Those unhappy about how often New Japan run Korakuen Hall were in for a treat today… with another show there!
Not even 48 hours removed from the end of the Honor Rising weekend, we were treated to another Road show, this time the Road to the New Japan 45th anniversary show that’s coming up on Monday (March 6).
Tomoyuki Oka vs. Yujiro Takahashi
They finally fixed the “King of Sprorts” typo on the Young Lions entrance video here… Oka started by grabbing a wristlock, then countered Yujiro’s attempt at a counter. Takahashi scored an avalanche in the corner that got him back into it, as he decided that chopping Oka was the best course of action.
Perhaps it wasn’t, as that just spurred the rookie into some forearms, before Takahashi took over again with a big boot choke in the corner. Oka came back with an overhead belly to belly, and we’ll keep up that narrative of “for someone barely into double digits with matches, he’s really good!” A Boston crab forces Takahashi to crawl to the ropes, but he came back with a big boot and a diving dropkick for a near-fall, before the Pimp Juice DDT gets Yujiro the win. Perfectly acceptable opening match/Young Lion graps – and barring injury, Oka is going to be one of those guys who’ll be exceptionally good at this in no time. **¾
Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & El Desperado) vs. Roppongi Vice (Beretta & Rocky Romero), YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
Oh balls. They didn’t even give us Taichi’s theme music for this Suzuki-gun vs. CHAOS tag.
Jado and Desperado start us off, with the masked one taking a back suplex in the early minutes before Jado cleared the Suzuki-gun apron. We get the usual brawl outside the ring, with Beretta getting thrown into the ringpost, as Jado was stabbed with Taichi’s mic stand, before he’s stood on when they returned to the ring. Taichi does the bell hammer gimmick to Jado’s head, and it’s the former NOAH booker who’s getting laid to waste. A low knee sees TAKA count a phantom pin, which leads to Beretta moaning that “you do the same shit every night”. Hear hear!
Kanemaru comes in and rakes away at Jado’s eyes, but we finally get a clothesline as Jado looks to tag out… and it’s Beretta who’s the lucky recipient. A tornado DDT from the former Trent takes down Kanemaru, as Beretta brings in YOSHI-HASHI to face TAKA. So many capitals! There’s a spell where Suzuki-gun try to overwhelm their opponents, but the ring clears leaving TAKA to take a reverse spin kick, then a back cracker, before the Butterfly lock forces a quick tap-out. Thankfully they kept the Suzuki-gun stuff light… at least until after the bell, when Taichi turfed the referee to the outside. Otherwise, this was a perfectly fine undercard tag match – nothing memorable, but not awful either. ***
Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
You know what this means… this time, the ring announcer jumped out of the ring to avoid his certain doom. Today it was Bullet Club vs. New Japan Dads, including the bread-loving Kojima!
The Bullet Club jump their opponents at the bell, but things quickly settle down to Tenzan and Kojima against Fale, before Kojima dished out the rapid-fire chops to toast up Omega’s chest. Yes, I’m giving you bread jokes for Satoshi Kojima after those tweets over the weekend. We’ve got wacky, comedy Kenny here, as he stumbled into the corner with his t-shirt over his head, before Tama Tonga made the save, before giving Kojima some chops of his own in the corner.
Fale and Tanga Loa combine to drop Kojima with a headbutt for a two-count, and it was the baker’s favourite who was kept at bay, with Fale whipping everyone into him, before finally landing a charging clothesline into the corner. Kojima staggers back into another corner, but sidesteps a charge from Loa, who then eats a Koji Cutter before Yuji Nagata gets the tag in… and he goes straight for Kenny Omega!
Nagata lights up Loa with kicks to the chest, before an Exploder attempt is elbowed out of. It’s successful at the second attempt as Yuji picks up a two-count, before Loa lands a tiltawhirl slam that gives him a chance to bring in Tama Tonga… who takes too long in setting up things and gets caught in an armbar.
Omega breaks that up, but Tonga quickly falls to an overhead belly to belly as Nakanishi comes in to lay into Tama with forearms. Manabu resists an Irish whip, then decks Tonga with a lariat, eventually scoring a two-count out of it. The Argentine backbreaker follows, but the Bullet Club break it up quickly, allowing Omega to hit the hair trigger knee strike as Tonga’s Gun Stun puts down Nakanishi for the count. A fun, if somewhat slow multiman tag, but this sort of outing is the bread and butter of these shows. Good for the novelty value if nothing else. ***
Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto
You know the drill. Toru Yano does his “break” shtick with Makabe instantly, but Togi doesn’t care and levels him with a forearm anyway.
Goto comes in next to tie up Honma with a headlock, that gives way to shoulder tackle attempts and a Kokeshi… which actually connects! What the hell? Honma never gets that first time around. Honma’s met quickly with a pull-back, over-the-knee neckbreaker as Goto reasserts his dominance, scoring a near-fall out of a back suplex moments later.
Toru Yano comes in to pick apart a worn-down Honma, before Ishii joined the fray, as he just watched Honma try to chop him. Yeah, that didn’t go well. Ishii chopped Honma in the throat before a powerbomb attempt was broken up by Liger… who then stomped away on Honma out of disgust. I love those spots when partners make a save then add insult to injury! Those Liger stomps woke up Honma, who charged at Ishii with a back elbow, before a reversed suplex led to a missed Kokeshi. Back on form now Tomoaki, eh? Honma hits another suplex, then brings in Makabe to clear house, scoring a powerslam on Ishii , before those mounted punches and a Northern Lights get him a near-fall.
An Ishii powerslam sees Makabe pop back up, only to take a big lariat, as Yano came back into kick away. That went well… for Makabe! Liger tags in to drop Yano with a Shotei that almost wins it, before a Thesz Press from Liger gets another two-count. A schoolboy gets another two-count after Liger pushes Yano into Ishii, but Toru gets the win with a low blow then a roll-up after a clothesline from Ishii. Entertaining enough, but once again, your standard Korakuen tag match here. ***
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs. Katsuyori Shibata & David Finlay
With Lance Archer on the shelf, I really wouldn’t mind a DBS Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto feud for the NEVER title. Instead, we’re getting Suzuki vs. Shibata in the first round of the New Japan Cup in under two weeks’ time, which should be all kinds of great.
Tentative stuff early on a Shibata and Suzuki grapple from the bell, sending each other into the ropes, ultimately giving each other respectful clean breaks. Suzuki tries to target Shibata’s right arm, which makes sense since it’s permanently taped up, but Shibata works free of an armbar attempt before swinging and missing with a PK.
We get tags in as Davey Boy Smith Jr goes against don’t-call-him Davey Boy Finlay, with Finlay landing a dropkick off the ropes to knock down the bigger man. Suzuki swipes at Finlay in the ropes, then lands an armbar before heading to the outside to take Shibata into the crowd, where he uses a chair on the former NEVER champion. That means we miss what’s going on in the ring, as we return to see Finlay taking a British Bulldog-esque delayed vertical suplex for a near-fall. Just like Dad’s!
Suzuki tags in and grounds Finlay with a knee-bar, before the rope break from Finlay sees Smith stand on his hand for good measure. A Stretch Muffler keeps Finlay down as Smith has his turn to tear away at the knee, before Finlay breaks free and gets a diving European uppercut as he finally brings Shibata back in.
Shibata levels Suzuki with forearms, but Minoru rushes out with a big boot before Shibata finally lands that diving corner dropkick. Another big boot from Suzuki traps Shibata in the corner, before a missed punch gets Shibata in a Fujiwara armbar, but he makes the ropes as the pair just lay into each other with more shots.
They trade Octopus holds, with Shibata being forced to reach for the ropes, as they again throw bombs at each other. Suzuki ends with a sleeperhold, sending Shibata to the mat, but he breaks free as we go back to the two Davids… and it’s Smith who lands a big knee strike and a bridging butterfly suplex for a near-fall. A second one is blocked and turned into a backslide as Finlay nearly got an upset, following with a diving European uppercut for yet another two-count.
Suzuki comes in to cut that off, grabbing Finlay in a rear naked choke before Shibata dispatches him to the outside, where we get some ground and pound as Smith decks Finlay with a powerslam then a sit-out powerbomb for the win. Easily the best thing on the show, helped massively by the Suzuki/Shibata stuff… which needed a load of Young Boys to break up. Of course, they failed, and this is going to be interesting when they meet again in the cup. ***¾
Hiroyoshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson & KUSHIDA vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, BUSHI & SANADA)
Taguchi’s mind-games with Takahashi are mighty unsettling… to the point where they resembled a spoof of a chick flick where they tease kissing but never actually do.
We start with those two, and of course, the rest of the Ingobernables team start on the floor as Taguchi repeatedly dives at a confused Takahashi in search of that ankle lock. Taguchi briefly gets it, but Hiromu dives to the floor. Next up is Elgin, who impressively charges into Naito and SANADA before giving them a double suplex, as KUSHIDA comes into kick away on Naito, following up with a handspring back elbow.
The faces storm the ring as Naito takes a five-way dropkick! They try again on EVIL, but that fails, as the Ingobernables pick up from there, largely emptying the ring as we go to BUSHI and Naito double-teaming KUSHIDA. A back suplex from SANADA forces a kick-out from KUSHIDA, before BUSHI rakes away at his former foe’s eyes.
A snap ‘rana from KUSHIDA gets him back into it, before the cartwheel dropkick blasted into Takahashi. In comes Taguchi for hip attacks, finally laying out Hiromu with a leaping hip attack from the floor to the apron. After a kick-out, Taguchi grabs the ankle, forcing Takahashi into the corner… and I love this projected fear of a hold by Takahashi, who screams and runs away every time he’s teased with that ankle lock.
Takahashi turns a hip attack into an atomic drop as he got some separation, then tagged in EVIL, who promptly took a pair of hip attacks. In comes Tanahashi, who’s quickly blasted in the ropes, as EVIL rakes the eyes to block a Dragon screw attempt. A full nelson from Tanahashi is broken up as Elgin counters to SANADA and EVIL with some German suplexes, the latter allowing for a reverse Fly Swatter as Tanahashi was slung onto EVIL… who got the knees up to block it.
Juice Robinson tags in, but gets caught with a slingshot sunset flip as Naito’s dropkick lays him out. SANADA and BUSHI team up for a rope-hung dropkick onto Juice, who then takes a Codebreaker for a near-fall, and we’re back into the parade of moves, ending with Juice catching an MX from BUSHI, then finally getting the win with the Pulp Friction! Your usual fun Ingobernables tag match, with the big news coming afterwards… ***½
After the match, Naito attacks Robinson as Taguchi forced Takahashi to scram with another ankle lock. EVIL and Tanahashi lay into each other too for some reason, whilst Michael Elgin just watches on. What a horrible friend. So we’re getting Naito/Juice and EVIL/Tanahashi after this? I’m down with those teases!
Tiger Mask W & Tiger Mask vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo
W’s mask is now more conventional, as opposed to the giant thing he had in his earlier matches. This is going to be tough to call as there’s two Tiger Masks (Tiger Mask 4, and W, who may or may not be Kota Ibushi), but at least it’ll just be Okada and W on Monday!
Tiger Mask starts by flinging Gedo to the mat with an arm whip, before W tags in and demands that he faces Okada. The champion tagging in gets a good reaction, and he starts by trying to force his way out of an arm wringer, then a front facelock, before he ends up taking down W with a shoulder tackle. A dropkick puts W in charge, before the two Tiger Masks double-team Okada with flying chops.
We get a pair of dives from the Tiger Masks, before Okada returns to the ring and dumps Tiger Mask with a flapjack as a chair from Gedo puts paid to W. The original (fourth!) Tiger Mask gets isolated by Gedo and Okada for a spell, and we get a tease of a pair of unmaskings as Gedo almost peels off Tiger Mask’s mask, whilst Okada has much less luck with W.
Okada’s clearly trying to keep W at bay, but that focus on two Tiger Masks leaves him open for a top rope armdrag from the original, who then tags in W to hit a springboard dropkick! More kicks from W and a flying chop take down Okada, who then resorts to exchanging strikes, winning out with a DDT and a diving uppercut for a near-fall. W ducks another uppercut from Okada, then tries for a Tiger Driver, and eventually lands a Tiger suplex for a near-fall. Okada counters a Tiger Driver into a neckbreaker slam, before the original returns to kick away at Gedo in the corner. Gedo fights out of a Tiger Driver off the top rope, then drops down to pepper Tiger with punches ineatd.
A chin crusher and a savat kick gets Gedo a near-fall as W breaks up the pin. The original falls to an Okada dropkick, before a Gedo clutch is broken up by W, who clears house, leaving just the original and Gedo in the ring. The Tiger Driver only gets a two-count from Gedo, before a double-armbar gets broken up as Okada rushes the ring. Gedo backs out of a Tiger suplex into the corner, before turning an O’Connor roll into the Gedo clutch for another near-fall.
Okada looks to hit the original Tiger Mask with a tombstone, but ends up taking a pair of dropkicks instead, as Gedo eats a tombstone before the two Tigers land duelling swandive headbutts. Okada takes a Golden Triangle moonsault, leaving the original to get the win with the Tiger suplex. A fun outing that just about whet the appetite for Monday’s clash between W and Okada – which should be great given that it’ll be in the main event. ***½
Overall, a decent New Japan “Road” show, but nothing on here that is a must-see – just over two hours of perfectly acceptable wrestling, and what more can you ask for?