by Daniel Johnson

Togi Makabe and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Satoshi Kojima and Masato Tanaka

In case you missed this past Saturday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 you should know that Satoshi Kojima defeated “The Iron Man” Rob Conway to become the newest holder of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Hiroshi Tanahashi also defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event to lay claim to the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The full results of the show can be found here. Since Kojima and Tanahashi were so prominently featured I thought this  tag match would be worth showcasing on The Johnson Transcript.

Togi Makabe and Masato Tanaka start the match off with brawling. Although Tanaka takes Makabe down first, Makabe held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the time and wasn’t about to be embarrassed. Before long Makabe is striking Tanaka in the face in a corner of the ring. Soon enough Tanahashi and Kojima come in and the match turns more into a technical showcase than a brawling affair. Tanahashi pulls out some standards of any mat classic such as an arm drag into a submission. The match takes a harsh turn back into a wild brawl though when Kojima gets Tanahashi out of the ring and the angry Tanaka lays into Tanahashi’s leg with a kendo sitck.

Back inside Kojima really targets Tanahashi’s leg with such moves as a single leg Boston crab and a sharpshooter. Incredibly Tanahashi fights back and gets the hot tag after a second rope moonsault. However, Makabe isn’t in the ring for that long and before much time Kojima nearly defeats Tanahashi on a few occasions including with a wonderful top rope elbow drop. Oh yeah! Yet, Tanahashi fights back once again with a German suplex and nearly hits a top rope maneuver, but gets cut off when Kojima and Tanaka regroup. The Kojima/Tanaka team breaks down though when Tanaka accidentally hits Kojima. Tanaka looks confused at first, but then wallops Kojima again for good measure.  Tanahashi rolls Tanaka up and since Kojima isn’t around to make the save, Tanahashi and Makabe win! After the match Tetsuya Naito tries to jump Tanahashi, but Tanahashi fights him off and then gives a speech only those fluent in Japanese can appreciate.

If you feel like more Kojima or Tanahashi then click here for Kojima or here for Tanahashi.

Categories: Wrestling Clips

Tags: "The Iron Man" Rob Conway, Hiroshi Tanahashi, IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Japan, Masato Tanaka, NJPW, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8, NWA, Puro Flashback, Rob Conway, Satoshi Kojima, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tetsuya Naito, The Iron Man, Togi Makabe