SHO stays top of the table, as Ishimori defuses Hiromu Takahashi
Best of the Super Jr. 28 continued in Fujisawa on November 27, as the league passed its midway point with all to play for.
Hiromu Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori would continue a long held rivalry in the main event, a high speed start seeing both look for signature offense before Hiromu scored the first knockdown. Takahashi followed with chops, but one slick takedown would wrench at the Time Bomb’s arm, and the pace instantly swung to Ishimori’s favour.
Tearing into Hiromu’s the weakened limb, Ishimori dominated in ring and on the floor, not deviating once from the arm and shoulder. With a rope hung choke, Hiromu would finally create an opening, and followed through with a basement dropkick, before throwing caution to the wind with a shotgun blast from the apron; Hiromu followed by using his good arm to hoist Ishimori into a Falcon Arrow, but with the shock of the impact jarring the Time Bomb, Ishimori would have enough of a speed advantage to counter with a sliding German suplex.
The ruthless Ishimori joined his foe on the floor, and dropped him shoulder first on the gaurdrail, Hiromu barely able to respond to the referee’s 20 count where he was the ercipient of more torture. Ishimori sunk in the Yes Lock, sending Hiromu struggling to the ropes, but he would find a response, landing a hurricanrana that rolled him into D. A running powerbomb counter was the response from the Bone Soldier; as the match reached the 15 minute mark, Hiromu needed desperate offense, and found it with a DVD on the apron.
Desperation built as Ishimori broke the referee’s count, and both men sought the end, Hiromu seeing Ishimori athletically counter his corner belly to belly, before Cipher Utaki bought the BULLET CLUB member time. As Hiromu roared back at his foe, he would be met with elbow after elbow, but stayed standing, and a John Woo shot sent Ishimori flying, this time followed with the corner belly to belly, but still without an end in sight.
Hiromu set for Victory Royal, but was countered and sent into a previously exposed corner. Ishimori’s own Mistica was met with an instinctive Dynamite Plunger in return, but the Bone Soldier rocked Hiromu with a front kick and rising knee, only for Hiromu to land Victory Royal as both traded their most effective shots. After a reverse Bloody Sunday attempt was rolled through, Takahashi found the corner DVD, and then as the match passed 25 minutes, a wild lariat. Still, Ishimori had one more shot in the chamber, as Mistica led to Bone Lock, and Hiromu was forced to submit.
The night’s semi main would see Robbie Eagles and El Desperado meet for the third time in 2021, with a win apiece in prior title matches in the Tokyo Dome and EDION Arena. The Fujisawa crowd applauded in anticipation of first contact, which saw both men trying to gain control of their opponent’s head, either by counter wrestling into a headlock, or a sneaky pull of the hair from Desperado. As the pace quickened, it would be Desperado with the first knockdown, but Eagles would land a short and solid dropkick, only for a palm strike receipt to quickly come, but it was a tope suicida that gave Eagles control as Desperado tumbled into the announce desk.
Eagles would drive forward with trademark assaults on the knees, punctuated by mid kicks. Staying one step ahead of a foe he knew all to well, Eagles was able to break up Desperado’s attempts to counter, until a springboard dropkick was sidestepped and met with a Desperado spear, and with knee pad on the other leg, Desperado would crank a Stretch Muffler that had Eagles yelling out in pain.
Eagles would strike out of a knee crusher from Desperado, and locked in the Ron Miller Special, driving the champion to the ropes. With both men on one wheel, Eagles was able to land a low 619 and double knees to the face of Desperado in the corner; neither were able to find a finishing blow though as each countered the other’s signature offense. It would be Desperado who broke a deadlock with a spinebuster counter to the Turbo Backpack, and Guitarra Del Angel for two, but Pinche Loco would be countered with a hurricanrana and then a strike exchange that had both men floored. Eagles would find his feet first, and landed the Asai DDT, but the Turbo Backpack would get countered into El Es Clero for the flash pin victory.
Fresh off a loss and a win against their respective teammates, BUSHI and El Phantasmo did battle to get to six points in Fujisawa. Phantasmo would dictate the pace of the crowd’s applause, and of the early action, until an ill advised bit of hot dogging saw him come down badly on his right foot; or perhaps more accurately what was inside his boot. BUSHI would take advantage with a tope suicida, but ELP was able to brave the pain in his right foot to bury the weighty boot to his foe’s midsection.
Phantasmo’s showboating offense would be broken up when BUSHI stopped ELP’s rope walk and landed a slingshot tijeras. A missile dropkick would score for BUSHI, but so too would a Phantasmo Lionsault, and a diving forearm before the BULLET CLUB member loaded up the boot. Sudden Death would be countered with a Codebreaker, but an MX was caught and met with Styles Clash as both combatants read one another’s finishing moves. Phantasmo could have finished BUSHI with Sudden Death, but either out for concern for his foot or a desire for greater glory, instead went for V-Trigger and a One Winged Angel, paying the price with Terrible for two. MX followed and BUSHI came away with the win.
YOH would head to the ring refreshed having finally gotten his first victory, and looking to grow his points total against Master Wato. The young Wato gave YOH plenty to handle in the early going, staying with the more experienced YOH on the mat, before landing some heavy kicks in combination. On the run though, YOH would land a solid one legged dropkick, and immediately followed with a plancha.
A tijeras later and Wato would respond with a tornillo, both men taking increasingly bigger risks as the match progressed. Growing in confidence, Wato landed a springboard uppercut, but YOH would find an inverted Dragon Screw and looked for the Stargazer. Denied, YOH got a Falcon Arrow instead, but Wato saw another Dragon Screw coming, and connected with a big leg lariat.
Both combatants reset and traded strikes; YOH tried to change up with a German Suplex for two, but a Wato kick thudded off his head before Recientemente got two. Wato would be intent on flying to YOH, heading up for another springboard, but was rocked with a thrust kick, the DNV and then Direct Drive, YOH moving up to four points.
SHO tried to get the jump on DOUKI in their league match early, but it would be the Suzuki-Gun member with the upper hand; at least until SHO buried his fingers into his opponent’s eyes, and pulled Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa in the path of DOUKI’s plancha to take over. Going back to his lucha roots, DOUKI flew to SHO and landed a quebrada, but a referee distraction gave SHO enough time to land a spear. DOUKI countered Shock Arrow into the DOUKI Chokey/Italian Stretch 32, and followed with Daybreak, but SHO blocked Suplex De La Luna and downed the referee twice, leading to a low blow, a wrench shot and Snake Bite.
First to action in Fujisawa were Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Ryusuke Taguchi, Kanemaru getting to work early as Taguchi made his entrance. The Heel Master would target Taguchi’s knee, but a hip attack would open the door to B-triggers and the Three Amigos for two. The Buns of Steel continued to ring true for Taguchi, but Kanemaru would go back down to the knee. A moonsault scored for a near Kanemaru two, but Deep Impact was denied, and Taguchi found Oh My and Garankle and then a Tiger Suplex for two. As Kanemaru tried to block Dodon with a low blow, Taguchi took advantage of the distracted referee to hit Dodon To The Throne- To The Testes, and picked up a roll-up win.
