Here are some quick results from this morning’s Road to Wrestling Dontaku show, which took place at Korakuen Hall:
– Hirai Kawato defeated Shota Umino via submission with a Boston Crab.
This was Umino’s debut on a regular New Japan card after making his wrestling debut last week at Lion’s Gate Project 4. They had a short match and both looked good.
– YOSHI-HASHI defeated Tomoyuki Oka via submission with Karma.
They were given a long time and worked a pretty good, decent match that the crowd got into. It seems pretty clear they are super high on Oka, who is continually improving. He got a lot of offense in before being taken down and submitted.
– Taka Michinoku & Takashi Iizuka defeated Toru Yano & Jado after Michinoku pinned Jado with a roll-up.
Not very interesting — a lot of brawling and silliness. Iizuka used the iron fingers to strike Jado in the throat and Michinoku followed it with a roll-up.
– Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa defeated David Finlay, Katsuya Kitamura, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan when Takahashi pinned Kitamura with the Pimp Juice DDT.
Kitamura was in for a lot of the match. It was your typical quick-paced New Japan undercard multi-man match, with good action overall.
– Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay & Roppongi Vice defeated Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & Desperado when Ospreay pinned Desperado with the Ozcutter.
Suzuki targeted Ospreay early and wrapped one of his legs around with a chair, but it didn’t play much into the finish of the match. Goto worked a lot of the match, which was another solid undercard bout.
– SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito defeated Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yoshitatsu & Ricochet when SANADA submitted Yoshitatsu with the Skull End.
Another solid match. Ricochet looked really good; it’s already clear he and Takahashi have some good chemistry.
– Bad Luck Fale & Kenny Omega defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada when Fale pinned Okada with a tombstone.
This started off slow at first, but picked up as everyone paired off with their rivals. Omega looked great, putting on all sorts of great offense on Ishii. Okada went for the Rainmaker near the end but Fale countered with one of his own, then tombstoned Okada for the win.
Fale went to beat up Okada in the corner after the match. Gedo tried to aid Okada, but his efforts were futile as Fale quickly got rid of him. Omega started to cut a promo when Ishii grabbed him by the waist. He had Fale splash him in response. Omega told the crowd that Ishii was next on his hit list, and Fale would be the next champion.