NJPW G1 Los Angeles Special Night 2
NJPWWorld.com
July 2nd 2017
Long Beach Convention Centre

Jushin Liger, KUSHIDA, Dave Finlay vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu (Tempura Boyz) and YoshiTatsu

  • 8-9 minute fast-paced opening match.
  • Crowd was really into Liger, Finlay and Kushida
  • Finish of the match was a triple submission: Liger with the surfboard on Komatsu, Finlay with a stretch muffler on Tatsu, and Kushida with a kimura on Tanaka.
  • Tatsu was the legal man and he tapped, giving the good guys the win in the opener.
  • Kushida and the Tempura Boyz shared some words after the match. Tanaka and Komatsu are NJPW young lions currently on loan to CMLL.

Winners: Liger, KUSHIDA & David Finlay (Tatsu submitted to Finlay)

IWGP US Championship Tournament (Semi-Final)
Kenny Omega (Bullet Club) vs. Jay Lethal

  • Lethal was coming into this one with injured ribs.
  • Omega started the match by kicking Lethal in the ribs when the ref was calling for a clean break on the ropes.
  • He worked Lethal’s ribs on the outside and rolled him back in.
  • Back in the ring, Omega went for the 1-Winged Angel, but Lethal rolled out of it and gave Omega a series of super-kicks.
  • Lethal then hit a Lethal Injection, but Omega rolled out of the ring afterwards.
  • Lethal then gave Omega 3 suicide dives on the outside, knocking him into the guardrail.
  • Lethal rolled Omega back in and gave him a flying elbow drop for a near-fall.
  • As Omega kicked out, Lethal grabbed his leg and locked in a figure four leglock, as he continued to go for his big moves early.
  • Omega got to the ropes but was now favoring his leg.
  • Lethal worked his leg with kicks and a couple of kneebreakers.
  • Lethal went for his second Lethal Injection but Omega countered it into a backstabber, which hurt his leg some more.
  • After that, Omega began to work Lethal’s back and ribs.
  • Lethal landed a blue-thunder power-bomb but wasn’t really able to capitalize.
  • Omega brought out the V-Trigger knees and took control afterwards. He hit a cross-legged neckbreaker, dragon suplex, doctor-bomb, and several more knees.
  • Omega went for the 1-winged angel but Lethal attempted to counter it into a hurricanrana. Omega countered Lethal’s counter however and hoisted him back up on his shoulders, re-positioned him on his shoulders and finally hit the 1-Winged Angel to get the pin.

Winner: Kenny Omega

IWGP US Championship Tournament (Semi-Final)
Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki-Gun)

  • Zabre Jr hit a Pele kick on Ishii’s arm early and then proceeded to work the limb the rest of the match.
  • ZSJ would lock in a submission on Ishii, and Ishii would counter with headbutts, chops, a superplex and various other power moves, but ZSJ would eventually get back on offense and lock in a submission. Ishii probably never got more than 1 move in a row.
  • Ishii went for a lariat but ZSJ grabbed his arm and locked in an armbar with a head scissors. Ishii made several attempts to get the ropes but was thwarted several times, as Zack pinned back his various limbs. Eventually Ishii just rolled his entire body into the ropes and got the break.
  • ZSJ went for a guillotine but was countered, Ishii hit a brainbuster and got the pin.

Winner: Tomohiro Ishii

Volador Jr, Dragon Lee, Jay White, Juice Robinson, Titan vs. Bushi, Evil, Sanada, Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi (Los Ingobernables)

  • Very lucha-styled 10-man tag match.
  • Plenty of lucha style comedy spots as well, once leading Josh Barnett to proclaim he was having an existential crisis.
  • Finish of the match was Jay White pinning Bushi after giving him a flatliner.

Winner: Volador Jr., Dragon Lee, Jay White, Juice Robinson and Titan (White pinned Bushi)

Michael Elgin and War Machine vs. Hangman Page and the Guerillas of Destiny (Bullet Club)

  • Haku came out with GoD!! He’s the father of both Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa.
  • Bit of a surprise in the end of this match, as Hangman Page hit his reverse piledriver finish on Ray Rowe and got the pin.
  • Page lost to an injured Jay Lethal yesterday, so needed a good result here and he got it.
  • Page then said into the camera that War Machine’s tag titles are his, though he neglected to mention who his partner is.

Winners: Hangman Page, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Roa (Page pinned Rowe)

  • Naoki Sugabayashi, through an interpreter, announced that NJPW would return to the United States in 2018.


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
The Young Bucks © (Bullet Club) vs. Roppongi Vice (CHAOS)

  • Young Bucks have really been incorporating more sharpshooters into their offense lately.
  • They worked on Beretta’s back a good portion of the match, which would play into the finish.
  • They started the match by countering all of each other’s moves, and Josh and Ross played up how well the two teams know each other.
  • Later in the match Young Bucks hit More Bang For Your Buck for a nearfall.
  • Roppongi Vice got in quite a bit of offense as well. Beretta gave Nick Jackson a piledriver on the apron and then a running knee.
  • Roppongi Vice also countered two Meltzer Driver attempts by the Bucks.
  • Vice managed to hit Strong Zero, but Matt Jackson kicked out. Can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone kick out of that move before.
  • The Bucks would later give Rocky Romero a Meltzer Driver on the floor. Nick springboarded off the top rope into a corkscrew and got one hand on Romero as Matt brought him down with the tombstone piledriver.
  • This left Beretta all on his own, and he played the valiant wrestler trying to battle back against the odds. They super-kicked him once in the face, and then another to his injured back.
  • They then gave another Meltzer Driver to Romero, and wrapped both guys in sharpshooters. Romero tapped, giving the Bucks the win.

Winners: the Young Bucks

  • After the match Ricochet hit the ring and took out both Matt and Nick.
  • He challenged them to a tag title match along with his partner Rysuke Taguchi.
  • Ricochet also said he wanted to be at the show yesterday but “A certain underground fighting company are being pricks right now”
  • Roppongi Vice then broke up! Romero cut a promo, saying the team had achieved all they had set out for, and that it was time for Beretta to go up to the heavyweight division.
  • They hugged and the crowd chanted for them. Romero never said he was retiring, but said “he was done with it”, so his future is left a little vague.
  • They’d been together 3 years, won the jr tag titles on 4 occasions and won the super junior tag tournament.


Marty Scurll, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Cody (Bullet Club) vs. Will Ospreay, the Briscoes and Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS)

  • Cody had a separate entrance from the rest of the Bullet Club.
  • The story of this match was really how much the live crowd did not like Cody.
  • In the opening moments of the match, the fans chanted for Cody to tag out to any member of the Bullet Club.
  • Naturally, Cody got the pin for his team. He hit Cross Rhodes on Ospreay and pinned him.

Winners: Bullet Club (Cody pinned Ospreay)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi © vs. Billy Gunn

  • Tanahashi was coming into this one with an injured shoulder.
  • Gunn took the advantage by out powering Tanahashi and focusing on his injured shoulder.
  • Tanahashi started to come back after he pulled down his opponent’s tights to reveal neon green trunks underneath. Gunn did the same thing back to Tanahashi later, but there were no trunks underneath.
  • Gunn hit his cobra clutch slam for a near fall.
  • Gunn then hit a Fame Asser after Tanahashi missed a High Fly Flow for another nearfall.
  • Tanahashi then hit a slingblade clothesline and a High Fly Flow and got the pin.
  • They shook hands after the match and gave each other respect.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

IWGP US Championship Tournament Final
Kenny Omega (Bullet Club) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)

  • They started the match with Ishii getting the advantage with shoulder tackles.
  • Then Omega gained control with a snap mare and kick to the back.
  • Ishii egged him on to kick him in the back some more, and Omega obliged.
  • Omega raked Ishii’s eyes when he kept coming forward. This actually got some booes.
  • Ishii countered with a suplex and Omega rolled to the outside.
  • Ishii landed chops which took Omega over the guardrail.
  • The Young Bucks were distracting the ref which prevented him from counting both guys out.
  • Ishii threw Omega into several rows of seats and dragged him back towards the ring.
  • Omega countered a german suplex on the outside by landing on his feet, he then gave Ishii a suplex on the floor, then got back in the ring.
  • Ishii got back in the ring and took Omega down with a shoulder tackle, then chopped him in the corner for a bit.
  • Omega started to battle back but Ishii chopped him down again and gave him a snapmare and kick to the back.
  • Omega started to egg Ishii on to kick him just like Ishii had done earlier, then they traded chops several times.
  • Ishii got the advantage in the chops, which took Omega through the ropes and onto the ring apron.
  • Ishii hit a powerslam.
  • They exchanged shots for a bit when Omega hit a DDT and they both stayed down.
  • Omega hit his firemans takeover followed by a 2nd rope moonsault for a nearfall.
  • After that, Omega hit a dropkick to the knee followed by his jumping fameasser to a standing Ishii.
  • Ishii rolled to the outside and Omega hit him with a diving senton plancha on the outside, but he started holding his knee afterwards.
  • As the ref (Red Shoes) was tending to Omega, the Young Bucks set up their own “gimmick table”.
  • Omega bounced up to show his knee was fine, then hit his opponent with a flying dropkick to the back of the head. Then he hit him with a back elbow in the corner.
  • Omega landed strikes in the corner for a period, but this seemed to only make Ishii grow stronger.
  • Ishii fought back but came off the ropes right into a hurricanrana by Omega.
  • Omega then tried to put Ishii through the table. As he was trying to give him a dragon suplex through the table, Ishii held on by biting the top rope. Omega eventually gave him the move through the table and onto the floor however.
  • Once back in the ring, Omega went to give him a 1-Winged Angel, but Ishii countered into a DDT.
  • Ishii then hit a superplex from the top rope for a nearfall.
  • Omega started to battle back with V-Trigger knees and got a nearfall.
  • Omega then hit his own brainbuster onto Ishii for a near fall.
  • A few spots later, Ishii actually hit a 1-Winged Angel onto Omega for a nearfall.
  • After that Omega took control with V-Trigger knees, hit a cross-legged neckbreaker, a reverse hurricanrana and several more V-Triggers.
  • Omega finally hit the 1-Winged Angel and got the pin to become the inaugural IWGP US Champion.

Winner: Kenny Omega (inaugural IWGP US Champion)

  • After the match Omega was presented with the belt.
  • Cody entered the ring and ripped the belt away from him, but then gave it back and hugged him.
  • The rest of the Bullet Club also came out and they carried Omega on their shoulders in the ring .
  • Omega got on the mic and cut a promo thanking the fans. He said nobody in Japan believed this could be a success, and he said we’d sell out a bigger arena. Said they are coming back bigger and better next year.