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OKADA & OSPREAY ON OPPOSITE SIDES & MORE: 10/23 NJPW ROAD TO POWER STRUGGLE REPORT

By James Kurokawa on 2020-10-23 17:22:00

NJPW ROAD TO POWER STRUGGLE - 10/23

 Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura. 

Uemura pins Tsuji with a Double Overhook Suplex with bridge.

The Great O-Khan and Will Ospreay, with Bea Preistley vs. Kazuchika Okada and Gabriel Kidd.  O-Khan pinned Kidd with an Iron Claw Slam.  Solid match.  This match served many purposes. 

1) It continued establishing The Empire as a valid Heel faction.  Preistley performs well in her "Gedo" role as constantly interfering in the match for her teammates.

2) O-Khan looked like the threat and monster that he is with the win.  O-Khan powered out of Kidd's Butterfly Suplex which Kidd used to win throughout the G1 Tour. 

3)  Kidd, the young lion, took the pin so Okada did not have to.

4) Okada and Ospreay are still healing up from their G1 Climax grind so their ring time was limited. 

5) Ospreay and Okada interacted very briefly, so they are doing a slow build.  Potentially, they could build this to a big grudge match at Wrestle Kingdom, without any titles on the line, and the fans will be invested to see Okada get his revenge against Ospreay's betrayal.

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi vs. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Takagi pins Kanemaru after a pop up Death Valley Driver and a Pumping Bomber.   Good match.  Hard fought match between Suzuki-Gun and Los Ingobernales de Japon.  Takagi and Suzuki continued to fight each other to the locker room.  This was a preview for Takagi vs. Suzuki for the NEVER Openweight Championship.  Hiromu takes the mic and he and BUSHI challenge El Desperado and Kanemaru for their IWGP Jr Tag Team Titles.

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomoaki Honma vs. Jay White, KENTA and Gedo

Ibushi pins Gedo with a Kamagoye.  KENTA continues to attack Tanahashi on the ring floor.  The young lions try to stop the attack but KENTA beats them down, and goes back to pummel Tanahashi.  Referees and young lions finally get Bullet Club back to the locker room.  

SANADA and Tetsuya Naito vs. EVIL and Dick Togo

SANADA submits Togo to the Skull End.  Solid match.  Both teams looked great.   Naito attacks EVIL after the match and applies a neck submission.   The young lions have to break it up.    SANADA gives Naito the LIJ fistbump after the match.

Despite being the runner-up in the G1 Climax 30, SANADA has no match at POWER STRUGGLE on November 7 and looks to be in a supporting role in LIJ again.   Hopefully, this is not the case going forward.  

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship:  Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI vs. DOUKI, Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. 

YOSHI-HASHI pins DOUKI with Karma and retains the Titles.   Awesome match!  There were moments where either team could have won.   This was a showcase match for DOUKI, despite the loss.  All the members of the match were in the G1 Climax except for DOUKI, who pulled out some great moves and led the charge for Suzuki-Gun in this match.  Hopefully, DOUKI will be in the Super Junior 27 Tournament in November.  YOSHI-HASHI took the mic and tried to claim that they deserved a IWGP Tag Team Title match, which ZSJ disputed.  In the interview area, Goto said he will team with YOSHI-HASHI to chase the Tag Titles.  

The Road to POWER STRUGGLE continues on Nov. 1 on New Japan World.  

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