NJPW Wrestling Toyo Province Results
Beppu B-Con Plaza in Oita, Japan
April 29, 2017
Jushin Thunder Liger, Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Tiger Mask, Katsuya Kitamura & Syota Umino
The two veterans started off the match, going back and forth with their signatures, to put on a display for the Young Lions. Umino and Kawato had their moment to fire up early on, and the mid-match was basically the two big bulls Oka and Kitamura trying to overpower each other. Umino put Oka in a Boston Crab while everyone was brawling around ringside and Liger ran interference, but Oka reversed the hold on him. Umino got to the ropes but Oka just put him right back in the submission and this time he tapped out, with Tiger Mask holding back Liger in the corner. This was a bit disorganized compared to the 4/27 match that had exactly the same people in it. Winners: Jushin Thunder Liger, Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka
Roppongi Vice vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
The tag match on 4/27 really held back on the amount of Suzuki-Gun antics, but they came out in spades here. Everything from brawling around ringside, to the numerous referee distractions, to Desperado hiding a spike in his boot, to steel chairs. Rocky did his never-ending corner attacks early into the match, which led to everyone fighting on the outside. Kanemaru did this awesome spot where he ran and jumped straight up off the barricade to hit an RVD-style leg drop on top of the barricade to Beretta. Trent had a few good spots including a nice tope con hilo to take out both SKG members, but the action was primarily controlled by the heels. The finish saw Desperado miss a chair shot, turn around into double knees from RPG, then eat the Strong Zero for the pin. It was a good match, but not quite as good as the title match two nights prior with Kanemaru and Taichi. Winners: Roppongi Vice
Ryusuke Taguchi & YoshiTatsu vs. BUSHI & SANADA
LIJ beat down Yoshi immediately because it’s an unspoken rule that he’s not allowed to do anything productive in a match… ever. They turned their attention to Taguchi, who managed to fight them off with a nice DDT/neckbreaker combo, followed by several butt-related attacks. Yoshi tagged back in and hit Sanada with a Pedigree (his gimmick is still that he’s Triple H for some reason) but it had little effect. Bushi disposed of Taguchi with a tope suicida that took them both into the barricade. Sanada made several attempts at the Skull End with Yoshi trying desperately to escape, but eventually he got it locked in Yoshi had to tap out. Winners:Los Ingobernables de Japon
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi
Finlay started things off and ran through Takahashi like a house on fire. Kojima and Finlay laid into Tanga Loa with punches back and forth, then did the same to Tama Tonga, and Kojima hit his machine-gun chops (ahem…the Baker’s Dozen) in the corner. Bullet Club quickly took control after a brawl on the floor and a cheap shot from Takahashi’s cane. They took turns putting the boots to Kojima, and Tama Tonga mocked his machine-gun chops and signature taunt, but he ate a Kozi-Cutter out of nowhere. Tama then tried to mock the Mongolian Chops on Tenzan, and you can guess how that worked out for him. Finlay tagged in and cleared the ring while Tencozy hit the Ten-Koji Cutter on Takahashi. Tanga Loa hit a sit-down powerbomb variation on Finlay for a nearfall, then put him away with the sit-down tombstone piledriver. Winners: Bullet Club
Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
This was the best match of the first half, by far. On 99% of shows it’s Suzuki-Gun that attacks before the bell, but this time it was an infuriated CHAOS that went on the attack. Goto went right after Suzuki just two days after losing his title, and you could really feel the tension from a team just sick of being assaulted for the last four months. The beating continued until Suzuki caught YH in the armbar over the top rope, then brawled with Goto into the crowd where he beat him down with a section of the guardrail. Seeing this, the referee was distracted enough for Taichi to smash YH with his hammer. The attack on YH continued for several minutes until Goto made the hot tag and started throwing dozens of elbows at Suzuki. His goons tried to hold him back, but Goto took them out as well and went right back after the new NEVER champion with elbows and suplexes. Neither guy would stay down and they kept getting right back up in each other’s faces, asking for stiffer and stiffer elbows. Suzuki locked in a sleeper hold, but Goto fought out of the piledriver and made the hot tag to the relatively fresh Will Ospreay. SKG took turns beating down Ospreay until he cleared the ring and hit his handspring elbow to TAKA. Goto nailed Suzuki with the Ushigoroshi, and Ospreay finished off TAKA with the corkscrew kick and the Oscutter. Winners: CHAOS
After the match Suzuki and Goto brawled through the crowd until officials and Young Lions broke them up. On his way out Suzuki laid out Tomoyuki Oka and a few officials just for good measure. The rematch is most definitely happening.
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
Fale usually does something to the ring announcer during his entrance – it’s something of a long running gimmick – but this time he straight up murdered the man, throwing him face first into the mat. He then went straight after Okada, attacking him from behind during his entrance. Chaos worked together to take down Fale, but Omega and Owens kept up the attack on the champion, he didn’t even get to take off his coat until several minutes into the match. Eventually they cleared the ring and all beat the crap out of the Underboss, and Okada even did a cocky pin standing on his chest; man, Dontaku bout is going to be intense. Bullet Club got the momentum back, alternating in and out on Yano for several minutes. Yano took off the turnbuckle pad, but accidentally smacked the referee with it. Omega started yelling at him, then went to “check” on the ref (smacking him in the face to get him to wake up) but Yano hit him with a low blow. Ishii made the tag and ran through everyone with splashes and elbow shots. He and Omega went back and forth to build up their upcoming match, countering finishers and lighting each other up with lariats. Eventually the hot tags were made for Okada and Fale, who went after each other like madmen. The champion bodyslammed Fale but hurt his back in the process, opening the door for the big man to pick him apart. Okada blocked the Grenade and went for the Rainmaker, but Fale blocked that into a suplex to take both guys down, and the match devolved into an all-out brawl. Owens hit Okada with a PK for a close nearfall. Omega and Ishii took each other out, fighting to the outside. Owens tried for a package piledriver but Okada countered and hit a standing dropkick, then the Tombstone Piledriver, then the Rainmaker to pick up the pinfall. Winners: CHAOS
Immediately after the match, Okada flew over the top rope (when was the last time you saw that) and tried to take out Bad Luck Fale, but the big man caught him and slammed him hard into the ring. Ishii and Yano backed Bullet Club down, and Fale menacingly made his way up the ramp burning a hole through the champion.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Ricochet
As you would expect, this match was just an absurd amount of fast-paced action. Ricochet wasted no time hitting a huge tope suicide that sent them hard into the barricade. He threw the champ back in the ring, dropkicked him to the floor again, then hit handspring backflip to take him out, throwing him right back into the ring connecting with a beautiful springboard frog splash for two-and-a-half. Hiromu beating KUSHIDA in two minutes to retain last month made that a very believable early nearfall. The champ threw himself off the apron to take down Ricochet, then hit a dragonscrew and locked in a modified Figure Four. Ricochet fought out of the hold and hit two quick uppercuts and a missile dropkick that sent Himoru flying. He followed up with with a 619 into a Phenomenal Forearm for two. Hiromu crotched him on a springboard attempt and tried for the running sunset flip powerbomb to the floor, but Ricochet countered into a headscissors takedown. They fought up to the top rope with the challenger winning the exchange, planting him with a Super Facebuster. Several more counters later, Hiromu dove off the apron but was caught out of the air, countered into a vertical suplex, rolled through into a Fisherman’s buster on the floor. Both guys barely made it back into the ring by the 20-count.
They threw fancy out the window and just started slapping each other back and forth, then lit each other up with hard chops, with neither man wanting to give an inch. Ricochet hit a roundhouse kick, but Hiromu caught him with a trio of roll-through German suplexes into a bridge pin for a very close nearfall. The challenger came back with a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall of his own. The back and forth continued with both guys throwing all of their signature and power moves at each other. Ricochet looked to finish it off but Hiromu snapped him hard into the corner turnbuckle. Finally he connected with the Time Bomb and 1…2…the challenger kicked out! Hiromu immediately picked him up and drove him back into the turnbuckle with a Northern Lights, then tried for the Time Bomb a second time but Ricochet rolled him up. He hit a high knee strike followed by the Benadryller! 1…2…the champion kicked out! Exhausting everything else, Ricochet went up to the top rope and spun himself into the 630 senton, but Hiromu rolled out of the way and hit a Destroyer out of nowhere. Frustrated he hoisted him up for another Northern Lights into the turnbuckle, this time connecting with a second Time Bomb. 1…2…3. Winner and Still Champion: Hiromu Takahashi
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
Tanahashi dropkicked EVIL through the ropes before the match even began, brawling with him around ringside into the barricades. He threw him back into the ring to start the match and rained down rights, lefts and elbows on him. Tanahashi went to the apron but got knocked out with a hard lariat to give EVIL some breathing room for the first time. He went after him to the floor, sending him over the barricade with a lariat and did some digging under the ring for steel chairs. He placed one of the chairs around Tanahashi’s neck, then destroyed him with a homerun swing with a second chair. EVIL continued with the dirty tactics, driving his elbow into the eyes and chasing off the referee any time he tried to break it up. He started toying with the Ace, slapping the back of his head and begging him to get back up, then laid him back down with another lariat. The beatdown continued for several minutes until Tanahashi hit a dragonscrew out of nowhere to take them both down. He connected with a flying elbow and a running senton for two, then went up to the second rope but spent too much time posing, and EVIL swept his legs out from under him. The big man rocked him with right hands and a lariat in the corner, then threw Tanahashi into the referee and crushed him with a superkick to the ribs. In a rare sight, EVIL climbed to the top rope and actually connected with a diving lariat.
Another lariat attempt was countered into a headscissors sending him to the floor, and Tanahashi flew off the top rope for his patented big match Super High Fly Flow. Rolling back in at 18, both men countered each others power moves back and forth until EVIL finally connected with a belly-to-belly suplex. At this point they’re both completely exhausted, and just start throwing elbows and right hands in a flurry. EVIL ducked a Slingblade and laid out the Ace with yet another lariat. He tried for a superkick but got caught in a dragonscrew; EVIL hung onto the leg and went into a side headlock, raking at the eyes! Slowly Tanahashi made it back to the ropes. Another counter sequence with both struggling to hit their moves, until Tanahashi finally hit the dragonscrew, then the Slingblade, but when trying for the High Fly Flow was attacked by Bushi out of nowhere. Sanada made his way out and Los Ingobernables triple teamed Tanahashi, laying him out with all their signatures. Sanada tried for the Skull End, but Tanahashi ducked until the poison mist and Bushi ended up taking out his partner. Ryusuke Taguchi ran out and hit hip attacks on Bushi and Sanada, then dragged them to the back to even up the match again. Tanahashi hit a Dragon Suplex, but the referee was still down on the floor. He went up to the top for the High Fly Flow, but EVIL got his knees up and hit a German suplex followed by Darkness Falls for two-and-a-half. He went for the STO but Tanahashi countered, and they started throwing rights and lefts again, with a few headbutts mixed in. Tanahashi once again went up top, hitting the standing High Fly Flow, then went right back up and hit the classic High Fly Flow for the pin. Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Juice Robinson
In classic form, Naito takes forever to take off his suit, then begs off several lock-up attempts, toying with his opponent. When he does try to lock up, Juice ducks under it and plays some mind games of his own, but gets spit on for his trouble. The challenger goes after him, but is dumped from the ring and Naito teases a dive after him, but instead rebounds into the Tranquilo pose. When they finally lock up its Juice who takes control with a series of snap armdrags, then sends the champion flying into the barricade. He went after him, throwing him into the barricade again, but on a third attempt was reversed, nearly crashing into the commentary table. A frustrated Naito then started tossing him mercilessly into the barricades, and bent his leg around one of the metal bars, kicking the entrance gate closed on his knee. The assault didn’t stop there, with Naito hanging him from the barricade and jumping off the apron with a brutal dropkick.
Robinson barely hobbled his way back to the ring before the 20-count, and from there the champion just slowly picked apart his injury, locking in submission after submission and working away at the knee. Juice kept getting back up and throwing chops or headbutts, but Naito smiled through them like he thought the attempts were cute, before taking him right back out with attacks to the knee. After several minutes Juice caught the champ coming off a springboard and hit a double-knee gutbuster, but may have damaged himself just as much in the process. He alternated knife-edge chops and closed right hands, then caught Naito with a huge spinebuster. He set up for the cannonball splash in the corner, but came up empty and crashed into the turnbuckle. This time Naito connected with his triangle dropkick, then perched the challenger on the top rope, got caught in a powerbomb, reversed through it, tried for Destino, but Robinson slipped out and hit the crescent kick.
Naito bailed to the floor to try and buy time, but was hit with a running lariat off the apron instead. Juice rolled him back into the ring before the 20-count, but Naito caught him with a dropick to the knee coming back in. They teased a superplex to the floor spot, then a suplex off the apron spot, and in the end Robinson destroyed the champ with a spinebuster on the edge of the ring that shocked the Japanese commentary booth. He threw Naito into the barricade, and this time connected with a cannonball splash into the metal. Eventually they both made it back to the ring – the ref basically gave up to let the match play out – and Juice tried for a brainbuster, but his knee gave out and Naito hit him with a tornado DDT off the ropes. They went back and forth trading stiff elbow shots for over a minute, until Juice started rocking him with closed fists. Naito took a cheap shot at the knee to save himself, hit a kneebreaker, then a dropkick to the knee, then a Flair-style chop block to completely destroy the challenger’s knee. He went immediately into a kneebar and Juice flailed in pain, trying to pull himself to the ropes, continued to flail in pain, and eventually clawed his way to the bottom rope after five or six attempts where it looked like he might tap out.
Naito took him to the top rope and tried for a Frankensteiner, but Robinson held on and connected with a sick top rope powerbomb! He picked up the champion and immediately hit a second powerbomb, then went for Pulp Friction, but Naito fought out of it and turned right around into a lariat. They went back and forth looking for their finishers, countering several times, and Naito countered the double knee gustbuster into the Destino! 1…2…Juice kicked out! He immediately went back to the well, hitting a second Destino! 1…2…Juice kicked out again! The crowd immediately broke into a loud roar. Naito went for a third Destino, but Robinson rolled through into Pulp Friction; Naito rolled through into a sliding bridge pin for another close nearfall. Robinson connected with a massive closed right fight, set up for Pulp Friction, but Naito once again countered and hit a third Destino. 1…2…3. Winner and Still Champion: Tetsuya Naito
Juice Robinson was escorted from the ring after the match, as Naito celebrated in the ring with his LIJ baseball cap on. Before he can cut his post-show promo, Hiroshi Tanahashi makes his way down to the ring to a loud reaction from an excited crowd. Naito mockingly dangles the mic in front of him, letting him speak first. Tanahashi says he wrote a letter for the champion, and pretended to unravel a piece of paper. He admitted that he lost at the Tokyo Dome, and Naito put a nail in his coffin, but he’s back because he can’t stand the disrespect that Naito brings to the championship. The champion takes the microphone and tells Tanahashi that he hears what he’s saying, but he’s tired and just finished wrestling in the main event. He says his answer is the same as everyone else: “tranquilo y assen na yo!”, which means “calm down” in both Spanish and Japanese. Naito tells Tanahashi to hit the bricks, and the potential challenger stares him down then leaves in peace. Along in the ring again, Naito asks the crowd if they enjoyed the show, then closed it down by reintroducing all of Los Ingobernables de Japon, with confetti raining down on the ring.
