Zack and Ibushi move to ten with ZSJ holding the match advantage
With a match in hand, Zack Sabre Jr. continued to top the table in A Block after night 11 of the tournament in Hiroshima’s Sun Plaza Hall as mathematical eliminations began to pile up with three matches left to wrestle.
The main event would see Great-O-Khan in an intriguing stylistic clash with Tomohiro Ishii as he tried to get back on track from two consecutive losses. Determined not to back down from the Stone Pitbull, O-Khan wrestled Ishii at his own game, not backing down to tackle attempts before entering a long elbow exchange, only to finally be felled by Ishii.
Ishii did not maintain an advantage however, as O-Khan pulled on his opponent’s cauliflowered ears to bring the fight to the floor, where control swung to the United Empire member. O-Khan would target Ishii’s wrapped right arm, and even as Ishii built steam, a judo take down would further torque the CHAOS member’s elbow. Ishii would defiantly rear back in the face of O-Khan’s humiliating offense, rattling chops to the throat and reversing a superplex with a sunset flip powerbomb, but a sliding lariat would be countered as O-Khan tried to tame the pitbull.
Ishii would rise, taking the arm of O-Khan, before getting to his feet and trading headbutts with the Dominator. Rocketing his skull off the jaw of the United Emprire’s spokesman, Ishii landed his sliding lariat and went for the Vertical Drop Brainbuster, only to be stalled by a gordbuster of O-Khan’s serving. As Ishii dug deep, O-Khan would respond with the Sheep Killer, and a TTD would score, but Ishii still refused to lose.
Shrugging off a reverse Eliminator into the corner, Ishii landed a wild lariat, but only got a one count. With five minutes left in the match, O-Khan would rock Ishii with a lariat of his own, and went for the Eliminator, only to be met with an enzuigiri and another clubbing lariat from Ishii for two, before the Vertical Drop Brainbuster gave the Stone Pitbull his third straight win.
Toru Yano would look to some non-regulation tactics against Shingo Takagi, baiting him into a blindfold match for a sneaky roll up before blinding the Dragon with alcohol spray, putting a hood over his head and throwing him under the ring. When tearing cornerpads off still didn’t work for Yano, Shingo appeared to have had enough, getting his lumps in on the master producer.
Yano would manage some sharp elbows and a front suplex on the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and with the referee hooked, almost secured victory with a low blow and roll-up. A Pumping Bomber would connect for Takagi though, and Last of the Dragon would move bring him to eight points.
Yujiro Takahashi would go to his amateur roots in the early going against Zack Sabre Jr., although he quickly went for low blows when plan A wasn’t working out. The low blows didn’t score either, but biting his opponent’s foot was an adequate plan C, bringing Sabre to the floor and under the Tokyo Pimp’s control. ZSJ would isolate Yujiro’s shoulder though, and quickly set to punishing work.
Takahashi would find a neckbreaker and suplex to fight back, and the Intercollegiate Slam would also find its mark. As Sabre traded strikes and tried to get back to the arm, a Miami Shine would put him to the mat, and Pimp Juice nearly sealed the deal. As Yujiro went for Big Juice though, a shoulderbreaker and then yet another novel submission, this time entitled the Tesco Meal Deal, gave Sabre victory.
The night’s first tournament match would see Tanga Loa, still mathematically alive in the tournament, taking on joint front runner Kota Ibushi. Loa surprised Ibushi with his speed in the early going, and surprised again when dropping Ibushi with a spear on the floor. With a standing moonsault inside followed by a T-Bone suplex, Loa had full control of the former World heavyweight Champion until a running mid kick evened the balance.
As he began to strike in combination, Ibushi connected with a powerslam and second rope moonsault, but Loa wasn’t to be denied with a Blue Thunder Bomb. As both traded power moves, a sit out Last Ride scored for Ibushi, but Loa powered out of both the regular and reverse Kamigoye, hitting a reverse one of his own and then a sit out powerbomb for a near two. Incredibly, Loa was able to land a poison Rana as he continued to pile pressure on Ibushi, and countered another Kamigoye attempt with a spear, but Ibushi would land a Tombstone piledriver and then the Kamigoye for the win, all but eliminating Loa.
