Another day, another top of the table match as the Super Coaches were back in action. I wonder if Taguchi’ll be back on the whiskey…
Fukushima’s Tsurugajo Gymnasium was the host for this first-versus-second outing…
Super Junior Tag League 2019 – Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori)
ELP’s still struggling to take his ring jacket off, but the effects of his match with Will Ospreay a week ago are finally wearing off. He and Taguchi dance to start us off, with ELP doing a Floss because he’s meant to be booed. It’s the little things.
Taguchi starts by shoving off a headlock, but Phantasmo switches around so Taguchi can get some early cardio in… before an attempt to trip Taguchi ended with the Canadian getting a low dropkick for his troubles. ELP demands to face Rocky, sparking their series from earlier in the year, but Phantasmo just nonchalantly tagged out to wind up Rocky some more. Ishimori outwits Rocky with his quickness, taking down Romero with a springboard seated senton… and of course, now ELP wants in. He mocks the Forever lariats for too long though, and we’ve a switcharound that led to Rocky lariating ELP to death in the corner. An unwanted early birthday present for Phantasmo… who responded by avoiding being thrown into Taguchi’s arse by jamming his thumb into it instead.
Shame Taguchi’s got buns of steel… which he used to arse flip ELP to the mat. A very stinky game of “smell my thumb” broke out, but ELP’s made to suck on it like a baby, before Rocky came in and drew ELP to the outside… only for Ishimori to cut off Rocky’s dive. We’re all on the outside now, which put the Bullet Club ahead as they prepared for all the rakes to Rocky. The Gas Pedal follows, as this match was starting to feel almost glacial, but Rocky eventually got free with a rewind enziguiri and looked to tag in Taguchi… only for ELP to pull him off the apron.
Rocky flips out of two back suplexes as Taguchi got to the apron… and got the tag in, only to miss a leaping hip attack. Oh Taguchi! The Bullet Club go for the rakes, but Taguchi switches around and began to find form with hip attacks as Ishimori and ELP were in the ropes, nearly finishing off the Bone Soldier with a flying hip attack. The Three Amigos are next, as was a low dropkick as Taguchi surged ahead, and looked to finish with a Dodon…
…but Ishimori blocked it, only for Taguchi to sit down for a near-fall before Ishimori found his mark with a handspring enziguiri. ELP’s back, but whiffs on a Quebrada and fell into the path of a Bummer-Ye from Taguchi, who brought Rocky in to try for more Forever lariats. He failed. Rocky had more luck with ‘ranas, only to get taken down with a whirlibird neckbreaker for a near-fall, before Romero ‘rana’d out of a CR2 for a near-fall.
Hip attacks from Rocky and Taguchi have ELP down, before they had more luck with a corner hip attack and an arse-assisted tornado DDT, as duelling submissions looked to finish off the IWGP junior tag champs… ELP manages to counter into an ankle lock though, and clung on despite Taguchi’s attempts to break it apart. Eventually Rocky broke free and scored some roll-ups, before going for a cross-armbreaker that ELP quickly countered with a tight roll-up for the win. No shenanigans needed then, as the tag champions go joint top with this win in a match that got good when it got going… but was a little slow to get there. ***¼
So we’re back to having joint leaders after Wednesday’s match – but there’s a long way to go…
1. Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori); Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi (3-1; 6pts)
3. 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)
The crew had Thursday off, and hit the road again on Friday, with Saitama hosting the Birds of Prey – Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles – taking on TJP and Clark Connors. If there’s an upset there, I think we can write off the Birds here…