Jonathan Gresham & Toa Henare b. Zack Sabre Jr. when Gresham submitted Michinoku with an Octopush Hold – Taka tried his usual pre-match hype promo, but this time Henare decked him with a shoulder tackle. Gresham did his troll tactics to get under Sabre’s skin. Taka tagged in and dared Gresham to hit him. When Gresham complied, he poked Gresham in the eye. Henare rallied, and set up Taka for a shooting star by Gresham. Sabre managed to break the pin, and got tossed to the outside for his troubles. With Henare keeping Sabre out of the way, Gresham was able to submit Taka with an Octopus Hold.
Marty Scurll s. Robbie Eagles with a Chickenwing – After getting booted by Bullet Club a few months back, Scurll formed his own stable, Villain Enterprises. Eagles is a recent edition to the current Bullet Club lineup. The match began with a lot of high action, including a lot of rollups and reversals. Eagles landed a top rope hurricanrana for a two count. Scurll went for his signature Fingerbreaker move, but Eagles managed to escape. Rather than try the fingerbreaker again, Scurrl simply locked him in a Chickenwing for the submission.
Colt Cabana & Toru Yano b. Delerious & Cheesburger when Cabana pinned Delerious with a roll up – As you would expect with who’s involved, this was a match played for comedy. Cheeseburger climbed the top rope and dove at Cabana. He missed Cabana by a wile and crashed to the canvas. There, he laid motionless and unresponsive. Everybody, including Yano, tried to wake him up. He got up at the count of nine and and started to mimic Yano’s persona. Yano tried to remove a turnbuckle, but again was confused at how to remove a standard turnbuckle. Cabana found a New Japan turnbuckle under the ring and tossed it to Yano, whi smacked both opponents with it. Delerious tried to get payback by low blowing Cabana from behind. Cabana managed to kick out. Delerious attemped a superplex, which Cabana reversed into a Chicago Skyline. Cabana followed that with a roll up and scored the pin.
Hirooki Goto & NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay of CHAOS b. Jeff Cobb & Dalton Castle when Ospreay pinned Cobb with a Stormbreaker – Conspicuous by their absence, no Boys accompanied Castle to the ring. Dalton also was not wearing a trademark robe. He came to the ring in a t-shirt. The CHAOS members worked well as a team, and managed to cut off Castle. Cobb rallied, and kicked out of everything thrown at him. He even caught Ospreay during an Oscutter attempt. Ospreay reversed a Tour Of The Islands, and amazingly managed to hit Cobb with the Stormbreaker for the pin.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi of Los Ingobernables De Japon b. Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia of The Kingdom – Naito got the better of Taven early on, until Taven pulled the ref in front of himself to stop Naito. Marseglia tossed Naito out of the ring while Taven mockingly made the Tranquilo pose. The two took turns beating on Naito. Takagi got the tag and rallied against both opponents. After getting cut off, Takagi dodged a top rope dive and tagged Naito back in. Takagi knocked Taven out of the ring, and kept him at bay while Naito hit a Destino on Marseglia for the win.
After the match, Naito tossed the referee to the floor and exchanged words with Taven.
ROH World Champion Jay Lethal p. TK O’Ryan with a Lethal Injection – Lethal attached O’Ryan to jumpstart the match, and got the shine for the first few minutes. O’Ryan broke the momentum with a baseball slide. Lethal fought out of a superplex attempt and landed a top rope elbow. O’Ryan broke a Figure Four but soon fell to a Lethal Injection.
After the match, Taven ambushed Lethal from behind. He stood over the fallen champion, and held the title belt saying “See you in Vegas” . Lethal is set to defend the ROH Title against Taven at the ROH Anniversary show.
The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) b. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions EVIL & SANADA when Tonga pinned Sanada after a Super Powerbomb to win the titles – Evil and Tama brawled right out of the gate. Sanada managed to get Loa in the Paradise Lock. Jado swung at Sanada with the cane, so Sanada hit a plancha on him in response. soon after, the match spilled to the outside where Jado was able to interfere again with his stick. Back in the ring, GODs had the advantage and double teamed Sanada. Evil rallied and knocked Loaa out of the ring. Tonga escaped a Magic Killer, but got caught in a Skull End. Sanada went for the kill with a moonsault, but Tonga rolled out of the way. Before Loa could interfere, Evil disposed of himm. However, Sanada got knocked into Red Shoes, allowing the GODs to regroup. Tonga decked Sanada with a Gun Stun, and Loa positioned him for a Super Powerbomb. Jado held Evil off as the GODs hit the Super Powerbomb and get the win. This makes them 5x IWGP Heayweight Tag Champions.
ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Bros. (Jay & Mark Briscoe) b. Lifeblood (IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson & David Finlay) when Mark pinned Finlay with a Frog Elbow – Apparently ROH likes the name “Lifeblood” over “Finjuice”, and I can’t say I blame them. Mark and Juice almost immediately started trading chops. Mark tossed Juice to the floor and landed an elbow from the apron. Back in the ring, the brothers worked over Juice. Finlay rallied until The Briscoes tossed him to the floor as well. Mark hit a corkscrew moonsault to the floor on both Juice and Finlay. After that, The Briscoes got the heat on Finlay until he made the hot tag to Juice. Jay countered with a Jay Driller and tagged Mark. This time, The Briscoes were the ones tossed to the floor. Mark managed to kick out of a Power & Glory move (as in the obscure 90s WWF team Power & Glory). The Briscoes then returned the favor and hit a similar move on Finlay, but only got a two count. Finlay dodged a Doomsday Device by Putting Mark in a Victory Roll. Mark kicked out, and followed up with a combination powerbomb with Juice. However, Finlay started favoring his shoulder. The Bricoes capitalized on this and Mark quickly struck with a top rope elbow and got the pin on Finlay. It was a pretty abrupt end, so I’m not sure if that was an audible called or not.
After the match, Jay took the mic and issued a challenged th The Guerrillas Of Destiny to a Title vs. Title match at MSG. Now THAT is an interesting matchup. The GODs made their way to the ring and accepted the challenge. All four men held their belts up and jawjacked with each other. Mark said something in the mic, but it sounded like it was in Japanese.
The next big tour for New Japan is The New Japan Cup, which will be part of a 13 show tour in March. 13 PPV length shows to cover next month. That will be a challenge to cover.
