NJPW Road To Power Struggle 2017: Super Jr. Tag Tournament, Day 2
Posted: Oct 30th, '17, 10:13
NJPW Road To Power Struggle 2017: Super Jr. Tag Tournament Day 2
October 29, 2017
Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga) vs Juice Robinson & David Finlay - 5/10
Ok opener, good action by all four men. you would imagine they were building something between Yujiro and Finlay with how much they got to work together this match. Finish was Juice hitting Pulp Friction on Tonga. It's incredible how fast Tonga is improving in the last weeks.
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano) vs Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka) - 4/10
Suzuki once again came out with the Bull Rope, so is it official that Yano vs Suzuki at PS is a Bull Rope Match? HOLY SHIT, an actual DQ!? This was virtually the same match they've been having for a while with Suzuki killing Yano for a long while while Yano tries to do his cheats. Even Iizuka kicked Yano's ass for a while until Goto got the hot tag and the match got decent. Finish came when Suzuki attacked Yano with the rope after the ref had taken enough punishment. I really want to watch the final battle between Yano and Suzuki, but I am SO done with this feud. I will say there was a part in the match where Yano and Suzuki rushed at each other that it got me excited for a pissed off serious Yano, the spot obviously lasted about 5 seconds.
Post-match - Suzuki tries to tie Yano in the rope, but Yano flees away and leaves his end of the rope tied to Kitamura, who is murdered by Suzuki.
CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Beretta, & Will Ospreay) vs Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, & Chase Owens) - 5.5/10
Ospreay and Scurll got their separate entrances for this match since they're here building their match. It was an ok match, the usual Bullet Club 'night off' comedy from Omega and Scurll. Bullet Club had heat on YOSHI for a while until Ospreay came in with the hot tag and kicked ass, and later on Beretta came in with another smaller hot tag. At the end everyone hit their spots, including an impressive DVD look alike from Owens. Beretta pinned Chase Owens with the Dudebuster.
Post-match - After the match, Beretta made a challenge to Kenny Omega for the title at Power Struggle! Beretta cheap shots Kenny and takes the title. Kenny accepts, that show just got better! Omega vs Beretta is a sleeper!
Kota Ibushi, Dragon Lee, & Titan vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, & Hirai Kawato - 8.5/10
What is this!? A new version of the Sky Team!? And talking about CMLL stables, I can't fucking wait for Kawato to go to Mexico, he's gonna be fucking awesome mixing it up over there, dude IS the number 1 contender for Rookie of the Year, I can't think of any other that is as great as him, and I'm totally aware of guys like Lars Sullivan, Oka, or Kitamura.
Match first saw KUSHIDA mix it with Titan, Kawato with Dragon Lee, and we finally got Ibushi and Tana go at it in an awesome exchange, and the all hell broke loose and the match was Awesome, with a capital A! Tons of spots, Kawato was freaking awesome. Some of the best spots was a sick looking Figure 4 Lock from Titan on Kawato, a awesome Tope from Dragon Lee on KUSHIDA, and the finish with Titan dropping Kawato with a Mistica DDT thing and a Stretch Muffler looking pin. Go watch this match and tell me I wasn't hallucinating.
Post-match - Tana and Ibushi got face to face once again, tons of sexual tension.
Switchblade Vignette - He is coming, likely debuting on Sunday. I really really hope he doesn't join LIJ, I like LIJ as a 5 man group.
Los Ingobernables de Japon vs CHAOS - 8/10
It's the whole LIJ vs Okada, Sho, Yoh, Ishii, & Rocky Romero, who I thought was taking time off from the ring, so I'm glad he's back inside the ropes. It's impressive how in just a couple of exchanges, RPG3K and Hiromu/BUSHI were able to to build enough heat for their upcoming match in the semifinals.
Match started with the whole RPG vs LIJ build for the Jr tournament, as LIJ had the heat on Sho for the longest time; later on Okada got the hot tag and they built Okada vs Naito for a while until the end when Rocky Romero took the tag, fought SANADA off for a while until he was destroyed by Hiromu and BUSHI, and soon after, tapping out to the Skull End. I feel that Romero losing to either Hiromu or BUSHI would had been more productive to build the Jr match. This match was pretty awesome.
I got the feeling that they're building Ishii vs EVIL/SANADA, but with LIJ holding the trios titles, chances are they'll just be added to the WK clusterfuck match anyway.
Post-match - BUSHI cut a promo on RPG3K. That match was gonna be great.
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round Match
Tiger Mask & Jyushin 'Thunder' Liger vs Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) - 8.5/10
Kanemaru and Desperado jumped the legends right out of the curtain and they started brawling around the crowd. This match was super heated, I can't remember the last time I saw Tiger Mask and Liger so pissed off, at one point it seemed like Desperado was the babyface in peril by how much punishment he was taking from Tiger Mask. Both teams were ripping on each other's masks (and Kanemaru's face); Liger's mask had the whole mouth piece section ripped off so that it looked like the old half mask he would wear, Desperado's mask had the whole left eye ripped, such that his long hair came out from the hole; and lastly, Tiger's was mostly untied, but not exactly ripped. Suzuki-Gun also worked Tiger's leg with chairs while they were brawling on the outside.
So, during the match, both Liger and Tiger Mask had the heat on them by Suzuki-Gun, but the match was back and forward for the most part, there was little 'wrestling' and mostly fighting by both teams, enough that at the end you didn't feel like Suzuki-Gun had stole the match since they really brought the fight as much as Tiger and Liger. Finish saw Kanemaru spit whisky on Liger and Desperado hit him with the bottle for a near fall, but it was the opening for Desperado to hit La Guitarra for the win. Hell of a match, not for the wrestling, but for the chaos.
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round Match
Suzuki-Gun (Taichi & Taka Michinoku) vs SUPER69 (Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH) - 7/10
Soooo, early in the match, Taichi ripped Taguchi's tights off, he wrestled the match with a huge whole in his butt, the crowd went crazy for that. They did tons of comedy and cheating at the start of the match, all leading to that pants rip and Taguchi becoming the babyface in peril, but once ACH got the hot tag, the match got more action packed. Suzuki-Gun still got some cheats here and there, but it was more wrestling, more submissions from Taka and Taguchi. The last third of the match was really action packed, but not devoid from shenanigans from both teams that would kinda kill momentum. I understand wanting to end the show with a babyface win, but the Legends vs Suzuki-Gun match was soo much better than this.
Post-match - Taguchi cuts a promo introducing the new team name. ACH took the mic and couldn't think of a thing to say other than thanks and super.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
A really disappointing main event, but the three matches leading to it made the show worth watching. We're done with the first round, we get Super69 vs Kanemaru/Desperado and RPG3K vs LIJ tomorrow to determine the finals.
October 29, 2017
Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga) vs Juice Robinson & David Finlay - 5/10
Ok opener, good action by all four men. you would imagine they were building something between Yujiro and Finlay with how much they got to work together this match. Finish was Juice hitting Pulp Friction on Tonga. It's incredible how fast Tonga is improving in the last weeks.
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano) vs Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka) - 4/10
Suzuki once again came out with the Bull Rope, so is it official that Yano vs Suzuki at PS is a Bull Rope Match? HOLY SHIT, an actual DQ!? This was virtually the same match they've been having for a while with Suzuki killing Yano for a long while while Yano tries to do his cheats. Even Iizuka kicked Yano's ass for a while until Goto got the hot tag and the match got decent. Finish came when Suzuki attacked Yano with the rope after the ref had taken enough punishment. I really want to watch the final battle between Yano and Suzuki, but I am SO done with this feud. I will say there was a part in the match where Yano and Suzuki rushed at each other that it got me excited for a pissed off serious Yano, the spot obviously lasted about 5 seconds.
Post-match - Suzuki tries to tie Yano in the rope, but Yano flees away and leaves his end of the rope tied to Kitamura, who is murdered by Suzuki.
CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Beretta, & Will Ospreay) vs Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, & Chase Owens) - 5.5/10
Ospreay and Scurll got their separate entrances for this match since they're here building their match. It was an ok match, the usual Bullet Club 'night off' comedy from Omega and Scurll. Bullet Club had heat on YOSHI for a while until Ospreay came in with the hot tag and kicked ass, and later on Beretta came in with another smaller hot tag. At the end everyone hit their spots, including an impressive DVD look alike from Owens. Beretta pinned Chase Owens with the Dudebuster.
Post-match - After the match, Beretta made a challenge to Kenny Omega for the title at Power Struggle! Beretta cheap shots Kenny and takes the title. Kenny accepts, that show just got better! Omega vs Beretta is a sleeper!
Kota Ibushi, Dragon Lee, & Titan vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, & Hirai Kawato - 8.5/10
What is this!? A new version of the Sky Team!? And talking about CMLL stables, I can't fucking wait for Kawato to go to Mexico, he's gonna be fucking awesome mixing it up over there, dude IS the number 1 contender for Rookie of the Year, I can't think of any other that is as great as him, and I'm totally aware of guys like Lars Sullivan, Oka, or Kitamura.
Match first saw KUSHIDA mix it with Titan, Kawato with Dragon Lee, and we finally got Ibushi and Tana go at it in an awesome exchange, and the all hell broke loose and the match was Awesome, with a capital A! Tons of spots, Kawato was freaking awesome. Some of the best spots was a sick looking Figure 4 Lock from Titan on Kawato, a awesome Tope from Dragon Lee on KUSHIDA, and the finish with Titan dropping Kawato with a Mistica DDT thing and a Stretch Muffler looking pin. Go watch this match and tell me I wasn't hallucinating.
Post-match - Tana and Ibushi got face to face once again, tons of sexual tension.
Switchblade Vignette - He is coming, likely debuting on Sunday. I really really hope he doesn't join LIJ, I like LIJ as a 5 man group.
Los Ingobernables de Japon vs CHAOS - 8/10
It's the whole LIJ vs Okada, Sho, Yoh, Ishii, & Rocky Romero, who I thought was taking time off from the ring, so I'm glad he's back inside the ropes. It's impressive how in just a couple of exchanges, RPG3K and Hiromu/BUSHI were able to to build enough heat for their upcoming match in the semifinals.
Match started with the whole RPG vs LIJ build for the Jr tournament, as LIJ had the heat on Sho for the longest time; later on Okada got the hot tag and they built Okada vs Naito for a while until the end when Rocky Romero took the tag, fought SANADA off for a while until he was destroyed by Hiromu and BUSHI, and soon after, tapping out to the Skull End. I feel that Romero losing to either Hiromu or BUSHI would had been more productive to build the Jr match. This match was pretty awesome.
I got the feeling that they're building Ishii vs EVIL/SANADA, but with LIJ holding the trios titles, chances are they'll just be added to the WK clusterfuck match anyway.
Post-match - BUSHI cut a promo on RPG3K. That match was gonna be great.
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round Match
Tiger Mask & Jyushin 'Thunder' Liger vs Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) - 8.5/10
Kanemaru and Desperado jumped the legends right out of the curtain and they started brawling around the crowd. This match was super heated, I can't remember the last time I saw Tiger Mask and Liger so pissed off, at one point it seemed like Desperado was the babyface in peril by how much punishment he was taking from Tiger Mask. Both teams were ripping on each other's masks (and Kanemaru's face); Liger's mask had the whole mouth piece section ripped off so that it looked like the old half mask he would wear, Desperado's mask had the whole left eye ripped, such that his long hair came out from the hole; and lastly, Tiger's was mostly untied, but not exactly ripped. Suzuki-Gun also worked Tiger's leg with chairs while they were brawling on the outside.
So, during the match, both Liger and Tiger Mask had the heat on them by Suzuki-Gun, but the match was back and forward for the most part, there was little 'wrestling' and mostly fighting by both teams, enough that at the end you didn't feel like Suzuki-Gun had stole the match since they really brought the fight as much as Tiger and Liger. Finish saw Kanemaru spit whisky on Liger and Desperado hit him with the bottle for a near fall, but it was the opening for Desperado to hit La Guitarra for the win. Hell of a match, not for the wrestling, but for the chaos.
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round Match
Suzuki-Gun (Taichi & Taka Michinoku) vs SUPER69 (Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH) - 7/10
Soooo, early in the match, Taichi ripped Taguchi's tights off, he wrestled the match with a huge whole in his butt, the crowd went crazy for that. They did tons of comedy and cheating at the start of the match, all leading to that pants rip and Taguchi becoming the babyface in peril, but once ACH got the hot tag, the match got more action packed. Suzuki-Gun still got some cheats here and there, but it was more wrestling, more submissions from Taka and Taguchi. The last third of the match was really action packed, but not devoid from shenanigans from both teams that would kinda kill momentum. I understand wanting to end the show with a babyface win, but the Legends vs Suzuki-Gun match was soo much better than this.
Post-match - Taguchi cuts a promo introducing the new team name. ACH took the mic and couldn't think of a thing to say other than thanks and super.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
A really disappointing main event, but the three matches leading to it made the show worth watching. We're done with the first round, we get Super69 vs Kanemaru/Desperado and RPG3K vs LIJ tomorrow to determine the finals.