Are they called TEAM 2000X because their main events are booked liked WCW from the year 2000? Oh, I’m on… ahem…
When we last paid attention to Tetsuya Endo in NOAH he had left TEAM 2000X, joined forces with Takashi Sugiura and the two of them both got a GHC Heavyweight Title shot where they would face the champion OZAWA in a 3 Way Elimination Match. In the two weeks leading up to the title bout Endo & Sugiura would face TEAM 2000X in several kinds of tag matches. They were on the winning side for the first half of them but TEAM 2000X won the rest in the second half. OZAWA even added insult to injury by spraying a silver X over Endo’s chest after Endo was the last to be beaten in an 8-Man Elimination Tag Match. By the last prelim match the alliance between Endo and Sugiura was becoming shaky with neither of them being on the exact same page. OZAWA even started to brag that Endo would return to TEAM 2000X when he loses at the Survival 3 Way Match.
NOAH “STAR NAVIGATION 2025”, 03/06/2025
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,233 Fans
7. GHC Heavyweight Title – Survival 3 Way Match: OZAWA (c) defeated Tetsuya Endo and Takashi Sugiura (24:38).
7a. Tetsuya Endo eliminated Takashi Sugiura with a School Boy (15:20).
7b. OZAWA eliminated Tetsuya Endo with the Real Rebel (24:38).
*V6 for OZAWA.
So when it was finally time for the title match to happen OZAWA kept his distance hoping Endo and Sugiura would fight each other and complaining that he was in a 2 Vs 1 disadvantage. The match did eventually become all against each other and that was when OZAWA pushed Sugiura into the ref and called upon the rest of TEAM 2000X to do his evil bidding. Sugiura grabbed a chair to even the odds but then turned around and hit Endo with it! He was then handed over a TEAM 2000X shirt and he put it on to show everyone he was the unit’s new member!
Endo was now the one on his own fighting against two enemies. Somehow he was able to hold his ground, knock OZAWA out of the ring and used a School Boy to eliminate Sugiura from the match. Endo now had OZAWA all by himself and grabbed him by the tongue to set up the Exploder Suplex. OZAWA tried to withstand it but Endo then struck him across the face with a big slap and hit another Exploder for a nearfall. Jun Akiyama’s finisher wasn’t working for him so he pulled something out of Yukio Sakaguchi’s book and did the God’s Right Knee in the corner! OZAWA was down and out but Sugiura pulled the ref out of the ring during the pin count. TEAM 2000X stomped on Endo but he escaped back into the ring and jumped back out with the Sasuke Special to wipe them all out. Seeing his chance Endo went for the Burning Star Press onto OZAWA but he blocked it with his knees. He tried going for a second one but OZAWA followed him up the corner and gave him the one-man Spanish Fly from the top rope. OZAWA next did his own Burning Star Press but Endo kicked out of it. OZAWA kept the pressure up and eventually had Endo beaten when he hit the Real Rebel for the finish.
After the match OZAWA referred to Sugiura as “The Godfather” and he thanked him for joining TEAM 2000X. He revealed they had this planned ever since the Sumo Hall show a month ago. Sugiura even teamed with Akiyama who he hates just to throw everyone off the scent. OZAWA then told Endo the unit never needed a lame person like him who gets knocked to the ground with only one slap. He doesn’t want Endo to act like DDT and NOAH are on the same level ever again! Endo could only curse about TEAM 2000X backstage and said they are disrespecting pro wrestling. He doesn’t understand how NOAH and the GHC committee could think this is all okay.
Posted by JamieOD 
Dramatic DDT 