THIRD MATCH: CHAOS (Yoshi Hashi & Hirooki Goto) vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki)
Goto rushed Suzuki before the bell in a refreshing change of pace. After a flurry of initial offense, Yoshi Hashi & Goto found themselves unable to overcome the almost mugging style of Suzuki-gun. The match eventually settled into an excuse for Goto & Suzuki to have a short, but brutal singles match. The two men exhanged forearms and strikes that were equally thrilling and gutwrenching. After Yoshi Hashi superkicks Suzuki, stopping him from hitting a Piledriver on Goto, the CHAOS brethren hit the GYR on El Desperado for the pinfall.
WINNERS: CHAOS
FOURTH MATCH: Hirai Kawato & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA)
Kawato started the match with EVIL and went chop for chop and punch for punch with the former IWGP Championship #1 Contender. Against both EVIL & SANADA, Kawato fought with a fire that has rarely been seen by a Young Lion, even his dropkick has personality. Tanahashi was no slouch either, showing off his “every match, a main event” ethos that made him the New Japan Ace. At one point, Kawato and Tanahashi had the LIJ lackeys in a Boston Crab/Cloverleaf double near fall. After a scrappy small package near-fall from Kawato and a lot of offense from Tanahashi, SANADA locked Kawato in the Standing Dragon Sleeper for the TKO.
WINNERS: Los Ingobernables de Japon
FIFTH MATCH: Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & Gedo)
The stars of this match were the junior heavyweights. Gedo started out taking Hiromu and BUSHI’s offense, until Ospreay was able to jump in and give Hiromu a taste of what to expect on January 4th. Okada & Naito were involved in the match, but mainly brawled and stayed occupied with each other while their lighter seconds took the spotlight. BUSHI especially took out plenty of aggression on Gedo, but eventually fell to an Oscutter from the former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
WINNERS: CHAOS
