Davis and Fletcher stay unbeaten in Nagoya
Nagoya saw the first combined Super Junior and World Tag League night on November 27, with five league bouts from each tournament in front of cheering fans in Dolphins Arena.
The main event of the evening would see the Los Ingobernables De Japon side of Tetsuya Naito and SANADA looking to maintain their perfect record against Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI, Bishamon. Goto would silence the Naito chants with a quick tackle, and as the war drum blows rang off SANADA and Naito’s backs, the chants morphed to ones for hometown boy YOSHI-HASHI.
It only took a momentary counter for Naito to gain control however, and YOSHI-HASHI would be in a bad state on the floor. In ring as well, SANADA would put the CHAOS member into the Paradise Lock and milked the vocal crowd before his customary dropkick release. A Headhunter would bring Goto in with furious offense, but he too would be slowed with a basement dropkick to the knee; still a short lariat would ensure that Naito could not capitalise, and YOSHI-HASHI kept the offensive train rolling.
A pop-up spinebuster slowed YOSHI-HASHI, but Naito’s top rope Frankensteiner would be stopped. Sensing danger, SANADA would hit the ring and opened up the Headhunter for Naito to target the neck with Esperanza for two; YOSHI-HASHI countered Destino and Bishamon looked for the GYR, but as SANADA made the save, the match continued in increasingly chaotic form.
After a YOSHI-HASHI suplex, Goto and SANADA would be legal, Cold Skull uncorking an explosive dropkick and plancha to Goto, who responded with Ushigoroshi. The Nagoya crowd coming unglued for the main event, Goto and YOSHI-HASHI set for Shoto, but Naito provided an assist from the floor. Skull End was the result and as Goto faded, SANADA went up for the moonsault, but YOSHI-HASHI hit the ring as the move missed its mark, and rocked Naito with a lariat at the twenty minute call.
Goto blasted SANADA with a left mid kick and tried for GTR, before stopping SANADA’s O’Connor Roll counter. The Lightning Flash followed, before Shoto finally scored giving Goto the three and Naito and SANADA their first loss.
With HOUSE OF TORTURE yet to get a wain in either heavyweight or junior tag league, EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi jumped TMDK on the entrance ramp. As Shane Haste fought back with kicks, EVIL shoved him into the referee, and the suddenly present SHO jumped Mikey Nicholls while Haste was victim of a chair shot on the outside.
The HOUSE OF TORTURE mugging continued back in the ring, SHO reviving the referee when they felt the damage had been done. Haste wouldn’t give in though, and a hot tag to Nicholls saw Mad Mikey with a flurry of offense cut off by a grabbed foot from SHO on the floor. Frustrated by Nicholls’ continued effort, SHO hoppe don the apron to provide a referee distraction and Togo’s ever present steel wire, but haste would clean house, and Thunder Valley quickly followed.
The Be-Bop Tag side of Toru Yano and Hiroshi Tanahashi were struggling into Nagoya with an 0-2 record and facing Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens of BULLET CLUB. Fale used his impressive size to control Tanahashi off the bat, and looked to combine with Owens for a Rocket Launcher elbow drop early, only for Yano to break the attempt up with his disinfectant spray. As Yano was confronted for his transgression, Tanahashi unleashed an un-Acelike pair of low blows, and a schoolboy for a shock three.
Two undefeated teams faced off early in the card in Nagoya when Aussie Open took on Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki. Archer wanted to test strength with Mark Davis, leading to ringside collisions before a high cross body from Archer brought in Suzuki to the chants of the crowd against Kyle Fletcher. A snap of the arm and a rope hung choke, and Suzuki-Gun had their edge as the Aussie Arrow was in all sorts of trouble in the ring and out.
After avoiding a charging Archer and landing a thrust kick, Fletcher was able to tag in Davis, who powered through Archer before Aussie Open used Young Lions as weapons to take down Suzuki-Gun. As the match passed ten minutes, Suzuki once again took control of Fletcher with a penalty kick, but the younger partner of Aussie Open escaped a Gotch Style Piledriver and hit a brainbuster for two. The match breaking down, Archer fell victim to the Dental Plan before Suzuki-Gun received Corealis for the win.
The first of the five World Tag League bouts of the evening had Gabriel Kidd and Alex Coughlin face Aaron Henare and Great-O-Khan. Kidd would be separated from Coughlin, but in the same building where his idol Hiroyoshi Tenzan lost the rights to the Mongolian Chop, Kidd would not fall to the move, using his own to bring Coughlin inside. The Android flung both O-Khan and Henare for sequential suplexes, and Kidd followed with a springboard moonsault, but a double lariat saw the LA Dojo partners collide. A double team TTD from O-Khan put Coughlin out of commission, and Streets of Rage ended Kidd’s night.
