Originally published at Tetsuya Naito & SANADA win IWGP Tag Titles at NJPW Summer Struggle
As New Japan Pro-Wrestling rounded out their weekend of Summer Struggle shows, the event held on July 11th concluded with new IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions being crowed.
In the main event of the Summer Struggle in Sapporo event, Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi had their first defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championships. They put the titles on the line against Tetsuya Naito and SANADA and new champions were crowned.
This was SANADA’s second time winning the IWGP Tag Titles and Naito’s third. The duo are the 90th pair to become IWGP Tag Team Champions. Here’s an excerpt from NJPW1972.com about the final sequences of the match:
A Naito Esperanza folded up ZSJ to get a very near two, but Sabre countered Destino into a punishing Cobra Twist, Taichi stopping SANADA with Seirei Jujiho to boot. Naito refused to quit but was almost pinned instead with a Dragon Suplex; SANADA stopped the pinfall but took a Nodo Otoshi from Taichi right after. The Holy Emperor called for a Zack Mephisto finish before settling for a Last Ride/PK combination, but Naito still refused to be beaten. Acting on instinct, SANADA hit the ring to break up a Holy Zack Driver, connecting with a moonsault on Sabre before dropping Taichi with Skull End. Backup taken care of, ZSJ fell prey to Naito and Destino, as the 90th IWGP Tag Team Champions were crowned.
SANADA and Naito were then joined in the ring by BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi for a Los Ingobernables de Japon photo-op.
36分越えの大白熱戦！
一進一退のIWGPタッグ戦は、内藤＆SANADA組が劇的初戴冠！バックステージで、タイチ＆ザックが7.25東京ドームで再戦を要求!!
7.11真駒内大会の結果はコチラ
⇒https://t.co/6xTEUA8IxO#njsst #njpw pic.twitter.com/5CXyKnOLuN— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) July 11, 2021
Here are the complete results from the show:
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado def. Yuya Uemura & SHO
- Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tomohiro Ishii def. El Phantasmo, EVIL & Taiji Ishimori
- Yujiro Takahashi & KENTA def. Yota Tsuji & Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan def. YOH & Kazuchika Okada
- Shingo Takagi def. Master Wato
- IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Tetsuya Naito & SANADA def. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi (c)