Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Road to Power Struggle, October 30, Korakuen Hall:
Tiger Mask IV & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated TAKA Michinoku & Taichi. This match was all Suzuki-Gun. They beat down Liger. When he got the tag to Tiger, they did the same to him until Tiger snuck out the win with a surprise crucifix pin.
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano. I don't think this match even got started. Suzuki tied the bullrope to Yano and dragged him all over the building. When they finally got back in the ring, Suzuki kicked the referee in the face. Goto tried to get involved, but was met with Iizuka's iron fingers. Suzuki then hung Yano with the bullrope and kicked the hell out of anyone on sight before leaving. These leaves Yano out for revenge heading into Power Struggle, so maybe we will see a more serious side to him in that match.
Beretta, YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay defeated Chase Owens, Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll. Scurll dressed as Aladdin, Owens as The Genie & Omega as.... Jasmine. You read that correctly. This was all comedy as you'd imagine. Scurlls carpet was used, even pulling it out from underneath Ospreay, which was funny. Beretta exposed Omega, knocking his wig off, which got boo'd. The finish saw Ospreay hit a flying carpet assisted Shooting Star Press, and Beretta hit Owens with the Dudebuster onto the carpet for the win. After the match the joking was over as Beretta hit Omega with a knee and a Piledriver on the apron ahead of their title match at Power Struggle.
David Finlay, Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson, Titan & Dragon Lee defeated Hirai Kawato, KUSHIDA, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Katsuya Kitamura. This was so good. Kitamura looked like a monster against Lee & Titan as he was able to Irish whip both of them at once. It took both of them to stop his momentum. Tanahashi & Ibushi face off, ending with Tanahashi locking on the Texas Cloverleaf. KUSHDA & Lee upped the pace. Lee hit a beautiful dive over the top. Titan took down Kitamura with an Asai Moonsault. Kawato looked amazing again, getting two big near falls on Finlay before Finlay won after a lariat and stunner. This is well worth checking out.
SANADA, Tetsuya Naito & EVIL defeated Gedo, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii. Really good stuff here. Ishii took the heat for the CHAOS side until he tagged in Okada. Okada took control of the match until the LIJ numbers game caught up to him and he had to tag in Gedo. Naito bumped around like crazy for Okada, especially for his dropkick. EVIL hit a fishermans buster on Gedo and SANADA hit the TKO for a near fall. SANADA then finished Gedo with the Skull End.
Super Jr Tag Tournament Semi Final: ACH & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado. This was absolutely great. ACH was worked over until Taguchi got the tag and unloaded with a dive and a springboard hip attack. His momentum was stopped and ACH got back into the match. Kanemaru hit him with a satellite DDT and a Moonsault for great near falls. Taguchi set him up for a 450, but Desperado made the save before the three count. Desperado was disposed of and they hit the same Dodon/X Factor combo as yesterday to advance to the final. Fantastic match.
Super Jr Tag Tournament Semi Final: SHO & YOH defeated BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi. This was an outstanding main event that everyone needs to see. The story here was that Roppongi 3K had to prove themselves against two established names in the NJPW junior heavyweight division, as BUSHI & Hiromu didn't take kindly to these two newcomers having so much success so quickly. The crowd was very much behind LIJ, but by the end of the match they were chanting "Roppongi", so the match accomplished its goal.
Hiromu chopped YOH so hard that his chest bled and SHO ended up with a bloody mouth. LIJ were not messing around. Roppongi never really got any sustained momentum. LIJ would control the match and use their experience to cut off anything. As the match went on Roppongi slowly built monentum and held their own. Lots of great double team from LIJ and some exposive attacks from Hiromu. Roppongi hit a great dominator/cutter combo. There was one great sequence of moves that left all four guys down. LIJ hit a double MX and set up for the Doomsday MX, but Roppongi could cut it off. SHO & YOH then hit their assists flapjack finish on Hiromu and then a lungblower into a running boot on Hiromu which set them up to hit their finish on him for a hard fought win. It really felt like Roppongi 3K earned this win.
They move on to face ACH & Taguchi in the final at Power Struggle next weekend. I was really hoping BUSHI & Hiromu would go further and begin a run as a regular junior heavyweight team, but it doesn't like to be happening at the minute.
This show is available now at NJPWWorld.com.
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
