The House of Torture’s Sho and Douki, Bullet Club War Dogs’ Taiji Ishimori and Robbie X faced off in the finals of NJPW Super Junior Tag League. At stake was a Super Junior Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom.
House of Torture tried to jump start the match but Ishimori and X weren’t going to be played like that. All four men went to the floor. The official decides to ring the bell, start the match as they are brawling on the floor. Ooookay.
Ishimori whips Sho into the steel barricade. X does the same to Douki. X and Douki then fight into the crowd. Douki gets whipped into the fifth row. Ishimori rammed Sho into a ring post. Back in the ring, Ishimori and X double team Sho for a two count. Ishimori lights up Sho in a corner with chop after chop.
Douki trips up Ishimori from the floor. He and Sho pull Ishimori backwards into the steel ring post crotching him. They pick up X and crotch him too on the same post on top of Ishimori. They then push and pull The War Dogs into the post some more. Douki exacted his revenge by smashing X’s head into the announce table. Sho threw Ishimori into the fifth row on the floor.
Douki pitches Ishimori onto the floor, distracts the official so that Sho can hit him with a steel chair. They work over Ishimori for quite some time before he is able to tag in Robbie X. X kicks Douki right off the apron. He tells Sho to do something that is physically impossible and drop kicks him in the face. As Sho distracts the official Doukl nails Ishimori with a steel chair to the back. Douki locks Ishimori in his submission. Sho attempts to bring a chair into the ring taking the official’s attention away from Ishimori reaching the ropes to break the hold. X finally comes in to break things up.
X hits the X Express but Sho pulls the official out of the ring. Sho enters the ring with his wrench. X bounces off the ropes. Sho hits him in the back of the head with the wrench. Ishimori clobbers Sho with a running knee smash. Douki takes a swing at Ishimori with the championship belt. Ishimori ducks, gives him a sleeper slam and a Bone Lock. As Ishimori whips Douki off the ropes Douki knocks over the official. Douki is the victim of a pop-up mule kick to the “lower abdomen”.
Douki throws Ishimori into the official. The official goes down. Douki spits red mist into Ishimori’s face. A low blow and a handful of tights pins Ishimori.
Two other big matches on the card were Yota Tsuji putting the IWGP Global Championship on the line against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Konosuke Takeshita defending his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against former champ Hirooki Goto.
In their match, The Ace had Tsuji in a crushing headlock and it took forever for Tsuji to break the hold. When Tsuji got the upper hand giving shoulder tackles to The Ace in a corner. A Boston Crab softened The Ace up for a slam and a flying splash off the ropes for a two count. The Ace and Tsuji traded forearms in the middle of the ring. The Ace won that battle. Tsuji had to kick out of a senton by The Ace.
Tsuji caught The Ace on the top rope for a Superplex. The Ace kicked out at two. Tsuji put on his third Boston Crab of the match working on Tanahashi’s back and legs. With The Ace not tapping out Tsuji finally suplexed him over. Tsuji went to finish off The Ace with a spear but Tanahashi drop kicked him in the knee. Tsuji leapt off the top rope. The Ace moved out of the way. Tsuji collided with the mat. Nobody home.
The Ace goes to his trusted playbook for a series of High Fly Flows but Tsuji puts his knees up for the last one blocking the sure fire victory. Tsuji speared The Ace right out of his boots pinning him
In the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match, Goto was looking for redemption after suffering an elbow injury and dropping the title to Zack Sabre Jr. at Tanahashi Jam on June 29th. Both men tested each other’s strength with forearm flurries and shoulder tackles off the ropes. The champ headed to the floor after one knocked the air out of him.
Takeshita baited Goto on the floor. When Goto followed him, Takeshita slid back in the ring. Both men fought on the apron until Takeshita DDTed Goto onto it and then slammed him to the arena floor with a hanging DDT. Takeshita threw him into a barricade then kicked him over it with a running boot.
Back in the ring it was no better for Goto. Takeshita hammered at him with elbow after elbow and knee after knee to the face. Takeshita dared Goto to get back to his feet. Seeing the bandage on Goto’s arm, Takeshita bulldogged it onto the mat twice and wrapped it in a hammer lock of sorts.
Goto gained some momentum with a clothesline off the ropes and a spinning back kick in a corner. Goto stood stunned on the apron after a nasty suplex. Takeshita booted him off of it. He splashed Goto on the floor.
Goto would hit the GTR but he didn’t have the energy or the presence of mind to cover him. A running knee strike would score Takeshita a two count. Goto just wouldn’t give up. He kicked out of Death Rider too. Takeshita though would kick out of a Shouten Kai minutes later. A punch and a knee to the face followed up by a Raging Fire pinned Goto.
After the match, Takeshita said he looks forward to defending the belt at the Tokyo Dome but wanted to know who had the balls to step up to him, to face him at Wrestle Kingdom? Yota Tsuji came down to the ring taking him up on his offer. Takeshita dared Tsuji to put up his title on the line too and make the match title for title. Tsuji agreed.
The House of Torture (Sho and Douki) versus Bullet Club War Dogs (Taiji Ishimori and Robbie X) – NJPW Super Junior Tag League Finals
Winners: Sho and Douki
Yota Tsuji (c) versus Hiroshi Tanahashi – IWGP Global Championship
Winner: Yota Tsuji
Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Hirooki Goto – IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match
Winner: Konosuke Takeshita
