On December 12th, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) presented the finals of Best of the Super Juniors 27 (BOSJ 27) and World Tag League 2020 (WTL 2020) from the legendary Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan in front of 3,564 fans. COVID-19 (Coronavirus, 2019) safety restrictions were responsible for the reduced crowd size, yet the crowd was lively throughout the event, especially during the dual marquee matches.
The headline match of the evening saw a prelude to the marquee match for Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night One on January 4th as the Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) team of reigning IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito and former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Bushi took on former IWGP Intercontinental Champion and G1 Climax 30 winner “Golden Star” Kota Ibushi and “Way to the Grand Master” Master Wato.
Despite the fluid tag teamwork of the LIJ team, Ibushi and Wato were able to get the victory when Ibushi gained the fall over Bushi at the 10 minutes and 6 seconds mark after using Kamigoye technique. Ibushi and Naito exchanged words after the match.
Despite some confusion by western fans of NJPW, Ibushi is only receiving an opportunity to challenge for the ‘Double Championship’ due to Naito threatening to boycott Wrestle Kingdom 15 unless he were to defend against Ibushi on January 4th and “Switchblade” Jay White on January 5th.
The third match saw LIJ members reigning NEVER Openweight Champion “The Dragon” Shingo Takagi and Sanada defeat Bullet Club members Evil/Yujiro in 4 minutes and 58 seconds when Shingo gained the fall over Yujiro with his Last of the Dragon technique.
The second match saw the Empire team of reigning RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, former NEVER Openweight Champion Jeff Cobb, and Great-O-Khan defeat the team of former five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, former eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Toa Henare in 10 minutes and 45 seconds after Jeff Cobb used his Tour of the Islands technique on Henare.
The opening match saw the Bullet Club team of reigning two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion “Bone Soldier” Taiji Ishimori, “Rogue General” Bad Luck Fale, and “Crown Jewel” Chase Owens defeat the CHAOS team of former four-time Sho, reigning KOPW (presumably King of Pro Wrestling) titleholder Toru Yano, and “Sniper of the Skies” Robbie Eagles in 5 minutes and 53 seconds when Owens pinned Eagles after he and Fale used their Grenade Launcher technique.
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