Big matches and results up and down the card in Vegas
Beyond four incredible title matches, action was intense and spectacular across the card on October 28 at Fighting Spirit Unleashed in Las Vegas.
The semi main event of the evening would see Yuya Uemura and SANADA tag against Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi. The heated crowd in Vegas were excited to see this preview for Wrestle Kingdom 18’s main event. The non verbal communication for LIJ seemed to have an advantage over the fresher team of SANADA and Uemura, but the Heat Storm of Uemura didn’t back down in the face of offense of Hiromu Takahashi.
SANADA and Naito more than matched their partners’ intensity, and with five minutes to go, the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion caught the number one contender in Skull End. With three minutes left on the clock, Esperanza scored for Naito, and the Dome challenger set for Destino, but instead chaos broke out in the ring. After a Shining Wizard from SANADA, all four men were down, and despite another attempt at Skull End, the time limit expired, albeit with the world champion in the plus position.
A special eight man tag marked the 40th career anniversary of the legendary Atlantis in Vegas, with Naoki Sugabayashi presenting the veteran with a bouquet of flowers, only for Rocky Romero to smash them over his head. Karma came back to bite Rocky as a series of miscues with his teammates set Atlantis for a barrage of backbreakers, and Tanahashi landed a series of Dragon Screws to boot. After dives all around a powerbomb from Atlantis saw victory for the legend and his team.
Gabe Kidd and Tom Lawlor tore into one another from the opening bell, and the two soon spilled into the crowd where Lawlor booted Kidd into the people. The War Ready Kidd responded with a belly to belly suplex on the floor that nearly drew a countout. The intense bout continued to escalate, Lawlor nearly getting the three with a buzzsaw kick, and a Kidd brainbuster came close as well; grabbing a stolen title belt, Kidd drew the referee long enough to deliver a low blow and then a Piledriver for the victory.
NJPW Academy’s Johnnie Robbie joined Lluvia to face Stephanie Vaquer and Zeuxis in tag action. Vaquer put Robbie away with a package backbreaker, and then issued a challenge to Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s Championship at Lonestar Shootout on November 10.
The first match on the main card in Vegas saw a four way to determine the number one contender for the STRONG Openweight Championship. Satoshi Kojima, Fred Rosser, Jeff Cobb and Alex Coughlin did battle in a powerhouse contest that saw heavy hits all round and incredible shows of strength from Coughlin and Cobb. Rosser showed his own strength with a Gutcheck to Coughlin and a Sidewinder on Kojima, but it was Kojima surviving the Crossface Chickenwing and scoring a Lariat on Rosser to emerge victorious.
