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4/20 NJPW ROAD TO WRESTLING DONTAKU RESULTS FROM TOKYO, JAPAN

1 - Yuya Uemura, Taichi and Masatora Yasuda vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato and Tatsuya Matsumoto

Uemura forces Matsumoto to submit to a double underhook arm lock, now called the Deadbolt Lock.

2 - Shota Umino, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma and YOH vs. Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Owens hits the Jewel Heist on Honma and gets the pin.

3 - Yota Tsuji and Gedo vs. Jake Lee and Francesco Akira

Jake Lee came to the ring in a clown mask and black face paint.  When Akira faced off with Tsuji in the match, Akira told him that he would soften him up for Andrade El Idolo.     Akira hit a Fireball on Gedo and gets the pin.

Akira and Jake Lee are excellent in their roles as the jesters of United Empire.  They act silly and can terrorize the fans in the crowd at the same time.   Akira even setting up Tsuji's match with Andrade was great too.  

4 - Boltin Oleg, Aaron Wolf and Toru Yano vs. Ren Narita, Don Fale and Dick Togo

Yano pins Togo with a school boy cradle.   

After the match, Fale lays out Wolf with a Samoan Drop.    Narita wraps a chair around Oleg's arm and smashes it into the ringpost.   Oleg was selling the arm.    

5 - Shingo Takagi vs. Zane Jay

Takagi hits the Prince's Curse on Jay and gets the pin.

6 - Daiki Nagai vs. Callum Newman

Newman hits Kiss the Crown on Nagai.  Newman gets Nagai into his Prince's Curse, but he turns it into Made in Japan.    Newman pins Nagai.

Takagi and Newman have words after the match.

These two matches are evidence how thin the New Japan roster is.  Normally, these house shows are packed with multi-tag matches.    For Zane Jay and Daiki Nagai, this was an excellent way to get ring experience, but for the fans, they knew who would win.   

In addition, it is difficult to promote and hype these matches if the wrestlers are not here.   Konosuke Takeshita is not here to face Chase Owens.    Andrade El Idolo is not here to face Yota Tsuji.  Without the build, NJPW TV Championship (which was supposed to be a belt defended regularly on television or New Japan World) seems unimportant.   For the Global Title, no one truly believes that Andrade (an AEW wrestler) will beat Tsuji, so some will consider the match missable.

7 - Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X, Yuto-Ice and OSKAR vs. Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa and Hartley Jackson

Knockout Brothers hit a double powerbomb (called The Rumbling) on Jackson.    OSKAR pins Jackson.

Yuto and OSKAR continue to add moves to their arsenal and continue to be the popular act of New Japan right now.

8 - Number One Contender Match:   Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Great O-Khan and HENARE

Good match.    HENARE hits an Imperial Bomb on YOSHI-HASHI.   Goto breaks it up.   O-Khan tosses Goto from the ring.   They try for an Imperial Drop but YOSHI-HASHI escapes.   O-Khan dodges a YOSHI-HASHI dropkick and applies the Claw.  O-Khan lifts YOSHI-HASHI for a Dominator, but YOSHI-HASHI escapes.   O-Khan kicks YOSHI-HASHI in the back of the knee and threw a punch to the back of his neck.  Two count.  O-Khan hits a Tenzan Tombstone Driver on YOSHI-HASHI on a chair.   Two count.  YOSHI-HASHI hits a DDT on O-Khan.   All four men battle in the ring.  Bishomon hit an elevated Bulldog on O-Khan.   HENARE breaks it up.   They trade strikes.   Goto hits a lariat on HENARE, sending him out of the ring.   Bishomon hit Shoto on O-Khan.    YOSHI-HASHI pins O-Khan.

Bishomon wins the match and are now Number One contenders for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.   They will face the Knockout Brothers in Hiroshima on April 25.

After the match, Yuto-Ice comes to the ring.  He hypes this match with Bishomon, which he wanted at Sakura Genesis.  Yuto tells everyone "Let's get High!"   YOSHI-HASHI says "Big Ups".    

Thank you for reading.

James Kurokawa

 

 

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