Kevin’s NJPW Super Jr. Tag League 2021 Nights One & Two Review

NJPW Summer Struggle Night Nine & Ten (Super Jr. Tag League)
August 7th & 8th | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

Like I do with most other NJPW tournaments, I will not be covering every extra undercard match on these shows (though there are currently only two. To save even a bit of time, I’ll be looking at the Super Jr. Tag League bouts.

Dick Togo and Gedo [0] vs. Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask IV [0]
This Bullet Club team is certainly not a duo I ever wanted to see. Haha, they’re so lame that they got the generic Bullet Club theme. Eagles is the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, so expect Tiger Mask IV to eat most of the falls they take. The heels jumped before the bell but their upper hand didn’t last very long. Still, Tiger Mask IV was the one to get isolated as the Bullet Club veterans did all sorts of underhanded tricks. Eagles ultimately got the hot tag and did Jr. Champion things but Togo and Gedo always had something up their sleeve, even if it was a simple series of flash pin attempts. Eagles was able to trap Gedo in the Ron Miller Special and make him tap after 11:56. Solid stuff with some fun veteran shenanigans. [**¾]

El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru [0] vs. Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi [0]
Are Wato and Taguchi known as the Ass Masters? Or is it Master Ass? I hope this Suzuki-Gun duo wins the tournament to add to Desperado’s great 2021. We got another jump attack at the bell and that put Taguchi in trouble almost immediately. I liked the work done on him, including Kanemaru’s Boston Crab on the ropes. It’s simple, yet effective. Wato got in soon after but didn’t exactly have a HOT tag sequence. Taguchi had Three Amigos interrupted by a rake of the eyes but then used the ass attack to even things out. The closing stretch was decent, with Kanemaru sneaking in with a rollup to steal this in 13:52. Another solid yet unspectacular match. [**¾]

El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori [0] vs. Roppongi 3K [0]
It is your night one (of the tournament) main event! ELP and Ishimori are the champs, while Roppongi 3K have won the tournament three times in a row! Alas, SHO and YOH have been struggling as of late. They met on Kizuna Road, with the titles changing hands (***¼). Here, a lot of the focus was on a combination of the champions doing dastardly things and Roppongi 3K’s waning confidence. They just can’t seem to get things straightened out. SHO came in with some fire and his exchanges with Ishimori were great as expected. They are two of the best in the division. ELP worked as a villain here, talking all sorts of smack to the struggling opposition. One reason for the RPG 3K slump is their inability to hit their finisher, which continued here. That’s a good way to keep a move protected when someone is losing consistently. Roppongi 3K fought hard but YOH was put down by Bloody Cross, losing in 15:56. Oh, baby, I love me some 15 minute New Japan main events. Okay, so this wasn’t an epic match but it was very good and did exactly what it needed to. The champs win, the favorites struggle and we continue on. [***½]

NIGHT TEN!

Dick Togo and Gedo [0] vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru [2]
It was odd to see Desperado charge the ring only for no jump attack to happen. Maybe Gedo and Togo know that game too well. Given who these teams are, you got the shenanigans you expected. However, I think they hit a level of diminishing returns on them. Where it worked masterfully when Taichi wrestled Jay White last year, this one felt like they went to the well a bit too often and it got lesser as things went on. By the time this came to an end at the 18:56 mark, it felt like it had gone on for 45 or so minutes. It wasn’t bad but it certainly dragged on for no reason. Kanemaru used a low blow and Deep Impact to win. Had this had a few less underhanded stuff and went about 12 minutes, it would’ve been better. [**]

Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask IV [2] vs. Roppongi 3K [0]
There’s potential here. Tiger Mask IV is obviously the weak link but he’s a veteran who can hold his own well enough in a tag where the other three guys are awesome. Early on, Tiger Mask was actually using his veteran knowhow to cause problems for the three-time tourney winners. Surprisingly, it was Eagles who got isolated at times and had his leg worked over. A turn of events for a guy known for the Ron Miller Special. He managed to fight off attempts at 3K with some help from Tiger Mask, continuing Roppongi 3K’s inability to nail that move. I really liked the late back and forth between YOH and Eagles, especially since I got to see YOH try more submission stuff than expected. It came down to those two again and Eagles made YOH tap to the Ron Miller Special as Tiger Mask held back SHO. This went 14:24 and had a lot going for it. I enjoyed a lot of the action, Eagles continues to deliver, and we’ve got the Roppongi 3K storyline to consider. Will they pull a classic Gedo trope and rally from 0-2 or does this lead to their eventual split for singles runs? [***½]

El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori [2] vs. Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi [0]
THEY’RE ASS MASTERS! BWAP BWAP! Something like that. Before the bell, ELP removed his boot to prove that it wasn’t loaded but it had a paper with “F U Taguchi” written on it. Now that’s just mean. So, this was like the most 6/10 match you’ll ever see. It didn’t do anything technically wrong but it also never pulled me in the way you want a fan to be invested. They had solid action, Wato got isolated to set up a Taguchi hot tag, and the heels were true jerks throughout. Maybe it’s because the only guy in this that I really look forward to seeing is Ishimori. Regardless, it kind of just existed. It picked up down the stretch with some near falls on moonsaults and Recientemente. ELP eventually finished off Wato with CR2 in 15:43. Like I said, 6/10. [***]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

A pretty average showing so far in the tournament. The two Roppongi 3K matches have been the standouts but they aren’t must-see, while everything else is fine enough.