New Japan returns from their latest forced break, with the first of three Korakuen Hall shows as they try and fix a whole lot of loose ends ahead of next month’s Dominion.
Quick Results
Yujiro Takahashi pinned Yota Tsuji in 8:24 (**½)
Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI submitted Gedo & Chase Owens in 10:59 (***)
Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga submitted Tomoaki Honma & Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 9:12 (**½)
Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan pinned Master Wato & Kota Ibushi in 14:11 (***½)
Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI pinned YOSHI-HASHI, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto in 16:18 (***½)
A lot has changed since New Japan last made tape. Several wrestlers tested positive for covid-19, with Kazuchika Okada confirming that he was one of those positives. Both of the big shows in Yokohama Stadium and the Tokyo Dome were postponed. Will Ospreay was forced to vacate the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, citing an injury… and almost all of the foreign talent that were in Japan for the now-postponed shows went home amid speculation of turmoil among the roster.
So of course, New Japan announced that they’d return to touring just one week after the to-be-rescheduled Yokohama show, starting in Aichi. That became the first night of what at this point looks to be a punctuated road to Wrestle Grand Slam, as New Japan now hit Korakuen Hall for a run of three shows that now begin to set the table for what seems to be the crowning of a new champion at Dominion 6.6 in Osaka-Jo Hall.
For those keeping score, literally everyone but the wrestlers are masked up now…
Yota Tsuji vs. Yujiro Takahashi
With no sign of Gabriel Kidd nor Yuya Uemura on these line-ups, Yota Tsuji’s been given an impromptu, unofficial trial series to sink his teeth into. Saturday in Nagoya, he lost to YOSHI-HASHI – and will go on to face Chase Owens and Shingo Takagi later in the week.
There’s some scuffles before the bell, as we see Tsuji charge down Yujiro early on. A front kick from Yujiro has Tsuji down though, with some punches from above leading to the leg drop, elbow drop, falling headbutt series for a two-count. Chops take Tsuji into the corner, as did an eye rake, before a back suplex kept Tsuji down for a two-count.
Tsuji fights back with chops but just got thrown into the ropes as Yujiro cuts him off, leading to a front kick before Tsuji fought back, landing the Mount Tsuji splash for a near-fall. Yujiro bites his way free of a suplex, then followed in with a low dropkick and a Fisherman buster for good measure.
A Boston crab followed, but Tsuji got to the ropes before he literally bit back on Yujiro, ahead of a spear for a near-fall. Tsuji comes in with a Boston crab of his own, before an inside cradle nearly got him the win. Yujiro kicks out and levels Tsuji with a clothesline, then quickly puts him away with the Pimp Juice DDT. This was fine, but with not too much in the way of the Young Lion fire that we’ve come to expect. **½
Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Gedo) vs. Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI)
At least they’ve finally pulled us away from the Guerrilas & Jado vs. Sabre, Taichi & DOUKI…
Sabre and Owens start off trading wristlocks and escapes, before they turned up the pace a little, with Sabre swinging for a PK, only to get backslid as Owens looked in vain for a package piledriver. After a stand-off, Gedo and DOUKI come in, with the former throwing some left hands in the ropes before DOUKI came back with armdrags and headscissors.
Both Gedo and Owens get taken outside, but DOUKI fakes out a dive as they scattered – teasing a walkout. Sabre runs over to pull Gedo back into the ring by his ears, before Owens cut off DOUKI by pulling down his springboard attempt. From there, the Bullet Club pair throw Sabre and DOUKI into the railings.
Back inside, Chase tagged back in to catch DOUKI with uppercuts, before a clothesline drew a two-count. DOUKI fought back with a throat thrust and an enziguiri, then tagged Sabre back in to renew acquaintances with Owens, sweeping the leg before tying Chase up in a Deathlock.
Gedo tries to make a save, but gets caught in a Cobra twist before an armbar on Owens ended with the pair rolling into the ropes. Chase tries to fight back, throwing Sabre into the corner pad, with Gedo returning for a chinbreaker and a thrust kick for a two-count. Gedo’s potty mouth runs wild as Sabre hammerlocked him to the mar, then worked over the arms until Chase broke it up.
Chase looks for a package piledriver on Sabre, but DOUKI breaks it up with a missile dropkick – taking Chase outside for a tope – while Gedo’s inside cradle looked to steal a win… but Sabre kicks out, then countered a Gedo clutch by rolling through into a rear naked choke for the stoppage. This had its moments, with the Sabre/Owens stuff standing out from the pack. ***
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tomoaki Honma vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
With Kojima having been in the States working the Impact tapings, it’s a makeshift pairing for Tenzan here…
We’ve a jump start as Tenzan and Honma are attacked from behind and taken into the corners, before Tenzan fought back with Mongolian chops to Tanga Loa. Tama Tonga’s charged down with a pair of shoulder tackles that got Honma just a one-count, before some distractions from Tanga Loa on the apron allowed Tama back in.
Honma’s taken into the corner as Tanga Loa tagged in to choke him with his boot before some stomps onto the knee wore him down. Sentons atomico from the Guerrillas laid out Honma… but he’s able to avoid a Stinger splash in the corner and made the tag out to Tenzan.
Shoulder tackles from Tenzan clear the apron, as did a Mongolian chop to Jado. Tama gets some too, with a brainbuster following for a near-fall, as the pair then traded strikes. More Mongolain chops wear down Tama briefly, who returned with some of his own before Tenzan just about got him with a Mountain Bomb.
Tags get us back to Tanga and Honma, but Honma’s quickly on the defensive. He clings to the ropes to draw in Tanga with some front kicks, before single-handedly fighting off the Guerrillas with a DDT/Flatliner combo. Jado’s in too, for the hell of it, as he gets a pasting too, but Tama trips Honma to stop a Kokeshi.
Tanga Loa knocks down Honma as he teed up for a Kokeshi on Tama, before a leaping Kokeshi took down Tanga for the regular one. Tanga gets back to try for Apeshit, but Honma slips free, then ran into a Kendo stick shot from Jado before Tanga got the win with the OJK crossface. A little on the slow side, but largely what you’d have expected from this as we wait and see what they’re building the Guerrillas up for for Dominion. **½
Post-match, the Guerrillas mouthed off at Taichi – who had been on Japanese commentary. Of course, Taichi got up and stared down the tag team champions, but didn’t go over the rails or get physical.
United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) vs. Kota Ibushi & Master Wato
It looks like we’re still on course to get Cobb vs. Ibushi at some point, since that was scheduled for the cancelled Yokohama show…
Cobb and Ibushi start, trading strikes before Cobb muscled up Ibushi for a suplex. A high kick’s ducked, as the pair reached a stand-off. Wato and O-Khan tag in, and I don’t think they were talking about their return-from-excursion gimmicks either as Wato launched in with kicks and elbows to take down O-Khan.
Wato kicks away at O-Khan’s knee, but gets charged into the corner by Cobb as O-Khan capitalises with a gutwrench toss, taking Wato into the corner for a near-fall. Meanwhile, Jeff Cobb’s just Goomba stomping away on Ibushi’s ribs on the outside. Mongolian chops drop Wato in the ring, as he’s then taken into the corner and sat on.
Cobb’s back to HURL Wato into the corner for a two-count, as the Empire had found their target. O-Khan’s back to slam Wato, before a Mongolian chop drew another two-count. Wato’s bounced back into the corner as Cobb returned to take down Wato with a stalling suplex that finally drew Ibushi in to break up the cover. O-Khan tags back in to torque Wato over his knee, but a follow-up slam… ah nevermind. Wato’s met with a Mongolian chop before he finally took down O-Khan with a leg lariat.
Finally, Wato got the tag out to Ibushi, who kicked down O-Khan for a standing moonsault that gets a two-count. O-Khan pulls the hair of Ibushi to break a German suplex as he pulled the former IWGP champion into an elevated facebuster… then brought Cobb in to capitalise. A back suplex gets Cobb a two-count, before Ibushi’s overhead kick landed to even things up.
Wato gets the tag back in, and I think you can guess where this is going to head. Kicks from Wato just seem to annoy Cobb, who ends up getting low bridged and dropkicked to the outside as a plancha wiped him out. Back inside, Ibushi helps double-team Cobb ahead of a springboard uppercut that gets a near-fall… as did a roundhouse enziguiri, but O-Khan breaks up the cover.
Ibushi quickly dispatches O-Khan to the outside as Wato measures up for more kicks, but Cobb caught it and popped up Wato for a pancake. From there, a Cobbi-goye lays out Wato, who then got pulled up into a lofty Tour of the Islands for the win. Not quite the same chaotic energy we’ve seen from the Empire, but this was easily the best thing on the card so far – with Cobb continuing to poke away at Ibushi for their to-be-rescheduled match. ***½
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
You’d have to think that at least two names from this match will be playing some part in whatever goes on with the IWGP title…
Naito and Ishii start us off, but Naito tags out instantly to bring in BUSHI. Then SANADA… and back to Naito, as LIJ just wanted to wind up Ishii, it seemed. Ishii eventually had enough, attacking Naito from behind as BUSHI and SANADA came in to neutralise things, only to get knocked aside as Ishii cleared the ring.
Shoulder tackles left LIJ laying as Tanahashi came in… and got kicked in the ropes by BUSHI. Naito capitalises with a hair-pulling stretch behind the ref’s back, before Shingo tagged in to take Tanahashi into the corner for a cravat. He takes Tanahashi down for a two-count, with SANADA coming in for a double sledge as Tanahashi was largely kept at bay.
BUSHI’s in to choke on Tanahashi with a t-shirt, before SANADA and Naito came in to clear the apron. A neckbreaker from BUSHI’s good for a two-count, before SANADA and Shingo teamed up on Tanahashi… who came free of the corner with a low dropkick to Shingo, before he rolled free and tagged out to Goto.
Goto takes down SANADA with a clothesline, then went for the LIJ corner ahead of a spinning heel kick to SANADA. A bulldog out of the corner follows for a two-count, but SANADA escapes an ushigoroshi before he spammed some basement dropkicks to clear out the NEVER trios champions. Goto avoids a plancha from SANADA as those two had a quick flurry of near-misses that led to a Magic Screw from SANADA.
BUSHI and YOSHI-HASHI are in next, trading right hands and chops before a dropkick from BUSHI stemmed the tide. We buffer as YOSHI-HASHI came back with a neckbreaker, but Naito’s low dropkick breaks up that pin before his attempt at a Combinacion Cabron on Ishii were stopped. There’s some hesitance as Naito goes to elbow Ishii, sparking a Big Ol’ Parade of Moves that culminated in a Butterfly Hold from YOSHI-HASHI on BUSHI.
The hold’s broken up, so YOSHI-HASHI tried for plan B in the form of a Western Lariat, before a Kumagoroshi’s countered into a back cracker. Shingo’s in to obliterate YOSHI-HASHI with the back elbow, jab, lariat combo, before a Pumping Bomber drew in Tanahashi to break up the pin… so Shingo pulls up YOSHI-HASHI for a Last of the Dragon, which instead sparked another Parade of Moves as the ring filled and cleared.
Things eventually settle down as Naito and Shingo batter YOSHI-HASHI en route to a Pumping Bomber that gets a near-fall for Shingo, before a Last of the Dragon gets the win. Post-match, everyone keeps on fighting, which sure points to potential matches in whatever they do to crown a new champion… ***½
New Japan returns to Korakuen Hall tomorrow with Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi in the main event.
This felt like just your regular house show. There’s no mistaking the fact that the cloud over New Japan at the moment has thickened into more of a fog – not helped that this week’s Korakuen shows are pretty much feel like lame duck cards. From the tour name, to the fact that they’re not really leading to anything immediate. It’s just shows to get people on seats as the promotion looks to keep the wheels turning and push through the current situation.