Kizuna Road Day 2, Korakuen Hall 6/26 – Full show with Japanese Commentary
Shota Umino s. Tetsuhiro Yagi with a Boston Crab. A battle between the two newest Young Lions. Umino is the son of referee Red Shoes. Both guys very aggressive out of the gate with neither one gaining an advantage. Strikes, leglocks, and some good mat wrestling considering how green these guys are. Umino grounded Yagi with a Camel Clutch, but Yagi made it to the ropes. Yagi rallied with a dropkick and made his comeback before locking in a Boston Crab. Umino made it to the ropes to break the hold. Umino then locked in his own Boston Crab, and got the submission victory. Umino seemed to try to help Yagi back to his feet, but Yagi shoved him. So Umino gave him a shove back and left.
A backstage interviewer went into Suzuki-Gun’s locker room. Davey Boy Smith Jr. yelled at him to shut up. Suzuki chased him off, took the mic, and cut a brief promo.
Tomoyuki Oka d. Katsuya Kitamura in a 10 mniute time limit draw. These two guys do a pretty good hossfight when they face each other. I fully believe Kitamura has superstar potential. Dueling shoulderblocks to start off, with neither man budging. Kitamura got a near fall after winning a chopping contest. Oka grounded Kitamura and worked on his leg. Kitamura rallied with a spear, and controlled he next few minutes. Oka was mounting a comeback and hit a powerslam, but when he was covering the time limit expired. Oka kept trying to pin Kitamura and the two had to be separated after the match. More to come from there two.
The interviewer went into Yoshi-Hashi’s dressing doom and talked to him, presumably about the upcoming main event match against Suzuki.
Suzuki-Gun’s Taka Michinoku, Taichi, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, & Hirai Kawato when Kanemaru pinned Kawato with a diving DDT. Kawato insisted on starting the match, and held his own against all three heels. Liger tagged in and was in control until the heels took the fight to the outside. Taichi used the bell hammer on Liger. The heels too turns working over Liger until Tiger got the hot tag. Dive to the outside onto the heels by Tiger. Kawato tagged in and ran wild to the delight of the crowd. Several near falls on Kanemaru. Unfortunately for Kawato, Kanemaru countered with a lariat and his diving DDT to pick up the win
After the match the heels beat up the babyfaces because that’s what they do. Kanemaru spit his whiskey on the announcers. Tiger and Liger fired up and chased the villains to the back.
CHAOS’s Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, & Jado b. Hiroyoishi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, & Manabu Nakanishi when Yano pinned Nakanishi with a low blow. CHAOS may be thought of as babyfaces, but they all clearly worked heel in this match. Tenzan and Jado started out, but soon there was a double tag out to Kojima and Goto. Kojima landed his rapid fire chops, and went for his top rope elbow only for Jado to toss him off. The brawl spilled to the outsde where Jado and Yano worked over Kojima. Back in the ring, CHAOS took control for the heat on Kojima. Hot tag to Nagata, who fended off all comers. Nakanishi tagged in and fought Yano for some comedy.Triple submission spot where Nakanishi had Yano in the Rack, Nagata had Goto in the Crossface, and Tenzan had Jado in the Anaconda Vice. The cool visual was broken up by Ishii. Nagata held Yano for a lariat by Nakanishi, but Yano ducked, hit a low blow, and rolled up Nakanishi for the underhanded win.
Suzuki-Gun’s Davey Boy Smith Jr. & El Desperado b. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & Gedo of CHAOS when Desperado pinned Gedo with the Pinche Loco. The exact opposite of the last match, as Okada and Gedo were total babyfaces. Smith sucker punched and stomped a few of the Young Lions at ringside, and proceeded to attack Okada from behind. He even choked Okada out with Okada’s own jacket. Okada made a comeback and tagged in Gedo, who battled Desperado. The heels resorted to grabbing Gedo’s beard to get leverage in the match. Heat on Gedo with the heels working over his beard. Hot tag to Okada, who ran wild. Smith countered Okada witha Double Arm Suplex. Gedo tagged back in with Desperado. Near fall on Desperado after aa side kick. Okada dropkicked Smith out of the ring. Stretch Muffler by Desperado on Gedo was broken up by Okada. While Smith and Okada brawled outside the ring, Desperado hit Pinche Loco (Angels Wings) to get the win.
The heels stomped on Gedo as they left.
Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, & NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Champions SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI) b. Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Togi Makabe, & David Finlay) when Bushi submitted Finlay. Multi-man brawl right out of the gate. Naito and Takahashi double teamed Taguchi until he rallied with a dropkick and tagged in Finlay. All the faces used Hip Attacks on Naito. Yes, even Makabe. Eventually, LIJ regrouped and ganged up on Makabe. Hot tag to Tanahashi. Sanada tried tying up Tanahashi into a human knot, but Taguchi made the save. Juice tagged in and went toe with Sanada. Great exchanges between the two. Finlay tagged in and ran wiled on Takahashi and Bushi. Another multi-man brawl broke out with everybody hitting their big moves. Finlay hit a spear on Evil. Bushi it a dive to the outside. Evil locked in a submission on Finlay to get the submission
NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki p. YOSHI-HASHI with a Gotch Piledriver to retain the championship. In a rare move for CHAOS, Okada accompanied Hashi to the ring. Usually the only CHAOSmembers around are actually in the match. Suzuki came accompanied by Taichi, Taka Michinoku, and Desperado, so the heels still had the numbers advantage. This really had a big feel, with the heels trying to intimidate Hashi. Slow start with a lot of mat wrestling until Hashi fired up and started chopping. Suzuki knocked Hashi to the outside. The rest of Suzuki-Gun went to gang up on Hashi, but Okada stepped between them and gave them a Death Stare. Back in the ring, Suzuki stomped Hashi, but Hashi still got up and took the fight to him. Suzuki locked in a leglock and pulled Hashi to the outside. Referee Red Shoes tried to break up the hold, but Suuki got in his face. This allowed the rest of the heels to jump Okada. Suzuki delivered several chairshots to Hashi on the outside. This lead to a near countout as Hashi made it back to the ring at the count of 19. Suzuki proceeded to torture Hashi for several minutes with submission holds before getting in Okada’s face. Suzuki slapped Okada like he was daring Okada to hit him (which would of course cause a DQ). Meanwhile, the rest of the minions jumped Hashi again, which lead to another near countout. Hashi finally reversed a suplex and started his comeback. Suzuki cut him off and stayed on the offense, resorting to ground and pound tactics. Hashi reversed out of a Gotch Piledriver and put Suzuki in Karma. Taka distracted the ref so the heels could break up the submission. Suzuki shoved Hashi into Red Shoes and the heels stormed the ring again. This time, Okada cleaned house. Davey Boy Smith Jr. ran out and smacked around Okada. It looked like Smith was going to powerbomb Hashi until other CHAIOS members hit the ring to start the multi-man brawl. CHAOS chased the heels to the back, finally leaving Suzuki and Hashi in a true one on one situation. Hashi made another comeback with kicks and a Backstabber, then hit a top rope senton for a near fall. Hashi put Suzuki back in the Karma submission hold for several minutes, with Suzuki failing several times to make it to the ropes. After several minutes, Suzuki finally got his foot on the rope. Karma went for his pumphandle finisher, but Suzuki powered out, hit a dropkick, and started laying in the strikes. By this time, Hashi started looking like he was made of rubber. A Gotch Piledriver later, and the champion retained his title. GREAT MATCH! Easily the best thing of the show.
After the match, Suzuki kicked Red Shoes in the guy when Red Shoes presented him the title. The rest of Suzuki-Gun returned to the ring and Suzuki cut a promo about the G1.
With Smith’s interference on Okada, I can’t help but think we’ll see an Okada/Smith match down the road.
