Title change at second night of New Japan Road
New IWGP Tag Team Champions were crowned at Korakuen Hall this morning.
In the main event of today’s New Japan Road show, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) to win the IWGP Tag Team titles. After winning the titles from Juice Robinson & David Finlay at NJPW’s New Beginning USA show in Atlanta, Guerrillas of Destiny’s latest reign as champions lasted less than a month.
Jado had interfered and pulled the referee out of the ring when Tanahashi & Ibushi had today’s match won. Loa then laid out Tanahashi with a title belt shot. Guerrillas of Destiny focused on Ibushi next, but he ducked a belt shot and Tonga hit Loa instead. Ibushi gave Tonga a Kamigoye, took out Loa and Jado, and revived the ref so he could count the pin when Tanahashi hit Tonga with the High Fly Flow.
As Tanahashi & Ibushi were celebrating their win, the show ended with an angle where they were attacked by Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi.
Today’s show was the third of four straight nights at Korakuen Hall for NJPW. Manabu Nakanishi’s retirement event is taking place tomorrow, with Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata facing Tanahashi, Ibushi, Okada & Hirooki Goto in the main event.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.