2014.02.17

[Kevin Elliott]

Pacific Jr. Heavyweight Grand Prix - Night One
2014.02.17
Korakuen Hall
2,205 Fans (No Vacancy)

1.  Pacific Jr. Heavyweight Grand Prix Block B - El Desperado [2] defeated Minoru Tanaka [0] with the Guitarra de Angel

2.  Pacific Jr. Heavyweight Grand Prix Block B - BUSHI [2] defeated Atsushi Aoki [0] with the MX

3.  Kota Ibushi Challenge - Kota Ibushi defeated Justin Gabriel ^{(NWA Fight Entertainment)} with the Phoenix Splash

4.  Pacific Jr. Heavyweight Grand Prix Block A - KENTA [2] defeated Atsushi Kotoge [0] with the Game Over

5.  Pacific Jr. Heavyweight Grand Prix Block A - Katsuhiko Nakajima [2] defeated Kotaro Suzuki [0] with the Death Roll

6.  Special Tag Team Match - Kyle O'Reilly ^{(NWA Hybrid Pro)}, Magnus ^{(NWA UK)}, Mike Mondo ^{(NWA Ohio Valley)}, and Samoa Joe ^{(NWA Hybrid Pro)} defeated Go Shiozaki, Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada when Joe used the Coquina Clutch on Shiozaki

The Special Tag Team Match featuring all of Kenshiki's entries into the NWA World Heavyweight Championship tournament saw the gaijin team find chemistry much quicker than their Japanese counterparts.  In particular, Okada seemed to be the root of the problems.  He also factored into the decision, refusing to tag into the match at the end.  This led to Joe locking on the Coquina Clutch for the victory.  Goto and Tanahashi yelled at Okada after the contest.  Tomorrow, these two teams will be split into two separate tag team contests, where Shiozaki and Okada will team against Magnus and Samoa Joe.  Goto and Tanahashi will challenge O'Reilly and Mondo.

Kota Ibushi won the first match of his five man challenge with a victory over Fight Entertainment's Justin Gabriel.  Ibushi, upset at not being included in the Grand Prix tournament, is looking to impress Kenshiki officials. 

The Grand Prix got off to a hot start, as well, with BUSHI, El Desperado, Katsuhiko Nakajima, and KENTA all picking up victories on day one to move into the top of their respective pools.

Block A	Points	Block B	Points
Katsuhiko Nakajima	2	BUSHI	2
KENTA	2	El Desperado	2
Shuji Kondo	0	Naomichi Marufuji	0
Atsushi Kotoge	0	Atsushi Aoki	0
Kotaro Suzuki	0	Minoru Tanaka	0

[cdw]

Good show, I like the tour feel to it. It like the tournament also.