Power Struggle 2015: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi and Máscara Dorada defeated Yohei Komatsu, Sho Tanaka, David Finlay and Jay White in 7:46 to open Power Struggle 2015. The decisive fall came from Tiger Mask, who pinned Finlay after an avalanche-style double-arm suplex. This eight-man tag paired established junior wrestlers with younger New Japan names rather than defending either junior championship. Its C grade reflects an effective short opener without confusing later prominence of Finlay or White with their place on this specific 2015 card. Unlike the Super Jr. Tag Tournament final further down the lineup, this match awarded no tournament result or championship. The opening finish also distinguishes the actual losing wrestler from Komatsu or Tanaka, who were on Finlay's side but did not take the fall.

Bullet Club's Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga and Cody Hall beat Togi Makabe, Captain New Japan and Juice Robinson in 7:53. Tonga scored the decision over Captain New Japan with the Veleno, according to the original 2015 results. The six-man gave the Bullet Club representatives a quick undercard win but did not decide the IWGP Tag Team Championship, which was not contested here. Robinson was part of the defeated team, but he was not identified as the pinned wrestler. Its C grade recognizes an uncomplicated faction contest that helps establish the card's alignment before Hirooki Goto and EVIL's contentious singles result. This is a different Bullet Club team from the Kenny Omega/Young Bucks eight-man tag and the A.J. Styles/Bad Luck Fale pairing later in the evening.

Hirooki Goto was awarded the win over EVIL by disqualification after 8:53, rather than securing a normal pin or submission. EVIL's early New Japan return appeared in a storyline that brought Tetsuya Naito into the ring to interfere, with Katsuyori Shibata later coming to Goto's aid. The DQ is essential to an accurate result: crediting EVIL with a pin, awarding Goto a clean submission victory or calling this a title change would rewrite what happened. The match placed the emerging EVIL persona into the feud involving Naito, Goto and Shibata just ahead of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament's final. The C+ evaluation can recognize storyline movement while noting that the non-finish limited the bout as a self-contained contest for a modern viewer.

KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley and reDRagon's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly defeated Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson and Chase Owens in an 8:53 eight-man tag. KUSHIDA ended it by submitting Owens with the Hoverboard Lock, giving the mixed junior team the win over Bullet Club. The match assembled active junior tag rivals around the Super Jr. Tag Tournament final on the same event, but it was not the final itself; Matt Sydal and Ricochet contested that later against Roppongi Vice. The C+ grade fits the short faction encounter and clear submission while recognizing that no championship or tournament victory changed hands here. Naming Owens as the defeated wrestler avoids inaccurately assigning the submission to Omega or one of the Young Bucks.

Matt Sydal and Ricochet won the 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament by defeating Roppongi Vice, Rocky Romero and Beretta, in 16:06. Sydal pinned Beretta after Air Sydal to complete the final and give the newly assembled team a meaningful junior-tag achievement. Roppongi Vice had reached this final after beating reigning champions reDRagon in the semifinal, so their loss did not itself transfer the championship belts. Afterward Sydal and Ricochet challenged the champions, while Roppongi Vice and the Young Bucks also made their claims, setting up a four-way junior title program for Wrestle Kingdom 10. The B- grade recognizes the decisive tournament finish and future championship stakes without mistakenly describing the trophy as an IWGP title change.

A.J. Styles and Bad Luck Fale beat Toru Yano and YOSHI-HASHI in 9:02 on Power Struggle 2015's non-title undercard. Styles delivered a Styles Clash to pin YOSHI-HASHI, rather than Fale pinning Yano. The result gave this two-man Bullet Club pairing a win after the organization's earlier six-man and junior eight-man appearances. Styles also figured in the evening's main-event story, later confronting Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura after Nakamura retained against Karl Anderson. The C+ assessment acknowledges a clear and brief supporting match without turning it into a heavyweight championship contest: Kazuchika Okada's IWGP Heavyweight Championship was not defended at this event. The pairings establish faction and title-challenge context more than they deliver a long standalone match.

Tomohiro Ishii made the first successful defense of his NEVER Openweight Championship reign by beating Tomoaki Honma in 17:26, using a vertical-drop brainbuster for the pin. Honma's support from the Osaka audience gave the title defense unusual emotional weight, and contemporary reviews singled out the match as one of the card's strongest. The correct result is still a retention: Honma did not win the NEVER title that night, despite the crowd's investment in him. The B- score is WrestleFile's own comparatively restrained judgment, not a representation of every contemporary reviewer's rating. The bout gave the event one of its two singles title defenses before Tanahashi and Shibata's tag and Nakamura's Intercontinental main event, and it warrants more focused viewing than the brief early faction matches.

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata defeated IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada and Kazushi Sakuraba in 15:33. The fall was against Sakuraba, credited to Shibata: a contemporary match ledger describes the Go 2 Sleep leading to a pin, while a separate same-day report calls it a submission. The difference should not be buried as if every source described an identical finishing method. Okada was not pinned, and his IWGP Heavyweight Championship was not at stake, so the result did not transfer that belt. The tag instead developed Okada and Tanahashi's Wrestle Kingdom 10 title feud, with a confrontation after the match. This B- bout carries meaningful future-card context even though its outcome was a tag fall on Sakuraba rather than a main-event title change.

Shinsuke Nakamura retained the IWGP Intercontinental Championship by beating Karl Anderson with the Boma Ye in 21:37 in the Osaka main event. It was Nakamura's first successful defense of that reign, and the victory did not change the champion despite Anderson arriving with Bullet Club support. A.J. Styles confronted Nakamura afterward to request an Intercontinental title meeting at Wrestle Kingdom 10, giving the show a clear Tokyo Dome direction. This must be distinguished from Kazuchika Okada's IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which was not defended on Power Struggle 2015. The B+ and 8.1 match score reward an important, lengthy title contest and the story it established without claiming that a new champion was crowned or that the match itself was the Super Jr. Tag Tournament final.