The IWGP Tag Team Champions earned their first points in the World Tag League after Yuto-Ice pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi.
RESULTS:
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- B BLOCK: OSKAR & Yuto-Ice over Hiroshi Tanahashi & El Phantasmo in 16:43
- B BLOCK: SANADA & Ren Narita over Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa in 14:04
- B BLOCK: Great O-Khan & Callum Newman over Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura in 15:18
- B BLOCK: Alex Zayne & Lance Archer over Hiromu Takahashi & David Finlay in 9:01
- Gabe Kidd, Yota Tsuji & Gedo over Oleg Boltin, Toru Yano & Katsuya Murashima in 9:14
- El Desperado, Shuji Ishikawa & Shoma Kato over Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto in 5:02
- EVIL, Don Fale & Dick Togo over Taichi, Satoshi Kojima & Masatora Yasuda in 5:28
- Chase Owens, Yujiro & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Shingo Takagi, Drilla Moloney & Daiki Nagai in 4:23
Friday’s show in Aomori drew 1,187 to see the Knock Out Brothers grab their first two points of the tournament, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi & El Phantasmo in the main event.
The match culminated with a showdown between Yuto-Ice and Tanahashi, weeks after their main event in Anjo, where Tanahashi pinned the rising star with the High Fly Flow.
This time, it was a younger star getting the better of the retiring legend. The pair hit Tanahashi with the KOB, but ELP saved with a Thunderkiss ’86 across the ring. A Tree Slam by OSKAR removed ELP from the ring and led to Yuto-Ice hitting Cruella and pinning Tanahashi.
Both teams entered the show without points, and Tanahashi & ELP are the only team in the B Block that remain winless.
House of Torture’s Ren Narita & SANADA moved to four points by beating Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa. There was a great sequence of counters between ZSJ and SANADA. Narita attacked the knee of Oiwa, but the TMDK member fought back and hit a Doctor Bomb when SANADA pulled referee Marty Asami to the floor. It was nonstop attacks by the House of Torture and was met by indifference from the audience. EVIL hit a lariat to Oiwa, and Narita won after hitting Hell’s Guillotine.
Great O-Khan & Callum Newman squared off with Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura, with both teams entering the night with two points. O-Khan and Newman work together well and have good chemistry. They showcased a series of double-team maneuvers, including a cutter by Newman to Umino off the shoulders of O-Khan. Newman landed a flying knee strike and the Excalibur leaping double stomp to defeat Umino and move the duo ahead.
The tournament matches opened with Lance Archer & Alex Zayne beating Hiromu Takahashi & David Finlay. Archer hit a series of choke slams on the GHC junior heavyweight champion, but Finlay saved his partner. Finlay sent Archer & Zayne to the floor and used Takahashi as a weapon to powerbomb him to the floor, but was caught. Finlay dove to the floor and was sent onto the apron with a choke slam in an ill-conceived plan. Archer & Zayne hit Blackout Sauce on Takahashi and moved to four points.
Block A:
- Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (4)
- Yota Tsuji & Gabe Kidd (4)
- El Desperado & Shuji Ishikawa (4)
- Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano (4)
- EVIL & Don Fale (4)
- Taichi & Satoshi Kojima (2)
- Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney (2)
- Chase Owens & Yujiro (0)
Block B:
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa (4)
- Ren Narita & SANADA (4)
- Great O-Khan & Callum Newman (4)
- Lance Archer & Alex Zayne (4)
- SANADA & Ren Narita (4)
- Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura (2)
- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (2)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & El Phantasmo (0)
The World Tag League continues Saturday with A Block matches:
- A BLOCK: Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano vs. Yota Tsuji & Gabe Kidd
- A BLOCK: Bishamon vs. El Desperado & Shuji Ishikawa
- A BLOCK: Taichi & Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL & Don Fale
- A BLOCK: Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney vs. Chase Owens & Yujiro
- Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, El Phantasmo & Katsuya Murashima
- David Finlay, Hiromu Takahashi & Gedo vs. SANADA, Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- OSKAR, Yuto-Ice & Daiki Nagai vs. Great O-Khan, Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young
- Yuya Uemura, Shota Umino & Shoma Kato vs. Lance Archer, Alex Zayne & Zane Jay
