly winning it. More hip attacks stun Kanemaru, but Taguchi telegraphs… and then we get the ref bump. Kanemaru reaches for his whiskey, but Taguchi enziguiris away the Suntory Surprise while Rocky dove on Desperado.
One swig of whisky from Taguchi, and he’s got some Dutch courage in him, downing even more booze ahead of a Bummer-Ye for a near-fall, before a quick Dodon got the win. This was a little heavy on shenanigans early, but developed really well, with Taguchi’s boozy finishing sequence being entertaining. ***½
Everyone’s had three matches, and after today’s result there’s a clear leader at the top…
1. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi (3-0; 6pts)
2. Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori); Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH); Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru); Volador Jr. & Titan (2-1; 4pts)
6. Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) (1-2; 2pts)
7. Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura; TJP & Clark Connors (0-3; 0pts)
Wednesday in Fukushima saw another top of the table battle, as Rocky Romero and Ryusuke Taguchi returned to take on the Bullet Club pairing of El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori…