NJPW Kizuna Road results: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata
NJPW’s Kizuna Road tour continued today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Three singles matches headlined the show, serving as previews for tomorrow’s NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship match main event.
Tomohiro Ishii took on Yuji Nagata in the main event, Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima was the semi-main, while the third match featured YOSHI-HASHI taking on Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Ishii, Goto and YOSHI-HASHI defend the NEVER Six-Man titles against Nagata, Kojima and Tenzan on tomorrow’s show, which will air for free on NJPW World.
A pair of trios matches rounded out today’s card.
Below are results and a report on today’s show.
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Recommended matches —
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata
- Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto
- Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
Report —
Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado defeated El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI (10:22)
Desperado and Ishimori began with some solid chain wrestling. Desperado and DOUKI cut Ishimori off and briefly worked him over. Kanemaru got a tag and Jado used a kendo stick shot from the floor to turn the tide in Bullet Club’s favor.
Bullet Club worked Kanemaru over with their comedy back rakes. Kanemaru made a comeback on ELP. Ishimori and Desperado tagged back in for another solid exchange. Ishimori hit a handspring kick. Desperado hit a spinebuster, then tagged DOUKI for the closing stretch.
Ishimori pinned DOUKI after hitting a Bloody Cross.
Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki defeated Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI (12:24)
This was different than I expected. Rather than a house show brawl, they had a very good wrestling match.
SANADA and Sabre began with a nice grappling battle. LIJ isolated Sabre and went to work on his left arm. Sabre came back with a kick to Naito’s left arm. Suzuki-gun then dragged LIJ to the floor and turned this into a brawl.
Back in, Suzuki and Sabre stretched Naito. Naito was isolated in the Suzuki-gun corner. SANADA, Taichi, Sabre and Naito did some four-way spots, then Suzuki and BUSHI got tags.
BUSHI hit a tope suicida. Suzuki kicked out of a swinging neckbreaker, then used a misdirection spot to set up a rear naked choke. He went for the Gotch-style Piledriver, but SANADA saved with a dropkick.
Everyone jumped in for a big move. Taichi got a tag. BUSHI blocked Zack Mephisto and hit a double rana.
Taichi hit an axe bomber and removed his trousers. Taichi blocked a rewind kick and hit a backdrop suplex. Sabre and Suzuki ran interference on SANADA and Naito.
Taichi then submitted BUSHI with the Seitei Jujiro (stretch plum).
YOSHI-HASHI defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan (14:30)
They knew they had to get a lot out of very little. YH is far from a ring general and Tenzan’s body has betrayed him. This was passable if grading on that curve. The effort is always there with Tenzan.
YH dominated the first five minutes of brawling. He teased breaking cleanly, but slapped Tenzan across the face. Tenzan hit a shoulder tackle. YH dragged Tenzan to the floor and whipped him into the barricade.
Tenzan came back with a wheel kick and his signature brainbuster. Tenzan tried an ugly top rope neckbreaker. He used the Anaconda Vice, but YH forced a rope break. Tenzan got the better of a striking battle. YH hit a headhunter. YH used the Butterfly Lock, but Tenzan powered out.
They traded strikes. Tenzan hit Mongolian chops. They exchanged headbutts to the chest. Tenzan used the Anaconda Vice, then hit an Anaconda Buster for a near fall. Tenzan missed a diving headbutt off the top.
YH hit a lariat and a meteora, then used the Butterfly Lock to pick up the submission win.
Satoshi Kojima defeated Hirooki Goto (15:11)
The story here was simple — Kojima only wins matches with a lariat, so Goto tried to take away Kojima’s arms. Kojima overcame and hit a lariat to win.
Kojima broke cleanly after locking up. After locking up again, Goto refused to do the same and hit a kick to the gut. Kojima came back with a tackle. On the floor, Kojima sent Goto into the barricade. Goto reversed a whip and sent Kojima into the barricade.
Kojima tried a lariat on the floor, but hit the post with his left arm. Goto then went to work on the left arm, wrenching it over the barricade. Goto continued the arm work as they got back in. Goto then went after the right arm with a cross armbreaker.
Goto continued working over both arms. Kojima no-sold a back suplex and hit his own back suplex. They battled in the corner. Kojima hit machine gun chops and a top rope elbow for a near fall.
Goto hit a misdirection lariat, wheel kick in the corner, then a running bulldog for a near fall. Kojima blocked an ushigoroshi. Goto teased a diving elbow. Kojima blocked and hit a lariat, sending Goto crashing to the floor at the 10 minute call.
They traded strikes, then hit simultaneous lariats. Goto went down, Kojima did not. Kojima hit a cutter for a near fall. Goto ducked a lariat and hit an ushigoroshi into a double down. Kojima hit a left arm lariat for a two count.
Goto blocked a lariat and hit a GTR, but didn’t go for a cover. Goto hit a draping GTR, but Kojima kicked out. Kojima blocked a kick.
Goto ducked two lariats, but Kojima caught him with a third lariat and scored the pin.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yuji Nagata (22:20)
I had high hopes for this and was not disappointed. Ishii always delivers and Nagata can still go with the right type of opponent. This was excellent.
Ishii avoided Nagata’s dropkick to the knee. Nagata avoided Ishii’s sliding lariat. After locking up, Ishii teased breaking cleanly against the ropes. Instead, he slapped Nagata across the face.
Nagata got a cross armbreaker applied, then gave up the hold to work a different armbar. Ishii forced a rope break. Nagata hit a series of kicks. Ishii hit a powerslam.
This is where the chops started.
Ishii chopped the living hell out of Nagata’s chest, leaving it blistered. Ishii hit a series of kicks to the back. Nagata sold all of these strikes for everything he was worth. Ishii hit another series of chops. Nagata came back with a kitchen sink and checked out the damage to his chest.
Nagata hit a series of kicks to Ishii’s chest. Nagata hit a running boot in the corner. Ishii blocked an exploder, but Nagata connected on a butterfly suplex for a near fall. Ishii reversed a brainbuster attempt into a suplex.
They traded forearms. Nagata’s strikes got more powerful as Ishii’s power faded. Ishii dropped Nagata with a forearm, then hit a combination of forearms and chops in the corner. Ishii blocked a kick and hit a German off a whip out of the buckle.
Ishii hit a delayed superplex for a near fall. Nagata blocked a lariat and used a crossface. Ishii tried to force a break, but Nagata rolled through and re-applied the hold in the middle. Ishii finally crawled to the ropes to force a break.
Nagata hit a series of kicks, then went to work on Ishii’s left arm to set up the Nagata Lock. Selling with his left arm hanging at his side, Ishii hit a series of strikes. Nagata dropped Ishii with one forearm.
Nagata hit a second rope exploder for a two count. Nagata hit a PK. Ishii blocked a high angle suplex. Nagata hit a knee strike to the chest. Ishii blocked a kick and hit a lunging headbutt into a double down.
They traded slaps to the face for an extended period of time. Ishii hit an enzuigiri. Nagata hit an exploder. Ishii no-sold it and hit a lariat for a near fall. Nagata blocked a brainbuster and hit a spinning kick.
Nagata hit a step-up knee in the corner. Ishii collapsed. Nagata covered, but Ishii got his foot on the rope. Nagata hit a high kick and a German suplex.
Nagata hit a Thunder Death Driver for a great near fall. Ishii blocked a high angle suplex, blocked an exploder, then hit the Vertical Drop Brainbuster for the pin.
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Here is the lineup for tomorrow’s show:
NJPW Kizuna Road, Friday, July 2, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time, free on NJPW World —
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata
- Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
- Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
- Shingo Takagi vs. Yuya Uemura
- Kota Ibushi vs. Yota Tsuji