NEVER 6-Man Tournament Heats Up Summer Struggle
New Japan Pro Wrestling continued their Summer Struggle tour on Thursday & Friday. The tour will conclude at Jingu Stadium on August 29th, but the stretch from August 6th until August 9th will focus on crowning new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champions, after EVIL abandoned his fellow champions to join Bullet Club. The first round saw former champs BUSHI & Shingo Takagi bring SANADA along to regain the belts they never lost. They toppled Suzuki-gun in the main event of Thursday’s show.
The biggest drama of the young tournament has been Kota Ibushi’s wavering faith in his tag team partner, and own personal God, Hiroshi Tanahashi. Since the pair lost the IWGP Tag Team Championships to Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi, Ibushi’s faith has fractured incrimentally with each loss they have endured. Thursday’s undercard saw Taichi & Sabre tease Ibushi with the idea of betraying The Ace and buddying up with them. Friday night Ibushi gave them their answer.
Poised to deliver Kamigoye (literally “Surpassing God”) on Tanahashi, Ibushi suckered Taichi & Sabre into a trap. Unleashing a flurry of offense, Ibushi and Tanahashi repaired their broken bond, got the win, advanced in the tournament, and possibly earned a rematch against Taichi & Sabre somewhere down the line.
The weekend also saw Kazuchika Okada tease Yujiro Takahashi with the idea of a 3-on-1 handicap match, plus YOSHI-HASHI picked up a huge win on the road to what could be his first title in professional wrestling. Both shows are available on NJPWWorld.com.
8/6
NJPW Summer Struggle Results
- Yuji Nagata def. Gabriel Kidd by submission via Nagata Lock II. (8:12)
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato def. Ryusuke Taguchi & Yota Tsuji by pinfall. (9:55)
Master Wato pinned Yota Tsuji via RPP. - CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima by pinfall. (9:13)
Hirooki Goto pinned Togi Makabe via Side Clutch Hold. - Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Yuya Uemura by pinfall. (9:27)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru pinned Yuya Uemura via Deep Impact.
After the match, Taichi & Sabre teased Ibushi with the possibility of attacking Tanahashi, but attacked Ibushi before he could make a decision. - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament First Round Match: CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO) def. Bullet Club (Gedo, Jado & Yujiro Takahashi) by submission. (12:03)
SHO submitted Jado via Double Wristlock.
After the match, Okada said he’d be willing to face Yujiro in a 3-on-1 Handicap match in KOPW 2020. - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament First Round Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi) def. Minoru Suzuki, Douki & El Desperado by submission (13:41)
SANADA submitted Douki via Skull End.
After the match, Suzuki challenged Takagi for the NEVER Title.
8/7
NJPW Summer Struggle Results
- Yuji Nagata submitted Yuya Uemura via Nagata Lock II. (8:05)
- Ten-Cozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) def. Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd by pinfall. (8:54)
Satoshi Kojima pinned Yota Tsuji via Lariat. - CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, SHO & Toru Yano) def. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & DOUKI) by submission. (9:17)
SHO submitted DOUKI via Cross Armbreaker. - Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi) def. Bullet Club (EVIL, Gedo, Jado & Dick Togo) by submission. (13:30)
SANADA submitted Gedo via Skull End. - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament First Round Match: CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi by submission. (11:53)
YOSHI-HASHI submitted Tomoaki Honma via Butterfly Lock. - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament First Round Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Master Wato def. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi) by pinfall. (16:53)
Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Taichi via Rollup.
Here are the announced matches for Saturday’s NJPW Summer Struggle show. It will air LIVE on NJPWWorld.com
8/8
NJPW Summer Struggle
5:30am ET
- NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament Semi-Final Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO)
- NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament Semi-Final Match: CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Master Wato
.@YOSHIHASHICHAOS 'Lariat'
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