The Super Junior Tag League concluded at Korakuen Hall as we had yet more card changes.
Quick Results
Great-O-Khan pinned Tomoaki Honma in 10:50 (**½)
Toru Yano & Togi Makabe pinned Jado & Chase Owens in 11:21 (**½)
Zack Sabre Jr., Taichii, Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI submitted Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI in 15:40 (***)
Super Junior Tag League 2021: Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato pinned Tiger Mask & Robbie Eagles in 15:40 (***½)
Super Junior Tag League 2021: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado pinned Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo in 21:04 (***½)
Well, Monday’s show was a little newsworthy, eh? The Super Junior Tag League heads to a finale between Bullet Club and Suzuki-gun, while Roppongi 3K imploded on itself after SHO walked out and turned on YOH in yesterday’s main event. To fill in blanks since I apparently missed this – ELP and Taiji Ishimori have apparently called their shot if they win the league, as they want a shot at the heavyweight tag titles. Meanwhile, the Tiger Mask & Robbie Eagles team aren’t “out” out, but the best they can do is a 3-way tie.
We’ve got some more card changes today too: while BUSHI and Shingo Takagi are the only ones named as dropping out awaiting PCR test results, more wrestlers drop out as having been identified as close contacts. Among those changes, the Gedo & Dick Togo vs. Roppongi 3K match – in the final round of the Super Junior Tag League – has been thrown out because Gedo & Togo have forfeited… while Roppongi 3K have also forfeited by way of their dissolution yesterday. So NOBODY gets any points. That’s it… it’s back to Winnipeg!
Great-O-Khan vs. Tomoaki Honma
This was Great-O-Khan’s first outing in almost a month, having last been handcuffed in the KOPW Ranbo at the Tokyo Dome…
O-Khan grounds Honma early, going for a double wristlock, then an armbar that ended in the ropes. A whip into the corner’s reversed, as Honma caught a rebounding O-Khan with a slam, before he misses a Kokeshi. Of course. In return, O-Khan grounded Honma with some Figure Four headscissors, which ended as the pair rolled into the ropes.
On the outside, O-Khan throws Honma into the rails, then went back into the ring to wait for a count-out that never came as Honma rolled back in on 12. A grounded head and arm chokes keeps Honma down, as does a seated, rear version, while a slam gives O-Khan another two-count.
Honma returns with a DDT, then with shoulder blocks, before he went to work chopping on O-Khan in the corner. A bulldog out of the corner leads to a Kokeshi that clipped O-Khan, before the pair exchanged chops. Honma edges ahead there, only for O-Khan to rebound with a Mongolian chop. Headbutts from Honma stop O-Khan briefly, but a big book took him down ahead of the Eliminator… but Honma elbows free.
A leaping Kokeshi has O-Khan down once more, then a diving one that knocked out O-Khan’s mouthguard, eventually getting a two-count out of it before Honma went up top… he shoves down O-Khan, but another leaping Kokeshi’s caught and turned into the standing head and neck stretch, before the Eliminator got the win.A perfectly fine opener, but Honma’s more than shot as a singles wrestler these days. **½
So… when do the new crop of Young Lions actually get to wrestle? Surely that would have helped fill a match or two in these times?
Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Jado)
The voting is still live for a few more hours: strap match or I Quit match in the MetLife Dome?
We’ve a jump start as Owens and Yano head outside, but a whip’s reversed as Owens gets taken into the rails as he’s interrogated by Yano. Back in the ring, Yano throws a turnbuckle pad at Owens, then another at Jado, before Chase attacked from behind. Jado pulls at Yano’s ears, then was given Yano’s arm on the apron for some armbreakers. Of course, they keep doing that, and the pay-off is Chase has his own arm yanked by Jado. Comedy!
Yano knocks Owens into Jado, sending him off the apron as… Yano dive? Nah, he just drops down and slaps a cowering Jado on the head.Jado and Chase argue, but they hug it out and turn their guns back on Yano. On the outside, Jado rakes Yano’s eyes as this has somehow been going on for just five minutes.
Owens goes for a pin back inside, getting a two-count before Jado tried his luck, throwing Yano into the exposed corners before Yano pulled Chase down by the hair. Makabe tags in to go wild with shoulder blocks, before he trapped Owens and Jado with mounted punches in the same corner, making sure to do 1-2 punches on their heads at the same time.
Makabe’s Northern Lights almost wins it, but he’s caught with a Jewel Heist from Owens, only for Makabe to return with a swivelling lariat. Yano tags back in, but he cowers as Owens eventually lands a knee strike… then brought Jado back in for some double-teaming. A High/Low clothesline/chop block nearly got Jado the win, as he then rolled Yano into the OJK Crossface, which ends in the ropes.
Jado tries to interfere with his Kendo stick, but Makabe charges through them with a double clothesline, leaving Yano free to go after Jado, quickly countering a planned bump into the ref by mule kicking Jado, with a roll-up getting the win. Bullet Club lose again here, and we’ll find out tomorrow what that god-forsaken match stipulation will be. **½
After the match, Owens whips Yano with the strap. I just realised, both stipulations here were introduced by Owens – since he did the I Quit stuff first before changing tactic. Is Yano just easily led?
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI)
We’re still warming up for the IWGP tag title match as best we can…
When we finally got going, DOUKI attacks YOSHI-HASHI as we open with some choking in the ropes. That’s quickly overcome with the help of Goto, who charges down DOUKI then hiptossed YOSHI-HASHI onto him ahead of some War Drum clubbering. Kojima’s in to charge down DOUKI, before Machine Gun chops on Suzuki just opened up old wounds between the pair.
A rolling elbow decks Suzuki, who returned by tricking Kojima ino the ropes for a hanging armbar. Things break down on the outside as YOSHI-HASHI gets choked with a towel, while Suzuki just waffles Kojima with a chair. The count-out ends as Taichi just rolls Kojima back in for Suzuki to pick up a two-count, before Sabre and Suzuki ganged up on Kojima with dualling toe holds on the apron.
Taichi takes over with some choking, before Sabre’s uppercuts kept Kojima on the back foot. As did some endless arm wringers as the Sabre-Suzuki tandem turned up the heat. A rear naked choke from Suzuki’s elbowed out of, but Suzuki still goes for a Gotch piledriver that Tenzan breaks up with Mongolian chops… and he’s decked.
Kojima swings with a lariat, but manages to catch Suzuki with a Koji cutter instead before tags got us to Goto and Taichi. A shoulder block has Taichi down ahead of a spinning heel kick and bulldog from Goto for a near-fall, before an overhead kick from Taichi left both men down. Taichi takes Goto into the corners as he looked to set up for a Dangerous backdrop drive, then a chokeslam, before Goto choked back… and got met with a thrust kick for it.
Sabre tags in and lights up Goto with uppercuts, before a YOSHI-HASHI superkick looked to lead to one of those three-initial moves. Cue a Parade of Stuff as Taichi’s dropped with an ushigoroshi, before Goto blasts through Sabre, with tags then bringing in Tenzan, who hit a bunch of shoulder blocks. Mongolian chops follow on Sabre, who’s headbutted into the corner ahead of a splash from Tenzan.
Tenzan calls for a brainbuster, and gets it, with an Anaconda Vise quickly following… but Suzuki kicks him in the face to stop it. Suzuki’s sent outside as Kojima came in to help, throwing elbows alongside Tenzan’s Mongolian chops before a TenKoji Cutter’s blocked as Taichi makes a save. Sabre stays on Tenzan, throwing him into a Taichi kick, as the double-teaming looked to culminate in a Zack Driver…
Except Tenzan deadweights him, so Sabre goes for an Octopus hold as the rest of Suzuki-gun neutralise their opponents, forcing Tenzan to verbally submit. A good little trios tag match as Suzuki-gun leave with the win to close out this burst of Korakuen Hall shows. ***
How many people actually watch the New Japan Roku shows? I flicked through one the other day and spotted a few issues, like placeholder/error messages in the video that clearly hadn’t been spotted between the videos getting rendered and sent to the Roku Channel team.
Super Junior Tag League 2021: Team 6 or 9 (Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato) vs. Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask
Hiromu Takahashi’s been on Japanese commentary, but I don’t think we’re getting a distraction finish, are we? Eagles and Tiger Mask need a win to have a chance of making it a three-way tie at the top – since they’d have split tie-breakers.
We start with Wato and Eagles trading kicks, before ‘rana attempts are cartwheeled out of ahead of some pinning attempts that led to a stand-off. Tiger Mask and Ryusuke Taguchi come in for a few kicks (mostly to Taguchi’s arse), before they battered Wato with kicks. There’s more kicking Bishop Brennan… I mean Taguchi in the arse too, as Taguchi ends up getting covered for a two-count.
Eagles slaps that ass, then opted to go for Taguchi’s head and neck instead while Tiger Mask tagged in for yet more arse kicks. Eagles kicks Taguchi into the corner, before his charge was countered into a spinning back suplex as Taguchi finally tags in Wato, whose springboard in saw him roll through to knock Tiger Mask off the apron.
Wato lands the springboard uppercut at the second attempt, before kicks wore down Eagles. He returned with an overhead kick, before an Asai DDT’s escaped as Wato got kicked down again. My feed drops out, as we return with Taguchi finishing off the Three Amigos, but Tiger Mask breaks the cover, only for Taguchi to trap Eagles in an ankle lock.
Eagles manages to get back up and counter with an Asai DDT, but Taguchi finds a way back in with hip attacks in the ropes. It gets him a two-count on Tiger Mask, as more hip attacks followed… only for Tiger Mask to fall back as Taguchi went for one too many. Tiger Mask and Eagles combine to take Wato to the outside, before Tiger Mask almost forced a submission with an armbar on Taguchi.
That ends in the ropes, before Taguchi’s sandwiched in the corner with kicks ahead of the return of Wato, who stopped a top rope ‘rana. He’s kicked away and met with a wild tope con giro from Eagles, before a butterfly superplex from Tiger Mask led to a two-count. Tiger Masks heads up top, but misses a splash as a Bummer-Ye from Taguchi almost shuts the door on proceedings…
A Whoopee Cushion out of the corner nearly does it too, as Taguchi goes for Dodon, flattening Tiger Mask as Eagles narrowly dove in in time for the save. Wato takes him outside, but gets thrown into the barrier sas Eagles breaks up another Dodon, sparking a Parade of Moves that saw Tiger Mask counter Dodon to the Throne into a Tiger Driver. It’s still not enough though, and Taguchi manages to sneak out a win with a leg clutch pin for the win, as the Eagles/Tiger Mask team are now properly, formally eliminated. This got good towards the finish, and it’s worth noting that Eagles didn’t take any falls in the entire league… so there’s no new challengers set up ahead of Hiromu. ***½
Super Junior Tag League 2021: Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori)
We’ve a rematch from earlier in the year, where these teams traded the junior tag titles… and because of the points differential, it’s a must-win for Suzuki-gun, who’d only win the league on tie-breakers if they win here.
There’s a jump start as the match instantly spills outside, with eye rakes leading to Kanemaru heading back inside with Ishimori, at least for a brief moment, as we’re back outside so Kanemaru could suplex Ishimori on the floor.
When things settle down, Desperado hits a suplex on Ishimori for a nonchalant two-count, before Kanemaru came in to help out with some stomps ahead of a half crab. After it’s broken up, Desperado’s back to stomp on Ishimori’s knee, keeping him away from a tag out too, but he’s able to make it free and get the tag out to ELP, who hit a Quebrada for a two-count on Kanemaru, then a slingshot senton bomb for another near-fall.
Ishimori’s back to start the back raking portion of proceedings, before he threw Kanemaru into Phantasmo’s boot in the corner for a two-count. More back rakes lead to a two-count from ELP, who then stalled Kanemaru up in a suplex for a two-count.
Kanemaru recovers, lifting ELP onto the apron before kicking Ishimori, but Phantasmo’s lurking and pulls Desperado off the apron to prevent a tag out. Kanemaru’s put in a Tree of Woe for a baseball slide, then the Gas Pedal, before a low dropkick from Kanemaru spiked Phantasmo onto his head.
Finally Desperado gets the tag in to clear house, before a misdirection spear charges down Phantasmo for a two-count. Phantasmo gets up for chops that rang around Korakuen, giving and receiving them as the crowd then began to clap along to the elbows. A leg lariat from ELP misses, unlike a spinebuster, before Desperado got charged into the Bullet Club corner.
Ishimori steams in with leaping double knees, then a springboard seated senton for a two-count, before he began to hammer off some Danielson elbows on Desperado. A Mistica followed from Ishimori en route to a Yes Lock, but somehow Desperado escapes for a Numero Dos… but Ishimori again frees himself for a roll-up.
A handspring from Ishimori’s countered into a back suplex, before Kanemaru tagged in to hit a low dropkick on Ishimori. A knee breaker, then a chop block weakens the knee some more as a Figure Four leglock wore down Ishimori before Phantasmo leapt in off the top with the Thunderkiss splash to break it up.
ELP’s whirlibird neckbreaker drops Kanemaru – after a flying Ishimori knee started it – for a near-fall. They then go CCK on us with an elevated Codebrekaer, but the follow-up moonsault misses as Phantasmo’s taken out by Desperado, allowing Kanemaru to nearly snatch the win with a jack-knife cover on Ishimori. A dropkick-assisted side suplex is next, then a slam from Kanemaru, whose moonsault doesn’t miss – landing for a near-fall as ELP dove in to keep the match alive.
My feed dropped at the perfect time, as ELP looked to have hit Sudden Death on Kanemaru, while Desperado shrugged off a back rake. Phantasmo nails Desperado with a Sudden Death, but it’s Kanemaru who’s legal… and in the ensuring confusion Kanemaru pushes Ishimori into Phantasmo, then rolled up Ishimori to win the match – and the league! A good match, but it felt like there was something lacking here. Perhaps the title match will give us that extra oomph? ***½
Your final standings in 2021’s Super Junior Tag League, then:
El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru; El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori (4-1; 8pts) – Desperado & Kanemaru win on tie-breakers
Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato; Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask (3-2; 6pts)
Dick Togo & Gedo; YOH & SHO (0-5; 0pts)*
* The Gedo/Togo vs. SHO/YOH match was ruled as a forfeit by both teams, so neither team was awarded points.
New Japan are scheduled to return to live shows in one week – that’s next Tuesday – again at Korakuen Hall for the first of four shows in a row that’ll focus on Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome. Today was another show where you’d be best served skipping the undercard – and you’d have to think that New Japan are crossing every finger they can that this current spell of covid withdrawals doesn’t escalate, else those Dome shows in a few weeks time could be especially lean…