Champions retain at New Beginning
The NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships were on the line January 20 in Nagoya, double tag champions El Phantasmo and Hikuleo defending against Chase Owens and KENTA.
KENTA, in his first Japanese appearance since the summer of 2023, and face to face with the man he betrayed in BULLET CLUB, was hesitant to make contact until forced to do so by Hikuleo. After the two challengers were bounced off one another, El Phantasmo started to get moving, but when he went for a quebrada to KENTA, Owens got involved from the floor and turned the tide into BULLET CLUB hands.
Phantasmo labored long in the wrong corner, struggling to fight from underneath, with KENTA and Owens doing remarkable work to prevent tags, until the tenacious ELP finally got through to Hikuleo. The Tongan giant cleaned house and set up for Godsend, but a perfectly timed knee from Owens and a double team backbreaker now had the big man on the ropes.
A Go 2 Sleep attempt from KENTA proved too ambitious, and Hikuleo responded with a big powerslam. Phantasmo received the hot tag with alacrity and flew from one offensive move to the next before being cut off, and a Green Killer from KENTA scored as Owens set to work on Hikuleo outside. Game Over had ELP in trouble before he gutted through the pain and just made the ropes, but things were going from bad to worse for the champions, a slight miscue on a double team perhaps being the only thing that led to a kickout when the move was hit on the second time of asking.
As the match wore on, GoD turned the tide and fought back, with Owens planted by ELP. Phantasmo went for the cover as KENTA dove in with a double stomp to break up the pin, but ELP had the wherewithal to avoid contact, leading to two boots instead through the gut of Chase. A Godsend from Hikuleo and CRII from Phantasmo and it was a done deal, GoD recording a new record fifth defence with the STRONG gold.
