IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles Headline in Korakuen Hall
The Road to Power Struggle returns to Korakuen Hall on Sunday November 1, with issues reaching their boiling point less than one week away from Power Struggle coming to EDION Arena on November 7.
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Main event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado)
Direct tag record: 3-0 Suzuki-Gun
The main event in Korakuen Hall sees Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI challenge IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. The lineup for the delayed Best of the Super Jr. tour is coming up on November 2, but before each of these four men take a likely spot in the tournament to decide the best singles junior heavyweight competitor in NJPW, here we’ll find out who the superior tag team is.
Of course, to hear the current champions say it, that question has already been answered, and it’s a strong position to argue. Hiromu and BUSHI have never held the junior tag titles together, and neither have they ever beaten their Suzuki-Gun opposition, including two losses to the current champions in the recent tournament to claim the tag belts vacated by Roppongi 3K.
Yet Takahashi in particular is obsessed with the idea of claiming junior tag gold for the first time in his career. After a pinfall victory over Kanemaru at the G1 Climax 30 final, the Time Bomb started to voice his desire for one more chance at the black clad champs, and at Korakuen Hall last week, wouldn’t take no for an answer.
For their part Desperado and Kanemaru were initially reluctant to put the titles on the line, with Desperado stating that ‘dreams and destiny have nothing to do with being champions, it’s all about how tough you are in the ring’, but the duo will now seek to show their tag team mastery to the LIJ duo once more.
5th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) vs BULLET CLUB (EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi)
In the semi-main event of the evening, Tetsuya Naito teams with SANADA to meet his November 7 opponent EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi.
It’s been a shaky start to the Road to Power Struggle for EVIL and BULLET CLUB; the tour has seen EVIL and Dick Togo take repeated losses from their Los Ingobernables De Japon opposition. Now though, Yujiro Takahashi joins the fray, reforming the team that stood tall over a fallen Naito in Ryogoku Sumo Hall at the G1 Climax 30 finals. With less than a week to go before EVIL challenges double IWGP Champion Naito at Power Struggle, BULLET CLUB wants, and needs, to make a violent statement.
4th match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma & Kota Ibushi vs BULLET CLUB (Jay White, Chase Owens & KENTA)
The fourth match of the evening sees Chase Owens wrestle in Japan for the first time in over eight months, as he joins Jay White and KENTA to take on Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi.
Owens has long been regarded as a ‘glue guy’ for BULLET CLUB, and has lived up to that role to perfection on NJPW STRONG in recent weeks. Teaming with any BULLET CLUB combination, Owens has been effective indeed, but he’s been especially so with KENTA. At Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Owens was the key player in preventing Jeff Cobb from taking KENTA’s IWGP US Heavyweight Championship right to challenge briefcase. Now with just days separating KENTA from the challenge of Hiroshi Tanahashi after the Ace defeated the case holder during the G1, Owens’ return to Japan does not seem accidental.
For Jay White meanwhile, the chance to make a mark before his own contract challenge, to Ibushi on November 7. White and EVIL seem intent on winning their respective matches in Osaka to set up an all BULLET CLUB main event at Wrestle Kingdom 15. Could that black and White summit be made a reality this January?
3rd Match: Kazuchika Okada & Gabriel Kidd vs The Empire (Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan)
In a rematch from the first tag bout on the Road to Power Struggle tour, Kazuchika Okada again teams with Gabriel Kidd to face The Empire of Will Ospreay and Great-O-Khan. Okada has been teaming with a different Young Lion every night as he continues to try and get to Will Ospreay, only to fins Great-O-Khan in his path instead. O-Khan has blown through Kidd, Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura over the last week, all with the devastating Eliminator slam. Blinded by anger at Ospreay’s betrayal, is Okada looking past his opponent November 7 at Power Struggle?
2nd Match: CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano) vs Suzuki-Gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Junior & DOUKI)
The second match of the evening sees two thirds of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champions team with Toru Yano against their challgers from last week in Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. and DOUKI. After October 23’s main event, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto moved to challenge the IWGP Tag team Champions Dangerous Tekkers, and will be looking to make a definitive statement against the champions before their title match on November 2. The Suzuki-Gun side will have different ideas however, and after a st8unning performance in the NEVER title match last week, DOUKI will want to continue bringing the fight to YOHI-HASHI. Add to that Toru Yano, who is proimising a unique stipulation for his match with Zack Sabre Juniro November 7 at Power Struggle and there are a lot of combustible elements in ths one.
1st match: Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura
Singles record: 12-8-22 Tsuji
The opening bout of the evening will see Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura face off for what will be the 43rd time, after a further match on a live event in Ibaraki this week saw Tsuji victorious. Yota Tsuji might have won the unofficial ‘Young Lion C Block’ of G1 Climax 30, but the ongoing rivalry between all the Young Lions seems far from over. Who gets the upper hand tonight?
