KORAKUEN HALL – It’s time for the NJPW World Cup. Tonight’s main event is the Stone Pitbull, Tomohiro Ishii vs. “Blue Justice” Yuji Nagata in a great throwback match between two guys who can take a ton of punishment and dish it right back.
Main Event
We’re told that Nagata said when he turned 50 he wanted to wrestle until he was 70. Given how well he looked in this match, he may very well do just that.
Blue Justice has won the Cup twice and made it to the Finals three times. Nagata has a 7-3 singles lead over Ishii, but Ishii has won the last three matches.
We start out slow with a tie-up and the two
Nagata decides to slap Ishii in the face rather than a clean break. That just angers the Pitbull and the two men trade strikes. Great back and forth.
We get a stare down and Ishii allows Nagata to hit a few forearms to the face before Ishii headbutts Nagata and we now have Ishii slapping the daylights out of Blue Justice’s chest. While not quite red, it doesn’t look good.
The two have a brief standoff before Ishii knocks Nagata down. We’re at the five-minute mark. Don Callis says it’s been a half-hour of violence so far. No arguments. Now we see the red chest of Nagata and Blue Justice hits a great overhead belly-to-belly suplex on Ishii.
The crowd seems split with a slight favor to Nagata. Ishii can’t get a suplex and he avoids an armbar by Nagata.
The two stand and trade forearms. And trade. And trade. This goes for at least 45 seconds. Ishii powerslams Nagata and both men are wobbly.
Ishii mocks Nagata with his kick stand and unloads a few kicks and slaps. Nagata’s chest is beet red now and the two men trade kicks and slaps. This seems like both men simply trying to prove a point as to who can take the most punishment.
A VERY stiff forearm drops Nagata. Nagata gets up and hits a twisting suplex and Ishii is now holding his neck. Nagata loads Ishii up for a Superplex or a Super Exploder. Ishii fights back with forearms. Ishii goes for a sunset bomb off the top turnbuckle, but Nagata holds on. He eats a Last Ride for his troubles.
Ishii lands a avalanche suplex but Nagata kicks out at two. Ishii removes his elbow brace and clocks Nagata. However, Nagata, who has a bloody mouth gets Ishii in the armbar and the eyes go back into his head.
Ishii looks motionless and the blood continues to trickle out of Nagata’s mouth. Ishii rolls over and falls into the rope to cause a break.
Now Nagata starts kicking Ishii’s chest and back. He hits a pump handle on Ishii’s arm and hits a Justice Knee. Ishii goes to the top turnbuckle and hits the Super Exploder. Ishii kicks out at two.
Nagata hits a brainbuster on Ishii but Ishii just kicks out. We’re at the 15-minute mark.
Ishii gets a German suplex, but Nagata gets right up and hits an Exploder. A few kicks and a clothesline knocks both men down to the mat.
After both men get vertical they start slapping each other in the face. REALLY HARD. This goes on for 30 seconds before Ishii switches to forearms but gets caught by one and goes down. However Nagata can’t capitalize and now measures Ishii.
Nagata goes for another kick but it’s caught by Ishii who headbutts Nagata down. Ishii removes his other protective elbow sleeve and hits a clothesline that Nagata kicks out at two.
Ishii goes for a vertical brainbuster that’s countered. Nagata hits a suplex that Ishii just kicks out of.
Nataga hits another suplex and a nasty kick but can’t put away Ishii. We’re at the 20-minute mark.
Nagata goes for another exploder that’s blocked. A few more kicks and Ishii is down. Blue Justice drops the elbow pad but is caught with a lariat. He kicks out at one.
More stiff kicks that Ishii counters with an Enziguri. Ishii goes for a PK forearm but can’t get the pin. Ishii starts yelling in frustration. He then loads up for a vertical brainbuster. He hits it, goes for the pin, and that’s all she wrote folks.
Winner by pinfall… Tomohiro Ishii
Other matches:
6-man: Rocky Romero, Mikey Nicholls, Will Ospreay vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, HIKULEO, Bad Luck Fale)
Bullet Club wins when Bone Soldier (Isimori) hits Romero with the Bloody Cross at 6:53.
6-man: Toru Yano, Toa Henare, Satoshi Kojima vs. Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki)
Suzuki-gun wins when Davey Boy hits Toa with the Bulldog Bomb at 8:11.
Tag team: LIJ (BUSHI, “King of Darkness” EVIL) vs. Suzuki-gun (TAKE Michinoku, Zack Zabre Jr.)
LIG gets the win when BUSHI hits the MX on TAKA at 5:08
6-man: SHO, Hirooki Goto, Kota Ibushi vs. LIJ (Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito)
LIJ gets the win when Takagi hits SHO with the Last of the Dragon at 10:25.
8-man: Dream Team (Hiroshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe, Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi) vs. Taguchi Japan (Ryuske Taguchi, Colt Cabana, Michael Elgin, Shota Umino)
Okada gets the win for his team after hitting a Rainmaker on Umino at 12:27.
New Japan Cup: Manabu Nakanishi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
YOSHI gets the win with the Butterfly Lock at 12:26.
New Japan Cup: Tomoaki Honma vs. Taichi
Taichi hits the Holy Emperor’s Crucifix Tomb at 17:54 for the win.
New Japan Cup: Juice Robinson vs. Chase Owens
Owens hits the Package Driver for the win at 24:36, the longest match of the night.