Pre-Show: Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato vs Daiki Nagai, Masatora Yasuda
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Pre-bell, Nagai and Kato get into a shoving match. After separating to check in with their partners, they start the match off.
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Very good match. Nagai is starting to adopt some moves and mannerisms of another very cocky Noge Dojo trainee, Shibata.
Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato def Daiki Nagai, Masatora Yasuda — (8:15, Boston Crab)
- Post match, Nagai grabs an ice pack and goes to help Yasuda out of the ring; but when he’s stared down by the winning YLs he throws the ice pack at them and the three have some minor physicality before Nagai leaves, helping Yasuda out as he does.
Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney vs (X), Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, SANADA
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Dogs out first, with Chase lingering in the back. He’s one of the names that’s been floated as the possible new HoT member.
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SANADA up first dressed like a silver surfer/El Gigante hybrid. The new member will be coming out solo.
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Bad Luck Fale’s music hits. He’s not dressed in any way that betrays who he’s with, but War Dogs clearly did not know he was here.
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Fale gets to ringside and talks to Yujiro for a minute, then to the ring announcer. This is HoT’s mystery partner, “Don Fale.” The crowd was clearly expecting someone of more importance,
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Fale gets in the ring with Chase, honorary Tongan and former tag Champ with Fale. The Don grabs Chase by the throat for a chokeslam, but Clark comes in from behind to save Chase, but sacrifices himself.
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Dog chicanery level: low (Wheel-san appearance).
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HoT shenanigans level: Surprisingly low until the very end, when SANADA brings the guitar in. Chase comes in to save Drilla from getting hit with it… or so we though. Yeah, EVIL recruited both of the decade’s worst IWGP tag Champs.
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I did not think NJPW could make me do anything to start disliking HoT, but god dam they proved me wrong.
Don Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, SANADA def Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney — (6:44, pin [after a guitar shot])
- Nothing major post match besides Chase kicking Ishimori in the chihuahuas.
El Phantasmo[w/Jado], Shota Umino vs Ryohei Oiwa, Zack Sabre Jr.
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All the Hontai team come out to ELP’s music and don pairs of his LED shades, which I believe he’ll be selling soon. Shota’s have a pink heart animation.
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Oiwa, who has his sights on ELP’s TV title, tells Zack he’ll start, but it’s Shota decides to join him.
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This was really fucking good, go watch it if you haven’t.
Ryohei Oiwa, Zack Sabre Jr. def El Phantasmo[w/Jado], Shota Umino — (11:23, European Clutch)
- Post match, ELP goes and consoles Shota. Zack taunts them a bit, but they all leave pretty quickly and with no big confrontations.
Tanahashi Final Road ~Connection~: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuya Uemura
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203 days of Tanahashi left. This is his final match in Osaka-jo Hall.
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Pre-match, a Tanahashi chant starts… but slowly, and it doesn’t get as fervent as you’d expect.
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This was very good for what it was, now obviously not the final match between these two. Tana very much “stole” this win with a quick flash pin.
Hiroshi Tanahashi def Yuya Uemura — (9:30, flash pin)
- Post match, Yuya is very upset. Tana goes and poses on the turnbuckle, then pats Yuya on the shoulder as he leaves.
IWGP Junior Tag Titles: Master Wato & YOH[c] vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SHO
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The House out first, with Nobu in street clothes and a comical looking sling on his right arm. They talk to the ref but we’re waiting until the Champs come out to hear more.
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YOH is immediately very sus of Nobu’s “injury.” SHO gets a mic: he claims Wato injured Nobu in their “horrible” BOSJ match, and Nobu isn’t going to risk further injury to wrestle in front of this shitty town of Osaka (which is Wato’s hometown).
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SHO has recruited an alternate partner: who is revealed by entrance music/tron as DOUKI. He has a darker remix of his theme, a more demon-like half mask, and face paint and contacts on both eyes. The crowd is much more “wrestling” upset about this, as opposed to the just plain upset that they seemed to be about Fale and Chase earlier.
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While the Champs are distracted, Nobu jumps Wato and SHO jumps YOH. DOUKI takes over with beating down Wato and brings him in to start the match.
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HoT shenanigans level: high and effective. DOUKI’s pipe is back.
DOUKI & SHO[w/Yoshinobu Kanemaru] def Master Wato & YOH — (10:52, Figure 4 Leglock variant)
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Post match and victory announcement, DOUKI gets some more cheap shots in on Wato’s knee and one on YOH’s chin.
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After the House leave, Wato is on the outside selling his knee for a while until he’s finally helped out of the arena by YLs.
IWGP Tag Titles: Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii vs Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan[c]
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Taichi and Ishii come out together to Ishii’s music, but Taichi stops on the ramp for a second; very clearly upset at his “little bro” DOUKI turning to the darkest of sides.
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Chris informs us that if the titles change hands tonight, Ishii will be the oldest IWGP title holder in history.
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Taichi and Callum start.
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Great match that the crowd got into.
Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii def Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan — (12:46, Black Mephisto)
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Post-pin, Taichi immediately leaps over to hug Ishii. It’s really funny to see the Stone Pitbull and former loveless Emperor bro out so much.
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Taichi gets left in the ring and bows to all four sides of the crowd before leaving. Off the top of my head I think maybe his late brother-in-law lived in Osaka or something like that? But do not quote me on that one.
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During the new Champs’ Backstage Comments, Yuya shows up and he and Taichi announce they are now officially joining Hontai. I would assume TAKA will as well, but with how tonight has gone that’s definitely not a given.
G1 Field Announcement:
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A Block: Hirooki Goto, Boltin Oleg, Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, David Finlay, EVIL, SANADA, Hiroshi Tanahashi, TBD, TBD
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B Block: ELP, Shota Umino, Shingo Takagi, ZSJ, GOK, Gabe Kidd, Ren Narita, KONOSUKE TAKESHITA, TBD, TBD
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Four Play-In singles matches on the Soul tour, two each on the 6/23 and 7/4 shows, will determine the final four entrants. Who is in those matches was not announced.
NEVER Openweight Title: Boltin Oleg vs KONOSUKE TAKESHITA[c]
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Big match white gear for TAKE.
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Quick start from both.
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Very great match, crowd was into it and both competitors.
Boltin Oleg def KONOSUKE TAKESHITA — (13:12, Kamikaze)
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Post match, Boltin crawls over and shakes TAKE’s hand, both selling the effects of the match. TAKE says something to him that we can’t hear before he leaves.
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In his Backstage Comments, Boltin says he’d like his singles match with his coach/mentor/father figure Yuji Nagata on the TANAHASHI JAM show (6/29) to be a NEVER title match.
Dog Collar Chain Deathmatch: David Finlay[w/just 4 Dogs] vs EVIL[w/The full House]
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All nine other members of the House come out with EVIL.
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Gedo comes out with Finlay, but then Finlay gestures to him to leave. Gedo goes back through the curtain and comes out with Clark, Drilla, and Ishimori.
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The Dogs hit the 2 sweet pound and the crowd barks.
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The House hit the blunts and the crowd oooohs.
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This is a no DQ match but with both competitors wearing dog collars that are chained together. Win by pinfall, submission, or knock out.
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This was actually interference-free for the first maybe 5 minutes or so of the match, until EVIL’s side of the chain got removed and the other Torturers used it to choke Finlay.
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And after that the bulk of the match was still mostly the two leaders one-on-one until the very end. Was it also a good match? Not really, tbh.
EVIL[w/The full House] def David Finlay[w/just 4 Dogs] — (23:05, Ref Stoppage [during a Scorpion Deathlock w/added chain choking])
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No big angles here, HoT just leave after the match ends. (But that could kind of be assumed once you saw that Finlay and EVIL are in the same G1 Block.)
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They bring out a stretcher for Finlay and a bunch of ringside staff carry him out on it.
IWGP Global Heavyweight Title: Yota Tsuji[c] vs Gabe Kidd
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Gabe comes out with no entrance gear, and takes a moment to shake his head clear after what just happened to Finlay. He has the NJPW logo on one kneepad and both the War Dogs and Death Riders logo on the other.
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Gabe’s entrance announcement gets a decent pop. Any reports you’ve heard of Japanese fans turning on him for his AEW stint were severely overblown.
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Tsuji rises up from within the stage, which was cool. And… holy shit, his entrance announcement did not get a pop. Like literally zero noise. I know Osaka is War Dog (and smark) country, but that is surprising.
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Pre-bell, they have a staredown and then Gabe offers a handshake, which Tsuji accepts.
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Pre-lockup crowd poll is very brief, but 95% Gabe. The crowd was a little quiet for the beginning of the match, I assume deflated from the ending of the Dogcollar match.
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Mid-match Gabe had a nasty botch on a senton from the turnbuckle, where he completely missed Tsuji and hit the back of his head on the mat, but recovered from it fine.
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This was very good, but the previous draw was better.
Gabe Kidd def Yota Tsuji — (23:25, Drill-a-hole Piledriver [after a Death Rider])
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Gabe celebrates and then sits in the corner and gets a mic. Tsuji is rolling out but stops when Gabe says in Japanese: “Tsuji, wait wait wait. New Japan, in the 90s it was Hashimoto and Muto, then Tanahashi and Shinsuke, then Okada and Kenny. But now, now, now, it’s Yota Tsuji and Gabe Kidd. Tsuji, see you later.”
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Now he asks the crowd if they mind if the “King of Japan” speaks some English. He says his mental struggles, getting sectioned, not wanting to live anymore were all very public. But none of that matters anymore because now he’s the Global Champ.
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“Who’s next? Who’s next? Hiroshi Tanahashi, come out here.” It takes Tana a few minutes to do so, and his knees are clearly not working great at the moment.
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Gabe holds the ropes open for him, then gets chest-to-chest. “Final road? Let’s go boss.”
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They bump fists, then Tana leaves.
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Gabe gets on the top rope and gets some of the crowd to sing along to his theme for a few moments.
IWGP WHC: Hirooki Goto[c][w/YOSHI-HASHI] vs Shingo Takagi
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We get the extended Shingo intro. As he revealed on the “Former LIJ Members Emergency Meeting“ talk show, he’s got new white and red gear.
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A decent portion of the crowd chant Goto’s name in rhythm with his theme.
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The pre-lockup crowd poll fluctuated, but I’d estimate overall around 60-40 in favor of Goto.
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Shingo starts playing a little heelish early on; after a couple minutes of action he offered a handshake as a promise for a “clean fight,” but then kneed Goto in the gut after he accepted it.
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Excellent match and the crowd was into it.
Hirooki Goto[w/YOSHI-HASHI] def Shingo Takagi — (28:25, GTR Kai)
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After getting his hand raised and the belt back around his waist, Goto goes and stares down Shingo, who was laying on the apron. Goto extends a hand, Shingo stands up and slightly condescendingly applauds him before accepting the handshake and leaving.
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Goto promo, after the crowd chants his name: The Goto Revolution is all about the will of a veteran. And the factionless Shingo Takagi has proven that’s he’s a veteran that would be more than welcome in the Revolutionary Army. And a man like that is sure to find a fine wife, eventually. (The camera cuts to Shingo who has a funny look on his face.) It’s all on Shingo to make his own fate. And Goto will continue to make the fate of NJPW. The Goto Revolution will keep going forever and he wants us to be with him to the very end. The G in IWGP stands for Goto.
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In his Backstage Comments, Goto names Zack as his next challenger and has a YL go fetch him. During their conversation it seems like this will possibly be before the G1, as Goto wants to finish his business before the tourney starts. ETA: Tokyo Sports says this will happen at TANAHASHI JAM on the 29th, which unfortunately…
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Chris Charlton also confirms my suspicion that TANAHASHI JAM will not be broadcast live for anyone outside Japan, as it is a TV Asahi network TV broadcast exclusive. There will eventually be a VOD on World.
———
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by EffingKENTA