It’s the penultimate night of the tour, and we’ve got Kazuchika Okada back in the main event as he teams with Satoshi Kojima to take on the United Empire’s Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb.
Quick Results
Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa went to a 10:00 time limit draw (**½)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato submitted Tomoaki Honma & Robbie Eagles in 12:49 (**¾)
Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & DOUKI submitted Tiger Mask, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI in 10:27 (***)
Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado pinned El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki in 13:34 (***¼)
Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan pinned Satoshi Kojima & Kazuchika Okada in 16:53 (***½)
It’s another night at Korakuen, and those crowds have started to creep back under the 300 mark, for those keeping score. It is what it is, so let’s dig in…
Kosei Fujita vs. Ryohei Oiwa
The ten-minute draw in these matches is almost as sure as life, death and taxes, but that’s not the point of these…
From the opening lock-up, Fujita’s taken into the ropes, but he and Oiwa trade slaps before heading to the mat. A waistlock takedown’s defended by Fujita, before an armbar was rolled through into a side headlock as the pair looked to make the most out of their deliberately-restricted arsenal.
A hammerlock’s countered out of and into back-and-forth wristlocks, but there’s still no clear advantage as the pair remain grounded. The pair battle over headlocks, but Fujita causes the first real sigh of bother as a trapped-arm headlock forced Oiwa into the ropes for the break, as Fujita began to target that left arm.
Armbars and keylocks take us back to the ropes, before Fujita pulled Oiwa into a Fujiwara armbar. Oiwa gets free and fires back with elbows as Korakuen claps along, but a leg lock from Oiwa catches Fujita off guard, forcing him into the ropes as we entered the final three minutes of the time limit. From there, a half crab follows – and another rope break – before Fujita came in with a dropkick.
Mounted elbows take us into the final minute, with Fujita looking for a KO stoppage, before he went for a cross armbar, clinging on despite a roll-up as Oiwa gets to the ropes right as time ran out. Fujita’s perhaps pulling ahead in terms of performances, but they showed a lot of Yuto Nakashima at ringside during the match, even focusing on him doing the Arthur clenched fist, so we could be getting a third entry in this battle for dojo supremacy? **½
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato vs. Tomoaki Honma & Robbie Eagles
We’ve got Wato vs. Eagles in a non-title singles match tomorrow, so here’s your warm-up tag!
Those two start by trading elbows, then kicks, before Wato clipped a leaping Eagles with a kick en-route to the stand-off. Tags bring us to a locking-up Honma and Tenzan, with Honma then grabbing a side headlock, only for Tenzan to escape and hit a clothesline. Tenzan mocks a Kokeshi and misses it (the true tribute to the move, let’s be honest), before Eagles came in and put the boots to Tenzan.
Honma’s back with chops, knocking down Tenzan for a two-count, as more chops and stomps keep Tenzan on the back foot. Eagles tags back in to work over Tenzan’s leg, but Tenzan gets the upper hand with a Mountain Bomb on the Aussie. Wato gets the tag in, but misses a springboard in… only to get lifted to the apron as he hit the springboard uppercut at the second go.
Eagles fought back, but his Asai DDT’s countered, as was Wato’s Recientemente, before a series of kicks knocked Wato down. A leaping leg lariat has Wato back in it, as tags bring us back to Tenzan and Honma, with Mongolian chops and headbutts putting Honma on the back foot.
A splash in the corner sets up Tenzan for a brainbuster, before an Anaconda Buster was blocked. Honma elbows free, but ran into a spinning heel kick for a near-fall as Wato came in to help out as his kick set up for a Tenzan Kokeshi. That’s good for a two-count, before an Anaconda Vise was broken up by Eagles’ stomps. Wato tries to take care of him, eventually taking Eagles outside for a dive, while Honma blocked a Tenzan Tombstone Driver attempt.
The pair go back-and-forth with strikes, before the pair swapped headbutts, leading to a leaping Kokeshi from Honma. From there, another Kokeshi lands, before he went up top for a swandive… but Wato cuts him off with a gamengiri. More kicks weaken Honma, who’s dropped with a clothesline for a two-count, before a side uranage and an Anaconda Vise eventually led to the submission. The stuff with Eagles and Wato looked promising for tomorrow, but the Tenzan/Honma exchanges were… what you’d expect given their states. **¾
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tiger Mask vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI)
After being the last man standing in yesterday’s elimination match, Goto’s got some steam behind him…
We’ve a jump start to proceedings, as the match spilled outside in the opening seconds. Cue guard rail trips for Sabre and Taichi, who got the throttling on the floor from Goto for good measure. When things calm down, Tiger Mask’s dumping DOUKI with a tiltawhirl backbreaker, before bringing Goto in as he and YOSHI-HASHI look to double-team… but Sabre pulls out YOSHI-HASHI for a leglock on the apron.
Keeping hold of YOSHI-HASHI on the floor, Sabre ties him up as we’ve our second round of trips into the rails. Back inside, DOUKI’s booting Goto ahead of a low dropkick, before Sabre came back in in search of a submission on Goto. Taichi takes over with his usual chokes… but he gets a taste of his own medicine from Goto and Tiger Mask, before getting knocked down.
YOSHI-HASHI gets the tag in and takes down Sabre with a Head Hunter, but the follow up dropkick in the ropes ends up being a two-for-one offer after DOUKI’s attempted interference backfired. After a spot of buffering, Sabre’s in on YOSHI-HASHI with uppercuts, before Goto came in to spark a brief Parade of Moves that ended with a YOSHI-HASHI lariat.
Tiger Mask comes back in with kicks to Sabre in the corner, before a Tiger Driver drew a two-count. A Patriot Missile from DOUKI off the top nearly ends things for Sabre though, as the Suzuki-gun lads filled the ring for some triple-teaming. Tiger Mask tries to fight free, and looked for a crucifix, only for Sabre to tie up Tiger Mask in a double armbar for the submission. Yes, I’m going to have to go to the NJPW results page for the name of this move, and yes, this was a pretty good ten-minute tag match that got the Suzuki-gun lads somewhat even after yesterday. ***
Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki) vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado)
We’ve got this build for the junior tag match at the Dome… and at least it’s not more of Chase Owens vs. Toru Yano!
There’s a jump start as the Bullet Club try to too-sweet themselves, and of course things spill outside. Returning to the ring, a pair of elbow drops get a two-count on Kanemaru, but a turnaround sees Kanemaru roll up ELP out of the corner before a low dropkick led the Canadian to face-plant himself.
We’re back outside as ELP’s posted, while Suzuki tries to choke out Jado. Returning to the ring, ELP’s thrown into Suzuki’s boot… and then tried to chop Suzuki. You know how this ends. THWACK THWACK THWACK went the chop, CLONK CLONK CLONK went the elbow, as ELP took a rude bump through the ropes to the floor.
Suzuki doesn’t let up though, following him outside for more elbows, before Desperado and Kanemaru choked on Phantasmo back in the ring. Stomps follow, before Jado cracked Kanemaru in the back with a Kendo stick, signalling a Bullet Club turnaround. A backdrop from Jado gets a two-count on Kanemaru, while a side headlock’s elbowed out of as a shoulder tackle puts Kanemaru right back down.
After some brutal buffering, we’re back with Suzuki booting Ishimori, then meeting him with a PK for a two-count… An armbar and leg lock on Jado and ELP is broken up by the legal Ishimori, whose handspring… lands right in a Fujiwara armbar. After a rope break, Suzuki and Ishimori trade chops, before Desperado came in to take an elevated Codebreaker and moonsault for another two-count.
Kanemaru pulled ELP to the outside as he went for a Sudden Death on Desperado… Phantasmo’s posted as Ishimori has to fight out of Numero Dos, first going for a pinning attempt, before eventually getting to the ropes. Desperado tries for Pinche Loco next, but a Sudden Death from Phantasmo stops that, with Ishimori getting the elementary pin to win the match. ***¼
United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs. Kazuchika Okada & Satoshi Kojima
Kojima’s back in the main event – hours after a match against Jon Moxley at AEW’s All Out next weekend was confirmed.
Cobb and Okada launch into each other at the bell, but it’s Okada who pulled ahead early, taking down Cobb for an elbow to the back, before Kojima tagged in to put the boots to the Olympian. The pair trade blows, but Cobb remained on the back foot as Okada tagged in, rolling Cobb down for a chinlock… but Cobb gets free, only to get caught in the corner… and recover with an overhead belly-to-belly on Okada.
Things spill outside as O-Khan goes after Kojima, while Cobb just stood on Okada on the outside. Back in the ring, O-Khan knocks Okada into the corner and took a seat, before standing backbreakers from Cobb left Okada in a heap. O-Khan tags in to hit some Mongolian chops, but Okada gets free and gets the tag out to Kojima, who went right for the Machine Gun chops, eventually taking down O-Khan for a flying elbow.
More elbows have O-Khan down to a knee, but O-Khan recovers and takes Kojima into the buckles as he Mongolian chopped him into the Tree of Woe for a baseball slide to the face. An Iron claw looks to lead to the Eliminator, but Kojima fought out to hit a Koji cutter instead, before tags got us to Okada and Cobb fighting over a tombstone.
Okada’s taken to his knees amid a battle of elbows, before a Cobb tombstone was countered into a Money Clip. but that too is broken up as O-Khan and Cobb double-team Okada, sandwiching him with kicks ahead of Okada’s comeback with back body drop and a sit-down pin for a near-fall.
Okada again goes for the piledriver, but Cobb gets free for a piledriver, before his Rainmaker Tour of the Islands was countered out of, with an elbow instead dumping Okada. A dropkick from Okada ends that frantic spell, as my feed dropped out again. It returns with Kojima getting a two-count on Cobb, before he signalled for a Cozy lariat… Cobb kicks it away, then caught Kojima with a Spin Cycle, right as Okada ran in to stop what came next.
O-Khan’s Mongolian chops leads to a tombstone on Okada, whose head pinged off the mat, before Cobb went to Kojima with a Rainmaker Tour of the Islands for the win. A pretty good main event that keeps Cobb’s momentum up – and crucially saw him wipe out Okada on the way to getting the win, as that should put some real doubt in the result of their rematch at the Dome next month. ***½
We wrap up the Summer Struggle tour tomorrow with a card that’s more singles than tags for a change – with the Hiromu Takahashi comeback against DOUKI naturally taking the main event spot.
Again, a slight improvement, but you know what you were in for with these cards, as New Japan does whatever they can to build to next month’s Dome shows – without being able to use most of the guys on those cards!