New Japan continued the BURNING SPIRIT Tour today with the second of back-to-back events where vocal support by fans was allowed for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. Based on yesterday it appears to be a huge success so far despite reduced capacity limits as a result.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on New Japan World at a later date, which should be in the next day or two. There was no live broadcast on the service.
The announced paid attendance was 700, a legit advance sellout. Yuji Nagata was the guest on commentary.
Match 1: TAKA Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki beat Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Yuto Nakashima. Suzuki beat Nakashima with a sleeper hold.
Match 2: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat The DKC, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. EVIL pinned DKC after EVIL. More dog cage/kennel hijinks pre and post-match.
Match 3: Hikuleo, Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale beat Gideon Gray, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb. Hikuleo beat Gray when Gray gave up just before a chokeslam. Khan & Nagata traded words afterwards (they face off on 9/11).
Match 4: Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Jado, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi. Henare beat Jado with Ultima.
Match 5: Tomoaki Honma & KUSHIDA beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. KUSHIDA pinned Gedo with a hanmerlock suplex hold.
Match 6: El Desperado, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Taichi beat BUSHI.
Match 7: Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste & Jonah beat Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Jonah pinned Yano after Torpedo.
Main Event: KENTA & El Phantasmo beat Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi. Phantasmo pinned Takagi with a rollup after a low blow.
The next event is tomorrow at Lily Arena Mito in Ibaraki. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
