NJPW 22/23 : A Return To Glory

It’s a hot Friday night in Nagano as we gear up for the penultimate night of action in the 2022 Summer Struggle tour, with a card boasting two title bouts with three championships up for grabs!

The show opened with two back-to-back tag team matches featuring members of United Empire; the first which saw the former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Francesco Akira and TJP pick up a much needed victory over the duo of Clark Connors and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, before the current reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions Jeff Cobb and The Great-O-Khan provided an exhibition in domination as they squashed the Young Lion team of Kosei Fujita and Yuto Nakashima. Both United Empire teams signalled to the cameras that their victories were a sign of things to come for “The Commonwealth Kingpin” in tonight’s main event.

From there we had our first title bout as Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru put their NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Championships on the line against the CHAOS representing Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi and Robbie Eagles. This was a pretty fierce contest with Yoshi-Hashi really throwing his all at their opponents, showing how desperate he is to clinch gold in NJPW once more. But tonight would not be CHAOS’ night as Tomohiro Ishii’s attempt at a Brainbuster on Kanemaru would be interrupted by a flying kick to the face from Suzuki who turned that momentum shift into a victory for his team, keeping the titles within the Suzuki-gun ranks for another go around.

The melodrama of David Finlay continued to unfold next as he once again proved he’s lost the ability to play nice and do things the right way - this time deciding to abandon the match altogether following a disagreement with Satoshi Kojima that left him and his partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan to fend for themselves against Bullet Club’s Hikuleo, Taiji Ishimori and the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White, who found the whole thing particularly hilarious. Kojima soon fell victim to the Blade Runner and gave up the win to Bullet Club.

Then in our final bout of the first half SANADA teamed with the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI to battle EVIL, SHO and YOH of House of Torture. Last night in Yamagata EVIL made it very clear that the newly rechristened Triple6K want a shot at the junior tag titles so this bout was all about them getting that all important pin over the champions. That being said, the personal animosity between former tag team partners EVIL and SANADA reared its ugly head once more and the two heavyweights clashed unceremoniously as the emotion surrounding EVIL’s betrayal of Los Ingobernables de Japon was wrenched to the forefront of their memories. In the end despite the champions best efforts it would be BUSHI who fell victim to Triple6K’s vicious double knee attack which SHO followed up with the Powerbreaker to score an important win. As their hands were raised House Of Torture locked eyes with LIJ as they backed away from the ringside area, making it clear this was far from over.

After a short break we were back for me action with a match that might be the most personal of the night. The excommunicated Bullet Club OG’s Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa battled against long time friends-turned-foes Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows in what unfolded into a hard-fought game of oneupmanship, with The Guerrillas Of Destiny out to prove why they should never have been considered deadweight and were the foundation of Bullet Club’s early and continued success. At multiple times they rang rings around The Good Brothers which only boosted the GOD’s confidence in the bout, and despite the active BC members trying their best to push back the vengeful duo in the end Tama Tonga would drive Gallows down neck first with the Gun Stun to secure a very cathartic victory. Following the bout Tama Tonga would get on the microphone to air some more grievances; he brought up Jay White’s post-show comments from last night about how the GOD should get over their excommunication and move on, and Tama admitted maybe he’s right but revenge isn’t a drive that’s easily shed and whether he likes it or not Tama knows he won’t sleep again unless he extracts the vengeance his bloodline requires. He told Anderson and Gallows that from this day on they will have to dance with the truth that the GOD are the best team in Bullet Club history, and as for Jay White - Tama made it very clear he was next on the hit list and maybe, just maybe, he’ll take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship too.

This was followed by more Bullet Club action, this time pitting the team of Juice Robinson and El Phantasmo against the heavyweight-junior super team of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA. Having already scored a win over Juice earlier in the tour Tanahashi was set on not letting the former IWGP United States Champion get his own back and the two teams kept things very fast and competitive, with the heavyweights almost being forced to match the pace of KUSHIDA and ELP. In the end Tanahashi looked to repeat history and finish Juice with the High Fly Flow with everything looking square for the finish, when all of a sudden Tanahashi was blasted off the top rope by David Finlay which sent “The Ace” crashing neck first onto the rope. Stunned at the opportunity presented, Juice would jump up and nail Tanahashi with the Pulp Friction to give him a huge victory. David Finlay didn’t stick around, instead choosing to watch the aftermath of Tanahashi coming to the realization from afar with a sick grin across his face.

In the semi-final bout of the night we had our final blockbuster tag team match pitting Los Ingobernables de Japon’s Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi against top CHAOS heavyweights Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada, just one night away from “The Dragon” challenging “The Rainmaker” for his Right To Challenge briefcase. This would be their first meeting on the tour and after beating Okada in the G1 Takagi was dead set on making an impression. These four top heavyweights threw everything they had at the wall to see what stuck, with Naito often selflessly giving up pin opportunities to his partner who he clearly understood needed the momentum tonight. As the match culminated Takagi and Okada had both scored many near falls on the other but in the end it was “The Dragon” who chose to wrap up the bout following a Made In Japan to Goto instead, ending the match on his terms and proving to Okada he can beat his best man on any given night.

Then in our Nagano main event we witnessed an intense technical masterclass between two men who know each other inside and out as Zack Sabre Jr. battled Will Ospreay in a Two-Round bout for both Ospreay’s IWGP United States & RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championships. Layers of their personalities and insecurities were uncovered as the match went on, with Ospreay’s “Kingpin” persona almost fading as he failed to put his former mentor away, making him feel like the 19-year old rookie from Essex who had to fight and claw for respect on the UK independent scene whilst ZSJ owned all the glory and praise. Sabre fed off this resentment, knowing Ospreay’s frustration would be his downfall and after 22 minutes the Suzuki-gun heavyweight would finally score the first fall after reversing Ospreay’s Storm Breaker into a whacky roll up to earn him the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship.

Fuming beyond compare, Ospreay would go into a frenzy and began to brutalise Zack, shedding the insecurities that bubbled up to reveal the dastardly of “The Commonwealth Kingpin”, but the frustration didn’t disappear and it almost cost him the bout again. This time though the United Empire clearly had a contingency plan when ZSJ’s attention was stolen by Jeff Cobb and The Great-O-Khan who walked out onto the stage dragging a broken and maybe unconscious Taichi. Clearly agitated by the scene, ZSJ’s lapse in judgement would cost him dearly as with his back turned Ospreay would launch a surprise Hidden Blade which took Sabre out of the game completely, allowing Ospreay to get the second fall and keep his grubby mits on the IWGP United States Championship.

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Minoru Suzuki would dart to the ring to check on their stablemate which caused Ospreay to leave the ring quickly with his title, choosing to join his teammates on the stage where he threw a few boots hard into Taichi’s rib cage. This forced Suzuki to jump from the ring and confront them, and although the trio didn’t balk, they certainly didn’t stick around and strutted off laughing like schoolyard bullies as the show came to a close.

As briefly mentioned during last night’s broadcast, NJPW1972.com can confirm that the stars of New Japan will return for two massive nights of Destruction landing in Sapporo on 1/9 before moving on to Kobe on 4/9. Although no matches have been announced yet, we can be certain that we’ll hear our first updates on the shows’ cards following the culmination of the Summer Struggle tour.

Speaking of Summer Struggle, tempers flared following last night’s event in Nagano after an explosive evening of turmoil. We heard comments from many of the competitors and it seemed nobody walked away very happy.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima were particularly irate following the desertion of David Finlay during their six-man tag against Bullet Club…


TenKozy weren’t the only ones fuming with David Finlay, as we caught up with Hiroshi Tanahashi following his loss to Bullet Club that Finlay caused…


Zack Sabre Jr. and Suzuki-gun were steaming mad over how their night ended and had lots to say…


We caught up with Kazuchika Okada and his partner Hirooki Goto after their loss to LIJ too…


It was at this moment that Shingo Takagi would arrive and the two men squared off, pumping out some serious heat. CHAOS tried to split them apart whilst LIJ almost goaded on the commotion, but luckily they didn’t come to blows and chose to save it for tomorrow night in Tokyo.

The nine-night stretch of Summer Struggle finally culminates tonight back where it all began in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo for arguably the biggest night of the tour. Two championships will be decided tonight including NJPW’s top prize, but Kazuchika Okada will defend his Wrestle Kingdom briefcase for the second time.

We opened with a quick tag bout that saw Bullet Club’s Hikuleo and Chase Owens score a win over the Young Lion duo of Kosei Fujita and Yuto Nakashima, which was followed by a second tag match between the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi and their opponents Clark Connors and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. The champions would score a win after Lawlor ducked out of harm's way and pushed Connors into a Green Mist from BUSHI, essentially sacrificing his partner. After the match whilst Connors tried to get his bearing’s and clear his eyes Lawlor would confirm the double-cross by locking in the Bararm Sleeper, forcing the timekeeper to ring the bell like a crazy person until he finally relinquished the hold. Tom strutted to the back seeming very happy with himself so hopefully we’ll find out what that was all about in due course.

After being dealt a loss last night thanks to David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi looked to get back on track in eight-man tag action as he joined up with KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato to take on Bullet Club’s Juice Robinson, KENTA, El Phantasmo and Juice Robinson. “The Ace” really put in the work tonight, almost like he was sending a message to “The Rebel” and despite everybody else gunning for the win too, it was Tanahashi who’d finish ELP with a High Fly Flow to secure the bag for the New Japan home team.

From there we moved onto the last match of the first half which put House Of Torture’s EVIL, SHO and YOH against Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa; their last minute replacement for David Finlay after they cut ties with him following his actions last night. Oiwa looked to make the most of his opportunity and showed flashes of real intensity as he fought alongside the two tenured veterans but as we’ve seen all tour, the House Of Torture are currently firing on all cylinders since the addition of YOH and the troupe of villains soon tied up the match after EVIL nailed Oiwa with the STO to score the win.

After the match was over EVIL and his gang surrounded Ryohei Oiwa and it looked like they might beat him down but instead EVIL offered a fist. Oiwa didn’t instantly respond, instead looking confused as hell as he tried to shake off the STO but before he could decide he was stopped by Tenzan and Kojima who jumped in the circle and tried to talk him out of it. At that moment the circle opened and Tenzan was struck in the back of the head by a cane wielded by none other than David Finlay, and the attack soon turned into a massive six on three mauling as Yujiro Takahashi and Dick Togo joined in to inflict maximum damage. Hiroshi Tanahashi would storm down to the ring to try and even the field a little but after a fight he soon fell to the numbers too, and ended up in the arms of EVIL and Yujiro who held “The Ace” wide open. Grinning ear to ear, David Finlay looked like he’d found his people and with Tanahashi open for a free shot he took his cane and drove it right into his skull, taking him straight down to the mat with a thud.

As “The Ace” laid on the mat dazed and confused he looked up to witness EVIL hold out a fist to David Finlay who, instead of meeting it with his own, dropped down to one knee as if to pledge his undying allegiance to the leader of House Of Torture. EVIL revelled in such a display of respect and asked him to rise and the rest of the group welcomed him into the fold as they left the ring together for the first time as a sixtuplet.

After an incredibly dramatic end to the first half, we kicked off the final leg of the tour with eight-man tag action that put the spotlight on the growing personal animosity between United Empire and Suzuki-gun. After Jeff Cobb and The Great-O-Khan’s attack on Taichi yesterday that’s left him on the shelf for an undetermined amount of time his place in tonight’s match was filled by DOUKI who joined up with El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Zack Sabre Jr. to take on Cobb, Khan, TJP and Francesco Akira. Suzuki-gun were most definitely out for blood, opting for an “eye-for-an-eye” approach as ZSJ tried ripping TJP’s arm out of his socket on multiple occasions. United Empire took a similar approach as they missioned to take another of Suzuki’s soldiers out of the equation, with Francesco Akira succeeding with a running missile drop kick to Kanemaru’s knee which sent him writhing. The “Heel Master” would fight through the page but TJP would end up locking him in a Knee Bar later on which was just too much to bear and Kanemaru was forced to tap out. The new RevPro British Heavyweight Champion ZSJ was furious that they’d got one over on them again whilst Kanemaru struggled to pull himself to his feet after the bell.

The United Empire’s luck would not continue much longer though, when the IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay and his muscle Aaron Henare faced off against Tetsuya Naito and SANADA in tag team action. Despite the match being well-balanced and Henare having a surprisingly dominant showing, demonstrating his continued growth as a singles competitor under the United Empire’s umbrella, it was some classic shenanigans from Naito that led to “The Kingpin’s” downfall. The LIJ leader would throw on Ospreay’s fur coat worth thousands of dollars and parade it around the ringside area which irked its owner beyond compare, but this temporary lapse in judgement would let SANADA roll him up and score a surprise three count. To make matters worse, Naito would get on the microphone and remind Ospreay that with that pin that makes two victories SANADA holds over Will since the G1 Climax and for that he should get a title shot, and then when SANADA wins Naito can challenge him and enjoy wrestling a match against a wrestler he actually respects. Ouch.

From there we moved on to a trio of high stakes singles bouts, the first between the NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson and his challenger Minoru Suzuki. Without mincing words, these two beat seven shades of shit out of each other with Suzuki continually reminding “The Machine Gun” that he was back in Japan now and had to toughen up. Despite the abrasions though, Anderson would sustain his punishment and eventually turned things around with a Gun Stun; but an assist would have to go to Jeff Cobb and The Great-O-Khan who decided to hang around ringside and demand some attention.

The second was nothing short of a war between two of the best wrestlers on the planet in Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada, both fighting for the opportunity to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom. These two warriors went past the 25 minute mark in a bout that pushed both to their upper limit, with Okada really clutching for anything he could to slow down an apparently unstoppable opponent. But in the final moments of the match a final Made In Japan from Shingo was reversed into two Rainmakers back to back to finally put “The Dragon” to rest. The match got a big ovation from the crowd who appreciated the efforts of everybody involved, and to add to the gravity of Shingo’s struggle he was addressed by Okada afterwards who said that although he was unable to beat “The Rainmaker” tonight, as far as he remembers Shingo pinned Jay White in the G1 Climax and for that he should get a shot at the World title, and that he hopes “The Dragon” can win the title before January so they can run their match back on the biggest stage. Shingo appreciated the gesture and comments, taking them onboard but there was no handshake or embrace; just a look that said he agreed.

Then in our main event we witnessed Jay White attempt to survive an onslaught of super-heavyweight offense from JONAH as he tried his hardest to capture the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. “The King Of Monsters” shocked the wrestling world once already when he beat “Switchblade” in the G1 Climax but this time around JONAH fought like it was the last opportunity he’d ever have which left White gasping for breath. The tide only began to shift when White avoided an outside tackle that sent the challenger crashing into the steel barriers, and he even employed a steel chair to weaken him which the referee let pass with a warning. After sending JONAH shoulder first into the ring post the playing field started to even out and the champion spent the rest of the bout focusing on the problem area, and although there were plenty of sticky spots for Jay to weasel out of as well as frequent failed attempts to hold JONAH in place for the Blade Runner, he eventually innovated his approach and used the leverage and snap back of the ring ropes to finally land his patented finishing manoeuvre. This sent JONAH crashing shoulder first with a whiplash into the mat which allowed “Switchblade” to successfully retain his championship after a very tough fight.

Exhausted from the fight, Jay White attempted to deliver a closing speech but struggled to form the words he needed without the time to shake off the wounds of war. “Switchblade” should have gone to the back when he had the chance but his hubris in closing the show on top would be his downfall tonight when out of nowhere he would be cut down to size with a surprise Gun Stun from Tama Tonga who arrived undetected. Jay crashed down hard and you saw his eyes bulge out of his head as “The Bad Guy” got in his face and dumped a can of trash talk on him. All of Bullet Club would descend on the ring but it was too late to change anything; Tama had already fled the ring and was thrilled to the teeth that he’d finally got one over on the man that orchestrated his exile from the group he helped create.

New Japan returns to action for two massive nights of Destruction, starting in Sapporo on Thurs. 1/9 before crashing down in Kobe on Sun. 4/9 and we’re excited to bring you the first look at the main matches that are set to take place.