Quick Results
Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, EVIL & Chase Owens pinned Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma in 11:47 ( )
YOH, SHO & Ryusuke Taguchi submitted DOUKI, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 10:58 ( )
Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & Minoru Suzuki submitted Gedo, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa in 2:24 ( )
Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb pinned Master Wato & Kota Ibushi in 9:07 ( )
YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto submitted BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito & SANADA in 31:13 to retain the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship ( )
We’re back at Korakuen Hall for the second half of the Road to Dominion – a show that still only has three matches announced for this coming Monday in Osaka.
Quick Results
Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma pinned Dick Togo, Gedo & EVIL in 8:54 ( ½)
Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare pinned BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & SANADA in 7:43 ( )
Tomohiro Ishii pinned Yujiro Takahashi in 15:17 ( ¼)
Taiji Ishimori pinned Hirooki Goto in 12:08 ( ½)
KENTA pinned YOSHI-HASHI in 26:07 ( ½)
Of course, after my gripe yesterday about New Japan “grenading” interest, they drew a crowd of 641 – a little bit below the NOAH show that ran there hours earlier, but it almost doubled the attendance for Thursday’s show, and was New Japan’s highest crowd since the New Japan Cup quarter-final show.
Oh, we’re back to the reduced hard camera side for this…
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo
SHO & Master Wato vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
Report
Due to a COVID-related state of emergency being declared in Tokyo until February 7, the show began a half hour earlier than usual at 4 a.m. Eastern.
This was also a five-match card rather than the traditional six as there is a recommended 8 p.m. curfew in Tokyo (6 a.m. Eastern).
This was an entertaining opener.
Kojima and Ospreay began, as Kojima wanted revenge for Ospreay kayfabe injuring Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Kojima got the better of a quick striking battle and hit a tackle.
Quick Results
Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay pinned Yota Tsuji & Satoshi Kojima in 8:38 ( ¼)
El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Jado pinned DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 9:24 ( ¾)
Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada pinned Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahshi in 10:13 ( ½)
Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & SANADA pinned Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi in 13:06 ( )
Master Wato & SHO pinned BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi in 17:52 ( )
Hope you like early starts and Korakuen Hall – because we’ve got a lot of them! The current state of emergency that’s been declared in Japan has led to a lot of upcoming New Japan shows starting a little earlier than usual, and with shorter cards, as virtually every show on this Road to tour has been cut to five matches (with the exception of the February 1 and 2 Korakuens, which will be just four matches deep, headlined with an Elimination match on each night).
Kota Ibushi & SHO vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
Report
Abe the ring announcer opened the show with the announcement that Juice Robinson was off the show today, and off Wrestle Kingdom as well, due to injury.
Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato (w/Hiroyoshi Tenzan) defeated Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd (9:18)
The work was solid here and the crowd got into it.
Kidd and Wato began with some chain wrestling. Things were fairly even from a technical standpoint, so Wato turned to striking to establish the early advantage.
Tiger and Tsuji tagged in. Tiger lit Tsuji up with kicks. Tsuji was cut off and worked over. He came back with a slam on Tiger. Tiger answered with a Tiger Driver. Both tagged out.