NJPW Super Jr Tag League Night 1 Review and Results

The Road to Power Struggle and NJPW Super Jr Tag League kicked off from Korakuen Hall with Jay White’s Bullet Club debut and some exciting tournament matchups including Ishimori & Eagles vs Liger & Tiger mask and Roppongi 3K vs BUSHI & LIJ’s newest member Shingo Takagi…

Toa Henare, Ren Narita, & Shota Umino vs Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, & Ayato Yoshida

The Young Lions are fired up tonight. They all shove each other around before the match. Uemura and Narita tell their teammates that they’re starting the match and we’re off. They grapple a bit and come to a stalemate. Tag to Henare and he calls in Tsuji.

They go back and forth. Tsuji lays in some STIFF slaps, but Henare responds by leveling him with a shoulder block. Narita tags in, and he and Umino take out the opposite team.

Tandem offense, and Narita continues working over Tsuji. Umino’s in. Big slam and another tag to Henare. Powerslam but Tsuji kicks out. Henare taunts his opponent as he rises to his feet. They trade strikes and Tsuji runs the ropes. Beautiful dropkick to Henare and Yoshida gets the tag. Henare takes more punishment but eventually is able to make the tag to Umino.

The young lions trade offense and show great intensity. Tags to Narita and Uemura. They trade Boston Crabs and show how desperate they are to win. Narita hits a big belly to belly for a great near fall, then follows up with another Crab for the submission victory.

I loved this. The Lions rarely get this much time, and they really made the most of it. Everyone involved showed great intensity from beginning to end, and the closing sequence from Narita and Uemura was particularly great.

Rating: ***1/2