New Japan ran the penultimate day of the Super Jr. Tag League today, with the top spot(s) still very much up for grabs. Only 3 teams at most were out of it coming in.
Today’s event was held at Sasebo City General Ground Gym in Nagasaki and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 668.
Match 1: Oskar Leube & Kosei Fujita beat Ryohei Oiwa & Yuto Nakashima. Fujita pinned Oiwa.
Match 2: El Desperado, Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Bad Luck Fale. Suzuki pinned Gedo after a Gotch-style piledriver.
Match 3: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Takagi pinned Honma after Pumping Bomber.
Super Jr. Tag League:
Match 4: Francesco Akira & TJP beat Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA. TJP pinned Knight after 2/2.
Match 5: Lio Rush & Yoh beat Clark Connors & Ryusuke Taguchi. Yoh pinned Taguchi after 3K.
Match 6: DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Dick Togo & Sho. DOUKI beat Togo with Italian Stretch 32.
Match 7: Titan & BUSHI beat Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask. Titan pinned TM 4 after a swan dive missile kick.
Main Event: El Lindaman & Alex Zayne beat Chris Bey & Ace Austin. Zayne pinned Austin after SAUCE HEARTS SPECIAL.
The current standings have a 5-way tie for the lead now: Yoh/Rush, Zayne/Lindaman, Akira/TJP, Titan/BUSHI, Austin/Bey. It sounds like the top 2 teams make the Finals next week, so here are the Finals scenarios:
The BUSHI/Titan-Yoh/Rush and TJP/Akira-Austin/Bey winners, assuming there are winners, are in. Zayne/Lindaman are in if they beat Kanemaru/DOUKI. Time limit draws or no contests could complicate things as well as tiebreakers but barring an upset, the most likely scenario seems to be a 3-way tiebreaker unless Kanemaru/DOUKI win. Then it’s simple.
The final day is Saturday. The next event is Friday at Kochi Prefectural Gym in Kochi with World Tag League Day 8. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
