New Japan Dontaku live coverage 5-3 Fukuoka – RPG Vice vs. Bucks vs ReDRagon, Nakamura vs. Goto, Omega vs. Shelley and Maria teases Karl Anderson
Welcome to our live coverage of Wrestling Dontaku at the Fukuoka International Center Arena.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
YUJI NAGATA & JUSHIN LIGER & MASCARA DORADA & TIGER MASK VS. MANABU NAKANISHI & KUSHIDA & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN
The good news is that the often dead Fukuoka crowd was pretty strong here. Good fast moving match, except when Nakanishi was in, and then it set records for being slow. The match ended with several dives including a springboad flip dive by Dorada and a plancha by Nakanishi. This left Nagata and Captain in the ring and Nagata pinned him after a wrist clutch exploder suplex. Dorada and Kushida could be something for the future.
TETSUYA NAITO & SHO TANAKA VS. KOTA IBUSHI & YOHEI KOMATSU
Good match, although on paper you may have expected better as the whole match was built around Komatsu and Tanaka and the stars played secondary roles. They looked good when they were in, but it was the young guys doing the basics very well. They kept putting each other in Boston crabs and making the ropes, did some near falls until Komatsu made Tanaka tap to a rolling half crab as Tanaka teased making the roeps. After the match there wa a tease of Ibushi and Naito doing a program going forward.
BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA & CODY HALL VS. SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN & TOMOAKI HONMA
Third straight good match. Kojima and Tonga looked good and crowd was into everything. Honma was the most over and crowd really into it when he tagged in for the finish. Tenzan clotheslined Fale over the top, they hit a 3-D on Tonga and then Kojima gave Hall the lariat. He tagged in Honma who used a diving head-butt on Hall for the pin.
ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA VS. YOUNG BUCKS VS. KYLE O’REILLY & BOBBY FISH FOR IWGP JR. TAG TITLES
This is where the show gets fun. Bucks wearing fringe Suck It Suck It shirts.
Young Bucks regained the titles here using More Bang for Your Buck on Baretta for the pin. A lot of comedy early. Matt after winning said, “Your indie price just went through the roof.” Best match so far. Some cool stuff including Baretta doing a superplex outside the ring on Matt and they fell on everyone after the guys were on the floor brawling. The Bucks laid out O’Reilly with an Indy taker with Nick coming off the middle rope to spike the tombstone on the floor.
KENNY OMEGA VS. ALEX SHELLEY FOR IWGP JR. TITLE
Lots of interference here by the Young Bucks. Very good match overall. Omega said he’s done a long tour and had the best match every night. Said the last Gaijin hero has fallen. What should I do. Should I join the Super Junior tournament and win just to entertain myself. I will not attend the Super Junior tournament as I’m already the champion. Said the winner the winner of the Best of the Super Garbage faces me on 7/5 at Osaka Jo Hall.
Omega won with the One Winged Angel. Shelley had him pinned but Matt pulled the ref out of the ring. The Bucks both interfered and Kushida made the save, inclding Kushida diving over the post onto both Bucks. Shelley used the sliced bread for a great near fall. But Omega won with a running knee and One Winged Angel.
MICHAEL BENNETT & MATT TAVEN & MARIA KANELLIS VS KARL ANDERSON & DOC GALLOWS & AMBER GALLOWS
More a story than a match, built around camera shots of Maria that they could never get away with here. The storyline was Anderson loved Maria, but he turned on her after. Anderson gave Bennett a gunstun, and then did another one to Taven as he came off the ropes. This left Anderson and Maria in the ring. He started dancing. She started dancing back. He went for a kiss but she gave him a low blow. Amber Gallows went after Maria, but Maria pinned her with an inside cradle. After the match, Doc wanted to punch Maria, but Anderson wouldn’t let it happen. But then Anderson turned on her, threw her into Doc’s punch, and they laid Maria out with the magic killer and she had to be helped out. Not much in the way of wrestling here.
TOGI MAKABE & HIROSHI TANAHASHI & KATSUYORI SHIBATA VS. TOMOHIRO ISHII & TORU YANO & KAZUSHI SAKURABA
This was mostly pairing off Makabe vs. Ishii, Tanahashi vs. Yano and Shibata vs. Sakuraba. Shibata vs. Sakuraba was the best of the three and made you want to see them in a single. It feels like the Makabe vs. Ishii pairing has gone as far as it’s gone and Tanahashi vs. Yano has really taken Tanahashi. Good match, not great with a flat finish. Tanahashi went for a high fly flow on Yano but he got his knees up. They traded cradle pins and Tanahashi used a hair pull into a cradle. It was retribution for the kind of pins Yano has gotten on Tanahashi, but the face doing it came off flat. Shibata walked off on his teammates after the match although they didn’t make a big deal out of it.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA & YOSHI-HASHI VS. A.J. STYLES & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI
Styles won with a clever superplex escape on Yoshi-Hashi, where dropped Yoshi-Hashi’s neck on the top rope, followed by a Bloody Sunday DDT and the Styles clash for the pin. Like almost everything on the show, it was good, but not blow-away. Styles with the IWGP belt hjad a face-off with Okada and tried to DDT hit him on the belt but Okada escaped. Okada tried to use the rainmaker on him twice but he ducked and bailed out, leaving his belt in the ring. Okada grabbed it but the ref got it and returned it to Styles. They pushed their title match on 7/5 at Osaka Jo Hall.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. HIROOKI GOTO FOR IC TITLE
Goto won the title clean with his neckbreaker over the knee off the middle rope, followed by the shoten kai finisher. He had kicked out of the bom a ye twice. Very good match as well, picked up at the end. Not blow away or anything. Not much in the way of angles here for Osaka, even the Styles vs. Okada stuff was just basic. Crowd was happy with the upset but this wasn’t overwhelming like with a lot of the main event title changes.