Junior heavyweight singles matches highlight Osaka card
The Battle Autumn series comes to its final stop in Osaka this week. Before the main EDION Arena sees a loaded final card, the EDION sub arena will see big previews, final statements made, and a pair of big junior heavyweight singles matches.
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Main event: Ren Narita, Alex Zayne & Master Wato vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & SANADA)
A six man main event will see SANADA and Ren Narita collide ahead of Saturday’s NJPW World TV tournament semifinal. Narita confronted SANADA after Sunday’s Makuhari main event and reasserted that a ‘change in the guard’ is coming at his hands. Narita will be doubling down on that statement with physicality in our six man main event. Meanwhile Tetsuya Naito has been itching for that same physicality with Will Ospreay since the start of the tour. Now that the title meeting is just two days away, what moves will Naito make? And how will Master Wato and Hiromu Takahashi interact before Saturday’s ‘Incredible Tag Match’?
7th Match: Titan vs TJP
Singles record: 1-0 Titan
Before Saturday’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match, Osaka will see a pair of singles previews on Thursday. Titan and TJP will be going one on one for the first time since Best of the Super Jr.; TJP wants to right his loss to El Inmortal during that tournament, and more importantly, reset perceptions surrounding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship bout after a wave of losses for United Empire through the tour.
6th Match: Francesco Akira vs BUSHI
The other singles junior heavyweight preview tonight will see BUSHI and Francesco Akira head to head. When Titan made his surprise appearance at Ryogoku’s Declaration of Power, it was to assist BUSHI to an MX victory over Akira. Can the hot blooded Italian get some measure of revenge tonight?
5th Match: Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL & Dick Togo)
The fifth match of the evening sees another preview of NJPW World TV tournament action. When Zack Sabre Jr. booked his place in the tournament semifinals opposite EVIL, he was full of confidence, the most recent track record between the two seeing a comfortable win over the King of Darkness in under a minute during the G1. Yet EVIL bears grudges, and enacted his frustration at Makuhari Messe this past weekend. With a backstage attack making EVIL’s intentions clearly felt, tensions will be high heading into this tag battle.
4th Match: Suzuki-Gun (DOUKI, El Desperado & Taichi) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & KENTA)
Two days before EDION Arena’s Incredible Tag Match, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori and El Desperado collide once more before potentially having to team together Saturday, as tensions continue to escalate ahead of Wrestle Kingdom.
3rd Match: Tomoaki Honma & David Finlay vs United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan)
After blitzing through tag teams over the past tour, Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan finally have their IWGP Tag Team Championship match with FTR set for Osaka on November 5. 48 hours before a championship rematch they feel has been deserved for five months, O-Khan and Cobb will be hard to deny, even against fierce competition in Honma and Finlay.
2nd Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo & Jado) vs United Empire (Aaron Henare & Gideon Grey)
After weeks of controversy, Hikuleo will head to Osaka in the knowledge that his planned NEVER Openweight Championship match with Karl Anderson is off, and that a non-title match with Yujiro Takahashi is in its place. The Young Gun will be furious as a result, and looking to make an example, much to the likely concern of Gideon grey with whom the big man is reunited tonight.
1st Match: Be-Bop Tag Team (Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi) vs Ryohei Oiwa & Yuta Nakashima
Kicking off the night, the Be-Bop Tag Team of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano reunite against Young Lion competition. With World Tag League around the corner, speculation is rife about what teams could be put together. Might Tanahashi and Yano be one of these tandems?
