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KENTA, YOSHI-HASHI, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bullet Club (Guerillas of Destiny (Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga) and Bad Luck Fale)
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I've been waiting for GoD to fight during the exhibitions for the entire tournament. I have a strong bias I'll try to set aside for the sake of fair reporting! They, Fale, and the master of the cheating Kendo Stick Jado headed to the ring. KENTA started the G1 strong right out of the gate, but his last few matches were a disappointment for him. The Pitbull Ishii came ready to finish Bullet Club, and the Headhunter YH had the same energy.
Tonga and Loa were the freshest men in this fight, as neither member of GoD wanted or had a place in the G1. Fale and YH started, YH's speed overcame Fale's big-man bulk and he avoided a strong strike, tricking Fale into running into his Bullet Club brother Tonga. Tonga and Loa took quick turns at YH before Fale threw his body at YH in an elbow drop. He tagged Loa in and they stood together on YH's aching body. Tonga's pose completed a picture of dominance.
Thank goodness he was as silly as he was strong! Tonga was so much fun, and when he tagged Loa in, YH found his way to Ishii. Fale slammed Ishii for Loa, who kept Ishii in the center of the mat with a running powerbomb. Tonga tagged in to give tandem stomach jabs and a bodyslam. KENTA didn't give Ishii the tag he needed...would KENTA join Finn Balor's Bullet Club legacy? Not yet!
Ishii used the surprise of KENTA's refusal to tag in to suplex Fale. KENTA entered the ring and hit his finisher, Go To Sleep, on his teammate Ishii, letting Tonga push Ishii down for the count.
Surprise, my good friends Shibata, KENTA's old friend, came down and kicked the faces off of Bullet Club and the traitorous KENTA. Jado's kendo stick put Shibata in place for KENTA to turn the tide. He sat on KENTA's chest and Bullet Club surrounded him
This match was KENTA's initiation. Meet the newest member of Bullet Club! Is the surprise Too Sweet? Finn Balor, formerly Prince Devitt, the founder of Bullet Club, would surely be proud of the newly minted heel! Hit the comments with your opinion!
Results: CHAOS (Roppongi 3K (YOH and SHO) and Will Ospreay) def. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and Chase Owens) via pinfall
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. Suzuki-gun (Zach Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki)
ZSJ dipped into his submission specialty wheelhouse and began to chip at the Ace, Tahanashi with leg scissors that only ended once Tanahashi could reverse the hold momentarily. ZSJ was put into Tanahashi's headlock and went down after Tahanashi smacked him down. OKADA came in to double-team ZSJ but Suzuki pulled him out of the ring and wrapped his arms around the blue barricades. Red Shoes Unno refereed.
Tanahashi focused on striking ZSJ hard, but it didn't keep ZSJ from tagging in the overlord of one of the strongest stables in New Japan, Suzuki. Both men wrapped themselves around Tanahashi in fast submission holds, rolling Tanahashi into the center of the ring. Unno forced the split and Tanahashi fought on. ZSJ's momentum came back as he was tagged in, and he was whipped around by Tanahashi's dragon screw leg whip. Okada tagged in.
Okada was fresh for the fight, pushing Suzuki away to focus on delivering a DDT to ZSJ. ZSJ has been a sore loser and cocky winner. Okada pulled ZSJ into the air and ZSJ locked the Heavyweight Champion into a modified Black Widow hold. Suzuki was next, focusing his damage on Okada's dominant arm, and Tanahashi didn't do a great job of discouraging more brutality from Suzuki to Okada.
Okada struggled but completed a textbook neckbreaker to give them both room, and ZSJ and Tanahashi fought his way out of a full Black Widow. Tanahashi gave ZSJ a rough Twist-and-Shout move and a High Fly Flow, but ZSJ got his knees up and took the wind out of the Ace. He tried to pin the Ace, failed, and kicked him in the chest so hard he put himself on the mat too.
Suzuki was next for Okada, and Okada completed his elbow drop. He set up Suzuki for a Rainmaker finisher, but Suzuki fought his way out with the same determination Tanahashi powered out of ZSJ's holds earlier. Suzuki's stiff shots made him cocky but he followed his boasting up nicely. Tanahashi slammed himself into Suzuki to break a hold on Okada, leaving the ring immediately after to focus on ZSJ.
Okada threw Suzuki over his back, but after a slam and chokehold, Okada faded enough to fail against Suzuki's modified tombstone piledriver. The Rainmaker came up dry tonight.
Results: Suzuki-gun (Zach Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada via pinfall
The final bout remained, but who would stand tall at the Budokan?
