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Kizuna Road, June 27, Korakuen Hall:
Ryusuke Taguchi defeated David Finlay
This was a fine opener. Finlay finds himself as the senior young lion now after the departure of Jay White. This was a good back and forth match with very little comedy from Taguchi. Finlay got in some near falls and survived some big moves before Taguchi won with Dodon.
Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba, Rocky Romero & Beretta defeated Captain New Japan, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Manabu Nakanishi
This turned out to be a really fun tag match. Ishii & Tiger had a great strike exchange as Tiger was worked over by CHAOS. Nakanishi manhandled everyone. He took out RPG Vice on his own, even hitting a diving cross body. Captain got in some near falls on Ishii. Bodies flew everywhere with CHAOS getting the upper hand before Ishii finished Captain with a Brainbuster.
Satoshi Kojima, Matt Sydal & Yoshitatsu defeated Chase Owens, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
Owens & Page both had great showings here. They'd make a graft sought her style tag team. Owens was great in his mockery of Kojima. Page looked really crisp in the ring. Tatsu was worked over until he got the tag to Sydal, who looked really good off the hot tag. Page & Sydal worked well together. Owens got in some good near falls on Kojima before eating a lariat. After the match Page hung Tatsu.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Katsuyori Shibata defeated Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
We got a preview of the upcoming Honma vs Shibata NEVER title match on July 3rd. This was a really good match with these veterans going at it with each other, with Robinson tossed in the middle. There was a lot of brawling and shouting. It went back and forth with no team having a huge advantage at any time. Tenzan won when he hit Robinson with a moonsault, because why the hell not?
Shibata & Honma brawled after the match. They meet on the final day of the Kizuna Road tour. If you have never seen their 2014 G1 match, go and watch it now. Their match could be something great next week.
YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated SANADA & EVIL
This was so so good. Go out of your way to see this. Now with his inclusion in the G1, YOSHI is being positioned as the most sympathetic underdog in NJPW. The atmosphere for this was great, with Korakuen rallying behind YOSHI. He was worked over by LIJ before he got the tag to Goto. Goto & EVIL had their usual brawl with lots of stiff lariats. YOSHI & SANADA went back and forth with some amazing false finishes. YOSHI had SANADA on the verge of submission with the Butterfly Lock before EVIL made a last second save. SANADA's big moves were so well placed. Every time he hit something big the crowd bought that YOSHI was finished, but he kept kicking out. YOSHI countered Cold Skull into a roll up to get a second big win over SANADA. This was so well done. YOSHI could have a career making G1.
BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito defeated Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada
Just when you think CHAOS vs LIJ can't get any better, Will Ospreay gets added to the mix. Much like the previous match, this was really great. We had a more confident Okada here, as the title brought back his arrogance. He mocked both Naito & BUSHI. Ospreay was worked over by LIJ. Okada went back and forth with Naito & BUSHI. Ospreay got to shine in the last few minutes. He and Okada worked so well together, setting each other up for big moves. Naito low blowed Ospreay and BUSHI hit him with a Canadian Destroyer, but Okada broke up the pin. BUSHI scored the victory after a diving Codebreaker.
This was a fun show. There was nothing must see until the final two matches, which are both worth your time. It’s on VOD now at NJPWWorld.com
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