NJPW Summer Struggle night two results: Bullet Club vs. LIJ

Recommended matches —

Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Gabriel Kidd

Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs. Yuji Nagata & Yuya Uemura 

Report —

Korakuen Hall was the venue for today’s show in front of an announced attendance of 482. The show was a tidy one hour, 51 minutes including intermission. 

Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe defeated Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Gabriel Kidd (9:33)

Five of these six men were in the opener on yesterday’s show as well and they worked a very similar match. 

The focus was on Kidd trying to bait Makabe into a feud. They started the match and traded power spots. Ishii and Taguchi tagged in and did another great comedy sequence similar to yesterday but with a few added wrinkles because Ishii is great at every aspect of wrestling. 

Kojima cut Ishii off. They built to a tag to Makabe and Goto, then Taguchi and Kidd entered for the closing sequence. Taguchi hit a bomaye for a near fall and then hit Dodon for the pin.

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI defeated Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI (7:44)

YH and Shingo feels like it might be a NEVER title program soon. That doesn’t sound ideal but they worked well together here. 

Yano and Shingo started with some comedy. Shingo and YH exchanged tackles. Shingo sold just enough to make YH look dangerous and YH brought great intensity. BUSHI and Shingo used a double team to cut YH off. 

Yano got a tag and exposed a turnbuckle. He used the corner pad as a weapon on Shingo and BUSHI. BUSHI hit a backstabber for a near fall. They did a clever spot where BUSHI held Yano in a sunset flip position while Shingo tried a lariat. 

The finish saw Yano tease bumping the ref and teasing a low blow. Yano rolled BUSHI up but BUSHI reversed and trapped Yano’s legs for the pin. 

Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado defeated Yuji Nagata & Yuya Uemura (11:28)

This was more of a prolonged angle than a match. They continued to tease another Suzuki/Nagata singles match. 

Suzuki and Desperado took the first half of the match working over Uemura. They stretched him over the bottom rope and pounded him with hard forearm shots. 

The match built to a spot where Uemura side-stepped a Suzuki boot and hit a dropkick. Nagata tagged in and he and Suzuki renewed hostilities and traded shots. Suzuki got a choke applied but Nagata slid out and hit an exploder. 

Desperado and Uemura tagged in for the closing sequence. Uemura fought out of a single-leg crab and forced a break before Desperado hit him with Pinche Loco for the pin. 

Suzuki and Nagata continued fighting after the bell. Suzuki then cut a promo. He challenged Nagata to a match and asked NJPW to make it happen and set the date. 

**********

There was a mid-show intermission while they cleaned the ring.

**********

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato defeated Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI (12:08)

This was akin to a fun house show match. 

The babyface team attacked Suzuki-gun before the opening bell, using their own tactic against them. Wato and Kanemaru started off the legal men. Wato teased a tope but DOUKI jumped in and stopped him.

Tenzan tagged in. Taichi took the ref while DOUKI choked Tenzan with a pipe. The ref saw DOUKI choking Tenzan with the pipe but did not call for a DQ. DOUKI continued working over Tenzan while the other six fought on the floor. Taichi used a camera cable to choke Tana. 

Tenzan hit a wheel kick on Sabre and tagged Tanahashi. Tanahashi got some offense but got caught in an armbar when trying an elbow drop. Tana broke the hold with a dragon screw. 

Ibushi and Taichi got tags and traded strikes. Ibushi turned a last ride attempt into a hurricanrana. Taichi hit a lariat into a double down. Suzuki-gun went four on one against Ibushi. DOUKI hit a springboard double stomp for a near fall. DOUKI hit a daybreak DDT for a near fall as Tenzan made the save. 

The finish saw everyone jump in for a big move. DOUKI grabbed his pipe again but Ibushi blocked a shot with a high kick. Ibushi then hit Kamigoye for the pin.

Ibushi and Taichi jawed at each other after the match. 

Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo defeated Kazuchika Okada & SHO (10:15)

These guys worked practically the same match that they did yesterday also but with a different finish. Yujiro and Gedo as a team is just yuck and this is a waste of Okada. 

Okada and Yujiro began and Okada got the upper hand after some simple offense. SHO tagged in and got cut off immediately. Gedo and Yujiro exposed a buckle and used a bunch of old school heel tricks to work him over. 

SHO made a comeback and tagged Okada. Okada fought off a double team. Okada slid out of Pimp Juice and hit an air raid crash on Yujiro before tagging SHO again. 

SHO had Yujiro in a kimura. Gedo took the ref and Jado stumbled his way to the ring with a kendo stick. Jado used the stick on SHO. Yujiro then hit Pimp Juice for the pin. 

Yujiro left Okada laying after the match with a pimp cane shot on the floor.

EVIL, Dick Togo & Taiji Ishimori defeated Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi (10:40)

Hiromu and Ishimori and EVIL and Naito are theoretically the top two programs right now so this was all about laying more of a foundation for those. 

The story of the match was that Hiromu’s shoulder is so thrashed that he can’t do anything. 

Ishimori and Hiromu began. Hiromu’s left shoulder was heavily taped. Ishimori worked it over, including hitting a la mistica. They built to a big showdown between EVIL and Naito after a Naito hot tag. 

Naito ran wild with headscissors and was moving great here. He and EVIL squared off and Naito hit a series of unanswered strikes. Red Shoes tried to pull Naito off but Naito shoved him down twice. This was not a DQ for some reason. 

Bullet Club cut Naito off and triple teamed him. SANADA jumped in and hit a TKO on Togo. EVIL tagged Ishimori. Naito hit a dropkick to Ishimori before tagging Hiromu for the closing sequence. 

Hiromu went for Time Bomb but he got shoved shoulder-first into an exposed buckle. Ishimori hit a backstabber and rolled into the Yes Lock for the submission. 

Ishimori refused to give up the hold after the bell. Naito and SANADA jumped in for the save.

Ishimori cut a promo on Hiromu, taunting him. Naito and EVIL stared each other down from across the arena as the show closed.