By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “Battle Autumn”
October 23, 2022 in Aomori, Japan at New Aomori Prefecture Sports Park Maeda Arena
Streamed live on New Japan World
NJPW has started a 16-man NJPW TV title tournament, but this show didn’t feature any tournament matches. There was Japanese-only commentary. This is a large venue, and only the first few rows of the upper deck had fans. The show was headlined by a title match for the six-man tag titles.
1. Douki defeated Kosei Fujita at 7:24. Douki tied him up on the mat. Fujita hit a dropkick, and he applied a Boston Crab. Douki hit an enzuigiri. Douki applied his “Douki chokey” Triangle Choke, and Fujita tapped out. Very basic opener.
2. Zack Sabre Jr. and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Yuto Nakashima and Alex Zayne at 8:27. Yuto and Sabre started with some stiff forearms. Zayne entered and hit a senton on Kanemaru. Sabre tied up Yuto’s leg on the mat, and the heels began working over Yuto. Zayne made the hot tag at 4:00 and he traded good offense with Sabre. Zayne hit his summersault-into-a-
Kanemaru hit an enzuigiri and a DDT on Zayne for a nearfall. Yuto re-entered and hit a shoulder tackle on Kanemaru. Yuto applied a Boston Crab, but Sabre entered to break it up. Kanemaru applied a Figure Four leglock on Yuto, who tapped out.
3. “The United Empire” Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare, and Jeff Cobb defeated Toru Yano, Togi Makabe, and Ryohei Oiwa at 10:39. O-Khan and Yano meet later this week in the final day of first-round TV title tournament matches, and they locked up to start. Yano tugged on O-Khan’s long braid. O-Khan hit his Mongolian Chops. Oiwa entered and traded good mat reversals with O-Khan; Oiwa is clearly the best of the Young Lions. Henare tagged in and dropped Oiwa with a punch at 4:00, and the UE began working over Oiwa.
Cobb held Oiwa upside down for several seconds, before hitting a backbreaker over his knee. Makabe made the hot tag at 6:30 and he brawled with Henare. However, the UE quickly took control and worked over Togi. Henare and Oiwa traded forearm shots. Henare hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall, then his football tackle spear on Oiwa for the pin. Oiwa jawed at Yano, who ran from the ring; they didn’t touch after those first few seconds.
4. Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, and Yoshi-Hoshi defeated Ren Narita, David Finlay, and Tiger Mask at 9:30. Narita and Ishii also will meet this week in the final first-round tournament match, and like in the prior match, they started against each other with some stiff forearm shots. Finlay entered and hit a nice dropkick on Goto. Tiger Mask hit a top-rope crossbody block on two opponents. Ishii’s team began working over Finlay in their corner.
Finlay hit a backbreaker over his knee on Goto at 5:30, and he made the hot tag to Narita. Ishii tagged in and they traded more stiff offense. Ishii hit a Northern Lights Suplex and he went for a Fujiwara Armbar, but Ishii escaped. Narita tied him in a mid-ring Octopus. Ishii nailed a German Suplex, and they were both down at 7:30. Narita hit an enzuigiri. Tiger Mask tagged back in and traded offense with Yoshi-Hoshi. Yoshi-Hoshi hit a superkick, and Goto hit his neckbreaker over his knee on Tiger Mask. Yoshi-Hoshi immediately hit his pumphandle sit-out powerbomb for the pin on Tiger Mask. Narita attacked Ishii after the bell and they continued to brawl.
5. “Suzuki-Gun” El Desperado, Taka Michinoku, and Taichi defeated “The Bullet Club” Taiji Ishimori, Kenta, and Gedo at 10:09. This is a heel-heel matchup. Lots of stalling at the bell. Kenta attacked Taka from behind. Taka eye poked his opponents. The Bullet Club choked Taka in the corner, and they took turns working him over. Desperado finally made the hot tag at 6:00 and he hit a back suplex on Ishimori. Kenta applied a Crippler Crossface, and he switched to the Stretch Muffler, bending Ishimori’s knee behind Desperado’s head.
Ishimori fired back with a handspring-back-spin kick, and they were both down. Kenta and Taichi entered at 8:00. Taichi choked Kenta on the mat. Gedo entered and traded blows with Taichi. Taichi hit a running forearm to score the pin. That just wasn’t good, except for the Ishimori-Desperado interactions.
6. Hiromu Takahashi and Sanada defeated Master Wato and Tomoaki Honma at 11:25. Hiromu and Wato opened with some good, quick reversals; these two will compete in a four-way at Wrestle Kingdom in January. Sanada and Honma entered, and the LIJ team began working over Honma. They hit simultaneous Kokeshi falling headbutts on Honma (his move!) at 3:30.
Wato entered and hit a springboard flying elbow on Hiromu. Takahashi nailed a sit-out powerbomb, and they were both down at 7:30. Wato hit a leg lariat on Sanada. Honma and Sanada traded forearm shots. Honma hit his Kokeshis. Sanada and Hiromu hit simultaneous basement dropkicks on Honma. Sanada nailed a TKO stunner on Honma. Honma hit a headbutt. However, Sanada applied the Skull End sleeperhold on the mat, and Honma tapped out.
7. Tetsuya Naito, Bushi, and Titan defeated “The United Empire” Gideon Grey, TJP, and Francesco Akira at 9:29. Grey came out first and he introduced his teammates. The UE attacked before the bell. Grey hit some forearms on Naito, but they had no effect. TJP tagged in at 2:00 to face Titan, and they traded fast reversals. Akira hit a plancha to the floor, and the UE started working over Titan in the ring. TJP hit a catapult senton. The UE hit a team X-Factor faceplant for a nearfall at 5:00.
Titan fired back with a tornado DDT, and he made the hot tag to Naito. Naito hit a basement dropkick on Akira. Bushi entered at 7:00 and traded offense with Akira, hitting a missile dropkick. Akira hit a swinging neckbreaker on Bushi. Grey made the tag in, and he traded blows with Bushi, hitting a crossbody block. Titan hit a springboard frogsplash on Grey for a nearfall. Titan hit a flip dive to the floor. Titan hit his doublestomp to Grey’s back for the pin. Decent action, but it’s clear that Grey is there to eat the pin.
8. “The House of Torture” EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and Sho (w/Dick Togo) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo, and Ryusuke Taguchi (w/Jado) to retain the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles at 21:41. Hiroshi hasn’t been on this tour, as he competed just a few days ago against Gabriel Kidd at the New Japan Strong taping in Los Angeles. Sho’s wrench was confiscated before the match, and Sho was livid. All six brawled at the bell. Taguchi missed a flying buttbump and crashed to the mat, allowing the House of Torture to briefly take control.
Taguchi hit a low blow punch on EVIL. Hikuleo entered at 2:00, and the babyfaces worked over EVIL. EVIL choked Taguchi on the floor with a cord around the neck. In the ring, the HoT worked over Taguchi. Sho twisted the fingers and hit a spin kick to the head for a nearfall at 7:00. Hikuleo made the hot tag and he hit a double clothesline. He nailed a running elbow drop on Yujiro for a nearfall. He blocked Yujiro’s low blow attempt, and he hit a nice powerslam for a nearfall. Tanahashi finally entered at 10:00 and hit a running forearm on Yujiro.
Hiroshi hit a dragon screw leg whip on EVIL, and he applied a Texas Cloverleaf. Jado and Togo got in the ring and brawled, with all eight suddenly in the ring. EVIL hit a hard clothesline on Tanahashi, then a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall at 13:00. However, EVIL couldn’t hit Everything is Evil. Sho tagged in, but the babyfaces got some quick offense on him. Hiroshi hit a top-rope crossbody block. Yujro clocked Hikuleo with his cane. EVIL hit a move on Tanahashi, and Sho made the cover for a nearfall. Tanahashi hit a spinning neckbreaker on Sho, and they were both down at 16:00.
Taguchi tagged in and hit a springboard buttbump, then a running buttbump on Sho for a nearfall, and he switched to an anklelock. Sho hit a German release suplex. Sho set up for a stuffed piledriver, but Hikuleo made the save. Yujiro hit a low blow and his Pimp Juice DDT on Hikuleo. Sho got another wrench. Taguchi avoided it and hit an enziguri, then he hit a German Suplex for a nearfall on Sho. Taguchi pulled down his green pants to reveal his red underwear and he sat down on Sho’s face. Ugh. However, Sho hit the stuffed piledriver to pin Taguchi.
Final Thoughts: Hikuleo’s team has always felt like random guys thrown together, so I’m not surprised they didn’t win. The six-man titles are so meaningless, and EVIL and his whole squad are so ice-cold. I hope Hikuleo now moves on to bigger and better things and stops hanging out with the undercard guys like Taguchi. And yes, Taguchi pulling his pants down to distract Sho is the worst finishing sequence angle, anywhere. So, I really don’t have a lot of good things to say about the main event.
Ishii is one of my favorites, period, and I’m really looking forward to the singles match this week with Narita. I fully expect Narita to win; he’s younger and the future. Ishii will give him a good fight but he’s teflon and isn’t hurt by losses anymore. On the flip side, I can’t pretend to care about the O-Khan vs. Yano matchup. With Cobb out of the tournament already, O-Khan needs to win this match.
The show clocked in at just under three hours.
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