NJPW 5/14/2005 Results

New Japan's 2nd Tokyo Dome show of the year saw all the major IWGP titles successfully defended. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan was dominant in his defence of the title against former TenKoji tag partner and current AJPW star, Satoshi Kojima. Forcing his ex-partner to tap out to the Anaconda Vice in short time after a hard hitting match. Jushin Liger & Monoru Tanaka successfully defended the IWGP tag titles against the next generation team of Shinsuke Nakamura & Hiroshi Tanahashi, although under questionable circumstances as Tanaka gave Nakamura a cheap shot leading to Liger getting the pin. Masayuki Naruse had been waiting since January to cash in his IWGP Jr. Title match, but unfortunately couldn't come through to win the gold as he fell to defending champion Tiger Mask in a hard hitting match. IWGP Jr. tag champs Kanemoto & Inoue fended off the challenging rookie team of Taguchi & Goto to retain their titles. Taguchi showed great form, but Goto was overwhelmed by the strength of the champion team. The semi-main event of the show was a big Dream Team tag match as NOAH ace Mitsuharu Misawa teamed with veteran Tatsumi Fujinami for the first time ever to defeat the Black New Japan team of Masahiro Chono & Kendo KaShin. Keiji Mutoh made his return to a New Japan ring as he fought and defeated gaijin monster Ron Waterman. Waterman quickly used his power and MMA skills to ground Mutoh, but the veteran rallied back and scored the win with his trademark Shining Wizard. The best match of the night saw Yuji Nagata defeat Tsuyoshi Kosaka in a hard hitting affair. They traded heavy strikes and kicks, and Nagata showed some MMA presence as he managed to block and counter several of Kosaka's ground attacks, including breaking his guard and getting control from the mount position. New Japan NEXESS – 5/14/2005 Tokyo Dome - 33,000 Ryushi Yanagisawa & Mitsuya Nagai beat Togi Makabe & Toru Yano in 14:21 when Yano was counted out. 54% Manabu Nakanishi & Scott Norton VS Blue Wolf & Hiroshi Nagao went to a 20:00 Draw. 50% Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii beat Osamu Nishimura & Yutaka Yoshie in 29:22 when Ishii pinned Nishimura with a powerbomb. 73% Josh Barnett beat Minoru Suzuki in 8:17 with a ground sleeper lock. 52% IWGP Jr. Tag Team Titles: Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue (C) beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto in 15:19 when Kanemoto pinned Goto with a Falcon Arrow. 60% IWGP Jr. Title: Tiger Mask (C) beat Masayuki Naruse in 12:16 with a high-angle German suplex pin. 68% Yuji Nagata beat Tsuyoshi Kosaka in 17:11 with a fireman’s carry-hold. 82% Keiji Mutoh beat Ron Waterman in 10:21 with the Shining Wizard. 64% IWGP Tag Team Titles: Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka (C) beat Shinsuke Nakamura & Hiroshi Tanahashi in 26:02 when Liger pinned Nakamura after Tanaka hit a head kick. 65% Tatsumi Fujinami & Mitsuharu Misawa beat Masahiro Chono & Kendo KaShin in 21:47 when Misawa pinned Chono with a Tiger Driver. 70% IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan (C) beat Satoshi Kojima in 12:34 with the Anaconda Vice. 66%