In pro-wrestling you usually have to pin or submit someone to win a championship. That wasn’t the case though at night three of NJPW’s The Road to Castle Attack. It seems that Hiromu Takahashi is so impressed with the upcoming challenger to his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, El Phantasmo, that he created a special title belt for him.
Hiromu was wearing the shirt El Phantasmo gifted him last night as he arrived with his Los Ingobernables de Japón pals Bushi and Sanada for their match against Bullet Club’s Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo and Yujiro Takahashi. In his hands Hiromu also has a cardboard cut-out of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship belt that he decorated himself. He brought it to the ring and presented it to a confused Phantasmo. By rolling around on the mat and mocking Phantasmo’s entrance Hiromu brought down the wrath of Bullet Club as they all had enough of his shenanigans and disrespect. They attack LIJ.
Sanada tags in and puts all of the Bullet Club members into Paradise Locks leaving them twisted up on the mat. LIJ hit simultaneous drop kicks to free them after they have suffered enough humiliation.
Paradise Locks for everyone. Courtesy: NJPW.
Bullet Club get their revenge by cutting Sanada off from his partners though for most of the match. Each takes a turn raking his back with their fingernails and punishing him. Hiromu has a plan. He throws Sanada the El Phantasmo shirt so he can put it on and protect himself from the fingernail onslaught. Try as he might, Phantasmo’s atomic nails cannot penetrate the shirt. He pinches Sanada’s nipples instead then rips the shirt off. Ishimori’s Paradise Lock attempt on Sanada fails. He just rolls out of it.
El Phantasmo kicks all three member of LIJ in the stomach with his suspect super kick Sudden Death giving Yujiro time to put Bushi away with the Pimp Juice DDT. Hiromu continues to roll around on the mat holding his gut long after the bell has rang.
“Thanks for the present. It is very nice,” says Phantasmo holding the cardboard championship and kissing it. He puts it over his shoulder as he walks to the back. Hiromu stumbles and staggers to the dressing room still clutching his stomach.
Road to Castle Attack Night Three Results
NJPW fans take in the show. Courtesy: NJPW.
Yota Tsuji, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroshi Tanahashi versus The United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay and Great-O-Khan)
Jeff Cobb sports the black, green and yellow colours of the Empire tonight. As The Ace poses for the crowd in a corner he notices Khan trying to sneak up on him. Tanahashi leaps off the ropes onto Khan. The Ace and Khan get into a slugfest. Khan targets Tanahashi’s knee, as most of his foes seem to do these days. It is perhaps why his matches aren’t as decent as the once were with the same story playing out too often. The Ace absorbs a lot of damage before making a hot-tag to Kojima. A clothesline and Tour of the Islands from Cobb pins Tsuji. Khan stares down at The Ace. He challenges Tanahashi for the Never Openweight Championship on night two of Castle Attack on February 28th.
Winners: The United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay and Great-O-Khan)
Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Sanada and Hiromu Takahashi) versus Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo and Yujiro Takahashi)
Winners: Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo and Yujiro Takahashi)
Chaos (Sho, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishi) versus Bullet Club (Jay White, Gedo and Chase Owens)
Ishii puts Gedo away with his brainbuster finisher while Jay White looks on helplessly from the floor. Ishii stands on Gedo and won’t let him leave the ring or receive any kind of medical assistance. White pushes a Young Lion into the ring demanding he free Gedo. Ishii just swats him away. Ishii takes Gedo’s Switchblade jacket and chokes him out with it. White finally pulls Gedo to safety. “You okay with that referee? It is okay to let that happen?” yells White as he helps Gedo to the back.
Winners: Chaos (Sho, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishi)
Yuji Nagata and Kota Ibushi versus Los Ingobernables de Japón (Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito)
Naito helps Ibushi out with his knee. Courtesy: NJPW.
Takagi gets the pinfall for LIJ on Nagata. Ibushi is having issues with his knee after Naito and Takagi targeted it the entire match. Naito comes over to show the Young Lions how to properly apply an ice pack to it. Naito shoves them away and wails on the knee some more. Naito laughs it up in the ring as he rolls around on the mat holding his knee, asking Takagi to put an ice pack on it. Ibushi clenches his fists in anger as he limps to the locker room. Naito starts limping too demanding Takagi assist him but has to settle for the ring announcer instead.
Winners: Los Ingobernables de Japón (Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito)
Chaos (Yoshi-Hashi, Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada) versus Bullet Club (Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga and Evil)
Yoshi-Hashi fends off both Jado and Togo but suffers an Ape S–t from Loa.
Winners: Bullet Club (Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga and Evil)
