Blue Justice XIV (October 6) Full card, preview
Nagata returns home to Togane
One of the fan favourite events on the NJPW calendar is the annual return to Yuji Nagata’s home of Togane in Chiba. This year, Nagata’s Blue Justice card will see the veteran celebrate an incredible 40 years in wrestling between the amateur mats and the professional ring, and to mark the occasion, Nagata has put together an impressive card!
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Main event: Yuji Nagata & Jun Akiyama vs Team NOAH (Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge)
Former All Asian Tag Team Champions Yuji Nagata and Jun Akiyama will be reunited for the night. Teaming together for the first time in a Tokyo Dome classic against Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Muto on October 8 2001 before battling one another on January 4 the following year in the main event of Wrestling World for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Both proud amateur wrestlers, Akiyama and Nagata would find themselves in the same and opposite corners over the ensuing years, before winning the All Asia Tag Championships in 2018 for a five month reign.
They last tagged together on 15 April this year in a 30 minute time limit draw in Pro-Wrestling NOAH. Their opponents that night were Atsushi Kotoge and Go Shiozaki, and with business left unfinished from that night in Korakuen Hall, it’s a rematch of that bout in Togane’s main event!
7th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) vs TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr, Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita)
Six man tag team action sees a double preview of King of Pro-Wrestling, with Zack Sabre Jr. and Tetsuya Naito, and Ryohei Oiwa and Shingo Takagi colliding. After the main event of Destruction in Kobe, G1 Climax 34 winner ZSJ’s confrontation with IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito was interrupted by Shingo Takagi. The new NEVER Champion used his title as leverage to demand the right to challenge his faction mate Naito; in the confusion, new TMDK member Ryohei Oiwa joined the mix. Now it’s Oiwa vs Takagi, and Naito vs Sabre October 20, and a heated six man preview tonight.
6th Match: Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney, Gedo, Gabe Kidd & David Finlay)
Destruction in Kobe saw YOSHI-HASHI pushing David Finlay hard in a gutsy challenge to the IWGP Global Champion, but one that ultimately saw the Rebel retain. As Finlay celebrated his success, it would be Hirooki Goto on hand to help his Bishamon partner up, but also to stare down the Global Champion; after a win for Goto in Korakuen Hall during the G1, he earned a claim that was cemented with a win over Gabe Kidd earlier in the night.
This ten man tag sees a preview of that contest, as well as of Intergalactic Jet Setters facing Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors. After Kevin Knight picked up a win over the IWGP Junior Tag Champions at Capital Collision in Washington DC, he and KUSHIDA have now earned a tag title shot, but can they make a statement of intent tonight?
5th Match: Shota Umino, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo)
As Hiroshi Tanahashi prepares for his 25th Anniversary match in Ryogoku at King of Pro-Wrestling, he reunites with Tomohiro Ishii and Shota Umino to face the forces of Torture tonight. Royal Quest on October 20 will see Tanahashi and Ishii challenge for the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships, and these two in particular will be looking to make a forceful point.
4th match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji) vs United Empire (Jakob Austin Young & Jeff Cobb)
After a backstage scuffle in Kobe, Jeff Cobb and Yota Tsuji’s NJPW World TV Championship rematch is on at King of Pro-Wrestling- and the instigator of that scuffle has joined the mix. It’ll be Ren Narita along with Tsuji and Cobb on October 20 in a three way matchup; doubtless the principal players will need to have eyes in the backs of their heads for the Souled Out challenger, both in ring and backstage.
3rd Match: Just Five Guys (TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
The previous and next challengers to IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI team up to face the champ and TAKA Michinoku tonight. After DOUKI vanquished Yoshinobu Kanemaru in Kobe, scoring yet another career first win against his former partner, SHO made his distasteful presence felt. DOUKI knows full well that he has never defeated SHO in singles action, but can he pick up a tag win in Chiba?
2nd Match: TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Bad Luck Fale & Caveman Ugg)
The second match of the night sees the return of Bad Luck Fale, and the Japanese televised debut of Caveman Ugg. Ugg defeated Mikey Nicholls in singles action in TAMASHII recently, and Ryogoku will see the imposing superheavyweight team challenge for the IWGP Tag Team gold as a result on October 20. A sign of things to come in our second bout then, but BULLET CLUB will not have an easy night as veteran Hartley Jackson joins his Australian allies in the ring.
1st match: Masatora Yasuda, Shoma Kato & Toru Yano vs Daiki Nagai, Katsuya Murashima & Boltin Oleg
With Young Lions and veterans teaming up in six man action to start off, it’s going to be a loaded night of action in Togane!
