By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “Super Jr. Tag League 2023”
October 26, 2023 in Saitama, Japan at Wing Hat Kasukabe
Streamed live on New Japan World
This is night 4 of the tournament, and it is our first event with Japanese-only commentary. This is a large gym with all seating on the floor. Attendance is maybe 600 to 800; this is definitely one of the smaller venues that NJPW uses.
As the show begins, we have six teams tied for first at 2-1 (4 points), three teams at 1-2 (2 points) and just one team at 0-3 (0 points.)
1. Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe defeated Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube at 8:47. Honma and Yuto started. Makabe beat up Leube on the floor. Yuto made the hot tag and hit some Yes Kicks on Honma. The Young Lions applied stereo Boston Crabs at 7:00. Makabe hit a hard clothesline on Yuto for a nearfall. Makabe then nailed his top-rope kneedrop to Yuto’s forehead for the pin. Meh.
2. Shota Umino and Ren Narita defeated “United Empire” Callum Newman and Great-O-Khan at 8:57. Newman and Narita opened with a test of strength and they are trading some excellent reversals. (This feels like a ‘remember when you saw these two?’ moment looking back in 10 years.) Newman hit a Mafia Kick on Shota at 3:00. O-Khan entered and hit his Mongolian Chops on Narita. Shota entered and hit a Northern Lights suplex on O-Khan at 7:00 for a nearfall. Newman hit a running penalty kick on Shota for a nearfall. Newman got some creative rollups on Shota. Shota applied an STF, and Newman tapped out. This was really entertaining. Again, it really feels like this match was a showcase of NJPW’s stars in the very near future.
3. Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi, and Toru Yano defeated “House of Torture” EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and Dick Togo at 7:34. The HoT attacked at the bell and all six brawled. Some dumb comedy with Yano falling on a corner pad to ‘protect’ it, so instead he got beat up by the HoT. Ishii finally made the hot tag at 4:00 and fought off all three heels. He hit a back suplex for a nearfall on EVIL. He hit a German Suplex on Togo. Yoshi-Hashi entered for the first time at 6:00. Togo got his wire and he choked Yoshi-Hashi. Yano snuck in and hit a low blow uppercut. Yoshi-Hashi tied Togo in a Stretch Plum, and Togo tapped out. Meh.
4. Kushida and Kevin Knight (6) defeated Ryuske Taguchi and The DKC (4) in a tournament match at 12:15. Kushida and Taguchi opened with basic mat reversals, then Knight and DKC did more of the same, as this is ‘friendly competition’ between two babyface teams. Knight hit his leaping splash at 4:00. Kushida and Knight worked over DKC’s left arm. Taguchi finally made the hot tag at 7:00 and hit his buttbumps on both opponents. He applied an anklelock on Knight, but Kevin reached the ropes. DKC bent Kushida over his knee and hit his knife-edge chops; he did the same thing to Knight.
DKC hit his mid-ring flipping cannonball on both opponents at 10:00. Taguchi and DKC hit punches to Kushida’s chest and back; this looked cartoonish. Knight hit a springboard double clothesline, then a plancha to the floor on Taguchi. Meanwhile in the ring, Kushida hit a handspring-back-elbow. He slapped on the Hoverboard Lock, and DKC tapped out. Solid match, and the right team definitely won. I want to point out here that Kushida and Knight have already topped last year’s wins total, as they finished just 2-7 in 2022.
5. “Catch 2/2” TJP and Francesco Akira (4) defeated “Just 5 Guys” Douki and Taka Michinoku (0) in a tournament match at 10:22. These teams have definitely started slow in the tournament. TJP again has tape on the neck and upper back, selling an injury, and he opened against Douki. J5G began working over Akira. Akira hit a doublestomp to Douki’s chest at 4:00. TJP entered and hit a Thesz Press and a flying back elbow in the corner, then his Facewash kicks in the corner. He applied an Octopus stretch.
Akira hit a plancha to the floor on Taka. TJP missed his Mamba Splash on Douki. Douki applied the ‘Douki Chokey’ Triangle Choke on TJP at 7:00. Akira tagged in and hit a flying headscissors takedown on Taka. Akira hit a second-rope moonsault for a nearfall. Taka hit a Mafia Kick. TJP hit a plancha to the floor on Douki. Akira hit a twisting neckbreaker. Akira and TJP hit front-and-back kneestrikes on Taka, with Akira scoring the pin. Okay match, but once again, the right team won.
6. “House of Torture” Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6) defeated Yoh and Musashi (4) in a tournament match at 10:57. Former teammates Yoh and Sho clash yet again! Sho got on the mic and spoke to Yoh, who then grabbed the mic and responded. (Wish we had Chris Charlton to translate this.) All four started brawling. EVIL suddenly appeared at ringside and knocked Yoh off the top rope at 2:00. Togo and Yujiro also are now at ringside and they stomped on Musashi, then threw him back into the ring, where Sho and Kanemaru worked him over. Kanemaru applied a Boston Crab at 5:00, with Musashi eventually reaching the ropes.
Musashi got to his feet and unloaded some chops on Sho; Sho looks really massive and muscular compared to the smaller Musashi. Musashi it a T-Bone Suplex and they were both down at 7:00. Yoh finally made the hot tag and hit a flying forearm on Sho. Yoh hit a running penalty kick to the chest. He hit a summersault splash to the floor on the HoT. In the ring, Kanemaru shoved the ref into Yoh, and the ref was down at 9:30. Kanemaru got his bottle of whiskey but Yoh avoided being hit with it. Yoh took a swig of the whiskey and essentially kissed Sho on the mouth, forcing the fluid down Sho’s throat. Yoh hit a superkick on Kanemaru. Kanemaru hit a low blow on Yoh, got a rollup, and scored the cheap pin.
7. “Bulet Club War Dogs” Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors (6) defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Titan and Bushi (w/Naito) (2) in a tournament match at 11:09. Titan and Bushi came out first, then Naito joined them, earning a nice pop, as the crowd clearly didn’t expect to see him. The BCWD came out second, climbed in the ring, and immediately attacked. All four rolled to the floor and brawled. In the ring, Connors tied up Titan in the ropes. Bushi hit a missile dropkick on Connors at 3:00. The BCWD began working over Bushi. Bushi hit a second-rope huracanrana at 7:00 and he tagged in Titan. Titan nailed a springboard crossbody block on Connors.
Titan nailed a tornado DDT, then a springboard double missile dropkick. LIJ hit stereo dives through the ropes. Connors nailed a powerslam on Bushi at 9:30. The BCWD nailed their front-and-back spears on Bushi for a believable nearfall, but Titan made the save. Moloney hit a spear on Bushi, then they hit the Full Clip (Connors second-rope spear on an upside down Bushi) for the pin. Good match. At 1-3, LIJ is close to falling out contention early on. (I would still expect they can finish 5-4).
8. El Desperado and Master Wato (6) defeated “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita (2) in a tournament match at 16:35. Again, Wato is all in for this pairing but Desperado is disinterested; Wato wore a T-Shirt with their faces on it, and he handed a shirt to Desperado, who tossed it into the crowd. Funny. To me, this has been the best storyline of the tournament. This also is likely the first time Fujita has been in the main event of an NJPW show. Fujita and Wato opened. Eagles entered and traded faster reversals. Wato locked on his Vendeval finisher (Trinity uses it in Impact Wrestling and calls it “Starstruck”). Wato hit a Yes Kick to the chest and got a nearfall at 3:00.
Desperado tagged in for the first time and stomped on Eagles. Fujita hit a springboard dropkick on Desperado for a nearfall at 6:30. Desperado hit a suplex and they were both down. Wato tagged in and hit some spin kicks on Kosei. Eagles entered and hit a flying kick to Wato’s chest for a nearfall at 8:30. Wato hit a top-rope flying back elbow on Eagles, then a running neckbreaker for a nearfall. Eagles hit a running double knees in the corner. TMDK hit a team slam on Wato for a nearfall, and Eagles hit a mid-ring Sliced Bread for a nearfall at 11:00, then he applied the Ron Miller Special leglock, with Wato finally reaching the ropes.
Desperado made the hot tag and battled Kosei. Fujita hit a dropkick at 13:00. Desperado fired back with a Spinebuster, and he applied the Stretch Muffler leglock around his neck. Fujita nailed a German Suplex with a bridge, but his left knee gave out. Desperado re-applied the Stretch Muffler on Fujita, but Eagles made the save. Wato hit his double-armbar slam on Fujita, and Desperado immediately hit a back suplex for a nearfall, but Eagles made the save again. Desperado nailed his Angel’s Wings faceplant to pin Fujita. Good match.
* Desperado got on the mic and said something. Wato approached him, but Desperado ‘pie-faced’ him and left the ring. Wato then made some comments on the mic to close the show.
Final Thoughts: It wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate to compare Desperado and Wato to the “Rock N Sock Connection,” as Mick Foley was so eager to make the team work, and The Rock was tepid to the idea. Desperado just keeps such a bad-ass persona, even wearing a mask.
I’ll go with War Dogs vs. LIJ for best match, just ahead of the main event. This was not a stellar night of action; I don’t think any of these matches will make anyone’s “top 10 list” at the conclusion of the tournament. (I would consider Catch 2/2 vs. War Dogs from night 2 and all of the top three matches from night 3 as top 10 potential list.) I think the better team won in each of the matches, and we now have a four-way tie for first place at 3-1 (6 points.) The tournament takes a day off on Friday before returning on Saturday.
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