El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki Reunite at TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE V

By: Ian McCord

The fifth installment of TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE took place at the soon to be renovated Korakuen Hall on September 7th, with El Desperado reuniting with his former mentor, Minoru Suzuki, in the main event.

The annual charity fundraiser for the legendary Yoshihiro Takayama, who is rehabilitating from a severe spinal cord injury that he suffered back in 2017, brought together competitors from more than a handful of promotions. The event was headlined by a special tag team match that saw Minoru Suzuki and NJPW’s El Desperado reunite to take on Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji and DDT’s HARASHIMA.

Both teams gave everything they had to put on an impressive showing in the name of their friend, Yoshihiro Takayama. The hard-hitting contest even featured the legendary Kenta Kobashi throwing chops at Minoru Suzuki, reminiscent of last year’s event.

Photo Credit: TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE / New Japan Pro Wrestling

It was ultimately a huge Gotch Style Piledriver from Suzuki to HARASHIMA that would give the former Suzuki-Gun and Strong Style stablemates the victory in just over twenty-three minutes.

An interesting moment happened after the match between El Desperado and the GHC National Champion Naomichi Marufuji. While shaking hands with Desperado, Marufuji held up his championship just slightly, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers, seemingly over the possibility of Desperado challenging for the title, however, no such challenge was made.

Photo Credit: TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE / New Japan Pro Wrestling

The man of the hour, Yoshihiro Takayama, entered the ring following the event. The crowd and all the combatants came together to sing happy birthday to Takayama, whose 60th birthday will be on September 19th. Suzuki then gifted his longtime friend a red vest that was embroidered “Emperor” along with a red hat to match, capping off (pun intended) another heartfelt TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE.

Elsewhere on the card, KENTA and Katsuyori Shibata also reunited in winning fashion, defeating Caol Uno and Katsumi Inahata in their first time teaming up since last year’s TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE. Also MAO, Yukio Naya, and Viento Levante picked up the win in the DDT Exhibition Match, defeating Takeshi Masada, Yuya Koroku, and Daichi Sato in just under thirteen minutes.

Photo Credit: TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE / New Japan Pro Wrestling

Here are the full results from TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE V courtesy of purolove.com:

• Tatsuya Matsumoto defeats Ryuma Sekimo (6:08) with a crab hold.
• Chihiro Hashimoto & Ryo Mizunami vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Miyu Yamashita – Time-limit draw (15:00).
• Hideki Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno – No Contest (6:33).
• DDT Exhibition Match: MAO , Yukio Naya & Viento Levante defeat Takeshi Masada , Yuya Koroku & Daichi Sato (12:45) following a Cannonball 450 by MAO against Koroku.
• KENTA & Katsuyori Shibata defeat Caol Uno & Katsumi Inahata (16:49) following KENTA’s Go 2 Sleep against Inahata.
• Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado defeat Naomichi Marufuji & HARASHIMA (23:21) following a Gotch-Style Piledriver by Suzuki against HARASHIMA.