NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku results: Goto vs. Juice

Ren Narita defeated Yuya Uemura

Uemura used his better physique to his advantage to throw more powerful elbow shots and chops, but Narita worked over the back throughout the match. Narita landed a ton of chops before a series of slams set up a Boston crab for a victory. 

Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Shota Umino, Tomoyuki, Oka, and Yuji Nagata

Nagata prevented a Romero special, so Liger disposed of him and went to apply it again, but Umino prevented it. Taguchi ate a barrage of corner shots before Umino missile dropkicked Taguchi down for 2.9. Another Boston Crab was locked on, but it didn’t get the win win. A la majistral cradle got 2, but a Taguchi hip attack got 2.9. A Taguchi jumping high kick followed by a double-armed chickenwing facebuster end it. 

SHO & YOH and Rocky Romero defeated TAKA Michinoku, Taichi, and Takashi Iizuka

Taka hit YOH in the corner with a running kick before landing another one on him.  Iizuka got the iron fingers and threatened the referee, but SHO avoided them and landed a series of forearms. However, Iizuka hit an inverted atomic drop and TAKA superkicked SHO for 2. YOH ran wild with superkicks while Romero hit a suicide dive on the floor to Taichi. SHO hit a backstabber on Iizuka before a pump knee strike hits. SHO got the iron fingers and felt their power before landing the Iron Fingers from Hell on Iizuka and landing the 3K to win it.

Toa Henare, Big Mike, Togi Makabe, and David Finlay defeated YOSHI-HSHI, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, and “Switchblade” Jay White 

Finlay and Switchblade went at it with Finlay hitting a jumping European uppercut and a charging variant in the corner. Switchblade landed a snap Saito suplex, but ate an Irish curse backbreaker. YOSHI-HASHI came in with Big Mike for more forearms and chops. A jumping mule kick got HASHI an edge before a running blockbuster and everyone hit charging attacks in the corner before Ishii landed a German and HASHI laid Mike out with a lariat. Henare saved it at 2, but gets tossed outside. Everyone was standing around on the floor, leading to HASHI ducking low and Big Mike hitting a flip dive on the pile. Mike caught HASHI and apron powerbombed him. Mid-ring, he hit the giant lariat to get 2 and a buckle bomb set up the Elgin bomb for the win. 

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI, and Hiroumu Takahashi Desperado, Kanemaru, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, and Minoru Suzuki

LIJ poses before Suzuki-gun is out and Lance sprays the crowd down. Suzuki jumps Naito while he’s kneeling and they brawl on the floor. Bushi hits a double rana on Desperado and Kanemaru. Takahashi lands a big dropkick on Desperado for 2.  Kanemaru sends him to the floor where hte brawl continues and extends to include DBS Jr. and Suzuki tearing apart barricades to smash Naito with. Archer and Hiromu go at it in one of the biggest size-mismatches you’ll see in New Japan this year. Hiromu lands some chops, but eats a pounce that sends him to the apron – where Suzuki lightly kicks him to get him to move out of his way so Archer can resume his punishment. 

Davey Boy comes in and deadlift Saito suplexes him before throwing him across the ring with a butterfly suplex. Suzuki tags in to face Hiromu, and this is going to be fantastic. He shuffles around before round kicking his chest, picks him up, and round kicks him again. Minoru Suzuki smiles in a menacing manner before locking on a half-crab that Naito makes a save for. This offends Suzuki, so he dashes at him and kicks him off the apron before Desperado comes in and slaps Hiromu. Hiromu lands a palm strike and  goes to tag EVIL, but KES prevents it and teases a Hart Attack that Hiromu turns into a DDT before tagging EVIL in. 

EVIL takes care of Davey and Archer before bringing SANADA in – but Davey hits a double Northern Lights on them before tagging Archer in for a Demolition Decapitation splash and a Hart Attack on SANADA for 2. Killer Bomb is set up, but SANADA kicks Davey away and hits a springboard dropkick to Archer. NAITO AND SUZUKI ARE IN and Suzuki lands a series of elbows, a corner kick, and his charging PK while a giant “NAITO” chant breaks out. Naitro hits his corner carging kick and goes for the basement dropkick, but Suzuki catches hte foot and locks on a kneebar.Suzuki locks on a kneebar and an armbar before turning it into a figure four. Naito is saved by a rope break, but his bandaged right knee is in even more trouble – so Suzuki mockingly kicks his head and wants his best shot – which he laughs on before measuring him for an elbow strike.

Suzuki lands measured elbow strikes while Naito responds with overhand chops. Naito goes for the eyes, but gets locked in a sleeper before going for the Gotch piledriver. However, Naito senses it and kicks away for a rope-assisted tornado DDT. Suzuki kicks the right leg more and tosses him in for an Irish whip, but Naito drops down and Suzuki-gun lands corner charges on him. Kanemaru hits a diving DDT before EVIL makes a save. Kanemaru hits a charging kick, but Naito sets him up for an EVIL kick, corner charge from his team, and then a double team-assisted shotgun dropkick from Hiromu for before landing Destino on him for the pin. This was an awesome ten man tag and a perfect use of the format. Naito talks smack to Suzuki after the match and Suzuki has to be restrained to avoid beating him up.

NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defeated Juice Robinson

Juice gets a nice reaction coming out, while Goto’s theme plays and the fans clap along. Juice works on him with headlocks and armbars for a bit. Goto gets a hiptoss and they meet in the middle for a shoulder charge where no one budges. Goto rains down corner forearms, so Juice responds in kind before a slap exchange breaks out and he sends Goto outside to eat a tope. While he’s down, Juice lands a series of punches from the mount – showing that while he may look goofy, he can still kick ass. They brawl on the floor and Goto lands a sick neckbreaker on the barricade – which plays into just about every major move in his arsenal. Juice is placed up top for a draping neckbreaker, which hits and he rolls outside to heal up.

He’s outside for a 17 count, rolls back in, and recovers more before Goto just goes out and chucks him inside to wrench his neck and gets an extended headscissors. Goto hits a diving elbow for 2. Goto attempts to drive his elbow into the nose, but gets blocked and Juice lands a side kick to get his first major blow. Juice lands his punching combo, but Goto ducks the last shot, so Juice chops him instead. A lariat hits, but Goto doesn’t budget and they both lariat each other until Juice lands a sliding Hart Attack lariat to send him down. A corner lariat hits for Juice, but he goes back to the other corner and eats a lariat of his own – only to do the same to Goto when Goto tries it. Juice charges back again, so Goto thinks he has a chance, but Juice ducks his spinkick and lands a cannonball for 2. Juice goes up top, buto Goto goes to the floor only to eat a crossbody anyway. Juice hits a crossbody mid-ring for 2, leaving him absolutely gobsmacked. Juice sets up Pulp Friction, but Goto avoids that and eats a German, only to get up and land a sick lariat, that Juice gets up from, only to eat the ushigoroshi. 

A mid-ring elbow exchange fires up Juice, who wins that only to eat a round kick, but then land a big dropkick, but take a running kick to the chest on his way back up to his feet! Juice gets up in the corner and eats the corner spinkick that Goto set up earlier. A Saito suplex hits and further damages Juice’s neck before a second one lands. Red Shoes teases a stoppage, but Goto picks him up and signals for the GTR. Another Ushigorishi hits and gets 2.9! Goto sets him up top for some elbow strikes and teases a super ushigoroshi, but Juice fights out and wants a powerbomb – but Goto avoids that and eats a burning hammer to hte knee and a giant left-arm lariat for 2.9! 

Juice lands a giant brainbuster for another 2.9 count, leaving him even more shocked than before. Goto locks on a sleeper to further damage the neck and weaken Juice, but Jucie backs him into hte corner. Juice runs up the corner, but still can’t escape until he snapmares his way free. Reverse GTR hits for Goto, leading to the GTR, but Jucie gets a small package for 2. Goto almost eats a Pulp Friction, but avoids that, giving Juice an opening for a giant elbow strike. A second one hits and Juice fires up and goes for another Pulp Friction. Goto avoids that and lands a shouten kai for 2.9.

Goto lands a round kick to the chest and a GTR ends it. After the match, Big Mike comes in and squares off with Goto and says that Goto has something he wants – the NEVER Openweight Title. He says he will be Goto’s next challenger, but Taichi comes down and attacks Goto, leading to Big Mike running him off. Mike grabs the title so Taichi doesn’t snatch it, and Goto rips it from his hands. The main event participants come out, with Tana getting a fantastic reaction and Ospreay’s reaction eclipsing Tana’s. Ospreay does his pose right in KUSHIDA’s face when he comes into the ring. Okada’s reaction tops everyone’s as he calmly climbs to the top and strikes his signature pose.

KUSHIDA and Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Will Ospreay and IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada

Ospreay and KUSHIDA did a ton of matwork to start. KUSHIDA locked on a headscissors that Ospreay couldn’t counter, so he got a rope break. Ospreay teased a dive, but backflipped mid-ring and posed for a fakeout. Tanahashi tagged in and the crowd chanted for Okada, who tagged in and the fans got into a chant-off for the heavyweight legends.

Tanahashi was put into the ropes, but his experience allowed him to use an opening and elbow Okada in the jaw. Tanahashi avoided a rainmaker and Okada avoided a slingblade, but Tanahashi couldn’t avoid a spike DDT. They brawled on the floor and Okada teased a tombstone, but Tanahashi avoided it while Okada kept carrying him around, impressive given his size. They all fought in the crowd for a bit before Ospreay tossesd KUSHIDA into a chalkboard.

Ospreay came in to face Tanahashi and hit a sliding dropkick before executing a double-armed torture lock. Okada came in to pick the bones and work over the bad arm. Tanahashi fought off both members of Chaos, but ate a tombstone. Okada got a cobra clutch while Ospreay hit a space flying tiger drop on KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA ran in and saved Tana with a dropkick before slapping the turnbuckle pad to motivate him to tag out. KUSHDA dropkicked Okada down to a huge “KUSHIDA” chant. He hit a tope con hilo off the top to the floor on Ospreay before hitting a slingshot DDT on Okada mid-ring. KUSHIDA got an armbar, but Okada made it to the ropes.

Okada avoided a punt, but ate a discus elbow and tagged Ospreay in. Ospreay hit a corner European uppercut and a basement hesitation dropkick before a standing SSP got 2. KUSHIDA mule kicked his way out of the head-trapped superkick and hit a somersault DDT. Tana comes in and dragon screwed Okada before hitting a twist and shout on Ospreay for 2. He went for a dragon suplex on Ospreay, but Okada dropkicked him in the back of the head before dropkicking KUSHIDA on the jaw. Tanahashi avoided another tombstone on the floor and landed a slingblade. Ospreay superkicked Tanahashi down before landing the kneeling tornado kick. KUSHIDA’s springboard dropkicked Ospreay’s arm before executing the Hoverboard Lock to put him in position for the High Fly Flow, which ended it.