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Kevin Knight & Ren Narita vs. KENTA & Hikuelo
This was exactly what you thought it would be. The two younger stars from the dojo showed some fighting spirit but eventually fell to Bullet Club. The story was that Knight was thrown into the deep end of the pool as a last minute substitute for the injured Karl Fredericks. Knight kept kicking up despite the beating and the announcers put him over as having been handpicked bu Katsuyori Shibata.
Narita finally tagged back in but Hikuelo attacked. Narita dropkicked his legs but the big man didn’t go down. KENTA tagged in and Narita took him down and nailed a back elbow before hitting a suplex for a two count. Knight tagged in but was placed in the Boston Crab by KENTA. Narita tried to help but Hikuelo took him out. KENTA placed Knight back into the crab, where he submitted.
New Japan booking 101, as it should have been.
They aired a great video package putting over the history of the Super J-Cup.
Your winners, KENTA & Hikuelo!
Super J-Cup Finals - ACH vs. El Phantasmo
El Phantasmo attacked ACH as he was walking onto the entrance stage and began beating him on the floor with right hands. He was going to powerbomb ACH through a ringside table but saw the tournament trophy and smashed him with it instead. He drove ACH into the apron back-first.
ACH still refused to quit and they rang the bell as Phantasmo told him he was an idiot. ACH still fought Phantasmo off. Phantasmo went to the floor. ACH followed on the apron but was tripped and slammed onto the apron again. Phantasmo kept drilling him backwards into the apron’s corner.
ACH was almost counted out. They were doing the 20 count, so apparently earlier tonight, Horus didn’t realize it was a 20 count. ACH rolled back in but Phantasmo kept attacking him and verbally taunting him. He drilled ACH with a hard kick across the back. Phantasmo ripped at ACH’s face and continued drilling him with knees over and over, wrecking his back. ACH nailed a suplex and scored a two count.
They battled back and forth. ACH was tied to the tree of woe and again Phantasmo stepped on his groin. ACH went to the floor. They played up that Phantasmo was disrespecting the vision of Jushin Liger, who created the tournament. ACH was suplexed onto the entrance stage and they had a special effect showing that the lights were screwed up from the force of the move. ACH was almost counted out but dove back into the ring between the 19 and 20 count. This was done so well, I thought it was the finish.
Phantasmo kept taunting ACH and thought he had it in the bag but ACH grabbed at him. Phantasmo took him down and attacked the hand, following the same strategy from earlier matches. He went to snap the fingers of ACH again and despite the referee’s warnings, indeed snapped it. Phantasmo bragged it was too easy and went to walk the top rope, but got too cocky while doing so and was shoved, knocking him onto the apron.
Phantasmo went to the floor, where ACH killed him with a big running boot to the face. ACH brought him into the ring and nailed a cutter for a two count. He went for a German suplex but Phantasmo escaped. ACH surprised him with a German suplex for a close two count. ACH set him up and went to the top rope. He took too long and Phantasmo kicked him hard in the face. ACH was nailed with a top rope rana and then hit with a big splash. Phantasmo needed a moment to catch his breath and that allowed ACH a chance to recover and kick up at the last second.
Phantasmo evaded a move and caught ACH with a Styles Clash for a close two count. El Phantasmo scored with a running knee strike and yelled “Goodbye!” ACH came back with a surge of strikes and nailed a brainbuster for a close two count.
ACH went to the top but took a long time to do so. Phantasmo caught up to him and crotched ACH on the top. Phantasmo climbed to the top and met him but was pulled onto ACH’s shoulders and nailed with a gutbuster into the ring, shades of Dean Malenko. He scored a two count, then went to the top for the 450 splash only to see Phantasmo pulled his knees up. ACH was shoved into the referee and hit with a low blow. Phantasmo rolled him up, as he had Lio Rush earlier but ACH kicked up, somehow.
Phantasmo wiped out ACH with a superkick. He obviously had the win but pulled him up for the CR2 and nailed it, scoring the pinfall.
Your winner, winning his second Super J-Cup, El Phantasmo!
A good main event, playing off a lot of what had come before. It seemed to be a forgone conclusion that ACH was going to score the big win here so Phantasmo scoring the win was a little anticlimactic but this was about the bigger story of Phantasmo winning back to back tournaments and continuing his journey of being a disrespectful SOB.
Phantasmo was handed the broken pieces of the trophy and smashed it before placing the jacket on. He took it off, spit on it and threw it down. The announcers stated he may as well have spit in Liger’s face.
Phantasmo took the mic and said they can take the jacket and the trophy. He said the Junior Division is his but he’s shown disrespect. He said his problem is Mr. Best of Super Juniors. He said he was challenging Hiromu Takahashi for Wrestle Kingdom.
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