NJPW World Tag League Night 1 Results (Sami Callihan Makes Debuts In Main Event, Okada In Action, Bullet Club & MORE)

SIXTH MATCH: CHAOS (Gedo, Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito)

What started with Naito so beloved that he compared briefcases with a young child, ended with him the same Tranquilo heel he’s made his name on. The story of this match were the Wrestle Kingdom rivalries that built the teams. Okada and Naito shared very little time of significance but definitely kept each other looking like even rivals in a dead-heat race toward January 4th. Ospreay and Takahashi did the most damage to each other, as they are want to do. Gedo begins taking the LIJ punishment, having a fun exchange with Naito. BUSHI hits Gedo with a Codebreaker for 2, and then a middle rope Codebreaker for the pinfall.

WINNERS: LIJ

After the match, Naito calls out Okada.

SEVENTH MATCH: Block A Match: CHAOS (Yoshi-Hashi & Hirooki Goto) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka)

Suzuki-gun storm the CHAOS members before the bell and pummel them throughout Korakuen Hall. It was a brutal beating in the crowd. Suzuki & Goto reignite their old rivalry to deliver some of the most hard hitting offense I’ve seen in a while, with a newly dark haired Yoshi-Hashi showing a new fire for the upcoming new year. After finally overpowering Suzuki & Iizuka, Goto hits hits Fireman’s Carry Onto Knee, after a superkick from Hashi, then he hits the Final Cut for the pinfall and the first two points of the tournament.

WINNERS: CHAOS (2)

MAIN EVENT: Block A Match: Death Juice (Juice RobinsonSami Callihan) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVILSANADA)

Sami Callihan starts the match by spitting on EVIL, then proceeding to meet everyone of EVIL’s moves with some kind of boot to the face. Callihan seemed intent on frustrating both LIJ members. Roibinson, no slouch, also proceeds to trade aurally disorienting chops with SANADA and EVIL.

Let’s get this out of the way, Sami Callihan kissed EVERYBODY.

Sami also was far more dominant against EVIL & SANADA than most NJPW legends have been all year. These are seemingly untouchable made men in the money-printing machine that is Los Ingobernables de Japon, and Juice and Sami whittled them down to their stumps with a series of high impact kicks and suplexes and chops, cursing all the way like he was a son of Haku. Eventually Sami hit an Underhook Brainbuster onto his knee followed by Pulp Friction to pick up the surprisingly dominant pinfall win and two points.

WINNERS: Death Juice (2)

After the match, Juice cuts a promo about how matches like this are why they’ll miss Thanksgiving, so they’ll “be home at Christmas with those trophies.”

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