NJPW Road to Power Struggle results: The junior tag tournament continues

Road to Power Struggle continued today with a stop at Korakuen Hall. Tag team bouts dominated as usual, hyping the various matches going down at Power Struggle.

Meanwhile, we also saw the semifinals of the Jr. Tag Team Tournament, with Ricochet and David Finlay facing ACH and Taiji Ishimori in the main event. The other semifinal bout had Ryusuke Taguchi and CMLL’s Fuego teaming to take on Roppongi Vice.

Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato

Both guys have filled out compared to earlier this year. Kanemitsu has size, at least compared to Kawato who is pretty tiny. Solid young boy match with a lot of basic back and forth sports. Kanemitsu got the win, submitting Kawato with the Boston crab.

Yoshitatsu & Juice Robinson defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Bone Soldier by DQ

This was on the same level as their worst match of the year candidate a few weeks ago. Devoid of heat, uninteresting wrestling,and a bad finish to boot. Yoshitatsu cut a promo on Bone Soldier and jumped him as the match started. Yujiro worked on Yoshitatsu for a bit, then Juice got the hot tag, which made this match a bit better than the last tag but not by much.

Other than that, there was absolutely no heat for this match. Then Bone Soldier just low blowed Yoshitatsu for the DQ. He put on a full nelson, then tried to choke him, but Robinson made the save. This feud is quickly outpacing Titus O’Neil and Darren Young for worst feud of the year in record fashion.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask defeated Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Angel de Oro & Titan

Standard eight-man tag match. Angel de Oro and Titan looked good when they were in. Tenzan worked with them as well and looked good. Tiger Mask gained the win for his team with the tiger suplex hold on Titan.

Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa & Chase Owens

Another standard match, mostly good action throughout with Ishii getting the win with the brainbuster on Chase Owens, who was wearing some sort of pumpkin face paint. GoD taunted Ishii after the match that sent him in a rage, brawling with Tonga into the crowd.

The roster for January’s Fantasticamania shows are as follows: Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr., Maximo Sexy, Dragon Lee, Titan, Stuka Jr., Blue Panther Jr., Soberano Jr., Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Ephesto, Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Okumura and Raziel.

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks defeated Will Ospreay, Gedo & Kazuchika Okada

Great match, blew away everything on the show up to this point. Your usual great Young Bucks six-man with plenty of cool spots galore, plus Ospreay is one of the best high flyers in the world and he showcased that here.

Omega and Matt were dressed as Ghostbusters while Nick was playing the ghost. Actually pretty amazing outfits, loved it! This was a fun tag match full of the normal spots you’d see whenever The Elite team up. Ospreay was on point with his great offense as well, putting on Nick’s ghost costume and launching off with a corkscrew. The last few minutes of this were great with Ospreay doing a double hurricanrana on the Young Bucks.

Everyone ran in to do some great spots. Ospreay went for the springboard cutter but Omega grabbed him. Matt came in and accidentally superkicked Omega. Ospreay went for the Sasuke Special but Omega grabbed him and the Young Bucks hit the Indytaker on the outside. A triple superkick followed but Gedo broke it up. Omega hit the One Winged Angel on Ospreay and picks up the in.

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma

Solid match. Crowd was into this since Ingobernables are hot as a unit right now. Tanahashi and SANADA had some cool exchanges in preparation for their singles bout next week. Honma was on a hot streak, laying out Naito with a lariat. But BUSHI misted him and Naito rolled him up for the win. Shibata went after EVIL after the match but was laid out with a belt shot and the STO.

Rocky Romero & Baretta defeated Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi in a tournament match

Fuego and Taguchi have such terrific chemistry as a comedy face tag team, it’s actually amazing they’ve never done it until now. Taguchi worked the first half of the match, both on offense and defense. Fuego made the hot tag and did a step up crossbody to the floor.  Romero got in and was running wild until he got derailed with an assisted dropick by Taguchi.

Baretta ran in and did a giant tope to the floor. Taguchi came back with the Dodon but Baretta kicked out. Fuego came in, and after laying out Taguchi on the floor, Romero helped Baretta pin him with the dudebuster/dropkick combo. RPG Vice did tease dissension throughout the match, but were fine after.

ACH & Taiji Ishimori defeated Ricochet & David Finlay in a tournament match

This was fine. Not bad by any means, but I expected more. Also felt pretty short. Some good back and forth wrestling from ACH and Ricochet, some cool dives, but not really much of anything. Crowd was quiet in spots, which hurt the match. ACH and Ishimori won the match, getting the win with their stereo 450 splashes.

That makes it Roppongi Vice vs. ACH and Taiji Ishimori for Power Struggle.

RPG Vice came in after the match. Romero cut a promo in Japanese, then said this is New Japan territory and he’ll send Ishimori and ACH back to NOAH. Ishimori then cut a promo to close out the show.

A good show overall. Tag matches can get a little too same-y at times, but the last three matches were pretty good, especially the six-man.