[2000-11-22-NJPW] Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka

[soup23]

This took a bit to get going and had Tenzan and Kojima clowning around a bit with Kojima mimicking Nagata’s salute. When Takashi and Yuji take over, the match ramps up and they are much more violent and visceral in their attack. I actually thought Nagata and Iizuka looked pretty fantastic here and the big time prospects of NJPW going forward compared to Tenzan and Kojima who were their direct competition at the time. Nagata gets worked over for a bit and TenCozy up their game as we head into the final stretch. They hit their version of the 3D on Nagata for a nearfall but the Yuji team comes back and locks on a double submission which is a crowd pleaser for some near submissions. Tenzan is able to fight to the ropes. Tenzan goes to the eyes and then lands a spinning back kick and tombstone combo to stun Nagata and pick up the win. Surprise finish that worked for the crowd. A very good tag match to fill out a tag league overall. ***1/2 (7.1)