Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Road to Power Struggle, October 21st.
Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga defeated Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura
This was okay. Yujiro was never going to be the guy to bring the fire out in either of the young lions. Kitamura looked great when he was facing Tonga, who has a long way to go. Oka got the hot tag and was the highlight of the match. Yujiro hit a fishermans buster for a near fall and then finished Oka with a Pimp Juice DDT.
El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi defeated Ren Narita, Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi. Taichi made an obscenely long entrance singing through the crowd. The young lions side showed some great team work, starting the match with a triple dropkick and a double dropkick later on that the Rock N Roll Express would have been proud of. Umino got the hot tag, and is definitely a standout of the smaller young lions. Narita, who is a newer young lion, put up a good fight against Desperado, before he was made to submit to the Stretch Muffler. This match was a lot of fun.
Dragon Lee, Titan, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV defeated Hirai Kawato, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH. This was a really fun match to preview the Super Jr Tag Tournament that kicks off on Monday. All of these guys are involved. This had everything from technical wrestling, to flying, to comedy from Taguchi & ACH. Titan and KUSHIDA made some magic together ending with a spectacular Asia Moonsault from Titan. ACH & Liger had a good back and forth that ended with a superplex from Liger. The last two legal men were Kawato & Lee. A messy powerbomb attempt saw a nasty fall with Kawato landing on his head. Lee then hit a sitout suplex bomb to get the pin. Hopefully the inexperience of Kawato doesn't ruin things for him in the tournament.
Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Takashi Iizuka. This was a brawl. Starting in the crowd, and continuing in the ring. YOSHI had his knee targeted until Goto got a tag and slugged it out with Iizuka, who probably has the easiest gig in pro wrestling. Yano got in with Suzuki. Suzuki cut off all his attempts to take the turnbuckles apart. Suzuki then lost it, tossed the ref around and choked Yano with a rope, leading to a DQ. Yano then escaped, and ran off with the NEVER title, once again getting the last laugh. They meet for the NEVER Openweight Championship at Power Struggle in two weeks.
Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated David Finlay, Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson. This was really good. Tanahashi & Ibushi previewed their upcoming IC title match, but didn't give too much away. Robinson is really growing in confidence and is starting to carry himself like a star. Tenzan blasted Ibushi with a head butt at one point. Kojima is still just so great. He got the win for his team with a lariat on Finlay.
BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito defeated Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, SHO & YOH. This was a fantastic ten man tag. Not that that's a surprise given the incredible talent involved here. Ishii & Hiromu is a singles match that I want to see after their brief exchange here. YOH & Hiromu had a lighting quick back and forth too. Okada looked strong and was the glue that held his team together, willing Gedo on in the closing moments. An LIJ team attack left Gedo vulnerable as he fell to a diving MX from BUSHI.
Yuji Nagata defeated Manabu Nakanishi. This was a special main event to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of both their debuts. These two worked incredibly hard and put on a spectacle, doing things they really shouldn't be doing at their age. Nagata was flattened with a spear on the floor early on. Nagata took control as he kicked Nakanishi from every possible angle. Nakanishi hit a huge superplex, and then proceeded to almost kill himself with a cross body over the top rope and a missile dropkick. It was a sight to behold. Nagata hit an exploder off the top rope, which was just as scary looking. Nagata attempted the Nagata Lock and an armbar, but it wasn't enough. The finish saw Nagata kick Nakanishi right in the face, which I'm pretty sure legitimately knocked him loopy. He then hit an exploded suplex to win the match.
They both spoke after the match and talked about their first meeting in the 1993 Young Lions Cup. Nagata also revealed that this was his first ever singles match in his hometown of Togane. He said that next year he will be 50 and invited everyone back for another Blue Justice party!
This show is available at NJPWWorld.com and is a really easy watch.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
