As Kizuna road draws to a close, the penultimate night was held in front of 1,500 people in Aomori:
*****
7th Match: CHAOS (Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada) defeated Suzuki-Gun (DOUKI, Taichi, Zack Sabre Junior & Minoru Suzuki) when YOSHI-Hashi pinned DOUKI.
Ahead of their title match on June 25, Zack Sabre Jr. and YOSHI-HASHI clashed in the latest of a series of multi-man tag matches between CHAOS and Suzuki-Gun. Taichi lead the charge for Suzuki-gun this time and put in a sterling effort, but after having his trousers stripped from him by Yano, and suffering an axe bomber from YOSHI-HASHI, it left Suzuki-gun wide open and the only junior in the match, DOUKI, ended up getting pinned once again by YOSHI-HASHI. Backstage, Suzuki announced that tomorrow was the deadline for NJPW to respond to his demand to let him in the G1. Zack said that he was looking forward to his match and disparaged his opponent saying that even as a waiter, he would be a failure.
6th Match: SHO, YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare & Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated BULLET CLUB (Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, Yujiro Takahashi & Jay White) when Taguchi submitted Gedo.
In another match highlighting a title match on June 25, the British Cruiserweight Champion, El Phantasmo took on Ryusuke Taguchi in a 10-man tag. Taguchi was ganged-up on by BULLET CLUB, perhaps hoping to weaken him before his match the next day. They even went as far as to bare his buttocks to the assembled crowd. Taguchi however has the last laugh as he submitted Gedo with an ankle lock. Backstage, Tanahashi talked about his upcoming G1, Henare about his match with Ishii in Sydney and SHO about YOH’s birthday tomorrow.
5th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) defeated Shota Umino & Kota Ibushi when Naito pinned Umino.
Although he fought hard, it seemed like Naito was distinctly uninterested in fighting Shota Umino. His level of disregard was particularly evident at the end when he teased doing a Destino finishing move, but decided on his secondary finishing move, Valentina instead. Naito continued to tease Ibushi about the IWGP Intercontinental belt and continued to harass Umino with a Boston Crab in front of his father, referee Red Shoes Unno. When Red Shoes refused to raise his hand after this display, Naito intimidated him into doing so. Umino vowed revenge backstage.
4th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA, EVIL & Shingo Takagi) defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe when EVIL pinned Honma.
Whilst the LIJ team was full of G1 entrants, their opponents were ones who had an experience advantage over them. EVIL and Makabe in particular had a vicious exchange of lariats, going back and forth with a brutal efficiency and Honma showed off his impressive arsenal of Kokeshi manoeuvres. Backstage, Makabe finally seemed satisfied that those who had replaced him in the G1 were worthy of their inclusion and cautioned them that it was the ultimate test of a wrestler’s fighting spirit.
3rd Match: BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defeated Juice Robinson, Mikey Nicholls & Ren Narita when Owens pinned Narita.
BULLET CLUB, as they tend to do, picked on the weak link in their opponents, once again, being Ren Narita. Narita fought hard and was able to lock Owens into a Boston Crab, but BULLET CLUB were able to get the better of their opponents using dirty tricks. Juice and Nicholls showed fire and fury, working well as a team, but for all of his misbehaviour, Owens got a clean victory through a package piledriver. Backstage Nicholls demanded the titles be put on the line in Australia if in Sendai.
2nd Match: Suzuki-Gun (Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Tiger Mask & Yota Tsuji when Archer submitted Tsuji.
Archer once again dominated proceedings in this match, taking his budding feud with Tiger Mask to new levels as he tried to intimidate the mysterious man in the tiger mask. The match ended though when Archer choke-slammed Tsuji and transitioned into his EBD claw. Backstage Archer said that A Block stands for Archer Block, referencing the upcoming G1 Climax 29.
1st Match: Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Yuya Uemura & Yuji Nagata when Tenzan submitted Uemura.
This was TenCozy’s 5th consecutive match since their reunion and 5th consecutive victory. The two dominated the match, despite Nagata’s efforts to stop them. In the end Tenzan hit Uemura with a mongolion chop, a lariat and tapped out Uemura with his Anaconda Vice. Backstage, TenCozy were very respectful towards their young opponent, saying that they saw the future of the company in him.
