NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis results: Chaos vs. Suzuki-gun

Here are results from this morning’s Road to Sakura Genesis show at Korakuen Hall. It was the go-home show before Sakura Genesis on Sunday. It also marked the return of EVIL after being out for a short period of time following a broken orbital bone.

Ren Narita and Tetsuhiro Yagi went to a time limit draw

This was really good. Narita did a great job selling for Yagi’s offense. He escaped from the Boston crab on two different occasions, with the crowd really getting into the match after he escaped the second time. Narita took Yagi down and was going for a Boston crab when the time limit was reached. The best possible match you can have as a young lion.

Yuji Nagata defeated Shota Umino

Short, but this was a match that served its intended purpose. Umino, who is further along than the other young lions, looked good on offense. Nagata eventually took him down and submitted him with the Nagata lock. He and Umino hugged afterwards.

Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi and Michael Elgin defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi and Tomoyuki Oka

A fine match. Oka worked a lot of it and looked good. He took the loss for his team, with Elgin picking up the win following the Elgin bomb.

Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White and Hirooki Goto defeated David Finlay, Juice Robinson and Toa Henare

Ishii and Henare went at it and brawled around the ring early. Ishii blasted him with a chair. They were the focus of this match, though others did come on at various points. Ishii got the win with the brainbuster in a solid match that set up future matches. 

Finlay jumped White after the match and the two got into a pull apart brawl.

Toru Yano and Roppongi 3K defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA and Tiger Mask

An okay match. solid stuff but nothing special. Yano got the win by pinning Tiger Mask after shoving Tanahashi into Tiger Mask, then low blowed Tiger Mask and rolled him up.

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi defeated Minoru Suzuki, Killer Elite Squad, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado.

Of course, the focal point of the match was between Suzuki and Naito. They brawled into the crowd, where Suzuki attacked Naito with a chair. Killer Elite Squad, who are looking for a IWGP tag team title match, squared off against EVIL and SANADA. BUSHI/Takahashi also worked against Desperado and Kanemaru. SANADA did a big dive that wiped out the Killer Elite Squad on the outside with a plancha. EVIL followed with an STO on Kanemaru for the win. Fun match.

Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi defeated Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI

Before the match, Gedo hyped up Okada much like how Taka Michinoku has been Sabre’s hype man as of late. Sabre/Okada paired off immediately. Sabre continually worked on the arms of Okada, which may be a sign for Sunday. Sabre got one of YOSHI-HASHI’s arms and bent him down, trapping it and causing him to tap as Okada was forced to watch only a few feet away.

After the match, Sabre torqued Okada’s wrist and arm as Taka Michinoku egged him on to do something about it. Gedo entered the ring and immediately was taken down by Sabre, wrenching on the arm and left him lying as well. Taka Michinoku put over Zack Sabre Jr. to close out the show.